Peach Salsa

One last salsa recipe for August! This is adapted from a recipe given to me by my friend Amy Mayer.

4 1/2 lbs peaches
2 1/2 lbs tomatoes (red is good)
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)
2 red onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup lime juice
1-2 tsp cumin
Salt to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Prepare the peaches and tomatoes for peeling by dunking them in boiling water for 30 seconds, then into ice water. Then peel - the skins should essentially slip off.

Pit and chop the peaches. Chop the tomatoes, seeding as you go. Drain the tomatoes of extra liquid, then combine with the peaches in a large pot.

Cook the peaches and tomatoes for about 5 minutes, then puree a little bit, either with an immersion blender or by removing a small quantity to puree in a blender then return to the pot. Add the jalapenos, bell pepper if using, and the onions. Add the vinegar, lime juice, and cumin bring to a boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add salt to taste and stir in the cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings.

The salsa is now ready to refrigerate, freeze, or can.

Yield: 6 pints

Salsa Verde

Another summer salsa recipe for the repetoire. By adding a good amount of tomatoes and some lime juice, this becomes safe for canning.

3 1/2 lbs green-when-ripe tomatoes
1/2 lb tomatillos, husks removed
3 New Mexico-style green chilies
1 large onion
1/2 cup lime juice
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

Core the tomatoes and coarsely chop. Coarsely chop the tomatillos, peppers, and onions. Combine the veggies in a Dutch oven and cook until soft. Puree to desired level of smoothness, then return to the pot. Add the lime juice, cilantro, and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Yield: 5 half-pints

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Roasting gives tomatoes, and the subsequent sauce, a richer flavor than you get from just cooking them in a pot. You don't have to limit your use of the roasted tomatoes to making sauce, of course - if you skip the simmering down step you can turn them into a delicious soup. Or just chop the tomatoes and use them straight - with pasta, on pizza, etc.

7 1/2 lbs paste tomatoes (such as Roma, San Marzano, Amish Paste, etc)
olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasonings as desired: fresh or dried basil, oregano, thyme, sage, parsley...your choice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Core the tomatoes and spread them out in a single layer in a large baking dish (or two); use a dish with reasonably high sides, as the tomatoes will give off a good bit of liquid. Put them in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes, stirring once or twice. When they're done they will be very soft and the skins will probably have split. Remove from the oven and scoop the tomatoes into a colander in the sink to drain.

You can stop here and use the tomatoes as you like. Or proceed:

When the tomatoes are cool enough to work with and have drained off some of their excess liquid, put them through a mill (I used my Squeezo Strainer, which is awesome for tomato sauce and apple sauce; if you want to get one, check eBay - I got a lightly used one for half the retail price that way). After this step I had about 8 cups. You can stop here and make tomato soup. Or proceed:

Pour the milled tomatoes into a Dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pot. Simmer over low heat until the sauce reduces to a consistency you like. In the meantime, heat a little olive oil in a small skillet and saute the garlic and shallot, then add them to the sauce. When the sauce is done reducing, add salt and pepper to taste. I ended up with about 4 1/2 cups; precise yield will depend on how much you reduce the sauce.

Feel free to add additional seasonings to the sauce. It is remarkably good with just the garlic and shallot, but any of the herbs listed above (or a combination) would be nice additions.

Yield: 4-5 cups of sauce.

Roasted Late Summer Veggies with Rosemary

I don't do much roasting during the summer - it's usually just too hot to turn the oven on. So I took advantage of the cooler weather we have been having (at least up until today - and I very glad to see the sun again!) and roasted up some eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes last night. I served this over risotto, but it would also work with pasta or on its own as a side dish.

8-10 whole cloves garlic, peeled and halved or quartered (if large)
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
2 medium sweet peppers, seeded and chopped
5-6 Roma tomatoes (or similar), seeded and chopped in large pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Toss all ingredients in a 9x13-inch baking dish (or similar). Make sure everything is well coated with oil. Roast for 40-45 minutes, stirring every two or three times, until the vegetables are all nicely tender.

Serve hot.

Serves 3-4.

A Change in the Weather

Summer seems to have ended rather abruptly this year. The weather may yet warm up again for a while, but as we head toward September, we know it's not going to last. In the garden, our cukes are just about done and a couple of the tomato plants are too. The other tomatoes are slowing down, and so are the pole beans and eggplants. They'll keep going until we get a frost, but the pace of growth and production won't be what is was earlier this month. At the same time, we're already starting to see the fall crops come in. We've got delicata squash just about ready in the garden, and I saw a handful of other winter squashes at the farmers market last weekend.

We have a couple enormous kale plants in the garden that I've barely touched all summer, instead favoring the showier summer veggies, but last night I made Pureed Potato Soup with Kale and Bacon with our own leeks and potatoes, a perfect match for the weather.

And summer winds toward its end, we are also celebrating Massachusetts Farmers Market Week. With this post, I am participating in the Loving Local Blogathon - hosted by In Our Grandmothers Kitchens (Tinky Weisblat's blog). Check out the list of blogs and posts - you might discover a new favorite resource. And while you're at it, stop by the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets and make a donation to help support these wonderful resources for local food all over the state.

Digital Scale

This is a handy item to have in the kitchen if you're doing much in the way of food preservation or large batch cooking (and actually, it's handy even for regular cooking). I have this one, but they are made by a variety of companies at a variety of price points. Mine will give weights up to 11 pounds and has a digital display with options for ounces, pounds, grams, and kilograms. It also has a tare option, which is great: put a container on the scale before turning it on and it will zero out the container's weight; or put the container on and hit the tare button.

Not only does the scale allow me to measure precise quantities to either follow recipes or record the amounts used in the ones I develop myself, it is also great for packaging food in uniform quantities for the freezer - and being able to add the weight to my labels so I know later how much I've got.

Peaches - Freezing, Drying, and Canning Jam

Saturday afternoon I picked up two pecks of peaches (that's about 16 quarts) from Clarkdale - where they are selling "orchard run" peaches for $25 for two pecks (or $15 for one). Orchard run fruit has been picked but not separated into first and second quality - generally a good deal for putting up. The quality of the two pecks I bought was great; all the peaches were ripe and most were in very good shape. I spent the rest of the weekend drying, freezing, baking, and making jam.

Freezing Peaches
Cut peaches in half and remove pits. Slice each half into four to six pieces. For best results, tray freeze the slices before packaging: arrange on trays, individual pieces separate from each other, and freeze for 6-8 hours. Then package in freezer bags (I do 1 lb of frozen slices per quart bag). If you don't have the time or patience to tray freeze, it's also ok to just dump all the slices into freezer bags and freeze that way. They will stick together in a giant clump, but if you plan to thaw before using, that's not a huge problem.

Drying Peaches
To dry peaches in a dehydrator, cut them in half and remove the pits. No need to peel unless desired. Then slice about 1/4-inch thick - a mandoline is great for this but a knife works, too. Instead of wedges, cut pieces of even thickness from the inside of a half to the outside. Spread slices on the dehydrator trays and dry for 9-12 hours. Check after 9 hours and remove any pieces that are completely dry; rotate the trays as well. Check every hour after 9 hours and remote dry pieces.

Using a mandoline to slice peaches into the dehydrator

Jam
Here's my recipe for Ginger Peach Jam. You can make this with fresh or frozen peaches. Skip the lemon juice if you like. You can also substitute ground ginger for the fresh.