Enticing Estratto

What to do when your towering tomato harvest has reached the stratosphere? Make estratto, that's what.  Plainly described, estratto is just tomato paste. A more florid handle is that it's ambrosia: a mere teaspoon is enough fuel to leave this tedious earth behind and enter a realm of gustatory pleasure that Dionysus would envy. Get out your biggest pot, chop up those toms, simmer for ten minutes, sieve them, and then slowly roast several hours for a paste that the tubes or cans found in supermarkets will never contain. Garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, and coarse salt added to the pot rounds out the flavour even further.

The scorched bits taste like delicious sticky toffee

Since the sixteen kilos/thirty-five pounds of tomatoes from our potager already processed into tomato-sausage sauce, stewed tomatoes, and tomato concentrate have filled up the freezer with no space to spare, preserving without freezing was necessary to handle the present batch of four kilos/nine pounds.

After several weeks of scorching heat, some tomatoes started to dry on the vine. They went into a makeshift sun-drying apparatus. A rectangular plant nursery plastic holder of small pots was scrubbed and placed on two bricks to allow air to flow under it. The toms were washed and quartered then placed uncut side down. Horticultural fleece was attached via clothespin to keep the flies out.

Each day they were turned.

Within a week they were completely dried but still supple.
Four humongous tomatoes shrunk down enough to fit inside a small spice jar.

In Italy, it is traditional to spread tomato puree on trays in the sun. Though my sun-dried tomato experiment worked out well enough, I nevertheless regarded the oven as a better way of making estratto. Wash and quarter four kilos/nine pounds of tomatoes. Place in a non-reactive pot along with two bay leaves, three peeled garlic cloves, two large pinches of coarse salt, and four tablespoons of olive oil. Simmer for ten minutes. Preheat oven to 15o degrees C/300 degrees F.

Puree via a food mill or press through a sieve with a wooden spoon. If the puree is fairly thin, it can be reduced in an open pan on the stove. In any case, pour the puree in a glass, steel, or ceramic dish and put in oven.

After two hours, turn-over and spread-out with a spatula. Roast for another hour, turn-over and spread-out again and roast for a remaining hour or till a thick paste forms.*

Closer to jam than paste, it can be gobbled up straight from the jar. I exercised restraint, so far that is. Hopefully it will still be around when I make enchilada sauce in a few days. 

Refrigerated and well-lidded, it will keep several months

In the potager, the pumpkins have stayed green much to my consternation, and then, whoosh, within a day, orange galore.

À la prochaine!

* Adapted from the recipe at The Italian Dish

Individual No-Bake Ginger Peach Cheesecake . . . and a tomato harvest in full swing

Halfway between cheesecake and parfait, these are easy to do and a handy way to use fresh fruit. Mascarpone fills out a bed of buttered cookie crumbs. After a nice refreshing in the fridge, the whole lot gets decorated with the juiciest, sweetest, and ripest fruit. 

Gingernut biscuits/cookies formed the base while peaches & strawberries the garnish

After an absence of a harvest for several years because of incessant insect infestations, our tree gave a small but precious one this season so it was only fitting to showcase their splendour in this dessert. 

Careful winter & early-spring sprayings with the right dosage of the correct chemical worked!

For each serving, crush one to three cookies depending on their size and the desired base depth. Either crumb in a mixer or place the cookies inside a plastic bag and grind with a rolling pin which is what I did. Other choices than gingernut could be vanilla wafers or digestives. Mix in about a tablespoon of melted butter to get a malleable consistency. You may need more or less butter depending on the amount of cookies used.

Fill the bottom of a jar or glass with the crumbs and press down either with your fingertips or with an appropriately sized lid.

A finger-printed base!

If subbing for the mascarpone, follow the directions here. Candied ginger could be folded in at this time for even more of a gingery boost. Or if you are going with a vanilla theme, vanilla extract can be blended to taste now. Carefully spoon around ten heaping tablespoons of the filling over the base. Refrigerate covered for at least an hour. The more time in the fridge the more it will firm.

Slice a whole peach thinly and scatter over the cheese. Add a few berries for colour like raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. I used strawberries from our potager. If your fruit is not that sweet, then a dusting of powdered sugar may be in order.

