Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 135

Upcoming Classes: Brooklyn! Phoenixville! Portland!

Canning season is here in full swing, which means now is the time to sharpen your canning skills with a class. Here’s where I’ll be over the course of the next six weeks.

June 18 – Strawberry Jam at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York. The class runs from 6:30 – 8:30 and features two ways to make strawberry jam. For this class, you can get 15% off the class price of $65 by using the code “JamTime” when you sign up. Sign up here!
June 19 -  Pickles Two Ways at Cooking Spotlight in Phoenixville, PA. The class is from 6:30 – 9 pm and costs $59. Registration page is here.
June 22 - A pickling class at Greensgrow. We’ll make quick pickled cucumbers, as well as a batch designed and processed for shelf stability. Class is from 12 – 2 pm and costs $35. Registration page is here.
June 24 - A stonefruit jam class featuring Pomona’s Pectin at the Plymouth Meeting Whole Foods Market. Class is from 6:30 – 8: 30 pm and costs $35. Click here to sign up!
July 6 – Apricot Jam at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York. The class runs from 2 – 4 pm and features two ways to make apricot jam. The class costs $65 and you can sign up here. 


July 11 - Make two kinds of jam (peach and blueberry) at Cooking Spotlight in Phoenixville, PA. This class is from 6:30 – 9 pm and  costs $59. Click here to sign up.
July 13 – Plum-Apricot Preserves! This class will focus on boiling water bath canning and combining different kinds of fruits for successful pectin-free jam making. This class is from 11 am – 1 pm at Indy Hall in Old City, Philadelphia. Leave a comment to sign up.
July 6 - Apricot Jam at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York. The class runs from 2 – 4 pm and features two ways to make apricot jam. The class costs $65 and you can sign up here.
July 20 – Intro to low sugar jam making and boiling water bath canning at Longview Farm Market in Collegeville, PA. The class runs from 11 am – 1 pm and costs $35 to attend. Click here to sign up.
July 23 – Low sugar plum preserves in PORTLAND, OREGON! Class runs from 7 – 9 pm and will be held at the Subud Center in NE Portland. Class costs $40. Click here to sign up!

Related Posts:

Upcoming Classes: Philly! Chestnut Hill! Phoenixville!
Upcoming Canning Classes: The Brooklyn Kitchen
Upcoming Classes: Glenside! Greensgrow! Blooming Glen Farm!

Links: Granola, Pantry Inventories, and Winners

This was the first weekend in the last month where I wasn’t traveling and didn’t have to attend a wedding. I taught a canning class on Saturday morning and then went cherry picking and picnicking with friends. Scott and I slept incredibly late on Sunday morning, ate a lazy homemade brunch and went to Costco. A good combination of productive and slothfulness, if you ask me. Now, to the links!

A giant batch of homemade granola. It reminds me that it’s been far too long since I toasted up a sheet tray myself. 
Foraging for grape leaves, as the Lebanese do.
Megan’s pre-baby fruit and nut bars. A very smart thing to have in the freezer!
Speaking of handy snacks, these wheatless breakfast bars look perfect for easy mid-morning energy.
Kaela made a batch of honey-sweetened rosemary rhubarb jam and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Also, did you see the leafy greens page she created? I’m swimming in kale, collards and chard myself right now, so I’m finding it VERY useful.
A very smart reminder to take stock of your pantry in order to determine what you should make more of this summer and what you might be able to skip. Note to self: Less jam, more dilly beans.
A salad booster of kale, nori, nuts and tangy, spicy things.
Homemade almond extract from apricot pits. What a brilliant way to use something that would otherwise be thrown out. (And yes, she addresses the cyanide issue in her post.)
A summertime toddie made with homemade clover tea. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for a photo of a glowing jar with a chicken in the background. Love it.

Here are a few things that I’ve written lately for other people.

Table Matters got three strawberry recipes that I love. 
Lately, in the Whole Chicken Project, I’ve made an oven-roasted beer can chicken and a hot weather friendly poached bird.
For the June installment of the Mrs. Wages newsletter, I offered up three of my favorite pickle recipes.
Over at the FN Dish, this soup of peas and potatoes is not to be missed.

