Today, I accomplished quite a bit in the kitchen. First, I cut the last of the mint in my garden and made a pitcher of sweet tea with mint, lavender, lime and simple syrup. Then I made fast work of those cranberry beans that I bought yesterday at the farm. I sat in front of the TV and shucked about three cups worth. Next, I chopped an onion, leek, celery, carrots, potato, kale, Swiss chard, tomatoes and mushrooms and combined them with the shucked beans in a large stock pot and added about 96 oz of homemade chicken stock and let it cook on low heat for about 2 ½ hours. Then, I took it off the heat, added some orzo and set it aside as a winter-green minestrone soup.

Next, I poached and peeled the Heirloom tomatoes. I prepped an onion, garlic, fresh thyme, oregano and basil from my garden and sautéed them in olive oil, added some merlot and reduced it down to nothing, then added the tomatoes and let it simmer for about an hour. I then took it off the heat and pureed it with a hand blender, then returned it to the heat for another 20 minutes. I put the sauce in a container and set it in the fridge to cool.

I then took some loose sausage meat that I seasoned with Italian seasoning and sautéed it in olive oil. Once browned, I added a different (previously prepared batch of sauce) to the sautéed pork and made a bolognaise.
(bolognaise and base sauce side-by-side)

In preparation for tomorrow's sausage and peppers (I'll also do the eggplant Neapolitan as well), I poached three rings of sausage and then put them in the fridge to cool.

My cousin Caryn came over for dinner tonight, so we began with a caprese salad.

Next, I cooked the cheese ravoli that I made yesterday and served them with the pork bolognaise that we made earlier.

We sat outside on my back deck drinking a bottle of Oriel  2005 Jasper Coast Pinot Noir and eating dinner.

We are now taking a break — she a nap, me a blog post. We are still deciding on dessert.