I’ve made marinara many times before.  Usually in 20 lb batches, which I then freeze.  When I was researching amounts and technique for this project, the page that was the most useful was my own: Homemade Marinara Tomato Sauce for the Freezer.  I also drew on the lessons of my most recent (and very first) canning project: September Salsa for Canning.

I like my marinara sauce simple—tomatoes, onions, seasoning—so I can doctor it up later with whatever I have on hand.  This turns out to be perfect for canning since it’s the tomatoes that carry the acid and too many other ingredients could raise the pH out of the safe zone (should be no higher than 4.6) for water bath canning.  I did check my tomatoes and the pH was less than 5.5 (which is as low as my paper goes).

Ingredients:

60 lbs Roma tomatoes
4 very large yellow onions
Olive oil for sauteing (a couple tablespoons)
Sea salt to taste
6 bay leaves
2 branches (about 18″ total) fresh rosemary
Fresh herbs (I used parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, and basil, about a quart of loose leaves)
Red wine (I used just under half a bottle of cabernet sauvignon, an excellent $4 wine from Whole Foods)
Cane sugar (optional but helps counter the inevitable burnt spots), about 2 TB

Preparing the Equipment:

Fill your canner with the approximate amount of water you’ll need to put in all the jars and cover them by an inch, cover it, and get it boiling. It can take a long time to boil this much water, so it’s best to start it early then just keep it warm.

Wash jars and lids.

Put jars into a 200*F oven. This tip was pure genius! All the other instructions I read say to boil the jars and that means you have no room on the stove, have your canning pot in use (or have to use two), and the jars are wet. With the oven they were out of the way and dry.

Last time I put lids into a pan of water which I boiled on the stove then kept warm.  But I didn’t have any spare pots or burners, so I put them in a stainless steel bowl of water in the oven instead.  Worked great.

Sanitizing jars and lids for canning

Making the Sauce:

You want to start this sauce the day before you can.  The tomatoes take a long time to simmer down.  Normally I’d prep the canner and the sauce separately but, with this much sauce, I needed the canner to cook it.

Wash tomatoes and remove any bad spots.  I don’t seed or skin them, I just toss them in whole, except for really big ones, which I cut in half lengthwise.  If the tomatoes have a tough stem end, I cut it out.

I used the big canner (21 quarts) plus two good sized soup pots.  No way would I have fit all those tomatoes in though.  But, by the time I finished washing and prepping the last of 4 tomato boxes, the first couple boxes worth mushed down enough to make room.  I’m guessing raw and whole, that’s 40-45 quarts of tomatoes (more if you try to pack them into jars).

Fitting 60 lbs of tomatoes into 3 pots

Now you want to cook them.  A lot.  Start with the heat on low.  The bottle layer will burn if you don’t get some liquid in there.  Either add some water (just enough to give you 1/4 to 1/2″ on the bottom) or dice up the first few tomatoes and cook them for a minute first.  You can dice all the tomatoes if you want, but it takes a long time.  They fall apart fairly quickly with heat and it’s fun to smoosh them with your spoon.

Stir them frequently and keep the heat high enough to see some bubbles but low enough to avoid boiling.  Boiling may reduce it faster but it greatly increases the risk of burning and it will mute the flavor.

I cooked these down for about 8 hours on Friday and perhaps as long on Saturday.   I was sick on Saturday so had to wait until Sunday to can.  I always turn the heat off overnight or if I need to leave the house for more than 5 minutes.   As time passed, those 3 pots turned into 2.  You can add salt at any point after a few hours.  I recommend undersalting because when you concentrate the tomatoes, you also concentrate the salt.  Salt will help the tomatoes fall apart.

Tomatoes reducing

On the second day, when the pots were cool, I moved them to my counter and used a stick blender to puree the tomatoes.  Then I added fresh rosemary spears and bay leaves to the pots.  Be sure to count how many you put in and don’t add them until after you puree.

About an hour before I was ready to can, I fished out the whole herbs (count them) and added the other ingredients.  Since I had to wait an extra day, I made sure to bring the sauce up to a brief boil for safety reasons, then I turned it back down to a simmer before adding.  At this point, I was able to fit everything into the big canning pot.

