Sage Advice, Part 1: Windowpane Potato Chips

My dear faithful readers - remember that herb garden I planted several months ago? The one with all the adorable little seedlings and nothing but potential? Funny how a little water and sun can work their magic, because I now find myself with more mature herbs than really is fair. Not complaining - in fact, I'm loving it. Pestos are lining my freezer for the winter ahead, and I'm freezing various herb combinations with chicken stock into ice cubes for future use as handy seasoning for soups, stews and sauces. But honestly - I'm either going to need a bigger freezer, OR, I'm going to have to start using up my fresh herbs right now, in pretty much everything I make.

So, the next couple of posts you'll be reading all have a theme: using my garden's bounty in fun and delicious ways. The most prolific of the herbs right now are my two sage plants. I have a pineapple sage and an elephant sage, and my weekend was devoted to getting them reduced to a manageable size.

First up: after seeing the recipe in Cooking Light for these stunning windowpane potato chips, I knew I had to make some, simply for the WOW factor. I mean really - aren't they gorgeous? Like little stained glass windows - that you can eat! (Petty aside: is it just me, or is Cooking Light magazine often anything but? Maybe I'm missing what "Light" is intended to mean? To their credit, it's not Cooking "Lite".... but I digress.)

At any rate, I followed their recipe to a T (once I actually unearthed two baking sheets of approximately the same size - difficult in my non-baking arsenal of cookware), and they turned out beautifully. It's a bit labor intensive, albeit simple, but see for yourselves - the results are elegant. Almost too pretty to eat. Notice I said "almost"....


Windowpane Potato Chips

• 2 medium baking potatoes
• Cooking spray
• Assorted fresh herb sprigs (such as dill, chives, and sage)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Set mandoline on thinnest slicing setting. Cut each potato lengthwise using the mandoline. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels, and press lightly. Let stand 5 minutes.

Arrange half of the potato slices in a single layer on each of two baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Place a small herb sprig on each potato slice; cover with another potato slice. Press gently to adhere. Coat potato stacks with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Working with one sheet at a time, cover potato stacks with parchment paper. Place an empty baking sheet on top of parchment paper; set a cast-iron or heavy ovenproof skillet on second baking sheet to act as a weight (will keep the potato chips flat). Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove skillet. Remove baking sheets from oven; remove top baking sheet and parchment paper. Remove browned potato chips from pan; place on a wire rack. Turn any unbrowned potato chips over on sheet. Replace parchment paper and top baking sheet; return pan to oven. Replace skillet on top of baking sheet. Bake 5 more minutes or until browned. Cool chips on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining potatoes. Store chips in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Sage Advice, Part 2: Fried Herb Leaves

I don't know about you, but whenever I eat out and discover something that I like that seems as though it would be easy to replicate at home, I try it. Such is the case with fried herb leaves. Years and years ago, I fell in love with the crispy fried basil leaves that would accompany certain dishes at my favorite Thai restaurant. They were such a delightful addition to an already scrumptious Pad Thai or Som Tum salad, and their vibrant green translucent color was a stunning way to brighten up a dish. Nothing to it, I thought.

And then I tried it.

In attempt after attempt, my results were simply awful. No matter the herb, immediately upon being placed into the hot oil, they would turn black and bitter. I tried everything: changing the types of oil, changing the oil temperature, praying... nothing worked. I very nearly gave up.

But lo and behold, an aspiring chef wandered in and out of my life at just the right moment. I couldn't even pretend to recall his name, but as a result of our brief interlude, I walked away with the secret to making beautiful, delicate, colorful fried herb leaves. Which I will graciously now share with you because that's the kind of girl I am. So here goes....

Egg wash.

That's right. Simply dunk the raw herb leaves in egg whites that have been diluted and whisked together with a little bit of water before frying them. The oil doesn't matter (I use EVOO), and the heat only needs to be just shy of the oil's smoking point. Other than that - super easy!!

So, since I've got a wealth of herbs exploding in my garden right now, this is one method I'm using to put them to good use. Most herbs are delicious when prepped this way, but my favorites are basil and sage - any variety. I like to eat them all on their own as a little snack. Some of the sturdier herbs - like sage - can even be used for a dip-shoveling device, much like a potato chip - although the technique is more dunking than scooping (my favorite combo is to dip fried basil leaves in my homemade Tzatziki Sauce). But you could also use them to top my Drunk and Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, or my Thai Cucumber Salad.

