The Man Also Cooks (Sweet potato leaves)

One of the secrets to a successful marriage, in my humble opinion, is having two partners who can cook, clean, bathe the children, etc. Sometimes The Hubby cooks dinner, and I am always super appreciative. He made dinner on a weeknight last week. I had bought some sweet potato leaves and Silver Queen corn from the Durham Farmer's Market . I was introduced to sweet potato leaves by a co-worker from China. She tells me that sweet potato leaves are even higher in iron and Vitamin C than spinach, though it is typically a food that is eaten by poor people. Well, I think it's rich and delicious enough to be a treat for everyone! And I'm always happy when I find it at the market. This is another one of those treasures that you can't find at the big grocery stores.

The dinner: Blackened Tofu, sweet potato leaves braised with garlic, and fresh buttered corn. Served with wheat rolls. Mouth-watering!
To make the blackened tofu: slice a slab of extra-firm tofu into 1-inch thick slabs. Drain on paper towels, press another paper towel on top gently to drain out as much water as you can. Rub the tofu with Cajun blackened seasoning, then pan-fry in hot peanut or canola oil till slightly crispy on the outside.

To make the sweet potato greens: Wash the greens and cut each leaf off at the stem. We left them whole, though they could be chopped. Heat some olive oil in a saucepan, and sautee some coarsely chopped garlic until fragrant. Add in the washed sweet potato greens and sautee for a minute or two. then, add half a cup to one cup of good quality, low-sodium vegetable broth and allow to simmer for 10 minutes until tender. Serve hot. They tasted a bit like spinach, a bit like collards, and a bit like sweet potatoes - altogether very tasty.

Fabulous, delicious, nutritious, EASY weekday dinner. Thank you Man of the House!

Soap-acho! (Gazpacho)

The logical thing to do when it's high summer and you have foolishly bought forty-two tomatoes, is to make Gazpacho. Much as I love this classic cold tomato soup, I have never tried to make it, because I'm always afraid it won't taste as good as the ones I get in the restaurants. Armed with my cooked tomatoes from the Great Tomato Experience, and fresh cucumbers, bell peppers, and basil from my garden, I decided to chance it.

I turned to my trusty Betty Crocker Newlyweds Edition cookbook and modified good old Betty's recipe. It was amazing and delicious. I must have eaten three bowls full.

The children loved putting everything in the food processor and they actually both enjoyed eating it. Even the child who won't eat anything runny or saucy. The three year old calls it Soap-acho! So that's what we've all started calling it too.

Here's how I made it (and I know there are hundreds of recipes out there for soap-acho):
Cut up some whole wheat bread (about 3-4 slices) or fancy bread if you have it, into cubes. Sautee in olive oil to make croutons.
In food processor, use the low setting to process till desired consistency:
4 cups tomatoes, peeled and cooked (or 2 cans of whole tomatoes)
1 small cucumber, (I peeled off the skin but you don't have to)
1 small green capsicum pepper, seeds and stem removed
about 1/4 cup very good quality olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or more!)
2 tablespoons cooking sherry or white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
half of the croutons
handful fresh basil

That's it! I was so greedy for it I didn't even bother chilling it further - the tomatoes were already cold. I drizzled some more olive oil in each bowl, topped with a handful of croutons, and guzzled it down. Yummmm SOAP-ACHO!

Forty two tomatoes.

The old frugal Indian Auntie inside me came roaring to life the last time I went farmer's marketing. It's high tomato season and the farmers are almost begging you to take their tomatoes, there is such an over abundance. Beautiful red, pink, orange, yellow, and purple tomatoes were selling for about $3/ pound.

One farmer had a box of bruised and imperfect tomatoes for $5.00! I stood indecisive at the stand as the farmer told me things like "Even if you only eat 4 and throw away the rest, you've already got your money's worth." Plus I had a six year old standing next to me saying "Let's do it mommy!" I heard generations of frugal Indian ancestors whispering in my ear.... it's a bargain, don't pass it up.... so I caved. Yes, i got the eye roll from the non-Indian hubby when he saw the box.

We counted forty two tomatoes in the box. it must have weighed over 20 pounds. What to do with all those tomatoes? Most of them had black or squishy spots - not really salad material.

I enlisted the kids' help. We spent a wonderful afternoon blanching the tomatoes and peeling them. Then I quartered the tomatoes and cooked it in their juices for about 10 minutes - didn't add any salt, water, or sugar, just the tomatoes. It took three batches in my biggest pot.

These are the sweetest tomatoes I have ever tasted!We froze it in ziploc bags in 2-3 cup portions to use later.

Expect lots of tomato recipes to be posted in the coming weeks!

Not quite the jewel I hoped for.

At our last shopping trip to the farmer's market, Missy and I decided to try something the farmer told us is called a "Jewel Melon". We'd never tried it before and we were curious. It certainly did look like a bright citrine jewel - sunny yellow with smooth skin and white ridges. We were really excited to take this beautiful fruit home. The farmer told us it tasted a bit like a watermelon. When we sliced it, the inside looked more like a cantaloupe, but with white flesh.

I peeled the skin off, scooped out seeds and cut it into cubes.The flesh was firm and crispy and very mild-tasting - the texture reminded me of a crispy pear. The flavor was what you would expect if a cucumber and a canteloupe mated. (Is that a suitable word for produce?) The verdict: "Yummy! I love it!" from Missy. "Bleagh!" from Little Man. A polite nibble and surreptitious throwing away of the rest from the hubby. Maybe 4 out of 10 from me.

Anybody out there tried Jewel melon? Any thoughts/ tips? Perhaps we should have let it ripen a couple of days before slicing. I'm willing to give it another try.

Saturday Morning Bliss

Our familiar Saturday morning trip to the Durham Farmer's Market yielded a beautiful and colorful harvest of produce... I had $12 and some change in my wallet and look at the locally-grown bounty I was able to get! Silver Queen corn, multicolored bell peppers, tender Swiss chard leaves, long and glossy Asian eggplant, and with my last $2, we bought something called a "jewel melon" which nobody in my family has ever tried.

Later in the evening we had grilled corn and thyme-scented grilled veggies. I am so fortunate to have in-laws who garden and are happy to share their bounty. And our little backyard veggie garden is also starting to yield produce. For the mixed grilled vegetables we had: home-grown thyme, zucchini, and okra, father-in-law's beets, and the eggplant, red pepper from the market. I had half an onion in the fridge leftover from something else, so I threw that in too.

I know you want recipes... Grilled veggies: washed and patted dry everything. Peeled the beets, sliced them lengthwise, and tossed in a little olive oil. In a separate bowl so that everything else wouldn't get pink from the beets, I mixed the sliced onions, zucchini, eggplant and red pepper with some olive oil and several sprigs of thyme. Hubby grilled everything on medium-high heat for about 10-15 mins - more or less, depending how much done-ness you want. We threw in the sliced okra at the last two minutes, almost an afterthought. Finished it with kosher salt and black pepper. Simple, but superb! this was the first time I had tried grilling beets and okra. The beets got a bit crispy but tasted wonderful. The okra was so tender and freshly-picked it really didn't need much cooking. The thyme and onion really lend the veggies a wonderful fragrance. Rosemary and garlic work just as well if you want to try something different.

Grilled corn: pre-boil the corn for no more than 4 to 5 minutes. Butter lightly. throw on the grill for about 2 - 3 minutes, just enough to roast the kernels a bit.

We had it with some grilled ciabatta bread, swiss cheese (for me), turkey burgers (for everyone else). I feel like we had a little bit of heaven for dinner.

- Sharlini

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We are two moms, brought together first through work and now brought together as friends with a passion for great food, cooking and family.

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