Smoked tuna spread (to live for)

Smoked tuna spread with crackers. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 
It's such a funny notion that a food could be something "to die for." Food should be something you live for, or so I try to say. Like this smoked tuna spread. Each fall, my husband will go on a long-range fishing trip that runs out of San Diego. When he sends the fish to the processor, he usually asks for a small amount to be smoked, which is why I occasionally have smoked tuna in my freezer. Because it's salty and smoky, the tuna is handy substitute for bacon  ~ I like to stir a bit of smoked fish in with scrambled eggs; it's wonderful also in my baked potato soup. Try it on your morning bagel (whole wheat, toasted).

And then there's this fish spread, just shallot, mayo, cream cheese, lemon and smoked fish, so easy. I serve it as a dip with crackers, and sometimes as a canape on crackers or baguette slices, so my guests don't have to do all the work themselves.

Smoked fish spread with slivers of smoked tuna. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 This fish spread is so good, folks like to say "it's to die for." Don't say that. Just eat it.

 I used smoked yellowfin tuna to make this easy and delicious spread. If you can find buttery and tender smoked albacore, use that. You can use smoked salmon, too.

 Smoked tuna spread 
 adapted from Diane Rossen Worthington's "Taste of Summer"

1 shallot

 1 pound smoked fish such as tuna or salmon, trimmed

6 tablespoons mayonnaise

 3 tablespoons low-fat cream cheese

 1/2 fresh lemon, squeezed

 Salt and pepper to taste

 1. In a food processor with the metal blade running, mince the shallot. Add remaining ingredients and puree until incorporated. Taste for seasoning. Serve with crackers or sliced baguettes.

Smoked tuna spread with crackers. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Guacamole with butternut squash and chipotle

Guacamole with butternut squash, chipotle & queso fresco. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Have you ever eaten a dish in a restaurant and thought to yourself "I have got to make this at home!"?

That's what I thought when I tried Alma Cocina's guacamole with butternut squash. Alma Cocina is an upscale, modern Mexican restaurant on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. (I'm such an old-timer, I want to describe its location as across from the old downtown Macy's, but it's more accurate to say that it's in the 191 Peachtree building, next door to the Ritz-Carlton). The menu features a 20-ingredient mole chicken among other treats, and this unique spin on guac. Now, I love a bowl of guacamole. I've kicked it up with bacon on special occasions, but usually go with my boilerplate guac for weeknight Mexicano. It's this recipe to which I added a cupful of roasted butternut squash and a couple of teaspoons of smoky, chopped chipotle chile. A sprinkle of queso fresco crumbles finished the dish.

Guacamole with roasted butternut squash, chipotle and queso fresco

4 avocadosAsk a question about this ingredient

Juice of 1/2 lime 

1 clove garlic, minced


Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


1 cup roasted butternut squash, recipe followsAsk a question about this ingredient

1 ounce queso fresco, crumbled


Tortilla chips for serving


2 teaspoons finely chopped chipotle in adobo sauce

1. Remove avocado pulp from shell and place in a medium bowl. Break up the avocado chunks with a fork. Add lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in butternut squash and chipotle. Adjust flavors. Pour into decorative bowl, garnish with queso fresco crumbles and serve immediately with tortilla chips.
   Ask a question about this step

Roasted butternut squash:

1 small butternut squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 425. Cover a sheet pan with foil. Using a Y-peeler or paring knife, peel the squash. Cut into two pieces, separating the long narrow neck from the round bottom. Halve each of these sections, scoop the seeds out of the round piece and trim the flesh into 1/4 inch dice.Toss the butternut squash dice with olive oil and salt and place on foil-lined pan. Roast at 425 for 30 minutes or until the pieces are tender and brown at the edges. Remove from oven and let cool, stirring occasionally. Store leftover squash in a covered container in the refrigerator. A small butternut squash will yield 2 cups of diced fruit.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

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The Big Tahini Hunt



Butterbean hummus and crudites by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Remember the Berenstain Bears' book "The Big Honey Hunt?" Somewhere in my stack of childhood books lies the vintage tale of Papa Bear and Brother Bear in search of honey. I needed the bears this week when I went in search of tahini, the used-to-be uncommon, now flat-out difficult-to-find ingredient essential to making the perfect hummus.

Tahini is simply ground sesame seeds, similar in texture to natural peanut butter, with a quicksand-like bottom and slick of oil on top. Tahini is what gives hummus its characteristic sesame taste and smooth as butter texture. I fuss and moan about my suburban grocery stores, and wonder why they put peanut butter and jelly next to the bread instead of the aisle with pickles, but I've always managed to find tahini when on the organics aisle when I needed it. Until now. A check of local supermarkets turned up nary a jar of the sesame paste.

And so I arranged for a side trip to Trader Joe's on my latest excursion into Atlanta, feeling certain that TJ's, with its pink sea salt and sunflower seed butter, would have a jar of tahini to spare. Except I couldn't find it. I wandered up and down the aisles twice before asking the earnest young man shelving vinegars, and he said, to my astonishment, that nobody has tahini. Nobody can get it. Something about a sesame seed shortage and don't even bother going to Whole Foods and Kroger and Publix, because they can't get it either.

Wow! I should tell them about Publix at Ansley Mall, my next stop, because right there, in the organics section, two kinds of tahini, Krinos and Joyva. I bought the can of Joyva and joyfully came home with my prize, ready to make butterbean hummus, a signature recipe of Watershed Restaurant. The thing about butterbean hummus is that it's made with lima beans, not the smaller pearl-y ovals that I consider butterbeans. I departed from the directive and used baby limas and I cut the recipe in half, because goodness knows, the original recipe will serve two parties of stevedores, with leftovers. The recipe is delicious, by the way. It is incomparably smooth, the silkiest hummus ever.

Butterbean, (or for authenticity's sake), Baby Lima Bean Hummus

adapted from Chef Scott Peacock's recipe on Food Network

1/2 pound dried baby lima beans

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/3 cup tahini

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, beginning with the smaller amount then tasting before adding more

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Spread the beans on a rimmed baking sheet and pick through. Rinse them and place in a pot and add cold water to cover by two inches. Bring to a boil and simmer until they are tender. Remove from the heat and let cool. Drain, but be sure to reserve the cooking liquid.

2. In a food processor, place beans and puree until smooth. Add garlic and tahini and puree again. Gradually add oil and process until mixture is close to the desired texture. Add lemon juice and process, then reserved cooking liquid, a little at a time, until desired consistency. Season to taste.

3. Serve with crudites such as carrot sticks, celery sticks, sliced radishes and cucumbers.

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer.