Flavored Salts: Rosemary Lemon

December 13, 2018December 19, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 7 Comments

Though I made five different flavored salts at once, I will be doing a post for each flavor separately.

Dry salts are made with a basic ratio of 1 tsp flavors to 1/4 cup coarse salt. Feel free to adjust to your own personal tastes! For the salt, you can use Kosher salt, pickling salt, sea salt, or any coarse salt you prefer. I used Kosher salt, which is fine enough to not need further grinding, but coarse enough to maintain a nice texture.

Rosemary Lemon Salt

Ingredients:

lemon zest
dried rosemary leaves
Kosher salt

Also needed:

food processor, coffee/spice grinder or mortar and pestle
jar with lid, large enough to have room to shake the salt
a larger funnel or canning funnel would also be handy

Step 1: measure out the lemon zest and rosemary leaves (see note below).

flavoured.salts.rosemarylemon.1 — Dehydrated lemon zest and rosemary leaves.

Note: For 1 cup of salt, you will want about 4 tsp ground rosemary/lemon mixture. I made mine using 2 cups of salt, so I used about 3 rounded tablespoons total (1 Tbsp = 3 tsp) of the lemon zest and rosemary leaves, to get approximately 8 tsp after grinding.

flavoured.salts.rosemarylemon.2 — Lemon zest and rosemary leaves, ground together.

Step 2: grind the rosemary leaves and lemon zest together, to a fairly fine powder.

flavoured.salts.kosher.salt — Two cups Kosher salt.

Step 3: measure out your salt into a jar.

flavoured.salts.rosemarylemon.3 — Kosher salt with rosemary, lemon zest powder.

Step 4: add ground rosemary and lemon zest to the salt. Close the jar and shake thoroughly.

Step 5: Label your jar and set aside for about a week, out of direct sunlight, to give the flavors time to meld, giving the jar a thorough shake on a regular basis.

If desired, measure out portions of the combined mixture into gifting jars.

Links for all five flavors made:
Rosemary Lemon
Scarborough Fair Garlic
Mushroom
Raspberry Wine
Bacon

Belated Canadian Thanksgiving dinner

November 3, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

The Thanksgiving family dinner we had planned last month got rescheduled to today. Since moving here, we did have one large family dinner, before Christmas or so, so it’s been almost a year.

I think it turned out rather well.

I think Doom Guy agrees. Continue reading →

Nutty Seedy Brittle

October 28, 2018October 29, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

I decided to try something new tonight; making a brittle. While I’ve certainly had brittle before, I’ve never made it until now.

When I started looking up recipes, I thought I might not be able to, since they all included corn syrup. This is something I don’t normally have in the pantry. However, I did find some without corn syrup, so it worked out in the end.

Before I share the photos and recipe, here are some important notes.

First, make sure you premeasure all your ingredients, first. Once the sugar starts to caramelize, you will have to work quickly, so have them all ready and on hand.

Second, make sure you have a baking sheet or pan oiled/buttered and ready before you start. If it’s not well oiled first, it will be next to impossible to get the brittle off once it hardens.

It would also be preferable to use a heavy bottomed saucepan, if you have one, for even heating, as sugar can burn easily.

And finally, have a trivet or pot holder near the pan. When the sugar caramelizes, you will need to work quickly to remove it from the heat and add the final ingredients, so make sure to have a safe place where you can put your hot pot, stir things in, then immediately pour it onto your prepared pan.

For this brittle, I used a mix of pecan pieces and roasted, salted sunflower seeds, because that’s what I had on hand. Since the sunflower seeds and butter were both salted, I was lighter on the added salt. I also used kosher salt; being a coarse salt, there’s a bit less in the measuring spoon than when using table salt. If I were using table salt, I would reduce the amount by about half, unless I were using unsalted butter and none of the nuts/seeds were salted.

Nutty Seedy Brittle Ingredients (makes about 2 – 2 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups nuts and seeds (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.)
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp baking soda

1. Combine sugar, water and salt into a saucepan over medium/medium-high heat.

2. Bring the syrup mixture to a gentle boil, then set timer for 10 minutes.

3 . Continue to boil, stirring occasionally, watching for the colour to change.

This is after 10 minutes.

4. Continue to boil until the colour changes from clear to a light amber colour. This may take another 10 minutes, depending on your stove.

5. As soon as the colour changes (or the temperature reaches 300F on a candy thermometer), remove from heat.

6. Quickly add the butter, vanilla and baking soda, while stirring constantly. The mixture will foam up. Continue stirring until the foam subsides and the mixture begins to look glossy.

7. Quickly stir in the nuts and seeds, then pour the mixture onto the prepared pan.

8. Flatten the mixture, as needed, and allow to cool for about 20 minutes, or until brittle.

That’s it!

