Crunchy Chicken Cooks

Triple Orgasm Strawberry Jam

2008-07-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a very salacious sounding title for a series of three takes on strawberry jam, but they are so amazing, the name is fitting.

Like the recipes for the Triumvirate of Peach Preserves, start with the standard Ball jam recipe (this makes a little over 8 8-oz jars), this time for strawberry. You'll find the directions remarkably similar so if you've made the peach preserves, these should be easy.

Strawberry Jam
5 cups crushed organic strawberries, washed and hulled
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 package pectin
7 cups sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Sterilize your jars, lids, etc. I'm not going to go into food safety techniques here - if you want more information, study the instructions that come with your pectin package.

Add the lemon and lemon zest to your strawberries in a non-corrosive pot and slowly add the package of pectin. I use a wooden spoon, but you can use any non-reactive implement you like. Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat and then add the sugar. Bring this mess up to a rolling boil, wherein you can't stir down the boiling action and, most likely, are getting bombarded by spattering molten lava strawberry bits. Boil for one full minute.

Now comes the fun part: adding flavors to this original recipe to make it much more tasty.

Spiced Sangiovese and Strawberry Jam
Strawberry jam - 1 batch (see recipe above - this recipe makes more like 11 jars)
1 cup Sangiovese wine (Pinot Noir or something similar can be substituted)
2 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
8 cloves

Simmer spices in wine for 20 minutes and remove the cinnamon sticks, star anise and cloves. Add in the strawberries, lemon juice and lemon zest and continue with the above instructions to produce one batch of strawberry jam.

Ladle into hot jars. Seal and hot process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Black Pepper and Peppermint Strawberry Jam
Strawberry jam - 1 batch (see recipe above)
10 fresh peppermint leaves, washed and coarsely chopped
1/2 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

Follow the instructions above to produce one batch of undoctored strawberry jam. Stir peppermint leaves and black pepper into strawberry mixture and ladle into hot jars. Seal and hot process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Vanilla Amaretto Strawberry Jam
Strawberry jam - 1 batch (see recipe above)
1 vanilla bean, cut in half and split down the middle
1 tablespoon quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Amaretto (or Disaronno)

Follow the instructions above to produce one batch of undoctored strawberry jam, adding in the vanilla bean and balsamic vinegar at the point where you mix in the lemon juice and lemon zest.

This concoction smells absolutely heavenly while on the stove but avoid the temptation to throw yourself into the pot head first lest you suffer third degree burns on your face and mouth.

When the jam is finished cooking, take it off the heat and let it rest for about 3 minutes. Stir the Amaretto into the prepared strawberry jam and ladle into hot jars. Seal and hot process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Don't get greedy and eat these right away. The flavors in the jams will mellow out and become quite subtle - even a few days maturity will improve the flavor of these jams immensely!

Once you've tried these jams, there's no way you'll go back to faking, I mean, making plain strawberry jam again!

Candied orange peel

2008-02-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Over on Crunchy Chicken I'm describing how I'm turning some of my food scraps into delectable foods. Candied orange peels are no different.

You can modify this recipe to make more or less.

Ingredients:
Peels from 5 medium size organic oranges
4 cups granulated sugar
2.5 cups water
6 oz milk chocolate (for dipping, if desired)

The process is fairly easy.

Step 1. Scrape the inside of the orange peels to remove the residual orange from the pith. If the pith is really thick, scrape it out with a vegetable peeler or a knife.

Step 2. Cut the peels into strips about 1/4" in width, removing the parts where the stem and the orange end are and any parts that don't look good.

Step 3. Put the strips into a medium sauce pan and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil to blanch the peels. This helps remove the bitterness of the pith. Repeat the blanching process one more time (if you removed a lot of the pith) or two more times if you left a lot of the pith on (like I did).

Step 4. Drain the peels and rinse with cold water. In the same saucepan add the water and sugar and bring to a boil. It will start to boil somewhere around 210 degrees F.

Step 5. Once the sugar syrup is boiling, add the peels and bring the temperature back up to boiling. Simmer the peels on medium low until they become translucent. Depending on how much pith is on the peel this will take anywhere from 1/2 an hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes (this is how long it took mine).

Step 6. When the peels are looking translucent, use a pair of tongs and remove them from the pot, placing them on a rack set over a cookie sheet to catch the drips. If you want you can roll the freshly removed strips in additional sugar but I found this to be a huge mess.

[You can strain the sugar syrup and use it as a simple syrup in a variety of recipes - just make sure you refrigerate it.]

Step 7. Leave the peels out to dry. If you want to speed things up you can put the whole cookie tray/rack combo in the oven at 250 degrees F for an hour or two.

Step 8. If you want to dip the strips in chocolate, melt the milk chocolate over a double boiler and dip, laying the strips down on parchment paper to dry.

