Lazy Sauce

No, friends, still no pictures. My mediocre writing will have to suffice. Someday soon I'll get myself a camera and do this blog right.

Yesterday I got a basket full of end-of-season tomatoes at the farmers market. It was probably 10 quarts or something. The farmer called them "paste" tomatoes, which I had never heard of, but she said they're no different from "sauce" tomatoes. In other words, they make good sauces and pastes.

I took them home, and, feeling moderately ambitious, decided to make sauce but not can it. This meant I could fool around with the recipe all I wanted; I just needed enough room in my freezer for the sauce.


I diced a couple of medium-sized white onions and started to saute them in a stock pot in some butter. I added a couple of diced bell peppers too, since we have approximately 250 in the fridge.

While the onions and peppers were doing their thing, I washed and cored the tomatoes in batches, and pureed them in the food processor, skins and all. Remember, this is lazy sauce. I added the pureed tomatoes once the onions had cooked long enough to be translucent. I could have deglazed the pan with some red wine or something first, but again, this is lazy sauce.

After adding the tomatoes, I threw in a few cloves of pressed garlic. I probably should have sauteed it with the onions and peppers, but I forgot. I also added a scoop of basil and scallion paste that Housemate's amazing sister made for us. You could just use some dried basil and probably oregano. I also added salt and pepper.

Then I let it cook down for about 3 hours, adjusting the seasonings every now and then. When it finished cooking, I ladled it into freezer-safe Mason jars, let them cool, and stuck them in my freezer. To defrost, I will stick a jar in the fridge a day ahead of when I need it, or put the whole jar in a pot of water on the stove (removing the lid first, of course!).

Canning Basics

If you read the title of this post and started to run away in fear, stop. Come back. Relax. Canning is not hard, not dangerous (if you follow the rules), and not complicated. We're talking about simple hot water bath canning today, and anyone can do it. You don't need special equipment that only the Super Secret Canning Society of Old Ladies gives out. You don't need a chemistry degree. You CAN do this!

So, why should you can? Um, like a million reasons. It allows you the opportunity to eat local fruits and vegetables throughout the year. It gives you something to do with the mountains of tomatoes/berries/apples/whatever that ripen at the same time. A basket of homemade jams makes a great Christmas gift. It's a great way to spend an afternoon with your best friend, Natalie. (If you don't have a best friend, Natalie, think about getting one; they're awesome). Also, you'll be ready in the event of a zombie apocalypse wherein all grocery stores are destroyed.


Convinced? Okay, let's start canning!

Step 1.
Gather the following equipment:

canning jars and lids - New jars come with lids. If you're reusing jars, you will need new lids.
large stock pot - large enough to submerge your jars
tongs - Canning tongs are nice, but regular kitchen tongs will work if you've got a steady hand.
clean dishtowels - a whole mess of 'em

The following are not totally necessary but are really nice.
canning funnel
dishwasher
wire rack for the bottom of the stock pot

Step 2.
Choose a tested canning recipe for hot water canning. This is not the time for making up recipes. You can only can very acidic foods without a pressure canner, so you need to follow the recipe precisely to ensure the right pH. I'll post some recipes here later this week, but the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is a great resource as well.

Step 3.
Fill your stock pot with water with a towel or wire rack at the bottom, and put it on the stove to boil. If you have a dishwasher, load the jars and rings in start it. Do NOT put the lids in. Begin preparing your canning recipe in a separate pot.

Step 4.
When the water in your stock pot is boiling, drop the lids in for 1 minute, then remove with tongs and place on a clean towel. If you don't have a dishwasher, submerge your jars in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then remove and place on a clean towel. You want to do this (or remove jars from the dishwasher, if you're using one) immediately before the recipe is done. The idea is to fill hot jars with hot food.

Step 5.
Fill the jars with whatever you've made, leaving however much space the recipe calls for at the top. Slide a knife down the inside of the jars, to get rid of any air bubbles. Wipe the tops with a damp towel and put the lids and rings on.

Step 6
Submerge the jars in the boiling water in your stock pot, cover, and boil for the time indicated in the recipe (probably 10-15 minutes).

Step 7.
Remove the jars carefully with tongs, set on a clean towel, and leave undisturbed for 24 hours. You will hear some popping noises as they seal! Check the seals by pushing on the lids the next day. The center should not be popped up on any of them. If any jars failed to seal, you can stick them in the fridge and eat them within a few weeks. As for the rest, store in your pantry and enjoy for up to a year (as per USDA standards)!

Refrigerator Pickles

Last night, during a bout of insomnia, I made a jar of Refrigerator Pickles out of two cucumbers we had kicking around. Now, if I were a pickler worth my salt (pickle joke), I would know to use only the freshest cucumbers to pickle with. By freshest, I mean picked a few hours ago. But honestly? These will still taste fine.

I'll share the recipe I used below, but let me preface it with an important warning. You can see that I guessed on some measurements and sort of threw things together in this recipe. If you are planning to seal your pickle jars and store them anywhere but a refrigerator, you may not do this. Hear me? Don't do it. Find a legitimate, tested canning recipe and do not deviate from it. Seriously.

Okay, on to pickle fun!


Step One

Bring 1 cup each of apple cider vinegar and water to boil in a small pan. (White vinegar would also be fine)

Step Two

While you're waiting for the liquid to boil, slice 2-3 cucumbers into whatever shape or size pleases you. Slice up a clove of garlic and some fresh dill too. Shove it all in a quart-sized jar. Really shove it in there.

