The Kumato is One Hot, Trendy Tomato

Those exotic-looking, dark brown tomatoes showing up in more supermarket produce departments are ripe for being tagged as this summer’s tastiest trend, but Kumatos have actually been around since the late 1990s. Until fairly recently, they were available exclusively in European markets. Consumers can thank Trader Joe’s for introducing the super-sweet variety to the U.S. in 2013.

Photo by Leslie Kelly

Roots in Spain

A young farmer on the Almerian coast of Spain noticed that tomatoes that were stressed by lack of water turned brown, meaning they wouldn’t make it to market. Yet, they were intensely sweet when harvested. Starting in the 1970s, Luis Ortega made it his mission to create a hybrid like those ugly tomatoes, one that could be grown on a commercial scale. There were many experiments crossing varieties of tomatoes found only on the shores of the Mediterranean. By the 1990s, the Kumato had hit the market to rave reviews. The biggest difference between these and other commercial varieties is that the Kumato ripens from the outside, eventually turning a shade of deep greenish brown when harvested, an appearance that might make shoppers wonder if these are an heirloom variety. They’re not. Unlike many delicate heirloom varieties, Kumatos have a firm texture. That makes them shelf-stable, and are prime for storing at room temp for up to a week after purchase.

Changing Tastes

Consumers long used to bland commercially grown tomatoes started getting more demanding in the past decade. Some attribute changing tastes to the explosion in the number of farmers markets across the country, reminding people the pleasure of vine-ripened tomatoes raised by small growers, who pour their passion into growing the best tasting fruits and veggies. Large-scale agricultural enterprises responded by developing products like grape tomatoes. While the Kumato is a trademarked seed sold exclusively by a Swiss company called Syngenta only to commercial growers, there are imitators popping up. For instance, a California company sells a similar tomato called Rosso Bruno, and “black” tomatoes are showing up more often at farmers markets. As popular as Kumato has become in its short time on the market, it’s likely even more knockoffs will soon follow.

Making Those Tomatoes Shine

Fans of this juicy fruit might be tempted to take the purist route and do nothing except slice and enjoy this amazing tomato, but there here are a few ideas on how to best show off the full flavor of a Kumato:

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Paleo Sheet Pan Dinners: Your DIY Guide

It’s easy to build simple paleo-friendly dinners by combining healthy meats and veggies on one easy-to-clean baking sheet.

Photo by Meredith

Let’s start with several easily adaptable roasted meat recipes, each paired up with a few vegetable options. Once you get the hang of mixing and matching, it’s easy to create your own delicious sheet-pan dinners that are perfectly paleo and so simple to clean up.

When combining recipes, adjust the times and temps as needed. For example, with some of these recipes, you’ll want to start the more dense veggies first — like squash and sweet potatoes — before adding the quicker-roasting meats and more delicate veggies, like salmon or green beans or asparagus. Let’s take a look.

1) Chicken Breasts with Herb Basting Sauce

Here’s a simple roast chicken recipe, which you can match up with any number of roasted veggies. The chicken roasts at 425° F for 35 to 45 minutes.

Photo by naples34102

You might also try Basic Broiled Chicken Breasts.

Pair it up with:

Roasted Apples and Brussels Sprouts | Give the chicken a 20-minute head start in the 425° F oven.

Roasted Vegetable Medley | You’ll start with the yams, parsnips, and carrots, roasting for 30 minutes. Then add the chicken to the hot baking sheet, along with the zucchini and asparagus, keeping an eye on the veggies so they don’t overcook.

Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic | Give the chicken a 20-minute head start.

2) Simple Savory Pork Roast

“A simple, no-fuss way to make a savory, melt-in-your-mouth boneless pork loin roast,” says Marianne, the recipe submitter. Roasts at 350° F for about an hour.

Photo by CountryGirlGourmet

You might also like this recipe for Roasted Pork Loin.

Pair it up with:

Honey Roasted Carrots | Give the roast pork a 15-minute head start in the oven. Then add the carrots.

Baked Sweet Potatoes | In a 350° F oven, they should be done right around the same time.

Roasted Grapes and Carrots | With about 20 minutes left on roasting the pork, add the grapes, carrots, and red onion. If the roast is done and the carrots need a bit more time, turn the temp up to 375° F and roast a bit more while the roast rests on the counter.
 

3) Lemon Rosemary Salmon

Another terrific go-to recipe for simple sheet pan dinners, the salmon roasts at 400 F for about 20 minutes.

Photo by AllisonTX

You might also like Baked Salmon II.

Pair it up with:

Easy Roasted Broccoli | The roasting times and temps match up perfectly.
Roasted Delicata | Give the squash a 15-minute head start in the 400° F oven.
Perfectly Roasted Vegetable | Start roasting the vegetables at 425° F for about 20 minutes. Then turn the heat down to 400° F, and add the salmon to the hot baking sheet.

