Fire Roasted Marinara Sauce

 Fire roasting gives a slight smoky flavor to whatever you roast and so I thought it might be just the perfect way to start my marinara.  This sauce is made from tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and a few peppers, freshly plucked from the garden.

Some people call it spaghetti sauce, or Italian tomato sauce, but marinara has a nice ring to my ear.  One theory suggests the sauce was invented by the Spanish in the mid 16th century.  Because of the high acid content of tomatoes, the sauce was resistant to spoilage, making it ideal for lengthy sea voyages and thus sprang the name marinara.  Whatever the name, fire roasting does add an additional element of flavor to the tomato.

Fire Roasting

Two more helpful reasons to fire roast are the removal of additional moisture, and if you want to remove the skins, they can be picked up in your fingers and tossed aside - no need to blanch and skin.

To get started, I took about 10 pounds of San Marzano tomatoes from the garden.  I washed them, cored them, sliced them in half lengthwise and removed the seeds.  I took a couple of onions and sliced them into ½ inch slices, and I cored and sliced lengthwise a couple of peppers.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Fire Roasted Marinara

10# fresh Italian paste tomatoes like San Marzano’s
2 large onions
4-6 cloves garlic minced
2-4 green peppers
2-3 Tablespoons fresh minced basil (1 TBS dried)
2 Tablespoons minced oregano (1 TBS dried)
1/2 cup olive oil - divided
3-4 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1-2 Tbs sugar (optional or to taste)

Fire Roasted Peppers and Onions

Bring your grill to about 350 degrees with medium heat.  Put 1/2 the olive oil in a dish and brush the inside of the tomato with olive oil and place on the grill cut side down.  Quickly fill the grill with tomatoes and close the lid.  The temperature will have dropped to 200 degrees or below.  Wait until the temperature rises to 350 again.  Quickly open the grill and brush the top side of the tomatoes with olive oil and then check the first tomatoes that you put on.  They should have grill marks on them.  Using a spatula, quickly flip them over and close the lid again, waiting for the temperature to get back up over 350 degrees. 

Have a rimmed pan or bowl to put the roasted tomatoes into as juice will continue to run out after you take them off.  Remove the roasted tomatoes from the grill to the rimmed pan and let them cool.  Roast the other vegetables in the same way, brushing them with olive oil and leaving them on the grill to show a little black char marks, but not totally blackened.

Once the tomatoes are cool, you can use your hands to pluck the skins from the tomatoes if you wish, or you can just leave them on as they will be chopped up in the next step.

Add the chopped garlic and herbs to the sauce.

Drain off the liquid from the roasted tomatoes and reserve this liquid. Put the tomatoes into a food processor and pulse to chop finely.  Add the processed tomatoes to a large stock pot with the other 1/2 of the olive oil. Process all of the rest of the ingredients roasted and not and add them to the stock pot.

Thick sauce ready to be cooked

Simmer the sauce for 60-90 minutes stirring frequently. It will be thick and you will need to watch so that it does not burn.  Add the salt, pepper, sugar, and the juice that you reserved from the roasted tomatoes to suit your taste and thickness.

 





You should end up with about 6 pints (12 cups) of sauce.  You can place that into hot pint jars, seal them and put them in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes or you can cool the sauce and then put it into freezer bags in portions for future use.  Just like the pesto recipe that I gave you last month, there is no end to the uses you will have for this sauce, so make plenty!   

The HOUSE Dressing

I know, it’s been a while since you’ve heard a peep out of me.  What can I say except I’ve been busy - first I took my granddaughter on a train trip from Whitefish, MT to Cincinnati, OH.  That was an adventure!  Then, there has been all the gardening and more gardening, and we are also in the process of finishing up some interior remodeling that is requiring us to remove all of the furniture from most of our house.  UGH!  This is the last big shot on the remodel and so I will be happy when it is all over.
 
And so, with a lettuce bed that looks like this, what's a person to do... except eat salad!

