Cabbage and salsa scramble

‘Tis the season when our garden starts to have engines. Those green things the middle of the photo are cabbages. You plant them in threes to a spot and then thin them. The thing is: young cabbage plants are very like collard greens. Instead of composting them, we like to eat them. Easy to do for dinners, but what about breakfast?!?

Enter the idea of eggs scrambled with vegetables. Michael fed our girls “green eggs”, or finely chopped broccoli and onions scrambled with eggs, when they were very young. Now that we are old, we are reverting to that tradition. So here is the latest version of “green eggs” (for two):

5 eggs

3 heaping tablespoons of your favorite salsa

1 bunch sturdy greens, with any thick stems removed (except beet greens or chard, where you chop the stems separately and cook them longer than the leaves), sliced into ribbons (easy to do by stacking the leaves, rolling into a bundle, and slicing thin)

A medium onion or a bunch of green onions, thinly sliced (we have tons of green onions these days)

2 tablespoons good olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Half cup grated cheese (I used Gouda, but Asiago or some sharp cheddar would be good too)

Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat and add the olive oil and butter. Toss in a half teaspoon of kosher salt (more or less, to taste) into the oil. When the butter stops foaming, toss in the greens and onions (with cooking notes on chard and beet greens). Grind pepper over the greens. Stir every so often until well wilted and it looks like most of the water has cooked off. While the greens are sautéing, beat your eggs in with the salsa. Add the eggs to the greens and watch to see when the eggs begin to set on the bottom of the pan. Gently turn them over in batches with a spatula. Keep cooking and rotating until your eggs are cooked to how you like them. Sprinkle on some cheese and remove from heat.

We ate these with tortilla chips and sour cream (we were hungry after our morning chores and bike ride), but the eggs would have been great all by themselves.

Shrimp and blossoms pasta

We went out and picked the last of the garlic scapes today, along with a batch of daylily blossoms. I didn’t have any leftover chicken, but I did have frozen shrimp. Pasta night!

Daylily blossoms may be best simply sautéed in a bit of butter, but they added a lovely floral note to this dish. The scapes are gently garlicky with a slight crunch. Cavatapi pasta allowed all that great flavor to soak into the pasta. Michael declared it quite delightful.

This is the full fledged flower. We used the unopened buds in this dish. So here is the recipe:

1 pound raw shrimp, shelled and cut into bite sized pieces

About 10-15 garlic scapes, cut into 1/4” pieces

A cup and a half (or so) fresh daylily buds

2 cups dry pasta such as Cavatapi

1 generous teaspoon red chile flakes

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons good olive oil

3/4 cup finely (and freshly) grated Parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper

Start water to boil. Add some salt to the pasta water. Prep all vegetables and shrimp. Melt butter over medium heat and add olive oil. When you add pasta to water (to cook to al dente), start sautéing the scapes in the butter/oil. When scapes turn bright green, add shrimp pieces and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until shrimp just turn pink. Add the daylily blossoms and stir. The pasta should be done. Save some of the pasta water, drain pasta and add to pan. Stir to coat pasta with oil/shrimp/scapes. If too dry, add some pasta water. Sprinkle on Parmesan and several grinds of black pepper. Stir one more time and serve.

Chickpea pancakes

Michael has never liked anything made with whole cooked chickpeas. He eats around them in stews. He ignores hummus. Heavens forfend they should ever appear in a salad. But lately he’s been experimenting with winter squash croquettes as an alternative to roasted squash, squash soup, squash pasta sauce, squash pie, or double baked squash. Yesterday he made squash croquettes with chickpea flour. They were marvelous! (I’ll have to squeeze the recipe out of him.) This morning I used the leftover chickpea flour to make pancakes.

They were moist without being gooey. Flavorful enough to stand up to tomato jam. Light enough to support maple syrup. Yum. (The dark one was one of the first cooked. My pan had gotten too hot. Still delicious.)

And Michael loves them!

So does Zeke. (We are dining off of chairs and end tables due to my injuring my knee.) So, for those who may be interested, here’s my recipe:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup chickpea flour

1/3 cup regular flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

[I recommend fresh ground flour, but if store-bought is what you have, it’s what you have! For grinding chickpeas, you will have to put them through a blender first so they will fit through a grinder.]

