Mini cupcakes cooling

My sweet little boy turns 4 today!  He takes after his grandfather and is a total chocolate-hound, so I promised him chocolate cupcakes for school.  Since no parent in their right mind gives a room full of schoolkids too much sugar, I made mini-cakes.  I hadn’t intended at all for these to be Dark Days sweets, but as it turns out, one little boy in his class is allergic to eggs, so that means he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the cupcakes.  I made sure that the frosting was egg-free and made a batch of shortcake to put it on.

The cupcake recipe is right out of Baking Illustrated and uses AP flour, sugar, cocoa powder, instant coffee powder, baking powder, salt, butter, sour cream (I used yogurt), eggs and vanilla.  The only local ingredients I used were flour, butter, yogurt and backyard eggs.  I do make my own vanilla from vodka and vanilla beans but only to affect the price, not its SOLE characteristics.

Sprinkled cupcakes

The frosting is easy-peasy.  I just melted a 10-oz bag of organic semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler (the mixer bowl over a pot of water) with a cup of organic heavy cream, and then just as it started to melt, I whipped it for a few minutes until it got fluffy.  And which kid doesn’t like colorful nonpareils?  They are so not local, but due to the allergy, I looked them up and they are only sugar and starch and coloring.  I wonder if we could make them in our home kitchens?

The shortbread, however, was totally local, so I’m really excited about this recipe. I adapted it from Baking Illustrated which said to use rice flour or if you don’t have it, use cornstarch. The reason to use a low-gluten flour is to make the cookie texture tender. The rice flour isn’t in my pantry, and who knows where the cornstarch comes from? I know that Emmer, an ancient wheat variety, is low-gluten, so I used 1/4 cup Bluebird Grain Emmer, with 1 3/4 cups Stone Buhr Shepherd’s Grain All-purpose flour, 2/3 cup sugar (it’s supposed to be super-fine but it was late last night and I didn’t want to whirl it around in the cuisinart), 1/4 tsp salt, and 16 T local Tillamook butter.  I actually cut the recipe in half, since I didn’t want to make too much.  Simply cut the butter into the flour/sugar mixture (a blender/cuisinart is supposed to be better so you don’t melt the butter), and then press it into a round pan.  Invert the pan and use a small round cookie cutter to cut out the center.  Bake for 20 min at 300^F, then score the shortbread with fork-pricks and cut lines.  Bake another 40 minutes at 300^F and let cool.  I frosted the cut-out to look just like the rest of the cupcakes.  Can’t wait to hear about the birthday party at school!

Frosted shortbread

I like how simple the recipe is, and I imagine the farmhouse wife, or the estate cook from Downton Abbey just whipping up some shortbread for tea time.   What about you?  Have you found yourself cooking in a more simple manner now that you’re using local ingredients, or are you using every pot in the kitchen to make fabulous confections?

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

Pot 1 – Make stock:

Chicken stock

Pot 2 – strain stock into second pot through cheesecloth.

Cookie Sheet 1 – Roast Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash (my own garden) in oven until squishy, then peel.

Pan 1 – Crisp leeks, then bacon (Hempler’s, Ferndale WA) in a pan.

squash and bacon on stove

Pot 2 continued – puree squash and leeks with immersion blender.  Lightly season with salt, pepper, truffle oil, and sherry vinegar.

Bowl 1 – put about 1/4 cup olive oil in a bowl with salt and pepper.  Toss cubes of homemade bread, to coat, then put into cookie sheet 1.  Bake in oven at 400 ^ until croutons are nicely browned.

Bowl 1 continued – make salad dressing and salad

Bowl 2 – Dice the bacon and either set aside or mix into soup.

Bowl 3 – Serve the croutons or mix into soup.

Pan 1 continued – deglaze pan with wine.  Slice farmer’s market brussels sprouts and saute in wine-bacon mixture.  Add water and steam until done.  Season with some pepper.

Enjoy dinner:

One Pot Dining?

Wash all those darned pots and bowls.

What about you? Do you make soup in the traditional French manner with a fonds blanc, or do you use prepared stock?

