Easiest to make instead of buy: Homemade Stock

When Fall arrives, I start making chicken stock again. Homemade chicken stock tastes better and is far more nutritious than anything you can buy at the grocery store. And it's super easy to make. Really, I promise. Basically throw stuff in a pot and let it simmer....and enjoy the smells all day. Strain and freeze. 

Chicken, garlic, onion, celery, carrots, herbs, peppercorns....add salt later after tasting.

The biggest revelation for me was learning that I didn't need to peel things or chop them small. Just quarter that onion and throw it in (remove produce stickers and wash off any visible dirt, of course). Chop a head of garlic in half and add it. Throw in some carrot peels. This is going to simmer all day, and the peels will add a lovely color to the stock. If you plan ahead, you can have a Stock Bag all ready to go! Use of a Stock Bag is quite thrifty and can add a wonderful depth of flavor because of the vegetable variety. I should caution you not to add purple cabbage, though, unless you want Barney-colored broth as my neighbor Abby discovered, much to her chagrin.

Making homemade stock -- especially if you use a Stock Bag -- is a wonderful way to Use It All! Here in America, we throw away vast quantities of edible food, and our house is (sadly) no exception, though we've cut waste dramatically in the last few years. Small changes make a difference! So if you have a few mushrooms that need to be used, but don't fit tonight's menu...toss them in the stock bag. Don't wait till it goes off and chuck it in the compost: SAVE IT in the freezer until you can USE IT.

The addition of some giblets to this batch produced a very small amount of foam which is easily removed. 

So...I never use fresh chicken for stock (except for giblets when I have them). Instead, when I roast a chicken (or very occasionally cook bone-in breasts or other parts), I save the carcass/bones in a plastic bag in the freezer and use those to make the stock. Most of the nutrition in homemade stock comes from the bones. You can put them on a sheet and roast them first for a richer color/flavor for the stock, but I am all about easy, so I never do this and my stock never suffers from flavor deficiency. We did make stock with a fried turkey carcass once and it was delish!

Note: if you do use fresh chicken, you'll want to put it in a pot of cold water, bring it gently to a simmer, and scoop off the foam, or "scum", that forms on the top. This foam is not harmful, but it will make your stock cloudy. So remove, Then add veggies and continue to simmer. 

Here is the "recipe" I use:

1-2 chicken/turkey carcass(es), including giblets if available (excluding the liver)
Good glug of vinegar (to leach nutrients from the bones)

Bag of vegetable trimmings

Add quartered/halved fresh veggies if necessary -- I make sure to have roughly equal parts of onions, carrots and celery, and then I add some garlic

 -- other veggies that work well include mushrooms, leeks, fennel, tomatoes, any greens, broccoli, zucchini, squash...you get the idea

Add fresh herbs if you have them (parsley, thyme are my favorites)

Add a shake of peppercorns

Add a bay leaf or two

Start it cold and slowly bring it up to a gentle simmer. It won't hurt it it it boils, but the "low and slow" will give you clearer stock in the end. Simmer for several hours stirring/tasting regularly. If you like, you can let the bones sit in cold water/vinegar for a half hour or so to pull even more calcium, gelatin and other nutrients from the bones. Once it has been simmering for an hour or so, I start to taste and add salt sparingly as it cooks. I do not add salt at the beginning because there are generally trace amounts on the carcasses from when I cooked them the first time. I prefer a lower-sodium broth, since I can always add salt based on what I'm making with it. Taste as you go to learn how the flavor develops!

Here you can see the stock after simmering for about five hours. The broth is developing a lovely color and the vegetables are quite soft. By now, little bits of meat will also float off the chicken bones and the carcass will come apart when I lift it with the spoon. This photo was taken at 4:30, so this stock will cook another hour or two until dinnertime, but I could certainly stop here if I wished.

When you decide it is done, turn off the heat and let it cool. Strain it through a colander, and put it in the refrigerator. The next day, you'll see that any excess fat will congeal on the surface in the fridge, so you can just scoop it off the next day. Sometimes I've made stock that had a jello-like consistency when cooled -- this is very nutritious and great for soup when someone is sick!

The final step is to strain it through cheesecloth and portion it into containers for the freezer. Nowadays I use wide-mouth glass jars instead of ziplock or plastick (just don't tighten the lids).

You can make vegetable stock by leaving out the meat. Ask at your grocery or market for beef bones or fish bones to make other types of stock.

Besides delicious soup, use your stock instead of (or half and half with) water when making rice, use it to make risotto, pan sauces,  use in mashed potatoes with 2% milk instead of cream, cook veggies in stock, sub for wine in pasta sauce, it is liquid gold baby!!

Get more out of harvesting your cabbage

Better than a Bakery! Artisan bread for dinner in less than an hour.

