Double Tomato Crostini

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Double Tomato Crostini

by Nanny Bubby

My dear friend Karen from Chicago, now Scottsdale, shared this recipe with me before she left Chicago more than 26 years ago. Over the years the recipe morphed while in my hands. But like all recipes that are shared, when I make them, I always think of the person who shared it with me with such love in my heart.
Tip: This is a great recipe to make on a moment’s notice for friends or family that drop in. I learned that to always have baguettes in the house, it is best to slice them and then freeze them. That way they are always available and ready to toast in the oven. In a moment’s notice you could substitute any cheese you have in the house. Keep dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes in a bag in your pantry. If you are out of fresh tomatoes at the time you can make them with just the sundried tomatoes.
It works, trust me from experience. Enjoy! "Spread Love Like Butter"

Total Time:

30 minutes

Serves:

8

Ingredients

  • 5 sundried tomato halves not in oil
  • 2/3 c. lightly packed basil leaves cut in chiffonade
  • ½ c. olive oil
  • 1 loaf 12 oz. baguette (French bread)
  • 6 pipe Italian plum tomatoes
  • 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • 4 oz. smoked mozzarella shredded
  • ½ c. pine nuts toasted
  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Directions

  • In a small bowl, soak the dried tomatoes in water for about 5 minutes. Drain, pat dry and mince.
  • Place in larger bowl to be combined with other ingredients.
  • Mince half of the chiffonade basil and add to the tomatoes. Add ¼ of a cup of the olive oil. Mix until well blended.
  • Cut the baguette diagonally about ½ inch thick. Brush both sides of bread with olive oil and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
  • Toast the pine nuts in a dry hot skillet, until golden.
  • Slather the top of the bread with ½ of the tomato mixture. Add ½ of the remaining basil, Italian tomatoes, vinegar, pine nuts and mozzarella to the sun-dried tomato mixture and spoon over the top of the bread. Sprinkle with the remaining basil. Eat and enjoy!

Video

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Salmon with Six Herbs

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Salmon With Six Herbs

by Nanny Bubby

We love Salmon. And we love it even more when all of the herbs come right out of our garden. This is our family’s and friend’s favorite salmon recipe. Use what you have available for herbs. If you are missing one or two, never worry, it is just as good without one as it is with adding one. Enjoy!

Total Time:

1 hour

Serves:

7

Ingredients

  • 3 lb. salmon filet
  • ¼ c. Mediterranean herb-infused olive oil
  • 1 tsp. Kosher salt
  • ½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
  • 3 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ c. Italian parsley minced
  • 1/4 c. Thyme minced
  • ½ c. dill minced
  • ½ c. basil minced
  • ½ c. oregano minced
  • ¼ c. chives chopped small
  • ½ c. dry vermouth

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Place the salmon filet in a non-metallic baking dish like a Le Creuset or ceramic or glass baking dish.
  • Combine the olive oil and lemon juice and pour over the salmon. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Let it marinate on the counter for a minimum of 15 minutes while you prepare the mincing of the herbs.
  • In a glass bowl stir together the combination of the six minced herbs. Place the mixture over the top of the salmon being careful to spread out evenly. Pour the vermouth around the salmon.
  • Roast the salmon for 10 to 12 minutes for medium rare. Test by cutting through the middle to check for doneness.
  • Cover the dish tightly and let stand for 8 minutes.
  • Cut the salmon crosswise about 2 to 3 inches thick and serve with lemon wedges.

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Harvey Wallbanger Poke Cake

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Harvey Wallbanger Poke Cake

by Nanny Bubby

You gotta love this one! During the disco era, a Harvey Wallbanger drink was the rage in all the discotheques. Everyone was “definitely cool” if they were spotted drinking one. Then someone ingeniously came up with a cake recipe. It is totally retro, and I serve it when everyone has become bored with my other cakes and then it’s the rage all over again. Everyone loves it. It is true, everything that is old is new again if you wait long enough. I think you will love this as well. Enjoy!

