Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
How to Make Eggless Cakes
I have a friend who is very allergic to eggs. Is there any way to make a cake without eggs?
You thought we had forgotten you and felt compelled to ask twice. Oh no. We have been busy turning over every stone and looking in every cake, pastry, baking, health-food, and dietetic cookbook we could find, because we love people who cook for their friends.
Eggs add flavor and richness to a cake, but more important, they are responsible for much of the structure of the cake. So it is a challenge to bake an eggless cake. The BBC’s fluffy online Ask the Chef feature would tell you to make him some cookies. But we dug deeper and our thoughts turned to a group that shuns eggs by choice — those devil-may-care vegans (vegetarians who don’t eat anything derived from a creature, including eggs, milk, butter, cheese, or honey). If anyone knows how to make a cake without eggs, it must be them.
And indeed, we turned up several recipes for eggless cakes. We haven’t tried any of them ourselves, and leave the experimentation up to you. Since you’re not necessarily looking to become vegans yourselves, you might replace the soy milks, vegan margarine, and other vegan choices with cow’s milk, butter, and other traditional ingredients.
An important note: The first of these recipes call for egg replacer or egg substitute. The most commonly available egg substitutes are not substitutes at all, but cartons of egg white, mixed with a little vegetable oil, flavoring, color, and other ingredients. That is obviously not a solution for your friend. There are egg substitutes on the market that do not contain any egg, but in our experience, they are hard to find. Health food stores may be your best bet. But be sure to read the label carefully before you buy an egg substitute for your friend’s cake. Most of the following recipes do not require an egg replacer.
White Vegan Cake
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp vanilla
Egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg, beaten
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a cake pan. In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Combine remaining ingredients, and add to flour mixture. Beat for 2 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes in cake pan, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out dry.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water (or ice coffee)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp vinegar
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Use a small brownie-size pan (no greasing required). Mix all the dry ingredients right in pan. Mix all the wet ingredients in separate bowl except the vinegar (important!). Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until all dry ingredients are mixed. Add the vinegar quickly and stir in — immediately put the pan in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 min. Cool thoroughly.
Optional: after you add the vinegar, you can put some frozen cherries, raspberries or cranberries on top of the batter (or you can mix them in beforehand)
Applesauce Spice Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-3/4 cup flour (whole wheat pastry flour is good)
2 tsp ginger (optional)
Preparation:
Combine the molasses and applesauce in a large bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and stir into the liquid. (If the batter seems very dry, add a little more applesauce or a little water.) Bake in a nonstick 8 x 8-inch baking pan or one sprayed with a non-stick spray, in a 350° F (175°C) oven, for 30 to 45 minutes, or until it tests done.
The optional ginger makes an acceptable gingerbread. You can also leave out the ginger and add 3 or 4 tablespoons of cocoa to make a tasty but not very sweet or rich chocolate cake.
Lemon Tofu Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups graham crackers
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp almond extract
Filling:
1 lb. firm tofu
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond exact
1 Tbsp tahini or almond butter
1/2 salt
1 to 2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in
2 Tbsp soy or rice milk
Preparation:
Crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Crush the crackers and mix them with the syrup and almond extract in a bowl until moistened. Pour into a 9-inch pie plate, press evenly to form a crust and bake for 5 minutes. Cool while preparing filling.
Filling: Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth (about 30 seconds). Pour the mixture into the crust and bake until the top is slightly brown, about 30 minutes. Cool and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours.
Vegan Cake
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup cold water
Preparation:
Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Grease and flour a loaf pan, and bake for 45 minutes at 350° (175°C). You can also add chocolate chips and/or nuts.
Great Vegan Cake
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 scant cup soy milk/rice milk/water
Preparation:
Mix ingredients and bake at 375°F (190° C) for 30 minutes in a greased pan.
Variations:
Sweet and Light Lemon Cake:
add 1/4 cup of lemon juice in place of 1-4 cup of the water/soy milk/rice milk
Orange Cake:
add 1 cup orange juice instead of the liquid and cut back sugar to half a cup
Torte:
cut 1 or 2 apples into slices and lay them on top. You can sprinkle with cinnamon and/or sugar if you like.
Help for an Ugly-As-Sin Chess Pie
Q. My chess pie filling puffs up in the oven and settles back down upon cooling, leaving the surface of the filling wrinkled and ugly. I have read somewhere that chess pie is never pretty; the writer may have been referring to the wrinkles. Is a wrinkled top inevitable in a chess pie? My chess pie is made with some buttermilk. Once, I tried the pie without buttermilk, as some recipes dictate, and had no wrinkling, but I did not like the taste and texture as much.
