For three years, I provided content to my Wordpress blog KitchenFoodGarden, which focused on sustainable gardening, nutritional diets, and recipes. I especially loved writing about recipes that I perfected in the kitchen. Here are some of my favorites.
KitchenFoodGarden
Recipe of the Week: Anaheim Salsa (With Tips for Canning)
By Mark Hubbard
Homemade salsa is always better than the store-bought kind. And it is easy to make in the summertime with ingredients readily available in the garden. But what about the rest of the year?
Well, with this easy canning recipe you can preserve your fresh homemade salsa well into the winter. This recipe uses Anaheim chili peppers for some medium heat. You can add jalapenos to adjust the heat upwards if you desire.
Anaheim Salsa
Yield: Makes 6 pints
Equipment: Canning utensils (see note below) and 6 pint-size canning jars.
Ingredients
10 cups peeled, cored and chopped Roma tomatoes; about 8 lbs of whole tomatoes before processing (see note)
4-5 cups seeded, chopped green, red and yellow Anaheim chili peppers (adjust amount for heat, to taste)
1/4 cup seeded, chopped jalapeno peppers (optional, or adjust for heat to taste)
5 cups chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1.5 cups cider vinegar
2 or 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Preparation
Clean canning jars in dishwasher and sanitize lids and bands by boiling in water for 5 minutes.
In a large stainless steel sauce pan, combine tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, garlic, vinegar, cilantro and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and gently boil for 20 minutes.
Ladle hot salsa into warm jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space, if necessary, by adding hot salsa. Wipe rim with paper towel. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
Place jars in canner or large stock pot, ensuring they are completely covered with an inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Remove lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars. Cool and store.
Note: You will need canning jars, a large stock pot and a few canning utensils for this recipe. Canning starter kits are all the rage these days and you can buy them at most kitchen and hardware stores. See this link for canning basics, including a short video.
Note. To easily peel and core tomatoes: First hull the tomatoes, then place them in boiling water for 20 seconds. Immediately remove them to a bowl of ice water to cool for 2 minutes. Drain, peel off the skins, cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the core. Drain again and chop to desired size.
KitchenFoodGarden
Recipe of the Week: Fresh Basil/Walnut Pesto (With Tips for Freezing)
By Mark Hubbard
It’s September, so it’s time to harvest and use or preserve your garden basil. This recipe manages to do both, making fresh pesto for a fettuccini dish and freezing the rest for later in the fall.
The fresh pesto made in this recipe can be frozen in ice cube trays for later use – see the freezing tips below. This recipe also uses walnuts instead of pine nuts for two reasons: 1) pine nuts are crazy expensive these days, and 2) I have a walnut tree in my front yard and I like to use the nuts that the squirrels don’t get.
Fresh Basil/Walnut Pesto
Yield: Makes 3 cups.
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Combine the basil and chopped walnuts in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add the garlic and pulse a few times more until ingredients are combined.
Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse until blended. Add a pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
Use one cup of the pesto to serve immediately with 1 pound of cooked fettuccine tossed with 2 tablespoons butter. Reserve the other 2 cups of pesto for freezing.
Note: Freezing pesto. To freeze the pesto, line an ice cube tray with plastic wrap and fill each cube pocket with the pesto. Freeze and then remove the pesto cubes from the ice tray and store in a freezer bag. When you want to use, pull out and thaw the desired amount of pesto cubes.