Guest Post: Just Right Tomato Soup

Today we have a guest post from a good friend who is also a talented photographer. I recently relayed this recipe by Heidi Swanson to Mica and his wife. Taking advantage of the last of the cool weather here in the desert Southwest, he made it and was kind enough to tell us about it here.

Tomato soup: an easy recipe with big flavor
By Mica Thomas Mulloy

It has only been in the last five or six years that I have started to tolerate tomatoes.Before that, tomatoes and I were not really on speaking terms. I tried time and time again, but I just couldn’t do it. They always had that, well, tomato taste. Yuck.

Now I’m a little bit better. I can appreciate a good caprese salad, diced tomatoes in a taco, or thinly sliced tomatoes on a big sub sandwich or a good burger (thinly sliced is the key. Too thick and I still pull them right off). Of course I have always enjoyed salsa too, but that doesn’t count as tomatoes, right? But as far back as I can remember, even though I would turn up my nose at any form of raw tomato, tomato was my favorite variety of soup.

Go figure. It has always just had a warm, homey feeling to it. Pair it with grilled cheese sandwiches and you have perfect meal on a cold winter night. If I had to name my “comfort foods” tomato soup would certainly make the short list.

I need to clarify here that I am not a cook. Despite a short-lived phase when I was little of wanting to be Jack Tripper from “Three’s Company,” my culinary skills have never surpassed basic at best. I make a mean quesadilla, somehow figured out a decent chicken parmesan and serviceable meatballs, and I can grill pretty good street tacos.

That’s about it.

Still, occasionally I get an itch to try to cook something delicious, and will sometimes surprise myself by not ruining a meal.

When one of the primary authors of this blog gave my wife her recipe for tomato soup, my appreciation for the creamy red brew took over and I felt the urge to really make a mess in the kitchen.So I did, and it turned out great.

This definitely is not your standard condensed-tomato-soup-from-a-can recipe. I may not be the biggest soup connoisseur, but even as an amateur I can safely say this one has a ton of flavor without being overbearing. And it has kick. Not so much spice that the timid-tongued won’t want to eat it, but just enough to really make the taste memorable.

It’s not a thin broth with giant chunks you can never quite dig up from the bottom of the bowl, and it’s also not so thick you could eat it with a fork. Like Goldilocks found with the three bears’ porridge, it’s just right.

Secret ingredient: generic store-brand spices

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 yellow onions chopped
• 2 28 oz. cans of fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 6 cups of water
• Cumin
• Red chili flakes
• Curry powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Here’s how to do it. Or at least how I did it:
Chop the onions. I ended up using one really big onion rather than two regular onions. Did it make a difference? No idea. Chop what you want. As a side note, if you’re like I used to be and chop onions as you would anything else and then wonder why the pieces are all different sizes, oddly shaped and nothing like what you see in cooking shows, watch this quick video for some tips.

Drizzle some olive oil in a large pot and when hot add the onions. Once sufficiently softened, stir in the fire roasted tomatoes, coconut milk and water. Next add the spices. I used a tablespoon of each.

I used kosher salt, and later added in about a teaspoon of season salt. I wanted to make sure I covered up any strong “tomato” taste (Yuck, remember?).

Once hot, use an immersion blender to make the big chunks less chunk-like and the whole concoction a little creamier.

The mixture comes together on low heat

Cover and cook on low for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the brew brewing. I’m sure you could keep it simmering longer, but we were hungry and it looked done.

Chopped fresh flat Italian parsley from my herb garden. It was a really nice addition as a finish for the soup. Pull the leaves from the stems, bunch together, chop, bunch together again and turn 90 degrees, chop again. Repeat.

Ladle into bowls and serve. I added a little fresh parsley from my herb garden. I think it was a nice, subtle final touch. We warmed some Filone Asiago Cheese bread from the bakery aisle to go with the soup. So much for the gluten-free meal, I know, but if you can tolerate it, it was a great balance to the kick, and great for dunking into the soup. How civilized.

Finished product, ready to serve

What I learned:
First, this wasn’t tough or that time consuming as far as soup from scratch goes. Stuff went in a pot, good soup came out. Second, a little curry powder goes a long way. If you like it and know what you’re getting into, go with a tablespoon. If you aren’t sure, cut it back a bit. I will probably try less coconut milk next time. It is a necessary ingredient, but I kept getting a hint of little too much coconut. Or maybe coconut with a little too much curry. That said, keep in mind I don’t really know what I’m talking about. If I did, I would probably be able to balance out what I was tasting with the other spices. Alas, I’ll just add less of both next time.Lastly, this recipe made a lot of soup. Plenty for leftovers the next day plus some in the freezer. I made this for two, so it could easily feed four to six people. If you have a small party and don’t want leftovers, you could reduce the ingredients.

In the end:
I don’t love tomatoes. Never have, and even though I like them now more than ever, don’t imagine I ever will. They’re too tomato-ey. I think people who can just bite into a whole tomato and enjoy it are weird.
But I do love tomato soup, and this is easily one of the best tomato soups I’ve ever had. Like I said, it has a lot of flavor and just enough kick. For comparison purposes, it certainly leaves the Campbell’s red and white can in the dust. But you can compare it with that familiar feeling of warmth, comfort, and home. And this soup has it all.

Mica Mulloy is a high school teacher and photographer in Phoenix, Ariz. Check out more photos and less recipes on his website at www.micamulloy.com.

Lemon Greek Yogurt Pasta with Chicken, Squash and Zucchini

Here in Phoenix, the orange blossoms are in bloom and citrus is plentiful.  This makes my brain spin with creative citrus ideas, whether there happens to be citrus in my kitchen or not.  A few nights ago, one of my good friends was coming over for a meeting, and I wanted to cook dinner for him.  Believe it or not, this meal came out of the last random things I had left in my cupboards that are desperate for me to grocery shop.

My head thought, can you make a sauce with greek yogurt?  Could that include citrus flavors? What if I used the squash and zucchini Jessica got me for my birthday?  Could that all go together well?

