Poblano chiles are not mouth-burning hot, either. Especially if you deseed and devein them. Some are warmer than others, but the batch I made were completely heatless. If you get a chile that lacks the heat you’re looking for, add the seeds and veins into the stuffing mixture. It should pep it right up! The chorizo this recipe calls for also adds some spice, not to mention plenty of flavor.

As usual, I do not measure. I can offer approximates, but please feel free to adjust up or down depending on your personal tastes.

Ingredients:
6 fresh poblano chiles
6-8 oz. chorizo, cooked
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small-medium zucchini, diced finely
1 small red onion, diced finely
6 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup cherry tomatoes, diced
2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded
avocado, for garnish

Guidelines:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook chorizo according to package directions. When chorizo is nearly done, add chopped garlic and diced onion. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until onion becomes very slightly translucent. Add diced zucchini, beans, and diced cherry tomatoes. Cook until just warmed through.

Wash the poblanos. Remove the top and cut a slit down the center. Remove the seeds and veins, if so desired.

Stuff the chiles with the chorizo mixture. Top with cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is just beginning to brown.

Top with diced avocado, if you’d like.

If you’re in a hurry, you can use store-bought salad dressing. I’m not a Ranch fan, though it would be okay. I prefer a vinaigrette. The recipe for my White Wine and Herb Vinaigrette is below. It’s akin to an Italian Vinaigrette, and goes well with this salad. Unlike Ranch, it won’t weigh down and drown out the flavors of the greens or avocado, and yet it’s plenty flavorful enough in and of itself.

Hubby and I ate this salad as a main dish, along with a loaf of Rosemary Garlic Bread, and a glass of Kestrel’s Mourvedre. Perfect meal for a warm summer night on the patio… or even a cool, rainy night at the kitchen table working on a puzzle…

If you like this recipe, try PLTA Croissant Sandwiches.

White Wine and Herb Vinaigrette

Combine ¼ cup high quality white wine vinegar (I used an artisan Pinot Grigio vinegar), ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp. minced thyme, 1 tsp. minced rosemary, 1 tsp. chopped parsley, 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, and let sit for a minimum of one hour to let flavors marry. Remove garlic clove before serving.

PLTA Salad

Use in any amount you like:

Baby spring greens
Prosciutto, uncooked or cooked
Heirloom cherry tomatoes
Avocado
White Wine and Herb Vinaigrette

As usual, the ingredients are relative. I offer approximates. The rest is up to your personal taste.

Ingredients:

pizza dough for a 16-20 inch pizza

1 16 0z. can diced tomatoes (low sodium preferable)
basil, to taste
oregano, to taste
garlic, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes (optional), to taste
olive oil

mozzarella cheese, about 2 cups grated
provolone cheese, about 5 round slices
parmesan cheese, about ¼ cup grated
feta cheese, to taste

Kalamata olives, about ½ - 1 cup halved

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Preheat your pizza stone or pan for about 5 minutes in the 400 degree oven.

Shape your pizza dough. Place on preheated pizza stone or pan, sprinkle with olive oil, and bake for another 3 minutes. Remove from oven.

To make the sauce, combine the diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes, if desired. Cook, breaking apart any large tomatoes. (Note: Sauce will be chunky.)

Spread the sauce on the prebaked pizza crust. Lay the provolone slices over the top. Sprinkle with mozzarella, parmesan, and feta. Place olive halves over top.

Bake for about 8 minutes, or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

And yes, I know, I make a lot of pizza!

Sauce Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter
3-4 tbsp. olive oil
large grain sea salt
1 tbsp. fresh thyme
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped

Sauté garlic and herbs in butter and olive oil until fragrant. Keep warm.

Pizza Ingredients:
dough for a large sized pizza
1-2 cooked Sweet Italian sausages, sliced thin
3 baby red potatoes, mostly cooked and sliced thin
1-2 cups Fontina cheese

Shape your dough and prebake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden.

Remove from oven and spread the sauce over the dough.

Top sauce with sliced sausage and potato.

Sprinkle a light to moderate layer of cheese over top.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Enjoy!

I don’t know how they cooked the pork at the restaurant, and I can’t remember what toppings they used, but here is my version. Also, I didn’t measure the ingredients for this recipe, so I can only offer you guestimates. It’s easy to adjust the sauce, however, so guestimates will work.

Honey Chipotle Sauce
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
about 1/3 cup honey
about 2 tbsp. lime juice
about 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

Taco Ingredients
a spice mixture composed of about 3 tbsp. cumin, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, ½ tsp. red chili flakes, 3 tbsp. red chili powder, and 1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 pork shoulder roast, about 3 lbs.
about 2 cups chicken stock
1 lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
20 small white corn tortillas
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1-2 cups red cabbage, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped

Special Equipment
crock pot

Guidelines

Make the spice mixture and rub it into the pork. Place in crock pot, and add the chicken stock. Set crock pot to high for a cooking time of 4-6 hours, or low for a cooking time of 8-10 hours.

Make the Honey Chipotle Sauce, and set aside to let the flavors marry. Adjust taste as needed. Note: It will taste very spicy alone. The spice mellows when you add the other ingredients.

Once the pork is done (when it pulls completely off the bone), remove from crock pot and let cool slightly. Shred the pork, trimming off any fat. Pour the sauce over the shredded pork and mix well.

Grate the cheese, dice the tomatoes, chop the cilantro, and red cabbage.

