Simple Balsamic Pickled Roasted Beets (and Roasted Garlic-Beet-Tarragon Salad Dressing)

Ingredients:
6-8 golden beets, quartered, skins on (red beets fine but messy)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups balsamic or white wine vinegar, or both
Tarragon
Garlic head
Jar

Roasting the Beets (and Garlic): 
Turn oven on 400. Place beets and garlic bunch in a baking pan, pour the olive oil over them. Leave garlic bunch in oven for 20-30 minutes, the beets will take 45 minutes to an hour. Take out, let cool.

Reserve the oil for the salad dressing below. Place each beet on cutting board and either peel the skin off with your hands, or use a fork and knife.

Alternative Easy Boiling Method (not tested):
Boil beets. Place each beet on cutting board and either peel the skin off with your hands, or use a fork and knife.

Pickling the Beets:
Slice beets and place in a jar or whatever container you want for the pickled beets. Pour vinegar over beets. Add to salads during the week, or eat plain.

Salad Dressing from Reserved Olive Oil:
Pour oil from beets into a separate can to make salad dressing. Add 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar, 5 smashed roasted garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and tarragon or other herbs. Shake!

Tomato Feta Quiche

Make pie crust, add italian herb mix to dough.turn oven to 350.

Makes: 2 pies

3 cups tomatoes

2 oz feta

1/2 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt

8 eggs

Handful basil leaves
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

Minced garlic

Salt and pepper

Blend mixture with hand mixer or regular blender. Line pie dish with dough, and place in oven for 10-15 minutes for the crust to harden.

Fill with mixture. Put in oven for 20-35 min (if it's not cooked-- leave it in longer, but check it every 5-10 minutes).

Kumquat and Meyer Lemon Marmalade

1 cup natural granulated sugar
1 cup sliced kumquats
1 whole sliced meyer lemon
1 juiced meyer lemon
Pectin-- follow the directions, I used Pomona's Universal Pectin
tsp salt
Canning jars, preferably the smaller ones made for jam. 

Place kumquats and lemons in pan and add water just so it covers them. Bring to a boil. Add sugar. Bring to a boil, allow to thicken. Add pectin. Bring to boil again.

Sterilize Cans During Process: place canning jars (the cute jam jars are the best) in room temperature water in a pot. Bring water to boil with cans and caps in there to sterilize-- this way they rise in temperature with the water and do not break. Retrieve bottles and caps, pour the kumquat and lemon mixture into 2/3 of the jar. Tighten caps. Place full jars in pot of boiling water, allow the can to boil with marmalade inside for about 10 minutes. This will vacuum seal the jar. Place in cabinet, give to friends, or in fridge. Wait until the pectin sets and use!

This marmalade is so so good! The sweetness of the meyer lemon with the tart orange-peel flavor of the kumquat works very well together.

Mine didn't come out so pretty-looking -- that's what the jar is for, right? But I tried it this morning on a piece of toast with some brie and let me tell you I was so happy. It tasted exactly how I wanted it to, and that does not happen so often with jams!

Habanero-Persimmon Hot Hot Hot Sauce

 2 Habaneros (I had one red and one orange)
1/2 Fuyu Persimmon
5 cloves roasted garlic
1/2 onion
1/2 cup chopped green onions (not too fine its going in a blender!)
1/2 - 1 cup white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 lime, juiced

Place all ingredients in a blender, or if you have a hand blender place in a measuring cup. Done. This stuff is so hot, and very flavorful.

I got the recipe (sans persimmons) in Belize at the Palapa Bar. The bar was out of hot sauce so the chef went in the back and whipped this up. Amazing!


Last year I purchased a "VIPER VENOM HOT" sauce that is best described as very mild. So I poured it out and replaced the contents with this hot sauce instead. I thought it was a bit more appropriate for the name ;p.

Homemade Tortillas

I tried making tortillas before, unsuccessfully. I had great success with this one.  This recipe is modified from:  http://thecafesucrefarine.com/2013/08/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/.

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm water

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients. Continue to mix for 1 minute or until dough is smooth.
2. Transfer from mixing bowl to a well-floured work surface. Divide dough in half, then in half again. Continue until you have 16 fairly equal portions. Form each piece into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand as much as possible. If dough is sticky, use a bit more flour. Cover flattened balls of dough with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes before proceeding.
3. After rest period, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Roll each dough piece into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don’t stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other or they will get soggy.
4. Use a rolling pin to completely flatten the flattened dough, then fold over into a small square (this gives the tortilla a layer-like consistency). Roll out into a circle as best you can.
5. When pan is very hot, place one dough circle into pan and allow to cook about 1 minute or until bottom surface has a few pale brown spots. The uncooked surface will begin to show a few little bubbles. If tortilla is browning too fast, reduced heat a bit. If it’s taking longer than a minute to see a few pale golden brown spots on underside of tortillas, increase heat a bit. Flip to other side and cook for about 30 seconds. You want the tortilla to be soft but have a few small pale golden brown spots on surface. Remove from pan with tongs and stack in a covered container or zippered bag till all tortillas are cooked. This will keep them soft and pliable.

Smoked Paprika Gazpacho

This summer I was lucky enough to be part of a wine bottling event. After we were finished bottling all of the wine, we sat down and had a lovely Mediterranean style luncheon outside on the farm. This Gazpacho was served at the luncheon. I loved it so much I asked for the recipe:

Place a cup of tomato juice in a bowl with a 2 inch piece of a baguette and soak for a while.

15 ripe tomatoes (I use Romas)

1 and 1/2 English cukes

3 clove garlic

sea salt to taste

2 (or a tad more -- to taste) -- SMOKED paprika

Chop the above

then add to a blender all of the ingredients -- do so in batches.  Place in a large bowl where you can mix with a spoon.  But really blend until smooth -- you may want to blend twice.

Put some of the liquid back in the blender and then add 1/4 (or a tad more based on taste) a Sherry vinegar or a white wine vinegar.  Then add while the blender is running a cup of olive oil in a slow stream.

Place all of the liquid in the bowl and stir in the liquid that has been mixed with the oil and vinegar.  be sure it is all integrated.  Chill.

Garnish:

Chop fine 1/2 English cuke

1/2 red pepper

1/2 small red onion

mix with salt and pepper, and a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of vinegar (to taste -- I almost always add a splash more).  Chill.  Add a spoonful to each bowl.

I make my croutons as well -- in a good skillet add olive oil and garlic salt, add in pieces of baguette -- I would make the pieces fairly big -- say a half inch slice off the baguette -- brown in the skillet and flip to brown on both sides.  Then when cool, cut into small squares.

Corti Brothers Cioppino

Haven't made this yet, but Cioppino is one of my favorite dishes, and this store is one of the best quality groceries I have ever been in-- so this recipe is probably amazing (if not, let me know!).