the infamous tomato pie now with panko

That title sounds like an infomercial. "New improved, now with panko!" And it is just that, improved. Improved for those that want a little "crunch".
This summer I was shocked how many of you loved, downloaded, raved about my tomato pie. So glad you all loved it. I got so many emails on this pie, thanking me for posting it, sharing it, how easy it is to throw together, etc.... Thank you!
I love it too, my favorite way to eat it is cold. So good with a glass of white (dry) wine. When I used up the last of my summer tomatoes, just as I was about to put the last pie in the oven to bake, it hit me, "why not add panko to the top?" So glad I did, it gives it that nice little crunch. Stays crunchy for a couple days, then gets a little soggy. But my pies don't really last longer than two days in this house.
So if you still have tomatoes leftover and can't quite let go of summer (like me), then give this new version a whirl.

ready to bake
(note: I used sliced cheese here in the photo. You can use sliced or shredded cheese. Just don't make your slices too thick or use too much.)

tomato pie with panko
print recipe

1 (9") deep dish pie shell, frozen (or use your own pie crust dough, whatever you like)
4-5 large tomatoes, thickly cut
Freshly cracked black pepper
A light sprinkling of sugar
1 c. good quality mayonnaise (Hellmans)
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup cooked real bacon (not the fake stuff please)
½ - ¾ cup of panko crumbs

I like to keep my deep dish pie crust cold/sitting in the freezer till I’m ready to use; it cooks up better when it start with a cold crust.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, 350 for convection. Slice up the tomatoes in rather thick slices and place them on paper towels to absorb some of the excess moisture.
Also place paper towels on the top.
Get out pie crust from freezer, place sliced tomatoes over crust; do a double layer of sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with a very light layer of sugar then freshly cracker black pepper.
In a bowl combine mayonnaise with shredded cheddar cheese, and the chopped up bacon. Spoon over tomatoes; try to get it spread evenly over the tomatoes, but don’t push down.
If you want a crunch, then sprinkle on the panko crumbs just before baking, push them down a bit into the topping.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Mine was done at the 25 minute mark, so best to keep an eye on it at the 20 minute mark.
I let my pie cool down about an hour before slicing into it. It really does taste best when it’s refrigerated and served cold. Serve with a nice glass of white wine.
Note: I love my crust nice and dark brown, if you don’t like it that way then cook it less. This is a really rich pie, so cut the slices smaller than you would an apple or other fruit pie.

summer break

Summer is almost over. I really hated just typing that. I was just getting into summer, loving the heat and loving the sun. It feels like we just got done with our 9 months of winter and now fall is right around the corner. Well that does mean pumpkin will soon be in the baking air. Love coming up with new pumpkin recipes that's for sure.

But for now I need to take a little break from blogging--not long just a couple weeks to get in some last minute summer enjoyment before it's gone.

Let's just hope we get no more hurricanes or earthquakes.

I'm good on hurricanes, how about you? Yeah.

I need to spend some time here.

And spend more time here.

I want do what she's doing, just one more time this summer.

Get in a few more summertime eats. Shrimp cocktail with garlic bread has been a summertime dinner staple in our family for years. Served with ice cold beer of course.

Visit a few more farmers markets before they all close up for the summer.

I will miss eating outside. Food always taste better when you eat it outside in the sunshine, even if it is just melted cheese and tomatoes on bread.

I'll definitely miss chilling here.

Get in some more unique sights on cape cod. This house is in chatham, ma. Why this color not sure, but I want to go find out. I'll report back later....

Love finding new cape cod joints to explore.

Ice cream season isn't over yet...thank goodness.

Gonna have a couple more burgers before summers end.

And one more double crusted blueberry pie to make....

Be back soon. Have a great holiday weekend!

sun dried tomato pizza w/ ketchup

Yep ketchup.

Do not click away. I wanted to grab your attention with that title.

Let me explain.

Judging from the overwhelming response I've gotten on the tomato pie AND the tomato & cheddar hand pies, I can clearly see there are a lot of tomato fans out there like me. You have good palettes.

And here is another tomato filled, tasty recipe. It's really quite simple you see, it's just two different kinds of tomato flavor on a pizza. But boy oh boy do they pair well on a pizza--very well. There could be some of you out there who have already had this combo, but for those of you who haven't you must try your next homemade pizza this way.

Had I known that a couple of friends were going to tell me to make a post of this pizza I would have taken shots of the ingredients like I always do. I didn't because to be honest I've made this pizza for years and never thought to share it with you. I know better--I should share everything--you're all foodies too. I'll do better at that.

