Late summer pizza

While I was in Oregon my mom and I went out for a great dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Eugene, Marché. We shared a bunch of appetizers, including one of the fantastic wood-oven pizzas, topped with tomatoes, corn and bacon. The sweet corn, tangy/sweet tomatoes and smoky bacon (and crust) were perfect together, so when I got back I decided to recreate it, using dough that I bought from Whole Foods so that it could be super-fast comfort food.

I had Sungolds that I’d brought back from Oregon, and I cut a nice fat heirloom tomato into very thin slices. I microwaved an ear of corn for a minute or two to cook it partway, then cut the kernels off the cob.

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I hadn’t gotten very clear directions about the dough–the guy had said to let it rise, but it didn’t seem to want to, despite the room being quite warm. It was very bouncy, resilient dough. I did eventually force it (mangled) into a relatively flat oval. I topped it with fontina and the toppings, including chopped pancetta that I had already cooked until it was nice and crispy.

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One nice thing about our old, old stove is that the gas oven goes to 600. I cooked the pizza fast, and then we enjoyed it with salad. The sungolds were especially nice, since they were little pockets of sweet-tart juice, basically. And I loved the corn, which just tastes like summer, doesn’t it? The pancetta is crucial–you need the savory flavor to balance the sweet tomatoes and corn. Next time maybe I’d use some sharper cheese?

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yum

Quiet

Oh dear, I know I’m being slow with posts lately. I started a new job last week, and it is forcing Night Owl me to get up at 6:30 in the morning. As a result I keep passing out super-early, instead of updating.

I do have lots to write about, though! I’m way behind and will try to start catching up soon.

Oregon trip: Dad’s birthday dinner

This is a short one–a simple delicious meal, and only a couple pics. But first, flip on over (in a new window!) to Germi’s great Domino garden blog, where she featured Mom’s garden the other day! In honor of Mom’s star turn, here is a photo of Mom (artfully turned away from the camera) in her kitchen:

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The kitchen isn’t huge but it’s an efficient layout. They re-did the counters, added a new little window (not shown here) and replaced the appliances earlier this year, and Mom is very fond of her new CaesarStone counters. She says you could spill wine on them and leave it overnight—though she would never, because she’s incredibly tidy—and it wouldn’t leave a mark! We are starting to think about our kitchen renovation, and I’m going to check out CaesarStone myself sometime soon. I liked the feel of it at home.

Ahem. Anyway, Dad doesn’t get as much play on the blog as Mom does, even though he’s an avid blog-reader and big food lover! Maybe this winter he can write a guest post about his famous cassoulet, which he makes about once a year over the course of several days. His birthday was the day I was leaving, and my flight was in the evening so we had a very early dinner to celebrate before we headed to the airport.

For dinner we had more beans from the garden, again prepared with Mom’s homemade lemon confit:

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Plus lovely New York steaks with grilled onions and roasted potatoes. Happy Birthday, Dad!

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Yum! It was a lovely night out on the deck, and it was brutal to eat a little too quickly and leave, especially since I was in for a red-eye flight in a middle seat. Would you want to stop sitting here with your delightful parents and a glass of wine?

To be fair, the short flight to SF was comfortable and featured a truly stunning sunset. And then I was able to spend 45 minutes in the airport with my Maid of Honor and her fiancé, who were on their way TO Eugene. That was where the fun ended, though, because the red-eye was 100% full, and I was indeed squished between two big guys the entire way.

Here’s that amazing sunset, though–I think what looks like the ocean is actual a sea of clouds. We were just outside Eugene at that point.

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Oregon trip: Mirza

Mirza. Mirza is a wonderful, wonderful thing, very much one of my Top Five foods. It is awful-looking, a brownish mush of eggplant, tomato and egg, but the smoky, garlicky flavor is divine. My Mom’s friend Linda (another wonderful cook) is married to a Persian man and learned to cook all sorts of wonderful food from her Mother-in-Law. We have been eating mirza since I was a kid, and I crave it at random intervals. Sadly Mom refuses to make unless it is eggplant and tomato season. Ah, seasonality.

We made it as part of our Tapas dinner, though, and I think it was one of the best batches we ever made! I forgot to take pictures until most of the way through, so bear with me.

