Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

Sometimes I buy fruit and vegetables like they're going out of style, forgetting that our family of three can only eat so many cherry tomatoes, strawberries, basil, or melons before we're sick and tired of them.

Enter Costco cherry tomatoes, stage right.  A girlfriend was over for coffee the other and noticed my carton of tomatoes on the kitchen table.  I said that I wasn't sure what to do with them.  She said she'd recently seen a recipe in Bon Appetit that roasted tomatoes and put them in a salad.

Inspired, that's exactly what I did.  It was perfect for an impromptu BBQ later that day.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta Salad (inspired somewhat by Ina Garten's recipe)
2 pounds of cherry tomatoes
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Pesto (I used about 2/3 cup freshly made)
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (fresh mozzarella would also be delicious)
1 pound bite-sized pasta of your choice

Put the tomatoes on a rimmed cookie sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Roast in a 325-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes have split open.

Cook & drain the pasta according to instructions.

Mix the pasta, tomatoes, and pesto while everything is still warm.  Once the mix has cooled to room temperature, toss in the cheese.  Adjust seasonings to your taste.

I enjoyed the leftovers the next morning with my Sunday paper and the dog at my feet.

Blueberry Dumplings

When I was in grade school I spent a summer with my dad's family in Massachusetts.  My great-grammie lived a few blocks away from my grandparents, so my brother and I would walk over to visit her to visit her from time to time.  Now that I'm a mother, I understand that my visits to Great-Grammie probably gave my Gram and Gramp a nice break from our youthful energy and sibling squabbles.

I'd had a great-grandma in Washington, an ancient woman in a nursing home who had suffered decades of illnesses.  Spending time with a member of my great-grandparents' generation was such a novelty.  I recall wanting to be close to her, to get to know her and spend time with her, to explore her home.  I like to think that she enjoyed getting to know me, too, as I was one of the oldest great-grandkids.  Age has a way of sneaking up on each of us and I bet that being a great-grandmother may have posed itself as somewhat of a novelty to her as well.

One day my brother and I went over for lunch.  Great-Grammie had made blueberry dumplings for dessert.  I remember them bubbling away on her stove top, a forbidden thing nobody could touch until they were done.  When it came time for dessert on that muggy afternoon, she spooned the thick, sticky, sweet syrup over fluffy dumplings.  The dumplings were white in the middle but stained purple and green along the edges.  I loved them instantly.

Great-Grammie died some years later, before I was able to return for another visit.  That afternoon is my most vivid memory of her.

Now, nearly 30 years later, blueberry dumplings bring back sharp memories of sitting at a kitchen table with a feisty little woman who was my Great-Grammie.  They're my New England/Nova Scotia version of madeleines in tea.

Here's her recipe as written in her daughter's - my gram's - hand.  I've had a lifetime of deciphering her handwriting so will type it out for you under the picture.

Because I can't resist tinkering with recipes, I did the unthinkable and added some lemon zest and a little cinnamon.  I'd like to think that Great-Grammie would have approved.  But maybe not.

Blueberry Dumplings
Sauce:
1 quart blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
Zest of 1 small lemon
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Bring blueberries, water, sugar, lemon, and cinnamon to a boil in a medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid.  Prepare dumpling dough while the sauce is heating.

Dumplings: (from NPR.org, or use Bisquick per my gram's recipe)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter
6-8 tablespoons milk
Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking power in a food processer.  Cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Gently mix in milk by hand until it becomes a very soft dough.

Divide the dough into 5 portions and gently drop into the bubbling blueberries.  Place lid on the pot and allow to steam for 12 minutes.  Do not open!

Top the dumplings and sauce with heavy cream or vanilla ice cream.

More Strawberries

Oh.  Did you think I was done with strawberries?

I had nearly 4 flats.  That's 36 pounds of strawberries.

Yes, I made the requisite strawberry jam.  Actually, I made 2 batches.

As I was hulling - and hulling and hulling and hulling - the strawberries, I realized that I had a ton of tops that could go to better use than to feed a flock of old hens.  I'm such a Yankee at heart that I couldn't let them go to waste.

See the copper pan in the upper left?  That's a strawberry shrub!

I've been thinking about shrubs a lot lately, remembering my obsession with them when I was pregnant.  I pulled out my vinegar, threw in 4 cups of strawberry tops whose leaves I'd removed, and cooked it for about 15 minutes.

I can't wait to get some club soda on the way home tonight and have something different with dinner.

Strawberry Shrub
The important thing about a shrub is the ratio of 1:1:1.

