Tomato Sandwiches

One of life's very simple pleasures.

If you have any of the anchovy mayo left over from the BLT's make some tomato sandwiches. If not just use a really good mayo. These are one of the simplest pleasures of life......bread, mayo and tomatoes. A little sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. You could drizzle a little olive oil on top as well.

I had never had one until a couple of years ago and now I realize I missed out on years of satisfaction by waiting so long. I had a hard time believing they could be so good but I quickly realized the errors of my ways. During tomato season I live for locally grown just off the vine tomatoes. The taste cannot be beat. Simple, easy and so delicious. What more can you ask for?

Get yourself some good heirloom tomatoes and make a tomato sandwich for breakfast or lunch. Be sure to either stand over the sink or keep your plate under your chin cause it will be juicy. And you'll need a big ol' napkin.

You will not be sorry.

Peach Jam

PEACH JAM


Peach Jam is such a treat during the summer months. Go to the farmers market and find the best peaches you can. When they are at their best it is time bring them home in a big basket and prepare them for cooking. They will never be as good as at this moment.



I had fond memories of my Grandmother making plum jam for us every season. We loved it. We ate a ton of peanut butter and plum jam sandwiches through the years. And whenever we had biscuits for dinner, guess what......plum jam was always on the table. In a cute little glass bowl with a silver spoon. I don't think I can recreate Grandmothers plum jam so I thought I would try making peach.

This is a very simple process. Even simpler if you just eat it soon and don't bother canning it. But if you want it to hold up for later in the year you will have to can it. Can you imagine in the middle of winter you can open a jar and taste the fresh summer taste of those peaches?

I use 4 peaches for this recipe and it makes two small jars of jam. Peel the peaches and cut up into a saucepan catching all the juice in the pan. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar. This will depend on how sweet the fruit is and how sweet you like your jam. I don't like mine too sweet so I use as little sugar as possible. Then add 1/2 a diced green apple (skin removed) and a pinch of cinnamon. Allow to cook about 20 minutes stirring every few minutes and keeping a close eye on it. You want the fruit to be soft and the apple to cook into the peaches and the sauce to start to thicken. Add 2 tablespoons Grand Mariner and cook another 10 minutes. It should not be too watery, if it is cook a few minutes longer.

If you do not want to make this for yourself I will do it for you. I am currently making large batches of this jam and canning them. I sell them for $6.95.

Simply email me for your jar of fresh Peach Jam.

Green Bean Salad

Fresh green bean salad.

Green beans. I love them. They are probably one of my favorite vegetables.

During the summer I am always making things like cold salads to minimize turning on the stove and heating up the kitchen. This recipe requires a quick blanch in boiling water but it is quick.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Green beans, ends removed and cut into bite size pieces
• Shallots, minced
• Dijon Mustard
• Mirin
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Fresh Tarragon

This recipe involves the traditional blanching and shocking method. It means that you cook the veggie in bowling water just to blanch it. The veggie should be slightly cooked, but still retain some crunch, they should not be mushy. Once they are blanched you put them into an ice bath with stops the cooking process and also helps to retain that beautiful color.

Get a big pot of water on to boil, add some salt. Clean the green beans, take off the stem end, then cut them into even bite size pieces. Get a bowl ready with cold water and some ice cubes thrown in to get it really cold for shocking. Blanch the beans in the boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove quickly and shock in a bowl of cold water. This will only take a minute. Remove from the water and pat dry.

Make a vinaigrette by putting everything into a bowl and then whisking together. Add the beans and toss. Put it into a container and store in the refrig.

I love the flavor of fresh tarragon so use it when you can. It is not always available so use dried it need be. When using fresh herbs I always use more than I would if I use dried.

This is a good dish for a picnic.

Watermelon Martini's

Watermelon Martini's.


Refreshing. Summertime in a glass.

Having food left in the house that needs to be used always inspires me. I hate to through food away and sometimes I buy things with the best of intention but don't seem to use it up. It's those times that I get creative and try to figure out what to do with it. Such is the case with the watermelon I recently bought. It was bigger than I thought and I can only eat so much watermelon ya know what I mean? At the end of a few days I thought ah oh what do I do with the rest of this thing?

Start by cutting the watermelon into small chunks. I had about 5 or 6 cups of cut up watermelon. Put it in a blender and puree it until smooth. Then ran it through a mess strainer. This gets all the pulp out and makes for a smoother cocktail.

Make some simple syrup by using equal parts water and sugar, in this case 1/2 cup of each. Heat in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved and simmer for approximately 3 minutes to get thick and syrupy. Allow to cool completely.










Add the simple syrup to the watermelon puree and chill well.

Chill the martini glasses by filling with ice cubes and allow to sit while making the tini.









For one martini combine in a martini shaker:

• 1 shot vodka
• 1/2 shot melon liqueur
• 1/2 shot fresh lemon juice
• 2 shots watermelon juice
• shaved ice

Shake well and pour into chilled martini glasses. Summer in a glass.

Food News

I am constantly reading articles about food. They fascinate me. What is OK to eat what is not? What does our food supply do for us? Or how it can make us sick. I recently found some good information from the Environmental Working Group web site that I would like to share.

