Veg Bon Vivant

So many peaches.  It’s a little deceiving when you are at the farm stand, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, bees buzzing, and the smell of fresh fruit is taking over your brain, how much might be too much??  Who cares??  It’s summer!!  Oh, wait, where am I going to put those?  If you read my post on blueberries, then you probably can guess how I did with peaches at the market…yeah…there are a lot of ’em in my freezer, next to the blueberries, ice packs and skinny cow bars.  🙂  Before I tossed them in the freezer, I texted my BFF from high school who is turning into an incredible pastry chef, she goes to the CIA in Hyde Park, NY and asked for a spectacular dough recipe that I could use to make a tart.  This is what she coughed up.

Makes 1-8″ tart traditionally, but I made 4 baby ones instead.

Simple Dough

• 1 1/2 c all purpose flour (I used whole wheat, but then had to add more moisture at the end-keep reading)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Splenda packet (I added this based on my research on the Internet with other recipes-sorry!)
• 10 T unsalted cold butter cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 4-8 T ice cold water

Instructions
In food processor, pulse flour and salt to combine, about three 1-second pulses. Scatter butter pieces over flour, then pulse until texture resembles coarse bread crumbs and butter pieces about the size of small peas remain, ten to twelve 1-second pulses. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon water over mixture and process 1 second; repeat until dough begins to form small curds and holds together when pinched with fingers. Empty dough onto work surface; dough will be crumbly (if dough has large dry areas, sprinkle additional 2 teaspoons water over dry areas and incorporate by gently fluffing entire amount of dough with fingers). Using bench scraper, gather dough into rough mound about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide (mound should be perpendicular to edge of counter). Beginning from farthest end, use heel of a hand to smear about one sixth of dough against work surface away from you. Repeat until all dough has been worked. Using bench scraper, gather dough again and repeat. Dough should now be cohesive. Form dough into 4-inch disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until cold and firm but malleable, about 1 hour.For fruit I added about 1/4 c fruit mixed with 3/4 tsp flour for EACH tart.  Specifically I made:  2 peach/lemon tarts by taking skinned cut up peaches, a dash of nutmeg, a dash of cinnamon, a squeeze of lemon, zest of the lemon and the flour and 2 blueberry/ginger/lime tarts by taking blueberries, a squeeze of lime, zest of the lime, and a few shavings of fresh grated ginger.  Put the fruit in a mound in the center of each mini tart, folded the edges in to make a little pocket and baked at 350 for 30-45 minutes, my dough was a little bit thicker due to the whole wheat crust.  Check for browning at 20-25 and go from there.  You want it firm, yet not dry and golden brown.  I recommend when you are putting this on a pan to bake use parchment paper or kiss your free form goodbye and call it cobbler.  You want it to survive the plating.

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When this was all said and done, I had a few leftover peaches in juice, and blueberries, so I popped them in a pie plate and made a little crisp for snacking.  Fruit on the bottom then add:

• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 C chopped pecans
• 1 C oats
• pinch of salt
• 4 T butter or margarine (melted or softened and worked into oat mix)

Directions

Put all of these ingredients into a bowl smash ’em together with your hands, get right in there, to make little delish buttery clumps of oat, pat this mixture down on the top of fruit on the pie plate and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 – 60 minutes until bubbly.  Hint: put a cookie sheet under the pan to catch the juice that will escape and then consequently burn in your oven causing you grief.  Skip that step and just dirty a dish will ya?

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• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• Pinch garlic salt
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
• 2 cups fresh peaches
• 1 lime, juiced and zested
• 1/8 cup Frank’s Red Hot
• 1 tsp Harissa (moroccan style hot chilli paste)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

Directions:  Reserve skinless peaches and dump all other ingredients into a medium sized sauce pan, bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, you don’t want the brown sugar to burn.  In a food processor, puree skinless peaches, add to sauce pan, simmer 30-60 minutes until slightly thickened.  Put contents of sauce pan back into the food processor and whip it up to a consistency that you would enjoy on a protein.  Yeah, it’s really that easy to make bbq sauce.  Tons less sugar and stabilizers than that store brand you have had in the fridge since last Christmas when you made bbq wieners.

My second shout out to Paula Deen and co. is in the form of this recipe for Baked Hush Puppies (this is basically cornbread muffins, idk why they call ’em Hush Puppies) that I found in an old Food Network Magazine.  These were a great addition to a cook off I attended this past weekend where meat, bags and beer were the stars-men are so simple.  This sunny side didn’t crowd the table and it didn’t make you too full, wasn’t super sweet, it’s a nice savory, pop-it-in-your-mouth, piece of nummy that’s only half bad for you.  Of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone, and was not able to stop myself from adding to the batter 1 c fresh corn kernels from some peaches and cream corn I got from Potter’s Orchard stand.  Next time I will probably stir in some pickled jalapenos or some canned chilis to make ’em even more smoky.  For some reason when you present cornbread or anything in small muffin form, people think you are a pastry chef, so go ahead and take some of the credit, you did have to wash cornmeal out of a bowl which is basically like trying to get ce-ment off a sidewalk, ya’all.

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What did we do before the Internet?  I mean, if we didn’t have Chili Powder, we didn’t make the dish…now, Google (I love you) just spits out a recipe, you fine tune it to your likes, and now I never have to purchase it again, ’cause just like I learned for Taco Seasoning last year, Chili Powder as you make it, is so much better than the stuff in the spice isle.  Carry on.

Chili Powder

Upon request of my rad hair lady I’m posting this recipe which is a Diva beach staple.  Do not try to serve it in a Solo cup at the beach, break out a real cup and keep the Rangers at bay. When they see a Solo cup they know you have booze.  I first tasted this lemonade when LEP hosted a delicious dinner party, everyone raved about it.  It takes a little effort, so I usually double up on the simple syrup recipe and then freeze half of it until the next weekend when I want to take these back to the beach.  Warning:  this is a delicious and sneaky drink.  Paper, rock, scissors BEFORE you begin drinking these for who will lay off the MAGIC and drive your group home.  Do not underestimate this MAGIC in the sun.

First create the MAGIC base for the lemonade, ginger simple syrup:

• 3 c of water boiled w/ 1 cup of sugar (use more if you want, typically we drink it sour but we are not nice girls.  if you are a nice girl consider 2-3 c sugar here)
• 2-3 inches of sliced ginger (use more if you like it particularly snappy)
• Add a stalk of pounded lemongrass (if you are feeling sassy)
• Once sugar is dissolved, cover and let steep at least an hour-this is VERY important.
• Chill the syrup.

To assemble the lemonade, add to a pitcher or thermos:

• Magic simple syrup
• 1 cup of lemon juice, fresh squeezed please (i’ve used lime in a pinch too)
• 1.5 cups vodka or gin (i’m a vodka girl, i don’t like the taste of pine trees, thanks)
• club soda or sparking water (use a 2 liter for this amount of base)

Pour over ice cubes and let the Magic set in.

Turns out, I can grow jalapenos.  Lots of them in fact.  I picked most of them today, grabbed a few red bell peppers from the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market, gloved up, and started chopping.  I make a few batches of this so that I can gorge myself in the summer, and then later I get serious about storing 6-8 jars for holiday gift giving, and/or unexpected guests fa-la-la-la-la-ling up at my house and me with nothing to serve.  This makes a great show off appetizer in the dead of winter with a cream cheese base, served over a cracker.  Summer on a wheat thin.  Plus, you look all Betty Crocker-like for having something preserved (ohhhhh, ahhhhh) on hand.  It’s a win-win.  I modified this recipe from my friend Lins Ray’s recipe. 

Pepper Jelly

• 3 large red bell peppers (you can use green, yellow, whatever you want here-I prefer red)
• 14-18 medium jalapenos
• 1 SMALL thai chili pepper (only if you like it HOT)
• 1/2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 c cider vinegar (could also use white in a pinch)
• 6 c sugar (no substitutes)
• 6 oz liquid fruit pectin (do not use powdered)

Chop all peppers into a really, really small dice removing seeds and most of the white vein inside the peppers.  Wear two sets of latex gloves for this task, you will thank me later.  Combine the lemon juice, peppers, vinegar and sugar in a large pot and boil for 15 minutes stirring occasionally, keep an eye on this as it will start to boil, then boil over like spaghetti does without any warning, then you are dunzo.  Add liquid pectin, boil 3-5 minutes more.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.  Spoon into jars or plastic containers, do not fill to top.  When this freezes like all other liquids it expands.  Full to the brim means a crack and loss of your precious jelly.  Store in freezer for up to 6 months, if it lasts that long.   DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MULTIPLY OR DIVIDE THE RECIPE.  For whatever reason, when you make jam, doubling or dividing the recipe results in utter failure.  Period.

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To serve, pour thawed jelly over a log of cream cheese for a treat on crackers.  I have also, in a bind poured this over tofu “meatballs” in a crockpot and served as an appetizer.  The possibilities are endless.  Taste it and you will come up with some of your own.  Then come back here and post them for the rest of the Interwebs.

Friday nights, typically Mr. Wonderful and I grab a pizza and lounge, catching up on the DVR, watching movies, etc.  Last night, we were watching The Next Food Network Star on DVR and I became jealous of one of the contestants, yes, jealous over Pomegranate Molasses of all things.  Bobby Flay was all twitterpated over Aarti’s HOMEMADE Pom Molasses.  I was like Bobby, here I am…I make Pom Molasses for my tofu kabobs with Muhammara Sauce, like all the time!!!  He didn’t listen.  I will maintain my Pom Molasses to be far superior to Aarti’s (sorry, you are still my fave contestant) and here is why:

Pom Molasses

• 4 C Pom Juice (if you are really feelin’ it, you should get Pom Cherry)
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1/4 C lemon juice, use fresh squeezed

Directions:  In  large, uncovered saucepan, heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice on medium high until the sugar has dissolved and the juice simmers. Reduce heat just enough to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about an hour, or until the juice has a syrupy consistency, and has reduced to 1 to 1 1/4 cups. Pour out into a jar. Let cool. Store chilled in the refrigerator.

If you want your pomegranate molasses to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste, while you are cooking it.

Warning, do not overboil.  Pro:  turns to delicious hard crack candy.  Con:  time to buy another bottle of Pom and start over, b/c you still need molasses and now you have candy instead.  Damn.

So what the heck do I use it for?  This delicious slather that goes on ANYTHING, particularly veggie kabobs, in pitas with tofu and veggies…well you get the idea.  This makes a bunch but freezes beautifully in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.  Need more ideas, visit the Pom Wonderful site.

Muhammara Slather

•  1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
  flakes or 1 small red chile
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted
• 1/4 cup whole-grain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 to 3 roasted red peppers
• 1/2 to 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

Puree the chile flakes, cumin, walnuts, bread crumbs, olive oil, pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, and red peppers to a smooth, even consistency. Mix in the warm water in increments to achieve an easily spreadable consistency similar to a thick yogurt. If you’re going to use it for dipping, you might want to leave it a bit thicker. Stir in the salt and adjust the seasonings if needed.

*Adapted from Heidi Swanson

I was outside assessing a new bee’s nest under the railing of the deck (I’m allergic), when out of the corner of my eye, I saw my tomato plants in the garden and a huge bush growing under three of them…BASIL!  The king of all garden herbs!  A TON of beautiful, glossy, fragrant basil.  The thing about basil is if you let it go to flowers, you are basically out of luck the rest of the summer and the bees just get to make nummy honey out of your labor.  So I stop planning my attack on the bee kingdom for a few hours anyway, and set out to harvest most of the basil.

Mr. Wonderful’s mom, is, well, also Wonderful-sick isn’t it!  😉 We were talking about gardening before we put in our square box garden and she mentioned that to protect tomatoes from worms and mold, you should plant basil plants near or in the same plot as your tomato plants.  Well, I still don’t exactly know what it is that I am doing in the garden, so any advice is welcome from a seasoned professional.  Turns out this is called “companion gardening“!  Who knew!!  Gosh I love the Internet.  The only drawback to this marvelous plan, is that sometimes you forget you have basil even growing in your garden area, because it blends in so well, and fills out the tomato plants beautifully, so your garden just looks incredibly lush it is for just this reason that I forgot about my basil and consequently had a jackpot on my hands today.

So, pesto is this super delicious sauce that originated in Northern Italy, like a zillion years ago.  Pesto means “to crush or pound” from the root word pesta.  There is your Latin lesson for the day.  Although, this is a little misleading these days, as it should really have its roots in the Adrienne for “to food process” as I would never in a million years make this delicious stuff if I didn’t have a food processor.  No way.  Most recipes for pesto are pretty adaptable, you are looking mostly for 1) your tolerance of extra-virgin olive oil (don’t skimp here, it will taste cheap if you put in cheap oil), 2) your fave nut or nut combo and 3) your fave herb(s) for which to create your base and 4) consistency of a loose paste.   In my freezer I happened to have walnuts on hand (pine nuts cost a small fortune, so I typically don’t have those on hand), and for herbs, a mountain of basil.  Traditionally, pesto is made with pine nuts, but I’ve successfully made it with almonds, pecans, hazelnuts and walnuts.  Use what you like.  So, today’s recipe consequently is Walnut-Basil Pesto.  Later this afternoon, I’m going to try to get to my oregano and thyme to whip up another batch, that is…if I can get past that bee’s nest to the railing box where it is planted.

