Comfort (and Convenience) in a Can

Don't get me wrong, I know people are busy. Very busy. I'm pretty busy myself, which makes cooking something decent and nutritious something of a challenge. So I like things that help save me time. Having said that, there are a few convenience foods I don't really understand at all, mostly because it's incredibly simple (and pretty fast!) to make these things yourself. Take balsamic vinaigrette, for instance. It takes 30 seconds to whip up, and all it needs is balsamic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Maybe some garlic and/or mustard if you feel like it, but that's it. Four ingredients, a few seconds. So why buy it off the shelf, where it's either full of preservatives and unpronounceable ingredients (someone please tell me what xanthum gum is and what it does!) or costs an arm and a leg, and still has shelf stabilizers in it?

The same holds true, for me at lest, of pasta sauce. Unless you get the expensive kinds, chances are you've just bought a jar full of sugar and tomatoes (why most commercial pasta sauces contain sugar, I'll never know. It adds nothing to the flavor, unless you want dessert-y pasta). Pasta sauce takes so little time to make, and it's pretty cheap. You probably have almost all the ingredients lying around your kitchen anyway, if you have a decently stocked pantry. Even if you don't, chances are you have some onion or garlic in your kitchen. So why not put them to good use and make a nice, hearty, old-fashioned bowl of pasta and red sauce tonight?

Basic Pasta Sauce
1 can plain tomato sauce (not a jar--a can of pureed tomatoes. I use Hunt's. Sometimes they contain a little salt and/or herb seasoning. That's fine, as long as there's no sugar.)
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
5-6 leaves fresh basil or 1T dried
1T fresh oregano or 1 1/2 tsp. dried
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, heat 2 T olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until it starts to get slightly translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the onions and garlic from burning. Turn the heat down a little if necessary.

Add the tomato sauce and stir. Bring the sauce up to a simmer, simmer 3 minutes. Add the herbs, optional pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Simmer another 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

At this point, you can either toss this on your favorite pasta, or add cooked meat, sausage, meatballs, seitan--whatever you want. Cook through and serve.

Canning Craze

It's that time of the summer when the produce starts rolling in faster than we can eat it. We've been especially overrun with tomatoes, despite the blight and crappy weather--not that I'm complaining. The tomatoes we're getting from the farm are fabulous, but I was starting to run out of ways to prepare them. I was having the same problem with all the summer squash we were getting. My solution--tomato sauce, homemade, canned, and put aside for January, when a hot bowl of pasta with yummy summer veg would be most welcome.

So, that was my project on Sunday. While the sauce was simmering, I blitzed up some pesto, using the enormous bunch of basil I got from the farm last Wednesday, and canned that too (waste not, want not!) The sauce turned out beautifully, and I now have five jars of it, sealed and sitting in my makeshift closet pantry, just waiting for those chilly winter days.

Summer Pasta Sauce

1 large summer squash (zucchini or yellow squash)

1 medium onion or 2 small onions, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

4-5 large tomatoes, chopped small

1/2 bell pepper (any color)

your favorite herbs (I used a few leaves of fresh basil and thyme)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a deep saute pan over medium heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add onions and garlic and saute until the onions are just transparent. Add squash and stir. Saute for a few minutes, until the squash just starts to color and cook a little.

Add the tomatoes, stir, and simmer for about five minutes, stirring frequently to keep them from sticking to the pan.

Add the herbs and peppers and simmer the sauce about 5-10 minutes, until it reduces and thickens slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Can in sterilized jars for later use or refrigerate.

**Cook's note: if you don't mind a wetter, slightly thinner sauce, you don't have to bother seeding the tomatoes. If you want your sauce thicker, though, gut the tomatoes before adding them to the sauce***

Comfort Food

We're currently in the middle of a family crisis. My dad's heart, it turns out, is in rather poor shape, a fact that made itself apparent when he passed out in the garden Sunday morning, scaring my poor mother to death and bringing A. and I flying from Princeton to Doylestown Hospital.

We're all lucky, this time. Although dad's tests were a bit worse than expected, the problem is fixable. He's still in the hospital, having some procedures done, but they expect to release him tomorrow, and he's back in good spirits and feeling much better. The whole family is now breathing a collective sigh of relief and, finally, eating a little again.

Its at times like these that you realize the vital importance of comfort food. Last night, post hospital visit, mom, A., my grandmother, and I all went out for dinner. My mother went for the ultimate comfort food--meatloaf. I can't remember the last time she made or ate meatloaf, but there she was, happily inhaling it.

"This is just what I needed," she sighed when the plate was scraped. "Some good, filling comfort food." In an unusual move for me, I too indulged--in a cheeseburger and fries. I never order cheeseburgers and fries, and yet in mere minutes my plate was empty, astonishing A.

"Where did you put all that?" he asked, staring from my plate to his own, which still had half a burger and a full order of fries on it.

The night before, while A loaded the car with our dogs and the suitcase so we could stay with my mother in PA, I whipped up a quick order of another major comfort food (for me at least): pasta. A plate of ziti with some fresh summer veg, leftover roasted chicken from the night before, pepper, and a little parmesan cheese. Quick, easy, nourishing, and yes, comforting.

Consolation Pasta

(serves 2)

1/4 lb pasta of choice (I used ziti, but anything will do)

5 cherry tomatoes, quartered or 1 tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 fresh zucchini or other summer squash, cut in half and sliced into half moons

1/4-1/2 cup cooked chicken

Parmesan to taste

pepper to taste

Boil pasta according to package directions, stirring occasionally to keep it from clumping together.

Drain, retaining a tablespoon or two of the cooking water.

Return pasta to the pot with the cooking water. Add zucchini, chicken, and tomatoes. Stir to combine. Add pepper and parmesan to taste and stir to combine. Serve.