Roasted Tomato Sauce

Pureed roasted tomato sauce

Tomato season! I love tomato season. Well, it is not quite tomato season-- not the beautiful sun ripened tomatoes. But I do not despair because nonsupermarket tomatoes are available and I am roasting them. I love roasted tomato sauce and they are the perfect use for the "not quite tomato season" tomatoes. I ask for the canners at the farmers' markets because you don't need the perfect tomatoes for this sauce. I chop them up, add a bunch of onions, garlic, oil, and herbs to them, and roast them.  Once they cool, I throw them in the food processor (which means you don't have to be obsessive about your chopping). Yes, it is truly that easy. Dishing the sauce into bags and vacuum packing for easy freezing makes an evening meal a snap.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

A Lot of Tomatoes, Diced (We diced about 6 pounds of tomatoes)
Garlic (1-4 Cloves), Chopped (This time I used garlic chives from the CSA)
One Small Onion or Half of a Large Onion, Diced
A Couple of Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Fresh Herbs, Chopped (I like to use parsley, basil, and rosemary)
Crushed Red Pepper (Or a dried hot pepper, crushed)
Kosher Salt, To Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper (I Use a Fair Amount of Pepper)

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4  (I prefer to convention roast at 350F/180C/Gas Mark4 so I have an evenly heated oven for multiple trays). Throw all of the ingredients into a bowl or food safe plastic bag and toss. I don't measure the ingredients but taste to determine seasonings.

Pour onto cookie sheets and spread so the tomatoes are in a single layer (I line mine with aluminum foil and coat the foil with a thin layer of oil).

Ready to roast

Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes. Cool on trays. Process in the food processor or blender until smooth. The lovely sauce can be the base for pasta sauce, Bloody Marys, soups, chicken cacciatore (one of my all time favorite dishes)....

Cooling

The bottom line: How much of this will I make over the summer?  A lot. I freeze it in vacuum sealed bags and enjoy it through year until the next summer.

Asparagus, Bacon, and Leek Pasta

The farm

I love our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture); this year we joined the Fair Share Farm CSA.  One of the requirements of the CSA (for a full share) is to work three shifts on the farm. The Sokols went and worked our half of a day on the farm. And when I say work, I mean work. The farm is absolutely beautiful. The farm is neat and tidy-- kind of like the way Cold Comfort Farm was at the end of the movie. We loved harvesting the veggies -- I don't consider that work. The work started when we started pulling up the row covers and the hoops that held them. Katie at the beginning of our shift wanted to live on the farm and by the end of the shift was happy with her assigned chores at home (yes, we are those kind of parents- we require our child to do chores).
Our work (well really everyone else's work) paid off when we got our first share: goat cheese, lettuces, herbs, asparagus, and leeks. I must say it was some of the best looking lettuce I have ever seen. I always want asparagus and leeks. I traded the bok choy for more lettuce. I just can't warm up to bok choy. Maybe someone out there has a recipe they love. If so, please send it to me. Thanks- in advance.

Beautiful lettuce

Our first night we had a butter lettuce salad with warm goat cheese, beets, pears, pecans, and a balsamic vinegar glaze. Yes, it was incredible. (For the warm goat cheese take some goat cheese and form into a disc cover with panko crumbs and sauté in butter and for the beets drizzle with olive oil and add some crushed pepper and roast until a tin foil pouch at 375F/ 190C/ Gas Mark 5 until they are tender; cool and slice. The time depends on the size of beet). I actually buy a balsamic vinegar glaze and just dress my salads with it. I love it.

Beet and warm goat cheese salad

I spent more time on what to do with the leeks and asparagus and came up with this pasta. Please use pancetta or think cut good quality bacon for this recipe (actually you should always use good quality bacon).

More CSA produce

Asparagus, Bacon, and Leek Pasta

1 lb (.45 kg) of uncooked pasta
4 Slices Thick Cut Bacon, Diced
1 1/2 Tbsp of Butter
3 Leeks, Thinly Sliced
A Bunch of Asparagus, Chopped
3/4 Cup (177 ml) of Half and Half or Whipping Cream
Salt and Pepper, To Taste
A Dash or Two of Cayenne, Optional
Parmesan Cheese, Grated

Slice the bacon and cook over medium heat until it is starting to get crisp. I like to throw in a pat of butter with the bacon.  Meanwhile cook pasta, reserve 1/2 cup (118 ml) of pasta water. Add the leeks and asparagus (and some salt and pepper) to bacon and cook until leeks are tender.

