The Sauce – A Recipe Blog

Our  tomatoes, veggies, organic chickens, wild mushrooms and free range eggs, have caught the eyes and tastes of the local food blogger community and we will be regularly featuring their recipes each week.

Chef Lexi has created another holiday favorite using sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are an amazing vegetable and don’t require much more to enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 cup marshmallows

2 tbsp unsalted butter, chopped

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 pomegranate

Directions:

1. Set oven to 350 degrees

2. Score sweet potatoes with a knife and wrap tightly in tinfoil

3. Put in the oven for 45-60 minutes or until sweet potatoes are soft

4. Remove from the oven and turn the oven up to broil

5.  Slice the potatoes into chunks and put into a cast iron pan or oven safe dish

6. Sprinkle cinnamon, unsalted butter and marshmallows onto potatoes

7. Put in the oven for 3-5 minutes, or until marshmallows are brown

8.  Top with pomegranate seeds

Enjoy

Here’s another spin on creating delicious tasting Sweet Potatoes from Recipes with Rachel

You can connect with Rachel at:

IG https://www.Instagram.com/tritsch

Youtube

https://www.YouTube.com/channel/uciu2bl_dkz1id-zgi08pmuw?

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar Walnut Crust

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 tsp salt

2 tbs butter

2 tbs maple syrup

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch all spice

1 pinch cayenne pepper

For The Crust:

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

Recipe

In a large pot of boiling water, add the sweet potato cubes. Boil until they’re soft and ready to be mashed.

While those are boiling, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Set the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for five minutes.

Once the 5 minutes are up, remove them from oven and using a meat mallet or something hard, crush the walnuts into smaller pieces fir a crush  Not to small though! You want to have a nice crunch with the sweet potatoes. Set the walnuts aside.

Back to the potatoes, drain all of the water and then put the potatoes back into the hot pot. Add in the 2 tbs of butter and using a mashing tool, mash the potatoes until all of the lumps are gone.

Add in the maple syrup, milk, vanilla extract, all spice and cayenne pepper. Stir until it’s all mixed up.

Spoon the sweet potatoes ? into your serving dish and then set aside.

Easy To Make Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar Walnut Crust

For the crush: In a small bowl, melt the 1/4 cup butter.

Add in the flour and brown sugar into the melted butter and stir until it’s a smooth consistency.

Add in the walnuts and stir until all of  the walnuts are coated.

Sprinkle the walnuts over the sweet potato dish.

Serve warm!

Carmen Berry is a mom, a registered dietitian, a public health professional, and a firm believer that all foods fit. She has a personal and professional goal to bust the myth that healthy eating is time consuming, expensive, or tasteless. She posts recipes on her blog that are taste tested and approved by her family! Join her on her culinary adventures at: https://berryfreshbites.wordpress.com

Cherry tomatoes available all winter long from Tony Tomato

Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit

Pesto ricotta toast with a fried egg and topped with garlic herb tomatoes confit

Here’s the cooking tip from Carmen…

Roasted Cauliflower Salad you can serve warm or cold

Green tomatoes gratin created by Carmen. We have green tomatoes all year long you can buy.

Ingredients:

1/4 pound bacon, chopped

1/2 of a large red onion, thinly sliced

4 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

4 Tbsp panko breadcrumbs

1 Tbsp olive oil

3-4 green tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick salt and black pepper, to taste

1 heaping Tbsp fresh thyme, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat, about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour off all but 1-2 Tbsp of the fat and add the thinly sliced onion.  Sauté on medium-low until the onions are caramelized, about 15 minutes.
2. Combine the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, and oil in a small bowl.  Stir to combine.
3. Heat to oven to 350 degrees F.
4. In a round baking dish-or pie pan, arrange tomato slices in one row. slightly overlapped. Spoon some of the bacon and onion mixture on the bottom half of the tomato slices. Lay another row of tomatoes across the first row, only covering about half of the first row. Spoon the bacon and onion mixture on the bottom half of the next row tomatoes. Repeat process until the entire dish is full.
5. Sprinkle the dish with thyme and salt and pepper, as desired.  Evenly spread the breadcrumb mixture over the top.
6. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes are very tender and the top of the gratin is lightly browned.
7. Let rest a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Chef Pete is teaching folks how to cook

Chef Pete Fagan is the sous chef of Tony’s Italian Restaurant in Downtown St Louis and will soon be relocating to Clayton, MO. During the Covid-19 pandemic you can find chef teaching cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory 8021 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63117.  For class information go to www.kitchenconservatory.com or call 314-862-2665.  Below are some items he made during our series of using produce from Tony Tomato.

Easy to make Ricotta Cheese

Chef’s Pete Fagan Homemade Ricotta Cheese

4 servings

Ingredients

8 cups whole milk 2 liters

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar freshly squeezed

Instructions 

Line a colander with a large piece of lightly dampened cheesecloth that has been flooded over itself at least 3-4 times.  Place the colander over a bowl. Make sure to use non-reactive materials.

In a large heavy based saucepan, over medium heat, heat the milk.

Add the salt and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. Make sure the milk does not scorch.

If you have a thermometer, heat to 185 F. If you do not have a thermometer, you need to reach a stage where there is a lot steam, little bubbles close to the edge of the pot and the formation of a slight film.  It should take about 20 minutes to get to this stage.

Lower the heat to low.

Add the lemon juice (or vinegar).

Slowly agitate the mixture for 2 minutes. You will notice the curds (the ricotta) separating from the whey (yellowish liquid).

Remove from heat.

Cover pot and let stand for about 20 minutes.

Carefully “ladle” your ricotta into the cheesecloth lined colander or your basket.  The consistency of the final product will depend on the amount of time you leave the ricotta to drain. For a creamy ricotta, let it sit for 3-5 minutes; for a dryer ricotta, it can sit up to 20 minutes.

Use immediately. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Recipes with Rachel

Rachel is a full time working mom who created Recipes with Rachel, a food blog empowering other busy families to cook simple and delicious meals. The recipes range from healthy to comfort food as well as appetizers and dessert.

Here are a few of Rachel’s most popular recipes using Tony Tomatoes’ local produce!

Check out her blog here:  https://recipeswithrachelt.com/

Fries made with butternut squash

Butternut Squash Fries

Ingredients:

• butternut squash
• olive oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbs garlic powder

Recipe:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Grab your squash, cut off the ends.
• Using a potato peeler, peel the skin off.
• Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds.
• Slice the squash into small fry sizes. The skinnier, the more crunchy they get while they bake!
• Toss the squash fries in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Shake, Shake, Shake!
• Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread the squash in a single layer.
• Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, flip the fries and bake for another 20 minutes–until they’re crunchy!
• Serve with ketchup.

Brussels Sprouts Slaw

Ingredients: 

• 6 brussels sprouts, 
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 juice of a SMALL lemon
• 1 tbs honey 
• 1 tbs red onion, diced 
• 2 thin slices of mesquite turkey, chopped into small pieces
• salt and pepper to taste

Recipe: 

• Cut the stem off of the brussels sprouts.
• In a medium sized bowl, individually shred the sprouts on a mandoline. It doesn’t need to be perfect, just slaw like pieces.
• Add the pecans on top of the slaw. 
• In a small saucepan, sauté the turkey and red onions together. You won’t add any oil, butter, etc to the pan. The turkey will get a nice brown color cooking this way with the onions. 
• Once the turkey gets a little brown, remove the onions and turkey from the heat and set aside to cool down. 
• In the bowl with the sprouts and pecans, add the olive oil, lemon juice and honey. 
• Add in the cooled down turkey and onions. 
• Give all of those ingredients a little toss. 
• Add a little salt and pepper to taste. 
• That’s it! You can serve this on top of a burger, as a side, on top of bbq. So many options and it’s delicious. 

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeños perfectly grilled

Grilled Jalapeño Poppers

Ingredients

• • 5 Jalapeño poppers, sliced long ways and deseeded

• • 8 oz of cream cheese, softened

• • 1 tbs garlic powder

• • 1 tsp taco seasoning

• • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• • 10 slices of bacon, thick or thin- (I prefer thick)

Recipe

• • Heat your grill to medium-high heat.

• • While that’s heating up, slice and deseed your jalapeños and set aside.

• • In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, garlic powder, cheddar cheese and taco seasoning. Stir until combined.

• • To assemble, grab a half of a jalapeño and spoon a hearty amount of the cheese mixture into the “bowl” shape of the jalapeño.

• • Wrap that in one piece of bacon ensuring the cheese is completely covered. As the bacon cooks, it’ll shrink and the cheese will begin to show, but to start, you want it completely covered.

• • Continue assembling the rest of the poppers.

• • Grab your grill plate and lay the poppers cut side down and set it on the grill. Close the lid and let it cook for 5-7 minutes.

• • Open the grill and using tongs, flip the poppers over and set them on the higher shelf on your grill so they can cook without getting burnt, but also crisp up nicely.

• • After cooking on the other side for 15-20 minutes, remove from heat and enjoy!

Spicy Summer Salad

Ingredients

• • 1/2 pineapple, chopped

• • 1/2 zucchini, chopped

• • 6 slices of baguette, toasted in a skillet with olive oil

• • salt to taste

• • 1 tsp basil

• • 1/4 cup Louisiana hot sauce

• • 3 tbs honey

• • 1 tbs apple cider vinegar

• • 1/2 cup queso fresco

Recipe

• • In a mixing bowl, mix the zucchini, pineapple, salt and basil in a bowl.

• • In a separate bowl, mix together the hot sauce, honey and apple cider vinegar to make the hot honey sauce.

• • To toast the baguette, cut the baguette into 1 /2 inch wide slices. Put a little olive oil in a skillet on medium heat and cook both sides of the baguette, flipping after a couple minutes so the sides are light brown, but not burnt.

• • Arrange your toasted baguette slices on a plate.

• • Begin spooning the pineapple and zucchini mixture on top of the baguette.

• • Drizzle the hot honey over each piece.

• • Sprinkle each piece with queso fresco.

• • Enjoy!

Dazzling Summer Soup

Chef Lexi Linseman

This soup is not too heavy for that summer heat! The sweetness of the strawberries cuts down the acidity of the tomatoes. The depth of flavor is wild!! Can’t wait for you to try it!

Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

– 6-8 strawberries, diced

– 2 large heirloom tomatoes, diced (or regular)

– 1 tbsp butter

– 2 cloves garlic, minced

-1/3 cup goat cheese

– pinch salt and pepper

– chili flakes

-1 bunch of basil

– edible wildflowers

Directions:

1. Heat medium pot

2. Brown butter and garlic for 1-2 minutes

3. Stir in tomatoes and strawberries

4. Turn heat to low, cover with a lid, and let stew for 15-20 minutes

5. Use and immersion blender or nurtibullet to blend soup until smooth

6. Add back into the pot and add goat cheese

7. Stir in until silk smooth

8. Plate with extra goat cheese, basil, chili flakes, and edible flowers

Peach Caprese Salad

Peach Caprese Salad

Italian grandma approved! This tasty salad is bound to be a staple on your table this summer!!

Serves: 2

Time: 5 minutes

• 2 tomatoes
• 1 peach
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 6 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
• Drizzle olive oil & balsamic vinegar
• Pinch salt & pepper

1. Slice tomatoes into 6 slices as well as peaches
2. Pair together and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper then serve

Chef Lexi “Breakfast Potato Pizza”

Easy 2-ingredient pizza dough with breakfast toppings that will get your day started off right! Seriously so filling and delicious!

Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough:

• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups flour

Toppings:

• 2-3 thinly sliced yellow potatoes
• 1 diced red pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 cup asiago cheese
• 1/3 cup diced chives
• 3 eggs cooked how you prefer
• pinch salt and pepper
• Balsamic or fig reduction

Directions:

1. Knead together yogurt and flour until moisture is out
2. Grill on a pizza stone or cast iron skillet at high heat for 4-6 minutes
3. Flip, and add sliced potatoes thinly in a circle
4. Sprinkle with olive oil, cheese, garlic salt, and red peppers
5. Cook for 7-10 minutes or until crust is crispy
6. Add eggs, a pinch of salt, pepper, chives and reduction