Eggplant, Ravioli, and a Seven Minute Egg
I always know when Victor asks if I have planned anything for dinner that he has a plan for dinner. And I ain't no fool - I let him go for it!
His plan, tonight, was based on a soft-cooked egg he had seen on Milk Street - steamed for exactly 7 minutes.
Dinner based upon a simple egg?!? You betcha!
Of course, one needs something to put that egg upon - and he did not disappoint!
First, he made ravioli. Perfect little pillows stuffed with ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, egg, and parmigiano.
Our eggplant did not produce as it has in past years, but we were able to make some cutlets and freeze them. A couple of them came out and went into the oven with his sauce and the same ricotta filling in between them.
When they were ready, the ravioli went into the sauce and the eggs went into the steamer basket. And then everything went onto the plate.
Absolute perfection!
It was one of those texture sensations - the silkiness of the ravioli, the crunch of the eggplant breading, and that perfectly cooked egg.
It was heaven on the end of my fork.
Baked Cod Gratinée
The Year of the Tomato continues...
I canned another 8 pints of tomato sauce, today, and then set Victor loose in the kitchen for dinner.
Kitchen tag-teaming is an art in our house! We had cod, we had sweet potatoes, and we had tomatoes - the perfect combination for a fantastic dish!
He started with a small casserole dish - buttered. Into that went thinly sliced sweet potato, a bit of sliced onion, and sliced tomato on top of that. A bit of salt and pepper, of course, and then a sprinkling of bread crumbs and just a bit of parmigiano reggiano.
It was covered, and then into a 350°F oven for about 35 minutes.
The cover came off and the fish went on. He drizzled the fish with aleppo oil - a mixture of aleppo pepper and oil. Onto the entire dish went a covering of bread crumbs and grated cheeses, mixed with a bit of S&P and oregano.
Since everything else was cooked, it went under the broiler for just a couple of minutes to cook the fish.
To serve, it was topped with chopped tomatoes - because we have lots of tomatoes.
It was a very uncomplicated dish - and just exploded with flavor. The sweet potatoes were perfectly soft, the tomatoes almost disintegrated, the fish was perfectly firm and moist...
Crusty cheese and crumbs added texture and flavor.
Perfection on a plate!
Homemade Italian Sausage
We're back from California after a whirlwind visit. The occasion was my nephew's wedding.
I hafta tell ya - my family does great weddings! Loud and boisterous while still reasonably civilized. We had a blast. The wedding was in Capay, California - about an hour and a half northeast of San Francisco. The venue and the weather were picture perfect and it was great spending time with the family. Even more fun was walking into a restaurant the following morning with 35 people for breakfast. Needless to say, we tipped well!
But all good things do come to an end, and we're back...
First thing we did was hit the garden - five days of not picking tomatoes meant we had a lot to deal with.
Victor made more sun-dried and I made more paste. And then we made Italian Sausage.
A nice, spicy Italian Sausage!
3 pounds of pork gave us 12 4oz sausages. 10 went into the freezer and two were saved for dinner. Perfect.
As per usual, the recipe is a bit vague.
- pork butt, ground
- salt
- pepper
- fennel seed
- fennel pollen
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- brown sugar
- aleppo pepper
- cayenne pepper
- crushed red pepper
- oregano
- thyme
- red wine
- paprika
Grind pork, mix in spices, regrind, stuff into casings... It really is up to you to add how much of something you like. Ya want spicy - add a lot of the hot spices. You want it sweet - leave them out. You could get by with just fennel, salt, and pepper...
And then we got to eat it!
First, I caramelized a couple of onions. Then I grilled the sausages. I cooked the orecchiette, drained it, and added some tomato paste - the awesome homemade stuff - and 2 chopped tomatoes from the garden. Then went a pinch of S&P and a bit of oregano.
It went onto the plate, a sausage on top of it, and the onions on top of it all. Some freshly grated pecorino romano topped it off.
It was a great combination of flavors.
Homemade Tomato Paste
The tomato bounty contines.
Victor was online and came across recipes for tomato paste. We had both thought about making it, but neither of us were thrilled about stirring it on the stovetop for literal hours, worrying about scorching or burning...
Enter the Oven Method!
