Tyrokavteri: Feta and Roasted Red Pepper dip

Once again, this is another recipe inspired from something I tried at a restaurant. It was at Giorgio's in Milford, NH. They have a great menu in general but sadly I don't think this appetizer is on it anymore. My version is a little thinner and spicier than Giorgio's but the flavor is very similar. It's creamy, sweet and tangy and takes all of 5 minutes to make.

Ingredients

8oz block light cream cheese, softened
2.5 oz feta cheese
1 large roasted red bell pepper, drained
1 large garlic clove
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons half and half or light cream
2 teaspoons Oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (use less if you're sensitive to spice)
black pepper

Pulse the cream cheese, garlic, and roasted bell pepper in a food processor. When the pepper is well broken up and the mixture becomes a salmon color, add the feta, oregano, pepper flakes and black pepper. Pulse until the feta is broken up thoroughly. While the machine is running, add the lemon juice and half and half and blend for 20 seconds or so. I don't add salt because the feta is salty enough for my taste. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve with pita chips or raw vegetables.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Simple Mac and Cheese

I was making dinner tonight and realized I needed a starch or I'd be pigging out again in three hours. While the chicken grilled and the greens were braising, I rummaged around in the cabinets to see what our options were. I didn't feel like rice, couscous, or bulgur. Pasta might work but, I didn't have any store bought sauce and I didn't feel like making something that was going to take 45 minutes. Mmmm, mac and cheese? Well, shells and cheese, I guess since that's what I used.

I can't stand boxed mac and cheese and most baked are too dry (despite being loaded with cream and fat!) I'm not even remotely skilled when it comes to making white sauces but I had some cheddar and goat cheese in the fridge that need to be used up (I don't like to waste food-learned family trait!) so I figured I'd at least try. If it didn't work out, we could always just have some toast with the rest of dinner.

Anyhow, it came out creamy and smooth and since I used chicken stock instead of several cups of cream, it's slightly better for you than what you've probably had in the past. I bet it would be awesome with some broccoli stirred in.

This makes 4 large side dish portions but the recipe can easily be doubled to feed more.

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half
couple shakes of worcestershire sauce
couple light shakes of hot sauce
kosher salt
black pepper
1/2 tsp ground dry mustard
2 oz goat cheese
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
6oz of your favorite pasta shape (makes about 3 cups cooked)

Fill a pasta pot with water, add a dash of salt and a small drizzle of olive oil (the oil prevents the water from boiling over) and bring to a boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, heat a medium saucepan to medium and melt the two tablespoons of butter in it. Next, add the flour and stir frequently until the flour is well mixed in and browned (3 minutes or so) then add both the half and half and chicken stock and raise to a simmer, stiring occasionally. When the mixture has thickened (4 or 5 minutes), add salt, pepper, worcestershire, hot sauce and dry mustard. Stir well and turn off heat. Cover. Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to the directions. Drain pasta when tender and return to pot. Add goat and cheddar cheese, and pour in your sauce. Mix until the cheeses have melted and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve!

Try stiring in broccoli, spinach or tomatoes, or substituting gruyere, emmentaler, or gouda for the goat cheese. Or add some cooked bacon and mushrooms. Yum!

I promise, one of these days I'll post a couple recipes that don't have dairy in them!

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Calzones with Roast Beef, Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions

Growing up, my mom made calzones for almost any occasion: Birthdays, Christmas Eve, Saturday night dinner etc. She'd bake pizza dough filled with layered spinach, lunch meats (like salami, ham and turkey), american cheese and cooked green and red peppers and onions. As a kid, I hated vegetables like most kids, and my sisters and I would pull the peppers and onions out and give them to my mom or dad to eat. Mom made the calzones frequently enough that they now rest in my mind as one of the ultimate comfort foods. This is a little richer than the ones Mom made but just as tasty, I think! I have never been able to master rolling out the dough and wrapping it uniformly around the meats. My mom had a lot more patience and skill than I do and so her calzones always looked pretty and even. My way is a little more haphazard, but it gets the job done and the food into the belly. I use many of the same ingredients mom did, but have changed some of the ingredients to make my own version. This can be served hot for dinner or straight out of the fridge cold as a snack.

