Simple, Bright, Fresh, Hot Summer's Day Dinner

Friends, family, readers. I know, it's been a minute. But I've been busy cooking a TINY HUMAN (coming soon!) so it is what it is, y'all.

Things have been busy in preparation: we acquired a chest freezer, for one thing, so there's been a lot of freezer loading happening in hopes of not subsisting on takeout in the beginning. TBD how well it will all work out - but rest assured I'll [try to] keep you posted. It's gardening season, too, and things are hopping out on Deck MiniFarm. I was hoping everything would be pretty well established before the Munchkin makes his or her appearance, but things are kind of neck and neck at this point. More on that in another post. 

For today's deliciousness: a legit warm-weather recipe! At no point do you turn on the oven or the stovetop! (Well, assuming you have some grilling access. If not the stovetop might be needed. Sorry.)

I made gazpacho last night - first time making it, first time making a non-beverage in the Vitamix, and...first time using those tomatoes I canned last summer. (Did I tell you about those? It was kind of a debacle involving a severely overheated kitchen and possibly some loss of product due to paranoia about things not being fully blanched before going in a jar. This summer's excess is getting frozen.) 

Anyway -- it was delicious! Also since nobody got sick from the tomatoes, which were not re-heated in the making of gazpacho, I guess the canning worked too. I paired it with marinated grilled skirt steak skewers (recipe below), and all was well. This particular gazpacho is of the smoother variety, not so chunky -- possibly due to my particular tomatoes + equipment. But I imagine it could easily be adjusted for chunkiness. 

** No photos because....we ate it all too fast. **

The whole thing was super easy -- chop things up and stick them in the fridge for a bit, and quickly blend and grill. The sitting-in-in-the-fridge means that this is probably not everyone's weeknight dinner unless you work from home or get home at a reasonable hour, but it's a fresh and bright weekend meal for a hot summer day. The gazpacho really benefits from a good hour in the fridge, and the skewers marinate for at LEAST 30 minutes. So I guess you could make the marinade and chop the veggies the night before. 

For the apparatus: Having a Vitamix made this incredibly easy. You could also, I imagine, use a food processor (a large one), or another brand of powerful/quality blender, or possibly even a stick blender with the right container, although that might be tricky. Either way, experiment! 

Fresh Tomato Gazpacho (in a Vitamix or similar contraption)

Via Dadcooksdinner.com

Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 large bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 1 small cucumber
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored [*Note from your blogger: I used about 4 pint jars of tomatoes, semi-drained as they had quite a lot of liquid in them. An alternate is a 28oz can of diced tomatoes, the higher quality the better, but generall skip the bland supermarket "fresh" tomatoes - they will be seriously lacking in flavor.*]
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar [*Red wine vinegar is what I had - worked fine.*]
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon pimenton de la vera (Spanish smoked paprika), or sweet paprika [I had Hungarian sweet or spicy, no smoked, so went with sweet]
• minced red onion for garnish [I forgot this...it still worked. Could also use fresh minced radish for the crunch & bite.]

Directions

1. Mince the garlic, prep the vegetables

Put the lid on the blender and remove the center plug from the lid. Turn on the blender, drop in the garlic, and let it run until completely minced. While the garlic is mincing, chop the rest of the vegetables into roughly 2 inch pieces.

2. Blend the soup

Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender. Turn the blender on low, and gradually bring it up to medium speed. Blend on medium speed until the ingredients turn into a soup, about 30 seconds at most in the Vitamix - it will liquify quickly and you don't want it TOO thin. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, or sherry vinegar if needed. Pour into bowls, garnish with minced red onion, and serve. 

Important note: If you have time, let the soup rest in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving. This is vastly improved when quite chilled.

Leftovers will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Alternately, due to the lack of bread or dairy that are sometimes found in gazpacho, this should freeze fine -- just give it a good stir, possibly whisk, when defrosted. 

Play with this recipe a bit! I think it would be tasty with maybe some corn kernels thrown in at the end, or garnished with a protein like some shrimp. There's a lot of room for creativity. 

