roma and basil bruschetta

As the days get shorter and the cold rains are upon us, the last of the tomatoes are just off the vine. I spent the morning cleaning out the raised beds and cutting pond liner material for some more permanent covers. The back yard looks like December...sheesh.

I have been going over a list of local and west Michigan foods and which are available during which months fresh and which are storable/available throughout the year. We lack for very little here along Lake MIchigan. We have ample fruits, vegetables. We have wineries, grow grains, make cheeses, field grass-fed beef, poultry and pigs. The lake is full of fish. I don't feel at all like I might need to limit my recipe selection. But some things are season sensitive and fresh vine ripened romas are all but gone. So this is the last bruschetta for this summer. Awwww.

I lived on a many acre farm in the Ann Arbor area for several decades, before returning here to my childhood home. We grew loads of tomatoes and some evenings would make this bruschetta for dinner alone. It is so delicious and filling, that besides desert, it can be a whole meal. When the weather is cooperative, the bread is best done on the grill. When it is not warm and sunny, the broiler works just fine. The original recipe comes from our buddy Bob, but slight alterations have been made over the years. It is easily doubled when more folks arrive or when you need a dish to pass.

ingredients...

3 roma tomatoes, diced into small pieces (about a cup)

one or two slices of a small red onion, diced finely (about a half cup)

1 large clove garlic, finely minced

6-7 large basil leaves, rolled and finely sliced in a chiffonade

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and a bit more for the bread

coarse kosher salt to taste

1 small loaf of crusty french bread, sliced on the diagonal about 1/2 inch thick

parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup, save 1/3 of it for the topping

Mix tomatoes, onions, parmesan cheese, and basil leaves with the garlic. Season to taste. Set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Slice bread, and drizzle one side with a thin stream of olive oil. You can use a garlic oil if desired.

Either grill outdoors on the grill or place on a cookie sheet and toast both sides under the broiler.

Spoon mixture onto slices of bread. Top with additional strands of cheese and serve immediately.

Makes about 4-5 pieces. A perfect meal for one!

pumpkin ravioli with sage butter & apple cider sauce

I made this dish for dinner last night. After some prep work, my friend A. came over, helped assemble it, brought the wine and we had a nice dinner.

I kept a serving uncooked in the fridge on parchment paper. Big mistake. Pasta glues itself to parchment when damp. Next time, I'll cook and serve it fresh or find a better way to store the ravioli until I'm ready to cook and photograph them. Fresh pasta looks and tastes best when actually fresh. That's this girls opinion anyway.

I knew a cold front was on its way, but didn't expect the hard hard frost that was coating the raised beds and all of their inhabitants this morning. I had covered the basil, peppers and egplant, but the cabbage and tomatoes got hit. Usually, Lake Michigan acts as a buffer zone to such events. Not today. It was cold out!

So here it is, my version of pumpkin ravioli, with two sauces... no wait, another story first. Last night I made a simple sage butter with grated nutmeg for the sauce. It was rich and savory. Not leaving well enough alone, I decided to also try a cider reduction sauce. I even made a combo version and this morning, with my sad face at her front door, my dear neighbor came over, in her jammies, babies in tow, to taste test the three sauces and render an opinion. Now that is neighborly love! ...... In the end, the main sauce is the sage butter and the apple cider reduction is added as a ring around the ravioli. You try them and let me know what you think.

Ingredients ... per serving

for the pasta...

1 1/2 cups flour

2 eggs

pinch of kosher salt

one more beaten egg for sealing the pasta together.

for the sage butter...

2 tbls butter

1 tbls olive oil

four sage leaves sliced, torn or whole(if you want to remove them before serving)

freshly grated nutmeg

optional...walnut halves and/or finely diced shallots

for the cider sauce...

1 cup of apple cider

1 tbls butter

ravioli filling...

1/2 c pumpkin (a small pie pumpkin works best)

1/2 c ricotta cheese

1/4 c parmesan cheese plus a tbls more for the top

1/2 tsp grated orange zest

1/8 tsp nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 . Cut the pumpkin into quarters, remove seeds and stringy stuff. Bake on a sheet pan face down covered by foil for 1 hour.

When cool, scoop out the pumpkin for the filling. There will be more than you can use, so freeze the rest for next time.

On a cutting board, make a well in the flour and crack the eggs into the well. With a fork or your fingers mix the eggs, adding the surrounding flour until the pasta comes together. Better too wet than too dry. Knead the dough to finish it. You may want to dust the board with a bit of flour at this point. Wrap it in plastic and let it rest for 20-30 minutes before rolling it out.

When it comes to making the ravioli, I use a pasta machine. (If you don't have one, you can roll the dough out with a rolling pin. It will take a bit more time and effort, but old Italian grandmas have been doing it that way for hundreds of years.) I divided the pasta into four pieces, then rolled each piece through the machine, folded the dough and re-rolled it until I reached the number 5 thickness (my machine goes from 0 to 6).

In a bowl, mix the pumpkin, ricotta, parmesan, orange zest, nutmeg until they are thoroughly combined, and season with salt and pepper.

Lay one strip of dough on a cutting board and brush the top with the beaten egg wash. Drop one tablespoon about 3 inches apart on one half of the strip of pasta. Fold the open half over the filling half and press around each mound of filling to seal and remove any trapped air.

Cook the ravioli in a pot of boiling salted water for 6-8 minutes. They will float to the top when they are done. Take them out using a strainer or slotted spoon. Each plate of ravioli can be topped with the sage butter, the cider sauce or some of each.