The concept is to take the tomato juice/pulp and reduce it in the oven instead of on the stove. Since we can't do it outdoors as they do in Sicily, it seemed like a perfect solution. We watched a video of people in Sicily making tomato paste - spreading the juicy pulp on five wooden tables outdoors, and then gradually combining it until they were left with a bucket of paste.
The reality is you don't get a lot of volume - it reduces 90%. One woman made a great point, though, about it - Yes, it's a bit of work, but would you ever consider spreading canned tomato paste on a crusty slice of bread?!? Most likely, not. You will with this, however! We spread it on fish and then topped it with fresh tomato relish - but that's another story.
We added just a bit of citric acid. Tomatoes are naturally acidic - something you want for canning - but the seeds carry a lot of that acidic content and you take out the seeds for paste.
You can use any tomatoes, but plum tomatoes will give you the most volume per pound - they're more meaty. We did a combination of about 7 pounds of plum/San Marzano and 3 pounds heirloom.
You'll need a food mill and 2 rimmed sheet pans. You will also need 3 to 4 hours of oven time. It will vary based on the juiciness of your tomatoes.
Tomato Paste
- 10 pounds tomatoes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp citric acid
Wash and cut tomatoes. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and mix well.
Simmer the tomatoes until they break down and are soft and cooked through.
Let cool a bit and then pass through a food mill.
Spread juice/pulp onto two sheet pans and place in upper and lower thirds of a preheated 350°F oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove from oven, stir, and return - switching pan location each time. This is after the first 30 minutes. Still quite thin, but noticeably thicker than when it went in.
After an hour and a half.
After 3 hours. The deep brick red color you're looking for.
Ready to jar.
The finished product.
You can place it in containers and freeze, or you can can it either with a water bath or pressure canner. We have a pressure canner, so I use it almost exclusively.
Use 4 oz jars.
For a water bath, process for 15 minutes or process for 15 minutes at 11 pounds pressure with the pressure canner.
The result is unbelievable - the most awesomely rich tomato flavor you may ever experience.
We're hoping we'll be able to do at least one more batch before the season is over.
It really is awesome stuff!
Homemade Fettuccine and Home-Grown Tomatoes
Homemade pasta with a fresh sauce made from tomatoes out of our garden. It does not suck to be us.
Some meals are over-the-top because of their exotic ingredients. Others are over-the-top because of their simplicity. Tonight's dinner was definitely of the latter.
Fresh pasta is flour and eggs. It does not get much more basic. We use Italian flour, but all-purpose will do. We also add semolina - but you can still make a good pasta without it. Don't let the lack of a specialty ingredient keep you from making this.
Fresh Pasta
- 1 cup tipo ’00’ flour
- 1/3 cup semolina flour
- 2 eggs
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp water – maybe
Mix flour, salt, and eggs until fully combined. Knead on a floured board until smooth, adding a drop or two of additional water, if needed.
Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, and then roll out using pasta machine. You can roll this with a rolling pin, but a pasta roller is so much easier!
Lightly dust and then fold the pasta strips.
And then cut to desired width.
Unfold and place on a floured sheet pan.
Cook in lightly boiling salted water for about 3 minutes. Then add to sauce and cook an additional 2 minutes.
The sauce was another lesson in simplicity.
Fresh tomatoes - not peeled or anything - with fresh leeks, green onions, a bit of anchovy paste, tomato paste, wine, garlic, zucchini, crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper.
Some freshly grated parmigiano reggiano on top.
Rich and silky-smooth, bursting with flavor. Absolute perfection.
And while we're talking about tomatoes from the garden, we added to our sauces...
We now have sauce from Black Krim tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes, Green Zebra tomatoes, and Brandywine Yellow tomatoes. Hopefully, we'll get another dozen or so quarts before we head to California mid-month.
Pretty awesome...
Stuffed Tomatoes
The tomatoes just keep coming! The eggplant fizzled, the peppers fizzled, but the tomatoes are coming on strong.
If I was going to hope for at least one of the three to come on strong, it would be the tomatoes - there are so many more things you can do with them.
Tonight, Victor took a few plums and stuffed them Victor-Style - the perfect side dish!
Stuffed Tomatoes
- bread crumbs
- parmigiano
- garlic powder
- oregano
- salt & pepper
- crushed red pepper flakes
- fried hot Italian peppers
Slice tomatoes in half and core. Lightly salt and lightly cover in olive oil. Dredge in bread crumbs.
