Dad! Don’t read this post until Sunday!

My dad has many amazing qualities. He can make a game out of anything – including rolled up socks, the packing material from our new blinds, and a big bucket leftover from some construction project. Incidentally, bucket rides also illuminated one of my mom’s best qualities – trusting that her husband wouldn’t put her kids in the hospital and letting us have some crazy fun.

Dad . . . → Read More: Father’s Day Breakfast Idea: How to Make Homemade Pop Tarts]]>

Dad! Don’t read this post until Sunday!

My dad has many amazing qualities. He can make a game out of anything – including rolled up socks, the packing material from our new blinds, and a big bucket leftover from some construction project. Incidentally, bucket rides also illuminated one of my mom’s best qualities – trusting that her husband wouldn’t put her kids in the hospital and letting us have some crazy fun.

Dad will also support me no matter what – even if it’s listening to me hyperventalate on the phone because I spotted a mouse in my first solo apartment or eating a weird vegetarian meal I cook for him. Oh sure, he’ll eat kale for breakfast to make me feel good, but what does he really want? PopTarts and Diet Pepsi. If you were ever in his car before he retired, you know what I mean. Crumbs and cans galore! Might not be Wheaties, but it’s certainly the breakfast of one of my biggest champions.

So for Fathers’ Day 2012, I give you bacon and jam toaster tarts. Make them for the dad in your life or for yourself, just cuz it’s Sunday and breakfast should be fun sometimes. I froze these and then sent them overnight. Just take one out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster, Dad. Love you!!

Some quick notes on the recipe…First, the dough is almost exactly the same as my standard pie crust with extra salt and sugar for flavor. I also added a splash of vinegar to the water on the advice of my friend Mike, who says it will lend extra flakiness. Second, this is a great way to use up some of last year’s lingering jams. Nothing on the larder shelves caught my fancy, so I made a quick strawberry rhubarb jam from what I had around. Store-bought jam is just fine, too.

Fathers’ Day Toaster Tarts

Makes 10 tarts

Directions

1. Follow these directions to make dough for a double crust pie, adding the vinegar to the ice water and the sugar and salt to the dry ingredients. After you’ve put the dough in the refrigerator, come back to this recipe.
2. While the dough is chilling, make the icing by combining the confectioners’ sugar with 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk until smooth.
3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. To roll the dough, you need a decent amount of space. We’re aiming for a rectangle that’s 15 inches on one side and 8 inches on the other, so you’ll need to roll your dough a little bit larger to account for uneven edges. Find your counter, clean it, and lightly flour it. Keep some flour on hand for the rolling process.
5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. Take one of the dough halves out of the refrigerator. Prepare your filling, so that it’s ready to do when the dough is. Beat the egg and have a pastry brush nearby. If you don’t have a pastry brush, you can use your fingers, but it’s slower.
7. Now, roll out the dough carefully. This is one of those situations when it really helps to be a bit nuts about neatness. Do your best to keep it in a rectangle twice as long on one side as the other. I use a bench scraper to push the ragged edges flat and to help me flip the dough around every few rolls, so that it doesn’t stick to the counter. Use that flour when you need it.
8. Once your dough is large enough, use a ruler and a thin knife to measure and cut a 15-inch by 8-inch rectangle. Don’t worry about moving it yet.
9. Along each of the 15-inch sides, make a little mark with the knife every three inches. Use the ruler and the knife to connect the marks, so that you now have five long rectangles (8 inches by 3 inches). Again, don’t move anything.



10. Using the pastry brush, paint all the edges with egg wash.



11. Place about a teaspoon of filling on one the end of a rectangle. Fold the dough in half to cover the filling and transfer the tart to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining four tarts.



12. Seal the edges of each tart with your fingers, then use the tines of a fork to crimp them. Poke a few holes in the top of each tart with the fork.



