Fun in the Garden + Salmorejo: Spanish Tomato and Bread Soup

Just the other day, I spent some quality time in the garden with my great friends Michelle and Natasha. Natasha's family lives in beautiful Napa Valley, California. Natasha planted a vegetable garden over the summer, and we came back to give it the love that it deserves.


It felt like we had struck gold, in the form of tomatoes. She planted sweet 100s, a cute little cherry tomato that tastes unbelievably sweet. I could not stop popping them in my mouth, it was like a little burst of sweetness every bite!

Oh my goodness so many tomatoes, it was almost overwhelming!

And, check out the ginormous squashes:

Those squashes were about as long as my torso. And heavy, too!

So it has been 2 days since we picked the tomatoes, and most of them were already starting to go bad today. You really got to pick 'em and eat 'em quick. I sorted through the beauties and separated them from the good ones to make Salmorejo, a Spanish tomato and bread soup from the Andalucian region, specifically Cordoba.

This soup literally took 10 minutes, and involved no cooking! Just throw the tomatoes, some bread (crusts removed), garlic, a piece of bell pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil into a blender then strain it through a fine mesh sieve. The soup is meant to be served chilled. It is a type of gazpacho, a smoother, almost creamier type of gazpacho. The bread helps to achieve that creamy feel and it helps to thicken the soup as well. You can save the crust of the bread to toast and serve as little dippers for the soup.

I ground up some fresh black pepper in and over the top of my soup. Mmm.

Salmorejo

adapted from BakingBites

serves 1 (but can be easily multiplied)

1 lb of tomatoes (any kind you like, I was lucky to have some from the garden)
1 4-inch piece of baguette, crusts removed
1/4 piece of bell pepper
1 garlic clove
1/2 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine everything except for the olive oil in the blender. Blend at high speed until smooth. With the blender running, stream in the olive oil. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and refrigerate until chilled.

The soup can be prepared one day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

**NOTE: You can save your bread crusts, toast them, and serve with the soup.

Asparagus Risotto

"Listen to the sounds the risotto makes as it cooks. The crackling sizzle of the rice tells you it's time to add the wine, which makes a gratifying whoosh; and the bloop-bloop of the bubbles popping signals that it's time to add more broth."

-Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food

There are so many great foods out there, but risotto definitely holds a special place in my heart. Risotto oozes comfort food, with its creamy texture and beautiful soft colors. And it goes perfectly with a nice cold glass of wine. What a delightful dish to welcome in a cool fall day. Oh, and check out my snazzy red bike in the background...it's my new fun (and functional) toy!

Back to risotto, what exactly makes it taste so creamy when there is no actual cream in the recipe? Starch. Yep. Alice Waters says: "Risotto is made from starchy short-grain rice (it looks much plumper than other varieties of rice), which, when moistened with successive additions of stock, gains concentrated flavor and a distinctive saucy texture." The most well-known risotto rice is called Arborio rice, although many other varieties are used in Italy: Vialone Nano, Baldo, and Carnaroli.


Yes, when you make risotto, the whole process takes about 45 minutes standing more or less on-guard, stirring occasionally and adding broth a little bit at a time. You have to give your rice some love, otherwise it won't love you back, and I'm not just saying that to be cute. It's actually quite relaxing to make risotto, it's one of those sort of mindless tasks that just feels good.

I chose to make my risotto with onions, asparagus, and Parmesan cheese. Simple and fantastic. But really, you can throw whatever you feel like in your risotto: mushrooms, seafood, sausages, tomatoes, beans, fresh herbs, citrus juice and zest...

The basic idea of risotto is to saute an onion (or shallot, garlic, leek...), add the rice for just a few minutes to let it get all nice and roasty toasty (it should turn translucent but should not start to color or brown), and then pour in a bit of wine for some fruity acidity. White wine is typical, however red wine or beer can be substituted. Once the wine evaporates, broth or stock is added, slowly over a longish period of time. The final touches involve grated cheese of course! Oh yes, and some good company with which you can share this wonderful meal.

Asparagus Risotto

from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food

4 servings

Snap off the ends of:
1 pound asparagus
Cut the spears on the diagonal into 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside for later.

Melt in a heavy-bottomed 2 1/2 to 3 quart saucepan over medium heat:
2 tablespoons butter

Add:
1 small onion, diced finely
Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes

Add:
1 1/2 cups risotto rice (I used Arborio)
Cook the rice, stirring now and then, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Do not let it brown.

Meanwhile, bring to a boil and then turn off:
5 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)

Pour into your simmering rice:
1/2 cup dry white wine

Cook, stirring fairly often, until all the wine is absorbed. Add 1 cup of the warm broth and cook at a vigorous simmer, stirring occasionally. When the rice starts to thicken, pour in another 1/2 cup of the broth and add some salt (how much depends on the saltiness of the broth). Keep adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, every time the rice thickens. Do not let the rice dry out. After 12 minutes stir in the cut asparagus. Cook until the rice is tender but still has a firm core, 20 to 30 minutes in all. When the rice is just about done, stir in:
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Stir vigorously to develop the creamy starch. Taste for salt, adding more as needed. Turn off the heat, let the risotto sit uncovered for 2 minutes, and serve. Add a splash of broth if the rice becomes too thick.

Homemade Apple Spice Sauce

Tomorrow night is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Last year, I made this wonderful challah bread on Rosh Hashanah for my 60 housemates. This year I have scaled down to live in a little apartment with 2 friends, so I won't be making 8 loaves of challah bread.

I was, however, fortunate to receive a beautiful bag of Fuji apples as a gift last week. How fitting for the Jewish New Year! Apples and honey are two big symbols for this particular holiday, meant to bring in a SWEET new year.

