Attack of the Killer Tomato

Do you remember that movie from 1978 called “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?”  This movie is one of those late 70’s comedic horror films which leads the viewer to think, “Really?  Killer tomatoes? This is where we find ourselves in cinematography?”  Surprisingly, not much has changed with cheesy horror films or even some blockbusters that frequent the silver screens across America.  You may wonder why
I am telling you this. In the middle of writing this, our internet service provider shut down all forms of outside communication for the day.  We were cut off! Dun, dun dunnnn!  I found myself staring at books, pencils, and paper – gasp! – and imagined reliving the terrifying era before the personal computer, like some sort of modern-day Little House on the Prairie, with kerosene lamps and an inkwell pen.  The horror!  

Okay maybe I’m being a little dramatic.  I didn’t quake in fear at the loss of our internet.  I did however strap on my shoes, hat and sunglasses and head outdoors.  I found myself once again in the garden tending to the last of the lovely ladies, my tomato plants.  In the past month the season has very slowly graduated from summer to fall and now my ladies are a little bruised and battered.  This is how my mind wandered back to this movie: I am being attacked by these killer tomatoes, except in this particular situation I mean killer as in really rough looking.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes…. What do I do with all of these tomatoes?  Throughout the summer I made salsa, fresh salads, sandwiches, roasted tomato sauce, and the perfect B.L.T.  I ate tomatoes fresh off the vine, I breaded them and fried them in coconut oil, and then I made more perfect B.L.T.s. I need to try something new, and canning comes to mind, but I’m just not ready for the production and equipment involved in that project.   So I’ve decided on a tomato sauce, and since traditional sauce has already been done, I’m going to try something different. My thought was to make more of a cold tomato sauce. I had all of these heirloom tomatoes, padron peppers, onion, fresh purple garlic and some basil.

I sautéed my onions and garlic in a pan with a little splash of grapeseed oil and put them into my food processor. I then placed my padron peppers into a hot oiled pan and charred the skin and place them into the food processor along with the onions, basil and garlic and pulsed to start the chopping process. I then took my tomatoes and added them to the garlic, onion and pepper mix then turned the processor on and let blend for around 10 minutes to fully mix all of my ingredients. I then cooked some fresh penne pasta and added my sauce and had a light italian fare dinner.

 

WordPress often has its own ideas of how my posts should be formatted and will re-arrange paragraphs, sentences and picture placement without my permission.

Salt Roasted Beets

If you would like to see adults act like 5 year olds in my family, then make them beets for dinner. Up until now, only one of my family members besides myself enjoys beets.  I have a feeling that canned beets may have been the culprit in their lifelong protest of this completely misunderstood root vegetable.

Now to be honest, I too may have been one of the people in my family that would scrunch their face and make a dramatic body gesture when beets were mentioned; but I have since became skilled in the art of beet cookery. I really do need to credit my now love for beets due to the “seven summers of beets;” these were the summers that I worked for the catering company Ciao Thyme. As I remember it, we started the late spring with baby beets and finished off the harvest with rather large beets, and featured every size in between. Beets frequented the menu in salads, vegetable roasts and side dishes.

One of the biggest perks of working for Ciao Thyme was dinner; that’s right they fed us. We always had the opportunity to sit down and partake in the same meals that patrons enjoyed. Cheeses from around the world, fresh cut vegetables from Whatcom County’s back yard, meat from sustainable organic local farms, wild salmon caught fresh from the river that morning and much more; we ate like royalty. I know that it was there that I truly ate my first beet; I knew then because of the curiosity this vegetable sparked in my brain, it would not be my last.

I’ve been thinking about a way to describe beets to you if you’ve never tasted one. My take on beets is that they are a little harder than a potato,  have an earthy flavor and the texture of a not quite ripe pear. Look, its how you prepare beets, this is what’s going to make you love them or not love them. What I mean by this is, I’ve had really terribly prepared beets; tough, bitter, flavorless and a texture that leaves you looking for your napkin. If you’ve had them prepared this way it’s no wonder beets have been pushed around your dinner plate. What I hope by giving you this recipe is that you will see that beets can be tender, sweet, salty and delicious. I’m confident this will change your view on beets and you will be ready to add them back to your menu.