Sauce simmering down with herbs

I peeled and quartered the onions and put them through the shredder of my food processor.  While I prefer a more square cut, this job took less than 5 minutes, vs about 15 if I did them by hand (even longer because I’m a crier).  Saute the onions in some olive oil until they have a bit of color but don’t brown them.  Add the wine and onions to the sauce.

I food processed the leafy herbs until minced and added them very close to the end.  Go ahead and salt to taste.  If the sauce has any bitter, sour, or burnt undertones, add a bit of sugar.

I had to transfer the sauce to smaller pots and wash the canner.

Filling the Jars:

The sauce should be hot when you fill the jars so I was sure to keep one pot on a burner and turn it on a few minutes before each fill.  Take the jars and lids out of the oven right before you need them so they don’t cool too much.

I ladled the sauce into a canning funnel. I couldn’t find my real canning funnel so I used a make-shift one, the cut off top of a gallon plastic jug (the sturdy plastic).

Processing the Jars:

Wipe any spills off the rims, put the rubber rings on the plastic lids (I use Tattler BPA-free lids), and put the metal rings on loosely. Tighten ring with finger pushing down on the lid. Then loosen lid 1/4″. (If you’re using Ball lids, follow the directions on the box.)

I don’t own a canning rack but found a perforated baking rack that fit well.

Have the water at a boil before adding jars. Adjust water so it is at least 1″ over the top of the lids. Bring back to a boil then set a timer for 45 minutes. Using a jar lifter, remove finished jars to a rack (or in my case, boxes with towels) to cool. Tighten the lids.  You don’t do this with Ball lids, just with Tattler.

Tattler lids do not ping. There are no sounds at all with them. When jars are cool (the next day), remove the rings and make sure the lids are secure. Label and store.

How Much did I Make?

20 pounds of tomatoes made a little over 6 quarts of sauce when I did it for the freezer.  This recipe was pretty similar.  I used 60 lbs of tomatoes and ended up with 18.5 quarts.  I processed 17 quart jars and saved 1.5 for the fridge.  One of the jars didn’t seal (the rubber ring wasn’t positioned right) so I put it in the freezer.  The lid fell off as soon as I removed the metal ring, so there was no guesswork there.

Cost? The tomatoes were $60, the onions around $4, and the wine about $1.50.  The herbs came from my garden (except for the bay leaf, which is minimal).  $65.50 divided by 18.5 comes out to $3.54 per quart jar.  Not cheap but much thicker and better than anything I can buy.  And it’s all organic too.

Finished marinara sauce

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Yes, you do want paste tomatoes for this.  Roma is the most available variety but there are others, including many heirlooms.  Paste tomatoes are drier than slicing or cherry tomatoes so there is less liquid to cook down.  They also stand up better to long cooking times.  If you eat a paste tomato raw, it won’t have much flavor.  But trust me, once you’ve simmered or roasted it will be intense.

The bottom of a big box of roma tomatoes

I washed the tomatoes by immersing in a bowl of water and lifting them out, minus their stems.  Then I cut out any bad parts and then sliced into quarters (or so).  I think I am not going to bother to cut them up next time.  They really fall apart easily in the pot and you puree them later anyway.  But I will inspect each and every one for scars or bad spots (cut out the stem ends if they are large or woody).  And of course to make sure no stems or leaves are there.

Quartering tomatoes

Simmer on low heat in big pot for several hours, let it sit overnight with the heat off, then cook some more.  Note how the picture shows some bubbles on the edges but no bubbles from boiling.  That’s what you want.  Boiling is much too hot.  Check and stir often.

When a few hours from the end, add a bit of salt and 2 bay leaves.

Simmering tomatoes

If you’re not careful about the heat or stirring frequently, you will end up with some burnt parts on the bottom.  In fact, a lot of sauce recipes just assume you will have some “crust” at the bottom and tell you not to stir too deep.  But you can prevent all or most of it if you’re watchful.  Don’t worry about some browned stuff at the bottom though.

And, by all means, do not–I repeat, do not–let your spouse put a lid on the simmering pot in order to do something else on the stove and accidentally knock the dial of the electric stove from “single burner low” to “double burner high” and then ignore it because it’s not his sauce.  When I went to check on it 20 minutes later, it was bad.  Smokey smell and a burnt taste in the sauce.  I was not a happy chef.

