Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Pandora's peanut butter box



Good chocolate + good peanut butter= danger

Use your knowledge wisely.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Oh, what to do with a glut of plums? Freeze them, jam them, jelly them, but don't can them

Plum jam without pectin

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold 

--William Carlos Williams


Every year Owl prunes the plum tree in February and I think we will have no plums. Then he thins the plum tree in May and I know we will have no plums.

And then August comes, and he brings in a tub of plums each morning. No chance of wreaking this marriage by surreptitiously eating the few scant plums tucked away in the icebox.

What we have found during our plum harvests:
  • Flash-frozen plums are great for smoothies or lassis. (Or freeze them and make jam later in the winter when a boiling pot of plum jam adds warmth to your somber day.)
  • Plum jelly is divine. It makes beautiful thumbprint cookies at Christmas.
  • Plum jam without pectin (recipe forthcoming during some plum season) is fun to make for those of us who grew up thinking pectin was required for all jams and jellies. It is like all those dreams coming true where you actually can fly on your own. (Okay, maybe not that great.)
  • Sometimes the aforementioned plum jam without pectin turns out to be plum syrup. It just wanted to be eaten on top of Owl's pancakes or swirled with plain yogurt.
  • Plum butter is the most plummy of all. Eat with baguettes and a nice soft cheese.
  • In a fit of ambition we canned Chinese plum sauce with star anise in 2010. It is very good with potstickers, but we still have a few awkward jars on the shelf. (To eat or not to eat old canned goods...)
  • My plums are not worth canning. They look deceptively like peaches, but when you try to eat them, they are gooshy splooshy. This contradicts other's experience. Possible reasons: 
    • Long cook time: I have to adjust for altitude, so when I can in a water bath canner, my processing times go up 5-10 minutes. Would pressure canning (so a lower processing time) help?
    • My variety of plum (which I cannot name): My mother says it reminds her of a Jefferson prune. The flesh is orange-ish yellow, the exterior golden-ish with purple deepening as it ripens.
    • Related, some people have good luck canning whole plums (of a different variety), and that may keep them in tact. My plums get much too large to fit in the jar whole.
    • Most probable: they want to be eaten in their prime and refuse to behave in a jar.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Raspberry Ice Cream


Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. 

--Wallace Stevens

Three more "get-ups"* and the oldest owl-cats will be in school. They are ready. Their mother is not, so she is plying them with rare treats. 

*"get-up"-n-how my mother counts down to a special occasion, as in (literally) three more times "getting up"

Raspberry Ice Cream
2 cups raspberries (frozen fine, but thaw a bit first)
3/4 cup sugar

1 cup milk 
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

0. Make sure your ducks are in a row for making ice cream. For us, with a cuisinart ice cream maker, our bowl needs to be frozen. For some of you, that will mean the whole rock salt/ice thing. For those without ice cream makers, try this ziploc bag solution.
1. Blend berries with sugar in the blender.
2. Strain puree through a fine-mesh sieve.
3. Mix puree with remaining ingredients.
4. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions. Here are mine.
5. Enjoy--with children or with warm brownies.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Musings on canning


A few years ago we were at a party with smart people. One commented that she likes to can produce. Her shocked family members accused her of turning "domestic." She just shrugged it off, and said, "I call it sustainable."

And that is how it goes. You can have lush "domestic" canning blogs. Or you can have edgy "punk" canning blogs. And guess what? They both proudly (as do we) put fruits in nice glass bottles and put them on the shelves and eat them in the winter.

But would they talk on the subway?




Thursday, August 15, 2013

Oh, what to do with a glut of cucumbers: freezing cucumbers and how to eat them later

Cucumbers ready to freeze

When you have eaten your fill of cucumbers, but the garden is still providing more than you and your neighbors (and your child's piano teacher) can eat, you can freeze them. 

They aren't going to taste exactly fresh, but they are much fresher than a pickle. They are vinegary and sweet and a bit crunchy. It is hard to remember this in the heat of summer, but there will be a very cold day when you trudge into the grocery store only to find a few limp cucumbers waiting for you. Then your heart will warm at the thought of being able to pull these out of your freezer.

We love to eat these cucumbers with braised meats (e.g., pulled pork sandwiches) or spicy Asian food.

Freezer Cucumbers

7 cups cucumbers sliced thin (not peeled)
1 cup onions sliced thin
1 tbsp kosher salt (or non-iodized)
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon celery seeds

0. Prep freezer containers. (Wash them and rinse in boiling water or wash them in the dishwasher.)
1. Place cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle them with salt. Put on a timer for 1 hour.
2. In a medium pot combine vinegar, sugar, and celery seeds. Bring to a boil, and then stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. After your cucumber timer sounds, drain the cucumbers. (Do not rinse.)
4. Mix cucumbers with onions.
5. Put vegetables into freezer containers.
6. Pour vinegar mixture over vegetables, leaving 1-inch headspace. Freeze.

Variation: You can also add 1 cup of sliced red bell pepper. It adds a nice color.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Blueberry coffecake

Coffee cake (or, as we call it here in the land where the Bong-tree grows, "breakfast cake" or "giant muffin") is beautiful to eye and tongue. It can be made better, however. Add fruit.

In the fall and winter I like to dice a fresh apple. In spring and summer I add a cup of thawed frozen blueberries. I fold them in after I combine the ingredients together, before I pour them in the pan. It takes a few minutes longer to cook, but wow. It almost makes me want to open a B&B so I can share it with the world.

And yes, that's a cast iron skillet. It makes a beautiful muffin.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Cooking with kids: Quick pizza dough



Friday night dinners are made by the oldest owl-cat (10 years old). Owl and I have been surprised at how able he is in the kitchen. I think most kids like to get into the kitchen and feel independent, but maybe that is because I did. The funny thing is, my mother hated to cook, so instead of believing me that I liked to cook, she did most of the cooking as a service to me. I am guessing that she thought I would have to do enough of that later. (I love you, Mom.)

Owl had his own night to cook from age 8. He remembers making cinnamon rolls and jambalaya. Owl had a lot of siblings (10). They all learned to cook well with that much experience, and now family dinners are very tasty events.

Kids will need supervision making pizza at first (especially with the oven), but the patience required will come easily as you think forward to all those great meals they are going to cook for you in your old age.

Quick Pizza Dough

Dry stuff:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Wet stuff:
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons yeast*
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons oil

0. Heat oven to 425 degrees
1. Mix wet stuff.
2. Mix dry stuff.
3. Add wet stuff to dry stuff and mix very well. You can use a mixer like a KitchenAid or Bosch, but hands work well too. It just takes longer (and then you have crazy dough hands you can chase your little brother with).
4. Let rest 5 minutes.
5. Oil your pan. 
6. Press into pan with oiled hands (pictured below). If there are a few flour lumps, just massage them as you press out the dough. If the dough doesn't want to stretch out, just let it rest a few minutes and then go back to pressing it.
6. Add pizza ingredients (Owl-cats like spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.)
7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

*I am baking at high altitude. If this doesn't rise nicely for you sea-level devils, try 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast.
Pressing out the pizza dough.

And for the grownups--deep dish veggie pizza with alfredo