Beach Days and Brandywine Tomatoes

Years ago, I knew Guillermo. He was from Miami. He was kind, always ready with a smile, and we sometimes talked food. He loved to cook for his boyfriend, and I loved to hear about Cuban food. One day I casually asked for his gazpacho recipe, and the next time I saw him, he handed me this:

From Memories of a Cuban Kitchen

In the world of emailed links, he'd taken the time to transcribe by hand a recipe with lots of ingredients (and I love the added comment: "I substituted cilantro instead, mmm-mmm"), and in such readable handwriting to boot.

Every time I make it I think of him and his easy smile. When I spotted this buxom Brandywine beauty at Kings Market on Edisto Island on Sunday, I knew her highest and best use -- Guillermo's gazpacho.

I counted this as three tomatoes and added a Cherokee Purple one I had left over

I had the rest of the ingredients at home -- really, it's pretty easy to have these on hand this time of year -- and so after a long beach day, I got to chopping.

The best part about this recipe is the smell of summer: cucumbers, onion, tomato, sweet pepper, cumin and garlic. It filled my kitchen with a cool freshness that still lingered the next morning. The tomato's pink flesh did not make as deep red of a finished product, but nevertheless, I think it made the recipe proud. "mmm-mmm."

Lingering lamb shanks

I've been dragging my feet a bit thinking about writing this post, as I was so excited to cook these babies up. 

Honestly, they were less than stellar ... I lightly floured and browned them in my cast iron skillet, then used homemade chicken stock and red wine, some fresh rosemary, garlic and cherry tomatoes to braise them. They stayed on the stove for about 10 minutes, then went into the oven for 2 hours.

I hung out, had wine and cheese, opened the oven door, closed it, had a handful of almonds, watched an episode of Mad Men, then checked again. Y'all, I was hungry, and so I pulled them after two hours. They could've gone another 30 minutes at least.

Once reduced, the braising liquid became a chunky, luscious sauce, and I served that over some jasmine rice. Easy. Added arugula for a green, and I was good to go. 

Added note: photographing meat is hard! This is reminiscent of a 1960s Betty Crocker cookbook photo -- sorry.

The meat and sauce had an amazing flavor, but I felt more cave woman pulling the meat from the bone than fine diner pulling it away with her fork. I ate it and hoped for the best when I warmed it up the next night. Nope. The next night, it dried out a bit so was a little more jerky-esque in some parts. 

Sigh.

The flavor was delicious, though, so I will try again. All the recipes I saw called for more than 2 shanks, so I was trying to adjust the time and porportions. 

Farmers Market Week Two: Blistered Tomato Bliss

Week two:

• First up was asparagus. The season is waning, so I went for it another week. Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies and was one of the hardest to curb myself on when I started eating more seasonally. I could not imaging Chicken Marsala without its accompaniment, for instance, and I'd just learned to roast it in the oven with kalamata olives. It was great raw with a dip, as a soup ... and lest I go on and on, I am going to assume you get the point without continuing my impression of "Bubba" from Forrest Gump.
• I was wooed by arugula. My shopping buddy, Lauren V, swooned over this, so I opted to trade out strawberries on my list for arugula. This is all fine and good, and I know I will ab-so-lute-ly enjoy it, but I'm still getting over the fact that since I have no strawberries, and I opted for wine instead of chocolate at Trader Joe's, I have absolutely no sweet in the house. I could be hitting the honey pot if this gets desperate.
• Marinated olives? Although they're not technically grown here, the company that owns the California grove ships the olives here to Charleston and processes them for olive oil, and into these little containers of mixed marinated ones. I couldn't resist. 
• Lamb. Having purchased from Moss Hill Farms at last year's market, I knew I wanted lamb this week when I walked in. Ok, I did have a steak last week at Lana, and a burger from Moe's on Friday, but your point? I'm obviously still on the red meat train which must mean I need some iron. Or something. I chose lamb shanks for this week.
• Cherry Tomatoes. I don't know how these are coming to the market so fast, but it's happening. The Black Cherry ones from Ambrose Farms were beautiful, but the ones I had last week from Robert Fields Farm off Johns Island were so amazing, I went back to their booth for more.