Burnt sauce on the bottom of the pot

Here’s how I fixed it:

1. Carefully move the sauce to another pot (do not pour; scoop and avoid touching the bottom).
2. Put in some sugar to counter the burnt flavor (I used 2 tablespoons).
3. Add a raw peeled potato to the sauce and simmer it in there for a while.  It soaks up the bad flavor.

It did work.  The sauce has a definite smokey undertone but it’s still very good and usable.

When the sauce is done, it will be much reduced from where it started and the tomatoes will have completely fallen apart.  It should look like this.

Tomato sauce ready for pureeing

I then sauteed 2 medium onions, diced, in olive oil.  For some (okay, most) applications I brown the onions but you don’t want to do that here.  The flavors will be off.  Make them translucent but stop before you get more than a hint of browning.

Sauteed onions

You can add most anything you like to your sauce.  If you like garlic, put it in with the onions.  If you want vegetables, dice them and either saute with the onions or add to the simmering sauce a couple hours before it is done (since it’s at low heat, it cooks things very slowly).

I decided I wanted a plainer sauce, so I could change it up as I liked later.  So I only added the onions (with olive oil), salt, and some fresh rosemary, oregano, and basil (very near the end).

Now it’s time to puree the sauce.  You can do this before or after you add the onions or anything else, depending on what you want.  I pureed after adding everything.  Be absolutely sure you remove all the bay leaves first though (and the potato if you burned your sauce).

I used my trusty Braun stick blender, which is perfect for this application.  I wanted the sauce to have texture but be reasonably smooth.

Pureed sauce ready to eat

This batch gave me 22 cups for freezing and 25 oz for the fridge.  Pyrex makes some 2 cup round glass storage containers with tight fitting plastic lids which are great in the freezer.  You can defrost the sauce the day before in the fridge or just slide it out of the Pyrex into your pot or nuke the glass (remove the lid first).

This sauce is of course great on pasta.  We also like it on sauteed tofu.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Chimichurri Sauce Recipe

2 bunches fresh herbs (any combo of parsley, cilantro, or mint)
Juice of 3 limes
Salt
Seasonings as desired (hot pepper, garlic, etc)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Take any parsley or cilantro bunches you’re using, twist off the bottom half of the stems and discard into the compost.  Then wash the remainder very well (cilantro in particular tends to hold dirt) by swishing and lifting out of a bowl of clean water, three times.  Pull mint leaves off and discard stems.

Shake or spin dry the herbs and put most of them (maybe 3/4) into the food processor.

Add the lime juice and some salt.  Note that the amounts given here are approximations.  Bunches vary in size and so do limes.  Each of them vary by water vs flavor.  There is just no way to know exactly how much lime juice or seasoning you’ll need.  So start with 3 limes and add 1 or 2 more if needed after you taste.  Start your salt amounts on the low side too.

I like a teaspoon or so of cumin (the seeds are best but powder is good too) and some mild heat.  Sometimes I use chipotle powder, other times I use chili flakes.  All depends what I’m in the mood for and what’s on hand.  If you want garlic, use fresh peeled cloves.  Rough chopping will help your processor out but is optional if you have a good one.  I’d use 2-6 cloves in this recipe, depending on how much you like garlic.

Process until smooth and taste.  Adjust lime juice, salt, and seasonings.  Repeat until it’s perfect.

Now, drizzle in the olive oil and process lightly.  Use more or less if you wish.

Finally, add the leftover herbs and pulse the processor so they are well chopped but still have texture.  If you’re using a processor that can’t do this well, or you are using a blender, then do the chopping by hand and add the minced herbs at the end.

Squeezing limes for chimichurri sauce

This sauce lasts several days in the fridge and you can use it to punch up just about anything.  It’s great with mashed avocados, browned extra firm tofu slices, firm white fish, or on crackers.  But one of my favorite ways to use it is in a bean salad.  Here are two different recipes.

Black Bean & Lentil Salad with Chimichurri Sauce

I used black beans and lentils in this dish, but you can substitute any legumes you wish.  Be sure to cook them so they are done but still firm. If they are mushy, you’ll end up with bean dip, not bean salad.

2 cups dry black beans, soaked overnight and drained
2 cups french green lentils, rinsed in water
4-5 small bell peppers

I cooked the beans and lentils separately (though in the same pot) so I wouldn’t risk having to overcook one. Feel free to cook them together if you’re better with timing than I am. Cook until done but firm, drain well (liquid is great for soup stock (freeze it) or put on plants outside).

Cut peppers in half, remove cap and seeds and slice into thin strips (cut in half if more than 3″ or so). Put on baking dish with a touch of olive oil and bake until soft. I did 25 mins at 350*F in a convention oven. If you use a regular oven, stir them every 5-10 mins.

Add peppers to beans, stir lightly, and add the chimichurri sauce.

In a blender, put the following (these are approximate amounts):

Mix in sauce. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Variation: for a bit of spice, make some of the peppers medium heat ones and cut fine (leave some peppers large and mild) or add hot pepper to the sauce.

Black Bean, Cucumber, & Tomato Salad with Chimichurri Sauce

Black beans (measure as 2 cups dried or 3-4 cups cooked, drain before using)
1 medium cucumber
2 large tomatoes, preferably heirloom

Dice the cucumbers and tomatoes and add to the beans.  Add the chimichurri sauce.  Mix and serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Black bean salad with chimichurri sauce

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Challenge #1: Prepare a 30 second promo for what could be their new show. Unlike in previous versions of this, each promo was carefully scripted (including wardrobe) by the Food Network and the contestant had a fair amount of time to do it, with multiple takes, a director, and rehearsals. Each promo was broken up into 2 or more mini-scenes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t done completely fairly. Aaron just had to walk down a hallway then he had to say something before throwing dice down a craps table. Adam had to stroll along a stage with a showgirl on each arm, with some closeups. But Lisa was harnessed to a rig where she went up a couple of stories, grabbed a bottle of wine from a shelf, and had to say her lines in multiple locations along the way. Needless to say, the quality of the promos was inverse to the difficulty.

Challenge #2: Prepare a buffet for 50 guests (the selection committee, hotel chefs, and Vegas performers). They had a reasonable 6 hours to cook and a $1000 budget. The buffet was supposed to be “over the top, Vegas style” and they had to do an “entertaining” intro before the service. Although they didn’t state any rules for the foods, each contestant appeared to have 3 main courses, one vegetable side dish, and a dessert.

How did things go? My favorite, Aaron, did the best with his promo but totally bombed at the buffet. His intro was embarrassingly bad and all three of his main courses were pasta (the reviews of the food were that it was okay but not great). Lisa did so-so with the promo (hard to do when dangling 15 feet in the air), fabulous with the buffet intro, and well with the food. Adam did decently with the promo, well with the buffet intro, and was the runaway favorite with the food.

It’s been obvious that the selection committee loves Aaron, likes Lisa but has reservations, and isn’t too fond of Adam. But because they traditionally gave immunity to the person who won a particular challenge, they couldn’t get rid of Adam. And they didn’t want to dump Aaron for having one bad week. So they wimped out and are bringing all 3 contestants to the final episode this Sunday. At least it’s in New York.

So, enough of that, what the heck would I make if I were feeding 50 people? The budget isn’t an issue, even with expensive items, because everyone ate all 3 buffets, so portions were small. $1000 is $20/person and you can do a lot with that (catering budgets include labor, not just ingredients, and they weren’t serving alcohol). I’d want to be true to my personal food restrictions, at least the basic ones.

Main Courses:

Sweet peppers stuffed with shrimp paste with a hoisin sauce (hot)
Grape leaves stuffed with fish (cold)
Vegan soup, maybe chickpea with Georgian Walnut paste (hot)

Vegetable/Side:

A beautiful raw salad (cold)

Dessert:

Mango sorbet topped with pine nut cream and toasted almonds (cold, but with hot almonds if possible)

The shrimp I envision is the kind you get in dim sum restaurants stuffed into tofu. You take raw shrimp and process it with some other ingredients. I’ve made it before but it was years ago. I’d add spice and something to bind it, egg or flax goo. Maybe peas or something like that for texture and a fresh flavor. Stuff into those gorgeous colored sweet peppers that are 1-2 bites each. Roast. Serve with a salty intense dipping sauce based on hoisin.

