End of August

I am ending August with an array of pictures of food I made and photographed, but never blogged about. For various reasons. I am trying to clean up and organize my photo files because I want to install a new photo editing program. I hope you enjoy gazing at some of my B-list foods.

Antipasto salad. Tasted good at the time, but all my photos were kind of ugly. And that garbanzo bean skin on the cube of cheddar cheese, near the bottom, drives me nuts.

Hoppin' John Stuffed Giant Zucchini. This zuke came from our neighbor's garden and was huge! Over a foot long. I had great hope for this meal, but it was just, "OK".

Cowboy Skillet Supper. That is what I named it at the time. It was ground beef, beans, some other stuff I'm sure, cheese was probably in there, and topped with cornbread. Served with salsa and sour cream. Ho-hum.

Marinated, skewered, and grilled flank steak. Tasted really good, but looks hideous.

French Dip Sandwich. I cooked a roast for this one, and made the au jus from scratch. In the end, I scorched my provolone cheese and got mad.

Empanadas. These were a lot of work and I expected them to taste awesome. Alas, they didn't even make it to "OK". I would relegate them to "not bad" catagory. I'm determined to try Empanadas again when the weather gets cooler.

What is this? I never knew what to call it. It is not really Maque Choux because I left the corn on the cob. It is not Gumbo--no roux. And it isn't Jambalaya. It was quite delicious, made with fresh okra, black eye peas, and some of my home canned tomatoes. But it just seemed like such a mutt of a dish.

Fried Chicken Tenders with Rice and Gravy and Buttered Butter Beans. We both really enjoyed eating this dinner very much. But some things just seem so ordinary, what's to blog about?

Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup

This is a recipe I make each summer, when tomatoes are at their peak--vine ripened, red, juicy, and bursting with flavor. No liquid is used to make this soup, so the flavor is mainly that of tomatoes.

For this recipe, I use a pressure cooker, which is a piece of kitchen equipment I have not talked about before on this blog. Food cooks much faster in a pressure cooker, the pressure cooker is very energy efficient, keeps the kitchen much cooler, nutrients are not lost in the cooking process, and flavors are intensified.

Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup
(The New Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Pat Dailey)
1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
3 leeks, white part only, sliced
1 Tbsp. butter
3 pounds ripe summer tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 - 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup cream, if desired
Small pinch ground allspice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter in pressure cooker. Add the leeks and garlic and cook over medium heat until the leeks are wilted, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes to the pan along with 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar. Cover pressure cooker and bring up to full pressure. Reduce heat to stabilize pressure and cook for 15 minutes. Release pressure. (On really hot days, I step outside to release the pressure, so the steam doesn't fill the kitchen. On cold days, the steam feels nice.)

Remove about 1 cup of the liquid from the pan and reserve. Puree the remaining tomato mixture in a blender, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the tomato skins and seeds. Add the cream, if using, the allspice, and the salt and pepper. Taste and add remaining 1 tablespoon of brown sugar if the soup is too acidic. Add the reserved cooking liquid if the soup is too thick. (Don't dispose of the liquid if you don't need it. It can be used as cooking liquid in another recipe. Also tastes delicious to drink, well chilled.)

This soup is good served either hot or chilled.

Black Skillet Peach Cobbler

This is a very old-fashioned, very Southern, very rustic, very easy, and very delicious fresh peach cobbler just like my Grandmother used to make. In fact, I found this recipe in a 1960's church cookbook which belonged to Grandmother.

I bought these beautiful, organic, peaches at our Farmers Market. They were extremely flavorful and quite big--almost softball sized. These 4 peaches weighed almost 3 1/2 pounds and yielded me at least 8 cups of slices. And I noshed freely while peeling and slicing.

Black Skillet Peach Cobbler
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/3 cups milk

8 cups fresh peaches
Juice of one lemon
1/4 cup to 1 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of peaches and personal preference

Peel and slice peaches into a large mixing bowl. Stir in lemon juice and sugar, then set aside.

Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet or heavy casserole dish. Mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder, then stir in the milk to form a smooth batter. Pour batter over the melted butter. Pour fruit over the top. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the crust is browned and the peaches are tender.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Sesame Noodles

For several days now, I have been seeing versions of Asian Noodle Bowls posted on blogs. Which put me in the mood for sesame noodles. I posted a slightly different version of Sesame Noodles last August.

I used Udon noodles to make this salad. Udon is a long, thick, flat, noodle made from whole wheat flour. Or you can use Soba, which is a thinner noodle made from buckwheat. Or you can chose linguine or spaghetti.


Sesame Noodles

Dressing
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
3 -4 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Puree in blender into smooth, then transfer to a large bowl.

Noodle Salad
8 oz. Udon noodles
1 bunch (about 6) scallions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped

Cook, drain, and rinse noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile prepare vegetables and add to bowl with the dressing. When the noodles are cooked and drained, add those to the bowl as well. Stir all together to mix well.

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Chocolate Layer Cake for Baby's First Birthday

We wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for Baby's first birthday, but I had a little trouble finding a recipe which fit my criteria for a baby. All the recipes I found had some ingredient I did not want to use--Guiness Stout, coffee, vegetable shortening, tomato soup, mayonnaise (ugh!), corn syrup. Admittedly chocolate cake is never going to be considered a health food, but Baby does not need those other ingredients introduced into her diet. I didn't even decorate the cake, although I was very tempted to use sprinkles, because I didn't want to use any artificial colors.

Ultimately, I started a Talk Topic on Serious Eats and that is where a fellow reader, AnnieNT, introduced me to this cake recipe, which is from Hershey's website. The cake is easy to make, very chocolately, and has the perfect moistness. Check out the Talk thread to see some other delicious sounding chocolate cakes.

Chocolate Layer Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9 inch round cake pans

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bow. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla;beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2/3 cup cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla.

Here, I thought Baby was about to go in face first, like she sees the dogs doing but she did not. She sure loved the cake! She's never had anything like it and found it very delightful. She was covered in chocolate and so was her high chair by the time she was finished. Luckily, we were having a backyard barbeque and her wading pool was filled nearby. Also, the great Ikea high chair ($25) can be hosed down.