I LOVE Basil

It's not often that you get to have the freshest ingredients at your fingertips, but in this case, I have tomatoes galore and quite a harvest of basil this year.  It's also not very often that I get to have really great lunches, but thanks to my basil and tomato crop I got several lunches and dinners that just about sent me through the roof they were so good!

The first is one of my favorites - Bruschetta.  I posted this quite some time ago, so here's the old blog: Julia Child's Bruschetta Process .  This time I did use Basil and as always hit just the right spot.

My friend, Mandy, made the best tomato-basil tart for Easter and so I got her recipe and made this too.  However, I had pastry sheets left over instead of pie crust.  It was divine!  Sorry I didn't get any pictures.  We scarfed it down to quickly!  Here's the recipe link and you can make your own: Giada De Laurentiis Heirloom Tomato and Basil Tart Recipe.

I've been making pesto sauce from that recipe and here was the other lunch I managed to get pictures of before devouring it!

Making the pesto.  Isn't it gorgeous?

I wanted a good sandwich and I really enjoy paninis. I took 2 slices of Italian bread and brushed them with Olive Oil.  Then I made pesto mayonnaise.  I didn't measure anything, but it turned out to be about 1/2 mayo with 1/2 pesto. 

Coat both slices of bread on the inside (not the side with the olive oil - that will be directly on the pan).

Then add your beautiful, tasty tomatoes!

We had left over grilled chicken, so I sliced that up and gave it a slather of my pesto mayo:

Topped that with proscuitto (imported is the best):

Then topped it with my other slice of bread (pesto-mayo side in).  See my olive oil brush?

Then cook over fairly high heat and press on the sandwich to get that panini "squished" look.  Flip over and cook the other side too until just heated through and toasted well on each side. 

Sit down and get ready to thoroughly enjoy every last bite!!!

Remember, I still had a bunch of pesto left?   I made some penne pasta, diced up a tomato and added my pesto to it all.  Gave it a good stir and we had a tasty dinner the other night.  It was enjoyed by all!

A good use for watermelon

I had bought a watermelon a while ago but then no one was in the mood for anymore eating of it.  I found this idea in one of Martha Stewart's Living Magazines and thought I'd try it out.  It turned out very good.  It's best served with something light to eat.  I made it and ended up using it to accompany a turkey dinner - not a good combo.  Everyone liked it when they drank it before the meal.  However, during and after the dinner it just didn't taste very good with the heartiness of the meal.  As a disclaimer: It's not that I can't plan correctly, I just needed to get it used up. 

So...Here's the recipe: Martha Stewart's Watermelon Punch & Bowl

I crushed up the watermelon:

 Then I put it through my new jelly bag to strain out the juice:

The rind carved out and being chilled:

 The end result!

Enjoy!!!

Canning Jelly & Jam

We just found a huge tree of crab apples on some property owned by our friends.  Jeremy thought it would be neat to see if we could make crab apple jelly, so we gave it a whirl.  His Mom gave us some pointers:  Buy and follow the directions from the Certo brand pectin and get a jelly bag.  The pectin can be bought at your local supermarket.  The jelly bag was a little more difficult to find, but we have a hardware store in town that sells just about everything you thought you'd never need but sometimes do.  You can also find them online.  We used this recipe: Apple Jelly Recipe and here was the process:

First we picked the crab apples.  We felt like we didn't have many in this big tote/bin, but it turned out to be WAY more than we needed.

 Aren't they cute little things?

Next, cut them up to make sure they don't have any worms, etc...  Put them in a pot and just cover them with water to get them nice and soft.

They don't look beautiful at this point, but they're ready to be strained through the jelly bag to extract the juices.

Straining out the juice in my newly purchase jelly bag.

There was alot of pulp left over and I just hated to throw it away, so I decided to put this through my food mill and make apple sauce.  Beware, crab apples are really sour and tart.  The applesauce needed a lot of sugar and cinnamon to help it out.  The girls did enjoy the finished product.

Now back to the jelly!  Here is the juice we finally extracted.  Isn't it the prettiest pink color?  We had enough to make about 2 batches with a little left over which we froze.  Not sure what we'll use if for.  We'll see!

Sterilized all the jars and getting them ready to fill:

Boiling the juice, sugar and pectin.  Watch it closely and constantly stir to avoid the sugar burning and a boil over!

All jarred and processed.  Waiting for the tops to seal.  I just love hearing all the pops!

Aren't these pretty?  I'm hoping to sell these at a craft show and give as Christmas gifts.  However, we did keep a jar's worth for PB&Js and it's pretty good!!

