Worth the Wait

Remember this vanilla extract?

Now it looks like this, and gets used at least once a week.

And how about this raspberry vodka?

Now it looks like this.  It’s not only pretty, but it tastes good, too.  If you drink enough of it, you stop caring that there’s dust on the furniture, as evidenced by this photo.

What’s your favorite thing that’s worth the wait, or gets better with time?

For me, it’s this right here:

 

Tomato, To-mah-to

It’s tomato season!

We can’t seem to get enough of these beautiful tomatoes.  I can’t think of any other food that when it’s good, it’s very, very good, and when it’s bad, it’s horrid.  Right now, they are very, very good.  We have a friend who says that there are some days that are so hot that all he wants to eat is a tomato.  I’ve never been that hot.  But I have enjoyed some of these fresh tomato recipes.

First, Tomato Mozzarella and Basil (Barefoot Contessa Family Style).  This might be my favorite tomato recipe, and we used the fresh heirloom tomatoes from our CSA box for this.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this salad, and this is probably the ugliest batch I’ve ever made.  But guess what?  Still awesome.

Next up:  Tomato Mozzarella and Pesto Panini (Barefoot Contessa at Home).  There’s a reason that this isn’t an actual panini.

My dad had a panini maker for his grocery store’s deli.  He sold the store, and kept the panini maker, and then generously gave it to me.  The catch?  It was an industrial-grade panini maker, which only plugged into an industrial-grade electrical outlet.  In other words, we’d have to unplug our dryer to plug in the panini maker.  Realizing how impractical that was, we sold the panini grill, and suffered through with an electric griddle for these sandwiches instead.  We didn’t even have any fancy crusty bread, so we used regular boring sandwich bread.  Even with all of those intervening forces, these sandwiches were amazing.

Finally (for now), Greek Panzanella (from Barefoot Contessa:  How Easy is That?).  This was simply amazing, and even though the leftovers were a little soggy a day or two later, I still gobbled them up, and happily.  I approached panzanella with some trepidation, since I’d never made or eaten it before.  I needn’t have worried – as it turns out, as weird as “bread salad” sounds, it tastes pretty good.  Think of a salad with more croutons and no lettuce, and there you go.  The oregano and red wine vinaigrette used in this recipe would make a great marinade for grilled chicken to top a green salad.  All of these vegetables came from our CSA box.

Bonus item:  This is not a Barefoot Contessa recipe, but maybe it should be.  I met my friend Amber during my first week of college, and we reconnected a few years ago.  Amber is one of the funniest, most delightful, interesting, and interested people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.  I love that we can keep in touch through her food blog, Awake at the Whisk.  I made her Roasted Heirloom Tomato Freezer Sauce last week, and it could not have been easier.  (If you’re keeping track of how many tomatoes we’ve eaten, add in some BLTs for four adults over the weekend, and yes, I had to go to the farmers’ market to buy more tomatoes.)  I used the marinara on Eggplant Parmesan, and we gobbled it all up.

Here are the tomatoes ready to be roasted.  We had a little extra excitement as I brought in the fresh basil from the back porch – a little green worm stowed away and tried to make it into our sauce!  Luckily I spotted it before I added extra protein to the recipe.  Yikes!  I must grow really good basil if even the worms want some.

I’d love to hear about your favorite tomato recipe.  During the summer that my husband and I first met, he told me “I just love a plain tomato.  With salt and pepper.  And white bread.  And mayonnaise.”  I had to break it to him that that wasn’t exactly a “plain” tomato.  What’s your favorite way to eat tomatoes?

Cocktail Hour

I think I’ve mentioned here before that I don’t really drink.  It’s not for any moral or philosophical reason – I just don’t care for the taste of most alcohol, and I’d rather eat my calories than drink them.  But, for the sake of this project (insert martyr sigh here), I decided to try again.

My husband and I try to get out for a date night whenever we can, but sometimes our schedules and our budget don’t allow for a babysitter and a night out.  So, we made our own date night on our screen porch.  We turned off the TV and turned on the baby monitors, lit some candles, and listened to the crickets.  We laughed.  We sipped.  We didn’t really talk about the kids for once.

He had the “real margarita” (Barefoot Contessa Parties!):

He said it tasted like a real margarita.  I remember wanting to buy margarita glasses when we first got married.  Now I’m glad we didn’t, because in almost 8 years of marriage, this was our first homemade margarita.  I’m glad I know how to make them at home now, though, because one of our favorite Mexican restaurants has gone downhill in recent months.  They always had cheap margaritas, but the food has become so bad there that we won’t go back for the drinks.

