Red Currant Jelly

For the past several weeks, they've had currants at the Farmer's Market -- little red, white and pink berries of tart goodness. I had never tried canning with them before. Generally, I stay away from berries with seeds because you have to strain them. But I recently acquired a sieve (it's amazing the amount of random kitchen gear people give you when you get married), so I figured this would be a good first test for jelly.

The difference between jam and jelly -- if you don't already know -- is that jam is made from the whole fruit, while jelly is made just from the juice. So with jam, you throw the fruit in with the sugar and boil until it's ready to jar. With jelly, you place the fruit in a saucepan with water and boil until the fruit has released all it's juice. Then you proceed like you would with jam, adding sugar and pectin to the juice.

Currant jelly is certainly delicious (it's apparently insanely popular in France) -- tart, but a little sweeter than raspberry. I definitely recommend it.

For more on canning, see here.

Adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving

3 pints red currants
1/2 cup water
2 2/3 cups sugar
5 tsp pectin

Remove currants from their stems and rinse thoroughly in a colander. Place the currants and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil and gently crush the berries against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon. Simmer for 15 minutes until the berries are softened.

Allow to cool slightly, then strain the juice through cheesecloth, squeezing as much juice from the berry mass as possible. You should get about 2 cups of juice from the 3 pints.

Place the juice and the sugar back in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, add the pectin and stir until mixed in. Bring to a full boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and fill jars.

Waterbath process for 5 minutes. The jelly will keep unopened for up to one year. After opening, store jelly in the fridge and use within 2-3 weeks.

Wedding Cake Project: Wild Blueberry Pie

I know what you're thinking. "Did I read that correctly? It says wedding cake and pie." Yes, you did read it right. In addition to the delicious Guinness Chocolate Cake, we will be serving wedding pie of the homemade variety. I'm not completely crazy. Wedding pie is a thing. And though my love of pie knows no bounds, I did not ask CCO on our first date if we could serve pie at our wedding like this guy. (Though it was one of the conditions I set on having the wedding at all)

CCO's family lives in Maine, so we figured wild blueberry pie was a nice way to celebrate his New England heritage. After a thorough search, I discovered you can buy frozen wild blueberries at Whole Foods. So I bought a bag, whipped out Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and whipped up a pie.

Nicole, with disaster pie.

It looked good but it was something of a disaster. It tasted delicious, but it was more like soup than pie, with tons of blueberries swimming in juice left in the dish. Now I understand some people love their blueberry pie to be soupy. But when people are dressed in their Sunday best and I'm wearing white, I'm not sure soupy blueberries are the way to go.

The culprit, I discovered, was the cornstarch. If cooked for too long, cornstarch loses its thickening power. Couple that with the extreme juiciness of wild blueberries and you get soup. For round two, I settled on instant clearjel. Like cornstarch, clearjel is made from corn. But it's essentially a higher grade of cornstarch than what you buy at the grocery store and it thickens much better.

Since this is supposed to be a fancy-ish pie, I used Meyer lemon zest. I'm sure regular lemon zest would do just fine if that's what you have on hand.

P.S. Happy blogiversary! Thanks to all my loyal readers. We've come a long way since Raspberry White Chocolate Bars. What has been your favorite recipe of the last year?

Eat Rating: Awesome. Very blueberry with a hint of lemon.
Difficulty: Easy.

One batch of double pie crust (LN: I recommend this one via Smitten Kitchen. You could also try doubling this.)
1 15 oz. bag frozen wild blueberries (LN: You can sub 2 1/2 cups fresh)
Zest of one Meyer lemon
1/4 cup sugar + 1 tbsp for the top
3 tbsp ClearJel
1 egg

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Lay out one pie crust in the bottom of your pie dish.

In a small bowl, mix the 1/4 cup sugar with the zest of the Meyer lemon. In separate large bowl, mix the blueberries with the sugar and ClearJel. Let stand at least five minutes. (You can start work on your top crust while this is steeping.)

After five minutes, place the blueberries into the pie dish. Top with second crust, either in a lattice (as shown) or place over the top and cut vents.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush on top of the top crust (Note: If you're doing a lattice, brush with the egg BEFORE you place on top of the pie. It's much easier that way). Sprinkle the last 1 tbsp of sugar on top of the pie and place the whole pie dish on a cookie sheet.


Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes. You want the top crust to be browned and the blueberry mixture to be bubbling. Remove from oven and cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Gingerbread Cake with Pears

Gingerbread, studded with chunks of pear.

This was in the October 2008 issue of Gourmet. I must have missed it, because when I saw someone post on it the other day, it immediately jumped to the top of the "Cakes to Try" list.

The recipe calls for one pear. I used two and I think that worked better. Make sure to check on it every few minutes as it nears the end. The recipe calls for it to bake for 35 minutes. Some other reviewers said it took less time, more like 30, in their ovens, but in mine it took 45. I really think I need to get that oven recalibrated.