Mix bread crumbs with parmigiano, garlic powder, oregano, crushed red pepper, and S&P.
Place a hot Italian pepper in tomato cavity. Top with bread crumb mixture.
Place in small baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Add about 1/2 cup white wine to dish, cover, and bake about 30 minutes at 350°F.
Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes.
Absolutely delish! We're both fans of hot peppers, so the Italian hot in the tomato was perfection. If you don't like heat, leave it out - but it was really really good!
The steaks were liberally doused with Nick Stellino's magic spice mixture - equal parts of:
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- brown sugar
- salt
- pepper
- paprika
Onto the grill they went.
There are more heirloom tomatoes ripening with another round of San Marzanos and plums not far behind.
This is fun!
Roasted Tomato Soup
When the garden gives you tomatoes, it's time to make tomato soup!
The vines just keep on giving, so Victor took about six pounds of them and made a big batch of roasted tomato soup - and it is outrageously good!
This is one of those soups that you really want to just keep on eating. And eating. And eating...
Sweet from the tomatoes, spicy from the peppers, and a roasted rich flavor from the onions, peppers, and garlic.
Sheer perfection.
Roasted Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 6 lbs fresh ripe tomatoes
- I whole head garlic, roasted
- 1 onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 2 hot peppers, chopped
- olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup fresh herbs - basil/parsley/oregano
- marinated chopped tomatoes and basil for serving
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese optional garnish
- 1/4 cup uncooked rice, optional for thickening
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Wash and cut tomatoes (cut in half for smaller sized tomatoes, cut larger tomatoes into quarters or eighths).
Place tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, hot peppers, olive oil, salt, pepper and dried herbs on a large pan.
Roast 25 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes. Turn oven to broil and broil 3-4 minutes or until some of the tomatoes get a little bit of char color on them. Roast garlic separately.
Bring chicken broth to a boil, add tomatoes, roasted garlic, and fresh herbs. Using an immersion blender, blend mixture until smooth and creamy.
Top with marinated diced tomatoes.
We thought the soup was thick enough as it was, but if you're looking for a heartier soup, add up to a quarter cup of uncooked rice and cook in the broth.
He used up the last of the paprika oil he made a few days ago and mixed it with the chopped tomatoes and basil for a great topping. You could add just about anything - from croutons to sour cream, pepitas... Or keep it simple and don't add anything at all.
Roasting everything is the key - so have at it!
Red Lentil Soup and Tomato Galette
It's summertime and it's rather hot outside, but with the air conditioner running, it could be any time of the year, at all, indoors. Time for some soup!
Victor found a recipe for a Turkish red lentil Soup that sounded like the perfect dinner. A spicy red lentil soup drizzled with a spicy oil. How perfext!
Turkish Red Lentil Soup
INGREDIENTS
For the Soup:
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 heaping Tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme or oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- salt, to taste
For the Paprika Oil:
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
INSTRUCTIONS
Pick through your lentils for any foreign debris, rinse them 2 or 3 times, drain, and set aside.
In a large pot over medium-high heat, sauté the olive oil and the onion with a pinch of salt for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and sauté for another 3 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and stir it around for around 1 minute. Now add the cumin, paprika, mint, thyme, black pepper, and red pepper and sauté for 10 seconds to bloom the spices. Immediately add the lentils, water, broth, and salt. Bring the soup to a boil.
After it has come to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover the pot halfway, and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the lentils have fallen apart and the carrots are completely cooked.
In the meanwhile make the paprika oil by swirling together the olive oil, paprika, and red pepper in a small sauce pan over medium heat. The moment you see the paprika starting to bubble, remove the pan from the heat. It's done.
After the soup has cooked and the lentils are tender, blend the soup either in a blender or simply use a hand blender to reach the consistency you desire. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if necessary.
Serve the soup with a drizzle of paprika oil, wedges of lemon, and extra mint and red pepper for everyone to customize to their taste.
While Victor made soup, I set my sights on a tomato galette
It's a stellar year for tomatoes - they are just sooo flavorful - I doubt I will ever get my fill of them.
This was about the easiest thing to make in the history of easy things to make. I pulled the pie dough out of the freezer, but it's really easy to make.
