by Lori Lange on July 26, 2011
Cover recipe from Real Simple, July 2011
Nectarine Galette
What a fun cover for Real Simple to display in the summer, when everyone is looking for no-fuss, easy recipes: 3-Ingredient Recipes- fast, fresh and delicious. They feature these as Three Ingredient Summer Recipes. It’s a little bit of a stretch to call them (3) ingredient recipes. What they fail to mention is that there are 3 main ingredients, with basics like olive oil, butter, salt and pepper added in here and there to create the whole recipe. So basically, if you’re one that always has the extras in your house, you only really have to hunt down 3 ingredients to make the recipes. Pretty cool for busy people.
There are quite a few recipes on the cover. I chose the one I thought looked most appetizing to try out, though many of the 3 ingredient recipes looked worthy of trying. Read my notes below to see what I thought of the Nectarine Galette…
Nectarine Galette
Source: Real Simple, July 2011
ingredients:
1 refrigerated rolled piecrust
3 thinly sliced nectarines or peaches
2 Tablespoons turbinado sugar
2 Tablespoons cut-up unsalted butter
additional turbinado sugar
instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. with the rack in the lowest position.
2. Place piecrust on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Leaving a 2-inch border, top with nectarine slices. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and cut-up butter. Fold the edges of the dough toward the center, overlapping slightly and partially covering the fruit. Brush the dough with 2 teaspoons water and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon turbinado sugar.
3. Bake until juices are bubbling and the crust is golden (tent with foil if the crust browns too quickly), 35 to 40 minutes.
Serves: 4
Tips from Culinary Covers:
*This was a very straightforward recipe. I see no need to make your own crust, unless you despise the taste of store bought crust. All of my taste-testers thought the crust was perfectly delicious, and I just bought a plain-old store brand.
*I used nectarines for this recipe. No need to peel them. The galette would be equally good with fresh peaches too.
*Turbinado sugar is not something that most home cooks have on hand. If you have chunky sparkling sugar, that would work just fine. And if you don’t have either of those sugars, I don’t really see any reason why you can’t use plain old granulated sugar.
*This recipe was perfectly delicious and super simple- just as written. It’s a no-brainer for anyone- home cooks, non cooks, etc. It’s simple and impressive and a perfect dessert for summer nectarines. We loved it.
Did this recipe deserve the cover spotlight? Yes! It’s the perfect example of taking a simple set of ingredients and combining them to make something impressive and good. It was fast. It was fresh. It was delicious. (just as the cover promises)
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by Lori Lange on July 12, 2011
Cover recipe from Food Network Magazine, June 2011
Mexican (Avocado) Hot Dogs
The June issue of Food Network Magazine is listed as “Hot Dog! The Grilling Issue.” This isn’t an issue about grilling hot dogs. It’s an issue devoted to grilling everything… veggies, romaine lettuce, burgers, kebabs, etc. The insert is a spotlight on how to make 50 different condiments to put on burgers and hot dogs and more. I’m not really quite sure why hot dogs made the cover, other than they probably thought it would be fun to show that you can do more with a hot dog besides your usual ketchup/mustard/relish combo. Their take: Give your franks some international appeal with these topping combos.
Versions of hot dogs from various country themes are represented. I’m fairly certain you would never be able to find hot dogs of this type in the countries mentioned, but it’s fun to see the flavor combinations they came up with. Examples: Greek = tzatziki, cucumber and kalamata olives. Chinese = wasabi mayonnaise, Asian snack mix and pickled ginger. American = barbecue sauce, pulled pork and coleslaw. I’m not sure they all sound super appetizing, but I give them an A+ for creativity. Read below for what I thought of their Mexican hot dog (featured on the cover)…
Mexican (Avocado) Hot Dog
Source: Food Network Magazine, June 2011
ingredients:
bun
hot dog
chipotle mayonnaise
cotija cheese, crumbled
avocado, chopped
instructions:
1. Grill bun and hot dog.
2. Top with chipotle mayonnaise, cotija cheese and avocado.
Serves: 1
Tips from Culinary Covers:
*I used Hebrew National Hot Dogs for testing purposes.
*I grilled both the bun and the hot dog.
*If you’re not familiar with cotija cheese, it’s a round-shaped Latin-American cheese- usually found near the cream cheese in your market. It crumbles easily with your fingers.
*Wouldn’t you think that the magazine would have included “chipotle mayonnaise” in their Condiments insert? Nope. Nowhere to found. I suppose you can purchase that variety of mayo at the store, but I went ahead and made some myself. I mixed 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon or so of chipotle sauce (from a can of chipotle chiles in adobo).
*Funny, coincidental tidbit… I was in Venice Beach (near Hollywood) several weeks ago at a beachside bar, and I ordered an avocado hot dog on their menu. It just had avocado and tomato, with mayonnaise as the condiment.
*If you are an avocado lover… you might very well love this hot dog. I enjoyed the combination a lot. Cotija Cheese lends a salty element to the hot dog, combined with a tiny bit of spice from the chipotle mayonnaise and the fresh flavor of chunky avocado. This is how I want to eat my hot dogs from here on out!
Did this recipe deserve the cover spotlight? Sure! Hot dogs are pretty much standard fare for summer grilling here in America, and it was fun feature to show the world different ways to dress them up. And hey, burgers often get featured in the spotlight- loaded with all kinds of stuff- so why not hot dogs for a change?
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