vie a la table » inconvenience

you say tomato, i say…

kris — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:11:10 +0000

it’s september 20th…the weather took an immediate turn from 90′s to 70′s and we’re starting to see the peaches fade and the pears and apples begin to shine.

ok, i’ll admit it, fall is upon us. this past weekend seemed to kick it off with the husband watching football, cold rainy weather outside the window, and cravings for hot chocolate and butternut squash (not together!). i’m still going to savor the last few days or weeks that we might have of warm dry weather, but i can tell, my mind is beginning to transition along with the season.

but i’m not ready to give up on some of the favorite summer harvests just quite yet!

in efforts to enjoy foods at their prime throughout the year, we went veggie picking. we intended to see what was left of corn, tomatoes, beans, and what was beginning of peppers. when we pulled up to the farm to see a closed sign we were forced to go to plan b. iphone out, and we were quickly researching any other upick farms in the area, since we were already about 25 minutes out of the city.

‘bushue’s family farm and garden’ was open and picking! some farms feel like a big expanse of land that is a smooth operation with employees and hours. this one truly felt like we just walked up to someone’s house, who was generous enough to let us step around in his garden. sid, a loveable dane/boxer/lab mix barked at our entry, but immediately became a fast friend. and when we strolled over to the small rows of veggies, we were astounded to see they were selling tomatoes of all varieties at only 50 cents a pound!

were we expecting to go crazy and pick 40 pounds of red, green and yellow tomatoes? no. but we did. our pacific northwest season was not great for tomatoes this year, and nearly over, so i bet the friendly farmer was eager to just see people pick anything before it decomposed back into the earth.

by the time we got home, the wheels started turning and we had a long list of what to make. we’ve canned a number of things before, but mostly pickles with high acidity, and for fear of not reaching the correct proportions, times and temperatures needed, we stuck to different methods to preserve these gorgeous fruits. 16lbs went straight into our biggest pot to give us about 7 quarts of tomato sauce, that we intend to store in our deep freezer through the upcoming fall and winter months. also on the docket was drying & packing in oil, ‘jam’ (more like ketchup), salsa, and throwing a few in a pot of chili. wil loves green tomatoes maybe just as much as red and a huge batch of piccalilli was on the top of his list. he also sliced a few to make sweet pickles, and of course we weren’t going to miss the opportunity to have some fried green tomatoes.

what’s your favorite thing to do with tomatoes? i’ve included a bunch of resources and recipes that we either love, did this weekend, or plan to do. and while everyone usually has their own tomato sauce recipe, ours came out pretty great, so we wanted to share.

tomato sauce
yields about 2 quarts

2 tablespoons butter
5 1/2 pounds red ripe tomatoes
1 large onion, diced 2 ribs celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 sprigs of thyme
1-2 sprigs oregano
1 bay leaf
teeny bit of red wine (1/8-1/4 cup, or a splash)
salt & pepper to taste

1. roughly chop all tomatoes and set aside.

2. toss onions, celery, carrots and garlic into pot with butter and sweat until tender, about 10 minutes. thyme, oregano and bay leaf and sweat for a few more minutes. add wine and simmer 2 minutes. add tomatoes and bring to a simmer. add some salt and a few turns of pepper.

3. stirring continuously, simmer the sauce for a few hours. you may think the sauce will be done enough to blend after 30 minutes, but when you let it cook longer, you’ll find that the flavors meld together better and are more concentrated turning a decent sauce into a magical sauce. trust me on this.