And so, I googled.  My research confirmed that my instincts were correct, and these flavors could in fact work together. Here are the results:

I sliced one zucchini and one squash and sauteed them in a frying pan with some Meyer lemon olive oil, and basil.  I sauteed them until they were slightly see-through. I cut two chicken breasts into bite size pieces and also sauteed them in a frying pan with lemon olive oil and a little lemon juice, seasoned with basil, lemon pepper, and some garlic.  I boiled a box of whole wheat linguine and set it aside.  In a bowl, I mixed together 1/2 cup of greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, and some lemon peel.  I first added the zucchini and squash, then the chicken, and then the pasta, tossing it all together well.

Sadly, I did not have any actual lemons on hand at the moment.  I hope to make this recipe again when I do.  For readers who do have lemons on hand, I would recommend thinning the greek yogurt with the juice of one or two lemons, and as well as adding zest to either the chicken or the sauce.  If you do not have lemon olive oil, you could make your own by simply mixing olive oil with lemon juice.  Also, if any readers had cherry tomatoes on hand, I suspect those would be a lovely addition, and one could throw those in with the zucchini and squash partway through sauteing.

Happy citrus season! Enjoy.

Fava Puree with Parsley and Dried Cherries

Last time we were in Brooklyn, I loaded up both of our carryons with things I miss from the peerless Sahadi's, like cardamom tea and harissa paste and pistachio oil.  (Actually, the pistachio oil was a problem as it was over the size limit for said carryons.  Luckily, we were in NY to visit a baby with a very smart mama, who filled two of his bottles---under the volume limit---with my precious oil and sent me on my way.)

I also got a nice big container of dried, shelled fava beans.  They may not be as tender as the farmer's-market-fresh batch that went into this soup, but the nutty flavor and velvet texture when pureed are all there.  I love the flavor of this puree and was tempted to eat it with a spoon (or on little toasts, perhaps?).  Instead, it went over some store-bought "wild mushroom agnolotti" with ribbons of barely-steamed asparagus.

2 cups dried, shelled favas
juice of 1 lemon (maybe 2 if yours are small and/or store bought - mine was the last of my Arizona trove)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 package finely chopped dried cherries
One bunch fresh parsley, stemmed and chopped
1/2 cup grated nutty white cheese
splash of white balsamic vinegar
Salt

Quick-soak the favas beans (cover in water, about 2-3 inches above beans, bring to boil, boil for one minute, turn off heat, let sit for one hour). 

While they soak, make a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and salt.  Taste and adjust to your liking; measurements approximate.  You can always add more of any of these things to the puree once it's made.   (Chop the parsley and cherries and grate the cheese, too.)

When favas are ready, mash them with vinaigrette using a potato masher, to whatever consistency you like (I think chunky is nice), mix the other ingredients in and mash a bit more, adjust flavors, and serve - hot or cold depending how you use it.

Ed. 11/22/15:  I made this again for a party at my house (served as a cold dip), and have a few notes.  First, I think the better quantity of favas is more like 2 cups AFTER soaking.  Second, this time around I didn't have as much soaking time and the beans weren't quite as soft, so I pureed 2/3 of them with the vinaigrette in the blender (food processor would be even better if you have one) and mashed the rest with a fork.  Third, I needed a lot more olive oil than in the above, partly because of the beans being less soft.  And fourth, I made it without any cheese for some vegan guests and it was still delightful!

West African Peanut Stew

This recipe needs some tweaking, but I'm posting it so I will remember to do so (or maybe someone else will, and will tell me how to make it better?  hint hint!).  It has the potential to be super tasty.  Folks on allrecipes loved it, so maybe I am just an outlier and/or didn't follow the recipe well enough? 

The recipe linked above is as follows:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, very finely diced
• 2 large bell peppers, (any color) finely chopped
• 6 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes with juice
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 1 (18 ounce) jar creamy peanut butter  [I used chunky and didn't add roasted peanuts]
• chopped roasted peanuts (optional)

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, and garlic until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, vegetable broth, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
2. Add rice to soup and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 25 minutes, or until rice is tender.
3. When rice is cooked, whisk in peanut butter and return to a simmer, and serve. Garnish with chopped roasted peanuts, if desired.

I made the following additions, but they weren't enough to counterbalance the overwhelming peanut butter flavor:

- Added finely chopped carrots to Step One
- Added a splash of soy sauce
- Added 1/2 a can tomato paste
- Used more garlic and a LOT more red pepper flakes.

I think for next time, I will try less peanut butter (probably the most important modification), more rice, perhaps even more tomato paste/tomatoes and soy sauce and red pepper flakes... what else would y'all suggest?  What could this be served with other than bread?

**Update:  See the comments for a much-better-sounding version via Kate!***

Food from Vietnam

.... is delicious and I wish I could eat it every day.

 

This is a good visual of the approximate quantity of fruits I ate.

 

This is a terrible picture of some banh (Hue-area specialty small dishes) - they were tiny dishes with a sticky glutinous rice base, topped with little pinches of what seemed to be seafood and egg, finely chopped and fried crispy?  Or something.  It was tasty even for a this-week-only seafood eater.

OK, the interwebs say it is banh beo, "Silver-dollar disks of rice flour. Topped with mung bean powder, ground shrimp, and oil-moistened green onions. Served with nuoc cham."  Thanks Banh Guide:  http://dina-n-brian.com/Alice/Banhguide.htm

 

Fried corn with shallots and tomato (and some nice fresh springrolls in background).

 

So. Many. Kinds. Of. Delicious. Leafy. Greens.  Usually served with garlic and inadequate English words to cover all of them.  Oh, and tiny crabs, but I certainly didn't eat any of those.

 

Fruit:  Not only delicious but decorative.  I miss the fruit.  Denver is not so fruitastic.

 

Some meat thing Chris ate that he said was tasty but I didn't pay attention to what it was b/c it's meat.  Pretty, no? 

 

Now THIS was a taco of earthly delights.  Crispy rice-flour taco filled with fresh veggies and shrimpies and herbs (and pork if you like), with a peanut-based sauce to pour in.  Single most delicious Thing of the trip.  It is called banh khoai and I will not die without eating it again.

 

One of many hotpots. So wonderful in pouring rain.  With fruit for dessert.

Pasta al Limon

I'm sure everyone and their dog made this recipe when it came out in the NYT (I know my mom and I did - she was visiting me in my Brooklyn apt during law school and came bearing amazing lemons from a colleague's New Mexico relative's tree).  But just in case you're the person who didn't, it really is amazing and worth doing (unlike the accompanying tart recipe, or so I hear).

