Fish and Chips

 

 

We brought a taste of London to our own kitchen table.

Homemade fish and chips.  We always substitute club soda for the beer in the batter because we don’t drink.  The club soda still gives the batter the bubbles to make it light and crispy and has worked out really well for us.

We ate the fish and chips with an old favorite summer recipe Raw Corn and Zucchini Salad, that I had almost forgotten about –and with sweet corn season at our farmers’  market coming to an end!  That would have been a sad oversight.  I’m glad I ran across the recipe again, just in time.

Vanilla Pudding Pops

We love teaching our children that eating real food includes plenty of snacks and treats.  Homemade and from whole foods.  In our family we love food, and enjoy food. . .  and our food is nourishing.

This week we enjoyed a whole food treat of homemade pudding pops.  I adapted this Martha Stewart Recipe, swapping out honey for the sugar, and you could use an arrowroot or other starch in place of the corn starch if you wanted as well.

I used an old plastic set of popsicle molds that I’ve had since I was like 9 or something. But this week I saw these stainless steel popsicle molds, and definitely think those should be a purchase for the future.

Honey Sweetened Vanilla Pudding Pop Recipe

• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tbl cornstarch or other starch
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, off heat, whisk together cornstarch, and salt. Gradually whisk in milk, mixing until ingredients are dissolved. Whisk in egg yolk and honey.

Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until the first large bubble sputters. Reduce heat to low; continue to whisk, and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat, and immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; stir in vanilla.

Divide mixture among five or six ice-pop molds. Chill in refrigerator until cool and thickened, about 1 hour. Insert pop sticks, and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours and up to 2 weeks.  Run mold briefly under warm water to help release popcicles.

Elderflower Cordial

We made a big batch of elderflower cordial from the elderflower heads we foraged.  We’d never had elderflower cordial before, but apparently it’s a soft drink dating back to the roman empire, and has been traditionally very popular in northwestern Europe where it has a strong Victorian heritage.  We have a soft spot for things Victorian around here so we were even more determined to try it.

We cobbled together a recipe from a few we saw online, and in the end I’m still not quite sure what constitutes “one large head” of elderflowers, so I’m sure (like with most things) variation is acceptable.  It has a pleasant unique flavor, that really doesn’t taste like anything else.  We’ve been mixing it about 1 part to 8 parts sparkling water, but that’s all up to personal taste.  Some people even mix it with “still water”, it would still have a pleasant zing from the lemon and acid.

Elderflower Cordial Recipe

• 25 large elderflower heads
• 2 pints water
• 2 lbs sugar
• 2 oz tartaric acid (cream of tartar) or citric acid
• 2 lemons, juiced

Dissolve sugar in water over low heat.  Add tartaric or citric acid and lemon juice.  (Zest of lemons can be added as well.)  Mix well.  Add elderflowers.  Steep 24 hours.  Strain into jars.  Store in the refrigerator or freezer–just to be safe.

Mix with sparkling water to drink, or substitute for any flavored syrup in recipes.

 

Honey Whole Wheat and Flax Seed Bread

With so much honey flowing into our kitchen, I’ve been experimenting more lately with replacing other sugars with honey, and trying to adapt favorite recipes along the way.  There’s a few main points to remember when replacing sugar with honey, and I’ll explain them in reference to my new adapted bread recipe.

First, honey “tastes sweeter” than sugar, so you actually should use less honey than sugar called for in the recipe. My bread recipe originally called for 1/2 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons of honey, plus 1 teaspoon of sugar for proofing the yeast.  In my new recipe I simply use 1/2 cup of honey and call it good.

Second, honey is a liquid, so you need to subtract from the total amount of liquid called for in the recipe by how much honey you use.  My recipe called for 2 1/2 cups buttermilk, but since I am using honey I only use 2 cups of buttermilk.

Finally, you can’t use honey in place of sugar when it is structurally necessary for the recipe.  In many cookie recipes, for example, the sugar and butter must be creamed together.  The sugar crystals actually cut into the butter making little pockets for air to aid in the final structure of the baked good.  I might try slowly replacing some sugar in a cookie recipe and see how much I could get away with substituting, but I would never try to just swap it right out.  This isn’t a necessary consideration for my bread, however, and–I’m realizing–more and more recipes I try.

