Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 117
May 30, 2011
Sticky Situations
[image error]
The very first day I met Brent & Josh, they were making a test batch of cajeta. You can see it coming together on the stove in our very first episode of The Fabulous Beekman Boys (in the scene where they bicker about whether Amish addresses show up on the GPS). That was almost 2 years ago, and that's just about how long Brent & Josh have worked to perfect the recipe for their deliciously sweet & spicy treat.
During my stint on the farm, I was (willingly) subjected to many test batches, and eventually began smuggling jars of cajeta back to LA in my suitcase. I threw a dinner party upon my arrival home once and for dessert served brown sugar roasted bananas smothered in spicy cajeta with toasted pecans and whipped cream. Needless to say, I was going to need more cajeta. Stat. Thank goodness it's now available year-round from the Beekman 1802 online store.
Along with those brown sugar bananas, here are two other great ways I love to use the habanero-infused cajeta:
[image error]
Cajeta Roasted Bacon
Ingredients
Habanero Cajeta
Center Cut Bacon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°
Arrange desired amount of bacon in a single layer on a rack, which rests atop a baking sheet.
Roast bacon for 10 min.
Flip the bacon, and roast for an additional 5 min.
Pour a few tablespoons of cajeta into a small bowl.
Remove bacon from the oven. Use a paper towel to blot any excess grease off the top of each slice.
Using a silicone pastry brush, brush each strip of bacon with cajeta.
Return to the oven for an additional 3 – 5 min.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
[image error]
Cajeta Coffee Sundae
Ingredients
Habanero Cajeta
Coffee Ice Cream
Salted Peanuts
Marshmallows
Instructions
Warm the cajeta in the microwave or in a saucepan.
Place two large scoops of very cold coffee ice cream in a bowl.
Pour over the warm cajeta (this will lightly melt the ice cream, creating an affogato effect).
Sprinkle with salted peanuts.
Slice the marshmallows in half. Place slices cut-side up onto sundae.
Using a kitchen torch, toast the marshmallows until golden (the cut side will caramelize best).
Eat quickly [image error]
What creative uses have you come up with for Beekman Cajeta?
May 24, 2011
Farmer's Cheese
[image error]
Long before we ever designed Blaak, the first cheese we ever made in the kitchen at Beekman Farm was a simple Farmer's Cheese. You can do it, too.
Ingredients
1 gallon whole milk (you can use any variety of milk. Goat milk will provide extra tang.)
1 pinch salt
1 large lemon, juiced
Instructions
1. Pour the milk into a large pot, and stir in a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching on the bottom of the pot.
2.When the milk begins to boil (small bubbles will first appear at the edges), turn off the heat. Stir lemon juice into the milk, and the milk will curdle. You may need to wait 5 or 10 minutes.
3. Line a sieve or colander with a cheesecloth, and pour the milk through the cloth to catch the curds. What is left in the cheesecloth is the Farmer's Cheese. The liquid is the whey.
4. Gather the cloth around the cheese, and squeeze out as much of the whey as you can. We tie the ends of the cheesecloth around the kitchen sink faucet to let the cheese drain. You can also suspend over a bowl.
5. Once drainage has stopped, wrap in plastic, or place in an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator.
Try mixing in various herbs, honeys or jams to make a delicious spread.
In the comments section below, share with us what tasty combinations you come up with.
May 23, 2011
Mary and Mayapples
[image error]
I was happy to look out my window this morning and discover that the clouds and soft rain of yesterday had disappeared .The sun was warming and I was eager to complete my lessons and chores. Nell and her mother were coming to visit later in the morning and Mother and I were going to walk with them in the near woods to learn about the plants growing there. Nell can draw so very well. She will make drawings of what we find. I do not draw as well, but I will label our findings. I would like to make a book for Father.
Mother and Nell and Nell's Mother and I walked into the wood carefully. We did not wish to crush any of the new, tender plants growing. We had waited very long to find spring. The ground beneath our feet was dark and moist and seemed to cradle each foot fall gently. It is good I wore my everyday shoes. Mother told me I must take care of my better shoes for visiting and church. Rain from yesterday was dripping from the branches overhead and the bark on the trees was shiny and dark. The drops seemed larger than spring rain and there were not many of them; but the drops that did fall on us were very loud………SPLAT!
