Weekly Dish

With seasonal tomatoes still a few months away, I find myself longing for that sweet, fresh taste of summer that you really can’t get from anything else. Here in Louisiana, down in Plaquemines parish, the Creole tomatoes are the ones that get top ratings. A vendor at the local farmer’s market offers fall and spring Creole tomatoes–grown in a hothouse I think–and to tell the truth, they aren’t half bad. They certainly beat the heck out of those watery, mealy ones at the grocery.

But they still aren’t summer tomatoes.

This recipe is one of the ways I tide myself over until the summer ones arrive. Tomato sauce has been a staple in my weekly cooking since I’ve had a kitchen of my own, and this recipe has been tweaked and tweaked until I could make it in my sleep. The sauce is super-easy and so versatile, but the basic premise of roasting the tomatoes for a long time and using plenty of Kosher salt to draw out their juices is really the crux of the preparation.

And believe me, when summer tomatoes arrive, this sauce will taste even sweeter.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce

3-4 large tomatoes, chopped

Olive oil to coat

Kosher salt–probably about a tablespoon

Cracked black pepper

1 large yellow onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, or chopped if you want the texture

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange the tomatoes on foil-lined baking sheets in a single layer. Drizzle olive oil onto the sheets, and then toss with your hands to make sure all the pieces are coated with oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for about 45 minutes, until they shrivel and begin to blacken around the edges.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan (this will hold all of the sauce, so use a big one). Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until very soft, but not brown–about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. If they soften before the tomatoes are done, turn the heat off. When the tomatoes are done, us a spatula to scrape them, with their juices and the black bits crusted on the baking sheet, into the pan with the onion and garlic. Turn the heat back up to medium, and stir, pressing the tomatoes with the back of your spoon to crush them. Add the canned tomatoes, and simmer this mixture for about 20 minutes.

Varations:

• For a richer, silkier sauce, you can swirl in a couple of tablespoons of butter at the end.
• Red wine adds another layer of depth too: turn the heat up on the onions and garlic and dump in about a half a glass to deglaze the pan before adding the tomatoes.
• You can use chopped tomatoes to keep the chunky texture, or crushed tomatoes for a smoother sauce. You can also put the whole thing through the food processor or blender if a smooth texture is what you’re after.
• Portabello mushrooms add an earthy flavor and substance I like if you’re serving the sauce over pasta–you can either add them to the onion-garlic saute, or roast them with the tomatoes. They won’t take as long to cook, about 15-20 minutes.

Ways to use the sauce to follow!

This recipe is my contribution to ARF/5-a-day Tuesday over at Sweetnicks.

Don’t get me wrong. I love chocolate as much as the next girl. But really and truly, fruit is where my heart is. Usually, if given the choice, I pick lighter, brighter fruity desserts over dark, rich chocolate ones. It doesn’t mean I won’t pick chocolate occasionally, or even that I don’t have serious chocolate cravings every now and again–I do. But by and large, the simplest, fruit-flavored sweets are the ones that win me over.

Lemon curd has had me hooked from the day we first met, in my kitchen in Jackson several years ago. I was working as the editor of a regional magazine, a job that required an arsenal of skills I didn’t know I had when I was hired (like knowing how to spell 27 varieties of lace for the bridal edition), and I volunteered to make lemon curd for a photo shoot. I don’t even know that I’d ever had it before, and I was quite intimidated by all the zesting and juicing of the lemons. But once I’d made it through all 6 lemons and the curd had arrived at the right consistency, the velvety substance had me swooning.

I could, given the chance, consume large quantities of lemon curd with a spoon, all by itself, and be quite content. But I love it most of all with strawberries. The tangle of tart and sweet, butter and sugar, berry and citrus makes my heart flutter and my tastebuds melt. And if the lemons I curd just happen to be Meyer lemons and the strawberries the first of the season, well, that’s what I have to call love. Pure and simple.

The only thing more delicious to me than this dessert is life with my sweet husband. May your Valentine’s Day bring you such happiness too!

Simple Lemon Curd
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
Juice and zest of about 6 regular lemons or 4 Meyer lemons (the juice should equal about a cup to a cup and a half)
1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the eggs, sugar, juice, and zest together vigorously, until well-blended. Cook slowly over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. You MUST keep stirring, or the eggs will cook unevenly and curdle (you don’t want that!). This process usually takes about 15-20 minutes, so be prepared to stir for awhile (I usually pull up a bar stool and put a book in my lap). When it’s done, it should easily coat a spoon. Then, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter until it melts. The mixture will thicken more on refrigeration. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks in a tightly sealed container. Of course, it never lasts that long at our house! Spoon over berries, cake, toast, your Valentine…whatever suits your fancy.