Now, for that recipe you have been waiting for.  With a lot of lettuce ready for the salad plate something  got me reminiscing about a little restaurant that I used to frequent back around 1990 in Olympia, Washington.  It was called the Urban Onion and I don’t know if it’s still there or not, but they had this fabulous house dressing that makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

To make a long story short, after many lunches and salads at this wonderful little place, I finally got up the nerve to ask, “Would you consider giving out the recipe for your salad dressing?”  To my surprise, the wait person returned from the kitchen with a photocopy of a typed version of the recipe.  Apparently I was not the first person to ask, and they generously shared this delicious recipe with everyone. 

On a mission, I dug through my recipe file, which consists of a bunch of pieces of paper of all sizes and shapes, in no particular order, torn from store fliers, newspapers, written on the backs of greeting cards, photo copies, hand written by me and friends, and whole pages ripped from magazines over a period of at least 40 years.  There it was... on that original, slightly tattered, yellowed with age, and splashed with ingredients from previous makings, half sheet of photocopy paper from 1990.  

Elyse’s Potpourri - 
Urban Onion
Recipe - Lemon Tahini Dressing
Ingredients:
2 cups safflower oil
3/4 cup lemon juice
½ cup soy sauce
½ medium onion
1/3 green pepper
2 stalks celery
1 cup tahini
Method:
1.Chop all veggies
2.Mix all ingredients
3.Process until it all comes together

Yield: Approx. 4+ cups
Today I only had olive oil and used a gypsy pepper from the garden.  It was as delicious as I remembered.  If you like Anne's Goddess dressing, you will love this, it's way better without the vinegary taste.

Some how in my mind, 1990 was only about 10 years ago, but 22 years later, here it is!  From Elyse to you... Enjoy!  Thank you Elyse, where ever you are I hope you are well!

Spring is in the Air!

The Window Herb Garden

We’ve made it through the month of March with it’s predictably cold and wet weather. Not that we can’t expect more of it in April, but the sun is well on it’s way back north. That means planting time!  I’ve had years of experience with trying to plant tomato seeds and the like in trays indoors, only to have them become tall and spindly and never make it to the garden. In my well earned wisdom of senior years, I don’t plant anything before April. Here on this mountain, the earliest outdoor planting can safely occur, is Memorial Day and even then sometimes things have to be covered from an occasional frost or snow flurry.

To curb my appetite for getting started, I get my seeds early, organize and dream, and just for fun plant some little pots of herbs for a kitchen window.  A few years back I was in need of pot markers. I searched around looking for something to mark the plants that suddenly go from a single small row in a seed tray to an entire tray or two in the greenhouse.  Here is my secret revealed!  I spied  a couple of yogurt containers in my recycle bin and a light came on in my head.  My markers just became free and unlimited.

Unlimited pot markers!

  
I bet you have a few of these empty containers around or know where to find them.  I start by cutting straight down the side and then around the bottom, removing the bottom entirely.  Then I cut strips along the side, about ½ inch each and point the bottom.  I use a black sharpie to write my plant name on the white side. 



I love these markers!  I save them from year to year for the plants that I always grow and always seem to need a few more for the plants I give away.


This year I bought a heat mat for starting seeds - wow does that make a difference!  Heat mat or not, put your little seeded pots in a plastic bag, blow it up like a balloon and put a twist tie on it.  This helps to keep the seeds evenly moist until they emerge.
 

Put your seed pots in a plastic bag to raise the humidity.

April's full moon is happening on the 6th so spring planting is ON! 

Slow Cooker Roast

Italian Pot Roast - Ready to cook!

I was planning something completely different for this post when a friend emailed and said, “We’ve used all the steaks and ground from our side of beef and now I’m left trying to figure out a good way to use up the roasts. I know you must have a tasty recipe or two.”

Well, yes I do.  Initially I thought I’d tuck the idea away for a while because I had already been working in a different direction.  But then ... oh what the heck, here it is.  Like I’ve said before, I’m not a recipe cook and so I never have anything written down.  That means I have to make it myself and try to figure out measurements, proportions, and times before I can give someone my recipe for anything.

