News from the Great Kids Farm Kitchen: September 2015

By Chela Cooper, Great Kids Farm Chef Educator

Tomatoes are a wonderful crop to introduce students to picking and eating food. This season at Great Kids Farm, we harvested several varieties of cherry-sized tomatoes that went to Baltimore City Public Schools cafeterias in celebration of Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week, September 14 – 18, 2015. The tomatoes were featured in a local salad prepared by cafeteria staff, using other local Maryland produce and served to students during school lunch. This year, all City Schools students eat breakfast and lunch for free, thanks to the school district’s participation in the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision. 

Summer is still hanging on, and so are our tomato plants.  We’ll continue harvesting them to serve fresh to students who visit the farm for Learning Journeys, Days of Taste, and student summits in the coming month. We’ll also be preserving some to use in soups and sauces during the winter months until we grow fresh tomatoes again next summer.

I often get asked for tomato recipes around this time of year, and wanted to share a few that we’ve made here at the farm.  Enjoy the last of the summer tomato harvest.

This recipe is great for beginner cooks or when working with children in the kitchen. The ingredients are easy to cut with a plastic knife or tear into pieces. Eat this salad right out of the bowl with a slice of toasted sourdough bread. For a full meal, serve over hot or cold whole grain pasta.

Ingredients:

• About 2 cups cherry-sized tomatoes, any color
• About 10 leaves fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar ( for stronger flavor used distilled white vinegar and apple cider vinegar, for milder flavor use rice vinegar)
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Tools:

• A cutting board
• A knife to cut tomatoes (a plastic knife will work with kids)
• A medium-sized mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons
• A spoon for mixing

Directions:

1. Gather all ingredients and tools.
2. Wash your hands and rinse all produce.
3. Use a knife to slice the cherry tomatoes in half on a cutting board, then place the tomatoes in the mixing bowl.
4. To cut the basil, stack the leaves on top of one another, then fold the stack in half along the line down the middle of the leaves.  Slice into thin ribbons and add them to the mixing bowl.  Alternatively, tear the basil leaves into pieces and placed directly into the bowl with the tomatoes.
5. Add the olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and salt.  Mix well and let stand for at least 5 minutes.

Stovetop recipe: Tomato Sauce

I like to keep my canned tomato sauce simple--tomatoes, water, and a little salt. We make huge batches of this sauce in the farm kitchen and can it for use in soups and sauces made with students throughout the school year. If you’re interested in home canning, consider exploring food preservation resources through the University of Maryland Extension, including this overview of UME's food preservation workshop series.

Rather than having a strict recipe that uses exact measures, I let a few general principles and my senses guide the way. Magically, it all works out if you start with a good sauce pot and a spoon, and remember to stir so things don’t burn.

Start with a stainless steel cooking pot with a lid. An aluminum or cast iron pot will give the sauce an odd flavor. Take any tomatoes you have from your garden, local farm, or farmers market and cut them up into 2-inch chunks. You’ll eventually be boiling them down, and blending them with an immersion blender if you like, so no need to be fussy with chopping. Place the cut tomatoes into your pot, adding enough to fill the pot no more than about 2/3 full.

Once your tomatoes are in the pot, pour in some water until it reaches about 2 inches up the side of the pot. The water keeps the tomatoes from burning onto the bottom of the pot, and most of it will get cooked off while the tomatoes are bubbling away. 

Place the pot on the stove over medium heat and cover. Check the tomatoes after a few minutes and stir. Cover and continue to cook, repeating the check and stir processes every few minutes. The tomatoes will release their own juices, and the mixture will “cook down” as it simmers. Stirring will help crush the tomatoes, making them into more of a sauce. You want enough heat to maintain a simmer, but not so much heat that the tomatoes at the bottom of the pot burn.

The cooking time for tomato sauce depends on the size of the pot and the amount and type of tomatoes you are cooking. A quart-sized pot of tomatoes may cook in 20 minutes, while a large stock pot may take 90 minutes. Look for the tomato skins coming away from the tomato pulp, and a thick tomato pulpy mixture with no sign of the shape of the chunks you started out with. Continue cooking and stirring until the sauce thickens, and some of the free liquid at the top has boiled away. Once sauce has reached desired consistency, salt to taste, and if desired, puree with immersion blender. Cooled sauce will keep for a week in the fridge or in the freezer for several months. If you're up for the challenge, can to store for the winter. Beginning home canners are encouraged to follow the USDA Guidelines for safe home canning of tomatoes and tomato products.

Recipe challenge: Roasted Tomato Salsa

I love tomato salsa, and this is my favorite recipe. It involves grilling whole tomatoes until their skins are blackened, then blending them with a variety of other ingredients. This is most easily done on an outdoor grill; you can also use the broiler setting in your home oven. This salsa can be preserved by canning or freezing to enjoy a little taste of summer in the winter months.

Ingredients:

• 4 – 6 medium or large firm tomatoes, left whole
• 1 jalapeno (optional, for a spicy salsa)
• 1 yellow or white onion, peeled and rough chopped
• 2 – 3 cloves garlic
• About 1 cup water
• About ½ cup chopped cilantro
• ½ cup diced fresh tomatoes
• 1 lime, juiced (1 – 2 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Tools:

• Knife and cutting board
• Outdoor grill or oven broiler
• Tongs and a sheet pan
• Blender or immersion blender and large pitcher or mixing bowl
• Measuring cups and spoons
• A mixing spoon

Directions:

1. Refrigerate your whole tomatoes for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours before making this recipe. (The cold tomatoes hold up better when they are on the grill or under the broiler.)
2. Place the chilled tomatoes on a hot grill stem-side down. Cover the grill and allow the tomatoes to cook for 10-12 minutes, until skin blackens. Using tongs, carefully flip the tomatoes and grill the other side until the entire tomato appears burned. Remove from the grill and allow to cool on a sheet pan.
3.  If you want to make spicy salsa, place the jalapeno on the grill for 3-5 minutes, then flip and cook until both sides are blackened.  Allow to cool, then carefully pull out and discard the stem. 
4. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove cores and combine them with the chopped onion, garlic, and optional blackened jalapeno.  Use a blender or immersion blender to process them into a smooth sauce, adding water as needed to thin the mixture.  The mixture should appear dark brownish red with tiny flecks of black.
5. Stir in the diced tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.  Mix well by hand.
6. Serve immediately, or keep refrigerated for up to a week.