Friday, September 5, 2008

On End of Summer Eating


"Eating well is the best revenge." anon

ROBERTA: Okay, I hardly have time to eat right now, never mind cook. But I can't help myself. Here's what was on the counter yesterday. The peaches come from Bishop's Orchards down the road--I wait all year for those! The squash is from our workman's garden (yes, they are STILL here.) And the tomatoes are from mine. So tonight we're having baked squash, with onions sauteed in butter and then some cheese mixed in, and all baked a second time. Some of the tomatoes I'll chop, then add olive oil, basil, and chunks of fresh mozzarella--poured over penne pasta. The peaches I've frozen so I can make a classic peach pie later in the fall, page 479 from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook. Only I leave out the rum. And cheat on the crust by using my father's recipe--easiest in the world and yet worlds above a frozen purchased crust:

Sift 2 cups of all purpose flour into a bowl, along with 1 and 1/2 tsp salt.
Pour over that 1/2 cup of salad oil and 1/4 cup of milk.
Stir lightly until blended. Gather into a ball and divide.
Flatten each half between 2 sheets of waxed paper and roll out. Then you peel off one of the pieces of waxed paper, dump the crust into the 9" pan, and peel the second sheet off.

And fill it with your favorite pie!

It's Friday and we want to hear about what special end-of-summer treats you're eating!

9 comments:

  1. No fair, talking about food this early! I've been trolling the local farmers markets, coming home with heirloom tomatoes and lots of squash (duh). One woman gifted me with a clutch of giant cucumbers, since she really wanted to get rid of them. Any suggestions? The Nero Wolfe cookbook has a recipe for a cucumber mold...

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  2. Grilled sweet corn with cayenne/lime/sour cream sauce.

    Just a small tub of sour cream mixed with the juice of one lime and either a sprinkle of cayenne to taste or one T of chipotle barbecue sauce.

    On sweet corn, it's very summery and tangy and smoky. Yum!

    I eat it with a large grilled tomato stuffed with shaved pecorino or mozzarella, then topped with fresh basil and dill. Maybe a splash of vinaigrette on top.

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  3. Susannah, that sounds outrageous! You shuck the corn first?

    Sheila, giant cukes stump me. I don't like the big seeds but if you cut them out, only some tough flesh left...

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  4. Hi Roberta,

    First of all, I made your birthday cake recipe for my son -- it was delicious, but still not sold on the Softasilk flour. Maybe my sweet tooth isn't as refined as it should be -- probably from all that chocolate abuse.

    Second, Susannah, that sounds delicious and i'm definitely trying it with my next batch of corn.

    Third: my favorite summer recipe is this: Vegetable Bowl

    It's good for dinner for two or side dish for four.

    You need:
    Fresh vegetables (see options below)
    about four ounces of goat cheese
    olive oil, coarse salt, pepper,
    fresh or dried oregano.

    1 cup milk
    1 tbsp. butter
    1 cup all purpose flour
    1/4 tsp. salt.
    2 beaten eggs (add one at a time, do not overbeat)

    This last five ingredients go into a popover recipe. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

    Pour mixed ingredients into a cast iron frying pan (preferable) or a deep-dish pie plate. Bake at 450 degrees for fifteen minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for twenty minutes longer. The timing is the most critical of this simple recipe.

    While its baking, chop one fresh zucchini, one red pepper, chopped leaks or scallion, small whole mushrooms. Other options: half a cubed eggplant (not skinned)large hunks of fresh tomoto, sliced asparagus.
    Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt, pepper and oregano (Fresh if you have it).
    Place on a sheet of foil and grill for about ten minutes or until desired. Keep warm in foil.

    When the popover pie comes out of the oven, it will be in the shape of a huge bowl. While it is still warm sprinkle the bottom with goat cheese.

    Add the grilled vegetables, and another sprinkling of olive oil if needed, cut into quarters and serve.

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  5. Definitely shuck the corn.

    Sidebar: If I use the chipotle BBQ sauce in the sour cream, I *never* use vinaigrette on the tomato, as the two tastes fight each other and overpower the corn and tomato.

    The same is not true of the cayenne pepper in the sour cream, as it seems to work fine beside the vinaigrette (sparingly) on the tomato.

    When the tomato and corn are at their perfect pitch of taste, I back down on the lime, cayenne, and vinaigrette in either dressing.

    Sometimes you just want to taste the sun!

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  6. what we need is a Jungle Red Writers potluck supper!

    Sheila, leave the cukes home and bring your red velvet cake:)

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  7. What about a cucumber, strawberry (or blueberry), mango and mint salad? Fruit chopped small; fresh mint minced fine, splash of champagne over all.


    -=Susannah, cooking in the 'raw'

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  8. I made BLTs out of turkey bacon in those Omega 3 pitas and fresh tomatoes.

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  9. The only time I really get a decent meal is lunchtime at work. I never bring a lunch and always go out.

    When I'm home, sadly to say I usually just plop something into the microwave. The day's of creative cooking are over, except for special occasions. I'm just too busy.
    Morgan Mandel
    www.morganmandel.com
    http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

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