Tomato Based Sauces

We use tomato sauce for a number of dishes: pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, ravioli, and a wide variety of meats and soups.

In busy times, we usually get it from a jar. The stuff in the jar is all right, but it is possible to cook up something more interesting and more delicious if we use some of our spare minutes to do a slow version of a tomato based sauce at home. One of the great things about creating your own sauce is that you can experiment and another is that you can use up whatever is around. Tomato sauce can be too tomato-y; If you make your own, you can include some balancing flavors and get a sauce that has a little more depth and complexity.

You can use the oven, the stove top or a slow cooker to roast the ingredients. Pieces do not have to be very small since you will be blending the sauce after cooking.

Tomatoes - These can be cooked, fresh, or canned. They could theoretically be dried, but those are generally too expensive for this kind of quantity. Two or three cups will be about right.

Other Vegetables - Bell pepper, squash, carrots, potatoes, celery, parsnips, turnips
You can use an equal amount of other vegetable pieces as you do tomato, but exact quantities are not at all crucial.

Flavor and flavor enhancers - Garlic, onion, leeks, fish sauce, anchovy paste, nutritional yeast, wine, vodka, bay leaves (remove before blending)

Sweeteners - Honey, jams, jellies, sugar, maple syrup
A couple of tablespoons

Spices - Oregano, basil, thyme, celery powder, coriander

Fats and oils - olive oil, sour cream, mascarpone, creme fraische

1. Put the tomatoes, vegetables, and flavor enhancers into a large kettle, cover, put in the oven or on the stove on a medium low heat. Cook these things for 2 or 3 hours.

 2. When all of the vegetables are soft, remove the bay leaves, cool for 30 minutes or more, and mix with a hand blender.

3.Add oils, spices, and sweeteners and stir. Taste, adjust and stir until you like the result.

Other options:

If you make a big batch, you can always pour some into a zippered plastic bag and freeze for later use.

Or you can add some broth or milk, a little cooked rice or corn and make a delicious tomato soup.

Do not spend the last half of your life trying to recapture the first half. Instead, stretch and grow and do bold things, question what you've been taught and generally alarm people with your broadmindedness.

Philip Gulley (adapted)

Tamale Casserole

This is my new favorite breakfast. You can certainly have it for dinner, but Oh! What a fabulous morning meal. Truly a reason to get up in the morning!

Tamale Casserole

18 - 20 corn tortillas

Cooking oil - at least 4 - 6 ounces

1 cup corn meal

1 can creamed corn

1/3 cup water

4 eggs

2 oz diced pimento

4 oz chopped ripe olives

4 oz diced green chilies or diced jalapenos

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups shredded, cooked chicken

1 teaspoon cumin

Chili powder or chili powder blend*

3 cups enchilada sauce

3/4 cup crushed tortilla chips

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese - optional

* If you use pure chili powder, use a 1/2 teaspoon for the corn meal mix and a 1/2 teaspoon for the sauteed chicken. If you are using a blend you can sprinkle it in a little more liberally.

1. Cut 18 corn tortillas in strips, saute in oil. They don't need to get crisp. Use plenty of oil to soften them. Put some in the pan and then drizzle a little over the top. 

2. Saute 1/2 of the tortillas and put them in the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Pour 1 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Stir them slightly so they are evenly coated with sauce.

3. Cook corn meal along with: eggs, creamed corn, water, pimento, diced green chilies or diced jalapenos, salt, and diced ripe olives. Cook on medium heat until thickened. Stir to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

4. Saute the shredded, cooked chicken in oil with cumin and chili powder.

5. Ladle the cooked corn meal mixture over the tortilla/sauce layer.

6. Saute the other half of the tortilla strips and arrange them over the corn meal.

7. Spread the spiced, sauteed chicken over strips; ladle the remaining enchilada sauce over chicken.

8. Sprinkle crushed tortilla chips over chicken. If you like, sprinkle grated cheese over the crushed chips.

Bake covered for 45 minutes at 350

If you delight in existence, you will become a guide to those who need you, revealing the path to many.

Sutra Nipata

Stuffed Pork Roast

Photo Credits: Laurel Costa
 

If pork roast is already a favorite of yours, you can think of this as an homage to pork roast! It is not at all difficult to do, and is really quite exciting to serve and eat.

You can do this with either a pork loin roast or a center cut pork loin. 

Because I like to cook pork very slowly over a long period of time, I did this roast in steps in order not to overcook or scorch the stuffing.

1. Slice the roast with a sharp knife along the horizontal center without cutting all the way through. You are making a book out of your roast. 

2. Sprinkle some seasoning on all sides of the butterflied roast, then close it and put it in a covered roasting pan at 320 degrees for at least an hour and a half. Some of my favorite seasonings to put on at the beginning of cooking are: turmeric. chili powder, salt, coriander, and cumin. You really can't go wrong at this point.

3. While the roast is cooking, chop, peel and saute the items for your stuffing. I used, chopped, dried figs, diced apples, and garlic in olive oil. Other great options are chopped prunes, dates, leeks, onion, and diced pear. You can look in your cupboard and use your imagination. Some people might want to add chopped nuts to this mixture, as well. When the saute mix was partially cooked, I added a littel soy sauce and some maple syrup.

