Jam On It: Steamed Walnut Bread

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

There’s probably a few of you around here now privy to the fact that I love me an old-fashioned dessert. And I love me a steamed pudding. But there’s a little something else I’ve been playing around with as of late, and that’s steamed bread. If it was up to me, this technique would have never gone out of style.

This version is one part rye flour, one part whole wheat bread flour and one part stone-ground cornmeal. Aside from the heartiness and gentle tang of rye, you would never guess it’s comprised of whole grain flours. It’s the steam that does it.

The good part? You may think that you need lotz of special equipment to get this result. Not so! You need a 1.5 quart basin that can withstand a boil and then a gentle simmer and steam for 2 hours. That usually means heavy duty ceramic or stainless steel. These traditional steaming basins are easy to come by and economical. I love my patisse stainless mold and that’s what I used for this walnut bread, but you could even use a clean and empty coffee can as many a Bostonian have been want to do. This bread is quite simply a riff on the brown bread that those very same Bostonians have enjoyed for centuries, right along with those famous baked beans of theirs.

Steamed Walnut Bread

1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour
1/2 cup stone-ground cornmeal, plus additional for dusting basin
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup yogurt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup toasted walnut pieces*
butter for greasing basin

1.5 quart steaming mold, plus a larger pot to fit the mold in and cover

Preparing to Steam

Place your mold inside the pot on top of a steaming rack, trivet, or folded up towel even, and fill pot with water until it reaches halfway up the side of the mold. Remove mold and grease the inside of it entirely, dust with cornmeal generously. If you are using a mold with a top, grease and dust that also. If you’re using a mold without a top, cut a piece of parchment paper to fit inside and grease one side. Also have ready a tea towel if you are using a mold without a top. Set all aside.
In a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. Stir in honey and yogurt until combined. Add toasted walnut pieces and stir to combine.
Fill the prepared mold; it should fill to approximately 2/3rds full. If it is less than that it’s ok. But much more than that and you will need a bigger mold.
Spread evenly; it won’t rise a ton during the steam, and it won’t change in shape too much. You’ll eventually flip it out so the top becomes the bottom when it is done. Attention to spreading evenly now will result in an even bread when flipped.
Cover with the top of the steaming mold, or with a tea towel.
Place covered mold inside the pot on top of rack or trivet, bring water to a boil, turn down to a gentle simmer and cover the pot. Steam for 2 hours.
At 2 hours turn off the the heat, carefully take the lid off of your steaming pot and let the steam subside. Lift out the mold and let cool for 5 minutes before taking the top off. Gently release the bread upside down on a plate.

This bread is perfect with butter alone, and we enjoyed the last bit with a flight of 3 cheeses. But we enjoyed it best of all lightly toasted for breakfast as a base for jam.

Note:

*To toast walnuts, place in a small heavy bottomed frying pan – cast iron if you have – and heat on low. Toss gently, they’re done when you can smell the wonderful aroma of walnuts and they are just a tad darker. Be careful not to burn, it can happen quickly!

New England Apple Butter

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Fall is the season of New England. There is no doubt about it in my book (blog?). It’s the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, pumpkins and jack-o’s, mulled cider, outside fires, and a carpet of stars shining way, way up in the night. It is the harvest moon, lace-ups, and dozens of worn down gravestones, crooked like teeth. It’s apples that my good neighbor brought me.

In New England it happens when summer barely ends. The nights get cooler, and the trees start to fade even as the grass gets greener still.

The mile mark for me is when the farmer down the road drives his tractor up into our field to cart off the hay he baled way back in summer’s dawn. Winter food for his lovely cows that I’m happy to provide. I know then the time is nigh to pack up and make our yearly move back to the city.

In fact, I’m already there. It came earlier this year. With a trip down south to my in-laws and travel across a few seas coming soon, we had to pack up and get down sooner than normal. So I brought my beloved New England back with me.

New England Apple Butter

6 & 1/2 pounds apples, preferably a variety
juice of 3 lemons
1 & 1/2 cups maple sugar*
3 whole cloves, crushed (use a mortar & pestle)
2 large bay leaves**
1/2 teaspoon salt
immersion blender
pint or smaller mason jars

yield: approximately 4 pints

Directions:

1. Place juice of 3 lemons in a large bowl. Peel, core and slice apples to 1/4 inch. Toss apples in the bowl and coat with lemon juice as you go, this will prevent discoloring.

