2 tomato salads and 1 cucumber salad

 I whipped up a couple of salads for Sunday dinner recently - a tomato salad and a cuke salad.

I used some infused olive oil and vinegar that I found in the pantry, added some garlic, organo, salt and pepper, and mixed in a bunch of chopped tomatos.

 For the cuke salad I sliced some cucumber thin, and made a dressing with garlic, soy sauce and rice vinegar.

 

 

And the other day I made a beautiful lunch salad for The Mister and I - tomato, feta and pesto.

DEELISH.

a delicious dinner from Masala Fusion Meats

 

We finally got over to the North Shore to visit Masala Fusion Meats and it was as great as I'd hoped.  We picked up 3 kinds of chicken - Tandoori, Pudina Mint and Malai.  The very lovely staff assured us that the Mint and Malai were not spicy, but the Tandoori would have a kick.  We also picked up 2 butter chicken samosas for The Mister and I for a treat.

We grilled the chicken up for Sunday Dinner with The Grandpa, along with some veggies, a mint yogurt sauce, a tomato salad and some mini naans.

It was all AMAZING, although the Mint was a bit kicky, the Malai was just flavorful, and the Tandoori was just spicy enough to make you reach for your water glass.

I thought, in my humble opinion, that the 2 sauces went extremely well with all the flavors, and the naan and anything else you wanted to serve it with.  The tomato salad - Kachumbar -  from Made in India by Meera Sodha, and the mint yogurt sauce will become staples in my kitchen.

 

 

tomato tart from the past

 This tart first showed up on my blawg in 2006 (!!!!!!!!) but my mom was making it for years before that.

 We make it with store bought dough so it's super simple; just saute some onion and garlic until soft and starting to brown, spread over the dough, leaving a border, and top with sliced tomatos and whatever kind of cheese you like - we usually use mozza and feta.  Sometimes we stir basil and/or oregano into the onions and garlic.  Adding some fresh or sauteed spinach would be amazing!

It's a quick easy meal that is best when you can get your hands on some beautiful tomatos.  

Happy Wednesday!

Snapshot - Bacon and Tomato Jam

Bacon and tomato jam, brie on a toasted bun.  Happy place.

Things with tomatos

Our garden is complete crap this year, as usual.  It is wickedly hot here, very dry, and the smoke from the forest fires has kept us hidden inside for what feels like most of the summer.

We got a few thumb sized tomatos off our plant before it shriveled up into brown twigs, but nothing worth getting excited about.  My parents, on the other hand, are having a booming tomato crop.  We have been graciously helping them out to make sure none of them go to waste.

Here's some of the stuff we've made -

First, because it was one of the best - Avocado Feta Crack Dip which was wicked goooooood.  We ate it as a salad.  I could eat this every day and not get tired of it.  Our was too hideous to take a photo of it as I was not a gentle mixer, but it tasted damn fine.

 We also tried, as part of my cookbook purge on Instagram, Spaghetti Con Salsa Fresca from The Urban Vegan.  Big hit.

I have a few recipes written out from Move Over Santa, Ruby's Doin Christmas! by Ruby Ann Boxcar; and let me tell you that this is a really, really, REALLY good dish.  If only the price of bacon wasn't so ridiculous, I would buy more corn and bacon and make it again today.

Faye Faye's Fried Christmas Corn Dish Delight

altered slightly from Move Over, Santa - Ruby's Doin Christmas!

6 strips of bacon

1/2 small onion, diced finely

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped finely

kernels off of 6 ears of corn

1 large tomato, diced

salt

pepper

Chop bacon into small pieces and fry over medium heat until crisp.  Removed to a plate.  Add the onion and bell pepper to the bacon fat and cook until softened and just starting to brown.  Add the corn and tomato and cook until hot.  Season to taste.  Stir in the bacon and eat!

I am really considering trying the Soda Cracker Pie from the book- basically egg whites, sugar and cracker crumbs.  Has anyone tried it before!  Yes/no?

I made Gwyneth Paltrow's roasted salsa out of her last book It's All Easy.