4. Take the roast out of the oven and let it cool enough to handle safely. Open the "book" and layer in the stuffing. Gently close and wrap the roast with some cotton string. This will keep it from springing open, and also make the whole thing a little more moist.

5. Continue to slow roast the stuffed roast for another hour and a half or so. You can see that I added a some dill and thyme to the top of the roast, as well as some stuffing that wouldn't fit inside.

6. You will get a nice crispy crust on the top of the roast, so you will need a sharp knife to cut it so that you get beautiful slices.

Serve with roasted vegetables; the ones in the photo are butternut cubes in a butter, honey, balsamic glaze.

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard

Bruschetta with Bite

With sincere apologies to my friends and family in colder climes, it is beginning to look and feel like spring. Soon there will be garden parties, lunch on the patio, and all sorts of outdoor picnic occasions. This handy canape can be fixed quickly, transported easily, and it tastes sublime. 

I have always made bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, but I found myself with none on hand, but I did have a can of Muir Glen's Organic Fire Roasted tomatoes. I drained the canned tomatoes in a mesh basket for a few minutes, put them on a cutting board and chopped them a bit, and then added:

The juice of one large lime

A generous spoonful of parsley

A generous pinch of French tarragon

An even more generous spoonful of dill weed

Four cloves of pressed garlic

I toasted the bread with a generous amount of butter.

Add a spoonful of the tomato mix and presto! An easy appetizer! I think I liked the fire roasted tomatoes as much as the fresh ones.

Overcorrection might be a necessary part of the process of change. Sam Harris

Shaved Carrots and Sliced Brussels Sprouts

Veg! Veg! Veg!

It seems like we can't get too many vegetables. We all want to eat as many as we can. This is a tremendously simple way to jazz up a couple of old favorites.

To make this dish in a 9 x 13 casserole, you will need about 6 - 8 large carrots. I made the carrot curls with my peeler, but if you have a mandolin, this would be an ideal use for it.

Use about a dozen and a half sprouts. Shuck the outside leaves and slice them quite thin.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over these; and put them in the oven uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes.

While these are roasting, make a drizzling sauce of:

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime

3 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of dill weed

2 tablespoons of parsley

When the 20 minutes are up, drizzle half of the sauce over the vegetable mix. Bake for 20 more minutes.

Drizzle the rest of the sauce over the mix and cook for a final 20 minutes. The sweet roasted goodness of these is amazing. Enjoy!

Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow. Cicero

Crab Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

 I was searching my kitchen for something to plump up my twice baked potatoes and struck gold. I opened a can of crab meat, drizzled some fresh lemon juice over it, sprinkled some chili powder on it, and added it to the potato spice mix.  Voila!

1. Slice the leftover baked potatoes in half and scoop out the insides.

2. Set the shells on a baking sheet and put some melted butter into the potatoes - at least a tablespoon per potato.

3. Ad some parsley flakes, bouillon powder, black pepper, ground caraway, and sauted onion and garlic to the potatoes. If you are pressed for time, you could get away with onion and garlic powder.

4. Mix the crab/lemon/chili powder into the potatoes and mix it all together well.

5. Fill each of the potato shells; top with paprika and bake at 350 for about a half hour.

These are so delicious! You might want to try them at a dinner party.


No problem can be solved at the level of consciousness at which it was conceived,
Albert Einstein

Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

My son, Reggie, and I made this when he was still a teenager. We have both changed the way we cook since then, so I am posting a new improved version, complete with a fabulous photo of Reggie at the Grand Canyon.

Ingredients:
¾ to 1 pound chicken
Chicken tenders or boneless thighs are both good shortcut items.

Sauce:
½ cup butter
1/3 cup flour - any kind
4 cloves pressed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of chicken stock
1 cup milk
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 package ribbon noodles

1. Put the chicken into a baking dish covered with foil and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Season the chicken with any combination of curry powder, chili powder blend, salt, pepper, and add a little butter, olive oil, or bacon grease. The oil is more important if you are using all white meat since it has so little fat in it.
2. While the chicken is baking, make a white sauce, and cook the noodles.
To make the sauce:
a) Melt the butter and flour over a medium high heat until the butter is bubbling.
b) Slowly add stock and milk while continuing to stir.
d) Continue stirring and add garlic,salt, pepper, Worcestershire.
e) When the sauce is smooth and has the consistency of thick gravy, turn off the heat, add grated cheese. Cover and set aside.

3. Put 4 quarts water into a large spaghetti pot with 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a boil. Add ribbon noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.

4. When chicken is done, place the pieces on a cutting board and cut into pieces about ½ inch square. Put the pieces into the white sauce and stir just a little.

5. When the noodles are done, drain them and pour into them into the chicken and sauce mixture.
Note: If your sauce has thickened a little too much, add some of the pasta water to get it back to the right consistency.

Art is the signature of civilizations. Beverly Sills