Creole Marinara with Roasted Vegetables

Posted on by September 5, 2024

6/11/2024 – This is an experiment of roasting the veggies, including the tomatoes, rather than the usual boiling water to remove skins, sauteing veggies, and a long simmer. The roasted veggies in the Italian Marinera turned out great and the process is much easier than boiling, peeling, sauteing, etc. This experiment turned out great. The four half-sheets of mix yielded 6 quarts of rich, flavorful, chunky marinara sauce.

We will also have the drippings/juice to make our new tomato basil soup. After Mary added fresh tomatoes, onion, and diced carrots she had 1.5 quarts of fantastic soup.

Ingredients per half-sheet pan:

  • 1 Bell Pepper
  • 1 ~3-inch diameter onion
  • 3 stalks of celery
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • Tomatoes from our garden to fill the sheet as in the photos
  • EV Olive Oil
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 heaping Tbsp Kit’s creole seasoning

The Process

  1. Trim the tomatoes of interior and exterior blemishes and ugly spots. Did not peal.
  2. chop the celery into 2 to 3-inch sticks
  3. cut the onion into quarters, operating each into multi-layer pieces
  4. chop the bell peppers into 1-inch slices then cut them in half
  5. cut the garlic cloves in half
  6. drizzle on the EVOO
  7. shake on black pepper and salt like putting it on a steak to grill
  8. shake on the creole seasoning using a spoon from the quart “stockpile” jar
  9. using your hands mix and turn until the oil is coating all the pieces and the spices are evenly mixed
  10. rotate tomatoes to skin-side up as much as possible
  11. put into the preheated oven set to roast
  12. roast until there are some black charred tips; about 30 minutes
  13. ladle with a slotted spoon into the food processor
  14. chop in the food processor to a rough chunky consistency
  15. fill plastic freezer containers and tighten the lid
  16. When cooled to room temperature put into the freezer.

Note – We saved the “juice” from the tomatoes and other veggies to make a tomato soup that great. We got 1.5 qt. from these four sheet pans.

Oven Roasted Marinara

Posted on by July 3, 2025

6/8/2024 – This was much the same as we made two years ago when we had a good tomato crop. But this was inspired by Suzy Karadsheh’s recipe here. It turned out great. The real surprise was the tomato soup made with the drippings from these trays and the tray from the Mediterranean Salsa also made today. The soup recipe is here.

7/3/2025 – Again this produced a great pre-dish. Only things different: 1) Let the tray cool before blending and 2) froze it in pints rather that quarts as a quart left us with a lot of left overs. This year we did not have enough drippings to make soup.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds Better Boy tomatoes from our garden, quartered
  • 2 yellow onions, small 2½-inch, halved and sliced into ¼-inch half moons
  • 10 large garlic cloves, chopped into large pieces
  • About 2 T granulated garlic
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch long sticks at least ½-inch thick
  • 2 teaspoons of our homemade Mediterranean seasoning
  • Red pepper flakes – several large pinches per sheet pan
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper
  • Extra virgin olive oil

The above made two full trays.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 450°F.
  • In two half-sheet pans, add the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots. Sprinkle on the Italian seasoning, granulated garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil (about 3 tablespoons) all over the vegetables and toss to coat. Spread the vegetables well so that they are in one single layer.
  • Cook on the middle rack of the heated oven for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until the tomatoes have fully collapsed and the veggies have gained some color and charred in some parts.
  • Use tongs to transfer the tomatoes and the vegetables to the large bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. Pulse until the carrots are about the right size.
  • Pour the juices left in the pan into a pot for tomato soup here.

Mary’s Creole Marinara, 2026

Posted on by July 3, 2026

7/3/2026

Ingredients and the Process

Tomato preparation involve putting fresh, ripe tomatoes from the garden into boilling water in the large SS canning pot. After about 4-5 minutes, and when most of the skins had split, the basket was removed and put on a baking sheet to finish draining. They were moved into a large plastic bowl and small baking sheet to cool a bit. Mary cleaned about half before Tom helped with pulling the hot skin then trimming the often grubby stem end. Mary finished trimming and chopping them. Once they were all trimmed, they were scooped out of the juice that has acculuated and put into the Blue enameled stock pot to wait for the veggies to be sautéed. The liquid was saved to make tomato soup that is in a seperate post this date

The veggies, i.e. the Trinity, was added to the skinned, chopped tomatoes shown in the photos. See photos for the veggie quantities that were:

  • 4 medium vadilia onions from the sacks bought from Randy Eckhoff for the Civitan Club’s fundraiser.
  • 4 average and 4 small carrots, diced,
  • Cachet of fresh thyme and fresh rosemary from the Herb Bed, picked minutes before adding.
  • chopped fresh tomatoes from the garden,

The onions, celery, and bell peppers, were sauteed in a No. 10 and No. 11 cast iron pans until the edges were softening. During that process Mary seasoned both skillets with 2 rounded soup spoons of Kit’s Creole Seasoning.

While the veggies were sauteing, the tomatoes in the Blue Enameled stock pot were heated, Once hot she added two heaping soup spoons of Kit’s Creole Seasoning and stirred it in.

Added the sauteed Trinity and mixed it in. Returned it to a very slow simmer and left uncovered for 4 hours.

The “finished” cook, ready for thawing and reheating, had a bit of a bite from the spice but just right for us. the veggies were a bit crunchy that will be good when reheated.

Mary’s Mediterranean Salsa

Posted on by June 12, 2024

5/31/2024 – This preparation follows the one on 1/5/2022 but with four major differences: sweet onions; Iberia peppers; fresh basil; and Greek oregano. The roasted flavor was subtle but enough. On 6/8/2024 we made another tray as it is very good salsa. That day we also made trays of marinara and combined the juices from the three trays to make a “to-die-for” tomato soup here.

Ingredients and the Process

  1. Cleaned and put on a 1/2 baking sheet pan that was full:
    1. Tomatoes, Better Boys, from the garden. None were fully ripe.
    2. Vidalia Onions – 3 medium ones cut into quarters and arranged among the tomatoes
    3. Garlic – An average pod
    4. Peppers – 4 Iberia Hybrid Cayenne Peppers, at the green stage, fresh from the garden, stemmed and arranged among the other items, instead of jalapenos or serranos. The Iberias on the heat scale are like the mildest Jalapenos. They did not add much heat to this salsa.
  2. Drizzled olive oil over it and sprinkled on salt and pepper
  3. Roasted under the broiler set on high until there were some blackened tops
  4. What filled the sheet also filled the food processor up to the top of the blade’s housing.
  5. Added:
    1. 2 tsp of cumin
    2. 2 tsp of Greek oregano
    3. the juice of a lemon
    4. double handful of fresh basil from the garden. Basil in image above is about one handful as half the sheet pan is in the processor.
  6. In the food processor, pulsed it to a salsa consistency. Combined the two batches and stirred to blend out any differences in the batches.
  7. Made a little more than 2 quarts.
Note the amount of basil

Classic Remoulade Sauce to try

Posted on by June 7, 2024

5/24/2024 – From https://www.acouplecooks.com/remoulade-sauce/

  • 2 tablespoons drained capers
  • 2 tablespoons chopped dill pickles
  • 1 green onion, finely chopped
  • ¾ cup mayonnaise (or vegan mayonnaise)
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon dried tarragon (optional)
  • 1 pinch salt 
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • For the Cajun style: Replace tarragon with 1½ to 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning and ½ teaspoon hot sauce
  1. Finely chop the capers and pickles. Finely chop the green onion (white and green portions). 
  2. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. 

Yield: 1 cup

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Posted on by May 23, 2024

5/22/2024 – Mary made this several months ago and it was great. But, it was not added to this website. So, the ingredients and methods below are what she did today that was also great. This dish was inspired by the recipe here.

Ingredients 

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • Red pepper flakes made from cayenne peppers from our garden to taste
  • 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp salt, adjust to taste
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, adjust to taste

Instructions

  • Brown ground beef and stir to break down beef into tiny pieces. Add onions and minced garlic and saute. Add red pepper flakes.
  • Add sliced mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms soften.
  • Add flour and stir until there are no lumps.
  • Add 1 cup beef broth, 1 cup Half-n-Half, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Bring it to a low boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes. 
  • Remove from the heat and add in sour cream. Stir to combine everything and adjust seasonings.
  • Serve over Jasmine rice.

Mediterranean Chicken Thighs

Posted on by May 11, 2024

5/10/2024 – This was made with large thighs from a 10 lb. bag of leg quarters. Four were seasoned with our Mediterranean Seasoning blend and six with Kit’s Creole Seasoning.

Loosely followed https://www.recteq.com/blogs/sandwich-recipes/smoked-pulled-bbq-chicken-sandwich

  1. Drybrined trimmed thighs the day before.
  2. An hour before smoking shook on our Mediterranean seasoning and the Creole Seasoning.
  3. Preheated Rectec to 375°.
  4. Smoked to an IT of 160°.

BBQ Chicken with Ribs slow cooked on Recteq

Posted on by May 6, 2024

5/5/2024 – We started BB Ribs at 225° and had 6 thighs to smoke/cook as BBQ chicken. Of course, the ribs need to slow cook at 225 but our recent BBQ chicken on the Recteq was done at 275 then finished at 300 to an IT of 185.

So, the alternative plan at lower temperature is to:

  1. season the thighs with Creole Poultry Seasoning
  2. smoke them at 225° to an IT of 125° then sauce them with So-Good+ACV+6POGS on the skin side then let smoke to set the sauce, flipped and sauced the non-skin side,
  3. smoked to 140° and sauce on both sides like step 2.
  4. smoked to 150° and sauce on both sides like step 2.
  5. finished to an IT of 160°.

Egg Salad

Posted on by April 24, 2024

4/22/2024 – This is a kicked-up version of our traditional egg salad and was good. This was inspired by the recipe here.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp. yellow mustard – See note below.
  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to serve
  • 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper – Next time use 1 tsp.
  • 1 tbsp. dill pickle juice – See note 1 below.
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika, plus more to serve
  • 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper – Next time use 1/4 tsp.
  • 12 whole hard-boiled eggs, peeled
  • 1/4 small red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/4 c. finely chopped dill pickles juice pressed out in the spoon – See note 1 below.
  • 1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill – Did not have it for this prep but it should be a good addition. See below where another recipe used 1 ½ teaspoons of dried dill weed.

Directions

  1. Whisk the mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice, salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne until well combined.
  2. Coarsely chop the hard-boiled eggs; fold into the dressing with the onion, pickles, chives, and dill. Cover and refrigerate the egg salad until ready to serve.

Notes

  1. An alternative to the dill pickle juice plus finely chopped dill pickles would be to use dill pickle relish with the juice. 3 tbsp of relish with the juice would likely be too much. Try 2 tbsp.
  2. The 2 tbsp of yellow mustard was too much for us. Try 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard.
  3. Use more cayenne pepper and black pepper.
  4. Some finely chopped celery would be a good addition.
  5. A tsp of horse radish could be a good addition.

Ingredients from other recipes to try with 12 eggs

  • Bacon
  • 2 tsp chile-garlic sauce such as Sriracha
  • 1 ½ teaspoons dried dill weed
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 stalks celery, minced

Hamburger Steaks with Onion & Mushroom Gravy

Posted on by April 18, 2024

4/15/2024 – This is a kicked-up Salisbury Steak dish inspired by the recipe here. It was very good.

Ingredients:

  • Hamburger Steaks:
  • heaping teaspoon of ground mustard
  • heaping teaspoon of smoked paprika
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pound ground beef (80/20)
  • 2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Onion and Mushroom Gravy:

  • 10 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  • dried thyme leaves
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups low-sodium beef broth, hot
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • red pepper flakes

Directions:

  1. For the hamburger steaks: Whisk together the mustard, smoked paprika, egg, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Mix in the ground beef and breadcrumbs by hand, then form into 4 oval patties, about 1/2 inch thick.
  2. Set a large pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the patties and brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the patties to a plate; set aside.
  3. For the onion and mushroom gravy: Turn the heat down to medium and add the mushrooms and thyme. Cook until the mushrooms release their liquid and are browned. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate; set aside.
  4. Melt the butter in the pan, add the onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Cook until lightly golden. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring. Pour the broth and Worcestershire into the pan and stir until the flour is dissolved.
  5. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir the mushrooms back into the pan and nestle in the beef patties. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to medium low. Let simmer until the sauce has thickened and a thermometer inserted into the patties registers 165 degrees F, about 10 minutes.
  6. Turn the patties over a few times to coat in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.