A Hopeful Garden

A day off after a few weeks of working in the city. I have to go back to the city tomorrow and the day after, but wanted to grab this day and get some gardening done before the rain. I am EVER hopeful concerning rain...although the rain chance is only 30%, I feel certain we'll get something in the way of precipitation. There has been no sunshine today. Dark clouds and cooler temps all day. I would love a full fledged rainstorm, I will settle for a day of drizzle.

I measured my garden yesterday, curious about it's actual size in square feet. It is small (and feeling smaller all the time) at 45 feet by 45 feet. I decided that, in order to get all I want to grow in that small space, that I needed to think vertically. GO UP. Or Grow Up. Which is probably appropriate in many areas of my life. I built a new raised bed last year that, until the Great Freeze of 2011, held my plantings of kale. Most all the kale froze, in fact I lost most everything in the garden except a bed of spinach that had just come up (maybe 1" high and mulched very heavily). So now there was an empty bed waiting for new plantings. I knew I wanted to grow my beans up poles and my cukes up fencing, so I combined the two and this is what the kale bed has become.

It is hard to tell, but the cross pole that goes from teepee to teepee (I am taking liberty calling that bunch of poles a teepee, but you get the idea, right?) has fencing attached to it that reaches the ground. The beans will be planted around the base of each pole to grow up. The cucumbers will be planted at the bottom of the wire to climb up. I had great luck last year growing cukes up wire fencing. So for now, since it is not anywhere near time to plant beans and cukes, I planted sugar snap peas along the bottom of the fencing. They will climb up the same as cukes and be easy to pick. I soaked way too many pea seeds. I do this EVERY year and at planting time complain about having too many seeds and nowhere to plant them. But you know, I NEVER complain when it's time to pick and eat them. Indeed, last year Nisa had a great blog post on The Cooks We Are on eating pea shoots (she made a gorgeous omelet with pea shoots) and I promised myself I would plant extra just for the shoots. So after planting seeds on both sides of the wire fencing, I still had a full bowl of fat soaked pea seeds. Now, necessity is the mother of invention, or so I am told, so I went back to last years "invention" for something for peas to climb on. This ranch of ours has piles all around.  Building materials, gardening materials, car and motorcycle parts. We are somewhat organized, but a pile is a pile and it still really gets to me sometime. But there are times when I am so grateful for a pile. Indeed, the entire bean/cuke set up above was built from materials salvaged from "piles" (except for 4 of the bamboo poles I snagged from my friend Stuart's farm during a visit last weekend). Last year, when planting my pea bed, I found a bunch of lampshade "frames" (I know there is another name for them, but I can't think what it is). They were rusted, but there were about a dozen nested together and with very little effort they all pulled apart. Stacked offset on top of one another they made great cages for the pea vines to climb. After using them last year, I simply nested them again and put them by the tool shed. So out they came this afternoon and now they are in another bed with peas planted all around them. As the peas grow I will add more lampshades on top. 

So at this point; spinach, onions, beets, broccoli raab and radishes are up. Peas are planted and I have lots of seeds ready to go into the ground. I once read a quote about planting a garden being the supreme sign of hopefulness. I believe that is true. These days the garden pulls me out most every morning to see how my tiny plants are coming along. I get a thrill to see the first true leaves on the spinach and the radishes beginning to swell at their base. Just outside my bedroom door, the garden overflows with hopefulness.

just a quick recipe...

I woke up yesterday morning very excited about a special visitor we were expecting. I hesitate to say Alex is my favorite client of Scott's lest I offend any others, but he is definitely in the top 3...(is that covering my butt or what?). Alex is upbeat, intellectual and just plain FUN. He always initiates lively conversation and when he leaves, I always feel the visit was not long enough.

