Bake, Schmake, This Tomato Tart Don't Need No Bakin'

KELLY * August 22 * Dinner

So, as you can tell, we've been slacking off a bit. Our summers are catching up with us and the blog has been falling to the wayside. Well, we've been re-making some things (that are not worthy of report). We've been cooking late (and therefore too sleepy to blog). We've taken a few short trips (so not cooking). We've had guests (and therefore wiped out). The new seasons of Jersey Shore and Project Runway started (judge me if you must). In short, life is hard! Anyway, I couldn't let this one go. Last Sunday night we spent the evening with the lovely Hotzmasters (our CSA box partners) and jointly made an amazing dinner from the box. (If I have not mentioned this before, they are lovely dining partners and they often let me sit and drink beers, margaritas, fresh strawberry mojitos, etc. as Liz and Brian cook. Note: I am not slighting Jaime. She made bad-ass cupcakes that night. Liz and Brian, however, seem to enjoy being in charge. As for me, I like watching. I bake what I must and then I sit back and watch the magic happen.)

Anyway, as we have lately been showered with a mess of tomatoes per box, we focused on that angle. The evening was lovely and included the following (and then was topped off by homemade black-bottom cupcakes from Jaime and a little Don Draper):

* Lemon Balm Mojitos (lemon balm from the CSA)
* Cucumber and Garlic Chive Salad (CSA & Glenwood Sunday Market)
* Asian Pears baked in balsamic & butter and topped with goat cheese & honey (Glenwood Sunday Market [pears] & Whole Foods [cheese] & Brian and Jaime [honey])
* Hormone Free Boneless & Skinless Chicken breasts topped with peppers and onions (CSA)

All in all, it was lovely.

The tart was based off of this recipe. The crust is amazing and simple. (I reiterate: DON'T FEAR THE CRUST!!!). Liz didn't layer the tomatoes and she skipped the pesto. Instead she just arranged pieces from a GIANT heirloom tomato around the crust. She cut up pieces of fresh mozzerella and arranged them on top of the tomato, topped that with some sliced fresh basil, and then drizzled olive oil, salt, and pepper on top of that. You do really have to serve everything relatively soon (and it's not so good for leftovers), because the tomato moisture will make your crust creepy by morning. That said, it was amazing.

I'm not 100% sure what she did for the salad. I know she seeded and cut into squares a large fresh cucumber and diced the fresh garlic chive we bought that morning at the market.

The pears were based off of this recipe. Liz saw the pears at the market and had to have them. They're relatively small, so I made 1.5 per person. I just followed the recipe. You just melt a little butter in your dish, put the pears in, add the vinegar, and bake, bake, bake. I am a firm believer that goat cheese makes everything better, so... Goat cheese and honey seemed like a no-brainer.

Liz will have to explain the chicken and the lemon balm if I can drag her to the blog. She's a busy girl. She's been making a LOT of witch heads this summer. That takes it out of a girl. Honestly, I often have to decide if she has time to talk to you or talk to me (and I choose me).

Anyway, this tart is amazing. I swear by it. I think we're going to make it again this weekend (and perhaps one with bacon).

GO TOMATOES!!!

Who Needs Sauce When You Have a GIANT Heirloom Tomato

KELLY * August 25 *

So, tonight was a quickie dinner. I ran out to see Cairo Time in the early evening and the gf ran to the acupuncturist (to work on her chi, wind, or something). We thought a quick dinner that took advantage of our produce would be lovely. So, she stopped off at the Jewel and grabbed some mozzarella and a pizza it was.

All I know is that had perhaps the best fast to tasty ratio of all time. It was quick and easy and incredibly delicious.

We had a pre-made pizza crust from Meijer (bought this summer when in Holland, MI because we knew they were tasty and would want them later). Liz sauted onions, garlic, and mixed wild mushrooms (portabello, oyster, and shiitake from the Glenwood Sunday Market). She cut up half of a giant CSA heirloom tomato. (It was about the size of a softball.) On top of those she placed some half rounds of cherry-sized mozzarella balls, olive oil, and basil.

