Bryan Voltaggio preparing heirloom tomato and shrimp ceviche with dehydrated tomato cotton candy and tomato dippin dots

I've never run an heirloom tomato festival before, let alone attended one, but I know if I was in charge I would ensure that my featured centerpiece was perfect.  I don't claim to be a tomato expert, but I do know that you should never ever refrigerate tomatoes.  It ruins the texture and the flavor of the fruit (yes, technically, a tomato is a fruit).  Unfortunately, all of the tomatoes were pre-cut and preserved in coolers.  It was incredibly difficult to taste the differences in the varieties, and sadly most of the tomatoes tasted terrible.

I was also excited to try the heirloom tomato bloody Marys.  Sadly, I wasn't enough of a lush to get one as soon as we arrived at the festival and by the time I decided to try one at 3:00 (the festival started at 2) the guy in front of me literally was served the last one.  I guess I'll have to experiment and make one at home.

Thankfully, it wasn't all bad.  It was a beautiful day and the farm is lovely.  Volt restaurant prepared a really interesting concoction--a heirloom tomato and shrimp ceviche, topped with heirloom tomato "dippin dots" and dehydrated tomato cotton enjoying an heirloom tomato popsicle (yes, the chefs are making fun of me because I ate so many!)candy.  The ceviche wasn't anything special, but the dippin dots and the cotton candy were amazing.  The cotton candy had an intense tomato flavor and the combination of the sweet ice cream with a little bit of salt in the cotton candy was delicious.  My favorite part was tasting Restaurant Nora's heirloom tomato popsicles.  The heirloom tomato juice was sweetened with a bit of agave syrup.  I shamelessly kept on going back for seconds (and thirds and fourths).  As much as I loved the popsicles, they weren't worth the $50 admission fee.  Yes, I do have sucker written on my forehead.

I'm demonstrating how to make homemade pasta (click this link for the recipe).

Apparently, you can also subscribe to the Klutz in the Kitchen channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDvnNU1jMEw

Hopefully this link works (i'm very much a novice with YouTube).  Apologies if you get a little bit seasick--we still need to purchase a tripod for our flip camera!

our hungry boys, Alex and Wyatt. So far, they are not picky eaters!

• I always thought I would love to have big eaters, but boy can these kids eat!  They eat about 10-15% of their body weight every day. just imagine what you would look like if you ate that much....
• I have new respect for cows and goats and any other animals that are milked.  enough said.
• Kitchen helpers!Thank goodness for friends (and daddies, and grandparents, and random strangers on the street who offer to help).  If I could divide myself into three people and grow extra sets of hands, I might be ok.  Luckily I have great helpers since I haven't figured out how to do that yet.
• it is much harder to cook when your day is divided into one hour increments of "free time."
• Cook things ahead of time so you can eat at somewhat normal intervals.  I learned this the hard way.  By the time I finished cooking our dinner after the twins finished theirs, it would be 9:30 or 10:00 at night...just in time for the twins to eat again.  oh the positive side, not eating is a good way to lose all that extra baby weight!
• Making stewed peaches with WyattIt is possible to cook while holding a baby, although it requires extra caution and a warm bath for you and the baby after you finish cooking.

Although I have been delinquent about posting, I actually have been able to spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen.  I love summer cooking.  Simple meals are a great way to showcase the naturally delicious flavors of local ingredients.  We have had lots of salad, grilled corn, and tomato sandwiches.  I have made some more complicated recipes; however, I think the days of spending hours in the kitchen are over at least for a little bit.  and on that note, I am being beckoned.  Check out the recipe page for some updates!

My herb garden

Unfortunately, I'm not able to have quite as ambitious a garden now.  I still plant some tomatoes, but mostly I plant herbs.  Herb gardens are wonderful.  They are relatively low maintenance, they add tons of flavor, smell great, save money (who ever uses an entire bunch of name that herb if you buy it in the grocery store), space efficient, and--as long as you bring the planters inside--you can grow them year round.  Thankfully, my belly hasn't gotten in the way of the bbq....yet

I'm currently growing thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, sage, lavender, cilantro, mint, and lemon verbena.  I managed to kill my parsley (to my green thumb's credit, however, a bug decided to lay eggs on the plant, so technically it wasn't me who killed the parsley) and basil (that was my fault).  Luckily, for $2.50 I could replace the basil.

I use fresh herbs in almost everything I cook.  Lemon verbena has--you guessed it-- a lemon flavor.  It's great with poultry or in salad dressing.  Last night, we had grilled lamb chops that I marinated with rosemary and mint (click here for the recipe).  It was an easy meal and very flavorful thanks to the fresh herbs.

I've been making simple meals, lots of take out, and sometimes even my husband pitches in.  I'm not complaining, he really does try, but I think he perfected his cooking during college when gourmet was sticking an entire box of pasta in a pot, not stirring it, and then consuming the "pasta log" with a knife and fork.  Unfortunately, he hasn't made much progress... the other night we had an argument on how to make ravioli--he insisted that you didn't have to use much water or stir the pot and that there was no need to heat up the sauce since it would warm up once it mixed with the hot ravioli.  don't try this at home!!!!!

Now that summer is here, I can't resist the kitchen.  Unfortunately, it's difficult to stand for long periods of time, so I have resorted to sitting down to prep the meals.  it works though!  It's early in the season, but I have been able to get delicious tomatoes in the farm market.  Summer GazpachoGazpacho, paired with crositini and crabs, is a delicious and easy summer meal.  I usual serve it with Maryland lump crab meat or smoked fish (trout or salmon are delicious) to add protein.  I also made delicious crab cakes--the key is getting high quality lump crab meat (you really can't beat maryland crab).  Although you need some spice and bread crumbs for flavor and texture, use restraint or else you will overpower the crab.

