Author: cheznousdinners

Daria is an artist living and working in Baltimore. She has been painting and cooking all of her life and has been serving communal style dinnners at her home with Nicolas for the past two years.

The Perfect New York Deli Rye

So here it is, a big loaf of rye sandwich bread. This is a technically easy loaf to make, you just need to dedicate a bit of time, allowing the sponge to bubble for 3-4 hours really helps the flavors to deepen, but if you are in a hurry, 1-2 hours will still produce a good loaf. I have read several accounts of adding pickle juice in addition to the water to the sponge, and it produced wonderful results. The flavor is much richer (and really not pickly) after the loaf is baked. Rather non-traditionally, you will find that I combine the traditional caraway seeds with fennel and coriander for a bit more excitement! If you want a traditional loaf, simply add 3 tablespoons of caraway seeds.

Red Snapper and Clam Hot Pot (Sugata Nabe)

Next weekend, we are throwing a huge Japanese-Hawaiian fusion dinner, so I wanted to get a head start on trying out some of the flavors. Red snapper is beautiful, it is one of my favorite fishes for dishes in which I want to present the whole fish.

For the dinner party, I will serve this dish alongside a second hot pot called Yose Nabe, generally referred to as the Anything Goes Hot Pot where I will have a plethora of flavors, so I will keep the broth simple for the Snapper Hot pot.

Tonight, I wanted to add a bit of nuance to the flavor by adding some clam meats to the broth. The pairing is delicious, but if you want to go for a more traditional flavor, omit the clams.

This can be cooked on a hot plate right at the table or cooked beforehand in the kitchen. If you are cooking it table-side, it might take a bit longer to cook through.

Burnt Eggplant Soup with Seared Wild Tomatoes

Eggplant is so tempting this time of year! My obsession lives on. My favorite way to prepare eggplant is by burning it directly on the stove top. Roasting the eggplant in this way gives the flesh a delicious smoky flavor which pairs magnificently with a bit of lemon juice.

This is a really simple and delicious soup on its own, but I love how elevated it becomes with the pairing of seared wild tomatoes. I find these little beauties at the Waverly Farmer’s market here in Baltimore, however, if they are not readily available, some heirloom cherry tomatoes will do the trick!

Roast Eggplant and Tomato Pizza

Eggplant is so tempting this time of year! I think I will try to grow some next summer! In the mean time, however, I keep buying it every weekend, so we have to keep cooking it. This week, I also wanted to make a bit of mozzarella and some pesto since my basil plant is getting pretty hefty.

Want to make your own pesto? I like a combination of arugula and basil for mine. I take about 4 cups of basil leaves and arugula leaves each, a half a cup of pine nuts, a cup of grated Parmesan, 4-6 garlic cloves, and enough olive oil to get to the consistency you like. Season with a bit of salt and pepper and adjust to your tastes.

Corn Uova da Raviolo – Egg Yolk Ravioli

During the summer (and all year really) my recipes revolve around the ingredients that I have surrounding me. This week I have plenty of eggplant and fresh corn on the cob. I decided I wanted to make a corn filled ravioli for a group of friends who were coming over for lunch. That lunch turned into a brunch, so I decided the most expedient way to solve my menu problem was to put an egg on it! Thus, I reinvented my Uova da Raviolo recipe from earlier this summer.

I really wanted to play up the corn, and didn’t want to waste the husks so I boiled them for about an hour and then used the water to both cook the pasta and flavor the sauce. It is traditional to use pasta water to thicken a sauce, so I figured the blending of the loose gluten from the pasta and the flavor of the corn would pair beautifully with a simple wine and sage butter sauce.

Plum Cobbler

A cobbler is an easy and delicious dessert, you are basically making a loose jam filling and covering it in biscuits. Most people recommend a dollop of wet biscuit dough on top, which is really delicious in and of itself, but I like to use my standard biscuit dough to have nice fluffy biscuits. I press the dough out and fold it five times to create lovely layers as it bakes. If you want an even simpler dough, make it as the recipe calls and skip the folding, just dollop it on with a big spoon.

Ratatouille

I will be honest, my Ratatouille looks the way it does because I watched that Disney movie when I was younger. I was in college then and working on making my cuisine more elevated, and I wanted to give it a try. I fell in love with the dish and have been developing it slowly since then. Instead of using tomatoes, I like to use tomato paste at the bottom of my baking dish. I find it imparts a nice smoky flavor to the dish and makes it less soupy. Serve it alone, or with a tablespoon of chèvre on top. I like to use leftovers for open faced sandwiches. Ratatouille keeps and reheats very well.

Roast Tomato Braised Lentils

I wanted to create something hearty and reminiscent of the harvest. I have a plethora of tomatoes growing in my garden, and am actively seeking for ways to use them up. Nico has been talking about eating more lentils, so I wanted to incorporate lentil and tomato here. I decided to roast the tomatoes with some garlic cloves, onion, and bacon for about an hour before slowly braising with the red wine. If you are in a hurry, you can simply sauté the bacon, tomato, and onions for a similar result.