Tomato ***Ecstasy***. And I Don't Even Like Tomatoes!!!!!

Shout-out to a former karate pal, now chef Christina and her amazing blog for introducing me to what is definitely among my top 10 favorite recipes of all time:  Slow Oven-Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes.  A lot of the recipes on her drool-worthy blog are too advanced for a novice-with-two-kids-under-three like me, but this one caught my eye because it looked super easy.  And because I've always wondered about the very best thing to do with the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes at our local farm stand.

Folks, this is it.  Holy cow.  I mean her blog lists suggestions for what to do with these babies after you've roasted them, but no matter;  everything not immediately frozen for winter was gobbled down like candy.  And I mean I don't even like tomatoes.  But these... these are essentially caramelized.  They're warm with chewy, sometimes crispy edges and soft middles, and they will cause an utter explosion of flavor in your mouth.  I mean this will forevermore be a late-summer staple for us, a key part of my quest to mark my children's childhoods with seasonal food-associated memories.  Give them a try, I implore you!!  Capture some of summer's strongest flavors, and freeze some for the winter - if you can resist eating them all!

Summer's Glory.

So Simple, So Easy!!

Yes, please!!!

Slow Oven-Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes

Ingredients:

4-6 Heirloom Tomatoes
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1.5 tsp. Oregano
1/2 tsp. Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Optional:  Basil to sprinkle*
Optional:  Balsamic Vinegar to drizzle*

** Her recipe said you could add other herbs or what have you, so I added these.  I don't know what the result is without them.
** I used "LiteHouse" freeze-dried basil.  I think that was great - it soaked up more of the vinegar, oil, and herbs.  Also, it's just a great way to have semi-fresh basil always on hand for salads, for those of us blasphemers.  Find it in the refrigerated area of your grocery store's produce section.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 250.  Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil for easier cleaning.  Core and slice heirloom tomatoes about 1/2 inch thick - thicker for more tomato flavor; thinner for a more chewy and caramelized experience.

Mix together olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, and salt.  Spoon over sliced tomatoes - it's okay if it's not perfect.  Sprinkle with cracked pepper and basil, drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Bake for 2 - 2.5 hours.  This recipe is very forgiving; all that happens if you leave them in too long is they become smaller and chewier.  Fine by me.  The finished-product pics I have are of a batch that got overdone.  They might have been the most delicious yet.

Alternative Uses:

• Serve bruschetta-style over toasted, buttered or olive-oiled rounds.
• Add to sauces.
• Add to sandwiches - check out the BLT on Focaccia on Christina's blog.
• Stuff inside Pillsbury Crescent rolls.
• Toss with couscous and feta, pine nuts, raisins, etc.
• Add to pasta salad.
• Bribery.
• Substitute for therapy.

Fresh Sour Cherry Crisp with Sour-Cream-Brown-Sugar Ice Cream

Is that enough "sours"??

The sour is, in my opinion, what makes this combo.  It's just a little something different from your typical sweeter fruit crisp with vanilla ice cream... not that there's anything wrong with traditional, and I may blog about our all-time favorite fruit crisp recipe later.

Either of these recipes is well worth making on its own.  Sour Cherry Crisp is awesome because it's so perfectly tart and you get to use beautiful sour cherries (you may need to call around; we found ours at a local farm, but Whole Foods probably carries them).  High-end vanilla ice cream will do the crisp justice just fine (for the record, I strongly believe that Haagen-Dazs "Vanilla" is the best store-bought vanilla ice cream available).

The "Sour Cream Brown Sugar Ice Cream" is also a decent standalone.  It's a delightfully rich, not-too-sweet take on vanilla that pairs perfectly with any fresh berries or any other crisp.

Together, these recipes make for an unbeatable, somewhat unique experience.  My husband isn't as prone to hyperbole as I am but he's declared this combo the "best crisp-like-thing he'd ever tasted."  

Sour Cherry Crisp

2 cups pitted sour cherries (see below)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
optional:  a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice 


3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (oatmeal)
1/2 brown sugar
1 stick butter (room temp or slightly softened in microwave)
1/2 cup shortening
optional:  several dashes cinnamon


First, rinse and pit the cherries.  I just used my thumbnail since they lose their shape when you bake them, but you can google "how to pit sour cherries" if you care to get fancy.  


