Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 147

Links: Pumpkins, Pickled Ginger and Kimchi

Madame Fromage poaches quince with lemon and vanilla serves it with mascarpone. Sounds dreamy.
Candied cherry tomatoes. Why didn’t I think of this?
Pickled young ginger. If you like gingery things, you owe yourself to make this pickle.
If homemade coffee confounds you, this infographic should help you brew up something delicious in your own kitchen.
Once every six months, I spend an hour or two catch up with the Grub Street Diet column. In this weekly piece, they have celebrities recount their diet over the course five or six days. David Rakoff’s week of food, published just a few months before he died, is beautifully written and full of perfect, wonderful details. It made me sad all over again that he is gone.
Suzy from Eat Outside the Bag makes kimchi. It is on my own to-do list.

Finally, here are links to a few things I published elsewhere over the last week.

Over at Simple Bites, there was my Maple-Sweetened Pumpkin Butter. It’s not safe for canning, but it keeps in the fridge for several weeks and freezes like a dream.
What’s a squash hater to do in this season of pumpkin-spice-everything? I say, turn to chai and I did a round-up of tasty autumnal alternatives for Table Matters.
Finally, for the FN Dish, I made Ina Garten’s Skillet Brownies. I served them for dessert at a little potluck, but after the trying week the east coast has had, I encourage you to make them for friends, family, first responders and anyone else who needs a little comfort and chocolate.

Related Posts:

Links: Rose Hip Syrup, Deep-Fried Turkey & Crispy Pickles + EcoJarz Winners
Links: Sauerkraut, Sesame Candy and Congee + Preservation Kitchen Winner
A Pair of Food Blogging Classes with Madame Fromage

Food in Jars is a GoodReads Choice Awards Nominee

Oh friends, something inexplicably delightful and wonderful has happened. My little cookbook has been nominated for a 2012 GoodReads Choice Award!

Let me tell you, 2012 was a VERY good year for food and cookbooks. In this first round of voting, I am one in a field of 15 and I am unspeakable honored to be listed among titles like The Homemade Pantry, Dinner: A Love Story, My Berlin Kitchen, The Art of Fermentation and the Joy the Baker Cookbook.

If you’d like to vote for Food in Jars, you can do so by going here. I do believe that you need to have a GoodReads account, but sign up is fairly easy. While you’re there, make sure to add me as a friend.

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Nominate Punk Domestics for a Saveur Best Food Blog Award

Preserves in Action: Add Pickles To Your Salad Bar

As a kid, one of the greatest treats ever was being taken to the Wendy’s salad bar for dinner. I loved being allowed to construct my own meal from the array of veggies, hard boiled eggs and slightly stale croutons. If I ate all the green stuff I’d heaped on my plate, I’d be allowed to have some of the chocolate pudding from the end of the bar for dessert.

Those early experiences have instilled in me a undying love for salad bars and so, on a regular basis, I build them at home, on my biggest cutting board. This way, Scott can avoid the ingredients that he doesn’t like (asian pears do not make the cut on his salad) and I can pile my bowl high with everything (including tender roasted brussels sprouts. They’re so good against the cold, crisp lettuce).

When I make these salad bars, I always pull at least two jars of pickles out of the fridge to jazz up the array of chopped vegetables and piles of lettuce. For this last salad bar, I had used two preserves I’d picked up at recent Philly Food Swaps. There was a fermented radish pickle made by Amanda, the lovely lady behind the blog Phickle (she writes all about fermentation) and Dawn’s green zebra tomato chow-chow. There is nothing like something puckery on a salad.

How are you using your pickles lately?

Related Posts:

Preserves in Action: Apple Mint Green Tea
Preserves in Action: Apricot Jam on Ricotta Cheese
Preserves in Action: Yogurt Breakfast Bowl

Preserves in Action: Add Pickles To You Salad Bar

As a kid, one of the greatest treats ever was being taken to the Wendy’s salad bar for dinner. I loved being allowed to construct my own meal from the array of veggies, hard boiled eggs and slightly stale croutons. If I ate all the green stuff I’d heaped on my plate, I’d be allowed to have some of the chocolate pudding from the end of the bar for dessert.

