Slow Roasted Plum Tomatoes

- As many plum tomatoes as you like
- Olive oil
- herbs de provence
- salt & freshly ground pepper

- Preheat oven to 200

- slice tomatoes in half and place cut side up on a baking sheet lined with tin foil

- drizzle with olive oil, herbs de provence, salt and pepper

- roast in oven overnight or about 8 hours

Sunday Supper - Tuscan Style

Fall is definitely in the air. Cooler evenings are beginning to lend themselves to jeans and sweaters. We pulled out the crock pot last weekend to make a large batch of Tuscan white beans, dried cannellini cooked with sage and garlic. Beautiful plum tomatoes from my mother's garden needed to be used and were slow roasted in the oven for hours with a dash of oil, salt, pepper, and herbs. We decided to eschew the Tuscan tradition of salt-less bread and picked up a crusty french baguette. A beautiful rib eye grilled with rosemary, a side of braised kale, and dinner is served.

Tuscan Beans with Sage and Garlic

Slow Roasted Plum Tomatoes

Braised Kale

Ribeye Grilled with Rosemary

Japanese Inspired BBQ Menu

In lieu of a more traditional Labor Day BBQ, Jason and I decided to give things a little twist. We came up with a Japanese inspired BBQ meal. We pieced together recipes we found online, from the Nobu cookbook, and that we made up on our own to create what was probably one of our best meals in quite awhile. We are already looking forward to leftovers tomorrow! Follow the links for the recipes...

Beef Yakiniku skewers
Marinated Japanese style chicken thigh skewers
Shrimp skewers
Soba noodle salad with scallions and cabbage
Green beans in a black bean paste dressing
Tomato ceviche, Nobu style

Tomato Ceviche, Nobu Style

This is the best tomato salad I may have eaten. Ever. We tweaked the recipe for the ceviche sauce, omitting the salt & pepper it called for, improvising a yuzu sauce we didn't have, and subsituting sambal for aji amarillo paste. This recipe will amaze you. I plan on eating it plenty until we are out of heirloom tomatoes for the season!

TOMATO CEVICHE, NOBU STYLE

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
3 heirloom tomatoes, various colors and sizes, chopped
4 teaspoons cilantro leaves
1/4 cup Ceviche Sauce (see below for recipe)

- Combine the tomatoes and cilantro in a bowl
- Toss gently with the Ceviche Sauce

Ceviche Sauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lime
Juice of 1/2 small orange
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon sambal

- combine all of the ingredients

Black Bean, Corn, & Tomato Salad

Once we had the large batch of homemade tomatillo salsa, it was only a matter of time before taco night. Here, a simple side salad to accompany beef tacos, slices of avocado, and lime and cayenne sprinkled cucumbers. Perfect for August.

1 ear corn
1 can black beans
1 tomato
1/2 jalapeno
1/2 red bell pepper
large handful cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp ancho chili powder
juice of 1/2 lime
pinch of salt

- Drain and rinse the black beans.

- Cut the kernels off the corn and boil for a few minutes until tender.

- Roughly chop the tomato.

- Dice the red pepper.

- Chop the cilantro.

- Combine everything in a bowl with the spices and lime juice. Chill and serve.

Heirloom Tomato Tart

Recently Jason and I enjoyed an amazing dinner at Ruxbin. If you haven't heard of it, you probably will soon. A fantastic, little out of the way place with some serious cuisine. One of the highlights was my entree, a tomato tart. I've also been eyeing an heirloom tomato tart recipe from Tartlette and finally decided to give the recipe a try. Granted, I had to go out and buy both a tart pan and rolling pin that morning, as many of you know, I don't really bake.

Well, now I'm addicted to making tarts. The final product was beautiful! It needed more time to set than the recipe indicated (I might actually use less liquid next time) and definitely needed salt but I managed to get the crust right and the end product was beautiful. I've included my notes and suggestions in the recipe. It was perfect as a dinner accompaniment as well as several days worth of breakfasts! Next tart project, gruyere and caramelized onion...

Makes one 9-inch tart

Allow plenty of time for the dough prep

For the crust:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 stick unsalted butter, cold

1/4 tsp salt

2-3 Tbsp ice cold water

For the filling:

About 6 heirloom tomatoes

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 tsp freshly chopped rosemary

Salt and pepper - go heavier than a pinch!

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

For the crust:

- Pulse flour in food processor until incorporated

- Chop butter into quarters, add and pulse until the butter resembles small peas This took longer than I anticipated. I was worried at first I had gone too long, but it takes a bit for the butter to get broken down and then form into little pea shapes!

- Add the salt and pulse once more

- Gradually stream in the water until the flour just comes together I probably used about 2 Tbsp, might ad a little more

- Turn out mixture onto work surface, form into a 2 inch thick disk, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes apparently this can also be done up to a day ahead of time

- Flour work surface and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as you go if the dough starts to stick. Place dough into tart pan. All of this was very difficult for me! I 9 inch pan might be a little large for this project. The dough kept breaking when I tried to get it in the pan. Eventually I transferred most of it over then patched up the sides with the excess dough.

- Place a piece of parchment paper over the dough, fill with dried beans and refrigerate for another 30 minutes

- Preheat oven to 350. Place tart pan on middle rack and bake for about 15 minutes (with the beans still inside). Remove from oven, let cool and remove beans and parchment paper.

For the filling:

- Slice the tomatoes and lay flat on a couple of sheets of paper towels to absorb excess water.

- In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the milk. Add the rosemary, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and whisk again.

- Pour the mixture into the tart shell and arrange tomato slices throughout. Here, I might not use all of the liquid as the dish ended up being a little "eggier" than I had expected. It also took longer to bake.

- Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, or until center is barely set. Tart will continue to set as it cools.

Mozzarella & Tomato Salad

There are a million variations on this salad. And really, who needs a recipe? Fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil you've grown, olive oil, salt and pepper and you're done!

I was intrigued by this variation that I saw on Lottie & Doof that called for marinating the mozzarella as well as a couple of surprises, particularly the fennel seeds which were a great touch!I didn't use fresh buffalo mozzarella, we had a package of mozzarella balls on hand, but some fresh farmer's market cherry tomatoes and this dish was a hit.

1/2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly toasted and crushed
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
15 basil leaves, sliced
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
8 oz mozzarella
A handful or so of cherry tomatoes, larger ones sliced in half
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

-In a bowl combine the fennel, lemon zest, basil, oregano and olive oil. Toss in the mozzarella and marinate in the refridgerator at least 30 minutes.

-Before serving, stir in the tomatoes and season with a little salt and pepper.

Garlic Scape and Tomato Pasta

I've been trying to come up with some new ways to use garlic scapes. I managed to go for a run in this ungodly heat and after a long, cold shower I was starving! Luckily I had some leftover, plain cooked pasta from a few days before, several garlic scapes, a couple of fresh onions from the Corner Farm and one last jar of canned tomatoes left over from last summer. This is a quick and light pasta that didn't even make me regret turning on the stove top!

GARLIC SCAPE AND TOMATO PASTA

Olive oil
2 garlic scapes, sliced
pinch red pepper flakes
2-3 small spring onions sliced
1 cup or so of crushed tomatoes
splash balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
parmesan
basil
pasta, either left over or cooked according to package

- Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic scapes, pinch of salt, several turns of freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes and sautee until the scapes get nice and green

- Add the onions and continue cooking, turning down the heat if needed.

- Add the tomatoes and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer and then turn down to heat through. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

- Add the pasta and toss with the sauce.

- Remove from the heat, chiffonade 8 or so leaves of basil and stir in

- Transfer pasta to bowls and serve with some freshly grated parmesan

Grilled Keftas with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce and a Cucumber, Tomato, Feta Salad

We were craving middle eastern last night and decided to revisit a recipe for grilled keftas (ground lamb skewers) and try out a yogurt-tahini sauce to bring to our friends' house for dinner. I threw together a quick tomato, cucumber, feta salad and served everything with pita, carmelized red onions and sauted yellow peppers. The keftas are an old favorite, the yogurt tahini sauce a new favorite, every bit of it was sopped up with pita!

Follow the link for the recipes...