When I first heard of making spaghetti sauce in less than 30 minutes, I was skeptical. The classic spaghetti sauces, such as Pasta Bolognese that my mother used to make took hours. But with the availability of intensely-flavored heirloom tomatoes from my garden, it was time to take inspiration from America’s Test Kitchen and see what was possible in 30 minutes. The result is, in my opinion, fresh, zesty, and flavorful and a perfect accompaniment to most any type of pasta.
Posted on 23 June '09 by Morgan, under Cooking & Harvest Preservation. No Comments.
I’ve been making a lot of oven roasted sauce lately. It’s an easy way to turn your excess tomato harvest into a tasty, rich sauce to enjoy throughout the year. I originally got the idea from critterologist on Dave’s Garden, who wrote an informative and detailed article about it there. She says it is “pure ambrosia”, and I agree! I’ll never go back to slaving over a hot stove top to cook down tomatoes into sauce again. This method frees up my time to get some other things done while the sauce is roasting, and tastes much better.
Any tomatoes you have on hand can be used. Meaty paste types are not necessary. Got a buildup of cherry tomatoes? Throw ‘em in too.
Posted on 22 June '09 by Suze, under Cooking & Harvest Preservation. 5 Comments.
The 3rd annual South East Texas Tomato Festival (SETTFest) returned to the historic Washington on the Brazos state park on June 13th, 2009. We had our best turnout yet, with familiar faces, new folks, and unexpected guests. We had a great time, had everything set up early, so we could just enjoy visiting with folks.
Our mission at SETTFest is to introduce heirloom tomatoes to Central and South Texas gardeners and farmers alike, dispel the myths that only ‘heat setter’ varieties can be grown here, and offer advice and seeds wherever we can. So it was great to see folks asking lots of questions (including a few stumpers!), gathering seeds, and talking shop.
We are thrilled that more and more folks are bringing tomatoes and other items as well. There was a nice spread of breads, cheeses, pasta salads, etc. This was a tough year for tomatoes in our area due to the heatwave and torrential downpours in early May. But still most folks managed to get something and we enjoyed tasting varieties that others brought. Indeed one of the best varieties at the event was Atkinson.
Thanks all for making this a great event!
Posted on 14 June '09 by Morgan, under News & Events. 2 Comments.
