canning tomatoes

even though canned tomatoes are easily attained, i still like to can a few of my own. they are sweeter, and have no cores. i like to use them in stews and other winter dishes. i will also use them if i run out of the marinara sauce that is packed away in the freezer.

 my canner holds 7 quart jars. i never hot pack tomatoes as my mother did. i fill the clean jars and then process them in the canner. i have never had a jar go bad canning this way . first, they have to be peeled. i place about half of the tomatoes in the small side of my sink but a container can be used. i then pour boiling water over them and let them sit a minute or two.  remove them with a slotted spoon into very cold water. remove the core with a paring knife and remove the skin...it practically flies off! i have cut and x at the bottom of the tomatoes but find it a waste of time. it is important not to let the tomatoes stay in the hot water too long as they will cook and get mushy. keep the tea kettle filled and on low and do smaller batches.

quarter the peeled tomatoes and fill the jars. i never add water or juice to fill the jars. i just force the tomatoes down and they make their own juice. more tomatoes to the jar this way.

 i always put any canning jars through the dish washer and through the heated drying cycle.

it is important to remove the air by taking a knife and going completely around the jar. note the space at the top of the jar.

 make sure that the edge of the jars are perfectly clean. ADD 1 TEASPOON SALT and place lids and secure gently. submerge jars into canner making sure that the water covers the tops of the jars. turn on the heat and bring the water to a boil. boil for 35 minutes.

lift jars from the hot water bath. dab hot water off the top of the lids and tighten

                                    a quart jar of canned plum tomatoes ready for the pantry
                                                                    ready to ENJOY!


club sauce
recipe in blog september 2010

tomato soup for now and later

right now, my 25 tomato plants are yielding pounds and pounds of wonderful tomatoes. i am supplying family and friends and still have more than we can eat. i do can and freeze tomato recipes. last year i blogged fresh marinara saucehttp://the-jill-of-all-trades.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html, oven dried tomatoeshttp://the-jill-of-all-trades.blogspot.com/2010/08/oven-dried-tomatoes.html and club saucehttp://the-jill-of-all-trades.blogspot.com/2010/08/club-sauce.html. my friend betsy , an artist ,gardener, and good cook , suggested i try her tomato soup. now, i have never been a lover of tomato soup but this recipe has changed my mind. it makes plenty to eat now and freeze for winter. the great thing is that cream, milk or soy milk is added when the soup is heated. betsy also has a blog about her unique and delightful jewelry http://eaststreetpins.blogspot.com/

my version of betsy's tomato soup
ingredients
8 quarts tomatoes

4 large onions
1 bunch celery, yep, the whole thing
1 jalapeno pepper, my addition, seeds too if you want a bite
1 large bunch of parsley

1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt or to taste
pepper

12 ounces butter
1 cup flour

cream, milk or soy when heated

cut up the tomatoes and bring to a boil. simmer till most of the juice is gone. it will take a couple of hours.
meanwhile, wash and cut up the veggies and place in a separate container.

skim enough of the tomato juice off the pot of tomatoes to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil and simmer for an hour.(i put the juice through a strainer to remove any seeds)

puree the vegetables either in a blender, processor or food mill. i used a blending tool for the vegetables and a foley mill for the tomatoes in order to remove the skins and seeds

in another container, melt the butter and add the flour( a roux) stir and lightly brown the roux.

in a large pot, combine the tomatoes, pureed vegetables, roux, sugar and seasonings. boil for 5 minutes. taste and adjust seasonings.

to 2 cups of soup, i added 1 cup of fat free half and half. if i was using milk, it would be closer to equal amounts of each. no portions in the recipe are critical!

the recipe made about 8 pints of the tomato base. most of it made it into the freezer but not all...