Preheat oven to 375.  Stir cherries, 3/4 cup sugar, and 2 tbsp flour until combined (lemon juice too if you're adding it).  Pour into 8x8 baking or pie dish.  In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients and use a fork or pie cutter to cut them together until crumbly.  Spoon on top.  Bake 45 minutes.

Gorgeous sour cherries.

Photo Credit:  Food Gawker

Sour Cream Brown Sugar Ice Cream
(recipe from Sally Sampson's "Ice Cream of the Week")


1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 tbsp brown sugar
2 egg yolks, room temp
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 large pinch kosher salt
1 cup sour cream


Place the milk, heavy cream, and 2 tbsp of brown sugar in a small pan and cook over low heat, whisking from time to time, until warm.


Place the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt in a small metal bowl and whisk until completely mixed.  Add 1/4 cup of the warm milk mixture to the eggs and slowly add more while you continue to whisk until it's all uniform.  Eventually, return all ingredients to the pan on the stove and heat through until it just begins to thicken.  The recipe says not to boil but I actually let it get steaming for a bit and boiling on the edges if I didn't constantly stir it, because I needed to kill any salmonella from the eggs since I'm pregnant.


Pour mixture through a medium fine strainer into a metal bowl and discard any remaining solids (not necessary, but nice if you have such a strainer).  Set aside until it reaches room temp (refrigerate to speed along if you like).  Once room temp, add the sour cream and stir well.  Cover and refrigerate until chilled.  Transfer to your ice cream maker and churn until thickening  When it's beginning to come together but not yet hardened, add the remaining 4 tbsp brown sugar and process for about 5 more minutes.  You want to keep the specks of brown sugar if you can.

Photo Cred:  Desert Candy.

Photo Cred:  Desert Candy.

Blueberry Ice Cream: You've Never Had It Before.

Unless you had it homemade.  Anything else you had was really just vanilla ice cream with blueberries.  Just look at the color!!!

I don't know how to do color enhancement.  This is real.

I can now see why it (tragically) has to be that way.  It would cost ice cream shops a fortune to really do this dish justice, because it requires a LOT of blueberries.  Still... I feel hurt.  Betrayed, even - some of my favorite places in the world have been duping me out of good food (and antioxidants)!

Making this ice cream is SO easy.  It requires three ingredients - just three!!  You do need an ice cream maker.  We have the Kitchenaid ice cream bowl attachment. Then all you do is heat the milk/cream, add a few ingredients, chill, and run it through the mixer.

You can find ice cream recipes that are more involved.  One that I do every August is Fresh Peach Ice Cream (with Marcona almonds or fresh mint and cardamom).  It is AMAZING.  But after having made this the other day - along with another SUPER easy recipe for "Crunchy Coffee Ice Cream" (to which I added "Brickle" bits by Heath and crushed oreos), I'm basically convinced that they all are.  Ice cream shops, consider yourself the most recent addition to my "I can't eat out anymore because it's too disappointing" list (well, except you Izzy's... never you).

For This Recipe (makes 6 servings):

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup sugar (in retrospect, I would reduce to 1/2 cup or maybe 3/4 cup)

1 tbsp water

2 cups half-and-half

Simmer the blueberries, sugar, and water until sugar dissolves and berries are tender.  Stir in half-and-half.  Once chilled, run through ice cream maker.

THAT'S IT PEOPLE.  And you will NEVER have it this good in the stores (or even this healthy).

For a mind-blowing twist, take some sour cream (however much you want to taste) and stir it up a bit with brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar).  Add it towards the end of ice cream processing so that it blends but doesn't get fully mixed.  You now have a creation called "Sour Cream Blueberry Brown Sugar Ice Cream."  That's my plan for next time around - it will taste AMAZING based on what I was able to do softening some of my blueberry ice cream and stirring it up with a little sour cream/brown sugar mixture.


I plan to spend the rest of the summer trying new ice cream recipes.  I'll definitely post my tastiest finds - stay tuned!

Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes with Warm Buttermilk Syrup

Brunch in the springtime is an obsession for me.  It's just so fitting, right?  Blooming flowers, fresh air, perfect weather, and ripening berries ... makes you want to enjoy!  

