Vermont food from a country kitchen - Carol Egbert

Flounder Dinner in a Cozy Vermont Studio

2012-01-25T18:14:14Z

Saturday was a busy day for me. It began with a five hour meeting, then I ran a couple of errands and had to go to two grocery stores to get everything on my list. When I got home, Charles unpacked the car and after he had finished putting the groceries away he said, “Well, it’s time for my nap.” I was weary, but not sleepy so I went up to my studio, sat at my desk and felt sorry for myself.

I wanted to rest and read the last two chapters of my mystery, but Charles was sleeping in our warm bedroom. The living room and the other bedrooms were too cold and although the kitchen and my studio were warm, there wasn’t a comfy place to curl up in either room. Moving furniture was the only solution.

My Studio Nest

After I moved a daybed into my studio, rearranged my painting table and files and created a cozy ‘reader’s nest’, it was nearly dinner time. Charles was rested and said he would make dinner if I told him what to do.I was in charge of the menu and cooking instructions and he would do the cooking. First the menu. We would have sauteed flounder, oven roasted potatoes, and Charles’ favorite vegetable, creamed spinach. Since he would be roasting the potatoes, we agreed the he would bake his first cake ever at the same time. We began with the potatoes because it takes 45 minutes for them to cook.

Here’s how he did it:

Oven Roasted Potatoes

He pre-heated the oven to 350º, put one tablespoon of butter and two tablespoons of olive oil in a medium baking dish and put it into the oven while he scrubbed three medium potatoes and cut each potato into six wedges. He put the wedges into the hot oil/butter mixture, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, tossed them to coat all of the surfaces with the oil and put them into the oven to bake.

After putting a log on the fire and pouring a glass of wine for the cook, it was cake time.

Ridiculously Simple, but Delicious, Chocolate Cake for a Tired Spouse

I read the recipe and he followed my instructions.

Ridiculously Easy Chocolate Cake

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Carol Egbert

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 6

No eggs, no butter, no mixer, put the ingredients in a cake pan, combine and bake. Anyone can make this delicious chocolate cake.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
5 Tablespoons canola oil
1 cup cold water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350º
Put dry ingredients into a 9 inch baking pan.
Use a fork to blend dry ingredients until there are no dark swirls of cocoa or lumps of baking powder.
Pour liquid ingredients into the pan. Stir to combine, there should be no pockets of dry ingredients.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into center of cake comes out dry.

Notes

Serve dusted with confectioner’s sugar, topped with a scoop of ice cream, your favorite frosting or naked. The cake not the server!

Charles easily transformed a package of frozen chopped spinach, some sour cream and a few pantry staples into creamed spinach.

Creamed Spinach

He minced a small onion while a package of rock hard, frozen spinach was being zapped, on high, for two minutes in the microwave. Then he melted a teaspoon of butter in a medium saucepan, added the onion and sauteed it. When it was translucent he added the drained, defrosted spinach, a quarter of a cup of milk, a grind of fresh nutmeg and a quarter of teaspoon each of salt and pepper. After five minutes of cooking over low heat, most of the liquid had evaporated and the spinach was cooked. He stirred in a quarter of a cup of sour cream and a half a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and turned off the heat just as the oven timer rang. He pulled out the cake, poked it with a toothpick, the toothpick came out dry, he put the cake on a rack to cool, gave the potatoes a stir and closed the oven. It was time to cook the flounder.

Sauteed Flounder

I found the flounder in the fridge while Charles combined a quarter of a cup of flour, a quarter of a teaspoon each of salt and pepper and a teaspoon of dried dill on a piece of waxed paper and made the egg wash by beating an egg in a shallow bowl. He heated a teaspoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When the oil was hot, he dipped each filet into the egg and then into the flour before sauteing them for three minutes on each side.

The fish was cooked, the potatoes were golden and the spinach was creamy. Dinner was divine. Charles was exhausted, I was grateful. We ate chocolate cake in my rearranged, cozy studio and left the dishes until Sunday morning.

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Cauliflower Soup from a Vermont Kitchen

2012-01-25T18:12:07Z

It’s been a long time coming but snow has arrived. The garden is white, the branches of the trees are accented with white. Winter has arrived and, in my mind, winter is soup season. I think a meal should have a balance of colors as well as a balance of flavors. Purple-red borscht topped with a scoop of sour cream and a sprinkle of dill leaves has that balance of color and flavor as does green split pea soup with sunny carrot dice cubes and pink cubes of ham. But, the snow reminded me of a Saturday lunch we shared last winter and I made a white dinner and to celebrate the arrival of the snow.

