Eating Local: Day 1
June 28, 2009
7:33 am
Kris is in the kitchen. She has been searching through the pantry for 8 minutes.
I’m kidding. (There were, like, 2 people who got that BBUK joke.) Alright, I didn’t get up until 8:20. Which is when I jumped out of bed throwing my clothes on, stuffed a handful of almonds in my mouth and ran off to kettlebells.
Not a particularly auspicious start to my 100 days of eating, drinking and feeding my dog with local stuff.* First off, almonds aren’t grown locally and secondly it’s one of my normal breakfasts. I put exactly no thought into it. Might seem like I’m just going about life as usual rather than making a life changing decision to affect my life and body. But, for me, that’s sorta the point.
This dog has no idea the bone he’s enjoying with such fervor is from a local cow 20x his size. (Sorry about the focus – he moves about a lot.)
Hey! Look at us gettin’ all inspired.
June 24, 2009
I am probably the luckiest girl in the world. I don’t mean to be, I just am. I’m friends with several of the best chefs in Minnesota. Not only are they great cooks, but they have created philosophies and ways of doing thing which makes each them completely unique and wonderful. To top that off they even love to teach, which means that I get to call them up and say, “Hey, what’s on your mind? Anything you want to share with some of my favorite cooks?”
When I asked my friend Scott Graden, owner/chef of the award winning New Scenic Cafe in Duluth that question and he answered, “Inspiration is everywhere and it’s so much more important than recipes and ingredients. I’d like to talk about that.” In my head I shouted, “woo hoo!” Then we chatted and brainstormed on how to go about doing a workshop on inspiration, came up with a plan and that he promptly forgot.
I, however, did not. It turns out that the things that inspire him most are the people and the land around him. Hence, on our weekend in Duluth we got to meet with Stephen Dahl his herring fisherman and David Rogotzke his maple syrup maker and salmon fisherman.
It really was the best adult field trip for cooks ever.
We started off the day at the New Scenic Cafe where Scott was kind enough to talk to us about his experiences as a restaurant owner and chef. He went over where everything came from, how it happened and why he made the decisions he did. He gave us an amazing insight into the tenacity and drive he had to bring the Cafe to what it is today. (This included living in the garage for 5 years.)
Cheesecake Made from Homemade Cheese
April 26, 2009
When we were in Portugal we kept hearing about the local cheesecake that was made from fresh white cheese into small tarts with a pastry crust. Needless to say, this sounded like a good thing to me. However, we never ran across one. Boo!
Needless to say, the idea stuck with me. I had to try and make one up – even though I never tasted the one it was based on. I liked the notion of a cheesecake that was more like a cross between cheesecake and souffle. It sounded light and nice, not as heavy as what we consider cheesecake to be. That’s just what it turned out to be. Yea for us!
The most surprising thing about them is that, well, first, that they turned out well on the first try and second, how completely clean and fresh they tasted. The cheese was made on Sunday and the cheesecakes on Monday, so there wasn’t any shelf time between the time the cheese was made and turned into cheesecake. Nor was there any sort of processed commercial taste about them.
Another really nice thing about the cheesecakes was that they highlighted some really stellar Minnesota dairy products; milk from Cedar Summit Farm and butter from Hope Creamery. Each left it’s stamp on the finished product and we were very grateful.
I think you should try it yourself.
Made Up Cheesecake
Simple Fresh Cheese
1 gallon whole milk
1/4 c vinegar
1 t salt
cheese cloth
Cheese really couldn’t be any easier to make. Basically, you heat up the cheese and then add in an agent (i.e. vinegar) that helps the milk fats bind together to form cheese and separate from the liquid.
First you want to sterilize your equipment. Bring some water to boil in a pot big enough to hold a gallon of milk. Cover tightly and let boil for 15 minutes or so. Add in a scraper and a slotted spoon and boil them for 5 minutes or so. Empty out pan and return to stove.
Let cool for a minute or two and pour in milk. Heat milk over medium heat stirring regularly, so that you don’t scorch the bottom, until the the milk gets heated to 185°f. Add in vinegar a little at a time until milk starts to coagulate. (You will notice that this is happening when you see little linty bits of milk on the spoon you’re using.)
Scoop out curds with slotted spoon into colander lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Gather up the edges of the cloth and hang over sink until drained. Transfer to a container and eat or refrigerate.
Crust
1 packet graham crackers or equal amount of animal crackers
2 – 3 T butter close to melted
1/4 – 1/2 t cinnamon
Cheesecake Itself
3/4 of fresh cheese
4 oz goat cheese, softened
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c cream
2 t really good vanilla or seeds from one bean
pinch or 3 of salt, depending on how salty your cheese ended up
Preheat oven to 350°f.
