Creamy Carrot Soup made Healthier (Potage Crécy)

The local farmer's market is coming to a close in a few weeks.  The summer fruits are slowly being replaced by root vegetables and winter squashes.  This year, I am trying to adopt a better attitude to the changing of the seasons.  This means instead of looking at those root vegetables with disdain because they aren't summer fruits, I'm going to embrace them!  Yesterday, carrots and sweet potatoes looked really good at the market, so I made them into this sweet soup.  I made it early in the day, refrigerated it and served it cold along with a piece of whole wheat bread smeared with peanut butter.  It was a yummy, healthy way to herald the first day of autumn.

I worked from Mark Bittman's recipe for Potage Crécy found in his cookbook titled The Best Recipes in the World but made it a little healthier to suit my needs.  Enjoy!

Creamy Carrot Soup (Potage Crécy) by Joie de vivre
Makes 4 hearty servings

Ingredients:


1 1/2 Tbls. olive oil
1 small onion (4.5 oz.), chopped
1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small sweet potato (6.75 oz.), peeled and chopped
1 tomato, chopped (don't worry about peeling or seeding)
1 tsp. salt (more or less to taste)
pepper to taste
2 tsp. sugar
4 c. chicken stock
1 c. water
1/2 c. light sour cream

Directions:

1.  Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil.  Add the onion, carrots, sweet potato, tomato, salt, pepper and sugar.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes until the vegetables start to break down.  If the vegetables start to stick to the bottom of the pan, lower the heat slightly and add 1/4 c. water.
2.  When the vegetables are tender, add the stock and 1 c. water.  Raise the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil.  Once the soup is boiling, lower the heat to low and gently simmer the soup for 15 minutes.
3.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until completely smooth.  Place the soup in the refrigerator and refrigerate until cold.
4.  When ready to serve, stir in the sour cream.  Serve cold.

Black Bean Salad Farmer's Market Style

As a continuation of yesterday's post on Dinner from the Farmer's Market, I thought I'd share with you this lovely lunch made with the vegetables from my farmer's market haul, sardine sandwich on toasted ciabatta topped with slices of fresh heirloom tomatoes seasoned with homemade lavender salt, with black bean salad on the side.  I felt like an Italian grandfather eating this dish, and I was sure to brush my teeth vigorously after it, but it was so soul-satisfyingly good.  

To make the sandwich, I halved and toasted a section of ciabatta bread, opened a tin of sardines packed in water, drained them, added a little mayo and smashed it up.  I smeared the sardines onto the bread and topped with tomatoes and salt.  One tin of sardines made one hearty serving.  On the side, I had this little salad.  The leftovers of it kept for days and kept getting better and better.  Enjoy.

Black Bean Salad Farmer's Market Style by Joie de vivre

Salad Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

kernels of corn from 3 ears of corn, cooked and cooled

1/2 bulb fennel, chopped somewhat finely

1 red pepper (choose your level of heat) chopped 

1 medium sized red onion, chopped finely

1/3 c. finely chopped cilantro

Dressing:

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c. lime juice (I just used bottled)

1 garlic clove, minced

Pinch of ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Combine all of salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld.

2.  One hour before serving, combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Before serving, combine the dressing with the salad and stir together.  Salad gets even better the next day. 

Gazpacho yogurt cheese

Have you ever made yogurt cheese?  In an effort to branch out from only using hummus to dip my raw veggies in, I came up with this YUMMY recipe yesterday using yogurt cheese.  Yogurt cheese is what you get when you strain the whey from yogurt.  The longer you strain it, the more creamy and dense it becomes.  I strained my yogurt cheese for about 18 hours and it had a consistency between cream cheese and sour cream.  It tasted really decadent with much less fat than cream cheese.

I have a special yogurt cheese strainer which I bought for about $18 from Amazon, it does make the process easier, the container is small enough to fit into a packed fridge and clean up is really easy, but if you don't want to pay for a special strainer, you can recreate a yogurt strainer by lining a colander with several layers of cheesecloth, placing the yogurt in the cheesecloth, and then putting the colander in a bowl to catch the drips.  However you do it, you need to find space in your refrigerator for whatever contraption you use.  I filled my yogurt strainer with about 2 1/2 c. yogurt and got about 1 1/2 c. yogurt cheese.  You can then use your yogurt cheese just like cream cheese.  Enjoy the recipe!