                                                                            enjoy!

two easy and delish summer salads-corn and tomato

two very easy salads that take minutes to make. the corn salad is one of the ways that i use the leftovers from 'corn on the cob'. the tomato salad is simple and more ingredients can be added but this version is quick and so good. the picture below is neither tomato nor corn but begged to be included...



cosmos, a future painting

i am still waiting for the large heirlooms to ripen. in the meantime, the 2 'glacier ' plants are producing an abundant supply of small, very sweet fruit. the cherry , black cherry and yellow pears are ripening fast also. for this salad, i chose the glacier and yellow pears. any combination of any variety will do

tomato salad
3-4 cups tomatoes cut into bite size
1 or 2 cloves of garlic sliced...or not
6 large basil leaves, sliced or slivered, i use scissors
3-4 tablespoon's good quality olive oil
1 tablespoon  white balsamic vinegar
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

stir all the ingredients and set aside at room temperature. do not refrigerate. matter of fact, never refrigerate tomatoes unless they are cooked or dried.

i always try to make this an hour or 2 ahead to let the flavors blend. and i stir while i am preparing the rest of the meal. good bread is essential to dip in the juice!!

it is the height of the corn season in central new york. no more tiny ears with tiny kernels. we are into the meaty ears and it is so sweet this year. we always buy more than we eat and then cut the kernals off the uneaten ears for later use. i use it in soup most of the time but love the corn salad i have been making this year.

cooking corn: steam it or grill it! where i grew up, everyone steams corn. an inch of water in the bottom of the pan and 10 minutes after it comes to a boil it is done. i have seem cooks boiling corn. a real waste of time and energy, really, and it takes so long for all that water to boil. if it can be grilled, it is even better than steamed .

corn salad
3 cups cold corn, cooked and cut off the cob
2 cucumbers, peeled and cut in bite size pieces
1 sweet onion or 1 bunch of green onions chopped
3 tablesoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
8  basil leaves,sliced, slivered or torn
salt and pepper to taste

stir and refrigerate till it is time to serve it...it will be a hit!

ENJOY!

this and that from the garden

where to start? it has been a busy couple of weeks in the garden. fortunately we have 400 feet of hose and could water during the hot dry spell. zucchini and cucumbers have been abundant. i have made 2 batches of open crock dills, bread and butter pickles and 2 batches of sweet relish. in the last batch, i added fresh dill weed just to try something new. the recipes are in my blog (july 2010)


sweet pickle relish and bread and butter



cleome

i first saw this flower at the philadelphia flower show at least 25 years ago. they did not have them at the nursery's that i  visited so i ordered some seeds and planted them in my perennial bed. in the fall, some of their seeds blew into the stones around the pool fence and i have had volunteers in the stones ever since. i never fertilize or water and here is what i have now...after all that dry weather. they will grow in any sunny location!


growing in the stones

tomatoes and zucchini planted the first week of june and photographed the last week of june

6 WEEKS LATER...

my happy gardener and a very happy heirloom black cherry tomato

i started these plants very late and they went in the ground the first week of june. i always wait until the soil gets a little warmer. tomatoes do not like cold feet! i think that newt will need a ladder and some taller stakes in order to continue tying this plant


i think that this is a black krim but it could be a cherokee...gotta look at the tag

 late start and not very many tomatoes. the purchased plum plants are starting to produce ripe fruit as are my heirloom glaciers.


i love phlox. my neighbor betsy gave me the white ones and they are magnificent this year.

this is what is waiting on my kitchen counter as i am writing this. i will slice and salt and ice them tonight and make my last batch of bread and butter pickles



whole wheat banana-blueberry bread with honey

this was an experiment. it is very healthy and a little heavy but i will share the recipe anyway...

ingredients
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries

mix first 4 ingredients, sift in next 4 ingredients and stir . fold in blueberries very gently. place in a greased bread pan and
bake at 350 for 1 hour

ENJOY!!!

swiss chard

swiss chard as a one-dish meal

We finally out foxed the rabbits with a fence and the chipmunks are full of my pea plants so this year we have swiss chard . this recipe can be a complete meal with the addition of beans or a side dish with out them.