I looked over to the left and saw many, many plant leaves that were quickly bowing; down and then up! Itseemed as if they were being plucked from underneath and then quickly released!! Mother said they were Mayapples. As we walked nearer and I could better see them, I thought they looked like umbrellas. But I did not understand how they were moving. Then I saw the drops from the tree branches far above striking them…….SPLAT! Mayapples have only one white flower that blooms now, in May, and the apple comes in the summer and ripens in the fall. Nell and I had to bend over and look underneath the leaves to see the flower. Josh and Brent also bent down to look. No one knew they were there; but I always see them.
Nell's mother told Mother that the Indians used the crushed rhizomes to remove warts and to expel worms from the intestines. She told us it can also keep insects from the plants in the garden. I think she mentioned liver complaints, but I did not understand that part. I just wanted to see this pretty flower, hiding under their umbrella leaves. I am eager to see Nell's drawing.
Spring Picnic Asparagus Salad
[image error]
By the end of winter on the farm, nothing seems more inviting than a picnic in the field. And nothing is more exciting in the Spring garden than the first skinny fingers of asparagus protruding from the soil.
We created this recipe to honor both such momentous occasions.
Ingredients:
4 cups water
½ pound green asparagus and ½ pound white asparagus, remove woody portions from base of stalk and discard and then cut remaining stalk diagonally into half-inch pieces
2 tablespoons of low-salt soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon of honey
2 clove garlic, chopped fine
¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes
Instructions:
Bring 4 cups water to boil in saucepan. Drop in the pound of asparagus to blanch. Boil 1 minute. Drain. Rinse with cold water and then pat dry with a paper towel
Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl. Pour over the asparagus.
*Note: The dressing may be kept in covered jar in the refrigerator for about a week.
Serves 4
May 21, 2011
Beekman Goes Global
[image error]
Need to get your Fabulous Beekman fix? Maybe you can combine your summer vacation plans and re-watch the second season with these countries that haven't seen it yet!
In AUSTRALIA catch the show on ABC2
In FINLAND watch MTV3 (we rate higher than Jersey Shore there!)
In ITALY help the Italians discover us on Discovery Europe
The sheep of NEW ZEALAND love us so much that they put the show on two channels, Country Channel and Living Channel
In NORWAY they watch the Fabulous Beekman Boys on Discovery Europe while trying to decide next year's Nobel Prize winners
and
In France, the Netherlands, Central and Eastern Europe, Greece & Turkey, watch us on Sundance International (thanks, Bob!)
Tell us where you would like to go in the comments section below.
May 19, 2011
Dirt People
[image error]
In a long-ago published interview (I think it was in an Ebony magazine I was reading in the dentist's office), I remember Eartha Kitt being quoted as saying:
"I trust the dirt. I don't trust diamonds and gold."
As a kid growing up in North Carolina, who most assuredly had dirt beneath his fingernails at the time, this was a profound (and profoundly crazy) statement, which is, I suppose, why it stuck with me all of these years.
Of course, almost as soon as it was humanly possible, I fled the red clay environs of my childhood for the smooth, hard asphalt of New York City…in the pursuit of diamonds and gold.
By most people's account, I found them. I had a good job and a de-luxe apartment on the Upper East Side– just like the Jeffersons (!) I went to some pretty great parties and had some conversations with some famous people (They're just like US!!)
But after a while, you learn that many of the diamonds are zirconian and a lot of the gold is just left over brass from one of Donald Trump's construction projects.
Four years ago, Josh and I cashed in every last stock we owned and scraped the bottom of our savings barrel and purchased The Beekman Farm. At the time, it was a cute diversion from our life in the city. We adopted a herd of goats (and a farmer), plucked eggs fresh from the chicken coop, planted a garden with heirloom vegetables, learned to can, jam, preserve and freeze, and even learned to make our own soap and cheese.
That first summer on the farm, the garden was so successful that our weekly grocery bill was reduced to $30 (including the necessary paper-based products). We were in the best shape of our lives and our skin was perfectly sun-kissed, albeit in a distinctive farmer's tan pattern.
Of course, our friends thought we were kind of crazy. Why did we spend every weekend working from sun up 'til sun down? Why had we become so fascinated by the differences between cow, goat and rabbit manure? And why would we exile ourselves so far away from the Hamptons?
In the fall of '08, as the markets entered the beginning stages of their global meltdown, we were sitting in the kitchen of the farm canning the last of the tomatoes and listening to NPR when a conversation with Eartha Kitt came on. She talked about the early part of her career when she was just starting "to make it". In her first home in Beverly Hills, she installed a chicken coop in the backyard and referred to herself as a "dirt girl".
And with that it became clear. We are dirt people, too.
Like Eartha at the start of her career, when we started Beekman 1802, we were a novelty act.
