The Summer Fest theme this week is tomatoes and I can’t think of a better thing to talk about than slow-roasted tomatoes.  I made these for the first time last September and they were absolutely amazing.  Although I made them a few more times throughout the year with grocery store cherry tomatoes, I’ve been waiting for some good summer tomatoes to roast.

Yesterday I roasted a tray of 20 gorgeous Roma tomatoes that I had picked up at the Saturday Farmer’s Market.  It took all day, but the end result was fantastic.  I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I ate about 15 of those tomatoes for dinner last night.  I just kept picking them off the tray as they were cooling.  My name is Nicole and I ate 15 Roma tomatoes in one night!  Now you know why you aren’t seeing photos of slow-roasted Roma tomatoes… I ate them before I could photograph them.

But I also roasted a pan of cherry tomatoes since I didn’t have enough Romas to fill two pans.  If you’re going to have the oven on all day anyway, you really should fill all the racks with tomatoes.  I managed to eat at least a handful of the cherry tomatoes, too.  I know what you’re thinking.  But you’ll understand once you make some yourself.  You should do that.

How to Make Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

And here are some more links to help you along your tomato-roasting journey.  These bloggers won’t steer you wrong.  You need to do this!

Instructions for Slow-Roasting Tomatoes:

• Slow-Roasted Tomatoes at Stephen Cooks
• Slow-Roasted Tomatoes at A Veggie Venture
• How to Make Slow-Roasted Tomatoes at Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Slow-Roasted Tomatoes at Smitten Kitchen
• Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Sea Salt and Ground Coriander at Orangette
• Slow-Roasted Tomatoes at Andrea’s Recipes

What to do with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes:

• Pasta Salad with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, Grilled Zucchini, and Basil at Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Slow-Roasted Tomato Bruschetta at The Perfect Pantry
• Slow-Roasted Tomato Hummus at Andrea’s Recipes
• Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce at The Kitchn
• Slow-Roasted Tomato Soup at A Veggie Venture

Other Summer Fest Attendees Celebrating Tomatoes:

• Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: Heirloom Tomato Tart with Parmesan Crust
• Alison at Food2: Heirloom tomatoes
• The FN Dish: Tyler’s Ultimate Tomato Salads
• Margaret at A Way to Garden: More than one way to ripen a tomato
• Gilded Fork: Celebrating summer lusciousness with a tomato dossier and recipes
• Diane and Todd at White on Rice Couple: Sun-dried tomatoes (actually made in the sun!)
• Paige at The Sister Project: 3 substantial, healthy, vegetarian tomatoey main dishes
• Liz at the Cooking Channel: Easy Tomato Tart
• Kelly at Just a Taste: Tomato Jam
• Alexis at Food Network UK: The seven deadly tomato sins
• Michelle at Healthy Eats: Top 10 Things to Do With Tomatoes
• Marilyn at Simmer Till Done: Cherry Tomato & Maytag Blue Beignets
• Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: Roasted Green Salsa (green zebras and tomatillos), and how late August makes her hurt for New Mexico
• Tigress in a Pickle: Over 50 ways to preserve tomatoes in jars
• Caron at San Diego Foodstuff: Chunky Garden Gazpacho with Flowered Corn Tortillas and Melissa Clark’s Tomato Tarte Tatin
• Judy of Over a Tuscan Stove: Tomatoes the Italian Way
• Cate at Sweetnicks: A Loaded Bowl (filled with brown rice, Jersey fresh tomatoes, buttery avocados and more deliciousness)

How You Can Join in Summer Fest 2010

Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? Starting with our posts of Wednesday, July 28, for five Wednesdays, you can contribute in various ways, big or small.

Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer Fest post on my blog, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.

The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. Yes, copy and paste them everywhere! That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and some pretty great dialog starts simmering.

Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt of Mattbites.com).

Summer Fest 2010 Posting Schedule

7/28: Cukes and Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens, and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit – I missed this one!
8/25: Tomatoes

I love grilled beef.  I especially love grilled flank steak.  Today I’m introducing you to one of my favorite food bloggers, Terry from Blue Kitchen, and his recipe for Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak.  The meat is slow-marinated in a mixture of coriander, cumin, cinnamon, fresh ginger, and garlic before it meets the grill.  Yes, it smells and tastes just as fantastic as it sounds.