13. Brush or drizzle some icing over each tart. Don’t worry about being too neat. You won’t notice once they’re baked.



14. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Just like the real thing, you will finish these in the toaster. If you want to eat them immediately, bake them for about 10 minutes longer.



15. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.

a.k.a How to Can Summer

I don’t use my . . . → Read More: How to Can Strawberry Lemonade]]>

a.k.a How to Can Summer

I don’t use my Ball canning book for recipes very often. It’s a great resource for information on safety and basic ideas, but most of the jams use commercial pectin, which I try to avoid, or more sugar than I want. However, we hit on a winner with the strawberry lemonade concentrate last summer.

It’s a perfectly refreshing beverage no matter what your mood – sparkly, still, naughty (I’d recommend gin)… You can add herbs like mint or basil for a little extra something. You can grab a jar on your way to that Fathers’ Day picnic and make a quick stop at the gas station for some seltzer. Done! I’m thinking of trying it in this pink lemonade cake. I’ll let you know if I do.

In case I haven’t given you enough motivation, it’s also a SUPER simple recipe. It only has three ingredients and you can cheat on the lemon juice by using bottled, as long as it’s good quality. Because it’s a liquid, you avoid some of the tedious parts of canning – no packing oddly-shaped food into jars or careful bubbling.

You might notice that the photos are from our NYC apartment. We never got around to posting it last year…better late than never!

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

Yields about 6 pints

Note: You will need a blender and a digital or regularfood thermometer for this recipe.

Directions

1. Get your canning gear ready. (Steps 3 and 4)
2. You have three choices for making lemon juice. (1) Buy it bottled. (2) Use a manual juicer or press. If you do this, just cut the lemons in half. (3) Use an electric juicer. I did number 3, so I had to peel the lemons first. To do that, first cut a slice off each stem end. Next, stand the lemon on one of the newly flat ends and use a sharp knife to carve off strips of peel in a downward motion. Juice enough lemons to make 4 cups of lemon juice.

   

3. Place the washed and hulled strawberries in a blender. While you do this, keep an eye out for any bad spots, which should be cut out, or moldy strawberries, which should be thrown out. Blend until smooth. Depending on the size and power of your blender, you might want to work in batches or add a little lemon juice to get things going.
4. Strain the strawberry smush through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. This part is optional, but I’d recommend it. You’ll have to work it a little toward the end, because the screen will start to fill up with seeds. After you’ve pushed as much juice through the sieve as possible, discard the remaining pulp.

   

5. Once the strawberries have strained, put the puree, lemon juice, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed, wide-mouthed pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 190 degrees. Do not boil. You want to dissolve the sugar, but not turn it into jam.

   

6. Skim off any foam. Fill your pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and process for 15 minutes. (Steps 6 through 22)

   

After days and days of rain (including a crazy thunderstorm yesterday and resulting power-outage), today was just fantastic. To take advantage of the beautiful weather, a friend and I headed up (over?) to Red Fire Farm to pick some strawberries. Our CSA includes some pick-your-own opportunities, so we went bonkers and got 8 quarts each. That’s enough for two batches . . . → Read More: Field Trip! Strawberry Picking at Red Fire Farm]]> [Note: This should have been posted yesterday, but I ran into some technical issues.]

After days and days of rain (including a crazy thunderstorm yesterday and resulting power-outage), today was just fantastic. To take advantage of the beautiful weather, a friend and I headed up (over?) to Red Fire Farm to pick some strawberries. Our CSA includes some pick-your-own opportunities, so we went bonkers and got 8 quarts each. That’s enough for two batches of jam, some strawberry lemonade concentrate, and snacking. Yum yum yum!

We had a great time crouching over the rows and talking to the other pickers. I was surprised to see so many young ones, but I guess it is a great kid activity. I remember going with my mom. They were so proud every time they found a really nice one. As was I, to be honest. I understand why the farmers’ market strawberries are so expensive. It’s not hard, but it is a little tedious after awhile and I was tired after an hour of kneeling and hunching. I can’t imagine picking enough to sell!! If you’ve never picked strawberries before, give it a try. An hour or so is really fun! I would recommend sunscreen and a hat, though, since there’s absolutely no shade.

