Homemade Tomato Sauce

There are basically three ways of making tomato sauce:

Method I: Skin, peel and dice the tomatoes by hand
Method II: Blanch the tomatoes in hot water to remove their skin then cut them up
Method III: Use a food mill or food grinder to crush the tomatoes

You can use any type of tomato you want to. Roma tomatoes are traditional and quite tasty! They are also the easiest to peel, as they have a smooth bulb like shape. Unfortunately, they can also be rather expensive! They are cheapest in the summer, so buy a bunch at your local farmers market in the summer and make some sauce!

I have made sauce all three ways now. If you have a food mill or food grinder, Method III really is the easiest way. You can make a lot of sauce this way!  But such devices are expensive and take up room!

Method I is the traditional (and in my opinion best)  method, but it is very time consuming. Also, if you don't have Roma tomatoes, then it gets difficult to peel them (some tomatoes have bumps, crevices and odd shapes that don't lend themselves to easy peeling!)

This recipe calls for Method II-blanching the tomatoes to remove their skin and then cooking them. I find it a pretty even compromise between taste, time and convenience. This is a relatively painless method, but you don't get much sauce--usually enough for 2 people for 2 days. But it serves its purpose!

This time, I shortened the recipe by making less. It worked out wonderful! The key is not to seed the tomatoes, as that takes way too long and you loose most of the soft tomato flesh.

The tomatoes and herbs were fresh from my garden which made it very delicious!


Ingredients
3 large tomatoes, fresh (you can use more if you have any)
2 large tomatoes, fresh (you can use more if you have any)
2 bell peppers, preferably red, cut in half, deseeded and destemed
Fresh tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic, whole, skin on
1/2 red or yellow onion, diced
Pancetta, or ground beef, lamb or bacon (optional)
Rich Dark Chicken Stock or vegetable stock
Red Wine
1 or 2 bay leaves
A big bunch of fresh herbs (oregano, lemon thyme, basil, parsley and rosemary)





Directions
Boil a big pot of water.

Take 3 tomatoes and wash. Make four small, shallow incisions with a sharp paring knife from the top of each tomato to the bottom, cutting thinly through the skin.

Place the tomatoes in the boiling water. Let the tomatoes cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. If you dont have a slotted spoon you can jab a fork into the tomato on the stem side and submerge in the boiling water.

Immediately run under cold water and the skins should peel off fairly effortlessly. Set aside.


Heat up some olive oil in a cast iron pot. Add the pancetta, bacon or other meat. Cook for a few minutes, until their fat is released and the meat is cooked.










Add the onions and stir fry for a few minutes, until the onion loose their raw taste.

Chop up the 3 skinned tomatoes and add them to your pot. Be sure to add all the juices. Stir fry for a few minutes.

Add a little chicken stock and red wine and turn off the heat.






Take a cookie sheet and grease with olive oil. Add the red bell peppers, 2 tomatoes, and 3 garlic cloves.  Pour some more olive oil on all the vegetables. Set the rack in your oven just below the broiler. Set the broiler in your oven to high and broil for several minutes, until the tomatoes and bell peppers are charred. Turn and repeat. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes.

Once the bell peppers have cooled slightly, add them to a food processor. Add the tomatoes. Remove the garlic from their skin (they should just pop off) and add to the food processor. Blend all the ingredients until smooth. You should see little black flakes in the sauce from the charring of the bell peppers.

Add the blended tomatoes and bell peppers back to your pot. Reduce the heat to low and simmer. Add your herbs and continue to cook.

At this point, you can adjust with adding more stock or wine. I also add a little bit of tomato paste to thicken up the sauce.







If you have any fresh herbs, add them to the sauce. I had fresh basil, rosemary, lemon thyme, regular thyme, sage and parsley growing in my back yard garden, so I added all of them to the mix!

Mango Ribs

I found a nice rack of ribs on sale at Whole Foods, and I couldn't pass them up! This is a delicious recipe for the barbeque or the ribs can be cooked in the oven as well.

Ingredients
1 half rack of pork ribs
1 bottle of beer


Dry Seasoning
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon Harissa
1/4 teaspoon Ras-el Hanout
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/ tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper


Glaze
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup dark rum
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime
Fresh mango puree, or frozen puree thawed
1 Tablespoon Guava Jelly (barbeque sauce or Sweet n Sour sauce can substitute)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt



Mix the dry ingredients onto the ribs (both sides). Let the ribs rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the rack at the bottom of a roasting pan. Pour beer in pan and place ribs on the rack. Add 1/2 cup of water to make sure the liquid doesn't evaporate.

Cover with foil. Back for 1.5 hours.

In the meantime, make your glaze. Add the vinegar, dark rum and soy sauce together and bring to a simmer. Squeeze the lime juice on. Add the cayenne pepper and salt. Taste. The glaze should be pretty spicy.