In a medium fry pan over medium heat, add a tortilla and top with a small handful of cheddar cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and the bottom of the tortilla is starting to brown and turning crispy. Remove from pan and top with pork, tomatoes, cabbage, and cilantro. Repeat process.

I’ve made my own French bread pizzas plenty of times, but always with marinara sauce. While watching The Food Network channel a few weeks ago, however, I tuned into an episode of the Barefoot Contessa, and watched her make this super simple recipe for Garlic Oil. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it—Margherita pizza, which traditionally uses olive oil in lieu of marinara sauce. Garlic infused olive oil would add another dimension to the pizza, I thought. Plus, I absolutely love garlic on pizza. Especially pepperoni and fresh garlic, but that’s another story…

To make things easy on myself, and add a bit of fun, I picked up French bread to use instead of pizza dough. The day was hot, hot, and I didn’t want to spend time in the kitchen kneading and rising dough. To accompany the French bread, I bought Purple Cherokee (I believe) heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil. That’s it. That’s all you need for these pizzas. Oh, and pinch of sea salt, and some fresh ground pepper. Okay, I also snuck in some fresh spinach leaves, but that’s optional. Pretty simple, huh?

Ingredients:
Garlic Oil, recipe here
1 loaf of French bread, or 2 small loaves
2-3 heirloom tomatoes, depending on size
1 ball of fresh mozzarella
fresh basil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
fresh spinach leaves, optional

Guidelines:

Pre-make the garlic oil.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the French bread in half length-wise, and into whatever size portions you want to eat. Brush the cut side of the bread with the garlic oil, and place in the oven on a perforated pizza sheet or pizza stone for a few minutes, or until the bread just begins to toast. Remove from oven.

Top the oil brushed bread with a sprinkle of sea salt. Add slices of fresh mozzarella, the spinach leaves if you’re using, and heirloom tomato. Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until bread is lightly brown and the cheese is melted. *Note: fresh mozzarella doesn’t melt the same way other cheeses do. It will get warm and spread slightly, but it largely keeps it shape.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with fresh slivers of basil and fresh ground pepper.

If you wish, chop some of the garlic in the garlic oil and sprinkle over the top as well.

Summer is also a great time to find fresh fruit, and if you haven’t yet ventured into combining greens with fruits, nuts, and cheese, you should give it a try! Veggie salads are tasty, but fruit and veggie salads are juicy, delectable, crave-worthy treats. For this salad, I use strawberries, mango, toasted pecans, and chévre, with a pomegranate shallot vinaigrette. The result is a sweet, creamy, crunchy salad with accents of bitter greens and a delicate onion flavor from the shallots.

Ingredients:
strawberries
mango
mesclun (also known as spring greens)
pecans, chopped and toasted
chévre
fresh ground pepper

Dressing Ingredients:
pure pomegranate juice
extra virgin olive oil
shallot
salt and pepper

Guidelines:

For the dressing, combine equal parts pure pomegranate juice and extra virgin olive oil. Finely dice about ½ tsp. shallots for every ¼ cup of dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk well.

For the salad, use the ingredients in whatever amount you like. For my salad, which fed two as a side salad, but could easily feed 3-4, I used about 6 strawberries, quartered, 1 mango, diced, a medium salad bowl filled ¾ full of mesclun (4-5 cups would be my best guess), ¼ cup toasted pecans, and about 1 ounce of chévre, crumbled.

Add all salad ingredients in salad bowl, along with fresh ground pepper, if desired, and pour dressing over top. I refrain from tossing, as the ingredients are delicate.

I’m not a traditional Panzanella maker, either. For one thing, I always toast and salt my bread. I love the crunchy texture of toasted bread in contrast to soft vegetables. It’s very satisfying! And, well, I kind of have this other obsession with Sel Gris and Pink Himalayan sea salts, so I tend to use one of the other (probably) more often than I should. Luckily, I have very good blood pressure. Most Panzanella recipes also call for vinegar, but I opt out of this ingredient, and stick with olive oil, salt (see above), pepper, and plenty of fresh garlic. In my Artichoke Panzanella, however, I did use lemon zest.

The best part of Panzanella is, as long as you’re not a traditionalist, its versatility. Mix and match vegetables with different styles of bread, and you have an entire new dish! For this version, I roasted zucchini, red pepper, yellow pepper, and onion, then tossed in fresh grape tomatoes and basil. If you prefer your tomatoes roasted, too, however, toss them into to oven, as well. I highly suggest experimenting to find new Panzanella recipes that make you swoon!

Ingredients:

*Note: One 9×13 pan will easily feed 4 (or more) as a side dish. It also feeds my husband and I as a main dish with a green salad on the side.

1 baguette of plain, crusty bread
1 zucchini, sliced and cut in half moons
½ red pepper, diced
½ yellow pepper, diced
½ sweet onion, diced
½ crate grape tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
fresh basil, slivered
olive oil
Sel Gris, or sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Guidelines:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In small roasting pan, toss vegetables (except tomatoes and basil) with a splash of olive oil, the rest of the minced garlic, and plenty of fresh ground pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until they reach desired texture.

Cut bread into large cubes. Toss with plenty of olive oil, sel gris or sea salt, and half of the minced garlic. Toast in oven for 12-15 minutes or until edges turn golden brown, tossing occasionally.

Toss the toasted bread, roasted veggies, fresh grape tomatoes, and fresh, slivered basil, in a large bowl.

Serve.