tomatoes | Lemon and tomato

Gazpacho

June 13, 2016 by alessandra Leave a Comment

Quick Gazpacho

Here on the west coast we are in full summer heat and enjoying the bounty from the garden: fresh herbs and luscious vegetables just screaming… eat me, eat me So today on opening the fridge to grab a quick lunch it was obvious that I needed to choose something in the veggie department as I had purged all the cheese in an effort to fit into summer clothing. I usually have a selection of peppers as well as cucumbers and tomatoes and I wanted something quick as per usual I had waited until I was starving and about to gobble anything at hand – summer clothes be damned. So what do you make with just veggies? Seemed pretty obvious to me: Gazpacho. I had some great harissa oil from Olive the Senses to add just the right kick so we were off to the races and eating gazpacho in almost minutes.

6 medium ripe tomatoes

1 sweet pepper (yellow, red or orange) seeds removed and chopped

1 English cucumber chopped

½ medium red onion chopped

2 stalks celery

1-2 cloves garlic or several garlic scapes for a milder flavour

1 ½ tbsp. (or to taste) red wine, sherry or apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Tabasco or other hot sauce or harissa or hot pepper olive oil

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Peel the English cucumber and if you don’t like the seeds, scoop them out with a spoon. I like the texture so tend to leave them in. Chop the other ingredients so that they will be small enough in the food processor. Add all the ingredients into the food processor and blend until the consistency is to your liking. I prefer to let individuals add their own salt but feel free to salt to taste. Refrigerate for several hours to let flavours meld or eat immediately.

Gazpacho is one of those summer dishes that is bright, refreshing and can be tarted up with just a few extra ingredients so that it meets whatever flavour craving you are having. I often switch between herbs such as tarragon, basil, chives and summer savory but you could also add cilantro or any other herb that you would normally use with tomatoes. Enjoy!

Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Gremolata

March 22, 2016 by alessandra Leave a Comment

Since we are currently experiencing Victoria pink snow and the cherry trees have almost finished blooming, I, of course am on to dreams of summer. And summer means fresh tomatoes. When I used to live in a rather small townhouse facing North I was always able to grow tomatoes. However now that I’m in Victoria which is technically warmer than Vancouver, it would seem that the ocean air constantly toys with my ability in the vegetable garden. This past weekend I decided to try yet again to grow a vegetable garden. Now I have a lovely garden that is also full of morning glory which means that in order to grow vegetables I had to find a way to eradicate the morning glory. This is never easy or cheap.

Raised garden boxes seem to be the answer. Thankfully my trustworthy companion is extremely capable in responding to my “I would like requests” and immediately begins to design whatever it is that I’ve dreamt up.

So he built me two large garden boxes. Now it’s just the heavy stuff like getting the dirt to and in the garden box. And oh yes, researching how to grow vegetables and planting them would help too I guess.

Of course researching vegetable gardens takes time and it’s so easy to get sidetracked when you type in tomato and find tomato tart. Well maybe I typed tart too…

So while I’m procrastinating and dreaming of all those lovely ripe tomatoes, I decided to make a summer tart. What could be better than a goat cheese tart with stuffed cherry tomatoes wrapped in prosciutto to make you feel that summer really is just around the corner. This recipe was featured on Food 52 and cried out to be made immediately. Research can wait but tarts cannot. I opened my doors to the sun so that I could revel in the warmth and transport myself to summer. And of course I made the tart. Thank you Food 52 and Phyllis Grant for a great recipe that will be repeated. http://food52.com/recipes/37406-tomato-tart-with-goat-cheese-quark-prosciutto-and-gremolata.

Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Gremolata

Ingredients

[b]Pastry[/b] from Michel Roux
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter cut into small pieces and softened
1 egg
1 tsp berry sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp cold water
[b]Tart[/b]
9 small tomatoes
4 to 6 anchovies packed in oil, finely chopped
1 tbsp drained capers, finely chopped
4 tbsp finely chopped parsley (or any combination of tarragon, parsley, basil, mint, sage, arugula, or cilantro)
3-4 cloves garlic, microplaned
1 tbsp lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon
4 tbsp very finely grated parmesan
1 tbsp olive oil or gremolata olive oil – just enough to bind
1 egg yolk, room temperature
3/4 cup fresh goat cheese, room temp
2 to 3 tbsp heavy cream or half and half, room temperature
1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus additional for tomatoes
1/2 cup quark cheese, room temperature
9 slices prosciutto (as thinly sliced as possible)