All kinds of good stuff in the skillet

Lower heat and add the half and half and reserved pasta water.

Adding the half and half and reserved pasta water

Lower heat and simmer under asparagus is desired tenderness. Add a bit of cayenne. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add pasta to sauce and stir until covered in sauce. Top with cheese and serve.

The finished dish

The bottom lone: will I make it again? Yes, incredible pasta. My family loved it.

Sous Vide

The steaks getting a bath- sous vide style

I have a love and passion for food- growing it, buying it, preparing it, and pondering the science behind it.  I admit that I have a problem. I call it a food fixation. I love spending time in the kitchen. I love dreaming up new dishes. I love eating. I have a huge weakness for kitchen gadgets. I love kitchen gadgets. Yes, even ones that only have one use. I will never be able to down-size my kitchen because I won't want to get rid of my kitchen gadgets (and I will never be able to invite Alton Brown to my home). My family puts up with (and benefits from) my food fixation. I guess in the grand scheme of things it isn't that bad of a weakness.....

My newest love is the Sansaire Sous Vide Circulator. The device itself is easy to use. The learning curve surrounding the process and theory was not a big one, and we are once again talking about science and food in my kitchen. It makes me so happy. The food we create is amazing. The trout we sous vide was incredible. The best I have ever had. Truly. I think my husband agreed because he took a bite of trout and stated that it was the best $200.00 he ever spent. (He brought it for me for my birthday--a tremendously good gift).

So, is there really a difference? Yes, yes there is.  The first meal I made was steak. I am currently getting my beef from Barham Farms just outside of Liberty, Missouri. We buy half of a side at a time so we get all kinds of cuts. The steaks are amazing. Even better cooked sous vide.  The ability to vacuum seal the steaks, place the in a pot with the Sansaire Circulator and go for a run is worth the price alone.   

Vacuumed packed steaks ready for their water bath

The steak is perfectly cooked -- medium rare all the way through from edge to edge and I don't have to worry about over cooking it.  All that remains to be done is to sear the outside (it is gray, ugly, unappetizing, and needs to be seared). Searing can be done with a blow torch (I love the the blow torch), the inside grill, a pan, or the outside grill. It is amazing. My trick is to add salt, pepper, and fresh herbs to the steak prior to vacuum packing them adds a layer of flavor that is fantastic. Be careful the flavors you add to the meat for the vacuum packed water bath stage are intensified. We separately packed the steaks and tried different seasonings and the herbs were the tastiest.

Perfectly cooked steak with beer sautéed mushrooms

Eggs. Lets talk about eggs.

Sous Vide eggs

I do not like running eggs. They gross me out (and there are very few foods that gross me out). I love the fact that I can put my eggs in a pot and sous vide them to the perfect temperature-- there is no guess work.  My temperature is 165F/ 74C  (yes- I know it sounds like my sleep number for a bed). I don't like the gray ring around the yolk and I will never have it again.  The best part? I put the eggs in a pot, set the temperature on the Sansaire and went out for breakfast.  When I came back, I had perfect cooked eggs. Yeah me!

Trout-- here is a picture of my trout- perfectly cooked and moist.  It was truly incredible. I put it in a plastic bag and put it in the Sous Vide set at 113F/ 43C for 30 minutes.

Yummy Trout

I threw the potatoes in the oven to roast and prepped the rest of dinner. I slowly caramelized some onions and garlic. When the fish was done, I took it out of the pot and plastic bag, removed the skin, and threw it in the pot with the onions to sear it.  I topped it with some fresh herbs. The result was utter perfection. Who knew?

I also made shrimp and scallops in the water bath and tossed in them in a Cajun cream sauce served over pasta with steamed broccoli. It was liberating to be able to drop the shrimps and scallops in the water bath and focus on the other parts of dinner. I have not made short ribs yet- I will soon. The pot roast I made was really good. A tender pot roast that is medium rare can only be achieved (to my knowledge) through sous vide. Wow, I am starting to sound like an infomerical.