I think using fresh pasta really helps, and I served it with bok choy and kale, cooked over high heat in oil and maple syrup in a closed pan, which made them kinda caramelize and get toothsome and brown.

Also, if you mistakenly use a reactive saucepan for the  wine-reducing stage and your reduced white wine tastes crazy bitter... and you don't have a NONreactive pan around... might I suggest a mug and the microwave.  You're welcome. 

Butternut Squash Enchiladas

Filling:
1 roasted butternut
1 can corn
2 small onions, caramelized with LOTS of chopped garlic
Cumin & cinnamon*

Sauce: Canned green enchilada (tomatillo) sauce with juice of 2 lemons and one package cherry tomatoes added

Cheese: A salty white.

1 package (14) 8-inch flour tortillas.

Fill each tortilla with cheese & filling, nest together into 2 glass baking pans, cover with sauce, and bake at 35 for 25 minutes.

*One wise in the ways of the squashilada tells me"a little coriander doesn't hurt, either."  

Green Chili Souffle

Kate and I raided our mom's large bag of cleaned, individually wrapped, frozen Hatch green chilis (<-- yes, she is that organized and foresightful) to make this great-smelling breakfast on Christmas morning.  In the process, we also cleaned out (/raided) her recipe and cookbook drawer.  Kate nabbed a southwestern cookbook that suggested dumplings made of tamale dough - brilliant, and just happens to be gluten free.  I got some high altitude bread books that might help me with my serial baking failures in the Mile High City.   Happy Holidays!

8 eggs (we used 6, I'd go to 8 or even 10 for more eggy layers)

Block of good cheddar, grated

6-8 green chilis, cleaned

Salt & pepper


Separate eggs.  Beat whites until stiff.  Whisk yolks till smooth and season with S&P; fold into whites as gently as possible. 


Layer egg mixture, chilis, and cheese in a greased 9x13 baking dish, ending w/a layer of eggs so cheese doesn't get crispy.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, being careful not to overbake.  Serve with avos, salsa, olives, plain yogurt, etc. 

DIY Gingerbread Latté Syrup

After our success with the homemade pumpkin spice latté syrup, my roommates and I in accordance with the change in season moved on to a search for the perfect gingerbread latté syrup.  The batch I made at my apartment left something to be wanting however, as it took several spoonfuls to create the desired taste.    I'm now visiting our Dad's Alaska home for Christmas, where an espresso machine also resides.  I decided that gingerbread lattés will be most necessary for the Santa frenzy that will occur on Christmas Day morning, so in the midst of making this and this pie, I decided to google some more recipes and experiment.  Really, making these syrups is just about finding the right spices to add to a basic simple syrup, and I think what made the difference for the gingerbread syrup was the addition of molasses. Here is what I came up with, with which I am quite pleased.

1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cups brown sugar or Splenda brown sugar blend
1/2 cup molasses
3 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons cinnamon,
Nutmeg and ground cloves to taste

Combine water, sugar, molasses and spices in a small saucepan over medium heat.  I continually played with the spices, and you may want to add more than I have here- I would recommend going heavy on the spices.   Simmer them together until it thickens into what looks like a syrup.  Pour into a mason jar to keep.

For latté making, use 1 shot espresso or 2 ounces hot coffee, 2 tablespoons syrup to 2/3 cups steamed milk. Add syrup to taste, if desired.  Top with homemade whipped cream and nutmeg, and bid 4 dollar lattés adieu.

Holiday Cookies

…. lots…. and… lots of holiday cookies (GF readers, avert your eyes! Except from the peanut butter kiss cookies!).  

We had a proper holiday party with lots of hot drinks and santa hats and cheeses and gals in red dresses, and I went a bit overboard with the cookies.  It just didn’t seem right to have lemon cookies without peppermint cookies, or crinkles without peanut butter kisses (which are really just the amazing go-to peanut butter cookies Kate makes all the time).  Or not to have gingerbread, even after making all of the above plus Deb’s to-die-for toffee cookies.  Making too many cookies seems like an unlikely source of regret, anyway.

A few words about the above.  To make perfect striped candycane cookies:  after twisting together your little rolled-out pieces of red and white dough, roll the resulting twist until it's one smooth piece.  I recommend making the batter in 2 batches and adding the red food coloring to the wet ingredients of one batch, rather than trying to color half the completed dough, which involves overhandling it and dying your hands.  I tried rolling some of the cookies in crushed candycanes both before and after baking, but thought it just made them less pretty. Finally, I like almond extract to complement the peppermint even better than vanilla.

I wasn’t satisfied w/the crinkle recipe I used.  I wish I had put some cinnamon, cloves, and cayenne in the dough, and I think they needed to be more soft & fudgey and less chewy.  I overbaked the peanut butter kiss cookies a bit and wish I had rolled the balls of dough in sugar before baking, but people still <3ed them. 

The lemon cookies and, of course, Deb’s toffee cookies are perfection, and the high-altitude gingerbread recipe linked above is fantastic.  I used pureed ginger in a tube, and used a liiiiitle more than the recipe called for, as well as more cloves than indicated.  Good blackstrap molasses definitely helped.  Finally, I was good (for once) about not overbaking – 9 minutes did it for me – and suspect that made all the difference.  The quantities in the recipe are in weight, so if you need them in volume, it’s 1c sugar and 4c flour.  

Oh, and for the toffee cookies - don't worry if you don't have a double boiler / bain marie - melting the butter and then adding the chocolate over low heat while stirring furiously does just fine.  

Oh, and this pumpkin chocolate bread is freaking fantastic, with cloves added to the spices and about twice as many chocolate chips as called for.  (And no walnuts, to me, that would ruin the texture). 

Happy holidays!!

Simple White Bean Soup

Easy, peasy, one-two-threesy.  

4 cups dried white beans (I used limas)

1 large white onion

1 head garlic

1 cup milk

8 cups (?) water

2 tsp bullion (optional)

2 sprigs sage leaves & twice as many basil leaves, fresh or dried

salt & pepper

Soak your beans overnight.  Then put beans, roughly chopped onion, peeled garlic cloves, sage, basil, and water in your soup pot.  (8 cups’ water is an approximation – I think I started w/about that much, but had to add more when it boiled down.  You just want to generously cover the beans.)  Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 2 hours. 

