Watermelon Water

Ouf!  I'm going on a vacation from food.  4 days in the bay area of stuffing myself with ridiculously good food at all hours and all I want are salads piled high with vegetables and handfuls of fruit.  Couple that with the hot weather and I don't think I could eat a full meal if pressed.  But I can't complain, really.  These are what my friend would call princess problems.  We stepped off the plane in San Diego, greeted by the sunshine and a cloud-free sky; the summer weather we've been waiting since June for.  I've been making good on all the summer time activities I said I needed to cram in before school starts back up.  Beach days, pool days, happy hours and leisurely days of relaxing.

But back to the fruit.  When we got back home, I opened my mostly empty fridge to find half of a giant watermelon that I bought the week before we left, wrapped up and begging not to be thrown away.  I should have bought a smaller one for the two of us, but they were on sale and I love watermelon so, I couldn't resist.  So here it was, past it's prime, but not yet going bad, laying abandoned on the chilly bottom shelf and me feeling too guilty to toss it.  I could freeze it and make margaritas with it later (which, by the way, watermelon margaritas are the best!), but I wanted instant gratification.  Why wait for freezing when I can just blend it up and drink it now?  Agua frescas - fresh water or refreshing water for those uninitiated - are pure genius and a perfect way to use up the late summer bounty of quickly ripening fruit.  Can't eat all that melon?  All those peaches, strawberries and cucumbers?  Just toss it in a blender with some water, a squeeze of citrus juice for acidity, a little sweetener and you have the essence of summer in a glass.  It was so tasty that I made 3 more batches.  A whole pitcher to have whenever I pleased, because really, it's practically health food!

And this is how I found myself enjoying the long, late afternoon rays of sunshine, sipping my icy glass of watermelon water, relaxed and glad to be home.


Watermelon Agua Frescas

Up the lime juice or sugar depending on your taste and the sweetness of your melon.  Mine wasn't the sweetest, I'd say it was a medium sweetness, and I found these proportions to wok nicely.  Make it into a cocktail by filling a glass with ice and adding a short of gin or vodka to the mix.  Muddle some mint or basil leaves into it, freeze it in popsicle forms, or just enjoy it as is!

make about 4 cups

4 cups of 1" cubed seedless watermelon*
1 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Throw it all into a blender and let it go for a minute (probably less).  Strain it through a fine mesh sieve and discard the pulp.

*I wasn't picking the small white seeds out of my watermelon so there was some of that left behind with the pulp, it didn't seem to affect the juice.

A Gastronomic Adventure

Last Thursday, summer school ended.  Next Monday the Fall semester begins.  So, since flights were cheap and our friends are plentiful in the bay area, we booked a last minute weekend trip to San Francisco where we ate and ate and walked around just as much.  Thank goodness for the sunshine in the Mission.

spicy chicken katsu sandwich, 
korean beef sandwich

Rhea's Deli & Market - 800 Valencia Street

mixed salumi cone - mortadella, lonza, brown sugar & fennel salame

Boccalone - Ferry Building

$1 happy hour sweetwater oysters
scrimshaw pilsner
acme bread & butter

Hog Island Oyster Company - Ferry Building

char siu pork belly - grated cucumber, ginger scallion noodles
taiwanese eggplant - 3 types of garlic, hot basil
thrice cooked bacon - rice cakes, bitter melon, tofu skin, leek, black bean, chili oil
ma po tofu - kurobuta pork, fermented black beans, szechuan peppercorns, flaming chili oil

Mission Chinese Food - 2234 Mission Street

eggs florentine - portobello musrooms, spinach and lemon hollandaise, english muffin
small salad

Zazie - 941 Cole Street

violet & cassis and caribbean chocolate macaroons

Paulette - 430 Hayes Street

fresh stretched mozzarella
broccoli raab pizza - caciocavallo, mozzarella, olives, hot peppers
salsiccia pizzas - housemade fennel sausage, tomato, bell peppers, onions, mozzarella

Pizzaria Delfina - 3611 18th Street

salted caramel & roasted banana
brown sugar & malted vanilla ice cream

Bi-Rite Creamery -3692 18th Street

bella donavan drip coffee
stout, caraway and pecan coffee cake

Blue Bottle Coffee - 300 Webster Street, Oakland



Not Pictured:


Dinner @ The Blue Plate - 3218 Mission Street
gnocchi with braised spring rabbit - fava beans, pecorino crotonese, and chervil
southern fried chicken - buttermilk dressing, heirloom tomato watermelon and basil salad

Dim Sum @ Restaurant Peony - 388 9th Street, Oakland

Into the Wild

As promised, here's what went down with that last batch of market goodies:

• The white raspberries, as humdrum as it sounds, were just eaten straight from the carton.  They were too precious and sweet that I couldn't make myself do anything else with them.  Everything you've ever wanted in a raspberry, just a bit tart, juicy, sweet and pleasantly crunchy with seeds you got with these.  It was actually the vendor's first week at the market, and I'm so glad they're staying for a bit.

