Sunday Insanity

Last night, Lindsey and I were up to our usual Sunday evening tricks. I had no idea she was planning on cooking as well, but she'd come home with the most wonderful peaches for a pie. I got off to a pretty late start, but it was totally fun. Last week had been a little small, (Jules was our only guest), but this week looked to be gynormous--although there were only six of us in the end. I was winging two recipes and cooking two from directions. A not to be named guest and his roommates decided to bail about fifteen minutes before dinner was scheduled to begin, so we were pretty much swimming in pork by the end of the night--although I have some plans involving a pea and mushroom risotto to place them on for dinner tonight that might pull said gentleman out of the doghouse.

I started off with the Tomato and Corn Pie. This one was straight out of the August 2009 issue of Gourmet, which has an AMAZING article all about tomatoes. As tomatoes are easily my favorite fruit, I was thrilled by this development. I just love the way that a good, ripe tomato can totally revolutionize your day. A tomato alone, with just a splash of salt, can really be an excellent way to have a nice, light lunch. A guilty pleasure carried over from my childhood is to cut up a couple of large tomatoes in a bowl and drown them in ranch dressing. Something about the texture of a late-summer ripened tomato just makes my eyes glaze over even as my teeth are biting into the just perfectly crisp meat of the fruit. I think if I had to spend the rest of my life eating only one thing, it would be the tomato.

But, more importantly, back to the pie. First of all, I needed to make the crust. I've made several crusts over the years, and honestly, this one was not fun at all. The dough ended up runnier than I'd have preferred and trying to roll it into a round between the layers of plastic wrap was just not pleasant at all. Bits kept running out from between the sheets and it was basically a total, total mess. Rather than the suggested glass pie pan, I used a disposable 9" metal round but without any volume issues of note.

The filling was ridiculously easy, aside from a quick spin in the food processor for the corn (after a washing to deal with the not as thick as it should have been dough for the crust) and a few cuts on the tomatoes, everything was easy-peasy. The rolling of the dough for the covering also went a little better. Maybe adding a little flour to the recipe or chilling the dough would make things better? Anyway, I cooked my pie on a pan, mostly because I was concerned about extra dough falling off at the beginning (I am not the neatest of chefs) and that added about ten minutes to the cooking time. However, it did not create any discernible defects in the taste realm, as this dish was raided for seconds over and over.

My tenderloins were cooked very basically, with just some olive oil, salt, and pepper. As pork does, it came out nice and tender. In the past I've liked to marinate tenderloin as a means to keep it from drying out. A couple of marinades from World Harbors, Maui Teriyaki and Island Mango have come out really well for me. To make the Island Mango work better, add some hot sauce (I prefer Tabasco, but to each his own) to taste for an excellent sweet pork with good heat! I like the way that World Harbors so helpfully gives nutrition information on their website too--even when it's not always the healthiest. Because I'd originally planned on serving the pork over risotto last night, I chose to stay away from a marinade and just to let the salt and pepper bring out the natural taste of the meat. This ended up working out pretty well, even though we did not serve risotto last under the pork last night. All things considered, I was reasonably pleased with the way things came out.

Finally, on Friday I'd attended a dinner party and had one of the most amazing dishes of my life. No freaking kidding here. I wasn't paying attention, but essentially my host sliced squash and zucchinni super thin and then sauteed them in a mixture of olive oil and butter. After they were good and cooked, loads of parmesan cheese was added. My mixture just came out a little droopy and too wet (too much butter--who knew such a thing was possible), but this dish will frequently be attempted over the next few months--especially as squash goes into season over the fall harvest.

Lindsey did one heck of a peach pie--I'll let her give details if she wants later. I did the Black and White Brownie I'd seen featured in Saveur recently. It worked out pretty well, although mine sat in the oven a bit too long, giving them a heavy, overcooked taste (might also relate to a splash of too much almond extract, but don't quote me on that!). The real treat here was the cooking method, lining the casserole pan with butter, lining a sheet of parchment paper with butter and then putting the paper in the pan. The dough gets poured on top of the paper before it goes into the over. After cooking, the butter on the glass pan allows the parchment paper to slip right out--and easy cutting for your brownies ensues!

More details later this week on how the pork works over risotto AND on some Restaurant Week visits. Omakase at Sushi Taro tomorrow and then an evening at Darlington House on Wednesday. YAY!