Drowning My Tomato Sorrows

Sigh....

I used up the last of our summer garden tomatoes tonight -- five lovely Brandywines and a bright yellow mystery tomato. I knew few recipes deserve such an honor -- so I settled on panzanella.

I used this recipe but added end-of-the season red and yellow bells, a bunch of chives and substituted nasturtium seeds (we have them everywhere) pickled in white-wine vinegar for the capers.

It was divine.

I can't think too long or hard about exactly how many days, hours, minutes and seconds it will be until I get my next backyard tomato.

(Sob!)

Okay. I'm NOT going to think about it.

I'm just going to tuck into this bottle of L'Ecole 41 Recess Red -- Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cab Franc ... what could be bad?

Pears + Rosemary = FALL

I had an amazing meal this evening. I have to credit Bon Appetit for the inspiration,

but I changed the recipe significantly and was still very pleased.

Here's my version:

Linguine with Pears and Gorgonzola

Ingredients: 2 T. butter 4 firm pears (about 2 pounds), sliced into 1/3-inch-thick strips 1 tablespoon (chopped fresh rosemary 1 cup chicken broth 2 ounces good quality Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup whipping cream 1/2 pound linguine, freshly cooked 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted Preparation: Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium- high heat. Add pears and sauté until tender and beginning to brown but not soft, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, carefully transfer pears to bowl. Add rosemary to same skillet and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth, Gorgonzola cheese, 1 and milk. Simmer until sauce thickens enough to coat spoon, whisking occasionally, about 6 minutes. Return pears and any accumulated juices to sauce. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Bring to simmer before continuing.) Add linguine and walnuts to sauce. Toss over medium-low heat until sauce coats pasta, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. ADDED BONUS: This was a huge kid-pleaser, at least at my house. :-)

Hamburger Buns

I tried my hand at making hamburger buns for the first time this past summer and was less than thrilled with the results. I used a Bon Appetit recipe that got rave reviews. I'm not sure what I did wrong.

The recipe even said they would freeze well but mine were inedible after a few weeks in the freezer.

I'm not giving up though, thanks to making-dough@blogspot.com for inspiring me with this recipe (and testimonial) Moomies Beautiful Burger Buns.

I, too, yearn for beautiful buns.

I'll keep you posted.

Plenty

It's been way too long since I last posted here. I suppose my personal life sort of got in the way.


I hope to resume posting using a different slant to my entries. The state of the economy has definitely changed the way I view cooking. Although I was interested in eating seasonally before, now it's truly a necessity (it's so much cheaper!) I am also more determined than ever to eat locally and organically (which, sadly, is usually not cheaper).


In an effort to meet these goals, I jumped into gardening with both feet this year. We planted a cornucopia of varieties, and , although some were failures, have successfully harvested tons of tomatoes, arugula, spinach, sweet peppers, fingerling potatoes, onions, raspberries, blackberries, carrots, various herbs and leeks, leeks, and more leeks!


All of this was supplemented by donations from my father's, friends' and my in-laws gardens of peaches, more blackberries, corn, more tomatoes, hazelnuts, more peppers, more onions, eggplant, green beans, haricot vert, bok choy, pears, plums, melons, and beets.

In a panic to preserve this amazing windfall I taught myself to can. I learned both the waterbath method and even fired up my mother's old pressure canner on a nightly basis for a few weeks.


I haven't counted all of the pretty little jars lining the shelves that my husband just built me in the garbage, but it's easily in the hundreds now.


I intend to use this blog chronicle the meals I manage to create with what I have and what I can buy through Idaho's Bounty.


I mentioned before that buying locally and organically can be more expensive and so I have also undertaken a project to offset the extra cost of local foods by couponing for sundry items and stocking up when they are on sale. I am blogging (along with many others) about the deals I discover around the Treasure Valley at Boise Bargain Babes.