Instructions

[b]Pastry[/b]
Put the flour on the counter and make a well. Put the egg, sugar, butter and salt in the middle. Mix and cream the ingredients in the well with your fingers. Gradually draw the flour in bit by bit working the dough until it has a grainy texture. Add the cold water and mix until it holds together. knead the dough by pushing it away from you 5-6 times until it is smooth. Roll into a ball and wrap in plastic. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
[url href=”undefined”][img src=”https://lemonandtomato.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/pastry-8.jpg” width=”550″ height=”367″ class=”aligncenter size-full” title=”pastry-8″][/url]
[b]Tart[/b]
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Roll out your dough and press into the square tart pan – much easier to lay out than a round pan but you can use either. Keep the dough in the fridge until you are ready covered with plastic wrap.
Core the tomatoes. Use your fingers to scoop out as much of the liquid, pulp, and seeds as possible. Place tomatoes cored-side down to let excess liquid drip out.
Mix together the anchovies, capers, herbs, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, Parmesan, and olive oil.
Mix the egg yolk, goat cheese, cream, lemon zest, and salt until smooth & spreadable (almost pourable).
Spread goat cheese mixture all over the bottom of the tart. On top of this mixture add a thin layer of quark.
[url href=”undefined”][img src=”https://lemonandtomato.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/stuffed-tomatoes-8.jpg” width=”413″ height=”550″ class=”aligncenter size-full” title=”stuffed tomatoes-8″][/url]
Sprinkle a small pinch of salt into each tomato cavity, and then evenly distribute the caper anchovy mixture between the 9 tomatoes.
Wrap each tomato in a piece of prosciutto. You may need to tear the prosciutto in pieces to wrap.
Gently press the tomatoes down into the cheese bed.
[url href=”undefined”][img src=”https://lemonandtomato.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/tomato-quark-8.jpg” width=”420″ height=”550″ class=”aligncenter size-full” title=”tomato quark-8″][/url]
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. About 25 minutes in, gently push the cooking tomatoes down a bit.
If the tart shell starts to brown too much, cover it with aluminum foil while the tomatoes cook. Remove the tart from the oven when the cheese is starting to brown and the tomatoes are starting to shrivel and darken.
Cool for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the outer ring of the tart pan. Slide the tart off of the metal bottom and onto a cutting board. Cut into squares.

Ratatouille – Confit Biyaldi

March 1, 2016 by alessandra Leave a Comment

One day back in February I opened my email to find divine inspiration. A good friend had sent over a video on making ratatouille (http://sploid.gizmodo.com/how-to-make-ratatouille-just-like-the-pixar-movie-1755888210) according to the “confit Biyaldi” styled ratatouille from the Pixar movie of the same name. Now, normally this would be a late summer, early fall dish with all the veggies picked at their perfect ripeness straight from your garden however it was just the prompt that I needed to get some extra veggies onto the menu in winter (for a whole week I might add, as I made a rather large version). In fact, the making of the ratatouille ended up also being the creation of a great veggie soup. I got mandolin snap happy and sliced up a storm .
Ratatouille is one of those dishes that I’ve made for years as a staple but for some reason it had fallen off my radar, so I really didn’t need much of a push to start making it again. (and it was fun to plug in the video yet again). As it was winter (last month and now its spring hooray) and I really didn’t feel like making more than one veggie dish, I decided to add thinly sliced potato as well for the carb loving people at my table. This does sometimes make it necessary to cook the dish a bit longer but everyone thought the potato was a good addition.

A twist on this ratatouille is the piperade on the bottom of the pan which helps keep the veggies from sticking and burning. One of the great things I liked about the video above was the comment to just throw in the leftover peelings and ends of the veggies into the piperade so that you really are not wasting anything and get an extra kick of flavour. They all whip up in the blender nicely. If you like a bit of a heat to your dishes, sprinkle a bit of hot chillies into the piperade.The stacked veggies should sit nicely against the side of the pan and sort of stick to the piperade. If not have a toothpick or two on hand to help

Putting it all together goes quite quickly so don’t be put off thinking it will be too much effort. The final dish is really worth it. Watch the video above and you will see just how easy it is.

Ratatouille – Confit Biyaldi

Cuisine: French

Author: adapted from Thomas Keller by Lemonandtomato

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 2 hours 30 mins

Total time: 3 hours 30 mins

Ratatouille is a most basic vegetable dish with amazing bursts of fresh harvest flavours.