The blueberries at Wilson Farm looked amazing yesterday.  Had to get some, and M could not have been happier.  Proximity to Wilson Farm is one of the best things about where we live.  Fairly reasonable prices for top-notch produce and artisan breads and cheeses.  In the autumn there are hayrides for kids and, true to the region, hot fresh apple cider donuts.

My brunch obsession is also rooted in my husband's schedule.  Because his days off are rare, I like to go all out when he does have one.  I'll often wake up before the baby, happy and excited.  Then I'll start scheming and cooking based on what we have on hand.  I usually finish up around 10 a.m. and I'm happy to offer my sleep-deprived sweetheart the best reason I can concoct for him to get out of bed.  I do this every single morning he has off, unless we go out to brunch.  I love it.  (Although I'm wondering if I'll be able to keep it up once we have two kids).

Finally, and more recently... my "morning sickness" usually starts up around 10 am and gets worse All. Day.  Long.  So breakfast has been my only enjoyable meal for some time now.  I am utterly, completely out of dinners that sound even remotely appetizing.  But that's a topic for another blog entry, one you can read at your own risk.

Today's finds were unanimously deemed blog-worthy (even Baby M agreed...).  I had extra buttermilk and sour cream and figured there had to be a way of combining these with blueberries for T.D.F. results.  I scanned a few recipes and finally settled on this one.  Oh my.  I doubt I'll ever make pancakes that don't call for sour cream and buttermilk again.  These were *perfect*.  So light and with just the right flavor.  I'll be using this base from now on, whether I add blueberries or not.

De-lish!

This was my second time making the warm buttermilk syrup and I implore you to try it. It's SO easy to make - throw a few ingredients in a saucepan and simmer 7 minutes, done.  And it just adds more flavor dimension than maple syrup, which has always been a little too sweet for me.  It's got somewhat of a caramel taste, and the leftovers are amazing in coffee.  It's perfect on any type of pancake but I think you'll agree if you try this combo:  Blueberries, buttermilk, and sour cream were destined for each other.

Buttermilk Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt (a pinch)
3 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup blueberries (do not add more)

Combine dry ingredients in bowl; whisk to blend.  Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl; whisk to blend.  Combine wet and dry ingredients with whisk.  Fold in blueberries.  Heat a griddle or pan to medium-high heat, and lubricate as desired (I used PAM).  Spoon desired amount of batter onto griddle. Once pancake has set, reduce heat to fairly low for even cooking.  You want to start out hotter so that the batter doesn't spread too far, but the reduce heat so you can cook through without burning the outside.  Flip when bubbles appear.  Flipping works best if you use one extra wide "pancake" spatula (like the one mentioned here) and one regular spatula.

Please heed the above advice about adjusting the heat on these pancakes.  They are a little fussier than most - but well worth the extra effort.  

Warm Buttermilk Syrup

3/4 cup sugar
half as much buttermilk (half of your 3/4 measuring cup)
1/2 stick butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup (don't bother measuring; just squirt it in)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, bring everything to a boil, and simmer 7 minutes.  Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Leftovers may be reheated or added to coffee for a "caramel macchiato" effect.

Brunch away!

Mango-Blueberry Muffins with Lime-Almond Glaze

These.  Were.  AMAZING.

They take a little more effort than classic blueberry muffins but are well worth it.  Tangy but still sweet, unique, a bit tropical... perfect.

If you use fresh mangoes (which I did) you'll need to make sure you have 2 ripe ones on hand - the original recipe gives the option of using frozen, but I can't vouch for that since I haven't tried it.  Plus, what's better than fresh mangoes??  I recommend using "champagne mangoes" - the yellow, flatter kind.  March is really the month for mangoes; they're pretty much the only seasonal enjoyment I take at a time when I'm usually SO done with winter weather.  You can still find them right now though... try to buy them yellow and wait until they're just getting soft and having a slight bit of give.

Here's a great video on how to best cut a mango.  I find that once I slice off the two big, flat pieces, it's best to cut those into strips and then use a knife to scrape the skin off the strips.

Here's the recipe, adapted from About.Com South American Food.  It makes 21 muffins.

