Tomate au Gratin

In search of a quick and delicious side that pairs well with pretty much everything? Look no further! Tomate au Gratin is quick, easy, and scrumptious. :)

1 pint cherry tomatoes from the garden
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 oz. shredded monterey jack cheese
2 oz. romano cheese
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix olive oil, tomatoes, oregano, and sea salt. Strain excess olive oil and seperate mixture into two small ramekins. Coat each ramekin in 1/2 bread crumbs and 1/2 romano cheese. Cover each ramekin with monterey jack cheese. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit until cheese is browned. Serve and enjoy! :) Serves 2.

New Twist on an Old Favorite

Recipe number two for today is a summertime version of one of my favorite dishes: Sicilian Caponata. Caponata is an eggplant relish with a sweet and sour flavor, but has a heavy flavor that makes it better for evenings or fall and spring meals. To modify this old favorite for the summertime, I've switched out purple eggplant for the sweeter, less intense white eggplant and used fresh tomatillos and cherry tomatoes instead of canned diced roma tomatoes. For some added freshness, I've used orange bell pepper as well. Enjoy!

2 small organic white eggplants
1 organic orange bell pepper
2 small celery stalks
2 small organic tomatillos
15 small homegrown cherry tomatoes
1/3 medium organic red onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
12 raisins or sultanas
1 1/2 tsp. caper berries
1 tsp. turbinado sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
dash of sea salt
dash of fresh ground black tellicherry pepper



Soak caper berries and raisins or sultanas in balsamic vinegar in a small bowl. Chop eggplant, pepper, tomatillos, celery and onion into bite-sized chunks. In frying pan, heat 1/3 of the olive oil, onions, garlic, celery, salt, and pepper until onions are soft. Add in eggplant and 1/2 of the remaining olive oil. Cover and let cook on medium heat until eggplant skin has taken on some color. Add in cherry tomatoes and tomatillos. Recover and cook until cherry tomatoes are starting to pop. Add in balsamic vinegar, remaining olive oil, sugar and pepper. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Add in sulatanas or raisins and caper berries, cover and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve as dip, spread, hot salad, or use as a stuffing for chicken or turkey. :) Serves 2-4. :)

Yum! :)

Not your mama's Bruschetta...

After a wonderful trip to a nearby farm where we picked fruit and basil, while hunting for the perfect veggies, we stumbled across a bag of delicious goodies- tomatillos. As a result, we decided to continue the west-Mex theme, and invited our cherry tomato's cousins to join the party tonight. Tomatillo is taking the lead for this unconventional, and yet still fabulously delish bruschetta, and since it's summer, we're grilling the bread in the backyard. We still snuck in those cherry tomatoes, though!

1 french baguette, cut into 1/2 slices
1/4 cup diced organic red onion
4 sprigs fresh organic genovese basil
2 large diced organic tomatillos (green variety, de-husked)
9 medium-sized quartered homegrown cherry tomatoes
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 dash sea salt
1 dash black pepper

In medium frying pan, combine onion, garlic, tomatillo, and 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Stir until onion, garlic, and tomatillo are lightly coated in olive oil. Heat until tomatillo flesh has turned from white to light green, or is softer in texture. Remove from heat and cool.

Finely mince basil. In a medium bowl mix basil, salt, and pepper with tomatoes. Add the remaining olive oil and balsamic vinegar until mixture is evenly coated.

Combine all ingredients in the frying pan that was used to cook the tomatillos, onion, and garlic (making sure that the heat is off).

Cool mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes, and heat up your grill.

Brush baguette slices lightly with olive oil and place on the grill until lightly toasted. Cover with bruschetta mixture and serve. :)

Chorizo con papas y jitomate (a little west-Mex fun...)

We were in the mood for a tongue-scorching and flavorful experience, so today's lunch involved a little west-Mex kick. I hope you like it! A word on substitutions - do NOT sub green pepper for the orange bell pepper. Red would work, but green will change the flavor. Feel free to swap the beef chorizo for veggie chorizo, however.

1 large local beef chorizo link, chopped into 1/4" slices
1 diced organic orange bell pepper
4 sprigs of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup of water
1/4 cup diced red onion
10-20 fresh cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1/4 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil and herb marinade
1/3 cup of your favorite salsa (I use Salsa 505 - organic and yummy)
2 small cubed potatoes (preferrably red skin or large swedish peanut fingerlings)
1/2 cup Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, grated
1 1/2 key limes

In large frying pan, combine bell pepper, water, onion, cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, salsa and water. Cover and cook over medium heat until mixture starts to boil. Add potatoes, cover, and reduce heat. Once the liquid has begun to form a sauce, add chorizo and cheese, stirring until cheese melts into the sauce. Cover and cook until sauce is nearly uniform in texture. Add half of the cilantro, and stir. Remove from heat, serve, and garnish with remaining cilantro and 1/2 key lime per person. Serves 3.