Tomato Bread Salad

24 09 2010

After two years of eating seasonally, my kids have learned to associate seasons with food. So when we returned home from the Harvest Festival at my farm share last weekend with a gallon of vine-ripened, organic tomatoes, my 3rd-grader begged for one of her favorites: tomato bread salad.

This is a salad that can only be made with the ripest, freshest, sweetest tomatoes, so we only make it this time of year. Making it in winter, even with those tantalizingly red tomatoes-on-the-vine, is akin to trick-or-treating on Easter. It just isn’t done. Bread is important, too, but there really is no wiggle room when it comes to tomatoes.

If you’ve never had bread salad before, you might be surprised that an eight-year-old would request it. But the dish is really just croutons and tomatoes, which isn’t that different from other carbohydrate-heavy combos that kids love, like noodles with red sauce or pizza. The trick is to assemble the two moments before serving, so the croutons stay crisp. Once the bread sits in the tomatoes it gets soggy, like cereal that’s sat too long. No way a kid is going to eat that. To round out the meal, heat up the grill and throw on sausage, chicken, whatever. Add a green salad and dinner is ready in no time.

Tomato Bread Salad
Preheat the oven to 400. Dice 4-6 tomatoes and put them in a non-reactive bowl, being careful not to lose any of the juices. Add kosher salt and several tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and let it sit while you make the croutons. Tear a baguette into bite-sized pieces (larger is okay, just not smaller), drizzle them with extra-virgin olive oil and toast them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet until crisp and pale gold. Chop a few teaspoons of fresh basil. When you’re ready to eat, add half the croutons to the tomatoes and toss. Add more croutons until you get the right balance of tomatoes and bread. Taste and add more salt or extra-virgin olive oil as necessary, or even a splash of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with basil and enjoy.


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Categories : In Summer, Recipes

Pasta with Summer Vegetables

11 07 2010

For a summer project, my oldest daughter decided to study cooking around the world. Every week, she chooses a country and makes a recipe that represents its cuisine. Like most kids, she loves pasta so it’s no wonder that her first country was Italy and the first dish involved noodles.

This being her project, I tried to keep quiet while she flipped through cookbooks, chose the recipe and prepped ingredients. Even if I’d wanted to talk I wouldn’t have gotten a word in edgewise. She narrated the whole time, talking into a non-existent camera in imitation of her favorite Food Network stars. The dish she settled on was Pasta with Spring Vegetables from The International Cookbook for Kids by Michael Locricchio, and in honor of the big night she invited good family friends over for dinner. (You know they’re good friends when they agree to come over for dinner cooked by an 8-year-old!)

According to the cookbook, this cooking technique originated in Florence during the Renaissance; if your child is so inclined, you could always incorporate a little geography and art history into your own cooking project. Mine was too wrapped up in narration to care!

When dinner was served, we all took a bite and decided the pasta was not only edible but delicious. I’ve since made it again, upping the carrots, zucchini and tomatoes, omitting the celery and asparagus since it’s not in season and adding some white wine for flavor. The altered version appears here; feel free to substitute vegetables at will. P.S. If you’re part of a CSA, you’ll love this recipe not just for its taste, but because it uses up much of what you’re probably getting now.

Pasta with Summer Vegetables

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 pound of greens such as chard, washed and coarsely chopped
2-3 large squash or zucchini, halved and thinly sliced
1 28-oz can of diced organic tomatoes, or the fresh equivalent
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or more
1/2 pound whole wheat noodles (capellini, linguini, spaghetti, etc.)
handful of fresh basil, chopped
1 pound Italian sausage, grilled and sliced into bite-sized pieces, if desired

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and add the onion, garlic and carrots. Saute for a few minutes, then turn heat to low and cook for 7-8 minutes. Add chard, zucchini, tomatoes, salt, wine, oregano and 1/4 cup water (more if necessary, depending on quantity of vegetables). Stir well, then cover loosely and cook over low heat for 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water and remove when al dente. Drain and toss with a splash of extra virgin olive oil to prevent sticking. When the zucchini is tender, add sausage (if desired) to the sauce and stir, then add more salt, pepper and/or oregano. Put noodles in a large bowl, spoon sauce over noodles and serve with chopped fresh basil and plenty of parmesan.


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Categories : In Summer, Kids in the Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized

Fundraiser at Happy Heart Farm

9 07 2010

When you join a CSA, you join a community.

Without sounding too “mother earthy,” I’d like to say that I believe this community extends past the specific farm where your produce is grown to the broader community of CSA members everywhere. After all, aren’t we all like-minded souls who believe in eating locally, seasonally, organically? That’s why I’m helping spread the news about an event happening at Happy Heart Farm in Fort Collins.

