Japanese Cold Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing (Goma-Ae)

This is a traditional Japanese salad that is a perfect hot-weather side dish or appetizer. Chard works as well as spinach, or you can use steamed green beans instead.

Ingredients
1 pound baby spinach, stems removed
1/4 cup roasted white sesame seeds
1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup sake or dry white wine (omit sugar)
½ tsp. mirin

Directions

Wash fresh spinach. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water.

Grind sesame seeds in a food processor, blender, or with a mortar and pestle. Stir all ingredients except spinach in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for five minutes.

Squeeze all the water from the spinach and arrange in individual serving dishes. Pour sesame mixture over the salad, and serve.

Makes 4-6 side salads.

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Coriander Pears

My parents have been growing pears on their farm for years. They are big proponents of organic gardening, so their pears are sometimes oddly-shaped and full of...ahem...wildlife. But their sweetness and healthiness make up for everything else.

 Last fall, my mom hurt her back badly at just about the same time my dad was scheduled to go on a charity trip to help people stranded in the desert in the Southwest. I spent a week with her canning produce and peeling fruits to put up in jars. It was wonderful bonding time.

Pears can be a little insipid and sweet when they are canned, so the addition of spices and lime juice made a delicious improvement.

Ingredients

2 cups unsweetened apple juice

2 cups water

Juice of 3 limes (about 1/4-1/3 cup)

2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

4 pounds ripe pears

Directions

Sterilize quart jars and lids in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Combine juice, water, lime juice, nutmeg, and coriander seeds in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Peel pears. Cut them into quarters lengthwise and cut out the cores and any bad spots. Press them into the quart jars, leaving as little room as possible between the fruit. Pour the juice mixture into each jar, ensuring that an even number of coriander seeds are in each jar. Fill the jars to 1/2 inch of the rim.

Wipe the rims of the jars. Screw on lids hand-tight and slowly lower into a hot water bath canner. Boil 15 minutes once the pot reaches a full rolling boil. Remove from the canner and allow to cool. Test the seals before storing.

Makes about 6 quarts of pears.

See more canning recipes in my book The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food

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Roasted Poblano-Thyme Salsa

This recipe enjoyed as a complex, smoky dip with chips, as well as brushing it on grilled meats and spooning it on Mexican dishes. While the process may take a little longer than other salsas, you will appreciate the final result. This recipe appears in Angela's book, "The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food."

Ingredients:

3 lbs. plum tomatoes, about 20 medium
4 fresh poblano chilies
1 large red onion, sliced 1 inch thick
12 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups tomato puree
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
4 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Heat the broiler or grill. Place whole tomatoes and poblanos on a broiler pan or cookie sheet.

2. Broil or grill close to the heat until the exposed side is blotchy, black, and peeling. Turn over the tomatoes and poblanos and roast until both sides are blistered and the skin is blackened.

3. Turn down the heat to medium. Mix together the onion and garlic and place them on another broiler pan. Roast or grill them, turning frequently, until the onions and garlic are soft and have browned edges. Cool to room temperature.

4. Pull the peels from the cooled tomatoes and cut out the tomato cores. Pull the peels off the chilies, and then open the peppers and remove the stem, seed pod, and any remaining seeds. Chop the peppers into l inch pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.

5. In a food processor, pulse the onion and garlic until finely chopped. Add to the bowl of poblanos.

6. Coarsely puree the tomatoes in the food processor, and then add them to the bowl. Stir in the tomato puree, water, cilantro, thyme, and salt. This fresh salsa should be used within five days if you are not planning to can it.

7. For canning, ladle salsa into sterilized pint jars, leaving 1/2 an inch of headspace. Slide a knife or spatula inside the jar to remove air bubbles; adjust headspace if necessary. Dampen a kitchen towel and wipe around the rims of the canning jars. Screw the canning lids onto the jar until finger-tight.

8. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Yield: 4 to 6 pints




This recipe was featured in my book, The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food

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Caprese Salad

I made this salad for Joe one summer evening as part of  a birthday picnic. Since then, we've enjoyed the same salad at the courtyard restaurant at the Art Institute of Chicago, where they used several colorful varieties of heritage tomatoes. We also had this salad during our honeymoon in Tuscany, where the dish originated. In Tuscany, they often use buffalo mozzarella instead, which gives it a subtle musky taste.

When the tomatoes come on heavy in summer, and even the neighbors won't take any more, this salad is a wonderful way to use up your produce. If you grow an herbal garden, like we do, you can pick your fresh tomatoes and fresh basil at the same time. If you're buying tomatoes, make sure they are excruiciatingly ripe so that the flavors pop. One of the best features of authentic Italian cooking is that they insist on buying the freshest, best produce at the beginning of the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 pound fresh soft mozzarella cheese, sliced as thinly as possible
2 large beefsteak tomatoes, thinly sliced
3-4 large fresh basil leaves, torn into large pieces
Freshly ground salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, if desired

Directions

On a large serving plate, alternate mozzarella, tomato, and basil in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, drizzle with oil and vinegar.

Makes 4 side salads. 

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Bread-and-Butter Pickles

Angela's old-fashioned sweet pickle recipe is a staple with sandwiches or at summer picnics. The stories vary about the name "bread and butter" pickles, but the most consistent explanation is that in the Depression Era, these pickles along with bread and butter might well be a person's midday or evening meal. Keep that in mind just in case our current recession falls into an actual economic depression!

Ingredients

• 4 pounds small pickling cucumbers
• 1/3 cup pickling salt
• 4 cups apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 3 teaspoons celery seed
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 3 cups green tomatoes, thinly sliced (optional)
• 5 cups onions, thinly sliced
• 11 to 12 pint canning jars

Directions

1. Sterilize canning jars.
2. Scrub cucumbers well. Slice off the ends of cucumbers and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Place layers of cucumbers and salt in a large bowl, and cover it with a layer of ice. Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to make the cucumbers crisper. Drain well.
3. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, ginger, celery seeds, and pepper in a large saucepan or pot. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Stir in the cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Remove from the heat. 
4. Pack vegetables into hot jars, and then ladle the sauce over the vegetables, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Slide a knife or spatula inside the jar to remove air bubbles; adjust headspace if necessary. 
5. Dampen a kitchen towel and wipe around the rims of the canning jars. Screw the canning lids onto the jar just until finger-tight. Process 15 minutes in boiling-water canner.

Yield: 12 pints.

This recipe was featured in my book, The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food

Read more...