Another great one from Food and Wine.  Using rotisserie chicken and store-baked ciabatta makes it super fast, too.  Here’s the recipe: Green Goddess Chicken Salad.

The recipe is very “herby” (parsley, basil, oregano and dill — hence the “Green Goddess”) and very fresh (thanks, lemon juice).   The rotisserie chicken and ciabatta make it filling enough for a good weeknight dinner.

Here’s the dressing ready to go.  My only changes to the recipe were to dispense with the anchovies, and to use reduced-fat mayo to make it a little healthier.

I made another substitution in the salad itself — grilled fresh red peppers instead of bottled piquillos.  I know the character of piquillos is a little different from that of red bell peppers, but I preferred using the fresh peppers, quartered and grilled with a little olive oil until soft.  I also omitted the olives from the recipe.

This is the loaf of bread I used in the salad.  Ciabatta is typically a flat square or rectangular loaf.  This was a “twisted ciabatta baguette”– just what my grocery store happened to have.  I sliced it into one-inch slices, quartered those and threw them into the salad.

The Food and Wine article recommends serving this with a rose or a light red like Pinot Noir.  I had a glass of MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir with the salad and it was great.

Instead of the three large baking potatoes called for in the recipe, I used nine small red ones because that’s what I had.  This turned out to be just the right amount, and they cooked in 30 minutes instead of an hour at 450 degrees.

I don’t have a potato ricer or food mill, so I used the next best thing: a sturdy sieve.  I smashed the potatoes through the sieve and that worked fine.

Here are the potatoes after going through the sieve.  The amount from the nine small potatoes made exactly two cups, the amount called for in the recipe.

This is the dough before mixing these ingredients together and adding the flour. You can add the flour gradually until you can tell that the dough will hold together, but not be too stiff or ‘”floury.”

Here’s the dough quartered.  Before I started kneading the dough, it seemed to be just the right consistency — soft and pliable.  Then I got into the kneading and realized it was a little too tacky, so I needed in a little more flour.  You should be able to roll out the ropes of dough without it sticking everywhere, and you should be able to handle the dough without it disintegrating in your hands.  On the other hand, you don’t want it to be tough — the dough should still be tender and very pliable.

“Ropes” of gnocchi before cutting.

Here are the cut potato dumplings.  I forgot to take a picture of them after I put in the grooves with fork tines.  Here’s a link to the best illustration of that process I’ve seen:  How to Make Gnocchi Like an Italian Grandmother.  The explanation I usually see for the grooves is that they help hold the sauce on the gnocchi.

Here’s a panorama of the various ingredients that went into this dish.  Instead of yellow pear tomatoes, I used two “Romana” tomatoes — like extra large Romas.  I quartered them lengthwise and then sliced them about 1/4 inch thick.  I chopped the sage although the recipe called for whole leaves.  I just don’t like getting a whole sage leaf in one bite. The lemon zest adds a lot to the recipe — don’t skip it if you can help it.

In addition to the sage I mentioned, I used a little bit of curly parsley from my herb garden instead of the flat leaf called for in the recipe.  Here the herbs are sauteing in the butter, and the butter is just about to brown.  When it gets to the point of looking a little brown, be careful not to let it go much longer because it can scorch really fast.

Mmm… gnocchi in sage brown butter.  If you have none of the other ingredients on hand, this makes a great meal in itself.  Comfort food at its best.

Here the peas and tomatoes go into the pan.  All that’s left to do is toss them together, let them heat through for about 2 minutes, and then toss with the parmesan.  Hope you enjoy this great meal!

This great summer dinner is perfect for a night when you have delicious ripe fresh tomatoes on hand.  The no-cook sauce means it is quick, too.   This recipe is from the August 2009 issue of Food and Wine:  Linguine with Tomatoes, Baby Zucchini and Herbs.

I used a mixture of red, yellow, orange and green heirloom tomatoes.  Here they are mixed with herbs, olive oil and garlic.

I quartered the zucchini lengthwise and then sliced it about 1/8″ thick — I like having smaller pieces to mix in with the pasta.

For the pasta, I used Buitoni whole wheat fresh linguine.  I tossed everything together in a large bowl (above) and then served it in smaller flat bowls, topped with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.  A very light and refreshing meal!

This dinner was inspired by a recipe in the August 2009 issue of Food and Wine.  Here’s a link to the recipe for reference:  Turkey Burgers with Spicy Pickle Sauce.  However, I did change things around a little and came up with my own method.

While I liked the idea of the recipe’s spicy pickle sauce, I didn’t have Greek yogurt on hand, so couldn’t follow the recipe exactly.  Also, I was looking for something that could be not only a sauce, but something I could mix into the turkey to keep it juicy while it cooked.   The concoction pictured above is what I came out with.

I mixed together approximately 1/3 cup light mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons minced cornichons (tiny French pickles), 2 tablespoons finely minced onions, a teaspoon of chopped fresh dill, and a couple dashed of paprika.  I actually minced a little extra onion and pickle to use as toppings for the burgers in addition to the sauce.

I mixed approximately 2 tablespoons of the mayo mixture into my ground turkey before forming two patties.  I then rubbed a little olive oil on the outside of the patties and seasoned them with salt and pepper before putting them on a very hot grill.

The turkey patties stuck to the grill a little, but they did stay juicy.  I cooked them for around 12 minutes.

I really liked the flavor of the dill sauce as a topping on the burgers, and mixing a little of it into the patties did keep them juicy.  For sides, I served grilled corn on the cob and slaw dressed with lime vinaigrette.

