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The buzz on Tulsa’s tastiest products, restaurants and events.
A PAL in the kitchen: Tulsa’s Pet Adoption League, or PAL, has been dedicated to finding loving homes for homeless animals since 1998 — you may have seen PAL at our local PetSmart stores, where volunteers regularly introduce dogs and cats to people looking to extend their “family.”
Now you can cook up a tasty meal while supporting PAL — “Table Scraps: Cookbook for People” is filled with 450 recipes provided by PAL friends and supporters, pet foster families and many of our local chefs and restaurants (including Te Kei’s, Ti Amo, local restaurateur Terry Turner and yours truly!). The books are only $20 each, and all proceeds go directly to PAL to help in its continued rescue efforts and operating expenses.
Pick up a copy at Pooches doggie day care (5331 E. 41st St.), The Dog Dish (6502 E. 51st St. in The Farm Shopping Center) and at various veterinary and grooming locations around Tulsa (visit www.pet-adopt.org for a complete listing).
Or grab a copy at PetSmart (PAL volunteers are there from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. every Saturday) or fill out this order form and mail it in, along with your check. For more information about PAL, visit www.pet-adopt.org and www.petadoptionleague.petfinder.com.
The eaten word
When summer hits, we all get excited about the prospect of bounty at the farmers’ markets. However, once September arrives, I can only make so many more batches of tomato sauce, pickled okra and grilled corn on the cob. For me, it’s time to start winding down the summer veggie madness, but there is still a plethora of produce starting to appear at the market. Have you witnessed the tables lined with peppers of every color, shape and Scoville unit?
Sometimes I do run out of ideas and I have to refer back to the experts. Here is a small collection of my favorite go-to tomes for delicious vegetable recipes. I’ve even included a super-easy and quite versatile recipe.
“Chez Panisse Vegetables” by Alice Waters is far and away my inspiration for unique yet simple veggie dishes. Right now, I have several pounds of ripe tomatoes waiting anxiously to be turned into Waters’ delicious chilled tomato soup.
I received a copy of “The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table” by Amy Goldman as a Christmas gift, when tomatoes couldn’t be further out of season. The gorgeous portraits, however, kept me inspired until this spring, when I was able to plant my own heirlooms. It has given me many ideas, such as the homey smoked tomato soup and cherry tomato focaccia.
When I need information about an ingredient I’m not too familiar with, I grab “The Produce Bible: Essential Ingredient Information and More Than 200 Recipes for Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs and Nuts” by Leanne Kitchen and Deborah Madison off the shelf.
From arugula to zucchini and everything in between, this collection offers selection and storage tips as well as gorgeous recipes for virtually anything edible you might find at the market or grocery store.
This quick dish — which will suffice nicely this fall as a grilled cheese filling, pasta sauce or bruschetta topping — takes advantage of the bounty of ripe, mature peppers (at their best when roasted and peeled) available at our markets during early autumn.
Marinated roasted peppers From “Chez Panisse Vegetables” Roast whole sweet peppers (I like to do a mixture of red, orange and yellow bell peppers) over a hot wood or charcoal fire, turning frequently to allow the skins to completely blacken and blister. When they are charred, remove them from the grill and let them steam in a container with a tight-fitting lid or in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap. Steaming loosens the skins and makes the peppers easier to peel.
When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel off their skins. Cut off the stem end and open the peppers. Remove the core and seeds, flatten out the pepper and scrape off any remaining flecks of skin with the back of a paring knife. Cut the peppers in strips the size you want, season with salt and pepper and marinate in a little olive oil with a few peeled garlic cloves and basil leaves. These make delicious appetizers when served on a freshly grilled garlic crouton, with or without anchovy fillets.
NOTE: Alternatively, you can roast the peppers, lightly oiled, in a hot oven or under a broiler until the skins are browned and blistered, or put the peppers directly over a gas flame on the stovetop to blacken the skins.
New and noteworthy
The Jenks RiverWalk can now boast the largest independently owned and operated restaurant and music venue in the state. The Grille boasts 13,500 square feet inside and 6,000 square feet outside on the thatched hut-speckled cobblestone patio. While the outside may be tropical, the menu is all-American — come try the delicious burger for which they have been developing the recipe during the past 16 years — with flavors from around the globe peppered in. We love the French onion soup, chicken Parmesan and teriyaki stir-fry, but you will be tempted to tuck in to some cold-water Australian lobster.
The Grille, 300 RiverWalk Terrace, Jenks, 625-6487,
www.mcdermottsgrille.com