Besides eating them raw, I made Blistered Tomatoes twice this week with the intention of putting them over pasta. They didn't make it either time, but became the centerpiece of my dinner, with sides of extra sharp cheddar cheese, crackers, edamame and a glass of vino. They're so easy. Here's how I did it:

Blistered tomatoes warm out of the oven

Blistered Tomatoes

1. Halve desired amount of tomatoes and place in oven-proof glass baking dish.

2. Toss with olive oil, garlic salt and dried oregano.

3. Bake at 350 for 15-18 min. or until blistered. They should be warm and soft, but still hold their shape and not be on the way to "tomato sauce."

First Farmer's Market Run

Tuesday was idyllic. Lunch with friends, errands at my own pace, and then an anticipated event: the opening of the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market.

Of course, the Charleston Farmer's Market every Saturday in Marion Square is closer to me, but for ease of food shopping, the Mt. P one has it all, fruits, veggies, eggs, spices, seafood and lamb and chicken (!) without the clogging crowds or the clogging amount of crafts. So for this cook, it's absolutely perfect.

My first order of business -- the first shrimp of the season, per my desire to eat more seafood at home. These came right off the boat in McClellanville:

They were huge! And like the freshest of the fresh, smelled like clean ocean water. Nothing "fishy" about these shrimp. One pound will last me two meals, and I got the heads-on so I can make shrimp stock with the celery and onions already at home.

After that, it was on to fill my fridge for the rest of the week. I got the shrimp AND all this for $18:

That's fresh purple asparagus, cherry tomatoes, a lot of radishes, a pint of strawberries, and an organic Genova basil plant that will (if I'm good to it) help feed me all summer! A quick trip past Trader Joe's on the way home filled in with cheese, milk, hummus, cereal and wine, and thus, the week is set.

Delicious, local, in many cases organic, and on a budget. Check!

Do-it-yourself Home Cook Challenge

One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who are frustrated with cooking is "You buy all these ingredients, use a little in making the dish, and then that ingredient, ginger or cilantro or manchego cheese or fill in the blank, goes to waste. What else do you do with it?"

Enter the do-it-yourself home cook challenge. I see this as an opportunity to not only be frugal and avoid food waste, but also as an excuse to try something new. The only judges are your tastebuds, and the only criteria is whether or not the taste exceeds the trouble of making it.

I present to you a weekday case in point.

1. The ingredient: buttermilk. Now buttermilk isn't that expensive, but I am serious about the food waste thing. Use it! Buttermilk has a long shelf life, and a couple of weeks ago, I bought some local buttermilk to make buttermilk pies as thank yous. The local brand only came in a half gallon, and five or six pies later, I still have half of that. So, another tactic was called for unless I am OK with being the "what kind of pie?" lady.

2. The challenge: find a recipe that uses more than 1/3 c. of buttermilk. And not biscuits, OK. I know I can make them, but do I need to be eating an entire batch? I think not.

3. The bookshelf: the indexes of cookbooks are vital to this challenge. Ah. Found recipe in trusty Martha White Cookbook for Whole Wheat Cardamom Bread. 1 1/4 c. of buttermilk. We have a contender.

I had all the ingredients on the shelf except whole wheat flour. Previous attempts at making whole wheat bread had for me resulted in dry bread that eventually went to feed birds, so I was cautious -- and frugal -- and purchased only what the recipe called for from the bulk bin at Earth Fare.

And look what came out of my oven!

Crusty goodness

I substituted dried cranberries for raisins, and pecans for walnuts, and I have a new breakfast bread to add to my rotation. This is a quick bread, so there's no yeast involved, and it mixed up in literally 10 minutes.

Challenge successful! And I have enough buttermilk for another loaf ... what ingredient do you have right now that you could "use up"?

A Dubious Battle Hamburger Steak

As of late, I've found a local source for ground beef. I have already professed my love for chicken on this blog, but I do eat beef a few times a month, so I was happy to find this great source for chili, ragu and the occasional hamburger steak.

There is a passage in John Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle that describes in detail a hamburger steak with onions, and ever since reading this years ago, I've studded my steak with onions, a depression-era diner trick.

The other night, I was in a diner kind of mood, and with my trusty cast iron skillet, created a Steinbeck-worthy moment (well, with that and Instagram).

It was a thick, down on the picket lines kind of main dish, and I was needing some fortification. Reporting for duty, sir.