Al Dente

The Best Cocktails and Food I Never Had

I’m guessing this has happened to everyone (except those lucky few who somehow manage to have extra hours in the day to fit in every possible option. I dislike those people). You see a special cocktail or food event, or menu that’s one night only, or even pass a restaurant that looks scrumptious on vacation, but you just don’t have the time to take advantage of it, no matter how super-fabulous it is in your mind. And then you think about it, or hear about it, and wish you could go back in time and re-organize your schedule.

Recently, this happened to me and I’m still dwelling on it. See, here in Seattle, two of the top chefs in the city, Brian McCracken and Dana Tough (co-owners of both Spur and Tavern Law, a couple of Seattle’s must-visit cocktail and food spots by-the-way) combined with a number of top bartenders, all under the banner of one of my all-time nostalgia inducing favorite bourbons, Maker’s Mark, to put out an exclusive evening of unbelievable food and cocktails. On August 11th. And I had to miss it. And (to make me even sadder and my mouth water even more) I have the menu and some pics. So, I’m making you share in my sadness (unless you were there. In which case, go reminisce giddily and leave us to pout). Here was the lineup:

Course One
Bartender: Anu Apte of Rob Roy
Drink:  M3
1-1/2 ounce Maker’s Mark
1 ounce Fino Sherry
Just over 1/4 ounce maple syrup
Dash grapefruit bitters
Food:  Foie Gras Torchon:
wild pear, molasses, sherry

Course Two
Bartender: Nathan Weber of Tavern Law
Drink: French Prince of Bourbon
1-1/2 ounce Maker’s Mark
3/4 ounce grapefruit juice
1/2 ounce Dolin Blanc vermouth
1/2 ounce rosemary syrup
2 dashes Jerry Thomas bitters
Dash old time aromatic bitters
Food: Sockeye salmon:
fennel, onion, purslane.
 
 Course Three
Bartender: Benjamin Perri of Zig Zag
Drink: A Lick and a Promise
1-1/2 ounce Maker’s Mark
1/2 ounce Cynar
1/4 ounce Tuaca
1/4 ounce Cherry Heering
Dash mole bitters
Lemon twist, for garnish
Food:  Sous Vide Pork Belly:
sunchoke, bing cherry.
 
 Course Four
Bartender: Craig Schoen of Spur
Drink: The Long Hand of Sadness
1-1/4 ounce makers
1/4 ounce Lovage gomme
1/4 ounce Averna amaro
2 dashes aromatic bitters
White pepper/brown sugar rim
Food: Waygu Beef Brisket:
coffee, corn, arugula.
 
 Course Five
Bartender: Marley Tomic-Beard of Spur
Drink: The Pine Box
1-1/2 ounce makers
1 ounce smoked pineapple juice
3/4 ounce ver jus
1/4 ounce Campari
1/4 ounce Luxardo marascino
Grilled pineapple, for garnish
Food: Amaretto Sponge Cake:
smoked almond, pineapple, yogurt.

Now if that line-up doesn’t have you glassy-eyed with culinary and cocktail desire, maybe you don’t have taste buds? If you’ve missed a dinner that rivals this one, well, then I pity you. And hope you feel the same for me after missing the above amazing evening.

--A.J. Rathbun

Photos Copyright 2010, Chad Pryor

How Many Seattle Bartenders Can Fill Up Tales of the Cocktail 2010?

There is no event that brings together such talent in one industry as the Tales of the Cocktail. Held in the firm grip of summer in New Orleans, at the legendary Hotel Monteleone, Tales is a frat party for cocktail geeks, a platform for new and interesting spirits, a culmination of the great minds in the industry, and an excuse to drink cocktails in class. Seminars range from "Creativity and the Power of Brainstorming" (our own contribution) to "Old Tom Gin," "Self-Publishing," and the "Fine Art of Negotiation."  The subject matter covers professional series and introduction for newcomers, but all are geared toward the spirit soaked, and the spirit forward.

Seattle, few can argue, has one of the most thriving cocktail scenes in the country, but it’s banishment to the far northwest coast leaves it forever in the shadow of New York. While the mammoth city will forever drive trends in food, fashion, and now cocktail, here right under your nose, where sourcing fine spirits is far harder than anywhere in the country, there is a revolution stirring with no sign of dilution. it a resurgence in class and taste, barmen and woman, revitalizing the dignity of a craft that we’ve not experienced in roughly 100 years. 

