Summer...Even Winter...Tomato Pie

Isn't is sad, that those of us who live alone neglect the finer foods of life.  My husband, Wayne, and I loved great food.  After he died, I didn't resort to drive thru's and take out's but did, pretty much, confine myself to a protein...maybe a steak, a piece of chicken, a fish fillet,  and a green salad...healthy, simple.  But yesterday I was craving a tomato pie...something our friend, Elizabeth Borum, introduced Wayne and I to when she moved to Alexandria.  It's a fairly simple dish...tomatoes, onions, cheese...I made it many times for Wayne and me after our initial introduction.  So today, just for me, I made a tomato pie.  But, I'm sharing the recipe with a few changes I've made to the original, some pancetta sprinkled in the bottom of the pie shell and panko added to the cheese topping (makes a crispy, cheese crackery topping)...forgive me Elizabeth!

To begin...

Ingredients:  
1 frozen pie crust (make your own if you wish, just not my thing!)
1/4 cup diced pancetta
5/6 red tomatoes
1 Vadalia onion
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped basil
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1/2 cup mayonaise

Follow directions for baked piecrust on package.  Cool for ten minutes after baking.  Then preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice 5 tomatoes and put the slices on a paper towel...sprinkle with salt and let sit while the pie crust gets ready.
Slice one large sweet Vidalia onion
Chop parsley and basil

In a bowl combine cheese, panko and mayonaise

Assemble the pie:

Sprinkle the diced panchetta in the bottom of the pie shell
Make a layer of tomatoes...sprinkle parsley, basil, salt and pepper on the tomatoes
Next a layer of onion
Now another layer of tomato
Finally, spread the cheese mixture on top and bake pie for 45 minutes.
Allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

Blair's Layered Crab Salad

My son, Joel took two of my grandchildren, Graham and Maren, crabbing and came back with  a cooler full of blue crabs,  treasures of the sea.  

We prepared them several ways...the most fun was just a crab pickin' ... I made some crabcakes...making sure they were mostly crab with some breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, seasoned with some Old Bay...I always think simpler is better with crab cakes.  But the highlight of the crab dishes was a layered crab salad that Blair made for  our July 4th celebration.  She used her knowledge of the "crab stack" that some restaurants have on their menu and translated and enhanced it in an amazing layered crab salad.

Her recipe:

Summer Crab Salad

Prepare honey-lime vinaigrette dressing the night before serving. 

Honey lime vinaigrette Dressing:

1/3 c Vegetable oil

1/4 c Apple cider vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar 

2T honey

1/4 c lime juice

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 c fresh cilantro 

1 clove garlic, minced

Blend in blender. Chill overnight. Pour over salad just before serving. 

One cup each of 

-Sliced or diced English cucumbers (small ones)

- red cherry tomatoes, diced

- yellow cherry tomatoes, diced 

- salad greens, chopped to bite sizes

- diced ripe mango 

- diced ripe avocado (squeeze small amount of lime juice over avocado to retard browning)

2 cups crab meat

Using a clear glass bowl, layer ingredients in colorful layers alternating green items with red/yellow ones. Top three layers should be mango, avocado, and crab so that crab is on top of salad. 

Drizzle with honey lime vinaignette dressing just before serving. 

Sooooo Good!!!!!

Blair's Layered Crab Salad

Just loved having Tom, Blair and their 3 children, Graham, Maren and Campbell over the July 4th holiday.  As part of the fun, Joel took Graham and Maren crabbing...they came back with a cooler full of wonderful eastern NC blue crabs.  We enjoyed them, first, in a crab pickin'.  All of us, even the kids, picked til the juice ran up our elbows as we devoured the succulent crab meat we pried from the bodies and claws of these treasures from the sea.  On the next day, Blair started picking crabs...I joined her and, at the end of our work, we had more than enough crab meat for crab cakes...our dinner for that night.  My recipe is pretty simple:

3 cups of crab meat
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Dukes Mayonnaise
2 eggs
1 tbsp. Old Bay

Mix all ingredients together, form into large patties and fry in olive oil, searing both sides then frying for an additional 5 minutes.

Crabs were still left so Blair kept pickin' .  On July 4th she prepared an amazing crab salad, a knock-off of the "crab stacks" offered in lots of restaurants.

Here's her recipe:

Summer Crab Salad

Prepare honey-lime vinaigrette dressing the night before serving. 

Honey lime vinaigrette Dressing:

1/3 c Vegetable oil

1/4 c Apple cider vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar 

2T honey

1/4 c lime juice

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 c fresh cilantro 

1 clove garlic, minced

Blend in blender. Chill overnight. Pour over salad just before serving. 

One cup each of 

-Sliced or diced English cucumbers (small ones)

- red cherry tomatoes, diced

- yellow cherry tomatoes, diced 

- salad greens, chopped to bite sizes

- diced ripe mango 

- diced ripe avocado (squeeze small amount of lime juice over avocado to retard browning)

2 cups crab meat

Using a clear glass bowl, layer ingredients in colorful layers alternating green items with red/yellow ones. Top three layers should be mango, avocado, and crab so that crab is on top of salad. 

Drizzle with honey lime vinaigrette dressing just before serving. 

Just delicious!!!

