Uniformly Different, Uniformly Delicious

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So JoeHoya totally stole my Part II thunder.

With my extreme abundance of tomatoes over the weekend, I made two go-to tomato recipes simultaneously: tomato sauce and gazpacho. Of course it was an obvious way to turn almost rotting tomatoes into something edible, as Joe Hoya pointed out.

And he’s right. Gazpacho is uniformly delicious but not uniformly similar in ingredients. In fact, tomatoes aren’t even a constant in some recipes.

As I rummaged through the tomatoes I noticed that a good half were yellow and the rest were a mix of red, purple, orange and green. I reserved the yellow for the gazpacho while I used the other colors for my maroon colored sauce.

Yellow Gazpacho

Roughly chop about 3 pounds of yellow tomatoes, non-rotting parts only. Immersion blend the following: yellow tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and sliced cucumber, chopped Hungarian Stuffing Peppers (carries a bit of heat, way more flavorful than a green bell pepper and they are in light in color to match the yellow tomatoes), oil, white wine vinegar, salt and white pepper.

Cracked black pepper, to me, is one of the most attractive finishes to a dish. But for some reason I became really interested in preserving the pale yellow color of the cold soup. Cue the white pepper.

For color, however, I sliced in half sugar baby tomatoes. At least that is what I think that variety of tomato is called: they are slightly larger than sun golds, have a red exterior with white zig zag lines on the skin.

Also for some texture there are a few croutons, half floating on the surface. I simply cubed left over bread, tossed it with kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper and oil and placed it in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes.

Fried Flower Power

zuchinni flower

Around this time of year, foodies start spying one of our favorite finds at the farmers markets: zucchini blossoms. These are the pretty yellow flowers that grow above the root of the zucchini plant, and can be harvested to eat before the main squash part is fully grown. Actually, I’m pretty sure that these are kind of like garlic scapes — a part of the plant farmers used to just throw away before they realized they could sell them to us sustainability saps at a premium.

I spotted these guys at my local far mar a few weeks back and loved that they still had the teeny tiny squash part attached. The flowers themselves have a pretty delicate flavor. I know this sounds obvious, but I’m gonna go ahead and say they taste a little bit like a zucchini, a little bit like a flower. After some exploring the Internet, I found that most people go the same route with these — stuffing, breading and frying. Hey, who am I to argue with that?

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Green Garlic vs. Scapes

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OK, Maids — consider this one paying you back for my missed Feed Us Back post (I never knew FuB had fans!)

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the new green garlic product that I discovered at the Food Fete. Reader Kathleen Donovan posted this comment:

Isn’t the green part of the garlic called a scape? I’ve tried pickled scapes at a Garlic Festival and they’re delicious.

I have so far ignored Kathleen’s comment because, well, I was stumped. Had the green garlic guys duped me into writing about a not-so-new product? We have, after all, covered scapes here on ES before.

A search around the Interwebs didn’t exactly clear things up, with many writers referring to green garlic and garlic scapes as the same thing. Clearly they’re similar, but my long, straight green garlic with the little blubs attached just don’t look the same as those winding, loopy scapes. Melissa Clark had a long piece in NYT about both green garlic and garlic scapes, but didn’t quite explain the difference.

Finally I found this comment from Serious Eats user bodaciousgirl that offers the best explanation I’ve seen yet:

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Continued: I’m Not Eating Ice Cream Every 15 Minutes

Summer 2010 2 (500 x 332)

When I first started working virtually I was nervous I would eat ice cream all day, which you can read about in my post aptly titled, “How Not to Eat Ice Cream Every 15 Minutes.” I got some wonderful suggestions, such as Summer‘s guidance to eat away from my desk and to drink coffee, a natural appetite suppressant. (I’m looking at you, red-headed Olsen with the Starbucks taped to your palm like you’re playing Edward 40Hands.)

So I usually drink tea or coffee in the morning, as I’m not a normal breakfast eater. And actually, the binge eating hasn’t been so bad, especially with the abundance of fresh fruit this time of year. Although there have been some ups and downs in this whole work from home thing, I’m actually loving it.

My favorite part—besides no commuting, no dressing, no showering—is cooking lunch. I look forward to it all morning, if not the second I’ve finished dinner the night before.

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Scape Grace: ES S.O.S.

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ES super Commenter Nee Nee recently emailed me with the following Garden Emergency:

Remember that summer you visited and we had scapes but no idea what to do with them?  Well, I have 75 garlic plants with scapes now and I need some ideas.  Mr. Nee Nee thinks he hates them.  I think he is crazy.

I’ve already suggested scape scrambled eggs and scape pesto, and I sent Nee Nee the link to Gansie’s  Roasted Poblano and Garlic Scape dip but we need some other ideas or Nee Nee’s scape harvest will go to waste.

Sounds like a job for the ES community, right?

Your scapetastic suggestions for Nee Nee’s late spring bounty PLEASE!

Continuation: The Allure of the Twirl

Asparagus Pasta 1 (500 x 332)

It’s that fucking twirl. In March I identified that part of my pasta obsession revolved around the act of twirling. Twirling long strands around my fork and piling it into my mouth. In that March meal, Ricotta-ed Spinach with Noodle Onions and Parsnips, I omitted the pasta altogether and satisfied my twirl craving with butter-enveloped long, thin onion strands.

Last night, however, I doubled the twirl intake. I bought extra tall spring onions at the Mount Pleasant Farmers’ Market and decided they should not be chopped. I should honor their slender ways and keep them intact.

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The Punishment for Being Late

Asparagus and Cannellini Beans 1 (500 x 332)

It’s become my rule. Invited to a BBQ? Bring something not for the grill.

I’ve learned my lesson. I’m a late girl. I come from a late family. We are late. Always late. So if I want to bring something for the grill, I always get there too late. The grill is taken.

That is why I bring a side. Sure, it’s more cooking then bringing marinated eggplant rounds, but people expect more from me anyway.

This past weekend my coworker threw a party for her daughter’s middle school graduation. It was a cook-out. So while I longed to be lazy and just bring my fresh bundle of asparagus bought that day from the Mount Pleasant Farmers’ Market to throw on the grill—I didn’t. I whipped it into a salad instead.

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