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Gingery Rhubarb Chutney

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Gingery Rhubarb Chutney

Believe it or not, I have met a lot of chutneys I didn’t like. But this isn’t one of them. I was lucky enough to inherit a row of very healthy and vigorous rhubarb plants when M and I moved into our house in the Berkshires. When I say healthy and vigorous, I mean it. I am not 100% sure what the heck a peck is, but I am pretty sure even Peter Piper would be tired of picking rhubarb already…

Basically, I was looking for a chutney. Because, well, I want to like chutneys. Chutneys are cool & worldly. Look the point is, maybe I’m missing something, but fruit and garlic, together… not my thing.

That’s why when I found this recipe in a much cited (in the secret world of pickles and jams that is) beautiful and hard to find book; the glass pantry I knew it was the one.

First of all, it’s sans garlic, second, it’s gingery, from fresh raw ginger, not of the candied variety. And best of all, it uses a lotta rhubarb! All that said. It’s delicious!

Gingery Rhubarb Chutney

adapted from The Glass Pantry

Ingredients

about 9 stalks of rhubarb (approximately 6 cups, sliced 1 inch thick)
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped or very thinly grated lemon zest
2 cinnamon sticks, 3 inches each
1 1/2 to 2 inch piece fresh ginger (depending on thickness) peeled & minced
1 1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 pint mason jars

Directions

1. Prepare ingredients as above.

2. Combine brown sugar, cider vinegar and chopped lemon zest in a non-reactive pan. Stir over low heat for 5 or 6 minutes, just until all the sugar dissolves.

3. Add the sliced rhubarb, cinnamon sticks, and ginger.

4. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook for another 15 or so minutes until all the rhubarb is soft.

5. Add the raisins, salt and chopped walnuts and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes.

You can stop here and enjoy…in that case I might suggest cutting the recipe in half as stored directly in the fridge, it is at its best for 3 weeks.

6. Or you can process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes.

Which I highly recommend…c’mon do it! It’s fun! And you can keep them in a cool dark place for a year. Once opened, store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

And here’s one more tidbit of info: whenever you have a smaller recipe that you are canning but your canning pot is BIG, you want to make sure that you have enough jars in there so that your full jars don’t bounce around – in other words, a full pot-o’-jars. So just leave the jars you don’t use in the pot filled with water.

Roast the Toast: Rhubarb & Apple Butter Pandowdy

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Roast the Toast: Rhubarb & Apple Butter Pandowdy

Perhaps you’ve noticed by now that I have a thing for old-fashioned fruit desserts? Yeah, I kinda do.

Rhubarb is something I am never in need of – when May/June comes I can practically swing from mine.

Then I realized that May is around the corner and I still had three quarts of rhubarb in the freezer – yikes! I’m not down with frozen fruit from the year before when it’s time for a new year’s bounty to explode. So I raced into my larder and deftly pulled my super chatelaine cape over my ears and head and I got my paws on that rhubarb.

First let me tell you that a pandowdy is just an old-fashioned name for a bottomless pie. Perhaps those Victorian gentlewoman rendered a bit pinkish (or peckish?) at the mere thought of a loose and bottomless pie, and so…pandowdy is ever much more, well, dowdy.

Armed with this imagination, I figured if I’m making a wayward crust, she’s gonna need some grit.

How’s this for grit?

Martha is my go to gal for crust. I made this cornmeal pate brisee. And to ensure my crust rough and ready for a good time, I went a little heavier on the meal – 3/4 of a cup, and lighter on the fine stuff – 1 & 3/4 cups.

(A note about my cornmeal: it’s from a local Berkshire farmer, and I can’t get enough of it. Yours can be yellow, and not as rough cut. But try to find stoneground, and better still, local!)

Follow Martha’s recipe and in case she wasn’t 100% clear, once you get the ice cold water in the processor and the dough just barely starts to cling to itself – no more then 30 seconds please – take it out and divide it in half. Here’s the clincher: do not play with the dough no matter how enticing she may be. Get her into two discs as quickly as possible, they don’t have to be perfectly shaped. Wrap them in plastic wrap, put one in the freezer for another use, and one in the fridge to use now. If you happen to have one a little bigger than the other, use that one now.

You can even make the dough a day ahead of time. If you do, take the half you are using out of the fridge 30 minutes before you want to make the pandowdy.

Last thing before we get on with it: I had frozen rhubarb, I had canned ancho apple butter. You may have frozen blueberries and canned peach butter, or frozen cranberries and canned pear butter. Both would be lovely combos, the pairing is up to you.

