Heirloom Tomato Galettes & Two Sisters Soup

The Food Nanny
August 25 & 26, 2009 Meal 1: Heirloom Tomato Galettes, Sicilian Grilled Eggplant, and Cucumber & Fava Bean Salad
· Warm the galettes in the oven at 350° until hot – about 10 minutes.
· Heat the eggplant by toasting it in a dry sauté pan on both sides for a few minutes, or warm them in the oven too. Be careful to not burn them and their delicate seasonings.
· Season the cucumber salad with some salt. We omitted this to prevent wateriness. Serve chilled.

Meal 2: ‘Two Sisters’ Soup, Anaheim Chiles Stuffed with Sweet Corn Masa, and Soybean & Barley Succotash
· Heat the soup on the stovetop or microwave. FYI it is dairy free.
· Remove the chiles carefully from their dish and transfer the succotash to a serving bowl. Season with salt as we omitted it to help prevent the tomato from leaching all its water. Replace the chiles in the dish and heat them in the oven at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until hot.

Local Notes

The chiles have arrived in their spicy and green forms with a smattering of reds. Hopefully that shall become a tumble, although this is a notorious year for the warm season crops like chiles, tomato, melon, etc. That being said I just got some gorgeous zucchini from Blue Moon, the eggplants for the Sicilian slices were absolutely perfect, and the tomatoes for the galettes were a sight to behold. I must confess that one of my true delights in being a professional cook is beholding food in quantity: a pile of heirloom tomatoes, logs covered in mushrooms, boxes of red peppers, bushels of corn, bellies of pork. It is one of the privledges of the position; but, mama's, don't let your babies grow up to be line cooks.

P.S. If you haven't treated yourself to one of the Moore's melons you have yet to bite into summer.

Technique

The Two Sisters soup is derived from the Three Sisters Garden of Native American iconography. The two featured sisters are squash ( yellow summer squash) and corn. Sweet corn is one of the great gifts of summertime. We just recently purchased 16 dozens for your Food Nanny shares this winter. Freezing is a great way to preserve this crop and the results are far superior to that of any supermarket variety. Furthermore the task is NOT labor intensive because the corn is so fresh that you do not have to blanch the kernels. All you need to do is this:

1)Husk the corn and cut the kernels from the cob with a chef knife.

2)Tip the kernels into a ziplock bag and freeze.

Thats it. Now get cobbing!

Zucchini Latkes & Hand Made Ravioli

The Food Nanny
August4&5, 2009
Meal 1: Zucchini Latkes, Baby Lima Beans with Sweet Corn, Green Bean Almond Salad
· Move the latkes to a sheet tray if there are more than 3 in your pyrex and oven heat them at 350 for 10 minutes or until hot.
· Serve both salads at room temp.
· The latkes are nice topped with a little yogurt or sour cream if you like.

Meal 2: Chevre and Collard Ravioli, Fresh Tomato Sauce & Mixed Greens
· Empty the sauce from the jar to a sauce pot. Rinse the jar with a little water and add this to the sauce. Bring to a simmer.
· Add the ravioli to the simmering sauce and cook for 3-5 minutes or until the ravs are hot and tender.
· Dress and serve the salad.