2. Warm a non-reactive pot (stainless or enameled cast iron) on low. Add apples, lemon juice, salt and maple sugar. Stir gently until maple sugar melts and apples just start to break down.

3. Add crushed cloves and whole bay leaves, turn up the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally as apples soften. You can add a small amount of water if needed – it depends on the apple varieties. But if you are attentive and stir more frequently as the apples break down, you may not need to – I didn’t.

4. While apples are cooking down, prepare jars and lids for hot water bath processing. You do not need to sterilize the jars as they will be processed for 15 minutes.

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5. When the apples have completely softened, about an hour or so in, remove bay leaves. Use an immersion blender to ‘butter’ the apples.

6. Fill hot jars. Tap the full jar on a towel-covered counter to release air bubbles, and fill to 1/4 inch headspace. Hot water bath process for 15 minutes. Although I used an immersion blender, I wanted my butter quite pilgrim-like, that is to say chunky not smooth. You could use a potato masher or even a wooden spoon and go authentic pilgrim.

The aroma of the cooking down maple sugar and apples is extravagant! Like those caramel-apples-on-a-stick, only a kazillion times better. I didn’t want to add any spice that would deter from that delicious smell. The bay and clove are pure old New England and give a solid base in which the maple sugar shines.

This is like New England gold, it is!

Pumpkin Marmalade

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Can I just tell you? It’s 7:30am on a gorgeous Sunday morning in October and I’ve been up for a while…

Believe it or not I love early weekend mornings, especially this time of year. On most eeeeearly mornings up here in the Berkshires, when the sky is still dark, I can see a gazillion stars in the sky. A gazillion.

I turn the heat up, or better yet, start a fire in the wood stove and listen to the wind whip around through the trees. Before I can actually see the sun come over the ridge, there is a gradual, monotone lightening of the sky and the frost-covered grass. A graveyard gray sweeps over the landscape. Slowly & silently.

Sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of tea watching the sun come up in the fall is like, the ultimate in coziness. As the sun gets closer to revealing itself above the horizon of trees the sky starts to reflect wisps of pink, orange, & blue.

Photoshop ain’t got nuttin’ on Mother Nature. When the sun finally hits the leaves of the trees, it’s an explosion of autumnal colors above the still deep green of the field. And in the middle of it all, the serenity of the dozen or so hay bales laying-in-waiting for the farmer to haul them away.

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Eventually the whole thing just becomes too ridiculously gorgeous to even contemplate. Know what I mean? The preciousness of all of this is that much more acute because we all know it’s fleeting.

Soon the graveyard gray will come earlier, and stay longer. The wind will whip harder and for us (M & me) it means that we are packing up two cats who don’t particularly like to travel, some cookbooks I can’t live without, 1/2 a larder full of jams, pickles and a myriad of other preserves, a bunch of work files, 2 laptops and whatever other sundries we deem necessary for the next 6 months that we park ourselves fairly permanently in LIC.

And like those little seed garlic cloves that got pushed in the ground at just about every farm and garden plot in these parts this weekend, my desire to be back up in the Berkshires is buried, but not necessarily dormant, until spring.

Pumpkin Marmalade

Adapted from Well Preserved

1 small pumpkin or winter squash (about 3 lbs.)
2 lemons (preferably organic)
1 orange (preferably organic)
4 cups sugar (I use raw)
pint jars or smaller

yield: approximately 1 1/2 pints

Directions:

1. Slice the orange and lemons in half lengthwise, take the pits out and save to the side. Place cut side down on counter and cut off the tip of each citrus end. Discard ends.

2. Very thinly slice the the oranges and lemons. Then cut each slice in 3 or 4 pieces. Basically you want very small pieces of citrus with the skin very thin and the meat still on. I had some luck with stacking the slices once I sliced one half fruit. And then cut the stacks in 3 to 4 pieces. It can get a little sloppy and that’s ok. Just make sure the peel pieces are small and thin.

3. Place the pits in a little piece of cheese cloth & tie with twine. I use a cloth reusable tea bag for this purpose. I also sometimes use a stainless tea ball which works quite well.

4. Add cut & sliced citrus pieces, seeds in cloth, and 3 cups water to a non-reactive pan (no iron or aluminum) and bring to a boil. Once boiled turn it down to a low simmer and cover. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until the peels get soft.

