Tomato Pancakes with Herbs and Goat Yogurt

I was raised in the culinary tradition where pancakes were always served sweet. In my quest to get to know other cuisines I have discovered that very often they are savory and can be made almost from any vegetable.

My latest discoveries were pancakes made from corn and today's recipe--tomato pancakes. In a book about Greek cuisine I found out that fresh tomato pancakes are served in Santorini. I could only imagine how wonderful they can taste made from sweet ripe tomatoes and served on a hot evening with a glass of wine.

The original Greek recipe is very simple and plain, easy to make. It includes tomatoes, some flour, and parsley. To make them a little more aromatic, I added some basil and Greek oregano, for that extra flavor of Greek islands. I also served them with a dollop of goat cheese yogurt, which goes well with tomatoes, and is lighter than goat cheese. Because the season for tasty tomatoes is about to start, today I propose to you my tomato pancakes.


Tomato Pancakes with Herbs

(Makes 16-18 pancakes)

Ingredients: 2 lb Roma tomatoes, 4 spring onions, finely chopped, 1 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped, 1 tbsp Greek oregano, chopped, 1 tbsp basil (Greek, if available), chopped, 1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup goat yogurt or Greek yogurt to serve, olive oil for frying.

Preparation:
1. Place a grater in a large bowl. Cut off tomato tops and grate tomatoes on a large holes grater until you get to the very end and just skin is left.
2. Add chopped spring onions and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.



3. Add a cup of flour and baking powder and make a thick creamy batter. If tomatoes are very juicy add extra flour.
4. On a large heavy duty frying pan heat 2 tbsp of olive oil until very hot and pour a full tablespoon of batter for each pancake. Fry on each side until pancakes become gold.



5. Place the pancakes on a plate with paper towel to remove extra oil Repeat with the rest of batter, adding oil to the pan as needed.
6. Serve pancakes warm with goat yogurt on top.

Roasted Tomatoes Stuffed with Herbed Rice

Today, a very simple Italian dish, which I have been making quite often recently.

There are many varieties of dishes featuring stuffed tomatoes--raw or baked. They can be stuffed with different fillings cold or warm. This one is probably my favorite version of roasted tomatoes stuffed with just rice and herbs.

But, as it often happens with simple dishes, the taste of the dish depends on the quality of the ingredients and, in this case, tomatoes. My first dish was made with smaller, campari type of tomatoes. It was wonderful as campari tomatoes are usually sweeter and more red than others. But they are also smaller and harder to stuff and you also need more of them per person. Second time I tried tomatoes on the vine. The dish was good but tomatoes were a bit more watery and less sweet. Third time, I used just the local larger tomatoes, which were very ripe, and this was the best combination of size, color, and taste.

Tomatoes are often stuffed with rice, typically Arborio. Lightly cooked Arborio rice also makes the stuffing in my version. But because roasted tomatoes are more of a fall dish than other fresh tomato dishes, I also used a lot of more fragrant herbs than just basil, which is often paired with tomatoes. A little bit of Parmesan, 30 minutes in the oven, and a wonderful and light roasted tomatoes dish is ready.

Roasted Tomatoes Stuffed with Herbed Rice
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
8 ripe medium tomatoes,
1/2 cup Arborio rice,
1 garlic clove, minced,
3 tbsp mixed, fresh herbs (oregano, marjoram, thyme, parsley),
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese,
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Cook Arborio rice for about 5 minutes, drain on a colander.
2. Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and set them aside. Take the bottoms and using an ice cream scoop, or a grapefruit knife, hollow them out and set aside. Put the scooped out tomato flesh and juice in a medium bowl.

3. Drain extra juice and pour on the bottom of a round oven-proof dish. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the juice.
4. Preheat oven to 375F.
5. To make the stuffing, mix the rice with the tomato juice and flesh, adding a second tbsp of olive oil, herbs, garlic and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fill the tomato shells with the stuffing, cover them with the tops, and place in an oven-proof dish.

6. Drizzle the tomatoes with a third tbsp of oil and put in a hot oven.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes until tomatoes are roasted. Serve warm.

Asparagus and Tomato Salad

First asparagus season always comes in very early spring. At that time, asparagus is often imported from warmer countries or states, fresh and inexpensive. It is one of my favorite vegetables so I typically serve it almost every day either for lunch or dinner in tarts, pastas, and risottos. But somehow this year, before I enjoyed it to full, the first asparagus season had been already over.

