Farmer's Market Bounty: Roasted Red Peppers

This past week has been all about preserving (for days/weeks but not months) the fresh produce from the weekly Farmer's Market. In addition to making oven-dried tomatoes, I wanted to preserve the large, red peppers that I picked up this week. I've been thinking about red peppers, marinated in herbs, oil, and vinegar, and what a wonderful accompaniment they would make to salads and on pita bread with goat cheese. (Now that I've got the cheesemaking bug, I think goat cheese is my next accomplishment.) Anyway, I found this great resource for roasting peppers and keeping them. (While there are a ka-gillion recipes that call for roasted red peppers, if they don't require you to open a jar, then you are expected to use them all up as part of a larger recipe.) I wanted information on how to dress up roasted red peppers that would keep in the fridge to be added to snacks and meals over the course of a few weeks. And I found here, in a New York Times Health piece.

I started by grilling the peppers directly on the burner. I actually woudn't recommend doing two front to back like this, since I would occasionally "warm" my forearm while reaching over the front pepper to check and turn the back pepper. I moved the back pepper to the left front burner and that was a much safer way to roast two at a time. It took about 5 minutes or so to roast each pepper.

Here is a pepper almost completely roasted. Its skin is almost completely blackened.

Then, once I'd charred each pepper as well as I could, I put them each in a bowl and covered tightly with cling wrap. They stay in there, steaming a bit, until they cool. Once they're cooled down, after about ten minutes, I peeled off the blackened skin, which comes off very easily. It breaks apart and sticks to your hands, so I found it helpful to rinse my hands repeatedly. (I remember vaguely reading somewhere that you want to resist just putting the peppers under running water--although that is a super easy way to get the skin off--since it washes away a lot of the roasted flavor. I don't remember where I read or heard this--or maybe I've invented this. Anyway, because of this half-memory of something that might not even be true, I resisted putting them under the faucet, and instead, put my hands under the faucet.

Once they were peeled, I followed the suggestions in the recipe. I a) sliced in half over a bowl (you want to keep all the juice that is caught inside the pepper); b)seeded and cored the pepper; c) sliced the halves into strips and put those in a separate bowl with the strained juices; d) added dried basil (would've used fresh, of course, but had none on hand), sea salt, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, about 3 garlic cloves minced, and 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar; e) I mixed it all up to evenly distribute all the flavors and then put them into jars for the fridge--well, one pickle jar and one plastic take-out container.

After tasting a few this morning, I might add a bit more vinegar and perhaps more dried seasonings. But they're fresh and bright-tasting. The first thing I thought of when biting into one was how good they would taste on a pizza.

Farmer's Market Bounty: Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes

Last night was full of culinary victory in my house. In addition to successfully making homemade mozzarella cheese, I successfully, and tastily, preserved some beautiful cherry tomatoes by oven-drying--a variation on sun-dried tomatoes.

It has become more and more important to me to gather up as much of the fresh, in-season produce from local farms. But to have it sustain us beyond it's limited window of edibility is always a challenge. Either the produce sits in the fridge too long, or on the counter. Life happens. My intention for veggie-heavy meals get lost in shuffle, when nights get late before we've even started cooking, and we often forego the second side of veggies for some other leftover. (Or we fill up on tomatoes on herbed and olive-oiled baguette slices, which is becoming more and more a pre-dinner treat that we love.) Or instead of finding their way into fresh smoothies, peaches grow soft on the counter as I spend what seems like every waking minute prying non-food items from Thora's jaws, or keeping her this side of melt-down, from a log-rolling tantrum. Needless to say, all my Monday-Morning-Farmer's-Market hopes for healthy, responsible, globally-sustainable eating sometimes goes by the wayside, or specifically into the the compost bin. But because I hate that sense of failure as I drop the wilted greens or squishy fruit in with the compost that not every bite got eaten, I've been eye-ing the produce at the Farmer's Market with specific thoughts of semi-preserving. (I'm not canning, so the preserving I'm doing here extends the lifespans of the produce by several weeks in the fridge, rather than months on the shelf.)

So last night's success was oven-dried tomatoes. I cut in half about 1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, scooped out their seeds with a grapefruit spoon, and laid them cut-side up on a foil-lined baking sheet.

(Could these look more like candy?!?)


I put them in a 200 degree oven (the lowest setting on ours) at roughly 10:30pm for what I was thinking might be over night. But at around 12:30am, when I was still up (!), I took a look at them, and they were already shriveled and some quite leathery. So I took them out and put them in a heat-safe bowl. (I will soon be pouring boiling liquid on them, so the bowl needs to be tough.)

