Canning Soup Base and Tomato Sweet Potato Soup with Rosemary

Here we are again, cooking the last of a season and the first of the next: tomatoes out, sweet potatoes in. The fact that I had 12-15 pounds of tomatoes and 12-15 pounds of sweet potatoes in my house at the same time led me to the logical conclusion.

Today, I am determined to consume or preserve the last of the tomatoes, other than a few fresh ones that are still in good condition. I still had about 10 quarts of tomatoes to go… mostly paste tomatoes but some heirlooms and some field tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes. I’ve canned enough tomatoes and tomato-based concoction to last the year and frankly, I’m just ready to get rid of the lot.  I took the “lazy” way out (if you can call any canning venture lazy). I roasted the cherry tomatoes in abundant oil, garlic and rosemary and poured them into a large jar that will be stored in the refrigerator. I’ll be fishing them out for various uses for a month or so. Then I roasted halved plum tomatoes, skimming off the liquid and reducing them to a dry, almost leathery state. They’ll be reunited with some of the liquid and frozen in small bags.  And then there was the rest.

I made two types of soup base: one with peeled and seeded organic plum dandy paste tomatoes, and the other a mix of every type of tomato I had, chopped with skin and seeds and all. Both bases began were with chopped onion cooked slowly in a little olive oil until translucent and, once the tomatoes were added to the pot, lightly salted and boiled fast for 10 minutes to render their juice before simmering for 45 minutes. I used an immersion blender to smooth the mixture and canned it in quart jars (with 2 tbsp lemon juice added) for 30 minutes. I actually liked the mixed tomatoes better since many were riper and more flavorful than the paste tomatoes.   

I reserved about a quart of mixed tomato puree to make into two soups: cream of tomato and tomato sweet potato soup with rosemary. A sprig of rosemary gave this flavorful soup a piney inflection, cutting the natural sweetness of the vegetables.

Tomato Sweet Potato Soup with Rosemary

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tsp olive oil or a combination of olive oil and butter

1 lb (2 medium) sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1½ -2 c chicken stock or vegetable broth

2–2½ c tomato soup base (or canned tomatoes, chopped, or fresh tomatoes)

Sprig of rosemary

Salt

Optional: a pinch of red pepper flakes, paprika or pimenton (smoked paprika)

Garnish: cream, rosemary croutons

In a saucepan over medium low heat, slowly sauté the onion in olive oil and/or butter until translucent. Increase the heat slightly, add the cubed sweet potatoes and stir them to cook and slightly brown. Add the liquid and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the tomatoes, rosemary and a little salt (unless you’re using canned tomatoes), and look slowly until the sweet potatoes are very tender, 30-40 minutes. Remove the sprig of rosemary and puree the soup using a food processor or immersion blender. Serve hot with rosemary croutons and a little cream, if desired.

Serves 4.

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Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Quintessentially seasonal.  Tomatoes and red peppers — roasted and slowly cooked into soup – against a backdrop of falling leaves and crisp fall air. I made this as a soup base, thinking that I would freeze it for the winter. It’s versatile since you can add a little rice or mini raviolis, a few herbs or smoky paprika, maybe some chopped vegetables, some cream to make a bisque and so on. But it was so delicious and we were so hungry that it barely lasted an hour. Next week, the soup base.

I can tomatoes – in some form or another from August through October, a batch a weekend to keep pace with our CSA. Every horizontal surface within a stone’s throw of my miniscule kitchen has a tomato on it, ripening. It’s actually kind of comical. However, it’s clear when I start to roast them that I’ve just about had it with canning many kinds of tomato sauce, whole tomatoes, tomato ketchup and chutney and jam and salsa and soup base.

For the soup, I roasted field tomatoes cut side up in the oven at 400 degrees until they started to concentrate their juices and sear the bottom. Meanwhile, I roasted a large red pepper skewered on a carving fork over the gas flame of the stove until black, tossed it in a paper bag to cool and removed the blackened skin with a towel. (Do not rinse with water or you’ll lose the valuable oils and the flavor.) The tomatoes and peppers, chopped up, were simmered with onions, garlic and homemade chicken stock or vegetable broth, and then pureed with an immersion blender. 

