Blueberry Crumble

I do my best to avoid turning the oven on from June to September, so baking is an infrequent occurrence during the summer. When I do prepare desserts, they tend to be fruit-based and rustic.  Crumbles are my go-to sweet, mainly because it pairs so well with our favorite summer treat: ice cream. This last weekend, I brought the remains of a blueberry crumble to the Cape to share with friends, alongside vanilla ice cream from Four Seas, a local shop near Craigville Beach. This crumble is more cookie than fruit-filling, with just a bit of jammy innards, which make for a great sauce for whatever you scoop on top. 

Blueberry Crumble

Yield
8-10 servings

Ingredients
For the blueberry-filling
1 quart blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch

For the crumble topping
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Using 1 tablespoon of butter or cooking spray, grease a 9 inch glass pie plate.
3. Place the blueberries into a large bowl, toss with sugar, corn starch and lemon juice. Spread fruit across pie plate.
4. In another bowl, add the dry ingredients for the topping.  Using a fork, mix the topping ingredients while drizzling the butter in, until it begins to come together. Sprinkle the topping over the blueberries and pat it down until it has completely covers the pan.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top has turned a slightly golden-brown.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream topped.

Spinach Florentine + Egg Breakfast Sandwich

I went back through some recipes I had kicking around in my "Drafts" folder and realized that I've been holding onto this one for a few weeks now. Sorry about that! Sometimes these things get lost in the shuffle. Another recipe takes precedence and then months go by and I see that I've totally neglected the ones I photographed. 

If I'm remembering correctly (who knows... it was such a long time ago) but these breakfast sandwiches came about after a trip down to New Jersey. You see, I'm a bagel snob. I almost never buy bagels up here. Not that there aren't some good attempts being made... they just don't compare to what I grew up with. So I rarely eat them here at home and reserve them for those trips to see my family. The same goes for pizza. I grew up surrounded by countless Italian restaurants (the land of The Sopranos), so I have very specific criteria for how my pizza is supposed to look and taste. And, really, it's probably for the best. Because I'd eat bagels and pizza every day if I could.

There are so few vegetarian breakfast sandwiches out there in the world and that's really a shame. Now, I know bacon and sausage are magical things, but I hope that this runny, cheesy, egg bagel is proof that it can be just as decadent without the meat. 

Spinach Florentine + Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Yield
1 breakfast sandwich

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup spinach, rinsed and dried
3-4 white button mushrooms, rinsed, dried and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon sriracha
1 large egg
2 thin slices of sharp cheddar
Salt

1 toasted plain or seeded bagel

Directions
1. Set a small skillet over medium heat, add butter and, once it's melted, add sliced mushrooms and cook until browned on each side. Transfer cooked mushrooms to a small bowl.

2. Return the skillet over medium heat and add spinach. Cook until wilted. Transfer the cooked spinach to the bowl with the mushrooms.

3. Stir the sriracha and mayonnaise together in a bowl until combined. Set aside. 

4. Set the skillet over high heat and add remaining amount of butter. Once the butter has melted, crack the egg into the pan and cook until whites have set, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and then flip the egg. Top the egg with sliced cheddar, remove the pan from heat, and then place a lid over the pan to let the cheese melt. Let it stand for another 3 minutes to let the whites set.

5. Build the sandwich by spreading the sriracha mayonnaise on both cut sides of the bagel. Top the bottom half of the bagel with the egg, followed by the cooked spinach and mushrooms. Cover with top half of bagel.

Zucchini and Chickpea Fritters with Smoked Salmon

I got back to my hotel room at midnight and put my things down on the bed. The whole weekend I had been focused on my work, photographing the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards, and after nine hours, I was exhausted. The first thing I did was open my computer and scrolled through Facebook. I had planned on it being a way to decompress before bed. And then I came across a link to a video of Anderson Cooper reading the names of the victims. Seeing him, hearing his voice, quivering, failing to hold back tears, brought up all the emotions that I had kept tucked away over the last 24 hours. I began to cry with him. The times I've cried like that are few, but I remember each one well. The death of Matthew Shepard. Columbine. 9/11. Sandy Hook. 

There are so many other emotions that I feel and others have articulated them so much better than I ever could, but I wanted to put this moment down here, in this space, because these feelings are something I never want to forget. I don't mean that in a hashtag way. I mean that in a "Let's put this in our hearts and make sure we change because of it" way. I hope it gets more people to talk about some major problems we have as a nation. Our disgustingly lenient gun laws. Our hatred/fear of anyone that's different. Maybe... maybe... we can learn from what happened and grow. 

I wish such a terrible thing didn't have to take up this space, because I do want to talk about a fabulous new cookbook: Pure Delicious by Heather Christo. I love this book for so many reasons, but, mainly, because of its approach to allergy-free recipes. None of the recipes are titled "Non-dairy" or "Vegan" or "Nut-free." They just are. Now, I don't have any food allergies (something I'm continuously grateful for) but my sister and a number of my friends have serious allergies. I have memories of my sister going into anaphylactic shock after consuming a peanut that had made its way on top of an ice cream sundae. So, whenever I'm cooking for others, I make sure to find out if they have any allergies. This book is the perfect reference for those who have dietary restrictions or who have friends and family members that do because all of her recipes are without gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, or shellfish.

These zucchini and chickpea pancakes/fritters were the first recipe I came across. I loved how simple they were to prepare and thought I could use them as a base and then just create my own unique toppings (Heather made a fantastic looking red onion marmalade). I love how rustic vegetable pancakes can be, but that they can be dressed up to make them a bit fancy. Here I use my favorite non-dairy topping, a creamy coconut milk and Dijon mustard sauce, some smoked salmon, and chive. They can be served as a pre-meal appetizer or even for brunch!

GIVEAWAY INFO!!! Heather and the publisher of Pure Delicious are generously providing a copy of her book to giveaway to one lucky reader! Just leave a comment on this post to enter (one (1) entry per person). It's only open to U.S. residents (sorry to my Canadian and international readers). Giveaway closes at 12PM EST on Friday, June 24th. The winner will be contacted via e-mail. 

Zucchini Chickpea Fritters with Smoked Salmon

Servings
Serves 10, as an appetizer

Special Equipment
Food processor

Ingredients
For the Zucchini Chickpea Fritters
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
3 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Vegetable oil, for frying

For the creamy mustard sauce
1, 13.5 oz. can full-fat coconut milk, chilled in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (to separate the cream from the milk)
1 tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Smoked Salmon
Chopped fresh chive, for garnish

Directions
1. To make the zucchini chickpea fritters: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Add the shredded zucchini to a colander and, using a clean dish towel, press as much of the water out as you can. 

3. Add the chickpeas to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they turn into a thick paste. Transfer the beans to a large bowl and add the onion and zucchini. Use clean hands to mix well, then form the mixture into 10 cakes. Set aside.

4. On a plate, combine the garbanzo bean flour and the salt. Gently dredge each cake in the flour, patting it onto all sides of the cake. 

5. In a heavy pan or skillet, over medium-high heat add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add 3 or 4 cakes at a time and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until the cakes are golden. Transfer the cakes to a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until hot and a deeper golden color.

6. While the fritters are baking, whisk together the coconut cream (the fat in the coconut milk), Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt until combined.

7. Serve fritters warm, with the smoked salmon, creamy mustard sauce and fresh chive on top.

Zucchini and Chickpea Fritter recipe - Reprinted from Pure Delicious by arrangement with Pam Krauss Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2016, Heather Christo LLC