This greatness is exemplified by Seattle’s representation at Tales.  You can’t flick a cold draft cube without hitting a bartender, blogger, author, or ambassador who hails from the Emerald City (pictured to the left, Evan Martin, Jim Romdall and Thomas Bondesson … good NW boys!). Throw in Portland and we could take the entire east coast for a bar crawl of no comparison.  And for the record, we always throw down for Portland. 

Representatives of nearly every great cocktail bar in Seattle were in attendance at Tales, and not merely as attendees, as panelist, experts, contest winners, brand representatives, bloggers, media and honored guests.   Roberts Hess, author and cocktail historian, and "Drink Boy", a great resource for anything cocktail was honored at the opening reception and presented at more than a couple seminars.

Andrew Boeher, writer of Cask Strength and barman at Mistral Kitchen carved 600 ice balls with Anu Apte and Zane Harris of Rob Roy for the Mad Men themed awards party. 
 

Anu, Andrew and Zane carving like mad!

Ted Munat launched Left Coast Libations, a beautiful cocktail book featuring "the Art of West Coast Bartenders,"  and Small Screen Networks, a webisode network based out of Seattle was on hand to document the event, taping the highlights of the conference. 

“Drink Boy” – Robert Hess holding up a copy of Left Coast Libations

Kathy Casey Food Studios® and Liquid Kitchen™ returned to Tales to present a pro-series seminar “Creativity and the Power of Brainstorming.” We outlined the creative nature of developing drinks for menus, brands, or contests - to a room full of already creative individuals and then we challenged them on the spot, to create a great cocktail with whatever was on their table.  (Pictured to the right, seminar participants develop a drink with the ingredients found on their table.)

The winning cocktail was aptly named "Morris Day and the Thyme," there were a few explicative’s thrown in as well, so be creative with your own version of the name. The drink included Hendricks Gin, Catdaddy Moonshine, fresh lime juice, cucumber, honey and fresh thyme. The winners took home a great bar roll kit from UberBartools.
  

 Ms Franky, Kathy Casey and Cameo McRoberts with the hard task of picking the winner!
 

Then there was of course the “Jeffery Morganthaler annual room swag off”- (this is a gathering of all the stuff from the swag room... booze, booze, booze and then as much other "stuff" that everyone dump on the table, peoples' names thrown in a hat, 3 judges and contestants are chosen, and contestants having only 5 minutes to make a cocktail)... It’s a cluster and a lot of fun!
  

The swag off “paparatazzi” – Cameo in center stage!

  

Hum…. things are getting blurry… That’s me chatting it up with the winner Thomas Bondesson: winning cocktail – BBQ sauce, whisky and some other strange things… we can’t remember….

 

The  Coup de grace? Imperial proof of Northwest dominance in all things libatious? Murray Stentson, of our own Zig Zag brought home best bartender in America. And you best believe the hype. Drinking a cocktail poured by the bar geek version of Obi-Wan Kenobi is truly a gift.

So get down to a fancy drinking hole and pay the ten dollars for that handcrafted, hand carved, hand made cocktail. It is equal or greater to seeing that little band in the café, or catching the tasting menu of a great chef on the verge, or a picture caught in time that you may never see again but it made you feel a little warm inside

. 

Cheers to another great Tales of the Cocktail!

--Kathy Casey and Cameo McRoberts

© Copyright 2010 by Kathy Casey Food Studios®

For more Dishing with Kathy Casey and recipes visit www.kathycasey.com/blog. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kathycaseychef. Become a Facebook fan at Sips & Apps.

Friday's Food For Thought: Green Eggs and Ham Edition

Here at Al Dente blog our eyes are never too big for our stomach: We devour the food world news all week long, including the stories that give us heartburn. Here are some of the bits that caught our eye this week, plus some noteworthy items we've heard folks talking up around the water cooler: 

 *A Dr. Seuss Classic Turns 50: Any idea which one?

 *Halibut. It's What's For Dinner. (For the next twelve months.)

*Missing French Chef Turns Up. In a freezer.

*Seasonal Food is Black and White...to the Romans.

*Al Dente Flickr Pool Photo of the Week: Asparagus with Balsamic Rhubarb Reduction courtesy of cooklocal.

*Recipe of the Week: You will not like them, Sam-I-am.

*Kitchen Tool of the Week: This dude.

Have a great weekend and eat well, my friends.