From Gourmet, October 2008

Eat Rating: Delicious. Very subtle flavors of ginger, molasses and pear.
Difficulty: Easy

1 1/2 cups flour (LN: I used 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1 cup all-purpose)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
3 large eggs
1/4 cup peeled, grated fresh ginger (LN: I ran out of fresh ginger, so instead used 3 tbsp of ginger paste)
2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

Combine the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, spice and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the water and butter until the butter is melted. Set aside

In a large bowl or Kitchenaid, beat brown sugar and molasses until well combined. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Gradually add the flour mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, beating well. Add the ginger and melted butter. Beat again just until combined.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle with the chopped pears. The pears will sink to the bottom of the cake while it cooks.

Bake for 35 minutes, checking frequently as it nears the end by inserting a toothpick. Once baked, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan, cool completely. When ready to serve, you can warm slightly by placing in the oven for 5 minutes or serve at room temperature.

Peach and Tomato Bread Salad

Peaches and tomatoes: a perfect summer combination.

My co-worker Kathy suggested this recipe -- a salad of fresh peaches and tomato. At first I found this idea weird. But after I thought about it, I decided to give it a try. I modelled it after the Cherry Bread Salad. So if you particularly like a certain ingredient you can add more or omit if you don't like it.

We skinned both the tomato and the peach. To do that, bring a small pot of water to boil. Once it's boiling, drop the peach or tomato in the hot water for about 30 seconds, then place in a bowl of cold water. The skin should slide right off.

Inspired by Kathy W.

Eat Rating: Delicious. Make sure the peach is very ripe for best results.
Difficulty: Easy.

1 peach, skinned and cut into slices
1 yellow tomato, skinned, seeded and cut into slices
1/2 loaf of day-old crusty French bread, cut into cubes
1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Mozzarella cheese, if desired


Place the tomato and peach slices in a large bowl and squeeze lemon over, tossing until coated.

Heat a skillet on the stove, then doss in the cubes of bread, coating lightly with olive oil. Continue cooking on the stovetop until bread has begun to brown. Once browned, remove croutons from pan, cook slightly and then add to the tomato and peach slices.

(If using cheese, add it now)

Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the croutons and fruit, tossing until well-coated. Serve immediately.

Tequila-Soaked Watermelon Slices

It looks like watermelon, but there's a "special" ingredient.

I first saw this while flipping through Martha Stewart Living. It seemed like a cutesy idea, but I probably wouldn't have tried it if The Bitten Word guys hadn't said it was delicious.

The dinner party verdict was the slices are addictive and delicious. You can't taste the tequila at all. Whether that's good or bad is anyone's guess...

From the July 2009 Martha Stewart Living, via The Bitten Word

Eat Rating: Awesome
Difficulty: Easy.

1 medium-sized watermelon, cut into wedges (LN: I used a sugar-baby watermelon since those are sweeter. You can also use seedless)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup triple sec
2 limes, cut in half
Coarse salt

Place water, sugar and booze in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute until sugar has completely dissolved, then remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Arrange watermelon slices in a large baking dish or cookies sheet in a single layer. (If you don't have a big enough pan, follow the steps for a single layer, then repeat) Pour the syrup over the watermelon, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.

When ready to serve, remove watermelon slices from fridge and place on a platter. Squeeze lime juice over each slice and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Melon Lime Popsicles

Super easy summer treat.

Sorry for the long hiatus. I have a good reason.

Well, it's not exactly good, but I do have a reason. You see I bought this melon at the farmer's market for a dinner party two weeks ago.

Melon with limes.

And I had no idea what kind of melon it is. But I felt duty-bound to figure out what kind it was before blogging.

I had gone to the market two weeks ago in search of a honeydew. CCO and I were hosting dinner club and it was horribly hot outside, so I had decided on popsicles for dessert. I found this recipe from the July 2004 Gourmet, which was very simple and easy. But at the market, there were no honeydews. Plenty of watermelons, tons of cantelope, but no honeydews. One of the farmer's told me this melon would work well as a substitute, so I bought two for popsicles but forgot to ask its name.

Well, I am happy to report back that it is, in fact, a canary melon. Don't be confused by the green streaks. It's not a christmas or a crenshaw. If you can't find a canary, you can sub a honeydew, since that was the original recipe anyway. The original recipe also calls for you to make a simple syrup to add to the melon/lime. But mine was sweet enough without it, so I stuck with straight fruit.


Eat Rating: Awesome
Difficulty: Very easy. Requires popsicle or lollipop sticks, popsicle molds or ice cube tray and food processor.

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, July 2004

1 medium-sized canary melon (or honeydew melon)
2/3 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes worth)

Cut the melon in half and remove seeds. Cut off the rind and chop into chunks.

