How to Peel Fresh Tomatoes

In the past, I've mostly just passed on the whole idea of peeling tomatoes. I mean, I don't mind the skins and I'm sure, as my mother always said, that the skins hold lots of the vitamins and other good-for-you things. But sometimes you want the finer aspect of skinned tomatoes. I would put on a pot of water to boil, cut an x on the blossom end of the tomatoes, then immerse the whole tomatoes for half a minute or so then pull them out, let them cool a bit and the skin would peel off pretty easily. And that works if you don't mind the extra pan and wasted time and energy.

But tonight I'm making gazpacho and pulled out The Perfect Recipe and saw a new way to peel tomatoes buried in the gem of a recipe for gazpacho.

Cut out the stem core a bit with a sharp knife. Anderson says to run the edge of a spoon around on the skin, then simply pull the skin off. Sounded way too easy! But it works! I ended up getting frustrated with switching utensils and discovered the edge of a knife works just as well as a spoon so you can loosen the skin, then go right to the peeling the skin, then chopping the tomato.

Gazpacho recipe to be posted later. I'm not done yet but had to share this tip!

I'm looking forward to the gazpacho though. The tomatoes, cucumber, jalapeno, and garlic all came from my garden and were picked minutes before I started making it. I love that!

Crustless Quiche

Another hit from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, a crustless quiche with chicken apple sausage and apples and sage. I cheated a bit and used all whole eggs rather than half eggs and half egg whites. Mainly because I'm just in it for the good food and not the weight loss! ;) So I don't buy egg beaters.

2 tsp olive oil
1 tart apple, diced
2 chicken apple sausages, diced
pinch of dried sage

4 eggs (or 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of egg whites or egg substitute or egg beaters type thing)
1 15 ounce can evaporated milk
2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 and lightly spray or grease a 9" pie pan or quiche dish.

Heat the oil in and saute the apples for about 4 minutes, then add the sausage and cook another 2 minutes or so. Sprinkle with sage and remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, evaporated milk, and mustard. Stir in the cheese and the apple-sausage mix.

Pour this all into the pie pan and put it in the oven. Bake about 30 minutes. Let it sit about 5 minutes before serving.

Serves about 6 if you don't have big eaters or have a side dish. Salad or just sliced tomatoes go great! We're eating the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow. Mmmm!

Chilled Cucumber Salad

Tonight we had my nephew join us for dinner so I did a die-hard vegetarian dinner. It's a nice challenge because otherwise it's too easy to slip into old habits.

The menu was:

Sweet and Sour Tofu
Bean Sprouts and Garlic
Steamed Rice
Chilled Cucumber Salad

All the other recipes are posted previously so I linked to them. Here's the Chilled Cucumber Salad.

5 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and sliced
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper

Dressing:
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 Tbs diced ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Scoop the seeds out of the cucumber and slice. Put the slices in a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar and salt, mix, then chill for 30 minutes.

Mix the dressing ingredients together.

Drain the cucumber slicees and squeeze any excess liquid. Pour the dressing over and serve.

Butterflied Roast Chicken

I love roast chicken but sometimes it's hard to get a whole chicken to cook evenly without paying a lot of attention. I've hard great luck if I bother to turn it partway through or take the time to baste it periodically, but sometimes I just want to pop it in the oven and forget about it. I'd heard about butterflying a whole chicken for more even (and faster) roasting and finally got around to trying it. It worked great! I had a 5 pound chicken so roasted it just under 2 hours. A smaller bird, about 3 pounds, should be done in about 45 minutes. Not only does it cook more evenly, but it's easier to rub some flavoring under the skin where it can really flavor the meat rather than just the skin.

First, cut the backbone off the chicken. You can use a nice sharp knife or kitchen sheers. Then flatten it with your palms a bit. If you don't want to make a pan sauce or gravy, line a shallow roasting pan with foil for easier cleanup. Put the chicken down on the foil. Put the back along with the neck and gizzards into a saucepan and cover with water to make broth. See below.

For the simplest preparation, pull back the skin from each leg and thigh and sprinkle with salt and pepper and maybe an herb if you'd like. I made a paste of lemon zest, garlic, fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper and used that. Loosen the skin around the breast and do the same thing. Put the skin back, then rub with olive oil or butter.

1 tsp minced or grated lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
juice from 1/2 a lemon
3-5 pound whole chicken

Roast at 450 F until mostly done (30 minutes for a 3 pound chicken, more for larger). Squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the skin, then put back into the oven and cook until done.

You can also easily roast vegetables in the same pan at the same time. Toss some halved red potatoes, halved onions, chunks of carrot or whole baby carrots, and/or chunks of cauliflower with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put the potatoes cut side down in the pan and scatter the other vegetables around the chicken. They should be done after about 45 minutes so if you're cooking a larger bird, like I did, just add them halfway through.

Use any leftover cooked chicken for chicken salad or burritos or fried rice or soup.

Chicken Broth
Oh, the broth. Put the the chicken back, neck, and gizzards in a saucepan. Add half a carrot, half an onion, some peppercorns, and a stalk of celery or just the leaves for some extra flavor. (For more broth, just set aside the chicken parts in the refrigerator until you're done with dinner then add the bones from the rest of the chicken to the neck, back, and gizzards. )Cover with water and let it simmer an hour or so, let cool a bit then strain. Put in a wide mouth jar in the refrigerator overnight. The fat will rise to the surface and solidify. Scrape it off before making soup or freezing your broth for later.

Hobo Hamburgers with Country Bob's Sauce

I made these again tonight. I had been sent some samples of Country Bob's Sauce and I added it to the hobo hamburger recipe. Mmmmmm. The sauce is like A1, dare I say, but a bit sweeter perhaps. Quite good! And I always like finding alternatives to the big names. If you want to try it out yourself, you can get a coupon for a free bottle when you sign up for their newsletter. They've got some yummy sounding recipes on the site as well.