Rhubarb & Apple Butter Pandowdy

1/2 recipe cornmeal pate brisee, augmented as above
6 cups fresh or frozen rhubarb, sliced to 1 inch, thawed & drained if frozen
1/2 cup brown sugar (you can go up to 3/4 cup if you like sweet desserts, I like mine less so)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 pint apple butter (I used ancho apple butter)
pinch sea salt
deep dish 9 or 9 1/2 inch pie dish, buttered

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the cornstarch and brown sugar together, add to the rhubarb in a large bowl and stir. Add apple butter and gently combine.

2. Pour fruit mixture into buttered pie dish and sprinkle a pinch of salt evenly across the top.

3. Roll out the chilled dough, you’ll want to keep it thicker than your average pie crust, about a quarter inch. Place over fruit mixture. Do not worry too much about the sides, let them fall inside the dish. Slice three lines across the crust 4-5 inches long and an inch or so apart. This to let off steam when she gets hot and bothered in the oven.

4. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, rotate and bake for 10-15 more minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up around the sides and possibly escaping through the steam vents.

5. Let cool for 45 minutes before you sink your teeth in.

The fruit butter technique is a good one for a pandowdy because the cooked down fruit fiber helps to bind things together – important with a missing bottom. Also good when frozen fruit is involved as they too can get a bit loosey-goosey if left to their own devices.

A Lot o’ New Preserving Books!

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A Lot o’ New Preserving Books!

Not like we need another clue to show us we’re on to somethin, but I just received an Amazon notice in my inbox telling me that this Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English is on it’s way to me! This is our very own can jammer Ashley from Small Measure’s first book in her homemade living series and I am very excited to receive it!

And then, while trekking around the mighty Amazon, I noticed a bevy of ‘available for pre-order’ canning & preserving books. Now I know that is not out of the ordinary for this time of year but…

250 Home Preserving Favorites: From Jams & Jellies to Marmalades & Chutneys by Yvonne Tremblay

Williams-Sonoma: The Art of Preserving by Rick Field & Rebecca Courchesne

My Favorite Granola

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My Favorite Granola

Now that I have all ya’lls attention, I’mma give you this:

My favorite granola recipe adapted and embellished from a myriad of sources and perfected over time.

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oat flakes
1 cup rolled rye flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup wheatgerm
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
3/4 cup raw walnuts – chopped to halves or quarters (or sometimes shelled pistachios – no salt)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/8 (1/4 + 1/8 for the fractionally challenged) cup walnut oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
3/4 cup dried sour cherries (or sometimes dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, or raisins).
2 large baking sheets with 1 inch rim

yields: approximately 1 & 1/2 quarts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Toss all of the dry ingredients together except for the dried fruit. reserve the fruit for later.

3. Mix in vanilla extract, walnut oil & honey or maple syrup. i like my granola with a barely audible stroke of sweetness so 1/4 cup of sweetener is perfect for me. but you could add more, up to 1/2 cup, without it becoming cloyingly sweet. note: if you use the same measuring vessel for the oil and honey, and measure out the oil first, the honey will slide right out of the measuring cup quite nicely.

4. Mix well so that the oil, sweetener and vanilla are distributed evenly.

5. Distribute mixture equally into the two baking sheets. shake sheets from side to side so that mixture is quite spread out and there are no layers.

6. Place in oven, you will most likely use two racks. bake for 30 minutes. Halfway through switch the sheets so that the one on bottom rack is now on top and toss both a bit to redistribute.

7. You will know it is done when the color changes slightly – it begins to golden. make sure not to brown too much or the nuts will burn. err on the side of less. depending on your oven the sheets my not toast evenly at the same time, don’t be afraid to leave one or the other in longer.

8. Take baking trays out and toss in dried fruit directly while still warm. adding the fruit here is the key to a good texture (don’t you hate when you buy granola, and it has stone-hard little bits of dried fruit in it? it’s because they bake the already dried fruit).

9. Let cool completely, store in airtight container for up to a month.

If done correctly you have my word that this will:

a) not be too sweet
b) not be too oily
c) not have fruit that will break your teeth
d) not have hard bits of granola better suited for bars than breakfast

My favorite way to eat granola is with homemade yogurt. Mix it up fresh in the morning right in your breakfast bowl. Also, breakfast granola with apple and cinnamon is delicious. Find the recipe here!

Here’s another granola-yogurt scenario all together that you gotta try! Mix a bowl, or a jar, of granola and yogurt at night before you go to bed. let it sit overnight in fridge and the next morning you will have the most wonderfully textured bowl-o’-breakfast as the toasted oats and rye swell up and soften. and when fresh fruit is in season, add some chopped the night before, you won’t believe your taste buds the next morning.

