Month: September 2013

tiny tomato cakes keep them guessing

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sometimes, i like to have fun with desserts.  my favorite game is to make people guess what the secret ingredient is.  once, for thanksgiving, i made a pie with white beans; it was fun to watch as our guests ate the pie while trying to guess what type of squash i used.  there have been many such desserts coming out of my kitchen.  a favorite of mine is tomato cake because it always keeps them guessing.
a recent outing with the nashville food bloggers included a pot luck lunch.  as a pastry chef, dessert is always my contribution to a pot luck meal.  naturally, i decided to have a little fun and make them guess the flavor.  to see the complete recipe, click here.

 my skinny muffin pan from ikea.  it is a little tricky to use.  even though it is nonstick, you really need to grease and flour the cups to ensure the cakes come out intact.

 the best way to present them, wrapped individually and dusted with powdered sugar.

in my search for bakers twine, the kind i remember from childhood, red and white and hanging from the bakery ceiling in a metal stringholder, i came across some cotton yarn.  it works very nicely and is so much cheaper!

thematic photography, week 2: life or death

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for our second week of class, we were given the theme of life or death.  not a very happy theme at first glance but surprisingly, an easy one to find images of.  since we were allowed to interpret the theme as we wanted, the choices for shooting were plentiful.  the trick was to find images that were interesting and eye catching.  
for my photos, i decided to visit a cemetary.  luckily for me, the nashville city cemetery was giving the annual living history tour.  not only were there lots of interesting scenes to shoot, there were live actors portraying the dead and buried.  if you haven’t gone on a living history tour, you should.  the history of nashville is colorful, to say the least!
 an actor portraying moses wetmore, an early developer of east nashville
 my husband was fascinated with the mausoleums
 vine on iron fencing
 row of crypts
 flower bed 
 this quote seems to sum it all up nicely
 reflection on a crypt
 the mausoleum reflecting the gravestones across from it
then of course, i headed to the garden.  this is a great time of year to find life and death in the garden.
 lichen on dead wood
 same subject, monochrome
 cicada wings
 and in color-completely different results

and one that somehow did not make it onto my flash drive for class-sustaining life means certain death.

and our next theme is our choice-we have a list and i have yet to make my choice.  stay tuned, i will post the photos.

linzer cookies with fig jam

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the whole repurposing craze has caught me.  i just love it-the idea of turning useless stuff into a money maker; i’m all about that.  honestly, i do like the idea of using things in a new or unusual way.  we hung a wire window planter box up on our kitchen wall.  ok, not exciting.  except we hung it upside down and use hooks to hang pots from it.  fascinating stuff, i know!  what does it have to do with cookies?  nothing.  it was the repurposing thing, i went off track here…
so, back to the story, as a tuesdays with dorie baker, i often make things i would not generally make for just the two of us.  it is often way more than we can eat.  sometimes i cut the recipe in half or freeze half.  for a recent baking challenge, we made a crostata.  it called for a rich, short crust that was loaded with almonds and sesame seeds.  since i wanted to make a smaller tart, i had a big ball of dough leftover and i froze it for another day.  a recent get together of local food bloggers seemed like a good time to use it since it would make wonderful bite sized linzer cookies.  read all about the tart and see the recipes by clicking here.

cookie cutters are something i collect; i have hundreds of them.  literally, hundreds.  this is an inexpensive set that i found while wandering through a local tjmaxx/homegoods store.  they are double sided so you can use the straight side or the fluted side-10 cutters for the price of 5!

to roll out little bite sized sandwich cookies, i used a pair of thin wooden dowels.  that is my secret for a consistent thickness and by choosing different sized dowels, i get the dough rolled out to the necessary thickness every time.

to cut the window of the top cookie in the sandwich, i pulled out a different set of cutters.  this is a larger set of straight circles made of metal.

 a quick sprinkle of sanding sugar gave the cookies a nice sparkle.

a small dollop of homemade fig jam was the perfect choice of filling for a dough studded with almonds and sesame seeds.

 finishing the sandwiches with the top cookie

all ready to go on my fancy vintage pressed aluminum serving tray-a treat fit for serving to food bloggers!  and by the way, i came home with an empty tray…

fall arrives; time to head back to class

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for the last year, i have been taking classes at a local art college.  it is all part of my effort to learn better techniques for taking photos of my work and of the garden.  this last week, i headed back to class for a four week workshop on thematic photography.  while it sounds a bit complicated, it isn’t.  any professional photographer will tell you that most paid assignments have a theme.  the object is to produce photos that define the theme without needing explanation.  for our first assignment, we were given the theme of “americana” and i made an attempt to define it and capture it.  

