The flight over London proved a memorable moment for me as an adult, as I relived my childhood. Playwright Barrie is genius, capturing the childlike sense of joy and mischief that captivated me, oh so many years ago. I left with a greater sense of childhood, one which can be easily forgotten amidst a heavy work schedule and endless activities with the little ones out of school. I was thankful for the opportunity to remember all the antics of Peter Pan, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, and his arch nemesis, Hook, and devoted pixie, Tinker Bell.

I encourage you to go and rekindle your inner child and while your imagination runs wild- perhaps a nostalgic cup of cocoa? Often mentioned during the play, I couldn’t resist the recommendation of Actress Shannon Warrick who plays Mrs. Darling. We met after the show and I asked her for her thoughts on a Pan-like food. She remarked, “Well it must be cocoa! We talk about cocoa the entire performance and then back stage we eat marshmallows – it would be perfect for your blog.”

She was spot on! And to up the anti, this is one of my coveted recipes for true yummy-ness in a cup.

Frozen Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows & Hundreds of Thousands

Cocoa Ingredients

6 half-oz pieces of a variety of your favorite chocolate, chopped or chips are fine too
2 tsps store bought hot chocolate mix
1 1/2 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk, set 1 cup aside
3 cups ice
whipped cream (optional)
chocolate shavings (optional)

Marshmallows with Hundreds of Thousands Ingredients

I bag large size marshmallows
6 oz milk chocolate, chopped or chips
sprinkles (British nomenclature is Hundreds of Thousands)

Marshmallow Decoration

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside. Set sprinkles in small bowl and set aside.

In a small-size microwave safe bowl, heat the milk chocolate, stirring every 15 seconds to make sure chocolate does not burn. When chocolate is melted, take marshmallows and dip top of candy in chocolate and then quickly dip in the sprinkles.

Note: Large sprinkles do not melt as easily in the chocolate and are much easier to work with when dipping the marshmallows.

Frozen Hot Cocoa Directions

Take 1/2 cup of milk out of refrigerator and bring to room temperature.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in an microwave proof bowl, stirring every 30 seconds until melted.

Add the cocoa and sugar, stirring constantly until thoroughly blended.

Slowly add 1/2 cup of the milk and stir until smooth.

Let the mixture sit and cool completely until it is room temperature.

Place the cooled chocolate mixture, remaining cup of milk and the ice in a blender. Blend on high speed until the mixture is smooth and slushy.

Pour into a wide mouth glass or cup and top with whipped cream, marshmallows and/or chocolate shavings. Suitable for eating with a spoon or a straw.

Milena, 'Wendy' (Abby Ford), Gina, 'Peter Pan' (Nate Fellows), Secondo and Prima at the after party with cast members.

More about the play…

In this production of PETER PAN:

• 12 projectors, delivering 360 degree projection
• 400 square miles of virtual London were rendered
• The world’s first fully 360 degree projected movie for live theater performance
• The tent, which stands 100 ft high was shipped via boat, 6,000 miles from London to San Francisco.
• 100 computers took 4 weeks to create the images – it would have taken 8 years for a single computer to render

A few of my favorite Peter Pan quotes:

Second to the right and straight on until morning.. (location of Neverland and corresponding stars on the chocolate dipped marshmallow in the photo)

To live would be an awfully big adventure.

Your saving my life, what a great thing to do.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

It was 12 minutes of incredible optical and auditory transformation which completely metamorphosed this historical building within seconds. It was memorizing and memorable. The only thing missing to complete this experience was a meal of color; and despite the yummy themed cookie bestowed upon me, when I reflected upon this experience I wanted to share with you my favorite colorful dessert growing up. Rainbow finger Jell-O.

Rainbow Finger Jell-O

Ingredients

1 (14 oz can) sweetened condensed milk
7 sm packages Knox gelatin
1 (3 oz) package strawberry Jell-O
1 (3 oz) package orange Jell-O
1 (3 oz) package lime Jell-O
1 (3 oz) package blueberry Jell-O

Directions

Using non-stick cooking spray an coat a 9×13 pan.

