Green Chili Tomato Jam

Adapted from blog Cooking without Limits

Substituted a few ingredients for a savory chili sauce\ jam.

Rough measurements, and by taste to get a sweet\sour taste.

Very  good use for tomato and hot peppers.

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Green jalapeno peppers with seeds…  about 125 grams, processed in a food processor

white sugar……. 68 grams

apple cider vinegar …. about 51 ml

bottled lemon juice and peeled processed orange  combination ….. 2 tablespoons more or less

Tomatoes, cherry/grape type  is what I have harvested recently.

Pour the vinegar, sugar, orange and lemon juice in a pan

boil for 5 minutes, add the hot  peppers, Add tomato (amount by eye) to achieve and desired consistency.

Cook on low heat to thicken, adjust measurements if necessary, place in jar, cool and refrigerate.

Due to the size of the tomatoes, the sauce has a high concentration of seeds versus pulp. A good condiment to have on hand not only for toast etc. but a cooking ingredient for sauces and marinades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hydroponic update II

07/11/17

Some wilting of  some the leaves on some of the plants, could be from

• too high a nutrient level
• root overcrowding of the reservoir, too many plantings for the capacity of the reservoir
• not enough aeration of the nutrients
• inadequate flushing of the reservoir, 2 week intervals
• too much sunlight
• not enough air flow
• accumulation of rainwater overfilling reservoir
• all of the above

The tomatoes continue to bloom and ripen despite the drooping leaves, some leaves have browned,

Some of the leaves were removed  from the lower parts of the plants to promote air circulation.

Tomatoes ripen at different sizes, possibly from different nutrient mix, Open Sesame, Beastie Bloom, Cha Ching. (Fox Farm nutrients) Different stages of growth on the vine locations.

Next year, most likely less plantings, only one per net pot, only 3-4 per reservoir.

The NFT lettuce and greens system in on hold for now,  read an article on Meniscus membrane systems. Could continue during the colder months indoors or earlier.  No rush whatsoever.

07/16/2017

More of the leaves have browned and drooped or dried. Dropped nutrient level, and checked the PPM more frequently. Tomatoes  still ripening and harvesting.

07/20/2017

The PVC tomato tower was a success, plenty  of places to tie on support lines

Cut back a lot of the dried growth

Some of the tomatoes have a grape like skin and fruit

07/30/2017

  Cut back browned plants, harvested tomatoes on the vine for ripening.

Drain and cleaned out net pots , lava rock and flushed reservoir light solution of Sledgehammer. Massive root ball one one side of the reservoir .

New growth on remaining plants.

Trashed trimmed vines

The root system was so dense, I had to cut the roots of the discarded plants

Flushing of the reservoir with a weak Sledgehammer solution and clean water

Sun ripened tomatoes from the vine.

08/03/2017

 Now I trimmed down to one plant in one net pot. the plant is still growing and producing fruit. but of course the harvest will be much less. Some trimmed vine fruit is ripening off the vine. The flavor of these tomatoes are not sweet, so to speak, but have a good balanced tomato flavor that I’ve grown to enjoy. It’s difficult to get a good sweet tomato even from the store as a certain variety has to be at the peak of flavor and that is a very short time. Overall I like this type of tomato that’s  for container gardening and will grow it again. I’ve learned the limits of this setup.

Assortment of greens have been started indoors for the remainder of the summer and fall. I suppose I could start more tomatoes, but will concentrate on greens for now and develop the NFT system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meat n’ Wheat

Bread has been a passion, the home baked variations are many. The succulent taste of meat combined with bread is a flavor perhaps learned from the humble hamburger. I have thought of the best recipe to combine the meat with bread, Beef Wellington,  Empanadas  and the likes, even considering baking bread with ground beef in the dough. But for me the real deal was not bread but wheat, cooked to absorbed the juices of the particular meat chosen and at the top of my scale is lamb. So this is the  recipe, adaptable to other flavors.

In a suitable pan for cooking the meal brown the meat, here , lamb loin chops. Salt and cracked  pepper of course.

Set the meat aside keeping the  the juices rendered during the browning process in the pan.

Prep ingredients….

 

The magic ingredient here is Bulgar.

Saute up the root vegetables then add the tomatoes, here onion ,shallots and garlic are used. As to your liking herbs and spices, I used a smattering of cinnamon and just a few coriander seeds for small burst of flavors.

Add the Bulgar to absorb the juices now in the pan, and cook for several minutes. I added sesame seeds, a frequently used staple in cooking and baking . Not toasted in this recipe.

Return the meat to the pan atop the Bulgar.

Add liquid, stock is preferred, roughly twice as much by measure as the amount of wheat. If stock is not hot, bring pan to a boil first.

Cover and simmer or place  into a hot oven if you like, about 20 minutes, remove from heat and let rest covered a few minutes.

The finished result is tender meat surrounded by a most favorable wheat mixture.

