Old School

There’s been a whole lotta grape pickin’ going on at the Damsel’s place.

This is a funny picture, because it looks like the Damsel is tightly clutching a bunch of grapes, about to yank them off the vine. That would be a silly way to pick grapes because of smashage and droppage. Rather, she is gently holding the bunch while clipping the stem with nippers.

The Damsel likes picking grapes because it brings back warm memories of childhood, and plus, being outside on a sunny autumn day is tops. Her most favorite way to pick grapes is to go tandem with the Knight. He holds up the vines while she picks. Teamwork!

Now then. Making the stuff into juice is simple as kindergarten. There are other methods, such as stomping with bare feet, but the Damsel really, really likes this way:

This gadget is a steam juicer. The Damsel highly recommends its addition to your arsenal. Grape juice is only the beginning of what it can do, and it makes doing grape juice easy-peasy.

Simply dump the freshly picked grapes–stems and all–into the juicer’s insert, the one with holes in it. It sort of looks like a big colander. Rinse, but don’t stress. Everything is going to get very hot and sterile soon. The Damsel’s main goal is to rinse off spiders.

Now you just put the juicer together. You fill the bottom pan with water and stack the rest on top, turn on the heat, and wait. As you can see the Damsel’s juicer (called “the still”, lol) is way old. It was old when the Damsel was a kid, and it still works fine. After about two hours, you press open the clamp on the hose and juice flows out. You can drain the juice into a pitcher, or straight into a canning jar as you see here. (The Damsel has the canning jar set inside a pot, sitting on a chair, just in case it spills. She has learned through sad experience that grape juice isn’t nice to light-colored grout)

The juice is boiling hot so be careful. If you drain it straight into a canning jar, put the lid on straight away, and it will probably seal itself because of the heat. Technically you should still process the bottles in a waterbath canner for 30 minutes. A juicer-full of grapes will yield about 4 quarts of juice.

Grape juice is the easiest canning project. No peeling, slicing, blanching, or standing for hours hunched over a sink. And with a steam juicer, your feet stay non purple. Win-win.

Remember the Damsel asked y’all to give a shoutout to her brother-in-law, who is taking cancer treatments? She’s happy to let you know he’s finished with those and is doing well.

He mailed the Damsel a big, heavy box. To her surprise, inside was two GINORMOUS sunflower heads. He’d grown them himself. She pictured they’d be lighter, but with their payload of seeds, they were quite heavy.

Bro-in-law asked for a tutorial on how to harvest and roast the seeds, and he asked so nicely that the Damsel could not refuse.

A sunflower head is ready to cut when the back is yellow and the seeds come out readily. Rub your hand across its face to loosen the dried petals and “debris” before starting in on the seeds.

Now sit yourself down and start picking seeds. Sometimes they’ll come out by rubbing your fingers across them; others may need a little more coaxing. This is a perfect job for a couple of sprog. Sort through and pick out bug-eaten or otherwise unappetizing-looking seeds, but don’t obsess.

The Damsel always wondered why nuts “salted, roasted in the shell” could be salty inside. She learned this is accomplished by soaking the little darlings in salt water.

Mix about 1/4 cup salt per quart of water. The Damsel needed 2 quarts for this prodigious crop of seeds. Stir till dissolved.

Pour the seeds into the salt water. The Damsel was concerned because the seeds floated, and she would have felt better about things if they were submerged. She stirred them a few times, but next time she might put a weighted plate on top of the seeds to hold them under water. Leave for 24 hours.

So many of these old school thingies require waiting. The Damsel hates waiting.

Drain the seeds and rinse briefly, then pat dry with a clean dishcloth. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, stirring every ten minutes. The Damsel was required to do two batches, but she survived.

She also has come to realize that being a sunflower seed sheller would be a tedious job. Please tell her there is a machine for that.

The Damsel is having one of those weeks. Sprog #3 is getting ready to leave for a church mission, so things are hectic at the cottage by the mountains. The Damsel considered proclaiming it an Old School holiday, but then her darling sister came to the rescue with another brilliant guest post:
I’ve been a busy kitchen maven the last few days. Not only was I gifted with two boxes of pears, I also got a bushel of corn on the cob (which we are giving away and eating–not canning!) AND three buckets of tomatoes.

Now, since I ran out of bottles to can a long time ago, and I steadfastly refuse to BUY canning bottles, I have resorted to other means of preserving this bounty. I ran across a recipe for oven roasted freezer tomato sauce in the Relish Magazine the other day that looked yummy so I tried it. And I loved it. But most importantly, my brood loved it. And since I have a large brood of 6 peeps (one who is now a rooster who has temporarily flown the coop and 5 chicks), I am all about making my brood happy. This recipe sends them in to convulsions of delirious joy. And since it is so easy, I am a happy hen, too.

So here it is… an alternative to bottling tomatoes!

First I wash the tomatoes. I was given an assortment of romas and other various varieties of tomatoes. Romas are good because they are meaty and less juicy so they make a good, thick sauce. But any variety of tomatoes will do. I often do it with the cup of grape tomatoes from the grocery store, too, and it works fabulously.

After the tomatoes are washed, I prepare the pan. I use olive oil, but any light oil will work. In the effort to keep things real and honest, I’ve used my ACTUAL cookie sheet. It is stained and dark in the corners. Now you know my secret. I don’t have spotless cookie sheets. I hope it wont ruin our relationship forever!

Cut the stem end off the tomatoes (and any blemishes you wouldn’t want to eat.) This is one of my brood who, thanks to her camera work today, has decided she wants to be a hand model.

Add a few cloves of garlic. I like a lot of garlic. I put in 5 cloves. Yumm. And it keeps the vampires away which is a good thing since Vampires are so last year. And I see a tomato that got through with a stem end still intact. I’ll have to talk to my brood about quality control.

Put on the cookie sheet and drizzle then with a bit more olive oil.

Now is your chance to get creative. You can add basil, rosemary… whatever herbs you like. Or don’t add any at all. It is up to you! And they don’t have to be fresh. You can add dried herbs if that’s what you’ve got. To make it even more easy, you can leave them out all together. Add them whole or chopped up, whichever you want. I put in whole basil and rosemary.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. I use coarse kosher salt because it’s trendy and makes me feel clever, something I’m not naturally.

Pop the pan in the oven, set to a blazing 450 degrees. Bake until the tomatoes are blackend (30 minutes or so, depending on the size and water content of the tomatoes you use). There will be a lot of clear tomato juice. I sometimes drain it off, and I sometimes keep it. It depends on my mood. If you keep it, your sauce will be runnier. And, conversely, if you drain it, your sauce will be meatier. Well, not really meatier, but thicker because you can’t get meat from tomato plants. Yet.

Smash the roasted tomatoes with a potato masher. Or whatever else you have. I have sometimes let it cool and put it in a freezer baggie and squished it with my fingers, even. Do whatever makes you happy.

Now you can put it in the freezer or on pasta. I wish this were posted on blogsmell.com because it smells so good. It is sweet and hearty smelling. Oh man. My brood keeps hovering at this point. That’s how I know when it is done.

Here it is on spaghetti noodles. Sometimes I add roasted veggies, like zucchinni or summer squash or peppers or eggplant or carrots or onions or all of them. That’s just a bit of heaven, I have to say. All you need is a piece of crusty bread and a green salad…