Sunday nights are for Game of Thrones in our household. I don’t know about you, but I always want to order dinner on special TV nights. Whatever your show is, there’s something ritualistic about waiting for the doorbell to ring and then curling up on the couch with a fork and a pile of delicious, but kind of bad for you, food. A gigantic salad just doesn’t do it for me while I’m watching . . . → Read More: Why Buy? D-I-Y! Chinese Takeout Edition]]>

Sunday nights are for Game of Thrones in our household. I don’t know about you, but I always want to order dinner on special TV nights. Whatever your show is, there’s something ritualistic about waiting for the doorbell to ring and then curling up on the couch with a fork and a pile of delicious, but kind of bad for you, food. A gigantic salad just doesn’t do it for me while I’m watching intrigue unfurl.

To stay strong against the temptation of the stack of delivery menus this week, I searched through my recipe collection to find something new and tantalizing. Mission accomplished! I LOVE Chinese food, but have been avoiding it due to some migraine issues. I’m also a big fan of scallops – or fishy marshmallows, as Erik calls them. Chinese food + scallops + spicy + some greens (so you don’t feel too bad) = General Tso’s scallops! Delicious enough that I might have to make them again next Sunday. Unless our copy of A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook arrives by then.

There are two things that might scare you off from this recipe.

First – Shouldn’t we be avoiding seafood? Mercury and overfishing and all? The Environmental Defense Fund says that scallops are low in contaminants, so we can eat more than four meals a month without concern. It recommends bay scallops (the small ones) over sea scallops (the marshmallow-sized ones), because the usual harvesting method is less harmful to the environment. Sea scallops are still “ECO-OK”, though.

Second – You seriously want me to fry those things three times? Yes, I do. Here’s the problem. If you use a low temperature for long enough to cook them through, they’ll be really greasy. If you cook them only at the high temperature, they’ll burn before they finish cooking. This is a worthwhile compromise. I was skeptical too, but it was really much easier than I expected. Just make sure that you have a thermometer that goes up to 400 degrees and everything is ready to go before you start frying. The oil heats up pretty quickly, since it’s not very deep. (If you don’t have a wok, use your widest pot.) Since each cooking time is short, it’s really no more work than stirring a pot for 5 minutes. Things move pretty quickly once you start frying, which you can take advantage of if you’re well-prepared beforehand.

Okay, one more thing. Our recipe calls for kale flowers, which you might not be able to find. They’re just the flower buds from overwintered kale, but we hadn’t seen them before this season. They taste kind of like broccoli rabe, but less bitter. If you can’t find them, feel free to use broccoli (which the original recipe calls for anyway) or broccoli rabe. You could also just leave it out.

Beware! The original recipe from The New York Times calls for marinating the scallops for six to eight hours. We didn’t overlooked that and only did it for three. Still delicious.

General Tso’s Scallops

Serves 4

Directions

1. Make the marinade by mixing the egg, 1 1/2 TBsp of rice wine, 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp sunflower oil, and 1/4 cup of cornstarch in a medium bowl. Add the scallops; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 8 hours.
2. When you are ready to cook, make the sauce by combining in a small bowl 1 TBsp of rice wine, 2 TBsp of soy sauce, the chicken stock, sugar, and white vinegar.
3. In another small bowl, mix the arrowroot powder with 1 1/2 TBsp of warm water until it dissolves.
4. Put the remaining 1/2 cup of cornstarch in a wide bowl (I used a small casserole dish). Remove the scallops from the marinade with a fork, giving each a little shake to remove the excess liquid. Toss the scallops in the cornstarch so all sides are coated.
5. Add 4 cups of peanut/safflower oil to your wok or large pot. Set a colander or strainer over a large bowl. You will fry the scallops three times. Start heating the oil on high and check the temperature every few minutes. Once it comes up to the right temperature, carefully put the scallops into the oil and start the timer. After the time has elapsed, remove them with a spider or slotted spoon and allow them to drain in the colander while the oil heats up to the next temperature.

