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Friday’s Favorites

Caesar Salad With Shitake Mushrooms and Friday’s Favorites!

MontDauphin


This is the time of year when my family would usually travel a few hours to settle in the Alps for the summer and enjoy cooler temperatures and lots of hiking in the gorgeous of Les Alpes De Haute Provence.

These days, everytime I look at our pine trees and feel a whiff of a cool breeze, I just can’t help but smile wide and feel energized. I think about all the wonderful picnics, lunches on the graveled terrace and lots of hours spend at the community pool.

It was a time to spend with my mother hovering over her cooking magazine and cookbooks and pick dishes we would do together or techniques she thought I was ready for. This was my kind of summer school. We’d bookmark recipes, crafts, articles, discoveries.

Guillestre


Like many of you I use Pinterest, notepads, bookmarks, and lots of other devices to keep track of my favorite links. I have enjoyed doing a little round up last week and from the feedback I got, you guys enjoyed it too so I have decided to make this a weekly thing.

So…here what caught my eye this past week. Have a wonderful weekend!

~ This travel post on Helsinki by Pure Vegetarian by Lakshmi
~ Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream on Bliss With Tina Jeffers.
~ Roasted Baby Artichokes from Nicole Franzen at la Buena Vida.
~ Super refreshing Grapefruit, Fennel and Grilled Shrimp Salad by Camille Styles.
~ My life motto: The Holstee Manisfesto.
~ Sour Cherry Cooler by The Best Remedy.
~ I don’t wear lots of jewelry, but I’d wear anything my friend Angela makes, at Angela Hall Designs.
~ And because I have been drooling over it all week, this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Pie, by my favorite food stylist and friend, Tami at Running With Tweezers.

– I am also adding one of my favorite salad this week, a Caesar Salad and Shitake Mushroom Salad I shot for Food & Wine Magazine. Recipe after the jump.

Caesar Salad with Shiitake Mushrooms



Caesar Salad With Shitake Mushrooms, with permission of Food & Wine Magazine:

Serves 4

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup cubed gluten free baguette (or your favorite bread, gluten free or not) (1-inch cubes)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3/4 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 hard-cooked eggs
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste (or 2 anchovies, mashed with a fork)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 small heads romaine lettuce (about 1 pound each), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips

Directions:
– In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over moderate heat. Add the cubed bread, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and stir to coat the bread with the oil. Sauté the bread until crisp and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in half the garlic. Transfer to a large salad bowl.
– In the same pan, heat the cooking oil over moderately high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add half the remaining garlic and the parsley and cook, stirring, for 1 minute longer. Add the mushrooms to the croutons.
– Put the eggs, vinegar, anchovy paste, and the remaining garlic, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 5 tablespoons olive oil in a blender or food processor and whir until smooth. Add the lettuce to the mushrooms and croutons, sprinkle with Parmesan, and then add the dressing. Toss to coat.

Stone Fruit Love & Friday’s Favorites

Stone Fruit Love


Summer…We are definitely in the thick of it now! Baked goods have been slowly but surely replaced with ice creams, sorbets and plenty of fresh, ripe and juicy stone fruits. Yellow peaches, Saturn peaches, apricots, plums, cherries have been my go-to desserts for weeks now. Mostly in their natural forms but also in tarts and sorbets. Which I need to photograph soon before we eat them all…

Stone fruits maybe my favorites right now but here are a few other links that make my heart pitter patter lately that I wanted to share with you. Most are from my Pinterest pins but also from favorite blogs.

~ This Kale, Apple and Pancetta Salad from Once Upon A Chef.
~ This Creme Brulee Ice Cream (I know!!) from Cafe Johnsonia.
~ Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese from A Couple Cooks – oh dear…!
~ Today Will Be The Best Day Ever…Heck yes!!
~ I {heart} these Vintage Camera Nighlights.
~ Reading just got way more fun with this
~ This salad is art…From Lemon Fire Brigade.
~ Best Soft Shell Squash Tacos (my first too!) from Happyolks.

Have a wonderful weekend!