Cucumber Avocado Gazpacho

I am in the Berkshires this week visiting my family.  For those who haven't been, the Berkshires are an area in Western Mass stretching from the CT border up to Williamstown, home of Williams College.  It's filled with New England towns, farms, lakes, antique shops, good restaurants, and cultural attractions like Tanglewood, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and Shakespeare Theater.  


On Wednesday, my mom and I drove up to Lenox to visit some of the boutiques and have lunch.  We went to the Patisserie Lenox, a place she had visited before for its great coffee and pastries.  They also serve lunch and we decided to share a spinach croissant and salad.  On a whim, I suggested we order the cucumber avocado gazpacho.  I'm not ordinarily a gazpacho fan -- it used to remind me too much of V-8 juice - but I was hot, thirsty and the infusion of vegetables sounded good.  And after trying this recipe, I'm a convert.  

The Patisserie is owned by a husband and wife, Jean Yves and Yulia.  She does the cooking and tea selection, and he makes the pastries.  Yulia generously shared her gazpacho recipe with us.  She didn't follow any particular recipe but used her tastebuds as a guide, adding and tweaking to achieve the right balance.  The addition of the avocado gave the soup the right amount of creaminess and depth to balance the tart, raw flavors of the cucumber and tomato.  The herbs helped keep the flavor interesting.  I also bought a raspberry brioche for Noah, but unfortunately only a third of it made its way home.  I had to reframe the gift: instead of buying him a brioche, I "saved him a third of my brioche".  

Yulia in front of her tea selection

I made the soup this morning and as we enter the first day of a heat wave, I'm thankful to have several cold meals sitting in the refrigerator.  

Ingredients 
6 pounds tomatoes
2 pounds cucumbers
2 avocados
2 lemons
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of oregano
salt
pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Core the tomatoes and place them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds.  Scoop them out of the water and once they are cool enough, remove the skins.  They should come right off.
2. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers and if you want, peel them.  I peeled about half of each cucumber, to leave some texture.
3. Chop 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups of cucumbers and set aside.  
4. Wash and chop the herbs.
5. Add the tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and herbs to a food processor machine and blend.  You want everything well mixed but leave some flecks of various vegetables and herbs.  
6. Remove from the blender and season with the juice of 1-2 lemons, salt and pepper to taste.  Add in the remaining chopped tomatoes and cucumbers.

A Week of Abundance

Last week was one I will always cherish. We Had Grace home from San Francisco to help us celebrate Katharine's birthday, Luke's graduation and Fathers Day. It was a beehive of activity at our house, the porch to be cleaned and decorated, plants and yard to be manicured (in a very loose sense) and food to be prepared. I love that my family worked together to make it all happen. We will remember the preparation as much as the parties.

Katharine's birthday party at the lake 

Tim flipping amazing Whole Food bacon and bleu cheese burgers

English Trifle Birthday Extravaganza (more on that to come)


Dinner out at Abbott's, an old time Connecticut favorite.

 Waterlilly Wednesday at Doolittle

Luke's graduation party on the porch

Luke's Graduation

Father's Day brunch on the porch

Father's Day Strawberry Short Cake at the cabin

We had  a week filled with family and friends. Our reasons to celebrate followed the days of the week. I am ever grateful for my week of abundance.

Mediterranean Farro Salad

On Tuesday one of my friends hosted a small potluck dinner party to celebrate her birthday.  The theme was Mediterranean foods.  As Wikipedia very helpfully explains, Mediterranean foods are from the 21 countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and includes lots of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, yoghurts and cheeses, nuts, rice, beans, fish and poultry.  So pretty much everything.

I do think Mediterrean is evocative of a certain type of cuisine though - it brings to mind ripe fruit and veggies straight from the garden with minimal preparation, a liberal use of olive oil in the dishes, rich yoghurt and cheeses, grilled foods, and bright, fresh herbal flavors like mint, parsley, basil, and dill.

It was a lovely dinner and there was a lot to celebrate - a birthday, new jobs, a graduation, an engagement, and several upcoming vacations.  I made a Farro* salad.  This salad came to mind as I thought about the different ingredients used that grow well near the Mediterranean, and which ones would complement each other.  Once you cook the Farro this is pretty much an assembly line salad with minimal prep time.