Gazpacho Flavored Yogurt Cheese by Joie de vivre
Yeilds:  about 2 1/2 c.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. yogurt cheese
1 c. seeded tomato, chopped finely
1 green onion, white and green parts, chopped finely
1 cucumber, seeded and peeled, chopped finely
1/8 c. red pepper, chopped finely
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

1.  Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix together.
2.  Eat as a vegetable or a cracker dip.

That'll put hair on your chest fish condiment

Yesterday afternoon, I found inspiration on how to pep up my frozen fish fillets from an unexpected source. I had a joyous 30 minutes alone in the car yesterday to listen to a radio station that I chose! Usually I'm hauling around kiddos who insist on listening to Kids Place Live on Sirius nonstop. But yesterday, I was alone in the car and was able to listen to something OTHER than kids music! Since this never happens, I didn't really know my other options. As I was flipping through the millions of stations on Sirius, I happened across a station called Hair Nation (seriously). It is a tribute station to the great hair bands of the 1980's. You know, like Firehouse and Def Leppard? I hadn't heard some of these songs in probably 20 years (did I just say that? *shudder*) but somewhere in my brain, all of the lyrics were hidden and I was singing at the top of my lungs. It was here that I found inspiration for my fish condiment. Here is my tribute to the great 80's hair bands, That'll put hair on your chest fish condiment. I think the name says it all. It did go nicely with the fish and was a good way to zing up an otherwise bland source of protein. Enjoy!

That'll put hair on your chest fish condiment by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 2oz. can anchovies
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 oz. can hot diced jalapenos
20 grape tomatoes, halved

Directions:

1. Heat a medium sized pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil.
2. Add the diced onion and minced garlic and let soften for 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the anchovies plus the anchovy oil mashing the anchovies with the back of your spoon until completely disintegrated.
4. Add the red pepper flakes and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant
5. Add the can of jalapenos and the grape tomatoes. Continue stirring off and on for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked through and slightly mushy.
6. Serve with fish to pep up your dinner!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes

Oh yeah, you go ahead and drool, this was totally drool-worthy!  I am a big fan of braising meat, smelling those wonderful aromas as tough cuts of meat break down until they are falling off of the bone they are so tender.  A few weeks ago, I noticed lamb shanks in the freezer section of my wonderful local butcher.  I had never seen them there before, and as everything is always so fresh and good from there, I didn't even hesitate over the thought about how to cook them before snatching them up.  The woman helping me actually gave me a photocopied recipe that I used as inspiration here.  Braising the lamb shanks does take a few hours, but they are so delicious, it is time well spent.  This would be a fabulous dish to serve for Easter dinner.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

4 Tbls. olive oil

4 lbs. lamb shanks (2 big shanks)

2 medium onions, peeled and diced

5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 c. dry white wine

1 c. chopped tomatoes, drained

1/4 c. orange juice

about 1 quart chicken stock

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

salt and pepper to taste

4 small waxy potatoes, quartered and placed in cold water to cover

Directions:

1.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Brown the lamb shanks on all sides and set aside.  

3.  Add a little more olive oil to the Dutch oven if necessary and add the chopped onions.  Cook until softened and starting to brown a little.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring.  

4.  Add the white wine, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Stir in all the ingredients EXCEPT the lamb, salt and pepper, and the potatoes.  Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper.  Add the lamb.  If needed, add water or more chicken stock to cover the lamb shanks.  

5.  Bring to a simmer, cover with the lid, and place the Dutch oven into the pre-heated oven for 1 hour.

6.  After an hour, drain the potatoes and add them to the Dutch oven stirring a little so they are covered with the sauce. 

7.  Place the Dutch oven back into the oven and cook for an additional 2-3 hours until the meat on the lamb shank is falling off the bone and the potatoes are cooked through.

8.  Remove the Dutch oven from the oven.  Place the lamb shanks and the potatoes to a plate and set aside.  Remove the bay leaves from the sauce, then use an immersion blender to puree the rest of the sauce.  Serve this sauce as an accompaniment to the lamb and potatoes.

