roasted tomato sauce

last year i froze about 7 quarts of tomato sauce for our winter consumption. i was making a somewhat fussy sauce, using onions, grated carrots, red wine, garlic, herbs, and who knows what else. this year i wanted to simplify. and, frankly, i wanted a better sauce.

the first couple of quarts i made were basically tomato puree from fresh tomatoes simmered forever with olive oil and salt until reduced, dark red, and delicious. then i discovered this roasted sauce and love it so much i've made it a goal to keep making it until there's simply no more room in the freezer. roasting the tomatoes first brings out their natural sweetness and gorgeous tomato-y flavor, and that little bit of roasting time actually reduces the amount of time that the sauce has to cook down. 

play with the herbs and such, depending on your taste. (there's definitely room for more garlic, for you garlic lovers!)

roasted tomato sauce

adapted from the heirloom tomato by amy goldman

5 pounds plum/paste tomatoes, cored and quartered

5 large cloves of garlic, cut in half

handful of basil leaves

3 oregano sprigs

3 thyme sprigs

1/4 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
in casserole dish or roasting pan, combine tomatoes, garlic cloves, herbs, salt and pepper, and toss all with the olive oil.

roast 30 minutes, stirring a time or two. remove from oven and allow to cool a bit. pull out any stemmy thyme and oregano sprigs. 

when cool enough to handle, place a food mill over a heavy-bottomed pot and puree the tomatoes, garlic, and all juices through the mill in batches using the finest disc. skins and seeds will be left behind. 

bring sauce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, over med-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it reduces to the thickness you want. i cooked mine about an hour. taste from time to time and adjust salt. i also added about a teaspoon of sugar, as i like a little sweetness in my tomato sauce.

use immediately, or pack in freezer container, label, and freeze! 5 lbs tomatoes makes 1 quart of sauce.

*note: i have no idea what it would take to be able to can this sauce. tomatoes are tricky because some are more high-acid than others, and so are safe in a hot water canning process. i'd suggest finding a recipe at a trusted source like ball to make sure the sauce you open up in january isn't full of toxic spores!


sources:
our garden-- anna russian and polish linguisa tomatoes, herbs 
alvarez farms-- roma tomatoes and garlic

meyer lemon fest part 1: preserved

i went on a meyer lemon spree the other week. they were in season (though these did come from california, i should point out), so there were a ton of great looking ones at PCC natural markets. i really love meyer lemons-- they are sweeter than the average lemon, perfumy, thin-skinned, and are the most gorgeous color of yellow that i believe there exists in nature. i've read in a couple of places that they may be lemons crossed with some sort of sweet orange, but i can't confirm that. i can only declare with certainty that they are a gorgeous citrus treat. 

my plan for all the lemons i bought included preserving some. i've never worked with preserved lemons before, and frankly only know they exist because i've heard them referenced on shows like top chef. but, reading as many food blogs as i do, i realized that everyone else was doing it, so i would, too. the recipe takes a total of 5 days (non-active time) and requires a jar with a tight-fitting lid big enough to hold 6 cut-up lemons (or several smaller jars).

preserved meyer lemons
gourmet, december 1999 

2 1/2 - 3 lbs meyer lemons (10-12 count)
2/3 cup coarse salt (i used kosher)
1/4 cup olive oil

blanch 6 lemons in boiling water 5 minutes. (i actually blanched closer to 3 after reading complaints in the reviews about the lemons being too soft and difficult to handle and i had no problems.) let cool. cut lemons into 8 wedges and discard seeds. toss with the salt and put in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. 

squeeze the remaining lemons to get enough juice to cover the wedges in the jar. cover jar with lid and let stand at room temperature 5 days, shaking gently once a day. at this point i transferred them into two jars, and topped each with half of the olive oil. keep chilled.

refrigerated they will keep for about a year, but i doubt it will take me that long to use them up. 

i'm not entirely sure what i'll do with them. i know they show up in moroccan and northern african cooking a good bit. i don't do much of that style, but this is certainly motivation to give it a try. one thing i tried already was to use the leftover brine after the jar transfer in place of olive juice as a twist on a dirty martini. quite nice! i can also imagine a piece or two thin sliced with some asparagus and pasta, or even in something like a fresh tuna salad. these just may become a new kitchen necessity.

pickled green tomatoes (or, first foray into canning...)

