Rice Pudding, cooked on the stovetop, takes some doing and watching. I love it’s creamy, satisfying goodness. But this version, made in the oven requires no fuss and no hovering over. It’s a bit denser than the pudding made in a pot, but it is just as lovely and warming.

This recipe calls for cooked rice. Make a double batch of plain white rice for dinner tonight, and then use the extra for the pudding tomorrow. Or, use that box of rice brought home from a Chinese restaurant.

Baked Rice Pudding

2 1/2 cups cooked white rice
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 3 quart baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Separate the grains of rice with your fingers. This is a sticky job!
3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs, and then whisk in the milk and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
4. Whisk in the cinnamon, vanilla and zest. When I cook with citrus peel, I make a point to purchase organic fruit. I use a microplane grater to get fine zest.
5. Stir the rice into the egg mixture and break up any remaining clumps. Pour this into the casserole dish.
6. Bake for 40 minutes, or until just set and golden on the surface.

Makes 6 generous portions (Leftovers can be warmed in the microwave. I like to eat a bowlful with yogurt for breakfast.)

Years ago, I was a chef at a health spa, where the focus was on reducing calories and fats, and increasing vegetables and whole grains. It was a sensible plan back then, and remains so today. Thirty years later, I continue to center my meals around vegetables, use locally-sourced meats, and steer away from processed foods. But, unlike the strict diet that I cooked at the spa, I do indulge. I’m not the sort to buy a bag of powdered mini-donuts; I bring home puff pastry and mascarpone cheese. I adore mascarpone cheese, which is a creamy, soured, soft product. It’s similar to creme fraiche, which is a rich sour cream-like product. Either work here. This recipe is topped with eggs from my hens. This is an indulgence worth eating!

Sweet Bell Pepper Tarts with Eggs

1 sheet (8 ounces) puff pastry, defrosted
1 or 2 sweet bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (or creme fraiche)
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for dusting
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Sauté the bell peppers and shallots in the olive oil until soft, golden and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3. Use the best quality puff pastry that you can find. Trader Joe’s carries it, but only during the winter holidays.

Look for these ingredients – it shouldn’t have any fat other than butter!

Puff pastry looks fancy and intimidating, but it’s the easiest product to work with! Depending on the brand, you might have to roll it out a bit, but it starts out in the right shape, it just requires flattening a bit. Place the pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a knife, score a margin 1-inch in, and halfway through the pastry.

4. In small bowl, combine the mascarpone

mascarpone cheese

and Parmesan. Heat this over boiling water until is softens (or do in the microwave, but take care that the cheese doesn’t cook.)

5. Spread half of the cheese mixture onto the puff pastry, keeping it inside of the scored lines. Arrange the sautéed peppers over the cheese.

6. Spoon the remaining cheese over the pastry. Crack two eggs, nestling them opposite each other. Dust with about a tablespoon of Parmesan.

7. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes until puffed, brown and the egg yolks are just cooked through.

8. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Cut into 8 pieces for an appetizer, or it satisfies two people for dinner.

It’s a conundrum of summer – just when the harvest is at it’s peak, with vegetables ripe and ready to be stewed and jellied, sauced and preserved, it’s too hot to turn the stove on. I have a solution. I make slow cooker tomato sauce, and I have a few tricks beyond using a crockpot to keep things cool and easy in the kitchen.

The first thing to do is to turn the crockpot on high and pour in some good olive oil. Chop up some onion and toss it in. Let it cook while you’re dealing with the other vegetables. It doesn’t actually saute, but left in long enough (and in a newer pot that has a “high” setting,) you’ll get some browning and depth of flavor.

You can make a classic tomato sauce, with just the onions and tomatoes, but at this point in the summer, I want to use up some squash and maybe a carrot or two. Hopefully, a bell pepper will be ripe. Dice these vegetables as uniformly as you can. Stir them into the onions and keep cooking. Don’t add any liquid, but you can pour in a bit more olive oil if needed.

As much as I love homemade tomato sauce, I hate the task of peeling the tomatoes by blanching in boiling water. There’s all of that steam, and the ice baths to cool things, and the overall mess and heat of it. This year, I’ve discovered the soft vegetable peeler. I got it for the peaches, and it works beautifully on tomatoes!

It’s got a serrated blade and peels quickly and without waste. I am in love.

Coarsely chop the tomatoes. Set aside in a bowl. Go out to the garden and pick herbs. I have sage, oregano, basil and rosemary growing, which is a lovely combination for a sauce. Parsley is good, too. One of the reasons that people don’t bother with fresh herbs is the hassle of stripping the leaves from the tough stems and mincing. Well, in slow cooker, easy-peasey tomato sauce you don’t have to! Simply wash well and tie up with a string.

Here are the tomatoes (note that I’ve added unpeeled cherry tomatoes) and the herbs and a …. tea ball! I’ve put unpeeled garlic cloves into the tea ball. No mincing, no prep! Since the sauce simmers in the pot for hours, I’ll get plenty of garlic flavor with NO WORK.

Put everything in the slow cooker. Add a generous amount of good sea salt. Put the lid on, Reduce the temperature to low and leave it be for five or so hours.

When it’s finished, I freeze in plastic containers.The next day, I pop them out, and repackage in my very favorite summer tool, the FoodSaver vacuum packer.

Here I have a summer vegetable sauce, which this winter will find it’s way into a lasagna, or maybe pureed into a soup.

This is my answer to what to do with too many cherry tomatoes?

Pie crusts become tough when overworked. After a quick forming into a ball and rolling out, I cut a circle, which leaves scraps of dough. Good, expensive, butter-dough. I could save them and make one more crust, but, rolling it again will ruin that perfect pie crust texture. What to do? I make pie crust cookies. I form the scraps into a ball and roll it out, this time in something like a rectangle. Then, I dust with sugar and cinnamon. Then I put a single-layer of something, pecans, or chocolate chips, or chopped apples – whatever I have leftover from pie baking, on the dough (leaving the edges empty.) Roll it up. Slice it like you would a sugar cookie log. It’ll look like rugelach. Place on a non-stick baking sheet (I always use parchment paper.) Bake in a 375 degree oven until lightly browning on the edges.

A baker’s well-deserved treat!

These are pecan pie-crust cookies.