MMMM…. the flavor of the lamb is incomparable when combined with the Bulgar. A close recipe is Kibbeh, also a favorite which is very close to a Meat n’ Wheat ultimate combination. https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/stuffed-meat-loaf-kibby-bil-sanieh    WOW recipe link , 6 years ago !

Beef Barley Tomato Soup

Similar to the recipe on the box of Quick Cooking Barley, but made with a soup base my daughter made.The  soup base consists of :

Celery, leeks, onion, garlic, parsley, tomato, potatoes, that had been cooked for 1 and one half hours, processed in a blender and strained. It’s a healthy food recipe called Special Soup or Hippocrates Soup,  it’s a good tasting nourishing soup alone or as utilized as a base for other recipes.

To the soup base, add the following, when completed cooking :

• Beef chuck , diced to small size suitable for soup.
•  Olive oil, bacon fat etc. in the pan. Fry the beef, till almost fully cooked.
• Diced onion, roughly 1/2 as much as the beef.
• Salt, pepper and seasonings to taste.
• One or two medium tomatoes, diced chunky.
• Finish with finely chopped garlic, cook till the ingredients are wilted.

Meanwhile in a oven proof measuring cup, mix a measured amount of quick cooking barley and water as package directs.

Microwave several minutes, drain, and add to soup.

 I needed some greens in the soup for color , my wife suggested some baby spinach . The spinach was added and then seasonings adjusted and grated Parmesan  added for the finish. Everything was warmed through.

(this soup base would also make a good pasta and beans recipe)

A very tasty and nourishing soup a recipe worth repeating.

After shopping, quick bite supper

Sourdough flatbread, fresh ground beef pan fried pattie,  romaine lettuce, cherry tomato, cucumber, sauteed mushrooms.

On a later date  a redo of this recipe.

Fresh ground beef, Hawaiian sea salt and pepper. Pan broiled.

Lettuce and  spinach….

Add burger, cucumber, mayo, ketchup, bacon, caramelised onion, parsley.

The flatbread was a bit tough, all in all a good meal. 

hydroponics summer/fall

This year the outdoor  hydroponics consisted mostly  of cherry tomatoes, Burpee and High Mowing organic Bartelly F1, three plantings, though I did not track how many from each variety. Late start as they require warmer temperatures possibly a heat mat to germinate than other varieties of greens I had grown from  seeds. This was the answer though as to a better variety to grow hydroponically compared to last year as they produced grapevine like clusters of tomatoes. Trellising needs to be improved, not tall enough to support the height of the tomatoes, some stems folded and split and leafs became mottled. Late in the season trimmed lower leaves as it’s probably close the end of the growing season (outdoor). the most recent pick some were more sweeter than others but the fact the they are still growing and ripening is a plus. may also benefit from some type of trellis/plastic wrap for cool weather protection.

Overall a big improvement from last year variety of tomato

 

 

stuffed eggplant

Eggplant is one if those ingredients that can replaced meat or augment it. Usually I prepare one type of eggplant recipe most often, sliced , breaded, and fried, or baked. That  method requires preparation. If you follow the salt and drain routine to remove the moisture from the eggplant this is  more prep time. Occasionally viewing cooking shows on TV gave me the idea to change the routine breaded eggplant recipe.

Stuffed eggplant seemed like a straight forward recipe, remove the eggplant interior  from the eggplant, once sliced in half lengthwise, and return it to the shells after being cooked and mixed with stuffing components and baked.

 

A quick search for Lydia’s stuffed eggplant recipe gave me the starting point for the recipe. Ground chicken thighs would replace the ground beef.  Also I would being using one rather large eggplant.

No breadcrumbs were available so stubborn me, resisting the quick trip to the market to get some, made a quick biscuit recipe. Then when done, further baked  at a low heat to dry it out some what. Finally this was cut to resemble cubes of bread. This biscuit was in the form of one large round biscuit , the dough being pressed into a large diameter cake pan which fit in the microwave/convection oven.

Time wise the stuffing had be be cooled when completed so there was sufficient time to prepare the cubed bread substitute. 

 

The ground chicken was cooked and then added some rice wine, another substitution as I don’t usually have white wine available as an Italian kitchen would. No green bell pepper available either.The Parmesan cheese only measured about 1/2 cup. Now the recipe was coming together, this was along the lines of a meat stuffing one would prepare for a turkey for example.

Didn’t get any pictures when this was done from the oven but the result did remind me of a stuffing for poultry with a filling meatloaf like texture, the biscuit substitute actually better than bread due to the fact it was denser. Cherry tomatoes (we are fortunate to have a small amount of hydroponic cherry tomatoes available, more on that endeavor to be posted) also rounded out the stuffing and thyme instead of parsley, perhaps that accented the the poultry flavor with the ground chicken thighs.

All in all a good meal and as I am partial to cold meatloaf sandwiches, this meal was better the next day un-reheated.

I’m going to rework this recipe as far as the stuffing combination, rice will be used instead of the bread and it most likely will have a more spicy flair.

http://createtv.com/recipe/meat+stuffed+eggplant