Vegetable Gratin

At this time of year, we can be positively overrun with fresh, tasty vegetables. This side dish provides another option for enjoying them, and it is an appropriate accompaniment for almost any meal. A vegetable gratin is also one of the most delicious ways to serve eggplant. A little cheese makes everything taste better! Leftovers also taste great the next day, at room temperature, as a salad.

Vegetable Gratin

• 2 small onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 small or 1 medium eggplant, cut into thin rounds
• 4 small or 2 medium zucchini, cut into thin rounds
• 5 small or 3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half
• 2 tsp. fresh minced herbs
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Grated Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously rub the bottom of a gratin dish with the cut sides of the garlic. Add the onion to the dish in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and herbs, and drizzle with some of the olive oil. Continue layering with the eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes, again sprinkling each layer with salt, herbs and oil, finishing with a generous layer of Parmesan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the vegetables are very tender, about 1 hour. Remove the foil and broil for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

A Salad of Garden-Fresh Tomatoes

I am getting excited because we have lots of green tomatoes on the vines in our garden right now. I am looking forward to tomato season, when we eat tomatoes from the garden every day — practically every meal — and still have enough to puree or slow-roast and freeze for the winter.

It is still too early to eat tomatoes from the garden, but local tomatoes are making an appearance at the farmers market and co-op, and they are almost as good. The fact is, every summer I can’t wait to eat tomatoes. That’s because the rest of the year, tomatoes aren’t worth buying; grocery store tomatoes have no flavor. I would rather stick with canned tomatoes during the colder months and just gorge myself on fresh tomatoes when they are in season.

The absolutely best way to eat garden-fresh tomatoes is in the classic BLT sandwich, in my opinion. But this salad runs a close second. You really don’t need a recipe for this. I never measure out ingredients for this salad; I just put it together by eye and taste.

Start with 1-2 garden-fresh tomatoes per person. Slice them and arrange the slices on a large platter. Sprinkle the slices with coarse sea salt and and let sit for a few minutes. This salad is very pretty with different colored heirloom tomatoes.

Sprinkle the tomato slices with 2 tablespoons vinegar; I prefer sherry or balsamic vinegar for this salad, but red wine vinegar is also good. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Season with pepper. Wash and sliver a handful of basil leaves, and scatter them over the top. Serve.

If you like, you can alternate the tomato slices with thin slices of Vidalia or red onion, or slices of a soft cheese, such as goat cheese or fresh mozzarella. If you use mozzarella, you’ll have made a classic Caprese salad, of course.

Substituting canned tomatoes for fresh

Here’s a useful tip that I had to employ last night: how to substitute canned tomatoes for fresh in a recipe. Use the following guidelines when substituting canned tomatoes for fresh:

• One 28-ounce can of tomatoes equals about 10 to 12 whole tomatoes, peeled (or about 2 pounds)
• One 14-1/2-ounce can of tomatoes equals 5 to 6 whole tomatoes, peeled (or about 1 pound)

via Substituting canned tomatoes for fresh – Fine Cooking Recipes, Techniques and Tips.

Panzanella, or Bread Salad

I’m sorry things have been so quiet around here. (Can you hear the crickets?) Life has left little time for blogging this summer, and I haven’t done a whole lot of creative cooking either. But I have completed a couple of challenges that I have yet to blog about. I’m hoping to get all caught up and then start a new round of challenges in the fall.

One recent challenge was seasonally appropriate: to make a cold dinner that was also satisfying. For this challenge, I wanted to use something from our garden, which means tomatoes. Naturally, I thought of one of my favorite salads: panzanella, or bread salad. Not only is this a great dish for enjoying dead ripe tomatoes, but it’s also handy for using up stale bread. The juices from the tomatoes soak into the bread and give it new life.

To make this dish an entree, I added leftover grilled chicken and cannellini beans, along with an assortment of vegetables. They combined to create a satisfying, hearty dish for a hot summer night. The inspiration for the basic recipe comes from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

Main-Course Panzanella

Yields: 4 servings

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Trim the bread of its crust and cut into smallish squares to make approximately 2 cups bread cubes. Toast the cubes in the oven until browned and dried out, about 10 minutes. Put the cubes in a large bowl. Puree 1 ripe tomato in a food mill over the bowl. Toss the tomato puree with the bread, add some salt, and let it sit for 15 minutes or more.

In a food processor, combine 1 peeled garlic clove, 1 teaspoon anchovy paste* and 1 tablespoon capers,drained. Puree. Combine thoroughly with ¼ cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and salt to taste. Set aside.