Once the beans are soft, blend with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender (then return to the pot).  After blending, add milk, bullion if desired, and salt & pepper to taste. 

Served with shredded parmesan and homemade garlic croutons.

Basil Baked Eggs

Three things of note this morning. First, it is not yet 8:00am and I have already baked a gingerbread cake, made maple-whipped cream, and made myself a delightful breakfast of eggs, baked with loads of basil, chopped tomatoes, and torn spinach. Second, I have hated eggs for my whole life, a hatred that was intensified when I had to eat chemical-laced rubbery cold hospital eggs not once, not twice, not even thrice, but four times when I was very ill seven (seven?!!) years ago. (This was part of the months of trying to figure out what was wrong with me before I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue.)

P's scrambled eggs have overcome my bad hospital-egg memories, and now? I love eggs. For me, the key is that they have to be piping hot and have tons of herby, cheesy flavor.

Third, I should be writing my dissertation pre-proposal. So, without further delay:

Basil Baked Eggs

serves one

2 mini-ramekins (or 1 serving size equivalent baking dish/ramekin)
2 large eggs
1 tsp butter
2 T milk
1/2 tomato, chopped
handful spinach, torn or thinly chopped
Fresh basil (or the tube squeezy basil if you are somewhere with a growing season shorter than 100 days)
Grated gruyere or sharp white cheddar cheese
Sea Salt
Cracked Pepper

Preheat oven to 325. Divide the butter and milk and place in the bottom of the mini-ramekins. Add torn basil or basil from the squeezy tube (or pesto!). Place in oven. Break 2 eggs and mix well with fork. Add a generous amount of salt, pepper, grated cheese, chopped tomatoes and torn spinach, and more basil.

After a few minutes, pull the ramekins out. Pour the eggs into them. Place back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add a dusting of grated cheese and turn your oven to a low broil. Broil for another 5-10 minutes (depending on your oven). Check that the eggs are firm enough for your taste, pull out, and enjoy! Good with toast or, for brunch or lunch, with salad.

Saturday Breakfast Mug Cake

I can't believe I'm about to post the second of two microwave cake recipes. This is embarrassing. If you are offended, feel free to ignore me and my bad taste. Until you are desperate for a gluten free baked good one night and don't want to turn on your oven. Or until it is Saturday morning. You know, whichever comes first.

So this is basically the mug cake recipe from earlier this week, which I found here (just used different gluten free flours than they recommended, but in the same proportions). This morning, I wanted something sweet but a little healthier. So here is a semi-healthified breakfast version, which is a little lower in sugar and fat, higher in nutritional content, and higher in protein:

2 tablespoons quinoa flour (very high in protein)
2 tablespoons gluten free oat flour
1 pinch xanthan gum (I think you could leave this out)
2 tablespoons extra-dark cocoa
4 tablespoons sugar (You could probably get away with 3 for breakfast)
1 egg
3 tablespoons skim milk
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon olive oil (you could try to replace all of the oil w/pumpkin puree, it could work just fine)
A splash of vanilla (would you want to measure extra things on a Saturday morning?)
2 tablespoon dark chocolate chips (it's Saturday!)
2 tablespoons chopped pecans, gluten free oats, or berries as desired

Serves 2 or 3.

Mix all together, microwave in a huge mug for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Rather than making actual frosting, I topped this with a spread of equal parts pumpkin and peanut butter, with honey to taste. So there you have it: A wee bit healthier, but definitely not the equivalent of scrambled eggs with spinach.

I promise to stop bringing you weird microwave recipes now. Blame the end of the semester.

Up later this week: Kate and Annalise do maple buttermilk pie and cheddar apple pie. No relying on Whole Food's amazing but seriously overpriced gluten free pie crusts this year, either.

Can't wait that long? Check out last year's spiced molasses pie, which I will be making again for Christmas, and my family's favorite maple cream custard tart.

Peanut Butter Frosted Chocolate Cake for Two

I'm not much of a food snob, but even to me microwave mug cake has never sounded appealing. But, tonight I really wanted to make P a quick sweet treat, so I decided to give it a go.

Adapting this recipe just slightly (g free all purpose and sweet white rice flour) turned out to be the best idea I've had all weekend. Two very hefty servings of fudgey cake, frosted with a play on our family's famous pb frosting, all ready in about 5 minutes. Yum!

Easy Peanut Butter Frosting
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...

Mix 1 part pb with 3 parts confectioners sugar. Add splashes of milk until you get the consistency you want. Depending on your sweet tooth, you may want more sugar.

Fancy times at my place tonight.

Pomegranate Beverage

Juice of 4 poms in a Coke.   (I'm sure you could slip some booze in there, too.)

WHAT?  This IS TOO a recipe. 

Pumpkin Spice Latte

And now for a guest post by my dear roommate Sarah. At my request, she learned to make pumpkin spice lattes.  I often refer to her as my fairy godmother, because she frequently makes my wishes, be they decorating or food or latte related, come true.  Here's how to bring some of the magic into your own kitchen:


Now that Fall is finally here in Phoenix (by that I mean the high has dipped under 90 degrees), it’s time to bring out the Pumpkin Spice Latte. While the rest of the country is wrapping up leaves-changing-colors season, we here in the valley search for any hint of a normal Autumn experience. Not all of us can afford to purchase the tasty yet pricy seasonal drink, which makes the DIY version a great alternative. Inspired by my roommate, Annalise (the owner of the espresso machine and the one who found the syrup recipe), I learned how to make this drink in our kitchen this weekend.

I first had to learn how to make espresso (an intimidating feat, but not so hard, really). The next ingredient is the pumpkin spice syrup. I used this recipe, but I think that next time I might add more pumpkin for a stronger flavor. To make the latte I used 1 shot espresso, 2/3 cup milk steamed (using the espresso maker), and 1 tablespoon syrup. If you don't own an espresso machine, the espresso can be replaced with 2 ounces hot coffee. The latte is especially delicious when served in a mason jar (also ideal for sealing and saving for later) and topped with homemade whipped cream.

Milestone

I just noticed.... we've got 99 entrees!  (but a blintz ain't one). 