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

Whisk all dry ingredients together

3 Tbsp butter

1 extra large egg

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Melt your butter in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave (or use a pan on the stove). Off heat, whisk in the egg when the butter is almost all melted. (Having a little unmelted butter means it isn’t too warm and shouldn’t cook your egg. 30 seconds in our microwave gets it to this stage.) The butter-egg mixture gave me half a cup of liquid. Add a cup of buttermilk and whisk with butter-egg mixture. Fold into flour mixture. My batter was too thick, so I added another quarter cup of buttermilk. It made a smooth, thick batter.

Drop by spoonfuls (depending on how large you like your pancakes) onto a heated griddle or heavy-bottomed pan. I use a Club aluminum fry pan. Cast iron works well too. Medium to medium high heat, depending on your stove top. When you see bubbles in the middle and the edges look dull instead of shiny, flip them over. They are done when they feel springy in the middle. I remove them to a warmed platter covered with a cotton dish cloth to keep warm while cooking the batch.

This made enough for three people. If you are cooking for two, use one cup of flour (easy to just omit the whole wheat), half tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp sugar, 2 Tbsp melted butter, 1 regular egg, and 2/3 cup buttermilk (plus any extra to get that creamy texture).

You can scale the recipe up as well.

You can substitute cooking oil for the butter for the lactose intolerant. Coconut oil changes the flavor, which anyone who uses coconut oil knows, but does because they like coconut!

Substituting margarine is a bit trickier because it adds water and reduces fat, which will affect consistency and may result in the pancakes sticking to the pan.

Bon appetit!

chicken and green bean with noodle

1 pound skinless boned chicken breasts, sliced thin

1 pound (or so) green beans, cut into bite sized pieces

1 onion, thin sliced

8-12 ounces noodle (pancit, vermicelli, rice thread, or other thin noodle), depending on how many people are eating (about 2-3 ounces noodle per person)

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons Marsala or other cooking wine

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tablespoon black vinegar (or rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar)

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon black bean sauce

1/2 cup corn starch

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 sprigs fresh parsley, 3 stems fresh lavender flowers, 1 sprig fresh curry leaves, 1 small bunch basil leaves…all minced together

4-6 tablespoon canola oil or other cooking oil

Boil noodles in salted water until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Combine the sauces (all ingredients from oyster sauce to black bean sauce). Set aside.

Dredge the chicken slices in the corn starch and shake off excess.

Heat wok or other large iron pan until smoking hot. Add a couple tablespoons oil and half the diced garlic and ginger. Stirring or shaking pan, add chicken in small batches. Cook rapidly until no longer pink. Remove from pan to side dish.

Add more oil to pan and toss in green beans and the rest of the garlic and ginger, cooking rapidly for 7-10 minutes or until beans begin to turn bright green. Add onions and stir fry for another minute or two. Return chicken to pan and add the combined sauces. Add cooked noodles. Turn down heat and cook until everything is heated through. Just before serving, stir in herbs. Serve immediately.

Note: I tossed in the curry leaves and lavender on a whim, because I had them in my garden. They added an amazing floral essence that did not shout either curry or lavender. They could be omitted and this would still taste amazing. Having fresh vegetables and herbs makes a difference.

I have access to Asian food stores, where I found the black vinegar and bought some to try. It does amazing things to vegetables. Looking at the label, it is called Zilin Mature Vinegar. Who knew?

Golden mushroom soup

It is Chicken Mushroom (aka Sulfur Shelf) time in Big Woods country. 

Distinctive color coupled with growth on an oak keeps this mushroom from being confused with any other. 

Although it is not necessarily soup weather, here is my recipe for Golden Mushroom Soup. 

Ingredients:

One half pound of Sulphur Shelf (aka Chicken) mushrooms (fresh)

          or one and a half cups (dried)

1 medium onion

4 tablespoons butter (if using fresh mushrooms) or 2 tablespoons if using dried mushrooms (can substitute olive oil if you must, but don't)

2 cups chicken broth

one cup cream

salt and pepper to taste

Directions for assembly:

Sautee onions and mushrooms in butter until onions are soft and mushrooms are limp.  Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.  (If using dried mushrooms, simmer dried mushrooms in chicken broth until soft, sautee onions in butter, and add sauteed onions to chicken broth/mushroom mix.) Add cream until it reaches a gentle simmer.  Take off heat.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

There are variations you can add to the basic recipe.  You may wish to add a clove of minced garlic to the onions while they are sauteeing, or add a quarter teaspoon of thyme to the chicken broth, or add a quarter cup of dry white wine to the broth after it has simmered, or add fresh minced parsley as a garnish just before serving. 

