Strawberry Shortcake

One of my favorite places to get dessert recipes is Southern Living magazine. Those southerners really know desserts. If only I could read and bake at the same time. The shortcakes would have tasted like little airy cakes if I had remembered to mix in the baking powder. Alas, these little pucks are a bit dense but still edible and presentable.

TheFoodening Blog - Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Layer Ingredients

a pint of strawberries, de-stemmed and quartered

1 tsp almond extract

up to 1/2 c organic granulated sugar

Shortcake Ingredients

2 3/4 c all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 c organic granulated sugar

3/4 c cold butter, diced

2 eggs

8 oz sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract 

a batch of whipped cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 F

1. Combine strawberries, almond extract, and sugar (depending on sweetness of the berries) in a container. Shake covered until mixed and set aside for at least an hour.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. 

3. In a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, sugar, and butter together until the mixture resembles crumbs with bits of butter.

4. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Dough will be sticky.

5. Use a 1/3 cup measure to form little cakes. Place cakes 2" apart on a baking sheet.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until tops are light golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

8. To make the shortcakes:

Cut the shortcake in half. On the bottom half, spoon 2 tablespoons of the strawberry mixture, followed by a dollop of whipped cream, and cover with the top half of the shortcake.

You can also make these shortcakes more adult by adding a tablespoon of a sweet wine or hard alcohol to the bottom half before you add the strawberries. I used the peach wine that I made earlier in the summer; though other alcohols that would be nice are muscat wine, bourbon, sake, gin, or rum.

Oven Broiled Chicken Thighs

Fire + Meat = Good

I would like to believe that adding fire to the cooking of meat somehow brings us back to our more primal nature of being apex predators with intelligence. Plus, I love a meat that bastes in its own fat.

The Foodening Blog - Broiled Chicken Thighs

A woman's alternative to not having a grill is using the oven broiler to achieve a similar effect. Charred meat (and peppers). Some nutritionists out there would have you believe that a single serving of meat is less than 4 ounces, without the skin. I suppose I should save the bones from this in the freezer to make broth later.

My simple gas stove/oven allows you to set the temperature of the broiler. Since I already roast chicken at 425 F it seemed like a good temperature to broil chicken at which is how I got to using that temperature for broiled chicken parts.

The most basic preparation is as follows:

sea salt and black pepper on both sides
squeeze of fresh lemon or lime (optional)

Broil bone side up for 10 minutes. Flip chicken over. Broil skin side up for 15 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes. Internal temp should be at least 160 F.

Kimchi Fried Rice

At least this time around I took a photo of the dish before devouring it. You could call it a two-ingredient recipe, even though it is really three if you count the butter I used to fry the rice with; or more if you include all the vegetables that make up kimchi. If you have made everything beforehand, this recipe comes together in less than 10 minutes.

The rice blend I use is of my own making. It's a 1:1 ratio of Trader Joe's Wild Rice (though, I suppose any wild rice will do) and Trader Joe's Brown Jasmine Rice; both of which apparently have naturally occurring inorganic arsenic in it. Who knew? Apparently, Consumer Reports did a study on the amount of arsenic in rice and it doesn't matter if it is organic rice or conventionally grown rice. I don't eat a lot of rice, but when I do eat it, I usually only cook a cup of rice at a time.

The Foodening Blog - Kimchi Fried Rice

Ingredients

1/2 c cooked rice, per serving
1/2 c homemade kimchi, per serving
1/2 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil, for frying

Directions

Heat frying pan over medium-high heat until butter melts but does not start to turn brown. Add rice and mash around in pan until the grains have separated from each other. Add kimchi. Stir rice and kimchi around in the pan until evenly distributed. Remove from heat after 5 minutes, or until everything is about the same temperature; if your ingredients came from the refrigerator.

Serve hot.