I use rare roast beef sliced thin from the deli here. I know a lot of people worry about the safety of using undercooked meats but you're going to be cooking. I think regular roast beef gets too dry during the cooking process. Rare will be cooked well by the time it comes out of the oven, but it will still be juicy and flavorful. Again, just one of my personal preferences.

Blue cheese is very pungent and there are a lot of bad blue cheeses out there. I try to use a good blue like (English) Stilton, (French) Roquefort, or (Italian) Gorgonzola. I've used Danish Blue before but I think it's too sharp and salty. You can smell it when you open the refrigerator and that's too much for me. If you aren't a big blue cheese fan, try the blue cheese crumbles in the deli section of your store. The flavor is a lot more mild than the cheese I mention here (and you don't have to get messy trying to crumble your own!).

Ingredients

1 ball raw pizza dough (found in the bakery or deli area)
1 10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3/4 lb rare roast beef, thinly sliced
1-2 oz good blue cheese, crumbled
1 large red bell pepper, roughly chopped
10 oz mushrooms, white button or portobello
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
kosher salt
black pepper
couple tbsp of flour
optional: 1-2 tbsp of cornmeal
*You'll also need a handful of toothpicks

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the butter and 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat till hot but not smoking. Place the sliced onions in the pan, and give them a quick stir. Cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes. Give another stir and lower heat (hot enough to still cook but low enough so they don't burn!) Cover with a lid and don't touch them for 10 minutes. While the onions are cooking, heat the other tbsp of olive oil in another skillet over medium heat and add the mushrooms and red bell pepper and cook until the mushrooms are brown and the peppers are softened. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper in the last minute or two of cooking and remove to a plate till ready to use. Check the onions and give a stir. They should be browning. Sprinkle generously (not heavily though!) with salt. The salt will help draw out the rest of their moisture and aid the caramelizing process. You do NOT need to add sugar to caramelize onions. Cook for 5-10 more minutes, stirring occasionally and keep covered.

While the onions are finishing up, sprinkle a clean surface with a little flour. Rub flour onto a rolling pin and roll out your dough into a rectangle. It should be just slightly smaller than the cookie sheet you will put the calzone on. If you're like me, you will have great difficulty getting the dough to remain in the shape you want it to (suggestions anyone?). If you are using cornmeal, sprinkle it lightly on the cookie sheet and put the dough rectangle on top. The cornmeal prevents the dough from sticking to the pan. (I always wondered what that gritty stuff on the bottom of your pizza was. It's cornmeal!) Stretch the dough to fit the pan as much as you can and then evenly distribute the spinach down the center of the dough (see picture). Next, layer the roast beef down the center, overlapping until you've used all the roast beef. Evenly distribute the blue cheese down the center, use your (clean of course!) hands to break it up if you are not using crumbles. And last, pile the vegetables down the middle. You'll have a ton of veggies and they will spill all over the sides. It's not a big deal.

Here's the part, that, try as I might, I can't get right. I'm afraid I am dough-challenged. If you're normal and can work with dough properly, tuck in the head and foot flap of dough over the mound of ingredients and then fold the left side of the dough on top, then fold over the right (sort of like closing a box lid), stretching the dough if you need to. Seal in the center with toothpicks (I end up with 7-9 down the center). If you have troubles, like me, your dough will keep returning to the cookie sheet. So, I pin with toothpicks as I go, pulling left and right sides of dough as if I'm semi-braiding the dough together. Please see pictures and feel free to ask questions. (I know that I'm not explaining this as well as I could!)

Once you've got the whole thing wrapped up and toothpicked, slice vents in the dough every two inches or so, in between your toothpicks and then bake for 20-22 minutes. The calzone will be lightly browned and the dough cooked all the way through when it's ready.