This recipe I learned from watching my old (past not aged) boss Mataio; this is my favorite way to prepare beets. The first thing you will need is a few (4) 3lb boxes of Morton’s coarse kosher salt, washed beets with the stem cut off, an oven safe casserole dish and that’s it. The first thing you need to do is add the salt into a food processor and turn on. What you’re trying to do here is turn your salt into a fine powder. You will notice a small plume of salt smoke coming out of the top of you processor, but don’t worry that’s normal. Once you have a very fine consistency of salt powder, dump it into a bowl and add some water.

You’re looking for the same consistency of how you would mix water with sand to make a sand castle. So if you were to ball the salt up in your fist, it should hold its shape relatively. If your mixture has to much water add some more salt or vice versa (this step is usually repeated a few times to acquire the amount you will need. I have a 14 cup food processor and can process one box at a time.) Once you have the right consistency you need to take the mixture and place ¼”  of salt on the bottom of your dish and pack it in there.

Next place your beet’s on top of the salt just laying them on top not pushing them in to the salt pack or letting them touch one another. Then pack more salt on top of the beets in and around the crevices and make sure there is no skin showing. Once your beets are completely covered (I try to get at least ¼” of salt around all the beets), place into a preheated 365° oven and let bake for about an hour.

This style of cooking allows your beets to cook evenly without losing moisture. I’ve noticed that just roasting beets in the oven can tend to dry them out and become tough. Once you’ve removed the dish from the oven let sit for 5 minutes or so to lose some of its heat but they will continue to cook, you want this. You will notice that the salt is now very hard like a cast. This next part is messy so I offer a few different ways to remove your beets from the salt cast. The fun way is to turn your dish upside down and lightly bang it on the counter for the salt mold to come out of the pan, from here you can usually break the beets out of the salt. The other way is to add a little water into the dish and you can then chisel out the beets; this method does cause the beets to be slightly saltier, but you can give them a light dunk in a bowl of water to remove the excess salt. Once you have freed your beets from the salt mold take a clean dish towel and gently remove the skin from the beet. This will happen very easily as the skin slides right off (caution, beets will be hot.) This process usually takes off the majority of salt left on the beets and you should have a perfectly salted beet. Cut the beets in half and slice again until you end up with what looks like orange segments and serve.

I have gotten half of my family to try beets with this recipe and they like them if not love them. Success!!!

Note: Don’t use your favorite kitchen towel to take the skin off your beets, because beets are red and can stain. I have found that every time I wash my towels the red does come out. I made both red and golden beets for this dish. The golden beets do not stain like the red beets do.

Halloween Cookies

I think that most adults will think up any reasons to make holiday cookies, but when a child is around there’s no excuse needed, right? I had plans to hang out with my five-year old cousin Jack for the afternoon and decided making cookies would be something fun to do. Jack loves any reason to be head chef in the kitchen, and I need half a reason to eat cookies. I pre-made the dough using Sherry Yard’s sugar cookie recipe from the Secrets of Baking (I doubled this recipe). I formed the cookie dough into two loaf’s about 2″ in diameter and 12″ long wrapped the dough in parchment paper and twisted the ends and then did the same with plastic wrap. I then placed the dough in the refrigerator to set while I made the three different colors of frosting.

Here is a tip. When working with kids, have everything ready so the mess is as small as possible which can be overwhelming for both kids and adults, mostly adults. Once you have the colored frosting ready place it into small squeeze bottles ready for icing.

Jack prefers using a french style rolling-pin

All right, I have the frosting ready, pulled the cookie dough out of the fridge and we started rolling out the dough. Jack used cookie cutters and I used free hand with a pairing knife to make our scary Halloween cookies. I really let Jack do the decorating here and for five he did pretty well, don’t you think?