Shrimp and scallops sous vide in a Cajun cream sauce 

So here is some of the detail-- sous vide is French for "under vacuum." The simple act of cooking in a water bath at the final temperature desired changes the way I think about cooking in dramatics ways. As I have said before (my daughter will tell you I tell her this every chance I get) cooking is just a series of science experiments. Cooking is a wonderful mixture of physics, chemistry, and biology. Sous vide is my (and sometimes my family's) latest edible science experiment.

Ok back to the science. When we cook meat, we use heat to denature (change) the proteins in the meat (protein makes up approximately 1/5 of the meat, the rest being water and fat). Ordinarily, it is difficult to maintain a low enough temperature over time to break down the proteins so we cook meat for a shorter period of time over high temperature. The result is meat that is unevenly cooked-- often a perfectly cooked core and overcooked edges. With sous vide the meat is cooked at the desired temperature for a longer period of time and the result is an evenly cooked piece of meat from tip to tip.

Overcooking is not possible so timing is not as critical. Having said that if you do leave food too long in the sous vide it will turn to mush (I have not done this yet- but it is on the list). Vacuum packing the food prevents the air from insulating the food so the oxidation reactions are slow so there is less chance of unwanted color changes or off-flavors. At the lower temperatures the cell walls do not burst.  In the case of cooking meat, tough collagen in connective tissue can be broken down, without heating the meat's proteins high enough that they denature to a degree that the meat is tough and dry.

The bottom line: I think sous vide (at least in my kitchen) is more than a passing fad. I think it is a wonderful way to cook but will not eliminate my grill, stove, or oven. My blow torch will be getting more use.

Bacon Spinach Tomato Salad

One of my favorite salads

 So do you ever have one of those days where you completely forget an event that you are supposed to take food to?  On the way home from work you remember and are in panic because you have nothing in your house. It happens - well at least to me. It happens often enough that I have an easy go to salad.  It will feed a crowd and I can swing by the grocery and have it done in no time. Oh- I forgot to mention the best part, it is delicious. Really. I promise.

I remembered when I was about half way home, so I bought one of those big containers of mixed spinach and spring mix, a bag of croutons, and a pint of cherry tomatoes. I got home and made the salad dressing. I quickly microwaved some bacon so it had time to cool. Next I found a giant salad bowl and dumped the spinach/spring mix into the bowl. Next I added the tomatoes and the croutons. The croutons were followed by the bacon. Then I added some grated Parmesan cheese because I love cheese. I took the salad dressing with me because I hate wilted greens. That is it. I should have timed myself. I can't give you an exact time but I made the salad and changed clothes in less than 20 minutes. The best part of this salad was my husband told me on the way to the meeting (it was an aviation meeting all men except for Katie and me) that no one was going to want any salad. Guess what? It was all gone by the end of the meeting. I think they liked it. But then what's not to like?

Bacon Spinach Tomato Salad

The Dressing

1/4 Cup of Milk
3/4 Cup of Mayonnaise
1 Garlic Clove, Minced or 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder (Not Garlic Salt)
Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper, To Taste
A Couple of Dashes of Cayenne (Optional)

Whisk ingredients together.  Pour on the salad right before you serve it. I always rewhisk the dressing right before I add it to the salad. [Note for bigger salads like the one below-  use 1 part milk to 3 parts mayonnaise and adjust the seasonings]

The Salad

4-6 Slices of Bacon, Cooked
1 Large Container of Mixed Greens and/or Spinach
1 Pint of Cherry Tomatoes, Sliced in Half
1 Bag of Croutons (Homemade are so much better if you have time)
Parmesan Cheese, Grated

The tomatoes really make this salad beautiful

Combine all of the ingredients. When ready to serve add the dressing and toss.

It is not as pretty tossed so I always wait to the last second to toss the salad

The bottom line: will I make this again?  Yes, I can't wait until we have summer ripe tomatoes (I am growing yellow pear tomatoes). They make this salad incredible. I am also growing my own spinach and spring mix so soon I will be able to harvest my own greens for this salad.  The other ingredient I really want to add is avocado. I think it would be amazing.