Last week was a very big week in Food in Jars giveaway land. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the folks at Hamilton Beach, I had eight of these Stack & Snap 10 Cup Food Processors to give away. Here are the winners!

#8 Miriam Dema
#105 Brianne
#154 Barbara Keller
#267 Amie
#455 Rebecca E
#845 Mairsydoats
#974 Dee Tee
#1112 Samantha

Congratulations to everyone who won! I’ll be in touch shortly to get your contact information.

Related Posts:

Links: Strawberries, Rhubarb, and a Cooking With Flowers Winner
Links: Rhubarb, Fiddleheads, and Aladdin Tumbler Winners
Links: Biscuits, Jammy Sweet Rolls, and Homemade Sodas + Winners

Canning 101: Always Label Your Prepped Fruit

When it comes to jam making, one of my favorite tricks is a maceration period. This is the step in which you clean and chop your fruit, mix it with sugar and pop it in the fridge until that moment (within 72 hours, ideally) when you have the time to cook it into jam. It breaks up the work and means that you can fit your preserving into your schedule instead of feeling at the mercy of the fruit.

One thing to know about macerating your fruit is that you don’t have to add the full amount of sugar the recipe calls for in order for it to work. This is particularly useful if you’ve funneled your fruit into a smallish container and only have room to add a cup or so of sugar.

There is just one problem here (at least if you’re me). You have to remember exactly how much sugar you included to the fruit so that when it comes time to cook, you know how much to add to round out the recipe. And here I say, make sure to label that sucker.

For years, I didn’t leave myself these little notes, always assuming that I’d remember how much sugar I added. Then I’d return to my macerating fruit and have to wonder, “did I add two cups of sugar? Or was it three?” A roll of duct tape and a Sharpie do the labeling job and make my life so much easier.

I know it sounds like a simplistic reminder, but it took me years to realize how useful these little notes can be.

Related Posts:

Canning 101: Use a Splatter Guard for Thick Products
Canning 101: Extending the Life of Open Jars
Canning 101: Tips For Making Good Marmalade

Grated Fennel Relish Recipe

I am of the opinion that relish is one of the least-loved preserves on the condiment spectrum. I’m not exactly sure why this is the case, since it’s dead easy to make, uses up a ton of produce, and is a team player of an ingredient (with a jar of relish, you can make tartar sauce, salad dressing, or just a nice topping for grilled fish or chicken).

I’m afraid that I haven’t helped the cause of relish much over the years, as I’ve posted just one other recipe in all the years I’ve been writing this site. I think it’s high time to change all that.

For this debut relish of the summer, I come bearing a recipe for fennel relish. Now, I realize that not everyone likes fennel (including my mother, who actively avoids anything in the fennel/anise/licorice family), but I’m a huge fan. I regularly slice it thinly and quickly pickle it and was ready to take the next step and preserve it for a longer length of time.

I used the Hamilton Beach Stack & Snap Food Processor (if you haven’t done it yet, make sure to enter the giveaway!) for the prep on this relish and it made very quick work of the two pounds of fennel bulbs, as well as the two onions that needed to be broken down. You get about 8 cups of grated fennel from the two pounds, and happily, the bowl of this processor is big enough to handle it.

Once the fennel is grated and the onion is minced (just put it in the bowl with the chopping blade and pulse until it is in bits), you combine all the ingredients in a pot and cook until everything is heated through. There’s no worry about hitting set points (like with jam) or minimizing heat exposure to protect texture (like with pickles). It’s a ridiculously stress-free preserve to make.

This recipe made about four pints, which felt like a huge batch after all the tiny batch projects I’ve done lately. But it’s so tangy and perfectly fennel-y, that I’m looking forward to finding all sorts of new ways to use it (I really want to pair it with some grilled bluefish).

Do you have a favorite relish to make with summer produce?

