Recipe: Curry Carrot Puree

I have a quasi potluck thing going down tomorrow, so I decided to through together some puree.  I just threw in flavors on a whim but it turned out well.  The orange zest was a last minute add because the puree needed a bit of acid.  No measurements on the recipe, I'm not so good with those.  I also had a potluck over my spring break, where me and a couple of friends made ravioli from scratch and a tomato, lentil, pork stew.  I knew the ravioli was gonna turn out tasty, but the stew was surprisingly popular as well.

Equipment:

Steamer

Pot

Knife

Blender

Spatula? (to scrape out the blender)

Ingredients:

Carrots

Clean Water

Butter

Curry Powder

Cayenne

Dill

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Orange Zest

Method:

1. Steam carrots until they are fork tender.

     -Check for fork tenderness with a knife.  It should go in easily, but not come out.

2. Blend steamed carrots with butter and the water used for steaming.

     -Add water "to taste" so that the puree is that the thickness you desire

3. Add the remaining ingredients (curry powder, cayenne, dill, salt, pepper, and orange zest) to taste.

3.5. Top with something (like dried dill) when serving if you don't want your puree to look like a pile of baby food (which I don't really mind myself)

Recipe: Kimchi Pork Stew

Hello everybody!

This recipe is going to be extremely vague! I sorta just threw together this dish.
For the kimchi, it should be mostly pickling liquid with some of the vegetables left.  I inadvertently  used kimchi with msg and I feel like the integrity of the dish suffered for it.  I recommend using kimchi with no msg.

Ingredients:

coconut oil
2 pork hocks
rice wine
kimchi w/ liquids
water
chicken stock
1head of napa cabbage
salt and pepper to taste

Equipment:

One pot
Knife
Cutting Board
Tongs
Forks

Method:

1. Heat the pot with coconut oil on high heat
2. Brown the hocks in the pan, deglaze with rice wine
3. Once the alcohol has cooked off, pour in kimchi, pickling liquids, stock, and water so that the hocks are just covered.  The ratio for the liquids should be about 2:2:1 (It really depends on how spicy you want it though)
     -I don't think the stock would be necessary. If I were to do this dish again, I      would skip it.
4. Bring the liquids to a simmer and continue to simmer for around 40 minutes, until the hock is cooked through and is shreddable.
5. Remove the hocks from the liquid and shred with whatever tool you think is best.  I used two forks.
6. Do a rough chop of the cabbage and rinse it.
7. Add both the cabbage and pork back to the liquid and let simmer for 5 minutes.

8. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Biscotti

I'm quite fond of biscotti.  I've been making them for 4 years or so now.  Not consistently or anything.  In fact, this is the first batch I've made in a while.  I was concerned that they wouldn't turn out well; that I was rusty.  Thankfully, they were quite delicious and popular.  It was my first time using this recipe, adapted from Biscotti by Lou Seibert Pappas, but I think I prefer my old recipe, which I'll have to dig up.  Biscotti are are interesting to me because the ratios of the ingredients greatly effect the end texture of the twice-baked cookie.  This may have inspired me to go on another biscotti rampage.  We'll see.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 1/4 cups AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup freeze-dried blueberries

Method:

0. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
     -Butter should be at room temperature
2. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and zest.  Stir till combined
3. Mix flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt in a separate bowl
4. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture as mixing
5. Continue to mix until nearly all of the flour is integrated, then add blueberries and continue mixing
     -You should do as little mixing as possible. No kneading!
6. Mold dough into two loaves, each a foot long, 2 inches wide, and and inch tall.
     -Flour your hands for this step
7. Place the loaves onto a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for about 25 minutes to a light golden brown
8. Cool loaves for 5 minutes
9. Cut loaves at about a 45 degree angle to your desired thickness.
     -I like to cut to a little less than an inch
10. Lay slices back on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side.
     -For a less browned biscotti, bake with the rounded side up
11. Let cool and enjoy! (or store... I guess)

Recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash
Salt
Pepper
Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Tallow (or fat of your choice like butter. Please don't use margarine)

Equipment:
Baking Pan (with lips so that the minimal liquids don't flow off)
Brush (or paper towel)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut the top off of the squash and halve it. (not quartered like in the picture. When it is halved, it allows the seasonings and carmelization to stay on the squash rather than fall off)
Melt the tallow or other fat and spread it on the squash.  This would ideally be done with a brush but i do not have one.  What I did is fold up a paper towel and use that as a brush.  When using this technique, be careful to not apply too much force.  If you do, the paper towel will rip and put residue in your squash.
Sprinkle salt pepper and brown sugar to taste (I didn't have any brown sugar so I had to use regular)
Place the halves face up in a baking pan and put in the oven for around 30 minutes.  To test if the squash is done, stick and knife or fork into it.  It should go in easily like room temperature butter.
Once done, take out and enjoy!

