48 Hours (almost) at Home

Home for a quick stop between jobs, the garden -- though James has been doing his best to keep up -- was overflowing with produce. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, green beans all waiting for me. 

Our vegetables make me so happy. I'm actually proud of them.  I can't let them go to waste. I pulled out the canning pot (a beautiful new one James got me for Christmas) and started to plan.

Hours of peeling and slicing and boiling later (what a way to squander a little time at home) James helped me store away 6 jars of canned tomatoes, 4 jars of pickled peppers (those are gonna be great for sandwiches and to spice up sauces over the winter), 8 jars of dill pickle slices and 7 jars of bread and butter pickles. Quite a haul. Looks like pickles for Christmas (presents) this year..

Blue Ribbon Dreams

Off to the county fair to drop off my canned goods for judging. I'm entering several categories with my home made and home grown preserves. I have to wait until the fair opens July 3rd to see how I did. Fingers crossed!

One Last Project Before I Go

I came home to a rainbow of tomatoes waiting, some just ready (above) and some a little past ready. I hate to let anything go to waste, especially not my beautiful homegrown tomatoes. I could have canned up jars for winter (I usually do a dozen jars or so --we're not big canned tomato eaters -- each summer)  but inside today I was dreading all that blanching and peeling.
Last year I put up a few jars of sauce and they came in handy over and over again adding flavor to soups and stews and braises and sauces. I decided on an easy cook batch of Sicilian style tomato sauce.

First I chopped up my beautiful tomatoes, not too small just enough to get them all into the pot. I added in dried parsley and basil along with oregano, crushed red peppers and 4 bay leaves, then sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme. Usually when I can sauce I make a less herby more basic version but today a little extra flavor felt right. I poured in 1 cup of olive oil and 3/4 cup of red wine and brought everything to a boil, pressing down the  tomatoes slightly to start them breaking down.  The pot simmered for 2 1/2 hours until I could see a thick sauce forming. I removed the rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves then passed the remaining sauce through a food mill to separate the tomato skins and seeds.

I was feeling pretty lazy by the time my sauce was ready to jar. I thought about just pouring some into freezer containers and tucking them away. But my sauce was so thick and beautiful (and tasty), I knew I would miss seeing the filled jars on the pantry shelf and hearing the satisfying thunk of a hot jar's seal setting. Out came the canning pot.

I processed the jars for about 10 minutes, wiped them clean and tucked them away for future meals. I had just a bit of sauce left in the pot with dinnertime on the way. I started a pot with olive oil, garlic, onions, and finely chopped peppers (there were fresh ones calling my name in the garden). As the aromatics sautéed I mixed up some easy meatballs. Ground pork and beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, chopped garlic, chopped shallots, basil, parsley, oregano, S&P and crushed red peppers, rolled around fresh cubes of mozzarella. A plain meatball with a surprise. I browned the meatballs in the pot with the onion mixture, poured in a little red wine and the leftover sauce and let everything simmer for about 30 minutes. The sauce was thick and rich and meaty. Just right for a cool fall evening. A perfect last meal at home (for a while).

San Marzano Tomatoes

 The Italian sauce tomato. Long a treasured heirloom, the San Marzano is also (and has been for nearly a century) the most important commercial tomato in Italy. Thick flesh, few seeds and a distinct full flavored almost bittersweet taste these thin red fruits are the only ones "allowed" to sauce "true Neopolitan pizza." Though my garden can't match the unique terroir of Campania's volcanic soil, I'm still looking forward to canning and making my own sauce with these lovely red heirlooms.

A New Spaghetti Dish

I'm embarrassed by it but I kind of like Mario Batali. Let me clarify. I kind of hate the orange clogs,  the party boy chef attitude, the over-enunciated Italian, and the occasionally supercilious manner. But, more often then not, I find his recipes are worth trying.
With our home tomato season having come to an end, even after a hefty green tomato cake, we still have a wealth of green tomatoes, ready for recipes.
James, you probably know by now, does not love (or some days even tolerate) tomatoes. I love them. I love to eat them. I love to grow them, I love to cook with them. But mostly I love to serve James vegetables from our own garden. I thought, the texture being so different, that maybe green tomatoes could slip by and that he'd probably like their tangy flavor. I zeroed in on Batali's recipe for spaghetti with green tomatoes.
Basically a nut free pesto this simple dish combines 1/4 cup each of fresh mint, dill, basil and arugula with1 clove of garlic, 5 green tomatoes, and 2 TBs of parmesan cheese (don't forget salt and pepper). I ground everything to a paste in the food processor and then -- just before the spaghetti was fully cooked -- added in about 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil and pulsed until the mixture formed a vibrant green paste. I tossed the drained pasta and the sauce (about 1/3 of it -- I froze the rest for future green tomato dinners) in the hot pot to heat the sauce through and served James his dinner without a word about the tomatoes. green or otherwise.

Sweets From The Garden

I guess somewhere I had heard of green tomato cake before but I certainly have never made one, though it makes perfect sense. I know people make pies using green tomatoes instead of apples so why not a cinnamon and nutmeg scented pound cake with chunks of the tart tomatoes inside.
It just so happens I pulled our tomato plants the other day and have a ready supply of green tomatoes. Normally I would invite friends over for fried tomato sandwiches or salads featuring the southern specialty. But, since James is not a tomato fan, and -- as always -- I'm trying to stay away from fried and delicious, I decided to try this easy cake to share with our neighbors who have been under the weather and missed their Thanksgiving feast.
Talk about things I never thought I would do. After an internet search for a recipe I felt good about, I decided on a recipe from Paula Dean. Now I must admit, I NEVER even look at her recipes except as an example of what I don't want to do and I find her completely unwatchable. But I've been in the mood for a bundt cake and I actually liked the idea of this caramelly brown butter glaze (mine came out more like candy than glaze but still sweet and tasty) so I forged right in. I mean I guess I could do worse when looking for a Southern style recipe.
The result was a spice perfumed dense pound cake style bundt with raisins and walnuts kept moist by the 2 1/2 cups of chopped green tomatoes.
"Pound cake," James scoffed as he toted the my handy locking tupperware cake carrier to our neighbors. "More like 3 pound cake." he declared.

Tomatoes Before And After

  

 It's getting towards the end of the season and our tomato plants are full of ripe fruit in every hue -- red, "black", orange and creamy white. We have way more than we can eat fresh so I decided to quickly whip up a pot of sauce to can for the winter months. I made a simple version, just onion, basil, oregano, garlic and plenty of fresh chopped tomatoes -- minus some of the skin and the seeds. Our melange of color made a creamy looking orange sauce that I tucked away on the shelf for future stews, spaghettis, and pizzas in the winter months.

Sweet Cherries

Pink Ping Pong, Snow White and my all time favorite hybid, Juliette.

Tomatomania: The Harvest Continues

Two new varieties for our backyard this year and both heavy producers. Green Velvet, heavy beefsteak types and, below, Landrace Currant -- tiny sprigs of sweet flavor. As pretty as they are tasty. I can hardly wait to roast them on the vine for a summer caprese salad.

Today's Tomatoes

Black Mauri (the little one), Ramapo (the classic "Jersey" tomato) and Missouri Pink Love Apple in the front. It really does have a pinkish glow in person.
And a little early yellow crookneck squash.

Backyard Rainbow

Tomatoes are here!

Green Velvet, Snow White and Landrace Red Currant.

More varieties to come.

Tomatomania

Tomatomania, a massive sale of heirloom and interesting tomato seedlings, comes to LA every March and it is one of my favorite garden events of the year.
Even though I always have plenty of plants started (too many I suppose) I can never resist a few more with their colorful fruits and not quite lyrical names.
This year I was easily seduced by Green Velvet, Nebraska Wedding, Black and Brown Boar, Snow White, Pink Ping Pong, Black Mauri and Tess' Land Race Currant tomatoes to name a few. I can hardly wait for summer.

Winter Tomatoes

It's never happened before. This year after chilly days and a fairly lackluster summer tomato harvest I still have two tomato plants hanging on producing vibrant clusters of bright red fruits. I generally shun winter tomatoes as mushy and flavorless. That may be true in grocery stores around the country, but the taut skinned jewels in our front yard are tasty and beautiful and ready to star in winter salads and sauces -- if I can keep from eating them on the way into the house.
February tomatoes from our front yard -- garden magic.