Handmade butter

2008-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Thought you couldn't make butter by hand without a churn or some sort of fancy equipment? Well, I'm here to tell ya that all you need is a little cream (heavy whipping cream), a Mason jar and lid and two hands. It will take you about 30 minutes (probably less if you don't stop to take pictures).

Let the shaking begin!

1. Collect all the necessary equipment. I highly recommend trying to find local, organic cream as the quality is much better, but you can use whatever you have on hand if need be. I'm using a pint of heavy whipping cream here and a quart jar.

2. Leave the cream out on the counter for a while (the longer the cream sours, the less sweet the butter will be). Once the cream is warmed up to about 60 degrees then pour it into the Mason jar.

3. Put on the lid and start shaking it. After about two minutes you'll see a nice lightly whipped cream.

4. After about four minutes it will look like thick, whipped cream. Resist the temptation to empty the entire Mason jar into you mouth at this point. But do breathe in the heavenly, sweet scent.

5. After about nine minutes of shaking, the cream will start to separate from the sides of the glass. Feel free to take a break.

6. After about fourteen minutes, the whey starts separating from the butter.

7. After about sixteen minutes, the curd is more noticeable and there's a lot more whey.

8. At this point you can start pouring the buttermilk off. Continue shaking for a few minutes until your butter has solidified a bit more and until you aren't getting anymore buttermilk off of it.

9. Pour out the butter into a bowl. Doesn't this look like ice cream?

10. Pour cold water over the butter and start "massaging" the butter with a spatula to rinse the rest of the buttermilk out. Continue replacing the water until the water stays clear. Drain.

Mold your butter into butter molds or into ramekins. You will also end up with a scant cup of buttermilk (depending on how "juicy" your cream is).

Voila! Butter. In less than thirty minutes.

Kick-ass hummus

2008-01-01T19:38:00.001-08:00

I love me some hummus! Especially when you make it yourself and when you use dried chickpeas. You can substitute 2 cups of canned chickpeas in this recipe if you don't have dried ones.

1 cup dried chickpeas (née garbanzo beans)
5 cloves garlic
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup tahini (ground sesame seeds)
6 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

If you are using the 2 cups canned beans, you can skip this step:

Step 1. Preparing the chickpeas

Soak the chickpeas in water and the following mixture:

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon salt

Add enough water to the 3 ingredients above to form a paste and mix into the water that you will soak the beans in. Soak overnight.

Drain and rinse the beans. Add the beans to enough water to cover them with a few inches and bring to a boil. Simmer until soft (usually about 1/2 an hour, but it might take up to an hour depending on the hardness of your water). When the beans are the right consistency (firm, yet soft enough to bite into), drain. If you want to remove the skins, soak in cold water, straining the skins as they float to the top.

Step 2. Making the hummus

In a food processor, process the garlic until minced. Add in the rest of the ingredients and process until well blended. If you want you can serve with paprika, hot sauce or a drizzle of olive oil on top.

You can double this recipe if you want to have a serious hummus-fest. I've heard that you can freeze hummus, but haven't tried it myself, but it's worth a try.

If you are interested in reading more about the many wonders of beans, check out this post.

Lavender Chocolate Mousse Pie

2007-08-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last month's lavender flowering resulted in some lovely dried culinary lavender. What better way to enjoy it than to couple it with chocolate?

My husband makes this wonderful chocolate mousse pie, so we adapted it to include a lavender infusion with the cream. It turned out aromatically heavenly.

Lavender Chocolate Mousse Pie

Crust
21 organic Newman's Own chocolate sandwich cookies (or Oreos)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted organic butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

Mousse
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped *
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dried culinary lavender

For Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9-inch diameter springform pan with 2 3/4 inch high sides. Finely grind cookies in food processor. Add butter and process until mixture is evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan to form thin crust. Bake crust 5 minutes. Transfer crust to rack and cool completely.

For Mousse:
Combine chocolate (* we like Callebaut - you can get it at Whole Foods), vanilla and salt in food processor. Bring 1 cup cream and 2 tablespoons dried lavender to boil in heavy small saucepan. Strain cream mixture to remove lavender buds. With processor running, gradually pour hot cream through feed tube and process until chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Cool to room temperature stirring occasionally.

Beat 2 cups cream and sugar in large bowl to still peaks. Fold into chocolate mixture. Pour mousse into prepared crust. Chill until set, about 6 hours.

Serves 8. Errr, 5?

Crunchy Chicken Marbella

2007-08-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

Do you still have loads of dried plums left over from your (or a neighbor's) tree from last summer? Do you have any leftover bay leaves you dried last winter?

Here is one good way of using up those plums to make way for this year's crop. It is my take on the classic Chicken Marbella from the Silver Palate cookbook ca. 1982. Throw in some fresh garlic, oregano and Italian parsley from the garden to make the flavors really stand out. This is an extremely easy recipe to whip together - the only thing you have to remember is to prepare it the night before so the chicken has ample time to lounge in the marinade.

