Roundz

Chef Pope is a columnist for Patch, AOL's online news source.  His bi-weekly column, Culinary Crofton, features recipes and food trends.  A complete online library of his columns is available at this link.  Below are links to recent recipes, illustrated in the photos above:

Arugula Pesto - See the video, photos and recipe inspired by a trip to the local farmers' market

Grilled Peaches with Balsamic Vinegar over Angel Food Cake -  Your grill can do so much more than burgers! The contrast of sweet peaches and the tang of balsamic vinegar give this dessert a memorabel flavor while remaining light.  See recipe, video and photos.

Tropical Fruit Lemonades - Summer lemonades pop with tropical fruit purees. See recipe and photos.

Asian Quinoa Salad - One of our favorite "go to" accompaniments.  See recipe and photos.

Asparagus: Tips for tips

While asparagus is available year-round, spring is the best season for this power-packed spear.  In celebration of May’s National Asparagus Month, Chef Pope offers these tips for blanching asparagus:

You’ll need: pan of boiling water, salt, tongs, knife, kitchen scissors. 

About Rubber Bands: Asparagus typically comes bundled by rubber bands.  These bands are perfect to bind the spears during blanching so they don’t bump around and knock off the tips.  Leave at least one band on for the blanching process.

Wash: Leaving the rubber band on your asparagus bundle, rinse it off under running water.

Get ready: You’ll need a pan with a large volume of well-salted water.  Taste the water to test for saltiness.  Proper salting now could season your asparagus enough so you don’t have to salt later.  Bring the water to a rolling boil (212 degrees). 

Blanch: In blanching, you want to unleash the beautiful green color of the asparagus.  This process happens quickly, so have your tongs at hand.  Gently place your rubber-banded asparagus in the boiling water.  Leave in only one minute.  It might take less if your stalks are thin.  Once you see the brilliant green color, pull out the entire bundle with your tongs and place it on a paper towel or colander to drain.  Snip the rubber band free, allowing each stalk to cool slightly.  Serve. 

Featured Recipe: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Valentine'sDay will be here soon, but why wait for February 14 to make something special for the one you love?  A simple, beautiful gourmet expression of affection is the chocolate covered strawberry.

Ingredients: 1 Cup Milk Chocolate Morsels, Fresh Strawberries and optional embellishments such as colored crystal sugar sprinkles, chocolate shavings or powdered sugar.

You will need:  A sauce pan and stainless steel bowl, wooden skewer, wax paper, cookie sheet or plate

Wash berries whole, being careful with the leaves.  You'll need them in order to dip berries in melted chocolate.

Put chocolate morsels in stainless steel bowl.

Add 1 inch of water to your sauce pan and bring it to a simmer on medium heat.  A note about using a double boiler: make sure the water in the sauce pan is not filled so that it comes in contact with the top bowl.  That will drastically increase the cooking temperature.  An inch or so of water will suffice.

Once the water in the sauce pan is simmering, place the stainless steel bowl containing the morsels on top of the sauce pan and turn off the burner.  The residual heat from the simmering water is enough to melt the chocolate.

Wait 5 minutes before slowly stirring with a wooden skewer.  The chocolate will stick to everything so the skewer works well as a mixer without removing too much chocolate.

When you've stirred the chocolate smooth (which takes about 5 minutes) grasp a berry by the leaves and gently roll it in the melted chocolate.  Once it's covered, place it on a cookie sheet or plate covered with wax paper.

If you wish to embellish with sprinkles or chocolate shavings, do so now by sprinkling over cooling berries.  If you prefer powdered sugar, wait until berries have completely cooled.

Berries will cool best in a cool room, such as your garage or even inside your car if it's parked outside on a cold day.  The refrigerator cools them too quickly and causes condensation on the chocolate.  You may leave them on the counter but they will need a cooler environment if they are not to be eaten soon. 

Once berries are cooled and chocolate has hardened, remover the paper from the berries rather than the other way around to prevent damaging the finish.  Enjoy! 

Featured Recipe: Stuffed Turkey Breast

Turkey and holiday meals are a perfect match.  While most of us envision the Norman Rockwell portrait of a turkey dinner, Chef Pope suggests a stuffed turkey breast for a new twist on tradition. 

Ingredients:

Split Turkey Breast of 5 lbs. or more

Smoked Turkey Andouille Sausage

Vegetable Oil

Poultry Seasoning, Season-All seasoning blend & Cracked Black Pepper

Cut a large split turkey breast (of 5 lbs. or more) in half on each side of the breast bone, making two large breasts of about 1.5-2 lbs each.   

Insert a boning knife into the thicker end of the breast, and gently apply steady pressure going straight into the the breast meat while staying close to the top, making a small pocket in the breast about 5 inches deep.  Season inside the pocket and gently push the Turkey Sausage into the opening you made with your boning knife. 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 and place a large sauté pan or cast iron skillet on your stove top on high to heat.  Put about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in your pan and place breasts skin down.  Place your pan in the preheated oven. Cook to an internal temperature of 155 degrees, approximately 20 minutes.  The sausage in the turkey breast will baste the meat internally, keeping it moist.  The stuffed breast will carve cleaner at room temperature.  Two breasts of this size should serve 12 people.

Frui-shi!
For a healthy treat you can make at home Chef Pope suggests Frui-shi!  It's a great way to sneak in a fruit disguised as a treat.  This fun fruit sushi is a colorful and tasty way to snack, and your little ones will be none the wiser!

Ingredients: Fruit leather or Fruit rolls and a selection of your favorite fruits.  In these photos, Chef Pope used an Asian Pear, Red Pear, Kiwi, Banana, Clementine, Cantaloupe, Seedless Grapes and a Honey Crisp Apple. 

Directions: Chef Pope fashioned two types of fruit sushi.  First, a mock sashimi sushi, using a rectangle slice of red pear and sliced grapes.  Then, he made a mock nagiri by placing small slices of fruits on unrolled fruit leather.  Once in place, roll it together and trim any excess.  These delectable tid-bits got two thumbs up from our taste tester (who preferred the blue rolled sushi!)  Enjoy! For more photos of this recipe, see our Photo Gallery.

What better way to warm your holidays than with a soothing sip of steamy apple cider?  Cider is a versatile drink suitable for children’s gatherings or cocktail parties.  Chef Pope offers this recipe for your holiday gatherings:

• 1 gallon unpasteurized cider (Unpasteurized cider is available at some organic markets.  You may use pasteurized if you prefer.)
• HALF can of orange juice concentrate
• 1 PINT of cranberry juice
• 4oz.  dark or light brown sugar
• Cider spice mix (there are many available commercially.  Chef Pope recommends finding one with these ingredients: star anise, cloves, cinnamon, lemon, nutmeg, allspice and mace.  Remember, with these spices, less is more.  Approximately 1 tablespoon will suffice if you mull the ingredients 3-4 hours.)
• Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker or in a large pot on the stove to begin the mulling process. Be sure to cover the pot.  When you mull a liquid, you heat it to bring out the flavors.  Set the temperature on low for at least 3 hours.  If after mulling, your cider is too strong don’t be afraid to add water or apple juice.
• Garnish with clementine slices or cranberries for a festive touch.  For adult gatherings you may want to use this very versatile recipe with Rum, Brandy, Red Wine, Port or one of your favorite Liqueurs such as Frangelica or Tuaca.  Cheers!