Eat First

Got (heirloom) tomatoes?

Friday's post had the desired effect on my friend Claire (Brennan) Dunn, who made the (relatively) short drive from Marcellus to Borodino and came home with heirloom tomatoes, basil and freshly dug potatoes from Schoolhouse Farms.

If you, too, have an abundance of homegrown tomatoes on hand, here's a couple things you can do:

1. Make a Fancy Heirloom Tomato Pie. The recipe is from a favorite cookbook, "Hollyhocks and Radishes: Mrs. Chard's Almanac,'' by Bonnie Stewart Mickelson. The book, received long ago as a gift from my friend, Maureen Nolan, is a compilation of memories and recipes from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The original recipe calls for regular, garden-variety tomatoes, but I had so many heirlooms on hand I needed to do something with them, and fast!

2. Mix up some vinaigrette dressing, toss together a green salad and decorate it with wedges of heirloom tomatoes.

3. Or, do like Claire: Slice some heirloom tomatoes, sprinkle them with basil and eat alongside something hot off the grill.

Here is the recipe for the Fancy Tomato Pie. It serves six or eight, depending on how hungry you are and how big you make the slices.

You will need:

Pastry for 1 9-inch pie (Pillsbury works fine)

For the filling:

2 medium-size heirloom tomatoes, chopped, plus one medium-size tomato for garnish

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon thyme or tarragon or a handful of chopped basil

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded Jarlsberg cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Handful of oven-dried/roasted tomatoes (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Fit pastry into pie pan and bake for 7 minutes, or until light brown. Remove from oven; let crust cool some while preparing rest of pie. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Melt butter over medium heat and saute onion until translucent. Add chopped tomatoes, pinch of salt and herb of choice. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove lid, mash tomatoes and onion with a potato masher and cook until moisture has evaporated. This could take 15 minutes or more. Let tomato mixture cool.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato mixture and cheeses and blend. Pour into crust and bake in center of oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until filling is set. Cool for 15 minutes, then garnish top with sliced  tomatoes. Slice and serve with a green salad and some nice bread.

 

A family and its heirlooms

Nothing says summer more than a red, ripe tomato, fresh off the vine.

Make that a slightly lumpy, lopsided heirloom tomato, tinged with purple, green or yellow and not looking 100 percent ripe, plucked from the vine.

"So ugly, so good!,'' read the hand-lettered signs at Schoolhouse Farms, in Borodino.

A gorgeous summer day and the promise of heirloom tomatoes lured me to Schoolhouse Farms. The farm is owned and operated by Richard Malcolm and his wife, Rebecca Muir Malcolm. They describe it as "a pesticide-free eco-ganic micro-farm dedicated to heirloom tomatoes, black currants, beans, potatoes, sunflowers and herbs, grown naturally from heirloom seeds nurtured and harvested by hand.''

The Malcolm children. From left: Baryl, Morel, Finan and Brahm.

Pull into the driveway and you'll likely be greeted by some -- or all -- of the Malcolms' four children. The older girls can tell you the names of the tomatoes and how to use the red okra that's also for sale (some people saute it with garlic; others use it in soups, stews and gumbos). They like to make a sale and know how to make change without any prompts from a cash register!

Heirloom tomatoes come in all shapes, sizes, colors and flavors, and have names like Brandywine, Green Zebra, Big Rainbow, Earlygirl and Black Krim. They look a little twisted and gnarly, and their unusual colors and shading might make you wonder if they still need time to ripen. Their delicate skins make them difficult to transport, so you don't often see them in supermarkets.

Their taste: Wow! They're full of flavor, the kind of flavor tomatoes had back in the day, when my mother and grandmother eagerly anticipated the arrival of homegrown tomatoes and relished them with salt and a dab of mayonnaise.

Now, tomatoes are bred to look cosmetically perfect and survive long trips in trucks -- not so much for superior taste. The Schoolhouse farmers have been experimenting with and growing different varieties of heirlooms for 12 years, and say this mostly dry, hot summer is a banner year for them. They expect to have heirlooms and San Marzano tomatoes, prized for sauce, well into September.