I had most of our lunch planned out in my head, but realized I had forgotten about dessert. I looked in the fridge and saw I had a hunk of pie pastry left over from a quiche I'd made earlier in the week, a carton of mascarpone cheese and some beautiful raspberries. It all came together in my head in an instant (see what being obsessed with food will do to you?) when I remembered all the lemon curd I'd made a month ago and stashed in the freezer. In 15 minutes, dessert was finished and I concentrated on getting lunch ready.
Here's how it came together.
There was not enough pastry to make a full sized tart, so I cut rounds and popped them into a muffin tin. I baked them at 500 degrees for 8 minutes because that's what the oven was set at to roast some asparagus. I would generally never bake pastry at that temp but under a watchful eye, it worked. I dumped the pastry rounds out on a rack to cool. I then mixed some mascarpone cheese with a few large dollops of lemon curd until it was light and billowy-really just a few turns with a spoon. This stuff was good! I piped it on the now cooled pastry rounds and topped each with a fresh raspberry.
Maybe it didn't even take 15 minutes...they were the perfect ending to a great lunch.

Apple Chestnut Heart Tarts!

I want to start this post trying to help you get over your fear of working with pie pastry. I mean really, if a simple mixture of flour, fat and water is keeping you from the wonderful art of pie making, then NOW is the time to learn. It IS easy, and better than that, even if you do mess it up a bit, it will still be edible. It is incredibly forgiving! My original recipe for pie crust is in words and pictures on my website The Teaching Kitchen. I walk you through it step by step and it WORKS! The new pie crust I developed (and I use the word develop loosely) eliminates the butter and uses all coconut oil. This crust can be considered vegan for its lack of dairy. I like both crusts, but the coconut oil one is a bit different to put together. Follow the directions for the original single crust, but use 4 ounces coconut oil instead of the 8 Tablespoon mixture of shortening and butter (8 tablespoons = 4 ounces). Coconut oil is solid at room temp and is not near as creamy as shortening.

Weigh out 4 ounces of coconut oil, which is also the same as 1/2 cup.

Place 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour in the bowl of a food processor. This can also be made in a large bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (if you use regular salt, cut back a bit) and pulse or stir to mix. Add the coconut oil.

This step is where it differs from the original pie pastry. You process this (or cut the coconut oil in with a pastry blender or two knives if you are not using a food processor) until the coconut oil is completely mixed in. With the original recipe you pulse the food processor until the butter/shortening is about the size of small peas, meaning if you grab a handful of the flour/fat mixture you would feel large particles of butter and shortening in the flour. Not so with the coconut oil pastry. Pulse until you cannot feel any large particles. Add the 5 Tablespoons ice water a Tablespoon at a time just until the dough begins to hold together. Dump the entire mass out onto a lightly floured counter and knead just a bit until it all holds together in a big ball. Flatten into a disc.

At this point, you can wrap the pastry disc in plastic wrap and set it aside. If your kitchen is really warm, you can place it in the fridge, but coconut oil firms up quite hard, so the dough takes a long while to become workable when cold.
For the filling, grab a few apples and cut in quarters. Core and peel and cut in small chunks. Place 2 teaspoons or so coconut oil in a medium skillet and heat on low to melt. Add apple chunks and stir. Add 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, honey or dark brown sugar and stir to mix. Add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and about 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg. Mix well and increase heat to medium. Stir every few minutes to keep apples from sticking to the pan. If they seem dry, you can add a Tablespoon of apple juice if you have it or even brandy. Water will work also.

 

Cook the apples for about 15 minutes. You want then quite soft. When they are soft, set them aside to cool. Now back to the pastry! Unwrap pastry disc, dust with flour and roll out to about 1/8" thick. With a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many hearts as you can get. Place half the hearts on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Scott and I both love chestnuts and years ago we used to buy French "Chestnut Spread" at World Market. I'd use it to spread between homemade sandwich cookies (think Oreos, but made with homemade crisp brown sugar cookies sandwiched with chestnut spread...VERY good). World Market stopped carrying it and then this Christmas, Lily presented Scott with a jar of the stuff! She said she got it at Williams-Sonoma, but I know it is also available online here or here. It is remarkable stuff! These tarts can be made without it...simply using the cooked apples, but the chestnut spread makes them truly special! It IS Valentines' Day after all...

Spread a teaspoonful or so on each pastry heart.

Press a small amount of cooked apples on top of the chestnut spread and top with another pastry heart. Press lightly around edges to seal. Then take a fork and press the tines around the edge to crimp and seal.

Prick a knife tip a couple times into the top of the sealed hearts. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes until golden. Let cool a bit before eating as the filling is hot when they come out of the oven!

Of course, you can fill these tarts with whatever you'd like: a smear of Nutella and some sauteed bananas, sauteed pears and candied ginger (or even ginger jam!), dried cherries or dates and sweetened mascarpone cheese...the possibilites are endless! Sometimes I cut large rounds and fill and then fold over and seal so you have half moons. Easier than these two piece tarts, but this holiday calls for hearts!

Happy, Happy Valentines' Day to all.

Tofu Cutlets

It's cold again in the Hill Country. Not as bad as last week, but still unreasonably cold. This is Texas for goodness sake! Woke up to snow flurries and when that stopped, the wind picked up. The day only got colder. When the weather gets cold, I get cooking. It keeps me from going crazy and warms up the house at the same time. Last week it was onion tart, roasted beets and baked sweet potatoes. Today it was roasted turnips, tofu cutlets and apple chestnut heart tarts. The apple chestnut heart tarts I will post on Friday so maybe they can be made for Valentines' Day. They are luscious and-surprise!-vegan, made with a coconut oil pastry.

I have been roasting all our veggies lately...talk about quick and easy! Cut up the vegetables, douse with some extra virgin olive oil and a bit of kosher salt and spread out on a cookie sheet. Bake 8-15 minutes (depending on the veggie) in a 550 degree oven until browned a bit and ever so slightly tender. Cauliflower is our favorite, but broccoli is also good (I lower the heat to 500 for broccoli), beets are amazing, as are sweet potatoes. My sweet and remarkable neighbor Warren (someday I will do a post on him...in September he will be 87 and he can do ANYTHING!) dropped off 3 beautiful big turnips he grew at the house the other day. I roasted them today and they were the best! With some tofu cutlets, they made a great lunch for Scott and I. I've been making tofu cutlets for 30 years (gee, I feel too young to have been doing ANYTHING for 30 years!) and my technique has changed a bit over the years. I use to pan "fry" them, but now I bake them.  Way less oil and I can bake them all at once. Same crispy outsides and tender insides.

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. I cover mine with foil because it makes clean up easier. Then start with a pound of firm or extra firm tofu.

Slice into 1/3-1/2" slices.

Now make the Tofu Breading Mix! Back in the early 1980's when I had my funky, little health food store in Boerne, I used to package this mix and sell it. Some customers told me it made the best breading for fried catfish. Never tried it...

Mix 2 cups stone ground cornmeal (organic is oh! so good) with 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes, 3-4 Tablespoons whole sesame seeds, 1 Tablespoon garlic granules and 1 Tablespoon kosher salt. Mix this up real good. This makes much more than you'll need for a pound of tofu. I store the extra in my freezer...who knows? maybe I'll want to fry up some catfish sometime...

Now dredge the catfish tofu in the cornmeal mixture covering both sides. The tofu is wet so the mixture should stick just fine. Remember to get the sides covered also.

Place the cutlets on a well greased cookie sheet.

Pop these in the oven for 15-20 minutes (they'll be light golden brown), then take the cookie sheet out of the oven and turn them over. If you have teflon hands like me, you can do it with your fingers. If not, use a spatula. Place the sheet back in the oven for 10 more minutes. Take the sheet out of the oven and let the cutlets sit on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes as they firm up a bit while sitting. When my girls were little we ate these most every week. They loved them with catsup. I'm still partial to them that way.

See the roasted turnips? We ate an entire tray of turnips and a whole pound of tofu for lunch. Burp!

