Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 126
October 17, 2013
Preserves in Action: Pumpkin Butter Oats
A few weeks back, I unearthed a jar of this pumpkin butter from the far corner of my freezer. Since it was going on a year old, I pulled it out and have been making a point of eating my way through it (truly, it’s no great hardship). There are a number of ways to use pumpkin butter to good effect, but my favorite is to stir a heaping spoonful into a pot of creamy morning oats. It’s both seasonal and delicious.
I’m not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but there is a secret to making creamy oats. The trick is to start with cold water and then cook the oatmeal over very low heat for ten or fifteen minutes. The slow heat gives the oats a chance to soften and release their starches. If you start with hot water and cook quickly, the oats never get a chance to soften and you wind up with a bowl of stiff oat flakes in runny grey liquid. Not my idea of an appealing breakfast.
For a single serving, I start with a scant 1/2 cup of old fashioned rolled oats, a generous cup of water, and a pinch of sea salt. I stir that together in a little pot, put a lid on, and set it over the lowest heat my stove can manage. While the oats heat, I check email, make tea, and generally putter around until the water around the edges of the pan is beginning to bubble just a little bit.
Once I see signs of simmer, I turn the heat up and stir vigorously. The water suddenly thickens and the oats soften. I stir in about two tablespoons of pumpkin butter (or apple pie filling or pear butter) and a splash of milk. When the oatmeal looks finished, I pull it off the heat and add a few toasted walnuts and some kind of dried fruit (right now, I’m partial to dried cherries).
It makes a really great autumn breakfast and uses up those jars of preserves to very good effect.
Related Posts:
Preserves in Action: Tomato Jam
Preserves in Action: Pickled Carrots and Daikon in a Sandwich
Preserves in Action: Baby Arugula with Pickled Beets
October 16, 2013
Spiced Apple Pie Filling
For a time when I was young, we lived in a house with a cluster of antique apple trees at the very back of our property. Thanks to this easy abundance, apples were one of the very first things I learned to preserve. In those days, my job was to help gather the windfall apples that seemed mostly whole until they filled a paper grocery bag. My mom did the rest, but I always stood by and watched.
Later on, I’d help peel and core the apples (I absorbed a lot while watching). Both my sister and I would offer opinions about how much spice to add to the pot on the stove and when the sauce was all done, we’d sit down with cereal bowls full of warm, spicy applesauce. When the rest of the batch was entirely cool, I’d hold open plastic zip top bags while my mom spooned in the sauce for the freezer.
Later on, we added apple butter to our fall repertory, but never felt the need to venture beyond those two basics with our apples. Pie filling was most decidedly not on the agenda, mostly because pies happened just twice a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and so there was no need to be prepared for a spontaneous pie.
It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve added pie filling to my personal canning routine and I’ve found it’s a nice preserve to have on the shelf. This time of year, a batch of apple pie filling is an easy way to put up several pounds of apples and it has a surprising number of uses beyond a basic pie.
It tastes good stirred into oatmeal. If you have one of these old stovetop pie makers, you can make yourself a toasted hand pie with two slices of bread and a little smear of butter (it’s an especially fun project with kids). And, if you live in a household with an avowed fruit pie hater, you can make yourself a teeny tiny free form crostata with leftover quiche crust and a pint of filling. Not that I’d know anything about that.
When making pie filling, there are just a few things to remember. The first is that you need to use Clear Jel
, not cornstarch (and if you can’t find Clear Jel, it’s best to can your filling without thickener and add a little cornstarch slurry just before using it). The second is that no matter the size of jar you use, you need to leave a generous inch of headspace. Pie filling expands during processing and really loves to ooze out of the jars when they’re cooling. Proper headspace can help prevent that.
Third thing is that when you put the rings on your jars of pie filling, you tighten them just a little bit more firmly than you do for most other preserves. Often, you’ll hear me raving about how you don’t want to overtighten those rings but in this case, a little extra twist helps keep your product in the jars.
