Mozzarella and Tomato Bruschetta
I grew up in a household where we used a lot of processed, prepackaged foods. We made a lot of things from mixes, or from canned condensed soup. We would have never even considered buying anything but Skippy peanut butter, or Best Foods mayonnaise, or that round mozzarella cheese that comes shrink-wrapped.
I still love most of the foods I grew up with. I can’t help it, and it’s probably the same for most of you. It’s only natural to love the foods from your childhood.
But recently, I finally realized there was more out there. That I could eat better than that. That I could make things from scratch, which I’ve been doing for the last couple of years, but more importantly that I can buy quality food. Really, really, really good ingredients.
Last month, several things happened to open my eyes to this:
Andrew Wilder, a new food blogger that I met on the train in Seattle as we were both going to IFBC, decided to make October the month of unprocessed foods, and involve all sorts of bloggers in it. It was pretty awesome seeing this happen – when I first met him he explained to me how he was a really new blogger, trying to find his way in the world of food blogging. And then after the conference, after our plane touched down at LAX (we had the same flight back), we discussed his idea as we walked to the baggage claim area. He called it October: Unprocessed. And although I didn’t fully participate, it made me a lot more conscious about how I eat. Holy cow, I used to eat a ton of processed foods. He helped me become far more aware of that
I went to BlogHer Food. The conference was great and all, but what really moved me were my friends there. Jen, Todd and Diane, Shauna and Danny (and Lucy of course!), Penny, Molly, Anita, Aran, Irvin and AJ, and so many more… These are all people whose work I look at, and it’s all so inspiring. These people love food… and it shows in their blogs. I wanted to be able to love my food as much as they love theirs.
But most importantly, the one thing that made me want to completely overhaul the way I eat and cook were my Uncle Walter and Auntie Lydia. We stayed with them for a week after BlogHer Food was over. These people eat so well. Not only do they know of some excellent restaurants in their area, they also have a kitchen (and a good bit of their garage) filled with all sorts of fantastic food that they cook into excellent meals.
So my food habits have slowly begun to change. I shop at Whole Foods and the farmer’s markets more often than the grocery store I used to frequent. I’m demanding higher quality. I’m willing to spend a little more to eat better, because not only does it taste better, but it’s also better for me.
This simple recipe is an example of that. The tomatoes and mozzarella are from the farmer’s market, the bread was from Whole Foods. And it’s delicious.
In other words, fancy pizza.
Ingredients
Cooking Directions
- Thinly slice the French bread.
- Top with slices of mozzarella cheese and roasted cherry tomatoes.
- Toast on the ‘dark’ setting, or until cheese is bubbly. Or bake at 400°F for 5-10 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Roasted cherry tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes are purty. Especially when they come in all colors, and sit so temptingly on a table at the farmer’s market.
So pretty.
I couldn’t resist them. But once I had them at home… well, I had to do something with them.
And so tasty.
So… I roasted them. Quick, easy, and it brings out the bright summery flavors, which are more than welcome in this tempramental fall we’re having in Southern California, that can’t decide whether it still wants to be summer or would rather jump ahead into winter.
Did I mention how pretty they are?
But what did I do with them once I roasted them? Well, you saw them as a side with the sake-steamed black cod that I made… and if you peek over at Sushi Day you’ll see a deconstructed cocktail sauce I made with them… and in a day or two you’ll get to see what else I made with them. Good stuff.
Son couldn’t stop taking pictures of them.
Ingredients
- cherry tomatoes
- kosher salt
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Slice each tomato in half. Place on baking sheet, cut side up. Salt.
- Roast for about 30 minutes, or until they are oozing their liquids and just starting to shrivel, but not burning.
Pan-Fried Corn and Asparagus
BUTTER.
I do love it so.
Especially when browned and used to fry my favorite types of vegetables and ohmygoodness yum.
Ingredients in the Raw
And Momofuku? My Dad got me the cookbook for my birthday. As I read through the book, every page or so you’d hear, “Ohmygosh, they have a recipe for [insert something I've always wanted to learn how to make here]!!!”
I was beyond excited. So when Son came home with some fish for me to cook for dinner (I made it with a miso marinade that I’ll be posting soon), I knew I just had to make this recipe for asparagus from the book.
Which I did. And we ate it all up. And then I made it again, to eat with the sake-steamed black cod that I made, except this time I tweaked the recipe just the tiniest bit to add corn, and didn’t make the miso butter (or use the poached egg) that the recipe from the book included.
Believe me. You want to make this. You WILL make this. *jedi hand-wave*
Shaving the asparagus
Tip: In the book, the recipe says to peel off the outer layer from the bottom couple of inches of asparagus. But I’m lazy. And I’d never done this before for asparagus, so I figured it was one of those little things that you could probably just skip.
Don’t do what I did. Don’t skip that step.
The bottom half of each stalk of asparagus ended up stringy, and I actually had to spit it out a couple of times because I just couldn’t chew it up. I know. Ew. So take the extra time to peel it – the asparagus will be infinitely better than if you don’t. And it really doesn’t take all that long anyways. Trust me on this one.
Pan-frying the corn
Adapted from Momofuku, by David Chang and Peter Meehan.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 3 cobs of corn
- 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter
- salt
Cooking Directions
- Wash the asparagus, trim off the bottom 1-2 inches of each stalk.
- Peel the skin off the lower 2-3 inches of each stalk of asparagus.
- Using a sharp knife or a corn shaver, carefully shave the kernels off the three cobs of corn.
- Melt the butter in a large, flat pan.
- Add the asparagus to the butter, allowing all pieces to lay flat on the pan. Don’t crowd the asparagus – if they don’t all fit, do it in batches.
- Let fry without moving them for a few minutes, or until they begin to brown on the bottom. Salt the asparagus, then flip and brown the other side.
- Once the second side has browned, remove the asparagus from the pan and add the corn kernels.
- Fry, stirring, until the corn begin to look transluscent and a beautiful golden-brown.
- If you’d like, you can chop the asparagus into thirds.
- Enjoy!
Sake-Steamed Black Cod
If you read the interview with the guys from I Love Blue Sea that I posted on Sushi Day a few days ago, you’ll recall that I snuck off with a top-secret black cod recipe…
Okay, so they willingly gave me the recipe. But still. T’was top secret before I got my hands on it. Really. (At least, that’s what I tell myself… 
)
(And if you haven’t read the interview… well, why not? It’s good stuff. Don’t worry, we’ll wait right here while you go read it…)
Ingredients for the Sake-Steamed Black Cod
Son and I have recently become huge fans of black cod. We probably eat it at least once a week. So of course there was no question that we had to try this ‘top-secret’ recipe.
Top-secret means it’s got to be amazing, right?
Yes.
It looks so simple and innocent. Doesn’t seem like anything all that special, from looking at the ingredients. (Kind of like a good top-secret spy should look, right?) I mean, sake, ginger, green onion, salt… there’s nothing fancy about that, right?
Then it comes out of the oven, and you unwrap the foil… and an amazing scent ninja-kicks you in the face and makes your knees go weak. It totally sneaks up on you. You never saw it coming… never had a chance.
The buttery flesh practically falls apart at the merest touch of your fork. It has the essence of sake and a hint of ginger, without the bitterness of spirits or the harsh bite of the medicinal root.
No exaggeration… I would consider this to be the best cooked fish I have ever had. And probably one of the best things I have ever personally cooked.
You have to make this. It’s amazingly good… and ridiculously easy. Really there’s no excuse not to.
The black cod, straight out of the oven
I estimated all the amounts, so you can add more or less to your tastes. A 1 lb fillet was enough for Son and I, with enough leftovers for an additional meal, so plan accordingly.
And if you’re wondering about the sides – the roasted cherry tomatoes and pan-fried asparagus and corn, not to worry! Those recipes will be posted soon.
Ingredients
- 1 lb black cod
- kosher salt
- 4″ fresh ginger, peeled and diced into small cubes
- 6 stalks green onion, chopped
- about 1 cup sake
Cooking Directions
- Rub the fillet with salt. Wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Rinse under cold water, then place on a sheet of foil large enough to seal around the fish.
- Douse with the sake, then top with the ginger and green onion.
- Wrap the black cod loosely in foil, leaving a little airspace, and seal tightly so the sake won’t spill out.
- Bake for about 30 minutes. Actual baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your fish, so check to see if it will flake easily with a fork and bake longer if needed. It should flake very easily when done.
- Enjoy! Serve with rice and kimchi, or with pan-fried vegetables like I did.
I’m no chef. Heck, I’m not even that great of a home cook. Most of the things I make (aside from sushi) are from cookbooks or other blogs or recipe sites… it isn’t often that I come up with a recipe all on my own.
But sometimes, a recipe idea will just walk up and kick you in the face and force you to run with it. Even if you have no idea whether it will work out or not.
That’s what happened here.
Roasting the vegetables in the oven
I was at my dad’s, working on my garden in his backyard, and we were barbecuing for dinner. We had decided to make vegetable skewers – onion, grape tomatoes, mushrooms…
One taste of those grilled grape tomatoes and I knew I had to try them in spaghetti.
So I went home, tossed some grape tomatoes, chopped onions, mushrooms, and some garlic with some olive oil and stuck it in the oven.
And voila! The perfect, fresh, flavorful spaghetti sauce. The roasted grape tomatoes burst when you press your fork down on them. Add some spaghetti noodles and some garlic bread, and you’ve got a perfect summer meal.
Roasted vegetable spaghetti!
Ingredients
- 1 cup grape tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 4 cloves – 1 head garlic (depending on how much you like garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- dash of salt and pepper
- spaghetti noodles, cooked
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Toss the grape tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Roast for half an hour.
- Top spaghetti with roasted vegetables. Enjoy!
