Fried Green Tomatoes

I finally did it.

After over 3 decades of living in the south, I finally made and tried fried green tomatoes.  

The CSA gave us some leftover green tomatoes last week.   Maybe some people prefer them, and maybe they just had some heavy wind knock a few off the vines.   Either way, I wound up with a couple of large green tomatoes, and since I have more stuff on the way tomorrow, I figured I should try doing something with these.  Frying them seemed like the obvious choice, and it was not a bad one.

I had some green beans as a side, which got my normal crab-boil, liquid smoke, liquid aminos, and butter treatment.   It works well for greens and black eyed peas, so I didn't see any reason that green beans should be any different.

• Oil to coat the bottom of a pan to an eighth to a quarter of an inch
• 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1t Old Bay Seasoning
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 large green tomato, cut into 3/8 inch slices
• Additional Old Bay to taste

Get the oil heated to at least 250F, and 300F would probably be a bit better (you'll really want a fry or candy thermometer to test that).    While that heats, get a container that will hold at least one (and preferably more) tomato slice, and put the flour, cornmeal, and first bit of Old Bay into it and mix thoroughly.   Put the buttermilk into another, similar container.

When the oil is almost up to temperature, dredge the tomato slices in the cornmeal/flour mixture to coat, then dip them in the buttermilk to coat, and then back into the cornmeal/flour mixture, before carefully placing them into the hot oil (try to lay them so any oil that splashes will splash away from you).   Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, flipping carefully.   When they're finished, and have a nice golden-brown color, remove them to a plate covered in paper towels, and lightly season with the additional Old Bay.

Veggie Bowties (florentine?)

This is basically yesterday's pasta, but with more tomato and some spinach-like greens, rather than a kohlrabi.   I'm really not certain what these greens are...  they're like a cross between what I generally think of as spinach and chard.   Too "ruffled" for most spinach, and without the "earthiness" of chard.

• Olive oil for sauteeing & drizzling
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium/large red onion, sliced into sticks
• 6-8 little carrots (probably 1.5 large grocery carrots), chopped
• 1 small yellow squash, chopped into disks
• 1/2 medium zucchini, chopped into disk
• 1 bunch spinach or other leafy green vegetable...  1/2 lbs, minus stalks. and torn up
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 4 fresh basil leaves
• 3 sprigs fresh oregano
• 1/4 cup malty beer (I used My Biere De Garde, this time)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt & Black pepper to taste
• 6oz bowtie pasta
• (non-vegan -> grated parmesan cheese to taste)

Pretty much the same process as last night, too.   The biggest difference is that the greens went into the sauce immediately after the pasta went into the boiling water.   This gave them just enough time to wilt nicely, without overcooking.  If anything this one tasted a little better than last night's, probably due to the extra tomatoes. 

Veggie Bowties

The Thursday before last, I picked up some tomatoes at the roadside farmer's market on my way home.   I love cooking with fresh tomatoes, and I'll be glad when I'm harvesting mine, but until then, I won't mind getting them from the CSA and farmer's market.   Those are usually much more ripe and ready than the ones from the grocery.

The CSA this week included a good bit of squash and zucchini, as well as a couple of kohlrabi and a big red onion.   They also had some little carrots, with tops.   Those still have the "carrot" nature, but they have a bit different flavor and texture from most of the carrots that you get at the store.

I'm just sort of rambling at this point, I think.   Quick Primavera pastas are pretty much a weekly staple for me during the summer.   Especially since I started participating in the CSA, since I wind up getting a big pile of fresh vegetables that I don't necessarily normally buy, and the pasta makes a really good "glue".   I'll hopefully post a few recipes from these things, though they will mostly be variations on the same theme that this one uses.

Enough talk...   This makes 2 servings.

• Olive oil for sauteeing & drizzling
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium/large red onion, sliced into sticks
• 5-6 little carrots (probably 1 large grocery carrot), chopped
• 1 small yellow squash, chopped into disks
• 1/2 medium zucchini, chopped into disks
• 1 kohlrabi, sliced into chunks
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 6-8 fresh basil leaves
• 3-4 sprigs fresh oregano
• 1/4 cup malty beer (I used my Saison Sombre, since it just went into the keg)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt & Black pepper to taste
• 6oz bowtie pasta
• (non-vegan -> grated parmesan cheese to taste)

I chopped all of the vegetables but the tomato, to try and make sure all the water that came out of the tomato would go into the sauce.  Next, I got the fry pan heating on medium high heat.   When water flicked onto the pan sizzled, I added enough oil to lightly coat the pan and added the garlic, onion, and carrots.  At approximately the same time, I got the water for the pasta heating on high.   Next, I got the tomato chopped up, and tore up about half of the basil leaves and set aside half of the oregano leaves.

Once the onion had mostly lost the purple color and started turning translucent, I added the rest of the vegetables, the prepared half of the herbs, the red pepper flakes, and some black pepper and a little salt. 

After the water came to a boil, I added the pasta, brought the water back to a boil, put the lid on the pan and turned the heat off.   I cooked the pasta for about ten minutes.   Meanwhile, I got the rest of the basil ready to tear, and stirred the sauce every minute or two.   It was just starting to stick to the pan with about 2 minutes left on the pasta, and with about 1 minute left, I added the beer to deglaze.

