Recipes you should know volume 3
Recipes you should know volume 3
A lavender blueberry phyllo crinkle cake, my perfect Caprese sandwich, creamy caramelized zucchini bucatini, and more
Hello hello! Welcome to your monthly installment of all the recipes I posted on Instagram that didn’t make it to the newsletter. This is the place for those of you who don’t follow me on Instagram (easy to change that here) or those of you that want printable PDFs of the recipes I share there.
September was full of lots of late summer deliciousness. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
My Perfect Caprese Sandwich
Unpopular opinion maybe, but while I love a Caprese, I do feel like it’s missing some texture and crunch. Tomatoes and mozzarella are great, but they’re both just… soft. That’s why I like to add a big pile of arugula to mine along with the fried jalapeños from TJ’s that add crunch and spice. Plus some olive tapenade along with the pesto because I 🤍 olives. To me, she’s perfect.
Serves: 1
Cook time: 5 minutes
Olive and rosemary baguette or your favorite bread
Pesto
Olive tapenade
Fresh mozzarella
Sliced tomatoes, salted
Fresh basil
Arugula
Olive oil
Fried jalapeños (or fried shallots/onions)
Flaky salt
Toast your bread, then spread one side with pesto and the other with olive tapenade (you can also use the olive pesto from Trader Joe’s, which I love!). Add your cheese and salted tomato slices, then place basil leaves on top. Top that with a handful of fresh arugula, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle on your fried jalapeños, and finish with flaky salt. Serve with chips or whatever you like to eat your sandwiches with.
Panzanella With Raw Zucchini Ribbons, Peaches, and Grilled Chicken
This sweet-meet-salty recipe is perfect for those who love a salad with lots of texture. The crunchiness of the croutons plays perfectly with the peaches, mozzarella, grilled chicken, and zucchini ribbons. Don’t think you like raw zucchini? I promise this recipe will change your mind.
Serves: 4
Cook time: 20 minutes
For the croutons:
1⁄2 day-old baguette, torn into bite-sized pieces
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix bread with olive oil on a baking sheet and season generously with salt, then bake for 10-12 minutes, tossing every few minutes, until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
For the chicken:
3/4 lb chicken breasts (I opt for the thinly sliced cutlets to save on cooking time, but regular breasts will work, too)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
Mix together all ingredients. Let sit for 15 minutes to come up to room temp. Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken for 5-8 minutes on first side until golden brown (5 for thin sliced cutlets, closer to 8 for regular breasts), flip, and continue cooking until golden brown on the second side and cooked till 165 degrees. Remove from the pan, place on a cutting board, and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing into bite-sized chunks.
For the salad:
1 large zucchini, shaved into ribbons using a vegetable peeler
2 peaches, sliced into thin slices
1 8-oz ball mozzarella, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar salt and pepper
Mix croutons and chicken with the rest of the ingredients. Serve immediately.
Lavender Blueberry Phyllo Crinkle Cake
This might just be my new favorite dessert. Think baklava vibes with a heavy hint of Provence. Personally, I love anything floral, and I find lavender to be such a wonderful flavor, especially alongside blueberries. This recipe requires a few steps but is overall quite easy, and the crinkling of the phyllo sheets leaves lots of room for aesthetic errors — my kind of baking project. Excellent with vanilla ice cream but also very good with a cup of coffee for breakfast.
Credit for the OG phyllo crinkle cake goes to Ramena on TikTok.
Serves: 12
Cook time: 1.5 hours
For the custard:
1 cup milk
2 tbsp dried lavender (make sure it’s food grade!)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Add milk and lavender to a small pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-low to low heat. Turn off heat, then strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove lavender. Let cool.
Once cooled, add in the sugar and eggs and whisk until everything is completely mixed.
For the crinkle cake:
1 package phyllo dough
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted (I let my brown a little bit because I love that flavor)
Preheat oven to 350. Scrunch phyllo sheets up, then arrange into your baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove, pour melted (or browned) butter evenly over the phyllo, and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove, then pour over custard and bake until custard is completely cooked and no longer wobbly, 30-45 minutes. Note I was working with a few sheets short of a whole patches of phyllo, which is why I used a smaller sized baking sheet. I also slightly reduced the amount of butter and custard I poured over the top.
For the Blueberry Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 clamshell (6 oz) blueberries
2 tbsp blueberry jam
Bring everything to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the syrup has thickened — it shouldn’t be loose, lick a cocktail syrup, but sticky. Strain through a sieve and let cool completely.
When the phyllo cake is ready, pour the cooled syrup over the top. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Mortadella, Mozzarella, and Pistachio Phyllo Triangles
If you prefer your phyllo recipes on the savory side, look no further. These little triangles are easy to put together but feel very fancy, and are perfect for when you’re entertaining or just want something delicious to enjoy with a glass of wine.
Makes: 8
Cook time: 30 minutes
3-4 sheets of phyllo dough
8 thin slices of mortadella
1⁄2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1⁄3 cup chopped pistachios
1 egg, beaten
Flaky salt for garnishing
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Start by cutting your phyllo sheets into long rectangles. Starting on the shorter side, cut each sheet into 3 long pieces. Each strip will make one triangle and this recipe is only for 8, but since phyllo can tear and dry out very quickly, I recommend having a few extras just in case.
Place 1 slice of mortadella, 1 tbsp of the mozzarella, and a sprinkle of pistachios at the end of a strip of phyllo. Take the bottom right corner of phyllo dough and fold it up and towards the left, creating a triangle shape. Keep folding the triangle until you have reached the end of the strip. Place your triangles on a baking sheet, and brush with the egg. Sprinkle with flaky salt and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Creamy Caramelized Zucchini Bucatini
A creamy pasta without any cream? Yes, please. For this recipe, we’re going to cook fresh zucchini in lots of olive oil until it’s pretty much completely broken down, turning it into a lush, luxurious sauce that coats ever strand of pasta to perfection. Some butter and parmesan cheese add just the right amount of richness, while a splash of vinegar makes it bright and irresistible.
Serves: 2-3
Cook time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
1/4 cup O Olive Oil and Vinegar Extra Virgin Olive OIl
1 large onion, chopped
1.5 lbs zucchini, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 tbsp O Olive Oil and Vinegar Aged Sherry Vinegar
3 tbsp butter
1 cup parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 oz bucatini (about 2/3 of a pack), cooked until al dente
In a medium dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, season with salt, and cook, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until soft and starting to caramelize, about 12-15 minutes. If onions seem to be browning too quickly, turn down the heat.
Add in your zucchini along with more salt. Mix everything up, then cover and cook, stirring every 5 or so minutes, until zucchini is completely broken down and starting to caramelize, about 30-40 minutes. Use the back of a wooden spoon to gently smush the zucchini as you’re cooking, and keep an eye on it — if the zucchini at the bottom of the pot starts to get a bit too brown, turn the heat down.
Add Aged Sherry Vinegar, butter, parmesan, and freshly ground black pepper, and stir until combined. Add in your al dente bucatini along with a ladle of pasta water. Toss to combine — you want a glossy sauce that coats the strands. Add more pasta water if necessary.
Serve with more parmesan cheese and an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
An Indulgent Chocolate Peanut Tartine
This is not so much a recipe as it is a suggestion, but Bonne Maman’s new Peanut Chocolate Spread on a piece of toasted, buttered baguette topped with some flaky salt is an absolute delight.
Baguette, toasted
Salted butter
Bonne Maman Peanut Chocolate Spread
Flaky Salt
Spread butter on baguette, then spread on Peanut Chocolate Spread. Top with flaky salt.