For your reference, here’s my recipe:
pastry for 9” pie plate
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 large eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tablespoons white corn meal
1-1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Position oven rack at lowest level in oven. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line pie plate with rolled-out dough and chill for at least 30 minutes. In mixing bowl combine all ingredients. Pour into pie plate and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower thermostat to 300°F (150°C) and bake for about 40 minutes, or just until top has browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
A. First — we can’t help ourselves — a bit of history. Although chess pie is considered a Southern dish, it originated in England and became popular in both the South and New England as this country was settled.
James Beard, to be contrarian (or authoritative), says that chess pie traditionally included brown sugar instead of white, as well as walnuts, raisins or dates, and orange juice, grape juice, or sherry. He says the Jefferson Davis pie, with evaporated milk or cream, egg, sugar, flour, and salt is what became known in the South as the chess pie. In any event, the dessert most of us call chess pie is a very simple custard in a pie crust.
There are various theories about how the pie got it’s name, seeming, as it does, to imply that it might include cheese, when it does not. The theories to consider are these:
* A slightly corrupted reference to the pie safe or “chest,” in which the pie was kept.
* A little Southern homemaker drawling to her husband that, “It’s jes pie.”
* An older tradition that called custards “cheese.” (This choice seemed to get the most votes in the cookbooks we checked).
And, yes, the pie should rise and fall as it cooks and cools, and yes, because of that, it does tend towards homeliness. We’ve looked at a dozen recipes, and there is significant variation in the amounts of ingredients among them. Yours has 6 whole eggs, while most of the others have one or two whole eggs plus two or three yolks. Egg white is a great leavener, so it is possible that the six whites are causing more lift in your pie than you need, essentially causing unwanted stretch marks.
None of the other recipes we’ve seen uses buttermilk, instead using evaporated milk or cream. There is no chemical leavener (e.g. baking soda) in your filling, so we don’t see that the use of buttermilk should have an effect on the texture or look of your pie. But your own test results indicate that the buttermilk could be a culprit.
As yours does, several recipes call for starting the pie in a hot oven and then dropping the temperature for the balance of the time. Others bake it in a moderate oven (325°F; 175°C) from start to finish, which would cause less rise, and therefore less wrinkling.
If anyone in the world can make a chess pie look good, it must be cookbook author and photographer James McNair, whose books are testimonies to beautiful food. This photo is his Southern Chess Pie from James McNair’s Pie Cookbook (Canada, UK), from a recipe that uses one egg, three yolks, a cup of sugar, two tablespoons of cornmeal, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 cup (one stick) of melted, unsalted, butter, 1/2 cup of evaporated milk, heavy cream or half-and-half, two teaspoons of vanilla extract, and — his pie is lemon flavored — a tablespoon of lemon juice. He bakes it at 325° from start to finish, and to us (probably in the interests of food styling) it looks a little underdone. But it sure is pretty.
If you like the taste of buttermilk in your pie, use it. Experiment with the egg ratio and cooking temperature, and dress up your pie a little. Follow McNair’s lead and create a crenellated edge to the crust, or sprinkle the top with a dusting of powdered sugar, which tends to hide many sins.
http://www.ochef.com/r246p.htm
Chocolate Buttermilk Pie
From Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Cooking 2
www.ochef.com/r246.htm
I first tasted this deep-dish delight at Bubba’s Barbeque in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where locals and tourists alike wait in line for a slice of this little piece of heaven. It was so amazing, I went back in the kitchen and watched them make it, then brought the recipe home. A silky blend of chocolate and vanilla paired with a punch of buttermilk, this old-fashioned favorite is about as homegrown as it gets. If you want to go all out, top each piece with a fluffy cloud of whipped cream dusted with cocoa.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels, Nestle
1-1/2 cups sugar, C&H
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract, McCormick
1 premade deep-dish piecrust (9?inch)
Frozen whipped topping, thawed, Cool Whip
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Position a rack in center of oven.
2. Place the chocolate chips in a double boiler: melt over low heat, stirring constantly.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the sugar mixture and beat with an electric mixer or whisk vigorously until well combined. Stir the melted chocolate into the batter.
4. Pour batter into piecrust. (You will have about 1 cup of batter left over.) If desired, pour leftover batter into a 10? to 12?ounce buttered ramekin, custard cup, or other small baking dish.
5.. Bake pie for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes (and ramekin of leftover batter for 40 to 50 minutes) or until the pie is crisp on top and a knife inserted in the center comes out with just a bit of moist chocolate on it.
6. Remove pie from oven and cool on a cooling rack. If not eating immediately, refrigerate pie. Let refrigerated pie stand at least 1 hour at room temperature before serving. Garnish with whipped topping just before serving.
Tip: For a from scratch whipped topping flavor, sirnply doctor Cool Whip with vanilla extract.
Yield: serves 8 to 10
Cookies with a Very Secret Ingredient
Q. Could you possibly find a recipe for apple cookies that have tomato soup as one of the ingredients? I saw this in a women’s magazine umpteen years ago, tried it, loved it, then lost the recipe.
