Watermelon and Tomato Salad

Watermelon and Tomato Salad

How did it get to be October already? And me with a backlog of summer recipes! Luckily, heirloom tomatoes are still beautiful and all over the greenmarket and watermelon is in abundance at Fairway.


When I was a kid, watermelon (and cucumbers) were the only two foods I refused to eat. Their high water content diluted the flavor so much as to make it unpalatable to me. Lately, though, I've found that, when it's terribly hot out, I crave these watery fruits. Probably my body seeking to rehydrate itself as much as possible.


But, because I have a low tolerance to sweet, I needed to add something salty to the watermelon and tomatoes. Mark Bittman recommends goat cheese, but I was more interested in feta, as suggested by Josh in his Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon Salad. Some basil (from the plant that's still growing nicely on our terrace!), a sprinkling of sea salt and a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and we had ourselves a delicious salad. Enjoy!


Watermelon and Tomato Salad
adapted from How to Cook Everything and The Food Section

• 3 heirloom tomatoes, assorted varieties, cored and thickly sliced
• 1/4 watermelon, seeded, peeled and sliced as thickly (or thinly) as tomatoes
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 4 ounces feta, crumbled
• 8 leaves basil
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

On a large platter, lay down first a tomato slice, then a watermelon slice, overlapping slightly, until all used. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and feta. Crumble basil leaves on top and drizzle with olive oil. Serve immediately.

Salad, Corn and Shrimp

Make It a Meal: Keep the summer theme going by serving the salad with corn -- rather than just steaming it, try Roasted Corn with Parsley Butter. If serving a vegetarian, and since the oven's already on for the corn) finish out the meal with some Roasted Vegetables. If not, go for Salt Roasted Shrimp instead. And to drink? Riesling, especially if you can find a local one like Treleaven Riesling from the Finger Lakes. Bon appetit!

Leftovers: Unfortunately, this isn't a salad that saves very well, so eat it the night of, if at all possible. If not, mix leftovers with falafel (if you don't make your own, I highly recommend Trader Joe's frozen variety) to make a more substantial salad. Yum!

Links to other watermelon salad noshes:

• Watermelon Salad with Feta or Cotija from Simply Recipes
• Beautiful and Simple Watermelon Salad that Is Perfect for Summer Days from Junglefrog Cooking
• Watermelon Salad Thing from Lottie + Doof
• Minty Watermelon Salad from Never Enough Thyme
• Tomato and Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese from Steamy Kitchen

Summer Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup

Summer Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup with Phyllo Dumplings

 Like everyone else in the food world, my favorite part of summer (aside from not having to wear a jacket outside) is the produce. Trips to the greenmarket become wonderful discoveries of fresh summer bounty and I have to force myself not to come home with everything I see.


Lately, the vegetarian and I have been traveling a lot so we haven't had time to enjoy the greenmarket as much as we'd like. Our travels took us to Hancock, NY, where we were costarring in a new play that about the founding of Laramie, WY. While this was a lot of fun, culinarily it left something to be desired (aside from an amazing restaurant we discovered on the way home, in Ellenville, NY).

Ozzy

The other thing that's been going on is that, do to some lingering behavioral problems, we had to send Ozzy to boot camp for 2 weeks. Now he's home and we're training him pretty hardcore. It's taxing but, ultimately, will be worth it.


So on our trip to the greenmarket yesterday, we wanted something fresh, non labor-intensive and that we could make into comfort food. There were beautiful baby eggplants at the greenmarket and we picked up several (white and purple). To stick with my theme of miniature produce, I grabbed two pints of cherry tomatoes as well. And, because our basil plant had died while we were away, a bunch of lemon basil came home with us as well.


My favorite way to prepare eggplant is to roast it. This concentrates the flavors without leeching out too much moisture. A quick internet search found a recipe for Roasted Eggplant with Tomato and Feta. I loved the flavors but wanted something more comforting than a warm salad. A quick cookbook search found me a recipe for Summer Roasted Tomato Soup. I put on my thinking cap, combined both recipes, and -- poof! Summer Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup was born. Enjoy!


Summer Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup

Freshly Pureed Soup

adapted from A Slob in the Kitchen and Green Lite Bites

• 4 small Japanese eggplants
• 1 small white eggplant
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided, plus more as necessary
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup lemon basil leaves, chopped
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 1 red onion, minced
• 6 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss eggplants, tomatoes, olive oil (at least 1 teaspoon), garlic, salt, basil, chickpeas and feta together.on an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes, stirring halfway through and adding more olive oil if eggplant has dried out. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a stockpot, heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cooking, stirring, 5-10 minutes, until onion has turned translucent. Add roasted mixture and stock. Cover, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Remove cover, lower heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender. Season with additional salt and, if desired, black pepper, to taste. Serve warm.

Phyllo, hot out of the oven

Make it a Meal: While you can serve this as an appetizer in a multi-course meal, it is also heavy enough to be a wonderful main dish. While everything roasts, make some phyllo dumplings (a wonderful stand-in for croutons) by wrapping basil and/or feta cheese in phyllo packages. While soup cooks, bake phyllo 15 minutes in a 375 F oven. Serve in soup or alongside. To drink, I'd recommend a rose, specifically a 2010 Biohof Pratsch. A sauvignon blanc would be nice as well. And for dessert? Pomegranate seeds. Bon appetit! 

