We have several basil plants on our patio that have yielded a bounty of basil all at once. I made a huge batch of pesto yesterday (around 12 cups of cleaned basil). I’m freezing it in meal-sized blobs to give us a taste of summer through the dark, rainy days of winter.
That’s just a bag of happiness right there.
I have been knitting, of course. I signed up for a mystery knit-along, Casapinka’s autumn shawl project. It’s just plain fun. I have the first clue done, the next one comes out tomorrow. I even used stash yarns.
The first section used three of the four colors, the fourth I’m using is a deep blue. Most of the yarn is from the Sanguine Gryphon, sadly no longer available. That pale gold is a four skein gold gradient from a long-ago sock yarn club (Three Irish Girls).
Those little knitted knots in the center of that are called Gobshites, if you want to know. There’s likely an official knitting name for them, but that’s what the designer calls them, so there you have it. If you’ve knitted any of her patterns, you already know that she doesn’t take things too seriously.
It is Thursday, right? I’m a bit discombobulated this week. First there was the damned time change. I don’t care which “they” pick, I just wish “they” would pick one and stick with it.
Then I had my colonoscopy on Tuesday. Which meant both Monday and Tuesday were shot, and yesterday I was a bit befuddled as well. My sleep schedule had been a mess the past year with all the pandemic/work related anxiety, and it had just started to get back to normal before the time change.
I feel like I haven’t gotten anything done today, but I did start some sourdough bread.
It’s just plain old white bread, with flour, sourdough starter, water, and salt.
And I started a pot of black beans for tonight’s supper.
Isn’t that a pretty bean pot? It’s a Colombian-made Chamba pot, and it makes terrific beans and stews. Here’s another photo.
Now that the Blue Cloud Shawl is done, I’m on to the next lace thing. I have two lace shawls still in progress, both ancient. I picked the one that has been on the needles the longest, my Cathedral Stole.
According to Ravelry, I started that in 2016, so it is just freaking time to finish it. As usual, that color is way off. It is more of a deep scarlet red. Once we get some sunshine around here I might get a decent photo.
And the Blue Cloud is almost ready to come off the blocking mats. I may have a Finished Project for Friday.
It is that time of year again, when the patio tomatoes start to get ripe. We have a bumper crop; that is just some of them in that photo. We’ve been putting tomatoes in everything we eat, but it was time to face the fact that we aren’t going to eat all of those before they go bad. Not to mention the trays full that are still on the vines.
Today is roast tomato day. The larger ones will go into tomato sauce for the freezer, but a lot of these are getting roasted.
Those are the smaller and medium sized tomatoes, cut in half or quarters. I tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper, then put fresh thyme on top and stuck them in the oven on low heat (300 on my oven, which tends to run cool). They’ll sit in there until they are collapsed and look like sun dried tomatoes.
These will go in stews and soups and such, much of the fall. I’m going to freeze some, though I’ve not done that before and don’t know how well they’ll keep that way.
The bigger ones will live for another day. I plan on making a rustic tomato sauce/purée which definitely WILL go into the freezer for fall and winter meals.
And supper will be this tonight.
That is a tomato tart with pesto and ricotta. That very one up there was dinner last week, it was so good that we’re making it again. It couldn’t be easier. Here is the recipe, it is from NY Times Cooking. This tastes sort of like the world’s best pizza, if you were asked to make pizza and didn’t know it wasn’t supposed to be made with a puff pastry crust. It is divine, and relatively healthy.*
Enough about tomatoes. I’m going to find a comfy spot to read and knit for the afternoon. It would be a gorgeous summer day if it weren’t for all the smoke from the fires out there. I stepped outside once this morning when the mail came, and almost couldn’t breathe. The fires in Washington have been awful, though nothing serious has come “we-gotta-get-out-of-here” close yet. And the wind has died down, which should help with fire control a lot. Stay safe if the fires are close to where you are.
*Relatively, considering it starts with puff pastry that likely has a bazillion pounds of butter in it.
…doesn’t necessarily stay in Bean Club. I’ve mentioned the Rancho Gordo bean club before. It’s a hot ticket item, and there is a perpetual waiting list to get a spot. With the pandemic, their regular store offerings also tend to sell out quickly. It’s a quarterly shipment of 6 pounds of beans (and occasional peas and lentils), along with fun stuff.
Of course you want to see it, right?
It also came with a jar of real Spanish paprika, and a fun gift:
It’s a bean passport! With stickers! And you guessed it, the Coronas are getting cooked today. Actually what’s cooking is a pound of Coronas from a prior shipment. These are huge runner beans, very creamy when cooked up. They are sort of perpetually sold out, but worth hoarding and eating.
Here’s what they look like compared to pintos.
I’m cooking those simply with some sliced onion, olive oil, and fresh herbs from the garden. I’m also cooking up a bunch of pintos to go into the refrigerator for later in the week.
I also buy a lot of beans from Purcell Mountain Farms. They have the Coronas in stock if you can’t wait!
RG also sends their branded tissue paper in the box with every shipment. Lewey isn’t sure about it, but he’s pretty cute in his tissue paper bandana!
It’s time for another episode of Cooking With the Knitting Doctor. One of the things that is nice about being home is home cooking. The food was great on the cruise, but we usually eat a lot more simply at home, and eat way more plant-based meals. I had the urge to make beans and rice yesterday, and did so. They aren’t vegetarian, since I added some leftover sliced ham that was languishing in the freezer from Thanksgiving, but they were pretty loaded with other healthy things.
Generous spoon of cumin, ground (I use the whole cumin and grind it as I use it).
Pinch of cayenne.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Stock or water.
Can of diced tomatoes
I soaked the beans in water for most of the day. Drain.
Sauté the veggies in olive oil in Instant Pot container. Add everything else, then the stock or water to cover the beans by about 2 inches, more if you want it soupier.
Lock the lid, set on high pressure for 24 minutes. This really depends on the kind of beans you are using. I tend to underestimate a bit, unless I’m shooting for falling apart beans. You can always close it up again and cook for a few more minutes if they aren’t done. When the timer is done, release the steam, check the beans, make sure they are done.
This is one of those recipes that is easily modified. Leave out the ham, or add a different meat if you have leftovers to use. Change up the spices as you like. Some chopped greens would be great in this as well. If you want to use canned or already cooked beans, you could, and just do them on the stove top.
I promptly fell asleep last night after I did these, and missed dinner. My brain is still on east coast time. So we had them for breakfast today.
I took some of the beans, cooked them in a cast iron skillet with some olive oil, mashed them a bit. They were put on top of a heated corn tortilla, and topped with shredded cheese, a fried egg, chopped scallions, cilantro, and tomatoes. And a splash of hot sauce that we bought in St. Thomas.
Honest to God, these were so good that I almost cried. I think I’ve mentioned Rancho Gordo before, I joined their bean club a while back. I get a shipment of their lovely beans every quarter, and buy more in between as well. Their beans are heirloom varieties and are wonderful.
And just so you don’t think I’m kidding about being Miss Betty F-ing Crocker, here’s proof. I won the Betty Crocker Family Leader of Tomorrow award in high school. No lie.
