Sarah’s Sauce

There’s a lot of squash in my life right now. Summer squash, pattypan squash, zucchini all make their way courtesy of my friend A to my kitchen.

Two weeks ago, I had a bumper carrot crop. And of course, I made carrot soup. I used this recipe from the original Moosewood cookbook, and OH my gosh I cannot stop thinking about this soup. I spiced it with raw ginger and left out the dairy and it was absolutely perfect. As in I want to eat this soup until my skin turns vaguely orange because of all the beta carotene perfect.

Last week, I got tomatoes. Not a lot of tomatoes, just enough that I had a few to munch on and could make a decent pot of sauce. And I’m even writing up the recipe!

When I was in grad school, my roommate Sarah was (well, is) Italian and a great cook. She taught me to make sauce from scratch. Before this, my pasta sauce recipe was to brown and drain some meat and mix it into a can of pasta sauce, which is easy and tasty but not really anything special. I sometimes still make sauce this way but when I want a little extra something, I use Sarah’s method.

Sarah’s Tomato Sauce
One or two big tomatoes or one big tomato and a handful of cherry tomatoes
One nice big onion or a couple of smaller onions, diced
Two or three (or three or four) heads of garlic, peeled and diced or run through your garlic press
One large can of crushed tomatoes (I like Pastene)
Spices: basil, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes
Brown sugar
Salt and pepper
Butter, EVOO

1. Peel your tomatoes!
2. In a big pot (in my life, the same pot I used to peel the tomatoes with the water dumped out), saute the onions and garlic in EVOO with a little bit of butter until they’re translucent and fragrant.
3. Grab a peeled tomato. CRUSH IT WITH YOUR FIST into the big pot. Be careful of flying tomato seeds. You could also slice open the tomato and remove the seeds like a normal person, but I don’t mind them and really, it’s very satisfying to crush tomatoes. Let this cook for a bit.
4. Add the large can of crushed tomatoes
5. Pour some dried basil into the palm of your hand. Then add some more, until there’s a roughly a tablespoon in your palm. With your other hand, powderize the basil into the pot. Do the same with the oregano and the parsley.
6. Add some salt and pepper to taste, and some red pepper flakes. You could also add some Parmesan cheese.
7. Add a tablespoon or so of brown sugar. Taste and tweak the spices to suit your palette.
8. Cover and let simmer on low for a good long while, stirring occasionally. I let it simmer through a couple episodes of New Girl. Just don’t burn it.

Makes one big pot of sauce. Eat over pasta with meatballs!  And say mmmm a lot!

I’m linking up here with the What’s in the Box series at In Her Chucks.  Check out the links list – lots of great ideas!

Contra and Broccoli

I went to a contra dance on Monday. I went with my man, who’d never been to a contra, but had been practicing during lonely times at work via YouTube. He was enthusiastic and caught on quite quickly. The musicians were really great and the crowd was enthusiastic, and even though the dances weren’t really beginner-friendly, he caught on really quickly. I sat out one of the dances in the second half and the band played one tune, called Glen Echo Jig, by Larry Unger (I went up and asked when the dance was over). The dance was so lovely and the tune was so happy, and I was so happy to be there. There was also a couple that had a baby in a Baby Bjorn. The baby was so calm, wasn’t fazed at all by all the spinning, and never spit out her pacifier, all while her parents were dancing away! I could see my friend Sarah being those people in another couple years. Anyway, the first jig in this video is Glen Echo, your song for the week!  The video also shows what looks like a nice winter hike in the Whites.

Mount Waumbek winter hike from Flamingo Hiking Productions on Vimeo.

In other news, I made some roasted broccoli with this week’s farm share. I followed Alton Brown’s recipe except made one minor change: I roasted the broccoli in a glass pie plate instead of a metal cake pan. Didn’t notice any difference because quite frankly, I was too busy noshing. The toasted Panko was a brilliant addition!

Look! An uninspiring photo of roasted broccoli!

In addition to broccoli, this week’s share also had fava beans, a turnip and its greens, and half a summer squash.  Yum!  Again, I’m linking up to the What’s in the Box series by In Her Chucks.   Check out the other participants here!

Bounteous

I have a confession to make. I got a bag of CSA veg last week and DIDN’T DO A THING WITH IT. Sacre bleu! In my defense, it was another week of activity! and fun! and summer! and not cooking! but nonetheless. Veggies had to be Dealt With. So this week, I came up with a Plan. Because in addition to last week’s share, this is this week’s share:

Granted, that has been split between the four of us but still. Way bounteous. This week’s share included three large turnips with their greens, a big bag of snap peas, <3 Swiss chard <3, three summer squashes, five broccolis, four bags of salad greens, one giant head of lettuce, a big handful of garlic scapes, a bunch of purple basil, and a bunch of dill.  Now divide all that four ways and add in another fourth from last week.  A and I ate the turnip greens and made turnip chips for dinner last night and then I went home and processed up the rest.

