Marry Me Butter Beans
1 year ago
This chicken soup saves my soul...
I'm a little behind on my posts right now, but things have just been so busy! Between a few freelance jobs, frantic halloween costume production, collaborating with an artist on a personal project, the last couple of weeks have just flown by! Now (thanks to this weekend's revelry I suppose) I've come down with a rather nasty cold.
Winter's finally starting to set in... I've picked my last bouquet of flowers from the garden and the nasty bugs are starting to go around... Thank goodness I've been save by a big container of home-made chicken soup from the freezer! It's the most wonderfully perfect recipe, and it always make a big batch so I usually freeze half the batch. And it's remarkably easy to make, so while I rest and get better I invite you to check it out.
Gravlax: worth one's salt
I'm a big fan of smoked salmon, but it's expensive and often full of preservatives and sometimes even food colour and other undesirable additives. A tasty and inexpensive alternative is gravlax, and it so simple and easy to make you'll wonder why you haven't discovered or tried this earlier. In fact I think that I can honestly say after years of making gravlax I prefer it to smoked salmon!
I always keep my eyes peeled when I happen to be in a fish store or large grocery chain such as Loblaws for a good sale on salmon or trout, and when I see one I take it as a sign that it's time to make some gravlax.
Easy-peasy Gravlax
• 1 large de-boned and cleaned full fillet of salmon or trout with skin still on (about 2lbs)
• 1/2 cup sugar (per fillet)
• 1/2 cup sea salt (per fillet)
• 1 big bunch of fresh dill
Rinse the fillet and pat it dry with some paper towel. In a measuring cup mix sugar and salt. In a shallow dish or container pour half of the sugar/salt mixture and spread evenly along the bottom. Then create layer of dill sprigs. Top with the fillet and then another generous layer of dill sprig and then sprinkle the other half of the sugar/salt mixture over top evenly.
Cover the dish and store in the fridge about 3-5 days. When you check the dish after a few days the sugar/salt mixture should have turned into a generous amount of brine. If you have a particularly thick piece you can turn it half way through the curing process if desired.
When the fish is ready the flesh should appear to be more dense than it was before, as if a lot of the water in the flesh had been drawn out. Remove from fridge and brine and RINSE the fillet THOROUGHLY under cold water and remove most but not all of the dill. Pat dry.
Slice thinly with a sharp knife (CAREFULLY) and serve with fresh dill, lemon wedge and rye bread toasts. Will keep a week or so in the fridge and can also be wrapped carefully in plastic wrap (doubled) and freezed for later consumption. I usually eat half right away and freeze the other half for later. :)
*A little note on salt:
I love salt. But salt doesn't always love us... and there's so much sodium in prepared food today that it's just plain scary. I try my best to use it in moderation but I believe that the better quality the salt the better the flavour, and except for when grilling meat I usually leave the seasoning of a dish to the very end. Beside my stove hangs a spice rack with 4 kinds of salt and they all serve their purpose. There's coarse sea salt (great for things like making gravlax, throwing into boiling pasta water, etc), coarse Sel de Guérande (perfect for seasoning BBQ'd veggies), fine Sel de Guérande (general seasoning at the end of cooking dishes) and Fleur de Sel (the BEST table salt). If you have never tried Fleur de Sel I suggest you run out and buy some now. I like "Le Saunier de Camargue", as I find it the best quality for the price. I was lucky to see those salt flats this past summer along whilst driving the Mediterranean - just baking in the hot summer sun... so I guess I can say that I can personally vouch for this wonderful salt!
"Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea."
- Pythagoras (580 BC - 500 BC)
In a Pickle? Beet the Odds...
I'm currently unemployed (although I am working a bit of freelance where and when I can!) and since money's a bit tight and now that it's fall, I'm trying to both take advantage of the bountiful harvest and improve my canning skills. Apart from the great deals at the farmer markets I'm also taking advantage of the "quick sale" deals at my local "fruiterie". So when I saw a bunch of big packets of yellow beets for 99¢ I thought: Why not try my hand at pickling some beets?
However, as I was going through this recipe I released that these quick sale deals don't always work out perfectly... I've usually had great success finding ingredients for jams (see my plum-raspberry jam) this time the beets were a bit hit and miss, and I had to discard some, but I still had enough for 3 jars and I quickly made some pickled carrots with the leftover brine! YUM.
Pickled Beets
• 2.5-3 lbs small-medium beets
brine:
• 1 3/4 cups vinegar (min 5% acidic)
- I used 1 1/4 organic cider vinegar and 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 cups filtered water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
spice mix:
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 10 cloves
• 1/2 tsp juniper berries
• 1/2 tsp dill seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-2 small pieces cinnamon stick
Remove greens from beets leaving roots and stems and give them a good quick scrub with a brush but do not peel them (they'll bleed out their colour in the boiling water if you do). Put beets in pot of water, add a splash of vinegar, bring to boil and simmer on medium 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, drain and pop beets into a bath of cold water for 5-10 minutes. Once they've cooled sufficiently to handle them they should peel really easily. Thicker skins should peel off by hand or thin skins can be easily removed with a carrot peeler. Once all skin and rough spots have been removed rinse and cut into wedges. I cut medium ones into six pieces and smaller ones in four.
Pack them into sterilized jars leaving about a good half an inch head space.
Put all the brine ingredients into a pot with the spices and bring the pickling brine to a boil and then simmer gently (med-low) while covered, for about 15 minutes.
Using a jar funnel, pour brine (while straining out spices with a sieve) into the canning jars and fill to almost the top, leaving 1/4" head space. I let a few mustard and dill seed get in because I thought it looked nice. Wipe the edges of rim with clean paper towel, apply heated sealing disk pressing the centre and then screw the meal band on - fingertip tight.
Process in hot water bath for 30 minutes and let water cool 5-10 minutes before removing to a quiet place to cool undisturbed. Let cool overnight and check seals before storing in a cool dark place. Use within one year.
Makes about 5 x 500ml jars.
"First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top.
The ones that make you pull the car over and go “Wow, I need this beet right NOW”.
Those are the Money Beets." - Dwight Shrute "The Office"
Jam It on the One!
While I am not necessarily new to making jam I am sort of new to the domestic ritual of preserving. It's a fun and inexpensive way to fill your pantry with jars of tasty edibles that you'll get to appreciate all winter long.
For many years I have been making what I call "fridge jam" which is a jam I make when I have a bunch of fruit that has been hanging around too long or just starting to turn. I just chop whatever I have and throw it into a pot, add a little less than half the volume in sugar and the juice of half a lemon and then boil down and put in a jar in the fridge - voila! Instant fridge jam. It's fun to experiment with different combinations and it's a difficult thing to mess up really...
Last year however, I got my hands on a canning kit, bought some jars, did a bit of research and off I went making real jam and other preserves.
So, my parent's have a gigantic elderberry bush in their suburban yard. It produces more berries than we can use really, but they aren't the easiest berry to work with because they are full of tiny seeds. For years I've made elderberry freezer jam, leaving the seeds in because they are quite small anyway and they do add an interesting texture, but having tired I decided that this year I'd try my hand at make some elderberry jelly. After some research and the cross-referencing of a few recipes I think I've come up with a pretty good one. Keep in mind if you feel like experimenting I think that this jelly recipe could work for grapes and maybe some other fruit or berries.
(you'll want to be sure wear an apron when working with elderberries because their dark juice stain fabric easily!)
• about 5 lbs elderberries, washed, de-stemmed with a fork and rinsed again
• 1 cup filtered water
Put elderberries and water in large heavy bottomed pot and bring to boil stirring intermittently - boil about 15 minutes, or until the berries release their juices and start to break down. Remove from heat and once cooled a bit, squash or mash them with a potato masher or some other appropriate untensil. Let cool and pass* through fine strainer or larger one lined with fine cloth or a few layers of cheesecloth reserving the juice. Allow to drain overnight.
*Some recipes I read said not to mash the fruit or squeeze your strainer too much for it will result in cloudy jelly, but this doesn't really concern me. I let the fine pulp pass through the sieve, which added nice texture - I only concerned myself with not letting seeds or skin pass through.
• add 1 1/2 cups apple cider
(which should make about 7-8 cups liquid - it is a good idea to check the volume before proceeding to the next step)
• add juice of one lemon
• and 5 cups sugar*
*I couldn't get myself to add more sugar even though many recipes call for a 1:1 ratio, hoping the apple juice sweetness and natural pectin would help the jellying process. For this recipe I think the ratio I chose works quite well, but after making various jellies I think that a ratio 1 cup juice to 3/4 cups sugar is a good ratio to keep in mind as a rule.
Heat on medium until sugar begins to dissolve and then increase heat (medium-high) and bring to boil, stirring frequently, until it reaches 220˚F on a candy thermometre* (about 10 minutes), boil another 15-20 minutes, until it passes the jelly test.
*If you don't have a candy thermometre it's okay. The boiling point where it starts to thicken can be your 220˚F mark and then the jelly test will assure you that it's thick enough to jar.
Using a jar funnel, ladle jelly into your sterilized jars and fill to almost the top leaving about 1/4" head space. Using a nonmetallic utensil, remove any air bubbles. Wipe any spills on the edges of rim with clean paper towel, apply heated/sterilized sealing disk, pressing the centre of disk with your finger and then screw the meal bands on - fingertip tight.
Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes and let water cool 5-10 minutes before removing from the pot to a quiet place to cool undisturbed. Let cool overnight and check seals and tighten rims before storing in a cool dark place. Use within one year.
Makes 4 x 250ml jars plus bonus 1 x 125ml to jar or eat now.
and now a...
Bonus recipe!
I like to peruse the local "fruiterie" from time to time to check out what "quick sale" packages they have to choose from. These items are very borderline in their ripeness and need to be consumed quite quickly, but they are a great deal money-wise and make ideal candidates for jam making. Here's one of my recent "fruit sale" combos that I whipped up to jar that I'm very happy with.
The plums were 99¢ and the raspberries $1.49. I figured I made 3+ jars of jam for about $4 total! Not bad.
Plum-Raspberry Jam
• 6 large plums, washed, diced and pitted with skin on
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 package of raspberries (6oz) roughly chopped.
Put all the ingredients in a medium sized heavy bottomed pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer until thickened, stirring intermittently (about 15-20 minutes). Allow to cool slightly and then jar and process!
Makes 3 x 250ml jars plus bonus 1 x 125ml to jar or eat now.
"Times were so tough, but not as tough as they are now,
We were so close and nothing came between us - and the world"
- The Jam
Get thee to a farm
I have gone apple picking every fall since as long as I remember. I find it to be the perfect activity on a lovely fall day. We just head out of the city to spend a day in the fresh air and sunshine, getting some exercise, maybe having a picnic and picking a huge bag of apples for much less than you'd pay at a supermarket. Then you come back home with all these fresh yummy apples - to pack in your lunch, make apple crisp, apple sauce, apple butter and so much more.
Last year we were able to add another element to that apple-picking outing - pumpkin and squash picking! We spent a lovely afternoon not far from downtown at Quinn Farm in l'Île-Perrot, a great little farm that offers U-Pick options year round. With a hay-ride out to the fields, hay-bale maze and other fun stuff, it's also a great place to bring the little ones. So along with our usual gigantic bag of apples we came home with variety of goodies: a pumpkin perfect for Halloween carving, a neat white skinned pumpkin, a bunch of butternut (my favourite!) and other squashes, some little ornamental pumpkins, not to mention honey and other goodies from the farm store.
And yes, as a big "Peanuts" fan I could not help myself from making the obligatory "Great Pumpkin" jokes. ;)
Perhaps I'm bound to romanticize farms, as I do come from a farm-family, my grandparents and great-grandparents and some of my cousins all on my mum's side being farmers. As a child one of the highlights of my Manitoba visits was always a trip out to the various family farms, to ride horses, play on the prairies and pick berries or other goodies from the kitchen garden patches. It's a lifestyle they all take for granted, but such a treat for us "city-dwellers"!
I look forward to the fall harvest every year and plan to make a trip to the farm the coming weeks (with related recipes posts to follow, no doubt) and urge you to look into it as well. PickYourOwn.org is a fantastic online resource for locating a pick-your-own farm of any sort in your area (and it also has lots of other resources including recipes and canning tips and much more). Happy picking!
Patati, Patata, Frittati, Fritatta!
I realized that I had a bunch of new potatoes in the fridge, becoming not-so-new anymore, so I decided that it would be "Frittata Night".
Call it Tortilla de patatas, Spanish omelette, Frittata or Potato Omelette as I did growing up, this is an essential comfort food for me, and I've been making my own version of it for so long now, that it's a bit of a challenge to put it into words...
This simple dish can be served right away, but is often traditionally served after cooling at room temperature. It is one of the most common tapas in Spain and is always made up of potatoes and eggs but other fillings vary by region. I prefer peppers, garlic and sometimes chorizo make a fun addition. Any leftovers should be refrigerated however, and what great leftovers this makes, best either served cold, warm or reheated.
Spanish Omelette
• 2 1/2 - 3 lbs waxy new potatoes (or any white potato works fine I just wouldn't recommend red ones because they sort of break down during frying, but can be used in a pinch. Sweet potato is a fun variation as well but burns easily while frying so you might want to reduce the heat a bit)
• 1-2 peppers of you choosing (I used one red pepper & 1 poblano pepper - careful when slicing hot peppers, using gloves is good idea because that hot pepper gets everywhere!) washed & slice the peppers length-wise into short pieces
• 2-3 garlic cloves to taste, chopped
• 10-12 free range eggs
Wash potatoes and peel them unless your using new potatoes, then you can leave the skin on. Slice them in half and then cut crosswise in 1/4-1/2" thick half moons. Rinse them again under cold water and then pour them into a clean dish towel and dry. Drying them helps them brown better in the pan.