She baked it at 450 for about 12-15 minutes.

Result: AMAZING!!! It needed much salt, but aside from that, it was delicious. I'm generally a believer in more sauce is better, but I had no complaints here.

I Love You Peaches: Peach Cupcakes & Brown Sugar Icing. Yes, Please.

KELLY * August 12 * Dessert

Well, I'm on the fly. I'm heading out into the wilds of the Ozarks (okay, it's not so wild. It's really a little more like a redneck version of the resort in Dirty Dancing). Well, there will be about 30 members of my family and I'm doing what I do best: bringing baked goods. Last weekend Liz was lured by some beautiful peaches at the Glenwood Sunday Market. That set off my search. What to make with a peach that is both transportable and won't wither in the summer heat of Missouri? I found this recipe for peach cupcakes. Initial response is that they're lovely. As I've worked more with cupcakes, I've been trying (against my nature) to not panic when they don't look perfect. I just keep repeating "all things don't rise the same way. All things don't rise the same way." Well, these weren't the prettiest coming out of the oven, but I'm just assuming that's the norm (as the 2nd batch was left in longer because I lost track of them while watching Notting Hill and although they rose more uniformly, they then fell to look like the others). This recipe called for brown sugar icing. The answer is, yes, it's delicious. It also gives you a nice tan colored icing (which totally has its aesthetic purposes).

Anyway, they look great. I'm hoping that a slew of Kesslers, Briggses, and Littles enjoy them. For someone who has spent her entire life being Kelly who falls down and does "crazy" things, it's tough to convince folks I can do things well. I figure it's easier to convince my family I can bake than insightfully analyze the media.

Redneck Jamaica, here we come!

Don't Know What To Do With That Eggplant? Stuff it in a Tomato!

KELLY * August 10 * Dinner

So, at it turns out, I'm not actually very bright during the summer. I was actually somewhat productive today, but apparently my attempt to be so led to me becoming wholly oblivious of my own surroundings. Liz was pretty sure that the apartment (that I had been sitting in all day with no A/C or open windows) felt like a sauna. She said I was bright red and needed to hydrate. Well, this is not unusual for me. That said, despite my overall obliviousness, I did do some online research to figure out something to have for dinner. What to do with tomatoes and eggplants? Hmm. Well, I found this recipe for stuffed eggplant. Liz had to switch things up a bit (as our eggplants lacked a bit of bodily integrity/size and could not serve as a boat for stuffing). Anyway, I stand by tonight's dinner. I loves me a tomato, so if you want to stuff things into a tomato and give them to me, I will take them! (Have I mentioned that Liz is useful?) We differed on our opinions regarding the dish. She felt that the stuffing was not as good as the veg that she cooked outside of the tomato and I thought the stuffing was naught but tasty tomato-y goodness. I think she was just cranky because the apartment is BLAZING!!!

ELIZABETH * August 10 * Dinner

It's not so hot now that I opened all the windows and turned on a fan or two. The absent-minded professor really doesn't notice a thing when she is working. It was dang hot in the kitchen though, with the oven on and water boiling! Again, like last night, discoveries were made, with room for improvements next time. We served the stuffed tomatoes with spinach-ricotta tortellini from Galucci's Cleveland, with a light Aglio e Olio sauce of lemon infused olive oil, crushed chilis, chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and grated pecorino romano. As always, there was NOTHING wrong with this classic. The tomatoes themselves were made as follows:

Two sizeable tomatoes (Angelic CSA) - core and drain in a colander while you make:

Chopped garlic scapes (probably the last of the season) and a sliced leek, both from Angelic CSA, sauteed in olive oil with crushed chilis, salt and pepper.

Diced zucchini and 2 baby eggplants (Angelic CSA), the guts of the above tomatoes sans seeds, added to above.

