tomatoes

You are currently browsing articles tagged tomatoes.

Peach and Tomato Couscous

September 1, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 13 comments

Ever since our delicious dinner at Zazu in Santa Rosa, CA, I have been obsessed with Israeli couscous and mixing in new and different ingredients to make it the base of a variety of meals. The recent onslaught of fresh summer peaches and heirloom tomatoes got me thinking a couple of nights ago, and I couldn’t wait for the farmers market so I could pick up some great local ingredients. I find my best recipe development happens when I can’t sleep at night! And speaking of recipes, please buzz my Foodbuzz Alaska Seafood recipe so I can win a trip to Foodbuzz Festival! Pretty please, and thank you in advance! I promise not to be too obnoxious about it, but I would appreciate the buzzes! 🙂

http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/2593860-foodbuzz-alaska-seafood-dinner

Ok, back to the regularly scheduled post. This recipe was simply delightful, each ingredient shining on its own but also tying in with the others. It was also very quick and a healthy choice for a quick weeknight meal. We are eating the leftovers cold for lunch, and I think it will be just as delicious. I love leftovers!

Narragansett Creamery Feta

The ingredients were really just eyeballed amounts, what I had and felt like mixing in, a box of Trader Joe’s Israeli couscous, a spicy green pepper. . .

hot pepper

Two juicy white peaches

white peaches

Six or so heirloom tomatoes and about half of a red onion

heirloom tomatoes

Premium Select olive oil, sent to me as a sample from Lucini Italia

Lucini Olive Oil

I started out by lightly browning the couscous in olive oil with a pinch of chili pepper and cumin, then slowly added water and stirred it until it was close to done.

In the meantime, I was chopping onions, peppers, peaches, and tomatoes. Once the couscous was ready, I added the veggies, stirred thoroughly, and let the whole thing simmer on low for a few minutes. I did not want the peaches and tomatoes to fall apart or get mushy, just to be warmed, so it wasn’t long.

couscous recipe

After I plated the couscous, I added crumbled Narragansett Creamery feta for a bit of saltiness. I love feta and couscous together, perfection!

couscous

We loved this dish! It was so quick to make and bursting with summer flavors. I am glad that after a tiring run I mustered up the energy to cook. It certainly isn’t always that way!

Remember back when it was the big blog trend to do those “Ask me anything” posts? I never did it then, but since I couldn’t think of a random question for you all, do you have any questions for me?!

Tags: Food, Israeli Couscous, peaches, produce, recipe, tomatoes, Vegetarian

Low Country Love

August 21, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 18 comments

Even though I have only spent a few days of my life there, Charleston, SC is one of my favorite cities. Beautiful, charming, fashionable, and a foodie paradise, Charleston is a place I want to visit again and again.

If you have been reading since the beginning, you may remember one of my earliest posts about High Cotton, one of the best meals I have ever had. It was so different than food I was used to, and I vowed to return someday.

Recent sightings of green tomatoes at the Siena Farms stand at the Copley Market and a post by Megan from Delicious Dishings had me thinking about High Cotton’s fried green tomatoes, so I finally took the plunge. For the record, Megan’s looked much better than mine 🙂

Frying scares me a little. Whatever I coat in crumbs or flour usually falls apart and makes a burnt, crummy mess. However, I will consider last night a success.

green tomatoes

I started with firm green tomatoes which I sliced in fairly thick slices.

green tomatoes

I mixed corn meal with pepper and salt.

corn meal

And one by one I coated the tomato slices in egg and cornmeal and pan fried them in just a bit of olive oil until the cornmeal looked a little brown. I probably could have cooked them more, but I was afraid of burnt crumbs 🙂

They came out delicious, and didn’t look too bad.

fried green tomatoes

fried green tomatoes with red onion jam

The green tomatoes I had at High Cotton were topped with a red onion jam, so I tried to create something similar. I simmered a whole red onion in several cups of white vinegar until the vinegar was almost all boiled away. I added a tiny bit of sugar, and topped the tomatoes. It was nice and tangy and went so well with the savory tomatoes.

We paired this with a 2007 Venge Gladys’ Vineyard Syrah, a nicely spicy red with some great dark fruit flavors and a lovely softness to it. This is a special wine, and I decided surviving a hellish work week was occasion enough!

image

I am off to Turner Fisheries and then to Newport Winefest for the day. Have a great one, and if you get a chance, please go on over to CRAVE Boston’s website to check out my guest post on Catherine Stanton Schiff, the host of Cocktails for Everyone!

Tags: Charleston, green tomatoes, recipe, tomatoes

Heirloom Tomato Panzanella

August 19, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 24 comments

Thank you all for the great anniversary wishes! We had another spectacular dinner with a six course tasting menu at Craigie on Main. . . and I left the camera at home! The food was so delicious, the wine perfectly paired, and as much as I wished I had my camera, I wanted to take the night off from being a food blogger! My favorite course was the arctic char, a most perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth, fatty fish, completely delicious. But everything was amazing, and the service completely perfect. I love how Craigie is fancy and casual at the same time, not pretentious but not quite homey either. I just love it.

Anyway, today’s recipe takes advantage of my most beloved summer fruit, the heirloom tomato. I can not get enough of their quirkiness, their bold, beautiful colors, and the freshness these tomatoes offer. I will be very sad when they are gone.

For yesterday’s dinner (husband’s side dish) I started with a baguette that I bought and left out on Sunday. Three days later it was nice and hard and ready to be part of an heirloom tomato panzanella.

stale baguette

A variety of heirloom tomatoes, washed and cut into chunks, made the colorful portion of the dish.

heirloom tomatoes

For some flavor and crunch I added in a bit of chopped red onion, no more than 1/4 of a cup.

panzanella

And of course there was cheese, goat to be exact. Creamy, fresh, local goat cheese added the satisfying fat and creaminess that I needed to make this a meal salad.

panzanella

panzanella

I did not take a photo of the salad with dressing because it’s just not pretty! My dressing included 3 cloves of garlic, a jalapeno, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, and a big drizzle of honey. I of course ground some salt and pepper over the top as well. Delicious.

I made my husband a steak on the side and marinated that for about an hour in the same panzanella dressing mixture. No photo, steak really isn’t very nice to look at, in my opinion!

I haven’t been promoting my CSN Stores giveaway as much as I should, so I am extending it an extra couple of days. I want to hear what you love about the changing seasons, so check it out!

I have been such a slacker on posting. . . no food and wine pairings, “Wine from Where?” postings or other wine reviews in awhile. Coming soon, I promise! Where does the time go?

Phew. . . I am happy it is Thursday. Bring on the weekend!

Tags: goat cheese, panzanella, recipe, tomatoes, Vegetarian

« Older entries § Newer entries »

new restaurant
WordPress SEO fine-tune by Meta SEO Pack from Poradnik Webmastera