When I first moved to Indiana in August my cell phone wouldn't get service except for on my front porch, which even then was spotty. August in Indiana is nothing like the weather I came from in California. The humidity was thick and paplable, gone was the ever constant breeze I was accustomed to. If I stood outside to talk on the phone sweat ran down my back within five minutes. A horrifying fact to admit but such is the reality I must attest to. I felt that I had left my family farther than the few thousand miles that I had and instead had landed in another country, such was the distance in communication that formally had occurred on a daily basis. Who wants to stand outside in the heat and humidity and try to engage in meaningful and witty conversations? In addition to this loss was no access to internet. With no Facebook to peruse, articles to read, and news to update myself on a large gap of time formally spent was now a void to be filled. The answer to fill this void, since I had yet to make a friend base here, was of course a library card.
In my first trip to the library I got books on raising dairy goats, raising horses, living off the land, and "The Joy of Cooking" which was an old standby in college. At the same time our landlord...ahem, as a side note I really detest that term...landLORD...like they are lording it over me that they own something...actually more than one something and I am merely their lowly renter. "The guy that I rent from" is definitely to long to type each time though. Maybe TGTIRF? Nope. Landlord it is. Well...maybe "our LL"...that way I at least don't have to actually type it. At ANY rate, our LL had been bringing us lots of tomatoes and other people were giving us tomatoes as well. Not wanting to throw any away I made an effort to cook lots of different things with tomatoes. Joy of Cooking again was a trusted ally.
First I made "Tomato Creole". I had no idea what it was supposed to be when completed, and had no internet to look up what exactly a "creole" meant, but it DID call for a lot of fresh tomatoes. As a side note, now that I have internet, here is an interesting article about the
difference between creole and cajun cooking. (For those of you reading this who are not so internet savvy click on the word "difference" in the above sentence to read the article.) Making this was very educational in that I used to components of cooking that I have never used before. First I learned how to peel tomatoes through "loosening" their skins by rubbing the dull edge of a knife all over them, briefly submerging them in hot water, than cutting an "x" on the bottom and simply sliding them out of their skins. Cool! I also had to use "2 Tbl kneaded butter". "Whaaaa?" was my uneducated reaction upon reading that. Luckily on some other page of JofC they taught me how to make kneaded butter by combining softened flour and butter and explained the use to me. Very artsy fartsy if you ask me and I LIKE it! It seems to me that you are basically using the technique as a thickening agent as a reverse to making a roux. ANYhow! Voila!! I give you the very creamy, fresh and delicious Tomato Creole served in a gently steamed Bell pepper (also given to me from the garden surplus) on a bed of white rice. (see how official I sound? I learned that from watching "Top Chef".)
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| Tomato Creole |
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| Tomato Creole served in a steamed bell pepper on a bed of rice. |
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As I was skimming my finger down the list of "Tomato" in the appendix I came across something that sounded rather UNUSUAL. Tomato CAKE. Yes, you read that right. Tomato CAKE. Well...I had so many tomatoes and on the off chance it might actually by something amazing, I tried it. The thing I liked about making this cake is that it didn't call for milk (per say) or EGGS. Wha???? Granted it did call for "Cream of Tomato" so there is some milk there but think about it. Your in a jam, you were supposed to bring a cake to a party but you are out of either milk or eggs and just so happen to have "Cream of TOMATO". BAM!!! Party saved. Thank you. Your welcome. It also goes by the name "Mystery Cake" JofC told me...catchy. It was good! The recipe called for Golden Raisins, which I personally liked and I omitted walnuts (meh). It didn't taste like tomatoes and really had more of a thanksgivingie sort of flavor...nutmeg, Cinnamon...maybe cloves...whatever, I don't remember exactly now. But if you want the recipe I will give it to you. Worth making again. Even if for no other reason then that I can see people's surprised face when I tell them I made a cake with tomatoes. So with no further adieu I give you...the cake.
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| Tomato Cake |
Finally I made a Vodka Pasta sauce. This was so delicious and a big hit. I put it over angel hair pasta with Italian sausage. Now the recipe called for red wine...or at least I think it did...actually no it didn't because it called for vodka. Well, ultimately there was a bottle of red wine involved in the making of this dish and by the time I ate it my taste buds were no longer what they were when I started cooking but I was assured by Sang T. and Stephanie that it was delicious and upon eating some the next day I found they were correct. Next time I will make more of the sauce or use less noodles as you can tell it was a little sparse on sauce in there...hmmm...regardless, DELICIOUS! ...as was my merlot.
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| Angel Hair Pasta served with Italian Sausage and covered in Vodka Pasta Sauce complimented by a very nice Merlot |
After all of this tomato frenzy I decided to try and come up with a new and interesting way to serve the ever economical chicken thighs. Low and behold! A recipe specifically for chicken thighs in JofC! Coconut Curried Chicken which called for Golden Raisins which you may remember I happened to have from my Tomato Cake. PER-FECT! I have been cooking and experimenting more with Coconut Milk lately as Eli gets quite fussy if I eat dairy and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to expand my knowledge. It also called for fresh ginger which excited my palate as I suppose good sushi served with fresh ginger is a thing of the past for me now that I live in this landlocked state. I will take ginger as I can from now on. This was enjoyable to make as it had a lot of colorful fresh vegetables, was fairly straightforward, and the flavor captured from the slow simmer of all the ingredients together was smooth and Caribbean/Indian tasting.
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| Fresh Ginger, White Onion, Carrot, Scallions, Garlic, and Jalapeno |
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| Chicken Browning |
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| Having sauteed the vegetables they now simmer with coconut milk, golden raisins, and curry, than then chicken was added for forty minutes. |
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| Coconut Curry Chicken |
And finally my latest meal was taken from the Pioneer Woman's website and elicited high praise from my husband. "This may be the best thing I have every eaten" he muttered between bites. I give you...Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork. The thing I loved about this recipe is that it was so easy and quick to prepare. Threw an onion in the bottom of a beautiful blue cast iron pot we "inherited" from my father-in-law, put the pork shoulder in fat side up after generously adding salt and pepper to it, dumped a can of Chipotle chilies on top, added two can's of Dr. Pepper, and two Tbl. brown sugar. The recipe called for it to cook for 6 hours at 300 degrees or longer until the pork falls off and shreds without any resistance. For some reason mine only took three and half hours. It was succulent, tender, flavorful and SPU-ICY! "SPU-ICY" is what the Pioneer Woman said it would be...after spending about thirty seconds trying to decide how she was saying that out-loud I decided what would a white woman with blond hair know about spicy. I could probably handle one can of Chipotle Peppers...WOOOOOYEEEEE was it spicy!! My lips were much more plumper and five shades redder after my pulled pork sandwich. I couldn't handle eating any more. The flavor was soooo good but I just couldn't go through eating it again. I will definitely cook this again with perhaps half the peppers!
Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this enterprise. But if you go to her website by
clicking here you will see beautiful photos that look pretty much exactly like what mine would look like...only with a blue pot.
Until next time I hope you all are cooking, enjoying new flavors and dishes, and sharing with others!
