Salsa Fresca

Did I mention I have a shit ton of tomatoes?

I did right. I have so many of them that they are falling off the vines to the ground and I'm just leaving them there. This is so sad. CB has been averaging about a tomato a day, either in his sandwich or in a salad at night. Don't even get me started on the cucumbers. I've got ones in the house that are as long as my arm, and I saw one this morning laying on the ground that was literally as thick as my calf.

So, I took Hallie's advice on peeling tomatoes [Pick tomatoes that are fully colored and tender (but not mushy or soft) and clean them well. Dip 2 to 3 tomatoes at a time into boiling water, removing after 30 seconds with a slotted spoon. Slide off the skins and remove the core.] I did this to about six of them, peeled them, seeded them and then chopped them fine. I combined this with chopped fresh cilantro, chopped sweet onion, lime juice, lime zest, and a little salt and pepper. It was delicious. We ate it with big crunchy corn chips.

Rating = Good

Heirloom Caprese Salad - Home Grown

Sitting in traffic this afternoon while running some errands on my lunch hour. I saw a man throw a cigarette but out his window. If you have read this blog for any amount of time you probably know that I find littering one of the most deplorable acts. It's lazy, its uncalled for and it exemplifies just a basic self absorbtion and disregard for the earth and other people who have to share her with your sorry ass.

I was transfixed on this person, and then, with the index finger of the same hand that he nonchallantaly threw the cigarette out the window with, he shoved his index finger so far up his left nostril that his face became all distorted, his right eye squinting shut under the pressure of the finger in his sinus cavity. A few seconds later, satisfied with his archeological dig, he pulled his finger out - looked at it, rolled his finding around between his thumb and index finger, and then threw that out the window too. He repeated this two more times, each time as vigorous as the one before.

This is what I hate about driving to work. If I were on the train, that man would have been treated to an earful of littering and hygeine lessons, but, trapped in my car, he was oblivious to my rage and disgust, I had no closure, I was mute. I now understand road rage.

So - I picked 18 tomatoes yesterday. half heirloom, half beefsteak. Chris assures me they are great. I don't eat raw tomatoes. I'll eat the shit out of sundried, stewed, roasted, blistered, but not raw. Here's what I made with just one of the heirlooms and one beefsteak. Also, that pretty basil, that's from my garden too.

Heirloom Caprese Salad

Basil/Buffalo Mozzarella/Tomato/olive oil/salt/pepper.

I think you can figure it out.

Rating = (CB says) Damn Good

Arggg

Not sure where the time is going. I've got recipes and pictures, but no time to post.
I'm working on it. Promise.

Life - So Damn Busy

Jellin' and Relishin' - My first Canning Experience

I MADE THAT SHIT!

We be jammin' or jellin' or relishin', whatever you want to call it, my inaugural foray into canning was a huge success; thanks in large part to my father, who brought the biggest ass kettle I have ever seen in my life and his knowledge of canning. He showed me step by step how to sterilize the bottles, tops, tongs, funnel, etc. He watched over everything with the careful eye of the engineer he is. He told me exactly how much jelly and relish to put into each jar, how to put the full jars in the boiling water, how to cool them, and then how to test them to make sure they were sealed.

I am so glad to have this garden. All the mornings of going out to the backyard, shaking my first at the plants begging them to "give me something" have paid off. I'm all friggin' Martha Stewart and shit with my fruitful vines and fruit heavy tomato plants. I love love love the idea that in the grips of the cold, long New England winter I will be able to go down into the cellar and pull out a jar of something that I grew when the summer sun was hot and the days were long. I'll be able to open a jar and remember the heat and the smell of the summer, this more than anything brings a smile to my face, and you can bet your ass I'll say the following phrase every time I open a new jar, "I Made This Shit!"

So what did I make you ask. I took all the ready jalapenos from my garden and combined them with sweet dried apricots and and made a beautiful red/orange hued apricot jalapeno jelly, a jelly that upon first taste my dad exclaimed "that's damn good" - ahh the true test of a dish's merit in my kitchen, the official Damn Good rating.

The second thing we made used up about 6 of my zucchinis - we turned the zucchinis into a wonderfully sweet zucchini relish that I first had at the aforementioned "Maine Cookout". It is the most amazingly sweet and savory relish and we have already eaten a whole jar of it in the week since I made it. I've actually eaten it like peanut butter, just sticking my spoon in the jar and eating it.

Bottom line, I cannot wait to try new canning recipes. I have a date with my dad to make more jelly and pickles next month.

I'll post the recipes for these two canning items in separate posts with their own titles so that people searching for recipes can easily find them.

Recipes coming soon.

Dad showing me how to funnel the jelly into the jar.

This is what the jelly looked like in the pot as we were putting it into the jars.

Rating - Damn Good Time

Wild Maine Blueberry Honey Coffee Cake

Saturday was one of those blissful mornings, I awoke to the sound of rain plunking off the air conditioner unit in the bedroom window, which for the first time in weeks was thankfully not needed. It was perfect sleeping weather, the sound of rain blocking out all of the other ambient sounds of our street waking up. I, for the first time in what felt like months, rolled out of bed, started a pot of coffee, and then went blissfully back to bed - the smell of fresh coffee wafting up the stairs. I did not worry about getting my running sneakers on, setting the GPS satellites, packing my lunch, I just relaxed. When I did get up - I found the weather and the blissfully cool kitchen the perfect excuses to bake. I had frozen wild Maine blueberries in the freezer from our trip to visit my aunt at the beginning of the month, and I had all ingredients on hand to make whatever I felt like. I turned to my standby for healthy and distinct recipes, 101 Cookbooks, I wasn't on the site long before I spied this recipe for Maple Huckleberry Coffee Cake - I made minor changes, just to make it my own, and because I wanted to use the blueberries I had on hand. Here is her recipe with side notes for what I did differently.

