Because We Can: Ripening Tomatoes

Dad is a doer.
When he works at home, he grocery shops, fixes the bathroom sink, makes 25 gallons of beer, and actually gets all his work done.
On Sundays, he take a nap. His nap is a sort of reward for what he does earlier in the day like...
walking the dog, making a trip to the grocery store, going to Lowe's, watering the plants, dropping off the dry cleaning, making about 400 espressos/coffees/teas for the rest of the family, making at least 5 work calls, driving me or Andrea or the dog somewhere, waking up at 6am, going for a run, and picking up lunch.
This week, we added ripening tomatoes to that list.
Dad likes to do interesting things, and the kitchen or basement brewery are where most of these things take place. The mostly all work out, probably because he bases a lot of his kitchen decisions on Alton Brown's teachings.
We love that man.

We've been growing a lot of tomatoes this summer, and Mother Nature's been growing a lot of chipmonks. Turns out, chipmunks like to devour tomatoes. To protect our miniature home garden, we've been hoarding still-green tomatoes, hoping and praying that they'll ripen up on the kitchen counter.
We haven't been too successful.

This disappointment, of course, led my dad to do some research on how to coax your tomatoes into ripening. After a couple of attempts and remembering that Mr. Brown ripened something with a banana in a bag, we threw some better thought out key words into Google and found the method.
The very best way to ripen tomatoes off the vine.

You will need:
Tomatoes
A ripe banana
A paper bag

You will need to:
Put the banana in the paper bag.
Add the tomatoes, close the bag pretty tightly.
Leave the bag on the counter for four-ish days, checking for ripeness every 2 days or so.

Enjoy your tomatoes!

Pollo in Pomodoro

I was planning on making grilled chicken with fennel for dinner. For me, this dish is just summer on a plate, so I figured it would be perfect for early August.

Today, it was 65º and rainy. Today was fall all the way, without a bit of summer in the air. Tonight's dinner called for something tender, cooked for at least an hour, preferably stewed in a spicy tomato gravy.

Tonight was a pollo in pomodoro night.

I spend my falls and winters making soups, and stews, and curries. This is my favorite late summer version, as it takes advantage of all the fresh summer tomatoes, is filling on cold nights, but is still light and super healthy, filled with fresh veggies, low fat white meat, and herbs.

Pollo in Pomodoro

Serves 4

olive oil

4 chicken drumsticks (skinned)

4 chicken thighs (skinned)

salt and pepper

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

red pepper flakes to taste (1/2-1 tsp)

2 cups crushed tomatoes

2 cups vegetable stock

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped fine

1 tbs chopped basil

salt and pepper

Heat a deep, heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven, over medium heat, when hot, add olive oil. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and add them to the hot pot. Brown the chicken on both sides, 6-7 minutes each.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables begin to sweat, about 3 minutes.

Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until you can smell the garlic, about 3 minutes more.

Add the crushed tomato, and stock to the pan. Use a wooden spoon to deglaze the bottom of the pan.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed

Add the chicken, basil, and rosemary to the sauce and add enough water or chicken stock to almost cover the chicken. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes to a half hour, until the sauce comes half way up the chicken.

Serve with polenta or roasted sweet garlic roasted zucchini.

Enjoy!

Heirloom Tomato and Peach Jam

Ketchup has to be one of my favorite things. Not just one of my favorite foods, but one of my favorite things.
It's right up there with sweaters, lipstick, and puppies.
I put it on everything from fried potatoes, to baked potatoes, to mashed potatoes, to freezer waffles.
Bet you weren't expecting that last one.

I've made berry ketchup, I've made berry jam.
And now, I've made tomato peach jam. It's essentially a way grown up version of ketchup and is amazing on everything from toast to meatloaf.
It's sweet and tart and as spicy as you want it to be.
Its healthy, with only herbs, tomatoes, peaches, vinegar, salt, pepper, chilie flakes, and 2 tbs of honey. Yep, "ketchup" with only 2 tbs of sweetener. That's what the peaches are for, kids.
This jam literally tastes like summer: ripe peaches, garden fresh tomatoes, it doesn't get any better.
It's the perfect way to use up all the weird looking tomatoes from the garden, or the ones that split in the summer heat,  because it cooks for about an hour.