Filling layers:
Dissolve 2 envelopes gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water. Add 1 cup boiling water to condensed milk. Mix dissolved gelatin with milk and add 1 cup more of boiled water.

To make these fabulous rainbow layers: Use 1 box Jell-O at a time. Mix 1 envelope Knox gelatin with 1/4 cup cold water. Add 1 cup boiling water, and 1 box Jell-O. Remove any bubbles that may have formed. Pour Jell-O in pan. Refrigerate 15-20 minutes until set.

Pour 3/4 cup filling over set Jell-O. Chill 15-20 minutes. Continue Jell-O, filling etc., ending with Jell-O on top. Chill until firm. Slice into squares and serve chilled. And there you have it, 7 layer Rainbow Jello. Should take approx 2 hrs to chill and make all of the layers.

Note: Do not make the Jell-O as directed on the package. Make each package as directed above – for each package of Jell-O, add 1 package or 1 TBS of gelatin and 1 cup boiling water. Mix each layer separately in containers. Let stand till room temperature, stirring occasionally.

And if you would like to watch the World of Color Show, while eating your rainbow Jell-O, click away….

I enjoyed spending time with fellow-gal bloggers
The Silent I, Chalk and Cheese Chronicles, Tippytoes & Tantrums, Who’s the Boss?, and Xiaolinmama. And the other great ladies I had the honor of spending time with Techmama, Dear Bad Kitty, and Garza Girl!

Torte Piccolo Con Pomodoro

Cupcake Ingredients

1 box (18 oz) spice cake mix
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Campbell’s® Condensed Tomato Bisque Soup
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
18 (2 1/2-inch) cupcake liners

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

1 cube butter, softened (not melted)
1 cup cream cheese (room temperature)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 TBS vanilla
pecans or walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

Cupcake Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place liners into 18 muffin-pan cups.

Combine the cake mix, soup, water and eggs in a large bowl and mix according to the package directions.

Spoon the batter into the muffin-pan cups, up to the rim of the liner.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and let cool completely.

Frosting Directions

In a medium-size bowl, mix butter, cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar on high for 2 minutes.

After frosting, you can sprinkle the cupcakes with toasted chopped pecans or walnuts.

Yields: 18 cupcakes

As a child I often wondered if this was anything like all of the posh East Coast spots I had heard the yachties speak about – Maratha’s Vineyard, The Cape, or Newport Rhode Island. Having grown up sailing on San Francisco Bay and taking a few summer sailing camps at the island I have spent a nice amount of time at this hide-away during the summer months. As I have grown-up, my love for this place has also grown deeper. Since returning as an adult, I recall all of the fond times spent with my Dad, Step Mother and brother running around with large bamboo sticks for the bonfire marshmallow roast, swimming endless hours in the pool, writing in my diary, playing dominoes (Dad’s favorite- don’t beat him he just isn’t made for loosing), backgammon, fishing, hunting crawdads (BTW-they like salami or other meat), water skiing, sailing, reading books and listening to music…..the memories abound! I’ll close the chapter on this aspect of memory lane, and not bore you further, as it truly is time to talk food. The focus of this post is on meal planning – while my friend Jane Maynard, of This Week for Dinner, does a great job of posting weekly menus, I felt inspired to share my humble attempt at this camping menu. The menu worked well and we ended up with very few things to take home with pleased fully bellies all around.

Camping doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a bit of gourmet, au contraire.