If you have leftovers, they heat up in a skillet just fine. Maybe someday I'll post how to make tofu at home. The process is pretty much the same as making the mozzarella I wrote about last weekend, but instead of using cows milk you make soymilk and use that! I even wrote a booklet called "60 Minutes To Tofu" many years ago. I think I have a copy in a desk drawer somewhere. Here's to "doing it yourself"!

Have a great week and stay warm!!

Making Mozzarella

Had my sweet grand daughter Natalie here since Thursday.  She's taken to calling herself Chef Andre whenever she is on the step stool in the kitchen helping me...don't ask me where she came up with that. Today she rode with me to pick up my raw milk and fell asleep a few miles into the ride. When I was pulling back into the driveway an hour later, she woke up and said, "Grandma! What about all the things we were supposed to do?" "You slept through it all!" I told her and she laughed. What a happy kid! She was supposed to help me make cheese, so the stool came out so she could reach the counter. After 2 minutes of nothing happening (milk heating on the stove is not very exciting), she went outside to pretend a stick was a sword. I watched her from the kitchen window, the kid who could have a good time in a paper bag, swinging the stick around and jumping through the air, a smile of pure joy on her sweet face. Boy, she makes my heart sing!

It was a bit different making cheese this week. First of all, putting tools down to photograph the process held things up a bit. But, once again the whole thing was quick and easy with a fabulous finished product. I am amazed all over again. So let's make mozzarella!

Start with a gallon of good milk. Define "good". Well, nothing ultra pasteurized...and did you know most all organic milk is ultra pasteurized? Sad, but true. Have you looked at the expiration date on a gallon of regular homogenized milk and a gallon of organic? The organic date is a week or more beyond the regular milk date, sometimes two! Kinda' seems to negate the purpose of buying organic milk if everything good in it is heated out of it. So don't use commercial organic milk. If you can find raw milk, I really think it is the best. If not, you may be able to find a local dairy that pasteurizes the milk, but not to the degree of ultra pasteurization. Or use regular homogenized milk...whole, 2%, even 1% will work, but try whole milk to start as the cheese will be more moist and flavorful. The other ingredients needed are citric acid, rennet and salt. That's it! Citric acid can be found at some health food stores or you can order it online. I got mine from Frontier Herbs (they sell to many health food stores) and it was pretty cheap-$4.95 for a pound. Since you only use 1 1/2 teaspoons per batch, it will make a lot of cheese! Rennet can be ordered online at http://www.cheesemaking.com/cheeserennets. (Don't use the Junket Rennet you find at the grocery store in the ice cream section. I have wasted milk trying to get this rennet to work. It is cut with other ingredients and is fine-I suppose-for a custard based ice cream, but not for cheese) Once again, rennet is pretty inexpensive- $6.50 for a box of about 10 tablets. You use only 1/4-1/2 tablet per batch.

Your first step is to pour your cold milk into a heavy bottomed 6-8 quart stainless pot.

Next, mix 1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid with 1 cup of cool water. Stir it until it dissolves...maybe 30 seconds.

Add this to the milk and stir to distribute. Heat the milk over low heat until it reaches 90-95 degrees.

While the milk is heating, cut one rennet tablet in half.

Drop it in a 1/4 cup of cool water and stir until it dissolves, about 1 minute.

When the milk reaches 90 degrees, take the pot off the stove and, while gently stirring, add the rennet liquid. Stir for about 30 seconds and then cover the pot and let it sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. When you lift the cover off, the pot will look like a pot of milk until you touch it. Wow! It is kinda' solid! You can see in the second picture where my hand left an imprint! The curd will be "floating" in some yellowish liquid which is the whey. Yeah, curds and whey, just like in Miss Muffet.

If it is not this solid, just let it sit a few more minutes. Now, take a stainless steel knife that reaches to the bottom of the pan and cut through the curd in lines one way and then the other to make about 1 inch squares.

   Place the pot back on the stove over low heat and, with a slotted spoon, stir the curds slowly and gently, bringing the curds together over and over. They will start to get somewhat cohesive after a few minutes. You want to heat the curds to 105-110 degrees.

