Festivity Corn Pudding

As promised yesterday, I am writing about our absolutely delicious Corn Pudding that rounded out dinner last night!

We are growing an heirloom type of corn this year that was given to us by a friend, Art Sayles. He sent us some dried cobs a couple of years ago. We've never grown corn before, and didn't really have the space, but this year, we reclaimed a patch of ground that had been decorative only and amended the soil with compost and mycorrhizae (a beneficial fungus that supports root growth- I've written about this before). We started the corn plants from seed in the house, and transplanted them in batches of 12 plants at a time, two weeks apart. We have 36 stalks...every single corn kernel germinated!
The corn is absolutely beautiful. Art said it's called, "Festivity" which can be eaten as a sweet corn, or dried on the stalk as a decorative corn. I can attest to the beauty, and deliciousness of the corn!

These ears are a week apart in planting...it's really interesting how they go from 'white' sweet corn, to a little speckled, to mostly dark purple. they are really beautiful!

The left side of the yard has been an herb/vegetable garden for the past 5 years, but the right side was covered with decorative bark since it does not get as much full sun as the left side. Well, apparently, it's sunny enough to produce a lot of corn!
Anyhow, I had 6 ears total that I had to pick yesterday, so I decided to make a delicious side dish called Corn Pudding. Here's the recipe I used as a guide by Ina Garten- called Sagaponack Corn Pudding
but, I did make some changes. I also cut the recipe in half, since I don't have 8-10 people to feed :)

I cut the kernels off of the corn for about 2 1/2 cups of fresh corn. The cobs went out to the chickens. They like corn, too-cracked and dried or fresh. They also like newly planted corn plants- I learned that the hard way.
I added the kernels to a pan with 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion and 2 tbsp. of butter. I sweated the vegetables for 4 minutes, took them off the heat and let them cool.
In a large bowl, I beat together two of the biggest eggs I had (the girls are still hit-or-miss on large eggs and forget about extra-large at this point in their laying life!) 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. I was completely out of fat free half and half and ricotta, but I figured small curd fat free cottage cheese could be a substitute. I added 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and about 5 large fresh basil leaves, chopped up. After this was all mixed, I slowly mixed in 1/4 cup of cornmeal.

I also sprayed a 6 cup baking ramekin with canola spray and heated the oven to 375 degrees.
I didn't have any sharp cheddar cheese. Kevin doesn't like sharp cheddar, so I usually buy medium or mild or Colby, but I was out of that, too. I did have a block of Pepper Jack, however, so I cut off a chunk of about 3 ounces and shredded that up.

When the corn/onion mixture was cooled, I added it to the egg/milk/cornmeal mix. Then, I added about half of the cheese and mixed it all together. I poured it into the greased ramekin and topped it with the rest of the cheese.
I popped it into a baking pan and filled the pan with enough hot water from the tap to go up the sides of the ramekin halfway. I placed it in the oven, and let the heat do the magic! It took about an hour.

We also had a small rack of St. Louis cut ribs that I had dry rubbed with my homemade rib rub (for another day- it's fantastic) and baked in foil in the oven for 3 hours at 275. I added some steamed zucchini slices tossed with the tomato vinaigrette from yesterday, and voila! Dinner! It was scrumptious! And the purple and yellow and reddish and maroon kernels of the corn mixed with the yellow creamy and cheese-y texture was so pretty, too. I hope you try this recipe- it's pretty easy and you can adapt a lot of vegetables to this version!

Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette

I recently watched one of my favorite Cooking Channel Shows, "Chuck's Day Off". Chuck Hughes is a very talented and creative young chef and his show is always exciting- in the food he cooks, in his enthusiasm and in his passion for fresh, sustainable ingredients. I like that!
On the show I watched, he made a roasted halibut served over a 'Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette".  That made my mouth water, especially since I am looking for some creative ways to use the abundance of tomatoes I have in my garden this season!
I made a really tasty red enchilada sauce from scratch a few days ago- using Sweet One Million and Sungold cherry tomatoes. It was incredibly tasty, but very sweet. After watching Chuck, I thought a sweeter version of his Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette would be delicious made with the over-abundance of cherry tomatoes in my yard.
So, thanks, Chuck. Here's his original recipe with the halibut, which also sounds delish!
I made some changes.

First, wash, stem, cut in half, and seed a huge amount of cherry tomatoes. I used about 2 cups. Seeding cherry tomatoes is a pain in the neck, but worth it in this instance.
Then, get your homemade smoker ready.
This was a very easy technique. I have had a Chinese steamer for years- but never thought to use it for smoking in the kitchen!

Unless you want to ruin a heavy duty pan, line your pan with a double layer of foil. Turn the heat on high, and toss in a couple of handfuls of smoking chips- in this case, mesquite. When it starts to smoke, TURN ON THE HOOD/FAN. Seriously!

 Rinse your Chinese steamer basket out, and place the cut side up of the tomatoes on the trays. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and add either some sliced green onions, or shallots, as Chuck suggests, or as I did, half a chopped onion. Then, top with fresh herbs of your liking- in my case, some fresh torn basil, oregano, and thyme from the garden. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.
Add about 1/2 cup of water to the chips when they start to smoke, cover the Chinese steamer, and place on top of the smoking chips.
Let it smoke for about 20 minutes.

Take the steamer off of the heat and let it cool a bit. Toss all of the smoked veggies into a blender. Add a little kosher salt and pepper, and if  you have it handy (I ALWAYS DO!!) add a tablespoon of roasted garlic.
Don't know how to make roasted garlic? Get a nice head of garlic, slice it across the root to expose the ends, put it on some aluminum foil, drizzle some olive oil and a pinch of salt over the cut ends, wrap up the foil and bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes. When it cools down, pop the soft, gooey cloves into a small container and cover well. Refrigerate. It keeps for a week ...ha ha, as if it will actually stay around a week! I add it to many, many dishes- the sweet, deep, carmelized garlick-y flavor makes everything taste better. You can even spread it on bread in the morning after toasting...it is fantastic. No harsh, garlick-y breath or flavor, either!
Anyhow-I digress. Back to the vinaigrette...Toss in 1/4 cup of rice vinegar. Well, I guess you can use another type of vinegar, but I like the mildness of rice wine vinegar. Blend the heck out of the veggies and vinegar. Slowly add 1/2-1 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a drizzle as you blend. You don't want a runny, oily mess- just a nice emulsification.
Now, this had a very mild smoked flavor. I thought it was good, but I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika to bump up the smokiness.
This came out absolutely incredibly delicious!
I am not sure how to 'can' it yet, but as soon as I figure it out, I'll be shipping some to my niece, Lauren, who has already expressed interest in this unique flavor!

My batch made 4 cups of deliciousness. I'll be drizzling this on our zucchini tonight, and on a roasted beet, goat cheese and arugula salad on Monday for the Catholic Daughters potluck. No, I'm not joining. I'm just checking them out.
Now if I am really lucky, I'll be posting my amazing success with Festivity Corn Pudding tomorrow! It's in the oven as I write...

Pickle Everything!

This is my last free weekend for a while, I am afraid, so I really wanted to make a memory that will last...unfortunately, all the good hotels in Reno were booked (well, OK, there were a few rooms at $500 a night but that's not realistic with boarding the mutts, too) so we decided to delay a trip to Reno until possibly October. Bummer. It doesn't help that my sister is posting great pictures from Las Vegas this weekend.
It's probably just as well...I had a fridge packed full of produce that needed attention, and we really wanted to finish the sprinkler system in the back yard, so we are taking advantage of 4 days off in a row to get some big stuff done around the yard before winter.
I absolutely LOVE watching Michael Symon on Food Network. I like his style, and I really like how he makes fresh pasta, sausage and pickles on almost every Iron Chef show. Since I had a 'peck' of jalapenos that are just sitting in the fridge, I decided to add pickled peppers to my repertoire of recipes. I am not sure how much a 'peck' is, but I had a plastic gallon bag full of peppers, so I thought it qualified :)
Here's the recipe I used- adapted from Michael Symon's Live to Cook   and yes, I actually bought the book for the pictures, not the Kindle version...although I was sorely tempted because it only takes 15 seconds to download.

