Tasty Cole Slaw

Those farmer's market cabbages are cheap and this is an easy chop-and-dump recipe that will keep for many days in the fridge. All measurements are approximate.

Dry ingredients:
Green and/or red cabbage
3 carrots
Red onion

Carefully cut chunks off green and/or red cabbage about the size of two fists, immerse in water, and rinse well. Farmer’s market cabbages may pick up some sand. Chop cabbages into bite-sized, 1/8 inch strips. Put into large bowl.

I always cut more than I need and save several handfuls out of the bowl, to make sure the ratio of wet-to-dry ingredients is correct. Cole slaw swimming in sauce is gross. You want to be able to taste the cabbage. Extra prepared cabbage can be thrown into soups or stir fries.

Finely shred three carrots. You can scrub them clean with a potato brush, or just remove a strip of the outer layer with a potato peeler. I use a potato peeler to shred the carrots and discard the cores. Put into the large bowl.

Mince a handful of red onion and combine all in the bowl.

Wet ingredients:
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the following.

1/2 cup light canola mayonnaise
1/4 cup quality Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. honey (or agave)
2 tsp. celery seed (Don’t leave this out — it’s amazing how a little celery seed adds to this dish.)
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper

Fold the combined wet ingredients into the dry a bit at a time, to the wetness you prefer.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to combine the flavors.

Preparing Pumpkins, Pumpkin Mushroom Soup

October is the time of year to freeze pumpkin purée in bags to use throughout the winter. One great staple here is Pumpkin Mushroom Soup.

Bake Pumpkin for Purée

The farmer’s market is full of pumpkins throughout October, but don’t wait for after Halloween to buy them at a discount, because they disappear! Maybe those left are sold immediately to food manufacturers. A local farmer told me they’re ground up for mulch. Another told me he likes blowing them up with a shotgun -- sounds fun!

You can cook with jack-o-lantern pumpkins -- I did for years -- but the smaller, pie pumpkins are way easier to work with. Cutting up a large pumpkin is difficult and can be dangerous. Cutting and cleaning out a pumpkin that is already baked is considerably easier.

1, Carefully poke holes in pumpkin for air to escape.

2. Bake at 375° until softened. A 5 lb. pie pumpkin will take about an hour.

3. Remove and cool.

4. Slice across the middle, clean out goop, and scoop out flesh.

If someone in the house enjoys the healthy goodness of roasted pumpkin seeds (I can’t stand the things myself), put the goop in a large bowl, fill with water (the seeds will float), and separate the seeds in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Toss them with some salt and roast in a 300 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir occasionally. 

This purée is delicious as-is. Add a little butter and/or nutmeg and/or cinnamon, if you think it needs it. You can also make a delicious soup.

Pumpkin Mushroom Soup

1/2 pound fresh mushroom, sliced
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon curry powder

3 cups chicken stock
Approx. 16 ounce pumpkin purée (the amount sold in a large can)
1 tablespoon honey
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup heavy cream (optional)

Sauté mushrooms and onions in butter. Add flour and curry powder and stir until bubbly. Gradually add the stock; stir until mixed. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, add pumpkin, honey, and other seasonings. Stir while cooking, approximately 15 minutes.

Add cream and heat through without boiling. We’ve been skipping the cream for health reasons and it’s just as delicious.

Hippie Bread

This bread recipe is presented as a ritual in the Tassajara Bread Book, 1970, from Shambhala Publications (Copyright by the Chief Priest, Zen Center, San Francisco). Simplified to be reasonable (They go through every knead) it is the best wheat bread recipe I’ve ever used — soft and light, not heavy and grainy like so many wheat breads. Be warned, this bread recipe takes ALL AFTERNOON. But it makes four (or more) loaves.

6 cups “baby bottle” lukewarm water
3 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup, or agave)
2 cups dry milk

In the largest bowl you own, put the water, and sprinkle in the yeast and stir lightly to dissolve. Add the rest of the ingredients, stirring each lightly. Let rise 20 minutes.

Add
6 cups whole wheat flour
a cup at a time, stirring as you go. When all is in, beat 100 times, adding air. Stir in 2 more cups whole wheat flower as best you can — switch arms, it’s tough!

