Knowing that we’d have family around this past weekend, I knew I needed some more cookies in the freezer. And, knowing that the grandchildren coming to visit vote for peanut butter as their number one favorite cookie type, I combined a bit of their likes, with a bit of mine.

Anna, over at Cookie Madness, as I’ve mentioned before, makes oodles of cookies. And I mean oodles. But when she wrote up this one recently, and mentioned that it is reminiscent of peanut butter cookies from long ago, they appealed to me. AND, they’re a refrigerator cookie. Even better. Mix it up and chill.

That’s exactly what I did – I mixed up the dough – a very soft dough – slathered the melted chocolate on the inside of the flat rectangle of dough – rolled it up and chilled it. Then later that day I took them to our kids’ house locally and baked them up for dessert that evening.

There is nothing difficult about these cookies – they’d make great ones for Christmas, even – although I found the dough to be quite soft. A little hard to handle. It required more flour than I wanted to add to the board, but there was no hope of rolling it up unless I did. It was a very humid day, so perhaps that was the reason why. Next time I may add a tablespoon or two of extra flour to the cookie batter. And then, I used chocolate chips. I think that might have been a mistake. Nestle’s chocolate chips do contain some minor amount of wax or some substance that discourages melting in cookies. So when I sliced these (after they’d chilled for several hours), it took some wrist action to slice through the cold chocolate. And it sometimes roughed up the cookies. So that’s why my cookies pictured are kind of oblong. I couldn’t keep them in a circle. But none of those things were any “nevermind” when it came to the taste. I thought they tasted like Reese’s peanut butter cups in a cookie. The grandchildren and family all ranked them as wonderful. Just what a cookie-bakin’ Grandma wants to hear!
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Probably like many of you, we had lots of family around over the Labor Day Weekend. Our kids & grandkids drove down from Northern California, and our kids and grandson who live near us were around too. On one night I made (with help from lots of family, thank you, thank you) a big California Asian dinner. We had some Asian salsa that I’ll blog about. We had Asian Baby Back Ribs (this recipe), a Jade Noodle salad that’s sauced with pureed spinach and a bunch of other Asian ingredients. We had a big green salad that wasn’t all that Asian – just added some Cara Cara orange segments to it and sugar snap peas. And then I made Ginger Ice Cream to round off the meal. In coming days you’ll read about all but the salad.

The star of the meal was the ribs. Since we’d done American BBQ style food recently for all these family members, I wanted to do something different. Hugh Carpenter has never failed me with his Asian-inspired items. So I went to his book titled Hot Barbecue and found these ribs with an Asian barbecue sauce. That does not mean teriyaki. Not one bit teriyaki. You could buy that at the grocery store. Not for me. All of our ribs weren’t baby backs (more tender), so we had ribs of all sizes.

The sauce was quite simple – providing you have the ingredients. I did – but, didn’t realize I was short on hoisin sauce. So, I added some bottled chili sauce instead. Maybe not quite the same, but good enough. This is very garlicky. I suppose if you don’t like garlic you could eliminate it, but it would lose a lot of its character depth by doing so. To feed four people, it calls for 10 cloves of garlic. I tried to about 1 ½ times the recipe, and I used about 12 cloves.

The trick to ribs, I think, is to have the heat high enough to cook, but not so high it burns. The Asian ingredients in this sauce do have some sugar in them, so put that with heat and you’ll get caramelization – or burn if it’s overdone. A word to the wise, that’s all. Grill the ribs until the meat starts to pull away from the bone. If it’s not doing that, continue grilling/baking/smoking. The recipe below includes directions for all three methods.
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What’s that, you ask? A galette? Pronounced gal-LET. It’s a French term with more than one meaning (it could contain a savory filling, or be a buckwheat crepe, actually), but in this case it’s just a rustic piecrust, not necessarily housed in a pie tin, but merely placed on a sheet and the filling placed in the center with the crust pulled up loosely around the edges.

Now, it’s confession time here. I’ve never been very good at pie crusts. I’m still not. Even by my mother’s side, I couldn’t seem to wield the right kind of pressure on the rolling pin to make the perfectly flaky crusts my mother would turn out with Crisco and ice water. And this time, I forgot to read the instructions at a critical point. Read on. Part of the crust was torn and a good part of the juice seeped out before I’d even put it in the oven). At the point when the crust cracked and the juice began to ooze, I had a choice. I could have started over, but the fruit was already IN the crust, for goodness’ sake. How could I? So, I just kept moving it on over to the paella pan I used (good thing there were edges, since that sugary ooze oozed some more as it baked).