There is nothing like still-warm-from-the-oven bread on the dinner table.

I absolutely love freshly-baked breads and muffins, but have always found kneading/rising and the intricacies of yeast to be daunting. It all just seemed like a lot of work when I can pick up a really nice loaf of bread at the bakery for a special dinner. Then I started hearing/reading about "no-knead artisan bread" and was intrigued. Finally, about two years ago, I stumbled across this "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, Seriously" post and decided to give it a try. 

Basically, it goes like this: dump ingredients into bowl, mix, cover loosely/let rise, put in fridge. Later, cut off dough, let sit, put in oven, eat yummy bread. Have I mentioned how my family raves about this bread? So, here it is again, with pictures. A printable recipe is here.

My ingredients: Flour (my "everyday" flour is a mix of unbleached white and King Arthur's white wheat), flaxseed meal, yeast, kosher salt, and warm water.

Put 1 1/2 Tablespoons of kosher salt and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of active dry yeast in a large bowl. If you are using the packets of yeast (this is what I bought at first), use two. Now that I make bread often, I buy yeast in bulk. I keep a jar of yeast in the fridge for regular use and store the rest in the freezer.

Add 3 cups of warm water (from the tap is fine). It should feel warm to the touch, but not hot.

Add 6 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour, using the "scoop and sweep" method to measure. This is a great place to experiment! Whole wheat, spelt flour, sprouted grains flour, etc. Here, I used 6 cups of my unbleached white/white wheat mix and 1/2 cup of flax meal. I love the subtle, nutty flavor of flax meal, it gives a beautiful color/texture to the bread, and it's also a really great thing to put into our bodies. 

Mix until there are no more dry spots of flour. You can use a mixer if you have one, but I don't and I wouldn't use it for this even if I did. Here I am about halfway mixed; it's coming together, but I still have spots of dry flour.

Here, it's well-combined and ready to rise! I scrapes down the bowl sides also. I have a lid for my bowl  with holes punched in the lid (more about that later), but you can just loosely cover your bowl with plastic wrap.

Bread rising: pictures from l-r at 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30, respectively. You can cut off a bit now for your first loaf or just pop it right into the fridge, which is what I did this time. I think the flavor develops better if it has some time to sit. With this amount of dough, I'll typically make three loaves over the course of 5-8 days. You can leave the dough in your fridge up to two weeks; it will develop more of a "sourdough" flavor as it sits.

You need to bake in a preheated, 450-degree oven. You can bake it in whatever you usually use in the oven: pyrex pan, pizza stone, cookie sheet, cast-iron skillet. I did try baking on a pizza stone with a little dish of water, but decided it was too fussy for me. Then I went searching for other options and loved the idea of using an enameled dutch oven as shown here at Oregon Cottage. I don't find that I need the parchment paper she uses and my dutch oven is quite large, but I use a little enameled stoneware baking with a lid. The crust comes out beautifully with this method! 

Whatever you use, I recommend preheating the dish in the oven.

Here is the dough the following afternoon when I took it out of the fridge. As you can see, it lost a bit of mass as it cooled. Sprinkle some flour on the top and dust your hands. Have a sharp knife or kitchen scissors ready.

Pull and cut the amount of dough you want. Then stretch the dough to create a gluten cloak. 

I did not even attempt to photograph myself shaping the loaf because this short video will be much more helpful.

Do note that your bread may look different from the bread in the video because she used 100% white flour and bread flour at that! Here is what my finished loaf looks like before I let it rest. You should really let it rest for at least 30 minutes, though 45 is better if you have the time. I have popped it in the oven after only 15-20 minutes in a pinch and it comes out fine, though it doesn't rise up quite as much in the oven.

Before baking, dust the top of your loaf with flour and then slash the top (I sometimes do an X design as well). I pop mine in the hot pan, put on the lid and cook for 15 minutes. Then I remove the lid and cook an additional 15 minutes. When it's finished, the crust should be brown and it should sound hollow when tapped. Remove to a cooling rack.

To store uneaten bread, turn the cut side down on a plate or cutting board. Sometimes I wrap it in a clean tea towel. I did try storing it in a plastic bag but the crust became soft right away and I found it was prone to mildew in the summer as we are in the humid South.

If you start making this often, as I did, you'll probably want to invest in a bowl with lid that is a good size for your fridge. I'd initially meant for this picture to show the holes drilled in the lid, but then I saw the cool reflection of my kitchen window in the lid and went that way instead. Just make sure the dough is mostly covered but has a way for any gases to escape.

I cannot believe how easy it is to make fresh bread for dinner! Basically, I make a ball, let it rest for 15 minutes, preheat the oven and my pan, pop it in when the oven beeps that it's preheated and cook for a half hour. It's simple to do while making other food -- or to have fresh bread for a leftover night. I love being able to take freshly baked bread when I visit a friend or neighbor.

Updated 4/8 to add picture of bread interior. This was the last loaf from this baking and had been in the fridge for about 6-7 days. The crumb is denser if I use a higher proportion of wheat flour, I have found. The little nooks/crannies make excellent buttered toast!

I hope you will try your own hand at making this simple and delicious bread! I encourage you to explore further, either via web search or here at the original Artisan Bread in Five web site. 

Bon appetite!

Fennel Fronds = Dill Substitute

I don't eat fennel all that often. It's delicious roasted, but honestly it's not a "go to" except when I roast a chicken. I love slivered fennel added to whatever veggies wind up under the bird. My problem is not taste; it's that I never knew what to do with those fronds and I hated relegating them to the compost when they're actually quite tasty. It really grinds my gears to throw away such a substantial (and edible and tasty) portion of any food, so instead of subjecting myself to gear-grinding, I just don't buy it that often.

Now, I do add a heaping helping of fronds in with my other herbs when I stuff the interior, but typically I'm roasting a 2-pound bird, so we're not talking about a massive cavity here. In addition to the herbs, I must have garlic and some citrus that limited space, so I always have quite a lot of fennel bits left over. Some can go in my stock bag, but I don't want the fennel taste to overwhelm, so I'm judicious there. 

To my delight, I've recently learned fennel makes a terrific substitute for dill! We use dill fairly regularly around here in everything from scrambled eggs to my husbands killer tuna salad, so if for some reason you never know what to do with your own fennel fronds, just pretend you found some gorgeous fresh dill in your vegetable drawer. According to the intertubes you can also dry it just like dill as well, but I haven't tried that yet. 

Stocking Up

So you're feeling all thrifty and culinarily advanced, making homemade stock in your kitchen. Maybe you're even kickin' it super-frugal old-school like your gramma and saving your veggie bits in a stock bag. Homemade stock is really easy, tastes incredible (especially compared to the high-sodium stuff from the store), makes your house smell great, and saves money. But you still need to be able to store it.

Stock "brick" sits easily, is compact, and easy to defrost in a bowl.

Like most people, I freeze my stock. I used to take the "flat bag" approach, but in my freezer approximately 10% of bags get mysteriously punctured. The only way to know which is to defrost and see if they leak! It took about a dozen episodes of losing half a bag of my lovely stock in the sink or microwave or fridge to decide to always use a container "just in case." Well, there's no easy way to put a flat bag in a bowl to catch any leakage! Now, if you have the perfectly organized freezer where you never toss items around and you also know you never, ever overfill your bags, then flat bags may work for you. Ditto for glassware. I prefer "stock bricks" myself.

Shown here just out of the freezer.

Filling 8-10 bags and fitting them into a 9X13 pan is easier (in my experience) than trying to freeze them flat. I can fit 8 bags with 3 cups each into a 9X13 and the other 2-4 in a saver of some sort. I do my best to make sure fluid is distributed evenly so they don't stick together (see photo above). I pull them out of the freezer after a day or so, separate them and store them back in the freezer. If any are stubborn, I let them sit on the counter for 5 minutes or so.  You could run them under cool running water for a minute to separate, then stick them back in the freezer.

I used to freeze in smaller quantities, but I use more stock nowadays because it's a really wonderful way to add flavor. When I defrost, any extra goes into a mason jar in the fridge for use that week.

I am still using the plastic baggies. I would love a re-usable (or at least recyclable) alternative for freezing stock, so if you have a better option, please let me know. For now though, even with the baggies, my taste buds, my health, my budget and my planet come out ahead with homemade stock. Try some today!

Kohlrabi: alien or spare baseball?

It almost looks squidlike, doesn't it?

Kohlrabi is a cool-looking vegetable, there's no denying it. I'd never tried it until last year when I opened up the farm box and thought "what the heck is that crazy thing and how on earth can I cook it?" I ended up cutting off the cool parts and tossing it with salt, pepper and olive oil and roasting it. I've not yet met the vegetable that didn't roast well. The verdict was "meh" from both myself and my husband. It is nice mixed in with roasted carrots or potatoes, but I wouldn't seek it out in the grocery store.

I should really like kohlrabi. It has a crisp texture not unlike a potato, but not starchy. It has a very mild flavor, reminiscent of celery or maybe broccoli. It sounds great but the reality is rather underwhelming. Lucky for me, I have a foodie cousin who is an accomplished cook. She advised me that kohlrabi makes a terrific spare baseball. Funny, eh? I remain undaunted for now and intend to give kohlrabi a few more chances to amaze me. I feel certain that there must a way to unleash the lovely, mild flavor in a way that makes me look forward to seeing it in my box each spring.

There was no way to make this look appetizing.