Then I referred to the recipe in Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, called "Antipasto Tomatoes," which can be found at their website here. I brought about a cup of plain white vinegar to a boil (just what we had on hand and a quantity that I eyeballed and assumed to be enough to cover my small amount of tomatoes). After it came to a boil, I poured it into the bowl over the dried tomatoes, tossed in a few whole cloves of garlic, and let the tomatoes and garlic steep for 10 minutes. Then, I scooped out the tomatoes and garlic from the vinegar and, by pressing them, drained as much of the vinegar off as I could. (I reserved the vinegar that is all carmel-colored and tomato- and garlic-infused now and sure to be good in some new incarnation.) Once drained, I tossed the tomatoes and garlic with dried basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. (I used dried since I didn't have fresh herbs on hand, but would surely use fresh if given the option.) I put them into a jar and poured olive oil over them to cover (see top photo).

I tried some this morning, and they're quite yummy. There's still a subtle vinegar hit to the taste, which I'm not sure I want there or not. The vinegar bath helps raise the acidity so as to help prevent the bacteria that causes botulism, so it's necessary. But perhaps I could've pressed harder when draining and gotten more of the vinegar out before they went into the jar. But I think they will be nice on salads, on crusty bread, or tossed with pasta. I plan to get some plum tomatoes on Monday and do this again, for one reason, that I'd like to try again and see what happens with a meatier tomato--one that has more substance to it after it's been seeded--but ultimately, I have a feeling these won't last long.

Next up: Roasted Red Peppers

Cheese! (after 3 tries and finding the right milk)

So tonight didn't end in despair and culinary disappointment. I successfully made my own mozzarella cheese! I can't tell you the elation I felt as the gloppy goop started to turn into stringy goop right before my eyes. The sense of pride as I stretched it between my hands twelve inches, then 18 inches! It was fun and in retrospect, quite easy. Once I landed on the right milk, that is. And for you in Massachusetts, that milk seems to be Garelick brand all-natural milk. (Of course raw milk straight from a farm, your own cow or goat, for example, would be best. But for those of us who don't have ready access to farm milk, so far the store-bought brand that works for me is Garelick.)

The first two times I tried to make cheese, I was using Trader Joe's organic milk*. And despite not being labeled "ultra-pasteurized," it wouldn't result in a curd that ultimately clung together. Perhaps they heat their milk when pasteurizing to a higher temperature than milk that doesn't need to travel as far and be stored as long. Garelick is a Massachusetts company, and so their milk is transported relatively short distances. (For home cheese-making, you must use only non-"ultra pasteurized" milk [or raw milk that you pasteurize yourself] since the curds won't set.)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am making my first entree into cheese-making via the supplies and instruction from the folks at The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company at www.cheesemaking.com. Their instructional booklet and dvd are so informative and inspiring. And after having trouble the first time, I emailed them with my problem and they wrote back the very next morning with helpful tips.

Anyway, here's my success:

Here it is, a kind of clingy mass, having separated from the whey.


Then it spends about 2 minutes in the microwave. This is just before it goes in for its first minute.


Here I am pressing it into a single piece (although, it pretty much was a single piece prior to this step) and expressing more whey before going back in the microwave for another 30 seconds.



Working the cheese



Stretching the cheese

And the final product. Viola!

I look forward to working a bit more on final presentation next time. It begins to harden up and take shape before I really knew what was happening, so I was stuck with a less than perfect globe of shiny, white mozzarella. It tastes great. I look forward to it with baguette toasts and heirloom tomatoes tomorrow!


* While my experience seems to suggest that Trader Joe's milk doesn't work for home cheese-making, we are happy with both their organic and regular brands for daily drinking for both us and Thora.

Something I never thought I'd do: Home Cheesemaking?!?

So something I haven't written about, but have been meaning to, is my appreciation for Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It spoke to me, spurring me on to do things that I've done in the past (backyard gardening) but that had lapsed while we lived in apartments in NYC. It also encouraged me to do things (namely Farmer's Market shopping) that I did before for fun, but now I do with a true sense of purpose, enjoyment, and obligation (it's very important to support local farmers since they provide bio-diversity necessary for our planet's well-being, the significantly lower fuel usage in getting the produce to me and my neighbors, the sensibility and enjoyment of eating food that's "in-season,"...)

Anyway, two direct repercussions of reading this book are:

I'm serious about growing our own vegetables and fruit next season. Sean got me this great book as a birthday present this year, called Bountiful Container, that is proving to be critical in my planning for next year. (While I have yard access, due to a shady tree in our backyard, very little of the ground gets lots of sun. So I'll be doing container gardening along one side of house which gets tons of sun but which is also completely paved over with asphalt.) I'm so excited and don't know how I will get through the long months of winter. Seriously, I'm excited. You should see the plans, dog-eared library books, my highlighted copy of Bountiful Container littering the floor along my side of the bed.

