It might only be because I’m a born and bred California girl that I get so excited about something like fried green tomatoes. It’s just not something you see on restaurant menus very often, and sure as heck not in grocery stores. That being the case, when the opportunity presented itself I had no choice but to take matters into my own hands! I was in the giant walk in at Specialty Produce the other day, and there they were – a great big box of beautiful green tomatoes. I snagged a few, and started researching recipes.

There’s not a lot of variation when it comes to something that classic, just small changes in things like quantity of eggs, flour, inclusion of breadcrumbs or not, etc. In the end I settled on a really simple version, that included a recipe for a classic remoulade to go along with it.

The only real question left was this: To deep fry, or not to deep fry? I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to break out my trusty cast iron skillet, and went the old school shallow fry method.

For the tomatoes

4 large or 8 medium green tomatoes
1 cup Cornmeal\Polenta or dried breadcrumbs
½ cup plain\all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
Salt & Pepper
Oil for frying

Classic Remoulade Sauce

½ cup good mayonnaise
2 teaspoons of mixed fresh herbs (parsley, tarragon and chervil)
1 teaspoons of capers
1 small anchovy fillet, finely chopped or a couple of drops anchovy essence
1 small pickle or 1-2 cornichons, sliced thinly
Salt & pepper

Instructions

For the tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 130°C\250°F\Gas Mark ½ to keep the tomatoes batches warm when frying.

Place the flour and cornmeal on dinner plates; season the flour with salt and pepper. For the egg bath place the beaten egg into a shallow bowl between the plates.

Trim a thin slice from the top and bottom of the tomatoes to remove the skin. Cut the remaining tomatoes in slices, see Tips above.

Heat the oil to 190°C\375°F. If you are not using a thermometer, have a slice of day old bread, broken up into large crumbs handy. Test the temperature of the oil with the crumbs. The oil is ready when the breadcrums starts to sizzle immediately.

One at a time, dip both sides of a tomato slice in seasoned flour, dip in the egg bath, cover both sides with the cornmeal and carefully place in the hot oil. Repeat with the next slice until you have three or four slices frying together. Fry until the tomato floats and the batter is a light golden brown (3-4 minutes).

If you are shallow frying, you may need to turn the slices to ensure that they are browned on both sides.

Drain the fried tomato slices on paper towels and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat until all of the tomatoes are done.

Remoulade

For the sauce simply beat all but the seasoning ingredients together. Let them stand while you prepare the tomatoes, then season to taste.

Who wouldn’t love a coffee cake with odds like that? The day I bought the ingredients for this little baking excursion, my facebook status said the following:

I was definitely judged for my milk, butter, cream, 2 kinds of brown sugar and sour cream purchases by the guy in front of me buying nothing but 5 pounds of organic arugula. Whatever dude, I’m bringing a blackberry coffee cake to work tomorrow – how many friends you makin with that salad?

I was standing in line minding my own business, when I noticed the guy in front of me eyeing my purchases as they cruised down the conveyor belt. I could see the frown creep slowly over his face, until he followed the trail of groceries back to their origin – me. When our eyes met, he barely bothered to conceal his look of derision and may as well have uttered out loud “Fat chick. Figures.” I crossed my arms, looked him up and down, and shot him a raised eyebrow that clearly stated “Nice spandex, buddy.” Men, let me to fill you in on a little secret: I don’t care what you think Lance Armstrong told you, those shorts look good on NO ONE. Not ever. Ever. EVER. Stop that right now.

Prior to the whole arugla eating spandex wearing judgey ass hat incident, I had another sort of incident entirely with the produce guy. You see, this coffee cake is actually supposed to contain rhubarb, not blackberries. I went back to the exact same store where I bought the fruit for my little jam making experiment a while back, but those pearly pink/red/green stalks were no where to be found. I asked the guy misting the lettuce if I’d already missed the season, and they were no longer carrying it. This is what happened next.

Me: Is the rhubarb already gone for the year?
Produce Guy: Oh, no, sometimes we have it. Maybe we don’t now. Or maybe we do!
Me: It’s not in the place I found it before, do you think they just moved it?
Produce Guy: Oh, yeah sometimes they do. Maybe they did today!
Me: Um…so, you maybe have it, just somewhere else?
Produce Guy: Yeah maybe!
Me: Uh…I’d like to buy some, is there a way to find out for sure?
Produce Guy: Maybe we don’t have it today.
Me: Definitely you don’t have it today?
Produce Guy: Maybe.

At that point I just smiled, nodded, and bought the stinkin blackberries. Immediately after, I had my little run in at the check out line. It’s a wonder this thing ever got made at all!

No big surprise here, this is another recipe from Smitten Kitchen. The post is all about this amazing coffee cake she used to eat with an insane crumb to cake ratio, all studded with soft, sweet/tart rhubarb. I figured a blackberry would make a suitable substitute, and I was correct. The streusel crumb topping on this thing really is something to behold. You make it first, and are left with this huge solid disk of butter, flour, and sugar that eventually gets broken up and sprinkled over the cake. As you’re doing this, you’re thinking to yourself  ”This is way, way too much. This is never going to work. There’s no actual cake in this thing!” 

You’ll be wrong, but just barely. There is cake, just not nearly as much as there is crumb, and the berries studded all throughout it nearly take over the interior. It is in a word, perfect. Make this the next time you’re called upon to contribute to a breakfast or brunch event, and you’ll be a hero – no organic arugula or ridiculous spandex shorts in sight.

