Pasta Sauce Prep * Preserve your fresh Tomato harvest #GardenCuizine #HealthyCooking #PomodoroSauce

Pasta Sauce Prep
Whole Peeled Tomatoes

We make Pomodoro (tomato) Sauce from scratch most of the time. We do not always have fresh locally grown or homegrown Jersey tomatoes to use though, so we often use canned San Marzanos. At the end of the summer, when our homegrown tomatoes are plentiful, we make homemade sauce in batches as the tomatoes vine ripen. Once picked, if the tomatoes ripen too fast, we move them to the fridge until we are ready to cook them.

This year was a challenging tomato year for us. We got Tomato Blight really bad in our main garden. But, even so, we are surprised and thankful to be harvesting lots of fresh tomatoes.

Yesterday, Harry started preparing our first batch of sauce. We plan to save it for Christmas lasagna dinner. We all enjoy a taste of our garden in December. 

The first step to making homemade pasta sauce is to prepare the tomatoes. Sort through and pick out tomatoes that would make the best sauce. Meaty tomatoes such as San Marzano Plum and Goldman's heirloom make the best pasta sauce, or "gravy" as some Italians call it. We often add and cook down other heirloom tomatoes too; otherwise, we could never eat them fast enough!

Sauce Prep (can be done day or week ahead of cooking)
Gather all the ripe tomatoes you plan on using for your first batch of sauce. You will need one large pot of boiling water and one large pot of water with ice.  
Note: you do NOT have to score the tomatoes with an X on the bottom before blanching! This is very time consuming and not necessary when you are working with a lot of tomatoes.

1) Boil water in a large pot. In batches, blanch the tomatoes for about one minute in the boiling water
3) Remove with a slotted spoon to ice bath. The water just has to be cold; if your ice melts, don't worry about it. Let tomatoes float in the cold water until the skins wrinkle.
4) Remove and core the tomatoes. Harry likes his new Hullster Tomato Corer from Gardener's Supply Co.
5) Peel tomato skins. For sauce, place whole peeled tomatoes in a bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to cook your Pomodoro sauce.

Besides high quality tomato sauce, peeled whole tomatoes can be frozen for later use in soup, stewed tomatoes, chili and other recipes.

Blog post and photos Copyright (C) Wind. All rights reserved.

End of harvet tomato Recipe: Heirloom Cream of Tomato Soup #GardenCuizine

 ~Low Sodium~

Heirloom 

Cream of Tomato Soup

This time of year tomatoes spoil quick and can end up in the refrigerator or worse yet, in the compost heap. Soup is a quick and easy way to cook up and use your own, or locally grown, tomatoes when the harvest just keeps on coming!

We've had so many heirloom Jersey tomatoes this year and have eaten tomatoes in every imaginable way including our 'ol standbys of canning salsa and pasta sauce. I decided to make a batch of Cream of Tomato soup to freeze for us to enjoy later in cooler weather. I used evaporated milk versus heavy cream to add flavor and nutrition without the excess calories and saturated fat. 

Cooking tips: Amazing and true - No need to add salt! There is so much flavor in heirloom tomatoes, plus using a little hot pepper and the natural sodium in the added milk and onion really makes the soup delicious without adding any salt. Of course you can add salt as desired. I didn't add any.

No need to remove the tomato skins. The skins will be removed when the soup is strained after cooking. So you could use up extra cherry tomatoes easily as well. 

Also, adding carrots and using yellow heirloom tomatoes will make the soup orange in color. To deepen color shade to more red - simply stir in a little tomato paste. I left ours orange. 