4. after the magic happens, puree the sauce with your immersion blender or in a food processor or blender. don’t be afraid to add some more salt, it takes a bunch to balance out the sweet acidity of those fresh tomatoes!

ways to enjoy an abundance of tomatoes

canning & freezing according to the nat’l center of home food preservation
heirloom tomato tart
tomato jam
slow roasted BLT
usually anything she does is a favorite
drizzled with herb pestos and salsas on a plate with a nice glass of wine! salud!

preserving fresh herbs, round two

kris — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:00:26 +0000

remember when we preserved some herbs last year? we were living in our teeny apartment with an even teenier kitchen. wil was in the midst of school and his externship. we were like passing ships in the night as he worked ridiculous hours while i worked during the day. can’t believe that was a year ago! and i can’t believe how drastically different our lives look right now.

but either way, i am getting off track. today i am talking about my favorite color! i just had a conversation with my sister via text, as she was asking me what my favorite color was for my niece, coloring in the background. and i said ‘lime green’. there are some other close favorites (turquoise, mustard, rust) and on some days they take first place, but right now it’s green. it’s vibrant, bold and represents what’s new and full of life. and food.

i’m taking a different spin on my inspiration workshop prompt this week and talking about food. fresh, green herbs. they are in the peak of their season in most regions right now and just like last year’s post i returned home this weekend from my parent’s house with huge handfuls of herbs from my mom’s yard.

but i have to be honest here…i did so good of chopping and freezing those herbs last september in their little ice cube trays, but after they went into the freezer, i often forgot about them. there were a couple of instances where we made a big pot of soup and they were very handy to just plop in, but that was about it. this time around, i wanted to preserve them in a way where we would actually use them more.

there are so many ways i love herbs in our food, but the ice cubes were so one dimensional. if we weren’t putting them in a soup or sauce, it was awkward to let them thaw…too wet and soppy. what about rubs on meat? drizzled over a piece of fish? a dollop on crusty bread? tossed with pasta or vegetables? a spoonful to turn oil & vinegar into a gourmet salad dressing? wil and i set out to make herb mixes in oil & butter. pestos, salsa verdes and compound butters (all variations of the same concept) would allow endless ways to make those quick weeknight dinners more interesting. the ability to use as much or as little as i want each time versus the set cubes was appealing too.

if your garden beds or pots are thriving right now, or even if you have a random mix of leftover herbs going unused, i recommend spending a little bit of time chopping them up and keeping them on hand in your fridge just for that moment when a dish needs some life, some brightening, some ‘green’!

what we made:

mixed herb ‘pesto’: sprinkle on a salad, toss with pasta

1 part basil, chopped *
1 part parsley, chopped *
2 parts carrot tops, chopped *
1/4 of the rind of a preserved lemon (if you don’t have this, there is no substitute, so just go without, it’s ok!)
garlic cloves, minced
generous pinches of salt
pinch of black pepper
olive oil, to fully submerge all herbs

* these proportions are very loose, based on what you have on hand, or what you want your dominate flavors to be! and they can be chopped as rustic or as fine as you please.

with all items chopped & minced, toss in a bowl with oil until fully covered. place in airtight container and store in fridge. if making more than one variety at a time, be sure to label your jars as they will all look the same!!

mint salsa verde: drizzle over tomatoes, toss with peaches

1 part mint leaves, chopped
1 part mixed herbs (we used parsley, tarragon, chives, rosemary; you really can use whatever you have on hand)
lemon zest
generous pinches of salt
pinch of black pepper

same instructions as above.

garlic chive pesto: dollop on fish or steak, spread on bread or sandwiches

1 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 cloves garlic
salt & pepper

same instructions as above. this one i did note amounts because you do want to have the right balance of garlic to herbs…the others are more of ‘anything goes’

compound butter: breads, meats, sauces, you name it!

1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped herb, or herb mix (i did one stick with just chives, and another with rosemary & lavender)
zest of 1/2 of a lemon
generous pinches of salt & pepper

chop, smoosh and work a stick of butter on a work surface with a big knife or bench scraper and incorporate the herbs & spices until fully mixed (picture the workers at cold stone creamery and their technique). pack it back into a log form, place & wrap in plastic wrap (you can get the shape a little smoother and more evenly defined once in the wrap). store in the fridge if you plan to use it more quickly, but it freezes great too.

