Today's post comes courtesy of my handy recipe binder. I've been clipping and keeping recipes for 10+ years, and sure, it'd be easier to just bookmark them and go back to them online when I need them. But there's something reassuring about just going to binder and knowing they'll be there. I mean, what if you bookmarked some recipe that was on someone's Angelfire Web site in 1997? It's probably toast, long ago abandoned by someone who probably moved on to Blogger or hosting their own site. (Holy cow, I just googled it, Angelfire still exists and is part of Lycos. Lycos still exists? Really?)
Anyway, I clipped the recipes for the balsamic BBQ sauce and the chopped vegetable salad. They're great for summer grilling, but luckily both are still available online.
I had some big ol' collards in my CSA box this last week. They were as big as throw pillows, I kid you not. So big that they didn't fit in the crisper drawer, which quickly put them on the way to wilted...and made them perfect for stuffed collard rolls.
Collards are usually long cooked with a ham hock or andouille sausage, so I went for a filling somewhere in the middle, with ground pork, bacon and Cajun spices. While cabbage rolls often start with an uncooked filling that braises in the pot, I opted to cook it first since I was only going to throw these in the oven for 30 minutes.
Leave it to Jeremy Fox, who did amazing things with vegetarian cuisine at Ubuntu in Napa (and maybe soon at a joint called Smith?), to come up with a different, maybe better, spin on panzanella. I've had the recipe for this peach panzanella tucked away for safe keeping (since 2007!), until some hot weather and good peaches came my way. That was this weekend...it's been a scorcher everywhere. Here in the PNW, we're thanking the weather gods. Across the rest of the country, everyone else is wondering, when will it ever end?!
I think I first had a traditional tomato panzanella at Caffe Centro in San Francisco, just across the street from where I worked. Their version had diced tomato, cucumber and corn with a balsamic dressing. A great summer salad. If the name is anything to go by, it's the stale bread that makes a panzanella. But after having this version, I'd say it's the peaches.