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Six Ways I Fell in Love with Moroccan Cuisine And Culture

During May of this year, I spent two weeks traveling around Morocco with my husband, Jim. From Casablanca to Rabat, Fes, Erfoud, Skoura, Marrakech, and Essaouira, I fell in love with a culture that expresses its love for guests and family through food. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of these rich experiences through the blog–hope you’ll enjoy the journey with me!

Bring on the spice! That’s what I wrote on a vision board almost two years ago–next to a big picture of spices in a Moroccan market. That picture of vibrant turmeric, paprika, and Ras el Hanout had captured my spirit. My synapses were firing.

I knew a culinary journey to Northern Africa would happen. I just didn’t know when. I was being pulled toward this exotic continent I needed to explore.

I’m a traveler. It’s part of my identity. My first trip to a far away land was to China and Tibet when I was only sixteen years old. Since that first taste of immersing myself completely in another culture, I’ve craved these experiences–from living in France and Brazil–to learning to cook in Greece and Italy. The further away from my own culture, the better for me.

So when I researched and read every great travel book, blog, and cookbook I could get my hands on, especially Paula Wolfert’s The Food of Morocco, I felt somewhat prepared to land in Morocco with a semblance of my bearings.

One of the very first things I do before traveling is to write down all of the foods, spices, and regional dishes I must check off the list–no matter how bizarre or scary. It helps me feel grounded when I first scan a foreign menu or walk through a market in that country. But for this trip, I wasn’t prepared for how much I’d fall in love with the mannerisms, gentleness, and joy that awaited me in every Berber friend I met, every city we visited, and in every meal I encountered. These six discoveries are just a glimpse of my culinary adventures while traveling in Morocco.

#1 Moroccans eat with their eyes first

From the overflowing souks to the way mint tea is served, shopping, eating, and drinking in Morocco is a feast for the eyes.

Colors, textures, and the heavenly smells of food being prepared–made my senses feel alive as we winded through the busy medinas (oldest part of town) and the Mellahs (Jewish quarter of town).

Whenever you arrive in a hotel, someone’s home, or even when I needed those impromptu bio breaks in a merchant’s store, Moroccans will always offer you a warm glass of mint tea and often something even sweeter to munch on with it. Lifting the pot very high to pour the tea is not just for show but to create a wonderfully aerated glass of tea; almost like the head on a well poured beer, this is a sign the tea is made well.

#2 Food in Morocco is an expression of love and welcoming

To offer your guest waaaay more food than they could possibly eat is a sign of being welcomed and loved. It’s a feast in every sense. And don’t worry–cause I checked–nothing gets wasted!

At almost every meal, there was the option to start with Moroccan salads or a nice warm pureed vegetable soup. From cumin laced carrots, to savory charred eggplant spreads, to light and fresh roasted green pepper and tomato salads, these seven to eight small dishes were presented all at once and served with warm freshly baked bread. Just the sight of these gorgeous plates made us feel loved and cared for! Can you imagine if every American meal started with such a spread of veggies?

#3 You really do need the sugar in mint tea!

Westerners often ask if they can have their tea without sugar. What I learned from our tea master, Hassan, while cooking at Atelier de Cuisine outside of Marrakech is that a little bit of sugar is absolutely necessary. It keeps the fresh mint from turning black!

Hassan is what Chef Tarik Ait Yahya calls a tea master. He knows exactly the right amount to crack off of the large cylinder of sugar to go with the fresh mint and other herbs he’s picked, and Hassan is an expert in knowing when the tea is just right to pour. Starting low and holding the pot higher and higher in the air, his cups of this sweet nectar, the Moroccans call their “whiskey”, is light and refreshing and perfectly sweet–even on the hottest of North African days. If you want to learn how to make tea like Hassan, I’m a big fan of this beautiful tutorial by Honestly Yum.