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Moroccan Tomato Jam

This jam is intense. It embodies the complexity of Moroccan food: sweet yet savory, bordering on sour, spicy but not from a specific source. Except for the standout tart lemon peel, and maybe an occasional bite of ginger, the ingredients dissolve into a magical compote that is anything but subtle. If I didn’t know that the base was tomato, I might not have called it out as the main ingredient. Wow.

 The jam is the brainchild of Mourad Lahlou, owner and chef of a restaurant in San Francisco called Aziza, and the author of a recent cookbook entitled Mourad, New Moroccan, The Cookbook. I am naturally skeptical of an eponymous publication with over 30 contemporary photographs of the author. However, his turns out to be not only an interesting story, which he insists you read first, but also a very instructive course in the underpinnings of Moroccan food. Growing up in a household with an influential and discerning grandfather whom he accompanied to market, and a tableau of women whose cooking and serving of family meals was central to their cultural and social existence, he later uses his memories to reconstruct and, in the process, re-imagine Moroccan food. The trope works and the food comes alive because of the stories, aided by the book’s logical construction, excellent writing and beautiful photography. This book is a winner.

While flipping through the book in our public library (which some brilliant person endowed to purchase the latest cookbooks), tomato jam caught my eye.  Every year, as I am canning tomatoes and tomato sauces for the pantry – in abundance – I experiment with tomato jam to serve as a condiment alongside a vegetable, poultry or fish dish, or to serve with soft cheese and croutons as an appetizer. Last year, my tomato ginger ketchup was outstanding and while I’ll make it again, Mourad’s tomato jam was in my sights. I was already under a Moroccan influence after my recent experiments with chermoula, and having just put up a jar of preserved lemons for the pantry.

Mourad suggests that the recipe may be canned “in the usual way,” which I would have figured given the amount of acid – from sliced lemons, vinegar, lime juice and tomatoes.  He made it with cherry tomatoes, a boon for those of us with way too many of those during the season. I didn’t like the red cherry tomatoes that I had on hand, as they were not as flavorful as the jam deserved. So I substituted small field tomatoes with relatively thin skins since the skins are not removed. This meant that I had more liquid than he did and thus cooked my jam longer to get it to the consistency that I wanted. Also, since I intended to can the jam, I eliminated the butter he used during the process of cooking cherry tomatoes with sugar until bursting. I figured butter had more to do with that process than the mouth-feel or the flavor. All the above made my jam less chewy and more tomato-like than his but it was as stunningly delicious a concoction as I have made in some time.

In the first of the book’s opening seven chapters on technique (seven being an important number in Moroccan culture and even in its cuisine), he makes a few excellent points about spices. One is the obvious: toast and grind your own. The corollary, which he touches on, is to buy them where they’re sold in bulk so you don’t overstock and let them go stale. I’m lucky to be able to do that, so for this recipe I bought 1 tablespoon of dried rosebuds (really) and just 20 juniper berries.

The other point is more important and literally more global. The commonly used spices in Moroccan cuisine are not unique to Morocco (we knew that from the example of, say, cumin that spans from India to North Africa to Mexico).  Since the Egyptians started trading spices 4000 years ago, major spices have found their way around the world, and many of them passed through the strategic trading hub of the Moroccan coast. That’s the origin of the conception of Moroccan food as spice-centric, and Mourad tells us so many ways of using and combining them – in a uniquely Moroccan fashion — that this cookbook will provide culinary adventures for a long time.  As he says, it’s not which spices you use, it’s how you use them.

Moroccan Tomato Jam adapted from Mourad, New Moroccan, The Cookbook

2 organic lemons, preferably unwaxed

1 three-inch piece ginger (weighing 52 grams), peeled and cut into slivers

1 tbsp whole cumin seeds, toasted

1 tbsp dried rosebuds (if you can find them)

20 juniper berries

10 whole cloves

½ tsp black pepper, preferably Tellicherry

4 pods green cardamom, cracked

5 allspice berries

2-3 cinnamon sticks (weighing around 10 grams)

2 lb cherry tomatoes or other small tomatoes (the latter coarsely chopped)

2 c granulated sugar

Optional (if using cherry tomatoes and not canning the jam): 2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 c champagne vinegar

3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp molasses

1 tsp kosher salt or to taste

If canning, prepare the canning kettle and jars (plan for 8 four-ounce jars or four 8-ounce jars).

