Simple tapenade

Great for anytime you need a quick dip, sandwich addition, or spread! I like the big, salty flavor of a Kalamata for this if it is for a dip. But a tapenade with more delicate and mild olives is great for topping fish, chicken, or grilled vegetables (where I might add some garlic as well). You can also experiment both the ratios below and with other ingredients as well. This is a great base recipe!

Prep time: 1/4 cocktail

1 1/2 cup pitted olives, Kalamatas and/or other olive varieties, drained and lightly rinsed
1/4 cup Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
1 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice + 1/2 tsp of the grated zest 
2 anchovy filets (optional)
1-2 TBSP capers + 1/2 tsp caper brine
2 TBSP shallots, finely minced
1/4 cup pine nuts
Black pepper to taste

You can lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry pan if you would like, as this brings out their full flavor. But this is an optional step. 

Combine everything EXCEPT capers, shallots, pine nuts, and pepper in food processor. Pulse the mixture until you reach the desired consistency (finely broken down but not all the way into a paste). 

Transfer olive mixture to a bowl and stir in capers, shallots, pine nuts, and pepper. 

Adjust seasoning to taste.

(Sometimes the ingredients will release liquid and it'll pool a little if the tapenade stands fro a few minutes. You can add a couple pinches of bread crumbs to absorb excess liquid. Just don't add so much bread crumbs that you change the flavor or texture of the final product.)

Vegan Cassoulet (yes, you read that correctly)

Prep time: 3 cocktails

1 pound flagoulet, navy, or other small to medium white beans

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2-3 carrots, finely chopped

2-3 ribs celery, finely chopped

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, pulsed in food processor into 1/8 inch bits (about 8-10 pulses)

12-15 cloves garlic, minced

1 oz dried mushrooms, ground into a slightly coarse/chunky powder

5 cups homemade veggie broth

1.5 cups red wine

3 TBSP soy sauce (fish sauce is also great)

1.5 tsp liquid smoke

6 Bay leaves

4-6 sprigs fresh thyme

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 whole cloves

Salt and pepper to taste (usually about 2.5 tsp tsp salt)

¼ cup Italian parsley, minced

Breadcrumbs

Soak beans overnight. Rinse well and drain.

In a large, oven-safe dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat and add onions, carrot, and celery. Saute until starts to turn translucent to a little golden, about 12 minutes. Add fresh mushroom bits and garlic. Saute until liquid is mostly cooked off and bits are sticking to pan (but not burned), about 15 minutes, while scraping the stuck-on bits occasionally with a metal or wooden spatula. Add dried mushroom powder and cook another 6 or so minutes, while also completely scraping the browning bits on the bottom of the pan every 30 seconds or so using your spatula. Let the mixture cook and brown to the bottom one last minute without scraping.

(Note that these browned--but not burned!--bits that you scrape off the bottom of the pan give the cassoulet the majority of the flavor. So, extend the process of scraping and stirring even longer, if it seems as though you can)

Deglaze (unstick the delicious browned bits at the bottom of the pan) mushroom mixture with wine, soy sauce, and liquid smoke. Bring to boil. Now add veggie stock, drained beans, bay leaves, thyme, cloves, rosemary and bring to a boil and cook until beans are soft and excess liquid has cooked off (adding water, if necessary).

Now, preheat oven to broil.

Fish out thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and rosemary.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in Italian parsley. Toss bread crumbs with a little olive oil and sprinkle top of cassoulet. Put it all in the oven and broil until bread crumbs brown (but don’t burn!).

Heirloom Tomato Bisque

It's finally summer! And though we're still a few weeks away from our first tomatoes here in Colorado, many of you in warmer climates are already harvesting the first Mortgage Lifters and Brandywines.

This is a GREAT recipe for a beginning home canner, as cracking a jar of rich, creamy, delicious garden tomato bisque in mid-winter is nothing short of miraculous. And if you're like me, the ultimate comfort food when you're sick is grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup--for which this recipe is perfect!

If you're canning, this recipe is good for a large batch (it makes 6-7 quarts). Obviously, if you don't want to preserve the soup, you can scale it down.

Also, this preparation results in a fairly uniform, smooth soup, but there usually remain a few small bits of tomato skin after preparation. If you want to, remove the skins by blanching the tomatoes for a minute and peel skins off. This will give you a uniformly smooth soup, but I find that it’s not always worth the trouble.

And remember: ONLY use fresh homegrown or Farmers' Market tomatoes. If I hear of anybody using Styrofoam grocery store or canned tomatoes, I'll personally come to your house and kick your ass for defacing this recipe. The simplicity of this recipe relies on you using only the best, sweetest, most flavorful tomatoes available.

Prep time: 1-2 cocktails (not counting reduction time)

1 quart veggie stock--preferably homemade (click here for recipe)
12-14 pounds ripe local tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), divided
2 medium onions, chopped
4 TBSP flour
1 quart half-and-half
¼ cup sea salt
Black pepper
Agave nectar

In a very large stockpot, combine the veggie stock and tomatoes on high heat. Stirring occasionally, bring to a boil and reduce to medium.

Once you’ve got the tomatoes started, melt half the butter in a skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the onions, and sauté until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add onions to the tomato mixture and stir well. Continue to simmer the tomatoes until they break dow fairly well, about 20 minutes.

As you cook the tomatoes, melt the remaining butter in a medium saucepan over slightly-less-than-medium heat. Add flour and whisk constantly for 3 minutes. Stir in half and half and bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat a notch and continue to whisk constantly for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

In batches, combine a few ladles of the tomato mixture with some of the half and half mixture in a blender and puree very, very well. Place this mixture in a fresh pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add salt and a good dose of pepper. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until you’ve reached a nice thick-soup consistency—about 1-2 hours, depending on the water content of your original tomatoes. And depending on the sugar content of your original tomatoes, the amount of agave will vary. Add until the sweetness of the soup just begins to come through, this is usually a few TBSP for most heirloom tomatoes, but will be more for paste tomatoes.

Adjust seasoning, if necessary. Enjoy now, or can the batch, according to your pressure canners' instructions for creamy soups.

Homemade mayonnaise

Stop buying store-bought mayo! This stuff is super easy to make and is wayyyy better! And feel free to add whatever you like to this recipe to make it fit the cuisine for which you’re preparing. A touch of jerk seasoning and pineapple juice is great for Caribbean foods, while chipotle peppers and a dash of lime would make a great fit for Mexican cuisine. The possibilities are endless!

1 egg yolk
2 tsp dijon (or 1/2 tsp mustard powder and 2 tsp water)
Pich of sugar
½ tsp salt
1 cup canola oil
1 TBSP lemon juice

Combine yolk, mustard, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl or food processor (if your food processor is large like mine, an immersion blender with a narrow cup works better). Whisk well. Very slowly, add the oil a few drops at a time, as you whisk vigorously (or keep food processor running). Once the emulsion begins to thicken a bit, increase rate at which you add the oil to a very, very light stream. Continue to whisk or keep food processor on while you do this. Once all the oil is incorporated, add in the lemon juice and serve. Stores a couple weeks in the fridge.