Pears, peaches, and pickles

So I've been going a little canning crazy lately, and I have managed to put up two types of confitures and some dill pickles over the last 10 days or so. I am just loving the new confitures book by Christine Ferber I purchased, and it is allowing me to try more tastes beyond the standard typical jams. The only problem is that many of the jams are a pretty soft set, which is okay for me, but it would be nice if I could improve my techniques.

One of the first things I put up lately was a Pear with Balsalmic Vinegar and Spices confiture as Henry's Market had Bartlett pears on sale (3 lbs for $1!). Involving a balsalmic/honey reduction with cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and peppercorns, it is so much of a fall flavor jam. Very yummy.

And of course I had to try the White Peaches with Saffron before all the yummy peaches were out of season, and I'm glad I did. It's more of sliced peaches in a heavy syrup type of confiture, but tasty nonetheless. And the saffron really does come through.

The last thing I put up (yesterday actually) was fresh kosher dill pickles with the cucumbers purchased at the Farmer's market on Sunday. They were so simple to make and so yummy.

Fresh Kosher Dill Pickles

small cucumbers, sliced into about 1/4 inch rounds
fresh dill (dried works well too)
yellow mustard seeds
lightly smushed cloves of garlic
vinegar (either white or cider)
water
coarse salt

Make a solution with one part vinegar to one part water and add 1 Tbsp of salt for each cup total of solution (example: 3 cups vinegar plus 3 cups water plus 6 Tbsp salt). Let come to a boil and boil gently till salt completely dissolves.

In each canning jar (amounts for 1 pint), place 1 tsp mustard seeds, clove garlic and dill at bottom top with cucumber slices. Once jar is half full, add more dill and another clove of garlic and continue packing with cucumber slices until 3/4 inch from top.

Fill each jar with hot vinegar mixture to a headspace of 1/2 inch. Make sure bubbles are not in solution by running clean knife or wooden skewer around inside of jar to release bubbles. Seal and process in boiling water canner for 5 min (good review of proper canning techniques can be found on National Center for Home Food Preservation)
or let cool and place into fridge for up to 4 weeks (if it lasts that long!)

As a reference, I used 6 small cucumbers (about 4-5 inch in length) and amount of liquid above, and it made 5 pints of pickles. My next project is going to be pickled garlic, as Ryan has specifically requested it and in the process I am now quite curious. Maybe pickled peppers too? Hmm, much to consider.


Also, my seeds started sprouting! It's very exciting to watch them spring through the soil and shout up quickly day by day. I'm going to be quite sad when it comes to thinning them, as I want them all to survive. At least the mesclun type can be resown quite often.

New Mexican Love

What, may you ask, is New Mexican love? Why green chile of course! And by this I don't mean what those sissy people in California and at Ortega call green chile, but honest-to-goodness flame-roasted Hatch green chile! Truly a gift from God! For those who don't understand a mere mortal's obsession with this delicious-ness, this ambrosia, by all means, post a comment with your email, and I will endeavor to spread the word and taste of wonderful chile. And please, it's chile with an e.

Okay, so if it's not already obvious, my hubby and I recently returned from a trip to my second home state of New Mexico, where we were attending a wedding of friends, seeing friends, and visiting family. It was a wonderful trip, highlighted by many outings that involved green chile cheese fries (best thing ever!) as well as meeting the new addition to our group, baby Evelyn Morgan who is the newborn babygirl of our friends Joe and Rebekah in New Mexico. We also saw Kyle's parents, which was nice as always, and attended the wedding of mutual friends of ours from college who now reside in Seattle.




Other than the bliss that is green chile and just hanging with friends, there hasn't been much else going on. However, as strange as it is, whenever we get back to San Diego I always crave sushi big-time, as well as just Asian-tasting food in general. After feasting on yummy sushi at Sushi Deli 2 in downtown San Diego (sooo good, and very well-priced) when we got back, we mostly just hung out. Unfortunately, I managed to catch a cold pretty much the next day we were back, which I still have.