Print

Grated Fennel Relish Recipe

Yield: Makes 4 pints

Ingredients

2 medium fennel bulbs (approximately 2 pounds)
2 medium yellow onions
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, roughly cracked
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Instructions

Prepare a boiling water bath canner and 4 pint jars. Place lids in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
Shred the fennel in a food processor or on a box grater.
Finely mince onions (a food processor is easiest, but you can also do it with a knife).
Combine grated fennel, minced onion, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, salt, fennel seeds, red chili flakes, and black pepper in a large pot and bring to a boil.
Cook the relish at a boil for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid has reduced some.
Add lemon zest, juice, and parsley and stir to combine.
Remove relish from the heat and funnel it into prepared jars, leaving approximately 1/4 inch headspace.
Bubble jars well. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.
When time is up, remove jars from canner and place them on a folded kitchen towel to cool.

Notes

Recipe adapted from the Fennel Relish recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin2.2http://www.foodinjars.com/2013/06/grated-fennel-relish-recipe/


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Giveaway: Hamilton Beach Stack & Snap 10 Cup Food Processor
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Giveaway: Hamilton Beach Stack & Snap 10 Cup Food Processor

One of the things I’ve learned in my years of canning is that once the produce starts coming on in great waves, it’s helpful to have a small appliance or two in your kitchen arsenal to help break fruits and vegetables down into preservable shapes and sizes. I often use my blender to help soften fruit for jam making (pulse, don’t puree) and often use the grater blade for my food processor to shred all manner of veg for batches of relish or salsa.

Recently, the nice folks at Hamilton Beach asked if I’d be interested in trying out their new Stack & Snap 10 Cup Food Processor. Since I’m always curious about new appliances (particularly ones that can help out during canning season), I said yes. I’ve had this guy in my kitchen for a couple of months now and there are a bunch of things I really like about it.

First off, I really like its general concept. Instead of having to turn and lock the pieces into alignment, the components of this machine simply stack together. Once you’re ready to process, two little pieces click and hold the lid in place. When I first used the machine, I found it a little disconcerting that the bowl doesn’t lock onto the base, but it has proven to be plenty sturdy, so it doesn’t worry me at all.

I also really appreciate the fact that both the chopping blade and the slicing/grating disc fit into the bowl for storage (I’ve never found a good method for storing the accessory discs for my other food processor).

It’s also a seriously powerful in the shredding and slicing department. I have used it to grate many pounds of carrots, cabbage, potatoes, fennel, and very old, hard Parmesan cheese. It’s been a champ with them all. I also appreciate how wide the feed tube is. Makes it really easy to get large root vegetables in there.

The chopping blade is also a workhorse, though I was disappointed to find that it sits up a little too high to be truly useful for moderately sized batches of pastry dough and pie crust. Still, it makes quick work of larger batches of dough and things like these sunflower seed and cheddar crackers.

My one complaint about this machine has to do with the length of the cord. It’s too darn short! Truly though, I find this to be the case with most modern appliances. Because my kitchen is 47 years old (and has never been remodeled), I have just a couple of outlets placed at either end of the room. I either end up positioning the processor at an awkward angle and stretching the cord to its full length or getting an extension cord. If you have a space with more generously positioned electrical outlets, this shouldn’t be an issue for you.

Overall, I’m quite impressed with this food processor. I’ve long used a first generation Cuisinart (my aunt Flora bought it sometime in the mid-seventies) for my processing needs and I was pleased to see that this inexpensive unit could do much of what I ask of my vintage machine.

Finally, the giveaway. Hamilton Beach has generously given me eight of these Stack & Snap 10 Cup Food Processors to give away to my readers. Here’s how to enter.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your favorite small kitchen appliance. Food processor? Coffee maker? Immersion blender? Hand-cranked coffee grinder?
Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, June 14, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
Giveaway open US residents only.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Also, make sure to check back tomorrow, when I’ll be sharing a recipe for fennel relish made right in the Stack & Snap (with action pictures and everything). If you’re a fennel fan, it’s certain to be a new favorite.

Disclosure: Hamilton Beach gave me one Stack & Snap 10 Cup Food Processor for review and photography purposes and they’re providing eight additional units for this giveaway. They did not pay for inclusion on the blog and my opinions remain entirely my own. 

 

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Upcoming Canning Classes: The Brooklyn Kitchen

Last fall, I did a canning demo and book event at The Brooklyn Kitchen (a ridiculously awesome culinary store in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn). Much to my delight, they’ve invited me back to teach a slew of jam classes throughout this summer.