A. We are torn between our desire to help you and our desire to help you see the error of your ways. But really, who in this day of wacky fusion cooking could argue with putting a little tomato soup in a cookie?
Generally these questions are impossible to answer because there are simply so many recipes on the planet. There might be a thousand that are close to what you’re looking for (but not exactly what you remember) or only one (which is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack).
Because yours features such an unusual ingredient, though, we thought we’d give it a try. We hunted in some of our wackiest cookbooks and looked everywhere on the Internet. Nothing. Even the Campbell Soup Company’s site, which has its share of, um, interesting recipes does not have a single cookie recipe.
We thought we hit the jackpot in turning up one cookie recipe that includes tomato soup, then became utterly disconsolate in noticing that it does not include apple. To temper our sorrow, we’re including the wrong recipe in the hope that it is close to the cookie of your recollection. Maybe if you substitute dried apple for the raisins and eat them when you’re really, really hungry, they’ll taste just right!
Fusion Tomato Soup Cookies (We made up the name ourselves. Like it?)
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shortening
1-1/3 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 cup condensed tomato soup
2-1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves. Cream together shortening and sugar. Add in the egg and beat well. Add the tomato soup and blend. Gradually mix in the mixed dry ingredients. Then add the oats, raisins and pecans and mix well.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place them 1-1/2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Flatten the balls slightly. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly colored. Cool on wire racks.
Hot-Pepper Cheesecake Recipe
Q. We saw a reference in an article on leftovers to a Hot-Pepper Cheesecake. It sounds delicious. Will you share the recipe with me?
A. The cheesecake and dishes the writer devised to use up a little extra pepper jelly were so good she found herself traipsing back to the store for more pepper jelly. A real kitchen success story!
Hot Pepper Jelly Cheesecake
This is a no-cook, whip-together appetizer that started a pepper jelly stampede. Try varying the nuts and herbs — but not the jelly.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup pine nuts
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup hot pepper jelly, preferably red
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
5 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (about 11/4 cups)
Sliced bread, crackers, or Belgian endive cups as accompaniment
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Place the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden, about 8 minutes. Set aside.
Place the cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the jelly, garlic, cilantro and cheddar cheese in a food processor. Process until evenly blended. Line the bottom of a 7-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Spray the sides of the pan with nonstick spray. Add the cheese mixture. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Spread the remaining jelly evenly across the top surface and sprinkle on the pine nuts. The recipe can be completed to this point up to 24 hours before serving.
To serve, carefully remove the sides of the pan. Transfer the cheesecake to a serving plate. Serve chilled with sliced bread, crackers, or endive cups.
Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Risotto with Zucchini, Potatoes & Pesto
Risotto con Zucchini, Patate, e Pesto (Risotto with Zucchini, Potatoes, and Pesto)
From Sicilian Home Cooking (Canada, UK), by Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene.
Ingredients:
Pesto Sauce:
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons blanched almonds
2 garlic cloves, halved
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Risotto:
6 cups homemade or canned chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium zucchini, diced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups Vialone Nano, Carnaroli, or Arborio rice
2/3 cup pesto sauce
1 cup diced boiled and peeled potatoes
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for topping
Instructions:
To make the pesto sauce, puree the basil leaves, pine nuts, almonds, and garlic in a food processor while pouring the olive oil through the feed tube opening in a slow steady stream. After oil is incorporated, process for 15 seconds more. Season with salt and pepper and process for another 10 seconds. Set aside.
Bring the broth to a boil in a medium saucepan next to the burner where you will cook the risotto. While cooking the risotto, keep the broth at a low boil.
Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the onion and zucchini and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the rice and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1/2 cup of the simmering broth and cook, stirring constantly, until the broth has been absorbed. Add another 1/2 cup of the simmering broth and cook, stirring constantly, until the broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking the risotto in the same manner until only about 1 cup of the broth remains, then stir in 1/2 cup of the remaining broth with the pesto and potatoes. Continue cooking until the last of the broth has been absorbed. From the time the rice is added, the whole process should take 18 to 20 minutes.
When the risotto is done, remove it from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the Parmesan cheese. Serve at once and pass the Parmesan.
Yield: Serves 6 as first course or 4 as main course
Potato and Rosemary Risotto ~ Riso e Patate
From The Top One Hundred Rice Dishes, by Diane Seed.
Buy from Amazon.com
In Italy potatoes are combined with rice or pizza in a number of delicious dishes, but non-Italians have to overcome their initial resistance to the idea. I am an ardent convert and I have a passion for the Pugliese tielle (potato, rice & tomato bake), and the Roman pizza rustica topped with potato and rosemary. In Venice, Riso e Patate is enjoyed during the cold, damp months, and since I am a fan of Donna Leon’s thrillers, I can imagine the Brunetti family savoring this risotto for lunch during the acqua alta (floods).
