Finally, I am back in the swing of things. Our trip now just feels like a blip in time. It's good to be home, with our puppy and comfy bed, but I do miss the leisurely life of just eating and beaching; No worrying about groceries or dog hair or work. When we got home late Saturday night of Labor Day, I noticed a HUGE bowl of tomatoes on the counter; along with lots of other fresh veggies. Like it or not, I needed to cook! It was CSA peak and I couldn’t let it go to waste. I first took care of the tomatoes. Between the last 3 CSA’s we have gotten around 20lbs of big tomatoes. I have made 3 batches of salsa, 1 large container of pasta sauce and 1 pot of fresh tomato soup! Along with the big tomatoes we have gotten cherry tomatoes each week and I have been picking mine from my garden. I usually eat the cherry tomatoes for lunch in the form of a caprese salad or roasted and topped with goat cheese and arugula. Below are a few of my favorite tomato recipes.
Salsa:
B eats salsa like it’s his job! I honestly think he has salsa and chips every day. Which is why I have turned the majority of our tomatoes into salsa. We end up putting the salsa in containers and freezing it for the winter months. You can easily make this recipe spicier or milder but don’t be scared of the habanero. With such a large pot, it really only creates a medium salsa. Also, I decided, out of ease, to skip peeling and seeding the tomatoes. (You’ll see that I did this for most recipes) They were just going to get blended anyway so who cares if they were in there or not. It turned out wonderfully!
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| Salsa! Ole! |
Tomato Soup:
I needed a new tomato recipe since one can only freeze so much salsa and pasta sauce. I was happy to fall upon this one for Cream of Tomato Soup made with fresh tomatoes. So many of the soup recipes call for jars or cans. Though the recipe does not require peeling and seeding, it does have you put the cooked mixture through a food mill. I decided to skip this step and (again) just use my immersion blender. Why throw out the onions and carrots when you puree them and make a wonderful soup. It did make the soup a little thick which I like but you could always add some more broth in the end to thin it out.
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| Cream of Tomato Soup |
Pasta Sauce:
I have put this pasta sauce on the blog before but I truly love it! So fresh and rich. Even better, I used the sauce to make Ricotta and Kale Stuffed Manicotti. The Manicotti recipe is my mom’s. Tasting it definitely brought back memories of eating at home on a fall school day. I just added a little twist to her recipe; kale! Now honestly, I am not a huge fan of kale but we got some in the CSA and I made it my mission to use it. I sautéed some onion in a pan with oil and then added some julienned kale. I sautéed the kale until it seemed tender and added it to the ricotta mixture. Below is my mom’s recipe without the kale. I am sure you could also add spinach if you wanted a little more nutrients.
Pasta Sauce
MANICOTTI WITH CHEESE FILLING
15oz container ricotta cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp minced parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmasean cheese
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Manicotti shells
1 jar spaghetti sauce
Blend together all filling ingredients. Fill uncooked manicotti shells. Pour some sauce in 9x13 inch pan to barely cover bottom. Place stuffed manicotti shells in pan. Cover with remaining sauce. Pour 1/2 cup water over sauce. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
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| Ricotta and Kale Stuffed Manicotti |
Also here are the pictures of the CSA from the last 2 weeks.
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| CSA Week #13: Basil, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, patty pan squash, peppers, romanesco and beets |
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| CSA Weeks #14: Leek, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, romanesco, and cabbage |