GAP

5. While the citrus is simmering peel and chop pumpkin. You want to cut the pieces into approximately 1/2 inch squares about 1/8 of an inch thick. This does not have to be exact but you do want them to be about this size and all similar in shape. You want about 8 cups/2 liters pumpkin once it is chopped.

6. When the citrus peel is soft, remove the pit bag and squeeze out any excess juice into pan. Keep the heat low, add the 4 cups sugar and let it dissolve slowly. This will take about 5 minutes.

7. Add the pumpkin and turn up the heat to come to a rapid boil. It will take about 30 minutes to gel. After about 15 minutes you will want to turn the heat down a bit and to stir often to prevent sticking.

You can use the frozen plate method to test the set. But you will be able to see when it is thickening quite easily.

It will last for weeks in the fridge, and months (and months) in the freezer. I can tell you that it’s worth the real estate, and I know without a doubt, when I am sitting at my kitchen table one early winter morning in LIC watching the sun come up over the train tracks, a just-warmed slice of toast slabbed with butter and pumpkin marmalade will be the next best thing to being there.

Lavender Syrup

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Isn’t this gorgeous? Don’t hate me, but I was there! Talk about paradise:

If you’ve been over here lately, then you know that M and I have been traveling around Turkey for the last two weeks. You’ll also know that I have become completely invigorated by the old food ways that are still in practice in that part of the world. I think my kitchen is forever changed. It’s kinda amazing.

Then I came back to New England, western Massachusetts to be exact. I came home to this:

And this:

And these:

Lavender Syrup

1/2 cup fresh pesticide free lavender flowers (or 2 tablespoons dried)
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar (I use raw)

Directions:

1. Place water and sugar in a saucepan and begin on low heat until sugar melts. Once sugar melts, turn heat up and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 or so minutes until a very light syrup develops.

2. Turn off heat and put lavender flowers in syrup, quickly cover.

3. Let cool and put in fridge overnight.

4. Strain into bottle and store in fridge for 3 months or more.

Makes approximately 1 1/2 pints.

Lavender syrup can be used to make lavender ice cream, lavender shortbread cookies, lavender lemonade, and a drop at the bottom of a champagne glass just before filling is perfect for a New England summer night.…or I imagine, for wherever you might be.

Fiery Carrot Pickle

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Fiery Carrot Pickle

Adapted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey

12 medium carrots, chopped into 3/4 inch pieces
1 cup Sri Lankan mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Stir vinegar into mustard
2. Parboil carrots for 30 seconds, drain.
3. Mix mustard into warm carrots. Let cool.
4. Let flavors meld for 3 days in fridge before eating.

Lasts approximately 1 month in the fridge.

Can Jam October Round Up: Chile Peppers

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Oooh, this month was on fire! Chileheads, my peeps, this one is for you…

Pickles, Salsas & Chutneys

apple hatch pepper chutney – the cosmic cowgirl cowgirl, you have got it going on IMO. I bet this is flying off those market shelves, right?

ancho chile barbecue sauce – married …with dinner, don’t you just love when you get one over on Heinz?

charred chile barbacue sauce – local kitchen, this looks hot! (By that I mean good, you know that, right?) and omg the apple jalapeño preserves for pouring over ice cream? Genius!

chili & vegetable tid-bits – knit & knosh, these are beayootiful! And I love that you paid careful attention to safety while simultaneously utilizing a mixture of veggies that was just right for you and yours!

corn relish – mother’s kitchen, isn’t canning great for stretching the season of our favorite veggies? Your family might just be wishing for some corn in January and guess what then? Super mom to the rescue!

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honeyed garlic jaleneños – grow & resist, hey, this is like what I did! (Except mine are cayenne). Did the oil get all up in your canner?

marinated peppers – what Julia ate, why I love the can jam reason #kazillion: I pour over Linda’s book & still I skipped right over this. I agree the oil feels uncanny, but I trust her and omg antipasti in a jar. Next year I’m growing a bunch of sweets for this!

pa sportsman’s club sweet-hot wax peppers – put a lid on it, I’m a sucker for nostalgia in a jar…Does your mom give it an A+?

peter piper’s pickled pepper relish – mock paper scissors, a solid pickled pepper recipe right here, makin’ me wish I had a grilled cheese to put it on right now!

pickled carrots with habanero – wine book girl, this is a basic and very good pickled carrot recipe. And the addition of habanero is very appropriate, I like it!