Malted Milk Powder

This post has been brought to you by nostalgia. I grew up drinking malted milk as Olvaltine, and I enjoyed foods with malt in it such as the Whoppers candy and malted milk shakes. As an adult I consume a lot less sugar and as such, needed to figure out how this stuff was made in order to make it from scratch. Why make it from scratch? Because there are so many additives to today's malted milk powders. Just look at the ingredient list for Nestle's Carnation or Olvaltine. King Arthur has a cleaner ingredient list but it costs $10/lb.

I'm not terribly inclined to add wheat flour since it is primarily used as a thickener. This is just malted barley (whole barley berries that have been sprouted, dried, then ground into a powder) and dry milk powder. Also, this is not for making beer.

I got my organic barley grains Whole Foods's bulk aisle; though, you can certainly procure whole grains at any feed store or brewing supply shop.

How to Make Malted Milk Powder

This can be made from whole wheat or barley berries. For this experiment, I am using barley berries. You'll want to find unhulled berries because you want these to sprout. Do not use cracked, pearled, or hulled berries.

Sprout. Take 1 cup of dry grain and rinse it thoroughly in clean pure water. Soak it over night, or about 8 hours, in a 1 quart mason jar with a loose lid. Place a clean mesh lid on the top of the jar and strain out the soak water. Fill the jar again with pure water, stir and strain again. Drain. Rinse your jar of grains once a day. Watch for sprouting hairs after day one, it usually takes between 1-2 days depending on the room temperature.

Ferment. As the barley germinates, it starts to break down the starch into sugars. This is what gives malt powder its natural sweetness. If wild yeast is introduced as the barley is fermenting, the yeast will eat the sugar and convert the liquid to alcohol. You don't want the latter to occur.

Dry. Three possible methods of drying. Air/sun drying (requires 90+ degree temperatures for a few days), food dehydrator, or oven drying. This is to stop the fermenting process.

Air drying - spread moist, freshly sprouted grains on sheet pans in an even layer. Place pans in a dry, well-ventilated area. Dry for 18-48 hours depending on the humidity/temperature. If you are drying this outside, cover your grains with cheesecloth or food-safety screens to keep bugs/birds from eating it.

Food dehydrator - Set dehydrator to 115 F and dehydrate grains for 12-24 hours, or until the grains are dry.

Oven drying - Set oven to its lowest setting, between 150-170 F. Check for dryness in 8-12 hours.

When fully dry, the grains should weigh about the same as what it weighed before sprouting.

Grind. A this point, you are essentially making barley flour from sprouted, dried barley grains. You can grind these in a grain mill, food processor, or blender. You want it to a fine powder, with the granular consistency of say.. cocoa powder.

Storage. Store sprouted flour in an airtight container in the freezer or refrigerator. If using in baking, this can substitute regular flour at a 1:1 ratio.

Now that you have barley malt powder, you can blend it with dry powdered milk!

Here are some sweetened and unsweetened powder ratios.

Depression Era Malted Milk (ratio comes from backtobasicsgal blog):

6 tbsp barley malt powder
1/4 c granulated sugar
2 c powdered milk

Unsweetened Plain:

2 c instant dry milk, whole or nonfat
6 tbsp malt powder

Unsweetened Chocolate:

2 c instant dry milk powder, whole or nonfat
6 tbsp malt powder
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

To make one cup: add 1/3 c dry mix to 8 oz cold milk. Blend or whisk together. Sweeten to taste with sugar, honey, or stevia.

Fresh Peach Scones

I am using the last of the tree-ripened peaches that I got from a couple weeks ago. You might wonder, how did I get these to stay fresh? For starters, put the ripe ready-to-eat peaches into the crisper drawer in the refrigerator. My crisper drawers have two types of vents on them, a larger vent for apples and a smaller vent for vegetables. I put these into the drawer I have apples in. I should also say that whatever nitrogen the apples give off don't affect each other since I have the apples in plastic bags. On a side note, apples kept this way in the refrigerator will keep for a few months before they start to desiccate and shrivel. Also, you should eat damaged or bruised apples as quickly as you can since they will be the first to go bad.

TheFoodening Blog - peach scones fresh from the oven

This recipe ratio comes from King Arthur's recipe website.