Meanwhile, prepare the salad ingredients:

• Dice 2 ripe tomatoes.
• Dice 1 yellow or red bell pepper.
• Peel and dice 1 cucumber.
• Thinly slice ½ red or sweet onion.
• Thinly slice 1 breast leftover cooked chicken (preferably roasted or grilled).
• Drain and rinse 1 cup cooked cannellini beans.

Combine everything in the serving bowl with plenty of freshly ground pepper, and toss thoroughly.

*I prefer anchovy paste (it comes in a little tube) to actual anchovies because I don’t cook with anchovies often, and then I only use a little at a time. A tube of anchovy paste seems to last me a good long while. You may substitute 2-3 anchovy fillets, if you like.

A Few Simple Pasta Sauce Recipes

I have a new challenge post coming up soon (finally). In the meantime, I want to share with you a list of simple recipes for pasta that you can throw together, usually in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Many of these recipes are particularly suitable for this time of year, when you (a) don’t want to spend a lot of time in a hot kitchen, and (b) have access to abundant fresh produce and herbs.

Pasta, Risotto-Style: I like this with orzo but it will work with almost any pasta shape. Saute diced onion in butter over medium-high. Add 1-1/2 cups orzo or other cut pasta. To make a complete meal, you can add other vegetables or pre-cooked meat. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Add 3 cups stock. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir every few minutes until tender, about 15 minutes, adding more stock if needed. Garnish with grated Parmesan and minced herbs.

Quick Vegetable Sauce: Puree cooked vegetables. Thin with cream or stock and heat gently. Top with grated cheese, as appropriate.

Pesto: Puree 2 cups basil or other herbs, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts or other nuts and 1/2 cup Parmesan until smooth.

Raw Tomato Sauce: Chop 1 garlic clove with a handful of basil. Combine with 2-3 diced tomatoes. Toss with 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.

Canned Tomato Sauce: Saute 1/2 minced onion or 2 minced garlic cloves in olive oil or butter over medium-low until golden. Add 1 14-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes, or the equivalent in fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped. Stir in 1 tablespoon tomato paste, if a thicker sauce is desired. Cook about 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. You can eat it now or simmer up to an hour. This sauce takes well to all kinds of additions so experiment by adding any cooked veggies or meats, pesto or fresh herbs, some soft cheese, a little wine, etc.

This list was first posted on Quora.

Smooth Gazpacho + Fried Green Tomato BLT

I’m sorry I’ve been so delinquent updating this blog. Summer has gotten crazy-busy, and my only writing time has been severely curtailed ever since my little one got inconsistent about napping. When he doesn’t nap, I don’t get any writing time, so I can’t blog. It’s definitely cut into my productivity.

I cooked my last challenge a couple of weeks ago, but I’m just now getting around to posting it. It’s still seasonally appropriate, though. The challenge was to make a chilled soup, one I hadn’t tried before. I have to admit that I didn’t go very far out on a limb for this one. I made a blended gazpacho.

Usually, when I make gazpacho, it’s pretty much a salad in a bowl. This time, I was inspired by Thomas Keller‘s recipe for Sun Gold Tomato Gazpacho, from Ad Hoc at Home. This soup is blended until it is silky smooth. It has a wonderful mouthfeel that encourages you to keep eating and eating. My husband also loved it. (Although the Kid, as per usual, turned up his nose.)

This soup uses cherry tomatoes, which should be abundant just about now. I was going to take advantage of some wonderful heirloom cherry tomatoes I spotted in the co-op, but by the time I went back to get them, they were all gone. So instead of using the yellow tomatoes that are called for, I substituted red. It didn’t hurt the soup any, so far as I could tell.

I served this with another great recipe from Sara Foster‘s Southern Kitchen: Fried Green Tomato BLTs. I didn’t have actual green tomatoes yet, so I used red ones from the co-op that were still a bit mealy. They fried up great and the sandwich was tasty, although nothing really beats a basic BLT at the height of tomato season. I encourage you to make your own mayonnaise for your BLTs. I stirred in some chopped basil, which gave it a summery taste. Here is my recipe for fool-proof homemade mayo.

Cherry Tomato Gazpacho

Yields: 6 servings (leftovers keep well in the fridge)

• 1 cup cold water
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped onion
• 2 lbs. cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large pieces
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• pinch or two of cayenne pepper, or to taste
• salt, to taste
• ¾ cup good-quality olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced basil, for garnish

1. Reserve 1 cup of the tomatoes, ½ of the cucumber and ½ of the pepper for garnish. Dice the cucumber and pepper. Refrigerate until serving.

