Fried Green Tomatoes + Montreal Trip

Sorry I've been a little absent this summer! Between my euro trip, work, searching for a new apartment, visiting friends and family in Montreal for 2 weeks, moving into my new apartment, not having gas to cook with for the past few days and registering for classes at my new school, I haven't had much time to update... Anyways, I made these fried green tomatoes among other things a few days ago for the family at my grand-parents' country house in St-Sauveur, Quebec. They have an incredible garden with just about every vegetable you could imagine and I just couldn't resist grabbing a few unripe tomatoes for a little side dish to go along with our succotash.

I cooked them pretty much the same way as I cook my fried okra. First, I put a little flour, salt and pepper on a plate. Next, I cracked a few eggs in a bowl and added a few tablespoons of water. Then, I filled another bowl with cornmeal. I cut the tomatoes into thick slices, dipped them in the flour, then in the egg, then in the cornmeal and finally fried them in sizzling canola oil until brown on both sides. Sprinkle with salt as soon as they come out of the frying pan.

My grand-parents' garden:

Some delicious pies:

My family having lunch at the country house:

My favorite dessert ever - Onobelle's Raspberry Torte:

A giant mushroom (probably very poisonous) that I saw growing in the woods:

Me looking a little silly with the fam:

my loving sister, Kali:

Creamy Marrow Bean, Tomato and Tarragon Casserole with Garlicky Croutons + Chocolate and Graham Cracker Tart

This is one of my mom's favorite dishes! It's inspired by a Deborah Madison recipe that she found in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I think everyone should own this book! Deborah Madison approaches vegetarian food in the most un-hippie way possible. I don't think any of her dishes could leave a meat eater unsatisfied!

Anyways, back to the recipe. My mom bought some great local heirloom beans called Marrow beans from a stall at the Topanga farmer's market the other day. Madison actually calls for flageolet beans in her recipe, but I think almost any non black/kidney bean would work fine. We soaked the beans overnight and then drained off the liquid and cooked them until tender with some rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, an onion and some of my favorite smoked dried chilis. The beans were so fresh that they barely took any time at all to cook!

Before:


After:

In a separate pot, I sautéed some shallots in olive oil and butter. After a few minutes, I added in about 10 diced roma tomatoes along with some white wine and let that cook for another 5-7 minutes.


I cubed up a loaf of bread and coated it pieces in minced garlic, olive oil and melted butter before toasting them in the oven.

We steamed some green beans until they were just shy of being done and then combined them in a large casserole dish with the drained marrow beans, stewed tomatoes and shallots, about a cup of cream, half a cup of chopped parsley and maybe 2-3 tablespoons of chopped tarragon. I topped the casserole with the croutons and baked it, covered, until it started to bubble around the edges. At this point, I took off the foil and and let the croutons brown a little more. After taking the dish out of the oven, I finished it with some parmesan.



For the salad, I simply mixed up a little apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt, pepper, mustard and olive oil and then coated some lettuce leaves with the dressing right before eating.



Chocolate Tart -

I used this gourmet magazine recipe for the chocolate filling but skipped the glaze. For the crust I used regular graham crackers instead of the chocolate ones, used about half as much sugar and added in about a teaspoon of cinnamon. It turned out really well. I served it with a little raspberry compote.

Amsterdam: Pasta alla Norma + Radish and Arugula Salad

(Recipe for two)

Lucas and I spent the morning at Amsterdam's Noordermarkt in Jordaan. I got there with a craving for pasta but I still wasn't entirely sure what kind of sauce to make. When I saw some eggplant at one of the stalls, the answer became obvious. I looooove eggplant and I looooove pasta alla norma. This dish is almost as simple as making tomato sauce, but it includes one extra step - either frying or roasting some eggplant. I usually roast the eggplant, but since we don't have an oven in our apartment here in Amsterdam, I fried up a small-medium sized eggplant (diced) in a little bit of olive oil instead. When the eggplant had softened after about 10-15 minutes, I remove it from the pan. Next, in the same pan, I added in a little more olive oil and 3-4 chopped up garlic cloves along with some chili (as much as you'd like, it really depends on how spicy the chili is to begin with because they can be veeerrry unpredictable).