Always good to have fresh, crusty bread with this soup.

Sautéed mushrooms. They are also fabulous in omelettes!

Mardi Gras Birthday Cake

We interrupted our regularly scheduled mid-winter diet due to the alignment of Michael’s birthday with Mardi Gras, which resulted in this cake. The recipe is an amalgam of a number of different recipes and a number of likes and dislikes.  Michael likes chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I like coconut (which is a more edible substitute for confetti), but Irene does not. Irene likes almonds and Michael tolerates them. So here we go:

Cake:   

I get out all my ingredients first, to make sure I have them. Then I put them away as I use them to make sure they get in the cake. Growing older does that to a person!  

Ingredients:   

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp New Mexico Hot ground chile (you can substitute 3/4 tsp cayenne) 

1 tsp vanilla  

1 Tbsp white vinegar  

5 Tbsp vegetable oil  

3/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup dark rum

9”  round cake pan

spray oil

Frosting (aka ganache in some places): 

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup good quality bittersweet chocolate chips (the best I could find locally was Ghirardelli) 

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla  

1 Tbsp dark rum

Garnishes: 

sweetened coconut flakes

raw almonds  

birthday candles (I keep a stash on hand otherwise I’d never think to put them on my shopping list and would have to resort to leftover pillar candles).  

The Process: 

Preheat oven to 350° and make sure your oven rack is in the upper 1/2 of the oven. Moving hot racks can be done, but why?

Spray the cake pan with the spray oil, making sure to get good coverage. If you don’t normally have spray oil around, use butter or shortening or even some of the vegetable oil you need to make this cake. You can also dust the pan with flour, but I like to live dangerously and omitted the flour.  One of my dislikes is the taste of flour and oil paste on my cake.... 

Mix together all of your dry ingredients. If any of them are lumpy, put the whole mixture through a sieve. You can measure out your rum and water with a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, and then add the rest of the liquids into the same cup. Dump the liquids into the dry mix and stir until everything is just wet. It will be thick.  

Scrape the batter into your greased pan, even out with a rubber spatula, and cook for about 30 minutes. Mine took a bit longer (like 5 minutes) but I think my oven runs cool. Test with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.  

Take the cake out of the oven and put on a cooling rack. Set your timer for 10 minutes. Gently start shaking the cake pan with little jerks up and down to loosen the cake from the pan. Rotate the pan while you are doing this. You will be able to feel the cake release from the pan. At that point, place your cake plate over the pan and flip the pan over so the cake flops onto the plate.  

So yes, part of my cake did stick to the pan. I took a metal spatula and scraped the cake from the pan and jigsaw puzzled it back on top of my cake. Who’s to know after the frosting goes on? 

Now that my cake was safely cooling, I went away and did something else for about a half hour. Then I started in on the frosting  

It is really good to have a thick-bottomed sauce pan for this frosting. I inherited a Club aluminum pan that works well. I don’t recommend something like Revereware-it gets and loses heat too quickly. But, if all you have are thin bottom sauce pans, do your best.   Some people might get away with boiling the cream in a glass bowl in the microwave.  I haven’t tried it, but it might work.  I suppose I like the control of doing it on the stove top  

Heat the cup of cream with the butter and the sugar until the cream starts to simmer. Stir often. Once you come to a simmer, take off the heat and dump in the chocolate chips. Wait for a minute or so to let the chips melt, then start to whisk them into the cream with a wire whisk. You can use a fork, but I like the whisk. Once the chocolate looks fully mixed in, whisk in the vanilla and rum. 

You are going to look at this and despair that it will ever be a spreadable frosting. So here’s the trick.  

Take that empty cake pan and fill it halfway up with cold water and a couple of ice cubes. Put your sauce pan in the cold water and start whisking. The chocolate will start to thicken. You have to keep whisking or else the chocolate that touches the sides of the aluminum pan will harden into lumps. But if you have patience, you get this wonderful, smooth, buttery frosting (ganache?) that is so worth the effort. Once you have something that looks spreadable, take the pan out of the water, dry off the bottom, and dump that frosting on your (now cooled) cake. Spread around with a frosting spatula, covering the sides and top. (I saved a little in the pan because I knew we would not eat all the cake and used the extra to frost the places where it got cut. This cake tends to dry out if not covered.)