‘Big Crumb’ Coffeecake with Rhubarb

Adapted from The New York Times 6/6/07 via Smitten Kitchen

Not rhubarb season? Don’t fret. I think this cake would be amazing with a blueberry, raspberry, sour cherry or any other tangy fruit filling you can think of. Simply adjust the sugar level accordingly–most of these will need far less than rhubarb does to make them palatable.

Butter for greasing pan

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted
1 3/4 cups cake flour (I was out and used all-purpose and it worked great)

For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour (ditto on the all-purpose flour–worked just fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

NBC was nice enough to have me back on for another segment this month, and I decided to do sweet and savory takes on fresh fruit. I’m a huge fan of fruit in savory cooking applications, as evidenced by the pomegranate feta burgers that took me on that crazy adventure earlier this year!

Here’s a link to the segment!

This time around I tackled blackberries and grapefruit – two of my personal favorites.

On the savory side, I put together grilled sirloin steak with a blackberry cabernet reduction, cararmelized cauliflower, and sauteed baby artichokes and fava beans, as well as last year’s recipe contest salad of spring greens, pink grapefruit, avocado, walnuts (I think I said almonds on the news – oops!),  and sweet onion.

On the sweeter side, things got a little crazy. The original plan was to use the exact same flavors as the savory version of the blackberry, with a blackberry cabernet sorbet. Unfortunately my ice cream maker decided not to cooperate, and it was more like blackberry cabernet soup. Very very COLD soup. Thankfully I had a plan B up my sleeve, and was able to put together a late night rustic blackberry tart. It came out of the oven a little after midnight, and I had to be up to get ready this morning around 4am. Good times.

1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup Cabernet
1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup beef broth
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Put blackberries, cabernet, 1/2 cup beef broth, a pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper in a small saucepan over high heat. Reduce, stirring occasionally.

2. Cook to beef  to desired temperature and place aside to rest. Turn the heat to low and pour 1/4 cup cabernet into pan, scraping up brown bits in the bottom of the pan (flavor concentrate–don’t skip this step!!!) Pour that into the reducing blackberry sauce.
 
3. Cook over medium low heat for about half an hour, until liquid has reduced and become syrupy. Serve poured over beef with side dishes of choice!

Sauteed Baby Artichokes and Fava Beans
adapted from Seasonal Chef

Ingredients

Juice of 1 lemon, or 1 tablespoon vinegar
16 very small artichokes (about 2 ounces each), or 6 medium
artichokes
2 to 2 1/2 pounds young fava beans (about 2 cups shelled)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Fill a large bowl with water and add the lemon juice or vinegar.

2. Trim the stem end and cut off the top 1 to 1 1/2 inches of each artichoke, depending upon size. Peel away and discard the outer dark-green leaves until you reach the pale-yellow, tender inner leaves. Cut the artichokes in half, from stem to top, and remove any bits of furry choke. Cut the halves in half again lengthwise; drop the pieces into the water.

3. Shell the fava beans. Because some people are allergic to the skins of the fava beans and because they are somewhat tough, you may want to peel the skins away, too. They are easily popped off by slitting the skin with the tip of a sharp knife or your thumbnail.

4. Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.

5. Drain the artichoke pieces and dry them. Add them to the pan and saute for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the fava beans and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The artichokes will begin to change color to deep olive green; the favas, if peeled, will be bright green. Add the fresh herbs and the salt and pepper. Stir well, reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer until the artichokes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Caramelized Cauliflower
Adapted from Jim Dixon via Orangette

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower, white or green
Olive oil
Fine sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the head of cauliflower on a cutting board, and slice it top-down into ¼-inch slices, some of which will crumble. Toss cauliflower in a large bowl with plenty of olive oil and a bit of salt, spread it in a single layer on a heavy sheet pan (or two, if one looks crowded), and roast until golden brown and caramelized, turning bits and slices once or twice, about 25 minutes.

Rustic Berry Tart
From The Sacramento Bee

Ingredients

1 sheet refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box

4 cups fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or a mix), rinsed and picked over
1/4 cup granulated sugar, or more to taste
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Pinch of salt
1 whole large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
Granulated sugar for sprinkling
Whipped cream for serving, optional

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line large cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper. Unroll pie crust onto cookie sheet.

In small bowl, toss berries with sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt. If too tart, add as much as 2 more tablespoons sugar.

Spoon filling mixture onto center of crust within 2 inches of edge. Carefully fold 2-inch edge of crust over filling, pleating crust slightly as necessary.

In small bowl, beat egg and water; brush over edge of crust. Sprinkle sugar over crust edge.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into wedges; serve warm.

Grapefruit Avocado Salad w/ Toasted Walnuts

This is actually a recipe I won a contest with last year – the only copy I can find online is a PDF of the recipe card they printed, which I can’t copy and paste from. Here’s a link to the pdf though!

Tuscan Cake with Citrus Compote
Maureen Callahan, Cooking Light, MARCH 2010

Ingredients

Cake:
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon grated grapefruit rind
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (6-ounce) container plain low-fat yogurt
5.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1.5 ounces fine yellow cornmeal (about 1/4 cup)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
Compote:
2 large red grapefruit
4 large oranges
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. To prepare cake, place sugar and oil in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed for 2 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add rinds, vanilla, and yogurt; beat until combined.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour and cornmeal into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to oil mixture; stir with a whisk just until combined. Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove sides from pan. Cool cake completely on rack.

4. To prepare compote, peel and section grapefruit and oranges over a medium bowl, reserving juices; place sections in another bowl. Combine reserved juices and lime juice in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Stir in honey and allspice; reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until syrupy. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Pour over fruit sections; toss gently. Chill. Serve compote over cake.