The grape leaves came to me as a great choice but, if I were really in a competition, I might swap them out since I don’t have much experience with grape leaves. I’d cook a mild white fish like halibut and mince (not process) it well with a lot of fresh flavors like parsley then either add chutney or use similar flavors.

I’ve made the soup before from one of my favorite cookbooks, Olive Trees & Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World, and it’s simple but really good. The walnut paste has a unique flavor and is used regularly within the country of Georgia.

The raw salad would have no lettuce but lots of carefully cut items to make it special. Lots of long thin strips like noodles. Avocado, some more of the sweet peppers, pea pods, bean sprouts, specialty mushrooms. I’d have to see what looked good in the store and went together. A variety of colors. Served either with a chimichurri sauce (lime juice, parsley, mint, cilantro, very good olive oil, and garlic) or something else with an intense flavor that would pull all the other ingredients together.

Mango sorbet is very simple, which is the best way to do it. Take very ripe mangoes, remove the skin and pits, and puree them. A touch of salt, a squeeze of lime, some vanilla is all you need. It’s plenty sweet enough. Most people would add simple syrup but mango doesn’t need more sugar and all that water will just dilute the flavor.

I’d serve it with some vanilla bean pine nut cream (because you don’t have to soak pine nuts) and some toasted almond slices on top. If the kitchen didn’t have an ice cream maker, I could freeze half the puree in ice cube trays and then blend it up and then freeze again (watching it carefully so it doesn’t get too hard).

My meal could be done by 2 people (each contestant got a former contestant as a sous chef) in 6 hours with no problems. Granted, it did take me a few days to come up with the dishes, instead of near instanteneously like the contestants are forced to do. And I might not be able to get every ingredient I needed (in January, in the middle of the desert…oh, they’d all be in the store, just not at their peak). But hey, I’m a blogger in front of a computer, not a trained cook trying to smile for the camera. I get to imagine success.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Challenge #1: Feature one special ingredient (the potato) in a single dish (45 minutes to make it…if I remember correctly).  Full use of the pantry for other ingredients.  Then hold the dish, face the camera, and speak about it for exactly one minute, telling a personal story about yourself in relationship to the dish.  The selection committee then tasted the dish in private.

Potatoes…oy.  They don’t make it easy to be a lowcarber on this show.  But at least it wasn’t wheat, dairy, or pig.  Although I haven’t cooked them in ages, I have several potato dishes I used to make.  Here are two that would have worked well.

Curry Mashed Potatoes

Dice potatoes small so they will cook quickly (unnecessary if not facing a deadline)
When done, drain and mash
Add raw egg, mix well to cook
Add curry powder and any other desired seasoning

The story would be how I lived in Nicaragua for 6 months 20 years ago and learned how to cook with very limited ingredients.  This recipe came from a Dutch woman volunteering at the same school where I volunteered.  (I’m trying to remember if this recipe has yoghurt or milk in it…I don’t think so, because those were hard to come by there.)

Potato and Egg Fry

Slice potatoes and onions, saute in oil until starting to brown
Add cubes of apple, stir
Turn off heat, add beaten egg, stir until done (I like undercooked eggs so perhaps I would have left the heat on longer to bring the eggs up to a more medium state of being cooked)
Add salt and pepper as desired

No specific story here, it’s just comfort food.  Maybe say something about how I made this dish a lot when I was in college and away from home cooking all my own meals.

If I wanted to do a vegan one I’d probably try to roast the potatoes (if I had time) with good olive oil, sea salt, and fresh rosemary.  Perhaps with some parsnips and carrots.

Challenge #2: Create a packaged food product that represents you.  Plan and shop for it quickly (half an hour to shop, not sure how much planning time but it was brief), cook/create the product and put into a couple dozen containers with printed labels (not much cooking time, an hour or two), and put aside overnight.  The next day, get 30 minutes to set up your table, including cooking all your demo items, and present your product to 50 food buyers (real people from places like Harry’s & David’s and William Sonoma) and one special guest, Martha Stewart.

