Bobbe's Community Food

Black Currant Coulis and Other Summer Delights

2014-08-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

Red Currant Jelly (left) Rhubarb Jelly (right) Rhu-rant Jelly (back)

I've kind of abandoned the blog for the summer. The Co-op that I wrote it for has changed over people and it doesn't get published anymore so I lost interest. It's now my recipe file for things I don't want to lose track of or things people ask me about.
I decided to post the recipes that I used to create these jellies and the Black Currant Coulis because I've had a number of people ask me about them. So, here ya go folks!

Rhubarb Jelly (makes 9-10 half pint jars)

Day 1 pick, wash, and chop into 1 inch pieces about 5-7 pounds of rhubarb.
Place in a large stock pot and add 2 cups water.
Bring to a boil and simmer until the rhubarb is mush.
Allow to cool and then strain through a mesh strainer to remove the pulp.
Store in the refrigerator overnight.

Have a glass of wine.

Day 2 rinse 4 thicknesses of cheesecloth and place in the mesh strainer. Pour the cold juice through the cheesecloth to remove any residual pulp.

Measure 6 cups of strained juice
2 boxes of Sure Jell
and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat.

Add ½ teaspoon butter and 9 cups of sugar all at once.

Return to a full rolling boil (a boil that can’t be stirred down) and boil for one(1) minute.

Ladle into hot prepared jars filling to within 1/4 inch of the top. Wipe threads and rim and seal with two-piece lids.

Place jars in a boiling water bath that covers the top of the jars for 10 minutes. Remove to a rack and allow to cool.

Finish the bottle of wine.

Bobbe Almer adapted this recipe from a Kraft Recipes Sure Jell Rhubarb Jelly recipe.

Currant Jelly (makes about 9 half pint jars)

Day 1 pick, and wash about 3 quarts of currants.
Place in a large stock pot and add 2 cups water.
Bring to a boil and simmer until the currants are pale and falling apart.
Allow to cool and then strain through a mesh strainer to remove the pulp.
Store in the refrigerator overnight.

Have a glass of wine.

Day 2 rinse 4 thicknesses of cheesecloth and place in the mesh strainer. Pour the cold juice through the cheesecloth to remove any residual pulp.

Measure 61/2 cups of strained juice
1 box of Sure Jell
and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat.

Add ½ teaspoon butter and 7 cups of sugar all at once.

Return to a full rolling boil (a boil that can’t be stirred down) and boil for one(1) minute.

Ladle into hot prepared jars filling to within 1/4 inch of the top. Wipe threads and rim and seal with two-piece lids.

Place jars in a boiling water bath that covers the top of the jars for 10 minutes. Remove to a rack and allow to cool.

Finish the bottle of wine.

Bobbe Almer adapted this recipe from the Sure Jell package.

Black Currant Coulis (makes about 12 half pint jars)

Coulis is a form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits.

Pick and wash about 4 quarts of black currants.
Place in a large stock pot and add 3 cups water.
Bring to a boil and simmer until the currants are soft and falling apart.
Allow to cool and then put them through a food mill until the remaining seeds/skins are dry

About 8 cups of juice/pulp remain. Some seeds came through the Foley food mill, but they are fine and taste good so no problem.

Return the juice/pulp to a clean stock pot, add 5 cups of sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

I brought this to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes before putting it into hot half pint jars and sealing with two piece lids.

I chose to freeze mine in these jars so I filled them just to the bottom of the threads. If you prefer, you could fill them on up and process in a water bath.

I’ve already used some of mine by adding a tablespoon to balsamic vinaigrette - it was awesome! I plan to use some to baste a pork roast and grilled chicken too - yum! It would be delicious drizzled over cheesecake or an ice cream too.

Bobbe Almer created this recipe.

Incredible Onion Pie

2014-04-17T14:31:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had a fresh, home grown sweet onion that was so sweet and fresh it could have doubled for an apple? Well last fall I had stopped by a friends house in the valley and as I was leaving, she handed me this huge onion. I used it in dinner for the next three nights and was sad to see the end of it. I'd never had an onion so big and so sweet.

Two things came from this lovely gesture. One, I've dreamed about making a sweet onion pie since last fall, and two, I just ordered plants of this heirloom onion called Ailsa Craig. I actually love that name too. Hum... Ailsa Craig is an island of 219.69 acres in the outer Firth of Clyde, 10 miles from the Scottish mainland, upon-which blue hone granite was quarried to make curling stones. The island is formed from the volcanic plug of an extinct volcano. Gosh, I had no idea. What a great name for an onion the size of a small island!

The Ailsa Craigs are gone until the end of summer, but this same friend brought me a few of their storage onions (huge as well) and so I decided to go ahead and make that onion pie today.

Incredible Onion Pie

3 cups of diced sweet onion
(You may have a little more or less onion and optionally add up to 1 additional cup of other veggies (4 cups total) - I used a sweet red pepper or you could use asparagus, spinach, etc. or nothing at all, just more onion) Sweet onions will make the sweetest pie, but any good firm onion will make this dish delicious.
1/4 cup olive oil

Dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried basil

Wet ingredients:
1 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon Franks hot sauce or Worchestershire (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees and lightly spray or grease your baking dish(es).

This pie is similar to the "Impossible" versions made with a commercial baking mix like Bisquick. I designed this version to be made from ingredients that most people have on hand, no need to have a special baking product. The ingredients will form a crust of sorts that will hold the pie together.

Cook the diced onion in a skillet until softened and slightly caramelized and allow to cool.

Place the dry ingredients in a container that is large enough to hold all of the ingredients. In a separate container, place and blend the wet ingredients together. When the onion mixture has cooled slightly, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. After stirring thoroughly, add the onion mixture and mix together.

Pour the finished mixture into the individual serving dishes or into a greased 9 or10 inch, deep dish pie plate and top with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Place either the individual dishes or pie plate on a pan and place into the 400 degree oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until a knife inserted approximately 1 inch from the center comes out clean and the top is a golden brown.

Serve individual dishes or large wedges of the pie along with a green vegetable for an easy and beautiful meal.

Enjoy!

Caribbean Inspiration

2014-02-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

Who wouldn’t like to be sitting on the beach right now with one of those umbrella drinks and a good book? While I can’t inspire that transition, I can put together a recipe that will use up some of those stored onions and winter squash with a little Caribbean flair.

I’ve always liked the flavors of the Jamaican jerk seasoning, but it is frequently a little too hot for my taste. I created a seasoning blend that I call Caribbean Spice, which marries some of the flavors of the islands without so much heat. It is also a combination of spices that most of us have in our pantries, it is easy to make, so let's start here.

Caribbean Spice
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste

Blend the above ingredients together well and store in a dry jar. You'll find many other uses for this seasoning. Use it as a dry rub on pork or chicken before baking or grilling.

Stuffed Winter Squash

1 or 2 small winter squash or 1 larger winter squash (any of the sweet orange fleshed type will work fine, including the little sugar pumpkins)

Prepare the squash by giving them a good wash and then slicing them in two, top to bottom. Scoop out the seeds and place the squash in a pot with water just to cover and a tablespoon of sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and place cut side down on a paper towel to drain and cool while you prepare the stuffing.

Meat Stuffing:
3/4 pound of ground meat (beef/bison/turkey)
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup diced onions
2 cloves of garlic mashed and finely diced
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp oregano
4 tsp Caribbean Spice
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 egg beaten

Saute the onions and the meat in a little olive oil until the meat is lightly browned and the onions are translucent. Turn off the heat and add the other ingredients except the beaten egg. Stir until the ingredients are fully combined and then taste - taste - and taste again. At this point, you can add a little more heat with pepper flakes or cayenne, more Caribbean Spice or salt to taste.

When you are satisfied with the level of seasoning, and the pan has cooled sufficiently, add the beaten egg and blend thoroughly.

Place the cooled squash cut side up in a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. You can cut off a little piece on the bottom of the squash to help it sit straight if necessary.

Pile the meat stuffing into the cavity of the squash and on top to completely cover. The above recipe can be used to make 4 halves of a smaller squash like an acorn or delicata or fill 2 halves of a larger butternut or hubbard type squash.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until an internal temperature of 165 degrees has been reached.

These stuffed squash make a great low carb dinner serving with a small green salad or you can make 4 servings out of the two halves by cutting them and serving with rice.

Enjoy!

Savory Snowman Soup

2014-01-30T12:23:00.001-08:00

Snowbert - Snowberta - Snowthirda

It’s a snowy blustery day here in western Montana, but it’s January 30th and this is the first real snow we’ve had since the first of the year. It’s a perfect day for Savory Snowman Soup!

Savory Snowman Soup is something I made to peek the curiosity of young and picky eaters. How could they turn down Snowman Soup? Unlike the recipes for hot chocolate on the internet that call themselves by the same name, this is a “real” savory soup.

This soup starts with a rich chicken broth. I always make broth from the carcass of my roasted Hutterite chickens because this is another whole meal you would throw away if you don't get this last bit of goodness out of it first. If you do this too, it’s ok to add the little bits of meat you pick off the bones to the soup. You can also use canned stock or broth or Better than Bouillon vegetarian no-chicken to make the broth if you prefer.

Savory Snowman Soup


Cutting carrot noses.

6 cups Chicken stock or broth
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic mashed and minced
½ teaspoon thyme
2 cups finely diced potato
2 cups carrots peeled and julienne cut
15oz can of black beans rinsed well and drained
4 oz can diced mild green chilies (optional)
1 pint half and half
Salt and pepper to taste

Dice your onion and sweat it in the olive oil for a few minutes until it becomes translucent. Add the broth and other ingredients, except the beans and half and half, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.

Snow Bunnies love Snowman Soup

If you would prefer a slightly thicker soup, you can add a few mashed potato flakes or mix a couple tablespoons of organic cornstarch with a little water and stir that into the soup and let it cook for a few minutes to thicken.

Next, add the well rinsed and drained black beans and the half and half.

Grammie's Snow Bunnies

Taste the soup for seasoning and get ready to serve to curious onlookers. You can garnish with a little chopped greens if you prefer and a nice accompaniment is soft bread sticks for dipping.

Stay warm and Enjoy!

Casserole 101

2013-12-26T10:12:00.002-08:00

Casserole 101

Sometimes I think the casserole has gone the way of Plum Pudding -- not too many people are cooking them anymore. A lot of people think "casserole - 1970's - Betty Crocker" but, that's crazy because casseroles are usually easy to put together, flexible, and you can do them ahead so you aren't scrambling around in the kitchen at the last minute.

The definition of a casserole is "flexibility". It is a one pan meal cooked in the oven, usually with a brown and crusty top, and may consist of (part 1) rice/grain, potatoes, or noodles, combined with (part 2) vegetables, (part 3) meat or beans, and (part 4) some type of sauce. Measurements in a casserole may be approximations. For example, you've got 2 cups of cooked rice or 2 1/2 cups, throw it in, as long as the ingredients are somewhat proportional there is no exact science. I'm going to give you a "flexible" recipe to experiment with. Let me know how it goes for you and what you did to make it your own. By the way, if you aren't feeling inventive, it's ok if you just follow what I did because it was delicious!

Casserole 101

Part 1:

For my casserole I used rice. I was in a bit of a hurry so I used jasmine rice, but I could have used quinoa, or brown rice, or any cooked grain.
I cooked 1 cup of rice in 1 3/4 cup of water and put that as the base in my oil sprayed dish.

Part 2:
We love brussel sprouts and I had picked up a large bag from the co-op for the holidays. I cleaned and boiled them until they were still bright green, but almost done. I could have used lightly steamed broccoli, or chopped and sauteed kale, and I could have added sauteed onion to any of these.

Part 3:
OPTIONAL for vegetarians or those who don't want meat, use your favorite protein - be it beans or tofu and it's perfectly ok to skip the meat layer in any casserole. I had a little left over ham so I diced that up for my meat layer. It ended up being about a cup of diced ham. This could have been chicken, beans, ground beef, prosciutto, or none of these.

Part 4:
The sauce. I chose to make a simple white sauce. Place 4 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour in a skillet stirring constantly over low heat to make a roux.

Making the roux.

For a white sauce, you do not want to brown the roux. When it's bubbly as shown in the picture, add 2 cups of milk all at once while stirring until it comes back to a boil and has thickened to a nice consistency.
Add salt and pepper to taste 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt and a dozen grinds of fresh black pepper. Herbs make a nice addition to the sauce as well.

Putting it all together.

After you have layered up part 1-2-3, pour your sauce evenly over the dish.

Regarding the sauce, once you have created that, you could add grated Cheddar, Parmesan, or Asiago to the sauce and allow that to melt before pouring. This would combine well with a pasta layer to make a layered mac and cheese type casserole.

I wanted a lighter flavor for this version, so added a sprinkling of Asiago cheese mixed with a tablespoon of bread crumbs to the top of the casserole for a crusty-cheesy-browned top.

Everything in the casserole is cooked so the baking time is just to heat it through and bring everything together. Bake the casserole in a 375 degree oven for 30 - 45 minutes or until the top is browned and bubbly. If you've made it ahead and had it refrigerated, it might take a little longer to heat through. Allow 60 minutes. Let the casserole cool slightly before serving big squares.

It came out just as tasty as it looks. Served with a little spinach side salad, it made an impressive and delicious dinner.

I turned leftover ham and brussel sprouts into an entirely new dinner dish. I could have reheated them and thrown them on a plate with the rice, but this was so much more appetizing and it made that little bit of ham stretch into 4 meals and no one felt slighted.

Here's a couple of ideas for different versions you might want to try for Casserole 101:

Mexican - rice - well drained, diced tomatoes - taco seasoned ground beef and/or black beans - top with a sauce to which has been added a cup of grated cheddar or a Mexican cheese mix - finally top with tortilla chip crumbs.

Broccoli/Cheddar - pasta of your choice, spirals or elbows work well - top with a layer of beans (can be white, red, or black) - lightly steamed broccoli - cheddar cheese sauce, made by adding a cup of grated cheddar cheese to the white sauce - top with bread crumbs.

Quinoa/Kale - quinoa - saute 1 bunch of kale, 1 sweet onion, 2-3 cups chopped green cabbage - optional meat layer of ham or Italian sausage - simple white sauce with 1 tsp dried basil added when it is finished - top with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese mixed with 1/2 teaspoon Italian herbs and 2 tablespoons of fresh bread crumbs.

Please feel free to share your 4 part combinations to inspire everyone.
Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Gratin

2013-10-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Sweet Potato Gratin

An idea has been bouncing around in my head for a few weeks and finally I've got it out and prepared. The idea originated with the sweet potato. I like sweet potatoes and I was giving some thought to something new for the coming Thanksgiving holiday. I am not a big fan of the yam and even less of a fan of the yam turned candy with marshmallows.

I wanted something that would be a little more savory but still accent the sweetness of the sweet potato. I also liked the idea of something I could prep ahead. Did you know that sweet potatoes and yams are not even remotely related to each other and neither of them is related to the potato. Sweet potatoes are from the same family as morning glories. I like that.

Here's a little sweet potato gratin that I cooked up. Gratin is just a fancy word for a dish that has a browned crust on top. You can switch the sweet potatoes for yams if that is your preference, but do me a favor try it with sweet potatoes first.

Sweet Potato & Caramelized Onion Gratin
Ingredients:
3-5 medium sweet potatoes (2-3 lbs)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 cups chopped onions
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
pinch to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup butter

Peel and thinly slice the sweet potatoes

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

2 cups of half and half, light cream, or whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter or spray an oblong baking dish, 9x13 or similar.

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes very thinly and set aside. 1/8th inch thick is a good thickness.

Caramelize the onions and add the brown sugar and cayenne

Chop the onion and add them to a skillet with the olive oil. Begin to sweat the onions slowly. Once they have lost most of their water, they will begin to caramelize into a nice golden color. After the onions have caramelized to a light brown, add the dark brown sugar and the cayenne pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Create the sauce

In another skillet, create a roux with the 1/4 cup butter and the flour. Add the 2 cups of cream/milk all at once stirring until it is smooth and bubbly. Turn off the heat and stir in the salt, mustard, paprika, nutmeg, and a few grinds of black pepper.

In your buttered dish, layer half of the sliced potatoes, half the sauce, 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan and half the onions with their sweet sauce. Create a second layer with the remaining ingredients, ending with the onions once again.

Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. You can refrigerate it at this point until the next day or until you are ready to bake it. Bake in a 350 degree oven, covered with the foil for 45 minutes. At 45 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes until it is browned and bubbly.

This little dish pairs nicely with turkey, but also with a pork roast or chicken.

Enjoy!

Fall Spice Cake with Caramel Fudge Icing

2013-10-03T11:57:00.001-07:00

Fall Spice Cake with Caramel Fudge Icing

Come late September early October, my mind turns once again to baking. One of the memories that also returns is of my Dad’s favorite, spice cake.

In an article titled How Smell Works, Sarah Dowdey tells us “smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people's moods and even affect their work performance. Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the emotional brain.”

While Dad’s favorite was spice cake, my favorite is anything caramel. Put the two together and “fall” in love with these smells and make your own memories.

Fall Spice Cake

2 1/2 cups cake or all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 sticks (1 cup)unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 fresh eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans or a 9x13 pan.

Cream the softened butter, sugar, and salt together until fluffy.

Butter-Sugar-Salt-Eggs

Continue to beat in one egg at a time, beating well after each egg.
Measure all of the dry ingredients into one bowl and mix them together.
Measure the milk and lemon juice into a separate container.
Alternately, beat the dry and the wet ingredients into the butter, sugar, and eggs, beginning and ending with dry ingredients as follows: 1/3 dry - 1/2 wet - 1/3 dry - 1/2 wet - 1/3 dry.
The batter will be light and fluffy. Spoon it evenly into the cake pans and spread it out.

Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You may bake this as a 9x13 or in cupcakes or even mini muffins but vary the times accordingly.

Once baked, turn the cake(s) out to cool on a rack.

Caramel Fudge Icing
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 cups of confectioner’s sugar

Melt the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and cook it over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and add 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar. Beating with a spoon or a mixer until smooth, add the vanilla and the additional cup of confectioner’s sugar. The mixture should be thick but still pour-able. If it gets too thick, warm it again gently and add a touch of milk.

While the mixture is thick but pour-able, pour a puddle on the first cake layer. Spread it quickly with a knife and put the second layer on top. Quickly pour the rest of the icing around the cake making ribbon like motions or just let it drip down the sides and empty the remaining icing into the center of the top of the cake. It is important to work quickly with this icing because it is like fudge. It will set up quickly.

