Monday, June 22, 2009

Summer

So, according to my husband, summer has officially arrived. Mind you, he doesn't mark seasons by the calendar but by activities-- such as wearing his seersucker suit and suede bucks, eating blueberry cobbler, drinking mint juleps... You get the idea. I tend to mark seasons by food, so I'm declaring it summer, too, due to peaches and tomatoes from our farmers. Today's lunch was chilled tomato and peach soup with tomato jam & mozzarella tart. (Soup recipe is also courtesy of our farmers; Jill sent it out last summer.)



Recipe, links, and notes

Chilled tomato & peach soup

1 T butter

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 ts fresh ginger, minced or grated

3 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 c chicken or vegetable stock

3 large peaches, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 ts sugar

1/2 c cream

salt, pepper

Melt butter in a medium stockpot. Add tomatoes, garlic, and ginger; cook over medium heat until fragrant. Add stock; simmer 20 mins. Strain tomato mixture, pressing as much liquid as possible through sieve; discard pulp. Season remaining liquid with sugar, salt and pepper. Puree peaches, then add to liquid. Stir in cream. Cover and chill.

Rather than straining out tomato pulp, I added the cooked tomatoes, garlic, and ginger to the blender when I pureed the peaches. Be careful if you do this, because hot liquids really expand in the blender! Try to add as little of the hot tomato liquid as possible, and hold the blender lid with a folded kitchen towel. (Thanks to Cat Cora for this tip, which saved my outfit and ceiling today.) Or, allow the tomato mixture to cool before blending. Or, add the peaches to the tomato mixture and use an immersion blender.



Tomato jam www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10685?section
Make this when summer apples and tomatoes are available at the farmers' market. The apples are naturally high in pectin, so it sets beautifully, like magic! I've tried substituting peaches for apples and adding pectin, but couldn't get the amounts just right, so I ended up with a delicious tomato-peach sauce instead. One substitution that did work-- red pepper flakes for the jalapeno. Try it with grilled fish or pork.

Tomato jam tart
Top 1 sheet thawed puff pastry with diced fresh mozzarella and tomato jam. Fold edges (about 1") over filling. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Vegetables galore!

Whitton Farms CSA is in full swing, which means we have lots and lots of fresh, local vegetables to eat! It's been quite awhile since I've blogged, so I'm looking back over my past weekly menus for highlights. Here are a few:

Sweet potato gnocchi: www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-maple-cinnamon-sage-brown-butter-recipe/index.html
Comes together quickly if the sweet potatoes are already cooked. I baked mine a day or so ahead of time.

Calzone of greens of the First of May: Cheesy name, but incredibly delicous. According to Rachael Ray, it's a traditional dish eaten on May 1. Couldn't find a link, so here's the basic recipe:
Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add 1-2 cloves pressed garlic, some red peppper flakes, a little anchovy paste (you could omit this); cook for 1 minute, then add the chopped mixed greens. Saute greens until wilted. Season with salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg. Stir in chopped green olives and capers. Remove from heat and stir in a squeeze of lemon juice. (Emeril Lagasse's "fork a lemon" trick works well here.) Spoon mixture into your favorite calzone/pizza crust and bake until golden brown.

Peppers & greens skillet hash(modified from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics):
4-6 c stemmed sliced Swiss chard or spinach
3 T olive oil
2 c chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
10 c diced potatoes
2 c chopped red bell pepper
1 ts fresh thyme
1 c sliced mushrooms
2 T soy sauce
4 dashes Tabasco
Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion, garlic, and potatoes; stir well. Spread evenly in skillet, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. Uncover; stir well. Cook for another 5-8 mins. until potatoes are tender and browned. Add bell pepper-mushrooms. Cover and cook 5-10 mins., stirring frequently, until greens are wilted and mushrooms have released their liquid. Add soy sauce and Tabasco. Serve immediately.

Quick cinnamon biscuits (also from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics):
www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes_archive.html#59

Herbed fish in a packet www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes_archive.html#8
Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. Our celebratory dinner was a variation on this recipe (I used flounder, orange slices, rosemary, thyme, and onion), served with roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach and fennel. The plate wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped-- hence, no photo-- but the meal was absolutely delicious. I'd never tried fennel, and absolutely love the orange/fennel combination. Yummy.

I'm sure there are many more noteworthy meals that I've forgotten or am too tired to type up for you... and I need to prepare our anniversary dessert-- peach napoleon (fancy name for sliced peaches and whipped cream on puff pastry shells).