Place chunks in the food processor and pulse until the melon has liquified. Stir in lime juice. Pour mixture into popsicle mold or ice tray. If using ice trays, place immediately in freezer for about 1 hour. Remove from freezer and place sticks into each cube. Return to freezer and freeze for at least another 3 hours.

Serve within two days.

Peach Butter

Like apple butter, but sweeter

Of the various jam recipes, this one is probably the easiest (you make it in a crockpot, thus relieving the need to stand over a hot stove), but it takes the longest. The recipe said it should take 6 to 12 hours to cook. My crockpot must not be as hot because it took me nearly 24 hours.

Eat Rating: Awesome. Sweeter than apple butter, but just as spicy and delicious.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. Requires food processor, crockpot and canning equipment.

(For a refresher on canning jam, see previous post on Strawberry Jam or check out this site from the USDA.)

Recipe makes about 5 pints or 10 half pints.

Adapted from Pick Your Own

10 cups of peaches, peeled and pitted (about 30 peaches)
4 cups of sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice

Puree the peaches in the food processor. You want the peach mixture to be as smooth as possible to make smooth butter.

Add the peaches, sugar and spices to the crockpot. Stir until combined. Turn the crockpot up to high. Cover with the lid ajar so that there is some room for steam to escape. (LN: A good way to do this, as the recipe suggests, is to take two butter knives and lay them across the top of the crockpot. Then set the lid on top of the knives. Just a warning, though, the heat oxidized the metal in one of my knives so now it has all these dark gunmetal-gray splotches.)

Cook the peach mixture for 6 to 12 hours. You want the mixture to reduce by about half. To test if it's ready, stir and then pull out the spoon with some of the peach butter on it. Let cool for a minute then turn the spoon over. If it's ready, most of the butter will stick to the spoon. You want it thick, the consistency of natural peanut butter. If it's not thick enough, continue to cook for another hour, then test again. It if gets too thick, add a little water.

Pour hot peach butter into hot jars, top with lids and rings. Water bath can for 5 minutes.

The butter will keep unopened for up to a year. Once opened, eat within 2-3 weeks.

Vegan Maple Banana Ice Cream

Easiest ice cream ever.

I found this on Apartment Therapy The Kitchn and frankly its pretty damn genius. As I mentioned before, I always get sad when I come across ice cream recipes that require an ice cream maker because I don't have one. But this recipe for banana ice cream doesn't require an ice cream maker or even dairy products. Just frozen bananas and any extra flavorings you might want. I added some maple syrup but CCO's brother suggested it might also be good with a little bit of bourbon.

Eat Rating: Awesome. Deliciously smooth with a very real banana flavor.
Difficulty: Easy. Requires a food processor or blender.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Adapted from The Kitchn

5 medium-sized bananas, frozen
2 tbsp maple syrup

Peel the bananas and place in a food processor. Pulse several times to break up. Through the feed tube, add the maple syrup. Pulse again until smooth. Place the banana mixture into a plastic container and freeze at least 1 hour before serving.

Peach Ginger Jam

CCO says this picture reminds him of those faces on Easter Island.

My mom was skeptical about this recipe. But she was similarly skeptical of the Strawberry Balsamic and that one turned out awesome. I think I won her over.

This jam takes 3/4 cup of fresh ginger. You could probably use ginger paste, the kind you find at Asian grocery stores if you didn't want to do all that peeling. The ginger gives the jam a big kick. No subtlety here.

Eat Rating: Awesome. (Only if you like ginger, though)
Difficulty: Medium. Requires a food processor, canning equipment.

(For a refresher on canning jam, see previous post on Strawberry Jam or check out this site from the USDA.)

Recipe yields about 3 pints or 6 half-pints.

Adapted from Mimi's Cyber Kitchen

3 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped
3/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and diced (LN: I recommend using the food processor)
1 lemon juiced (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup water
1 box pectin (1.75 oz or about 3/8 cup)
6 cups of sugar

Take the largest pot you own, fill halfway with water and set on a back burner over medium heat. You will use this later. Place your jars on a cookie sheet and slide into a cold oven. Turn up the heat to 250 degrees. Once it reaches temperature, turn off the oven but leave the jars inside. Place the jar lids and rings in a bowl and set aside.

Combine peaches, ginger, lemon juice, water and pectin in a large saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the sugar, then return to a boil. Cook 1 additional minute.

Use a ladle to pour some of the hot water from the large pot into the bowl with the lids and rings. This will sterilize them.

Remove a few jars from the oven with a clean dish towel. Ladle the hot jam into the jars, wipe clean the lip of the jars and affix a lid. Twist on a ring till finger tight, then place the filled jar in the large pot of hot water.

Repeat until you run out of jam. You want the jars in the large pot to be completely submerged in water. Add more water if necessary. Return water to a boil, then boil the jars for 10 minutes. Remove jars from pot. The tops should pop as the jars return to room temperature. If any of the jars have not popped within 24 hours, reboil.

