Real Reality Cooking Challenges: No. 1 [Contest]

Think of yourself as a challenger in a reality cooking show. Except that on Iron Chef and other TV cooking shows, the cooks don't confront the kinds of challenges that home cooks see every day.

They may have an unusual ingredient to contend with. Or a limited set of ingredients they have to use. They have unknown, but generally gourmet, palates to please. They start their work in a kitchen where everything is clean and ready for use. They have fully stocked pantries, complete equipment and assistants to chop and dice and set up a mise en place.

They aren't cooking for their picky mother-in-law or their friend who won't eat anything green. They don't get halfway through a new recipe and discover that they overlooked an instruction like "refrigerate overnight." They don't have to work on countertops someone else is using for paperwork or manage with cutting boards laid across open drawers. They have time constraints but not the kind you have when you work full time and have to make meals after a full day.

They don't come home late and tired and start working on dinner ... only to find that critical pans or utensils have been used and left dirty in the dishwasher ... or open the fridge and discover that essential ingredients have gone moldy or been eaten.

With that in mind, here is Real Reality Cooking Challenge No. 1.

Anyone may play. Please post your answers here or start a new thread with your own challenge, consecutively numbered.

There is no "right" answer, of course, but by and by, I will post what I actually did in this situation and you may all judge which is the best solution.

* * *

You have six or eight dead-ripe fresh tomatoes that have to be used now. You have routine pantry and refrigerator staples but no fresh herbs, no salad greens except iceberg lettuce, no other fresh vegetables, and no bread except supermarket whole wheat.

Before discovering these lacks, you had already diced the tomatoes for a recipe you cannot now make. You need to put together a meal in roughly half an hour and you prefer not to cook the tomatoes.

What do you make?

Good game! This is a typical evening in the Hays household...let's see - if you don't want to use them in a fresh pasta sauce (lightly cooked) I'd make an herb viniagrette from the dried herbs in your pantry, (probably basil and oregano) a garlic clove that's been mashed into some salt, EVOO and wine vinegar or a vinegar/fresh lemon juice combo, and just serve it in a bowl with a spoon - bowl with a spoon being a common fix in the world of Hays mishaps (most commonly applied to pie that won't set) Or you could use it to dress whatever protein you're serving for the evening.

I like the pasta idea, and I don't think you really need to cook tomatoes this ripe with anything except the heat of the pasta right out of the water. So, put diced tomatoes in large mixing bowl with olive oil, 3-4 chopped garlic cloves, a coupla pinches of dried oregano, and pinch of red pepper flakes. Let it all marinate there while dried pasta cooks. Drain pasta, add to mixing bowl, toss and serve - with some grated cheese if you've got it.

Interesting game. I would say that my cooking challenges have changed a bit since the vegetable garden installation but I like this scenario. Personally, if it were just me, I'd use the iceberg lettuce, the tomatoes and perhaps a can of tuna and make a simple salad, since fresh tomatoes can carry any dish.

Another idea is to make a quick cous cous, fluff and let cool. Add tomato as well as an on the fly balsamic vinaigrette for a cold cous cous salad and serve with whatever protein you have available.

Lastly, you could toast your wheat bread and then tear it up and combine with the tomato and some onion and whatever else you can dig up for a nice bread salad.

Or, along the lines of Mhays, sprinkle with salt/pepper, olive oil/vinegar and eat it out of a bowl.

You could toast the bread a bit and make a panzanella salad just without the basil. Good tomatoes will make the dish.

I'd make bruschetta, because I wouldn't only have sandwich bread on hand.

Mike G wrote:I'd make bruschetta, because I wouldn't only have sandwich bread on hand.

Bzzz! Disqualified. It's against the rules to ignore the conditions stated.

There are lots of things I could have done if I'd had any good bread. What's your secret for never running out?

1) Shopping

2) Baking

It's not true that I never run out, but I'm 99% guaranteed to have it during a part of the week that I expect to be cooking dinner. I'd be more likely to be surprised by the tomatoes I was counting on no longer being anything you'd want to eat.

