Summer Tomato Salad

My friend Janet has a tomato problem. Luckily
she has friends like me to help her out!

Funny things happen during tomato season in Iowa. Weird, unexplained things. Like UFO sightings, only more delicious. Perhaps you have experienced this bizarre phenomenon. You walk into your office or workplace, just like any other Monday, or Thursday. You drop off your computer bag, maybe a handbag, at your desk and head to the break room to tuck your lunch in the fridge or grab a cup of coffee when you are startled by something on the counter, or tabletop. Red. Round. Lurking. They might even be trying to hide in a bag. They watch you suspiciously as you casually saunter over to these strange objects to see what this is all about. It's tomato season, and lucky for you, your colleague has an over-producing garden! Sharing tomatoes is an annual summer tradition in Iowa, and probably a lot of other places. Today I was pleasantly surprised by the gift of some Iowa homegrown tomatoes from my friend Lia. I had those tomatoes sitting on my desk all day and I daydreamed about eating them. Not in any recipe either. Ohhh no. These first Iowa-grown tomatoes are going to be eaten just as is, sliced. That's it, and it was heaven.

Guess what magically appeared on my desk? Yep!

No summer garden would be complete without an herb patch and an herb patch would never be complete without fresh basil.There are soooo many different kinds of basil, it's crazy! Italian basils, red basil, ruffled basil, giant lettuce leaf basil, Thai basil, lemon, lime and other citrusy flavored basils- it wouldn't be hard to have an entire garden comprised solely of basil! The Chef and I like to grow a couple different types. We like a larger leafy Italian basil, the leaves are substantial but not as big as lettuce leaf basil, and they have a great licorice like flavor, and we always grow a red basil too.

These beautiful ingredients combine with some fresh mozzarella and a drizzle of balsamic to create the most delectable summer salad, Caprese Salad. The history of the salad is pretty hard to pin down. some say it originated in the Campania region. while others call "insalata de caprese" the Salad of Capri, and hails from an island off the coast of Naples. The recipe was found on a menu dating back to 1920 after WWI and was thought to represent the colors of the Italian flag, and came back into favor in the 1950s. In the U.S. the salad started gaining popularity in the 1980s and had remained popular ever since. In Italy ingredients vary by region- some use pesto, others use arugula or other greens. tomatoes and fresh mozz are the constants. In the U.S. chefs and home cooks like to use heirloom tomatoes of different kinds to add beauty and a variety of flavors to add interest to the salad. No matter where in the world you are enjoying the salad, a hefty drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil is drizzled over and ties all the flavors together.

Homegrown Iowa heirloom tomatoes

Summer Tomato Salad

variety of heirloom tomatoes

fresh mozzarella

fresh basil

freshly ground black pepper

good quality extra virgin olive oil
good quality balsamic vinegar*

salt

* I have come to love purchased "balsamic drizzle"- I don't have to make my own reduction and the flavor is pretty darn good. Feel free to substitute this if you like, or reduce your own, or just use vinegar as is. It's delicious any way to use it.

Prepare the tomatoes- slice larger tomatoes, quarter or halve small bite sized tomatoes or grape/cherry tomatoes.

Slice the fresh mozzarella.

On a large serving platter or board, lay out a base of sliced tomatoes. Tuck slices of mozzarella in and around the sliced tomatoes, lifting to overlap in places. Scatter the smaller tomatoes around the board.

Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle the basil leaves over. You can tear the basil leaves if they are really large. Drizzle the whole platter with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve immediately with lots of fresh crusty bread.

Plan on a couple slices of fresh mozzarella per person and at least one to one and a half tomatoes per person for each serving, and build your salad whatever size you need. Throw on as much or as little basil as you like and be generous with that olive oil! Freshly ground black pepper is key for great flavor so if you have a pepper mill, use it.

As for the 15 lbs of tomatoes from Janet, they were roasted
and frozen for use all winter long. I've offered to help her
dispose of even more, if she can spare a few.

I can't tell you how many times each summer I will have this, and sometimes only this, as my entire dinner- twice just this week! The tomatoes are so delicious, and nothing at all like the pasty mealy dry grocery store tomatoes. They are so fresh and juicy and even better if still warm from the sun. If you get a good mix of types of tomatoes, you'll have a great mix of flavors too- some sweeter, some more acidic, some firmer. The fresh mozzarella brings some protein to the plate, the olive oil is so healthy and delicious, and who doesn't love freshly harvested basil leaves, torn and scattered just moments before devouring them? Delicious stuff here, folks.

Dinner for Two- Eggs in Purgatory

Farmers Market season is just a mere five days away now and I can hardly wait! Des Moines is home to the number two  of The Best 101 Farmers Markets in the nation as ranked by The Daily Meal. That's pretty exciting! This year the market opens with 288 vendors, selling everything from produce, to crafts, to meat and eggs, to home baked goods and so much more. Hard to believe our amazing farmers market began with just fifteen vendors, so long ago in 1976. Seems a lifetime ago. Now it's a destination, a great spot for a date, a family outing, and with all the condos and lofts in downtown, a fantastic place to grocery shop!

Some of my farmers market goodies from seasons past

So, it's time for the 2017 farmers market. I've been reading up on what's new this year. Forty seven new vendors, that's what!! The market averages 97 farmers and produce growers. I love the fresh produce, not just the everyday stuff, but the unusual lettuces and greens, carrots in every color, all kinds of unusual mushrooms, just everything you can think of. Livestock farmers bring some of the most amazing meat products and eggs from pasture-raised chickens. Have you ever had a true farm fresh egg? Yes, the yolk is bright orange and not the dull yellow of commercially produced eggs, but the shells- the shells are not usually white! Most often you'll find brown eggs but many chickens produce "Easter eggs" in all shades of blue and green. They are beautiful and delicious. Ever try a duck egg or a quail egg? You can find them at the market.

Iowa is a rising star in the winery and brewery worlds and those businesses make their place at the market too. Iowa is a wonderful state for grape growing and we have some fantastic varieties. Brianna, Edelweiss, Marechal Foch and Frontenac are just a few. Need something to go with that wine? You can find artisinal cheesemakers at the market too. In fact, with some of the gourmet food producers, you can assemble a pretty darn good charcuterie plate from goodies you bought at the market. Grab a baguette from one of the many bakers that have stands, and take home a jar of jam or jelly too.

The changing seasons give you an ever rotating selection of fresh produce. Spring vegetables like asparagus, spinach and morel mushrooms are among the first to appear. The warm summer months bring bushels of green beans, onions, more salad vegetables, Iowa sweet corn, and the joy of the market- the Iowa summer tomato. I can taste them now. Summer gives way to the cooler days of autumn, and that means last season crops, greens, onions, potatoes, squash and pumpkins. Soooo many beautiful squash and pumpkins. You might even find a pumpkin pie or two.

Hungry now? You're in the right place, and you don't have to munch on your fresh produce. The market is packed with great food to eat as you stroll. Egg rolls, pupusas, Nepalese dumplings, breakfast burritos, pastries, gelato and breads, and if you are in a people watching mood, the Court Avenue District has a host of restaurants with sidewalk seating, so you can enjoy the gorgeous sunshine, sip a mimosa or Bloody Mary or an iced tea and watch the action. You will always find some live entertainment too. Musicians, street performers, dance troupes- there is always something fun going on.

I had a couple handfuls of sliced scallion and chopped
tomatoes in the fridge- tossed them in there too.

Before we get to our recipe, let's go back to the tomatoes. If you have ever had a garden, if you've ever tasted a juicy tomato fresh off the vine and still warm, if you've ever had to settle for a supermarket tomato in the middle of February, you know what I'm talking about. Summertime is also when we are the busiest, and least likely to want to come home and cook a big meal. As a kid we would even have dinners of sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and maybe some sweet corn. Believe me we weren't poor, but Dad was a gardener, and those home grown tomatoes....... mmmmmmm. Anyway, the farmers market is the perfect spot to grab the ingredients for this simple dinner. Basics- tomatoes, eggs, herbs. This classic Italian egg dish is so quick to get together whether you use fresh tomatoes or a can of crushed tomatoes. Grab a box of those beautiful Easter Eggs and some fresh herbs, a head of garlic, and a baguette. Now you're all set! The origin of the name "Eggs in Purgatory" is a little fuzzy. It's very similar to the African "shakshouka" and not all that removes from Huevos Rancheros if you think about it. Maybe it's the slightly spicy tomato sauce the eggs are simmered in, I don't really know, but I do know this- it's delicious, easy and good for you! Let's make some.

A drizzle of olive oil is the perfect finish for this dish, and Sinful Food's garlic olive oil is perfect. Get your Sinful Food olive oils and Signature Seasoning by clicking HERE.

Eggs in Purgatory

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

big pinch crushed red pepper flakes

4 eggs

Signature Seasoning

Parmesan cheese

Sinful Food garlic olive oil

crusty bread for serving

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of olive oil and add the garlic. Cook and stir until garlic is softened but not brown. Add the Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper, and cook for about a minute until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes to the skillet. Reduce heat and cover. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, cut 4 slices from the crusty bread. Brush each side with olive oil and toast on both sides. Place two toasts on each of two plates and set aside. Reserve remaining bread for serving.

I had dinner for one, so I spooned a small amount of the
sauce into my mini cast iron skillet for one egg.

With a spoon make 4 wells in the sauce. Break the eggs into a small bowl, one at a tie, then slip each egg into a well. Season with Signature Seasoning. Cover and cook to desired doneness. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Use a slotted spoon to place the eggs on the toast slices, sprinkle with additional cheese if desired. Drizzle with a small amount of garlic olive oil. Serve with additional bread for sopping up the sauce.

My yolk was soft but not runny, and it was still delicious.

Since The Chef was not home for dinner, mine was actually dinner for one. I soooo love breakfast for dinner, and trying new ways to prepare eggs. Normally I am not a  runny egg yolk kind of person but I am really trying to embrace them, especially since May is National Egg Month and Iowa is one of the top producing egg states in the U.S. The slightly spicy Italian sauce and crusty bread helps. This easy meal is perfect for busy nights and needs nothing more than a little salad with a vinaigrette on the side to complete your feast.

Artisan Condiments- Spicy Tomato Jam

I don't normally share a whole lot of home canning recipes here, rather over on City Girl, Country Life, but this recipe just seemed to be more at home over here on RTK. So there. You don't have to freak out and think "What the ****!! I don't know how to can things!" You don't have to- you can freeze it as well. 

Fancy jams are another trendy food that gets labeled as "artisan" these days. I often think that term is overused but some foods, like homemade small batch jams, are probably deserving. Jams aren't just for breakfast anymore and that's where tomato jam finds it's unique little niche. Depending on your recipe it can be absolutely appropriate for the breakfast table, but a little switching up of flavors, spices and adding some heat and acidity and you've moved over into the savory condiment section. I call this my ketchup for grownups.

You might wonder what all the fuss is about. It's jam. Big deal. But it's much more than that. It's jam alright, but it's spicy and sweet and savory and it's delicious and the perfect thing for crowning a juicy burger or alongside a nice hunk of beef. Want a grilled cheese that's just a little more than sliced American and white bread? Break out the GOOD cheese, some crispy bacon or crispy prosciutto, a smear of tomato jam on crusty sourdough and grill that baby up. It makes meatloaf a little more special than gramma's drizzle of ketchup over the top, and it's REALLY GOOD. Really good. So good you'll find yourself never wanting ketchup ever ever again. That's just the BASIC recipe! This time we're rewriting a page from City Girl's Canning Cookbook and making it RTK Style.

This rich and gooey jam starts with tomatoes. Summertime in Iowa is without a doubt the best time to get tomatoes. If you grow your own- even better! This summer was horrible for my garden and I had zero tomatoes to speak of. Thankfully I have access to some great farmers markets and was able to get a nice 10 lbs or so of beautiful red ripe Romas. You can use any kind of tomato you like but Romas are known for their meaty texture and drier interior- so the jam doesn't have to cook quite as long as some of the juicier tomatoes do. Any color tomato works too. I love tomato jam made with orange or yellow tomatoes- it looks so beautiful in the jars. Prep was easy-I sat down with my tomatoes and halved them, removed the core, scooped out the seeds and diced them. I leave the skin on my tomatoes because it's too much work to remove them, I don't mind them in my food and they are extra fiber really, but you can blanch and remove the peel if you want to.

Dice them up and put them in a large bowl. Measure them as you go and you won't have to do it again later. This recipe relies on evaporation to thicken, not pectin, so the recipe is flexible. The amount of sugar depends on the amount of tomatoes and I just cut up tomatoes until I'd used them all.

We need some heat and spice in this jam. The original recipe calls for cayenne pepper, but we have all kinds of beautiful peppers here so a good handful of fresh kung pao chilies got chopped finely and added to the party. Also in the original recipe is shredded or grated fresh ginger. I just so happen to have all that crystallized ginger tucked away n the freezer, so I plucked out a few slices and minced them up. Cumin, cinnamon and allspice go in as well, and a twist on the plain old salt. Because this is used as a savory condiment, I like those savory notes to hit from all over, so instead of plain salt I used some Montreal Steak Seasoning. Love this stuff- I just keep it on the counter in a salt crock and use it on everything. 

Spicy Sweet Tomato Jam

10 lbs Roma tomatoes

sugar

3/4 cup bottled lemon juice*

6-8 fresh kung pao chilies**

2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 tablespoon Montreal Steak Seasoning

vinegar of choice, if needed

*Always use bottled lemon juice because it has a stable acidity level

**If you don't have kung pao chilies, use cayenne or whatever you have on hand, to taste. You can use fresh or dried and ground. I would start with 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne and taste- add more if desired.

Peel tomatoes if desired. Halve; remove cores and seeds and dice. Place in large stockpot, measuring as you go. For every 3 cups tomatoes, add one cup sugar. I ended up with about 16 cups of tomatoes and used 5 cups of sugar. Stir to mix. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until mixture is very thick, reduced, and mounds when spooned out. Be sure to taste the jam at least twice. You want to adjust for heat, and if the jam is too sweet, add a splash or so of an additional acid- balsamic vinegar or rice wine vinegar are great. Make sure you do this while still cooking down so it maintains the thickness.

The tomatoes start out bright red.......

Prepare a boiling water bath canner and jars (pint or half pint), or freezer containers. Spoon hot jam into jars, fix lids and rings and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes; or spoon into freezer containers. Allow to cool slightly, then freeze.

Look at all the deep caramelization going on there.

Now this jam can take a loooooong time to thicken. I usually do it in the crock pot with the lid off. I can let it go overnight and in the morning be ready to go into jars and there is almost zero chance of scorching. Don't get discouraged if you go to give it a stir and it seems too watery- I promise, it WILL evaporate and thicken.

A couple notes about canning and food safety: 

Home canned foods can be amazing and wonderful and unlike any other food in the grocery store, but they can also be deadly. Be sure to practice safe food handling when canning- ALWAYS use a boiling water bath for high acid foods or a pressure canner for low acid food. NEVER place hot food in jars, invert them, and let them seal without heat processing. 

Along those same lines, it's very tempting to add a lot of extras to home canned foods to customize them. Unless you are a microbiologist or have a very in depth knowledge of home canning safety- DON'T. Stick with tested recipes. This recipe is only different from a USDA tested recipe because of the change in spices, which do not affect acidity. Never add things like onions or garlic as they can upset the pH and make the recipe unsafe and allow botulism to grow in the sealed jars.

Pay attention to your altitude. It affects heat and processing time. Always adjust for your altitude.

NOTE: This recipe has not been tested by the NCHFP. If you are not comfortable canning untested recipes, please do not use this one. For home canning information, visit the NCHFP website.

Tomato time is here

I know, I know, we have been picking tomatoes for some time now, but "tomato time" at the Little Lake House is what we call the time of year when we start making regular trips to the pick-your-own farm and get our tomatoes for canning. But when we have an abundance of tomatoes in the house, the Chef must make pasta.

We also picked a TON of  fresh peppers!

Fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs and a couple surprise ingredients mean we're not talking cook-all-day sauce, but rather a quick sauce of chopped fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs from the garden, garlic, and some seafood for a lighter take on things. Seafood is not readily available to us out in the country so we do have to make do with canned and frozen once in a while, and we usually have some tucked away in the cabinet. Let's get cooking!

For this dish, you need-

• 2-3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1 cup diced bell pepper
• 2-3 tb freshly chopped herbs- basil, oregano, thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• one can crabmeat, drained
• one can baby shrimp, drained
• hot cooked spaghetti
• Parmesan cheese

In a medium saucepan combine the tomatoes, peppers, herbs and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Heat over medium heat until the tomatoes break down slightly. 

Add seafood and heat through. Toss with hot cooked spaghetti, sprinkle with Parm and enjoy this unique and fresh pasta dinner.

Now, we still have a huge table full of fresh tomatoes ready to become the next project- Habanero Pizza Sauce, but I bet you anything The Chef pilfers a few more tomatoes before all is said and done!

Tomato, tomahhhto

It just wouldn't be an Iowa summer without the tomato. There is nothing better than crisply cooked bacon, crispy fresh lettuce and still warm from the garden sliced tomato on toasted bread. Beats ANY lobster or steak you could set in front of me, hands down. It can't just be any old tomato though. You have to grow these yourself, or get them from a friend. No grocery store tomato EVER tasted this good. What is it about a home grown tomato that makes it so special?

For one thing, you put in all the man-hours. Digging, planting, watering, supporting, pruning, watching for pests, more watering. Maybe you even started them from seed yourself- which makes them even more special. With thousands of varieties of tomatoes available, you can have any size, any color, any flavor, any acid level you could ever want. Tomatoes for fresh eating. Tomatoes for canning. Tomatoes for paste. Cherry tomatoes. Grape tomatoes. Yellow, orange, even purple tomatoes. Peach tomatoes that even have a little bit of fuzz on their skin. Heirloom or hybrid. Beefsteak or Early Girl. I can spend hours in a garden center browsing the tomatoes. I almost always pick up more than I have room for, which means more containers to be bought, more soil, more work, more tomatoes! You might have also spent years amending the soil and planting different things to get just the right, perfect, happy garden soil tomatoes thrive in. You spent hours weeding and inspecting your plants, always keeping an eye out for the dreaded tomato hornworm.

Cherry tomatoes **

Every winter I look forward to the inevitable arrival of the gardening catalogs. Ahhhh yes, like Christmas in February, these catalogs will be well worn by the time I'm done with them. Circles around all sorts of vegetables, but especially......tomatoes. The long, cold Iowa winter can be quite depressing, but seeing all the beautiful vegetables in the catalogs gives me hope for warmer times to come. As a home canner, I like to find higher acid tomatoes (for safety) and thicker meaty tomatoes like Romas and San Marzanos for paste and sauce. Salsa can be lots of fun when you use different colored tomatoes. Mr. Stripey is one of my very favorite heirloom tomatoes. So are yellow pear tomatoes- they are awesome for low and slow long roasting and covering with olive oil for future use (store in the freezer). 

Heirloom tomatoes **

Some people prefer hybrid tomatoes for their disease resistant qualities and high yields. Celebrity tomatoes are a variety I have grown myself and really liked. Good tomato for fresh eating and pretty good for salsa and canning chunks. I know I have tried many others but don't remember all the names. Sometimes I'll be browsing at a greenhouse or garden center and just grab a pack of plants that looks nice and healthy- they may or may not have a tag even! I just know whatever the variety, the warm Iowa summer will produce the best, juiciest and tastiest tomatoes no matter what kind they are.

The really fun thing about those hybrid tomatoes is the future of those seeds. Every year somehow I end up with some seeds left behind, whether it's the last yucky tomato left on the vine or one that dropped off the plant, those seeds end up on the ground, survive the Iowa winter and produce something that just makes me so happy every year- volunteers. I love finding them hidden among the weeds underneath my deck, growing in cracks on the sidewalk and between the gravel of the driveway. This year I found three volunteers in the middle of my front yard. They had sprouted up and grown like crazy and I happened to notice them on a stroll through the yard to check on beans and cucumbers. I immediately had to dig them up and transplant them!! Can't let them be mowed down by the mower! What makes these volunteers so much fun to me? I have no idea what I am going to end up with! They might be heirloom seeds and I'll have three more Mr. Stripeys or Romas to play with. If they were a hybrid I won't get the hybrid again- I'll end up with what I call "golf balls", or golf ball sized tomatoes. They are roughly double the size of a cherry tomato but not big enough to be a good slicer. They do, however, make excellent tomatoes for puree, for drying (cut in half and dehydrate for "sun dried tomatoes"), and for fresh eating in salads. Plus they're FREE !!!

Three tomato volunteers in the yard!

Since repotting in great big pots on my deck they have more than doubled in size in just a week! They are starting to blossom and it won't be long before baby tomatoes appear on these gifts from Mother Nature. I'll happily take them! I can't wait to see what kind of tomato I end up with!

**Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia

Hey, I thought the gardening season was over !!!

But apparently not !!!

Sure, we have had several killing frosts and my own garden is long long gone. MY once proud castor bean plant looks like a big pole with cooked spinach draped all over it. Kinda gross actually.

But as always, with the end of the season comes an abundance of green tomatoes, and while I personally did not have an abundance from my own garden, my friends sure do, and they are giving me tomatoes by the box full. Of course,all these green tomatoes mean I have been devoting alot of research time into recipes for green tomatoes- and besides the obvious, pickled green tomatoes, which I don't even know if we'll like, we have the Tomolive Experiment still going, but the weird thing about nature and tomatoes is this: if you spend too much time worrying about what to do with GREEN tomatoes, they eventually change into RED tomatoes.

Which is where I'm at today. These tomatoes aren't your fancy hybrids, no Beefsteak or Early Girl or anything like that in there. These are all the golf ball size tomatoes you get when you leave a seed or two behind over the winter and get 25 volunteer plants that you just don't have the heart to pull. They revert back to their original form instead of the hybrid you had last summer. Which makes no difference to me, a tomato is a tomato to me, and I'll gladly take them off your hands.

But what to do with many pounds of smallish tomatoes, without dealing with peeling and all that mess? Easy !! Wash, cut in half, toss with the littlest bit of olive oil and salt and ROAST them to release the juice, heat the tomatoes and then can them, which is exactly what I did.

I'm going to guess at this point I had about 5-6 lbs of small tomatoes, mostly red golf ball size with a few small yellow pears and tiny yellow teardrop tomatoes in there. I gave them a quick bath in the sink, sorted out a small handful of yucky ones and then set aside two deep baking sheets, with a little drizzle of oil on them.

With the oven heating to 425 degrees I started cutting the tomatoes in half and tossing them on the sheets, ending up with two generously full baking sheets of beautiful tomatoes. I gave each pan a nice grind or two of sea salt and put them in the oven with the rack in the upper third and roasted them about 15 minutes and that temp then turned it down to 325 and let them go another half hour or so while I readied everything else.

Once the tomatoes were roasted and juices were released I dumped them into a big bowl and added my personal Italian seasoning mixture- a generous tablespoon or two of basil, crushed, palmfull of parsley, crushed, thyme, BIG pinch of oregano, and garlic powder.

Mixed it all up and filled 7 pint jars full. I put them in the boiling water bath for 40 minutes and they came out looking perfect. The tomatoes were so juicy I didn't have to add any additional water to the jars.

They were so successful, I was only able to store 5 of the 7 pints. 2 jars were opened the next day by The Chef and went into a pot of pasta sauce. But this is not the end of the story I hope. MY friend still has a LARGE stockpile of green tomatoes. And even though I really want to try some green tomato mincemeat, I have a feeling I an going to be doing plenty more roasted tomatoes with Italian herbs to get us through the winter.

Get Him to (cook) The Greek !!!

As a typical Iowa summer goes, another day, another pile of fresh vegetables is sitting on the kitchen counter. What to do....what to do...... not quite enough to can, the dehydrator is full (10 packages of mushrooms for $10 !!!! Are you kidding me ??? The Chef and I will be in shroomie bliss all winter at this price....)......so we decided on a shortish road trip, hit the Hy Vee for the deal on mushrooms and a few other items we needed around the house and the usual "what should we have for dinner" convo ensued. Obviously, we are going to have SOMETHING veggie- how can we not ? But before we get to dinner, you are probably wondering what in the world this has to do with Greek ? So without further delay.... a little (like, mini) interview with the infamous Chef !