The verdict? OMGosh. It was scrumptious. Absolutely scrumptious. Even with the ooze in the pan. Even with the filling having leaked out all of its juice (the fruit seemed to give up some more, since it was certainly moist). Even with the mess it left in the pan.

So, let me tell you all about this galette. What got me started was reading Rose Levy Beranbaum’s blog last week about her peach galette. I saw the photo of it (and all the lovely stages she went through to get it perfect – she is a far better crust-maker than I am) and since I had four gorgeously ripe peaches awaiting something, I decided to make this. Now Rose is a paramount baker. She’s written several cookbooks, so I’ve learned to trust her.

You could use any old pie crust for this, I suppose, but Rose used her cream cheese one. Rose’s Perfect Flaky & Tender Cream Cheese Pie Crust. Go there and you can see all the lovely photos, and the recipe appearing in strict columns by ounces and grams. With a very long bit of instruction.

First you freeze the dry ingredients (yes, really). And you freeze the butter in small cubes (yes, really). When they combine in the food processor it comes together nicely, but in crumbles. At least I was doing well up to that point. You put the dough into a plastic bag, seal it, then kind of mash it together into a disc. That gets refrigerated for awhile. Okay so far. Now came my test of skill. Ideally you have a large round pastry cloth you use to roll out such pastry. I don’t. So I used the granite countertop instead, dusted with ample flour. I rolled, and turned, sprinkled more flour, etc. You know, the usual drill. I thought I was doing fine. Was quite pleased with myself. (Reminder to self: don’t get cocky!)

Meanwhile you’ve peeled and sliced the peaches and allowed them to drain (juice saved) in a colander with the sugar and lemon juice. All that juice gets reduced by half. I didn’t have as much juice as Rose indicated I would, but I carefully simmered it until it was reduced and poured it into the peaches and poured it onto the nearly completed piecrust. Quick-like you bring the edges up around the fruit and try to sort-of pleat them into nice looking folds if you can. My problem was I was supposed to put the crust into the tin BEFORE I added the filling. My usual difficulty – I didn’t read the recipe at that point. As I mentioned, I’d decided to use my big paella pan (she calls for a pizza pan with sides), knowing that I might have a peach-leak. I used flour-sprinkled spatulas to try to lift. Next time I’ll do it right.

Rose recommends chilling the completed pastry for half an hour before baking, but since I already had an oozy mess, I decided to go ahead and bake it then and there. It took exactly 40 minutes, as her recipe indicated. I let it cool for about 30 minutes and served us a slice, with some vanilla ice cream. There was nothing but quiet as we both savored the bites. Absolutely stupendous. The cream cheese pie crust is flakier. more tender. More tasty. And it was not soggy one bit, either, despite my peach-leaks. Even the next DAY, and the day after that, the bottom crust was still flaky and tender. No sogginess. So, I’d highly recommend this recipe. I will say, I made a regular recipe of the dough (she recommends a 1 ½ times recipe for 3 pounds of peaches. I had 2 ¼ pounds of peaches, so thought the single recipe would work. It did, and I didn’t roll the pastry as thin as Rose did, I don’t believe. Have peaches? Make galette! And yes, I’ll be making this again, but carefully read the instructions first!
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I am such a happy camper when we’re entertaining a group and someone offers to bring something. It’s always such a big boon to the hostess. And in this case our friends Penny & Scott brought just the most delicious appetizer. I can’t believe I’d never had this – as Mediterranean as it is, and since I simply l-o-v-e Feta cheese with just about anything. When Penny unveiled it from her basket, it just looked so beautiful – the bright red tomatoes with little squiggles of basil scattered all over. And when you scrape a bit onto a toasted pita chip? Sublime. Really. Too many of my recipes are labor intensive. This one isn’t, yet it’s scrumptious. You will want to make this again and again, especially when you have good tomatoes like we do now.

