Roasted Tomatoes

What a crazy year. I am STILL harvesting tomatoes....in November.  In Boise. They aren't as tasty as the fresh fruit of summer, but when roasted, they're a dream. Loosely chop tomatoes, even greenish ones, and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, balsamic vinegar and plenty of basil. The dried basil is from my garden this year. Bake at 300 degrees for several hours, until juicy and browned. Puree and use as a sauce, a cream sauce base, or freeze to use later.

Caprese Pesto Grilled Cheese

Homemade pesto put to yummy use on a Caprese grilled cheese on sourdough. I just look for anything I can add pesto to!

Fried Rice - Basic Recipe

I was so fortunate to receive a fried rice cooking lesson from a friend from China. The best tip: use rice that was cooked at least 24 hours ago.

She did the cooking in an electric wok. I used a large frying pan (not a non-stick).

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice (long grain, cooked the day before and refrigerated overnight)

2 eggs - beaten

sliced green onions

sliced carrots, peas, whatever vegetables you want to add

diced or chopped cooked meat (again, whatever you want, I used Chinese pork)

Vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

garlic granules

soy sauce 

sesame oil

Heat the wok or skillet so it's very hot and add a tiny bit of vegetable oil - maybe a teaspoon. When the oil shimmers, add the egg. When eggs are almost done, add the green onion and break everything up. Add rice and vegetables. Stir while everything fries, add salt and pepper. When you see some browning of the rice, add the soy sauce. Only about a tablespoon. Sprinkle the garlic granules over everything and keep stirring until as done as you want it. Add a drizzle of sesame oil (optional) and stir in after the rice is done cooking. 

You can freeze this. To refresh - just start over with the egg and sliced green onion step - and then add it all in and no need to thaw.

Eating From the Garden

Yellow squash, onions and tomatoes fresh from the garden. Chopped and seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper. Baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Topped with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese and run under the broiler until bubbly. Life is good!

Summer Squash turned into "Spaghetti"

Fresh from the garden: summer squash. The squash was julienned, and then softened in a hot skillet with a tiny touch of butter. Fresh pesto stirred in and topped with Parmesan cheese. Simple dinner for a 100-degree day.

Snow Pea Slaw

Slice snow peas length-wise and mix with a few traditional slaw ingredients: shredded cabbages and carrots. Dressing: orange balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, soy sauce and brown sugar. Toss and top with crunch onions.

Cream Puffs: Alternatives to Cupcakes

I've seen a lot of fancy cream puff recipes over the years, but I'm sticking with my grandmother's easy-peasy version. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Bring 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of butter to a boil in a large pan. Stir in 1 cup of flour and 1/4 tsp of salt until a dough ball forms. Transfer dough to a heat-proof large bowl. Add 4 beaten eggs, one at a time, while mixing with a hand mixer on low speed. Mix until all eggs are incorporated. Drop mounds of sticky dough (your call on the size) on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 25 minutes, until outside is brown. Puffs may deflate a little while cooling, but don't panic. Cut off about one-third of the top and stuff with whatever you want: ice cream, custard, pudding, fruit, or as we used, freshly-whipped cream. Top with powdered sugar. Or maybe chocolate syrup?

Chicken Summer Slaw

We were able to use some garden goodies for the salad last night. Snow peas and cucumber from the yard, plus sliced rotisserie chicken, sliced carrots, cabbage, sliced toasted almonds - tossed with a dressing made of orange balsamic vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, sugar, soy sauce and lime juice. It tasted like summer.

Toasted Tortellini

I think I saw this tip on Pinterest. Toss frozen cheese tortellini in a little melted butter. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and roast at 325 degrees until brown and toasty. It worked as promised.

Easter Leftovers, with an Olive Twist

Egg salad. Chopped, boiled eggs. Mayonnaise. Dijon mustard. Salt. Freshly-ground pepper. Green Olives. Perfect lunch.

Looks Aren't Everything

 What a delicious-looking pot roast. Onions, garlic, shredded carrot, beef broth and a Williams Sonoma braising sauce. Potatoes added a few hours later. My kitchen smelled just like Williams Sonoma for hours.

However, even though I browned and seasoned the meat, the whole thing was bland. Lesson learned: The cheater sauce was no benefit for this meal.

Thank You Pinterest

Veggie-snacking tray I put together for a holiday party. Easy peasy.

Poblano Experimentation

It was really fun to hold these over the open gas flame of my stove and hear the skins "pop." I peeled the plastic-like covering off after they cooled, covered with plastic wrap to help sweat the skins away. What's next? Not sure yet. The standard is to stuff with cheese and fry in an egg batter, but I'm exploring a baked option.

Sauce Simmering: Color Doesn't Matter

Before the killing frost, I clipped as many tomatoes as I could from the vines. My idea was that some would ripen in time, and I would experiment with green tomato recipes. But, I had to go out of town, so my window for green tomato projects became small. I decided to just dump all the tomatoes not-quite-ready-eat in a pot and simmer them into sauce.

Saute three cloves of garlic in two tablespoons of olive oil. Add tomatoes. Notice that I don't peel them and only roughly chop the larger ones. Simmer until they become a sauce. I added a little sugar because some of the fruit wasn't quite ripe. The sauce was excellent and I couldn't taste a difference between the batches I did when the fruit was all ripe. It went into the freezer - to be used in future recipes.

Saving Garden Tomatoes

I'm not into canning, so I simmer my garden tomatoes into a sauce to freeze. Saute a little garlic in olive oil, add chopped onion (I don't always do this, but I had some from the garden), add roughly chopped tomatoes and summer until reduced. I don't even take the skins off the tomatoes. Sometimes, I add chopped fresh basil - but I'm saving my limited supply of garden basil for Caprese salads. I pour this into freezer containers and we use this sauce to make spaghetti meat sauce later.

I Believe in Peanut Oil

An unintentional hash brown cooking experiment Sunday morning. Potatoes on the left fried in vegetable oil. On the right, peanut oil. Peanut oil wins.

Caprese Salad

All ready to assemble. Tomatoes and basil from the garden, along with fresh mozzarella. Layer the ingredients, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar - or Italian salad dressing. I know the salad dressing isn't traditional, but it's what we had and it was awesome.

From the Garden to the Grill

Onions, tomatoes, peppers, summer squash - tossed in olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano. The best of summer.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

"Almost" homemade. The chicken pieces were already breaded, so they were simply baked. The sauce is ketchup, white vinegar, brown sugar, minced garlic, red pepper flakes and sliced onions. Measure these things to taste. Bring to a simmer to thicken. Serve with jasmine rice.

Baked Scallops

A long, long time ago, I was visiting friends in Maine and we went to a tiny restaurant and had baked scallops for dinner. The end. I've tried for years to recreate the dish and never succeeded. I tried again last week and still no deal. For my attempt, I put scallops in a single layer, then dotted with a little butter, sprinkled with granulated garlic, a little shredded parm and panko crumbs. They were O.K., but nowhere near my food memory.