But the ingredients are merely: good homemade pizza dough (I adore whole foods multi- grain pizza dough), ketchup used as the tomato sauce (a nice think layer), good mozzarella cheese, and some sun-dried tomatoes that are soaking in olive oil. Trust me, you will love it. And its easy peasy.

See those crispy, charred sun-dried tomato bits? HEAVENLY!





sun dried tomato pizza with ketchup
print recipe

1 pizza dough (whole foods multigrain pizza dough is amazing)
good quality ketchup (love whole foods organic brand)
a few handfuls sun dried tomatoes (that were sitting in olive oil), drained slightly
good quality mozzarella cheese
few dashes of red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

preheat oven to 450/500 degrees. grease up a jelly roll pan.
spread out pizza dough
apply thin layer of ketchup, even the edges of the dough
apply the mozzarella
add on the sun dried tomato bits
add on the red pepper flakes (if desired), then the salt & pepper

bake for about 10-18 minutes until desired doneness is achieved
i like mine really crispy so i went to about the 17 minute mark.
let cool before slicing.

blackberry coulis ice cream w/ salty white chocolate-cream cheese chunks

One of my big ice cream idols.....OK the man I worship and would repeat over and over "I'm not worthy" if I met them face to face are the geniuses behind the ice cream joint Humphry Slocombe. They literally have taken ice cream and kicked them up to notches unknown--and yeah that would be notches even Emeril himself would not recognize but be very proud of! They dub themselves as 'ice cream with attitude' --indeed. To name a few wild flavors: Jesus Juice, Peanut Butter Curry, Valhorona Fudge, Szechuan Strawberry, Skull Splitter Root Beer, Balsamic Caramel HELLO?....the list goes on and on. If I had a nickel for every time someone told me I should pack up my things and go work with them I'd have my boarding pass paid and in hand ready to go. Dare I say that the owner should have some of the best tastebuds on earth to create such unique pairings that indeed go very well together. For example, peanut butter curry: that sounds so good in ice cream form. A nice custard base filled with good quality peanut butter and a pinch of curry. Yes please. And one of my favorites is the caramel balsamic ice cream. Ridiculously good. Honestly I've made caramel scallops with a touch of thick balsamic vinegar and it was good.



The best part? Or should I say the best parts actually; it has been floating around the twitterverse that they are FINALLY coming out with their first ice cream cookbook. A cookbook I should add that can be used by all. You might need some fancy ingredients to match the flavors/ingredients they use but you will only need a simple standard ice cream maker. They have tested all their recipes using the same ice cream makers that you and I use in our homes. Brilliant. The book should be coming out spring 2012.

Go check out their flavors. I'll wait.

See? Now you feel me right? Mad ice cream scientists I tell you. Creative geniuses.

So this post: my funky blackberry coulis ice cream with salty white chocolate-cream cheese swirls is dedicated to you, the wonders, the geniuses of Humphry Slocombe.



I saved a tiny bit of the coulis to drizzle over the ice cream. Please do try this at home. That coulis is the fruit of the gods over ice cream.


I used raspberries & blackberries, why not?



I wanted chunks of white chocolate swirls in the ice cream so I mixed it in by hand. If I added them to the ice cream churning away they might just clump up or partially dissolve. If you add this in by hand, work fast. This ice cream, at this stage must get in the freezer ASAP.



blackberry coulis ice cream w/ salty white chocolate-cream cheese chunks
recipe by vanillasugarblog.com
ice cream base partially adapted from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
print recipe

ice cream base:
2 eggs
½ cup + 1 TB white sugar
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk
Tiny pinch of sea salt

salty white chocolate-cream cheese chunks:
8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp
10 ounces of good quality white chocolate, chopped in small bits
1 ts of half & half
couple pinches of sea salt

blackberry coulis:
2 pints of blackberries
1 pint of raspberries
(or use 3 pints of blackberries and no raspberries)
The juice of one large lemon
A scant ¼ cup of white sugar
1 OR 1 ½ ts of sifted cornstarch (depending on how thick you want the sauce; I choose the latter)

make the coulis:
In a small saucepan add in the berries with the lemon and let them boil down a bit over medium heat. After about 10 minutes I added in the sugar. I then let it boil down some more until all the berries were dissolved. Once dissolved, take off the heat and add in the sifted cornstarch; mix well until it starts to thicken; stirring often. There should be no lumps or clumps. Let this cool a bit then strain it thru a fine mesh sieve. Store the finished coulis in the fridge for at least an hour before using. You want this nice and cold before adding to the ice cream mixture.

make the ice cream base:
Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue to whisk until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.
Pour this into the ice cream maker and start churning.
When the ice cream just starts to slightly harden add in ¾ of the blackberry coulis. (if you want to save some of the coulis for decorating the ice cream then only use about ¾). If you don’t want to save any of the coulis for later then feel free to add it all into the ice cream.
Let the coulis and ice cream base continue to churn while you work on the white chocolate cream cheese chunk filling.