These don't look anything like a classic buttermilk or heavy cream scone. They are certainly not really a scone with a fluffy crumb texture that's for sure. I forgot to add the granulated sugar and I used 6-ish tablespoons of Trader Joe's Apricot-Mango Greek yogurt. Whoops!

Ingredients

2 c unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 c organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
sprinkling of ground nutmeg

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced

2 large eggs
6 tbsp Greek yogurt, vanilla yogurt, or sour cream
1/2 tsp almond extract

1 c diced fresh peaches, skins removed

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.

1. Sift dry ingredients together, then cut in the butter using a pastry knife, couple of forks, or a food processor.

2. Whisk the wet ingredients together. Stir in dry ingredients. Fold in peaches.

3. Use a 1/4 cup measure to drop the batter onto a prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Peach Brandy

Fruit wine or brandy? It's mostly up for debate about what to call this. I've been referring to it as peach wine and I typically think of brandy as an alcohol that's distilled from a fruit wine. This batch of wine was made using the tree-ripened yellow peaches I got from the volunteer harvest with the Portland Fruit Tree Project. 25# of peaches is a lot to process, btw, when the freezer is full of other things (like strawberries and rhubarb when those were in season).

Hot, humid days and bruised peaches are not a good combination. Many of these peaches were rotting fast even though they were sitting in the coolest (by temperature) room in the house and they weren't touching each other. But it seems that proximity was enough to hasten spoilage.

This recipe process comes from the Delishably food blog. The best part about it is that you can leave the skins on. Just wash the peaches and make sure that there aren't any bugs or rot. I also left out the peach pits because I needed space in the jar for more peaches.

TheFoodening Blog - Peach Wine, Peach Brandy

Ferment start: 8/19/2016
Ferment stop: 8/28/2016

Ingredients

1 qt peaches, washed and diced
1 lb organic granulated sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
2 c cold, filtered water

Directions

In a 1.5 qt or 2 qt jar, layer peaches and sugar until the jar is full. You can squish it all down with a wooden spoon, if you want. Add yeast and fill jar with water.

Place a dish below the jar, in case the peaches try to escape.

If you have cheesecloth, use that. Otherwise, you can use clean paper towels to cover the top of the jar. Secure the towel or cloth in place with rubber bands.

You'll want to give this a stir every day until the yeast is done eating. This summer it's been between 80-90 degrees F indoors. My batch stopped bubbling at around 1.5 weeks. And, if you let the mixture sit undisturbed, a clear, dark peach-colored layer of alcohol will separate from the rest of the pulp pixture.

To decant:

Place a mesh strainer (one that has a handle, so it can balance on top of a much larger bowl) on top of a bowl large enough to accommodate one quart of liquid. Let the fermented peaches strain using gravity (e.g., don't try to hurry the peaches along by using a spoon to push the peaches through; you don't want any of the pulp in your alcohol).

What I made:

1 pint + 2 oz in glass jars in the refrigerator
3 cups in a quart container in the freezer (to separate the solids from the liquid)

Kitchen Notes: Bourbon, ABV and Used in Cooking

Since having converted most of my sweet wines into jams or jellies, I haven't really had the need to stock anything other than rice wine for cooking savory dishes. But, the previous weekend I came into having 25 pounds of free, tree-ripened yellow peaches; most of which I managed to convert into edible jam.

In my research on pairing peach jam with an alcohol, there were plenty of suggestions for bourbon.. not whiskey, mind you, but good old fashioned Kentucky bourbon. And there's been quite a lot of drunken chatter on the Net about famous brands watering down their bourbon (looking at you Maker's Mark) while raising prices. Both versions of the peach jam came out tasting really good; except I can't taste the bourbon in either. Jim Beam is simply not a good choice for cooking with.