ingredients:
1 bunch of swiss chard, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic scapes, chopped (i freeze them but garlic works just as well)
1 onion chopped
2 plum tomatoes chopped
8 basil leaves, chopped
1 can beans rinsed (optional)
1/4 teaspoon tony chagere's seasoning


          saute onion, garlic or garlic scapes over medium heat until lightly browned.

while the onion is cooking, chop the chard, tomatoes and basil, keeping them separate

                                    add the chard to the onion and saute for a few minutes

 add the tomato and allow to cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring gently. add the basil cook for another minute. add the seasoning. just use salt and pepper if you do not like a bite.  at this point the dish is done and ready to serve unless you wish to add beans.

         my choice is butter beans but cannelloni, black beans or any other would work

                               add the beans and allow to cook until the beans are heated through


enjoy!

a zucchini one-dish meal

                                                   look out...here comes the zucchini!

 it is zucchini season and i picked an arm load this morning! i planted a row of them because my family is here and everyone loves them. for years i have sliced them and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil with onion and garlic as a side dish. it is still an easy way to serve zucchini but i wanted to make it a one dish meal but we will get to that in a minute.


the happiest plants i have ever grown!those tomato stakes are 6 feet

our share of today's harvest

yesterday i cooked italian sausage from a butcher shop in auburn called indelicato's. it is the best. i sliced 2 of the cooked links, added 1 vidalia onion sliced thin. put both ingredients in my skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil. i cooked them over medium heat until the onion was soft.

 

 then i fired up the heat and added the sliced zucchini. keep turning until the zucchini is cooked to your liking. the higher heat will keep it from getting watery and allow it to brown slightly. when it is done cooking, season to taste. only then add salt  and freshly ground pepper.



1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

add the cup of shredded cheese and it is ready to serve. the cheese will melt by the time you have finished the blessing.

                                     served with zucchini corn bread that i made a few days ago


                                                                             ENJOY  !                                                                            

2 garlic scape recipes /pesto and potato salad

a basket of garlic scapes from the neighbor's garden

i hope that you still have some garlic scapes hanging around in the fridge or freezer. they still had them at the farmers market last week. meant to post this a week ago but we had a week-long celebration for my mother's 92nd birthday. her birthday is the 4th of july so i decided to create a red, white and blue potato salad

red, white and blue potato salad

before we get started on the recipes, let's get started by placing the scapes into a food processor and grind them till they are fine.

now we are ready to rock and roll/ fresh from the food processor

garlic scape pesto

ingredients
1 cup ground scapes
8 basil leaves
1/3 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese
salt or not...i add it when i serve it with the pasta

place all the ingredients in the processor and blend till it is a paste

all the ingredients ready to process

remove from the bowl and place in 1 cup containers which is enough for 1 pound of pasta. i tripled the recipe and got these 5 containers. top each container with a little olive oil to keep the air from getting to it.
at this point, it can be used, stored the the frig or frozen for winter use.

when i serve it with pasta, i remove it from the frig and let it come to room temperature. just before the pasta is cooked, place about 1/2 cup of the hot pasta water in the serving bowl and stir in the pesto. it will then be easier to mix with the cooked pasta. i do this for all the pesto recipes that i use with pasta.


finished garlic scape pesto

my family always expects my potato salad to be served on the 4th. (that potato salad is in an earlier blog) we always have 16-30 people depending on the year. this year it was a mere 18 for the birthday party.

i wanted to try something different and i found these wonderful small potatoes and they were already a mixture of red, white and blue potatoes. what could be more perfect and in a 5 pound bag to boot! what follows is a very simple recipe and everyone seemed to enjoy it
red white and blue-garlic scape potato salad

5 pounds small potatoes(i used the three colors but red or yukon gold would do)
8 stalks celery, minced
1/2 cup garlic scapes, processed
1 bunch parsley, minced...FRESH ONLY
1cup good quality olive oil
1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste

clean and cook the potatoes.do not peel them. this is a skins -on -potato salad... boil for 17-20 minutes only. they will continue to cook as they cool. drain and let come to room temperature. cut into desired size. add the rest of the ingredients and gently mix. adjust seasonings and chill.

ENJOY!