The second thing I've done, that I have to admit I never ever imagined I would ever do, (even in my most hippie-fied fantasies), is to make my own cheese. And this is a direct result of Kingsolver's book. I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and as always, I was determined to use it for something out of the ordinary; something that I want, but that I can't really justify to myself to come out of our budgeted monthly money, which also has to fund things like toilet paper and food for the baby. I know, you're thinking, "Cheesemaking?!?" I said, I know. But apparently it's super easy to make soft cheeses like mozzerella, ricotta, and goat cheese. The place to go for home cheese making is cheesemaking.com, where Ricki Carroll has been teaching home cheese making for 3 decades. Just tonight, I purchased the Starter Kit, which contains their book, an instructional dvd, and the Mozzerella & Ricotta kit which contains all the equipment and ingredients I need to make mozzerella 30 times. For now, I'm kind of doing this for the novelty of always being just 30 minutes away from organic, homemade cheese made without unnecessary processing, refridgeration, storage, transportation, etc. But rest assured (or be forewarned, whichever camp you fall into), I'll write about the trials and victories, the cost and savings, the taste and elbow-grease that goes into making your own cheese at home. So stay tuned.

Our New Garden

Yesterday, my upstairs neighbor Carl, and I broke ground on our garden. There are plants growing or trying to grow in our back yard. However, with a couple big trees that block a lot of sunlight and rainfall, the yard looks sub par. So we've taken it up. The research phase came to an end when on Saturday we headed to the nursery and purchased some flowers to fill the one area in the yard that gets a good amount of sun. This is part 1 of our back yard makeover. More to come in the spring, including my own container vegetable garden. But for now, here's what we've done.

Sunny Garden Plot Before:


Sunny Garden Plot After:


In the front of the fence we have a small bed of black eyed susans. Then in the small, 7'x4' plot we have echinacea, phlox, along with two other types of blooming plants as well as a tall, ornamental grass in the back corner. (We bought these on a whim and I need to look again at the names on the containers they came in.) I also have some campanula on the stairs in containers that I'd like to get in the ground. More pictures to come as our garden grows.

Middlesex County 4H Fair

Last weekend we drove out to Westford, MA for the Middlesex County 4H Fair. We had a great morning there. Thora is so taken with real-live animals that when we learned about this, we couldn't pass it up. And it was worth the trip. The fair was held at a fair grounds, and as we first entered, through a tall, forested camping area, Thora's face was agog at the sound of the neighing horses. It's about 90% curious, 10% terrified (as you can see in the photo to the left). The neighing of actual horses are significantly more dramatic than the neighs she hears from Mom and Dad. As are "mmmmoooos" of cows and the snorts of pigs. The roosters really alarm her. Same goes for the the strained and sudden "baaa" of a sheep. (Apparently while I was off running to get a map of the fair, Thora burst into tears in the large poultry barn when, one by one, the roosters contributed to a chorus of cock-a-doodle-do's which were more than she could deal with.)

But don't get me wrong. After the initial shock at how loud real animals are, she is her old self, if only slightly more tentative. (She re-learns this lesson each time we take her to a farm or petting zoo.) Here she is taking in all the horses as we first entered the fair (the video is only 14 seconds long):




In the video, you hear a version of her "neigh," which is normally "hee-hee-hee" while shaking her head. This version is more like a question mark as if she's verifying that this enormous and LOUD animal is what we've seen in books for months. This video also happens to highlight her willingness to greet all things that come into her frame of vision with a "hi" and a wave. This goes for people (of course), animals, moving objects (cars, trucks, trains), animals, and inanimate objects of all kinds. Seriously... all kinds of inanimate objects. Sometimes I wonder how we get anywhere.

Anyway, the trip to the 4H fair was fun. Some other highlights captured on film were:

Here, the kid in the green shirt announced the competitors in the Bunny Race. He used a great voice straight from the monster truck circuit, complete with hilarious bios of the bunnies, like, "'Little Britches' has been known to topple farm equipment if they stood between her and a carrot. Watch her in this race. She's a real contender!"

The race course was to the top of that carpeted ramp, which is about a fraction of an inch on the outside of the photo. So it lasted for about 10 seconds. Still, Thora, on Sean's shoulders, sat in rapt attention. She loves bunnies. Later we were lucky to pet one. I have to admit: the thought of getting her a bunny as a pet not only crossed my mind, but lingered there for a totally inappropriate time. (How do I forget the never-ending episode of Wild Kingdom that is our life at home, with the dog and the cat that, after 8+ years of living under the same roof, still don't leave each other alone.)