When veg is tender add 1 tbsp each fresh thyme and fresh parsley, chopped, and some grated pecorino romano cheese.

Stuff tomatoes with mixture, place in baking dish. Surround with remaining veg, and sprinkle the whole with breadcrumbs. Bake 30 min at 350 and serve with more grated cheese, salt and pepper, with tortellini on the side.

I will agree with the good Doctor K that this was pretty good, but in fact the veg in the baking dish surrounding the tomatoes were better than the stuffing inside, even though they were the same stuff. I think the reasons for this were twofold - I enumerate the folds here:

1 - Because the veg in the pan were exposed to more heat and not stuffed in a tomato, they cooked more, became more succulent and tender, and tastier.

2 - Because the veg in the tomato were in the tomato, they not only cooked less, but they got a little wet due to tomato water. K thought they tasted tomato-ey. I just thought they were wet.

I think both folds could be addressed a) by not stuffing this veg in tomatoes at all but just roasting it and eating it yum or b) roasting the tomatoes longer and/or at a hotter temp. I think this would help evaporate some more tomato water and cook the veg more.

Also, although garlic scapes and leeks are lovely and delicate, in this dish I missed the punch of real live garlic (lots of it) and full-force onions. I took some of the Aglio e Olio and drizzled it on the tomato stuffing and it was seriously improved. I'm sure the addition of the extra oil didn't hurt, but the garlic really enhanced the tomato flavor. In short, we ate it and it was good and good for us, and we used up alot of veg, which was truly necessary. I would make again with some adjustments. It WAS very pretty though! A nice summer meal, especially if you have AC!

Chinatown Be Damned! We'll Make Our Own Cucumber & Chicken

KELLY * August 9 * Dinner

So, the evening was a little up in the air. Plans were unclear. I was lazy. Liz had a meeting. I'm incredibly impressed that we (okay, Liz) went ahead and made dinner. (I fully admit that I have made promises of laundry tomorrow so I did not have to help and so I could consequently watch Mad Men. I make no claims of being remotely helpful except once upon a time saying, "Do you think you could make that cucumber and chicken that we had at Joe's Shanghai?") Anyway, we still have a mess of cucumbers. They seem to come non-stop. That said, I could care less about a cucumber. I have no specific reason for not liking cucumbers. I just don't. The chicken and cucumber from Joe's Shanghai, however, has been a personal fave for years. So, Liz whipped up a bit of tasty loveliness. It was light. It was tasty. I braved the chopsticks while Liz totally copped out with a fork. (It's like I don't even know her anymore, honestly.) Anyway, it was a perfect light dinner for a warm summer night.

ELIZABETH * August 9 * Dinner

The thing that's so awesome about that Joe's Shanghai dish is that you can't really tell why it tastes so good, it just does. I did not make something as good as that, but I feel like it was an important step in the right direction! Discoveries:

This recipe is close. I made a few adjustments:

* I cut things in little cubes like at Joe's instead of the strips in the recipe. (Hence the fork. Those little cubes are impossible with stix - although Kelly still somehow managed to finish way ahead of me despite my fork. But then again, I chew.)

* I replaced the rice wine with cider vinegar, mostly because I read the recipe wrong and we were out of rice wine vinegar. Oops, but I don't regret it. I actually think the vinegar was the right choice, but I would use rice wine vinegar instead.

* I left out the soy sauce. The Joe's dish is totally white.

* I added 1 tsp hot chili oil in with the sauce at the end.

I would make a few more:

* There was a shortage of sauce. I added a little water, but I think next time I would add even more chicken broth as liquid. The sauce also could have used the richness of broth.

* Joe's might be so good due to MSG. I salted several times, and black peppered. Chicken broth might also help this issue.

* I put in garlic instead of ginger. Next time I'd do both.

