What to do with all of these cherry tomatoes?

So, I will admit: I was overly ambitious. I saw the 2 pound box of lovely cherry tomatoes at the grocery store and I jumped on it. I'll eat those as a healthy snack...or so I thought. A week later I had a pound of cherry tomatoes going a little soft. What to do?

Simple Tomato Sauce

1 lb cherry tomatoes that you thought you would eat as a "healthy snack"
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbls fresh basil
Italian spices (I like thyme, parsley, oregano, and crushed red pepper)
1 tbls sugar

1. Saute onion in 1 tbl olive oil over medium high heat until soft.
2. Throw in crushed garlic and tomatoes.
3. As tomatoes soften, carefully crush with a potato masher (they will squirt hot tomato lava all over you so be careful).
4. Add spices, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer until tomatoes have mellowed and flavors have blended (approx. 10-15min). Add in basil.

Serve over pasta with parmesan and a bit more basil.

See, you're still being healthy!

Beaver Creek Recipe #1

I was privileged enough to spend a weekend at the Ritz a couple of weekends ago. To try and earn my keep I offered to cook for the other two people joining the boy and me. I thought a seared tuna dinner would be delicious so I got my keister to Sunflower to purchase 2 lbs of tuna filet for $10/lb. I knew that 2lbs would be too much for four people, but I was counting on the boys to eat their fair share. The morning that we left, I was informing the boy that I got way too much tuna to which he replied,

"Did I not tell you how many people are coming this weekend?"

(Color draining from face:) "No..."

"There are going to be 10 people."

Um...quoi?

So, needless to say, tuna dinner, became tuna salad, and dinner became a very-easy-to-make-for-10-people baked rigatoni (recipe to follow later.)

The salad was a hit, so I thought I'd post it here for others to enjoy. Forgive me if some measurements are off, I was just kind of throwing things together.

Seared Tuna with Chopped Asian Salad

Serves 5-6

1lb tuna filet
¼ cup Soy Vey teriyaki sauce (cheapest at Target, so delicious!)
1tbls cornstarch
skinny Rice Noodles

Dressing:
1 tsp Savory Spice wasabi powder
1 tsp warm water
1/8 cup soy sauce
splash rice wine vinegar
1 orange, zested
1 tbls toasted sesame oil
1/8 canola oil

Salad:
½ Napa cabbage, chopped
¼ red cabbage, chopped
3 carrots, shredded
1 cup frozen soybeans (edamame)
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
½ small red onion, sliced

1. Cook rice noodles according to package directions, drain and coat with a small amount of sesame oil to keep from sticking.
2. Heat large greased grill pan over medium-high heat.
3. Steam soybeans until heated through. Shock in a bowl of ice water and drain.
4. For dressing: prepare wasabi according to directions on bottle in a large bowl. Add all other ingredients except oils. While whisking vigorously, add sesame oil and canola oil.
5. Take your zested orange and cut off top and bottom. Cut off the rest of the peel starting your knife at the top and slicing around the meat to the bottom. You should be left with a whole, peal-less orange. Using a paring knife slice the meat of one wedge away from the white separator. Do this repeatedly working your way around the orange until you have a bunch of pretty orange slices in a bowl (sans icky white part), and the center of the orange with a lot of separators left over. Squeeze the juice from the leftover pit into your dressing bowl. (Note: this is really crummy way of explaining this, for video instructions see here).
6. Toss salad ingredients in dressing until coated.
7. Add tuna filet to heated grill pan when oil is slightly smoking. Sear for 2 minutes and flip to sear other side for another 2 minutes. The cooked portion should be no more than ½ centimeter. Remove immediately to cutting board and slice in long thin slices.
8. While searing tuna heat Soy Vey and cornstarch in small not non-stick fry pan until thickened.

Assembly:

1. Start with a cold salad plate. Top with small mound of rice noodles.
2. Layer a portion of salad on top of noodles.
3. Top with seared tuna slices.
4. Drizzle a line of thickening soy vey on top of tuna.

ENJOY!!

Transitions

Okay, so I have grossly fallen off the wagon, and for that I apologize. New stories and recipes are soon to come. I promise. You can especially look forward to my 10 course tasting at Colt and Grey, and the impromptu dinner I cooked up in Beaver Creek this past weekend. Until then, enjoy polishing off the last little bits of Easter candy you have lying around. I just ate the ears off of the hollow bunny my father gave me this year. Ah, high fructose corn syrup.

Pennette with Pesto and Eggplant

Serves 4-6

1 lb of pennette or penne

2 cups of packed basil leaves
1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 cups of coarsely grated parmesan

1 medium Chinese eggplant

olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve 1 cup of cooking water.

