Finally using some of our sweet potatoes

Last night Wifey decided to give some of our sweet potatoes a shot.  She had been wondering how things would work out because the skin looked a bit puckered.

Initially, she read somewhere that sweet potatoes needed to cure in a cool space.  More recently, we've read that it's a good idea to leave them for a few weeks in a warm, humid environment then store later in a climate similar to a root cellar.

Conversely, we've had our sweet potatoes in a tower stack in our garage where temperatures have been down as low as 10 F over the last few weeks.

The jury is still somewhat out (could they have picked up more flavor and sweetness in a warmer climate?), but they tasted pretty good and were reasonably sweet. 

We had been concerned that by harvesting them late, curing in a cool garage, then storing in a cold garage that they'd be leathery, starchy, and inedible.  They are definitely edible!


The recipe:

Skin 1-2 sweet potatoes.  Cut up the sweet potatoes into typical french fry size.

Lightly toss with some light olive oil.

Put them on a baking sheet and gently sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake at 425 degrees (no fan) until the fries start getting lightly browned.  Don't let them char or they get inedible!

Making some beefaroni for lunches

I won't post the recipe right now (otherwise occupied), but I wanted to post that we are still harvesting herbs around the property.

I got some still-great-looking basil from the garden (companion planting!) and some fresh oregano from the front permaculture bed to go in my batch of beefaroni.

I also used one of Wifey's quarts of canned tomatoes (seen below before adding the herbs).

I hope to be able to do a similar post next year that would include home-grown onions, peppers, and garlic.  Unfortunately, none of that stuff did very well this year.

Processing tomatoes

I'll need to do more posting about canning of tomatoes, but this can be a bit of a kickoff.

I wrote previously about how we harvested enough tomatoes last week to fill a seven gallon bucket.  A day or two later, Wifey and I did the first phase for her canning.

1. Clean the tomatoes under the faucet.  Gently scrub off the garden debris (mud splash, dried leaves, etc) from the tomatoes.
2. Half-fill a medium-sized pot and put on the stove under low heat.  For our electric stove, we set the temp at 3.  It's more than a simmer, but still below medium heat.
3. Put a small slice in each of a half-dozen tomatoes and gently drop into the water.  Leave them there until you see the skin start to pucker.
4. In a large bowl or large/low pot, 2/3 fill it with ice water.
5. With a large slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes and drop into the ice water bath.  This will shock the tomato and loosen its skin.
6. With a sharp knife (or your finger nails), remove the skin from the tomato.  Cut it into large chunks such that each is around the size of a large cherry tomato.  
• Be sure to smell the tomato.  If it smells at all like rot, throw it out.  It should smell strongly like tomato.
• If the skin doesn't readily come off from the tomato, if you had it in the hot water long enough, the tomato isn't ripe enough.  Throw it out.
7. Collect all of the processed tomatoes in a large container and refrigerate until you're ready to finish canning it.

Last night, Wifey finished the canning work.  The seven gallons of tomatoes made up six quarts of tomatoes.

The total is now 42 quarts for the year.

Wifey has been very busy with her canning

No pictures for this post, but Wifey asked me to bring up a quart of her canned tomatoes the other night.  She was adding some to some beef vegetable soup she was making.

When I checked out the canning rack in the basement, I found she had canned 36 quarts of tomatoes so far.  I think there may be 1-2 batches of tomatoes left on the plants before we're done for the year. 

I didn't count the jars of pickles on the shelf.  I also didn't tally up the bags of frozen green beans in the freezer.

Wifey's Spaghetti Sauce

This is a recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce that my wife found somewhere and has made a few times for us.  We enjoy it quite a lot.

 

Ingredients

1 medium chopped onion
5 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 quarts of canned tomatoes
2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 small can of tomato paste
3/4 tsp of dried (or 2 1/4 tsp of fresh) basil
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is softened. 
2. Stir in the tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. 
3. Cover, lower the heat to low, and simmer for 90 minutes. 
4. Stir in the tomato paste, basil, and pepper and simmer for another 90 minutes.  Serve.

 Notes

1. The tomatoes Wifey's canned from our garden tend to be more acidic than store-bought tomatoes.  She increased the sugar amount from the original recipe to help reduce some of the acid.
2. The sauce can be simmered for less than the 90 minutes mentioned in the final step.  The first time she made the sauce, she followed the recipe exactly.  We like the texture for the sauce and flavor profile (wow, that makes me sound like a foodie) better with a longer simmer.  The flavors blend better that way.

Spanish Rice Recipe

Years ago my mom used to make a recipe she called "Spanish Rice" on occasion.  I loved it and she often made a very large batch so we had leftovers.  Since my brother and I moved out and mom and dad aren't cooking quite as many recipes as they used to when the house was full, the recipe somehow got lost to time.

After I graduated college, I tried getting the recipe from my mom a few times and was typically met with "well.......I don't know.......I just put stuff together as I had them and mixed to taste."  I tried making it a few times and was met with many a failure.

About a year ago I called mom and really grilled her on what she thought she put in there with the idea that unlike my chili recipe, I would painstakingly measure everything I put in until I was happy with the resulting flavor profile.  Given there are many fresh ingredients in the recipe and many things that I grow, I felt it right to include it here.

Below is the recipe in two forms.  One is based on if you only want to use 1 cup of rice.  The other is based off 1 lb of ground beef.  The latter version yields more.

Ingredients - "1 cup" version:

• 3/4 lb ground beef
• 1/4 - 1/2 green pepper (diced)
• 1 small/medium onion (diced)
• 8 oz tomato paste
• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 4 large cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 T chili powder (to taste)
• 1/2 T paprika (to taste)
• 1/2 T crushed red pepper (to taste)

 

 Ingredients - "1 lb" version: 

• 1 lb ground beef
• 2/3 green pepper (diced)
• 1 1/3 medium onion (diced)
• 10 oz tomato paste
• 1 1/3 cup of uncooked rice
• 5 large cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 2/3 T chili powder (to taste)
• 2/3 T paprika (to taste)
• 2/3 T crushed red pepper (to taste)

 

Preparation:

Cook the rice.  In a large pan or wok, brown the ground beef.  Add the crushed garlic, onions, and green pepper and cook down.  Add seasonings.  Finally, add the cooked rice to the beef mixture and stir.

Wifey's Drunken Noodle Recipe

Picture to come the next time she makes it for me.  :-)

Ingredients:

• 1 14-ounce packages 1/4-inch-wide flat rice noodles 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 12 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped Cayenne peppers
• 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/4 cup San Marzano tomatoes cut into 6ths
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/4 cup fresh regular basil leaves

Preparation:

Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, stirring frequently. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cayenne peppers; sautée 30 seconds. Add chicken and next 4 ingredients and sautée until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add noodles; stir very well to coat noodles in sauce.  Add tomatoes, and green peppers; toss to coat. Transfer to large platter, sprinkle with basil leaves, and serve.

Notes:

1. We often dehydrate our hot peppers to make for easier storage.  To achieve the measurement of cayenne peppers listed above, pull out the needed peppers and placed in a snack bag sealed to keep all air out.  Use the flat side of a meat mallet and pulverize.  Pour out into measuring cup.

2. This recipe is quite simple and forgiving.  Measurements can vary to taste, especially the qty and type of hot peppers for those who don't like things quite as hot.  Can be made relatively mild with more peppers added to individual servings.

3. Why's it called "Drunken Noodle" you may ask?  Because you may become inebriated from all the alcohol you drink trying to consume the fire in your mouth!

Recipe modified from this Epicurious original.