Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Tomato

Since starting a DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension) eating style I've gotten into the habit of posting recipes for the meals I've eaten that past week. It's been great! But when I began this blog, I had hopes that I would be able to write and reflect on the methods of cooking, the history of certain foods and their culinary accessories, and gain more experience in the field of food photography.

Well, I've certainly been able to post a lot of pictures. I am grateful for my handy little Canon Power Shot. It makes my life so much more exciting and adventurous, both inside the kitchen and out.

For the last year or so, I've been posting my photos on Etsy. This last week, one of my food images made the cut.

Check out "Let's Make Salsa" and a "At Home in the Kitchen," a treasury (an Etsy collage) inspired by this photograph.
















When I was younger, I remember learning that tomatoes were once thought to be poisonous because of their bright red color. I was also correctly instructed that a tomato was in fact a fruit, not a vegetable. To brush up on my tomato lore, I mosied on over to Wikipedia where I was not disappointed. [Please note that Wikipedia is not an academically-reliable source, but a super fun place to glean random and sometimes-useful information].

The Tomato, a History

The Tomato, a member of the nightshade family, is botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable for culinary purposes. Tomatoes originate from South America. The fruit was transplanted to Europe by either the Spanish explorer Cortés in 1521 when he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, or by the infamous Christopher Columbus in 1493. Regardless, the earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in an herbal handbook written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomo d’oro, or "golden apple."

Tomatoes grew easily in Mediterranean climates, and began being cultivated the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, and was certainly being used as food by the early 17th century in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, however, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration before it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century. [3]


I hope you've enjoyed that brief history lesson and artsy endeavor.
Go find a tomato and eat it!



Saturday, August 13, 2011

Birthday Tamales and Rhurbarb-Strawberry Cheesecake





My birthday is later this week. To celebrate, I invited some friends over to make tamales. I've been wanting to make tamales for a while, but needed an occasion to justify how long they take to assemble and steam!

I'm still DASHing things up, so I found a recipe on mayoclinic.com. They turned out pretty well for having no animal fat and almost zero sodium. 
Tamales

18 dried corn husks, plus extra husks to make ties
2 cups fresh corn kernels or frozen kernels, thawed
2 cups masa harina
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon white vinegar
5 tablespoons canola oil






Green Peppers
Red, Yellow, Orange Peppers
Purple Onions
Olive Oil 
Chicken, pre-cooked and shredded
Black Beans, canned or dry, soaked and cooked ahead of time
Lime
Cilantro
Chili Powder
Garlic

1. Place the corn husks in a bowl of water to soften for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse well. Pat dry and set aside.

2. In a food processor, process 2 cups of the corn kernels until coarsely pureed.

3. In a large bowl, combine the pureed corn, masa harina, lukewarm water, baking powder, vinegar and oil. Mix until well blended, using your hands if necessary.

4. Chop and saute peppers, onion, and garlic, 6 to 8 minutes. 

 

5. Douse black beans with lime juice. Add chopped cilantro, chili powder and garlic.

6. To assemble a tamale, position soaked corn husk on counter with pointy end facing you. Place 3 tablespoons of masa mixture in the center of a soaked corn husk. Flatten with your hand and form a small well in the center. Add 1 tablespoon of the sauteed vegetables, beans, chicken to the well. Overlap the edges to surround masa and innards. Fold the pointy end up and tie shut with a thin strip torn from an extra soaked husk.  


7. In a large pot fitted with a steamer basket, bring 2 inches of water to a boil. Make sure the tamales are standing upright in steamer basket. Cover and steam until the filling becomes firm and the tamales are heated through, 50 to 60 minutes. Add more water as needed.

 










8. While the tamales are steaming, make the salsa. I made two different types.

Tomatillo Salsa: 
Using a food processor, combine the tomatillos, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno and 1 teaspoon vinegar.  

Tomato Salsa: 
Using a food processor, chopped cilantro, green peppers, onions. Add tomatoes (either one large can of stew tomatoes, low sodium, or 4 medium fresh tomatoes), hot pepper, 1 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp vinegar. Process briefly, until well blended.

 9. When tamales are done, allow to cool for a few minutes.

10. Garnish with sour cream, queso fresco, avocado, salsa.


















Rhubarb Strawberry Cheesecake

1 and ½ 8oz packages of cream cheese , softened
8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2 large eggs
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vinegar

Four stalks of rhubarb
A dozen strawberries
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp  water

2 cups rolled oats
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F

2. Heat oats, oil, sugar, flour and cinnamon in small pan. Press into spring form pan. Cook for 15 minutes at 350°F.

3. Make filling while crust bakes: Beat cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium high speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, lemon juice, and vinegar and mix at low speed until combined.

4. Chop two rhubarb stalks and half the strawberries. Heat in small sauce pan with small amount of water, until tender.

5. Spray top edges of spring-form pan with non-stick spray. Pour 1/3 of cheese cake batter over crust. Spread ½ of fruit on top. Then pour another 1/3 of cheesecake, followed by the remainder of the fruit. Pour the rest of cheese cake batter and place in oven. Bake until top is slightly brown and puffed around edge but still trembles slightly when pan is shaken gently, approximately 50-60 minutes. Cool before serving.

6. Cook the remainder of the rhubarb with 1 Tbsp brown sugar and a small amount of water. Spread over cheesecake once cooled. Garnish with fresh strawberry halves.









Special Thanks to my souf-chefs: Esther, Josh, Jen R, Heather, and Jen D!



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