Sounds good, huh? I hope you find this tip helpful and go home and pull out your Fry Daddy at once! (Now that's not something I normally say, is it?)

Sage Advice, Part 3: Pineapple Sage Iced Tea

I'll admit it. I planted a pineapple sage seedling this year for one purpose, and one purpose only: Pineapple Sage Mojitos. Now that's all well and good - and delicious! - but as my seedling got bigger and bigger, it struck me that cocktail hour just doesn't occur often enough at our house to ever make enough mojitos to keep up with the prolific plant. (I find that both heartening and sad... not sure if I should celebrate my cheap date status, or pine for the party girl that never was.)

At any rate, I had to find other ways to use this incredibly aromatic, yet subtle herb. So where did I turn? Why, to the internets, of course. When you search that wide world web for pineapple sage recipes, the first 831,072 returns are for pineapple sage tea. So there was my answer. I would make tea. And since it was going to be a hot weekend, the tea would be of the iced variety.

Turns out it was simple to make, and extremely refreshing. I went a step further and made pineapple juice ice cubes to serve with it - a nice touch if I do say so myself. I liked it so much, that I think as long as my little plant will churn out the goods, I'll have a batch of this tea on hand at all times. Come on over - we'll share a sip!


Pineapple Sage Iced Tea

• 1 quart water
• A heap of fresh pineapple sage leaves, roughly torn (I'm guessing about 3 cups, roughly packed)
• The juice of two limes (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup honey
• Pineapple juice for ice cubes (optional)
  

Boil the water; pour directly over the pineapple sage leaves in a pitcher. Add the lime and honey; stir to combine. Let steep at room temperature for 2 hours; transfer to refrigerator and let continue to steep overnight. Strain the tea to remove leaves. Serve over pineapple juice ice cubes and garnish with a fresh spring of the pineapple sage.

Sage Advice, Part 4: Drunk and Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Drunk and stuffed. Sounds like how I've felt after many a good dinner party. Overindulgence... I've sure experienced my fair share. But in this instance, drunk and stuffed are actually really good attributes. They refer to a marinade built around a hard apple cider base, and a stuffing loaded with both sweet and savory ingredients - fresh pineapple sage being one of them.

This dish came about in true Fare to Remember fashion, where good food always means good company, and cooking equals community. My friend Hetta - a stellar cook and fellow shutter bug - was coming to spend the afternoon, and we were going to enjoy it by whipping up something fabulous for lunch. But not just any something - there were criteria: it had to be worthy of a blog post, and it had to utilize the fresh herbs in my garden, particularly, sage.

Now, if you own a copy of the Fare to Remember cookbook, you'll note that Hetta has a fabulous recipe therein for Pear, Gorgonzola and Sage Pizza (if you don't own the book - buy one - the pizza recipe alone makes it worth the price!). As much as I love that pizza, I put the kibosh on making it for her visit, really prefering to A) -try something new, and B) -grill something since it was Labor Day weekend. (Isn't grilling required the first weekend in September? I thought so.) So she and I got busy and bounced some ideas off of each other. She had just made a stuffed pork loin roast for hoardes of friends, and announced that it had been a huge success. Not only super tasty, but also an extremely affordable way to feed a crowd. Hers was marinated in a teryiaki sauce, stuffed with bread cubes, dried fruit and herbs, and then glazed with her homemade apricot jam. That got my wheels turning....

With her recipe as inspiration, I did a little train-of-thought reasoning: if pineapple sage was the herb I wanted to use, the dried fruit would naturally have to be.... (wait for it).... pineapple. The fresh fruit would then have to be... apple (like pineapple, but without the pine - no?). And since this whole apple theme had reared its head, a hard apple cider seemed only befiting as an ingredient around which to build a tropical/Asian/fusion marinade. Beyond that, I knew I wanted to use toasted oats in lieu of bread for the stuffing (I'm aiming for more whole grains in my diet). Logical, right? (Don't answer that.)

