Category Archives: Summer

Bruschetta

September 1, 2011 – 8:00 am

Do you ever wonder if our brains are more active today than in the past? Lately, I find that I cannot only complete one task at a time. I have to be multi-tasking. I write my blog while I watch TV. I check my email and Twitter while I am on the elliptical machine at the gym. I write to-do lists while I listen to a seminar. I am not proud of this multi-tasking. Sometimes it makes me feel a bit dizzy. Is this healthy that our brains are constantly whirling from one thing to the next? Is it some form of an attention deficit that we have all developed due to all of the elements of society that compete for our attention at once? Or do I just need to give up my morning latte?? What do you think?

Ok, let’s just focus on two things: the upcoming holiday weekend and bruschetta. Labor Day weekend is a great time to decompress from the craziness of summer and focus our minds to get geared up for the impending fall and winter. I will be headed to the lake cabin for “one last hoorah” with the family. I have spent all evening baking so that I have a hearty stock of treats to feed all of those sweet teeth. An easy appetizer that I will make for the weekend that takes advantage of the late summer’s bounty of produce is classic bruschetta. When I lived at home with my mom, all summer long she kept a jar of bruschetta ready-to-go in the refrigerator. That way, if an unexpected guest stopped by, she always had something fresh to serve them. As she would deplete the jar or tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil, she would chop and mince a few more ingredients and add them back to the jar. To me, nothing tastes like summer as much as tomatoes and basil. And for the perfect cocktail to accompany this simple appetizer, Emily’s exquisitely refreshing Champagne Mojitos are a must.

Bruschetta

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: bread appetizer vegetarian Vegetables summer

Ingredients

2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup basil, chiffonade
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

Instructions

Combine all ingredients (the flavors intensify in the refrigerator as the mixture sits).

Toast thin slices of bread under a broiler. Spoon some of the tomato mixture onto the bread and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Warm in the oven until cheese is melted. Serve.

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Tags cheese, Garlic, Italian, Tomatoes | Comment (1)

Green with envy Salsa

August 25, 2011 – 8:00 am

I was a little green yesterday. With envy, not with a tummy ache don’t worry. I was talking with a friend who was raving about all of the wonderful produce that her garden has produced this summer and how she has so much she doesn’t know what to do with it. Boy, that’s a tough problem to have, isn’t it? I live in a condo in the city with no outdoor space for a garden, but I can’t wait to someday have tomatoes and herbs growing out of my ears! I think it must be such a wonderful sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to go out to your garden and pick the ingredients for your meals, come inside and wash them and just enjoy the clean, organic splendor of your own produce. Someday sweet teeth, someday.

As for now, I love to support our local farmers’ markets. Last week my mom and I bought all of the ingredients for salsa and spent a few hours of fun in the kitchen. Again, I love that canning gives you the ability to capture the flavors of a season and enjoy them all year long. Do you ever get attached to your ingredients or final products as you are baking or cooking? For example, my imagination went wild while I was treating each tomato for the salsa with care. In my mind, first, my tomatoes got to enjoy a few minutes in the hot tub (blanching them in hot water), then they were submerged in a refreshing pool (ice bath), then I gave their skin a peel (literally peeling the skin off) and massaged the little babies (crushed them with my hands to break them up). I hope my tomatoes enjoyed their day at my spa and I think I have officially divulged way to much information about myself to you!!!

Canned Salsa

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: snack side vegetarian vegan vegetables

Ingredients (6-7 quarts or 12 pints)

13 pounds tomatoes
3 large onions, diced
6 green peppers, diced
5 jalepeños, diced
10 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 4 limes
2 Tbsp cumin
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 (12 oz.) can tomato paste
Special Equipment: canner, jars, lids, rings, candy thermometer

Instructions

Clean jars with hot water and boil lids before processing.

Fill large stock pot with water and heat to a boil. Place tomatoes into water and blanch until skins begin to split. Remove tomatoes and place into ice bath. Peel, core and remove any blemishes from blanched tomatoes, then crush tomatoes by hand into large pot that salsa will be cooked in.

Add all other ingredients to pot with tomatoes and stir. Place candy thermometer into mixture and heat on medium until temperature reaches 180º. Once mixture reaches 180°, simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir and cook another 10 minutes.

Turn off heat and pour salsa into prepared quart or pint jars. Seal with boiled lids and rings and process in boiling water for 15 minutes.

blanch tomatoes in boiling water until skins split

place blanched tomatoes into ice bath

peel, core and remove blemishes from tomatoes

dice and mince other vegetables

place all ingredients into large pot

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Tags Mexican, Salsa, Tomatoes | Comment (1)

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

August 23, 2011 – 8:00 am

I hate to say it, but I felt it this weekend. That chill in the evening air that reminds you that fall is right around the corner. Not that I don’t look forward to fall, but we all want summer to last as long as possible, right? Maybe it stems back to when we were school kids and we just wanted summer to last one more week. There is something very bittersweet about those last summer days no matter how old we get. On a positive note, one of the best things about the end of summer is that it is the peak time for some of the best summer produce. Farmers’ market has every type of tomato you could want, family members share their extra zucchini with you, and you just want to squeeze as many fruits and vegetables as you can into each day.