There are times when I look at a recipe – a simple recipe – and think there just aren’t enough ingredients in this to make it good. Know what I mean when I say that? I enjoy complex flavors, and I have a varied palate. And yet, the freshest of ingredients, simply prepared, are sometimes just the best. This will become a regular. Penny got this from Sandy. So, thanks to both for this great new recipe.
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So, last week I had about a pound of leftover leg of lamb. Cooked leg of lamb. My imagination failed me – I couldn’t come up with anything very innovative, nor did I really come up with anything ELSE to do with this except Shepherd’s Pie. Now, I love the stuff, but as I sat there in my kitchen typing up this post, although the A/C was set at 75, I was sweating because I’d been working in front of the oven, and stirring over the hot stove. Not a happy camper did this make. But, it had to be done. A quick dip in the pool was in order that evening. Our outside temp is in the mid 80’s most days. Somehow, Shepherd’s Pie just didn’t fit the mold for a summer dinner on the patio. But oh well. That’s what I had! And that’s what I made.

I have a fantastic Shepherd’s Pie with Latin Twist that I posted – oh, probably last year – that has a southwest flair to it and uses mashed sweet potatoes and regular potatoes on the top. It’s a spicy hot mixture. But the leg of lamb leftovers didn’t suit me for that recipe, so I went online and found one at Epicurious. Other testers had made some comments, so I took those into consideration as I chopped and minced, stirred, and thickened the mixture. My version is a very loose adaptation of that recipe.

My understanding is that Shepherd’s Pie was one of those things British home cooks did with the leftover Sunday roast and the leftover Sunday mashers. And likely the leftover gravy as well. At least that’s the way I’ve made it many times in the past. But I didn’t have anything except the leftover lamb, so needed to improvise with all the other ingredients. I don’t like turnips. I didn’t have leeks. So, I used what I had on hand (onions, carrots, celery, the lamb and potatoes). I totally forgot to add the frozen peas. But then, I’m not all that crazy about overcooked peas; and that’s why sometimes I sprinkle the just refreshed frozen peas to the TOP of the dish after it’s come out of the oven. That way you still have bright green peas. They’re kind of a mandatory ingredient in my book.

This made enough for one deep dish pie plate and two single crocks full of it for the freezer. If you have he-men eating, maybe this won’t serve 8, but if you round out a meal with a salad perhaps, this would certainly serve that many normal servings. Verdict: really, really good. The sauce was finger-lickin’ good with the use of red wine and some of the chicken broth concentrate (the paste stuff I buy at Penzey’s).
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My Tivo is my best friend. I absolutely adore the thing. I actually have two, one of which is connected to a TV with a cable box (for shows on the premium channels), and the other resides in my office – my main TV viewing room. I know, you’re wondering why I’m talking about Tivo when the title is about cupcakes. I’ll get there . . . I watch very little network TV (The Closer, Oprah, Grey’s Anatomy and CBS’s Sunday Morning being exceptions) Most of my Tivo-watching comes from a variety of other cable channels. I simply can’t get enough of Meerkat Manor. I’m still mourning the loss of Flower. I love Miami Animal Police too. Antiques Roadshow. House Hunters. Little People, Big World. Dog Whisperer (and we don’t even have a dog anymore, but I love Caesar Milan.) And it was smokin’ during the Olympics. I couldn’t quite keep up with the Olympics and ran out of space on my 40-hour Tivo. I also record a variety of art and painting programs, plus a few esoteric cooking shows. I do like the Barefoot Contessa, and Rick Bayless too. And Michael Chiarello. Then there’s Ellen, and Oprah (she’s on hiatus at the moment). Fortunately, not all of these programs are running at the same time or I’d not be able to keep up with my regular programs. I just recently started watching Martha. Sometimes her subjects don’t interest me, so I just delete. But the subject last week (of re-runs, actually) was cupcakes. Okay, see, I told you I’d get there.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve made cupcakes since my daughter Dana was a little tyke. But, as I’m sure you’ve seen, they’re all the rage now, with really unusual cake flavors, frosting and decorating. So Martha had a guest on from a bakery in Santa Monica the other day. And one other day she entertained a group of three women who have the blog called Cupcakes Take the Cake. All three ladies post about cupcakes. That’s it. Cupcakes. Martha asked each one about her favorite cupcake. I don’t even remember two of them, but Allison Bojarski said it was her Chocolate Spice cupcakes with a Chocolate Spice Glaze.

Being about 8 feet away from my computer, I hopped over to Google them. Bingo. Got it. Since we were having guests for dinner a few nights later I decided to try them. I’m usually game for trying new recipes for guests (I know, call me crazy). Not having made any cupcakes for years, it was fun to do, and these are very unusual. They have a warm-mouth and warm-belly feel to them because of the addition of ancho chile powder in both the cake and the glaze. And there are a bunch of other Fallish kinds of spices in there too (like cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger).

