summer tomato recap, pt. 1

I don't know if I've told you, but tomatoes are my favorite food. I mean in-season tomatoes. I feel a little sad when I can't have them, which is most of the year, and try to convince myself that parsnips are equally as versatile and delicious. Which simply isn't true.

I got sort of busy this summer, or at least distracted, by rock music and road trips and gardening, which is why I haven't posted in so long. My apologies! I will be vigilant henceforth.

Promises I may not keep aside, the next few posts will serve as a logue of a few of the recipes from this summer's tomato season which has, sadly, come to a close.

1) Heirloom cherry tomato sausage bake with fresh herbs

After a rather awful house party experience here at Pizza Forest, my dear friend and facebook spouse Alex Iezzi owed me an apology. I won't say for what, but he apologized with an a

repa from Caracas and 2+ lbs of heirloom cherry tomatoes, which are surely, if nothing else, the keys to this girl's heart. They were beautiful, and are pictured above.

I tossed the cherry tomatoes in my dutch oven with parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme, a bay

leaf, salt, pepper, and one chopped clove of garlic with the oven pre-heating to around 350. I put some locally-sourced, sustainable hot Italian sausages atop the tomatoes and roasted in the oven for about 35 minutes, uncovered, turning the sausages once, and giving the tomatoes a little stir a few times, until I had this delightful dish. I made a simple greens salad and had a baguette on hand. This was a spectacularly rustic mid-summer supper.

detox

You ever have one of those days where you wake up and just feel a bit off? Maybe you didn't sleep right, maybe you're stressed, maybe you just got back from a weekend tour of Vermont with your friends' band during which you might have eaten greasy chinese and drank a lot of domestic beer...

So what do you do? I think there is a lot of truth to the macrobiotic concept that some foods are tiring for the body (Budweiser and MSG, perhaps?). So the first day I was back in Brooklyn after this wonderful but physically taxing weekend, I went over to Mr. Kiwi's, bought a Kombucha to drink instead of coffee, and stocked up on veggies. I made a salad based on a meal my friend Aimee made in Charlotte, NC while we were on tour last September. I remember that meal being the best thing I ate all month!

It's a raw kale salad with diced avocado, cucumber, red onion, rehydrated and sliced nori (seaweed), and tahini over brown rice. Eating this made me feel like a million bucks. And look how pretty!

great dinner, even better dessert

No, seriously.

Menu

• roasted salmon with mustard and maple syrup glaze
• mashed potatoes with ramps
• blanched asparagus with butter, lemon juice and shaved parmiggiano reggiano
• roasted mushrooms, carrots, and onions

What are those yellow things on that plate on the far right, you ask? Well, that's sliced pineapple. But what is the pineapple for? Why, it's for THE BEST DESSERT OF ALL TIME.

• grilled pineapple with molasses, mint, lime zest and mascarpone

This was actually surprisingly easy to prepare in a short amount of time because 1) madison helped me with the prep work 2) the prep work wasn't difficult 3) cooking these things simultaneously and/or in quick succession is neither confusing nor overwhelming.

First I boiled water to blanch the asparagus, because I like my asparagus at room temperature so I wanted to give it time to cool down after cooking. While that was boiling, I preheated the oven to 375 and tossed some mushrooms, chopped onion, and carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper. I threw those in the oven, and by that time the water was boiling and madison had rinsed the asparagus and trimmed the ends so I threw those in the pot and removed them after they had turned bright green and were flexible but would still snap if stressed. I drained them, put them on a plate, and spread some unsalted butter over the hot asparagus, then sprinkled some lemon juice, salt and pepper on top. I shaved parmiggiano over that and set it aside-- done.

Madison had rinsed, partly peeled, and cubed the potatoes at this point so I threw them in a deep saucepan, covered them with water, and brought that to a boil. In the meantime I trimmed the roots off the ramps and chopped the stems, setting the leaves aside. Madison seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper and spread spicy grain mustard and maple syrup over it. By this time the vegetables were done roasting so I put them on a plate-- done.

We kept the oven at 375 and started to roast the salmon. I then sauteed the chopped ramp stems in a bit of olive oil and salted them as they cooked. The potatoes had been boiling for a few minutes at this point, so I drained them, put them back in the hot pot, and added milk, butter, a bit of sour cream, the sauteed ramp stemps, and the ramp leaves (uncooked, roughly chopped). I even shaved a bit of Jasper Hill cheddar in there. Good god were these some delicious mashed potatoes!!! The smell of the ramps was intoxicating. I had the pot over low heat while I mashed the potatoes so that it would thicken and the ramp flavor could permeate. I then put the potatoes in a big bowl and drank a bit of beer while waiting for the salmon to finish (it was a big piece of salmon--it took nearly 20 minutes to cook).