This one is certainly a work in process, but I would for sure try it again, and it was all the way gone, so I guess it was good enough! Actually very tasty, and with a pleasant heat. Cooking cucumbers sounds wierd but it's actually not. As Julia says, "Don't crowd the pan" and use a good high heat, and they sear instead of getting squishy. Yum cucumbers!

oh ps - At the Glenwood Sunday Market, I bought a lemon cucumber. It looks like a lemon that's been zested. I said to the guy, "So this is a cucumber?" and he said "Totally". It was the totally that sold me. Well, I ate it for lunch today like an apple and it was awesome. More lemon cukes for me next week!!!

Fajita-rama and Sunday Gluttony!

KELLY (WITH HORNING IN BY LIZ) * August 8 * LUNCH

Ooh, the tasty deliciousness of an impromptu Mexican feast almost transcends words. Yesterday we received some beautiful green peppers and tomatoes from the CSA. Today we headed to the Glenwood Sunday Market in our hood and I suggested that perhaps we could knock out the peppers, some tomatoes (as we already had some okay tomatoes from Morse Market and Whole Foods prior to the CSA haul), some CSA sweet onions, and the like if we went hog wild in a Mexican sense. So, while at the Glenwood Market we picked up a couple tasty looking (and ultimately blazing) jalapeños. (Just a note, while we were there, we also had some amazing apple cider infused Zeppoli - fried dough balls with cinnamon and sugar. They were stupid good.) Anyway, we made it back from the market and Liz headed off to yoga and I, well, took a nap. When she came home, we headed into the lunch. On her stop to get cilantro and limes for the pico, she accidentally picked up an avocado. So, I cut up 2 peppers (CSA), one sweet onion (CSA) and one yellow onion (Trader Joe's), and Liz did her magic with the chicken (Lime Pepper from Central Market Austin). I followed Emeril's pico recipe, but as usual was heavy handed with the garlic and jalapeño. (NOTE: I find Emeril totally irritating. His presence generally leads to pleas of turning the channel. His mere utterance of "bam" drives me into a fit of ranting. However, the first blazing taste of pico could lead to nothing other than a shout of "BAM!!". The pepper was fresh and I went a little overboard. That said, it was amazing). Liz threw together a little guac (as she is wont to do, and I usually like it more than the overpriced $12 guac at many restaurants). Anyway, once all was finished, we had a lovely Summer afternoon lunch of fresh pico, fresh guac, tortilla chips (Edgewater Produce), Goya pink beans cooked with yellow onion (can't express how much better a can of pink or black beans is if you just put it in a pot with chopped onions when you warm them), and these AMAZING La Tortilla Factory hand made style corn tortillas. (After being spoiled by a never-ending stream of fresh Texas tortillas, these were an excellent surprise. They are really the best of both worlds--corn and flour--they have the chewiness of flour and the heartiness of corn. They're a little bit of a miracle.) Anyway, we eventually just had to stop eating, as we could have just kept digging through the food. Don't worry. It's safe and sound put away for lunches. But dude, it was fab.

TOO MUCH CORN!!! - Make a Chowder

KELLY * August 7 * DINNER

So, we've decided that perhaps we should maximize the number of vegetables that we put in a food. Despite the fact that we ate an insane amount of dim sum this morning (followed by a very long nap), we powered through to conquer the mound of produce that was forming. Today's box only added to the idiotic amount of corn we already had. Flauto decided "CORN CHOWDER." I'm honestly not so focused on the blog today. As we were eating what was an incredibly delicious dinner of corn chowder and quesadillas(yes, I married well), we received a phone call from our friend Sean (see bottom photo). It was Saturday. He needed company. He'd never heard of chowder but had a sneaking suspicious that it sounded, so we headed over to his hipster neighborhood with chowder, quesadilla fixings, and dough to make more carrot cookies.

So, in short, it's tasty. It was a lovely, creamy, delicious bowl of fabulousness. It was not savored, however, as here we are watching E! and preparing to play scene it. I will dream about leftovers.

Liz to add the tasty and delicious recipe soon...