The result is this gorgeous tenderloin, literally exploding with flavor. We wound up using Hetta's homemade peach jam for the glaze, and the combination of flavors really turned out to be killer. The fruit was a wonderful sweet counterpoint to the savory pineapple sage, and the oats in the stuffing were a brilliant, nearly indistiguishable sustitute for bread. As you can see from the photo below, we had ourselves quite a little feast out on my patio, just the two of us. We may not have walked away drunk, but we sure stepped away from the table stuffed.


Drunk and Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin

• Two 1-pound pork tenderloins (or one 2-pound pork loin roast); butterflied and pounded flat
• 1/4 cup peach jam, thinned with a tablespoon or so of pineapple juice or water, to be brushed on as a glaze
  

Marinade

• One 12-ounce bottle of hard apple cider (can be substituted with non-alchoholic apple cider)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons Chinese five spice sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 cup fresh pineapple sage, chopped (can be substituted with regular sage)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all marinade ingredients and mix well. Pour the marinade over the pork tenderloins that have been placed in a deep casserole dish. Cover and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours (I let mine marinate overnight). When ready to stuff the tenderloins, reserve the marinade for use in the stuffing and for basting.

Stuffing

• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced small
• 1/2 cup dried pineapple, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 of a small red onion, diced small
• 1 cup whole oats, toasted (simply toast them in a pan on your stovetop over low heat)
• 1 cup fresh pineapple sage, chopped (can be substituted with regular sage)
  
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• Approximately 1/2 cup of the reserved tenderloin marinade (enough to make the stuffing moist)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Remove the tenderloin from the marinade and lay flat. Spoon the stuffing mixture onto the loin; roll to assemble, taking care to tuck the ends in as you go. The end result will look like a fat little log - or the tenderloin before you butterflied it. Truss it with string so that it won't fall apart on the grill. Sear the loin on all sides over high heat on a grill that has been brushed with oil. Once seared, remove from direct heat and cook under a closed lid, turning/basting every 3-4 minutes until done, approximately 25 minutes. (Regarding direct heat: my grill has three burners. I cooked this tenderloin on the center burner. After the sear, I turned the center burner off completely, and turned the two side burners to medium. That was enough to provide good indirect heat with the lid closed to cook the tenderloing to its carmel-colored perfection.) For the final 5 minutes of cooking, brush with the peach jam to glaze.

Note: Since the tenderloin has been pounded thin, there's really no point in using a meat thermometer to gauge the internal temperature. You really just have to go on instinct to know when the tenderloin is perfectly cooked. It's a fine line between juicy and a little pink, to dry and overcooked. I can usually tell by feeling the meat if it's ready. My trick: Pinch the fatty tissue in that little gap between your outstretched forefinger and thumb; once the pork has a similar consistency, it's perfect!

Lighten Up Already: Guilt-Free Bacon Cheeseburgers (They're Turkey!)

So Randall and I were sitting around watching the Food Network one night (yep... we live it up alright!), and lo and behold: Rachel Ray busted out a 30-Minute Meal that had both of us salivating. She made these ridiculous double cheeseburgers topped with bacon and a roasted tomato chutney... but that were considerably more healthy than the heart-attack-in-a-wrapper you'd get at the corner fast food joint. Her secret: she used all turkey (ground turkey breast patties, turkey bacon), and substituted an English muffin for a normal bun.

Now I've made turkey burgers a million times before - they're one of my favorites. The difference this time around was that Randall, not usually a fan of ground turkey, was really keen to the idea after seeing Rachel's episode. The iron was hot, so I struck. I bought turkey burger ingredients the very next day.

I didn't actually go back and research or follow Rachel's recipe; her show simply provided the inspiration for the ones I made, pictured above. I loaded up the ground turkey breast with heaps of herbs and spices; they were juicy and flavorful and every bit as satisfying as a normal beef burger - maybe even more so! All I know is that if I can get a turkey burger past my beef-loving DH - the recipe is a keeper.

So, if grilling is in your plans over this nice long holiday weekend coming up, give these a whirl. Your taste buds - and your waistline - will thank you!

Guilt-Free Turkey Bacon Cheeseburgers

• 1 pound ground turkey breast
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
• 1/2 of a medium red onion, chopped fine
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2-cup bread crumbs (optional)
  
• 8 slices turkey bacon, precooked
  
• 4 slices low-fat or fat-free cheddar cheese slices (good ones exist these days!)
• 4 English muffins, toasted
• Burger toppings and condiments of your choosing: tomatoes, sliced onion, avocado, lettuce, pickles, mustard, etc.
  