Friday
- dinner: Kobe steak kabobs with zucchini, red bell pepper and Maui onions (the vegetables were bushed with olive oil and rosemary. The meat was seasoned with salt and pepper only), field greens and whole wheat baguette served with a crisp white wine from Portugal
- dessert: watermelon au natural, ice cold

Saturday
- breakfast: cheesy scrambled eggs with fire roasted veggies and skillet butter toast
- lunch: honey roasted turkey grilled cheese sandwiches
- appetizers: salami with cream cheese, roasted garlic hummus with carrots and celery
- dinner: honey marinated chili chicken breasts; Yukon gold potato/onion herb packets; white corn on the cob brushed with paprika butter; romaine salad with carrots, Capri tomatoes, and home made croutons served with a crisp white wine from Portugal
- dessert: s’mores and coffee

Sunday
- breakfast: steel cut oatmeal with caramelized bananas served with fresh fruit salad (plums, white peaches, nectarines, apples) oh yes, and left over s’mores because it is vacation!

Upon leaving the island, we drove to our favorite spot in Stockton for lunch and had killer sweet potato fries, decadent milk shakes, delicious burgers with grilled onions and secret sauce- Moo Moo’s Burger Barn.

But when we arrived back home, we just couldn’t let the vacation feeling escape us, so we immediately invited some family over for dinner. The menu was simple, yet fresh and reeked of summer! BBQ’d sword fish, baked potatoes and some fresh greens.

Oh wait, what’s that you say? You wanted a recipe? Well, I had a feeling…but it is summer and I like to keep things on the simple side.

Photo Credit: Butteryum Blog Spot

Corn & Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

5 ears of corn, shucked (approx 2 cups)
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
3 TBS cider vinegar
3 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
4 whole bell peppers, sliced in half (this is your serving bowl, parboiling them is a plus if camping equipment permits)
1 (14 oz) can black beans, rinsed
1 lime, juiced
1 (4 oz) container, crumbled Feta (optional)
1/2 cup basil, finely chopped plus additional basil (garnish, optional)

Directions

Husk corn and rinse. Heat grill to 350F.

Shuck corn and remove all strings, place in foil and crimp edges tightly to retain moisture. BBQ corn packets for 20 minutes, turn every 10 minutes. Remove corn from foil for the last 10 minutes and allow to brown, turning regularly.

Note: Length of cooking time will vary depending on the tenderness, variety and age of the corn – some types of corn may be done in half the time.

Immediately immerse corn in cold water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob.

In a large-size bowl, add all remaining ingredients and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.

———–
A bit more history I dug up while writing this post that I wanted to share for those of you still interested in learning/reading more about Tinsley Island.

Trivia: the lighthouse was one of a chain of seventeen stations that started at the entrance to San Francisco Bay (Point Bonita) and ended at Roe Island in Suisun Bay.

In 1955, the U.S. Coast Guard automated the light and fog horn mechanisms, and the main building of the Carquinez Strait Lighthouse was sold to a private party who, in 1957, moved the building by barge up the Strait to its present position at Elliot Cove, overlooking the scenic marina. Of the seventeen original lighthouse buildings, only two others remain in existence: the St. Francis Yacht Club on Tinsley Island, and the East Brothers lighthouse in San Pablo Bay (now a bed and breakfast establishment). Tinsley Island is located at latitude – longitude coordinates of N 38.0377 and W -121.49578

More great photos and historical information can be found at California’s Majestic Lighthouse’s blog.

Yet the lore of the story is about making something from nothing. A good-tasting soup, beginning with a stone and boiling water, becomes a fabulous soup with the addition of a little bit of this and that. At heart, the traditional story is a trickster tale. Typically, the person starting the soup is a beggar who is denied the food he requests from someone living in a house. In many versions, including in the American Civil War version, the beggar is a soldier looking for food. For the original version of how to make this soup, you’ll have to read to the end of the post, for those in the hurry I will share with you my very very favorite version of Stone Soup, named such because the person who taught me this recipe is named Colbi Stone. Read on, it will not disappoint you. Try it as a breakfast, snack or dessert and I promise you’ll be hooked before you can say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Acai Bowl Bliss (AKA Stone Soup)

Ingredients

1 100g packet organic acai smoothie packs/original Rio Blend with gurana, frozen
2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup blueberries + 1 TBS, frozen
6 strawberries, frozen
2 strawberries
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup granola
honey

All ingredients can be found at Whole Foods. There are two kinds of Acai smoothie packs, you want the original Rio Blend. The brand I used was Sambazon. They are sold in the freezer section in four packs.

