Fried Green Tomatoes

I go out to my garden now and it's still warm, like summer. But the leaves on big maple trees in the back are starting to turn and I can see the vague copper tips. It's that transition season when you want to grab the last of summer but your head understands that autumn is coming.

I've picked dozens of luscious tomatoes in the last few weeks, but there are still some green ones hanging on the vines. Do I wait for them to ripen and have the last few precious bites?

What if there's a sudden frost! That happened to me last year and all my tomatoes were ruined.

Here's what to do: use some green tomatoes and leave just a few to ripen and hope for the best.

In the past I've baked green tomato pie, fried green tomato slices, baked green tomato slices, made green tomato pickles and cut green tomatoes into different kinds of chutney.

This year I decided to pack them into a sandwich.

Dee-lish.

Fried Green Tomato, Roasted Red Pepper and Cheese Sandwich

• 2 medium red bell peppers
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 large eggs, beaten with one teaspoon water
• 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 12-16 slices green tomato (about 1/2-inch thick)
• 4 Portuguese rolls, sliced
• vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven broiler or outdoor grill with the rack about 4 inches from the heat source. Remove the stem and seeds from the bell peppers and cut them into quarters. Brush the pepper pieces with the olive oil. Broil the pepper pieces, turning them occasionally, for 8–10 minutes or until charred. Remove the pieces to a plate. When cool, peel off the skin.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Mix the flour with some salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Place the beaten eggs in another dish. Place the breadcrumbs in a third dish. Coat the tomato slices with flour. Shake off the excess. Dip the coated slices in the beaten eggs, covering the slices completely. Coat the slices with the breadcrumbs. Place the tomato slices on a cookie sheet or baking rack to air dry for at least 15 minutes. Heat about 1/4-inch vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Fry the tomatoes for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Place the rolls in the oven to warm them up for about 4-5 minutes. Remove the rolls from the oven. While the rolls are warming, mix the mayonnaise and basil together. Spread equal amounts of the mayonnaise on the bottoms of each of the rolls. Top each with 3-4 tomato slices. Top each with two roasted pepper quarters. Top each with equal amounts of the cheese. Finally, cover with the top of the roll. Place back in the oven for a minute or so to slightly melt the cheese and serve.

Makes 4 sandwiches

Blueberry Pie with Oat-Coconut Streusel

I find this very difficult to believe, but there are actually some people in my family who don’t like pie.

Huh?

For me, pie is the ultimate dessert. Tender, crumbly golden brown crust. Just a little sweet and with enough salt, fresh fruit and maybe a hint of seasoning. Pie isn’t fancy and doesn’t need to be.

So who could not like it?

Once I asked my husband Ed why he didn’t eat my pie. I thought maybe it was because he grew up in a cake-and-canned-fruit-for-dessert house.

But he told me that he doesn’t like the top crust. He would eat pie if it had a streusel top.

I made those of course, but the problem with a standard, flour-based streusel top is that if you don’t eat the pie right away — like in my case, I bake a half dozen at a time when I can get good fruit — and you freeze it, then the streusel gets all soggy. And unlike regular pie-crust pie, it never bakes back crumbly and crispy. It looks awful too.

Recently I figured out a way to make a pie with a streusel type top that you can actually refrigerate or freeze and it will stay (or reheat to) crisp and crumbly: use a mixture designed for a fruit crisp. These bake properly because they usually contain ingredients (like nuts and oats) that create a firm texture.

As this one did.

I made this blueberry pie with a top crust that I’ve used for fruit crisp. This pie is the best of both worlds: a bottom crust and pie shape for those of us who adore real pie and a top crunchy streusel crust that stays crispy for those who prefer fruit crisp.

Blueberry Pie with Oat-Coconut Streusel

• 1 recipe Oat-Coconut Streusel (see below)

• 5 cups blueberries

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 5 tablespoons flour

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the Oat-Coconut Streusel and set aside. Mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour the blueberry filling into the pie crust. Cover with the streusel. Bake about one hour or until top is golden brown.

Oat-Coconut Streusel

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1/2 cup grated coconut

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 6 tablespoons melted butter 

Place the flour, coconut, oats, nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the melted butter. Mix until the dry the ingredients are covered with the melted butter. 

Blueberry Crisp

We’ll have a July 4th holiday theme for the biweekly Tea I bake for (for cancer patients and their caregivers at Stamford Hospital). The women who coordinate these events, sponsored by Hadassah, have asked us (the bakers) to consider red, white and blue based desserts and confections.

I thought about the time one of my daughters volunteered me to do a red, white and blue dessert for her grade school class (I think that one was for Flag Day). What I came up with then was something in the shape of a sheet cake, but made of strips of watermelon and cream cheese; the star field was a bunch of blueberries piped on top with tiny cream cheese stars that I squeezed out of a pastry tube.

It looked like a flag all right. And the kids ate it all. But I really didn’t like the combination of soft, watery watermelon together with thick, dense cream cheese.

So, for the Tea I am going to stick to something much more mundane, but which I know is absolutely delicious, especially because local blueberries are now available and I just bought myself some.

Blueberry Crisp it is.

By the way, I looked up the word “biweekly” before I used it, wondering if it was actually every two weeks, as I thought, OR twice a week. Several dictionaries say it is BOTH meanings. Which might be fine if we are talking about baking a cake or something. But what if your doctor says “take these pills biweekly.” Do you take them every two weeks or twice a week?

Blueberry Crisp     

• 2 pints fresh blueberries

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 cup bran flakes or raisin bran

• 1/2 cup quick cooking or rolled oats

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts such as almonds, cashews or pecans

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or margarine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the blueberries, sugar, flour, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and lemon juice in a 6-cup baking dish. Set aside. Crush the cereal flakes slightly and put them in a bowl. Add the oats, nuts, brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the melted butter. Mix until the dry the ingredients are coated with the melted butter. Place the cereal mixture over the fruit. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is crispy and brown. Let cool slightly but serve warm (may be rewarmed). Serve plain or with cream, ice cream, whipped cream, or sorbet.

Makes 6–8 servings.

Tomato Salad with Herb-infused Croutons and Goat Cheese

Tomato Salad with Herb Infused Croutons and Goat Cheese

Why would anyone make homemade croutons when there are so many packaged varieties to buy?

For me it’s because the store-bought ones I’ve tried are oversalted, over garlicked, overgreased and hard as rocks.

And I trust my own instincts about whether my leftover bread is stale but still fresh enough to be useful rather than some commercial firm’s where they’re looking to get every penny’s worth.

Besides, croutons are incredibly easy to cook and they are so versatile and tasty you can feel like a genius after you make a batch and use them for some recipe or other. And also because you can use almost any kind of bread, any kind of cooking fat, any kind of seasoning, depending on which recipe you will be adding them to.

For example — I make basil-infused croutons for fresh tomato soup, chipotle seasoned croutons for pea soup. I prefer traditional garlic and herb croutons for Caesar Salad.

I’ve also made buttery cheese-croutons, which are wonderful as toppers for vegetable casseroles and have even stuffed some into an omelet when I was at a loss for some other ingredient. I’ve made a variety of croutons with fresh herbs to use as a bed for stirfried vegetables.

There’s no end to the possibilities.

Croutons are supposed to be the crispy, luxurious, contrasting crunch and flavor your tongue savors as it tosses around soft lettuce leaves or buttery avocado or tangy salad dressing. The hard-as-rocks kind from the package are always too distracting. 

Tomato Salad with Herb-infused Croutons and Goat Cheese

• 4 slices 3/4-inch thick Italian bread

• 1-1/2 tablespoons butter

• 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large clove garlic, sliced

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

• 1/2 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion

• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil

• 2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Trim the crusts from the bread and cut the pieces into small cubes. Heat the butter and olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the garlic slices and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the garlic slices turn lightly brown. Remove and discard the garlic. Add the bread cubes, basil and thyme, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat all the pieces. Place the cubes on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the cubes are crispy and golden. Set aside. Place the tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, red onion and croutons and toss ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and pour over the salad. Toss and taste, adding more olive oil or vinegar as needed. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 2-4 servings

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

It’s not too late to make ice cream is it?

Just kidding. Ice cream is always in season.

I made this one the other day after reading an article about Balsamic vinegar. Mostly it says what I have always believed: don’t use Balsamic vinegar for everything.

When Balsamic vinegar was a hot, new trendy product, a whole lot of people were experimenting with it for almost every conceivable recipe. Mostly salads. But, like so many other ingredients, it has been overused.

Commercial Balsamic vinegars are fine for some — not all — salads and for marinades.

Aged, premium Balsamic vinegars are best as a condiment. Add a few drops to complement a sharp cheese (blue types, Parmesan, feta, etc.), bold greens (such as arugula), certain fresh fruit (like peaches and strawberries) or onto sizzling grilled steak (rather than, say, ketchup. Are you reading this Ed?)

And it is absolutely wonderful switched with traditional vanilla extract, for strawberry ice cream.

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

• 3 cups half and half, light cream or whipping cream

• 2 cups finely diced strawberries

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons premium Balsamic vinegar

• 3 large egg yolks

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Heat 2 cups of the cream over medium heat until bubbles appear around the edges of the pan. Place the strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of the sugar and the Balsamic vinegar. Mix and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the remaining sugar, the egg yolks and salt at medium speed for 3-5 minutes or until light and thick. Gradually add the heated cream and mix the ingredients. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5-6 minutes or until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour in the remaining cream and blend it in thoroughly. Pour into a container and refrigerate until cold. Add the strawberries plus any juices that have accumulated. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions.

Makes about one quart

Corn fritters

Do you ever daydream about foods you haven’t had in a long time?

Like the fried chicken you used to eat but you don’t now because it’s too fattening, too fatty and too messy to make?

Or Mac n’ Cheese the way your Grandma made it, but it doesn’t taste the same since she’s gone?

Or the original Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy that doesn’t taste anything like it used to so you don’t bother?

One of the foods I think about more than occasionally is my Mom’s Corn Fritters. Crispy outside, soft and puffy within, and loaded with corn. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. With a little real maple syrup.

It’s an indulgence, to be sure, so I don’t make them too often. But I just had to have some yesterday. I had been thinking about them, mostly because I had some corn left over from a few extra cobs I cooked over the weekend.

So I made some. I changed one important ingredient though. I switched from dairy milk to coconut milk. UNSWEETENED refrigerator case coconut milk (not canned).

The fritters were vaguely sweeter, but every bit as wonderful, delicate, crispy-edged and perfect. I think Mom would approve.

CORN FRITTERS

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

1 large egg

1 cup coconut milk (or use regular, whole milk)

2 cups cooked corn kernels (about 4 ears of corn)

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons salt (or to taste)

margarine/butter/vegetable oil for frying

maple syrup, optional

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, beat the egg and coconut milk together. Stir in the cooled melted butter and the corn kernels. In a second bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt; add this to the corn mixture and stir ingredients gently to blend them together. Heat enough margarine, butter and/or vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat. When the fat has melted and looks foamy (or the vegetable oil is hot), drop the corn batter by the 1/4-cupful. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the bottom has browned. Flip the pancakes and cook for another 2 minutes or until the second side is brown. Serve with maple syrup if desired.

Makes 6-8 servings

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Blackberry Pie

Is there any food more “American” than pie?

Okay, maybe. Hot dogs, hamburgers and stuff. Cole Slaw. Potato salad. And lots of others.

Actually, none of the ones I mentioned were “American” at the start. Hot dogs, burgers and potato salad are German foods, Cole Slaw is Dutch and Pie began as British.

No matter. They’re American now, all terrific summer foods also. And all perfect for any Fourth of July celebration.

So, when our local Hadassah decided that our biweekly Tea (for cancer patients and their caregivers at Stamford Hospital) should have a Fourth of July theme, I decided to bake a pie to give. 

This one is red (sort of), white (beige crust/white sugar) and blue: a riff on Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. It includes blackberries because I had some in the house and figured why not. You can leave out the blackberries and add more rhubarb and/or strawberries.

Also, I used orange peel as flavor, but you can switch to lemon peel. And I used orange juice for the crust. First because orange goes really well with berries and rhubarb and also, my mother, a consummate pie baker, always told me that the liquid you use to make pie dough can be just about anything. She frequently used juice for fruit pie (the juice depended on the pie). Juice not only gives the crust more flavor, it helps the dough bake into a lovely brown color crust too.

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Blackberry Pie

dough:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup chilled vegetable shortening

4-5 tablespoons orange juice

filling:

3 cups sliced (1/2-inch pieces) rhubarb, about one pound

2 cups strawberries cut in half

1 cup blackberries

2/3 cup sugar (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Combine the flour, salt and orange peel in a food processor. Add the butter and shortening in chunks and process on pulse about 24 times, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add as much of the juice as is needed to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Cut the dough in half, flatten into disks and let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough into circles to fit a 9” pie pan. Place one circle inside the pie pan.

To make the filling, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, blackberries, sugar, salt, flour, orange peel and cinnamon. Add the filling to the pie pan. Cut the butter into chunks and place on top of the filling. Cut strips from the second dough circle and place them in a lattice design on top of the fruit. Seal the edges where the strips meet the bottom crust. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes one 9-inch pie

Farro Salad with Carrots, Peas, Tomatoes and Dill

Farro is becoming trendy. So says this article, which I read recently.

Actually, farro has been pretty popular in my house for the last several years. It’s one of those whole grains, you know, the stuff everyone says is so healthy, full of fiber and nutrients and so on.

It’s popular with me because it tastes so good and because there are so many things you can do with it.

I first cooked farro because I was getting bored with white rice, brown rice, black rice, red rice and every other kind of rice. And with pasta, potatoes and egg noodles. And there’s been an overload of quinoa recently too.

But I wanted something filling and “starchy” as a side dish with dinner. 

There was this little bag of farro in the store. It looked intriguing. I decided to give it a try.

SUCCESS! Farro is sumptuous and tastes sort of nutty and toasty.

I’ve made it dozens of ways, treating it just like rice: steamed, poached, sauteed, in pilaf. Plain. With vegetables. As a salad, drizzled with vinaigrette.

Every recipe is terrific.

Some say farro is the same as spelt, but it is actually a different, if similar grain. It is also a lot like wheatberries and oat groats (so you can substitute those in recipes). Farro is sometimes called emmer wheat. 

Do try it. You can use it all summer in a salad and all through the year in other ways.

Here’s one recipe we love at our house. 

Farro Salad with Carrots, Peas, Tomatoes and Dill

1 cup farro

1-3/4 cup water or vegetable stock

2 carrots, chopped

1 cup thawed frozen green peas

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the farro and water in a saucepan and bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the farro is tender, but still chewy. Set the farro aside to cool slightly. Cook the carrots in boiling water for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Drain and add to the farro. Add the peas and tomatoes and toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. In a separate bowl or a jar, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, dill and lemon peel. Whisk the ingredients until well combine (or shake in a covered jar). Pour into the farro mixture and toss the ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes 4-6 servings 

Eggless Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread

Eggless Lemon Blueberry Bread

Even the most experienced home cooks make mistakes.

Like the one I made yesterday. I decided to bake a Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread and as soon as I put the pan in the oven I realized I had left the eggs out of the batter.

Wow! That’s a biggie.

I did that once before, many years ago and made the big mistake of retrieving the loaf pan, scooping the batter back into a bowl, mixing in the eggs and then baking the bread as if nothing had happened.

Unfortunately, after the bread baked and cooled down, biting into a slice was like chewing day-old used bubble gum.

This time I just let the bread bake with a “let’s see what happens” kind of attitude.

The results were astonishingly surprising. What a boon for people who can’t eat eggs! This Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread is delicious. Firmer, denser than one made with eggs, but tasty and tender without them.

So, here’s the recipe, including the eggs, but for egg-free diets — just leave the eggs out.

Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 large eggs (optional)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

• 1 cup milk

• 1 cup blueberries

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 3/4 cup sugar at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until well combined. (Add the eggs and beat them in). Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk. Beat to blend the ingredients to a smooth, even batter. Fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. While the bread is baking, combine the lemon juice and 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. When the bread comes out of the oven, pour the lemon juice mixture on top. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread

Grilled “Korean Style” Chicken

Barbecue for Father’s Day: Ribs and Chicken

For years and years on Father’s Day our family, my brothers, parents and I, went to an extended family barbecue (called a “cookout”) at my Aunt Min’s house. All the cousins were there so it was a generally raucous event. My Uncle Herb made hot dogs and hamburgers.

I didn’t like it. I wanted to be with my father and and not everyone else’s. It wasn’t as if we never saw the cousins. There were always plenty of other occasions during the year.

Besides, I wanted my Mom’s delicious food. Uncle Herb was a nice guy and all but he tended to overcook everything so the hot dogs were shriveled and the burgers were like hardened play dough.

So one year I got really brave and told my mother I didn’t want to go.

Wow — she agreed! It was like a miracle. She loved the family thing (it was her family, not my Dad’s) so I was really surprised. Maybe she was looking for an excuse not to go? Maybe all the little, noisy kids were too much for her? Maybe the traffic was a hassle?

In any event, after that our family went solo with our own cookout and that’s the tradition I follow with my own children. It’s raucous enough just with us! 

We change the menu from year to year, but it’s always something on the grill plus a few veggie and grain salads and maybe potato salad.

I just bought some beautiful beef ribs for Sunday. And some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Here’s the recipe I’m going to use (it’s for the chicken, but you can use the same marinade for the beef ribs).

Grilled “Korean Style” Chicken

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup agave or honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 thick scallions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 large skinless and boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, optional

Combine the soy sauce, agave, brown sugar, vegetable oil, sesame seed oil, garlic, scallions, ginger and black pepper in a dish large enough to hold the chicken breasts. Mix the ingredients well. Immerse the chicken and turn them a few times to coat all surfaces. Marinate for 2-3 hours, turning the meat from time to time. Preheat an outdoor grill or oven broiler. Remove the chicken from the marinade and grill the breasts, brushing occasionally with the marinade, for about 8 minutes, turning once or twice, or until the breasts are cooked through. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds if desired. Makes 4 servings 

Tagged: Father's Day, Grilled Chicken, Korean Barbecue Sauce