First, take your eggplant, a nice big one or two small ones, and grill it whole over lowish heat until it the sides collapse if you poke them (carefully) with your finger. Do not puncture the skin! Once the eggplant is all charred and soft, put it in a covered bowl or something to sit and think about what it’s done while you prep everything else. Seed and chop three or four nice ripe roma tomatoes, and mince a LOT of garlic, 6-8 cloves at least. Then gingerly peel the eggplant, making sure you catch all the nice juices in the bowl, and chop up the flesh. Leave all the seeds and stuff. Sauté the garlic in a good amount of olive oil until it is soft, then add in the eggplant and cook until you break it down a bit and it isn’t in chunks. Add in the tomato and cook until soft. In a glass, scramble up one egg. Next, make a hole in the middle:

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And pour the egg into it. Scramble it a bit:

mirza

mirza

And then stir it through the eggplant mixture and get it all nicely cooked so there aren’t bits of raw white:

mirza

Not too pretty, eh? But oooooh man. Usually we eat it piping hot with hot pita triangles, but this time we had it with grilled bread (brushed with oil and rubbed with garlic before grilling) and that was even better. Everything was smoky and garlicky and fantastic.

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I made it again the other night, to make sure I remembered the steps (I actually had to call mom to check how many tomatoes) and it wasn’t quite as good. We have a gas grill, while Mom and Dad use real-wood charcoal. Can’t beat the flavor, but mine was still pretty good and it got better the next day.

Oh sad.

This makes me very sad. But what a lovely lady. One of my prized possessions is a copy of A Ring of Endless Light that my Dad got me at an ALA conference ages ago. Madeleine L’Engle was signing books, and she inscribed mine “To Kate, be a Light-Bearer…” While I liked the Wrinkle in Time books, I adored the Austins, and read my copy of Ring of Endless Light until it fell apart. I have to get my brother to fix it for me.

Rest in Peace, Madeleine.

Oregon trip: “Tapas” dinner on the patio

Mom and I discussed a bunch of favorite foods to try to figure out what to cook for my second-to-last night home, and we realized that we could just make a bunch of appetizer type things and skip the main course altogether. Delightful!

First, a glamour shot of the Sungold cherry tomatoes I keep talking about, and which we ate by the bucket full all week:
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Now. The menu for the evening:
-White beans with sausage, red onion and tomato
-Mirza (Persian eggplant dip and one of my all-time favorite foods)
-Grilled baby artichokes
-Prosciutto-wrapped grilled figs
-Grilled bread

OK, now I’m starving thinking about it.

I’ll follow up with a mirza post since it needs its own entry. It is simple but divine. And my mom made the white beans while I wasn’t paying attention, so I’d just be guessing if I made up instructions for that (though it was very tasty). But the grilled artichokes I carefully paid attention to, and the grilled figs are so beyond simple and SO delicious….

Artichokes. My mom buys bags of baby artichokes from Trader Joe’s because her friendly Farmer’s Market artichoke man has stopped showing up. I think we started with four pounds. That sounds insane, but we wanted leftovers and as you’ll see you throw away (compost, in our case) a LOT of trimmings.

Sadly I forgot to take photos until I was trimming the last few, so I don’t have a whole one to show here. But pretend you have seen the whole baby artichoke.

Trim it down to the tender leaves, cut the top third off, leaving the bases of the leaves, then use a paring knife to clean the bottom and stem, then cut each one in half (place in a bowl of cold water with the juice of a lemon while you keep trimming the rest:
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This takes quite a while. Once you’ve done all trillion of them, admire the giant tub of leaves and trimming that your compost heap is about to enjoy, and marvel at the tiny bowl of water and artichokes that you are left with:
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Despite the lemon juice in the water, the artichokes may have discolored a little along the cut edges (you’re helping slow that down by putting them in water)–do not panic. Put them in a big pan with a couple whole cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed, cover them with water (or close to cover), and bring to a simmer. Cook until they are tender but not too soft:
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It’s like magic! The discoloration is gone! Eat one out of the strainer to celebrate. Now coat them in olive oil:
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Grill in a grill pan to prevent losing them into the fire. They’re already cooked, so you’re just adding that nice charred look and flavor. Salt and pepper. I like to hit them with a squeeze of lemon juice when they’re done. Now you can start sneaking them out of the bowl while you continue getting dinner on. (Leftovers should be added to pizza, or pasta, or sandwiches, or eaten cold out of the fridge.)

Delicious!
yum

Ok, the other fun grilled thing that night–I posted one photo already, but this is an appetizer my mom has been making for years, and it could not be easier.

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[If you’re using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for a couple hours before assembly!]
A note on figs: They have to be ripe ripe ripe for this to be as amazing as it can be. We had lovely ripe figs, and actually some were just ripe while others were *really* ripe:
fig

I have to say, though, I could barely tell them apart when they were cooked. That slightly sketchy-looking one might have been a tad more tender; it was certainly way juicier raw!
Cut slices of prosciutto in half the long way, so you have two strips from each slice. Wind one strip around each halved fig, and string a couple on each skewer. Brush with olive oil and grill.
mmm

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Devour while moaning incoherently.