I don’t dislike Red Hots, but I wasn’t going to buy them just for these cupcakes, so I used some chocolate nonpareils I had in my chocolate stash (the chocolate-eating bugs hadn’t infiltrated the hard plastic box they were in). I bought them for a cookie I made last Christmas, the Chocolate Kiss Treasures that I will be making again this year – they have a nonpareil nestled on the top of each cookie.

The only things I’ll tell you about these are: (1) the glaze is gooey and needs some finesse putting it on to avoid letting it drip down the sides; (2) the measuring of all the spices takes an extra few minutes; (3) if you don’t have ancho chile powder, order some from Penzey’s. Ancho chile powder is very mild – you could add a lot of it to a pot of soup and barely know it’s there. Anchos are not hot, just barely warm; (4) because the cupcakes are made with cocoa, they’re not as wicked as some. The good stuff (chocolate) is in the glaze, which is applied while it’s meltingly hot.

A cupcake stand is not in my repertoire (and no, I don’t really want one) but I do have a double-decker plate/stand thing that perfectly fit 9 cupcakes, exactly the number of guests at our table. That’s one end of it you see in the photo above. We were dining outside, so I just walked the plate around and served each person. (Next time I’ll serve each on a plate with a paper napkin.)

My DH didn’t love these – but he’s not particularly a chocolate fan, either. Would I make them again? Yes – maybe for the right meal. They were good. At least I thought they were. Different. But, maybe not to everyone’s palate. My guests all said they were good, but I don’t know if they were just being nice. Maybe some of them, if they read my blog, will leave a comment here and let me know what they thought. That way you can get another opinion or two.
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Eons ago when I first started going to cooking classes there used to be a cooking school here in Newport Beach called Ma Cuisine. It closed down after about 7-8 years, but I have several recipes from classes I took there, that are still standards for me. This is one of them. Another one is my osso bucco. And a third is a plain risotto made with champagne. I haven’t blogged either one of those, have I? I don’t seem to make osso buco very often, or risotto either, anymore. Love both, but they’re so labor intensive, eh?

Right off the bat I’ll tell you that I wouldn’t make this salad for just my DH and me for a weeknight dinner. Or even a weekend dinner for two. This is the kind of thing you want to make for guests, when you’d like them to ooh and aah over how you’ve slaved in the kitchen. And, in fact, you do slave a bit to make this, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s just that there are several steps (the marinade, the green beans, the dressing and the garnish). They’re all separate, but combined when you put it together just before serving. This recipe is long. I admit it, but don’t be discouraged. Nothing about the salad is difficult.

The original recipe was made for Cornish game hens. But sometimes, like this time, I simply couldn’t find them, so I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead. The group we entertained was probably happier for it anyway. Some people don’t like fussing with the bones, etc. of game hens. Particularly men, I find.

I’ve changed the recipe just a bit over the years. First, I added the orange juice to the marinade. In the class the instructor talked about wanting to “freshen” the game hens of their raw poultry smell, so she always squeezed the juice of a full orange over any poultry, then let it drain. Then she prepared the marinade. Since oranges are not a cheap commodity anymore, I just add the juice to the marinade. Then, I also grill the chicken breasts if I’m using them (not the game hens – they’re done in the oven only) , especially if it’s a warm summer night and I don’t want to heat up the kitchen. If you are using the chicken I don’t add the capers – just the brine. The capers never make it out of the marinade anyway when you use chicken, so I use only the brine to flavor the marinade. If you like capers, sprinkle some on top of the salad along with the tomatoes and shallots.

As you can see from the photograph, part of the aesthetic of this dish is the presentation. The salad is assembled just before serving – well, it’s layered, I should say – on a very large platter. This won’t fit on a 12-inch large plate. No way, no how. So bring out the big one, whatever you have, for this dinner. We were serving 9 people, so I had to pull out all the stops and bring out the big platter I use for Thanksgiving. Nobody could see the autumn embossing in the center of the platter anyway. The multi-colored greens are tossed with the herby dressing, then mounded on the platter. Then you add the haricot verts (the baby green beans) that were cooked just until barely done. Those are tossed in a bit of the dressing (separately) to make sure they’re covered completely. If you can, arrange them in a nice line-up, or kind of spoked around the platter. Then you arrange the hens or chicken breasts on top of the green beans. If I use chicken breasts normally I will cut each breast in two strips (looks nicer, that’s all). Then, the finale is the mini-diced tomatoes and shallots that have been tossed in their own little dressing (olive oil and sugar, plus some pepper). They add such a great fillip to the whole dish. Try to get them on TOP of the hens or chicken so each person has some of it with each serving.

