31 Days + Preserving the Harvest {Juliet Tomatoes}

This weekend's rain was the perfect excuse to stay inside and putter around the kitchen. I spent a good portion of my time preserving the last of our tomatoes. The easiest to tackle were these little gems. Have you heard of Juliet tomatoes?

Ryan and I first planted these little beauties in our garden last year, and after the drought we had in Wisconsin, they were pretty much the only thing that grew. And grow they did! We were harvesting bowlfuls every couple of days, and we only put in one plant.

This year, it was a no-brainer to include Juliets in our garden. And, since we overdid it a tiny bit on plant buying day, we put in 3 plants. Even though the garden has been sorely neglected this year, we're harvesting these beautiful little jewels by the bowlful again this year.

While I love to eat them out of hand (with salt, of course), or chopped up in salads, there's just no way we can stay ahead of our massive plants. Here are my two favorite ways to preserve these little bites of sunshine so we can enjoy them in the cold winter months that lie ahead.

Dehydrating

This is just as easy as can be. Simply halve the tomatoes lengthwise, and spread out on your food dehydrator racks cut side up. You can sprinkle with a little salt and/or dried herbs, but most of the time I'm lazy and just leave them as-is. Dry at 135 degrees for 12 to 24 hours, checking every so often to pick out the dry ones. Instead of letting the tomatoes get brittle, I like to leave them slightly squidgy and soft, and then package them up by the cupful into freezer bags and freeze. They're great added to a winter Caprese grilled cheese sandwich, or added to your winter pizzas or pastas. They make a fantastic appetizer on toasted baguette with a little goat cheese. Personally, I like to just snack on them straight from the bag too.

Roasting

This is slightly more labor-intensive, but worth every second.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. On a large baking sheet, dump as many tomatoes as will fit. To the pan, add several peeled whole cloves of garlic, whatever fresh or dried herbs float your boat (I'm partial to thyme), salt, pepper, and a good healthy drizzle of olive oil. Roast for at least an hour (but probably closer to 2). You can tell they're done when the tomatoes are all slumped over and raisin-y.

Again, I like to freeze these beauties by the cupful and pull them out to add to fresh cooked pasta with a little grating of Parmesan cheese, or serve as a rustic starter with grilled bread to catch all the delicious tomato-olive oil juice.

The beauty of these two methods of preserving is that they basically tend to themselves. You either set up the dehydrator or the oven and then putter around while the tomatoes do their thing, only checking on them every once in awhile. And yet, still getting things done, still crossing something off the To Do list. My kind of putting by.
 

Did you miss the first week of 31 Days of Don't Think...Just Do? You can view the whole series here.

Preserving the Harvest :: Marinara



There's something about the start of fall that makes me yearn for the coziness of gooey, cheesey baked pasta. A hearty lasagna with chunks of spicy sausage, stuffed shells with an earthy mix of ricotta and sauteed Swiss chard, or even a weeknight baked ravioli. I call this hibernation food. It's great, stick-to-your-ribs, warm you from the inside out food. Perfect after a day of raking leaves. This might also be why I gain 10 pounds every winter. What can I say, I'm a Wisconsin girl that loves her cheese and pasta. But I digress...

While it's easy to open a jar of your favorite storebought pasta sauce for these dishes, starting them off with homemade marinara makes them extra special. I don't know about you, but I don't have the time to stand at the stove making a big batch of sauce every time the yearn for pasta hits. Enter home-canned marinara.





 

As I mentioned before, I have been working on perfecting a cannable marinara recipe for a couple years now. While I also like to freeze marinara, I don't always remember to thaw it in time and there's something really special about seeing the pretty jars all lined up in the basement.

After making another big batch Sunday, I can confirm it's the tastiest marinara  that's come out of my kitchen in a long time. I hope you like it as much as we do.

A note on the tomatoes - feel free to use whatever kinds you have/prefer. I like plum/Roma tomatoes, but rarely get 12 pounds at a time, so I use a mix of whatever we harvest from the garden. Also, please refrain from adding onions or garlic to the sauce. Adding too much from the allium family brings the pH of the sauce to a questionable zone for safe canning practices. I like to saute a few cloves of garlic in olive oil, then add the sauce to the pan to simmer for a bit before serving.

Marinara

12 pounds tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil, rough chopped

1 tablespoon red chili flakes (optional)

6 tablespoons bottled lemon juice

Over medium-high heat, add tomatoes, salt, vinegar, sugar, and dried herbs to a large nonreactive pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

 

Continue to cook, breaking the tomatoes down with a wooden spoon, until the sauce is nice and thick. This can take 2 to 3 hours.

 

While sauce is simmering, sterilize canning jars in a large pot of boiling water. Set aside. Fill a large canning pot with water and bring to boil.

 

Once sauce has thickened, add fresh basil. Briefly blend sauce with immersion blender. Raise temperature to a boil. Meanwhile, add new canning lids to a pot of simmering water to prepare for canning.

 

Add 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to each pint canning jar. Ladle hot sauce into canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims with a clean, damp cloth, then add lids and bands. Process in hot water bath for 20 minutes.

 

Remove jars from hot water bath and let cool.

Yield:  About 6 pints

Menu Planning

Aside from canning, one thing I found critical when dealing with a massive influx of veggies from the garden is to plan the heck out of our menu. If I get lazy with menu planning, we end up sacrificing too much of our hard-earned work to the compost pile.

Our schedule has been really out of whack since getting back from our road trip. As a result, we've been eating way too much junk and the dining room table is absolutely heaving with produce that needs our attention. I just know that working a few veggie-heavy meals into the rotation will really help us get back on track with both healthy eating and managing our harvest a little more reasonably.

Tonight we have plans for dinner, so let's start with tomorrow:

Friday:  Tomato, Chard, & Bacon Tart and Zucchini Garlic Soup
Saturday:  Stir Fry with Chicken Thighs, Mushrooms, Onions, & Broccoli
Sunday:  Roast Beef, Mashed Red Potatoes, Cucumber, Red Onion, & Tomato Salad
Monday:  Chef Salads
Tuesday:  Italian Beef Sandwiches with Provolone & Homemade Marinara, Big Salad 
Wednesday:  Leftovers
Thursday:  Grilled Chicken Salads
Friday:  Grilled Brats, Sauerkraut, Veggies & Dip
Saturday:  Pizza Date
Sunday:  Meatloaf, Roasted Red Potatoes, Big Salad

Of course, things will probably change, shift around, and go by the wayside. But having a plan like this means my grocery shopping is pretty minimal and I can use up a lot of those wonderful veggies!