31 dishes, 31 days – I’m cooking my way through Melissa Clark‘s “No-Sweat Cooking” from the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. And to those of you who made your way over here via rachaelraymag.com, welcome!

Okay, I’ve gone rogue.

I didn’t actually mash the beans and avocados together, because our avocados were still a little firm, and… well… I’m still feeling a little twitchy around the avocados after my recent knife-versus-pit mishap.

I’ve also got a not-so-secret thing for salt and acid flavors, so I ended up using quick-pickled shallots in place of raw onion in this dish, and Mike and I both liked the extra oomph. I will say I used a bit of a light hand on the cheese – Microplane graters are awesome for giving you soft, airy mounds of cheese, but with the rich creaminess of the beans and avocado, and the peppery radicchio, we found ourselves wanting more cheddar flavor. Next time, I’l definitely add more.

Overall, this was a great combination of flavors, and a surprisingly filling meal with a few wedges of perfectly ripe heirloom tomato alongside.

Get the Recipe: White Bean & Avocado Wraps

31 dishes, 31 days – I’m cooking my way through Melissa Clark‘s “No-Sweat Cooking” from the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. And to those of you who made your way over here via rachaelraymag.com, welcome!

I’ve been a fan of the combo of radishes, butter, and salt since I first tried them together at at NYC’s Prune forever ago, so this sandwich seemed like a sure thing. The sandwich is also just about the easiest thing in the world to put together, so it seemed to be a good way to get back on the No-sweat Cooking wagon after losing a weekend to illness (mine and our Kali girl’s) and a few pressing projects.

As with any dish that contains so few ingredients, quality is super important. I started with a great fresh baguette from Seven Stars Bakery, sweet and porky La Quercia Prosciutto Americano from Farmstead, farm fresh radishes, softened Kate’s butter and good coarse sea salt. The peppery snap of the radishes was really nice against the silky prosciutto – as Mike said, “this one’s a keeper,” and I expect we’ll be enjoying these Prosciutto-Radish Sandwiches often.

Get the recipe: Prosciutto-Radish Sandwiches

31 dishes, 31 days – I’m cooking my way through Melissa Clark‘s “No-Sweat Cooking” from the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. And to those of you who made your way over here via rachaelraymag.com, welcome!

To me, the most important part of a BLT is the tomato – you just can’t have a great sandwich without slices of perfectly ripe summer tomato, fragrant and juicy.

I’m particularly fond of these “ox heart” tomatoes from our friends at Arcadian Fields, a dense-fleshed heirloom variety with unbelievable flavor.

Sure, the bacon’s important too, but half the fun of eating a BLT is getting a little messy, leaning over your plate as you eat, rivulets of tomato juice mingled with mayo running down your fingers with each bite.

Melissa Clark’s Sweet & Spicy BLT adds another element to that luscious liquor, calling for a swipe of pepper jelly to add a little heat and sweetness. I opted to use a bit of our food52 friend Mrs. Larkin‘s Sundried Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Jam instead, since we had the last of a jar in the fridge, and it was a delicious addition.

As summer lunches go, it doesn’t get much better, or easier, than this.

Get the recipe: Sweet & Spicy BLT

The fried chicken sandwich project continues. The breading and bun were less successful than Round One, but the slaw was made of win. To be continued…

I went up to Cook & Brown for a drink, and ended up staying for dinner. Some nights, it’s good to just give in and let your friends – your family – take care of you. I hope I get to return the favor soon.

This week has been a struggle. Just last week we celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday and expressed our gratitude for, among other things, how well our Kali has done with her treatment for anemia, but that same night when she stretched out on the table for scritches, we discovered something troubling – a lump. Mike pointed it out to the vet at Kali’s Monday appointment, a cell sample was taken for testing, and we waited. I’ve been distracted and out of sorts all week as a result, fretting about the unknown and fighting to stay healthy myself while seemingly everyone around me battles one bug or another.