Our oven is on the fritz so i nearly burned the veggies, but I just pulled off the worst bits and it was fine.  (As I wrote this I suddenly remembered that when I cooked some tomatos from another one of her books, I nearly burned them too.....whoa - 5 years ago!)

The Kids don't like spicy food much, so I left out the peppers.  It was good! 

This one was amazing too.   God, I love when tomatos are in season! We all loved this  

basil spaghetti with cheesy broiled tomatoes.

We are nowhere near done - I have an enormous tub of tomatos sitting on the counter, and there are more ripening in The Grandparents garden as we speak.  I need to find some more recipes asap.

Cajun all the things! Ok, a few things.....

One of the last books that I cooked from for my cookbook shelf purge was a sushi book. Like in all other cooking and eating, I am not that adventurous, and so it was a bit tricky to pick some recipes that we would all eat.  I chose a spicy salmon roll for the boys because I knew The Mister would like it for sure, and I was surprised that the spicy element came from cajun spice.

When we were making the sushi, The Mister was in charge of the salmon roll,  and i portioned off some cream cheese for him into a bowl.  I was struck with the urge to try the cajun spice with some cream cheese, and it was delicious!  I set aside some of the sushi rice, and after we had finished making the chosen rolls, I made some veggie Cajun sushi bites - a bit of molded riced topped with a smear of Cajun cream cheese and cucumber.  It, along with the other veggie sushi, was my favorite part of dinner.

During clean up The Mister set aside some of the leftover cream cheese to make himself a batch of shrimp dip and he also made a little container of Cajun cream cheese.  Make some buttered toast, spread it with this cream cheese, and top with sliced tomatos.  Oooooooh yas.
And also?  There is a stand at the farmer's market that sells the most amazing soft pretzels.  
Even more terrific toasted with some CCC (cajun cream cheese) on it.

A few days later I made chicken burgers for dinner, and while they were grilling, I mixed some Cajun spice into mayo for a topping. I was also making some pan fried zucchini coins - sliced about 1 inch thick, tossed (and sort of squished) into some fine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper - and then fried in a bit of olive oil over medium heat. I was cooking in 2 batches, so while the second batch was frying, I grabbed one of the cooked ones, dipped it in the spicy mayo and ate it. DELICIOUS! I was almost happy when The Boy kicked up a fuss about eating his zucchini, so I could "help" him out. 

The Boy is slowing staring to enjoy spicy foods, so there could be a cajun chicken sandwich, or cajun fettuccini in our future.  The Girl hates spicy food; well, actually she pretty much hates food in general, so we've got some work to do there.

Do you use cajun spices in your kitchen?  What's your favorite recipe to use them in?

Tomato Sandwiches

I love when tomatos are good (and cheap!) at the markets. 

Tomato Sandwiches are one of my very favorite late summer foods, but there are rules. 

1.  The bread must be white bread.

It can be "cheap" grocery store bread (there is no such thing as cheap bread any more!) or fancy artisanal bread. White bread just works better and tastes better for a tomato sandwich.

2.  You must use butter AND mayo.

A very thin layer of butter, to keep the bread from getting mushy right 

away, and a slightly thicker layer of mayonnaise for flavor.  

3.  A light sprinkling of salt.

Just a smidge to enhance the flavors of the tomatos. 

4.  Slice your tomatos thinly.

Also, blot gently with paper towel so they aren't too wet.

5.  If you can handle it, some hot sauce.

Because yes.

Farmers Market - September 5

It's been ages since we've been to the market this year.

Life, yanno?

It was a good, busy market, although there were some empty 

spaces - stalls done for the year already?!?!

We brought home a big haul - country bread and olive and oregano baguette from Erwins Bakery, some small heirloom tomatoes from Thistle Farms, 

as well as red leaf lettuce, red onions, green beans, zucchini, and MORE heirloom tomatoes.

I used the small heirlooms and the baguette for tomato bruschetta.  After many years of being unhappy with my attempts at tomato bruschetta, I'm finally becoming satisfied with my mental recipe.  I've based a couple of steps on the Pioneer Womans recipe, and the results are so delicious.

