Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 79

Links: Roasted Tomatoes, Basil Salt, and a Winner

I spent last night on a red eye, traveling back home to Philadelphia from San Francisco. I was in the Bay Area for a whirlwind three days for the Good Food Awards judging (and a bit of family time). Now I’m settling in to being home (at least for the next week) and trying to catch up on my overflowing inbox. While I type away, here are a few links for you!

Brined fish glazed with plum jam.
Making kraut on a sailboat.
Roasted tomato sauce that’s safe for canning.
Roasted pizza sauce.
End of summer pickling.
Slow cooker tomato paste.
Basil salt (I imagine that this would work well with any soft, leafy herb)
Canning parties on BBC Radio 4 (with a cameo from yours truly)

The winner of the Hobby Hill Farm cheese kit giveaway is #132/Jen Y. And don’t forget, you can get 10% off on a Hobby Hill Farm purchase by using the code “FIJ.”

Related Posts:

Links: Late Summer Jams, Soggy Pickles, and Winners
Links: Tomatoes, No-cook Jams, and Winners
Links: Poached Tomatoes, Spicy Beans, and a Winner

Making Mozzarella with Hobby Hill Farm’s Kit

Did I say that I was going to write about my experience using the Hobby Hill Farm cheese making kit on Tuesday? It appears that I actually meant Thursday. Oops!

Step one with any new food endeavor is to read the instructions carefully and make sure you have all ingredients and gear. The kit comes with everything necessary expect for the milk. As far as gear goes, you need a big pot, a slotted spoon, a microwave-safe bowl, and a thermometer to track the temperature of the milk.

While the milk heats, you dissolve citric acid in water and a bit of rennet in another small portion of water.

The acidic water joins the milk when it is 55 degrees F.

Then you gently stir as it heats to 90 degrees F.

Once the milk reaches 90 degrees F, you pull the pot off the heat.

Add the dilute rennet and stir using an up and down motion.

Then you cover the pot and let the curds coagulate for a bit.

Using a knife that goes all the way to the bottom of the pot, you cut the curds. Looking at this picture, I realize that my curds might have needed to stir for another minute or two.

Once the curds are cut, you return the pot to the heat and warm the contents until they reach 105 degrees F.

Remove the pot from the heat again and stir.

Use that slotted spoon and strain the curds out into the microwave safe bowl.

Pour off any gathered whey and microwave.

Knead and microwave.

Knead and microwave again.

I divided my cheese into two segments and formed them into balls.

Then I put them in cold water to set.

All told, it was a really fun project that has delicious results. I’m still no expert at this point and I know that my cheese is a little firmer than desired, but the kit has enough for many more batches, so I’ll certainly be trying again! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win your own cheese making kit.

Disclosure: Hobby Hill Farm is a Food in Jars sponsor. They provided the kit you see here, as well as the one up for giveaway (along with a sack of the most delicious pretzels ever). 

Related Posts:

Giveaway: Cheese Making Kit from Hobby Hill Farm

CSA Cooking: Single Quart Fermented Dilly Beans

Last Thursday, the nice folks from Philly Foodworks dropped off my September share of goodies. The box contained a little bag of spring mix, 12 ounces of perfect green beans, one hefty eggplant, a tiny watermelon, both hot and sweet peppers, half a dozen ears of corn, a bundle of sweet corn, one giant heirloom tomato, six multigrain bagels from Metropolitan, and a bottle of sweet and spicy hot sauce.

Despite the utter chaos of the weekend (a family wedding, loads of visiting cousins, my mom in town, and my mother-in-law’s on-going health issues), I managed to cook, process, and preserve a goodly amount of the bounty in the box and I can feel how my future self is already appreciative.

I combined the sweet and hot peppers with a head of garlic, some ginger, and a salt brine and it’s on the countertop turning into hot sauce as I type. I made a trio of easy salads with the corn, spring mix, eggplant, and tomato.

My mom and I split the watermelon, each taking a half and digging in with spoons (though I did save the rind for pickling). And with three people in the apartment, the bagels certainly didn’t last long.

That leaves us with the hot sauce, swiss chard and the beans. I’ve been dribbling the hot sauce on scrambled eggs. The chard leaves are destined for a pot of soup, while the stems will make more of these pickles. And the beans are also on their way to becoming pickles. One of my favorite pickles, in fact.