Baked Chicken and Potato Salad

Potato Salad adapted from Kids' Fun and Healthy Cookbook

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, last week you may have received a very cryptic tweet from me saying "About to make dinner with my 3 year old, pray for me!"  In order to get my three year old to eat food I prepare without complaining, I tried buying a picture cookbook for him last week and let him pick out a dinner to help me make.  He was so excited to help, had been wound up throughout the day, and was very excited when I told him that it was almost time to cook, I just had to clean up the kitchen first.  He settled into the couch to play a game while he waited for me to clean up the lunch dishes.  Within two minutes, I look over at his very still body, he had fallen asleep!  Ah well, so much for good intentions.  We're going to try again tonight, but here is the recipe he picked out.  I really liked the potato salad, it tasted reminiscent of summer with the mint leaves in there, and the chicken legs were just downright good value at about $0.50 a piece.  

Potato Salad adapted from Kids' Fun and Healthy Cookbook

Ingredients:

14 oz. small white skinned potatoes, scrubbed

2 green onions, finely chopped

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

3 Tbls. chopped fresh mint

2 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbls. lemon juice

Directions:

1.  I have a potato setting on my microwave, so after pricking the potatoes all over with a fork, I put the potatoes into a small pyrex dish, and set the microwave button.  If yours does not have this setting, find some way to cook the potatoes, boil, broil, microwave, whatever.

2.  Let the potatoes cool and cut them into quarters.  Place the quartered potatoes into a bowl and add the chopped green onion, the chopped mint, and the halved tomatoes.

3.  Mix the extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice together with a fork, drizzle mixture over the potato mixture and stir to coat everything.  Set aside until the chicken is done so that the flavors meld a little.  The leftovers were fabulous the next day after a night in the refrigerator.

Baked Chicken Legs

Ingredients:

5 chicken legs

2 scant Tbls. Ethiopian berbere spice mix (or use something milder like paprika if desired)

3 Tbls. olive oil

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Place the chicken legs, spices, and the olive oil into a gallon sized ziplock bag.  Remove as much of the air as possible, seal the bag, mix the legs around so that they are fully surrounded by oil/spice mix, and leave on the counter for 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for up to overnight.

3.  Place the chicken legs in a small Pyrex baking dish.  Pour the oil/spice mixture over the legs.

4.  Place the chicken legs into the oven and bake for 40 minutes flipping them over halfway through.

Baked Chicken Legs with Berbere Spice

Imagining Avignon

Joan over at Foodalogue has been hosting a wonderful food event titled, "A Culinary Tour Around the World".  Each week, she and participants travel virtually to other countries through the food.  They "meet" people along the way as they dine their way through the country.  Joan started this event not only to satisfy her traveling bug, but to bring awareness to organizations that help fight hunger such as BloggerAid and World Food Programme.  I am so honored that Joan asked me to join their group in France this week.  I had so much fun imagining myself bicycling through southern France and sitting at farmer's tables, that I plan on joining them again.

When Joan and the others caught up with me, I was in a little town in southern France called Avignon.  Avignon has a long history, however, it is probably most famous for the Palais des Papes.  In 1309, Pope Clement V declared Avignon to be the residence of the Papacy instead of Rome.  Seven popes eventually resided in Avignon, however when Gregory XI moved the papacy back to Rome in 1376, a schism occurred in the Catholic church and a small band of cardinals declared a second pope, an antipope, in Avignon.

The Palais des Papes

Today, Avignon is a beautiful town, perfect for wandering through, and a base for exploring Provence.  It was here that I "met" my wonderful guide, a gardener named Michel.  He was the caretaker of a small castle in a little town called Charmes sur l'Herbasse.  It was an hour or so drive to the north, so I settled into his little Peugeot and watched the countryside pass.  The fields of sunflowers and lavender were in bloom (in my imagination, it is always summer) so the time passed quickly and I used it to get to know Michel a little better.  Michel's castle was owned by a rich Parisian couple who spent two weeks in the summer and two weeks in the winter in Charmes sur l'Herbasse.  The rest of the year, Michel and his wife, Aurelie, cared for the castle and it's grounds.