Among my foodie friends who also drink whiskey, I had many suggestions for bourbon brands to use in cooking:

Buffalo Trace
Eagle Rare
Four Roses
Jim Beam
Knob Creek

The last time I used a bourbon in cooking was for a Mardi Gras themed potluck where I made New Orleans Bread Pudding with a whiskey sauce using Makers Mark. It came out so tasty, that not only did people scoop into it before I could snap a photo, it was devoured long before the evening ended.

Personally, I have no tasting memory of whiskey, bourbon, or any of the variants in its class (cask strength, straight, blends, whatever). I wouldn't be able to discern between a 40% ABV or an overproof 51.5% ABV bourbon. Some people recommended a higher ABV because you need a strong flavor to survive the cooking process (in retrospect, they are correct) and others who suggested more mild, smoother tasting bourbons probably have not cooked with the lower ABV bourbons.

That said, the 40% ABV Jim Beam that I ended up using (cheapest of all the brands at Costco), I think I should have dished out more money and started my bourbon cooking quest with Knob Creek or Costco's private label of small batch bourbon (103% overproof), the latter of which is made by Clear Spring Distilling Company who also makes Buffalo Trace.

Here are the numbers from my Costco bourbon browsing:

Knob Creek small batch bourbon, 1 liter
100 proof (50% ABV)
$29.89 + wa tax $6.13 + ltr tax $2.83 = $37.85

Costco small batch bourbon, 1 liter
103 proof (51.5% ABV)
$28.99 + wa tax $5.94 + ltr tax $3.77 = $38.70

Makers Mark 46, 1 liter
94 proof (47% ABV)
$32.89 + wa tax $6.74 + ltr tax $2.83 = $42.46

.

Jim Beam, 1.75 liter
40% ABV
$22.39 + wa tax $4.59 + ltr tax $6.60 = $33.58

Maker's Mark, 1.75 liter
45% ABV
$44.99 + wa tax $6.74 + ltr tax $6.60 = $60.81

Hatch Chile Salsa, Batch #1

This is the second time making it and first time actually committing the ratio to paper.. err digital cookbook journal. The first time was last year and it was delicious. This batch is really the second batch of tomato salsa for this summer.

A note about roasting fresh peppers. I started with 2 lbs fresh hatch chile peppers; but after processing them by roasting, peeling, removing the stem and discarding the seeds, I had 14.25 oz left. And, this is fine.

A common substitution for Hatch chiles is Anaheim,
and after roasting these Hatch chiles I really can't tell the difference.

This summer I've made 3 batches of salsa so far with different ingredient ratios. Batches #1 and #3 are essentially the same; the red chile pepper got swapped with Anaheim chiles in #3.

Batch #1, main heat ingredients - jalapenos (8), red chile pepper (1)
Batch #2, main heat ingredients - hatch chiles (2 lbs)
Batch #3, main heat ingredients - jalapenos (8), Anaheim chiles (5)

TheFoodening Blog - Hatch Chile Salsa

Batch #2 Ingredients

5 lb red tomatoes, roasted and peeled
1 head garlic cloves, roasted, peeled, chopped
4 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 lb (14.25 oz) prepared hatch chile peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro, stems removed and chopped
1 tbsp kosher salt

Directions

1. In a large stockpot, bring tomatoes, garlic, chile peppers, lime juice, and salt to a boil; then simmer over medium heat to reduce the water content. You want salsa that can stay on a chip, not fall off like a soupy mess.

I let the water boil off for roughly 1.5 hrs; then got bored and used a mesh strainer to get more of the solids out into the jar.

2. Turn off heat and stir in cilantro. 

3. Fill sterilized glass jars and process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.

Makes 5 pints.

Kimchi and Bacon Fried Rice

I will have to make this again, as I just ate it for dinner and didn't snap a photo. There are many ways to make fried rice and it starts with a pot of leftover steamed rice from the previous day, or whenever. It's up to you whether or not you want to make this with white or brown rice, short or long grain. The preferred is long grain rice because it's not as sticky.

Ingredients

1 c steamed or baked rice (per serving)
1/2 c homemade kimchi, chopped
1 green onion stalk, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 strips of cooked bacon, diced
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

If you don't have cooked bacon on hand, fry fresh bacon in the large skillet. Once cooked, remove bacon to a cutting board and dice. There should be 1-2 tbsp of bacon lard in the skillet Proceed with the rest of the recipe, omitting the olive oil.

In a large skillet, warm oil over medium-high heat. Add scallions and garlic. Fry until fragrant. Add rice before garlic starts to brown. Add kimchi. Mix it all up until thoroughly combined.

Fry the rice for about 5-10 minutes, until the rice warms up and everything is about the same temperature.

Serve hot.

Kimchi Pork Buns

I have made these twice now with two different dough recipes, both of which can be left to rise overnight, if needed. Typically, dough for steamed bao is ready in about 2 hours, from mix to proof to prepare and steam. At some point I'll write a kitchen note about the many different ways you can make the dough for steamed buns and what the differences, if any, there are.

TheFoodeningBlog - Kimchi Pork Buns

Dough (from Maangchi)

1 c warm water + 2 tsp active dry yeast + 1/2 tsp salt + 1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
3 c unbleached all purpose flour

For this dough, dissolve the dry yeast in warm water with or without the sugar and let it bubble into action for 10 mins before stirring in the rest of the ingredients. You should sift the flour and salt together before adding the yeast because direct contact with salt will kill the newly awakened yeast, or so I've read.

Let the dough rise in a warm spot in the kitchen, covered, until double in volume. Then gently knead and roll into a log and divide into 16 equal portions; or 8 portions to make really large buns.

Makes: 16 buns

Filling Ingredients

1/2 c homemade kimchi, finely chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp homemade vegan oyster sauce (optional)

Mix filling ingredients together. Use 1 heaping tablespoon of filling per bun.

Roll dough portions out into a 4" diameter circle. Put the filling in the center, and bring the edges of the dough circle to the center and pinch at the top. You can pleat the folds at the top if you want to; but it all tastes the same.

Kitchen Notes: Substitution for Trader Joe's Light Soy Sauce

From looking at the ingredients by fat/sugar/calorie ratios on Trader Joe's products, especially coconut milk, they do dilute their products a lot. I suspect that their soy sauce, now priced in this area at $3/bottle is just half soy sauce watered down by vinegar (news to me too!) and water. I swear I did not notice the vinegar on the ingredients list of Trader Joe's soy sauce until recently. And then, I ran out of it.

Which brings me to wonder if I could recreate the ingredient ratio based on per tablespoon sodium and calories. This is a ratio that I have refilled the TJ bottle with:

1 c Kikoman gluten-free tamari soy sauce (that's right, no wheat)
1/4 c Marukan rice vinegar (at 0 calories and 0 sodium, it's all flavor)
3/4 c filtered water

Shake it all together in the bottle. I have no idea if these liquids separate at all, e.g., if one is heavier than another. Seems to taste ok. A little watered down in appearance; but that's to be expected since wheat (gluten) is really a thickener in soy sauce.

Makes 2 cups.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I ponder the grammar of the recipe's title, I had other notions about this recipe; which, if you look around on the Net seems to be someone's copycat rendition of a Subway's chocolate chip cookie of the same name. These are much smaller than what you can get at a Subway's and probably not much cheaper by ingredients either. These are soft and sweet and would pair well with ice cream or a glass of cold milk.

TheFoodening Blog: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes: 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 c all purpose flour
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 c unbleached granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar, packed
1 c unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz (by weight) white chocolate chips
6 oz (by weight) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. In a small bowl, beat together butter and vanilla extract. Mix in eggs, one at a time.

2. In a separate, larger bowl: sift together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Stir in butter mixture into dry mixture. 

4. Fold in white and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a Silpat-lined or parchment-covered baking tray.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on rack. Unleash your inner cookie monster.

Gluten-Free Vegan "Oyster" Sauce

Cooks Illustrated would have you believe that oyster-flavored sauce is "a rich, concentrated mixture of oyster extractives, soy sauce, brine and assorted seasonings. The brown sauce is thick, salty, and strong." But it doesn't have to be that way when rehydrated shitake mushrooms offer a similar depth of taste and umami. Oyster sauce is typically sweet and savory, and is a popular brown sauce in many Asian recipes. 

