I made Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho!

Alison was having a dinner party last Saturday and I was trying to figure out what to bring. Something tasty, easy to transport, and seasonal, I thought to myself. Then I realized that I had been excited to make gazpacho all summer long but had never found the time. Well, the time has come, I thought to myself again.

I decided to go with a traditional gazpacho and followed this recipe exactly. It was so easy!!

Classic Andalusian Gazpacho
Adapted from El Faro, Cádiz, Spain

1 (2-inch-long) piece baguette, crust discarded
2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar (preferably "reserva"), or to taste - (I did not use "Reserva" vinegar, wouldn't sweat it.)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional) - I say go for it.
2 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered (As you can see I used 4 large heirloom tomatoes and one smaller guy.)
1/2 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Andalusian hojiblanca) - Again, just used my standard olive oil. Why not?

Garnish: Finely chopped red and green bell pepper (I also used Persian cucumber and a bit of jalapeno. I think some very finely chopped red onion could be good too.)

Preparation:

Soak bread in 1/2 cup water 1 minute, then squeeze dry, discarding soaking water.



Mash garlic to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large knife).


My attempt at making the paste with a knife. Five minutes after I finished, I found a mortar and pestle in my cabinet that I had no idea existed. Ah well. Next time I guess. It would definitely be easier that way.



Blend garlic paste, bread, 2 tablespoons vinegar, sugar, cumin, and half of tomatoes in a food processor (I used the trusty HAND BLENDER!) until tomatoes are very finely chopped.


The first batch, waiting to be blended.


Add remaining tomatoes with motor running and, when very finely chopped, gradually add oil in a slow stream, blending until as smooth as possible, about 1 minute. Throwing that yellow tomato into the mix made the soup a crazy orange color!





Force soup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing firmly on solids. Discard solids.




Look at all the seeds and peels I strained out!


Strained soup, ready to chill.

Transfer to a glass container and chill, covered, until cold, about 3 hours. Season with salt and vinegar before serving.


Gazpacho to go!



I don't have any photos of the final product, but we served the soup in little ceramic mugs with some of the garnish on top, and it looked pretty cute. I was really proud of this soup. The tomatoes were so flavorful, and the soup tasted fresh and bright. Straining it makes the texture so smooth and creamy and it actually feels a little bit fancy, even though it is really simple. I want to make it over and over while there are still delicious tomatoes to be found. You should too.

I made tofu parmesan!

When I first moved to Brooklyn, way back in 2005, my cousin Rachel sent a cookbook from a restaurant called The Grit, her favorite restaurant in Athens, Georgia. The Grit serves tons of vegetarian versions of traditional comfort food and is frequented by local legendary rockers the likes of Micheal Stipe. I think I made this recipe for the first dinner party I ever hosted at the apartment, and it was a total success. Except that I misread the recipe as calling for TWO POUNDS of mozzarella cheese instead of two cups! I don't think I actually ended up using that much because the pan would have been overflowing, but I still used a whole lot. 2 cups of mozz is plenty, as you can see in the mouth watering photo above.

I know what you may be thinking, especially you Italian food snobs-- tofu Parmesan sounds sacrilegious--like one of those vegetarian versions of dishes that just should not be messed with. It sounds like it would be soggy and weird. But it's not! It's delicious, cheesy goodness that will win over the biggest tofu skeptic. The trick is that the tofu is sauteed, THEN coated in breading and THEN baked before you put on the sauce and cheese and everything else.

I used Alena's method of squeezing out some of the water from the tofu by stacking some books on top of it and leaving it like that for a good 15 minutes. Works pretty well. One of the keys to making good tofu is getting rid of as much water as possible.

Ok here is the recipe, with a couple very minor adjustments in bold:

Tofu Parmesan from The Grit Restaurant Cookbook by Jessica Greene and Ted Hafer

Ingredients
3 (15 ounce) blocks tofu, extra firm
2 T olive oil
Soy sauce
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
1 T chopped fresh parsely, plus more for garnish
2 1/2 c fine bread crumbs
1/2 t salt
1/8 t fresh ground black pepper
4 c marinara (I used Mama Vallese's homemade sauce, but I have made this before with store-bought. Ain't no shame in it.)
2 c shredded mozzerella
Chopped fresh or dried oregano, for garnish
A sprinkle of nutritional yeast
A couple garlic cloves

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan or glass casserole dish.
Tear tofu chunks of various sizes. Add a thin layer of olive oil to a non-stick skillet and place over high heat. Chop up those garlic cloves and toss 'em in. Cover bottom of pan with tofu chunks and saute, tossiping often and sprinkling with soy sauce and nutritional yeast, which helps make it crispy.

Repeat with another small batch of tofu (I did about one and a half at a time--depends how big your skillet is) until all tofu is cooked in this manner. Drain if necessary and cool slightly. Place in a bowl with beaten eggs and toss together.
Blend 1 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, parsley, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Add to tofu and toss together.
Pour 2 c marinara into prepared pan and spread evenly. Distribute tofu over sauce. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tofu breading is very well browned.


Remove from oven and spread top with 2 c marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Garnish with remaining Parmesan cheese, parsley and oregano. Return to oven and bake 10 to 15 minutes until top is well browned.

Yields 8 servings.

Take another look at all that beautiful cheesiness:
YUM. Nothin' more you can say but Y U M.