#4 These 4 spice combos are all you need to know

On one of my favorite days in Morocco, we cooked at Atelier de Cuisine outside of Marrakech. In my post next week, I’m going to share more about that day and the amazing chicken tagine recipe we learned from Chef Tarik and his assistant Joseph. But here’s what I think you MUST know right now–and not wait another minute of your life to find out…

These four spice combos are all you need to know to start cooking like a true Moroccan:

Sweet: use with dishes like lamb tagine with prunes, or dishes where you’d add dried fruits: cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric
Lemon: this spice combo goes with chicken: ginger and turmeric.
Normal: use with vegetable dishes, like vegetable tagine or couscous with vegetables: ginger, turmeric, sweet paprika.
Normal with cumin added: use this spice combo in fish tagine or roasted eggplant salads!

#5 Spices in Morocco have a hypnotic effect on me

Um, the bottom line is that I really do have a spice problem! That is, I may have purchased too many spices on my trip and will be looking for ways to use them up over the coming months. My spice consultant in Marrakech, Bushra, which means “good news” in Arabic, wasn’t concerned though. She thought I did well!

Saffron grown in Morocco, Ras el Hanout, sweet paprika, long pepper, not to mention some spice combos that have romantic effects on the user–these were all so exciting to learn about–and yes, many did come home with me. Can you blame me?!

#6 Language is culture–learn a few new words to warm your host’s heart

What my husband and I loved most about our trip was that we made two very good friends, Mustafa, our country guide, and Younis, our driver. We spent hours upon hours together over those thirteen days in Morocco–much of which was spent laughing while we learned. French is a language that was given to Moroccans by the colonials, but they are Berbers and Arabs from dynasties before, and that is the language that is their culture. When Mustafa taught us each day to speak a few words in arabic or berber, so that we could thank new friends, tell them food was delicious, and wish them well, that was when we made lasting connections. You see, when it comes to learning about a new land, you must learn a little bit of their language. It warms the hearts of your new friends and helps you understand their beautiful culture.

Exploring Spring Peas

Mar 30 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Can you tell the difference between a sugar snap pea and a snow pea? Kids at Lu Sutton Elementary can! They learned about the three most common types of peas we eat during spring as a part of the Joyful 12 School Project and their “Eat Green” challenge during the month of March.

We just completed week four of our Joyful 12 School pilot at Lu Sutton Elementary in Novato, CA, and we’ve accomplished so much in the few weeks we’ve been there. I’ve had parents and teachers tell me that the children are coming home talking about the vegetable of the week and saying things like, “It’s so important to try new foods,” and asking their parents to make them spinach smoothies. I promise, I’m telling the vegetable truth!

In addition to every member of the school receiving free access my Joyful 12 Online Kitchen Learning Lab to learn how to cook vegetables at home with their families, the amazing thing about our project has been the community effort from teachers to parents to community partners that have made it possible for us to help this school community excite, educate, and empower 360 children in Novato to learn how to explore seasonal vegetables as their new healthy (and delicious) food culture!

Each Monday, 360 kids have sampled our vegetable of the week through the school food samples I’ve been making with Miguel Villarreal, Director of Food and Nutritional Services for NUSD, and his dietetic interns Dorette Franks and Robin Larkson: Brussels sprouts, asparagus, spinach, and this week was peas!

Each Wednesday, our friends and partners, Chefs Elianna Friedman, Amy Nghe and Rachel Kiichli from Bay Leaf Kitchen, have taught anywhere from 30-50 kids of the school as I’ve been teaching their parents how to cook the vegetable of the week at least two different ways. Last week, we made a spring spinach Minestrone and Spinach Pesto Toasts (in just an hour!) and this week was a Spring Pea Fried Rice and fresh strawberries for dessert.

Our vegetable report cards in the gymnasium are filling up with kids declaring they’ve tried the vegetable of the week with their stickers (see photo attached of weeks 1-3)! Kids will fill out their last board for peas this week!

Huge thanks to all of our partners in the Bay Area for their support of this pilot: Director Miguel Villarreal and the Food and Nutritional Services Department of NUSD, Bay Leaf Kitchen, Whole Foods Market® Novato, The Humane Society of the United States, and the SF-Marin Food Bank. Our amazing chefs, educators, and dietetic interns: Amy Orlandi, Dorette Franks, Robin Larkson, and Delaney Kidd.

If all this talk of peas has made you crave a heaping plate of them, you can make our Spring Pea Veggie Fried Rice at home with your kids and experience the joy we felt when this Novato community came together to celebrate cooking, eating, and relishing seasonal veggies!