Directions

In a blender add frozen acai berry puree, 1 sliced banana, 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries and soy milk. Mix until well blended. Pour into a bowl. Add granola, layer with remaining banana, strawberries, blue berries and drizzle with honey.

Note: for my version I used granola with chocolate chips- why? Because I love the flavor of chocolate and berries commingled.

Back to my previous story of pre-school Stone Soup cookery….
The day before the big meal, the teachers asked each student to bring in a vegetable to share and the teacher brought in a pot and one very clean, scrubbed, river stone. With the stage set, the story was read.

The Story of Stone Soup

Once upon a time, somewhere in post-war Eastern Europe, there was a great famine in which people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering soldier came into a village and began asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night.

The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for all. The villagers offered the soldier a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell and traveled on the next day. The moral is that by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.

For those of you who are feeling adventurous, I would HIGHLY recommend this version of Stone Soup.

To whet your appetites, and get this party started, I am posting my second recipe from ‘Taste This’. It is not too late to put this one together to go with your evening cervesas…Chicken Tinga. Enjoy it with a glass of White Sangria! Ole! (See story below the Chicken Tinga recipe for the hidden bonus treat in this post).

Chicken Tinga

Ingredients

1 large tomato, chopped big
½ large yellow onion, sliced length-wise
1 garlic clove
1 chiplote
1 can tomato soup
1 TBS water
1 lb chicken breasts
2 tsps salt
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups rice, cooked

In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add in chicken. Cook until the chicken floats to the top. Remove from water, set aside to cool.

In large pan, heat vegetable oil on high heat, add the onion (SET TWO SLICES ASIDE FOR THE SAUCE) and cook, stirring until translucent, approximately 3 minutes.

In a blender add and mix together:
- tomato soup
- garlic
- 2 slices of onion
- chiplote
- water
- salt

Shred the meat and add the onion into a large-size pan and cook on medium-high heat. When onions are softened, add in the tomato and cook for 5 minutes. Add in liquid contents from blender and bring to a boil. Do not let all of the liquid dissolve. Serve over rice prepared according to package directions.

Serves 5-6.

Note: If you don’t have time to boil and shred three chicken breasts you can by a pre-cooked chicken and shred it.

BONUS: Oh, and did I mention it is great with a glass of White Sangria? I’ve co-posted with Ilina Ewens, Dirt & Noise, who does my favorite 5:00PM Friday’s drink posts to give you a second recipe from ‘Taste This’. This is a day that deserves a good drink. Click on over- I know you’ll enjoy her post and her blog. (Shhh- don’t tell her that it is really not Friday yet, with enough of this beverage you just might think it is!)

…………… choc’late ripples or choc’late tipples,
Choc’late ruffles or choc’late truffles,
Choc’late kisses for sweet young misses,
Soft and creamy, completely dreamy………
(excerpted from the ‘The Golden Age of Chocolate’ – Willy Wonka)

And so it began, a SWEET invitation from the folks at Scharffen Berger® to participate in their Chocolate Adventure Contest. As part of the contest this year, daring cooks – professional and amateur- were invited to develop original and creative recipes with Scharffen Berger products and to incorporate one or more of 16 enticing ‘adventure ingredients’. Adventure ingredients were: fresh mint, fresh or crystallized ginger, pandan leaf, banana leaf, sumac, raw honey, cacao nibs, fresh or whole dried chili pepper, malbe, peanut butter, back-eyed peas, rice flour, papaya, cumin, paprika, smoked sea salt. The key personality behind the competition – Chef Elizabeth Falkner of Citizen Cake and Orson.

Never having done this type of competition before, I spent a great deal of time developing a list of eligible recipe ideas. I submitted two recipes for consideration in the ‘sweet’ category, and one of those two submissions made it into the top 16 out of over 1,000 entries.