I had the whiskey sour (Barefoot Contessa at Home):

It’s pink because I added a little maraschino cherry juice.  Sadly, the maraschino cherries were my favorite part of the drink.  I remember trying (and liking) these in law school, so maybe my taste for whiskey has just disappeared.  I don’t know.  My husband tasted it and liked it, because I went light on the whiskey.  Blech.

I’m just going to have to try harder if I’m going to become a lush.  On the other hand, I highly recommend the stay at home date night.  Within an hour of these photos being taken, the baby woke up and we tended to him.  A few hours later, the 3-year-old woke up.  I’m glad we enjoyed our fleeting quiet time while it lasted, drink or no drink.

Farmers’ Market Finds

Even though our Community Supported Agriculture farm has been supplying us with a wealth of great produce this season, I still like to visit farmers’ markets to supplement our table.  You see, the CSA box provides just the right amount for what a normal family would want to eat.  But what if you want zucchini coming out of your ears, like a real gardener?  (There’s an old joke in my hometown that you shouldn’t leave your car unlocked in the summer, not to prevent theft, but to prevent zealous gardeners from giving you their surplus zucchini.)  I have neither the time, space, skill, nor inclination to actually garden, so I market instead.  I wanted more than what we could eat for dinner, so I could bake with some, freeze some, and just revel in the surplus of it.

Besides, the farmers’ market was on our summer list.

I brought home enough zucchini to eat some for lunch, freeze four cups of it, and bake this zucchini bread and these zucchini brownies.  (Trust me.  Zucchini brownies = good.)

While we were there, I couldn’t resist some ears of corn and these herbs.

Even though I have three healthy basil plants on the porch, I couldn’t resist that beautiful bunch of basil for $1.  This is what we had for dinner that night.  I had enough pesto to freeze, and enough leftover basil for salad dressing.

The recipe is for Spaghettoni Al Pesto (Barefoot Contessa Parties!), and you’ll probably notice that the picture doesn’t show spaghettoni.  That’s rigatoni, which rhymes with spaghettoni, and that’s good enough for me.

I had less of an idea of what I would do with the dill, but seeing those big, flowery bunches reminded me of my grandmother.  She grew acres of vegetables and herbs every summer, and I remember the dill on the edge of the garden.  The smell of dill always brings me back to her, and that garden.  Unlike a lot of people, I don’t have a lot of good food memories of my grandmother – she was pretty much insane, and not in a charming way – but the garden and the dill made me smile.
I brought it home and made a small batch of creamy cucumber salad, from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics.

Peach Blueberry Crumble

This recipe (Barefoot Contessa at Home) combines my husband’s favorite flavors of summer.  If my great-grandmother were making it, she would add oatmeal to the crumbly top.

Zucchini with Parmesan

This zucchini recipe (Barefoot Contessa Family Style) most closely represents how we ate zucchini at my house when I was growing up.  I’ve abandoned my parents’ fascination with seasoned salt, using fresh garlic or onions instead.  I love how zucchini browns a little at the end of the cooking process, and I could eat this by the bowl full.  The joke in Midwestern small towns is to keep your car doors locked, not for fear of burglary, but for fear that a gardener will leave his or her extra zucchini in your car when you’re not looking.  Bring it on, I say.

Salmon, Two Ways

We’re still enjoying the Alaskan salmon that my brother caught and my sister-in-law so kindly delivered to our freezer.

First, we tried Salmon with Fennel (Barefoot Contessa Cookbook), which we turned into Salmon with Leeks due to our general distaste for fennel.  It was delicious.

Later, we tried Asian Grilled Salmon (Barefoot Contessa Parties!), which was also delicious.   I prepared the marinade and my husband, dad, and brother-in-law manned the grill.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I’ve credited my dad with teaching me how to cook, but I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge my mother in teaching me my way around the kitchen, too.  In fact, this blog would not exist without her, for several reasons:

1.  She gave me life, and did not take it away or set me on the curb, even when I was quite frankly asking for it.

2.  My mom taught me organization, and how to clean up after myself.  Without those two traits, which some may find a wee bit obsessive in my mother and me, this blog would have approximately two posts right now, neither of which would be finished.

