Meatless Monday - Quick Tomato Sauce and Pappardelle

Recently I put up a few pints of Marinara sauce, and in the past I’ve made rich dark “gravy” thick with meat that sat burbling  for hours on a cold winter day.  I love the rich dark silky sauce and I will never tire of it.  

However, this is the time of being flush with tomatoes. With more than I can eat on salads,  have time to can, or find any victims to take them off my hands.

As opposed to the patient and sophisticated deep bass notes of a long simmered sauce, this sauce is brassy, loud and fresh as nineteen-year-old sailor on his first shore leave after three months at sea. 

Add a handful of pungent basil fresh from the garden, a sprig of oregano and a couple cloves of garlic roughly chopped and you have the makings of a quickly prepared, brightly flavored weeknight meal.

No careful measuring here, this is cooking by the seat of your pants, Pinot Noir in a coffee cup, roll up your sleeves, put Sinatra on the music player. Add a salad and enjoy! 

Ingredients:

1lb ripe tomatoes cored and roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed then chopped

1 ripe jalapeno minced (optional)

Pinch crushed red pepper (optional)

1 handful fresh basil leaves – about a dozen - shredded or chiffonade

1 sprig fresh oregano

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Big pinch salt

¼ cup gated parmesan divided

½ cup + of cooking water

Salt and pepper to taste

½ lb dried long pasta – I prefer Tagliatelle or Pappardelle

Directions:

Prepare  pasta according to directions

While water comes to a boil and pasta cooks…

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, add the olive oil and heat until shimmering

Add the chopped tomatoes, (jalapeno and red pepper) and toss to coat with oil,  add big pinch of salt

Cook, stirring often until tomatoes soften – about 3-5 minutes

Add garlic, basil and oregano, stir and turn heat down to medium

Continue cooking and stirring often until sauce starts to thicken, reduce heat to medium low

When pasta is just about cooked remove from cooking water and add to tomato mixture. Add ½ + cup of cooking water (add more or less according to how much liquid you want)  and combine, tossng until pasta is done.

Test for seasoning, adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Put sauced pasta in a bowl, top with parmesan, enjoy!

 

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - @gastrogardener
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener
email: thegastronomicgardener at gmail dot com

Meatless Monday - Ratatouille

I've made this before but my recent harvests rather demand it. One keen eyed observer even predicted it! But with tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplant, crooked neck squash, basil and parsley all from the garden it would be harder to justify not making it rather than repeating from a year ago.

I follow the suggestion from the  Gourmet cookbook and cook the components separately before combining them for a final simmer. The results are worth it!

Ratatouille
Ingredients:
2-3 pounds of tomatoes roughly chopped - If you want you can peel them first, but I don't bother
2 big onions sliced thinly
2 lbs each of zucchini and eggplant cut into bite size chunks - I used crooked neck squash instead of zucchini
3 bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1" chunks
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 handful of basil leaves torn in half - about 20
6-10 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1+ cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon  fresh ground pepper
salt

Directions:
In a large pot over medium heat, add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, parsley and basil and 1/3 cup of olive oil. Bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer about 30 minutes until the tomatoes break down.

Meanwhile.... put the eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Place over a pan or in the sink while it drains.

In a big saute pan heat 3 tbs olive oil. Add the onions and a pinch of salt, cook until soft - about 10 minutes  - remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

Repeat procedure with peppers, crooked neck squash (or zucchini) adding olive oil and salt each time.

Finally, blot dry the eggplant, add another 3 tbs of olive oil (no salt) and the eggplant - cook until soft about 10-12 minutes.

Add all the cooked vegetables and black pepper to the simmering tomatoes. Simmer for another hour or so until the vegetables are very tender.

Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

Serve hot, warm or room temperature with some crusty bread. It's like summer in a bowl!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging! 

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - @gastrogardener
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener
email: thegastronomicgardener at gmail dot com

Tortellini with Chicken and Pesto

Monday - back to work but still need a quick dinner. I have some frozen basil that I just put up a week or so ago, a grilled chicken breast, tortellini, and garlic. Seems obvious to me! I don't have any pine nuts but do have some pecan pieces.

Get the water boiling, chop the chicken breast.

Add basil, garlic to food processor, whiz it up, scrap down  bowl, turn on drizzle in olive oil, add Parmesan, nuts, process until smooth. Taste! - I added two more cloves of garlic.

Drain pasta, add chicken and pesto, toss to coat.  Enjoy! It was delicious!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

An abundance of Basil!

I had just finished putting the hoop house up for a late season crop of lettuce. In order to do so, I had to harvest the "last" of the basil.

There is no way I can use that up,  I like the fresh taste better that dried so I decided to freeze it.

First, pick off the leaves, it took a long time but sure smelled good!




















Next I needed  to puree  it. The blender did not work very well, so into the food processor it went.

A little water to thin it,  the smell is heady!

Hard to believe it all broke down into a big freezer bag.

Squeeze out the air and lay it flat. It'll go into the freezer. Once set, I'll cut it into chunks. I suppose I could have used ice cube trays, but I only have one.

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Eggplant tomato relish

I had eggplant, tomatoes, onions and basil from the garden. So I decide to make this relish.

I got this recipe from the Wednesday July 28, 2010 Chicago Tribune, Good Eating section. Originally, it comes from the Williams-Sonoma "The Art of Preserving" by Rick Fields and Rebecca Courchesne with Lisa Atwood.

It is an updated version of caponata, a Sicilian antipasto. Serve with crusty bread or stirred into linguine or spaghetti.