The jam will keep unopened for up to a year. Once opened, finish the jam within 2-3 weeks.

It's a Recession! Canned Peaches

Peaches come in a can.

Eat Rating: Delicious. Very light syrup.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. You will need one very large pot, big enough for the jars to stand straight up submerged in water.

Makes about 6 quarts.

Adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Canning

1 peck (about 11 to 12 lbs) freestone peaches, any variety
1 1/4 cups sugar
5 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Take the large pot and arrange some extra rings along the bottom. Fill the big pot with water about halfway full and begin to heat. Get out two large bowls. Fill one bowl with ice water and the other with lemon juice.

Place the jars on a cookie sheet and place in a cold oven. Heat the oven up to 250 degrees, then turn off, leaving the jars inside.

Once the water is boiling, dunk the peaches one by one in the hot water for about 30 seconds, then place in the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

Once all the peaches have been dunked, pour some of the hot water into a small saucepan and place the tops and rings into it to sterilize. Set on a back burner on low. Keep the rest of the water in the large pot hot. You will need it later.

In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the sugar and 5 1/2 cups of water, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer.

Once the peaches have been dunked, the skins should slide off easily. (Keep the skins to make peach honey or discard.) Place the de-skinned peaches in the bowl with lemon juice, making sure to get some juice on all sides to prevent browning.

Remove a jar from the oven using a clean kitchen towel.

With a paring knife, cut the peaches in half all the way around, then twist off the pit. Remove the pit and discard. Make sure to dunk the inside of the peach in the lemon juice to prevent browning. Place the peach halves (or quarters if you'd prefer) in the hot jar. Fill it up until there is only about a 1/2 inch below the top. Slowly pour some of the water-sugar liquid into the jar until it completely covers the peaches and reaches about 1/4 inch below the lip. Wipe down the lip of the jar. Remove a lid and ring from the water and place the lid on the lip of the jar. Twist the ring until finger-tight. Using the jar lifter, carefully place the filled jar into the largest pot of water on top of the rings, being careful that it does not touch the sides of the pot.

Fill the remaining jars. You might run out of syrup before you run out of peaches. If that happens, just make another batch -- 5 1/2 cups water to 1 1/4 cup sugar.

Once all the jars are filled and in the large pot, add more water so that the jars are completely submerged. Heat until the water reaches a boil, then cook the canned peaches for 30 minutes.

Remove from the pot and allow the jars to come to room temperature. As they cool, you should hear the popping noise as the jars pressurize. Once the jars are room temperature, check that they have all sealed properly. If any have not, reboil for another 30 minutes.

The canned peaches will keep unopened for up to a year. Once opened, eat within a week. The peaches can also be drained and used in any recipes substituted for fresh peaches.

It's a Recession: Homemade Frozen Yogurt

No ice cream maker required.

I've recently become enamored with the frozen yogurt at Sweet Green. And so, all summer, I've been looking at recipe after recipe for homemade frozen yogurts, sorbets, sherbets, gelatos and ice creams. The thing they all have in common? All of them require an ice cream maker - an appliance I do not own and, at the moment, CCO has forbidden the acquisition of additional kitchen appliances (at least until I clean out my appliance cupboard). So I have been bereft of homemade frozen yogurt.

I had just about given up hope. But then, as I was leafing through the reicpes at the end of Mark Bittman's new book, Food Matters, I finally found it: a frozen yogurt recipe that does not require an ice cream maker. Mark Bittman, you are officially my hero.

I've tried this with black raspberries that CCO and I picked a couple weeks back. Bittman suggests trying various berries, bananas, cherries or stone fruits. I was thinking I might try apricot next.

Eat Rating: Awesome. Sweet, creamy and cold.
Difficulty: Easy. Requires a food processor or good blender.

Adapted from Food Matters, by Mark Bittman

1 1/2 cups fruit, any type cleaned and frozen
1/2 cup yogurt (to make this vegan, he suggests using 1/2 cup silken tofu)
1/4 cup sugar (LN: I actually upped this to closer to 1/2 cup)
Water as needed (LN: I didn't need any)

In a food processor, add the fruit, yogurt and sugar. Pulse several times to combine, scrapping down the edges as necessary until fully combined. If the mixture seems a little coarse, add a few teaspoons of water. Taste and, if necessary, add more sugar. Serve immediately or store in a container in the freezer.

Variations:
Chocolate Cherry: Omit sugar. Add 4 oz. melted bittersweet chocolate to fruit and yogurt.