Spring Pea Veggie Fried Rice

2015-03-27 17:11:32

Serves 8

Save Recipe

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

Pre-cooked and chilled brown rice, 6 cups (cooked)
Coconut oil or vegetable oil, 2 TBS
Carrots, 2
Ginger (fresh), 1 TBS
Green onions, 1 bunch
Green peas, 1 cup (fresh shelled or frozen)
Eggs, 2
Tamari (gluten free soy sauce), 1/2 cup
Sesame oil (dark), 2 TBS
Lime, 1

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Cook the brown rice in advance. This is a great thing to do the night before. Cook according to package instructions. Hold in refrigerator.
Peel and grate the carrots, peel and mince the ginger, slice green onions into small dice (both the white and green parts). Set aside some of the green tops of the onions as a garnish!
Shell fresh peas (or use frozen).
Chop cilantro and set aside as a garnish.
Zest and juice lime.
Crack eggs into bowl and beat them with a fork.

Cook

In a large deep bottom pan, heat the oil over medium high heat and cook the carrot and ginger for approximately 3 minutes.
Next add your other vegetables (scallions and peas) and cook an additional 2 minutes on medium high. *Note – you can substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand for what’s in this list, including frozen veggies. Try to make sure there is a variety of colors – green, red, orange, etc.
Push the vegetables to the left side of the pan. Next add your two eggs that you have lightly beaten with a fork in a separate bowl. You will scramble them on the right side of the pan and then mix them into the vegetables.
Add your tamari and sesame oil, and check for flavoring. Add the juice of ½ lime. Cut the other ½ lime into wedges to garnish each serving of the fried rice.
Mix in the chilled rice well and cook for an additional two minutes on medium high heat or until heated through.
To serve, you can top each bowl with extra green onion and cilantro.

By Chef Hollie

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Three Delicious Ways To Cook with Winter Squash

Jan 12 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

If you want to learn how to cook veggies your kids will demand, join my Joyful 12 Online Kitchen Learning Lab. You will learn over 100 family friendly, gluten and allergy free, recipes to love cooking and eating seasonal veggies every month of the year and improve the health of your children with JOY!

So often we don’t buy those beautiful yet strange looking winter squash varieties in the store for fear of knowing how to prepare them back at home. This week, I’m taking you through my favorite and easy ways to cook with winter squash. Have you ever considered making roasted squash the star of your pasta night?

Winter squash is easier and faster to prep than you think!

For the easiest way to prep a winter squash, big or small, don’t worry about peeling it before cooking. Just cut it into two halves, remove the seeds, and roast cut side down with a little olive oil and salt at 425F for 20-30 minutes. In my Joyful 12 Kitchen Learning Lab, I teach families simple techniques to prep 48 vegetables in a year, with short technique videos like the one below which shows you the easiest and safest way to peel and cube a butternut squash, so you know how to when your recipe calls for it!

Once you learn how easy it is to prep winter squash, you can save money instead of buying the pre-cut option at the store, and you’ll have more control over the size you cut the squash. Remember, if you cut it smaller, it will cook faster in the oven!

Roast it like a baked potato!

Small delicata squash often replace that baked potato on our family’s dinner plate. The cool thing about these little squash is that their skin is so delicate, you can eat it just like a baked potato skin. We love to top ours with a little yogurt and some crunchy pumpkin seeds.

Smash and stuff it into your favorite quesadilla!

Acorn squash are one of my all-time favorite varieties to use when I want a fast cooking squash that’s loaded with flavor. I like to scoop out the roasted flesh and mash it with some of my favorite spicy salsa to stuff my Roasted Winter Squash and Mozzarella Quesadillas, perfect for a hearty Meatless Monday meal!

Make it the star of your pasta night!

In my Brown Butter Roasted Squash Pasta with Chicken Apple Sausage recipe, I utilize the easy technique of roasting squash and turn it into a meal by making a simple brown butter sage sauce and tossing it altogether with some gluten free noodles and pan seared chicken apple sausage. What’s great about this pasta is that it’s heavy on winter veggie nutrients and while a butter sauce may sound heavy as you’re looking for ways to eat well in the New Year, this sauce is homemade with only 3 ingredients which are all organic (omega-3 rich butter from grass fed cows) and full of flavor (fresh sage and ground nutmeg).