UMmm. UMmm. Memories, light the corners of my mind, Misty watercolor memories of the way things were... Remembering you Dad!

Also just in case you see it and are curious. The plate does say something... it has a drawing of a turkey, a tipi, and a little Indian and it says "Two Bobbe - Ray, 1976" That's when my son was 6 and he made the plate for me in school - yes, more memories...

Enjoy!

Garden Freestyle

2013-08-23T10:17:00.001-07:00

Today's bounty

Wandering through the garden each morning with an eye toward what will be for dinner is one of the great pleasures in life. Gardens often offer up bountiful surprises in some years and disappointment in others. Zucchini seems to be one of those bountiful crops and so I ponder new ways to use this beautiful vegetable.

I love soup and it's something we sometimes don't think about as a summer meal, but this one will surprise you with it's light, savory, fresh from the garden flavor.

Garden Freestyle - Soup
This recipe makes a good sized pot of soup and the variations are endless.

Start with:

Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent

3 quarts of chicken stock (you can use Better Than Bouillon Chicken or Veggie for the stock if you wish)
2 cups onion chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of garlic minced
8-10 slices of bacon cooked, drained, chopped
2 cups half and half or heavy cream

From the garden - co-op - farmer's market:
4 - 5 cups chopped zucchini (1" pieces) or cauliflower or cabbage or a combination
4 cups chopped kale or chard or spinach or a combination
1/2 - 1 cup of chopped fresh herbs - usually basil and thyme, sometimes a little oregano or sage. If you don't have fresh herbs, use about a teaspoon each of dried basil and thyme.


I wash, stack, and roll the kale and basil leaves and slice them.

If you have a few potatoes, a little corn or peas, let your intuition and garden dictate what you will make today. I've tried a number of different combinations, but my favorite is still just the zucchini and kale which are always abundant. The amounts are just guidelines. If you chop up 5 zucchini and get 6 cups, use it, it's no problem with this Freestyle soup.

Step 1 - cook the bacon and set it aside to cool, drain, and chop

In the pot ready to simmer.

Step 2 - saute the onions in the olive oil until they become mostly translucent
Step 3 - add the garlic, chopped veggies, and the stock
Step 4 - add the bacon (additional meat is optional - in this photo you see a little chicken that I picked from the bones when I made my stock from a chicken carcass.
Step 5 - add the herbs and simmer until the veggies are tender, about 15-20 minutes depending on the veggies you

are using.
Step 6 - stir in the half and half or heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve this Garden Freestyle soup for lunch or dinner with a crusty bread if desired.

If you have left overs, they get even better the next day as the smoky flavor increases. This is an amazingly delicious light summer soup, made with the freshest ingredients your garden or farmer's market can offer!

Enjoy!

I'll Never Boil Another Egg

2013-07-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend of mine told me about a different way to make hard cooked eggs. I was skeptical to say the least. She said, "you have to try this!"

I'd given up years ago on ever having hard boiled eggs that were easy to peel, not to mention having to cook 24 eggs to get 12 decent ones to make a batch of old fashioned deviled eggs. I'd tried all the various tips like aging the eggs, baking, vinegar, flash cooling... etc. None of them were easy to peel and some of them resulted in eggs that were gross and ugly.

Well I'm here to tell you I'm a convert. I will never boil another egg. The way to get perfect hard cooked eggs that are easy to peel is to steam them. I know, what's the difference? I couldn't imagine that there could be any difference between boiling and steaming, but it's true - there is. I've done this a few times myself with different eggs and even eggs that I grabbed right out from under the chicken. It made no difference, they were all equally easy to peel and they were perfectly cooked.

EASY TO PEEL HARD COOKED EGGS:

Washed eggs in steamer basket

Place fresh, sound, and washed eggs in a steamer basket.

Heat a couple of inches of water to a boil in a pot with a steaming lid or a lid that will hold in the steam. The steaming lid just has a little hole in it that will let out a stream of steam as it is boiling.

When the water begins to boil, set the steaming basket in the pot and cover with the lid. Set the timer for 20 minutes.

Eggs steaming with the lid on tight

Just before the timer goes off, fill a bowl with ice and water. At 20 minutes plunge the steamed eggs into the ice water to stop the cooking and cool them down to touch.

Eggs cooling in iced water

Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, peel them. I timed my peeling of 12 eggs today at just over 6 minutes.... wow, is that a record or what? Not one of them was marred in the process.

I almost always do a dozen at a time because then I can refrigerate them and have them for a quick breakfast or lunch. It doesn't really matter if you do 1 or 12, the directions are the same. You will find the process so enjoyable that you just might want to pull out your grandmother's recipe for deviled eggs. Well, if you don't have a recipe for Deviled Eggs, here is one that my grandmother used to make.

DEVILED EGGS

6 hard cooked eggs cut in half lengthwise
Separate the yolks into a bowl and reserve the whites for filling
Mash up the yolks with a fork and add:
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1-2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons of sweet pickle relish (optional)

Combine the yolk mixture with a fork until well mixed. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Spoon into the egg white bases and garnish with a dusting of dill weed or paprika.

Refrigerate immediately and allow the flavors to mingle before serving,

Enjoy!

The Mighty Rhu

2013-05-28T13:02:00.002-07:00

Rhu Barbarum - Rhubarb

Rhubarb, a gift from the barbarians beyond the Vogue River (Rha River).
Get it?... Rha Barbarum. Initially, only the root was used and uses date back to 2700 BC where it was grown and used in China for medicinal purposes. It is thought to have made its way to America in the late 1700’s.

Today, a look around any old farmhouse or homestead will locate the perennial rhubarb plant that brought vitamin C and other vitamins, and a fresh new season of food to families each spring.

Rhubarb grows in stalks from underground rhizomes. It multiplies readily and it is easy to share a portion of your plant with a friend. That’s where I got mine and I have since shared forward to several others. What a great plant!

Many people think of rhubarb as only a spring plant, however, if you pick and use the rhubarb regularly throughout the growing season, it will continue to produce into the fall. Be sure to quickly cut off any bloom stalk that appears too. The stalks are the edible part. The leaves contain oxalate, which is toxic even in small quantities and should not be consumed. Nutritionally speaking, rhubarb is a great addition to the table. Detailed nutritional data can be found at http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/2056/2

Rhubarb is thought of as a fruit, but it is actually a vegetable. It can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. So far I’ve only used it in sweet dishes but I plan to experiment in the coming season with a savory use for this healthy vegetable. In this post, I’ll share several of my favorite rhubarb recipes:

Rhubarb Crisp

1 1/2 pounds of rhubarb make about 4 cups diced

A top favorite with my family, this is a simple and delicious rhubarb crisp. Even people who say no thank you to rhubarb pie will ask for seconds.

4 cups of rhubarb stalks cut lengthwise and then into ½ inch pieces (about a pound and a half)

Sauce:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the crust ingredients

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, melted

Pour the sauce over the rhubarb

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut the rhubarb
3. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small pan and bring to a boil - turn off and set aside.
4. Combine the crust ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until blended

5. Place half the crust mixture in the bottom of an 8x8 or 9x9 pan or similar.
6. Spread the rhubarb evenly over the crust.
7. Pour the sauce over the rhubarb and finish with the rest of the crust mixture

Rhubarb Crisp!

Bake for 1 hour and serve warm with vanilla ice cream or at room temperature with some whipped cream.

Next up is a recipe that I’ve only recently adapted from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen.

This is quite a bit more work, but produces a very tasty tart.

Rhubarb Custard Tart

Rhubarb Custard Tart
Ingredients:
Pie crust
1 ½ pounds of rhubarb diced (4 cups)
1 cup sugar - divided
1-2 tablespoons orange liqueur and or 1 ½ teaspoons of finely grated orange zest
3 large eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

The day before, or 5-6 hours before, prepare a flaky pie crust from your favorite recipe and chill. Wash and dice about 1 ½ pounds of rhubarb into ½ inch pieces (4 cups). Toss with ½ cup of sugar and refrigerate over night or for 4-5 hours.

Drain the sugary juice from the rhubarb

The next day, drain the rhubarb in a colander set over a skillet. Allow it to drain while you prepare the crust.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the crust and place in your pan. Put the pan into the freezer for a few minutes until you are ready to put it into the oven. Prick the bottom and weight it down with pie weights or dried beans on top of aluminum foil. Bake the crust on the bottom rack of the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and bake another 5-7 minutes until it is just golden. Let it cool to room temperature.

Boil the juice to reduce to a very thick syrup

While the crust is cooling, boil the rhubarb juice in the skillet until it is thick and syrupy and reduced to just a few tablespoons. Remove from the heat, stir in the rhubarb and the orange liqueur/orange zest and allow it all to cool to room temperature.

Set the oven temperature to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, remaining ½ cup of sugar, and pinch of salt.

Distribute the rhubarb mixture evenly over the bottom of the tart shell and pour half the custard over and let it settle, then pour the rest of the custard.

Ready for the oven

Bake the tart until the custard is puffed and golden brown, about 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving. Serve at room temperature with a dollop of vanilla whipped cream.

Now you must be ready for my final rhubarb discover!

Last year I harvested over 72 pounds of rhubarb from my 4 plants. What in the world was I going to do with all that rhubarb? I mostly put it in my pot and made rhubarb juice. I used the juice to make my granddaughter’s now favorite jelly. It makes a delicious, delicate pink jelly. I'm not planning to post that recipe here but if you need it, send me a message.