1 pound of fresh jalapeno peppers, washed
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons black peppercorns

1. Slit each pepper three times with a sharp paring knife and place them in a large glass preserving jar. Or, remove step and cut into slices and then put them in the glass jar.
2. In a non-reactive saucepan, bring the other ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.
3. Remove from heat and pour the brine over the peppers. Place the lid on the jar and let cool. Once cool, refrigerate for at least a week before using, if possible.

They are still delicious if you only wait an hour or so, but longer develops the flavor. You can also use this same brine for any other kind of pickle- carrots, squash, green tomatoes, any other kind of peppers- use your imagination. If it's a hard vegetable like carrots, you might want to peel and parboil for a few minutes, but hey, I like the crunch of a crispy carrot.

I also made some pickled green beans, which you can also view above. I used this recipe and I am hoping they are spicy and good! We bought some locally made pickled green beans last year, and used them as a 'stir stick' in Bloody Marys on the weekend during football season, and let me tell you, they were fabulous! Our green bean plants are not producing very well this year, so I think one pint is all we will get...but I can always get some more at the farmer's market next week!
I made quite a few pints and quarts of actual pickles made from cucumbers, too.

The bright green ones are cold-packed before boiling. These should be pretty crisp, since I chilled the cukes overnight in a ice-water and salt bath, and cold packed them. I cooled the brine before adding it, and only boiled them in a water bath for 10 minutes. I'll let you know in 3 weeks if they are still crisp.
And, last but not least, I canned some of the tomatoes from this week. I figured, I have to get a jump on these. We should have at least another week of hot weather with cool but not freezing temps, so I will hopefully be canning a couple of pints every other day to stay ahead. Alas, we always get a hard freeze around the 15th of September, so once again, our guest room will become the tomato/pumpkin and spaghetti squash curing room. Here are two pints of delicious "Martino" Romas and one pint of Lemon Boy tomato quarters.

I love this time of year- the weather is wonderful, my garden is producing wonderfully well and I get to do a lot of specialty cooking to preserve food for all winter and spring...until the next harvest.

Herbes de Provence

OK, I know I promised pickles today, but I'm using a new recipe that requires a 24 hour soak in a brine in the 'fridge...so tomorrow you will see pickles!
Today was a pretty busy day, so I sort of skimped on the whole breakfast and lunch thing. A couple of cups of Joe and I'm ready to go, right? Hot, black, dark roast coffee chugged and I'm good for a couple of hours.Well, maybe 3 cups...
 I think I made sense when I spoke at Masses today...although, I'm pretty sure the people at the Spanish Mass were looking at me with sympathy instead of enthusiasm. Oh well, I gave it my best! As usual...
Anyhow, I decided that I deserved a delicious, home cooked dinner, since I will be rather busy the rest of this week and next weekend. I'll be working some late nights and I'll be on retreat next weekend, so dinner will be either leftovers or something from the freezer. Sorry, Kevin. I'll cook next Sunday night after I get home from the Catechist Retreat :)
I was browsing the internet for inspiration and I saw something that had 'herbes de provence' as an ingredient. I thought about a gift my brother and his wife (Gene & Carla) brought me home from France in 1993 after their honeymoon...it was a grinder for 'herbes de provence' full of the delicious herbal blend. I remember how excited I was because I wanted to use something in my cooking from France...anyhow, I saved the grinder, even though the 'herbes' were long gone, so today, when I saw the recipe, I actually dug it out!

So, I perused the recipe for 'herbes de provence' and discovered that I had everything except savory. OK, who grows savory? Not me...anyhow, I added a little more sage and thyme and voila! Herbes de Provence!
Very important- use all dried herbs...not fresh. 
3 tablespoons oregano leaves (from my garden!)
3 tablespoons thyme leaves (from my garden!)
1 teaspoon basil leaves (from my garden!)
2 teaspoons rubbed sage (from my garden!)
2 tablespoons lavender flowers (from my garden!)
1 teaspoon rosemary (from my garden!)
2 crushed bay leaves
mix together and store in a cool, dry location...like your spice jar drawer or cabinet.