Master Sugar Cookie Recipe (by Sherry Yard)

6 ounces (1 1/2) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Using a mixer, cream the butter on medium speed until pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle or beaters. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla. cream on medium speed until smooth. Add the egg and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, do not overbeat. On low speed, add the flour, Beat until all of the flour is incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl , the mix on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds until you have an even textured dough.Then roll your dough into a log 12 inches long and about 1 1/2″ thick and wrap in parchment paper and then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to set. Pull your dough out of the fridge 30 min prior to use.

(Sherry has you roll your dough in 1/4 cup of sugar prior to cutting and baking)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Adjust the rack to the lower third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.

Roll out your cookie dough into a flat sheet about 1/4″ thick. Then use your cookie cutter and cut out your favorite shapes, place on your baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Then after letting your cookies cool on a wire rack, you’re ready for decorating.

Royal Icing (recipe by Sherry Yard)

1 large egg white

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

11/2 cups of powdered sugar

combine the egg white and lemon juice in the bowl of standing mixer or hand mixer. Sift the sugar in and beat on low speed until combined and smooth.

Coloring your icing

I used the back of a food coloring box as a base for designing my colors, but for black, you really need to play around with the colors and have a full set of dye. I recommend purchasing black food coloring if your able to find it. If you don’t have black food coloring look up the recipe online and get ready to add a lot more color than suggested.

I decorated this last cookie. I can’t tell if it looks like a really scary faced ghost or if it looks like a band member from Kiss.

Guacamole two ways

This has been a family favorite as long as I can remember; sometimes it’s even graced the table as a main dish. What more could a family want on Christmas day than a bowl full of fresh tortilla chips a bowl full of guacamole, fresh avocados diced, fresh salsa and a few trays of homemade enchiladas baking in the oven. I remember eating these things on Christmas more than I remember eating any sort of traditional meals. I know it’s from my youth that my love of avocados has continued to grow.

Avocados are an essential, a must condiment when paired with the right accompaniments. Avocados will replace things such as aioli, top a homemade sausage or even make its way to the dessert table. Perhaps one of my favorite things is avocado ice cream, wait, I know this sounds weird but try it first. I remember when my “at the time” local ice cream shop would make this non orthodox but tasty treat. I would wait all year for this two-week window when one of my favorite ice creams displayed itself on their handmade reader board. I often found myself waiting anxiously in line behind the mobs of other people out the door and around the block for the world-famous Mallard’s ice cream hoping for just a bowl of my favorite seasonal ice cream. Before I knew it I
was making friends with the staff, owner and management just so I would be first in line when it was time for my favorites. Thank you Mallards staff for the many years of fulfilling my need for strange but delicious flavored ice cream

On the other side avocados are a really be a healthy treat. One of my favorite healthy snacks is to half an avocado, remove the pit, sprinkle with salt and dig in while the best part sits in its own bowl.

Here is what I know and have learned over the years working with avocados; it is as simple or as complex as you want it to be. It’s only when I am truly inspired do I enjoy making guacamole. There are so many different ways to create with this versatile fruit.

The two ways I enjoy making guacamole are simply and with a kick.

Simple Guacamole

4 large ripe avocados

2 cloves of fresh garlic

2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper

You can add all your ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the contents are smooth. Another way is to hold half of an avocado in your hand and slice the fruit while it’s still in its skin into small squares being caution not to slice through the skin and into your hand. After you have cubed the avocado scoop out the fruit into a bowl and let sit while you prep the other ingredients. First fine dice your garlic and add to the bowl with avocados. Next add your freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix with a fork. Once you have successfully mixed all the ingredients, it’s time to dig in.

Guacamole with a Kick

4 large ripe avocados

4 cloves of garlic

Juice of one medium size lemon

Juice of one small size lime

1 large ripe tomato

¼ purple onion

¼ cup chopped cilantro

1 medium jalapeño pepper and or ½ tsp of cayenne pepper

½ large red pepper

4 tbsp of Annie’s Goddess Dressing

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

In a hand-operated food processor add your garlic, onions, cilantro, red pepper and jalapeño and chop until fine then remove into a mixing bowl. Then add your tomato and chop again, this will take just a few short spins, you want the tomato to keep its shape as not pulse into a sauce then add to your mixing bowl. Add the rest of your ingredients and mix.

