More Fun with Tomatoes

I have been inundated with cherry tomatoes from my garden lately. So, the other day when I was in the mood for gazpacho, I got creative. How could I enjoy the flavor of gazpacho and use my cherry tomatoes? Adding to the challenge was the fact that I had no tomato juice in my pantry, a key ingredient in every gazpacho recipe I've ever seen. My solution? Gazpacho Chopped Salad. I diced up a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, onion and cucumber -- all gazpacho staples. Then, I mixed it all together with a dressing that included a little honey, lime and lemon juice, Tabasco and fresh basil.

Gazpacho Chopped Salad

salad:
10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 orange pepper, diced
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, diced and soaked in ice water for 5 minutes
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

dressing:
1 clove minced garlic
2 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
few dashes of Tabasco
juice of 1/4 lemon
juice of 1/2 lime
2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Blend ingredients together for dressing. Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix together with salad ingredients. Chill for at least two hours before serving.

Note: some gazpacho recipes call for the addition of day old bread. If you have some on hand, it's a nice addition. Dice the bread and stir into salad before serving. Or, as shown in picture above, slice bread, spray with olive oil, lightly toast and serve next to salad.

Roasted Tomato Soup

It looks like a bomb went off in my kitchen. Today I brought two entries to the Woodbury Farmer's Market tomato recipe competition. I've prepared one recipe for the competition before and with a little encouragement from Colleen thought I was up to the challenge of two.

Other than using every bowl, spoon and knife in my collection, the endeavor was a success. Only one of my entries placed today, but how can I complain when my Roasted Tomato Soup received first place? Apparently the soup category was "hotly" contested. It was anyone's guess as to which of the soup entries Chef Dom (of The Spot in Woodbury) would pick. Here's his choice for the "blue ribbon."

Roasted Tomato Soup
2-3 lbs. plum tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 roasted pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 Tbs. fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried
1 Tbs. fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Halve tomatoes and place skin side down in baking dish. Drizzle with approx. 2 Tbs. of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast 30 minutes, flipping tomatoes after 20 minutes. Once cooled, puree roasted peppers and tomatoes and pan juices in a blender or Cuisinart.

In a soup pot, heat 1 Tbs. olive oil and saute garlic for 1 minute before adding chicken broth, spices and roasted tomato and pepper mixture. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add cream. Adjust seasonings and serve with french bread croutons.

Enchiladas Rojas

We like enchiladas at our house and eat them quite often -- whether at home or at our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Esperanza in Lindenwold, NJ. If you like real Mexican food, you've got to try this place. Check out their website here. When they first opened, the dining area was about 1/3 of the current size and reminded me of a place you'd find in Tiajuana. A couple of years back they remodeled and expanded which greatly alleviates the wait for seating on Friday and Saturday evenings. It's still the same great food, though the new space doesn't have quite the same intimate feel.

At home, I admit that I often cheat when it comes to making this versatile dish. When I'm in a rush, I'll used canned sauce. And, I've found that shredding a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket makes a great filling. Perhaps my biggest shortcut, though, and it's a step many fine cooks insist on, is to skip frying the tortillas before filling. I just can't bring myself to dirty yet another pan. I suppose if I was preparing a meal for discerning guests (and, more importantly, if I had a babysitter on hand to keep the kids out of my hair) I might fry the tortillas.

One step I don't skip -- and it's a somewhat messy process -- is to coat the tortillas with enchilada sauce before filling. It really seems to make a difference in the finished product.

As noted earlier, I sometimes use canned enchilada sauce. It's ok, but certainly not as good as homemade. I would love the opportunity to experiment more with making my own enchilada sauce, but for now I've found a recipe by Emeril that is easy and tastes pretty good. His recipe is on the Food Network website. To add some more depth, I added a little bit of bittersweet chocolate and cinnamon. And to balance the bitterness of the canned tomato paste, I used a trick from my tomato sauce recipe (see post) and added about a teaspoon of sugar. Next time around I might try adding a chili pepper from my garden, too.