A Saturday in Springfield

The view from the plane

Today’s trip was to Springfield, Missouri. They were having a farmer’s market festival. With the promise of fresh veggies, we were off. We made a mistake; we flew into an airport (Springfield Downtown) that was closed on Saturday. Obviously, the runways still open but the office and more importantly the bathrooms were not. I made the mistake of drinking a large cup of coffee before we left and I was quite distressed about the lack of a  bathroom. Thankfully, a flight instructor heard Steven asking about the closed office and landed after us.  If you are a general aviation pilot or are married to one you already know this—pilots are some of the nicest and most helpful people you will meet.  Not only did he tell us about landing at Springfield National but also called over to verify that we could get a courtesy car. A huge thank you to Brian Morgan-- we looked him up later on the Internet- he is a flight instructor extraordinaire with over 10,000 hours of flight time. 

Springfield National is a tower controlled airport. That means you are vectored in which in turn means that you don’t just land.  At this point I am really regretting that cup of coffee. [For those of you thinking about flying in to Springfield National here is the general aviation information]. 

Springfield National is a fairly busy airport that has regional jet traffic. Jets go roughly 500 miles an hour and the Tin Dog goes approximately 110 miles an hours. Needless to say we probably held up some of the airport traffic when we landed—sorry.We parked in front of the General Aviation building and Steven took care of the plane. I was able to visit their lovely bathrooms. They had a custody car for us to use—they have 3 for general use and local maps.  Once again, nice friendly people.  And since it was a weekend aviation gas was 40 cents off a gallon.  Unfortunately, it was too late to go to the farmer’s market. Sigh. But the one thing having a small plane teaches you is flexibility. You can’t guarantee that you can fly on a particular day or at a particular time—safety always is the first consideration and the second and the third…..

The inside of the the Aviary Cafe and Creperie

So we decided to see some of the highlights of Springfield. First, we went to Aviary Cafe and Creperie and had some of the best pomme frites that I have every had. 

Pomme frites

Oh my they were yummy. Already mostly full, we followed these delicious tidbits up with crepes. I had the hen and pine crepe and Steven had duck confit crepe.  We couldn’t finish them and honestly we should have just gotten the pomme frites. Yes, they were that good. Trust me go and get them. You will not regret it. 

Words to live by 

Next up--- Askinosie Chocolate.  Owned by a lawyer who saw the light and left the practice of law and now makes insanely good chocolate.  A chocolate bar will set you back about $10.00  so you are paying premium prices but you are getting a premium product. We also bought some chocolate nibs for the next chocolate stout we will brew. I really liked soaking them in Jim Bean and adding it to the secondary so I will probably repeat the process with our next batch of beer.

Mother's brewery

Mother’s Brewery is also in Springfield and on my list of breweries to visit. Mother’s is best known for their IPAs. They have a lovely tasting room with friendly staff explaining the beers available for testing. Note: these are beers that you can only get at the brewery. Steven obviously could not taste the beers so he smelled the beers and I tasted them. 

Tasting menu

We narrowed the beers to Cheech and Chong IPA, two versions of the same beer with different yeasts. It is amazing the difference a yeast can make. I chose Chong- which is an “in your face” IPA and we bought a growler to go. Steven could taste it once we were home.

It was time to head home so we made our way back to the airport to our fully fueled plane. On the way home we enjoyed the sights from the sky. It really is beautiful from 3,000 feet. It was a bit bumpy. We saw flocks of white birds (maybe ducks) below us and even saw a lone eagle. I watched the earth get a bit less green as we headed north but it was clear that spring had finally sprung in Missouri.

Roosterville

Safely back at Roosterville Airport we transported our chocolate bars, nibs, and beer home.  

Flying to a Field Near You

The Tin Dog

One of the more dramatic changes in our household was my husband getting his pilots license and buying a plane. It is something he has always wanted to do. What I didn't expect is that my daughter would fall in love with all things aviation. Who knew?  We have a Piper Cherokee that we fondly named the "Tin Dog." For the Whovians out there, yes, it was named after K-9. It seemed like the perfect name for the plane and it has stuck. It really is like K-9.  I think it has the same technology-- look at the control panel and see for yourself.

1977 technology at its best

Airplanes have opened a new world for us. We are amassing a different body of knowledge and think with a different perspective. An example is the  weather. We think of weather in terms of flying conditions. Is it too windy to fly? What do the clouds look like? Words like  "glass cockpit," "cleco," "FBO," and "flaps" have entered our working vocabulary.

Unconsciously, science and math have taken a front row seat in our house. We compute how far we are going, how long it will take us to get there (and compare it to driving),  how much fuel we need, and weight allowances. We are fascinated by how the plane works and the physics of take offs and landings. I never knew the science behind a soft field takeoff could be fascinating but then my safety had never been at stake until I was in a small aircraft taking off from a grass strip. You think also about the afternoon heat and air turbulence (I try to sit in the front on the way back).