The crunchy base awaiting under the plump fruit and smooth cheese makes a pleasing contrast.

In the potager, tomatoes are being harvested at a rapid pace. 

Liguria, an Italian beef-heart variety, is just fabulous with little seed and juice.

Their substantial fleshiness are perfect for stuffed tomatoes, whether cooked or raw. They also make excellent concentrate and paste which will raise the deliciousness quotient of many a dish.

A pot of basil provided fresh leaves which go so well with tomatoes

À la prochaine!

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How to make tomato concentrate to be used in tomato soup
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Tomato-sausage sauce for lasagne
Raw tomatoes stuffed with tuna/shrimp/chicken

RELATED LINKS

How to make estratto (tomato paste) which not only uses an excess of tomatoes, it is also so much better than store-bought.

Mint Blackberry No-Churn Ice Cream . . . and preserving sweet red peppers

Angoulême experiencing several days registering over 90°F (32°C) heightened my already significant appreciation of ice cream. Splashing cold water on my face cooled me from the outside while eating ice cream did that from within, a two-sided approach unbeatable both in its efficacy and sensory pleasure.

Churning breaks down any ice crystals so when not using an ice-cream maker, it is important to have ingredients with a low-water content such as fat, sugar, air, and alcohol. Condensed milk which is sweetened evaporated milk will freeze into a creamy mass especially if whipped cream which adds more fat plus air is folded into it. Since there are both blackberries and mint from our potager, they went into this ice cream. For about a litre/quart, add a handful of fresh mint leaves to 237 ml/8 fluid oz of heated-up cream, cover, and steep overnight in the fridge. The next day, strain the cream.

The wild area in the back of our garden consists mostly of brambles. The berries are smaller and more fibrous than the blackberries that already have been harvested from our cultivated bush.  But what flavour! Deep and encompassing. To make the coulis, put several large handfuls of berries in a sieve placed over a bowl and crush them well with a fork. Sweeten the juice with powdered sugar and thicken it with some cream.

Makes around 237 ml/8 fluid oz

Whip the cream. Put 237 ml/8 fluid oz of condensed milk into a bowl. Plop the whipped cream on top.

Gently fold in till it is blended but still airy.

The best way to achieve clearly defined swirls which is not what I did is to put a layer of partially frozen ice cream, dribble the blackberry coulis, and then swirl with a butter knife. While stirring only the latest layer, repeat till tub is filled. Instead I added the coulis just following the folding of the condensed milk into the whipped mint cream and before freezing. After a couple of hours in the freezer, most of the coulis sunk to the bottom so I gingerly stirred it throughout which resulted in a splotched appearance which was fine since I love all things piebald. Freeze about 4 hours.

The mint imparted a herbal freshness, while the blackberries added mellowness

Being somewhat melty, this ice cream appealed to my inner child who had a soft spot for ice-cream soup. All-in-all, this method produced an excellent result. Its texture is the creamiest I have ever had, not much effort is required to make it, and if you love the taste of the Indian frozen dairy dessert, Kulfi, which consists mainly of condensed milk, then this is the ice cream for you. The condensed milk is a flavour in itself, a slightly carmelised one, providing a subtle background for other ingredients so it may not appeal to purists.

In the potager, Corno di Toro Rosso, an Italian sweet red pepper, is beginning to be harvested with the bulk anticipated in about a month.

Grilling on all sides till charred about 15 cm/six inches under the broiler, placing in heat resistant ziplock bags for ten to fifteen minutes to loosen the skin then removing it, and chopping the flesh followed by freezing is an excellent method of preservation.

These will be used in Roasted Red Pepper White Bean Soup (includes detailed instructions for roasting peppers) and Roasted Garlic Sweet Red Pepper Fennel Spread/Dip.

À la prochaine!

Green Bean Baked Potato Parmesan Salad...and sauceless Peach Melba

Tepid veggie salads have a Goldilocks appeal and an ease in preparation as they can lay about a bit before serving without any challenge to their ambient temperature. Green beans are providing harvests at intervals of several days as frequent picking increases production.

Modus is a delectable & stringless bush green bean variety.

Desiree potatoes, red-skinned and large, are not yet fully mature though a few harvested plants are giving us smaller spuds. Tater skins contain as much potassium as the flesh. It's a mineral that many don't get enough of because the adult requirement is nearly 5,000 milligrams! A large potato with skin intact provides around 1,000 milligrams.

Potassium deficiency results in fatigue and muscle weakness.

The only way I will eat the skin is if it's roasted into a crackly, toasty state. They were baked for about thirty minutes at 350 degrees F. During that time, the green beans were snapped into pieces and steamed till tender which takes about eight to ten minutes. The spuds were halved and tossed with the beans along with Parmesan shavings, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, and freshly ground pepper. The salad was both earthy and fresh-tasting.

Our peach tree has responded well to its winter and early-spring sprayings by producing a small harvest of fruit free from the sticky detritus of various bugs.

Filling the hollows of a halved peach with coffee ice cream made a refreshing ending to a simple meal.

Peaches and cream can't be beat.

Liguria, an Italian beef-heart variety, is stunning when still green . . .

... and when fully ripe and red, it's breath-taking.

Though delayed because of later-than-usual planting, the tomato harvest promises to be a good one.

À la prochaine!

Plum & Blue/Blackberry Melba

Peach Melba is a classic dessert consisting of a poached-in-syrup, vanilla-ice-cream-filled peach-half dressed with raspberry sauce. Simple but scrumptious at the same time, it's wonderful on a late-summer day, echoing the season's mellowing towards autumn. However, there were only plums along with blue and blackberries available from our potager. The smaller plum pinch-hitting for a peach meant a reasonable serving can consist of both halves, hence, two different ice cream flavours could be chosen without any loss of decorum.

Scoops of vanilla & coffee ice cream topped with peeled plums and blue/blackberry coulis

Plums, unlike peaches, when very ripe, can be peeled without poaching. The plum I used was so ripe, it resembled a small, water-filled purple balloon. Once halved and pitted, its skin was eased off with a sharp knife. Not poaching the plum means this version is easier and quicker to make than the original while augmenting its fresh impact.

Variety of plum is d'Ente which is often dried to make prunes

Put a handful of berries (three-quarters blackberries, the rest blueberries) in a sieve placed over a bowl. Squash them first between your fingers, then finish mashing them with a fork against the strainer. Sweeten the juice to taste with confectioner's/powdered sugar. Position a scoop of vanilla ice cream next to one of coffee on a dessert plate. Drape a plum-half over each and douse with berry coulis. Garnish with a few berries.

Instead of filling the halves, topping with plums allows for much more ice cream!

Here's the vanilla ice cream.

It brightens the heavier flavours of plum and berries

And the coffee ice cream.

Coffee, blackberry & plum comprise a heady trio

Halfway through eating, I unexpectedly heard myself exclaiming, this is the best dessert I have ever had. The words were uttered, it seemed, on their own accord. And I doubt that my experience will be duplicated. Perfection often can't be repeated. The ripeness, temperature, depth of flavour of the fruits, proportion of ingredients, and other variables like the eater's sensory perception and psychological state at the moment are all an one-off. But I am sure that any future ones will be pretty good! Who knows, I may tempt fate and add a splash of fruity red wine to the coulis.

Ice cream well marbled with berry coulis & a glistening chunk of plum

In the potager, Joie de la Table, a French variety, carries its medium-sized tomatoes en grappes (in clusters).

The Calm One's tomato structure has proven worthy:  all 12 tuteurs are holding their own

Haricots verts (green beans) flowered well, and now, tiny, adorable pods are beginning to form. Since they grow so fast, it's important to check daily so they are picked before becoming fibrous and, therefore, less delectable.

Growing your own makes it possible to harvest green beans at their most tender

Corno di Toro Rosso red peppers are impressive in their size and taste. This Italian variety is piquant and juicy. Hopefully, enough will mature by the end of September so tons of Roasted Sweet Red Pepper & Garlic Spread/Dip can be made.

Shaped like a bull's horn (per its name), this particular pepper is nearly a foot (30 cm) long

Honeysuckle continues to flower as it wraps itself over a heap of slow-decomposing prunings from trees and shrubs. Their incomparable and exceeding lovely fragrance makes bringing garden and kitchen detritus to a nearby fast-compost pile a delight.

NOTE:  Souped-up Garden will be taking a two-week break. See you then!

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Musings about Peach Melba and my attempt to make it