This recipe is this week’s submission to ARF Tuesdays over at Sweetnicks.

Apologies for my long absence–life has taken over.We have managed to eat here and there in the midst of that life, so this week I hope to share more of the busy-life dinners that have become so much a part of our routine. One of the ways I’m surviving this tornado of grading papers, writing, reading, discussing, tutoring, planning, committee-sitting, and teaching is by spending a little time in the kitchen to prepare for (at least) two meals at a time. This focaccia recipe doubles as a homemade pizza crust, and the dough is freezable. If I make two batches at once, then I have two nights of pizza and two nights of sandwiches (look for it to appear on Thursday or Friday as part of the cheese sandwich protest movement), plus some leftover to accompany soup or salad.

Having dinner on the table every night for me is not a matter of culinary brillance but of efficient time management: this bread recipe is one of my secrets. For this pizza, I topped it with glorious Meyer lemons, which the lovelies Rorie and Darla have both waxed poetic about in recent weeks (and if you are unfamiliar with these huge, thin-skinned, most flavorful of lemons, please go and read their posts about them), garlic, jalapeno peppers, and plenty of good olive oil. The topping sings with a zippy tart spice that suits the smooth, mild focaccia in perfect pizza harmony.

And, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a piece or two leftover to grab for lunch the next day.

Basic Foccacia Bread/Pizza Dough

1 pkg. yeast
1 t. sugar
2 cups very warm water (like for a bath)
5 cups flour (I use 3 cups all-purpose and 2 cups bread flour)
2 t. Kosher salt, plus more to sprinkle on top
2 T. olive oil, plus more for the top

In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir the yeast, water, and sugar together. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes; it should be fizzy on top. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil. Knead with the dough hook for several minutes. The dough should come together in a ball and start trying to climb out of the bowl. Let it knead like this for a few more minutes. Knead with your hands for a minute more, working out any knots of flour. (A trick here: coat your hands with olive oil.) The dough should feel smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place (I put it in my pantry) for at least an hour. At this point, you have a few options: get it ready to bake, refrigerate if you’re planning to use within a few days, or freeze it for a later use.

To bake as focaccia: divide the dough in half and form into rounds. Place on cookie sheets and allow to rest for about 15 minutes, covered. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Dimple the dough with your fingers, drizzle olive oil on top, and spinkle with Kosher salt (and chopped rosemary if you so desire). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the top is just beginning to turn golden.

For the Meyer Lemon Pizza:

2 Meyer lemons, thinly sliced and seeds removed
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sprigs rosemary, minced
Zest of one lemon
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the lemon slices. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally until the rinds begin to soften. Add the pepper slices and garlic, and cook for 10 minutes more, or until the garlic and pepper are very soft. Stir frequently to make sure the garlic doesn’t brown.

Spread one half of the dough thinly over a cookie sheet, stretching it with your hands. You may have to be forceful, but try not to tear it or leave any holes. Drizzle the dough with olive oil, salt, the crushed garlic, lemon zest, and minced rosemary. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, and spread the lemon topping evenly over the dough. Grate Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup?) evenly over the pizza. Bake for 10 minutes more.

Refrigerate the other half of the dough, freeze it, or bake it as bread to have the rest of the week.

Roasting a whole chicken (or two) is a fabulous way to make a meal that lasts all week. We’ll have the plain old chicken itself with crispy roasted potatoes the first night, and then there will be meat leftover for at least two more meals in the week, plus stock. What’s not to love about that?

Who gets to actually cook the chicken on the other hand is a whole different matter.

The right to roast the birds in our family has often been the source of controversy. My aunts have fought long and hard over who’s roast chicken is best, but the truth must finally be known.

Here’s my confession: the best roasted chicken in my house has been made, not by me (who follows the aunts’ recipes), but by my husband. In the days when he worked in an office, he made the Thanksgiving habit of roasting turkeys every year, and apparently, over the years he learned a thing or two. His roast chicken is DELICIOUS. It’s usually much moister than mine (even though he had an off night the other night and it cooked too long, his record is still pretty good), and the flavor is the perfect balance of lemon and piny rosemary. So, when he put together his perfect creation over the weekend, he agreed to dictate the instructions to me so I could share them with you. Let me reiterate that I quote verbatim. These are not my words, I tell you, but his. Got that? THESE ARE NOT MY WORDS. Okay. Here are his instructions:

(more…)

Over the holidays, David and I spent about 2 weeks travelling in Mississippi to see family. Part of the fun, for me at least, is to have lots of people in the kitchen. I hope to recount some of those family kitchen adventures for you in the coming weeks, while sharing the family recipes I’ve gathered or shared along the way. One of the favorite snack items among David’s family is salsa I’ve been bringing to Christmas for the past few years. This year, since our travels were so prolonged and our packing space limited, I decided to wait until we got there to make the salsa. To my delight, my niece and nephew, Abigail and Jacob, were excited to help with the process.

