tomatoes - - Page 6

by Borracho

…And the Living’s Easy

Gansie’s recent post about avocados, citrus trees, and Hollywood celebrity sightings had me envious of all that is SoCal, including the seemingly perpetual 75 degrees and sunny forecast. I woke up this morning and it was 49 degrees outside! You see, I live in a part of Pennsylvania where it also snows or flurries every day from December to March, so my envy was coming from the fact that summer is quickly coming to an end.

School buses are beginning to pop up on every block, some leaves are becoming slightly tinged with yellow, and political ads are everywhere. Fall does have its culinary benefits; things like pumpkin pie, green chicken chili, agave and cinnamon acorn squash, pumpkin ravioli with sage butter, fresh orchard apples and the roast chicken with sausage and apple stuffing that I make with those apples….OK so maybe fall’s not all bad, but I am getting off track.

It is still summer and in the hopes of filling the remaining weeks of it with delectable meals for all those in ES nation, I thought I would post my top 3 “summer” dishes. Summertime food to me does not have to be complex or have exotic ingredients.It is quick, simple, fresh, can often be cooked outside and pairs well with any adult cold beverage (my favorite lately has to be Flying Dog brewery’s Classic Pale Ale). Take a look and feel free to shout out your top summer dishes in the comments.

3. Grilled Sweet Corn with Chili-Lime butter

Variations of this have popped up more and more on many a cooking show, but for good reason; it may be one of the simplest and tastiest sides out there. Corn’s flavor doesn’t last long. As soon as it is picked, the sugars in each kernel start turning into starch, so the key is to get it fresh. Whether it is a farmers market or a roadside stand, you can find it almost anywhere during the summer. I have seen recipes suggest that you should soak the husks in water and other such steps, but I firmly believe that down and dirty is the way to go. Husk the corn, toss it on a hot grill and turn regularly until the kernels have a slight char. While the corn is cooking begin melting a stick of butter and add the juice of 1 lime. I leave the chili powder for everyone to sprinkle on themselves because some like it hot and some don’t. If you are feeling up to it, you can always make your own chili powder, which far outshines any store-bought option. For this dish, I recommend toasting dried chipotle peppers (smoked jalapenos) in a skillet for a few minutes on medium heat until they become nice and fragrant. After that, just grind them up, sprinkle and serve. If the citrus and heat doesn’t do it for you, make your own butter. Some ideas for flavors to incorporate could be roasted red pepper, green goddess, raspberry, almost any herb….the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Matthew weighs in on the surprisingly difficult debate about how to make kale chips:

As a private chef, I’ve been cooking for some vegan yogis lately, and they freak over kale. 350 degrees, SINGLE LAYER in the pan, 10-11 min. Totally dry leaves before you start, just a little bit of oil, salt & pepper and you should be good to go. That is, if you ever want to try it again.

-While VeggieBoss is kind enough to share some secrets of dal:

in Veggie 1 comments

by gansie

Slow and Low Isn’t Always Preferred

For real, I’m not just trying to pimp out 100 Ways to Use a Tomato. I also am a tomato lover and need ideas on what to do with all of the tomatoes laying claim to my kitchen. Because I am a virtual worker I also have time to cook during the day, or at least be watchful of items while they are cooking.

This means I can finally soak and cook beans and not rely on cans. I can cook down tomatoes for a thick sauce. And while we’re on tomatoes, I can roast tomatoes in a low, slow oven. (And please give me suggestions for other dishes I can cook all day.)