Strawberry Balsamic Jam (Part 3)

Strawberries and balsamic vinegar. It seemed like a strange combination. My mother even gave me a skeptical look, one of those "don't blame me, Leah, when it's horrible" looks, when I suggested it. But I was right. It is pretty good. The Strawberry-Balsamic Jam comes in right in between the two other varieties. The strawberry is good, but pretty plain, like the girl-next-door who you like but don't really want to marry. The port wine is so rich and sweet that you can't eat very much. The Strawberry-Balsamic is a nice middle ground, sweet but not overly so and exotic enough of a taste so it's not boring.

Eat Rating: Awesome
Difficulty: Medium-hard. No pectin in this, so you're in for the long haul.
Comparison: I think, just maybe, this is my favorite. Don't tell the others.

From "Nine Bean-Rows"

4 cups strawberries, washed and crushed
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 lemon, juiced
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 1-pint jars

In a large saucepan, combine all the ingredients. (To cut down on cooking time, you can let the berries mascerate in the sugar for 20 minutes or so). Heat over medium until boiling, then cook for about 30 minutes until the jam begins to sheet. Fill jars as previously directed.

Strawberry Port Wine Jam (Part 2)

Awhile back (and by awhile I mean, last month) I made a pretty awesome strawberry tart with port wine glaze. I say I made a tart, but the only thing anyone actually ate were the strawberries, leaving a whole sad mess of marscapone cheese. This set off a little light-bulb in my head. What if I made strawberry jam with port wine? Apparently, I'm not the most original person in the world, because I did find a recipe from the June 2003 issue of Southern Living on Strawberry-Port Jam. I even had enough port leftover from the tart that I didn't need to buy a new bottle.

The port does two things -- it makes the jam a really dark ruby red color, and it makes it hella rich. Like I don't think you could actually eat more than 1 tablespoon (if you're on a diet, that could be helpful, right?). But you'll definitely like that one tablespoon.

Strawberry-Port Wine Jam

Eat Rating: Delicious.
Difficulty: Medium-hard. Same deals as before, though the recipe cooks much faster because of the pectin.
Comparison: The jam is richer than the straight strawberry. Port is definitely the primary flavor, so consider which you like better: strawberries or wine?

Adapted from Southern Living, June 2003

20 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) strawberries, washed and crushed
1 1/2 cups ruby port
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 package (1.75 oz) powdered pectin
4 cups of sugar
5 1-pint jars

In a large saucepan, crush the strawberries with a potato masher, then mix in the port, zest, nutmeg and pectin.

Heat the mixture to a full, rapid boil and cook for about 1 minute. Add sugar, stirring constantly until incorporated. Return mixture to a full boil and boil for 1 additional minute. Remove from heat, skim off the foam and fill jars as directed.

It's a Recession: Homemade Strawberry Jam, Part 1

Like pretty maids all in a row.

Apologies for the lack of posts. There was not much cooking in Kitchen Stadium last week. To make up for it, though, I bring you a three-parter.

I know it's a little old-school, but I like to make my own jam. Usually my mom and I take a weekend and make a ton of jam -- generally either strawberry or peach. We can it, and then it lasts the whole year. Except last year, we never got around to making any and for the first time in probably my life I actually had to buy jam at the store. I felt like a failure. As soon as the strawberries showed up at the market this year, I made an appointment with the mother to make some jam. We had these grandiose plans to go to the farm and pick the berries ourselves -- in spite of my severe allergy to bees mind you -- but then we could never find a decently priced place. So my mom bought a bunch of berries at Costco. She went a little overboard and bought 20 pounds, which is how I ended up making three different flavors of strawberry jam (You've got to keep it interesting if you're going to stand over a hot pot all day, you know?).

A couple notes on homemade jam before I give you the first recipe.

1) To can or not to can? When you make homemade jam, you could either make it and refrigerate or you could can it. Canning is more intense, but it keeps for up to a year. If you just refrigerate, the jam will only last about 2-3 weeks. For my part, I always can. But if you don't want to go out and get jars, you can skip that part. I'll put some instructions here on this first recipe about how to can for those who are interested. If you do want to can, you need glass jars. They sell these at Target, Walmart and places like Michael's Crafts. Each jar has three parts: the glass container, the metal lid and the metal band. If you are reusing old jars, you can use the glass part and the band, but make sure to buy new lids. You can either use pint size or half-pint size depending on your preference.

2) Pectin or no pectin. This is actually the first year I have ever cooked with pectin and it was at CCO's behest. Pectin is a natural enzyme found in fruits like apples and lemons. When added to jams and jellies, it acts as a natural thickening agent to help the fruit gell. Back in the day when you made jam, you would cook it until the fruit broke down and counteracted with the sugar to form a gell. Now you can just use pectin and it will thicken much more quickly. You can find at the store in packets of dried powder or as a gel (called Certo), usually on the same aisle as gelatin. There's also some strange way you can make your own pectin at home if you're really crunchy, but I decided that was way beyond me. There are two advantages to pectin. First, because the pectin is causing the thickening, you don't have to cook the fruit as long. When I was a kid, it seemed like we would stand over the stove for hours (it's really more like 20-30 minutes). With pectin, it's faster, more like 10. The second advantage is that pectin is a soluable dietary fiber. This was CCO's appeal. For whatever chemical reason, your stomach doesn't break down the pectin and it goes through your system pretty much in tact. Somewhat gross to visualize, but this helps reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood. So even though he was essentially asking me to relearn how to cook jam, I decided to be a sport and make some with pectin. The first recipe, plain strawberry jam, is made without pectin. The second, strawberry with port wine, has powdered pectin, and the third, strawberry-balsamic, is no pectin.

