Tapas Sunday: A Farm Fresh Feast!

This Sunday, Nate and I visited the Underwood Family Farms. We had quite a lot of goodies to choose from for our tapas extravaganza!

I started off by making this "Magic Sauce," a blend of olive oil, garlic, paprika, thyme, rosemary, oregano, lemon juice, salt, and crushed red pepper.

I decided to make some Roasted Baby Blue, Red, and White Potatoes. I tossed them with about 2 TBSP of the sauce, then roasted them at 400° for about 20 minutes, shaking the pan halfway through. I sprinkled the potatoes with salt, then served them on the table with the rest of the sauce for dipping.

Nate stepped up to the plate and made some Fried Green Tomatoes! He worked off of this recipe but made some modifications along the way. He did a great job! The crust was crunchy and not greasy, and the tomatoes were just tender enough. We dunked the tomatoes in the amazing garlic/basil dip I got from Brothers Mediterranean Food at the Farmer's Market.

Next up, I made Stuffed Red Cherry Peppers Wrapped in Bacon. Oh yeah. I cut the tops off the peppers and scooped out the seeds. They are a little spicy without the seeds, and REALLY spicy with them! I then cooked the bacon on one side in a frying pan (1 slice per pepper). The filling consisted of 2 T cream cheese, 2 T goat cheese, and 1 T "Magic Sauce," mixed together until smooth. I stuffed the peppers with the cheese, then wrapped them in the slices of bacon, with the crispy side of the bacon facing the pepper (since the outside would get crispy in the oven). I baked them at 400° for 10 minutes, until the peppers were mostly tender and the cheese was nice and gooey.

Last but absolutely not least, we had a platter of Sliced Heirloom Tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, drizzled with Magic Sauce and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

We served it all with some wedges of fresh pita bread from the market and a glass each of chilled Pinot Grigio.

Not a bad spread! Though we couldn't finish any of it (except for the peppers). Let's just say I'm pretty excited about my heirloom tomato and pita bread lunch tomorrow!

Underwood Family Farms - A Pick-Your-Own Adventure!

On Sunday, Nate and I walked to the farmer's market. He stopped a moment to chat with one of the people working at the Underwood Family Farms stand (which we patronize every week), and she mentioned that the selection at their you-pick farm was really wonderful right now. Nate asked if I wanted to go next weekend...but then we realized that I would be gone for the next two weekends!

In a fit of spontaneity, we left the farmer's market, walked home, got in the car, and drove the 45 minutes to the Underwood Family Farms. It's a gorgeous drive to Ventura County, the chapparal-covered Santa Monicas making way for the golden grass covered and boulder strewn mountains surrounding the Simi Valley, each range seemingly taller than the last.

We made it to the farm, and the bounty did not disappoint.

Tomatoes and peppers of all sizes and colors were the true stars of our yield, though we also picked some eggplant and raspberries.

Sun-warmed and so, so sweet!

We made fried green tomatoes, and a batch of spicy pickled green tomatoes!

Obviously after such an amazing haul, we had to make some delicious snacks for Tapas Sunday! Stay tuned to see what we ate...In the mean time, if you are in the Los Angeles area, I can't recommend a trip to Underwood Family Farms enough!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Frosting

Nate has a sweet tooth. A horrible, horrible sweet tooth. Personally I try to refrain from eating a lot of sweets (I would choose cheese over chocolate, if I had to pick a vice), but thanks to Nate I am constantly churning out dessert after dessert. 

On the one hand it's fun, because I get to keep my baking skills up to chop. But on the other hand, it's dangerous, because even if you aren't crazy about sweets, it's impossible not to have at least one slice of, say, homemade butterscotch pie...

Anyway, the pie was finished a few days ago, and Nate decided he wanted whoopie pies next. I've never made them before, and I think the only time I've ever had one is when Starbucks inside our grocery store is giving away their pastries at the end of the day. I used this recipe for the cookie/cake part, and this recipe for the filling, with a slight modification (see below). 

