This Summer in Tomatoes

I am not happy that summer is almost over. As much as the heat has been ridiculous this summer, I'd take sunshine over bitter cold any day. And it's tomato season, so that's exciting.




Tomatoes! (Celebrity heirloom variety)

And more tomatoes!

And a few more tomatoes (Yellow Brandywine variety)

BBLT! (bacon, basil, lettuce and tomato)

Open-face mozzarella-basil-tomato melt!

Tomato-mushroom pizza with half pepperoni!

Julia Child's stuffed tomatoes (Provençal)!

Lasagna!

Tomato pie!

Tomatoes, from small to large: mine, the CSA's, my mom's

And a big bunch of my mom's.

And now I'm going to go eat some leftover orzo with yellow tomatoes and peppers and onions and cheese. Or, since I had that for lunch, maybe a good old-fashioned Tennessee tomato sandwich. 

Dining Out for Life at Silly Goose [Eat]

For once, I'm writing about something recent. I need to go back and write about why Trader Joe's should move to East Nashville (and all the recipes I made with TJ's groceries), why I'm in love-hate with Facebook and the crazy new open graph, planting tomatoes, eggplant and squash, and how awesomely my made-from-scratch (yeast dough and everything!) cinnamon rolls turned out, but for now, let's focus on last night.

I stayed at work until 7 last night, which is rare in general but exceptionally rare for Tuesdays, because I have a strict schedule of Pilates at 6:30 and Lost at 8. But Pilates was cancelled and Lost was a repeat (how dare they!), so I finished some stuff up and decided to pick up dinner at one of the restaurants participating in Dining Out for Life, because I'm all about easy charity and an excuse to try new restaurants.

I decided on Nuvo Burrito, because it comes highly recommended from my coworker/carpoolmate Courtney, and I got Ty all excited about a Ques-Idea called Just 2 Lil Grills From Little Rock (basically, BBQ chicken quesadilla). I illegally parked (well, other people were also illegally parked) and thought I could just run in and out, but the line was literally out the door. I forgot it was probably going to be super crowded due to their Glee parties. And I didn't want to wait (or miss Glee) and get a parking ticket, so I gave up and went to Silly Goose.

Silly Goose is across from Rosepepper and is way, way more pleasant (may have had two bad experiences in a row at Rosepepper and am never eating there again. Drinking... perhaps). It's small, so not a lot of seating, but the hostess was very nice, telling people they could wait inside Ugly Mugs next door and she'd come and get them. Now that's service. And people just kept bringing in wine for them to chill. Gotta love a place that lets you BYOB... I'd save so much money if I sought those places out.

I also loved their big chalkboard of local purveyors, which include Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese (they live up in Kentucky, my mom has visited their farm), Delvin Farms greens, Noble Springs Dairy and Provence Breads. Everything just looked so fresh and delish.

They also have fresh juices and homemade ice cream... I mean, everything I saw just looked amazing. Not a good place to go if you have a big group, but for two people, or even four, it has a great atmosphere. There was a family with two young kids (one little redhead eating avocado reminded me of the infamous Jack), an older retired-looking couple and a few people my age. Most people were dining in, but a couple did do takeout as well. I don't know if it's normally this crowded or only was for Dining Out for Life, but I sure hope they stay in business.... I'm going to do my part, for sure.

Ty had told me just to pick something for him, so I ordered him the Bird: Grilled chicken breast, sun-dried tomato, avocado, bacon, peppered goat cheese on organic flax seed bread.

Even their takeout is pretty. While waiting, I got to watch them prepare everyone else's meals... several people got the King Kong, I assume, which is curried shrimp on couscous, and it looked amazing. They kind of specialize in couscous, I guess – she asked if I wanted couscous, greens, or a little of both and of course I went with a little of both. The girl making the sandwiches was great at cutting avocados, by the way, I need to take lessons. And then she drizzled it all with balasmic and what I imagine to be some sort of basil vinaigrette.

Judge the quality by their handwriting, not my iPhone photos

I ordered the Saylor, which is Grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, avocado, basil, arugula, lemon-kalamata olive aioli on honey flax. Also, yum, but messy.

