Roasted Red Pepper Sauce with Pasta and Mozzarella

Better than tomatoes.

In a fit of inspiration (insanity?), I bought five pounds of peppers at Eastern Market the other day. The intention was to pickle them, but then a recipe for stuffed peppers struck my fancy. After I made those, I was one pepper short of the pickled peppers recipe. Instead I roasted them and left them in a jar of olive oil in my fridge for a few days. I thought I might try making a red pepper pesto to use up the leftover pine nuts, but then I found this recipe, which seemed perfect. Pine nuts and red pepper might be weird anyway.

The recipe calls for you to use store bought roasted red peppers. You can obviously do that, but to roast your own, heat the oven to 450 degrees and place two red peppers on a baking sheet. Cook 10 minutes, flip over and cook 10 more on the other side. You want the skins to be blackened and shrivelling. Remove from the oven and use tongs to place in a bowl. Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap. The skins should slide off easily. Tug the stem and the top and seeds should also remove easily. Use immediately or pack in oil in a jar and refrigerate.

Eat Rating: Awesome.
Difficulty: Easy. Requires food processor or blender.

Adapted from Food and Wine February 2008, via Kate in the Kitchen

1 lb dried gemelli (LN: I'm not even sure which one that is. I used penne)
2 roasted red peppers
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic
2 sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil (LN: Omitted. I was out.)
9 fresh basil leaves, divided
6 oz. fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot of water to boil and cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

While pasta is cooking, place the peppers, olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, tomatoes and 3 basil leaves in a food processor. Pulse to combine.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and toss with the sauce and mozzarella. Tear up the rest of the basil and add to the pasta. Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

Programming Note

If you read I Like to Eat via an RSS feed, you may have noticed some changes today. I wanted to make my feed a little sexier by adding the photos from my posts, so I switched to FeedBurner. Sadly I couldn't actually figure out how to do that (yet). But it did let me add my "Recipes to Try" delicious feed. So in addition to seeing my realtime list of awesome looking recipes on the sidebar of the blog, you will now get a daily summary of anything I've added to Delicious in your RSS. Let me know if you hate it and I'll consider removing it. Right now, I sort of like it.

It's a Recession! Canned Peaches

Peaches come in a can.

Eat Rating: Delicious. Very light syrup.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. You will need one very large pot, big enough for the jars to stand straight up submerged in water.

Makes about 6 quarts.

Adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Canning

1 peck (about 11 to 12 lbs) freestone peaches, any variety
1 1/4 cups sugar
5 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Take the large pot and arrange some extra rings along the bottom. Fill the big pot with water about halfway full and begin to heat. Get out two large bowls. Fill one bowl with ice water and the other with lemon juice.

Place the jars on a cookie sheet and place in a cold oven. Heat the oven up to 250 degrees, then turn off, leaving the jars inside.

Once the water is boiling, dunk the peaches one by one in the hot water for about 30 seconds, then place in the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

Once all the peaches have been dunked, pour some of the hot water into a small saucepan and place the tops and rings into it to sterilize. Set on a back burner on low. Keep the rest of the water in the large pot hot. You will need it later.

In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the sugar and 5 1/2 cups of water, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer.

Once the peaches have been dunked, the skins should slide off easily. (Keep the skins to make peach honey or discard.) Place the de-skinned peaches in the bowl with lemon juice, making sure to get some juice on all sides to prevent browning.

Remove a jar from the oven using a clean kitchen towel.

With a paring knife, cut the peaches in half all the way around, then twist off the pit. Remove the pit and discard. Make sure to dunk the inside of the peach in the lemon juice to prevent browning. Place the peach halves (or quarters if you'd prefer) in the hot jar. Fill it up until there is only about a 1/2 inch below the top. Slowly pour some of the water-sugar liquid into the jar until it completely covers the peaches and reaches about 1/4 inch below the lip. Wipe down the lip of the jar. Remove a lid and ring from the water and place the lid on the lip of the jar. Twist the ring until finger-tight. Using the jar lifter, carefully place the filled jar into the largest pot of water on top of the rings, being careful that it does not touch the sides of the pot.

Fill the remaining jars. You might run out of syrup before you run out of peaches. If that happens, just make another batch -- 5 1/2 cups water to 1 1/4 cup sugar.

Once all the jars are filled and in the large pot, add more water so that the jars are completely submerged. Heat until the water reaches a boil, then cook the canned peaches for 30 minutes.

Remove from the pot and allow the jars to come to room temperature. As they cool, you should hear the popping noise as the jars pressurize. Once the jars are room temperature, check that they have all sealed properly. If any have not, reboil for another 30 minutes.