2. Heat large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add a generous amount of olive oil. Cut eggplant into half inch pieces, and add to hot pan. The eggplant will soak up oil like a sponge, continue to add oil in order to coat eggplant. Season well, and continue to stir periodically since eggplant is soft and caramelized (brown). Turn off heat.

3. While cooking eggplant, blend basil, pine nuts, garlic, and 1/2 cup of parmesan in small food processor. Add olive oil a little at a time until creamy.

4. Add pesto to cooked eggplant and stir to melt cheese.

5. Add 1/2 cup of parmesan to cooked pasta and reserved pasta water. Stir to melt cheese. Add pesto and eggplant mixture and toss to coat pasta.

6. Serve topped with remaining parmesan.

Pasta Carbonara

1 lb dried spaghetti

1/2 lb pancetta
4 eggs
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper

2 cups of peas, steamed

1. Set a large pot of heavily salted water to boil. Once water reaches a heavy boil, add pasta.

2. Heat a large straight sided pan over medium/high heat. Add pancetta and sauté until golden. Turn off heat and drain/pat off any excess grease.

3. Set up double boiler (water should be at a gentle simmer, and top bowl should not touch water). Whisk together eggs, cream, parmesan, and pepper in top section of double boiler. Continue to whisk until thickened and hot to the touch (approx. 10 minutes).

4. Drain pasta and add sauce, pasta, and peas to pan with pancetta. Stir over low/medium heat until sauce sticks to pasta. Do not overheat or sauce will become clumpy.

5. Serve in warm bowls with freshly ground pepper on top.

The Warehouse

Drove down to the Springs for a date at Warehouse on a Wednesday night. The restaurant at 7:30 was pretty much deserted, which sort of put a damper on the vibe for the evening.

I have a confession. I...love....carpaccio. Knowing this about myself I jumped on the opportunity to try bison carpaccio for the first time. The plate was gorgeous and full of little delectables to complement the bison. The bison had been smoked, which imparted a lovely bbq-ish richness, however it wouldn't have been better had they used a cold smoking process. The smoking cooked the outer inch or so of the meat, ruining its cold raw flavor.

For my main I ordered the boar with chipotle clementine glaze. The plate looked lovely, but the first words out of my mouth were, "Wow, that's a lot of food." For the $27 I expected something more refined. I'm always about quality, not quantity (see my review of Beatrice and Woodsley). Half of the plate was covered in polenta sticks, and the boar itself was pretty dang tough. Now I know that boar by its nature is a tougher meat, but with proper and loving cooking it can be fall off the bone tender. This was not. I though I was going to break my knife trying to get through it. The flavor though was good. My biggest annoyance is that the plate was full of stuff that wasn't even mentioned on the menu. Steamed baby carrots, broccoli, etc. A glance at my date's plate showed me that these are the default veggies that go on every plate. I hate that. It's just plain lazy cooking. Everything on the plate should mean something. Every element should contribute to one perfect bite. This plate was just busy.

On a brighter note, our waitress was wonderful. Attentive and charismatic. They also have a great selection of local Colorado wines. I should mention that the whole menu is local, but local or not, it should still be inspired.

In the end, I will never go back; even if my car breaks down a block away in the Springs. It's just not worth it.

Beatrice and Woodsley

One word...gorgeous. From front to back, top to bottom this place is beautiful.

I arrived a B&W on a Monday night in search of some small plates, tasty drinks, and cozy atmosphere. This restaurant is beautiful. You feel like you're sitting in the middle of an aspen grove, or that you've wandered into Rivendell (LOTR, anyone, anyone? So...moving on).

My date ordered a gin and tonic, and I, not being able to make up my mind just said, "I'll have the same."

The waitress looked at me with a knowing eye and responded, "Do you like earl grey?"

How did she know? "Why yes, I love earl grey."

"You should try our earl grey infused gin and tonic. It's not on the menu, but it's really good."

And it was so very very good. Very aromatic, floral, and perfumey. I could feel it in my nose

For our meal my date chose the cheese plate, and I chose the savory bread pudding. The cheese plate was a lovely trio of cow's milk cheeses: a French blue, Italian fontina, and English Stilton (my new favorite). The cheeses were accompanied by fresh berries, delicious white bread, and a raspberry and blueberry jam served on a large spoon (my date said it tasted like "melted smoothie"). My only small complaint is that is was a little tricky to tell what to do with the jam, and it was a little hard to eat out of the spoon.

Then something happened. Our bread pudding arrived. In all its beautiful and delicious glory: a wedge of pudding, speckled with wild rice topped of by fresh basil chiffonade and carrot mousse all on top of an amazing sorrel cream sauce. I constructed my perfect bite, and died a little on the inside. My date was not as speechless, "That's f****ing delicious." True dat.

Overall, too short a stay at B&W. I will for sure be back...like tomorrow night.