And the garnish:  I sprinkled half the cake with coconut. I put raw almonds on the coconut half, then split almonds to put on the chocolate half, as I liked the contrasting colors. To split the almonds without breaking them, I took a paring knife and scraped down one side of the almond to expose the white, and then pried the almond apart along its natural fault line.  

And don’t forget the candles!   

County fair journal: my first tractor pull

Coming to you from the grandstand at the Polk County Fair, a half hour before show time and the contestants are weighing in.  

Who knew there were weight classes for tractor pulls?!? 

Half an hour before show time and the track is being graded.  

There is some serious machinery on display

The track inspectors are conferring with the road grader.  

One picks up dirt samples in his hands, the other tests the track with his bare feet  

Finding conditions to be acceptable, the track compactor kicks into gear.  

The ten year old gets to ride shotgun.  

They are now two minutes behind schedule, and putting the final dust-settling touches on the course.  

Pretty impressive to see a road constructed before your eyes.  

The contestants are lined up and the national anthem plays to hats removed.  

Gentlemen, start your engines! 

The first contestant made it 100 feet. The tractor pulls a contraption that has a weight which slowly moves forward on its sledge, gradually digging its nose further into the dirt, thus increasing drag. Nobody gets to the end of the course. Next up: a classic John Deere A.  

Here he goes! 

And the John Deere A makes it 150 feet!  Next up: a Farmall. Despite holding his throttle wide open with one hand while steering with the other, he made it 100 feet. A John Deere H just made it 289 feet!  Woo hoo!  But even that cannot hold a candle to the Massey Ferguson that just made 363 feet. But then a John Deere 2 cylinder with spoke wheels just dusted him. Oh no! A John Deere just got stopped cold at the start of the track. I think there's a technique to this. The old guys make it further.

BTW, so far there is a unique gender identity in drivers. 

But not in tractors. Here comes an Alice Chalmers tractor. Made an adequate showing, but not a winner.  

The natives are getting restless.  

Here comes the first Oliver. Made it to 300!  The young guy on the Farmall made it to 295. A 356 just missed out being in the top 3.  

383 first place-john deere

378 second place-john deere

363 third place-Massey Ferguson.  

Now we are getting into souped up tractors. An International Harverster just went fast, but not long. The Farmall with the roll cage went 292, mostly with his front wheels off the ground. Here comes the IH with the flames. 12 MPH for 279.8. Wowza. And that's the show folks. 

Three-day (or so) countertop pickles

Countertop Pickles

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon glass jar
• 1/2 cup+  Kosher salt
• a bunch of dill
• peeled garlic cloves to taste
• cucumbers-enough to fill the jar
• grape leaves (wild will do)
• water to cover

HOW TO:

• Cut up dill (into chucks that fit) and grape leaves and garlic and cover the bottom of the jar.
• Tightly pack cucumbers into jar to half full point.
• Another layer of dill,  grape leaves and garlic.
• Pack cucumbers tightly to the shoulder of the jar—leave room for water to completely cover all ingredients.
• On top wedge the cucumbers down with more dill, grape leaves and garlic (the dill wedges the cucumbers in and keeps them from floating to the top). This is important.
• Add 1/2 cup of Kosher salt or a little more.  The salt ensures that the “correct” bacteria grow in the jar (the kind that make acetic acid [vinegar] as a byproduct.  The acetic acid does the actual pickling).  Fill jar with water to the top and cover with a plate so it can breath.

     I always add a bit more salt because the salinity of the water in the jar depends upon how tightly the cucumbers are packed and you can’t always control that because of the size of the cucumbers you have to work with.  More salt ensures that the correct bacteria grows and not the wrong kind.  If the resulting pickles are too salty some of the liquid can be poured out and replaced with fresh water after the pickles are done working and are refrigerated to stop the bacteria from growing.

    Allow the pickles to work on the counter for 3 or 4 days (place the gallon jar into a bowl or tray because they will overflow).  When the pickles are pickles—this amount of time will very dependent on temperature—put them into the refrigerator to stop the bacteria working.  The pickles will keep in the fridge for 4-6 months.

Deviled Easter Eggs

Deviled eggs are yummy and easy to make, which is why we only make them from Easter eggs in my family. Here is how I make mine: 

Start with a dozen hard boiled eggs. I like to use the method where you bring eggs to a boil, cover the pan and turn off the heat, rescuing the eggs ten minutes later. Duck eggs are larger and so sat a bit longer. 

Michael peeled eggs while I chopped veggies.  