Grilled Skirt Steak Skewers

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1-inch piece of ginger, sliced [*I didn't have fresh, or even dried, so used powdered. It was fine - if you love ginger, though, making sure to have fresh is probably wise.*]
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds skirt steak, trimmed of membranes and silver skin [*Note: you can adjust this -- I used about 3/4 lb since it was just for two of us. I didn't adjust the marinade proportions accordingly, but you certainly can.*]
• Olive oil for grill grates
• 25-30 bamboo or wooden skewers for grilling [*I have metal ones that I use and they're fine - just don't try to marinate on them!*]

Directions

1. Place bamboo or wooden skewers in a dish, cover with water to soak.

2. Place all marinade ingredients in a small bowl, stir to combine. Set aside.

3. Lay the skirt steak horizontally out on a cutting board. Notice the grain of the steak that goes up and down. Cut the steak into segments (along the grain of the meat), about 6 to 8-inches long. Then, with each segment, turn the segment so the grain of the meat runs in a line from left to right, and cut thin strips (1/4 to 1/3-inch thick, 1 1/2-inch wide, 6 to 8-inches long), angling the knife, cutting across the grain. [*I can't say I really followed this religiously - I just cut at an angle once. It was fine. You can be as careful as you see fit.*]

4. Place the steak slices in a non-reactive bowl or dish. Toss with the marinade to coat. Chill and marinate for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.

5. Preheat your grill, whether charcoal or gas, for high-direct heat. While the grill is preheating, thread the marinated skirt steak strips onto your pre-soaked skewers.

6. When ready to grill, brush the grill grates with olive oil (it helps to fold a paper towel, soak the towel in olive oil, and use long handled tongs to hold the soaked paper towel and spread oil on the grates). Working in batches if necessary, lay the skirt steak skewers on the hot grill grates, perpendicular to the grates. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until cooked through. Remove from grill and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

One Last Grill

Friends,

Hello again. The summer is winding down - technically, by the Jersey Shore calendar, it's over already, and the 49 degrees it was when I woke up this morning attests to that. It's been a lovely summer of grilling and growing, but I'm ready for cooking season. "Cooking season?" you say. Yes indeed, readers. The oven goes dormant from late May through, well, about now. So much grilled deliciousness this summer, mostly done be EPH but a little here and there by me.

Which reminds me - did I ever talk to you about the brining of everything else? During one of EPH's trips I felt like grilling, and in a fit of health had purchased skinless boneless chicken breasts. These are not something I generally have on hand as I feel they are generally bland and flavorless. But then somebody said something about brining them, I gave it a try, and just like that -- chicken breasts redeemed! The only lingering question is WHY didn't I do this before???

Why you gotta bug me?

If you're a gardener, by this time in the summer you're probably hitting some pest or illness issues of one variety or another. So far this summer I've dealt with aphids, yellowing leaves on the tomatoes, and Japanese beetles - and dealt with each one with various things I had on hand, no chemicals needed. 

Greetings from the Deck Farm

Time for a garden update! Things are growing along nicely, and each thing is its own little surprise. For one thing, who would have thought that the corn would be the easiest and lowest maintenance?? I have ears coming out now, and while I don't think it's going to be a super high yield (I have seven ears at the moment, assuming all come out in good shape), it's been a fun experiment. 

My zucchini has finally hit its stride -- it had some issues early on and needed various TLC (more on that in the next entry) but now I'm harvesting at the rate of about 3 to 4 per week. Good thing we like zucchini!! 

 

Harvest Season!

So it's been two weeks....and all of the sudden, I have a full blown zucchini that we'll eat with dinner tonight, and four more blossoms popped open overnight! This is one fast-growing veggie. (On a related note, if this rate keeps up I'm going to need recipe ideas...)

We had some weather roller coaster-ing the past week or so - it got cold and rainy for a while, then temps shot back up, and I had some worries about system shock for the Deck Farm. But all plants seem unfazed. Zucchini, as noted, is happy as can be, and the tomato plants are popping out all over the place. I've been pruning aggressively but they're still extremely bushy. We now have actual tomatoes on both plants, though, so exciting news there - I was worried with the crowded pots there wouldn't be enough nutrients, but apparently that's a non-issue. The corn continues to shoot skyward, as well - this morning I realized it was up to my shoulders!

Whoa there, mini-farm

Y'all, the garden has gone haywire.

So for those of you not in the MidAtlantic region: we kind of skipped spring around here. It was cold cold cold chilly nice-for-about-a-minute and then boom, 85 degrees. So be it -- but it seems to have confused my plants. I had growth spurts across the board, but now everything is flowering and I have a feeling I'm going to have produce ahead of schedule. This might not seem so bad, but these plants haven't gotten quite tall enough yet to support the produce so I'm not real sure what I'm going to end up with in terms of crop yield. (Farm lingo, obviously.)