I’ve definitely been making an effort to eat less meat.  When I do indulge, I try to buy grass-fed beef and free-range organic chicken.  Now that I can buy both beef and chicken at the Farmer’s Market here in Fresno, the meat I buy is often local, too.  It doesn’t always happen.  The flank steak pictured above came from Costco.  I tried to buy it at the Farmer’s Market, but neither purveyor had flank steak that day and I needed that particular cut of beef (usually I’m much more flexible).  So yes, I slip, but I’m trying.  I’m at the point now where I want to pay more for beef and chicken if the animals have been raised right.  I also feel good about paying more for local organic produce (although you’ll find that if you buy produce in season at a Farmer’s Market, the prices are surprisingly low).  I want my money to support the people who get it.

Speaking of people who get it, Terry Boyd knows his way around a kitchen.  But even better, he has the gift to inspire others to cook.  Blue Kitchen is one of those places on the internet where I always feel welcome.  I can drop by, hang out with Terry and his wife Marion for a while, listen to some jazz, and leave feeling both relaxed and inspired.  The menus aren’t complicated, the ingredients aren’t complex.  It’s just good food and good conversation.

This Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak is a perfect example of what the recipes are like at Blue Kitchen – simple ingredients, complex flavor, and instructions that even an inexperienced cook can follow.  Since Costco sells their flank steak in a two-pack, I’ve made this twice the past month for two different groups of people.  It was met with rave reviews all around.

The marinade for the steak is a spice rub.  Fresh garlic and ginger are mixed with ground spices and a bit of oil to make a paste.  I toasted and ground whole cumin and coriander seeds for the rub instead of using pre-ground spices.  It only takes a few minutes longer but I think it makes a big difference in flavor.

I mixed the ingredients with my fingers since I knew I’d be getting my hands dirty rubbing the steak anyway.  Plus, I love mixing things with my hands!

I rubbed the spice paste all over both sides of the flank steak making sure every inch of it was covered.  The steak was then placed it in a plastic bag and left to marinate in the refrigerator for about 8 hours.

I grilled my steak over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side and ended up with a perfectly pink medium steak.  Terry gives grilling times for a medium-rare steak in the recipe.  Flank steak is really best grilled to a medium-rare to medium doneness, but even well-done flank steak will be somewhat tender if it’s sliced thinly against the grain.

We ate the flank steak stuffed into pita with lettuce, tomatoes and garlic sauce.  Rice pilaf made the perfect side dish the first time I made this and a wheat berry salad was a great accompaniment the second time.

I really hope you enjoy this flank steak and Blue Kitchen as much as I do!

Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak at Blue Kitchen
Follow Blue Kitchen on Twitter

Previous Food Blog Fridays:

• Lemon Buttermilk Popsicles from Whipped
• Apricot Almond Tart from Tartelette
• Blueberry Orange Cornmeal Pancakes from Satisfied
• Luscious Lemon Bars from Alpineberry

When my friend Ruby called me the other day and told me her mom’s apricot tree was overflowing and that we each had a bag of fresh-picked fruit waiting for us, my first thought was apricot cobbler.  But then I remembered the tart pan I purchased last year that still hadn’t been used and decided an apricot tart was in order.

At first I was planning on making this simple apricot tart at Orangette.  I’m sure I’ll still make that one someday, but my original plan changed after a friend on Facebook shared a link to Tartelette’s Apricot Almond Tart. Not only was the tart beautiful, it was a perfect excuse to bake with some of the local honey I had just picked up at The Vineyard Farmer’s Market. Plus, I knew the almond cream filling would be perfect with the tart-sweet apricots.

Tartelette most likely does not need an introduction.  It’s one of the best baking blogs around, which is no wonder since it’s written and photographed by Helen, the supremely talented Pastry Chef, photographer, food stylist, and writer.  Tartelette features some of the most beautiful desserts I’ve ever seen and Helen is so warm and welcoming, I feel as if I’ve been invited over for coffee each time I read one of her posts.

This tart was simple to put together and the results were not only beautiful, but absolutely delicious.  The honey and almond flavors were amazing with the fresh apricots.  I enjoyed a slice (okay, maybe two slices) with a side of lightly sweetened whipped cream flavored with a touch of almond extract.  Perfect.