Looking for more veggies to pair? Explore our collection of roasted vegetable recipes. And for more on building your own baking sheet meals, check out 5 Rules for the Best Sheet Pan Dinners.

Photo by Meredith

OK, now let’s look at some top-rated recipes that are complete, self-contained meals. They’re already sheet-pan ready and paleo-friendly, although you may choose to swap an ingredient or two along the way.

4) Roasted Balsamic Chicken with Baby Tomatoes

Roast marinated chicken in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Then add tomatoes to the baking sheet and cook until the chicken is done.

Photo by Regina Pompeo

5) Paleo Roasted Whitefish with Leeks and Bacon

Leeks and bacon hit the pan first. Then comes a little thyme, some white wine, and your favorite whitefish fillets. Everything is prepped, roasted, and ready in 45 minutes.

6) Sausage, Peppers, Onions, and Potato Bake

A paleo person is nothing if not adaptable. These next few recipes call for white potatoes. Instead, swap in paleo-friendly sweet potatoes. Or leave out the potatoes entirely.

Photo by moaa

7) Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes

Brussels sprouts are tossed with a garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil mixture and baked with bacon. Swap in sweet potatoes for the white potatoes if you like. See how it’s done!

 

8) Roasted Carrot and Fennel Pork

You’ll roast carrots, fennel, and onions for about 45 minutes, then add the pork and roast for another 25 minutes or so. “Delicious and super easy,” says starsmed, the recipe submitter. “Chop, roast, and serve!”

Photo by LilSnoo

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5 Tips for Next-Level Grilled Cheese

With all the hype about finding water on Mars and editing the human genome, you may have missed the most important scientific discovery of our young century: Science has discovered the best cheeses for making grilled cheese.

We reveal them here, and offer 4 additional tips for making the best grilled cheese sandwiches that scientific laws will allow.

1) Let Science Choose the Cheese

First of all, let’s agree: When it comes to the ideal grilled cheese, we want gooey and stretchy, not greasy and gross. So what type of cheese consistently gives us these results?

Science is prepared to weigh in. The bottom line: Your cheese should hit a sweet spot of pH balance. A lower pH means a weaker calcium structure, which means — gooey, stretchy, perfect grilled cheese. But low pH is preferred only up to a point! Because if the pH is too low, you get a big greasy mess. (More on the science here.) So which cheeses hit the pH sweet spot?

Perfect pH

For more on the science of food, including the science of melty cheese, check out The Kitchen As Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking.

Give this recipe a try: Gouda Onion Bacon (GOB) Grilled Cheese

2) Put Some Cheese on the Outside

The second key to a great grilled cheese is the toasty bread. Here, Chef John goes next level on us, with his patented “inside-out” method. That’s right. Cheese on the inside, cheese on the outside. The trick here is to toast it slowly over medium-low heat so the cheese is crispy and caramelized not burned. Watch the technique:

Get the recipe for Chef John’s Inside-Out Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

3) Chips on the Inside

Unleash your inner kid. Put some crunchy potato chips on the inside for a 5-star textural experience. Texas toast optional.

Texas Toast Grilled Cheese with BBQ Potato Chips | Photo by Meredith

4) Or Go Healthy, and Add Fermented Deliciousness

A forkful of pickled peppers, pickled cucumbers, pickled onions, or sauerkraut adds tangy crunch to the inside.

Grilled Cheese with Pickled Peppers | Photo by Meredith

5) Seal the Deal with Dipping Sauces

Could be a marinara sauce, could be tomato soup, could be homemade harissa sauce, could be something completely outrageous. Your call.

Grilled Cheese with Marinara dipping sauce | Photo by Meredith

More Grilled Cheese Greatness

• Grilled Cheese Goes Fancy Pants
• This Kale Caesar Rules With Its Awesome Grilled Cheese Croutons
• See our collection of Grilled Cheese Recipes

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8 Hot Tips for the Best Grilled Fruit

Magic happens when fruit meets flame. Flavors intensify as the natural sugars caramelize, juicy fruits can get even juicier, and the smoke from the grill gives everything a woodsy, hanging-around-the-campfire flavor. And the grill marks — gorgeous, right? But before you go flinging fruit on the fire, here are some tips to help you get the best results.

Grilled peaches and watermelon make a perfect summertime side dish or dessert. | Photo by Meredith

How to Grill Fruit

I recently grilled a whole farmstand’s worth of fruit to make grilled cocktails, and talk about learning by doing! It was a little trickier than I anticipated, but after a few fiery fails, I got the hang of it. Here’s what I learned about grilling fruit:

1. Best Bets for the Grill

Just about any fruits can go on the grill as long as they are fairly firm and not overripe. Peaches, melons, pineapple, pears, avocado, tomatoes, bananas, and figs are just some of the fresh fruits that will hold their shape over the coals.

