Summer Love

It's all about fresh, homegrown tomatoes and sweet, pungent herbs picked out of the garden.


Case #1: Buttery Sage and Tomato Omelet

In a few teaspoons of butter, saute some fresh chopped sage and diced tomato a few minutes. Not long enough for the sage to wilt and lose its color! Whip up your eggs (I used 2) with some salt, pepper, and a dash of milk and pour over the tomatoes. Next comes the hard part. Turn down the heat and resist the temptation to touch it until it is nearly dry-looking on top. Then get a spatula under that thing and flip it! Turn off the heat and let it sit in the pan a few moments to completely cook the eggs. Slide onto a plate, top with cheese, and give thanks to God for fresh tomatoes and herbs!

Of course, if you want to make it a real, full breakfast, you must have fried potatoes on the side. I cut up my potatoes, add some water and zap them in the microwave for about 4 minutes to cook them. Then I transfer to my iron skillet with some butter or oil and fry over low-med heat until they're browned. Salt, peppah, nothin' bettah! Here I ate them with some fresh tomato chutney.

Summer Love Case #2: Eggplant-Tomato Stackers with Pesto Pasta

Right off the bat, I have to say these stackers were less than ideal. Maybe they needed more salt, more oil, more pesto, or just needed to be totally re-done. I simply brushed eggplant slices with a little olive oil, spread on a bit of pesto, slapped a tomato on top and baked in the toaster oven at 350F for 20 minutes or so. Not particularly tasty. Salt helped. I think another time I would fry the eggplant first, salt the slices, top it with goat cheese--YUM!--and then add diced tomato and fresh basil with more salt and pepper. Or something like that.

As for the pesto pasta-yummy! Check back in for a pesto discussion later.



Case #3: Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Diced Tomato and Basil

Pretty, no? Especially on that blue and white plate! Scrambled eggs--make 'em like you like 'em. I like mine a little browned just so I KNOW they're done. Topped with fresh diced tomatoes, chopped basil, and parmesan. I loved how it looked, liked less how it tasted. Maybe too much basil in too big chunks. I think next time I will mix the tomatoes and finely chopped basil with a little olive oil and salt before topping the eggs.

Ah! Summer love! How quickly your beauty fades! How fast you all go to seed!

Squash Blossoms

About a month ago when it seemed that all our volunteer vines were only going to produce ornamental gourds, I picked off a few handfuls of blossoms to cook and eat. Not really knowing how to prepare them, I looked to the internet for recipes. Most of them called for copious amounts of cheese and frying. Not really my style. I whipped up my own mixture for the filling: labane, an egg yolk, cooked and grated beets, raw grated zucchini, and salt & pepper.

Slitting the washed blossoms open down one side, I removed bugs (three bees! and a few little stripey guys) and reproductive parts then spooned in about a teaspoon of the mixture I'd made. I closed the blossoms and placed them into a small baking dish.

When it was full, I brushed the blossoms with the egg white, sprinkled them with bread crumbs I had on hand in the freezer, and chucked them in the toaster oven at 350F for about 12 minutes.

I was truly amazed when they came out at how firm they set up! I half expected the labane mix to ooze out and make a total mess of this dish, but the labane stayed inside the blossoms, and they were easy to pick up and eat as finger food! (I have some very game friends who helped eat all these).

Cook's Word: Would I make these again? Sure! I couldn't really taste the squash blossoms themselves, so I think I'd add a few more spices to the filling for better overall flavor. I loved the magenta color that the beets added!

Stovetop Cobbler

Have I mentioned apricot cobbler? I still have a handful or two of fruit wrinkling and waiting in the fridge for me to make into one last cobbler. I tried various methods and really liked the stovetop one--nice not to have to turn on the oven, although cooking on the stove can make you pretty hot too!

I used my cast iron skillet for this creation, and a recipe found here as inspiration. Of course I tweaked it . . .

Stovetop Cobbler
(yield 4 - 6 servings)

4 cups apricots, washed and halved with pits removed
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (depending on your sweet tooth--I liked it a bit tart)
1/4 cup water
1 cup flour, sifted
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP butter
1/2 cup yogurt

Instructions: Combine first three ingredients in your skillet and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. In the meantime stir together flour, baking powder, and the 2 TBSP sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly then stir in yogurt. Drop by spoonfuls onto the fruit filling and cook over low heat another 10 minutes, uncovered. Cover and cook another 10 minutes. Brown under oven broiler prior to serving.

After browning, there's not much to do but scoop it out in to bowls, top with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream and DIG IN! As other seasonal fruit becomes available adapt the recipe to suit (mostly the water and sugar depending on the fruit's sweetness and water content).

Apricot Sausage Pizza

Well, I'd better get crackin' on these apricot recipes if I'm going to post them in July! First up: Apricot Pizza!

Not really a recipe here. Just pizza dough, browned sausage, apricot quarters (with skins), caramelized onions, and goat cheese. Bake at 350F for about 12 minutes then remove and add mozzarella cheese, chopped sage, and lavender and bake another 5 minutes. YUM!

served up with fresh steamed green beans with salt

My taste-tester was skeptical about apricots on pizza but ate half the pie at one sitting! Cook's word: great combination of flavors, but a little dry. I might brush the crust with olive oil first another time.

Apricots!

No recipes yet, just a late-night teaser (it's 1:16 here). After about two hours of sorting pictures from the beach, the last few weeks of cooking, and general summer activities, I only had energy to post one picture.

My sister and brother-in-law were gracious enough to let us go pick apricots in their garden a few weeks ago, and I've been thinking of ways to use them ever since. Most popular: apricot cobbler. Most fun: apricot/sausage pizza. There are some jars of apricot halves and apricot jam in the hall closet and some chutney waiting to be processed in the new-to-me boiling water canner I picked up recently.

We're down to a few handfuls of these fine fruit, and with company coming tomorrow, I think it'll be one last apricot cobbler (maybe with a handful of frozen blueberries thrown in?!). I'm not too sorry to say a final "good-bye" to them, especially when I'm pretty sure it'll be a tasty one!

GF Pancakes

That means "Gluten Free" by the way. In honor of my GF SIL (Sister in Law), I found this scrumptious oatmeal pancake recipe that doesn't use any wheat flour (it's very similar to the other oatmeal pancakes I blogged about). I found out this afternoon that they are yummy cold from the fridge when you get home from work tired!

Be careful with these as with all other oatmeal pancakes that you cook them over medium LOW heat so as to allow them to set at the center without burning on the outside. A little long on the cooking time when I had four (plus mine) hungry mouths to feed. They were actually very sweet and non-demanding, of course.

Crust

Can I tell you how absolutely thrilled I am to have found a pastry recipe that doesn't demand the utmost strictness concerning the temperature of the butter? And still turns out nice and flaky every time.

Well, I am thrilled.

No more ice cube water. No more over-watering and over-mixing my dough. No more cries of agony at the crumble-factor as I engage in a pastry vs. rolling pin war where the pastry only gives up when I throw it in the oven (even then it scores a smug victory by coming out thin and tough).

I found a recipe for a hot water pie crust here on allrecipes.com. It does mix up pretty soft, so I generally refrigerate it for about 10-15 minutes before rolling it out--don't over-chill it or it will be too hard to roll! I use all butter for the shortening too, so it has great buttah flavah! It's simple enough to whip up fairly quickly and makes a versatile pastry.

Last week we were putting these in it . . .

. . . and with that little-bit-that-comes-off-the-edges
I did a mini zucchini tart in a souffle cup! Sauteed zucchini,
some cottage cheese, pizza sauce, and mozzarella.

I also used this recipe when I made samosa's with Michelle. That time I used a bit of whole wheat. Just because. It gives all that butter a healthy edge.

Right.

If you've ever been frustrated with making pastry, try the hot water recipe. I find it keeps me from overworking the dough once I add flour at the end. And it's so easy! And it really does make a flaky crust!


*(not guaranteed to make all your wildest dreams come true, but pretty close if you're dreaming about pie)