Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho with Toasted Almonds


One of my longtime favorite salads is the Watermelon, Tomatoes, Cukes, Pinenuts, Arugula, Feta, Currants, Basil-Mint, Pom Vin served in the summer at Urban Solace. Not unlike my recent Peach Tomato Panzanella the watermelon in Urban Solace's salad is a perfect foil for tomatoes--and the combo is so refreshing in the heat of the season.

So when I came across this gazpacho in Serious Eats that features watermelon with tomatoes you know I'd have to play with it and then share it with you. After all, you need a break. It's hot and sticky (You can see how humid it is just by looking at those thick clouds off to the east; oh, do they make me wince).


Instead of prepping a hot soup that you can then chill, here's a cold summer soup that requires only the patience of waiting for flavors to come together in the fridge, not of schvitzing over a hot stove. The big activities are roughly chopping the fruit and vegetable ingredients and, after they have been mixed together with salt and marinated for an hour to bring out more flavors, puréeing them into soup in your blender. So easy!


So, what besides the watermelon makes this gazpacho unique? Well, first, let's not under rate the value of the watermelon since who doesn't love a cold slice in 90° temps plus high humidity? Add that splendid sweet juiciness to a traditional tomato soup and you'll be sighing in happiness. But the other factor is the substitution of toasted almonds for bread. Now we have a light, low-carb summer soup that adds nuttiness and creaminess.

Like a little heat to offset the sweetness? Me, too. So I added a couple of seeded Serrano peppers from my garden to the soup. It won't blow your top, but it will give your mouth a little zing, along with the acid of the sherry vinegar.

Top this light soup with crema, sour cream, or, as I did, some crumbles of goat cheese.

Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho with Toasted Almonds
Adapted from Serious Eats
Yield: 2 quarts
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
6 cups watermelon, roughly diced
2 medium tomatoes, roughly diced
1 medium cucumber, roughly diced
1/2 medium red onion, roughly diced
2 Serrano peppers, seeded and roughly diced
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt to taste
1/3 cup crema, sour cream, or goat cheese
Additional diced vegetables for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. In a large bowl combine watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, peppers, toasted almonds, kosher salt, and pepper. Set aside to marinate for about an hour.


2. In a blender, working in batches, purée the vegetables and their liquid until smooth and creamy. Transfer the soup into a large bowl. Whisk in the sherry vinegar and olive oil. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper (and even the sherry vinegar, if necessary, to balance the acid).
3. Cover soup and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Taste and further adjust seasonings if necessary. Ladle soup in bowls and garnish with the crema and diced vegetables.




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Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Sweet Italian Pepper and Goat Cheese Toasts



In my garden this summer I have been growing two varieties of sweet Italian peppers: Jimmy Nardellos and Marconi Reds. Both are considered frying peppers, although the Marconi Red--yes, singular; so far I've only gotten one--is at least three times the size of the Jimmy Nardellos.


These are what you could call "wash and wear" peppers. They don't need skinning. They barely need seeding. Put them on the grill, chop and add to a sauce, add raw to a salad, pickle them, or sauté and add to eggs or a quiche or wherever you enjoy a pepper.

I decided to culture bend and create a lovely summer appetizer.


This doesn't call for a strict recipe. All you'll need are olive oil, the sweet peppers, a red onion, garlic, sea salt and pepper, a baguette or long loaf of Italian bread, and a creamy cheese.


Slice the peppers into thin strips. Slice the red onion. Mince the garlic. Sauté them in olive oil until they're soft and just beginning to caramelize, then season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Want to change up or deepen the flavors? Add capers like I did. Or add toasted pine nuts. Add currants or diced dried figs. Or basil leaves. Or sauté a small amount of fennel root. Or a dash of sherry vinegar or dry sherry or your favorite red wine or balsamic vinegar.


Okay, once you've cooked up the peppers, turn on the broiler. Slice the bread in half lengthwise and into individual pieces (about 2 1/2 inches in length), then place in the broiler cut side up for just a few minutes. While the bread is lightly toasting, break up the cheese. It could be mozzarella or ricotta or panela, or--as I used--chevre (remember, I already acknowledged culture bending).