While the ice cream is churning away make the white chocolate-cream cheese chunk by adding the 1 ts of half and half to a medium saucepan along with the cream cheese. Let this melt a bit, do not dissolve. Once it’s partially dissolved, add in the white chocolate chunks and a few pinches of salt. You want the white chocolate chunks to be half melted. Recipe by Dawn Finicane of vanillasugarblog.com Don’t let them melt all the way. When in doubt, keep stirring and keep taking off the heat. You want a consistency of “almost” Ganache. Basically you still want some chunks of white chocolate in there; a thick like Ganache. Do a quick taste test and see if you want more salt. If not then go back to the ice cream, take the ice cream out of the churn and place in a big glass or ceramic bowl. This is when you have to work quickly. Pour the ice cream into the bowl and then pour in the melted white chocolate swirls into the ice cream by quick, simple FOLDS. Do not completely stir it in, just fold in so we achieve nice swirls. Do this fast, then cover it, and right into the freezer for at least 5 hours to harden.
When ready to serve, serve with fresh blackberries and/or any remaining blackberry coulis you have left.

Should make a little over a quart.

The Cooks Shop, Brewster, MA

One of the great passions of mine besides baking & cooking is exploring new or old cook shops. Going to places like chinatown in Boston is a weeks worth of day trips. Literally I could spend days there roaming about, learning about new gadgets, and exploring useful ways for old gadgets for the kitchen. The vast array of cook shops, hard to find spices, varieties of fish sauces, oversized cookware that you don't need but have to have anyway--that's my kind of field trip. Really cook shop hunting is a passion but has turned into a hobby once I fell in love with chinatown. New York city is another great place for finding new cook shops.
Here on cape cod we are limited to cook shops. Maybe two or three? There is one fabulous little cook shop in Brewster called The Cooks Shop. It's small but then again this is cape cod, so in actuality its big for cape cod. And its open year round. Many places on the cape shut down for the fall/winter. The Cook Shop is located in Brewster, MA along route 6A, has two floors of of everything kitchenalia. And thankfully a very knowledgeable staff with loads of patience for curious inquisitive cooks like me. They are also known for their own "clam ram". What's a clam ram? A nifty little device that helps you open clams safely.

It's a tiny little shop. Every nook and crannie of the shop is filled with something. The company Stonewall Kitchen has a grande presence here. Sauces, jams, jellies, spreads galore. This is the store to come to to see what new product Stonewall Kitchen has.

Really hard to find food items are most likely here.

Dry glazes? Have I ever heard that term? No. But that's the fun part of foodie based field trips. It makes you want to try them--experiment.

Props for photos? Oh yes, they have you covered on that one. I'm slowly starting to appreciate little tiny props for enhancing photos.

Those special flavored/scented waters for pastry. So glad they have them. I actually got a request for making a special french cake that needs orange blossom water.

Little mini stainless steel mixing bowls that you really have no use for but must have anyway because they are small and cute? Yes please!

Mortar & pestle in all sizes. I should have photographed the really big one. The one you could easily fit a baby into.

Ahhh bliss! Spatulas in every shape, size and color. Are you one of those people that just has to have a new spatula each time you visit Williams Sononma? Yeah me too.

Copper cookie cut outs. Haven't seen these in ages.

I was amazed at the amount of tea kettles they had. Pricey but impressive. I know there are people who love to collect tea kettles; this would be a good place for you.

There is two walls just dedicated to thermostats, thermometers. Had no idea there was so many needed for each and almost every cooking technique stage.

One might need this....perhaps?

For real latte aficionado's.

And yes, would you believe there is a section for cheese cutters, cheese knives, cheese cutting boards and surfaces. Amazing.

No idea what this is. Could be a measuring device for liquids inside a glass or cup?

But it has the word butter on there. So perhaps a device for grating butter or cheese? It was in the cheese cutting section.

Mini glass cake covers. I don't know what I love more, the mini cover or the fact that a mini cake would safely be inside. Cute!

Baby tip heaven.

Jumbo tip heaven.

Vanilla sugar, powder, extract heaven. :-)

Now this makes sense. Have to get it.

Hmmm. What would a chef do that would cause such hard to get out stains? Like that of an auto mechanic? Curious to know.

This one has me puzzled. I wonder how you use this? I'm certain you tie this around a large slab of loin/protein but I don't know if you need to then set the wire on fire. Any ideas? Anyone seen this before?

Love these. So pretty I just had to take them home.