Roasted Tomatoes

There is one farmer at the Hayward Farmers Market who always has tomatoes. These mid-winter, green house tomatoes don’t have a ton of flavor, but it’s been months since I’ve had a great tomato, so these will do.

One way to really concentrate the flavor of tomatoes is to cook them. I love them sliced in half, topped with a little panko and cheese then bake.

These are great with Veal Tri Tip or any streak.

Ingredients:
6 – 8 tomatoes, sliced in half
Salt
Garlic powder
Panko bread crumbs
Parmesan Cheese
Olive oil spray or olive oil

Preheat oven to 425

Spray baking pan with olive oil spray – or brush with olive oil. Place tomatoes in pan, cut side up, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Then top with bread crumbs and a little Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 – 40 min until tomatoes are soft. Turn on broiler and broil 2 – 3 min to crisp up the cheese.

Drizzle with a little basil oil if you have it.

Serves 2 – 4.
2 WW PP

Dutch Baby

Is there anything better than a batter cooked in butter? This breakfast treat is super easy to whip up, Bram even loves it. Today I accidentally left the butter in the oven too long which turned this into a brown butter Dutch baby – yummy whoops!

Ingredients:
3 TBSP unsalted butter
3 large eggs
3/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c flour
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425

Add butter to a 10 inch oven proof skillet, pop in oven to melt the butter, about 6 min. For brown butter, leave it in for 3 – 5 more min until butter browns.

In a blender, whirl eggs for a minute until light and frothy. Add milk and vanilla, whirl another minute. While the blender is running add the flour, 1/4 c at a time. Add salt and whirl for one minute longer.

Remove butter from the oven, pour mixture into the pan and return to oven. Bake for 20 – 25 min until puffy and brown. Slice into wedges and serve.

Serves 2 – 4.
6 WW PP (4 servings)

Veal Tri Tip

I love shopping for meat at Golden Gate Meat at the Ferry Building! There is something magical about building a relationship with your butcher. On a recent visit to stock up on hormone free, grass fed meaty goodness, my favorite butcher recommend that I try the Veal Tri Tip, and well, if he recommends it, I am all in! Once again he was right – this meat was magical.

For this recipe I kept it simple to really let the meaty goodness take center stage, just salt, pepper and a  little basil oil to provide a little brightness.

Ingredients:
1 Veal (or beef) tri tip
1 tsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Basil oil (see previous blog for recipe)

Preheat oven to 475

Bring meat to room temperature, I take mine out about an hour in advance. Generously salt and pepper the meat.

Heat an oven proof skillet over medium high heat and add olive oil. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the meat and brown on both sides.

Once browned, put meat in oven and roast until a meat thermometer registers 110, start checking after 15 min.

Remove from oven, place on a cutting board, salt and pepper the meat again, and cover with foil letting rest for 15 min.

Slice and drizzle with basil oil.

Serves 4 – 6 depending on the size of the tri tip.