Oven Roasted Tomato Pasta with Scallops

26 July 2009 Filed In: Dairy-free, Fall, Main Dish, pasta, scallops, Soy-free, Summer, tomato





When we had scallops a couple of weeks ago and we said nothing about them being special meatballs, Mira looked at them through the corner of her eye very unpleasantly and would not come near them. This time, she ate her portion with relish.

What? Didn’t you know that scallops are the “meatballs of the sea”? Ok, maybe we just made that up last night to entice our daughter to eat her dinner, but it is worth repeating. For most children something that they can call a meatball is synonymous with a tasty little morsel, something that they can handle and even enjoy.
Oven Roasted Tomato Pasta with Scallops
For the pasta:
*1 pint cherry tomatoes (we used a beautiful orange variety here)
*1 pint grape tomatoes
*4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
*1 medium red onion, chopped about the same size as the tomatoes you are working with
*salt and pepper, to taste
*a couple of glugs of olive oil
*1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
*1 T-1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (optional***)
*1 lb. fresh angel hair pasta or spaghetti


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Start to heat your pasta water. The water should be salty, like sea water.
With your mini-chef, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Place the tomatoes, garlic, and onion down on the baking sheet. Give them a good glug or two of the olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and toss them using your hands.

Big Person: Roast in the oven for about 25-35 minutes, depending on the size of the tomatoes. Shake the pan a couple of times so that everything cooks evenly. The tomatoes should be bursting and the onion tender when they are ready.

Transfer the tomato mixture into a serving bowl or into a large pot. Smoosh the tomatoes and garlic with the back of your spoon so that the skins burst. Discard the garlic skins and mush them very well, to a paste. Sprinkle with the chopped basil and the parmesan. Cook your pasta. For fresh angel hair, 30 seconds works for us. Drain the pasta, and put it right over your tomato mixture in the bowl or pot. Toss immediately, adding a little extra olive oil if you feel it needs a bit more coating.

***Most people find cheese a very strange ingredients when you are also eating seafood, but I have included it here since it lends a richness to the pasta and because children generally love pasta with parmesan. Feel free to opt out if it is not your thing.

For the scallops:
*1 lb. sea scallops
*2 pieces of uncured bacon
*black pepper
*a couple of glugs of olive oil

Cross-hatch the tops of the scallops-that is, make a tic-tac-toe board on the top of each scallop that goes a third of the way down into the scallop. Sprinkle them with black pepper.

Heat a couple of glugs of olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon in the olive oil till it browns on both sides. Remove the bacon from the pan and reserve it for another dish. Now, place the scallops, cross-hatch side down in the pan and cook till golden brown, about 2-3 minutes flip with tongs, and cook the other side the same way. Remove to a warm serving platter.

Serve everything together on one big platter. Enjoy!

11 Comments | Comment On This Post

Share this post!

Mother Gooseberry’s Jam

24 July 2009 Filed In: gooseberry, greenmarket, jam



Have you ever tried a gooseberry? Before coming to New York and finding them at the farmer’s market on Union Square, I had only heard tell of them in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where the “gooseberries [wallpaper] taste like gooseberries, and the schnozberries taste like schnozberries.” Still haven’t gotten to try a schnozberry… but after tasting a gooseberry, I fell in love with the flavor, incredibly tart when uncooked and with the bursting juiciness of a grape.

Cooking them only makes them more luscious, so I thought that I would share my recipe for gooseberry jam with my neighborhood friends at the greenmarket. The lovely Avery, who runs our local Tribeca Greenmarket, invited me back to do a demo on how to make and can jam this past Wednesday. That day at the market we made sour cherry jam (recipe next week), but we had my gooseberry jam out for tasting. So many people wanted to taste that jam since, for most, it was the first time they had tasted a gooseberry in their lives.
Surprise! The jam tastes a bit of watermelon but much tangier or, as one taster remarked, like a fruit roll-up. So, do not just admire them from afar any more. Go and pick up a few pints of gooseberries from your own greenmarket and spend some time with your mini-chef making a delicious little jam this weekend. Happy Friday, Yums!

Mother Gooseberry’s Jam

*2 pints of gooseberries (about 4 cups) , woody and wispy bits removed
*3/4 c. local honey
*juice of half of a lemon
*2 t. pectin powder***
*2 t. calcium water***

Wash and prepare your gooseberries with your mini-chef. Make sure that you discuss what color they are now since a bit of magic will happen in the cooking process. Place the berries into the large, heavy bottomed pot in which they’ll be cooked. Then using your hands or a wooden spoon, smash them well. Do not puree since you will want a nice jammy texture with bits of the berry. Stir in the lemon juice.

Stir the pectin powder into the honey, and set it aside.

Bring the berry mash to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot to prevent scorching. Boil for 5-7 minutes. Add the honey-pectin mixture and the calcium water and stir vigorously for a minute. Turn off the heat and can in sterilized jars with proper lids immediately.

Fill each jar 1/4-inch from the top. With a clean, wet kitchen towel, wipe around the lip of jars, making absolutely sure that no jam residue remains. Place the lid on top and screw the band on tight-but not super duper tight. Place another clean kitchen towel down on your counter.

When you have finished closing a jar, flip it over, lid side down, and leave it for about 5 minutes. When you flip it back over, the pop-top should seal in and become concave for the canning to have been successful. Discuss what happened to seal the lids and what color the jam turned while you enjoy some jam and toast with your Yummy.

***Both the pectin and the calcium to make the calcium water are packaged together with the instructions on exactly how to use them. They can be found at your local health food store.

7 Comments | Comment On This Post

Share this post!

Corner View: 7:45

22 July 2009 Filed In: all the rest, corner view





The theme this week for Jane’s Corner View was to show exactly what we saw at 7:45 P.M. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Sad as it is to admit it, 7:45 is very very late in the day for us.  We’re wrapping things up, heading back toward home for bath and bedtime for the kids after our evening walks and, of course, ice cream runs.  
Delicious Daddio and I then get to hang for a couple of hours before our own bedtime-which usually means that we stay up way too late considering the two little faces we’ll be seeing well before 7:45 AM. 
But, these moments outside- how can we forget that Manhattan is an island, that ice cream tastes even better when you share it, and that, even here in Tribeca, the feel of grass on your bare feet is one of the ultimate summer treats.  
It’s 7:45.  Do you know where your children are?   
Corner Views from around the globe:

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, virgina, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama, amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian,


23 Comments | Comment On This Post

Share this post!

Berry Rhubarb Pie

20 July 2009 Filed In: berry, Desserts, pies, Spring, Summer, Vegetarian




Even for a woman who has been ignoring the rhubarb for a solid two months, the rhubarb has been kind this year.  Our rhubarb season has been lengthened because of the weather, and we still have the beautiful ruby stalks available to us at our greenmarket.  That rhubarb, along with the last of the wild strawberries and some frozen blueberries that were left over from last month’s cold spell, called out to be bundled up and baked into a delicious pie.

The fate of the fruits was decided as soon as I saw a post for Bon Appetit’s Strawberry-Rhubarb pie over at Alyson’s Milk Eggs Chocolate Blog.
I’ve changed the filling around a lot to suit our tastes and to use what we had on hand.  The crust, a brilliant one, is true to the recipe.  My daughter loves to make pies with me.  She is getting very good at the whole process,  which is something of which I can truly say that I’m so proud.  I did not learn how to roll out pie crust till I was about 20!  
So, huge thanks to Alyson who inspired us to make a pie instead of our customary crumble.  Yum.

Berry Rhubarb Pie

For the crust:

*1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
*2 c. unbleached white flour
*2 T. sugar
*2 t. salt
*pinch of cinnamon
*18 T. unsalted butter (2 1/4 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
*8 T. ice water (and maybe more)
*1/2 t. apple cider vinegar

In a food processor,*** blend together the flours, the sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  This is the part where you let your mini-chef press the “ON” button and go to town.  Add the butter and pulse for 1 second as many times as it takes to make a very coarse meal.  Note with your mini-chef what exactly that looks like.  Demonstrate with your hand or a found object what size the butter should be (e.g. an acorn?  an edamame bean?  a fairy hat?).  

Add the ice water and the vinegar and continue to pulse till your dough starts to hang together, clumping around the blade in your food processor.  If you find that you need a bit more liquid, then add some more of the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Lay out two long pieces of plastic wrap on your counter.  Unplug your food processor and open the top.  (Keep your Yummy far away from the blade!)  Divide the dough in half and place each halve on top of the awaiting plastic wrap. With your mini-chef, shape each halve into a ball and then smish it flat into a pancake.  We like to use the plastic wrap to do the shaping so that we never actually touch the dough once it has been divided (makes for a more tender crust).  We fold the plastic wrap over the whole thing and do our sculpting.  Make sure that your “pancakes” are completely covered in the plastic wrap before you place them in the fridge for at least 45 minutes, maybe a little longer on a very hot day.


For the Filling:

*3 1/2 c. rhubarb, scrubbed and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
*2 1/2 c. strawberries, hulled and chopped in 1/2 (small berries) or into quarters (large)
*2 c. blueberries
*1 t. vanilla
*1 T. fresh lemon juice
*3/4 c.  brown sugar
*1/4 c.  sugar or 1 T. agave
*1 T. flour
*1/3 c. cornstarch
*and extra 2 T, sugar for sprinkling on top of the pie

Big Person: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Together: Get out your biggest bowl.  With your Yummy, measure out all of the ingredients into that bowl and have them toss the whole mess with their hands.  


Pie time!  Flour your counter and have a little bowl of flour on hand to roll out the other crust.  Undo the plastic wrap around one of the dough pancakes, and put the dough down onto your floured counter.  Lay the plastic wrap one top of the dough, covering the surface.  You may need one more sheet of plastic wrap to roll out the crust depending on the width of your wrap.  

Now have your mini-chef do some rolling.  If they are very little, roll with them the entire time.  If they are a little older, give them a set amount of time for their turn and then take your turn for a set amount of time.  10 seconds works well.   When you have completed your turn, rotate the crust 45 degrees.  In this way, roll out the crust so that it ends up being about 1/8- inch.  

With your pie plate at the ready, pick up the crust, plastic still on top, and place the crust over the plate.  Nestle the crust down into the plate, pressing onto the sides.  You should have some nice overhang.  Now, peel the plastic off of the top.

Have your mini-chef use their hands to scoop the filling into the crust and smooth the fruit out.  Do not pour the filling into the crust since you want to leave behind any extra juices in the bowl.  

Repeat the rolling out process with the second dough pancake.   This time you will drape the crust over the top of the fruit.  

Big Person: Using kitchen scissors, cut off the overhang, all around, so that it just hangs about 1/4-inch over the rim of the pie plate.  

Together: Allow your mini-chef to help you turn the edge under.  You can press it with a fork if they are very young, or you can sculpt the edge as you see fit.  

With a dinner knife, cut  some vents in the top of the pie.  Sprinkle the top of the pie with the reserved sugar.

Big Person: Put the pie in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for another 25-30 minutes longer, till the crust turns golden and you see a bit of bubbling going on when peeking through the vents.  Take out of the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes- an hour before eating. 

*** You can, of course, make your crust the more traditional way, by hand, with a pastry cutter or a couple of dinner knives.  If you’re using the food processor, never EVER let your child near the blade and never let them stick their hand into the bowl of the food processor at all.   Period. 

9 Comments | Comment On This Post

Share this post!

Red Raspberry Sauce

17 July 2009 Filed In: berry, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Side Dish, Soy-free, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian


Have you seen the raspberries at your greenmarket lately?  In New York, they are at their absolute peak right now, ready to be baked into tarts, pies, and muffins, coaxed into jams, or quickly made up into an intensely flavorful sauce for your ice cream.

It’s easy as pie-in fact much, much easier.  This raspberry sauce could inspire us to host our own ice cream social.  We served this to our Sunday dinner guests on top of vanilla ice cream, and everybody just woofed it down.  It wasn’t a fluke either.  Since there wasn’t a drop of our dessert left on Sunday, I whipped up a second round to take the pictures above.  You see the last picture?  MMMmm.  
Red Raspberry Sauce

*2 pints of fresh raspberries (about 2 cups)
*2 T. lemon juice (about 1/2 of a medium lemon)
*1/4 c. honey or 2 T. agave

Wash and prepare your raspberries, discarding any bad berries or stems.  Place the berries into a small saucepan and add the lemon juice.  Have your mini-chef give them a special stir with a wooden spoon and smoosh them up a little bit.

Big Person: Move to the stovetop and cook over medium heat till boiling.  Allow the sauce to continue to boil and add in your honey or agave.  Smash the warm berries with the back of your spoon.  Keep cooking and stirring until you have your desired thickness, about 5 minutes.  

Remove from the heat.  Allow to cool to room temperature first, and then chill it your fridge.  

11 Comments | Comment On This Post

Share this post!