Total Time:

1 hour 30 minutes

Serves:

9

Ingredients

  • 1 package Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix Or package Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix if you can’t find the orange cake.
  • 1 small package instant vanilla pudding
  • 4 eggs room temperature
  • ½ c. oil sunflower preferred
  • ¾ c. fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 2 Tbsp. orange zest
  • 2 Tbsp. vodka
  • 3 oz. Galliano liqueur
  • 1 package candied orange slices Tip: Find these at Trader Joe’s
  • Infuser Poke Soak:
  • ½ stick sweet butter softened
  • ½ c. fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 ½ Tbsp. vodka
  • 1 ½ Tbs. Galliano liqueur
  • Wallbanger Glaze:
  • 1 c. sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. orange juice freshly squeezed
  • 1 Tbsp. Galliano liqueur
  • 1 tsp. vodka
  • Caramel Glass:
  • ½ c. granulated sugar
  • 3 Tbsp. Galliano liqueur

Directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • For the cake:
  • In a mixer, combine the cake mix and pudding on low speed for about 30 seconds.
  • Increase to medium speed and add the eggs, oil, orange juice, vodka, and Galliano. Mix for about 1.5 minutes until well combined.
  • Grease a Bundt cake pan and pour the batter into the molded pan.
  • Bake for 55 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before turning over onto a cake plate.
  • For the poke soak:
  • Melt the butter and add the orange juice, sugar, vodka and Galliano.
  • Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.
  • Take a wooden skewer (or any other skewer you have) and poke holes along the top of the cake about every ½ to 1 inch.
  • Pour the poke soak over the top of the cake slowly and allow it to find its way through the holes in the cake. Let the cake sit for about 15 minutes.
  • For the glaze:
  • Combine the powder sugar, orange juice, Galliano and Vodka in a bowl with a wire whisk.
  • Drizzle generously over the top of the cake and let come down the sides into the center and to the front of the cake.
  • For the caramel glass:
  • Line a baking sheet with a food-grade silicone liner (Silpat).
  • Place the granulated sugar and Galliano in a small saucepan and cook, without stirring or shaking the pan until the mixture rolls in a simmer to a deep amber color. This will take about 5 to 7 minutes.
  • Pour the caramel on to the silicone mat and allow to cool to room temperature.
  • Once cooled, break into shards and decorate the top of the cake, along with thin candied dried orange slices.

Video

Notes

Tip: I highly recommend using a Silpat as it is easier to roll the glass off the surface and break into chards. Never any sticking. Also, and let me be clear, never never touch the caramel glass until it is cooled or you will have pain like never before as it takes off your top layer of skin. (I speak from experience)

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Nanny Bubby’s Challah

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Nanny Bubby Challah Recipe

by Nanny Bubby

I love tradition. So many of us are only two generations removed from our ancestors who crossed the pond to come to America. Many of us were raised with deep traditions that have taken a back seat to our fast-paced American lives. For me, I was raised with the traditions of Eastern European Jews. Our Thanksgiving table had things on that table that I, to this day, do not know how to pronounce or where to find it. As our families secularized and the old traditions seemed not to be as important as they once were, I still cling to wanting to share with my grandchildren who I am and how I grew up when I was their age. My full identity was that I was a Jew. I want to pass down what that means to me to my grandchildren, and this is what one of my most trusted rabbis told me: “Marla, if you do nothing else, every week make challah with your grandchildren and light Shabbat candles.” This recipe is so easy and helps me keep our traditions alive. Since my granddaughter, my little “Doll Face”, was two years old, we have been making challah together. It’s a good thing she can’t remember that when we started it was as hard and heavy as a hockey puck, LOL! But it’s been perfected now. Remember when you bake bread it never turns out exactly the same each week. It takes on the essence of you in that moment. If you are being distracted, if you are happy and joyful, if you are angry or feeling stressed your bread reflects back to you where you have been in the present moment while making it. Baking bread is like yoga or anything that brings you into the now. Just watch. This recipe is adapted from a recipe my dear friend Jodie Berkman shared with me years ago.Enjoy!

Total Time:

3 hours 15 minutes

Serves:

10

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 tsp. rapid rise yeast
  • 2/3 c. warm water
  • 4 ½ c. bread flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 c. sugar
  • 1/3 c. coconut oil
  • 2 tsp. Kosher salt
  • ¾ c. warm water
  • 1 egg for egg wash prior to baking

