Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 107

Links: Fig Syrup, Blackberry Butter, and Winners

I stayed up too late canning last night (vanilla peach butter, peach-plum-cherry jam, and apricot everything) and then got up early this morning to fly to Chicago. Just call me the canning jetsetter! I have a slew of events this week and then I’m back to the east coast on Friday afternoon. Now, links!

Check out this fabulous fig syrup on Serious Eats from Autumn.
Pretty pictures of tomato canning and a canning recipe round-up.
I’d heard a couple months back that Ball no longer requires softening the sealing compound in lids, but I still do it. What do you think?
An inspired apple fig chutney, based on my apple pear version.
Sriracha pickled eggs. Love that bright red brine!
Loved this interview with Karen Solomon over at Eat Boutique.
Honey sweetened blackberry butter!
Savory . I bet these would be amazing served with jam and cheese.
I have a blackberry sage jam in my first book that I love and I bet this version with blueberries is no less delightful!

Because I didn’t get a link post up last Sunday, I also didn’t manage to announce the winner of the Mrs. Wages giveaway last week either. But here it is now. The winner is #12/Earle Grossman, who said:

My favorite pickle is a half-sour pickle that I have eaten and made since I was five years old. Started buying them out of a pickle barrel and then learned how to make them from my grandmother. 60 years and I am still looking forward to making them this summer.

I will update this space later tonight with the Orchard Road giveaway winners. Stay tuned!

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Links: Pink Pickles, Cherry Rhubarb Jam, and a Winner

A Pomona’s Pectin and Fillmore Container Giveaway

Hey canners! Pomona’s Pectin and Fillmore Container, two of my favorite preserving-related companies, have teamed up this week to offer a terrific giveaway. Because I’m a huge fan of what they do, I’m posting the rafflecopter code here to help spread the word and let as many people know about the giveaway as possible.

There will be two winners and they will each get a copy of Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin by Allison Carroll Duffy, one box of Pomona’s Pectin, one case of 6 Orchard Road jelly jars (8 oz), including lids and bands, and a lovely stainless steel wide mouth canning funnel.

Plug your info into the widget below to enter! The giveaway closes on Wednesday, August 13 and is open to both US and Canadian residents. More info about this giveaway can be found on the blogs at Pomona’s Pectin and Fillmore Container.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



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Giveaway: $100 in Jar Credit From Fillmore Container
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Sponsored Post: Marcella Hazan’s Butter, Tomato, and Onion Pasta Sauce Recipe from Craftsy

As a canner, the next three or four weeks are the pinnacle of my preserving year. While it’s true that there are good things to can all year round, there is nothing better than the moment when local tomatoes are in season, available from local farmers, and sold by the 25 pound box. And that moment is now.

Over the years, I’ve developed a tomato strategy. Sometime in August, I get my hands on about 100 pounds of sturdy paste, roma, or plum tomatoes. I lay a tarp out on my dining room table and I arrange the tomatoes on top. The ripest tomatoes are positioned closest to the kitchen and the least ripe ones get a few days to redden up on the far end.

I then proceed to make somewhere between five and seven different preserves. Whole peeled tomatoes take up the lion’s share of my work, with about 40 pounds going into jars after being cored and peeled. The rest are divided between basic sauce, roasted corn salsa, pizza sauce, tomato jam, and a few precious jars of oven roasted tomato paste.

The reason that so many of my tomatoes go into jars whole and peeled is that they are my most versatile pantry ingredient. I add them to stews, I turn them creamy soups, and I make Marcella Hazan’s Butter, Tomato, and Onion Pasta Sauce.

If you’ve never cooked down tomatoes with butter and a bit of onion, you are in for an absolute treat. The onion is cut in half, so it expresses its flavor into the sauce without overpowering the earthy marriage of tomato and butter. The resulting sauce is magic with pasta, but my favorite way to serve it is with braised kale and these chicken ricotta meatballs.

While I wish I could can the finished buttery sauce and have it ready to go at a moment’s notice, dairy products don’t do well in the canning pot. However, having my own home canned tomatoes on the shelf means that the finished sauce is never more than 45 minutes away.

Get the recipe for Marcella Hazan’s Butter, Tomato & Onion Pasta Sauce Recipe here!

This weekend, Craftsy is also having a sale and all Food and Cooking classes are up to 50% off. If there’s a class you’ve been wanting to take, now’s the time!

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Upcoming Events: Chicago!

Attention mid-west canners! I am heading out to see you next week! I’ll be in and around the Chicago area and here is where you can find me!

August 11 – Highwood, IL

I’m teaming up with the nice folks from the Canning with Kids program to teach a canning with kids pickle making workshop at the Highwood Bocce Courts, 2:30-4 pm. Find your favorite kid and click here to sign up! It’s never to early to impart a love of canning!

August 12 – Gurnee, IL

I’ll be at the Warren-Newport Public Library from 7-8:30 pm to demonstrate how to make one of the small batches of jam from Preserving by the Pint. Afterwards, there will be tastes of jam and books for sale and signature. Click here to sign up!

August 13 – Chicago

I’ll be at Marcel’s Culinary Experience in Chicago proper from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. I’ll be making jam and pickles and will be signing books. I promise, a good time will be had by all. Click here to sign up!

August 14 – Lake Forest, IL

I’ll be teaching a hands on canning class at Sunset Foods from 6:30 – 9 pm. We’ll make tomato jam and dilly beans and everyone will go home with jars of each. Click here to sign up!

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Preserves in Action: Potato Salad with Pickles

Back in May, my dad was in town for about a week. While he was visiting, we took a quick trip down to the Jersey shore to have dinner with my cousin Liz and her family. As is so often the case with my family, the plan was

potluck. Liz and her boyfriend Scott took care of steaks, clams, and a big green salad. I brought a pickle-heavy potato salad and a barely sweetened apple crisp.

I have been meaning to tell you about this salad since that night. It’s actually a dish I’ve been making for nearly a decade now, though I never make it exactly the same way. You quarter enough small red or yukon gold potatoes to feed your particular crowd. Boil them until tender. Drain the potatoes and return them immediately to the pan. But the pan back on the stove, turn the heat to low, and pour in about a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. The heat makes it vaporize and the flavor steams right into the potatoes.

Once all the visible vinegar has evaporated, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and toss the potatoes to coat. Remove the pan from the heat and add generous amounts of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add torn parsley, minced celery, diced red onion, and some chopped pickles (most of the time, I use cucumber pickles, but dilly beans and pickled peppers also work nicely). Don’t be stingy with the pickles, really heap them in there.

Toss it all to combine, give it a taste, and adjust the seasonings as necessary. For best results, eat in the open air, in the company of friends and family.

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Tomorrow (Friday, August 8) in Lancaster County

I’m headed to Lancaster County bright and early tomorrow morning for a day of events! If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you at one of these classes or demos! I’ve heard that the demo at Fillmore Container is practically sold out, but there is plenty of availability at Lemon Street Market. As added incentive, everyone who comes out will get a Food in Jars sticker!

August 8 – Lancaster, PA

10-11:30 am – Canning class at Fillmore Container. Click here to sign up!

1-3 pm - Demo and signing at the Le Creuset Outlet. No registration required!

5:30 – 7:30 pm – Canning class and signing at Lemon Street Market. Click here to sign up.

Additionally, Fillmore Container is hosting a giveaway of Orchard Road products in conjunction with my visit out to their place. Check out this blog post for more details and to enter!

Related Posts:

Upcoming Events: Chicago!
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Giveaway: Orchard Road Mason Jars

In the five and a half years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve been asked nearly every canning-related question in the book. One that comes my way a lot is people wondering if there are options beyond traditional Ball jars.

Sometimes they want a more affordable option. Other times they’re interested in jars that will give their preserves a different look from everything else out there. And once in a while, they just want a jar that will take a label nicely.

Happily, there’s a new player in the jar marketplace that can address these wants and needs. Called Orchard Road, they are selling lovely, simple mason jars in three sizes. The quarts and pints come in both regular and wide mouth versions, and the half pint jars come in just the regular mouth variety.

All the Orchard Road jars are sold in packs of six and come in sturdy boxes that fully contain the jars. For those of you who like to store your finished jars in a box that will keep the jars out of the light, these boxes will be a godsend for you.

One thing to note is that Orchard Road sells their jars without lids or rings. For those of us that have giant bags full of rings and a stash of lids, this is a great blessing. If you don’t have an equally hefty collection, you can buy the lids and rings together in boxes of six.

I’ve done a good bit of canning in Orchard Road’s jars now and really like them. The flexibility of the lids is slightly different from those made by Ball, so they don’t make the same satisfying ping noise as they seal. However, they make up for it by having a ton of open real estate so that you can scrawl the contents of the jar across the top with a Sharpie. As long as a jar has that, I’m happy.

Currently, Orchard Road jars have limited availability. I spotted them at the Goods Store out in Lancaster a couple weeks ago and I know that Fillmore Container has them in stock (and, they’ll be giving some away at my demo out there on Friday!).

Additionally, the nice folks at Orchard Road are sponsoring a giveaway. They’ve offered up three cases of jars and a set of matching lids. Winners get to choose the size jar. Many will enter, three will win.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your most recent canning project.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Sunday, August 10, 2014. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Monday, August 11, 2014.
Giveaway open to United States residents only.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: Orchard Road sent me some jars and lids for testing and photography purposes for free. They are also are providing the jars for the giveaway winners at no cost to me. Still, all opinions expressed are mine alone. 

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Other People’s Preserves: Sauerkraut Seth

For the longest time, I’ve had it in my head to occasionally feature jams, pickles, and other lovely small batch products made by other people here on this site. I’ve tried to get it happening a couple of times in the past, but I just wasn’t able to sustain it over the long term.

However, recently a few delicious jars have fallen into my lap that are just too good not to share. So occasionally, I’ll be running a feature I’m calling “Other People’s Preserves” so that if you spot these products in the wild, you’ll scoop up a jar or two.

For this inaugural feature, I want to tell you about Sauerkraut Seth. Made by musician and lacto-fermentation expert Seth Travins, this line of sauerkraut and kimchee is totally raw, satisfyingly spiced, and generally quite delicious.

I discovered Sauerkraut Seth back in May, when Scott and I were staying friends up in Western Massachusetts. One night during our visit, we went to see a band called The Wiyos in an old church that had been transformed into a performing arts space.

I was charmed by the band (I’m a sucker for story songs with a folksy, roots feel), pretty darn delighted when they sang a song dedicated to lacto-fermentation, and then ready to be a groupie when Seth announced that during intermission, he’d be out in the lobby selling jars of his ferments.

Here’s where you can get Sauerkraut Seth. Or just go to a Wiyos concert and pick up a jar.

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Giveaway: Mrs. Wages Pickling Spices and Starters

I’ve been doing a bit of work with the nice folks from Mrs. Wages for at least four summers now. One element of our annual partnership is that they always offer up one or two awesome baskets of their mixes, spices, and starters for me to give away to my equally awesome Food in Jars readers. This summer is no exception!

This week, I am giving away a massive basket of Mrs. Wages pickle spices, mixes, and starters, as well as copy of Mrs. Wages Canning Cookbook. Here’s how to enter!

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your current favorite pickle. Whether it’s one you make, one your mom always has in her fridge, or just your favorite local brand, I want to hear about it.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Saturday, August 2, 2014. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, August 3, 2014.
Giveaway open to United States residents only.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: Mrs. Wages is providing the basket for the giveaway. They are also a Food in Jars sponsor and so do help contribute to the running of this site. 

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Upcoming Events: New York! Washington, DC! Lancaster!

I’m off on vacation until Wednesday afternoon, but when I get back, the classes and events are coming hot and heavy straight through to the end of summer. Here’s where I’ll be over the next couple of weeks.

July 31 – New York

Preserving stone fruit at The Brooklyn Kitchen, Manhattan location. I hear there are just a few spots left in this class, so grab yours today! Click here to register.

August 2 – Washington, DC

Canning classes at the US Botanic Garden. Pickles from 10 am – 12 noon and tomatoes from 1-3 pm. I know for sure that the tomato class is sold out, but I haven’t heard about the pickles class recently.

August 3 – Washington, DC

Demo and signing at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market, 10 am – 12 noon. No registration is necessary and I’ll have a stack of books to sell and sign.

August 3 – Washington, DC

Demo and signing at Del Ray Variety, 3-5 pm. Get your tickets here!

August 5 – Philadelphia

Tomato Canning class with Weaver’s Way Co-op, 7-9 pm. We’ll call whole peeled tomatoes and everyone will go home with the pint jar of tomatoes that they peeled and packed. Click here to sign up.

August 7 - Philadelphia

Demo and signing, Clark Park Farmers Market, 3-5 pm. Totally free and open to all. Hosted by The Food Trust!

August 8 – Lancaster, PA

10-11:30 am – Canning class at Fillmore Container. Click here to sign up!

1-3 pm - Demo and signing at the Le Creuset Outlet. No registration required!

5:30 – 7:30 pm – Canning class and signing at Lemon Street Market. Click here to sign up.

 

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Links: Strawberries, Pickled Cherries, and Links
Giveaway: $100 in Jar Credit From Fillmore Container
June Sponsors: Cuppow, MightyNest, Fillmore Container, Mrs. Wages, and Preserving Now!