Cheese Torta with Basil, Olives, and Sundried Tomatoes and a Giveaway
July 16, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Appetizers
We are very fortunate to live near DeBaggio’s, a truly wonderful herb farm and nursery that’s been growing beautiful healthy plants since 1975. One of the ladies in the neighborhood told me about them the first year we lived here, specifically mentioning their wonderful tomatoes, so I made a point to check it out and was amazed at the incredible variety of plants they grow onsite. With only a handful of dedicated workers, they manage to grow nearly 1,000 varieties of vegetables, herbs, perennials, and annuals. The quality of their plants is always top notch because they are knowledgeable and care for the plants so well. In the last few years I’ve been fortunate to have a few casual discussions with Francesco DeBaggio, son of the founder Thomas DeBaggio, about growing rhubarb, rosemary, basil, and bay laurel trees, and our garden always benefits from those discussions. Read more
Asparagus Quiche with Mushrooms and Shallots
April 12, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Breakfast, Vegetables
If I had to choose a favorite spring vegetable, it would be a tie between asparagus and snow peas. Pencil-thin asparagus stalks look so pretty on a plate and like snow peas it tastes delicious either fresh or cooked. Though we don’t yet grow our own asparagus, the thought has crossed our minds on several occasions. We keep looking around the yard trying to decide where we want to put everything we want to grow, and we just haven’t chosen a place yet for asparagus. Things are getting tight in some spots so we have to think carefully about how plants will work together before building more beds and putting in anything else. Read more
Eggplant Gratin (Gratin D’Aubergines, Provencal)
August 4, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Vegetables
The upcoming release of the movie Julie & Julia (August 7, 2009) has ignited discussions about cooking and blogging and caused me to reflect on my own cooking journey. Cooking always seemed like a big mystery to me when I was growing up. My grandmothers were both talented Southern cooks and seemed to hardly measure anything. Though I truly adored their food, to my mother’s dismay I was never interested in things involving the kitchen, especially the cleaning part, so I really didn’t put forth any effort to learn. I didn’t grow up watching Julia Child and my culinary point of view was fairly limited to Southern and Midwest American foods, so it wasn’t until I tasted good Chinese food at a restaurant in the Chicago suburbs during my high school years that I realized I was missing a whole culinary world. An overseas move in 1989 and exposure to Asian and island cuisine ignited my passion for authentic regional foods. Read more
Zucchini and Tomato Gratin
July 31, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Grow Your Own, Vegetables
We’ve reached that magical point in the summer where the tomatoes are starting to ripen. For a couple days we brought in only a handful of sweet cherry, grape, sun gold, or yellow pear tomatoes, but in the last few days we’ve brought in almost nine pounds of tomatoes and have more on the way. As long as something devastating doesn’t happen (knock on wood) we’re set to have a good crop of tomatoes. Right now we are harvesting Early Girl, Brandywine, Mr. Stripey, Cherokee Purple, and Roma, and we have some other varieties that aren’t ready yet but should be soon. Read more
Herbed Goat Cheese
July 7, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Appetizers, Grow Your Own
Delicious food does not have to be difficult to prepare or require hours slaving away in the kitchen. Some of my favorite foods are simple with just a few good ingredients that shine together. The classic goat cheese rolled in herbs is one of those simple appetizers that is hard to resist with slice baguette and seasonal roasted tomatoes. You can make the full recipe to serve four or more or halve the recipe to make a delicious appetizer for two.
I just walk out to the herb garden and snip off whatever is in season to make this, and this time I had fresh parsley, chives, and lemon thyme to chop and coat the soft tangy cheese. Fresh cilantro, basil, lemon basil, and marjoram are also good choices. Rolling the cheese in some good olive oil helps the herbs to stick. Read more
The Daring Cooks Make the Zuni Cafe Ricotta Gnocchi
The Daring Cooks have begun! An offshoot of The Daring Bakers, group members strive to hone our skills by tackling one cooking challenge each month. For this inaugural challenge, our founders Lis and Ivonne chose the Zuni Cafe ricotta gnocchi from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, by Judy Rodgers. I was thrilled to try the challenge because we dearly love gnocchi and though I’ve never been to the Zuni Cafe, I’ve heard wonderful things about it and have had the cookbook on my shelf for some time.
The ricotta cheese makes this gnocchi lighter than the traditional Italian potato gnocchi and the flavor reminded us of a very light omelet. Because we have plenty of chives and sage in our garden, I added both to the gnocchi and use more chives for garnish, a combination we thought worked well. We usually toss gnocchi with our homegrown basil pesto or sun-dried tomato pesto, but this time I decided to keep it very simple and made a browned sage butter. Read more