I got to milk a goat! This was an exhibit meant for kids, and yet I couldn't restrain myself. I did a pretty good job, too. Much better than the 6 year-old boy who went before me. He totally didn't get the idea that you're supposed to pinch the top off with your index finger and then squeeze with your other fingers.

Thora and a piglet.

New Phone to Reflect my Politics?

I got an email today from the League of Conservation Voters promoting their connection with CredoMobile, a cell phone provider that puts 1% of customers' charges towards progressive causes like environment protection, organic farming, and reproductive and civil rights. CredoMobile uses the Sprint PCS network and so apparently the service is reliable. (Although, Sprint provides the network, CredoMobile solely provides the service.) Also, my email from LCV told me that for new, online customers, they will credit you up to $200 to cancel your current service (however I couldn't find this on CredoMobile's website in my skimming of it). Needless to say, I will discuss this with the spouse tonight. What an easy way to put your money where your mouth is. (Pun kind of intended.)

Thora's Conversation Skills: Exciting and Yet Excruciating

Thora turned 17 months old on Thursday. And she seems to be changing before my eyes. Here is an exchange that can be overheard on our twice-daily walks to the dog's off-leash park and a gazillion other times in between:

Thora: "On. On. ON! ON!"
Me: "Yes. There's a light. But that light is off. Off. OFF."
Thora: "On. On. ON!"
Me: "It's a light. That light is off."
Thora: "On. On."
Me: "Oooh, there's a light that's on. That light is on. On. ON."
Thora: "On. On. ON! ON!"

Let me remind you that the dog's walk takes about 35 minutes roundtrip. And for the most part, this is our interaction--the WHOLE WAY--with little variation. Once we get to the park, it turns into her saying "hi" to the dogs and doing her new dog sound "Woo woo woo woo," and saying "Poo? Poo?" when Georgia goes off to the other end of the park to "do her business." But then, once we leave the park, and start passing all those houses, with all those porch lights... Well, just writing this gets me a little fatigued.

So--this will seem unrelated, but I promise, I bring it back around--last week, at the playground that has a sprinkler, Thora started using the word "Nunny" for "Running" in the context of "Mommy, pick me up and run us through that sprinkler!" Needless to say, I was quite tickled with this new concept. Not the "Make Mom Run Through The Sprinkler" concept, but that she, right before my eyes, conveyed an idea that, before this moment, she'd been unable to articulate.

A little background: this sprinkler has two cycles, a high-arching, high-pressure spray, and the lower pressure that mirrors the flow of water coming out of a garden hose. And the funny thing is that Thora only wants me to run her through the water when the spray is high and arching, like rain. (Initially she first said, "Nay. NAY," which means "rain.") She generally plays for a minute or two on her own in the garden-hose spray, and then when the rain-spray comes on, she runs up to me, saying "Nunny! Nunny," with an occasional "Muh-moo, muh-moo," which means "more" and is almost always accompanied by the sign for "more". So I pick her up and run through the sprinklers.

The use of "nunny" has since expanded to accompany pointing at my running shoes or at my ipod (which I only use when I run by myself). But back to the first day she used the word, when we'd been at the park playing in the sprinklers. Later, we were doing our afternoon walk to the dog park. A man passed us pushing a jogging stroller. "Nunny!" she said. How smart she is, I thought. My desire to encourage her: boundless. My joy at the new conversational focus beyond porch lights and their enigmatic status of being on or off: ecstatic.

Me: "Yes, running. Running. He's running."
Thora: "Nunny. Nunny!"
Me: "Running. Yes, he's running."

This went on for about 2-3 more minutes, with little variation. I was so proud of her, that she's making these connections, that she can apply a concept to different situations, that she can use new words in the right contexts. A few minutes later, we got to the corner and began following a street that many bicyclers use. And I pointed them out, hoping to ride the wave of language acquisition.

Me: "Look, she's riding her bicycle. Riding."
Thora: "Nunny."
Me: "No, riding. RI-ding. RI-ding her bicycle."
Thora: "Nunny."

It went like this for next minute or so, until we got to the dog park, where the lesson was suspended. ("Hi!" and "Woo Woo Woo," and "Poo?") But we picked it back up when I saw the next bike rider.

Me: "Look, he's riding his bicycle. Ri-ding. RI-ding."
Thora: "Nunny."

Then I tried a different tactic.

Me: "When you run, you run on your two legs."

