Summertime Blues

Tomato Time!

Oh, yes! The tomatoes are ripening and we are feasting!

Those big green-topped beauties are the Cherokee Purples and there was one just right for making BLTs -- our summertime favorite.

An assortment -- San Marzanos, Cherries, and Yellow Pears -- set me to thinking of Tomato Pie and I went to a recipe from Garden and Gun.  

Oh. My. Goodness. It was WONDERFUL! We ate half for supper and will be enjoying the rest for lunch today.

Here's the recipe.(Of course, I made a few changes)

4  shallots, minced  (I used a medium sized onion, not having shallots on hand) 

3  garlic cloves, minced

4  tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided
1  tbsp. Dijon mustard
9-inch pie shell (See below)
1  lb. assorted heirloom tomatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick
3  oz. goat cheese, crumbled  (I used mozzarella as Himself doesn't like goat cheese)
½  oz. fresh basil chiffonade
1  tbsp. Grenache vinegar (I have no idea what this is -- I used balsamic vinegar)
½  cup fresh bread crumbs ( I almost used bread crumbs out of a can but I tore up a fresh ciabatta and was glad I did-- fresh makes a difference.)
1  oz. grated Parmesan cheese (NOT the stuff in the green shaker.  I used a bit more, since I wasn't using the goat cheese.)
Salt and pepper

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small pan, sauté shallots (or onion) and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in mustard, and set aside.

Place pastry shell in a 9-inch pie dish.  Sprinkle some of the Parmesan on the bottom. Layer in half of the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper; spread shallot (or onion)   mixture over top. Add goat cheese ( or mozzarella) and half of the basil, distributing evenly. Layer in remaining tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and vinegar over the tomatoes; top with remaining basil.

In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle evenly over tomato filling.   

Bake 30 minutes, or until topping and crust are golden brown.

PIE CRUST

It REALLY is  worth the trouble to make your own. I've employed several tricks to make it easier. One is to use a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with flour to roll out the pastry on. Another (and I'm almost embarrassed to tell it) is to use the recipe for a two crust pie, even though you need only one crust. The extra dough will give you plenty of overhand to make a pinched edge  and I found that even though I left the pastry a bit thicker, it was delicious and amazingly flaky.

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2/3 cup) vegetable shortening (e.g. Crisco)

A scant 1/3 cup vodka with an ice cube to cool it (trust me, this works SO much better than water to keep the pastry tender

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add the salt to the flour and cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two  knives. When the mixture looks like coarse meal, sprinkle on the cold vodka, a tablespoon at a time and blend in with a fork. Continue till the mixture begins to hold together and you can form it into a ball. You may need to add a bit more liquid, at this point cold water is fine. 

Roll out the pastry and line your 9 or 10 inch pie pan. (You may have more than you need - bake the scraps with a little sugar sprinkled on them for a sweet treat.)  Prick the crust all over the bottom with a fork and bake (unfilled) for about ten minutes. This pre-baking keeps the rust from getting soggy on the bottom.

 

The Joy of Rain on a Hot Day

The air so thick that

Every breath is a struggle

And then the clouds burst

And glorious rain 

Bespatters the goldfish pool,

Lures a sunflower

To lean out and bathe,

Refreshing its dusty face

In the cooling shower.

Taking the Time Machine in Search of Cool

We are having very hot weather -- the air so heavy it's hard to breathe. So I decided to revisit the past. These are from my trip to Santa Cruz a few years ago -- trying to remember what cool air felt like . . . and hearing the lovely sound of the waves . . .

Three Acts of Gratitude

I read an article HERE the other day, talking about five habits that lead to happiness. Now I'm generally a happy person but I was interested to see what this article suggested and I was particularly struck  by the first habit -- three acts of gratitude. 

The suggestion is that you spend two minutes every day for 21 days, identifying three new things to be grateful for.   Not catch-all categories like health or family but specific things, like the taste of this blueberry muffin this morning or the way the sun glints and highlights your daughter's hair.

The article says that by looking for new things to be grateful for every day, you are training your mind to look for the positive rather than the negative and that the end result of training yourself to this new pattern will be increased happiness.

Well, I thought, I'm already happy -- I don't need this.

And then I realized that my taking or choosing pictures for this blog every day is pretty much the same thing.  I am grateful for the certain slant of light on a weathered barn . . . the gleam of the sun between a boulder and a tree . . .

Bob enjoying the water on a hot day . . . even the muddy pawprints that follow seem like like an emblem of joy.

The spicy sweet fragrance of a Stargazer lily is a celebration in itself . . .

Throw in a Swallowtail butterfly foraging amongst those delicious little freckles and you've got three things in one . . .

Even when there are no flowers, there's always a marvel somewhere -- A frost medallion on a window . . .

And there are those kitchen miracles I love -- the fern-like pattern the Crisco makes on the spoon . . .

And the perfect beads forming in the stainless steel sink.

Now that so many folks carry phones with built in cameras, I'll be expecting an uptick in overall happiness any day now.

Three photos a day to happiness? Could be.

Serene Sunday

Chick Update