In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, egg, onion, and all the herbs and spices. Mix thoroughly. If the mixture is too loose to form patties, add the breadcrumbs as a binder. Form 4 patties, and grill over medium heat until cooked entirely through, approximately 6-7 minutes per side. Unlike beef burgers... there is no "medium rare" when it comes to poultry burgers - cook them all the way through folks! During the last stages of grilling, place two bacon strips on top of each patty; cover the bacon with a slice of cheese and let melt. Use the English muffins as the buns, and top according to your individual tastes.

Fire It Up: Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

If you're like me, you'll be grilling up a storm this coming Labor Day weekend. One of the recipes on my agenda is tomatillo salsa, made with the purple heirloom beauties you see here (got em from Sun Born Organics - thanks Mike!). I love love love tomatillo salsa, and if you make this recipe, so will you. It's the perfect accompaniment for all of your holiday weekend grub: consider it as a topping for burgers or grilled meat; a fantastic addition to your seven-layer dip or mile-high nachos, or simply all on its own with a big bag of tortilla chips. Dig in and enjoy!

Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

• 8-10 medium tomatillos, husked and cut in half
• 1-2 serrano chilis
  
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (more if you like cilantro!)
  
• 1/2 of a medium white onion, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Roast the tomatillos and the serrano chilis on your BBQ grill. Cook the tomatillos until they are completely soft and juicy, with a nice, even browing on the outside (grill marks are good!). Remmove from grill and let cool. Roast the serranos until they are well-charred. Once blistered and charred, remove from grill and place them straight into a plastic bag to sweat. After about 5 minutes, you'll be able to remove the serranos from the bag and slip the charred skin right off. Once the skin is removed, stem, seed and chop the chilis. In a food processor, combine the cooled tomatillos, chopped serranos, garlic and cilantro. Blend to a rough puree. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the chopped onion. Salt and pepper to taste.

Breakfast of Champions: Bacon, Egg and Toast Cups

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I sure hope that Annie of AnniesEats.com is complimented by this post. I saw her photo and recipe for these brilliant bacon, egg and toast cups, and I knew I had to make them. I mean really - what a great idea, huh? It's breakfast all in a perfect little muffin-looking package. So tasty... and adorable! It's an ideal recipe for a long weekend when you actually have time to enjoy breakfast - I just had to share it with you in time for Labor Day.

So I took Annie's basic premise and pimped it out just a bit. Starting with an empty muffin tin, I first lined the outside of the individual wells with pre-cooked bacon. I used turkey bacon to keep the calories and fat at a less artery-clogging level (a girl has to try, right?). I then placed an English muffin half as the base instead of regular bread (cut to size with a biscuit cutter). In her version, Annie's next step was to top the bread with some shredded cheese. I, however, loaded up my version with a slice of fresh tomato, a dollop of goat cheese, and some fresh herbs from my garden (basil and oregano). Finally, the egg is the topper for it all. Place the muffin tin in a preheated 400 degree oven, and about 15 minutes later, you'll have the cutest little breakfast you ever did see.

As you can see, there's no real recipe, but there are a few tips to make the assembly go smoothly (some are Annie's, some are mine I learned the hard way!):

• Use cooking spray or butter to coat the wells of the muffin tin so that you're cups will pop right out.
• When pre-cooking the bacon, heat it through but don't get it to the crispy stage. It needs to be pliable enough to curl around the inside of the muffin wells, and still has some cooking time in the oven.
  
• Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Make a hollow-ish indention in the cheese layer where the yolk can sit. Nestle the yolk down in there before adding the whites.
  
• Pour the eggs whites on top at the very end - it will seep into all the crevices and act as the glue that binds everything together.
• Adjust the cooking time depending on how well-done you like your yolks. I love the gooeyness of over-easy yolks, and 15 minutes was just about right. Keep them in the oven 4-5 minutes longer to firm them up - just make sure the whites are cooked through, regardless.
• I made a couple ultra low-fat, low-calorie versions by omitting the English muffin, cheese and egg yolk (kept the bacon, of course!). By using the tomato and herbs as the base, and filling the cup with only egg whites, it turned out almost equally as good. We have bacon to thank for that!