Sadly, my second preparation, this Kohlrabi Puree, was not the ticket. The incorporation of the stems/leaves really appealed to me. The flavor profile seemed right. But I didn't really care for it. It was not smooth enough for my taste -- a blender might have been a better option than the food processor -- but that's a lot of fuss for a flavor that is nice but not spectacular. I think perhaps a slaw is the way to go with this one.

I'm going to be getting it, so I might as well find a way I like to eat it. My husband remains skeptical that kohlrabi will ever achieve anything beyond "meh" for him.

This Tennessee gal loves her Volunteers (plants that is...)

Go Big Orange! Scarlet Nantes - beautiful and delicious

Lettuces: Bunte Forellenschluss (my favorite), Winter Density and Grandpa Admire's.

I love peas in the pod.

Sunflower and the bean stalk, inspired by The Three Sisters.
Now how will I ever pick the beans?

Again, I have squash in the flowerbeds. (Did you know that was my inaugural post on this blog?) All of these are volunteer though; they just came up on their own. Beautiful, isn't it? That large broccoli plant is gone now, replaced with marigolds, moss roses and sweet alyssum (also volunteer). I'm amazed at what comes back each year and also at how perfectly one crop fades into the next. As the squashes sputter out in a few months, the moss roses and alyssum will explode into mounds of color that last into fall. I can pick up other flowers here and there on sale to fill in any bare spots. 

I say these are "squash," because that's what I planted in that area last year, but this one is looking much more melon-like to me. With volunteers, you are thankful for whatever you get because it's more than you expected. Not unlike my alma mater's football team, now that I think of it....

Inside My Fridge - June 5, 2011

In my fridge this week, we are in CSA heaven already. We only got one head of kohlrabi, not enough to try this kohlrabi puree, so that will have to keep. We have sugar-cured sliced ham, napa cabbage, bok choy, a massive head of broccoli, some gorgeous purple onions and assorted salad greens. I finally have beets enough (lower shelf in the middle) to make these Beet Chocolate Cupcakes, so that will definitely happen this week!

Also bottom-right I have some jasmine rice with peas and carrots (right next to the highly-recommended Summer Shandy). My time-saving tip of the week is to cook twice as much rice or pasta as you need and store the rest for quick sides or to make up easy vegetarian meals. The peas are homegrown! Next batch will have our own peas and carrots, if those ever last long enough to make it inside.

I have gone a bit crazy with cold summer beverages. You can see some homemade lemonade (in the Mason jar), so easy with citrus simple syrup, but there is also some green tea and cold-brewed coffee. Yes, that's right, I found a way to make a superb iced coffee -- no heat required because it is getting HOT here in the mid-south.  I will share details in a future post!

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Bag o' Bacon

Frozen bacon roll, ready for easy dicing.

A little bacon goes a long way. One piece, diced up and sautéed with garlic and onion adds a smoky saltiness to your tomato soup. With garlic, ginger and a bit of soy, it makes bok choy fabulous. Key here being "one piece." Bacon is best in moderation and it's certainly not sold that way.

My sister-in-law mentioned freezing bacon and I thought it was a great idea. I pictured myself freezing already-cooked slices, ready for crumbling into a salad or adding to pizza, pasta, greens, etc. If you're going to fry bacon, you might as well do it all at once, right? Besides, I do save bacon grease in a jar to make cornbread or to add to oil on the rare occasions I fry something.

The problem with frying a whole pound of bacon in our house is that it never makes it to the freezer. Inevitably pieces get snagged right away by the whole family; part goes to the the dinner; the remaining amount is usually deemed "too small to freeze" and used for breakfast burritos and BLTs the next day. This rather defeats the moderation theme, doesn't it?

After bringing up this dilemma with my sister-in-law, she recommended freezing it raw. Yes, it does seem like this would have occurred to me on my own, but it did not. I just rolled each piece like you see above and put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer overnight. The next day, the already-frozen rolls went into a plastic bag to be used 1-2 at a time. 

Unexpected bonus? it is really easy to dice or chop the frozen roll. This also means less hands-on time overall and, most importantly, makes it easy to only take out a single piece instead of trying futilely to resist the savory delight of hot, crispy bacon. 

Full-on American Food

When I was a kid, I heard someone explain how a hot dog was the perfect illustration of a quintessentially American food. You've got a sausage from Vienna, bread from the Midwest and condiments from across the globe. I liked the idea of food illustrating our melting pot, but really can't we offer up something better than a hot dog? If you say McDonalds I am now plugging my ears and running away screaming. I find it sad that most of the rest of the world thinks golden arches and Coca-Cola when they think of "American Food."

What is Real American Food? It's basically "peasant food." Real American Food is simple, fresh and easy to prepare. The thing that makes Real American Food unique is the surprising blend of flavors from around the globe.  I've worked in restaurants with some truly talented chefs. I've watched amazing chefs on television. They all say the same thing: get the freshest ingredients you can and cook it simply and you'll always have amazing food. I think it finally sank in when I started cooking with Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food.