When we arrived at Michel's home, Michel's brother, Benoit, and his family were also there for Sunday lunch.  Benoit gave me a two cheek kiss in greeting and invited me to join a game of petanque.  As he looked like he took it very seriously, and I am not really a sporty type, I politely declined to see what Aurelie was up to in the kitchen.  Aurelie was preparing a simple sandwich called Sardines Grillees Croutes on homemade baguettes.  I found an approximation of her recipe in Rick Stein's French Odyssey.

Grilled Sardine Croutes adapted from Rick Stein's French Odyssey

Serves 3

1 tin sardines, in olive oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 chunks of baguette

3 romaine lettuce leaves

1-2 nice tomatoes, cut into very thin slices

1 jar roasted red peppers

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered

6 anchovy fillets, in olive oil

Directions:  

1.  Open the sardine tin.  There should be three small chunks of sardines inside.  Open each chunk up by cutting down the middle.  Put the sardines on a cookie tray and broil for 3 minutes.

2.  Begin assembling sandwiches.

3.  Open up each chunk of baguette.  On the bottom halves of the baguette chunks, lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Lay romaine lettuce leaves, tomato slices, red onion slices and roasted red pepper pieces on in that order.  Top with sardines and anchovies.

4.  Serve top half of bread alongside.  Also serve with 4 hard boiled egg quarters.

5.  Eat with a fork and knife.

For dessert, Aurelie unwrapped a chunk of Saint Andre cheese, a triple creme cow's milk cheese, and placed it on a communal tray with some prunes.  We also had Aurelie's freshly made yogurt alongside.

After eating, we toured Aurelie's garden.  She had lots of raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, and even a bee hive from which Michel extracts honey in the fall.  It was a very pleasant day in the sun.  We eventually settled in watching Benoit and Michel play a couple of very serious rounds of petanque while sipping on a nice Burgundy.

All too soon, it was time to head to the big city of Grenoble for my flight out of France.  Joan and her travel buddies are off to Portugal next week.  I had been planning on meeting them in Ethiopia in three weeks, but I had so much fun on this adventure that they may see me before that.  If you are interested in joining Joan and crew yourself for their culinary tour, just click on the Foodalogue badge above.  Until then, A bientot!

Green-Tomato Mincemeat, The Recipe!

After my previous post, a few of you asked what mincemeat was, and a couple of you asked for the recipe.  I was answering these questions one by one, but it may be easier to just post the recipe.  Thank you all for reading my blog and for asking those questions!  

Mincemeat originally was a combination of meat, fruit, and spices (hence the name) but has morphed into a sweeter creation minus the meat.  Some recipes still contain meat or suet, but most don't anymore.  It often has apples, raisins, currents and sometimes nuts, combined with spices.  The resulting mixture is sweet and gooey with lots of spice and texture.  My recipe is modified from my favorite canning cookbook Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt.  This cookbook is on my counter continuously from June through September as it is just jam packed with great (and safe) recipes for canning produce.

Green-Tomato Mincemeat adapted from Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt

Makes about 5 quart jars

Ingredients:

8 cups chopped green tomatoes

1 Tbls. salt

4 cups boiling water

10 cups tart green apples, chopped

4 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 cups raisins

2 cups currants

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

3 Tbls. orange zest, finely chopped

1 Tbls. lemon zest, finely chopped

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

2 Tbls. unsalted butter

1.  Place tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt.  Let stand for 1 hour to draw excess moisture out of them.  Rinse and drain well.  Pour boiling water over tomatoes and let stand for 5 minutes.  Drain well.

2.  In an 8-10 quart pan, combine the drained tomatoes and all of the remaining ingredients in the order listed except for the butter, stirring gently after each addition.

3.  Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the apples are tender when pierced.  Stir frequently to prevent sticking.  Stir in the butter.  Remove the pan from the heat.

4.  Ladle the mincemeat into hot and sterilized jars.  Remove as many air bubbles as possible.  Leave 1/2 inch head space.  Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth.  Cover with hot and sterilized lids and apply screw rings.  Process quart jars in a 200F water bath for 30 minutes.

Mincemeat Pie

Last night, we had dinner over at my in-laws so I got a night off from cooking!  My mother in law went all out with a lamb roast, mashed potatoes and lamb gravy, and homemade muffins.  I supplied the dessert.  Last summer, when apples were in season and the last of the tomatoes were hanging green on the vine, I canned some green tomato mincemeat for use in future pies.  It came in handy last night.  After church, I bought a refrigerated pie crust (I know, the shame right?), laid out the bottom crust in the pie pan, scalloped the edges and pricked it all over.  Then, I added the jar of green tomato mincemeat.  For the top crust, I found a smallish cookie cutter (I could only find my little man cookie cutter), cut the top crust into the shapes and laid them over the filling.  To get the shapes to stick together, I gently wet the bottom of the pieces before laying them on top of the other pieces.  This was super easy to do, only took a little extra time, and really upped the wow factor of the pie.

Oven dried tomatoes

As the last of the warm days disappear, so vanishes tasty tomatoes for another 8 months.  (Acknowledging it in print makes me even more depressed than when I merely think it).  I had been collecting the last vestiges of these beauties from my garden faster than I could eat them, and lamenting the fact that they have been just sitting on my counter, waiting to spoil.  It was not a comforting thought to one who is now facing the bleak winter despising the hot house tomato offerings of my local supermarket.  Last weekend I canned 35 lbs. of tomatoes, so I am saving the summer bounty.   However the tomatoes on my counter, which I just can't eat, have really been bothering me.  

A solution to my problem came two days ago when I was perusing my favorite food blogs and came upon the most recent post from Antics of a Cycling Cook.  I really like reading this blog because he has an easy-going writing style and homey Mediterranean and British recipes.  His most recent post was about oven dried tomatoes.  Oven drying tomatoes looked really easy to do and sounded like a fantastic solution to my tomato problem.  For the original post from Sam the Cycling Cook, click here.

To begin, preheat your oven at the lowest setting possible, mine was 170 degrees.  Wash your tomatoes and cut in half.  Place on a slightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt.  Then, put your tomatoes in the oven and leave for 6-9 hours, depending on the size of your tomatoes and the temperature of your oven.  My tomatoes took about 9 hours.    A few hours before your tomatoes are finished, place your jar in the oven with the tomatoes to sterilize, and leave it there until ready.

When the tomatoes are ready, pack in the jar and cover with olive oil.  Seal and place in the refrigerator.  Sam assured me that the olive oil would not get cloudy, but after a day, my olive oil is cloudy.  Perhaps my refrigerator is colder than his or he is using a better olive oil or whatever.  This will not harm your tomatoes, but you will have to leave the jar out for a little bit before you use them to melt the olive oil a little bit.  

One of the comments from Sam's post did mention that unless you heat the olive oil before you put the tomatoes in, be sure to eat them quickly as they may spoil.  I think I may try them on a pizza next week or perhaps just straight.  Oh summer tomatoes, why are you so fleeting?

Company worthy

Last weekend, after putting the oxtail in the oven to braise, I canned 35 lbs. of the 40 lbs. of sweet summer tomatoes I had bought in bulk from my CSA farmer earlier that morning.  That left me with 5 lbs. of tomatoes to eat fresh, and to my heart's delight, throughout the week.  I was inspired by a picture of a tomato tart I had seen in Rick Stein's French Odyssey and came up with this recipe for my own tomato tart, along with a berry "napoleon" I created on the fly to use up the other package of puff pastry I had thawed.  The whole dinner  was very easy, quick, and pretty enough to be served to company.

Tomato tart by Joie de vivre

One package of puff pastry (will have two pastries in there, thaw them both)

5-6 really ripe tomatoes, sliced

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tsp. olive oil

cilantro

goat cheese

sea salt and black pepper

Lay out thawed pastries on lightly greased baking sheets.  Prick the pastry all over with a fork leaving an inch border around the edge.  Bake pastry according to directions (around 20 minutes) until very lightly browned.  On one pastry, sprinkle garlic and lay the tomatoes over the tart, overlapping them slightly and leaving a 1 inch border around the tart.  Sprinkle with cilantro (to your liking) and then with goat cheese.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Broil tart for about 5 minutes until the goat cheese is slightly melted (watch closely so your tart doesn't burn).  Cut into rectangles and enjoy.