Leftovers: Make a pound of pasta and pour over as much soup as you want instead of a prepared sauce. Yum!

Links to other roasted eggplant noshes:

• Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup from Simply Recipes
• Roasted Eggplant with Mint from White on Rice Couple
• Spicy Grilled Eggplant with Red Pepper, Parsley, and Mint from Kalyn's Kitchen
• Roasted Eggplant Soup from Smitten Kitchen
• Roasted Eggplant Pesto from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Tomato-Fennel Soup

News! News and revelations! In July, the Vegetarian, Ozzy and I moved in together to a spacious one-bedroom in the Lincoln Center area of Manhattan. Moving in during the summer certainly made me more eager to cook (that and discovering the adorable Tucker Square Greenmarket only a few blocks away) but focusing on creating healthy vegetarian meals made me far less adventurous. So I invested in a few new vegetarian cookbooks, revisited ones I already owned and decided to let my kitchen creativity come out in other ways--meal planning, substitutions, etc. and let writing and creating my own recipes disappear.

Then I got busy. From October through December I've been working on no fewer than 3 projects at a time, which left very little time for cooking and even less energy. We began ordering in frequently, buying prepared foods, etc. Getting frustrated with our complacency, we joined a wine CSA. And when the wines began arriving, I started recipe planning again. Each new wine created a new list of delightful-sounding recipes culled from cookbooks and the internet. Of course, there are many more recipes than we can realistically have with one bottle of wine! But that was enough to get me back into the kitchen, tasting, experimenting and playing. Now, when we have free time, cooking together has become one of the Vegetarian and my favorite activities!

So, without further ado, here is the most recent creation: Tomato-Fennel Soup. With the recent cold spell, we needed something warming but, wanting to remain healthy, trim and energetic, I've been craving lighter, more summery flavors. Obviously fresh tomatoes are no good this time of year. But canned tomatoes can be cooked down into a delicious soup. And, with the addition of some fresh fennel and a bit of cumin, this turned into a lovely dish. Served alongside a Fresh Tofu Salad and a bottle of Sardinian Vermentino, it became a complete meal.

Tomato-Fennel Soup

Adapted from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
• 4 shallots, chopped finely
• 2 baby carrots, chopped finely
• 1 28-ounce can whole sauce tomatoes
• 1/2 cup mushroom broth
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 tablespoons fennel leaves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in a medium stockpot over medium-low heat. Add fennel bulb, shallots and carrots and cook, stirring, 15 minutes.

Add tomatoes, broth, salt, cumin and pepper. Raise heat to high, cover and bring to a boil. Still covered, return heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes with your spoon. Remove from heat and blend, using an immersion blender. You can leave the soup as chunky or as smooth as you desire. Ours was somewhere in between. Serve hot, sprinkled with fennel leaves and cilantro. Enjoy!

Links to other tomato fennel soup noshes:

• Tomato Fennel Soup from Kitchenography
• Tomato & Fennel Soup from Just Cook It
• Tomato-Fennel Soup from Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
• Roasted Cauliflower, Roma's and Fennel Soup from Cucina Panzano
• Spicy Tomato and Fennel Soup from Fairy Cake Heaven
• Tomato and Fennel Soup from Clivia's Cuisine
• Fennel & Tomato Soup with Basil & Haloumi Croutons from Sophies Foodiefiles
• Golden Tomato Soup with Fennel from The Wednesday Chef

Prosciutto and Tomato Open-Faced Sandwich

Some days, the best meal is a simple one.

This open-faced sandwich consists of a thick slice of Trader Joe's Rosemary Batard, spread generously with their Crushed Garlic and two slices of Prosciutto. Because my Cherry Tomatoes were so juicy, I preferred to eat them on the side, but they could easily be sliced in half and placed on top of the meat.

Delicious!

Food and Lunch and Sandwich and Quick Recipeand Meat and Pork

IMBB #19: Vegan Feast

Sam, from Becks & Posh, is hosting this month's IMBB and the theme is to make something Vegan! Now, I'm a carnivore so I was a little nervous about this theme. A whole vegan meal? The simplest thing would be to make a salad, but a salad without meat or cheese just seemed rather boring to me. Finally, I decided to forget about it completely. I've been pretty bad about blogging lately, and a show I'm working on began tech yesterday, so I certainly have enough excuses. But then today tech ended early, one of the ladies I live with was feeling ill and I really needed to buy groceries. So I decided to make us a vegan feast with two dishes: A Tofu and Tomato Stir-fry and a Cherry Tomato Salad with Rice Wine Vinaigrette. While shopping, I was very careful to read all the ingredients and buy only Vegan-allowed foods. The result? A simple and healthy dinner, but not one I would eat every night. So thanks, Sam, for opening my eyes to what a nice change this can be, but I think in general I prefer a steak.

Cherry Tomato Salad

40 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Green and Black Olives, pitted
2 Scallions, minced
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and drizzle with a little Rice Wine Vinaigrette. Toss and serve.

Rice Wine Vinaigrette

1/3 cup Canola Oil
1/3 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
3 cloves Garlic, minced

Whisk together until well-combined. Perfect drizzled delicate vegetables, cooked or raw.

Tofu and Tomatoes

Canola Oil to grease pan
1 Plum Tomato, diced
5 cloves Garlic, minced
2-3 teaspoons Olive Oil
2 packs Extra-Firm Tofu, cubed
Trader Joe's 21-Seasoning Salute (or favorite spice blend)
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

Grease pan with Canola Oil. Saute Tomato and Garlic until Garlic is fully cooked and Tomato is soft. Remove from pan and reserve. Add Olive Oil to pan. Heat, then add Tofu Cubes. Saute until Tofu begins to color. Add 21-Seasoning Salute. Return Tomato mixture to pan. Add Soy Sauce and move tofu bits around so everything is well combined. Add Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste. Serve.

recipe and IMBB # 19 + Vegan

Quesadillas d'aioli, tomates et mozzarella

Three beauties of one gender.
Put eggs in the blender--
Too much oil, we need a mender!
You can add another yolk,
You can make a joke.
You can sip a glass of Coke
Or call your folks
And give a poke.
Add some tomatoes and some cheese
And broil it in the oven, please.

And voila my Doctor Seuss parody which the crazy Cook Sister! requested for this month's EoMEoTE. Unfortunately, we didn't find a mender for my liquidy aioli, so we drizzled it on our tortillas instead of smearing it on like mayonnaise. They were still delicious!

Next time, I would use one lemon, instead of two and considerably less olive oil. I have included the recipe I believe would work perfectly.

Quesadillas d'aioli, tomates et mozzarella

Aioli

3 Egg Yolks
1 cup Olive Oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
4 cloves Garlic, peeled
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper

Beat Egg Yolks in blender. If possible, depending on your blender, add Olive Oil while blender is on. If not, add it slowly, combining it and the Egg Yolks fully before adding more. When thick, add Lemon Juice and Garlic. Beat again, until Garlic is finely chopped. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper.

Quesadillas d'aioli, tomates et mozarella

8 Whole Wheat Tortillas
Aioli
4 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
Generous amount Mozarella, broken into 20 hunks
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper

Pre-heat broiler. Spread 4 Tortillas with Aioli. Place Tomatoes on top, spreading around evenly. Add 5 pieces of Mozzarella to each Tortilla. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Top each with another Tortilla. Broil for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

recipe + EoMEoTE + Vegetarian

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges, avec pommes de terre nouvelles.

Sorry for the extended silence; my folks came out here for Passover, so most of the eating has been with them, which, while it was fantastic, I didn't end up posting. Also, it's still Passover, which means lots of dietary requirements, so I was having trouble coming up with exciting Kosher for Passover meals.

I also missed the orange-themed IMBB because of my visitors, but I decided to play around anyway. Sadly, this turned out more red than orange, so keep an eye out for more orange-colored food.

The sauce should be sweet-and-sour, a very Jewish flavor combination in my opinion. I like my sweet-and-sour sauces more sour than sweet, so feel free to increase the honey and decrease the lime juice.

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges

Sauce

3 Oranges
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 finely chopped Onions
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp + 2 tsp Thyme Honey
Salt and Black Pepper
4 stalks Rhubarb, poisonous leaves cut off as well as white bottom of the stalk, fibrous strings removed with a vegetable peeler
1 cup 100% Orange juice
Cinnamon to taste
1 can peeled plum Tomatoes, quartered and 1/2 cup liquid
Juice of 3/4 Lime

Using a vegetable peeler, take a long strip of zest from one of the Oranges. Place it in a small saucepan covered in cold water and bring to a boil. Drain and pat dry, then mince finely. Peel 2 Oranges, including white surrounding the flesh. Chop, removing all seeds. Set minced zest and chunks of Orange aside.

In a skillet, heat Olive oil over medium heat. Add Onions and cook, stirring every so often, for 5 minutes. Add orange zest, Ginger, 1 tsp Honey, Salt and Pepper. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring, for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, start on the Rhubarb. Cut the stalks into chunks and place them in a pot. Add 1/2 cup of the Orange juice, 2 tsp Honey, Cinnamon and Salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer at medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes.

Once the onions are soft and sweet, add remaining 1/2 cup Orange juice and boil for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides to prevent burning. Stir in Tomatoes and juice and turn heat up to medium-high and cook about 10 minutes. Add Rhubarb mixture and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add orange chunks and simmer over low or medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add Lime juice and Salt and Pepper to taste.

Let sauce cool to room temperature, then place in fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 12.

Fish

4 fillets Cod
Water
Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Place Cod in glass baking dish and cover with Water. Add Salt and Pepper. Cook about 9 minutes, until fish flakes easily.

Cover Cod in sauce and decorate with wedges of remaining Orange. Serve room temperature or even chilled.