We also grabbed a few snow peas. I can’t wait to make this with them, but maybe with fresh sausage instead of salami.

Maybe I’m late to the party, but I just realized this morning that I don’t have to fill my big canning pot with an insane amount of water every time I can. I have been trying out various small batch (3-4 jars) canning solutions, but they are all pretty hacked and inelegant. It’s such a downer to make a quick batch of jam only to wait (and wait and wait) for my canner to . . . → Read More: Vanilla Rhubarb Jam (Small Batch Canning in a Large Batch Pot)]]>

Maybe I’m late to the party, but I just realized this morning that I don’t have to fill my big canning pot with an insane amount of water every time I can. I have been trying out various small batch (3-4 jars) canning solutions, but they are all pretty hacked and inelegant. It’s such a downer to make a quick batch of jam only to wait (and wait and wait) for my canner to come to a rolling boil. Yesterday, I bought cute, squat half-pint jars at our local hardware store and realized that they only take about 6 inches of water to cover properly. Hurray! That will boil so much faster than the 12 inches I need for regular half pints!! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. I’ve been crafting racks for smaller pots out of everything I could think of, but they all end up floating to the top and upsetting the jars. Seriously, folks… Lesson learned.

The jars were my second awesome find this weekend. The first was a big handful of rhubarb from the Somerville Winter Farmers Market. Rhubarb is a weird thing, but I love it. It’s treated like a fruit, but it’s really a vegetable. It has been cultivated in China for centuries due to its medicinal qualities. Interesting fact and tie in to our recent trip to Hong Kong – In 1839, China threatened to end the rhubarb (and tea) trade if Queen Victoria continued to allow opium into China. The Rhubarb Compendium has more interesting factoids, if you’re interested.

One cautionary note about rhubarb…Although the leaves look like tasty swiss chard, they’re poisonous, so don’t eat them. This is the one time I fully support tossing out the dark leafy green part.

For this jam, I modified a recipe from Canning for a New Generation to fit what I had on hand, namely vanilla beans rather than oranges. Did I break Unbreakable Rule Number 3? No, and here’s why.

1. The National Center for Home Food Preservation gives a recipe for stewed rhubarb with only sugar and rhubarb. Since the original jam recipe was only rhubarb, oranges, lemons, and sugar, I’m could take out the oranges AND the lemons without compromising acidity.
2. The vanilla I added was just a tiny bit, so I am assuming that the lemon juice more than offsets any acidity damage. I have also seen similar recipes from trusted online sources (such as Food in Jars)

On to the recipe! This is a simple one. Just a few ingredients and minimal fussing. There’s just enough sugar to be sweet, but not cloying, and the vanilla smooths out the rhubarb’s tartness. Adding the lemon hulls into the jam towards the end ups the pectin, which results in a firmer jam without having to include commercial pectin. Yum yum yum!

Vanilla Rhubarb Jam

About 3 half-pint jars

Directions

1. Get your canning gear ready. (Steps 3 and 4) There are two special steps this time. First, because the jam doesn’t process for very long, you need to sterilize the jars. Second, put a couple of small plates in the freezer. We’ll use these to test the jam later.
2. Wash the rhubarb, remove any bad spots, and cut it into 1/2-inch slices. Toss into your favorite pot.
3. Juice the lemon. Measure out 2 tablespoons of juice and pour into the pot with the rhubarb. Save the hull and seeds, but you can toss any remaining juice.
4. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Use the tip of your knife to scrape out the seeds and drop them into the pot. Save the pod.