One of the great things about this recipe is that the crust can be made gluten-free.  I chose to use wheat flour, but the original recipe is completely gluten-free.  Helen gives instructions for both versions.  Well, what are you waiting for?  Head over to Tartelette and start drooling!

Apricot Almond Tart Recipe from Tartelette

I really hope you’re enjoying these Food Blog Friday posts because it’s really been a pleasure for me to taste and share these recipes.  I look forward to it more and more each week!

Previous Food Blog Friday Posts

• Blueberry Orange Cornmeal Pancakes from Satisfied
• Luscious Lemon Bars from Alpineberry

Welcome to Food Blog Friday!  I’ve decided to start a series dedicated to sharing recipes that I’ve tried from other food blogs.  I plan on tempting you with a fantastic recipe from a different food blog each week.  This is how it will work:  I’ll try out the recipe myself, show you a photo of my results, then send you over to the featured blog for the recipe.  It will be a great way for all of us to learn more about what’s happening in the food blogosphere.

This week I reached way back into the past and dug up Alpineberry’s recipe for Luscious Lemon Bars. Alpineberry is a wonderful baking blog that I’ve been following for a few years now.  In addition to tempting us with her own creations, Mary has been an active member of The Daring Bakers since early 2007.  That’s a lot of daring baking!

I’ve been craving lemon bars like crazy lately and once I read Mary’s description of a perfect lemon bar, I knew I would have to give her recipe a try.  But this recipe did more than satisfy a craving – these are the best lemon bars I’ve ever tasted!

I followed the recipe exactly, although I used regular lemons where she uses meyer lemons because I prefer extra tart lemon bars.  The recipe worked perfectly and for once, I wouldn’t change a thing!

I do have one little trick I’d like to share with you.  When I lined the pan with parchment paper I left two long sides to hang over the edge of the pan.  This made it simple to pull out the whole thing once it was cooled, which in turn made for easier slicing.

Although I did sprinkle them with powdered sugar for decoration, I found that the bars were best with only a light dusting.  They are pretty much perfect on their own.

If you’ve been looking for a fantastic lemon bar recipe, I highly recommend you head over to Alpineberry and give this one a try!  And while you’re there, you should check out some of her other delicious treats like Triple Threat Lemon Cupcakes, Nutella Cheesecake Brownies, or Blueberry Hand Pies.

Luscious Lemon Bars recipe at Alpineberry

Last summer I made my first batch of homemade jam – peach jam, to be exact.  While not difficult, the process was a bit labor-intensive:  I sterilized jars, peeled and chopped fruit, boiled down the fruit and sugar, and even processed the filled jars in a water bath.  It was well worth the effort and I was quite proud of myself for successfully preserving that small bit of the summer’s bounty.  And with that first batch of jam under my belt, I had been making plans to can all kinds of jam this summer.

But now I’ve discovered freezer jam.

Today I made fresh strawberry jam in less than 30 minutes and it might be the best strawberry jam I’ve ever tasted!  I didn’t have to deal with hot glass jars or bubbling hot fruit lava either.

I’ve heard people talk about freezer jam for years but I never really understood the difference between freezer jam and what I thought of as “real jam.”  All I knew was that freezer jam was supposed to be much easier to make than jam canned the old-fashioned way.  I figured that since it was so easy to prepare, freezer jam must somehow be inferior to the homemade jam that I grew up eating.

I was completely wrong.

Strawberry freezer jam is different than the strawberry jam I grew up eating, but it’s certainly not inferior.  Because the berries aren’t cooked, the jam has a much fresher flavor than canned strawberry jam.  Freezer jam isn’t as thick as the canned jam, but it has a nice spoonable consistency that works equally well as a spread or a topping.  I’m planning on stirring some into plain yogurt for breakfast.

The main difference between freezer jam and canned jam is how it’s stored.  Because it has not been cooked, freezer jam must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.  It will only last a few weeks in the refrigerator, so it’s best to store it in small containers that will be used up fast.  You can keep one container in the refrigerator and store the rest in the freezer for up to a year.

For today’s strawberry jam I used Ball No Cook Freezer Jam Pectin.  I followed the instructions on the package and even used the same brand of freezer jam jars, although any little plastic containers would work fine for storing the jam.

