Crowd Sourcing Wonderful Watermelon Recipes

Watermelon? you say.

Yes, I know, watermelon are months away from our farm stands and markets. But during last year's season, I had a lot of it. This may sound like an embarrassment of riches to you (and to me during these cool days of early Spring), however, in September, I was doing whatever I could to avoid throwing away the weekly supply of mottled green orbs I found in my CSA box. Procrastinator that I am, I pureed and froze cups and cups of the stuff.

As I sorted recently through my freezer to make room for the new growing season, I came across my six mason jars filled with coral colored liquid. Now, what to do with it? I brought my question to the crowd.

On Twitter, I relayed my dilemma. I explained that we don't eat too many desserts, nor do we drink cocktails often. Therefore, sorbet and margarita were off the table.

Two suggestions stood out. From a grower and seller of many watermelon came the idea of jelly. The second was a pasta sauce.

In two days, I've depleted my supply and crowd sourced two new magnificent recipes.

Cappelini with Watermelon, Prosciutto and Goat Cheese
Serves 2

2 cups pureed and strained watermelon puree
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 green onions, whites finely chopped, 1 inch of the greens finely sliced
2 tablespoons heavy cream
freshly ground pepper and kosher salt to taste
3 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 ounce goat cheese
1/3 cup pea greens
1/4 pound cappelini

Pour the puree into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the liquid to about 1/3 cup. Strain the reduction into a small bowl. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the cappelini to the pot and cook according to the package. Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the whites of the onions and cook until softened. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the reduced watermelon juice until the sauce seems slightly viscous and thickened. Stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper. Drain the pasta, add the prosciutto and coating all of the strands of the pasta with the sauce. Scoop the sauced pasta onto plates or shallow bowls. Sprinkle on the goat cheese, scallion greens and pea greens. Serve immediately.



Watermelon-Basil Jelly

2 cups watermelon puree
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package liquid pectin
3 basil stems

Whisk the first three ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the basil stems. Turn the heat to medium high and bring the watermelon to a boil. Cook until the mixture is thickened and reaches 200 F. Remove the basil stems and pour the jelly into hot sterilized jars. Cool to room temperature and store in a dark place until ready to use.

Happiness is a Full Pantry: Baked Spaghetti Squash

Just this past Sunday, I put up my last jar. My cabinet is stocked full of jams, jellies, pickles, and preserves. I've canned tomatoes, dried peppers, and frozen berries. I poached my peaches, covered my black currants with vodka, and juiced and frozen my cucumbers. I'm officially ready for winter, with not a minute to spare given that the winds of the Great Lakes cyclone are howling at our door.

In years past, I'd make jar after jar of jams and fruit preserves with an occasional pickle thrown in for good measure. This year, I invested in a Wisconsin made pressure canner, allowing me to put up more tomatoes. Using our first jar on Monday, I made a real winner of a recipe. Full of vegetables, low in carbs and long on taste, Baked Spaghetti Squash with Italian Sausage and Mozzarella, was a perfect antidote to a stormy October night.

Next year, a root cellar . . .

Baked Spaghetti Squash with Italian Sausage and Mozzarella
Serves 6

1 large spaghetti squash
1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
28 ounce can of tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 green pepper, trimmed, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup red wine
1 teaspoon oregano
pinch of red pepper
1/4 pound mozzarella, grated
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Poke the squash all over with a fork and put it on a dinner plate in the microwave. Cook on high for nine minutes. Turn over and cook for an additional 9 minutes. Remove and cool for at least 5 minutes.

While the squash is cooking, heat a saute pan over a medium-high flame. Add the sausage, cooking and breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it is no longer pink. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Pour in the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon. Stir in the peppers, red wine, oregano, red pepper and salt to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened.

Butter a casserole dish. Slice the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and then scrape out the strands into the dish. Mix in the sauce and the grated mozzarella, stir to combine. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top. Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly bro-wned on top.

Liquid Sunshine

My son is a self-professed raspberry fiend. During the summer, his shirts routinely return from camp stained with the ripe red juices from the berries packed in his lunch. We have to buy 2 pints on our Saturday market visits because one almost never makes it to the car, if that far. And while he loves red raspberries and black raspberries, he holds the golden variety in highest regard.



The golden raspberry is a natural variant of the raspberry, whose color results from the expression of recessive genes for anthocyanin pigment and ranges from light yellow to salmon. Its taste is more delicate and less tart.

Last Saturday, I picked up our winter supply of raspberries. While I had originally planned to go halfsie on the golden and red, the look on Thor’s face was sheer bliss when we learned that the farmer had enough to give us a full flat of golden. Half found their way into the freezer – little bubbles of sweetness that will flavor smoothies, sauces and desserts over the colder months. The rest became jam.

While I’ve made countless jars of red raspberry jam, none of them could compare to what resulted from the cooking down of these little pink jewels. The product is like pure sunshine with a clear pink hue. The flavor is indescribable, a rounded sweetness with just a touch of tart. My only regret is not making more when I had the chance. Like our raspberry purchases, it's always better to have two as they'll never last as long as you thought they would.

Golden Raspberry Jam
Makes 10 half-pint jars

5 pints golden raspberries
8 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sterilize 10 half-pint jam jars, lids and rings in boiling water for 10 minutes. Set a small plate in the freezer. Rinse the raspberries in a colander. Mix together the raspberries and sugar in a large non-aluminum pot. Set the pot over medium-high heat and let the sugar dissolve, crushing the berries with a wooden spoon. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to high. The berries will produce a lot of foam, skim it off with a fine mesh skimmer. Once you have skimmed almost all of the foam (this will take about 15-20 minutes), the mixture will be clear. Stir in the lemon juice. Test the consistency by removing the plate from the freezer. Spoon a small amount of hot jam onto the plate and return to the freezer. After five minutes, remove the plate and check the jam. The jam is done if it only dribbles down the plate when tilted. Drain the jars. Fill them with hot jam and seal with the rings and lids. Cool upside down on a clean dish towel and then store in a cool, dark place.

Kids Cooking Tips
Making jam with kids is a dicey proposition given the high heat needed to cook it. I limit Thor's involvement to measuring and mashing. When they're done, he helps me label the jars.

Provenance
Golden raspberries from Ellis Farms
Fair trade sugar from Wholesome Sweetener

For more canning adventures, check out my post for The Local Beet.

Posted as part of Fight Back Friday.