Roasted Pepper Tagaliarelle & Tuna

The sun is just starting to peek out into the screenroom, the sprinklers are humming, it is going to be another beautiful, productive day in my kitchen.  I wanted to share a quick and simple recipe with you here that is perfect for these warm summer nights.  The recipe makes use of several items you will already have in your pantry.  I like to use a Tagliarelle Pasta and I have found this brand from Cipriani to be consistently delicious and it cooks in 3 minutes which is even nicer!  This recipe was inspired from a recipe in an old Willams and Sonoma catalog.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Canola Oil (or Olive Oil if you prefer)
2 Shallots, peeled and chopped finely
4 Fresh Basil Leaves, folded and cut finely
1/4 cup Pickled Peppers chopped finely (see recipe further back in blog)
Zest and Juice of one large lemon
1 can high-quality solid pack tuna, broken into bite size pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper to suit your taste (sea salt is gorgeous with this)
1 8.82 oz Box of Tagliarelle (or pasta of your choice)

Method:
Get your stock pot out and begin to boil salted water for your Tagliarelle, wait until the very end to place the pasta in to boil.
In a large saute pan, add the canola oil, bring up to temperature and add the shallots, cook until they are translucent.  Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped basil, tuna and your pickled peppers.  Heat this until warm and then cover and hold.  As long as the water is boiling, you can add your tagliarelle pasta, stirring gently to avoid sticking.  Cook this for 3 minutes and drain off.  Add the pasta to the saute pan and heat through.  Add salt and pepper to taste at this time.
This will make 3 servings or 4 smaller servings if you are going to add a fabulous dessert!
 

Southern Pickled Peaches

Stone fruits are the theme for this week's SummerFest 2010!  I have 12 lbs of strawberries to slice and macerate, two flats of raspberries to process, and 4 lbs of watermelon rind brining, but what could be better than contributing a little bit of heaven to the world wide web.....This recipe has been adapted from Linda Ziedrich's, "The Joy of Pickling".

These peaches are bestsellers at my Farmer's Market stand.  I hope you will enjoy making and eating them too.  These make a wonderful side dish, perfect for your holiday ham and condiment.  You can even use for dessert.

                                                            Pickled Peaches

6 lbs Pitted and Sliced Peaches
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 tsp Allspice Berries
1/2 Tsp whole cloves
2 oz of fresh ginger sliced thinly
3 cups sugar
4 cups cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp citric acid (optional, but helps retain color)

Sterilize nine 16 oz jars your water bath canner per your canning book directions (you might jars left over depending on how tight you pack the peaches).  In a large non-reactive dutch oven, combine the sugar, water, vinegar and all of the spices above, reserving the ginger to place inside your jars.  Bring this mixture up to the boil and then turn down the fire and simmer for 10 minutes or so.   Take out your sterlized jars and layer the sliced peaches with the fresh ginger alternately, press down to get all that you can into the jars as the fruit will shrink up after processing.  Ladle the hot vinegar mixture into each jar, working hard to evenly distribute the spices between the jars.  Process these in the water bath canner for 12 minutes.

Farm Fresh Egg Omelet, the perfect summer dinner!

The summer in central Florida is pretty toasty and humid, and after a long day at the kitchen canning and prepping, sometimes I just can't face making dinner.   Omelets just hit the spot for me.  Their ease, their lightness and pure deliciousness are so comforting.  You can combine different staple pantry items to make unique combinations that are healthy and provide the balance you need after a hard day's work.  Here is a simple idea for mid-week supper.  I have used pickled peppers to dress up this omelet and give it some zip.

Pickled Pepper Omelet

6 Farm Fresh Eggs

1 Tsp Water

Pinch Kosher Salt

1/8 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper

1/2 cup Pickled Peppers

Heat a 10 inch skillet, adding 1 tsp canola oil and 1 tsp fresh butter.  Beat the eggs in a bowl adding 1 tsp water and salt and pepper.  Beat until fluffy.   Add the 1/2 cup of pickled peppers (recipe provided previously!).  Pour this into a prepared hot skillet, moving peppers around to distribute evenly.  Cook gently until the sides pull away and flip over in your skillet.  You can get two or three servings out of this recipe, depending on how hungry you are!  Serve with fresh tomato and wheat toast on the side. 

Ah....Pickled Peppers....

I love pickled peppers, I didn't even know how much I loved pickled peppers until I started to make them for the market.  Here they are pictured on my backyard table, all ready to be labeled and subsequently sold and eaten....YUM.    I've had a really amazing week in terms of new accounts, new business, new relationships and wonderful customers.  I am working so hard to trust in the process and my products.  I am giving you my general recipe to work with here, each time I have made this I seem to have tons of brine left over (to pickle other things with!).  I hope you will enjoy this recipe.  If you don't have anything else you want to pickle, feel free to cut the brine in half.

4 Cups Cider Vinegar

2 cups Water

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Kosher Salt

20 Large Peppers, I mix Red and Green

3 medium cloves of garlic (chopped fine)

The first thing you must do is roast the peppers.  I use a silpat and a 1/2 sheet pan.  Turn the oven on to 400, roast the peppers for 20 minutes and then turn them over and roast for an additional 20 minutes.    As soon as you take them from the oven, place them in a large bowl (or 2) and cover with foil.  Let them steam for at least 30 minutes.  Now you can go back and remove the skins easily.  After you remove the skins, open them and de-seed them.  Continue on to slice the peppers, I do them about 1/4 wide and 1 inch long.  Place these in a bowl and prepare your hot water bath canner.  You can make 8 oz or 16 oz jars--the yield is about 6 16 oz jars for this amount of peppers.  Sterlize the jars by boiling in the canner for at least 12 minutes. In the meantime, in a dutch oven, pour the vinegar, salt and sugar in and bring them up to simmer, then you can shut the flame.   Peel the garlic cloves and chop them finely.  Remove the jars from the water bath and fill with peppers and bits of garlic.  Pour the vinegar mixture over the peppers and seal each jar.  Process the jars in the canner for 15 minutes.  Take them out and listen for the lids to seal.  These taste amazing!  You should try to wait at least a day before sampling.  Enjoy!