Pull the bread out of the oven and top with the pepper mixture. Then dot with the cheese. Put back under the broiler for about 3 to 4 minutes until the cheese begins to melt or darkens. Remove from the oven to plate and serve.


Have extra pepper mixture? Don't toss it! Add it to scrambled eggs. Or a tomato sauce. Make polenta and top each serving with a spoonful. Stir it into pasta. Just don't waste it!

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Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Baked Vanilla Custard and Orange Poached Figs with Vanilla Custard Sauce



I've been making baked vanilla custard since I was a tween. That was when my mom developed a ruptured disc in her back and sporadically through my college days was on extended bed rest. During those periods when she was flat on her back I'd come home from school and go upstairs to my parents' bedroom, where my mom lay, help her into the prescribed corset that was attached to two heavy sandbags on a pole tucked into the end of their bed. With everything in place I'd carefully lower each sandbag, which had the effect of stretching her spine and relieving the pressure on the disc. That, my friends, was called "being in traction."

To get through these intervals, my mom was reliant on two things--small doses of valium (that's what was prescribed back then) and baked custard, which I'd make every few days after setting her up in traction. Everyone has their comfort food and custard is my mom's.

Turns out it still is. Recently, she underwent oral surgery. The weekend before we talked about provisions she'd need while recovering from it. Mashed potatoes. Check. Smoothies. Check. Jello and pudding. Check.


How about custard, I joked. Her face lit up. "I told my friends about how you used to make it for me when my back was out and hoped you'd ask me if you could make it."

So, I am back to making custard. It was like muscle memory. It takes all of about five minutes to whip up. The waiting is in the baking--and my oven must be off because it took far too long for it to bake. But once it did, it was the same divine dessert I made regularly for almost 10 years, using a reliable recipe from Joy of Cooking.

Once I got going on the baked custard I started contemplating the nature of custards. After all, this timeless mixture of milk, eggs, and sugar takes all kinds of forms--sauces, pie, flan, crème caramel, crème brûlée, sponge custards, pot-de-crème, floating island, and ice cream. Any of these variations lead to creamy comfort. They're the yin to mashed potato yang. Clearly someone who needed a hug from her mommy created the original dish.

But, as with anything worthwhile, making custard comes with risks.


With custards the primary risk is curdling. After all, you're introducing eggs to hot milk. But, when you make baked custard, everything starts at room temperature until you put the dish or dishes into the oven. With baked custard you want to bake the custard in a bain marie, or hot water bath. It's simple enough. Pull out a baking dish or roasting pan just large enough to hold the custard dish or ramekins. Fill the latter with the raw custard and place them in the larger dish. Some people suggest lining the bottom of the larger dish with a towel. I never have and never experienced a problem. Anyway, carefully fill the large dish with very hot (some say boiling) water, without splashing into the custard. This helps the custard cook evenly. You'll place this carefully into the middle rack of a 300° oven and bake until a knife inserted along the side of the custard dish comes out clean.

So that's baked custard. But I actually have another dish for you, too. With figs in season I thought I'd play with poached figs in a custard sauce. This custard is cooked stovetop. It's more labor intensive and you'll get a bit of a steam facial but the flavor and texture are so marvelous it's worth it--and can be done in advance if you're entertaining, then put together when you're ready to serve it.



Instead of a bain marie, you'll be using a double boiler. And now you risk the curdling. So, what you'll want to do to avoid that is cook the custard over, not in, the boiling water in the lower pot so it won't get too hot. Stir the mixture constantly. Cook only until the custard leaves a thick coating on the back of a metal spoon, then remove it from the heat to keep it from cooking. If worst comes to worst and you see streaks of scrambled eggs, you can either pour it through a fine sieve into a bowl or pour it into a blender jar and process it until it's smooth again, then return it to the heat.


For the figs, poaching is a dream. You can riff on the liquid flavorings--using red or white wine or a dessert wine or water and juice or even balsamic vinegar. Add sugar, perhaps herbs, vanilla, or citrus zest. I focused on orange, with a syrup made of cointreau and orange zest. The flavor perfectly complements the vanilla custard sauce. Combine the ingredients, bring to a simmer for five minutes, then add the figs and simmer for another five minutes. If necessary turn the figs as they're cooking to be sure the figs poach evenly. Then remove the saucepan from the heat and let the figs cool in the syrup.