I was wondering if it would be against the rules to bake (though it wouldn't fit the time limit offered) I've been keeping a bowl of the "five-minutes-a-day" bread in the fridge, and it actually pulled my a$$ out of the fire yesterday, when we decided to have sausage and peppers for dinner and didn't have rolls. Granted, I started early enough (the time frame is about 1 hour including proofing and baking) but it was hard to beat when finished. Depends on how far you can push back dinner.

Make sure the tomatoes are room temperature if you've had them in the fridge. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, then top with an over easy egg (or better yet poached.) If you have potatoes around, this would go well over hash browns or home fries.

eli wrote:Make sure the tomatoes are room temperature if you've had them in the fridge. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, then top with an over easy egg (or better yet poached.) If you have potatoes around, this would go well over hash browns or home fries.

You beat me to the punch - I was thinking of that except with poached or shirred eggs, but I'd also garnish with toasted, buttered bread crumbs.

I'll puree it with ultra tex 3 to make strands of tomato pasta and top it with olive oil powder, salt, and pepper.

...

Grate a mess of parmigiano reggiano onto your silpat and bake in the oven 10 minutes at 350. Throw in some peeled garlic cloves tossed with olive oil in a separate dish while you're at it. Remove once the cheese has melted and browned. Cool on counter until somewhat hardened. Break into shards.

Drain all liquid from your bowl of tomatoes into a saucepan. Add rinsed off cannellini beans from the pantry, enough chicken stock/water to make a somewhat liquidy mix and a bay leaf. Warm 15 minutes over medium heat until bubbles appear. Take off the heat and add olive oil and S & P to taste. Remove bay leaf.

To serve, ladle soupy bean top with tomatoes and parm shards and chopped, warmed garlic cloves.

Tomato Summer Pudding with olive oil/lemon vinaigrette and a scoop of ricotta. The whole wheat bread should be rubbed with a cut clove of garlic before assembling. The lemon should be strong to offset the sweetness of the whole wheat bread. Not sure if this can be done in 1/2 hour, but I'd try it.

kanin wrote:I'll puree it with ultra tex 3 to make strands of tomato pasta and top it with olive oil powder, salt, and pepper.

...

you mean "tomato pasta product". This sounds perfect for the Jetsons, or the Alinea menu. I always preferred the Flintstones.

Sounds like pasta salad to me!
Cook pasta, rinse with cold water, cover with shredded cheese and vinaigrette, if you have it, and toss with tomatoes. Serve with leftover bread. Kinda makes me want some pasta salad.

What a fun game! Keep 'em comin'.

kanin wrote:I'll puree it with ultra tex 3 to make strands of tomato pasta and top it with olive oil powder, salt, and pepper....

Is ultra tex 3 a common ingredient in your pantry?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Is ultra tex 3 a common ingredient in your pantry?

Only recently. The Alinea cookbook is.. inspiring.. to say the least.

I love this idea for a game.

Looks to me like this particular conundrum can be solved adequately with a humble wedge salad, especially if I "prefer not to cook the tomatoes".

For me, bacon is a fridge staple, so I roast off as many slices as I can fit on a wire rack over a sheet pan. Crumble when cooked, dry and cool. Then I prepare a quick vinaigrette, with minced garlic and some smaller pieces of blue cheese (also a fridge staple for me). Whisk in the oil, which will mash up the cheese a bit.

Then I'd cut the iceberg into wedges, drape the diced tomatoes over top, hit them with some salt and pepper, spoon the vinaigrette over top and finish with bigger crumbles of blue cheese and bacon bits.

Take a look at those two lists that Mark Bittman did over the summer - a lot of them can be done with pantry staples and one or two other ingredients. The NY Times also has some recipes they've been doing lately as part of a "health" section. I did a hot pasta with canned white beans and fresh tomatoes and a few other things, it was very tasty. I didn't cook the tomatoes, I don't think. Lots of garlic, grated cheese.... I did have fresh basil, which helps, but enough garlic and dried herbs, and you'd be good.

leek wrote:Take a look at those two lists that Mark Bittman did over the summer

Might you be able to share what it is that you're talking about? Apologies if I'm the only ignoramous who hasn't a clue.