Tonight's dinner is Real American Food: Pork Chops with russet and sweet potatoes and Swiss chard. The pork, sweet potatoes and chard are all from a local farm with Avalon Acres. The russets came from Costco. Easy, breezy, simple meal.

Pork Chops with Potatoes and Greens
Season pork as early in the day as you can, but at least 30 minutes prior to cooking. I made up a rub with sea salt, pepper, chipotle powder, garlic powder, onion powder and a bit of brown sugar. You can season it the night before or in the morning and pull out of the fridge while you prep/cook other things. It needs some time to come to room temperature to cook evenly.

Slice potatoes and season lightly with salt and pepper. Brown in about 1/2 TBSP olive oil in skillet (they will not be fully cooked). Add chopped or sliced onions and garlic if you like. Remove from pan and add a bit of vegetable oil or bacon grease (just about a scant teaspoon or so). Brown pork chops on both sides. Add a cup or so of chicken or vegetable stock and scrape up the browned bits. Add back in the potatoes, cover and lower heat. Allow to simmer for about a half hour until the pork is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Wash and roughly chop greens and add to pot; cook until tender (mine took about 5 more minutes).

I served this with homemade bread and some brown basmati rice since my children are hit-or-miss with eating potatoes. It's not fancy, but it sure is tasty.

A half-gallon of yogurt is too much!

Peach yogurt made with plain yogurt and Amish preserves.

About a year ago, I happened upon a few intrepid bloggers who had successfully made yogurt at home...in the crock pot.  This idea appealed to me immediately because it meant I did not have to buy a specialized appliance. So, I tried it and it really worked!  The only problem is that a half-gallon of milk makes a half-gallon of yogurt, which is an awful lot to eat in 7-10 days.

Even though I strain half of it to make "yogurt cheese" (can be used as a sour cream substitute), I was still tossing a lot of it.  I'm all for making all-natural, preservative-free, HFCS-free food, but it pains me to throw away food.  It feels actively ungrateful.  So, since I loved the homemade yogurt, I had to make about half as much.

Finally, I bit the bullet and purchased a small, 1.5-quart crock pot to make a smaller batch.  Yes, I realize that I went out and bought an appliance *just* to make yogurt, but at least it can be used for other things.  Incidentally, while reading the reviews, I realized I could also use this to make oatmeal/hot cereals overnight, so if anyone has a wonderful oatmeal/quinoa breakfast, please let me know. 

With the smaller crock, I had to tweak the timing slightly because it heats differently, but basically the milk needs to heat up to 180 (without boiling) and then down to about 112. You can either use a freeze-dried starter or some yogurt with active cultures, either from a batch you've already made or just some Dannon or Stonyfield organic -- as long as it says "with active, live cultures" it will work.  I have used both, but keep some Yogourmet on hand in case we've eaten up all the yogurt.  There will be no further mention of yogurt being allowed to spoil!

Yogurt is easy.  Pour one quart of milk (that's four cups) into the small crock.  One of these days I'm going to start using liters and grams and see if anyone notices.  Turn it on Low for 3 hours, then unplug and turn off for 2 hours.  Remove about a half-cup of milk to mix with your starter.  The Yogourmet is premeasured for one quart.  If using yogurt, use about 1/4 cup.  Whisk those together well, then add back into the crock and whisk well.  Cover and let sit at least 4-5 hours, or overnight.  I did cover the crock with a towel, but I'm not sure it's necessary; I won't use it in the summer.  After it's thickened, refrigerate until cold, then pour off any whey.  If you like, you can further strain with a cheesecloth-lined sieve for a thicker yogurt.  You can also add some powdered milk when you add the starter for a thicker end product.  Experiment!

Line a mesh strainer with cheesecloth, add yogurt and fold remaining cloth gently over the top.  Let sit in fridge for a few hours or overnight and enjoy a thick, Greek-style yogurt that is hard to differentiate from sour cream.

I like to make this in the morning so I can put it into the fridge before bed.  If you're out of the house all day, you can certainly start it when you get home and add the starter before heading to bed...just remember to pop it into the fridge before you leave the next day.

I prefer low-sugar preserves to flavor/sweeten.  Trader Joe's has a great selection and Costco also offers an organic strawberry preserves with only 8g of sugar per tablespoon.  Vanilla is also a popular option.  If it's not sweet enough, I find that agave nectar mixes very easily with the yogurt.  Honey tends to solidify and sugar remains grainy.  

I haven't gone so far as to break down the "cost per portion," because Stephanie already did it! Making organic yogurt was $.02 per portion vs. $.27 per portion for YoBaby....that means YoBaby is almost 15 times more expensive than homemade and you can make it lactose, casein, dairy, soy, gluten, and any other allergen free.