I enjoy using my hand-operated food processor as it gives you more control than a regular food processor. I have had my handheld processor for over 16 years and it still works great. You can usually find one at any discount home store for under $10.

If using a regular food processor add the garlic and pulse until fine, continue to add the rest of your ingredients excluding the tomatoes and avocado and pulse until medium
diced. Add the avacado’s and mix pulse well. You will want to de seed and dice your tomatoes by hand and add and stir in with a spoon.

Fresh made Tortilla Chips

Add vegetable oil in a frying pan and heat. I usually will wait about 4 minutes before I will throw in a test strip to make sure that the oil is hot enough. While the oil is heating cut you corn tortillas in to triangles and place by your pan. Grab a large metal mixing bowl and some tongs, sea salt and some fresh squeezed lime juice. Once your oil has completely heated add your chips a few at a time and cook about 30 seconds on each side then place in the mixing bowl with some sea salt, lime juice and gently toss.
Repeat this process until you have the amount of chips you want.

Frying Tips

I always wear an apron when frying so grease does not splatter on my clothes, getting grease stains out of clothes is not the easiest. I also keep a box of salt next to me while frying just in case of a grease fire. DO NOT USE WATER!!!

 

Kind of a chive pesto

In the past few weeks while I’ve been harvesting the garden and putting it to bed, I made a small goal for myself. I really would like to use everything in the garden and let nothing go to waste. So I have three huge chive plants in the garden and I wanted to do something with them. Now I don’t use chives very often , mostly because I think of it as a garnish that was overused in the 90′s.  I decided to separate the chives from the plant and do something with them. I put them in a food processor with some olive oil, sea salt and white pepper, garlic, yes garlic and pushed the button.

I don’t have a set in stone recipe here because I cultivated about 5 lbs of chives. For any of you out there wanting to plant chives, you need only plant one. In my experience chives are hearty plants that grow quite large and will return after the winter.

I took the purée and pressed them into an egg holder that I found in the pantry and placed it in the freezer, you can use anything that’s freezer safe. Once the chives were frozen I popped them out of the egg holder and had little chive molds that I will add to future dishes. What am I going to use it for you might wonder, well me too? Here are my thoughts, chive pasta dough, adding it to stir fry’s, scraping lightly on toast for b.l.t.’s? I will keep you posted.

So here is what I did. I filled my food processor with chives and really crammed them in there. I added one clove of garlic 1 tsp of white pepper and 1 tbsp of sea salt. I added about 1/4 cup of olive oil just to get the whole process moving and slowly added a thin ribbon of olive oil until I reached the consistency I wanted.

I’ve tried this with tomato purée and zucchini. This process makes me feel like I’m making baby food as I have helped out making it before. It’s really the same idea, but try to concentrate the flavors of whatever you’re making so you can add it to sauces or quick meals that need that extra bit of flavor without all the extra steps of having to make it from scratch every time.

Green Pickled tomatoes

There seems to be no end to the green tomatoes coming off the plants lately. I’ve collected bowls full over and over again. I was surfing online and stumbled upon a green pickled tomato article. I couldn’t believe it!! I love tomatoes and I love pickles, so why wouldn’t I love this, right?! Not only was I going to attempt a new recipe I was also going to attempt to make something I’ve never eaten.  I decided to also try a little bit of canning and let me tell you, I was a little nervous.

I followed the recipe on how to sanitize my jars and lids and made the brine for pickling my tomatoes. I shoved all the tomatoes into the jars filled them with brine removed the air bubbles and placed them back into the boiling water for another 20 minutes to seal the jars.  This was easier and not as scary as I had made up in my head.Note: You can pack your jars pretty tight, just make sure you don’t squish your contents. As you can see from my jars, I ended up with more room available, it’s up to you.

So here is what I’ve read and learned about canning, you can do it the old-fashioned way or the refrigerated way, I decided to do it the old-fashioned way. I pulled some canning jars and lids out of the pantry and put them in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes to sanitize them.

Basic Brine Recipe  (I found this recipe in drawer on a recipe card although its very similar if not exact to recipes found online).