At home, I use a food processor, but in my mother-in-law’s kitchen, we improvised with a blender, and it worked just fine. This recipe is one I make over and over and over again, but I don’t measure the spices (usually), so it always comes out a little different. I quantified the spices once, for friends who wanted the recipe, but these amounts are really just guesses. I add and taste and add and taste until it tastes right to me. I had salsa like this one once in Peru, and this recipe here represents my attempt to replicate it. Fresh cilantro, lemon, and garlic are the non-negotiables; I like to serve the salsa with lime-flavored tortilla chips.

Peruvian Salsa

4 cloves garlic
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 jalapeno pepper
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
Kosher salt, start with a teaspoon (I probably end up adding 2 more, but I like things salty)
Ground cumin, about 2 teaspoons

In a food processor, mince the garlic cloves and jalapeno pepper together by pulsing several times. If you like your salsa spicy, add the pepper whole (minus the stem of course), but if you are sensitive to heat, you can remove the seeds for a milder flavor. Then, add the cilantro through the feed tube with the motor running, and process all of the vegetables are very finely minced. Add the lemon juice, salt and cumin, and tomatoes, and pulse a few times to combine. Be careful not to overprocess here, though, or the salsa will be too runny and not chunky enough. Unless, of course, you prefer your salsa juicy; then, process away.

Note: If you don’t have a food processor, you can process everything in the blender with about a tablespoon of the crushed tomatoes. Then, pour the blender-mixture into a bowl with the remaining tomatoes and stir to combine.

A few weeks ago, my baby sister came to visit for the weekend. We had a great time while she was here, and for her send-off brunch on Sunday after church, I made fried chicken and biscuits. Fried chicken is really not hard to make; it just takes the willingness to get grease all over you and your kitchen. But I love it nonetheless, and I particularly like to make it for people I love.

When David and I visited his brother and wife in LA this summer, we had a southern-themed party for their friends. Among many other things, I made this chicken with Comeback Sauce, and it was a big hit. You can make the chicken without the spices in the flour, but I really like the way they pair with the flavors in the dressing. According to Mississippi chef and cookbook author Robert St. John (famous around these parts for what must be one of the best-named cookbooks ever), Comeback Sauce is an original Mississippi creation. Maybe that’s why my native Mississippi family makes it so well.

This recipe belongs to my Aunt Prissy. My family uses it for a number of things–to dip fried chicken, to spread on Saltine crackers, to dress our salad. According to legend, the sauce is so-named because it will keep you coming back for more. I don’t know if that’s true, but it sounds right to me.

Here’s the recipe for the chicken and Comeback Sauce; you can find the biscuit recipe here.

But first, here is my lovely sister, with whom I hope to share many, many good meals in the future. Come back soon Elizabeth! A recipe for the apple pie she made for dessert is soon to follow…!

PAPRIKA-SPICED FRIED CHICKEN

6 boneless chicken breasts

Buttermilk, to cover

Salt and pepper

1 c. flour

1/2 c. yellow cornmeal

1 T. paprika

1 t. seasoning salt

1 t. cumin

1 t. chili powder

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, salt and pepper, and soak in buttermilk for at least an hour (or overnight). To fry, heat about 1 cup of safflower or canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dip chicken pieces in flour mixture and fry in batches until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes per batch. Be careful not to let chicken brown too quickly; remove from skillet to paper towels to drain when golden brown and crispy.

MISSISSIPPI COMEBACK SAUCE

2-3 cloves garlic

Half a sweet yellow onion 

1 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. ketchup

1/4 c. chili sauce

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 t. yellow mustard

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

Tabasco (a couple of dashes)

In a blender or food processor, chop the garlic and onion until finely minced. Add remaining ingredients; blend until well-combined.

Poor sweet potato. With so many nutrients and such a delectably sweet, creamy flavor and lovely orange color, what do we typically do to you? Whip you up with a lot of butter, sugar, and eggs, and bury you under a layer of marshmallows. What a way to treat one of nature’s sweetest vegetables.

I love sweet potatoes. Granted, I first learned to love them buried under marshmallows at family gatherings. Since I started cooking them on my own, though, I’ve tried to learn how to capture their goodness in more creative (and more health-friendly!) ways.

To begin, I’ll tell you how I cook sweet potatoes to have with dinner. Of all the ways I fix them, simply roasting them in the oven until the outside is crispy and the inside is super-creamy is my absolute favorite. I could eat mounds and mounds of these at a time. I usually cook several at one time because the cooked potato has so many different uses.