Tomato Galette
- 2 lbs heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 oz mixed cheeses, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- salt & pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400°. Gently toss tomatoes, garlic, and 1 tsp salt. Let sit 5 minutes (tomatoes will start releasing some liquid). Drain tomato mixture and transfer to paper towels.
Unwrap dough and roll out on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper to a 14" round about 1/8" thick.
Transfer on parchment to a baking sheet.
Scatter cheese over dough, leaving a 1½" border.
Arrange tomatoes and garlic over cheese.
Bring edges of dough up and over filling, overlapping as needed to create about a 1 1/2" border.
Sprinkle tomatoes with sea salt and pepper. Chill in freezer 10 minutes.
Bake galette, rotating once, until crust is golden brown and cooked through, 55–65 minutes.
Let cool slightly on baking sheet.
Top with sun-dried tomatoes, if desired.
It was the perfect combination - soup and galette - and it really brought home the flavors of summer.
Tomatoes and Potatoes
The Tomato Bounty continues...
We have lots of sauce downstairs and lots more to make - and that's just from the plums and san marzanos. The other heirlooms are coming along strong, as well.
I had less than a pint of sauce left from the last canning - too little to process - so tonight, I used it to braise a couple of sliced red bliss potatoes. I started with a chopped leek and a bit of garlic, then added the potatoes to brown just a bit. Next went the sauce and a handful of the principe borghese tomatoes. A bit of salt, pepper, mint, and oregano - along with some crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper, finished the dish. On top of the potatoes and tomatoes went some sliced, grilled chicken, with three varieties of heirloom tomatoes on the side.
The tomatoes are just so damned good! I'm going to be very sad when they're done for the season.
Tomatoes and Beans
The tomatoes are starting to come in fast and furious. We're now harvesting daily.
With different varieties, there are different uses. In the grand scheme of things, they're all interchangeable, but they all have characteristics that make them better at some things than others. The San Marzanos are perfect for sauce. The Principe Borghese are perfect for sun-drying. The Black Krim, Yellow, and Green Stripe are perfect for salads and sandwiches.
And they all combine well.
Tonight, we made a bean salad using a homemade sauce from the San Marzanos, mixed with beans, served over Black Krims, and topped with sun-dried Principe Borghese.
What a treat!
The concept for the bean recipe came from Bon Appetit.
Tomato and Bean Salad
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 can beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- salt & pepper, to taste
- thick sliced heirloom tomatoes
- sun-dried tomatoes
- grated parmigiano
Mix tomato sauce, beans, green onions, garlic, oregano, and red wine vinegar. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed.
Arrange thick-sliced heirloom tomatoes on plate. Top with bean mixture. Sprinkle with parmigiano and top with sun-dried tomatoes.
For the sun-dried tomatoes...
Dried Tomatoes
Slice tomatoes in half and lay out cut-side up on a lined baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle with salt.
Place in a 225°F oven for 2 1/2 hours.
After 2 1/2 hours, remove from oven and flatten with a small spatula.
Return to oven for an addition 2 1/2 hours or until dried to your preference.
You can turn off the oven and leave them in overnight.
Store in refrigerator.
If you're growing some smaller tomatoes, this is a great way to preserve them when they start coming in faster than you can eat them. The tomato flavor just explodes in your mouth.
Perfection.
Sunday Pasta
Sunday pasta. What a treat - especially when it's homemade!
Victor has been making pasta for years - and every batch just seems to be better than the last.
There's something about homemade pasta that just can't be compared to the fresh pasta you buy in a grocery store - and it's fathoms away from dried. The lightness, the silkiness, the flavor - the way it takes up sauce.
It's pretty awesome stuff.
I love it!
Tonight's pasta is a tagliatelle made with Victor's favorite recipe.
Fresh Pasta
- 1 1/4 cups Tipo “00” flour or all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup semolina
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp olive oil
Mix and mound the flours on the counter and make a well in the center.
Add the eggs and oil to the center and slowly start incorporating flour into the eggs.
When it becomes cohesive enough to start kneading, begin by pressing the heel of your hand down and pushing the pasta, fold it over itself, and repeat. The process will take about 10 minutes. The dough will become rather stiff, but smooth. The more you do it, the more you will get the feel and the more natural it becomes.
