Category Archives: Sauces/Condiments

Sausage and Kale Stuffed Shells with Homemade Italian Sausage

  May 2, 2013 - 8:19 am | , , , , , , , , , ,
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Sausage and Kale stuffed shells
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Sausage and Kale stuffed shells

Comfort food is the heart of my home cooked meals these days. Whether it’s Chicken and Dumplings or Turkey Meatloaf, comfort food makes up the majority of what my family eats on a nightly basis. Probably because by the end of a day of wrangling three kids, I want a little comfort anyway I can get it. But comfort food does not need to be unhealthy food.

When I moved to New England for college two decades ago, I was immediately immersed in a crash course of Italian American food. Stuffed shells, Manicotti, Ricotta in pretty much anything was what I took away from the local restaurants and even the dining halls. It wasn’t until I moved to Boston’s North End that I really started to learn the differences between Italian-American fast food and what it meant to truly identify yourself as an Italian and an American and what role food played in that identification. I learned this through friends who knew a lot about food who were also Italian Americans, by living in a predominately Italian neighborhood where I could walk around and still hear Italian spoken, and by trips to Italy where I learned the differences between Italian and American food.

Italian-American food is not a set-in-stone canon of recipes. Yes, Ricotta is in some of it, but not in all of it. (I also learned that not all Ricotta is grainy and tasteless.) The dishes are comfort food to many, but that does not mean that they cannot be lightened and improved.

This week’s recipe is an example of that. I have had stuffed shells a few times over the years. Sadly, most of the time the dish was very disappointing. The shells tend to be over stuffed with tasteless grainy Ricotta, and the pasta is usually overcooked and blown out, soggy and bloated with sauce. The sauce is usually the only vegetable matter on the plate.

This recipe is not that dish. These shells are filled with a homemade Italian sausage which you can make from any ground meat you wish; I’m a fan of lean ground turkey. You then mix the sausage with kale and cheese and fill the shells with a moderate amount of the filling. The shells are easily frozen and can be pulled out and topped with a fresh, easy to make sauce before baking. I don’t put any cheese on top of the sauce when baking, as it seems pointless since the shells are full of it. When serving I top each portion with a small amount of freshly grated Parmesan and that’s it.

I highly recommend making your own sausage. The idea that sausage is hard to make is a misconception. It couldn’t be easier and the flavor is superior; especially for the lower fat meats like ground chicken or turkey. The vinegar in the sausage recipe really helps bring the flavor to life, and you can make it as spicy as your family wants. Since Italian sausage is not smoked or cured, it’s easy to make, and it does not need to be stuffed into a casing if your using it as a filling or topping.

You certainly don’t need to be Italian-American or Italian or even American to enjoy this dish. It’s comfort food any way you dish it. It tastes good, it makes you feel good and it will make you smile. Enjoy!

Italian Sausage and Kale Stuffed Shells
Serves 8

Quality Ricotta is very important to the success of this recipe. I love Naragansett Creamery’s Ricotta; it’s insanely smooth and very flavorful. If you live outside the region find a local cheese producer that makes it. Good Ricotta is an entirely different product than most of the stuff in the grocery stores.

1 package large shells, about 40
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound Italian sausage (see recipe below)
1/2 bunch kale, rinsed and dried
1 cup whole milk ricotta (8 oz)
1 cup mozzarella, shredded (4 oz)
2 tablespoons Parmesan, finely grated (1 1/2 oz)
1 egg
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons basil, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Sauce:
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes (Eden Organic does not contain BPA)
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon garlic, minced (about five cloves)
1 teaspoon salt
8 large basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the shells according to the directions until al dente, removing 1-2 minutes before the recommended cooking time.

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Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the onion and saute until soft but not yet brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook until the garlic is very fragrant, about a minute. Add the sausage.

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Cook the sausage breaking it into smaller pieces until it is cooked completely through and the pieces are no bigger than a 1/2 inch. Add the chopped kale and cook until the kale is wilted and has released most of its liquid, about another 3 minutes.

