Eat Simply, Eat Well

Healthy recipes & tips to help you live the good life. by Ann Plough

10 Tomato Recipes To Make Today

June 29, 2016 by aplough

Tomato recipes. Can you ever have too many? Nope, me neither. Especially right now.

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Summer is in full swing even where I am, way up north, which means I’ve been on the hunt for good tomato recipes. Just this week I’ve picked the first cherry tomatoes from my own garden: 4 perfectly ripe, juicy, red tomatoes – sun-ripened, wind blown – perfect. I dusted them off on a clean corner of my garden shirt and popped them in my mouth, one by one, enjoying the explosion of flavor as I stood in the heat of the morning sun, soft breeze whispering through the leaves of the plants around me, and watching with amusement as our little bird friend tried desperately to peck through the net we’d placed over the strawberries.

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Tomatoes. You wait and wait and wait…and with good luck and sunshine, all of a sudden the garden begins to explode with them and you’re searching for ways to make good use of and to save your bounty. The same is true if you’re visiting your local farmer’s market: suddenly there are tomatoes in abundance at good prices. These luscious beauties are nice to have around year round, offering their vibrant colors, deep tangy flavors and serious health benefits to your daily meals.

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I’ve rounded up 10 tomato recipes to help you enjoy your tomatoes – either for meals to eat today or recipes to preserve them now and eat them later, when the cold Winter winds are howling around you. Right now, they are so abundant – you’ll find yourself eating them fresh; freezing; canning; jamming – which ever way you use them, start now! There’s never been a better time.

  1. Canning Tomatoes: It’s Easier Than You Think  – Eat Simply Eat Well
  2. Grilled Tomatoes – Simply Recipes
  3. How to make basic tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes – The Kitchn
  4. Preserving Tomatoes: Roast & Freeze – Eat Simply Eat Well
  5. Tomato Eggplant Zucchini Bake – Well Plated
  6. Tomato Avocado Cucumber Salad – Eat Simply Eat Well
  7. Roasted Tomato, Goat Cheese and Carmelized Onion Tart – Eat Simply Eat Well
  8. Freezing Fresh Tomatoes – Mamal Diane
  9. Fermented Pickled Green Tomatoes – Avocado A Day Nutrition
  10. Tomato Jam – Eat Simply Eat Well

Go ahead – roll up your sleeves, grab your tomatoes, and get ready for some delicious meals ahead.

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Eat Simply, Eat Well,

Ann

What are your favorite tomato recipes for summer tomatoes? Do you can/freeze/preserve them? Let us know in the comments below!

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Filed Under: Appetizers, Finland, Gluten-free, Italian, Main Course, Make it yourself, Sauces and Broths, Tips and Tricks, Vegan, Vegetarian

Salmon Stock

September 11, 2015 by aplough

Salmon_Stock_bottled_20150911

Have you ever wondered if there is anything you can do with leftover salmon or other fish carcasses? Have you been buying store-made fish stock and wondered how you could make great fish stock yourself?

Today I want to share with you how to make an easy salmon (or other fish) stock in less than an hour.

I remember going to pick up salmon from the fish counter of my local grocery store many years ago when I was still living in Seattle. They had run out of the pre-cut filets, so the gentleman at the fish counter kindly filleted the whole salmon I’d purchased, for me. As he wrapped up the fish, he asked “do you want the fish head and bones, as well?” I replied, “No thanks – what in the world would I do with them?” I didn’t have a clue.

Nowadays, the answer to that question is always, “Yes, of course!”, because I know a secret that I didn’t know then: those previously unwanted scraps make some of the best fish stock a person could hope for, and from there, you can launch hundreds of recipes into a completely new flavor arena without spending all day at the stove trying to find the depth of flavor you’re dreaming of.

A few days ago, I visited my local market in Hakaniemi, a neighborhood of Helsinki, for the specific reason that I wanted to buy a kilogram of the fish bones in order to make salmon stock. Today I want to share my method with you, because once you know how to do this, you have the beginnings of really delicious, savory, seafood dishes.

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A few notes:

  • Fish bones aren’t always for sale, but if you ask, most fish counters will be willing to sell or give them to you, since they are otherwise scrap that they have to get rid of at the end of the day. At Hakaniemi market hall, I paid €3 for one kilogram of fish bones.
  • You can freeze the bones and heads from fish you catch yourself, and make the stock later if you don’t have time to make it immediately.
  • Most fish will work for this stock – if you have other fish carcasses on hand, feel free to use them instead, keeping the amount of bones around 1 kilogram/2.2 pounds for this recipe.
  • Include the head too – there is a lot of flavor in the head (and the cheeks, once cooked in the broth, are a delicious cook’s treat). Just make sure to remove the gills before adding the head to the stock pot.
  • Rinse the fish parts to remove all leftover blood and viscera – it’ll create scum on the top of your broth. Don’t worry if there is a little left – it’ll rise to the top of the broth during the early stages of cooking, and you can simply skim it off.
  • If you have used leeks recently in a recipe, save the leek tops and add them to this stock, or other stock recipes. They add a really nice flavor that complements the onion. Also, you can replace one onion with one whole leek, including the greens, if that is what you have on hand.
  • Stocks are a great way to use up vegetable scraps: when I’m peeling carrots I save the peel; when I cut up celery stalks I save the leaves; when I use the white part of the leek I save the greens – and pretty soon, you have all the ingredients you need for making a great stock. All of the above freeze well, so you can keep a ziplock bag in the freezer, and add to it until the day you want to make stock.
  • If you don’t have whole peppercorns or whole allspice, you can sub in 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice.
  • This fish stock freezes really well. I typically freeze it in labeled, 2 cup / half-liter portions so I can quickly add it to risottos, soups, or use as poaching liquid.

Salmon_Stock_strained_20150911

Salmon Stock

  • 2.2 pounds / 1 kg salmon bones, including head (gills removed), rinsed
  • 10 cups / 2.5 liters cold water
  • 2 yellow onions, peeled and cut into 4-6 pieces
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
  • 2 medium carrots, washed and cut into 6 pieces each
  • 1 stalk celery, cut into pieces
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 3 tablespoons fresh or frozen parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 10 black peppercorns, crushed with a mortar and pestle or the back of a knife
  • 5 whole allspice, crushed with a mortar and pestle or the back of a knife

Place all ingredients in a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot. Bring to a full boil over high heat; then reduce heat to medium so the stock continues to cook at a low, gentle boil. You want it to be just barely bubbling. With a spoon, remove an scum that has risen to the top of the stock and discard. Continue to cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Add 1.5 teaspoons salt, and allow the mixture to boil for an additional 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Place a large stainless steel colander over a large bowl, and pour the broth mixture through the colander in order to catch all of the solids. Discard the solids (some people like to save the carrots, and remove the fish still attached to the bones for another use; it’s up to you). If you want a stock with no residue, strain the stock one more time through a fine mesh colander into another bowl.

You can use the stock immediately, refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Makes approximately 8 cups/2 liters.

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Did you like this post? Have you made salmon or other fish stock? Do you have any questions about the process? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Filed Under: Make it yourself, Sauces and Broths, Soup, Tips and Tricks

Seriously Simple Pizza Sauce

March 26, 2015 by aplough

Seriously Simple Pizza Sauce

If you already make pizza often, you probably have a go-to sauce that you are loving.

But just in case you don’t, or just in case you’d like to try something else for a change, consider this sauce. I make it every time I make pizza.  I use it as spaghetti sauce sometimes.  I pour it over meatballs and then let the whole thing stew in the oven.  It is seriously so simple to make.  Open can/jar/purkki of tomato sauce and pour into pot.  Add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, olive oil.  Bring to boil; reduce to simmer; leave it alone for 25 min.  If you like it even thicker, let it simmer for 30 minutes or more. Blend until smooth.  Cool.  Spread. Bake pizza. Eat happy.

That’s it.  You can make a huge batch and freeze it.  You can make ahead and use it later.  Your kids can make it while you cheer them on.  Your hubby can whip up a batch while you sit on the couch and catch up on Facebook.

Which is one of the reasons I’m posting it here: so my sweetheart has a recipe to follow and I can relax and enjoy the smells wafting from the kitchen in the off-chance I don’t feel like cooking some day.

But this time, it’s all on me, so here’s the recipe.  Enjoy!

Did you like it?  Let me know in the comments below!

Here we are folks:  ready to pour or spread on the pizza dough of choice


Seriously Simple Pizza Sauce

1 – 500g can/jar/purkki of plain tomato sauce 
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into fourths
2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning / Pizza mauste (alternatively, 1/3 cup packed, fresh basil leaves)
3/4 teaspooon salt
5 grinds of freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar (rounds out the flavor)

Put all of the ingredients into a small pot.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer over medium-low heat.  Cover partially with a lid as the sauce will spit and spatter as it cooks down and thickens.  After 25-30 minutes, remove the sauce from heat.  If you have an immersion blender, this is a great time to use it to blend the sauce until smooth.  If you don’t, carefully transfer the hot sauce to a heat-proof blender or food processor container and process until smooth.

Makes approximately 2 cups / 5 dl

Filed Under: Sauces and Broths Tagged With: Sauces and Broths, vegetarian

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