Pizza with Sausage and Chanterelles...

It's the first day of Autumn ... and in the Pacific Northwest that means chanterelle mushrooms!

 Ingredients: pizza dough, pesto, sliced Kalamata olives, chanterelle mushrooms, shredded Italian cheeses, Aidell's Apple and Chicken sausages...

Heat oven with a pizza stone to 450 degrees...spread cornmeal on a pizza peel...roll dough out fairly thick and put onto peel...top with pesto, cheese, olives, mushrooms and sausage...slide onto the pizza stone and bake for 8 minutes...open the oven and sprinkle a little more cheese on top...bake 4 more minutes...
until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Deb

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

It's been a while since I posted; sorry about that but it's been busy in the kitchen here the last couple of weeks.  First I bought 60 pounds of tomatoes from a local produce shop since it didn't look like mine were going to cooperate ... then it got warm and everything ripened at once ... I picked another 60 pounds of my own tomatoes over a period of four days!  So there's sauce, salsa, catsup and more all in various stages of completion.  I'm really pleased with the way the sauce turned out.

Ingredients:
20 pounds tomatoes (I used Romas), halved
3 sweet onions, coarsely chopped
12 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 Tbsp olive oil
3 "Mixed Herb Blobs"  or a few sprigs each of your favorite herbs
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup good red wine
2 bay leaves (preferbly fresh)
citric acid (you can use bottled lemon juice but I don't care for the taste it gives the sauce)

A word about my ingredients list.  There is one thing you DON'T see listed here; salt.  I seldom use salt in my cooking; leaving it up to the diner to add it or not at the table.  I think this ought to be a law....

Place the tomatoes face-up in casserole dishes (after the first batch I used my big, rimmed cookie sheets; it went much faster as I could roast more tomatoes at the same time).  Toss the onions and garlic on top of the tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil.

 Roast at 325 degrees oven for 2 hours (I rotated the pans after the first hour to get even roasting since my stove is very old ... 1956!  I am going to have to clean the ovens again after the main portion of the fall cooking frenzy is over; this was built before self cleaning.  I'm never going to replace it since I love the second, smaller oven on the side : )

Once the vegetables have cooled there are a couple of ways you can prepare it for the sauce. I used my Victorio Strainer (you could use a food mill, food processor or an immersion blender.)

Place the strained sauce in a heavy stock pot, add the herbs, wine and bay leaves

and simmer on medium heat for an hour.

While the sauce is simmering prepare jars, lids and bands for canning ... remove hot jars from canner, add citric acid to each jar (1/2 tsp for quart jars, 1/4 tsp. for pint jars or 2 tbsp. lemon juice for quart jars, 1 tbsp for pint jars)  Ladle sauce into jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rim and center lid on jar.  Screw band on to fingertip tight.  Process in water bath for 40 minutes for quart jars; 35 minutes for pint jars.  Makes about 5 quarts.

Enjoy!

PS: 2/25/12  Note to self : Next fall can at least 24 quarts and 12 pints of this ...

Harvest Monday ... and "Don't You Hate It When They Do That? "

I'm joining other bloggers over at Daphne's Dandelions as we share our weekly harvests...it's fun to see what others are harvesting and what they are cooking up with it...check it out!


My harvests have been tomatoes ... lots of them (probably 15 pounds this week : )

...and cucumbers ... lots of them ...this is the second fermentation crock ....

I spent a lot of the week canning and getting some storage items ready for the root cellar ... yes, the root cellar!     If you follow my blog you know that I have been in a 2 YEAR LONG discussion with FitzGyver over the merits of having a root cellar.  I bought a book, did Internet searches, etc. all to no avail; there was always a reason why not (usually having to do with the amount of liquid that comes down out of the sky and saturates the ground here in Washington).  So a week or so ago we were at the local feed store (which carries all the really good brands of dog food ... not because I was buying chicken feed "Which is a discussion that is still not over, FitzGyver!")   As we were parking I pointed to all of the Rubbermaid stock ponds and commented that we could sink one of them into the ground and build the root cellar in and over it, thus eliminating the H2O problem.  He thought for a minute and agreed that that this might work.  And then he said "Why don't you just use the Hobbit Hole? "  The Hobbit Hole!!  I could have strangled him ... because it was BRILLIANT!  "For 2 years I've wanted a root cellar and NOW you decide to be brilliant, FitzGyver??!!"


This is the Hobbit Hole ...

... a storage area built into the area under the stairs when the second floor was added to the house, accessible from the outside only and used to store miscellaneous junk ... ( you can see from the yard stick why we call it the Hobbit Hole)  ...

...and here it is today with an area for my root cellared vegetables ...

... and room to store my canning jars ...

 ... OK, I'm a Happy Camper ... "But REALLY, FitzGyver, couldn't you have been brilliant 2 YEARS AGO??!!"


Enjoy!

Spicy Asian Plum Sauce

This is a spicy hot, sweet sauce that pairs well with roasted or grilled meats ...

(Just pretend there is an onion in this picture; it showed up late for the photo op) 

Ingredients:
12 purple plums (washed, pitted and quartered)
1 large sweet onion, quartered
1/2 cup raisins
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (or grated)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp each of ground cloves and ground allspice
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground Szechuan pepper (optional)

Place the plums, onions, raisins and garlic in the top of a steamer; add 1 cup water to the bottom section, cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat and steam for 5 minutes.  Turn the heat off and allow to sit covered for 5 more minutes.

Uncover the steamer and allow to cool (do not discard the juices that have accumulated in the bottom section ... we're not going to waste all that goodness!).

...we'll strain the juices and return them to the pan when it is cool enough to handle ...

While the fruit is steaming prepare the ginger and spices.  I find that using my microplane is the best way to prepare fresh ginger ....

I love the smoky taste the Szechuan pepper gives this sauce.  If you don't have any you can increase the red pepper flakes to 1/2 teaspoon, but I'd really encourage you to try the Szechuan.  My favorite source is Mountain Rose Herbs.  You'll get a generous 4 ounce bag (enough for you and to share with 2 - 3 friends : ) I use an recycled Spice Hunter grinder to grind  the pepper ...

Once the fruit has cooled there are a couple of ways you can prepare it for the sauce.  I used my Victorio Strainer (you could use a food mill, food processor or just a potato masher, too).

I got a nice sized bowl full of fruit pulp for my sauce ...

... which I added to the juices in the pan with the spices, ginger, sugars and vinegar ....

...  and allowed to cook down to about half it's original volume over medium heat, stirring occasionally (this will take about an hour)...

... as the sauce thickens you'll need to watch it closely and stir more often to prevent it from scorching (I had a close call with my first batch!).

While the sauce is cooking prepare 6 1/2 pint jars for canning ...  remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process in water bath for 15 minutes for half pint jars.

My yield was 5 full 1/2 pint jars plus another partial jar to go in the fridge and start enjoying now ....

Here is one of my favorite ways to use the sauce ... Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps ...

Enjoy!