   

5. Add the sugar to the pot and cook over medium-high heat until enough juices are released to cover the rhubarb. Stir frequently. At first the pot will be totally dry, but it should only take 10 minutes or so.
6. While the jam is cooking, put the reserved lemon hull, seeds, and vanilla bean pod into a jelly bag. If you don’t have one, you can tie it up in cheesecloth or even a (clean) stocking. You just want the jam to be able to leach out all the goodness without the lemon seeds ruining things.
7. Once the rhubarb is covered in its juice, turn up the heat, drop in the bag you just made, and bring everything to a strong boil, stirring constantly. Try to keep the mouth of your bag out of the liquid, so that it doesn’t fill up with jam. I either tie it losely to the pot handle or hold it in my non-stirring hand.
8. After 5 minutes, turn off the heat and grab one of the plates from the freezer. Put a small dollop of jam on the plate and stick it back in the freezer. After a minute or so, take it out and draw a line through the jam with your finger. If it leaves a trail, it’s done. If the line fills in right away, it needs to be cooked more – bring it back to a boil, boil for 3 minutes, and retest.

   

9. Take out the bag and scrape off as much jam as you can. Bring the jam back to a simmer briefly, just to make sure it’s hot enough to can.
10. Fill your half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and process for 5 minutes. (Steps 6 through 22)

Our winter CSA gave us SO many potatoes this winter. All sorts of varieties and colors, too. I’m not sure why, but potatoes are never top of mind when I’m meal planning. I’ll be better prepared next winter, but I let too many of them spoil this year. Does anyone have a good method for storing them? We’ve tried lots of things, but without success.

Anyway…we had two paper sacks of potatoes (some purple . . . → Read More: Working Through the Potato Bags: Potato Peanut Curry]]>

Our winter CSA gave us SO many potatoes this winter. All sorts of varieties and colors, too. I’m not sure why, but potatoes are never top of mind when I’m meal planning. I’ll be better prepared next winter, but I let too many of them spoil this year. Does anyone have a good method for storing them? We’ve tried lots of things, but without success.

Anyway…we had two paper sacks of potatoes (some purple and some white) and a couple of random sweet potatoes. The purple ones were starting to sprout and the sweet potatoes were drying out. Never fear! Curry is here! Super delicious, super easy curry, that is.

This recipe is from Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson, the genius behind Cook for Good. Erik and I tried to take the Cook for Good Challenge a couple of years ago, but had to bail due to some unexpected business travel. We got some great recipes out of it, though. This is one of them and I’d definitely recommend it for the night you get home late from work and are tempted by the takeout menu. It only takes about 25 minutes and is made from ingredients you probably have already.

This is filling enough that I don’t think rice is necessary, but put some on before you start the curry if you want it.

Potato Peanut Curry
From the book Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2011. www.dacapopresscookbooks.com

Serves 4 (or 3 if you’re really hungry)

Directions

1. Dice the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes.
2. In a medium pot, add the potatoes, tomatoes, water (or water/tomato juice mixture), and salt.
3. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, turn down the heat so that it simmers gently.

   

4. While the potatoes are cooking, chop the garlic finely. You could also put it through a garlic press, but I prefer to mince it with a knife, since I already have the cutting board out.
5. Put the garlic, vegetable oil, tahini, peanut butter, and cayenne pepper into a microwave-safe bowl. (Note: I accidentally put the turmeric in, too, which I wasn’t supposed to do. It turned out great.) Microwave on medium-high (80%) for two minutes.

   

6. Add the turmeric to the tahini-garlic mixture, if you didn’t already, and stir it into the cooking potatoes.
7. Let the curry continue to simmer until the potatoes are tender. This will take about 15 minutes, if you made the tahini-garlic sauce at an average speed, or 5 minutes, if you, like me, had to run to the store for tahini you though you had, but didn’t.
8. Garnish with a little sprinkle of parsley. I think this would be good with a dollop of yogurt, too.

