Sunday, February 25, 2024

kuri curry

 This kuri squash curry was really good, exactly what I wanted, and next time plans are below. 

Ingredients

  • 2# winter squash such as kuri or kabocha; keeping skin unless it's too tough like butternut
  • small onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1/2 bunch of chard or similar green (though spinach wasn't great) - about 6 oz.
  • 1 Tbsp curry powder
  • salt, pepper
  • can of coconut milk
  •  (broth)
  • garbanzos or cooked tofu 
  • brown rice (I used jasmine and it was too meh)

Process  

  • Heat oil*, add onions and cook until translucent (about 8 minutes).
  • Turn heat down a bit and add garlic, ginger, curry power, salt, and pepper.  Cook a minute or so.
  • Add squash and stir it up, then add coconut milk and broth if desired.  (I thought it was too soupy with broth).  
  • Cook about 20-30 minutes.
  • Add garbanzos or cooked tofu to heat.  (This wasn't in the original recipe but would have been better.)
  • Add greens and cook another 5 minutes or so to wilt (or longer if necessary with denser greens).

 

*Recipe called for coconut oil but that gives me heartburn so I just used what I had.


Saturday, November 11, 2023

cherry cobbler

 Moving into a new refrigerator, I realized I have a bunch of frozen not super great cherries to eat up. they're fine and I ate a lot fresh when I picked them from a new friend's backyard, but they're not the best ever.  They need some doctoring.  this cherry cobbler to the rescue.  As always, cutting the sugar drastically. 

Ingredients

Fruit

  • 4-6 cups pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
  • 1/3-1/2 cup sugar
  • 2-3 T corn starch (use 3 T if frozen cherries)
  • 2 T (fresh) lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract 

Cobbler

  • 6 T butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3-1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup milk

Put fruit mixture on stove top and simmer briefly, stirring.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and put butter pats into 9x13 pan.  Put pan in oven as it preheats to melt.

Combine dry cobbler ingredients, then add milk just to mix and spread over butter in pan.  Put fruit mix on top.

Bake about 40 minutes, until browned on top. 
 

Friday, November 10, 2023

apple crisp

 Yesterday I canned apples from my backyard tree and some jars didn't seal so I made this crisp to use them - and uncanned apples - up.  It's ok. The canned apples were mush-with-peels and the topping not crisp and the flour made it kind of pasty.  I cut the sugar by about 2/3 and could cut even more.  I'll give it away and make more to keep refining it.  PLenty of apples still on the tree, if the damn squirrels don't eat them all.  

Ingredients

For the topping:

  • ¾ cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (99 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
  •  1/4 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed

For the filling:

  • 7 to 8 fresh apples, such as Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp - I filled a 9x13 pan halfway up with a mix of drained canned apples and chopped/sliced fresh 
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)
  • ¼ cup (32 grams) all-purpose flour
  •  1/4 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • spices which can include cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg

Directions

Make the topping:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch metal or glass pan with cooking spray or butter and set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together until combined. With a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the apple filling.

Make the filling:

  1. Core, peel, and slice the apples into ¼ -inch to ½ -inch slices until you reach 6 cups of sliced apples, weighing 650 grams. Place in a medium-sized bowl and immediately drizzle with the lemon juice, tossing until evenly coated.
  2. In a separate small bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, salt and spices (adjust to your preference). Pour dry mixture over the apples and toss to coat, mixing until evenly distributed amongst the apples.
  3. Pour the apple mixture directly into the greased pan. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the apples.
  4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the apples feel tender when pierced with a fork, and the topping is golden brown. Let the apple crisp cool for 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on top.
 
 
 

Saturday, October 14, 2023

damson plums - canning

By the end of the season, I got a little overwhelmed with my damson plum trees (or whatever hybrid they are).  I have heaps of jam and syrup, and I even froze some.  But there was still a full 5-gallon bucket staring at me.

So I canned 'em.  I washed them, put them whole into the jars, filled with hot light syrup, and pressure canned for 10 minutes.  

Last night I popped the first one open.  I strained the juice and put the plums into a baking dish. I used my hand to feel around and remove all the pits.  Then I made the pudding cake I so liked with rhubarb (cutting back the sugar because they were canned in syrup).   

Delicious.  I think I'll drink up the rest of the juice mixed with seltzer water.  I'd cook it down to syrup but I"ve already got a fair amount of that. 

Next year I won't get many plums because we really hacked the trees all back, but they'll come back.

And I'll be ready. 

I went to a farmer's market recently where a man was selling some unrelated products but really just wanted to share the gospel of damson plums.  Nutritional powerhouses! We talked for ages about these plums.  He really likes his as fruit leather.  

How funny that I'd never even heard of these fruit as recently as three months ago, and now they're a real part of my life. 

Sunday, October 8, 2023

quince jam

I could only get the ornamental quince, but I'm sure this is still lovely.  Cooking now.  From a variety of sources.

- 2# of prepared quince (cleaned, seeded, cored, sliced)

- 4 cups water

- 1 lemon, juiced (2 T bottled)

- 1 1/2 cups sugar

Heat water and sugar until sugar dissolves.  Add prepared fruit and simmer for about two hours.  

Put into sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes if storing long-term. 

Friday, September 29, 2023

plum torte

 From NYT.

Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • ¾ to 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1cup unbleached flour, sifted
  • 1teaspoon baking powder
  • Pinch of salt (optional)
  • 2 eggs
  • 24 halves pitted purple plums
  • Sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, for topping
  • Preparation

    1. Step 1

      Heat oven to 350 degrees.

    2. Step 2

      Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.

    3. Step 3

      Spoon the batter into a springform pan of 8, 9 or 10 inches. Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice, depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon.

    4. Step 4

      Bake 1 hour, approximately. Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired. Or cool to lukewarm and serve plain or with whipped cream. (To serve a torte that was frozen, defrost and reheat it briefly at 300 degrees.)

    Tip
    • To freeze, double-wrap the torte in foil, place in a plastic bag and seal.
     

Sunday, July 23, 2023

damson plum jam

 It looks like my new house has heaps of damson plums - or to be more accurate from a landscaper who came by, some sort of hybrid on-nongrafted stock that likely developed right here. They're in large clusters so heavy as to pull down the thin branches. Everyone says the tree needs trimming back and I warn them to wait until after harvest.  I'm quite excited about these plums.

I made my first batch of jam and it seems very tasty though I have to let it cool first for maximum effect.  

Damson Hybrid Plum Jam 

Ingredients:  

  • 1.5 kilogram of damson plums.  It seems fine to pick when slightly underripe and there's more pectin in there
  • 2 cups water
  • 750 g sugar (is what I used and I want to try even less sugar)

Directions

Pick and clean the plums. Clean jars and lids; put lids in hot water to prep and sterilize jars. 

If more than 1.5 kilograms, make in batches.  

Put the plums in a big pot with 2 cups of water.  Turn on low-medium to let the plums cook a bit to soften, like 5-10 minutes.  Let cool enough.  Pour into a colander on a bowl and pick out the pits.  Then return the pulp and juice to the pan.

Warm again and add sugar, stirring well.  

Keep stirring as turning up the heat.  Once it gets to boiling, stir very well and let it boil for ten minutes. 

Pour into clean jars and lids.*  Process if you wish**

 

*Re jars & lids: I reuse.  Not just mason jars, but jam jars.  I especially like the Bonne Maman jars, they're a great size.  I've reused the lids numerous times without issue, and I like that I can give them away and if they're recycled instead of returned to me it's no big deal. 

**Re processing: I grew up with homemade jam poured into sterlized jars and letting them seal on the countertop.  Since I've learned they're supposed to be water bathed for 10 minutes.  Shrug.  Either way.  If I water bath, I"m a little less fanatical about everything fully sterilized, and just clean is good enough.