A Kitchen Day and a Winner!

Let's just get to the good stuff first, shall we? It's time to pick a winner for the Dream Big Leaf panel. I've spun the dial, and the random number generator came up with:

#22--Nancy!

Congratulations, Nancy. I've sent you an email, so check your inbox. 

As for the news from yesterday...there isn't much. I spent almost the whole live-long day in the kitchen. My first stop, though, was Puck's Peaches, a local grower. The peaches on their tree were so beautiful. I had to smack my own hand to avoid picking one from the tree and eating it where I stood.

Instead, I waited until I got home, and then ate one right away. So juicy and sweet. I love a good fresh peach. I have some peach and tomato salsa on my to-do list, but that won't happen until tomorrow. 

Instead, for yesterday's extravacanza (did you see what I did there?), I was using the tomatoes I've harvested from the greenhouse to make some Basic Tomato Salsa.  We were on our last jar, and I was starting to get panicky. Fortunately, our own tomato plants have produced, and I was able to save two lives. It seems it was also my day to use the oddly shaped jars in my collection.

For salsa, I've always used the recipe from Food in Jars. Here's how I do it:

Basic Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

8 cups chopped tomatoes (app. 4 lbs.), preferably Roma or San Marzano

2 cups chopped yellow onion, about 2 medium

1 cup chopped red bell pepper, about 1 large pepper

1 3/4 cups cider vinegar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 jalapeno peppers, seeds and ribs removed, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons bottled lime juice

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Prepare a boiling water bath and 4 regular-mount 1-pint jars and lids according to the manufacturer's directions. 

Combine all ingredients, except the cilantro in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the salsa no longer looks watery.  Off heat and stir in the chopped cilantro.

Ladle hot salsa into prepared jars, leaving 1/2-inch of headspace.  Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, adding 5 minutes of processing time for every 1,000 feet of elevation.

When processing time is up, remove jars and cool completely before storing.

* * * * *

The salsa, as it's made here, is a mild salsa. If you like it with more spice, then you can experiment with leaving the seeds and ribs in one or more of the jalapeno peppers. Also, I find it necessary to cook it for anywhere from 30-45 minutes before it's thick enough for my taste. It's worth the effort though. We really love this salsa. I'm confident the tomato plants will produce enough for another batch before summer is over.

While I was doing that the kitties were outside working. I'm telling you, keep a cat inside for several days and the hoards of squirrels, gophers, moles, voles, mice, and shrews can take over the place. There was still plenty of work to do getting them under control again, but the kitties were hot and tired. Smitty had to cool his tummy furs with a nice long nap on top of the china cabinet.

Sadie always purrfurs the comfort of her favorite quilt.

While they were napping, I baked the ugliest peach pie you've ever seen. It might also have been the tastiest. 

I was using a recipe I'd used before. Possibly the heat had something to do with it, but the crust was impossible to work with. It was dry and stiff, and so I was kind of putting it together like a jigsaw puzzle, patching and molding as I went. You can find the recipe for this Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Peach Pie right here. Here's the thing: Pie crust is hit or miss with me, and I like this recipe because the sugar to peach ratio is low. It gets a good portion of its sweetness from the fresh peaches. (And is there anything better than a fresh ripe peach straight from the tree?)

Here's my gripe about the instructions for the crust. They had me put the butter in the bowl of my food processor and then chill it for 15 minutes. Then, I added the flour and salt and pulsed to get it to the right consistency. I added more than a half cup of ice water, and it was still dry, and still wouldn't come together. I finally gave up and worked with what I had. When I dumped it from the food processor to form it into disks, I realized that a good amount of the butter was stuck to the bottom of the bowl. So now I've changed the recipe to add the butter, flour, and salt to a zip-lock bag first. (This is my usual way...I don't know why I strayed this time.) It can chill in the zip-lock bag, and then I can add it to the food processor. I think I'll get a better mix of butter and flour that way.

But here's the thing I love about pie: it almost always tastes good, no matter how ugly it is. And this one was very tasty. If I have a choice in a restaurant, peach pie isn't going to be the one I choose first. I'm more of a lemon meringue or cherry kind of gal. But, man, peach pie made with fresh peaches is pretty darned good.

And all of that food focus to say I didn't get in even a single stitch of sewing yesterday. Probably I won't today either. We're heading over to Matthew's house for a couple of hours. Mike is going to help him fix his garage door, and I'll be taking him a goodie bag that includes the Dream Big quilt and a lot of canned stuff. I haven't seen his new digs yet, and so I'm looking forward to that.

The peach and tomato salsa will be on tomorrow's list. Canning is going to keep me pretty busy over the next few weeks, but I'm still hoping I'll have some time to finish up my challenge piece before the end of the week.