Notes: This dish turned out very well, better than I expected, despite not using brown sugar and quartering it.  I only wish that I had access to spices, then I could try cinnamon cardamon nutmeg or curry squash along with other variations.

Recipe: Tallow, Lard, Shmaltz

Ingredients:
Beef Fat for Tallow
or
Pork Fat for Lard
or
Chicken/Duck fat for Shmaltz

Equipment:
Oven-Compatible Pot or Pan (deep enough to hold all of your fat)
Shallow Pyrex or Glass Container
Strainer
Butter Knife

Process:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.  Roughly chop your fat and put it in your pot or pan of choice.  Place the vessel in the oven and let it render until the solids are mostly cooked up.  Check back every hour or so.  Once it is done, let it cool.  After, strain the fat as you pour it into your container.  (The strained bits are quite delicious and go well on salads or even as a snack) Let the fat cool further in the refrigerator until your fat has completely solidified.  While still in the container, use a butter knife to cut the fat into manageable chunks.  When cutting the fat keep in mind that if you just stab it, it should crack in a general line co-linear with the blade of the knife.  Because we are using pyrex or glass, the fat should come out quite easily.  Store in a container till needed.  This will keep for at least a year.

Recipe: Kombucha Mother

Rather than buy a mother online, you can make one in your home.  A forewarning: be very careful when handling this culture.  Metals and soap will kill it.

Ingredients:
Black tea bags
Sugar
Water
Raw Kombucha (not the stuff with the juice and flavors)

Equipment:
Stainless Steel pot
Wooden stirring utensil
Glass Jar
Muslin or Cheese Cloth
Rubber Band
Strainer ( if using loose tea)

     First, and most important: clean all of your equipment thoroughly with hot water.  Second, prepare the tea by boiling the water, the adding sugar.  The ratio between the water and sugar should be 16 to 1 by volume so if you have 1 gallon of water, you should add 1 cup of sugar.  If you have 1 quart of water, 4 tablespoons of sugar.  Basically its 1 tablespoon of sugar per a cup of water.  Once the sugar is dissolved, add the tea, however much you prefer, and brew for 5 minutes.  Strain out the tea leaves or take out the bags and let cool to room temperature for a few hours.  Once it is cooled, pour the tea into the mason jar so that it takes up about 75% of the space, then pour in the kombucha until there is a little room at the top.  Cover with your cloth of choice and secure with a rubber band.  Let it sit for 2 to 3 weeks and hope it works.  Once you have a mother you have infinite kombucha.  Because it is a living organism, it will grow as you keep it so most people peel away layers and use them as fertilizer or give them to other kombucha lovers.  They can also be frozen for 3 to 4 months, so you are able to keep a back up if you wish.

Recipe: Mango Ginger Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen mangoes (12 oz)
2 medium sized bananas
1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
2 teaspoons honey
1 piece of ginger about half the size of your pinky
1.5 cups of water

To make green: add as much of your choice of green to the smoothie.

Directions: Combine all of the ingredients save the ginger in a blender, then grate the ginger into the blender.  Blend until smooth and enjoy!

Comments:  I am currently working on this recipe to enter in a recipe competition. Any feedback would be great!

Recipe Template: Green Smoothies

I just mentioned green smoothies in my last post and would like to go into more details with it.  Firstly the contents.  The main ingredient of a green smoothie is, as implied, greens.  I prefer to add dark greens like kale, collard greens, spinach, but any greens will do.  I also add frozen fruit, banana, spirulina (an algae), coconut oil, water, and sometimes some flavors like ginger and honey.  I highly recommend mango ginger green smoothies.  Greens are a very important part of my diet and supply me with most of my vitamins and minerals.  I also add fruit for that same reason.  The banana is neccessary to take the bite out of the greens and the spirulina is also for important nutrients that are hard to find like chlorophyll.  Coconut oil is a recent addition.  I add it because fats are a stable way to stay full.  It will fight against the sugars in the fruit to keep my blood sugar balanced.  Also, the ratios of the ingredients in these smoothies are completely dynamic to fit each individual's need.  What tends to happen in the beginning is that there is a lot of fruit and very little green, but as time goes on and you become more accustomed to the flavor, I think you'll find yourself having a smoothie made almost entirely out of greens.  A green smoothie will typically keep me full only 3 to 4 hours but it makes me feel more aware than a normal breakfast cereal or the like.