Ontario Tomato Recipes: Salsa Fresca, Bruschetta and Pan Con Tomate

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." Lewis Grizzard

 

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!

www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com
Okay, is it just me or do you also have an absolute tonne of homegrown tomatoes?! The tomatoes in our garden have been giving us enough, but through the sheer kindness and generous nature of friends and family, we have now gathered a plethora of tomatoes! Don't get me wrong, I love tomatoes, but trying to use them up before they go off has been a bit of a challenge. So just in case you happen to be in the same boat, today I'm sharing three simple and tasty tomato recipes! Now, I know for a fact that I will be receiving MORE tomatoes this weekend, so next week's blog is guaranteed to feature our fave red, vine ripened fruit! Let's get started!

 

 

Simple and Tasty Recipes:

 

Fresh Ontario Tomato Salsa (Salsa Fresca)

( serves 4)

 

3 large ripe Ontario tomatoes, chopped

1 small Ontario onion, finely chopped

1 clove of Ontario garlic, finely chopped

½ to 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

½  lime, juice freshly squeezed

Sea salt to taste
 

Combine everything in a large bowl. Give it a good stir, taste and adjust the seasoning with the sea salt. Add a little extra lime, jalapeno or cilantro to suit your tastes. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

 

 

 Ontario Tomato Bruschetta

(serves 4)

½ baguette, cut on the bias into 12 slices

1 to 2 cloves of Ontario garlic, peeled

Extra virgin olive oil, good quality

2 ripe Ontario tomatoes, fine chop

8 to 10 fresh basil leaves, rough chop

Sea salt

 

Grill or broil the slices of bread until slightly charred on both sides. Allow to cool slightly, then rub the top of each slice of bread with the garlic. Place the bread onto a serving platter, drizzle the tops with a little olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. In a bowl combine the tomatoes and the chopped basil, stir in a little olive oil and a pinch of salt to taste. Evenly mound the tomato mixture onto the slices of grilled bread and serve immediately.

Spanish Pan Con Tomate (Bread with Tomato)
(serves 4)

1 large ripe Ontario tomato
1 to 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, good quality
Sea salt
3 to 4 slices of bread

Using a box grater, grate the tomato into a bowl and discard the skin. Drizzle in the olive oil, sprinkle in salt and taste. Adjust seasoning if needed.
Either toast the bread in the toaster, or under the broiler. Rub the top surface of the bread with the garlic clove. Spoon over the tomato pulp and serve immediately.

 

 



 

 

 

Summer in Norfolk County, Ontario

 

Ahhh, so peaceful...

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market, or I will come out to your house for a private demo! www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted any of my photos of our 10 acres of countryside in Norfolk County, Ontario. It's our escape from the city and we love to get out there as much as possible! Whether it's gardening, camping out, having a picnic, playing horseshoes or just plain relaxing in the peace and quiet of the land, I always try to have a camera handy to document the good times. Enjoy!

My sweetie watching the official Canada Day horseshoe tournament! Yes, he's wearing a Canada Day tie! Ha!

 

Homegrown garlic, anyone?!

 

Potato plant flowers

 

Anjou pears

Russet apples

 

 One of our several ancient apple trees on the property.
 

 Red-spotted Purple butterfly

 

Mourning Cloak butterfly

 

A Praying Mantis on our tent. 

 

We spotted this big guy in the tomatoes! It's a Ceratomia Undulosa larva, which will become a Waved Sphinx moth!

 

A bumble bee enjoying one of the flowers in my Mum's meadow.





 Mum's meadow.

The perfect evening for a bonfire! Wish we were there right now...

Ontario Summer Vegetable Minestrone, Gluten Free and Vegetarian

"The definitive recipe for any Italian dish has not yet appeared. We're still creating." Luigi Barzini

Hello followers, how are you liking the cooler weather? Frankly, I love the rain!
Yesterday my sweetie and I enjoyed and lazy, lazy Sunday together and I must say, it was delightful! It's days like that when I feel like cooking, but not venturing out to the store to buy ingredients. It's days like that when I consider myself the 'MacGyver of the kitchen' and raid the fridge and pantry, challenging myself to come up with something tasty made solely with the mish mash of ingredients on hand. Usually Sundays mean brunch in our little world, but yesterday there was a slight chill in the air that had me thinking of soup! Oh soup, how I love thee! After my quick peek around the kitchen, I gave my sweetie the choice of an Asian flavoured soup with rice noodles or a hearty summer vegetable minestrone. With the comment that we often eat Asian (or my version of combining any and all Asian flavours together until dinner tastes good!), Kev decided upon the minestrone. Sounded great to me, considering that we had a bottle of Chianti open and no sake in sight! So, here is the recipe I came up with on a lazy, wine sipping, early Sunday afternoon! Thank goodness the years of recipe developing and testing has taught me to write everything down, even with a few glasses of Chianti! Ha!

