Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 113

Upcoming Events: Philly! Brooklyn! Manhattan!

The last couple weeks have been the calm before the storm. If you thought my Southern book tour was a major endeavor, just wait until you see what I’ve got up my sleeve for June and July. Actually, you don’t have to wait at all. The entire summer schedule can be found on my Classes and Events page, if you want to take a gander and plug a date into your calendar.

For those of you in the Philadelphia or New York areas, my next three events are just for you. There are still lots of seats available in both those classes, so grab yours now!

May 20 – Philadelphia: Strawberry Vanilla Jam class with Weaver’s Way Co-op, 7-9 pm. Click here to sign up.
May 22 – Brooklyn: Preserving strawberries at The Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn location. Click here to sign up.
 June 1 – New York: Demo and signing at the 79th Street Greenmarket, 11 am – 2 pm.

Related Posts:

Upcoming Events: Broomall! Drexel! Greensgrow! Occasionette!
Links: Spent Vanilla Beans, No-Cook Curd, and Rhubarb
Links: Tonics, Rhubarb, and Preserving by the Pint Coverage

Links: Pickles, Rhubarb, and Winners

It was another busy week around these parts. I did a bunch of work, had my 35th birthday, got the stomach flu, and drove to Western Massachusetts to spend the weekend with friends. I would have liked to have skipped the stomach flu portion of the itinerary, but those sorts of things are typically out of our control. Happily, it was a blessedly short lived bug and I’m back to normal. Now, links!

Pickle-infused vodka. Color me intrigued.
Ramp season is coming to an end. Try them done up as a lemon pepper pickled or in a sweet and savory jam with fennel.
Quick pickled asparagus. Always a good one this time of year.
Another seasonal specialty is pickled fiddlehead ferns. I spotted fiddleheads in early today at the co-op in Northampton, so they’re still around in some areas.
And if that wasn’t enough pickle-themed things, there’s always pickled chard stems. They’re good in just about any season.
Lavender honey simple syrup. Yes.
Rosemary rhubarb jam. It’s a good’un.
Victorian barbecue sauce (sounds a lot like a less vinegar-y version of rhubarb chutney to me).
I have half a jar of tahini in my fridge and plan on making Rebecca’s chocolate tahini tea cake as soon as I get home.
Kaela’s written the next post in sugar series and it’s fascinating. You should read it (part one is here).
Lyn has written a great series about canning with kids for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day. It is in four parts and is all good (1, 2, 3, 4).
The Sweethome posted a review of food storage containers this week and I thought it was incredibly well though out and tested. If you’re in the market for some new containers, make sure to give it a glance.

My book got a bit of internet love this week. Here’s who mentioned it.

Alana wrote about her lemon tree and shared my recipe for meyer lemon lavender marmalade. She also announced the workshop we’re teaching together in the fall, so make sure to read her post through to the end.
Over at Geekadelphia, Michelle says many nice things about my book and makes the ramp greens kimchi.

The weekly giveaway returned last Tuesday with the Joy of Cooking app! Here are the lucky winners (I’ll be in touch shortly!).

#41/Pam
#113/Mariruth Brown
#133/Janet Stott
#143/Keri
#269/Kathy D.

Related Posts:

Links: Turnip Stems, Book Giveaways, and Winners
Links: Pressure Canning, Kumquat Relish, and a Winner
Links: Mango Butter, Savory Crumbles, and Winners

Sponsored Post: KitchenAid Classic 4.5 Quart Stand Mixer Giveaway from Craftsy

When I turned 27, my friends got together and bought me a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. As birthday gifts go, it was one of the better ones of my life because it showed me just how well I was known and appreciated by the people in my life.

I’ve worked that mixer hard over the eight years that it has been in my kitchen and truly, it looks as good as the day it arrived on my doorstep. It is a tank of a machine and I am so glad to have it.

When the folks at Craftsy asked if I’d been interested in helping them spread the word about their KitchenAid Classic 4.5 Quart Stand Mixer giveaway, I jumped at the chance to share it with you guys. After all, I shouldn’t be the only one who knows the joy of getting a fabulous mixer as a gift!

This giveaway is a little different from the ones I typically offer here, in that you need to go over to the Craftsy site to enter your name (comments left on this post won’t get you entry this time). If you don’t have one, you will need to create an account on Craftsy in order to enter, but it shouldn’t take long and they are good citizens when it comes to user information.

