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

cinnamon basil chicken

jerry traunfeld continues to rock my world. he combines seemingly unlikely flavors with such surprising and delicious results, and it's kind of thrilling to know that when i cook one of his recipes i'll likely encounter flavors i've never experienced before. (peaches and tarragon? of course!) this time, chicken simmers in tomatoes, much like a cacciatore, but is punctuated with cinnamon, basil, and fresh ginger. this dish is, without question, going in the rotation-- i knew it on the first bite.

cinnamon basil chicken

adapted from jerry traunfeld's the herbal kitchen

1 frying chicken, about 4-5 lbs, cut into 8 pieces with backbone removed (save back for making stock!)

salt and pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 large onion, sliced into long thin strips from root end to top

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

28 ounces diced fresh tomatoes with juice (or 28-oz can diced tomatoes, with half of juice drained)

3 3-inch cinnamon sticks (jerry suggests "true" cinnamon if you can find it, but i just used whole sticks from the grocery)

3 star anise pods (i couldn't find any so left them out)

1 1/2 cups torn fresh sweet basil, or cinnamon basil

season chicken parts with salt and pepper. heat olive oil over medium heat in large skillet with tight-fitting lid. (i actually used a big heavy-bottom soup pot since it was the biggest thing i had to accommodate the chicken.) add chicken to pot, skin-side down, and cook until skin is golden brown, 6-8 minutes. flip chicken and cook another 2-3 minutes. remove from pan and set aside.

add the onion, garlic, and ginger to the pan. (this is when it starts to smell so good!) cook, stirring, for a few minutes until they soften and begin to brown. (at this point, i  deglazed with about a tablespoon or two of sherry-- there were so many browned bits left from the chicken that i wanted to make sure i got every little morsel into the sauce!) add the tomatoes, cinnamon sticks, star anise (if using), and 1 tsp kosher salt. return chicken to pan. bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and reduce heat to low. cook about 50 minutes, maintaining a low simmer. check chicken for doneness. if chicken is cooked through and sauce is still watery, you can remove the chicken and cook the sauce uncovered over medium-high heat until it thickens. 

scatter with basil, toss, and serve immediately. 

chicken from stokesberry farm

onion and garlic from alvarez farm

tomatoes and basil from our garden

homemade worcestershire sauce

it takes a lot of ingredients to make worcestershire sauce. a lot. and this particular sauce takes time-- 3 weeks, to be exact. but it is so.worth.it. the sauce is dark, thick, and incredibly rich. it's not a high yield recipe, but the flavor is so concentrated that the 2 cups it makes should theoretically last a while. that said, it's so good that i want to put it on everything, not just the bloody marys i originally made it for, so it's probably time to start on the next batch! 

homemade worcestershire sauce
adapted from saveur.com

2 cups white distilled vinegar
1/2 cup molasses (i used unsulphered blackstrap)
1/2 cup soy sauce (i used low-sodium tamari)
1/4 cup tamarind concentrate (i used tamarind pods, scraping out the gooey pulp. worked fine, but i'll use the concentrate next time.)
3 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
3 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp curry powder
5 cardamom pods, smashed
4 chili de arbol, chopped (i used dried)
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1" stick cinnamon'
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2" piece ginger, peeled and crushed
1/2 cup sugar
(recipe also calls for 1 chopped anchovy, but i left it out.)

combine all ingredients except sugar in a saucepan. bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

meanwhile, cook sugar in a skillet over medium heat until it breaks down and begins to caramelize, turning dark and syrupy, about 5 minutes. add sugar to other mixture and combine well. simmer another 5 minutes. transfer to jar with tight fitting lid.

refrigerate for 3 weeks. 

strain solids. 

sauce will keep, refrigerated, up to 8 months, but i doubt you'll have it around that long!

last day of summer, september 21

i'd like to call back summertime 

have her stay for just another

month or so

but she's got the urge for going

so I guess she'll have to go.

-- joni mitchell, "urge for going" 

cherry tomato salad with baked ricotta and olive tapenade crostini

i think i've posted about crostini, like, a dozen times. it's such a default for us because if you toss beautiful vegetables and herbs together, you've got a great veg salad. put it on toast, however, and you've got a meal. and since the matt's wild and white currant cherry tomatoes have been cranking out ripe fruit by the daily pint, making a meal from them has become a necessary delight. 

this recipe is from my gorgeous book (a gift from my spectacular boyfriend) by amy goldman, the heirloom tomato. it's basically a crostini topped with olive tapenade, baked ricotta, and tomato basil salad. she includes instructions for making the olive tapenade, but i frankly saw that as no more than an opportunity to spend a bunch of money on ingredients i wouldn't otherwise have around. thus, i bought a small amount of kalamata tapenade from the olive bar at the grocery. the baked ricotta looks pretty, but i found it rather dry and an unnecessary step. do with it what you will!

cherry tomato salad with baked ricotta and olive tapenade crostini
adapted from the heirloom tomato by amy goldman

for baked ricotta:
1 1/2 lbs ricotta cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh-cracked pepper

for tomato salad:
2 pints mixed cherry tomatoes, halved, or larger tomatoes, cut into pieces
1/4 cup chopped basil
1 Tbps sherry vinegar
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp finely diced shallots
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

for crostini:
1 baguette, cut into 1/2 - 1" slices
olive oil
salt and pepper
olive tapenade, store bought or homemade

preheat oven to 450 degrees. combine the ricotta with 2 Tbps of the olive oil and spread in greased ovenproof dish. drizzle with remaining olive oil and top with fresh cracked pepper. bake until heated through and beginning to brown on top. allow to cool before serving.

