Stewed Tomatillos & Tomatoes

You say Tomato, I say Tomatoes & Tomatillos... OK that didn't work out the way I wanted it to, but needless to say.... One of my most recent bounties has been tomatillos and tomatoes... From this I have made sauces, and even the adventurous (and delicious) tomato jelly (recipe forthcoming, probably). This dish is surprisingly not much less adventurous than the tomato jelly, with interesting sour overtones similar to those I have found in some Malaysian dishes. This likely had something to do with a tart leek stock I used, as much as the contents of the soup... If it is something you desire, I feel like some lime juice could help achieve it.

Anyway... Having recently begin a new job with a vegetarian good food fast startup, I am a bit on the exhausted side for florid posts, so I am just going to git on with the recipe... It goes well straight on its own, or with a cous cous or other grain. It can be had hot or cold.

Stewed Tomatillos & Tomatoes

2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 poblano chilis, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, husked and washed
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes*
1 cup home made stock or water
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 T Vodka (optional)**
2 T lime juice or white vinegar (also optional, if you like tart)

*I used mixed cherry & pear tomatoes. Large tomatoes, of any ripeness, cut into chunks will also work.
**Vodka, along with white wine, is a lovely flavour enhancer of tomato products.

Warm the oil in a large pot on a medium-high heat, when the oil heats up add the onion, pepper, and garlic until the onion is has begin to brown, about five to ten minutes.
Add the tomatillos, cook until the skins start to break open, ten to fifteen minutes. Pour in the stock and vodka, and stir, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to produce a slow bubble and cover, cook until the tomatillos are mostly dissolved, about thirty minutes. Add some salt and pepper for flavor.
Returm the heat to medium-high. When the mixture starts to bubble, add the tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes wilt but their skins remain intact. Now add the sour liquids if that is what you like.
Add more salt and pepper if desired, serve hot, at room temperature, or cold, drizzled with olive oil if desired.

Signs of Summer: Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with Seasoned Cucumbers

I know it may be hard to believe, but I don't _just_ make desserts. I do make plenty of other food, too! Dessert just happens to be more photogenic and easy to distribute among your friends. I am making plenty of dishes today for a girly dinner party I am organizing, but sadly my camera's battery is dead and I can't seem to find the charger...

So, I dropped by Red Fire Farm, who do my CSA, to take advantage of their pick their own options for CSA subscribers. I was absolutely crushed to find out that I got there too late, and they had ploughed over the strawberry bushes for the season. However I did come back with loads of green beans, fresh herbs, and some Iron Bound Island seaweed. Still, the strawberries were a tragedy... I picked them last year, in early July... They were so ripe that I had to use them in less than 24 hours, but the taste was unbelievable... The crown of the crop was a red wine strawberry sorbet, rhubarb had passed season so no pies.

So... Here is a moment to remember the strawberries that I will not have this season...

...

And a brilliant red recipe to celebrate the bounty the farm offered, and remember what has passed, and will come again. The tomatoes were hothouse, sadly.. But that just means this recipe is going to be even better in August.

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with Seasoned Cucumbers
Serves 6

Gazpacho

• 3 1/2 pounds heirloom tomatoes, cut up into large chunks*
• 2 t sea salt**
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• A few twists of black pepper
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1 quarter of a red beet (optional, gives a lovely depth of color)

Seasoned Cucumbers

• 1 large cucumber, diced***
• 1/2 c diced sweet onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 T fresh minced basil or basil flowers
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 1/2 t paprika
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• a couple of grinds of pepper
  

Step 1: Soup - Toss the tomatoes with the ingredients in a large bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
Step 2: Cucumbers - Meanwhile, assemble all of the ingredients for the cucumbers and toss together.
Step 3: Soup - Blend until creamy and smooth. Strain through a cheesecloth into your serving bowls, garnish with the seasoned cucumbers.
Step 4: Serve. I like to drizzle the bowls with a little extra-virgin olive oil, a pinch of coarse sea salt, and a twist of fresh black pepper.