First, I made arugula pesto from last week’s big bag o’ arugula.  I used this recipe by Michael Chiarello as a guideline, but really, it was a more free-form pesto.  Here’s what I did:

First, I went through my arugula.  I removed wilty leaves, dubious leaves, bits of grit.  My CSA pre-washes everything and so my greens are usually really clean.  Then I stuffed the remaining arugula into my food processor with the choppy blade on.  There were probably 3 good cups of arugula in there to begin with.  To this I added:

• some spinach leaves
• the purple basil from this week’s share
• a chopped garlic scape
• a big ol’ sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
• several cranks of salt and pepper from my grinders
• a big squirt of lemon juice,
• probably about a tablespoon each of non-toasted pine nuts and pecans
• moderate handful of sun-dried tomatoes

Really, I went through my kitchen and thought to myself “this would be good chopped with arugula.”  My CSA’s arugula is really spicy, so I tried to moderate that with the brightness of lemon and tomato and punch it up with salt and pepper.  I added a good spoosh of EVOO, put the lid on my food processor, and hit the pulse button until everything was finely chopped.  And voila!  Easy pesto!  At this point, I tasted the mixture to make sure that the salt/pepper/lemon balance was good (I added more salt).  I then took the ice cubes out of my ice cube tray and froze the pesto so it will keep for the long term.

Next up: dealing with summer squash! I usually eat summer squash and zucchini as zucchini pancakes. I made up a method last summer, only to Google it and find out that they are part of Korean cuisine (hobak jeon is one name I found). Awesome! So after I dumped the pesto out of the bowl, I put it back on my food processor and put on the shredder attachment. I shredded the squash and added:

• a big sprinkle of Parmesan
• a chopped garlic scape (are you sensing a theme here?)
• some salt and pepper

Mmm, shredded squash!

I stuck this mixture in a freezer bag and stuck it in the freezer next to the pesto. When the time comes and I’m hungreh for squash pancakes, I’ll let the mixture thaw, add some flour and an egg to the mixture, and then fry it in a skillet until it is brown and crispy. Yum!

Last up: lunches for the week! This one is the easiest. I shred up the lettuce into individual containers, add some broccoli, nuts, or sun-dried tomatoes (basically, whatever’s on hand) and a sprinkle of lemon juice and salt and pepper. This time around, I topped the salads with leftover pork loin from dinner last night. And then in the morning, I just grab one before running out the door!

I ate the one on the left for lunch today and dudes: it was delicious.  I do love salad.

And this is how I deal with veg bounty: by dedicating one or two nights to prepping, freezing, or cooking so that the rest of the week/month/summer can be about eating.  When friends drop in unexpectedly, I’ll have things already prepped so I just have to heat and serve.  And this means more time with friends and less time with a hot stove!

How do you deal with summer’s bounty?

Edited to add that I’m linking up to What’s in the Box, a weekly CSA blog party at In Her Chucks.  Lots of good stuff out there, check it out! 

Summer Veg!

This week marked the start of my CSA’s weekly farm share! Last summer, A, B, and I split a CSA share from The Food Project. In my opinion, it was a tremendous value, perhaps because I paid one lump sum in the beginning and got bags and bags of fresh, local produce into November. We ate our way through fields of leafy greens, swiss chard, beets, zucchini, squash, and delicious heirloom tomatoes. I also froze bags of shredded zucchini and roasted tomatoes and ate them through the winter. In fact, I made my last bag of frozen tomatoes into a delicious sauce a couple weeks ago.

Yesterday, I went to A’s to pick up my share. This year, there will be four of us splitting the bounty. Since there will be fewer veggies than last year, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to eat everything while it is fresh. Also, there’s a new man in my life and I’m hoping he and I will cook and eat a lot of it together. In fact, we’re going to cook some Swiss chard tonight! Also, because this year’s share is split four ways instead of three, I’m hoping to supplement the week’s veggies with visits to the Saturday morning farmer’s market in my town. Yum!

I won’t be posting pics of veggies every week, but since this was a special week, I thought I’d show off what I got. This week’s share included my beloved Swiss chard, arugula, spinach, garlic scapes, a turnip, and a bag of tiny, delicious strawberries.

Stay tuned: tomorrow, I’ll post my favorite method of cooking Swiss chard!