Old fashioned tomato sauce

It was one of those rare occasions when tomatoes were at a super price at the supermarket. M spotted beautiful big tomatoes for sale at only $2.00 a kilo, a complete bargain in our city, so early in the 'season'. If you have them growing in your garden this summer - lucky you! The wind here batters my plants to the point they just give up supplying any fruit!

The man has always loved this homemade tomato sauce. It was originally named Nana Spence's tomato sauce, a lady who has sadly long gone so I can't get her permission to use the recipe. I understand she was a lovely Nana so I suspect she won't mind if I share the love and post it in this blog.
It is the second year I have made it. It will last for a long time in a cool dry place (our wine cellar is the perfect spot).
You will get a slightly different taste depending on the apples you use, how much cayenne pepper is added and of course the ripeness of your tomatoes. Suffice to say I am very pleased with this latest batch.
We did a little experiment to see if the old fashioned style of sauce contains less sugar per serving. It comes just a little under the mass produced sort, but we think because it is homemade it must be better for you!

Nana Spence’s Tomato Sauce

The original recipe was in imperial measurement. We have adapted it to metric.

I used 6kg of tomatoes which made about 8 litres of sauce.

Allow a large part of a day to do this – it takes a while to prepare, cook, sterilise bottles and bottle.

You need a muslin bag for the spices, an extra big pot for this quantity and a mouli.

We used granny smith apples in one batch and red apples in the second. It made the latter sauce a little darker.

Ingredients

5kg tomatoes

800 grams onions

1.7kg apples

1.25kg brown sugar

56 grams whole cloves

1 tsp (or more) of cayenne

56g pepper (you could try peppercorns)

56g whole spice (I used ground and it was ok, but best to use whole)

125g plain salt

1 to 2 bottles of cider vinegar (you could use malt but cider gives a better flavour we think)

Method

Place all whole spices in a muslin bag and tie securely.

Cut onions, apples, tomatoes into quarters and place in large preserving pan or pot.

Add all other ingredients (except the vinegar).

Bring to boil and simmer for an hour – keep stirring every now and then to ensure it doesn’t stick on the bottom.

Then add vinegar, boil for another hour.

Cool and mouli to remove the skins and bottle  into sterilised bottles

Vegan Nut Rissoles

Yes, it has been a while! I have been busy travelling in the United States and doing other such exciting things.  

What can I share about my observations of the cuisine in the U.S.?  It is like the country, very varied and very BIG. Every serving we received was just huge. Why you need ten slices of ham in a roll is anyone's guess. And when you ordered a salad it often came as a serving for four people, not one. In fact we ended up just sharing many of our lunches and dinners! We also found food was often quite inexpensive, especially the take-away -  'all you can eat' for $8.00 variety.

I did enjoy my lovely fresh lobster in Maine (very much) and in Denver tried what they call 'gravy and biscuits' - once -  not so much enjoyed - in fact I thought it was really yuck!! 

You would consider this vegan recipe at the other end of the cuisine spectrum. It came from one of my 'cutting folders'. (They are not getting any smaller either). I was trying to have a bit of a clean out when I came across it filed away. It must be quite old, as it came from the Christchurch Press in my old home town where I moved from 14 years ago.

Everyone loves them, but as with most vegan or vegetarian cooking you need to be prepared well ahead of time! And they would have to be pretty good for you.

Just a note, I found it quite hard to mash the tofu so 'pulsed' it in my Kitchen whizz instead.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Natty Patty ( Judith Sutton)  a cutting from the Christchurch Press – date unknown

Vegan Nut Rissoles

Makes 12 generous-sized rissoles

440g tofu

1 cup rolled oats

1 c fresh vegetables – grated carrot, pepper, cabbage etc

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp each of salt and hing*

¼ cup peanut butter

2 tbsp tomato paste

¾ cup mixed nuts and seeds – toasted and ground

Black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

2 tbsp Tamari or good quality soya sauce

Oil for cooking

Place tofu into a large mixing bowl, then mash with a potato masher.

Add remaining ingredients, then combine.

Oil hands and shape into rissoles.

Fry in a lightly oiled pan over a medium-low heat allowing 5 minutes each side.

Good with tomato relish.

*Hing, also known as Asafetida, is a substitute for onion and garlic. It can be purchased from a wholefood shop or Asian store. 

I added a slice of eggplant and tomato for a nice garnish.