Ingredients:
50g/2 oz (1/2 stick) butter
50g/2 oz bacon, diced
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, finely sliced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
300g/10-1/2 oz (1-2/3 cups) Vialone nano rice (or Carnaroli or Arborio)
1.5 litres/2-3/4 pints (6 cups) light meat stock
salt and black pepper
50g/2 oz (generous 1/2 cup) freshly grated Parmesan
Instructions:
Melt half the butter in a large pan and stir in the bacon and potato. After 5 minutes add the onion and herbs. Stir and cook gently for another 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and let it absorb the flavors for about 5 minutes. Add the boiling stock, ladle by ladle, waiting for the rice to absorb the liquid before stirring in more. When the risotto is cooked but still al dente and liquid, check the seasoning and stir in the remaining butter and half the Parmesan. Serve the remaining cheese at table.
Yield: Serves 4
What are All the Dairy Products Under the Sun?
I live in a country where it is difficult to find all the ingredients for recipes. What is the difference between the following and can any of them replace another: crème fraîche, fromage frais, fromage blanc, yogurt, sour cream, cream, double cream, whipping cream?
The dairy products you mention fall into perhaps three categories: creams and soured creams, yogurt, and fresh cheeses.
We assume you’re not asking what cream is, but what a recipe writer means when his recipe simply calls for cream. In general, it means a fairly thick, relatively high-butterfat cream. Double cream is the British designation for super-rich cream — with 48% butterfat. By contrast, whipping cream in the United States has between 30% and 40% butterfat. Light creams, or single cream in Britain, which average around 20% butterfat, are not as stable for cooking, are more prone to curdling in the presence of acids or high heat, and so are not called for as often in recipes.
Crème fraîche and sour cream are both manufactured cream products. Crème fraîche is a slightly tangy, slightly nutty, thickened cream. Before the age of pasteurization crème fraîche made itself as the bacteria present in the cream fermented and thickened it naturally. It is widely available in Europe, but much less so in the US, where almost all cream is pasteurized, and therefore has to be fermented artificially.
Sour cream was also traditionally made by letting fresh cream sour naturally — the acids and bacteria present produced a generally consistent flavor and thick texture that went well with both sweet and savory dishes. These days, commercially produced sour cream is made by inoculating pasteurized light cream with bacteria cultures, letting the bacteria grow until the cream is both soured and thick, and then repasteruizing it to stop the process.
Sour cream cannot be made at home with pasteurized cream; the lack of bacteria in the cream will cause the cream to spoil instead of sour. If you have access to unpasteruized heavy cream, you can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 2 cups of cream and let the mixture stand out at room temperature for several hours until curdled.
You can also make a facsimile of crème fraîche by adding a tablespoon of buttermilk (don’t tell us they don’t have buttermilk where you live!) or a half cup of sour cream to a cup of whipping cream, heating it gently to 110°F (45°C), then putting it in a loosely covered bottle in a warm place and letting it sit for anywhere from 8 hours to a couple of days, until thick. Store it in the refrigerator, where it will thicken further, and keep for about three weeks.
In general, crème fraîche and sour cream can be used interchangeably in most recipes, but crème fraîche has two advantages over sour cream: it can be whipped like whipping cream, and it will not curdle if boiled.
Yogurt is a milk product that has been fermented and allowed to coagulate. Of all the foods you mention, it is probably the most universally available, having shown up first in Asia before spreading to most of the rest of the world. In various cultures, yogurt may be made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats, camels, water buffaloes, and yaks. The plain yogurt found in the US and Britain is mostly made from cow’s milk and is fairly bland. A yak’s-milk yogurt used in an American or British recipe would probably be a bit strong. Sour cream can also stand in for yogurt in many recipes, and vice versa.
Fromage frais is a creamy soft cheese made with whole or skimmed milk and cream. It has the consistency of another product available in the US, cream cheese, but with fewer calories and less cholesterol. Where available, low-fat cream cheese is an acceptable substitute for fromage blanc. You may have to do a little exploring in your country to find a mild, soft, white, fresh cheese that you can use for cooking.
Fromage blanc has the consistency of sour cream. It comes in three fat levels — 40%, 20%, and 0%.The two versions with fat can be added to hot liquids to make a sauce that will not curdle. Fromage blanc can be whipped with an immersion blender for increased volume. Chefs at the fancy French spas have elevated the use of fromage blanc to an art form, since it is low in calories and high in creamy flavor.
Oh, and that buttermilk? It used to be the liquid left over when cream was churned to butter. Nowadays, it’s another commercially made product, in which bacteria is introduced to lowfat milk, causing it to thicken and producing a tangy flavor.
