Hmmmmm....

I started out tonight, thinking I would write about the evolution of cooking and cookbooks. About the way people are using foods differently and working with different cooking styles. I was looking through an old Betty Crocker cookbook, circa about 1961, for a prime example. I have had this cookbook for at 20 years at least. My mom had given it to me. I have certainly been through this book before. Flipped through pages, looked things up and have made the biscuits many times over. BUT, tonight, I found notes that my mom had made on some pages. I have never in all these years seen these notes. It is hard to describe chancing upon someone's handwriting when you don't expect it. She wanted to try the poppy seed noodles with the beef stroganoff. She swapped stewed tomatoes for tomato paste. And she really wanted to try the 'Holiday Spaghetti'.  What this really brings to light, is that while chefs and cookbooks continue to evolve, there are things about us as cooks that never change: The desire to continue to learn and experiment and make new combinations. We always think, what if I try this with that?? How will that taste? Mom was thinking about it with her poppy noodles and stroganoff and I was thinking it when I mixed the cherry salsa and the charred corn salad today at lunch.
My mom has been gone for 17 yrs. I am so grateful she left those little notes for me. To remind me who I come from and why I love cooking the way I do.
And I do love it.
Tonight I loved it on the grill. I loved it when I mixed blue cheese and parsley and garlic and stuffed tomatoes and cooked them on the grill. I also loved it when I grilled some beet slices and topped them with a hazelnut and orange gremolata (a chopped herb condiment typically made of garlic, parsley, and lemon zest.) I really loved it when I sat down and ate them! My dad even loved the tomatoes. The beets, not so much. But he tried them. Its summer, use the grill every chance you get. Use it with these recipes...

Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes Adapted from; Fire it up. 
1 Poblana Pepper
4 medium Ripe Tomatoes
1 clove Garlic
3 ounces Blue Cheese
2T Butter
2T Olive Oil
1/4 Parmesan Cheese
1 Green Onion Chopped
3 T Flat Leaf Parsely
1/4C Pine Nuts
S & P


Roast the poblano pepper. Seed and chop. Remove core of tomatoes, sprinkle with S & P. 
In a food processor combine poblano, garlic, blue cheese, butter, olive oil, parmesan, oinion, and parsley. Pulse to combine, it can be chunky. Put mixture into a bowl and stir in pine nuts. 
Fill tomatoes with the stuffing, and mound on top. Place on hot grill for 6 to 8 minutes. Serve warm.


Grilled Beets with Orange Hazelnut Gremolata Adapted from: Fire it up
Beets: 4 sliced (1/4 inch thick)
Olive oil
S & P


Gremolata
1 clove Garlic
1T Flat Leaf Parsley
1 T Fresh Mint
Zest from one Orange
1 T Hazelnuts
Pinch of Sugar
S & P


For Gremolata pulse all ingredients, set aside. 
Grill beets on hot grill for 4- 5, remove and plate, top with gremolata. 


Be warned, this is a heavy garlic meal.




Ok, now I have to go scour every page of that cookbook and see if I can find anymore notes. :)