blue_dolphin

Leftovers from the other night's dinner, served on pasta. Grilled zucchini, tossed with pesto and served over spaghetti dressed with stewed tomatoes and a sprinkle of Parmesan. All from Deep Run Roots, where the squash was served on a pool of stewed tomatoes - no spaghetti involved in the original.

Olive Oil-Braised Chickpeas and Swiss Chard with Cumin from Melissa Clark's Dinner The recipe says to serve the beans & greens in a bowl, spooned over the toast. I thought this was easier to eat!

I have an 11" diameter pizza screen that fits easily on the wire rack/shelf inside the oven. My 12" diameter screen is a smidge too large to sit on the rack, it can slide into the grooves in the oven wall that support the shelves and I have used it that way but it's really not stable and can tip from the front or back. The inside dimensions of the baking tray are ~ 9" x 9.75" so baking an average sized batch of cookies will take multiple batches. On the other hand, if you keep some frozen cookie dough on hand, you can have a few freshly baked cookies in a jiffy. The other thing to be aware of with respect to the baking tray that comes with the CSO - it's only ~ 1" deep, so not really suitable for something like brownies but they can certainly be baked in 8" or 9" square pans or round cake pans up to 10"

Using the Stewed Tomatoes (p 270) I mentioned in my last post, I made the Grilled Squash, Basil Pesto and Stewed Tomatoes (p 346) This is thick slices (1") of summer squash, grilled and tossed with basil pesto, served on stewed tomatoes, topped with shaved Parmesan and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I had this plate for my dinner with a crusty roll. As written, it's more of a very flavorful side dish but put this on top of grits or polenta and it would make a solid main course.

Following @kayb's recommendation, I made the Stewed Tomatoes (p 270) and used them in the Stewed Tomato Shirred Eggs with Ham Chips (p 55) I completely concur with her recommendation. I also used the recommended substitution of prosciutto instead of country ham. Aside from my usual difficulty of overcooked yolks in baked eggs, this was excellent! My prosciutto took about 20 min to reach that shatteringly crisp stage vs the 12-15 min in the book. And the eggs were more cooked than I wanted when I checked them at 7 min into the 10-12 min cooking time, maybe because I used steam-bake in the CSO instead of a regular oven. The stewed tomatoes taste great. This recipe absolutely shows off the flavors of good summertime tomatoes. I peeled the tomatoes (not mentioned in the recipe) and diced them (per the recipe) and since I had lovely ripe tomatoes, they pretty much disintegrated into a chunky sauce. Next time, I may dice a few and leave some in larger chunks. Or not - it's a nice sauce, just not exactly what I expected. You can tell in the jar that I used a mix of yellow and red tomatoes: I'm tempted to try a batch with just yellow tomatoes although yellow tomato stuff sometimes looks insipid instead of special!

Here's my 2 cents on the watermelon rind pickles. I liked them and will make them again. I liked the combination of ginger, star anise and citrus peel. Just used up the last of them on a sandwich: leftover Day-at-the-Beach pork roast, grainy mustard and watermelon rind pickle on a crusty roll. Yum! However, they are a sweet condiment and I recall your mentioning that you don't care for sweet pickles so it may not be your thing. Me, I like something like that with cured meats or spicy sausages. If you decide to try them, consider just a small batch....maybe just enough to try those bacon-wrapped watermelon rind pickles over on the next page ? When I make them again, I'll probably also do a small batch. Instead of peeling the melon, I'll cut it into good sized (3-4 inch thick) slices, cut out the flesh and then use a sharp knife to trim the green rind off the outside. I might not end up with the same sized pieces shown in the book, but I'm sure they'll be fine. When I made my first batch, I had a really thin rind (1/2" or less from the outer rind to the flesh) on my baby watermelon so I had to cut it into little flat slabs, maybe around 2" square and ~ 1/4" or so thick. They ended up being good to put on a sandwich just no good for wrapping in bacon!

