Road Food

Ed in school + out running errands = drive thru dinner. I try to support local (or in this case, regional) places, so we went to Arctic Circle. Besides, their fries are so much better than McDonald's or Wendy's (rancid oil, almost always). Plus, my relationship with Wendy's has soured ever since I had a bad chicken wrap that caused some significant gastro distress. While three kids meals for 10 bucks is not bad, Arctic Circle really needs to get a value menu.

Speaking of gastro distress, I visited Carrie just as she was cleaning up dinner, and I got to see this gem of a dish. After laughing for about 5 minutes, we decided to have a little contest. Whoever can name 4 ingredients that are a part of this dish gets a Very Special Prize.

Loaded BLTs

Sorry, Carrie, about all the tomatoes. It will go away in a couple of weeks.

Nothing special here. Just BLTs with avocado and blue chesse dressing. Add cheese if you're name is Ed. Toast the bread for texture, and make sure you season those tomatoes.

Roasted Tomato Soup & Breadsticks

A friend brough over a massive bag of cherry tomatoes, but one can only eat so many plates of tomatoes and cottage cheese before one starts to feel a little panicky about what to do with all of those tomatoes. I still had a big wad of leftover dough in the fridge from yesterday's pizza, so I decided to make breasticks and tomato soup.

Roasted Tomato Soup

2 lbs or so tomatoes

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic

a few sprigs of thyme

4 T. olive oil

1 t. sugar

salt and pepper

Toss above ingredients in a roasting pan and roast, stirring once or twice, in a 425-degree oven for about 25-35 minutes.

Add roasted tomato mixture and 4 c. chicken stock to pot and simmer 5 minutes. Check seasoning and adjust as necessary. Here's where things get silly. If you want a smooth soup, puree in blender or use an immersion blender and strain through a sieve. Return soup to pot, and add additional seasonings or add-ins. You could add some hot sauce or red pepper flakes, fresh basil or other herbs, cooked rice, or even some cream for more of a 'cream of tomato' soup. I added a little hot sauce and about 1/3 c. heavy cream. It was pretty good, but I was not prepared for its bright orange, wheaties box color. Not the sexiest photo, but good eats nonetheless.

Summer Vegetable Pizza with Crispy Garlic

In an attempt to put the "diary" back into "Diary of an Iron Homemaker", I've challenged myself to blog, for better or worse, what we've had for dinner each day. English food writer Nigel Slater wrote an awesome cookbook The Kitchen Diaries in this same format. He is a big proponent of eating seasonally, growing your own food when possible, and cooking instinctively, often without a recipe. I tried to emulate some of these qualities in tonight's dinner, Summer Vegetable Pizza.

This pizza is a product of the generosity of friends and family who have shared their garden abundance with us.

The Crust

Resist the temptation to add more flour, as this dough can be wet, depending on how you measure your flour. After it rises it will be easier to handle. This recipe will make 2 smallish round pizzas or 1 jelly-roll pan size pizza.

3 cups flour

2 t. salt

1 1/4 c. warm water

2 1/2 t. instant yeast

1 T. olive oil

1 t. sugar

Chuck everything into your mixer and knead for about 5 minutes. You can add a little more water if you're concerned about a dry dough. Knead into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. Deflate gently and press into oiled jelly roll pan (or shape into rounds).

Top and bake at 450 for at 10-25 minutes, depending on the thinness of your crust and amount of toppings.

The Sauce

Normally for the sauce I prefer to use crushed, raw tomatoes (skinned & seeded), stir in some chopped garlic that has been sauteed in olive oil, add some salt, pepper, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and a some fresh herbs (basil, oregano) and chopped up. But today I wanted to save the beautiful Romas from my mom's garden for the topping, so I settled for a thin smear of bottled pasta sauce.

The Toppings

My pizza got chopped onion, chopped Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced green zucchini and yellow squash, green pepper, mushrooms, mozzerella, and parmesan. I didn't have any, but olives and artichoke hearts would have been good, too.

While the pizza was baking, I sauteed some thinly sliced some garlic and a chopped red chile pepper in olive oil until the garlic was crispy. When the pizza was done, I drizzled the garlic/chile mixture (oil included) over all the pizza. This, I think, was the best part and gave the pizza a really spicy kick and a nice texture with the crispy garlic. Oh yeah, I totally need to brush my teeth.

Peanut Butter & Jam Bars

Hey everyone! I've taken a break from my train ride to crazytown to update my blog. Hope everyone is doing (and eating) well.
I can't decide how I feel about these. They're rich, to be sure, but I can't decide if I'm eating a dessert or a really rich peanut butter sandwich. That didn't stop me from eating about five, and they're great with a glass of cold milk.