For the Muffins:

• 2 and 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup cubed mango, fresh or frozen (I used fresh - 2-3 mangoes)
• Juice of 1 lime (a little over 1 tbsp) - juice a fresh lime, it's worth it**
• 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (I used fresh)

For the Glaze:

• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 and 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 3/4 tsp almond flavoring
• 2-3 tbsp milk or cream, depending on how thin or thick you want it
• 1-2 pinches salt
• Coconut shreds or sliced almonds for garnish, if you wish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.  Line muffin tin with paper liners.  Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  In a blender or food processor, puree the mango with the lime juice until smooth.  Gently mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just barely mixed.  Toss the blueberries with 1-2 tbsp flour to coat; gently fold into batter.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 full, almost to the top.

Bake at 425 for 5 minutes, then lower temp to 350 and bake another 10.  Check for doneness; muffins should be domed on top and firm or spring back to the touch.  If not done, bake another 5 minutes until done.

Cool muffins while you make the glaze.  Melt the butter, and whisk in the powdered sugar, milk/cream, lime juice, salt, and almond extract.  To glaze, you can either place the glaze in a bowl and dunk the muffin in top down (if it's a thinner glaze) or frost like a cupcake.  We LOVED this glaze and we preferred frosting it with slightly thicker glaze.

Fresh Strawberries and Whipped Cream Cake

I know strawberries aren't in season yet (what, June is still 3 months away?) but right about this time of year I start craving the fresh flavors of spring and summer and yesterday I just had to jump the gun.

I chose this recipe because very little is added to the whipped cream to stabilize it.  Other recipes I found called for mascarpone cheese or cream cheese... I just wanted the pure, fresh flavor of berries and cream. Plus, this recipe has a great tip for stabilizing whipped cream so that you can use it in place of frosting on any cake you want.  My family's birthday tradition has long been a chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting - love that I can now make my own from scratch.

Last, I love that it uses a from-scratch butter cake.  Shortcake is so often plain and dry.  This was the perfect texture and oh-so-moist... especially after drizzling the bottom layer with the strawberry juice!

NOTE:  If you do prefer a cream cheese whipped topping with your berries and cake, Allrecipes has a very good "Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting" recipe - just omit the almond extract.  It's fantastic on chocolate cake too.

Fresh Strawberries and Whipped Cream Cake

Got rave reviews from my husband's colleague and her husband, who had us to dinner last night.

For the Butter Cake:

• 3 tbsp (approx) unsalted butter, for greasing pan
• 3 tbsp four, for dusting pan
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup caster "superfine" sugar (baking section - Domino's box looks like this)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup whole milk

1. Try to allow time for the butter, eggs, and milk to come to room temp.  If that's not possible you can gently nuke them in the microwave in 10 second increments, but be very careful with the eggs because they cook FAST that way.
2. Preheat oven to 350.  Using a small pastry brush and melted butter, butter bottom and sides of an 8 inch round cake tin.  Alternatively, you can use a paper towel with the butter to grease it on as well.  Line bottom of tin with non-stick baking or wax paper; butter paper and then flour bottom and sides of tin.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized bowl.  Whisk to well combine, set aside.
4. In a mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs and yolks, one-at-a-time, beating well after each addition.
6. Reduce the stand mixer speed to low, add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beginning with the flour and ending with the flour; beat until just combined (do not over-mix).
7. Pour batter into prepared cake tin.  Spread evenly.
8. Bake 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. 
9. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool in tin for 10 minutes.  Remove cake from tin and return to wire rack to cool completely.

Before baking.

After.

For the Strawberries and Cream:

• 1.25 lbs or about 20 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled (green removed) and thinly sliced
• 1/4 + 1/4 cup castor/superfine sugar (see above link)
• 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream, cold
• 1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin (aka gelatine) - baking aisle by jell-o

1. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the strawberries and ¼-cup sugar; set aside.
2. Place two tablespoons cold water into a small-sized saucepan and sprinkle with gelatin; let soften 5 minutes.  Place saucepan over low heat, and stir until the gelatin is dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool.
3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whisk the heavy cream and the remaining ¼-cup sugar until very soft peaks form.
4. Continue to whisk, and gradually add the gelatin mixture; beat until soft peaks form.

Soft peaks.  Don't let it get too stiff.