Eat Rating: Awesome. Seriously, you may reconsider buying your jam at the store...
Difficulty: Medium to hard. You need several pots and canning jars. It also helps if you have one of these jar lifters.

Strawberry Jam

From the Ball Blue Book of Preserving

2 quarts of strawberries
6 cups of sugar
5 1-pint canning jars

Place the strawberries in a colander and wash thoroughly, making sure to remove any strawberries with visible dirt or mold. With a knife, remove the tops of the berries and coursely chop. Once you have chopped all the berries, you should have 8 cups.

Add the berries to a large saucepan and crush with a potato masher. Add the sugar, stir until thoroughly coated and then set aside for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the lids from the canning jars and thoroughly wash each jar, either by hand using soap and hot water or by running through the dish washer.

Take a big pot, the largest one you've got and fill about halfway with water. This is your jar pot. After the jars are washed, place each jar in the water. Heat up the water to boiling to further sterilize the jars, then reduce heat to low. In a separate smaller saucepan, heat water and place all the jar rims inside. It doesn't need to be boiling, just hot.

At this point, take your berry/sugar mixture and heat it over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. The sugar should be dissolved and you'll start to get a foam on top. That's ok, just be careful that the foam doesn't overflow the pan or you'll get to experience what burning sugar smells like. Stir frequently as the mixture cooks until it reaches the gelling, or sheeting point. This will take awhile, as much as 40 minutes. To test whether it's ready, take a metal spoon and lift it above the pan about a foot. Allow to cool for a second, then turn the spoon so the jelly falls back into the pan. If the mixture falls off in drops, it needs more time. But if the jelly falls off the spoon more like a mass, as though the drops have coalesced together, it's finished. (Here's a good example of what sheeting looks like).

Remove from heat. At this point you want to remove the foam from the jam. With a small spoon, skim any foam off the top of the jam. You can either discard the skim or keep it to eat later. Once the foam is removed, you'll want to fill the jars.

Carefully remove one jar from the jar pot. Fill the jar with jam, leaving about 1/4 of an inch at the top. Using a paper towel or cloth, clean the rim of the jar. You want to make sure there is no jam on the jar's rim or the lid may not seal properly. Using tongs, briefly place the lid in the hot water to heat up, then place on top of the jar. Remove a ring from the ring bath, and use a towel to twist the lid until it is completely secured. Place the filled jar back in the water bath. Fill all the remaining jars until you run out of jam.

Return the jar pot to the heat and boil for about 5-10 minutes. Carefully remove the hot jars from the pot, and set aside. The reason you reboil the jam is to pressurize the jars. As they cool to room temperature, you should hear a small metallic popping sound as the lid of each jar pops inward. That's how you know the canning was successful and will keep for a long period. After about 30 minutes, inspect the jars to insure they have all popped inward. If any did not pop, check the band to make sure it is twisted on firmly, then reboil.

Sealed jars of jam will keep for at least a year. Once you open a jar, use within 3 weeks.

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce

Delish.

So, I didn't initially intend to make the strawberry tart for my grandma's birthday. I had wanted to make a flourless dark chocolate cake, and pulled out Orangette's Winning Hearts and Minds cake, which I had been saving for a special occasion. Only I managed to mess it up. It was sort of pathetic. I mean the recipe was ridiculously easy. It only requires one bowl and five ingredients. But I destroyed it.

To be fair, it wasn't the recipe that messed me up, but rather my clumsiness. It was sad really because I was trying to be very diligent about following the recipe for once. She suggests making the cake ahead of time, freezing it and then defrosting to get the best flavor. So on Thursday night, I started making the cake so it could freeze til Friday night and then have 24 hours to defrost. Everything was fine, until I went to flip the cake. She has very specific instructions on how to best flip the cake once it's removed from the pan. Instead of flipping it onto a plate, though, I was trying to flip it back onto a sheet of saran wrap so I could wrap it up and stuff it in the freezer. This was an ill-conceived idea however and the cake split in two, right down the middle. Exasperated, I turned to the picture on the cover of Gourmet.