Last night I used shredded chicken and black beans, mixed with about 1/2 cup of Emeril's enchilada sauce, plus some shredded mexican-style cheese for the filling. Also tasty is browned ground beef with or without beans. Both versions are also good with some sauteed onions and peppers added to the mix. Top the rolled enchiladas with remaining sauce and more cheese. Bake covered with foil for 20 minutes at 375 deg., remove foil and bake another 5 minutes. Serve with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, radishes, or whatever condiments you like.

Neapolitan Style Thin Crust Pizza

I've become a big fan of making my own pizzas. Maybe it has something to do with my mom always whipping out the Cuisinart on Friday afternoons to make up the evening's pizza dough. Or maybe it's because my husband could eat pizza for every meal, and the thought of another delivery pizza just makes me crazy. Or maybe it's because I enjoy the challenge of trying to recreate the absolute best pizza I've ever tasted.

If you are looking for a great thin-crust pizza, check out Alfred's Tomato Pie in Blackwood, NJ. The menu is solely comprised of pizza, so if you need a salad to round out your meal, take the pizza home and make your own sides and dessert. If you want a fun, leisurely meal with friends, though, grab a bottle of wine and head on over to Alfred's. Your pizza is made to order with the freshest of ingredients and you might even be lucky enough to be serenaded by Alfred himself.

So, recently I decided to try my hand at making pizza at home. I did a little research online and found a recipe at cookology for neapolitan pizza. It's based on a recipe found in Cooks Illustrated. As I read about the technique and ingredients I thought "I can do this."

Since my first attempt several months ago, I have tweaked the recipe to my liking and am quite pleased with the results.












Neapolitan Style Pizza
(adapted from recipe on Cookology.com, which is based on recipe in Cook's Illustrated)

Dough

• 1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
  
• approx. 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• Corn meal, for dusting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Topping

• 6 or 7 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and crushed by hand
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
  
• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
  
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, my preference is sliced deli cheese but shredded works
  
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

For the crust -

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, set pizza stone on oven rack.
2. In liquid measuring cup, whisk yeast into water to dissolve. Add the olive oil. In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process 2 3/4 c. flour, salt, and sugar until combined, about 5 seconds.
3. With machine running, slowly add liquid through feed tube; continue to process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of workbowl, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. (If after 1 minute dough is sticky and clings to blade, add a couple tablespoons flour and continue processing.)
   
4. Divide dough in half and shape into smooth, tight balls. Place on floured baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart; cover loosely with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

For the topping -

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
   
2. Crush tomatoes by hand and transfer to fine-mesh strainer set over bowl and let drain at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to release liquids. Combine the drained tomatoes, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper in bowl.

Shaping and cooking the pizzas -

1. When dough balls have doubled in size, dust dough liberally with flour and transfer balls to work surface that has been dusted with corn meal (adds a little extra crunch to the crust).
   
2. Press one ball into 8-inch disk. Using flattened palms, gently stretch disk into 12-inch circle, working along outer edge and giving disk quarter turns. This can be tricky and I cheat a little by using a combination of holding the dough out in front of me to stretch it and sometimes break out the rolling pin. The flattened pizza should be about 1/16″ thick and is almost never a cirle.
   
3. Lightly dust your pizza peel with corn meal. Lift edges of dough round to brush off any excess flour, then transfer dough to peel. Spread thin layer of tomato topping (about 1/2 cup) over dough with rubber spatula, leaving 1/2-inch border around edge.
   
4. Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake until crust begins to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Remove pizza from oven with peel, close oven door, and top pizza with half of cheese. I sometimes add a little sliced provolone, too.
5. Return the pizza to the stone and continue cooking until cheese is just melted, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to cutting board. Slice and serve immediately. Repeat step 2 to shape, top, and bake second pizza.