The Smell of the Rain

It's Sprummer here in my little part of the world. Yes, you read correctly and no I'm not drunk. In upstate South Carolina, we get maybe 3 weeks of what I would honestly consider spring-like weather: temperatures no higher than 75 during the day, the windows are open, flowers are blooming, birds singing, etc.  And most of the time those weeks are not consecutive. Then we get to Sprummer. Not quite spring, but not hellishly hot enough to be summer just yet. The blooming continues, everything is painted with thick coats of neon yellow pollen, the temperatures start climbing higher and higher into the 80s, and the sun is less gentle than it was a few weeks ago. Everyone is sneezing and offering sacrifices to whatever deity they believe in to give us relief from the pollen. Seriously. Even if you've never had any kind of allergy in your entire life, your lungs and/or nose will rebel against you if you spend some time in certain parts of South Carolina and Georgia during Sprummer. Oh, and in other parts of the country it's still snowing. Weird. On a good day, though, we do get a little break- when it rains. I've got all the windows open in our apartment right now. I can smell the rain coming. It's a glorious thing. It's kinda like the smell in the air before it snows, just a bit more common in this area. I'm so excited!

From the top, clockwise: Sweet basil, asparagus, flat leaf
parsley, sweet mint, and apple mint

In other and more food related news, I picked my first harvest tonight! I have a little container garden this year that I'm quite proud of. I've got a few flowers (morning glories, at the moment) that I just planted, garlic, asparagus, 3 varieties of tomatoes, some cucumber, rosemary, sweet mint, apple mint (rescued from last year), basil and parsley. I also have a plan to switch things out and do a crop rotation of sorts later in the year so I'll be able to take advantage of more than one growing season. I'm really looking forward to getting back to gardening. Last year was a bust. It got too hot and I was still trying to figure out how to be a mom. I lost most of what I planted long before the summer growing season was over. But this year I am determined to keep this thing going year-round. I've put a lot of money and effort into it so far, so I owe it to myself as well as my bank account. I'm also learning and relearning things about plants and soil. It feels good to get back to that. I was a horticulture major before I switched to my culinary track, after all. Anyway...

As you can see from the picture, it's not much of a harvest. This first batch of asparagus is teeny and the crowns may not produce anything bigger than that this year. The herbs are still young, but need to be snipped so they continue to grow and not flower too early. Like I said, it isn't much, but it's a start.

The delicious and grand world of sandwiches!

It is now what I consider to be the "dog days" of summer here in good ole South Kakalaki. Well, okay. Let's face it. It's been the "dog days" of summer since about June 1st. It's hot, muggy, sticky, buggy, and just all around unpleasant until about 11 o'clock at night. Who wants to heat up the oven and do serious cooking in that kind of weather? I know I don't. That's a sure-fire way to heat up the house and send your electric bill skyrocketing. I tend to use the stove as little as possible during the day. The grill is most definitely my friend in the summer. Sure it's hot outside, but I'll have a nice cool house to walk into when my steaks are done, provided I haven't used the oven. I also tend to make a lot of salads. Nice for a couple of reasons- I don't have to heat up the house and I use the fresh produce from my container garden. As much as I love to grill and as versatile as salads can be, there is still one thing meal that is my "go to" meal in the summer. A sandwich (which can be made using something grilled or can be paired with a yummy salad). To me, the sky is the limit when it comes to sandwiches. There are so many different categories and varieties and they are extremely customizable. You've got burgers, tortas, pitas, subs, panini, deli sandwiches, po' boys, breakfast sandwiches/biscuits, banh mi (a Vietnamese sandwich)...so many wonderful options.

One of those options happens to be Charlie's favorite. He loves burgers. I compare him to Wimpy from the Popeye cartoon and comics for his love of hamburgers. "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." So for my dear boyfriend's birthday, he wanted burgers; and lots of them. I got a bit creative and decided to make him a sampler of sliders. The sliders turned out a little bigger than planned, but I can assure you that Charlie didn't mind. I made 2 of the burgers with fresh, lean bison. I made the other 4 with 80/20 ground chuck. That's right. 6 burgers in all! They each had a different kind of cheese and a strip of bacon on them. I used Maytag bleu, Ementalar, Provolone, Kerrigold white cheddar, gruyere, and regular cheddar cheeses. Between that and some sweet potato oven fries, he had a very happy birthday dinner!

