zukes and maters

I wish I could tell you that this post is about a dish created solely from the bounty of my garden but alas, I cannot. Yep, I'm probably the only person in the world who can't grow zucchini.


Since I've decided that those evil zucchini plants are a lost cause (and really only serve as a reminder of my failure, sitting out on my deck, looking pathetic), I gladly accepted this behemoth from a coworker:


(shown with a day's wages for sizing purposes)

The tomatoes that you see, however, are from my garden. At least my time, energy, and money haven't been completely wasted (knock on wood). I think they're particularly delicious, but there's a small chance that I'm biased.


I didn't do anything fancy here. I sliced, oiled, salted, peppered, thymed, and roasted. I really liked the thyme in the dish I made from Holler's blog, so it came back out for this. 'Twas a good choice, if I do say so myself.


It's hard to beat fresh-from-the-garden goodness, even if the majority of it is from someone else's garden. Eh, maybe next year...

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cookie carnival!

Have you heard of the Cookie Carnival? It's an event in which Kate of The Clean Plate Club assigns the groupies a different cookie recipe to make each month. Sounds like fun, right?


This month, the assignment was Blackberry Almond Bars. They consist of a nutty, buttery shortbread crust (frankly, you can stop right there!) topped with a curd made from blackberries. I amended the recipe in three ways. First, I greatly prefer blueberries, so that's what I used. Second, I used an 8x8" dish rather than a 9x13". Finally, guess what I added to the crust? Go on, guess! Oh, you'll never get it. Cinnamon. Of course. I think I might have a problem.


(Yeah, it could've benefited from some powdered sugar to cover those blemishes. I kinda overlooked that part of the instructions.)

I've never curded before. (I have an aversion for the word curd, most likely because it rhymes with turd. Apparently, I'm a nine-year-old boy trapped in the body of a 25-year-old woman. Moving on.) The curding process seemed like quite a bit of trouble, but I can't deny that the end result was mighty tasty.


I'm fairly certain that Kate is always looking for new cookie bakers, so if you're interested, let her know!


And don't worry--it's safe to post this recipe, as it's also on the Williams Sonoma website.

Blueberry Almond Bars
(adapted from this recipe)

Shortbread:
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ground toasted almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Blueberry curd:
1 pint blueberries
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly butter an 8x8" baking dish.

To make the shortbread, combine the butter, flour, almonds, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt until small lumps form. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom. Bake until the shortbread is golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Meanwhile, make the blueberry curd: In a food processor or blender, puree the blueberries until smooth. Pass the puree through a chinois set over a bowl, using a pestle to press on the solids and extract as much juice as possible; discard the solids. You should have about 1/2 cup juice.

In the top pan of a double boiler or in a nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until blended. Then whisk in the blueberry juice, salt, and lemon juice. Set the top pan over but not touching simmering water in the bottom pan, or set the saucepan over medium-low heat. (If using a saucepan, take care not to heat the mixture too quickly.) Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula or spoon, until the mixture is warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.

Begin adding the butter a little at a time, stirring each addition until blended before adding more. Continue cooking, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, until a finger drawn across the back of the spatula leaves a path, 8 to 10 minutes more. Immediately remove the pan from the heat. Pass the curd through the chinois set over a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Whisk to blend, then pour the curd over the shortbread, spreading it evenly to the edges.

Bake until the curd is set, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into individual bars, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Dust the bars with confectioners’ sugar before serving. (Oops.)

(Gratuitous Longaberger shot, just for you, Misti!)

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a tribute

The only things I knew for sure about Sher of What Did You Eat were that she created masterful dishes, loved cats, and wrote very well. However, that lack of familiarity didn't stop the tears from streaming down my face upon hearing about her untimely death.


As a tribute to Sher, Glenna from A Fridge Full of Food and Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen have encouraged bloggers to post a recipe from Sher's archives as a memorial for her. I knew in an instant that I wanted to participate.

My once-delicious coffee cake was bordering on stale and inedible, and Sher's wonderful butterscotch sauce and a little whipped cream quickly brought it back to good.

There's no doubt that Sher will be missed. May she rest in peace and may those who loved her be comforted.

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the music meme

Friendly reminder (Emiline, this means you!): You have two more weeks to submit your entries for Beat the Heat!


Speaking of Emiline (of Sugar Plum fame), she tagged me for the music meme.

These are the instructions:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your summer (or whatever season). Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

As you might expect given my tendency for randomness, this is a very eclectic list. Some of the songs are mainstream, some of them are pretty obscure.

1. Michael Buble, "Lost" I just love his voice--my favorite part of the entire song is when his voice deepens to what's sure to be its lowest point. Swoon central.


(Let me reiterate: SWOON.)


2. Seether, "Rise Above This" Rock on, you scary-looking men. Rock on.


I dare you not to be touched.

3. Weezer, "Pork & Beans" The title alone sold me, the video made it irresistible, and the fact of the matter is, it's a great song.


