Every now and then I receive an email from Peter Minakis inviting me to one of his Greek dinners. My chances of ever going to one are nil, so as always, I lived vicariously through his menu. A while back, an announcement of his Santorini Sunset dinner arrived in my inbox and after reading the menu, the tomato fritters caught my eye and stuck in my mind. Luckily, I found the recipe on Peter's website, printed out the recipe and gave them a try.
Peter explains Santorini tomatoes are "stressed into ripeness from the blazing sun, little moisture and volcanic soil. The result is the sweet, ultra-flavourful, dwarf-like Santorini tomato or “domatinia”." Unfortunately, no Santorini tomatoes in Florida (I've only been there once and yes, the tomatoes we had for lunch were bright red and so sweet), but Peter roasted his cherry tomatoes to get as close as possible to the flavor he remembered. He also used mashed potato as one of the 3 binders, replacing the bread crumbs. While the trinity of dill, parsley and mint are the herbs of choice, Peter substituted basil for the dill.
I think you'll really enjoy these fritters; crisp on the outside and soft inside. A lovely side for anything you're grilling, but most especially seafood.
Santorini Tomato Fritters
From Peter Minakis at Kalofagas.ca, Greek Food and Beyond
Ingredients:
2 pounds of ripe cherry tomatoes
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
Approx. 1 cup of self-raising flour
1 baked potato, mashed
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 egg
crumbled Greek feta to taste
vegetable oil for frying
Method:
Toss the cherry tomatoes with some olive oil, salt, pepper and some cloves of garlic and roast in a 450F oven for about 30-45 minutes or until they are slightly shriveled the the skins have just burst. I roasted the potato at the same time.
Allow to cool to room temperature and strain the excess liquid (I didn't have any) and reserve the roasted tomatoes in a large bowl. Mash the potato and add to the tomatoes.
In a skillet, saute the chopped scallions in some olive oil until translucent. Allow to cool and add to the bowl with the tomatoes.
Add the flour, egg and herbs and black pepper to the tomato/potato mixture and mix thoroughly. The mixture will be soft and a bit wet. Add more flour for binding if you need to.
Add some crumbled Feta and taste test your mixture. Adjust flavourings with herbs, pepper or with some more cheese.
Pour some vegetable oil into a large, non-stick frying pan over medium high heat and when a drop of water sizzles, the oil is hot enough to fry the fritters.
Use an ice cream scoop to drop the fritter mixture into the oil and flatten each fritter into the shape of a pattie. Fry each fritter for about 2 minutes per side and reserve on large plate or platter that’s covered in paper towel.
Reserve in a warm oven until the entire batch is ready to be served. Makes about 12 patties.
Everyone has their own comfort foods. Mine have always involved vanilla-flavored things...puddings mostly. Boring, I know. And yes, I also choose vanilla ice cream over most other flavors when in an ice cream store, but for some reason never thought it a comfort food. It's a fun food. Although considering the calories, I don't know how we can call ice cream food, but whatever.
Who knows where the love of comfort food it starts? Childhood, I should think. My mother made a lot of comfort foods...in particular, her Floating Island comes to mind; it was ambrosial. One rarely sees it on a menu in restaurants in the US, but I've enjoyed it often when in France. I think it's considered a "nursery food" in Europe. But do you know, it's the crème anglaise that gets me every time. I could eat it by the bowlful. Forget the little egg white islands.
Crème anglaise is also referred to as English Custard. So simple to make...milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla....things we usually have in the fridge and pantry. Handy when you need comfort. You have to be a little bit cautious when making it so it doesn't curdle, but it's not brain surgery.
After making one of my rhubarb recipes for the blog, I had several stalks of rhubarb left over; I had recently seen Marion Cunningham's Rhubarb and English Custard recipe when I was searching for another recipe in her Breakfast Book (which frankly, you should all own and if you're still debating it, read this wonderful old Gourmet review HERE.). I had one of those "why haven't I made this before" moments. I took my leftover rhubarb and made her dish. Definitely comfort food, but with a difference. Of course, I ate most of the custard first.
Marion Cunningham's Rhubarb with English Custard
From The Breakfast Book
Ingredients:
1 pound rhubarb, ends trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. (4 cups)
1 1/3 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 inch thick slice fresh gingerroot
2 cups English Custard (recipe follows)
Method:
Put the rhubarb into a saute pan that has a lid. Add 1 cup of water and cook, covered, over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, just until the rhubarb is barely tender. Do not overcook! Carefully remove the rhubarb from and pan and set aside. Discard the water.
Put the sugar, 1/3 cup water and gingerroot into the saute pan and heat until the sugar dissolves and it comes to a boil. Add the rhubarb and stir gently for about a minute so the rhubarb is coated with the syrup. Allow to cool, remove the gingerroot and refrigerate.
Serve with English Custard on top.
English Custard
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten with a fork
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla
Method:
Heat the milk to a simmer point. Not boiling, but little bubbles around the side and steam rising from the milk. Remove from heat and add sugar. Sitr to dissolve. With a whisk, slowly temper the egg yolks until all the milk is combined. Pour back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Pay attention, as there will be a slight thickening and the mixture will coat the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, strain, and then add the vanilla. I like my custard cool, so I place some plastic wrap on the surface so it won't form a skin, and refrigerate.
Recently, I read a fun post written by Dana for her blog The Kitchn. The post was entitled Which Cookbooks Defined the Past Decades of Cooking. Dana had read an article in the Financial Times by food writer Tim Hayward called Cookbook Colossi, listing the popular British cookbooks. The article prompted her to make her own list of cookbooks through the decades she feels defines American cooks.
Danas list is as follows:
The 60s: Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child
The 70s: The New York Times' International Cookbook by Craig Claiborne
The 80s: The Silver Palate Cookbooks by Sheila Lukins and Julee Russo
The 90s: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
The 00s: The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judi Rodgers
The 10s (so far): Plenty or Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi
Because I was cooking in the 50's, I'm adding that decade, and hands down, it was the BH&G cookbook.
Joy of Cooking, while not on Dana's list, is a cookbook everyone received at bridal showers in the 50's. I'd say that one spans all decades.
In addition, another bible for me back then was this set of Gourmet Cookbooks my mother gave me.
And because the end of the 00's and into the 10's is the era of food blogging and network food shows, do you think any resulting cookbooks are worth a mention? What about Ina? Or Maida Heatter? (Maida is probably too specialized, as she's all desserts, but I have all her books.) Or, as Dana gave mention to, Martha Stewart. What about Alice Waters? Difficult, isn't it?
So what do you think of Dana's choices? I'm on board with her first three, but I'm kind of iffy with her choices for the 90's and the 00's. What are your favorite cookbooks from each decade? What would you add, or substitute? How does one determine? Best sellers? Or what you personally used?
(The image at the top of this post I found at Dana's blog and it was by Jane Mount/Ideal Bookshelf for Food52)