I wanted to make something else with my juice, so I made rhubarb tea and rhubarb lemonade.

Hummingbird Cocktails

Hummingbird tea (left) Hummingbird lemonade (right)

Rhubarb Juice - we also call this Hummingbird Juice (not to be given to hummingbirds)

Wash, trim, and chop up rhubarb stalks into 1 inch pieces.
Put into a pot and just cover with water.
Simmer the rhubarb until it breaks down into a mush. This doesn’t take long, maybe 10-15 minutes.

Rhubarb ready to simmer

Allow it to cool to a working temperature or room temperature.
Strain the juice through a colander over a large bowl or clean pot. Allow time for it to drain completely, do not press or force the rhubarb through the colander.
Strain the juice one more time through a fine mesh strainer. (If you are going to use the juice to make jelly, I strain it through a cheese cloth draped over the strainer for crystal clear jelly.)

Strained rhubarb juice

Once you have your strained rhubarb juice, to make the “hummingbird juice” I add about 1/4 cup of sugar per full cup of juice. I don’t bother with partial cups as this is plenty sweet. Make sure the sugar dissolves completely. You might need to warm the juice a little to get the sugar dissolved. Then refrigerate the juice.

To make my Hummingbird Cocktails, I add crushed ice to a glass, add about 1/4-1/2 rhubarb juice and top that off with green tea or lemonade. Give it a little stir and serve with or without a garnish.

I’ve never been a vodka drinker, but someone left a partial bottle here sometime ago.
This sis knot soooo badd wit ah tittle splosh a vodka tooo.

Enjoy!

Hummus

2013-04-05T15:27:00.001-07:00


Channa Dal Garbanzo Beans Left - White Garbanzos Right

I know, really... a blog about hummus? Yep, based on popular request, here it is. Hummus can be plain and boring or it can be as exciting as you want to make it. You can call it humus, hummus, or hommus, but every time I make it, it's gobbled up with enthusiasm. It's easy to make and way better than spreads with lots of unknown ingredients from the store.

For me, hummus started out a long time ago with my 1977 edition of Molly Katzen's, Moosewood Cookbook.

I've altered the recipe over the years to suit my taste and once again I've had to find some more precise measurements rather than a dash, a squeeze, and a taste.

Hummus is a rich and tasty spread made from garbanzo beans, tahini, garlic, and spices. It is rich in protein and can be used in many ways. As the basis of a delicious sandwich, a dip with crackers or pita bread, or as an entire meal surrounded with vegetables and breads. It's simple to make and healthy beyond measure. Don't let anyone knock it until they've tried it, as hummus has a huge likability factor.

Before the recipe, let's talk beans. You can use canned garbanzo beans or as I prefer, cook your own. If you are in the mood to cook your own, may I recommend finding Channa Dal garbanzo beans. These are a little smaller and are a rich dark brown with their skins on. The traditional white garbanzos are fine, I just prefer the darker, nuttier flavor of the Channa Dal beans. You can most likely find them at an organic food store. Always use organic ingredients whenever possible - You're worth it.

Hummus Basics

1 cup rounded of dry garbanzo beans
Rinse the beans and place them in a pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and leave sit for 1-2 hours. Drain and rinse the beans and cover with fresh water. Cook until the beans are tender (about 90-120 minutes or 15-20 minutes in a pressure cooker). Cool the beans to room temperature
or
use 2 cans (about 2 cups drained) of garbanzo beans with most of the liquid drained off and kept for later, if needed.

Place the following in a food processor:

the cooled or canned garbanzo beans with a little of the liquid
3-5 cloves of garlic
2/3 cup of tahini (tahini should be stirred before measuring)
1/4 cup of lemon juice (+/- to your taste)
2 tablespoons of tamari (+/- to your taste)
1/4 cup packed of minced parsley or 2 tablespoons dry parsley
1/2 - 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste)

blend this all together until very smooth. It takes a bit of blending to get a really smooth consistency. If necessary, add additional liquid from the beans or additional lemon juice based on taste to make the consistency smooth and not dry.

That's ready to eat!

I like to make a double batch and freeze it in small quantities that I can pop out for lunch or for a quick appetizer when needed.

You can also experiment with different flavors added to the hummus. Here are a few suggestions to try:

pitted greek olives (watch the tamari and salt with this one)
fire roasted red peppers
fresh basil instead of parsley
2 teaspoons of curry
artichoke hearts
cayenne or black pepper
or any combination that sounds tasty.

You can also experiment with different beans. Try white beans like cannellini or great northern, or try black beans, or lentils. They all make a delicious hummus.

A favorite lunch or dinner is 2 slices of toasted sourdough bread, spread with a thick layer of hummus, add a big slice of ripe tomato, some fresh garden lettuce, spinach, or sprouts. If it doesn't start falling apart or the hummus isn't oozing out, you didn't put enough on!

Enjoy!

Regional Cuisine - Goetta

2013-02-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

Is regional the same as local? I've been thinking about regional foods lately and why they have remained regional and not spread around the country like the people we meet. Regional recipes seem to have an ethnic or cultural influence and be made with locally obtained ingredients. Like goeduck in the Pacific Northwest, lobster rolls in New England, fried diamondback in Texas, and Rocky Mountain oysters in Montana... but ok, I'm not going there. For the most part, all of these regional foods are based on locally obtained ingredients, and that's great, Right?

There's a regional food that I grew up with that has always been a puzzle to me. It's not based on any locally obtained ingredients or to my knowledge, any ethnic or cultural traditions. I have wondered over the years why it has been such a well kept secret, where it got its start, its rather odd name, and why it has never escaped from its origin.

As a child, I stood by my Grandmother while she stirred a huge pot on the stove and we always had it as a sort of porridge that first night for dinner. It was so tasty!

According to anything I can find on the internet, it originated in Cincinnati, Ohio in the late 1800's, of German-American heritage. Well, I think that just means no one really knows, because my Grandfather was French and my Grandmother was Swedish. Also, if you ask a person from Germany, they have never heard of it. The internet also says it originated as a peasant dish to stretch out servings of meat. I can somewhat picture this convenient logic, but I still don't totally believe that either, because when we make stew, we don't say it's to stretch out the meat. I actually think they made it because it was delicious.

I hope I've got your interest by now, because I'm going to share my age old secret recipe handed down from my Grandmother. Goetta (pronounced get-ah) is the regional food from Cincinnati that I'm talking about. I also want to make sure that you understand that there is NO relationship to Scrapple. Scrapple comes from the Pennsylvania area and is made with cornmeal and parts of pigs that were destine for the rendering plant. There are NO similarities here.

GOETTA

1 to 2 pounds pork - as in a fresh pork shoulder or any lean pork
1 to 2 pounds beef - as in a chuck or round or rump roast

Remove any obvious fat and brown the meat on all sides and then add 3-4 cups of water, a teaspoon of salt, and cook until fork tender. (My grandmother cooked hers in a pressure cooker and that's what I do too. About 45-55 minutes in the pressure cooker.) No pressure cooker? You can braise the meat in a crock pot on medium for 5-6 hours or in a covered dish in the oven 300-325 degrees for 2-3 hours.
Braising requires that the meat be slow cooked in liquid until tender. Add water as necessary to keep the meat from drying out and have lots of good juices.

Once tender, remove the meat from the juices and allow it to cool completely. You can even prepare the meat the day before and refrigerate.

In the photo above, I had actually cooked extra and reserved some of that for another recipe. I finely diced about 11/2 pounds of each meat.

Once again, I'm going to give you an alternative to cooking this. My Grandmother and I until just recently always cooked it in a big pot on the stove. I've adapted my recipe to a crock pot method that takes a lot of the work out of it.

In a crock pot (or large, heavy bottomed pot on the stove top), add the chopped meat along with the following ingredients.

3 cups of organic steel cut oats ( these are knows as pinhead oats to the old timers)
6 cups of the broth from the meat plus water to make the 6 cups
2 medium onions diced finely
2-3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3 teaspoons salt - it's important to add enough salt or the oats will taste bland

Set the crock pot to high for the first 2 hours, stirring every hour and keeping the lid on. At 2 hours, turn down to low and begin stirring every 20 minutes to half hour for another 2 hours. Do not add additional liquid as you want it to be very thick. If it appears that it is getting too thick to stir, add only a small amount - 1/2 cup and stir in completely. When finished, the oats should be tender and your spoon should be able to stand up in the center of the pot all by itself.

If you are doing this on the stove top, ignore all of the stirring instructions above and you will need to stir it every 10-15 minutes for the first couple of hours and more often as it thickens. Your burner should be on low the whole time as this stuff wants to stick and burn quickly. You are also going to need to add more water because the frequent stirring will evaporate more. Add up to an additional 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup at a time as needed. Now you can probably see why the crock pot is so great for this. In both methods, keep it covered with the lid unless stirring.

When the oats are tender and the entire pot is very thick, take it off the heat, remove the bay leaves, and spoon it into a couple of deep dishes to cool. I use my rubber spatula to press it into bread pans. Once cool, cover the pans and put one in the refrigerator and the other in the freezer.

If there's a little left over, add a pat of butter and enjoy it fresh... ummm! just like grandmother used to make.

Like I said, we used to always have a serving fresh for dinner and it's great that way, but the way it is most often prepared is the refrigerated loafs are sliced into 1/2 inch slices and fried. (The crispy fried version is pictured at the top of this post.) Of course, I no longer fry it in the traditional bacon grease, but if you are into that, that's the way it used to be done. I fry it in a skillet with a little organic olive oil. It is most often served for breakfast as an accompaniment to eggs. We used to have it for any meal with or without eggs. A couple of slices of this and a salad make a healthy dinner as well.

The way I cook it, it has little fat, as the meat I use is lean and I fry it in very little olive oil. It is made with organic whole grain oats, which are very good for you. It's an old time comfort food for me. I do hope you will enjoy it too.

Meatballs for Zenn

2013-02-17T14:39:00.001-08:00

This is the time of the year I start looking through gardening catalogs and watching the snow ever so slowly recede from my garden beds. It's also the time to take inventory of those things which are still on hand from last year's abundance.

I am down to my last few carrots and they are as sweet as ever. I've just a couple of onions left, lots of garlic, and in the freezer, I discovered a couple of the last quarts of Fire Roasted Marinara (see my post from September 2012 fire-roasted-marinara-sauce).

Every year I say not so many tomatoes, because by the end, I'm totally worn out. But every year when it comes time to plant I want all the usual, plus I like to try something new. I'm sure this year will be no different.

The recipe that I'm going to share is an old standby. By now, if you've been following this blog very long, you know that I like to cook pots of stuff that always leave leftovers for more than one meal. My motto might be "the one pot wonder with leftovers".

The other day when my 3 year old grandson found out we were heading over to his house, he began to explain as we were in the car, "Grammie, when we get there maybe we could make some cookies in the shape of hearts, and then we could make some muffins without egg, and some meatballs, I love meatballs." I have a feeling he's going to be my little cooking buddy as he likes to cook and he loves to eat almost as much as he love to talk. So, I'm going to make him some meatballs. I'm also going to put them in that Fire Roasted Marinara from the freezer and give you one more way I love to use them.

My recipe for meatballs offers no earth shattering enlightenment, but I hope it might just remind you how easy they are to make, how much better they taste than anything you can buy, and how easy they are to freeze for future meals.

Meatballs

2 pounds of lean ground beef/bison/turkey
1 cup soft bread crumbs (made from bread ends or stale bread, but not dried)
1/2 cup catsup
1/4 cup dried minced onion (or 1/2 c finely minced fresh onion)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic granules (or 2 cloves finely minced)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend

Thoroughly mix and blend all the ingredients together. I use my hands and mix until it looks completely consistent. Depending on how lean your meat is, if it has had water added at the store, or how dry your bread crumbs are, you may need to add 1/4 cup of water or milk or add 1 egg to the mixture so that it is manageable. I used to add egg all the time, but my little guy has been allergic to egg and so I just stopped that and never noticed any difference in the meatballs.

I use a two tablespoon (coffee measure) to help me form the balls of equal size. You will get about 36 two tablespoon balls out of this recipe.

You can form the balls and put them into a skillet or on a cookie sheet for the oven. I usually use the skillet.

If you are going to use the oven method, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Fill the skillet and cook over medium heat until browned on one side. Using a spoon, turn the balls to brown on another side and cover with a lid. Cook covered until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

On a cookie sheet, leave an inch or two between the meatballs and bake them for 15 - 20 minutes. Cut one open to test for doneness.

Place the cooked meatballs on a couple of sheets of paper towel to drain and cool. Once cool, you can put them into zip-lock bags and put them in the freezer for future use. I don't bother to try to freeze them on a cookie sheet - I've never had them stick together either.

If you just cooked them in the skillet, drain any grease out of the skillet and use your tomato sauce or marinara to deglaze the skillet. Heat your sauce and then add your meatballs to the sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes before serving over pasta.

Another way I love to use the meatballs is in a stir fry. Stir fry some onion, bok choy, celery, red pepper, etc and just before it is finished, add the meatballs so that they get heated through. Top this with a little Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce and serve over rice or noodles.

Well, there you have it! Enjoy!

It's Lemon Season!

2013-01-20T16:59:00.002-08:00

We tend to think of lemons as a summer fruit, however now is harvest time for most varieties. Isn’t it nice to get a bit of sunshine in the middle of the cold dark winter?

Lemons are definitely good for much more than lemonade. They heighten other flavors and add a brightness to many dishes. They are full of vitamins, fiber, potassium, and lemony goodness.

Look for small, heavy fruit without bruises, cuts, or blemishes. If you plan to use them fairly soon, leave them on the counter, or for longer storage, loosely wrap them and keep them in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. If you store them in the frig, remember to take them out and let them warm up before using them. Roll the lemon gently to loosen the juice sacks and then cut the lemon in half crosswise and remove the juice and pulp on a reamer or cut them lengthwise into quarters and squeeze out all the juice and pulp by hand.

I’m going to give you three favorite uses for lemons and another little secret is that it is also avocado harvesting time... can you beat the flavor of lemon and avocado too?

A delicious salad dressing is made with lemon and garlic. I grow lots of garlic and I love using it all winter. This quick little recipe for salad dressing will brighten up any winter salad. When I say winter salad, I mean anything goes on a salad - except tomatoes. To a chopped romaine, I add anything like cooked beans, grains, dried fruit like cranberries, or chopped apples, pears, or beets, carrots, or cooked potatoes, but never tasteless winter tomatoes.

Lemony Garlic Dressing

2-3 medium cloves of garlic - minced
3 lemons to make ½ cup of juice
1 tablespoon of fresh parsley - minced
1-2 teaspoons salt - to taste
1 tablespoon chia seed (optional, but makes a creamy dressing that doesn't separate)
1 cup olive oil
½ cup water

Put all this is a blender and let it whirl until fully blended. It will come out creamy and delicious.

Next, let’s make a simple and oh so delicious soup to go with that salad:

I had this soup years ago and never actually knew the name of it until recently when I was searching for just what it was. Avgolemono is a classic Greek soup made with egg and lemon. At first the pronunciation of the name might look a little overwhelming but it is Avgo (say - ah go (egg)) and lemono (say - lema no (lemon)) and there you have it.

There are some similarities to a Senegalese Lemon Soup, but the one I remember was Greek.

Avgolemono

8 cups chicken stock
1 cup orzo pasta - this is Greek, or you can use rice
4 large eggs, separated
Juice of 3-4 lemons
Freshly ground black pepper
Greek yogurt and lemon zest (optional)

Bring stock to a boil and add orzo or rice, simmering until tender, about 20 minutes. Season the stock to taste with salt, if necessary.

Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until peaks form. Add the yolks and lemon juice, whisking continuously until it is all combined.

Temper the mixture by slowly adding about 2 cups of the hot stock into the egg-lemon mixture, while beating vigorously to prevent the eggs from solidifying.

With the heat turned off, add the beaten mixture back into the soup pot, whisking thoroughly to blend it all together.

Serve immediately with a nice romaine salad and a warm crusty bread. I like to serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt in the middle with a little lemon zest and cracked black pepper on top.

I’m not through with lemons yet!

I don’t necessarily recommend the soup and the following recipe together as that might be a bit much. But, for that Sunday dinner, I have a local Hutterite chicken defrosted in the refrigerator and more garlic and lemons. Here is a nice Mediterranean version of a roasted chicken.

Mediterranean Roasted Chicken

1 large, local roasting/frying chicken or about 4 pounds of cut up chicken

2 lemons - washed and chopped (skin and all) into about 8 pieces each

6-8 large cloves of garlic - peeled, smashed, and cut into ½" pieces

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 fresh rosemary sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary or Italian blend
2-3 teaspoons of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups of new or red potatoes, skins on, washed and pared into 2" chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cut up the chicken into pieces if using a whole chicken. Rinse and pat dry.
Place a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of the roasting pan and arrange the chicken skin side down. Add the lemon sections, squeezing each one slightly to release the juice and pressing them down in among the chicken pieces. Scatter the garlic cloves and rosemary or spices over the chicken and dribble the rest of the olive oil over the chicken and sprinkle it liberally with salt and pepper.

Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

Raise the oven temperature to 400°F. Turn each piece of chicken over and add the potatoes to the pan, stirring to coat them well with olive oil. Return the dish to the oven and roast for another 40-50 minutes, or until the chicken and the potatoes are crisp and browned.

By now the smells of this roasting will have you a bit delirious, so serve it up with that salad and a glass of good red wine.

Enjoy!

Pork Roast with Apples, Carrots, and Asian Plum Sauce

2012-12-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

I just got finished putting a pork roast in the crock pot. I thought I’d better start documenting it before I forgot the measurements. If you’re reading this post, it turned out awesome!

As I was having coffee this morning, I was thinking about what to do with the roast that I had thawed in the frig. I just bought a big bag of organic apples and just yesterday I peeled a bunch of my small carrots from the garden. Supplied with adequate caffeine, the brain began spinning......... Let’s put it all together in the crock pot and see what happens!!!

For some reason, all my creativity was used up on the ingredients today and I could not come up with a super snappy name for it. If you have any ideas, let me know. Here’s the details:

Pork Roast with Apples, Carrots, and Asian Plum Sauce

2 ½ - 3 pound pork roast - I used a sirloin tip roast, a loin roast or any meaty roast would be good

4 cups peeled carrots, cut into 3" long by 1" thick pieces
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 large apples, cored and chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1 cup Asian Plum Sauce* - purchased or homemade - my recipe follows
* Don't have Plum Sauce? Here is a perfect alternative - an equal amount of whole berry cranberry sauce.

Rinse and pat dry the roast, then brown it on all sides in a little olive oil over a moderately high heat.

Browning the meat adds lot of flavor.

Once the roast is browned, remove it, turn the heat down to low, add a little more olive oil and the chopped onions. Caramelize the onions over low heat until they are translucent and a delicate brown color. Sprinkle the salt, thyme, and sage into the onions.

Lightly caramelize the onions and add the herbs

I put my carrots on the bottom. Then put the roast on top of the carrots, poured the caramelized onions over the top of the roast, and then added the chopped apples on top of that.

Carrots-roast-onions-apples

After I dumped the onions into the crock pot, I put the Asian plum sauce in the skillet to warm and to continue deglazing the skillet. I wanted every little bit of flavor from the browning, caramelizing, and the herbs into the crock pot.

Top it off with the sauce

Once everything else was in the crock pot, I poured the Asian plum sauce over the top and turned the dial to high to give it a kick start.

After about an hour, turn the crock pot down to low and let it cook for about 5-6 hours or until you are ready to serve.

This would be equally good served over a bed of wide noodles or rice. I chose to make the rice today.

As mentioned above, whole berry cranberry sauce will make this dish equally as good and there's no need to search the stores for plum sauce. This recipe made enough for a family meal or if you're only one or two, generous left overs. It had a delicious sweet flavor with the mingling of the sweet carrots and apples. A perfect compliment to the pork roast.

Enjoy!

Here is my recipe for the Sauce:

Asian Plum Sauce

This is a condiment that you can purchase at your local co-op or grocery in the ethnic food section, but it is easy to make if you have a supply of plums. Plums seem to be abundant in the Missoula valley in the fall and last year someone gave me a bucket full. I had already made more jam than I knew we would eat in several years so I decided to make plum sauce. We have enjoyed it with many dishes, including stir fries and just over noodles.

8 cups plums, pitted and chopped - skins on
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup apple juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

In large heavy saucepan, bring plums, onions, garlic, and apple juice to boil a over medium heat - reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender.

Add sugar, vinegar, salt, and spices and continue to simmer until it reaches the desired sauce consistency.

Fill and seal canning jars and process in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes, or freeze in ½ pint containers.

Hearty Black Bean Soup

2012-11-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

The weather has taken a turn towards winter and a hearty winter soup seems in order. I hear from some people that they’ve never found a good black bean soup recipe and from others that the ones they have tried are too spicy for their family’s taste.
Give this one a try. I’ve worked on this recipe over the years to both simplify it and to combine some family friendly flavors.

Hearty Black Bean Soup

2 ½ to 3 cups of dry black beans (or 2-3 cans of black beans)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 large onion chopped
2 carrots finely diced or shredded
½ pound ground venison, lean beef, or turkey (optional)
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
1 Tablespoon dried cilantro or parsley
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes or equivalent home canned

Begin by quick soaking the black beans. Check the beans for small stones, rinse, and place in a large pan with 2-3 quarts of water. Bring the beans to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave it set for 1-2 hours.   This method is preferred to the overnight soak as it removes more of the small chain carbohydrates that cause some people digestive problems.
After the beans have set, drain and rinse the beans under running water. Return the beans to the pan with enough water to cover the beans by an inch or two. Do Not add salt...Cook the beans for 60-120 minutes until they are done. Add water as necessary. As beans age, they lose moisture causing the cooking times to increase. Fresh beans cook faster!
If you have a pressure cooker, an essential tool in my kitchen, you can cover the beans with 1 inch of water, bring up the cooker to pressure, and cook for 5 minutes. Let the pressure reduce naturally.
There is the third alternative, if you prefer not to bother with cooking the beans yourself, or if you are in a big hurry, you can use 2-3 14oz cans of black beans instead.
Set the beans aside and begin to prepare the rest of the soup.

Browning optional meat, saute onion, garlic, carrot

Add the olive oil to a soup pot and begin to lightly brown the meat (optional). Add the onion and cook until it is translucent. Add the garlic and diced carrot and saute briefly.

Add the cooked beans, taco seasoning, cilantro or parsley and the 28 oz can of diced tomatoes. Taco seasonings are not all created equal. Some have high salt content, particularly the ones in envelopes.

Combine all ingredients and simmer

While these are ok to use, be sure to check taste before adding additional salt. I use a bulk organic taco seasoning from Frontier and it does not have salt. I usually add about 2 teaspoons of salt at this point but if you are using canned beans or salted taco seasoning you will not need this much salt. The best measure of how much salt you need is to taste. Add small amounts and taste again.

Once all the ingredients are in the pot, cover the soup and let it simmer for at least an hour to blend all of the flavors.

Serve the soup in your favorite soup bowls and you can accompany it with a few corn chips for crunch.

Like every soup, this soup gets even better the second day so make a big pot and take a day or two off cooking!

Enjoy!

Ginger Carrot Soup

2012-10-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

I always wait until we've had a frost to harvest the carrots. The story is that this time of year they convert some of their starch into sugar. They are definitely sweet!
This year we went straight from 70 degree days and very cool nights to 4 inches of snow on the ground. When I realized the snow was coming, I quickly dug my bed of carrots and got another record harvest. 53 pounds of bright orange carrots out of one raised bed.
Last year I was able to keep them well in a crisper drawer for months, but I've got too many this year for that. I gave a few bags away to friends and family and today I made a delicious Ginger Carrot Soup.

I originally got this recipe from my friend Jen and then made a few changes. We had it last Thanksgiving as a first course and it was delightful. My biggest word of caution with this soup is don't add salt until you taste it at the end. I made the mistake once of using a salted stock and it changed the flavor dramatically. The flavors here are delicate and require just a small amount of salt added at the end to balance the flavors.

Ginger Carrot Soup

1 stick unsalted butter
1 large sweet onion - chopped
3 pounds of carrots peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon fresh peeled and shredded ginger root
5 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 cups half and half or heavy cream
In a heavy bottomed pan, saute the onion in the butter until tender and translucent. Add the carrots, ginger, and 2 1/2 cups of the stock and simmer until the carrots are tender.

Allow the cooked carrots and onions to cool until they can be handled.

Puree in batches in a food processor or use an immersion blender to make quick work of the hot ingredients without the need to cool.

Add the coriander and the orange juice concentrate. The orange juice concentrate was my addition. The original recipe called for grated orange peel and I found that had a bitter taste while not giving it the intensity of orange flavor. So, I tried a couple of different things until I landed upon the orange juice concentrate, which adds just the right amount of flavor and sweetness without the bitterness of the peel. Stir in the remaining cups of stock and add the half and half or heavy cream.

An immersion blender makes the job quick and less messy.

I actually prefer the heavy cream to the half and half, but being calorie conscious is always an issue. I've found that I can also use half low fat milk and the rest non-fat Greek yogurt and that works well too, with fewer calories.

Warm the soup gently. You do not want to bring it to a boil.

Balance the flavors with a little salt and if needed a tablespoon of brown sugar.

The flavors of this soup are at their peak when it is well warmed, but not hot, so be careful not to overheat it.

This soup makes an excellent first course, or with a chunk of bread and butter and/or a side salad is a full meal.

You can garnish it with a sprinkling of fresh chopped herbs or the way I love it garnished is with a scoop of Greek yogurt.

Like all soup, it is even better the next day so make plenty and refrigerate the leftovers for another day.

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

2012-10-16T12:01:00.001-07:00

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

My husband could eat butter cream icing from a bowl with a spoon any day of the week, but it is the main thing that I don’t like about cake. I’ve found a delicious way around dealing with icing and that is the old fashioned upside down cake. I’m going to give you two versions of this cake so that you will be free to experiment with any fruit you like. It seems like such a great answer to never having to deal with icing again. I make them frequently with whatever fruit I have on hand or that is in season.

I make a version of this cake with my frozen Flathead cherries that is beautiful and delicious too. If you’re using frozen fruit or canned fruit, be sure to drain the fruit before using it in this recipe. There are just 2 basics steps to this recipe. The topping, which goes into the pan first, and the cake.

Upside Down Cake

Begin all cakes with a generous spray of Pam or similar vegetable spray on the 9 x 9 x 2 inch deep square pan or a pan that will accommodate the cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the butter, sugar, and vanilla to make a sauce.

The topping:
4 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (for caramel apple) OR 3/4 cup white sugar (for other varieties)
1 teaspoon of vanilla (for caramel apple) OR 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice (for other varieties)

Melt the butter, sugar, and vanilla or lemon juice in a small sauce pan over low heat until the sugar melts and the mixture bubbles.
Pour into the prepared pan and coat the bottom of the pan.

Layer the fruit on top of the sauce.

2-3 Apples or fruit of your choice
Add a layer of apples or any fruit to cover the bottom of the pan. (Apples, cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, and pineapple of course) Fresh apples like I used can have a double layer or overlap significantly as they do shrink. Other more moist fruit won’t shrink.

The cake:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of milk (or use apple cider for the apple cake)
1 ½ cups sifted flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar. After this becomes light and pale, add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.

Continue beating adding ½ the dry ingredients, then the milk, and follow with the other half of the dry ingredients.
Spoon the batter onto the top of the fruit and bake until the cake is well risen and golden brown. At around 45-55 minutes, the cake will be firm to the touch, a tooth pick inserted into the center will come out clean, and the cake will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Apples shrink so add twice as many as you think.