If you go to my recipe page (index), and click on one of the categories, you’ll see that I don’t have all THAT many recipes that I call “favorites.” This is one of them. So, take note. If you trust me by this time that when I tell you a recipe is a keeper, then this is one.
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It was 2001, and watching Oprah one afternoon, she just went bonkers over a recipe for white sangria. Having only had red sangria to that point in my life, and hearing Oprah rave about it, I decided I had to try it. It is credited to a restaurant in New York City called Pipa. I had to go out and buy a great many of the special ingredients in this beverage – well, only three of them actually – since I had some of them on hand already. I remember my dear hubby saying to me “what’s all THIS for?” I think I was entertaining a group of women, and thought this would be a nice change.

This has now become my go-to recipe for white sangria. It’s just so refreshing. And EASY. You do need a few pieces of fruit (apple, peach, lemon, orange), and you need all the liqueur stuff. They were not bottles I had kept on hand (now I do). But the original bottles I bought back in 2001 I still have, although they’re all getting low. Drinking this sangria, you can’t quite figure out what’s in it. It would take a really good taster and sniffer to figure it out without some help. I have changed the recipe slightly since I started making it years ago – the fruit usually gets thrown out after wards, so I use less peach and less apple. And sometimes I add more 7-up. You can use your own discretion about this – if it tastes too strong to you, just add a bit more 7-up. I always use Diet 7-up for this since there is already enough sugar in it, to my taste.

Even living in a large suburban city, I had to go to several stores (including a liquor-only one) to find a couple of the liqueurs. But perhaps you’ll be lucky and find everything you need in one location. Once you have them on hand, you won’t need to replace them for a long time; unless you start drinking this every week . . . So, you’ll need Grand Marnier, Peach Pucker schnapps (tart flavored, sort of), Peach Schnapps, apricot brandy, Amaretto and Chambord.
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My dear friend, Cherrie, took me out for a surprise birthday celebration the other day. My birthday was several weeks ago, but she and I hadn’t “celebrated” it yet. We went in her car and I had no idea where we were going. She drove south to San Clemente (the town made famous by Richard Nixon’s “Western White House” located within a stone’s throw of the freeway). Having never shopped the couple blocks of San Clemente town, it was a delightful surprise. For those of you reading this who don’t know where San Clemente is, it’s a little bit south of halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It’s at the very south end of Orange County (the north end houses Disneyland and the south end has San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente).

Cherrie and I enjoy afternoon tea. A lot. And you’ll remember that some months ago she and I hosted a tea for a group of 12. Whew. We made just about everything for it – my golden raisin buttermilk scones, lots of sandwiches, even cold soup. What a lot of work it was, but fun nevertheless. This time we got to enjoy it from beginning to end and somebody served us. Cherrie was tickled to even FIND this place since so many hotels and cottages no longer serve tea at all. For many years the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel served tea in their gorgeous but small library. But, it closed up tea-serving some years ago. We’ve been to any number of places around our large county over the years, but almost no one serves it anymore. There are a couple in downtown Orange, but neither place is a favorite of ours.

Anyway, Cherrie found this little place in San Clemente called the Posh Peasant. And what a treat it was. From the moment we walked in, until the moment we left nearly two hours later, we were pampered and cosseted. We ordered the full-on tea. They call it High Tea, but technically it’s not, it’s an Afternoon Tea . . . lots of tea places mistakenly call it High Tea, which is more of a peasant meal served in the evenings in England. No matter. There were umpteen choices of tea (we ordered Lady Grey). The only other decisions we had to make involved what type of scone (we chose lemon over the blueberry), which of two soups and which dessert. First we were served a plate of bruschetta to take the edge off our appetites. Next were the scones, served with an adorable little server for crème fraiche and jam. Then we had a very small demitasse serving of cream of mushroom soup (delicious). The teapot was kept hot over a tea warmer and the waitress poured it frequently for us. Next came a salad and sandwich plate with a delicious green salad containing lots of fresh, diced fruit, dried cranberries and candied walnuts, and five small tea sandwiches with various fillings. Lastly we were given a choice of about 6 or 7 desserts, all homemade by the owner. Cherrie opted for lemon crème brulee and I had the choco-lat, their version of a chocolate lava cake, but a dainty serving in a small ramekin topped with vanilla ice cream.