Finally, make sure to follow the instructions in the recipe and leave the jars in the canner for a full ten minutes after the processing time is up. Turn the heat off, slide the pot to a cooler burner, remove the lid and let the jars sit. This slower cooling processing will help prevent that dreaded loss of product. Really, the hardest part about making pie filling is keeping it in the jars once they’ve been processed.
Oh, and one more thing. Notice those air bubbles in the jars? Pie filling is thick and really likes to trap air pockets. Bubble your jars as well as you can, but don’t kill yourself over it.
For those of you who make pie filling, do you have any unconventional uses?
Print
Spiced Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
10 cups peeled and sliced apples2 1/4 cup apple cider
2 cups water
6 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Clear Jel
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Instructions
Prepare a boiling water bath canner and six pint jars. Put new lids in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.Bring a large pot of water to a boil and blanch the apple slices for 1 minute. Remove them from the pot and place them in a bowl of cold water with a splash of lemon juice in it.
In another pot, combine the apple cider, water, and lemon juice. Set over high heat. While it heats, whisk together the sugar, Clear Jel, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
Stream the sugar mixture into the water and juice, whisking well to incorporate without lumps. Bring a boil and cook, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken.
Once the canning medium has thickened, fold in the apples and remove it from the heat. Fill the jars, leaving a generous inch of headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 25 minutes.
When time is up, turn the heat off, remove the lid, and slide the pot to a cooler burner. Let the jars sit in the water for an additional ten minutes. This will help minimize the pie filling from siphoning out of the jars.
Once that time is up, remove the jars from the canner and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool.
Notes
Makes 6 pints or 3 quarts. Processing time is the same for both sizes of jars.
Adjust processing time is for sea level. If you live at a higher elevation, please adjust accordingly.
Related Posts:
Notes on a Batch of Sour Cherry Pie Filling
October 14, 2013
Upcoming Events: Hazon Food Festival, the Lehigh Valley Harvest Festival, and More!
Hi friends. I have a handful of events coming up in the next couple weeks that I wanted to make sure you knew about!
This Sunday, October 20, I’ll be doing a canning demo at the Hazon Food Festival: Philadelphia. I’ll be there from 12 noon until 4 pm selling and signing books at the marketplace. What’s more, I’ll be doing a small batch canning demo at 2:10 pm. The event runs from 9:30 am to 5:30 and the full day registration costs $36 (including lunch). More information and registration details can be found here.
On Saturday, October 26, I’ll be out in Lancaster City, PA in the morning, doing a canning demo at Central Market. From 1 to 5 pm, I’ll be at the Williams-Sonoma at the Bellevue, doing a canning demo and selling copies of my book at their artisan market.
On Sunday, October 27, I’ll be at the Lehigh Valley Harvest Festival, doing a pair of small batch canning demonstrations. More details can be found here.
I hope to see some of you there!
Related Posts:
Upcoming Events: Upper Merion! King of Prussia! Phoenixville!
Classes and Events: Philly! Horsham! New Jersey! Lancaster!
Signing at The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA + Cookbook Giveaway Winners
October 13, 2013
Links: Apple Pie, Fermented Carrots, and Winners
To me, one of the markers of a good week is that I have enough time to cook through at least half my CSA share. This last week, I managed to cook five dinners and even got Scott to take leftovers for lunch twice. Truly, it’s the little things that thrill me. Other than that, things were wonderfully uneventful. Now, links!
Fig rosemary jam! Dark and sticky chutney! The figs are all gone around here, but I hope to remember these two for next year.
Is there anything more rustic and beautiful than an apple pie baked in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet? I think not!
If your cherry tomato plants are still producing, you should make these sweet cherry tomato pickles.
Apple jelly with lemon verbena. Tis the season, after all!
This is brilliant! Apricot pit vinegar, good for cleaning and almond-flavored vinaigrettes! I have a bag of apricots I’ve been saving since they were in season, so this appeals to me greatly.
A genius tutorial on how to ripen your green tomatoes indoors.
What 100 pounds of tomatoes look like, all canned up.
Fermented carrots with mustard seed. An easy and delicious sound pickle from the folks at Well Preserved.
This concord grape and rosemary focaccia sure sounds good.