 

Spiced Roast Parsnip & Kumara Soup

The one thing I love about wintery days is soup! I would eat soup with toast twelve months of the year if I could, great comfort food. But somehow when the day is hot and sunny, eating soup is not the way to go.(And no, I'm not a fan of cold soup).
I would not describe the weather in recent weeks as mild, in fact (in Wellington) it has been unusually cold. My thick woolly jumpers have made a rare appearance after being tucked away for many years of living in this 'mild' city.
Based on my previous experience of southern winters, I packed a thick woolly jumper in my suitcase to wear while on a recent trip to my home city. Surprisingly, I found the weather to be mild so said garment stayed in my bag, which only gave me an excuse to purchase a few light extras to wear while I was on holiday. I think I just picked the right week, as a week later the snow was back!
to the soup........
I have a number of perennial soup favourites but I love to try new ingredients with new flavours.
I came across this lovely recipe by Bernadette Hogg in the NZ House and Garden July 2015 edition. I have now made it about six times. I love it. Parsnips are always a winner for me and this is especially nice due to the addition of the Sumac parsnip chip garnish. I also love the flavour of cumin in dishes.
The recipe makes a lot and freezes well. It reminds me (sadly), it would be lovely to be able to grow parsnips in my garden.......

Spiced Roast Parsnip & Kumara Soup
1kg medium parsnips (plus one- two extra for the garnish)
200g red kumara
1 onion - all above chopped into even sized pieces
2 tsp cumin seeds
4 cloves of garlic - skins on
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp green curry paste (which includes shrimps, making this dish not strictly vegetarian)
1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock
200ml of cream (I left this out as my soup was beautiful and thick without it, garnishing it with drizzled cream is as nice)
Chips
2 medium parsnips
Vegetable oil for frying
1/2 tsp sumac
2 tsp flaky salt

Method
Heat oven to 220C. Line a baking dish with baking paper.
Place parsnips, kumara, onion, cumin seeds and garlic in baking dish.
Add olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
Roast until the vegetables are slightly caramelised and tender, about 35 minutes, tossing them once or twice during the cooking.
Meanwhile add a little olive oil to a large saucepan and heat to low/medium heat. Add green curry paste and cook gently, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Once vegetables are cooked, pop the garlic from the skins and add to the saucepan along with the other vegetables and stock.
Using a stick blender, blend until smooth.
Bring soup to boil, then lower to a simmer and add cream.

I could eat a plate of these on their own

Serve with Sumac chips
Chips: Use a potato peeler and cut parsnip into long, thin strips.
Deep fry the strips in batches in hot oil until golden.
Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with combined sumac and salt.
The recipe is so inexpensive to make and will be a hit with parsnip lovers!

What have you been up to lately?

I am finding my 'food  blog time' very challenging at the moment. For a number of reasons.
Firstly, one of my other passions is craft work and any spare hours seemed to have been taken up with creating in that sphere and not totally in the kitchen.
Having said that, I have been having fun working my way through Chelsea Winter's cookbook - At my Table.  Which is not great for our waistlines. I have made numerous batches of her Ginger Crunch and Triple Chocolate Brownie, both winners!!  Her chicken pie was a mission but the best recipe ever for pie loving crowds.
For Mothers Day I recieved Annabel Langbein's new book, Winter Goodness. It has an unusual layout but I just love the recipes, ideas and tips she has to offer. Making a Sofrito flavour base first (and freezing what is not needed)  is new to me but I am now a convert to this great short cut for when you are short on time.Having made her slow cooked Beef Bourguignon this way, the slow cooked Bolognaise is next.
A huge hit with the family was Annabel's Toffee Date Puddings with Butterscotch Sauce. Delicious!
Secondly, after many months of idleness, I am back on the sewing machine. New overalls for the youngest grandson (made from recycled ladies woollen pants), and a nice red skirt for me. Also, hubby and I bought a fabulous new Afghan rug, but new cushions were needed to make it a bit more 'matchy, matchy' in the sitting room. (I'm having a bit of a love for the colour Chartreuse, so four cushions later. I had hoped for enough for a skirt but sadly no left overs,  and it was the last of the roll!)  
Working and creating gives me great pleasure, but there are only so many hours in a day.  It seems I do not have time for much work anymore, and the volunteering hours just have to fit around my 'hobbies'. And as for attacking my massive book pile, sadly (lately) I am poring over knitting books at bedtime!
In the past few months I have made two knitted rugs. Yes, knitting has  become a bit of an obsession. So much so along with a bunch of great friends we have formed a K-nitting group. We take turns at hosting and (while knitting of course) we happily chatter over coffee comparing notes, showing our  latest project and getting excited about the next one.We are limiting our group to six or seven. We think any more and we might lose the closeness (and we might miss out on something ) and I agree.
It was at our first meeting Jan  (my friend who introduced me Domino knitting) showed me how to do I-Cord knitting. Now I am hooked with this new skill and another rug has been started.
Leonie introduced to the knitting blog world - and no I am not going to go there!  There are far too many talented people to compete with. And I can only follow simple patterns that don't require you to be a mathematical genius!
Shown in the photo is my last project.
Next, I am back to food and plan to share a delicious Spiced Parsnip soup!

It was going to be raffled for charity but the man of the house said 'no way - I like it so it's staying here'!