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Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely down to room temperature.

While the sausage and kale mixture is cooling combine ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley, basil, egg, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

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Once the sausage and kale have cooled add it to the mixture and thoroughly combine.

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Using a tablespoon or 1/2 ounce scoop, fill each shell with a rounded tablespoon of filling.

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Place seem down in an oiled baking dish or on a baking sheet for freezing.

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Cooking:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make the sauce by combining the tomatoes, chicken broth, olive oil, crushed red pepper, garlic, salt and basil in a large bowl.

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Line the shells up in a large baking dish and cover with the sauce. If you are baking off only a small portion of the shells, allow 1/2 cup of sauce for each five shells. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes, 30 if frozen. Remove the foil and check to make sure sauce is bubbling and all the shells are hot cooked thoroughly. Serve with a light grating of Parmesan.

 

Italian Sausage

1 pound ground turkey, chicken or pork
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Combine the red pepper flakes and the fennel in a small pan and toast, shaking constantly until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.

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Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Combine the ground meat, garlic, sugar, salt, black pepper, fennel and red pepper mixture and vinegar together.

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Use in any recipe that calls for Italian sausage with the casing removed.

 

Fun with Real Yams and Pancit Noodles

  February 21, 2013 - 3:43 pm | , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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The easiest way to save money and control the sustainability of your food on vacation is to do your own cooking. Renting a condo with a kitchen can save a lot of money and usually give you prime locations that would cost substantially more in a resort. After doing a lot of searching, we booked a week at The Atlantic Beach Front Villas on Grace Bay in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. The villa was very comfortable and as close to the water’s edge as I can imagine ever being. The sands of Grace Bay Beach were quite literally our backyard. We had everything you needed to make a good vacation: a nice place to sleep, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world at our feet, and a kitchen so I could have fun exploring Caribbean ingredients. If you are ever looking to book a Turks and Caicos vacation, I highly recommend our villa.

Atlantic Beach Front Villas View
The view from our beautiful condo

For months before leaving for Turks and Caicos, I researched Caribbean food. A particular highlight of my research was reading An Embarrassment of Mangoes, by Anne Vanderhoof. If you have any interest in food and the Caribbean, then you will enjoy this book. She cooks her way through the Caribbean in a tiny galley kitchen with wonderful stories that make you feel like you are on vacation with her (and make you think twice about buying a boat and sailing the islands). Her book gave me the courage to try my hand at cooking local food from my sparse condo rental kitchen.

I decided to try cooking ground provisions, the Caribbean term for starches cooked in any variety of ways. Provisions include cassava, plantains, yams, sweet potatoes and many, many others. This article from the St. John, USVI restaurant, “Sweet Plantains,” talks in depth about provisions and is an interesting read (with several typos so I feel a real connection to it). So, when I found real yams (as opposed to sweet potatoes) at the store, I jumped at the chance to serve ground provisions with our jerk chicken at dinner. Never-mind that I didn’t know what type of yams they were or how best to serve them. I just wanted to make provisions for dinner; I can be stubborn that way.

Real yams are very different from sweet potatoes. Real yams are also a starchy root vegetables, but that is where the similarity ends. The yams I found were sold in big chunks and were hairy. They looked like a cross between an overgrown horseradish and a tree stump. My insufficient research had not informed me about this type of yam or how best to prepare it. I decided to roast it like a normal sweet potato. Well, I’m going to make a really long story short. It didn’t work out so well. After fighting with the slimy beast and finally roasting it, I tasted it only to find out it was so bitter we couldn’t eat it. In fact, a much-too-late internet search suggested that bitter yams can be toxic. The garbage can enjoyed my roasted yams that night, and that ended my adventure in yam cooking. I guess I lucked out too because the slimy juice is also supposed to itch terribly if you get it on your skin. Well, I was dripping with it but didn’t itch at all. Later in the week I had much more success with another provision, plantains. I’ll share my recipe for plantains with you soon.

With the bitter, possibly toxic, itchy yams in the garbage I was stuck with a grill full of jerk chicken and nothing to serve with it. For someone that likes for the meat to be the flavor and not the center of the meal, this was a problem in a rental kitchen with exactly one days worth of food and no convenience foods to fall-back on. At home I would pull out a bag of frozen fries, chop up a big salad and be done with it. I checked the cabinets and found two boxes of cereal, a tub of peanut butter, two bottles of rum (ummmm), a head of garlic, and a package of unusual Asian noodles called Pancit noodles. They caught my attention at the IGA because the recipe on the back of the package did not require boiling the noodles prior to stir-frying them. I’m a big fan of cutting out a few steps. Jamaican jerk chicken over Asian noodles: I could make that work! I LOVE Pancit noodles; you need to find these suckers! They are a gift to the busy vacationing mom-on-the-go (or anyone so lazy that they are bothered by having to cook pasta before tossing it with the sauce. Yeah, that’s me). Just throw these noodles in the pan with some stir-fry sauce and a little water, and ten minutes later you have saucy noodles full of flavor and only one pan to clean up. That’s especially helpful when you have exactly one pan in the kitchen.

Caribbean cuisine is highly identified with peas & rice, jerk seasoning and plantains, but other aspects of the cuisine hint at an Asian/Pan-Pacific influence as well. Both Indian and Chinese workers came to the islands to work on the sugar cane plantations and left their imprint on the local cuisine. Traditionally Filipino, Pancit noodles can be wheat or rice and are used in many different recipes. Pancit is just a form of lo mein or chow mein and if you can’t find the Pancit noodles then you can use the slightly thinner chow mein Chinese wheat noodles they sell in the store. The Cook’s Thesaurus website has a handy page that lists different type of asian noodles and what can be substituted. The noodles I bought in Turks & Caicos were wheat and included a recipe for “Pancit Canton.” I didn’t follow this recipe, but I did cook the noodles right in the pan with the sauce to form chewy noodles in a thick sauce that was very slurp-able and tasty. I had a little onion, a carrot, a red bell pepper and some stir-fry sauce (and lots of garlic) on hand and that is all it needed. You can make this with any veggies you wanted, and it would be wonderful stir-fried with a little tofu. We had this with Jerk chicken the first night I made it. We all liked it so much that we had it again the very next night with grilled snapper.

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These chow mein noodles were similar to the pancit noodles I used

On most Caribbean islands, almost everything is imported which drives up the price (as well as the carbon footprint). Stir-fry sauce that I usually make at home, I bought pre-made to keep costs down and convenience a priority. One jar of sesame stir-fry sauce eliminated the need for soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil and chili paste. You could use pretty much any sauce you want. I could see this working with hoisin sauce, oyster sauce or any stir-fry sauce you have on hand. I’ve included a recipe for an approximation of the sauce I used, and you can use either your own homemade or store-bought sauce to make these. Enjoy!

Pancit Noodle Stir-fry
Serves 4 as a side dish or two as an entree

Pancit noodles usually come in either flour or rice versions. This version uses wheat flour noodles, sometimes called flour stick. They can be difficult to find. If you cannot find Pancit you can substitute Chinese wheat noodles or chow mein noodles. Just don’t make the mistake and buy the cooked chip-like product intended to be eaten as-is and not cooked.

1 tablespoon oil (vegetable oil such as canola or coconut)
1/2 sweet onion, sliced (I used red onion in the Caribbean and Spanish onion at home)
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
6 oz package Pancit Noodles or chow mein noodles
1/4 cup stir fry sauce (pre-made or recipe below)
1 3/4 cup water
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 cup carrot, julienned
2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, cut in wedges

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and cook until the edges start to brown.

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Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about thirty seconds or until it is fragrant.

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Add the noodles, sauce and water. Cover and cook, stirring frequently until the noodles are almost tender and the liquid has turned into a thick sauce. You may need to add a little bit more water.

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Add the vegetables, stir everything together and continue to cook for about four minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender and the noodles are done.