& turn the table thursday

inspiration workshop – week one – handmade

kris — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:44:19 +0000

i’m so excited to be a part of gussy sews inspiration workshop…once a week i’ll receive a newsletter with a topic for that week’s source of inspiration. interpret as i may, take or find a picture, post it, and share with you and others doing the same thing around the internet!

i love those days when i’m just on a roll…ideas are flowing, i’m creating, and producing. but sometimes inspiration needs a little nudge though and i am looking forward to having a weekly reminder of seeing things in a new light and turning them into sources of future inspiration.

this week’s topic was handmade. and as i looked around our house for something that represented handmade, my mind wandered around, thinking about the cute drawings from our niece on the fridge, the window valance made from vintage hankies from my mom, or even the gorgeous flowers out front that god created so delicately.

but something that continually inspires me on a daily basis, and i think unknowingly had a hand in helping me get to where i am right now, is wil’s teardrop trailer project.

the past 4-5 months he’s been building a midcentury inspired teardrop trailer FROM THE GROUND UP. i am amazed, inspired, intrigued, and astonished with every step that he completes and the closer it gets to completion. yes, we love camping, and cannot wait to use it, but the build is so much more than that. although i can’t express his feelings accurately, from an outsider’s perspective, i know to him, it’s not solely about the end result. it’s the process. it’s the learning experience. it’s the ability to do things on his own. and it’s the ability for us to accomplish something together at times too.

i’m still newer to the handmade movement. i’ve loved it from afar, but only the past couple months have i seen a real push in our lifestyle for it. wil with his trailer, my garden, the way we prepare our food, and just even within myself thinking about how i could make my own version of something before i go buy from a store.

foraging for chantrelles

kris — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:31:51 +0000

happy mid october! we are a few weeks into our new place…don’t ask wil if he likes it, because he honestly hasn’t spent much time here except to sleep. only a couple more weeks and i get my husband back (and hopefully he has some form of job in the non-plural sense!*).

our friend and new neighbor laura and i decided to go on a little adventure sunday. it may have been a poor year for tomatoes, but the late arrival of summer heat and unending rains were the ideal setting for mushrooms, especially chantrelles, in this part of the state. and the decision to go frolic through the woods with baskets convinced her to get a library card (she has only lived here for *ahem* all her life), to get ourselves all studied up on mushrooms…foraging and preserving.

on an absolutely sublime fall day, we started out at karam farm, picking ourselves some beautiful fall produce…end of season peppers, zucchini, squash, and even some green beans and eggplant. i nearly filled a big 5 gallon bucket and paid a whopping $5.60 (getting all of the aforementioned). it hurts to hear people say that it costs too much to buy healthy foods like produce, because it doesn’t! plus you get to spend the time outside seeing beautiful veggies grow out of the ground right into your palm. we were excited for the chance to find and try this farm…for next year…while sauvie island farms will be my go to for berries and fruits during the summer, karam is solely produce, with a sweet ‘let me drive you through my backyard’ family owned feel, open every day during the growing season. (and no pictures, since i was too busy picking and trying to determine which types of peppers to pick, and unknowingly, yet very zealously picking what turned out to be hot cherry peppers. whoops)

with a good load of veg in the back of the car, we made our way up through some forestry roads. ever so often we’d see a car or two pulled off and pulled off on a whim (and had a good time guessing by car type if they were foraging. beat up volkswagen caravan? my gut would be a yes!). our first location was a dud. having no idea what we were doing, we probably looked like idiots, scraping and poking the ground of leaves with sticks, and trying to identify every mushroom we found…”is it the ‘tawny grisette‘? or the ‘death cap‘?” when in doubt, don’t pick. or touch.

we gave up quickly, and drove for quite a ways…passing through a clear cut section, then a thick wooded section, clear, wooded, and repeat. once again, on a second whim, (and probably because we were both silently feeling like we’d driven too far but didn’t want to say anything) we turned off and then hit jackpot. a guy almost literally popped out from behind the bushes when we pulled up and told us about how he’d already filled 4 or 5 large buckets of chantrelles and lobster mushrooms, just that day!