While my ranking was not a prize holding spot, it was truly an honor to be among the likes of this group of contestants. It was a blast to cook under the guise of a new purpose- not just for dinner or a party, but to compete and create a recipe with a competitive directive. The end result — two recipes I am thrilled with ….and the near winner will be shared with you today. It is a seemingly wacky combo of ingredients but one well worth trying if you are willing to move away from those traditional desserts and put forward an eye-popping treat.

Spicy Chacon (Chocolate Bacon) Peanut Brittle

Peanut Brittle Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 cup butter
2 -3/4 cup lightly salted, dry roasted peanuts
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla

Peanut Brittle Directions

Prepare 2 baking sheets with cooking spray or butter. Set aside

In small bowl, dissolve baking soda in water and vanilla. Set aside.

In a 4 quart saucepan, heat together sugar, corn syrup and water, stirring until sugar dissolves.

When syrup boils, blend in butter. Stir frequently.

When temperature reaches 280 degrees add peanuts. Stir constantly to hard crack stage (305 degrees). Remove from heat; quickly stir in soda, mixing well.

Pour onto baking sheets.

Spicy Chocolate Glaze Ingredients

½ lb bacon, cooked
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (4 oz Scharffen Berger 62% dark chocolate and 2 oz milk chocolate)
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp Hungarian paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp sumac

Spicy Chocolate Glaze Directions

Prepare bacon, cooking on medium-low heat until dry and crispy but not blackened. Set aside on towel to drain and cool. Once cool crumble into medium size pieces.

Melt chocolate and mix in all other ingredients until well blended.

Spread on brittle and then sprinkle with bacon.

Loosen from pan when candy hardens. Break into pieces.
Makes 2 1/2 pounds.

Thank you to the group at TuttiFoodie and Scharffen Berger for the opportunity to compete. I look forward to the next competition!

The video of the final competition judging can be seen at The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest.

Have I stumped you yet? What on earth could I be talking about now? It all starts with an invitation to lunch at an adorable restaurant in Palo Alto called Vino Locale. The proprietor is the seventh son of a seventh son and had quite a personality. While the restaurant is typically closed on Monday, this colorful gentleman played host to a group of ladies serving his finest savory and sweet nibbles. The event was the then upcoming release of Just Let Me Lie Down – the necessary terms for the half-insane working mom – written by Kristin van Ogtrop, the editor of Real Simple.

The food-side chat not only gave great insight into her book, which is wonderfully witty and ironically realistic, she was kind enough to want to learn more about my first book and help me plan the next one! She had some great professional insight and ideas into the marketplace and now has me laser focused on book #2. Speaking of food, (go figure right? how unlike me- not!) one of my favorite excerpts from Kristin’s book Just Let Me Lie Down is a recipe…

Recipe for disaster: Things you believe you can accomplish in the kitchen during those deluded moments when you think devoting an entire day to cooking actually works with your schedule and lifestyle. Including, but not limited to, osso bucco, cassoulet, and pavlova. (She is a woman/mother after my own heart.)

And Kristin even manages to encapsulate my mobile dependency when she writes about Technical bipolarism: When you wake up in the morning and can’t imagine how you would get through life without your BlackBerry, but by bedtime, you want to strap a bomb to it and blow it to smithereens. (Heck yeah!)

I’ve selected this recipe from my treasure trove just might fit the bill- easy to make and allows time for the cook to ‘just lie down’ and take a nap. It makes a nice side dish or light stand alone meal. It is one of my favorite summer recipes taught to me by my Zia Maria Rosa when we spent some time one summer in La Maremma, Italy. The weather there is so hot in the summer that the dinner meal is typically prepared at breakfast when it is still cool enough to turn on the oven. This recipe can easily be modified to include most anything yummy in your fridge or pantry — the possibilities are endless, have fun with it and know that in some way this reflection of my time spent in Italy ties back to my chance meeting with Kristin to celebrate her new book and our discussion of my upcoming cook book – it’s really all just ‘Real Simple’.