Ok, I do make granola, I did just say wheatgerm up there, I do have dreaded hair, but I do not wear Birkenstocks…

Straight Up Greengage Jam

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Straight Up Greengage Jam

Finally! Whew! I didn’t think I would be gone this long. But on Labor Day weekend, I had a few friends over to a little shindig M and I have been planning for a few months. It’s kept me kinda busy. Here’s the thing: even though I haven’t been telling you about it, I’ve been jammin’ in more ways then one these past few weeks!

I made a blueberry curd that has just the right lemony tang and is bursting with berry-ness, but I don’t know – maybe 2009 is a little long in the tooth to be talking about blueberries still…maybe I’ll just tuck that into the back of my larder and tell you about it next year.

Whadya think? Meanwhile summer’s casting its sideways glance and I’m actually feelin’ kind of plummy about it. Greengage that is.

Here’s how it went down: due to the above mentioned shindig – M and I cut our summer in the Berkshires short. So for the first time in years we went to the union square green market. If you ever get to NYC you really gotta go. Made me forget all about my garden woes.

Especially when I saw their shiny green faces smiling up at me! I mean, I’ve heard from numerous reliable sources that these little babies are la crème de la crème of jamming plums. So of course I had to buy a few pounds and see for myself.

And guess what? All that hype about greengages being the plum to jam? Well…. I have to kind of agree.

Straight Up Greengage Jam

Adapted from Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber

5 1/2 pounds greengage plums (ripe but firm)
6 1/2 cups sugar (I use raw)
1 large lemon
6 pint mason jars, or 12 1/2 pint
2-3 small plates

yield: approximately 6 pints

Directions:

Day one
1. Rinse plums quickly in cold water and dry. Cut in half, remove stone and cut each half in half.

2. Combine fruit, sugar and juice from lemon in bowl. Give it a gentle stir and let macerate for 1 hour.

3. Pour in jamming pan and bring to a simmer. Let cool, pour back in bowl and place in fridge overnight.

Day two
1. Place plates in freezer to be ready to check set later on. Place cleaned mason jars in canning pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes to sterilize (see more details about water-bath canning here).

2. While jars are boiling, drain the syrup from the plums. I do this by placing a large colander in a bowl and first taking plums out of bowl with slotted spoon and placing in colander. Let them drain for a minute. Then pour all of the syrup into jamming pan and bring to a boil. Boil on high heat until the syrup reaches 221 degrees.

3. Return the plums to the syrup and bring back to a boil. Boil on high for 5-6 minutes stirring gently.

4. Check the set by placing a teaspoon of jam on a frozen plate and placing plate back in freezer for 1 minute. Take the plate out and run your finger through jam. If properly set the jam will wrinkle under your finger.

5. Fill the hot jars one by one, seal and process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Ramp ‘n Ricotta Gnudi

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Ramp ‘n Ricotta Gnudi

Ramps in the northeast are the first sign of spring’s abundance. Since my initial taste a few years back, not just of them, but of harvesting them in the wild, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. In fact, when I heard they were up in the Berkshires this past weekend, a tad earlier than the norm, we jumped in the car and drove as fast as we could to our little farmhouse in the country.

This year in particular I couldn’t wait to see their bright green lily-like leaves perched upright amongst the crisp layer of last fall’s fallen maples and the like. A couple of years ago, discovered gnudi, an Italian pasta-like dish that kinda, sorta resembles gnocchi, but I like the more accurate description of a ‘nude’ ravioli better. In other words, it’s the middle without the casing. Its decadence lies in the not-so-mere fact, that the good stuff isn’t rationed, it’s the whole damn thing. Made even more decadent by the fleeting wild leek, this version might best be eaten laying down.

Now, I’m not gonna lie, I had one of my catty pilgrim moments and I made the buttermilk ricotta from scratch, but that’s ’cause my idea of a good time is a Sunday in the kitchen. You could certainly buy your ricotta from a good source, and while you’re at it, source those ramps and get this spring-time on your plate.

