flight of the concords

So I didn't make it to the farmer's market last Saturday to see if concord grapes are still available but I'm betting there are a few clusters to be found and they probably won't be around for much longer so make plans to get yourself a couple pounds the next time you have a chance. Hit the ATM ahead of time, don't forget your little canvas tote thingy, and enjoy this short-seasoned treat while it can still be found. 

When I taste a concord for the first time in a while I am always stunned by the true grape-y-ness of the flavor. The food scientists who invented the chemical formula for "grape" flavoring definitely used concords for their flavor profile, which was smart, because true concord grapes are hard to enjoy as a snack due to the presence of the many annoying seeds in each innocent-looking orb. Do not fear. You don't have to give up and head to the gas station in search of grape Bubbalicious or "drink" to enjoy the honest-to-grapeness flavor of concords. Home cooks are a smart and capricious breed and we've got a method for everything!

After you extract the seeds from the grapes you will be left with pulp and skins. Not a snack exactly, but with a little more time in the kitchen you can turn that fruit soup into something worthy of being served to guests, given as a gift, or hoarded for your own private enjoyment. Just bear with me.

Spiced Concord Grape Butter.

 As good an excuse to make (or buy) crusty homemade bread and a tub of mascarpone as I've ever found. 

2# Concord Grapes (equal to 2 1/2 cups prepared pulp)

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. brandy

1 tsp. grated orange zest

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

2 c. sugar

(makes 3 jam jars)

1. Prepare the grapes. Wash them, then pluck them from their stems and squeeze each one over a small saucepan, popping out the insides. Keep the skins in a separate bowl. Simmer the grape innards (if I may use the word) for 10-15 minutes or until they have broken down and are soft enough to release their seeds. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve until only the pesky seeds remain. Discard the seeds. Add the strained pulp along with the reserved skins to a medium saucepan. 

2. Add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan and bring to a simmer over low-med. heat. Stir occasionally. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Test for thickness by dropping a spoonful of the mixture onto a plate. If it is ready it will be thick when cool. This part is subjective. For a fruit butter I simmer the mixture for quite a while to make sure it is nice and thick: thicker than jam, darker and glossier too. 

3. Carefully ladle mixture into sterilized jars and process to seal. (refer to canning methods for this step. Alternately, you can skip the canning process but just make sure you keep it in the fridge)

I served this supertreat with a whole grain baguette and a healthy smear of mascarpone, which was a bit of an homage to one of my favorite childhood lunchbox treats: Smuckers grape jelly and cream cheese on Roman Meal wheat bread. Yes, my childhood food memories are that acute. 

Carrot Soup and a Big Shiny Spoon

The first whiff of fall on the breeze sends me running for a cozy sweater and soup spoon. Leg warmers and tea kettles more your thing? A hand-knit scarf and a casserole dish? Sure. Fine. I prefer a hot bowl of homemade soup and a hunk of crusty bread. Throw some cheese on that plate and you've got yourself a meal. Well, I should say, I've got myself a meal. You might still be waiting for that casserole to heat through.

Time for the recipe. This carrot soup is sweet and rich, the drizzle of balsamic vinegar actually highlights the sweetness of the carrots and momentarily confuses your mouth, to a happy effect (the Japanese call it "umami"). At the time I made the soup I happened to have some oven-dried roma tomatoes on hand. If you lack said tomatoes you could use rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, just use a few less and make sure they are well-blended. Or you could make a batch of oven-dried tomatoes (recipe below). Its really simple and you won't mind having a few left over!

Balsamic-Carrot Soup with Oven-Dried Tomatoes

1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
6 cups vegetable broth
10-12 oven-dried tomatoes, more for garnish if you wanna be all fancy
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle garlic cloves with olive oil and wrap tightly in foil, put in the oven to roast until soft (about 10 -15 min). Meanwhile, toss carrots in 1 Tbs vinegar and 1-2 tsp olive oil, place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and put in the oven alongside the garlic packet. Roast carrots 15 minutes, or until they are starting to brown on the edges. (The vinegar will burn a little but don't be alarmed, that's why you lined the baking sheet with foil)
2. While the carrots and garlic are roasting bring the broth to a simmer in a large stock pot. Once the carrots have browned, carefully slide them (along with any browned bits you can scrape up) off the pan and into simmering broth. Do the same with the garlic and the oil it roasted in. Continue to simmer until the carrots are soft when pierced with a fork (about 25 minutes).
3. Time for blending. Using a measuring cup, place 2 cups carrots into a blender along with 4-5 tomatoes, 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar, and about 1/2 cup broth. Puree on low speed until smooth (you may need to add a little extra broth to achieve the desired consistency). Pour pureed soup into a medium sauce pan. Repeat this step until all the carrots have been pureed. Taste for seasoning. You may end up with 1/2 - 1 cup of left over broth, but you don't want your soup to be too thin, so just save the extra broth and use it later in the week or freeze it for the next time you make soup.
4. To serve, ladle soup into bowls, top with an oven-dried tomato, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar, using a butter knife or toothpick to pull the vinegar through the surface of the soup and create pretty swirly patterns, if that's your thing. Another nice touch is to heat the bowls before you fill them with soup by filling them with super-hot water. Just don't forget to empty them before you ladle in the soup!