I just don’t get these people.  Are they looking for great ideas or are they looking for grace under pressure?  I understand that they didn’t want people to take a week to source ingredients and do test runs, but do everything in a couple of hours?  One contestant, for example, needed cayenne pepper for his dish, but another contestant had taken it all.  It’s a common ingredient and he could have gotten it quickly from another store, but wasn’t allowed.

This is my dream challenge though.   I have all sorts of ideas for food products and I already have experience with organic certification, sourcing ingredients, knowing a lot about what is and isn’t available, pricing, and so forth.

If I had the money or the backing, I’d create a line of salad dressings, sauces, oils, and similar products that were all affordable and healthy based on my idea of healthy.  That means organic of course but mostly it means no junk food oils.  Have you ever tried to find a salad dressing with unrefined oil?  Even the organic ones at Whole Foods (including their brand) are based on refined soybean, canola, or safflower oils.  Yeck.  I get sick when I eat them.

If I were in this challenge, I’d make this dressing:

Olive tomato mustard dressing

Extra virgin olive oil
Raw apple cider vinegar
Sun-dried tomatoes
Olives (green and black)
Mustard
Hemp seed or sesame seed
Herbs, salt, etc

Blend together well in to a thick but pourable sauce.  It could even be made 100% raw if it were packaged for the refrigerated shelf.  Would still be healthy and good if steamed into a glass container.

I doubt I’d sell my concept well though.  Even for most people who are health conscious, unrefined oils aren’t on their radar.  They think of extra virgin olive oil as the expensive stuff you save for special occasions.  Rachael Ray has changed that to some degree, since she cooks with the stuff, but you still hear people like Alton Brown telling viewers not to waste the extra virgin on things like pesto (which is one food that really needs good oil).  When it comes to other oils, forget it.  Who cares about unrefined sunflower oil or untoasted sesame?  This is the era where refined, genetically engineered, pesticided canola oil is considered healthy.

Food buyers would take one look at my products and say, but there already are organic salad dressings (etc) out there, what makes yours different?  And I’d have a hard time answering without using the words “poison” “plastic” or “evil.”  That’s why I would make a complex one like the recipe above.  It tastes really good and it’s different.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve seen a couple seasons of this series before and it’s different each time. Sometimes the camera skills challenges (pacing a cooking segment, facing the audience (camera) as you do it, explaining things just so) start immediately (which means they expect some bumpiness because everyone’s new) and sometimes they come later (when they expect contestants to be more polished).

For one season, they kept emphasizing choosing recipes for the home cook, yet most of the challenges involved cooking for dozens or hundreds of people. Very odd. And pretty much always, they focus on fast fast fast. You’re lucky if you have a few hours to prep and cook (vs a few minutes) and the longest period I’ve ever seen for cooking is overnight (with no tending allowed). This rules out a huge percentage of dishes: bread, pickles, roasts, marinades, slow cookers, even beans. It’s an odd, but consistent, restriction.

Thanks to my trusty DVR, I’m a bit behind with the shows. I just watched the first one which aired June 1, 2008. Ten finalists were put through two challenges.

Challenge #1: Face the camera, with or without a prop, and state your culinary point of view in one sentence (or very quickly).

I know exactly what mine would be–I thought about it in past seasons too–though I’m still not sure how to articulate it succinctly. No props for me.

Vegetarian? food allergy? special diet? I’m Cyndi Norwitz and I’m going to show you how to turn a dietary restriction into an opportunity.

Challenge #2: The 10 contestants were randomly paired into 5 groups of 2. They had to present a 3 dish meal to 9 Food Network stars and producers (plus make a “beauty plate”). Each person in the pair had to make one dish that represented their culinary point of view, then collaborate on the third. The hard part was they had 10 minutes to plan their menu, a few minutes to shop, then only 30 minutes in the kitchen to prep, cook, and plate everything (with no help).

The time element made this one really hard. Just having a few more minutes to plan and another half hour to cook would have made all the difference. But I think I would have done this dish:

Chopped salad–lettuce, shredded root vegetables, avocado, and tomato–with an olive, sun-dried tomato vinaigrette (blended mostly smooth) and topped with seared salmon and mushrooms.

