Random Pictures.

[Father'sDaughter]

Looks good. I love dinners like that sometimes.

And this time you remembered the napkin, but forgot the adult beverage!

[Father'sDaughter]

Zana - that's quite a list! I'm tired just from reading it. What is the last item you listed as simply "Sicilian?"

[Hellmanns]

Originally Posted by Worth1

A few comments on the comments about the potato salad.

Hellmanns the mixer didn't over mix the potatoes and turn them into mush.
The poor old thing is Made In America and deserves to be used once and a while.
It is around 35 years old.

I didn't use red Pontiac taters either.
The red you see is pickled chili Arbol from my pickle jar, very hot.
The napkin was in my lap.

Salt I use a little bacon in my German potato salad but not this type.

Ella I dont know whether I could do the shrimp or not but I wish I had fresh dill.
If it was fresh shrimp yes but you know how store bought shrimp can be sometimes.
If it smells fishy it isn't fit to eat and is going bad.

And thank you Bluee19 and Bipetual.

Worth.

That's more like it!
I love Dukes Mayo, but, I use um,..wait for it, Hellmanns.
Try adding a 1/4 cup of Marzetti to the mix next time.. you may just win prizes with that recipe .. And, good to know you didn't mash the taters to mush, and had a napkin at hand..

[Zana]

Farmer's Daughter,
Here are two versions previously posted on Tomatoville (first two) and more that I have in my files (this year's batch was a variation between the two recipes - half roasted half boiled):

Eggplant and Tomato Caponata

This is a take on the Sicilian dish, modified for home preserving.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups diced peeled eggplant
2 Tbsp pickling salt
10 cups chopped, peeled plum tomatoes, divided
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 cup diced red bell peppers
1 cup diced fennel or celery
1/4 cup minced garlic
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

DIRECTIONS
• In a colander placed in the sink or over a bowl, toss eggplant with salt and let stand for about 2 hours or until excess liquid is released.
• Rinse eggplant and squeeze out moisture.
• Place on a clean lint free towel to continue draining, squeezing the towel lightly until eggplant is quite dry.

• Meanwhile in a food processor or blender, puree 2 cups of the tomatoes until smooth.

• In a large pot, combine pureed and chopped tomatoes, onions, peppers, fennel (or celery), garlic, bay leaves, sugar, pepper, white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often.
• Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often, for about 2 hours or until reduced by about half and is thick enough to mound on a spoon.

• Meanwhile prepare jars, lids and bands.

• Stir eggplant into caponata and boil gently, stirring often for 10 minutes or until eggplant is hot.
• Stir in basil, thyme and rosemary.
• Discard bay leaves.

• Ladle into prepared jars leaving a 1/2" headspace.
• Check for air bubbles.
• Process jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath.
• Adjust time according to your altitude.

Makes: 8 half pints or 4 pints


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Sorellina’s Sicilian Caponata

Here's my recipe for Caponata, including steps for canning it if that's a goal. Keep in mind that, unlike jam and jelly recipes, this one CAN be cut down if you don't make food in Italian quantities, lol.

12 C. cubed eggplant, preferably a variety low in seeds
2 Tbsp. pickling salt or other coarse-textured salt
1/4 C. + 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 C. + 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
2 C. balsamic vinegar
6 C. chopped onion
3 C. chopped green or other sweet bell pepper
3 C. chopped red or other sweet bell pepper
12 C. peeled, seeded, and diced tomato, reserve juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 C. fresh oregano, minced
1/4 C. fresh basil, minced
1/2 C. garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 C. Italian parsley, chopped
3 C. Kalamata olives, seeded and minced
1 C. capers, drained
1/2 C. tomato paste

Place eggplant in a colander, sprinkle with coarse salt, and let drain for 2 hours. Rinse twice, drain thoroughly, and pat dry with paper towels.

Place eggplant, onion, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers, spices, and herbs into a large roasting pan.

Heat vinegar, sugar, and oil in a microwavable container until hot , about a minute and pour over vegetables. Bake in a 350F (180C) oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until vegetables are softened and liquid has evaporated, stirring every 20 minutes. Add in reserved tomato juice in small amounts at a time if vegetables start getting dry too quickly. Remove pan from oven and stir in tomato paste.