Yields: 2720g or about 12, 8-ounce servings 
Ingredients
10 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes (they don't have to be heirlooms; we just happen to grow mostly heirloom)
2 1/2 - 3 cups chopped onion (1 large onion)
3 cups chopped carrots (or 2 cups chopped carrots and 1 cup chopped celery. We didn't use celery because we didn't have any at the time.)
1/2 hot pepper (we used Scotch Bonnet)
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 dried bay leaves
fresh ground black pepper
2, 12-ounce cans evaporated milk
Tomato paste - optional

Putting it all together

• Wash and chop all veggies. 
• In a large soup stock pot over medium high heat, add olive oil and saute carrots and onions until soft. 
• Stir in garlic, hot pepper and herbs. 
• Add a few twists of fresh ground black pepper. 
• Stir in tomatoes, bring to simmer. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until soft.
• Stir in milk towards end of cooking time. Simmer to blend flavors.
• Remove bay leaves.
• Puree (we use a hand held blender). Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Strain into storage containers leaving head space if freezing.

Buon Appetito!

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Cream of Tomato Soup
Excellent Source: Vitamin A, Vitamin C 
Good Source: Protein, Calcium, Manganese, Folate, Riboflavin

8 ounce serving: 113 calories; protein: 5.8g (12% DV); total fat: 5g; sodium: 117mg (4.8% DV); dietary fiber: 2g; total carbohydrates: 14g; protein: 5.8g (12% DV); vitamin A: 2,402 IU (48% DV); vitamin C: 30.3mg (51% DV); calcium 165mg (16% DV); iron (5% DV); manganese 0.2mg (10% DV); folate 50.4mcg (13% DV); riboflavin 0.2mg (14% DV); phytosterols: ~10.4mg
Recipe and blog post Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved. 

Today's Labor Day Harvest: Heirloom Veggies Galore! #GardenCuizine

Heirloom Veggies Galore
Today's Labor Day Harvest
9/1/14

Labor Day weekend is a good time to preserve fresh vegetables. Today in our garden we have dahlias almost ready to bloom, basil going to seed (already froze lots of pesto), more potatoes waiting to be dug, and kale and herbs for picking. Today's harvest included a few colanders full of Turkish eggplant, garlic chives, hot peppers, and lots of juicy, Jersey, organically grown, heirloom tomatoes. We have to use the tomatoes up asap since they spoil fairly quickly and fruit flies are hanging out. Any ideas?

So far we've enjoyed tomatoes on sandwiches, salads, in omelets and combined with chopped peaches in salsa that tastes great with grilled chicken, fish or pork. If you're like us, when you grow your own veggies, especially tomatoes, you may find that you can't eat them fast enough! Canning and preserving recipes come in handy.

Rather than pasta sauce, salsa, or preserving tomatoes whole or chopped, I'm thinking of making soup. Homemade cream of tomato soup should be delicious and freeze well. And, it will be nice to have a nutritious taste of the garden during the fall and winter.
 
Happy Labor Day!
Blog post Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Garden: huge yellow heirloom tomatoes! #GardenCuizine #gardenchat

Today in Our Jersey Garden

Well, I took my eye off our ripening huge heirloom tomatoes for a day and two whoppers got over ripe. Harry sliced into our biggest one before I had a chance to weight it. It may have been 2 pounds! The other shown in the photo above, weighed 1 lb. 8 oz. - wow! This breaks our record of 1.2 lbs. from last year. 

Needless to say we've been enjoying tomatoes on everything you can think of. For lunch today, we ate tomato sandwiches while watching hummingbirds visit Coronado Hyssop* and their feeders. This morning, we enjoyed Harry's heirloom tomato and cheese omelets for breakfast. Last night, we had tomatoes in salad at dinner. Tonight, I'm sure we'll add tomatoes to something, perhaps a simple tomato basil salad or tomato peach salsa. 

Try growing your own organic fruits and veggies for quality nutrition and fresh food, all which make gardening such a worthwhile adventure. We grow all our tomatoes from collected seeds from the largest tomatoes. The huge yellow heirloom shown in the above photo is most likely Yellow Brandywine.