--StellaCadente*

Follow me on Twitter @pomodorista

Sophisticated & Slim Summer Cocktails

Summer heat has us drinking slimmer, or at least thinking about it!  Vodka definitely comes to mind in that category. But though vodka is typically a neutral tasting spirit, I had the pleasure of tasting an amazing vodka recently. Yes, that’s right--tasting!

Purity Vodka is an organic brand of vodka that is still new to the US markets (available only in California, Georgia, New Jersey, and New York so far).  But don’t let its “new” status fool you! Made from estate grown wheat and barley mixed with the purest water from an artesian well, Purity Vodka is full-bodied, complex, and loaded with character--a front-runner in the new, and what I like to coin as the “Complex Character,” genre of vodkas. Vodka with taste!

To be clear, this is not vodka for the mainstream. The Purity Vodka-making process comes to life in small batches at the 13th century Ellinge Castle in the south of Sweden. Thomas Kuuttanen, Purity Vodka’s master distiller, uses a proprietary pot still made of copper and gold, which produces a unique spirit. A spirit so refined that no filtration is necessary.
 
I met with Thomas a few months ago at my Food Studios for a more formal introduction to Purity Vodka. As he spoke, you could feel the passion in his story in how it took him nearly a decade to complete this vodka recipe. As we sat, sipped, and talked, my mind was reeling with ideas to mix up with this unique vodka.

What is totally interesting is that the week before Thomas’s visit my friend brought me a fresh bottle of the new Bainbridge Legacy Organic Vodka from Washington’s Bainbridge Island. This vodka also has a complex flavor character. So I whipped out the bottle for Thomas during our meeting to taste and he was very excited to see others also making vodka with character! I love his attitude of “the more the merrier” in this category!

After much tasting and brainstorming, the cocktail development started. The vodka definitely had to be the star and I wanted to mix it with ingredients that would highlight its unique characteristics. So first up was the Frisk (Swedish for “fresh”), in which I wanted to incorporate a bit of Swedish flavors. Muddled fresh cucumbers with a light wash of aromatic aquavit and shaken hard, all made for a clean crisp cocktail. A tiny dill sprig garnish gives a fresh herb scent as you take your first sip. An excellent cocktail on its own or paired with a tasty appetizer of smoked salmon on a crostini with a shallot and caper crème.

My next cocktail creation was inspired by the very spa-related movement in cocktails. The trend is seen heavily in healthier drinks like skinny margaritas moving up rapidly on the popularity chart. Yet many sippers are looking for something more sophisticated and less sweet; something clean and crisp. So the Berry Purity H2O came forth. I infused water with berries, then shook it with Purity Vodka … dry, fresh and H2O enhanced--very pure and simple.

Happy summer sipping!

Frisk
The clean flavor of Purity Vodka dances well with the crisp, fresh cucumber in this cocktail. A whisper of aquavit and the fragrance of dill enhance its complexity.

Ingredients:
2 ounces Purity Vodka
1/8 ounce wash of aquavit  
3 slices cucumber
Small sprig of dill for garnish

Directions:
1. Add the aquavit to a cocktail shaker glass and roll around. Shake out any excess.

2. Drop in the cucumber slices and press with a muddler to release the juices.

3. Measure in the vodka and fill with ice. Cap and shake vigorously.

4. Double strain into a martini glass and garnish with a small sprig of dill.

Berry Purity H2O
This cocktail is lightened with a refreshing berry infused water. It’s slim and sophisticated with a dry berry finish.

1 ounce Purity Vodka
3 ounces Berry Water (recipe follows)
Fresh berry on a pick for garnish

1. Serve the vodka mixed with the Berry Water--either shaken and served strained, or just combined over ice.

Berry Water

Makes about 10 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup mixed berries, such as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries
1 long piece of lemon zest
4 cups distilled or bottled high-quality water

Directions:
1. Combine the ingredients in a glass pitcher and let sit, refrigerated, for at least 4 hours--or preferably overnight, before serving.

--Kathy Casey

© Copyright 2010 by Kathy Casey Food Studios®

© 2010 Photos by Kathy Casey Food Studios®-Liquid Kitchen™ for Purity Vodka

For more Dishing with Kathy Casey and recipes visit www.kathycasey.com/blog. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kathycaseychef. Become a Facebook fan at Sips & Apps.

