Ham Sandwich Indicted!

One of the random talents of the Ham Sandwich family is salsa making. My mom's mom made jars and jars of salsa every summer with the tomatoes and peppers my grandpa would grow in their backyard garden. Salsa making talent reappeared in my brother, who not only made salsa, but hot sauce as well , AND made a viable company selling spicy condiments to folks that are apparently referred to as "chiliheads." This weekend, I dug deep into my genetic code and tried my hand at making and canning my own salsa...boiling water bath and all. Surprisingly, it was not that hard, and was rather satisfying. The only investment I had to make was a box of mason jars and the canning kit with a funnel, jar and lid grabber, and spatula. (Wal-Mart is good for some things...) I'd already inherited grandma's canning kettle, and the garden supplied me with just about all the ingredients. The most time consuming part of all this is the prep: blanching, peeling and seeding the tomatoes, r...

The rabid jungle expanse that I refer to as le jardin , continues it's inevitable domination of my tiny backyard. The black krim, old German, and marglobe tomato plants have been staked up to the very top edge of the fence, and are planning their escape down the backside and out into the alley. I'm guessing its only a matter of time before I go out there one morning, and having failed to show up for work, my coworkers find me tangled in a viney web with a tomato stuffed in my mouth... In other news, my tomatillo plant finally produced some fruit--tiny, yellow tomatillos that I assumed would be green until I took a second look at the tag in the pot: " Dr. Wyche's Yellow ." Oh. So they're NOT supposed to be green. Due to poor planning/failure to do appropriate research, I planted the tomatillo in too small a pot, which resulted in an explosions of flowers through early August, but culminated in only about 20 or so slightly-smaller-than-a-ping-pong-ball siz...

Five pounds of romas from the garden...made into sauce, of course! I saw that movie "Julie/Julia" the other night, and I've been thinking a lot about it. Or, more accurately, about what some of it's messages might be/are. The obvious one is that both Julia Child and Julie Powell are "saved" through their kitchen experiences--for Julia Child, it begins as a way for her to spend time while her husband is on a diplomatic mission in Paris, for Julie Powell, it gives purpose to her dream of becoming a writer and an escape from life in an office cubicle. For me, my first foray into "real" cooking came when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, and had little to do with keeping myself occupied, or finding myself. One day, while running errands with our mom, my younger sister and I accompanied her to Pier 1 Imports--a great store for everything you want, but not a whole lot that you actually need. For some reason, we were drawn to a shelf of little enameled/...

Not to brag or anything, but I've been incredibly lucky enough to find a completely awesome boyfriend who loves to cook (and eat!) as much as I do. At least one or two evenings a week, we get together and make a dinner that can range from a tomatillo and chicken soup to a potato and chickpea curry. Recipes usually start with the random ingredients we have on hand, and then cookbooks and websites are scoured for inspiration and ideas. Sometimes, however, a simple meat well seasoned and grilled is really all we need, and we recently made what we both agreed was "the best" chicken dinner we've made to date. Roast chicken is one of those dishes that can be pure, juicy heaven when done well, or a tasteless, dry hell if not. The chicken above (and below), was definitely the former. This particular (whole) chicken was purchased at Whole Foods, split in half, and brined for several hours. Then, with some help from the awesome, spice-geniuses at Penzey's, The Grillmaster ...

The above is what I've picked from my run-amok garden in the last two days. So far, I've not felt too overwhelmed, as I've been pawning off tomatoes on my coworkers, boyfriends, and eating a lot of tomato salads. My newest favorite dish I've made with them is a Corn and Tomato Pie from Gourmet Magazine. It sounds a little weird, but trust me, it is sooooo delicious (and a great way to use up some big beefsteaks or marglobes). The crust really makes the pie, and I found that it's great at room temp, or heated up. (NB: I didn't chop up the corn at all, and I used a mix of cheddar and a "Mexican mix" that I had on hand.) Corn and Tomato Pie serves 6 (light lunch or brunch) Active time:40 min Start to finish:2 hr (includes cooling) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, divided 3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 teaspoons melted 3/4 cup whole milk 1 3/4 lb beefsteak tomatoes 1/3 cup mayonnais...