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

Jars of Goo (click to view larger)

You already know that condiments and tupperware tubs of leftovers breed in the dark recesses of your refrigerator.  Did you know that urban farming also causes weird shit to appear in your fridge?  I mean, seriously, do I really need bacon fat AND ghee AND shmaltz?

making potato chips with shmaltz

Fortunately, where there’s an ingredient, there’s a way (whey?).  Just smear shmaltz, bacon fat, or ghee over a rimmed cookie sheet, cover with thinly sliced potatoes (yukon gold from my neighbor, makah ozette from my garden, and heirloom snowflake potatoes from Bainbridge Island).  Add another layer of goo and bake at 400 ^F for 20-30 min until they are brown and crispy.  Sprinkle with sea salt and serve with homemade ketchup.

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

The weeks from Christmas to the end of January are very busy, with two birthdays to celebrate, so it’s hard to find time to blog, let alone shop at farmers’ markets.  However, I was handy with the camera, so at least I documented a couple of Gimme Meals.   They aren’t particularly interesting, but at least they’re mostly local.

Local Breakfast

One breakfast, I looked at my plate and realized that I’ld made a SOLE meal without trying.  The point is, with this challenge, if you just buy SOLE ingredients then it’s easy to serve them in infinite ways.

• Homemade sourdough bread with local wheat
• Butter from Smith Brothers Farms
• Blueberry Jam I put up last summer
• Very expensive bacon from the farmer’s market
• Washington pears
• Oops: I see some orange juice in the corner.  What with the recent fluff about pesticides coming in on Brazilian oranges, I’ld better rethink our OJ sources.  But unlike Annette, we’re not going to ban it in our house.

Comfort Food

On New Year’s Eve, I made my husband’s comfort food – Mexican.  Although NONE of it is local, it was all organic.

• Store tortillas but Central Market makes them in house using Stone Buhr flour (I asked!)
• Organic cabbage, turnip and Nash’s Carrot slaw with green onion
• Avocado (organic, but in no way local, and probably not very ethical considering how agricultural workers are often treated).
• Homemade sour cream (drained some lovely plain yogurt for the whey in another recipe, and used the rest on top here!)
• Rice (California) and organic beans (from a can.  That opens up another category of angst … do you plan the night before what you are going to have for dinner tomorrow?  Only then do you have enough time to soak the beans.)
• Local true cod lightly spiced with cumin, corriander and cayenne
• Cheese (Tillamook)
• Fresh organic salsa (but I see tomatoes, so they were probably imported.)
• Wine from 14 Hands (Lower Columbia River winery)

What are your gimme meals?  Do you have a pantry already filled with local foods that you preserved yourself?  Do you just buy organic and whip something up that day?  Or do you plan ahead a day in advance and really craft something with purpose and planning?

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

It's a crock

I found this lovely crock at the thrift store and took it home.  Then I turned it around and found its intended use!  Nevertheless, I made my first batch of sauerkraut.  We had some today for lunch.

First, make some whey and sour cream:

Put a funnel over a small jelly-jar and line with cheesecloth.  Spoon a cup or so of plain yogurt into the strainer and wait overnight.  The whey will collect in the bottom, and keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.  Spread the freshly made sour cream on bagels.

Make sauerkraut:

Rinse and chop your cabbage.  Add caraway seeds and some garlic cloves to your crock.  Layer in a handful of cabbage with a sprinkle of pickling salt (regular table salt will do in a pinch, pun intended, but may leave a residue of iodine) and continue until it’s all in the crock.  Add several tablespoons of your whey, and cover with water.  You can press the cabbage underwater with a dish.  Let it sit in the crock until bubbly.  I stirred every day, because I was curious.  Serve with sausages and beer.

Have you found any thrift-store treasures that inspired you to cook?    How about fermenting; have you given it a try?

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

Aloo Patta Gobi with Paratha, Chutney and Raita

I’ve been musing for some time now how one’s cultural identity comes from food – the food you grew up with, the food you cook at home.   Grocery-store cooking enables you to cook food from a variety of cultures any day of the week.   Some of my friends shop for fresh food every day.  I couldn’t possibly, with two rowdy kids it’s already a nightmare once every week or two.  I  much prefer to plan a week, check the larder, and fill in the gaps.  This Dark Days Challenge is adding an extra layer for me, to determine what is in season this week, and build the menu from there.  I tried to explore different cultures last week by preparing the same ingredients in different ways.  The dishes differed by the spices.  I have to admit that without them, cabbage and potatoes are pretty boring!