When the pasta was finished, I dumped it and the water into a sieve and shook it somewhat dry, and then dumped it into the pan with the sauce.  I added the last of the herbs and drizzled a final bit of olive oil over the pasta as I stirred it up.   I finished with stirring in some fresh parm.

Belgian IPA MII

The first beer I brewed using my new setup was also my first attempt at creating something similar to Stone's Cali-Belgique.   Though, instead of doing an IPA with Belgian yeast, I basically did a Tripel that was hopped like an IPA.   I did use all European-style hops (Mt. Hood, US Fuggles, US Saaz), to try and keep it in that less-aggressively-hopped realm.   It turned out to be really tasty, and something about that particular combination of hops produced an Orange-Juice-like flavor, which was pretty neat.

Today's brew is going in a little different direction.     I've got the T-58/3787 left over from the Cherry Stout, and I'm going to go with American hops this time around, to get more fruit flavors.   I'm using a few pounds of honey to dry it out and maybe provide some floral flavors, and I'm going to give it about an ounce of oak chips for it to sit on during primary fermentation.   I did the honey and oak thing in my first beer of the year, and it wound up making a really tasty, drinkable beverage.

So, yet again, my efficiency was horribly low.    All I know to do at this point is to either adjust the copper manifold somehow or to go back to the stainless mesh.   Luckily, I had some malt extract on hand, so I wound up adding a good bit of that to the boil kettle.   I even did a 90 minute mash.   I really don't have any obvious culprit for what the problem is, though, so I may just try going back to the mesh on the next beer and see if that fixes things.   Then I'll at least know whether it's an equipment problem or a technique problem.   Another culprit may be the gap on my grain mill...   I should check that.

Belgian IPA MII

Batch Size (Gal): 6
Total Grain (Lbs): 11.83
Adjunct Sugar (Lbs): 3
Anticipated OG: 1.081
Anticipated SRM: 7.1
Anticipated IBU: 76.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 40%
Wort Boil Time (min): 90

Grain
53.9% -- 8 lbs. French Pilsen Malt
3.4% -- 0.50 lbs. Aromatic Malt
3.4% -- 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L
19.1% -- 2.83 lbs  Munton's Extra Light DME (Due to efficiency problems)

Sugar
20.2% -- 3.00 lbs. Tennessee Mountain Wildflower Honey

Hops
0.50 oz. Centennial (Pellet, 8.80% AA) First Wort
0.50 oz. Amarillo VGXP01 (Pellet, 6.90% AA) First Wort
0.75 oz. Magnum (Pellet, 12.10% AA) @ 60 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo VGXP01 (Pellet, 6.90% AA) @ 15 min.
1.00 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.80% AA) @ 10 min.
1.00 oz Amarillo VGXP01 (Pellet, 6.90% AA) @ 5 min.
1.00 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.80% AA) @ 0 min.
1.50 oz Amarillo VGXP01 (Pellet, 6.90% AA) Dry
1.50 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.80% AA) Dry

Yeast
Wyeast 3787 - Trappist High Gravity
Fermentis Safbrew T-58
(repitched slurry)

Water Profile
Clearview, degassed overnight
1.5 teaspoons gypsum

Mash Schedule
Sacch. Rest: 90 min. @ 151F
Batch Sparge:  15 min. @ 166F

Notes

• Brewed on Monday, May 30, 2011
• Actual OG was 1.070 after everything was said and done.   A good reason to keep DME around.   That was around the gravity that I was originally aiming for.
• Added 1oz oak chips soaked in 1 cup of water for a couple of hours and then heated to boiling in a microwave to fermentor immediately prior to racking from the kettle.
• Chilled to 64F and pitched.
• ~48 hour lag time.  I'm not sure if that was because of the temperature, the honey, or both.
• Temperature rose by itself up to 70F, and after a day and a half, I covered it and set the temperature controller to 70F.
• Temperature then levelled off at 72F, and it was held there for 7 days.
• Flavor is currently "Tropical fruit bubblegum"   which isn't a bad thing in my opinion.
• The bubblegum has diminished significantly.   Racked to secondary and dry hopped with 1.5oz Amarillo and 1.5oz Centennial on June 20, 2011

Pasta Salad

They decided to hold a baby shower for a woman at work, and I offered to make a pasta salad.   It seemed to be a hit, and I had a couple of people ask for the recipe.   This is actually a variation on one that some friends gave me several years ago, but it's simple, and pasta salad is a pretty good glue for all kinds of things.

Pasta:
1 pound of rotini

Salt & boil water, add rotini, and cook for 8 minutes.   Drain and rinse with cold water.

Veggies & such:
1 jar of halved kalamata olives, chopped 
1 jar of roasted red peppers, chopped
1 container of Feta cheese
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 green onions, halved and chopped
1t black pepper (to taste)
1t dry thyme
Fresh Oregano: the leaves from 3 4-inch sprigs, rough chopped
Fresh Rosemary: 2-inch sprig, rough chopped

Dressing:
1t dry mustard powder
1 part balsamic vinegar
2 parts extra virgin olive oil

Mix and shake in some sort of container.

Mix pasta and vegetables & herbs, add dressing to taste.   I used some green onions from my CSA, so if you get scallions from the store, you should probably use 4-5 of them.