Last week, at my local farmers market, it appeared again, which means that the second, local, asparagus season has arrived. Because the weather is much warmer, and I often prepare cold dishes or grilled meats, I decided to make an asparagus salad, which is great for lunch or dinner.

When it comes to asparagus I have only one secret. Just like I never cook beets in the water I also never cook asparagus. First, I fry it briefly in a drop of oil and then add water and cook until the water evaporates. This way almost all the nutrition remains in the asparagus and it is cooked but still crisp and green. I add the rest of the ingredients and in no time the salad is ready.

Asparagus and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:
A bunch of green asparagus,
a pint of cherry tomatoes,
half a medium red onion,
shredded Parmesan cheese,
juice from half a lemon,
extra virgin olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Cut off about 1/4 of asparagus from the bottom end and discard. Cut the rest in inch-long sticks.
2. Wash cherry tomatoes, cut them in halves, and place in a medium bowl.
3. Cut the red onion in half, slice it very finely, and add to tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in lemon juice and a tbsp of olive oil.
4. In a heavy-duty frying pan heat a tbsp of olive oil. Add chopped asparagus, mix and fry for 1-2 minutes turning constantly so it does not turn brown. Add a bit of water (about 1/4 of a cup) and cook on a medium heat stirring once in while, until the water evaporates and asparagus is softer but still crispy.
5. Transfer hot asparagus to the bowl with tomatoes and onion. Mix well all the ingredients. Add shredded Parmesan cheese and mix again gently. Serve in room temperature.

Tomatoes Roasted with Herbs

If I had to name one thing that Polish and Italian cuisines have in common it would be our shared love for tomatoes. I have just come back from Poland where for a month I lived mostly on a raw tomato diet, thanks to which I probably got my yearly supply of lycopene. Polish tomatoes are amazing. They come in an endless variety of texture and taste. They are available everywhere in great abundance and at a very low price. On the local farmers' market, which I visited twice a week, I was buying many kilograms of tomatoes, which turned out to be barely enough to last until my next trip to the market. You could see mountains of them at dozens of stands in all shapes and colors. And each time I was dreaming to bring them here and introduce my American friends to the real tomatoes they have never tasted.

But these are just memories.

In America, I enjoy the sweet yellow or red cherry tomatoes and those medium dark brown, which are hard but very sweet. My recent addiction is a dish of roasted tomatoes with herbs that can accompany any meat, fish or goes well alone with freshly baked white bread. For this recipe, I use Roma tomatoes, but any other kind, which has a lot of flesh but not much juice, will work as well. On top of cut tomatoes I sprinkle Zatar--a mix of spices available in Middle Eastern groceries--a combination of thyme, sesame seeds, coriander, and sumac. I drizzle everything with olive oil and bake. This dish works well also with Herbes de Provance or any other herb mix you may like.

Tomatoes Roasted with Herbs

Ingredients:
1 lb ripe tomatoes,
1 tbsp Zatar (dried thyme, sesame seeds, coriander, and sumac) or any dried herbs you like, plus one tbsp of sesame seeds,
2 garlic cloves cut in half,
2 tbsp olive oil,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
1. Cut tomatoes in quarters and arrange on a 9-inch oven-proof dish.
2. Sprinkle with herbs, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper.

3. Drizzle with oil on top and bake for about 30 minutes until tomatoes become dark red and spices slightly brown.

Tomatoes with Burrata--In Tomato Season

There is nothing special in this post beyond my provocative saying "If you like mozzarella and never tried burrata, try it, and I am sure you will fall for it as well."

For many years one of my favorite summer dishes, when truly good sweet tomatoes are available, was mozzarella with tomatoes and basil. I could have eaten it every single day. Until the day I discovered burrata--an even more guilty pleasure.

Burrata means buttered. And it is. On the outside it looks like mozzarella but inside is soft, creamy, buttery. Ever since I tried burrata ,I became addicted to its taste but even more the texture. Now I buy mozzarella only if burrata is not available. Although fresh mozzarella is nowadays quite popular in the US, burrata not so much yet. Whenever I see its much smaller supply at Whole Foods or TJ I buy a couple of boxes.

Like in many so simple dishes the secret lies in the quality of the ingredients--fresh cheese, extra virgin olive oil, and most of all in the tasty, sweet tomatoes, topped with fresh aromatic basil leaves.

Last Friday, I made a trip to my local farmers market in search of perfect tomatoes for my burrata. I looked for tomatoes like those we have in Poland and Italy--fleshy and sweet, grown under the local sun. I bought two types: red and orange. Red, heirloom tomatoes were sweet and fleshy. But the orange ones, advertised as low on acid, tasted as perfect as if they grew in Poland, during a particularly hot summer, or if they ripened under the Tuscan sun. I used both of them, layering with burrata and drizzling with oil. It was a truly summery feast...

Tomatoes with Burrata

Ingredients:
2 tasty tomatoes,

1 ball of burrata,

See burrata on the left and mozzarella on the right:

extra virgin olive oil,
fresh basil leaves,
freshly ground pepper,
coarse sea salt.

Just arrange the slices of burrata and tomatoes, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with spices and basil and enjoy

Potatoes Baked with Tomatoes--Mélange à la Provençal

We have fresh, crispy mornings, and very sunny, still hot days, but ending in chilly evenings when we need to reach for a cashmere shawl to warm up.

I still think "summer" when I see the local tomatoes, and I am already in fall when I buy potatoes. We can still wear sleeveless dresses and eat light summer lunches, but on a cold evening we start to crave for heavier comfort food and baked desserts instead of frozen ones. A glass of chilled white wine tempts us at lunch, but in the evening we would like to open a bottle of red. It means that the change of seasons has unavoidably come.

Last night, I made a dish that stands exactly at the crossing of the seasons--potatoes baked with tomatoes, Provençal style. It is an easy country dish. It can be entirely vegetarian, but it can be enriched with bacon, or better yet, with an Italian-style pancetta. If you are a fish lover, you can make it with anchovies. I made it in the simplest of ways (just vegetables) and my whole family enjoyed it very much.

Potatoes Baked with Tomatoes

Ingredients:
2 pounds of white potatoes,
6 tomatoes ripe but not too soft,
3 cloves of garlic,
1/2 cup of flat-leaf parsley and 1/4 cup of fresh oregano,
1 cup of vegetable stock,
3 tbsp of butter,
3 tbsp of olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Peel off the potatoes and cut them into thin slices.
3. Cut tomatoes into slices.
4. Pour the oil on the bottom of an oven-proof dish.
5. Arrange slices of potatoes and tomatoes (see the picture above); it can take two layers to use all the vegetables.
6. Scatter the slices of butter on top; you can use less butter if you add bacon or anchovies.
7. Salt and pepper generously.
8. Pour the stock on top and finish with parsley or oregano, or both.
9. Bake first covered with foil, for about 30-40 min, later uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes turn gold.

Serve warm with green salad and a glass of red wine, to warm up the evening.

Lentil and Garlic Salad--from Lunch to Grill Party

I am not a big fan of social marathons. I like going out, seeing people, invite and be invited, but I can easily feel overwhelmed doing that too many times in a row. Funny enough, it often happens that way, as people get excited and socially active around the same occasions and holidays. That is what happens now, when people have returned from vacation to DC and want to meet friends after a couple months of the summer break, but cannot meet them all at the same time. As a result, I have on my schedule a picnic on Friday, grill on Saturday, and people coming over on Monday.

For today's grill I have offered to make a salad to accompany the delicious meats that the hosts will grill for us. Again a very easy one. I ate it first many years ago in Switzerland, and I make it quite often. It is very helpful to serve it at grill events, when we mostly serve meats, but also happen to have vegetarians among guests. Lentil is a plant that is third richest in protein, and also one of the best sources of iron, and therefore it can be a nutritious meal in itself especially when served with other vegetables. This lentil salad can also be served as a great lunch dish, just with fresh bread, and with or without cold cuts.