Cool slightly and then cut into pieces by slicing along the vents. 1 calzone serves 4 (about 2 pieces each). You'll find yourself making this again and again.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

A Few of my Favorite (Food) Things

I'm a big fan of making most things from scratch. Especially for things that really don't take much time to make yourself ( salad dressings, pesto, sauces, soups etc). Why buy a pre-made version that's full of sodium and preservatives or high fructose corn syrup (and probably doesn't taste all that good), when you can whip it up yourself? But we all run into occasions when we need to use something premade, because of a lack of time (you just got out of work and have a party to go to in an hour) or a need for convenience (you're exhausted and just boiling water for pasta seems like a monumental task) and at those times I'll cheat and use a store bought product. However, this isn't the only time I cheat. Once in a while a store bought product comes along that tastes good enough to be home made (and isn't filled with bad for you ingredients). This is a starter list of my favorite pre-made / store bought items (in no particular order!). Scroll over the titles for links to websites.



1. Wildly Delicious Fine Foods, Peppercorn Shallot Merlot Bread Dipper

I stumbled upon this one year while doing Christmas shopping when I lived in Portsmouth and J and I both immediately fell in love with it. Of course, the store I found it in stopped selling it shortly after so I went on a quest to find it elsewhere. I found it finally and have been ordering it in large shipments ever since. As the label says, it's absolutely delicious to dip your crusty bread into (who needs butter?) and I recommend using it also as a salad dressing or marinade for chicken. It's the perfect mix of tangy vinegar and oil. A 12.6 oz bottle retails around $11. The website (link above) can point you to online retailers as well as local stores near you that may carry it. They sell 6 or 7 other flavors that you may also want to try.

2. Taverna Classic Spinach Pie

You'll find this one in the freezer section of most grocery stores and it retails for almost $4. It comes in a green cardboard container that you actually cook the pie in (yay, no dishes!). My mom started buying this after realizing that it tasted pretty close to her own homemade Spinach Pie (which tasted delicious but took hours to assemble). I bought it a few times in college since I didn't know how to cook and the directions were easy and I've continued to buy it since to keep on hand when I don't feel like cooking but want something yummy, healthy and can essentially cook itself! Pop it in the oven and 50 minutes later dinner is done. Think of all the things you can get done while it's cooking! I serve it with some butternut squash with butter and brownsugar. Lots of iron, Vit K, A, & C, folate, magnesium, and potassium and it tastes good without too much fat or sodium. Oh and it's made in Boston (and it's nice to buy somewhat locally).

3. Northeast Kingdom Spicy Maple Mustard

I love my mustards (and no, I don't make my own so I guess this doesn't fit the bill in my description above but it's staying!) and I'm always trying new flavors. We were camping in Vermont this summer and visited the Cabot Creamery when I discovered this one. They have a room where you can sample just about anything. J, me and our friends pretty much spent a good 40 minutes hovering around the cheese table poking toothpicks into each flavor of cheese (so many to try!) and then we moved on to their flavored mustards, dips and maple syrups. Awesome! This mustard is just one of the great products they sell there, I absolutely recommend stopping in if you are ever near Cabot (which is also near the Long Trail Brewery, could be a great day tip, oops, I've gone off on a tangent!). I wouldn't normally think maple and mustard would go together. The idea actually grossed me out, but I have a young unrefined palate, I have no clue what goes together till I taste it. It's pretty spicy, just a little sweet and only has ingredients you can pronounce. A 9.75 oz jar will run you $5. As an adorable side note, I ordered my second set of jars (we finished the one we bought at Cabot within a week of coming home) in December and when they arrived they came with a personalized note from the Wheeler family (the owners). So cute! Must order more to support their small business.

This list shall be continued in future posts!