We have winners! First up is the winner in the Microplane Adjustable Slicer giveaway. It’s commenter #948, Rachel Groat. She said, “I have a simple mandoline slicer, and I use it for tons of stuff, especially onions slicing. My two favorite recipes have been making curried carrot chips, and a lovely little appetizer with caramelized brown sugar onions and goat cheese on puff pastry rounds! I would love to upgrade my cheapy slicer one day, and this one looks awesome! Love your site bunches 
.”
It was a two giveaway week, which means we also have a winner in The Little Book of Home Preserving giveaway. It’s commenter #85, Debbie Bruster. She said that she was planning on canning applesauce and apple butter this weekend. Delicious choices!
Many thanks to Microplane and Rebecca Gagnon for providing their tools and books for giveaway, as well as to all of you who took the time to enter!
Related Posts:
Links: End of Season Stonefruit and Winners
Links: Plums, Gingersnap Granola, and a Winner
Links: Crabapples, Salsa, and Winners
October 11, 2013
The Little Book of Home Preserving
On first glance, The Little Book of Home Preserving might not catch your eye. It’s a tiny book (truly, no bigger than the size of my hand) and could easily get lost in a larger display. However, missing this book would be a huge mistake. Written and photographed by Rebecca Gagnon (author of the blog CakeWalk), it is bursting with interesting, creative recipes.
For a little book, this volume packs a serious punch. It opens with the basics of preserving, including safety tips, the equipment you’ll need to get started canning, and even instructions on how to strain whey from yogurt in order to follow the lacto-fermentation recipes in the book. Rebecca also touches on the inherent art of making preserves, which is a section I particularly like and relate to.
Once you get into the meat of the book, you see that it’s organized by season. I’m hoping against hope that my CSA will still have a few ground cherries left next week so that I can make a batch of the Citrus Chai Ground Cherry Preserves. I’ve also got my sights set on the Grapefruit Jam with Vanilla and Poppy Seed (the picture of that one in preserve is so gorgeous).
Rebecca sent me an extra copy of her book to share with one of my readers, so we’re having a super special weekend long giveaway. One lucky person will win a copy. However, no matter whether you win or not, I highly suggest picking up a copy. It’s size makes it perfect for slipping into Christmas stockings and at $6.57 on Amazon
, it won’t break the bank.
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment on this post and share what you’re preserving this weekend.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Sunday, October 13, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random (using random.org) and will be posted on Monday, October 14, 2013.
Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left on the blog, I cannot accept submissions via email.
Disclosure: Rebecca sent me two copies of her book, one to keep and one to give away, at no cost to me. However, my opinions are entirely my own.
Related Posts:
Cookbooks: Crackers & Dips
Cookbooks: Saving the Season
Cookbooks: Little Jars, Big Flavors
October 10, 2013
Good Things to Can in Autumn
Over the last couple of days, the weather in Philly has shifted from unseasonably warm to wonderfully crisp and just a little bit rainy (which as a former Portlander, delights me). It’s got me thinking about all the lovely jams and preserves there are to make this time of year and so I thought I’d dig down into the archives and pull together a few of my autumn favorites.
Piles of green tomatoes are often a challenge this time of year. Make yourself a big batch of green tomato chutney, or pickle them on up.
Pears are the best thing ever right now and there’s just so much you can do with them. Seckel pear jam with brown sugar and cardamom. Pear vanilla jam. Pear cinnamon jam. Red pear lavender jam. Pear cranberry jam. On the pickled side of things, make sure to try these pickled asian pears (it’s a recipe from one of Karen Solmon’s Asian Pickles e-books).
And we can’t forget apples! Applesauce! Spiced apple butter! For something a little tangy, a batch of apple cranberry jam. For something a little spicy, try apple ginger jam or my beloved honey lemon apple jam. There’s also mulled cider jelly (which is great for holiday giving) and quince jelly (okay, not an apple, but still lovely).
Finally, on the pressure canning side of things, there’s always pumpkin cubes. It’s a great way to preserve winter squash if you don’t have appropriate cold storage for them or if you want to have some homemade, shelf stable, ready to use pumpkin.
What are you making these days?