Ramp ‘n Ricotta Gnudi

1/2 pound ramp greens (save stems & bulbs for another use)
3/4 pound fresh ricotta cheese*
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
fresh ground black pepper
sea salt

Finishing

grassy extra-virgin olive oil**
grated parmigiano or aged pecorino
fresh ground black pepper

Yield: serves 2 as a main, 4 as a first course

Directions:

  1. Clean ramp greens by dropping in a bowl of cold water and giving them a swoosh. Let sit for 30 seconds and lift out. Place on paper towels. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop ramp greens in and simmer for approximately 6 minutes, or until greens are completely soft. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and place in a colander. Important: do not throw away the water – and try to refrain from drinking it, the aroma will make you want to do so. Turn the heat on very low, cover and step away from the pot.
  2. Using a wooden spoon, press the ricotta through a sieve into a large bowl. Add 3/4 teaspoon sea salt, the grated nutmeg and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir to combine.
  3. Squeeze the boiled ramp greens of all excess water. Chop very fine, they should be almost paste-like. Add to the ricotta. Add yolks and flour, stir until thoroughly combined, but do not over-stir.

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  4. Line a baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper. If you are cooking the gnudi immediately, add more water to the pot, plus 3/4 teaspoon sea salt and turn up heat to bring to a boil. Use two of your dinner tablespoons to shape the gnudi into walnut or pecan size pieces – depending on the shape of your spoons. Hint: press and roll between both spoons, and don’t be afraid to use your fingers for the final touch. Plus, embrace rustic  – they don’t have to be exactly the same size! Place on baking sheet as you go. You could do this ahead and place the whole sheet in the refrigerator for boiling later.
  5. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Drop 10-12 gnudi in gently, I like to lower them in by the threes with a spoon. Keep it at a high simmer, but not too high, they are delicate. They’ll rise to the occasion (top of pot) within seconds. Don’t be fooled, they need to boil for a good 5 minutes – until they’re firm. Firm for gnudi is very soft but not mushy.
  6. Serve in bowls drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with cheese and black pepper.

Don’t be discouraged if you see a bit of gnudi breaking from the pack here and there and floating up to the surface. The trick is to be as gentle as you can from pot to plate. Serve with a crisp spring salad and an equally so white wine.

Canned Tomatoes: Sauced

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Canned Tomatoes: Sauced

 

I call my tomatoes sauced tomatoes not tomato sauce because while they are cooked down a bit, I would never use this as sauce straight outta the jar. It’s pure tomato flavor and I use them in every way one would use whole or crushed canned tomatoes. They are forever versatile.

I find that tomatoes canned this way have a more robust flavor than the straight-up canned paste tomatoes. Any variety of tomato can be used and a mixture is best. You can (and should) use over-ripe tomatoes that are past their eating-fresh days. I throw many of those in the pot after cutting the dark spots completely off. Anything your garden or neighboring farmer gives you at the end of the season will work perfectly.

Sauced Tomatoes

You will need:

as many end-of-season garden or farm fresh tomatoes you can get
any variety citric acid
sea salt
pint & quart mason jars
food mill (I love mine!)

Directions:

1. Place a wide-bodied saucepan (big enough to fit all of your tomatoes) on medium high heat. Saucepan should be non-reactive, which means stainless or enameled iron.

2. Quickly chop up about 1 & 1/2 pounds of tomatoes – large chunks. Put them directly in the pot and press them down with a wooden spoon. Bring this mixture to a boil.

3. Continue to add approximately 1 & 1/2 pounds of chopped tomato, making sure it comes to a boil before adding the next round. You will want to chop as you go so that you do not lose too much of the precious tomato juice.

4. When all of your tomatoes are finally in the pot, boil for 5 minutes.

5. Run all of this through a food mill. I use the medium disc as it holds back all of the skin and most of the seeds, but still allows it to be pulpy.

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6. Put all of your milled tomatoes back into the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by just 1/3rd. As this simmers down, prepare your canning pot and jars.

7. Once you’ve reduced tomatoes by 1/3rd, they are ready to be jarred.

8. For each pint jar, add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. For each quart jar, add 1/2 teaspoon citric acid and 1 teaspoon sea salt.

9. Fill hot jars with sauced tomatoes to 1/4 inch headspace. Hot water bath process pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40.

I find that the pints are perfect for curries, stews, casseroles, bean dishes, soups, etc. The quarts are perfect for pasta sauce, adding spices, dried tomatoes, olive oil, capers, chile, et al, and I will cook it down even more as I prefer a thicker tomato sauce for my pasta.