*I am not employed with or affiliated with any of these companies. I receive no compensation for mentioning these products here. They're listed here purely for you to enjoy because I enjoy them.*

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Spinach and Goat Cheese

The inspiration for this pizza came from one I tried at a restaurant on Cape Cod. I would have never thought to use fruit as a pizza sauce otherwise. This is one that can be a meal or an appetizer (my pictures are from Christmas when my sister asked me to bring it as an appetizer. Just substitute 3 or 4 mini pizza shells for 1 large one and cut into 1/8ths). I love eating this for dinner. It's not low-calorie but figs are high in fiber so that makes them okay in my book.

Ingredients

1 cup Black Mission Figs (dried are fine)
2 - 3 tbsps olive oil
5 cloves roasted garlic or 2 fresh
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
kosher salt and black pepper
4 oz prosciutto, chopped
10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry.
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 premade thin style pizza crust
optional: caramelized onions, mushrooms and/or bell peppers.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop the figs roughly and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan with a little water. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the figs begin to soften. Drain the water and reserve it for later. Put the figs, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary in a food processor. Pulse until well chopped. Slowly stream in some of the reserved fig water while pulsing. The mixture will be thick but should be easily spreadable. Add more liquid if needed. Adjust the seasonings if needed (I like mine flavored with a lot of garlic and rosemary). Line a cookie sheet or pizza pan with foil and place crust on top. Spread the fig puree onto the crust. It's very sweet so it shouldn't be too thick. If you have extra puree, you can freeze it for later use. Lay the prosciutto pieces across the pizza, covering it evenly. Do the same with the spinach and any other veggies you decide to add (no really, try caramelized onions!). Top last with the goat cheese. Bake for 10 minutes and then leave under the broiler for an additional 3 minutes. Cut in 4 pieces and serve (unless using as an appetizer).

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Pan Seared Scallops and Spinach and Tomato Risotto with Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

Serves 4


I had something similar to this at Giorgio's in Milford, NH a few years ago. It was delicious and simple and I was so thrilled that mid-meal I told J "I can recreate this!" No, it doesn't taste exactly like theirs but I think I've done a pretty good job in creating a similar dish. And the great thing about this meal is that individually each component can be paired with other dishes. The scallops can be added to pasta or served over a salad. The risotto can be served with steak or chicken or swap the spinach and tomato for mushrooms and peas. The aioli can be spread on crusty bread (can't almost everything?) or used as a pasta sauce. Versatility!

People are always afraid to make risotto because you need stir it "constantly". Constantly is a little bit of an exaggeration. If you cook it at the right temperature, you can walk away from it here and there. Enough so that you can prepare the other parts of this meal (which are easy!). I'll start with directions for the Aioli, since that can be made a couple of days ahead of time or while you start the risotto.

One other thing: The reason I use unsalted butter and real wine (rather than cooking wne) is partially because I have high blood pressure (yay genetics!) and need to be careful about my salt intake but also because I don't like my food super salty. Another reason to use real wine is that it tastes better and that's important because that flavor is going to show up in your risotto.

Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

1 1/2 roasted red peppers, patted dry
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, whole or minced
4 tbsp light mayo
kosher salt and black pepper

I run my garlic through a garlic press first so that it evenly distributes finely through the aioli. It's not necessary (since you are using a food processor here) but J and I are both sensitive to textures so its just something I do. Otherwise put all ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and pulse until the pepper is well chopped and the ingredients are well blended. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl and pulse again. Slowly stream in the olive oil with the machine on(most food processors have an opening in the lid for you to do this) until the whole mixture emulsifies. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to a squeezable condiment container or a plastic ziplock bag. If using for a recipe other than this, a container with lid is fine.