Photos Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.
*LINK TO MY DAVE'S GARDEN ARTICLE: HUMMINGBIRD MAGNET: CORONADO HYSSOP

Save some of your open-pollinated, heirloom tomato seeds #sustainable #GardenCuizine

Saving Tomato Seeds

     As the Jersey tomato season moves into fall, before eating the last of your favorite open-pollinated, heirloom tomatoes, don't forget to save some seeds for next years planting. Saving tomato seeds is easy. Across the internet you can find posts on saving tomato seeds. Fermentation is a tried and true way to save tomato seeds while destroying pathogens that may be present on the seeds. I first learned about it on Dave's Garden. 

     At a spring plant swap, I agreed to save seeds from Goldman's Italian American tomatoes in exchange for the plant, so they are the first seeds to be collected today. I've seen some people put the whole tomato in a container and squish away to release the seeds. That's fine if it is a cherry tomato or small size tomato, but what if it is a large tomato? Why waste it all? 

     To save seeds from large open-pollinated, non-hybrid tomatoes, select the best tomato. Cut into the tomato and look for chamber areas where the most seeds are located. Trim away the non-seedy parts and save those tomato portions in a baggie to enjoy later in salsa, salads, or on sandwiches. The remaining parts with seeds can be scraped into a storage container with water. 

Help to preserve the genetic diversity of heirloom plants
Become a tomato seed saver - try the fermentation method

• Put tomato chunks with the seeds you want to save into a storage container. Add water and break up large pieces with your hands if necessary.
• Set the container aside, somewhere out of the way, to ferment. 
• After a few days the water will start to get stinky and cloudy. A mass of gunk will form a raft and float on the top. 
• The size of the floating gunk raft will depend on how much tomato mush was in the water to start. I don't expect to get much from the container shown in the photo. After a week or so, gently pour off the top gunk and some of the murky water - leaving the seeds and some water in the bottom of the container. 
• Add fresh water, give it a swirl, and slowly pour off the top water layer, leaving the seeds settled on the bottom. A few 'bad' seeds may float to the top. It is okay to get rid of those seeds. Repeat until the water runs clear. 
• Once clear, drain the seeds and water into a colander. 
• Dump the seeds onto a paper plate to drain. Try and spread them out with your hands so they are not in a clump.
• Air dry for a few days in a protected area. 
• When completely dry, scrape the seeds into airtight baggies: label, trade, share, save and plant next season. 

Related Video and Links
Fermenting Tomato Seeds Diary by a Dave's Garden member 
Become a Seed Saver
How to Save Heirloom Tomato Seeds 
Tomato Seed Fermentation
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2013 Wind. All rights reserved.

Homemade Jersey Tomato fresh Garden Salsa #canning #recipe #GardenCuizine

Homemade Jersey Tomato Salsa

Who had time to blog recipes and photos during peak tomato season? Not I, so save this recipe for next fall harvest season when you have boku tomatoes ripening so fast that you can't possibly eat them all. Salsa also makes good use of affordable, fresh locally grown tomatoes from your farmers market. 

No such thing as too many tomatoes!

1. Share tomatoes your local food bank
2. Give away tomatoes to family and friends 
3. Preserve tomatoes by making pasta sauce, hot sauce, ketchup or salsa.

We decided to make several batches of salsa this year since we were still stocked with several jars of "Harry's Hot Sauce." We've been making homemade salsa for years now. It's always such a treat to have, especially during the Winter and even early Spring, before tomatoes are ready to harvest. Salsa can be enjoyed so many ways - think beyond chips. We like it as a condiment over scrambled eggs, fish, tacos or bruschetta.

This salsa recipe was inspired from a Cooks Illustrated version that uses Lime Juice and Cilantro. Those flavorful ingredients work for us, feel free to change it up to your liking; just remember not to skimp on added acid for food safety reasons.