The grass strip we landed on - really- we landed here

Our hope is to visit small towns this spring and summer and explore. Did you know that there are 1000s of small airstrips throughout the United States? Really - here is a link to them FAA Airport Data and Contact Information. I am hoping that many of these have farmer's markets nearby and I can get some fresh produce and fly home.  One airport on the top of my list is the Amana Airport. It is next to the Millstream Brewing Company. How great is that? Of course we would have to spend the weekend because it would be unfair to Steven to fly to a brewery and fly back in the same day. (FAA rules require 8 hours minimum from "bottle to throttle".)

This past weekend, we went to Anita, Iowa. It was about an hour and half flight. We flew at approximately 4,500 feet. It is a gorgeous view. The lakes and ponds glitter likes jewels when the sun hits them.  The world is beautiful. On the trip there we were excited about going to a new destination and exploring. It made for a great adventure. (We were also hoping for a clean restroom).

The view out of our plane

Anita, Iowa is a small town (about 1,000 people) in Southwest Iowa. The draw was a grass strip airport and a state park with a lake that was about a mile walk from the airport. I was shocked when I saw the grass strip. It really was a grass strip (about 2,900 feet long). You probably wouldn't want to land here at night because there are no lights. When I saw where we were supposed to land, I thought really???? We are going to land there??? There are small orange cones marking the runway. Thankfully we landed just fine and went into to town to explore. We found a gas station, walked through down town and headed for the lake.

Wind turbines by the lake

On the way we saw some extraordinary wind turbines, as well as, the old fashion type.

An old fashion windmill

We walked around the lake, enjoying the incredible views of the lake and surround farms. Realizing that we were starving we stopped for a picnic lunch of cheeses, crackers, hummus, pita, and salami. It was a perfect lunch. After lunch, we headed back and flew home.  On the trip back we were thinking about the place we just visited and looking forward to getting home. I pondered dinner and what I was going to make. The only way the day could have been more perfect is if there had been a farmer's market. We even had a hawk soaring with us for a short time before it flew on.  Know of a place you think we should fly to- that we can get to in the Dog? Please let us know--especially if there is a great place to eat or a farmer's market. We are always up for an adventure.

Pasta with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Bacon

Yummy pasta goodness

I did my research and picked a CSA (community supported agriculture). The one I picked is Fair Share Farm in Kearney, Missouri. I am quite excited.  Fair Share Farm  requires one half day of work at the farm so the family and I will be picking and washing some veggies. I am looking forward to our day on the farm although I expected we will be quite tired after our half day of work.
On the sign up day we received a bag of spinach. We a farmer hands you spinach, you make pasta. Yes, another pasta. I seem to be on a pasta kick. I had some asparagus so I threw that in too and some tomatoes and bacon. I wish I had some fresh peas that would have been yummy. Maybe next time.

Pasta with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Bacon

1 Pound (454 g) Box Pasta
4 Slices of Bacon
3 Tbsps of Olive Oil
2-3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
Approximately .5 lbs (227 g) of Asparagus, Chopped into Pieces
Salt, To Taste
Pepper, To Taste
Red Pepper Flakes, To Taste (Optional)
A Couple Handfuls of Spinach, Roughly Chopped
12 oz. (340 g) Tomatoes, Diced (or if Cherry Tomatoes Cut in Half)
Parmesan Cheese, Grated

Cook the pasta according to package directions (reserve 1/2 cup (118 ml) of pasta water) and drain. While the pasta is cooking, cook the bacon and set aside. Pour olive oil into a large skillet (I use cast iron) and heat to medium-high.

Lovely lovely spinach

Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add the asparagus, salt, and pepper (and red pepper flakes if you want some spice) and cook for about 2 minutes.

Stir frying asparagus

Add the spinach, cooked bacon, tomatoes, cooked pasta, and pasta water.

Adding all of the remaining ingredients and heating to wilt the spinach

Stir to combine and heat until spinach wilts. Add cheese. Season to taste. Enjoy!

Yum!

The bottom line would I make this again? Yes, it was delicious.  Next time I may try a different cheese or different veggies. I think whatever I bring home from the CSA will likely work.