Things a-growin'

So life, as always, got in the way. Lots to report from the garden/kitchen front these days...garden first. 

I decided to go big this year, both in crops and in containers. After years of attempting to grow vegetables in small pots intended for nothing more than flowers and herb bushes, I broke down and bought whiskey barrels this year - well, plastic facsimiles, but what can you do. I then proceeded to....completely overcrowd them. Here's the deal - as I wrote last time, I had bizarrely high seed-to-start rates this year. (That last cherry tomato plant eventually sprouted for a 100% rate.) I then promised the 2 extras of each to my friend so her kids could play in the dirt productively. After THAT I was a flake, forgot about that, and planted all five of each start in the barrels. So to recap: my friend got no starts and my barrels have more plants than they should because I can't bring myself to yank them back out. (Note: the tomatoless friend situation was remedied when my mother found herself in the same situation as me and brought her extra plants over to said friend.)

That one time where we accidentally drove to winter

It's been quite a couple of days, friends. So we went to Yellowstone on Sunday -- really beautiful, well worth the price of admission. Waterfalls and steaming slopes of hot spring-laden rock and herds of bison and elk wandering about.

Then, we left the park.

(Dramatic pauses for a reason)

We took US 212 out of the park, the far northeast entrance - the one going the way we were headed. I didn't notice till we were well en route the map's note about how the road is closed in the winter. This may seem irrelevant as it was August 31st but living in the shadow of the Cascades and Olympics, I know this is not generally a good sign and that winter is more of an elevation difference than a season in the West. I didn't think too much of it, though, and figured we'd be fine. Well, we were, but that's probably because EPH was driving and he is much less inclined to panic. We were cruising along, headed up a series of switchbacks through what the map told us is known as Beartooth Pass. (At the time I hypothesized that this was due to the jagged silhouette of the mountain but now I wonder if people get stuck and eaten up there) As we climbed, I was a little nervous about the extremity of the switchbacks, as well as the odd tendency to NOT put guardrails next to sheer drops. But it was beautiful so I tried to not worry, and EPH was driving slowly to keep me calm. Early on we noticed that there was snow at the top of the mountain - again, very far up so didn't dwell on it. But then the snow got closer...and closer...and the GPS elevation told us we were passing 10,000 feet and suddenly the snow was along the road and the "fog" was extremely dense and the ground all around was covered in thick frost. Keep in mind we're still on extreme switchbacks and we're in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal at all - rural Montana. This is how survival movies start, amirite?

Then it got scarier -- we had to go DOWN the other side. Still switchbacks, only now we notice the road surface itself is, uh, shiny. So we're going down twisty windy roads, on the side of a mountain, on ice-covered roads. We're going super slow and I'm praying every prayer I know while mentally alternating with swearing a blue streak, and we're hoping that a) we stay on the road and b) nobody comes along behind us and can't slow down in time and we both go off the mountain.

Needless to say, since I'm typing this we clearly survived, but in my head I was definitely running through the various provisions and blankets in the truck and thinking I might actually have to use them. Scary. Pro tip - AVOID BEARTOOTH PASS if driving in/out of Yellowstone!!!

Just inside the western edge of North Dakota.

Not long after, though, we encountered more bison - these were just roaming free near a rest stop. Amazing.

So, that was Sunday. Monday we got to Fargo, which was surprisingly adorable, and where we had a fantastic dinner in a place called the Beefsteak Club. Check it out if, for some odd reason, you are in Fargo. The next morning EPH hopped a flight off to work, and I drove on. My adventures, such as they are, in the next post.

Homer lost patience with this road trip business and spent some time sulking. 

Living la vida local

So, it's another day in paradise. Sorry, people who aren't here. I just can't get over it.

I went out today, with intent to check out a new park and/or go for a hike in an old favorite. I found the new "park" - really a forest - but for the life of me couldn't find an entrance. I'm not quite local enough yet...it was actually over on Maury, which is called Maury Island but seems to be attached to Vashon. Per Wikipedia, it was originally freestanding but in 1913 was attached by a locally constructed isthmus. There's your trivia for the day, kids.

