peach cobbler

Peach Cobbler
adapted from Take a Little Thyme

1 stick butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt
1 cup whole milk
3 cups peaches sliced with skins removed or other fruit

Preheat oven to 350*
Melt butter in a 9"x 13" pan on stove.
Combine butter, white sugar, flour, baking powder, and milk to make a batter.
Pour batter over melted butter.
Combine peaches and brown sugar.
Pour fruit and brown sugar mixture over batter.
DO NOT STIR.
Bake for 1 hour.

Serve with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

garden tomatoes

I really didn't think I was going to have any tomatoes this year, but this is a volunteer. I had about 20 volunteer tomato plants due to bad composting on my part and several of them have a lot of tomatoes on them. Maybe enough cherry tomatoes for one of my favorite recipes adapted from Alice Water's cookbook Fanny at Chez Panisse.

Cherry Tomato Pasta

2 baskets cherry tomatoes (about five cups)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 small handful basil
1 small handful Italian parsley
salt and pepper
1 pound dry linguine
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (recipe below)

Boil a large pot of water.
Slice the tomatoes in half and put them in a big bowl.
Add the olive oil and vinegar.
Chop the basil and Italian parsley and add to the tomatoes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir it all together and let sit for awhile.

Cook the noodles about 1-2 minutes less than the cooking time.
Drain them and add to the bowl of tomatoes.
Pour in breadcrumbs.
Mix well and serve, sprinkling the bread crumbs over top.

Bread Crumbs
This works best with day old bread. (In Louisville, I think the best bread is Blue Dog)
Cut the crusts of several slices of bread and cut the bread into chunks.
Place in a blender or food processor until crumbs are crumb-like but coarse.
Place fresh bread crumbs on a cookie sheet and toast at 350* until browned. This doesn't take very long, maybe about 5 to 7 minutes in a preheated good oven (unlike mine).
Toss with olive oil until breadcrumbs are lightly coated but still crunchy.

broken camera...

My dog ate my camera battery charger, so here is something I made a few weeks ago along with a recipe.


The Most Amazing Pasta Sauce Ever
My mom told me about this recipe over the phone and I have been wanting to try it forever. I think it's originally from the Silver Palate. Maybe?

Ingredients:
1 onion cut in half
1 28 oz. can tomatoes (I used about 3 really large tomatoes from the farmer's market, cored and cut up in hug chunks. You can remove the skins if you would like by placing the tomatoes in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them and then peeling them.)
1 stick butter

Melt the butter in a small heavy pot. Add the onion, cut sides down. Add entire can of tomatoes or cut up tomatoes and a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter. Simmer for about 45 minutes. Season to taste.

I served this over really good meat ravioli from Lotsa Pasta. I think it would probably be good with just about anything.

it's been awhile...

I love the summer. I love tomatoes and to be completely honest I think that's why I love the summer. A nice juicy heirloom tomato with salt is my idea of a good time. But, I can't really find it in my heart or stomach to like squash and unfortunately the only things actually growing in my garden are squash and when squash plants are close together they cross pollinate and you get weird squash that you don't even know what to do with. Now that's my predicament. But I did find a recipe from the local CSA for zucchini pickles. Most people wouldn't even dare, but they are surprisingly delicious.

Zucchini Pickles

2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground mustard seed
2 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 onion-halved and sliced thin
1 pound zucchini-thinly sliced (kind of like pickles)

Combine the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, cloves, mustard seed, celery seed, ginger, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. (It will be stinky). Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Bring the mixture back to a boil and add the onion. Cook for 1 minute. Add the zucchini slices and stir, pushing them under the liquid for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Put in mason jars and store in the refrigerator. If you know how to can things, go for it. I still am not so good at it, so I just put them in the fridge to eat over the next few days.

These pickles went with this delicious burger, on homemade milk and honey bread with farmer's market tomatoes and onions. I got the meat from Fiedler Family Farms. It's the best. They're at the Bardstown Rd. Farmer's Market on Saturdays.