i'm sure this will come as a complete surprise, but it's raining in seattle. i knew it was coming, of course, and i felt like i was in a race against the weather to get my tomatoes harvested before the rains came and changed everything. my plants had been sluggish all summer, then suddenly in late august bloomed and set a ton of fruit. i knew only a few would have the chance to color up before the cold and wet made them unhappy. i was able to bring in a table full, but at least that many more were small, solid green, and no where near ready to color. i pulled them inside with the expectation that most of the big guys will ripen (i've got 6 bright red brandywines awaiting my attention right now!) or be fried, but was puzzled by the still green sungolds, a cherry variety. what do you do with green cherry tomatoes? i started looking online, wondering if they could be fried like the big ones, but learned that the breading won't stick to whole tomatoes, and that the little buggers might get too hot inside and explode. exploded tomatoes aren't useful. then i found my answer-- they can be pickled! terrific idea! i wasn't sure what one ultimately does with pickled green tomatoes, but also figured i had little to lose in finding out.

there was one problem-- i had never canned anything, and was unwilling to strike out on my own considering one of the possible consequences of getting it wrong is death. so i turned once again to the trusty interweb and searched for canning classes in seattle, fully expecting that the big canning-lesson season was over. however, i actually found a class meeting 3 days later, on a saturday, in my very neighborhood! registration was over, and the write-up said the 16 spots would fill up fast, but i emailed anyway on the off-chance that one was still open. that friday i received my answer-- there had been a cancellation, and i could take that spot.

i'm not historically one to get all sappy about "community" and that sort of thing, but oh my god, we had SO MUCH FUN. it was educational, for sure, and spending time in the kitchen with experienced canners was invaluable. but even aside from everything i learned, just bustling about with 15 other women representing about a 40-year range in ages was absolutely delightful. we were processing 4 different recipes, some for us to take home and the rest for the soup kitchen. there were a dozen huge pots of water boiling at any given time, a dishwasher sterilizing jars, ladels and hot syrupy mixtures and a bunch of women rushing around through the steam to get recipes made and jars processed ("lids! i need LIDS!"). had there not been so many people there who knew what they were doing, it could have been complete pandemonium. it was a great time, with great people, and i left all aglow with a feeling of accomplishment on a number of levels.

first thing i did after was buy some basic canning supplies (jar lifter, wide-mouth funnel, and extra lids) and then start looking up recipes for pickled green cherry tomatoes. one thing i learned in my class is that you can trust anything that ball tells you, but until you are really experienced it's best to avoid other sources. thankfully, ball had a recipe for me.

dilled green tomatoes

yield 6 pints

5 lbs small, firm green tomatoes

1/4 cup canning salt (or kosher-- not iodized)

3 1/2 cups vinegar

3 1/2 cups water

6 or 7 cloves garlic

6 or 7 heads fresh dill

6 or 7 bay leaves

wash tomaotes, drain. core tomatoes and cut into halves or quarters. (i left mine whole as i was using cherries.) combine salt, vinegar, and water in a large saucepot. bring to a boil.

pack tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. add 1 clove garlic, 1 head of dill (2 tsp dill seeds) and 1 bayleaf to each jar. (i also added a sliver of jimmy nardello pepper from our garden, for color.)

ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. remove air bubbles. adjust 2-piece caps. process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

i adjusted the recipe according to how many tomatoes i had, and packed in 1/2 pint jars. i'm in the mood to can everything i see, but have found that my pot is too shallow to easily maintain 1-2" of water over the tops of the jar lids. i'll have to buy a bigger pot. meanwhile, how very liberating to know that i'm able to can high-acid foods!

here are the recipes we made in the class. i worked on the fennel relish and it tasted amazing! our instructor said it is particularly good on fish. i haven't tasted the others yet, but can't wait to open up some bright early fall flavors one dark winter day.

apple cider jelly

3 cups apple cider

2 sticks cinnamon, broken in half

4 cloves

3 cups sugar

1 pouch liquid pectin (or dry pectin made liquid by following the directions on the box-- 3/4 cup water per packet, i think...)

bring apple cider, cloves and cinnamon to a boil, covered. reduce by a third, about 5-10 minutes. remove cinnamon and cloves, reserving cinnamon sticks. add sugar and bring to a boil. stir in pectin and return to a full boil. boil one minute, stirring constantly.

place reserved cinnamon sticks in jars. ladle hot jelly into jars and process 10 minutes.

fennel relish (she said this is really good on fish!)