The recipe was for a roast chicken with roasted potatoes and sauteed haricot verts. Well, I was not about to go to the store for a whole chicken, so I made something different...sorta.
I also picked up some Inca Purple Potatoes at Mountain Valley Gardens on Friday- they apparently are growing really well here in the Basin and will be added to the rest of the potato crop by local farmers. Mountain Valley had very good prices on a lot of produce, so I grabbed the purples and some locally grown red potatoes, as well as some enormous peaches.
The purple potatoes are really nice- I peeled one and it is really a dark purple...

So I took a couple of chicken tenders, chopped them into chunks and tossed them with a little EVOO and a few grinds of the herbes de Provence. Then, I chopped a couple of cloves of garlic and added it to a medium heat cast iron skillet with some canola oil and let them cook for a minute- then I added the chicken and let it brown. I tossed the chicken and added the potatoes, a couple more grinds of the herbes de Provence and a handful of frozen artichoke hearts. I tossed this all around until everything was fragrant and starting to brown up nicely, then added a pinch of kosher salt and 1 cup of sauvignon blanc. I was drinking a dry white sauvignon blanc, so why not add it? I added a pat of butter and put it in a 400 degree oven to finish.

While it was in the oven, I tossed the Sungold and Sweet One Million cherry tomatoes I picked yesterday with a small Diva cucumber with a little salt, and I tossed the handful of green beans from the garden in some boiling water for oh, about 3 minutes, and drained them.

You can see how the Inca Purple potatoes retained their deep purple color. Dinner was delicious!

Today's Haul

This weekend, Kevin is down in the OC to stand as Godfather (and a proxy "Godmother" for me!) for our nephew, Sean-Luc, who will be baptized on Sunday. Last night, he hung out with some of my family down at a campsite in Doheney Beach. Lucky guy!
In the meantime, I'm home taking care of the dogs, chickens and other household things that need to get done.
Yesterday's weather was awful. The skies were thick with smoke from a nearby fire, it was over 95 degrees and it was very humid. Thunderstorms were predicted, but none materialized. Although, we did have a pretty good downpour very early this morning. All three rain barrels are now full. Good news for me, because they were down to the last couple of gallons.
Today, I woke up to some bright sunshine and clear, smoke-free skies. I guess the rain washed it all away. I hope it stays that way, because although it's going to be cooler over then next few days (high 80s) I still don't like the smoke.
So I cut the grass in the backyard this morning for the first time. It was pretty easy, once I got the hang of the Neuton electric mower. Kevin had already set the height on the thing, so I just had to put the battery and the key in correctly and off I went. I did a pretty good job! Well, at least, I thought I did...the nice thing about the electric mower is that it is very quiet. I had to push the chickens out of the way as I was cutting the grass. They weren't startled at all.
Next, I collected eggs. I got one from each hen today. Foggy didn't lay one yesterday, but she was the first one this morning to make up for it! I can tell when she or Moa don't lay because Foggy lays pure white eggs and Moa lays pastel green eggs.
Then, I picked today's produce, which you can see below-

I've been getting a nice handful of 'Sweet One Million' and 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes for the past few days. The 'Martino' Romas are finally starting to ripen nicely, and I'm also getting a good handful of green beans each day. I got a couple of nice sized zucchini and straight neck yellow squash, and to top it off, a few more pickling cucumbers. I think I have enough now to make one quart jar of pickles, so that will be a project for tomorrow!
The other reason I stayed home is that I am going to speak at all Masses this weekend to make an appeal for teachers for Religious Education. I'm going to tell the story of Sister Janie, who was a postulant for the Presentation Sisters and the youth minister at St. Irenaeus in Cypress, CA when I was in 7 & 8 grade. (Coincidentally, that is where Sean-Luc will start Kindergarten in September) Sister Janie (among others) really influenced me to stay active in Youth Ministry, so I'm hoping that by telling a positive story about myself, others will want to work with children to teach them about their faith. Wish me luck!

