Pan Roasted Open Faced Grilled Cheese with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Avocado and Chiptole Lime Salt

5 out of the 6 ingredients came direct from Steve and Olivia at Farmer and the Cook

1. Heat an indulgent amount of olive oil in non-stick or other favorite grilled cheese making pan

2. Slice up some of Olivia's fresh spelt seed bread 

3. Place slices in oil and allow to "toast"

4. Meanwhile, grate up some yummy sharp cheddar cheese.  You could get this at FnC, but I had some from Vermont in my fridge.

5. Turn slices of bread over, sprinkle with cheese and cover to allow cheese to melt.

6. When cheese is melted, remove to a plate.  Put 2 or more of olivia's amazing smoked sun dried tomatoes on top.  Slice up some avocado and place on each sandwich.  Sprinkle with Olivia's amazing chipolte Lime sea salt.  Eat with a fork and knife for tidiness or not.

You can get Olivia's chipolte mix and tomatoes at organichiles.com.

Cornmeal Souffle

This is totally fantastic, but time consuming and needs to be timed well with the rest of your meal. It really wants to be the last thing to get put out. Spicer's recipe calls for grits, but I have yet to find grits in Ojai so I have substituted fine cornmeal. It's still good. Recipe from article in Food and Wine, December 2000.

5 cups water
1 cup whole milk (Organic Valley is my favorite)
3 Tbl unsalted butter
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1.5 cups stone ground grits or cornmeal
1.5 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (5 oz)
5 large eggs separated

1. In a large saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Slowly whisk in grits or cornmeal and simmer over low heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until grits are thick. About an hour.

2. Transfer cooked grits to a large bowl and stir in cheese. Let cool slightly, then add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon after each one. (This is where you have the most fudge room with the timing).

3. Preheat over to 400 degrees. Butter a 2.5 qt class or Cormack souffle dish. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Stir 1/3 of egg whites into grits to loosen them, then fold in the remaining whites.

4. Scrape mixture into prepared souffle dish and smooth the surface. Bake for about 30 minutes or until puffed and golden and center is moist but not runny. Serve at once.

Eggplant Tomato Custard

So i have been on an Ayurvedic cleanse for the last 4 weeks or so. Mostly I have been eating basmati rice cooked in ghee and Indian spices with a variety of vegetables, interspersed with kitchare.

Tonight was the first thing I cooked other than that. Inspired from a recipe from Deborah Madison's Green's Cookbook. I rarely cook eggplant. Eric cannot stand it. So I never buy it. But Steve gave me a CSA box the other day filled with it, so what's a dedicated local organic cook to do??

Also, I already had some tomato sauce made from roasted heirloom tomatoes with a little bit of garlic and lemon basil, so the dish was super easy.

1. If you do not already have tomato sauce made set the oven to 400. Core and half 3 to 5 heirloom tomatoes, depending on the size. Place Cut side up on baking sheet. Rub with Olive oil and grind fresh pepper. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until they look shiny and dry. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before handling.
2. In a large bowl, mash a clove or more of garlic, add tomatoes and mix. Rip up some of BD's amazing Lemon Basil and add to sauce. Add more olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.
3. Turn oven down to 350
4. Diagonally Slice up 2 or 3 your perfectly grown Japanese eggplant grown by Steve Sprinkle.
5. Heat some oil in pan and once hot, add the eggplant slices. Brown on both sides. Remove to a plate with paper towels to drain and cook remainder.
6. To assemble the gratin, spread some tomato sauce into the bottom of a pyrex or earthware dish. Tonight I used my 9" circular Pyrex dish cuz I was the only one eating it. (Again, eric hates eggplant). Layer with eggplant slices. Salt and Pepper. Grate some Gruyere cheese on top and scatter whole or sliced basil. Add another layer of eggplant, more cheese and more basil and then top off with tomato sauce.
7. To make the custard top, beat one egg with 1/2 cup of ricotta, a shy 1/3 cup of milk, grated Parmesan and saffron softened in hot water.
8. Pour custard on top of gratin and put in oven. I ended up baking it for about 50 minutes. Usually I set the oven for about 3/4 of the time I think it might take so I can check on it. Then add time. The custard top puffs, hardens and becomes a beautiful golden brown.

I ate it straight and liked it that way. To serve to a pal, might be nice to have a rocket citrus salad to compliment or to keep the heartiness, some rice would make it more dense.

Potato Leek Gratin

It's late February. And even though we live in Southern California where the days are never colder than 60 degrees, the body still craves comfort food. You know, like Potato Gratin. This dish will always remind me of Greta Davis who I love dearly. Tonight we ate this with a Salad, recipe follows.

Potato Leek Gratin

Preheat Oven to 350/375 degrees

In a heavy Saucepan, like a Le Crueset Dutch Oven, combine:
3+ cups of desired combo of milk and half n' half
8 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 Leeks, thinly sliced, you know, "white parts only"
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
2 Bay Leaves
Several twigs fresh or several pinches dried thyme
A Sprig or a few pinches of dried Rosemary
Couple pinches of good salt
Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste
A smidge of freshly ground nutmeg

Bring Mixture to a Boil and Simmer for about 5 minutes until potatoes are tender.

While Mixture is warming, rub a clove of garlic around the 9 x 12 heavy Pyrex or other casserole like dish. When garlic is dry, smear butter on inside of dish.

Transfer Potato Milk Mixture to the Dish. Cover with grated Gruyere Cheese. If desired, add dots of butter around top, but not necessary.

Bake for 45 minutes to and hour.

Remove and let sit before cutting and serving.

Grilled Cheese Take 2

A while ago I published instructions for my first foods. The things I first learned how to make. One of them was a grilled cheese sandwich for my dad. Today I updated it with my beuaitul Southern California life vegetables.

1. Turn on broiler.
2. Slice Ciabatta bread to desired thickness.
3. Put toast on cookie sheet and toast one side under broiler.
4. Thinly slice the raw hard goat cheese they carry at Rainbow Bridge and put on non-toasted bread side. Put under broiler to melt.
5. Meanwhile, in the nooks and crannies of toasting time, halve or quarter your favorite delicious cherry tomatoes. (Lately I am using the big orange ones from Farmer and the Cook). Toss tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, some shredded lemon basil and salt. (Some chopped shallots might have been good too).
6. When cheese is at desired meltiness, remove toasts to a plate and spoon tomato mixture on top. Grind some fresh pepper on and serve with knife and fork.

Kale Bruschetta

1. Thinly slice that beautiful dark kale from Farmer and the Cook and Wash.
2. Mince up some garlic
3. Heat too much olive oil and when hot, throw in Kale and stir, adding garlic a few minutes later. Fry until the kale feels sort of dry, about 15 minutes. Add enough water to almost cover and cook partially covered for about 30 minutes until soft. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Meanwhile, slice some country style wheat bread into shy 1/3 inch slices.
5. When ready to assemble, use broiler to toast one side of bread, flip over, brush with olive oil and toast other. Rub with sliced garlic, spread green mixture on top and cover with shaved Romano.

Note: The next day I toasted some bread with left over Romano cheese and left over sliced almonds. Then i put the greens on top. This was also yummy.