Everything at the Posh Peasant is homemade by the owner, Kim Bennett. We asked to meet her and she graciously came to our table and visited with us. She used to be in the corporate world (worked for PacSun). Her family thought she was plum crazy earlier this year when she told them she was buying a tea shop and that she was going to BAKE and MAKE everything. Most of her family never knew she could cook, let alone bake. She said she used to years ago, but just got out of the habit. It’s like riding a bicycle, I think. She got right on that thing and is successfully baking lots of goodies for the patrons. Cherrie and I are discerning afternoon tea aficionados, and I’d rank the food as top notch.

This little restaurant is dolled up to be a tea shop, with much of the usual decor you’d associate with afternoon tea (with cute hats you can choose to wear for the duration of the tea if you’d like to get in the mood), but it’s tastefully done. Not too much. Not too little. There are a few things to buy (tea-related stuff). And the shop serves a variety of lunch items too (eleven sandwiches and four entree salads) in addition to the full tea items. There’s a children’s tea, too, for $19.99. And any number of other afternoon tea variations of tea with scones, a tea sampler, a sweet tea and the very common Cream Tea that you’ll find throughout. There are eleven lunch-type sandwiches on their menu. The full tea we had was $24.99, and worth every penny (thank you, Cherrie!).

Will we go again? Absolutely. The sooner the better. Want to join us? It’s a very cute place. Fun for a small group, even. Great for a lunch with a small group of women. They do open for catered events too, in the evenings. If the food at the tea is any representation, it would be fantastic. And when you leave there, go across the street to Oliver’s, a new olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop that is fabulous. Lots of things to taste. We just wished we had been hungrier for tasting oil and vinegars. We did try a few and came home with some purchases from there. Their website isn’t quite up and running as I write this, but Bob, the owner, said it’s in progress.

The Posh Peasant
220 Avenida Del Mar
San Clemente, CA 92672
(949) 498-7813
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 11 AM to 4 PM

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When I wrote up the post about tomatoes yesterday, I mentioned that Russ Parsons had a paragraph in the tomato chapter about one of his favorite ways to serve them. Since I had some heirloom tomatoes begging to be used, and I had a small log of goat cheese in the drawer, I decided to try his recipe. If you can call it a recipe. Here’s what he wrote:

ONE SIMPLE DISH: Dice seeded unpeeled tomatoes as finely as you can. Dress them with a little olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. Taste them, and if they need a little red wine vinegar, add that. Place a log of fresh goat cheese on a plate and spoon the tomatoes around it. You may never go back to tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

That was enough praise to get me to thinking. My DH, Dave, always tells me whenever I serve caprese (tomatoes and mozzarella with a drizzle of olive oil, maybe some balsamic and a sprinkling of fresh basil) that fresh mozzarella has absolutely no flavor. I tend to agree with him. I like the texture, though, so I keep buying it on occasion. Besides, it makes a really quick and easy side salad.

I used my handy-dandy alligator chopper. First I removed the seeds by cutting the tomatoes in half and squeezing gently, then poking out the seeds and gel. Then they got chopped in the chopper. The alligator chopper does the most uniform sized tiny dice of anything I’ve ever used. I added both extra virgin olive oil and some cabernet wine vinegar, salt, pepper. I tasted it and decided it needed a bit more salt. Then I cut up some goat cheese into serving sized slices, spooned some of the tomatoes on top, added a bit of sliced avocado on the side, gave the whole thing a grind of salt and pepper and served it. It was good. Maybe not as exceptional as my expectations, but I don’t think the heirloom tomato was quite up to par, either. And, once I added oil and vinegar, it was harder to TASTE the tomato. So, if you’d like to try this, just be judicious about how much oil and vinegar you add, if any. I couldn’t have added more than a teaspoon of oil and about the same of vinegar for two tomatoes. Probably too much of the latter, since the usual proportion is 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 oil. I did like the goat cheese with it, though. But then, I’m nutso about goat cheese, period.

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