2. In a large bowl, add the water, garlic, onion and remaining tomatoes, cucumber and pepper. Let marinate in their own juices for 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a food processor or blender and blend until completely smooth. Strain to remove any larger bits of tomato peel.

3. Return the mixture to the blender or food processor. Add the vinegar, smoked paprika, cayenne and salt. With the blender or food processor running, slowly pour in the oil, blending until very, very smooth. Taste and add more vinegar or seasonings as desired.

4. The gazpacho can be refrigerated up to 2 days. To serve, garnish with the reserved diced vegetables and minced basil leaves.

Adapted from Ad Hoc at Home, p114.

How to Substitute Canned Tomatoes for Fresh

Substituting canned tomatoes for fresh - Here are some useful tips on buying canned whole tomatoes and substituting them for fresh tomatoes in recipes.

How to Slow-Roast Tomatoes

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s another idea if you have an excess of tomatoes from the garden: slow-roast them. The results are similar to sun-dried tomatoes: sweet, chewy, with an intense, sunny flavor. I like to eat them on bruschetta with a soft cheese, but they are also good tossed into pasta dishes and casseroles. They can even be pureed for an intense tomato sauce or soup.

Roma tomatoes are the best choice for slow roasting. Larger tomatoes will work (quarter them), but the roasting time is longer and the results won’t be as pretty. I haven’t tried cherry tomatoes, but I think they might get too sweet after roasting. Still, feel free to experiment.

Here are the steps for slow-roasting roma tomatoes:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Toss with olive oil and a little salt.
3. Arrange the tomatoes on a baking sheet, cut side up, and put them in the oven.
4. Start checking the tomatoes after 2 hours. They are done when they turn dark and it looks like all the juices have evaporated. A little black on the edges is okay, but you don’t want them to charcoal. Remove the tomatoes to a plate with a spatula as they finish cooking. The smaller tomatoes will finish first. The larger slices may take up to 3 hours.
5. Let cool to room temperature and store or enjoy. The tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, or they can be frozen and used as needed.

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• How to Puree Tomatoes (simplycooking.wordpress.com)

How to Puree Tomatoes

Image via Wikipedia

It seems we either have too few tomatoes (most of the time) or too many (right now). When we have too many, it is worth taking an hour or so to puree those tomatoes and preserve them in some manner. If you are adept at canning, the tomato puree can be canned, or do what I do and just freeze them. These pureed tomatoes can be used in any recipe that calls for canned puree, such as sauces and soups, but the recipe may have to cook longer if your tomatoes are particularly watery.

I generally puree roma tomatoes and save the larger slicing tomatoes for salads and sandwiches. The process couldn’t be easier, but you do need a food mill to puree the tomatoes. The food mill removes the seeds and skin for you, making tomato-preserving a snap.

1. Chop the tomatoes roughly and put them in a large, non-reactive saucepan.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
3. Simmer until the tomatoes start to break down and thicken, 10-20 minutes.
4. Remove the tomatoes from the heat and let cool a little.
5. Run the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the seeds and skins. Food mill discs generally come in three sizes. I use the middle size for this.
6. Chill the puree in the refrigerator, then transfer to freezer containers. The puree can be frozen up to 1 year.

Fresh Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Last night, I made an absolutely delicious pasta sauce using fresh roma tomatoes from my garden. Like all quick tomato sauces, this one is just a variant of my super simple tomato sauce recipe, but it was so good that I wanted to give it its own entry.

This sauce celebrates the bright, sweet flavor of summer tomatoes at their peak. The tomatoes are cooked down until they thicken and practically dissolve. Adding a healthy amount of garlic and some bacon cuts the sweetness and builds richness. Finish with a handful of basil for that last summery touch.

Fresh Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Yields: 2 servings
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 2-3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 slice bacon, fried and crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. roma tomatoes, chopped
• handful basil leaves, sliced
• grated Parmesan
• ½ lb. penne or other cut pasta

Start heating a pot of salted water for the pasta. Heat the oil and garlic over medium until the garlic just starts to color. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the crumbled bacon and tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Let cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes start to break down and thicken. Lower the heat if the tomatoes are cooking too quickly.

When the water boils, cook the pasta. By this time, the sauce should be very thick. If the mixture gets too thick, add a spoonful of pasta cooking water to loosen it up some. When the pasta is ready, drain and mix it with the sauce. Top with the basil and Parmesan to serve.