Wild Maine Blueberry Honey Coffee Cake

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or spelt flour)
3 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup maple syrup, room temperature (I used honey)
1 large egg, room temperature
zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk (I used soy milk with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 1/3 cups fresh wild huckleberries (or other berries), well picked over (I used wild blueberries

Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar) (I used brown sugar)
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

special equipment: a 1-pound loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, rack in the middle. Butter a 1-pound loaf pan, and line with parchment paper. Alternately, you could just butter and flour the pan, but I've found that lining the pan with parchment makes removing the cake from the pan after baking no problem.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, thyme, and rosemary. Set aside. In a separate large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer or by hand - until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times along the way. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, scraping the sides again. Add half of the flour, stir just a bit, now add a splash of the buttermilk, stir again, but not too much. Add the rest of the flour and stir a bit, and now the rest of the buttermilk. Stir until everything barely comes together and then very gently fold in one cup of the huckleberries. Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan and set aside.

To make the streusel topping, place the flour, butter, maple sugar, thyme and pecans in a food processor and pulse 20-30 times or until the topping is a bit beyond sandy/crumbly. It should be moist-looking - on its way to being slightly doughy. Crumble 2/3 of it over the cake batter, sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup huckleberries on top of that, and then add the last of the crumble. Barely pat in place with your fingertips.

Place the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for five minutes and then remove it from the pan to cool on a rack (this way the cake won't steam in the pan as it's cooling.

Serves 12 - 16 modest slices.

This bread is not sweet, it's more savory - and the fresh thyme and rosemary really comes through. Its such a great alternative to the super sweet breakfast breads and coffee cakes that we are so used to.

Rating - Damn Good

Ratataouille_WW 1pt

I've been struggling with writing a post, not because I hadn't cooked anything that merited posting, but because I didn't feel like I had anything particularly interesting to say. I don't think you come here to be bored, sure, of course you come for the recipes, but humor me and tell me you come for the commentary and stories too. Lately, I just feel like I've been trying to catch my bearings with the new job and the new commute, a commute which gets me home about an hour later than I used to, and which makes me feel all rushed at the end of the day.

However, the other day I was listening to The Splendid Table on American Public Media and the host was interviewing a couple who had recently written a book titled "What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes" this got me thinking. There are certain things that I will not eat in front of people, even CB. Not because they are gross, but because they are weird. For example, when I am home alone, I will not only eat a spoonful of peanut butter, I will make a well in the peanut butter and squirt maple syrup into the well, and then I will top that with cool whip. Yes, this is what I eat when no one is looking, and I eat it at the refrigerator with all the ingredients on a shelf, and I just pull the ingredients out over and over until I have had enough. I eat this with the refrigerator door open in the off chance that CB comes home and I don't know, and he walks into the kitchen; the door is my buffer - it gives me a few seconds to shove the spoon in my mouth and then rearrange the peanut butter, syrup and cool whip so it doesn't look like they are lined up. I have other things that I eat when no one is home, but the PBSCW spoonful is pretty much my go to.

So, I ask, what do you eat when no one is home. The more gross the better. Also, if you have this book, or know anyone who has it, I'd love to borrow it.

Okay, on to the recipe. If I'm being honest with you, I have wanted to make this recipe for years. Ever since I saw the movie Ratatouille on DVD; like two years ago. I don't know what the hell I've been doing for two years that I was too busy to throw this recipe together, but I digress. I made it this weekend because the farmers market was just ripe with all of the ingredients. It is a Weight Watchers recipe, and I thought it was delicious, but I think CB thought it lacked a little um, flavor. Maybe if I had sauteed the onions and leeks in butter instead of pan spray he would have thought differently, but then it wouldn't have been a weight watchers recipe, now would it have been. I was very happy with it.

Here goes

Ratatouille | WW 1.5 pts

Makes 4 servings

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 medium eggplant
• 1 medium zucchini
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 2 cups water
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• fresh or dried herbs: basil, oregano, thyme, parsley
• fresh grounded black pepper

Directions
Chop the onion.Cut bell peppers in thumb sized slices.Peel and dice eggplant.Dice zucchini.Peel, seed and chop tomatoes.

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring constantly until golden.

Add 1 cup water and the sliced bell peppers; cook, stirring frequently, until liquid has evaporated, 5 minutes.

Add 1 cup water, the eggplant and zucchini; cook, stirring frequently, until liquid has evaporated, 7 minutes.

Add tomatoes, tomato juice, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme and black pepper. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally; add additional water if necessary.

Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking until vegetables are tender but still retain their shape and liquid has evaporated, 10 minutes.

Divide evenly among 4 plates, garnish with parsley and serve.

The Ratatouille may be served hot, cold or at room temperature.

Nutritional Information
per serving:
1.5 WW-Points
105 Calories
3 g Total Fat, 0 mg Cholesterol

Rating = Damn Good