Against the Grain

I have recently been trying to re-create the generic products I buy at the grocery store. By making certain items at home, I can control sodium levels and know exactly what ingredients are in my food. No more sneaky bpa infesting or preservatives! So far, I have made homemade pickles, "sun dried" tomatoes and pesto.

First came the pickles! The Root Cellar had a great deal on baby cucs, which inspired me to go ahead with making pickles.





           

     the fixin's





I gathered all of my ingredients (I used a recipe from Ricardo and Friends, which you can find on the Food Network website). It is fairly simple, just onion, garlic, vinegar and spices, a good jar and cucumbers, of course! You add the vinegar and spices to a pot and bring to a boil, then pour the hot pickling liquid over the cucumbers snug in their jar. Then you have to wait the agonizing two weeks while they get pickled!

After the two weeks was up, John and I dove in! They were supposed to be dill pickles, but I found them to be more like bread and butter pickles (which I don't really like), but John loved them, and they are all in his belly! Next time I will add more dill seed and weed and less onion.

Then, I made my homemade sun dried tomatoes. Since we buy our tomatoes from Costco, we have a lot! We can never finish them in time, so I've taken to making them into yummy, oven dried tomatoes that will last much longer packed in olive oil! 

Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Basil, Parmesan, Salt

Good Parmesan! Reggiano!



I grated up some reggiano, chopped a good handful of fresh basil and added those indigents in my mortar and pestle, with a generous pour of olive oil and a pinch of salt. After a quick mix, I let those ingredients marinate together while i chopped up my tomatoes and laid them out on a parchment covered baking sheet. Then I drizzled my mix over the tomatoes, and added some extra grated cheese on top.

All laid out and ready to go! Yum!

With the oven set to 200 degrees, you slow roast the tomatoes for 4 hours (or until they have shrunk considerably in size, and look dried up) For the last 40 minutes,  I upped the temperature to 300 just to give them a final blast. Then I transferred them into a glass lock tupperware container, and topped it up with olive oil to keep them preserved!

Perfect addition to eggs and wraps!

Ciao!