10-18-2008

Here’s the mustard recipe I talked about on the Mr. Barbeque radio program today. As you’ll see, it’s really straightforward and simple to make!

Classic Whole Grain Mustard

2/3 cup yellow mustard seeds

1/2 cup brown mustard seeds

1 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, or Syrah

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, crumbled

1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crumbled

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric

IN a non-aluminum pot or jar, combine the mustard seeds, vinegar, wine, and garlic; cover and soak for 48 hours, adding additional vinegar and wine (in correct proportions) if necessary to maintain enough liquid to cover the seeds.

Scrape the soaked seeds into a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and process until the mustard turns from a liquid and seeds to a creamy mixture flecked with seeds. This takes 3 to 4 minutes, so be patient. Add additional vinegar as necessary to create a nice creamy mustard that still has some whole seeds in it. Keep in mind that the mustard will thicken slightly upon standing. This mustard benefits from several weeks of aging. Makes about 3-1/4 cups mustard.

Note: This mustard needs to be refrigerated for long-term storage. Do not seal in a boiling water canner and store in the pantry, because the acid level may not be high enough for this to be a safe method of storing the mustard.

September 20, 2009

DIVINE TOMATOES!

It’s a conundrum. To describe my roasted tomato freezer sauce without waxing poetic would be an injustice. And yet, to do so risks putting off hesitant cooks instinctively mistrustful of gushy food writers. So let me just say this:

Roasting fresh summer tomatoes with a bit of olive oil, some fresh herbs, and a fistfull of garlic is a brilliant maneuver. Trust me. The tomatoes come out beautifully bronzed on the outside, with a concentrated, tomatoey flavor oozing from their softened innards.

The flavorful melange is a cross between a sauce and a filling. Chunky yet velvety. I pack each batch into freezer bags and am able to sustain a state of smug gratification for as long as my supply lasts. Usually into April. There are so many ways to use this special mixture. As a base for a quick pasta sauce and topping over roasted polenta, to omelette and lasagne fillings.

My friend Chris Peterson has been doing the same thing for several years; banking her flavorful cache in the freezer to maintain her summer-quality cooking all year long. And like me, she roasts her harvest until there is no more to harvest. So by the end of the season, Chris figures she’s squirreled away several gallons worth of sauce. Or filling. Or soup base. Or whatever you want to call it.

"I use the big square roasting pan that came with the oven," she says. "I spread a little olive oil on the bottom, cut tomatoes in half - slicer, paste (the best!) and cherries - whatever needs to be used up. I toss in a handful of peeled garlic cloves and some herbs (fresh rosemary, basil, or cilantro), drizzle more olive oil over them, a little salt and pepper and roast at 400 to 450 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes." She goes more by sight than time, waiting until the tomato skins are turning blackish, "yet the rest is still juicy and the fragrance has our mouths watering."

In the Dominguez household, the roasting sometimes takes place out on our deck in my grill, over indirect heat, with the lid on. So even on the hottest days of summer, I can be roasting without heating up my kitchen.

Chris has created yet another option. It’s a little time consuming, she adds. But to anyone who has pondered whether to leave the tomato skins on or fish them out of the sauce before freezing it, she has a wonderful solution: "After roasting, I pluck all the skins off (they peel off with ease) and put them in the blender or food processor along with some of the juicier liquid and most of the roasted garlic cloves, then whomp it up and pour it back into the pan with all the other stuff."

I’ve approached the skin issue from the other direction. Earlier this summer, I decided to find out if peeled tomatoes would roast up just as nicely as unpeeled tomatoes. Well they do. The resulting mixture is just about as intensely flavored as the skins-on version, and produces a smoother sauce. Or topping. Or filling.

So while tomatoes and all the other savory offerings of summer are here, consider filling your freezer with a substantial supply. As Chris says, "Most anything that calls for tomato sauce will be boosted into outer space with roasted tomato sauce."