These days we have plenty of friends who want to learn about life on the farm, about gardening and about $30 a week grocery bills and whose dream we are living right before their very eyes.
As we struggle to grow our farm, work with members of our community to grow our village and create a better life for everyone around, some might say that we are still chasing gold.
One thing remains true. That gold is the "black" kind. It's the glacial kind. The kind that made Schoharie County, NY, "the breadbasket of the American Revolution". The kind from which springs infinite possibilities for growth.
The kind that gets under your nails and stays there.
May 17, 2011
Ballad of Licorice Icarus
[image error]
The Ballad of Icarus Licorice
There was a small piglet named Icarus
With surname and color both licorice;
He flew from his mother
To live with his brother
On Beekman Farm, Icarus Licorice.
Did he start out like his mother
(Who's redheaded, just like his brother?)
Or did he, in transit,
Determine to chance it,
And take flight inspired by the other
Icarus, winging the higher
Reaches of heaven, catch fire,
Melting his wings,
Scorching everything,
Then fall to the earth, to expire?
The moral of this could be true –
"It's dangerous to try something new;
That when you aspire
To rank that is higher,
You'll star in your own Bar-B-Q."
A lesson for life no denying.
Just stay where you are and no trying.
When you reach past your station
In one generation,
You're likely to end up French frying.
Or….
Don't push it, don't try it, beginner.
You'll never end up as a winner.
Your class is your fate,
Your status your state,
Just shut up or end up as dinner.
But there are two sides to our story;
This myth is not just allegory.
Our pig on the verge
Of a powerful urge,
Soared past bacon and sausage to Glory!
To our Icarus, flight is no biggie.,
He's safe in his silo-ma-jiggy,
Growing fat everyday,
They eat, sleep and play –
Hog Heavenly life for a piggy.
Some day he'll tell us his story,
That journey to star territory.
His ascent, burn and dive,
And how he survived
Will make for a grand oratory.
Come visit our happy pig Icarus,
Whose skin is the color of licorice.
His world is the best,
(He survived all the rest)
His fabulous sty is uBeekuitous.
So how did we name him, you query?
It was simply a task ordinary.
For flight, we said "Icarus,"
For hue, Brent said "Licorice,"
Together, the best salutary.
Flying pigs live to inspire us.
Impossible dreams will transpire us.
His style is divine,
Our Die Flederschwein,
Icarus Licorice, Esquirus.
Big Red and Icarus Licorice
Are growing both vigorous and rigorous.
So how will it end?
With laughter, my friend.
To think otherwise is ridiculous.
by Karen Cooksen
(who lives just down the road from Beekman Farm)
May 16, 2011
Week 9 Sipping Game
A Very Refined Sipping Game
When we were trying to think of the most appropriate cocktail for the Season 2 Finale Sipping Game, our initial thought was to do something that really backed a wallop (variations of the Harvey Wallbanger or the Long Island Ice Tea). After all, who doesn't want to go out with a bang?
But then we remembered that the show airs on a Tuesday and that it might not be such a good idea for a "school night".
Then we thought of doing something more celebratory—something with champagne! But that seemed kind of boring, and we had just created the champagne punch last week.
While employing our characteristic "creative conflict resolution" (aka bickering), we got a call from someone who works at Bacardi who said that they had been following our episodic sipping game all season. They suggested their classic mojito.
And that was perfect.
Not only is the fresh mint starting to take over various corners of the garden at Beekman Farm, but, to be realistic, our lives at this point are less about flash and bang and more about finding a way to muddle through somehow.
Click here for the mojito recipe.
Take a sip every time you feel sad that this is the last episode of this season of The Fabulous Beekman Boys.
May 14, 2011
The Beekman/Bacardi Mojito
[image error]We love making Beekman Bacardi Mojito's because there is no better way to use the delicious mint that grows in abundance right outside the kitchen door at Beekman Farm.
Ingredients
1 1/2 parts BACARDI® Superior Rum
12 fresh mint leaves
½ lime
2 Tbsp. simple syrup (or 4 tsp. sugar)
Top with club soda
Instructions
Muddle mint leaves and lime in a tall glass.
Cover with simple syrup and fill glass with ice.
Add BACARDI® Rum and club soda; stir well.
Garnish glass with lime wedge and sprigs of mint.
VISIT BACARDI ON FACEBOOK AND CLICK ON THE COCKTAIL TAB FOR MORE GREAT BACARDI RUM RECIPES
May 12, 2011
Read All About It
[image error]
You can win the brand new Nook Color autographed by The Fabulous Beekman Boys.
Click here to find out how!