When serving, quarter the figs and place them on a plate with a lip and spoon the custard around them.


Baked Vanilla Custard
From Joy of Cooking
Makes 3 cups
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
Seeds scraped from 1-inch length of vanilla bean
Freshly grated nutmeg

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 300°.


Mix together the milk, sugar, and salt. Add the eggs and beat well. Then add the vanilla. Pour into a baking dish or individual custard cups. Dust with nutmeg.

Place the custard cups or baking dish into a heavy ceramic baking dish and add hot water until it reach halfway up the sides of the custard containers. Carefully place in the oven and bake 30 minutes (longer for a single large container of custard) until a knife inserted near the edge of the cup comes out clean. The custard may still be wobbly but it will continue to set up as it cools.


Remove the custard from the oven and the custard cups from the bain marie. Set on a rack to cool. Then chill.

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Orange Poached Figs with Vanilla Custard Sauce
Serves 4
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 cup orange liqueur
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 cups water
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 vanilla bean, split
8 fresh figs (I used brown turkey figs)
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt,
Seeds scraped from 1-inch length of vanilla bean

Prepare figs first. To make poaching liquid combine liqueur, zest, water, thyme, and vanilla bean into a non-reactive medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for five minutes.

Add figs to the syrup and continue simmering for another five minutes, periodically turning the figs to ensure they cook evening. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the figs cool for about 10 minutes in the syrup. Then remove to a plate. You can save the syrup by straining it into a container.



Prepare the custard by bringing water in the bottom of a double boiler to the boil. In the top of the double boiler scald the milk. Then slowly stir in the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Stir the mixture constantly over (not in) the boiling water. Once it has thickened enough to coat the back of a metal spoon remove the custard sauce from the heat and continue beating to release any steam. Stir in the vanilla seeds. Pour into a dish and chill in the refrigerator.

To plate the dish, quarter the figs to show off their interior. Place two each flower-like on a plate with lips or shallow bowl. Carefully pour the custard around the figs.


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Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Little Italy Food Hall Debuts



If you're a Little Italy Mercato shopper you've probably been curious about the big, glass-front project under construction in the new Piazza della Famiglia on Date St. Now your curiosity can be sated. Not quite six months since it was announced last February, the Little Italy Food Hall is opening its doors. A project of Grain & Grit Collective, which also includes Carnitas Snack Shack and Broken Yolk Cafe, Little Italy Food Hall features six food vendors of widely varied cuisines:

  • Ambrogio15, which brought in another huge red pizza oven and Italian dough master to craft its Milanese-style pizzas--10 varieties--along with salads, cold cuts, and cheeses
  • Mein St. Asian Kitchen, which offers Asian comfort foods like ramen, dumplings, noodle soups, wings, and pork belly crisps, along with boba teas
  • Not Not Tacos, Sam the Cooking Guy Zien's debut dining experience, which features unusual dishes wrapped in tortillas, such as meatloaf, pastrami, and mashed potatoes
  • Roast Meat & Sandwich Shop, which features artisanal sandwiches, meatballs, whole roast chicken, and build-your-own Superfood Salads
  • Single Fin Kitchen, with traditional Japanese donburi, Peruvian ceviche, and oyster shooters
  • Wicked Maine Lobster, offering Maine lobster rolls, lobster mac & cheese, shrimp baskets, and chowder

Front and center as you walk into the light and airy space is the Little Italy Food Hall Bar, where you can get organic Italian varietal wines, local beers, and craft cocktails using ingredients that complement the neighboring food vendors' cuisines. There's plenty of seating, along with seating outdoors on the Piazza, where a mobile outdoor chefs' area will feature pop-up cooking demos. First up will be Sam the Cooking Guy and the bar team in an early August demo featuring summer apps and cocktails.


I had a sampling of almost all of the vendors (I hit a wall after five and didn't try the Roast Meat & Sandwich Shop). 


Perfect for a warm and humid evening was the hamachi donburi at Single Fin Kitchen. The fish was sweet and fresh and I enjoyed the pickled cucumbers and avocado.