You have over 20 years of experience in a professional kichen, but how did you get your start ? One of my very first culinary experiences was a little Greek restaurant called Papou's.

What were some of your favorite dishes made there ? Flaming saganaki, souvlaki, tyropita, spanakopita, pastitsio and moussaka. Of course, gyros and some of the most mouth watering filet steaks ever. Steak and shrimp.....

What was the first dish you learned?  The first day, the owner taught me to make "horiatiki salata" or Greek salad.

And that's where the interview stops and dinner begins.......

Joe's Greek Salad (makes enough for 2 big side salads)

1/2 fresh cucumber, cut in matchsticks
1 cup tomatoes (mix of cherries and cut up tomatoes)
small handful olives (use what you like, kalamata are traditional but Spanish are ok)
1 cup large diced green bell pepper
small handful pickled hot peppers such as banana or jalapeno
small handful chopped red onion
small handful crumbled feta cheese (approx 4 oz)

Combine all in medium bowl.

Dress with olive oil, red wine vinegar and oregano to taste.

Let me tell ya, this German/Norwegian girl has never had Greek food of any kind other than a couple bites of someone else's gyro at the fair, and this salad was DELICIOUS ! Fresh and juicy, with a real "bitey" vinegar dressing, it was absolutely wonderful. And served alongside- what else, but a nice chunk of grilled kielbasa in a bakery egg bun with mustard, onions and more of those pickled peppers. Perfect summer dinner !!

Another Day, Another Vegetable, and Another Recipe

It's that time of year, when the garden is going into overload, giving us bowls full of beautiful tomatoes, crunchy hot peppers and green beans just when I thought the plants were on their way out. Sweet corn season is about over here in Iowa, and after about 8 dozen ears of corn, I'm ok with that.

 Today I managed to get 5 bags of beans blanched and in the freezer and did a little inventory of jars and lids- I have 9 small lids and 5 wide mouth jars with lids so it's either going to be 14 pints of something or 8 quarts and 6 pints. Unless, of course, I somehow manage to come up with more jars....... Looking at the pile of tomatoes on the counter, I'm thinking GALLONS might be in order (if only we could home can gallons !!!) I think we are pretty well stocked on "sun dried" tomatoes with 2 great big jars full. I've done many dozen trays of herbs (and those plants show no signs of slowing down either !!). I really wish I could have gotten my hands on some plums. I found a great recipe for asian plum sauce that would have been a marvelous thing to have on hand. And I've managed to save a couple jelly jars so when the hot hot hot peppers are all ready I can whip up some super hot pepper sauce- I've been poring over recipes like crazy !! Burn your face off hot wings might just happen this football season.


Now.......let's talk about dinner. With such an impressive amount of fresh veggies on hand we're eating some of the best and freshest meals we've ever cooked ! Tonight The Chef whipped up a simple fresh tomato sauce, tossed with some pasta and baked, alongside a fresh salad- get the details below. I didn't take a picture unfortunately !! This recipe is very flexible- you can go vegetarian or even vegan if you want to, or add meat and make it a more substantial dish. This is the perfect light summer pasta dish.
....................
JOE'S FRESH TOMATO PASTA
....................
3-4 fresh tomatoes, any variety (The Chef used Lemon Boy and Rutgers from the garden)
1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, any variety
2 tb olive oil
4 or 5 fresh mushrooms, sliced
big pinch oregano- 1-2 tsp or so
1 tb chopped garlic
1/4 large onion, finely chopped (can use dried onion or sliced green onion if desired)
cracked black pepper
1/2 lb pasta, something cavatelli-like (The Chef used medium shells)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
..........
Cut up tomatoes, thoroughly wash and rinse cherry tomatoes. In large skillet heat the oil, saute the garlic ad onion briefly until softened but not browned. Add mushrooms,  stir. Stir in tomatoes, cook until tomatoes break down slightly and become juicy. Cherry tomato skins may pop. Add oregano and freshly cracked black pepper. Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente, drain and toss with tomato sauce. Divide between 2 individual baking dishes, cover with shredded cheese. Bake in 350-375 degree oven until browned and bubby.
..........
*** Note- The Chef added a handful of pepperoni slices when tossing the pasta with the sauce. You could use sliced cooked Italian sausage if desired.