What a great gift! Vivian says it's as much a storybook as a cookbook so I hope you'll enjoy both aspects. When I first got the book last fall, I was drawn to the summer chapters and used late season produce to make a bunch of corn, tomato and peach recipes. I was delighted with them but thought I'd put the book aside until summer came around again. Then, in March, I delved into the cool weather ingredients when the book was chosen for a cookbook club I'm in. Once again, I was delighted, this time with her use of things like rutabaga, sweet potatoes, turnips and collards. I look forward to your reports!

Thanks for that report. I've been wondering if that would work as well as the little fellas.

Dinner from Deep Run Roots. Day-at-the-Beach Pork Picnic with Peach & Melon Salsa p 455 Corn on the cob - Boiled in a Big Pot with Coconut Ginger Butter p 226 Assorted Squash Pickle Salad p 343 I bought a pork picnic roast on sale and was going to cook it as I usually do in the Instant Pot. I bought the smallest one they had but it was still too dang big and I was too lazy to cut it up so I decided to try this recipe - 4-5 hrs in the oven, after seasoning with salt, brown sugar and ground cumin. No big revelation - came out nice and tender as nice fatty pork does I'll portion out the leftovers for pulled pork, etc. The Peach & Melon Salsa is excellent. If your peaches and watermelon are really ripe, the salsa is not going to hold up for next-day leftovers but the flavors are great. I'd make this on its own to serve as a side or with chips. I might add a jalapeño instead of the chipotle pepper in adobo but it was great as is. I didn't boil the corn in a big pot (for a small # of ears, I microwave in the husk) but otherwise followed the recipe. Perfect sweet corn doesn't need any adornment in my book but I still really liked this. The cooked corn gets tossed with a mixture of coconut oil, butter, fresh ginger, orange zest, lemon juice, salt and a little hot sauce plus a sprinkle of scallions and mint. All the ginger and other flavors complement the fresh corn rather than covering it up. A winner. The zucchini pickles have been in the fridge for long enough that the color from the red onions has all vanished into the brine but it all still tastes good. I wish I had some okra, I bet those Okra Oven Fries would have been just the ticket with this!

Roasted Sausage & Cauliflower with Cumin and Aleppo Pepper topped with garlic-yogurt from Melissa Clark's Dinner.

Fusilli & Roasted Cauliflower with Capers from Melissa Clark's Dinner p 190. This recipe adds a spoonful of butter, along with garlic, lemon zest and juice and zest, toasted pine nuts and grated cheese. The butter contrasts nicely with the sharpness of the lemon and capers - half of which get roasted along with the cauliflower. Nice variation on something I usually make without a recipe.

Aldi has 12 packs of Ball pint jars for $7.49 and wide-mouth quart jars for $9.99 listed in this week's advert. I just stopped in an picked up a pack of each. I don't think that's the lowest price ever but it's better than what's on offer at most of my local stores. Edited to add that they were a curiosity in the check-out line. The checker and the people ahead and behind me all wanted to know what I was going to do with them!

More beans on toast. White beans tossed with almond pesto topped with sweet potato mostarda from Deep Run Roots. Watermelon on the side.

Spaghetti with almond pesto, roasted asparagus & red bell peppers. Yesterday, I made an almond pesto for another dish. Tonight, I put it on pasta with some vegetables. The pesto has almonds, olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, orange juice and zest, nutmeg, chili flakes, honey and lemon juice. It worked well here. I think I'll freeze the rest in ice cube trays while I think of other uses.

@kayb - Love the corn/tomato combo! Have you tried the Roasted & Fresh Tomato Pie recipe from Deep Run Roots? I loved it, but it was my first and only tomato pie ! No corn in that one, but I'd love to hear your expert perspective if you've made it.

A variation on the Slow Cooked Chickpeas on Toast with Poached eggs from Ottolenghi's Plenty More For ease of eating, the egg went on the chickpeas with the toast on the side instead of all piled on the toast as in the book.