I’ve also been fighting exhaustion – mental, pysical, and emotional. So much has happened during this whirlwind year, and while there are some potentially great things for us to look forward to in 2010, they are all still very much up in the air, and the weight of all the uncertainty we are facing has been difficult to bear. It has been hard to find inspiration, hard to find words to put down on a page, hard to just keep going day after day.

And while I planned and planned for our Thanksgiving meal, I never really got around to sketching out meals for this week. I brought home a mishmash of produce from last Saturday’s farmers’ market, but without any advance plans it has been difficult to get interesting meals to take shape this week. So there was pasta. And pizza. Soup and more soup. By last night soup was all that I wanted, a big bowl of cream-laced tomato, with tiny grilled cheese sandwiches alongside. Comfort in a bowl, a variant of one of my oldest “recipes“, something simple and warm to help chase my blues away.

The call from the vet came this morning, the results, “inconclusive.” We’ll keep waiting, and watching, forging ahead through the uncertainty until answers start to appear. I see a lot more soup in my future.

A creamy leek soup, and Phoebe‘s (CONTEST WINNING!) Prosciutto and Fontina Panini with Arugula Pesto – simple, satisfying, and absolutely delicious.

Some may say that they’re so over, but Mike and I have been in love with banh mi since our first taste of them back in NYC. I’ve wanted to make banh mi-inspired sandwiches at home for ages, and finally did so last night. I had an idea a while back to use duck rillettes in place of the Vietnamese cold cuts I generally favor, so I had Mike whip some up from his latest batch of confit. With the rillettes made, putting together the rest of the was a breeze: I halved a baguette, sliced each half open, and slathered the insides with a Sriracha-spiked mayo. I placed them on a baking sheet and they went into a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.

While the baguettes warmed, I whisked together a little salt and vinegar, then added some radish coins, thin slices of carrot, and slivers of green chile pepper, tossing them until they were all well coated. I sliced up a cucumber and some pickled red onions as well, and set aside several sprigs of fresh cilantro to top our sandwiches. When the baguettes were just cool enough to handle, I assembled everything, spreading a layer of rillettes inside of the bread, then topping them with the cut and pickled veggies and cilantro. This was a meal that really did come together in minutes, and it was delicious. I’m eyeing the last of Mike’s pate de campagne for a future variation of this sandwich.

Since the day Michael Ruhlman announced his BLT challenge, I’ve had that classic sandwich combo on the brain, and while last night’s version was certainly not our entry into the contest, it was a way to get our BLT mojo flowing.

A really good tomato is, for me, the most important component of a BLT, and since we’re still a couple of months off from from prime tomato season here in New England, I decided to work with what we do have around now: tart green tomatoes.

While my bacon cooked on a rack in the oven (my favorite way to keep the slices flat and stackable), I sliced up my tomatoes and gave them a dunk in some beaten egg seasoned with salt and a dash or three of hot sauce. The egg-coated slices then got a coating of cornmeal before going into a hot pan to fry until golden.

When the last batch of tomatoes had been fried and the bacon was ready, I started layering: a lightly toasted slice of sourdough, a layer of bright green basil mayo (you can make your own mayo, of course, but I didn’t and the world didn’t end), then some bacon, peppery arugula (my leaf of choice for BLTs), some of the fried green tomatoes, and another mayo-spread slice of bread on top.

The “soup” I made to accompany our sandwiches was… not so good. (Even after thinning it with a bit of water and readjusting the seasoning, it was more like paste than something potable. Your mileage may vary.) But the marriage of BLT and fried green tomatoes was such a happy one, we barely missed our soupy side dish.

How to feed a hungry hubby in 10 minutes or less:

Combine 1/3 cup of mayo with the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt.
Add a heaping helping of chopped fresh tarragon and chervil.
Add one cup of chopped cooked lobster meat and toss gently.
Toast soft hot dog rolls in a pan with a little butter.
Spoon lobster salad into rolls and serve with chips and sliced tomatoes.

A simple sandwich never tasted so luxurious.