2 quarts of water

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup pickling salt ( I used Kosher )

Add these ingredients into a stock pan and bring to a simmer while your jars are sterilizing. After you have finished sterilizing your jars pull the out of your stock pot and begin adding your ingredients.

Ingredients

2 cups of green tomatoes quartered

2 cloves of garlic

3 padron peppers ( some may be hot )

a few sprigs of chives

1/2 tbsp whole black peppercorns

1 tsp dill

Once you have stuffed your jars, pour the brine into the jars leaving a 1/4″ space at the top. Use a chopstick or like item to remove as many air bubbles as possible and wipe the ring of the jar clean and dry. Place the top on the jar and screw on the lid as tight as possible and place jar back into boiling pot of water for another 20 minutes. After your jars have finished taking a bath, place on a heat safe surface and let cool for a couple of hours and check  to make sure there was a proper seal. Write the date on the lid and place in a cool dark storage area. Your pickled tomatoes will ready to eat in about two weeks and should keep for up to one year.

Refrigerated Pickled Tomatoes

You’re going to follow all the steps above except you will not need to put the jars back in the water bath. Once your jars have cooled place into the refrigerator and they should keep for a couple of months. Your jars will begin to show signs of mold when its time to retire them to the compost bins.

Please note

This is my first time canning and I obtained my information from old recipes and the internet. Please use caution when canning as improper sealing  of jars and contents can lead to illness.

Flavored Almonds

Let me preface this piece by disclosing that I love junk food. Well, okay, it’s more like I love the idea of junk food.  I, like much of the population of foggy San Francisco, love to watch movies surrounded by buckets of sweet, savory and bubbly treats. That’s right, bubbly. You know, soda? Anyway, my problem is that I have a healthy but frustrating amount of will power and I can usually talk myself out of eating the kinds of junk food that you might find at a movie theatre; extra buttered popcorn, oversized packages of milk duds or twizzlers, 2-liter sized diet cokes….. This is not to say that I’m above eating mainstream junk food; if it’s around I will definitely eat it. How do those saying go? I bet you can’t eat just one or once you pop you can’t stop. Hell, I’ve been know to eat the whole bag because, let’s face it, organic and natural junk just doesn’t taste the same as conventional junk. You know what I mean.

Unfortunately, I think that spending the majority of my adulthood imbued in the natural and organic food movement has tainted my guilt-free enjoyment of most confectionary creations. Constant reading about the kinds of ingredients found in these treats has rendered them, at least in my mind, well, kind of scary and unpronounceable.  When I face that fear and eat it anyway I always end up feeling like I’m cheating on myself; you know the feeling, like you lied and got caught. So, lately I’ve found myself trying to create my own “healthy junk food.” Kids, this is where you groan.

Here is an example. The other day I was in the kitchen, as
usual, snacking on some raw almonds. Wait, there’s more.  I somehow got to thinking about how much I always enjoy smoked flavored almonds. Raw is good but doesn’t really hold a candle to the power of the smoked. This memory brought me to the subsequent memory of enjoying freshly roasted almonds during summer nights at the ball park. This brought me to the conclusion that I should definitely start making my own roasted almonds, and immediately.  I rightly thought, “Why can’t I do this?”  I grabbed
a handful of raw almonds, threw them in a bowl with a splash of olive oil and some mesquite seasoning and put them in the oven to roast. I am now in love with this new snack. Not only is it easy and fast, it also diminishes my craving for a bag of chips, bucket of popcorn, Slim Jim, or any other overly processed salty snack. Not that I wouldn’t eat some of your Cheetos if you were going to open up a bag….

Ingredients

1 cup of raw almonds

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 drop of liquid smoke ( you can find this in any grocery store)

1 tbsp of sweet mesquite seasoning  (I found this at Costco )

1 tsp of sea salt

Preheat your oven to 350°. Place the almonds in a mixing bowl with the olive oil and liquid smoke and coat them well and place in the oven for 8 minutes. Place your seasoning into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind into a powder. Add
to your toasted almonds and coat well. Place your seasoned almonds back on a sheet pan and bake in the oven for 3 more minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool, and store in an airtight container. I am certain that once you try this recipe you will
continue to make this tasty snack. Maybe every day. Try your own seasoning
flavors too – the possibilities are endless!