Here are additional thoughts to consider. Just don’t dawdle, the tomatoes are coming on strong, but won’t be around forever! But these luscious freezer sauces will at least carry their summer sun-kissed flavor well into next winter.

Bon appetit!

Jan Roberts-Dominguez

 

VARIATIONS AND TIPS TO CONSIDER:

There’s a fun and free-wheeling aspect of preparing a batch of roasted vegetables for the freezer. Specific recipes aren’t nearly as useful as listening to your inner cook.

For one thing, you can use any combination of tomatoes you’re growing or find at the market, from beefsteak to Roma. The tomatoes themselves are going to guide you through the process: Some give off tons of juice during cooking, which means you need to roast them longer and you’ll probably end up with a looser sauce. Others stay concentrated and tight, keeping their shape and just collapsing into their own intense flavor.

You can also slow-roast: I’ve seen recipes calling for a temperature as low as 250 degrees. Playing with different herb combinations is also a way to change the character of the finished tomato, but be sure to mark your container with the type of herbs you used.

And don’t be afraid to involve other vegetables beyond the basic onion-garlic scenario. For instance, one of my friend Chris’spin-offs involved eggplant. She had roasted a lot of it, "which leaves a horrid mess to scrape out of the pan," she adds. "But I decided to roast the tomatoes right away. The juice from the tomatoes worked all that flavorful black stuff up into the tomato sauce." It added depth and texture to her basic mixture. Sheer genius. Now she’s contemplating a roasting of eggplant, tomatoes, carrots and onions.

- To peel or not to peel? It’s up to you. If you plan to puree the mixture once it’s been roasted, then don’t bother dealing with the tomato peels, because they will disappear once they’ve been subjected to the blender or food processor. Especially if you’re using cherry tomatoes. With some of my batches I like to leave the vegetables in large chunks so I have more options for use in the months ahead. If I don’t want pieces of peel in the mix it’s easy to simply pluck them out of the sauce after thawing. They practically float away from the flesh.

- These tomato-based roastings are wonderful soup- and stew-starters, so when packaging for the freezer, consider appropriate amounts for such options. The other thing my friend Chris likes to roast and freeze for a soup base is green beans, "with onion slices, garlic, basil or rosemary, and (of course!) Olive oil." She freezes the mix in quart-sized yogurt containers and says they make divine cream soups in winter.

- Another wonderful combination is simply a roasting of whole garlic cloves (don’t be shy! I use at least 2 cups worth) and tomatoes with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper of course. They both get tender and sweet in just about the same amount of time and can be used chunky as they come out of the oven, or pureed into a garlicky/tomatoey seasoner. Fresh herbs, such as basil, rosemary or oregano can also be included, but that will limit uses down the road.

- Mushrooms make another great addition, but because they release a lot of moisture during cooking, I like to give them a 15 minute head start in the oven (or on the grill) before adding all of the other vegetables.

- For an extra zip, glug in a bit of balsamic vinegar during roasting. It adds depth and oomph.

- I like to pack my roasted mixes into quart and gallon-sized recloseable freezer bags because they store nice and flat during freezing and thaw within an hour in a bowl of hot water (with a smaller bowl of hot water nestled on top to keep the bag submerged). For a more frugal and ecologically sound approach, copy my friend Chris and use up your clean yogurt and cottage cheese containers.

- When I roast my tomatoes on a grill, I use a medium to medium-hot grill, covered. I have a wood pellet-fed grill (a Traeger, built in Mount Angel, Oregon www.tragergrills.com ), which provides a wonderful smoky flavor to the vegetables.

 

Roasted Summer Tomatoes

Makes about 2-1/2 cups smooth sauce, 4 cups chunky sauce.

Roasting fresh tomatoes until they're soft on the inside and beautifully browned on the outside concentrates their flavor. They come out of the oven gloriously golden and wrinkled and are wonderful gems to have on hand in the refrigerator and freezer for simple sauces and stocks over the days and months to come. I usually puree them into a velvety sauce right after roasting, but you can freeze them in their chunky state and decide what to do with them later in the year.