Meyer Lemon Pickle with Nigella

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Meyer Lemon Pickle with Nigella

If you’ve been over here lately, then you know how much I enjoy early mornings, and you know what a beautiful view I relish up in the Berkshires, a symphony of autumnal colors as of late. You may also know that our 2009/10 move back to the city has happened, and well, my views have changed. This year is even more of a change due to the fact that we moved from Manhattan, across the bridge to LIC earlier in the year. This is how the sun comes up around these parts:

morning kitchen view

View from terrace: Silvercup, home to the filming of, IMO, one of the greatest series of all time (no, not Sex in the City, the Sopranos!) and if I go way out to the end of the terrace and look left, a view of my favorite building in NYC – the Chrysler Building. It looks ethereal but it’s just the sun: smog + sun. So things do look a little bit different around here than they do in the Berkshires. But, lest you feel my lack of joyousness…have no fear because as sure as the sun shines, there’s a lemonade waiting to burst forth in every lemon and perhaps more accurately for our purposes here if the sun surely shines as long and strong as it does in this kitchen then

ain’t no lemons gettin’ aden around here because this my friends, is what I’m talkin’ about. Sickle

Sun + pickle = sickle. As in, this pickle is soooooo good it’s sickle! (I had to)

Meyer Lemon Pickle with Nigella

12 Meyer lemons, preferably organic
1/2 cup sugar (I use raw)
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup cayenne powder
3 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder
juice of one large lemon (doesn’t have to be Meyer)
1 large 2 quart jar (cleaned with hot soapy water & dried thoroughly)

Directions

1. Wipe lemons with a damp cloth and dry with a clean dry cloth. Make sure to get them completely dry. This is crucial because if there is any water on the lemons it could cause mold during the pickling process.

2. Slice off the little scar at end of lemons. Quarter them and then slice each quarter into thirds. As you are doing this, remove any pits and try to capture the juice.

3. In a heavy dry skillet toast the fenugreek and nigella seeds on medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally. As soon as you smell a wonderful aroma and the fenugreek seeds have turned a shade darker, they are ready. If you are using the asafoetida powder, add it the last few seconds before turning everything out onto a plate to cool.

4. Once cool, grind them in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Add them to the lemons along with the salt, sugar, cayenne, and turmeric. Stir until all is combined.

5. Scoop all into an immaculately dry half gallon (or into two quart jars) glass jar with a tight fitting lid. The jar and all utensils that touch the pickle must be dry because even a little water could lead to spoilage of the lemons.

6. Place the jar in a sunny windowsill. Give the jar a shake every day or so, or keep in right side up one day and upside down the next.

7. Every few days open the cap, carefully, as there will be fermentation going on inside and it will sizzle a bit when you open the lid. The pickle should be done in about 3 weeks, taste it to see if the flavor and texture is to your liking. You want some firmness to remain.

8. Store in the refrigerator and it will easily last for a year or more. Be sure to use a clean dry spoon each time.

Spicy Pickled Green Beans

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Spicy Pickled Green Beans

I know, I know. Everyone’s doing it. Dilly beans, dilly beans, dilly beans…who can complain about these garden stalwarts?

Look, it’s a massacre over here. Late season blight has wreaked havoc on all 16 of our tomato plants. I can’t even show you the gruesome truth via photos as every last one of those poor little suckers had to be torn from the ground, bagged and hauled off.

This is a recurring and devastating site around much of the northeast this summer. It’s not pretty folks. But at least I got a hill a beans…

Green beans, I must admit, I have never really thought much about them. They’ve just always been, you know, there. Being there (here) has taken on a whole new meaning in my garden this year between the weather and the blight…what’s a pickler to do??? Make dillys!

Spicy Pickled Green Beans

Adapted from Well Preserved

Approximately 3 pounds green beans, topped & tailed
5 cups water
5 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
4 stalks of fresh dill
1/4 cup sea salt
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
Four fresh hot chili peppers, sliced into strips
4 quart or liter canning jars

Directions

1. Wash jars in hot soapy water or dishwasher.

2. Place jars in canning pot and turn on heat. See canning 101 for detailed steps on the hot water bath canning method.

3. Combine water and vinegar in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and keep at a simmer.

4. Take all 4 jars out of water and place upright on a kitchen counter.

5. In each jar place: 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 garlic clove, 1 red hot chili pepper, 1 dill stalk, and then divide the beans equally and squeeze them in there as tight as you can.

6. Pour the simmering water/vinegar mixture into each jar and fill to 1/4 inch under the rim (that’s called headspace). You can take a chopstick or an upside down spoon and slide it in there to release any air bubbles you see. After air bubbles are released you might need to pour some more liquid in to bring it back up to 1/4 inch headspace.

7. Put lids on jars and place in canning pot. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Once they are out of boiling water bath, be sure to let them sit untouched for at least 12 hours.

And here’s the worst part of this whole thing – these, and most ‘fresh’ canned pickles – meaning pickles with added vinegar – are better if left a few weeks before opening. This allows the flavors to develop. But that’s ok, cause me & beans, we got a lotta catching up to do…

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