If you like a big crunch on your chicken wings, you'll love the spicy fried chicken wings at Mein St. Asian Kitchen. The Mein St. wings have a not-too-sweet and goey orange sauce while the Zen wings are spiced with green and white onions, garlic, ginger, and black pepper. Get a lot of napkins. You'll need them!


Wicked Maine Lobster serves up a traditional lobster roll, packed with big chunks of sweet lobster, accompanied by a very nice side of coleslaw. 


Not Not Tacos is a unique concept that eschews any relationship with traditional Mexican tacos and goes for serving up some of Sam the Cooking Guy's favorite family foods. I sampled the Mashed Potato Taco, with its creamy potatoes flavored with Cholula sauce, green onions, and crushed potato chips.


Finally, there is Ambrogio15's pizzas. I had their thin-crust Prosciutto Crudo & Burrata, with, yes, a big fat sumptuous ball of burrata smack in the middle of the pizza. Slice into it and out runs the creamy cheese you must spread onto your slice. The burrata is imported from Puglia and has a flavor and texture you just won't find here. Very special.


The Little Italy Food Hall will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.


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Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Peach Tomato Panzanella



So, here's what I had around the kitchen the other day: a huge heirloom tomato, about a quarter of a loaf of Bread & Cie onion bread, and a couple of peaches that were perfuming the house--that's how ripe they were.

All three were about a day from expiration. It was the perfect evening for a salad. So, how about a panzanella salad? Add some basil from the garden, some capers, and make a vinaigrette. Sounded good to me.


Now you may wonder why peaches and tomatoes? But they actually pair beautifully together. And peaches are perfectly lovely in a savory dish. Is it authentic panzanella? Well, consider this, the "pan" is panzanella means bread. Food experts, including one of my heroes, J. Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats, put it this way: "Panzanella is not a tomato salad with bread; it's a bread salad flavored with vegetables." I'm going to extend that to fruit. I doubt he'd mind.


There are a couple of tricks to making this salad that I picked up from López-Alt. First is that instead of letting the bread sit out to get stale, try drying it in the oven, tossed with olive oil. What you'll have are magnificent large croutons that will soak up the vinaigrette and vegetable/fruit juices, yet still remain crispy. It makes for a great bite.

The other is to chop your tomatoes (if you use them), toss them with salt, then drain the juices into a bowl with a colander. This will increase your juice yield, which you'll want when you make the vinaigrette.


Everything else is easy peasy. While the bread is toasting, make your vinaigrette, chop the peaches and basil. Once the toasted bread has cooled it's time to put it all together. Then let it rest for half an hour so the vinaigrette can penetrate the bread and the flavors come together.

One other thing I learned--on my own. It doesn't make for great leftovers unless you're fond of soggy bread. The next day, facing leftovers, I just picked around the bread and ate the tomatoes and peaches.


Peach Tomato Panzanella
Adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt’s Classic Panzanella Salad
Serves 2 to 3
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 pound tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ pound rustic bread, cut into ½-inch cubes (about 3 cups bread cubes)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons for the bread)
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large ripe peaches, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tablespoons capers
¼ cup packed basil leaves, roughly chopped

Directions
Place tomatoes in a colander over a bowl and toss with kosher salt. Place on counter at room temperature to drain for at least 15 minutes. Toss periodically during that time.

To toast the bread, pre-heat oven to 350°.  Place rack in center position in oven. You can also do this in a toaster oven. Toss bread cubes with 2 tablespoons olive oil and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until crisp and firm but before they brown—about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Remove colander from the bowl with tomato juice. Place the colander with the tomatoes into the sink so it won’t drip on the counter. Add the shallot, garlic, mustard, and vinegar to the bowl with the juice and mix. Gradually whisk in the remaining olive oil until it emulsifies. Season vinaigrette with sea salt and pepper to taste.

In a serving bowl mix together the toasted bread, tomatoes, peaches, capers, and basil. Add vinaigrette and toss to coat all the ingredients. Season again with sea salt and pepper. Let rest 30 minutes before serving, tossing occasionally until dressing is completely absorbed by the bread.


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