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pickled peppers – thinking out loud, that dog wants those peppers… Make sure he has gloves on before you give him some. 🙂 And make some more o’ these next time, ’cause I know you’re gonna need them past November!

pickled peppers – putting by, a basic pepper pickling recipe right here! (And a lesson in how giving gives back, especially if it’s to a farmer at the end of the season I might add!)

pickled roasted peppers – bigger than a breadbox, I bet you Peter didn’t roast his peck of pickles – but Mimi sure did – her fifth of a peck that is!

salsa verde – backyard farms, and red hot chili jelly! …And oh no, about the pectin problem. Jeeesh!

spicy bread & butter zucchini pickles – locally preserved, did you taste them yet? Was the chipotle just what the doctor ordered for these picklz? (Oh, and please do tell about the spicy quince pickles!)

spicy red peppers & red onion chutney – market life, this looks tasty! Bring on the chutney!

sweet chile sauce – the artisanry of acorn cottage, of course and then there’s salsa verde, and jalapeño jelly too! Jalalooya!

Onions Limone Chutney

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Let me tell ya the story about onions limone. Ya see, onions was a big talker. Until one day, the boss told me to give onions the silent treatment. Know what I’m sayin? I did a real clean job.

‘Cause that’s what I do. I’m not sayin’ a couple-a-few innocents didn’t get caught in the mix. These things happen.

Regardless, I get the job done.

Onions Limone Chutney

Adapted from Jellies, Jams & Chutneys by Thane Prince

1/2 pound red onions (about 1 medium-large), diced
1/2 pound lemons (about 3 medium)
4 & 1/2 ounces dried apricots, chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 1/2 inch slice of ginger
3 dried red chiles
7 ounces demerara sugar – or raw
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 pint canning jars or smaller

yield: 1 & 1/2 pints approximately

Directions:

1. Squeeze the lemons and set juice aside.

2. Scrape the flesh from the lemon peels and discard. Slice and then dice the cleaned lemon shells.

3. Peel the garlic and ginger and process to a paste with the dried chilis. You can use a mini processor, a wet/dry spice grinder or a good old fashioned mortar and pestle.

4. Put everything into a preserving pot including the reserved lemon juice. Heat on medium low until the sugar melts and then turn up the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Simmer until mixture thickens – about 20-30 minutes.

You know when it reaches sufficient thickness when you slide your stirring spoon across the bottom of the pot and the chutney wavers on either side for a second or two before it melts back over itself.

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5. This chutney is quite thick and like me, you may have a bit of trouble getting all of the air pockets out of the sides. Be sure to use a knife or back of spoon to run around the inside sides and give the jar a little bang and side to side shuffle on the counter-top when filling.

6. Hot water bath process for 10 minutes.

To allow the flavors to fully flourish, it is best to let this chutney rest for 2-3 weeks before indulging. This recipe can easily be doubled.

This little chutney packs a powerful punch, and definitely has an Eastern flair. I would say skip the ubiquitous chutney & sharp cheese pairing with this one and go right for the curries, stir-frys and one dish Indian and Southeast Asian inspired meals. Or simply use it stirred into a rice or grain as the flavoring agent.

(Ok, I couldn’t wait – we had it last night with rice and a quick Indian shrimp stir-fry and it really was the perfect pairing! I served it alongside one of our go to lemon pickles and it was so good we ended up stirring this onions limone right into our rice and forgoing the lemon pickle altogether! (Go figure!)

Quince & Cranberry Holiday Preserves

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Remember that red stuff in a can that added sour-sweetness to the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes? Of course you do. This could most certainly be enjoyed with all of the above mentioned pairings. And though it has the traditional tart-sweet flavor, the quince and candied ginger add a toothsome chutney-esque zing. Plus I can’t stop eating it on top of chevre each morning ever since it’s inception. I can only imagine it slathered across one of those warmed holiday brie wheels. Or nestled comfortably inside the indent of a nut-and-buttery thumbprint cookie.

To top all of this off, it’s about the simplest preserve I’ve ever made. So if you’ve been thinking about learning how to jam, then I say this one is for you. Now just imagine arriving, on Thanksgiving day, or another some-such winter holiday feast, with a jar or two of this delight up your sleeve.

If word gets out you might just find yourself invited to a tad more of those little shindigs come next holiday season, and you certainly want that, don’t you? Of course you do.

Quince & Cranberry Holiday Preserves

2 & 1/2 pounds fresh cranberries
1 & 3/4 pounds quince, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
6 ounces candied ginger, sliced very thin
5 cups sugar
5 cups water
pint and half pint mason jars

Yield: approximately 6 pints

Directions:

1. Place 2 or 3 small plates in freezer to test set later on, prepare jars for hot water bath processing. No need to sterilize as processing time is 10 minutes.

2. Place sugar and water in a non-reactive (stainless steel, or enameled cast iron) pan and heat on low until sugar is dissolved. Turn up heat and bring to a boil.

3. Once boiled, add quince and bring to a boil again. Lower heat and simmer for a good hour until quince turn red and syrup begins to thicken.

4. Add candied ginger slices and whole cranberries, bring to a boil, continue boiling on medium-high until the cranberries pop and soften. Cook until set, approximately 20 minutes. Test set by placing a teaspoonful on a frozen plate. Put plate back in freezer for 30 seconds. Run finger through. If it wrinkles even slightly under your finger, it is set. Make sure to turn the stove off as you are testing as you don’t want to over set it as you are testing. If on the first try you find that it is not set, turn up the heat and try again in another minute or two.

5. Fill jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace and hot water bath process for 10 minutes.

You can easily cut this recipe in half, forgo the canning part, and slide it right into the fridge for use during the holiday season if you don’t feel like getting your hands wet just yet!

Whole Pickled Blueberries

Preserving Food

Girl Cooks World

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April 9, 2019

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Did you ever wish a blueberry was a tomato? Probably not. Perhaps if you’ve had to become as familiar with late season blight as we’ve had to here in the northeast, you might have. But never-you-mind because even if you have, thousands of tomatoes falling off your bushes and you’re eating juicy heirloom tomatoes out of hand at every meal and your bottling your year’s supply of sauce and your pickling the green ones and salsa-ing the red ones…

Even if you are doing all of that I say this: tomatoes ain’t got nothin’ on blueberries. I mean, tomatoes are peachy and all but… blueberries go better with champagne. But seriously folks. Ahem. All tomato envy aside (ok I said it!), this is the berry thing that I have been searching for!

It’s sweet and kind of jammy, but with a delicious pickled tang. The berries remain whole so the texture is divine, and the spices give it a hint of exotica that pairs as well with (dare I say) a meaty (free range, organic, grass-fed, happy life and all that jazz) main course or a scoop of frozen dessert.

Whole Pickled Blueberries

Adapted from The Joy of Pickling

2 quarts blueberries (firm but ripe)
14 cloves
12 allspice berries
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks (about 2 inches each)
1 1/2 cups champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
2 cups sugar (I use raw)
3 pint or 6 1/2 pint canning jars

Yield: approximately 3 pints

Directions:

1st day

1. Tie the spices in a spice bag or a piece of cheese cloth with twine. Place spices in vinegar in a fairly large pot (so the blueberries don’t get crushed when you add them in step 2) and bring to a simmer slowly. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Add the berries to the pot and cook over medium heat until they are just cooked through. They will swell and get darker, and look like they are just about to burst, but don’t let them! This will take approximately 8 minutes. Take pot off heat, cover and let stand for 12 hours.

2nd day

1. Place your clean mason jars in canning pot and heat. Details on hot water bath canning here. You do not need to boil them for 10 minutes to sterilize. Just let them get warmed.

2. Remove the spice bag and drain the liquid off the berries by placing in a colander over a bowl. I prefer to scoop most of the berries out first so that they do not get crushed.

3. Return the liquid to pot and add sugar, stir to dissolve and bring to a boil. Boil briskly for approximately 5 minutes to thicken the syrup some.

4. While syrup is boiling, take jars out of hot water and fill equally with the whole blueberries. Pour hot syrup over the berries and leave a 1/4 inch headspace.

5. Process for 15 minutes in a hot water bath.

Even though you will want to eat these right away, they are pickles, and like all canned pickles they should be left at least a couple of weeks to let the flavors settle and mingle.