Ingredients 
5.5 lbs (~2,480g) Jersey tomatoes (about 6 large)
2-3 jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers of choice
1/2 cup (116ml) lime juice
1 medium (174g) red onion
1 bunch scallions 
1 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup (59ml) olive oil 
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

 Putting it all together

• Chop and let tomatoes drain in a large colander; drink the tomato liquid or use it in soup or other recipes - don't waste it! Water soluble nutrients like vitamin C leech out into the tomato liquid. In our batch the tomato liquid measured 356g; yours will vary depending on how juicy your tomatoes are.
• Chop 1 cup of cilantro leaves; set aside.
• Seed and chop the jalapenos or other hot peppers; set aside.
• Gather up the remaining ingredients. 
• Add all the remaining ingredients to the chopped, drained tomatoes. Stir to combine - serve immediately or refrigerate for later. 

To preserve by using water process canning method:

• Stir in 2 teaspoons citric acid powder
• Heat entire contents and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot into sterilized canning jars and process following USDA's Guide to Canning Tomato Salsa (link below).  
• Recipe yields 5, 8-ounce jars.

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis coming soon... we know tomatoes are a good source of Lycopene and Vitamins A and C!
Related Links
Time for Tomatoes - Fresh Talk check out my interview with Cheryl Sternman Rule
Canning Salsa Safely
USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning Tomato Products

Recipe, photos and blog post Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved. rev 11/1/1

Jersey Tomato Tasting at Pope's Gardens #GardenCuizine #fb

Jersey Tomato Tasting

Labor Day Weekend! 

Pope's Gardens rolled out the tomato red carpet for their customers today and will again tomorrow for taste testing over 30 varieties of organically grown tomatoes. Owners Joan and Jim Pope plated up free tomato tastes of everything from cherry tomatoes to beefsteak heirlooms. Nothing beats picking Jersey fresh cherry tomatoes straight off the vines! They also had many varieties of peppers on display, including Scotch Bonnet, Pepperoncini and Thai hot. 

Jersey tomato taste test trials included:
Cherry and Grape tomatoes  

Sungold
Sunsugar
Juliet (grape)
Sweet Million

Black Cherry 

Supersweet 100
Riesentraube (grape)

Modern Hybrid tomatoes 
Supersonic
Bush Big Boy
Big Boy
Early Girl
Better Boy
Lemon Boy (yellow)
Golden Jubilee (yellow)
La Roma (plum)
Roma (plum)
Jetstar
Goliath
Celebrity
Supersteak
Beefsteak 

Beefmaster

Heirloom tomatoes
Belgium Giant 

Hillbilly 

Amish Paste (plum)

Black Krim 

Old German 

Rutgers 

Brandywine 

Sausage  (we didn't try sausage, but heard it tastes great!)

White  (sweet and delicious!)

Box Car Willie 

Mortgage Lifter 

Arkansas Traveler 

Ox Heart  

Cherokee Purple

Our favorite top 3 cherry tomatoes were Sunsugar, Black Cherry and Riesentraube ("giant bunch of grapes" German heirloom grown by the Pennsylvania Dutch). We were familiar with the tastes of many of the large tomatoes on display. Among our favorites are Rutgers (of course!) and Brandywine. White tomatoes were a new one for us - they were more yellow than "white". We were impressed with their delicious, sweet taste.

Saturday was a very hot and humid today in South Jersey. Mom took a few tastes, then tried to stay cool, waiting patiently in the shade while we strolled around Pope's Gardens to look at their goat, cat, ducks, bunnies, Scottish Highland cattle, Emu and other animals.

Do you think I would leave a garden center empty handed? Impossible! Pope's Gardens offers a wide variety of annual and perennial plants. We picked out a few new Asters and Mums, along with Salvia uliginosa - bog sage, Fountain Grass Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Red Head', Dallas Blues grass Panicum virgatum and Crepe Myrtle - Lagerstroma Pink Valour.