Garlic: good for what ails you

Begone, sniffles and sneezes!

Our house is infested.  For the first time ever, we have all succumbed to one of the earth's most ancient maladies: the common cold.  To battle the onset of coughing and sneezing I called upon one of the earth's most ancient medicines: garlic.  One note, I've read that it's best to chop garlic just prior to cooking to receive the most benefit from allicilin, a compound known to kill 23 types of bacteria, including salmonella and staphylococcus.  Take that!

This is quite easy to make, even when you can barely move.  My husband was fairly skeptical that I could manage any cooking in my condition and assured me that leftover chili would be wonderful, but I'd already decided that nothing but garlic would do.


Garlic Tourin
 adapted from "White Garlic Tourin, A Classic French Soup"

1 TBSP duck fat (if you don't have it, use butter/olive oil)
1/2-2/3 sweet onion, minced
1 large head garlic, roughly chopped
6 cups water (or water/chicken stock), boiling
large bunch fresh thyme
salt/pepper, to taste
1 fresh egg, separated
1/2 TBSP red wine vinegar
 optional: crusty bread, vermicelli or fine egg noodles, cheesy croutons, chopped parsley....or cheese toast


In a medium saucepan, fry the minced onion in duckfat on med-high until it begins to brown.  I actually have duckfat in my freezer, saved from last Thanksgiving.  How very French.  While the onion fries, roughly chop garlic and bring water/stock to boil.  I boiled 4 cups in my electric kettle and another cup + frozen chicken stock cubes in a small saucepan.  Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently -- be sure not to allow garlic to burn.

Add boiling stock, thyme and s&p and simmer at least 15-20 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes and adjust seasoning.  Fish out the thyme and discard.  If you are making this when well, pull the itty bitty leaves off the thyme, but hey....if you're sick don't sweat it.  I hit it with my immersion blender and let it simmer 10 more minutes. 

At this point, I realized we had no crusty bread or cheesy croutons in the house and briefly planned to top this soup with grated cheddar and parsley, but rallied enough to make two slices of cheese toast (wheat bread/cheddar cheese) while the soup was simmering.  Once the toast was out of the oven, I whisked the egg white until slightly fluffly and added slowly to the soup, whisking constantly.  You can temper it a bit if you wish, but I really did not have the energy to do this.  Cover the soup and continue to simmer about 5 more minutes.  While you do this, beat the yolk and vinegar together. Remove soup from heat and whisk in yolks -- I added a handful of fine egg noodles at this point and then covered it and let it stand for a few minutes while I chopped parsley and cheese toast.

To serve, I cut the cheese toast into cubes, placed those in the bottom of a bowl, ladled the soup over that and topped with some freshly chopped parsley.  Sadly, I was too hungry and weak to get a final shot, but it was delicious.  This made two bowls each for the two hungry adults.  Follow with a nip of medicinal whiskey and go to bed.  Sleep well!

Never peel a tomato again

These?  I'm gonna be eating in January with some fresh Amish pasta from my CSA.

Don't you hate peeling tomatoes?  And then seeding them?  It's a lot of messy, messy work.  But it's worth it for homemade marinara, right?  I thought so....until I received a harvest bounty from my father of several pounds of cherry tomatoes.  I really wanted to make marinara, but how could I peel all those teeny, tiny tomatoes?  

I thought, "Well, I have a 'puree' option on the blender."  I could not believe how easy it was to make a tomato puree with whole tomatoes, a blender and a strainer.  I just had to see if it worked with big tomatoes as well, and am happy to share the delicious results!  Just half/quarter or roughly chop the larger ones and leave the babies whole, as shown in the photo above.

Puree till smooth in blender, then press through medium strainer.

Fill the blender about 1/3 full and add a splash of water.  Pulse until tomatoes are well-chopped and moving freely (add more water sparingly, if necessary).  It can be helpful to stir or shake the blender between pulses.  Once it's going, hit puree. And let it go and go -- I probably left it on for a good minute or two.  Then set a medium or med/fine strainer in a bowl and pour.  You can see my setup above.

Push the tomatoes through the sieve with a spatula.  I think I ended up with a lot less tomato in my compost bin this way.  But also, I didn't heat the stove (for this portion anyway). I didn't use ice cubes.  I had minimal cleanup.  Judging by what's left in the sieve, I think this marinara has more fiber, though it is lovely and smooth in texture.

Looks like the makings of a "marinara mix" seed drying operation, no?

It took me about a half hour to garner a gallon of tomato puree this way.  That's barely enough time to get your water boiling and the first batch of tomatoes peeled with the traditional method.  Granted, I added some water, so I have to let it cook a bit longer, but that doesn't require my constant attention....just good smells and occasional stirring.

