Put 'Em Up: Oven Roasted Tomatoes

To say that I don’t have a green thumb is more than an understatement. My brother Mark, got the green thumb in the family, along with all of the musical ability, thick dark, curly hair and eyelashes, and well, a lot of things I still wish I had. When he lived in Brooklyn he basically had the secret garden growing in his apartment.  In contrast, I could kill a bamboo plant.  But I love the idea of growing my own food. So I have two raised planters in the backyard where I’ve been growing herbs, peppers and some vegetables for the last few years.

It’s great to have fresh herbs growing in the backyard because I cook with them so much and hate spending $2 here and $3 there to buy them at the store (in quantities that I don’t really need or use). I’ve also been growing peppers: Shishitos, Banana peppers, Jalapenos, Serranos and, this year, Poblanos - mostly because they are easy to grow and the bunnies don’t like them.  An added bonus is that when I have a zillion peppers ready at the same time in mid-August I am able to pickle and candy them.  The best part? We actually eat all of those jars of peppers throughout the year.

This year, we planted a cherry tomato plant that basically took over the garden. We obviously should have built some kind of structure so that it could grow upwards instead of out.  Lessons learned. Because the growing season in Chicago is so short and grocery store tomatoes are nothing like homegrown ones, I never, ever, EVER get sick of eating fresh tomatoes. However, when the tomatoes finally started ripening on our single plant, we had too many for the 5 of us to consume.  So, last weekend I decided to slow roast a couple of trays of them with garlic and herbs and throw them in the freezer. It really couldn’t be easier and the hands-on time is 5 minutes tops.

These little guys are great in pastas, soups, braised chicken or meat dishes, piled on top of a big scoop of hummus, or as a bruschetta topping.  Beware, these little guys really cook down and as they do, they shrivel up until they start to look like sun-dried tomatoes. But that’s the whole point. As they dry out in the oven their flavor is concentrated and they become chewy and even sweeter.  After they are roasted I like to drizzle them with a little bit of honey to accentuate that natural sweetness even more.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

• 2-3 lb cherry tomatoes
• 12 cloves of garlic, whole (unpeeled, I used peeled because I had pre-peeled garlic on hand, unpeeled is better)
• A bunch of fresh herbs, I used Thyme for one pan and Tarragon for the other
• Olive oil, enough for a generous drizzle over the tomatoes
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Honey or agave nectar, to taste (optional) 

Preheat oven to 300F.  

Cut tomatoes in half and put seed side up along with garlic cloves on a sheet pan covered with a baking mat or sheet of parchment paper.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Sprinkle with fresh herbs, salt and pepper.

Slip sheet pans in the oven and cook for a total of 2-3 hours, rotating from top to bottom (if you have two pans in there) about 1 hour in.

Tomatoes are ready when they have cooked down and dried out considerably and have become chewy but remain tender with concentrated tomato flavor. Taste them and take them out when you think they are done.

Allow to cool at room temperature before placing in labeled bags (I always think that I will recognize things months later in the freezer but I never do) or other containers in the freezer.

Long Grove Irish Days

Happy Labor Day weekend! We hope you join us in Long Grove for Irish Days. We’re expecting to have loads of food, activities, performers and a town-wide leprechaun hunt.  I’m sure my kids have face painting, crafts and Irish dance lessons on their agenda. Personally, I’m planning on finding the time to load up on olive oil and vinegar at the Olive Tap and search through vintage finds at Scout & Forge.  Perhaps, if I’m lucky, we’ll have a chance to check out Buffalo Creek Brewery, another newcomer to the Long Grove area.

You can find the full Irish Days line-up and more information at http://longgrove.org/festivals/irish-days/.  Come on out. This is us at Irish Days last year. I cannot believe how much the kids have grown!

Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo

Linda, my mother-in-law and the matriarch of the Barry family, came over from the Philippines at almost the exact same time as Paddy, my father-in-law landed in Chicago from Ireland (via Belize. Long story...).  They met through the Legion of Mary in the 1960’s when Paddy was the leader of the group at a church on the North side of Chicago.  Linda showed up at one of his meetings and promptly took charge. Although she passed before I came into the picture, I know, 100% that she was that kind of woman. She made things happen, she got involved, she was a doer, a giver, and a connector. You will hear this from everyone who ever met her.  

She’s the reason for so many things when it comes to my husband and his family, including the success of the Irish Boutique, the family business.  As Paddy tells me, she would remember every single one of her customers and details of their lives and families even if she hadn’t seen them for months or years. When she would go on buying trips to Ireland she would bring back suitcases full of specific items requested by customers, having kept in mind what they were looking for and their personal preferences.

She’s the reason her kids love rice and Paul has to have it most nights, which simplifies my life immensely (thank you!).  She’s also the reason why adobo, the national dish of the Philippines, is always well received at my house.  Although, if I’m being honest, I’ve never met anyone who has tried adobo and not liked it. It’s so simple, yet that mix of tangy vinegar, garlic and salty-umami flavor from the soy sauce and the meat make it hard not to love.  

Adobo is so easy to make on the stovetop and finished in the broiler, it’s almost embarrassing to have made a slow cooker version. Almost. But I’m not above simplifying anything so long as it is still delicious. While I know this wasn’t how Linda would have made it, I think she would approve and be happy to see her grandchildren eating adobo with abandon.  

Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo

2lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks, skin removed

8-10 cloves of garlic, crushed with the back of a knife

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

½ cup distilled white vinegar (or rice or apple cider vinegar)

¼ cup soy sauce

Chicken adobo is usually cooked in vinegar and soy sauce and finished under the broiler to brown and crisp up the skin.  Because I made this version in the slow cooker, I removed the skin and browned the meat at the beginning then let the meat slip off the bone and rest in the sauce until I was ready to serve it.

Either in a large pan or the insert of your slow cooker, sear meat over medium high heat until it is browned on all sides, about 4-5 minutes per side.

Add garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, soy sauce and vinegar to slow cooker insert with chicken. 

Turn on low for 4-5 hours turning the chicken occasionally so that each sides takes a turn being submerged in sauce.

Once chicken is tender enough to fall off the bone easily, remove the bones and allow to rest in the sauce until you are ready to serve. It is even better the next day!

There are many, many variations of adobo.  Chicken and pork or a combination of chicken and pork are most common and often times coconut milk is added to the sauce. I serve adobo with white rice, a cooked vegetable like broccoli or sweet potatoes and something fresh, like cucumber and tomatoes dressed with a little bit of fish sauce, lime juice and brown or cane sugar.  The other day, I served it with that type of salad and Paul told me that his mom always did the same thing. Great minds…