Remove heated canning jars from canner (I use 500 ml jars for this) and spoon caponata into jars to within 1/2" (1cm) of rim. Wipe rims, place lids, and screw on rings. Process for 15 minutes for half-pint (250 ml) and 20 minutes for pint (500 ml) jars. Remove from canner onto a cookie sheet covered with a layer of paper towels to cool completely. You should hear a snap as the lids seal within 24 hours. Check for seals before storing.

This recipe makes 1 dozen 500 ml jars, give or take. Caponata is excellent on simple crackers as a snack to remind you of summer. You can also use it for making crostini, broiled slices of baguette with caponata spread on top as an appetizer.

Buon appetito!
__________________
Grazie a tutti,
Sorellina

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Caponata Sicilianata
This robust Italian antipasto combines eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and olives to make an ideal opener for just about any dinner party or gathering.

Yield: 6 cups
Prep 20 mins
Cook 5 hrs 30 mins (low) or 3 1/2 hours (high)

ingredients
1 
pound roma tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
12 
ounces eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
12 
ounces zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2
cups sliced celery (3 stalks)
3/4
cup finely chopped onion
1/2
cup snipped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1/4
cup raisins
1/4
cup tomato paste
2 
tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 
tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 
teaspoon salt
1/4
teaspoon ground black pepper
3 
tablespoons chopped pitted ripe olives (optional)
2 
tablespoons drained capers (optional)

directions
1.
In a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, celery, onion, parsley, raisins, tomato paste, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
2.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 1/2 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 1/2 hours. If desired, stir in olives and/or capers. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature.

Makes 6 cups.

from the test kitchen
To prepare the caponata conventionally, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Meanwhile, in an oven-going Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, parsley, raisins, tomato paste, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Bake, covered, about 2 hours or until vegetables are tender. If desired, stir in olives and/or capers.
nutrition facts (Caponata Sicilianata)
cal. (kcal) 21, carb. (g) 5, dietary fiber (g) 1, sugar (g) 3, protein (g) 1, vit. A (IU) 340, vit. C (mg) 7, sodium (mg) 127, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet


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Zucchini Caponata with Pasta

This is a different way to use zucchini than most recipes you see. If you notice, it has the vinegar and brown sugar but we love it since it is unusual and not your run of the mill pasta dish. I know many people add olives into the sauce too which we don't since we use the capers. loribakesgfcf


Zucchini Caponata with Pasta (GFCF)

(SOURCE: Adapted from Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade)

Ingredients:
1 pound hot, cooked GFCF pasta
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 can (15 ounce) diced tomatoes with basil and oregano
3 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup white cooking wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp light brown sugar

Directions
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium –high heat, and add onion, green pepper, celery and zucchini. Cook and stir until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add tomatoes, capers, wine, vinegar and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes. Toss with hot, cooked pasta. SERVES: 4



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Eggplant Relish like Palatino

- 8g Carbs, 1g Fiber

Recipe By:
Serving Size: 16
Preparation Time: 0:00
Categories: Condiment - Low Cal (Less than 300 cals) - Lower Carbs - Vegan

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion -- chopped
2 garlic cloves -- finely minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 medium eggplant -- about 1 lb, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 plum tomatoes -- finely chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup walnuts -- or pinenuts
1/4 cup pitted green olives -- chopped
1/4 cup raisins
2 Tbsp sugar -- (2 to 3)
2 Tbsp capers -- drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Add onion, season with salt and pepper.
• Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion begins to soften -about 5 minutes.
• Add the garlic. Cook a couple minutes more.
• Add eggplant and tomatoes.
• Cover.
• Cook, stirring occasionally until eggplant is very soft, about 15 minutes.
• Add vinegar, nuts, olives, raisins, sugar, and capers. Cook uncovered over medium-low heat until vegetables begin to break down, about 10-12 minutes.
• Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
• Mix in the parsley.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with toasted French baguette slices, bread sticks, on a sandwich, or with [favorites].
• Relish can be refrigerated, covered, up to 5 days.

Makes 4 cups (16 one-quarter cup servings)

Author Note: Tucked away in funky Bernal Heights, my old neighborhood in San Francisco, used to lie Palatino, an Italian trattoria which served unexpectedly exceptional Italian food. I used to go there regularly and became addicted to the eggplant caponata condiment they served with bread sticks that accompanied every meal. I have no idea if this is even close to the same recipe that the restaurant used, but it is certainly in the right direction. Palatino's version chops the veggies a bit finer.