Prepare the lemons.  If they’re waxed, dunk them briefly in hot (just boiled) water for 20 seconds or so and dry them in a towel, rubbing the skin brusquely. Quarter the lemons lengthwise, removing the seeds and the center spine. Slice them thinly crosswise into little fan shapes.

Prepare the ginger. Peel it and slice it crosswise into 1/16-inch rounds. Slice the rounds into thin strips, 1/16 inch wide.

Prepare the spices. Place the spices into a muslin sack or fold and tie cheesecloth to make a sachet. The cinnamon stick can be set aside to add to the jam separately.

Place the tomatoes, sugar and butter, if using, into a large, wide, heavy-bottomed pan and warm the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring, until the tomatoes render their liquid.

Once the sugar has melted, add the vinegar, lime juice, molasses and ginger and stir well to combine. Add the spices.

Bring the mixture to a boil and cook at a gentle simmer until the jam is reduced by about half. This could take 30-60 minutes depending on the juiciness of the tomatoes. Taste and stir in salt. Leave chunky or use an immersion blender to smooth the jam a little (as I did) or blend to a smooth puree.

If canning, spoon into hot jars, making sure to release air bubbles. Cap and process for 10 minutes after the water comes to a boil. Remove canner lid, turn off heat, and let sit for 5 minutes before removing the jars to a counter to cool undisturbed.

Makes about 4 cups, filling 8 four-ounce jars or four 8-ounce jars.

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Summer Squash and Tomato Tian

As summer winds down, the oven goes on. A Provence-inspired tian is perfect for the season. Neat layers of sliced zucchini, crookneck squash and plum tomatoes nestle atop a bed of onions, all seasoned with fresh herbs – rosemary sage and thyme—and topped with olives. Beautiful and aromatic 

A tian is basically a layering of vegetables whose juices meld together while baking.  The word comes from the name of the vessel that traditionally held the vegetables (like the tagine of Moroccan cuisine). This is in contrast to a gratin, a word that comes from the French term for scrape. Perfect, since its characteristic is a topping of grated cheese and/or stale bread. This dish would be a gratin if topped with cheese or bread, and it would be delicious prepared that way.

Like most composed dishes, this requires some advance planning, but is equally fine tossed together as a jumble. I have frequently made this for parties and picnics since it can be assembled in advance and cooked at the last minute. It can be served hot or at room temperature.  And the leftovers are even more delectable, a great base for a poached egg for a simple lunch or supper (or in my case, a savory breakfast). 

The complexity of the dish is not just visual. It comes in part from the layering of vegetables whose juices meld during cooking. But the real source is the advance sauté of the onions and squash with a mixture of herbs. First, sliced onions are lightly cooked in olive oil and chopped sage, rosemary and thyme. (I like to halve the onion crosswise and lengthwise, then slice it lengthwise into half moons, or quarter it and slice it crosswise.) The onions are then placed in the bottom of a baking dish. I used an enameled cast iron but a terra cotta or ceramic dish is probably more traditional. Then squash slices are lightly sauteed the same way, until slightly brown but not mushy. This is essential to the character of the dish. You can layer them the way I did or simply toss them on top of the onions, tucking slices of tomato here and there and topping with olives. I add a few sprigs of thyme on top before baking and a few more as garnish.

The method came from Deborah Madison’s superb vegetable cookbook, The Savory Way. This is one of my favorite cookbooks not only because of the inspired cookery but also because of the graphic design. Good paper, nicely bound, well composed, decorated throughout with woodcuts. It’s a real pleasure to use.

Summer Squash and Tomato Tian adapted from Deborah Madison, Savory Way

Adjust the quantities according to the size of your baking dish. The amount of vegetables below will fill baking dishes of approximately 7×11 inches or 8×12 inches.