   

   • Stage 1: 280 degrees for 30 seconds (shake off the excess cornstarch before adding the scallops to the oil)

     

   • Stage 2: 350 degrees for 20 seconds

     

   • Stage 3: 375 degrees for 45 seconds

     

6. Once the scallops are fried three times, turn off the heat. Pour the oil into another pot so that it can cool. If you want, you can filter the oil through a coffee filter and reuse it. Wipe any remaining little bits out of the wok with a paper towel. 
7. Get the sauce, dissolved arrowroot powder, dried peppers, garlic, ginger, scallions, balsamic vinegar, and sesame oil ready and near the wok. It’s go time! Be careful about breathing in the aromas coming off of the wok. The spiciness can irritate your nose and lungs, so just don’t hang your head over it.
8. Put the wok back on high heat. Once it’s hot, add 1 TBsp of peanut/safflower oil. Swirl it around the wok and then pour out all but 1 tsp. 
9. Add the chili peppers to the wok. Stir them around until they start to burn. 
10. Add the garlic, ginger, and scallions. Stir for about 10 seconds. 
11. Add the sauce, stirring until it boils (which might be immediately). 
12. Give the dissolved arrowroot powder a stir and then pour it in. Stir until the sauce thickens (which might be immediately). Turn off the heat. 
13. Add the scallops and steamed kale flowers to the wok and toss to coat. Add the balsamic vinegar and sesame oil and stir.

      

14. Serve with rice. Eat on couch. Stare at TV. 

Many of our friends have had babies in the last couple of years. We’re really lucky to have this amazing group of kids to play with and moms and dads to admire. They’ve given me quite a bit of food-related knowledge. For example, if it falls on the floor, it is either totally contaminated (first kid) or fine after you shake off the dog hair (second kid).

I’ve also learned that one of . . . → Read More: Why Buy? DIY! How to Make “Hot Pockets”]]>

Many of our friends have had babies in the last couple of years. We’re really lucky to have this amazing group of kids to play with and moms and dads to admire. They’ve given me quite a bit of food-related knowledge. For example, if it falls on the floor, it is either totally contaminated (first kid) or fine after you shake off the dog hair (second kid).

I’ve also learned that one of the best things you can give parents of a newborn is food that can be eaten with one hand. Since we really like these “haute” pockets (shmancy, huh?), we figured they’d be an awesome food gift for our friends who just had their second daughter…especially since their first child is only a year old. Heroes!!

This recipe does take a little bit of time, but it makes six good-sized pockets, enough for almost a week of lunches. They’re sturdy enough to toss in your purse (maybe wrapped in one of these cute food cozies) and taste just as good at room temperature as they do warm. I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure you could freeze and reheat them like the real thing (2 minutes in the microwave or 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven).

In my quest to convert you to the DIY version, I tried to look up comparable nutrition information. I gave up. They’re all so meaty and cheesy that it’s not a fair contest. You could fill this dough with whatever you want, though, so if you have a favorite flavor, give it a try!

Greens-Stuffed Haute Pockets

Serves 6

Directions

1. To make the dough, add the yeast to 1/2 cup of room temperature water. This will dissolve the yeast so that it’s ready to work.
2. Whisk together the flour, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and sugar. This is sort of a lazy girl’s version of sifting.
3. Whisk together one egg and the olive oil. Add this and the dissolved yeast to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy (i.e. dry) dough.
4. Dust a clean counter with flour and dump out the dough. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes until becomes nice and smooth. It shouldn’t be sticky, so knead in a little more flour if it is.
5. Pour a drop of olive oil into a clean bowl. Form the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl, and roll it around in the oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for an hour or until it has approximately doubled.
6. While the dough is rising, get a big pot of water boiling. While it’s heating up, prepare your greens by removing the stems/ribs.
7. Once the water is boiling, blanch the greens. To do this, add a couple of big handfuls of greens to the water and cook for 3 minutes (only 1 minute for spinach). Don’t crowd the pot too much. While the greens are cooking, fill a big bowl with ice water. Once the time is up, shock the greens (stop them from cooking) by transferring them from the pot to the ice water. Use tongs or a spider to let most of the hot water drain off first. Once the greens are cool, drain them well.
8. Once all the greens are blanched, shocked, and drained, squeeze the pile with your hands to remove most of the water. Then, roll up the greens to a dishtowel that you don’t really care about and wring out some more water. Avoid white towels, because they’ll turn green. The idea is to get rid of as much water as you can so that the pockets aren’t soggy.
9. After you’ve squeezed and squeezed, you’ll have a loaf of compacted greens. Chop this up into about 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. Set aside until the dough has risen.
10. Once the dough has risen, put the ball on a lightly floured counter and cut it into six equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and let them rest on the counter for 15 minutes. This will relax the dough so that it doesn’t spring back when you roll it out.
11. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
12. While the dough is resting, beat the second egg and add almost all of it to the greens. Save about 2 tablespoons. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper to the greens and mix well. I like to use a fork, because it helps to break up the clumpy greens. Plus, I just used it to beat the egg, so it’s already dirty.



13. After 15 minutes, roll one of the dough balls into a circle approximately 7 inches across (that’s about the size of my hand). If you keep your counter floured and rotate the dough after each roll, you’ll keep it from sticking and get a better circle.
14. Lightly pack the greens mixture into a 1/2-cup measuring cup and turn them out onto the bottom half of your dough circle. You might need to use a slightly larger or smaller cup, depending on the volume of your greens. Using the reserved egg mixture, brush a little onto the bottom edge of the circle. You could use your finger if you don’t have a brush. Stretch the top of the circle over the greens to meet the bottom edge. Fold and crimp the edges together. The egg will help glue the pocket shut.
15. Transfer the pocket to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or lightly dusted with cornmeal and repeat with the other five dough balls. Three pockets will fit on each sheet pan. Brush the pockets with the remaining egg for a nice, shiny finish.
16. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through for even browning.

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)

Yep, it’s kind of gross. But . . . → Read More: Dark Days Challenge Week 4: How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken]]> Our Dark Days meal for the week was something that we have already posted, so we decided to post a strategy instead. Eating locally sometimes means having limited options and learning how to deal with what you can get. In our case, we can’t find (or afford when we find it!) user-friendly, pre-wrapped packages of local chicken breasts. So, we buy a whole chicken and do some work ourselves.

Yep, it’s kind of gross. But I think it’s important to acknowledge that you’re eating an animal, not just “meat”. I sort of feel like this is the respectful way to eat chicken. Is that overly crunchy and “we are the world”? Probably. But it’s also waaaay cheaper and not all that bad. To combat the ick factor, keep a pair of tongs and a towel nearby. When I feel the willies coming on, I just clean my hands on the towel, grab the tongs, take a deep breath, and remind myself that if I’m going to eat it, I should be able to touch it. A few minutes with the tongs and I’m back to my bare hands.

This is probably not the “official” way to cut up a chicken, but it works for me. The model for our photo shoot was a delicious 3-and-a-half pound chicken from Stillman’s. She had a little cosmetic issue with the skin on her breasts, so imagine that it was intact. Sorry for the blurry photos…the day went something like this…

Erik: Hold still so I can take the photo.
Lindsay: I’M HOLDING A CHICKEN SPINE. IT’S GOOD ENOUGH!!

Directions

1. Get all your tools ready. Once your hands are chicken-y, you won’t want to dig around. You’ll need:
   • Cutting board
   • Sharp knife
   • Kitchen scissors
   • Plate to hold the finished pieces
   • Zip-top bag or something similar to hold the pieces that will go in the freezer for stock later
   • Tongs
   • Towel for drying your hands when things get icky or slippery

2. Take a look inside the bird. Is there a little bag? These are the giblets – the organs. Some people cook them up; some people toss ‘em. Your choice, but take them out of the cavity either way.
3. Put your chicken, breast side down, on the cutting board. Use the scissors to cut down one side of the spine and then the other to remove it. You might have to use two hands. I save the spine for chicken stock, so it goes in my zip-top bag.

   

4. If there’s anything floating around inside, get rid of it. My chicken had a couple of things that I assume were organs. That called for tongs and a deep breath. I got through it, though, and so will you.
5. Flip the chicken over. Legs are up first. This is mostly about dislocating the joint, rather than cutting through the bone. Lift up the chicken by a leg to see how it moves. This will help you figure out where the joint is. Cut through the skin and meat on all sides of the joint until you can see it. Bend the leg back and forth to try to pop it. Sometimes I’m lucky and it comes apart easily. If that doesn’t work, stick the tip of your knife in the joint and push down to break it. Repeat with the other leg.

   

6. If you want, you can also separate the drumstick from the thigh. Follow the same steps as for separating the leg from the body – find the joint, cut through the skin and meat, and pop/cut the joint.

   

7. Now for the wings. I usually stick these in my stock bag along with the spine, but you can certainly cook them if you’d like. Again, just use the same steps as for the leg to remove both wings.

   

8. Once the wings are off, you’ll have a very familiar piece of chicken staring at you. The breasts. With the neck-end facing you, stick the tip of your knife in the bone at the top-middle of the breasts. Push the blade of the knife down to the cutting board to split the bone in half. One half of the breast should come away pretty easily at this point. You’ll have to use your fingers to separate the meat from the center bone, leaving you with ribs and meat. You can leave the second breast as is or remove the wedge-shaped breastbone by working the meat away from it with your fingers and a knife. There are probably nicer ways to split the breasts, but this works for me.

   

9. There. Done. Not so bad, right? Cook however you’d like.

   

I had been scrutinizing labels for the last year or so, trying to find products without petrochemicals, chemicals that mess with hormones, or shady business practices. I could find one of the three, maybe two, but not all three. And they were EXPENSIVE! And tiny, so the bathroom trash was filling up with little empty bottles.

As a reaction to all that, I decided to give my sister-in-law a bunch of homemade spa-type products . . . → Read More: Why Buy? DIY! Hand, Body, and Face Lotion]]>

I had been scrutinizing labels for the last year or so, trying to find products without petrochemicals, chemicals that mess with hormones, or shady business practices. I could find one of the three, maybe two, but not all three. And they were EXPENSIVE! And tiny, so the bathroom trash was filling up with little empty bottles.

As a reaction to all that, I decided to give my sister-in-law a bunch of homemade spa-type products last Christmas. While searching for recipes, I realized that lotion is really only three ingredients. THREE! Not 20 ingredients that are nearly impossible to pronounce (octinoxate, anyone?). Just beeswax, oil (almond and sunflower are good), and water. Done. Even better, we make local lotion, since we get both sunflower oil and beeswax at the greenmarket.

This is a technique, not a recipe. I’ve put some ratios at the bottom, but the basic idea is that more beeswax will make a thicker lotion. If you want to use a pint-sized Mason jar on your blender to minimize clean up, keep the total volume at 15 ounces or less, so that there is enough room in the jar for everything to move around. We made a pump dispenser out of a Mason jar, which means this process is easy peasy for us now.

**Update: our homemade pumped only lasted a few months. We replaced it by purchasing a lid-pump for a mason jar. A few options available on Amazon are here, here, here, and if you still want to make your own, this will help.

Lotion Technique

1. Grate the beeswax with a microplane or other grater. The finer you grate it, the quicker it will melt.

   Note, although we used the small blocks pictured, as time went on we upgraded to using a one-pound block of beeswax, which is both easier to grate and more economical. We bought ours at the greenmarket, but you can find similar ones online. Even if you make this lotion regularly, a single block will last you 1-2 years at a minimum.

   

2. Measure the oil into a Pyrex cup and add the beeswax.

   

3. Put the measuring cup into a pot and add enough water to come up to the level of the oil.

   

4. Heat the pot until the water simmers gently. Continue the simmer until the beeswax melts. Remove from heat and allow it to cool until you can touch the measuring cup.

   

5. Pour the water into a regular mouth pint jar and add the cooled oil/beeswax.

   

6. Add essential oils to the jar, if desired.

   

7. Screw on the blender pieces and blend on low until everything is emulsified (pulsing helps). It will go very quickly from separated to a creamy white lotion. You might want to open the jar and give it a stir to free up any water that might not be getting down to the blades.

   

Yep, that’s it.

For a rich hand cream, we use 6 ounces of oil, 3 of beeswax (6 tablespoons), and 6 of water (all volume).
For a body and face lotion that will work in a pump dispenser, we use 6 ounce of oil, 1 of beeswax (2 tablespoons), and 8 of water.

We add about 30 drops of essential oil for fragrance – lately half lavendar and half geranium.

Go forth and blend!

Pizza is a definite DIY situation. It’s cheaper, less likely to be delivered cold, and only covered in surplus commodity cheese if you like that kind of thing. The most time-consuming part is making the dough, which has to rise for an hour or so (although you could cut this to 30 minutes if you were in a big hurry). Because of this, we usually save pizza for weekends and plan to work out, . . . → Read More: How to Make Pizza]]>

Pizza is a definite DIY situation. It’s cheaper, less likely to be delivered cold, and only covered in surplus commodity cheese if you like that kind of thing. The most time-consuming part is making the dough, which has to rise for an hour or so (although you could cut this to 30 minutes if you were in a big hurry). Because of this, we usually save pizza for weekends and plan to work out, call our parents, or catch up on the DVR while the dough’s doing its thing.

The dough recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, which I got for making a donation to WNYC. Actually, I made the donation to WNYC to get the cookbook and it has totally paid off – good recipes and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me…a seriously good deal. He uses a food processor, but we prefer to use the stand mixer, because our tiny food processor would probably burst into flames if we asked this of it. This NY Times article has the food processor instructions, if you’re so inclined.

Homemade Pizza
Makes 2 12-inch diameter pizzas (You can make larger pizzas with thinner crusts or smaller pizzas with thicker crusts, but this is fits nicely in our oven).

Ingredients for Crust

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
11 3/4 ounces	1/2 white flour	a.k.a. “brown” flour (half all-purpose and half whole wheat bread flour), about 2 1/2 cups, volumetrically	Cayuga Pure Organics *
2 ounces	Cornmeal	About 1/2 cup, volumetrically	Cayuga Pure Organics *
2 tsp	Instant yeast	Not to be confused with active dry yeast	We use this brand.
2 TBsp	Sunflower oil		Stolor Organics *
2 tsp	Coarse kosher or sea salt

Topping Ideas (per pizza)

• 1/2 cup prepared pizza sauce
• About 5 ounces of cheese, such as fresh mozzarella or ricotta
• Veggies! Onions, mushrooms, sautéed greens, peppers, tomatoes. Really whatever’s in season.
• Your favorite precooked meat
• Any leftovers you find in the refrigerator

Directions

1. Weigh flour and cornmeal in stand mixer bowl using the tare (zero-out) function on your scale. That is, put the bowl on the scale, press tare, add 11 3/4 ounces of flour, press tare, and add 2 ounces of cornmeal. No dirty measuring cups!

   

2. Add the yeast and salt to the flour mixture. Because they’re such a small amounts, it’s best to measure them in teaspoons, rather than by weight.

   

3. In a measuring cup, combine 1 cup of water and the sunflower oil.

   

4. With the paddle attachment and the mixer on low, slowly add the liquids to the dry ingredients. Mix until there isn’t any dry flour on the bottom of the bowl, about a minute.

   

5. Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough on speed 2 or 4 for 3 or 4 minutes. I just let it knead until I’m done cleaning everything else up and it forms a nice ball around the hook.

   

6. Remove the dough from the bowl. Put a small puddle of oil (a teaspoon or so) in the bottom of the stand mixer bowl, drop the dough in, and roll it around so that it’s covered in oil. This will make sure it doesn’t stick to the bowl while rising. You could use a second bowl if you want, but I don’t like to do dishes. Actually, Erik usually does the dishes, so I don’t like feeling guilty about NOT doing the dishes. It’s easy to do as long as you remember to unscrew the cap of the oil before you get your hands all doughy.

   Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or the shower cap you took from the hotel you stayed in last week) and let the dough rise for an hour or 2. Ideally, you should wait for it to double in size, but you can cut this short if you’re in a hurry.

   

7. Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 500 degrees, or as hot as it will go. Set a baking stone or cookie sheet in the top third of the oven to preheat. Lay out two sheets of parchment paper that are about 16 inches long.
8. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Cut it in half and gently shape each into a ball. At this point, you could tightly wrap one of the dough balls in plastic and freeze it, but we like pizza leftovers, so we never do. Drape a towel over the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. This will make it easier to shape.

   

9. While the dough is resting, prepare your toppings. We made two different pizzas. One had a sliced portobello mushroom (from Bulich Mushrooms), half a sliced red onion (Paffenroth Gardens), and about 5 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella (from Eataly, since we forgot to get it at the greenmarket). The other had about 5 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella and 5 ounces of ricotta (also from Eataly, but made in Brooklyn).

   

10. Lay one of the sheets of parchment paper on a pizza peel or (our preferred method) an upside-down cookie sheet. We flip the cookie sheet over, so that the pizza will slide off cleanly without bumping into the raised edges.
11. To shape the dough into pies, start by patting out one of the balls into a circle. After a while, the dough will start resisting, so use gravity. Hold the disc at the top with both hands and turn it like a steering wheel, using your thumbs to create a lip around the edge. It won’t get perfectly round, but you can fix that later. Once it’s as big as you want it, lay it down on the prepared parchment paper and pat or stretch it into a nicer shape. Fix any holes by pinching the dough together.

    



12. Spread the first crust with about 1/2 cup of prepared pizza sauce. We canned our own this summer following this recipe. Lay on your toppings. If you’re using anything delicate, like greens or herbs, tuck them under the cheese so they won’t burn.

    

    

13. Once your pizza is dressed up and ready to go, open the oven door and pull out the rack as far as it will go. Use an oven mitt! In a smooth motion, pull the pizza onto the stone or baking sheet using the corner of the parchment paper. Be careful!

    

14. Check the pizza after 8 minutes and then every 1 or 2 minutes thereafter until it’s done. Our oven usually takes about 12 minutes, but it depends on how long it preheated and what toppings we used. You want a dark brown crust and some brown spots on the cheese.

    

15. While the first pizza is baking, prepare the second following the same steps.

    

16. This is the hard part. Don’t eat it right away! If you cut it too soon, it will just be a big juicy mess. Wait 5 minutes (more if you can) for it to cool and firm up.

    

]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/03/01/how-to-make-pizza/feed/ 4 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/02/07/how-to-make-sour-cream/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/02/07/how-to-make-sour-cream/#comments Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:31:16 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=2487 Although we can get lots of dairy products at the Union Square greenmarket, we haven’t been able to find sour cream. I needed some for a Super Bowl dip , so I did a little internet research. Everyone seems to use the same method and it’s insanely easy. Will we use it every time? Probably not. In most recipes we substitute our homemade yogurt for sour cream, but it might be worth it the few . . . → Read More: How to Make Sour Cream]]> Although we can get lots of dairy products at the Union Square greenmarket, we haven’t been able to find sour cream. I needed some for a Super Bowl dip , so I did a little internet research. Everyone seems to use the same method and it’s insanely easy. Will we use it every time? Probably not.   In most recipes we substitute our homemade yogurt for sour cream, but it might be worth it the few times we can’t make the switch.
1. Heat 1 cup of cream to 180 degrees in a double boiler (or our makeshift Pyrex measuring cup in a pot of water). If you don’t have a thermometer, heat the cream until it’s almost, but not quite, boiling.

   

2. Remove the cream from heat and let it cool down to 80-90 degrees. This took about 2 hours sitting on the counter, but would go faster if you put it in the refrigerator or an ice bath. If you don’t have a thermometer, judge by touch – the cream should be body temperature, not hot or cold, when you stick your finger in it.

   

3. Pour the cream into a glass container (we used a pint jar) and either whisk in 1 tablespoon of buttermilk or add the buttermilk and give the jar a good shake.
4. Leave the jar (covered) on your counter for 24-48 hours.

   

We used it after 24 hours, because we had to leave for the party, but it was a little thin. Extra time would have probably thickened it up. It still tasted delicious, though! It’s very similar to making yogurt at home. It’s mentally hard, at first, to encourage bacteria to grow in something you plan to eat, but the results helped us get over that!



]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/02/07/how-to-make-sour-cream/feed/ 2 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/01/24/dark-days-brunch-how-to-make-a-scotch-egg/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/01/24/dark-days-brunch-how-to-make-a-scotch-egg/#comments Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:30:30 +0000 Erik http://eatlocal365.com/?p=2304

How to make a Scotch egg (and see below for instructions for a Bloody Mary)

Based on our local, seasonal, and vegetable-heavy eating habits, many people assume that Lindsay and I are vegetarians (or vegans!). This post provides evidence to the contrary. Yesterday, we made brunch by frying up eggs, each wrapped in a quarter-pound of sausage. We also managed to do it all with local ingredients. Mmmm!

We based the recipe on a . . . → Read More: Dark Days Brunch: How to Make a Scotch Egg]]>

How to make a Scotch egg (and see below for instructions for a Bloody Mary)

Based on our local, seasonal, and vegetable-heavy eating habits, many people assume that Lindsay and I are vegetarians (or vegans!). This post provides evidence to the contrary. Yesterday, we made brunch by frying up eggs, each wrapped in a quarter-pound of sausage. We also managed to do it all with local ingredients. Mmmm!

We based the recipe on a recent post in the NY Times, but were really inspired by a nearby restaurant, The Breslin, which serves excellent Scotch eggs. If you want extremely delicious but extremely heavy fare, try out that restaurant! We made 4 Scotch eggs and 2 Bloody Marys, which would cost around $55 after tax and tip. We did it all for under $20.

$20 still sounds expensive, but most of that comes from the sausage. We eat a lot less meat than most people, but when we do we are sure to choose meat that is local, naturally fed, and full-pasture. It’s far more expensive (one of the reasons we eat less of it), but the health and nutrition profile is very different from industrial meat. Cows that eat nothing but corn cause humans cardiovascular problems. Cows raised completely on natural pasture have a profile similar to wild salmon (without the Mercury). For more information, read Michael Pollan.

We got the sausage from Grazin’ Angus Acres (sweet Italian sausage), which, as far as I’m concerned, sells the best beef money can buy.



Also notice how vibrant the yolks in the eggs are compared to the greenish-yellow hue that hard boiled eggs normally have. That’s the difference of naturally-raised and fully pastured chickens.

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
6	Large eggs		Northshire Farm *
2 cloves	Garlic	Minced	Keith’s Farm *
Pinch	Kosher salt
1 – 2	Whole pieces, horseradish	Grated	Gorzynski Ornery Farm *
Splash	White vinegar
1 lb	Italian sausage	Casing removed	Grazin’ Angus Acres *
1/4 cup	All-purpose flour		Cayuga Pure Organics *
1/4 cup	Panko bread crumbs		Whole Foods
~ 8 oz	Sunflower oil (or other frying oil)		Stolor Organics (sold by Cayuga Organics)*

Directions:

1. Place 4 of the eggs in a medium pot or saucepan and add cold water until they are submerged. Cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil over hight heat. Turn off the heat and leave covered for 3 minutes. Uncover the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Peel each egg under running cold water and pat dry.

   

3. Mince the garlic. Use a mortar and pestle (or the back of a spoon, or a knife) to mash the garlic and the pinch of salt into a paste.

   

4. Peel the horseradish and cut it into manageable pieces. Use a microplane or grater to grate the horseradish as finely as possible. Add a splash of white vinegar to mix the horseradish into a paste similar to prepared horseradish that you can buy in a jar. You are aiming for about 2 tablespoons Alternately, you can skip this step and use 2 tablespoons of prepared horseradish from a jar. But grating it fresh will give you a head start on your Bloody Marys (see below).

   

5. Remove the casing from the sausages. If you can find ground sausage without casings, you can skip this step.

   Begin by cutting off the end of the casing with a meat scissor. Then work the scissor lengthwise into the casing.

   

   Cut the casing along the length of the sausage. Now, you should be able to peel of the casing in one piece.

   

6. Place all of the de-cased sausage into a bowl. Add the garlic paste and horseradish paste and mix thoroughly by hand. Divide the sausage into 4 equal portions.

   

7. Prepare an assembly line of four bowls. The first bowl should contain the flour. The second should be the bowl with the sausage in it. In the third bowl, lightly beat the 2 remaining eggs. The fourth bowl should contain the Panko bread crumbs.
8. Repeat the remaining steps for each egg.

   Roll the egg in the flour. Flatten a 1/4 portion of the sausage into a patty.

   

   Wrap the egg in it and form it into an even ball around the egg. Dredge the sausage-coated egg in the flour.

   

   Shake off the excess flour, then dip it in the beaten eggs. Let the excess drip off. Roll the ball in the Panko to cover it thoroughly.

   

9. Fill a medium pot with oil to 1/2 inch depth and turn the burner on to medium. Heat until it reaches 350 degrees, or if you don’t have a thermometer that you can use for frying (we don’t), until the oil starts to shimmer and bubbles form around the edges of the pot.

   The smaller the pot you use, the less oil you will need. We used a small saucepan, but it meant that we could only fry one egg at a time. The advantage to this, though, is that the first egg is almost guaranteed to come out worse than the rest. The first egg will both get the oil going, and allow you to adjust the temperature. If you fry two eggs at a time, you will have two “first eggs”.

10. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Use a wooden or metal spoon, preferably slotted, lower the first egg into the oil. Do it very slowly and carefully, so as not to splash the hot oil. Set a timer for two minutes. Give the oil a moment to react to the egg. It should sizzle but not go crazy. If it begins to sizzle and pop too energetically, turn the heat down further.

    

11. After the two minutes, use the spoon or tongs to roll the egg over 180 degrees to fry the exposed half.

    

12. After another two minutes, roll the egg to check for any under-fried spots and roll until those are face-down in the oil. After another two minutes, check to make sure that the entire egg is evenly fried. If it is, let it sit for another minute or two while rolling it to evenly re-fry the whole surface. This will also make sure that the sausage it thoroughly cooked through. In total, the frying should take 7 – 8 minutes.

    

13. Place a cooling rack inside of a sheet pan. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees. Use the spoon or tongs to remove the egg from the oil and place it on the rack. Sprinkle with Kosher salt. Put the rack into the oven to keep the egg warm while cooking the rest of the eggs.

    Alternately, to serve immediately after frying you can place the egg onto a plate lined with paper towels and give it a moment to wick away the excess oil.

    Notice the one burnt egg in the picture below. That was our first one, the “sacrifice”. It was still excellent.

    

14. To eat, cut the Scotch egg in half and enjoy. Just for the record, we only had one each for brunch and stored the other two for leftovers. It was a close call, though. I had really had to exercise will power!

