In my CSA box this week I got:

1 football-sized (and football-shaped) watermelon
1 bunch carrots (white, red, and orange), with tops
2 green peppers, 2 purple peppers, 1 yellow pepper
1 mottled/striped eggplant
a bag (about 1 pound) of yellow string beans
2 middling-sized bok choy
2 bags (about 3 pounds) of assorted tomatoes
1 big bunch dill (I could smell it from five feet away)
1 big bunch curly parsley
1 big bunch sweet basil
1 medium-sized bunch cilantro
a bag (about 1 1/2 pounds) torpedo onions
8 Santa Rosa plums (very, very good)
4 bunches Thomson seedless green grapes
a bag (about 1 1/2 pounds) assorted cucumbers
a bag of squash (2 zucchini, 2 zephyr, 1 pattypan, 1 yellow crookneck)
1 head of AWESOME garlic

My girlfriend wasn't home when I picked it up; I'll bring it over to her
house to share in about an hour. She'll be disappointed that there aren't
any beets this week, but I think she'll take the garlic and some of the
basil. She might take the eggplant or some of the peppers; we've never
gotten them from the CSA before. I'm hoping she'll take most of the dill
and some of the other herbs. She hasn't wanted any of the fruit I've gotten
so far, which works out just fine as far as I'm concerned. Those plums are
fantastic. They're so juicy that when I bit into one last week, a geyser of
juice leapt about a foot-and-a-half into the air.

I'm getting overrun with tomatoes and squash. (My girlfriend doesn't like
either.) I guess I'll dry a bunch of tomatoes and make that roasted squash
purée I posted a few days ago. Of course, with tomatoes, cilantro, and
onions I can make salsa. And with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and basil, I
can make gazpacho. If I can't figure out what to do with the parsley, I can
just juice it and add it to V-8.

Speaking of juice, I'm going to try a cucumber experiment. I'll puree them
in a blender, then strain them through a coffee filter. I've seen this
technique used with tomatoes to make a full-flavored "tomato water." If the
resulting juice has a good cucumber flavor, I'll mix it with Skyy melon
vodka for a refreshing chiller. (Hmmm.... but now that I think about it, I
could mix the vodka with the purée, let it steep for a few days, and THEN
strain through the coffee filter. That might extract more flavor from the
cucumbers.)

Any interesting ideas for the bok choy? So far I've stir-fried it with beef,
and I've separated the leaves and stems, cooking them separately (leaves got
steamed with a shrimp filling, stems got stir-fried with scallops).

Bob

Christine wrote:

> Replying to my own post: doh!
>
> Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup with Parsley Croutons
> From: Tomatoes: A Country Garden Cookbook by Jesse Ziff Cool

Heh... before I got around to reading this post, I'd already gotten it off
Google. Thanks, Christine!

Bob

On 18 Jul 2006 13:31:15 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>I'm getting overrun with tomatoes and squash. (My girlfriend doesn't like
>either.) I guess I'll dry a bunch of tomatoes and make that roasted squash
>purée I posted a few days ago. Of course, with tomatoes, cilantro, and
>onions I can make salsa. And with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and basil, I
>can make gazpacho. If I can't figure out what to do with the parsley, I can
>just juice it and add it to V-8.

I don't know if this URL will translate, but I love this soup. If you
can't get the URL to work, do a google groups search for Cream of
Roasted Tomato Soup with Parsley Croutons, using my name as the
author..rfc as the group.

Damn..I couldn't get the URL to wrap....
So do the search.

Christine

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:58:24 -0700, Christine Dabney
> wrote:

>On 18 Jul 2006 13:31:15 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:
>
>>I'm getting overrun with tomatoes and squash. (My girlfriend doesn't like
>>either.) I guess I'll dry a bunch of tomatoes and make that roasted squash
>>purée I posted a few days ago. Of course, with tomatoes, cilantro, and
>>onions I can make salsa. And with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and basil, I
>>can make gazpacho. If I can't figure out what to do with the parsley, I can
>>just juice it and add it to V-8.

>Damn..I couldn't get the URL to wrap....
>So do the search.
>
>Christine

Replying to my own post: doh!

