This has been such a long January. And it only just started. I am restarting my restart for the second time! And the weather is not cooperating. Rain and cold and the long days seem endless. Everything would be better with a rich, hearty bowl of soup. Except I am trying to recover from the wonderful joyous eating of the holidays which was just topped off with a week of eating mindlessly as we dealt with the emotional loss of my daughters’ grandmother. So “rich and hearty” is out of the question. Fortunately, there are vegetables which can be cooked and pureed in broth which will create ...
Salads and Sides
Tomato Tarts: Summer on a Plate
This has been a wonderful summer. And now it is the middle of August. The mornings are getting cooler and the sun rises later. In the evening the light has a golden tinge which signals the coming Autumn. An even surer sign of summer's end is the sound of children waiting for the school bus. Their laughter is such a pleasant sound to wake to although I am sure they would rather not be headed back! My tomato plants are sagging under the weight of ripening red orbs and I have eaten tomato sandwiches for lunch and dinner with an undiminished joy. But, as the summer harvest continues, even ...
Spiced Tomato Bread
My crazy summer continues. I have been doing a LOT of traveling and really enjoying myself as I explore new cities and places, and their food. I realized that while I have traveled around a lot of the world, it has been a long time since I visited many of the cities in the United States. So it has been a treat for me to do some travelling in the United States. You can follow my travels on Instagram @awomancooks and on this blog in The Adventures of an Asheville Cook. This week I returned from Cincinnati (Graeter's Ice Cream and Montgomery Inn BBQ Ribs) to find a massive number of lovely ...
SAVING SUNSHINE FOR LATER: SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES
Yesterday I slow roasted a bunch of tomatoes, packed them in oil and put them in the fridge to use next week. I had to. My garden was getting away from me. After ten years of struggling with bad drainage, soil contaminated by conifer needles and a lack of sunshine, I finally have a location where my plants are thriving. As I stood and looked at my tomato plants bending under the weight of ripening fruit; at my lush zucchini plants which for the first time have survived an early onslaught of aphids, worms and mold and are continuing to turn out squash at a steady rate; at the strawberries ...
ZUCCHINI AND FETA GALETTE WITH FRESH THYME
I drove back up the mountains the other night, returning from Charlotte, the airport and another trip. The sky was clear, the light just fading and lightening flashed in the distance. I smelt the clean air and watched the temperature drop and I was happy to be home. Home means my town, my house, my cat, my friends, and my garden. And this year that garden is not going to get away from me! Weeds are not going to take over. Tomatoes will not spread recklessly everywhere, and zucchini will fight back against mold and bugs. In return the garden is gifting me with quantities of produce ...
ZUCCHINI, TOMATO AND MOZZARELLA BAKE
Zucchini “Bake”—it’s such an inadequate and clunky term for delicious layers of squash, fresh tomatoes, and lovely gooey melted cheese flavored with olive oil and salt and just a touch of balsamic vinegar. There has to be a better word! Summer is in full swing and my garden is working overtime producing fresh tomatoes and zucchini. SOOOO much zucchini! I am still at the beginning of my zucchini craze which is when I happily eat it sautéed, in salads and roasted. Shortly the glut will become overwhelming and I will need to resort to other cooking methods (along with a box on the ...
FIRST HARVEST: LEMON POPPY SEED RADISH SLAW WITH BASIL
A few of the things I remember about garden-fresh fruit and vegetables: My grandmother’s raspberry patch with bushes so tall and laden with fruit that I lost myself among them. Tomato sandwiches made with tomatoes still warm from the sun. The scent of strawberries spilling out onto the streets of France and England when the season was upon us. And the first time I tasted a radish freshly plucked from the earth and served on bread with the finest sweet butter. Which is why I plant radishes. Not only are they a different food when they are super-fresh but also they scratch my itch ...
SAVORY SCONES PROVENCAL STYLE
In which scones are given a make-over with roasted sweet peppers, sundried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and thyme: flavors reminiscent of Southern France. In fact, this recipe is more of an American biscuit recipe than a traditional British Scone recipe (pronounced sc-on, to rhyme with gone). If you want to find out why, here is a good article from Food 52 . Scone or biscuit, this is delicious and a great substitute for cornbread, rolls or bread in any meal. One of the great things about cooking is that techniques overlap. You learn something in order to make one dish and use the same ...
SPRING RADISHES AND SMOKED SALMON TART
I love the changing seasons! There is something wonderful about moving from hot to cold and back again. The colors of the world change along with the temperature and the foods we eat change with them. Spring puts me in the mood for colors and lighter food. It also makes me feel like baking fruit tarts and pastries. Maybe it’s an Easter thing, I don’t know! This Spring I have been working on making my own puff pastry. Or actually, Rough Puff Pastry which is one step below traditional puff pastry in labor. Don’t worry, I’m not throwing that at you yet. I need to make it a few more ...
PORK LARB: AN ASIAN MEAT SALAD
You didn’t think I only made one dish with my Red Wattle Pork from Sugar Creek Meats, did you? Pork Larb, which can be made with almost any protein is, at its heart, a ground meat salad. The two most well known versions come from Laos and Northern Thailand. As an interesting aside, the Laotian version includes fish sauce and lime juice which is what I would have expected to find in the Thai larb. My recipe includes elements from both cuisines. You can serve your larb over rice or noodles, in lettuce cups, or pretty much anyway you want. It can be a light meal or a full dinner. Make ...