Although I'm sure you were enthralled by my cake-mishap story, I told it for a reason. I decided to make lemonade from my lemons and use the broken chocolate cake for dessert for my brother and sister-in-law. To accompany the dark chocolate, I pulled out this recipe for Coeur a la Creme with Raspberry Sauce -- that's a fancy way of saying White Chocolate Mousse -- also courtesy Orangette. And it worked out beautifully.

She recommends either using a fancy mold or using a colander wrapped in cheese cloth. That seemed difficult to me and I couldn't find cheese cloth at my store, so I just used a bowl. Not as pretty, but it worked for my purposes.

Eat Rating: Wonderful. Particularly if you are a white chocolate fan.
Difficulty: Easy. I skipped the hardest part which required cheesecloth straining.

Adapted from "Couer a La Creme with Raspberry Puree", A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

3 ounches white chocolate, chopped or cut into chunks
1 8-oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 10-oz bag frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed in a bowl
3 tbsp sugar

In a microwave bowl, melt the white chocolate. (You can also do this in a bowl over a pot of boiling water on the stove). Stir well until smooth, set aside to cool.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/4 cup of cream and the powdered sugar. Add the white chocolate and combine until smooth, about 2 minutes with an electric mixer. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, preferrably a Kitchenaid so your arms don't get tired, beat the 1 cup of cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, folding in until completely combined. Spoon the mixture into the mold. (Or I just scraped down the edges of my bowl and then covered with saran wrap, making sure to have the wrap touch the top layer of cream). Refridgerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Once the raspberries are defrosted, puree them in a blender or food processor. Add the sugar and blend until smooth. At this point, she suggest pushing the raspberries through a sieve/cheese cloth to remove the seeds. I was lazy and served with seeds. Chill for at least 4 hours.

To serve, place a spoonful of the mousse in a dish and top with raspberry sauce. Goes wonderfully on top of a piece of broken cake.

Strawberry Tart with Port-Wine Glaze

Photograph by Romulo Yanes for Gourmet Magazine

I'm a sucker for the recipe on the front of the magazine. For my grandma's birthday this weekend, I was charged with making a dessert. There would already be cake, courtesy the local Costco, so my dessert was supposed to be creative and delicious. Feeling uninspired, I went for the tart on the front of Gourmet mag. The picture is above. I'm going to pretend that by crediting them, it's fair use.

So the tart was very easy and wonderfully decadent. The only problem was I put it out on the table with the rest of the food. So my cousin's children stole all the strawberries off and stuck their fingers in the cream before anyone got around to dessert. Naturally, no one really wanted to eat it at that point. By the time they were finished, though, all the strawberries had been eaten because strawberries covered in port = deliciousness. My brother - the only one who ventured to eat an entire piece - said the filling was a little too sweet. So I might recommend subbing a block of cream cheese for the marscapone. It would be cheaper anyway. Or you could just serve strawberries covered in port...

Unfortunately I didn't get to take a pic until after the two-year-old had his way with the tart.

Eat Rating: Great. (This is a guess based on the fact that all the strawberries disappeared)
Difficulty: Medium. Requires a tart pan. Also ruby port. And, as always, I used a food processor for the crust, but you could bulk up your arms by using a manual pastry blender.

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, April 2009

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
7 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp cold water
1 1/2 lb strawberries (about 1 1/2 qt), trimmed and halved lengthwise
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ruby Port
1 lb mascarpone - about 2 cups - or two blocks of cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
3/4 tsp vanilla

Place the flour and 3 tbsp sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter, cut into pieces, and pulse until you have a coarse meal. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice and water and mix until combine. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until a ball of dough begins to form. Roll the dough into a ball, then pat down into a disk. With your fingers, pat the dough into a tart pan until it covers the bottom and sides. Prick all over with a fork. Place the tart shell into the freezer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cover the tart with parchment paper or foil and place pie weights (or my ghetto version, a bag of black beans) to weigh it down. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and remove pie weights/beans. Return to oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely, about 45 minutes.

While the tart is cooling, mix the cut strawberries with the 1/3 cup of sugar and let stand for 30 minutes. While the strawberries are sitting, combine the cheese, vanilla, zest, lemon juice and powdered sugar. The cheese mixture should be thick, but spreadable consistency.

After the strawberries have sat for half an hour, move them to a separate bowl and set aside. With a rubber scraper, move the remaining juice and sugar into a saucepan. Add the port. Cook over medium heat to boil, then reduce to 1/4 cup about 15 minutes. You want it to be more like a glaze consistency, so when you remove the spoon, the liquid should cling to the spoon.