The canned peaches will keep unopened for up to a year. Once opened, eat within a week. The peaches can also be drained and used in any recipes substituted for fresh peaches.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Bread and butter pickles have always been my grandma's favorite. Unlike tart dill pickles, these are sweeter, probably from the 2 cups of sugar added to the vinegar during cooking, and a little spicier than your regular pickle. They get their signature yellow-green color from tumeric added to the vinegar during cooking. Bread and butter pickles supposedly got their name during the Great Depression when people would eat them on sandwiches in the place of meat between two pieces of buttered bread. That sounds somewhat gross, but I wouldn't be surprised if my Gram ate them that way. She has, after all, been known to drink pickle juice on occasion.

B&B's are best served as a side dish or a condiment to hamburgers.

This recipe makes 1 quart.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I am more partial to these than straight dill.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium.

Adapted from Brock Kuhlman, Hill's Kitchen

3 pickling cucumbers, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices
1 white onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup pickling salt
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3/4 tsp celery seeds (LN: Omitted. Didn't have any.)
1 inch cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
6 whole all spice
6 whole cloves
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp alum (LN: Omitted)

Place the cucumbers and onions in a colander sitting over a bowl and sprinkle vegetables with the salt. Let sit in the fridge overnight.

Place the jar(s) on a cookie sheet and place in the cold oven. Heat to 250 degrees. Once the oven reaches temperature, turn off the heat and leave the jars sitting in the oven.

Wash the cucumbers and onions to remove residual salt. Set aside.

Fill a small pot with water, bring to a boil then toss in the jar lids and rings to sterilize.

In a medium-sized pot, combine the vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add the cucumbers and onions to the vinegar, then boil an additional 30 seconds.

Remove a jar from the oven with a clean kitchen towel. Using a slotted spoon, fill the jar with cucumbers and onions, leaving at least 1/4 inch of space from the top of jar. Once filled with cucumbers, pour vinegar into the jar, making sure the cucumbers are completely submerged and there is at least 1/8 inch between the top of the jar and the vinegar.

Remove lid and ring from water. Wipe the lip of the jar to make sure it is clean and nothing will mess up your seal. Place ring on lip of jar, then tighten the ring until it is finger tight.

Let the capped jar sit upright for two minutes, then flip over so the jar is sitting on its top and leave upside down for 10 minutes. Flip back over and let come to room temperature. The lid should form an airtight seal. You will know if when you push down on the lid it does not give.

Pickles are best if steeped 4 weeks but can be eaten after 10 days. Once the jar has been opened, eat within a few weeks.

Pickled Carrots

I'm not an enormous carrot fan. Probably because, like celery, I associate carrots with dieting. But when I saw all the spring carrots at the farmer's market, I felt the need to buy them.

Peel the carrots. You can either cut them into uniform sticks like David Leibovitz did or just cut off the ends and leave them in the vague carrot shape like I did.

I did diverge from him in one respect: he suggests cold packing, ie allowing the pickling liquid and carrots to come to room temperature and then packing the jars. Since I'm somewhat paranoid about contamination, I just hot-packed mine. If you want to cold pack, follow his directions.

Makes 1 quart.

Eat Rating: Good. For carrots.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium.

From David Leibovitz

1 lb carrots, peeled
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (LN: He says you can also use dill or anise seeds)
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2 bay leaves

Place the jar in the cold oven on a cookie sheet, then turn up the heat to 250 degrees. Once the oven reaches temperature turn it off.

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil, then drop in the carrots for 2 minutes. Drain carrots and douse in cold water to stop the cooking.

Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Drop in the lid and ring for the jar.

In the same medium-sized pot, add the water, vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer two minutes. Add the carrots. Cook one minute more.

Remove the jar from the oven using a clean kitchen towel. Using tongs, place the carrots in the jar. Then pour the pickling liquid over the carrots, making sure the carrots are completely submerged liquid reaches at least 1/4 inch below the top of the jar. Remove the lid and ring from the hot water and place on top of jar. Screw the ring on finger tight. Let the jar sit upright for two minutes, then flip over so it is resting on the lid. Leave upside down for 10 minutes, then flip over.

As the jar comes to room temperature, it should pressurize and seal.

The pickled carrots will keep for up to a year. Once the jar is opened, eat within 4 weeks.

It's a Recession!: Homemade Dill Pickles

"Canning is the new knitting," according Brock Kuhlman, the chef instructor at Hill's Kitchen in Eastern Market.

A few weeks ago, I took his class on pickling. It was sort of a strange class choice. For one thing, I don't love pickles. I mean I like some pickles, relish in particular. But when they ask me at the deli whether I need a dilled spear with my sandwich, I usually say no. However, I thought it would be cool and I didn't already know how to do it. In the past, I've found a lot of cooking classes to be very elementary (this one CCO and I took in the winter, the instructor spent about five minutes talking about the difference between an onion and a shallot.) This one, though, was pretty cool. He covered the science behind pickling, several different methods and about four recipes. At one point, I even got to be his Vanna White-like assistant to help with the Chow Chow.