What you do - chop up some garlic - I used just under a pound of tomatos, and used 4 garlic cloves.  Chop the garlic fairly finely.  Heat 1 TB of olive oil and 1 TB of butter over medium heat in a small pan.  Add the garlic, and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is soft and beginning to turn golden.

Meanwhile, chop your tomatos into small pieces.  Place in a bowl.  

When the garlic is done, scrape the contents of the garlic/butter/oil into the tomatos and stir.  Add a small splash of balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.  Shred some fresh basil leaves into the bowl, or a good shake of dried.  Let sit while you get your bread ready.

Cut baguette into thin slices.  Butter one side of the pieces.  Heat a pan over medium heat and add bread slices, butter side down.  Cook until the butter has melted into the bread, and the bread is lightly crisp.  

Place the bread rounds on a plate, butter side up.

Top a slice of bread with a spoon or so of tomato mixture, and a sprinkle of parmesan, if desired.

Great Gazpacho

I had a hankerin' (oh yes I did) for gazpacho now that our weather has turned more summery. I was going to make my usual version with V8, but in the freezer I found a bag of tomatos that I had oven roasted and frozen last fall.

I used this recipe as my inspiration, but I went much simpler.

2 bell peppers (I used one orange and one red) whizzed smooth in the food processor with a few cloves of garlic and a spoon of sugar. I added my thawed tomatos and juice and pureed until smooth. I stirred in a couple of shots of red wine vinegar and some salt, then chilled for an hour.

Serve with a piece of cheesy toast, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

Cool it

Oh Em Gee it's hot, hot, hot here! In the past month we've only had a couple of days that have dipped below 30, and we've hit 40+ twice in the past few days. Aieeeeee.

I'm not normally one to complain about the heat, but damn. It sort of sucks when it's this hot for this long, because there is no break. It doesn't cool down in the evenings. It's hot first thing in the morning. There is no escape.

We are trying to stay away from using the stove/oven to try to keep the house and us as cool as possible. Here's some cooking free stuff we've enjoyed lately:

Cucumber Salad

This is the quickest and healthiest of the recipes I'm sharing today. Ready in minutes and very very yummy. Also, cucumbers are low in calories and a good source of Vitamin C and Fiber.

2 TB rice vinegar
1 TB agave nectar
1 TB soy sauce
1 TB vegetable oil
1 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and cut into thin half moons
salt and pepper

Whisk together the vinegar, agave, soy sauce and oil. Toss with the cucumber and season with salt and pepper if desired.

Gazpacho

Is there anything that screams SUMMER more than gazpacho? Fast, easy and super fresh. This recipe is from Ina Garten and it makes a ton. We made a half recipe and ate gazpacho for days and days. Not that I'm complaining.


from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

2 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
3 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
8 plum tomatoes
2 red onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
46 ounces tomato juice
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

Triple C Milkshake

This is the most decadent of the recipes and my favorite. Yum, yum, YUM. Cocoa powder contains antioxidants and flavonoids, which are very good for you. Cinnamon is also high in antioxidants. And chocolate ice cream is just plain good.


I like milkshakes a little on the thin side. You might want to decrease the milk a little, or add an extra spoon of ice cream if you like thicker milkshakes.

2 cups chocolate ice cream
1 1/3 cups skim milk
1 tb cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until incorporated and smooth. Add more milk for a thinner milkshake or more ice cream for a thicker one if needed.

"Tomato Juice"

I don't remember where or when was the first time I heard of tomato water - pureed tomatos drained through cheesecloth so that you are left with a clear "water" - but it has always intrigued me. It intrigued me, but not enough to actually try it out. Not until my bounty of tomatos from a recent farmers market starting taking up most of the counter space in my kitchen.

As was this pasta dish, I got my idea for my "Tomato Juice" from the new Jamie Oliver show Jamie at Home. Jamie made a Tomato and Vodka Consomme that looked incredible. So I thought I'd try my hand at something similar.

So here's the next installment of Operation: Too Many Tomatos - "Tomato Juice"

******************************

Get out your food processor or blender. Wash and core 2 lbs of tomatos and throw them in. Add 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tb dried basil (or a handful of fresh), 1 tb red wine vinegar, and 2 or 3 shots of vodka. Or leave the vodka out. It's not really enough to alter the flavor so much that it's ruined without it, it just adds a bit of a kick. Puree until smooth.