Happy Gardening and Healthy Cooking with Vitamin C-rich tomatoes. And, best wishes for a safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Related Links

Story behind Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes
Photos and blog post Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Happy #cats +hummingbirds! Harvesting Heirloom Tomatoes for Salsa #GardenCuizine

Today In Our Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

August 17, 2012 

Clockwise from left to right:

• Who said cats and dogs can't be best friends? As you can see, Lucia (a feral cat rescued from farmland in Bridgeton, NJ) is a happy and spoiled kitty! Our cats live indoors so they don't kill the birds, go astray or get killed by cars. Lucy is best friends with Holly, our sweet and very old dog (a rescue from a neighboring town called Mt. Holly). Holly goes out, but can't make it to the garden any more and stays in more than out too. She can't walk without assistance anymore. We haven't splurged for a doggy wheelchair; I'm sure she could probably use one at this point. Lucy is never far from Holly's side.
• Our hummingbird activity continues in full force - the most ever this year! In recent news, hummingbird nectar producing plants are diminishing across their migratory route due to drought-related weather conditions. If you live along their route you could help out by hanging humming bird feeders and growing nectar producing plants.
• Cannas are still blooming around the garden border along with Lady in Red salvias (Salvia coccinea), both easy- to-grow humming bird favorites. We also have potted Hamelia patens hummingbird bush, wild trumpet vines and late blooming hostas (including Krossa Regal) and cleome that attract hummingbirds.
• Thyme is abundant, can take the heat, and is an easy plant to grow cascading out of pots 
• Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Black Russian' heirloom tomatoes are a strange 2-toned color. At first glance, they look like Cherokee Purple heirlooms. After letting a few burst open on the vines, we learned that Russian Black must be picked while still green on the top before their rosy bottom halves get over-ripe and explode! These will be used in a batch of homemade salsa.

Happy Gardening!

Related Links
Homemade Salsa Carol's Heirloom Collection Blog

Hummingbirds.net 
Hummingbird Pollinators
Tango, the Garden Cat - a feral cat story for adults and children
Photo collage Copyright (C) 2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Today's Harvest: Lots of Cherry Tomatoes, Swiss Chard, Italian Basil #GardenCuizine

Today's Garden Harvest 
South Jersey

USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

August 3, 2012 

At around this time in the gardening season, we start to lose control of our somewhat neat and tidy garden. The heat is oppressive. Asparagus ferns, Chia and tomato plants have gotten tall and seem to be leaning every which way. Weeds, especially morning glory, are all over - even though it seems like we just weeded. 

Despite the slight chaos, nature knows best. Oregano is blooming, along with dahlias marigolds, cannas and other flowers that border our backyard garden. Garlic chives have buds. The show and harvest continues.

We don't remember ever having so many hummingbirds! The attraction must be the growing addition of cannas, salvias and their favorite nectar plants. Today, as the hummers buzzed overhead, we harvested a nutritious bounty of:

 Vitamin C and Lycopene-rich Cherry Tomatoes 

Swiss Chard 

 and a few handfuls of herbs: Italian Basil, Thyme, Shiso Perilla

Now is the time large batches of basil should be harvested. We have basil growing in a few different raised beds and plan to process it into pesto, portion and freeze. Maybe tomorrow...

Photo and blog post copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Classic Italian Pomodoro Sauce

Pomodoro Sauce
Classic Italian Pasta Sauce

Treat your family to the best sauce around -- yours!

• What is the difference between Marinara Sauce and Pomodoro Sauce?
  
• Click here for the answer

Italian Regional Cuisine
In general, many sauces in northern Italy are based on dairy, with a lot of butter used. You’ll find more olive oil and tomato sauces in southern Italy, with more of a Mediterranean style to the cuisine.

Shapes paired with sauces
Pasta shapes are often paired with sauces. Creamy, robust sauces are best served with macaroni or fettuccine and thick chunky sauces, such a Bolognese is best served with shells or ziti. Thin pasta strands like angel hair, spaghetti or linguine are best served with a sauce like this -- a classic Pomodoro (Tomato) Sauce.

