The Kitchen Window

The Kitchen Window
Antique Milk Bottles with Herbs and Flowers

Welcome!

Welcome to the Frog Hollow Farm blog! I've been blogging since January 2010 and have switched from Blogger to Word Press, but I'm back to Blogger because, for me, it's easier to use. My husband and I live on a little farm in Northwest New Jersey. We have some chickens and a very large vegetable garden with asparagus and raspberries, and rows and rows of sunflowers, snapdragons and zinnias. Traveling, entertaining, gardening, spending time with family, studying Italian, blogging and reading keep us busy and happy. With all of this going on, moving towards a simpler life seems almost impossible but it's definitely a daily goal.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Voila!

What better way to spend a day than creating delicious dishes with vegetables from our garden, and with some additions from the pantry, fridge or freezer - very yummy creations are usually the result. 


FHFB's vegetable garden is in full swing right now, most especially with tomatoes.  These little yellow gems have the most exquisite flavor, and they don't seem to split as much on the vine as the smaller cherry tomatoes. 

We've been roasting all varieties of tomatoes lately using Ina Garten's recipe, give it a try, I guarantee that you will love it. 


Gwenyth Paltrow has a blog called Goop, and one of her posts included a photo of slow roasted tomatoes with torn fresh mozzarella - I just loved that way the cheese looked on the plate with the tomatoes - very rustic. 
The Goop blog is full of really interesting ideas and covers many topics.  Their major topic categories include Make, Go, Get, Do, Be and See. 

So, back to my little tomato recipe.  We roasted a tray of the yellow tear-drop tomatoes for 2 hours, at 275 degrees, using the Ina Garten recipe. 


While they were roasting I found a bag of red and golden beets that FHFB had bought in from the garden.  It was so nice of him to clean them off and leave them in a colander next to the sink.  Do you think it was a clue or hint of some kind?  Well, anyway, if you grow beets you know that they are not always the prettiest of vegetables.  Some of the ones that we roasted last night were kind of the ugly ducking variety.


We usually roast them in the oven for quite a while, wrapped in nothing but aluminum foil.  I keep the same size and color beets together so the colors don't bleed and the aluminum packages can then be removed from the oven as they are finished roasting.  Some of the larger beets take more time to cook through.  I usually poke them with a metal skewer to check how ready they are.  Last night, since the tomatoes were already in the oven, and the beets probably wouldn't have cooked through at that low oven temperature, I decided to cook a few of the smaller ones on the stovetop in a covered pan filled with water.  This worked fine, you just don't get that roasted, carmelized flavor that you do with oven roasting.  When the beets were cooked through I let them cool for a bit and then just slid the skins right off, sliced them and added them to the dish with torn mozzarella and oven roasted yellow tear-drop tomatoes.

Frog Hollow Farm Roasted Tomatoe and Beets with Torn Fresh Mozzarella
There are a few wedges of roasted red tomatoes on the right - I wanted to see how the wedges would roast and they did fine, but don't need as much time in the oven.  The beets are on the far left of the plate - you can see the two beet colors.

Of course, the glass of wine is a staple in any of my recipe preparations (unless it's 10:00 in the morning!)  This particular red wine is an extremely affordable 2008 bottle of a cabernet sauvignon - sangiovese - merlot mix from Umbria called Vitiano. We've been buying it as our everyday table wine since late fall - so far it has continued to be a great table wine.

12 comments:

  1. Congrats on the happy garden this year, your meal looks super! I'm lovin' the pumpkin in your header-great photo!

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  2. Yum ...we are both thinking along the same line!! Lovely fresh summer veggies :)


    Jeanne :)

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  3. Looks delicious, I have been roasting tomatoes a lot this summer. There is not too much better than roasting tomatoes fresh off the vine from the garden. Your platter looks beautiful and colorful and of course delicious!!
    The beets must be amazing, I love beets. I have been craving goat cheese and beet salad lately now you have me wanting roasted beets!!
    Have a wonderful day,
    xoxo
    ( I'm staying in cooking and baking all day...I am making an organic chicken roaster, roasted veggies , pineapple pancetta fontina pizzas, salads, caramel fudge brownies and raspberry hibiscus , vodka cocktails later, I assume I'll gain 10lbs LOL) A perfect thing to do on a rainy day.

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  4. That looks delicious! It is awesome to reap the fruits of your labor.
    Sherry

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  5. For the second year, I have a little raised garden and have loved getting my very own produce. My tomatoes are just coming in, and I am so excited. The beets are a little iffy. The tops look great, but the beet is very small.
    You'll have to give me some tips.

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  6. Looks like quite the bountiful garden and some wonderful recipes.

    Thanks so much for being a part of Seasonal Sundays.

    - The Tablescaper

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  7. Great recipe! Now I know what I will make out of some of the beets from my garden. I did not know about the Goop site. I really enjoyed it.
    Dottie

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  8. HI FARM GIRL,
    SUCH A LOVELY DISH, AND I'M SURE IT WAS REALLY YUMMY. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE FRESH VEGGIES FROM THE GARDEN. AS A CHILD THAT'S ALL WE ATE, YOUR GRANDFATHER HAD HUGE GARDENS, AND WE WOULD PICK ALL THE VEGGIES. WE HAD BUSHELS OF THE LITTLE YELLOW TOMTOES, THEY ARE REALLY TASTY. ENJOY..
    LOVE, AUNT RIZ

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  9. The bounty from your garden looks amazing! Those little pear tomatoes are one of my very favorites! Are those your pumpkins? WOW!
    Yvonne

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  10. yum-o-licious

    i love beets roasted in the oven. i like to sometimes serve them alongside diced avocado...saw this one from the BELOVED alice waters...

    and i LOVE the new header? is that from your garden?

    so HAPPY to see you at farmhouse...would love to be there with you sipping that red wine
    :-)

    sending love,
    kary and teddy
    xxx

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  11. giada and mario...have those too
    got to take a class from mario once....his BIGGEST thing....
    SEASONAL....which i know you and i LOVE anyway

    :-)
    kary

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  12. My mom is the gardner, and we are swimming in tomatoes! There is nothing like fresh veggies! Thanks for entering the Mikasa giveaway!! I'm glad to find your blog!!

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