Walnut-Basil Pesto

Makes one ice cube tray full of deliciousness

2 c fresh basil, de-stemmed, washed and dried (be careful not to bruise it)

1/2 c walnuts (you can toast these if you like, just let cool before you use ’em)

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3-4 T EVOO, depending on consistency desired

1 tsp lemon zest

Here is the hard part, dump all of the ingredients into food processor except EVOO and mulch up, slowly add the EVOO until you achieve a paste-like mush, you can live with, should be sticking together like a slushy, yet still fluid.  Transfer into a Pam coated ice cube tray (yes, really) and you have the makings of a pasta sauce for 12 2-person meals for sometime when you have opted to look fancy but cook minimally.  I added the lemon zest because I had it already grated in the freezer.  That’s optional, it brightens up the pesto a little.  If you would like to use less oil, feel free to add 1/2 oil and 1/2 water, veg broth, or lemon juice in order to bring it to the correct consistency.  If you screw up, and it turns out runny, hey, it happens, dump in a few more walnuts or add grated parm/regg cheese to the mixture to soak up some of the liquid.  You really can’t mess this up.  Add what you like.  This is just a base for what you love and/or what you have in your kitchen ready to go.  When you have the right mix, your cube tray sprayed with Pam, go ahead and drop until each cube area is 3/4 full, top with a drop or two of EVOO and then cover with plastic wrap to freeze.  When they are frozen, transfer into plastic snack or freezer bags in individual serving sizes of one cube each.  You will reconstitute this nugget for sauce later.

So what now?  You have made pesto and you have no idea what to do with it, right?  Wrong.  Boil up about 8oz of your fave pasta, and toss with this little pesto nugget from the freezer, using a little of the pasta boiling water to thin out the pesto to a nice sauce, add some parm cheese and maybe some diced tomatoes, toss a slice of bread on your plate and you have a dinner that tastes like summer, even in the winter from your freezer.  How cool is THAT?!  Genius.

Stop contemplating the effort factor, there really isn’t any effort at all, and go make some from your basil that is about to go to ruin.

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Okay, so I ‘m obviously a self-taught, at home “chef” if you will, so I don’t have much technique per say.  I have had a lot of questions on FB recently about the beet post, mostly how to roast, so I thought I’d show you how we do it at our house.  The night I took these pics, we also had krispy baked kale with sea salt, and soy glazed tempeh.  I roasted the beets this night at 400 degrees, as that is what the kale had to be krisped at, and I didn’t want to spend too much extra time with the oven on during a hot night.  So basically, you do this: wash the beets to get off all the dirt and critters, cut off both ends, roll in foil with skin ON, roast until tender on a cookie sheet with a rim, just in case the juice runs out of your foil, then you don’t end up with a dirty oven like I have in the pics 🙂  This takes about an hour on 350, a little less time on 400.  Do not let them turn to mush, this is called Borscht and is wildly popular in Russia.  Just kidding…well, sorta.  When you remove the foils, wait for them to cool down enough to touch, THEN peel off the skin.  It comes off a ton easier this way.  Trust me.  I try everything the hard way first.  Krispy Kale is delish.  Your friends and kids will think it tastes like those really pricey root chips in the nature food store.   Rinse kale well, and I mean well, it is DIRTY and bugs love building homes in it.  Yes.  They.  Do.  Towel dry it lightly, sprinkle with sea salt and lightly spray with EVOO Pam.  Toss in oven at 400 until crisp.  Like falling apart crisp, any less and it will be chewy you almost burn it, so keep an eye on it.

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Lastly, a word or two or okay, a bunch on/about Tempeh.  Yes, it looks and smells HORRIBLE.  No, it doesn’t actually taste that way.  If you haven’t tried it, you should.  I know, I know…  It’s not that gross, if you prepare it in a way that is pleasing to you.  I like to make mine a bacon-like texture and flavor it with a salty/sweet sauce or marinade.  It holds a marinade really, really well.  It’s low in calories and in fat.  You can get it in many “flavors”, soy, veggie, wild rice…seeeeee it’s got mad appeal.  My tip to you:  rinse it BEFORE you do anything with it, immediately after you take it from the vacuum sealed pack-get off that icky whatever slime is on there.  This will make it way easier to handle, and the taste will not be so musty (it is afterall, um, aged).  I usually marinade it before in something then drizzle it with something else after.  For this dinner, I soaked it in reduced soy sauce for 30 minutes on the counter, pan fried to reduce the soy sauce, then took it off the heat and glazed it with a little bbq sauce.  Delish.  Tempeh is my staple “B” substitute in my amazing BLT sammie that Mr. Wonderful now confidently refers to as TLTAs:  tempeh, lettuce, tomato, avocado-this is why he is the PR guy and I am just a home chef.  🙂

I’m a big fan of the NY Times, Mark Bittman and everything related to food on their site.  I made a modified version of their beet salad a few nights ago, and it was DELISH.  All I’m sayin’ is give BEETS a chance; the dogs did, and they loved them!

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