Anyhoo, I abandoned that plan, and figured I'd tool around a bit before heading over to Island Center Forest, where I've had many blissful deep woods hikes. I meandered along, ended up along a beach road, and pulled over to get some salt air and sunshine therapy. As I was gathering up camera and binoculars (I'm always hopefully watching for some interesting marine mammals), a battered old pickup pulled up next to me. The driver, a grizzled dude in a fisherman hat, mutt by his side, watched me get out and (out of habit) lock the door. I got about three steps before I heard "you don't gotta take your purse, you know. Vashon people won't mess with your stuff." I called back that I only had it to carry my assorted gadgets, to which he replied "oh good, I thought maybe you were just being a tighta$s." What can one do there but laugh? No, I told him, not a tight$s - just practical. This apparently was enough for him to feel like I deserved an inside tip, and he told me if I went down a ways, turned at the corner, parked by the metal bar after the dip -- I'd find the best beach on the island. "30 years here, I know a thing or two," he said. I thanked him, headed back to my car to check this out, and wished him a good day - to which I got a "you too, sweetheart." There are some from whom that offends a woman, and some from whom it's just endearing. This, obviously, was the latter.

Dunes leading up to the beach

The beach was wide, nearly empty, and gloriously salty and sunny. Moral of the story: always listen to the locals - particularly when they tell you the water is warm enough to wade in. Despite it being Sound water, so typically icy, it was in fact warm enough for wading, and clear as glass. I never did get to the Island Center Forest, but that's okay.

Just another day in paradise. Now off to collect some mainland friends from the ferry for a fun night out, island-style.

It's too clear to tell but my feet are both underwater...in the Puget Sound! Without numbness! Unheard of.

Real glad I met this big daddy on dry land.

Island Life

I want to live on Vashon.

Boarding the ferry eastbound, 5:45am

I mean, not really -- we're moving back east and looking forward to it -- but Vashon is absolutely my happy place. Tiny, woodsy, friendly, farm and beach and small town and engaged citizens all in one. I had great grand plans of roaming and hiking and kayaking -- haven't done so yet, but maybe tomorrow. In the meantime I've spent time on the water (even if it's a ferry), we've gotten the hang of where to get what in town (pro tip, the IGA is a sad sad supermarket. Thriftway is so much better I can't quite get how IGA is still in business...something I'd know if I lived here, I guess), where the best coffee is (Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie -- which most places serve anyway, but the place itself is charming. There are mugs hanging on hooks for the regulars). Farmstands are on the honor system (bring exact change, but if you don't you can can probably bring it by later). There is a wine tasting room, a delicious bakery, a forest in the center of the island for hiking and roaming and - apparently - trail riding (horses, people).

Honor system farmstand

There is the kind of small town friendliness and familiarity only seen now in Hallmark movies, only without the schmaltz. Everyone generally knows who is who and what is what, but the development is so NOT overdone that most people seem to have quite a lot of land, so they aren't all tripping over each other.

Main Street/Vashon Highway, early evening

So, anyway, great trip so far. We're in this guest cabin that has tons of land around it. There are owls hooting during the night, roosters throughout the day, and in the evenings the next property over plays reggae. Not meant for us but it adds a certain something. Other than that, it's so quiet we can hear leaves falling. It's spectacular.

The "backyard". That's a hammock in the lower left.

Catching my breath: a photo album

The movers came. The movers left. We ran all the heck over South Seattle saying goodbye to people and having adventures. Our extended stay in Tukwila was...functional, if not exactly luxurious. But it was definitely efficient and convenient, so it's hard to complain. Now, we're on Vashon Island in a guest cabin and it is basically paradise. 

We had a little more stuff than the mover expected....awkward. 

"Where IS ALL MY STUFF!" says Homer 

Visiting my friend V up on the coast near Bellingham

Hotel room birthdays!

Pink Martini on the lawn

5:45am, eastbound from Vashon to West Seattle aboard the WSDOT ferry Issaquah

Our current "backyard". Island living sure is rough. 

Lessons learned!

It's been a morning of small discoveries. Small in that they are inconsequential, but also in that they are probably obvious to others.

First, that herb harvest. I was puzzling over how I was going to dry them all quickly enough to get them moved somewhere -- there's just no way I can use all that up that quickly -- and it occurred to me I could probably do it in the oven. A little googling and 45 minutes later, and voila! Not only are they all perfectly dried, but they even kept more color then the traditional hang-dry - and my main floor is beyond fragrant with herbal aromas. Here's the deal: wash and fully dry the fresh herbs. Spread them out on a cookie sheet (or tin foil in my case, as the cookie sheets didn't fit and are now packed anyway). Heat the oven to as low as it will go, which was 170 degrees in my case, and slide those sheets in. KEEP THE OVEN DOOR OPEN A TINY BIT! I used the dough hook for my not-yet-packed KitchenAid so I wouldn't have to be paranoid about a wooden spoon or mitt (recommended on various sites) catching fire. The air movement seems to be key to the drying as opposed to scorching. If you have a convection oven, perhaps that will do the trick, but I don't know. Different herbs seem to take different times - seems to be based on the amount of oils in them - but start with 30 minutes. Mine were close at that point, so I turned them around and did another 15 minutes, and they are now cooling and ready to bag. Very exciting.

