Little Round Things Caprese by @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here. My little backyard garden is overflowing with gold cherry tomatoes (Sun Gold variety). The basil is having a banner year, too. To celebrate, I'll send one commenter a copy of my newest book, Murder at a Cape Bookstore.

My work is super busy leading up to leaving on Tuesday for the Bouchercon convention in San Diego, and I was going to a potluck meeting of local writers last night. I don't make a practice of buying food to bring to a potluck supper, so what should I make to bring?

When I saw little mozzarella balls at the farm store, I thought a salad of little round things would be fun, pretty, and delicious. Imagine my delight when I learned the little cheese balls are called ciliegine, which means cherry tomatoes! 

My further delight came from realizing that this is just a different form of the classic Caprese salad - slices of full-sized ripe tomato and mozzarella garnished with whole basil leaves in stacks dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Rainer Zenz, CC BY-SA 3.0

You obviously can make my version of the salad with un-round chunks of tomatoes. I also decided to add little cubes of homegrown cucumber for some crunch, even though they aren't round. The salad would also be great with feta cheese instead of the mozzarella balls. The most important thing is fresh, ripe ingredients, preferably locally grown.

Little Round Things Caprese

Ingredients

Four cups gold cherry tomatoes

8 ounces ciliegine, drained

About 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

1 small cucumber, diced (peeled if desired)

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

Halve tomatoes and mozzarella balls. 

Hold basil leaves in a stack and sliver with scissors (this method works better than using a knife).

Combine all ingredients and toss. 

Serve with crusty bread for a complete light meal, or enjoy as a side salad with grilled chicken or fish.

Readers: How do you like to eat tomatoes or basil? Are you a fan of conventional Caprese? I'll send one lucky commenter a signed copy of the newest Cozy Capers Book Group mystery, so leave your email address.

🍅🍅🍅

My next books will be "Murderous Mittens" in Christmas Mittens Murder and Murder Uncorked, both featuring my new wine bar manager Cece Barton.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen

How to Make Fresh Mozzarella #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I attended a seminar on making mozzarella at the Restaurant Store in Key West this fall. (And by the way, if you visit Key West and are a foodie and/or cook, you will be thrilled to find this store!) Mozzarella Mark is a cheese specialist and we all enjoyed watching the cheese emerge from the brine, and then sampling the fresh cheese and the various ways he put it together. (I wanted to let you guys know that I don't really expect you to make this mozzarella. You could but I don't expect it.) One of the problems with my translation is that I was chatting with a friend during the class and didn't pay close, close attention. (Oh my gosh, this sounds so much like my college career.) And then the more I studied Mark's recipe, and the more I thought about the quantities of ingredients he pulls together, the more I thought you should buy your fresh mozzarella, LOL, and then use it to make delicious dishes. But I'll show you how he did it, and then you can decide. Ingredients:  Boiling water 5 pounds curd Salted water Break the five pounds of curd up into little pieces: Gradually add boiling water, but not too much or you'll kill the curd: Gather the cheese into a mass, stretching edges, lifting and pulling: Cut portions into balls and soak them in brine for 12 to 17 minutes: Wouldn't he make the best character ever?? He looks so suspicious... One of my favorite (and also easy) dishes using mozzarella involves slicing the fresh cheese, slicing a ripe avocado, and slicing a ripe tomato or two. Arrange the alternating slices of tomato avocado and mozzarella on a pretty plate, and then if you wish, sprinkle them with a dusting of red pepper flakes and good olive oil.  You might also want to dice a couple of fresh basil leaves and sprinkle that over the top. Or now I'm thinking even a spoonful of capers would look nice on this arrangement. And a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if that floats your boat... You can tell from the recipes I've presented over the years that I use mozzarella unlocked. To read my recipe for pesto, tomato, and fresh cheese pizza click here.  Or the easiest fresh pasta sauce in the world click here. But the bottom line is try with all your might to avoid the rubbery supermarket mozzarella. Fresh out of the pan the way Mark makes is best, but in the fresh cheese section of your food market, you can find BelGioioso brand, which I like quite well. Lucy writes the Key West food critic mysteries:  DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS is here now! Follow Lucy on Pinterest. Or Twitter. Or Facebook.