Ingredients:
2 lbs eggplant sliced 3/4 thick
1/4 cup salt
1.75 lbs tomatoes, peeled, cored, cut in 3/4" dice
4 tbs olive oil
1 onion cut in a rough dice
2 cloves garlic minced
1/3 cup Kalamata Olives
3 tbs lightly toasted pine nuts (these are ridiculously expensive, so much so, that I consider them optional)
2 tbs capers
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup finely sliced basil
salt and pepper to taste

Put eggplant in a colander, sprinkle with the salt, allow to drain for 1 hour. Rinse under cold water, cut into 3/4 inch dice.

Heat 3 tbs oil in large sauce pan. Cook eggplant in batches, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes, transfer to plate.

Add remaining oil to pot, reduce heat to medium low, add onion and cook until tender - about 10 minutes.

Add garlic, cooking stirring often for 2 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, olives, pine nuts, capers, and vinegar.

Raise heat to high and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, gently stir in eggplant and basil, simmer until heated through.

Season with pepper (salt if needed, but olives and capers provide salt)

Ladle hot relish into  sterilized jars leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims clean and adjust two piece lids.

Process jar in boiling water canner 20 minutes for 1/2 pints, 25 minutes for pints.

Cool jars, test seals, store. If seal fails, refrigerate that jar for up to two weeks.

I got 2 pints and 1 half-pint from this recipe, plus a little left over. It was delicious with pasta.

Use it up!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!.


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com//
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Panzanella

Not in the mood for a big dinner production tonight, I looked around the kitchen. So I have some Italian bread that has seen better days, tomatoes from the garden, a giant cucumber, basil, ... hmmm...

Ah! Panzanella!

A good way to not waste anything and a pretty fast and hearty salad. That's right, bread salad.

Ingredients:
Slightly stale bread
tomatoes
garlic
red onion
cucumber
basil
olive oil
balsamic (or any other you like) vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Cut a garlic clove and rub in the salad bowl. Discard
Mince the remaining garlic and slice the red onion - add to bowl.

This cucumber is a monster! Peel, halve, remove seeds and cut into a big dice. Add to bowl.
Chop the tomatoes, tear the bread up. Add to bowl.
Shred basil by hand, add to bowl.

Add generous amount of olive oil and vinegar and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve it up and enjoy.

Dinner in less than 10 minutes! Warm some soup while you are making this and you have a very filling meal.


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Canned Tomato Sauce - Summer in a Jar!

I have a good pile of tomatoes that I'm never going to be able to eat while fresh so I decided to can some up for the cold winter nights. I can already taste some delicious pasta made from the summer's harvest.

I started with a big bag (2 gallon) of tomatoes quartered.

Put them in a big pot with some garlic, dried oregano and basil, and a little bit of olive oil. The exact recipe in in the Balls  Blue book - guide to canning and preserving.

Cook them down until quite soft.- about 20-30 minutes.

I have a new gadget, a food mill. This will make it easy to remove the skins and seeds. It's wet because I just washed it prior to using it the first time.

Run the cooked tomatoes through the mill.

Cook down the tomato sauce until the volume is reduced by half.

Then can as normal - adding 1 TBS on lemon juice to each jar prior to filling with sauce.

I processed them for 35 minutes per the instructions for pint jars. And voila! Summer in a jar!

Until next time, Eat well and keep digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Quick Roasted Vegetables

I found myself with an abundance of produce, but not time to can or blanch even for freezing. I hate for food to go to waste so I picked through and found the fruit that was closest to ending up in the compost bucket without actually having gotten there yet.

I came up with eggplant, peppers, tomatoes. I also threw in some  garlic, onion /celery from the pantry/fridge respectively.  You could do this with almost any vegetable you have on hand. Harder vegetables such as carrots should be sliced thin to quicken the roasting time. Quantities of any one vegetable are not very important.

Preheat oven to 350F. If you want dark carmelization turn oven to 400F

I chopped up the eggplant  (this was two Japanese eggplants)and salted it in a colander. Let it sit for up to an hour. Rinse and set aside.

Chop up everything else and put it on a sheetpan along with the eggplant. A roasting pan  with deeper sides would work fine as well.

Salt, fresh ground pepper, some basil and oregano from the garden and a generous glug of olive oil (up to 1/4 cup) to finish it off.

Put in the oven, for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until all vegetables are tender and starting to carmelize.

Serve hot over rice or pasta, or if cold add to salads, sandwiches, top eggs with it.  Makes a nice room temperature appetizer spread on  toasted bread rounds too!

Eat Well and Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

What to do with the Japanese eggplant?

I have two eggplants from the garden that need a purpose in life other than to be purple and beautiful. I chose a Thai eggplant / basil stirfry.


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 bunch basil, leaves picked from the stem
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy)
2 eggplants chopped
2 chili peppers

Chop garlic and slice chili peppers. Pick the leaves from the stem of the basil.

Heat the wok (or pan) over high or medium high. Add oil, chili peppers and garlic.

Stir until the garlic turn golden brown. Add eggplant and stir.

Add a cup of water and cover the wok with a lid. Keep the lid closed until the eggplant is cooked. It should take about 5-7 minutes before the eggplant is done. The eggplant turns from white to translucent when it is done. Almost all of the water should have been evaporated at this point. If the eggplant is still not cooked, add a little bit more water and keep lid closed until the eggplant is ready.

Add fish sauce and sugar and stir.

Add basil and quickly stir to heat the basil, so that it retains it color.

Turn off heat immediately.

Serve hot with rice.

The eggplant was silky, the basil adds a lovely bright licorice flavor, and the chilis provide a nice little glow. Highly recomended!

Eat Well!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt