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Archive for April 14th, 2008

So the idea of Recipe Remix is, take a “staple” meal and mix it up a bit. Make it different. Choose from one of these and get creative:

• Shepherd’s Pie
• Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
• Baked Ziti
• Franks & Beans
• Tacos
• Meatloaf

Since Sunday was going to be chilly and windy, I decided to go with Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup. The day before, I made my first-ever focaccia, with rosemary from the garden and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. OMG, it’s great. And it was easy, since I let the bread machine do the first half of the work. Then I just had to put it in a pan, let it rise some more, drizzle with evoo and sprinkle with rosemary and cheese, and bake while we took the dog for a walk.

I also thought I’d get a different kind of cheese for this. I’d never had Kerrygold Aged Cheddar imported from Ireland, and it sounded good, so I bought some. Guess what? It’s good

Grilled Cheese Sandwich on Focaccia

1 loaf focaccia
4 slices Kerrygold Aged Cheddar Cheese
1 tbsp. olive oil

Heat grill pan and rub with paper towel dipped in olive oil. Cut focaccia into sandwich-size pieces and cut in half. Place cheese on bread bottoms, put tops on, and grill on both sides till golden.

To go with this luscious grilled cheese sandwich, I made tomato-pesto bisque. A cook in a local restaurant that makes amazing tomato-basil bisque told me how she does it – I couldn’t believe it was that simple. No peeling or seeding the tomatoes? I’m in. I didn’t have basil, but I had pesto, so I used that this time. Both work great

Tomato-Pesto Bisque

2 14-oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1-2 tbsp. basil pesto
Salt and pepper to taste

Whizz the tomatoes and tomato sauce in a blender, then put in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in basil pesto. Heat to boiling, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste.

On April 2, Barbara and I went to Imperio Inca, a Peruvian restaurant on 21st Street in the Ghent neighborhood of Norfolk. I love that place. It’s the only restaurant I know of in this area that serves ceviche as an entree.

Barbara had Lenguado a lo Macho: Grilled flounder topped with a Peruvian pepper sauce along with shrimp, calamari, mussels, and clams, and served with white rice. It was good, but a bit bland, so Barbara asked for some hot sauce. They have a green Peruvian sauce to spice things up – that helped a lot.

I put together a plate from three a la carte dishes: Leche de Tigre, a Peruvian fish ceviche cocktail; Papa a la Huancaina, or halved boiled potatoes served on lettuce and covered in a spicy Peruvian cheese sauce garnished with olive and a slice of boiled egg; and half a roasted chicken, marinated in Peruvian spices.

The ceviche was excellent – spicy-hot and tangy.

I liked the potatoes, too. They’re served cold with the spicy sauce on top – very good.

Didn’t get a good shot of the chicken. It tasted good, but I didn’t get any flavor of the Peruvian spices it was supposed to be marinated in.