3.  She taught me to read a recipe.  While my dad can take the credit for my love of trying new things in the kitchen, my mom was there to read (and re-read) the recipe, to teach substitutions, and to help me fix mistakes.

4.  My mom limited the amount of baking that went on in our kitchen, which only made me want to do it more.  There’s something to be said about rebellion.  I’m thinking about forbidding my kid from cleaning his room or going to bed early.

5.  I inherited from her my inability to sit still.  Neither of us can watch a movie or sit peaceably for too long without folding a load of laundry, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning something, or some combination of the above.  This trait has come in handy to keep the momentum going for this project.

6.  My mom encouraged us to try new things, without forcing them on us.  Between this tactic and my grandparents’ bountiful garden, I developed an appreciation for fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit.  When we traveled as a family, we were encouraged to try new cuisine.  I don’t remember any dinnertime battles, but I do remember gentle encouragement to try what was put in front of us.  I think that this developed a sense of adventure in me, which despite my many substitutions, I hope shows in this blog.

7.  She seeks out things like fingerling potatoes at her farmers’ market for me.

8.  She eats what I put in front of her.

9.  She plays with my child so I can cook, or even so my husband and I can go on a date.  As if she didn’t get enough of wiping noses and bottoms raising four children, she now enthusiastically dives into the same tasks with her grandchildren.

10.  My mom never made me try liver, and she always sent kid-friendly snacks with us when we stayed at my crazy grandmother’s house, where we were about as likely to find a kid-friendly snack as we were to find a troll living in the bathtub.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge and celebrate my beautiful mother-in-law today, too.  Not only did she raise great sons who became wonderful husbands, she’s also a wonderful mother-in-law and grandmother.  Also, she has been gracious enough to share her family’s favorite recipes so I can try to recreate them at home.  Of course, everything tastes better when it comes from her kitchen!  When we visit her, she fills us with great food, and when she visits us, she’s kind enough to pitch in with the  many, many dishes.

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Eli’s Asian Salmon

I love soy sauce marinades on salmon, and this recipe (Barefoot Contessa at Home) was no exception.  I could not find fish sauce at the grocery store (my limit is now to search at two grocery stores for any given ingredient, and then find a substitute), so I just added more oyster sauce instead.  You’ll see it here served with sauteed spinach, to which I added some soy sauce and sesame seeds to fit the Asian theme of the meal.

This particular piece of fish was caught by my brother in Alaska, and lovingly delivered to our home by his awesome wife and children, who are visiting before their big move to Hawaii next month.  My brother and I are only 16 months apart in age, and I’ve known his wife since we were kids at church camp together.  Many of my late-night cooking adventures have been with them, and I credit my brother with being my first guinea pig in the kitchen – he would eat anything, but then give an honest review.  I kind of hate that they live so far away, but at least we have great places to visit wherever they live.

Ice Cream Sodas with Strawberry Syrup

I went hard core on this recipe (Barefoot Contessa Parties!).  I started with homemade strawberry ice cream.  That’s right, I made the ice cream.  I used a recipe for the ice cream from one of my favorite wedding gifts:  a series of Williams Sonoma cookbooks organized by topic.  There’s a whole book devoted to ice cream, and this recipe was in it.  I had, embarrassingly enough, some strawberries left in the freezer from last summer.  I guess it shouldn’t be all that embarrassing:  at least they were locally grown, and they kept well in the deep freeze.  And they weren’t nearly as bad as the strawberries we found in my grandmother’s freezer when she died.  They were labelled “1974.”  She died in 1996.  What’s worse is that she moved in 1987.  The strawberries were old enough to be entering puberty when she moved them from one house to another, where they were delicately preserved until they were old enough to vote.  And drink.  For that matter, they were probably fermented enough to be a drink.

But, I digress.

The strawberry ice cream was awesome, and it made a fine strawberry ice cream soda, with strawberry syrup made from more frozen strawberries.    Actually, I’m taking my husband’s word for it, since I’m not really an ice cream soda kind of gal.  I prefer my ice cream straight-up, but my husband discovered that he’s a fan of the ice cream soda when we were on vacation last summer, so he was the guinea pig for this experiment.  He’s a good sport, that one.  Either that, or he was afraid after hearing stories of my grandmother that I’d be tempted to keep the strawberries in the freezer for another few decades, so he gamely gulped down his dessert without complaint.