Usually I buy heirloom tomatoes to eat "as is,'' with a little salt and pepper. Today, I'm making an heirloom tomato and Jarlsberg cheese quiche, and topping it with rings of yellow and orange heirlooms.

Fellow Central New York blogger Maureen Green is a big fan of Schoolhouse Farms' heirloom tomatoes. To read about her passion for them, click here. To learn more about the Schoolhouse farmers and their philosophy, check out the Schoolhouse Farms blog (recipes included).

Schoolhouse Farms is at 1848 Rose Hill Road (Route 174), Borodino, between Skaneateles and Otisco Lakes. From Route 20 in Skaneateles, take Route 41 south 8 miles to the blinking light in Borodino. Watch for the SHF 1848 signs.

Schoolhouse Farms' heirloom tomatoes, squashes, fingerling potatoes, herbs and more are also sold at the Skaneateles Farmers Market. The market takes place 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays in the parking lot at the Skaneateles Community Center, on State Street (Route 321).

 

You, too, can CAN!

A canned version of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que pickles

Boiling water, hot food, scalding-hot jars and lids, perfect timing, critical moments, fear of failure: It's so easy to come up with reasons NOT to "put food by''  that we sometimes forget all the reasons IN FAVOR of doing so. 

Such as: The promise of real, wholesome food, using produce at its peak of freshness with no additives and preservatives, prepared by you in your kitchen and enjoyed for months to come.

Canning is not rocket science but it is a project. Invest in a good canning reference book, like the classic "Ball Blue Book,'' or check a book out of the library. You'll also need a large pot with a lid and canning rack.

Stop in L&M Wines, Etc., at the Regional Market Commons in Syracuse for jars and lids. Do this on a Thursday or a Saturday, then head over to the market and select something in season now that you would really, really enjoy eating in the middle of the winter: Peaches? Plums? Blackberries? That makes canning less of a chore and more of a labor of love.

Need inspiration? Here are my Top 5 reasons to can.

Tart cherries, grown in Oswego County, rinsed and ready for jam.

1. Capture summer in a jar. Those jars of strawberry-rhubarb and peach-ginger jam stowed away on shelves in the basement are going to remind me of warm summer days come January and February.

2. Know your food and where it comes from. The cucumbers in my pickles came from a sweet, elderly Oswego County farmer at the Regional Market, who very nicely tossed in a few extras for me. The strawberries in this year's jam came from Skaneateles, the rhubarb from Suzanne's mother's garden in Baldwinsville. The ingredients didn't have to travel very far to get in a jar. The sweetener is sugar, rather than the corn syrup found in supermarket jams and jellies, and there's not very much of it.  That's food I feel good about.

3. Cheap thrills. Preserving food is inexpensive. The cucumbers that yielded 12 jars of pickles cost $3, plus a few more dollars for pickling spices and vinegar. I bought two boxes of jars this year (about $20), but some years it's necessary only to purchase lids.

The biggest investment is time,  but there is something very rewarding about making jams, sauces and pickles, and hearing the "ping" of canning lids sealing properly, ensuring good (and safe!) eating down the road.

Cherry-Vanilla Jam, inverted to encourage proper seal.

4. Canned goods make great gifts. My uncle once said of presents: "If I can't eat it, drink it or read it, I don't want it.'' I laughed, but there is something to be said for that, whether the recipient is 80-something or 30-something. Friends and family members on my gift list are always pleased to receive something homemade. Sometimes they even rave about what's in a given jar!

Blueberry-Pineapple Jam and a favorite cookbook.

5. Reuse and recycle. Empty jars usually make their way back, and they go out again later in the year, with something new and different and, hopefully, delicious in them.

It's a cycle that's very satisfying.

Jam session: Cherry-Vanilla, in progress. 

The beet goes on

I wasn't super-excited at first when Robert came home from the Regional Market last week with a bunch of beets. But there the gnarly, purple-crimson orbs were, among a pile of produce that positively screamed summer: tomatoes, peaches, peppers, cucumbers, Silver Queen corn.

Don't get me wrong: I adore beets! I know a lot of people feel strongly otherwise about them, but I've always liked them (the exception being Harvard beets). It's just that, even though they're in season in summer (June to October), their jewel tone, rich, sweet flavor and satisfying nature (beets are a good source of fiber) make them seem, to me at least, more suited to fall and winter.

By the time Robert revived the beets in cold water and removed their wilted greens, I put that thought out of my mind and set about preparing them.

The nice thing about beets is that you can use every inch of them.  Their leafy greens are mild, and can be added to salads or steamed or sauteed. Although the greens with this particular bunch had seen better days, I rescued the reddish-green stalks, steamed them until tender and tossed them with a little butter and salt and pepper.

Since it was a low-humidity day, I decided to turn on the oven and roast the beet bulbs -- roasting brings out their natural sweetness even further. To roast, wash and dry beets, prick them all over with a fork and place in a casserole. Cover the casserole with foil and roast the beets in a 425-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until tender but not mushy. When the beets have cooled enough to handle, slip the skins off them, slice and dress as desired.

I usually roast beets in advance, slice them and store them in a covered container in the refrigerator. Serve them warm on a small pile of sauteed greens and stalks or use them in salads. A salad we like is mixed greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette and topped with sliced beets, toasted walnuts and blue cheese (well, blue cheese for one of us).

In addition to being versatile and waste-free, beets are low in calories (less than 40 for a half-cup serving), a good source of fiber, folic acid, calcium, iron, potassium and vitamin C. More good news: Studies have shown that betacyanin, the pigment that gives beets their color, is effective in fighting cancer (colon cancer in particular).

So, eat your beets!

Eating local, one meal at a time

A chalkboard above the food case at Circa restaurant and market in Cazenovia -- one of the freshest, local restaurants in Central New York -- spells out a few good reasons to eat local food.

• Eating local food is good for the local economy.
• Supporting local producers supports responsible land development.
• Last but not least: Local food is fresher and therefore tastes better.

I can vouch for the last item, especially, after a blue-ribbon day of eating local on Sunday.

BREAKFAST

The day began with a half-cup serving of Wake Robin Farm yogurt, topped with a sliced peach, a handful of blueberries and a sprinkling of honey walnuts, all from the Regional Market in Syracuse.

LUNCH

Raisin-cranberry bread from Rock Hill Bakehouse, Glens Falls, is the foundation for a peanut butter and strawberry-rhubarb jam sandwich.

Rock Hill Bakehouse sells its European-style breads in Shed A at the Regional Market on Saturdays. The raisin-cranberry bread is delicious toasted, and also made an excellent grilled cheese sandwich on Monday.

DINNER

Pappardelle (wide fettuccine) from Lombardi's Fruits and Imports, at the corner of Butternut and Lodi Streets, in Syracuse, dressed with homemade "French Pesto,'' a recipe from a favorite cookbook, "Bistro Cooking,'' by Patricia Wells.

The organic basil in the pesto, which substitutes heavy cream or creme fraiche for the usual olive oil, is from Sundance Farm, near Skaneateles. The pesto and pappardelle, needless to say, make for a tres rich dinner.

It's easy to eat local in summertime, when roadside stands beckon with fresh produce and there's a farmers market, somewhere in Onondaga County, just about every day of the week.

It gets a little more challenging in the fall and winter, when cherries, peaches and blueberries give way to apples, apples and apples and squash, squash and squash.

Speaking of challenge: The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) is sponsoring its first "Locavore Challenge'' during September. Participants sign up for a day, a week or the full month, and pay a nominal fee to register.

We do pretty well at keeping our diet and food dollars local, but there's always room for improvement, especially when it comes to locally raised meat and poultry. So I'm going to sign on for a week and make meat/poultry/dairy my areas to work on.

Will you join me?