Here's to being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen....

After letting the dough rest for about an hour, I chopped up 3 cups of frozen spinach and mixed it with 1 and 1/2 pounds of Ricotta. I cut the dough in half and started rolling out one half. And rolling out. And rolling out. And rolling out. Actually, I had even to roll out the dough even after I cut it in strips (but don't tell anyone...).
 
I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough. I am not sure if that is the right implement, but it worked well. As this was my first time making Ravioli myself, I did have a beautiful image of perfectly square, Mary-esque raviolis...unfortunately, they were more like polygons and flattened jellyfish but I got better with time. So, I cut the strips, into squares, added a dollop of yummy spinach/ricotta, sealed 'em up, sprinkled some flour on them, and started piling them up in my tupperware for transfer to my parent's house. I saved one and boiled it up for a trial run. You can tell when they are ready because they float.

YUMMMM, I can't wait for dinner! Pretty darn good, if I say so myself. But the real test comes in a couple of hours, when the family digs in...
Thanks Mary! I miss you, hope to see you soon!

Lucky for me, we're not traveling this year. As a self-proclaimed Thanksgiving expert, here are some tips.

1) Plan Ahead: I've been planning the Thanksgiving dinner menu for a few weeks now.  For appetizers, we're having homemade onion dip; spiced nuts; guacamole; sweet onion, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese crosatinis; and prosciutto palmiers.  First course is chestnut soup followed by Turkey (of course), stuffing (technically dressing because it's roasted outside of the bird), garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce.  Oh and of course Pumpkin and Apple pie for dessert.  I'm gaining wait just thinking about the menu. 

2) Do as much ahead of time as possible.  The good thing about this menu is that I can make a lot of the food ahead of time.  I'm taking Wednesday off to cook, but I already started preparing!  My house smells sweet from the combination of roasted chestnuts and chicken broth.  I usually buy pre-made broth, but I decided to make my own since it's a key ingredient to the soup.  Broth is incredibly easy to make; it's just time consuming (it takes about 4 hours to make). I plan on making everything except the gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, guacamole, and of course the turkey before Thursday.

3)Brine the Turkey.  I use a huge stockpot, but turkey brining bags are available in the grocery store or at Williams-Sonoma.  You can also use a garbage bag.  For good tips on preparing turkey, see the Alton Brown Episode "Romancing the Bird."

4) Smaller is Better.  A big turkey might look dramatic, but it will probably make all of those stereotypes of a dried out bird come true.  If you have a lot of people coming for dinner, make two smaller (no larger than 13 pound) turkeys.  Smaller birds also cook faster so you don't have to spend the entire day in the kitchen.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Besides using potatoes to make pie, I love making gnocchi.  Gnocchi are actually a bit challenging to make.  You have to add enough flour and knead them enough so that they don't fall apart when you cook them.  Yet, if you add too much flour or over knead them, you get lead sinkers instead of light, fluffy dumplings.  My advice is don't be afraid to get up close and personal with the dough.  It should be somewhat moist, but not too sticky.  Knead it to activate the gluten, but remember, you aren't making bread!Duo of Gnocchi with Roasted Red Pepper Pesto and Blue Cheese Sauce

Gnocchi are great vessels for delicious sauces.  I made two different sauces--roasted red pepper pesto and a blue cheese sauce--for my sweet potato gnocchi.  It was delicious.

So maybe I don't hate potatoes.  I just strongly dislike them.

Homemade Chicken Soup

• Don't add too much water--since chickens vary in size, only add enough water to cover the chicken.  The vegetables you add to the soup give off a lot of water (and flavor)
• Parsnips are crucial--parsnips look like a white carrot, but they are much, much sweeter.  They add a lot of flavor to the broth.
• Make the soup the day before you want to eat it--ok, I cheated today and had some for lunch, but it does taste better the next day once all of the flavors come together.  It also allows you to skim the fat off the top of the soup once it solidifies in the refrigerator.
• The soup is done when the lima beans are cooked-- seriously.  
• Always add flanken when you make the soup--flanken are beef short ribs cut from the center of the rib.  If you can't find flanken, use beef short ribs.  They add a lot of flavor to the soup.
• Don't be afraid to use salt--You don't want the soup to be salty, but salt adds a ton of flavor.
• Chicken Soup always makes you feel better!

It was worth it.  I don't even like doughnuts, with the notable exception of cider donuts.  Cider donuts are (shockingly) made with apple cider.  The donut is only as good as the cider used to make it.  It should be light and fluffy, not greasy, and not too spicy so that you can really taste the apple flavor.  If you are in NY in the fall, I recommend stopping at Golden Harvest Farms for a donut and a glass of cider.  Your waistline will forgive you.

Panko Crusted Veal Medallions with Prosciutto, Tomato and MozzarellaBecause one can't live on cider doughnuts alone (or can they?) my mom and I made Panko Crusted Veal cutlets with tomatoes, prosciutto and mozzarella.  I had seen Panko crumbs used on TV shows before, however I never experimented with them.  What a mistake.  Panko crumbs are Japanese style bread crumbs made from the center piece of the bread so they are bigger and fluffier then normal bread crumbs.  I dredged the veal in a mixture of flour, garlic, salt, and thyme followed by a quick dip in an egg bath and then the panko crumbs.  The crust was flavorful, but the most significant difference was the light yet crunchy texture.  Thanks mom for introducing me to a fun new ingredient!

By the way, I am dedicating tonight and tomorrow night to updating the recipe page!