Have a plate or platter ready to receive the cake. Run a knife around the edges to make sure it is free. Immediately upon removing it from the oven, invert it onto the plate. Leave the pan inverted for a few seconds, up to a minute and then gently lift it off. Should any of the fruit have stuck to the pan, you can quickly transfer it back to the cake.

Allow the cake to cool and serve with a little whipped cream. You won’t miss the icing.

Fire Roasted Marinara Sauce

2012-09-30T16:58:00.001-07:00

Fire roasting gives a slight smoky flavor to whatever you roast and so I thought it might be just the perfect way to start my marinara. This sauce is made from tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and a few peppers, freshly plucked from the garden.

Some people call it spaghetti sauce, or Italian tomato sauce, but marinara has a nice ring to my ear. One theory suggests the sauce was invented by the Spanish in the mid 16th century. Because of the high acid content of tomatoes, the sauce was resistant to spoilage, making it ideal for lengthy sea voyages and thus sprang the name marinara. Whatever the name, fire roasting does add an additional element of flavor to the tomato.

Fire Roasting

Two more helpful reasons to fire roast are the removal of additional moisture, and if you want to remove the skins, they can be picked up in your fingers and tossed aside - no need to blanch and skin.

To get started, I took about 10 pounds of San Marzano tomatoes from the garden. I washed them, cored them, sliced them in half lengthwise and removed the seeds. I took a couple of onions and sliced them into ½ inch slices, and I cored and sliced lengthwise a couple of peppers.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Fire Roasted Marinara

10# fresh Italian paste tomatoes like San Marzano’s
2 large onions
4-6 cloves garlic minced
2-4 green peppers
2-3 Tablespoons fresh minced basil (1 TBS dried)
2 Tablespoons minced oregano (1 TBS dried)
1/2 cup olive oil - divided
3-4 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1-2 Tbs sugar (optional or to taste)

Fire Roasted Peppers and Onions

Bring your grill to about 350 degrees with medium heat. Put 1/2 the olive oil in a dish and brush the inside of the tomato with olive oil and place on the grill cut side down. Quickly fill the grill with tomatoes and close the lid. The temperature will have dropped to 200 degrees or below. Wait until the temperature rises to 350 again. Quickly open the grill and brush the top side of the tomatoes with olive oil and then check the first tomatoes that you put on. They should have grill marks on them. Using a spatula, quickly flip them over and close the lid again, waiting for the temperature to get back up over 350 degrees.

Have a rimmed pan or bowl to put the roasted tomatoes into as juice will continue to run out after you take them off. Remove the roasted tomatoes from the grill to the rimmed pan and let them cool. Roast the other vegetables in the same way, brushing them with olive oil and leaving them on the grill to show a little black char marks, but not totally blackened.

Once the tomatoes are cool, you can use your hands to pluck the skins from the tomatoes if you wish, or you can just leave them on as they will be chopped up in the next step.

Add the chopped garlic and herbs to the sauce.

Drain off the liquid from the roasted tomatoes and reserve this liquid. Put the tomatoes into a food processor and pulse to chop finely. Add the processed tomatoes to a large stock pot with the other 1/2 of the olive oil. Process all of the rest of the ingredients roasted and not and add them to the stock pot.

Thick sauce ready to be cooked

Simmer the sauce for 60-90 minutes stirring frequently. It will be thick and you will need to watch so that it does not burn. Add the salt, pepper, sugar, and the juice that you reserved from the roasted tomatoes to suit your taste and thickness.

You should end up with about 6 pints (12 cups) of sauce. You can place that into hot pint jars, seal them and put them in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes or you can cool the sauce and then put it into freezer bags in portions for future use. Just like the pesto recipe that I gave you last month, there is no end to the uses you will have for this sauce, so make plenty!

The Glory of the Harvest

2012-09-17T15:21:00.002-07:00

It’s the time of year when we count every night that passes without a frost as a bonus. Here on the side of the mountain northwest of Missoula, we live in a special little micro-climate that affords us many weeks longer growing season than our neighbors in the valley. I’m grateful for every growing day I get.

I have a bumper crop of tomatoes that are ripening on the vine. Soon I’ll be canning marinara, harvest soup, and eating them for breakfast - lunch - and dinner, knowing it will be a long dry spell for fresh tomatoes. The onions and garlic are already harvested and drying, the potatoes and carrots will be next.

Beautiful Millionaire and Prosperosa Eggplant

Today I harvested a few eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and some peppers to make my ratatouille. Ratatouille is just another word for a vegetable stew. Mine is simple and only takes a few minutes to prepare a big pot to enjoy for at least a couple of meals. This stuff is so delicious that I also can it in quarts for use all winter.

Ratatouille
2-4 Tablespoons olive oil
1-2 Medium sweet onion
1-2 Medium eggplant
1-2 Medium red or green bell peppers

Large diced veggies

3-4 Medium green or yellow zucchini
4-6 Cloves of garlic
A handful of fresh basil and oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1-2 Tablespoons sugar
3 14oz cans of diced tomatoes (canned tomatoes are ok to use as they come in the can without draining) or 4-5 cups of fresh garden tomatoes that have been peeled, seeds removed, and excess water drained off. If using fresh tomatoes, just do them first and let them drain in a
colander while preparing the rest.

Begin to saute the veggies

Wash and dry the vegetables. When it comes to the vegetables, there is no exact measurement, this is just a stew. I say 1-2 Medium, but in general each vegetable ingredient equals about 3 - 5 cups more or less, when chopped.

Put the olive oil in a large pot and start with the onions. Chop the onions and begin to saute them over medium heat. As soon as they start to soften, turn the burner off and begin to add all of the rest of the vegetables that are chopped into large 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces.

Mince the fresh herbs and the garlic and add that to the pot as well. Turn the heat back on to medium and stir and begin to cook the vegetables together. Add the tomatoes and salt and bring to simmer. Simmer for 60-90 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.

Add the chopped and drained tomatoes

Yummmmm!

As the ratatouille is ready, taste it for the appropriate amount of salt and sweetness and adjust to your taste with more salt or sugar.

I serve this over rice or pasta with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese as a hearty main dinner dish. Enjoy!

Cabbage Noodle Casserole

2012-08-19T15:26:00.002-07:00

Every once in a while, we need to be inventive. I had some freshly made pesto in my food processor, a cabbage and some sweet onions from the garden on the counter, and the need to make a dish to take to a friend.

That's how this all started and here is what I did. I invented a Cabbage Noodle Casserole. This dish makes a great vegetarian main dish or a nice side dish.

CABBAGE NOODLE CASSEROLE
(makes 1 large 8 serving or two 4 serving casseroles)

1 head of green cabbage, chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil

In a large skillet, add these first three ingredients and begin to caramelize the onions and cabbage.

As the cabbage and onions turn a nice caramel color, turn off the heat.

In a separate pan, cook just until aldente 4 cups of wide noodles.
Drain the noodles and toss the noodles and cabbage mixtures together.

Add to the mixture 1/2 cup of pesto and 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.

Toss this all together to mix and place in one large or two smaller casserole dishes.

Top with a hand full of Parmesan cheese and place under the broiler to brown the top. Instead of the cheese on top, some nice Italian bread crumbs or croutons would work as well.

This is totally cooked and ready to eat as soon as the cheese is melted and the top is browned.

.

Got Basil - Got Garlic

2012-08-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

Let’s make pesto!

I've had no less than 3 inquiries about my pesto recipe in the last week, so it sounds like it's time. My basil and garlic are ready to go, so rather than wait another minute, here is my “not so secret” recipe.

Basil and garlic are among those Mediterranean medicinal herbs that are supposed to do great things for your health... and since they are so delicious, why not have them year round!

Traditionally, pesto is made with a mortar and pestle - thus the name pesto. It is said to have origins in northern Africa, been domesticated in India, and perfected in Genoa, Italy. Leave it to me to have to come up with my own recipe for the stuff, but I had some modern criteria I wanted my pesto to meet.

I wanted something that I could store and it would stay fresh throughout the long Montana winter. I did not want to use pine nuts as I have had too many with an off/fishy taste. A lot of the pestos I had tried were swimming in olive oil, thin and runny. I thought mine should have less oil and more basil. Also, with a food processor in my pantry, I was not about to use the mortar and pestle method.

This recipe is simple and only takes a few minutes to make, and you can enjoy it until the basil grows again next year. (PS - plant more basil next year.)

PESTO
(makes about 4 - 5 cups)

4 cups packed (pack as many leaves as you can into a 4 cup measure), fresh picked, cleaned, and dry basil leaves
(I use both the Genovese and the larger lettuce leaf varieties, The salad spinner makes quick work of the wash and spin, then I lay them out on a towel to dry, fluffing them a couple of times to assist in the drying process.)

6 large cloves of garlic, peeled
2 cups of walnuts
1 1/2 cups of shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 teaspoons of salt, or to taste
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup olive oil

I start with the garlic and the lemon juice in the food processor. Once the garlic is finely minced, I add the 4 cups of basil leaves and mince those.
Add the salt, walnuts, and cheese and the mixture will be very heavy.

With the food processor running, I drizzle the olive oil into the tube and continue to let it work until the whole thing comes together into a beautiful, creamy, light green color.

I then taste to see if it meets my satisfaction. You can add more salt, more lemon juice, or more oil to your taste and process again until it is well blended and creamy.