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

roma tomatoes
garlic, thinly sliced
fresh thyme leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise. Place on an oiled, rimmed baking sheet cut side up. Place a slice of garlic on each tomato half. Sprinkle with thyme leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper.
2. Bake for 4-5 hours at 200 degrees or until the tomatoes have shrunk to about 1/4 of their original size and the edges are crinkly. Once cooled, layer between wax paper in an air tight container.
*delicious on just about everything! with fresh mozzerella, in pasta, chopped and tossed with arugula and balsamic on crudite, smeared on bread, or just straight up!

Like a good rug ties a room together...

... so should a good dressing tie your salad together! 

While there are a few good bottled salad dressings out there (Annie's Naturals made a few tasty drizzlers last time I checked) there is really nothing more simple than whisking together a little vinegar or citrus juice, a good quality oil, and a little something extra (more on that later) to toss or top your salads with. 

I know summer is winding down but if you're like me, you eat salads year round, it's just the toppings that change. Roasted squash or sweet potatoes in the winter, fresh tomatoes in the summer (and ONLY in the summer), grilled apples in the fall... you get the picture.  Oh I could go on and on with increasingly poetic and flowery speech for the love of salads but I'll gently remind myself to stop thinking about the sweet citrus meat of a grapefruit in January as it pairs with the smoky creamy chartreuse of a ripe avocado drizzled with honey, sherry vinegar and olive oil... Dressing! Right! Back on track. Here are two super simple recipes for vinaigrettes I use almost daily and sometimes twice daily.

Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette

1 small shallot, minced finely

2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed orange juice 

2 Tbsp. red wine or sherry vinegar

2 - 3 tsp. orange zest

1/3 cup good quality olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Whisk together all ingredients except the olive oil. Let rest (resting the shallot in the vinegar mellows out its flavor, which is a good thing) while you prepare your other salad ingredients. Return to whisking the mixture when you are ready to serve the salad, slowly drizzle the oil into the whirling mixture to the oil becomes emulsified and the dressing looks viscous and slightly creamy. Taste for seasoning. Alternately, you can also put all ingredients together in a small jar and shake it like crazy. Then you have it all in a container ready to save for leftovers, if there are any!

Salad suggestions: My favorite (and the one pictured here) is a combo of roasted beets, chickpeas, feta, orange sections, and avocado. This dressing works well with slightly sweeter salad ingredients: fresh corn, cucumbers, raspberries, goat cheese, radishes, sugar snap peas, watercress, etc.

Balsamic-Dijon Vinaigrette

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Whisk together ingredients, as above. Taste for seasoning. If it is too acidic (perhaps you are a miser like me and you buy the cheaper option of balsamic which is often unbearably tangy) you can add a pinch or two of brown sugar or a little squeeze of honey to mellow out the flavors.

Salad suggestions: fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, roasted squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, baby potatoes, spinach with strawberries and almonds, kalamata olives, green beans, etc. This dressing is a nice contrast to savory ingredients with a little more heft. Try it on a salad of spinach, albacore tuna, roasted red peppers, feta and olives.

Stretching the Limits of a Definition

Salsa can be almost anything, right? So long as everything's chopped small and is able to be scooped with a corn chip and it has a little citrus accent, right? Okay so some purists may argue with my liberal definition of salsa but I say it's summer, and fruits and vegetables are fresh and plentiful and I am looking for every excuse to consume them and new ways to combine them. Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to MIchigan in the height of blueberry season. I heard they grow the "best blueberries in the U S of A" up there and I love picking and eating my food straight off the vine/tree/shrub what have you. Naturally, I attacked those bushes with the force of a hibernation-hungry grizzly bear and returned home like a proud mama with a bag of blueberries the size of radio dials or volume knobs (choose your own comparison). I wanted to make something that was fresh and really let the blueberries speak for themselves and I didn't have room in the freezer for another batch of sorbet (oh the burden!) so I decided to make a fruit salsa. I chopped some kiwi, a little granny smith for crunch and tang, squeezed in some honey, lime and a little grated ginger too. The result was a fresh sweet tangy spicy salsa that required a rather large chip and a good deal of balance (to keep the blueberries from rolling onto the porch). I bet it would be really good with a simple chihuahua cheese quesedilla or scooped on to a spinach salad with gorgonzola.

Blueberry-Kiwi Salsa (you can call it a relish if you want)

2 kiwis, chopped 

1/2 granny smith apple, chopped rather small

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 thai hot chili chopped very fine

1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated

1Tbs honey

2 Tbs fresh lime juice

1. Gently mix all ingredients. Allow to chill in the fridge for an hour or so for the flavors to combine. Serve with big crunchy chips!

When summer gives you corn...

... and you need to bring a snack to a get-together...

... make these Double-Corn Corn Cakes!

I like seeing twins of the word "corn".

You may not know this about me, but I know corn cakes. I mean I really know them. When I worked as a cook at the catering company, I brought a recipe for Corn Cakes with Red Pepper Chutney with me and I made oodles and oodles of them. We're talking "multiply the recipe time 8 and to get 200 perfect little cakes out of it" kind of intimacy here. The recipe I used at the time was good but not as good as this one I just used for a recent Wednesday night Jazz get-together. I like the double-corn style (a little gritty from the cornmeal, a little sweet burst from the kernels) and that the cakes are a little thick, so they hold up to slatherings and dippings and late nights too. Speaking of slathering and dipping, I served these with an avocado-cilantro sauce and coriander-pickled onions; a red pepper chutney would also be nice, or something along those lines. This recipe only makes 22 or so 1 1/2 inch cakes so you should double it if you have a small crowd and I have a hunch that they would freeze well, too, though I didn't have any left over to test  this theory with. Great pic, no?

Double-Corn Corn Cakes

2/3 c. yellow cornmeal

3 Tbs. white wheat flour

1 tsp. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. baking soda

generous pinch cayenne

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 egg

1 cob's worth of corn kernels, blanched

vegetable or safflower oil for frying

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat egg and buttermilk in a separate bowl and stir into dry ingredients. Fold in corn kernels. 

2. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in a large skillet, swirling the pan to coat lightly with oil. Test the heat of the pan by dropping a tiny little bit of batter into the oil. If it spatters politely you're ready for action. (I always start by cooking just one cake, then I taste it for salt and seasoning; this also allows you to make sure the oil is the correct temperature.) The first cake should cook for about 3 minutes on side one and 1 minute on side two and be a nice dark golden color around the edges. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into the pan, re-oil the pan between batches. You can fit about 6 cakes in a large pan comfortably, while having room to turn them. Having a small heat-proof spatula is ideal because the cakes are so small and it is best to turn them one at a time. Place cooked cakes on a tray or pan when they are  done cooking; you may want to keep them warm in the oven with a little foil on top if you are planning on serving them warm.

Make yo' sauce! (actually you should make your sauce first so it can chill in the fridge while the flavors mingle but whatever)

Avocado-cilantro Sauce

1/2 ripe avocado (nice n' soft like so's you can blend it!)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 cup lowfat plain yogurt, drained in a paper towel lined strainer for about an hour

salt (always)

a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice

a little sliver of jalapeno or thai chili, minced, if you'd like a little heat

1. Blend all ingredients in food processor or blender. Taste for tanginess, salt, and cilantro. I for one can load up on cilantro until the sauce is bright green but that's just me. The consistency should be a little thinner than mayonnaise or a little thicker than yogurt. (choose whichever comparison you are most familiar with!

"a pie so sweet...

...you'll forget I consistently forget your birthday and father's day."

I admit to being a flake concerning matters of calendar and celebration (except for my own). I can even be thinking about the holiday right up until the day arrives and then it magically slips from my mind like spaghetti from a spoon! Well, my dad's birthday was last weekend and since all I gave him for father's day was a big sweet phone call (he swears this is fine), I thought I'd bless his pop-out day celebration with a lovingly created and picture perfect (though I have no such photographic proof) pecan pie. It is his favorite dessert treat, and I was craving the feel of dough in my hands so I busted out a few simple ingredients and an old family recipe and tied it with a bow and served it to my pops with vanilla bean ice cream! (ok so there really was no bow its not an important detail)

As far as pie crusts are concerned I know there is a strong debate over butter vs. shortening: do you use a ratio or all of one or the other? Normally I wouldn't take the side of shortening but I've never seen a prettier shade of gold nor set my tooth against a flakier bite than the one produced by my mom's all-Crisco pie crust recipe. So there. (for the record I take the all-butter route with tart crusts)

Anyhow, would you like to see the recipe? I know you'd rather take a bite of pie (especially if you happen to be reading this entry with a hot cup of coffee next to you) but all I can offer at the moment are the words! When is your birthday? Wanna pie?

Pecan Pie
1 prepared pie crust (recipe follows)
3 eggs
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. light corn syrup
1 c. pecan halves (I chop half the pecans and leave the other half whole- this lets you get a nice clean slice but lets the pretty glossy whole pecans stand out for good looks)
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Beat eggs, add sugar and salt and mix well (I find a whisk works well for this step); add corn syrup, pecans and vanilla and stir (this time switch to a spoon). Pour mixture into the prepared pie crust.
2. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 8-10 minutes then turn the oven down to 325 to finish baking; 45-50 minutes or until set.
3. Let the pie cool almost completely before serving. Top with simple vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream (ice cream is best but you don't have to take my word for it!)

Traditional Pie Crust (makes enough for two 9 inch pie crusts and freezes well)
2 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. Crisco (it's made from vegetables so it can't be that bad!!)
1/4 tsp. salt
ice water

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, blend in the Crisco until the mixture resembles loose floury gravel (sorry that is a bad description I know). Drizzle in a little (2 Tbs) ice water and blend with pastry cutter. Continue adding the water a little at a time until the dough feels cohesive but not wet. Ditch the pastry cutter and use your hands to mold the dough into a big ball. Divide the dough into two equal portions (if you happen to have a kitchen scale now might be a good time to use it).
2. Take one of the dough halves and set it on a floured surface. Set the other portion aside. Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour and get ready with the rolling pin. Using the rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick all around. While you are rolling out the dough you may want to check and make sure it isn't sticking too much to the counter. Use a large flat spatula to roll the dough onto the rolling pin then unroll it onto the pie pan. Trim off any excess dough that may be hanging too far over the edge. Tuck the dough under itself all along the perimeter of the pan edge. I use my thumbs to pinch the dough together which results in a nice clean look. You could also use a fork to pinch the dough along the edge. All done!
(I promise that when I get a camera I will redo this recipe with pictures because it is hard to describe the technique)

Ok Fine Enough Procrastinating! Here's a Post!!

I've been putting off making posts to this dear little blog for my lack of camera. I figure a food blog without pictures won't look very interesting but I just don't care anymore and I want to write about a simple tasty pasta I made last night. I had foot surgery just one week ago and cooked this meal almost entirely seated. I do not recommend this method as it is dangerous and not terribly ergonomic but I can not keep myself out of the kitchen for the sake of a bum foot and hey, ya gotta eat. My ma helped with the hot pasta and the basil picking; my lot was mostly chopping and stirring but still!

Creamy Zucchini-Basil Pasta
3/4 # penne pasta (normally I would use whole wheat but the delicate flavors and textures of the vegetables wouldn't stand up well to the texture and nuttiness so I recommend using regular semolina-style here)
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
2 medium zucchini, cut 1/4 in. thick on the bias and then in half (to form two slender half-moons)
1 small spring onion, thinly sliced
2 ears-worth fresh corn kernels
2-3 Tbs mascarpone or neufchatel cheese
"a good handful" chopped fresh basil (should measure about 1/4 cup when chopped)
1. Set the water to boil and cook pasta like normal. Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a large saute pan and add garlic and onion. Cook garlic and onion over a low heat until they are tender and starting to look a little tan (it's summer!) which means they are caramelizing and will be sweet and yummy. When the garlic and onion achieve malibu tan status add the zucchini and corn and turn up the heat to medium-high. Spread the zucchini pieces evenly over the bottom of the pan so they brown a little then stir.
2. Hopefully the pasta is done by now. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water then drain well. Put the pasta in a large bowl and top with the cheese. Stir in the cheese so that it softens and coats the pasta with creamy goodness. Add the cooked vegetables, basil, a good glug of olive oil and a healthy splash of the hot pasta water. Gently fold everything together and pile your bowl high! If you are lucky enough to have a mom and a back porch around, pile her a bowlful and join her on the porch for a light summer dinner and a chat!
* this would be lovely with a crisp pinot grigio or vinho verde.

let's get this cheese wheel a-rolling, shall we?

I've got a belly full of soup, ELO on the creature speakers, and am feeling as happy as pea shoots on a spring afternoon (in case you are wondering just how happy pea shoots can feel, go lie on a warm hillside in the setting sun, you'll see). I think it is the perfect time to make my first post on my very first blog, which is actually a few months old but until now unchristened (turn on the champagne fountain, stat!). I'll let this post be a simple introduction; subsequent posts will have more interesting and useful content, I promise!

Ok so I know there are a million and five super-groovy food blogs out there with delicious recipes and sophisticated  photography and maybe one day I'll be in their league but for now I just need a place to tell my dinners to. 

Although I am not much of a rule-heeder or fan of the Man, I thought I might outline a few things I am committing to do or not do  here; if I break my rules, feel free to bust me out just be real nice about it:

• I will remember to wash my hands before I type lest I smear up my dear white keyboard and mouse! 
  
• I will try my darndest not to digress to super food snobbery. Really I will!
• I will not use proper grammar at all times or punctuation or spelling and I will most likely have days when a hired spider monkey would be a better scribe than I. Ha.
• I will not use silly food metaphors and if I do please read in the proper mount of sarcasm.

Enough with the rules already! 

Today is the day we've waited for. Ok here goes!