Brown Butter Roasted Squash Pasta with Chicken Apple Sausage

2015-01-07 12:36:02

Serves 4

Save Recipe

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

35 min

Total Time

50 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

35 min

Total Time

50 min

Ingredients

butternut squash, 1 medium
unsalted organic butter, 1 stick
chicken and apple sausage, 2 links (fully cooked)
sage (fresh), 6 leaves
olive oil, 1.5 TBS (divided)
salt, 2 tsps (divided)
pasta shells (gluten free), 1 box (8 oz)
parmesan cheese (grated), ½ cup

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Peel and cut squash into cubes. If you’ve bought pre-cut squash, make sure the pieces are not too big. If needed, cut those in half quickly.
Cube the stick of butter and set aside in a small bowl. Culinary note: cubing it allows you more control than dumping one big piece of butter in the pan.
Cut the chicken apple sausage into halves and then into half moon slices. Heat in a pan for 10 minutes with ½ tablespoon olive oil, to brown.
Stack sage leaves on top of each other. Roll them up like a cigar and then cut across making thin strips. You can further cut into smaller pieces if you like.
Preheat oven to 400F. At the same time, bring a large pot of water to a boil (to cook the pasta shells).

Cook

Toss cubed squash in 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread squash evenly so that they are not overcrowded.
Roast for 30 minutes, flipping them over after 15 minutes to allow multiple sides to brown. Set aside.
Once the pasta water has come to a boil, add pasta and cook to package instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, you have time to make your sauce.

Make brown butter sage sauce

Place cubed butter in a pan, over medium high heat.
Swirl the pan every so often. Look for the milk solids from the butter to start separating from the butterfat. They look like little milk clouds.
At this point, pay close attention with your nose and eyes, for the point when the milk solids will start to smell like roasting hazelnuts and small brown bits will appear at the bottom of the pan.
Continuously swirl the butter in the pan so you can see the color changing.
Trust your nose before you trust your eyes! This happens very fast and to avoid burning, you’ll want to err on the side of caution to pull the pan off the heat once you see the amber color brown bits in the butter.
Add chopped sage to the sauce after you’ve pulled it off the heat and swirl in the pan.

Assemble Pasta

Drain cooked pasta, place it in a big bowl with the roasted squash and cooked chicken apple sausage, and pour brown butter sage sauce on top. Mix together with 1 teaspoon salt.
We love this dish served warm with some shredded Parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy!

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Abundance of Apples with a Nutty Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Oct 22 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

JoyFoodly is delighted to create recipes each month for Whole Foods Market’s ‘Now in Season’ program. Be sure to look for our recipe cards in your Northern California stores, and don’t forget to speak with your Whole Foods Market produce person when picking out your fall apples. They always have the best tips and easy recipes—and often offer tasty samples.

Apples are amazing. In our country alone, there are over 2,500 varieties grown from New York, to Washington, to California. They are at their absolute most sweet, crisp deliciousness during fall, when they are in season, and just in time for some of our favorite food centric holidays.

I love helping kids discover the joy of exploring an abundance of apple varieties. Just because only fifteen varieties account for 90% of production, it doesn’t mean you and your child can’t go on an apple adventure–discovering local varieties like Gravenstein, Cameo, or Cinnamon Spice on your next trip to the market. Whether at the farmers market or my local Whole Foods Market in San Francisco, I always find new varieties that are local to my area that are the freshest, most flavorful, and often the most affordable to purchase.

One of the best ways to really taste the difference between apple varieties is by trying them raw, side-by-side. It’s a great way to teach kids taste vocabulary and make trying new foods fun. In this Huffington Post Cheat Sheet: Apple Variety Tasting Guide, they go through twenty-two varieties, using words like sweet, tart, perfectly crisp, bursting with juice, earthy, and great for baking to decipher all the delicious flavor profiles within this one fruit variety.