I told you before that I can’t follow every rule to its letter.  I’m bending the Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical rules when it comes to spices, though being aware is probably half the battle.   Last week we served Aloo Patta Gobi, a potato-cabbage dish inspired by Madhur Jaffrey.  I made raita, winter chutney, and parathas to go with it.

Raita, Local Style

Mix everything together, season to taste:  1 cup PLAIN yogurt – I used Brown Cow Cream Top, which I love, but this was vanilla flavor for the kids and it was sickly-sweet for this recipe. 1/2 shredded apple (use the cuisinart), garlic from the garden, salt, and pepper.

Winter Chutney

This recipe is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail

Wash, core and peel three local apples.  Shred the apples in the cuisinart (on the cheese-grater setting), and squeeze the juice out into a glass for you to drink later.  Put the apples in a sauce pan and add 1 cup local cider vinegar and 1 cup brown sugar, several cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of ginger.  Stir to mix and simmer for an hour on the stove until thick.  Season with salt and cayenne, add a quarter to half a cup of raisins and simmer for another 10 min.  Serve, or refrigerate.

Parathas

Forming a paratha

Make ghee.  1 lb of butter, cubed and melted, and strained through three layers of cheesecloth fills one pint jar.  Store in refrigerator.

Add 1/2 cup warm water to 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used Bluebird Organic Hard White all purpose flour) and 1/2 tsp salt.  Knead well and let rest, covered with a damp tea towel for 15 min.    Divide into eighths and roll out.  Brush with melted ghee.  Roll up, then coil into a snake.  Press flat and roll out again.  Brush with ghee and cook on a very hot griddle about 10 seconds each side, twice, until puffy and cooked through.

What ethnic or traditional food are you cooking?  Are you finding it hard without spices, or are you making concessions?

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

Piroshki

Piroshki with christmas carousel

Piroshki are little hand-held baked pies filled with meats and a variety of vegetables like cabbage, onions, cheese, or even fruit.  They are related to Samosas and Empanadas and the Eastern Europe versions are frequently made with yeasted doughs.  In contrast, Pierogi are little unleavened dumplings similar to wontons, gyoza and tortellini that are typically boiled.   This recipe is leavened with baking powder instead of yeast.  We’ll explore Samosas some more soon, yum!

Filling:

2-3 boiled potatoes (I’m using Makah Ozette from my garden)
1/2 onion, diced and/or leeks, washed and finely sliced
a couple of cloves of garlic
bacon fat or schmaltz (I happen to have schmaltz rendered from our rooster that we butchered this fall)
1/4 shredded cabbage (farmer’s market, last week)
apple-cider vinegar
salt
black pepper and/or paprika
egg or 1/4 cup milk

Boil and cool a couple of potatoes (depending on the size).  Peel skins if they are thick.  Saute the onion, leeks, and garlic in the bacon fat until softened.  Add to the bowl with potatoes and mash together.  Add a 1/4 cup milk, or an egg to hold things together.  Add another Tbsp bacon fat to the pan and lightly saute the sliced cabbage.  When wilted, about 10 min, deglaze the pan with some apple-cider vinegar and add the cabbage to the potato-onion mixture.  Season with salt, pepper, and paprika, to taste.  Let cool to touch.

Dough – this one is like making a pie:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or equal amounts of whole wheat + AP flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cups cold butter (8T), cut into small pieces
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche (both have a lower butterfat than the traditional smetana)
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

2 egg whites

Piroshki filling technique

Mix dry ingredients, then add butter with hands, as though making pie.  Fold in the egg yolks and sour cream.  Add milk until dough sticks together.  Knead slightly in the bowl, then chill at least 1 hour.  Divide into small balls, and roll out about 4″ in diameter and about 1/8″ thick.  Add a couple of Tbsp of filling, brush edges with egg whites, and fold in half, making a moon shape.  Press edges closed with fingers or fork.  For a professional finish, use a circle-cutter to trim the edges, and decorate the top with a shape.  Bake at 350^F for 30 min.  Serve with Sausages and Sour Cream.  And Vodka.

Colcannon

Those poor Irish surely had a challenge being cheerful after a winter of just cabbage and potatoes, but this makes a hearty dish to survive that cold North Atlantic wind.  This dish didn’t appear in Ireland until the mid 1600s, when the potato was imported from the Americas.  The rural Irish at that time were mainly cattle-herders, so milk and cheese are featured widely.  Serve this with a tall pint of stout.