For the Assembly:

1. Using a long serrated knife (like a bread knife) carefully cut the cake in half horizontally.
2. Place the bottom half, cut side up, on a cake stand or plate.
3. Drizzle the juice from the berries onto the cake.
4. Evenly arrange half of the strawberry slices over the bottom cake layer.  Refrigerate the remaining berries.
5. Top the strawberry layer with half of the whipped cream, leaving about a 1 inch border.
6. Place the top half of the cake, cut side down, onto the layer of strawberries and cream.
7. Top the cake with the remaining whipped cream.
8. Refrigerate the cake at least 1 hour, up to 1 day max.
9. Just before serving, top the cake with the remaining chilled strawberries.

Sliced down the middle and drizzled with fresh strawberry juices.

First layer of strawberries.

Alternate view.

First layer of whipped cream.

Ready to refrigerate until until dessert time!

SO GOOD.

Try #2: Please Make This Easy, TDF Rhubarb-Berry Pie!!

It has come to my attention that NOBODY has tried this recipe yet.  

To remedy the tragedy, I'm going to post it again - this time with better pics, and instructions that will clear up any confusion over whether this pie is a miraculous paradox of SO easy and SO good.

SO easy and SO good.

People:  This is ALL you need to make the pie crust.  Oil, flour, water, salt, and sugar.  Who doesn't already have these things?  And please believe me when I say:  Though crazy-easy, this pie crust is amazing.  AND heart healthy, using oil instead of butter.

To make enough for both a bottom and a top pie crust, you'll need 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of oil, 9 tbsp ice water, 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt.  That's it.  So easy.

This is ALL you need for awesome pie crust.

First, place the dry ingredients in your blender.  Stir with a fork or whisk for good measure, or be lazy and don't bother.  

Then, add the ice water to the oil.  Stir with a fork until you prove that oil and water do mix (it gets foggy looking - maybe 30 seconds).

Oil and Water

Oil and Water Mixed (using a fork)

Add oil/water Mixture to dry ingredients.

Blend or stir - you get this.

Then, divide the dough in two.  Stick half of it in the refrigerator for later.  Take the other half, and roll it out a little bit.  Doesn't have to be perfect or even that big - this amazing dough is very forgiving and you can pretty much just plop it in the pie dish and press with your fingers until you get it where you want it.  

Dough rolled out - easy.  No need for extra flour or special countertop.

Dough pressed into pie dish.  Just keep pressing with your fingers until it gets where you want it to be.

Ah, now the filling.  Again, SO easy!  Would you believe it's just rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, flour, and sugar?

2 cups of rhubarb, chopped.  1 cup of raspberries, 1 cup blackberries.  Mmm.

Coat the berries with a mixture of 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour.  Let it sit an hour or two (or overnight if you want) to draw out the juices.   The juices will pool in the bottom of the bowl when it's done.

Oh, one more thing.  Add 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice and 1 tbsp melted butter to the berries and gently stir, just before you pour the mixture into your pie crust.  Include all the juices when you pour it into the pie.  It'll look like this:

Yum!  What better way to taste summer?

Now.  Get the other half of the pie crust out of the refrigerator.

Roll it out into a circle, roughly the size of the top of the pie.  Note:  It doesn't have to be perfect.

I rolled it on wax paper, not sure that was necessary but either way, cleanup was easier.

Next, cut the circle into strips.  These will be your lattice top.

So easy.

To make the lattice top, start with the longest strips and make a cross over the middle of the pie.  The center of the cross should be the very center of the pie (even though the pic below doesn't show it).

Then add additional strips, working from the center out.  It's easy - just eye it to see which strips the new strip will need to go under versus over, and lift up the already-placed strips that the new strip needs to go under, then place the new strip down, and fold the old strips back over.  Like so:

Make the cross with the longest strips.

Lift a strip up for the next strip to go under it.

Place the next longest down on the pie, then fold the lifted strip back over to its original place.

Keep doing this until all the strips are used, working from the inside of the pie out, longest strips to shortest - shortest strips will go on the edges.

The finished product will look like this.  Notice:  It's not perfect.  But it's still pretty darn cute.

Last step - brush the top with cream and then sprinkle with sugar - be generous!  This pic shows just half the pie completed.

Bake at 390 for 10 minutes, at 340 for 10 minutes, and then at 325 for the final 30 minutes.  This will produce a fairly moist crust.  If you prefer crunchier, do not reduce the temp past 340.

Guess what.  This was the next day.  It's great even as leftovers.