Before you start the whole puree process, go ahead and chop a few cloves of garlic (to taste -- I used a good half a head) and mince an onion.  Let those cook slowly on LOW/MED heat while you handle the tomatoes.  Just before I added my tomato puree, I tossed in 1/4 tsp of chipotle chili pepper powder.  You could also add some red pepper flake as the onion/garlic cook.  I also added 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and grated in some nutmeg.

The puree will be pinkish-red and foamy.

Raise the heat a bit since the tomatoes are cool and, well, there's quite a large volume being added to the pot.  I had about a gallon of tomato puree.  What you want is a nice gentle simmer and you should stir regularly.  If you come to stir after 15 minutes away and the surface is smooth and unbroken, then raise the heat a bit.  If you come to stir after 15 minutes away and it's bubbling actively, then lower the heat (I might even pull it off the burner for a minute or two).  I put the lid on after adding the tomatoes to help it come to a higher temperature more quickly.  Then I removed the lid so it could reduce.  I found that my "blender puree" seemed to have a pinkish foam on the top for an hour or two until it reduced. 

Herbs outside today include basil, parsley, oregano and thyme.

You can add whatever herbs you like and/or have on hand.  I cut what you see above and ended up with about 2-3 Tbsp parsley, 3Tbsp or so of basil, about 1.5 Tbsp oregano and 1 Tbsp thyme.  I also grated in a small carrot.  After it simmered for an hour or so, I tasted, then added salt, pepper and a combination of agave nectar and white sugar.  All seasonings are "to taste," but keep tasting as it reduces and add a bit here and there.  Oh, and you really do need to add the sugar to counter the acidity of the tomatoes.  If you want less refined sugar, you could add some more carrot or grated beet, but be sure to *taste* as you go and after another half-hour.

Halfway done.  I added more basil toward the end.

Stir it regularly.  Once it's getting close to the consistency you want, hit it with an immersion blender.  My goal is to wind up with something that coats a spoon nicely with small flecks of onion or herb, but I want a well-integrated sauce with a smooth consistency.  

Before the immersion blender, my marinara almost seemed "separated," perhaps because of the extra fiber from the bits of skin that made it through.  It was nice immediately after a stir, but heavy on the bottom after about 10-20 minutes.  However, after using the immersion blender, it was a smooth texture, dotted with bits of tomato or onion or herb.  Perfect!

Now, if you don't have an immersion blender, you can always blend it in batches.  It really makes a big difference in the texture of the finished product, so if you're at all unsure, just do it  After blending, if you want a "chunky" sauce, you'll need to add in some diced (skinned/seeded) tomatoes, but I didn't do that because I am okay if I never have to skin another tomato again.

Stock is Cheap

Oh did you think I was going to dole out investing advice?  Nay, nay, not so but far otherwise.  Take me to my natal shore and the white cliffs of Albion.....oh wait, sorry, I got distracted.

Today's tip is the Stock Bag for the freezer.  You can compost all those end pieces of onions, carrot peelings and leafy celery tops, but it's an even better idea to use them to make your own stock.  You know how sometimes the inside of a garlic bulb is just those teeny-tiny cloves that are impossible to peel?  Cut them in half and throw them in your stock bag. Don't worry about the skin!  How about that one squash that got hidden in the drawer and is fine but a little shriveled?  Stock bag!  And don't forget to go through your fridge and toss in anything that you aren't going to be able to use that week.  Any vegetables will work!  The bonus is that your stock will taste like the season.

When my bag is full, I decide what kind of stock I need.  For vegetable stock, I usually take a look at what's in the bag and round it out with an extra carrot or half an onion (again, resist the urge to peel off the skin!) and a potato.  I add some herbs (if they're not already in the bag) and some peppercorns and let the whole thing come to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until it tastes right.  I do taste throughout and add a little salt.

For chicken stock, I don't use fresh chicken.  That seems incredibly wasteful to me.  Besides, if you use fresh chicken, you have to cook that first and skim the top of the water multiple times before adding the vegetables.  If you roast a chicken and use the carcass to make the stock, you can just dump it and the stock bag into a big pot with water and, again, herbs, peppercorns and bring to a boil.  Add a splash of white vinegar to leach calcium from the bones and let it gently simmer all day.  Taste and add salt as needed. 

When it's done, let it cool, then strain it.  One word of advice: do not put it in the refrigerator with the plan of straining it next day.  You will have to reheat it before straining and it will be cloudy.  And, well, why add all that work?  Often I will strain it in a colander and put it in the fridge and then strain through cheesecloth the next day when separating it to freeze.  That really doesn't add any extra steps for me.

I generally freeze mine in two- and four-cup portions in plastic, but am on the hunt for paper cups that will hold at least 1.5-2 cups.  I plan to freeze those on a cookie sheet, same as I do with the baggies, then put them in a larger container for deep-freeze storage.  Oh, and that Stock Bag itself?  It's a perfect candidate for re-use.  