Pasta Primavera with Arugula

Life has had ups and downs for awhile, some pretty major.  But in all of it, "I'm a lucky woman!", as my mom would say.   I have children who are there for me and, I'm sure, the most amazing grandchildren anyone could have.  When I'm home, I often eat alone.  I decided it was important to still make meals something special, whether I'm eating alone or cooking for friends or family.  I was driving back home tonight from working in Birmingham, Alabama and Greensboro, NC and had a hankering for a really fresh pasta dish.  So I stopped at the grocery store, picked up some pasta, shredded carrots, sliced and washed mushrooms, asparagus, and arugula.  All of these combined with tomato,  olive oil, lemon and a couple of glasses of wine that made, for me, a really fresh dinner...lot's better than picking up a hamburger and fries!

Pasta Pimavera with Arugula 

2 hand fulls of arugula
1/2 lemon juiced (save rind to zest)
1 cup of your favorite pasta 
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup shredded carrot
6 asparagus spears sliced, 1 inch
1 tomato, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper to taste

Arugula

Toss arugula with lemon juice and zested lemon rind...set aside

• Cook pasta as directed on package, drain and set aside
• Bring olive oil to saute temp in saute pan
• Add carrots, asparagus, mushrooms, and saute for 5 minutes adding tomatoes and saute' for another 2 minutes
• Combine vegetables with pasta, seasoning with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes
• Toss pasta and vegetables with seasoned arugula
• Pour yourself a glass of your favorite wine and enjoy!

I'm back! Eastern NC Gumbo

So... a lot has happened since my last post.  My wonderful husband and perfect sampler for my meals lost his fight with leukemia and left us February 1.  I worried that my love for cooking and creating meals would be lost, because my best audience was gone.  He loved that I loved to cook and was so appreciative of my efforts at providing us with special dinners.  I miss him, terribly, when I prepare something that I know he would love.  But, I am so thankful, that I still love the adventure in creating something new.  I do miss his review of the dish which was always a positive one..." Please do this again!".

So here's what happened tonight that inspired me to post again after more than a year.

I had several great leftovers...smoked ham, a baked chicken. chicken gravy,  dried sausage (a NC special), some shrimp, then some celery that was near its end, onion, and green, yellow and red peppers that would have to be thrown out when I return from my trip to Seattle this weekend.

The recipe, and it's kind of open...like I think a gumbo is supposed to be:

Ingredients:

3 tblsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped celery
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, choppped
1 cup green, yellow and red pepper chopped (combined amount)
1 large link dried sausage (I know, you can;t get this, then add any smoked link sausage)
1 12 oz. package sliced okra
1/2 cup white wine
1.5 cups chicken gravy (I guess you could buy already prepared gravy if you don't bake your own chikcen and make your own gravy)
2 cups smoked ham, cubed
2 cups baked chicken, cubed
1 # shrimp
1 cup diced canned tomatoes
2 cups of liquid from cooking corned ham ( a rarity, I know, you could use chicken stock or seafood stock)
2 tblsp. creole seasonings

Heat olive oil in large (really large) skillet or in dutch oven.  Add celery, onion, garlic, and peppers and saute til soft.  Add sausage and saute for 20 minutes.  Add okra and start to sweat.  When the okra gets soft, add the white wine. Saute for another 10 minutes.

Now this is tricky...last night I had baked chicken wrapped in bacon...I used the drippings to make a gravy.  the gravy that was left was used, almost like a roux, in this recipe.  I added the gravy and stirred all together and simmered for 20 minutes.

To this I added the cubed chicken, and ham...cooked together for another 10 minutes, added the tomatoes and the shrimp...cooked for another 30 minutes over medium heat.

I cooked some yellow grits...my sister, Diane and I had the gumbo over the grits, and my son, Joel, had his over some left over rice.

Served with some sour dough bread and a nice Pinot Grigio...I'm happy!!!

Chicken Saltimbocca, Country Kale, Fried Grits

Sorry, no picture!  I fixed this for dinner tonight and was just not prepared for how good each of these dishes would be and what a great combination!  Most of the ingredients I used are probably available anywhere with the exception of the "corned side meet" I used to season the greens.  Corned hams and side meet, I think, are a specialty of Eastern North Carolina.   Acre Station Meat Farm  www.acrestationmeatfarm.com.

So here are the three dishes:

Chicken Saltimbocca

The Greens

2 quarts water
2 pounds of kale
2 strips of corned side meat  or 2 slices of thick slice bacon cut in strips
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• Add corned side meat to 2 quarts of cold water. 
•  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes
• Add greens and pepper flakes; cook for 45 minutes; salt to taste.

The Chicken

• chicken Breasts,  pound to thickness of  1/2"
• Fresh sage leaves, 1 large for each chicken breast 
• Prosciutto slices (1 for each breast)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup chicken broth

1. Place a bay leave on each thin or flattened chicken breast; wrap the breast with the prosciutto; dust with flour.
2. Melt butter in skillet
3. Fry breasts in butter 4 minutes on each side
4. Remove breasts from pan, cover with foil
5. To the drippings in the pan add chicken broth  and simmer until reduced to a nice gravy

The Grits

A couple of nights ago a fried oysters for dinner.  I prepared cheese grits to go with the oysters and had a good amount left over. Wayne, the leftover guru, saved the grits.  Hence, this recipe!

• leftover cheese grits cold, sliced
• butter

Fry sliced grits in butter until crispy on each side (That;s it!)

Serve greens in a bowl with some of the "pot liquor"; place breast and grit cake on plate a drizzle gravy over both.  ENJOY!