And I started to jog. Oh, something I should mention is that Thora weighs around 30 pounds and I wear her on my back in an Ergo baby carrier (which I couldn't recommend more highly). And so running in this circumstance is ridiculous-looking and more importantly, uncomfortable. I was only able to run like that for about 10 paces. And then I hear from over my shoulder, "Muh-moo. Muh-moo," accompanied by the baby-sign for "more" which I can feel between my shoulder blades.

Me: "Okay. Mommy's running. Running."

And again, the second I stop, I hear "Nunny. NUNNY!" with the baby-sign for "more." I accommodated. And accommodated. Let me tell you, before I write the next few sentences, that I did this for several blocks, before I said what I thought I wouldn't ever say. I said:

"Is that light on?"

Farmer's Market Bounty: Puckery Pickles

This past Monday, I was compelled to pick up some cucumbers and make my own pickles. To be truthful, the compulsion was probably chiefly driven by the "3 for $1" sign above the mound of ENORMOUS cucumbers. I couldn't resist. I love pickles. And I love having my own pickles in the fridge to shamelessly munch on when the mood strikes, or even when it doesn't. (Otherwise, I'm snacking on the pickles which are meant for tuna salad and hamburgers.) I plan to do a little more tweaking to the recipe to get a punchy but a bit more subtle flavor. Right now, the vinegar hit is unrelenting. But I love it. I'm a vinegar lover, even if it often catches me unprepared most times and causes my throat to seize up and my eyes to tear. Here is the one and only recipe that I've used to make pickles over the past years. These are refrigerator pickles and so last in the fridge for a couple of weeks. (They're not preserved so they need to be eaten relatively quickly.) I found this recipe in the New York Times Food section about 5 years ago. Although I cut the recipe out of the paper, I don't have an author to attribute it to. However, this author adapted it from "Blue Hill at Stone Barns" (which is meaningless to me, but I figured I should include it). I too have made some changes/additions (see what I did in italics below) and I look forward to playing around some more. But for now, here's the recipe:

8 medium Kirby cucumbers
This Monday, I got the three for a dollar good-sized regular cucumbers and 2 were used to fill the 3 jars I used.

For the brine:
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
I use less (slightly less than 1/4 c.) since I like a more savory pickle.
1/4 cup Kosher salt
2 cups water
I'm thinking of upping the water and reducing the vinegar ratio in the future, maybe 2.5 cups water to 1.5 cups vinegar. Just fyi.
2 cups Champagne vinegar
We didn't have any, I used what I did have on hand: 1 & 3/4 cups white wine vinegar and 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar.

Infusing flavor in the jars:
I completely eyeball the following ingredients. I'm certain I use more of everything below, plus I added mustard seed in comparable amounts as the peppercorns this time around. Also, I never add the chiles, but I'm a baby about heat.
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 sprigs of dill
3 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
2 whole dried chiles (optional)

1. Boil a stockpot of water as deep as the shoulder of a quart jar (or of the jars your using; I use a hodge podge of saved glass jars of all different sizes, so I usually have to boil in batches and adjust the water level accordingly.)
2. Wash cucumbers and slice into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick rounds.
3. In a small saucepan bring sugar, salt, vinegar and 2 cups water to a boil over high heat; remove from heat and set aside.
4. Distribute peppercorns, dill, garlic, and chiles equally between 2 sterilized 1-quart jars, then pack jars with cucumber slices. (I layer pickles, then spices, then more pickles, etc., since I think it helps disseminate the flavor. However I have no research to back that up.) Fill each jar with brine to 1/2-inch from rim.
5. Partly close jars, leave gap for steam to escape, and place in boiling water for 10 minutes. Carefully remove jars with jar lifter or 2 tongs and close lids tightly. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Farmer's Market Bounty: Yellow and Red Brandywines

Even though we bought tomatoes at the farm stand at Verrill Farm over the weekend, I couldn't resist splurging at our Central Square Farmer's Market on Monday with these two Brandywine (heirloom) tomatoes, a yellow and a red. I picked up a whole wheat french bagette at Trader Joe's, cut off some slices and brushed them with herbed olive oil. (Basically I just dump rosemary, thyme, sea salt, and pepper into a few tablespoons of olive oil and stir.) I put these slices under the broiler for just a couple minutes, until they're lightly browned (or not so lightly since I always forget about them) and then top with the sliced tomatoes. These Brandywines were so flavorful, they didn't need the typical basil and mozzerella that often accompany sliced tomatoes in our house. Sean and I devoured these. Honestly, I can't wait for Monday, when I will pick two new heirloom tomatoes and we'll do this all over again. This makes an easy and tasty appetizer while we're cooking dinner. Although, had I made up more, we probably wouldn't have needed whatever it was we were cooking.