Lentil and Garlic Salad
(Six to eight servings)

Ingredients:
3 cups of cooked lentil (canned lentil would be just fine--you would need two 15.5 oz cans),
2 pint boxes or 1 lb of cherry tomatoes,
1 bunch of dill--you will need about 1/2 cup of chopped dill,
2 cloves of garlic,
1/2 lb of Ricotta Salata cheese,
1 lemon,
3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil,
Pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. If you use canned lentil, drain it, wash in cold water, drain again and place in a large bowl.
2. Cut tomatoes in half if they are of the larger variety, or leave them whole if they are very small, and add to the lentil.
3. Chop dill and add to the bowl.
4. Cut the cheese into very small cubes, mix it with all the ingredients.
5. Squeeze garlic into the salad.
6. Add pepper (no salt as Ricotta Salata is very salty already).
7. Add oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice, mix carefully and serve.

It is important to have all the ingredients cut into small pieces, as the salad prepared this way tastes better. I tried recently to make this salad in Poland--where Ricotta Salata is not widely available--with Feta cheese but this did not work because Feta is much more wet and soft than Ricotta Salata.

Tomato Flans from Tomato Coulis--a Summer Delight

Undeniably, more than anything else, this is a tomato season, and not only in Poland where for an equivalent of one dollar you can get two pounds of ripe tomatoes, but all over Europe, from Russia to Portugal. Also in DC, at farmers markets, or along the cross-country rounds on the way to the beach you can get now the locally grown tomatoes that are much tastier than the imported ones, which will be available in the supermarkets all year round.

If you buy such tasty tomatoes and have some leftovers after enjoying them with mozzarella or in any other tomato salad, I encourage you to make your own coulis, using this recipe. But if you did not find ones that taste like true summer tomatoes, just get a can of the fire-roasted tomatoes and the result will be acceptably good most of the time.

It is a rather light dish, as it is mainly made of tomatoes. It can be served for lunch or for dinner. It must be baked in water, or as the French say "au bain marie", but please don't be scared to try this because there is nothing simpler than that. And once you overcome the fear of baking in water, you will be ready to try all kind of delicious dishes requiring this technique, including crème brulée, everyone's favorite French dessert.

I am sure that, if you are a vegetable and light cuisine lover, you would appreciate this dish. I bake it usually in small ramekins, but it can also be made in a bigger, 10-inch oven-proof pie dish and cut into triangles. It will still taste and look great.

Tomato Flans

Ingredients:
3 eggs,
1 pound of tomatoes or one medium-sized can of fire-roasted tomatoes,
1 cup table cream,
1/2 medium sweet onion,
2 cloves of garlic,
1 brunch of celery sticks,
1/4 cup chopped chives,
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley,
2 brunches of fresh thyme,
1 tbsp of butter,
1 tbsp olive oil,
salt, pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. For the coulis:
If you use fresh tomatoes, put tomatoes in a boiling water for about 2 minutes, then move them to the cold water in order to remove the peel, cut the peeled tomatoes into pieces.
If you use canned fire-roasted tomatoes, just open the can and cut the tomatoes.
2. Cut the celery, onion and garlic in small pieces and fry on the butter and oil mixture in a pot, until transparent.
3. Add to the pot tomatoes and simmer them for about 15-25 minutes--it will take a little bit longer if you use fresh tomatoes.
4. Cool the sauce a little bit and blend it into a smooth purée.
5. In a separate bowl, whip together whole eggs and cream until well blended.
6. Add to the egg mixture chopped chives, parsley and thyme leaves, and season with salt and pepper.
7. Combine tomato coulis and egg sauce.
8 Heat the oven to 375 F.
9. Butter 6-8 small ramekins or one oven-proof dish.
10. Divide the mixture over the ramekins to about 2/3 of the height,as the flan will rise slightly.
11. Place ramekins on a baking tin and pour around hot water up to half of their height.
12. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Serve warm, or at room temperature with French or Italian white bread and accompanied with a glass of red wine that always tastes good with tomato dishes.

Cauliflower from my Hometown

Whenever I visit the farmers market in my hometown, I am overwhelmed by the great number of stands selling fruits and vegetables. I have to admit that I have never seen anything as impressive in the US and only the open-air market hosted by Geneva's Plaine de Plainpalais was comparable to this one, which is located in a relatively small provincial city in Poland.

All the products sold are very fresh and most of them, including eggs, are genuinely organic. Although you can find there only about four kinds of lettuce, I am sure that there are not many places in the world, maybe with the exception of Italy or Spain, where you can find so many--probably around twenty--different kinds of tomatoes. And they all are wonderfully ripe and tasty. There is also an enormous variety of potatoes, and many different types of cucumbers and peppers. Green beans are green only in their name as they come in various colors, from purple to white, and in many shapes and sizes.