Related Posts:
Canning 101: Air Bubbles in Finished Products
October 8, 2013
Peanut Butter Banana Granola
We all have our ways of dealing with overripe bananas. Some make quick breads. Others freeze them for smoothies. Still others make up giant batches of waffles for quick breakfasts. I used reside firmly in the banana bread camp, but as I work to reduce the amount of sugar and refined grains I eat, a tempting loaf of quick bread just doesn’t seem like the smartest choice.
Still, as I stood in the kitchen earlier today staring down a pair of very black bananas, I knew I needed to do something with them quickly or surrender them to the garbage. Banana bread was tempting, but a batch of granola just seemed more sensible. Peanut butter banana granola.
I melted 1/4 cup of peanut butter with 1/2 cup of honey. Once it reached a boil, I whisked in two mashed bananas and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and then poured it over 4 cups of oats, 1 cup of salted peanuts, and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds. I stirred until the oats were entirely coated with the hot honey, peanut butter, and banana slurry.
Once the ingredients were all incorporated, I spread it out on a rimmed cookie sheet and popped it in the oven at 350 degrees F for about half an hour. Granola is a tricky beast and needs regular stirring, so don’t stray far. If you prefer, you can also cook it at a lower temperature for longer, but I had an errand to run and so needed it to be done quickly.
Once it was done baking, I scraped the granola into a mound in the center of the baking dish and pressed with the back of a spatula to help encourage crunchy clusters.
I am quite happy with the way this granola turned out. While it’s neither aggressively banana-y or peanutty, it’s got good flavor and is satisfyingly crunchy. I didn’t add any dried fruit, but will probably add a little palmful of raisins when I eat it to up the sweetness a little.
If you make yourself a batch, take care to let the granola cool completely before funneling it into a storage jar (my batch filled a half gallon exactly). I think I rushed it a little and I’ve found a few softer clusters. It’s certainly not going to stop me from eating it, but I wish I’d been more patient.
Related Posts:
Links: Rhubarb, Granola, Pickles, and a Kootsac Winner
Homemade Toasted Trail Mix
Coconut Quinoa Granola
October 7, 2013
Giveaway: Microplane Adjustable Slicer with Julienne Blade
Last year, on a whim I picked up an inexpensive, handheld slicer. Smaller than a mandoline and far easier to clean than a food processor, it quickly became one of my go-to tools for making salads, shredding Brussels sprouts, and prepping vegetables for pickles.
I liked that slicer so much that when canning season started, I packed it into the bag of tools I take to classes and then promptly left it behind someplace on the eastern seaboard. Since then, I’ve been meaning to pick up a new slicer, but it kept sliding down the priority list.
Make this shredded sprout saute! The recipe is up on Table Matters.
Happily, my procrastination has actually paid off. Microplane has recently introduced a new adjustable slicer (it even has a julienne blade that you can drop in to make nice long ribbons) and sent me one to try out. It’s razor sharp, simple to handle, and easy to store. It’s miles better than my first little slicer (and I thought that one was the bee’s knees) and I am totally delighted by it.
Thanks to the nice folks at Microplane, I have one of these nifty slicers to give away. Here’s how to enter.
Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your favorite shredded or sliced recipe.
Comments will close at 5 pm east coast time on Friday, October 11, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random (using random.org) and will be posted on Sunday, October 13, 2013.
Giveaway is open to US residents.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left on the blog, I cannot accept submissions via email.
Disclosure: Microplane sent me a slicer to try and is also providing the one for this giveaway. My opinions remain my own.
Related Posts:
Microplane Gift Basket Winner
Microplane Gift Basket Giveaway
Giveaway: Itty Bitty Jars and Food in Jars from Fillmore Container
Upcoming Classes: Pressure Canning! Apple Pie Filling! Autumn Retreat!
Teaching classes is one of the best parts of my job. It’s when I get to come out from behind the stove or computer and spend some time showing many of you lovely people how to jam, pickle, and can. I have a number of classes on the schedule for the coming weeks, but I have just three that I want to particularly emphasize right now.