many of you know that i live in nashville.  obviously, a fiddle and a bottle of kentucky bourbon should relay americana.  unless you are a musician (or my daughter) and you know that is a viola…work with me people!

 toll painted cake tin and a bundt cake slice
 split rail fence
 farm equipment
 grandma’s garden at ellington ag center
 corn
 zinnias on a ladderback chair
 zinnias on a hand hewn table
 zinnias, a log bench and a split rail fence
 the grand champion has dinner
 you lookin at me?
 blue ribbon dreams
russell and his apple pie
 waiting our turn to dance
appalachaian precision cloggers-they wear tap shoes?

the little fig tree that could; fresh fig jam

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we planted two fig trees in our yard.  the older of the two is a brown turkey fig.  this year was a good year for figs-we picked 10 pounds!

did you know that figs are not actually a fruit?  they are a scion or an infructescence and almost all of the trees need a tiny wasp to pollinate the flowers.  that wasp does not live in tennessee and for that reason, only two varieties of figs can be grown here; the brown turkey and the celeste varieties do not need pollination.

so, what does one do with 10 pounds of fresh figs?  having made one tart and stuff myself silly with them, i made jam.  now i can have figs for the winter while i dream of summer, and the next harvest.

simmering the figs with cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans.  a little lemon juice and zest helped round out the flavors.

canned and cooling

until next year, this will have to do!  to make some fig jam, just use the basic jam recipe of 2 to 1 fruit to sugar  and add flavors as you like(citrus zest, spices, alcohol and so on) or try this recipe.  happy canning!

change of season in the garden

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hard to believe but fall is creeping in.  the fact that it is still 90+ outside and humid does not help to convince me.  spring came so late this year that the garden is still in full production mode but there are some signs…
goldfinches are making quick work of the sunflower seed harvest
peppers are turning from green to red-these are ghost peppers
cucumber vines are dying off 
fall veggies planted in the garden

carrots planted in late winter are ready to be harvested.  summer lingers, thunderstorms pop up and the garden goes on.  when i see how late the sun comes up and how early it goes down, i know the change of season is upon us.  as hot as it is in nashville, i do not look forward to winter.  if we skipped it altogether, i would not be the least bit offended.  

pimento cheese; it’s a southern thing

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having lived in the south for a while, i have come to appreciate many “southern” foods.  sorghum has to be pretty close to the top spot on the list.  how can you not love hummingbird cake or homemade chess pie?  didn’t think i could but when they are homemade using a good, handed down from generation to generation recipe, both are hard to pass up.  never mind the stuff that is mass produced and sold in the grocery store; we won’t even talk about what they sell in the mini mart at the gas station…
where am i going with this?  pimento cheese, that’s where.  for years, i would see the tubs of bright yellow/orange goo in the cheese section of the grocery store and wonder who could eat that-why would they eat that?  then i had my first taste of good homemade pimento cheese.  those of you who have lived in nashville longer than i have will most likely remember a little shop in green hills, clayton blackmon.  two ladies owned the shop, it grew out of their successful catering business, and if you ask me, they made the best pimento cheese, ever.  by using a blend of freshly grated cheeses, possibly mild cheddar or colby and monterey jack, and mixing it with pimentos and mayonnaise, it was amazing.  and until recently, i didn’t think i could ever find something close to it.  
when my coworkers and i went to the beard house in february, we served the guests at the event pimento cheese made from a family recipe of one of our team members that had been handed down several generations.  that started me on a quest to find the recipe to make pimento cheese like the one that lives in my memory…

this batch was made from the recipe we used at the beard house.  it produces a spread that is almost like a dip.  it is dangerous-you can spread it on crackers or bread and before you know it, you’ve eaten the whole batch…to make this for yourself, visit the loveless website for the recipe.  to see pictures from the trip to new york city and the dinner, part 1, part 2.

being who i am, i had to try my own take on this recipe.  first stop was the deli counter in the grocery store; i had them hack me off a thick slab of the american cheese that they sell by the pound.  it is the american cheese i grew up with.  my mother never bought the stuff that comes wrapped by the slice.  then i grabbed a piece of smoked gouda.  first i shredded the cheese and then by using the food processor and pulsing it carefully to combine it with the buttermilk, i was able to get a chunky consistency.  while it isn’t as creamy at first, it does soften and almost liquefy as it sits because the buttermilk does that to the cheese.  it was just as deadly to my waistline and cholesterol count as the previous batch.

then i made an open face grilled cheese sandwich with it.  need to step away from the cheese!  try making the recipe by substituting the amounts ounce for ounce with your favorite blend of cheeses.  you will not regret this, trust me.

