Eat Well, Be Well, Have Fun

“Real soup is to the body,

what Peace is to the soul”

 – Isabel Allende

Some days around here it seems like Ground Hog Day.  Tomatoes and peppers continue to pour out of the garden. So, sticking with my latest F=fall harvest theme I want to share a couple of the things I’ve been doing and making in our kitchen.

First and foremost, I have been canning up a storm. You can follow me on Facebook or Instagram if you are one of those food porn type people, like me. I love posting pics of our produce and what I’m making.  This time of year its all about salsa and tomato pasta sauce.

My “secret” to making amazing salsas and rich deep dark flavorful pasta sauce is smoking at least half of the tomatoes. Yes, smoked tomatoes! It will change your life.  A lot of people make and can “spaghetti” sauce, and it has a lot of variations. Some use corn starch or other thickeners.  I simply believe that is a shortcut taken too far.  Yes, tomatoes are like 94% water (whaaat??). But I deploy two strategies that I think payoff.  One, roasting the tomatoes. I core them, cut in half and fill a doubled foil pan with tomatoes and roast at 425 until they take on some nice browning and even a little of my favorite … char, for that Maillard effect.

I pour off the huge quantity of water from the pans and then puree the intense roasted tomatoes to start.  I roast about half my tomatoes, and then smoke the other half at 225 for about an hour. This adds such an incredible deep smokey flavor to tomatoes. And my second strategy for dealing with all the water, as well as making the final results amazing, is time.  In my humble opinion, hours of a light roiling boil to reduce, reduce, reduce is what makes a pasta sauce amazing.  I know, we are all short of time, but this is a must in my book. 

So once again, I know I am not really providing a recipe here, but I think the concepts are more important than detail ingredient lists and step by step instructions.  Anyway, with my pot full of roasted and smoked tomatoes, I can go in a lot of different directions. If Im doing a salsa, its time to finely chop a ton of garlic, onions, and in my case some of the eight different hot peppers that my live-in gardener grows for us.  And yes, peppers too, I broil for 10-15 minutes to roast and get some char on them before tossing them in the blender.  Maybe if there is interest I will do a detailed award winning salsa recipe for you!

Another direction for the roasted and smoked pot of bliss is simply yummy pasta sauce. This is the time consumer, but so, so worth it.  I’ll add Italian seasoning dried in a jar, or big fistfuls fresh the garden, which is the case around here. Of course, good salt and pepper, a little cumin sets up the sauce for hours of simmering and reducing. I would say you need a minimum of a 50% reduction to really get the deepness you’re after. When I get close to 50%, I like using an immersion blender wand to thicken and puree the sauce for consistency.  

And now is the time for the garlic-lover in you to wake up and surge forward!  Depends on the size of the pot you’re working with, but lets just start with the assumption that there is no such thing as “too much garlic” in a good homemade pasta sauce, right?!  I peel a healthy handful, or two, and place all my cloves in my Maillard effect machine, the broiler, and broil and turn them until they too, are golden brown with a bits of black. Puree and add to the pot!  If you’re closing in on the thickness you want, add some final fresh finely chopped herbs again along with finely chopped basil and taste for perfection! If not, pour some wine and keep boiling.

Since I am more of a tasting chef than a recipe chef, these are the final moments for tasting and adding your personal touch.  One of mine in a rich tomato sauce, is brown sugar.  I usually am making somewhere around 3 to 5 quarts of finished sauce, so I might add light ¼ cup of brown sugar. I might toss in a tablespoon of lemon juice for acid balance. I love cumin so I never skimp on that. And course ground pepper is a gift from the gods. Worcestershire sauce never hurt anyone.

With no meat in the pot, this is an easy amazing tangy deep smokey pasta sauce for canning and saving for those long Minnesota winters. Reach out here, follow me on FB or IG, or email me anytime and I’ll share anything I know.  timb@catton.com