We enjoyed our meal and then set to work on dessert. Madison had already peeled, sliced, and cored the pineapple, so I just put my grill pan over medium-high heat until it was really hot, then grilled the slices until they were softened and had nice grill marks. I grated some lime zest, made a quick lil' chiffonade of fresh mint, and sprinkled those over the grilled pineapple. I drizzled a bit of molasses over this and added a dollop of mascarpone. We literally FREAKED OUT at how good it tasted. Just imagine it: sweet and warm pineapple, with the intense flavor of molasses, softened with rich mascarpone and brightened by lime and mint. Make this NOW. Just do it. I could eat this every day for the rest of my life. And did you know molasses is actually pretty good for you? It has tons of calcium, iron, and potassium! It is not good for you, however, when it spills out of a giant storage facility.

the great outdoors

The weather has been so nice recently that we've started grilling outdoors here at 28 Lawton. The other night we made fantastic tilapia tacos with pickled red cabbage and jalapenos, grilled onions, and sour cream (we also had delicious refried beans made by the lovely and vegan Veronica, as well as guacamole prepared jointly by Fiona and Brett). I was, however, too hungry and it was too dark to get a good photo, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Oh, my dog Phyllis has been enjoying her outdoor time as well...
But I mean really---wouldn't you want to hang out in this backyard all day, too? The grass is coming in, the rose bush is leafy and green, we've got daffodils.....

Yesterday we grilled again in the afternoon, and I grilled a Bavette steak. I was introduced to the Bavette cut by a butcher at Marlow and Daughters a few weeks ago when buying meat for a BBQ at Dead Herring. On that day, my friend Edan cooked it to a perfect medium rare. Unfortunately, due to a charcoal-shortage induced snafu, yesterday's steak was overdone. It was still really tasty, but texturally off.

I also grilled poblano peppers, onions, and a baguette and assembled open-faced steak sandwiches with some Jasper Hill Cheddar. Jacob brought hot dogs, and we all had one of each, except for Gabi, who had like a hundred steak sandwiches, because he was "really hungry."

buy this cheese now!

moringhello di bufala

aged hard buffalo milk cheese from italy. my new favorite cheese!

roasted marrow bones with parsley salad, sea salt, toast

Bone marrow, as you may or may not know, was likely the first animal protein our distant ancestors had access to. You see, early proto-humans were scavengers, not hunters, and would obtain animal protein by hiding in the brush waiting for the vicious, threatening carnivores to abandon an animal carcass near the waterhole before venturing out, carefully, and using a crudely chipped river cobblestone to crack open the animal's longbones and scrape away the abandoned proteins inside.

We've come a long way and, for this hominid at least, I consider it a special treat when marrow bones are for sale at Marlow and Daughters. So I went all out.

Parsley salad:

about 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley (really roughly, I actually just tore it with my hands)

2 or 3 tbsp capers

1 tsp lemon zest

black pepper

For the bones, I just roasted them at 400 for maybe 20 minutes, maybe a little more. They should be the consistency of jello, browned at the top, not pink on the inside anymore.

I toasted some sliced bread with olive oil, spread a bit of bone marrow on the toast, topped it with parsley salad, and sprinkled some fleur de sel over that (sel gris would have been ideal, but whatevs). This was so decadent and delicious!

Oh and when the bones were scraped clean, another species of carnivore in the house reaped the fruits of my labor.....

weekend lunch

I try to be as frugal with the contents of my refrigerator as possible, and at the end of the week I always end up with some odds and ends that I cobble together to make something moderately good. Today it was especially good! But I think the reason this effort usually succeeds is my basic Grocery Shopping Strategy. Here goes:

1) Keep a pantry with grains, beans, garlic, spices, and canned tomatoes; keep stock in the freezer. This way, you can make a soup, pasta, bean or grain salad with whatever you bring home from the store.

2) Buy lots of onions--I usually use upwards of 5 every week. Not only should you include onions in most things you cook for the health benefits, but caramelized onions are a great way to make a quick, I dunno...sandwich? salad? pasta?

3) Have meals in mind when shopping for produce and protein.

4) Buy ingredients that can be used in multiple meals. A fun way to get creative with this is to buy different fresh herbs each week. Also hard cheeses like parmiggiano, pecorino, and english-style aged cheddar keep for a long time and can add complexity of flavor to dishes which are otherwise simple. Having ingredients on hand that can work together in a myriad of ways also allows for more flexibility...because you never know when three extra dinner guests are coming over (this happened to me the other night...I thought: "better add those white beans to this cauliflower casserole, after all")

5) If you like to cook extravagant meals all the time, go ahead and buy the veal shanks. If you're like most of us, keep it simple, and keep the leftovers. I usually buy sausage, chicken, 6 eggs, and a small amount of bacon for a week, and then a ton of vegetables. Plan on eating meat once a day, or less. It will save you money, you won't have to worry about it spoiling, and it makes you do things like experiment with celery root.

Anyways, today I made this--a mushroom frittata with onion, sage, bacon, and aged cheddar:

I had all these cute little cremini mushrooms, a few sage leaves, a small yellow onion, and one slice of bacon in my fridge along with 5 eggs, milk, and some Jasper Hill clothbound cheddar. I think my thought process was something like "duh, I'll make a frittata."

So I cooked the bacon in a pan and in the meanwhile, sliced the onion and mushrooms and chopped the sage roughly. When the bacon was done I put it on a paper towel and drained the fat, then added some olive oil and the onions to the same hot pan and cooked them for a few minutes. I added the mushrooms, and as they started to brown I sprinkled the sage over top. While this was cooking I whisked together the eggs with some milk, salt, and pepper, and grated some of the cheddar into the egg mixture. I broke the bacon into small pieces and scattered it around the pan, then poured the egg mixture over top and baked in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

It turned out wonderfully, and I just wished I hadn't had to use all of my spinach on those three extra dinner guests, because a spinach salad would have really rounded this out, but whatevs. I used up all my groceries! Let's see what next week has in store...