Christine

Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup with Parsley Croutons
From: Tomatoes: A Country Garden Cookbook by Jesse Ziff Cool


2 pounds large, ripe, firm tomatoes
Olive oil to coat the tomatoes
8 shallots
1 small carrot
1 small fennel bulb
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
5-6 sprigs fresh tarragon
5-6 sprigs fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream


Parsley Croutons


12 thin slices baguette
Olive oil to generously coat both sides of each piece of baguette
3 cloves garlic, cut in half
1/2 cup Teleme cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cut tomatoes in half, seed them
and coat
them with olive oil. Place tomatoes in a shallow baking dish and bake
for 30
minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until the skins begin to darken and
blister.
Remove from the oven and let cool. Remove skins and reserve pulp and
all the
juices.
Coarsely chop the shallots, carrot and fennel. Melt butter in a
medium saucepan
over medium heat and saute chopped vegetables until they are very
soft. Add the
stock and herbs and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the
tomato pulp
and reserved tomato juices. Remove the herb sprigs. At this time you
can
either puree the soup or if you like a smoother soup, run the pulp
through a
food mill or fine sieve. Season with salt and pepper and extra herbs
if you
like. Keep warm over low heat.
Lower the oven to 400 degrees F. To make the parsley croutons, brush
both sides
of baguette slices with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Rub
one side of
baguette with garlic. Sprinkle with cheese and garlic and bake until
brown.
Add the cream to the soup and heat untill warm. Ladle soup into warm
bowls and
float 3 parsley croutons on top of each bowl.


Serves 4


My notes: I find this soup freezes extremely well without the cream.
It is
nice to make when you have plenty of good ripe tomatoes...and take it
out during
the dead of winter for a touch of summer.
Also, the parsley croutons seem to do better if you bake them slightly
before
rubbing them with the garlic and topping with the garlic-parsley
mixture. I
have made this soup as directed, with rubbing the garlic on the
baguette slices
and topping it with the cheese parsley mixture..and also with baking
them
slightly before topping with the mixture; it seems to have a better
texture if
you wait to add the topping.

On 18 Jul 2006 15:56:07 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>Christine wrote:
>
>> Replying to my own post: doh!
>>
>> Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup with Parsley Croutons
>> From: Tomatoes: A Country Garden Cookbook by Jesse Ziff Cool
>
>Heh... before I got around to reading this post, I'd already gotten it off
>Google. Thanks, Christine!
>
>Bob
>
Good. I am just waking up..and my brain wasn't functioning...for some
reason it didn't connect that I could just copy the recipe...LOL

I urge you try this. It is very rich though, with the cream... so
smaller portions are in order. Or serve larger portions, but with a
very, very light main course.

I am looking forward to making this later this summer, when I can get
good summer tomatoes...and putting a stash of it in my freezer for
when winter rolls around and I want a splash of summer. I think I
said in my notes, that I freeze it without the cream...and when I get
ready to serve, I just heat and add the cream.

Christine, who MAY have access to her 1000+ cookbooks next week
(several tomato cookbooks in the lot).

Christine Dabney wrote on 18 Jul 2006 in rec.food.cooking

> Damn..I couldn't get the URL to wrap....
> So do the search.
>
> Christine
>
>

http://tinyurl.com/oqbzm

--


Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect

-Alan

Christine Dabney wrote on 18 Jul 2006 in rec.food.cooking

> (several tomato cookbooks in the lot).
>

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Alan's Tomato Pie

pies, vegetables

2 deep-dish pie crusts (10 inch)
black pepper to taste; see note2
kosher salt to taste
2 1/2-3 lbs 3 pounds medium-sized ripe slicing; tomatoes, see note1
1 large bunch of fresh basil
4 ounces (2 cups) medium-sharp or sharp cheddar; cheese grated
2/3 cup homemade or best-quality mayonnaise
1/2 juice of 1/2 lemon
2-3 tbsp heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350F

Fit one of the crusts to a pie pan. Sprinkle with pepper (well) SEE NOTE2
and prick the pastry all over with a fork.

Place a layer of tomatoes in the pie pan, sprinkle with a little
salt.pepper and add a sparse layer of fresh basil leaves;

repeat for a second, third, and fourth layer.

Top with the grated cheese.

Thin the mayonnaise with the juice of 1/2 lemon and spread it over the
surface. (Over top of the tomatoes).

Quickly add the second pie crust, fit it over the pie and seal the edges
by
pinching them together. Cut several slits in the dough to allow steam to
escape and brush the surface with the heavy cream.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the pie is hot all the way through and
the
crust is golden, about 25 - 30 minutes.

Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Cut in wedges and garnish each
slice with a sprig of fresh basil.

NOTE1: Peel and seed the tomatoes, and cut into thickish silces. Allow to
drain on papper towels a while to remove excess water/juice.

NOTE2: Try a thin layer of dejon mustard instead of pepper.



** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.74 **



--


Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect

-Alan

Alan provided:

> Alan's Tomato Pie
<snip>
That sounds incredible! I'll definitely be making it during the coming
weeks.

After my girlfriend got done taking what she wanted, this is what was left:

1 bunch carrots (white, red, and orange), with tops
1 green pepper, 1 purple pepper, and 1 yellow pepper
a bag (about 1 pound) of yellow string beans
2 middling-sized bok choy
2 bags (about 3 pounds) of assorted tomatoes
1 big bunch dill (I could smell it from five feet away)
1 big bunch curly parsley
1 small bunch sweet basil
1 small bunch cilantro
a bag (about 1/2 pound) torpedo onions
5 Santa Rosa plums (very, very good)
1 small bunch Thomson seedless green grapes
a bag (about 1 1/2 pounds) assorted cucumbers
a bag of squash (2 zucchini, 2 zephyr, 1 pattypan, 1 yellow crookneck)
1 head of AWESOME garlic

I've got a lot of tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers from previous weeks, but
I've got a plan. (Heh... an old quote from Blackadder: "I've got a plan so
devious you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel.")

I'm going to roast the squash and make that Any-Many Squash vegetable purée
(which I *refuse* to call guacamole, regardless of what the book says!).

I WAS going to make Christine's roasted-tomato cream soup from the tomatoes,
but that tomato pie recipe has me reconsidering. Regardless, I'll have
tomatoes left over. I've got the makings of both salsa and gazpacho; I'm
sure that I'll get around to making them both this week.

I'm going to grate the cucumbers and steep them in Skyy melon vodka for a
week, hoping that they impart a cucumber flavor to the vodka. (I'll throw
the grated cucumbers away when the week is over.)

The bok choy was badly insect-damaged, but I salvaged enough to make an
improvised snack: Smoked sausage, garlic, and bok choy cooked in ham broth
for a couple hours, then ramen, Dave's Insanity sauce, and cream cheese
added. Tasty.

I STILL don't know what the hell to do with all this dill! It only takes a
tiny bit of it to DOMINATE whatever it's with, and I just don't like it
enough to have that much of it. Maybe I'll try making gravlax.

My toaster oven died last night, so all the roasting will have to be done in
my "normal" oven. :-( Or I can dig my 1987-vintage microwave/convection oven
out of the garage and hope that it still works.

Bob

>
> Any interesting ideas for the bok choy? So far I've stir-fried it with
beef,
> and I've separated the leaves and stems, cooking them separately (leaves
got
> steamed with a shrimp filling, stems got stir-fried with scallops).
>
> Bob
>
>

Zap in the microwave is also good, I usually make a dsp of sauce to go on
them. The composition varies with whim but it is usually very quickly made
from asian prepared flavours in bottles. For example:

- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp shao shing (chinese cooking wine)
- 2 tsp hoi sin sauce
- 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce

David

On 18 Jul 2006 21:27:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>I WAS going to make Christine's roasted-tomato cream soup from the tomatoes,
>but that tomato pie recipe has me reconsidering. Regardless, I'll have
>tomatoes left over. I've got the makings of both salsa and gazpacho; I'm
>sure that I'll get around to making them both this week.

Tomato season is just heating up..you will have plenty of time to make
the soup.

Christine

<snip>

> I WAS going to make Christine's roasted-tomato cream soup from the
> tomatoes,
> but that tomato pie recipe has me reconsidering. Regardless, I'll have
> tomatoes left over. I've got the makings of both salsa and gazpacho; I'm
> sure that I'll get around to making them both this week.

Could you post your gazpacho recipe? I made some a week ago and wasn't
happy with it.

> I'm going to grate the cucumbers and steep them in Skyy melon vodka for a
> week, hoping that they impart a cucumber flavor to the vodka. (I'll throw
> the grated cucumbers away when the week is over.)

Now THAT sounds really intriguing! Let us know how it goes.

<snip>
> I STILL don't know what the hell to do with all this dill! It only takes a
> tiny bit of it to DOMINATE whatever it's with, and I just don't like it
> enough to have that much of it. Maybe I'll try making gravlax.

If push comes to shove and you don't use it, consider drying it (rather than
pitching it). You'll have enough dried dill to last you a lifetime!

> My toaster oven died last night, so all the roasting will have to be done
> in
> my "normal" oven. :-( Or I can dig my 1987-vintage microwave/convection
> oven
> out of the garage and hope that it still works.