I just finished a book called Plenty in which the apartment-bound authors decide to eat only foods produced within one hundred miles of their home for one full year. It is set in the northwest and I found it very inspiring. They referenced another similar project in which participants were required to eat completey local (within 120 miles - or a two hour drive) but they could have a list of twleve "cheat" foods that came from anywhere on Earth. I have already been pondering my own cheat list.


1. Coffee

2. Spices (Oh my. Hopefully this qualifies as one item? Doubtful.)

3. Chocolate

4. Avocados

5. Lemons and Limes (think this can count for one?)

6. Clementines (at Christmas)

7. Coconut Milk

8. SEAFOOD? (Hmmmm, not sure if I can throw the whole ocean into one category...)

9. Salt

10. Olives and olive oil

11. Parmigianno Reggiano

12. ?


Down to the last one already?


Hmmmm, this better be good....

Any Excuse to Grill

I am so frustrated!

I spent a bunch of time yesterday afternoon detailing all the goodies I got from Idaho's Bounty on Wednesday night and what I planned to do with them but when I uploaded the blog Blogger was experiencing a scheduled outage (hat I somehow missed) and all was lost! I will try to recreate it later today or tomorrow.

On the brighter side, I made steak sandwiches last night using some Alderspring Ranch flat iron I found in the freezer. Granted, steak sandwiches are really hard to screw up, but this endeavor turned out especially good and I didn't use a recipe. I thought I'd record the basic idea for posterity and share it here:

Steak and Arugula Sandwich

Servings: This served my husband, me and our four-year-old for dinner.

Ingredients/Directions (seasoning proportions can be adjusted to your taste):

1. Rub ~1 lb. flat iron steak with with cumin, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt, dried oregano, and brown sugar, then grill until medium rare. Make sure your fire is pretty hot - the sugar caramelizes nicely.

2. Split two sourdough baguettes (I used Alpicella Bakery baguettes) in half lengthwise and toast on the grill or in the oven. Spread one side with garlic aioli (put ~2T light mayo, 2 cloves garlic and a squeeze of lemon in the food processor and puree). Drizzle the other side of the baguette with a little balsamic vinegar.

3. Thinly slice the steak and layer it into the sandwich with jarred roasted red peppers (or fresh ones if you have the time) and lots of arugula. I used beautiful baby arugula from Fair Mountain Farm and then made a side salad out of the remaining leaves.

4. Eat.

(These were inhaled too fast for me to get a picture, but they are kind of pretty. I'll try harder next time. And there will be a next time.)

"Envy is Thin Because it Never Eats." -- Spanish Proverb

I discovered this Seasonal Ingredient Map on the Epicurious site.

I selected "March" and clicked on Idaho. I'm not sure what I expected to find, but this little window pops up and says,

"The growing season is currently dormant here; opt for items from storage such as apples, pears and root vegetables."

It might as well have just said, "NAH, nah nah, NAH, nah NAAAAAAH!!!" (...and stuck it's cyber-tongue out at me.)

I clicked back one month to February ... then January -- same story.

April looks more promising with apples. asparagus and potatoes being listed -- but -- Potatoes?

I'm supposed to get excited about potatoes? We have been eating potatoes for what feels like a decade now and ... oh, GOODY, I only have one more month to wait for spring POTATOES.

And apples? I'm still satisfied from the bumper crop last fall.

Thank God for the asparagus. (weeping...) I do have something to live for.

Hmmmm.

Let's see...

Maybe I'll select 'March' again ...

... and just mouse over and down a little bit and click on 'California'. You know, just to see?

(I'll stop blogging about this now, though. My reaction is bound to be ugly...)

Breaking News: Ground is Broken for a White House 'Kitchen Garden'

Did anyone get to see Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame) discussing the Slow Food Movement on 60 Minutes last Sunday night?

She mentioned in the interview that it was her greatest dream to see a kitchen garden established at the White House.

Check this out.

Wow. That was quick.