Rippin Another Blog: Parmesan Roasted Fennel with Mozzarella di Bufala and Reduced Balsamico

Good morning sugar loves!

It's my opinion that food is something that unites us all. Without getting all humanistic and homogenizing (because I learned in my Women's Studies classes that's a bad thing), we all need food. We all eat food (hopefully). We all want food (except those with eating disorders). And we all love food. Who doesn't enjoy eating?? (again, see above).

While what we eat differs from country to country, region to region, home to home, person to person - we do all eat.

And thank God for that. She must love food too.

That's why for the month of February I selected a Swedish blog to rip a recipe from. Min ugn är min tv. We might not speak or type the same language but with photos as fantastic as this Mattias', how can we not connect? The best part was looking at the food and trying to figure out what dishes were. And when it came to actually making one of his dishes, as Haydn mentioned yesterday, Google translator is a handy-dandy-translating magic machine! 

Fennel gets an incredibly tender flavor when it's cooked, losing most of it's aniseed punch, while the creaminess of the mozzzarella paired with the crunchiness of the cheese is unreal.

Small note: Buy the best ingredients for this that you can afford. They key to simple dishes like this is getting the good shit. Your mouth will thank you. Twice.

tack så mycket, Mattias... and Google Translator.

Roasted Parmean w Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
(printable recipe) - serves 2.

Ingredients:

2 Large Bulbs of Fennel.
2 Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
Real Parmesan Cheese, finely grated.
Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Coarse Sea Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper. 
1 Batch Balsamic Reduction.

What to Do:
 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

As it heats, chop the woody and fuzzy tops off the fennel and slice in half. Place on a baking pan and drizzle generously with oil, salt and pepper. Place in the hot oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until it starts to brown nicely. 

Remove from the oven. Sprinkle with a good helping of Parmesan cheese. Place back in the oven and continue to cook until the cheese has a juicy golden color (approx 15 minutes). 

As your fennel bakes, remove the fresh buffalo mozza from the package and in a sieve to drain well.

Once the fennel is done, pile it all up on a big plate, drizzle with a good helping of balsamic reduction and olive oil, garnish with some fennel tops and serve with a loaf of crusty bread.

Eat.

Thirsty much? Watermelon Salad = Good

Happy Thursday morning to you darling readers!

When you think of Summer, what comes to mind?...

Lazy days on the beach? Coronas* on a patio? Music festivals up the ying yang? (if there was a music festival up my ying yang I'd have one thing to say, and one thing only... "ouch").

Aside from the above, along with tomatoes, flip flops, and camping, Summer to me means watermelon!

I think it stems from my childhood. I distinctly remember sitting at picnic tables as a young'n with the sun smiling down at us, giant slice of watermelon in one hand, way messed up napkin in the other, spitting seeds directly out onto the grass beneath our feet. Those were the days. The days of Summer when the biggest responsibility you had was making sure the dishes you had to dry after dinner weren't still sopping wet when you put them away in the camper. Oh yeah, and watermelons still had seeds! 

I know it wasn't the classiest of endeavors - eating a watermelon. Bite, chew, spit. But it was fun. And the watermelons weren't franken-fucking-scary engineered products of some group of men hidden away in Monsanto's windowless labs. That being said, I still eat me some tasty watermelon from time to time and after the experience I referred to in this post, this dish just had to be done.

Watermelon Salad with Fresh Mozzarella & Marcona Almonds

(printable recipe) - Serves 4.

Ingredients:

4 C Chopped Watermelon, 1" pieces, refrigerated & cold.

1 Ball Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella (If you can get your hands on Burrata, sub that), drained & roughly torn.

Small Handful of Marcona Almonds, lightly toasted.

Small Handful Fresh Basil.

1 C Creme Fraiche.

4 Tbsp Local Organic Honey.

Coarse Sea Salt.

What to Do:

First, toss the watermelon with a good pinch of salt and place back in the fridge until ready to use.

Next, mix the creme fraiche and the honey together in a bowl until well blended. Adjust to taste. You want it fresh yet slightly sweet.

Lastly, drizzle or spoon the dressing onto a plate, topping with the rest of the ingredients, finishing with the torn mozzarella (or beautiful burrata) and basil.

And that's it!

Eat.

When you think of Summer, what comes to mind?

*I am well aware that Corona is a terrible beer and not original at all. That being said, I can hardly think of anything I'd rather have whilst camping, laying on a beach, or hiding in the back of my shoe closet** - the only place in my house that really feels cool when it's 35 degrees outside.

**I wish I had a shoe closet. What I really have is a shelf very much in need of a good dusting that has been kind enough to begrudgingly allow me to wedge it in between my collection of under-used hand bags and a skateboard that hasn't been ridden in 4 years. I don't actually sit in there.

This post is linked up with Cast Party Wednesday; Whole Foods Wednesday; Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways; The Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop; Tastetastic Thursday; Full Plate Thursday; Showcase Your Talent Thursday; Keep it Real Thursdays; Foodie Friday; Fight Back Friday; Fresh Bites Friday; Wellness Weekend.