Caprese Bacon Salad

Now, I don’t know too many people whose eyes don’t light up
when they see Caprese salad on the menu. Obviously, ‘cause it’s the perfect
summer treat! For this recipe, I became inspired by my heirloom tomato
plant growing in my garden. I first planted her in May only standing a mere 5 inches
out of the dirt. But now, this yellow Brandywine heirloom tomato plant now towers over two sun gold cherry tomato plants and an early girl. The Brandywine uses the
other three tomato as a crutch for holding up its massive fruits. “This tomato plant is now HUGE! She stands over 6 feet tall, has a thick stalk 3 inches in diameter and leaves the size of your hand. Hugging a tree is the old adage, but if I had to hug a plant I would like think it might be this one. But, I’m digressing here.
Back to the recipe…

I cut three of the massive fruits off the vine, each one weighing at least a pound, grabbed some fresh basil and headed for the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, I thought: fresh mozzarella is a must to accompany such a garden treasure. Slicing up all the ingredients to layer them in a perfect single file line, I couldn’t help to think that something was missing. I again stood in front of the fridge and pondered what would keep this familiar treat instantly recognizable, but add to it an intriguing difference.  Ahhhh ha, bacon!!! Obviously, because it’s the perfect anytime treat!  This easy, six ingredient meal is clearly a smashing hit, especially since you now know how to make the perfect bacon and now can make your own balsamic vinegar reduction.

Before we get to assembling, let’s talk about mozzarella for a moment. I really think that this ingredient plays an important role for completing this dish. Mozzarella comes in a few different shapes, sizes, flavors and moisture levels.My preference is fresh mozzarella and even more so, buffalo mozzarella. I enjoy buffalo mozzarella because of its higher protein and fat levels, which makes for a richer cheese; should you have the means to try water buffalo dairy products I recommend that you do. When buffalo is not available, always use fresh mozzarella in a brine over low moisture mozzarella (cheese that is typically used on pizza) because the texture and flavor of fresh mozzarella will compliment the texture and flavors of your tomatoes.

Now that you’re ready to assemble your salad, it’s your choice to decide how thick to cut your tomatoes and mozzarella; I think it’s all preference here. I usually cut my tomatoes larger than my mozzarella as to take a smaller bite of cheese with a larger bite of tomato. Once you have sliced your tomatoes and mozzarella layer them alternating tomato, cheese, bacon and then basil. Finally drizzle your dish with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and top with a sprinkle of finishing salt, I prefer Murray River Pink salt.

After you’ve made and enjoyed this Caprese salad, I know it will be a
standard on your menu for the rest of the summer and early fall. Enjoy!

The Perfect Bacon

If it wasn’t for bacon, I would be in my twelfth year of meat-free cooking and eating. At that time, when I was still a vegetarian, I was living in a house that was all vegetarians and vegans, so the temptation of bacon was never a problem; we were happy to eat leafy greens from the garden and spread our toast with organic Earth Balance butter substitute. It wasn’t until I was attending a Sunday brunch at a (not-vegetarian) friend’s house that I lost the battle of wills to bacon. It was nine years ago, but I remember it well. I walked into my friend’s house, probably sporting some garlic laced veggie/vegan dish in hand, and the smell of it hissing in the pan hit me instantly. I will always remember bacon, as it was a Sunday regular at the breakfast table growing up. This aroma socked me in the nose, grabbed me by the stomach, and walked my weak knees right over to the stove, where it hypnotized me swimming around in a grease induced coma, begging me to eat it. I now stood face to face with a massive dilemma: do I break my three year run and give in to this overwhelming temptation? Or do I walk away from it, taking comfort in the sturdy habits of self-denial. While we waited in the kitchen my friend poured us all a round of mimosas, but I was barely able to take part in the conversation. I would nod and say, “yeah sure” every four minutes or so, but to remember what we actually talked about was, let’s say, hopeless. While brunch was cooked and set out, I mused – to bacon or not to bacon? In the end, I’m pretty sure the champagne made me do it. I ate the bacon without remorse. The first taste and bite sent me back, like I was in a time machine, sixteen and now sitting on our sailboat bobbing up and down and reveling in every last bite. The saltiness and texture of bacon can never be replaced, oh bacon, how I love thee.