I’ve successfully adapted my recipe for bread to use honey rather than sugar.  I’ve made it a few times, so I’m ready to share it.  In the summer it’s always harder for me to work up the desire to turn my oven on–so I’ve been trying to bake a bunch of bread at once.  (This picture shows four loaves of the honey whole wheat and flax seed bread, and the round loaf on the right is a leftover oatmeal bread loaf.)

Honey Whole Wheat and Flax Seed Bread

1/2 cup honey
2 tsp salt
2 cups warmed buttermilk*
2 Tbsp butter, melted, or oil
5 cups of whole wheat flour, divided
1/3 cup of ground flax seed meal**
1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp honey***
2-3 cups unbleached AP or bread flour

In large mixer bowl, mix first 4 ingredients together. Add 3 cups of the whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup of ground flax seed meal to cooled mixture. Blend at low speed until moist; then beat at medium speed for three minutes to begin developing gluten.

Mix yeast into water and honey and let proof. Add last 2 cups of whole wheat flour to bowl, and add the yeast mixture–after it has started to rise. Mix all together well. Stir in 2-3 cups white flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, at least 7 minutes in mixer or 10-15 minutes by hand. Place dough in greased bowl, flip the dough over so the oily side is on top, cover with a towel. Let rise in warm place until doubled–about an hour. Gently degas (“punch down”) dough, divide into 2 loaves and form into loaf shapes. Place in greased bread pans and let rise again until dough is about 1 inch above pan edges.(About 30-45 minutes)  Slice 1/4 inch depth down the the center of each loaf.****  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes–or until loaves sound hollow when lightly rapped.***** Remove from pans immediately. Cool and enjoy.

My personal notes:

*Sometimes I use buttermilk, sometimes I use milk with 1 Tbl lemon juice added, I’ve used reconstituted powdered milk with lemon juice added, and you could even use just water, but the bread would not be as rich.

**Fresh ground meal has more nutrients, but flax seeds are difficult to grind.  I’ve tried unsuccessfully in a food processor, and my hand grain mill.  What I do is store my flax seeds in the fridge, and when I need meal I mix it about half and half with the wheat berries (grains) and find that I can grind that pretty well through my hand grinder.  You can try that if you want, realizing that it goes against the instructions of many grain mills, or you can use pre-ground meal, or simply replace it with more wheat flour.

***I measure out my 1/2 cup of honey into a 1 cup glass measuring cup.  I pour it out into the mixing bowl and set aside.  When it’s time for my yeast, I take that measuring cup with the honey residue left in it, fill it with 1/2 cup of warm water and the yeast and mix them all up.  I find there is enough honey left in the glass to get the yeast going nicely, and I don’t have to stress about scraping every last bit of honey out back at the first step.

****It’s my un-scientifically-proven beleif that splitting the top allows the dough to raise just a little bit more when being placed into the oven before the crust forms, allowing the bread to be just a little bit more airy, which for wheat bread is very appreciated.

*****Alternately I bake to an internal temperature of 190*F.

Backyard Honey Ice Cream

I mentioned I was reading Keeping Bees with Ashley English.  Well, my boys couldn’t help but be excited about all the bee books around, and Jonas found the recipe for Honey Ice Cream in the recipe section of her book. He wouldn’t let us forget about it, so this week we made a batch of backyard honey ice cream.

It was absolutely delicious, as homemade ice cream always is.  And it is made with only natural ingredients and honey as the only sweetener.  I love when food can be so real, and so delicious.

Honey Ice Cream Recipe:

2 cups milk

2/3 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 large eggs

2 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

 

Note: This is a custard-type ice cream which uses eggs, the eggs are heated on the stove top and need to be chilled completely before attempting to freeze into ice cream, so prepare the mixture in the morning, or the night before you want to freeze it.

Heat the milk over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes.  Whisk in the honey and salt.  Beat the two eggs in a small bowl.  Temper the eggs by slowly pouring 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the eggs while quickly stirring.  Once they are mixed together you can pour the eggs mixture into the pot of milk without the eggs curdling.  Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

Allow mixture to cool completely.  Then chill thoroughly,  8-12 hours.

Prepare ice cream freezer.  Pour in milk mixture, vanilla and cream.  Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream maker.