Process graham crackers or animal crackers until all crumbled up. Drizzle with 2 T of butter and cinnamon. Process until crackers stick together when pinched. If it doesn’t get there add in more butter in small increments until it does. Press crusts into the bottom of 3 small spring-form pans. Place on a jelly roll pan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Let out to cool.
In a food processor, process cheeses until smooth. Add in eggs and yolks one at a time, processing in between. Add in sugar, cream, vanilla and salt.
Pour into pans. Return to the oven and bake until firm in the middle about 30 – 40 minutes. Top with blackberry sauce or eat plain. Enjoy!
Blackberry Lovin’ (recipes for berry crumble\sauce)
April 23, 2009
I love blackberries. I’ve been a little bit obsessed by them since visiting Portland last summer and eating them growing wild straight off the bush. It was so perfect. (Insert big sigh here.)
It just so happens that I have some blackberries. I have quite a lot of them. Oh gosh, I get to play. Crumble. I want crumble. Doesn’t blackberry crumble just sound beautiful?
A funny thing happened while I was making the crumble though. At the time, I was also making cheese. I’d been wanting to make fresh cheese and turn it into cheesecake for awhile. I decided that now was the time. (That was a really awkward sentence. Sorry for inflicting that on you.) And really – if the blackberry crumble happened to be as good as it turned out to be then why not re-create it as a sauce for the cheesecakes? Oh many x yum.
So that’s what I did.
Blackberry Crumble
2 – 3 T butter, very soft
1/3 c flour
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c oats
pinch salt
1 pt blackberries, room temp
1 t vanilla
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c wine jelly *
1 – 2 t corn starch
1/2 pt blackberries, frozen (keeps them whole through cooking)
vanilla ice cream
Preheat oven to 350°f.
Pinch together crumble ingredients with your fingers and set aside.
Mix together vanilla, sugar wine jelly and cor starch. Add to the berries and toss gently until berries are coated. Divide them into ramekins and top with the crumble.
Put them in the oven and bake for 25 – 35 minutes, until berry mixture is bubbling and topping is browned. Let cool for a few minutes, topped with some vanilla ice cream and enjoy the heck out of it.
Sauce Version
1 1/2 pt blackberries
1 t vanilla
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c wine jelly *
1 – 2 t corn starch
Combine all ingredients except blackberries in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat until all ingredients are liquid and combined. Lower heat and fold in blackberries. Let simmer gently until sauce thickens up. Cool and top something with it.
* Wine Jelly
4c wine
2c sugar
juice from one lemon
1 packet low sugar pectin
Cook sugar, lemon and wine together over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add pectin and stir to dissolve. Ladle into jars, seal and refrigerate. (You can also prepare the jars for canning, but storing them in the refrigerator or freezer is just fine.)
As for the cheesecake, you’re just going to have to wait for that.
xoxo
- Kris
Simple Spinach Meal (or Appetizer)
March 25, 2009
It’s rainy. It’s cold. We’ve both got this stupid flu that keeps coming and going and I really just want it to go away now. Had big plans to make dinner. The mind is willing the body is not. Gotta just try to make something simple, healthy and good. Gotta try to melt the crust on my mood. I thought about it for a bit and then I made this.
It would be very easy to change this around to whatever flavor profile you were looking for. A bit of crispy bread, fresh greens, creamy cheese, something sweet, crunchy and acidic and you’ve got a combo that will (more than likely) work. And of course if you blend it all up, you’ve got a dip.
Oh, and it takes about 7 minutes to make, total.
Spinach & Chevre on Crusty Bread with Balsamic Reduction
Balsamic Reduction
(Take 1 1/4 c red wine and 1/4 c balsamic vinegar and bring to just boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by at least half around 1/2 – 2/3 c. Cool and store until needed. Keeps forever in the refrigerator.)
1 baguette, sliced
You can just slice up the baguette and serve on that, or brush slices with olive oil and brown in a 400°f oven until browned. This is the best option if they’re going to sit around for awhile.
2 – 3 T apple juice
1 bag spinach (or similar amount)
1 – 2 oz chevre, crumbled
2 T lightly roasted almonds, chopped
salt, pepper & cayenne pepper to taste
Heat juice in pan until boiling. Toss in spinach, cover and pan steam until dark green and wilted.
Turn off heat. Let cool down. Drain out extra liquids. Mix in chevre, almonds and spices and stir until mixed in with some lumps. Top baguette slices with a couple of tablespoons of spinach mixture. Drizzle with balsamic reduction.
Serve with some fresh berries.
Butternut Squash Lasagna
February 24, 2009
I married a lasagna genius. I’m not kidding. It was one of those things that won me over 18 years ago – the man can make a lasagna out of anything and it’s always amazing. (Not only has it always been amazing, but since in the beginning we lived together in this semi-legal loft space, he did it in a toaster oven from the 70s.) It takes everything we have + the knowledge that it will be better the next day to not to just gobble it down.