For the straining, you can either drain the puree in a colander, or suspend it over a bowl. Either way, dampen 2 layers of cheesecloth and wring out. If you want to drain in a colander, line the colander with the cheesecloth, place the colander in a bowl, and pour in the puree. Let drain at least 3 hours, or overnight.
If you want to suspend the cheesecloth, gently pull in the sides of the cloth and tie with some string or an elastic. Suspend with a spoon or what have you over the bowl. Let sit the same as above. As you can see in the picture below the liquid is mostly clear.
And now you can see below, it's not so clear anymore. That's because after 3 1/2 hours I wanted my counter space back, so I gently squeezed the bag to get out as much of the liquid as I could. It's now pink instead of clear, but I think it's much lovelier in pink.
I have no pretty glasses, so here's my "Tomato Juice" in a shot glass. It's completely wonderful, and very, very refreshing. Scott, who I initially had to chase around the house with a glass of it to get him to try it, totally loves it!
Isn't it pretty? If only tomatos were in season at Valentines Day, this would be perfect to serve your loved one that day.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches with Purple Fries

At the last farmers market in Millarville I bought a case of tomatos from my favorite tomato growers Whiskey Creek. I bought a case of half and halfs - half ripe, or nearly ripe and half green. I figured this would be great - not only would the green ones slowly ripen, keeping us in tomato heaven for a bit longer, but I could make fried green tomatos, too.

Fried Green Tomatos

3 or 4 green tomatos, cored and cut into 1/4" slices.
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp pepper
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup cornmeal
oil

Place the tomatos and half the pepper in a large bowl and pour in the buttermilk. Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.

On a large plate mix the flour with the remaining pepper and the salt. Place the cornmeal on another plate, and whisk the eggs together in a bowl. Heat about 1" of oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Remove the tomato slices from the buttermilk and lightly shake them off. Dredge each in the flour, then dip in the egg , then coat with the cornmeal. When the oil is hot, add a few of the slices and cook, turning once, until brown and crisp on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Drain on paper towels and keep warm while you cook the rest of the slices, adding more oil to the pan if needed.

My Fried Green Tomato Sandwich has garlic mayo, basil and red onion slices. Can't get much better.

Flatbread with Mint, Tomato and Halloum Cheese with too much information.

Two Saturdays ago I was in a funk. (This is the too much information part.) I spent the morning laying facedown on the couch, blocking out everything in the world but the sounds of The Food Channel. (I know! I think I was more depressed than I realized.) I resisted all of Scotts efforts to cheer me up or even to get me to move off the couch until Nigella came on. I perked right up when she made her Halloumi and Tomato Flatbread.

That's what I want for dinner, I announced. And so it was.According to my "The Complete Encyclopedia of Cheese" Halloum (the books version on the spelling) is a very popular cheese from South-East Europe. It is fairly firm in texture with a taste similar to feta which means salty. My book says it is not a cheese to be eaten on it's own, but is best for broiled or oven baked dishes.

Nigella grilled hers on the barbecue; her recipe is in her Forever Summer Cookbook.

This is my version. I don't think you need a recipe, just guidelines.

Flatbread with Mint Tomato and Halloum Cheese

For each flatbread you'll need

about 1 medium tomato, diced
2 or 3 pinches of dried mint
handful of halloum cheese, crumbled
flatbread of your choice.

Preheat your broiler. Place the flatbread on a baking sheet. Spread the tomato over the flatbread and sprinkle with the mint. Top with cheese and broil until the flatbread and cheese start to lightly brown. The cheese will not melt.
Serve straight away.

La Festa al Fresco

I was totally excited to be invited by Lis from La Mia Cucina and Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice to participate in their celebration of summer - La Fiesta al Fresco.

My very favorite thing about summer is tomatos. In summer there is sometimes no better meal than a freshly picked tomato, and plate and a knife.

Sadly I did not inherit my mothers green thumb for gardening so I rely on the farmers market to keep me in the good stuff all summer long. That season is almost over, so we are taking advantage of the tomatos while we can, eating them every day, in any way we can think of.