Second, which I haven't actually tried yet -- I packed up my toaster the other day (or it was packed, by my helpful friend). It didn't occur to me till hours later that this is something I use for breakfast every morning. (It's been a long week, okay?) I thought about oven toasting, but previous efforts have led to one large crouton. So back to the google and it dawned on me: I have a grill pan, one of two stovetop items that I set aside for leftover consumption use before packing. Tomorrow, I'm pan toasting bread. Cross your fingers!

Third: gratuitous product placement. Here's the backstory: I brew my own iced coffee. I love iced coffee, and during the summer absolutely cannot drink hot coffee. Paying $2.50 a cup is insanity to me when I can buy a bag of coffee for $8 and brew many pots' worth. So, I brew and cool it. However, again with the kitchen -- packing up both the coffee maker and the cold pitcher. I was bracing myself for a long expensive three weeks of iced coffee when I saw in the grocery: Starbucks iced coffee, now in a half gallon jug and completely unsweetened. Now, I'm not a fan of Sbux coffee -- iced tea and espresso, yes, but their drip is like burnt battery acid and I just can't handle it. But every other supermarket option is half sugar and gross, and this was only $5 for the jug (still high but lower than the retail option), so I figured I'd try it and see. Well. I don't know what goes so wrong in those Sbux stores but this iced coffee is DELICIOUS. It's completely different - no burnt flavor at all, just a smooth nuttiness. It's SO good. It's way better than what I brew at home, too. Which will be a quandary for another day, but for now...yum. Try it. You'll thank me. (although, as my head buzzes...word to the wise: it ain't weak.)

** 8/14/14: UPDATE: the pan grilling of the bread - or in this case a bagel - worked out remarkably well. Another small win! 

Teasers and returns

So, it's been a minute. Sometimes the bloggage (it's a word) just isn't there. Plus, you know, I got MARRIED (read in Oprah voice, please) and that kind of took of every single waking moment of my life.

It's three months later, and EPB...EPF...I guess he's EPH now, huh? That sounds like an illegal substance...might need a new name for him. Anyway, he and I are picking up and hauling across the country. We've got a week and a half to pack everything from our home, make all the related plans, and get out. (How it came to this is another story and not for this blog) We then will have two weeks to kill before leaving Seattle, so will be somewhat nomadic but within the Puget Sound region. Then week three is the grand cross country road trip! With cat! Oh my.

The only tie-in to this blog is that I'm going to do my best to figure out how to eat on the move in a way that doesn't involve 3 restaurants a day. I think we'll at least have a fridge each place we stay for the first two weeks, so we'll see what happens. Let the adventures begin...

It's that season again

The sun has been out here in Seattle for days now. Days! It's gorgeous. I'm sunburned. It's only April. I could not be happier. 

As an obvious result, I've been pretty much parked on my patio, and have been puttering and freshening up garden pots. In the process, I've discovered that while I never really checked to see if my peas from last year were perennials...it's kind of looking like maybe they are. The pot in which (I assume, can't really remember) they were planted last year suddenly has a collection of pea-looking sprouts, without me having paid the slightest bit of attention. 

there are four or five of these - peas-to-be?

 All I've done is...I don't know, till? the soil to air it out after the winter, with intent to fertilize and reuse later in the season. I didn't think I even left any of the plant behind last year. But something is growing and it's not a weed or a stray birdseed (not the current finch families are leaving much behind to begin with), so maybe I'm lucking into another crop. It's a mystery.

Meanwhile it appears I'm going to have some sort of tomato bonanza. Last year I planted 9-10 seeds and got something sad like 1 sprout, and had to purchase a start from a local farm at the farmers' market to make sure I had a crop at all. This year I planted 16 seeds, and so far I have 9 - nine! - sprouts. I'm going to have to buy more pots. The mint won't die, the thyme seems to have created a baby thyme at the side of the pot, the sage looks like winter never even happened, and even the rosemary is doing well. This is all before this week, when we've had nearly a full week of stunning weather (did I mention that I'm sunburned). This week the arugula has popped up all over the place and three new orchid buds have bloomed. The only thing not busting out is the violet hybrid I seeded in pots - which is probably fine since now I'm going to need those pots for tomatoes. I love spring. 

itty bitty tomato sprout...one of many

A follow up, which is totally unlike its preceding post

I don't normally just repost somebody else's blogging - seems lazy and vaguely cheaty - but this seemed important. I was talking previously about how we're all in the winter funk - how food is not fresh and cooking is not fun and we are generally cold, grumpy, and uninspired (maybe I'm projecting a bit). I gave you a warm and somewhat wintery meal. Today, in my perusal of favorite blogs, I swung by Smitten Kitchen...and saw that Deb was feeling pretty much the same as I - but had a very different approach. I now want fresh fruity drinks, and you should too. Read, drink, and enjoy.

Blood Orange Margaritas



picture via Smitten Kitchen

This morning's harvest

My golden tomato plant is rocking this summer - these are only the ones that were at their darkest! There are plenty still ripening. The two plants are staggered nicely - I think this one will be winding down when the red ones are about ready. (And yes, more sage...that plant is out of control)

I'm bringing appetizers to a dinner party tonight - so my plan is to make mini-caprese skewers, using these and some yet-to-be-clipped basil. The basil was looking a little wilty this morning, though, so we'll see if it's perked back up. Yum!

I will never go frozen again

Y'all, I had a revelation and a gardening success tonight, all at the same time.

So, I've been growing garden peas this year. I've grown sugar snaps before, but not for years and never a basic garden pea. I had visions of fancy pea puree and whatnot, but I probably won't have a big enough crop for that, so I decided to pick some tonight and just cook them with dinner. (Dinner, by the way, contained three things and two of them came from my patio garden. I'm a little proud. Imagine if I had more than just a patio!) Anyway. This whole time I've been wondering why I've never actually seen fresh peas in the produce section - sugar snaps, snow peas, but not garden peas, except for bags of frozen peas. I can now say that it take a lot of pea pods to produce a dish...and the shelling is a process. Although it was my first time doing this, so I guess I probably don't know the most efficient way to do it. I'll say this, though: it was WORTH it.

I picked probably 2 dozen pods and shelled them, leaving me with about half a cup of peas. These peas, for the record, bore NO resemblance to the frozen peas I've always eaten. I generally support frozen vegetables - healthier than canned, and they fill the gap between fresh seasons. But this was a totally different vegetable! I've told you about my weird allergies before, and they meant I couldn't snack on them raw, but I wanted to get as close as I could, so I blanched them. I brought a small sauce pan of water to boiling, tossed them in with some sea salt, and 30 seconds later drained them and dished them with a tiny bit of butter. They were SO GOOD. They still had a pop, a crunch, like fresh peas, and a juiciness to them. I hope the plant produces many more...maybe I'll even stop long enough to get pictures of the next round!

Baking the Opposite of What I Preach

  
It is time for true confessions. 

Today, I did something totally opposite of what I usually blog about. Nothing about it was local. Nothing was seasonal (unless you REALLY stretch seasonal). Nothing about it was organic, or even remotely healthy. But sometimes, it's just really important to have Funfetti.

Yes, you read that correctly. See, I was in Target the other day (source of all things good and dangerous...and just wait till they start making their own brand of liquor...and you know they will...Archer Farms Gin, anyone?), looking for random red white and blue picnic stuff for my fireworks picnic with EPB tonight, and spotted a box of "Stars and Stripes Funfetti". I could not help myself. While I believe strongly in baked goods from scratch - and in fact have a darn good cupcake recipe that I've made before - I feel like Funfetti supersedes all rules.

A little history. When I go home to New Orleans, I usually stay with my friend Jen. (Yes, I know you all think I'm from Philly/Jersey. I am...I just have other homes too.) Anyway, Jen. She gets an excuse to clean up her guest room (to her husband I say "you're welcome"), and I get time with my friend and her family, plus fun drinks and home-cooked food. This also includes, not infrequently, Funfetti cupcakes.