I hinted at these pickles last fall when I gave away a short stack of preserving books. The bones of the recipe comes from the wonderful book Fermented Vegetables, though I’ve scaled it down (as I so often do). It ends up being an easy, adaptable pickle that stays super crisp, is effervescently tart, and just happen to have all those gut-friendly bacteria swimming about.

Make as big or as small a batch as you want. Just make them! And look for the hot sauce recipe next week!

PrintSingle Quart Fermented Dilly Beans

Yield: 1 quart jar

Ingredients

1 quart filtered water
2 tablespoons very finely milled sea or pickling salt
12 ounces green beans
4-5 garlic cloves, peeled and gently crushed
1 tablespoon dill seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes (or more for a spicier pickle)

Instructions

Combine the water and salt in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well so that the salt dissolves into the water.
Wash the beans and snap off the stem end.
Place the garlic cloves, dill seed, and red chili flakes in the bottom of a clean, wide mouth quart jar.
Pack the beans into the jar above the spices and cover them with the brine.
Set a weight on the beans (clean stones, pickle pebbles, or a quarter pint jar will all work). For this batch, I used a Kraut Source, but whatever your favorite fermenting set-up will do.
Set the jar on a small plate and tuck it into an out of the way spot that doesn't get direct sunlight and is neither too hot or too cold. I just keep mine on the kitchen counter.
Let the pickles sit for about a week and then taste one. If you like the level of tang, then they are done. If not, let them sit a bit longer. I find that they are best when the beans have faded in color a bit and take on a uniformly drab olive color.
Once you like where they are, remove whatever pickling apparatus you set up, put a lid on the jar, and pop it into the fridge.
They'll keep for months in cold storage.

Notes

You will have some brine leftover. You can use it for whatever other tiny batch ferment you'd like!

3.1http://foodinjars.com/2015/09/csa-cooking-single-quart-fermented-dilly-beans/

Disclosure: This post was written in partnership with Philly Foodworks. Once a month, they give me one of their CSA boxes so that I can cook my way through it and share how I use and preserve the ingredients. You can find more about this partnership here. 

Related Posts:

CSA Cooking: Roasted Tomatillo and Banana Pepper Salsa
CSA Cooking: Zucchini, Fennel, and Green Pepper Relish
CSA Cooking: Salad Pickles (aka Waste Prevention Pickles)

Spicy Peach Preserves

It feels bittersweet to write these words, but I do believe that this will be my last fresh peach recipe for this year. I’ve peeled, cooked, and processed about 25 pounds this season and I feel utterly done with them. However, if you’ve still got some peach energy, this sweet, spicy, tangy preserve might be a fun one for you.

To build this recipe, I took the bones of my beloved tomato jam and made just a few small tweaks. I reduced the amount of sugar, added a little salt for balance, and reduced the cooking time (because peaches don’t contain as much water as tomatoes do).

The finished jam has a nice sweet and savory balance, and would be really great to use as a glaze for baked chicken or as a dipping sauce for roasted vegetables. I’m sure that when the days get a little cooler, I’ll stir some together with apple cider vinegar and use it as a tasty braising medium for chicken thighs.

If you make it, let me know what you think, since this one is more of an experiment that most of the recipes I post here.

PrintSpicy Peach Preserves

Ingredients

5 pounds peaches, peeled and mashed
21/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold four pints of finished product.
Combine the mashed peaches, sugar, lime juice, ginger, salt, red chili flakes, cinnamon, and cloves in a large pot.
Place the pot on the stove over high heat and bring the peaches to a boil. Cook, stirring regularly, for 20 to 30 minutes (or even more, if your peaches are watery), until the fruit thickens into jam. You'll know it's done when the droplets fall off your spatula in chunky bits and the fruit in the pan doesn't look at all watery.
When the jam is done to your liking, remove the pan from the heat.
Funnel the finished jam into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. 3.1http://foodinjars.com/2015/09/spicy-peach-preserves/

Related Posts:

Small Batch Peach Jam for Live Online Class
Peach Jam

Books: Stir, The World on a Plate, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, and Orchard House

Between canning classes, multiple cross-country trips, and processing piles of produce, I’ve managed to read my way through a tidy stack of books this summer. Here are four food-related volumes that I really enjoyed and think some of you might also like.