Now for the sweet element. Slowly add the mango puree. The puree should be free from mango strands. If it is not, strain the puree as your are pouring it into the sauce.

Slowly add the jelly, mixing constantly until the jelly dissolves and mixes with the other ingredients. 

Add more of any of the ingredients to meet your taste preferences. Slowly simmer for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring constantly so that the sauce doesn't stick to the pan and burn. It should be thick but pourable.

Separate the sauce into 3 equal portions to avoid cross contamination: one you will use for a marinade, one for when you are barbecuing, the last you can use after the meat is cooked for additional flavor.

When the ribs are done, remove them from the oven and let them sit for 10 minutes, till they cool down. When you can handle them, cut them in half, so that they can fit into a standard ziplock plastic bag.

Place the ribs in the freezer bag and pour 1/3 of the glaze over them. Marinate for 1 hour.

Finish them off by baking them in the oven for another 20 minutes at 450 or grill them up! Use 1/3 of the glaze when you are grilling them.

When you are eating them, use the last remaining 1/3 of the glaze.

Loco Moco

I have had a rocky relationship with Loco Moco. First, what is it? First, Loco Moco is Hawaiian. Very Hawaiian. I first heard about it when I was going to school in Hawaii. To be honest, I was pretty grossed out by it! Your basic loco moco is a pan fried hamburger patty with a sunny side egg on a plate of rice with gravy. And a side of mac salad. Add sausage, bacon, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

There was many, many places in Hawaii that serve loco moco. I found them all pretty nasty and avoided locomoco for years as a result! Its a shame really. Or perhaps an acquired taste...

I just came back from Hawaii, and we went to the Big Island. It was a fantastic trip and the loco moco on the Big Island, especially Hilo, is delicious! This is perhaps apropos, as the loco moco started in on Hilo.

The first place we had it was a restaurant called Cafe 100. They have a huge variety of loco moco, and they are all delicious! Later on, we stopped at Verna's Cafe. This was a hole in the wall restaurant next to a gas station, but oh, man! Their locomoco was the bomb! I was hooked after that!

When we got back to Oakland, we decided to try our own Locomoco. I have to say, we did pretty good! I was most impressed! This was a joint effort between me and my new wife Robyn! Way to go!

Needless to say, good fresh ingredients really make this meal! We got free range grass fed beef  and free range eggs from Marin Sun Farms. Marin Sun Farms is located up in Marin County. It's beautiful country up there, and they really take the time and effort to raise healthy grass fed animals. Everything Marin Sun Farms makes its tasty-and that taste really make a difference in the final product!

Ingredients
Ground beef
2 or 3 Eggs
Homemade bread crumbs
Seasoning for the beef (I used Harissa and cumin)
Vegetable oil
White flour
Cooked white rice


Procedure
Crack one egg and beat. Add the meat and mix with your hands or a fork. Add some breadcrumbs to the ground meat. If the meat doesn't pack well, add one more beaten egg and some more breadcrumbs.
Add any seasoning you want to the beef. I used Harissa and cumin. Do not add salt, however, as that will dry out the meat and all the flavor will run away. Shape meat into patties.

Add some vegetable oil to a fry pan and heat. Once the oil is hot enough, cook the hamburger in the oil. Flip when one side is done. Remove and set aside once the second side is cooked.











When you have finished cooking the hamburger, there should be some excess vegetable oil still in your pan, mixed with some of the fat from the hamburger. Add some flour to that oil, and with a whisk, stir is vigorously for several minutes on low heat until the flour incorporates and becomes a gravy.







In a separate pan, add some oil and cook the egg, sunny side up. Continue to cook the egg until the white part is cooked and crispy, but the yolk is runny.












Put a scoop of rice on your plate and place the hamburger patty on top of the rice. Gently transfer the egg on top of the hamburger patty. The yolk should be cooked but runny so it breaks on top of the patty.
Pour some of the gravy on top of all of that and eat!

Root Beer Pulled Pork

Okay. I saw this pin on Pinterest for Root Beer Pulled Pork and I had to try it. It comes from another blog called Bubble Crumb.

This is a really simple recipe--put a chunk of pork in a crockpot, add a bottle of root beer and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred the pork with a fork. Add desired amount of BBQ sauce and eat!

True to form, I screwed up the recipe! :).

I mixed the root beer and bbq sauce and added that directly to the pork and then cooked it. It still turned out delicious, but I wonder what it would have tasted like just cooked in the root beer....I guess I will have to try again.

I toasted the buns with butter on the ol' iron skillet! The next day, I had some Chinese steamed buns from Chinatown so I steamed the buns and had it with that....delicious!