Summer Salt

My garden is looking just lovely this time of year. I'm harvesting a couple of zucchini and yellow squash every day. the Swiss Chard and Tuscan Kale are growing like mad and I finally have picked enough green beans to serve for dinner tonight! The cherry tomatoes are just starting to ripen. I am looking forward to leaving a salt shaker in the garden for snacking!
This is the second year in a row we have used the "Topsy Turvy" for tomato plants. There is one small tomato on a very stunted plant, so this is probably the last year for tomatoes in that thing! The basil, however, loves the "Topsy Turvy". I harvested quite a bit on Saturday and made a delicious pesto. I was able to freeze some of the pesto for later use in pasta and soup...I love a dollop stirred into soupe au pistou in the fall. Yes, you've had soupe au pistou before...it's a vegetable soup made with a little pasta and beans. I've been making this version for years. The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine by Rose Elliot
Anyhow, I also had about 2 cups of basil leaves and stems left after making pesto, so I used a brand-new-to-me recipe from this month's Food Network Magazine and made some Basil Salt.

It's pretty simple.
Take 1/2 cup of packed basil leaves and pulse in a food processor with 1/2 cup of Kosher salt.

Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and place in a 225 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Stir frequently until it's completely dry.

Cool. Place back in the food processor and pulse until it is a very fine texture.
As you can see in the first photo, I really did follow the directions, but I couldn't bring myself to make all of the salt into dust. I do like a little texture when adding salt for color and flavor!
We tried the more coarse salt on some fresh tomato slices last night and all I can say is, "Oh, my!" It really brought out the delicious flavor of the tomato. I can see that this will get a lot of use in our house! I'm thinking about Pizza Margarita....

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

I'm sure many of you have come to know how much my husband, Kevin and I love Clint Eastwood movies. I've posted several times about one of our very favorites, "Heartbreak Ridge". Clint very famously said, "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome" as Gunny Highway, and this quote is also the unofficial motto of the United States Marines. These are qualities of a good leader- someone who can think on their feet and use what is at hand to get the job done. I modestly think that I try to follow these principles- at work, and when cooking. After that long, roundabout explanation, I wanted to share with you a delicious cocktail that I am enjoying as I write...a Watermelon Mojito.

Today was the Sacred Heart Church Picnic at gorgeous Moore Park. The park overlooks Upper Klamath Lake, and has a cathedral of beautiful enormous pine trees in the picnic area. It also has a huge grassy area, so it's the perfect place for a Church picnic for 250+ people to attend Mass, eat and have fun with children!
The weather was also wonderful...but it was HOT this afternoon. After trotting all over the place, taking pictures, talking to everyone, handing out registration forms for Religious Education Classes (which start on September 9) I was sweating up a storm.
I checked in with my husband, Kevin, who was a volunteer cook with the other Knights of Columbus, to let him know I was heading home to my lovely air-conditioned living room. He sarcastically said something like, "You better have a cold watermelon mojito waiting for me with extra rum when I get home." We had purchased one of those cute little watermelons earlier in the week, and never got around to eating it, so we had briefly discussed making watermelon mojitos a couple of days ago.
Not one to back down from a challenge, I replied that he would have to hope I was kind enough to save some for him when he got home later in the day, which of course, drew a couple of laughs.
I drove home and exhausted, walked into a hotbox from hell. I had forgotten to turn on the air! Argh!
Anyhow, after I got the air on, watered the garden and played with the dogs and the chickens, I got busy making mojitos.
I found this great recipe from Sunnny Anderson of Food Network that seemed simple and tasty.  Here it is if you would like to see the actual recipe: Sunny Anderson's Watermelon Mojito 
Unfortunately, I didn't have most of the ingredients.
No agave syrup? No problem! I made some simple syrup. (We used all of the lovely lavender simple syrup a few days ago)

No limes or real lime juice? No problem! We had some Rose's lime juice left from the last batch of cocktails we created.

No mint? No worries...parsley will be just fine.
Not sure how much watermelon you have that is cut up? Deal with it- just chunk it all up and dump it in the blender. You can always add more or less rum.

No clear rum? That's OK, Captain Morgan Spiced Rum will probably be just fine.
Blend it all up, strain it, and pour over ice. It's cold, and pretty tasty.
Slainte!