Super Easy Pasta Sauce

I don't know about you, but I cannot stand to buy pasta sauce when you look at the ingredients list and find things like corn syrup, sugar, "natural flavorings", and soybean oil. The price doesn't bother me, but the weird ingredients and sad flavor do. Sooo, when I started my wee little garden a couple years ago, growing tomatoes became serious business. Each year I've started seedlings for paste tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and heirloom varieties. The paste tomatoes are an absolute must I learned, because without them the sauce is more like soup, and after boiling the soupy sauce down, the fresh flavor is cooked out and replaced with something pretty acidic and bitter (which is probably why commercial sauce relies on the addition of sweeteners and "natural flavorings.") 

Every year I try to grow paste tomatoes, and each year so far, I have failed, winding up buying the pretty, pear-shaped beauties from local growers. Thankfully I've been buying from them long enough that I can get a really fair price. Cherry and heirloom tomatoes are also essential because both offer their own huge, fruity, tomato-y flavor that paste tomatoes don't provide. These guys have been pretty simple to grow, with each plant delivering tons of produce. Don't worry though, you really don't have to grow these if you aren't so inclined. Hop down to your favorite produce market (I love our local Farmhouse Table Store) or your local farmer's market (I'm also a big fan of ours) to pick up what you need. This recipe is just for simple tomato sauce (Pomodoro), but you could certainly add seasonings, herbs, etc. when you serve fresh. (I don't can mine with lots of extras because I like to avoid pressure canning when possible for no reason other than pure laziness.)

Super Easy Pasta Sauce
Ingredients:
10 pounds paste tomatoes, halved
5 pounds cherry tomatoes (I use Sun Gold and Sweet 100's)
5 pounds heirloom tomatoes, quartered (I use a mixture of Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Mr. Stripeys and Brandywines)
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
6 T lemon juice*
3 tsp salt*

*these are only needed if you are going to can your sauce up. If not, the sauce can be served immediately, as-is, or with the seasonings and additions of your choice.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Take two large baking sheets and add half of the olive oil to each sheet. Divide the tomatoes evenly among the sheets and place into the oven. 

 

Walk away and find something else to do. Come back in 2 hours and rotate the cookie sheets. Walk away again. In another 2 hours, remove the baking sheets from the oven. The tomatoes should look slightly charred around the edges, with little to liquid remaining. 

Run the mixture through a food mill to create a thick sauce. 

If you are canning, fill sterilized quart jars with the sauce, 2 T of lemon juice and 1 tsp of salt, leaving 1/2-inch of head space at the top. This should yield 3 quart jars, depending on your tomatoes. Process in a boiling water canner for 40 minutes.

Fat Girl B.L.T.

Anybody who knows me at all knows that any knowledge I have rattling around upstairs is purely due to being raised in part by my grandparents. When it came to food, my Grandpa taught me to appreciate the beauty of a good stack of pancakes with tons of butter and preferably, a solid selection of "real syrups" to choose from--maple, boysenberry, blueberry, apricot--you get my drift. My Grandma taught me to appreciate the beauty of fresh foods prepared simply--the things that she and Grandpa could grow in their garden, trees and bushes. My sisters and brother spent a lot of quality time pilfering the raspberries, and snatching pickles from the basement whenever possible. Seriously, those pickles were insane and I can still taste them. Together, my Grandpa and Grandma raised us right during the time they had. They taught us to savor life--not making ourselves go without, but not being a glutton either. Moderation was the ticket.  How does this connect with a sandwich called the Fat Girl? Sometimes only the richest, most insanely perfect, tomato, cheese and bacon packed meal will do. I appreciated every single bite of this beauty. Even the parts that ran to my elbows. The moderation part comes in when you only each one at a time, and probably, only one per week...

Fat Girl B.L.T.

Ingredients per person/sandwich

3 slices thick-cut, pepper bacon

2 slices fresh, thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes

2 slices double-cream brie

1/4 C of shredded iceberg lettuce

1 T fresh basil, cut into thin strips

1 thick slice Hawaiian round bread, cut in half

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 T mayonnaise

Salt and pepper 

Place the bacon on a baking sheet. 

Place into a cold oven. Turn heat up to 350. Check the bacon in 7 minutes. Turn each slice over and rotate the pan. Cook for another 7 minutes or until the pieces are crispy. Remove from the heat and place on a paper towel.

Slice the tomatoes, lettuce, basil and cheese.

Toast the bread as dark as you can stand it without burning. The toasting is important as it will help the bread attempt to stand up to all the juices in the tomato. (Really, this bread does not stand up to the juices at all, but it's really, really good. If don't want your bread to essentially fall apart while tasting delicious, you'll probably want to opt for a traditional baguette with lots of crust.) Spread the mayo on each slice, add the tomato and season with salt and pepper and vinegar. Sprinkle with the basil and lettuce. Top with bacon, then the cheese and the remaining piece of toast.

Disclaimer: This is NOT a neat meal and you will most definitely have crumbs all over your face and hands. You will likely experience tectonic shifting of tomatoes and lettuce, and you will certainly have tomato juice running down your arms. That said, it is really, really delicious. Happy lunching!

Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Prosciutto and Kale

Yesterday I had very high hopes for hiking, but with thunderheads on the horizon and the threat of more flooding, I thought better of it. After moving through the 12 stages of grief after a full weekend with no time in the shade of pine trees or alpine lakes to take photos of, I opted for the next best thing in my view, a nice heartwarming, belly-filling plate of Italian food. Initially my thought was ravioli, but honestly, I just got lazy and didn't feel like putting the time in, so gnocchi was the next best thing. I have kale growing in absurd abundance, I have shallots from my friends at Flicker Farms, and morels that we picked this Spring and dehydrated--all of these being the makings of a fine white wine and cream sauce for little potato dumplings. It isn't a fast recipe (which is why I made it when I had some time open up) but I think it's worth the time--it was rich and delicious and made spending the afternoon indoors a worthwhile endeavor. Give it a whirl--your tummy will thank you!

Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Prosciutto and Kale
Gnocchi
3 large baking potatoes
1 tsp truffle salt
1 egg
1/4 C grated Parmesan
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 1/2 C all purpose flour plus 1/4 C for dusting

Sauce
2 T butter
3/4 C white wine
1/2 C heavy cream
1 bunch of kale, stems removed
1 C dried morel mushrooms (or other wild mushrooms)
1/4 C chopped prosciutto
2 shallots, minced
1/4 C grated Parmesan

Put potatoes whole, skin-on into a large stockpot of salted, cold water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes undisturbed. Meanwhile, prep your remaining ingredients for the gnocchi (grate the cheese and measure out the flour.) Then, prep your sauce ingredients: wash and stem the kale. Place kale into a large pot of salted boiling water. Simmer for 3 minutes, strain into a colander under cold running water to stop the cooking and keep the leaves bright green. Squeeze out any remaining liquid, roughly chop and set aside. Rehydrate the mushrooms by placing into a medium-sized bowl of fresh water. This  will take about 30 minutes. Chop the prosciutto and set aside. Mince the shallots, grate the Parmesan and set aside.

Remove the potatoes from the boiling water and allow to cool just enough so that you can handle them without burning yourself-they should still be as hot as you can handle though. Remove the skins by sliding them off and using a paring knife if necessary. Cut away any bruises or blemishes. Cut each potato into thirds and place into a food mill or ricer, scattering the potato "shreds" onto a cutting board or large work surface. Allow the milled potatoes to cool completely. 

Begin to build your sauce. Warm the butter in a large saute pan until melted over low heat. Add the shallots and stir periodically until they are brown. Meanwhile, wash the large stockpot that you used to boil the potatoes, fill it with more salted water and set to medium high. 

Begin to make the gnocchi by scattering the potato shreds into a large bowl. Create a well in the center like you would to make pasta. Add the egg, truffle salt and cheese; whip together with a fork until all of the potato is incorporated. Then add the flour, treating the dough as you would a good biscuit recipe--combine carefully, paying close attention that you just bring the dough together without overworking. The gnocchi should be light and pillowy, not tough and chewy.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces using a bench scraper. Flour your work surface and hands, and roll each piece into an even rope, approximately an inch wide. Again, using the scraper, cut the gnocchi into evenly sized pieces, about 3/4 inch. Set aside.

Moving back to the sauce, once the shallots are evenly browned, add the chopped prosciutto for about 5 minutes, or until the pieces are well browned and the fat has rendered off. Bump the heat up to medium, and add the mushrooms, sauteing for approximately 10 minutes until nearly all of the liquid has cooked off and brown bits are forming on the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and reduce the heat to low again.

Return to the gnocchi, and begin adding them to the boiling water--cook in batches, about 20 at a time so they cook evenly without sticking together. Once they begin to float in the water, cook for another minute and then remove with a slotted spoon and add to the sauce. This is a fairly quick process-- probably around 6-8 minutes for all of the gnocchi to hit the pan. Stir the dumplings gently so as not to break or nick them. Add the cream and some of the cooking water from the gnocchi as needed to thin the sauce out to the consistency you want. I don't like a very thick sauce, so I added around 1/2 C of the cooking liquid. Add the kale. 

Again, gently combine. Taste and season with remaining truffle salt. Serve immediately, topped with grated Parmesan. As a one-dish dinner, this recipe serves four.

Grilled Summer Dinner Salad

Last night when I made this dish my iphone said it was 103 degrees outside. When it's that hot out, you don't want to sweat over the stove and you certainly don't want a hot and heavy meal. With tomatoes coming off now in droves, peaches abundant, fresh local goat cheese still available and one last fillet of salmon still in the freezer, I decided to toss it all together into one tasty dinner salad. There are a few components to make, but all in all, this was a quick, easy meal that packed a whole lot of flavor.

Grilled Summer Dinner Salad
1 wild Alaskan salmon fillet, cut into 4 oz portions with pin bones removed (our fillet was enough to yield 4 portions)
1/2 head of fresh romaine lettuce, roughly torn into bite size peices
fresh peaches - 1/2 peach per person, quartered
fresh heirloom tomatoes - 1/2 tomato per person, quartered
fresh cherry tomatoes - 4-6 per person
fresh goat cheese - 2 T per person
1/2 red onion, sliced into strips
1/4 C olive oil
kosher salt for seasoning

Salmon Rub:
2 T brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Basil Vinaigrette
1 C fresh basil
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C sherry vinegar
1 tsp honey
pinch of salt

Heat coals until covered with ash, (or heat propane grill to medium). 

Make the basil vinaigrette by adding all of the salad dressing ingredients to a blender and pulse until well combined. Chill in the refrigerator.

Brush each salmon fillet with olive oil to coat top and bottom. Rub top of each filet with salmon rub. Place each filet onto the grill, skin side up. Leave them for about 3 minutes, then flip so that the skin is now touching the grill. You should see nice grill marks on the top. Cook until the salmon is opaque all the way through. This should take about another 4-5 minutes for fillets that are about 1/2 -3/4 inch thick. For larger fillets--1 inch thick--total grill time should be right around 10 minutes.

Remove the fillets and set aside.

Brush the tomatoes and peaches with olive oil and season with salt. Place the tomatoes and peaches onto the grill. For cherry tomatoes, I use a grill basket. Leave on the grill for 3-5 minutes, then turn, trying to get grill marks on each side of the fruit. 

Remove from the grill. Place salmon on each plate. Place a bed of romaine lettuce next to it, topped with 2 pieces of the heirloom tomatoes, 2 pieces of the grilled peaches, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with goat cheese and red onion. Drizzle both the salad and the salmon with the basil vinaigrette, and dig in!

Not-So-Southern Gumbo

There are two things that pop into my head when the clouds roll in and my stomach is growling: (1) pie, (2) soup or stew. Since pie is almost always on my mind, I ruled this out yesterday when we got our first "toad-strangler" of summer. I took a quick inventory of what was coming off in the garden: peppers, onions, celery, tomatoes, and okra, and I realized that my garden was pretty much begging me to cook a pot of gumbo. Typically, this is not a light dish, and its components are varied from household to household, and often protein-rich: chicken, andouille sausage, crawfish, shrimp, langoustine, oysters, etc. This would mean some "picking" for me, since I'm about 3/4 of the way through my experimental month of no meat. There is just no way to make gumbo vegetarian and feel right about it. So, I decided I would try and "healthify" (yes, I just made that word up) the dish a little, by increasing the fresh veggies, decrease the quantity of protein, while not eliminating it, and focusing on choosing lighter proteins for the dish. And I'd just have to dole out my sausage to the hubby, sadly. While it certainly couldn't be called light, it was absolutely just what the doctor ordered for our gray, rainy night, even if I had to hand over the andouille.

Not-So-Southern Gumbo
Ingredients
3/4 C vegetable oil
3/4 C all purpose flour
1 T olive oil
2 links of andoille sausage, sliced (I used smoked chicken andouille)
1 lb langoustines (no langoustines? Just use shrimp. I simply didn't because my husband won't eat them)
2 quarts chicken stock
1 C chopped onion
1 C chopped celery with leaves
1/2 C chopped green bell pepper
1 16 oz jar crushed tomatoes
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 C cherry tomatoes, halved
1 C sliced okra (if you don't have fresh okra available, just use frozen)
2 T Cajun seasoning blend
2 bay leaves
sliced scallions and fresh parsley for garnish
cooked white rice for serving
hot sauce for serving (Crystal or Tabasco are perfect)

Prepare your roux (pronounced rue) by slowly adding flour to the oil, warmed over medium heat in a cast iron dutch oven. Stir regularly until the roux is a dark, chocolaty brown color. This took me about an hour and a half. In between stirring, chop your vegetables. When the roux is ready, add the onions, peppers and celery (called the Trinity by our Southern friends).

Stir regularly until the vegetables have caramelized in the roux, about 10 minutes.

Add the crushed and fresh tomatoes, stirring to combine, allowing again, for the vegetables to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bay leaves and seasoning. Next, saute the andouille in the olive oil over medium heat until the edges are crispy and brown. Drain off any extra oil, and add the sausage to the soup pot. Once the soup has come to a simmer, add the okra.

Turn the heat down to low, put the lid on the pot and go do something else for 2 hours. Take the lid off the pot, and add the langoustines. Cook only until they turn pink. If using frozen precooked shellfish, cook only until warmed through. Serve over a scoop of cooked white rice with fresh scallions and parsley. A healthy dash or two of hot sauce is great here too.