Pop Art: Palette-Pleasing Mexican Popsicles

I love the "Fare" section of Saveur magazine, which features a writer waxing poetic about a food memory. This month's issue highlights paletas, or Mexican ice-pops. The brightly colored pops caught my eye, but the sweet narrative accompanying the article really hooked me on wanting to try these myself. I've enjoyed eating fresh mangoes on the beach in Mexico with chili, lime and salt, so for me, this is the flavor to try.

Paletas de Mango Con Chile

Ingredients:

1 cup store-bought mango juice or nectar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1 large mango peeled, seeded, and cut into small cubes

Directions:

1. Heat mango juice, sugar, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Transfer mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled. Stir chili powder and cubed mango into the chilled mixture and pour into eight 3-ounce ice-pop molds. Insert a Popsicle stick into each mold and freeze until pops are solid, about 3 hours. To release pops from molds, run the bottom of the molds briefly under cold water.

Additional recipes:

*Tamarind-Chile Paletas
*Rice Pudding Paletas
*Pineapple Paletas
*Strawberries and Cream Paletas

Related Items:

*Popsicle molds
*Saveur magazine

Recipe credit: Saveur Magazine, No. 131, August/September 2010

Photo credit (mango paleta): Michael Kraus

--StellaCadente*

Follow me on Twitter @pomodorista

I’m Turning Japanese (Cocktails) This Summer

While I love the 1980 hit (loosely using that term) “I’m Turning Japanese” by the Vapors, this summer I’m not just singing the refrain, but drinking it, thanks to Yuri Kato’s tasty and well-written cocktail book: Japanese Cocktails: Mixed Drinks with Saké, Shuchu, Whisky, and More (Chronicle Books, 2009). Not only is the book brimming with recipes using Japanese and other ingredients in drinks such as the Tokyo M&M, the Ajisai, which means “hydrangea” in Japanese, and the Enoshima Swizzle, it also is bubbling over with bits of history about Japan and Japanese drinks, fun and entertaining facts about towns and places in Japan, and cultural information (in the book, for example, you can find out what “love hotels” are, and then drink a cocktail named after them--with that special someone, if the mood takes you). And though the recipes do use items that will be new to many, I haven’t had a problem finding any of the ingredients used in the book.

I think, though, that the best part of Japanese Cocktails is how Yuri writes in an entertaining, but still graceful, style, which matches well with the nature of the cocktails in the book. This makes the book a delightful read as well as a resource. The Japanese cocktail style is to have drinks that aren’t quite as strong as many found in the U.S., and this lighter nature of the drinks makes them ideal for summer, when you don’t want to be weighed down. This is why I’m turning Japanese at the outdoor bar this season--and why you should, too. To get you started, here’s a recipe for the Lady Godzilla.

Ingredients:
4 to 5 fresh mint leaves
1/4 ounce umeshu
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces white tequila
1 ounce Midori melon liqueur
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
Fresh mint sprig for garnish

Directions:
1. Add the mint leaves and the umeshu to a cocktail shaker. Using a muddler or long wooden spoon, muddle well.

2. Fill the cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the tequila, Midori, and lemon juice. Shake well.

3. Strain into a cocktail glass (chilled if possible). Garnish with the mint sprig.

A Note: Umeshu is a Japanese liqueur made from ume fruits, a base spirit, and sugar. Yuri has a handy recipe for it in the book, or you can look for it online if you can’t find it in a nearby liquor store or Asian market.

Tom Douglas's Recipe for Crab Cakes with Green Cocktail Sauce

Add some color and flavor to your next picnic with these recipes from Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen: one for Tom’s signature crab cakes and the other for a spiced-up green cocktail sauce. It’ll make summer even more delicious. For constructing the sauce though, be sure to use fresh grated horseradish (which you can grate using Tom’s handy coarse Microplane grater).

Dungeness Crab Cakes

Yields 8 crab cakes

Ingredients:
10 slices of supermarket white bread (about 1/2 loaf)
3/4 cup chopped parsley
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons Tabasco
7 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound fresh Dungeness crabmeat (picked over for bits of shell with claw meat and large pieces of crab left whole)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
Butter for pan-frying, about 6 tablespoons

Directions:
1. Tear up the white bread and pulse the pieces in a food processor to make fine, soft crumbs. (You should have about 6 cups crumbs.)  Remove the breadcrumbs to a shallow container and mix in 1/2 cup of the chopped parsley (reserve the remaining 1/4 cup chopped parsley for the crab cake mixture).  Set aside.