3-4 small-medium zucchini or summer squash, or a combination

4-6 plum tomatoes of roughly the same diameter

1 large yellow onion, preferably a sweet one

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp each sliced sage leaves, thyme leaves, chopped rosemary leaves

5 tbsp olive oil, divided

Salt

4-6 pitted Kalamata olives, quartered vertically

Additional sprigs of thyme

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the vegetables. Slice the squash into ¼-inch thick rounds. Slice the tomatoes into the same size pieces. Quarter the onion and slice it vertically into half moons. Chop or slice the garlic. Divide the herbs into two parts.

In a large sauté pan, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and add the onions, the garlic, half the herbs and a little salt. Cook slowly until the onions have wilted but don’t brown them. Place the mixture in the baking dish.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in the pan and add the squash, the remaining chopped herbs and a little salt. Saute over medium high heat for a few minutes until slightly wilted. A few pieces will be lightly browned. Arrange the squash rounds in row in the baking dish, interspersing them with the tomatoes. (You can do this neatly in rows or more informally.)

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of olive oil on top, add the sliced olives, a little salt, and some sprigs of thyme, reserving some for the final garnish. (The dish can be made ahead to this point.)

Bake, covered with foil, for about 50 minutes. Remove the foil and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Serves 4-6.

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Tomato, Corn and Pepper Soup

Pure August. The abundance of tomatoes, corn and peppers is upon us, despite the terrible tomato-growing season. This simple soup has a tomato and red pepper base seasoned with chili powder and cumin. The red pepper gives the tomatoes an instant density and mellowness that would be achieved only after hours of cooking the tomatoes alone. Green bell and jalapeno peppers are sautéed until tender and stewed with freshly cut corn, and then added to the base. This is reminiscent of cold season vegetable chili, perfect as our nights turn cool, but it has the lightness that we appreciate in summer fare. If you wanted to serve this as a vegetable chili, simply boost the spices and increase the proportion of corn and peppers to tomato.

Tomato, Corn and Pepper Soup

6-8 ripe tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red pepper, diced

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder of your liking

1 tsp salt

Water, if necessary.

½ green pepper, diced

1/2 jalapeño pepper, finely diced

Kernels from 1 ear of corn

Cilantro

As you prefer, either peel, seed and chop the tomatoes, or just chop them. (You’ll puree the soup later so leaving tender skins on will not affect it much.)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the red pepper and onion and sauté until soft. Add the  cumin and chili powder and cook for a few minutes.

Add the tomatoes and salt and increase the temperature to bring the tomatoes to a boil. Lower the temperature, cover the pot and cook the tomatoes until they have reduced to a liquidy puree and are cooked through, Add water if the tomatoes are not thin enough for soup.

Meanwhile, sauté the green pepper, jalapeño and corn in a little olive oil until they are crisp-tender.

When the tomatoes are thoroughly cooked, puree the mixture in a food processor and return to the saucepan. Adjust the seasonings. Add the peppers and corn and a little cilantro, and cook until the corn is completely tender

Garnish with additional cilantro leaves.

Serves 4.

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Pumpkin, Tomato and Chickpea Soup with Ras el Hanout

Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say.  This afternoon, I needed to clean out our freezer and my husband needed some flavorful soup. Cleaning out the freezer really isn’t a big deal since it occupies a tiny section of our tall, slim refrigerator. It’s a haven for stock and broth of all kinds, soup bases, cooked dried beans, pureed pumpkin, roasted tomatoes and the like. Little that’s ready-made but a lot that’s most of the way to a finished dish. Between the bounty of the fall and a lot of cooking over the holidays, I haven’t been able to fit the tub for my ice cream maker in the freezer for months. But now it’s time to make our weekly sorbet, so out came a few containers of ingredients for soup. 

At Christmas, I received a jar of “ras el hanout” that had been purchased at the exciting new Savory Spice Shop that opened in town. Much better than Penzey’s and more on a par with the Tea and Spice Exchange that I visited in Winter Park, Florida a few years ago. While the shop has herbs and spices and blends that are pre-packaged, the norm is to take the storage jar to the counter where they’ll dish it out for you in just about any amount you want.  That’s great for me, since I like my spices fresh and I can buy tiny amounts in bulk.

