Tomato Confit with Arugula and Zucchini

Posted in Salads, Veggies by sallybr

The recipe comes from “Simple to Spectacular”, a great cookbook by Vongerichten and Bittman. The book picks one basic ingredient and shows 3 or 4 recipes of increasing complexity. I was looking for a nice dinner salad and came across their “tomato confit” series.

The tomato confit is essentially a slow-roasted tomato, but if you say you made “tomato confit”, your friends will be a lot more impressed. 😉

The preparation of the confit might seem too long, because you need a couple of hours to make it. But it’s 120 minutes of just waiting for the oven to perform its magic…no work. Plus, it is a low oven (275F) that won’t overheat your kitchen. Trust me, the results are worth every minute of the time. If you are not yet convinced to try this recipe, then make sure to read my additional comments.

tomatobefore

Choose ripe (but not overly ripe) tomatoes, make a small cross-cut on their skin, drop in boiling water for 20 seconds, then shock them in cold water to peel them easily. In the oven, together with garlic, thyme, and olive oil, they will be transformed into delicious bits of sweet and juicy red jewels that will amaze your taste buds and shine in many different kinds of recipes. Yes, I am in love…

click here for the full recipe and additional comments

27Jun2009

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU CHARD…

Posted in Veggies by sallybr

… you open a bottle of Chardonnay! Yes, of course! But if the chard is as gorgeous as this batch I got last week:

Golden chard

you also need to find the perfect recipe to show it off. I could have taken the simple route and made a saute to serve over pasta or as a side dish for some juicy grilled steak. But, I am aware that hubby is not as wild about chard as I am, so other possibilities came to mind: a quiche? an open tart? a gratin? I searched for a recipe in some of my cookbooks, but as it happens so often, the internet came to the rescue. I found this recipe and knew it would be a winner. I made a few changes, taking it slightly away from Greece and closer to Italy, to accommodate the ingredients I had around.

GOLDEN CHARD PIE
(adapted from Martha Rose Shulman’s recipe)

2 pounds Golden chard, stemmed
2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh herbs of your liking (I used basil and lemon thyme)
3 large eggs, beaten
4 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
black pepper and salt to taste
dash of ground nutmeg
12 sheets of phyllo
olive oil spray

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the stemmed chard and blanch for 1 minute. Transfer the leaves quickly to a bowl with ice water. Drain and squeeze well. Chop coarsely and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet and saute the diced onion until it just starts to get some color. Add the chard, herbs, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Saute for a couple of minutes, remove from heat and allow it to cool.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the ricotta cheese, mix to incorporate, add the saute chard mixture.

Spray a 10-inch baking dish with olive oil, layer 7 sheets of phyllo over the dish, allowing part of the sheets to hang outside (see photos). Spray each sheet with a little olive oil as you place it in the pan.

Add the filling, fold the hanging bits of phyllo over it, then cover the pie with 5 more sheets of phyllo, always remembering to spray some olive oil in between the layers. Tuck the edges into the sides of the pie.

Spray olive oil on the surface, cut 3 or 4 small slits to allow steam to escape.

Bake the pie at 375 F for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden.

Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

more photos and comments, click here

23Jun2009

FROM BACKYARD TO KITCHEN

Posted in Veggies by sallybr

zucchini2

Two of our three zucchini plants got so sick I had to cut them, but the other one seemed to shape up, maybe afraid of following the neighbors’ fate. Yesterday, as I stared at the pantry considering my options for a quick dinner, it occurred to me to go check our veggie garden. I knew the cherry tomatoes had to be ripe by now, but the two cute zucchinis were a nice added bonus. Let’s hope this is just the beginning of a great harvest! 😉

Veggies fresh from the garden (as well as from farmer’s markets) are so much better than those tired beings at the grocery store, that I like to keep their preparation very simple. One of my favorite quick dishes for zucchini comes from a great blog, Smitten Kitchen. I make it quite often, actually, changing it slightly according to my mood.

Here is yesterday’s version, served as a side dish for barbecued brisket that will definitely show up on Bewitching Kitchen sometime

QUICK ZUCCHINI SAUTE WITH ROASTED PEANUTS
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen, original recipe from Red Cat, New York)

2 small zucchini (preferably from your own garden!)
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
squirt of lemon juice
lemon zest to taste
1/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts

Julienne the zucchini, not too thin (zucchini tends to turn into mush fairly easily). Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan until you can detect a little smoke forming. Add the zucchini, salt and pepper. Saute until it starts to get light brown in some spots. Lower the heat, add a squirt of fresh lemon juice, some lemon zest, and incorporate the roasted peanuts. Taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary.

wait, there is more to read!