Food, Photography and Bons Mots
Every month Blue Cayenne features one post from our archive of more than 350 recipes. Here is a Tomato Galette With Honeyed Goat Cheese, Caramelized Shallots and Fresh Thyme recipe you won’t want to miss…again. Want to dive deeper into our recipe archive? Just click…
Summer tomatoes. **sigh** While we still have some late summer tomatoes in our gardens and stores, here is a beautiful galette that showcases their beauty. It is especially beautiful made with some of those big multi-colored heirloom tomatoes. [mpprecipe-recipe:210] This recipe is adapted…
This is not a pizza.
I know. I know. It sure looks like a pizza and we all know that old duck test: “If it looks like a duck…”
Nevertheless, this is a crostata. A crostata is a rustic Italian baked tart, the Italian cousin of the French galette. This particular crostata is a pizza-like savory “pie” that differs from a traditional pizza in that it has a crust that has the crunch of cornmeal and the flavor of butter. (Not all savory crostata doughs incorporate cornmeal as an ingredient, though.)
This crostata is topped with a goat and asiago cheese mixture, sliced heirloom tomatoes and a generous garnish of fresh basil leaf chiffonade. Pretty wonderful.
My friend Sarah says this is one of the best things I make and Sarah is one of the best cooks I know. Take her word for it and give this recipe a try.
[mpprecipe-recipe:93]
This recipe was adapted from one taught at Sur La Table Cooking School in Costa Mesa. Their classes are excellent. Here is a link to their website: Sur La Table Cooking School in Costa Mesa, California
Did you forget? This is National Lasagna Awareness Month. Funny choice of words, I think. Who isn’t “aware” of lasagna? Speaking of funny (well…sort of funny), this made me laugh. Reminds me of those wonderful classic Steven Wright jokes. If you want to celebrate lasagna…
This salad is a stunner. Couscous laced with black beans, corn, red pepper, green onions and dressed in a lime juice and olive oil dressing… How could that not be wonderful? And, did I mention that it is fast to make? It can…
Here is a wonderful cream of tomato soup.
I’m pretty picky about what I serve to guests and I would serve this soup at a dinner party without hesitation.
Absent distracting spices, the flavor of the tomatoes is pure and intense and the fresh basil leaves subtly complement the tomato flavor.
To my mind, you should only make this soup when you have the season’s best tomatoes. I used heirloom tomatoes from this week’s farmers market. The recipe calls for lots of butter and cream, so this is a recipe to make when you want to celebrate. (You will note the dollops of butter floating in the soup in the photo.)
The recipe is easy to prepare and is better the second day when the basil has had time to infuse itself into the soup.
You will never go back to Campbell’s. I promise.
By the way, Juliet gives this recipe five stars. I moved my soup and props into the den where the light was better to take my photographs. I carefully set everything up on the floor in front of my den window. I shot some photographs but decided that I needed a different napkin that I thought would be better in the photo. As I left the room, I carefully closed the door to be sure Juliet would not help herself to my soup. Juliet, wily pup that she is, had quietly let herself into the room before I closed the door, however. By the time I came back into the room, she was blissfully lapping up the creamy soup. I grabbed my camera and caught this shot of Juliet. I guess I have a little gourmet on my hands. Who knew?
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13113/rich-and-creamy-tomato-basil-soup/?ge&soid=sr_results_p1i2