like many others, once i get started on something, i cannot stop.  when i go to the monthly pot luck dinner held by the master gardeners, i asked a fellow member for her recipe.  she frequently brings pimento cheese sandwiches to the dinners and i almost always grab one.  katherine’s recipe is rather simple.  half a pound of shredded mild cheddar cheese, a little minced raw onion, a small jar of diced pimentos with the juice and enough mayonnaise to hold it together which ends up being a few tablespoons.  mix it all up and let it sit a while.  then spread it on fresh bread for wonderful snacks or put it on crackers.  be warned, you may have to step away from the counter to prevent it from disappearing.

for my version, i went with some white cheeses; medium white cheddar and gruyere.  a jar of roasted red and yellow peppers from trader joe’s came in handy since my garden was lacking bell peppers and  i used some unsweetened mayonnaise to hold it together.  this stuff was awesome and i am no longer wondering how they made it-now i have a small arsenal of recipes and a plethora of cheeses available to try out.  this could get dangerous…

katherine’s pimento cheese 
8 ounces shredded, mild cheddar
1 (4 oz) jar diced pimentos,  not drained
1 tablespoon minced onions
1/3 cup mayonnaise
stir together just to combine.  serve with crackers or spread it on bread for sandwiches.  keep refrigerated, providing it lasts that long

tomato berry fougasse; tuesdays with dorie

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 this week for our baking with julia challenge, we were given the choice of baking blueberry muffins or a sweet berry fougasse, sigh…as a former bakery owner, trust me, i have mastered the art of blueberry muffins.  whose recipe it is just isn’t important, it’s a blueberry muffin; eat one and you’ve tasted most of them.  that left the sweet berry fougasse.  a simple description is a plain focaccia with a few berries and a handful of crumb topping.  one mention of berries in focaccia, both me and my husband immediately wrinkled our noses up-can you hear the ewwww?  either way, i was determined to bake something and while standing in the kitchen staring at the small mountain of tomatoes on the counter top, sudden epiphany; tomatoes are berries.  that small technicality was all i needed.

to bake the recipe yourself, consider buying or borrowing the book and turning to page 194 and for the muffins, page 208.  or, for those of you not able to find the book, the recipe for the fougasse and the required focaccia can be found here.

to make my bread, first i cut the focaccia recipe in half.  with just two of us in the house, more than that would be a waste.  after the required 24 hour rest in the fridge, i cut the dough in half and formed two rectangular slabs.  i gave them a liberal brush of olive oil, a sprinkle of freshly chopped herbs from the garden (rosemary, oregano and basil) and topped the loaf with thin slices of tomatoes.  into the oven they went.

nice and chewy with a tang from the fresh tomato slices.  perfect for a lazy dinner of salad and bread.  to see what the other bakers came up with, visit the tuesdays with dorie page.

night market at the farmers market in nashville

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the nashville farmer’s market has been trying to increase the number of visitors to the market.  they have come up with an idea that should work; open the farmers market at night.  the plan includes food trucks, live music and even an adult beverage vendor.  the market also has a food court consisting of permanent vendors which is also open for the evening.  for someone like me who has to work on saturday mornings, this could work.  yes there is a but, and that but is only if all the vendors who show up on a saturday morning also show up to sell that evening.  since they schedule these nights throughout the season, the night gets rotated.  the most recent night market took place on a saturday evening and while many of the vendors were there, not all of the saturday morning vendors were there and open for business.  still, we enjoyed the trip downtown.  here are a few of the highlights of our trip.

the attraction of shopping at the farmers market, purchasing locally grown produce direct from the growers.

johnny howell has been growing tomatoes in west nashville for a very long time.  over the years we have lived here, we have visited their stands many times.  they used to have one off franklin road that we would visit regularly.  they are known for their tomatoes and they also can all of the juice and tomatoes in these jars.

normally, cucumbers are something i cannot pass up.  however, i have some vines in my garden that are producing them in quantities that i cannot eat fast enough.

the peach truck has had some of the best peaches all summer.  this was their last visit to the market since the season is over for them.

one of the local vendors
did you see these in the photo above?  cushaw squashes are huge.

it took me a minute to realize that this was a sign for peruvian potatoes-i honestly thought it was some new variety…

magic happening here.
kettle corn-food of the gods if you ask me!
it would not be summer without watermelon, these have orange flesh
and this is how you know you are in the south, muscadine grapes
yellow tomatoes and freshly picked beans
black eye peas by the scoop
and to finish off the trip, we had dinner in the market house at swagruha indian restaurant.  
my dinner was chicken tikka masala with dal and rice.  

darry opted for something he would not have at home, probably ever, curried goat.  and if you look at the photo, you can see that he was all business about eating-he wouldn’t even give me a chance to take the photo!

the next night market is on september 21rst, we will make the trip downtown for a little shopping and dining.  my only question, why do they call it a night market if it only goes from 5pm to 8pm?