The Secret to Greek Red Sauces
Q. What’s the secret ingredient used in some Greek red sauces?
A. Sounds like a trick question to us. But we’ll bite.
We’ve seen lots of recipes for Saltsa Domates — Tomato Sauce — in the past few days, with lots of variations among them. But in addition to the tomato, onion, olive oil, salt, and pepper that they all include, some also include celery, carrot, red wine, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, basil — and ground cloves and cinnamon. Considering the number of recipes that include cinnamon, we’re guessing that’s the mystery ingredient.
Tracking Down Mongolian Breads
Q. Do you know any Mongolian breads that I could research and make?
A. Not really. Our Asian cookbooks either omit Mongolia entirely or focus on the Mongolian Hot Pot and one or two other heavy beef or lamb (or moose) dishes. There is a recent book on the market, Imperial Mongolian Cooking (Canada, UK) featuring recipes from the Kingdoms of Genghis Khan (including Tibet, Russia, Armenia and other conquered lands), that surely will have bread recipes, but we haven’t seen a copy yet.
We also spent some time hunting online and found out a lot about Mongolia, but not much about its baking. The one “bread” recipe we found is for Scallion Pancakes, which are described as being similar to an Indian nan or Mexican tortillas.
Mix 2 cups of whole wheat flour or barley flour with 1 cup of boiling water until smooth. Let it rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough into a 1/4”-thick circle. Sprinkle 1/2-cup of chopped scallions over the dough. Roll it into a tight roll and slice the dough into 2” pieces. Flatten the circles into 1” thick disks. Heat a grill until very hot. Oil lightly with a bit of fat (lamb fat appears to be traditional). Drop the dough onto the grill. When the edges look dry and it has begun to puff, turn it over quickly and finish cooking.
How To Make Beetroot Crisps (Assuming You’d Want To...)
I was served beetroot crisps in a restaurant recently. Please, could you tell me how they are made?
They’re made just the same as crisps, or what we call potato chips — only with beets. The process is simple. Peel the beets, then slice them as thinly as you can. The thinner they are, the crisper they will be. If they are too thick, they will not get crisp. If you have a mandoline or Japanese slicer, this is the time to dust it off. If you’re good with a knife, you can cut even, thin slices. You can also use the slicing disc of a food processor, or even a broad swivel-headed peeler.
Put 4 to 5 inches of oil in an electric fryer or deep, heavy pot (the oil should come no more than halfway to the top of the pot). Heat it to 375°F (190°C). The choice of oil is yours. Many people swear by lard or other animal fats for frying vegetables. Other options are vegetable oils with a high smoke point (the temperature at which they burn), such as safflower oil or rapeseed oil (known as canola oil in North America). Sunflower oil and solid vegetable shortening have smoke points too close to the ideal frying temperature to be practical,(392°F or 200°C for sunflower and around 370°F or 188°C for vegetable shortening). If the oils are not absolutely fresh, the smoke point is even lower.
Without using a thermometer, it will be difficult to know that your oil has reached the desired temperature, but in the absence of one, toss a cube of white bread into the oil. It should turn golden brown in about 50 seconds if the temperature is right. Fry the beet slices in small batches until lightly crisped, turning them occasionally with a slotted spoon. If you add too many slices at a time, you may have trouble keeping them from clumping together, and they will lower the temperature of the oil, which will result in more grease being absorbed by the food. They will become a little crisper as they cool, so take them out of the oil before they’re well done. Drain the beet slices on paper towels, and sprinkle them with a little salt. Your restaurant cook may have sprinkled them with a little spice or herb, but we’ll have to let you experiment on your own to match his results.
The same process will work well for carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, taro root, and yucca root. Vegetables with a high sugar content — carrots, sweet potatoes, and your beloved beets — will darken more quickly than some of the other vegetables. Potatoes and other vegetables that are quite moist will sputter a bit when they go into the oil, so take care.
Top-Secret Tips for Frying Radishes
Q. I saw a recipe for fried radishes and neglected to copy it down. I think it used white radishes. Do these white radishes have a name? I tried the fried radishes with regular red ones, and while it was good, I think I need to use the white radishes. Got any clues? The radishes were cut like French fries, only smaller of course, then deep fried.
A. To be honest with you, we haven’t ever fried a radish or seen a recipe for one. But it sounds intriguing.
There are many varieties of radish, and single varieties range in color from black to purple to brown to red to pink and to white. So your request for us to pull a white radish out of our hats isn’t as simple as it sounds. We think what you’re probably looking for, though, is the daikon or mooli — the only radish variety that sees much use in cooking. Daikon, which is long and slender, is sometimes sliced and added to stir-fry dishes in Asia. And it is readily available in this country.
Radishes are the roots of plants in the mustard family, which accounts for their pungency and peppery taste (and, of course, their cousin is the horseradish). The radish that most of us think of in the US, called simply radish or small radish (red, white, or mixed), is only the tip of the radish iceberg. Not only do they come in various colors, the same variety of radish can also range in shape from round to spindle-shaped and from cylindrical to oval. Within a particular variety, though, neither the color or shape has much bearing on its taste.
Not having fried a single radish in our lives, we can’t give much advice. But from the depths of our French fry wisdom, we know that you choose a russet or other baking potato for frying because it is drier than other varieties. So, because radishes are watery, we would suggest blotting the daikon before dropping it in the oil. Also with French fries, you fry them twice — once at 350°F (175°C) to cook the inside until it is fluffy, and subsequently at 385°F (195°C) to brown the outside. Whether those results are desirable and/or obtainable in a fried radish, we couldn’t say. Let us know how it turns out….
Turkish Burnt Rice Pudding
Q. I’m not sure if you can help me but I am praying you can. My father-in-law is Turkish and all he can talk about is how good his mom’s rice pudding was. She is now in heaven so I can’t ask her how to make it and I have looked all over and I can’t find it. Its called Sutlac and its a Turkish rice pudding. If you can help me it would mean the world to me.
A. Great, as long as there’s no pressure. We were delighted and a little surprised to find four meaningful Turkish cookbooks on our shelves, and one of them — Classic Turkish Cooking (Canada, UK) came through with a recipe for Firinda (burnt) Sütlaç. If your father-in-law’s mother’s sütlaç wasn’t firinda, we’re all in trouble.
The recipe is pretty simple: Take a half-pound of short-grain or “pudding” rice and soak it for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse it. Put the rice in a pan, cover it with water, and cook, uncovered, until almost all the water has been absorbed. Stir in 4 cups milk and simmer gently until the mixture thickens. Add 1 lb of sugar, and cook it gently for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The book says it should be thicker than a pouring consistency, but not solid. Stir in 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and pour the mixture into an oven-proof dish. Brown the top under the broiler. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.
Ghillie Basan, the book’s author, says sütlaç was the classic rice pudding from the Ottoman Palace kitchens, and is often flavored with rose water and chilled, or, as in this recipe, browned or burnt on top. In either case it should be moist and creamy.
And for the truly grateful, our Swiss bank account number is…
Home-Drying Figs
How can I dry figs from my fig tree at home?
Figs dry nicely. First, though, you must let them ripen fully to develop their flavor. And the only way to know that they’re fully mature is to let them drop from the tree. Harvest them quickly, wash and dry them, and cut them in half. Place them on a drying surface, skin-side down. (The drying surface may be the rack from a dehydrator, cooling racks that you intend to put in the oven, a clean screen or wooden frame with a clean, old sheet stapled to it for drying the figs in the sun, etc.)
If you plan to dry them in the sun, you need warm days with little humidity. A warm, dry breeze circulating around the figs for two days is ideal. Bring your trays in before the evening dew. To discourage bugs, you can prop a layer of cheesecloth up across the trays.
You can also dry the figs in the oven, but you want a temperature no higher than 140°F (60°C). And 115° to 120° (45°C to 50°C) is actually best for fruit. Many ovens cannot be set that low, however, so you may need to find some absolutely safe way to prop the oven door open a little to allow the excess heat to vent. Some people let you go as high as 160°F (70°C), but at that temperature the fruit may actually begin to cook, which is not your goal. Or the surface will dry out before the interior, trapping moisture inside, and leading to the development of mold. At a temperature around 120°, the figs will take between 8 and 12 hours to dry. If you use a dehydrator, follow the manufacturers’ instructions.
After the figs are dry and leathery, you should “pasteurize” them to kill any insects that may be lurking in the cracks and crevices. You can either heat them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 175°F (80°C) or put them in freezer bags and freeze them for at least four days. (The freezer method is a little less destructive to vitamins, minerals and texture). Afterwards, if you keep them in the refrigerator, they’ll last for 18 to 24 months. In the freezer, they’ll last for 5 to 8 years.
Which ever you choose, remember to keep eating those figs — you’ll have another crop next year!
Drying Time for Figs
How long does it take to dehydrate figs?
That depends on how you dry them. If you have a dehydrator that reaches 160°F (70°C), it will take only one to two hours. If you dry them at a more moderate 130°F (55°C), it may take six to eight hours. If you dry them in the sun, it will take four or five days (much longer if one of those days is rainy).
Whatever method you use, you’ll know they’re done when they feel leathery and have no discernable pockets of moisture.
Recipes for an Abundance of Figs
We have three fig trees and are getting a bumper crop of figs right now. Do you have any suggestions or recipes we can use for all these figs.
The obvious answer is to send a large gift box to the people at your favorite Web site that answers your food and cooking questions for free! Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
If you will be selfish, though, and consume them all yourself, you’re sure to like some of these recipes:
* Insalata di Frutta (shown below)
* Fresh Fig Galettes
* Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto and Figs
* Fig Spoon Sweet
* Summer Treat Fig Ice Cream
Insalata di Frutta
From Italian Food, by Elizabeth David
Ingredients:
peaches
apricots
plums
fresh purple figs
little sugar
little lemon juice
Instructions:
Peaches, apricots, plums, and fresh purple figs, all peeled and cut up into rather small squares. Make it in the morning for the evening, add a little sugar and lemon juice, which will dissolve to a syrup, and serve it very cold.
Sneaky Tomato Soup (what’s sneaky about it is that it includes cabbage, a
very nutritious and good-for-you vegetable):
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2008/04/sneaky-tomato-soup.html
This above site is the blog of Karina Allrich. She is an artist and
cookbook writer who, not too long ago, discovered that she has had celiac
disease all her life. And, of course, promptly went gluten-free.
Emeril’s Candy Counter
* Level Difficult
* Yield about 10 pralines
Ingredients
* 1 cup light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons water
* 1 cup pecan halves
Directions
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the light brown sugar, granulated
sugar, heavy cream, butter, and water. Place over a medium-high heat and
stir constantly until the pralines reach the softball stage, 238 to 240
degrees F. Add the pecans to the candy, and pull the pan off of the
stove. Continue to stir the candy vigorously with a wooden spoon until
the candy cools, and the pecans remain suspended in the candy, about 2
minutes. Spoon the pralines out onto a parchment or aluminum foil lined
sheet pan and cool completely before serving.
From
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/creamy-pecan-pralines-recipe/index.html
See More About:
* http://southernfood.about.com/lr/pralines/196449/1/ pralines
*
http://southernfood.about.com/lr/candy_recipes/196449/2/
candy recipes
Pralines, made with cream, vanilla, and pecans, along with sugar and a
little salt.
Ingredients:
* 4 cups granulated sugar
* 1 cup half-and-half
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 1/2 cups pecans coarsely broken up
* dash of salt
Preparation:
Boil 3 cups of sugar with the half-and-half in a large saucepan until a
small amount forms a soft ball when dropped into very cold water, about
236° on a candy thermometer. Meanwhile, melt remaining 1 cup sugar in
heavy skillet, stirring constantly over medium-low heat until it reaches
the brown caramel stage. When both mixtures are ready, carefully add
caramel sugar to first mixture, stirring with a long wooden spoon. Test
for soft ball and when done, remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Add
vanilla, nuts and salt, and beat until creamy and stiff. Drop onto
buttered wax paper. Let cool; remove from wax paper. Store in tightly
covered container.
Makes about 2 dozen pralines.
More Praline Candy Recipes
Praline http://southernfood.about.com/library/rec03/bl30120g.htm
Squares
Pecan http://southernfood.about.com/library/rec00/bl01101e.htm
Pralines
New Orleans http://southernfood.about.com/library/rec98/bl81212b.htm
Pralines
Bourbon http://southernfood.about.com/library/rec98/bl80208a.htm
Pecan Pralines
Praline
http://southernfood.about.com/od/dessertsaucerecipes/r/blbb350.htm
Syrup
Pralines http://southernfood.about.com/od/pralines/
Candy Recipes http://southernfood.about.com/od/candyrecipes/
Chocolate Recipes http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocolaterecipes/
Fudge Recipes Index http://southernfood.about.com/od/fudgerecipes/
Chocolate Recipes http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocolaterecipes/
Bourbon Balls http://southernfood.about.com/od/bourbonballs/
Slow Cooker http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm
Recipes | Casseroles
http://southernfood.about.com/library/recipes/blpage16.htm
| Main
Recipe http://southernfood.about.com/library/recipes/blidx.htm
Index
Weekly http://southernfood.about.com/c/ec/1.htm
Crockpot Recipe
Newsletter
From http://southernfood.about.com/od/pralines/r/bl81212a.htm
On a similar note: I was just reading about getting FREE burlap bags from coffee roasters on Blissfully Domestic. Of course that put my creative senses into overdrive. There’s a coffee roaster about an hour from here so I’m hoping to score a few free bags. I want to decorate them up as Santa Bags for Christmas morning. Normally we just leave Santa gifts grouped together unwrapped with a personalized note for each kid but, I think adding a Santa bag will make it much nicer! Plus they’ll make great gift bags, especially for a coffee or tea basket! They may come in useful next halloween too, who knows. A new idea hits me every few minutes.
Jennifer
The Clark Family
Rickey, Jennifer, Michaela, Joey, Daniel, Richard, and Lance
http://frugalfrontporch.blogspot.com/
[Nice blog, LOL, I am already chasing links....granny]
[Each line/subject, will at the above link take you to the site she is talking about...granny]
Holidays By Hand - Sewing
• Gidget shows us the art-on-the-go bag she made for her nephew. It’s inspired by one of my current favorite books.
• Jodi reminds us that the beauty of a handmade Christmas is often its simplicity - her sweetly embellished seasonal dishtowels are so charming.
• I love this portable felt race track idea from Debbie! It’s such a great idea for waiting rooms and other times when you need to keep little ones occupied.
• Kate made a book bag for her sister-in-law for Christmas, and it’s darling. I love her choice in fabric.
• Some little girl is going to be thrilled this Christmas because her grandmother, Karen, has made her a matching dress for her and her Cabbage Patch.
• Andrea has not only made adorable skirts for her little girls, she has provided us with tutorials on how to make three different types! This is definitely a post to bookmark.
• Rachel has made a delightfully simple drawstring bag, and shows us how to apply a monogram.
• Jen has only been sewing for a few months, but she has transformed some skirts into aprons. I love this idea - way to repurpose your clothing, Jen!
• I definitely want to do some version of this - Alana has made holiday gift bags (eight, in fact) out of one yard of fabric. Creative and frugal.
• Kelly also made some gift bags - I love her choice in fabric on the ones she’s photographed.
• Nicole’s idea is so creatively simple - she has made fabric beaded necklaces. These would make great gifts for girls.
• Chez Ouiz shows us her family’s Jesse Tree ornaments. I’m inspired - and I love that Jonah.
• Darcy has also repurposed her clothing - this time, she’s transformed an old sweater into a handbag. Love it. Best of all, she provides a step-by-step visual tutorial.
• Breezy Tulip has sewn some adorable handmade dolls for the younger girls in her life. She, too, shows us how she did it.
• Nicki crafted an advent, countdown to Christmas calendar - simple, creative, and effective.
• Betsy made her niece an upcoming Christmas gift - zebra ear barrettes. How cute is that idea?
• Monica created a desk sewing kit out of an Altoids tin! That would make a great stocking stuffer.
For more sewing inspiration, I love the blogs Sew, Mama, Sew!, The Purl Bee, Soule Mama, and HELLO My Name is Heather, just to name a few.
If you have a post about one of your sewing projects for the holidays, be it a gift, a full-scale advent calendar, or a simple ornament crafted by you, we’d love to see it. Share the link in the comments below! Happy crafting, and here’s to a handmade, simpler holiday season.
http://planningwithkids.com/2008/10/23/christmas-planning-homemade-bath-salts/
[Has photos of the process]
Christmas Planning - Homemade Bath Salts
October 23, 2008 | Filed in: Children’s Activities, Planning | By: PlanningQueen
Bath Salts - 3 Finished Jars by you.
The countdown continues - 9 weeks until Christmas. My countdown is naturally of a planning nature and I am working through a Christmas Preparation Plan to allow a smooth and paced lead up to Christmas this year.
Week Nine’s activity was to complete making handmade gifts. Today with the two youngest children, I made the last of our handmade Christmas gifts, homemade bath salts. They were incredibly easy to make and it was really a fun activity to make with the children.
At their request tonight, we tested the bath salts (including me) in the bath and the children and myself were delighted with the results.
Here is a very simple tutorial that you can follow to make your own bath salts:
The Ingredients
Bath Salts - Ingredients by you.
* 1 cup of Epsom Salts
* 1 cup of Sea Salt
* 3 tablespoons of dehydrated milk
* Food Colouring
* 1/4 teaspoon of essential oil
A note about the sea salt. I bought sea salt that was “double washed and naturally evapourated”. It has slightly larger crystals than traditional table salt and looks better presentation wise.
The Instructions
Bath Salts - Mixing salts by you.
(1.) Mix the salts in a large bowl.
Bath Salts - Adding Dye by you.
(2). Add approximately 8 - 10 drops of food colouring to the salts. If you want a darker colour, obviously just add more dye. Mix dye in with a whisk.
Bath Salts - Mixing milk powder by you.
(3). Add the powdered milk and use the whisk again to mix thoroughly.
Bath Salts - Adding Essential Oil by you.
(4). Add the essential oil to the mix. The smell is the strongest notable characteristic of the bath salts, so it is worth while using a quality oil. I used an essential oil blend called harmony, which smells divine!
Bath Salts - Spooning into jar by you.
(5). Spoon mixture into a dry jar.
Bath Salts - Closing Lid by you.
(6). Place lid on and close tightly.
Bath Salts - Cloth Cover by you.
(7). I used a CD to cut out a circle piece of fabric to decorate the bath salts. The fabric is held in place by a length of thin ribbon.
Handmade Christmas Gift Sets by you.
I still have one more batch of bath salts to make (Possum thinks the next batch should be green) and I will have finished the handmade gifts for Christmas. As you can see from the photo above, I have been using the same materials across the three projects, so that I can team up multiple items, like gift sets.
Instructions for the other items can be found here:
- Handmade Fabric Covered Notebooks
- Handmade Fabric Necklaces
Share and Enjoy:
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