Too Many Tomatoes...

This summer was long and hot...which is apparently the prefect weather for growing a garden. Our garden grow into a jungle this year and we have more tomatoes than we know what to do with—I've been picking a pound or two a day since the beginning of August. So, I had to come up with a couple of easy ways to use and preserve this amazing bounty (and waste as like as possible).

Fresh Sauce

I planted two varieties of cherry tomatoes this year and they produce more fruit than the other varieties I planted. We've had so many, I could have stocked the local grocery store—there is no way we could eat them all ourselves.

I came up with a very easy way to use them and store them for later...freezable pasta sauce.  This sauce has a wonderful fresh taste that really showcases the flavor of the sweet little tomatoes...and it's fat free! It could not be more simple to make. Here's how to do it:

1 to 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes
3 to 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
6 to 10 leafs of  fresh basil
1 tsp crush red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 to 2 tsp white pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend the tomatoes, basil, and garlic in a food processor and then pour them into a large sauce pan. Heat the tomato liquid over medium heat. Once the liquid is cooking add the other ingredients.  Cook it until the liquid thickens up—about an hour.

At this point, you can either serve it over pasta, or add chicken stock and cream to make a soup. What ever you don't use can be frozen and used throughout the winter. 

Freezing Instead of Canning

I planted two Roma tomato plants with the intention of canning them, but I discovered a much better way to preserve them...freezing!

Canning is labor intensive and you need a lot of ripe tomatoes on hand at one time. My Roma plants have produced lots of fruit, but I have not had a great enough quantity of ripe tomatoes at the same time to make canning worth while. Freezing has worked out for me much better because I can do small batches. Once or twice a week I freeze what's on hand.

The process is simple. Blanch them in boiling water for about 1 minute, peel them, pop them in a freezer bag, and done! Since I started preserving my Romas this way, I've discover this works for the large heirloom varieties I have too.

Now I'm looking forward to a winter filled with yummy sauces, soups, and stews made with summer fresh tomatoes from my own backyard!

London for a Week

Last month we had the opportunity to visit my cousin, Natascha, and her husband, Duncan, in London. It was amazing! We had a fabulous time. Here are the highlights:

• We visited lots of museums: the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Natural History Museum...and the Tower of London.
• We eat tons of incredible food. The highlight was dinner at Roast where I eat a rabbit, cider, and Herefordshire snail pot pie...amazing!
• I was introduced to the delights of the Full English Breakfast, which consists of (for those of you who don't know) piles of breakfast meats, eggs, tomatoes, baked beans, and black pudding...total heaven! And can I just say, black pudding is magical? I'm totally obsessed with it. Happily, I've already located a store on Salt Lake that sells it.
• We saw oodles of amazing art. We saw the Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and a Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern. Both exhibitions were fantastic and once in a life time experiences. 
• Natascha and I attended the Royal Ballet's production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was spectacular, but sadly our seat were not very good. We had a great time anyway. 
• And most importantly...I got to hold an owl!! A real live owl!! Talk about once in a life time.

Me and an owl!!

Baby owl at the Natural History Museum

Mews houses in my cousin's neighborhood (South Kensington)

Tower of London

View from the inside of the Tower of London out

Charley with wings

Natascha and I in Hyde Park

Charley and I in Hyde Park

Pretty London street

Our wonderful hosts

London scenery

Hot Dog Pilgrimage

I’ve always had a weakness for junk-food, and hot dogs are a particular favorite. So, when I heard about a popular hot dog joint in Provo, my interest was piqued. Could a hot dog really be worth the 40 minute drive into the heart of Happy Valley? In the 18 or so years I’ve lived in Utah I’ve only been to Provo a few times, and it’s always seemed to be a strange and foreign place to me...a place where everyone is blond, where everyone is friendly, and where there are dress codes for nightclubs. And with all the construction on the I-15, could a hot dog be worth the trip? Yesterday I decided I had to find out.

J Dawgs has been a fixture in Provo since it open in 2004 in a tiny little shack adjacent to the BYU campus. Since then they’ve had to move into a larger location (just across the parking lot) to accommodate their growing crowd of customers.

As a hot dog lover, I had to know what all the fuss was about, so yesterday, I met my friend Denise (who live in Provo) for lunch......and it was worth the trek. It may have been the most delicious hot dog I’ve every had. At J Dawgs they keep it simple. None of those gourmet dogs with fancy toppings. Just a choice between a polish dog and an all beef dog, and your basic toppings. But these dogs are so good, they speak for themselves...even with no toppings. Look at the beautiful meat...

This place is good...real good. (There was a line out the door the whole time we were there.) I would definitely recommend it. My only complaint was the special sauce, which was basically just a sweet BBQ sauce. It was delicious, but not on the dog.