I then went on to make 2 batches of Blackberry & Elderberry Jam.  My Aunt had given me a big pan of blackberries from her yard and we had a crop of elderberries that we had frozen from last year from my parent's yard.  I used Certo's recipe again.  Here it is: Certo's Blackberry Jam Recipe  I just added the elderberries to the mix and counted it all for the volume of fruit.

Here it is getting cooked down. 

 It was basically the same process as the apple jelly.  However, with the jam, I kept most of the seeds in it.  This too turned out very pretty and I've heard it was very good!

Fruit Leather - A Production

This was my first attempt at making Fruit Leather.  Although it makes me feel very good about the fact that it is homemade, I am going to have to say that by the time you run your oven for over 12 hrs. (if you're making more than one batch) you may be spending less money at the store getting the organic, no-preservative fruit leather than by making your own.  That's my personal opinion.  This also took several days because we didn't feel good about leaving our oven on at night - which is the only time in this household that you can get a straight 8-12 hrs. of uninterrupted time.  We also learned that when keeping your gas oven at such a low temp. it is prone to going out.  We had to air out our house a couple times during this process.  So, you see, it's best to be awake and aware while doing this.  Now that I've told you all of the downfalls, I will say, however, that everyone needs to try things once in their life and this is it!  It did turn out quite good and the girls love it.  I added nothing but a little squirt of Agave Nectar to each batch.

Apparently, back in the day, it was made by putting it out in the direct sun under tented cheese cloth.  That's more of how I roll - not driving up my utility bill!   Now that I know that I think I'll try to do this on a nice, hot, dry, summer's day - if we ever get one of those in this neck of the woods!

Here was the saga of my production.  I referred to this lady's blog for my recipe: In the Little Red House - Fruit Leather Recipe


Here are my peaches being cooked down:

Concord Grapes - Love these things! 

The peaches and the plums being processed.  And, yes, I ended up with 2 food processors!  How fun!

Pressing the seeds out of the grapes through a colander and keeping the juice and whatever pulp came through:

In the oven they all go at the lowest temp your oven can get for 8-12hrs!  However, you have to allow for air flow, so you can really only do 2 at a time. I had to remove 2 of them part of the way through the process:

First batch done - the concord grape.  Look at how easily it pulls off of the parchment!

Homemade grape fruit roll ups!  They taste so good - just like fresh concord grapes!!! Actually, you may want to just cut these with kitchen shears instead of rolling.  They're pretty tough, hence the name Fruit Leather! 

The peach came next:

See how I cut these in little "fruit flats", as my girls call them?  Much easier to cut and eat this way:

The plum - very good and quite pretty if I do say so myself!

  All in all it was an interesting experiment and if I can do this without using the oven next year, it will be an awesome way to keep fruit and make wonderful snacks!!!

Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood

Tonight I had no idea what to make, but I had alot of produce that I needed to use up.  So, in our family's Italian way, I decided to just make a pasta dish with whatever kept coming to mind.  Here's what I ended up with:

Here's the recipe and the instructions of how to put it all together:
1/2 lb. of small pasta
1 cup vegetable broth
1/3 cup white wine
1 garlic - pressed
1/2 large white onion
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
1 15.5 oz can cannellini beans
1 lb. fresh asparagus spears
5 oz. fresh baby spinach leaves
2 fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves left whole
1/2 cup pasta water
Salt & pepper to taste
Pamesan cheese to garnish

 I started first by boiling the pasta water and then cooking the pasta.   In my very large skillet, I boiled one cup of vegetable broth and I added about 1/3 cup of white wine.  I pressed one garlic clove and sliced up half of a large white onion and put it in the broth/wine mixture.  Once most of the liquid was evaporated and the onions were tender, I added 1-2 tbsp. of  olive oil.  To that I added one can of cannellini beans, my cut up asparagus, and a big bunch of baby spinach leaves.  Once the spinach was wilted and the asparagus was steamed and bright green, I added 2 tomatoes cut into large chunks and about 1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves that were fresh from our garden.  When the tomatoes were heated through, I added about 1/2 cup of my pasta water and the pasta and it was done!  Add salt and pepper to taste and you have a very low-fat, delicious meal.  Add some parmesan cheese to garnish.  All participants of my dinner were very approving, so I would say it was a last minute success! 

Then to end our delightful meal, I made Martha's Raspberry Sorbet with fresh whipped cream.  There's nothing like it and it was so light and delicious! There's nothing like fresh whipped cream too. You'll love it! 

This entire meal was completely last minute just to prove you can eat well in a short amount of time with no planning involved - only once in a while does this actually work! 

Summer Fruit Tart

My Aunt came over today to see me, the girls and my Mom before she leaves for France for the month.  Lucky Duck!  I wanted to make something special, so I made a fruit tart for brunch and served it with tea.  It was very good, but as with anything, it wasn't completely perfect.  However, I remember Julia Child said that even if something doesn't work exactly right, do not apologize.  So, here's my fruit tart saga that started out great, went a bit nuts, but then worked out in the end!

I used the almond tart shell recipe from Woman's Day.  I wanted something I didn't have to refrigerate, put weights on, or take a ton of time to make.  This recipe was really easy, but I will warn you (as with any tart crust) it is very fragile!  Just follow the recipe until you're done making the tart shell.  Then cool it in the pan on a wire rack.  From there, this is where I fell into some trouble.  I took it out of the tart pan and it was working and looking perfect.  I then went to place it into a tart serving dish that I was given for my wedding 11 years ago and have never used.  It turned out that the tart shell was bigger than the dish and when I placed it in the dish, it just crumbled apart. Every time I touched it, it got worse!  The remedy would be to just place it on a plate next time.  Live and learn!  Seeing as this was 11pm last night, I was not going to make another one.  Besides, it was just going to crumble when we cut it anyway.  And, thankfully my guests are very understanding, forgiving, and thankful for everything.  I knew I was in good hands!

This morning, I put some apricot preserves in a small saucepan with a little bit of water to thin and heated it over med-high heat.  Then I brushed the crust with the preserves so that the fruit wouldn't seep through and make it soggy.  I put a layer of lemon curd on the bottom and then proceeded to layer my fruit.  I used thin sliced peaches, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  I finished it off by brushing a coat of the apricot preserves over the top of the fruit layer.  This gave it a glossy finish and it looked beautiful.  Surprisingly, it cut very nicely and each piece came out well.  I think between the preserves and the lemon curd it acted as a glue for the crust. Over all it was a success!

And for good measure, I'll throw in a picture of my cuties!

What separates the Italians from the "I" -talians

As most of you know I am expecting another baby in December.  I have been trying to eat healthy foods, but this last week I just craved something hearty and something to "stick-to-your ribs".  I have a recipe for Alfredo Sauce, but I wanted one that was REALLY good.  So, I looked up Emeril's recipe on the Food Network.

As I was looking at the comments about it, I came across one that was pretty pretentious, but it caught my eye as it said, "I have enjoyed Fettucine Alfredo in several restaurants throughout Italy, including the original "Alfredo's Ristarante" and... not one of them used cream...."    Then it got me wondering, "What do they use?"  I then looked up Alfredo's Ristarante in Rome and found the story of the creation of Alfredo Sauce.  

Here's the link and the story: Alfredo's Ristarante of Rome  "The Original Fettuccine Alfredo was created in 1914 by Alfredo Di Lelio, concocted to tempt the palate of his pregnant wife who had lost her appetite.  Alfredo went to his kitchen, mixed egg noodles with the finest parmigiano cheese and butter and created a dish even his wife couldn't resist.  The rest is history!"  I felt I could really relate with this story.

I went to our local, Italian bakery and got some fresh fettucine (I could have made my own, but didn't quite have that much energy) and some imported proscuitto to add to the dish. (Note: Imported is so much better than the Domestic.) Then I went to the local grocery store and bought fresh, grated Parmigiano cheese and went home to make this meal.  Here's the recipe link: Alfredo Sauce Recipe.

I cut up the proscuitto and cooked it and the peas separately because you don't actually cook the sauce.   The secret to cooking proscuitto is to not cook it too long because it will dry out and be crunchy.  Make sure you keep a careful watch on it.  As soon as it's heated through, shut it off!  (And, yes, I already knew this and did it right.)

 Then I pulsed the room temp. butter and cheese in my food processor and waited for the noodles to be done.  Look at how soft and fluffy it is!

Then I mixed it all together and got a great response from my husband and girls.  Aubrey wanted 3 bowls and Angelina asked for another helping.  Jeremy's response was, "Wow!  This is amazing!"  I think it was a hit!  Look at how nicely it coats the noodles. 

In short, this, my friends, is what separates the true Italians from the "I"-talians.  (You know the want-to-bes who annoyingly pronouce it "eye"talian!)  Who would have thought that there was such a science to a good Alfredo Sauce?  Enjoy!