When presented with a bumper crop, most folks love to can tomatoes. But I didn’t grow up with a granny or mom who did this, so I never learned how, exactly. One year I froze a bunch of tomatoes, but found that they just languished in the bottom of the freezer. What I like to do best with a bunch of tomatoes is roast them. Last year, I purchased tomato “seconds” from my produce stand and roasted them all summer long. There is virtually no dish you can’t use them in, if one exists I didn’t find it. I tossed them in pasta ( hot and cold), and on sandwiches, served them with steak and fish, sprinkled them on pizza and pureed them for a rich dip or pesto. They’re also go good on an antipasto platter, alongside olives, artichokes, cheese and bruschetta. The other good thing about them is that you can roast them for as long or little as you like—2 hours at a higher temperature or 8 hours at a super low temperature (200 degrees). Once they’re done, store them in zip-top bags in the fridge. Here’s the recipe:
Roasted Tomatoes
12 Roma tomatoes or round red tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Cut Roma tomatoes in half or larger tomatoes in quarters. Place cut side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Scatter sliced garlic on top and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 2 hours or until soft and shriveled. Serves 6.
Per serving: 45 calories, 3g fat, 1g prot., 5g carbs., 2g fiber, 200mg sodium.
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Root beer, I’ve learned, is something folks can be quite picky about. Some swear by A & W; others by Barq’s or Dad’s. Still others want only local concoctions like Hank’s in Philadelphia or Pioneer in Davenport, Washington.
Today’s sweet soft drink originated centuries ago as a low-alcohol beer made in Europe from spruce or birch. Touted as a health tonic, these drinks were commonly served to children and the elderly. North American colonists brought a taste for these “small” beers with them and found that sarsaparilla roots, sweetened and fermented with molasses, made a perfect brew.
In 1876, Charles E. Hires began marketing kits for home brewers, stating that his recipe created the “Greatest Health-Giving Beverage in the World.” Within a few years, he went in to the bottling business, having realized that consumers wanted a more convenient way to get the drink. More bottlers following: Barq’s in 1898, A & W in 1922 and Dad’s in 1937.
In 1960, most bottlers turned to flavorings of anise, wintergreen, lemon and orange oils, cloves, molasses and vanilla, abandoning sassafrass, which was found to contain carcinogenic elements.
So let us hear from you. What’s the best “brew” in your area?
6-26-08
How Does Your Garden Grow?
I love to garden and seem to love it more and more the older I get. In my old house which was in the city, the only spot for a garden was in the alley. My husband thought it was ludicrous to grow food in the same space the garbage trucks drove, but I was determined. Despite its humble location, the garden proved to be very fruitful—with tomatoes into November and basil and mint galore. My current yard presents different challenges—not of space, but of sun. Shrouded with many many trees, it’s almost completely shaded. I have however eked out a small space that gets a few hours of sun a day (it's the photo on the homepage). In it, I grow basil, parsley, chives, sage, arugula, and tomatoes. Unfortunately last year the squirrels got to the tomatoes before we did, but we’re hopeful this year will be different. To gardeners, the important thing is getting your hands in the dirt, not how glamorous your space is. This year I’ve noticed gardens in all sorts of spots—the most interesting being the one down the street in front of a house that’s being constructed. Seems the contractor has a green thumb. Another is a community garden in the front yard of a house around the corner from a friend. How does your garden grow? Please share.
One of the best things about grilling, (other than not having a dirty kitchen to clean up) is that tonight’s grilled feast, can be tomorrows quick dinner. Grilled steak, veggies, or chicken can be tossed into pasta or a frittata providing most if not all of the flavor in addition to a subtle smokiness. The other night we grilled chicken quarters and zucchini tossed with baby red onions. The next night I threw together a quick frittata: Into a 12-inch nonstick skillet went a pile of leftover linguine, next some chopped up deli ham, then the chopped leftover grilled zucchini (which was already seasoned of course). I then scrambled up 5 eggs and poured that over the contents of the pan, and sprinkled with some sharp white cheddar and feta cheese. Yum. Here is the zuchini ready to be grilled.
Zucchini and onions ready for the grill
What is it about bacon that makes everything so yummy? How can something that so bad for you be so good?
As I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, we’ve been eating vegetarian at my house for the past year and a half. Occasionally I slip up and eat a burger or a taco, and I always try a taste of the Relish meat recipes. I also have to admit that while in Sicily recently, I had a couple of bites of a regional specialty—spleen sandwich. (It wasn’t a bad as is sounds—kind of like calves’ liver.)
But I can do without the burger and the taco, and I can certainly do without the spleen sandwich. What I miss the most in our (mostly) vegetarian diet is bacon. I’m a person who believes Jill Conner Browne’s pronouncement in the Sweet Potato Queens: a serving of bacon is however much bacon you have.
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Summer's here— the perfect time for berries and calcium-rich ice cream.
Speaking of calcium, some interesting and very positive research has come from the National Dairy Council. Researchers from the American Cancer Society have linked a higher intake of dietary calcium from dairy foods to a reduced risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Those taking in more than 1250mg calcium per day had a 20 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer. Interestingly, the researchers found no link between calcium supplements and breast cancer risk. So hold the Tums and bring on the milk.
To spotlight this valuable nutrient, here are a parfait and a stelar macaroni and cheese recipe, both of which can be accompanied by a tall glass of milk, which weighs in at 300mg calcium all by itself.
Berries and Cream Parfait
One-half cup strawberry ice cream contains about 90mg of calcium.
½ cup strawberry ice cream
½ cup raspberry sorbet
3 ginger wafers, crumbled
½ cup fresh strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
Place ice cream and sorbet in a glass, top with ginger wafers and berries and drizzle with liqueur. Serves 1.
Macaroni and Cheese
A serving of this contains 420mg calcium, one-third of the daily requirements for the average adult.
3 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 large egg
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cup 2% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
3⁄4 cup (3 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
12 saltine crackers, crumbled
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch or 8-cup casserole dish.
3. Combine egg, garlic and milk and mix well. Place pasta in a large casserole dish. Add milk mixture and remaining ingredients, except butter and crackers. Mix well with a spoon. Combine butter and crackers. Sprinkle over pasta. Bake 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Serves 8.
Per serving: 398 calories, 23g fat, 18g prot., 28g carbs., 1g fiber, 451mg sodium.
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We get a lot of emails from readers who write to say they enjoy our recipes, and, of course, we love hearing that. Often, they tell us about the alterations they made to a recipe: “Instead of using this I used that; instead of grilling it I broiled it.” We love hearing that as well.
At Relish, we think that’s what cooking is all about—finding a recipe you like and playing with it to make it suit not only your own tastes but your lifestyle as well.
Here’s an altered version of White Bean Soup with Swiss Chard, a Relish recipe from 2006. The original called for cooking dried beans in a slow cooker for 5 to 6 hours, great for the weekends, but not so great when you’re starting to make dinner at 7:00 p.m. With a few alterations, including using canned cannellini beans instead of dried and store-bought broth instead of water, the recipe becomes a quick, hearty weeknight soup.
Have you successfully tweaked a Relish recipe? Let us hear from you.
Weeknight White Bean Soup with Swiss Chard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 fennel bulb, chopped
3 leeks, thinly sliced (white part only)
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
6 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1 bunch Swiss chard, coarsely chopped
Baguette slices
Shredded Gruyere cheese
1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven. Add fennel and leeks; sauté 5 minutes. Add beans and broth. Bring to a simmer. If desired, mash some of beans with a potato masher to make a creamy consistency. Stir in Swiss chard. Cook 10 to 15 minutes, until chard is tender.
2. Top baguette slices with cheese. Toast until cheese melts and bread is crispy. Serve with soup. Serves 8.
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I would like to say I squeeze the orange juice with an Italian juicer made in such limited quantities that there’s awaiting list to buy one. But the truth is, on the advice of my doctor who warns me I could fold over like a paper clip if I don’t do something about my bones, I drink calcium-fortified juice.
Even though English muffins are cheap, especially when you think how much you have to shell out these days for eggs and milk, I think I’d buy them whatever they cost. My favorites are Thomas’ and Trader Joe’s Whole-Wheat British Muffins,which I was attracted to by the pictures of Disraeli and Gladstone on the package. They turned out to be very good. Once they’re split with a fork and toasted,I spread them with sweet butter and an apricot jam made in small batches by a woman who is passionate about fruit and sprinkle them with toasted almond slivers.
About the coffee, all I can say is that I’m turning making a cup of coffee into an art form. It’s Peet’s Major Dickason’s, brewed in a French press and filtered into a cup. The steps are probably unnecessarily long because by the time it’s ready, I am surrounded by spoons, filters and measuring cups and it needs to go in the microwave. I know that’s probably the worst thing you can do to a cup of coffee, which is why I’m trying to find a shortcut. In other words, my breakfast is a work in progress. But it’s still my favorite meal.
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In the picture-is-worth-a-thousand words department, the photograph that went with a story about children's cookbooks in the New York Times was a doozy. It was a little girl, in checked chef's pants and oversize chef's jacket, standing on tiptoes on three cookbooks in front of big pot on the edge of a restaurant-size stove. To make matters worse, the child was reaching into the pot with a whisk. As you can imagine, the picture set off alarm bells from the papers readers, who had more on their minds about kitchen safety than cookbooks.
Which started me thinking about some of the things I do to be a safe cook. I know enough not to try to catch a falling knife and am pretty good about wearing shoes and wiping up spills when they happen, but I probably could do a better job when I'm actually standing in front of the stove and cooking. I try never to reach across an open flame and whenever I use a match, I run it under water before tossing it into the garbage. I can't remember the last time I made a recipe that said, "Stand back until flames die down," and would never even think about using a blowtorch to melt the tops of crème brulée. There have been a couple of touch-and-go incidents with pot holders and paper towels catching fire, so that when my husband says he smells fire, it can be more than just blackened catfish or cherries jubilee.
I'm not sure where our homeowners' insurance kicks in on kitchen fires, but it's not the kind of thing I want to test. In the meantime, we keep a fire extinguisher under the sink, just in case. It was a present from my husband, my live-in fire marshal, who knows what it takes to make a safe kitchen.
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Like any other work place work, a hodgepodge of items regularly appears in our break room—leftover Spiderman cake, Halloween candy, 2-year-old magazines, and a gift-wrap order form for the school fundraiser. A few months ago a Reese’s Peanut Butter and Banana Crème, and Caramel Apple Sugar Babies caught me eye. As a food editor I’m all for new products, but why do my beloved Sugar Babies—perfect at pulling fillings and all matter of dental work out--have to taste like caramel apples? And why should the epitome of peanut butter and chocolate perfection now taste like Grandma’s pie? My kids aren’t getting the nutritional benefits of an apple, so why should I encourage these.
More recently, Candy Corn Hershey’s Kisses appeared. And whatever Hershey employee came up with this idea, should be kept out of R&D. These kiss shaped things are actually a cruel joke, as they taste like neither chocolate (which we’ve come to expect out of a Hershey Kiss) nor candy corn, but a blob of hydrogenated fat, with a fake butter smell. Why any parent would think these are a good idea is beyond me.
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