Twelve Hours of Tomatoes in Two Minutes

This video is meant to be part of a much larger post about our adventures in canning tomatoes but that will just have to come later in the week as Ryan and I are just too excited to share this.





Here is a time lapse that Ryan and I made yesterday.  We are canning three bushels of tomatoes with Catherine, her little girl Penelope and Rebecca.  Hazel and the kittens pop in and out too; Mainly to eat the tomato skins.  We turned the camera on at 9:00 in the morning and took the last shot 12 hours later when the kitchen was almost clean.


We're really quite pleased with it and would love it if you took a look and let us know what little detail caught your eye.

Wordless Wednesday: BBQ Pizza for Rosa

Grow your own tomatoes and BBQ your pizza! You'll never look back.  Instructions for grilling pizza can be found here, in one of our very first posts.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Perfect New Potatoes

  
Summer means organic shallots from Thyme Again Gardens in Prince Edward County,

along with the last of the garlic scapes and some freshly dug up new potatoes

and you're well on your way to having dinner.

summertime bbq grilled sweet corn

Sweet Corn is just coming into season here in Ontario.  A little late because of our cold wet spring but it seems that the recent heat wave is helping out.  Our favourite way to prepare a cob of corn is to grill it on the bbq.  It's really very easy and keeps you from steaming up your kitchen in this heat.

You'll need some fresh ears of corn, some lemon juice, butter and salt and pepper.

Peel off the outer husks, any dry silk, peel back the remaining husk and silk a bit to let the water in and then soak the cobs in some lemony water for about 20 minutes.  

With your grill preheated to at least 375c, throw on your wet corn for 15 minutes. You can roll it around a bit but it really doesn't matter. When the rest of your meal is almost done, peel off some or all of the husk and grill it for another few minutes. This will give you the nice grill marks on your perfectly steamed-in-the-husk corn.

Serve with butter and salt and pepper to taste.

I always do one extra cob to use on a salad or in another meal like chowder. 

Recipe: Fantastic Fennel and Fiddleheads!

Here's one of our favourite recipes, a grilled summertime salad especially for new mothers, cottage trips & vegans.  It's excellent to bring over when visiting new babies as its delicious and easy to eat with one hand as well as fennel being a great galactagogue that also seems to help with a colicy or refluxy baby.

This is inspired by Molly Katzen‘s Asparagus and Fennel Salad from the Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special, which is such a great book.

It has been tweeked by Laura and Catherine who have made it an awful lot.

Prepare your Ingredients

Roasted vegetables:

1 fresh fennel bulb - cored and thinly sliced

1 pound asparagus – stemmed

1 cup stemmed & blanched fiddleheads

2 cups cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Additions:

8 ounces penne 

 Dressing:

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 large cloves minced or pressed roasted garlic

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup chopped fresh herbs (parsley, basil, chives blossom and all, garlic scapes, whatever is growing in the garden)

Heat your grill to 400. Place the fennel, blanched fiddleheads, asparagus, cherry tomatoes and garlic in the grill basket, drizzle with the

olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss to evenly coat. Grill for about 30

minutes, stirring about every 7 minutes. The vegetables should still be brightly coloured and slightly crisp. 

 

While the vegetables are roasting, whisk all of the dressing ingredients (except the garlic which is still roasting) and then cook your pasta al dente.

Drain your pasta and combine with your roasted veggies, add it to the

bowl, pour on the dressing (which now has the garlic added), and toss well.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Some great optional additions:

Pitted Kalamata olives

Sundried tomatoes

Feta cheese

project 365: week twenty one: May 21st, 2011 - May 27th, 2011

May 21st,  2011 Ladybug meet macro lens.

May 22nd, 2011 A visit to Port Dover, Ontario

May 23rd, 2011 Grilling peppers for the first bbqed pizza of the year.

May 24th, 2011 She can help in the garden this year! 

May 25th, 2011 Future Strawberry. 

May 26th, 2011 creme brule coral bells.

May 27th, 2011 Oatmeal Blueberry muffins.

Recipe: BBQ Pizza

Barbequing pizza is my favourite party trick.  It’s a little scary and things can go up in flames, but with a little practice you get delicious gourmet pizza. And hey, if it goes terribly wrong you can order in some delicious gourmet pizza and call it a day.

First things first, you need some pizza dough.

1 package or 2 ¼ teaspoons of dry active yeast

1 cup of warm water (or if you’re feeling fancy, room temperature beer)

½ teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of olive oil

3 cups of flour (we combine 1 cup of semolina or type 00 or whole wheat with 2 cups of unbleached all purpose)

Pizza dough is so easy that Ryan made it with me explaining it over the phone.

These instructions use a stand mixer but you can use your hands, a food processor or a bread-maker.

Dissolve your yeast in warm water or beer in a warmed mixing bowl.  Add salt, oil, and 1 cup of each type of flour.  Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed (2) for about 1 minute.

Continue mixing and slowly add remaining cup of unbleached flour.  Mix for another two minutes until dough clings to the hook and no longer to the bowl.

Pour a little oil, a teaspoon maybe, in a bowl and turn your dough in it until coated.  Cover the bowl and find a nice warm draft free place for it to rise. 

Wait 1 hour, the dough should have doubled in size.  If not, find a warmer spot.  If so, punch down then roll out your dough.

Now for the fun part.

So there are 2 secrets to barbequing pizza; 1.  Be very organized and prepared, 2. Have a really hot grill.

I grill or otherwise cook the toppings ahead of time.  The pizzas are on the grill for such a short amount of time that otherwise the toppings just won’t cook.  So grill up your veggies and boil your potatoes.  Then grate your cheese and roll out your pizzas.

Once you have the pizzas rolled out, you can put your sauce and cheese on.

Now it gets exciting: make sure your grill is at least 450.  Scoop up your dough by bringing the edges into the middle.  You will have to work fast.  Throw on hot grill, then uncrumple your dough, check your cheese coverage, and quickly add your toppings.  

Although I artistically arrange my “winter pizza” toppings, now is not the time!  Throw them on quick!  This is where the preparation comes in handy.

As soon as you’re done decorating, It will be time to start moving your pizza.  This should prevent burning.  Use a good metal spatula, unstick your pie and give is a good turn.  Close the grill but come and check back frequently, giving it about 5 minutes tops.  Quite often you’ll get a nice bubbling effect.

That’s it!  Take it off, slice it up, and serve.  We like salad on the side, but that’s totally unnecessary.

Topping ideas?  What are yours?  please use the comments to share your favourite combinations.  Some of our current favourites are pesto, leek and potato; pesto, asparagus, spinach (we like things colour coordinated, it must be our art degrees); red onions, peppers (this time we used Alma peppers), and tomatoes; zucchini red onions and black olives. Now I’m hungry.