Posts Tagged ‘tomatoes’

Valentine’s Day Appetizer

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

It’s nearly that time of year again, when almost all food is colored red and/or shaped like hearts. We’re no different here at Jolly Tomato – we’re happy to make heart-shaped food when the occasion calls for it – but we try to keep food colorings out of the picture whenever possible.

When the SoCal Lady Bloggers group invited us to join in a Valentine’s Day progressive dinner party, we happily signed up to serve an appetizer. What a great way to enjoy a meal and let everyone share in the cooking! We wanted to make something love-able, so we came up with two different kinds of Bruschetta Hearts.

Side note – In Italian, “bruschetta” is pronounced “bru-sket-ta” – the “sch” makes a “sk” sound. So if you want to sound like you are an authentic Italian when you’re describing your appetizer or ordering at a restaurant, make sure you ask for “bru-sket-ta.”

The most basic bruschetta involves toasted bread, garlic, and olive oil. If you want to get a little fancier, you can add more toppings like tomatoes and basil or roasted red peppers – or even something sweet, like oranges, which we’ll get to in a minute.

For our first version, we made a little Italian-style tomato mixture and added it to the toast with goat cheese. Although most bruschetta is served on crusty Italian bread, we made this first version with whole wheat bread, which gave it a nutty flavor.

Bruschetta Hearts with Tomato, Basil, and Goat Cheese

8 slices of whole wheat bread

2 ounces goat cheese, softened

2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, finely chopped

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the slices of bread using a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Arrange the bread hearts and toast them in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until light brown and crispy. Spread each toast heart with a thin layer of goat cheese. Next, in a small mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, basil leaves, and salt and pepper. Distribute tomato mixture evenly over each toast heart, spreading it to emphasize the heart shape. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

The second version we made was more of a Mexican-inspired treat, with a hot pink salsa made from red onions and blood oranges. We used some chili pepper tortillas (with a rich natural orange color) to boost the color and the spice.

Tortilla Hearts with Blood Orange/Red Onion Salsa

3 flour tortillas, preferably red or orange

3 blood oranges, peeled and chopped

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, loosely chopped

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

With a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut heart shapes out of each of the tortillas (you should be able to get at least three out of each tortilla). Toast tortilla hearts until crispy. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stir, and refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, spread a small amount over each tortilla heart and serve immediately. Serves 8.

Kids cooking tip: It’s easy to involve kids with both of these recipes. Your pint-sized chefs can help with making the heart cut-outs, spreading the goat cheese, hand-tearing the basil or cilantro, and stirring and spreading the tomato or orange mixtures.

What’s next on the progressive dinner menu? Check out this Sweetheart Salad from Amy at Baby Baby Lemon.

And of course don’t miss any of the other courses:

Sparkling Pomegranate Jubilee from Someday I’ll Learn

Strawberry Bruschetta from The Wonder Years

Steakhouse Steaks for Two from The Gonzo Gourmet

Creamy Chicken Florentine from Sarcastic, Funny, and Brutally Honest

Baked Mini Cheesecakes from Create-Celebrate-Explore

White Chocolate Creme Brulee from This Talk Ain’t Cheap

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted Under: Just For Fun | Tags: , , , , , ,
This post was written by jollytomato on February 3rd, 2012

Farm Fresh Cooking

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Sure, most people associate pick-your-own farm activities with spring or summertime. But in most places, there’s still plenty to pick in the fall. And the cooking possibilities from the autumn harvest are practically unlimited.

Last weekend we took a trip to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark, a Southern California pick-your-own staple for generations. We found some of our favorites ripe for the picking: raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes, beets, fennel, carrots, cilantro, squash, and at least five varieties of peppers. The kids were delighted – and perhaps went a little bit overboard – with the pickings. After lugging home pounds and pounds of produce, the real work began. Here’s a little story about what we cooked when we got home:

We started with the candy cane beets. These rugged-looking root vegetables are hiding a beautiful secret inside: an amazing pink and white circle pattern. Sadly, most of the color and lines get lost in the cooking. But the bright, fresh taste more than makes up for the color that is lost.