Roasting is a slower cooking method for cuts of meat that are less tender.  The slower, longer cooking allows time for the connective tissue to break down and naturally tenderize the meat.

I was having company last Sunday and so I thought it was a great opportunity to document this recipe.  So I could enjoy my company and not be greasing up the kitchen while they were here, I decided - Let’s to a roast in the crock pot!  I did all the prep Saturday night and it took me about 45 minutes before I put it in the frig waiting for the next morning when I put the crock in the pot and cooked it for about 5 hours.

The minute my company walked in the door, the lid of the crock pot was being lifted with comments like "that smells delicious" and "what are you cooking".  The roast was ready in 5 hours with the first 3+ on high and then I turned it down to low.

Now, to make a long story short... I've had this post on my desk for over a week pondering how to explain the fact that this roast disappeared so fast that I had no time to photograph the final product or a plated version. This has bothered me, but short of remaking it just for the shoot, you'll have to take my word for how delicious it was and how quickly it disappeared.

You can change the flavor (country) based on the herbs and spices and a couple of ingredients.  I'm giving  you an Italian and a French version to choose from.  I made the Italian version, but the French version is equally as easy with a completely different taste.  It's all in the herbs!

Slow Cooker - Pot Roast

2-4 pound organic or natural beef roast - chuck, rump, shoulder
1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper OR a savory dry rub

ITALIAN                                                                     FRENCH
4 Tablespoons organic olive oil                                 4 -6 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 cups chopped carrot                                               2 cups chopped carrot
2 cups chopped onion                                               2 cups chopped onion
4 cloves of minced garlic                                           4 cloves of minced garlic

1 teaspoon sugar                                                      1 teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon dried parsley                                       1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning                                     OR  1/2 tsp fennel seed (optional)
1 28 ounce or 2 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes   1 tsp each thyme, marjoram, basil 
1 cup of good red wine                                              1 bay leaf

                                                                                   1 cup of good red wine 

                                                                                   2 cups beef stock

I like to use a savory rub on my meat.  It’s my own combination of herbs, spices, and salt.  If you don’t have a dry rub, you can just use salt and pepper.  Rinse the meat and pat it dry.  Rub the meat with the salt and pepper or rub, wrap it up, and put it back into the refrigerator for an hour or so while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  I do not incorporate a lot of salt up front, but suggest that you taste the final product and add salt to taste before serving.  This is a better overall way to reduce salt and let the flavor of the different herbs shine through.

Veggies and herbs

Put the chopped carrot, onion, garlic, and seasonings in the bottom of the crock pot.  If you want to, you can saute these in a little olive oil before putting them in the crock pot, but it is not necessary.  I don't saute for the Italian version, but the caramelizing would be a good support for the French version.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and brown the meat thoroughly on both sides.  Put the roast on top of the vegetables.

Browning the meat adds flavor

Add the tomatoes and top it off with 1 cup of red wine.  In the French version, since you don't have the juice from the tomatoes, add 2 cups of beef stock or water.

That’s it!  If you want to cook it tomorrow, refrigerate the covered crock until you are ready to start it.  Set the temperature at high and let it cook for about 3 hours and then lower the temperature to low and continue to cook another hour or 2 until the roast is fork tender.

If the sauce is too thin, you can put it into a pan on the stove top and bring it to a fast boil to reduce it to a thicker consistency.

You can also cook this in a roaster in the oven - I would have the oven at about 300 degrees and cook it for at least 3 hours or until fork tender, covered tightly.

I served mine over fluffy jasmine rice with a side of green beans, but serve it over your favorite rice - potatoes - polenta and with your favorite salad or veggie.  Enjoy!

