Roasting the Harvest

I’m very fond of roasted vegetables, and now that cooler weather is drifting into the kitchen from outdoors, I am happy to fire up the oven and enjoy them again. Harvest time provides an abundance of fruits and vegetables ripe and perfect for roasting – they’re heaped in baskets at markets and supermarkets everywhere.

Roasting is an oven technique that requires a higher heat than baking. It’s a fast-cooking method that draws out and caramelizes the natural sugars on the outside while concentrating and deepening the flavours on the inside. Thick, firm, and juicy-fleshed fruits such as plums, apricots, and cherries, and all kinds of vegetables such as beets, onions, squash, turnip, carrots, parsnips, eggplant, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, and asparagus, benefit from roasting. What follows is my basic recipe for roasting fruits or vegetables.

For more recipes on Roasting Vegetables and Fruits and my original recipe for Chicken with Roasted Black Plums and Greens, go here.

Roasted Garlic

Fresh Ontario garlic is available now from any of the farmers who visit the city every week, and my advice is to buy it in bulk and use it all winter in robust dishes. One of my favourite ways to use garlic in cooking is to roast the whole head. Whole roasted garlic bulbs morph into a sweet and meltingly tender pulp with a deceptively mellow and nutty flavour that is versatile and delicious in fall dishes. Roasting garlic is easy. I like to roast two or three heads at a time because generally I substitute one whole head in place of one or two bulbs in a recipe. I use roasted garlic in spreads and dips and as a flavouring for sauce, soup, and stew. 
For roasting garlic, I prefer to use a small heatproof baking dish with a lid instead of aluminum foil, and there are electric and terra cotta garlic roasting pots widely available online and in kitchen supply stores. The method is easy and my recipe follows: (Makes 1 head)

1 whole head garlic

1 tsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C)

2. Remove the loose, papery skin from the garlic head and slice and discard 1/4 inch off the tips of the cloves across the top of the head. Place the garlic head, cut side up in a small heatproof baking dish*  and drizzle with oil. Cover with a lid or foil. 

3. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until garlic is quite soft. Transfer to a cooling rack. 

4. When garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze cloves from their skins. It is now ready to use in any recipe that calls for roasted garlic.

* Note: If using a clay garlic roaster with a lid, roast at 375° F (190° C) for 35 to 40 minutes.

Preserving Recipes

Yes YOU Can!
Fall is the time for 'putting down' the bounty of the garden and if you are planning to make pickles or chutney, you will also want to make your own spice blends.
It's economical and the flavours are much more vivid when you purchase fresh, whole spices and combine them in blends that suit your own taste. Just be sure to purchase spices from a busy spice seller and get small amounts, use them up and then get more. This way, you are assured of the freshest possible seeds and berries.

Here is my own recipe for Classic Pickling Spice-

Use this spice blend with fruit and vegetable chutneys and savory preserves as well as for pickles and relishes.

Book Review

Cookbook Man Reviews Preserving

First Impressions If you’re into canning or preserving food in any way shape or form, this cookbook will make your eyes bulge (in a good way). It is really something to see. 541 pages of pure preserving pleasure. The cover says 140 recipes, but, there it seems there is WAY more going on here than just recipes. The author, Pat Crocker, is also the photographer. And, she did a wonderful job. Big, bright, colorful images are used throughout. It doesn’t appear to be a canning handbook. It’s more than that. It’s a guide to making the freshness and flavor of each season last.

Read more here.

Mushroom Tapenade

Important Correction to Mushroom Tapenade, page 512

If you have my Preserving book, you will know how important it is to make sure that you process canning jars using the Hot Water Method for high acid foods and the Pressure Canner for low acid foods because I outline the parameters of safe home canning in detail at the front of the book.
High acid foods are fruit, pickles that contain a certain amount of vinegar and tomatoes that have had 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to the jar. These foods may be safely processed using the Hot Water Method.
Low acid foods are vegetables, fish, shellfish and meat. These foods must be processed using a Pressure Canner.

It has just come to my attention that of the 200+ recipes in the book, one recipe has inadvertantly been included with the incorrect method of processing. My Mushroom Tapenade, a delicious nutty blend of mushrooms and olives that is perfect for a spread or to use with rice is a low acid food and therefore cannot be processed using the Hot Water Method.

Here is the CORRECT version of this recipe
Makes 6 cups (1.5 L)
3 tbsp   olive oil                                             2 cups  chopped pitted kalamata olives
2 cups  chopped onions                                 2 tbsp   freshly squeezed lemon juice
4          cloves garlic, finely chopped             3/4 cup chopped sunflower seeds
2 lb (1kg) mushrooms, finely chopped          3 tbsp   chopped fresh oregano
1 cup    chicken broth

1. In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until soft. Add garlic, mushrooms and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a light boil and simmer for 25 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft and liquid is reduced.
2. Remove from heat and add olives, lemon juice, sunflower seeds and oregano to the mushroom mixture. Boil for two minutes. Cool to room temperature.
3. Transfer to a bowl or container, cover tightly and refrigerate and use within 3 to 5 days or freeze.
4. To freeze: Select suitable-size freezer containers, bags or Mason jars (see page 24 of the book). Pack tapenade into containers, leaving a 1-inch headspace. Remove air, label and seal. Freeze for up to 6 months.