Edibles '10 - Part 3

DH finished up making 22 quarts of his tomato sauce yesterday. He grilled the last batch of tomatoes to add a nice smokey flavor to it and it turned out to be his best sauce ever. We haven't tried to grow potatoes in years. Perhaps next year.

I now need to make up the rest of the basil to freeze. I just use oil, roasted garlic and toasted pine nuts, and some lemon juice to keep it from turning dark and pepper. I add the cheese when using it, as I don't think frozen parmigiana cheese tastes as well as it does when adding it to the dish fresh. I also salt it then too, as some cheese is rather salty.

I am going to try to make a parsley pesto with pecans as I have a ton of both of that too. I think I will add a bunch of lemon to it so it goes well with fish. Kale is going great guns this year. I need to be thinking of soup, soon, but with more heat coming this week, that will have to wait. No complaints. Enjoy the day, glorious here. Patti

22 quartz in one day!?!? wow

never had parsley pesto might have to try that myself! will be making basil pesto very soon too.

Wha, he juiced more than half of tomatoes and temporarily cans them as they become ready in August. Then he juiced the last batch, grilled the tomatoes and made up the sauce on Sunday (Sauce Day) and then he canned it yesterday. So not a one day deal.

After finishing them, Chef Son said he should next year do his sauce slightly differently. In a nut shell, I think, he said that after caramelizing some onions etc, add sauté garlic, then add tomato paste, which is then deglazed (keyword) with wine and cooked down a bit before adding the tomatoes etc. DH use to add the paste after adding the tomatoes and wine and he did no deglazing.

When do you add your herbs and spices? I like to use small carrots to add a bit of sweet, without using sugar, but not sure if DH did this time. I have to get DS exact instructions, which I think is more about technique than ingredients which are personal preference and family traditions. Like stuffing.

You will like parsley pesto on fish or boiled potatoes as well as in pasta dishes. One recipe I tried called for a small amount of anchovy paste to be added to it to use on potatoes. It was divine. Not fishy, just a very earthy salty taste that was perfect on the tadders without using salt. No one guessed what I had used. Patti

Squirrels are eating my green toms

Fried green tomatoes and squirrel pie? Sounds like dinner to me. Patti

hee hee

patti right now we (i) just skin and de-seed the tomatoes then can them - we make the sauce later when were are ready to eat - we add carrots instead of sugar too, paste, basil, onion, garlic, and a can of beer or sometimes wine.

i will make the parsley pesto one night this week for sure - sounds good - wife does not eat fish and is not especially found of parsley - more for me - i am not a anchovy fan at all.

I will volunteer to eat all your anchovies!

I use balsamic vinegar in my pasta sauce when I can it - beer sounds like an interesting alternative.

Sauce is not a one day deal. I do not add carrotts, sugar, beer or wine. I think Patti is right about sauce being a pass me down type of receipe as I dont have one. Its all how its done and what is in it.

It takes me 3 days to cook and serve.

Never added beer, but why not. I think DH added a good hit of balsamic vinegar just at the end when he added the fresh basil. We doctor the sauce it we use it with sausage, meatballs, or fresh veggies or whatever, during the winter. I have taken to liking a red sauce with left over turkey a few days after the big day. Dark meat is especially good in a robust red sauce with mushrooms and I can taste it with a good dark beer thrown in. Will try in Nov. Patti

:) yup passed down - my wife got the beer addition from her dad - not me i would have just drank it. she has to use her own beer for the sauce - never my premium ale or a sammy's.

Kind of like the wine we use for the sauce. Last fall I opened a bottle of red for some very fussy wine drinking friends one night, which was met with praise, only to have my DH tell me after they left that I had served them the plunk that he had bought for the red sauce for 2 for 10.00. Fortunately I told them the wrong store where to purchase it and they couldn't find it and then I couldn't remember the name when they asked again. Our secret. Patti

that is great! not so fussy after all i guess - i would come clean with them - i have had $30 bottle of wines at dinner and $100 the same night ("business dinner" i wasn't paying) the $30 was much better for me and three others - the fifth we did not ask (he was paying).

I have had many cheap wines that were better than the $$ ones.

I find if you drink 'many' they all taste good (hic)

Enjoyed your choc a whole lot at the RU Dnut...thank you! My favorite tomato sauce is in a jar that says First & Last on the label....made in New Haven...costs a lot, but I use sauce infrequently so it doesn't pay for me to make it...this is all natural, no preservatives or sweeteners.

Thanks RD ^_^ My potat plants look quite dead. I'm goin' in. (Very Rambo) Unfortunately when my true luv dahlianapped me to Mexico no one watered the toms in the greenhouse :( s'ok I shall harvest what there is ^_^

The trip was worth it!

Hmmmm. I hope you get dahlianapped to New England next year, so we can all serve you some good chocolates in person to return your kind generosity!

Patti - I'm very hungry after reading your posts above. There's nothing like a good homemade sauce! mmmmmmm. I didn't get around to making any this year even though we sure had enough tomatoes. Our grapes are ripe, but we're not sure we have enough to go through all the processing to make jelly. Don't we sound lazy? lol

tell hank to put down the horse shoes (it will not help) - wash off and lend a hand! :)

Ha HA....I have plans to enlist his help out there. LOL

and tell him to retire that little horse shoe hook - the exercise will help :) just remind him to bend at the knees - if he is able to find those errant throws :)

Hank wants to know if you are collecting a paycheck while you are posting this abuse? :)

yup

Gotta love productivity!

almost missed a dead line when i realized i did not c & p notes with a forecast i submitted - just got it done - whew........

Forecasts go on the weather thread.

Bill - I can teach you how to use the Excel random number function - perfect for forcasting! LOL!

and a quick boot to the curb!

More time for gardening . . .

working has been limited my time out there :) although i am now able to buy more :)

And isn't that a good thing!

Instead of saying I'm retired, I think I'll say "dependently wealthy" from now on......lets me feel better when I splurge! After all, I am dependent on my many years of working and saving! LOL

ummmm, forgot that there might be a problem using the term, "wealthy"......sure don't fall within that category except as to friends and loved ones and a happy life......yeah, I guess I am, after all!

Yes - I believe you can be taxed for simply uttering that word.

Tax should be a four letter word.

A four-letter word usually precedes it when it comes out of my mouth!

it is only going to get worse

My son pays less in taxes for his 5 acre, large house than I do....of course, it's the icebox of the state.

[quote="ROBINDOG" it's the icebox of the state.[/quote]


??? RD

well I certainly befuddled that! Unfuddled: What is 'the icebox of the state' mean RD? Thanks muchly.


This message was edited Sep 24, 2010 1:03 PM