Peanut Butter & Jam Bars

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 lg. eggs
2 c. creamy peanut butter
3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. raspberry jam (or your preference)
2/3 c. salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 13 pan.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until well combined. Stir in dry ingredients.
Spread two thirds mixture in the prepared pan. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered; the dough will spread when it bakes. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and bake 40-45 minutes, until golden brown.
One note about the jam. I couldn't bring myself to dump an entire 12 oz jar of jam in the pan, so I only used about 1 cup. Carrie taste-tested these and thought they could've used more of the "goo factor", so next time I'll close my eyes and add all of the jam.

Rhubarb and Orange Tart

Rhubarb is here! And since it cost me nearly seven bucks, I felt the need to do something slightly elevated. This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite books, How to Bake (Malgieri). The crust reminds me of the sweet, cake-like pastry crusts that Ed's mum makes using self-rising flour. I think my favorite thing about this is the very spring-like color you get from the bright pink rhubarb and the yellow/orange custard. Another nice thing is that poaching the rhubarb cooks it without turning it to mush. Now don't freak - I'm not a "poaching" kind of gal but this was really easy. And it tastes really good.

Rhubarb and Orange Tart

Sweet Dough
2 1/2 c. flour
6 T sugar
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
8 T cold unsalted butter
2 large eggs
milk or cream if needed

Poached Rhubarb
1 1/2 lbs fresh rhubarb
1 c. sugar
2 c. water

Crumb Topping
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
8 T unsalted butter

Orange Custard
2/3 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. sugar
grated zest of one orange
1 t. vanilla
4 egg yolks

For the Sweet Dough:
Note: This recipe is will make 2 crusts, but only one is needed for this recipe. I'm very paranoid about making too little pastry dough, probably because I'm not the best at rolling it out, so I usually make enough for two crusts and then just use the extra for jam tarts for the kids.
Combine dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and add to the work bowl. Pulse repeatedly at 1-second intervals until the mixture is fine and powdery and resembles cornmeal. Add the eggs and pulse 10 more times, until the dough forms a ball. If your dough seems too dry to form a ball, and milk or cream, a tablespoon at a time, until it does. Try not to over-process. Scrap dough onto floured work surface, knead a couple of times to bring together, and shape into a disk. Wrap w/plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or up to two days.

For the Rhubarb:
If the rhubarb is well developed and tough looking, string it (like you would celery). Cut the stalks into 2-inch lengths. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a large shallow pan, add the rhubarb, cover, turn off the heat, and allow the rhubarb to cool completely.

For the Crumb Topping:
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir the melted butter into the dry ingredients. Allow to stand a minute, then by hand break into coarse crumbs. Set aside.

For the Orange Custard:
Whisk all ingredients together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Set aside.

To assemble the tart, roll out the chilled dough and line a 10-inch (or so) tart pan. Drain the rhubarb (Don't forget to save the syrup for another use - it's really good.) and arrange it in the tart shell. Pour the custard filling over the rhubarb and scatter the crumb topping over the top.
Bake the tart 30-40 minutes, until the filling has set and the crumbs have browned lightly. Cool on a rack.

Raisin Filled Cookies

The other day my friend Jill was waxing nostalgic about ZCMI's raisin-filled cookies, and it made me realize that I was not alone in the ritual of shopping at ZCMI and then going to the candy bakery for a treat.
Back in the day, ZCMI was a cool store. In the early eighties, it was the place to get your Gunny Sack dress for the dance. We bought rugby shirts, Girbaud jeans, and sweatshirts with ivy league school names on them. I bought a really cool pair of ESPRIT pennyloafers there. If we were there without our parents, we'd cruise through the perfume & cologne section and sample Obsession, smell the Drakkar & Polo and think about the guys that wore those. Then we'd go to the candy bakery, take a number, and get some date and raisin-filled cookies to eat on the way home.
Our favorite cookies were the date-filled ones. I recall the cookie being made with brown sugar, as the dough was a little darker and heavier than the white, raisin-filled ones. I think they also had some ground pecans in the dough. I'd like to get the recipe for both, but have yet to find a good match.
Here's my attempt at some raisin-filled cookies. They're made with a brown sugar cookie dough, and the dough is really soft, so you'll have to refrigerate it and use a enough flour when rolling it out. The filling is more complex than ZCMI's, as it incorporates chopped walnuts. I didn't have dark raisins, so I substituted a mixture of golden raisins and currants. Don't overbake them, or they'll be really tough. I think they taste better the second day.

Raisin Filled Cookies
Dough:
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. shortening
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
zest from 1 lemon (optional)
Filling:
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. water
1 T. flour
1 1/2 c. raisins, chopped
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 T. lemon juice

For dough, sift together flour, baking soda and salt in bowl; set aside. Beat together shortening, butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add lemon zest, vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in dry ingredients. Separate dough and flatten into two disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
For filling, stir together brown sugar and flour in medium saucepan. Add water and remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, stir until thickened. Cool.

Roll out dough and cut out circles.

Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Moisten edges of cut dough with a little water, then add 1 t. or so of the cooled filling. Add dough "lid", flatten slightly and press edges to seal. Prick tops with fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes, until cookies just barely begin to change color. Note: 1 had about 1 cup of extra filling.