The site offers a list of the produce we should buy organic and what is OK to purchase through conventional growing methods. The organic list is referred to as the dirty dozen. Love that. At the top of the list are peaches. I have been buying peaches once a week for the past few weeks. I love love love peaches. And now I feel a sense of great relief.... that I bought only organic peaches considering they are number one on the dirty dozen list. Whew!

The web site has a cut out list that you can print and carry on you for easy reference. Its called the Shoppers Guide to Pesticides and it lists the dirty dozen and the top clean 15, which are the top 15 items that are considered tolerable to buy non organic, or that are on the lower part of the list for pesticide load. They also have a PDF file that lists many more items which is handy for the kitchen and a program for all you iPhone users so you can download it to your iPhone.

The web site is: http://www.foodnews.org/. I hope you take a look and find something helpful to you and your family.

Goat cheees and tomato tarts

GOAT CHEESE AND TOMATO TARTS.


Looking for another use for that homemade goat cheese? How about a tart. All fluffy and golden in puff pastry. Buttery crust, goat cheese center and the tomato on top that roasts when in the oven. It's all goodness.




In one of previous posts I wrote about making the goat cheese which in itself was pretty special. But then you gotta figure out what to do with the stuff when you get tired of eating it on crackers. Who does that? Gets tired of eating it on crackers I mean. Anyway... I decided to give the tart a try. I love the summer tomatoes and anything in puff pastry is a winner in my book. I gotta say.....another really really really good tasting dish. For this recipe I took the plain goat cheese and added some chopped herbs to it. Any herbs that you like would work.

I made the tarts large and served them with a salad for dinner. We love eating this way. We opened a bottle of wine to go with it and the result was two happy campers. Now I admit the puff pastry is rather high calarie but the total meal itself was light so we had room for dessert. Yea! My favorite.

Here is the basic recipe. Again....the exact amounts are approximate. You can play around with this somewhat. One sheet of puff pasty makes two large tarts. If you want to use the entire package of pastry, two sheets, that would make four tarts so simply double the recipe.

• 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
• 1 tablespoon olive oil for onion, plus a little more to drizzle
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 cups onions, sliced
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 2 ounces herb goat cheese
• 1 large tomato sliced into 4 slices
• parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
  

Defrost the puff pastry but keep in the refrig nicely chilled until ready to use. To make the tart shells cut the sheet in half then work with each half sheet to make two large tarts. From the half sheet cut a thin sprip all the way around. The thin strip then gets put on top on the base. This creates an edge and when the pastry bakes it puffs up. It allows your filling to stay in the shell and it adds a little crunch around the edges. The pastry sheets should be placed on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can assemble them right on the baking sheet. If you don't use the pastry right away put it back in the frig to keep chilled.

In a medium saute pan add 1 tbsp of both olive oil and butter, the onions and thyme. Saute the onions until carmelized approximately 20 minutes being careful not to allow the butter to burn. Add the garlic and cook just until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside for assembly.


The general idea is that you are building layers for the tart. Start with the puff pastry shell. Prepare as above. Add the goat cheese evenly on the bottom. Top each with 2 slices of tomato. Drizzle with small amount of olive oil. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

I can't end this without giving you an out. If you don't make the goat cheese I suppose it would be ok to use store bought. But don't tell anyone.


Aren't the pictures pretty?

Anchovy Mayo and BLT's

BLT's anyone?

Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato sandwiches....with anchovy mayo? Oh yeah baby!

It's salty with a rather strong taste so be ready for it. My husband was eating it from a spoon and his eyes rolled back in his head. From that I would guess he liked it uh?

Now I know oodles of people say they don't like anchovy. However my experience has been that it is the way it is served or the idea of those little salty fishies sitting your plate that gives people pause. Did I ever tell you about the time I fooled some of my closet friends with an appetizer that contained anchovy and they didn't know it? They raved about the roasted red peppers and scarfed it all down all the while singing my praises. I did not tell them until afterward that it had anchovy in it. They all sat there kinda looking around like she's kidding right? This is a cruel trick. Nope. The anchovies were heated into the sauce so you never actually saw them. They just added flavor. These friends are now converts to the whole anchovy controversy.

So on to the BLT's. Get all the fixins ready. I bought some Neiman Ranch applewood smoked bacon from Trader Joe's and went to the farmers market and bought some heirloom tomatoes. Then made the mayo in the morning and let it sit in the refrig until later that night to use. I have to say, however, that if you make the mayo a day or two before hand the flavors are even better. You know....all that marrying of flavors stuff.

We like our BLT's with bread that is slightly toasted and I use whole wheat cause I just have to. I can't buy white bread anymore. It makes me feel healthier.


Making the mayo is simple. You put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and let 'er rip. Depending on what you like you can alter the ingredients somewhat. My husband loves anchovy so I added quite a few but you could reduce that amount by about half and still have a very tasty mayo with more of a subtle flavor.

The ingredients for the mayo:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 med garlic cloves
• 5 drained canned anchovy fillet
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Give it a try. And once you have think about this. How about some grilled tuna with that mayo? And my personal favorite tomato sandwiches. Fantastic!