i won’t lie, when we found that first little bright orange mushroom, we both shrieked and squealed. little did we know that we’d later be finding mushrooms the size of our fists, and even as long as our hand outstretched. but boy, knowing we found our first chantrelle was such sweet relief!

so our payload may have not been buckets and buckets, but the search was great, the weather beautiful, and the sense of adventure permeating the air. someone explained it like an easter egg hunt for adults, and i don’t think i could describe it any better. we want to figure out how quickly they reproduce and grow because we are ready to go back up and do it again! i meant to weigh the mushrooms i came home with (maybe a pound? maybe 2 or 3?), for the satisfaction that i brought home some stunning specimens of the edible fungi world for free, while people pay up to $15 a pound for these things.

the little guys that weren’t lasting in our fridge went into a low oven for a couple hours to dry out for future use. the the big guys…i’m not sure. mushrooms are a newer addition to my palette, and am curious on what to do. the cooling of outside temperature has made me think about a big bowl of risotto. what would you do?

*i got a call from him a few hours after i first starting drafting this post with the news that he was offered to stay at laurelhurst market when his internship ends! praise the lord.

preserving fresh herbs

kris — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 01:02:47 +0000

totally pulled in a huge payload of herbs from my mom’s pots again. i usually try to be modest when i go out to clip her herbs, but this time, she had come to see us already with a bag in hand. clearly she’s got far too many herbs for the scope of cooking for just her and my dad, but it’s even too much for me and wil! i was astounded when opened the bag and started taking inventory of what stems had fallen under her knife (poor little plants). it also gave my a fleeting feeling of those who have successful home gardens…knowing there’s just so much coming up from the ground, you have to pick it and either eat it right then, or figure out a way to preserve it for later.

after finishing animal, vegetable, miracle, i still dream of our own future garden and what not, but even without one, the thoughts of enjoying what each season brings and knowing how to enjoy things out of season the right way (not via global transport) still linger in my mind. the pages of that book have been closed, the copy returned to the library, but the words still echo in my mind.

with september more than half over, winter fast approaching, and a new transition in our lives, it seemed fitting to utilize these herbs in a way that we can enjoy a month from now, without the worry of trying to use them right away before they spoil. we are busy. yes. i’d love to say i reap the benefits of wil’s newly trained culinary mind right now, but with multiple jobs, we see each other an hour or two a day, usually before we/i go to bed. days off together are limited, which means interesting meals have temporarily gone by the wayside.

also, with the lease on our current downtown apartment expiring, and our choice to not renew it, we are moving into a new place next week! everything about this whole situation was clearly orchestrated not by us, and everything fell perfectly into place…from a friend who happened to notice a nearby tenant moving out, to contacting the owner prior to it being listed, to us meeting, getting an ok on the dogs, to the rent and location being exactly what we needed and hoped for. we’ll be moving into a cute little ranch style duplex built in the 40′s…with all those type of things that we had previously traded for an urban lifestyle…lawn & courtyard, garage, space for a bbq, more storage, bigger kitchen, on a quiet, homey street across from a friend!

with moving as it is, we’ll be in shambles for the next two weeks. i should be packing stuff up right now, but no…i’m chopping herbs and dilly dallying on the internet! but with that said, the timing of getting all these free fresh herbs did line up with a few-week-period where i see us hardly cooking much.

so if you are like me…in a time of transition, or if you have an abundance of herbs with cold weather approaching, take advantage of your ice cube trays and freezer space! never doing this before, i went straight to one of my favorite books that wil acquired for his school. and anywhere it was vague on storing a particular herb, i hit the internet.

i don’t know if it’s a change in attitude or change in habit, but we just don’t use dried herbs much anymore. in a pinch or when it specifically calls for something dried (like soups or slow cooking), we’ve got it on hand, but otherwise, you just can’t beat fresh. but also paying 3 bucks for a dinky plastic container of a wilted bunch really irks me, so i am looking forward to having portioned frozen cubes on hand!

for ‘soft’ herbs, i chopped them up, and placed one tablespoon per cube in a clean ice cube tray (so i know how much i’m using when i pull it out at the time of cooking). i gently poured enough water into each spot only just to cover the herbs. this ended up being for: parsley, tarragon, cilantro, basil, chives. you can pulse your herbs in a food processor, but i just didn’t have the heart to not do the chopping by hand…felt more rewarding, and i also liked having more control over not overdoing it and creating herby mush. you can choose to freeze in olive oil instead of water, but i chose water as i didn’t know how i’d be using these herbs in my future cooking.

for ‘harder’ drier herbs, i came across a couple different methods…an online resource had me freeze rosemary as is, and a couple weeks from now, the frozen leaves can just shake off the stem (rather than taking the time to pull all the leaves off now), stored back in the freezer and used as needed, without chopping or water. my mom gave me two kinds of sage, so for one i simply hung to dry, and the other i placed the leaves in a ziploc without water, and without any air, similar to the rosemary.

there was just soooo much thyme, i got overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do with it! so, it got thrown back into the fridge with a damp paper towel until i get back around to it. : )

inconvenience foods: the value of a chicken

wil — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:37:03 +0000

How productive have I been today?

I went grocery shopping and kept the total under $30
At said grocery trip one of my-all time favorite beers was on sale! (so i bought it)
I cleaned the kitchen AND took out the trash
I made home-made chips from our copious amounts of corn tortillas
I made chipotle hummus to free a canning jar for..
I made 2 types of pickled onions (plain-ol’e-herb and fiery chipotle)
I cleaned the kitchen.. again

And now I’m sitting down to finish a post I started (in my mind) nearly a month ago. Take THAT Christmas break laziness!

here’s my beer: yum.

Ever wander into your local UPS store and ask someone to help you ship a CD you made for your long-distance love interest? Only to find that the 10 seconds it took the employee to wrap and stamp your CD turned into a $10 processing fee. How about those simple online orders.. we’re already buying the item from them! Why are we forced to pay someone to put it in a box and pay AGAIN to ship it!? (I know why.. I’m just being dramatic)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how those small processing, labor and convenience fees are built into so many parts of our life and how much we could save if we didn’t have to pay them. Based on my own experience, the reason we choose to pay instead of handle things ourselves is because we don’t have time… well, since I don’t have a job, time is one thing I have plenty of. Yes – the ‘nonjob’ is dwindling the cash in the bank, so the question became, “How can I use my time to better mitigate this unstoppable loss of funds?”

Naturally.. chickens seemed like the perfect place to start.
I use stock a lot while cooking dinner, making general foods and while practicing sauces. We also eat a lot of chicken at home, so paying extra to buy it already butchered seemed like an ideal area to cut back.

The challenge: Pay less to buy whole chickens and utilize them than the cost of buying everything i am able to get out of those not-so-hairy hens.

I started with 2 whole chickens – each weighing between 3 and 5 pounds.

The cost: $9 for the chickens and about $3 for other misc. items (mirepoix and herbs). totaling $12.

After a lot of slimy slicing, a splatter of marrow or two, and a house that smelled like chicken for 2 days straight..

The harvest: 4 breasts, 4 tenderloins, 4 leg/thigh pieces and a full gallon of stock!

After scouring my local Fred Meyer looking for the hottest deals on my above reaping the results were delightful.

Convenience costs: 4 breasts – $6; 4 tenderloins – $3; 4 leg/thigh pieces – $6; 1 gallon (near equal quality) chicken stock – $12; all this totaling $27!!

Can you believe it!? Not only was I stunned at how cheaply I was able to get the same products, but I was excited about how much I could save by taking time to do it all myself. I get tremendous satisfaction going through this process.. maybe that’s why I’m in school to be a chef. Now, I understand that many of you don’t, in fact, have time to separate the meat from two full chickens, or have the time to make a gallon of chicken stock – and that’s fine. But, I challenge you to find areas in your life to quit paying convenience fees. Join the slow food movement and look for inconvenience foods that you can fit into your life.