Aug 20 2010

Tomato Basil Phyllo, Fillo, or Filo Tart

The Tomato Basil Phyllo Tart recipe was definitely a keeper as well. It was my 2nd favorite of the evening.

Chef Terese gave us some tips on how to go about defrosting the phyllo dough. She suggested defrosting it in the fridge overnight. The important part is to keep it moist when you are working with the dough – it dries out really fast. She used damp towels to cover the sheets she wasn’t working with. A student asked why you can’t just put it on the kitchen counter to thaw and she explained that it becomes a big, clumpy mess. The layers all stick together.

Below is a photo of the beautiful tart before cooking.

The Ingredients:
7 Sheets of Phyllo – thawed
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter – melted
1/2 Cup Grated Parmigiano
1 Cup Onion – very thinly sliced – she used sweet white and kept them in their raw form
1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
Heirloom Tomatoes – cut into 1/8 inch thick slices – enough to cover the baking sheet – she used 3 large – 8 Roma could be substituted.
1/4 Cup Fresh Basil Leaves, cut into a chiffonade – This is accomplished by stacking the basil leaves – or any herb leaves, rolling them tightly, then cutting across the rolled leaves with a sharp knife – this produces fine ribbons.
Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

Brandy Wine, Vintage Wine and Black Pineapple Heirlooms were sliced for the tart. Chef Terese suggested laying the slices on stacked paper towels to help absorb any extra juices – you don’t want them super moist. – You can then collect the seeds off the paper towels to grow your own heirlooms. Yep, totally see that happening, hah!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a large half sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking oil spray or brush with vegetable oil. Lay one sheet of phyllo (She used The Filo Factory – Organic Filo Dough) onto the parchment and brush with butter and then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of Parmigiano. No worries if it tears a little while brushing with butter – the phyllo layers are stacked – the only important one is the top layer… and even that will be covered with the tomato slices.  Repeat the butter/cheese process with the remaining 6 layers – pressing down the layers so they stick to one another.

Scatter the top with the thinly sliced onions and top with the mozzarella. Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer over the phyllo, onion, and cheese slightly overlapping the tomatoes.

Sprinkle top with basil and salt and pepper. A tip for the basil – soak the basil in water for an hour so it won’t turn black while cooking in the oven.

The colors were so vibrant – I hoped that they would look as pretty when they came out of the oven and they were. Bake the tart until phyllo is crisp and golden brown – approximately 30-35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

The tart looked amazing out of the oven. Chef Terese was able to use a spatula to just slide it right out of the pan onto her prep board. She then cut it into rectangular pieces for us to taste.

I could have eaten the entire pan. The butter flavored flaky crust… combined with the sweetness of the tomato – OMG, so freakin’ good! Even though there was 1 cup of shredded mozzarella and a 1/2 cup of Parmigiano, the heirlooms were the star.

My Dad asked if I was going to be digging up the lawn in the backyard to plant my heirloom tomato garden – too funny. I think I’ll stick to letting the pros take care of the growing. I’ll just keep buying them at the food co-op, Nugget Market and Whole Foods. I might need a second job to fund my new heirloom habit, but I’m o.k. with that. 🙂

Tomato lover? Tomato hater? Do tell…

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=922

Aug 18 2010

Grilled Salmon w/Cherry Tomato Compote

The Grilled Salmon w/ Cherry Tomato Compote recipe was by far my favorite of the evening and deserves the first tomato recipe slot.

I can’t even explain in words how incredible this dish was.

Salmon Ingredients and Prep:
Four 6 ounce salmon fillets
Zest of 2 lemons
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Sea Salt and Pepper

Coat the salmon well with olive oil, lemon zest and salt and pepper. Chef Terese explained that it’s o.k. to leave the skin on the salmon before grilling. She starts grilling with the skin side down. By the time you are done (10 minutes per inch thickness of fish) the skin will be crisp and just fall or peel right off.

Crappy photo due to the lack of light outside by the grill, but you get the idea.

Chef Terese’s assistant coated the grill with high heat cooking spray and then grilled the salmon over medium-high heat for 9 minutes per side. She thought the fish was just shy of an inch.

Chef Terese then grabbed the bowl of Purple Cherokee, Sun Gold and Green Grape heirloom cherry tomatoes to start the Cherry Tomato Compote.

Cherry Tomato Compote Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons good olive oil – she used Organic Apollo Extra Virgin Olive Oil – about $20/bottle.
2 Teaspoons minced garlic – about 2 cloves
2 Pints whole heirloom cherry tomatoes
2 Tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 Teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
Pinch of dried chili flakes
1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives – If you don’t like kalamata olives,  you can use any type of olive.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan large enough to hold all of the tomatoes in a single layer. Add the garlic to the oil and cook over medium heat for 30 seconds.

Add the tomatoes, herbs, salt, and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5-7 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to lose their firm round shape. Chef Terese actually used the back of a big wooden spoon to smash some of the tomatoes in the saute pan.

Add in the olives and chili flakes and season with sea salt and pepper.

Top the grilled salmon with several spoonfuls of the cherry tomato compote and garnish with fresh basil.

The dish was so good, it deserved two photos – different angles – hah! The medley of cherry tomatoes combined with the saltiness of the kalamata olives was out of this world amazing. People at our table that weren’t big salmon fans, raved on and on about the dish. The only bummer was that there weren’t pieces of bread on the table to soak up the sauce – yes, it was that delicious. This would be the perfect meal to cook for a small dinner party. You could also easily substitute chicken for the salmon if you aren’t a big fish/seafood eater.

Do you guys like when I post recipes from the cooking classes I take? I know they don’t have the same level of prep detail shots that my other posts have. In the 4 classes I’ve taken, only 1 other person has had a camera.  The chefs don’t mind at all, but it feels a little awkward to get photos of the prep stuff.  Once the table I’m sitting at finds out why I’m doing it, they encourage me to go up to the front, they make sure I get a good sample for the photograph and they kind of giggle that everyone else is done with their samples while I’m still trying to perfect the perfect angle for the blog photo. I also get photo tips from people, it’s pretty funny.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=905

Aug 17 2010

Tomato Summer Tour 2010

I took another cooking class and this time it was all about heirloom tomatoes. Before class, the only thing I really knew about heirloom tomatoes was that I loved eating them, they were expensive and a bitch to grow. I walked away with a lot more knowledge and 4 awesome recipes that I will be sharing through posts.

Tomatoes do really well in Sacramento, CA due to the awesome climate. The co-op gets their heirloom tomatoes from 5 local farms. I’m going to look into touring one of the farms – I think it would be a lot of fun.

We got a double-sided fact sheet that outlined many different heirloom varieties with photos for easy identification. I don’t know about the easy part – some varieties were a bit challenging to identify – even for Chef Terese.

Between recipes, Chef Terese cut into a few with a really cool serrated knife – perfect for tomato cutting. I didn’t get a good photo of that, bummer.

The first heirloom up for tasting was my favorite of the bunch.

The Black Pineapple

The Black Pineapple is a Belgian tomato variety that features smooth fruit in a kaleidoscope of colors. When sliced, it reveals bright green flesh with deep red streaks. It has a sweet, smokey flavor with a hint of citrus. This one was served plain. I definitely noticed the sweetness and the little hint of citrus, it was really good.

The second tomato that we tasted was a Brandywine. I didn’t get a good photo of that one. The co-op guide said that it is a pink Amish variety from the 1880’s and has received cult status among heirlooms. It is legendary for it’s exceptionally rich, succulent tomato flavor. I thought it tasted a sweet. Chef Terese served this tomato plain as well.

We then got to learn the differences between salts. 99 cent salt, kosher and regular sea salts and finishing salts such as fleur de sel. The fleur de sel is a hand harvested sea salt. It was slightly damp in the jar and runs anywhere from $10 – $50 – but lasts a long time since you only use it as a finishing salt. I kind of felt like I already knew a little about the finishing salts because my girlfriend Deede and I spent an entire afternoon on the hunt through Napa and Sonoma looking for a special finishing salt for a macaron recipe she was making.

The next heirloom up for tasting was The Striped German.

I loved this one too. It was served with extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and fleur de sel.

Next up was the Vintage Wine heirloom.

The Vintage Wine was a deep pink with golden streaks – hard to see because they were on the outside. Chef Terese added fresh ground pepper and fleur de sel to the oil. The flavor was incredible, but I still liked the Black Pineapple the best.

We also tried a Black Brandywine heirloom with Gustosella Mozzarella Di Bufala, extra virgin olive oil, and fleur de sel. The Mozzarella was made from water buffalo milk raised in Campania – a region in Southern Italy. The cheese was super soft and a perfect pairing to the rich flavor of the Black Brandywine. Chef Terese brought the expensive stuff and it was obvious that I don’t normally by the “good stuff” – hah! – Note: I will be splurging now.

Chef Terese consulted with one of her sommelier friends about what type of wine would pair well with the heirloom dishes she prepared for the evening. Her friend suggested a Pinot Noir Rose – so they poured a Moniz Family Wines Pinot Noir Rose from Napa. I don’t generally like Rose wines, but I did like it paired with the dishes we tasted.

One of the assistants talked a little bit about her Heirloom tomato garden and explained how heirloom tomatoes are hand-picked and not cross-bred. Chef Terese and the assistant both talked about how you can save the seeds and grow your own. There were a bunch of gardeners in the class and apparently it’s been a bad year for heirlooms in this area. I think a lot of it is because our weather has been all over the place.

I went on wikipedia and looked up some of the other heirloom names and descriptions from our heirloom fact sheet. It’s so interesting to see how they came about and the names are very creative. One of the students in the class mentioned the “Mortgage Lifter”  – he talked about a guy selling the seeds to his popular tomato that resulted in him being able to pay off the mortgage on his house. I did a little more research and found an article about the tomato on Veggiegardener.com.

I think I’m in love with the history behind some of the tomatoes and how they got their names.

The recipes for the evening also included  Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Marvel Stripes, Purple Cherokees, Sun Gold Cherry and Green Grape Heirlooms.

I think my fear of cooking fish is over – there is no way I’m not going to make the salmon dish we had last night. Let me just throw out “Spicy Cherry Tomato Compote” as a little clue. Freakin’ amazing!

I had a great time learning about something new – Check me out – You Say Tomato! I say Tomahto. Stay tuned for the recipes.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=890