Improvised Napoleon by Joie de vivre

Baked puff pastry

Frozen berries

Whipped cream

Cut the pastry into thirds after baking (or beforehand if you have the foreknowledge of wanting to make this dessert)  Lay 1/3 on your serving plate, top with whipped cream and then top with frozen berries.  Cover the frozen berries again with whipped cream and then top with another pastry.  Repeat the above, whipped cream, berries, whipped cream, and then the last pastry.  Top this pastry with whipped cream.  Leave to rest while you eat the tomato tart.  The berries will thaw a little and make the cream a delightful purple when you cut into the napoleon.  Enjoy!

Tomato wanderings

My feelings on food could probably be summed up with the idea that food picked at the height of ripeness in the right season does not need a lot of "messing around" with it to make it taste amazing.  Hence, my current preoccupation with tomatoes.  Here in eastern Washington, we have such a short tomato season, and must endure pasty, flavorless, shelf stable tomatoes for so long in the year, that I just want to gorge on them when they are at their best.  This week, along with the tomato soup from the previous entry, I made two simple tomato salads of note.  Make sure you use the most flavorful tomatoes you can find.  Enjoy!

Tomato and Basil Salad with Lavender Salt by Joie de vivre (pictured above)

(earlier in the season when lavender was in bloom, I dehydrated some and added the blossoms one to one with course salt.)

1-2 Tomatoes

10-12 Basil leaves

Olive Oil

Lavender salt.

Cut your tomatoes into slices and arrange nicely.  Top with basil leaves, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with lavender salt.  Voila!  Instant summer goodness.

Tomato, Melon, Cucumber Salad by Joie de vivre

2 Tomatoes

Watermelon

1 Cucumber

4 oz. Soft goat cheese

3 Tbs. Red Wine Vinegar

1 Tbs. Olive oil

Pinch of sugar

Salt 

Pepper

Peel cucumber, cut in half, remove the seeds and slice.  Slice tomatoes and watermelon (remove rind).   Toss together in a bowl.  Make a dressing by whisking together 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar, 1 Tbs. olive oil, pinch of sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Pour dressing over salad and toss.  Sprinkle with goat cheese and eat immediately.

The tomato and the beast

The moment I've waited for every day since winter has arrived.  The arrival of sweet, end of summer tomatoes.  We've had 7 lumpy, wonderous tomatoes on our counter for the past two days.  My husband was lobbying for pico de gallo, I was thinking more along the lines of tomato tart, when tonight I was flipping through Gastronomy of Italy by Anna Del Conte and came across a recipe for Minestra de Pomodori alla Calabrese (Tomato Soup).  This was exactly what I was looking for as I wasn't in the mood to make homemade pastry.  The soup was a little too warm (in temperature) for a warm day, but if I had waited for the weather to change, the tomatoes would surely have changed with it too.  I'm looking forward to trying the leftovers chilled tomorrow.  The soup is simple and delicious but must be made with really flavorful tomatoes.

Minestra di Pomodori alla Calabrese (Tomato Soup) adapted from Gastronomy of Italy by Anna Del Conte.

6 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 ripe fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbls. chopped fresh basil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup small tubular pasta

freshly grated romano cheese, to serve

Heat the olive oil in a pot.  Add the garlic, tomatoes and onion.  Saute for about 10 minutes over medium heat stirring frequently.  Add 1 2/3 quarts water, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and cook, uncovered, over very low heat for about 20 minutes.  Raise the heat and drop in the pasta.  Cook the pasta until al dente.  Serve the soup, sprinkle on chopped basil and romano cheese.

War with Eggplant

The battle to use our veggies was a tough one tonight.  Eggplant!  Not that I don't like eggplant, but eggplant six weeks in a row gets old.  I guess I am slightly less tolerant of eggplant than others because when we were first married, my husband had planted eggplant in our backyard.  He was doing all of the cooking at the time and in my memory, fixed nothing but eggplant until I swore I would never touch another eggplant again!  I'm exaggerating a little, but besides ratatouille (which gets old real quick in my opinion) and eggplant parmesan (which takes a long time to make and is very rich) what else are you supposed to do with the little suckers?  I found a recipe tonight which uses eggplant and also our plethora of tomatoes.  Best serve it over pasta as it wasn't very filling on its own.  If you have any ideas for eggplant, please let me know.  Summer isn't over yet which means we have at least 4 more weeks of eggplant coming!

