Oven-Dried Tomato and Pepita Pesto

When thinking of making a sundried tomato pesto recently, I was digging in the fridge looking for the pine nuts but no luck.  My second choice, walnuts, were also nowhere to be found.  But I noticed some pepita (roasted pumpkin seeds) in one of the drawers.  So awesome!  What an amazing combination; this is definitely an instant favourite for me.

The tomatoes were actually homemade, and dried in the oven.  I might actually try drying them in the sun one of these days as it does take a lot of electricity (low temperature for up to 6 hours) but I'll need to purchase some screens - don't you need something to keep the bugs off of them considering it takes a few days? A friend from work suggested using a dehydrator as well (I recall having three of those at one point; none of them being used)!





Anyway, I oven dried a batch of my homegrown tomatoes earlier this year and had stored them in the freezer until now.

Usually if I make a large enough batch I'll store some in the freezer, but will also keep some in a jar in the fridge with a bit of olive oil; the oil absorbs some of the flavour so the oil can be used for cooking as well.



Oven-Dried Tomato and Pepita Pesto

In a food processor, combine and process the following:

2 garlic cloves
1 tightly packed cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup pepitas
1/2 cup oven dried or sundried tomatoes

After the ingredients are minced, continue processing and drizzle in 4-5 Tbsp olive oil (you might need a bit less if you have used sundried tomatoes from a jar that already have a bit of oil on them).

Remove from food processor, and stir in 1/4 - 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Season with salt to taste.  Makes enough for 4 servings of pasta.  Toss with hot pasta along with some of the cooking water.

Also delicious on flatbread or pizza with feta or goat cheese (or a zillion other toppings!).

Borscht

With the weather dropping to just above freezing last night (what the heck is going on here?!), I thought it best to get a bit more harvesting done the past few days.  Borscht is such a delicious soup and perfect for cooking up a pot after pulling fresh beets, carrots and potatoes from the ground (oh, I wish my onions hadn't failed!).

I have always had vegetarian-style borscht; I can't even imagine it with meat or even beef stock.  It's incredibly healthy, easy to make, and delicious!  Using a food processor made this very quick to put together.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1/2 large white onion
3/4 pound beets
1/3 pound carrots
2 medium potatoes
2 cloves garlic
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 head cabbage, sliced
2 bay leaves
3 Tbsp dill, chopped, plus extra for serving
Lemon juice

1. Grate or shred in food processor all of the vegetables, except cabbage.  Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot at medium heat then add vegetables.  Stir often for about 10 minutes when veggies should have softened a bit (yes, everything turns dark red very quickly).

Add stock, cabbage, bay leaves and 3 Tbsp fresh dill.  At this point, you can add 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, but you'll have to finalize the seasoning later on.

Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce temperature.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are fully tender.  Depending on what texture you are looking for, the soup can be left as is, or blended with an immersion blender as I did. 

Add juice of 1 or 2 lemons - this is critical to brighten up the soup a bit.  Season to your preference with salt and pepper.  I like a lot of pepper in borscht!

Serve with sour cream and more fresh dill sprinkled on top.  Instead of sour cream, you can slide in a poached egg ... mmmm!

Saving Heirloom Tomato Seeds

In an attempt to be more self-sustaining in my gardening efforts, I have decided to save tomato seeds to plant next year.  Apparently, only heirloom tomato seeds will produce the same tomato that the seeds came from.  Most tomato seeds sold in stores are hybrid, and may give different results (which would make for some interesting Frankenstein-type experiments, I suppose).  However, I had Black Krim and Brandywine tomatoes this year, both of which meet my needs.


Step 1: Use your best looking tomatoes (what you sow so shall you reap!).  Remove seeds from tomatoes and place in a shallow container (preferably with a lid) - don't worry about separating them from the gel, that comes later.

 

Step 2: Cover with water.







 

Step 3: Let sit around for 3-5 days to develop mold.

Step 4: Remove the mold cap and and any floating seeds.







Step 5: Rinse seeds using a fine mesh strainer, but don't go crazy trying to remove the gel, not a big deal. It's hard to see in the picture but I'm using one of those dollar-store nylon strainers here.







Step 6: Spread seeds on a plate to dry - they stick to paper towels or regular dinner plates; paper plates are supposed to be the best.  I did not have paper plates so risked it with the regular plate - I definitely had more than a few that stuck to the plate. I imagine the outer layer of the seed has been damaged and won't germinate but I can't tell which ones they were so I've just kept them all.




Step 7: When fully dry, place in an envelope and label.  Store in a cool, dry place.

Step 8: Keep fingers crossed that they will germinate next year!!