Simple Summer Tomato Salad

Can't wait to make this with tomatoes from my garden, which are growing riper every moment. It was so exciting when the first one went from green to yellow, and then yellow to orange. And how exciting it will be when one by one, they go from yellow to orange to ruby red and perfectly ripe, ready to be plucked and sliced and diced and sauced and thoroughly enjoyed.

For now however, we had to settle for what we had on hand, which was a couple of organic red cluster tomatoes. Not homegrown, but not half bad.

It's such a simple salad that it barely requires a recipe, and before you know it, you're halfway to dinner. Just slice the tomatoes and place them on a plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and upon each tomato slice, smear a dab of creamy goat cheese, if you've got it. Drizzle a little olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar, and then, top each slice with a sprinkling of fresh basil slices, preferably from your garden!

Our basil is growing wildly so the basil part turned out to be no problem at all. In fact, I'm already feeling the pesto coming on, in anticipation of just how wildly it's going to continue to grow as the summer passes. I'm really digging this gardening thing, and still tickled pink that it's working, considering that for many years I couldn't even keep a houseplant alive. Stay tuned for more updates!

Not Just Any Cast Iron Skillet

Oh, so much to report. I don't know where to begin and I doubt I can cover it all, so I'll shoot for the most important points.

First, I just got back from five days in Ohio w/ my family, where we celebrated my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. That's right - fifty years! It was a joyous occasion for so many reasons, not the least of which is that my Dad is feeling good again, and that alone is reason to celebrate. On Sunday morning, he was up at five a.m. making homemade sauce, followed by an entire afternoon of making homemade pasta - ok, truth be told, he supervised the pasta making part with my brother-in-law Terry doing much of the work, and bless 'em both, for they sure did create a feast.



My Dad reminded me that I really ought to mind my Italian heritage and get with the pasta making program, or at least with the Italian food making program in general, and he's so right! I'm hoping this newly acquired cast iron skillet will inspire me. I grabbed it from my parents' basement, and Dad informed me that it's been in the family for at least one hundred years. I imagine that he, and his mother, and who knows how many others in the family, have cooked many a meatball in this skillet, and who knows what else? Polenta, quick sauce, fried peppers, sauteed greens, and probably, all manner of meat. I hope that somehow, a little bit of the family's culinary magic will live on in this pan, and that maybe a little bit of that Italian food magic in particular will rub off.

Dad and I talked about how so many of the family recipes are cooked with "a little of this, a little of that, and a little instinct", and how sometimes when I operate that way, it's a hit - and sometimes, it's a miss. I can work wonders with solid recipes, but am not always entirely confident improvising in the kitchen, and maybe that's why I haven't had major success in my Italian food cooking adventures. But like I said, this skillet is inspiring me to keep at it, and keep at it I will!

The other thing to report is that - gasp - I HAVE A GARDEN!!! AND FOOD IS GROWING IN IT! I know that for some people, this is no big deal, but I have never in my life successfully grown anything to eat, and I'm tickled pink!! I had salad for lunch AND dinner today, all with greens that we grew in half wine barrels. And I have to say it's the coolest thing ever to just walk out into the yard, pick some food, and eat it moments later.

Not everything is growing perfectly - the chard seems to be dying and the cucumber plant is getting eaten by critters - but the salad greens and herbs are thriving, and the tomato plants are doing quite nicely. And this makes me very, very happy.

Life is a Colander of Cherries

I am very happy to report that my dear Dad is on the mend. We still have a long and probably hard road ahead of us, but for now, he's healing and having good days, and this makes me so happy. And I get to visit him and my Mom again in a couple of weeks, and am looking forward to filling their freezer with more treats.

I've been spending a lot of time in the yard lately, and that makes me happy too. We planted another garden and this year I'm determined to keep it alive and make it thrive! We've got hot peppers, cucumbers, chard, lettuce, eggplant, zucchini, delicata squash, arugula and several kinds of tomatoes. I was so thrilled to discover the first little row of arugula sprouts, tiny as little bugs, sprouting out of the soil the other day.

