I break even on the raw material cost with this recipe and can reduce my reliance on having to make a special trip to the grocery store to make a sauce for spaghetti or lasagna. June was an abysmal start to summer with all the rain and chilly temps. In the Pacific Northwest, the warm days and clear sunny skies have only just begun. Locally grown tomatoes are just starting to appear on plants and at local vegetable farms. Typically, the ugliest tomatoes leftover from the end of the season are turned into canned tomato goods: tomato sauce, diced tomato, marinara sauce, etc. A local farms these typically go for u-pick pricing of $0.50/lb or cheaper. The average store bought marinara sauce consists of about one or two cans of crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce with various herbs, cooked mushrooms, salt, sugar, and onions tossed in for flavor. It makes you wonder about the quality of the tomatoes that are used in mass produced tomato-based sauces.
Use with: Italian pastas, cheese fries, baked summer vegetables
To reconstitute tomato paste into tomato sauce, add an equal amount of water to the tomato paste. An 8 oz can of tomato paste + 8 oz water = roughly a cup of tomato sauce.
Using fresh tomatoes: To make this sauce with fresh tomatoes, peel the tomatoes by blanching them in hot water (this makes it easier to remove the skins). The Smitten Kitchen blog has a very good write-up and photos of this process (details). 4 pounds of roma tomatoes will make 4 cups of tomato sauce.
Ingredients
One 14.5 oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or roughly chopped
6-12 basil leaves, stems removed and sliced
8 oz fresh white or crimini mushrooms, sliced (optional)
8 oz tomato paste + 8 oz water (or tomato sauce)
up to 1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste
up to 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 bay leaf
a pinch of sugar or a pinch of baking soda (optional, to reduce acidity)
Directions
1. In a 2-quart (or larger) heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté until the onions are translucent. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Remove bay leaf and purée using an immersion blender.
Leek Pie
This recipe comes from The Ploughman's Lunch and the Miser's Feast by Brian Yarvin. Made it for dinner tonight. Came out really good. It's a stick-to-your-ribs sort of meal. I used the leftover crust dough to make odd shapes on top. Uses 1 hot-water crust recipe (see below).
Filling Ingredients
6 leeks, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten (optional)
Filling Directions
1. In a large skillet, heat oil and fry leeks until they are translucent; about 30 minutes.
2. Remove skillet from heat and combine leeks, cream, cheese, and spices in a large bowl. Mix well.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Using one of the rolled out pie crust rounds, line a pie dish and add the filling. Cover with the second rolled out pie and trim off the edges. Decorate top of pie with excess crust dough cut into shapes. Crimp edge with fork tines. Brush top of pie with an egg wash (1 beaten egg).
5. Bake on the center rack for 40 minutes.
British Hot-Water Pie Crust
This part of the recipe makes two 9" pie crusts. As far as I can ascertain, the "British" part of this pie crust is using beef suet/lard/shortening. American pie crusts, Brian says, typically use ice water and chilled butter.
Crust Ingredients
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 c. whole milk
1 c. shortening
1/2 c. water
Crust Directions
1. Sift flour into a large bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, combine milk, water, shortening, and salt. Bring to a boil then immediately add to the flour and mix together.
3. Once the dough comes together easily, divide into two equal portions. Roll out to fit the pie dish. Take care to not overwork the dough. This is a much thicker crust than what you'd use on a fruit pie.
4. Roll out dough to 11 inches wide and 1/8" thick.
Note: If the crust is too dry to roll out, add 1 tbsp of hot water. If the crust is too wet, add 1 tbsp of flour.
Filling Ingredients
6 leeks, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten (optional)
Filling Directions
1. In a large skillet, heat oil and fry leeks until they are translucent; about 30 minutes.
2. Remove skillet from heat and combine leeks, cream, cheese, and spices in a large bowl. Mix well.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Using one of the rolled out pie crust rounds, line a pie dish and add the filling. Cover with the second rolled out pie and trim off the edges. Decorate top of pie with excess crust dough cut into shapes. Crimp edge with fork tines. Brush top of pie with an egg wash (1 beaten egg).
5. Bake on the center rack for 40 minutes.
British Hot-Water Pie Crust
This part of the recipe makes two 9" pie crusts. As far as I can ascertain, the "British" part of this pie crust is using beef suet/lard/shortening. American pie crusts, Brian says, typically use ice water and chilled butter.
Crust Ingredients
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 c. whole milk
1 c. shortening
1/2 c. water
Crust Directions
1. Sift flour into a large bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, combine milk, water, shortening, and salt. Bring to a boil then immediately add to the flour and mix together.
3. Once the dough comes together easily, divide into two equal portions. Roll out to fit the pie dish. Take care to not overwork the dough. This is a much thicker crust than what you'd use on a fruit pie.
4. Roll out dough to 11 inches wide and 1/8" thick.
Note: If the crust is too dry to roll out, add 1 tbsp of hot water. If the crust is too wet, add 1 tbsp of flour.
Pork Fried Noodles
The best part about tasty leftovers is being able to create a tasty dish that can be enjoyed. We had leftover pork roast and leftover whole wheat spaghetti noodles from two separate meals. You can easily substitute the pork for chicken breast, beef, or shrimp.
Ingredients
cooked spaghetti noodles
1 c. pork roast, sliced or diced
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 c. garlic chives, cut into 1" slices
1 garlic clove, minced
Directions
1. In a large cast iron pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and add noodles. Fry over low heat until the noodles have browned. Flip the heap of noodles over so that the other side can brown too.