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

Ontario Summer Vegetable Minestrone, Gluten Free and Vegetarian
(serves 6 to 8)

2 tbsp olive oil, good quality
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery stock, chopped
1/2 each zucchini and bell pepper, any colour
1 cup cabbage, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup beans, any kind, drained and rinsed
3 or 4 big kale leaves, rinsed and chopped
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
6 super ripe field tomatoes, chopped or 1 x 796ml tin diced tomatoes, preferably salt free
1 L water or your fave stock (use more liquid for a thinner soup, less for a thicker)
4 big leaves each fresh basil and oregano, chopped
Handful spinach, baby or chopped large leaves

In a large pot, add the oil on medium heat. Toss in the onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, bell pepper, cabbage, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Stir and cook for about 6 to 8 mins, until the onions begin to soften. Stir in the tomato paste, beans and kale with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for a couple mins more. Add in the tomatoes and water and give it a good stir. Bring up to the boil, turn down to low heat and simmer with the lid partially covering the pot for about 30 to 35 mins. 
Stir in the fresh basil, oregano and spinach.
Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve on it's own, top it off with a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive or sprinkle over some grated hard Italian cheese. Mangia! Mangia!

Well, there you have it! Of course, feel free to change things up a bit and make this recipe your own. I just used what was in the house, so don't be afraid to use what you have! Use a whole tin of beans instead of the 1 cup that I happened to have in the freezer; use a whole zucchini or pepper, it's up to you! With soup you can never go wrong, especially if you are using fresh, local veggies!
Bye for now my fun loving followers and I'll be back soon with another Culinary Adventure!

 

Kitchen Tip Number Six: Get More Juice Outta Those Limes

 

Do you agree with me that sometimes you can't get that much juice out of a lime? It always seems like other citrus fruits tend to give more juice and it takes a lot less effort to squeeze them. Well, here are a couple of tips to getting the maximum amount of juice outs those tiny limes!
First, allow your lime to sit out until room temperature or even a bit warmer before you use it. Heck, if you have the oven on,  place your lime on the stove top to warm up slightly or simply leave it on a sunny window sill for a little while.
Next, put the lime on your cutting board and place the palm of your hand on top of it. With a bit of pressure, roll the lime up and down the board several times until you can feel the lime becoming softer. Don't roll too hard or you'll split the lime!
Lastly, invest in a good juicer! It doesn't have to be electric, just a simple old fashioned bowl juicer or a metal hand held juicer will do! By the way, my hand held dual lime and lemon juicer is one of my favourite kitchen tools! Good luck!

The metal hand held dual lemon and lime juicer is one of my favourite kitchen tools!

 



Ceviche with Ontario Summer Vegetables

"Lime juice makes things taste fresher." Bobby Flay

Please don't judge me, followers! It's the best quote I could find!

Today's recipe is a request for ceviche. For those of you not familiar with this dish, allow me to explain! Ceviche is essentially a salad native of South and Central America, with Peru claiming to be it's nation of origin. The main ingredient in ceviche is fresh, raw fish or seafood which is 'cooked' in lime juice or a combination of other citrus juices.

Now, I must warn you about the risk of ceviche before we go any further! Since the fish is not cooked with heat, any parasites or bacteria will not be killed off because the citric acid is simply firming the up the protein, not actually cooking it. So, this is why it is most important to purchase 'sashimi grade' ocean fish or fish from a reputable fish monger for your ceviche. 'Sashimi grade' fish is what sushi is made from and is a great choice for ceviche as well. Once 'cooked' in the citrus juice, the fish will be firm and appear opaque, just as it would if it were cooked with heat. It is recommended to allow your fish to sit refrigerated in the citrus juice for 1 to 4 hours, depending on how well done you want your fish. Once strained from the 'cooking' liquid, the fish is then combined with different vegetables, fruit and various seasonings, served with corn chips, tostadas or plain crackers. 

It seems to me that there are as many different recipes for ceviche in South and Central America as there are homemade tomato sauce recipes across Italy. In other words, an infinite amount! So, today I am going to add to that number and make up my own ceviche recipe, using some basic ingredients, leaning towards a Mexican style salad. Hope you like it, Catherine!

 

 

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

 

Ceviche with Ontario Summer Vegetables

(serves 4 to 6 as a main, 8 to 12 as an appetizer)

 

500 gr firm white ocean fish, sashimi grade (I used halibut but red snapper, cod and sea bass are all great choices), small to medium dice, it's up to you

1 1/2 cups lime juice, freshly squeezed (about 8 good sized limes)

1 small onion, diced

1 tomato, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/4 cucumber, diced

1 avocado, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, diced

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

1 to 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, good quality

Sea salt to taste

*optional additions:

- finely chopped manzanilla green olives

- your fave hot sauce

- a splash of tomato or Clamato juice

- ketchup

- a pinch of sugar

- orange juice

- sweet corn

- sweet potatoes

 

In a shallow non-reactive bowl (I prefer glass or stainless steel) combine the fish, onion and lime juice. Cover the surface with a sheet of plastic wrap and gently press down to make sure all of the air out and the fish is submerged. Place in the fridge for 1 to 4 hours, depending on how 'cooked' you want your fish to be (the longer it sits, the more firm it will become).

Remove from the fridge, pour the contents of the bowl through a fine mesh strainer and place the fish mixture into a clean non-reactive bowl. Combine with the rest of the ingredients, adding as many of the optional ingredients as you wish!

Keep refrigerated until being served.

Serve with your fave corn chips, tostadas or plain crackers. Provecho!

As you can see, ceviche is super easy to make and allows you to get as creative with your ingredients as you want! Perfect for hot summer days, now is the time to present your guests with a large bowl of ceviche, piles of chips on the side and a generous selection of ice cold cervezas to wash it all down with! Does it get any better than that?!

Alrighty followers, just keep enjoying your summer and I'll be back soon with another tasty summertime recipe! Bye for now!