Behind each stand there are mountains of cabbage and of course cauliflowers--large snow white curds, which are very fresh and aromatic in an earthy sort of way. Without any hesitation I have chosen the biggest cauliflower curd (in Poland we always say "cauliflower head" though) I could find for today's dinner and I will prepare it in a traditional Polish way with buttery, crispy bread crumbs, and I will serve it accompanied by a tomato salad. But can anyone else anywhere in the world get excited like me about a cauliflower cooked in such a simple way? True, a simple cauliflower tastes really great only when it had been grown locally in a good soil, with the right amount of water and sun, and was harvested in the morning of the very same day it was sold at the market.

Probably this is the reason why I do not cook it as often anymore in my American home, and if I do, I typically serve it in béchamel sauce or baked with garlic, since both methods can make even a supermarket cauliflower taste rich and interesting.

Cauliflower Pie

Ingredients:
1 cauliflower,
1 egg,
3 cloves of garlic,
1 tbsp of sour cream,
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese,
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg,
1 tbsp chopped parsley,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Divide cauliflower into smaller pieces and cook in salted water until almost soft.
3. Mix the whole egg, cream, and Parmesan cheese together.
4. Cool slightly the pieces of cooked cauliflower and, using food processor, break them into smaller rice-like pieces.
5. Add to the cauliflower the egg mixture, add chopped parsley and crushed garlic, and mix well.
6. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
7. Put cauliflower in a buttered oven-proof dish and bake for 35–45 minutes, or until the it turns slightly gold at the top.

Cauliflower prepared this way can be served as a self-standing, vegetarian dish and will taste even better with a tomato salad. It can also accompany any meat or fish. If enriched by adding chopped, smoked ham, it turns into a very rich meal in itself. It is not very photogenic but it tastes better than it looks!

Mozzarella and Tomato Salad--World's Best Idea?

"Pots and Frills" have been having visitors from all over the world, but still not that many from Italy. Let me therefore smuggle in this basic Italian recipe: mozzarella and tomato salad (aka "Caprese" or "Mozzarella Pomodoro").

I thought that my roasted potatoes were already a stretch and a cliché, but I have just got a comment about them: "Finally I got it right and perfect", so for those who have never tried mixing tomatoes and mozzarella, here is another very basic dish.

All you need is:
ripe tomatoes or cherry tomatoes,
fresh basil,
extra virgin olive oil,
fresh mozzarella, possibly in water,
salt and pepper.

Cut the ingrendients, arrange on the plate, drizzle with olive oil, decorate with basil leaves, salt and pepper, and enjoy.

And pictures speak for themselves. Tomatoes with mozzarella can be served before dinner or instead of a dinner, or at any time in the summer months. Simple dishes are often the best.

Crispy Radish Salad

I got this recipe almost thirty years ago from a Polish-German lady who was spending her summer vacations every year at the same Baltic town I went to with my parents. It was a revelation. This salad was crunchy and fresh while most salads I knew at that time were made from cooked vegetables. All ingredients needed to make it were readily available in Poland during the summer months except for ricotta salata. I used quark cheese (Polish farmer's cheese) instead but I had to first dry it for about a week. A very firm and dry feta cheese could also be used, but an authentic ricotta salata would always be better.

You will enjoy this salad with a sandwich for lunch or as a side dish with an afternoon grill. Kids like it because it contains all the crispy summer vegetables that they like to munch on.

Crispy Radish Salad

Ingredients:
2 large firm heirloom tomatoes,
1 English cucumber,
1 bunch of radish,
3 cloves of garlic,
1/2 cup chopped dill,
1/2 lb ricotta salata,
1 cup of fresh or sour cream,
1 tsp of sweet paprika,
pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Peel off cucumber, cut into small cubes.
2. Slice tomato, cut into small cubes.
3. Cut radish into small cubes.



4. Finally cut Ricotta Salata the same way, into tiny cubes.
5. Chop dill.
6. Mix all the vegetables in a bowl.
7. Squeeze or grate in garlic cloves.
8. Add pepper, paprika and cream.
9. Stir gently and put aside for 30 minutes to allow all the flavors to mix.