Sheesh, I’m so behind on posting recipes… this was from the Fourth of July.  Oh well, it’s good anytime fresh berries are available.  It looks pretty fancy, but it’s a quick and easy breakfast.

Red White and Blueberry French Toast

½ cup blueberries
½ cup sliced strawberries
½ banana, quartered lengthwise and then sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
6-8 slices of day old baguette (1/2 inch thick), or 4-6 slices of day old French bread
1 cup milk
3 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
dash of salt
1 tablespoon maple syrup plus more for serving
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Fruit Topping:  Mix together blueberries and strawberries, and sprinkle with sugar.  Set aside while French toast is being made.  Add bananas just before placing this topping on French toast.

French Toast:  In a shallow dish, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, maple syrup until well blended.  Place bread slices in the dish to soak up the mixture for around 30 seconds per side, until well coated, but not soggy.  Melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Shake off excess milk/egg mixture before adding the slices of bread to the pan.  Brown on each side.  French toast can be kept warm in a 200 degree oven if necessary.

To serve, fan out slices of French toast on the plate.  Dust with powdered sugar through a sifter.  Sprinkle fruit generously on top of French toast.  Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.  Serve with warm maple syrup.

Here are the berries with a little sugar, waiting for the addition of the bananas.

The French toast is soaking up the eggs and milk.  If you don’t drain it a little before putting it in the pan, you’ll end up with some cinnamony scrambled eggs in the bottom of your pan.

And finally, here it is cooking…

(Sun-News photo by Shari Vialpando)  The Las Cruces Sun-News featured Carlitta Harvey as “Artist of the Week” in a July 13, 2009 article by S. Derrickson Moore:  Local artist creates Baby Brianna Tribute.

Full text:

Local artist creates Baby Brianna tribute

LAS CRUCES — A tiny baby floats above the Mesilla Valley, smiling as she sees the welcoming arms of a beckoning angel in “The Healing of Baby Brianna,” a painting by Carlitta Harvey that’s attracting a lot of attention at The Cutter Gallery.

“I worked on it for more than three years. I had this inspiration after I read about Baby Brianna Lopez in the paper and I couldn’t let it go. People really seem to have a strong reaction when they see it. I wanted people to have that as a last impression of her,” said Harvey, who explained that she struggled to “create a new image” of the baby who died in one of the state’s most tragic and notorious abuse cases.

“She wanted it to be meaningful for the people of Las Cruces who were so devastated by what happened to Baby Brianna, and she is looking for ways to share it with the public in Las Cruces,” said the artist’s daughter Elizabeth Abrams.

“God’s mercy is what the painting is really all about,” said Harvey, a landscape architect who said she began painting “seriously” just a few years ago.

Most of the works in the show are love letters to “the people, places and things in the valley that is home to me,” she said.

The show includes paintings of Hereford cattle, a parent and child kissing at a fiesta, the solemn “Good Friday Procession at San Albino’s,” and sunlit adobes, churches, landscapes, crops in the field and other slice-of-life Southwestern vignettes, all illuminated with an ethereal golden light

“I grew up on a cotton farm in Fabens, Texas, and frequently spent time in Las Cruces, visiting relatives when I was growing up. I’ve always appreciated the natural landscape of the Rio Grande Valley, including its flora, fauna, agriculture, people, and architecture,” she said.She once planned to major in art, but instead decided to go for “something more practical,” and got a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Texas Tech University.

In recent years, she began studying with nationally-known Las Cruces artists Julie Ford Oliver and Carolyn Bunch.

“My family has been very supportive ” of her artistic endeavors,” said Harvey.

She and her husband, El Paso native E.P. (Phillip) Harvey Jr., have two daughters and a son and are expecting their first grandchild soon.

“We ranched in the Tularosa Basin for 11 years, raising registered Hereford cattle, before moving to the Las Cruces area and going into the car wash business,” said Harvey, who still works as a landscape architect but hopes to devote more time to painting.

She has worked in watercolor, but said oil is her medium of choice and she enjoys her own variations of plein air painting.

“I sit there and look at it and go sketch it,” she said and may work from both sketches and photographs in her studio and return to the site as well.

“I like oil because it lasts and you have more time to work with it. It’s more permanent,” she said.

She enjoys painting scenes that involve people but said landscapes may be her favorite. “And my passion is to paint the farmland before it goes away. I like to go to the fields. I see so much better when I’m there.”

Her faith is a crucial part of the creative process, she said.

“We are made in the image of God. He made us to enjoy everything he enjoys. I try to capture that in my painting, to glorify God,” she said.

“I’ve watched her grow as an artist,” said Glenn Cutter, who said Harvey’s Baby Brianna painting “has had a lot of impact with people in the community.”

Harvey has exhibited her work at the Branigan Cultural Center, the Tombaugh Gallery, and the Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau and the El Paso Art Association show as a sponsored entry by Sierra Medical Center.

See 11 of her paintings in a two-woman show, “Two New Visions: Two New Artists: Paintings by Carlitta Harvey and Ginny Schoelzel,” continuing through July at Cutter Gallery, 2640 El Paseo. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For information, call the gallery at (575) 541-0658 or visit the artist’s Web site at www.carlittaharvey.com

S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com

See Carlitta Harvey’s paintings:

What: “Two New Visions: Two New Artists: Paintings by Carlitta Harvey & Ginny Schoelzel”
When: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesday- Friday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday, show through Aug. 4
Where: 2640 El Paseo Rd
Info: (575) 541-0658