Meanwhile, I grew up in a house of where convenience foods dared not tread - my mother made, among other things, all my birthday cakes from scratch - whether this was for health or economic reasons, I don't know, but probably both. Other things that came from scratch: pâtés, yogurt (easily 20 years before that was even remotely hip...she's always been ahead of the curve), the world's best red sauce (a recipe I've acquired but can't bring myself to share here...at least not yet), and waffles that needed no condiments whatsoever. It wasn't till many years later (I guess college?) that I baked from a box. While my mother is still my bar for a superior baked good, there is something lovely about the boxed mix - and it still holds some novelty for me. So: imagine my excitement when one day during the my last stint living in New Orleans, I went over to Jen's after work - and there were Funfetti cupcakes! This was my first encounter with the fascinating combination of cake mix and sprinkles, and I was hooked. I think she also sent me back to Chicago with a box for the road trip...that was a big Funfetti summer.

Anyway, when I saw that box in Target - I knew it had to happen. So, thanks for the introduction, Jen, and happy Independence Day, everyone!

Growth! (Too much, even)

In my last post, I mentioned basil from my garden. One would think that suggested I've had success in this realm...one would be wrong. My basil seed had one tiny tiny sprout...and then it died. This is a common problem here in the Northwest - it's just not hot and sunny for long enough, and the basil can't tough it out like the rest of us. But to me, summer is caprese salad. My local farmers market has tomatoes early on, since it's a relatively short drive across the Cascade Mountains to the warm and dry climate, so I feel like I should make caprese...and last weekend I ran out of patience. Trader Joe's, which just opened down the street, had $3 basil, so I figured it was worth it. Well, I got down there and it wasn't bundles, like I assumed, but full-on plants!

 I clipped what I needed and plopped the remaining plant (or five, actually - quite a deal, this) right into the dirt that had once held a tiny spring of short-lived basil, and have had multiple caprese salads since, with these fun black zebra tomatoes from the market (and those other pretty orange ones...I forget what they are, though). So, I kind of (totally) cheated, but the end result is good, no?

In related news, my own tomato plants have had a growth spurt, including the one I planted from seed - I think it has almost caught up to the start I bought, which is very exciting.

Even better, the mint and rosemary - while not quite thriving - have recovered from their various ailments, (I don't think I talked about the mint here, but it had this weird white foam on it for a while which seems to have been harmless) and my peas are happily popping along in what the rest of the country calls "cool spring-like weather". 

The spinach does well in this climate, too - I've only got one little pot of it, but have gotten multiple salads and omelettes out of it. I just cut it back again - it's growing so fast that some of it was on the verge of bolting. 


I'm still having some challenges, though. For one thing, my thyme might be the slowest growing thing ever. I have approximately one recipe's worth, fully two months after I planted it. And those tomatoes have some sort of odd underleaf drooping happening. Google seems to suggest this is normal, but previous plants haven't done this, that I recall. On the upside, the only droopy branches are the ones that are leaves only, not blossoms or beginnings of tomatoes. I'm trying to make myself prune them...my first tomato attempt, on my deck back in Portland, went totally unpruned because I had no clue what I was doing. This led to a 6 foot cherry tomato plant. Literally. Needless to say, it wasn't the sturdiest thing in the world. 


So here's my challenge, and I need ideas. My sage plant has gone CRAZY. It kind of muddled along last summer, and just barely survived the winter...and suddenly it's huge, and when I wasn't looking it started producing gigantic leaves. I've trimmed it and frozen some, since all the recipes I typically use sage for are autumnal (roast poultry, roast pork)...and I have plenty of it dried already. What do I do with the rest?? Would love suggestions...

Something's Fishy 101

Summertime culinary adventures are a challenge. On the one hand there’s so much freshness – salmon and halibut are coming in fresh, vegetables and fruit are colorful and inviting at the market – but on the other hand, it’s hot, and cooking sounds only marginally appealing.

Here in Seattle, however, summer doesn’t arrive till early July, so it’s still cool enough to play around. The catch is that we have these weirdly long days that I didn’t know about before moving here. It’s bright by 4:30am, and not actually dark till 10. As a result, the light level doesn’t trigger my brain to think “mealtime” till a good 8pm (at the earliest), by which time I do not want to spend more than 15 minutes prepping anything. The resulting meals have been the following basic combo: pan-cooked fish of some sort + salad of some sort. If I’m feeling ambitious, and/or have something that’s about to go bad, and/or do NOT lose track of time, I may also steam some green thing of some sort – green beans, asparagus – either way it’s a three minute process. Take the other night’s meal: pan seared halibut + caprese salad. The caprese actually included basil from the back patio…which isn’t the success it sounds like. More about that in another post.