It’s a simple recipe, using some pretty basic ingredients. It’s just a bit finicky on technique. Well worth it!

Enjoy!

The Re-Farmer

Home Made Chicken Stock

October 23, 2018October 23, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

The following is a “use watcha got” recipe to use up the carcasses of your cooked chicken (or turkey). This stock is cooked down to be more concentrated, and should result in a rather firm, gel-like consistency when cool.

Decide ahead of time how you will store your stock, and prepare in advance as needed. I used pint sized canning jars and sterilized the canning funnel, jars, lids and rings during the last hour or so of cooking. You could also pour the stock into ice cube trays for freezing, or use freezer bags.

You will also need a colander and bowl large enough to hold your stock, plus a sieve and cheesecloth for straining. Having a giant measuring cup is also very handy to stain into, making it easier to pour the stock into jars.

Ingredients:

bones and skin from roasted chickens (or turkey)
pan drippings
onion and/or leeks
garlic cloves
vegetables such as carrots, celery (including leaves), celeriac, parsnips
herbs such as rosemary, thyme, savory, sage, bay leaves, ginger, parsley or dill
peppercorns
salt; optional
cold water
optional additions: lemon or orange zest, a splash of apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar

Note: Quantities will depend on how many carcasses you are using. For 3 carcasses, I used 1 large onion, a whole head of garlic, 4 carrots, and whatever herbs I had handy in my cupboard.

Seasonings will also depend on how the chickens were seasoned when cooked. When I roasted ours, I first rubbed them with lemon juice and put the lemon pieces, with some bay leaves, into the cavities. I also rubbed lemon salt, paprika, pepper and oil into the skin. Because of this, I was able to be light on the salt and pepper when making the stock. What salt I did use was lemon salt.

Place your chicken bones and skin into a large stock pot. Scrape pan drippings in (cooled pan drippings may be gelled, which is awesome).
Add onions, cut into large pieces (skin can be left on, if you wish), or leeks cut into 2 inch or so chunks.
Crush garlic cloves with the side of a large knife (skins can be left on, but I like to remove them) and add to the pot.
Note: If you don’t have fresh onions or garlic, dried can be used.
Vegetables do not need to be peeled. Just scrub them, and remove the root ends. Chop them into about 2 inch pieces, then add to the pot.
Add fresh or dried herbs and other seasonings of your choice.
Add peppercorns (or ground pepper, if that’s what you have) and salt. If you’re not sure about the salt, leave it for later, after tasting.
Add enough cold water to cover everything by about 1 or 2 inches.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Do not stir, as that will make your stock cloudy.
Simmer for about 3-4 hours.
Place a colander over a large bowl. Carefully pour everything in the stock pot, into the colander. Gently lift out the colander, allowing to drain, and set aside. Colander contents can be discarded.
Wash the stock pot out and place back on the stove. Pour the stock, through a sieve, back into the stock pot.
Taste for seasonings. Adjust as desired.
Bring the stock to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to simmer the stock down until reduced by 1/3rd.
Line a sieve with several layers of cheesecloth and place over a bowl or large measuring cup.
Gently ladle the stock into the lined sieve.
Fill prepared containers with strained stock (in batches, if need be) and seal.
Refrigerate or freeze, as desired.

Using the carcasses of 3 chickens, I was able to fill 11 pint sized canning jars (all the ones I had available), plus have 3 cups of stock left over.

The second cooking down of the stock concentrates it a bit; if you wanted to, you could continue to cook it down more, for an even more concentrated stock. Keep this in mind when you use it, as you may need to water it down a bit.

Enjoy!

The Re-Farmer

There’s a new dough in town…

October 21, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

A new sourdough.

And it has a name.

I put a Post-it note on the cover, with the date I started the starter. This is what I found added to it, this morning. :-D

Our girls are too funny!

The Re-Farmer

Small Batch Grape Jelly

October 19, 2018October 19, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

During the summer, as my mother’s grapes ripened, I gathered them and froze them. I didn’t even bag them; just put them in bowls and stuck them in the freezer.

We’ve been nibbling on them, little by little, ever since. ;-)

I had originally planned to put them through the juicer, but for the amount we had, it just didn’t seem worth the effort. So I went back to something I wanted to try, earlier.

Making jelly.

This is a new thing for me – we made jam, when I was growing up, never jelly. I got the recipes and instructions from my copy of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (affiliate link). It’s a great book for small batch canning, with recipes that are easily modified for quantity. I’m rather pleased with how it turned out!