Photo by homeschooler3

Recipe shown: Grilled Peaches and Cream

2. Go Big

Most fruit is fairly fragile, so cut fruit into large chunks, slices, and wheels to help it maintain its structure as it heats up and breaks down. Larger pieces are less likely to fall between the grates, too, depending on how far apart your grill grates are. Small fruits such as strawberries can go on skewers so you don’t lose them to the flames.

3. A Hot Grill Minimizes Sticking

Heat your grill to medium high for at least 10 minutes, then scrape and oil the grates before laying down the fruit. Use a neutral-tasting oil that’s suitable for high heat, such as safflower oil.

4. You Don’t Always Need to Oil the Fruit

This tip applies to fruit you’ll use for cocktails and desserts to avoid winding up with an unwanted oil slick. If you’re grilling fruit for a savory recipe such as fruit salsa, oiling the fruit won’t be a problem. I also found that sometimes you get better grill marks with unoiled fruit. Of course, your results may vary.

5. Sugar-Coat Your Citrus

Dusting the cut side of citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit with granulated sugar before putting them on a hot, oiled grill keeps the rinds from sticking and gives the surface of the fruit a truly gorgeous caramelized finish. This tip is especially useful when you want to use grilled lemon and lime wheels to garnish cocktails and desserts. (In case you’re wondering, this grilled citrus turned into a pitcher of Grilled Lemon Limeade.)

Dip citrus in sugar for extra caramelization. | Photos by Vanessa Greaves

6. Leave It Alone

Let the fruit sit on the hot grill for a few minutes before checking for grill marks; the surface of the fruit needs time to sear so it won’t stick. But know this: Some sticking could happen no matter what you do. It’s not the end of the world and the fruit will taste fantastic anyway.

7. Denser Fruit Takes Longer to Grill

Pineapple needs more time to cook than peaches and citrus fruit do. To help dense fruits heat all the way through, you can put the lid on the grill for a few minutes at a time, checking for doneness every 5 minutes or so. How do you know when it’s done? Take a sample slice and see if it’s hot in the middle, if that’s what you’re going for. For some recipes, you might just want surface grill marks.

8. Don’t Waste the Juice

High heat causes some grilled fruits to give off a lot of juice. Of course, some of that will drip through the grate. But you can place grilled fruit on a rimmed baking sheet to hold all that juicy goodness after it comes off the grill. In this recipe for Grilled Gazpacho Bloody Mary, you want to capture as much juice as you can while the tomatoes caramelize, so you grill them in a pan or on heavy duty aluminum foil.

Now go forth and grill the season’s freshest fruits like a fruit-grilling pro.

Related

• Get all the tips you need to grill vegetables at your next cookout.
• Check it out: 9 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Grill. You might be surprised.
• Need an excuse to flaunt your fruit-grilling skills? Get lots of party ideas in our Guide to Summer Entertaining.

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Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauces Are On Fire

The last time you ate at a Mexican restaurant, did you use the commercial hot sauce on the table? It was likely made with peppers — or chile pepper powder, depending on the brand — and vinegar. But one thing about vinegar is that it can taste … vinegar-y. So if you’ve ever balked at the one-note taste of commercial hot sauces, that’s partially to blame.

Enter lacto-fermentation, the new hotness that’s actually ages old.

Photo by Meredith

What is Lacto-Fermentation?

First, what it isn’t: “lacto” doesn’t mean it has milk in it. Essentially, it’s a process in which bacteria convert sugars into lactic acid. Lactic acid is a preservative, which is why it’s so important in the pickling and fermentation process, and turning your everyday peppers into hot sauce with swag.

So, What is Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce?

We spotted this hot trend a few months ago, when cookbook author Alana Churnila laid out a home-cook friendly approach to lacto-fermentation. Since then, we’ve tasted a twist on these unique, intensely flavorful hot sauces in one of the Seattle-area’s most celebrated restaurants.

James Beard Award-nominated chef Brendan McGill specializes in seasonal preparations of fresh produce, meats, and wild foods, and makes his own amazing lacto-fermented hot sauce. He serves the sauce alongside just-plucked-from-the-bay oysters Hitchcock restaurant on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, and sells bottles at Seattle’s Hitchcock Deli.

By partnering with Tani Creek Farm, McGill gained access to an enormous crop of biodynamically grown peppers that you can’t find anywhere else. (Seriously, when did you last see a Transylvanian Paprika in your neighborhood grocery?) McGill explained the process of creating these super hot sauces.

Tani Creek Farm peppers | Photo by Julia Wayne

“The basic process is that you put peppers through a lactic fermentation, with the lactobacilli digesting the carbohydrates (plant sugars) and expelling acidic acids or enzymes,” McGill says. He covers the peppers in a salt brine, a process done for thousands of years in places like China, India, and beyond. The salt brine digests the bacteria and lowers the PH.