Simple Risotto

5 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 tbsps unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
1 large onion, finely diced
2 shallots, finely diced
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
kosher salt and black pepper
3 ripe tomatoes, diced and dried gently with a paper towel
2 cups loosely packed baby spinach leaves

Pour the chicken stock into a saucepan and turn heat to medium-low. In another saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the onion and shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to coat the rice with the pan liquids. When it's well coated add the wine to the pan. Stir and let simmer until it's mostly absorbed. Once the wine is mostly absorbed, add a small ladle of hot stock to the rice and stir. It should be absorbed into the rice in about 2 minutes. Continue adding small ladles full of stock to the rice, one at a time, allowing it to completely absorb ino the rice before adding another. Do this until the stock is gone (20 - 25 minutes). Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach, and tomatoes. Stir well to combine and wilt the spinach. Stir in the parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Pan Seared Scallops

12 Sea Scallops, rinsed well and patted dry
Kosher salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter or olive oil

Liberally season the scallops with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat your choice of fat over medium heat in a medium sized skillet. I use 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil. The butter helps the scallops to caramelize and the olive oil prevents the butter from burning. You can use one or the other or a mixture. It's a personal preference. I even made them with a generous coating of non-stick spray. Once the pan and oil are very hot, place the scallops in the pan in a single layer (you may need to do this in two batches) and sear for 2-3 minutes. Turns the scallops with tongs (they'll easily give when ready to flip) and sear on the other side for 2-3 more minutes. Hopefully your risotto is ready and you can begin to plate everything. If not, place on plate and cover with foil till ready to serve.

To start plating, trim one of the corners of the plastic bag you have the aioli in. Squeeze a repeating zigzag line on each plate. The aioli will act as a flavoring and a garnish so there's a fine line between using too much and not enough. Top the aioli on each plate with 3/4 cup risotto and 3 scallops on top of the risotto. It'll look like you slaved away all day but if you've made risotto before, you can make the entire meal from start to finish in 45 minutes.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Pardon the Hiatus

My internet has been funky at home all week. I have a few things I want to post (pan seared scallops with risotto, calzones, fig and prosciutto pizza etc! mmmm!) but can't seem to log in to blogger when I get home at night. Grrr, Comcast!

Hopefully I'll be back up and running this weekend. I don't think work would appreciate it if I spent time updating my blog from there! haha

Roasted Garlic

The smell of garlic cooking in a kitchen. It's hard not to like it. It can be sharp, spicy, savory, creamy, or sweet and one can find a way to incorporate it into almost anything. Because garlic burns and becomes bitter when you cook it for more than a minute or two at high temperatures (like on a stovetop), my favorite way to make it is by roasting it at a low temperature for a long time. Cooking it like this brings out its buttery sweet flavor and it tuns soft, which means it'll practically melt when you use it.

Ingredients:

1-3 heads of roasted garlic
1-2 tbsp olive oil per head of garlic
kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 375. Lay the head of garlic on it's side and slice across the top so that all the little cloves are now exposed. If the skin is still covering some of the outer cloves, you can pull it off with you fingers or carefully cut them open with a knife. In a small casserole dish, lay a piece of aluminum foil (about twice the length of the dish) and place the heads of garlic in the center. Drizzle the olive oil over the heads on the exposed cloves. The oil keeps the cloves from drying out while cooking. Sprinkle the heads with a little kosher salt and then close the foil over the heads. I pinch the top so that I can easily peek in the little packet and see how they're doing. Put the casserole dish in the oven and set a timer for 45 minutes. Check the garlic at 45 minutes. Open the foil packet and poke the larger cloves gently with a fork. If its done, it'll be really soft and light caramel in color. If its not, drizzle a little more oil, close the foil, and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Let cool and then squeeze the cloves out of the skins. Your hands will get a little greasy but they should pop out pretty easily. Grab yourself a hunk of crusty bread, spread and enjoy. It'll stay good in the fridge for a 7-10 days and freezes well.