I chose to make a big batch of gingery-cinnamony-nutmegy applesauce. Homemade applesauce is the way to go my friends. And you can serve it in pretty wine glasses for an elegant touch. Maybe make some basic cookies as an accoutrement, or place a plate of dates on the table to eat with the applesauce. Dates could also be a great Rosh Hashanah food, sweet and satisfying!

I also like to put this homemade applesauce in my yogurt or oatmeal for a nice breakfast. Or it would go great as a sweet sauce with roast pork or chicken (I have heard that added a touch of butter to the applesauce takes it to that next level, if ya know what I mean!).

Homemade Apple Spice Sauce

adapted from Allrecipes

10 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 2-inch piece of ginger, minced finely
pinch of salt

Combine everything in a saucepan or pot. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 20-30 minutes, until the apples are soft. You may have to adjust the amounts of your spices if you think it needs more. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then pour it in batches in a blender and pulse until it reaches the desired consistency (my apples were so soft it literally only took me one pulse per batch).

Espresso Ice Cream

I can confidently say that coffee is my favorite ice cream flavor. Any and almost every time I go to the ice cream shop or see it on the dessert menu at a restaurant, my eye immediately notices the coffee flavor.

The restaurant that I work at serves Blue Bottle Coffee, a local Oakland/San Francisco brand of coffee. Man oh man is this stuff good! Last week at work, one of the baristas wanted to practice her coffee-making skills, so I had her make me a decaf double shot of espresso with the intention of using it to make espresso ice cream.

This stuff is literally good to the last drop (I licked the plate after taking this photo!).

I drizzled some coffee grounds around my plate of ice cream, and placed a nice hunk of dark dark chocolate next to my frozen coffee delight. After a long day of class/work, this is the perfect pick-me-up.

Espresso Ice Cream

makes about 1- 1 1/2 quarts

1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
3/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
pinch salt
5-6 egg yolks (or enough to make about 1/2 cup yolks)
3/8 cup sugar
2 cups cream
1/8 cup espresso

Combine milk, cream, sugar, powdered milk, and salt in a pot or saucepan. Heat until just scalding. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks and second amount of sugar. Whisk together until just mixed.

When the milk mixture is scalding, pour about half of it into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Pour that all back into the rest of the milk mixture and continue to heat, stirring constantly until you see a slight film on the bottom of the pot.

Take your custard and pour it through a fine mesh strainer into another bowl with your 2 cups of cream. Set the entire bowl with everything in it over an ice water bath.

Once your custard has chilled, add the espresso. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.


VARIATIONS:
Coffee-fudge ice cream: Whip up a batch of chocolate fudge sauce and pour it into the ice cream maker in the last minute of churning.

Coffee cookies-and-cream ice cream: Chop up some oreo cookies and mix them into the ice cream in the last minute of churning.

Food Science?: Chocolate Agar Plate

What is an agar plate? Agar plates are commonly used in biology labs. An agar plate is a Petri dish containing a growth medium used to culture certain microorganisms.

There is a type of agar called chocolate agar (see photo above). Unfortunately there is no actual chocolate in the agar; it's name is chocolate because of the color of the agar. Chocolate agar comes from cooked blood (yummy!) and is used to culture fastidious (fussy) organisms.

So a note to all of you bio students/researchers/dabblers: DO NOT EAT YOUR CHOCOLATE AGAR...it is not made of chocolate. Go buy a bar of the goodstuff to satisfy your cravings.

Satisfy your Sweet Tooth in the AM

I want!!!!! (aka some of the items on the menu at my future breakfast cafe/restaurant?...):

Nutella stuffed French toast...


...made with Homemade Challah Bread

Brown sugar buttermilk waffles

Ebelskivers aka pancake balls filled with heaven

Blueberry muffins


Big Crumb Rhubarb Coffeecake


Cherry Clafoutis


Yogurt Parfaits with Peaches in Wine


Homemade Extreme Granola

And for some savory satisfaction:


Homemade English muffins


Warm tortillas with Cheesy Eggs


Savory Galettes

Wash it all down with a tall glass of fresh squeezed OJ or a milky cafe au lait in a big giant bowl:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

I made some chocolate chip cookie dough flavor ice cream for you. A whole tub of it. It's like cookie dough, but it's ice cream. Insane. I used a combo of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate morsels just because. I used brown sugar and egg yolks in my custard, and when this yummy frozen treat was finished churning, I licked the ice cream maker clean.

And hey, if you still miss those "chunks" of cookie dough mixed into the ice cream, well by all means go ahead and make some dough to mix in. Or if you want to crumble some already baked chocolate chip cookies into the mix, go to town. (If you are looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.) I actually took some leftover homemade oreos from my work and mixed them in.

I happily ate my cookie dough flavor ice cream with chopped chocolate, oreos, and yes, I took a spoonful of peanut butter to go along with my bowl of decadence.

***NOTE: Apologies for the low quality photos...my camera is still broken and in the process of being fixed. So just hold your horses until then...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

from JoytheBaker

3 tablespoons butter
2 cups half and half
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2% is best; milk with less fat might make this particular ice cream get too icy when frozen)
3/4-1 cup chocolate, chopped (I used half semisweet, half bittersweet)

Pour your 1 1/2 cups milk into a medium-large bowl and set over an ice water bath. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it melts into a nice golden brown color (this is called browned butter). Add the half and half until scalding (not quite boiling). Add your pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add some of the warm half and half mixture to the egg-sugar mixture while stirring constantly. Then pour the rest back into the saucepan and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened slightly and can coat the back of a metal spoon. Strain through a sieve into the bowl of milk. Stir over the ice water bath until chilled, then stick in the fridge until completely chilled.

Pour into the ice cream maker. In the last few minutes of churning, stir in the chopped chocolate, cookie dough chunks, whatever tickles your fancy...