Canned Marinara

The Romas are finally starting to come in, but there is not enough for a huge batch of sauce. I did however find a recipe for Marinara that only calls of 8lbs of tomatoes.

*If you are not comfortable canning this, you could always freeze it.

Let's give it a go...


Makes 4+ pints

Ingredients:

8 lbs. ripe Roma (plum) tomatoes

1-1/3 cups onions, finely minced

2/3 cup celery, finely minced

3 cloves garlic finely minced

1-1/3 cups carrots finely minced

2/3 cup olive oil

1-1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt to taste

Directions:

Prepare 4 glass pint canning jars, lids and bands

Peel Tomatoes

Drop tomatoes into boiling water, a few at a time.
Let the water return to a boil, then remove the tomatoes and drain. Peel and chop.

In a large pot, cook the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots in the olive oil, covered over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring a few times.

Uncover and stir over heat for 5-10 minutes longer, or until the vegetables are very soft and a little gold.

Add the tomatoes, sugar, and pepper and simmer gently, covered for 15 minutes.

Puree the sauce through the medium disc of food mill. You could used a food processor and run through a fine colander

Return to pot, add basil and oregano,  cook at a simmer until desired consistency is reached, about 20-40 minutes, stirring often.

Add salt to taste. If you prefer a smooth sauce, work the sauce through the fine disc of a food mill.  

Ladle hot sauce into prepared hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles.

Wipe rim.

Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until finger tight.

Process jars in a boiling water canner for 35 minutes, adjusting for altitude.

Remove jars and cool. Use in the dead of winter, think of the warmer months, and smile!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - @gastrogardener
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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

A Different take on Tabbouleh/Tabouleh/Tabouli

Tabbouleh is a traditional Mediterranean (Lebanese) grain salad. bulgar, parsley and mint form the basis of this light yet satisfying salad. Sadly there is a flavor I do not care for, and that is mint. Therefore, I have adapted the more traditional recipe to fit my tastes, replacing mint with cilantro. This is perfect summer fare, and can be a meal unto itself. It is also great on a buffet, as it will hold up for hours.

Besides being delicious, you only need to boil some water - so you won't heat up your kitchen on a hot summer day.

Feel free to adapt this recipe, substitute couscous or quinoa for the bulgar. Adaptations I made as I was making it  - I (gasp!) ran out of cilantro and parsley so it is not as fluffy as I would normally like it,  and for some reason I completely forgot the scallions/onions. You know what? It was still delicious! I ate it last night with the merguez I had in the freezer. A simple summer meal packed with flavor!

Ingredients:

1 cup Bulgar + boiling water to cover

1 small cucumber peeled, seeded and diced (if a very young fresh cucumber - use the whole thing)

2 jalapeño peppers seeded and finely diced (use less if sensitive to chilies)

½ cup cooked rinsed garbanzo beans (optional, but I love them)

1 cup packed chopped cilantro or parsley

1 cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup red onion, finely diced OR scallions minced. Use both the green and white part.

1-3 cloves garlic finely minced

1 tsp salt

¼ cup lemon juice (fresh is always better)

¼ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put bulgar wheat in medium large bowl.

Add enough boiling water to cover wheat. Stir, cover and let stand until bulgar is tender – about 30 minutes. Drain.

Add salt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic to bulgar. Mix well and cover – At this point bulgar mixture may be chilled for up to 24 hours.

30 minutes before serving add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Not perfectly traditional but cool and deeply satisfying nonetheless.

Until next time, Eat Well and 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

Meatless Monday - Summer/Winter vegetable stuffed shells

Last summer we put up both pumpkin puree (frozen) and a nice tomato eggplant relish. It came to the dear wife to combine them both.

She made this last fall but didn't document how, so we set out  to document the process today. The sweet vegetables, and the savory creamed spinach topping are a satisfying combination. This can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready. You could probably freeze it too, but I haven't tried that.

Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin  or squashe puree
2 cups tomato eggplant relish, recipe here
25 large pasta shells
2 bags spinach
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic minced
3 tbs butter divided
2 tbs flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

In a food processor, puree the eggplant relish.

Combine with the vegetable puree with the pumpkin.

Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse.
Stuff shells with vegetable mixture, place in 9x13 oven proof pan. Spray first wth cooking spray or lightly grease.

Make the creamed spinach.

Over medium high heat, melt  1 tbs butter, add onions an garlic.

When onions are translucent, add spinach and cook until soft.

Transfer cooked spinach to food processor and pulse until chopped.

Melt 2 tbs butter over medium high heat, add the flour.

Cook, stirring for 5 minutes.

Add 1 cup milk - and whisk until mixture boils and thickens.

Add spinach and stir to combine.

Add another cup of milk, stir until thick.

Check seasoning - salt and pepper to taste.

Pour over stuffed shells.

Sprinkle with parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until parmesan is golden brown.

Until next time Eat Well and 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

Thai Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin is a highly versatile and today I made a Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry. This recipe is adapted from About.com’s Darlene Schmidt recipe. A rich dish, citrus tang and mild glow make this a delicious option on a cool autumn night. There is a long list of ingredients but do not let that scare you off.