P.S. It turns out Provo is a pretty nice town. I like it there.

Boeuf Bourguignon…Worth all the Effort?

Last weekend, feeling inspired by one of my favorite movies, Julie & Julia, I decided to channel my inner Julia Child. I made Boeuf Bourguignon using Julia’s original recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It turned out to be no simple task.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking was intended to make French cooking more accessible to American home cooks, but this recipe was definitely the one most complicated recipe I’ve ever tackled, with many individual steps…and a big mess to clean up after a full afternoon of cooking.

First, cook the bacon and set aside, then brown the beef and set aside. Cook the vegetables, then add beef back in and place in the oven. Cook the mushrooms separately. Cook the pearl onions separately…and so on. (Full recipe)

Was it worth all the effort? I’m not sure. Charley thought it was delicious, but I didn’t think it was that great…maybe it was too soon after my gastric empting test for me to be eating what is essential beef stew again, so I didn’t get to fully appreciate it’s flavor.

But I did have a lot of fun cooking it, and I gained a lot of confidence in my cooking abilities (it’s an intimidating recipe to try), so I think it was worth it.

Saturday Supper - Lasagna!!

It's Saturday, but I'm not planning anything special for dinner tonight. I'm tired and we have so many leftover...so, I'm taking the night off. Tomorrow I'll tackle Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. I'll let you know how it goes.

Last Saturday I made my first every lasagna and I came out beautifully. I don't have a recipe to share, because I don't use one. I just used my instincts and the knowledge of Italian cooking I've acquired over the year...but I'm not going to share my secrets either. Ok, maybe just one...the most important one: Ricotta. The secret to a great lasagna is good ricotta cheese. Some of you out there might think lasagna is made with cottage cheese, but that sacrilege. You must use ricotta, and a really good ricotta at that. I got my ricotta at local Italian grocer and deli, Granato's, where they make it fresh. It's smooth and creamy with a hint of sweetness...delicious! It really made my lasagna great.

Goat Cheese Brownies

A while back I was watching Food Network when Throwdown with Bobby Flay came on. Bobby’s assignment was brownies and he was up against Shawna Lidsky of the Vermont Brownie Company. Shawna made (and won) dark chocolate goat cheese brownies…oh momma! They looked good!!

Ever since then I’ve want to eat goat cheese brownies and last night an opportunity arose to make them…I had some girl friends coming over for a chocolate themed dinner. After a brief internet search I found several recipes, but my time was limited and didn’t want to mess with making them from scratch. So, here’s what I came up with on the fly:

1 box of Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix (or brownie mix of your choice)
4 ounces chevre, room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon honey

1 large egg

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 (or whatever the brownie mix package says). Mix the brownie batter as directed on the box and pour into a lightly greased 8x8 baking dish. Then, using electric mixer, beat chevre and butter in medium bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add honey and beat until well blended. Beat in egg. Mix in flour. Pour the cheese mixture over the brownie batter and swirl with a rubber spatula. Bake for 45 minutes (or as directed on the brownie mix box).

I got the recipe for the toping from Pink Apron blog. You can get the full recipe including the brownie batter from scratch here: http://pink-apron.com/2009/08/fromage-friday-deep-chocolate-brownies-with-chevre-swirls/
Enjoy! They are delicious!

Saturday Supper…on Sunday: Pernil

Last Sunday I decided to make a special dinner for Charley. We had both been really sick and he had been taking such good care of me to spite his own illness. So, I thought he deserved a reward. I wanted to do something new and really special, so I looked to one of my favorite chefs and cookbook authors, Mark Bittman.


For many years Mark Bittman has had a regular column in the New York Time called the Minimalist that ended last week. His last Minimalist column listed his 25 favorite recipes from the column. One of them was Pernil, a Puerto Rican recipe for pork shoulder slow roasted for hours.

I thought, “pork shoulder, perfect, you can’t go wrong with pork!” But it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be…

First lesson – There is more than one cut called “shoulder.” Apparently there are two kinds of pork shoulders, picnic shoulder, which is the lower part of the shoulder and the top of the leg, and the “Boston Butt,” which is the top of the shoulder and back. And each of these areas can be cut several different ways – steaks, roasts, bone in, bone out…it was all very confusing. I stood at the meat counter for several minutes looking at all the things labeled pork shoulder (they all looked radically different from each other) and had no idea which one to buy. I finally ask one of the butchers for help, but he didn’t speak English very well. By then I had it narrowed down to two and he keep pointing at them and saying “This ones the butt shoulder and this one is the front shoulder.” Ummm…the butt shoulder??


I ended up purchasing the one that look the most like the picture, which the butcher call the “butt shoulder.” Now I know it was probably a Boston Butt roast (which is not from the butt at all), and a picnic shoulder roast might have been better for this recipe.

Second lesson – If your going to do a slow roasted pork shoulder, make sure you start it early enough in the day to roast it sufficiently. I started the roast at 3:00 and it wasn’t ready until almost 9:00, and I think it would have been tastier if I could have left it in another 45 minutes or so.

Third lesson – Pork shoulder has a lot of fat on it! It’s very tasty, but it’s very rich. When making pork shoulder, plan light side dishes.


All and all, it came out pretty well. The Pernil rub was delicious. I think I would make it again. Here is Mark Bittman’s column about it including a link to the recipe and video: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/02mini.html

Saturday Supper: Chicken instead of game hens

I just returned from a lovely holiday weekend (Utah’s Pioneer Day) in Helper, where I enjoyed two barbeque dinners, slightly cooler weather (95° instead of 100°), and some time with my wonderful fiancé.

On Saturday Charley and I prepared a recipe inspired by my addiction to the Today Show…I know it would come in handy some day. I few weeks ago they had a barbeque cook off and the winning recipe was grilled Cornish game hen. It looked so good, I had to try it. Here’s the clip:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/37994277#37994277

The Walmart in Price did not have game hens (or onions for that matter) so we used bone in chicken piece and it worked out great. It was delicious! I would highly recommend this recipe any summer cookout.

Here’s the recipe:

Grilled BBQ Cornish game hens, California style

Chef: Jeff Henderson

Ingredients

• 1 cup cilantro


• 1/4 cup parsley, coarsely chopped


• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped


• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic, finely chopped


• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil


• Juice from one lemon


• 4 small Cornish game hens


• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter


• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped


• 1 1/3 cups ketchup


• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce


• 1 cup (packed) light dark brown sugar


• 1/4 cup molasses


• 1/2 cup of orange juice


• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke


• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar


• 1 tablespoon of Tabasco sauce


• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the cilantro, parsley, jalapeño pepper, one tablespoon of garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice (for the pesto rub). Stir well and set aside.
Place hens on a wire rack with a drip pan underneath. Rub hens thoroughly with pesto rub. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Preheat your grill for 275 F.
In a large saucepan, add butter and stir until melted. Add onions, one tablespoon of garlic and sauté until tender. Add ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, molasses, orange juice and liquid smoke. Let simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once glaze has slightly thickened, remove from heat. Add apple cider vinegar and Tabasco sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Remove hens from the refrigerator. Place hens on grill skin side down. Cover grill and cook for 30-35 minutes. Turn the hens over and grill for 15 to 20 minutes or until hens are golden brown or test done about 175 F.
Using a sauce brush, start brushing the hens with barbecue glaze. Remove hens from grill and place on a serving platter. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Saturday Supper: Lemon Chicken

I love to cook, but I don’t really take the time to cook much anymore. But I’ve decided that when ever Charley and I are in the same city on a Saturday night I will make an effort to prepare a real meal then share the recipe and experience with you…who ever you are.

Last Saturday I was in Helper with Charley, so we had some friends over and I made Lemon Chicken which is rapidly becoming my signature dish.

This is a family recipe that was never formally written down with measurements or detail instructions…it was just passed on almost through osmosis. It's the kind of recipe you just have to feel (and taste) your way through. But here’s an approximation:

LEMON CHICKEN:

- 1 Whole chicken, cut into pieces (and I mean the WHOLE chicken. DO NOT try to make this with pathetic skinless, boneless white meat…that would be bad)
- Olive oil – enough to coat all the chicken pieces
- Juice of 4 lemons
- 2 to 4 Sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped (it must be fresh!)
- 2 to 3 Cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/4 Cup sweet vermouth
- Salt and pepper to taste

Set the oven to broil. Coat the chicken pieces with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, and place skin side up in a roasting pan. Place the pan in the middle of the oven, and cook for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip the chicken over and cook for another 10 minutes…then flip again, but this time, before you put it back in the oven pour half the lemon juice over the chicken and top with half the rosemary. Cook for 10 more minutes, flip and add the remaining juice and rosemary. Keep cooking and flipping, until the chicken is cooked and crispy. The whole process should take 40 to 50 minutes.

Once the chicken is cooked remove it from the pan and set it aside. Place the pan on the stove top, on two burners (both on medium heat). Add the sweet vermouth. With a wooden spoon stir the juices and vermouth, scrapping the yummy caramelized bits, until it begins to bubble. Then put the chicken pieces back in the pan and coat them in the gravy…and fini!

Serve it in the pan with a loaf of good crusty bread (you’ll need the bread for soaking up the gravy, which is the best part).