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Remove from the heat and top with chopped cilantro and lime wedges.

Basic Stir-fry Sauce
If you are using this in a stir-fry (as opposed to noodle sauce) add 1 teaspoon corn starch to the mixture to help thicken your sauce.

2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons dry sherry or white wine
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (or to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir. Use in any stir-fry or noodle dish.

Texas Chili Means NO BEANS

  January 23, 2013 - 5:00 am | , , , , , , , ,
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Real Texas chili is good by itself or on almost anything–like enchiladas

Chili is a highly personal food. Much like the variety of preferences in Thanksgiving stuffing, every Texan has their own idea of what makes Texas chili authentic. They agree on almost nothing: ground beef or cubed, spicy or mild, tomato or no tomato, beer or no beer, and especially the chilies. Two or three Shiner Bocks into any night in Texas, and you might find yourself in a heated debate on what makes it real Texas Red. Texans agree on only one thing about their chili–NO BEANS!

I can’t possibly discuss chili without telling you about Robb Walsh’s The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos published by Ten Speed Press. This book is a goldmine of information on the history of Tex-Mex cuisine. There is a whole chapter dedicated to chili, and no less than nine historical recipes for the real stuff. Each recipe is decidedly different which proves that a single recipe for real Texas chili is more of a myth and a taste memory than something that exists. In it’s simplest form, chili con carne is a beef stew made from cubed beef or ground beef which is cooked with chilies and cumin. From there on the gloves come off and the differences come out.

There are only about three rules to making real Texas Red, and except the no-beans rule, even these are not set in stone. First rule: no beans (have I mentioned that yet?). Second, use lots of cumin; how much is up for debate, but it better be in there. Third, use more than one type of chili. Ideally these should be real dried chilies, not chili powder. The third one is the one that catches me up because I don’t have any whole dried chilies. They are pretty expensive around here, and I just don’t need them very often. I should probably keep a stock of Ancho chilies around since they are mild and can be used in almost anything, but I don’t. I have twins (my current excuse for anything I’m just too lazy to deal with).

There are other rules that are up for debate. While many people say that real Texas chili is tomato free, most of the chili I had in Texas did, in fact, contain tomatoes. However, they aren’t necessary, and I like the rich, almost chocolaty flavor that a tomato-less chili offers. Another rule that sparks heated chili debates is whether the chili should be made with ground beef or cubed beef. I like both. Ground beef is most common, even in Texas, but there’s something special about a chili made with chunks of chuck that are cooked till super tender then “shredded” into a bowl of falling apart, chili heaven.

Anyone not from Texas is sure to think the whole no-beans thing is a bit silly and not really that important, but its oh-so-important to us. So why no beans? Robb Walsh provides the best answer:

“In most of the rest of the country, chili has one purpose – it is a hearty one-dish meal. But in Texas, chili has a wide variety of uses. It can be used straight or diluted as a sauce. It’s a popular topping for tamales, to make it into a meal, you combine it with beans, tamales, tortillas, enchiladas, scrambled eggs, or any number of other things. Texans don’t have anything against eating beans with their chili. They just have a lot of other ways to eat it.”

He’s right on too. Growing up in Texas, chili was on top of everything. The snack-bar at my high-school served chili (and neon-orange cheese goo) on top of nachos, burritos, french fries and even baked potatoes (I’m probably forgetting something). Restaurants topped enchiladas, burritos and chimichangas with chili (oh, I miss you Chuy’s). Even the IHOP where I waited tables served chili topped omelets. Chili is to Tex-Mex what Parmesan cheese is to Italian-American food; its on top of everything.