Serves 6


Ingredients:
For the vegetables:
½ small pumpkin
1 small or ½ large yam or sweet potato peeled and cubed
1-2 carrots peeled and cut into thick slices
1 yellow bell pepper large dice
1 cup chopped tomato or 1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
Grated orange rind from 1 orange – (save the orange for the sauce)
1 tbs oil
Green onion for garnish

For the curry sauce:
3-4 cloves of garlic
3 tbs Thai chili sauce ( you can use 1-2 fresh chilis)
1 can coconut milk
3 tbs lemon juice
juice of 1 orange
2 ½ tbs soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs ground coriander seeds
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tsp fennel seed
½ tsp turmeric
½ onion  sliced

Directions:
Put all sauce ingredients in food processor (or blender). Process until smooth. Set aside.
Prepare the pumpkin by scooping out the seeds, slice off skin and cube flesh.

Put wok over medium high heat, add oil.
When oil is hot, add pumpkin, yam, and carrots.

Stir fry for 2 minutes, add curry sauce, stir well.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover.
Simmer until vegetables are fork tender – 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add bell pepper, tomatoes, chickpeas and orange rind, stir to incorporate.

Simmer for 2 minutes

Serve with rice, garnish with sliced green onion.

This was an excellent dish, I highly recommend it!

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

Apple Butter - a taste of autumn preserved!

Yesterday the DW and I went out to an apple orchard to walk around, get some apples, and some apple cider donuts. The doughnuts were sublime, light, fluffy and warm, they almost melt in your mouth, but I digress.

We ended up with 1/2 a peck each of Jonagold and Honeycrisp. DW prefers the Jonogold, I like the Honeycrisp. That's about 20 lbs of apples.  It is unlikely we'll eat that many out of hand so I immediately started looking in my canning book for recipes. I decided to make some apple butter, if you are not familiar with it, it is like very thick and highly spiced applesauce - great on toast for breakfast instead of jam or jelly. I used the Honeycrisp for this  recipe.


Canned Apple Butter  - Makes 3 pints.

Ingredients:
4 lbs apples, peeled, cored and quartered.
2 cups water
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove

Honeycrisp are large heavy fruit - here is the 4 lbs!

Using the super peeler, (no I don't feel like I am cheating) all I have to turn the crank! This makes very short work of the apples. All peelings go right out to the compost pile.

To make the apple puree, put the prepped apples into a large pot with 2 cups of water. 

Simmer until soft.

Run the cooked apples through the food mill with the largest screen - you want a puree not liquid.

Return the puree to the pot, add the sugar and spices.

Cook over medium head until thickened and puree will round up on a spoon. That is, if you scoops some out, it has enough body to be a small mound on a spoon.

Prepare your jars for canning following manufacturers instructions. Here is my filling station.

Fill jars, remove any air bubbles, leave 1/4" head space, adjust 2 piece lids, and process in hot water canner for 10 minutes.

As I had the water canner  already setup and had all the ingredients on hand, I went ahead and  made another batch of the Eggplant Tomato Relish. - another 6 1/2 pints.

As you can see, by this point it was dark outside. I cleaned up and called it a night.


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

Eggplant stuffed tomatoes

A reader send me a recipe for zucchini  stuffed tomatoes. Well, with today's harvest, I decided to take that recipe and give it a twist to make use of what I had on hand.

Ingredients:
2 Japanese eggplants medium dice
1 small onion diced
1/2 cup diced mushrooms
7 tomatoes,

4 cloves garlic finely diced

1 tsp Herbs De Provence

2 tsp olive oil + more for drizzling

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan (I know the picture shows mozzarella, but I changed my mind at the last minute.

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onions.

Cook until onions are soft, stirring often.

Add eggplant and mushrooms and a pinch of salt and grind of pepper.

Cook over medium heat until eggplant browns stirring often. Add herbs.

While eggplant cooks, cut top third of tomatoes off and remove veins, seeds and pulp. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes.

Add half the Parmesan and bread crumbs to the eggplant mixture, stir to mix.

Stuff the tomato shells with the eggplant mixture.

Mix the remaining bread crumbs and cheese. Sprinkle over the top of each stuffed tomato. Drizzle each with a little olive oil.

Put in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, change oven to broil, and broil for 3-5 minutes until tops are browned.

Enjoy!


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

Seafood Diablo

It's been while since I've made my  Seafood Diablo, and since I had a bit of fresh tomato sauce from Saturday that didn't make it into a jar I decided to give it a go.


Seafood Diablo (serves 4 generously)

Ingredients:
1 lb mixed seafood - thawed under running cold water in a colander
2 cups tomato sauce
1 Serrano pepper finely diced ( use any hot pepper you want)
2 small sweet peppers sliced
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 TBS olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup vinegar based hot sauce
1 lb dried pasta

Put large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Follow box instructions.

Add olive oil to large pan over med heat, add peppers, onions and garlic. Cook stirring occasionally until onions are soft.

Add the tomato sauce, and stir. This was a bit thin so I cooked it down a bit.



















Add pasta to boiling water.

Add seafood mix to sauce. Reduce heat to medium.

While pasta boils, cook seafood gently.
When pasta is just about al dente, add it to the sauce.

Add hot sauce to taste.
Toss (or stir)to coat in the sauce until pasta is finished.

Enjoy!

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