I know it’s a bit of a cliche for a food blog to have a post about roasted tomatoes, but I don’t care. I’ve had a batch of tomatoes roasting in the oven for about 6 hours now and the smell is driving me crazy. I have nothing else on the brain but those tomatoes…how many I’m just going to pluck off the sheet and eat, how many I might have on a toasted rustic deli roll from Acme Bread Company, how many I’ll try to save for a creamy pasta sauce, and how many will vanish every time Rourke cruises by the tray as it’s cooling. Argh, WHY must they take so long to cook?!?!

The first summer I tackled roasted tomatoes I was overwhelmed by the number of blog posts about it. I imagine it’s only gotten worse. Everyone has their own favorite method — cut side up or cut side down? 200 degrees F for 8 hours? 175 degrees F for 12 hours? 350 degrees for 4 hours? what herbs and seasonings?

After some trial and error of my own last summer, I’ve settled on my preferences:

• I like San Marzano tomatoes.

For the most part, you need to use a roma-type tomato, i.e. one that is fleshier than it is juicy. Otherwise the juice in the tomato will take forever to evaporate.

I’ve tried cherry tomatoes and they don’t work as well for me. Too much skin or something.

• I roast them cut side up.

Seems like if you roast them cut side down, some like to call this tomato confit. I didn’t bother trying this method because if you do it this way, you’re supposed to slip the roasted tomatoes out of their skin after you pull them out of the oven. That is too much work for me. Messy-sounding, too.

• I use whole peeled garlic cloves, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. Then drizzle olive oil all over it — a few tablespoons worth. If you intend to store any of these tomatoes I would drizzle a little more, since you can use the oil to cover the tomatoes in the jar.

• I roast them in the oven at 225 degrees F until they look like the below picture. Usually about 7 hours or so. If I start to get impatient, I crank the oven up to 300 degrees F around the 6 hour mark. I would love to try the 175 degrees F for 12 hour thing, but I just don’t have the patience for that. Some folks put it in the oven at night before they go to sleep and deal with it that way, but I’m just a big wimp when it comes to fire safety and won’t leave the oven on like that overnight.

• Always use a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Do not use aluminum foil.

Rimmed baking sheet so that your olive oil doesn’t run all over the place, and

Do not use aluminum foil, as it will react unfavorably with the acid in the tomato. I’ve never tried this myself to test this theory; it’s one of those things that I’ll just trust. I would cry many, many tears if after 7 hours of roasting tomatoes they tasted bitter.

• To store, discard the thyme sprigs and put the roasted tomatoes and any garlic cloves in an airtight, glass container. Add enough olive oil to cover. Allegedly, it will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, but they’ve always found their way into someone’s belly before that. Keep in mind that in a day or two the oil will solidify. It’ll liquefy again if you put the container out at room temperature.

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They’re a healthy snack. They can be used to great effect in either savory or sweet dishes. Mmm… carrot cake. And carrots make great pickles.

Jar of Spicy Pickled Carrots

The canned jalapeños come with carrots. They're not as good as mine.

Spicy Pickled Carrot Sticks

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
4-5 whole pickled jalapeño peppers*
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 1/4 C water
3/4 C white vinegar
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup white sugar
3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 Tbsp salt

1. Toast the cumin seeds in a dry skillet, over medium heat, for about 3 minutes.

2. Add the cumin seeds, water, white vinegar, cider vinegar, sugar, garlic, bay leaves, and salt to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Simmer for about two minutes.

3. Put the carrots and jalapeños in a glass or metal bowl and pour the hot brine over them. Cool, uncovered, to room temperature. If you’re planning to keep the carrots in a glass jar, you can do this right in the jar. An empty pickle jar is handy for this project, but far from necessary.

4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. They’re ready to eat after one day.

* Is it cheating to use pickled jalapeños? Maybe. You could certainly use fresh peppers. Or just about any other veggies. But I like the flavor of the pre-pickled ones in the can. And if I’m short a little brine when I put everything in the jar, I’ll top it off with brine from the can.

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I’ve been to Marrakech, but this recipe was inspired by “pastures” closer to home: a restaurant in Potrero Hill called Baraka. Although I haven’t been in years and it closed in 2009, this one dish sticks in my tastebuds.

A combination of Mediterranean and North African flavors, you get creamy, tangy goat cheese with lusciously soft onions, earthy, aromatic cinnamon and allspice and a little heat from a few grinds of black pepper – all on top of crunchy, crusty bread. I seem to recall some dish-licking and lip-smacking the time we first ordered this.

But, you say, this dish involves turning on the oven in the summer! If you have these concerns, you don’t live in my town. San Francisco summer means it’s foggy and cold at night. Perfect weather for something warm and savory!

For the rest of you experiencing “normal” sultry summer weather, you might want to save this dish for the fall. Or, on a cool summer evening, this bruschetta would be mouthwatering served with a Mediterranean-inspired salad. You can heat it briefly in a toaster oven to minimize any additional warmth in your house and to keep your air conditioner from blowing a fuse.

In Moroccan cuisine, t’faya seems to be a sweet-savory sauce/condiment with caramelized onions (onion jam!) – it can top couscous or be served with a tagine. Traditional ingredients include cinnamon, allspice, saffron, black pepper, ginger, sugar and turmeric. It’s not clear to me, though, if t’faya is what you call the condiment, or any dish that uses it. Anyone know? I couldn’t find a lot of information about t’faya, but bastilla kept coming up in online searches for Moroccan cuisine (mmm, bastilla).

Goat Cheese & Moroccan Onion Jam Bruschetta

- makes about 8 large toasts –

½ T olive oil
3 T water
1 large yellow onion, halved and then sliced
¼ c golden raisins
1T plus 1t honey
¼ t cinnamon
1/8 t allspice
pinch black pepper
pinch salt
4 oz. round of goat cheese
Slices of French bread, toasted

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat olive oil and add sliced onions. Stir to coat. Add 1T water and cover. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring infrequently, just to check to make sure nothing is burning. You want to sweat the onions. Add 1-2T more water as needed and cook about 5 minutes more, until onions are soft. Add honey, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, salt, raisins (see instructions below) and stir. Heat through.

While onions cook, put raisins in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, just to cover. Let them soak and plump up, about 10 minutes.

In a small ovenproof dish, place the round of goat cheese and top with the warm onion mixture. Bake in the oven or toaster oven (so you don’t heat up your entire kitchen – it IS summer) for about 10 minutes, or until the goat cheese is soft.

Serve warm, with pieces of toast.

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When at the market, I often find that the best tomatoes are the ones that smell the most like tomatoes. I know it sounds odd, but the nose does know which tomatoes will taste the best!

Eating corn and tomatoes out of hand is quite a lot of fun, however there is a more refined way to enjoy these summer delights together – in a salad. Just chop them into bite size pieces, add fresh herbs, apply a little seasoning and voila, you have a lovely salad that makes the most of summer’s bounty.

Shown served on bread.

Summer Salad of Fresh Tomatoes and Corn

1 lb fresh tomatoes
2 ears of fresh corn, cooked (approx 1 ½ cups kernels)
½ of a medium red onion (optional)
1 T minced fresh herbs – basil, oregano or thyme
2 T extra virgin olive oil

For tomatoes, heirlooms are best in this recipe because their juice combines with the olive oil to create a lovely dressing. Ripe cherry tomatoes are a good second choice.

Chop tomato(es) into small pieces and place in a medium sized bowl. Next cut corn from cobs and roughly chop to separate kernels. Add to bowl.

Mince red onion and add to bowl. Mince herbs and add to bowl. Drizzle salad with olive oil and generously season salad with salt and pepper. Stir salad to combine and let sit at room temperate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Do NOT refrigerate before serving as cold degrades essential flavor compounds in tomatoes.

Serving suggestions:
1) topping for toasted bread
2) side dish for grilled meat
3) as a light supper, add crumbled feta or mozzarella cheese

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In commemoration of this, during Passover, we don’t eat anything made with “chometz” — wheat, rye, barley, oats, or spelt that has not been completely cooked within 18 minutes of touching water. Essentially nothing where one of the five grains might ferment, that could even possibly, theoretically, maybe, kinda sorta lead to leavening. Leavening is a no-no. Instead, we eat special ceremonial cardboard called matzah.

Salmon gefilte fish with beet horseradish.

Ashkenazi Jews, those of eastern European descent, which includes the vast majority of Jews in America, pile on a slew of other dietary restsrictions during Passover. No corn, rice, lentils, or beans. No products made with any of those things. No corn syrup. No tofu. No soy sauce (triple whammy… soy beans, wheat, and fermentation. You’ll get kicked right out of Hebrew school for that).

Oddly enough, despite all these limitations, Passover is the source of some incredibly rich culinary traditions, and some of the foods most strongly identified with Jewish culture in America.

High on that list is gefilte fish. And by request.

“Gefilte” means stuffed or filled. In its earliest form, gefilte fish was made by removing all of the meat and bones from a fish through a single incision in the belly, grinding the meat and mixing it with vegetables and seasoning, and then stuffing it back into the fish to cook. I’ve never actually seen this version. Usually, the ground fish is mixed with onions, carrots, eggs, and matzah meal, then shaped into balls or patties and boiled in fish stock made with the bones and head of the fish the meat came from. My aunt (and her aunt before that), has always made them two ways — the traditional boiled version and another version where the balls of fish are baked. I always preferred the slightly dry, non-slimy baked version.

Sadly, most people only ever see the gefilte fish that come in a jar or can these days. And fewer still try them. Not that I blame you if you’ve passed up the slimy balls of fish dripping with fish jelly. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

This recipe replaces the traditional carp, pike, and whitefish with salmon. And instead of using all fresh fish, it mixes fresh salmon with smoked salmon, at a 5:1 ratio. After either boiling or baking, there’s just a mild hit of smoke and salt from the smoked salmon. Perfect with a squeeze of lemon and some homemade horseradish.*

Salmon Gefilte Fish
Adapted from The City Cook
- serves 8 -

1/3 C water
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/3 C Passover matzah cake meal (flour would work if you’re not concerned about keeping kosher for Passover, but would be less authentic)
2 large eggs
1 tsp kosher salt
1 medium onion, cut into large pieces
1 carrot, peeled, cut into large pieces
1 1/4 lbs fresh salmon, diced
1/4 lb smoked salmon, diced
1 tsp fresh dill
1 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp prepared white horseradish

8 C fish stock or water for boiling (you can substitute 1 C white wine)

1. Bring the 1/3 C water and 2 Tbsp of olive oil to a boil in a small sauce pan. Remove from heat and whisk in the matzah cake meal or flour.

2. Return the pan to medium heat and cook for 1 minute, then beat in the eggs one at a time. (This is kind of like making pate a choux, or choux pastry, the delicious and clearly not Passover-friendly pastry in eclairs and gougeres). Add in 1/2 tsp of salt, then remove from heat.

3. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil to a skillet and saute the onion and carrot over low heat until tender but not brown.

4. Put the onion and carrot into your food processor, and pulse a few times, until they’re cut into small pieces, but not quite pureed. Then add the fresh and smoked salmon, and pulse a few more times. Then add the egg/matzah cake meal mixture from step 1 and pulse a few more times again. You’re looking for a coarse paste consistency, and it’s definitely better to have some lumps or chunks of fish still than to have a liquid. Think tuna salad consistency, not hummus.

5. Move the whole mixture to a separate mixing bowl and stir in the lemon juice, horseradish, dill, and a half tsp of salt. Just like when you’re making meatballs, this is a good time to form a small patty and cook, either in the oven at 350 or in the stock/water if you’re boiling, to test for seasoning. If you want to add salt, this is the time to do it. The original recipe was fairly low on salt, and I know we added some, but I didn’t measure, so you’ll have to taste. It may depend on how smoky your salmon is.

6a. If baking, line a tray with parchment paper, and scoop out small balls of the fish “dough” like you were making cookies. Using a fork, flatten them a little bit, so they’re more like thick patties than mounds of dough. You can pack a bunch on the tray, since they won’t expand too much. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. They should look dry, but not brown more than a little on the edge, if at all.

6b. If boiling, bring the stock or water to a simmer in a wide pan, so that the liquid is about 2 1/2″ deep. You can try to shape fancy quenelles using two spoons, or you can use your cookie dough scoop to make balls of dough that are about an inch and a half around. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then remove to a wire rack or a plate or pan lined with paper towels to drain.

7. Either serve warm or store in the refrigerator to serve chilled.

* (Try this simple recipe for bicolor horseradish from Firefly in San Francisco).

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A) Farro is an ancient grain that has been eaten in Italy for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.

B) People disagree on what to call it. To some it is known as emmer, others say it’s a kind of spelt, and then there’s another group that insists farro is its own unique species of wheat.

C) There’s an Italian institute for “underutilized species” that has compiled everything you’d ever want to know about farro in a short paper (that’s right, get your geek on).

Here’s how I learned to cook farro: soak it overnight (like you would for dried beans), then simmer it for 7-10 minutes, finally drain it and then let it steam. The result was a fluffy, slightly nutty grain with a gentle toothsomeness that is familiar yet unique.

I prepared this first batch of farro as a warm salad and the recipe that follows is similar to an Italian-style fried rice – it’s quite versatile and very satisfying.

Preparing the farro:

6-8 hours prior to the meal:
1) Rinse 1½ cups of farro in a couple of changes of water until little residue remains.
2) Soak farro in 3-4 cups of room temperature water for 6-8 hours.

At meal-time:
3) Drain farro from soaking water.
4) Simmer farro in 3-4 cups of lightly salted water for 7-10 minutes, until just al dente.
5) Remove from heat, drain farro and then return to pot. Farro should be covered and left to steam for another 5-7 minutes,

Warm Farro Salad
- serves 2-3 as a main course, 4-5 as a side -

3 cups farro prepared as outlined above
4 strips of bacon – thick cut is best
1 large leek, chopped, rinsed and dried
2 small carrots, chopped
4-6 ounces of button mushrooms, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 TBS of chopped fresh herbs – I used oregano
2 TBS of extra virgin olive oil

Cut bacon into small pieces and cook in large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet and set aside. Remove skillet from heat and pour off all but 1 TBS of bacon fat. Return pan to heat and add leek, cooking until translucent (4-5 min). Add carrots and cook for 3 more minutes until just tender. Add mushrooms and cook until softened, another 2-3 min. Make a well in center of skillet, add 1 tsp of oil and fry garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add farro and toss to combine with all ingredients in skillet and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and add remaining olive oil, tossing to coat. Serve in bowls and garnish with herbs and bacon bits.

Suggested variations:
1) Can easily be made vegetarian (vegan, actually) by omitting the bacon and beginning by adding 1 TBS of olive oil to skillet instead of bacon fat. Garnish with toasted pine nuts for crunch and protein.
2) Easily accommodates any complementary group of veggies such as sundried tomatoes and spinach or roasted red peppers and onions.

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I’m cursed by a total inability to cook the “magical fruit” from scratch. Every time I try, I end up with rock-hard nubbins that would be better as pebbles on the bottom of a fish tank than dinner.

Fortunately, there is a wide selection of the canned variety at the store.

While I like bacon as much as the next girl, I don’t miss meat ONE BIT when eating this bean gratin: creamy beans in a savory sauce, topped with crunchy bread crumbs and salty cheese. You have got to try it – healthy, hearty, cheap and easy. Hard to beat.

How did this delectable bean dish enter my life? I ordered a similar bean gratin at Nopa one night, years ago. Since then, it’s become one of my favorite dishes at the restaurant, even as it changes to incorporate seasonal ingredients. I wanted to try replicating it at home but I was nervous about making the right sauce. Then a friend of mine mentioned a dish she had at Ubuntu and a recipe for the dish in the New York Times… and although that dish is more of a soup, the flavors seemed right, so I adapted it to make this bean gratin. The results = good.

I chose butter beans — big, creamy beans — for the recipe. Apparently they are in the lima bean family, but they are pale yellow and much larger and softer. Lima beans originated in Lima, Peru. Who knew, though I guess it should have been obvious.

The butter beans I bought at the grocery store (in a can!) were from Italy (wait, I thought they were Peruvian!). A true staple of the cooking of so many cultures, beans have traveled all over the world, so they seem to “come” from everywhere. In a past life, I did some PR work related to beans and nutrition and learned a bit about beans’ history and culinary trends. (I know it’s a “commercial” site, but the papers on the “professional” pages are really informational and pretty interesting.)

In total, this recipe took me about a half an hour to prepare from start to finish. Serve with a green salad for a quick weekday meal.

Giant Butter Bean & Feta Gratin
- serves 6 -

olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 large rib celery, diced
1 large leek, white and green parts only, diced
1/3 of a head of garlic, minced
1t red chili flakes
1T fresh rosemary, minced
1 28-oz. can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes,* drained and chopped + about 2-3T of the tomato juice
2 14-oz. cans butter beans
2T fresh parsley, chopped
salt & pepper
feta cheese
dry bread crumbs

Saute carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, chili flakes, rosemary and a pinch of salt and pepper in a few tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven until vegetables are just starting to soften. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, beans and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mixture should have a little liquid, like the beans are in a tomato sauce — not a soup. Add more tomato juice if needed, or simmer to reduce the liquid.

Fill individual ceramic or clay dishes (that you can put in the oven) with about 3/4-1 cup of the bean mixture (whatever fits). Sprinkle generously with crumbled feta cheese and about a teaspoon of dry bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil to moisten the bread crumbs. Broil about 8-10 minutes or until the topping is slightly browned.

* San Marzano are meaty plum tomatoes.

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I’m always looking for good, healthy alternatives to rice and couscous. Bulgar has more fiber, vitamins and minerals – plus it’s low in fat. More importantly it requires very little cooking and is served at room temperature! Commonly used in Mediterranean, Turkish and Middle Eastern dishes, bulgar has a nutty flavor and is produced in different grinds – #1 fine, #2 medium, #3 coarse and #4 extra coarse. The finer grinds take less cooking time than the coarse grinds. Usually the ratio is one (bulgar) to two (water, stock or broth) but sometimes the coarser grinds will require a little more liquid. Bulgar is so versatile! It can be a great side dish or used to make kibbeh (mini football-shaped minced meatballs coated with bulgar), pilaf, salads, tabbouleh, etc.

We were having several people over for dinner and I didn’t want to worry about the dishes getting cold or taking the time to make sure the rice was cooked properly. My sister-in-law gave me a recipe for figs stuffed with bulgar and cranberries, but I wanted more of a side dish instead of an appetizer so I decided to make the recipe heartier. Recipes with bulgar vary with some saying to boil the water or stock and others saying to let it soak for a few hours. I chose the latter option. It’s much easier and it tastes just as good!

Cranberry Bulgur with Figs
Adapted from The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey by Janna Gur
- serves 10 as a side dish –

1/2 cup or approx 4 ounces Bulgar wheat (I used #2 medium)
1 cup water (can substitute broth or stock)
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup grated carrots
1/4 chopped fresh chopped mint
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
3-4 tbsps toasted, chopped peacans
2-3 tbsps pomegranate concentrate (plus extra for serving)
As many figs as guests

1.  Soak bulgar in 1 cup water or stock for 4-5 hours until it swells and softens. If in a time crunch, you can add the water to the bulgar and cook in the microwave for a few minutes, then allow it to cool. I didn’t do this option so you’ll have to experiment.
2.  Mix the bulgar with all other ingredients except for the figs. You may do this in advance and keep it in the refrigerator.
3.  Sprinkle bulgar with a little pomegranate concentrate and serve with figs.

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