It’s that time of year, and the tomatoes have started popping up in our CSA share. I always look forward to these additions to our weekly boxes. For most of the year I’m not much of a tomato fan, mainly due to the fact that most supermarket tomatoes (those wrongly named vine-ripened included) are tasteless and have the texture of cardboard and water. But come the end of July and the beginning of August that all changes as local, truly vine ripened tomatoes start showing up at the farmer’s markets, roadside stands, and, especially in our CSA boxes.

The Caprese salad, that mixture of fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil, has become a cliche in recent years, but it comes by that title honestly. Sure the combination seems rather tired nowadays, but let’s face it, it’s popular because it works. Those items seem made for each other. Now slap those ingredients between 2 slices of bread, grill it off, and you have the ultimate in summertime grilled cheeses.

I’m usually happy with that, but today I was in the mood to add another dimension. I often like to drizzle my Caprese salads with balsamic syrup, a mixture of balsamic vinegar and sugar reduced to a syrup consistency, but that wasn’t taking it far enough for me today. So I starting thinking what else works with those components and I came up with strawberries. Now, at first this might sound rather odd, but think about it a bit. Strawberries drizzled with balsamic has become a classic light dessert, and basil and strawberries go together well, so now it was just a matter of how to add them to the mix. Slicing and placing them on the sandwich just didn’t seem right so I decided to make a quick balsamic strawberry jelly. This worked perfectly, adding a bit of sweetness and a hint of acidity to the sandwich and perfuming it with the most subtle of strawberry aromas. It also left me with a good bit of leftover jelly to experiment with further.

Quick Balsamic Strawberry Jelly
makes 3/4 cup

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup stawberry jelly, preferably homemade (I used the freezer jam my wife made earlier this summer)

Combine both ingredients in a nonreactive sauce pan and cook until reduced by 1/2. Stir on a regular basis as this mixture has a tendency to stick and burn. Once reduced remove from heat and chill until it sets up. Will keep for 2-3 months in the fridge.

Caprese Panini
makes 1 sandwich

1 small tomato, as fresh and as ripe as possible
fresh basil leaves
fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/4″ thick
ciabatta bread or any crusty rustic white loaf, cut to this size you want
about 1 tablespoon of the Balsamic Strawberry Jelly

Pre heat a panini press. If you don’t have a panini press heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Core and slice the tomato in 1/4″ slices. Slice open the ciabatta and spread both cut sides with the jelly. On the bottom half layer the tomato, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves. Cover with the top slice of ciabatta and grill on the panini press until heated through and the cheese is just starting to melt. This sandwich is best if the cheese and tomato are not overly heated. You just want them heated through with the cheese just on the verge of melting into a stringy mess. If using a skillet press the sandwich, with a spatula, while the sandwich is cooking, flipping it halfway through the cooking process (after approximately 4-5 minutes).

I came to a conclusion this weekend. I am terrible at keeping friends. It’s not that I am a mean or vile person. I am very personable and make friends quite easily, but I am terrible at keeping long term friendships alive. I have moved around alot in my life, both somewhat as a kid and more so as an adult and I have come to the realization that I tend to close out chapters of my life, when I move, to the point of letting old friendships fade away. You psychologist types out there would probably tell me that I do this to protect myself from the pain of leaving friends and loved ones behind as I move on with my life, and you’d probably be right. It’s a coping mechanism that has suited me well, in the short term, but I am now realizing that, in the long run, it wasn’t such a great thing.

So what has brought about this epiphany? Well, this weekend we got together with a couple of my old friends from culinary school, who are now married to each other. It was a fun time, hanging out, at the park, grilling out for Father’s Day, and enjoying the company of old friends, but as conversation turned to others we went to school with I realized I had pretty much lost touch with everyone and only knew about their lives by what they posted on Facebook. I then realized that it was the same with many other chapters in my life. I had made many wonderful friends, but, with a few exceptions, had allowed all those relationships to fade away.

Thanks to Facebook, I now have the chance to try and reestablish some of those friendships, but I wonder if that is even possible. I’m not the same person I was years ago and neither are they. We’ve had so many years to grow in different directions I wonder if there would even be any common ground any more. But even more importantly, I hope I have learned my lesson, and will not follow the same path as I have in the past.

But enough of my maudlin, introspective mood. That’s not what you came here for. You can to check out the new dishes I have created and the recipes I have come up with. Well, the next few posts will revolve around some of the food I prepared for our Father’s Day picnic/cook out.

These skewers that I am sharing with you today are pretty simple but require a little work the night before which leaves you with more time the day you are preparing them. Make sure, if you are using bamboo skewers that you start soaking them the night before you plan on cooking. If you don’t they will go up in flames and your skewers will fall part during cooking which is a pain!

Onion Balsamic Glaze
1 onion, large
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar

Peel and slice the onion. Place in a sauce pot along with the oil and saute until just starting to brown. Add the water and cook until almost all of the water has evaporated. Add the vinegar and sugar and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly then blend until almost smooth. Chill.

Beef and Mushroom Skewers with Onion Balsamic Glaze
makes 16 skewers-serves 6-8
3 pounds sirloin roast, trimmed of all fat and silver skin
24 cremini mushrooms, large
2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced
5 cloves garlic, peeled, sliced and lightly crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
salt
Onion Balsamic Glaze
16 skewers (I use bamboo, but if you have metal skewers they can be used also)

Cut beef into cubes approximately 1-1 1/2″ square. You should end up with about 48 cubes. Place beef, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil in a zip lock bag. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste and close bag. Gently massage bag to evenly distribute oil and seasonings over beef. Place in fridge and marinate overnight. Soak skewers, overnight, in water.

The following day, cut mushrooms in half. Make skewers using 3 pieces of beef and 3 mushroom halves, starting with a mushroom half and alternating with the beef. The mushrooms will have a tendency to split apart when being skewered. To avoid this press them gently, but firmly down on the skewer while roating the skewer. This will prevent most of the mushrooms from splitting. Season with salt and more pepper, if desired and grill over medium high heat, trying to keep the bottom, exposed, part of the skewer from sitting directly over the coals.

Grill for 3-4 minutes then flip the skewers over to cook the other side. After 3-4 minutes longer brush with glaze and cook 2-3 minutes longer. Longer than that and the sugar in the glaze will have a tendency to burn. If you like your meat a little more done, cook longer before adding the glaze. When done remove from grill and allow to rest for about 5 minutes before serving.