September 2001 “Cooking Tips” Winner —
Ruth Rittinger

"Usually by this time of year, I've had my fill of my husband's homegrown tomatoes. He really gets carried away during planting time and we have far more than we (or the neighbors) can eat. Years ago, I heard a very simple tomato sauce recipe on a talk radio cooking show. I've been using it ever since. Trim the stem end off of the tomatoes and cut in half. Arrange in a non-metallic baking dish. Sprinkle liberally with a good quality olive oil and finely chopped garlic. Then add your favorite seasonings such as basil, parsley, oregano, salt and freshly ground black pepper. I also sprinkle on a little pizza seasoning. Bake at 375 degrees until the tomatoes collapse. Transfer the tomatoes to a blender or food processor in batches. Chop until they are still chunky. At this time, I freeze the tomato sauce in plastic storage containers. Remember to spray the containers with non-stick cooking spray first so the tomatoes will not stain the containers. For certain dishes, I will leave the tomatoes chunky, as is. If I want a creamier sauce, I re-blend the tomatoes and add some tomato paste. You can also add more vegetables to the sauce such as onions and zucchini. It's a very versatile sauce to have available in the freezer."

Ruth Rittinger

Prize:

• Cooking tips: Dean Jacobs Popcorn Cheeses

September 2001 “Cooking Disasters” Winner —
Larry Summers

"This disaster of mine occurred over 20 years ago but my wife will never let me forget it. I was a sales manager at the time and was working with a fellow employee who was from out of town. I was ready to take him out for dinner before dropping him off at his hotel. Then I had a brilliant idea. He had been staying in the hotel for a few days and I figured he would appreciate a home cooked meal. My wife was working the night shift at the hospital but I thought I could throw a salad together and barbecue a thick, juicy steak. Easy! We stopped at a supermarket on the way to my house and picked up a few bottles of good red wine, salad fixings and 2 luscious steaks. When I was making the salads, I realized that we had bought a head of cabbage instead of a head of lettuce. Neither of us were too concerned. We figured it would taste something like cole slaw. As we were grilling the steaks we had a few glasses of the red wine. A light bulb went off over my head with the memory of a great steak dinner we recently had on a business trip. The steaks were served on hot plates with melted butter. We could do this but we weren't 100% sure how. First we considered the oven but thought it would take too long for the oven to heat up. So I got 2 of our "company coming for dinner" plates and put a few pats of butter on the plates. I turned the gas burners on the lowest flame possible & put the plates on the burners. Then we took our glasses of wine and went outside to check on the steaks. Within several minutes, there was a noisy explosion coming from the kitchen. I guess I don't have to tell you that it was the plates. There was glass everywhere. Even our cabbage salads were not spared! We cleaned up the mess and had steak for dinner - just steak. The most difficult part of this whole thing was explaining to my wife that she now had service for 10 instead of 12."

Larry Summers

Prize:

• Cooking Disasters: Dean Jacobs Popcorn Butters

Previous Winners

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