mix the vinegars with the shallots and soak for 30 minutes. whisk in the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. pour over tomatoes, add basil, and mix gently. adjust seasonings. 

reduce heat in oven to 400 degrees. brush the bread slices with olive oil on each side, and season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. toast in oven until golden brown (but not too dried out!), around 5 minutes.  

serve warm toasts with a layer of tapenade, then ricotta, and tomato salad. delicious. 

herbed potato salad with lemon and olive oil dressing

every summer requires a reliable potato salad, and this summer mine was the herbed potato salad with lemon-olive oil dressing from bon appetit. some batches turned out better than others, but having an in-a-pinch recipe to turn to for dinner or last-minute barbecues has simplified several evenings over the course of the season. 

the recipe caught my eye because it calls for fresh herbs that happen to be growing in my herb pots. i've also never been in to mayo-based potato salads and appreciated that this one has a light and tart dressing of olive oil and lemon juice (which i spiced up with a little whole grain mustard and sugar). it comes together super fast, but the salad needs to sit for an hour or so before serving in order for the potatoes to take on the flavor of the dressing-- otherwise, it can seem like a flavorless bowl of steamed potatoes.

use super-waxy potatoes-- in the batch in the photo above i used yukon golds, red lasodas, and viking purples for a colorful mix. they held up beautifully, even though i over-steamed them! (i also forgot the red peppers in the batch pictured, and really missed them. won't make that mistake again.)

herbed potato salad with lemon-olive oil dressing
adapted from bob appetit, june 2000

2 lbs waxy potatoes
1/2 cup rough chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp (or more) whole grain or dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet or red onion
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

fresh cracked pepper

3 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

scrub potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces, about 1". steam in a basket steamer until tender, about 10 minutes. put potatoes in bowl and add red peppers. in a separate bowl, add lemon juice, mustard, onions, sugar, and salt and pepper. whisk in olive oil, taste, and adjust seasonings. pour dressing over potatoes, add chopped herbs, and mix thoroughly. cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to 4 hours for dressing to flavor the potatoes. serve at room temperature. 

sources:
potatoes: olsen farms

zucchini fritters with basil pistou

i often make zucchini fritters in summer, and generally don't fuss too much over what recipe i use. this one was in organic cooking, and since i knew right where to find it, when the urge struck to make zucchini fritters i went straight to it. in the middle of getting the batter ready, chatting away with rob about our respective days, i said, "beat the egg white? i wish i'd read this recipe all the way through before i started on it. *sigh.*" at that moment, beating the egg white seemed like way more of a hardship than was likely to be outweighed by the results. but i dutifully grabbed the whisk, whipped the egg white into self-supporting peaks, and stirred it into the glossy batter. it was so worth the 2 extra minutes of prep time when they puffed up fat and light, like savory, creamy, crunchy-on-the-outside pancakes. 

the pistou sauce is essentially a pesto without the pine nuts. i added a little lemon juice (dern near too much, honestly!) to brighten it from the original. fritters and sauce were perfect together, and were just as good for lunch the next day. cook in vegetable oil (we use peanut oil for shallow frying) and they shouldn't soak up much at all. 

zucchini fritters with basil pistou
adapted from organic cooking by ysanne spevack

1 lb zucchini, grated
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, separated
1 Tbsp olive oil
5 Tbsp water
vegetable oil for frying
salt and pepper

sauce:
1/2 cup basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (or other italian hard cheese)
grated peel of one lemon, yellow part only
juice of one lemon, to taste
2/3 cup (or less) olive oil

begin by tossing the grated zucchini with salt (between a teaspoon and a tablespoon) in a sieve over a bowl and leave to drain for 1 hour. 

meanwhile, for the sauce:
finely chop basil leaves in a food processor. add crushed garlic and process into a paste. (these steps can combine into one using a mortar and pestle.) transfer to bowl and stir in grated cheese and lemon rind. add some of the lemon juice to taste. move back to food processor or blender and blend in oil, a little at a time, until it reaches consistency you want, and is well combined. (watch the oil, as i found that using the full amount was going to seem rather oily to me.) taste and adjust seasonings. 

for fritters: 
sift flour into a bowl and make a well in the center for the egg yolk and 1Tbsp olive oil. add a little of the 5Tbsp water and mix, incorporating a little of the flour and water into the egg mixture, adding more water as you go. stir/whisk until a smooth, glossy batter. season with salt and pepper and set aside for 30 minutes.

rinse grated zucchini well and squeeze out as much moisture as you can. stir into batter. beat the egg white until soft peaks form, and fold gently into the batter until well mixed. 

heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat. drop golf-ball sized amounts of batter into hot oil and cook 2-3 minutes each side, until golden brown. drain on paper towels. serve hot with the pistou.

sources:
zucchini-- alvarez farms
garlic-- stoney plains farms
egg-- stokesberry farms
basil-- us!