Green Tomato Spice Cake with Chocolate Chips & Cream Cheese Frosting

It's been quite the Indian Summer in Denver, but we finally had a frost warning last week.  I covered my healthiest 2 tomato plants and picked the green tomatos from the rest.  A few ripened up after some time with an apple in a paper bag, and the rest led me to the same solution overzealous zuchini growers know so well:  spice bread.  Well, OK, except even better, a sweet, soft, fragrant spice CAKE.

I started with this recipe, took note of some suggestions in the comments, and made some changes of my own (mostly in the "why eat raisins when you could eat chocolate chips" vein).  Can I just note, I love being a grownup and turning vegetables INTO CAKE if I dang well want to. 

Cake:

4 cups chopped green  tomatoes (these will be blended so you could skip chopping them up and just halve or quarter them - in that state, they'd probably fill 5 or 6 cups)
1/2 an apple

1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 egg

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp ea cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

1 c chocolate chips

1.  Throw the tomatoes and apple in the blender and puree.  Then pour the puree into a mesh sieve over a bowl.   Quite a bit of liquid will drain right out - I saved this to throw in a soup later.  You should be left with about 2 cups of puree.  If you have too much, squeeze a little more liquid out; too little, put some back in or puree a couple more tomatoes.

2.  Cream together butter and sugar, add egg and tomato puree and mix well.

3.  Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Stir in chips and wet ingredients.

4.  Pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Frosting:  Like so.

And now, I will probably not set foot in my kitchen for another three weeks, when I have my first trial!   So, we'll see how long I can subsist on this cake and a freezerful of tamales.  Wish me luck. 

Peanut Butter Pecan Cookies with Chocolate Espresso (Gluten Free!)

How's that for an over the top title? Fitting for these over the top cookies, which are basically a riff on my incredible (-y easy) pb cookies.

Preheat oven to 350. Gather the following:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 large handful chopped pecans
1 large handful chocolate chips, chopped
1 small handful chocolate covered espresso beans, chopped

Mix all at once in a stand mixer, if available (this gets the peanut butter all chocolatey), or by hand until well-mixed. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.

Real Simple Black Bean and Cheese Taquitos

Somehow, getting engaged led to P and I getting a subscription to Real Simple. P loves the magazine and gets really excited about the recipes. Normally I balk because their staple ingredients don't align with mine, and I am really obsessive about centering the week's meals around shared ingredients for budget purposes. Well, this was not the case with their bean and cheese taquitos. All you need:

Black beans, cheese, corn tortillas, olive oil, salsa. Avos or greek yogurt are value added but not necessary.

So, so good. I mean, we eat lots of beans and cheese and corn tortillas--we're even serving our wedding guests tacos--but frying them really took it up a step. Next up: Pete and Kate, taco molds, and a fryer. (Kidding. Sort of. Ok not at all. Make these!)

Go-To Crunchy Stirfry

Good protein, bright colors, big flavor.

1 eggplant, peeled
1pkg extra-firm tofu
1 egg

Cereal bowlful of summer tomatoes, quartered
2 ears corn, boiled & cut from cob
1 pkg shelled edamame
1 bunch torn kale
Thai peppers (I had about 5 finger-sized little guys from my garden), cleaned & thinly sliced

Soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, ginger paste, crushed/diced garlic (lots of ginger and garlic! More than you think!)

Dice eggplant and tofu into cubes. Marinate in a bowl in a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, ginger paste, and garlic. Then place on a flat cookiesheet, and stick under the broiler (with oven door open) until deeply browned.

Meanwhile, beat the egg with a little milk or water and pour into a small frying pan to cook, then cut the resulting pancake intro strips.

Also meanwhile, heat up more marinade with the strips of peppers in a wok until it starts to spit. Throw the tomatoes in first, as you want them well-cooked and everything else just seared. After they start to lose their shape just a little, add the kale, corn, and edamame and sear them, then throw the tofu and eggplant in, mix it all up, remove from heat, and serve over brown rice.

Vaguely Tuscan Veggie Stew

I didn't post this when I first made it, but I've really been enjoying it as a lunch leftover and want to remember to make it again next time I have some good white beans, leafy greens, and day-old bread. Between beans, bread, quinoa, and pasta, it's a spoon-bender and not a bad dose of protein. As a leftover, the broth all gets absorbed, and it's like a pleasant, savory casserole or something. I might leave out the pasta next time; the quinoa and bread were really nice together.

Ingredients:

1 large, sweet white onion
One small jar of artichokes packed in oil
Approx. 2 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight
Leftover bread, torn into bite-sized chunks
1 jar canned whole tomatoes (first time using the ones I canned myself...)
As many leafy greens or green veggies as you can pack in (I used kale and broccolini)
2 cups tiny pasta (like estrellas, or orzo would be nice)
2 cups quinoa
8 cups water (didn't need broth, lots of flavor here)
Paprika, white pepper, celery salt, garlic & onion powders, oregano, cumin, chili powder

Sautee the onion & artichokes in their oil. Add the water & jar of tomatoes w/their liquid. Get them boiling, and add the beans, pasta, and quinoa. Add & adjust (tons of!!) spices while they're cooking. Once these are cooked, add the greens and cook just long enough to take away their crunch, then add the bread and eat it all up.

Carrot-Kabocha Soup with Honey Plum Vinegar

Soup, man. I can't get enough of it.

Our dad and stepmom brought me a bottle of honey plum vinegar from a trip to Korea years ago and, as I tend to do with special things, I never used it. Until Chris requested carrot soup, and I didn't have any white wine on hand as specified in the recipe I started with, and... one thing led to another. This kind of reminds me of eating more complex, less-sweet honey glazed carrots. Plus, it's orange!*


Ingredients - halve all quantities if you want enough for 2-4 people for one dinner. Use these quantities if you want to eat if for lunch all week, freeze some, etc.

2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
2 medium onion, same
2 potatoes, same
1/2 a roasted Kabocha squash (acorn would work)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed (a few more wouldn't hurt)
(I bet some celery would add a nice touch!)

4 TB butter
3/4 cup honey plum vinegar, or use another fruity vinegar and some honey
8 cups broth of your choice
1 TB hacho miso
Tarragon (I was using sprigs picked from the truly intimidating quantity currently hanging in my stairwell to dry, so I don't really have a measure for ya - maybe a tablespoon or two of freshly dried leaves, probably more if storebought)
Salt, few tsp lemon juice

Sautee carrots, onion and garlic in butter till onions are just turning translucent, then add the vinegar and cook until it's reduced by half. Add the broth, potatoes, and miso. Turn up the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so, until you can easily poke a knife through the potatoes and carrots (but they needn't be mushy).

