Italian Salsa

from Cindy Flores:

1cup chopped yellow cherry tomatoes ( I sometimes use just regular yellow tomatoes)

1cup chopped red cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

Sea salt and pepper

4tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

Crackers

Basil leaves for garnish

Place olive oil and vinegar in small jar and shake to combine thoroughly.   Pour dressing over tomato mixture and refrigerate.  Garnish with basil leaf.  

Reverse Antipasto

From Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook

Marinate vegetables: 1 cup red wine vinegar, 3/4 olive oil, 1 qt. water, a little garlic, 2 T. salt, and herbs of your choice. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Add vegetables and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate up to a month.

One quarter of the plate: small amounts of meat and cheese: sopressata, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella balls, pecorino.

Second quarter of the plate: olives, dried or fresh fruit, spices nuts, sweet or hot pickles, roasted garlic.

Last half of plate: VEGGIES--fennel, artichoke hearts, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, mushrooms.

Proper British Scones

Beth’s Proper British Scones

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
4 ½ Tbs butter (cold)
⅔ cup milk (+ 1 Tbs for egg wash)
1 egg yolk

1.  Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and sea salt.
2.  Drop in the butter in tiny cubes and work with fingers until no butter is larger than a pea. Add the milk and mix briefly, just enough to bind the wet with the dry. Do NOT overmix.
3.  Drop onto a well-floured board and knead very quickly only 3-4 times.
4.  Pat into a circle about 1 inch thick and cut out scones with a small glass or cookie cutter. Knead together remaining dough and cut out more scones until all the dough has been used.
5.  Beat the egg yolk lightly with one Tbs of milk and brush the tops of the scones with mixture.
6.  Bake on baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with clotted cream and jam. Or don’t, if you’re anywhere outside of the UK, and serve instead with a forlorn little mound of butter and a pot of orange marmalade, and wonder how much it would cost to have clotted cream shipped to you in small batches.

Mini scones are cute too. Herb scone with sun-dried tomato ricotta or cream cheese and prosciutto.