Blue Cayenne

It’s October already and time to start thinking of cold weather comfort foods. 

Nothing fits that bill quite like beans.

This recipe combines Rancho Gordo alubia blanca beans with generous quantities of parmaesan cheese and chile crisp for a stewed bean dish perfect for those colder nights you spend in your bathrobe with a good book. Here is the link to the Rancho Gordo site and these great beans : Rancho Gordo.

This recipe based upon one that appears in Nagi Haehashi’s new cookbook Delicious Tonight. You can order the book through your local bookstore or from Amazon here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

Marian Burros has died. She developed the famous Plum Torte recipe that ran for years in The New York Times Cooking Section.

It is a wonderful recipe. It would be perfect to make right now as this year’s plum season winds down.

Here is Burros’ obituary. Hers was a life well lived. 

Marian Burros’ Obituary.

Here is a link to an article about the torte: Marian Burros’ Plum Torte.. The article includes a link to the recipe but here is a direct link: Marian Burros’ Plum Torte. 

Who doesn’t need a fast spaghetti recipe that uses the ever-available cherry tomatoe?

This is that recipe. It makes a pretty presentation, too. 

Who to thank, though, for the yearlong availability of cherry tomatoes. It is a contentious question.

First, thanks go to the Incas and Aztecs. Food historians believe that cherry tomatoes are closely-related to the wild tomatoes of Mesoamerica and western South America. Those wild tomatoes, which grew like clusters of grapes, are believed to have provided the genetic foundation for all modern tomatoes. The indigenous people of Mesoamerica and western South America domesticated the wild tomatoes. The Aztecs called the little fruits xitomatl, the base for our modern word tomato.

In modern times and with modern cultivated and commercialized cherry tomatoes, there is argument. 

The European Union has recognized the Greek Tomataki Santorini as the original modern iteration of the fruit, giving the little tomatoes PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status in 2013. The tomatoes have been grown on Santorini island since at least the 1860s and, in the early 20th Century, paste made from the tomatoes was the primary export from the island.

But wait! The Israelis also claim to have originated the  modern cherry tomato in their labs in the 1970s, creating the shelf-stable, sweet and comercially viable little tomatoes we enjoy today. 

You pick the winner. 

Cherry tomatoes are a treasure in the vast wasteland of off-season blah tomatoes. In season, they are even better. 

This is a delicious recipe from Six Seasons Cookbook by Joshua McFadden. You can buy the book from your local bookstore or from Amazon here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.