Maremma Rice Salad

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice
1 cup dry mozzarella, cubed
1/2 cup peas, cooked
1/2 cup pearl onions, cooked
6-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBS red wine vinegar
2 TBS mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook rice according to package directions. Set aside to cool. Slightly under cook peas and onions and drain and set aside. In large size bowl, mix all prepared ingredients together. Then add Parmesan cheese olive oil, vinegar and mayonnaise.

Special thanks to my good friend Stacy Libby for all of her photos from the luncheon. For a great blog-time check her out on Laptop TV Mom at www.ltvmom.com. And thanks to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog for the wonderful opportunity to meet Kristin. You can order Kristin’s book on Amazon.

Gina von Esmarch, Kristin van Ogtrop & Stacy Libby

While I could tout that the best place to find the freshest produce is at your local farmer’s market, I must tell you that I am not 100% on that band wagon. I think there are some farmer’s markets that are hiring people to take their unrefrigerated produce out on the local circuit as it has become much more en vogue to purchase one’s produce in this fashion- the problem, is that when it is not freshly grown and picked by the “local” farmer, it is again traveling around long distances, remaining unrefrigerated and really worse for you than if you had purchased it in a super market. I know. I know, this is difficult to hear (or read). We all want to know our local grocers and while you can’t throw one bad apple out with the lot, you do have to be a bit of an investigative consumer. I jest you not, this has turned into a big business! Enough of my rant on what how to be a savvy earth-friendly food shopper. Let’s get to the grits of this post or at least the fava bean. I came across this recipe from @CityMama and instantly LOVED it. It quickly became a hit around my house and the bright green hue of these beans seem like just the right color to kick-off my Earth Day Tribute!

Be sure to read the entire recipe as there are two sets of ingredients and two sets of directions – all very easy and quick to put together!

Fava Bean Crostini with Shaved Pecorino Romano

Fava Bean Crostini Ingredients

3-4 lbs of fava beans, shelled and boiled as described below, then skinned
1 clove of garlic
extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
pecorino romano, shaved with a potato peeler
thinly sliced toasted bread or toasted pita wedges

Notes: Approximately 3-4 pounds of fava beans in their pods to yield about a cup of pureed favas. They go so well with garlic and your best, fruitiest olive oil, and if you have a food processor you can make these pre-dinner treats in just a few minutes. You can use any assertive, flavorful hard cheese like parmesan, caciota di boschi, aged goat gouda etc.

Fava Bean Crostini Directions

Favas do require a little work but the reward is so worth it. You have to shell the beans and then remove the skin that covers each individual bean. Look for pods with small-to-medium-sized beans. They are sweeter, and when the beans are small you don’t necessarily need to remove the skin that covers the bean. The larger the beans are, the tougher the skin on the bean. Place the shelled but unskinned beans into boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes, then drain them and shock them in an ice bath. The skins will soften and shrivel and you can pop them right off.

Place favas in bowl of food processor with garlic. Turn on motor and through food tube, slowly drizzle olive into bowl in a thin stream until favas as creamy and almost smooth, about the consistency of hummus. Taste for salt and remove the puree to a bowl.

Crostini Ingredients

1 loaf crusty bread, sliced into 1/2-inch slices (better if it is a day+ old)
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Crostini Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

On a baking sheet, arrange the bread slices in a single layer Bake until bread is golden brown and crisp, approximately 9-12 minutes. Put a generous teaspoon of fava bean puree atop a slice of toasted bread and shave pecorino romano over it. Grind pepper over and serve. Refrigerate any leftover puree.

Serves approximately 20 pieces.

I recently had the opportunity to see Chef Michael Chiarello. I had been to Tra Vigne frequented his store Napa Style and am setting my plan for a special visit to Bottega this summer. He has captivated me on TV and is no less charming in person- what I did discover is that he is a wonderful story teller and that he too has his roots in Southern Italy.