Ras el hanout is the Moroccan version of Indian curry, in that it is a mixture of spices including in my jar: nutmeg, sea salt, black pepper, ginger, cardamom, mace, cinnamon, allspice, turmeric and saffron.  I used it to lend an intriguing and lingering spiciness to a soup made mostly of pumpkin and vegetable broth, with a little tomato puree and chickpeas added.  Stir in some fresh cilantro if you have some, or sprinkle on toasted pumpkin seeds, and you’re all set for a satisfying meal.  I bet that this will improve with age as it made enough to last us most of the week.

Pumpkin, Tomato and Chickpea Soup with Ras el Hanout

1 medium onion, cut in medium dice

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp ras el hanout (Moroccan spice mix)

3 c pumpkin puree (homemade or from a large can)

½-1 c tomato puree

4 c vegetable stock

Salt

1 tbsp turbinado or brown sugar

1 c cooked chickpeas with their liquid

Garnish: cilantro, pumpkin seeds

Saute the onion slowly in oil in a large saucepan until translucent. Add the spice mixture and stir to combine. Add the pumpkin and tomato purees and enough vegetable stock to thin out the puree. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes. Add salt and sugar to taste and then the chickpea liquid. Add more vegetable broth or water if the mixture is too thick. Cook for another 10 minutes. Puree in a food processor or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the reserved chickpeas and reheat gently. Garnish with cilantro or pumpkin seeds.  Makes 6-8 servings.

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Homemade Tomato-Ginger Ketchup and Sweet Potato Fries

During one of my final canning sessions to use up all of the paste tomatoes I harvested at our CSA this year, I developed a new ketchup recipe and I’m very excited about it. Last year’s sweet ketchup was very good, flavorful but not robust, although it’s one of my staples now. Last year, I also a made a spicy, slightly smoky “harissa sauce” (not really harissa but so called by Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving). It was surprisingly versatile. However, what I was looking for was ketchup with a kick, but not just from peppers. And here it is, thanks to ample ginger and garlic plus a little cayenne pepper. 

The idea came from Niloufer Ichaporia King’s tomato chutney in My Bombay Kitchen, her brilliant, award-winning book on traditional and modern Parsi home cooking.  If you don’t know about King, she’s a marvel. If you don’t know about the Parsi, you should. (It’s a now-scarce Middle Eastern culture that historically melded into India, with important current cultural figures like the conductor Zubin Mehta and the very cool Harvard professor Homi Bhabha). I first heard about King on NPR a few years ago, through a series called Hidden Kitchens. I can just imagine her at my favorite farmers’ market in San Francisco where she’s seeking out ingredients and trading ideas.

This came to light because her chutney recipe has been around the web recently, on blogs like The Traveler’s Lunchbox and The Wednesday Chef (thanks!). I tinkered with the proportions of ingredients and the method, creating a smooth ketchup instead of a chunky, raisin-filled condiment. It makes an amazing dipping sauce for oven-roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes. I canned it in four-ounce jars; the recipe made 8 small jars.

Tomato-Ginger Ketchup adapted from Niloufer Ichaporia King’s chutney

6 c cored and chopped paste tomatoes (about 3 lbs)

1/3 c finely diced peeled fresh ginger (one 2½-3 inch piece)

1/3 c finely diced peeled fresh garlic (1 head)

1½ c cider vinegar

1½ c turbinado (raw) sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste – mine is particularly strong)

1 cinnamon stick (2½-3 inches, snapped in half)

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a large wide saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes and turn down the temperature. Allow the mixture to cook gently, a gentle boil, just above a simmer for 30-40 minutes until thick. Remove from the heat and let sit for 20 minutes to let the flavors meld.

Prepare jars and lids for water bath canning.

Remove the cinnamon and cloves and discard. Puree the tomato-ginger mixture with an immersion blender (or buzz it in a food processor) until very smooth.  Return the ketchup to the pan and bring it to a boil, cooking down further if not thick enough for your taste.  Ladle into hot canning jars and top with sterilized lids. Process for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil (15 minutes for half-pint jars).  Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and let sit for 5 minutes before removing the jars to a counter to cool, undisturbed.

Makes 8 four-ounce jars.

Sweet Potato Oven Chips or Fries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry the sweet potatoes, scrubbing the skin if necessary. Slice into wedges or ¼-inch rounds for fries, 1/8 inch or less for chips. Sprinkle them with a little olive oil and salt, adding some herbs and spices if desired (good combinations are cumin, cinnamon and cayenne, or thyme and rosemary).  Place in one layer on a baking sheet. Roast, turning once, for about 20 minutes or until browned and slightly crispy. If they’re steaming versus browning (because of moisture content of the tubers, crank up the oven to 425 degrees in the last 5 minutes or so). Serve immediately.

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Sautéed Corn with Pepper and Tomato

What? Still serving fresh corn on the cob in New Jersey in October? You bet. No killer frost yet. Our local farm stand has a crop of corn in peak condition and another waiting, though we don’t have high hopes for the last one because the nights are getting too cold for the corn to ripen. This corn sauté, similar to a Louisiana “maquechoix” served for Thanksgiving, usually finds its way onto our table late in the summer or early fall when the corn becomes ripe and dense. The farmers who run our local corn stand plant successive crops so we rarely get any corn that’s over-ripe. So if you have access to fresh corn at any time of year, this recipe’s a winner. It was inspired by Bert Greene, whose Greene on Greens cookbook is an oldie but goodie. This year, the corn sauté was a convenient way of dispensing with the last of the cherry tomatoes, stray bits of peppers and basil, but not the corn, which continues to grow. At least for now. We’re so lucky.

Sautéed Corn with Vegetables

4 ears of corn

1 slice of extra-thick bacon

4 scallions, reserving the greens (or ½ of a small onion plus chives)

1 small red bell pepper, diced

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped, or a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

½ tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp fresh basil

2 tbsp heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Scallion tops or fresh chives

Fresh basil if available

Cut the kernels from the corn. Cut most of them close to the core and a few halfway, scraping into a bowl he remaining corn flesh and juice with the back of a knife.

Cook the bacon slowly in a large pan until crisp. Remove the bacon to drain.

Add the scallions or onion and the red pepper pieces to the bacon fat and cook slowly until tender. Add the tomatoes and herbs and cook until well combined, 5 minutes or so. Add the corn and cream and cook for another 5 minutes or until the corn is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with scallion tops or chives and tiny basil leaves.

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Waste Not Want Not: Braised Fennel, Tomato-Orange Sauce, and Manicotti with Fennel Frond Pesto

After a weekend of canning tomatoes, including a lovely Provençale-style tomato sauce with orange and rosemary, I had a little leftover sauce, a leftover half of an orange (precious at this time of year) and a large (3-foot-long) bulb of Florence fennel with stalks and fronds intact, courtesy of our CSA farm. I hadn’t figured out our weekday night supper, and this combo just sprung to mind. I used the delicious sauce for pasta (manicotti stuffed with ricotta seasoned with fennel frond pesto and orange zest) but in a more prosperous time, I might have used the sauce as a base for a simply baked white fish topped it with Niçoise olives. 

I like braising fennel in citrus, typically using lemon. Here, orange juice and zest complemented the tomatoes and provided a kick that was tweaked by the salty and grassy fennel frond pesto. 

This isn’t that complicated but there are a few independent steps if you make the dish that I did. You are first going to prepare the fennel, braising the bulb and stalks in olive oil, salt and orange juice, and turning the fronds into pesto. While the fennel is braising, you can prepare the tomato-orange sauce. If you are making manicotti, while the fennel and tomato sauce are simmering, you should boil the manicotti shells, and make a ricotta filling, which contains fennel fronds and orange zest, and fill the cooled manicotti shells. Finally, combine the tomato sauce with the braised fennel and spoon it over the top of the filled manicotti. 