Last January, after our friends Kathy and Rick had spent weeks packing, snow shoveling, ice dam cursing, moving and unpacking, they invited us to lunch. We sat around the granite island in their new kitchen and savored, steamy bowls of cauliflower cheese soup. It was the first pot of soup made in their new home. I asked Kathy for the recipe, she shared it with me and said I could share it with you. Here’s how she (and I) made it:

Cauliflower Soup from a Vermont Kitchen

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Soup

Author: Carol Egbert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 6

A hearty, creamy, soup flavored with extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 – 14 oz cans chicken broth
1/4 cup rice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 – 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese plus 1/4 cup for garnish
Ground black pepper

Instructions

Melt butter in a medium stockpot, and sauté onions, carrots and garlic for ten minutes.
Add cauliflower, chicken broth and rice to the pot.
Bring mixture to a boil and then lower heat to medium. Cover the pot and simmer for fifteen minutes, until the cauliflower is very tender and rice is cooked.
Remove pot from stove, use an immersion blender to puree the soup.
Stir in cayenne, nutmeg, evaporated milk and cheddar cheese.
Heat soup, over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cheese has melted and the soup is steaming, do not boil.
Add a grind of pepper and top each serving with a generous sprinkle of cheese.

Notes

Substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth to make vegetarian soup. I use extra sharp Vermont cheddar cheese because I love it and I am a Vermonter!

Hot biscuits, right out of the oven, with soft butter complemented the steamy cauliflower soup perfectly, and a bowl of tapioca pudding completed this white meal.

Before anyone from the color patrol reaches for a telephone or computer to register a complaint, I will explain why I call this a ‘white meal’. Sure there were flecks of orange from the carrots, dots of red and black from the peppers and I admit that the cheddar and cauliflower where not absolutely pure white and yes, the biscuits had a slight golden touch; but, this dinner was as white as the snowy day with brown flecks of beech leaves, bits of red chimney pipes and the gold of Gracie’s coat as struggled to make a perfect doggy snow-angel.

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Portugese Milk Mayo from a Vermont Kitchen

2012-02-08T14:32:39Z

It’s not to late to make a New Year’s resolution. Rather than resolving to go to the gym three times a week, or to sort out the extra clothes at the back of my closet, or to re-read at least one classic before the daffodils appear; I have resolved to have an empty fridge when it’s time to travel to Italy in March.

Rainbow Carrots

(I wanted to share my most recent painting, Rainbow Carrots, even though carrots have nothing to do with this post. )

The first step is to dispose of all of the half-filled jars of mystery sauces that have accumulated since we returned from Italy last spring. The second, and perhaps more difficult part is resisting the jars of exotic sauces at the market. I will make do with only three jars of sauce, mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise. The mustard is grainy Dijon mustard, the ketchup is what remains of the homemade ketchup I made as a Christmas gift for Charles, and I will make mayo as we need it.

Usually, mayo is made with either an egg yolk or a whole egg but recently I made Maionese de leite, a mayonnaise that comes from Portugal. This creamy, egg free sauce, made with milk and flavored with a hint of garlic is less sticky and bit more watery than traditional mayo but it can be substituted for traditional mayo. An immersion blender is necessary to make it. Here’s how I did it:

Portugese Milk Mayo from a Vermont Kitchen

Recipe type: Condiment

Author: Carol Egbert

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 1 1/2 cups

Creamy egg-free mayo with a hint of garlic and five colorful variations. An immersion blender is necessary for this recipe.

Ingredients

1/3 cup cold milk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 small garlic clove
pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup olive oil
pinch kosher salt

Instructions

Combine milk, lemon juice, garlic and cayenne pepper in a tall, 2 cup container.
Whip with an immersion blender for 45 seconds, until frothy.
Combine oils and, with blender on high speed, slowly add oil to milk mixture, gradually increase quantity of oil. Move blender up and down to incorporate the oil.
Continue whipping until mixture is thick.
Season with salt to taste.
Milk mayo will last up to a week in the fridge.

Notes

Mayo Sauces
Pink Ginger Mayo – Combine 1 teaspoon ketchup, 1 heaping teaspoon minced pickled ginger and a pinch of cayenne with 1/4 cup mayo. Lovely with steamed shrimp.

