"It's Difficult To Think Anything But Pleasant Thoughts While Eating A Homegrown Tomato."

I awoke Saturday morning and immediately decided it was a good morning for a run: i was right. I ran from my dad's apartments, up the street, and on my usual 2.5 mile sidewalk loop run. The air was chilly; my blood was rising to my skin's surface and when i was back inside my face was flushed and my hands brutally cold. Perfect running weather--for me at least. Thankfully that chill warmed up a bit for Gleaning!

Gleaning:when a group of people are permitted to salvage crops after the top picks have been commercially plucked, after the crops are "gleaned" they are donated to a food bank or a soup kitchen to be then distributed to those who truly need it. It an amazing thing to do, i had fun doing it and throwing a half rotten tomato at my boyfriend Joshua. However not all of the gleaned crops are in good enough condition to give to the food bank, basically I got to glean the gleanings because they weren't rotten to the point of non-salvageable, but not in good enough to donate. As a result i returned to my Papa Bears Apartment with a big ol' bag of tomatoes! Upon my return i took the job of making tomato sauce.

And I obviously cut off the rot spots off of these so called "bad" tomatoes: only the good parts were left to enjoy.

There is something about made from scratch tomato sauce that just really tickles me. I mean how could anyone not just love it? Its fresh and flavorful and just darn delicious, plus you know what goes in it and that there are no additives or unnecessary sugar--not to mention it makes your whole house smell like an Italian love fest. Id also just like to state that it will not come out the "normal" red color you are accustomed to with jar sauces, this recipe creates a dark orange sauce; but that's just because I don't use food coloring, no one should.

First things first when you're crafting this sauce: you have to peel the skins off those pretty little red spheres.

You do not cut them off with a knife--you blanch them, then shock them, and then the skins come right off with just a little pressure from you're finger tips.

Step 1: Cut a tiny "X" on the bottom of the tomato.

Step 2: place in boiling water for 15 seconds--or until the skin begins to peel around the "X"

Step 3: Immediately transfer the tomato to an ice bath

Step 4: Gently shed the tomato of its skin with tender fingers.

Viola! peeled tomatoes. This was the same procedure used for peeling the plums in my "Spiced Plum Jam" recipe; but that's a different post.

Now to seed a tomato one must quarter it and cut out the core, then under cold running water brush out all the seeds and save the tomato meat to cook with [duh.]

No that we got that basic down, TIME FOR THE RECIPE!

A Gleaner's Tomato Sauce:

-1/3 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil [I refuse to call it E.V.O.O. fricking ever.]

-5 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 large red onion, minced

-1 large red bell pepper, diced

-2-3 lbs. tomatoes, peeled, and seeded.

-2 tbs. dried basil

-1/2 tbs. honey

-2 tsp. red pepper flakes

-2 tsp. rubbed sage

-2 tsp pepper

-2 tsp salt

-1 tsp crushed rosemary

Heat a large high sided pot over medium heat, Pour in the olive oil and then toss in the garlic and onion; sweat for 5 mins. Now dump in the tomatoes along with the basil, honey, red pepper flakes, sage, pepper, salt, and rosemary; stir, lower the heat, and let simmer--slightly covered--for an hour. Take a potato masher and crush up the tomatoes until your desired sauce consistency is reached, you can use a blender or a food processor if you want a smoother viscosity.

TA-DA you're skill in cooking has improved by 1 ! GRATS !

I hope you enjoy this yummy homemade sauce. It's delicious.

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

Tonight, i was graced with the honor of feeding my best friend Maggie, after she had a long day of managing football. Someone got sent to the hospital and being the kinda girl she is she got nervous and wanted to do anything to help and stressed out. She deserved a nice meal at my house to take the edge off. I cut up some cherry tomatoes, grabbed some fresh basil from the garden, diced some onion and garlic and whipped up a sauce to put a-top perfect aldente fetticine.

Mags came in and said, "I'm so glad i have a foodie friend." We dined together in my living room enjoying family guy and then after we ate we enjoyed peppermint patties.

Thats Amore Tomato Sauce:

-3 tbs unsalted butter

-1/4 large onion, finely chopped

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise

-1/2 tsp. nutmeg

-1 tsp. paprika

-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

-1 tsp. salt

-1 handful fresh basil, about 1/2 cup of leaves

In a large skillet heat butter on medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for 5 mins. Toss in the tomatoes and sprinkle on the nutmeg and paprika; stir. Saute for about 10 mins, or until the tomatoes are slightly squishy. Stir in the salt, pepper, and basil, cook for an additional minute.

Viola, pour on top of some yummy pasta and enjoy with a friend !

La Roux

While listening to some pre-workout jams consisting of Blink-182, Lady Gaga, and La Roux, I got to think about well, roux. You know, the thingy that makes soups and sauces thicken up? The basic formula for a roux is to heat butter, lard, alien fat, zombie, or other fat in a saucepan and slowly add an equal weight of flour. Then you have to gently stir until the flour granules evenly absorb the fat and the end result should be an even textured smooth paste. Then to add to the stock to make the sauce, you must slowly and gradually add the hot stock to the roux and whisk continually.

There are 3 types of roux; white,blond, and brown.
White roux is used to thicken white sauces, and you need to heat for a minute or two, only until bubbles devlop on the surface.
Blond roux is best for lighter sauces with chicken or fish entrees. To make just heat 3-4 mins till it reaches a pale blondish color.
Brown Roux is used for thickening brown sauces such as Bordelaise. Down in the good ol' South we like to use pan drippings instead of butter.

There are 5 mother sauces and, Marie-Antoine Carême, is considered the founder of french cuisine. He made the mother sauces, and then created daughter sauces by adding spices, herbs, wine, etc. Here's the family tree [I would die without "Paint"] Oh BTW you gotta click on it to actually view the size where you can read it.

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The Four Mother sauces are Bechamel [cream] sauce, Veloute [white] sauce, Hollandaise [butter] sauce, and Espagnole [brown] sauce.

Milk+White Roux= Bechamel sauce

White Stock+Blond Roux= Veloute sauce

Brown Stock+Brown Roux= Espagnole sauce

Clarified Butter+ Egg Yolk+ Lemon Juice= Hollandaise sauce

Now I like making a combination of mustard, butter, and flour to make a roux for my favorite mac n' cheese, then i take that roux and add milk, that makes it a Bechamel type sauce except then i melted various types of cheeses in it.

This post is kinda pointless because the only reson i'm posting this is because i was reading 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School last night like a toon.

WOOOO AWESOMESAUCE