I keep telling my friends that canning doesn’t really take that much time. Well, sometimes, it totally does. It takes all day and you end up sticky and with a sink full of dishes. BUT you can avoid that very easily by being smart about the recipes you make and how you make them. I made a canner full of applesauce yesterday, but I also managed to sleep in, do laundry, bake bread, finish . . . → Read More: How to Make Applesauce and Spend the Day Biking]]>

I keep telling my friends that canning doesn’t really take that much time. Well, sometimes, it totally does. It takes all day and you end up sticky and with a sink full of dishes. BUT you can avoid that very easily by being smart about the recipes you make and how you make them. I made a canner full of applesauce yesterday, but I also managed to sleep in, do laundry, bake bread, finish a knitting project, watch a little How I Met Your Mother, and go for a 20-mile bike ride. Your day might be full of family events, work responsibilities, reading a book, watching the news, whatever, but you can still fit in canning if you want to.

This recipe relies on two appliances to make life easier – the slow cooker and food mill. We actually used two slow cookers to speed things up. If you don’t have two slow cookers or can’t borrow one from your nice friend, Ben, you can cook in two batches. Just stick the cooked apples in another container in the refrigerator, load up the slow cooker again, and then mill everything when the second (or third or fourth) batch is done. The slow cooker is brilliant, because it eliminates all the time you’d otherwise spend standing over the stove. Plug it in and go play outside.

If you don’t have a food mill, then check out our original applesauce post. We posted a little tutorial on how to set up a KitchenAid food mill attachment, because I get buffaloed every time I open the boxes, but it really is a worthwhile tool.

Easy Peasy Applesauce

1 peck of apples will yield about 4 quarts of applesauce.

1. Wash as many apples as you want, using the yield above as a guide. A peck weighs somewhere between 10 and 14 pounds.
2. Quarter the washed apples and toss them into the slow cooker(s). Don’t worry about peels and seeds, because we’ll remove these later. You might want to cut the bigger apples into sixths, just so that they nestle better into the slow cooker.
3. Cook on high for 6 hours. This part is pretty flexible as long as the apples are really really soft at the end. You could cook one batch on low overnight and then start the second batch on high in the morning. I started right before lunch, then went on a nice long bike ride. When I got home for dinner, they were ready to go.
4. When the apples are cooked, get your canning gear ready. (Steps 3 and 4)
5. Pass the cooked apples through a food mill directly into a pot. The food mill will remove the peels and seeds and smash everything into a nice consistency.
6. If you want, you can spice up your applesauce at this point. You can add any herb, spice, or sweetener you want. We did maple syrup and cinnamon last year, which was a big hit. I think brown sugar and crumbled dried chiles would be good. Maybe smoked paprika? That stuff makes everything awesomer. Do not add nuts, dried fruit, dairy, or oil, however. Those ingredients change the pH of the sauce, potentially rendering it unsafe for canning. (Read this post for more science-y stuff.)
7. Regardless of whether you add extra ingredients, put the pot of sauce on the stove and heat to boiling. If you want your sauce thicker, keep it at a simmer until it reaches the consistency you’re looking for.
8. Fill quart, pint, or half pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, and process for 20 minutes. (Steps 6 through 22)

Thing #1 = jars of food in the basement. Before the 2011 canning season started, I promised myself (and Erik) that I would do a better job of preserving useful things than I did last year. Those fancy jams just call to me, but two responsible adults can only eat or give away so much. So, I did that. But now we . . . → Read More: Dark Days Challenge Week 5: Fish and Pickled Asparagus]]> There are two ingredients that I’ve been meaning to use more of.

Thing #1 = jars of food in the basement. Before the 2011 canning season started, I promised myself (and Erik) that I would do a better job of preserving useful things than I did last year. Those fancy jams just call to me, but two responsible adults can only eat or give away so much. So, I did that. But now we have to use it all.

Thing #2 = fish. We have great access to locally-caught seafood, but for some reason, I rarely include it in our weekly meal plan. I think part of it is because getting fish from the market in the heat of summer kind of grosses me out. I’m sure it’s fine, because it’s on piles and piles of ice, but it just doesn’t appeal to me. Then I forget about it when cooler weather rolls around.