Those early experiences have instilled in me a undying love for salad bars and so, on a regular basis, I build them at home, on my biggest cutting board. This way, Scott can avoid the ingredients that he doesn’t like (asian pears do not make the cut on his salad) and I can pile my bowl high with everything (including tender roasted brussels sprouts. They’re so good against the cold, crisp lettuce).

When I make these salad bars, I always pull at least two jars of pickles out of the fridge to jazz up the array of chopped vegetables and piles of lettuce. For this last salad bar, I had used two preserves I’d picked up at recent Philly Food Swaps. There was a fermented radish pickle made by Amanda, the lovely lady behind the blog Phickle (she writes all about fermentation) and Dawn’s green zebra tomato chow-chow. There is nothing like something puckery on a salad.

How are you using your pickles lately?

Related Posts:

Preserves in Action: Apple Mint Green Tea
Preserves in Action: Apricot Jam on Ricotta Cheese
Preserves in Action: Yogurt Breakfast Bowl

Giveaway: FreshTECH Jam and Jelly Maker

Over the summer, the folks at Ball sent me one of their new to FreshTECH Jam and Jelly Makers to try out. I spent a few weeks playing around with it and in early September, I wrote a blog post documenting how it works and how the jam I made turned out. You can read that post here.

Essentially, it’s a terrific tool for beginning jam makers focused on small batches, folks who don’t want to heat up their kitchens in the summer months, and anyone else who needs an extra hand when it comes time to preserve. If you make larger batches, really like using your stovetop and controlling the process (count me among that group), then may not be the perfect appliance for you. Happily, there’s enough space in the canning world for all of us.

One of the limitations of the FreshTECH is simply that there aren’t a ton of recipes designed to make use of it at this time. However, the recipe developers over at Fresh Preserving (that’s Ball’s online home) are trying to change that. They are regularly adding new fruit and spice combinations to the website (click here to see all the currently available recipes) and are asking for input on which seasonal recipes they should work on creating in advance of the holiday months.

If there’s a particular preserve that you’d like to see, make sure to click over to the Ball Facebook and leave a suggestion. You can also tag them on Pinterest if you’ve made a preserve you think might be good transformed into one for the FreshTECH.

Now, for the fun part. They’ve given me a FreshTECH Jam and Jelly Maker to give away. If you want a shot a winning this unit, here’s what you do.

Leave a comment on this post and share your favorite method for cooking preserves. Crock pot? Stove top? Dehydrator? FreshTECH?
Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Saturday, November 3, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
Giveaway open to US residents only (so sorry, far-flung friends).
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post. I do not accept submissions via email.

Disclosure: Ball provided both the review unit pictured above and the giveaway unit at no cost to me. However, my opinions remain firmly my own. 
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How to Make a Great Pumpkin

My grandma Bunny was a writer, artist, and editor. She was a stickler for proper grammer, loved to do craft projects with kids (there were many potato-printing sessions in my early years), and believed that it was important to taste new things whenever possible. She was also devoted to the celebration of Halloween.

Bunny raised my dad and his brothers to take seriously the art of costume construction (training that benefitted my sister and I greatly during our own childhood years) and to put much though and planning into the carving of Jack-O-Lanterns.

In 1971, she self-published a little book that pulled all her knowledge of pumpkin carving in one place. She drew all the illustrations, typed out the text on her electric typewriter (she loved that machine and used it for so much. Just seeing its typeface in these pictures brings her back. Strange, I know) and had hundreds of copies printed.

This little book comes from the days long before Martha Stewart or Pinterest. No one had specially designed sets of carving tools and there were no templates that you could tape to your gourd and follow for guidance. Pumpkin carving was a basic endeavor and Bunny tried to elevate its level of artistry. I admire that kind of effort and wonder if she had lived during these blogging times, if she would have embraced the medium.

Throughout my entire life, every time I’ve carved a pumpkin, I’ve pulled out a copy of this little book and consulted it for ideas. I’ve used her tips for false teeth and making the most out of the pumpkin’s natural character. I also always remember to cut the lid off at an angle so that it has an easy resting spot thanks to the teapot analogy she included.