Canning allows us to bring these to-die-for summer flavors onto our kitchen tables all through the fall and winter. I grew up canning with my mom and grandma and have continued to have more interest in it each year. My mom was visiting last week and we took advantage of our time together and spent most of it in the kitchen, as usual! We started by canning some salsa (STAY TUNED!) and then made the most delectable strawberry rhubarb jam. This jam is the perfect consistency to spread on your morning toast and is also a luscious topping for ice cream.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: side spread vegetarian vegan strawberry rhubarb summer

Ingredients

8 cups sliced strawberries
8 cups diced rhubarb
4 cups sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Wash 8-10 half pint jars. Boil lids and prepare rings and canner.

Slice strawberries into small pieces and dice rhubarb into small pieces.

Place strawberries and rhubarb into two separate bowls. Add half of the sugar and lemon juice to each bowl and let set for 1/2 hour.

Pour contents of both bowls into large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 50 minutes or until mixture reaches jell point. (*TIP* To test if jam has reached the jell point, dip fork into jam and if it drips slowly down the fork but remains between the tines, it is finished.)

Pour jam into prepared jars, seal with lids and rings and process for 10 minutes.

Is this not the most beautiful color???

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Tags Fruit, Jam, Rhubarb, Strawberry | Comments (5)

The perfect Strawberry Shortcake

August 9, 2011 – 8:00 am

By now you know how much I enjoy fruit desserts during the summer and what is more classic than strawberry shortcake? Many people enjoy strawberry shortcake with angel food cake as the base, Cool Whip in the middle and strawberries sprinkled over the top. I like this version, but I LOVE a true shortcake: a biscuit that is not too sweet, slightly salty, perfectly crumbly and rustic. On top of my shortcake, you will find my ginger-infused whipped cream, strawberry simple syrup and freshly sliced strawberries. This sweet, salty and creamy combination is perfection in my opinion.

Strawberry Shortcake

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: bake dessert strawberry cake pastry

Ingredients

For the shortcakes

1 1/3 cup flour, plus more for the counter
4 Tbsp sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
4 Tbsp half-and-half
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 egg white, lightly beaten

For the strawberry simple syrup

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries

For the ginger whipped cream

1 pint heavy cream
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

For the shortcakes

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425°.

Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in food processor (or Vitamix!) until combined. Sprinkle butter over the top and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Whisk the half-and-half and whole eggs together, then stir into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until large clumps form.

Turn the mixture out onto a well-floured counter (dough will be sticky!). Divide the dough into four even pieces, then, with well-floured hands, shape each into a 3-inch circle, about 1 inch thick.

Arrange shortcakes on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with the egg white and sprinkle with 1 tsp sugar. Bake the shortcakes until golden brown, 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking. Cool shortcakes on wire rack for 15 minutes.

For the strawberry simple syrup

Put water and sugar into small saucepan and heat over medium-high, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves.

Add strawberries and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool.

For the ginger whipped cream

Pour cream into medium-sized bowl and beat with mixer until medium peaks form.

Add ginger and powdered sugar and beat to combine.

Assembly

Cut shortcakes in half. Put desired amount of whipped cream onto bottom half of shortcakes, top with syrup and strawberries and cover with top half of shortcakes.

(Shortcake recipe from Cooks Illustrated)

Pulse dry ingredients with butter until it resembles a coarse meal

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Tags Strawberry, whipped cream | Comment (1)

Fruit tart on a steamy summer day

July 20, 2011 – 4:00 pm

The heat has been sweltering here in Minneapolis. Not to mention the humidity. When I walk outside and immediately feel like I am in a sauna, rich ooey gooey treats do not sound as appealing to me. Instead I crave cooling treats with fresh summer fruits.

This fruit tart is one of my husband’s favorite desserts. I like it because decorating it makes me feel like an artist and it allows me to let my creative juices flow. The tart starts off with the recipe that I use at Christmastime for cut-out sugar cookies. When this dough is pressed into a baking sheet, the end result is a perfectly thick and chewy cookie crust. I top the perfect sugar cookie crust with a cream cheese frosting smear and at that point, it is a blank canvas for whatever fruit toppings I have chosen. Finally, a simple fruit preserves glaze and it looks like it could grace the cover of a food magazine. Ok, maybe not, but it really will impress your friends and family!

Fruit Tart

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: bake dessert snack fruit cream cheese cookie

Ingredients

For the crust