Baked Manicotti with Tomato-Orange-Fennel Sauce

5-6 dried manicotti shells (or use fresh pasta sheets that you can roll yourself)

1 c ricotta cheese

2 tbsp fennel frond pesto (see below)

1 egg

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Optional: grated parmesan cheese

Tomato-Orange-Fennel Sauce (see below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil the manicotti shells (or fresh pasta sheets) in a large pot of water until slightly under al dente stage. Drain and cool.

Beat the ricotta cheese, fennel frond pesto, egg, salt and pepper together, adding the optional cheese at the end.

Fill the cooled manicotti shells with the ricotta cheese mixture.

Spoon a little tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking dish and place the filled manicotti on top. Spoon the tomato-orange-fennel sauce over the manicotti. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until bubbling. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Tomato-Orange-Fennel Sauce

6-8 plum tomatoes

1 clove garlic, minced

Olive oil

Juice of ½ orange

½ tsp orange zest

Salt

Fennel braised with orange juice (see below)

1 tbsp fennel frond pesto (see below)

Core the tomatoes and roughly chop them. Lightly cook the garlic in olive oil and add the tomatoes, turning the heat up so that the tomatoes boil and exude their liquid. Turn the heat down after about 5 minutes and simmer, crushing the tomatoes with the back of a spoon, for about 10 minutes. Add the orange juice and zest, and salt to taste and simmer for at least 5 minutes.

To finish the sauce, add the braised fennel and the fennel frond pesto.

Fennel Braised with Orange Juice

I small bulb of young fennel with stalks (and leaves)

1 tbsp olive oil

Juice of ½ orange

½ tsp orange zest

Salt

Water (or chicken broth)

Trim the stalks from the bulb. Trim the base of the bulb, cut it in half vertically, remove the core, slicing it very thin, and slice the bulb vertically into slivers. Remove the fronds from the stalks and reserve them for another use.  Thinly slice the stalks on the diagonal.

Warm the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the fennel lightly, add the orange juice and zest, cover the pot and braise until crisp tender, 10 minutes or less. Check occasionally and add water as needed, continuing to braise until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt to taste. Before serving, add a little orange juice to spark the flavor.

Fennel Frond Pesto

Strip the fennel fronds from the stalks and place them in a food processor. Add chopped garlic, salt and a little olive oil, and process them to a medium-fine consistency.

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Canning Tomatoes: Tomato-Orange-Rosemary Sauce

I’ve been restocking my pantry with tomato puree, a simple base of crushed canned tomatoes – smooth and chunky – that will serve as a base for stews, sauces, and soups until next year’s crop is upon us. Despite the abundance of fruit on the vine, this has not been as stellar a growing season for tomatoes as it once looked. Still abundant at our CSA, but picked just when the color starts to break from green to pink, ripening tomatoes occupy horizontal surfaces throughout our house, until I amass enough to can. This weekend, I made two batches of puree – one with Plum Dandy sauce tomatoes and the other with an heirloom variety called Amish Paste.  One had a few onions and garlic added and the other some sliced shallots for flavor but neither puree is intended to be used straight from the jar.

I have three basic approaches to canning tomato puree, and I adjust them according to the type of tomato, intended result and the amount of time I want to spend in the kitchen at one time.  In one case, I peel the tomatoes assembly-line fashion, remove the seeds and excess juice (saving it to drink of course), salt them and let them sit for two hours before proceeding with the sauce. The second way is to peel and seed them and cook them right away, skimming the excess liquid that is exuded at the beginning, which I also can. The skim makes a great broth to start a soup or stew or to use as the basis for risotto. The third way is to cook the tomatoes with skins and seeds and all and pass the cooked mixture through a food mill. A less refined result but certainly the least labor-intensive.

 I don’t add a lot of extra ingredients since, as I said, these purees are meant to be used as a base for other dishes. However, this weekend, I set aside about four cups of puree to make into a finished sauce that is worthy to use as is. Redolent of the aromas of Provence, the sauce included garlic, rosemary, orange zest and orange juice. There’s not enough extra stuff in the mix to alter the pH and make it unsafe to can. In any case, I add bottled lemon juice to each jar to be on the safe side (1½ tsp per half-pint, 1 tbsp per pint and 2 tbsp per quart).