Step Three

By now your liquid has probably boiled. Whisk in about a half cup of sugar, some pickling spices, mustard seeds, peppercorns, and a whole tablespoon of salt. Boil it all for ten minutes.

Step Four
Pour the liquid over the cucumbers in the jar. Put the lid on and stick it in your fridge for a week or two. Then, enjoy for about three months (if they last that long)!

Pickled Beets

I've gotten a bunch of beets, two weeks in a row, in my CSA share. I'm not a huge fan of beets, but I do like them pickled (feel the same way about cucumbers), so here's a seasonal recipe for pickled beets:

2 bunches of beets (5-8 in each bunch), sliced into thin strips
1 head of new garlic, roughly slice each clove
1 quart white or cider vinegar
1/2 quart sugar
1 heaping tsp. salt
1 tbsp. pickling spices
Small handful of chopped dill, if you like it

Fill 2 sterilized (read: just out of a HOT dishwasher) quart-sized mason jars with sliced beets and garlic. Bring vinegar, salt, spices, and dill to a boil in a pan. Remove from heat and add sugar. Then, pour it through a cheese cloth (read: a thin dish towel if you're not Martha freaking Stewart) into the jars of beets. Now, at this point, you can just throw a lid on the jars and keep them in your fridge if you'll eat them within a few weeks (but wait 24 hours before cracking them open).

OR you could seal them:
-Get some NEW lids and rings--you can reuse lids for fridge pickles, but new is essential for making a seal.
-Boil a giant pot of water, dunk the lids and rings in it for a minute or so, then put them on your full pickle jars.
-Then submerge the jars in the boiling water for 10 full minutes.
-Take them out with canning tongs (or regular tongs, carefully), and let them sit undisturbed for 24 hours. You might hear them pop as they form seals. You should NOT be able to get the lids off by hand, without a can opener.
Now, you can eat them immediately or store them in your pantry for up to a year. I would recommend doubling or tripling the recipe if you plan to seal the jars. It's not really worth the trouble unless you make a decent sized batch.

(Hopefully my lazy ass will upload some pictures of these beautiful pickles soon).

Mmm, Bacteria.

I made the best yogurt ever last night! I've made it before--even regularly for a while--but it has always come out more runny and liquidy store-bought yogurt. Last night, I solved the problem! I am so proud and totally convinced that I am the first and only brilliant person to think of this solution ever, so don't burst my bubble, ya'll.



So yogurt is incredibly easy to make. You start with some yogurt. Okay, that sounds stupid, but the point is, yogurt is self-replicating. Really, you could start with a bacterial culture that you order online and have shipped to you, but might as well just use a scoop of your plain yogurt--with LIVE cultures (read the label)--from the store. So get some of that.

While you're there, get some milk. Anything from skim to whole is fine (even cream will work). Pasteurized and raw milk both work, but ultra-pasteurized will not work (and you probably shouldn't be drinking that tasteless, nutritionless crap anyway).

Next find yourself a clean quart-sized container. I use a Mason jar. Pour a quart of milk in a double boiler and heat to about 180 degrees. If you have a kitchen thermometer, bully for you. I do not, so I just estimate--takes about 20 minutes, not quite boiling, but too hot to touch. You actually have to touch it to find out that it's too hot to touch. It's not rocket science. Or baking.

When you think your milk is hot enough, remove it from the heat and let it cool to about 110 degrees--comfortable to touch, but hotter than body temperature for the thermometerless among us.

To the cooled-down milk, add about a tablespoon of yogurt and stir.

Pour the mixture into your quart-sized container, cap it, and keep it warm for 8-12 hours, then refrigerate. Keeping it warm is the hardest part, but last night I discovered I could fill my slow-cooker with water and keep the jar in there overnight, set on "keep warm." This is how I got my yogurt to be so thick!

The slow-cooker is by far the best method I've tried, and I highly recommend it. If you don't have a slow-cooker and can't borrow one, you could put the jar in a cooler filled with hot water, but you'd have to keep adding water to keep it warm. Or you could wrap the jar in a towel and keep it on the stovetop if you have pilot light to keep it warm.


You can keep making new yogurt by taking a scoop from your old batch each time!

Applesauce

Exchange at the farmers market last week:

Me: (picking through apples on display, filling two baskets with them)

Fruit Guy: I also have a different variety in the truck, which I'm only supposed to sell by the crate because they were picked a week ago, but I'll give you a few if you want.

Me: Well, how much is a crate?

Fruit Guy: $4

Me: For a whole crate?? (Regaining haggling composure, resetting poker face) Ahem, how much can you do for two baskets and a crate?

Fruit Guy: Eh, I'd take $6 for all of it.

Me: (Screw haggling!) OKAY! Sold!

Moral of the story: In upstate New York, in the fall, they are practically giving apples away.



So on Wednesday when I went to Boyfriend's mom's house with his two sisters for our weekly "Craft Night," I brought the crate of apples (and an extra bag full). We peeled and chopped all of them (and I almost sliced the top of my thumb off). Then we put them in a huge stock pot with about an inch of apple cider covering the bottom. We cooked them down a little, added a cup or so of brown sugar, cooked them down a little more, added cinnamon, nutmeg, and a few tablespoons of lemon juice, remembered to add a pinch of salt, and eventually...we had apple sauce!

Boyfriend's mom let it keep simmering on the stove after we left. The plan was to put it in jars for each of us, but I'm not sure whether she decided to go through the whole canning process and seal them. It will probably get eaten too quickly to be worth it.

Next week: grape juice!