My chili recipe is a blend of several recipes from The Tex-Mex Cookbook, as well as a few of my own touches. It’s true Texas Red flavor, made more accessible for my Yankee family kitchen. I’ve found that using a blend of Ancho chili powder and hot paprika offers an authentic flavor, yet with a still manageable heat level. Paprika is anything but a dominant ingredient in most Texas chili, but the flavor is rich and full bodied and the heat is just on the cool side of hot. If you want something even milder, then you can substitute out the hot paprika for sweet paprika. If you want something hotter change out the hot paprika for Arbol or Chipotle chili peppers. Whatever you use, you will like the result. This recipe is simple: nothing too fancy or complex, but it’s true Texas flavor and NO BEANS! Enjoy!

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Chili Con Carne (Texas Red)
Makes about 6 cups

This is a milder version of an authentic style Texas chili. Containing no tomatoes, it’s a versatile sauce that can top anything from Fritos to cheese enchiladas, or it can be served up in a bowl with a sprinkle of onion and and handful of shredded cheese on top.

2 pounds stew meat cubed into 1/2 inch pieces and dried of any moisture (preferably chuck)
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons ground Ancho chili
2 tablespoon hot paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican if possible)
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons corn flour (masa harina)

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer add the beef and cook until any liquid has evaporated and the meat is browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.

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Add the onion and continue to cook until the onion is tender and starting to brown, about another 5 minutes.

Add the chili powders, cumin, black pepper and salt. Stir until all the meat is covered in the spices and continue to cook for another minute.

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Add the bay leaves, oregano and broth. Stir to mix everything together. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until the meat is very tender and beginning to fall apart, about 1 1/2 hour.

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Using a potato masher or the back of a large spoon, break the meat up until most of it has fallen apart but there are a few chunks still visible.

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In a small bowl combine corn flour with 1/4 cup of cold water and stir until a thin paste forms. Pour the paste into the chili and stir until the corn flour mixture dissolves into the chili.

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Return to a simmer long enough for the corn flour to cook, about 10 minutes. Season to taste. Serve with chopped onion and cheese, or over enchiladas, corn chips, burritos or whatever you want!

If you’re interested in Robb’s book, here’s a link to it…

Caramel Nut Apple Crisp

  October 18, 2012 - 12:33 am | , , , , , , , ,
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This past week I packed the kids in the mini-van and drove out to my parents’ house in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. Fall is the perfect time to be in the rural mountains. The colors are bright, the air crisp, and the breeze invigorating. While there we had many lovely sunny days and lots and lots of fun. My son hauled logs for the wood stove, “helped” Granddaddy with his tractor, and got to throw a lot of rocks in the creek. The babies touched the leaves and did a lot of rolling around on the floor. Our main purpose for this trip, however, was my mother’s birthday.

In our family you get to choose any dinner you want for your birthday. Birthday meal requests are sacred, and the cooks honor any request made. When we were children my sister and I would challenge my parents to find and make things that we thought were impossible. Lobster dinner in Texas in the ’80s was not easy to come by. Neither were artichokes in December. Eventually as we aged we fell into habits. These days we tend to just go for our tried and true meals. This is how it came about that I now have a three course fondue dinner for my birthday almost every year and how my mother, “Mimi,” had apple crisp for her birthday cake this year. Her birthday meal request: hamburgers, baked beans and a caramel apple crisp made with walnuts (not pecans).

There are a lot of recipes for caramel apple crisp on the Internet, but I discovered that almost all of them use store-bought caramel ice cream topping or melted caramel candy. Homemade caramel is so superior to store bought, that it just seemed necessary to make it from scratch. As long as you are diligent while cooking it, it is also pretty easy. Using real caramel sauce in the apple crisp is so obvious, so natural, so fantastic. The result is nothing short of spectacular; it is the best apple crisp I have ever tasted. Of course if you’re all into the salted caramel fad, you can toss a 1/2 teaspoon of salt into the caramel at the end, but you don’t need it; it’s just that good. Happy birthday Mommy! Enjoy!

Caramel Sauce
For my play-by-play on how to make caramel, read my recipe For Caramel Peach Hand Pies

I’m a big fan of the wet method of making caramel (adding a few tablespoons of water to the sugar to help it get started). It’s just a tiny bit easier and I like anything that’s easier. This stuff is up there with molten lava on the temperature scale so make sure you are prepared and using all your safety sense when making this recipe.