White Bean and Pancetta Soup

I came across some Pancetta a few months ago at Marin Sun Farms. It was on sale, so I purchased a good pound or so of it. I keep it in the freezer is a zip lock bag and use it from time to time for various recipes. This is one of those recipes. Pork and beans--its tradition for a reason-it tastes delicious! The pancetta offers a lightly smokey profile to this dish.

Ingredients
Pancetta-between 1/2 LBS to 1 LBS, diced
1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
Homemade chicken stock (1.5-2 cups)
White beans, Cannellini or Great Northern about 2.5 cups
2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence
Fresh lemon thyme and rosemary (although fresh parsley would be nice)




Directions 
Add oil to a saucepan and cook the pancetta. I had never cooked with Pancetta before, and I thought it would smell and taste like bacon, but it has a  smokey flavor. At first, I thought the meat was off, but that is just the way it smells. 


When the pancetta releases some of its fat, throw the onions in and continue to cook until the onions are nicely browned, and the pancetta is cooked.

Add the chicken stock. How much you ask? I think it depends on how liquidy you want your soup and how many beans you have. I tend to like mine somewhat liquidy, so I add about a cup and a half.  


Add the white beans, Herbes de Provence, fresh lemon thyme and the rosemary. Reserve the fresh parsley, if using, as a garnish. 


Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook and stir until the beans are cooked. Add more stock as necessary. 
















Once the stock has reduced and the beans are cooked, you are done! Serve with freshly toasted rustic bread! Delicious! 

Fish Tacos

Fish Tacos scream summer! Nothing beats a plate of fresh fish tacos, with freshly squeezed lime and a cold beer.


Ingredients
4 lbs Halibut steaks, snapper fillets or any fish you can get hold of (you can always reduce the amount of fish)
Salt and pepper
Taco Seasoning
1 small green cabbage, shredded
juice of 2 limes
1or 2 limes, thinly sliced
Cilantro sprigs
Lime wedges
3 dozen corn tortillas
Fresh salsa

Guacamole







Clean the fish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the taco seasoning generously on the fish. Rub the salt, pepper and seasoning into the fish. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. Bring the fish to room temperature before cooking.

Shred the cabbage with a mandoline or a sharp knife and put it in a bowl. Lightly salt the cabbage and toss well. Add the lime juice and toss again. Let sit for 10 minutes or so.

Fire up your grill. When the coals are hot, lay down the lime slices and place the fish on top of the lime slices. This way, your fish won't stick to the hot grills. Grill for 3 minutes on each side, until just opaque.










If you don't have access to a grill, the broiler in your oven works just fine. Place the oven rack as close to the broiler as you can. I usually use the rack that comes in my toaster oven. Just place the rack on a cookie sheet. Cook the fish for a few minutes, until opaque and then flip.









Heat the tortillas. If you have the grill going, spread out the tortillas and heat them well on both sides, they will puff up a bit. If you are using an oven broiler, heat the tortillas in a good cast iron skillet. Wrap the tortillas in a clean dishcloth to keep the steam in and keep them toasty warm. 

Plum Pie

 There is a season for plums, and that season is summer! 

These plums were screaming out to me "pick me pick me" so I couldn't resist. 

Adding some cardamon sugar to the plum mix really helps to bring out their flavor. 

This pie is delicious with ice cream! 

Ingredients

recipe for 1 tart or pie dough

plums, around 10, cut and pitted

Cardamon sugar

Melted Butter

Freshly whipped cream from heavy whipping cream, vanilla ice cream or cardamon creme

Pyrex Glass Pie Plate, 9 1/2" x 1 3/4"

"Roul'Pat Small Countertop Roll Mat"

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Cut the plums into dice and place into a bowl. 

Sprinkle cardamon sugar on the plums and mix the sugar into the plums. 

Roll out your pie crust on a pastry roll mat and place into a greased pie pan. 

With a pastry brush, gently brush melted butter on top of the entire crusts, including the sides. 

Sprinkle some cardamon sugar on the bottom of the pan in the crust. You don't want to sprinkle the sugar on the sides of the pie, because they will be exposed and both the sugar and the cardamon will burn!  By pouring the plums on top of the sugar, the sugar will mix in with the plum and juices. 

Pour the plums on top of the pie crust. The plums will be really liquidy from the sugar you added previously. Don't worry about it, it will burn off in the oven. 

Fold over any pie crust. You can also make a lattice crust if you want to. 

Apply another brushing of melted butter on the pie crust. 

Lower the temperature of the oven to 375 F.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the crust is cooked and turns a delicious golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and let the pie cool on a cooling rack. 

As the pie is cooling, apply another layer of melted butter to the crust and sprinkle the cardamon sugar 

on the crust. 

Serve with freshly whipped cream or ice cream!