This fall, I’m having fun with my favorite snack by taking it up to a whole new level, with my homemade nutty chocolate dip. Whether you’re exploring apples for a new fruit dessert or just an almond butter sandwich, I’ve got a few tips on how to prep those apples with ease.

How to Prep Apples from JoyFoodly on Vimeo.

So the next time you’re buying apples for your family, branch out and try a new variety and see how delicious and fun eating local, in-season, produce can be. Thomas Jefferson may have brought the Fuji apple variety to America, but I bet he’d gladly try the 2,400 other varieties grown across this great nation today–and maybe even have an apple cider to wash ‘em down!

Abundance of Apples with a Nutty Chocolate Dip

2014-10-21 13:50:27

Serves 4

Save Recipe

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

25 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

25 min

Ingredients

apple, 3 (try a variety)
almonds (raw unsalted), 1 cup
chocolate chips (semisweet), 1 cup
sea salt (or finishing salt), 1 tsp

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Wash all produce.
Preheat oven to 375F.

Cook

Place nuts on a baking sheet. Roast nuts for 10 minutes in the oven. You can check around 8 minutes to make sure they are roasting (they will have a nice aroma) but not burning, as some ovens vary in heat strength.
Place roasted almonds in a blender. Pulse nuts, stopping periodically to scrape down the sides, until they are creamy. This will take up to five minutes. You’ll notice the nuts going from dry to creamy.
Add chocolate chips and pulse until combined, with a creamy consistency.
Add salt and pulse to combine.
Cut apples just before ready to eat and serve with a side of this amazingly rich and good for you homemade chocolate nutty dip.

Notes

Note on substitutions: any type of apple works for this yummy snack or dessert. Mix up different varieties and have fun with your kids to see which one is their favorite dipped in the chocolate dip. I am using a Maldon Salt I always have on hand, but a regular sea salt or whatever salt you have in your home will work! It really brings out the flavors in the dip and does not make it salty.

By Chef Hollie

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Joyful 12 Fall Is Open!

Oct 7 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Join me this fall in my Joyful 12 Kitchen Learning Lab! From playfully purple mashed cauliflower to apple crumble to crazy cool celery root salad, we’re making fall a smashingly fun and delicious adventure that will help your family joyfully eat more vegetables and fruits every week.

Each week, you can follow my recommended schedule

Learn, alongside your children, fun ways to prepare vegetables and fruits

Learn easy, medium, and adventurous ways to explore all 12 vegetables and fruits

Sign up today and spread the love by giving the Joyful 12 as a gift

Crazy Cool Celery Root and Fall Apple Salad

Sep 25 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

In my kitchen, vegetables rule. Take celery root for example. It’s gnarly, hairy, and by all appearances unattractive. But when you peel off it’s crazy exterior, you find the coolest, creamiest flesh underneath that’s divine in fall salads, veggie roasts, or hearty soups. When I get the chance to turn kids and adults onto fun new vegetable finds, like this past Wednesday at Whole Foods Market® San Mateo, where we made our Crazy Cool Celery Root Salad, I jump for joy.

Kids are natural explorers. When you set the right environment for exploration of fresh foods, kids will go there with you every time. I’m not saying they’ll love the taste of every last bite, but the sensory journey of smelling, touching, and hands-on preparation of the dish is totally something they are up for. At JoyFoodly®, we love partnering with like minded organizations who know this too, and who make it possible for kids to have positive experiences with vegetables and fruits to grow good eaters for the future. That’s why I was especially excited to teach our recent class to benefit Whole Kids Foundation. They are not only helping schools across the country build school gardens and fund salad bars in the cafeteria, but they are also inspiring and helping families back at home make the learning keep on going!

So when you make this Crazy Cool Celery Root Salad for your family, be sure to make it an adventure. Here are my tips for how to engage your kids to love exploring this cool fall vegetable and fruit salad back at home:

Touch, hold, and look at the ingredients

What do you notice? The celery root and apples are a cream color, so what other colors are we using to brighten up our dish? Dried cranberries!
How about any green? Yep–the tarragon and the chives.
Feel the hairy celery root–super cool or kinda weird? What about after we peel it?

