Roasted Garlic, Vidallia Onion and Roma Tomato sauce

It has been a hot summer. Driving around in the sweat box family suburban has been miserable. Every time I think I can no longer take the heat and humidity a little thunder storm rolls through and cools it down. While this weather does not seem to be fit for man or beast, the tomatoes are YUM.The warm sun and rain has made a perfectly thick and delicious Roma. I love to make sauces with these lovely plum tomatoes. It does not  have to be 35 pounds of Roma tomatoes canned for the year. Nope, I like to chop them and cook a half dozen or so down for a scrumptious basil and tomato sauce over angel hair until the buggers are gone for the season. This summer has been about what I can do with the resources available to me on the local farms here in Virginia Beach. I am always searching for what I can put up in my pantry next. In June I left my name and number at my favorite produce stand and told them to call when they had enough Roma's for me to can. I got the call not to long ago. If you do not know the really "good canners" want the tomatoes to go from vine to pot with out being refrigerated.

With the no refrigeration rule in mind I did not take much time to gather anything but Roma's and Garlic from Stoney's Produce. To get the sauce made fast the ingredients had to be in the pantry.There were, big flat vidallais onions( did you know the flatter the onion the sweeter it is). First step was to roast my garlic and my onions. Then heat a large pot of water to a boil to blanch the tomato skins off.

I capped the vidallias and the bulb of garlic. Added 1/4 cup olive oil placed them in a 350 degree oven.

You will need to have an ice bath to cool the tomatoes you remove from the boiling water.

Then wash the tomatoes and be sure any field debris washed from the skins. ( I had a few Heirlooms from sisters garden that I added to the Roma mix) After washing these beauties I cut out the core and any bruised or less then desirable parts.

The cored or capped tomatoes a dropped in the hot water for 30-45 seconds, you will see the skins crack.

The tomatoes in the ice bath before peeling.



The skins will be cracked and ready for you to easily peel the tomato flesh.

I was not looking forward to the skinning of the tomato. This goes back to my days in restaurant kitchens when we would do 25 pounds of tomato peeling and dicing at a time. Well my 71/2 pounds of tomatoes went fast. Thank goodness for small favors.

After the onions and garlic are roasted and cooled use the oil in the roasting pan to create a onion and garlic paste in a food processor. Clear the paste  a large stock pot. Then I repeat this with the peeled tomatoes.
Then add the tomatoes to the paste.

Here is the sweet marriage of tomato and onion-garlic paste.

This is a simple sauce that can be used to build a meat sauce, filling for lasagna or even added to soup or stew. I keep the seasoning simple. Black pepper, kosher salt and sugar. now cook the mixture until it no longer looks like thins soup. 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours. The flavor is gained from reducing the liquid. Stir ofter to prevent the bottom from caramelizing and scorching..not at all good for your flavor.



Process you jars in hot almost boiling water You should remove one jar at a time and fill with hot sauce.

once all jars are filled seal with hot lids and return to hot water and bring to a boil. Tomato Sauce should

boil in can for 30 minutes. The remove to a wire rack and allow to cool.

SUMMER ROMA TOMATO SAUCE:

Ingredients;

7to 8 pounds of Ripe red Roma tomatoes (DO NOT REFRIGERATE BEFORE CANNING)

2 large Vidallia onions

1 large bulb Garlic

1/4cup  Olive Oil

2T sugar

2t kosher salt

1 1/2 t black fine ground pepper

large bowl of ice

large canning pot

large stock pot

The calm before the storm...

The Calm before Irene

I have lived most of my life right here in Virginia Beach. When Hurricane Katrina plowed over the Gulf coast states it did not take me at all by surprise that there were those that did not evacuate. I approach hurricanes with skepticism, a false sense of security I am sure. This week has been like the seven plagues of the earth with the earth shaking and wind blowing and seas rolling and rising. Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the east coast but all I want to think about is working this weekend. A little extra cash from a catering job would go a long way in bank rolling things for five kids.

These trees are not bent over ,YET!

My better half in all things, Jon, is an avid weather geek. People all over our fair city, country for that matter, call on him to get in the know.He spends lots of time pouring over websites with funny, colorful pictures with moving squiggly lines. I use him as my storm barometer. If he tells me prepare or evacuate (never done this one) stock up on water and batteries I go. Yesterday while hurricane shopping, which is a complex job, I will fill you in on why later, Tad our oldest and I were meandering through our favorite Big box store laughing at the fact that people beat us to the water and batteries. We had gathered ours and I was set to pick up a few household groceries when our cellphones began ringing. First David called  followed by a my neighbor, both wanting to know if I had felt the shaking? Well at Sam's Club there was no shaking going on!! We felt nothing. We missed the East coast earthquake. Amazing that was a plague for sure,right? Everything was abuzz.. Twitter, FB, the TV. I was hoping the earthquake might be an antidote for the hurricane. No such luck. Irene is intensifying as we speak, she is a major hurricane as far as history is concerned. She is creeping past Florida and sucking up as much warm and lovely gulf moisture as she can.

How do you prepare for storm? Well you can do what the weather channel and news stations advise; withdraw enough cash for 5 days (not sure I have that much), enough clean water 3-5 days(x7 for all the humans in our house) , check, batteries for radio (don't have one of those, should I buy one?) batteries for flashlights(got some last storm, what did the kids do with them, buy more?) Do we have candles(too dangerous, if it is dark go to sleep!) No food..this is the one I scratch my head over. Should I just buy what we can eat immediately?  Do I buy anything that is frozen? Do I buy anything that will require an oven or microwave?This is most certainly were I have gotten my skepticism and this is why.This is how I would prepare in more fiscally sound times;Water and tons of it in all shapes and sizes,flashlights, and batteries for anything that needs a battery(Do batteries have an expiration date), case of canned soup (we never use canned soup), Kraft macaroni and cheese ( it would survive a Nuclear winter), candles (even if they are dangerous), a new raincoat and galoshes, maybe some sandbags, lots of Tequila and beer for sure(yes we would have a hurricane party with margaritas).  Now I have made this fantasy shopping trip many times and purchased these things and anticipated the impending storm with the result of a no show. Yep the hurricane made a last minute jig this way and that or a stronger system broke it to pieces, this resulting in a gorgeous day free of stormy weather. Now you are faced with the challenge of what to do with 50 batteries in various sizes, more candles then you will ever burn, enough can soup to feed a NFL football team, oh yeah and galoshes!



 Given my current financial restriction I found myself struggling to commit to this hurricane shopping. I am so bummed that my catering job has been cancelled. I am gaining no endorphins from the buy. I really am going to have to give in to this hurricane. The big guy says this is the one. Next week we will be powerless. Tad has in a harried fashion bought a car for college, arranged the last of his financing and is ready to fly the nest, alone. Alone on Saturday morning with an approaching hurricane.With this next of the seven plagues of the world approaching, that is Hurricane Irene, my first born leaving me again, and no fun from the hurricane shopping I am not ready for the unknown the storm will bring. I hope it is like hurricane Isabelle and I go to sleep and wake up to the clear blue Sky above and the storm has passed. I can do with out the lack of power, phone, and cable or Internet...I will say a little prayer for that one. This post is going to have to be continued with the aftermath???? Or the ahaa we made it??? Check it out early next week.

Margaritavilles battery powered (something useful use them for) Margarita machine, YES!

How I re-made North African Vegetable Stew

Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons

How Scrumptious does this Look? Fresh summer vegetables, beautiful summer herbs and rich spices combine to wake up your taste buds. This is is a dish that my Vegan client ask that I replicate for them.

As usual I take my own liberties with this..Including topping grilled polenta with the exotic summer stew.

Here is how I made it;

Diced onion and garlic is sauteed until translucent in 2 T olive oil

Season the onions with this spices mixture:Cumin, Coriander, Cayenne, Paprika,Cinnamon,Brown Sugar salt and pepper. The measurements for each will be in the recipe that follows. I create the spice mixture and use it to season the stew layer by layer.

To the onions and garlic then add the most firm vegetables; carrots, a bit of potato, fresh tomato (cooking these down enriches the vegetable broth) You will season this with the spice mixture and fresh chopped cilantro and Italian parsley.

Chopped fresh Cilantro
and
Italian parsley

This is a great stew to make in any region with what is in season and super fresh, asparagus was looking good at the produce stand so in it goes.

Now that that the bulk of the vegetables have been added it is time for the addition of some vegetable broth, Trader Joe's Hearty Vegetable stock is perfect. the first addition is 1 1/2 cups. Allow the vegetables to sweat and and steam a bit.

Now that the firm vegetables have begun to soften add you softer summer vegetables, egg plant that has been peeled,salted, rinsed and diced, diced zucchini, diced summer squash. Re-season and add 1 cup more broth.

The last vegetable addition is the artichokes, use 2 jar of artichokes with stems. If the artichokes are large  quarter them, if not halving them is fine. Final seasoning addition.

To finish the stew add 1/4c sifted flour and any remaining spice mixture stir carefully to avoid clumps forming and allow to thicken.  Serve over any of the following : Brown basmati rice, couscous or polenta. Polenta is a favorite right off the grill.

My African Stew:

2T olive oil

2 medium onions diced

4 cloves garlic minced

11/2 cups carrots sliced or diced

1 cup diced fingerling potatoes (skins on)

2 cups Fresh chopped Roma Tomatoes

11/2cups dice Zucchini

11/2 cups diced yellow squash (summer squash)

1 medium eggplant ; peeled, salted  rinsed, diced

3-4 cups vegetable broth

3t sea salt

11/2t pepper

1t ground cumin

2 t ground coriander

1/2 t ground Cinnamon

1t paprika

1/4 -1/2t cayenne (depends on how much heat you want)

1T brown sugar

1/4cup sifted flour

1 bunch chopped fresh Cilantro

1bunch chopped fresh Italian Parsley

Summertime “zinning”

Summertime “zinning”