Leading the charge to unearth some really wonderful insights into the life and times of Michael was Table Hopper’s Marcia Gagliardi (yes, another Pisan you can follow on Twitter @tablehopper). And to finish off the evening was a recipe for one of Michael’s ‘bites’ and then a tasting of the recipe paired with some wine from his private vineyard.

There are three videos to this post two which show Chef Chiarello making the artichoke crostini bites and the other from his interview with Marcia when he speaks of how he learned to tenderize an octopus while cooking for the King of Thailand. I encourage you to watch all three as they could quickly become party stories amongst the foodies.

Artichoke Crostini Bites
Note: There are two ingredients lists and two sets of directions.

Chef Chiarello’s Tips/Tricks:
1) Select artichokes that are tightly closed heads and be sure to trim away any dark green spots. These will be bitter.
2) He likes to call this one of his master recipes as it is truly versatile. It can be used as an appetizer, as this recipe depicts, or as a sauce for fish, as a pesto for pasta or even as a soup by adding a few new nuances.
3) To make this into a pesto: add 1/2 cup tightly packed (cleaned) basil when blending. As a fish sauce, add a bit of tarragon, for a soup add in some extra broth and cream.

Artichoke Puree Ingredients

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
3 large cloves garlic, quartered lengthwise
1 tsp thyme leaves, finely chopped fresh
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 medium size or 4 large artichokes (or 1 12oz-package frozen artichokes, thawed)*
1 15-oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup Pecorino Romano, grated
1 tsp lemon zest
Burrata cheese-optional for topping

Note: If you are using frozen artichokes you will want to peel off a few leaves to deep fry as decoration. If you are using fresh artichokes you may want to use a mandolin and thinly slice 1/2 of an artichoke as decoration.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Working with one artichoke at a time, bend the tough outter leaves backwards until they break (the video shows exactly how to do this). Continue to remove the leaves in the manner until reaching the more tender interior leaves that are at a yellowish green color. Taking a serrated knife, cut across the leaves at the point where the color changes from yellowish to dark green. Trim the stem of its outer layer, then trim the base to 1-2 inches removing any dark green spots. Quarter the artichokes lengthwise and scoop out the purple colored choke. Place the quarter artichokes in a large size bowl, add in the the lemon juice, salt and pepper turning to coat.

In a deep ovenproof pan, combine 1/2 cup olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Add the artichokes and mix to coat. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Cover with pan with aluminum foil, transfer to the oven, and cook until the artichokes are slightly browned and tender when pierced, approximately 35 minutes. Remove from oven, set aside and cool in the liquid. Remove the bay leaf.

When the artichokes are cooled, place along with the liquid into a food processor, add beans, cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Pulse until the mixture is chunky. With the machine running, slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and process until smooth.

Remove Burrata cheese from the refrigerator.

Serves 8 – 10 (makes approximately 2 cups)

Crostini Ingredients

1 loaf crusty bread, sliced into 1/2-inch slices (better if it is a day+ old)
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Crostini Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the bread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

On a baking sheet, arrange the bread slices in a single layer. Using a pastry brush, brush the bread with 1/4 cup of the oil. (If you don’t have a pastry bush, just drizzle olive oil over the bread.) Bake until golden brown and crisp, approximately 9-12 minutes.

Bake until bread is golden brown and crisp, about 8 to 9 minutes. Spoon the artichoke mixture onto the crostini. Place a piece of Burrata cheese on top (or sprinkle Parmesan cheese), add decorate with fried artichoke hearts. Drizzle with oil and serve.

To follow Chef Michael Chiarello on Twitter @ChefChiarello
Let me know if you loved his method for squeezing lemons as much as I did. I tried it but found it was a bit painful. My aunt’s secret to getting all of the lemon juice out of the lemon is to first roll the lemons on a firm surface to soften them. She then places them one at a time in the microwave for 35 seconds, cuts them open and squeezes the juice out.