Oregon trip: Tomato Salad food porn

[Oops, one more entry before those artichokes…]

We took a trip up to Portland while I was home for a family birthday celebration—my Dad, cousin and grandmother are also August birthdays, along with me and my brother (who wasn’t there). Once again I was a surprise attendee, which was fun. My mom made amazingly gorgeous tomato salads in two flavors.

1. Greek: Heirloom and cherry tomatoes, feta, kalamata olives, red pepper, red onion, basil, cucumber, dressing.
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2. Plain, for the keep-it-simple crowd: Heirloom and cherry tomatoes, feta, basil, dressing.
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I just thought they were so beautiful–like platters of jewels. I hate the heat, but I do dearly love summer for the vegetables… And Oregon is a lovely place to spend it. Here are the views from the car…

…on the way to Portland:
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…and on the way home:
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Oregon trip: Sausage and peppers

My dad was returning from a 10-day camping/fishing trip with a conference in the middle, and we didn’t know what time he’d get home. Mom and I made a fun grilled meal that would hold up or reheat well once he did arrive. (He didn’t know I was coming home! It was really fun to open the door for him.)

At the farmer’s market, Mom had picked up multicolored Italian peppers, like bell peppers but long and pointy and sweeter.

We cut them into strips, cut up a bunch of onions, and embarked on a grilling adventure. Neither of us usually does the grilling, and in fact my dad is a total master of the chimney starter, coal management, etc. We had a little bit of trouble getting the coals going but eventually figured it out.

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Mom also roasted a pan of chioggia beets so I could see how easy it is to do. It really is simple. She made a marinade of (I think) orange juice, thyme, oil, salt and pepper (Mom, what else was in there?), roasted the beets until tender (at what temp!?), let them cool enough that she could put on latex gloves and peel them, then sliced them and dressed them with vinaigrette. (Clearly I didn’t pay as close of attention to the technique as I should have…) We ate them for the rest of the week, with everything. And chioggias are SO pretty with their pale pink circles…

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It was very summery, especially after we added a handful of the Sungolds from the garden, dressed in a light vinaigrette with some basil.

dinner

Mmmm.

By the way, in case you weren’t already jealous of how my parents eat ALL THE TIME, check out what greeted me when I came downstairs to eat some lunch. My mom had said she’d toast some bread for me.
panini
Panini! With perfect hatch marks and fresh tomatoes! (Um, there were a lot of ripe tomatoes. We ate them at almost every meal. And they’re like candy, so you never get sick of them.) Double-Mmm.

Next up: A pseudo-Tapas meal, with grilled artichokes (for Germi!)

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High Summer in the Great Northwest

So I spent almost a week visiting my parents in Oregon… First of all, people who haven’t been there tend to think of the entire Pacific Northwest as a rainy, foggy bog. I’m from Eugene, which is smack in the middle of the Willamette Valley (pinot noir country), and we are actually protected from Seattle-style weather by the coast range. The winter is wet, sure, but I think it’s the same number of grey days as we get out here on the East Coast, but without the sleet and ice. And in the summer…Oh, the summer. Normal summers are almost completely dry, June through October hot and sunny with no humidity. Usually it’s in the 80s during the day (at the height of summer, though there are heat waves) and then drops to the 50s at night. Without humidity there aren’t bugs unless you’re near a river or swamp. At my parents’ house, that means we can eat on the patio and not swat a single mosquito away.

Here is a view of the Valley as I flew into Eugene:

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I took a series of photos of the Cascade foothills (the Coburg Hills) dropping abruptly into the valley, posted at Flickr.

I had gotten up at 4:15 for a 6:50 flight, then ended up bumped to an 8 something flight, then my flight from Denver was delayed because the computer on the plane couldn’t tell that the door was closed. So I got in about 4 hours late, and was quite low-energy. My mom had rented Mostly Martha, the wonderful german film that was remade as No Reservations, and we made nice big salads with tuna for dinner to eat while watching it.

Trimmings:
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Kalamata olives, Sungold cherry tomatoes from the garden, red onion, red pepper, basil from the garden, feta.

All mixed together, with the tuna (the wonderful spanish kind from an oval red and yellow tin, packed in olive oil):
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Bad photo of my salad (left) and my mom’s (right)–she doesn’t snack between meals!
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BTW, I haven’t seen No Reservations, but Mostly Martha was really, really good. Very quiet and low-key, but all excellent actors and a really beautiful food movie.

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