Ingredients

[b]PIPERADE:[/b]
1 orange and 1 yellow pepper cleaned from seeds and ribs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
3-4 medium tomatoes
1 sprig thyme
Kosher salt/ fresh ground pepper
splash of white wine when cooking the onions and garlic
[b]MAIN VEGETABLES:[/b]
2 green zucchini, sliced in 1/16-inch rounds (4 to 5 ounces)
2 small regular or Japanese eggplant, sliced into 1/16-inch rounds (4 to 5 ounces)
2 yellow zucchini , sliced into 1/16-inch rounds (4 to 5 ounces)
2 -3 medium potatoes (optional)
4 tomatoes, sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp of herbs de provence
kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
[b]FOR VINAIGRETTE[/b]
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oi
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon
Assorted fresh herbs (thyme flowers, chives, chervil, thyme)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Instructions

[b]For the piperade[/b]
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Place pepper halves on a baking sheet, cut side down. Roast until skin loosens, about 15 minutes. (this can also be done on the BBQ.) Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop.
While the peppers are cooking, combine oil, garlic, and onion in skillet over low heat until very soft but not browned, deglaze pan with a 1/4 cup of wine. Add tomatoes, their juices, and thyme. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes, do not brown; add peppers and simmer to soften them. Season to taste with salt, and discard herbs. Place mixture in food processor or blender and puree. Reserve tablespoon of mixture and spread the mixture in the bottom of an 9-inch baking pan or cast iron pan being careful not to spread the layer too thick. Reserve some of the puree to make a vinaigrette later.
[b]For the vegetables[/b]
heat oven to 275 degrees.
Begin by making small vegetable stacks of alternating slices of vegetables and place in a circular motion over piperade, overlapping so that only 1/4 inch of each slice is exposed. Around the center strip, overlap vegetables in a close spiral that lets slices mound slightly toward center. Repeat until pan is filled; all vegetables may not be needed. (and will make an awesome soup for lunch the next day)
Mix garlic, oil, and herbs de provence in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over vegetables. Cover pan with foil and crimp edges to seal well. Bake until vegetables are tender when tested with a paring knife, about 2 hours. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. (Lightly cover with foil if it starts to brown.) If there is excess liquid in pan, place over medium heat on stove until reduced. (At this point it may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold or reheat in 350-degree oven until warm.).
[b]For vinaigrette, [/b]combine reserved piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.
To serve slice and very carefully lift onto plate with offset spatula. Turn spatula 90 degrees, guiding byaldi into fan shape. Drizzle vinaigrette around plate. Serve hot.

Make sure that you test the potatoes as they will need the longest to cook. You can also use a lid instead of tinfoil and do your part in reducing the environmental impact of making this ratatouille. Bon apetit!

Should you have leftovers, sauté them with garlic, onion, and maybe a few more peppers. Puree and then add 2-3 cups chicken broth, a squeeze of lemon and you have lunch for the next day or two.

Thetis Island Panzanella

September 18, 2014 by alessandra Leave a Comment

Eating on a sailboat without refrigeration can provide its challenges but doesn’t have to mean that all you eat is hardtack. Things invariably ripen faster (read go shrivelled and mouldy) or go harder such as bread. Our last stop in Ganges on Saltspring island produced a beautiful rustic rosemary bread. The first 2 slices made a great sandwich but 2 days later, the loaf had morphed into a petanque ball. Not wanting to waste it, I rememberered once having tasted an italian bread salad. What could be better than using my stash of basil, mixed with tomatoes, leftover roasted garlic and peppers with the bread on a hot muggy and somewhat rainy day? Easier than BBQ in the rain for sure.

Cutting the bread was going to be the main hurdle. Gerry, my husband offered to get out the hack saw but better judgement prevailed and he wielded our chef’s knife with skill and hacked it into cubes of about an inch. A quick search of the net with my phone showed me that I was on the right track when I found Ina Garten’s Panzanella

. Adapting here and there with what I had in the icebox (and I do mean icebox as we have no refrigeration) I created a salad that I will be making again when faced with rock hard specimens of bread.

Main Ingredients

3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 small rustic bread (I used a rosemary and garlic whole wheat loaf) cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
1 teaspoon granular sea salt or kosher
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 english cucumber, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch thick cubes
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion,and very thinly sliced
25 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained
1 head roasted garlic
3 roasted peppers
10 – 15 Black olive
1/2 cup feta, crumbled

Vinaigrette:

1 tbsp tarragon Dijon mustard ( if you only have plain Dijon it works, but you might want to add some fresh tarragon)
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste (lemon pepper also picks up the flavour)

Directions
Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, garlic, feta and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. This salad can be served immediately, but I prefer to let it sit for about half an hour to allow the flavours to blend.

What 3 ingredients could you never live without?

March 7, 2014 by alessandra Leave a Comment

Lemon and tomato. My friends are used to me constantly asking the question, so if you could only choose 3 ingredients to use, what would they be?Many say chocolate, others, gee I don’t know. For me tomato and lemon are integral ingredients that I can’t imagine living without. Garlic and onion would be there too but I can’t decide which one would be the third ingredient. So as I was sitting and sifting through the many blogs that were out there these two ingredients just kept coming back as my staples, hence lemonandtomato. Which 3 would you choose?