And the Answer Is: Tomatoes

At this time of year every question of "what's for dinner" is answered with something that has a tomato either in it on it or with it. Which is great news to my olderst daughter, a vegetarian, but met with a turned up nose by my 13 year old son. The only tomatoe recipe he enjoys is Ketchup. I have three teenage children with very varied palates. The oldest will not eat meat or fish, the middle daughter is the most adventurous but is on and off about pork products and my youngest child has a fondnest for things covered in either sugar or grease. He has a strong yearning for fast food establishments but is often denied access because no one will take him to one. Hopefully, this yearning is just a phase.

The kitchen experiments this weekend included some wonderful fresh corn griddlecakes with homemade salsa and Gazpacho. The griddlecakes and salsa were a huge success. The Gazpacho verdict still has not been finalized. Both my husband and I are purists and enjoyed the traditional classic cold soup. My two daughters needed much more spice and zest. They would have preferred a chunkier version. I'm not sure my son was even aware that there was a soup course at dinner.

Ali's Salsa
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
handful of basil, chopped
handful of cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
crushed red chili flakes to taste
dried cumin to taste
tabasco sause to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Let salsa sit a little while to give flavors a chance to blend. Serve over corn griddle cakes.


FRESH CORN GRIDDLECAKES
MAKES ABOUT 20 3-INCH CAKES

Serve with salsa, sour cream, yogurt, or aioli

5 medium ears corn, husks and silk removed
1 large shallot, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup milk or half-and-half
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons pepper, or to taste
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons flour
Corn, vegetable, or canola oil (for cooking)

Set the oven rack to the center position and heat to 250 degrees. Break each ear of corn in half. On a cutting board, stand half an ear on the broken end, and, using a chef's knife, cut the kernels off 21/2 ears a few rows at a time (you should have about 3 cups of kernels). Place the kernels in a large bowl. Grate the kernels from the remaining ears on the large holes of a box grater (you should have about 1 cup of grated kernels), and add to the whole kernels. Stir the shallot, parsley, eggs, milk or half-and-half, baking powder, salt, and pepper into the corn until well blended. Add the flour, and, using a rubber spatula, fold it into the corn mixture.

In a large, nonstick skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil over medium- high heat. When the oil is hot, measure 1/4 cup of the corn batter and pour it into the pan to form a disk about 3 inches in diameter; repeat until the pan is filled, leaving about 1 inch between cakes. Cook without moving (adjust heat if pan becomes too hot) until the bottoms are golden, about 3 minutes. Using a spatula, flip the cakes. Cook about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and set in the warm oven. Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve warm.
From: The Boston Globe

Classic Gazpacho
4- to 5-inch squared hunk of stale baguette bread, crusts removed
1 small garlic clove
handful of fresh basil, chopped
1 medium-sized cucumber, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and roughly chopped
3 large beefsteak tomatoes or 4 small ones, cored and roughly chopped
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Soak bread in cold water for 10 minutes. Peel garlic, drop into blender with basil and blend until finely minced. Squeeze bread until as dry as possible and put in blender, along with cucumber. Blend to smooth, adding a bit of the oil if it doesn't liquefy. Once smooth, add peppers and blend to smooth, then add tomatoes and blend. Add the oil, vinegar and salt, blend, then taste, adding more vinegar and salt as needed. Chill, then serve. Serves 6.

End the day on a peachy note

When the day just doesn't go well or things get a bit too crazy, I escape to my kitchen. The presentation I am working on for work is not coming along a well as I had hoped so its time for a break. The kids know where to find me as they return from school sport team tryouts or summer jobs. The office is just an email or IM away.

I decide to experiment with the new peeler. Nothing like concentrating on mastering a perfect peel to take your mind off other things. So for dinner yesterday, I peeled a few tomatoes straight from the garden, diced them and sauteed with garlic, olive oil, fresh basil, kalamata pitted olives. Let the sauce simmer while the water boiled for pasta. Cook pasta according to directions. While pasta is cooking, add fresh broccoli to tomato sauce. Once sauce has reduced to a nice consistency add drained pasta to the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste, add some grated Romano cheese and it is ready to serve.

Still obsessed with the serrated peeler, I made a a sour cream coffee cake with fresh peaches. Really nice to be able to peel peaches without blanching. Simply peel off the the light skin and fuzz then slice.



Sour Cream Coffee Cake
1 2/3 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream (can substitute with plain yogurt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fresh fruit - 3 large peaches, peeled and sliced
(Depending on what is in season, can also be made with 3 cups blueberries or 3 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced)
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan with removable bottom.

With an electric mixer (or in a food processor) mix together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Add the sour cream and vanilla, mixing again. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix.

Pour half of the batter in to the cake pan. Arrange half of the peach slices over top. Cover with remainder of butter, top with remaining peach slices. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar.

Bake for an hour until top is lightly browned. Insert toothpick or knife, if it comes out clean the cake is done. Depending on how juicy the fruit is, you may need to bake a little bit longer. When done, remove from oven. Cool on rake for about 10 minutes until sides shrink. Unclasp side of pan and let cool completely before serving. My kids love to have this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

The cake smells wonderful while cooking and puts everyone in a nice, mellow mood, forgetting the stress of the day. Even though dinner wasn't until 8:00 the kids lingered to talk about their day. Summer is winding down, school begins in a few weeks, high school diving team tryouts started and summer jobs end tomorrow...but for now, I'm just enjoying the fruit, forgetting the labor.

A Tomato Knife and Chicken Stew

For me, August is the tomato month. When we lived, for a short time, in Austin, Texas the tomato season was much earlier. I recall tasting our first homegrown tomatoes in late May. I'm a native New Englander so I connect tomatoes with August. The German knife maker, Wusthof, must think so too, since their special promotion knife for August is a 5" Tomato Knife with serrated edge and a forked tip. Seeing their ad reminded me that I should begin to upgrade my knife collection. Cooking is great fun with all the new gadgets and gizmos available today, but the "must have" tool is a set of good knives.

This past weekend I added to my list of errands, a stop at a local cookware store. After checking out the used book stores for cookbooks - where I found a great book on Salt & Pepper, which I'll blog about later - I popped into Kitchen Outfitters in Acton and found them to be most helpful in describing all the knife choices for slicing tomatoes. I was intrigued by the ceramic knife but stayed with the reason I first went into the store...the Wusthof 5" tomato knife. I really like how the forked tip can be used to pick up the sometimes very slippery tomato slices. I bought the knife along with a serrated peeler. I read about the peelers in The Boston Globe a few weeks ago and am curious if they really work on tomatoes. It would be great to not have to scald and peel tomatoes on a hot summer day. I'll let you know how it works out.

Weekend Dinners - on Saturday I tried a recipe from Clotilde Dusoulier's new cookbook, Chocolate & Zucchini. I love her blogs and have enjoyed preparing the recipes she posts there. I found her cookbook enjoyable to flip through, but the recipes seem overly complicated. I prepared the Mustard Chicken Stew - using my fresh tomatoes in lieu of the canned ingredient. I didn't understand the reason for preparing the garlic paste. The recipe indicated to "cover and set aside" but never mentioned where or how to use it. Perhaps a French thing? Anyway, the stew was tasty. Here is an adaptation using fresh tomatoes and omitting the garlic paste. Made before I purchased the serrated peeler...so I still blanched my tomatoes.

Mustard Chicken Stew

Olive Oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper
One 3 1/2 pound chicken, cut up in 8 serving pieces
2 red onions
2 pounds ripe, fresh red tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 bay leaves
A pinch of chile powder
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard with whole mustard seeds or 1/4 cup regular Dijon mustard

In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Arrange chicken pieces in pot, skin side down, season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side until lightly browned.

While chicken is cooking, scald tomatoes in pan of boiling water. Peel off skin and trim stem ends. Dice tomatos and set aside. Peel and quarter the onions.

Once chicken is done browning, remove from pot and set aside. Pour out excess chicken fat. Put onions in the pot and cook for 5 minutes, until softened, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

Add diced tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves and ground chile power. Arrange chicken pieces over the vegetables. Pour in the wine and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 40 minutes, stirring occassionally to make sure the vegetables don't stick to the bottom.

Once the chicken is cooked, spoon the mustard into the pot and blend to make a sauce. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Continue to stir until the sauce is thick enough to cling to the meat. Adjust seasoning if needed.

Cover and keep warm until ready to serve. Serve over rice or pasta after first removing the bay leaves.

Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

Summer Tomatoes

When the garden begins to overflow with tomatoes I start making sauce. I make it in small batches and use within a few days with pasta, risotto and a base for soups. Here is a quick and easy tomato Sauce:

Summer Garden Tomato Sauce

5 -6 plump, beefy ripe tomatoes ( equal about 1 quart when diced)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
Seasoning to taste - salt (try celery salt), pepper, etc.

Peel tomatoes by first dipping in boiling water for about 1 minute. Rinse under cold water so that you can handle them, slip off skins. Trim tems and process lightly in a blender. Using a food processor is also okay.

Heat olive oil in a deep saucepan and add garlic. Saute for about one minute, then add diced tomatoes. Add basil, seasonings and cook on medium for about 30 minutes. If tomatoes are really juicy you may need to cook longer. Goal is to get them reduced by about a third.

Tonight, I will use about 2 cups of this sauce for a Tomato Risotto. One daughter is a vegetarian so the risotto plus a salad will be her dinner. I'll include some grilled chicken for the meat eaters in the family. Dessert will be a Gluten Free vanilla cake with a yummy chocolate frosting since one of the kids has a friend over for dinner who is allergic to wheat.

Yummy Chocolate Mocha Frosting

1 stick butter or margarine (1/2 cup)
2/3 cup baking cocoa
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup whole milk
2 Tablespoons brewed coffee
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and add in cocoa and mix on medium speed. Slowly add in sugar and milk, alternating between the two. Once well mixed add in coffee and vanilla. Spread on cake while frosting is still warm. Makes enough to frost a two layer cake. Eating this right out of the pan is great too!!!!