Preserving Summer's Bounty- Homemade Tomato Sauce

When I was growing up, a big part of summer was all about freezing or canning the summer bounty to prepare for the winter. Back then, we always knew where our food came from. My dad raised cattle, pigs and chickens for meat and eggs. We had a cow for milking. We always had a huge garden and grew plenty of vegetables for eating and putting away. Many evenings were spent shelling peas or lima beans, or snapping the ends off of green beans. We didn't have air conditioning like most homes today have, and I still remember that steamy kitchen! When my mom wasn't freezing something, she was canning, pickling or making jam or jelly. (She still is, for that matter!)

 We always had an abundance of tomatoes. I hated picking tomatoes. I didn't like the way the vines smelled, or the green streaks they left on everything they touched. But the worst part was reaching for a tomato and finding one of these instead. I probably whined a lot about picking tomatoes which is probably how I ended up helping in the kitchen. No hornworms there. But it was very satisfying to see the neat packages of vegetables in the freezer and the beautiful jars lined up on the shelves. (My dad would say "They're better than snowballs!")

We always canned a lot of those tomatoes. My mom still does, and uses them all winter long in soups, chili, stews and sauce. They are so much better than the cans of tomatoes you buy at the grocery store, and doing it yourself puts you a little bit closer to knowing where your food comes from.

I got some tomatoes from my brother last weekend and decided to make sauce, since that's what I use the most. I cooked this particular batch down until it was thick to use for pizza or maybe pasta. Once you've made your own sauce, I guarantee it'll spoil you for the store-bought varieties. If you have an abundance of tomatoes, I heartily recommend that you get out your apron (this can get messy) and try putting some away for later. This recipe makes a small batch, so it's easy to freeze or can. 

Tomato Sauce for spaghetti or pizza sauce

adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Canning

15 lbs. tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tblsp. olive oil

1 tsp. oregano, dried or fresh

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 tsp. dried basil ( or a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped)

1 tsp. black pepper

2 Tblsp. sugar (or to taste- some tomatoes are sweeter than others)

salt to taste

bottled lemon juice, should you decide to can your sauce.

Wash tomatoes. Remove core and blossom ends, and cut into quarters. Set aside.

In a large stockpot, saute onions, pepper and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add tomatoes and other ingredients (except lemon juice) and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until tomatoes are soft. 

Run the tomato mixture through a food mill to remove seeds and skin. (I strain out some of the watery liquid when I put the tomato "mush" in the food mill.) Put the strained mixture back into the stockpot and slowly simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens. (You want to reduce volume by one-half.) Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Scorched tomato sauce is not so good. (Don't ask how I know this.) Taste and adjust seasonings.

Yield: about 3-4 pints  Your yield depends a lot on the type of tomatoes you use. Roma (plum type) tomatoes are meatier and have less water in them, so your sauce yield will be higher than if you use regular eating tomatoes. 

You can freeze your sauce or can it in jars. If you are canning, add 1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar, or 2 Tablespoons to each quart jar. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust two- piece caps. Process pints 35 minutes, quarts 40 minutes, in a boiling water canner.

It's Hip to be Square (or Tomato Egg Salad with Basil Onion Dressing)

Can you see it? There's a surprise hiding inside the tomato. Here- I'll show you.

Here's a little item I picked up at a local thrift store. Too funny.

And it does this. Too cute.

So I did this. 

What would you have done with a cute square egg?

Tomato Egg Salad with Basil Onion Dressing

You'll need:

1 small/medium sized tomato and 1 hard-boiled egg for each serving

mixed salad greens

Onion Basil Dressing

Directions:

• Make Onion Basil Dressing (Recipe follows.)
• Wash tomatoes. 
• Slice each egg into uniform slices. (I used an egg slicer.)
• Make vertical slices in each tomato, matching the number of egg slices. Cuts should go almost but not all the way through to the bottom (stem end) of the tomato. Gently fan the slices of the tomato.
• Carefully place egg slices into openings in the tomato.
• Place on a bed of greens and top with dressing.

Onion Basil Dressing

Recipe from my friend Carolyn, who served this lovely dressing over a plate full of heirloom tomatoes.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon chopped onion (to taste)

handful of fresh basil leaves

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Place all dressing ingredients into bowl of small food processor or blender. Blend until combined.

Yellow Butter Cake with My Mom's Chocolate Frosting

 Unless you count my one son who always wants lemon meringue pie, this is THE birthday cake requested at my house- yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I must confess that in the past I have made the cakes from a mix, but this time I was on a mission to make a very special cake for my hubby's birthday.

 Blogging about food (and reading other food blogs) has made me much more adventurous and confident in my baking endeavors, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and make this one from scratch. Now I've made plenty of other kinds of cakes from scratch, but I've never tried just a simple yellow butter cake. (Mainly because so many of the "scratch" cakes I've tried have been dry and tasteless.) I knew I wanted to use my Mom's recipe for the frosting, but I didn't really have a "go to" recipe for yellow cake.

 When Memoria at Mangio da Sola went on her search for the perfect yellow cake, I followed along with interest thinking I'd use her winning recipe. But as fate would have it, my internet wasn't working (again) when I went to get the recipe so I had to look around for another. I settled for one that I found was in the Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America cookbook.  I made it exactly as directed and found it to be moist and delicately flavored, with a wonderful tender crumb. In other words, absolutely delicious! What was I so afraid of? I topped it off with my Mom's signature chocolate frosting that she's been making forever, and it was perfect.

The next time I make this (and there will be a next time) I will probably try to increase the frosting to cake ratio because for me, (even though the cake was moist, tender and flavorful) cake is a great excuse to eat frosting.  How about splitting those two layers to make four layers? With some pastry cream sandwiched between them?  I'm sure I'll be able to find some excuse to experiment with this further before I do more birthday baking!

Yellow Butter Cake
from Baking at Home With the Culinary Institute of America
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
1 cup whole or low-fat milk (divided use)
4 large eggs (room temperature)
2 large egg whites (room temperature)
2 tsp. vanilla
Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat two 8" pans with cooking spray.
• Into the bowl of your mixer, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Add butter and milk.
• Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, mix together on medium speed until smooth, about 4 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
• In a separate bowl, mix together milk, eggs, egg whites and vanilla.
• Add egg/milk mixture to flour mixture in three additions, mixing for two minutes after each addition. Scrape sides of bowl after each addition.
• Divide the batter between prepared pans. Bake 35-40 minutes or until layers spring back when touched in the center.
• Remove from oven and allow cakes to completely cool in their pans on wire racks. Release sides and bottoms of cakes with metal spatula or knife. Unmold and finish with filling and/or frosting.

My Mom's Chocolate Frosting
(I doubled this recipe for this cake. When my mom makes this, it always comes out perfect. I think it must be the way she holds her mouth or something. It's hit or miss for me. I've even watched her do it and I do it exactly the same way. Sometimes the frosting gets too hard, and sometimes I have to cook it again to get it just right. But whatever I do to it, it always tastes great and is what everyone expects to have on their yellow cakes around here.)

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 blocks unsweetened baking chocolate (1 and 1/2 ounces)
1 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter (4 tablespoons)
1/3 cup milk
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
Over very low heat in a heavy saucepan, melt together chocolate, butter, milk, sugar and salt. Once chocolate is melted, raise the heat and bring mixture to a boil. Boil for exactly one minute. Take off heat and add vanilla. Allow mixture to cool for about 10 minutes. Beat frosting with a wooden spoon until no longer shiny. It should be spreading (not pouring) consistency. Quickly spread frosting on the cake, because at this point it will begin to set.

Cows in a Blanket?

 We always called them "Pigs in Blankets,"  but considering that these were all beef hot dogs I've decided that they should be "Cows in Blankets" instead. I've wrapped many a refrigerator biscuit (my kids called them whumps) around hot dogs in my day, but these were something special.

 I saw this recipe for sausage buns on Mangio da Sola when I found out that I had won her giveaway for a paella pan. (Thanks, Memoria!) My little sidekick was still here with me, so these looked like a fun afternoon activity. A wonderful yeasty dough wrapped around an all beef hot dog? Dipped in mustard? Oh yum. They made for a wonderful back porch picnic.

 I modified the original recipe slightly just because I prefer my bread a little less sweet, but I might try leaving it in next time. The contrast of the sweet dough and salty hot dog sounds like a winning combo I might like to try. These would be great for a potluck supper where children are involved. You could even cut the hot dogs in half to make more kid-sized treats. Either way, I hope you enjoy them!

Sausage Buns or Pigs (or Cows) in Blankets

adapted from Mangio da Sola

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup bread flour

scant 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 Tblsp. instant yeast

2 Tblsp. sugar (The original recipe called for nearly 1/2 cup)

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup butter, softened

8 hot dogs (I used Nathan's all beef hot dogs.)

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg plus 1 Tblsp. water

Directions:

• In a large bowl, mix together flours, sugar, salt and yeast. Slowly add water and mix together until well combined.
• Add butter and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
• Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. (double)
• After dough has doubled, punch down and divide into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. This will make rolling the dough ropes easier!
• Roll each dough portion into a rope, roughly 2 to 3 times the length of your hot dog.
• Wrap the "dough rope" around your hot dog, making sure the ends are underneath.
• Place the wrapped hot dogs on a greased or parchment covered baking sheet.

• Cover the baking sheet with a damp cloth and set aside to rise again, about 30 minutes.
• Brush with egg wash. If desired, you may sprinkle with sea salt or sesame seeds.
• Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes, or until dough is golden brown. (Check after about 8 minutes. If your rolls are getting brown too quickly, reduce heat to 350 degrees and let them finish cooking at the lower temperature.)

Easy Herb Baked Potatoes

 Whenever hubby grills steaks, it's my job to come up with something good to go with them. I had plenty of beautiful tomatoes and cucumbers for a nice salad, but these were gorgeous steaks and deserved some potato love. I do love potatoes with a good steak, and there's the dilemma. Baked potatoes just don't do much for me unless I use a bit of butter load them up with butter, and I'm trying to keep our butter consumption down to reasonable levels. (Everything in moderation, right?)  I bookmarked this potato recipe on Kayotic Kitchen ages ago but had never tried it.

 

 I knew I wanted potatoes, and I had plenty of lovely fresh basil just calling to me. And the recipe fit my requirements for the evening: #1:Tasty. #2: Lower fat than my normal baked potato. #3: Easy. And it turned out to be all three.

 

  The cheese added some extra fat, but not as much as cheese AND butter would have. And the potatoes were very tasty and went well with the steak. The basil added a lovely touch to the potatoes, and I'll definitely make this again- maybe with some rosemary or thyme to go with grilled chicken.

Herb Baked Potatoes

Recipe slightly adapted from Kayotic Kitchen

(This is really more of a method than a recipe)

Potatoes- However many your family will eat, or enough to fill your baking dish! I peeled mine, but this recipe would also work well with unpeeled potatoes.

Herbs- I used about 10 chopped Basil leaves in this dish, but Rosemary or Thyme would also be good.

Milk or fat free half and half- 1/4 to 1/2 cup

1 egg

Salt and Pepper to taste (but I recommend lots of pepper!)

A Sprinkle of Cheese- Parmesan, cheddar, pepper jack or whatever your favorite is

Directions:

Wash, peel (or don't peel) and slice potatoes- They don't need to be thin, about 1/4 inch is fine

Arrange potato slices in a buttered casserole dish. (I just had to get some butter in there somewhere, didn't I?) 

Sprinkle on the salt to taste, and plenty of pepper. Make sure some of the seasoning gets down between the potatoes.

Whisk together the milk and egg until well combined. Add chopped basil or other herbs as desired.

Pour over potatoes, making sure that the mixture gets in the nooks and crannies between the potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes. Remove foil the last 10 minutes of baking to allow potatoes to brown.

Sprinkle cheese (as much as is desired) over the top and broil until browned and bubbly.

In a Pickle...

 

Today I had to wait until my hubby went to work before I cooked these beautiful beets. Alas, I am the only beet lover in my household. I just don't understand how anyone could resist those beautiful crimson orbs. It seems that there's no "middle of the road" for beets- either you love them or you hate them. But if you've only been exposed to the tired beets you find on restaurant salad bars, I can't say I blame you. Those look like the beets I grew up with, but bear no resemblance whatsoever in flavor.

My mom typically served (still does, for that matter) beets two ways. She'd either have them hot with a little bit of melted butter and sugar, or cold with vinegary spices. My favorite? Pickled beets. I like to make small batches of these and keep them in the refrigerator instead of processing them. Sometimes I include thinly sliced onions, and sometimes I don't. They're great with sandwiches or salads or just a cold snack right out of the refrigerator when you know you want something but just can't put your finger on it. And when the beets are gone, do yourself a favor and put some peeled hard-boiled eggs in the pickling liquid overnight for a pickled egg treat!

Spicy Pickled Beets ( I usually half this recipe unless I am canning the beets.)

recipe slightly adapted from the Ball Blue Book 

Ingredients:

4 pounds beets (1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter)

2 cup thinly sliced onions

2 1/2 cups cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon mustard seed

1 teaspoon whole allspice

1 teaspoon whole cloves

3 sticks cinnamon, broken

(Or you could use a couple of tablespoonfuls of pickling spice in place of the individual spices.)

Directions:

• Wash and drain beets. Leave about 2 inches of the stems on the beets. Cover with water and cook until fork tender. (This takes quite a while, and depends on the size of your beets.)
• When beets are done, remove peel and trim off the ends. Leave whole if they're small, or slice. (I usually slice mine about 1/4 inch thick.) Set aside.
• Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot.
• Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add beets and cook until hot throughout. Remove cinnamon sticks.
• If you are canning these, pack hot beets and onions into prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Ladle hot pickling liquid over beets, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 30 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
• If you are not canning them, pack beets and onions into jars and cover with pickling liquid. Cover and refrigerate.
• Yield: about 4 pints

Support Your Local Farmers!

I could almost be a locavore in the summer. My brother's vegetable stand has...

 

Potatoes,

 

squash,

 

tomatoes,

 

green beans,

 

lovely eggplant,

 

sweet corn (my favorite),

 

watermelon, carrots, beets,

 

blackberries,

 

blueberries and peaches... and lots more!

 In addition to all of this bounty, my girls give me eggs. I can get beef, chicken and seafood locally. (I also have a freezer full of venison- can't get much more local than my back yard.)

Alas though, chocolate, coffee, and lemons would be a problem. And I'm not about to give them up. Locavore or not, please support your local farmers by buying fresh produce at local vegetable stands and farmers markets. Promote the connection of fresh local food and the local farms and farmers that supply it by voting for your favorite farmers market here-