“Lactobacilli live on all plants, but especially on ones that are allowed to be really close to the ground, in a natural environment,” he adds. The peppers he uses are grown in organic conditions, with soil that is in “full decomposition mode” so there’s plenty of natural processes happening all around the finished fruit.

It’s All About Flavor

The resulting peppers gain the secondary flavors you get when food is allowed to acidify in natural conditions. “Your simple vegetable becomes pleasantly sour, even umami-rich in some cases, and gets loaded with probiotics and beneficial gut flora,” McGill says.

“For a while, it was very easy to make hot sauce with vinegar, acidifying peppers in it,” McGill says. “You can pickle or puree them with vinegar, and do it quickly. You end up at the same place, but the craft of letting fermentation do its thing creates all the outrageous flavors and complexity instead.”

Peppers in a fermentation crock. Photo by Julia Wayne

While it might seem that pickle plates are everywhere, McGill points out that those radishes, cukes, and carrots were likely pickled with vinegar. Lacto-fermentation delivers intense and complex heat — but is time-consuming and takes a fair amount of effort. But McGill says it’s worth it, for more than one reason: “People don’t think of Northwest cuisine as being particularly spicy,” he says. “Everyone thinks salmon, mushrooms, spruce tips. But if you buy local, biodynamically raised peppers and do what you will with them, you can have great sauce. It helps push the boundaries.”

Hitchcock’s Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce | Photo by Julia Wayne

How to Make Your Own Hot Sauce

If you want to try lacto-fermentation yourself, you’ll need patience and the right kind of peppers — probably not jalapeños or serranos from the corner store. Why not? It’s not in the grocery store’s best interest to have organic, fresh-from-the-ground peppers, covered in natural bacteria. They break down faster and cost more that way, so they often end up coated in wax instead.

If you have a farmers market nearby, that’s your best bet — other than growing peppers yourself. Local peppers are best so they don’t have to travel as far and the good bacteria won’t die in transit.

As for which peppers to use, McGill encourages you to experiment. He makes a Tabasco-style blend by putting together every wackadoo pepper he has on hand. To make a sauce that adds searing heat without an overpowering flavor, he uses habañeros. Jalapeño lovers could try a straight-up one-varietal sauce, and should get “bombastic” flavor, since the peppers are so distinct.

From left to right: Habañero, Poblano, and Anaheim Peppers | Photo by Meredith

Northwesterners who don’t want to make their own can find Iggy’s sauces, also made on Bainbridge, at select stores and farmers markets, and there are several varieties for sale on Amazon. If you think you’re ready to create your own special sauce, know that it’s a bit of an undertaking — but how cool would it be to have your own signature hot sauce?

Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce Recipes

We have two recipes for you to consider, each with different ingredients and a different process. Alana Chernila’s recipe for lacto-fermented hot sauce blends honey, garlic, lime juice, and carrots with the peppers, and then ferments. McGill’s recipe (and his tips for success, below) involves fermenting the whole peppers, then blending them. See which one sounds best to you!

For McGill’s recipe, consider buying a fermentation pot and weights, like this one from TSM

Brendan McGill’s Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce

Ingredients:
Any quantity of organic, freshly-harvested hot peppers
Well, spring, or filtered water
Sea salt (3 percent of the total mass of peppers and water)

Optional: a splash of juice from a raw lactic fermentation, like organic & raw (not pasteurized) sauerkraut

Equipment:

You’ll need a fermentation crock. I really like the TSM products available via Sausage Maker or Amazon. A wide-mouthed one-gallon jar would work as well, although you’ll have to find weights that fit inside the mouth of the jar to keep the peppers submerged in the brine, as well as some sort of cover that you can burp occasionally

Preparation:

1. Measure the mass of the peppers you plan on fermenting; record. Wash your peppers and put them into your crock, filling to 3/4 full.
2. Fill a pitcher with spring, well, or filtered water. Be sure not to use treated water (the chlorine is harmful to the fermentation).
3. Fill a clean a measuring pitcher to an even quantity, like 2L. Pressing the peppers down with one (clean) hand, pour the water over the peppers until they are almost submerged. Record the quantity of water you used. Thanks to the metric system, the volume of the water is equal to the mass of the water, so if you added 2L of water to 4K of peppers, we know the total mass of our fermentation is 6K. I try to do these things in nice round numbers as to make it easy on myself.
4. Calculate 3 percent of the total mass (in this example, 180g), scale that much sea salt and add it to the fermentation. It will find equilibrium eventually, but feel free to mix it around a little with your hand (it always makes me feel better).
5. Add that (optional) splash of raw-fermented brine (from sauerkraut, or a previous batch of hot sauce). This will behave as a starter and assure your fermentation’s success. It’s not entirely necessary, since good peppers should be crawling with lactobacilli — but 4K of organic peppers will cost you close to $100, so it’s best to be sure.
6. Use your crock’s weights to evenly press down the (almost) submerged peppers. After 24 hours, the peppers should be entirely submerged in brine. The salt and pressure from the weights breaks down their structure a little bit, and they kick out whatever water they were retaining, which adds to the quantity of brine.
7. Pour some water into the water seal of your crock, so that CO2 released from the fermentation can burp out, but the fermentation won’t have too much fresh oxygen in the chamber (which can feed molds).
8. I let my hot sauce ferment for one month in this environment at a warm room temperature. You can get a good result in shorter time, but we want a nice, acidic hot sauce, and the longer it ferments, the more sour it becomes. Check it weekly, skimming any white molds that grow on the surface of the brine with a ladle.
9. When it’s done, tie a bandana around your lower face, and wear eye protection (you don’t want this in your eyes) and pour carefully into a 5 gallon bucket. Use a Vitamix or immersion blender and thoroughly puree, then strain if you like. We reserve the dregs from straining, dehydrate, and grind them into delicious fermented chile powder.

This sauce keep in the refrigerator for at least one year. I usually get through my annual batch just in time to rotate to the new crop. It’s fun to serve to people and cite its age: “Here’s your fermented pepper sauce, 2014 vintage.”

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Related: Making Homemade Pickles is Easier Than You Might Think

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What to Buy at the Farmers Market in July

July is a month of abundance at the farmers market. Tables and displays are packed with peak-of-the-season vegetables and fruits that are perfect for eating right now. Here are my favorite farmers markets finds for July.

Peaches

Photo by Meredith

Few things taste better just-picked then peaches. A quick-to-bruise stone fruit, peaches are a challenge to keep in good shape, so they seldom make it to grocery stores at the peak of their sweetness, making them an imperative farmers-market choice. The season is short – anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks – so stock up while you can. Choose fruit that is slightly soft, but not mushy. Unripe fruits will ripen on the counter in 1 to 2 days, and are preferred for pies and preserves.

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How to Buy, Store, and Eat Peaches

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How to Use Peaches

Most people think of peach pie, which is a must at least once in summer. Cobblers, too, make for a delicious peach dessert and are easier to throw together and bake. I like to fill my freezer with peach slices and add them to a smoothie every morning.

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How to Peel and Slice Peaches

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Chef John’s Peach Pie

Your step-by-step guide to making the perfect summer pie.

Here’s how to keep a peach pie crust from getting mushy.

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Georgia Peach Smoothie

This gorgeous smoothie is made with Greek yogurt and coconut mild.

Photo by lutzflcat

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The Science-y Way to Ripen Hard Peaches

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Peaches transition well into savory recipes, too. They have a prominent acidic bite that becomes more pronounced when cooked and lends a balanced flavor to meals. Add a few slices to your gravies or sauces and cook until the peaches are falling apart and the sauce turns thick.

• Grilled Salmon with Curried Peach Sauce
• Baked Chicken with Peaches

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Browse dozens of peach recipes

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Cucumbers

Photo by Meredith

While commercially-grown cucumbers are available all year long, July brings in scores of cucumber varieties that are only available in summer, with new options introduced seemingly every year. Lemon cucumbers, a thin yellow-skinned cucumber, have a slightly lemon-y flavor and big, fleshy centers. Persian cucumbers are long, narrow, and thin-skinned with small seeds and tender flesh – no peeling necessary. Pickling cucumbers tend to be thick, short, and prickly and are best used in pickles. Their flesh is firm and often tastes bitter when eaten raw, but their strong character makes for a crispy pickle that will store well for many months.

Cucumbers keep for several weeks in the fridge. Wrap in a single layer of linen or paper towel and keep in the crisper drawer. This allows the cukes to breath and prevents decay from close contact with other veg.

How to Use Cucumbers

These summer fruits are best eaten fresh and raw. Sliced into green leaf salads, or made into simple salads on their own, nothing beats the refreshing, cooling quality cucumbers offer.

Hungarian Cucumber Salad

This refreshing salad is a great make-ahead dish for BBQs and parties.

Photo by lutzflcat

Pureed, cucumbers are an excellent option for chilled summer soups. They easily blend into smooth liquids and can be combined with garlic, almonds or even other fruits.

Chef John’s White Gazpacho

This is similar to a classic gazpacho, but with no tomato or pepper.

Photo by Chef John

In many cultures, cucumber is historically used in yogurt sauces meant for dressing salads, as a side to grilled meats or as a dip or a Tzatziki sauce.

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Browse Our Collection of Cucumber Recipes

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These Cool Cucumber Salads are So Hot Right Now

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And of course, cucumbers make excellent pickles. Be sure to choose a pickling variety, which will hold up in vinegar over an extended period of time.

How to make homemade pickles

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Cherries

Bing cherries | Photo by Meredith

There are essentially two kinds of cherries – sweet cherries and acid cherries, which are often called “pie cherries.” Sweet cherries are delicious eaten raw and include popular varieties like Bing and Rainer. Acid cherries are the quintessential pie cherry – their acidic nature compliments the sweetness from desserts and while they can be eaten fresh, they are often used in baking and canned goods. Choose cherries that are firm and have good color – steer clear of overly soft fruits.

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How to Choose the Best Cherries

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Cherries can be stored under a mesh fruit net on the counter, or wrapped in linen or paper towels, in a single layer, and kept in the fridge.

How To Use Cherries

Cherries are perfect when eaten fresh, of course. Add the fruits to salads and bowls of ice cream. Blended into a refreshing cocktail, they lend a festive feel to summer aperitifs.

While most will think of sweet recipes, cherries make an excellent addition to savory dishes, as their acid levels compliments richness found in fats from meat. They pair well with grilled onions, and together this combination will act as a relish for any grilled meats. For use all year long, turn a batch of cherries into a savory sauce and preserve them.

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3 Genius Ways to Pit Cherries Without a Cherry Pitter

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Cherry Chicken

“Lightly floured chicken pieces with the sweet flavoring of dark cherries and orange slices make a great entree.” — Daveeda, recipe submitter.

Photo by Cookie

Cherry Folditup

And what would cherry season be without a stellar dessert?! This year, spare yourself the effort of pie crust and put a tart together quickly with a sable crust. Here, the edges are folded up and over the cherries, making for a no fuss, easy summer dessert.

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Related: All about canning and preserving

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Related: 5 Insider Tips for Saving Money at the Farmers Market

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Hot Tips for Frying Perfect Fish

Ever since Wild Alaska Seafood ran a cool cooking competition called Swap Meat — challenging chefs to use surf instead of turf in classic recipes — I’ve been playing with this fun way to get more fish onto my weekly meal plan. So far, the biggest hit is a fish-n-chips my family’s gotten hooked on. This quick-to-make dish involves a short list of ingredients, including one that turns up the volume on the crunchy coating.

Photo by Leslie Kelly

As much as I love pork tonkatsu, it’s not something I’ve ever tried making because I have my go-to pork tenderloin preparation. Plus, breaded and fried pork feels a little heavy for dinner. I’m not going to make the argument that fried fish is healthy, but it’s healthier than fried pork. And, I wanted an excuse to make fries using my new crinkle cutter. So, I grabbed some true cod and a few Yukon golds at the supermarket on my way home from work.

The katsu recipe I used called for Panko, the Japanese breadcrumbs that are made with white bread that’s coarsely ground and dried — not toasted — in the oven. Yes, you can make your own homemade panko, but this ingredient has gone from obscure to ever present the past few years. The process followed for breading katsu is similar to most breaded and fried foods: dip in beaten eggs, followed by seasoned flour and finally the panko, taking care to press breadcrumbs into every bit of the fish. That helps avoid hot oil popping when the coated fillets hit the 350-degree oil.

Overcome Your Fear of Frying Fish

Lots of people have a fear of frying, but it’s really not a big deal if you follow a few steps:

• If using a pan with a handle, make sure it’s pointed away from the area where your arm might accidentally hit it.
• Keep hot pads handy.
• Don’t walk away from frying food.
• When placing breaded fish in the pan of hot oil, gently lay it down. Don’t drop it from on high.
• Drain fried food on crumpled paper towels. After a minute, gently dab off any excess oil.

My first attempt at katsu cod turned out so well, the crispy coating enveloping the flaky, mild white fish. During summer, fresh-caught cod from Alaska is a real deal, so my hubby and I have been eating fried fish on the regular for around $3 a serving.

And those crinkle cut fries? Not bad, but I think I need a few more test runs before throwing a French fry victory party.

Discover more fried food recipes:

How to Make Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Fried Pickles
Polenta Fries
More than 40 French fry recipes
Our Guide to Deep Frying

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Lemon Lime Cupcakes

These Lemon Lime Cupcakes from My Baking Addiction are loaded with fresh citrus flavor, both in the cake AND in the fluffy buttercream frosting too! They’re delicious, easy to make and will be a huge hit with your friends and family this summer! http://ift.tt/1Uib2xM Lemon Lime Cupcakes NOTE: THIS BLOG SUBMITTED THEIR CONTENT TO BE FEATURED ON OUR...

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Pistachio Cheesecake Dip

This Pistachio Cheesecake Dip from Real Housemoms is CRAZY EASY to make! It only has three ingredients and is the perfect sweet treat to serve up to your party guests! You can also make it a day in advance and throw the whipped cream and a cherry on top right before serving.  http://ift.tt/292C3k7 PISTACHIO CHEESECAKE...

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Easy Sheet Pan Breakfast Stacks

These Easy Sheet Pan Breakfast Stacks from Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen are topped with all of our favorite ingredients! With layers of crispy tater tots, cheese, bacon (or sausage), eggs and green onions it’s meal time in no time!  http://ift.tt/294Acf4 Easy Sheet Pan Breakfast Stacks NOTE: THIS BLOG SUBMITTED THEIR CONTENT TO BE FEATURED ON OUR BLOG. PLEASE SEE...