1 onion
2-4 Tbsp butter or bacon fat (I save my bacon fat every time I cook.)
1/2 cabbage (you could use kale if you have that instead)
2 boiled, cooled and mashed potatoes (or parsnips, if you have them.  My potatoes are Yukon Golds from my neighbor.)
salt
pepper
3-4 Tbsp apple-cider vinegar
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1/2 – 1 tsp nutmeg (NOT local; admit or omit as desired)

Saute onion in half of the bacon fat.  Add the sliced cabbage and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes.  Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, and add salt and pepper to taste.   Remove onion and cabbage from heat.  Add the remaining bacon fat to the pan and 2 Tbsp of flour.  Mix to make a paste, then add the milk to make a roux.  Whisk out any lumps and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Add the mashed potatoes, then gently stir in the cabbage mixture.  Pour it all into a baking dish, smooth the top, and bake for 15 min at 400^F.

Aloo Patta Gobi

Aloo Gobi

This North Indian dish makes cabbage and potatoes much more interesting with the addition of turmeric, cumin, ginger, and coriander, none of which are local, but that’s another post.  I’ve served it with paratha and raita.

2 Tbsp ghee [Simmer 1 lb local butter on the stove and then pour through a triple layer of cheesecloth.  Store in the refrigerator.]
1 Tbsp ginger [NOT local]
1 Tbsp garlic [NOT local]
1 tsp cumin [NOT local]
1 tsp turmeric [NOT local]
1 tsp coriander [NOT local]
1 tsp chili powder [NOT local]
1 head cabbage, shredded [Finally! Local]
1 potato, cubed [Local]
1 onion, diced [Local]
1 tomato [NOT local, at least not in winter unless you've thought ahead in August, which I didn't]

Saute the spices briefly in 1-2 Tbsp ghee until they darken and become fragrant.  Add the onion, ginger and garlic, and saute until translucent, then push to the side of the pan.  Add your cubed potatoes and 1-2 Tbsp ghee if needed, and let the potato brown and get crispy on each side.  Add the chopped tomato and cabbage and let simmer, covered for a few minutes.  Season to taste.  Serve with parathas, chutney, and yogurt raita (recipes to follow in the next post).

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

Parker House Rolls from Nosheteria

Parker House Rolls:

Parker House Rolls were created at the Parker House Hotel in the 1870s, and published in Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook as early as 1896.  See The Fresh Loaf for some videos on how to form them.  Here is my version:

2 1/4 cups AP flour
2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup local butter, cut into pieces

1 1/4 cups warm milk
1 Tbsp yeast
1 egg

I hate using a lot of bowls and utensils which require washing, so add ingredients in order:

Mix flour, salt, and sugar together, then mix in butter using a fork or fingers, like making pie.  Make a well in the flour mixture and add about 1/2 cup of the warm milk.  Sprinkle the yeast on top and wait 5 min to get it started, then add remaining milk and egg.  Mix everything well, and knead with your hands in the bowl.  Let it rise 45 min in a warmed oven.  Punch down, then divide dough into 12 pieces.  Take each piece, divide and roll with your hands into 3 balls.  Place balls into a greased muffin-tin and repeat with remaining 11 pieces.  Let rise another 45 min, then bake at 375^ for 20-22 min.

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

The thing that disappoints me about farmer’s markets is the sticker shock.  It’s not the posted prices that bother me the most, even though they seem terrifyingly expensive like $10/lb for bacon when I can get Applegate for $6.99/lb at the store.  It’s the impulse buy that you can’t back down from when you ask pleadingly “Do you have bacon?”  Sure!, and you’re handed a shy 1 lb packet for $16.  Yikes!  That wasn’t posted, and shame on me for not asking!  Should I have said no, thanks for wrapping it up for me, but I’ll get it at the stall across the way for only $10?  Sigh, I tucked tail, and shoved it into my rucksack.

My eldest has been begging for Matzoh ball soup, and somehow I just didn’t even have 18 minutes to bake matzoh, and then make flour from it.  So I just took a cup and a half of my new fresh Hard White all-purpose wheat and added 2 eggs (LOCAL), a half cup of water, 2 Tbsp of melted butter (LOCAL), 2 tsp of baking powder (NOT) and a smidge of salt and paprika (NOT).  I should have run outside for some parsley but it was dark and cold, and as I said in the paragraph above, I’m a wimp sometimes.

