Antipasto

My last canning project this year was to make Antipasto.   Mission accomplished this morning! 

The meaning of the word is “before the meal.”  For several people this means an assortment of meats, cheeses, olives and veggies which, obviously, is a meal within itself.  

Having come from a family with an Italian background, it means a jar of assorted veggies, some tuna and a few anchovy fillets all bathed in a sauce of oil, vinegar, tomato paste and seasoned with spices.   We always had it on the table at Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday dinners and would eat it on the side with some good Italian bread to soak up the leftover sauce.  I’ve come to enjoy it on a bed of lettuce with the sauce serving as the salad dressing.  According to my cookbook which has a lot of handwritten notes and old sales slips in it, the last time I made it was 1997.  It’s been a long time and I've promised myself to make it more often, but in smaller batches.  Today I made 22 pints which is a lot but some will be brought to holiday dinners with the family and others given as gifts. 

My grandmother made it, my mother and father made it, my aunts and uncles made it and now my cousins and my siblings and I are carrying on the tradition.  It’s one of those timeless recipes in our family.   Antipasto is truly a labor of love that’s been carried down through generations.

Corn Tomato Salad

When I’m looking for a simple cold vegetable dish, I always turn to this corn salad recipe.  I love corn and this dish is so refreshing and colorful, everyone will want the recipe.

1 ½ package of frozen corn

1 orange bell pepper, diced

½ red onion, diced

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

Ground black pepper to taste

Microwave corn 3 to 6 minutes.  Add bell pepper, onion and tomato.  In separate bowl, mix oil, vinegar, garlic and pepper.  Add oil mixture to the corn and stir.  Chill before serving.

Chesterfield Sauce (Ripe Tomato Relish)

You can use this relish for hamburgers if you’d like but it basically changed my love for hotdogs.  It was love at first bite!  There’s something about the sweet/sour/spiciness that’s amazing.  I know hotdogs aren’t great for you and I do try to refrain from eating a lot of them, but when I do, this is one of my favorite accompaniments. 

Originally the recipe called for 30 ripe tomatoes that need to be boiled, peeled, seeds removed and chopped.  Then you would put it into a large pot with 5 tablespoons of salt; let it stand for an hour, then drain.  I made it that way for many years and then got to thinking, why can’t you just use canned tomatoes.  So I tried it one year and it comes out just as good.  If you’re going to make it with fresh tomatoes, give yourself most of the day to prepare.

Here’s my abbreviated version:

5 cans Glen Muir tomatoes – I use 2 cans of chunky tomato sauce and 3 cans of diced tomatoes

3 medium onions, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

3 yellow peppers, chopped

1 bunch of celery, chopped

4 ½ cups white sugar

1 quart cider vinegar

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp cinnamon

Cook all ingredients in a large pot over medium heat until desired thickness – usually 2-3 hours.  Put in canning jars and process.  It makes about 12 pints.

Corn Relish

This recipe was given to me years ago by my Aunt Flo.  She shared hundreds of recipes with me during her lifetime and gave me this one when I was doing a lot of canning.  I love corn so decided to give it a try.  It turned out great and I made it for several years and then took a break from canning.  I made it again a couple of years ago and since we’re just about out of that batch, I decided to make it today.  Unfortunately I didn’t know it was going to be in the mid 80s and humid!  The kitchen is steaming but there are these gorgeous jars cooling off -- definitely worth the effort.

14 ears of corn

5 ripe tomatoes, chopped and seeds removed

3 red peppers, chopped

2 orange peppers, chopped

4 medium cucumbers, chopped with peels still intact

2 cups onion, chopped

Pickling Solution:

1 ½ cup white sugar

1 ½ cups cider vinegar

1 tbsp salt

1 ½ tsp celery seed

1 ½ tsp mustard seed

Wash, drain and chop vegetables.  Cut corn kernels from the cobs, and get enough of the cobs scraped so that you get the leftover milk from the kernels.  Combine all the vegetables in a large pot.  Mix the pickling solution separately.  Pour over the vegetables, bring to a boil and simmer for one hour.  Place in canning jars and seal while hot.  Makes about 10 pints.