I know that Halloween is just a couple of days away and that chances are very good that most of you have already carved up your pumpkins for this year. But in the slim chance that you haven’t, I thought it would be fun to share a few pages from “How to Make a Great Pumpkin.”

I’d love to hear about your own Halloween traditions! Do you carve pumpkins and toast the seeds? Do you deck the halls with fake cobwebs and spiders? Please do share your stories!

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Upcoming Classes: Philly, Bucks County and Brooklyn, NY!

There are just a few days left in October and then we head into the final slide towards the end of the year. If you’ve been contemplating taking one of my canning classes, you’ve just got a few more chances left before the calendar flips over. Here’s what’s coming up.

November 3 – Pear Cranberry Chutney class at Indy Hall (20 N. 3rd Street, Philadelphia). Class runs from 11 am – 1 pm, $50. Email or comment on this post to sign up.
November 10 – Apple Cranberry Jam class through Greensgrow at St. Michael’s Church (2139 E. Cumberland Street, Philadelphia). Class runs 12 – 2 pm, $35. Click here to sign up.
November 13 – Apple Cranberry Jam class at Plymouth Meeting, PA Whole Foods Market. Class runs 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Click here to sign up.
November 15 – Canning demo and book signing at Brooklyn Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York! Event runs 6:30 – 8:30 pm and is just $30 (and that includes a copy of the book). Click here to sign up!
November 18 – Quince Jelly and Pear Chutney class at with The Kitchen Potager in Bucks County. Class runs 1 – 4 pm and costs $48. Click here to sign up.
December 2 – Apple Cider Jelly class at Indy Hall (20 N. 3rd Street, Philadelphia). Class runs from 11 am – 1 pm, $50. Email or comment on this post to sign up.

I hope to see lots of you guys in these classes!

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Upcoming Classes, Events and a Few Favorite Links
Upcoming Events: Upper Merion! King of Prussia! Phoenixville!
Upcoming Events: Chicago!

Links: Rose Hip Syrup, Deep-Fried Turkey & Crispy Pickles + EcoJarz Winners

It’s been a quiet week in the Food in Jars Flickr pool, so I thought I’d swap in a few links for the normal Sunday night photo feature (it’ll be back next week!).

I am officially obsessed with pears. I can’t stop thinking about this liqueur.
Friday night, Scott and I took a late-night walk around Philadelphia and I spotted a rosebush heavy with hips in an untended lot. I want to sneak back so that I can make this rosehip syrup.
Sam Sifton makes me want to fry a turkey.
Three tips for crisper pickles. Good advice!
Speaking of pickles, here are things you can do with the ones in your fridge! Nice post, Well Preserved!
Fig, pistachio and goat cheese danish. Without fail, I always want to eat the things that Deena posts to Mostly Foodstuffs.
Autumn made a gorgeous quince buckle. Since I’ve already roasted the quince in the picture above, I think I must get more before the season ends.
Tis the season for homemade chai.
Concord grape chutney. I’ve been in love with persimmon chutney lately, but I think I must add this to my line-up.
I spent Saturday at TECHmunch Philly. Madame Fromage was there too and wrote a very nice post about the experience.
An illustrated guide to persimmons. I love this and wish someone would print it on a poster.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The winners of the EcoJarz giveaway are commenters 31, 291, 302, 326, 501. That’s Christina, Jen, Nancy S., Sandy, and Rachel. Congratulations, everyone!

I hope that everyone who’s out there in the path of Hurricane Sandy is secure and ready for the storm. Please be safe!

 

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A Winner, a Book and Some Links

Oven Roasted Nectarine Butter

Back in the summer, the folks from Sweet Preservation invited me to be one of their Canbassadors (click here and here to see Canbassador posts from previous years). The box of fruit arrived in early September and I wasted no time digging in and transforming those Italian plum prunes, peaches and nectarines into some tasty preserves.

I wrote about the butter I made from the plums in the box, and meant to write about my other projects promptly, but the days since have flown by in one of those flying page-a-day montages so beloved by old movies and now it’s nearly November. Where did the last six weeks go?

I do want to tell you about the technique I used to turn the nectarines into butter, because it’s such a good, versatile one. I included a version using peaches in my cookbook and it also works with all the rest of the stonefruits and even the pears that are currently in season (see, this post isn’t entirely out of date!).