About 2 pounds tomatoes, peeled if desired (see note), cored and halved, quartered, or cut into 1-inch cubes (to measure 4 cups)

1 large Walla Walla Sweet onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil

8 or 10 cloves of garlic, peeled

About 1/4 cup olive oil

About 1/2 teaspoon salt

About 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 

Prepare the tomatoes as desired. If using cherry tomatoes, simply remove the stems and halve each one. Place the tomatoes in a large roasting pan, jelly-roll pan, or any baking sheet with sides. Add the onion, basil, and garlic. You can crowd the vegetables together, but don't go beyond a single layer. Drizzle on a bit of olive oil, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in a preheated 375 to 450 degree F oven (the hotter the oven, the shorter the roasting time) until the tomatoes are turning a deep golden brown on their skins. Depending on your oven temperature, this will take anywhere from 20 minutes to about 90 minutes. When done, they will have collapsed and look quite wrinkled. Alternatively, consider roasting the vegetables over indirect heat on your grill, with the lid on. I have a wood pellet-fed grill (it’s called a Traeger and is built in Mount Angel, Oregon), which provides a wonderful smoke flavor to the vegetables.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven or grill and let the vegetables cool. With a metal spatula or wide, flat-sided wooden spatula, stir and scrape the cooled tomatoes to dissolve all of the cooked-on bits of food.

At this point, consider your options for freezing:

The Chris Peterson skinned variation: After roasting, pluck all of the skin off the tomato flesh (it comes off easily). Place it in a blender or food processor along with a healthy glug of the liquid from the roasting pan. Blend on HIGH until the skin is a puree. Stir this mixture back into the vegetables before refrigerating or freezing.

Note on peeling tomatoes: To remove the tomato skins before roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut a shallow "x" in the bottom of each tomato. Blanch them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds (just until the skin begins to peel away), them remove with a slotted spoon and run under cold water to cool. Peel the skins off the tomatoes, then core and cut into halves, quarters, or 1-inch chunks and proceed with recipe.

TO FREEZE: ladle the sauce into freezer containers or resealable plastic freezer bags, leaving about 1-inch head space. Let cool completely, then close and freeze.

Roasted Tomatoes, Peppers, Corn and Capers

Makes 4 to 5 cups roasted vegetable sauce.

With its silky texture and summery fragrance, this is one of the most pleasurable dishes to make. And it freezes beautifully. The roasting melds everything together, transforms the flavors, and yields juices so delicious they invite dunking with chunks of grilled French bread - the perfect summer appetizer. Also great served cold as a little salad, as a tasty filling for a sandwich or frittata, or cozied up next to a grilled chicken.

About 2 pounds of ripe summer tomatoes (any combination you’re growing would be fine, from beefsteak to Roma), peeled (see note below)

About 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

4 big sweet bell peppers, red, orange, and yellow

1 Walla Walla Sweet onion, peeled, halved and cut into 1-inch chunks

Fresh-cut kernels from 2 ears of sweet corn

12 Nicoise olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

6 flat-leaf parsley sprigs

12 large basil leaves, minced

4 plump garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons capers, rinsed

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

 

Prepare the tomatoes as desired. If using cherry tomatoes, simply remove the stems and halve each one. Halve or quarter others. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of the oil in the bottom of a large roasting pan, jelly-roll pan, or any baking sheet with sides. Add the tomatoes, peppers, onion, corn, olives, parsley, basil, garlic and capers.. You can crowd the vegetables together, but don't go beyond a single layer. Drizzle on the rest of the olive oil, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in a preheated 375 to 450 degree F oven (the hotter the oven, the shorter the roasting time) until the tomatoes are turning golden on their skins. Depending on your oven temperature, this will take anywhere from 20 minutes to about 90 minutes. When done, the tomatoes and peppers will have collapsed and darkened beautifully.