I, personally, have been on a panini kick. I love the melty goodness of Provolone cheese over warm, sliced ham and turkey. Finish it with some crispy bacon and fresh, juicy tomato (from my garden). All of that gets piled between two crusty, buttery slices of toasted bread. I'll give you a minute to clean the drool off your keyboard. (Okay, ready now?) It's wonderful! Now, I don't have a fancy panini press. Who needs it! I'm sure it's a nice gadget to have if you have the counter space...just like that George Foreman grill that is now gathering dust and grease in kitchens across the country. Uh huh. There's no point in hiding it now. I'm talking to you! But honestly? I find that a cast-iron grill pan and another plain cast-iron pan do the trick very nicely. Cast-iron isn't necessary. Neither is a grill pan for that matter, though I do enjoy the lovely brown grill marks the sandwich gets. Basically you need two heavy duty pans. Build the sandwich, heat one pan to medium-high, add a touch of butter or cooking spray to the pan, place the sandwich in the pan, put the other pan (bottom side down) on top of the sandwich to weigh it down. Press gently or set a few cans of beans/fruit/tomatoes in the pan if necessary to add more weight. Your goal is to make a thinner, crispier version of the sandwich you initially built. If you like grilled cheese sandwiches, I highly recommend the panini method for those as well.




Burgers and panini are not the end-all-be-all of sandwiches. As I said, the sky truly is the limit. So if you're looking for something different to make for supper without heating up your kitchen, don't forget about sandwiches! They aren't just for lunch anymore.

The Great Lime Massacre of 2010

It's summer time and it is particularly hot this year. In order to cool off, I tend to drink tons of water and eat ice cream. But I've grown tired of ice cream. It's hard to believe, right? I mean, unless you don't care for it in the first place, who honestly gets sick of ice cream? I couldn't make sense of what I was saying until I thought about cool, creamy alternatives that are just as delicious in the summer. One of the first things that came to mind was Key Lime Pie.

Being the specific breed of Elle that I am, I often think things are more complicated than they really are and the recipe for Key Lime Pie was no exception. Here I was thinking that I'd have to make a curd filling and pray to goodness that it doesn't come out grainy. Uh huh. Turns out this is one of the easiest recipes on the planet. I got my recipe from epicurious.com and added my own twists (of course). The ingredients go something like this:

For crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (2 1/4-inch by 4 3/4-inch) crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling:
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh or bottled Key lime juice (if using bottled, preferably Manhattan brand)

For topping:
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
Super simple. Now, remember just a few minutes ago when I mentioned that I like to make things complicated? It's true! And I'll prove it.

While I was in the grocery store, it came time to make a decision- fresh squeezed or bottled? It was $6 for a bottle of key lime juice or $2.99 per pound of key limes. Like any glutton for punishment, I chose to pick up 2 lbs of key limes and squeeze them myself. I will say that it was totally worth it. That way I could also use the zest of the key limes as well as save a few for garnish. Admittedly, my hands hurt. I used a wooden reamer and a fine mesh strainer. I also discovered another way to dull my favorite chef's knife. This can be accomplished by slicing 2 lbs. of key limes in half. Oh! And did you know key limes have seeds? I didn't. Or at least I didn't remember them having seeds. I'm so used to our little seedless limes that it really threw me off.

Below are some pictures I took of the Great Key Lime Massacre of July 2010 and the end result:

2 pounds of key limes


Let the massacre begin!



The aftermath...

The recipe makes 1 pie. I doubled the recipe to make 2; one for dessert this week and one to be frozen for later use.

The end result!

A few suggestions:

I chose to simply spread the whipped cream on top of the pie. You can also pipe the whipped cream on and make it a little more decorative if you'd like.

I highly recommend adding about a teaspoon or two of the zest if you can. I personally feel that it brings out the actual lime flavor rather than just tartness.

These pies can easily be frozen and saved for a potluck, a welcome to the neighborhood gift, or just another nightly dessert.

There is no shame in eating it frozen!

The End.