Still, I made it home in time for Glee (which was unfortunately disappointing, though how could they possibly top that Madonna ep) and now know about a delicious place to eat when I'm wanting a fresh sandwich or salad. And I definitely need to try that shrimp couscous situation. Can't wait.

Everything Tastes Better With Bacon... or Does It? [Tennessee Eats]

Yesterday, Kim and I did a fun food experiment at work.

For the fall issue of one of our magazines, I'm doing a blurb on Piggy Popcorn from the Loveless Café (RIP, Biscuit Lady!). The folks there were kind enough to send me a few bags for us to shoot in our studio, along with a catalog with Carol Fay smiling on the cover with a tray of biscuits, as well as the Nashville Vacation Guide, which we publish (ha).

They also told me about how they developed the uniquely Southern concept of Piggy Popcorn And I Don't Share (said to the tune of "Jimmy Crack Corn and I Don't Care"), which is basically bacon popcorn, where they use syrup to stick the bacon to the popcorn.

Yes, candied bacon popcorn.

I don't know why I find the concept of this product so awesome and the idea of the KFC Double Down so disgusting, but what can I say. Maybe it's because it's from Tennessee, not Kentucky, I don't know. But it sure was fun walking around the office and offering this questionable confection to everyone.

The conversations went something like this.

Example A.
Us: You have to try this.
Them: What is it?
Us: Caramel corn... with bacon.
They dubiously investigate a single kernel, smell it and then chew slowly and make an awkward expression. I reeeeally wish I had carried around a camera, better yet a Flip Cam, to capture the myriad of facial distortions.
Them: Interesting... it's okay... definitely interesting... I don't think I'd buy it, but I'd eat it... if there was a bowl of it on my desk, I'd probably eat the whole thing (and possibly get sick because it's so rich).

Example B.

Us: You have to try this.

Them: What is it?

Us: Caramel corn... with bacon.

Them: Oh, bacon! Everything tastes better with bacon!

They enthusiastically try a handful. No awkward facial expressions ensue.

Them: Genius!

Example C.

Us: You have to try this.

Them: What is it?

Us: Caramel corn... with bacon. From the Loveless. C'mon, you have to try it.

Again, dubiously they inspect and sniff the kernel and ingredients package, which by the way does include bacon, bacon renderings and pancake syrup. Their faces crinkle up, and they utter something along the lines of the following:

"It tastes like I licked my frying pan."
"It's like I put my head in a smoker."
"It tastes like Snausages smell."

And probably a few other hilarious nuggets of insight that I have since forgotten. (Leave a comment if you remember any good ones!)

All in all, it was probably about 50-50 (would/would not try it again), although those of Example B were by far a majority male. We thought it was a guy thing at first, but a few girls (even ambivalent vegetarians) also enjoyed it.

It's a fun novelty gift, and a local Nashville food blogger is actually introducing the product to China as we speak.

However, my desk does kind of smell like Snausages now.

Allium: Another Amazing Brunch Place in East Nashville [Eat]

Thanks to the enterprising minds behind the Groupon concept, I've been able to try out some new restaurants that I might not have otherwise. I bought the Allium Groupon – $25 for $50 worth of food and drinks – a few months ago, and we tried it out a week or two ago.

Let me just say this: I LOVE brunch. It's my favorite meal (along with breakfast for supper and straight-up breakfast), and I probably should do an entry on my top 10 favorite brunch places in Nashville at some point. (Though it would be tough to pick a winner. Mad Donna's is definitely the most often frequented, for sure. I think I've been there three times in the past month.)

But this is about Allium, which is located in the bottom of the "embattled" 5th and Main condo complex, so it's on the East Nashville side of the river, though not as far east as Five Points, so I don't know if that's still considered part of our 'hood, but it's so tasty that I'll claim it.

I was surprised by the prices, in a good way: The food was nowhere near as expensive as I would have imagined. Entrees were around $11 with hearty portions, and even with cocktails, coffee and sides, it was hard for us to reach $50 (I think we got close, though, maybe $48). So this is an incentive to go back, because most of the time I will not be trying to gorge myself in order to get our money's worth.