For the first beet dish, we peeled and sliced them, then put them in a roasting dish with chopped onions, fresh fennel bulbs, fresh carrots, and extra-virgin olive oil. We roasted it all at 400 degrees for about one hour, giving it a good stir at about the 30-minute mark.

Next we prepared some jars to make pickled beets. We followed this pickled beets recipe from the Food Network’s Alton Brown. Note: Ours turned out more pink in color because we were using the candy cane beets. Also worth noting: It took much longer to roast the beets than the 40 minutes he says in the recipe. Maybe our beets were bigger? We had them roasting for about 90 minutes until they were ready.

Next, with the enormous quantity of bell peppers we picked, we thought we should make a little comfort food, just like Mom (or Grandma) used to make. This one requires a fairly decent time commitment, and in fact we did it over two nights. First we made some Homemade Tomato Sauce with the fresh-picked tomatoes, and then the next night we used it as a base to make our Sausage and Peppers to serve over pasta. The key here is quality: If you’re going to use those beautiful peppers and tomatoes that you picked at the farm, please, please, please make a special trip to the butcher or your local Italian food purveyor to buy some high-quality Italian sausage. In other words, skip the supermarket brand if you’re going to invest the time into making this recipe.

Last, we had to do something monumental with all of those remaining peppers. We had jalapenos, pasilla chiles, and Anaheim chiles in the mix (and possibly a few others that we couldn’t identify). Our best solution was to make an Epic Roasted Pepper Salsa out of the whole pile.

We started by roasting about 10 of the peppers, using a good mix of all shapes and sizes. With protective gloves on (don’t burn your hands, people!) we cored, seeded, and peeled them all. Then we popped them in a food processor with some tomatoes, lime juice, onion, and fresh-picked cilantro. The result? A spicy salsa with a smooth, slow burn. A perfect match with our favorite chips and creamy guacamole.

Some people say there’s nothing worth picking on the farm in the fall besides pumpkins. To that, we reply: Would you like some pickled beets? Or sausage and peppers in fresh tomato sauce? Or how about some salsa? Bon appetit!

Posted Under: Just For Fun, Nutrition | Tags: , , , , , ,
This post was written by jollytomato on September 28th, 2011

The Un-Salad

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Some kids like salad. But many, many kids see something that’s green and leafy and they freak out. That’s too bad, because in most cases salads are good for you AND taste great. Plus, the definition of salad is now so broad that it doesn’t necessarily have to mean a big plate of greens.

Case in point: Two salads that caught our attention recently are a little more fun than your typical lettuce-and-dressing, and they have great kid appeal. First, this mouth-watering Quinoa Shirazi Salad from Family Spice would make a perfect late-summer meal. It’s got cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, onions –  and healthy, flavorful quinoa to give it a little heft. Call it a “confetti” salad and you will probably have kid takers.

We also like this Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad from Joy the Baker because, as she puts it, it’s a ”salad that tastes like chips.” Most kids would probably love that – and when they eat it, they’ll also have the benefit of red onions, green beans, and red, white, and blue potatoes.

Inspired by these friends, we’re giving you our own favorite “un-salad” salad: panzanella. This Italian salad is a classic end-of-summer dish because it lets you use up your tomatoes and other fresh produce, along with your day-old bread. See, kids? It’s not a salad at all. It’s more like a chopped up sandwich. We decided to get even more crazy with our usual panzanella by serving it inside some of the wonderful heirloom tomatoes of late summer.

Inside-Out Panzanella

4 medium-to-large heirloom tomatoes

2 cups chopped high-quality day-old bread

1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved

1 small red onion, sliced and chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, cored and diced

1/2 red bell pepper, cored and diced

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn

3 T. olive oil

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Pepper and salt to taste

Carefully make a circular cut around the top of each of the tomatoes and then scoop out enough flesh to create a “bowl” inside each tomato. Dice the fleshy parts that you have removed. Combine the diced tomato in a bowl with the bread, olives, onions, peppers, and basil. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and vinegar. Stir the dressing into the salad and until the ingredients are just combined. Distribute the mixture among the hollowed-out tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired. Serve immediately. Serves four.

Posted Under: Just For Fun | Tags: , , , , ,
This post was written by jollytomato on August 30th, 2011
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