Then puree with immersion blender or in batches in big blender, adding the kabocha and tarragon. I added the tarragon to one blender batch and let it puree for a really long time to break it up. Once pureed, add salt and lemon juice to adjust flavor.

*Notice how, out of respect for my Phoenician sisters, I didn't even say the word "fall"?

Cheddar Basil Quiche with Roasted Sweet Potato, Spinach, and Tomato

5 Eggs
1/2 sweet potato, already roasted
1 tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fat free half and half, cream, or milk
Sharp cheddar, grated
4 Fresh Basil leaves, torn
1-2 large handfuls spinach, torn
Sea salt
Cracked pepper




Lightly grease a 9 inch cake round or pie pan. Layer slices of cold roasted sweet potato and torn spinach. Cover with a good amount of grated cheddar.

Beat 5 eggs with cream, milk, or half and half. Add salt and pepper. Pour over veggies and cheese. Place tomato slices on top and press in gently with a knife or spatula. Cover top with torn basil and another good dusting of cheese.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes and enjoy.

The Way I've Been Eating

This blog has long been neglected by me, although certainly not by the sisters. My only explanation is that it's been hot (consistently over 115 F last week) for months now, and my new how-to-survive-the-PhD-with-mental-health-intact strategy is to not stress over always eating new and exciting meals when nutritious, comforting, and easily repeatable meals will do.

But I feel bad that I have nothing to share. Knowing others are in the same place, here's what we've happily been eating a lot of lately.

1)Beans & Grains. Tonight it was quinoa with caramelized onions and chickpeas, spinach, and roasted tofu. I drizzled the whole thing with a pesto/hummus mixture thinned with lemon juice. Yum. Another variation is to make S's lemony rice but bulk it up with black beans and garlic broiled tofu.

2) Toasted sandwiches with hummus, melted cheese, spinach and tomatoes on gluten free bagels. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I've never relied on gluten-free substitutes, and the gfree bagels are expensive. But it is so nice and easy to make a meal when you have something like that on hand! I'm torn. Probably it is too expensive of a habit to keep up.

3)Stovetop popcorn and vegetables with hummus. This probably does not a dinner make, but some nights when we're both getting home after 8 or 9, it sure does the trick.

4) Scrambled eggs served in warm corn tortillas with salsa and avocado. A weekly favorite of mine because P makes amazing scrambled eggs. The trick is fresh basil, finely shredded turkey, sharp white cheddar, and a lot of patience, apparently.

5) Fruit. Fruit. Fruit. Did I say fruit? I've been tearing through the summer produce. Normally I eat 2 cantaloupes, a bag of grapes, several pieces of stonefruit, and an apple or two a week. I'm not sure how I manage this and keep us in our budget, but I just shop the sale produce. It's the only thing that sounds nice in the mornings when it is already 100 degrees before 6am.

6) Chili and stew. Yes, it is 115 degrees out. I know this is bizarre. But the crockpot is so easy, and frankly, it allows me to pretend I do not live in this dusty, inferno-ish place. For all the vegans out there, I highly recommend this spicy peanut stew (although I had to use much larger spice quantities than she calls for).

So that's it. Nice and boring. But maybe it will help someone who is feeling the pressure to always cook amazing things. Trust me, this has been a huge stress reliever for me!

Greek Stuffed Peppers

I rarely let myself post various forms of stuffed peppers because, well, stuffing a pepper is less 'recipe' and more 'fridge cleaning.' But these I'd love to make again. They WERE a fridge-cleaning project (bunch of kale from the garden whose time had come, leftover caramelized onions from bbq earlier in the wknd, tomato paste I made with the juice left from the tomatoes I canned last weekend, etc.), but I'd re-create the ingredients I had just to have them again.

Four orange or yellow bell peppers with nice, roomy, symmetrical cavities
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 large, sweet onion, chopped and caramelized (with the oil from caramelizing)
1 bunch kale, torn
1 jar of slow-roasted tomatoes
1/2 can of tomato paste
several TB lemon juice
feta & parmesan
heaping teaspoonful of chopped garlic
salt & dill

Put everything but the cheese (and the peppers of course) in a covered frying pan over high heat and cook down. Stuff the peppers, alternating filling and thin layers of feta. Tuck the remaining filling around the peppers in a deep, square glass baking dish. Sprinkle parmesan over everything. Cover baking dish, bake at 400 for 35 minutes.

I wish I had thrown some pine nuts on top, come to think of it. Spinach would be nice in lieu of kale. Etc.!

Andalusian Gazpacho

A blended gazpacho with bread as an ingredient, pale peach in color, from law school classmate Felony Kirsch. I, too, dislike chunky gazpachos. I do not dislike this!

Orange-Currant Scones

I've made other scones from time to time, and I always regret not sticking with these. They're from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and they are everything you want a scone to be. Since I seem to keep purchasing terrible drywall-esque "scones" from the coffeeshop most proximate to my office every morning, I figured I'd lean into the fact that I enjoy eating butter for breakfast, and do it right.

Makes 12.

3 cups flour
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

2 sticks cold butter
1/2 cup dried currants (actually very easy to find - sunkist makes 'em)
1 TB orange zest
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (they say whole, I use 2%, the scones are still sconetastic)

Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets w/parchment.

Mix dry ingredients well. Take butter out of fridge and cut it into the flour mixture (an ulu works well for this!) until it's the size of "small peas" (per cookbook). Mix in the currants and zest.

Then beat the egg and milk together in a large bowl, and fold the dry ingredients into those, mashing the dough together with your fingers till you get it to cohere. (It's OK if it's still streaky w/clumps of butter).

Divide dough in half, and plop each half in turn onto a lightly floured surface, and pat it into a 6-inch circle (it will be about an inch thick) - I find you don't need a rolling pin for this, hands are fine. Cut each circle into 6 wedges, put on baking sheets, and bake for 25-30 mins, until barely golden. Scones are pale critters, so be careful not to overbake.