I would wash and slice mushrooms, sear the fish with mushrooms, then pop it in the oven (7-10 mins total, could save 3 minutes if I had pre-sliced mushrooms). Then wash and prep the salad veggies and blend the dressing (7-10 mins, assuming I had an electric shredder and a salad spinner, or I could save time with prepacked salad greens). The fish would be done in 10-15 mins, leaving a couple minutes to plate it all up. And with time to work on whatever dish I was sharing (as the fish cooked).

What would go with that dish? Let’s see…

Pine nut cream over fresh fruit (pine nuts can be creamed without any soaking, or they could soak for 10 mins if timed right)

Baked mushroom caps topped with vegan pesto and some toasted pine nuts (at last minute to warm them but keep from over cooking the pesto or making the seeds soggy)

Soup made with finely chopped butternut squash or carrot and ginger, cooked for as long as possible then blended smooth with plenty of spice and a boxed pre-made broth.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Your classic pesto is herbs (usually basil), nuts/seeds (usually pine nuts, which are seeds), garlic, Parmesan or Romano cheese, and olive oil.  Like with any well-known dish, there are always variations, often related to different areas where the dish is made.

Since I can’t eat dairy much anymore, and I’m not a fan of garlic, I just leave them out.  I don’t even miss them.  I make up the cheese feeling with method and I use chipotle and cumin instead of garlic.

The two tools you can use for your pesto are a blender or a food processor.  The third is the mortar and pestle but, despite owning a nice one, I have never got the hang of it.  They aren’t interchangeable.  The techniques and the outcome are slightly different.

The food processor is the simple method: put the ingredients (except oil) in.  Process until done.  Add oil, mix.  You end up with a thick wonderful spread that has texture to it (you can choose how much).

The blender is a bit harder to use but gives you a rich creamy pesto that melts in your mouth.  If you’re not putting cheese into it, this is a good way to get some of that creamy mouth feel.

With the blender, you want to do the nuts/seeds first.  Pine nuts work very well here because they blend up smooth.  Blend a few of them dry at low speed to break them up.  Add small amounts of liquid (the olive oil or some lemon juice) until they are totally creamy.  Add more seeds/nuts then liquid as needed, until they are all as creamy as you can make them.  Put the seasoning in at some point during this process.

The last thing is the herbs.  Unless your blender is much better than mine, you can’t just put them in.  You need to rough chop them first.  Especially anything with stems.

Add the herbs and blend until the sauce is green but the herbs still have some small pieces.

Recipe:

Notes: Amounts are approximations.  Use whatever tastes good. Pinch basil and mint leaves off the stems.  For parsley and cilantro, twist off the bottom half of the bunch and discard.  Don’t bother removing stems beyond this, unless they are very thick or woody.

2 bunches herbs (all basil, 1 parsley and then either 1 cilantro, 1 spearmint, or both)
2 cups pine nuts (I use them straight from the freezer) or 1+ cups walnuts
Salt to taste
Black pepper if desired
Seasoning (a couple cloves of garlic or my favorite, chipotle pepper powder and cumin)
Fresh lemon juice if desired

Ways to serve pesto:

1) With tofu (or another firm protein) as a thick sauce.

I had it the other day with a big green salad as a base (with a light vinaigrette dressing), warm sauteed strips of tofu, then creamy blender pesto (cilantro, parsley, spearmint and pine nuts).

2) On pasta.

Here’s a recipe of mine from 2005:

1 package Nutrition Kitchen black soybean pasta, boiled and drained

6 large mushrooms (crimini, not white, and they were very large), sliced
1/4 cup red wine
Several handfuls fresh spinach
1/8 cup pine nuts
Salt and pepper
About 1 cup pesto (mine was frozen)

Saute the mushrooms until soft and flavorful
Add wine and simmer
Add pesto (I would add it at the end if not frozen)
Add spinach, put lid on pan, steam
Season with salt and pepper

I added a bit of water to thin out the very thick sauce.

Serve over the pasta.  Fed two adults plus tastes for the baby (she loves mushrooms and seemed to really enjoy the pesto sauce–Miriam was 9 months old when I wrote this).

Another easy 30 minute meal (minus the cleanup).  Even if I had to make the pesto from scratch, it wouldn’t add much time.  I’d do it while the water was boiling and the mushrooms were sauteing.

3) In wraps, on sandwiches.

4) As a dip for vegetables, cold leftover sauteed tofu, on on a spoon.

5) On fish.  Or meat if you eat it.

6) On salad (I’d make it with lemon juice).

7) Any way you want.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I started with two horseradish roots. They were 8 – 12 inches in length, and fairly skinny, maybe an inch or two in diameter. I chopped them into inch-long segments like so:

Then I loaded them into the food processor. Prepared Horseradish is either white or red, the latter colored by the addition of a small amount of beet; I find it augments the taste in a subtle but pleasant manner. I added in a small piece, maybe equivalent in size to one or two of the horseradish root slices.

A splash of white vinegar serves two purposes. First off, it lubricates the food processing so that the blades actually grind up the root slices; otherwise, they simply get moved around and jam the blades. Also. it acts as a preservative. The finished horseradish quickly loses its heat when exposed to air, and the more vinegar you add, the better it will retain its heat (although you don’t want to add too much, as it will be excessively moist and vinegary-tasting).

Process until it is finely ground, with no chunks of white root visibly remaining. Occasionally stop the blades so you can scrape the sides with a butter knife. But be careful … the mix at this stage is extremely powerful and it will bring tears to your eyes.

Once it’s done, immediately dish a few tablespoons out into small serving bowls. This should be one of the last tasks you do before the meal, because if it loses too much of its heat while sitting on the open table it will be bland and uninspiring. In the past, I have been shy about adding vinegar, and the result was almost tasteless by the time our guests bit into it (compensation perhaps for one year in which I somehow made it far too strong, and nearly killed all our guests simultaneously in the process).

After it’s served, be sure to return the lid of the food processor to its place so the mix is kept away from air as much as possible.

When we have leftovers, I transfer them again to glass jars, and make sure the lids are sealed tightly on at all times when they are not in immediate use.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Sauce Ingredients:

1 lb tofu (silken (I like Nasoya) is best but even firm is okay–it must be completely bland tasting)
1 cup raw cashews (unsalted–I store them in the freezer and use them without defrosting)
1/2-2/3 cup lemon juice (fresh or in bottle)
Fresh basil leaves (optional–use any amount from 2 leaves to 1 cup, depending on the taste and color you are looking for)
1-3 garlic cloves (to taste–don’t use powder)
Salt to taste (I find it needs at least a little)
Water (use as much as you need to get the right consistency; if you use firm tofu, you will need more water)

Blend all ingredients (you need a good blender or food processor) until very smooth. The sauce should be ever so slightly more watery than you want the finished product to be. This is a matter of taste, but try for the consistency of dairy alfredo sauce. Put the sauce into a pot. Heat on low heat until warm enough to serve. Do not cook.

Serve over noodles of your choice–A good lowcarb choice is Nutrition Kitchen’s organic soy angelhair pasta. For non-lowcarbers (who eat gluten), a good choice is fresh fettucini pasta (warning: supermarket versions contain eggs) but regular spaghetti, among others, works well too. I usually serve it with sauteed veggies as below. You can also eat it just with the veggies, or use it cold as a spread.

Veggie ingredients:

Slices of veggies of your choice–I recommend carrots, broccoli, radishes, string beans, spinach, etc (not all at once, vary color and texture). I do not recommend tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, onions (well, maybe), ginger, but you can do whatever you want.
Olive oil (or canola or anything bland)
Pine nuts (optional but very good)
A little white wine cooked in can be good if you’re in the mood for the flavor it gives Saute veggies in oil until tender. Add pine nuts. Serve with pasta and sauce.

See? Easy. The hardest part is cleaning the blender. Made with veggies, this recipe should serve 2 hungry people with some leftovers. If you add salad, bread, dessert, etc, you might be able to feed four average eaters. The whole thing (cooking 3 things at the same time) should take about 30-45 minutes to make (if you’re an experienced cook–add 15-30 minutes if you’re not).

An earlier version of this recipe was posted to rec.food.veg February 11, 1991
and posted to my lowcarb website February 28, 1999

Other listings: OmPlace Altwire recipe of the week (11/4/2003)

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.