Pasta with Mozzarella, Tomatoes, and Basil @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I know most of you guys are dying for spring and I don't intend to rub your noses in the Key West weather! But John and I took a wonderful tour of the Key West Botanical Gardens a couple of weeks ago. Here was my favorite plant: it's called the autograph tree, because as you see, if you write your name on a leaf, it shows up. And best of all, I learned when I looked it up that the fruits and flowers are poisonous to humans. Now you KNOW I am going to have to use this in a mystery!

Anyway, all that said, there was also a little market and one man was selling tomatoes and other vegetables, including the pineapple I used in this totally yummy upside-down cake. The tomatoes reminded me of my favorite summer pasta dish--one we eat every week when the tomatoes in the garden are coming in fast and furious. But I've also made this with little grape or cherry tomatoes--it does not depend on perfect summer produce. So if you are yearning for a touch of summer in your winter, try this. (You can almost always find a bunch of fresh basil in the supermarket--in my case, I nursed a pot along on my windowsill.)

2 large tomatoes or the equivalent amount of small ones
1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese
about 8 fresh basil leaves
good quality olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Kalamata olives if you like them, sliced

Chop the tomatoes into bite size pieces. Chop the basil. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil along with salt and pepper to taste, and olives if you like them. You can let this sit at room temperature for an hour or two to marinate.



Close to serving time, cut the cheese into bite-size chunks and stir these into the vegetables.  








Serve this over the pasta of your choice (I love the real Italian stuff from Eataly.)





 
 And think spring--because it IS coming!

Duval Street fun

  

And spring in Key West means spring break and St. Patrick's Day...

Tonka with admirers on Mallory Square

And if you can't wait, why not read about spring in a Key West food critic mystery?

MURDER WITH GANACHE is in bookstores now. 

And please follow Lucy on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.

How to Make the Fastest Supper Ever

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm in one of those crazy busy stretches where I've barely got time to sleep, never mind cook. Never mind cook recipes with a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps! 

I am definitely not complaining, because it's all good stuff--a little book tour to launch TOPPED CHEF, and the due date looming on MURDER WITH GANACHE.

Besides, we have to eat...and it can't be takeout every night, because what would I post for you? So here's a suggestion for a quick supper that's still homemade and delicious, but not a time suck.

Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Tomato Etc. Salad

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, uncooked (I prefer to pay a little more and buy organic here)
Sweet potatoes, one per person
1 tomato
1 avocado
1/2 ball fresh mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 375. If you like a crispier skin, you may bake the chicken at 425 or so for 15 minutes, and then turn it down to 375. Pat the chicken dry, clear out whatever's in the cavity. You may dab some butter on top, or even moisten it with olive oil. Then sprinkle with Kosher salt, some chopped fresh rosemary if you have a pot on your windowsill, and cracked pepper. Optional: peel an onion, cut in two, and stuff it into the cavity. 

Bake for an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, check for doneness with a meat thermometer. Or prick it near the leg and see if juice runs clear. Baste occasionally with pan juices.

About fifteen minutes into the baking, add sweet potatoes (washed and pricked in several places) to the oven. I either put them on a piece of foil or in a small baking pan, because otherwise they will ooze all over your oven. Bake until soft and serve with butter.

And in the meanwhile, slice the tomato, slice the cheese, slice the avocado. Arrange them on a plate and sprinkle with salt and a shake of hot pepper flakes and drizzle with olive oil.

Voila, supper! And now you will actually have time to look at the sunset for a few minutes too!

And please don't forget to order your copy of TOPPED CHEF!
Coming May 7! 

And please "like" Lucy on Facebook for updates on book and foodie news.                    

And speaking of contests, here's a fun one for the best grilled cheese sandwich. That's one contest I'd enjoy judging!