• D made some terrific baba ganoush with the globe eggplants.  Not a hint of bitterness and the right amount of smokiness; hooray for super fresh produce!  Since we both have so much free time this summer, he's made it a mission to get more comfortable in the kitchen and start cooking.  So far there has been salsa and this eggplant dip - I call it his blender series.

• The yellow nectarines, well, one of them anyway, were sliced and slipped into the fancy pants grilled cheese sandwich you see above of reserve cheddar, nectarine and wild arugula on sourdough.  Yeah, it was really that good.  And since I'm sure most of you don't need a recipe here's the how to: Lightly butter your bread and layer nectarine, cheese then a handful of arugula and cook (preferably in a cast iron skillet) over medium heat until each side is deep golden brown, on my stove that's 2.5 minutes per side.  Although, I might suggest cooking the grilled cheese without the greens and adding them just as you take it off the heat.  The melty cheese should wilt the arugula once you close it back up.

• And finally, the real star of my haul, the wild arugula.  If you like spicy salad greens, then you'll love this stuff, it's nothing like any arugula you find in the store.  The small finger sized lacy edged leaves are tender and pack a spicy punch.  Perfect to add to summer salads with stone fruits and toasted nuts, or as is my case, to put atop a rice cake with avocado and sriracha.  Ever since running across this snack idea from Gabi over at Honest Fare I've been smitten; eating it for lunch nearly every day for the past month or more.  For a while I was making it with baby spinach, which was great, obviously, because I ate it like that for three straight weeks, but after making the wild arugula discovery, I am a convert.  The arugula stands up better to the lip burning heat of sriracha and just brings a little something extra to the whole thing.  Also, it was pretty dang good on that grilled cheese.

Rice Cake Snack

If you can find them, I like Lundberg's Sesame Tamari brown rice cakes for these.  Don't worry they're not too salty or even that flavored with the tamari, they're just a little bit more nutty flavored.  I listed Haas avocado in the recipe, because that's the kind you'll find most anywhere, but lately I've been using Reed avocados to much success.

1 rice cake
1/4 of a medium Haas avocado
Sriracha, as desired
1 small handful of wild arugula, chopped

Smear the avocado on the rice cake, then drizzle with as much or as little sriracha as you'd like and top with arugula.  Say hello to your new favorite snack.

What I Should Have Done

I have been holding onto this recipe for a while now, as it keeps getting buried under other posts in my queue.  Which after you make this pie, you will understand, is a grave tragedy.  This pie is delicious, all about ripe sweet juicy peaches and peach pie is my favorite pie.  Remember what I said about being a sucker for crumb topping?  This is yet another example of that love.  Alas, this is not only a tale of love, it is also a tale of caution; as in, I need to learn when not to modify a recipe.  Who am I to say Martha Stewart, or her cooking staff, don't know their stuff?  Exactly.  They do.  Martha-1, Me-0.  But even after I stepped over the recipe modification line, this pie was still terrific.  So learn from me, here's what you shouldn't do:

• When the recipe says to pit and quarter your peaches, do just that.  What I did was I looked at the peach halves, decided they were entirely too large to be cut in half only once more and then proceeded to cut each half into three wedges.  Since the wedges were smaller and the bake time remained the same, what ended up happening was the peaches cooked down and almost melted into the pie.  It didn't come out of the oven looking nearly as pretty as the photo with the recipe, and the pie probably lost some of it's structure.

• One day I will get it through my head that sour cream and creme fraiche are two different beasts that can't always be used interchangeably.  Don't be like me and just use sour cream here because you already have some at home, suck it up and get the good stuff.  Heck, you can even make your own!  The higher fat content in the creme fraiche will make it set when baked into the pie, like little sweet pockets of cheese.  Sour cream on the other hand breaks and separates.   Again, not the end of the world, and though it did add a nice tang, it could have been so much more.

But it's not all bad news.  There was one change I made, and liked, which was to add 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon to the crumb mixture, because peach and cinnamon go hand in hand.  It's just enough to notice, but not enough to outshine the fruit.


Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie
Adapted from Martha Stewart

As if the info above wasn't enough, here's one last note.  There's been some debate on whether or not the crust really needs to be par-baked.  Since there isn't a lot of moisture in the filling it could probably go without and the crust shouldn't get soggy.  It's up to you, but I thought I had done enough experimentation as it was, and went with par baking.  And remember, if you use dried beans as weights, you can't cook them after, mind as well toss 'em in a bag labeled pie weights because that's all they're good for now.

1/2 recipe your favorite pie dough chilled for at least an hour in the fridge

Streusel

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

1/4 cup cold (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling

1 1/2 pounds ripe (4 to 5 medium) yellow peaches, pitted and quartered

4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt

5 tablespoons crème fraîche

Roll out pie dough to about 1/8-inch thick and fit into a regular (not deep dish) pie plate, 9 1/2 to 10 inches in diameter. Trim edge to 1/2 inch; fold under and crimp as desired. Pierce bottom of dough all over with a fork. Transfer to freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F right before you take it out.

Stir confectioners’ sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and flour together in a small bowl. Add bits of cold butter, and either using a fork, pastry blender or your fingertips, work them into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Par-bake crust: Tightly press a piece of aluminum foil against frozen pie crust and cover with pie weights or dried beans.  Bake for 10 minutes, then carefully remove foil and any weights you have used, press any bubbled-up spots in with the back of a spoon, and return the crust to the oven for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.

Make the filling: Sprinkle quartered peaches with sugar and salt. Let sit for 10 minutes. Spread two tablespoons crème fraîche in bottom of par-baked pie shell, sprinkle with one-third of the streusel and fan the peach quarters decoratively on top. Dot the remaining three tablespoons of crème fraîche on the peaches and sprinkle with remaining streusel.

Bake the pie about 50 minutes. Cover edge of crust with a strip of foil if it browns too quickly. Let cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving.

Giddy Up, Cowboy!

It's only Tuesday, and already I'm thinking about the weekend.  The reality of school starting again and attending full time is just that much closer now that it's officially August and the start of classes is 3 weeks away.  It's planning mode.  Cram as much of summer as I can into the next 20 days.  There are beach days, and mini vacations, and BBQs to attend.  There are afternoon happy hours and pools that I must find.  The next 20 days are one extended weekend and I need to make the most of it.  Because after that, I'm going to be bogged down with Chemistry, drowning in Statistics and up to my knees in Psychology (yeah, I obviously leave all the fun classes for last), and really, that sounds like the opposite of summer to me.

What I can see as being a part of my extended weekend is Texas Caviar.  Oddly named and not fish derived in the least this black eyed pea mixture is also sometimes called Cowboy Caviar - though it's not made from cowboys either.  It's sort of a half pickled chunky bean dip, best scooped up with tortilla chips.  You know, it's one of those casual dips where there are approximately a million variation on the idea, but this is the version I hold dear.  Sometimes there's Italian dressing (erm, no thanks, I don't even keep bottled dressing in the house), sometimes different colored peppers, sometimes corn, but this is the version that I first had, a few Labor days ago soaking in the hot hot sun at the beach, and it's the one I'll probably always prefer.  Heavier on lime juice and vinegar with only a touch of olive oil, smoky depth from cumin and crunchy bell peppers studded throughout.  And don't forget about the freshly minced garlic.  It's like pico de gallo's older hippy sister.  By which I mean it's sort of a salsa, but healthier and more complete.

Now pass the tortilla chips, please.


Texas Caviar

Like I said above, this is the version I prefer but it's by no means the one and only.  Feel free to play around with the flavors; use a different red bell pepper for something a bit sweeter, a serrano (or two) for more heat, add more olive oil. There's just enough liquid after it sits for a few hours that it makes a good dip, but not so much you couldn't serve this as a salad.

makes 4-5 cups

1-15oz can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 green bell pepper, diced

1 medium (or 2 roma) tomato, chopped

About 4 or 5 thinly sliced green onions
Chopped Cilantro - about 1/2 bunch.
1 minced and seeded jalapeno

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 minced garlic cloves

Ground cumin to taste - about 1/2 teaspoon to start

Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Fresh lime juice, to taste, about 1

Mix all ingredients together and let marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.