Already Missing Summer?

For most of us garden fresh tomatoes are the very definition of summer. One of my favorite ways to squirrel away tomatoes to enjoy in the colder months is tomato confit. Slow roasting the tomatoes at a low temperature really brings out the sweetness and the herbs add a wonderful layer of flavor.

Tomato Confit (adapted from Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

20 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled (you can use any tomatoes you like)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced (more if you like)
Mixed herbs - basil, thyme, and bay leaves
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Sugar

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and pour about 2 tablespoons olive oil evenly over the pan. Sprinkle the oil with salt and pepper. Strew a little of the garlic, basil, thyme, and bay leaves over the oil.

Cut each tomato lengthwise in half and carefully, with your fingers or a tiny spoon, remove the seeds. Lay the tomato halves cut side down in the pan, wiggling the tomatoes around to make sure the bottom is coated in oil.


Give the tops of the tomatoes a light coat of olive oil. Season the tops of the tomatoes with salt and pepper and a little sugar, and scatter over the rest of the garlic, basil, thyme, and bay leaves. Slide the pan into the oven and bake the tomatoes for 2 1/2 hours, or until they are very tender but still able to hold their shape.

Turn the tomatoes over at half-time and open the oven for just a second every 30 minutes or so to get rid of the moisture that will build up in the oven.

Cool the tomatoes to room temperature on their pan. When the tomatoes are cool, transfer them to a jar, stacking them neatly.





Pour whatever oil remains in the pan over the tomatoes and then, if you plan to keep the tomatoes longer than 1 or 2 days, pour in enough olive oil to cover and refrigerate, you can even can them and store them longer.






The last batch I made with cherry tomatoes (yellow and red), was served with creamy polenta and eggplant caponata. It took me all my restraint not to eat it all right out of the pan!



You can also enjoy it on crostini, add it to your favorite pasta, or just serve it on an antipasto platter!

Until next summer!

"Easy" Seville Orange Marmalade

For those of you that have never met a Seville orange, you truly do not understand what sour is.

Having inherited a prolific tree, after much agonizing over this little monster of an orange, trying to fertilize, and do all things humanly possible to make the fruit more edible, I finally realized this tree was a Seville orange tree! Seville orange, also known as bitter orange, sour orange, and marmalade orange.

Acceptance finally set in that I would never win against nature, so the next step was to see how I could make lemonade out of the lemons I had been handed. Marmalade orange, huh?

Here I am 6 years later, finally ready to take on the challenge...

Seville Orange Marmalade

Ingredients:

2lbs, 8oz - Seville oranges
10oz - Lemons
4 pints - Water
4lbs - White granulated sugar

Directions:

Wash oranges & lemons well. Put the fruit in a large heavy bottomed saucepan and cover with the water. Put the lid on and bring to simmering point. Then turn the heat down very low simmer very gently for 3 hours until the fruit is soft. Allow to cool overnight in the poaching liquid.

Cut the cooled oranges and lemons in half and scoop out the flesh and pips into a separate saucepan. Add about a pint of the poaching juice and simmer gently for at least half an hour and then pour into a sieve lined with muslin set over a bowl.

Meanwhile discard the lemon peel and cut the halves of oranges in half again and remove the pith by scraping with the edge of a metal spoon. Be sure to get as much of the pith off as possible since the pith is what makes the fruit bitter. When this is done rinse the peel and cut into fine strips. (this is about the point you start to question why you thought this was a good idea in the first place)

By this stage the pulp liquid will have almost dripped through but it’s worth giving it an extra squeeze. Knot the muslin and pass two wooden spoons (juxtaposed) beneath the knots turn the spoons against each other which will squeeze out any remaining juice with little effort.

Add the pectin rich juice to the poaching liquid and check that you still have 4 pints of juice. Top it up with cold water if necessary.

Bring the peel gently to simmering point in the poaching liquid add the sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved. Taste the mixture – if it’s too tart for your taste add a little more sugar stirring again until it is completely dissolved. Then bring the marmalade to a rolling boil.

After 15 minutes test for a set. If the marmalade is not set bring back to a rolling boil and test every five minutes or so.

Using a ladle and a funnel pour into hot sterilized jars and seal immediately. Voila!