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Homemade Strawberry Pop-Tarts

  These Homemade Strawberry Pop-Tarts from Saving Room for Dessert have a delicious flaky pastry crust filled with homemade strawberry jam! Top them off with a sweet icing and sprinkles and you have a fun breakfast that your family is really going to enjoy! http://ift.tt/22RjjdY HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY POP-TARTS NOTE: THIS BLOG SUBMITTED THEIR CONTENT TO BE FEATURED...

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These 5 Grilled Cocktails Will Make Your Summer

Summertime’s signature cocktails and mocktails are all built around the freshest, juiciest fruits of the season. Think of everything from sweet pineapples in mai tais to citrusy lemonade. Now, grill that fruit and you’re looking at a whole new level of intensified flavor from the smoky, caramelized juices. So, light up the grill and let’s make some drinks!

Photo by Vanessa Greaves

Grilled Cocktails

I recently teamed up with Matt Wencl — a fellow Allrecipeep from our video team — to work out 5 grilled cocktails for you to try this summer. There was a whole lot of learning and tweaking along the way, but I hope you’ll enjoy the results.

1. Grilled Pineapple Mai Tai

Grilled pineapple is the winning move in this fired-up twist on a classic tropical cocktail. We even grilled the cherries for garnishing, because why not? This will totally crush it at your next tiki party.

Photo by Vanessa Greaves

2. Grilled Gazpacho Bloody Mary

While we were standing around the grill, the aroma of the sizzling tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers for the Bloody Mary mix made our mouths water! And the flavor of all those vegetables blended together was so robust, we really could have eaten this with a spoon. That’s why we’re calling it Gazpacho Bloody Mary. It’s a soup! It’s a cocktail! It’s everything!

Photo by Vanessa Greaves

3. Grilled Peach Bourbon Smash

Sweet smoky grilled peaches muddled with grilled lemon and mint, shaken up with bourbon, and topped with ginger ale. Tell me when to stop, because this cocktail can’t.

Photo by Vanessa Greaves

4. Grilled Grapefruit Paloma Cocktail

I always order a Paloma at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Seattle, so I wanted to try doing a grilled version. There’s a smoky undertone that makes the flavors deeper and more complex, but the cocktail was still as refreshing as I was hoping it would be.

Photo by Vanessa Greaves

5. Grilled Lemon Limeade

Caramelizing the citrus on the grill darkens the color of this family-friendly mocktail, but once you taste it you might decide that plain old lemonade is just missing something. Want to make a grown-up version? A slug of vodka or gin should do it.

Photo by Vanessa Greaves

Related

• Keep your cool with 12 easy boozy frozen treats.
• Get ideas for food and fun in our Guide to Summer Entertaining.
• Find all the drinks recipes you need to refresh yourself.

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Get more cooking tips and awesome food finds.

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No Spiralizer? Use These Gadgets You Already Own

You can create vegetable noodles (“zoodles”) with tools you already own; no need to buy a spiralizer. See what we came up with when we raided the gadget drawer:

Photo by Allrecipes Magazine

Box Grater

If you draw a long side of the veggie, rather than the end, over the large holes of a grater, you can get fairly long, thin shreds. This works well with zucchini and yellow squash.

Vegetable Peeler

Peel a carrot with a vegetable peeler, leaving the stem attached as a handle, and then keep on peeling (with the same peeler, or a julienne peeler for thinner zoodles), turning the carrot as you go, until you can peel no more. This also works on asparagus. Your zoodles won’t come out curly, but if you’re cooking them anyway, they can be twirled after they’ve cooked and softened.

Melon Baller

Press and twist it in at varying depths to make scoops of zucchini or other soft produce. These come out looking like large orecchiette, shell pasta, or petals. PS: They hold sauce really well.

Mandoline + Knife

For a big, firm item, like a whole, peeled jicama, use a mandoline to cut it into slabs of the thickness you want. Then stack those slabs and slice them into thin ribbons with a knife.

Knife

Slice tubular, cylindrical, or naturally ringed foods very thinly crosswise and then either core each slice with a round cutter or separate it into its natural rings. Good candidates: small bell or chile peppers, delicata squashes, pears, onions, leeks, or cabbages.

Zoodles are easy-to-make veggie noodles. Photo by Allrecipes Magazine

PS: If you have an old-fashioned, crank-style apple peeler-corer-slicer in the cupboard somewhere, dust it off now. Those work pretty well as make-do spiralizers, too.

