Homegrown Garlic and Herb Tomato Sauce

I have never been a big fan of summer, but growing and preserving food has given me a new perspective on the season.  An in-season fresh tomato does not compare to a store bought tomato, bred for transport, harvested green and ripened with ethylene gas.  I love putting in time over the summer to capture that freshness to enjoy later in the year.

This was my most successful garden attempt in Georgia, which is fitting since it is my last garden attempt in Georgia (we will be moving this autumn).  I started most everything from seed, transplanted the seedlings and direct sowed the rest.  I picked off pests by hand and fertilized with composted chicken manure and Neptune's Harvest.

Tomato Hornworm that got away from me 

Bigger than Colin!

The tomatoes, squash and green beans produced nicely, the cucumbers did alright and the peppers lagged behind, producing a few fruits.

Beauties

The tomatoes are my favorite part and I am so glad they did and are doing so well.  We have many tomato centered dinners these days or just have them on the side.  When it starts to seem that there are too many tomatoes, I know it's time to make sauce.  I keep this one simple with fresh herbs and garlic.  This batch was destined for lasagna, but it would go equally well on pasta or pizza.

Homegrown Garlic and Herb Tomato Sauce
Yield 1 Quart

5 pounds Plum or Paste* Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 small Red Onion, 2 ounces, diced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 sprig Rosemary
2 sprigs of Thyme
1 teaspoon Honey
12 fresh Basil Leaves, cut or sliced into thin strips
1/4 teaspoon Salt or more to taste
Pepper to taste

1. Wash, core and crush the tomatoes into a dutch oven or large stock pot set over medium heat.

2. Once all the tomatoes are in the pot, increase the heat to high and bring the tomatoes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer the tomatoes for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Ready to puree

3. Run the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the seeds and skins or process in a food processor and press through a fine mesh strainer.  Collect the puree in a large measuring cup or bowl.

Ready to get saucy

4. Heat the oil in your now empty pot over medium heat until shimmering.  Add the diced onion and cook until translucent and starting to brown, about 7 minutes.  Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
5. Add the vinegar to loosen up any brown bits, scrape those up with your spoon or spatula.  Return the tomato puree to the pot along with the rosemary and thyme.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low.

Cooking down

6. After 30 minutes, remove the rosemary.  Continue to cook until sauce is thickened, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Remove any thyme twigs left in the sauce, add the honey, basil, salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Enjoy!

Fresh sauce for lasagna

*If you want to make this recipe but you only have slicing tomatoes, go for it!  The yield may be less but the sauce will still be delicious.

Shared at Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Eating Inside the Box.

Sweet Potato Apple Chili

In this neck of the woods, we had pretty much figured that spring had sprung.  We have lovely blooms on Tulip Magnolias and Bradford Pears and some early spring flowers are proudly displaying their colors, yellow and white daffodils, pink and purple hyacinth.  Warm days (80's!) combined with daylight savings time made winter seem like a distant memory.  Then the wind blew in more chilly weather and at least one more overnight freeze.

This recipe for Sweet Potato Apple Chili is full of warm fall flavors that should help you through the last cold snap before spring is here to stay.  Apple cider, sweet potatoes and apples lend a sweet component to this slightly spicy chili, which should please little palates.

Seconds after taking this picture, my daughter stole and ate the cactus cornbread.  

I prefer using dried beans over canned because they are way cheaper and you can control the ingredients, cooking medium and process for the beans.  For instance, a long soak in a salty brine before cooking will make beans much more tender and easier to digest (a great tip from Cooks Illustrated).  Most beans triple in size during soaking and cooking, so 1/2 cup dried beans will yield 1 1/2 cups cooked beans.  If you use canned beans, drain and rinse them well.

Makes about 8 cups or 4 pints to serve 8 or more

1 1/2 cups cooked or canned Red Beans

1 1/2 cup cooked or canned White Beans

1 1/2 cup cooked or canned Pinto Beans
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 large Onion, peeled and diced fine
2 cloves Garlic, peeled and minced
3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon ground Cumin
1 Tablespoon ground Coriander
1 large Sweet Potato (about 12 ounces) peeled and diced into 1 inch pieces
1 large Granny Smith Apple (about 8 ounces) peeled, cored and diced into 1 inch pieces
1 28 ounce can of crushed or diced Tomatoes (for this batch, I used diced, but I prefer crushed)
2 cups Water
1 cup Apple Cider
Salt and Pepper to taste


1. Heat the oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion, cover and cook until onion has softened and is starting to brown.

2. Add the garlic, tomato paste and spices and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Quickly remove from heat and add to the crock of your slow cooker.

3. Add the diced sweet potato, apple, tomatoes and liquid to the crock and mix well.



























4. Cover and cook on low for eight hours or up to nine hours.

Serve with corn bread, tortilla chips or spice cake muffins.


Shared at the Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Meal Planning Monday Recipe Link-Up.

Kale Pesto

While traditional pesto consists of raw herbs, garlic, cheese and oil, this version uses cooked greens and roasted garlic.  Perhaps I should use quotation marks around pesto or just call it kale sauce.  Either way, it's a nice way to use up extra greens you may have on hand and my husband, who is not a fan of pesto, will actually eat and enjoy this.  This recipe is a slight variation of a Collard Green Pesto recipe that I submitted for my local farmer's market cookbook, which I note not just to brag, but to bring up the point that this will work with any hardy green.    

Sweet Potato Black Bean Pocket Pies

I've been away for a while.  I had a temporary spell of single parenting accompanied by sickness, travel, more travel, and lots of snot rag laundry.  I quickly learned that my free time was best spent sleeping.

It's times like these, through sickness, temporary single parenting, general busyness or particularly fussy eating habits on the part of my toddler that I am most grateful for my crazy freezer food hoarding.  When I feel particularly inspired to cook the weekend away, I make extra and freeze those wonderful leftovers.

One of the best freezer foods?  Empanadas, turnovers, pierogies, samosas, dumplings, or as I like to call them, pocket pies because I think it sounds cute and, if you don't mind a linty meal, they will easily fit in your pocket for transport.  They freeze and reheat wonderfully, are reminiscent of one of my favorite childhood foods(Hot Pockets) and my daughter loves them.

After a 2.5 hour flight, bag collecting, car finding and 1.5 hour drive home, I pulled one of these little pies out of the freezer and had dinner ready in no time for my road weary toddler.  She ate two.  And some rice cakes.  But not milk, it was a week old.

I came across the original idea for this recipe here.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Pocket Pies

Yield: 16 Pies

Pastry:

1 ½ cups of White Whole Wheat Flour

½ cup Milled Flax Seed

¾ teaspoon Salt

10 Tablespoons (5 ounces) Pastured Butter, chilled

¼ cup Very Cold Water

Filling:

1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds

1 tablespoon Chili Powder 

¼ teaspoon Ancho Chili Powder

2 pounds Roasted Sweet Potatoes, peeled and mashed

2 cups Cooked Black Beans, rinsed and drained

2/3 cup Chopped Green Onions, white and light green section of onion only

4 tablespoons Chopped Fresh Cilantro, or just a big handful 

1 teaspoon lime zest

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt, or to taste 

1 Egg, lightly beaten with about a tablespoon of water 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.

For the Pastry:

1. Sift flour, flax seed and salt together in a large bowl.  

2. Cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter or your hands.  Work quickly to avoid melting the butter.

3. Add water, a sprinkle at a time, just until dough will hold together.  

4. Form the dough quickly and gently into a ball.

5. Refrigerate dough for at least ½ hour or up to one day.

For the Filling:

1. Cook the cumin seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat for 1 minute or until toasted and fragrant, stirring constantly.  Add chili powders and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and let mixture cool slightly until you can handle it comfortably.  

2. Place cumin and chili in a clean spice or coffee grinder and process until finely ground. 

3. Combine spices, sweet potatoes, beans, onions, cilantro, lime juice and zest in a large bowl.  Combine with rubber spatula until mixture is quite uniform.  Add salt.

4. Remove dough from the refrigerator.  Portion into 16 equal pieces by forming ball into a log, cut in half and then cut each half into eighths. 
5. Roll each dough portion into a disc about 5 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick (a tortilla press works well for this step if you're a fan of gadgets.  If not, use a rolling pin).    

6. Fill each dough circle with about two tablespoons of prepared filling.  Brush the inside edge of circle with egg wash, fold dough over to form semi circle and crimp edges with a crimper or fork.  Brush top of finished pie with egg wash for nice browning.  Continue this process until you use all the filling and dough. 
7. Place pies on a large baking sheet. Cut a few small slits on the top of each pie to allow steam to escape.  Bake at 400° for about 30 minutes, rotate baking sheet and bake for 10 more minutes, or until nicely browned.
8. Enjoy as is for an on-the-go meal or with a nice salad for a sit down lunch or dinner.  

             

To freeze, place fully cooked and cooled pies in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Freeze for about one hour on sheet and then move pies into your favorite style freezer bag and label.  They should keep for six months in a standard fridge/freezer setup or one year in a chest freezer.  

P.S. With the left over pie crust dough, I made mini peach pies, which were really just previously frozen peach slices enveloped in pastry.  

Shared at April's Homemaking Meal Planning Monday Recipe Link-up.