When it reaches 105-110 degrees, take the pan off the heat and stir all the curds towards one side of the pan over and over to form a mass. Then scoop the curds into a glass bowl.

Put on a pair of food service gloves (you can buy a box of these at Costco or Sam's for $4 or so-they are handy for all sorts of jobs) and start kneading the cheese like you would bread. The whey will separate, so pour the whey back in the big pot.

Place the bowl of cheese in the microwave for 1 minute. When you take it out it will be shiny and HOT. Knead it until more whey comes off. The whey that comes off after microwaving is milkier looking. More white than yellow and not clear.

Knead for a minute more and then microwave again for about 30 seconds. When it comes out of the microwave, add the salt and knead it in and then fold it in half and under a few times. The top will be smooth and shiny and it will be quite firm and stretchy. You can pull it into a long rope!

At this point, I usually pinch off some small pieces and fold them into balls for bocconcini, which I then marinate in some good extra virgin olive oil, fresh rosemary sprigs, diced sun dried tomatoes and fresh ground black pepper. These are great over rosemary flatbread or a good crusty french bread. Or pop one on a crostini and broil for a minute until melted and creamy. Top with a sun dried tomato piece and YUM!

The remaining mozzarella can be placed in a tub of water and refrigerated. Eat within a few days. It's great sliced over a home made pizza or diced into tiny pieces and tossed with hot pasta along with some olive oil and fresh ground black pepper. It melts ever so slightly and makes a cheesy, gooey "sauce".

Experiment with the time you spend kneading and draining the whey as you can make the cheese silkier and more moist by kneading off less whey. I might have kneaded off too much this time as it is quite firm, but still delicious. I think I would like it softer like my batch last week.

Here's the recipe:

Fresh Mozzarella

1 gallon milk-fresh raw or homogenized-NOT ultra pasteurized 

1 1/2 teaspoon citric acid

1/2 rennet tablet

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Pour your cold milk into a heavy bottomed 6-8 quart stainless pot. Mix 1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid with 1 cup of cool water. Stir until it dissolves. Add this to the milk and stir to distribute. Heat the milk over low heat until it reaches 90-95 degrees. While the milk is heating, place the 1/2 rennet tablet in a 1/4 cup of cool water and stir until it dissolves, about 1 minute. When the milk reaches 90-95 degrees, take the pot off the stove and, while gently stirring, add the rennet liquid. Stir for about 30 seconds and then cover the pot and let it sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. When you remove the lid, check to see how "set" the curd is. If it is not very solid, let it sit a few more minutes. Take a stainless steel knife that reaches to the bottom of the pan and cut through the curd in lines one way and then the other to make about 1 inch squares. Place the pot back on the stove over low heat and, with a slotted spoon, stir the curds slowly and gently, bringing the curds together over and over. They will start to get somewhat cohesive after a few minutes. You want to heat the curds to 105-110 degrees. Take the pan off the heat and stir all the curds towards one side of the pan over and over to form a mass. Then scoop the curds into a glass bowl. Knead the cheese like you would bread. The whey will separate, so pour it off back in the big pot. Place the bowl of cheese in the microwave for 1 minute. When you take it out it will be shiny and HOT. Knead it until more whey comes off. The whey that comes off after microwaving is more white than yellow and not clear. Knead for a minute more and then microwave again for about 30 seconds. When it comes out of the microwave, add the salt and knead it in and then fold it in half and under a few times. The top will be smooth and shiny and it will be quite firm and stretchy. Tear off small pieces to make bocconcini or dunk the whole cheese in some ice water to cool quickly and then store in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap. Eat it within a few days for best quality.

I hope you will try this recipe as it is so easy and fun...something you can really get your hands into-and later your teeth! It shouldn't take longer than an hour start to finish. Last week was 45 minutes-this week, with taking pictures and kneading too much-took an hour. Let me know how it works for you! Good luck!