But on Friday I managed to make an old stand-by favorite in our house, Thai beef salad. You can tell I'm really having fun with the new camera too.



Anyway, it's a really simple dish involving a quick marinade of skirt steak (or whatever thin steak you prefer) which is cooked and placed atop a lightly dressed bed of greens.
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Marinade
*1 Tbsp coriander seed, toasted and lightly crushed
*1 Tbsp peppercorns, toasted and lightly crushed
*1/4 cup soy sauce
*1/4 cup sugar
*3-4 cloves minced garlic
*about 1 lb of thin beef of choice

Mix above in plastic bag and let sit in fridge for at least 40 min to 2 hr. When done, remove from fridge and either on stovetop or on grill, cook till medium rare. Let meat rest on cutting board while preparing salad dressing (can cut into slices once rested)

Dressing
*1 small orange, juiced
*1 lime, juiced
*finely chopped serrano pepper (or whatever tickles the fancy)
*1 Tbsp sugar
*1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
*1 Tbsp rice vinegar
*1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil (frying up some green onion or shallots to make flavored oil make this really good)

Mix all but the oil together really well, then slowly stream in the oil while whisking to make a dressing of your liking.

Place a small amount of the dressing in the bottom of a big bowl and put in handfuls of fresh greens of any kind and lightly dress each handful. Plate some greens on a plate and top with sliced of the cooked beef. Very tasty, especially as left-overs. The dressing is really good left-over, and I keep it for at long as 2 weeks, although it usually doesn't last that long before I eat it.
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Curds and Whey

Weekends appear to be my busy Amish times, because this time around I made cheese! I made ricotta again in order to make ricotta salata, which is a dry, salted ricotta that apparently is very good for eating out of hand. Right now its happily being pressed in the fridge, and will soon begin it's salting and aging process for the next few weeks.

I really hope it turns out because when I made it this time, I think I overcooked the curds. I was trying to get it not only to the curdle stage (which it did, beautifully), but also to the "no milky whey" stage like the book suggests. Alas, I still had milky whey, but I finally gave up when I realized the curds were turning a bit rubbery. I think perhaps I just need more curdling agent on the front end to maximize my yield from grocery store milk. Basically, the recipe is as follows (paraphrased courtesy of Home Cheesemaking, a great book by Ricki Carrol):

Whole Milk Ricotta
-1 gallon whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized)
-1 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water
-1 tsp salt

Mix salt and citric acid solution together. Add to milk, stirring well. Heat milk slowly to 185-195 degrees (should take at least 20 min), stirring often to prevent scorching. Once curds and whey separate and no milky whey is left, turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes undisturbed.

Gently transfer curds into butter muslin-lined colander , and hang for 20-30 minutes above bowl (to catch drips) until desired amount of whey has drained off. Store in sealed plastic container in fridge for up to 2 weeks, if it lasts that long.

Note: Citric acid can be ordered online (see link at left) or found in any homebrewing shop for beer or wine. Butter Muslin can be ordered online, or storebought cheesecloth can be folded several times over for drainage. Jersey cotton shirt material also works nicely. Just make sure holes aren't too large, or all the cheese will drain right through.

So next time I think I'll try adding 1 1/2 tsp of citric acid and see how that works. Hopefully my yield will improve without imparting too much of a rubbery texture

Greek attack!

So last night was our turn to host the Wed night revelry of friends, and I decided to make Greek food. Because I can never seem to get the timing right, I started prepping dishes a few days before, and I actually made a schedule of when everything needed to be done. Yes, I am a total dork, but it did work and I got dinner all ready to serve at the same time, by 7:30pm.

I made a delicious, and easy, Greek salad with cucumber, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheese and Greek olives (dressing: 1 part lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil, with dash oregano and minced clove of garlic and tbsp honey) which was excellent and fresh-tasting. I also made a spanakopita clone called a borek from a Turkish cookbook I checked out from the library. And if that wasn't enough, I made a lamb ragout in my awesome dutch oven. And of course, what's a night of Greek food without baklava! It was very yummy and very bad for me! But so worth it.

Overall, it was a great night with lots of yummy food and free-flowing wine and hanging out with great friends. I think I enjoy the Wed without Lost and ANTM more than with them simply because we can all just chat and relax with each other.

Long time gone

So....it's been about a year since writing this blog, and I guess I just stopped doing it for some reason, mostly cause I got lazy. But Kyle and I hung out with a friend (down for ComicCon, more on that later!) yesterday who mentioned the blog and limoncello, and I thought why not start posting again and at least post the recipe for him to use all those lemons with. So first things first, here's my limoncello recipe:

*6-7 thick-skinned lemons, preferably organic so no pesticides
*2 cups vodka (Smirnoff Red works well; don't use a really cheap vodka, but yummy Grey goose would be wasted here)
*1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
*1 1/4 cup water

Wash the lemons in hot water before starting with veggie brush to remove any dirt or wax. Remove the peel with a veggie peeler, removing all the white pith on the back so it doesn't turn all bitter. Put the peels in a large jar (enough to hold 4-5 cups) that can be sealed tightly. A mason jar with lid works well, but so does the cool flip top jars. Add 1 cup of vodka to jar and swish around. Cover the jar with cap, date it and put it in a dark place at room temp.

After 20 days, take out mixture. In a saucepan over med-high heat, make a simple sugar syrup from all the water and sugar. Let boil for 3-5 minutes. Let syrup cool completely, then add to vodka lemon mixture, also adding the last cup of vodka. Mix well, cover, and date again.

Let sit in a dark, room temp place for about 2 weeks, at which time taste every so often until it's to your liking. The mixture should be sweet but tart, and smell a lot of lemons. When done, strain the mixture (discard lemon peels) and place in pretty, capped bottles. Really good cold as a sipping drink, but also good poured over fresh fruit or pound cake. Enjoy!
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Okay, hope that helps. Anyway, I've been up to a lot in the last 10 months. Hmm, we got a kitty (Kaylee) who is just so sweet, even though she always wakes me up at 6:30 in the morning. Also, since we had such a great time adopting here from the county shelter, I now volunteer at the central shelter. There's a link posted, for those looking for more info.



Also, Kyle has started to make his own beer, which is very good. So far he's made a porter and a German whit beer, both of which are nice and not too hoppy, so I can drink them ;) he's so sweet! As for me, I have started making jam and preserves quite a bit, and also started making cheese. I know, I get teased about being Amish all the time. I realize most people don't make cheese, but actually for soft cheese it's not too hard. I tried a gervais cheese (like cream cheese), ricotta, and mozzarella, and they all were quite delicious.



What else? Well, lots of cooking things I'm sure, and other stuff I can't really remember right now. Oh, but this is important! I've found a fabulous new show to watch that I totally love! Veronica Mars, and everyone should watch it, it's an amazing show! If you liked any Joss Whedon work at all, you would love this simply because it has a fresh, strong woman as the lead with amazing character development, storylines, and dialogue. Which leads me to the most exciting news ever!

I met Joss Whedon!!!!!!

That's right, I went with Kyle to San Diego ComicCon this year, and saw tons of amazing things, but most of all I met Joss Whedon and got him to sign my Fray comic book that he wrote. Seriously, I can't stop smiling about it:) For those who don't know, I am obsessed with all things Joss, such as Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, three amazing shows that everyone should watch.



Otherwise, it's just been horribly, horribly hot and humid here. We have both fans going full time, and it's barely made a dent. I don't remember it ever being this bad. I don't even want to think about cooking or dishes or laundry in heat like this. Luckily our complex has a pool (what one doesn't in SoCal!) so I think I'll take a swim. Hopefully it won't be another 10 months till I remember to post again ;)