This Wednesday, October 9, I’m teaching a pressure canning class at Cooking Spotlight in Phoenixville, PA. For those of you who are scared of your pressure canners, this session will put you at ease and will have you preserving low acid things like chicken stock and made from scratch beans in no time (I’m going to demonstrate the pressure canner using a batch of onion rosemary jam). The class is from 6:30 – 9 pm and costs $55. Click here to sign up.
My last class of the season at Indy Hall is this Saturday, October 12 from 11 am – 1 pm. We’re making spiced apple pie filling, which is the best stuff ever to have on hand for quick holiday desserts and easy brunch treats. I’ll show you how to use Clear Jel, a canning-safe thickener. Class is from 11 am to 1 pm and costs $50 per person. Leave a comment or email me to sign up.
The last class I want to spotlight is my weekend-long canning retreat at Rowe Center in Western Massachusetts. This workshop starts in the evening of Friday, November 1 and runs through lunchtime on Sunday, November 3. To further entice you to join me for that weekend, I’ve included the outline of canning activities I have planned after the jump. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about that weekend, because I really would love to have a few more of you join me! And if the outline has you convinced, you can find registration information here.
Friday night:
Welcome and introduction to canning
Review the basics of boiling water bath canning
Prep apples for jelly
Roast quince for chutney
Saturday session 1:
Basic applesauce, can one-third
Start apple butter with one-third of the applesauce
Make apple rosemary jam with another one-third applesauce (pectin-free jam)
Saturday session 2:
Make apple mint jelly (traditional pectin jelly)
Make pear vanilla jam (low sugar pectin jam)
Make quince chutney with roasted quince (sweet/savory preserve)
Saturday session 3:
Pickled Asian pears (pickling)
Demo small batch skillet jam and offer ways to adapt the technique to nearly every recipe
How to be creative with canning and still be safe
How to put your preserves in action
Sunday morning:
Finish apple butter
Pairing preserves for parties and gifts
Answer questions
Wrap up and pack jams for home travel
Related Posts:
Upcoming Classes: Pressure Canning! Pie Filling! Fall Chutney!
Upcoming Classes: Philly! Phoenixville! Greensgrow!
Upcoming Classes: Philly! Brooklyn! Maryland!
October 6, 2013
Links: End of Season Stonefruit and Winners
Most weeks, I use this space above these links to share some of what’s going on in my life. This week, things have been blessedly quiet in my household, so instead, I’m sharing a little tidbit from my singer songwriter sister’s life.
About a year ago, I helped Raina set up a blog called Fam on the Road, so that she and her husband could share bits and pieces of their lives as touring musicians and parents. On Friday, she posted an open letter as a response to all the craziness that’s been going down in the world of Miley Cyrus, Sinead O’Connor, and Amanda Palmer and it’s truly lovely, both in the writing and in the sentiment. If you have a moment, I highly encourage you to read it.
Now, onto the links…
Basil flower vinegar. I really need to see if I can scare up some herb flowers before the season is out.
Sweet potato granola! Yes, please!
This is probably not the first time I’ve posted a link to homemade fig newtons, and it probably won’t be the last.
Buckwheat poppyseed thumbprint cookies. So pretty and such a good use of jam!
Concord grape jam. All the flavor of the grapes, without the fussiness of jelly.
Autumn continues to do interesting, delicious things with booze. This time, crabapple bourbon.
Plum conserve for the end of the stonefruit season.
Speaking of plums, this plum jam with preserved lemon is genius.
I have a weakness for homemade bars full of healthy stuff. These bird bars look particularly nice.
Using up apple pie filling.
So many thanks to everyone who took the time to enter last week’s Bigmouth Flat Pack Funnel giveaway. It was such a kick to read about all the different pieces of kitchen and cookware that you’d like to see redesigned. Who knows, maybe someday it will happen! The winners are:
#15 – Laura
#32 – Kellie
#41 – Bren
#58 – Robyn
#87 – Bobbi
#121 – WendP
#193 – Betsy
#247 – Amanda
#276 – Barbara
Related Posts:
Links: Plums, Gingersnap Granola, and a Winner
Links: Crabapples, Salsa, and Winners
Links: Pickles, Salsas, Dill Heads, and a Winner