The frozen grapes made for 5 cups. The first thing I had to do was extract the juice. For this you need a large, stainless steel saucepan (you need room for the boiling liquid to expand), a jelly bag or a colander or sieve lined with layers of cheese cloth, a deep bowl, and a way to hang the bag over it.

Grape Juice for jelly

Wash and drain the stem-less grapes. Place into saucepan with just enough water to prevent scorching – about 1/4-1/2 cup for every 4 cups of grapes. (For my 5 cups of frozen grapes, they were already washed, so I gave them a rinse, left them to thaw in my saucepan, then used about 1/2 cup of water.)
Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, cover loosely and boil gently. Stir often, crushing the grapes if needed (my frozen grapes split in the freezer, so it wasn’t really needed), until just softened – about 5-10 minutes.
Transfer into a dampened jelly bag or cheesecloth lined colander, over a deep bowl. Hang and allow to drip for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

That’s it! I used a large measuring cup as my bowl, and let it hang overnight. The 5 cups of frozen grapes yielded just under 2 cups of juice. I then put the pulp outside for the birds. :-) To make the jelly, you’ll need a stainless steel saucepan – this will bubble up a lot, so have one big enough to give it plenty of room – sterilized jars, rings and lids, a spoon to stir with, plus a cold spoon to do the gel test*, and a canning funnel.

Grape Jelly (based on Old-Fashioned Jellies, pg. 120, in the cookbook)

2 cups juice
1 1/2 cups sugar

(ratio of 3 cups sugar to 4 cups juice)

Combine juice and sugar in a large, stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Keep at a hard boil, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to sheet from a metal spoon*, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and test gel*. If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam.
Quickly pour hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar and screw on ring until finger-tip tight.

After this, you could can them, as per your canner’s instructions. I don’t have a canner, but the 2 cups of juice made barely 1 1/2 pints of jelly, which were left to cool overnight. They will be kept refrigerated, instead.

* Sheet test for gel

Dip a cold metal spoon into the boiling soft spread. Lift the spoon and hold it horizontally, edge down, and watch how the mixture drops. When the mixture reaches the gel stage, it will begin to “sheet”, with the jelly breaking off the spoon in a sheet or flake, rather than pouring or dripping.

We taste tested the jelly this morning.

Now, this is where I admit, I don’t actually like jams or jellies. I find them too sweet, and the texture off-putting.

I love this jelly! Using our own grapes, this jelly has a sweet-tart flavor that is just awesome. It also gelled really well.

Obviously, the flavor will always depend on the type of grapes used, but using grapes that had been frozen first would have changed the flavor was well.

I am hoping that, next year, I’ll be able to free up our grape vine from the spirea it’s surrounded by, and be able to trellis it, for increased productivity.

Over the years, I plan to get more, and different varieties, that can grow in our climate.

Next year, I invest in canning equipment. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Brined Turkey with bacon

October 7, 2018October 7, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

I was interrupted while making our Thanksgiving dinner today. I got a call from home care, telling me that there had been a sick call, and no one would be able to do the meal assist with my mother. I did confirm that she would still be getting her bed time assist, then said that I could go over to do the meal assist. So I turned all over to the girls to finish, and headed out to help out my mother.

Everything was ready by the time I got back, so we went straight to setting up for dinner. I half carved the turkey before I realized I forgot to take a photo! :-D So here is half of our bacon covered, brined turkey! Continue reading →

Happy Thanksgiving!

October 7, 2018October 7, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving Weekend, here in Canada, and our turkey is ready for the oven. :-)

20181007.turkey.for.oven.png

Though Thanksgiving is officially tomorrow, we decided to have a quiet family dinner today. A large family dinner is being planned for later in the month.

The turkey was brined overnight, rubbed with lemon halves (which were then tucked into the cavity) and covered with bacon.

A trick I learned from my late mother-in-law. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Makin’ Mayo

October 2, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

Today, my daughters cracked open a new jar of mayonnaise that we bought just a couple of days ago, and discovered the seal was cracked.

Which means it had been sitting in our cupboard, with the vacuum seal broken.

So, that got thrown out.

Since we weren’t about to drive into town just to buy a jar of mayonnaise, and I happened to have the ingredients, I made a quick batch.

This is an easy mayonnaise recipe from the home economics cookbook I got from when I was in junior high school – a cookbook that is still one of my most used, because it’s filled with basic recipes like this one.

I also have these handy little pint canning jars to use to store it, too. :-) Since this is an uncooked version, I sterilized them first.

The ingredients are pretty basic; dry mustard, salt, paprika (that is the amount in the recipe; when I’ve made it in the past, I usually used just a pinch), a large egg, vinegar and oil.