Golden Curry Mayo – Saute 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds and 1 small onion, diced, in 2 teaspoons vegetable oil for 4 minutes, add 1/2 teaspoon curry powder and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, cook 1 minute more. when mixture is cool, combine with 1/2 cup mayo. Combine with cooked chicken and grapes for chicken salad.

Rosy Tomato Mayo – Combine equal parts mayo and ketchup for a zesty sandwich spread.

Dilly Green Mayo – Combine 1 teaspoon of minced fresh dill, minced flat leaf parsley, and chopped capers with a rounded tablespoon mayo. Thin with lemon juice. Top steamed new potatoes for a quick potato salad.

Sunny Lemon Mayo – Add i teaspoon grated lemon zest and 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice with 1/4 cup mayo. Perfect for poached fish, steamed broccoli or in Waldorf salad.

Homemade mayonnaise is delicious whether it’s traditional egg based mayo or creamy milk mayo but, if your New Year’ resolution is to spend less time in the kitchen, mayo from the grocery store is the right choice for you. Happy New Year!

Here’s a link to my recipe for Mayo made with eggs.

Download and print a label for your homemade mayo here.

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Bread & Crackers – An eBook from Vermont Kitchen Books

2011-12-28T22:18:20Z

My first eBook is finished. It’s called Bread and Crackers and it can purchased or borrowed from the Kindle store.

If you don’t have a Kindle, download free software here, so that you can read Bread & Crackers on your PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, and Android Phone.

Bread & Crackers is a collection of my bread and cracker recipes and illustrated with my watercolor paintings. The recipes are enriched with memories, food history and musings.

Luxurious Oatmeal – Vermont Kitchen Style

2012-01-03T17:35:16Z

Today marks the middle of a week framed by holiday feasting. For our family it began with tea, mince pies topped with whipped cream, shortbread and citrus cookies before a Christmas Eve service that was followed by Christmas Eve dinner. The next day began with a rich Christmas breakfast, followed by a mid-afternoon visit with friends over more tea and sweets, and then there was Christmas dinner complete with an extravagant dessert of banoffee pie.

Next weekend will be a variation on last weekend with what may seem like an unending parade of buttery sweets, rich cheeses, roasted turkeys, sublime wines, New Year’s Eve buffets and football feasts. The abundance of rich, artery clogging food that inspired my daughter-in-law, Alison, to suggest that we start each day with a bowl of oatmeal.

Oatmeal often described as a cholesterol lowering, vitamin rich, high fiber digestive aid is also a staple in my pantry. Charles often cooks up a batch of rolled oats in the microwave and we enjoy it topped with a bit of brown sugar and a splash of milk. But inspired by the holiday week, Alison created six varieties of luxurious oatmeal. Each variety began with Alison’s basic Oatmeal. Here’s how she made it:

Alison’s Basic Oatmeal
1 1/2 cup steel cut oats
6 cups boiling water
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons ground flax seeds

She began by adding the steel cut oats and to the water in a medium saucepan. She stirred the oats occasionally and after half an hour of cooking, over medium-low heat, most of the water had been absorbed and the oats were tender. While the oats cooked, Alison put a quarter of the sunflower seeds and flax seeds into four deep cereal bowls.

On Monday she made Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal
Basic Oatmeal
1 apple, cored and cut in 1/2 inch dice
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
8 teaspoons brown sugar
1 cup milk, heated
She added a quarter of the apple, pecans, cinnamon and brown sugar to the sunflower and flax seeds in each of four deep cereal bowls and added the cooked oats and warm milk. It was better than apple pie for breakfast.

On Tuesday, Alison added raspberries, almonds and honey to the sunflower and flax seeds.
Raspberry Almond Oatmeal

Basic Oatmeal
1 cup raspberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 tablespoons honey
The hot oatmeal intensified the flavor of the fresh raspberries and made breakfast better than a Linzer Torte.
Today we had mixed berry oatmeal. It follows the Luxurious Oatmeal method with these ingredients:

Mixed Berry Oatmeal
Basic Oatmeal
1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup pecans
4 teaspoons brown sugar

Mixed berry oatmeal surpassed strawberry shortcake for breakfast.