The giveaway is open until May 23 and residents of the United States and Canada are both eligible to enter. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted by Craftsy.

Click here to enter to win a KitchenAid Classic 4.5 Quart Stand Mixer!

For more about this series of sponsored posts and my year-long partnership with Craftsy, please visit this post.

Official disclosure statement: This is sponsored post from Craftsy. I was compensated for this post. However, all opinions remain my own.

Related Posts:

Sponsored Post: Perfect Pizza at Home with Craftsy
Sponsored Post: WÜSTHOF CLASSIC 8-inch Cook’s Knife Giveaway From Craftsy

Practical Preserving: Strawberry Applesauce

When I first started canning, each project was its own nice, neat, contained experience. I would shop for produce, make a recipe, process it in appropriate jars, photograph it, and share it here. However, over the course of the last five years, my approach has shifted a little bit.

While I do still occasionally pick out a recipe, buy the ingredients, and work my way through the steps, the bulk of my putting up these days is more utilitarian. I spend a lot of time looking at the contents of my refrigerator or fruit bowl and wondering, “What’s starting to decline*? Is there something I can breathe additional life into by applying heat, sugar, or vinegar?”

This strawberry applesauce is the result of one of those calculations. My friends at Beechwood Orchards** recently gave me bunch of apples that they’d had in storage since last fall and there were about three pounds worth in the crate that had no more than 48 hours of life left in their current state. I also had a pound of strawberries leftover from another project (more about that next week) that had been in the fridge for ages and needed to be used.

Though apples and strawberries rarely get paired together (I imagine mostly because they rarely share a season), my thought process went something like this. Apples and rhubarb have similar flavor profiles. Strawberries go beautifully with rhubarb. There’s really no reason why they shouldn’t also go well with apples.

So I went with it. I peeled, cored, and chopped the apples. I hulled the berries and cut away any truly bad spots. And then I threw them in a pot with about 1/2 cup of water and let them cook down over very low heat for nearly two hours (mostly because I forgot about them). When I finally remembered to check the pot, the fruit had softened and all it took was a little work with a potato masher to turn it into a chunky puree.

The resulting sauce is pleasingly pink, plenty sweet without so much as a hint of sugar or honey, and just a bit tart. I’ve been eating it with a scoop of plain yogurt and some toasted walnuts for breakfast. I didn’t can it, but both apples and strawberries are high enough in acid to make them safe for canning, so one could.

How are you saving your produce from the compost pile these days?

*You will often hear that you should only use perfect produce that is in its prime for canning and preserving, but sometimes, the techniques of jamming, saucing, roasting, or pickling can also take aging produce and give it a new lease on life. That said, do steer clear of anything that is has started to turn or is truly rotten.

**The plan was that I’d make the rosemary apple jam from the new book to sample at the Headhouse Square Farmers Market a couple weeks back, but I didn’t manage to do it. Once again, my intentions were grander than my capacity to execute.

Related Posts:

Spiced Apple Pie Filling
Strawberry Picking at Rowand Farms
Small Batch Strawberry Fig Jam

Giveaway: New Joy of Cooking iPad App

When it comes to large, all-in-one cookbooks, I will forever be a Joy of Cooking loyalist. It was the book from which I learned the very basics of cooking and is where I turn when I want to make banana bread or crepes, or to determine how long to roast a turkey.

I’ve long had six editions of JOY on my shelves and late last week, I excitedly added another version to my collection. Happily, this edition doesn’t take up a lick of space and I can take it anywhere I want. It’s the brand new Joy of Cooking app!

The new app includes thousands of recipes and all are contained in the app (that means that you don’t need to be connected to the internet in order to access the content). You can mark recipes as favorites so that you can return to different dishes easily. You can set the app so that it prevents your device from going to sleep while you’re cooking. And it’s programmed to include substitutions, so that you can easily swap ingredients with what you currently have in your kitchen.

One of the things I love about this app is that it helps bring recipes to my attention that I’ve passed over in the print versions. Every edition of JOY has contained a preserving section, but it wasn’t until exploring the app that I started getting excited about some of the jams and pickles it contains (tart corn relish! curried apricot chutney! golden cherry tomato and ginger jam!).

I’ve marked this rhubarb juice recipe to make at some point this season. I love the thought of having a few jars of pink possibility.