Ice cream always comes out of the mixer a bit of a soft-serve consistency, if you prefer harder ice cream, transfer to a chilled freezer-proof container and freeze four hours to harden.

Enjoy!

Leftover Oatmeal Bread

The ultimate definition of thrift is taking something unusable and resurrecting it into something of real great value.

No one likes rubbery leftover oatmeal. We’ve tried to save helpings leftover from breakfast and reheat them later–maybe adding a little bit of milk to brighten it up–but it’s still not the same as a steaming pot of freshly-cooked oatmeal. So we’ve tried giving old oatmeal to the chickens, and –truth be told– they love it, but I just still feel like throwing it out to the chickens was a bit of an extreme sentence for the crimes of the old oatmeal.

I knew there had to be a better option. Adding them to bread seemed like a perfect idea. I consulted Alton Brown, for his food savvy, and adjusted the recipe to our own food preferences (whole wheat and honey). Our oatmeal was steel cut oats and included a little bit of dairy and honey, but rolled oat oatmeal could be used as well.

Leftover Oatmeal Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups leftover, cooked oatmeal, at room temperature
1/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for bowl and pan

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour, plus 1/2 cup extra for kneading
1/4 cup toasted uncooked old fashioned rolled oats, plus 1 tablespoon extra for topping
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

Toast the raw oats if desired.

Combine the leftover cooked oatmeal, warm water, honey, and 1 tablespoon of oil in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Combine the yeast, bread flour, 1/4 cup toasted, uncooked oats, and the salt in a small mixing bowl.

Add the dry mixture to the cooked oatmeal mixture in 3 installments and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Spread last 1/2 cup of bread flour on a counter. Turn the dough onto it and knead by hand for 10 minutes, adding more flour, if needed. Dough will still be a little sticky. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl or container. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, shape it into a loaf, and put it into a lightly oiled 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the egg yolk and water in a small bowl. Lightly brush the top of the loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon toasted, uncooked oats. Bake about 55 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the loaf from the pan to a cooling rack for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Salsa Chicken

I try new recipes frequently. I like to keep meal plans fresh and interesting. But we do have a few “favorite meals” that we will have multiple times a year. One of these favorites is “Salsa chicken.”  I actually got the recipe from a free recipe card in the spice aisle–one of those ones meant to get non-cooking people to cook–as a young engaged woman.  It appealed to my desire to improve my cooking repertoire, and was four simple ingredients,  easy to cook and very delicious. The recipe originally called for a taco seasoning spice mix packet . But my conscience recognizes that individual packets of spice mixes are among some of the most overpriced things you can buy in the grocery store, so I’ve looked for alternatives over the years. For a while I tried the recipe from an old-school “Make-a-mix” cookbook. But the flavor wasn’t quite like I wanted it to be. Then I tried Alton Brown’s Taco Potion recipe and have really liked that one. It makes more than I need for one use, so I store it in a little reused glass jar.

Toss cut up chicken breast in taco seasoning. Cook in a hot saute pan with oil.

 

When the chicken has lightened on all sides, add diced tomatoes with juice.

 

Next add apricot jam. This is one of the only ones we can find in our grocery store without high fructose corn syrup.

When chicken is done and the sauce has cooked down a little remove from heat.  Serve over rice.

 

Salsa Chicken

serves 4 adults

Taco seasoning

2 chicken breasts sliced into bite-sized strips

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups (one can) diced tomatoes

1/2 cup apricot jam

Brown rice

 

Begin cooking desired amount of rice according to package directions.

Toss cut up chicken breast in 1-2 tablespoons taco seasoning to coat. Heat oil in a large saute pan.  Add chicken and stir as it cooks until the chicken has lightened on all sides.  Add diced tomatoes in their juice. Next add apricot jam, and stir. Simmer about 10 minutes until chicken is done and the sauce has cooked down a little.  Remove from heat.  Serve over rice.

January Backyard Harvest

It’s amazingly satisfying to cook with my own produce and the other fruits of my  labors.

I made a favorite recipe of ours recently:   Butternut Apple Soup. I was excited to see so much of my own efforts go into the soup. Two decent-sized butternut squash. (We let them sit on the shelf for a while to fully ripen since their vines died before they were ripe.) Frozen applesauce I made this summer from my freezer. Honey from our backyard beehive harvest . I’d love to can my own chicken broth but haven’t done that yet.