2. In a food processor, combine the egg yolk, lemon juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, mustard, paprika, thyme, celery seed, and black pepper.  Pulse to combine. With the motor running, slowly add the oil through the feed tube until mixture emulsifies and forms a mayonnaise. Remove the mayonnaise from the food processor and refrigerate.

3. Place the crabmeat in a cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a bowl. Pull the cheesecloth tightly around the crabmeat and squeeze out as much juice as possible. Place the chopped onion, green bell pepper and red bell pepper in a sieve set over a bowl and use your hands to squeeze out as much juice as possible. In a large bowl, combine onion and bell peppers with the remaining 1/4 cup parsley. Add the chilled mayonnaise and crabmeat and toss lightly to combine. Add 1 cup of the breadcrumb-parsley mixture and combine. Do not overwork mixture or crab cakes may get gummy. Gently form 8 patties and roll the patties lightly in the reserved breadcrumb-parsley mixture. Leave the crab cakes in the pan of breadcrumbs until you sauté them.

4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a nonstick sauté pan and butter as needed, pan-fry the crab cakes until golden brown on both sides, in batches, and place them on a baking sheet as they are browned. When all the crab cakes are browned, put them in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until they are heated all the way through. Serve one crab cake as an appetizer or two as an entrée. Serve with a ramekin of green cocktail sauce and a lemon wedge.

A Step Ahead: The crab cakes actually hold together better if prepared a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator before cooking.  Store them in the pan of breadcrumbs, covered with plastic wrap.

Green Cocktail Sauce

Yields 2/3 cup

Ingredients:
8 ounces tomatillos, husked and cut into quarters
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons green Tabasco
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon mustard seeds, toasted (See note)   
1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh horseradish

Directions:
1. Put the tomatillos in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely pureed.  Remove the tomatillo puree to a sieve, drain off the liquid and discard.

2. Put the drained puree in a bowl and stir in the vinegar, sugar, green Tabasco, garlic, mustard seeds, and horseradish.

A Note: To toast spices, place them in a small heavy skillet for a few minutes over medium heat, shaking or stirring constantly, until aromatic.

To Sauce Or Not To Sauce: The Great Grilling Question

I was so thrilled to get a call the other day from the son of a dear friend. He wanted my advice on how to cook ribs. He's never eaten my barbecue, but he figures I might know a thing or three after living in Memphis, Tenn., for a few years.

There were some delicious lessons learned down South, especially when I took a seminar in judging competition Q. You know how people describe the ultimate rib as a falling-off-the-bone tender experience? That's not what you're going for during competition. The best barbecue ribs need a little tug, the meat has a firm (not chewy) texture.

The thing I find lacking in many rib preparations I've tried in restaurants outside the South is that the kitchen doesn't trim up the rib. The flap of flesh remains intact, so it adds to the cooking time, but not the overall enjoyment because that piece of meat is generally chewy. 

Depending on who's cooking, the ribs are mopped with a vinegar-y sauce throughout the low-and-slow process or they're basted in sauce at the end so they develop a nice char. I like 'em both ways, though usually prefer the sauce on the side. I love them cooked off the fire, but finished with a little sear.

Those were the instructions I gave to the aspiring pitmaster. I heard back from him a couple of days later and he said the ribs were great. Score!

So how do you roll with your rack of ribs? Sauce or no sauce while cooking? The ribs in the photo, by the way, were sauced and served at one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants in Seattle. Those Kansas City-style ribs are a summer feature at Crow.

-- Leslie Kelly

The Quintessential Symbol of Summer--Fresh Tomatoes

When a tomato is plucked perfectly ripe from the vine, you can stand in the yard and eat it just like a peach--with juice dribbling down your chin!

I've always been crazy for tomatoes. In grade school, there was a kid in my class whose mom grew plum tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes. (This was cutting-edge then!) He would bring little baggies of roma wedges and yellow tear-drops to school. Well, you know those tomatoes just used to call to us from his lunch sack, so a couple of us girls swiped them once or twice and had ourselves a feast. These tomatoes were perfect just lightly sprinkled with salt. Of course we left something in return, peanut butter cookies or a florescent pink snow ball. We were definitely early gourmands.

Tomatoes are totally versatile; they have a thousand uses, both raw and cooked. Chop them for relishes and salsas, or cook them into sauces and soups. You can smoke them, roast them, stew them, and jam them. And of course you just can't have enough salads in the summer!