Since I generally don't cook for hoards of people, I've cut down the amount from the original recipe. Also, since I'm a breast man, I mean woman, I used bone-in chicken breasts instead of thighs. This recipe serves 4 - 5 (depending on how you cut up the chicken).

Crunchy Chicken Marbella
2 bone-in organic chicken breasts (approx. 2 lbs)
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 bay leaves
1.5 cups dried, pitted plums, chopped into smallish chunks
1 cup green olives (I leave the pits in)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh (or dried) oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a Viognier)
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped

With a large knife, split the chicken breasts into more manageable sizes - I cut mine up, yielding servings for 5. Rinse and pat dry (mostly to remove little bits of bone). In a large bowl, combine the chicken, garlic, bay leaves, dried plums and green olives. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and oregano. Pour the olive oil mixture over the chicken and combine well, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the chicken in a single layer in a large, shallow baking dish. Spoon the remaining marinade (make sure you include the plums, olives and bay leaves) over the chicken evenly. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with brown sugar and add the white wine around the chicken.

Bake for about 45 minutes or so, flipping the chicken every 20 minutes. The chicken is done when the juices run clear.

Transfer the chicken, plums and olives to a serving platter and moisten with the pan juices. Sprinkle with parsley.

Make sure each serving gets an ample amount of the plums and olives - they are what makes this meal stand out!

Triumvirate of peach preserves

2007-08-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

These three takes on a standard, easy peach jam recipe will make you crave them fortnightly! (Okay, anyone who can guess that odd media reference gets bonus points).

Since peaches are in season around these parts, what better way to capture the taste of summer than by making peach jam? I wanted to do something a little more interesting than just plain peach jam, so I played around with the original recipe, making my own modifications.

Last Saturday I spent the day blanching and removing peach skins and chopping up 8 cups of peaches. Then, the magic began (and the molten peach-lava-induced-blister on my hand from stirring at full boil -- who said great flavor didn't come at a cost?).

For the first batch, I started with the standard recipe (this makes a little over 6 8-oz jars):

Peach Preserves
4 cups chopped organic peaches, skins and pits removed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 package pectin
5 cups sugar

Sterilize your jars, lids, etc. I'm not going to go into food safety techniques here - if you want more information, study the instructions that come with your pectin package.

Add the lemon to your peaches in a non-corrosive pot and slowly add the package of pectin. I use a wooden spoon, but you can use any non-reactive implement you like. Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat and then add the sugar. Bring this mess up to a rolling boil, wherein you can't stir down the boiling action and, most likely, are getting bombarded by spattering molten lava peach bits (see above note). Boil for one full minute.

Now comes the fun part: adding flavors to this original recipe to make it much more tasty.

Cognac Vanilla Peach Preserves
[or Confiture de Pêche au Cognac et Vanille - if you wants to be fancy-like]
Peach preserves - 1 batch (see recipe above)
1/4 cup cognac
2 vanilla beans (each one cut into thirds and split down the middle)

Follow the instructions above to produce one batch of undoctored peach preserves. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Stir cognac into the peach preserves and ladle into hot jars. Add one piece of vanilla bean into each of the six jars, pushing the bean down with a spoon. Seal and hot process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Cacao Peach Preserves
[or Confiture de Pêche aux Eclats de Fève de Cacao - ain't this Frenchy stuff fun?]
Peach preserves - 1 batch (see recipe above)
6 tablespoons cacao nibs

Follow the instructions above to produce one batch of undoctored peach preserves. Ladle prepared peach preserves into hot jars, adding about 1 tablespoon of cacao nibs to each jar. Seal and hot process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Ginger Peach Preserves
[or Confiture de Pêche au au Gingembre et Citron - phew!]
Peach Preserves - 1 batch (see recipe above)
3 tablespoons candied ginger, chopped into small pieces

Follow the instructions above to produce one batch of undoctored peach preserves. Ladle prepared peach preserves into hot jars, adding about 1/2 tablespoon of chopped candied ginger to each jar. Seal and hot process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

I know you won't be able to resist the temptation to start eating these right away, but your patience will be rewarded when you finally crack open those preserves months away from now when you can enjoy a taste of summer in the dead of winter. Ooh la la!

Welcome to my Food Blog!

2007-08-19T09:23:00.001-07:00

If you're wondering how this blog came into being, it is a spin-off (of sorts) from my environmental blog, Crunchy Chicken. One of the many focuses (foci?) on this other blog is related to eating in a more environmentally friendly way.

It should come as no surprise that eating organically is better for the environment and those of you who read my regular blog have probably already seen my posts regarding eating locally and its affects on oil consumption and other resource usage.

So this blog will be comprised of recipes that focus on seasonally inspired, local and organic foods. The recipes will be categorized by season (sorry southern hemisphere folks, you have to do the "translation") so that if you are looking for a crop in season, you can easily search for a recipe by season in addition to ingredient or recipe type.

I hope you enjoy it and comments are most definitely welcome! Also, if you try out the recipes, feel free to update the posting with any modifications you made that you liked.