The first step is to buy good sweet potatoes. They are in season right now, and the local ones here have been fabulous. I like to buy the small or medium-sized ones (the ones in the photo above are a little bigger than I like); they cook faster and tend towards the creamy side. The really huge ones can sometimes be stringy. For dinner, I’ll roast about 4 medium-sized potatoes, cut into chunks, and then place 3 or 4 more on the cookie sheet whole, to cook at the same time and to use in other recipes.

Garlic-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the potatoes you’re planning to cook and dry with a dishcloth. Cut about 4 of them into large chunks–I slice the potatoes into thick circular sections (about 4-5 per potato) and then quarter those sections. I also like to leave the skin on to retain the earthy flavor, but you can peel them if you like. Mince 1-2 cloves of garlic per potato. Spread the cut potatoes on the cookie sheets, making sure that each piece is lying flat on the sheet (no overlapping). Drizzle with olive oil and use your hands to turn them in the oil to coat. Sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt, cracked pepper, and the minced garlic pieces. I leave some extra space to bake a few whole potatoes for other recipes later in the week. Roast the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring and turning the cut pieces about half-way through. Check the whole potatoes; they should pierce easily with a fork. The cut potatoes should be crispy and golden. Serve as a side for any meat dish, and reserve the leftovers for other uses (recipes to follow, I promise!)

I know boiling shrimp is generally a summer tradition. But, the shrimp at the Farmer’s Market last week were such a good deal that I had to buy some. And, really, it reached 90 degrees here last week, so if I didn’t have a calendar, I might think it was August instead of November.

If I buy shrimp fresh, I really feel like I owe it to the little creatures to eat them in the purest way possible, protecting their sweet delicate flavor as best I can. To me, boiling them is the very best way to get the most unadulterated shrimp flavor. Boiled shrimp is also one of the quickest meals I know–throw together some cocktail sauce, a salad, and some buttered bread, and you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and dig in.

Everyone (especially here in south Louisiana) has his or her own favorite method for boiling shrimp. Some people like to use beer; other cooks use lots of different spices. Like most other recipes, I prefer mine simple. Some people object to using prepackaged spice mixtures, but I really like Zatarain’s liquid shrimp and crab boil–a tiny bottle lasts forever, and I think the flavor is subtle enough to provide a nice spicy kick without overpowering the shrimp.

Truth be told, boiling shrimp is one of those things you just have to do until you find the flavor combination that suits your taste. I offer my method here, along with my (ultra-simple) recipe for cocktail sauce, but the most important thing about boiling shrimp is not to overcook them. Texture is key, so don’t let them get soggy!

Boiled Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce

2 quarts water

1 T. liquid shrimp and crab boil

2 lemons, halved

3 cloves of garlic, halved

1 T. Kosher salt

A handful of black peppercorns

2 pounds shrimp, heads and shells on

In a large stockpot, add shrimp boil, lemons, and garlic to the water. Boil for 15 or 20 minutes. Add the shrimp, and boil for 3-5 minutes. As soon as the shrimp begin to turn pink, remove the pot from the heat, and immediately drain off the water. Let the shrimp cool in the colander a bit, and then cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.

For sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup

Juice of 1 lemon

4 t. horseradish

Stir to combine. Peel shrimp, dip, and eat!

The last two meals we had for dinner this week were sandwiches. How boring! How trite! How…how…alas, how busy people eat sometimes. In case any of you food snobs out there are hesitant about serving sandwiches for dinner, here are four tricks I use to assuage my obsessive food snob side when sandwiches are really all we have time for:

1. Good bread. Bread can make a huge difference in the quality of your sandwich. I like to make my own (focaccia is my favorite easy one) on the weekend when I have time, but the bakery at our grocery store carries some nice ones too.

2. Cheese! I am a cheese fanatic, so most any sandwich filling could use a good dose of a good cheese, in my opinion. Be brave and add a bold cheese to a plain sandwich (I like blue cheese to liven up plain old turkey) or use a creamy cheese and make a nice spread (goat cheese and basil is a favorite around here).

3. Crunch. I really like for my sandwiches to have a variety of textures when I bite into them. Bread is nice and soft, cheese is gooey when melted, so something crunchy really adds a lot to the eating experience for me. Bacon works well, or a crunchy lettuce. A sprinkle of green onions or toasted nuts can also add a bit of texture to your sandwich.

4. Spread. The sauce part of a sandwich is really important to me. I HATE store-bought mayonnaise worse than anything I can think of at the moment, and mustard is okay, but really only on hot dogs. So, since I’m so fussy, I like to make something to spread on sandwiches. My favorite at the moment is an Artichoke-Caper Spread (recipe below) I adapted from Sara Foster’s Artichoke Aioli. Mine is not quite as complicated, and it makes a ton and keeps well. We spread it on everything from ham sandwiches to pizza.