Recently, on a particularly cold and miserable day, Marv announced that he felt like cooking something and asked me what to make. I yelled, “LASAGNA!” He asked what should be in it and after thinking about it for a second I said, “butternut squash.” He informed me that I was crazy and wandered down his own road making a more traditional lasagna.
But I can not be deterred. On New Year’s Eve a friend of mine compared me to Letitia Cropley and I intend to live up to that! (Or, rather, just short of that.) Besides, I want butternut squash lasagna – substituting squash slices for pasta. First I was thinking gorgonzola for cheese – but I’m mellowing it to aged gouda.
Leftover Biscuit Pudding
December 8, 2008
It never happens. There are never leftover biscuits. Never. And yet there they are: stale biscuits. In my defense, I’ve been alone in the house, and really not home much so there were almost a dozen biscuits that went uneaten. I figured I’d just take them to my meetup group and something would happen to them then. But no. So they came back home with me. ”Screw it,” I thought to myself, “I’ll just make bread pudding with them.” By golly it was tasty.
It might even be worth, dare I say it, letting biscuits go stale. (Huh, lightning actually didn’t strike me dead just then.)
Biscuit Bread Pudding
9 small biscuits, broken up
1/3 c dried fruit – apricots, chopped or golden raisins (if you got them/want them)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c cream
2 c milk
1 T vanilla
2 T brandy
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 cream
1 1/2 T sugar
maple syrup
Preheat oven to 325°f.
Put biscuits with dried fruit mixed in in a loaf pan. Mix together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Pour over the biscuits and dunk down the pieces that are sticking up. Place pan into a larger pan. Put into oven, pour enough water into the larger pan to make it half way up the bread pan.
Cook for 45 min to 1 hour, pudding is done when liquid stuff has solidified and looses it’s shine. When it’s done, take bread pan out of the water and place it on a wire rack. Let cool for 30 minutes to an hour. Whip cream and sugar together until the cream stands in hard peaks. Slice up slices of the pudding, drizzle with maple syrup and dollop with whipped cream. Enjoy!
Love always,
MrsMarv
Grilled Cheese Manifesto
November 30, 2008
I’ve been begging for a grilled cheese sandwich for a week now. Have I gotten one? Well, yeah. Finally. Seriously, you would think that I know enough people who cook that I could have gotten one in under a week. Instead I just got to hear stories about people’s favorite ways to make grilled cheese. So when I finally got to a place where I could make one, that I was forced to go for 5 different grilled cheese sandwiches. And then I tossed in a couple more.
Chi-Lake Special in happy little grilled cheese pan.
What is the perfect grilled cheese? I say the perfect grilled cheese always has buttery (using real butter*) browned bread slices, melted cheese, and something acidic, generally mustard – totally non-negotiable. The rest is wide open as the heavens with cheeses and breads for stars. (I really can’t help but get all poetic about melted cheese and bread.) You are limited by your imagination alone.
And perhaps your cooking skills. I still do a have a happy place in my culinary repertoire for grilled cheese sandwiches made from Velveeta and homepride wheat bread, yep, you guessed it, just like mom used to make. Processed cheeses and pre-sliced bread does offer expediency and the ability for the cook to not pay much attention to the ever important melting vs. browning times. However, you do miss out on a myriad of potential flavors. Really, all that’s necessary is to cook over medium heat and cover the pan so that harder cheeses will melt before the bread is burned.
So… breathe deep… think cheese. Hmmm. Lovely gooey melted cheese slowly seeping out between slices of bread. It’s time to move beyond cheddar. After you’re done limiting yourself – throw a party. Have yourself a grilled cheese and wine party. Mix, match and otherwise gorge yourself with a melted cheese and bread tasting. Yum.
Here is my grilled pictorial. Join the revolution. Tell me your favorites. Throw a party to find more favorites. Viva the grilled cheese!
* There will be NO fake butter! I don’t care that it’s not as spreadable cold, heat it up!
Farmer, Blue Cheese, Basil & Red Wine, Balsamic Vinegar Reduction**
Take 1 1/4 c red wine and 1/4 c balsamic vinegar and bring to just boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by at least half around 1/2 – 2/3 c. Cool and store until needed.
Get yourself a rustic loaf of bread. Slice it into thin to medium slices. Roll some basil leaves together and slice 1/4 – 1/2″ slices.
Butter slices of bread top with slices of farmer cheese, sprinkle with blue cheese, basil and press down. Add top slice of bread and press down again. Cover pan and cook over medium heat, flip when bottom is browned. Cover and cook until the other side is browned.
Drizzle with reduction sauce and enjoy.
** another variation is Drunken Goat Cheese, Sauteed Onion, Oregano with Port Reduction Sauce
Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Chili Glazed Shrimp
October 25, 2008
This is for Kyndell because I like her.
1 head cauliflower
olive oil
3 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
32oz chicken stock
1 onion
2 – 3 T cream
2 t balsamic or wine vinegar
1 t garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
shrimps
chili sauce
1 T brown sugar
Preheat oven to 450°f. Cut cauliflower in 1″ slices. Put in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cook for 45 minutes or until browned.
Put potato in a large soup pan and cover with water. Add in some salt, pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low boil and boil until tender. Add in cauliflower and simmer for another 5 – 10 minutes. Use a stick blender or transfer to a blender to puree to a find consitancy. Reduce heat to warm.
In a saute pan, heat oil until shimmery. Add in shrimp and cook until it’s firm and pink on all sides. Turn off heat. Squirt on chili sauce and sprinkle on brown sugar. Toss until ingredients are combined and coated.
Serve soup in a large shallow bowl topped with the shrimp or cheese and croutons.
Jamnation: you too, can can.
October 10, 2008
I grew up in the age when Grandmas were magic.
You would travel great distances (any distance is great when you’re 4), then you get to play on tractors and sing to pigs (you were told to stay away from them because they were mean, so you would sing to them to try to make them happier so they wouldn’t be so mean) until cousins come to visit and made fun of you so you had to hide in the kitchen with Grandma. She’d give you a cookie or two in an empty bakelite powder case and you’d play a game of making up what magic potions could be in all the the different colored jars in the pantry and take little bites all the way around the cookie in a circle putting it back in the bakelite case after each bite all while humming to yourself and swinging your legs out as far as you could.
Well, maybe this was just me. Yeah, lets just say that was me. I sang to pigs. So…
Later, when I was a starving art student. I’d visit and as I was leaving Grandma’d grab me, take me down to the basement and load me up with frozen mini-loaves of quick breads and random other foods she had preserved and stashed away for later.
Putting up food. It’s such a good phrase. It means that starving art students get to eat. And frankly, bad economy or good, there’s few things cheerier in the middle of winter then opening up a can of something you made when there were big puffy clouds in a cyan blue sky. So yum!
Once again, sometimes the old ways are the best ways. It really just makes sense to make the most of the food you’ve grown yourself or bought locally from people who are growing really good stuff while it’s the best it can be. Enter the art of canning.
Canning – you probably have an opinion about it. Perhaps you love it. Or perhaps you think it’s too old fashioned, too much work or just too scary. Scary, it kinda is. If do something careless or are just plain old unlucky botulism can occur. Now to put those chances into perspective, Wikipedia says that in the US there is, “An average of 110 cases of botulism are reported each year in the United States. Of these, approximately, 72% are infant botulism, and 3% are wound botulism.” This means that there are 28 cases a year in adults who aren’t black tar heroin users. (I’m just going to assume you aren’t.) It goes on to say that the mortality rate is now down 2%. (It does have to be treated though, or you’re more likely to die than live.)
So, there are rules. There are always rules. It happens. Rule #1: pay attention to your ph level! Things that are higher in acid don’t need to be canned with as stringent resources as those that aren’t. (For a little fun fact, pumpkins vary in ph level from pumpkin to pumpkin so you won’t find people willing to tell you that you can can it safely.) Never fear, there is a guide, a book, promptly dubbed the ‘blue ball book’ in my house has a chart (I’m sure you can also find them online) of what foods have a higher ph level than others. Things like lemons, rhubarb and plums have a high ph level and need less help in keeping bad bacteria out.
Rule #2: practice safe can! Clean your cans and then submerge them in simmering water until you use them. This has the benefit of warming up cans so that a warm liquid won’t crack them and killing of little bacterium.
Now you have a few different choices of how technical you would like to get in your canning. You can refrigerate, freeze or seal your cans. If you refrigerate, just stick your stuff in a prepared can (you really should clean and simmer) seal them up – your jam should last a few weeks. Freezer jam is just what you think it is, fill up a container and stick it in the freezer, when you want to use it just defrost it.
For more information on canning just go to freshpreserving.com and they’ll hook you up.
That’s about it. The only other technical thing you need to know (for jams only) is about pectin (as well as the whole canning process thing.) Pectin is a naturally occurring chemical in most plants. It’s a fibrous part of the cell walls which helps bind cells together and regulate water. Most commercially available pectins are derived from orange peels and apple skins. You can find pectin in the canning section of grocery stores. I’m still playing with pectin in my jam recipes to figure out just how solid I want to make the, hence the pectin I’m saying to put in is super subjective and you might want to play on your own.
Spring & Fall Applesauce
Feed me! 