This week, I have five downloads from the nice folks at JOY to give away to some lucky Food in Jars readers. Though, if you can’t wait, the Joy of Cooking app is available on the Apple App Store at the discounted price of $5.99 right now (the regular price will be $9.99). It’s great deal and a fabulous resource to carry around with you.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your cookbook habits. Do you use an iPad or other tablet in the kitchen, do you drag a laptop in with you, or are you a cookbook devotee? Or is there some other method that you favor?
Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, May 17, 2014. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, May 18, 2014
Giveaway open to all.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: The people behind the Joy of Cooking app gave me a free download so that I could explore the app and write about it. They are also providing the downloads for the winners. That said, I was mere moments away from buying a copy when I got the email offering me free review access. It is a great product and I’m thrilled that it’s in the world. 

Related Posts:

Homemade Ketchup, Mayonnaise, and Mustard from Haute Dogs
Cookbooks: Power Hungry
Cookbooks: Baking Sourdough Bread

Links: Spent Vanilla Beans, No-Cook Curd, and Rhubarb

It was a busy week here at FiJ HQ. In addition to all the regular stuff, I had four book events (adding up to a total of 12 half pints of honey sweetened strawberry jam – those small batches sure do add up), did some furniture rearranging (new dining room chairs were picked up and the old ones were sent off to a new home), and spent a little time mentally preparing for my upcoming birthday (35 feels slightly jarring). Now, links!

I’m always on the look out for chewy granola bar recipes and this one looks interesting!
A chocolate loaf cake that is satisfying and entirely vegan! I like to have a couple recipes like this one tucked away for potlucks and parties where I know lots of plant-based eaters will be in attendance.
Five things to do with spent vanilla beans (I love this post and wish I’d thought to write it).
A clever trick for labeling the jars you use for dry goods.
Sign me up for a glass of this iced spiced chai latte.
Vanilla rhubarb butter. Perfect for this long, slow spring.
No-cook strawberry lemon curd, thickened with chia seeds. Not safe for canning, but absolutely useful for many curd applications.
I got a kick out of this story about these amazing small batch PB & J sandwiches.
Curious about the history food preservation? This presentation from Master Food Preserver Ernest Miller is a really great (though long) watch.
Kaela from Local Kitchen is writing a data-driven series about sugar and the first post went live this week. It’s really fascinating and everyone should read it.

And now, just a few links that reference my own work from this week

First up, my recipe for strawberry caramel sauce that went live on Simple Bites on Wednesday.
Ellen shared my recipe for rosemary rhubarb jam from Preserving by the Pint on her blog, From Scratch. So glad you liked it, Ellen!
And over at Grow and Resist, Meg shares some thoughts about both my little book and Kate’s new book, The Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen . I love keeping such good literary company!

Related Posts:

Homemade Ketchup, Mayonnaise, and Mustard from Haute Dogs

Some months back, I got an email from my friend Eric. Ages ago, Eric and I were co-workers and our desks were right next to each other. This was in the days when I was just starting this website and would often go off on a tear about my latest batch of jam or pickles. Now Eric is successful writer who also happens to do all kinds of fancy marketing and social media stuff for Quirk Books.

Thanks to those days spent as co-workers, Eric was well aware of my deep obsession with homemade spreads and toppings and so, was writing to invite me to participate in a blog tour for a book called Haute Dogs: Recipes for Delicious Hot Dogs, Buns, and Condiments.

The idea behind the tour was that each participating blogger would make one or two components necessary to assemble the Ecuadorian Street Dog, so that at the end of the tour, a reader could hop from site to site in order to prep and build the entire dog on their own. If I chose to accept it, my assignment was condiments. Mustard. Mayo. And Ketchup. I was in.

While I was all excited to try my hand at someone else’s condiment recipes (when you spend a goodly chunk of your life inventing recipes, it’s always nice to take a break and let someone else do the heavy lifting), I’ll confess right now that I wasn’t particularly jazzed by the idea of a hot dog book.

However, when this one arrived, I could immediately see that Haute Dogs wasn’t just a book about hot dogs. It is a love letter to the humble dog in its many forms. And that’s something I can get behind.

So, let’s talk recipes. My assignment was to make three of the most classic summertime condiments around. Yellow mustard. Mayonnaise. And ketchup. No summer cookout is complete without this triad and for the diehard DIY-er, it just makes sense to make your own.

These are easy recipes that are meant to be made and used within a few days or a week. Though you’ll see them pictured in jars throughout this blog post, do know that those are simply the vessels I chose to stash them in. I don’t have canning instructions to offer for these recipes. With that, let’s get on to the condiments!

This is nice yellow mustard recipe (it makes about 1/2 cup). The addition of cornstarch means that it thickens up nicely. The turmeric gives it the familiar color and the tiny bit of cayenne pepper adds a welcome kick. I’d make it at least one or two days before you plan on using it, because mustard tends to be a bit flat in flavor initially, but tightens up over time.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ground mustard

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Pinch garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a small heavy-bottomed pot.

2. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil and then remove from heat.

3. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

I have a hit or miss record with homemade mayonnaise. Sometimes I get it exactly right, while other times, the emulsion breaks and I end up with some greasy and running. Happily, this batch turned out gorgeously (and made about a cup) and I plan on using the recipe again. Russell offers several different options for making the mayonnaise (bowl & whisk, stand mixer, food processor, or stick blender). I went with the stick blender and found that it worked beautifully.

Ingredients:

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

3/4 cup soybean oil (I used grapeseed oil, because that’s what I had in my kitchen)

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolk, salt, ground mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, and sugar. Add vinegar and whisk until thoroughly combined.

2. While whisking (or blending with the stick blender fully submerged in the egg mixture), slowly add the oil. Whisk (or blend) until all the oil has been added and the mayonnaise is thick.

Now, to the ketchup. I thought this recipe was pretty darn good for a quick condiment. It doesn’t have the depth of the longer cooked version, but is a nice option if you’re trying to ween your family off of their beloved bottle of Heinz.

I will say that even after an hour of cooking, I felt like it was still a little runnier than I like in a ketchup. However, I needed to move on to another project and so called it done even in its runny state. If I were to make this one again, I might pour it into a small roasting pan and reduce it in the oven for a thicker, less fussy-to-tend version.

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 whole clove

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic

1/4 teaspoon powdered onion

Instructions:

1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, stir to combine all ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, reduce heat to low, and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove and discard clove (Note: I was never able to find mine again to pluck it out). Transfer mixture to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

For the rest of the recipes from the Haute Dog blog tour, check out these blogs:

May 1st – Endless Simmer has the recipe for Salsa Verde.

May 6th – Over at Boulder Locavore shares the Spicy Aji Sauce.

May 13th – Love and Olive Oil will have the homemade french fries and potato wedges recipes.

May 15th – For the final day of the tour, Haute Dogs author Russell van Kraayenburg, will put the whole dog together!

Related Posts:

Cookbooks: Power Hungry
Cookbooks: Baking Sourdough Bread
Cookbooks: Whole Grain Mornings

Hibiscus Concentrate Recipe

When I was a kid, there was a small chain of healthy Mexican restaurants in the Pacific Northwest called Macheezmo Mouse (they’ve been closed for at least ten years, but I hear there’s a movement afoot to bring back the Mouse).

They served brown rice, black beans, and whole wheat tortillas long before anyone other fast casual restaurant was even considering the idea of adding whole grains to their menu. They had a location just a mile or so away from our house in NW Portland and so it was a regular stop for us on nights when my parents weren’t cooking.

The soda fountain at Macheezmo Mouse was a serve yourself situation, and in addition to the regular corporate offerings, they always had a drink available that they called Cactus Cooler. It was deep red, super tangy, quite sweet and I adored it.

It wasn’t until years later than a friend served me a glass of iced and lightly sweetened hibiscus tea (also known as agua de Jamaica), did I realize that the Cactus Cooler of my youth was nothing more than an infusion of hibiscus flowers, made on a very large scale.

Recently, I picked up a bag of dried hibiscus flowers at an international grocery store. At first, I made large batches of hibiscus tea, but as so often happens to me, quickly ran out of space in my refrigerator for a two-quart jar of the stuff (I dream of having a larger fridge on a near-daily basis). So, I used my skills as a small batch maker and scaled down my hibiscus operation.

Instead of making an iced tea, I opted to make a concentrate. Each batch makes just two cups of deeply red, sweet, tangy liquid. I pour a tablespoon or two into either sparkling or flat water, and have even used a couple drops as a sweetener in a mug of hot herbal tea (it works gorgeously). It also is a nice addition to cocktails and I plan on making it a regular player in my warm weather kitchen. Hibiscus-ade for everyone!