3 cups strawberries, sliced
3 cups vinegar
3 cups sugar*
(*Please note an earlier version said water.  There is no water in this recipe.  Dangit.)

Combine the vinegar and berries in a pot and bring to a boil.  Cook for 15 minutes.  Strain, then add the sugar and stir well.

If desired, process for 5 minutes with 1/8" headspace, or simply store in the fridge.  These, too, will go to my barter.

Tonight I have to make another batch of jam and figure out what to do with the last bowl of berries that are languishing.  Perhaps more BBQ sauce?

Strawberry Overload

It started last week with this Facebook post by Tacoma Boys, a fruit stand turned gourmet grocery store across town.

I bought one flat.  We had only bought a single flat of Puyallup strawberries this year because at $22 each we couldn't afford more than that.

Once I got home, Gene encouraged me to go back and buy more.  Two days later I went back for two more flats.  What a deal at $7.99 each!  Granted, they weren't local berries but they'd be fine in smoothies and jam.

My car loaded with strawberries (plus blueberries and raspberries from another stand), I headed out to get Kaelen from daycare.  On my way I passed a new store called Harbor Greens, which is owned by a coworker's friend.  I decided to check it out and pick up some meat to grill.  As I parked, this is what I saw:

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?!?!

So I bought another flat.

I lost a half a pound of strawberries and about half a pint of blueberries during the ride home.

Ummmm.  Now what.

Seriously, there's only so much jam a family of 3 can eat.

"Luckily" (I laugh derisively), our fridge had gone kaput that week.  All of its contents were across town in my dad's freezer.  A brand new, empty freezer was perfect for freezing strawberries.  These trays held about 4 gallon bags' worth.

It's nice to have a stocked freezer again.

But I was still left with nearly 2 flats of berries.  Out came the canning items.  Hey, these flat holders are very convenient!

Off I went to google a recipe for strawberries that was not jam. I don't really like pie, so filling was off the list.  It's possible to can strawberries but the end result is a mushy mess.

Then I found this recipe: Roasted Strawberry BBQ Sauce.

Making a massive mess.  This was awful to clean.

I tripled it and processed the sauce for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. I'll take it to my next barter event.

Roasted Strawberry BBQ Sauce (recipe adapted slightly from closetcooking.com)
Makes about 5.5 pints.

• 12 cups strawberries, cut in half

• 1.5 cups  ketchup

• 6 tablespoons honey

• 4 tablespoons strawberry jam 

• 6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 6 tablespoons soy sauce

• 3 chipotle chilis in adobo, chopped

• 8 cloves of garlic, rough chopped

• 3 tablespoon ginger, grated

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (optional)
• 
  

Directions

1. Place the strawberries in a single layer on a baking pan lined with foil folded up on the sides to capture the juices and roast in a preheated 425F oven until they start to caramelize, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Bring everything except the cilantro to a boil, reduce the heat, simmer for 15 minutes, remove from heat, mix in the cilantro and puree in a food processor or blender or using an immersion blender.
3. Process in sterilized jars for 15 minutes.

I'm waiting for the flavors to meld and mellow a bit before I crack open a jar.  I cannot wait.

What would you have made with all these strawberries?

Perfect hard-boiled eggs

How to make perfect hard-boiled eggs:

1. Fill a pot with water.  Add copious amounts of salt, at least 1/4 cup.
2. Put fresh eggs into the water and put on to boil.
3. Walk away while the water is heating.  Get dressed.  Do your makeup.  Fix hair.  Forget all about the eggs.  Wonder what that noise is in the kitchen.
4. Investigate the noise.  Remember the eggs.
5. Turn off heat.  On a wild guess, set timer for three minutes.
6. Forget to hit "start."
7. Five minutes later, realize that the timer never got set.
8. Rinse eggs with cold water.

Well, that's how I did it this morning, anyway.  I got lucky, despite being a pre-coffee nimwit.

Ugly but delicious salad

Normally my method is more like this:

1. Fill a pot with water.  Add copious amounts of salt, at least 1/4 cup.
2. Put fresh eggs into the water and put on to boil.
3. Once water comes to a boil, turn off the heat and slap on a lid.
4. Set timer for 9-10 minutes.
5. When the timer goes off, rinse the eggs in cold water.

Why so much salt?  I've found that it helps prevent the eggs from sticking to the membrane.  We have urban hens, and thus very fresh eggs.  All the stories of vinegar, pricking eggs with pins, etc., have never worked for me.  But a lot of salt does work.

Have you tried the canning jar salads?  I made up three of them this morning.  Score: my lunches are made for over half of the week.  Double-score: I entered one into my sparkpeople.com account and they're all set for the next 2 days.