You cut the fruit in half and trim away any pits, seeds and bruises. Then you lay the fruit out in a mostly single layer in a non-reactive pan (don’t do this on one of those rimmed aluminum half sheet pans, you run the risk of leaching a metallic flavor into your butter). Ceramic, enameled cast iron or glass is best for this recipe. Finally, you slide your pan of fruit into a low oven (around 250 degrees F) and slowly bake.

When the fruit has released a lot of juice and is barely holding together, grab a fork and smash it into a rough pulp. Return the pan to the oven until the juices are mostly evaporated. Once your chunky puree seems quite thick, you can either stop, call it a rustic fruit butter, sweeten to taste (if necessary) and can it up.

If you like super smooth fruit butters, you can do one final thing. Puree the rough pulp into a very silky one by either scraping it into a blender or into a small saucepan and applying an immersion blender. I like to use a small saucepan, because after the fine puree, a bit more liquid can sometimes be released. If the butter is in a pan, I can pop it on the heat for a few minutes and quickly cook out the last of the water.

Once it’s done, it should mound on a spoon. That’s your sign that all the water is cooked out and that you’ve got nothing but concentrated fruit. You can sweetened to taste with a little honey or sugar, but if you started with sweet, flavorful fruit, it may need nothing at all.

This is also the time to add spices. Any configuration of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove and allspice is nice. You could add a little vanilla bean paste. Or grate in a little orange zest for extra zippiness. Go crazy.

You may have noticed that I’ve not given you any precise cooking times. That’s because there’s a huge amount of variety in oven time. Make this on a Sunday afternoon. Or break the work up across a couple of days. I’ve often roasted the fruit one evening, turned the heat off and left the pan in the oven overnight and then returned to it the next day to finish things up. If you’re going to bring it back up to a boil, a night out at room temperature won’t do the fruit any harm.

This technique doesn’t yield a ton. Depending on how much fruit I squeeze into the pan, I’ll get just two or three half pints per batch. But after I’ve done that a handful of times over the summer and fall, that’s more than enough fruit butter for me.

Related Posts:

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Pickled Sweet Cherries
Blackberry-Apricot Jam

Giveaway: EcoJarz Reusable Canning Jar Drink Toppers

First, there was the ReCap (looks like they’re going to have the wide mouth version available soon. Be still my heart!) Then came the Cuppow. Now there’s a new kid on the mason jar accessory block and it’s called the EcoJarz. It’s a stainless steel lid, fitted with a silicone gasket to prevent leaks and it fits any regular mouth jar.

This lid has been designed so that the primary drinking hole can either be used as a spot for sipping or as space for a straw. The hole has been sized so that most standard straws fit it nicely. I find that like this lid better for use with a straw than for sipping hot beverages, as if you have a hot drink in the jar, the lid transfers the heat directly to your lips. However, as long as you’re not drinking scalding hot tea or coffee, you should be fine drinking directly from the lid.

The EcoJarz lid costs $7.99 and can be purchased through their website. They’ve also got it packaged up with handled mason jars, for an easy travel mug in a single.

The EcoJarz team is made up of a group of jar-lovers based in Ithaca, NY and Denver, CO. They’re committed to challenge our throwaway culture and get people to start thinking differently about the stuff we consume. Just the kind of attitude I embrace!

Updated: Here’s a link to the stainless steel straw I paired with my EcoJarz. Just a tip, only the bent straws made by RSVP Endurance fit this lid. The straight ones are a tiny bit too wide.

Thanks to the EcoJarz folks, I have five of these reusable drinking tops to giveaway. Here’s how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post and share your to-go cup routine. Travel mug? Disposable cup? Thermos? Ceramic mug tucked precariously between your knees while driving like my dad used to do? Let’s hear your stories!
Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Friday, October 26, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
Giveaway open to everyone, no matter where you live.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post. I do not accept submissions via email.

Disclosure: EcoJarz provided me with six of their reusable jar toppers, one to keep and five to give away. My opinions remain entirely my own. 
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Photos from the Flickr Pool + Tiny Tree Canner Winner