Update: I now freeze stock in jars since I've built up a good stash. Do not tighten the lids until after the jars are frozen. Works wonderfully!!

So, start your Stock Bag today and plan to make some low-sodium, homemade stock yourself.  It's the perfect touch for making soup or giving rice a boost without extra butter.  And best of all, it's incredibly easy and doesn't take much time.  

And special thanks to my mother-in-law for this tip.  It's not something she does herself, but something her mother used to do and I'm awfully glad she shared it with me!

Thai Basil Chicken

My favorite spot for cut herbs is my kitchen window or the dining room table.  They smell great and look lush and lovely and are accessible for snipping for dishes.  Pictured here: thai basil, genovese basil and purple clover (picked from the side of the road by the 3-year-old).

So this is my very first food/recipe post.  I needed to trim up my basil and figured it was a good time to pull out a favorite family recipe.  I've never actually followed the recipe for this Thai Chicken with Basil Stir Fry, but all the variations I've made are great.  It's a fragrant, sweet/spicy, fresh tasting dish that is pretty easy to throw together.  The wonderful thing about stir fry is that it doesn't really matter.  You have fresh ingredients and toss in whatever you have on hand.  Let's see how it goes tonight.

Here are the ingredients I used tonight.  I've got rice, garlic, ginger, sweet onion, chicken, coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, green onions and a bunch of basil.  When I'm doing stir fry, I do like to chop up most things beforehand and pull out any spices/condiments I might need.  Usually I would put all the garlic/ginger/onion in one bowl since it all goes in at the same time, but I was aiming for a fancy "foodie" shot.  Now that I have uploaded this picture, I can see that it is necessary to note that I had about  a 2:1 ration of ginger to garlic.

The dark purple herb leaves are a thai basil which tastes (to me) like the italian basil with a licorice note.  This is actually the first time I've ever had thai basil for this dish, and it came out of my garden, so that's a reason for celebration in my kitchen!  As you can see, I'm using brown basmati instead of jasmine rice.  The kids like it and it's really nutritious in the event that they decide the thai chicken is not their speed tonight.  I tend to prefer to add veggies to the white rices, so we'll save the jasmine for another night.

I cook the onion, garlic and ginger for a few minutes, then add the chicken.  If you are compelled to add a grind of pepper here, it's a good time for it.  Hopefully you can see the size of strips.  I used chicken thighs because that's what I had.  I think this would be lovely with pork or shrimp or probably tofu.  I am honestly nervous about tofu based on a bad experience with my mother's tofu chili in my formative years. I promise that my future adventures with that soy product will be fodder for upcoming posts.

While the chicken cooks, I make up the "sauce" in a pyrex cup.    I forgot when I took my ingredient picture that I'd wanted to sub some of this thai chili garlic paste for some of the red pepper flakes.  I used about 1/4 tsp red pepper and 1/2-3/4 chili paste.  If you are not familiar with the condiments/spices I mention, my best advice is to buy them and try them!  You have to use it and taste it to know whether or not you like it.  Just remember if you have a low spice tolerance (like me): you can always add, but it is difficult to take away.  Start out with no red pepper and 1/4 tsp. chili sauce if you're nervous.  You can add more next time if you like it.

I don't cook the chicken totally through before adding the sauce.  It's going to cook while that sauce reduces, so I'd say it's about 75-80% "legally" cooked when I add the coconut milk sauce mixture.

While the sauce reduces, I chop the green onions  and basil.  Do you see that little glass dish?  I used to toss those root trimmings in the compost, but after seeing this blog post I now stick them in the garden.  You only need a teensy bit of the white root bulb left and soon....new onions!

So, once the sauce reduces, toss in the onions/basil and you're ready to go.  I did not have mushrooms tonight, but if you have some, slice and toss in.

This is how I serve it.  I have a better shot, but then you cannot see my sweet child looking out the window waiting for dinner and I could not deprive you of such loveliness.  Forgive the garish tablecloth; it is cheery in the room, but not terribly photogenic. I have toddlers so we use the canvas  indoor/outdoor cloths for easy cleanup. I put the rice in a ring around the outside so that the kids can have "plain rice" if they so desire.  They snacked on frozen green beans during dinner prep, so lieu of other veg I served cantaloupe and grapes.  Also on table are parmesan for the kids' rice, sweet chili sauce for me and sriracha for my heat-loving husband.

Critics reviews

2-year-old: loved rice plain, rice with chicken sauce, rice with parmesan and cantaloupe

3-year-old: liked cantaloupe best but also enjoyed rice with parmesan and grapes

Husband: declared it a company-worthy dish

Me: agreed

(full recipe after the break)