Margaret's tomato jam

This is fall comfort food at its best!

My friend Margaret shared this recipe with me, after I tasted hers and absolutely had to make my own.

It's really easy! My recipe yielded 6 pints.

Here's what you'll need:

5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped (got some fab looking ones at a local farm stand since mine haven't even ripened yet!)

3 1/2 cups sugar (I know. But it's so worth it.)

8 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon red chili flakes

In my opinion, it could use a bit more ginger and chili flakes... but that's just me. :)

You'll also need 5 or 6 pint canning jars, plus rings and new lids, a boiling water canner, and basic supplies as desired (jar lifters and funnels sure are handy).

I imagine you could freeze this if you don't want to can it... let me know if you try it!

Combine all ingredients in a big ole pot.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Stirring regularly, simmer until it becomes a sticky, jammy mess. The recipe says this will take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours depending how high you keep the heat. Now, when I'm told to simmer, I set my gas stove about as low as it goes. After a good two hours at this temperature, my jam was more like tomato juice. So I kicked that heat up to about 3 on my range, and within a half hour or so it thickened up beautifully. 

Maybe simmer means something different to me that it does to you, but I'd raise that temp a bit or this will take all day! Which is fine, if you have all day. Because, wow, does it make your whole house smell amazing! 

So, once it's cooked down to where you'd like it, remove from heat and fill (clean, hot) jars, leaving 1/4" of headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids and twist on rings (not too tight!). Process in boiling water canner for 20 minutes. If you are new to canning or need more detailed instructions, the canning jars usually come with some handy little instructions. It really is easy. 

Something about having jar after jar of summer delights stacked up in my pantry makes me so happy. 

The first time I tasted this jam, Margaret had poured it over a brick of cream cheese and served it with crackers. It was to die for. 

Today I spread a bit on my grilled cheese sandwich for a simple rainy day lunch, and that sweet/savory/spiced combo was phenomenal. I can't wait to find more ways to use this delicious stuff! Wondering if it would be good on some grilled chicken for hubby? Or tossed with pasta and a little cream? Any other ideas?

Garden updates

I planted a spring garden this year for the first time, and what a great year for it! Instead of the usual summer stuff, which would have sat in the ground rotting and barely growing due to the never ending rain and lack of sunshine, my cool weather crops thrived! I believe I started planting in March. Lettuce and snow peas were the first plants, and they did great! Got lots of early salads, and we've been picking the snow peas for a couple months. Then I planted broccoli and cauliflower- two of my favorite veggies. Both did so great!

Here is my third cauli, almost ready to pick. 

These garden fresh cauliflower are so delicious. Can't believe I've never grown them before.

I never got photos of the broccoli but they did great too. Both are new favorites that I will plant every year. I think normally they would be ready much earlier... but the weather and all.

Walla walla sweet onions! Delish! These are almost ready too- I planted them in late April I think. I really ought to keep a garden journal or something so I can keep track of what I'm doing. But I can't wait to pick these and put them in something fabulous. 

This is probably my tenth lettuce plant. I get a little too excited about beautiful vegetables, but isn't it gorgeous?! I've really tried hard to plant them successively all season, starting really early, and it's been so awesome having fresh salad whenever we need it! I've hardly bought any at the store and we eat a lot of salad.

I've also planted endive and pepperoncini! Very excited about those. We shall see how well they do. And as always, an array of herbs and one lonely little tomato. I adore tomatoes- one of my favorite things. Especially fresh from the garden. But all my cool weather crops took so long to be ready that I didn't have a lot of space for my warm weather stuff! Need to plan better next year. Again, a journal would be handy. Or a much bigger garden. 

Do you plant a spring garden? Anyone grow Kale? I've really wanted to grow that one. Also spinach! Maybe next spring. How are the tomatoes doing? Mine seems to only have a few little flowers so far- no fruit yet at all. Sure hope I get some ripe ones!

Garden fresh caprese

This is my absolute favorite salad. Possibly my favorite dish of any kind. I eat it several times a week, but the best time is the end of summer... fresh garden tomatoes!! I picked my first ripe one today! (finally!! the last ripe one I had fell off the plant and became slug food). We've had such a cool summer that the poor tomatoes are so late. I'm afraid I won't have many ripe ones. Thinking I'll have to try this delicious looking fried green tomato recipe at make happy to use up the ones that never ripen.
Anyway, last weekend I made fresh, homemade chevre, then today I picked a gorgeous yellow heirloom tomato from my garden... This salad was so meant to be.

These are from my parents' garden-- they get just enough more sun than I do. Luckily they share. :)

Also a few from one of the teachers at Ty's school.  (Thanks Carmen! They were delicious!)

In my excitement to cut into my first garden tomato I forgot to snap a pic of it. But you can see the beautiful yellow slices!

Garden tomatoes, homemade chevre, plus a few slices of buffalo mozzarella (my fav- but fresh mozz is great too), basil from my herb garden, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mmmm. Simple summer deliciousness. Oh, I splashed a bit of balsamic vinegar on before I ate it. Love that part.

Bruschetta

I had some roma tomatoes and fresh mozzarella that needed using, and for once I was not in the mood for a caprese salad. Or a caprese sandwich. Or caprese pasta. All of which are my favorites.... guess I'm just caprese'd out. So, bruschetta it was. 

Chop several tomatoes (I used 3 romas), a few tablespoons of red onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and 6 or 7 fresh basil leaves (I buy a basil plant each season at Trader Joe's for a few bucks... lasts for months!). Combine in a bowl; drizzle some olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar, add sea salt and pepper to taste. Chill. 

Meanwhile, slice up some rustic bread... sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia... whatever you've got. Brush it with a bit of olive oil and toast in the oven. I used a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, but it just depends how crisp you like it. Top each piece with a thin slice of fresh mozzarella (regular mozzarella just won't do).

Spoon a generous amount of the tomato mixture on top of the cheese, add extra pepper to taste. 

Yum.