More peach treats from Deep Run Roots - this one is the Country Ham-Wrapped and Roasted Peaches p 456. Peach wedges get wrapped in thin slices of smoked country ham (I subbed prosciutto) and roasted. They're served on gingered goat cheese (goat cheese, buttermilk & grated, fresh ginger) with a drizzle of balsamic honey and a sprinkle of sweet & spicy pecans (the recipe calls for Viv's Addiction but I used my own pecans based on these Spicy Sweet Walnuts. Very decadent.

Perfect Peaches with Almond Pesto from Deep Run Roots p 448 Vivian says, "Because these peaches have only a few nuts to hide behind, don't make this if you don't have fragrant, ripe, perfect peaches." Happily, it's perfect peach season around here so I figured I should try it. My almond pesto looks a bit darker and murkier than the version in the book but it still tastes delicious. In addition to the expected almonds, olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano, it's flavored with orange juice and zest, nutmeg, chili flakes, honey and lemon juice. I look forward to trying the leftovers with pasta. The recipe says to toss the peach wedges with amaretto. I forgot but went back and drizzled some over the peaches and it adds a nice touch, as do the fried sage leaves. Very nice with a glass of fino sherry.

Those slices look as though they came from some very big boys indeed!

Smashed White Bean Toasts with Roasted Asparagus and Sumac from Melissa Clark's Dinner The beans are mashed with garlic, lemon juice & zest. The sumac was a nice touch.

I finally got around to trying the Cocktail Tomatoes with Brown Butter Scallops (p280) that @Shelby reported on here. I mentioned earlier that I made a half batch and used smallish (2-2.5" diameter) Celebrity tomatoes and I peeled them first. With all the ground spices in the mix, I thought the jar looked more like an aquarium sludge science experiment than anything edible: Looking directly down into the jar is a bit better but still,, I was a little scared of it and with Shelby's slightly less than enthusiastic review, I ended up leaving them to marinate for 2 weeks before I was brave enough to cook with them and make the scallop dish. Happily, I really enjoyed it. The tomatoes are sweet, spicy, garlicky and vinegary with the cumin and coriander flavors coming through clearly. The scallops get dusted with cayenne before being seared and are served over Vivian's foolproof grits which taste especially creamy as they are cooked in milk. I used stone ground white corn grits, hence the pale color. The creamy grits were the perfect balance to the vinegary tomatoes. I've got a ton more of these tomatoes so I'll have to work on some other applications. I know they're called for in the recipe for Winter Caviar so I'll try that one of these days. They're supposed to be good for at least 3 months in the fridge so I have some time!

Endive with Watermelon, Pine Nuts, Parmesan & Anchovy from Deep Run Roots p 92. The recipe title lists pretty much all the ingredients except for lemon juice, orange juice and zest and a bit of dill. This is quick and easy to throw together. I think this would have been better with a more flavorful watermelon. This one was beautifully red and crisp but not terribly flavorful. Still, there were plenty of flavors and textures in the mix with crisp and bitter endive leaves, salty and umami-filled Parmesan and anchovy, and sweet-tart citrus.

Asparagus Polenta with Burrata from Melissa Clark's Dinner. Instant Pot polenta, CSO roasted asparagus, burrata with a sprinkle of pine nuts and drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Burrata caprese with peaches, tomatoes and basil from Melissa Clark's Dinner. Beautifully ripe peaches and super flavorful red & yellow tomatoes from the farmers market make this a perfect August salad.

I made my first batch of pimento cheese earlier this year, using the recipe from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots. The recipe (available online here as part of the extremely decadent Baked Pimento Cheese and Sausage) uses 2 sharp cheddar cheeses (10 oz each of sharp yellow cheddar and aged white cheddar) and no Velveeta or cream cheese. I used 18-month old sharp NY yellow cheddar and a 2-year old Canadian white cheddar. Not a lot of mayo either, just 1/4 cup for 20 ounces of grated cheddar. I really liked the sharp flavors. Gotta make it again! Edited to add: I absolutely loved the Pimento Cheese Grits & Salsa from Deep Run Roots (posted here) - gotta make that again, too!