Before the garlic turns brown, add in either a can of tomatoes or about 8 medium sized diced fresh tomatoes (you can remove the skins if you want by blanching them for about a minute. After blanching, the skins should peel off easily). I used fresh tomatoes but I did not remove the skins because I was lazy and I was not trying to impress anyone. We were drinking some red wine so I poured in about a glass full and let that boil off. I also had a little bit of thyme in the fridge so I threw in a sprig or two. Make sure to season with salt along the way. I let the sauce simmer for about 30-40 minutes and adjusted the acidity with some sugar when it was needed (depends on the tomatoes). When the sauce had reduced to a much thicker consistency, I added in the cooked eggplant and simmered the sauce for another 5-10 minutes. At this point, I removed the thyme stems and added in some fresh basil. I cooked the pasta until al dente and then mixed it in with the sauce.

For the salad - I haven't bought any vinegar here so I've been making salad dressings with lemon and olive oil. This time, I added in a little honey too. I sliced up a few radishes and tossed the salad together with a few handfuls of arugula at the last minute.

Vegetarian Souvlaki and Oven Fries + Campari and Soda

Growing up in Montreal, I ate a lot of vegetarian souvlakis from a place around the corner from my house. They always served them with thick fries. Since I can't seem to find a Greek place in New York to adequately satisfy my vegetarian souvlaki craving, I decided to try making them myself!

This was incredibly easy, and I barely had any dishes to wash! First, make the salad - tomatoes, cucumber, thinly sliced raw red onion, a little bit of dried oregano (fresh would have been nice too if I had any...), salt, pepper, olive oil and a mixture of sherry vinegar and white balsamic (red wine vinegar would easily work as a substitution).

Next, I made the tzatziki - greek yogurt, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and some finely chopped cucumber.

I sliced the potatoes into thick wedges, coated them in salt, pepper and olive oil and baked them in the oven at 400 degrees until they turned golden brown.

To assemble the souvlaki, warm some pita on the stove, spread on some tzatziki, spoon on the salad and crumble some feta on top. This was extremely messy but very delicious!! Next time, I might add in a little bit of roasted eggplant.

Finally, since summer is quickly approaching, I've started making my favorite cocktail again - campari and soda! I found out about this drink from my dad a few years ago and it's really the most refreshing and delicious thing! I make it about 1 part campari to 3 parts soda. Serve on ice. Some people add some orange, but I think it makes the drink taste like medicine! Gross!

Eggplant Caponata on Toast with Feta

This was definitely one of my favorite things that I've made in a while. Before I made the caponata, I knew that I wanted some sort of salty cheese on it, I was thinking ricotta salata but ended up with a really nice feta instead. I started off by salting the eggplant and letting it drain in a colander, something I don't always do, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure if it's even worth bothering. Next, I diced up an onion and sautéed it in some olive oil with a bit of chili flake for about 4-5 minutes, I then added in about 4 stalks of diced celery and half of a red pepper. After another 4 minutes or so, I removed the vegetables from the pan.

Into the now empty pan, I poured in some more olive oil and began frying off the eggplant. It started to stick to the pan a little bit and I didn't want anything to burn, so I poured in about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and a bit of water and let it all cook together partially covered. When the eggplant was done, I put in about a teaspoon each of anchovy paste and tomato paste. Next, I added in the sautéed vegetables, about a cup of diced tomatoes (canned tomatoes would work fine too), some chopped up capers and green olives, a sprinkling of sugar and some sherry vinegar (it's much more sour than balsamic which is actually super sweet most of the time). The balance of sweet and sour is up to you! It's good to let all the ingredients sit together on a very low simmer for a little while. Before I was ready to serve, I toasted up some bread with a tiny drizzle of olive oil on each slice. When the bread was ready, I pulled it out of the oven and rubbed on a little raw garlic, topped each slice with some caponata and some crumbled feta.

Finally, while I was reaching into the fridge for a bit of parsley, I was sidetracked by the lovely fennel fronds that were poking out of the plastic bag that the fennel was in. I went for them instead of the parsley and they ended up adding a beautifully delicate green fennel flavor that complimented the eggplant and feta perfectly!

Perhaps this was not an entirely traditional rendition of caponata, but it sure did taste good!