We make red sauce weekly and never seem to grow enough large tomatoes in our garden for the volume of sauce we consume, so we use canned San Marzano peeled plum tomatoes. The best San Marzano tomatoes are grown in Italy. If you have better luck than we do with homegrown tomatoes, by all means turn them into Pomodoro sauce. Baskets of tomatoes, 'seconds', or really ripe tomatoes from farm markets are another option too.

Pomodoro sauce is low in sodium and fat and is a source of Dietary Fiber and Iron. Pomodoro sauce is also an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin K.

GardenCuizine recipe

Copyright (c) 2009 Wind. All rights reserved.

GardenCuizine Recipe: Pomodoro Sauce

Pomodoro (Tomato) Sauce
~ Low Fat, Low Sodium ~

Make a large batch of sauce the day you need to use it and freeze the leftover. For a family of 3 adults, we get 3 pasta dinners from this recipe.

Yields: 3 quarts. This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled.
Ingredients:  

• (3) 28 oz (794g) cans undrained San Marzano peeled tomatoes with or without added basil
• (1) 6oz (170g) small can tomato paste
• ½ medium onion chopped (110g)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves, 18g)
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano or 1 teaspoon fresh
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 chiltepin hot pepper (optional)
•  handful Basil (1 cup leaves, 6g) fresh picked and washed, or 1-2 tablespoons pesto*

Putting it all together:
Wash your hands and put on a cooks apron. Add the olive oil to a large sauce pot over medium heat. When hot add the onion - sauté until the onion becomes translucent, but not brown. Add the garlic and optional hot pepper - stir with a wooden spoon. Avoid over browning the garlic, immediately add the peeled tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you drop them in the pot. Add the paste. Stir well, bring to simmer. Reduce heat and cover. If your sauce seems too thick, thin it with some of the cooked pasta water.

Contrary to popular belief, pasta sauce does not need to simmer all day or for hours -- unless of course, you include a large piece of pork as some Italians do. Meatless Pomodoro sauce is finished after simmering for one hour or less. That being said, beneficial lycopene (a disease-fighting antioxidant found in tomatoes) may be better absorbed if the tomato sauce cooks longer. 

Ohio State University research Scientist, Steven Schwartz, found that the molecular structure of lycopene changes when tomato sauce is heated for a long period of time with fat such as olive oil. For more read: TURNING UP THE HEAT ON TOMATOES BOOSTS ABSORPTION OF LYCOPENE

*To preserve your garden basil harvest, make pesto during the summer when fresh basil is plentiful and freeze it in small containers. Pesto freezes quite well and adds excellent basil flavor to homemade pasta sauce and other recipes during the winter months when garden fresh basil is not available and the market price for fresh is high.

Buon Appetito

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis calculated from USDA nutrient analysis
Good source: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K
Serving size 1/9 of recipe (120g), enough for one good size bowl of pasta
Calories 67, Total fat: 3g (5%DV), Saturated fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 91mg (4%DV), Total Carbohydrates: 8g (3%DV), Dietary Fiber: 2g (9%DV), Vitamin A: 784IU (16%DV), Vitamin C: 9.2mg (15%DV), Iron: 1.6mg (9%DV), Vitamin K: ~13.3mcg (~17%DV)

Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a caloric intake of 2,000 calories for adults and children age 4 or older

Related Reading 
Lidia Bastianich: Lidia's Italian Table: More Than 200 Recipes From The First Lady Of Italian Cooking 
Mario Batali: Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages 
Frank Pellegrino: Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking
Henry Hill and Priscilla Davis: The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run

In Culinary school they taught us that Italians do not over sauce
their pasta…obviously they never met my mother!

Photograph and blog article copyright (c) 2009 Wind. All rights reserved. rev 11/18/11.