Guest Post: Duck with Tart Cherry Port Sauce and Hazelnuts

In a new apartment across the country from home, the lovely and linguistically savvy Heather breaks in her kitchen:

Where the craving for duck in August came from, I’m not sure. But I found this recipe and followed it almost exactly, except for the duck breasts part.

I could not locate duck breasts or, for that matter, any ducks at all (except live ones) in my town. Spokane came to the rescue with whole ducks (and maybe would even have coughed up duck breasts if I’d looked harder). So whole, in fact, that they still retained both head and feet. Which my husband (dear man, and used to animal feet from his Chinese parents) promptly removed with a cleaver. So, if you can find the duck breasts, let me know how it turns out.

If you have to get a whole duck as I did, simply roast for 2-3 hours, depending on the size of the duck, and then slice off what you like. I didn’t season the roasting duck except for a bit of kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper, as I didn’t want the seasoned meat to compete with the flavor of the sauce. They say the hazelnuts are optional, but they are delicious with the meat.

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Nearly every blog we link to already has a recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes, and for good reason. My four little plants have been producing like champions, so I needed a way to make dozens of ripe Big Boys and Lemon Boys (hmm, all my tomatoes are male) last a little longer. If you have the same "problem," this is the solution. It takes tomatoes and makes them into Tomatoes Squared.

Just halve them, lay them out face up on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil & sprinkle with salt, and stick them in a 200 degree oven for as many hours as it takes (I decided mine were done after 5 hours). They'll be a little shriveled but still bursting with juice and really amazing flavor. Put them in jars and cover with olive oil, and the statute of limitations for using them is extended well beyond their fresh state.

Ed. 9/22/13 - Works great even for grape tomatoes if you have the patience to slice them!  And, they freeze well like this for winter use.

Late Summer Cocktail

the following guest post was dictated to A by our beloved mum:

Freeze blueberries, drop them in the bottom of the glass, pour in a shot of citrus vodka and fill to taste with sparkling blueberry lemonade (68 cent zero calorie MIRACLE bottle from WALMART). No high fructose corn syrup!

Top with a squeeze of lemon. Devised to enjoy on the porch in the heat of the summer.

Cottage Cheese Dill Bread

Soft & spongy & savory with a nice crust, brought to my attention by polkadotdotdot, in whose kitchen I've enjoyed more than one cup of tea and slice of toast sprinkled with dill. Amazing fresh from the oven w/oil, vinegar, and garden tomatoes. And speaking of toast, I expect it will be a winner in that arena too.

The only problem is: NOT ENOUGH DILL! I doubled up to half a cup of freshly chopped dill and it's still only a background flavor. Next time: ONE CUP of dill. Till then, I will sprinkle my putative toast with MORE DILL.

Chilled Corn & Fava Soup

Chris says this is "the finest soup I've ever made." And we are generally more or less awash in a sea of soup around here, so he wasn't lacking in comparators. However, it's just a leeeeeeetle bit labor intensive (cutting corn from the cob, double-shucking favas, peeling a whole head of garlic, cleaning leeks, stemming herbs).

So as not to inadvertently lead anyone down the path to a very late dinner, I'll specify that it took me about 2.5 hours ... maybe this is one to make with a sous chef, or on a post-farmer's -market Sunday afternoon when you have lawyer work you should ACTUALLY be doing and are seeking to forget, through repetitive physical motions and nice veggie smells, that you've ever read a law at all...

But anyway, that said, I just gobbled down two veggie-laden, pale green, savory-sweet, crunchy bowlsful like they were dang ice cream sundaes, so it gets a post.

You'll need:
2 pounds (in pods) favas - or more if you think you can face the shucking
6 cobs corn
4 small / 2 large leeks
1 head garlic
2 cups-ish (de-stemmed, loosely packed) fresh herbs: Mix of parsley, dill, tarragon, and mint
3 TB butter
Veggie bullion
Salt, paprika
Cotija cheese or a mild feta to top

Also: A soup pot, a saucepan with a steamer, tongs, blender.

The favas take the longest, both to prepare and to cook, so they're the place to start. Get 12 cups of water boiling. I added just 4 tsp of my preferred vegetable bullion to that quantity of broth (about 1/3 the amount called for) so it wouldn't be too intense. Then start shucking those favas.

When the broth starts to boil, take a break from the favas, husk your corn, and plop it in there to parbroil to make it easier to cut off the cob. (Unless you don't mind cutting raw corn off the cob, in which case be my guest, save yourself a step). When it cools, cut it off the cob and set it aside.

When the favas are out of their pods, put them in a steamer and steam them for 2-5 minutes, till the outsides look waxy and puckered, as if pulling away from the inner bean. Then peel that layer off too. (This was my first time dealing w/fresh fava beans,* and I quickly got in a groove where I'd put the knife perpendicular to the little brown line on top, and pop the top off like a cap, and then they'd shoot right outta their skins).

Once you get the favas into the broth, they will need awhile to soften, so you have plenty of time to prepare your garlic and leeks. Wash and slice the leeks; peel and slice the garlic, and put them all in the butter in the bottom of your saucepan, still hot from fava-steaming duty, on low heat. Let them soften. When they're niiiiiice and soft, add them to the broth. When the favas are also soft, add the corn as well.

Meantime, start pulling aromatic leaves from their stems. I used more parsley & dill than tarragon & mint. Don't skip the tarragon if you can help it though, I think it was an important flavor.

Once your herbs are ready, scoop some of the soup into the blender, add the herbs to the blender as well, and liquefy. I left the soup about 1/3 rustic and 2/3 blended, so there was plenty of texture but the broth had some creaminess to it. Season with salt and paprika.

Chill, then serve topped with your crumbly cheese plus maybe a squirt of lime and dash of paprika, with buttered bread and chilled white wine,. (I had it hot for lunch today on account of ferocious office A/C, and that was good too, but I think cold is better.)

*You'd think I never had a sister who farmed fava beans! But I did! Guess which one!

(There, have I redeemed myself from silly salad-dressing and smoothie recipes??)

Guest Post: Cherry Crumble

My good friend Natalie brought this very tasty summer dessert to a picnic last weekend. No worries about messy crumbles when you're in the grass! I pested her till she sent me the following guidelines:

Ok, here is the recipe I used, as my baseline anyway.

