knitting by night, cooking by day

September 09, 2011

Harvesting tomatoes and apples is what's happening around our little half acre.  I have spent the last three days filling up my freezer with some recipes I am really proud of.
Apple harvest:  First up is apple juice with carrots, ginger and lemon.  It's a great combination, with the carrot and lemon cutting the sweet of the apple and the ginger adding zing.
I have been juicing for years with a Juiceman, the best juicer I have found.  Usually, I juice just what we can drink right then and there, and drink it within ten minutes.  That's what the juicer people say to do for maximum nutrition value.  But here I was with a lug of apples from our two dwarf apple trees, so I juiced for the freezer.
I love my Juiceman!
Wash and cut out any brown spots.  I don't bother to peel or core since we don't have apple worm/moth this year.  Everything goes in whole, apples, lemons, carrots and the big ginger root.  After juicing, I skim off the foam and strain over 4 thicknesses of cheese cloth.  I don't heat it, just bottle it and put it in the freezer.   It is so good as an iced drink, light and fresh tasting.  This was a winner.  The fine print: This makes an unholy mess in your kitchen.  
It settles a bit, so shake before serving.
Tomato harvest:  Twice this year I made large batches of tomato sauce.  My NEW way saves me hours of trouble and it is far tastier and easier than any other method I've tried.   I washed a sinkful of tomatoes and only cored the ones that had a big stem, but mostly I didn't bother.  Jumble them into a roaster, squeeze in some fresh herbs (I used what I had growing, oregano, marjoram, rosemary and lots of basil) plus 2 heads of garlic, peeled.  Pour olive oil over, I used about 1/4-1/2 cup per pan.  Salt and pepper and add a good bit of red pepper flakes.  Roast in a hot oven, 450 degrees F for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  It will be bubbling like crazy.
 The skins will be black, don't worry.  Cool for a few hours, then pick off and discard the skins you can slip off.  Most slip off easily, but don't bother with the skins that won't.  Whirl it all really well in a food processor.
This is my grandmother's tomato puree-er, huh?, actually called a perforated chinois strainer. This strainer and stand and what it does conjures up some of my best childhood memories, those of my kind and gentle granddad, a tomato farmer in southern California.  I loved my granddad so much and think that growing tomatoes must be in my blood.
This chinois is over 80 years old.
 This type of strainer makes the next step really easy.  There are dozens of expensive, fancy and complicated tomato strainers for you to spend your money on, but I say boo to them.  This old fashioned one is best.
Pour the sauce by batches into strainer and use the wooden pestle to smash the sauce around.  The seeds and skins stay in the strainer (discard) and the best sauce ever comes out the little holes.
Now taste the best sauce ever.  You will be glad you made this, it really doesn't even mess the kitchen much, I promise, and it freezes well.
My fancy freezer containers!

You Might Also Like

4 Comments

  1. Kristen, thank you for sharing! I'll be making tomato sauce today. I don't have enough space or sun to grow tomatoes at home, so I am going to the farm to pick tomatoes myself.
    Your photos are delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum they look wonderful and I love my Mom's old strainer. I sure remember her using it and then I did and now you. It sure has been around........

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've always wanted to make my own tomato sauce like Mom did when I was a kid...but I live in an apartment, with apartment-sized storage space, and making a batch small enough to store seems like a waste of time. I suppose I could just give everyone tomato sauce for Christmas...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Best buy juicer at Cocacafe: https://cocacafe.net/

    ReplyDelete

You make my day when you make a comment!

Labels

afghan Alana Dakos ally pally ambassador Amy Herzog Ankestrick Arte Italica baby Baby Cocktails bakelite baking berry picking Best Friday of the Month best of Ravelry Big Sur blue transferware book review books boutique brook cables California candy child children children's activities Christmas Christmas crafts Christmas knitting cleaning collections cookie cutters cookies cooking craft Crafts crochet cross-stitch day trip decluttering decorating designer spotlight discount diy dog dolls Easter eau de vie Elizabeth Bradley Elizabeth Zimmerman embroidery entertaining Facebook fall fall decorating fall garden family featured first car fit flower arranging flowers free pattern Friday night party group friends funny Fur garden gardening Giants Gifted Hostess give-away giveaway gluten free gourmet group Halloween herbs holiday home how to set up a party group jewelry Kaffe Fassett KAL Kim Hargreaves kitting Knit Picks knitting laundry Le Jacquard Francais Little French Knits Los Altos lunch Mailbu Making Things Marie Wallin Martin Storey menu minimalism money talk mosaic movies my house my patterns my town nails needlepoint needles October challenge Octoberfest ollalie organizing original design outdoor seating owl party prep pear peg dolls pies pomegranates poncho preview quilting recipe recycling redwork review roses Rowan San Francisco Sarah Hatton sewing shawl shopping shower social media softie spring spring garden stash Stitches West summer summer garden summer knitting Sunday Morning Swans Island table setting test test knit Thanksgiving Three Irish Girls TNNA tomatoes top 10 list toys travel tutorial twinning ufo Uncommon Threads vacation Valentine vegetable garden videos wedding winter garden wip Woolfolk yarn yarn for sale Ysolda