Since we were trying to spend a certain amount of money, we did get bloody marys, which were amazing. I'm also a bloody mary connoisseur (goes hand-in-hand with brunch loving), and this one was the perfect mixture of tomato juice and alcohol – not too strong – and garnishes (celery and lime). Though I think Ty was disappointed at the lack of olives.

Our server was pretty attentive, but he looked eerily like a younger version of Jacob from Lost (with a pompadour). When he came to take our order and gave us some sort of option, we were like, "Do we have a choice?" At the end of the meal I did ask him if he had ever seen the show, which of course he hadn't. Oh well.

One more note about the atmosphere: The soundtrack included "Cruel, Cruel Summer" by Ace of Base, which Ty had never heard. I'll leave it at that.

Now, onto the good stuff:

The entrees, as I said, were hearty portions. Ty ordered the Allium Benedict, which is sliced black forest ham, poached eggs and hollandaise in a popover, with pepper jack grits and a side of Benton's bacon. The popover was a bit much... too much bread to egg/meat ratio. But still good, plus you don't feel as overindulgent if you don't clean your plate. The eggs were poached to perfection, and the grits were surprisingly edible... I am not a fan of a grits that don't have some sweet aspect (either white grits with butter and sugar like my grandma made them, or yellow corn grits with maple syrup like my mom made them), but these were not bland, and the pepper gave them a flavor reminiscent of gravy. So, yum.

Meanwhile, speaking of overindulgency, I had the Wild Mushroom Scramble, which is scrambled eggs and mushrooms over a puff pastry with asparagus covered with mornay sauce, along with a side of roasted potatoes. (Sidenote: I recently read My Life in France by Julia Child, and became obsessed with the various incarnations of béchamel sauce, so I know all about mornay.)

This dish was so decadent that I couldn't finish it. I was thankful for the asparagus making me feel like I'm getting something healthy in this butter-laden meal, but oh, it was amazing. The puff pastry was light and airy, like the inside of a croissant, and the mornay was so rich that I wished they hadn't used quite so much of it. But it was so delicious that I'm sure Julia would have been proud.

Olive and Sinclair Chocolate [Eat]

Like most people, I love chocolate. Unlike most chocoholics, I love bittersweet, dark, dark chocolate.

My parents have a friend who travels to Nicaragua and helps build schools, or something like that, and along the way he has developed his own recipe for homemade chocolate. It comes in little mason jars like jelly, with names based by different numbers, I guess the percentage of cacao to whatever else goes in there. You have to heat the jar of chocolate in a pot of boiling water, and then once it's melted, pour it in a baking dish and put it in the fridge to harden. Then you can break it up into pieces like a Hershey bar. A rich, bittersweet, earthier Hershey bar. The best is to put a piece or two on top of the coffee in the filter before it brews. Take note, Starbucks.

So I had heard about Olive and Sinclair Chocolate for a while, but it wasn't until my friend and I were at Mitchell's Deli that I decided to buy a bar. They do stone-ground artisan chocolate with crazy flavors like Sea Salted and Cinnamon Chili. But when I saw Coffee Bean, I knew that's exactly what we needed.

The chocolate was not sweet at all -- just the way I like it. There was a distinct coffee flavor, not really mocha but something along the lines of chocolate-covered espresso beans, but not waxy. Just like the Nicaraguan chocolate, except much less work.

The stone-ground aspect intrigues me, and they also have these unique stamps that make their chocolates little works of art. You can watch their videos on Facebook to learn more about the whole process. One of our freelancers who is very much into eating locally also profiled them on her Local Table blog.

I have heard rumors of them getting a storefront in East Nashville, but in the meantime I've seen their chocolate bars at various places around the neighborhood. The chocolate bars run at a couple bucks apiece, but it's totally worth it.

Next time, I'll try the ultimate homemade chocolate test: brewing it in my coffee.

Tortilla Soup [Eat]

So Ty and I make tacos every week or two, but we almost always end up with leftovers, and I am never in love with the idea of making tacos two days in a row. Plus, it's not very portable to work. In this case, we had extra seasoned beef and black beans, so I decided to tweak a recipe for Tortilla Soup that I found.