2 bulbs fennel, bulbs and stems chopped, fronds removed for another use

1 lb sweet onion, chopped

2 Tbsp pickling salt

1 c sugar

1/2 tsp cracked pepper

2 c vinegar

2 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp basil (optional) or 2 Tbsp citrus zest (optional)

combine fennel, onion, and salt in non-reactive bowl. in large pot combine vinegar, sugar, and cracked pepper. bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. add fennel-onion mixture and cook until softened. the mixture should thicken slightly. stir in garlic and optional spices. fill jars leaving 1/2 inch headroom. process 10 minutes. makes 4 cups.

pickled beets

10-15 small beets

2 c vinegar

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 c water

1 c sliced onions

2 tsp pickling salt

1 tsp mustard seeds

wash and trim beets. boil 25-40 minutes, or roast until tender, 45-60 minutes. peel and cut into bite-sized pieces.

combine sugar, vinegar, and water in pan and bring to a boil. dissolve sugar, then reduce to a simmer.

place beets and onions in alternating layers in jars. distribute the mustard seeds between jars and pour vinegar mixture over beets leaving 1/2" headroom. process 30 minutes in pint jars. (look up processing time for beets in quart jars-- it will be longer!)

pickled artichoke hearts

1 lemon

8 cups water

16 small/baby artichokes

3 c vinegar

1 c water

2 tsp pickling salt

2 Tbsp sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cracked pepper

1 bay leaf

fill non-reactive bowl with water. slice lemon and squeeze into water. rinse artichokes. starting at the base, bend tough outer leaves back and snap off where they break naturally, leaving tender inner leaves. using small sharp knife, trim outside of base until no dark green areas remain. cut artichoke in half or quarters depending on size. place in lemon water.

combine remaining ingredients in sauce pan. bring to boil.

place artichokes in jars. pour vinegar mixture into jars, making sure to distribute spices evenly. process 15 minutes in pint jars.

the revolution will not contain high-fructose corn syrup

"There was a time when people said grace and I think that there are people who bemoan that we no longer say grace. And to me, it's not about thanking God, it's the fact that I don't think we could thank God anymore, we'd have to say, like, 'Bless us, oh Dow Chemical, for these food-like substances in front of us.'"

- warren etheredge of the warren report on KUOW presents

when i was a kid, we did a lot of food preserving. i remember bags and bags of frozen summer corn, tomatoes, butter beans and field peas, and one of my favorite childhood treats, my grandmother's pickled watermelon rinds. i especially remember blackberry jelly day, when the berries my brother and i had picked from the overgrown hills behind our house would be cooked into jelly by our parents. i remember vividly the cheesecloth filled with the desiccated berries after my dad had squeezed the ever-livin' bejeezus out of them, running our fingers along the sides of the pots to get as much of the warm and sticky mixture as we could before the pots got washed, and the sound of those jar lids popping all afternoon as they sealed while my mother took a little nap on the couch.

it was work, but i suspect that my family preserved food then for one of the reasons i do now-- because it's only good when it's in season. i'm just wrapping up two weeks of doing my own preserving of the summer bounty, and while i don't yet have the courage to start canning, the 18 cubic foot freezer my mother funded as an early birthday present is almost full.

preserving what's in season is one thing, but i've got other motivations as well. over the last several years there have been countless articles, books, movies, documentaries, news spots, radio shows, and bumper stickers dedicated to this subject-- we no longer know what is in our food. it's a sad and scary subject that is constantly on my mind. i moved away from processed foods years ago because i found them soulless-- i'd far rather make my own vegetable soup than open a can from campbell's. but i've learned that soulless is just the beginning. there are greater insidious consequences of our industrialized food system, damaging our environment, our livelihoods, the living conditions of people in other countries, and our health.

this is a hard post to write simply because there is so much to say. i'll try to keep it as uncomplicated as i can, though the situation we're in is anything but uncomplicated. i'll also try not to be a michael pollan parrot, but his book the omnivore's dilemma is the jumping off point for most of what i've got to say.

consider this:

• our food is full of chemicals-- preservatives, additives, what-have-you, meant to extend the shelf life, preserve the bright color, etc. there's plenty of research to be done, for sure, but even scratching the surface, things turn up-- as one example, a quick web search for "polysorbate 80" yields results saying it contributes to infertility.
• ingredients travel great distances, sometimes to and from other countries, for production and processing. the more ingredients in a product, the more fossil fuels were burned to move those ingredients around.
• our system depends on a monoculture of subsidized corn. growing nothing but corn year after year is killing our farmlands, has removed diversity from our diets, and has erased many of our food traditions.
• speaking of corn, according to michael pollan many american kids get 20% of their daily calories from high-fructose corn syrup. twenty percent! and, lest we suspect we can identify products containing corn by name, here's a list from pollan: lecithin, mono-, di-, and triglycerides, citric acid, modified and unmodified starch, glucose syrup, maltodextrin, crystalline frustose, ascorbic acid, dextrose, lactic acid, lysine, maltose, MSG, polyols, caramel color, xanthan gum-- all are, or can be, derived from corn.
• corn (unnaturally, and with sickening results) feeds the animals we eat. even the wax coating on fresh produce-- corn. we're all pretty much bipedal ears of corn at this point.
• the corporations in charge of our food supply are riddled with infractions, from human rights violations to environmental destruction and more. not only that, they appear to be happy to strip our food of nutrition and flavor in order to provide the cheapest possible calories in the interest of their own bottom line, all the while paying farm workers a pitiful sum for their labor.

when thinking about this post, i decided to conduct an experiment. i pulled out some dried fettuccine and a jar of pasta sauce. a pasta dinner-- should be harmless, right? one ingredient in the pasta is ferrous lactate, an additive for color retention and iron fortification, if wikipedia is to be believed. the first page of results from a google search on "ferrous lactate" is heavy with chinese suppliers. do i really need an ingredient to travel from china for my pasta dinner? not to mention the allowable trace amount of arsenic...

next, the sauce. a jar of classico sun-dried tomato sauce with an old-world label resembling a cracked fresco and a silhouette of italy on the lid. the back of the label reads, "In the seaside villas of Capri, sauces made with sun-dried tomatoes have the rich intensity of the Mediterranean sun." that may be true, but i doubt it has any bearing whatsoever on what's in the jar. but i digress. the label also reads that the sauce is distributed by international gourmet specialties company in pittsburgh. turns out their parent company is h.j. heinz, and it didn't take long to find people who think heinz is causing some problems in the world. responsible shopper rates them here, and lists some of the issues with heinz here.

i'm not saying that i know that heinz is making life miserable for indonesians, or that my fettucine has an additive from china. what i am saying is what i started with-- we don't know what's in our food.

thus, i preserve. i started with tomato sauce, something i first tried last year with terrific results. it freezes well in quart-sized containers, ready to stand in for that jar of classico in my winter pasta dishes. and i know where the ingredients came from.

the sauce has carrots from rob's mother's garden. the oregano and thyme are from our herb patch.

the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and basil are from an organic farmer named don hilario alvarez in yakima valley. alvarez got most of my money this summer, second only to our landlord, and i was happy to pay him directly for his hard work without some impertinent middle man.

i'm thrilled that alvarez had dried beans available-- i've cooked and frozen pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, and garbanzos to have ready for chili, soups and stews this winter.

i've frozen bags of fresh peas, corn, bell peppers, and green beans. i've frozen peeled and diced tomatoes, and tomatoes stewed with peppers and onions. i wish i'd been keeping a log of how much i'm putting away, but i calculated over the weekend that i'd already processed about 70 lbs of tomatoes, and should still get 10-20 more from the garden in the next week or so.

as an experiment i've also frozen chopped walla walla sweet onions (my favorite, other than georgia's vidalia onions!), and jars of salsa. i'm not sure that the textures will hold up, especially with the salsas, but it's certainly worth a try.

my goal is to seriously reduce the purchases i make at the grocery store. no cans of beans, no frozen peas-- just what i've saved from the summer. i live in an area that takes it's local food seriously. if i didn't, there's not a chance i could even entertain this idea. for this, i am thankful. i know not everyone has access to a farmers market twice a week, or anything close to the time it's taken me to get all of this done. (i wish i could do it for everyone!) but i do hope that the rising interest in being able to source one's food, to know what's in it, and to eat locally, continues to shape food production across the country. everyone deserves clean and healthy, not to mention delicious, food.

if you haven't read these, give them a try. really great stuff.

the omnivore's dilemma by michael pollan. (dense but amazing-- i'm only about a third of the way through.)

animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kingsolver.

in defense of food by michael pollan. (haven't read it, but i most certainly will.)

also, food-related movies, a list from warren etheredge (i haven't seen any of these!)

THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN

OUR DAILY BREAD

AMERICAN DREAM

ASPARAGUS!

FOOD FIGHT

THE FUTURE OF FOOD

SUPERSIZE ME

END OF THE LINE

BANANAS!

SOYLENT GREEN

FOOD, INC.

THE INFORMANT!