Stir by Jessica Fechtor – This memoir-with-recipes is the story of Jessica Fechtor’s brain aneurism at the age of 28, and her grueling but hope and love-filled recuperation. An avid cook and joyful eater prior to the aneurism, the book is the story of her recovery and the ways in which food brought her back to herself as her wounded brain and body healed. Jess is a honest, thoughtful writer and I devoured the book in just a day and a half back in July.

The World on a Plate by Mina Holland – A fun and well-researched volume, The World on a Plate isn’t a book to read straight through. Instead, it’s one to dip into when you crave fresh flavors and a easy visit to another land. Every time I open it up, I add another recipe to my to-make list.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal – This novel wraps around Eva Thorvald (a girl and then woman with a singular palate), home cooking, foodie culture, and (of course) the Midwest. The characters are well-defined, quirky, and human. It was a delight to read.

Orchard House by Tara Austen Weaver – On its surface, this is a book about rebuilding a neglected garden. But really, it’s about building community, healing a family, and embracing life as it comes. It is beautifully written and contains moments that will break your heart with sweet sharpness of life. When I opened up my copy to write about it here, I found myself pulled back into its pages and found myself again lost in Tara’s words.

Now, for some disclosures. The first is that all four of these books were sent to me for review. However, I only share the really good things with you guys, so know that the opinions expressed here truly are my own. 

The second disclosure is that I know both Jess and Tara. We’ve shared meals, talked shop, and swapped preserving tips. Still, the kind words I’ve written are deserved. These two women have written truly remarkable books. You should read them. 

Related Posts:

Four Cookbooks I’ve Been Enjoying This Summer
Cookbooks: Real Sweet
Be a Recipe Tester for my Natural Sweeteners Book

Giveaway: Cheese Making Kit from Hobby Hill Farm

This week’s giveaway comes to us from brand new sponsor Hobby Hill Farm. Based in Powhatan, Virginia, Hobby Hill Farm offers locally made jams and preserves, homemade pretzels, candies, and cheese making kits. What’s more, if you’re in the area, owner Sharon regularly teaches cheese making classes around central Virginia (she tells me she has 3-4 a week on the books straight through to November).

It’s those cheese making kits that I’m here to talk about today. The kit that Hobby Hill Farm sells retails for $26.95 and is designed to get you making your own mozzarella or ricotta cheese in just 30 minutes (they also sell an array of more advanced cheese making supplies). The kit contains cheese salt, citric acid, rennet, butter muslin, and easy-to-follow instructions. All you have to add is a gallon of milk and you’re ready to go.

I’ve completed many a DIY food project over the years, but until this kit arrived, I was always a little wary of trying my hand at cheese. However, I’ve made a batches of both mozzarella and ricotta so far and am loving how easy and satisfying a project it is. I’ll be back tomorrow with some pictures from my own experimentation.

Thanks to the kind folks at Hobby Hill Farm, I have one cheese making kit to give away this week. Here’s how to enter.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about a time when you tried to make something new in the kitchen.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Saturday, September 12, 2015. The winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, September13, 2015.
Giveaway is open to US residents only (and is void where prohibited).
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left on the blog, I cannot accept submissions via email.

If you can’t wait, know that Hobby Hill Farm is currently offering all my readers 10% off their purchase. Use the code “FIJ” at checkout to get the deal.

Disclosure: Hobby Hill Farm is a Food in Jars sponsor. Additionally, they provided the kit you see here, as well as the one up for giveaway (along with a sack of the most delicious pretzels ever). 

Related Posts:

Giveaway: Two Flip Cap Kits
Giveaway: Wüsthof Clip Point Paring Knife
Giveaway: Anolon Vesta Cast Iron 5 Quart Braiser

Links: Late Summer Jams, Soggy Pickles, and Winners

This last week has been such a good one. My mom got into town on Tuesday night and it’s been so fun to have her here. We’ve done a bit of preserving together, have gone on some very nice, meandering walks, and have generally enjoyed being around one another. When we weren’t just handing out together, we were with extended family, celebrating the marriage of our cousin Amy to her partner Jean. They’ve been together for more than 30 years and it’s been such a joy to see them legally wed.

Now, links!

Low-ish sugar blueberry raspberry jam.
Some of Eat Boutique’s favorite homemade jam recipes.
Preserving seven pounds of peaches.
Cherry plum rum preserves.
How Ashley English used her Canbassador bounty.
Watermelon and pickle salad!?!
Sweet and savory peach jam.
Fermented relishes.
Packing lunches and maple sun butter.
Easy home canned tomato sauce.
Vegan jam drops.
How to avoid soggy pickles.
A vegetable freezing refresher course.
How to make your own beeswax food wrap.

The winners in last week’s Flip Cap giveaway are #24/Sue F. and #167/Pamela. Congratulations winners! And don’t forget, if you like the sound of the Flip Caps, you can get them here.

Related Posts:

Giveaway: Two Flip Cap Kits
Links: Tomatoes, No-cook Jams, and Winners
Links: Poached Tomatoes, Spicy Beans, and a Winner

September Sponsors: Cuppow, iLids, Mason Jar reCAP, Fillmore Container, and More!

It is the beginning of September and that means that it’s time to thank the companies who help make this blog possible. If you like the products and services these folks offer, please do show them your appreciation by giving them your business.

Cuppow is the creator of the original mason jar travel mug topper and the BNTO, a small plastic cup that transforms a canning jar into a snack or lunch box. They also recently expanded their product line to include branded jar coozie and they’ve teamed up with the EIO Kids Cup folks to bring the manufacturing of that kids drinking system onto US soil. I used my coozie just today!

iLids is a Seattle-based small business that makes both storage and drink lids in both regular and wide mouth sizes for mason jars. Their storage lids are water tight and the drink lids can accommodate a straw. Best of all, their lids come in a whole bunch of different colors, so there’s something for everyone!

Mason Jar reCAP is a company based right here in Pennsylvania. They are the producers of the original reCAP pour lid and have since expanded to include the reCAP Flip. They also sell pump and spray caps to fit regular mouth mason jars! I’m currently giving away two of their Flip Cap Kits, so make sure to enter!

Fillmore Container is a family-owned business based in Lancaster, PA and sells all manner of canning jars, lids, and other preservation gear. They also publish a blog that is a very useful resource for canners. This week, they’ve been talking pressure canning!

MightyNest is an amazing resource for non-toxic, natural, and organic products for homes and families. Check out their new subscription program called Mighty Fix. For $10 a month, you get a reusable product and everything else you buy ships for free!

Mrs. Wages makes pectin, vinegar, and more canning mixes than I can count. Their website is an incredible preserving resource and I can’t say enough good things about their salsa mix. Sign up for their newsletter for monthly installments of canning goodness.

Fermentools offers a brilliant fermentation starter kit that involves a heavy-duty glass pickling weight, an airlock, a lid with a reusable rubber seal, and mineral-rich salt. Get one (or several!) to help turn your CSA goodies into naturally fermented pickles.

Orchard Road makes mason jars, lids, and rings for home canners. Now in their second year of business, you should be seeing their jars in more physical stores. Their online store is now open for business, so you can now order them straight from the source.

If your company or small business is interested in becoming a sponsor, you can find more details here. I offer discounts for multiple month purchases and am always happy to work with your budget.

Related Posts:

September Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, Orchard Road, Felix Doolittle, Spice Ratchet, and More!
September Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, and Preserving Now

Gingery Pickled Peaches

Last weekend, I taught a canning and preserving workshop at the Omega Institute in the Hudson Valley. On my drive up there, my car was packed to the gills with pots and pans, jars, bowls, cutting boards, jars (I brought 13 cases and ended up dashing out between sessions for two more boxes of quarter pints), and well over 100 pounds of produce.

Of the 12 preserves we made over the course of the weekend, a full five featured peaches. We canned them in quarters, made peach salsa, tossed slices in cinnamon and dehydrated them, did a batch of chunky, vanilla-laced jam, and finally made jelly out of the peach-flavored juice leftover from canning the quarters. It is, after all, the season for peach canning.

One thing we did not do was make pickled fruit (though I did consider it when building the class schedule). We were making a chutney and doing a couple of other styles of pickling as well, so there just wasn’t room. However, had we had just a little more time, I would have slipped in this recipe for pickled peaches.

There is something about pickled fruit that I just really like. A few slivers spooned from a jar easily serves as a sweet, bright, and tangy counterpoint to any number of meals (and is particularly welcome during the relentless cold and grey of winter). I particularly like to braise well-salted chicken thighs in a slurry of browned onions slices and pickled peach segments. Served over creamy millet, it’s a winner of a dish come November.

The eagle-eyed among you might look and this recipe and think that it looks familiar. If you have this thought, you are not wrong. The brine is identical to the one I use for my Gingery Pickled Blueberries and works equally well with peeled pear slices. Pickled fruit. It’s hard to go wrong.

Note: You may notice that in these pictures, the peaches are not peeled, yet in the recipe below, I tell you to peel them. I was feeling particularly lazy the day I made these and skipped the peeling step. If you don’t mind having the skins on, feel free to be like me. However, for a more refined pickled peach, remove the skins.

PrintGingery Pickled Peaches

Yield: 3 pints

Ingredients

4 pounds peaches
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup filtered water
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
3 inches fresh ginger, sliced

Instructions

Prepare a boiling water bath canner and three pint jars and new lids.
Cut peaches into quarters and remove pits. Place in a large, heatproof baking dish. Bring a kettle of water to a boil as you prep the peaches.
Once all the peaches are cut, place the pan in the skin, and pour the boiling water over them. Set a timer for three minutes.
While the peaches resting in the water so that their skins loosen, combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and ginger slices in a four quart saucepan and bring to a simmer.
When the time is up, tip the hot water out of pan and run cold tap water over the peaches to make them cool enough to handle.
Remove the peels from the peach segments. If you start at the stem end, they should come free fairly easily. Use a paring knife on any tough bits. If your peaches are quite large, you can cut them into thinner slices (that's what I did in the batch pictured above).
As you work, slip each peeled peach bit into the simmering pickling liquid.
Once all the peaches are peeled, remove the jars from your canning pot.
Using a slotted spoon, divide the peach segments between the jars. Top with the hot pickling liquid, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Make sure to tuck 2 or 3 ginger slices into each jar.
Use a chopstick to wiggle out any trapped air bubbles and add more liquid, if necessary.
Wipe the jar rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes.
When time is up, remove jars from canner and place them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When jars are cool enough to handle, remove rings and check seals. Any unsealed jars should be kept in the refrigerator.
Let jars sit for at least 24 hours before eating to all the flavors to settle.3.1http://foodinjars.com/2015/09/gingery-pickled-peaches/

Related Posts:

Pickled Italian Plums
Honey Sweetened Rhubarb Compote With Ginger
Pickled Sweet Cherries

Giveaway: Two Flip Cap Kits

Friends, have you seen the Flip Cap yet? It’s the latest product from the folks who make the reCAP Pour lid and it’s pretty terrific. It’s a lid designed to fit on a regular mouth mason jar with an easy opening flip top.

They’re great because they give you easy access to your homemade foods with just a simple flick of the lid. Pop them on your pickles, or the jam your kids reach for most often. They’re also useful if you struggle to open a screw top lids (my grandmother would have loved them).

They also make a pair of shaker tops for the flip caps, which attach with a simple twist. I have a jar of homemade citrus salt that I plan on pairing with the fine shaker top so that I use it more (as things stand, it often gets pushed to the back of the shelf).

I have two of the Flip Cap Kits to give away this week. Each winner will get a Flip Cap and a set of screens to to fit. Here’s how to enter.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me how you’d use a Flip Cap in your kitchen.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Sunday, September 6, 2015. The winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Monday, September 7, 2015.
Giveaway is open to US residents only (and is void where prohibited).
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left on the blog, I cannot accept submissions via email.

Disclosure: The folks at reCAP provided the sets you see pictured here and the units for giveaway. They are also Food in Jars sponsors. However, the opinions expressed here are entirely my own. 

Related Posts:

Giveaway: Mason Jar Lids from reCAP + Flip Cap Kickstarter News
Giveaway: Orchard Road Mason Jars
reCAP Winners