Directions

  • Combine the sugar, yeast and warm water and spin gently with a fork. Let sit for about 5 minutes till the yeast gives you about a one inch foamy top or more.
  • Put flour in mixer, make a well, and add the eggs, sugar, oil salt, water and yeast mixture. Mix on low just until ingredients are incorporated (about 30 seconds).
  • Change mixer to dough hook and knead for about five minutes. Add more flour if needed. Dough should look and feel like satin as you hand knead it for just a minute or so into a ball. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel.
  • Place the bowl of dough in a warm dark place, which for me is my oven set at 125 degrees. Let dough rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
  • Punch the dough down. Braid the dough into one big or two small loaves. I love making mine into pull apart bread in a spring form pan. Just roll 3" balls and place them next to each other tightly in the pan.
  • Place braids on greased (or Silpat) baking sheet, cover and let rise for another 30 mins to 1 hour.
  • Pre heat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Brush tops of loaves with egg wash (one egg + one Tbsp. water).
  • Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, or coarse salt, or Trader Joe’s Everything but the bagel seasoning if desired. My favorite French Sea Salt.
  • Bake one large loaf at convection at 325 degrees for 35 mins, or two small loaves at convection at 325 degrees for 30 mins. Same rules for the pull apart bread.
  • For High Holy Days, I add one cup raisins and instead of braiding place in a circle on a baking sheet or into a spring form pan in a circle. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

TIP: The “rule of thumb” for conventional ovens when translating from convection oven times and temps: the oven should be 25 degrees warmer than convection recipes and cook for 10 minutes longer.

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Eggplant Parmesan

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Eggplant Parmesan

by Nanny Bubby

When my daughter and son-in-law moved back to Las Vegas after law school to get their first jobs, they moved in with us to save money to buy a house. They were here for two years and I absolutely loved it (not sure how they felt about it, LOL!). For me, having adult children living at home was great. We could all have a glass of wine at dinner, everyone just naturally pitched in to do the dishes. We talked business or politics during dinner and I NEVER had to say, “Is your homework done”? or “Did you make your bed”? It was awesome! We were all working, so on many nights we ordered take out. There was a local restaurant that made the best eggplant I had ever had, and my son-in-law agreed. It was not breaded and did not seem to be deep fried. The flavor was just amazing. I kept trying to duplicate the tenderness of the eggplant by frying or baking and just could not match it. Then one day when I was grilling the eggplant and taking it off the grill, I got a phone call. I quickly put everything into a Le Creuset stock pot and then put the top on. After 20 minutes, when my call ended, I returned. And when I took the top off the eggplant, it had steamed itself. VOILA, I had the consistency I was trying to achieve, by accident! You just won’t believe the wonderful flavor. Enjoy!

Total Time:

1 hour

Serves:

8

Ingredients

  • 3 medium-sized Italian eggplants cut on a diagonal about ¼ inch thick
  • 1 bottle organic spray olive oil
  • Salt generously sprinkled on both sides
  • 3 jars of Rao’s Arrabiatta sauce or any Fra Diavolo Arrabiatta that you prefer.
  • 1 large bunch fresh basil
  • ½ lb. penne pasta or traditional spaghetti
  • 2 lb. mozzarella grated
  • 2 lb. provolone sliced
  • 1 lb. Parmesan-Reggiano grated

Directions

  • Generously spray the eggplant with olive oil on one side, then salt and lightly pepper. It’s important to really coat the eggplant with the oil so that it caramelizes nicely
  • Place the eggplant olive oil side down, either on a hot grill covered with foil and sprayed with olive oil or on a cookie sheet.
  • Generously spray the side that is facing up with olive oil again, and salt and lightly pepper.
  • Place on the BBQ grill (or in the oven on high heat) until the bottom side looks to be browned and beginning to caramelize, and then flip the eggplants. (In the oven, it will evenly begin to brown and caramelize without flipping.)
  • Once the eggplant caramelizes, take it off the grill and place into a large enameled stock pot or soup pot. (Be sure pot is non-metallic.)
  • Tip: Immediately after taking the eggplant out of the oven or off of the grill while it is still very, very hot, lay the eggplant slices on top of each other and place the top tightly on the pot for about 20 minutes. During those 20 minutes, the eggplant will steam itself one on top of the other which will result in the most tender and juicy eggplant. This steaming process also gets rid of any bitterness.
  • Once the eggplant has cooled, it is time for layering.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Start with about 2/3 cup of sauce spread on the bottom of the pot (so nothing sticks to the bottom).
  • Place about three cups of cooked al dente penne or spaghetti on the bottom of the pan. This will be the only layer of pasta in the dish.
  • First place a layer of eggplant, then basil on top of each piece of eggplant. Cover with a combination of mozzarella then provolone. Then cover with sauce. Repeat this layering process until all the ingredients are used.
  • On the last layer at the top cover with freshly grated parmesan cheese and a basil twig.
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is brown and the tomato sauce is bubbly. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

Video

Notes

Tip: Before cutting and serving always let your casserole rest so it has time to bind and settle. Then cutting is a dream! Enjoy!

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