Tomato, Fresh Fig and Blue Cheese Salad

So for the past days we've been busy harvesting tons of balcony tomatoes and figuring out what to do with them. Every day there are just more and more of them.

Ok, the classics Greek or Caprese salad are great, but can get a little boring after a while.

So I looked through my cook books and searched the internet for a delicious alternative.

One of my favourite sources for food related news and recipes certainly is the New York Times Dining&Wine section. And that's where I found this Tomato, Fresh Fig and Blue Cheese Salad.

We've been eating this salad for the last couple of days. It is SOOOO GOOD!

Really easy to prepare and all those different ingredients are in perfect balance with each other. 

The figs add a subtle sweetness that balances the stronger flavor of the blue cheese. 

Together with ripe sweet but slightly acidic tomatoes, thyme, roasted pine nuts and a vinaigrette of olive oil, sea salt and balsamico, it's heavenly!

Seriously, try it yourself. 

You'll be surpirsed how good it is and how quick and easy it is prepared!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 large or 2 small ripe tomatoes, about 8 ounces, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound fresh figs, cut into quarters
• 1 ounce crumbled blue cheese, like Fourme d’Ambert, more to taste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Black pepper.

Preparation

1.       In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar and salt. Whisk in oil. 

2.       In a small skillet over medium-low heat, toast pine nuts, shaking the pan occasionally, until light golden, about 2 minutes.

3.       Spread tomato slices on a large plate. Scatter fig quarters and pine nuts over tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese and thyme, drizzle with dressing and finish with pepper.

 Bon appetit!

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!

So, Wil is a very, very good and dedicated gardener and has been taking care of our tiny balcony and the plants. 

We grew tons of tomatoes this year which are all ripening now.

As promised, here are some pics of our harvest!

before picking

after picking

 

 

They taste sweet and fruity... almost like candy.

 

Wil made a salad with our first tomatoes adding arugula, mozzarella, 

chanterelles sauteed in butter and balsamico, bacon and pine nuts...

Grilled eggplant pockets

Last weekend we got invited over to our friends Anna and Beau to meet Beau's lovely parents.

Therefore and also because I went a little "cooking crazy" 

I prepared all kinds of summer food stuff to bring and eat.

I already posted the Gazpacho which was one of the things I made. 

But I also felt like trying out more new things!

I've never ever prepared eggplant myself.

 So I decided to make these little grilled eggplant pockets:

For 8 pockets you'll need:

2 big long eggplants

2 plum tomatos (these are the long ones!) cut into a total of 16 slices

225g / 8 slices mozzarella (preferably buffalo mozzarella!)

16 basil leaves

salt, pepper

Vinaigrette:

1 tbsp tomato purrée

1 tbsp Balsamico vinegar

4 tbsp Olive oil

salt, pepper, sugar or honey

Garnish: 

Roasted Pine nuts

roughly chopped basil leaves

To prepare the eggplants first remove the stems, 

then cut each fruit in 8 thin slices (lengthwise!) of approx. 5mm thickness.

The pieces at the edges do not count.

Boil the slices in salted water for a maximum of about 2 minutes 

(they should not be completely cooked yet).

Dry them between sheets of paper towel.

Cut each tomato and the mozzarella in 8 slices.

Now take two eggplant slices and lay them on top of each other in the shape of a cross.

Put a slice of tomato in the middle, season it with salt and pepper and top it off with a basil leaf one slice of mozzarella, again a basil leaf and another slice of tomato seasoned with salt and pepper.

Now flip the ends of the eggplant over the little tomato-basil-mozzarella tower and form a pocket.

It doesn't really matter which eggplant slice you start with.

It just should all stick together and look neat in the end...

Now coat both sides of each pocket with a thin layer of olive oil 

and throw it on the grill of your hibachi! 

Grill for about 5 minutes each side (depends a bit on how hot the hibachi is).

The mozarella should start melting

In case you don't have a hibachi you can also sear them in a pan.

Same thing: 5 minutes each side.

For the vinaigrette mix tomato purrée, balsamico and olive oil and season to taste with salt pepper and a bit of sugar or honey.

Sprinke the vinaigrette and roasted pine nuts such as chopped basil leaves 

over the grilled/seared eggplant pockets.

Eat!

PS: 

I also made some tapas. 

More about this in my next post!

Barbecue No2! or How to trick myself into liking salad...

After a long and exciting day on Schmachtenhagen's farmers market with our friends Anna and Beau we came home with tons of meat, some sausages, fresh warm sourdough bread, an ice machine that I bought for 10 bucks at the flea market there and a giant headache from all the beer we drank...

Nevertheless our hibachi was already waiting for us.

As soon as we got home we fired the grill and threw on some sausages and sirloins.

In order to have our dinner plates look more colourful and a bit healthier I decided to make a classic salad with lamb's lettuce, tomatos, cheese and avocados.

Ok. I have to admit I'm not a big salad fan. 

But with a few tricks and a bit of extra-pimping I manage to create one that even I don't mind eating.

First of all I caramelize the cherry tomatoes in butter adding a dash of sugar, salt and pepper.

Warm sweet tomatos in a salad taste insanely good!

Then of course adding roasted nuts (pine nuts and almonds preferably). 

You can't go wrong with crunchy roasted nuts! 

I also like adding Hass avocado cubes because of their creamy texture and fresh parmesan to sprinkle over it...

Very important, as well: good olive oil and balsamico vinegar.

Quality just tastes better! 

For example we bought 20 year old balsamico vinegar from our local Italian store.

That really makes a difference!

I can also highly recommend to do an olive oil degustation at some point.

You won't believe how different olive oil can taste!

I really like the greek ones. They taste very grassy and slightly bitter.

There you go! These are my tipps and tricks to make a simple salad more enjoyable.

You can also just add meat to it, though...

We drank a pretty decent French red wine with it: Chateau Capitoul Rocaille Rouge AOC

which contains the varietals syrah, grenache noir and carignan.