Then put the pesto into jars or freezer safe containers that will hold about ½ to 1 cup each. I use half pints, the tapered jelly jars work fine too. Put them right into the freezer. The pesto will retain it’s beautiful, fresh, light green color while frozen.

Before you plan to use it, move a jar to the refrigerator to thaw. It will keep for weeks in the refrigerator. Once opened it will gradually oxidize on the top. This is normal and doesn't hurt anything.

Here are just a couple of suggestions for using your pesto, beyond the linguine that is...

How about spreading it on a loaf of french bread, top with a little mozzarella and broil, or toss it with some new potatoes or green beans, make a green pizza by spreading it on the dough instead of a red sauce - then top with chopped tomatoes and a little mozzarella for a different style Margarita pizza. I have even known someone that spreads it on a turkey sandwich as a condiment. Let me know if you discover any great new uses for it, and I will be sharing some additional pesto uses as time goes on.

(Just as I was finishing this post, my husband came in and told me our neighbor was recovering from a fall. I decided to make a casserole for him using the left over pesto and a cabbage I had sitting on the counter - see the next post.)

Whole Sweet Cherry Preserves

2012-08-05T12:25:00.001-07:00

A generous person living on the shores of Flathead Lake, allows us to pick cherries each year from her personal orchard. She has a number of different varieties, but this year she said something that piqued my curiosity. She said there was one tree that had just plain yellow cherries on it and that no one did anything with those. That rang a bell in my head and it said, why not?

I checked out the tree and the cherries were just as sweet and delicious as any of the rest, and they were yellow. I picked about a gallon and a half and thought I would make some whole cherry preserves from them as an experiment. In the old days, nothing was there without a purpose and nothing went to waste, so I decided to do a little research.

I discovered they were called white cherries, even though they are a beautiful golden color. They are the major type of cherry used for making maraschino cherries. The FDA's definition of a maraschino cherry denotes this artificial process: “The term "Maraschino Cherries" is regarded as the common or usual name of an article consisting of cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor.” Not really very appetizing. No wonder I have never liked maraschino cherries.

I also discovered that these trees were often planted as a good cross pollinator for the other trees in the orchard. That makes a lot more sense because there was only one white cherry tree in Nancy’s orchard.

In case you are fortunate enough to have one of these trees in your orchard or run across some of these white cherries at the co-op or farmer’s market, here is a recipe that I’ve formulated to make a big batch of whole white cherry preserves. You can also use this recipe to make preserves for any type of sweet cherry and you can easily cut the batch in half.

Whole Cherry Preserves

1.    Wash and drain, and then pit about a gallon and a half of cherries and toss them in about 1/4 cup of lemon juice. This helps keep them from turning brown while you process them.
2.    Heat them slowly and simmer for about 15-20 minutes to release the juice.
3.    Let cool and remove the cherries from the juice.
4.    Bring the juice to a boil and add 10 cups of sugar (or half of this if you are doing a half batch).
5.    After the syrup has boiled for a few minutes, add the cherries back to the juice and bring back to a boil and cook gently for 10-15 minutes.
6.    Turn off the heat and let stand in a cool place overnight (12-18 hours). This allow the air in the cherries to be expelled and helps the fruit to be suspended in the preserves rather than float on top.
7.    Get 12-15 half pint jars ready with lids and the equipment you will be using.
8.    Divide the cherries and juice in approximately half - I did two 7-8 cup batches.
9.    Sweet cherries do not have enough pectin to gel, even in the long boil process so it is necessary to add pectin. I used one box of Sure-Jell for each of my batches. I put my cherries and juice into a stock pot and added the pectin, stirring it into the cold juice.
10.    Then I brought it all to a boil that could not be stirred down and boiled it for exactly 1 minute.
11.    Skim and ladle the preserves into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rims, attach lids and place in your boiling water bath. At our altitude I process in the water bath for 25 minutes. Check your book or the internet for the processing time for your altitude.
12.    Remove from the water bath and invert on a towel (lid down) until cool.
13.    Once cool, turn the jars over and the cherries will settle beautifully and evenly from the top to the bottom of the jars.

Enjoy some now and certainly this winter the sunny color will bring a little sunshine to your toast!

Rustic Tart with Flathead Cherries

2012-07-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

It's cherry season here in western Montana and that means Flathead Cherries. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, The Flathead as locals refer to it, is a large valley stretching from just north of Missoula up to the Kalispell-Whitefish area. Flathead Lake runs up the valley and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states, with over 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline. The lake moderates the temperatures just perfectly for growing sweet cherries in the fertile foothills around the lake.

Lapin Cherries

Mostly you’ll find the big dark sweet cherries, Lamberts and Lapins, and many growers also grow the beautiful Rainiers.

Rainier Cherries

Each year we try to go up and pick a lug, or get some from the co-op or local farmer's market. Those that we don’t devour immediately, get pitted and put into quart freezer bags for later use. Since the cherries this year are just a few days late, I decided to go ahead and use my last quart from the freezer to make this delicious Rustic Tart.

Some people call this type of pastry a galette, but here in Montana the term Rustic Tart fits just perfectly. This can be made with many different types of fruit. Also try apricots, peaches, or plums.

Start with a rich and flaky crust. Here is the recipe that I use:

THE CRUST:
1 1/2 cup organic all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus more as needed iced water

Either by hand or using a food processor, incorporate the flour, sugar, salt and the butter, just until the mixture looks like a coarse meal. This is best accomplished with a few quick pulses of the food processor or by cutting in with a pastry cutter.

Fill a 1 cup measuring cup with some ice and some water and allow to stand for a minute or two. Then I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to drizzle in 1/4 cup of the ice water (strained, no ice) into the tube while slowly pulsing the processor. Because we live in such a dry climate, I find that I always need more so as I slowly drizzle more into the processor, I watch for the dough to come together. You can check it with your fingers to see if it is still crumbly or if it will stick together nicely if you are in doubt. As soon as the dough comes together, stop adding water and pulsing and turn the dough out onto a floured board. I fold the dough over 1 or 2 times and form into a flattened disk. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.

Dough comes together


Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

THE FILLING:
Now for the fruit... I drain the cherries because they produce a lot of juice when they are frozen. If you are using fresh cherries just wash and pit before measuring.

About 3 cups of fresh or frozen Flathead Cherries (or fruit of your choice)
1/3 cup of organic sugar
a pinch of salt (optional)
1 rounded tablespoon of organic cornstarch

THE TART:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Beat an egg in a dish with a tablespoon of water. Prepare your pan by covering it with either parchment or aluminum foil. ( I used my pizza pan and I covered it with two layers of aluminum foil.) Spray the foil lightly with oil.
Roll out your chilled crust into a round about 1/4-1/8 inch thick, and about 15 inches in diameter. Fold it in half and gently transfer it to the pan, making sure it is centered. Then open it up again.
Toss the filling ingredients together and dump into the center of the crust. Spread them out to be about 10 inches in diameter.
Then gently grab the edges of the crust and with a folding motion, take the edges and fold them toward the center, around the crust, making a circle with an open center.
Brush the crust with an egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour or until beautifully browned and rustic!
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for a truly Montana dessert.

The HOUSE Dressing

2012-07-19T14:21:00.002-07:00

I know, it’s been a while since you’ve heard a peep out of me. What can I say except I’ve been busy - first I took my granddaughter on a train trip from Whitefish, MT to Cincinnati, OH. That was an adventure! Then, there has been all the gardening and more gardening, and we are also in the process of finishing up some interior remodeling that is requiring us to remove all of the furniture from most of our house. UGH! This is the last big shot on the remodel and so I will be happy when it is all over.

And so, with a lettuce bed that looks like this, what's a person to do... except eat salad!

Now, for that recipe you have been waiting for. With a lot of lettuce ready for the salad plate something got me reminiscing about a little restaurant that I used to frequent back around 1990 in Olympia, Washington. It was called the Urban Onion and I don’t know if it’s still there or not, but they had this fabulous house dressing that makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

To make a long story short, after many lunches and salads at this wonderful little place, I finally got up the nerve to ask, “Would you consider giving out the recipe for your salad dressing?” To my surprise, the wait person returned from the kitchen with a photocopy of a typed version of the recipe. Apparently I was not the first person to ask, and they generously shared this delicious recipe with everyone.

On a mission, I dug through my recipe file, which consists of a bunch of pieces of paper of all sizes and shapes, in no particular order, torn from store fliers, newspapers, written on the backs of greeting cards, photo copies, hand written by me and friends, and whole pages ripped from magazines over a period of at least 40 years. There it was... on that original, slightly tattered, yellowed with age, and splashed with ingredients from previous makings, half sheet of photocopy paper from 1990.

Elyse’s Potpourri -
Urban Onion
Recipe - Lemon Tahini Dressing
Ingredients:
2 cups safflower oil
3/4 cup lemon juice
½ cup soy sauce
½ medium onion
1/3 green pepper
2 stalks celery
1 cup tahini
Method:
1.Chop all veggies
2.Mix all ingredients
3.Process until it all comes together

Yield: Approx. 4+ cups
Today I only had olive oil and used a gypsy pepper from the garden. It was as delicious as I remembered. If you like Anne's Goddess dressing, you will love this, it's way better without the vinegary taste.

Some how in my mind, 1990 was only about 10 years ago, but 22 years later, here it is! From Elyse to you... Enjoy! Thank you Elyse, where ever you are I hope you are well!