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

Pour sugar in the middle of a medium sauce pan or skillet set over medium-high heat. Slowly pour water around edge of sugar. Bring to a boil, but do not stir. Using a pastry brush, brush the edges of the pan with additional water to insure that all sugar crystals have dissolved from the edge.

Let the mixture boil slowly until the sugar turns light tan, watching very carefully so that it does not burn. When the caramel is almost the color of tea turn off the heat and swirl the pan. The sugar will get darker.

Add the butter and stir until the butter is completely melted and mixed in with the sugar. Add the cream and let the caramel come to a rapid boil.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Caramel Walnut Apple Crisp
serves 6
You can use pecans or almonds instead of walnuts in this recipe.

5 Apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
1 recipe caramel sauce (recipe above)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled old-fashioned oats
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a large baking dish and place apples in pan. Pour the caramel sauce over the apples and gently stir to make sure the caramel sauce is evenly spread over the apples.



Set aside. In a medium bowl combine the brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Using your fingers or a pastry cutter mix the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly.

Stir in walnuts and sprinkle evenly over apples.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges are bubbly.

Let cool slightly before serving.

Sour Grape Jam

  September 20, 2012 - 4:44 pm | , , , , , , ,
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I usually don’t have time to can anything. I also usually don’t have enough of any one crop to do anything in large enough batches to warrant canning. As you may remember, gardening is not really my strongest skill. However, I am great at letting the wild vines and bushes left by previous owners run wild. That includes the grapes that grow at the edge of my driveway. In past years, I’ve noticed a few grapes that the birds ate before I had a chance to harvest; but this year we had a bumper crop. The vines are covering trees and the ground all around with large grape leaves in a very kudzu like fashion and the clusters are hanging as high up as I can see. This year I made the birds wait their turn and took my share to make jam.

I’ve never made grape jam before, lucky for me my father descends from a long line of food preservers. He is always foraging his plot for wild grapes, blackberries, black raspberries, red raspberries and even black walnuts from which he has made pies, jam, and even wine. His mother, an excellent gardener, canned everything she could get her hands on. She canned jam, pickles, and vegetables by the bushel. Thus it was pure serendipity-do-da that the grapes happened to ripen at the same time that my father came for a visit. There were so many grapes that ten minutes of picking produced a huge pile of grapes to pick over. Not all of the fruit was ripe, but there were so many of them, that we could be picky about which fruit we used for our jam. The results are spectacular. It’s fruit-forward flavor is not too sweet nor too firm in consistency. Perfect for toast and pretty much anything you can find to smear it on. Enjoy!

Sour Grape Jam – Click here for a printable version of this recipe
This is not an exact recipe. Everyone will have a different amount of fruit with different qualities, so it is written so that you can follow it with whatever fruit you have. This produces a semi-firm jam; not too jelled so that the flavors still shine through, it also doesn’t have too much sugar so that the natural flavors of the grapes still remain. When deciding to stop boiling your jam err on the side of under doing it. The longer you cook the liquid, the less like fresh fruit it will taste and the more it will taste like flavored sugar. After all if your finished product is too soft, then people will know it’s homemade.

grapes (concord or other sweet grape)
sugar
pectin

Pick over your fruit to remove unripe and spoiled bits, bugs and leaves. Washing is not necessary if the fruits have gone directly from vine to clean container unless they have been sprayed with pesticide.

Place clean fruit in a large heavy bottomed pot. Add a small amount of water (about a cup for every four pounds of fruit). Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Use a potato masher to mash grapes separating them from their skins.

Let simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off heat and let the fruit sit with the skins for 15 minutes.

Pour the fruit into a food mill and press through the mill leaving the skins and seeds behind.