They pair beautifully with citrus, olives and olive oil, balsamic and wine vinegars, countless cheeses ... there are too many “tomato buddies” to list. Ginger, cumin and coriander are just a few of their spicy friends. And they play well with numerous herbs, especially basil, dill, thyme, rosemary, cilantro and parsley.

If you have even a slightly green thumb, Sweet 100s and Sungolds are super-easy to grow in flower beds or in pots on the deck. My friend Joani calls them yard candy! If you're not a gardener, pick up nice, ripe, locally grown beauties at a farmers market, or look for Sunset brand fresh tomatoes in your grocer's produce department. Full disclosure: Sunset Produce is a client of mine, and they do grow amazing tomatoes year round!

I've developed some delicious recipes with these wonderful tomatoes and I especially love their heirloom varieties. My recipe for Heirloom Tomatoes with Goat Cheese & Arugula is quick, easy and delicious!
Whether eaten alone or served with a grilled steak, this is one of my favorite late-summer salads combining the season’s bounty. This would be the perfect starter course for an impromptu patio dinner.

Another fav is Sunny Day Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad (pictured here, with the photo © Sunset Produce). I like to add in some torn cilantro leaves and up the hot sauce then spoon it over grilled fish or chicken as a light summer meal.

And if you’ve got the grill fired up for dinner--start off with my recipe that follows.

Grilled Bread with Bruschetta Tomatoes

Makes 12 slices

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes (about 2 to 3 medium tomatoes)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1-1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 loaf of rustic artisan bread or baguette
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the grill to a medium-high heat.

2. In a medium bowl, toss together 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic, and salt, and set aside.

3. If using a large “fat” loaf, cut with a serrated knife into six 1/2-inch slices, then slice each piece in half crosswise, making 12 pieces. If using a baguette-style loaf, cut twelve 1/2-inch slices from the loaf. (Serve any remaining bread with dinner.) Brush both sides of bread with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and grill on each side until lightly marked or toasted.

4. Place on a platter and immediately top with reserved tomato mixture. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

And one last word to the wise: Never--Never refrigerate tomatoes when not yet ripe! That dreadful practice zaps every bit of flavor out of them. Tomatoes are actually a fruit and, if picked a little early, they will ripen at room temp or upon your windowsill.

Here’s to a tasty tomato season!

--Kathy Casey

© Copyright 2010 by Kathy Casey Food Studios®

For more Dishing with Kathy Casey and recipes visit www.kathycasey.com/blog. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kathycaseychef. Become a Facebook fan at Sips & Apps.

Take Back Summer with DeLonghi’s Lemon Gelato

Oh, the loveliness of summer: sunshine, long days, warm weather, and vacations. But it’s a dangerous beauty. Why? Because all these long, hot, sunny days lead to an immense craving for ice cream and its Italian cousin, gelato. Not that eating lots of these chilly treats is a bad thing on its own, but the amount of dollars you’ll spend at your local gelateria or ice cream shoppe (and yes, you should only stop at "ice cream shoppes" and never "ice cream shops") is enough that you’ll spend too much before vacation even starts, or before summer really gets rolling.

Which is why DeLonghi’s newish GM6000 gelato maker is a summertime daydream. Sure, it’s easy to use (just put the ingredients in--sometimes after a little mixing--and it does the rest of the work), and it comes with a handy and tastiness-packed recipe book to get you started, and it’s easy to clean as well, but the real key is how it allows you to serve genuine and genuinely delicious gelato at home. It makes enough in one batch, and makes it quickly enough, that you can have gelato for the whole neighborhood before long, if you want (you’ll need to store some in the freezer, but you’ll enjoy the cool breeze that comes with opening the freezer door). My favorite so far is lemon (after trying it, peach, Mexican chocolate, oatmeal raisin cookie, and plain chocolate), which makes some sense since lemon and pistachio are my favorite gelato flavors normally. To make the lemon even more of a treat, I saved my lemon rinds after juicing some lemons, and put the rinds in the freezer. Then, I stuffed each with lemon gelato and served them up that way--they were a huge hit (see pic below for actual evidence). Here’s the recipe, straight from the above-mentioned recipe book that comes with the gelato maker.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cream

Directions:
1. Place the water, sugar, filtered lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a bowl and mix until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Add the cream and milk and pour into the gelato bowl. The gelato will be ready in about 40 minutes and you will obtain 6-to-8 portions.