Alternatively, consider roasting the vegetables over indirect heat on your grill, with the lid on. I have a wood pellet-fed grill (it’s called a Traeger and is built in Mount Angel, Oregon), which provides a wonderful smoke flavor to the vegetables.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven or grill and let the vegetables cool. With a metal spatula or wide, flat-sided wooden spatula, stir and scrape the cooled mixture to dissolve all of the cooked-on bits of food. Makes a scant 4 cups of roasted vegetable sauce.

To freeze, ladle the sauce into freezer containers, leaving about 1-inch head space. Let cool completely, then attach lids and freeze.

NOTE ON PEELING TOMATOES: Don’t worry about peeling the cherry tomatoes. For the larger ones, the peel can be removed easily after roasting (it pulls away from the cooked and softened flesh very easily), or you can peel them ahead. To do so, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, cut a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato. Place them in the water just until the skin begins to peel away, about 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of ice water until cool enough to handle.

 

 

 SEPTEMBER 4, 2008

It struck me last week as we were heading home from Central Oregon - with The Three Sisters poised softly above a golden meadow on our left - what a comforting constant the Cascades are for lovers of summer. At a time of year when the atmosphere is so often uncluttered with clouds, the distant image of those glorious peaks - Rainier, Baker, Helen, Hood, Jeff, and the Three Sisters - represents the promise of adventure to us valley dwellers.

But they also remind us of how fleeting the season really is. No sooner have I sunk my teeth into one good summer novel than I’ve begun noticing that viewings to the east have become more clouded than clear. Our hiking days are numbered.  And for chill-free mornings on the deck with my mug of coffee, an extra layer of fleece is now required.

So it appears that summer is slipping away.  And even though the start of a new school year is no longer an event in the Dominguez household, it helps me readjust my psyche. Which in turn, produces an entirely different outlook on cooking.

Like so many others who are passionate about food, I cook according to mood and hankerings. This isn’t such a complicated issue when each season settles into its groove. Mid-summer menus? Nightly hits of fresh-from-the-field corn, herb-laced tomatoes and grilled peppers are expected. Anything that produces powerful and dynamic meals in the shortest amount of time. But once autumn hits its stride, I’m on to plump and juicy heads of roasted garlic, creamy mashed potatoes with caramelized onions, and apple cobbler.

In the meantime, for this transitional phase, when weather and harvest are unpredictable, I like to have a potpourri of recipes on hand. Some that speak to my growing enthusiasm for heartier fare and greater chunks of time to produce it. Others that give a nod to what I hope will be a lingering late summer.

So I decided that perhaps other cooks are feeling the pull into the kitchen as well. And that maybe, just maybe, you’d like to try out a few of the recipes I always run to when my heart begins beating a little faster at the thought that autumn is coming after all.

Jan’s One-Pot Chicken with Noodles, Ginger and Lemon

This is a heavenly preparation that tastes especially good during these transitional days from summer into fall. It will also carry you through the cold winter months ahead. The key to its success is really (really!) Good quality chicken stock.

Makes 2 servings, but can easily be doubled.

2 chicken breast halves, bones in, skin off (about 1-1/2 pounds total weight, including bone)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 cups good-quality chicken stock

3/4 cup chopped green onions (about 5 or 6 medium-sized onions, using all of the white and pale green portion and about 2 inches of the green)

2 slices from a whole, fresh lemon (about 1/4-inch thick, or slightly thicker)

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger root

2 teaspoons commercially prepared chili-garlic sauce (sold in the Asian food section, usually near the soy sauce)

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt to taste

1 (7.7 ounce) package yakisoba noodles (also called "stir-fry noodles;" check the refrigerated section in produce department of most supermarkets)

Using kitchen shears or a very sharp knife, cut each chicken breast half into two portions (since you’ll be cutting through rib and breast bone, shears are very effective). Cut through each breast at the meatiest portion, so you end up with four relatively equal-sized portions. In a deep-sided, heavy-bottomed pot, brown the chicken pieces in the oil over medium-high heat, turning once to brown on both sides (note: skinless breast meat can be tricky to fry, tending to stick to the bottom of the pan if you flip it too soon; be patient, once the meat has browned sufficiently, it practically releases from the pan bottom by itself). Reduce the heat slightly, remove the chicken pieces to a plate, then pour in the broth, stirring and scraping with a flat-sided utensil to dissolve all of the caramelized chicken juices.

Return the browned chicken pieces to the pot, and add the onions, lemon slices, ginger root, chili-garlic sauce, and black pepper. Cover, and cook just until the chicken is tender and cooked, about 40 minutes. Adjust the seasonings, adding salt if desired. The chicken may be prepared to this point up to 48 hours ahead and refrigerated.

Five or ten minutes before serving, bring the mixture to a boil, then remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon. Add the yakisoba, breaking the soft block of noodles apart with a fork or spoon so they’ll cook evenly and quickly in the broth (this only takes about 3 minutes). When the noodles are cooked, return the chicken pieces to the pot and heat through. Adjust seasonings. If you remember, fish out any remaining pieces of lemon (it will be almost disintegrated by now, though) before serving. Serve in large soup bowls or pasta bowls.

 

Grilled Pork with Black-Eye Pea Salad

Makes 6 servings.

This recipe speaks to early autumn: tender slices of flavorful pork tenderloin, joining forces with a warm, rich and zesty side dish of bacon-infused black-eyed peas and flavorful back-yard tomatoes.

3 slices fine-quality bacon, diced

1 small red onion, diced

1 tablespoon chopped shallots

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1-1/2 cups fresh black eye peas, blanched (or, see note below)

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/2 cup tomato concasse (recipe follows)

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1/4 teaspoon salt (more to taste)

Pinch of cayenne pepper

About 12 ounces of fresh, young salad greens

Salt and pepper to taste

Grilled Pork Tenderloin (your own version, or my recipe below)

Saute the bacon gently to render the fat, then add onions, shallots and garlic, and continue sauteeing gently to soften the onions and allow flavors to develop.

Add the black-eyed peas, thyme, olive oil, vinegar, and cayenne and continue to cook for 3 minutes, then reduce the heat and add the tomato concasse, green onions, and salt and pepper to taste. This mixture may be prepared and refrigerated up to 24 hours ahead. When ready to serve, gently warm in a microwave or skillet over medium-low heat.

Grill the marinated pork tenderloin as described below. Remove the cooked meat to a heated platter, let sit for 5 minutes before slicing (this helps the meat retain its juices). Slice the meat into 3/4-inch or 1-inch thick slices.

To serve, arrange 3 generous slices of the grilled pork tenderloin on each of 4 dinner-size plates. Arrange a serving of the young salad greens along side each serving of the pork, then top each serving with a portion of the black-eyed pea mixture. Serve immediately.

NOTE ON BLACK-EYED PEAS: Fresh black-eyed peas are best, but dried peas can be used. Cook first by following package directions.

NOTE ON TOMATO CONCASSES: From the French, "concasser," the coarse chopping of food with a knife. This means simply peeled and seeded tomatoes that are chopped in preparation for cooking. In this instance, the tomatoes don’t have to be peeled, but they should be cut into a small dice, measuring about 1/4-inch in each direction.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin (to serve with the Black-Eyed Pea Salad)

Makes about 6 servings.

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons brown sugar

6 tablespoons bourbon or dark rum

1 teaspoon salt

4 to 5 cloves garlic, smashed or chopped

2 to 3 tablespoons minced shallots

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

About 2-1/4 pounds pork tenderloins

In a large resealable bag, combine the soy sauce, sugar, bourbon, salt, garlic, shallots and ginger. Add the pork tenderloins and refrigerate for at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight. At leadst twice during the marinating process, turn the meat to ensure it’s marinating evenly.

Remove the marinated meat from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking (for even cooking). Discard the marinade. Grill the tenderloins on all four sides, about 4 minutes per side. The Meat will feel relatively firm to the touch.

Let the meat sit for about 5 minutes before cutting so it will retain its juices. Cut into 3/4- to 1-inch wide slices.