To make the sage butter.... Put the butter and oil in a saute pan on a medium heat until melted. Add the sage leaves and grated nutmeg and cook until the butter is golden brown. Remove from heat and spoon over the cooked ravioli.

To make the cider sauce... Pour the cider in a small sauce pan and cook over a medium heat until it reduces to 1/4 cup. Stir in a tablespoon of butter and continue to stir it until it begins to thicken and shine. Remove from heat and use.

Top it all off with the remaining parmesan cheese And enjoy!!

This dish was a bit more time consuming on the prep side, but easy to finish and serve.

As to cost...the pumpkin was $1.00 and I froze the rest after making the filling. The ricotta was $1.79. I also froze the rest of the container for another time.I zested part of an orange and put it back in the fridge. The cider came from the farmer's market and cost $2.00 a quart. I like to grate my own nutmeg. The aroma and flavor are amazing when fresh. I bought a little grater with several whole nutmegs in it for $3.99 at the store and have used it forever. So now I replenish my nutmeg supply as I need to. Again eggs are $1.00 a dozen and we used 3. A five pound bag of unbleached unbrominated flour runs about $3.00. I have no idea how many cups that is, but it's only pennies per cup. I use a coarse kosher salt and it costs $1.00 a pond. Now butter is running $3.50 a pound, which makes each tablespoon about ten cents. The parmesan cheese is a bit pricier at $9.99 per pound for a domestic cheese and twice that for the real deal.

This dinner was a bit more complicated but still nutritious and economical for one or more. Normally, this dish would have been wonderful with a red wine, but we had a Reisling that tasted just fine.

Today the sun managed to shine through the morning and into the mid-afternoon. It looked warm, but long pants and sweaters were the uniform of the day. I managed to bake a yellow layer cake, filled it with lemon curd, covered with a vanilla and lemon frosting for my dad for tonight.. He just loves lemon. Me...not so much. Gotta run!

mini quiches in pancetta cups

The storms rolled through all night long and left us with damp and chill. I hear frost may descend into my garden yet this week. It is time to gather, dry and store all those wonderful herbs that have filled much of this summers menu.... basil, chives, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon, oregano and sage.

My neighbor, from across the street, quite an avid and accomplished gardener, brought tall bunches of dried lavender. I am looking forward to sewing sachets for my clothes closet. What a wonderful aroma they give off just moving through the air into the house.

Todays dinner is fairly light, as I had a more substantial lunch with my folks.

Ingredients..

4 slices of pancetta

3 eggs

1/4 cup finely shredded cheese ( I used a Kraft 5 cheese Italian blend of mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago and parmesan) and a couple additional spoonfuls for the top of each quiche.

1/4 c half and half

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons each of finely diced red pepper, red onion, scallion, and a chiffonade of swiss chard leaves.

preheat oven to 350

Line a muffin tin with the slices of pancetta.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, nutmeg and cheeses.

Spoon into the pancetta lined tins.

Divide the veggies and add to each quiche as desired.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve with a small salad of swiss chard. I took a spoonful of olive oil and grated nutmeg into it. This made a nice topping for the quiches and a dressing for the chard.

This serves two nicely each with a slice of multigrain bread and butter.

Cost.... The pancetta cost $2.50 for 1/4 lb, so $1.25 per serving. The eggs were $1 a dozen so the three were a whole quarter. The cheese was $2.50 per 8 oz bag. The red pepper was sliced from last nights pepper and the cost for one thin slice of onion and one scallion is too small to count. Spinach could be substituted for the chard if you prefer. There actually were baby spinach leaves in the salad mix I bought for last nights dinner. I have loads of rainbow chard in the garden and wanted to use that. I used half and half in the egg mixture, cause that's what I had...milk would do just fine. All in all each plate is nicely under $3.00 per serving.

And I must say very tasty. I took the second plate to my next door neighbor, who was busy putting a roof on their emerging front porch. He gave it a two thumbs up.

grilled chicken tenders and garden vegetables

2 chicken tenders or one boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 red pepper cut into two pieces

1 small eggplant sliced lengthwise

1 zucchini sliced lengthwise

olive oil

baby greens

4 tablespoons mayo

2 tablespoons homemade pesto

I use a cast iron grill pan and heat it on a medium heat, coating it with oil.

i also coat the vegetables with oil and grill until tender...several minutes per side each.

I grill the chicken last, after coating it with oil and dust it with garlic salt on each side.

I serve it by stacking the vegetables, chicken and salad greens on a plate and top it with the mayo/pesto mixture.

Cost for this meal ...the chicken came in a pack for $6 and I used about 1/4 of it and froze the remainder. I happened to pick the vegetables from my garden, but at the farmers market, the peppers were $.50 each and the zucchini and eggplant were $1 a pound. The salad greens were priced at $2.50 a pound.

For the mayo I use Helmans and the pesto was homemade using only basil, garlic, oil and kosher salt.

It was most delicious, very economical and under 400 calories per serving too. I had a glass of wine to top it off.

Making the pictures of food I was about to eat was quite a different issue. I wasn't as prepared to tackle that as I thought I was. Being the food photographer, the stylist and the patron all at once was a complex experience. Tomorrow I will set up a better photo space off of the kitchen and make test images of stand in food.

All in all, not bad for a first day.

Table for One

Good morning!

This blog is all about food! Food for one!! Food that tastes fabulous and costs very little!!Excellent food because each one of us is worth it!!!

So this is about food that is, designed per serving, low cost, seasonal, local or home grown, healthy, fresh, lower in calories, simple to make, helps reduce planet impact, and has trerrific flavor.

And about stocking a pantry that can reduce the cost of each meal and protect against the ups and downs of our lives.