Find more ideas about veggie noodle dishes:

Veggie Sprializers Spin Out Fun, Healthy Food in Seconds
Spiralizer Recipes
Shop for Spiralizers
Are Zoodles Really All That?
Video Tips on Turning Fresh Produce into Pasta

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Lemon Cream Cheese Danish

This flaky Lemon Cream Cheese Danish recipe from Home. Made. Interest. is an easy breakfast or brunch recipe made with puff pastry and filled with a creamy, sweet and tart filling. It’s perfect for Saturday morning breakfast but easy enough to make as a treat when you’re craving something sweet! http://ift.tt/293m6v4 LEMON CREAM CHEESE DANISH NOTE:...

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Funeral Potatoes

  These Funeral Potatoes from Clarks Condensed are the perfect cheesy side dish to serve with grilled chicken, pork or even hamburgers! They are easy to make and feed a crowd making them the perfect casserole for your next backyard barbecue, potluck, church or family function!  http://ift.tt/29ewNwD FUNERAL POTATOES NOTE: THIS BLOG SUBMITTED THEIR CONTENT TO BE...

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No Bake Chocolate Strawberries and Cream Pie

This No-Bake Chocolate Strawberries and Cream Pie from The Recipe Critic is an AMAZING no bake pie with a chocolate crust that gets filled with a creamy strawberry filling! Top it with fresh strawberries and drizzled chocolate and it will be a huge hit wherever it goes!  http://ift.tt/1XKgVmw NO BAKE CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM PIE...

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Easy Blended Frozen Lemonade

  This Easy Blended Frozen Lemonade drink from Tastes of Lizzy T’s uses fresh lemon juice and is easily sweetened to your tastes. It’s the perfect drink to make for your friends and family at your next backyard barbecue! http://ift.tt/25S1XD7 EASY BLENDED FROZEN LEMONADE NOTE: THIS BLOG SUBMITTED THEIR CONTENT TO BE FEATURED ON OUR BLOG. PLEASE SEE...

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I Demo’d 10 Dishes in 14 Minutes on Live TV

Have you ever watched HSN TV — the 24-hour retail television channel – and thought to yourself, “I wonder how people get to be guest hosts?” Thanks to an opportunity through working at Allrecipes, I got to do just that!

My first time at HSN was one of those life experiences I will never forget. It was a three-day whirlwind of training, practicing, and familiarizing myself with the world of live retail television. People always say the lights are so bright the first time on set, and I thought I was prepared for that — but wow! My eyes were seeing stars until they adjusted.

That’s me on the left, demonstrating cookware on HSN.

Actually, it took a lot of preparation to get me to this moment. After weeks of cooking with the new saute set, my videographer friend had come to my house for a practice video shoot, in which I tried to look calm while whipping up many recipes on a stovetop. A few days later, Allrecipes Dish editor Leslie Kelly did a Facebook Live recording of me in the Allrecipes test kitchen, cooking Chicken Piccata while talking about the cookware. So far, so good!

After all the practicing in Seattle, I was off to Clearwater, Florida.

The Jumpstart studio, where I ran through the demo many times.

There, I met with Jumpstart, a company that coaches and prepares guests for HSN appearances. They have a kitchen studio with props, cameras, and a control room. I practiced the demo over and over again, memorizing the script, and trying to learn which camera to look at when. It was such a valuable day; I felt so prepared.

The run-through at HSN.

The second day was the show run-through at HSN. All of the Saturday Morning Market guests met at HSN and we talked through the entire show with the producer, camera crew, and set crew. It was a huge room with 3 sets – 2 kitchens and a market room. So many moving parts! Then I was swooped away for my new guest training. Yes, another training!

On the morning of the show, I woke up at 4:30 and walked on the treadmill while reciting the script. I felt nervous but ready. At HSN, I was set up in my green room, then taken to make-up, then to meet with the food stylist who made all 10 of the recipes I was to present in the 14-minute slot. We organized the cookware on set, learned how to work the 6 burners, and where my tools, plates, towels, and food prep would be. It was a lot to take in, but I was ready.

Then lights, camera, action! The show began at 8 a.m. It felt simultaneously like a whirlwind and like time was moving like molasses.

On set and ready to go!

Before I knew it, my set was rolled into the kitchen, I got mic’d, and Donatella, the host was standing next to me. I told her it was my first time on television. She gave me a quick reassuring hug, and we were live. Fried chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits, egg scramble, Chicken Piccata, rice and steamed seafood, Kalua Pork, Blackberry Cobbler, Pecan French toast, and zoodles were cooked, fried, whisked, and eaten — all in 14 minutes, and all while discussing the features and benefits of the Allrecipes 3-Piece Saute Set.

The set was rolled away and we were done. Fourteen minutes felt like the blink of an eye. The take-home messages from this experience: smile, have fun, and know your product.

I really feel at one with the Stackable 3-Piece Saute Set… I look lovingly at the shiny stainless steel steamer and saute pan all stacked on my kitchen shelf, happy to know I will back on the HSN set July 31^st speaking about a whole new set of cookware!

How did I do? Watch my HSN segment and find out!

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