Welcome to My Kitchen

Enjoyed visiting with so many Welcome to My Kitchen readers who came to Deutschesfest in Odessa, this past weekend. Looking forward to receiving all the recipes we talked about. Over the next few weeks I will be testing the recipes I recently received from several readers and plan to have them in the next column.

Near freezing nights in the last week are bringing area gardens to the end of their productive season. Time for relish, and soup recipes to use up the last of the seasons bounty. Fiesta Corn Relish comes from, The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving, complied by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard. The recipe may be made mature corn and includes many colorful vegetables in a sweet/sour brine.

Fiesta Corn Relish

5-6 large ears fresh corn

1 hot yellow pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp pickling salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander/cilantro

Bring a large kettle of water to a boil over high heat. Add shucked corn, cover and cook for 6 minutes. Drain and cool in cold water until easy to handle. With a sharp knife cut kernels from the cobs and measure 4 cups corn into a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan.

Add hot pepper, garlic, vinegar, sugar, onion, red pepper, green onions, cumin, pickling salt, and black pepper to saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered for 20 minutes. Stir in coriander/cilantro and cook 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat.

Ladle into hot sterilized jars to within 1/2 inch of rim. Top with new lids and rings screwed on finger tight. Process in boiling water bath, 15 minutes for half pints or pints. Yield: 4 1/2 cups relish.

Note: one small jalapeno pepper may be used in place of the yellow pepper, but it will be slightly hotter. Also white onion, chopped, may be substituted for the green onions. If you don’t care for cilantro, just leave it out. Since it is a small batch, if your family eats lots of relish, you can skip canning and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce comes from the same book and the small batch makes just 3 1/2 cups sauce so you can skip the canning if you will use up in a weeks time. Additionally the sauce freezes well.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce

2 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, unpeeled

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

2 small onions, unpeeled

1 sweet red pepper

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried

1 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp pickling salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line a large rimmed baking pan with foil and grease lightly. Place washed, unpeeled vegetables in the pan. Roast for 45 minutes, removing the garlic after the first 12 to 15 minutes, or when softened. Remove pan from oven when remaining vegetables are soft and skins blistered. Let stand until cool enough to handle.

Peel tomatoes, being careful to catch all the juice. Squeeze garlic and onions to remove the softened centers. Peel and seed the pepper. Place all vegetables and juice in a food processer or blender and process until smooth.

Place the vegetable puree in a stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Ladle sauce into hot sterilized jars to within 1/2 inch of rim. Top with new lids and rings screwed finger tight. Process in boiling water bath 35 minutes for pints or 40 minutes for quarts. Yield about 3 1/2 cups sauce.

Cool fall days call for a batch of freshly made doughnuts and there is nothing like homemade. The recipe included in the 1999 edition of The Best of Country Cooking from Taste of Home Cooking is an oven baked version, eliminating the messy cleanup from deep fat frying. Additionally, this recipe does not require baked donut pans.

No-Fry Doughnuts

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees)

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Glaze:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 cups confectioners sugar

5 tsp water

2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add warm milk and shortening and stir for 1 minute. Add granulated sugar, eggs, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on low speed with electric mixer until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough (do not knead).

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Turn onto a floured surface.

Roll dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a 2 3/4 in doughnut cutter. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Brush with the melted butter. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt butter, stir in confectioners sugar, water and vanilla. Stir over low heat until smooth (do not boil) Keep warm.

Dip warm doughnuts, one at a time, into glaze and turn to coat. Drain on a wire rack placed over waxed paper. Serve immediately. Yield 2 dozen doughnuts.

Readers, please take note of the following change in recipe submission addresses. So I can receive your submissions faster please address letters to Welcome to My Kitchen Attn. Laura, P. O. Box 151, Odessa, WA 99159, email pandl@odessaoffice.com. The mail tin will be relocated this week and location will be noted in the next column. Old sheets or blankets make good covers for gardens to protect against light frosts and get the last of the tomatoes ripened.