Here are two of our favorites. Ivonne and Lis I hope these two dishes fit in well with the rest of the feast!

Double Tomato and Prosciutto Panini

Makes 4 sandwiches

8 pieces of bread of your choice (i use 4 pieces of focaccia, split)
100 grams prosciutto
150 grams cheese (i like brie)
fresh basil
4 slices of red onion
1 large tomato sliced
3 tb mayonnaise
1 tb sun dried tomato pesto

Preheat your panini/george foreman-type grill.
Mix the mayonnaise and pesto together and spread on all 8 slices of bread.
Divide the cheese between 4 bread slices and top with the basil, prosciutto, onion, tomato and remaining bread.
Grill until the bread is toasted and the cheese melts, 4 or 5 minutes.


Tomato Tart

serves 4-6

1 tube pillsbury pizza dough, or your own crust
3 large tomatos, sliced
1 tb oil
1 red onion thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
100 grams feta cheese
100 grams mozzarella cheese shredded
fresh basil

Preheat oven to 450'. Roll or press out dough to 1/2" thickness. (Dough does not need to be round.) Move to a baking sheet.
Heat pan over medium heat and add oil and onion. Cook onion until softened and light brown. Add garlic and continue to cook 3 more minutes. Spread onion mixture over dough, leaving a 2-3 inch border all around. Crumble feta over and top with mozzarella cheese. Season lightly with salt and pepper and scatter basil over. Cover all the cheese with tomato slices, then pull up the sides to close in the cheese but not to cover the top. Bake until golden brown, 25 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before cutting.

Saturday night dinner - steak with tomato-olive relish

Steak with tomato olive relish - origin unknown.

1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives
2 tb olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tb minced red onion

Place all ingredients into food processor. Process until blended but still chunky.

Cook your steaks as you like them. Toast a thick slice of french or sourdough bread. Spread with relish, and top with your steak.

Steak with spicy tomatos and feta

I love tomatoes and feta cheese any way I can get them. Here's a good, fast and tasty recipe. My amounts are just a guideline. It's all approximate, so put in however much of each ingredient you want.

steak
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup red onion, sliced thinly
1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno pepper, diced finely
handful cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup or so of feta

Put the tomatoes on a baking sheet and put under the broiler until they start to pop. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix about 1/3 cup of olive oil and the rest of the ingredients. Add the tomatoes, mix gently and season with salt and pepper. Cook your steak as you like them, then slice thinly, plate and top with the tomato mixture.

Fuzzy picture! But doesn't it look good?

Gouda Tomato and Basil Pizza

A few weeks ago at Millarville Farmers Market we had a food sample from a stall that sells frozen pizza. It was pretty good, and Scott wanted to buy one for dinner. We decided on a Gouda cheese and basil pizza that had a whole wheat crust. It wasn't cheap, but it sounded good. When we cooked it that night we threw some chopped tomatoes on it, and it was a really good pizza.

Fast forward to Friday - pulled a whole wheat pizza shell out of the freezer. Topped it with sauce, basil, tomatoes and gouda. So good, and so much better tasting (and better for you!) than a pizza from a delivery place.

More pasta

Tomorrow night for dinner I am making Spicy Farfalle with Roasted Tomatos. I don't remember where I got this one from, but it's a keeper.

For the Roasted Tomatos:
3 plum tomatos
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp fresh basil
black pepper

For the pasta:
8 oz farfalle
1 tsp garlic
1 Tb olive oil
8 Kalamata olives, pits removed and chopped
hot sauce to taste
2 Tb chicken broth
1/2 cup feta crumbled

Preheat oven to 400'. Quarter tomatos and toss with remaining roasted tomato ingredients. Roast for 30 minutes.

Cook pasta. Heat oil and cook garlic until soft. Add tomatos and all juices in the pan, the olives, hot sauce, and broth. Simmer until hot, and season with salt and pepper if needed, but remember you are also adding feta. Toss with the hot pasta and top with feta.

This is such a good meal. It really doesn't take long, and the flavors are great.

Please try it!!!!