Tomato and Peach Jam
Makes 1 quart of jam

1 Pound tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 large peaches, chopped slightly smaller than the tomatoes
2 Tbs honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs chopped basil
1/2-1 tsp chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop your peaches and tomatoes and toss in a medium, high sided pot. Add the vinegar, honey, and a small pinch each of salt and fresh ground pepper.
Heat the mixture on medium, stirring, until it comes to a boil.
Cover and turn down to a simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring every so often to make sure all the fruit is breaking down evenly.
After 25 minutes, mix in half of the basil and chili flakes. Taste the mixture and add more salt and pepper.
Simmer, uncovered, for about 40 minutes, or until the liquid has dissolved by half, and the fruit is broken down. Stir the mixture every 4 minutes.
Mix in the rest of the basil, cover the pot, and remove from the heat.
Allow the jam to come down to room temperature before pouring into an air tight container or jar.
The mixture will keep in the fridge for a week or so.
Enjoy!

Vegan Caprese Salad

Salads are boring.
I'm sure you've heard that said about a million times, but it's not true. It's simply a lie. Who over told you that does not really know anything about salad.
I'm on a bit of a giant salad kick at the moment, due to a little thing called a diet (check out my other blog below) and I'm actually really enjoying it!

Exhibit A, because the bag technique is very hard to explain without visuals

I'm not allowed much dairy on this diet, so I save it for the important things, like Greek yogurt and have been using my usual substitute Almond milk quite a bit. When I was craving the classic tomato, basil and cheese salad, though, I ran into a little bit of a problem. That's where tofu and vinegar come in, though.

Brown Baggin' it!

The tofu absorbs the flavor of the marinade and really tastes similar to cheese. The texture's not too far off, either. So, whether you're vegan, on a diet, or just out of cheese, you can always enjoy a Caprese.
I used my favorite lunch time salad making technique-make it in a big zip top bag, put that in a tupperware, and you know all the dressing is sealed securely inside. So, if you want to make this salad in a bowl, just follow the directions but put the ingredients in a bowl, not bag, and toss, don't shake.

Vegan Caprese Salad
(serves 1)

1 medium roma tomato, sliced
8-10 basil leaves, ripped
2 oz firm tofu, thoroughly drained
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Put tomato, basil, shallot, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper ina large zip top bag, and shake gently to combine.
Cut the tofu into 1/4 inch squares and squeeze the liquid out, by wrapping it in paper towels and squeezing until dry.
Crumple the tofu into the salad and skake it up again again.
Allow the salad to marinate for 2 hours or overnight. This step is really important because it allows the tofu to absorb the other flavors, and make a more convincing cheese substitute.
Put the bag in a tall sealable container so you can eat it bowl style without any clean up or possible spillage.
Enjoy!
And remember to check out my Other Blog

For Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, and Dinner

People have a lot of grain prejudices. They only eat whole grains, they only eat grains they're not sure how to pronounce, they don't eat grains at all. They also have strong feelings about the times when each grain is appropriate. Rice is only good at night, oats are only safe to eat in the morning, barley is only eaten in the winter and fall, but quinoa can be eaten whenever you want. Let's all take a cue from quinoa and eat these other grains whenever we darn well please.
I love oatmeal. Oatmeal with berries, nuts, agave, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, molasses, ginger, peaches, cream, or all by itself. I also like it with tomatoes and hummus. Yep, savory oatmeal is absolutely amazing. I'm eating this one for breakfast, but the timing rant is still relevant because I have made this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and if you make a really large batch, I'm sure this would be a huge hit at a brunch.

Sorry for the quality. All the pretty portions were snatched up first.

Grains are the best because you can add anything you like to them, and they almost always come out the other end tasting great. It's also super fun to play around with ingredients that can be sweet, savory, salty, sour, or spicy (explains my love for fruits and veggies too) So feel free to experiment with other savory ingredients and even different grains. I promise, you'll have a lot more successful batches than failures!

Mediterranean Oatmeal
Serves 4

2 cups rolled oats (Not instant)
2 Tbs Hummus
1 clove of garlic, minced
6-ish basil leaves, chopped
1 Tbs olive oil
3 cups of water
1 large heirloom tomato (2 cups chopped tomato)
Salt, Pepper, Parmesan to taste

Preheat oven to 350ºF, and grease 4 ramekins with some of the oil. In a skillet, heat the remaining oil and add the garlic and oats. Toast, stirring often, until the garlic is fragrant and the oats are just golden, remove from the heat. Grease add the salt, pepper, hummus, and basil to the oats when they're still warm and stir to combine. Add the water and stir. Portion the oats into the ramekins, top with the tomatoes and bake for 3 minutes. Add parmesan, if you want, and bake for 3 minutes more. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a minute or two before serving, because he ramekins will be hot.