Its Delish! Vanilla Kumquat Marmalade

A few Sundays ago, my family went to my mom's house for dinner. She has the most beautiful back yard, and in the middle of it is a huge kumquat tree.

Isn't that a beauty! So I thought I would get the kids out there and pick some kumquats. And boy did they come up with a huge bounty!

Mason, my older- more serious son, loves to pick fruit, so he was very competitive.

Toby, my younger goofball son, was perfectly happy to squeeze the kumquats so the juice would squirt right in your eye.

Between them and their two younger cousins, they picked a HUGE bowl full of kumquats. So I decided to make kumquat marmalade.

First, I got my tools out: 1 bowl for seeds, one large measuring cup so I knew how many kumquats I had cut, a cutting board, a knife and a towel to wipe my hands off with.

Then I began to slice the kumquats and reserve the seeds in the little bowl. You will use the seeds later, so be sure to save them. Plus, you don't want hard seeds in your finished marmalade.

This is what 3 pints (6 cups) of sliced and de-seeded kumquats look like.

And this is what the seeds look like from 3 pints of kumquats.

Put the seeds in some cheesecloth and tie a string around it.

Then put the kumquats, seeds, and 8 cups of water into a pot and bring to a boil.

There it is, boiling away. Once it has come to a boil, let it run for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat and let the kumquats, water, and seeds soak overnight.

The next day, bring the pot with the kumquat mixture to a quick boil. Then add 6 cups of sugar.

Bring it back up to a boil and then lower the heat to low and let simmer.

While you are waiting for the mixture to come to the second boil (after you add the sugar), you should split your vanilla bean in half lengthwise.

Then use your knife to scrape out all the seeds, otherwise known as 'vanilla caviar'. Add the seeds and scraped pod to the pot.

Here is what the mixture looks like once everything is in the pot. Notice how high up the mixture comes in the pot.

Here is a close-up of the marmalade. Can you see the brown specks of vanilla goodness? Now let the marmalade cook until it is ready. How can you tell if the mixture is ready? Put a metal spoon in the freezer so it gets really cool. Then, you put a few drops of marmalade on the spoon and stick it back in the freezer for about a minute. If you push on the drops and they wrinkle, the marmalade is done.

Here is what the marmalade looks like when it is ready for canning. Notice how far down the liquid is in the pot. This took about 1 1/2- 2 hours. Turn off the heat and skim the white foam off with a spoon. Let the mixture cool while you prepare the jars.

I went out and purchased 12 half pint jars. I only ended up needing 6 of them for this recipe. I unscrewed the caps and put the tops in boiling water for about 5 minutes.

Apparently this softens the 'glue' that will help seal the jars.

Then I carefully filled the jars (after I had washed them with soapy water and rinsed in hot water) to about 1/8 inch from the top. Then, using tongs I placed the hot tops on the jars and sealed with the rings.

The filled jars were then placed in a pot of boiling water. I thought I was supposed to have the water boiling 2 inches from the tops of the jars. It turns out I was supposed to have the water 2 inches above the tops. After boiling for 15 minutes I carefully removed the jars and let them cool. As each jar cooled I could hear the tops *pop* which meant the canning was successful.

And there we have the finished product!

I like my marmalade on toast with cream cheese, but you could also use it on muffins, or even throw it over brie and bake for 30 minutes and then spread it over crackers. Yum!

Hope you enjoyed my little foray into making and canning marmalade. If you really decide to do some canning of your own, please don't follow my directions, as they are somewhat imperfect. I would just google it and read a few bloggers who are experts on the subject.

Thanks dolls!

It's Delish! Tomato Polenta Lasagna

It is a little early in the tomato season for this recipe, but I just made it the other day and I couldn't resist sharing. If you have a bunch of tomatoes and 3 hours of time, then this is the best recipe ever! Yes, you read that right. It takes 3 hours to cook the fresh tomatoes down, but it is worth every second because at the end you will have the most beautiful, savory, flavorful tomato sauce you have ever tasted! Let's begin:

Begin by cutting about 3 pounds of tomatoes in half and then getting rid of the stem area. This area of the tomato can be kind of tough and woody, and one time I didn't bother to cut it out and there were gross chunks in my otherwise delish sauce.

Put all the cut tomatoes into a dutch oven or other heavy pot and set on a medium flame.

To the tomatoes add 2-4 anise pods and one vanilla bean. Yes, you read that right- a vanilla bean! Because they are so expensive, I usually use half a bean.

Continue to cook over a medium heat.

As the tomatoes begin to break down, use a potato smasher to gently smoosh (very technical term) the tomatoes to speed up the process.

This is what it should look like after about 15 minutes. At this point turn the flame down to medium-low and continue to cook.

I would stir the pot every 20 minutes or so. Also, taste the tomatoes as they cook so you can see how the flavors change over time. This should cook for at least two hours on a low flame.

This is what it should look like after a few hours. There should be almost no liquid left, just the slowly cooked pulp.

At this point you can throw in a few garlic gloves. I chop the large ones in half, but don't chop them too small because you should take them out after about 5-10 minutes along with the vanilla pod and anise pods.