Canned Tomato-Orange-Rosemary Sauce (4 half-pint jars)

4 – 4½ c freshly made tomato puree for canning (see below)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp olive oil

1½ tsp orange zest

2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

1½ tsp chopped rosemary leaves

½ tsp salt or to taste

¼-1/4 tsp ground pepper or to taste

Bottled lemon juice for the jars

Small sprigs of rosemary for the jars

Prepare jars for water bath canning.

If your prepared puree is chunky, puree it until smooth, using an immersion blender or food processor.

Gently cook the garlic in a small amount of olive oil until translucent and fragrant. Add the tomato puree, orange zest and juice and rosemary leaves. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook gently for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

Add lemon juice to the prepared (hot) jars. Use 1½ tsp per half-pint jar. Ladle in the hot tomato sauce, leaving ½ headspace. Add a tiny sprig of rosemary to each jar, pushing it down into the center, Insert a knife into each jar to release any air bubbles. Clean the rims and cap with lids and screw bands that have been dropped into boiling water. Process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes (for half-pints) after the water comes to a boil. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and let sit for 5 minutes before removing to let cool, undisturbed. Make sure the lids have sealed. Store in a cool dark place and use within a year.

Tomato Puree for Canning (with a side of fresh tomato juice)

4-6 quarts plum tomatoes

Salt

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Olive oil

Bottled lemon juice

Peel, seed and drain the tomatoes. The following sounds like a lot of effort, but by working methodically in this manner, I can easily peel and seed six pounds of tomatoes in 15 minutes after the water comes to a boil. Bring a large pot of water to boil and set a second large pot in the sink, filling it with ice water. Place a large cutting board (preferably with a groove to catch liquid, as you would use for carving meat) next to the sink. Have a small paring knife and a larger cutting knife handy. Place sieves on top of two bowls (one large and one small) in front of the cutting board. Using a large slotted spoon or skimmer, plunge the tomatoes, a few at a time, into the boiling water and remove them to the ice water. Using the paring knife, cut out the core and slip off the skin. (Some people cut x’s in the bottom of their tomatoes before placing them in the boiling water. This is a waste of time since you’re cutting out the stem end and all you want to do is pierce the skin to make it easy to remove.) Cut each skinned tomato in half crosswise and set it on its side on the cutting board. Working over the small sieve, remove the seeds and liquid from the cut tomatoes, letting the seeds sit in the sieve and liquid drain through. Place each seeded tomato cut side down, so that you know it’s done. When you’re finished seeding the tomatoes, chop them coarsely using the large knife and place them in the large sieve. Sprinkle with salt and let them drain for about 2 hours.

Combine the juice from the seeding and draining and drink it (or alternatively, use it as the base for canning whole tomatoes).

Make the puree. Warm a really small amount of olive oil in a large saucepan (large enough to hold all of the tomatoes) and add the onion and garlic, stirring over low heat until translucent and aromatic but not browned. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat to high and boil them rapidly for 10 minutes to release the juices. Lower the heat and simmer until thick and well cooked, at least 40 minutes, longer depending on the ripeness and firmness of the tomatoes. Either leave the tomatoes chunky or puree them until smooth with either an immersion blender or a

Process the puree in a water bath canner.  While the tomato sauce is cooking, prepare jars for water bath canning. When ready, add bottled lemon juice (to control acidity and prevent rot) to each jar. Use 1½ tsp per half-pint, 1 tbsp per pint and 2 tbsp per quart.  Ladle in the tomato puree, leaving ½-inch headroom (a little more in the large jars). Clean the rims and cap with lids and screw bands that have been dropped into boiling water. Process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes for half-pints, 35 for pints and 40 for quarts, timed after the water comes to a boil. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and let sit for 5 minutes before removing to let cool, undisturbed. Make sure the lids have sealed. Store in a cool dark place and use within a year.

Makes 4-5 pints, but will depend on the meatiness of the tomatoes and how they condense when cooked.

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