Each class features two styles of jam making. I demo a batch of jam made with Pomona’s Pectin, while class participants break up into groups and get hands on with a small, pectin-free batch of jam. In the June classes, we’re working with strawberries. In July, we’ll transition to apricots and in August, it’ll be all about plums.

It’s a fun class with plenty of take-home treats. If you’re in the New York area, I’d love to see you in one of these sessions! Just click on the date that works for you to sign up!

Thursday, June 13, 6:30 pm

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 pm

Saturday, July 6, 2 pm

Thursday, July 18, 6:30 pm

Wednesday, August 7, 6:30 pm

Sunday, August 25, 2 pm

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Links: Meyer Lemon Jam, Kerr Jars, and a Winner

I spent the weekend up in Massachusetts at the wedding of a very old friend. It was a remarkable gathering in so many ways. It was held at a retreat center, so the bulk of the wedding guests were together from Friday night straight through until this morning. Everyone joyfully lent a hand in the hours before the ceremony, to ensure it would go without a hitch. And most unusually, there were 14 members of the clergy in attendance (both the bride and groom are Unitarian Universalist ministers).

After all that celebrating (as well as the driving to and fro), I’m more than a little weary, so I’m going to keep the links brief this week. Here’s a handful of highlights.

Grilling season is here, so mix up a batch of mustard for those hot dogs.
If you can still get your hands on them, make Shae’s meyer lemon jam.
I knew there was a reason I prefer Kerr jars. They’re from Portland! This is a lovely piece from the Oregonian with about Albertina Kerr (oddly enough, we went to the same high school), who was the second wife of canning jar king Alexander Kerr.
Don’t miss the beautiful photos of blueberry jam that Jen posted on Christine W. who said, “My favorite thing at the start of canning season is strawberry jam! It puts the store-bought stuff to shame!” Christine, you are too right!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a giveaway that’s going to knock your socks off, so check back then!

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Links: Strawberries, Rhubarb, and a Cooking With Flowers Winner
Links: Rhubarb, Fiddleheads, and Aladdin Tumbler Winners
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A Collection of Gardening Books

I am a fantasy gardener. I read gardening books, peruse seed catalogs and wander through the rows of seedlings at my local garden center, all without having so much as a square inch of outdoor space to call my own. There were two seasons (several years ago) when I managed to secure a plot in a community garden, but it was very far from my home and so thoroughly infested with mosquitoes that I’d be swollen and itchy within just a few minutes (I’m a bit allergic to mosquito bites), so I gave it up.

Still, I like to imagine what it might be like to have a convenient spot for growing a few things and I fuel these daydreams with books. Here are a few of the ones I’ve enjoyed most in recent days. Whether you actually have a garden or you’re a fantasy gardener like me, they’re all particularly good reads about growing things.

The first book is Apartment Gardening by Amy Pennington. This one came out two years ago and is such a hopeful volume for those us of without a yard (it still doesn’t help me too much, with no balcony and only north-facing windows, but my geography doesn’t stop me from liking it).

It’s the perfect primer for those who are growing edible things in small pots and containers. It will hold your hand through seed starting and hardening off. It contains instructions on how to build planter boxes and worm bins. And, it has a bunch of recipes offering a variety of ways to use up your harvest (I dream of someday making the pea vine dumplings. Don’t they sound wonderful!). It’s a lovely, intuitive book and it perfect for new gardeners.

Gardening for Geeks by Christy Wilhelmi is a more recent release and approaches gardening from a far more scientific perspective. It will help you orient your garden, build your raise beds, test and amend your soil and even figure out your frost dates. There’s lots in here about different styles of gardening (organic, biodynamic, French intensive, etc) and the hows and whys of pruning.

There’s also a stash of recipes towards the back of the book, including sesame roasted radishes and basic instructions for canning up those tomatoes.

If you’re the type who isn’t satisfied by cursory explanations and needs a more thorough discussion of why and how, this book is perfect for you.

Last up is The Complete Kitchen Garden by Ellen Ecker Ogden. The balance of this book swings more heavily towards recipes than garden advice, but for this fantasy gardener, that actually works out pretty well because it means there’s more ways for me to interact with it. Still, it’s got pretty garden layouts, advice for plant rotation and tips for patio gardens.