*I'm actually not sure whether I used Farro or Barley.  I didn't label them after I bought them at the grocery store and they look astoundingly similar.  If anyone has a trick to tell them apart, let me know.  At the end of the day though, it doesn't matter which one you use in this salad.

Mediterranean Farro Salad
3 cups cooked Farro or Barley (I cooked my Farro using a 2 to 1 water to grain ratio with the lid on.  If the water gets low and it still isn't cooked, just add more.)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup black pitted kalamata olives
1/3 cup feta, crumbled (I usually buy Sheep's milk feta in a block.  Pre-crumbled feta tends to be too dry and flavorless in my opinion)
1/3 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup toasted pistachios
fresh ground pepper
juice from half a lemon

1. Cook the Farro and add the raisins, olives, feta, mint, and pistachios.  Mix well.
2. Add the juice from half a lemon and generous twist of pepper.  My olives and feta were already salty so I didn't add add more but definitely adjust for your taste.

shrimp, scallops, and VODKA sauce - a meal to remember

Tossed with Spinach and Penne

The best vodka ever for cooking and for sipping.

I tried to come up with some cute name for this post but then realized that this meal is too regal for cute. It is a meal to remember and one you will make again. Of course the king of this recipe is the vodka.  I chose Smuggler's Notch Vodka because it is smooth and perhaps the best on the east coast. Smuggler's Notch is located in northern Vermont near Jeffersonville. Two hundred years ago smugglers actually transported goods across to Canada through this very steep winding pass. Today it is better known as a trail to the ski resort, which is ironic because it is closed in the winter time.  

My nephew Jeremy, a skilled chemist who lives just at the foot of the Smuggler's Notch, produces this fine beverage and with the help of his wife and mom and dad, developed a thriving product. His vodka has become a leading ingredient for many well known chefs in the area and beyond, including Peter McLyman of the Country Club of Vermont and Smugglers Notch Distillery, who created this royal dish that inspired me. Let me introduce you to this imperial meal. 

Dinner in Vermont with Marcia, Dawn, young Ridge, my brother Ron and husband Winter. Jeremy was out on vodka business.

Always begin with the best

Saute stirring often

Spinach, shallots, garlic and tomato ready to go.

Saute seperatly stirring often.

Vodka, marinara sauce, cream, salt and pepper

Self explanatory

Your Majesty

Easy Creamy Smugglers Notch Vodka Sauce

with Sauteed Shrimp and Scallops toseed with penne and spinach

serves four

  3 T oil

12 each shrimp

12 each bay scallops  

 1 T shallot

 1 tsp minced garlic

 2 each Roma tomato

sliced thin

 2 cups baby spinach

1/4 cup Smuggler’s Notch Vodka

  1 cup Marinara sauce

  1 cup cream

  salt and pepper to taste

Cooked Penne

Fresh

Grated Pecorino Romano

STEP BY STEP

1 Peel and Devein the Shrimp; Remove foot from the Scal!ops

2 Rinse under cold water and pat dry

3 Heat a large sauce pan

4 Add the corn oil and add the shrimp and scallops

5 Season  with salt and black pepper

6 After about 1-2 minutes stir the shrimp and scallops 

7 Cook for several minute more and remove from pan - (shrimp will turn white and ***the scallops should be a nice carmelized brown*** set aside

8 Then add a bit more oil to pan and toss together the shallots, garlic, tomato and spinach and saute until softened 

9 Remove from heat and add the VODKA  and then put back on to heat *** Be careful of the flame produced by the vodka -- pour the measured amount of vodka needed in a glass away from any flames. Do not pour from the bottle**

10 Once the alochol has cooked off , add the marinara and cream

11 Add salt and Pepper

12 Let simmer for about 2 minutes and then add fresh grated Pecorino Romano and cooked pasta

13 Simmer for another minute

14  Serve in individual bowls or one large family style dish and top with remaining cheese


Enjoy my Friends and Family,

Jude