Alison has written Banana Walnut Oatmeal on the calendar for tomorrow and Fig Oatmeal for Friday. Here are the ingredient lists:

Coconut Banana Oatmeal
Basic Oatmeal
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, shredded
4 Tablespoons maple syrup
Fig-Hazelnut Oatmeal

Basic Oatmeal
6 dried figs, diced
1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped
4 Tablespoons honey

Although I haven’t tasted the Coconut Banana or the Fig-Hazelnut Oatmeal, I’m confident that they will be at least as tasty as banana bread or fig newtons for breakfast.

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2011 Top Ten List & Free Prints

2011-12-26T21:40:48Z

I’m reposting last years list of favorites for a few reasons, first because I’ve been busy working on my first eBook Bread and Crackers that is for sale on Amazon – Here’s the link.

Second because there are free prints in this post that you can download and print as a little gift from my studio to you; and the third because this is still a list of my favorite things.

This is the time of year for lists, not shopping lists, but lists of virtually everything else – lists of the most important world events, top fashion trends of the year, the biggest storms, the sexiest man, the best movies, the most popular celebrities, the most reviled despots, the biggest disasters, the best selling books, and even a list of top time-wasters.

Print Winter Tree

With these lists as inspiration, I’ve compiled my top ten list of food favorites for 2010, and in a nod to Mr. Letterman, they are listed in reverse order of delight. To celebrate the New Year, I’ve created four prints that celebrate the seasons of the year. They can be downloaded and printed by clicking on the links below each image.

#10 Butter Poached Rhubarb – Combining the best of Julia Child, butter, and the best of James Beard, cream, I melted a stick of butter in a skillet, sprinkled in one cup of granulated sugar and cooked it for about five minutes. When the sugar had begun to caramelize and turned a light brown, I added four cups of rhubarb, cut in two inch slices, shook the pan vigorously to coat the rhubarb and cooked it until it was starting to fall apart. I took the pan off the heat, stirred in two tablespoons of dark rum, and transferred the rhubarb to a bowl set in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Topped with List Entry #4, whipped, it made a gorgeous dessert. This would be closer to #1 if fresh rhubarb were available from my garden year round and if this recipe were not loaded with sugar, butter and cream.

#9 Carrots – I’ve been eating lots of carrots this year, in soups, salads, in fritters, cakes and muffins. Organic carrots, scrubbed and slow roasted with salt, pepper and olive oil complement most any meal. Any leftovers can be mashed with a bit of mayo and garlic and spread on toast for lunch or a rustic hors d’oeuvre.

Print Spring Tree

#8 Cappuccino – Alas, this is one thing on my list that I don’t make in my kitchen; but, the adventure of searching for a café and finding a perfect cappuccino with just the right amount of foamy milk on top merits a place on my list.

#7 Recipe Police – When I wrote about the absence of fish in my pot of chowder I boldly proclaimed that the recipe police would not come to my kitchen to give me a ticket. Little did I know that a Recipe Policeman, in the form of a phone call from an anonymous reader, would phone me and issue a warning that I had neglected to add thyme to the pot. I got away with a warning but I have been careful to add thyme to chowder since then.

#6 Pasta with Raisins and Pine Nuts – So simple, so quick, so delicious! While I waited for the pasta water to come to a boil, I sauteed one clove of garlic in a large frying pan with one tablespoon of unsalted butter and one tablespoon of olive oil. When the garlic had softened but not browned, I added a quarter of a cup of pine nuts. When the nuts where toasted, and the pasta was al dente, I drained the pasta, reserved a quarter of a cup of pasta water, added the pasta, generous handfuls of chopped flat leaf parsley and raisins, and a splash of the pasta water to the pan. I topped the pasta with the mere suggestion of ground cinnamon. Finito!

#5 Chickpea Flour – I discovered that I could make a crisp flatbread by baking in a 450º oven a batter of one cup of chickpea flour, one and a half cups of water and a teaspoon of salt in a cast iron skillet with three tablespoons of oil. Seasoned with salt and a bit of curry powder, an ho-hum soup and toast dinner was transformed into a praise-worthy meal.

Print Summer Tree

#4 Heavy Cream – My favorite comes from local dairies and is not ultra-pasteurized. I like it on oatmeal with brown sugar, whipped, with no sugar added, as frosting on deep, dark, moist chocolate cake, and as a cold topper for broiled apricots, (a treat I learned from my dear friend Didi).

#3 The Open Air Market in Ortigia, Sicily – Chatting with Angelo Cappucio about fish for dinner, choosing blood oranges, smelling the smoky roasted artichokes, sampling wild strawberries, olives, salami and chocolate from Modica is the best way to figure out “What’s for dinner?”