This seems to be a roundabout way to make a condiment where my next recipe project only calls for a tablespoon of it; but I have all the ingredients on hand and I wasn't about to shell out $5 for a jar of questionable contents.

The Foodening Blog: Gluten Free Vegan "Oyster" Sauce

Also, while 1 cup of water is sufficient to rehydrate 1 oz of dried shitake mushrooms, there was less than 1/3 cup of soaking liquid leftover. I had to fill the balance of liquid with filtered water. A toasted sesame oil will have a slightly nuttier flavor than sesame oil. This recipe ratio comes from the Clean Dish.

Makes: 1.5 cups

Ingredients

1 oz dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 tbsp gluten-free tamari soy sauce
1/2 tsp organic maple syrup
1 c mushroom dashi (the water the mushrooms rehydrated in)

Directions

1. In a sauté pan, fry sesame oil, ginger and mushrooms together until fragrant, about 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Remove from heat. Combine mushrooms and mushroom dashi (can add water if liquid is not enough) in a food processor and purée until smooth.

3. Return purée to sauté pan and simmer over low-medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequenlty.

4. Remove from heat and pour into a clean glass jar. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

The Foodening Blog: Ready to use "oyster" sauce

Dairy Free Tapioca Pudding

I might be imagining things but I think full fat coconut milk has an after taste. It's not the watered down taste that you might get from buying a can of Trader Joe's version of coconut milk. But there's definitely an after taste, like how game meat has a twinge of extra flavor with every bite. On buying coconut milk or coconut cream, there really should only be one ingredient on the label besides water. In today's modern age of food preservation via canning, preservatives and color additives aren't necessary. Also look for BPA-free cans or cartons. Savoy and Aroy-D are both Thailand products; and Trader Joe's comes from Sri Lanka. For this recipe, I used Savoy coconut cream. These all cost about the same, roughly $2/can, in the Pacific Northwest.

The Foodening Blog: Dairy Free Tapioca Pudding

In my pantry, I have three varieties of coconut milk/cream:

• Trader Joe's organic coconut milk, 110 calories per 1/4 c serving (660 total calories for 13.5 fl oz with 48% coconut extract)
• Savoy coconut cream, 200 calories per 1/2 c serving (900 total calories for 14 fl oz with 70% coconut extract)
• Aroy-D coconut milk, 170 calories per 1/2 c serving (765 total calories for 14 fl oz with 60% extract)

Onto the recipe...

Makes: 3-4 servings

Ingredients

1 c non-dairy milk (e.g., unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
1/3 c dry tapioca pearls
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp liquid sweetener (honey, golden syrup), or sweeter to taste
14 oz full fat coconut milk

Directions

1. In a 2-cup measuring cup or bowl, soak tapioca pearls in non-dairy milk for an hour.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Let simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Stir constantly to prevent the starch from burning. It will thicken considerably as the tapioca cooks.

3. Remove from heat and pour into small bowls. Let cool before eating.

Homemade Harissa

Ever since I read Marcus Samuelsson's cookbooks Yes, Chef and Marcus Off Duty, I've come to respect the preparation and style of cuisine that includes ingredients such as teff (used to make fermented injera bread) or harissa (an African spice paste made from fresh or dried chiles).

Harissa made from dried chiles is not hard to make; though if you want to live vicariously, you can de-stem and unseed the chile pods before soaking them in hot water. The suggested chili ratio comes from Smitten Kitchen. When I was collecting dried chiles for this recipe, I just got whatever the store had -and- I had to check several local stores for them. I'm not a big fan of spicy hot foods; though damp and/or humid Pacific Northwest weather is often a good combination to spice things up.

As a spicy condiment, use it where you'd use ketchup or other savory sauces.

Makes: 2.5 cups

The Foodening Blog: Making Harissa

Ingredients

2 oz dried negro chiles
1 oz dried California red chiles
1 oz dried ancho chiles
2.5 oz sun dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
1 large red bell pepper, roasted and skinned, stem and seeds removed
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp ground coriander or 1.5 tsp whole coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground caraway or 1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin or 1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp kosher sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for storage

Directions

0. Preheat oven to 350 F and roast a red bell pepper for about an hour. You could rotate the bell pepper every 15 minutes, but I've found this is a waste of time.

1. In a small cast-iron pan, toast whole coriander seeds, caraway seeds, and salt together over medium heat (1-2 minutes, or until coriander seeds become lightly browned). Transfer salt and spices to a coffee grinder and grind into a powder. Set aside until ready to use.

Don't just eyeball chiles by what you think they weigh. Use a digital scale and measure them as their dried de-stemmed weight. Then unseed the pods.

2. In a large 2-quart (or larger) metal or glass bowl, add dried tomatoes and dried chiles. Pour boiling water on top and let sit for 30 minutes or more until the items have rehydrated.

Use a colander to drain out the excess water.

3. In the bowl of a food processor, combine red bell pepper, tomatoes, chiles, spice blend, garlic and olive oil. Pulse until it looks pureed.

4. Transfer paste to a clean glass jar and top with olive oil. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Kitchen Notes: Salsa

Last year I forgot to write up the ingredient ratios for salsa. It was a really tasty batch too. This year, my local produce market had vine tomatoes on sale for $0.69/lb. I haven't seen prices like that since the early 2000s in southern California. Plus, Kerr jars were on sale as well and I picked up five cases of jars. Crazy huh?

The only thing I remember from last year's ratio was that I had more tomatoes than jalapenos which was my primary deviation from Harold Shifflett's video recipe. I also halved the salt.

Also last year, I made salsa with roasted hatch chilies. It was so tasty that it never got to the canning process. I ate it all. Whoops. 

Batch #1 yield: 5 pints, one half-pint

No Knead Pizza Dough

This dough recipe comes from Jim Lahey's book My Pizza. It wasn't until the second ball of dough that I decided to take some pics and write up this recipe post. I am also still lacking basic materials to make pizza; but I have some great workarounds. No pizza stone? No problem. Use the reverse side of a heavy baking sheet as your "stone" surface. It won't take the open flame of the broiler, but that's okay because we're not using the broiler either. Pizza dough is extremely cheap and easy to make.

This batch makes 4 pizzas; each dough ball can be shaped into a 10" round.

No Knead Pizza Dough & a simple pizza

Ingredients

500 grams (by weight) all purpose flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 c filtered water

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and yeast. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and stir to combine. Cover with a plate and set the bowl in a warm place in the kitchen.

18 hours later....

Dump dough out onto a floured surface. Shape into a large boule and divide into four equal portions. With each ball, flatten the ball with the palm of your hand, then fold each side to the center, one fold at a time. Gather the pleats at the bottom and gently roll into a ball shape. Dump each folded ball into a sealable plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

For each pizza, start by putting one of the dough balls onto a floured surface. Use your knuckles to gently stretch out the dough into a 6" to 8". I have not been able to make a circle and the farthest I got was 10" by 8" rectangle.

Top with basic pizza sauce so that the sauce is within 3/4" of the edge of the dough. Add whatever ingredients you want on top.

Tomato Pie

After topping with basic pizza sauce, add fresh oregano leaves. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 F.

Margarita Pizza

2-4 oz fresh mozzarella, divided into blobs and scattered evenly on top of the dough
5 fresh basil leaves, to put on the pizza after it comes out of the oven
(optional) 1/4 c fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 F.

At 20 minutes (too long!), the mozz turns from melted to marshmallow burned (dark, crusty golden brown). But, the pizza crust has a crispy texture.

AB Guacamole

Despite how "healthy" avocados are, they are still a luxury good in my basket and I usually eat them raw with a dash of soy sauce when I do have them in stock. One batch of guacamole costs about the same as what it would at the grocery store; and the reason why I never buy it from the store is because guacamole is always laced with onions. The avocados make guacamole plenty green, so really there is no need to add cilantro, unless you like added greens to an already green dip.

Guacamole Ingredients

This ratio is adapted from Alton Brown's take on guacamole, except it lacks onions and cilantro:

Ingredients

3 ripe avocados, pits removed
2 ripe red tomatoes, cores and seeds removed, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 green jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/2 tsp each: kosher salt, ground cumin, cayenne pepper
2 tbsp lime juice

Directions

1. In a large bowl, scoop out avocado pulp and mix with lime juice.

2. Add salt and spices. Mash together until avocado is all mashed up.

3. Add jalapeno and tomato. Fold into avocado mixture until well combined.

4. Let sit at room temperature for an hour before serving.

Guacamole: Ready to Eat!

Basic Tomato Sauce (for pizza)

This recipe goes with the no knead pizza dough recipe. It is so basic that you wonder why it exists at all as a recipe. This comes from Jim Lahey's book My Pizza. At the time I made the sauce, I didn't have fresh tomatoes on hand.

Ingredients

One 15 oz can of organic diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Using your hands squish the tomatoes together. Squish! Squish! 

Stir in salt and olive oil. Set aside until ready to use.

Blueberry Lemon Bread

Cloudy weather is perfect for sipping hot tea. What makes this even better? A slice of cake. I'm not sure what the difference is between cake and this particular recipe other than the lack of frosting. I feel like I should eat another slice, but I will finish writing this post. 

I am down to my last quart of frozen blueberries; picked last summer at Majestic Farms. Fortunately, blueberry picking season is just around the corner. The berries themselves are very sweet and I could have reduced the sugar in the recipe. If you are using frozen berries, thaw them in a measuring cup. 1.5 cups of frozen berries turns into 1 cup of thawed berries. Alas, onto the recipe..

A slice of almost perfection: blueberry lemon bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 c organic granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1/2 c almond milk (or regular cow's milk)
zest of one lemon
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c fresh or thawed blueberries

Streusel Topping

3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1/3 c all purpose flour
1/4 c (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F.

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and lemon zest.

2. Add eggs, milk and butter and stir together until well combined.

3. If you are using thawed blueberries, transfer just the blueberries (not the liquid) to the batter and gently fold it in until all the blueberries are covered.

To make the streusel topping, whirl topping ingredients together in a food processor.

4. Butter a loaf pan and fill with batter. Evenly top the batter with the streusel.

5. Bake for 1 hr and 15 minutes. The topping will be crispy and golden brown.

Cabbage Kale Carrot Slaw

I had this recently at a potluck and it is really easy to make. The most expensive ingredient is the mayonnaise. Actually, nearly all the calories are in the mayo, so use one that you enjoy eating.

Makes: almost 3 quarts

Ingredients

2 lbs green cabbage, shredded
1 lb green kale, leaves only
2 organic carrots, sliced into matchsticks

Mix vegetables together in a large 5-quart bowl. Add coleslaw dressing and mix until combined. 

Coleslaw Dressing

1/2 c organic mayonnaise
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Kitchen Notes: Canning 2016

Canning started early this year, mostly because I thought I might try to make strawberry jam instead of just eating the strawberries fresh. This is what has been made so far. I am down to one pint jar of salsa (from 6 pints) from last year's canning and also one pint jar of pickled beets with whole cloves.

To do wish list

tomato salsa with hatch chiles
tomato salsa with tomatillos and jalapenos
peach bourbon jam
harissa with fresh chiles
harissa with dried chiles
pickled beets with cloves (very tasty, imho)
dill pickle spears

May

apricot-pineapple preserves: 1 pint, 3 half-pints, 1 four-oz jar
apricot-rosemary preserves: 3 half-pints, 4 four-oz jars
strawberry-basil preserves: 4 half-pints plus 8 oz in the fridge
strawberry port wine jam: 5 half-pints plus 8 oz in the fridge