The other thing that has been making me happy is summer fruit, like these gorgeous cherries, so pretty I just had to share, if only virtually.



I took these pics when I was working for Chef Phil Gelb, who was making a cherry vinaigrette to go over a salad that included roasted peaches, among other delicious things. It's always a treat to enjoy Phil's kitchen creations; I learn so much every time I work with him.

That's all I have to report for now. Until next time, here's hoping you and yours are enjoying your moments as they come.

Tomatillo Soup w/ Pinto Beans & Corn

Yep, sometimes the only thing you can do is to keep making soup.  I wish more than anything that I could still be with my family, making soup for my dad every day, but I won't have the chance to do that again for another month.  So in the meantime, I'm doing my best to take each moment as it comes, and that is no small task. 

Luckily, yesterday I was fortunate to find myself with both some extra moments and some culinary motivation at the same time, so I grabbed my apron, knives & cutting board, and started roasting, peeling, chopping, dicing and slicing.  Warning: this is the kind of recipe that takes a little time, but it is well worth every ounce of effort and time spent.

The original recipe was for Chicken-Tomatillo Soup - a friend from work turned me onto it -  and was kind enough to pass along the recipe, which she got from the "Cafe Pasqual's Cookbook:  Spirited Recipes from Santa Fe".  I'd been wanting to adapt this recipe for vegetarians for  quite some time.  I wasn't quite sure how the recipe would fare using a mixture of water, vegetable stock and pinto beans in place of the chicken and chicken stock, but the results were pleasing - rich, bright, spicy, sweet and smokey.  And exactly what I needed.

Making this soup in the morning with my kitchen full of sunlight was the perfect way to feed my soul,  and I'm looking forward to having this soup feed my body all week long.  I hope you'll enjoy it too.

Tomatillo Soup w/ Pinto Beans & Corn

2 T. olive oil

1 leek, finally chopped - you should have about 1 1/2 cups

3 ribs celery, finely diced - about 1 cup

6 cloves garlic, finely diced

3 dried red chiles -  ancho or guajillo - soaked in warm water, rinsed, stemmed, seeded & diced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 T. smoked paprika

6 cups water or vegetable stock

10 tomatillos, husked removed, rinsed, and diced into bite sized pieces

2 T. tomato paste

2 cups fresh corn kernels

1 t. sugar

1. t. salt, or more to taste

3 - 4 cups whole pinto beans, preferably cooked from scratch

About 1/2 pound fresh mild green chiles, roasted, stemmed, peeled and diced - should measure around 1/2 cup - you can use pasilla, serrano, or jalapeno, or a combo.

Garnishes:  squeeze of lime, chopped cilantro or italian parsley, crumbled cotija or feta cheese

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil until quite hot.  Add the leek, celery, garlic and dried chiles, and saute' for 5 minutes or so.  Stir in the cumin and paprika.  Add the water or stock, tomatillos, tomato paste, corn, sugar, salt and green chiles, followed by the pinto beans and the roasted green chiles.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a mild simmer, and let it simmer and cook down for a good 45 minutes or so, until the tomatillos have cooked down a bit.  By this point you should have a nice, rich broth that's good enough to slurp on its own, but with lots of chunky bites of peppers, tomatillos, beans and corn.  I'm telling you, this is good stuff!  Ladle it into a bowl, squeeze a bit of lime over it, add a handful of your herbs and a little sprinkling of cheese, and you'll be in heaven, and so will your friends.   This will feed a crowd!   It's good for about 8 servings, so go ahead & throw yourself a dinner party.  Your friends will thank you!

You Are What You Eat

Here's a link to a really cool project that I stumbled upon, called You Are What You Eat.  It's a photo journal essay by Mark Menjivar that is a glimpse into people's lives via the inside of their refrigerators.  A picture really is worth a thousand words. 

When the going gets tough...