#2 Making Cheese in Sicily – Near the top of my list is the morning I spent in the cheese shop in Ortigia, making cheese with Andrea Borderi. I was welcomed into the small kitchen in the back of the shop, wrapped in an apron and put to work. I learned how to cut, ladle and knead curds as we made ricotta and mozzarella. I make a simple breakfast of a bowl of ricotta cheese, topped with a drizzle of Vermont honey and slices of orange when I’m wishing I were in Sicily.

Print Fall Tree

#1 Contact from Friends – I am cheered and delighted when I hear from friends, whether old or new, by email, telephone and even snail mail. It doesn’t matter if the message is lavish praise, a complaint, or a correction – you are there, reading what I write, cooking what I cook, improvising, improving recipes and sharing your discoveries. You bring me joy. Thank you and please stay in touch.

Ketchup from my Vermont Kitchen

2011-12-25T15:29:39Z

When I was a child, one of my jobs was to refill the large, red plastic tomato with ketchup. My sister and I squeezed that tomato to squirt ketchup on French fried potatoes, grilled American cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs and scrambled eggs. When I moved to Washington, DC, I wanted to be sophisticated and cosmopolitan. I listened to classical music, read the articles as well as the cartoons in the New Yorker and banished ketchup from my kitchen.

I don’t know whether it was Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, a gift from a new friend, daily lunches of pate and camembert with a crusty baguette from the French Market or the fact that ketchup was made in the Heinz factory, a few miles from my home in Pittsburg, that turned me into a ketchup snob. Ketchup had to go. There was no ketchup in my kitchen from mid 1965 until December 2011. Yes, it’s back. There is a jar of ketchup in the fridge and I’m planning to give jars of ketchup to my most sophisticated, foodie friends for Christmas this year.

It won’t be Heinz ketchup, it will be ketchup from Carol’s Vermont Kitchen. My willingness to re-consider ketchup came about because I wanted to give a bright red, edible gift for Christmas. Ketchup is an unusual gift and may result in a holiday smiles. I read ketchup recipes in old cookery books, learned a fair amount of ketchup history, modified a couple of recipes and eventually made a batch of lovely red, nothing like the stuff from the grocery store, ketchup. Here’s how I made it:

Ketchup

1 – 28 ounce can pureed tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
sea salt to taste

I put all the ingredients, except the salt and pepper, into a slow cooker and stirred the mixture until it was combined. I set the slow cooker on high, covered it and cooked it for two hours, stirring occasionally. I removed the lid and continued cooking the ketchup, on high, for forty-five minutes until it ‘plopped’ off a spoon. I added the black pepper and salt and turned off the slow cooker. When the ketchup was cool, I stirred it and transferred it to a wide mouth quart jar and put it in the fridge.

I’ve served this lovely red sauce warm with meatloaf, Charles used it right from the fridge on ham and cheese sandwiches and we’ve stirred it into bowls of hot buttered pasta.

In the seventeenth century, English sailors returned from China with a pickled-fish sauce, called ke-tsiap. That brown sauce went through many changes, traveled to Malaya, eventually met tomatoes and ke-tsiape name morphed to kechap. Before manufacturers settled on ketchup, it was also called catchup, katsup, catsip, kotchup, kitsip, catsoup, cornchop, katsock and cutchpuck. Not only does ketchup add flavor, but some studies show that it may be a powerful tool in the fight against cancer and heart disease.

Ketchup from my Vermont Kitchen

Recipe type: Condiment

Author: Carol Egbert

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 2 hours 45 mins

Total time: 2 hours 50 mins

Serves: 1 quart

Homemade ketchup is better than anything from the market!

Ingredients

1 – 28 ounce can pureed tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
sea salt to taste

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients, except the salt and pepper, in a slow cooker.
Set the slow cooker on high, cover and cook for two hours, stirring occasionally.
Remove cover and continue cooking on high, for forty-five minutes until it ‘plops’ off a spoon.
Add black pepper and salt to taste and cool.
Transfer to a wide mouth quart jar and put it in the fridge.

If this ketchup trivia is not enough to impress my foodie friends – I’ll tell them that ketchup can be used to clean, antique, copper utensils.

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e Book Cover

2011-12-14T15:34:59Z

The top image is the most current one. I’d love your thoughts.

Cover 3

Cover 2

Cover 1

What do you think?

I’m looking for your feedback – ideas, compliments or criticism. Please leave a comment. Do you like it better with a larger, blue title?

Classic New England Steamed Brown Bread

2011-12-25T15:28:27Z

Making sour dough bread from scratch is a long process. Gathering wild yeast and cultivating a sour dough starter takes a week and then it takes another twenty-four hours to make the bread. Active dry yeast from the grocery store reduces the time to a more manageable three to four hours plus the extra half hour it takes to cleanup after kneading the dough and forming the loaves. Breads leavened with baking soda or baking powder, are quicker, but baking bread in the oven requires that I not stray far from the kitchen so that the bread can be taken out of the oven at precisely the right moment. If all these facts make you unwilling to make bread at home, consider the ease and freedom of steamed brown bread.

Steamed brown bread is leavened with baking soda and baking powder so there’s no wild yeast to gather. The soft dough, simply made in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, is poured it into greased containers, covered and steamed. Steaming, a more gentle way of cooking, rather than baking has a more flexible cooking time. Brown bread steamed in a slow cooker is the least demanding bread I’ve ever made. Here’s how I did it:

Classic New England Steamed Brown Bread

Recipe type: Bread

Author: Carol Egbert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 2 hours

Total time: 2 hours 10 mins

Serves: 2 small loaves

Flavored with molasses, spices and orange rind, this batter bread is lovely smeared with cream cheese or butter. It can be served with a pot of tea for breakfast or with a bowl of chowder for supper.

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions

Whisk together whole wheat flour, rye flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, allspice, ginger and currants.
Add molasses, milk, yogurt, vanilla and orange zest. Stir until well combined.
Divide batter between prepared jars. Cover each jar tightly with two layers of aluminum foil.
Put jars into slow cooker, add hot water to surround jars to a depth of 2 inches.
Cover slow cooker, steam bread on high for 2 to 3 hours. Bread is cooked when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool bread for 15 minutes before removing from jars. Cool completely before cutting.

Notes

2 straight-sided, 1 pint canning jars sprayed with nonstick spray or greased with soften butter. Brown bread can also be cooked in tin cans, loaf pans or other molds set on a rack, in large pot with two inches of water. The molds should be well greased with either butter or non-stick spray and filled two-thirds full.
The bread can be steamed in a slow cooker large enough to accomodate jars or a large stock pot with a rack.
Chopped dates or dried apricots can be used in place of the raisins and the spices can be adjusted to suit your palate.

After I rinsed out the batter bowl, Charles and I took Gracie for a walk in the meadow. We met Susan who was walking with her dogs Emma and Mousse. We were enjoying walking, chatting and laughing, as the dogs tumbled and tussled over balls and sticks, and I forgot about the bread steaming in the slow cooker. When we got home, the timer was beeping. I removed the aluminum foil, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf came out clean. It was perfectly cooked even though it had been steaming for an extra half hour. I cooled the bread for ten minutes before unmolding it, then cooled the bread completely on a wire rack before slicing and toasting it. I served it with a smear of cream cheese.

Steamed brown bread is a true American creation often served with baked beans for the Sunday meal. In the 17^th century white flour was considered fancy and rye, whole wheat and cornmeal were plentiful and inexpensive. Steaming was an effective way to make bread without an oven. It can also be cooked in tin cans, loaf pans or other molds set on a rack, in large pot with two inches of water. The molds should be well greased with either butter or non-stick spray and filled two-thirds full. Chopped dates or dried apricots can be used in place of the raisins and the spices can be adjusted to suit your palate.

I think of this recipe as a ‘half recipe’, I leave it to you to figure out why.

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Thanksgiving Leftovers Make Sweet Potato Rolls & Turkey Gumbo Soup

2011-12-27T15:48:04Z

Last November, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I opened the fridge to get a slice of lemon for my morning cup of tea and was overwhelmed by bowls, containers and aluminum foil wrapped packets of leftovers. Charles had been in charge of clean up the night before and, with the help of a couple of other non-cooks, had done a splendid job but the overstuffed fridge needed immediate attention.

The turkey carcass was precariously perched on a jug of gravy and a bowl half filled with roasted cranberry sauce. Mashed sweet potatoes flavored with chipotle peppers and mashed white potatoes rested side by side in one container and a forlorn slice of pumpkin pie wrapped in plastic sat on a small bowl of gingered whipped cream. After I found the lemon for my tea, I began to deal with the wealth of leftovers by topping the piece of pie with the whipped cream and eating it.

I made run-of-the-mill turkey sandwiches dinner-worthy by making sandwich rolls with the leftover sweet potatoes. These yeast rolls are not difficult to make but need to rise twice before baking so I got started as soon as I’d read the paper and emptied the dishwasher. Here’s how I made them:[/donotprint]

Sweet Potato Rolls

I dissolved one package, about two and a quarter teaspoons, of active dry yeast and two tablespoons of sugar in three quarters of a cup of warm milk in a medium mixing bowl. I covered the bowl with a towel and waited for the yeast to make the milk foamy. It took about ten minutes. Then I added one cup of room temperature mashed sweet potatoes, three tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, half a teaspoon of kosher salt, one egg to the milk mixture and three cups of all-purpose flour and beat the dough with a wooden spoon. When it was well combined, I stirred in enough flour, about a cup more, to form a soft dough. I turned the dough out onto a floured board and kneaded it for about five minutes, until it was smooth and elastic. I put the dough into a bowl that had been smeared with butter, covered the bowl and put it in a warm place to rise. In about an hour and half, the dough had doubled in size. I gently folded it in on itself to deflate it, (I’m not one who punches anything), and then formed the dough into twelve balls. I put the balls of dough into a buttered, nine-inch square pan, covered them and put the pan in a warm place for about forty-five minutes, until the dough had risen a second time. I baked the rolls in a preheated 375º oven until they were golden brown, about twenty-two minutes.

The sweet potatoes I used were seasoned with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and had a bit of a chili zing. If the leftover sweet potatoes in your fridge are topped with marshmallows or sweetened with maple sugar, reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe or omit it.

I made turkey noodle soup for Saturday night supper but wished that I had made the turkey gumbo soup that my friend and fellow painter, Kathy described to me over coffee on Sunday morning. Here’s the recipe she shared:

Turkey Gumbo Soup

Boil a turkey carcass in eight cups of water for one hour. Remove the carcass from the pot and pick the meat from the bones. Drain and reserve six cups of broth. Combine four tablespoons of flour and four tablespoons of bacon grease in the bottom of the soup pot and cook over medium heat until the mixture is a rich dark brown. Add one cup of chopped scallions, one cup of chopped celery and four tablespoons of chopped parsley to the pot and saute for five minutes. Add the broth slowly to the vegetable mixture, stirring until well combined. Add three bay leaves, half a teaspoon of thyme, one cup of chopped, smoked, hot sausage and three cups of leftover turkey meat. Simmer over low heat for one and a half hours. One pint of oysters can be added for the last five minutes of cooking. To finish the soup, add one tablespoon of file powder just before serving. Soup should not boil once the file has been added. Remove bay leaves and serve gumbo in a large, shallow soup bowl over a generous mound of white rice.

This year we are having dinner at the Bartletts. I’m making cranberry relish, sweet potatoes and dessert and looking forward to being with friends. I’ve made extra sweet potatoes, pre-holiday leftovers, and I’m pretty certain that our hosts will send us home with turkey for sandwiches. I don’t think it would be polite to ask for the turkey carcass, but I’m planning to make turkey gumbo even if I have to cut Kathy’s recipe in half and make it with a roasted chicken from the grocery store. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Sweet Potato Rolls

Recipe type: Bread

Author: Carol Egbert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 22 mins

Total time: 32 mins

Serves: 12 rolls

Golden, yeast raised dinner rolls made mashed sweet potatoes. Perfect use of leftovers.

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup milk, heated to 105ºF
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 whole egg
4 cups all-purpose flour – divided

Instructions

Combine yeast, sugar and milk in a medium mixing bowl, stir until dissolved. Cover bowl and set aside, in a warm place, for 10 minutes, until mixture is foamy.
Add sweet potatoes, butter, salt, egg and 3 cups flour to milk mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.
Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead in enough flour, about 1 cup, to make a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
Put dough into a bowl that has been smeared with butter, cover bowl and put in a warm place until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
Deflate dough, form dough into 12 balls, put balls into a buttered 9″ square baking pan, cover and let rise until dough has doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
Bake in a preheated, 375º oven for 22 minutes or until rolls are golden.
Serve warm with butter.

Notes

The dough has to rise twice so the overall prep time total is 3 hours.

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