Simplest pasta sauce in the world. Really.

There are ONE too many nights when I arrive back at the urban farm here after my two hour commute back from the place of servitude, that I just can't manage to cook anything I'd consider REAL and substantial and good. This sauce has now saved my life a number of times with it's basic ingredients that I always, and likely you all, always have on hand. There are many variations of this out there, but this one is my own with tweaks to those I've found.

One can of San Marzano tomatoes. (No comments on the canned part,...there are really good organic tomatoes out there! Really!)

One onion, grated. I know the photo shows a whole onion. I was lazy.

One cup chopped basil.

Six-eight cloves garlic, chopped.

Salt, red pepper flakes.

Really good quality olive oil: Key.

5 tablespoons butter OR unrefined coconut butter /oil.

Dump the tomatoes, grated onion, and butter in.

Let simmer for 45 minute while you go get a life.

In 45 minutes, onions should be tender. Break up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.

Add in garlic, basil, red pepper flakes to taste.

Cook another 20 minutes to half an hour. I like more garlic in the finished product so cook it less time.

Remove from heat, and add in 2-4 tbs of the really good EVOO...(I'm partial to our local Sepay Groves olive oils here in Solano County. They rock.) This brings out something kinda magical about the sauce.

Add more chopped basil, and parmesan if you like!

See? All you did was grate, dump, stir and eat! Eazy-peazy!

Lump o' mozzarella!

This is a photo of some pre-stretched mozzarella. Fresh out of the pot.

New obsession: Cheese making.

Those folks who check in on this blog from time to time know two things about me...

A. I am really lazy about blog entries

and

B. I tend to get really cranked up about certain things and will go out of my way to learn all I can about that thing...particularly if the thing involves cooking, gardening, or making art.

My current crank-up is making cheese. Yup. I've now taken a couple classes and feel pretty confident about my ability to craft some mighty fine goat cheese, mozzarella, mascarpone, and fromage blanc.

If I could have the space, I'd get me some goats of my own, but since I don't, I've been dabbling in goat herding classes this summer, and learning what I can about them. They are very sweet animals, and although I'd certainly welcome their little faces here at NashobaGardens, the fact is, I just don't have the space for them.

Soooo...I'm currently searching for goat-share situations in order to be able to find good milk.

I have to say, there is some sort of deeply soulful thing about milking a goat, then immediately crafting some cheese from the still warm offering. NOT to mention that this cheese beats out all other store bought cheese by leaps and bounds when it comes to taste and consistency.

So, I'm pretty into it now...and in fact, have plans to attend a session where crafting hard cheeses is discussed later in the summer. How cool would it be at Solstice to unveil a lovely cheddar you'd made with your own two hands ===and a cow's several udders, that is.

I've always been utterly lactose intolerant, but have to say, raw milk in all its forms has dealt with this issue. I still don't find myself able to drink MILK straight, but the cheeses I've been making from the raw stuff is SO much better, can't say enough about it. I'd make a post about HOW to make this cheese I've been making, but really, after internet searches, there are thousands of folks doing this with far better instructions.

And yeah, that's me, milkin' the goat at one of the classes this summer...this one at Love Apple's goat herding class. Cool, no?

Garden Excitement

It's been a very busy summer. I've had guests and guests and guests. My folks had their 50th wedding anniversary, so I was in Low Cal. for the big party. I did a little mini trip with a friend up to Mendocino this past week, and came back to a very neglected garden. Leaves, weeds, and under fertilized soil do not make for happy tomatoes...or anything else for that matter.

Two men working all day later, I now have order again, along with a goal of getting some worm tea going so that I can feed these poor babies by week's end.

Worm tea? If you garden, you know what this is. If you are a newbie, you need to know what it is.

And in its simplest form, it's easy to make. NashobaGardens has so many plants going, that there is a huge need for volume in feeding procedures. Generally, I take a large 9 gallon garbage can, mix in water, rain water if I have it, and pour in about half a bag of worm castings. I let this sit in the sun a day or so, then sift out the water into another bucket. It's good stuff. I either foliar spray the plants, or directly water with the tea. Try it out! It's worth the effort.

Bread!!!!!!

So, I've been yearning to make bread again after a long hiatus. And so, I purchased this awesome book, Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a day. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a bread fetish, such as myself, and to anyone with very little extra time in their life...sadly, also such as myself.

I think I did pretty good considering this is all hand made...no bread machines allowed. The cool thing about the basic bread recipe (which I'm intentionally not posting here as I think you folks ought to buy this amazing book...) is that you can really mess around with fillings for each loaf.
One of these is cheddar garlic, the other olive rosemary. They freeze remarkably well.

Happy Solstice! (a bit late, I know...)

Here is wishing anyone and everyone a glorious decade. I have to admit, the last ten years have been arguably some of the roughest ones I've spent. Perhaps it is the curse of aging that when one looks back on one's life and journey, it is somewhat inevitable that the pages seem a bit less full of the writing one might want to spend time reading.
This decade saw so much change for me....leaving California, living up in Oregon, meeting new and wonderful people, illness the likes of which I never hope to experience again, found love, lost love, death of friends and loved ones, healing, breaking, moving, digging, discovering, cooking, creating, learning, renewing...growing. It's been a strange trip, for sure.
At midnight this past December 31st, my oldest friend and I called each other at the stroke of 12....she's recently lost both of her parents to horrifying ongoing illness, and I've been dealing with my own nightmares the last few years of a similar ilk. In any event; we popped a cork on a good bottle of champagne, seven hundred miles apart, and toasted to what we both hope will be a far better decade...one of hope for us all, one of renewal, and one of lasting happiness where missed chances for heart connection and laughter are a thing of the past.

So blessings on you all who might follow either publicly or privately these little posts on garden, kitchen, and gentle witchery. May your years be as you wish them to be, both the soon to be, and the yet to be. Life is too short to miss any second of it.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

These were relatively easy to make, and pretty tasty.

Ingredients;

1/2 pound de-veined shrimp, tail off. Ick.

Rice paper wrappers, can be found at local Asian supermarket. Mine are from Seafood City.

Fresh mint.

Bean thread noodles.

Bean sprouts.

Fresh basil.

Fresh lettuce of your choosing. I used some arugula from my garden....I like the spiciness.

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce.

4 tbs. mirin

2 tbs. memmi, a soup stock base...you can omit this is you want to.

1/2 tsp. chili paste or if not available, ground red pepper will also work.

4 tbs. chunky no-salt peanut butter.

How to:

Steam the shrimp and set aside to chill.

Boil a large pot of water, and carefully dip the rice paper wrappers into the water. It'll only take a few seconds to wilt them. Lay them out onto wax paper or parchment to dry. They'll stick to paper towels. Yes, I found this out the hard way...six wrappers later..ughkkkk.

When you've boiled all the wrappers you intend to use, add the bean thread noodles to the water and very quickly remove. They cook rapidly.

Drain these guys on paper towels and then set in the fridge to cool for a bit.

Chop the mint, basil and lettuce into thin ribbons.

Wash and drain the bean sprouts.

Place a wrapper onto the counter and add a narrow strip of the greens mix, two shrimp, some of the bean thread noodles, and some of the bean sprouts.

Carefully roll the entire thing up, tucking the sides in half way, and finish by sealing the edge closed with a bit of warm water.

Continue wrapping and rolling until all are finished. Place in the fridge while you finish making the dipping sauce.

For the dipping sauce:

Combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, mirin, memmi, and chili paste and whisk together. I usually head up the peanut butter a bit before I whip it about. It makes things more smooth and you don't have to work up a froth trying to get it to incorporate.

Serve the rolls with the dipping sauce.