2. Add garlic, chives, soy sauce, sesame oil, and slices of pork roast. Stir into the noodles until everything is evenly distributed. Don't let the chives brown. When the chives turn a vibrant green color, they are cooked.
3. Serve in bowls or on plates. Enjoy.
Ingredients
cooked spaghetti noodles
1 c. pork roast, sliced or diced
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 c. garlic chives, cut into 1" slices
1 garlic clove, minced
Directions
1. In a large cast iron pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and add noodles. Fry over low heat until the noodles have browned. Flip the heap of noodles over so that the other side can brown too.
2. Add garlic, chives, soy sauce, sesame oil, and slices of pork roast. Stir into the noodles until everything is evenly distributed. Don't let the chives brown. When the chives turn a vibrant green color, they are cooked.
3. Serve in bowls or on plates. Enjoy.
Chipotle Quinoa Salad
I seem to have put a little too much of the chipotle powder into this recipe. I intended to give the salad a little kick. Made this for a weekend BBQ. It takes the freshness of late spring produce and kicks it up a notch.
Ingredients
2 1/4 c. organic quinoa
4 1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp salt
1 organic red bell pepper, seeded, pith removed, and diced
1 organic green (or yellow) bell pepper, seeded, pith removed and diced
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tbsp lemon juice (or lime juice, if preferred)
1 green onion, minced
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste (optional)
In a pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add quinoa and it back to a boil. Simmer covered for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed all the water. Fluff with a spoon.
At this point, the quinoa is pretty plain and needs a little dressing up.
In a large bowl, mix green and red bell peppers, tomatoes, lemon juice, green onion, chipotle powder, and paprika until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Gradually mix in the cooked quinoa.
Serve immediately or chill.
Ingredients
2 1/4 c. organic quinoa
4 1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp salt
1 organic red bell pepper, seeded, pith removed, and diced
1 organic green (or yellow) bell pepper, seeded, pith removed and diced
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tbsp lemon juice (or lime juice, if preferred)
1 green onion, minced
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste (optional)
In a pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add quinoa and it back to a boil. Simmer covered for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed all the water. Fluff with a spoon.
At this point, the quinoa is pretty plain and needs a little dressing up.
In a large bowl, mix green and red bell peppers, tomatoes, lemon juice, green onion, chipotle powder, and paprika until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Gradually mix in the cooked quinoa.
Serve immediately or chill.
Homemade Soft Prezels (batch #1)
This recipe seemed easy enough to do. How could it possibly fail after having such rave reviews by FN commenters. There are a few things wrong with it. For starters, the dough is way too soft. Yeah, I know the title of the recipe is soft pretzels but there is soft, and then there is soft and chewy; the latter of which is what we pay a premium for at amusement parks. These taste okay. I made some alterations to the mustard sauce recipe. And, because our weather went from awesome to sux0rz, I used a bread machine to mix and proof the dough. I don't recommend using coarse salt. With the baking soda bath, it tastes salty enough.
Ingredients
1 c. whole milk
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter, diced
1 tsp fine salt
1/3 c. baking soda + 3 cups warm water
a stick of cold butter (optional)
Directions
1. In a bread machine, add these ingredients in this order: milk, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast. Set the machine on the "dough" cycle. Come back in 1.5 hours.
2. Take the dough out of the bread machine. It'll be sticky, but manageable. Knead it a few times until it is smooth. Using a sharp knife, divide the dough into equal portions. This batch made six pretzels and from the photo, apparently I didn't roll the dough to a long enough rope length.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
4. In a shallow baking dish, dissolve baking soda in warm water. Dip each pretzel into the soda water. Take out and set onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake pretzels for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
6. Remove pretzels to a rack to cool. Optional step: use a cold stick of butter on the hot pretzels to lightly butter them. Don't add any more coarse salt. They should be good to eat.
Pretzel Dipping Sauce
2 tbsp organic mayonnaise
2 tbsp Plouchman's mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
splash of smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce
Mix ingredients together in a small bowl. This, btw, makes too much sauce for a mere half dozen pretzels. I'd probably cut the ratio in half again.
 |
| Homemade Soft Pretzels, lightly buttered |
1 c. whole milk
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter, diced
1 tsp fine salt
1/3 c. baking soda + 3 cups warm water
a stick of cold butter (optional)
Directions
1. In a bread machine, add these ingredients in this order: milk, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast. Set the machine on the "dough" cycle. Come back in 1.5 hours.
2. Take the dough out of the bread machine. It'll be sticky, but manageable. Knead it a few times until it is smooth. Using a sharp knife, divide the dough into equal portions. This batch made six pretzels and from the photo, apparently I didn't roll the dough to a long enough rope length.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
4. In a shallow baking dish, dissolve baking soda in warm water. Dip each pretzel into the soda water. Take out and set onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake pretzels for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
6. Remove pretzels to a rack to cool. Optional step: use a cold stick of butter on the hot pretzels to lightly butter them. Don't add any more coarse salt. They should be good to eat.
Pretzel Dipping Sauce
2 tbsp organic mayonnaise
2 tbsp Plouchman's mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
splash of smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce
Mix ingredients together in a small bowl. This, btw, makes too much sauce for a mere half dozen pretzels. I'd probably cut the ratio in half again.
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