Simple Tomato Sauce

Three weeks till I set out to circumambulate lake tahoe with some friends, along the TRT route, and I'm making my meals. I'll be using a very basic tomato sauce as my basic flavor jump off point for lots of meals, and adding in spice blends and herbs on the trail. I should be able to add a little onion, basil, and oregano for a pizza sauce, basil for a pasta sauce, and a mix of coriander, cumin, cloves, ginger, onion, and mustard for a curry.

This batch made four servings @ 30 calories each, 3 from fat, 5 from protein. This sauce is high in dietary fiber, manganese, magnesium, niacin, potassium, thiamin, vitamin B6, vitamin A, and vitamin C.


I'm using Cherokee tomatoes, a heirloom varietal, because they have lots of flesh, and I personally think they taste great.


These are cherokee tomatoes


I boiled them briefly to loosen the skins enough to peel them


Slice them like this


Grab each half, skin side against your palm, squeeze them while flicking out the juice and seeds, and remove the core with your knife.


I collect the seeded tomatoes and dice them, removing any stems or undesirable sections.


I collect 680 grams of diced tomato, and this will be used to make my sauce. All nutritional content is estimated on this value of 680 grams.


This is very young garlic, and I'm using about half of the head for the sauce


I crush the garlic, give it a few chops with the knife, and mix with a pinch of olive oil, and cook over fairly high heat in a dry pan for 30 seconds.


The tomatoes are added, with a pinch of salt, and cooked for 2 minutes over med-high heat. The mixture is treated briefly with a hand blender, and plated on parchment paper for drying in single serving aliquots.


FInished drying, the sauce looks like pretty much any other fruit leather.


peel it off the parchment paper


Roll it up, and store for the trip.

Thanks for reading my blog,
Cayenne

Yosemite

A picture show from my latest Yosemite visit :











Cheers,

missing hiker on AT *Update :: FOUND !*

The missing hiker has been found, he walked out on his own power saturday.

Thanks to all of the hundreds people who participated in the search and rescue organization.

Lassen Volcanic NP

Clark and I kicked off our three season adventures in early April with a visit to Lassen VNP. We traveled shorter distances than expected, experience more cold than desired, and came home early when we realized we didn't have enough fuel to melt snow for water. Here are some pictures.


Gearing up in the parking lot


Climbing over the shoulder of diamond peak


scenery


The heel lifters on my snowshoes actually helped with the climbs.


brokeoff mountain


diamond peak, looking back


scenery


Mt Lassen


Sunset


Morning


Campsite


Firm snow, decided to take my snowshoes for a walk


Scenery


gear photo


Scenery


Scenery


Diamond peak and road


Brokeoff mountain


rocks


me


geothermal activity


vent


vent


The new visitor center at the end of a low snow winter.

Red Peak Pass

Towards the end of season I tried to squeeze in one last trip, here are some photos.




I'm not a weatherman, but I think the forcast just changed from sun to something else.


Campsite near merced pass


Deer


Things look better in the morning, but still pretty grey.


Oh wait, it is clearing up !










Almost to the pass


At the pass


Oh boy, I'm about to get soaked


Here comes the rain !


Looking back at the lakes



Sunrise


Good morning half dome !

Chicken Tikka with Coconut Masala

Hello internets !

I took advantage of a recent trip's lack of distance, and short duration to make real food instead of dehydrated.

First, the chicken tikka.


I'm starting with a skin-on, bone-in, chicken leg.


Which I skin, and then cover with spices. I'm using black pepper, cumin, coriander, salt, and cayenne pepper.


I marinate the chicken in a puree of yogurt and ginger, with garlic.


After an hour or so, I put it into the over set for broil.


After broiling, it should look like this.


My sauce starts out with a simple mixture of chile, onion, and garlic.


I add in a can of diced tomatoes, and some crushed ginger, before cooking. I like smooth sauce, so I used the hand blender to smooth it out.


I condense the sauce down to the consistency of tomato paste over low heat.


I carry it all in a styrofoam cooler. 50mL of Coconut milk, the chicken(shredded), and sauce all fit nicely.


I cook it up on the trail with fresh cauliflower and broccoli, and finish with coconut milk.


All the effort pays off !

Cheers !

Coming Soon

I know, I know.

I've moved, and once I get settled in, I'll write up the trip report on my latest yosemite adventure, a killer curry, and the BPL gathering at Pt Reyes.


Here is a teaser from the yosemite trip


And this is the curry