Heat about 3 tbsp of oil on medium high in a large non-stick pan. Add the chopped potatoes. If you're impatient like I often am when I make this dish, you can put a lid on for the first 5-10 minutes or so, stirring the potatoes from time to time until it heats up and starts cooking through, once the potatoes start to get half translucent remove the lid so they start to fry & brown. Fry until cooked through and browned about 25-30 minutes.
Add peppers and garlic and cook until lightly browned (about 10 minutes more) reduce heat to medium and then season with a generous pinch of sea salt, freshly ground pepper and Piment d'Espelette*.
Break eggs into a large bowl and whisk well. Fold potato and pepper mixture into the beaten eggs and after checking that the pan still has an oily coating (if not add a little bit and spread to cover) pour the whole mixture back into the pan, arranging the potatoes and pepper to cover evenly. Cover and cook until set (about 10 minutes and then flip using the lid and cook another 5 minutes, just to brown the other side. Remove from heat, slice into wedges and serve!
*A note on Piment d'Espelette:
Piment d'Espelette is a variety of chili pepper which originates from the Basque country, more specifically the Espelette region of France.
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It is a medium hot pepper that that is more flavourful than chili pepper. It is a staple in Basque cuisine and used often in place of ground pepper. Piment d'Espelette is AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) and therefore only traditionally recognized as from that region, but it's immense popularity in powder form world-wide has increased it's popularity so much that I was surprised to find some "Piment d'Espelette" plants for sale this spring in a nursery! You will see me using it from time to time in my recipes, especially in traditional Basque dishes. My family loves their Piment d'Espelette and we have been growing it for a few years now, and happily try to find new uses for it apart from the drying and ground it into powder. If you like 'spicy' and are looking to try something new I encourage you to look for it in your local speciality grocery store and give it a try.
“Omelettes are not made without breaking eggs”
- Maximilien Francois Robespierre
A teaser... or 'Things that pop into my head before bedtime'
I often go to bed thinking about food, and tonight is no exception. Maybe it's because I'm perusing some food blogs, but I just found myself thinking back to the fantastic "Steak Tartare" I had in Paris last month in a delightful little restaurant called "Glou"...
Looks like pure perfection doesn't it? It was.
And so was that lovely bottle of Domaine Rimbert Saint-Chinian! If only we could get it here (nope, I've already checked).
Well, maybe one day soon I'll share my recipe for Steak Tartare just so we can all go to bed with it on the brain. Except the vegetarians that is...
Goodnight!
Looks like pure perfection doesn't it? It was.
And so was that lovely bottle of Domaine Rimbert Saint-Chinian! If only we could get it here (nope, I've already checked).
Well, maybe one day soon I'll share my recipe for Steak Tartare just so we can all go to bed with it on the brain. Except the vegetarians that is...
Goodnight!
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be DELICIOUS...
Just because you may have never cooked duck before is no reason to shy away from it. Duck has such succulent meat, and it's so full of flavour and you don't have to do very much to it for it to turn out well, but the most important thing is not to overcook it - aim for medium rare.
(When I shot the photos for this recipe I tried using duck legs, which worked just as well and is less expensive, but to be honest this recipe is truly tastes best with the traditional duck breast.)
Grilled 'Magret du Canard' with balsamic cherry compote
• 2 large duck breasts or 4 legs
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Fire up your barbecue to medium-high (about 400ºF), it's a good idea to place a drip pan under the grill because the duck will release a fair bit of fat while cooking and make a mess of your barbecue.
Meanwhile put the cherries into a small saucepan along with the reserved marinade and bring it to a good simmer until the cherries start to release their juices and the juice begins to thicken a little bit. Remove from heat.
Grilled 'Magret du Canard' with balsamic cherry compote
• 2 large duck breasts or 4 legs
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt
• about 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and cut in half
• fresh ground pepper & 'herbes du provence'
Score the fatty skin on the duck pieces in a criss-cross pattern and rub the coarse salt into the crevices. Place the duck in a ziplock bag with the balsamic vinegar and make sure it coats the flesh and marinate for 15-20 max in the fridge. Meanwhile pit and chop the cherries.
Pour the contents of the ziplock bag out into a dish and season with pepper and some 'herbes du provence' if you like. Place on hot grill, skin side down and cook until golden and crispy (about 7-8 minutes) and then flip and cook 3-4 minutes more (a bit longer for duck leg). Remove from grill and allow to rest covered for 5-10 minutes (it will continue to cook a bit so be sure not to overcook it!)
If you used magret, slice it in 1 cm thick slices.
Arrange on 4 plates, and top with the cherry compote and serve immediately, with a side of veggies (steamed green beans with lemon butter pictured here).
Arrange on 4 plates, and top with the cherry compote and serve immediately, with a side of veggies (steamed green beans with lemon butter pictured here).
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