Okay, so now I have baconed, and I’m never going back, but at home back then I had to explain to my still-vegetarian/vegan roommates that I now like bacon. I now eat bacon. Talk about the Spanish Inquisition. I was met with outraged questions and scowls and overall disgust. How could I, a committed and practicing vegetarian of three years, give it all up for bacon? We had a long drawn out conversation about the new way I would lead my life, and I reassured them that no, I would not eat raw steak three meals a day. Nor would I dress in leather and furs, and I would not be raising my own farm animals out back to butcher in the bathtub for future dinners.

Having not done it for so long, I had to relearn how to cook bacon. I also had to do
it somewhere else, as the fine folks I lived with – one of them still a great friend today – forbade it inside our house. I tried many different ways. I tried it grilled in a pan over gas heat (Smokey), butter-fried in a cast iron pan (burnt), skewered like a marshmallow over an open fire while camping (dangerous), and even in the microwave (NO, NO, NO, absolutly not!). It was then that I was introduced to “baking bacon.”

What? Put it in the oven? That sounds, well, different. But if you haven’t cooked bacon this way I now urge you to try it. You will need to give yourself a little more time for this method, but I promise it’s worth it. Using the oven will never set off your smoke detectors because the heat is controlled and constant. Your bacon will also crisp evenly creating the ultimate texture and flavor. I recommend that you  go out and treat yourself to a couple of Silpats. Silpats are made from silicone, made in France and for decades by professional chefs. Silpats are easy to wash, creates a non-stick surface, helps prevent overcooking and can be used over and over again, say goodbye to foil and parchment paper.This earth friendly option should make up for constantly leaving the refrigerator door open all the time, and they will become your new best friend for anything you cook in the oven, like chocolate chip cookies.

Preheat the oven to 365°, and lay your awesome new Silpat at the bottom of a standard lipped baking sheet. At this point, you can change up the style of bacon you serve by throwing some different seasonings on top. I like to use a mesquite seasoning, with cracked peppercorns; or try cayenne pepper for spicy bacon, the flavor options are endless. Lay your seasoned or unseasoned bacon on the baking sheet so the pieces don’t overlap, then place in the oven. After about 9 minutes turn the pan around so that they all crisp evenly, and cook for another 9 minutes or so. Depending on your oven and preferences and the thickness of your bacon, it may take more or less time to
cook to perfection, keep an eye out. The final result should be the best bacon that you’ve ever tasted; you’ll know it when you taste it, the perfect crunch that seems to melt in your mouth. Baking bacon will change the way everything taste, no more jaw exercises while you try to chew through your B.L.T., those days are over. When you have finished baking your bacon, place on your choice of paper product to absorb the excess grease, if you want too. Serve and enjoy. Yumm!!!

WAIT, STOP!!!

Don’t throw away that extra bacon grease. Run the grease
through a fine mesh screen to take out all the impurities and let solidify. You
can use the bacon fat for replacement of butter. I used some recently as a
partial substitute for butter in a batch of chocolate chip cookies, it added
the perfect crunch. If you like soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, stick with the butter. You can use bacon fat for any other frying use, like sauteing fresh green beans with cherry tomatoes. Maybe this for a future post?

On a personal note, I do practice and enjoy the art of vegan and vegetarian cooking and dining; there are a lot of amazing recipes out there and even more so, some amazing chefs. I sometimes find myself going weeks or months without consuming meat. I only indulge every once in a while, what a treat it is.