This Saturday night they’re having a special fundraiser called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The event kicks off at 6 p.m. and guests are invited to come in costume. Money raised will go toward Happy Heart’s Feeding the Families program, which provides local, seasonal, organic vegetable shares to low-income families in Fort Collins. The goal is to raise enough money to cover three additional families. Click here for more information on Happy Heart Farm’s Feeding the Families program. To RSVP, contact Claudia at 970-988-3464.

Incidentally, I’ve interviewed Bailey Stenson of Happy Heart Farm before and have always come away inspired. Her farm was the first CSA in Colorado and it continues to be a model for an organic, community-oriented way of living. A profile of her farm is available on my site; click here to be taken to it.


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Turnips with Bread Crumbs and Parsley

29 06 2010

A reader asked for advice on how to use turnips. Here’s a recipe so good, it might convince the skeptics in your household to give turnips a chance.

The flavors are seductive yet simple — just toasted bread crumbs, butter, parsley and lemon. The recipe calls for fresh bread crumbs but who has time to make those? I substituted store-bought Progresso (something everyone should keep in the pantry) and the dish turned out fine. More than fine, actually. Click here for the recipe for Turnips with Bread Crumbs and Parsley.


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Categories : In Summer, Recipes

Pasta with Pesto — Easier than Take-Out

21 06 2010

My oldest child is a swimmer, so once a week we stumble out of bed at 5:45 to get her to the pool before the meet. We don’t get home until early afternoon, by which time my other kids are hot and tired and crabby. Did I say the other kids? I mean me, too.

After a swim meet, cooking is always the last thing on my mind. But by the time we got home from last week’s meet and played for a while, it seemed like more work to buckle everyone in car seats and drive somewhere. You know you’re tired when take-out seems too hard.

But what about dinner? Luckily I remembered I still had some pesto, which I’d frozen last summer when basil was coming in by the bunch from our farm share. I quickly thawed some out, cooked some whole wheat rotini, and sliced up mozzarella and organic grape tomatoes. While I cleaned spinach for salad, I sent my five-year-old out to the patio for fresh basil (he’s the proud gardener of the family). Before we knew it, we had dinner. Easier than take-out. And healthier, too.

Pesto Recipe
I’ve followed many pesto recipes over the years and now I don’t use a recipe at all. Simply wash and dry the basil (a cup at least, if not two) and throw it in the food processor. Process until coarse, then add salt and a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Process until smooth, adding more oil if necessary. Fresh parsley makes a nice addition (up to 1/2 cup), as does lemon juice. I skip pine nuts entirely, but sometimes throw in a handful of walnuts.

If I know I’m making it for the freezer, I don’t even add the garlic or cheese. I just spoon it into an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer. Later, I pop the individual blocks into a Ziploc for use all year long. Upon serving, I add a few cloves of garlic and lots of parmesan, plus more oil if needed.


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Categories : In Summer, Recipes, Uncategorized

Strawberry Tart

19 06 2010

I lucked out after college and landed a job in Paris. New to the city and without many friends, I spent my weekends reading Ernest Hemingway and wandering from bakery to bakery, cafe to cafe. Not healthy, perhaps, but loads of fun when you’re 22.

As much as I loved the baguettes and chocolate croissants, my favorite was the glistening tarte aux fraises (strawberry tart). Always the prettiest item in a patisserie, the tarts are irresistible with their flaky crust, pastry cream and sweet berries shining under a gentle apricot glaze. Now three kids and many jobs later, I still commemorate those fun expat years with a strawberry tart made from the summer’s first berries.

If you’ve never made a tart before, don’t worry. In many respects they’re easier than pie, though you do have to buy a tart pan. Even the pastry cream is simple as long as you give it your undivided attention. And because the tart doesn’t spend nearly as long in the oven as a pie, the oven isn’t on as long — a beautiful thing if you live in an old house and don’t have air conditioning, like me!

Strawberry Tart

1 pie crust (use your favorite recipe)
10″ tart pan
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup whole milk, divided
1 egg
2 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
fresh organic strawberries, washed and dried well

Roll crust into 14″ circle and line a 10″ tart pan with it. Run rolling pin over the edges to cut excess dough. Prick well with a fork and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and set aside.

To make pastry cream, dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of the milk in a medium bowl, then add yolks and egg. Meanwhile, put sugar and 3/4 cup milk in a small pan over high heat until hot. All at once, add the hot milk to the cornstarch mixture, then return it to the pan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly, scraping bottom of pan as it thickens. When the mixture is thick and bubbly, reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Put pastry cream into a metal mixing bowl and set in an ice bath to cool. If you like, press plastic wrap on the top of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming.

When the crust and pastry cream are completely cool, spoon cream into the crust and arrange berries on top. If you have time, brush with an apricot glaze. (For glaze, take 1/2 cup apricot jam and 1 1/2 tablespoons water. Combine the jam and water in a small, heavy pan and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce until it coats the back of a spoon, then cool.)


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