Notes
*Single variety is good, the sweet Brandywine works well, as does the smoky Cherokee Purple.
** I used a smoked salt
*** Depending on the cucumber, you can leave it with its skin and seeds. Thicker, older ones can have rough skin that is tough to chew, and large seeds. Some smaller, young cucumbers have a tender skin and small seeds.

Creamy Eggplant & Roasted Pepper Soup

Hrm. I have no idea how I made this recipe up. No pictures, it looks fine but as an eggplant soup is not that photogenic.. so photos it will do without. It does look nice and all, but it is eggplanty gray-ish. Anyway, my housemate loved it. Sort of. She couldn't believe it had almost no fat in it, she thought it tasted too decadent. I will definitely make it again, possibly when I have nice bowls to picture it in.

2 small to medium eggplants
1 T garlic/EVOO
8 cloves garlic
1 lrg red onion
1/2 c roasted red peppers
2 T macadamia/cashew butter
1/4 c nut yeast
heaping T stock
4 c water
3 inches kombu
1/4 t cinnamon

Soak the kombu in the water.
Sautee up the garlic and onions until they start to sweeten. Blend all of the ingredients together, and voila.

Actually, I realized I do have pics. They will be forthcoming!

Thai Kitchen Sink Soup

So a few weeks ago I went over "concept recipes." This is the soup version of that. Honestly I made this too long ago to really remember what I put in, but there will be an honest guess. The vegetable items in this soup are as much whatever I have kicking around my fridge that I want to use up as the broth is.

To make the liquid part of the soup I look through my fridge for one or two things to make it 'rich,' like creamy, and one or two things to give it flavor.

For the vegetables I see what I have, shred, dice and chop.

Rich items could include: nut butters, particularly almond and cashew (but also peanut, macadamia nut, tahini, etc.), coconut milk, and/or mushrooms. I usually do this when I have a near-empty jar of some sort of butter I need to use up, a half can of coconut milk, potatoes, squash, etc.

Flavor items are usually some sort of paste made for soup or sauces: Miso (sweet, dark red, whatever I have), tom yum, thai curries (like red, masaman, yellow), garam masala, chunky chat, indian curry powder, etc.

I usually toss in a couple cloves of garlic, ginger, a vegetable stock cube (or better than bullion paste), salt, braggs liquid aminos, sesame oil, soaked kombu (kelp), red pepper flakes, black pepper, other spices... all depends on the flavor I am going for.

All of this goes into the blender, with some water, and I blend until smooth. Some combos work better than others, IE almond butter + thai curries work very well. Miso + kombu + sesame oil = good. I then pour it into a sauce pan on the stove and heat it up.

Meanwhile, I prepare whatever vegetables I have into the number of bowls I am using. In this case I shredded some carrots and daikon, ripped up some basil leaves, and slices some scallions and put them in a bowl. Other good veggies included shredded zucchini, roasted root vegetables, thinly sliced onions, spinach, carrots... You can also toss leftover cooked grains/beans in as well, such as rice, quinoa, chickpeas, etc.

When the soup is ready (re: boiling), I pour it over the ingredients, into the bowl. The vegetables are blanched, and keep their flavor/are not over-cooked. The infusion of basil adds a great kick when cooking more thai-style soups.

Pizza party

So I am in a phase where I am "beyond recipes" for much of my cooking. I come home, I want comfort ASAP. So I do a quick evaluation of what I have, what needs to get used up the most before it goes bad, etc.
I also do a lot of work with 'concepts.' I describe concepts like the "concept" of miso soup; a lighter fare that is earthy and centering, light or heavy depending on which miso I use and how many vegetables I have. They are hardly loyal to tradition, but certainly echo it. I often fuse flavors and international concepts.
The concept of miso soup last night, for example, meant that I boil some water. While the water is boiling, I see what I have in the fridge and flavors I have in the pantry. So I end up chopping up some scallions, julienning some carrots and daikon, slicing a garlic clove and a couple of mushrooms. Split those ingredients into two bowls, along with some red pepper flakes, some liquid aminos, a bit of fruit kimchee fruit vinegar (the sour juice left over from the fruit kimchee I made. I used it instead of brown rice vinegar), a couple of grains of salt. I pour over the hot water and let it flash cook the vegetables, use the rest of the water for some hojicha tea, and set out a plate of home made (regular) kimchee.
What about the miso? Hell, what about the pizza? Isn't this a pizza post? Ok to wrap up about the miso. Add the hot water, taste it, determine how much 'substance' it needs, and then you add a heaping (or not so heaping) tablespoon of miso. In this case I used a 3 year barley miso. I also added the rest of my tom yum paste and coconut milk, to give it a creamier, more tropical aspect.

Anyway, back to the pizza. This was about introducing what 'concepts' are. So the pizza above is inspired by Veggie Planet's "Vegan Oddlot" pizza. In all fairness, I did buy some ingredients for this one. I already had the crust, though, and had to use it. Lets lay out the ingredients for this one.

Some or all of the following:
Olive oil
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Canned artichoke
Olives
Spinach (fresh or frozen. If frozen, thaw and squeeze the extra water out)
Garlic
Fresh basil
Roasted red peppers
San Marzono tomatoes (those are great! Notice the can in the background)
Mushrooms

Mashed tofu topping:
Tofu (drained)
Tahini
Sriracha hot sauce (or sambal olek, or any other hot sauce)
Black pepper
Garlic

Pizza dough or pre-made crust (or pita, tortillas, or other flat breads in lieu of dough).

Pre-heat oven to as hot as it will go (500 or so, for me). Note. I made this with a pizza stone. I don't know how raw dough will cook on metal. However you probably want it around 350-400 if you are doing it on a metal sheet.

This is a great activity to do with friends! So I often have one friend roll out the dough, while having other friends fetch what I need, or are prepping ingredients. Meanwhile, I prep the mashed tofu topping. In a bowl I smash together some tofu, tahini, a dash of sriracha, some salt, black pepper, and a mashed garlic cube or two. I don't have volume because it all depends on how much I have, and I measure based on eye. I would say use about 1 T tahini per half cup of tofu, though. Keep tasting it, though.
Set the mix aside, and get to assembling the pizza! I brush over some olive oil (sometimes I blend olive oil and garlic together for the topping). Then go nuts assembling all the ingredients however you like.
One note. I would layer the basil on the bottom or else it turns brown in the oven, if exposed.

I bake mine for about 12-15 minutes before I even check on it, then I see when the crust is starting to lift away from the stone as a good time to take it out.

I will surely post other pizza 'concepts' in the future. My friend just brought me some ramp (wild onions) from West Virginia!

Spring is Undeniably Here! Borscht

ooh pretty... want to touch!
2 cups water
2 cups strong vegetable broth (I use Better than Bullion for my stock)
6 Medium peets, trimmed, peeled, cut into chunks
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 red, yellow, or orange pepper, seeded, deveined, and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
1 dash dried dill
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
Lemon Juice, Stevia, Salt, and Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Chopped cilantro
Vegan sour cream, for garnish (I linked a recipe for convienience, use whichever you prefer, including commercial)

1. Combine water, broth, beets, tomatoes, pepper, bay leaf, dill, and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered, for about 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat, discard bay leaves, set aside to cool. If it is cooler outside than inside, I often leave the soup base 'outside,' it cools faster and saves more energy than putting it in the refrigerator.
2. While base is cooling, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onions, scallions, and garlic and cook until tender. Remove from heat, add to soup base, along with parsley.
3. Remove about one cup of liquid from the soup base (more if it seems really 'watery'), add orange juice. Puree with a blender bowl, food processor, or immersion blender in batches if necessary (I used an immersion blender). If soup is very thick, add more of the beet juice liquid, continue to add liquid until you get desired thickness (thinness?).

Let base cool all the way. Here is where you custom tailor it, with the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and stevia. Some people like their borscht tart, some sweet, some both, etc. etc. When you are satisfied with the flavor, let cool.

Spoon into white bowls, and garnish with sour cream, sprinkle with cilantro.


The rest of the beet broth you can save in the fridge for food or clothing dye, a morning drink, use in another soup, fake blood ;), etc. etc.

Enjoy! And I'm not going to pretend I'm not totally proud of the photo up above.