Cuisine: "Italian"
Source: "Elise @ Simply Recipes dot com"
S(Formatted by Chupa Babi): "Oct 2012"
Yield: "4 cups"
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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 66 Calories; 4g Fat (50.9% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol;32mg Sodium

Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates


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Eggplant and Tomato Caponata

This is a take on the Sicilian dish, modified for home preserving.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups diced peeled eggplant
2 Tbsp pickling salt
10 cups chopped, peeled plum tomatoes, divided
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 cup diced red bell peppers
1 cup diced fennel or celery
1/4 cup minced garlic
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

DIRECTIONS
• In a colander placed in the sink or over a bowl, toss eggplant with salt and let stand for about 2 hours or until excess liquid is released.
• Rinse eggplant and squeeze out moisture.
• Place on a clean lint free towel to continue draining, squeezing the towel lightly until eggplant is quite dry.

• Meanwhile in a food processor or blender, puree 2 cups of the tomatoes until smooth.

• In a large pot, combine pureed and chopped tomatoes, onions, peppers, fennel (or celery), garlic, bay leaves, sugar, pepper, white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often.
• Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often, for about 2 hours or until reduced by about half and is thick enough to mound on a spoon.

• Meanwhile prepare jars, lids and bands.

• Stir eggplant into caponata and boil gently, stirring often for 10 minutes or until eggplant is hot.
• Stir in basil, thyme and rosemary.
• Discard bay leaves.

• Ladle into prepared jars leaving a 1/2" headspace.
• Check for air bubbles.
• Process jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath.
• Adjust time according to your altitude.

Makes: 8 half pints or 4 pints
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[bluee19]

Originally Posted by Zana

OMG....catching up made me so hungry I had to take a break and go make something to eat. But unlike Worth I just made an omelet....coming off a migraine I go easy and light on food.

In the past 3 weeks I've been making jam, jellies, syrups, pickles and chutneys. So far I have:
Strawberry Jam............................................... 24 250ml (half pint) jars & 12 500ml (pint) jars
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam..................................24 250ml (half pint) jars
Strawberry Blueberry Jam................................24 250ml (half pint) jars
Strawberry Blueberry Grape Jam......................18 250ml (half pint) jars
Blueberry Raisin Jam........................................18 250ml (half pint) jars
Strawberry Blueberry Merlot Jam......................24 250ml (half pint) jars
Ginger Marmalade......................................... ...18 250ml (half pint) jars
Strawberry Merlot Syrup...................................12 500ml (pint) jars
Blueberry Syrup............................................. ...12 500ml (pint) jars
Apricot Plum Bing Cherry Chutney.....................15 250ml (half pint) jars
Armenian Style Dill Pickled Green Beans - with hot peppers.........8 500ml (pint) jars - more to come
Serious Garlic Armenian Style Dill Pickled Green Beans................3 500ml (pint) jars - more to come
Sicilian Caponata.......................................... .............................28 500ml (pint) jars

Thursday I'm getting together with my sis and niece to do a mini-pickling-marathon. Mini in our books is anything under 2 to 3 bushels of cukes, and at least 36 quart jars of mixed Armenian Style Dill Pickles (Tourshi). Back when my parents were alive and we did the full on marathons, we'd finish with well over 300 jars of cukes, about 100+ jars of the mixed and about 60 jars of the pickled green beans. My niece who is 23 now, wants to learn how to do the pickling...and the other canning and preserving. Since I'm the only one that makes the jams, jellies, preserves and chutney's she has been coming over to work on those. We worked our ways through 48 quarts of strawberries over 2 days...lol. (oh my aching knees and feet) and about 24 quarts of blueberries fresh picked up at our cottage.

Sorry no pics at this time, but the stack of jars in boxes is taller than me in the basement...and that's after giving my niece 24 250ml jars of different jams and trading about a dozen 250ml jars with a few other friends who make other types of jams, etc.....and I've given away about 2 dozen 250ml jars so far too. LOL...and for the record I'm 5'1.

At this point I still plan to do some salsas, peach, plum and cherry jams, herb jellies, the cukes, pickled hot peppers, roasted tomato sauce, marinara sauce, various bbq sauces, and pickled eggs.