Anyway: I assumed pan-cooking fish was too basic for blogging, but I’ve had a decent number of people ask how to cook various types of fish lately, so maybe not. No judgment here – I still haven’t mastered a basic steak. Embarrassing but true. Anyway, I’ve been mostly doing salmon and halibut lately, and while they're essentially the same recipe I'll cover the salmon here - halibut is a little pricey this season.

Pan-grilled Salmon (not adapted from anyone!)

Ingredients

• Filet of salmon, skin-on, at least an inch thick (I roughly plan for about 1/3 lb, or a little more, per person)
• Olive oil (this is for coating the salmon, so about a tablespoon for every two servings. Also, if your kitchen doesn’t have great ventilation you might want to use grapeseed oil, as it has a slightly higher smoke point. You shouldn’t get a ton of flavor difference with the quantity you’re using, and if you’re paranoid about your smoke alarm – like I am – this gives you a little more space.)
• Fine sea salt, or kosher salt – just not coarse. You want it to cook in.
• Fresh cracked pepper

Get a decent salmon filet – the highest quality you can find and afford, and none of this Atlantic farmed business. Wild Pacific only (certain wild Scottish versions are acceptable, but it's still a different flavor). Ideally it won’t have been previously frozen, but if that’s what you’ve got it’s fine.

[*Note from your blogger: If you happen upon the gloriousness of Yukon King salmon, do NOT use this recipe. You want to have the least possible input on the flavor – it’s that good – and your best bet is to either go out to your grill or find a friend who will share their grill (they’ll be happy to do so forever after once they taste this), get some cedar planks, and plank that baby. It will be the most delicious thing ever, and unbelievably rich while still crazy healthy. Many recipes out there advise rubbing it down with crazy things like brown sugar, mustard, and – of all things – salad dressing. Ick. This may be useful for Atlantic salmon, which doesn’t have a dramatic a flavor so you’re not ruining anything, but for the love of Pete please don’t do this to anything from the Pacific. A little oil to keep it from sticking, some simple salt and pepper, and let the natural flavor shine through.*]

Now back to the recipe I’m ACTUALLY talking about…which is actually pretty similar. The key here is a grill pan – I have a heavy duty (but not cast iron one) and this recipe is based on that. The grill pan is key here, as it lets most of the oil fall away and gives it those great grill lines – and really, aesthetics are half the fun.

How you prepare the salmon for the pan is your personal discretion. If you cut the large piece into portions first, it’s much easier to deal with at the end, but I find that cooking it whole keeps it more moist. I do often mangle it at the end, though (see above picture), so your call.

Heat the pan over medium heat. You can adjust this depending on your range – most recipes say medium-high, but I’ve found that medium works better for me – more even cooking – plus I think my range isn’t calibrated 100% accurately.

While pan heats up, spoon the oil over both sides of the fish, making sure it’s evenly covered but not totally drenched. We’re not deep-frying here, people. Give each side a very generous coating of salt and pepper – you’ll get a great semi-crust later.

Once your pan is hot enough, place the salmon on the  grill ridges, skin side up. Be ready for the oil to sizzle and splatter a little bit. Leave it be and do not fuss with it, for roughly 3-4 minutes, but do keep an eye on the sides to make sure the color is changing. Once it looks to be cooked about halfway through, flip it gently and cook it for another 3-4 minutes (it will seem like it's cooking faster, but be patient). At this point it’s a combination of judgment call/thickness of fish. I like mine a little rare in the center, so I stop here. If that makes you nervous, you can leave it for another minute – but keep an eye on it! You don’t want to overcook it and lose the flavor.

And…that’s it. Oil, salt and pepper, pan. Add a big simple salad of some sort, and you’ve got dinner.

[*Note from your blogger: If you aren't a salmon fan: when I make halibut (or redfish if I'm in NOLA), I use essentially the same recipe, except I use a normal skillet and not the grill pan. My opinion, not universally shared, is that even the thick white-flesh fish isn't firm enough to sit happily on the grill pan's ridges. So: normal skillet, about 1-3 tablespoons of oil (depending on the size of your fillet), with the oil heated in the pan instead of on the fish. You're looking to sear it here, and this will give you a nice golden crust. Cook it for roughly 4-5 minutes per side, following the same protocol as salmon (don't fuss with it, prepare for splatter).  These cooking times are all based on the thickness of the fish and the calibration of the stove, so unlike the professionals I can't give you an exact calculation - but that's a good thing, as the best way to get the hang of this is trial and error.*]

Let me know how yours turns out! If you're already past this stage of beginner fish, what twists do you add in? Interesting sauces? Something else in the oil/salt/pepper mix?