Taste the ingredients separately

Have your kids smell things before they taste them. Smell the tarragon! What about the other ingredients? Does the apple smell? What about the celery root? Can you smell the nuts toasting in the pan?
Taste one of the ingredients your kids already know like an apple; then let them try a dried cranberry. Which is sweeter? Which is crunchy? Which is tangy?

Let your children help with the prep

Letting kids measure out and make the salad dressing is a great way to get them involved. Grab a mason jar and let them start shaking!
Kids can also tear herbs with their hands or sprinkle nuts and cranberries over the salad to decorate. Any involvement will build positive food experiences–regardless of whether they love the taste of the final dish.

Never prepared a celery root at home? Have no fear! In just under two minutes, I’ll teach you how to master this crazy cool vegetable.

How to Prep Celeriac from JoyFoodly on Vimeo.

Crazy Cool Celery Root and Fall Apple Salad

2014-09-23 14:17:12

Serves 6

Save Recipe

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

Celeriac (celery root), 2 small (or 1 large)
Apples (or can use pears), 2
Dried cranberries, ¼ cup
Walnuts, ½ cup
Chives, 1 bunch

Tarragon Yogurt Dressing

Plain Greek yogurt, 1 cup
Rice wine vinegar, 1 TBS
Dijon mustard, 1 TBS
Lemon, ½ (plus its zest)
Fresh tarragon, 2 TBS loosely packed (or dried, 1 TBS)
Honey (or agave), 1 TBS
Salt, ¾ tsp.
Pepper, ¼ tsp.

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Wash all produce. Celery roots are especially dirty. Be sure to wash them well and when removing their outer skin with a knife, you may need to rinse again after peeling off their dirty outer skin.
First make the tarragon yogurt dressing: combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor or blender and pulse. Pour into a medium sized bowl.
Cut either end off the celeriac to create a flat surface. Use a knife to cut off the hard rind all around. Rinse before cutting further. Cut into med size pieces and grate on a cheese grater or for a quick grating using a food processor.
Place the celeriac in the bowl where you poured the dressing. It’s best if the celeriac can sit in the dressing for 15-30 minutes before serving.
Dice pears. You can leave the skin on or peel it.

Cook

In a dry pan over med high heat, toast the walnuts until they are lightly brown, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the diced pears and cranberries to the bowl of celeriac and toss together.
Crumble toasted walnuts with your hands once they are cool and add to the salad.
Cut and garnish the salad with some chives on top.

By Chef Hollie

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

If you’re looking for more ways to cook simple, yet nourishing meals for your family, join my Joyful 12 Kitchen Learning Lab. It’s a members only course for busy parents and adults. We cook nine veggies and three fruits together each season with other families that are looking for time saving ways to cook great food for their loved ones. Join the Joyful 12.

Peach Bacon and Heirloom Tomato Toasts (PBT’s)

Aug 13 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

JoyFoodly is delighted to create recipes each month for Whole Foods Market’s ‘Now in Season’ program. Be sure to look for our recipe cards in your Northern California stores, and don’t forget to speak with your Whole Foods Market produce person when picking out your summer tomatoes. They always have the best tips and easy recipes—and often offer tasty samples.

There is nothing like a ripe summer tomato. Their sun kissed sweetness can not be replicated any other time of the year. Eating a tomato in season represents everything delightful about long hot summer days, when mealtime means reaching for something juicy, fast and easy. That’s what our PBT’s are all about.

When I was growing up in the South, everyone grew their own tomatoes. You could see wild vines reaching for the sky in every neighbor’s backyard. Who had the best was a matter never to be settled, but we could all agree upon one culinary truth. No matter how good your tomato was, it was always better tucked between two crunchy pieces of bread slathered with thick lemony delicious mayonnaise.

As a purist, I still relish those simple tomato sammies, but I also love to play with the amazing heirloom varieties you can find in your local Whole Foods Market and neighborhood farmer’s market, all with different colors, textures and flavors. Yes, it presents many more decisions to be made, but I love the adventure of it all. If you have ever felt overwhelmed with how to pick the perfect tomato, here’s an easy guide to help you make those tough decisions!

And in our Joyful 12 Learning Lab, I’m sharing all the ways you can prep tomatoes in your home kitchen.