Measure the amount of juice and pulp you have. Return the juice and pulp to the pot and add one cup of sugar for every two cups of juice and pulp. You may need one tablespoon of pectin for every two cups of juice and pulp. Try none or little at first and add only if you need it. Mix the pectin slowly with water until you have a smooth mixture about the thickness of cream. Whisk the pectin into the juice and sugar and return to a boil over medium heat. Continue to boil the mixture for 15 minutes. To test the jam, pour a small spoonful of the jam into a small bowl and allow to cool. If it jells to just under the consistency you want, then your jam is done (it will jell slightly more as it continues to cool). If it is not jelled enough, continue to cook, testing every ten minutes until you reach the desired consistency.

Pour the boiling jam into clean, sanitized canning jars and seal following the directions that come with your canning materials.

 

 

Small Batch Ketchup

  September 5, 2012 - 8:00 am | , , , , , , ,
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Every summer its the same thing–we wait, with baited breath, as we watch our green tomatoes for signs of ripening. Then one day we see a blush on them, and we salivate, remembering the taste of ripe summer tomatoes drizzled with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Finally that beautiful day comes; the first ripe tomato of the summer. It’s a great day; we take a bite, our eyes roll back in our head, and we are grateful and happy that summer has come again to bless us with ripe juicy tomatoes. Just a week later we start our daily harvest of mounds of tomatoes, and we can’t waste even one. Maybe I start with a batch of tomato sauce, then another. Lunches are sliced tomatoes, dinners are tomatoes and our omelets have tomatoes. Why must they all come at once? They start to pile up; our freezers are full and our bellies say no more. That’s when we start scouring the internet for ways to use up the precious fruit.

However, not all of us really want to go to the effort of canning. Not all of us have bushels of tomatoes that need processing. Some of us just want a recipe we can make that produces something tasty and useful that we can use up and enjoy without having to can, freeze or make ten gallons of it. Everywhere you go you see recipes for tomato sauce, but there is another useful sauce made from tomatoes that is overlooked: ketchup. Everyone uses it. Why not make your own?

My old 1800′s cookbooks all started with a full bushel of tomatoes, and ended with canning enough to last a very large ketchup-loving family through a long winter. Even most of the more modern recipes for ketchup still produce enough to require long-term preservation. Instead, I just wanted to make a few cups to enjoy. Of course, if you want to make a large batch of this ketchup to can or freeze, this recipe will simply scale up. However, if you just want to use up some of your sad over-ripe fruit to prevent summer’s excess from rotting on the vine, this recipe is perfect.

The finished ketchup is thick and rich. The flavor is all ketchup. It’s better than store bought, and it’s also fun to make, not hard, but not fast. Most of the time it takes is just letting it simmer on a back burner. So, grab those tomatoes off the vine, and try this ketchup. Enjoy!

 

Small Batch Ketchup - Click here for a printer friendly version of this recipe
makes about 2 cups
If your tomatoes are at the peak of ripeness and are very sweet, use the full cup of vinegar. If your tomatoes are not really sweet start with 3/4 cup. You can add a little more after the first cooking if needed.

3 pounds tomatoes, about 10 medium
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 onion, chopped
between 3/4 – 1 cup cider vinegar (depending on ripeness of tomatoes)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to a large heavy-bottomed non-reactive pot.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until the mixture falls apart and is very soft, about 2 hours.

Press mixture through a food mill or force through a fine sieve.

You will have a very small pile of skins and seeds that will not go through the mill/sieve; maybe a 1/2 cup.

Discard those seeds and skins and return the rest of the pulp and juice to the pot.

Bring back to a very slow simmer and cook until mixture thickens and darkens slightly. This will take another few hours. It is very important during this reduction time to stir the pot frequently to prevent the ketchup from scorching or sticking to the bottom of the pan. Test by dropping a spoon of the ketchup onto a plate. If it is not ready, liquid will seep around the edges. When it is ready, no liquid will seep from the edges. When the ketchup is finally ready, cool and refrigerate. It will last several weeks in the refrigerator.

Ketchup that is not ready has a liquid outer ring

Ketchup that is ready is thick and the liquid does not form an outer ring

 

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