Canning is not as hard as you think. I've done it for years with jam, but he still showed me a couple new tricks. Most important rule: when cutting the cucumbers, make sure the spears will fit in the jar. You're pretty much screwed if you're filling jars and then realize the spears are too long. I've also started always using his oven-sterilization method. So much easier than boiling the jars.

Buy very firm cucumbers.

Pickling salt is plain salt without the extra compounds they add in to prevent clumping. If you can't find pickling salt at the store, look for sea salt.

This recipe made me about 4 quarts (actually 3 1/2, but it could have been four). If you want fewer, you can cut the recipe in half, but it's very important you not change the ratio of water to vinegar. Otherwise you might mess up the chemical balance.

Eat Rating: These are pretty sour and very dill-y.
Difficulty: Medium. You need two pots. It's a good idea to have a funnel and a jar lifter on hand.

Adapted from Brock Kuhlman

4 pickling cucumbers
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
4 cups water
2/3 cup pickling salt
16 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 of a bunch of fresh dill, washed thoroughly
2 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
4 bay leaves, crumbled or torn into smaller pieces
2 tsp alum* (LN: Omitted)

Prepare the cucumbers. Wash them to remove any dirt, then cut off the ends. Cut into quarters, lengthwise to make spears. Place the spears in a bowl of ice water and soak for two hours.

About half an hour before your cucumbers will be ready, place 4 clean, quart-sized jars on a cookie sheet and set in the cold oven. Turn the temperature up to 250 degrees. When the oven reaches 250 degrees, turn it off and leave the jars inside.

Heat a small pot of water to boil, then reduce heat. Drop the rings and tops in. You will need these later.

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and spices to a boil. Drain the cucumbers and add to the vinegar mixture. Return to a boil and cook for about 1 minute.

With a clean kitchen towel, remove the jars from the oven. Using tongs, place several cucumber spears in the jar, along with a few garlic cloves and some dill, if possible. Once the jars are packed with cucumbers, set the funnel on top of a jar and fill with vinegar mixture, making sure that the cucumbers are completely covered by the liquid.

Remove a lid from the hot water and place on top of the jar. Take a ring and twist it onto the jar finger tight. Do this for all the jars, then let them sit for two minutes. Flip the jar over so they are standing on the lid. Let sit upside down for 10 minutes, then flip right-side up. This will pressurize the jar, creating an airtight seal with the lid. You can tell if it has sealed correctly because you won't be able to push down on the lid.

Allow the pickles to sit in a cool place for six to eight weeks before opening. Once opened, enjoy the pickles within a few weeks.

* Alum is a chemical used in canning to help maintain the crispness of the produce. If you buy firm produce and use the plumping method outlined at the beginning of the recipe, you don't really need alum.

Tomato Bread Soup

Crunchy and soft, all in one.

I have been sick with a cold for several days now, drinking pitcher upon pitcher of water and pots of tea. A couple days ago I picked up a few heirloom tomatoes at the farmer's market, intending to make caprese salad this weekend. Instead, I opted for Tomato Basil soup. But since I can never do anything without a little bit of flair, I opted for this tomato bread soup I had seen on Mark Bitman's blog awhile back. It's similar to French onion soup, with chunks of bread incorporated into the soup to give it some bulk. I did make one change: I held back a couple chunks of the bread and used them to top the soup like croutons, so there were several textures from the sogginess of the bread that sits for 10 minutes plus some crunch from the crouton tops.

To peel the tomatoes easily, heat a pot of water to boiling, then drop each tomato in the water for about 10 seconds. The skins should easily peel off.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I'm sensing a new staple.
Difficulty: Very easy. One pot even.

Adapted from Tomato Soup With Bread (Pappa al Pomodoro), Bitten Blog, NYT

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups of tomato, peeled, cored, seeded and chopped (LN: This was about 3 large-ish heirlooms)
2 cups of broth, water or tomato juice
1/2 loaf of crusty bread, preferably day-old, cut or torn into bite-size chunks (LN: I used a baguette bought that morning, cubes toasted in the oven for a few minutes)
1/2 cup basil leaves torn into bits
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the oil then add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally, until the onions have softened. Add the tomatoes, then cook for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down. Add the broth/water/juice, return to boil. Add the hunks of bread, reserving a handful, and the basil leaves. Stir to combine, then remove from heat. Let the soup sit for 10 minutes to let it soak into the bread chunks.

Serve immediately, topped with some parmesan cheese and the reserved croutons.