When I started I was down to the last couple of jars from the past years' stash...literally. So this year I am doing a full stock up. I rarely buy store bought of those.

So when I get it all done I'll take a pick of the whole stash.....or some of the mini-marathon this Thursday. LOL

OMG!! U R TOTALLY AWESOME!!! U make your own jam. It is and probably so out of this world scrumptious. I am so jealous!!! Oh would have loved to be a recipient of one of those that you gave away. Great JOB!!!

[Carriehelene]

Holy crap Zana! That's some serious canning. Even with your niece helping, it must have been exhausting. What do you do with that much jelly and jam?

[Zana]

Thanks Bluee19 and Carriehelene.

Normally I don't do quite as much in one year. It has probably been about 4 to 5 years since I did even close to that amount...and it was maybe about half the jars but larger ones for tomato sauces, soups, etc. My niece was only around for about 4-5 hours for the strawberry and strawberry-rhubarb jams, so that she could learn the basics. She would love to have been more hands on, but she's in the middle of final exams of her final term of systems engineering at the moment. Although she will be around on Thursday of this week, with her Mum, for the mini pickling marathon.

What do I do with them? I eat them, give them as presents (the small ones are great as stocking stuffers at Christmas!), cook with them, trade with other people who can their own (Food swaps), and even sell some.

When my parents were still alive I'd work with my Mum on her marathons or swap varieties, so we didn't have to duplicate. Even after Mum passed and I was caring for my Dad, we still did more entertaining - family and friends, so I canned more than I do now. Now on my own, I don't as much....believe it or not.

And I'm still planning on more before I'm done this year. LOL

[Father'sDaughter]

Zana, thanks for re-posting the recipes. If I get another good harvest of eggplant later this month, I'm definitely going to try Sorellina's recipe! Yesterday morning I picked all my mature eggplants and made some Pickled Eggplant Sott'Olio (packed in oil). I have quite a few new babies on my plants this week with plenty of time for them to mature.

[Zana]

You're welcome....hope it turns out well for you...whichever version you try.

[Worth1]

Running low on Chili Arbol powder.
Whipped up another batch.
The coffee grinder is set on fine and I added a shim to the burs to make them closer together.
They are now riding about 0.005 from each other.
Worth
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IMG_20150811_32511.jpg

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[efisakov]

Worth, I hope you have separate grinder for coffee.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Worth, I hope you have separate grinder for coffee.

I do but I use it to grind other non pepper species in.
I just buy ground coffee now life's too short to be a coffee snob been there done that.
I buy folders black silk.
If I ever buy another coffee grinder it will be a german made knee grinder.

Did you know you can use a bag if rice to clean a burr mill grinder?
Just run the rice through and it cleans it out.
Worth
IMG_20150811_56566.jpg

[Cole_Robbie]

I've never met anyone who went back to pre-ground coffee after grinding their own. That's a first.

Pablo's Pride from Sam's is my favorite. Compared to what I make, "normal" coffee like regular Folger's or Maxwell House tastes like they ran the entire plant through a wood chipper to make it.

So I'm a coffee snob, and I'm never going back. From a more cynical perspective, I'm a substance abuser who is hooked on the strong stuff.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I've never met anyone who went back to pre-ground coffee after grinding their own. That's a first.

Pablo's Pride from Sam's is my favorite. Compared to what I make, "normal" coffee like regular Folger's or Maxwell House tastes like they ran the entire plant through a wood chipper to make it.

So I'm a coffee snob, and I'm never going back. From a more cynical perspective, I'm a substance abuser who is hooked on the strong stuff.

Cole it is the grinders they dont work well with my coffee maker.
Bunn My Cafe.
When I saw a video where a woman tossed a dose of espresso grind because it had been ground for only like a minute I decided enough was enough.
Is this where I'm headed.
I only drink 2 cups of very strong dark roast coffee (26 grams of coffee grinds per 8 oz cup) a day and I almost need a cup of coffee before I can make coffee.

Worth

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I do but I use it to grind other non pepper species in.
I just buy ground coffee now life's too short to be a coffee snob been there done that.
I buy folders black silk.
If I ever buy another coffee grinder it will be a german made knee grinder.

Worth
Attachment 52440

I was afraid you like your coffee hot.