Updated BLT

I say updated mainly because I (and my family) hardly follow rules of tradition when it comes to food. And also because we were lacking the L of the BLT, and because I wanted to add some A(vocado) to my sandwich. And really, who doesn't love avocado? on everything? really?

The bread: Cheddar Cheese Roll from Cazuela's Bakery, which makes a weekly appearance at our local Farmer's Market.

The B- bacon. duh.

The S- its actually spinach.

The A- avocado. yum.

The T- fresh tomato from the farmer's market (from the same farm as the green tomatoes in early post.)

Needless to say it was delish. Served with a side of pickled cucumbers with red onion and dill, made by my parents with cukes and dill fresh from our backyard garden.

Fried Green Tomatoes on a Sunday Morning

Maybe because I love the movie too much, or maybe I'm just incapable of turning down pretty produce and food, my new favorite summer tradition is definitely a fresh batch of fried green tomatoes on Sunday morning. Every Saturday morning (when I'm at home with the fam) we head over to one of the local farmer's market, aka heaven. Everything just looks so absolutely delish.

While picking through the tubs of ripe tomatoes, I ran across a few beautiful green tomatoes, and then- LIGHTBULB! Fried Green Tomatoes. yum, how good would that be? and even if they didn't taste all that good, these green tomatoes were just too pretty to pass up.

So now, two weekends in a row, I've cooked up fried green tomatoes for breakfast/brunch for my family. Last weekend, I had a friend visiting from England, and she was a bit confused by the idea, but once she tasted them, well there was no more of that nonsense.

These are definitely a must in the summer time. And they're perfect topped with a fried egg and basil (sort of like a southern eggs benedict- ish).

Fried Green Tomatoes

serves 3-4 people

Ingredients:

2-3 green tomatoes, or even somewhat reddish tomatoes that still have that hard feeling of unripened green tomatoes

2 eggs

cornmeal or flour (I've used both, and I think I like flour best)

seasoning as you prefer (salt, pepper, anything else you want)

oil

Slice the tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick, and lay out on paper towel to dry out just a bit.

Beat the two eggs in a bowl or dish, and spread the cornmeal or flour (with any seasoning) into another dish.

Heat oil until it splatters a bit when you drop a bit of water into it.

In assembly line fashion, dip tomato slices in egg, then cover in flour/cornmeal, and then drop into oil.

Let tomatoes sit 1-2 minutes each side, or until golden brown. Flip, let sit for another 1-2 minutes.

Remove tomato to a plate covered in a paper towel to let dry and absorb some of the excess oil.

Repeat with the rest.

Can be eaten however you choose, but I'm really feeling the tomato topped with a fried egg (over-easy), topped with some basil, or some dill, any other fresh herb you prefer.

And then.... EAT!

cornmeal, topped with basil, some grilled toast, and fresh strawberries and blueberries from the farmer's market

flour, topped with dill- and it's happy to see you!

(get it? cuz it looks like a smiley face)

Postmodernism= gross, Cobbler= fantastic

So I was doing some homework last night, reading a book on postmodernism. As with all assignments where I had to deal with postmodernism (which come along way more often that I would prefer, thank you humanities), I was growing frustrated and irritated and my eyes were beginning to drooooop. Sitting at my desk, I thought to myself, "what could possibly make this better?" And then it hit me, like the giant pile of library books sitting on my shelf: cobbler.

That's right, cobbler! When I think of cobbler I think delicious peach cobbler baked with fresh fruit from the roadside stand on the way to the beach, lounging in the sun, and enjoying all that is summer. Unfortunately its still March, I'm stuck inside, and definitely not at the beach. I do, however, have some blackberries and strawberries in my fridge, just begging to be eaten.

I kind of improvised this recipe, since my standard cobbler recipe is in a cookbook at my parent's house. And also because the first recipe that popped up after a quick google search required self-rising flour. Self-rising flour?! Who uses that? Probably a lot of people, actually, but not me. After all, this is just a tiny apartment kitchen, I can't stock everything.

Blackberry and Strawberry Cobbler

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup milk

small dash of vanilla

1/2 stick butter

blackberries and strawberries (or whatever fruit you prefer)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a medium baking dish while the oven is preheating. (Doing this now also means you don't have to butter the dish separately).

Mix the berries or other fruits with 1 tbsp sugar.

Mix together the other dry and wet ingredients. (You could also combine the melted butter here, rather than melting the butter in the baking dish).

Pour the batter into the baking dish, and top with the fruit.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until the cobbler looks golden brown and/or the smell is just too irresistible.

Let cool. Serve with ice cream or ice cream. (or all by itself, if you've recently depleting your entire supply of ice cream during mid-terms week.)

Also, please ignore all the sugar coated on top of the cobbler in the picture. That one recipe I looked at said to sprinkle sugar on top in the last 5 minutes to crystalize the top and make it crunchy. Lies! The sugar just serves to show everybody else how much of a pig you are. Great in theory (ugh, theory, how you frustrate me), bad in practice.

I'm Back!

It has now been approximately a decade and a half since I last posted anything on this blog, and its high time I return to my duties! In the intervening time period, I have traveled abroad, living in Greece for 4 months and traveling all over Europe (and even briefly into Asia), made a few trips out to California, lived in the woods while working at a summer camp, and finally returned to my new and improved college living situation. How is it new and improved, you may ask?.... Because.... drum roll please.....

It has a kitchen!!! A full kitchen! That's rights, ladies and gents, your humble starving scholar is kitchenless no more. This is very very good (being able to cook real food at any time), but also very very bad (a slowly progressing exchange of cooking instead of homework).
Which brings me to my second announcement. As was originally intended for this blog, I will be working out bits and pieces of my Keystone Project (consider it an undergraduate thesis), on the role of women in the culinary realm. Now don't fret, I won't get all philosophical on you (or at least I hope not), but there may be more discussion (hopefully) than there was before. But, as I think its very important for me, as someone writing about women in the culinary realm, to understand the subject, I intend to actively participate in said field. Therefore, there will be plenty of cooking, and plenty of eating. And hopefully some good recipes and photos to share.

So, welcome back to my blog! And forgive me in advance for the delays between posts that I am positive will occur more often than any of us would like.

Until next time,

Bon Apetite! Happy Eating!

Locally Grown Inspiration

Shopping in Whole Foods yesterday, I was taken by the large amount of local lamb meat in the meat section. And, as I am heading out to Greece in just over a week, I figured it might be time to practice making lamb. And even more importantly, I'm totally for buying local when possible.

We bought a 2 lb. butterflied leg of lamb. At home, I rubbed it over with 1 clove chopped garlic, about a tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary, 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme, and sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper. Then evenly rolled and tied it. This part was a little tricky, and my dad took charge and did most of it. Then I seared it on all sides in a grill pan over high heat, before putting it in roasting pan in the oven at 375 degrees with some quartered redskin potatoes for about half and hour, checking the interior temperature until it reached 125 degrees.

Let me just say it made a pretty freaking good meal: Roast lamb, roast potatoes, and steamed green beans.

The local lamb meat came from the Wagon Wheel Ranch in Mount Airy, MD, from free range, naturally fed livestock. And to think, we may have been eating one of these little creatures.