Oh UGGGHHHH. It was so hot last night the kids across the street were
trying the age old "let's see if an egg will fry on the sidewalk" trick. It
fried. In, like, 20 seconds.

TammyM, thinking that Calgary sounds mighty fine right now.... or Greenland

Bob Terwilliger wrote:

> In my CSA box this week I got:
>

Darn, that's just making me hungry. But thanks for the reminder, I'd
been meaning to join one of those and lost the info in time to miss the
sign-up date.



Dawn

Tammy wrote:

> Could you post your gazpacho recipe? I made some a week ago and wasn't
> happy with it.

The following is from _The Foods & Wines of Spain_ by Penelope Casas:

Gazpacho Andaluz

Although gazpacho originated in the southern lands of Andalucía, it is today
one of the most universally loved soups in the world. There is absolutely
nothing like it during the hot summer months, although it seems to be just
as popular when the weather turns cold.

This gazpacho recipe comes from the files of my Spanish mother-in-law, who
claims that most gazpachos contain too much bread and oil and consequently
are unnecessarily heavy and fattening. She has eliminated both of these
ingredients entirely, producing a bright red and truly refreshing version of
this famous soup, which has often been referred to as "liquid salad." Even
my mother-in-law makes her gazpacho today in a blender, although
traditionally the gazpacho ingredients were painstakingly pushed through a
metal cone-shaped sieve. Purists still insist that this method produces a
superior gazpacho.

It is customary to serve the gazpacho and then pass small bowls containing
croutons, cucumbers, green pepper, tomato, and onion for the diner to
sprinkle on his soup as he pleases.

Gazpacho is at its best, of course, when made with juicy red vine-ripened
tomatoes. If they are not available, I find it preferable to use
good-quality canned tomatoes and skip the awful mushy tomatoes found in
markets most of the year. A mixture of canned and fresh tomatoes, even when
the fresh tomatoes are not of top quality, also produces good results.

Serves 6

1 1/2 pounds fresh or canned ripe tomatoes
1 medium green pepper, cut in pieces
1 small onion, cut in pieces
2 small Kirby cucumbers or 1 small cucumber, peeled and cut in pieces
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon tarragon
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup tomato juice or ice water (if the tomatoes are very flavorful, use ice
water)
Salt
Diced cucumber, green pepper, tomato, and onion for garnish

CROUTONS
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, cut in small cubes

To make the soup, place all ingredients except the garnish in the bowl of a
processor or blender, in several steps if necessary. Blend until no large
pieces remain. Strain, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to extract
as much liquid as possible. Correct the seasoning, adding more salt and
vinegar if desired. Chill very well, preferably overnight.

To make the croutons, melt the butter in a heavy skillet. Add the crushed
garlic, then stir in the bread cubes, coating them with the butter and
garlic. Cook over a very low flame, stirring occasionally, for about 30
minutes, or until the bread cubes are golden and very crunchy. Cool.

Serve the soup and pass the garnishes and the croutons. Gazpacho keeps for
several days in the refrigerator.

BOB'S NOTES:

1. You can substitute other herbs for the tarragon. Basil, marjoram, or
chervil work well; so does a combination of mint and cilantro and/or basil.

2. Along with the garnishes, I pass cruets of extra-virgin olive oil and red
wine vinegar


> TammyM, thinking that Calgary sounds mighty fine right now.... or
> Greenland

I'm thinking more along the lines of New Zealand, or maybe Argentina's
Tierra del Fuego. :-)


Bob

On 19 Jul 2006 20:56:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>Tammy wrote:
>
>> Could you post your gazpacho recipe? I made some a week ago and wasn't
>> happy with it.
>
>The following is from _The Foods & Wines of Spain_ by Penelope Casas:
>
>Gazpacho Andaluz

Thanks so much! The Andalusian gazpacho recipe that I had (in a tapas
book I bought at the Spanish Table in Berkeley) had soaked bread in
it. It was ok, but I think I'll prefer your recipe.

>> TammyM, thinking that Calgary sounds mighty fine right now.... or
>> Greenland

> I'm thinking more along the lines of New Zealand, or maybe Argentina's
> Tierra del Fuego. :-)

Ooooo yes. I've been to New Zealand. Lovely place and it's COLD
THERE NOW!!!!

TammyM, thinking she'll just have to go out and get the Casas book as
well!

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:33:53 GMT, (TammyM) wrote:

>
>TammyM, thinking she'll just have to go out and get the Casas book as
>well!

She has a few newer ones, one of which is called Paella. I drool
looking at all the Paella variations....

Christine, who will soon have her paella pans out of storage.