Tomato- Game On

Finally, it's tomato season! (cue dull roar from crowd) And, I've been buying 5 pounds a week from the farmers market.

Any other time of year, I can't stand eating raw tomatoes... they're flavorless with a crunchy yet goopy texture that just doesn't do it for me. I always wondered why winter tomatoes didn't have the magic... according to U of I, tomato flesh degrades when stored below 54 degrees. Meaning: don't pop those suckers into the fridge! http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/tomato.cfm

Have tried a few fresh tomato recipes & want to try a pasta with raw sauce that I found in this month's Bon Appetit. Last year, I made a few tomato salads with cheeses, bruchetta, and tomato pie. All were ok, but this one is my absolute favorite:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/07/charred-corn-salad-with-basil-and-tomatoes

The recipe is impossible to screw up, and it also happens to be corn & basil season too :) The only kicker is this salad tastes like complete crap if you make it outside of July & August. Eat up while you can, let me know what you think!

Do you have any other ideas for using fresh summer tomatoes?

Kick-N-Chicken

When I was a little kid, I used to spend 2 months every summer at my grandparents' house in upstate NY. Not the Westchester county version of Upstate NY... I'm talkin' about the back country road, old farmhouse, pig farm, corn field Upstate NY. And every Sunday was chicken day. What was chicken day, you ask? Chicken day was when smoked rotisserie chicken owned the kitchen- the smell alone was enough to attract every member of the family like flies to sugar water. 

Every weekend during the summers, the chicken stand would light a wood smoker early in the morning. Imagine a massive pit with a 15 foot rotisserie spit spread across. On the spit were 20 perfect chickens, bound together with twine, seasoned with BBQ seasoning (Bucks), and gently rubbed in butter. The chickens would slow roast over the smoky embers for a couple hours, until the meat fell off the bone. *Fell off the bone* Imagine a slow roasted pork butt shredding between your fingers- that's what this chicken is like. This isn't a chicken with flavor reserved only for the skin, or the chicken that requires a heavy coating of sauce to be called barbeque. The meat itself is infused with smokey flavor, and the slow roasting melts the tendons to lock in moisture. Equally moist white and dark meat- impossible to achieve in the oven without dissecting the bird before it's fully cooked.

Yesterday, I encountered the infamous Upstate NY chicken for the first time in over 5 years. What the hell was I thinking, skipping all of those summer family visits? The chicken alone was worth the flight (and grandma too).

Here's a picture of Kick-N-Chicken in Palermo, NY. The pit has been replaced with a wagon. Clearly this ain't your Kroger dual chicken electric rotisserie.

Grandma with the birdies

Dosa Back

Hey Becky-

I have three very awesome food months to catch up on (Korea! New York! Cupcakes! Blueberry smashes!) In the meantime though, I can't help but wax a little poetic on dosas.

I had my first dosa 4 years ago at a place called Dakshin in Louisville (http://www.mydakshin.com). Dakshin is probably the best Indian food I've had in a restaurant, and it's located in a veritable shithole of a shopping center. But the massive half moon, size-of-a-Carolina's-tortilla, crispy, delicately browned dosas with the mashed potato filling were worth transferring the hefty contents of my car into the trunk for safekeeping every time. I liked them so much that I bought rice flour thinking I might try to recreate them at home- no such luck so far.

Was the uttapam similar to a Korean pancake? Yet another unsatisfied reason for the rice flour purchase.

Dosa on Fillmore next year?

Left My Heart (and Stomach) in San Francisco

Dear Anna,

Gosh, it’s been … 2 years since I last posted on the blog. I suppose I’ve been busy in the meantime: finishing graduate school, getting married, working. That reminds me, I should probably update my bio on the left side bar, hm?

I thought I would herald my return to the blog with a restaurant review – Dosa in San Francisco, specifically Dosa on Fillmore (there’s also a Dosa on Valencia). But first, the story. My good friends J and J (I figured I would keep it limited to initials since this is a blog and not Facebook) live in the Bay Area, and they are foodies as well. On a visit last year, they took Husband and I to an Indian restaurant called Dosa, and I have to say it’s astoundingly delicious and unlike any Indian food you’ve probably ever had before.

The Interwebs at Wikipedia tells me that dosa is “a fermented crepe or pancake made from rice batter and black lentils … and is a staple dish in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.” Uttapam is a thicker pancake with toppings like onions, chiles, tomatoes and spices are cooked into the batter. I’m no expert, but I think the kormas, paratha, roti, and other dishes in which we used to drown our Cornell studying sorrows and typically think of as “Indian food” is northern Indian cuisine.

So, continuing the story: our friends J and J got married earlier this month, and Husband and I flew in to San Francisco for the wedding. (May I just say that in our experience, it’s a lot more fun to be guests at a wedding versus being the marrying couple.) We made it a point to go back to Dosa while we were there… well actually, it was more like a “hurry-up-and-get-through-baggage-claim-because-we’re-having-dinner-at-Dosa-now” kind of point.

The restaurant itself is quite beautiful, with tables both upstairs and downstairs and at the bar, in that sexy urban restaurant kind of way.

I can’t quite remember if we ordered both dosas AND uttapams during our first visit, but it was the uttapams that we remembered. At the restaurant, you can order a chef’s selection of five different uttapams (South Indian Moons) if you have a hard time making your choice. And you can get both entrée-sized dishes or small plates of meat, fish, and vegetable dishes. The small plates are particularly nice if you, like us, just want to taste EVERYTHING.

I’m trying to think how to describe an uttapam to you … all the descriptors say “pancake,” but that’s like saying that a loaf of ciabatta fresh out of an oven in Tuscany is bread; technically true but misses something important. The texture is dense and moist, with pops of flavor from the toppings and spices.

*sigh*

Too bad this restaurant is 750 miles away from me in Arizona and 2,400 miles away from you in Ohio.

So… when can we go? =D

Love,

Becky

http://dosasf.com/fillmore_home.htm

Ode to Queen Creek Olive Mill

Becky-

Admittedly, I was a little jealous when I found the bacon olive oil at your house in February and I had only hand-carry luggage. So when you called a couple weeks ago to tell me you'd purchased olive oil for my birthday gift, clearly it was a good day :)


Birthday package arrived in the mail yesterday, and I'll have you know that I've made good use of the contents.

Bacon Olive Oil... with Green Beans
2 tblsp bacon olive oil
1 lb french string beans
1/2 cup minced red onion

Heat 2 tblsp bacon olive oil in medium hot pan. Saute onion until soft. Turn up the burner to medium high and add string beans. Saute 3-4 minutes, until string beans are crispy. Season to taste.


Roasted Garlic Olive Oil... with Popcorn
3 tblsp garlic olive oil
1/2 cup popcorn seeds
salt

Heat olive oil in covered soup pot over medium high heat until smoke point is reached (you'll start to see steam coming from the pan). Add popcorn seeds. Cover & shake pot over heat. Remove from heat as popping slows... don't wait until the popping stops, it'll burn every time. Season with salt.

Orange Olive Oil... with Baby Back Ribs
(1) 3 lb rack of baby back ribs
Dry rub- 1 tblsp paprika, 1 tblsp Caribbean sea salt (or jerk seasoning), 1 tblsp steak seasoning
Marinade- 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup red wine, 1/4 cup BBQ sauce (bottled), 1/8 cup honey, 1/8 cup sorghum, 2 tblsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 cup water
2 tblsp orange olive oil
Extra BBQ sauce (bottled)

Prepare ribs by removing the transparent membrane from bottom. The membrane is slippery and tough to grab onto, so cut the rack in half if you need a place to start peeling. Once you peel a corner, the rest should come off. Don't skip this step if you want your rib meat to "fall off the bone." Rub with dry rub & place in large plastic zipper bag. Cover in marinade and seal, pushing to remove air. Marinate 2-12 hours in refrigerator.

Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking pan with foil, spray with nonstick, and place ribs ontop. Pour marinade from bag ontop of ribs & add 1 cup water to bottom of pan. Drizzle with orange olive oil. Cover with foil. Bake 2 hours.

Preheat grill to 400 degrees. Remove ribs from baking sheet & drizzle again with orange olive oil. Grill ribs 3-5 minutes or until crispy. Brush with extra BBQ sauce.

Link to Queen Creek Olive Mill in Arizona where Becky found these super-fun olive oils: http://queencreekolivemill.com/

Yam Fajita Momma

Hey Becky-

One day back from your house, and I've already made the yam fajitas.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chorizo-Poblano-and-Yam-Fajitas-with-Lime-Marinated-Red-Onions-350963

They were so beautiful... pretty pops of orange yam and green poblano peppers sprinkled with the creamy white feta (French feta... less salty than regular Greek style feta). Very wise of your man to suggest slicing the red onions mandolin-thin. The lime juice seriously broke them down in a pliable yet still crispy, tangy way.

I meant to share a photo with you, but by the time I remembered, there was a set of teeth marks in the fajita wrapper (compliments of Carolinas: http://carolinasmex.com/)

Becky, you are so lucky to have Carolina's flour tortillas in driving distance. Thin, floury, yet stretchy at the same time (but not moist like at the average burrito place). I'm happy to have 3 packages in the freezer, but really wish Carolina's had a shipping service. In the meantime, I just need to keep making trips to Phoenix :)

Pita Madness

Becky-

Can't wait to see you tomorrow- wedding countdown clock at T-4 days (it's annoying now, but in a week, you'll read and smile).

In the meantime, I'll tell you a little story about a girl named Banana, who went to Israel 2 years ago. A sucker for any kind of local spice, Banana went to the market in Jerusalem and stumbled across a fragrant green spice called za'atar (see photo). The stuff has been around for thousands of years, but it took a trip halfway across the world to notice. Turns out, the spice was a mixture of thyme, marjoram, oregano, and sesame seeds- fragrant in an earthly, mildly musky way.


And it was commonly used to season thin, crispy, chewy flatbread...


Thinking she'd hit the jackpot, Banana waltzed out of the market with a 1 pound bag of za'atar and visions of homemade pita.

Fast forward 2 years. Banana is Anna, the bag of za'atar still weighs one pound, and no pita had been produced... until Sunday. Blame it on guilt, lack of pantry space, or the fact that I owed Matt a birthday dinner... regardless, a full kebab dinner was produced, with homemade za'atar pita to boot:
Here are the recipes- all worked pretty well with a few modifications.

Pita: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/pitabread
*1/4-1/8 of an inch will get you a pita as thick as War and Peace... roll those suckers till they're paper thin. If you have za'atar, sprinkle pita dough with olive oil, then rub with za'atar and salt right before baking.

Shawarma: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lamb-shawarma
*spice mixture worked well. I used a cut of lamb leg, but it was tough... recommend using the method in the recipe. Skip the sauce.

Tzatziki: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gyro-meat-with-tzatziki-sauce-recipe/index.html
*skip the gyro meat recipe (the meat will fall apart), but the tzatziki is awesome. If you use plain greek yogurt, no need to drain.

Eggplant Fries: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/08/eggplant-fries
*Changed my life, follow this one exact

Let me know if you try this out... I'll bring za'atar with me tomorrow.