Naturally Flavored Soda

I came up with this recipe while standing in the small vineyard at the bottom of my yard watching a young quail family out for a stroll. Honestly, I have never been a huge fan of birds. In fact, if it wasn’t for my bird friend Becca and that Portlandia video, “Put a bird on it”, I probably wouldn’t bat an eye at any bird unless it was to duck and cover from a flock of seagulls or pigeons gunning for whatever food scraps I might have left in my hand. But this time, as I sat in the vineyard,  I couldn’t help but notice how adorably these little guys were bouncing and bobbing through the leaves looking for bugs or whatever. I even snapped a few pictures with my Nikon D40x camera.The quails noticed me and were understandably cautious about what my intentions were (I mean, I was holding a large black box in my hand). We exchanged a brief moment before they ran away; they considered me, I considered them. As they scurried off through the heavily laden grapevines, I grew pensive and thought to myself……”what can I do will all these grapes?” Gotcha! I’m a foodie, not an Ornithologist (sorry Becca)!

I love grapes.love picking them off the vine, I love freezing them, I love juicing them… I particularly love when others ferment them into a tasty libation we call wine. As fun as it is to pretend you’re royalty and regally eat grapes right off the vine, I gotta go with sipping them from a tall stemmed glass as the number one way to consume grapes. Anyway, after my moment with the quails , I picked a few bunches of grapes from the vineyard, added a few more bunches from our farm share,  and got to work. I decided not to start the many-year long process of actually making wine (I’m just not ready for that kind of commitment), but rather to spend the afternoon with the juicer. After I finished juicing all my grapes (about five pounds worth), I thought to myself, “since I already have this big machine out, what else can I juice?” You see, juicing is fun! I looked in the fridge and pulled out some watermelon, cantaloupe and all my veggies-that-have- seen-better-days. I juiced everything separately, making sure to avoid crossing flavors. Once I had everything liquefied and stored in colorful sweet smelling pools, I decided that I could either make soda or tie-dye my bed sheets. I went with the soda option. I’m a foodie, not a hippie.

 I took the pure grape juice and added a bit of honey and a splash of sparkling water, I also found that making a simple syrup and using instead of honey was easier to dissolve into the soda. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste, however, the true test in my house is always if my five-year old cousin likes it.  He took a sip and said….. “it’s delicious, can I have some more”? After re-explaining about the “magic word” I gave him a sip of the watermelon soda. Flying colors. Then the cantaloupe juice; another “magic word” lecture.  Then the true test…..the veggie soda. Yeah, not so much with the like. Veggie soda just isn’t kid-friendly, well, it’s not friendly at all. I was pretty psyched that everything else passed the kid test though, and I didn’t really have high hopes for the veggies – they were more of a “well it’s here, I’m here, so why not?” kind of situation. I left the veggie juice where it belonged, a nice healthy breakfast drink instead.

First Juice your fruit. You may do this a couple of different ways. You can run put fruit into a blender and purée and pass through a very fine mesh sieve. The other way is to use a juicer this will help you skip all the extra filtering steps.  After juicing all of your fruit set aside in a glass jar and chill. So the next step is up to your taste, meaning how sweet or how bubbly do you like your soda. The ratio I like is 3/4 juice, 1/4 bubbly water and a teaspoon of sweet, such as honey or simple syrup.

 

 

 

Sweetening options:

Honey: This is a very natural way to flavor your soda. Patience is needed here because honey does not dissolve in a cold beverage as fast as a warm beverage.

Agave: This is a natural, vegan friendly version to sweeten your soda and a healthy one at that. I found this dissolved easier than the honey did.

Simple Syrup: I found this method the most successful of the three. I also noticed by using a simple syrup I was able to keep the original flavor of the fruit.

Soda Options:

Most people wouldn’t think this part would be an important step in the process of soda making. I think this step can make or break your soda. First of all when you try soda water you will notice a variety of mineral content, flavors, saltiness and bubble size. I like small bubbles and saltiness, so I chose Pelligrino. You may like something completely different, so they next time you try bubbly water pay attention to the differences between brands. This will help you pick the bubbly water that fits your palate.

Lemon Ice Cubes:

I sliced lemons into thin pieces and placed them into an egg holder, filled with water and placed into the freezer. After the ice was frozen, I ran some warm water over the back to release the cubes.

Simple Syrup:

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

Add sugar and water to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved remove from the burner and let cool. If you pour your simple syrup into a clean glass container and keep it in the fridge, it should last 3 months or longer.