Tomato-Basil Salad

While scrolling through pintrist this evening I ran across a salad someone had posted and remembered I love caprese and eat them 3 seasons, they are easy, tasty & pretty.  This post is about one in particular that I have only made once, but will for sure do again as it was very unique to the eye and taste.
  
I was planning a dinner for girlfriends, on a warm late summer day.   I love making tomato, mozzarella, basil (caprese) salads.    So I went shopping, making a stop at a new Trader Joe's in KC,  I wandered through the produce section looking for the tomato piles.    There to my amazement was a bin of brown tomatoes.   I have never heard of them before, so naturally I had to pick up a package.  The looked very different, I would say more of a dark green than brown.  I was just too curious about the taste and I thought they would look very pretty with red & yellow tomatoes in the salad. 

 I was very excited to cut them open and what a difference there was on the inside.... not very appealing actually, but would still provide great color for the salad and the size was perfect to be put together with the red & yellow tomatoes I had purchased.  I withheld judgement still till the end...

I made the salad using red tomato, yellow tomato, brown tomato, LOTS of fresh basil that I had clipped fresh that day.   Sprinkled with capers & Kosher salt then drizzled with grapefruit balsamic & blood orange olive oil.       The flavor of the brown tomato is even milder than the yellow, almost bland, however with mixed in the salad it was a nice mix.

The result was very very tasty & nothing short of beautiful..so I had to share here.

Plain Ole Vanilla

1 1/2 years ago I retired.  Since that time, I have ventured into several new projects in my kitchen.   Having much time on my hands, I have been baking significantly more over this last year.    With that my vanilla supply is quickly dwindling.   For years I have had family members that would spend their winters in South Texas and with those annual trips, they also became my vanilla supplier.  This last year, however; my mother forgot the vanilla and now I find myself at risk of having to buy a tiny bottle from the local grocer for big bucks as opposed to the larger quantity of that coming from the trips to Mexico.    Considering my situation I was faced with 4 options.  1) hope mom did not forget me this year.  2) take a trip from Kansas City to Mexico myself to purchase my vanilla. 3) buy vanilla extract from the grocery store.  4) make my own. 

I quickly ruled out options 1-3 and decided now was the time for me to another learning project.  I should be able to go about 3 months with my current supply, so time was on my side to begin this endeavor.   My latest project is making my own vanilla extract.   

I begin with lots of research, the Internet is such a wonderful tool for the DIY person.   You have the opinion of hundreds all at the tip of your fingers.   You can read, compare, confirm the good, bad & ugly experiences of others both novice & experts.   

I discovered this process requires not any vanilla bean, but "extract" grade beans, or grade B beans.    The ugly ones, not the premium beans.  Funny one of the most used and favored nectars is made up of an uglier line of pod.   Found the right price for quantity on Amazon & placed my order.  

I wanted my vanilla to be plenty rich and in my research the recipes were anywhere from 3-8 beans per cup of liquid(vodka).   My vanilla, must be a stronger flavor, so I put in 10 beans per cup.

Such a simple process...
Dark sterilized bottle with tight fitting lid  (a dark wine bottle is a good option) this will be the steep bottle
grade B extract grade vanilla beans
70-80 proof vodka (any brand...but all research advised that 70-80 proof is better than the higher proof vodka).
smaller 1 - 1 1/2 cup dark bottle steralised(like a beer bottle with swing lid) this will be your using bottle

Place the beans in the steeping bottle, fill with vodka & tighten lid.
Place the bottle in a cool dark room, or closet.    For the first week shake a few minutes each day, then every few days give the bottle a shake.  After about a month, just shake the bottle about once a week.  

Your vanilla will be ready to use after about 2-3 months, however if you can let it sit up to 6 months will give your a better product.

Once you are ready to use your vanilla---
 cover the opening of the steeping bottle with cheese cloth
pour through a funnel to fill your using bottle with vanilla.   This will keep sediment out of the vanilla you will be using to bake, and will also keep the vanilla in the steeping bottle.  
Take more vodka and top off the steeping bottle return to dark corner to steep till ready to refill your using bottle.   

You can top of the steeping bottle for years to come.   If down the road(years) you feel your vanilla needs more strength then you can purchase more beans to add to the steep bottlem byt according to my research findings, you can use off the same bottle for as many as 30 years by just topping off the vodka.    I started my vanilla in a clear jar so I could see the process for the first week, then I changed it over to a wine bottle that will be my steeping bottle.    I am just now almost 1 month into the process so it will be a bit longer b4 I will know if I have the product I am expecting.    I now sit anxiously and wait, but I do have the pics posted below of the first few days.   

This is an easy project, and I find now that I have more time I truly enjoy making as much as I can from scratch instead of buying pre processed, this will make great gifts and it is always a good feeling to give or use something that I have created.

day 2

Day 4