First I chopped a bunch of strawberries up in my food processor – enough to make four cups of strawberry purée.  This step can easily be done by hand if you don’t have a food processor – just hull and chop the berries and mash them with a potato masher.  You want to leave a bit of texture in the jam, so don’t mash them completely.

Next I stirred in one and half cups of sugar (MUCH less sugar than is required for canned jam), the package of freezer jam pectin, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  The lemon juice wasn’t included in the package instructions, but it sounded good to me.  I stirred everything together for a few minutes until the sugar and pectin were completely dissolved.

Once it was all stirred up, I poured the jam into clean plastic freezer jars.  That’s it!  It was really that simple.  I now have one jar in the fridge and four jars in the freezer to either give away or continue eating in the coming months.

If you’re intimidated by the process of canning jam but have always wanted to give it a try, I highly recommend you start with freezer jam.  Have fun!

Barefoot Contessa’s Real Meatballs and Spaghetti

Click on the images above to view the recipes.

Other Valentine’s Day ideas from around the Web:

• Valentine’s Day Recipes from Simply Recipes
• Valentine’s Day Desserts from Brown-Eyed Baker
• Valentine’s Day Recipes from Cafe Fernando
• Valentine’s Day Recipes from Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Gluten-Free Valentine’s Day Recipes from Elana’s Pantry

I was searching through old photos today and found these whole wheat blueberry muffins I made a while back.  Since I remember them tasting just as delicious as they look, I decided that they shouldn’t be kept hidden on my hard drive any longer.

The muffin recipe came from Elise at Simply Recipes and the only change I made was to use King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour instead of all-purpose flour.  If you haven’t started baking with white whole wheat flour yet, now is the time to start!

The name “white whole wheat flour” might seem confusing since we are used to associating the term “white flour” with something that has had most of the nutrition processed and bleached right out of it.  But white whole wheat flour is a whole grain flour that has been milled from hard white spring wheat, rather than traditional red wheat.  It offers all the same nutritional benefits of traditional whole wheat, but has a milder flavor, lighter color, and finer grind, making it perfect for quick breads.

I happen to really enjoy the flavor of traditional whole wheat flour and still use it for yeast breads, but I find myself turning to white whole wheat for things like cookies, quick breads, pancakes, pizza dough, and even pie crusts.  It’s wonderful stuff!  And if you’re new to baking with whole wheat flour, white whole wheat might make for an easier transition – especially if you’re baking for picky eaters!

I haven’t tried any brands other than King Arthur Flour, but I know Trader Joe’s (who unfortunately stopped selling King Arthur) is now stocking their own brand of white whole wheat and Hodgson Mill is also producing a white whole wheat flour.  I’m sure there are even more brands out there now.

If you’d like to try experimenting with white whole wheat flour, I think a batch of muffins is a great place to start.  You can use it in any recipe, just replace the all-purpose or traditional whole wheat flour with an equal part of white whole wheat flour.

One thing to keep in mind:  while white whole wheat flour does bake up a bit lighter than traditional whole wheat, it is still a whole grain flour and will not perform exactly like the processed all-purpose version.  Your quick breads might not rise quite as high, and the crumb might be a bit more dense than in breads baked with all-purpose flour, but I really enjoy the flavor and texture of whole grain baked goods and think you will, too.

And really, who is going to say no to a blueberry muffin that looks like this?

If you’d like to try these blueberry muffins, head over to Simply Recipes and print the recipe.  Just don’t forget to use white whole wheat flour!

Related Recipes:

• Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins
• Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
• Whole Grain Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes
• Whole Wheat Rosemary Pizza Dough
• Whole Wheat Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Around the Web:

• The Bottom Line on White Whole Wheat Flour at Dani Spies
• White Whole Wheat Pizza Dough at 101 Cookbooks
• White Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls at Baking Bites
• White Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil at Kalyn’s Kitchen
• White Whole Wheat Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting at The Perfect Pantry

The winner of this beautiful 9-inch knife from New West KnifeWorks is Adam, whose favorite thing to eat over the holidays is Mac and Cheese.  Congratulations, Adam!

I chose the winner using the Random Integer Generator at Random.org.  The random number chosen was 224, and Adam was the 224th person to leave a comment on the Knife Giveaway post.

Thanks to everyone who participated, it was a lot of fun reading about your favorite holiday foods! And thanks again to New West KnifeWorks for providing the knife.

I’ll be back later with today’s recipe. Stay tuned!