Roasted Eggplant Casserole  adapted from The French Market:  More Recipes from a French Kitchen by Joanne Harries and Fran Warde.

4 garlic cloves, peeled

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 small to medium eggplant

4 large, ripe tomatoes

Sea salt, to taste

Black pepper to taste

15 oz. can of vegetable stock

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Rub an earthenware baking dish (about 10 inches square) with 1 garlic clove and 1 Tbs. olive oil.  Dice the remaining garlic and sprinkle a little in the bottom of the pan.  Slice the eggplant and the tomatoes about 1/2 inch thick.  Put all the vegetable ends in the bottom of the dish and arrange the slices in alternating layers seasoning with garlic, salt and pepper in between each layer.  Pour the stock over the dish and drizzle with the remaining oil.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes more.  Serve hot or cold over pasta.

Strawberries

Ah, it has finally happened.  After a winter that felt way too long, and a spring where winter coats were kept on retainer, strawberries finally appeared Saturday at our local farmer's market.  Those beautiful red, fragrant and delicious signs that summer is almost here.  I could smell them before I could see them.  Delicious.  I was so excited, and weary of more greens, I spent my entire budget on three flats of strawberries and immediately came home to excited yelps from my two year old who started digging in.  Finally, a strawberry worth eating!  As I was lamenting to someone a few days before about how long it was taking for the strawberries to get ripe this year, they commented that they have been buying good strawberries at our local big box store.  You can get passable strawberries at those stores, and if you have no other option, I say go for it.  But if you can wait for those locally grown strawberries, picked just that morning, those strawberries that are so fragile, fragrant and wonderful that their mere existence is temporal and limited to that day, then wait for them.  I spent the rest of the afternoon happily canning most of the strawberries into strawberry pineapple jam, strawberry jam, and strawberry topping, imagining myself remembering this happiness of summer as I spread the jam on toast in the dead of next winter.  Be sure to save some of these beauties for the next few recipes though.  Strawberries are only at their best a few weeks of the year, enjoy them while you can in all their glory.

Strawberry and Tomato Salad by Joie de Vivre

Time:  10 minutes tops if you're a very slow chopper

Ingredients:

Strawberries

Cherry Tomatoes

White Balsamic Vinegar

Directions: 

Take the tops off of the strawberries and slice into quarters or halves.  Halve the cherry tomatoes.  Mix all in a bowl and sprinkle on the white balsamic vinegar.  Slurp up and enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet adapted from Cuisinart Ice cream maker instruction manual

Preparation:  1 1/2 hours (active:  about 15-20 minutes; 25 - 30 minutes chilling time; optional 2 hours to "ripen" in the freezer)

Makes about 10 1/2 cup servings

Ingredients:  

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup corn syrup

1 quart fresh strawberries, stems removed

4 tablespoons lemon juice

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Reduce the heat and simmer without stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely.

Combine the strawberries and lemon juice in a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse to shop the strawberries, then process until the strawberries are completely pureed.  Combine the strawberry puree with the cooled sugar syrup and corn syrup.  Chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Turn your ice cream machine on, pour strawberry puree mixture into freezer bowl and mix until thickened, about 25 - 30 minutes.  The sorbet will have a "soft serve" texture.  If desired, transfer the strawberry sorbet to an airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Nutritional analysis per serving:

Calories: 96, Fat 0g.

My Easy Strawberry Pie by Joie de vivre

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Pie crust (either homemade or refrigerated)

A quart of strawberries or more depending on how thick you want your pie to be.

1/2 cup "red" jam (I use my homemade cherry marmalade)

Put your crust in a pie pan, prick with a fork all over and bake according to directions.  Heat 1/2 cup jam over medium heat until melted.  Fill pie shell with whole, halved or quartered strawberries and pour jam over the top.  Chill until cold.  Cut into wedges and serve!