I used up last week’s rooster/carrot/onion/mushroom soup (LOCAL) by pureeing it senseless (apparently barf-boy can detect miniscule shreds of carrot), and then dropped the batter into the simmering broth.  Cooks Illustrated suggests that you put a tea-towel around the lid to absorb excess moisture to keep it from making your dumplings soggy.   As it turns out, the new whole wheat could have used some extra moisture, so next time perhaps double the butter.   Whole grains tend to require more.

I sauteed the brussels sprouts (LOCAL) up with some shallots in leftover bacon fat (NOT and NOT), and deglazed the pan with just a few tablespoons of red wine (less is more, here), and made a salad of lettuce (PROBABLY NOT), arugula (LOCAL), pear (LOCAL), and green onion (PROBABLY NOT).  I’m sure the greens are greenhouse grown … need to follow up on that.  The wine is relatively close, only 231 miles, but not specifically within the boundaries of the challenge.

I think I’m only 50% on this meal, though my NOT locals are spices and wine.  I’m improving my ratio of local to not.  Things to work on this week:

• Greens – Need a reliable source of lettuce, arugula and green onion.  Kale and brussels sprouts will only last us so far this winter, especially since we have daily salads.
• Wine – There are some good Western Washington wines that I need to explore.

Friends – What are your great finds, and your regrets from your local farmer’s markets?

{ part of Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa }

{ part of Dark Days Challenge at Not Dabbling in Normal }

In contrast, Ken Albala (“The Lost Art of Real Cooking”) charms with riffs on cooking, such as: throw some beans in a pot with some water and salt and cook it for a while.  Really.  Do you need to have a book tell you that for 2 people you only need 1 cup of beans, or for 40 cowboys, you’ll probably want to add a half a cow or something?  Maybe an onion?

Cooking is like jazz.  After you practice for a while, you get so that you don’t have to plan everything out.  The best way to get started is to cook.  A lot.  Find something you and your family likes to eat and follow a recipe for a while.  Then close the book and open your fridge.  Free yourself from precise measurements and do a riff with what’s available.  My challenge is to improve the quality of my ingredients so that they ARE sustainable, organic, local and ethical.

Local spaghetti and meatball ingredients

Fortunately ‘barf-boy’ will reliably eat noodles.  I’m getting pretty good at making them, though the first couple of batches were choked down politely by my husband.  For our family, we only need about a cup of flour, an egg, and a tablespoon of olive oil (not local yet, sorry).  The amount of water will vary depending on the blend of flours you use.   Right now, I’m playing around with AP, bread, and semolina flours and prefer a half and half blend of semolina and bread.   The KitchenAid helps knead and cut the dough, though the rollers squeak horribly (yes, I know, it says ‘Do not immerse in water’, but it was only a wipe-down).

I’m lucky enough to have access to local eggs and flour, but I had to go to the store to get pork and beef for the meatballs.  Someday I’ll have a big enough freezer for half a pig, but this time I found Northwest-raised grass-fed beef and  Pure Country Pork at PCC. Google Maps won’t let me cheat; they’re 183 miles away, and erk, I’m 250 miles from my new wheat source, Bluebird Grains, though closer than my previous source, Stone Buhr.  Local may have to be relative since wheat crops aren’t yet common in Western Washington.

To equal parts of pork and beef, I added a similar amount of homemade breadcrumbs, an egg, a couple of cloves of home-grown garlic and some salt and pepper.  The breadcrumbs I made from bread-ends stuck in the freezer until I had enough to dirty-up my cuisinart and then bake the crumbs for a while.  For this meal, I omitted the dried herbs, since I didn’t grow them myself.

I totally failed on the tomato sauce, opening a can to which I added garlic, salt, pepper and chili flakes, sugar and a splash of local red wine (Thank god for the Yakima Valley!)  Since we use tomato sauce about twice a week (pasta, pizza), remind me to buy enough tomatoes from our Seattle Farm Co-op bulk-tomato buy, so I can put up about 15 quarts of sauce next fall (I think about 80 lbs should do it, yikes!)

We rounded out our meal with a green salad, milk and wine (just for us, not the kids, natch).  Fannie Farmer would be pleased that our picky eater ate every bite.

How do you like to cook?  Recipe or Riff?

{ This post is part of the Simple Lives Thursday Bloghop }