Cold-Brewed Coffee

Yay for summer! Summer means hot weather and an even hotter kitchen. We get direct morning sun and every use of the stove top just amps up the heat even more. This hasn't stopped me from making my morning coffee, of course! This time of year calls for iced coffee, which is, frankly, a pain in the butt to make. I feel silly boiling the water to make the coffee only to cool it down again with ice cubes. But now, all that has changed. I want to share with you the easiest and most delicious way to make iced coffee EVER: cold brewing.

Here is the recipe I used.

And here is my recap of how it went down around here:
First I did a single batch. I just mixed 1.5 cups of tap water with 1/3 cup ground coffee in a large mason jar, screwed on the lid, and let it sit on the counter overnight (at least 12 hours.) The next day, I put a regular melitta drip cone over another container and slowly poured the coffee brew into that. Most of the grounds just stayed at the bottom of the mason jar. I then rinsed out the mason jar and used it to store my coffee concentrate. To make delicious iced coffee, just pour some of the concentrate over ice and add water and/or milk to taste. I found that it did not need any water, just some milk. This made about one very large or two coffee cup sized iced coffees which I consumed with glee. Yesterday I made a larger batch and am storing the remainder in the fridge.

So why is this the best way? So many reasons!
1. The coffee is damn delicious. Seriously. Apparently the cold brewing prevents much of the bitterness that is released when coffee is heated. Thus the coffee is very strong and smooth without being bitter. It is almost sweet! You can get seriously buzzed on this stuff because it is easy to drink a lot and forget how strong it is!
2. It is way easier than dealing with heating up and then cooling down coffee and if you make a big batch, you only have to do it every three or four days. Right now there is enough concentrate for at least two more days in the fridge.
3. No heating up the kitchen with boiling water!
4. On that note, it is also the greenest option. You don't have to waste the energy of heating something just to cool it. In addition, since you can make several days worth at once, it also cuts down on coffee filter use. If you have a fine mesh reusable filter you could use that and be even greener.

So, you ask, are there any cons? I can think of only one: you don't get that nice morning coffee aroma. Well worth the trade-off in my mind! Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Crazy Tomato Sorbet

So, the tomato plants are getting bigger and its time to use those tomatoes in the freezer from last summer. A few weeks ago I thawed a bag full to use in a ragu. The recipe said puree the tomatoes, so I used my new stick blender. However they were only partially thawed, so I got a tomato snow cone affair. Don said it was a sorbet. The tomatoes were so fresh tasting & sweet, I thought - Why not do this on purpose. Here is what I started with.About 2 cups frozen skinless tomato chunks (some are the variety, "Lemon Boy" hence they are yellow), fresh basil, garlic, a lemon, salt & pepper. I let the tomatoes thaw to the point where I could separate some of the tomato hunks from one another; yet they were still quite icy. I've done this in the microwave on defrost for a minute or two.

Chop a few leaves of basil and one garlic clove. In a bowl, combine semi-frozen tomatoes, basil, garlic, a tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/4 tsp each salt & pepper. Blend with stick blender for 30 seconds, till no tomato pieces are visible. Here is the result:
Stir in additional salt, pepper, or lemon juice to taste. Eat right away or keep in freezer for only about 15 minutes.

Note: Freezing the contents of 1 or 2 cans of ready-cut tomatoes would be another way to make this yummy salad.

Beets without the Mess

This is a salad I love to eat & make. Golden beets are the classy cousins of those delicious, messy red beets that stain everything they touch. So if you want the taste of beets without the mess; look for golden beets. Luckily they are at our farmer's market, as are lovely new potatoes this time of year.
This recipe is modified from one I found in Sunset a few years ago (Thank you Roxanne Chan).

In the winter I usually roast the vegetables for a richer taste. I actually first made this salad when I high-graded the potatoes & golden beets from a hug leftover batch of roasted veggies.

Golden Beet & Potato Salad
4 or 5 golden beets (each about egg size)
5 or 6 small new potatoes
Cook beets & potatoes separately in boiling water, till tender. Slip skins from beets.
Cut vegetables into bite sized pieces.
Make dressing by mixing together:
2 T plain yogurt
2 T Mayo (homemade is yummy)
1 T rice vinegar
2 T finely chopped red onion
2 T finely chopped parsley
1 T prepared horse-radish
2 cloves garlic, minced or smashed in a press
Salt & pepper to taste
Stir into veggies, serve warm or cold. The horse-radish is not overwhelming. The tastes are perfect together. Enjoy!

It is Suddenly Salad Time

As you may know, Chico has been having a very cool wet spring and I have continued to do cool weather cooking. However this past week we finally had summer weather. Suddenly sweating over a hot stove and eating hot entrees just wasn't much fun. So I needed to change gears, dust off the barbecue and start thinking about hearty salads for the main dish. Thank you Ali for the challenge. It will be fun to share & learn about other people's salad ideas.
I don't use recipes for a lot of the salads I fix. So here are some tips anyone can use to make a cool summertime salad/meal.
1. Buff out a tossed green salad by adding: feta or other cheese cubes, chopped barbecued chicken, cold cooked sausage, cooked beans or favas, nuts, toasted squash or sunflower seeds, hard-cooked egg, cooked beets, red onion slices, chopped snow peas, left-over marinated string beans, lots of avocado, mushrooms, bell pepper, radishes, sprinklings of fresh basil or oregano or cilantro.
2. Turn leftover pasta, lentils, beans, rice or any cooked grain into a salad by adding some of the above mentioned goodies plus dressing. Instead of dressing just add spices, lemon juice or vinegar, a bit of mustard, perhaps a bit of sugar, garlic, salt & pepper. The delicious Quinoa salad, Ali posted below, is a formal example of this salad idea. (Didi made it yesterday - yum!)

Two More Salads

I have a new favorite blog...it was just a cooking blog that I heard about through Stacy's sister, but then she combined it with her personal blog, so among great recipes, I get to read about decorating her place, her sweet little boy and her adventures in San Diego.

Also, based on the blog name, I think her name is Elizabeth Bryant, which is Lola's pornstar name...destiny, right!?!

Anyways, her cooking style is very similar to my own and we've been eating her recipes a lot lately.

Here are two yummy salad recipes:

Salad #1
Chicken Tarragon Salad
This is very mild and light. I used coconut yogurt instead of sour cream and cut the amount mayo and sour cream in half. I served it on toasted sourdough bread the first meal and in filo bowls the second meal. I wouldn't recommend the filo bowls too much work for very little pay off (I did make baklava too, and that was good and well worth the effort.)

Andrew and I had a horrible tarragon experience once and have avoided it like the plague since, but we used fresh tarragon and it was good.

Salad #2
Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Corn
This is SO good and SO easy! I've never used quinoa, but we loved this. I recommend starting with her basic recipe, because it is so simple and good, but once you've made it, the recipe has lots of potential for experimentation. We added lime juice and I think there is really no limit to the add-ins you can use.
We used the roasted frozen corn from Trader Joes, for extra roasty taste!

Blue Cheese BBQ Salad

This was invented in a "What are we going to eat tonight? I really don't want to cook rice" mood.

It is easy peasy and very good.
In Andrew's and my opinion, the ONLY BBQ sauce to use is Sweet Baby Rays, but to each his own...actually no, this just won't be as good if you don't use SBR's - "The Sauce is the Boss!"

Ingredients - prepare the ingredients for a big green salad with all the fixin's - beefy tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, shredded carrots, jicama, beets, what ever you like...

Rub a flank steak with a combination of kosher salt, pepper, crushed garlic and lemon juice and let sit while heating the grill/broiler. (This is a tasty rub for any cut of beef!)
Grill/broil a flank steak to level of preferred doneness.
After resting for a few minutes, slice long thin slices.

Combine favorite blue cheese dressing and Sweet Baby Rays

Layer lettuce, veggies, beef, croutons, and dressing and sprinkle more blue cheese if you like.
Enjoy!

We use homemade garlic sourdough croutons:
Cube sourdough bread
Toss with olive oil, kosher salt, and crushed garlic and bake until lightly crunchy.

If you want to kick it up a notch, sautee some red onions in a little balsamic and brown sugar, via Bittman, and add those too.

Summer of Salad Challenge!

Ok, the posts have been few and far between, but now it is summer - footloose and fancy freedom time!
I'm going to try to post one salad a week - we are eating lots of salad meals around here right now - and I challenge you to do the same.

To make it easy, feel free to link to other people's salads and review.