Since the tomatoes are coming in tidal waves right now, I’m going to send you all another excellent way to preserve them for the winter months. If you look in the grocery stores, you can easily find little bags of beautiful sun dried tomatoes, but they’ll cost you an arm and a leg. Don’t bother……. because they’re shockingly easy to make at home, even without a food dehydrator. I usually do up several batches in the fall, and add them to my pasta dishes, salads, on toast, or in a warm winter soup.

The main thing to remember is to avoid “slicing” your tomatoes. It doesn’t matter if you’re using little cherry tomatoes or big paste tomatoes, you always want to maintain skin on the bottom to hold all of the juices in while they’re drying. For the small tomatoes, I simply cut them in half, and for the larger paste varieties, I use the top and the bottom and then just chop & freeze the middle for later use. You’ll notice all of the tomatoes in the picture are like little tomato boats so that all of that delicious flavour doesn’t drip out while they’re drying.

Method

All you’re going to do is cut your tomatoes and arrange on the dehydrator racks in a single layer & turn that little sucker on med/high (about 145) and let it go until they completely dry. For me, that was overnight, but it can vary depending on the humidity. if you’re doing them in the oven, simply place a baking rack on a cookie sheet, turn your oven to its lowest setting and walk away until they’re dry (6-7 hours)

While the oven method works fine- it’s a bit of an electricity drain. I bought my dehydrator several years ago for around $40 and I can’t even begin to tell you how much stuff I put through it in the fall; herbs, berries, tomatoes, peppers, citrus,you name it, I’ve probably tried it. It’s definitely paid for itself a couple hundred times over in the amount of harvest that I’ve been able to save for winter.

Storage

I put my dried tomatoes in freezer bags and into the freezer and then am able to pull out a few at a time as needed. Alternately, you can also pack them into jars and cover them with olive oil, which will last for several months in the fridge. If using the freezer method, you’ll just pull them out as needed, place in a bowl and cover with boiling water for a few minutes to plump & soften them up. The water that you’ve re-hydrated them in is going to be delicious, and I always tend to save it to throw into soup or stew or pasta sauces.

Here is to preserving the harvest in the big bounty of Fall!

See you next week!

K

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I devoured versions of this recipe in Italy, Greece, and Spain, and while all were slightly different, they all start with toasted bread and beautiful fresh tomato pulp. There are already so many variations out there, and I’ve even created a few of my own, so I’ll include a couple of additional ideas for you to try out.

This is a perfect mid day snack, or serve it with a salad for lunch or  a light summer dinner.

Ingredients

4 thick sliced pieces of fresh bread (any kind, but I love using olive loaf)

Butter (enough for 4 slices of toast)

2 large ripe tomatoes

1 garlic clove

Salt & pepper

olive oil to drizzle

**optional additions- Anchovies, olives, fresh basil, fresh parsley, crumbled feta, grated Parmesan, capers, pickled hot peppers

Directions

Slice your tomatoes in half and run each piece over a regular sized cheese grater until you get to the skin, and you’re left with a big pile of grated pulp. Season well with salt & pepper. Toast bread and cut your garlic clove in half. When toast is ready, rub cut side of garlic all over one side of each slice, and then lightly butter each slice. Spoon tomato pulp onto toast, and add any of the optional ingredients that you are using.Finish each slice with a drizzle of olive oil and enjoy!

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Those of us with a meat share received chicken wings last week, and if you’re like me, you save those 1 lb bags up until you have enough for a big beautiful feed of wings. I love having a few friends around the table, laughing, and dipping, and licking their fingers, and chicken wings are exactly the perfect fit for this. I’m not a big fan of deep frying at home (I’ll leave that to eating out, where someone else is responsible for the mess, thank you very much!) so these are baked. Triple baked to be precise. They are the perfect marriage of crispy/juicy/saucy goodness, without all of the grease.

I normally do half hot sauce & half BBQ, but you can use any sauce you like- even simple salt & pepper wings are delicious. Same goes for the dips- I’m a big lover of blue cheese dip, but use whatever makes your mouth water! This recipe is based on the process of making crispy baked wings, not on the amount of wings you make. I usually make 3-4 lbs but the recipe remains the same no matter how big of a batch you need. I like to have no less than 8 wings per person, with some sides & veggies also available.

Ingredients

Wings

Sauce of choice (ie; hot, bbq, honey mustard, hoisin, soya glaze, lime & chili, Cajun spice)

Salt & pepper

**optional Dips (ie; blue cheese, sweet chili sauce, ranch, creamy dill)

**optional Sides (ie; carrot sticks, celery sticks, salad, slaw, kohlrabi spears)

Directions

If wings are whole (drum & tip still attached) cut them with a sharp knife at the joint. Don’t worry if they aren’t perfect, they will still be delicious. You can definitely leave them whole, they’re just a little more difficult to eat & dip, and a little more messy. Place the wings in a single layer on a large baking sheet and season with salt & pepper. Bake on the middle rack for 25 minutes at 375. Meanwhile, place half of wing sauce in a large bowl. Transfer wings from sheet pan into sauce bowl & coat all wings. Drain fat from sheet pan then return sauced wings to the pan, and back into the oven for an additional 15 minutes. Empty & clean used sauce bowl & fill with remaining half. Again transfer wings from sheet pan to fresh sauce & coat all wings evenly. Place wings back on sheet pan and brush with any remaining sauce. Switch oven to broil and and cook until wings begin to get crispy and the sauce begins to form a  sticky flavour crust (about 8-9 minutes, or less if you like more “wet” wings)

Serve with dips, optional sides, and PLENTY of napkins.

Enjoy!

K

Ingridents

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Hi all,

Today I’m going to tackle a “love it or hate it” item that all of you meat share folks see now and again, including last week. Funny thing is…. I’ve discovered that most of the people in the “hate it” camp are only there because they don’t really know what to do with them, or how to prepare them in a way that brings out their delicate richness. I’m talking about chicken hearts & livers, and I’m going to give you a pate recipe so simple, yet so elegant, that you will blow away family or guests with your kitchen wizardry! For the non-meat eaters in the group- I’d love to know if this would work with tofu, tempeh, or maybe a legume or pulse alternate?

This recipe uses one bag of hearts or livers, but I normally wait until I have a couple of bags (of either or mixed together) as this recipe easily doubles or triples and freezes beautifully. I usually have a few 2 cup containers in the freezer at any given time as it’s a perfect instant meal spread on toast and served with a simple salad, or with some crusty bread, crackers, or chopped veg for dipping when those unexpected guests arrive.

Chicken Liver/Heart Pate

• 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp oil (or 2 tbsp oil of preference)
• 1 lb livers or hearts (or mix of both)
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 clove garlic diced
• 2 bay leaves (dried is fine)
• 1 handful fresh parsley roughly chopped
• ¼ tsp coarse salt
• ½ tsp ground black pepper (coarse if possible)

** optional

• 2 tbsp white wine or cooking sherry
• Big pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions

Thaw livers or hearts in fridge overnight (in a dish to avoid a leaking bag mess!)

Place in a colander & rinse under cold water for several minutes and then set aside. In a large pan, sauté onions over medium heat in butter/oil until soft (about 5 minutes) add minced garlic, bay leaves, cayenne (if using) and HALF of salt & pepper. Continue cooking for 2 or 3 minutes. If you are using wine or sherry, add it now to deglaze the pan and cook for another minute until almost all is evaporated.

Shake any excess water from colander & tip in hearts/livers and season with remaining salt & pepper. Stir frequently to avoid sticking and cook until just lightly pink in the center (about 5-6 minutes) They will be blended and don’t need to remain whole, so if you’re unsure, cut one in half to see the center.

Add chopped parsley, mix well & remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, remove bay leaves & scrape everything into a food processor or blender. Blend on high until smooth.

If you’re going to freeze some- choose containers with a good tight fitting lid. Scoop into container, smooth down top freeze! When you thaw the pate for later use, you’ll notice that the top will have gone slightly grey where it was in contact with the air. This is perfectly fine- just give it a good stir & re-smooth top. You can also put a piece of cling film or a baggy directly against the pate before you put the lid on for freezing to help minimize the discoloration (oxidation)

ok. That’s it.

No, seriously. That’s all there is to it!

Love ya all some local food & see you next week!

Kim

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