We pulled some chard from the hoop house and chopped it up in some scrambled eggs, and added it with crumbled sausage to a tortilla for breakfast burritos.

But the best surprise of the week was that the bantam hens (or at least one) started laying again. The three mini eggs in front came from our 10 month old bantams. I’m really excited for the egg production to pick up again, because who likes having to go to the the store to buy eggs?

I’ve been daydreaming about gardening and beekeeping all week. I guess that’s just what you do when you are cooped in in the middle of the winter. But meanwhile, at least we can enjoy a little bit of goodness from our winter backyard harvest.

Butternut Apple Soup Recipe

3 cups chicken broth
1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cubed to 1 inch pieces
1 Lg apple peeled and cubed
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 T honey
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cream

In a large pot bring the broth and squash to a simmer. Add the apples, applesauce, honey, ginger, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med-low, simmer for 15 minutes. At this point you can begin to mash the squash against the side of the pot with a spoon. Add cream, cook for another 10-15 stirring/mashing occasionally until you reach your desired consistency. You can just puree it with a stick blender too. Salt to you own taste.

Honeyed Carrot Soup with Dill

I’m often amazed by the truth that when my pantry is stocked with the basics that there is no end to the food possibilities in my kitchen.

I remembered making a carrot soup from the Pioneer Woman back in the day, and recently returned to her site to look for it.  I found her updated Carrot-Thyme Soup with Cream which looked even more intriguing so I set out to make that.  But as it turned out I didn’t have quite the right ingredients she called for.  My jar of dry thyme has been missing since Thanksgiving dinner and I had actually planned to buy fresh thyme from the market for something else and they were out.

Jeremy looked up “substitute for thyme” for me on the internet, but I knew that what I needed was not so much a substitute for thyme as I needed  “an herb –other than thyme– that goes well with carrots”.  We make a side dish of glazed carrots with a bit of dried dill weed sprinkled on top, so I decided to go with that.  It was a successful experiment–the soup was delicious and everyone at it right up.   It was a beautiful bright orange color.  And best of all–I didn’t have to run to the market to pick up just one or two things–I was able to make it work with what I had.

Here’s my recipe, modified from PW for:

Honeyed Carrot Soup with Dill

• 1 quart chicken stock or broth
• 1 1/2 lbs carrots
• 1/2 tsp dry dill weed
• 1/4 cup honey (or less)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• dash of salt

Pour chicken stock in a small soup pot and bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop carrots.  Add to broth and simmer until carrots are soft, about 15 minutes.  Puree with an immersion blender.  (Or puree in batches in a counter top blender or food processor.) Add dill, honey and cream, stir to combine.  Serves 4-6.

Fresh Homemade Egg Nog

This recipe for homemade egg nog, comes from my grandmother who would serve it every Christmas Eve in her home. It was always a huge family get together and I love the memories I have associated with this egg nog. My grandmother always used regular grocery store eggs, but we love getting eggs fresh from our backyard. (I will also use pasteurized eggs from the grocery store when I’m serving it to friends who may worry about raw eggs.)

Homemade egg nog is a different texture than what you buy in a carton at the store. Homemade gets it’s thick, but light texture from air that is whipped into it. Carton egg nog is thickened by gelatin and other artificial thickeners that hold up in transportation better than little air bubbles.  Homemade may be different, but I think that’s a good thing–it usually is.

Homemade Egg Nog Recipe

6 eggs, divided
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups cream, divided
2 cups milk
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum flavoring
freshly grated nutmeg

Put 6 egg yolks in a large mixing bowl, beat until light-colored. Gradually add in sugar. With the mixer running, slowly add in 1 cup of the cream, the milk, vanilla, and rum flavoring. (1/2 a teaspoon is all the rum flavoring I add in because I’m not actually a drinker. If you prefer it a bit more “boozy” tasting then add the full teaspoon.)

In a separate bowl mix remaining 1 cup of cream and two of the egg whites, whip until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the milk and egg yolks mixture. Serve right away sprinkled with a touch of nutmeg.

**I prefer using regular whipping cream over “heavy” whipping cream if you have the option, I just felt it came together better in the end. Use your leftover egg whites to make homemade meringues, pavlova, or angel food cake.**

Let me know if you give it a try for the holidays this year!