After reduced, let cool for a few minutes. Spread the cheese mixture into the well of the tart, then mound the strawberries in the middle and pour the port glaze over. It will thicken a little as it cools. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Frances O'Neal's Fig Cake

Frances O'Neal's fig cake

In this month's Gourmet, they had a feature on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I've never been and never really thought anything of the place (although those "OBX" stickers on the backs of cars are irritatingly ubiquitous). Apparently they have good food, though, lots of seafood, hush puppies and barbecue. I now somewhat want to visit, if only to eat Hatteras clam chowder. Fig trees are also, apparently, plentiful in Outer Banks, so they featured this fig cake recipe from the Back Porch Restaurant and Wine Bar on Ocracoke Island. There, it's served as a layer cake with cream chese icing. Gourmet turned it into a bundt cake, more like a spice cake with little bits of fig and nuts, a good cake for the fall season, I think. But definitely tasty and worth the effort. Next time I might try with cream cheese frosting, though, because that would definitely be yummy.

Figs

A note on finding preserved figs: You want a jar of figs in water or syrup, not dried. I found them at Whole Foods. The mag also recommends buying from the Ocracoke Community Store (thecommunitystore@yahoo.com) or Lee Bros. Broiled Peanuts Catalog.

Eat Rating: Delicious, although I think it would be better for fall rather than spring because of all the spices evoke apple and pumpkin pie to me.
Difficulty: Easy-to-medium

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, April 2009

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp clove
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup preserved figs in syrup, drained and chopped
1 cups walnuts or pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 35o degrees and generously grease a bundt pan. I mean generously grease. Otherwise your cake will stick (mine did a little on one side). Combine flour, salt and spices in a medium sized bowl. Mix well.

Beat eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer (or Kitchenaid) for 2 minutes until the eggs are foamy. Add sugar and beat 2 more minutes. Add oil and beat one additional minute. Your mixture should be a pale yellow. At low speed, add flour, alternating with buttermilk until both are fully combined.

In a small bowl, mix baking soda and warm water. Stir into cake batter, along with vanilla, fig chunks and nuts.

Pour into pan and bake about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool completely in pan, about 2 hours. Garnish with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

See, I meant generous...

Blackberry Jam Cake

If you know anything about me, you probably know I love cake. I always bake a cake for my co-worker's birthdays, mostly because I like eating their birthday cake. I also keep a running list of cakes I want to try. This one is out of Cooking Light Magazine, the May 2003 issue which had a section on low-fat baking.

Difficulty: Easy. (However, not recommended for transporting on the bus!)
Eat rating: My co-workers gave this one of thumbs-up. The cake itself is not very sweet. The cinnamon is the most distinct flavor. But because the cake itself is less sweet, that lets you taste the subtlety of the blackberry jam.

Cooking Light, May 2003

1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla
3 eggs (LN: I used Eggbeaters)
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 cup seedless blackberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, then lay wax paper in the bottom and spray again. Beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla in a bowl until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well. Add flour mixture and milk into the sugar mixture, alternating a little of each until completely combined. Pour batter into pans and cook for 25 minutes (LN: My oven took more like 30). Cool in pan on wire ran and remove from pan. Cool completely.

Place jam in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Place one cake on plate and spread half the jam mixture on top. Place other cake on top, then spread remaining jam on top layer. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. (Note: Don't put the powdered sugar on until you are ready to serve or the jam will soak through it, leaving you with strange purplish spots)

Leah's Birchermuesli

I first tried birchermuesli at the now defunct Bread and Chocolate in Eastern Market. Their variation is good, but a little runny, so I decided to try my hand at making it. For the best results, let the muesli soak overnight. If that's not possible, make at least 2-3 hours ahead and let sit in the fridge. You can top it with any assortment of nuts and fresh fruit. I recommend walnuts and bananas, but apples, pears, berries, pecans or almonds are also nice additions.



Difficulty: Super Easy
Eat Rating: Awesome. (And it's even healthy!)

Birchermuesli
3 cups oats (rolled, not quick cooking)
3/4 cup of orange juice
1 1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix oats, orange juice and milk in a medium-sized bowl. Add yogurt, sugar and vanilla and stir until mixed completely. The mixture should be a little runny but will firm up in the fridge. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. To serve, top with nuts and fresh fruit.

Variations:
Maple Muesli: Omit the sugar and vanilla and instead add 2 tbsp of maple syrup with the yogurt. Top with pecans.

Apple Muesli: Sub 3/4 cup apple cider for the orange juice. Omit granulated sugar and vanilla and instead use 2 tbsp brown sugar. Top with apple slices.

Blueberry Banana Muffins

These are good to make ahead for breakfast for the week. The first time I made them, I couldn't find wheat germ at my local Giant. For a substitute, I ground up some walnuts in the food processor. I also subbed egg beaters for the egg and topped the muffins with some granola before baking.

Difficulty: Easy
Eat Rating: Awesome

From The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 medium banana, mashed
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg (or equivalent egg substitute)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin or use paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients -- all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, spice. In a separate bowl, mash the banana, then add orange juice, applesauce, egg and vegetable oil. Mix the wet ingredients, then add to the dry mix. Stir just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.

Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way and bake for 15 minutes.