Some of my favorite ways to use roasted garlic:
1) Top with olive oil and salt and spread onto crusty bread. It'll spread better than butter.
2) Cook some pasta. Cook a few ripe tomatoes on the stove for 3-4 minutes. Mash 1 or 2 heads with a fork, then whisk into a 1/2 cup of reserved pasta cooking water. Pour the garlic water and cooked tomatoes onto the pasta. Season with salt, pepper and fresh basil.
3) Use alone or mix with a little mayo for a sandwich spread (awesome with veggie paninis and turkey with gruyere and tomatoes).
4) Stir into soups.
5) Add to creamy sauces like alfredo, hollandaise, bearnaise etc.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Most Exciting Christmas Presents! EVER!

I ended up with a little TV in my kitchen after my Aunt N passed away 3 years ago. One thing led to another and I became a die-hard Food Network fan. It's only fitting since Aunt N was a bit of a foodie herself!

I'd watch the shows while making dinner and soon bought the cookbooks of several hosts. Every show had these brightly colored pots and pans as background props (and occasionally they'd cook in them too!). The photography in the books highlighted the gorgeous pieces of enamel and iron like they were the focus of the recipe. I eventually developed pot-envy. Why do they flaunt these spectacular things in front of my face (as I cook in old cheap pots of J's or T-fal pans that belonged to his ex-girlfriend)? hmpf! Once I figured out what they were, the holy grail of cookware LE CREUSET, I wanted my own! But holy crap, who can afford to cook real food when they've spent all their money on pots?? I've been dying to get my hands on this stuff for years but just couldn't get myself to shell out the dough.

Fortunately, I didn't have to because J finally realized that giving a girl like me fancy cookware is better than jewelry! For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive a 5 piece (count them!) Le Creuset set! I got a 3.5 quart dutch oven (with lid), a 9 inch skillet, and a 1 1/4 qt saucepan (with lid). Unwrapping the astronomically heavy box led to much squealing and celebration! Christmas felt like Christmas again!

For those of you who don't know the brand, Le Creuset makes high quality enameled cast-iron cookware. It's oven and dishwasher safe, needs no special treatment like regular cast iron, food won't stick or burn (you have to really let something go to get it to burn in one of these), it heats up evenly no matter how skewed your cooktop burners are, and all their products come in several fun, bright colors. It is a bit pricey, but I think if you're someone who does a lot of cooking, it will end up paying for itself (after you eat Ramen and oatmeal for the first 6 months that is. I think that's actually written in the warranty). It'll last long enough for you to pass on to the next generation, and as a bonus, it can be used as a weapon (the small pot I got weighs 6 lbs!! My cat weighs 7.).

I excitedly used them tonight for the first time. It's so nice to finally be able to cook delicious meals in good pots!

Next, on my list: the 7 1/4 qt dutch oven and 12x9 casserole dish. Maybe I'll spring for one of those myself. Tax refund is coming! Then you'll have something to look at in my pictures other than my ugly stove from 1983.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Smoked Gouda and Sundried Tomato Spread

I have an unhealthy love for all things cream cheese (bagels, cheesecake, creamy soups etc). It's always in my fridge. I needed another appetizer for Thanksgiving a few years ago and didn't feel like hitting the store again so off I went to rummage in the cabinets and fridge to see what I could come up with. This cheese spread is what I ended up putting on the table. Super easy to make and super tasty to eat. All you need is a food processor. The flavor of the smoked gouda will make your vegetarian friends think you are trying to trick them into eating bacon.

Ingredients:

1 8oz block light cream cheese, softened
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated smoked gouda cheese
5-8 sundried tomatoes*
3 cloves or 2 tsps of roasted garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Put the first four ingredients in food processor and pulse until well blended. Taste before adding the salt and pepper (the cheese is salty so it may be unnecessary). Garnish with parsley or basil and serve at room temperature with crackers or pretzel thins.

* I use oil-packed sundried tomatoes but you can certainly use dried ones if that's what you have on hand, just reconstitue them first by pouring boiling water over them and let them soak for 20-30 minutes. They'll release more flavor and be less likely to break your food processor blade if you soften them like this first!







All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley