Garden Goodies

Heavens I have been busy lately! (That is my poor excuse for not posting for such a long time.)
I have been kept busy by all the garden goodies which seem to ripen all at the same time.
All my tomatoes seemed to stay green for weeks and weeks, so when they finally started ripening I had tomatoes coming out my ears!
What to do with all these? Make salsa and marinara of course! Thankfully my sister, MD, (technically sister-in-law) was there to help. I worked on blanching the tomatoes to remove the skin, while she sliced and diced all the salsa ingredients.
Blanching is the easiest way I have found to remove tomato skins. You cut a shallow "X" on the bottom of the tomato, just to score the skin, then plop them in boiling water only for 15-20 sec. You will start to see the skin crack and peel away where you cut. Then pull them out and dunk them in an ice bath. This shocks them so they don't continue to cook, and the skin almost slips off.

I don't do very well with spicy foods, so I was looking for a fresher chunky salsa. MD found this great recipe that we used. It was soooooo goooooood! Just what I was looking for.

INGREDIENTS:

Double (or triple) this recipe for a crowd.

1 1/2 c Roma tomatoes, chopped (seeds removed)
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
2 1/2 Tbls jalapeno pepper, finely diced (leave seeds in if you want spicier salsa)
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/2 Tbls Kosher salt
2 Tbls fresh lime juice

(Credit to Trish from momontimeout.com who originally posted the recipe)

 In the picture below you can see the salsa in the white bowl, and all the diced tomatoes we still had left over in the green bowl. You could freeze the blanched tomatoes whole, but we planned on making homade marinara sauce for the Chicken Parmesan dinner that night. This was both of our first attempts ever at making marinara from scratch, but it turned out fantastic thanks to this recipe.

I was looking for a sweeter, meatless sauce that I could freeze. The original calls for some meat, but it was really good vegitarian due to all the fresh herbs. (I also threw in a bay leaf, shhhh!) We picked fresh oregano from my garden, but had to buy fresh basil since my potted basil was so wimpy this year.

Simple & Sweet Marinara Sauce

1 large yellow onion, finely diced
5 gloves of fresh garlic, minced
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup decent red wine (Try using a cabernet savignon, merlot or shiraz for slight variations in flavor.)
28 oz can (or fresh) crushed tomatoes
6 oz can tomato paste
1-2 tablespoons brown sugar (use less for less sweet)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup (at least) fresh basil, finely chopped
1/4 cup (at least) fresh oregano, finely chopped
3 tablespoons (at least) fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon dried Italian herb blend
1 bay leaf while simmering
 Directions

1. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 3 Tbs of olive oil - OR- Brown meat of choice (lean ground beef, ground turkey or chicken, lean pork, or meatballs) and set aside. Drain out 70% of remaining fat but keep about 2-3 tablespoons in the pot.
2. Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. 
3. Pour in red wine and deglaze the pan, carefully scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Allow the wine to reduce in volume by half by cooking for about 2-4 minutes. 
4. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, salt, pepper, fresh herbs, and dried herbs. Stir to combine. 
5. Reduce temperature to low or simmer. Add meat back into sauce if using. Cook for a minimum of 1 1/2 hours and as long as 8 hours. 

Makes about 4 cups of sauce. Freeze any extra sauce after it has cooled.

(Kudos to Jenna from freshfoodperspectives.typepad.com for the fabulous sauce!)

Even though I picked all the ripe tomatoes for those recipes, just a couple days later I was back out and picked even more along with the rest of the cucumbers. It's crazy how a garden can just keep producing!