But I changed it to add 1 tsp. lemon juice to the crust and 1/4 tsp. into the cherry part, and also I threw the oatmeal into the food processor for a few seconds to make it smaller, closer to a coarse oat flour, but not nearly as ground up as flour. (And probably more than a pinch of salt in the crust. But I don't measure stuff, so I don't even know about the lemon juice/salt amounts above.)

The main criticism I had of this recipe is that there was way too much sugar in the crust, too much butter/margarine (I used a mix of half butter, half margarine in mine), and not enough oats and flour -- the wrong ratio. So if I make it again, I will definitely change that ratio to half the amount of sugar in the crust and increase the oats and flour.

Perfect Summer Salad

Denver's had strange afternoon rainstorms rolling through all summer. I suspect it's not something to celebrate, but it HAS been pretty amazing for my little potted garden. Tonight I went out back and picked a salad of delicate little lettuce leaves, bright red cherry tomatoes, and torn basil.

To dress it, I mixed up just a little olive oil with the juice of a grilled lemon (leftover from an artichoke adventure, and even better than plain old lemon juice), pinch of salt, and few drops of honey... and drank the last few drops of dressing from the bottom of the bowl when the salad was gone.

Happy summer!

Cherry Garcia Smoothie

One scoop vanilla ice cream, 3 frozen bananas, 1 chocolate pudding cup, 1 large handful frozen cherries, a few hershey's kisses, a few ice cubes, and a splash of orange juice.

Chiky Cookie S'mores

I read the food blog of a dear friend, Melissa Harrington, at 519 Kitchen. She's living in Korea and often posts about the trials of cooking abroad. Awhile ago, she posted here about her makeshift s'mores in the absence of graham crackers.

Saturday night, my friends and I encountered the same thing in Monteverde, Costa Rica when the family that ran our hostel (a.k.a. hosted us in their home for the night) offered to light us a fire for s'mores. We couldn't find graham crackers and the chocolate bars were only in mini size and far too expensive.

In the midst of our disappointment, I suddenly remembered Melissa's stroke of inspiration in using Korean chocolate covered cookies in place of graham crackers and chocolate. I ran to the cookie aisle and found the Costa Rican version, Chiky cookies, which are chocolate chip cookies with chocolate covering.

We bought a pack and returned to our hostel and a ten foot blaze of a fire that the family insisted was perfectly fine. Most of us weren't brave enough to edge close enough to the fire for roasting, but the five year old boy present took care of that for us. The kids loved the galletas and marshmallows, and one of my friends said she thinks that how s'mores should always be made- essentially a gooey chocolatey marshmallow cookie sandwich.

The moral of the story is this: resourcefulness in cooking is always a win, and if you are ever in a foreign country with chocolate covered cookies (I can't think of any U.S. equivalent) make s'mores with them. ¡Que delicioso!

Baked Barbecue Chicken with Pineapple

Before my sisters begin laughing about the fact that I am about to present yet another variation on my go-to dish of barbecue chicken, let me explain.

I spent six weeks in Peru. And in Peru, they don't have barbecue sauce. If you know Annalise, you know that this is a big deal.

I visited McDonald's for the first time out of homesickness and the comfort "normal" food can easily give in that regard. As I was ordering my McNuggets, I could have sworn I heard the words "barbecue sauce" escape her mouth (albeit in Spanish) and my love for Mcdonald's skyrocketed in that moment. Sadly, that day, there was no barbecue sauce sauce next to the aji de gallina, thus I ate my McNuggets in contentment and attributed it to the language barrier.

A few weeks later, with a shortened lunch break and knowledge of the fact that restaurants in Peru take about twice as long to bring you your food, I stood in Gato's Market in the Plaza de Armas and spied it: a bottle of barbecue sauce. I debated for some minutes before caving, purchasing it, tucking it in my bag and marching proudly to McDonald's, excited to consume some McNuggets with barbecue sauce. I got to McDonald's, ordered, and....she handed me two packs of barbecue sauce with my meal.

Fast forward a few weeks and here I am in Costa Rica, with a bottle of unopened barbecue sauce, a kitchen (at last!), and an abundance of the most melt-in-your-mouth, juice-dripping-down-your-chin delicious pineapples you will ever find. The following meal is the result:

Barbecue Pineapple Chicken

I placed two laaaarrrrge chicken breasts in what was supposed to be a casserole dish, but was metal and electrocuted me several times. These I drenched in the precious barbecue sauce (I imagine this would have been better with honey barbecue or some sort of tropical fruit-themed one) and 1 bottle of pineapple juice bought at the store. If you are not in a place that has corner markets overflowing with fruit (sorry, friends) canned pineapple could also work, and the extra juice from the can would be placed in the pan. I then looked up recipes for baked chicken, but wisely called up my mama to gather her opinion first. I ended up placing the whole thing, covered in tin foil, in the oven for about 40 minutes at 375 ish (ish because I had to convert to Celsius). Then I pulled it out, checked it, placed fresh pineapple slices on top and placed it back in for another ten to allow the pineapple to become even more juicy (if that's possible?). We served it with corn on the cob (not very good here) and sauteéd zucchini (very good here, particularly when topped with cheese).

The verdict: the pineapple CAN be juicier, and that bottle of barbecue sauce was totally worth it. Also I'm going to live in Costa Rica and eat tropical fruit for the rest of my life. See you at the beach.

Warm Asparagus and Potato Salad with Tahini Mustard Dressing

Inspired by this potato and asparagus salad. I took the mustard dressing idea as a base, but added tahini to make it creamier. Deliciously tangy!

4 russet potatoes
1 large yam (the kind with pale yellow flesh)
2 bunches asparagus
1 bunch green onion
4 cloves garlic
2 lemons
Dill
Basil
Dijon Mustard
Tahini
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Wash and chop the potatoes + yam. Toss in a bit of olive oil, lots of dill, sea salt, pepper, and basil. Roast at 425 until starting to brown.

Meanwhile, cut and steam the two bunches of asparagus. Once steamed, chop into large pieces and set aside in serving bowl.

Chop green onions and garlic. Use about 1/2 of the total green onion bunch. Place in a bowl; squeeze the juice of both lemons over the onions and garlic. Add several tablespoons of mustard and olive oil, to taste. Add two tablespoons of tahini, make sure to mix well and emulsify. Finish with sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Remove potatoes from oven, move into serving bowl with asparagus. Toss with dressing and serve warm.