Stir Fried Beef, Bean Sprouts, and Spinach

What a disappointment. Very bland and boring. I don't normally post negative reviews but this was just blah.

Another Chicken Curry Recipe

This was a bit of a combo from a Rachel Ray and a Jacques Pepin, so what do you call that?! My earlier chicken curry recipes have all been great, but I always like to experiment. I wasn't sure I'd like the tomatoes but I think this was one of the best curry recipes I've made.

Rachel Ray contributed the curry powder and the mango chutney. Jacques Pepin contributed the coconut milk and curry paste. (Yep, I did both curry powder and curry paste.)

This served 2 adults with one huge lunch portion for leftovers, so call it 3-4 servings.

2 Tbs oil
4-6 chicken tenders (maybe a pound altogether)
1/2 an onion, cut in half and then sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp curry powder
1 12-14 ounce can of unsweetened coconut milk
1-2 tsp curry paste
1 can diced tomatoes since I didn't have fresh ones handy
1 Tbs dried basil (would be better with 1/4 cup fresh)
Major Grey's mango chutney on the side

Start your rice cooking. For 3-4 people, I usually use 1 cup rice and 2 cups water, plus 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook 20-25 minutes. If it gets done before the curry is done just turn the heat off and let it sit a bit.

Heat the oil in a pan at a medium heat.

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Obviously you could use pretty much any boneless chicken parts. I'd just bought a bag of chicken tenders by mistake so that's what I used.

Add the onion and garlic to the heated oil and cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the curry powder and cook another minute.

Add the coconut milk and stir, then stir in the curry paste. (You can use red or green curry paste, depending on how hot you like it. Red works for me.) Cook another few minutes, stirring.

Add the chicken and cook at a simmer until the chicken is done, about 4-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook till heated through. Alternately, you could add peas or bamboo shoots or.... Stir in the basil.

Rachel Ray had you mix in the chutney. I prefer to serve it on the side. It adds a nice sweet counterpoint to the potentially spicy curry, but serving it on the side lets everyone control their own meal.

Slow Cooked Salmon

I have made this salmon from Fast Food My Way several times and it never fails. It is incredibly moist and good--and totally easy. It's great for entertaining because you can get it all ready, then pop it in the oven about an hour before you want to eat. The only disadvantage is because the oven is on so low you can't really cook anything else in it. I served this with roasted red potatoes that I cooked in the convection oven, cabbage and corn salad, and a spinach salad that a guest brought. Oh, and the mango salsa that I love with salmon.

Jacques Pepin says you can cook it right on your serving platter but I didn't have one as large as the salmon I cooked last night, so just cooked it on an oiled jelly roll pan. I forgot the herbs this time and it still came out great.

1 slice bread
1/4 cup hazelnuts
1 tsp oil
2-3 pound salmon fillet (skinless, boneless)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh herbs (a mix of parsley, tarragon, chives, and chervil)

Combine the bread and hazelnuts in a food processor and process until ground together.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Oil your platter or pan with 1 tsp oil and put the salmon on it. Sprinkle with half the salt and pepper, then turn over and sprinkle the other side with salt and pepper. (Mine had skin on it last night so I just cooked it skin side down.) Sprinkle the hazelnut breadcrumbs over the top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. He likes it slightly rare so says 45 minutes. I like mine done so do an hour.

Pepin has a salsa mayonnaise recipe to go with it (sun dried tomatoes, salsa, mayonnaise, and chives) but I served my favorite mango salsa with it.

Cabbage, Corn, and Red Pepper Salad

I always like to try at least one new recipe when I'm having people over. Since I always have plenty of food, if something flops we'll still eat well. I need not have worried last night. This salad from Pam Anderson's Perfect Recipes for Having People Over was delicious! I put a bit less corn in it just because I only bought 4 ears. She said to use about 6 cups but that seemed like a lot. Now having had the salad though, I'd go with the full amount next time.

4-6 cups fresh corn, cut off the cob
1 12-ounce bag of coleslaw mix
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup sliced green onions
1 15-ounce can black olives, sliced
6 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
about 3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes' worth of juice)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and toss. I did everything ahead of time except the oil and lime juice, then added those right before serving.

It was a pretty and delicious salad, very colorful and with an excellent flavor!

Chicken Quesadillas Recipe

I often make chicken quesadillas for dinner when I have some leftover cooked chicken. The other night I had cut up a whole chicken into 10 pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and then cut each half breast in half as none of us eat a whole breast piece). Tonight, I pulled the meat off the leftover pieces. (I would normally save the bones and wings for making broth but I am overloaded on broth in the freezer right now!)

I took the meat and diced it, then put it in a saucepan with some red taco sauce and water. Basically, I emptied the bottle of "red taco sauce" then filled it halfway with warm water, shook it, then poured that into the pan with the chicken.

In the past, I've simmered leftover cooked chicken with cumin and chili powder or green chili sauce. But tonight was a hands-down winner. The red taco sauce added just the right amount of spice (but not too hot).

After the chicken had simmered a bit (20 minutes?) with the sauce, I started the quesadillas. Buttered one side of a flour tortilla and laid it down in a medium hot skillet. Spread some chicken across half of it, then some grated cheese. (I had a Mexican blend but have used just plain cheddar in the past.) Folded the tortilla in half and then cooked until lightly browned. Flipped over and lightly browned the other side. Put it on the cutting board and cut in quarters.

I made up some guacamole with half an avocado, a pressed garlic clove, and some lime juice and salt. We had that, some sour cream, and salsa at the table as well.