If I'm not cooking a meal with garden produce meant to be consumed immediately, then I'm preparing garden produce for future consumption. I'm cooking and preparing vegetables all the time, every day, is what I'm saying. On yesterday's agenda: Using up some tomatoes and beets.
Have you been to Finny's site? If not, you should go there now, because she's funny and grows a kick-ass garden. And then you should go look at this recipe for the Best Tomato Sauce Ever. Yep. I made this last night. It was good. It was really good. It was really, really good. I stood there eating the sauce with a spoon until I told myself to get a grip, who eats sauce straight from a spoon? So I got some Triscuits and used them to shovel sauce into my mouth. Much more civilized.
Two things I really liked about this recipe, besides the obvious deliciousness of it: One, I got a great and somewhat twisted pleasure out of squeezing the roasted garlic out of the skin. Good times. And two, the wine in the sauce isn't cooked to boil away the alcohol. Naughty.
I did make meatballs to add to the sauce before serving, because you know our mantra here at Blackrock: Everything Is Better with Meat. (That's not really our mantra.) (But it could be.) Okay, so I really made the meatballs because I had some ground beef that needed to be used. But everything really is better with meat. Except maybe cake. That would be gross.
How d'ya like THEM meatballs?
Because the oven was on anyway to roast the tomatoes and garlic, I threw in some beets to roast, too. How thrifty of me. I don't have a plan for the beets yet, beyond eating them straight out of the bowl in the refrigerator. Not that I've done that in the past or anything. Ahem.
Beets seem to be one of those division foods: You either love 'em or hate 'em. Sublime food substance, or red-colored balls of dirt? Which way do you swing on this issue?
5 comments:
I like-a the beets. Especially pickled. My mother used to make some warm beet dish with a syrupy sauce, and I want to say she called it "Harvard Beets," which always implied the beets were late for rowing practice or something. Anyway, the warm beets? Not so much my thing, but I could eat them.
In other news, now I want a meatball sub.
I don't like beets. But it could be because when we were kids, my mom made us eat canned beets. And those are disgusting. Almost as disgusting as canned spinach, which we used to eat. I can't even begin to understand it because I never remember her eating it. Ever. Anyway, that turned me off spinach for many years, until I was all grown up and realized that fresh spinach is delicious. Perhaps I'll feel the same way about beets, if I can ever bring myself to eat them.
I love me some beets, always have. Even canned. I love the yellow beets I get at the farmers' market and the candy-cane beets, the ones that are striped and look so cool when you cut them crosswise. My MiL loves beets too, but most folks I know don't like 'em much.
==Lennie
(my word verification code is "zcziti" -- is this subliminally trying to tell me what to make for dinner? zucchini ziti? subliminal food messages: a new feature at your site??)
I LOVE THE BEETS. Just for the record or whatever. I may roast up some more tonight for safe keeping. I have to eat them alone because Bubba HATES them.
Communist.
Glad you liked the sauce recipe. It's the only one we use now because Bubba is a beotch about sauce and this is THE ONLY sauce he will have.
Which, I may say "beotch" but I really mean "sweet man" because he loves the things I make. And ONLY the things I make.
Bless him.
Wow. This comment is long.
The end.
I'm going to give you a piece of advice you gave me on my lemon curd...don't ever be ashamed to use the spoon.
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