Wrap the dough in plastic and let rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
Take pieces of the dough and roll through a pasta machine or by hand,
and form into your desired shape.
This is half of the recipe. The rest has gone into the freezer for another day...
The sauce was chunks of pancetta, fresh fennel, asparagus, garlic, and fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden. The tomatoes are our San Marzanos from Italy. Unbelievably good.
Part of the beauty of this is its simplicity - just a few good-quality ingredients. The favors all come through and compliment one another rather than something overpowering the dish or cancelling something out. You get to taste everything.
Make some pasta. Roll it out with a rolling pin if you don't have a machine. Cut it with a knife. The strands don't all have to be the exact same size.
Dress it with some fresh vegetables. You don't need a heavy sauce.
You'll be really happy you did.
Really happy.
Cooking with Cucumbers
Tonight's dinner is a complete surprise - neither of us has ever had a cooked cucumber before. After tonight, I think we will be seeing more of them!
I did an early morning harvest and brought in a dozen cucumbers - the largest one weighing in at more than two pounds. That's a lot of cuke!
We were able to quickly share four of them, but it still left 8 - including that 2-pound monster.
Victor made a shrimp and cucumber salad for lunch - that used up half of one - with only seven more to go. Oh... I forgot... there were still three in the refrigerator from Tuesday. We have made every kind of salad one can think of and they're still coming in faster than we can eat or give them away.
There's a dozen pints of dill pickles downstairs, and six pints of various refrigerator-type pickles in the 'fridge. We generally don't eat a ton of pickles - I'm not canning any more.
It was time for drastic action. I hit Chef Google.
It was 13 things to do with cucumbers. 19 things to do with cucumbers. 26 things to do with cucumbers. All the same lame ideas. And then I found Stir-Fried Cucumbers with Spicy Ground Pork on a website called Serious Eats.
To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. But... when one is desperate... I mean... cooked cucumber?!?
Well... it appears that not only are cooked cucumbers a thing, they're actually really, really good! Who knew?!?
I don't know how different cukes will work with this, but the ones we are growing have a really small, compact seed row and lots of meaty flesh - even the really big cukes are all meat. They cooked up perfectly.
Stir-Fried Cucumbers with Spicy Ground Pork
adapted from Serious Eats
Ingredients
For the Cucumbers
- 2 pounds cucumbers (about 3 large cucumbers), partially peeled to create alternating peeled and unpeeled vertical strips, seeded, and cut on the bias 1/4 inch thick
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
For the Marinated Pork:
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
For the Sauce and Stir-Fry:
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of chili flakes, to taste
- 1/2 head of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- Cooked white rice, for serving
Directions
Place cucumbers in a large bowl and add the salt. Mix and toss until the cucumbers start to release a little bit of water, about 1 minute. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, For the Marinated Pork: In a small bowl, combine ground pork with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oil, fish sauce, and cornstarch. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
For the Sauce and Stir-Fry: In a small bowl combine the water, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
Drain cucumbers and rinse under cold running water. Drain well, then pat dry with paper towels.
In a wok, heat 1 teaspoon canola oil over high heat until smoking. Add marinated pork, spreading it out with a spatula so that it makes a thin layer. Let cook undisturbed for 30 seconds. Using the spatula, break the pork into small pieces. Add chili flakes to taste and continue stir-frying until the pork is cooked through and golden brown. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Wipe the wok clean and add the remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil and heat over high heat until smoking. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 10 seconds. Add cucumbers and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Return pork to the wok and stir well. Mix the sauce with a spoon or chopstick and pour it into the wok. Continue cooking and stirring until the cucumbers begin to look glossy, about 30 seconds. Transfer cucumbers to a plate and serve with rice.
For the chili flakes, we used peppers we dried last year - they are really hot - so I went with 1/2 teaspoon. Otherwise, I resisted temptation and didn't change anything other than doubling the amount of ingredients for the sauce.
It was spicy, and the cucumbers had a great flavor and texture. The pork was good, but you could really use anything, here, and some green onions stirred in at the last minute would be okay, too. In fact, this is one recipe that can really be played with.
I'm thinking that the secret, here, really is salting the cukes and getting rid of a lot of the water before cooking. They really had a great texture.
So here's to something new! And 10 more cukes - with more on the way.