Don't want none if you ain't got buns, hon

The morning of Independence Day Gene had been out of town for five days and Kaelen just wanted to snuggle.  Anyone with an active 18-month-old can tell you how unusual it is for them to hold still so I took full advantage of the cuddly child and held him for over an hour.

Around 8 we went outside to open the chickens' coop.  Because a possum killed our fluffy blue cochin in a midnight attack earlier this summer, it's been our renewed priority to lock them up every night ever since.  As we stood on the back porch looking over the yard, Kaelen suddenly threw up.

An hour later he threw up again.  Then again a short while later. 

By episode #2 I'd texted our friends to tell them we would not be joining them for their July 4th barbeque after all.

Kaelen would not let me put him down, even for a minute.  He wailed in misery when I put him on my bed so I could get dressed.  My oatmeal languished in the kitchen while Kaelen dozed on my chest.  I didn't take a sip of water all day because I couldn't get to it without disturbing the sick little boy who was glued to me.

Finally, I texted my brother and asked him to take pity on me: please bring me food!  "How hungry are you," he inquired.  "Starving," I raved.

He brought me a massive double-cheeseburger from the same place that made this one.  I couldn't even finish 1/3 of it.

I pressed my brother into uncle duty and took a quick shower, my first in days (have I mentioned Gene was out of town?).  Suddenly, Kaelen's temperature started to rise quickly.  He had diarrhea.  He wouldn't eat and wasn't drinking much.  The consulting nurse told me to take him to Urgent Care. 

Diagnosis: viral infection.  (Side note: has anyone NOT had a doctor tell them that there's a virus going around 'right now,' whenever that is?)  Treatment: anti-nausea medicine, alternate between Tylenol and Motrin, give juice (he loved it, having never had juice before), and rest.  Cha-ching, that'll be $42, thankyouveddymuch.

Fast forward two days, Kaelen is recovering slowly.  His appetite has not returned and he "horked" (to use my brother's eloquent term) just one more time, after eating his breakfast too quickly.  He has barely touched food since last Monday but his mood is good.

As for me, I'm sick and tired of being a single parent.  Gene will arrive home sometime overnight tonight and I'm so relieved that I can literally feel myself relax when I think those words.  I'm tired of puke, of keeping the house running all by myself, of being stuck at home.  Since Kaelen got sick I've watched nearly every show in the Gordon Ramsey franchise.  Ever notice how often he adds "one stunning burger" to a restaurant's revamped menu?  Well, it's a lot.

Back to my story.

I wanted another burger, only smaller, with a brioche bun, and healthy "fries."  Kaelen was napping and hey, I was game for anything that didn't involve watching TV.  I decided to make my own buns, which I've wanted to try for a long time.

Google "brioche hamburger bun" -> Smitten Kitchen (of course) -> Recipe.  Why don't I just go to her page first?  She always seems to have whatever it is I'm seeking.

Note: I didn't know that a brioche dough is NOT like a regular bread dough.  I didn't read far enough ahead in the recipe and wound up incorporating too much flour during the kneading process.  The hands-on portion of this recipe was less than I'd imagined.  Yes, it takes several hours over the course of a day, but it's totally manageable.  Next time I'll let the machine do the kneading.  I don't know what the hell I was thinking doing it by hand. 

Light Brioche Burger Buns (from www.smittenkitchen.com)
Makes 8 4- to 5-inch burger buns
 3 tablespoons warm milk

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

3 cups bread flour

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Sesame seeds (optional)

1. In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get. Try to leave them tackier than you would a round loaf.
3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours. (In my freaky, warm apartment this only took an hour.)
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours. (Again, this only took one hour in my apartment and I suspect, you’ll also only need an hour for a second rise.)
5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

I froze 6 of the portions at step 4, before they could get a second rise.  When we want to eat them, I'll pull them out and allow them to defrost in the fridge overnight.  That's usually sufficient for my frozen pizza dough, and I imagine it'll work for these, too.

As for my burger, it hit the spot.

Stay-cool tip

Our weather continues to be beautiful here in the PNW.  Thank goodness it's cooled down somewhat AND that we won't have our customary rainfall on the 4th.

The recent high temps at and above 90 have meant that my house has been hot and stuffy.

I had invited some girlfriends over for dinner.  As we sat in my backyard, sweltering in the 90+ temps, one said to me, "you know what you need?  A kiddie pool for us to soak our feet in!"

Not having a kiddie pool, I did this instead.

My girlfriends called me a genius.