Grilled Tomato Sauce From Steven Raichlen Like soup, tomato sauce is one of the dishes you're least likely to think of grilling. But there is a powerful reason to try this sauce. Beyond the mere novelty factor, grilling imparts a gutsy smoke flavor to the sauce and heightens the natural sweetness of the vegetables. Don't take just my word for it. For thousands of years, Mexicans have grilled tomatoes, onions and peppers to make rich-tasting salsas. I have adapted the technique to make an exceptionally flavorful tomato sauce. Serve the sauce over grilled polenta, with any simple grilled fish, or with just about any cooked pasta. Makes about 3 1/2 cups. 5 lucious, ripe red tomatoes 2 - 2 1/4 pounds total, cut in half crosswise, and stem ends removed 1 medium size white onion, peeled and cut into quarters 1 rib celery 4 cloves garlic, peeled and skewered on a wooden toothpick or small bamboo skewer 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp. oregano 1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes 1 bay leaf 6 fresh basil leaves coarse salt (Kosher or Sea salt) freshly ground black pepper 1/4 to 3/4 cup chicken stock, vegetable stock or water Cook the tomatoes, onions, celery and garlic in greased and preheated grill (George Foreman grill) until nicely browned. You may need to cook the vegetables in more than one batch. Transfer the grilled vegetables and let cool. Finely chop the onions, celery and garlic by hand or in a food processor. If using a food processor, run machine in spurts. Heat olive oil in large non-reactive sauce pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, celery and garlic, oregano, hot pepper flakes and bay leaf and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Coarsely puree tomatoes and juices with the basil in a food processor. Add the tomato mixture to the sauce pan, with the vegetables. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then let sauce simmer gently until thick and richly flavored 8-10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. The sauce should be thick but pourable. If it is too thick, add a little stock or water. Remove and discard the bay leaf. The sauce can be refrigerated, covered up to 4 days. Or frozen for up to 2 months. Let the sauce come to room temperature then reheat it in a non-reactive sauce pan over medium heat, stirring often.

I can't wait for summer squash to be in season again! This is a new recipe for me, but if there is a topping of Ritz crackers involved, I'm in!! (I will mix them with a little butter since it isn't decadent enough.) SQUASH CASSEROLE (Add A Pinch) 2 tablespoons butter 4 cups sliced yellow squash 1 medium onion, chopped 2 eggs 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons butter (in addition to the two above) ü teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) ý teaspoon salt ý teaspoon ground black pepper 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed (I will toss with a little melted butter) Preheat oven to 350ú F. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium skillet or saute pan over medium-low heat. Add squash and onions and cook until tender. To a large bowl, add eggs and lightly whisk. Add cheese and milk and whisk into egg until well-combined. Add cooked squash and onions to egg mixture and stir well to combined. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in skillet used to cook squash and onions. Add to squash casserole mixture. Add cayenne pepper, if using, along with salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Spray a 9ÃÂ13 casserole dish with cooking spray and pour squash casserole mixture into the baking dish. Top evenly with crushed Ritz crackers. Place in preheated oven and bake 45 minutes, or until top has lightly browned and casserole does not âÂÂjiggleâ when the dish is moved.Allow to sit for about 3 minutes before serving. Serves 12.

And hence the joy of making your own preserves!! Once you start, you do become addicted to the superior taste and quality. You'd pay a pretty penny for a store-bought item with that level of taste and quality ingredients and craftmanship. Right now I am deep into pickle variations. I make and like bread and butters but have yet to find a dill that I can bwb that I like. I need to make shelf-stable ones to give away and store. But I have made tolerable dill sandwich slices. But I am going to give kosher dills another try, even thought the refrigerator ones are the real special deals. I have so many cukes and tomatoes I might not get to many jams this year. I hope I can get some blueberry lime jam made. Blueberry is one of the jams that I think is far superior to store bought in every way. That's not a particularly great cheese board item though . . . I found my recipe for "brandied carrot jam" which has the plus of being able to be made at my leisure any time of year . . . Although peach preserves are one of my favorite, I made a bunch last year and still have them so they might get pushed to the back burner for another year due to my glut of waiting tomatoes . . . Today I noticed I have a package of Certo, maybe I'll try an herbal jelly this year or a pepper jelly . . . If it manages to jell it will be fab. If not, I will get sick of using it as a sauce . . . I think the theme for my canning this year is going to be savories mostly. 60+ tomato plants and a couple of monster cucumber plants are seeing to that . . . I made the mistake of going on the "Nuts.com" last night. If all else fails, I may order some products from there to fill out my gift baskets. I have always wanted to try some of their products. I can't afford much in the way of fancy snacks but a few splurges will be hard to resist. The dark chocolate covered cranberries are calling my name . . .

Sharon, I use the soft floral foam (light green and it comes in rectangular blocks from the craft store/dept). I cut a piece to fit a tupperware dish. Make it a tight fit! Then I cut it into 2 inch cubes (doesn't have to be perfect..just run your knife through the foam that was inserted into the tupperware.) Poke a little hole, with a bamboo skewer, into the center of each cube. Fill the container about 3/4 way with water. I have well water but I used to do this with city water, doesn't seem to matter. Make your passiflora cuttings about 5 inches. You dont want the super soft ends but not so far down the stem that the nodes are really far apart. Take your cutting with a leaf node at the bottom. Cut off most of the leaves. Dampen the bottoms of the cuttings in water then dip them into dry rooting hormone like Rootone. Then poke one into each hole. Put them in a warm bright place. I've done them on a windowsill in Spring or under grow lights. Keep the water level up. You will be able to see the roots growing out through the clear tupperware. You can then take it and plant it in a cup or pot with potting soil etc. This actually works well with most vines and some semi hardwood plants. Some passies I did a few yrs ago. Sorry for typos Im on my phone lol.