Once you have removed the garlic, vanilla, and anise, you can add a handful of torn fresh basil and some chopped fresh oregano or marjoram. Taste and season with salt.

At this point your sauce is finished and you can do whatever you like with it. You can spread it over bruschetta toast, or spoon it over pasta. But I like to layer it with soft polenta and fresh mozzarella to make the lasagna. Here is how that is done:

About an hour before the sauce is done, I bring 1 cup of polenta and 4 cups of water with a pinch of salt to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer.

Cook the polenta over a low flame and occasionally stir. If it feels like it is getting too goopy (another technical term), just add some more water. I had to add at least 1 more cup of water as I cooked the polenta for an hour.

Now I know an hour sounds like a long time for polenta, especially when the box says it can be cooked in 5-10 minutes. And you can do the quick version if you want. But because you already have to wait an hour for the tomato sauce to cook, you might as well cook your polenta this way. It gives the polenta an extra creamy-smoothness you wont get the quick way.

At the end of the hour throw in a good handful (or two) of freshly grated parmesan cheese and turn off the flame.

For this recipe I like to add some wild arugula to the polenta to help cut the sweetness of the sauce. I just add it directly to the pot after the heat has been turned off and stir until the arugula has wilted down.

Now you can begin to make your lasagna. I start with 1/3 of the polenta and smooth it on the bottom of a pie pan.

Then add 1/2 of the tomato sauce.

Next I add the fresh mozzarella. To be totally honest, I think the fresh mozzarella tastes wonderful, but the liquid in the fresh mozzarella can make the dish a little softer than I would like. Next time I am going to try shredded mozzarella and see how that turns out.

Then add a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Continue by adding another 1/3 of the polenta, the other half of tomato sauce, more mozzarella, and another handful of parmesan. Top the whole thing off with the last of the polenta and then sprinkle with the last of the parmesan.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes until the top is brown. Let it sit for 10 minutes and then cut and serve. I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but it looked just like the above photo, only browner.

This serves 6 adults and is a perfect main course for a vegetarian meal.

It's Delish: Vegetarian Valentine's Day Dinner

Hello my darlings!

Today I thought I would finish last week's theme of Valentine's Day. So here is how to prepare a wonderful heart shaped savory puff pasty.

Start with some red potatoes. I used one per person.

Also, preheat your oven to 400.

Oh, and be sure to take out the puff pastry from the freezer to let it defrost.

Slice the potato in half and then in half again.

Then turn the slices over and cut into thirds

Then slice the potato in thirds going the other way. Then place the cubes into a baking dish.

Dice up 1-2 garlic cloves and add to the potatoes.

To this you are going to add a few fresh thyme sprigs.

There they are!

Then add some salt, pepper and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the potatoes and mix.

Put in oven for 25-30 minutes.

Next, you are going to slice up some leeks.

Cut off the dark greens and the bottoms of the leeks. Then slice in half lengthwise and then cross cut them into small slices. Then rinse under a colander to get all the grit out of the leeks.

Add the sliced leeks to a pan with some heated olive oil. Add a pinch of dried thyme, some salt and some pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.

I like to combine the clean fresh flavors of the fresh thyme with the savory depth of the dried thyme.

Dice up another garlic clove and add to the leeks. Then put on a lid and lower the heat to a medium-small flame. Let cook for about 6 minutes until the leeks are soft and may have started to brown a bit.

After the leeks are done, remove the lid and add 1/4 cup dry white wine.

Let that cook for a minute or two until the wine has pretty much evaporated and then take off the flame.

At this point the potatoes are probably done. Take them out of the oven, discard the thyme sprigs, and mix with the leeks.

Add a tsp fresh chopped thyme to the vegetable mixture. Taste to see if you need some more salt and/or pepper.

Here is what the filling should look like. Isn't that amazing!

The sweetness of the leeks pare perfectly with the earthiness of the potatoes and the fresh and dried thyme combine to give the whole mixture a punch of flavor. The dry white wine adds a bit of acidity to heighten the delicious flavors.

Next we need to get the puff pastry hearts ready.

I start with a sheet of parchment paper. I find it help the pastry dough from sticking to my counters, which always happens to me no matter how much I flour it. I add some flour to help the puff pastry roll out smoothly.

By now your puff pastry should be defrosted, so lay it on top of the parchment paper, sprinkle some flour on top of it, and start to roll it out.

As you can see, it doesn't have to look pretty because we are going to cut the pastry using a large heart shaped cookie cutter. You can see it on the top right corner of the photo.

As you can see, I could get six hearts per sheet.

Place a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet and then lay the hearts down so they are not touching each other.

Then, place a few spoonfuls of the mixture on each heart. Move the filling around so it is heart shaped.

Then place a puff pastry dough heart on top of the first heart.

Using a fork, fold the BOTTOM heart over the TOP heart (or have them fold together). Then use the tines of the fork to mush the two layer together.

This was tricky on the first one, but it got easier after that.

Brush the top of each pastry with some egg wash and bake in the oven (still at 400) for about 25-30 minutes, or until the puff pastry turns brown.

Doesn't that look pretty?

I served this with a green salad and a roasted beet salad.