... it's time to make soup. I was going to write that when the going gets tough, "the tough make soup", but frankly, I'm not feeling tough at all right now. In fact I feel so fragile that I could just blow away at the first sign of a strong wind. But I'm carrying on, and I'm making soup, cause it seems like making soup is the only productive thing I can do right now.

I've made a lot of soup over the last couple of days - cream of broccoli for my mom, brother & I yesterday, pasta e fagioli for the whole family tonight, and tomorrow, it'll be chicken soup and potato leek soup for my dad, cause that's what he requested. I'll be filling the freezer with soup before I leave here over the weekend.

"Here" happens to be Canton, Ohio. It's where I was born, and where my parents grew up, and also, it's where they recently moved back to again after being away for more than thirty years.

No sooner did they get here, my Dad discovered that he is very sick, and it's turned everything upside down for our whole family. Thankfully, my brother and I were able to come out here, and Dad was able to come home from the hospital last night. I made him scrambled eggs this morning and he said it was the best thing he's eaten since this whole ordeal began. And I just felt so lucky to be able to be here to scramble those eggs, and to go to the grocery store and load up the cart w/ food for the family. Because in a way, that feels like the only way I can make a difference.

We have a difficult road ahead of us. It's amazing how an ordeal like this can completely shake your world to the core, but I do believe that we will all come out of it stronger. There are a lot of unknowns right now and maybe this is just a good reminder that everything is tenuous and temporary. In the words of my good friend Joe Rut, "I like now, now is enough ... now is the only time we have to love...". So, I'm doing what I can. I'm loving my family. I'm here, and I'm making soup. For right now, that is enough.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup w/ Chipotle

As I write this, it's pouring down rain outside, and a perfect day for soup.  But actually, I made this soup a week ago and am just getting around to writing about it now.  Or I will, momentarily.

Today, I spent the afternoon preparing road trip food for Loretta Lynch's journey to Los Angeles tomorrow, which begins at 6 a.m.   We'll play three sets of music over the course of twenty four hours, and then high-tail it home.  Since our first set tomorrow begins the moment we spill ourselves and our gear out of the van, we wanted to be prepared with both breakfast *and* lunch without stopping, and without having to eat deep fried Highway 5 nastiness. Cause this is a band that likes to eat well!  So I happily spent the afternoon roasting peppers for sandwiches, and making a frittata w/ roasted mushrooms, shallots, thinly sliced potatoes & fresh dill, plus chipotle-roasted garlic hummus.  Hmmm... hope I can hold off on eating the stuff until tomorrow.  Better save some for the rest of the band!

The main reason for our trip is to play the grand opening of a new children's clothing resale store, Grow Kid Grow , owned by our incredibly talented pal Missy Gibson.  We'll also be performing a brunch set at the Redwood Bar & Grill on Sunday, sharing the stage w/ another fine & talented human, David Serby.  If you're in the L.A. area, or know people who are, send 'em along! 

For now, I'll leave you with this soup.  The perfect soup for a rainy day like today.  If only we had some right now....

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup w/ Chipotle

1 medium onion, diced

2 t. cumin

2 t. ground coriander

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups cooked black beans

3 cups water or stock of your choice

1 - 2 chipotles in adobo sauce

1/2 t. ancho chile powder

1/4 t. mustard powder

1/2 t. smoked paprika

salt to taste

Juice of 1/2 a lime, or to taste

Garnishes:  diced avocado & sour cream or yogurt

Saute' the onion in a splash or two of olive oil, until lightly brown.  Add the diced sweet potatoes, garlic, and cumin, coriander, ancho chile powder, mustard powder and smoked paprika.  Saute over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the three cups of water or stock, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Let is gently simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.  Now add the black beans, chipotle chile, and salt.  Cook for another few minutes, until everything is well heated.   Turn off the heat and either blend it smooth with an immersion blender, or blend it in a blender or food processor.  Squeeze in the lime juice, taste it and adjust the seasonings.  You may desire more salt or spice, or it might be perfect just like that!  Serve it w/ a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and a sprinkling of diced avocado.   I bet it would be great w/ cornbread, so I might have to try my hand at that next time.