The (local Tennessee) beef was seasoned with, um, taco seasoning (you can get it in a shaker.... I don't even want to know the sort of preservatives in it) and sauteed with onions and garlic. The soup called for beef and various seasonings, so I figured that would work. Combine that with the leftover beans, can of pinto beans, can of diced tomatoes, can of rotel, beef broth and fresh cilantro.

Then heat it for a while, let it thicken... and while you're waiting on that that, grate some cheese. We used Monterey Jack and cheddar.

Because then, since it takes a few minutes for the soup to thicken, you can eat the cheese to tide you over.

Eventually, the soup is finally done, and it's basically like a Mexican chili. Instead of crackers, you crush tortilla chips over the top, and then add the cheese (and sour cream, if you like it... I don't). Delicious.

Tortilla Soup
1/2 lb. ground beef, browned (leftover taco beef works great)
1/4 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1 T. taco seasoning
1/4 c. water
1 can rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 cup broth
fresh cilantro
red pepper flakes and Tabasco, to taste
cheese
tortilla chips

If not using taco leftovers, brown the beef in a large pot and drain. Sautee onion and garlic with the beef, and add taco seasoning and water. Let mixture come to a boil, then cook over low-medium heat until water evaporates.

Add the beans, tomatoes and broth. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes or until soup thickens. Add hot sauce and red pepper to taste. Pour in bowl, then serve with cheese and crush tortilla chips, and any other fixings such as sour cream or green onions.

Breakfast Pizza [Eat]

Some friends of mine were in town, so yesterday we went to brunch at Mad Donna's. They had revamped their brunch menu since we'd last been there, adding some new items such as Crab Cake Benedict (yum, but filling – cheddar grits not necessary), quiche of the day and Breakfast Pizza, which Ty ordered. They used sausage gravy as the sauce of the pizza, which is pretty ingenious (if you like sausage).

We still had breakfast pizza on the brain, and today over coffee, my friend said next time we visited them they would make it for us. Then I realized we had an extra pizza crust on-hand, along with eggs, bacon and feta ... so we decided to make it today. We improvised – I had no spinach but did have mushrooms and parsley, and we only had four eggs. I also had a ton of cheese, and we ended up have a theme where we used only white cheese that I had on hand – feta, mozzarella, Monterey jack and Parmesan. (Speaking of cheeses, we've started buying a block and grating it ourselves – so much better! Too many chemicals and not enough flavor in the pre-shredded kind, despite its convenience.) I had watched our food stylist/recipe creator make breakfast pizza a few months ago, and I remembered that she baked the crust partially before, since the eggs make it hard to cook all the way through. But anyway, it turned out amazing, though my food photography skills are seriously lacking. The idea to blog about it later came late, and then I didn't want to spend time setting up food photos... it's good while it's hot!

Next time we might try this gravy as sauce concept, though. Mad Donna's version used pita bread instead and cheddar cheese, and I'm not sure if any veggies were in the eggs. Breakfast or dinner, I love making homemade pizza because you can just throw in whatever is in your crisper.

Anyway, without further ado:

Breakfast Pizza

1 pre-cooked pizza crust (I used Mama Mia thin crust)
4-6 large eggs (could have used one or two more)
splash of milk
4 strips bacon (optional)
2 large mushrooms, sliced
parsley, chopped (to taste)
2 cloves garlic, diced
salt and pepper to taste
feta cheese crumbles
Monterey jack and mozzarella cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese

Follow directions on pizza crust. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and cook crust directly on rack for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Fry bacon in skillet and drain on paper towel when done.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs and milk together. Salt and pepper the eggs. Set aside.

Chop mushrooms, parsley and garlic. Sauté in olive oil for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are done. Add egg mixture and scramble over low heat until eggs are no longer runny, but not cooked completely. Spoon egg mixture over crust.

Crumble up the bacon into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle over egg mixture. Then add a handful or two of feta over the bacon, and grate the mozzarella and Monterey jack directly onto the pizza. Top with Parmesan.

Following directions on pizza crust box, bake at 425 for 7 1/2-10 minutes directly on rack. (We put a baking sheet underneath to catch any wayward cheese.) Remove, let cool for 2-3 minutes and cut into slices. Eat and enjoy!