(Watch it. Feel free to laugh out loud.)

4. Sixx: A.M., "Life is Beautiful" Indeed it is.



5. Jack Johnson, "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" He's so fun. He just makes me think of a sunny beach teeming with attractive surfers.


(Surf's up, dude. Gnarly.)



6. Plumb, "In My Arms" It makes me sway.



7. Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'" Okay, you caught me. I'm a teenybopper at heart. I can't help but bounce around a little bit whenever I hear this. Leave me alone.


(Can't you just hear the tween-aged girls screeching? I don't screech.)




There you have it. I know this meme is quickly making the rounds, so if you haven't done and would like to, please do. You have my permission.

One more thing--look at what the rain has done to one of my tomato plants:


(We're talking a broken backbone here, folks. You just don't spring back from that.)

I think it's official--I'm a horrible gardener.

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ba-ba-ba ba-ba ghanoush

(belted out to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann", obviously)


I think most of us are familiar with the food guru that is Elise of Simply Recipes. None of her recipes have ever disappointed me or my fellow eaters. One day long ago I came across her version of baba ghanoush (a Middle Eastern delight combining roasted eggplant, nutty tahini, and amazing spices to form one heck of a dip) and I was confident that it would be a winner, so into the black hole of saved recipes it went.


(I like big butts.)

Fast forward a few months. I found myself with an eggplant and a craving for a spicy dip other than guacamole (which always seems to be present in my fridge). Finally, out of my abyss of an archive came Elise's recipe.

Of course, I couldn't help myself--I did some minor tweaking. I bumped up the cumin, one of my favorite spices, to 1 teaspoon and, although it's not pictured, there ended up being way more than 1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro scattered on top. The end result was magnificent--creamy and smoky and perfectly zippy--and I found myself once again wishing for some homemade pita bread.


Because I've had my eye on this recipe for many moons, I'm submitting it to Ruth's Bookmarked Recipes event.


One bookmarked recipe down, approximately 295,923,524 to go.

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it's thyme for taste & create xii

Gird your loins and prepare for complete abuse of the thyme-time pun. You've been warned.


Although I missed a few episodes of Taste & Create (in which bloggers are given a partner and asked to recreate a dish from his or her blog), I'm back. My only excuse for not making thyme for this wonderful event is that I'm a lazy bum, but most of you already knew that.


Moving on. This thyme, Nicole paired me with Holler of Tinned Tomatoes. Have ya met Holler? I hadn't, but it was definitely thyme that I did. She's from Scotland, whose citizens I feel have perhaps the very best accent in the world. (The main competition? Australian.) Her blog is chock-full of goodness, and since she's a vegetarian, her archives are packed with meat-free delights. Plus, she experiments with foods from many different countries, which I completely appreciate.

After much inner struggle and lots of wasted thyme, the recipe I finally chose to make comes from Greece--giant beans in tomato sauce. I love beans and Greek spices, so I was pretty sure this would be a winner (and a good use of my thyme).


Indeed it was. The beans were present in two forms--some mashed into a smooth paste and some whole. Thyme was the predominant herb, and I didn't mind that one bit. I'd never seasoned with it before, but there's no denying that I like me some thyme. Holler recommends eating this with pita bread, which I'm sure would be delightful. In fact, I've been feeling such a strong urge for homemade pita bread that I very nearly cranked up the oven and made some. Alas, (shameless plug alert) the heat beat me this thyme.

I'm so glad I was paired with you, Holler! Dear reader, if you don't know Holler, get thee to her blog immediately! Thyme is of the essence!

Okay, okay, I'll stop now.

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start your own starter

I've been selfish. I've been making sourdough recipes left and right and I've never shared with you how to make your own Eb. I apologize.


I know there are several different types of sourdough starter out there, like that darn Herman, for example. Some take a lot more effort than others, both in making the starter and maintaining it.


This one's easy. With attention, you can keep this baby going for a long time. Plus, it apparently gathers wild yeast from the air and therefore gets better and better.


A lot of people are surprised to learn that you can use sourdough starters in both traditional plan-ahead rise-and-knead breads and quick, batter breads.


This particular starter is very versatile. And powerful. And hard to kill, which I find most advantageous.

Sourdough Starter
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 package (2-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
3 tablespoons instant potato flakes

Starter Feeder and Bread

To make starter:
Mix water, sugar, yeast, and potato flakes. Let ferment on counter for two days. Then feed with starter feeder and continue with the instructions found in the link above.

UPDATE: Eb lives in the fridge until feeding time, which can be anywhere from 3 to 14 days after his last meal. (I've actually gone longer than two weeks without feeding him and he still did fine.) Upon feeding, he sits on the counter for about 8 hours, and then he's ready to go.

The most important step of all--name your new creation. Seriously. You'll form a stronger connection that way.


May your dough be sour and your bread delicious. That is all.

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