what to do with herbs: tomato sauce

Well, aren't I behind on blog posts! One of the things I've been doing this past month is turning most of the tomatoes I harvested into sauce.  Last year, my method was a bit more time consuming, as I was chopping them all up and cooking them on the stove for most of the afternoon.  This year, I worked out a slightly quicker method, although it's best if you start the night before.

yum!

First, prepare the tomatoes as you wish.  I just core out the green center of the big ones and cut off any bad bits, but you can also remove the skins and seeds - but I don't bother.  Put your prepared tomatoes in a blender and blend until all chopped up - mine comes out a bit like a smoothie.  I love seeing how the different tomato colors affect the color of the blend.

Next pour your mix into a crock pot until full, or you run out of tomatoes.  You can also add some small whole tomatoes now or an hour-ish before serving to add some chunkiness.  I've been allowing this to reduce overnight and then adding more blended tomatoes in the morning - but this is just because I have so many tomatoes and a fairly small crock pot.  To help with reducing the sauce, you can leave it uncovered, propped, or use a splash screen.  However, if you're not careful, you could reduce it too much and burn the sauce - yes, you can burn things in a crock pot, I was surprised too.

Whenever you have time before dinner - although give the sauce enough time to take in some of the flavors - you'll want to add some herbs!  And maybe some vegetables too, peppers and summer squash work well.  As for herbs, I love sage, thyme. basil, and a bay leaf.  You'll probably want to add salt and sugar as well.

Basil should be added last if you're using it, as overcooking can weaken the flavor.  Taste the sauce occasionally to see what you think.  I've also been cooking up onions. garlic, and sage in olive oil and then adding that to the sauce near the end.  I picked up that idea from this recipe for Chicken-Sausage and Bean Casserole with Sage.

Eventually, it'll be done and you'll be ready to have a delicious dinner!  Depending on how many tomatoes you used, you'll probably have some left over.  What I do is freeze it in half-pint jars and then use two jars whenever I want pasta again outside of tomato season.  You might also want to try freezing it in zip bags to reduce space.

What about canning, you ask?  I have yet to try it, but if you want to and don't have a pressure caner, you'll want to work with a different recipe that's more specific.  You'll probably not be able to add squash or pepper, and you will have to add lemon juice.

Have you ever made sauce of your own? How did you do it?  I'm considering trying it on an outdoor rocket stove sometime and see what taste the smoke adds to it.

Enjoy!
Amber

This week 7/2

I've been running back and forth from one activity to another, but each time I go to the farm, it seems like I run into a new surprise that I just have to take a picture of to show you!  So how about I just share some photos in this post.

Sage bundles and parsley, fennel, chive bouquets for the pick up!  I'm thinking about starting to sell these at local stores over the weekends as they stay fresh pretty well, but it would have to be nearby as I'd have to switch the stock out at least once a week.  Any ideas for a good place?

What a mix of flowers in the last share! There are even a few I don't really know the names of.  The black eyed susans stayed fresh the longest in my bunch.

I've been keeping up with at least one row of tomatoes this year. These ones are getting tall though there's not as much fruit on them as the other row.  It's fun tying up all the different varieties, but on occasion one will be so much taller then the others it's hard to control.  The flowers are doing great as well - especially some gorgeous snapdragons.  Next step is to fertilize and mulch these rows to keep them weed free. 

Speaking of flowers, the first zinnias are appearing!

I've mentioned before that this field was used for herbs before, and here's more proof - tiny catnip seedlings growing up among the calendula!  It was a challenge to not pull them while weeding. Soon I hope to move them to a new more permanent home. 

Who are you and why are you eating my fennel! Turns out he/she is an eastern black swallowtail caterpillar. They turn into gorgeous butterflies. I'm glad I didn't hurt him, but it's a bit of a shame I didn't get to bring him home to keep as a pet. I'd love to see a butterfly hatch again.  

A baby zucchini has appeared!  It shouldn't take long before I'm drowning in summer squash again.

You may have noticed all the echinacea buds in the last pickup. Well, they've started to bloom now! 

Now for a special treat: the first tomatoes are ripe!  These are sungolds so they stay orange rather thea going red, but they are quite delicious and really early, in general but especially this year.  I'm getting the feeling that the whole farm is much further ahead than my plantings were last year.  Possibly just a combination of good weather and practice, and I really think the soil blocks helped a lot as well my transplants were a lot bigger and happier than they were in the peat pots.  

Hope everything's going awesome with you! Have you come across any surprises or firsts in your garden or your life in general? Share with us in the comments!

Enjoy,
Amber

This Week 6/7

The week started out rainy, but it's gorgeous out today!  I hope you're getting a chance to enjoy it.  Personally, I'm sitting outside typing this up and ignoring all the other things I should be doing instead.

I do have some big news for you, though!  As of the beginning of this month, I started renting a studio space in the back of the Red Hook Community Arts Network gallery.  So I spent much of this week painting it the perfect shade of blue, but I still have a long way to go until it's perfect.  Well, maybe not too long. I just need to paint the white parts, touch up the floor, put up shelving, a work table, and other storage and then actually put in the artwork.  One of the best part of all this, other than my ability to permanently display my work rather than just having it sitting in boxes around my apartment, is that I may be using it as a secondary pickup location in case the winter pickups turn out to be too cold or snowy to keep doing an outdoor tent.

This week at the farm, though, has been pretty laid back because of the rain, but it was perfect weather on Thursday to prepare more ground for squash transplants.  I've also begun my weeding process, as some plants had been completely engulfed by them (although most of them didn't seem to mind).  I find it interesting how useful weeds can be. Many having been planted intentionally at some point but I just can't have mint and lamb's quarters smothering the flowers - even if they are delicious.  So everything is growing up strong but all at their own pace.  Tiny tomatoes are even starting to form. I can't wait to taste them.

Back in art world - I worked out the details of the next pickups artwork and now it's ready to be inked and colored.  I guess my studio isn't quite ready for me to do all the work on it there, but hopefully for the next one, it will be.

                   

I hope you all have a lovely week!
Amber