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Frosting

First, mix together the dry ingredients: Flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Beat the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth and fluffy.

In a small container, mix together 1/2 cup lukewarm coffee and some buttermilk. Alternating between adding the flour mixture and the coffee/buttermilk mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Once mixed, put into a bag and pipe onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Take out of the oven and let cool completely.

Make the frosting. I made the frosting from this recipe, but whipped 1/2 cup heavy cream and folded it into the frosting at the end, to achieve a nice fluffy texture. Put the frosting into a pastry bag and pipe onto one cookie/cake round, then top with another, pushing down until the frosting reaches the edge.

The cake is dense and moist, the fluffy filling is sweet and salty in a way that helps cut through the richness of the cake. Highly recommended, especially with a cold glass of milk or iced tea!

Chopped: Chiles de Arbol, Kumquat, Nopales, Sage, Ice Cream Cone, and Marshmallow!

Chopped round 2 was so much better than Chopped round 1!

Nate chose 6 secret ingredients this time, although I think 4 is what they usually do on the show. I had to talk him out of including a jar of green been pickles I made months ago, and some plum-vanilla brandy that is still steeping in a jar in the cupboard.

The Chopped ingredients were:

 Stale gluten-free marshmallows and stale ice cream cones from the cupboard:

Kumquats:

Nopales, aka diced cactus paddle:

Dried Chiles de Arbol:

And a bunch of fresh sage.

I knew that the kumquat and chiles would go together well, but I was honestly just pissed off about the marshmallows. They were stale and gross and sickly sweet, and I didn't want their flavor to taint anything! But rules are rules.

I immediately knew that I would throw the ice cream cones into the blender and use them as a crunchy crust for some beef we had in the fridge. I toasted them up a bit (which consisted of me putting them in the toaster over, looking in with dismay to see that they had started melting, then letting them cool until they were extremely crispy) then blended them to a coarse meal, and set aside.

I wanted to make an Asian-flavored dipping sauce for the beef tenders, so I minced some garlic and ginger and threw it into a sauce pan with about 5 Chiles de Arbol and a dash of canola and sesame oil. I then added about 10 thinly sliced kumquats, 2 TBSP of peach-jalapeno jam, about 1/4 cup soy sauce, and a splash of white wine, and brought to a simmer. I cooked until the flavors had melded and the sauce was slightly thickened. It had a great salty, garlicky, sweet and spicy flavor. 

In the mean time, I needed to do something with the nopales! Nopales are sort of acidic in flavor. The thing that makes them really challenging to cook with is that they are mucilaginous, like okra or aloe. I blanched the nopales in boiling water, then rinsed with cold water. 

I decided to make a light, refreshing salad, since the tempura was all fried and heavy. I added a few tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar to a bowl, then added the nopales, a cucumber cut into chunks, some diced yellow bell pepper, some sliced kumquats, 2 sliced scallions, and about 1 T chopped fresh sage. I mixed it all together, then put it into the fridge so the flavors could meld while I worked on the other ingredients.

I had gotten some asparagus, purple "green beans", and yellow bell pepper at the farmers market. I decided to make some tempura to go along with the dipping sauce. 

Ready for the batter...

The tempura batter consisted of 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 cups sparkling water, and 1 TBSP cornstarch. Super simple, the batter makes for an ultra light, crispy crust. 

I sliced up some chicken, then in batches, dipped the veggies/chicken in tempura batter and fried in about 1-2" canola oil, turning once, until crispy and slightly golden. I drained them over some metal cooling racks that I usually use for cookies. 

Then I salted and peppered the sliced beef, dredged it in a beaten egg, and coated it in ground ice cream cone. I fried the beef in oil until crispy on both sides, then drained over a cooling rack.

With all of the secret ingredients used up except the marshmallow. I knew what I had to do...I threw the marshmallows in what was left of the tempura batter, then fried them on either side for about 30 seconds. 

Deep fried marshmallows..."YUM".... :(

The Results

With the exception of the sickly sweet, oily marshmallows (part of your balanced American diet), the rest of the meal was pretty good!

I would definitely make the dipping sauce again, and the tempura batter worked perfectly. The only problem was that a lot of it was cold by the time we ate, since I had to fry everything in very small batches thanks to my teeny tiny stove. Surprisingly though, the batter was still crispy once cold!

Dipping Sauce

Tempura! Chicken, purple green beans, yellow pepper, and asparagus.

I would make the refreshing side salad again too, only without the nopales. Their texture is just too funky for me... I would sub in some green bell pepper. Apparently nopales are used in a lot of soups/stews, where their mucilaginous qualities melt into the broth and help thicken it. In the salad, they were just kind of gooey and unappetizing, although their tangy citrus-like flavor worked well with the rest of the ingredients. The chopped sage actually complemented the other ingredients in the salad perfectly - it has a sort of bitter, piney flavor that helped tone down the acidity of the kumquat and nopales. 

For Nate, the real stand out was the ice cream cone crusted beef. The sweetness of the cone complemented the beef nicely, and it had a nice crispy crunch to it. 

Ice cream cone beef tenders...who knew!

When all is said and done, Chopped is super fun and I can't wait to do it again! There's something so satisfying about taking a random group of ingredients...

And turning them into a tasty meal!

(again, fried marshmallows not withstanding!) 

Crostini with Goat Cheese and Peach-Jalapeno Jam

Last night we had some friends over, which means I got to do one of my favorite things...make snacks! I had four peaches sitting in the fridge, and I knew that a slightly spicy, sweet peach jam would be the perfect complement to some tangy chèvre.

I was right, and everyone loved the crostini. I served it along with some roasted potato bites with a homemade lemon curry mayo. That was amazing too, but I forgot to take a picture! We also had a selection of beverages, including cider, beer, and wine.

From top to bottom: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, Lagunitas IPA, Samuel Smith's Organic Hard Cider.

Other than the homemade mayo, the crostini was definitely the big hit of the night. This recipe was super easy to put together and was just delicious! The only thing to watch out for is the boiling jam, because it splatters like crazy and sticks to your skin like magma. I have the red burn on my wrist to prove it.

Crostini with Goat Cheese and Peach-Jalapeno Jam

4 peaches, peeled and cut into chunks, then pureed in blender until mostly smooth
2 Jalapenos, seeded and diced small
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
Juice of 1 lime
1 scant cup of sugar

1 loaf crusty bread (baguette or ciabatta)

1 4oz log chèvre

Add all of the ingredients (except the bread and cheese!) to a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, stirring to combine. I recommend tasting the jalapenos to see how spicy they are. The ones I got were not spicy at all, so I added some cayenne pepper. The jalapenos did lend a nice peppery flavor to the jam, nonetheless.

Cook the jam over medium heat, and bring it to a boil. Cook it until the foam on top subsides and the jam is thick enough to stick to the back of a spoon. You can let it get as thick as you like, I would have liked to cook my for a little longer but I only had an hour and a half after I got home to clean the apartment and get all the snacks together!

Once the jam is thickened to your liking, chill it in the refrigerator.

Slice the bread about 1" thick. Brush with olive oil and toast or broil until golden and crispy on top. Spread with goat cheese while still warm, then top with peach-jalapeno jam, and garnish with some ribbons of basil.

The best part is that this morning, I made goat cheese and peach jam stuffed french toast for breakfast out of the leftovers!

Chopped: Lamb Shoulder Neck Slices, Horseradish, and Peach-Strawberry Shrub

After watching Chopped on the Food Network for about 4 hours in our hotel on Saturday night, Nate and I decided to have our very own CHOPPED competition at home.

Nate chose the ingredients for me, and he did NOT make things easy.

Lamb neck shoulder slices - a tough, fatty cut of lamb with barely any edible meat on it

Horseradish - raw horseradish root,very bitter and lacking the finesse of prepared horseradish

Peach-Strawberry Shrub - a syrup made from equal parts of sugar, fruit, and vinegar. It's very tart and very sweet.

We decided to not put a time limit on the meal, since it was my first challenge.

I immediately knew that I wanted to used the shrub in a viniagrette, and I decided to do a roasted fingerling potato salad. I tossed some fingerling potatoes in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then put them on a baking sheet and into a 425 degree oven. They were in the oven for about 30 minutes, and I shook the pan half way through so they wouldn't burn.

In the meantime, I had to deal with the other ingredients. The first thing that came to mind for the horseradish was making a horseradish-dijon mustard cream sauce for the lamb. I seasoned the lamb with salt and pepper and seared it in olive oil, then removed it from the pan. I sauteed some garlic cloves and a sliced shallot, then removed those from the pan as well.

While the lamb was browning, I made a viniagrette for the potato salad from the shrub, olive oil, salt, pepper, thinly sliced shallots, and chopped fresh parsley.

Back to the lamb: I added 2 TBSP of butter to the pan and let it melt, then sprinkled over 2 TBSP of flour, letting the flour cook for about 3 minutes. I gradually whisked in about 1 cup of whole milk, then added 2 TBSP dijon mustard, 2 TBSP grated horseradish, about 1/3 cup of a strong IPA (beer), 1 tsp red wine vinegar, salt & pepper, and about 1 TBSP fresh thyme leaves.

I had to make a beurre manié because the sauce wasn't thickening up enough (I think my proportion of liquid to flour was off in the beginning). After I added it, the mixture thickened to the perfect consistency. I added the lamb, garlic, and shallots back into the pan with the sauce and covered it, took the potatoes out of the oven and reduced the temperature to 325, then put the lamb in the oven.

I tossed the potatoes in a bowl with the vinaigrette, then put the bowl in the fridge.

The lamb cooked for about 35 minutes, and then the meal was ready to serve.

THE RESULTS:

The best part of the meal was the potato salad. The shrub vinaigrette was tart, a little sweet, and had a nice fresh flavor from the parsley. The potatoes were firm yet creamy and the whole salad was a nice bright way to cut through the heaviness of the lamb and cream sauce.

The cream sauce was good, but the horseradish flavor was surprisingly tame after it had cooked. The trouble with fresh horseradish is that it is more bitter than the prepared kind, so using enough of the fresh root to get that hot kick, you end up adding a lot of extra bitterness to the dish, which I wanted to avoid. So, the sauce was perfectly edible, but could have used some extra zing.

The lamb neck shoulder slices were surprisingly edible when we could find bits of meat among the gristle, bone, and fat. If we made this dish again I would not choose lamb unless it was an actual chop. The lamb neck shoulder slices are clearly meant to be stewed and cooked low and slow, but this being a CHOPPED challenge we really didn't have the time for that!

All in all, it was a fun experience and we plan on doing it once a week, to help keep my culinary skills sharp!

The best part is that we actually really loved the potato salad, so now I have a new dish I can add to my repertoire.

Tapas Sunday: Heirloom Tomatoes

As the summer progresses, something miraculous happens at the market... HEIRLOOM TOMATOES appear at nearly every stall. Brown, yellow, red, magenta, orange...bulbous, round, oblong...these tomatoes are incredible to look at and, best of all, incredible to eat!

Nate and I were feeling tired after a late night with friends, so when we got home from the farmer's market, I wanted to whip up something easy and delicious. These tomatoes did just the trick...

They are best prepared as simply as possible. Slice, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

The yellow tomato was bright and tangy, while the brownish-greenish-reddish one tasted...like tomato heaven. Seriously, it was probably my favorite tomato I have ever tasted, even though it was pretty ugly on the outside. 

I served them alongside some wedges of warmed fresh pita bread and a garlicky, basil-infused dip I got at a Mediterranean food stall at the market.

With a glass of freshly brewed iced tea to wash it all down, this was an incredibly refreshing, satisfying meal.