Plain Old Onion Soup

I’ve been making my own version of onion soup for years.  I became curious as to why it was called “French” onion soup and not just plain old onion soup.    
I actually didn’t find a satisfying answer, but wikipedia says, “Onion soups have been popular at least as far back as Roman times. They were, throughout history, seen as food for poor people, as onions were plentiful and easy to grow. The modern version of this soup originates in France in the 18th century, made from beef broth, and caramelized onions. It is often finished by being placed under a grill in a ramekin traditionally with croutons and gruyère melted on top.”  

I suppose gruyère is French and thus makes it French Onion Soup.  If you use Swiss cheese instead, it could be called Swiss Onion Soup, or if you’re lucky enough to have local cheese...  I digress.

Superstar onions - 2011 harvest

Last fall, I harvested these beautiful Superstar onions from my garden.  Superstar is a day neutral onion that apparently does well here in the mountains above Missoula.  This box was full and so I’ve used a huge amount of them.  There are still plenty left and I need to do something with them soon before they begin to get the hint of spring and start sprouting.  So, it’s onion soup! 

 

Here’s my recipe.  You can make it from any country or cheese you desire.  Use up those stored onions now before they start sprouting.  If you’re out, look for some organic locally grown onions.

4-6 medium onions - sliced or chopped and drained
2-3 garlic cloves - minced
6 Tablespoons  unsalted butter
4 Tablespoons flour
1-2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
2 quarts hearty beef stock or 6 Tablespoons of low sodium Better than Bouillon - beef or veggie  in 2 quarts of warm water
1 cup of good red wine (Cabernet, Merlot, Zinfandel - optional but essential in my mind)
2 cups large cubed baguette or hearty toasted bread
1 cup shredded gruyère, Swiss, or cheese of your choice

Raw onions ready to saute'

 Onions have a lot of water in them and they will not begin to caramelize until the water evaporates and so I like to chop my onions rather than slice them.  (I don’t like long stringy onions when I try to take a spoon of soup.) I then lay them out on a paper towel and lightly sprinkle them with salt to help pull some of the water out.  I leave them to drain 20 or so minutes  and then I blot them with another paper towel before I begin.

While the onions are draining, I get the rest of the ingredients ready.  I’ve tried all kinds of ways for preparing the beef stock, from making my own, to buying prepared stock, to my absolute favorite way, organic - low sodium - Better than Bouillon - beef.  You can also substitute the beef with the vegetable variety for a vegetarian version with no loss of flavor.  I do NOT follow the 1 tsp to 8 ounces of water on the label.  I find that this is not rich enough for my taste - thus the 6 Tablespoons in 64 ounces of water.  Put the broth, the bay leaves and the thyme in the soup pot.

Caramelize the onions in the 6 Tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium to medium-high heat. All stoves are different and so I judge the temperature this way; if after 8-10 minutes you are not seeing any color around the edges of the pan, kick up the heat a little.  Keep a close eye on them.  They start out white.  As the water evaporates they become translucent, and then begin to caramelize. You want them to turn golden, not burnt or get crispy.  This can take about 20-30 minutes of your attention.  The pan will begin to pick up the browning as well. This is all good!

Onions translucent and caramelizing

Once the onions are caramelized, add the fresh minced garlic and the flour to the onions and continue to cook for another minute or two to lightly brown the flour.  Transfer the onions to the soup pot and de-glaze the skillet with the wine. If you prefer not to use the wine, you can use 2-3 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar in a cup of water to do the same.  Scrape all of the little brown bits from the sides and bottom and then dump this into the soup.

De-glazing the pan with red wine

Bring the soup to a simmer for about 30 minutes.  Taste for salt and pepper and season to taste.  Now it’s serving time....

For some reason, I object to being given a delicious bowl of soup that is difficult to eat, so my version began with the chopped onions rather than the sliced ones, I also chop my bread into large cubes that can be balanced on a spoon.  I prefer this over the huge slice that you have to try to cut into bite sized pieces in a steaming hot bowl of soup. And, I put the cheese in the bowl instead of dripping down the sides of the bowl. After all the work is done, is it too much to ask to have it move comfortably from the bowl to your mouth, without the extra effort?