Peasant salad (horiatiki) for sure, extended with the bread.

• Dried oregano, lots of black pepper, a bit of salt, a grated garlic clove, a smashed anchovy (if there are any around), and a few tablespoons of fruity olive oil go into a big salad bowl. Whisk in either lemon juice (plus its zest if I have a lemon) or red wine vinegar.
• Cube the bread, lightly fry it in a pan with some regular olive oil and a bit of garlic, salt, and pepper.
• While the bread is frying, thinly slice some onions (red, white, green, or even a shallot, whatever is on hand), slice a cucumber (whatever kind is lurking in the crisper, peeled or not), and add it all to the salad bowl with the tomatoes. If there are radishes, slice 'em and add to the bowl. Crumble in some feta and toss a few olives in.
• Dump the hot, crispy bread over the cold veg and toss well.
• Serve with a cold glass of retsina or an ice cold light beer.

I believe Leek is referring to this series of NYT articles (I printed them out somewhere, though I have to admit I haven't actually used any of the ideas - but they're a good place to riff)
Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less
Somewhere, there's another one for more wintry foods, but darned if I can find it.

So, LAZ, what did you do?

Mhays wrote:I believe Leek is referring to this series of NYT articles (I printed them out somewhere, though I have to admit I haven't actually used any of the ideas - but they're a good place to riff)
Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less
Somewhere, there's another one for more wintry foods, but darned if I can find it.

I've never seen a winter list by Bittman, but here are two other of his 101 lists:
101 Recipes for Inspired Picnics
101 Simple Appetizers

Best,
Michael

Thanks for playing, everyone!

I'm going to give the virtual prize to eli, whose solution is the only practical one I didn't think of and which I'd have liked. (Good second, aschie30, but second is second.) Runner up to gastro gnome with extra kudos for providing a real recipe. I like Josphine's idea a lot, too, but I don't think it meets the time limit. I didn't have any ricotta, either, though I did have cottage cheese.

Mhays, your solution is the one I thought of first. But a bowl of tomatoes didn't really seem like dinner. I also thought of a pasta or couscous dish as suggested by kennyz, tyrus, Pie Lady and leek but I wasn't in the mood (also, pasta is not the easy meal in our house that it is in most people's, because I need to haul bottled water and wait forever for it to boil on my terrible iron-plate electric stove).

I didn't think the bread, even toasted, would hold up to panzanella, as suggested by tyrus and lgordon, and with no herbs or other vegetables, it wouldn't very interesting. I do like petermavrik's idea of frying the bread -- it didn't occur to me -- but if I'd had a cucumber, onion or radish a lot of other options would have been possible.

kanin, even if we were to grant you ultra tex 3 as a pantry staple, could you really make pasta from scratch and get it on the table in half an hour?

My original thought for the tomatoes was an extra-tomatoey tabbouleh, but the parsley was beyond help and what is tabbouleh without parsley? I didn't want to cook the tomatoes because fresh-tomato season is nearly at an end. I can cook with canned tomatoes.

DeathByOrca hit on the combination of ingredients I used, though I put them together differently. I made what you might call deconstructed BLTs.

These were really very good, kind of a cross between open-faced sandwiches and a salad. It solved the usual problem of how to eat a BLT without squirting and dripping parts down your front. The tomato-soaked toast was so good. And those of you who think bacon is overrated are just wrong. I only had three slices of bacon on hand -- if I made this again I'd use more.

It didn't use all the tomatoes I had cut up, though, so we have Real Reality Cooking Challenge No. 2.

Deconstructed BLTs

3 slices bacon (more would be better)
3 slices whole-wheat bread
Mayonnaise to taste (I actually used Miracle Whip, but I know how some of you feel about it)
2-3 cups roughly cut-up ripe tomatoes, with juices
1 cup torn-up iceberg lettuce
Sea salt, celery salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cook the bacon crisp and set aside. Toast the bread, smear with mayo and cut diagonally in half. Arrange on a plate and pour the tomatoes and their juices over the top. Top with the lettuce and then crumble the bacon over all. Season to taste and eat with knife and fork. 1-2 servings.