For those of you who are actually gardening this season, what are your favorite resources for growing advice and wisdom?

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Recipe Reminder: Drop Biscuits with Cheddar and Greens

Somehow, without really intending for it to happen, I’ve found myself the member of two different CSA programs this season. Both are half shares, so it’s not a truly excessive amount of produce, but it’s proving to be just enough that I have to be exceedingly proactive in ensuring it is all used.

For instances, this week I found myself in the possession of three heads of lettuce, three bunches of kale, one bundle of mustard greens, as well as spinach, dandelion greens and a giant head of napa cabbage. I’ve made a series of enormous salads, wilted spinach into eggs, cooked up four sheet trays of kale chips, and made a big old batch of these drop biscuits.

If you’re finding yourself similarly inundated with greens of all varieties, these biscuits are a lifesaver. You can fold a full two cups of sauteed greens into the dough (in this case, I used both mustard greens and kale, but truly, use whatever you have), they freeze really well, and they’re quite tasty when toasted.

Also, the kinds of flours are flexible. This time, I used a combination of whole wheat and rye flours, but in the past have also used whole wheat pastry, all-purpose and even oat flour. For those of you who eat gluten-free, I imagine you could swap in your favorite GF flour blend without trouble.

How are you guys using up all those spring greens these days?

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Where the Jar Magic Happens: A Tour of Fillmore Container

Last month, while Scott and I were on vacation out in Lancaster County, we paid a visit to one of my very favorite source of jars, Fillmore Container (you may have heard me mention them before). They’re a family-run jar, bottle, and closure distributor that carries both traditional canning jars and smooth-sided jars of all shapes and sizes for commercial producers (as well as home canners who want a more sleek look).

Because I’m oddly fascinated by all aspects of jars, I asked owners Keith and Lisa Reinhart if they’d give me a tour of the warehouse during my visit (we also spent some time dreaming up some fun collaborations). They said yes and so, armed with my camera, I got a peek into the space where all the jars live.

Just to orient you, these top two jars were taken in the reception area at the front of their office space. They have samples of the jars they carry displayed there, which is incredibly useful when you’re trying to determine what shapes and sizes you want.

From there, you walk into the warehouse space, which is impeccably clean and organized (even the brooms and dustpans are well tended!). It also felt so very familiar to me because it smelled just like the warehouse that was once part of the business my parents ran for most my childhood. Who knew that the scent of cardboard boxes and packing tape could be so evocative?

The boxes along these shelves are full of lids. There are a very great number of jar closures in a dizzying number of shapes, sizes, and colors on these shelves. Keith told me that when they were first getting started, they counted every single lid out by hand for each order. Happily, they now have scales that make much faster work of that task.

Despite the fact that they’re working daily with fragile glass, Fillmore’s breakage rates are actually extremely low. Part of the secret is that each order is hand-picked and hand-packed (no mechanization here!). Last year the warehouse staff picked and packed a boggling 23,000 packages.

The folks at Fillmore are working hard to be green wherever possible. Jars are always going to need to be cushioned for shipping, so they make sure to use biodegradable packing peanuts. What’s more, they reuse shipping boxes wherever reasonable and applicable.

So many canning jars. The wide mouth half pints over in the far left of this shot are my favorite size and shape for canning jam and so I got an odd thrill to see so many of them in one place.

Jar shaped salt and pepper shakers! There’s a restaurant in Philly that has these on every table and a friend is always trying to wheedle them out of the servers for me. I betcha they got them from Fillmore! You can get them here if you’re equally charmed.

A pallet of the new blue heritage jars. From the looks of the stack, it appears that they’ve been mighty popular. Have any of you canned in them yet?

In addition to their stock of jars, containers and lids, Fillmore also sells an assortment of canning books and recently added my book to their stock. Right now, they’re offering my readers a deal.

When you order a case of jars and a copy of Food in Jars, you’ll receive a $5 off your order if you enter “FIJ” in the comment field at checkout (the adjustment will be made when order ships). Best of all, I signed every book they had in stock when I was there, so chances are good that you’ll get an autographed copy if you order soon.

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

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