    

The Bloody Marys

To supplement the Scotch eggs we made some Bloody Marys which were also prettylocal, thanks to Lindsay’s frantic canning of various tomato products in August / September. One of the things she canned from local tomatoes was Bloody Mary mix. We will be sure to post the recipe and the process next year when canning season rolls around again.

We used 10 oz of the mix per glass, and added:

• 1 oz of vodka
• 5-10 drops of Worcestershire sauce
• 5-10 drops of Tabasco
• A generous pinch of salt
• A healthy grind of fresh pepper
• 1 teaspoon of freshly grated horseradish, which I grated while making the Scotch eggs

Stir well and sip happily.



]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/01/24/dark-days-brunch-how-to-make-a-scotch-egg/feed/ 2 http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/19/how-to-make-crackers/ http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/19/how-to-make-crackers/#comments Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:23:00 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=1451 Making crackers is very similar to making pie crust. It’s pretty simple and allows you to use local ingredients and avoid the dreaded high-fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil. Yuck!

We adapted a recipe from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, a great resource for DIY cooking projects. We made some adjustments (as usual) for local ingredients. If you don’t have a food processor, you could use a pastry blender or a couple of . . . → Read More: How to Make Crackers]]> Making crackers is very similar to making pie crust. It’s pretty simple and allows you to use local ingredients and avoid the dreaded high-fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil. Yuck!

We adapted a recipe from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, a great resource for DIY cooking projects. We made some adjustments (as usual) for local ingredients. If you don’t have a food processor, you could use a pastry blender or a couple of knives to work in the butter.



Cornmeal Crackers
Makes a lot! About 2 cookie sheets full, but the count will depend on the size and shape.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
• 4 ounces cornmeal (about 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 1/2 ounces butter (5 tablespoons)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 cup water
• Toppings, such as herbs, seeds, or salt (optional)

Directions:

1. Add dry ingredients to work bowl of food processor and pulse a few times to aerate.
2. Add the butter in chunks, pulsing between each addition, until the mixture is combined, but still lumpy.
3. Whisk the egg, honey, and water together in a separate bowl
4. Start the food processor and slowly add the wet ingredients through the tube. Just like pie crust, you want the dough to start to form a ball, but not get too wet.
5. Dump the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it tightly, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You could do this part the day before, if you wanted to.
6. When you’re ready to bake the crackers, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
7. Divide the dough into two pieces and re-wrap and refrigerate one half.
8. Dust a clean countertop with flour (we used cornmeal to add a little extra crunch) and shape the dough into a rectangle. This extra step will help keep the sides neat for square or rectangular crackers. If you’re using cookie cutters, you can skip this step.
   
9. Sprinkle the dough with more flour and roll it out into a 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick rectangle. I find it helpful to start in the middle and move forward and backward, rather than starting on an end and rolling in one direction. Pick up and turn or flip the dough occasionally, so that it doesn’t adhere to the counter. Add more flour if it starts to feel sticky.
   
10. Prick the dough all over with a fork
    
11. If you want to use toppings, brush the top with a little water (don’t go overboard or it will be hard to transfer them to the cookie sheet). Sprinkle on the toppings and gently roll them into the dough. We used an herb mix for one batch and black salt for another.
    
12. Now the fun part! Use a pizza roller, knife, or cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. We made long, thin strips to dip in soup and oyster cracker shapes for floating on top.
    
13. Use a spatula to transfer the crackers to a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 20 minutes. The total baking time depends on your oven and the size, shape, and thickness of the crackers, so watch carefully. We checked after the first 8 minutes and then in 4 minute increments. It’s better for them to be pale gold than dark brown. If some look more done than others, you might want to take them out while the rest finish up. While this batch is baking, repeat the steps for the second half of dough.
    
14. Cool the crackers completely and store in an airtight container for about a week. You can also freeze them, letting them sit for 2 hours at room temperature before eating.

I think you could vary this recipe almost any way you want. I think I’ll attack Cheez-Its next and then maybe make an olive oil herb version.

]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/19/how-to-make-crackers/feed/ 1 http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/02/if-you-do-one-thing-in-december-to-eat-locally/ http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/02/if-you-do-one-thing-in-december-to-eat-locally/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:40:07 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=1107 …make a pie with local apples or pumpkins instead of buying Chilean apples, pumpkin in a can, or a whole pre-made pie.

Who’s with me?

]]> …make a pie with local apples or pumpkins instead of buying Chilean apples, pumpkin in a can, or a whole pre-made pie.

Who’s with me?

]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/02/if-you-do-one-thing-in-december-to-eat-locally/feed/ 0