This was the week to knock out both goals. Well, actually, last week was the week to do that. Sorry…we’ve been busy. This is barely a recipe, so go crazy. If you don’t have spicy pickled asparagus, use dilly beans, fresh beans/asparagus, or tomatoes. Maybe even pickled beets. Add in some olives or herbs. Use a different type of white-fleshed fish or even shrimp. Just dig around in the refrigerator or stash of jars and use what you find.

We ate this on a pile of wheatberries from Cayuga Pure Organics to soak up the juices. Very satisfying for very little work!

Fish and Spicy Pickled Asparagus Packets

Serves 2

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut two long pieces of foil (about 2 arm-lengths each). Fold each in half, so that you have two shorter pieces. Lay one on your counter and pour about half the sunflower oil (1 1/2 teaspoons) in the middle.
3. Cut the fish into two roughly equal halves. Put one half on the foil and flip it over to coat both sides in the sunflower oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and half of the garlic.
4. If you’re using pickled vegetables, drain off the brine. Cut the vegetables into small pieces – about the size of your pinky finger. Toss them on top of the fish.
5. Gather the long sides of the foil up to the middle and crimp them. Roll up the short sides tightly. You want to trap steam, but not smother the poor fish, so try to keep some space around the fish itself.

   

6. Put the packet on a baking sheet and repeat with the other piece of fish.
7. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the thickest part of the fish reaches 145 degrees and is flaky and opaque. If you’re using thin fillets, start checking after about 10 minutes; thicker ones might need 20.

   

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful 2011. Ours was very exciting – we traveled to some interesting places (here and here), got engaged, and moved to Somerville, MA. Whew! 2012 promises to be a fun one as well. We wish you all happiness, health, and delicious food!!

After last night’s festivities, you might want to top your burnt toast with this marmalade full of vitamin C and fructose and just . . . → Read More: How to Make Clementine Marmalade]]>

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful 2011. Ours was very exciting – we traveled to some interesting places (here and here), got engaged, and moved to Somerville, MA. Whew! 2012 promises to be a fun one as well. We wish you all happiness, health, and delicious food!!

After last night’s festivities, you might want to top your burnt toast with this marmalade full of vitamin C and fructose and just a tiny bit of whiskey. Once you slice up all the clementines, it comes together pretty quickly. If you don’t process it, you can have it ready in about an hour. It’s got a nice bittersweet flavor that would work well with rich food, if you get sick of toast – a glaze for salmon or maybe in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Hair of the Dog Marmalade

Makes 6 4-ounce jars

Directions

1. Prepare your canning tools, if you’re processing this. (Steps 3, 4, and 6)
2. Since we won’t be removing the peels, wash the clementines really well. They might be coated in wax, so give them a good scrub. Slice the clementines as thinly as you can, discarding the first and last slices and any seeds. I have a cutting board with a little moat, which is really helpful for catching the juice. If you’re using a regular cutting board, consider pouring the juice into your pot occasionally, so that you don’t lose any of it.
3. Add the clementine slices, juice, grated apple and carrot, and water to a wide saucepan. Put the cinnamon sticks and allspice berries into a tea ball or tie them up in a square of cheesecloth and add them to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the sugar and lemon juice. Once the sugar has dissolved, raise the heat to high and boil hard for about 15 minutes or until the liquid has thickened considerably. I know this is a vague description, but it’s done when there’s only a little puddle of liquid at the bottom of the pan.
5. Remove and discard the spices and stir in the whiskey.
6. If you’re canning this, fill your jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and process for 10 minutes. (Steps 7+)

To motivate ourselves through the winter, we have joined the Dark Days Challenge, which asks that we cook one meal a week focused on SOLE ingredients (sustainable, organic, local, and ethical). Right up our alley! Each blogger gets to set their own parameters within these guidelines. We’ll be sticking to the following rules for our Dark Days recipes: