Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 4:03PM This could be the start of something beautiful:
Farmer's market heirloom tomatoes, toasted ciabatta, boucheron, basil, salt and pepper.
See the cheese?
If you were a cat you could smell it....
Sitting on the back porch, cocktail in hand, hoping this thunder I am hearing comes to fruition.
goat cheese, tomato Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 11:46AM 
Don't hate me because my tagine is beautiful. When you are lucky enough to have a friend who gives you a tagine for your birthday make sure you use it immediately! I know it's 100 degrees out in the shade here in central Texas, but it's also pretty hot in Morocco and they eat tagine all the time. So don't hesitate to make this recipe in the summer.
Lamb Tagine
1 lb. lamb stew meat
zest of one lemon
Za'atar seasoning (about 1/4 cup)
3 summer squash, sliced into 1/2" thick rounds
8 cremini mushrooms, sliced into 1/4" thick slices
1 large red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 small bell peppers, cut into 1" dice
olive oil
salt/pepper
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup Israeli couscous
My tagine is made by Le Creuset and has a cast iron base that can be heated directly on the stovetop. Over medium heat saute garlic, peppers and onion in olive oil til softened. Remove from pan and set aside. Toss lamb cubes with 2 TBS za'atar and brown in base, adding olive oil if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste, then add back onions/garlic/peppers and sliced mushrooms/squash, lemon zest, thyme sprigs and remaining za'atar.
Pour white wine over all and place lid on top. Reduce heat to med-lo to lo. You want to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook for approximately 2 hours. I stirred a couple of times during this process.
About 10 minutes before serving add 1 cup beef broth and couscous, stirring to mix. Cook an additional 10 minutes. The finished tagine unveiled:
The squash completely disappeared! Just melted into the mixture, and the couscous was permeated with the seasonings. Tender lamb with little areas of carmelization...heaven! Makes enough to share with your pregnant best friend.
I know it's hot but just do it. Millions of North Africans can't be wrong.
Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 6:33AM 
Mass-produced tonic water typically contains the devil--by devil I mean high-fructose corn syrup, and artisanal tonic waters like Qtonic and Fever Tree cost ~$3.00 for a 4oz. bottle. I am already hooked on Hendricks gin--delightful but pricey, and had taken to drinking it with sparkling water and lime but missed the bitter note of tonic. I stumbled upon Jeffrey Morgenthaler's recipe by chance and decided to give it a go. The recipe calls for chinchona bark powder which I was able to source at Tenzing Momo. They also have a wonderful selection of herbs and spices and I received my order in <5 days.
The recipe calls for a variety of citrus, allspice, chinchona bark powder and citric acid. Crap! Citric acid? I didn't read the recipe thoroughly. All was not lost because I remembered I had this....
First ingredient? Citric acid. Booyah! It also contains dehydrated lime juice and lime oil so I omitted the fresh lime. The ingredients are simmered in 4 cups of water for 20 minutes. You end up with this:
Looks like mud. Tastes super bitter. I was a little concerned at this point. After straining initially through a strainer and then a coffee press the resultant liquid was still opaque but free of large pieces of zest and bark. At this point you add agave nectar at a ratio of 3/4 cup agave nectar for each cup of the mixture. After straining I had about two cups mixture and not quite 1.5 cups of agave nectar so I added a cup of cane sugar and simmered til dissolved. This mixture was still fairly bitter---did I need a spoonful of high fructose corn syrup to help the medicine go down?
No sir! After mixing using Morgenthaler's proportions: 3/4 oz. syrup, 1.5 oz. gin, 2 oz. sparkling water, I took a sip of the best gin and tonic ever! Chin-chin!
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 8:51AM 
It's officially picnic and bbq season, and you don't want to be the person who brought the mayonnaise based macaroni salad that sits glistening in the sun, a food-borne illness waiting to happen. You want to be the person who brings the salad that the hostess doesn't have to find room in her already packed refrigerator for. You want to bring the macaroni salad that sits comfortably on the table all afternoon with it's sturdy arugula leaves and summertime flavors. Like this one I adapted from Heidi Swanson's recipe.
Sauteed garlic and scallions blended with some pasta cooking water, lemon zest/juice, salt and pepper. Then toss with arugula, additional sliced scallions, parmesan. I added tomatoes instead of the apples that Heidi called for.
It's summer in a bowl..... without the salmonella.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 9:17PM 
For someone who loves food and cooking, a trip to the farmer's market makes me feel like the kid in the proverbial candy shop--the colors! the smells! the potentially blog-worthy dishes! I run out of time and room in my stomach for all the things I want to make. Hence the pickle and poached fig posts.
Armed with my new julienne peeler I decided to make "pasta" from my zucchini and yellow squash. I sauteed the strands with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Topped with parmesan, toasted bread crumbs and globe basil and sliced heirloom tomatoes it made a delightful, light dinner.
Somehow I still have more tomatoes.....stay tuned.....