While you can adjust how much paprika is used, to taste, the quantities of the rest of the ingredients should stay the same. That doesn’t mean you can’t get creative, though! I’ve made this using olive oil, and avocado oil can be used as well. You can use one egg, or two egg yolks. Instead of white vinegar, try another light vinegar, such as white wine vinegar. I wouldn’t use a dark vinegar, such as balsamic, as it would be overpowering, but go ahead and try it, if you want. I’ve even successfully used prepared mustard instead of dry (not the bright yellow kind, but there are a lot of flavourful Dijon mustards out there that will work quite well).

The important thing about making mayonnaise is in creating the emulsion. The original recipe was written before electric mixers were common, and the instructions say to add the oil, one drop at a time, while beating vigorously until it thickens! Even with an electric mixer, it’s important to add the oil slowly. Just a thin drizzle.

The need to thoroughly beat in the oil, as it is slowly being added, requires a bowl that is small and deep. I used my 4 cup measuring cup, because even the bowl that came with my stand mixer was too big for a single recipe. If I had doubled it, it would have worked fine.

If you are using a blender, immersion blender or food processor, however, the blades turn so quickly, it emulsifies before you know it! Just add the oil in a steady stream.

Here is the original recipe, with my modifications added in [brackets].

Mayonnaise

1 tsp dry mustard [can use equal amount of prepared mustard, such as a dijon]
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika [can be reduced to taste, or none at all for an almost white mayonnaise]
1 large egg or 2 yolks
1 cup salad oil [can be any vegetable oil, olive oil, or avocado oil]
2 Tbsp vinegar [white vinegar or any light vinegar of choice]

In a small but deep bowl, mix spices and egg
Add oil one drop at a time, beating constantly until and emulsion forms (mixture thickens). [If using an electric mixer, pour the oil in a steady stream no larger than a pencil.]
Beat in 1 Tbsp vinegar and the remaining oil in larger quantities. [Using an electric mixer, you can add all the vinegar now, or after all the oil has been added.]
Add remaining vinegar and beat vigorously. [Pour into sterilized container.] Refrigerate.

Hint: let the egg come to room temperature, first.

Note: if the emulsion refuses to form and “breaks” (one of the reasons buying mayonnaise can be preferred!), it might still be rescued. Take an egg yolk and beat it in another small, deep bowl. Then, slowly add the broken mayonnaise, a little bit at a time, while beating vigorously.

If that still doesn’t work… well… there’s always the grocery store! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Something new

October 2, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, something new to us, anyhow!

One of our errands yesterday was at the international grocery store in the city. Right at the doorway, their new seasonal fruit or vegetable display table had jackfruit.

We have never tried jackfruit before.

My husband picked up Amazon Prime, since we have all of 2 channels on our Farmer Vision, and they both kinda suck, so he could watch movies or TV. I tried going through their movies and found next to nothing that interested me, so I went looking through the TV shows and found A Taste of History. I’ve made it to season four, and have really been enjoying it. I also happened to watch an episode recently that included jackfruit.

So we decided to buy some.

Not a whole one – those things are massive! But they did have some in pre-cut chunks.

20181002.jackfruit.piece

After a busy morning that included a dump run and finally moving the rest of the pile of trees from beside the driveway gate, we decided to give the jackfruit a try with lunch.

Thinking of what I saw on the show, I got the pieces cleaned out.

20181002.jackfruit.cleaned

There is a lot for the compost out of that one wedge!

As a taste test, all we did was give it a try, as is.

I admit to come trepidation, as I’ve read of it as being similar to durian. My older daughter and I tried a durian drink once, long ago, and were pretty horrified. More by the fleshy texture than the flavour, which we were no fan of, all on its own!

This, however, has a very light pineapple flavour. No acidity to it, really. The texture is much denser; almost rubbery. It was the texture that put off my younger daughter. My older daughter likes it, while my husband flat out refused to try it! :-D

Only after did I look up what to do with jackfruit, and read that I apparently should have worn gloves, or oiled the jackfruit, the cutting knife and cutting surface, because of its sticky sap that’s hard to clean up.

I had no problem cleaning up.

I also read that it makes a good meat substitute. Particularly as a pulled “pork.” With the texture of it, I can almost see how that would work.

Nah. Who am I kidding? The texture isn’t at all like meat, and it just tastes like pineapple without the acidity. Maybe that changes with cooking, but I am doubtful.

With this small wedge, we didn’t bother doing anything to it, and my older daughter and I shared it, raw.

From what I’ve read, the seeds can be boiled like potatoes, for about half and hour, and eaten. There wasn’t enough in the wedge we got to bother trying that.

Final call: 2:2 for and against. So while we might get a small wedge again some day, we’ll probably never pick up a whole jackfruit.

I’m glad we tried it, though. :-)

The Re-Farmer

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