Tomatoes & Blueberries

I made this beautiful Tomato Marmalade from Food & Wine magazine a couple of weeks ago. They don't have it on their website yet, so I'll share the recipe that turned into my own after making a few changes to theirs. When I made this the first time, I only did half the recipe because it sounded like a lot of tomatoes to concassé (can anyone say culinary school flashback?!). After getting a mere 2 jars out of it and then tasting it, I realized that I wanted...no needed to make more. Spread this on crostini with a thin tickle of mascarpone, goat, or any cheese with a crisped-up piece of country ham, prosciutto, spicy cured sausage/ham, or bacon. I'm thinking that I might try it on a sharp cheddar grilled cheese.



The Blueberry Syrup is also from the latest issue of Food & Wine. For some reason they have this recipe on their website but not the Tomato Marmalade, even though they came from the same issue. I followed this recipe to a T, but it was too thin. I ended up simmering it for about 30 minutes, which was 10 minutes too long. It went from a thin, watery, flavorless syrup to....jelly. This, I assure you, is not a bad thing. Spread on pumpernickel toast with a schmear of cream cheese is a really, really, nice thing. As one can tell from the pic, it hasn't been hard eating half the jar. We did, even in its jellied state, stir it in to lemonade with some sparkling water and a sprig of mint for a tasty afternoon drink by the pool. I also plunged a couple tablespoons into my cottage cheese. A blueberry vodka cocktail of some kind is on the horizon.

Tomato Marmalade
Yield: 10 cups

6 pounds tomatoes
3 cups sugar
1 tsp. crystallized/candied ginger, minced
1/2 tsp. Saigon cinnamon
2 lemons, halved & juiced

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Make a criss-cross mark on the bottoms of the tomatoes. Drop into the boiling water for about 10-30 seconds, depending on how big or small your tomatoes are. Remove with a slotted spoon, cool slightly, and remove the peel. Cut the tomatoes in half at the equator and squeeze out the seeds. Cut out the hard, stem round. Finely chop the tomatoes. Discard the seeds. In a heavy bottom pot, stir together all the ingredients, including the lemon juice and halves. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for about 1 hour. Discard the lemons and bring to a boil until reduced by 1/8-1/4, stirring gently. Ladle into prepared jars, lid, and cool.

Blueberry Syrup Recipe

A Perfect Meal

(Click here to listen)

This past Mother's day I had the delightful amusement of cooking with my girls while Kevin managed the grilling of shrimp and chicken sausages.

We started with these Bacon Roasted Brussel Sprouts, in the above picture. They are my favorite dish right now. I crave them all the time and can eat them straight-from-the-frig cold. If my mother had cooked brussel sprouts this way when I was a kid, I wouldn't have missed years and years of their delightful, earthy, smokey pleasures. I suppose I should save that kind of bitterness for a therapy session....

I first had a version of these brussel sprouts at my favorite restaurant, Restaurant Iris. Its chef, Kelley English, was voted one of the top new chefs of 2009 by Food & Wine magazine (we are so proud of him)! His brussel sprouts are more of a salad with a sherry vinaigrette and local bacon. I like to roast brussel sprouts with balsamic or sherry vinegar at the start and then another drizzle after coming out of the oven for a splash of tartness with all those condensed caramelized bits.



I have to say that Kevin performed perfection at the grill that Sunday. We almost didn't have to chew the shrimp they were so tender. A physical alliteration of "melt-in-your-mouth good." I did a simple marinade of crushed garlic cloves, basil from the back yard, olive oil, and red pepper flakes.

I've decided that kids will eat anything if it's been skewered. I guess it's the novelty of something cooked on a metal or wooden rod. Maybe we'll experiment with all the things they think they don't want to eat like lamb or some crazy fish to see if they'll eat that too. (Note to self: using kids for my personal food experiments might be the second indication of need for therapy...call Dr. Martin).



We drank virgin Piña Coladas from a Williams-Sonoma mix I bought on clearance last fall. I'm not going to lie....I missed the rum. They were frothy and icy and the perfect beverage to accompany our meal together, which would have been even better with rum.

Dessert was Emma's idea. She's 8 3/4's (can't forget the 3/4's, ever) and wanted chocolate turnovers, but wasn't quite sure what that meant, but knew she wanted chocolate in "dough." Maybe I have a protégé after all. We placed our chocolate chips in the pastry diamonds and enjoyed watching them go from flat to puffed with the help of a psychedelic oven light that needs replacing. They were quite tasty with the ice cream on top; reminiscent of days in Paris over 8 years ago.

It was the perfect day sustained by the perfect meal.



Bacon Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Serves: 6-8

1 pound brussel sprouts, trimmed & halved
4 Tbsp. olive oil
4 Tbsp. balsamic or sherry vinegar
3 strips good quality bacon, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2-1 tsp. pepper (depending on taste)

Preheat the oven to 400. Place the brussel sprouts in a baking/roasting dish and toss with the olive oil, bacon, salt, and pepper. Drizzle on 2 Tbsp. of the vinegar and toss. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring once. After they come out of the oven, immediately drizzle with the remaining 2 Tbsp. vinegar.

Rat-Uh-Who-We What?

I’m pretty sure that pizza is the perfect food. Yeasty, crunchy crust, gooey cheese, tangy sauce, and scattered toppings of choice...what’s not to love? Pizza is like a bare canvas waiting to be composed and spoiled with endless embellishments, as long as you have a great crust to support it.














This pizza crust recipe is made in a mixer, rises in an hour, and stretches, rolls, or, ahem, flies in the air easily. I don’t have the time or the talent for rising and punching and rising and punching, especially when it comes to dinner. The rim of this crust is crispy yet has a chewy & inflated center and the foundation becomes crunchy while staying soft, but not soggy, under the sauce and cheese.














I used to use bagged shredded mozzarella cheese, but have recently switched to fresh, sliced mozzarella. We don’t use it all the time, but lately we have very much enjoyed its melted, bouncy strings that cling to our chins and the giggles that come with its sticky embrace.

We make homemade pizzas now just about every other weekend. Small ones, baking-sheet-size rectangle ones, and we even turn the dough into bread sticks or knots for sinking into pizza sauce. The kids usually make cheese-only pizzas with an occasional sprinkle of bacon, but we grownups go for a combination of bacon, mushrooms, pesto, jalapenos, feta, and spinach. This is a version of our favorite pizza called the Magical Mystery Tour at Mellow Mushroom (I’m so glad we don’t have one in Memphis because I would surely weigh more than 300 pounds).















Recently I made a huge batch of ratatouille and decided to scatter some of it on our last homemade pizza, along with some bacon, spinach, and roasted tomatoes. Man...I love bacon…anyway…I might have a new favorite pizza!















Ratatouille Pizza
Yield: Four 8-inch crusts or Two 11x16 crusts

For the dough:
6 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 packages of active dry yeast (1/2-oz. total)
1 Tbsp. honey
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups warm water

Mix together the water, oil, honey, and yeast; set aside. Meanwhile, in a standing mixer with a dough hook, mix together the four and salt. Add the water-yeast mixture and mix with the hook for 7-10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. Punch down and form into desired size/shape. Once the pizza is assembled, bake on a preheated pizza stone or a parchment-lined baking sheet in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10-20 minutes, depending on size of pizza and amount of toppings used.

For the sauce (optional):
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 garlic clove, sliced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano

In a small saucepan, heat the oil and add the garlic. Cook the garlic until fragrant but not browning. Add the tomato sauce, basil, and oregano. Simmer for 10 minutes on very low heat.

For the ratatouille (optional):
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 zucchini, cut into half-moons
1 small red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into 1/2-inch squares
4 Roma tomatoes, quartered, seeded, and cut in half again
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
Salt and pepper, to sprinkle
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450. Toss all the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. Place in a greased roasting pan or on a lined/greased baking sheet. Cook until the vegetables are soft and fully cooked. Move them around a bit while cooking to promote cooking evenly. It may be left as is, or 1/4 of the mixture may be mashed a bit then mixed with the other veggies. If it's too dry, add a bit of the pizza sauce.