I don’t always broil, but if you want that “look”, make sure your bowls can handle the heat of the broiler before you put them full of soup and goodness under the broiler.  Broil on Med or High for 5 minutes or until the desired color is obtained and serve.

This recipe will make 4-6 generous bowls of soup.  If you have only 1-2 for dinner, refrigerate the rest and enjoy another meal later in the week.  I frequently eat it without the garnishment of the bread and cheese.  It is that delicious all by itself.  Enjoy!

Still Enjoying Last Summer's Harvest

Several things about myself that influence the foods that I cook and love are likely to be familiar to you as well.  One, I prefer to spend my time doing something other than dishes and so if I can cook it all in one pot, that makes me happy.  Two, I love local produce and that means in the winter, it’s root crops like potatoes, beets and carrots, onions, garlic, and produce that I either grew in my garden and stored or purchased at the co-op from local sources.  Third, I’ve been known as the soup lady for some time now and even though I've moved on and sold my business The Art of Good Food,  I still identify with art, good food, and soup because it fits all my criteria.

With my new found freedom this winter, I’ve gone back to some of the recipes and cook books that I’ve used in years past.  This weekend, I dug out a cookbook written by Jeff Smith,  The Frugal Gourmet On our Immigrant Ancestors, copyright 1990.
I’ve actually made this recipe before and a number of other recipes represented in this book, but it’s been many years.  I was thinking about borscht last summer when I peeled, chopped, and froze a few quarts of Detroit Red beets that I grew in the garden. (I’ve never frozen beets before and they came out amazing, with good texture-like fresh cooked.)

I forgot to mention that I don’t cook from recipes.  I almost always use them as a jumping off point to do my own thing with what I have on hand. I am an artist and that translates into cooking as well as all other areas of my life.  Below is the recipe as Jeff published it, and how I put it together with my comments in italics.  You can follow Jeff, me, or use it as a jumping off point to do your own thing.

Russian Borscht
According to Jeff, he got this recipe from Father John, a Russian Orthodox priest and he claims it is the best soup imaginable.  (It is delicious for sure!)

        Jeff's
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves of garlic peeled and minced
1 pound of lamb stew meat chopped
1 medium onion
1 1/4 cup green cabbage cored and chopped
1 ½ pound ripe tomatoes diced
2 pounds red beets peeled and diced
3 ½ quarts beef stock
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper     
   
                Mine
3-4 tablespoons olive oil (I don’t measure)
3 large cloves garlic peeled and minced
I did not use meat
1 large onion chopped
½ of a 6"green cabbage cored and chopped
1 pint of canned tomatoes or a 14oz can
3-4 cups chopped beets (I had peeled, chopped, and frozen the beets in a quart bag last summer.)
4-5 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon-Beef with enough water to cover veggies
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 large bay leaf
2 tablespoons lemon juice
I skipped the salt because of the bouillon
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Heat a heavy stockpot and add the oil, garlic, and lamb. Brown the lamb and add the onion. (If you are browning lamb or meat, it is best not to add the garlic until just before you finish with the onions.) Saute until the onion is tender and then add the cabbage, tomato, beets, stock, vinegar, bay leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper (all of the rest of the ingredients).
Bring it all to a boil and simmer covered for 2 hours.  (You could do this in a crock pot for the day too.)  Add additional salt and pepper to taste.  (Mine was fine with the salt from the bouillon.) 

Jeff recommends dishing the soup into bowls and passing the garnish of sour cream and fresh chopped dill.  (While my soup was simmering, I stirred together a teaspoon of dried dill weed with about ½ cup of sour cream and put it back in the refrigerator until serving time. For my taste, the sour cream or you could use Greek yogurt is essential to the soup.)

I also whipped up a loaf of pumpernickel bread to serve with my soup for dinner.  I have 3 more quart bags stuffed with beets in my freezer and so I think overall, this was an excellent use of my summer harvest.