In this recipe, I’m taking it one step further, combining sweet peaches and a tangy and herby fresh farmer’s cheese for our open faced bacon tomato sandwiches. If you’re like me, summer seems to go by way too fast. Make these heavenly toasts for your dinner or lunch today, and hold onto the taste of summer just a little longer!

Peach, Bacon, and Heirloom Tomato Toasts (PBT’s)

2014-08-12 23:56:20

Serves 4

Save Recipe

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

15 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

15 min

Ingredients

heirloom tomatoes, 3-4 (a mix of colors)
peaches, 2
bacon, applewood smoked, 4 slices
basil, fresh, approximately 3-4 tablespoons (when cut)
fresh farmer cheese (fromage blanc or a soft feta), 2/3 cup
ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup
olive oil, 1 tablespoon
salt, ¼ teaspoon
pepper, ¼ teaspoon
sandwich loaf bread, gluten free, 4 slices

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Wash all produce.
Slice tomatoes into rounds.
Cutting around the pit, cut peaches into two bigger halves. Then slice those halves into rounds.
Cut basil into thin slices or tear with your fingers. In a bowl, combine the two cheeses, about two tablespoons of the cut basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper with a fork until smooth.

Cook

Cook bacon until crisp. Set aside over paper towels to cool slightly and absorb any excess oil.
Toast bread under a broiler for 3-4 minutes, or until browned and crunchy.
To make your PBT, first slather the cheese mixture on the toast. Next, top with a piece of bacon, then slices of the peaches, then the tomatoes. You can top the toasts with extra cut basil to decorate and add an extra kick of freshness.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Grilled Brie Cheese with Cherry Chutney, Please!

Jul 14 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

JoyFoodly is delighted to create recipes each month for Whole Foods Market’s ‘Now in Season’ program. Be sure to look for our recipe cards in your Northern California stores, and don’t forget to speak with your Whole Foods Market produce person when picking out your summer cherries. They always have the best tips and easy recipes—and often offer tasty samples.

Cherries make me feel special. I could survive on a hot summer day, just snacking on their juicy flesh. For me, they are best when eaten raw as a simple dessert or snack, but from time to time, I adore playing with cherries in the kitchen for more savory culinary delights.

A few years ago, my husband and I traveled in the Cyclades islands of Greece, where I first fell in love with a grilled wheel of cheese with a sweet and savory tomato jam on top. It had that perfect combination of comfort food but with an elegant simple sophistication. I’m using brie in this recipe, but you could easily play with this by substituting a wheel of goat or another cheese you love. During summer, when you have friends over for a backyard BBQ or a simple dinner party, kick off your night with my cherry chutney over a grilled wheel of your favorite cheese. You are sure to impress your guests!

First things first: how do you pick a good cherry?

For sweet red cherries, look for a deep color, a bright green stem, and a firmness when touched.
For Rainier Cherries (yellow and red colored), they are naturally less firm and their color does not signify under ripeness. A red or pink blush indicates sugar accumulation from the sun.
Always taste one cherry if you can for ripeness before buying.

And how do you remove those pits quickly?!
We’ve got a few ideas for you to make prepping your cherries easy and fun.

Looking for other easy and family fun summer recipes? Join me in my Kitchen Learning Lab, the Joyful 12, where you can learn how to make your fruits and veggies sing with flavor!

Grilled Brie Cheese with Cherry Chutney

2014-07-12 22:49:23

Serves 4

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Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

50 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

50 min

Ingredients

cherries, 3 cups (about 1.0 lbs)
apple cider vinegar, ⅛ cup
vidalia onion, 1
ginger, fresh, 2 teaspoons
apricot marmalade, 8 oz
cumin, ¼ teaspoon
dijon mustard, 3 teaspoons
salt, 1 teaspoon
agave nectar, 1 tablespoon
brie cheese wheel, 8 oz

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Wash all produce.
Remove pits from cherries with a cherry pitter.
Chop pitted cherries into medium sized pieces.
Dice vidalia onion.

Cook

Mix all the chutney ingredients together (except Brie Cheese) in a pot, cover, and bring up to a boil.
Reduce down to a simmer and continue cooking for 30 minutes on low heat.
While the chutney is cooking, preheat a grill or griddle pan to medium-low.
Brush top of cheese wheel with olive oil.
Place oiled side of cheese down on the center of the warmed grill. Grill until the rind is soft, about 8-10 minutes. Check to make sure the cheese does not stick to the grill.
Use a metal spatula to invert the cheese wheel onto a plate (grilled side up). Let it cool slightly before cutting into the wheel.
Spoon cherry chutney over the warm cheese and serve slathered on top of your favorite bread or crackers.

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How to Blanch Vegetables and Fruits

Jul 7 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

We all want to be able to throw together quick weeknight meals without the confines of a recipe. With a few simple cooking techniques, you can start to feel more confident in which veggies lend better to certain methods of cooking, such as sautéing, roasting, or blanching. And before you know it, you’ll have 2-3 go-to ways to make your veggies sing with flavor, any time of the year.

Blanching is a technique that is a cook’s friend when looking to make simple, quick meals and still retain the integrity of the vegetable being cooked. Have you ever tried to sauté a raw green bean or a head of broccoli? These glorious green veggies turn a sad color of brown with a sauté method for two reasons. First, they are a beautiful green color and sautéing helps develop a brown crust. Secondly, they are a more dense vegetable than say a zucchini or asparagus, and thus, can benefit from a quick cooking method like blanching (which also retains their green color) to help cook their insides quickly. Often, I’ll blanch one of these veggies first and then throw it into whatever I’m sautéing in the last few minutes of cooking to add extra flavor.

There are just a few things you need to know about blanching, and then it will it become an intuitive method you’ll find yourself using again and again. Watch this technique video and read more tips on blanching below:

What you need to blanch:

A medium to large pot that can hold 8-10 cups of water
Salt: ½ tablespoon per every 8 cups water
An ice bath: a bowl of water with some ice in it

How to blanch:

Bring salty water to a rapid boil
Place a vegetable or fruit in boiling water for 30 seconds, up to 3 minutes (depending on its density) to cook quickly or remove vegetable or fruit skins
Stop the cooking process by transferring cooked vegetable or fruit to an ice bath
Drain and dry before eating or continuing to cook in the next step of a recipe

Why blanch:

To cook a vegetable quickly, but still maintain its texture and color
To quickly remove the skins from a fruit or vegetable

Vegetables and fruits that lend well to blanching:

Tomatoes: to remove skins and to cook them slightly
Fruit: such as peaches, when you want to remove the peel quickly
Green beans: for a crunchy snack or before you sauté in an herbed butter
Tomatillos: before adding to a salsa or to make a quick pureed sauce to top fish or chicken
Broccoli: as an alternative to steaming or just before you add them to a veggie fried rice or pasta dish
Zucchini: when making stuffed zucchini boats, before they get stuffed and placed into the oven to bake
Fresh green peas: to maintain their color and texture before a quick sauté in mint and butter
Collard greens: before using them in a pesto or as a fun burrito wrapper

Happy 4th of July! Red, White, and Blue Fools

Jul 3 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

On this Independence Day, we’ve got an easy recipe that will free you from baking in a hot kitchen just to create that patriotic dessert for your family’s BBQ.

My go-to dessert every summer is a simple berry fool. Even Mark Bittman adores this oldie but goodie. For me, the best part about this dessert is that it can be whipped up in less than 15 minutes and requires the help of at least one child to do the heavy whipping of the cream in a fun mason jar.

It’s also very versatile, can be made in advance, and here’s the real celebratory element – you can stuff it in a jar and carry it to your 4th BBQ picnic, as long as you keep it chilled for the ride. I recently demoed just how patriot this dessert can be, using the freshest summer berries available.

In honor of the 4th, I talked about the berry fools and a great Blueberry Bacon BBQ sauce in Sacramento last weekend:

So, check off that worry list about what amazing dessert you’ll be making for this 4th of July. We’ve got you covered. Just follow our Dreamy Creamy Strawberry Fools recipe and adapt according to which berry you want to ‘fool’ in this red, white, and blue dessert!

Dreamy Creamy Whipped Fools | Blueberry Bacon BBQ Sauce