I spied my inspiration in the third row, second column of the 100 tomatoes post: a parade of shriveled, red splotches.

in Recipe / Veggie 15 comments

by BS

100 Ways to Use a Tomato

OMFG, the tomatoes are finally here. Sure, they’ve been here all year round, but there’s nothing more disappointing than sinking your teeth into a mealy, watery, tasteless tomato, which is inevitably what happens nine or ten months out of the year. Then suddenly, in late summer, we head to the farmers’ market and find those beautiful, juicy specimens we’ve been looking for the whole time. Of course, we overbuy and end up with way more tomatoes than we can use. But you don’t have to resign yourself to cooking eight gallons of fresh tomato sauce, because we’ve got the goods on 100 other ways to use up all your perfect (or even not-so-perfect) summer tomatoes. You can poach tomatoes, stew tomatoes, roast tomatoes, and pickle tomatoes. We’ve got tomato sushi, tomato cobbler, tomato-tinis and tomato creme brulee. Oh yeah, and there’s pizza and stuff too…

Click on the photos for full recipes.

PS – What did we miss? Have a star tomato recipe? Drop your link in the comments. If your photo makes us drool, we’ll add it to the list.

Previously on ES:
100 Ways to Use Bacon
100 Ways to Cook an Egg
100 Ways to Use a Banana
100 Ways to Cook a Pumpkin
100 Ways to Cook a Sweet Potato

Plus…Thanks for the tips in the comments! Here are a few way to consume those ripe tomatoes:

in 100 Ways / Featured / Lists / Veggie 59 comments

by gansie

The Charm of Sloppy Seconds

Waking up before 9am on Saturday has a few perks, most of them edible. Working at the farmers market, at least my gig there, isn’t strenuous. Eager shoppers, without cash, walk up to the Manager’s Table, pass me their debit card, I swipe while asking them to sign up for our newsletter and hand them the appropriate amount of tokens.

I tweet fruit observations and celebrity sightings, gobble up sun gold tomatoes and more or less banter with strangers about food for a few hours.

And then I get to take home the good stuff. Well, not exactly the good stuff. Really the free, almost rotting stuff. Ten pounds of bruised and battered tomatoes. Tomatoes slit apart and oozing juice and seeds. Tomatoes on just this side of rotten.

These seconds, as they’re dubbed at the market, need to be loved and loved quickly. I had less than 24 hours to make the most of out of them.

Part I

in Recipe / Veggie 8 comments

by tvff

Pasta Recipe: Keepin’ it Cool

Nothing’s better than a steaming bowl of pasta, right? Not when it’s 86° outside. That, my friends, was my predicament last week when we were enjoying some unseasonably warm weather here in the Northeast and I got an e-mail from Mrs. TVFF suggesting we have pasta for dinner. Not one to ever turn down the opportunity for a carb-heavy meal, I resolved to avoid the ususal pasta dishes — which certainly didn’t sound appetizing as I perspired my way around the city — and go for something that wasn’t quite pasta salad either. We’d meet in the middle with a hot pasta dressed with a room-temperature sauce.

First, the props: I’m pretty sure this originated as some sort of bruschetta topping or chunky dip from Jamie Oliver. His input forms the basis of this “sauce,” which is the olives, the cherry/grape tomato and the olive oil. The rest of the recipe is a bit more free-form.

Warm Pasta with Crushed Grape Tomatoes and Olives

– One pound of short pasta – penne, rigatoni and farfalle are perfect for this.

– One cup, olives without pits

– One pint, grape or cherry tomatoes

– Six tbsp. oil

– Whatever the hell your heart desires (see below)

in Recipe / Veggie 1 comments

by tvff

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Waste not, want not! Britannia might not like a sub-par tomato, but Sam has a great solution for those unattractive end slices:

I know where I work, with the ends of the tomato we just chop/dice them and put them in a shallow container, and use them for omeletts that have tomato in it.

– Could it be that Annie Hall is the key to great movie kitchens? Tia certainly thinks so:

Did you notice how many of those amazing movie kitchens star Diane Keaton? It just seemed odd.

– ML managed to implant the Filet-O-Fish song in all of our heads, but it was a Tyler that was the icing on the cake (Central Jersey REPRESENT!):

THIS guy…

(Photo: Jon Juan)

in Celebs / Veggie 0 comments