Hibiscus naturally contains a goodly amount of acid (according to Wikipedia, it contains 15-30% organic acids). I’ve not done a pH test on this concentrate, but my sense is that it is probably high enough in acid to be safe for boiling water bath canning.

However, at the moment, I’m opting to make small batches that I can keep in the fridge and use relatively quickly. I do plan on giving it a pH test in the near future and will add canning instructions to this recipe if it passes muster.

Print
Hibiscus Concentrate Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups filtered water

Instructions

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and place over high heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Let the concentrate boil for 5 minutes.
When time is up, remove pot from heat. Let the concentrate steep for an additional 10 minutes.
Strain the concentrate into a jar or bottle. Let it cool until it is at room temperature, then refrigerate.
The concentrate will keep 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin2.4http://foodinjars.com/2014/05/hibiscus-concentrate-recipe/




Related Posts:

Upcoming Events: Broomall! Drexel! Greensgrow! Occasionette!

I’ve got a hearty handful of events happening this week and I hope some of you will come to pick up a book or two. You probably know this already, but both Preserving by the Pint and Food in Jars make excellent Mother’s Day gifts.

On Tuesday, May 6, I’m doing a small batch jam demonstration and book signing at the Marple Public Library (2599 Sproul Road) in Broomall, PA. The demo kicks off at 7:30 pm and I’ll have samples for tasting and books for sale.

This Wednesday, May 7, I’m doing a small batch canning demo for the Women’s Studies program at Drexel University. The demo is from 5-7 pm and will be held in MacAlister Hall, room 2019. Drop a note to jkk55@drexel.edu if you’d like to come. 

Saturday, May 10 is a two-fer. From 10 am to 1 pm, I’ll be at Greensgrow Farms (the original, Kensington location) to sell/sign books, answer canning questions, and do a small batch strawberry jam demo (probably around 11 am).

Later that day, I’ll be at Occasionette in South Philly for E. Passyunk Avenue’s monthly Second Saturday avenue crawl. I’ll be there from 5-8 pm with preserves from my pantry and books to sell and sign. I’m also doing a small batch demo that we’ll start around 5:30 pm.

Related Posts:

Links: Tonics, Rhubarb, and Preserving by the Pint Coverage
MightyNest Book Event in Evanston, IL on Monday, April 28
Book Tour Events: Birmingham! Memphis! Chicago!

Links: Tonics, Rhubarb, and Preserving by the Pint Coverage

I’ve been home for nearly a week, but my apartment is still a mess (I didn’t finish cleaning out my car until Friday and everything I packed for the tour is all over my living room). Happily, I’m finally start to feel like my brain is back in the game and I’ve got lots of good blog posts in the hopper for the coming week. Now, links!

Feeling a little sluggish after a long winter? Follow Julia’s example and make a vinegar tonic from some of the first spring greens.
Onions (or shallots!) do make glorious pickles.
A pretty illustrated recipe for rhubarb cordial with vanilla.
Speaking of rhubarb, you could also try this strawberry rhubarb baked compote or marry the seasons with a batch of rhubarb applesauce.
Salted cranberry grapefruit jam (foundational recipe is here).
Bourbon maple espresso bacon jam. Oh my.
Cathy Barrow (her new book is now just a handful of months away!) is writing a bi-monthly preserving column for the Washington Post. She’s kicking things off with artichokes.
Have any of you tried these Intelligent Lids? I’m intrigued.

Now for a few links to people who have been writing about the new book. Many of the giveaways have already closed, my apologies for that!

Lyn from Preserving Now wrote a great recap of my events in Atlanta a couple weeks back!
Kaela at Local Kitchen made my caramelized shallot jam and paired it with triple creme goat’s milk brie. Yum!
Camille from Wayward Spark zeroed in on the rhubarb recipes, cooked up at batch of the mustardy rhubarb chutney, and is now dreaming about it on a burger.
Over at The Kitchn, Emma shared a few pictures of the book’s interior and gives a nice summary of the heart of the book.
The book is also featured over at Simple Bites, along with a quick interview with me.
Cathy at Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Kitchen shared the sorrel pesto and matches it up with some cured salmon. She’s giving a copy away and you can still enter!

 

Related Posts:

Upcoming Events: Broomall! Drexel! Greensgrow! Occasionette!
MightyNest Book Event in Evanston, IL on Monday, April 28
Book Tour Events: Birmingham! Memphis! Chicago!