Cooking the garden gift.
It took the last day of summer before friends could gather at our house this year for our annual “Ladies Harvest Luncheon”. Fall was arriving the next day and I should not have been surprised at the huge box of vegetables that one of my friends brought as an offering from her husband Bill’s garden, or to be more precise – personal ‘truck farm’.
Most cooks love challenges, but this was an unexpected windfall to me at a time when my own vegetable garden had by necessity seen a significant reduction in size. Fear not, all this bounty was not going to go to waste. First came a hearty vegetable soup of carrots, onions, potatoes, garbanzos, zucchini and a few tomatoes. While onions and garlic and shallots would keep, this tomato abundance required bringing out the incredible Marinara sauce recipe I obtained from my old neighbor and friend Linda on DutchNeck years ago.
Linda’s Marinara sauce
Her original recipe requires peeling the tomatoes (by dipping in boiling water) before use. This step becomes tedious dealing with small Roma tomatoes and can be omitted for the slightly textured sauce by blending the cooled sauce in a blender part way through the cooking time.
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a heavy 4-quart pot and sauté 2 large, chopped onions, 1 seeded and chopped green pepper for 5 minutes, stir in 4 sliced garlic cloves and continue to sauté for an additional minute.
Add the equivalent of 15 large tomatoes coarsely chopped, half of the equivalent amount made up by Roma tomatoes. Tomatoes should be very ripe for best results. Add 2 cups red wine, burgundy preferred, two 12 oz. cans tomato paste, ¼ cup light brown sugar, 2 tsp. sea salt, 2 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. rosemary, ½ tsp. black pepper, 2 tblsp. chopped fresh basil and ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley. Stir, bring to boil and simmer on low heat for 3 hours. Allow to cool somewhat, blend in a blender to a slightly coarse consistency and return to cook for another 30 minutes to an hour. Fill clean quart or pint canning jars and seal immediately. The jars will pop as they cool sealing with a vacuum. Makes 3-4 quarts depending on heat of cooking and will keep in your pantry for many months.
Risotto is one of those dishes we love but often shy away as tedious because of the time required for hands-on cooking. The yellow cherry tomatoes in the box overcame my reluctance and resulted in a most satisfying fragrant risotto with porcini.
Cherry tomato and porcini risotto
Soak 2 oz. dried porcini in hot water for 30 minutes, drain, rinse and chop in bite size pieces. Bring 5 cups of low salt chicken broth to simmer in a medium pot and keep on the stove for use.
Heat 2 tblsp. olive oil in a 3 qt. pot over medium heat, add 1 large shallot finely chopped and cook stirring until golden about 7 minutes, add 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves for one minute then 1 tblsp. tomato paste. Cook stirring about 2 minutes until slightly darkened. Add 2 cups cherry tomatoes (yellow or red) and ½ tsp. nutmeg. Cook stirring until some of the tomatoes begin to burst, about 2 minutes.
Stir in 1 cup arborio rice and stir to coat on medium low temperature for about 3 minutes, stir in the porcini then ¾ cup dry white wine, cook for about 2 minutes and then ladle in the chicken broth about ½ cup at the time while stirring until the liquid is absorbed for 20 to 25 minutes. This will use about 4 and ½ cups to 5 cups of the chicken broth.
Stir in 2 tblsp. unsalted butter and 1 cup Parmesan cheese. Heat until the cheese is melted and serve hot in shallow bowls sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese. Enjoy, it is well worth the effort.
Fortunately, this did not empty the box, so we may see additional delicious creations from this incredible garden gift.
(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)
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