Tag Archive for 'heirloom tomatoes'

valentine’s sausage & chard with farro risotto

Published by mel on February 15, 2008 in dessert, entree and recipe.

sausage kale tomatoes parmesan farro risotto

I’ve never done the Valentine’s Day thing. The big fancy dinner, the flowers, the chocolate. Frankly, I’m just not into it. While I do love going out to dinner and exploring new places, I don’t particularly like crowded and cramped restaurants, prix fixe or valet parking. I do like cooking a new meal, using fine china and dining at our formal table using cloth napkins.

I’ve cooked for Tom almost every Valentine’s day we’ve been together. In fact, the only year I didn’t cook for him, I tend to forget how we celebrated. Our first February 14th, I made him seared tuna steak with a cold noodle salad. It was his first tuna steak and we ate on the floor of my East Village studio because it was the only place to sit comfortably in those 275 square feet.

The second year is the one I really tend to forget. It’s the year he had a Spanish class until late and we went to Otto for pizza on my lunch hour. A cab splashed me with some very dirty melted snow as Tom was walking me back to work.

Last year, I made a pizza with sausage, artichokes and ricotta. Speaking of love, I love pizza.

This year, I sauteed sausage, heirloom tomatoes and swiss chard and spooned it over some Parmesan farro risotto. I served it in my pretty fine china and we had a quiet meal without the tv.

chocolate ice crea,

I had also made some of David Lebovitz’s Easiest chocolate ice cream the night before, which ended up being supremely smooth and delicious. Of course, I made some modifications because I just couldn’t help myself. I subbed vodka for the dark rum because that’s what was in the cabinet, and I sprinkled it with fleur de sel which made the chocolate even more chocolatey and gave it a subtle crunch every few bites. The entire dessert-making process took less than 10 minutes, but tasted like it took 100. Too bad it all kind of melted before I took the photo which makes it look wholly unappetizing. Sigh. Aha! Replaced it with something MUCH better than the melty poo.

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sausage and cheesy polenta rounds

Published by mel on February 1, 2008 in entree and recipe.

polenta and sausage

I’m still in love with my Crisper. I especially love crisping polenta with cheese on it to make “fries” or as an alternative to starchy sides. If I want to crisp my polenta (instead of making the creamy, mashed-potato kind), I use the store-bought version that comes in a tube, which I’ll either slice into rounds like I did in this recipe or cut into smaller fry-like sticks. Both are equally delicious. The fries go best with fried eggs, sandwiches or a big bowl of homemade chili. The rounds are tastiest when topped with yummy goodness. In this case, caramelized onions and sausage with heirloom tomatoes and arugula. The whole thing came together in about 30 minutes. It was cheesy and spicy, sweet and salty and had a great textural contrast.

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fresh baked bread w/heirloom tomatoes

Published by mel on January 28, 2008 in recipe and sides & bites.

bread w/heirloom tomatoes

Tom and I took a journey south this weekend to the Homestead Farmer’s Market. Short history lesson on Homestead: it’s located at the very bottom of Florida (just before the Keys), it was absolutely destroyed during hurricane Andrew in the early 90’s and it’s mostly farmland. One of the best things about living in Florida is the abundance of fresh produce all year long. I especially love that I can get good, local tomatoes whenever I want. I didn’t find any interesting varieties at the farmer’s market, but I did score some outrageously good strawberries, avocados, chili peppers and something that looks like green onions. (Still haven’t used those, so I’m not quite sure what they are. I’ll report back soon.)

After we explored the farmer’s market, we went to Whole Foods where I found some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes in yellow, green, red and purple. Sigh. I’m a grocery store junkie. Tom doesn’t really like tomatoes unless they’re in something, so there’s no way I can get away with a straight-up tomato salad. I also didn’t want to cook them into nothing. That’s what Muir Glen canned tomatoes are for. I came up with a bruschetta-like thing and baked a fresh loaf of bread. I didn’t have any basil for the bruschetta, but I did have cilantro and chives. I also threw in some poppy seeds because I think they look pretty.

After we’d had our fill of bread, there was still some bruschetta left over, so I ate it with a spoon. What can I say? I love fresh, ripe tomatoes even if Tom thinks they’re gross…

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