I then finely mince approximately 2 tablespoons each of green onion, dill pickle, pimiento stuffed green olives, and celery.  

Diced nice.  

Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and add the yolks to the vegetables and mash them together. Add half a teaspoon of celery salt and several grinds of black pepper. Add about a cup of mayonnaise  (to taste) and a teaspoon or so of the pickle juice. Adjust seasonings to taste. Fill egg whites with egg yolk mix (I'm always amazed the yolks all fit back in the whites) and sprinkle with paprika 

Yum.  

I have learned that: duck eggs have a different ratio of yolk to white (more yolk) and the yolks and whites stick together more than in chicken eggs. 

The bonus photo of the day: deviled Easter eggs at my daughter's home in Iowa!   

Nice to know its a true family tradition.  

Tamales-a December tradition

Some people get tamales year round. In our household they are made (in large batches) only in December. That way you can have them on Christmas morning. Yum. 

I make my tamales with pork, but have made them with green chile and cheese, chicken, shrimp, fish, or sweet tamales with raisins and brown sugar. But pork and red chile are my favorite.  So that is the recipe I share here. 

This is slow food, so set aside a full day if making tamales. Better yet, invite people over and make it a party.  

Assemble ingedients:

4 lb pork roast

6-10 cloves garlic

Heaping tablespoon salt

Heaping tablespoon cumin/comino

2 teaspoons oregano

Half cup chile caribe (optional) 

Half cup ground red chile

5 cups masa harina

5 cups yellow corn meal

10 tsp baking powder

5 tsp salt

16 oz (1lb) lard

Start cooking! 

Place the pork roast in a large stock pot and cover with 4" of water. Add garlic and 1/4 cup chile caribe and a heaping tablespoon of salt. Simmer, covered, for about 3 hours, until the roast is falling apart.  

Pork roast put on to simmer.  

Once the meat is tender, transfer it to a large frying pan (with the garlic) and pull apart with two forks. 

Falling apart meat

i add some olive oil to the pan, but you can use lard if you wish. Heat the meat and add the red chile, chile caribe, comino, oregano, and enough of the broth from the stock pot to make it soft and juicy, but not runny. Adjust seasonings to taste, but remember that this is going to be the filling for an otherwise bland grain wrapping. Keep at a bare simmer. 

Pork and red chile. Yum.  

Now that you have your meat filling prepared, fill a sink with hot water and soak the hojas while you are mixing the masa.  

Corn husks in hot water

I have a large mixing bowl my husband inherited from his grandmother. You can split this into smaller bowls if you need.  

Mix together 5 cups Masa Harina, 5 cups corn meal, the salt, baking powder, and stir together. Cut in the lard, using two knives or a pastry cutter. 

Masa dry mix  

The pork broth left from the roast should still be warm. If not, heat it up. Add enough of the broth to the dry mix to make a soft paste.  

Should hold its form but spread easily

Drain the hojas in a colander. Spread masa on the smooth, shiny side of an hoja, about halfway up, starting at the wide end. Place a tablespoon or two of filling at one end. 

Assembling the tamal

Roll up and fold the end down.  

Ready to be steamed! 

Place tamales folded end down in a steamer. Steam for at least an hour.  

Make sure the water doesn't all boil away.  

Peel off the hoja before eating. 

Unwrapping the tamal! 

Good with red chile sauce, beans, slivered cabbage, grated cheese, and/or a fried egg.  

Makes about 5 dozen. They freeze well after cooking and can be reheated in a microwave.  

Beer Batter: Its what's for Fish

Michael and I like to catch fish.  We also like to eat the fish we catch.  Bringing a fish from water to table involves several steps, including cleaning and filleting.  Those steps will be posted a different day.  Today, let us assume you have fish fillets ready to cook:

Beer batter is made with

1 cup of flour

1 tablespoon of Lawry's seasoned salt (or garlic salt, or plain salt, or the other seasoning of your choice)

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper (or pre-ground, if that is what you have)

1 12-ounce can of beer (choose your favorite-I find non-lite beers add better flavor)

Whisk the flour, salt, and pepper together.  Since flour comes with different moisture content, it is difficult to tell how much of the beer you will need.  Slowly whisk in beer until you have a thick batter (about 3/4 of a can will give you a good consistency most days....) Dry the fillets before dipping them in batter.  Fry in hot oil until golden.

Paired with salad fresh from the garden, roasted beet salad (yes, with beets and herbs from the garden) and Michael's tartar sauce, it is what's for dinner.