Cover bowl with a plate and set in a warmish place. Let rise for 1 hour.

Pour and sprinkle in
2 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup canola oil

Do not stir, FOLD the ingredients in, avoiding cutting and tearing.

Fold in, a cup at a time,
4 cups whole wheat flour

Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead (pushing and folding) for about 10 minutes. Oil your large bowl lightly, drop the dough in, cover, set in a warm place and let it rise for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down about 25 times (probablly the most satisfying part of making bread, other than eating it). Cover, set in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour.

Take out onto a floured surface, shape into four loaves and put in four medium bread pans that have been lightly oiled. I use my Pyrex meatloaf pans. Cover with towels and let rise 20 minutes.

Carefully, so they don’t deflate, cut slits into the tops of the risen loaves with a sharp knife (I do three at a diagonal). Brush surface with an egg white beaten in 1/4 cup of water. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Finished loaves will resound with a deep, hollow thump when tapped with your finger.

Let cool an hour before cutting. I freeze three in sealed plastic bags and leave one to eat — those can be frozen without cutting, making it easier to cut later.

Below, loaves plain, with nuts (great!), with raisins (needed cinnamon), and twisted into a rope shape made with daughter Maleah.

Homemade Granola

Whisk together:
1/3 Cup light brown sugar
1/3 Cup maple syrup
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
4 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt

Stir in:
5 Cups old fashioned oats
2 Cups chopped almonds
until all the oats are coated with the liquid mixture

Spread parchment paper on a sheet pan. Dump the mixture on, and compact it evenly with a potato masher.

Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool 1 hour. Break apart into large chunks.

Add:
2 Cups raisins

This will keep for 2 weeks in fridge. You can eat it with milk like cereal, combine it with cereal, or just snack on it as is.

Two Tomato Sauces

The Quick Tomato Sauce below is pretty good, with fresh, local, summer tomatoes. If you're going to use those bland winter tomatoes shipped in from afar, you're best to simply throw fresh herbs into some Prego.

If you have some hours and feel like cooking, the Roasted Tomato Sauce is a good way to use up those tomatoes that are edging past their prime, especially if it is still fresh tomato season and you're headed to the farmer's market to pick up more fresh tomatoes.

Gary's Quick Tomato Sauce

Medium chop 3 to 4 tomatoes.

Put your pasta water on to boil. While your pasta cooks, cook your sauce in a sauté pan.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in the pan.

Throw in:
• 1 tbsp. capers
• Thin slices of garlic (or pre-minced from store)
• Chopped tomatoes

Simply stir so the garlic doesn't burn. Drain your cooked pasta.

I always add my pasta to my sauce, so I can control the ratio of sauce to pasta. Use a slotted spoon and tongs to plate -- depending on the tomatoes, it can be a bit liquid-y. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and throw on some basil leaves for fun. Serve.

You can top with a quality grated cheese or homemade bread crumbs.

A variation we enjoy: throw a few peeled, deveined shrimp into the heated olive oil in the pan, cook a minute on each side, remove. Make your sauce as above. When pasta is added, stir in shrimp to reheat. I've found shrimp can be affordable when used this way -- a handful in a pan instead of a bowlful on the table.

Gary's Roasted Tomato Sauce

You can do this in large batches (as I am right now), but you need to be careful of juice overwhelming your baking sheet (I just carefully poured hot liquid off after an hour of cooking -- not ideal!). When it cools, I'll put servings in freezer bags and freeze for later. Measurements are approximate -- don't skimp on the dried herbs!

Ingredients
3 to 6 tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Finely diced onion
Garlic powder (or minced garlic from the store. I think the powder sticks better and burns less.)
Dried oregano
Dried thyme
A good quality olive oil

Peel 3 to 6 tomatoes.

This is a messy, tedious process when you're doing a bag full of tomatoes, but not difficult. Cut a cross in the top and bottom of each tomato, where the stem attaches. Drop tomatoes in boiling water for 4 minutes. Remove to cutting board. I use a combination of long tongs and a sharp knife. First I cut the tomato in half through the stem part. I put each half stem side down on the cutting board and notch to remove the stem chunk. I also remove any large areas of white, they tend to stay chewy. (I don't bother seeding, but some do at this point. Seems like a waste of tomato to me.) The skin should pull off easily. Be careful, hot tomato will stick to your fingers and it hurts!

Most of the imperfections, dark spots, etc. on farmer's market tomatoes will come off with the skin, which is handy.

A lot of juice, seeds and water will end up on your cutting board -- just throw this away. An apron is always a good idea when working with tomatoes.

If you skip this step, pieces of skin will not allow you to make a creamy sauce, and the tomatoes will not roast properly.

Some tomatoes will come out of this process as beautiful, intact halves that are picture perfect. Some will come apart. No matter, we're making sauce.

Place the tomato halves cut side up on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. A wire rack on this can be helpful, but is not mandatory.

Add ingredients to top of tomatoes in this order: salt and pepper; finely diced onion; garlic powder; dried thyme; dried oregano (rub between fingers when sprinkling to release the flavor). Over the top, drizzle with olive oil.

Bake in 325° oven for 2 hours. Check after the first hour to be sure nothing is burning.

After 2 hours, turn up to 400° and cook for an additional 1/2 hour.

Pull out of oven, carefully place all in a saucepan and break up with a spoon, or potato masher. An immersion blender works well here to smooth the sauce. Bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes.

If you like your sauce very smooth, cool this sauce and smooth to your liking in a food processor. The immersion blender works fine for me!

Left, a large batch of roasted tomatoes just out of the oven.

Basic Beef Roast

Can't Get Much More Basic than This.
Preheat the oven to 400°.

Dry a beef rib eye roast so it will brown. Salt and pepper.

Sear it on all sides in a couple tablespoons of oil, in a dutch oven or heavy, oven-safe pot.

Cover the pot well and put in 400° oven about 15 minutes a pound, until a meat thermometer reads 130° internal temperature.

Make gravy from drippings.


A Little More Complicated
Italian Style Roast

Preheat the oven to 300°.

1 boneless beef chuck eye roast, 3-4 lbs., tied
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 lb. mushrooms, quartered
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes (28 oz.) plus juice
2 tsp. sugar
1 cup red wine
1 large head of garlic, paper removed, halved
thyme

Dry a beef rib eye roast so it will brown. Salt and pepper.


Sear it on all sides in a couple tablespoons of oil, in a dutch oven or heavy, oven-safe pot. Remove.

Over medium heat, add onion, celery, mushrooms, tomato paste and cook about 8 minutes.

Add diced tomatoes, sugar, 1/2 cup wine, garlic and thyme. Return roast and juices to pot, bring to a simmer on medium high heat.


Cover the pot well and put in 300° oven about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, until fork tender. Flip over after one hour.

Remove roast and let rest out of oven 15 minutes.

Skim fat in pan off the top of the drippings with spoon. Remove garlic, mash into paste and return to pot. Add wine. Boil to thicken, 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve sauce with roast.

Snowy Day Stew

Guaranteed to Disappear.
I generally don't care for messy recipes, but this one is too good to pass up. Note to lazy cooks: this one involves several steps and requires careful watching.

1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 lbs. stewing beef
4 tbsp. canola oil
4 cans beef broth (The cheaper kind is more salty)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 large onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp. allspice
12 small carrots, trimmed and scrubbed
12 small white onions, trimmed
8 small potatoes, peeled

Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a large bag or container. Add the beef cubes and shake to cover.

This is the hard part. Melt the oil over a high heat in a heavy-bottomed pot with a cover. Don't burn. Add the beef, several pieces at a time so they're not crowded. Give them a couple of minutes per side to brown and brown on all sides. Don't burn. Be careful for splattered oil, it hurts. Bad.

When all the meat is browned, return all meat to the pot and pour in the broth. Stand back, it will sputter. Stir and add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, onion, bay leaves and allspice.

Lower the heat and simmer on low for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or even longer. Stir occasionally and keep that heat down so the stuff on the bottom doesn't burn. This is like chili, you can keep boiling it down as long as you want, as long as it doesn't burn on the bottom.

When it's cooked down to a rich, gravy looking broth, add the carrots, onions and potatoes and cook another 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with an exotic bread.