A New Holiday Tradition?

It has been a really long time since I did a recipe. Honestly, husband's been doin' most of the cookin' with me at the barn more. But despite this being library week and goin' to see the possible cow, I was home enough days in a row to fix somethin' special.
What I did was this. I read, some years ago, on somebody's blog, about making croissants I guess it was. That's where I got the idea anyway to take dough and squash it, butter it, layer it. Except the blog I read it on was definitely not a "you can do this" sort of blog but an "I'm a chef, I'm special" kind of blog. Lawd but I hope that you get that I am not about anything if it isn't that you can do this too. Don't be stupid, be creative, be brave, be persistent, have vision, get along with your family and pay no attention to what the rest of the world thinks and you can do this too!

Well, the rolls are even easier than that. I took my regular bread recipe (and remember, I let a bread machine do the first part of the regular, non-fermented, breads) and changed it a bit. I took a cup and a half of water and warmed it. I usually use a bit more liquid but I wanted a soft dough so I put in more oil that usual, a quarter cup or a bit more. I put in some sugar just because, probably a quarter cup of that too. About four cups of freshly ground hard wheat flour. Two teaspoons of yeast. And I was supposed to put in two teaspoons of salt but I got all distracted and forgot that on this batch. Bread always needs salt. I think that is it. What I usually put in that I didn't was extra gluten because I wanted a soft dough.

I let the machine knead and do the first risin'. I melted butter, got my basting brush, my rollin' pin, a pan and a board all greased up (actually, spray oiled), and turned the dough onto the board. And then I rolled it out to a rectangle. Then I buttered that rectangle, folded it over, found out that it was easiest to butter it and fold it twice for every rolling out, and did that several times. Roll, butter, fold, butter, fold, roll, etc. After about eight times I got to thinking about how many layers I had (2,4,8,16, 32, 64, 128, 256) and I stopped and rolled the whole thing out as thin as I could. Then I proceeded to cut it into triangles, butter those, and roll those up like the crescent rolls that my mother fed me (and guests) on special occassions. Then butter the tops.

Then I let them rise and baked them and you see the results. Light, flakey, buttery, delicious. I sprinked kosher salt on the top of this batch since I'd figured out by then that I'd forgotten to salt the dough. These are definitely good enough to join the brocolli salad and pecan pies as a holiday tradition.

Vignettes

my equine boys

I always love oddly framed photographs like the above.

the only kitten who isn't afraid
In fact, she loves it up there. She stayed until I was working on his front hoof then she walked to his shoulder and jumped down on my head.

a day at the lake

No, not a real lake, the TVA kind but only a hop, skip and jump from our house and, after school starts, delightfully deserted. This, among other things, has had me thinking about being a solitary soul.

not local but in season
Peaches actually can be local but these are not and this was not a good year for our own trees. The pies are fried pies which are biscuit dough rolled out, filled with fruit filling (this is peach), fried, dipped in sugar cinnamon. This sort of thing is what food is all about really.

So, are there lines for gas where you are? I hear there are here. Now just imagine life without unlimited gasoline for only 2 weeks. Now not only are the gas pumps empty, but the supermarkets are empty, and you can't get to work or if you can, there is no work to do because there is no gasoline. And everyone is complaining that someone ought to do something. Let me say now, that someone would be you.

Black Forest

double nickle black forest
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

ok, La asked for it. The recipe for a chocolate enough to kill you cake. Well, this is it.

Chocolate Cake
3/4 C butter
6 squared (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate
6 eggs
2 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 soft WW flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (honestly, I usually just use the whole 12 oz. bag)

preheat to 350.

grease and flour two round cake pans, or a big rectangle. If you are planning on turning the cake out of the pan, line bottom with wax paper. (this is such a rich cake, I more often make a rectangle because it is easier to get a smaller piece)

Melt butter and chocolate together. Cool a bit.

In large bowl, beat eggs, add sugar and vanilla. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture. Sift flour and baking powder into chocolate mixture, then stir in. Lastly stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pans. Bake about 35 minutes. Remember that a chocolate cake is the very worst kind to over bake, so don't do that. Cool on wire rack. If removing from pans, do so after cooling for 5 minutes.

Icing
I usually make either this icing or one based on cream cheese. Personally I think this particular cake is better with the butter cream icing, and the carrot with the cream cheese icing. Please do not make icing using Crisco.

2/3 C softened butter
4 C 10X powdered sugar, sifted into softened butter
(make chocolate icing by sifting 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa into powdered sugar)

Mix as well as you can. Add vanilla extract if'n you like (mandatory if not chocolate). Add enough cream a little at a time until desired spreading consistency. Since I don't have a mixer, I have to be careful to not add too much cream. I figure not having a mixer makes up a little for eating the cake!

For cream cheese icing, I use 8 oz . of cream cheese and little to no cream. I flavored the carrot cake icing with cinnamon, to taste. For daughter's birthday I omitted the cinnamon and colored it blue then husband put a green fish on it for her!

The first time I did the black forest thing, that year had been a bumper crop for cherries and I had cherries from our trees in the freezer. More's the pity, last year wasn't a good year for our fruit and so the cherries in the photo were from boughten canned sour cherries. I just sweetened and thickened their water a bit, then flavored with not enough Jack Daniels (although I did use enough rum in the previous one). Obviously I don't make this any too often. There were cherries in the middle layer of this cake as well as on top.

As to what else is happening on the farm, well, it has definitely been March with temps all over the place, grass growing, maples blooming, sneezes sneezing. The garden is getting a start, with boughten onion plants (lots) and a few boughten cabbage plants, and lots more plants started from seed, and some of those already transplanted out. We've had some germination disappointments. We hear there are no Cobbler seed potatoes this year. We need to plow very soon. We severely cut back the pear trees this year. I think we lost the cherries. The blueberries are looking pretty good. I hope that maybe the mulberry tree made it, and we need to get down there and work on the strawberries. The chickens are laying (hooray!). I'd like to get another cow.

When Life Gives You Carrots

Make Carrot Cake

carrotcake.JPG
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

The other day I got a windfall of carrots. Carrots are terrific winter veggies anyway, but when you get a whole bunch (like 15 pounds) for free, well, you have to make a carrot cake. Or two. Not to mention roast a goat ham with a lot of carrots and allow your 16 yo carrot monster to have his absolute fill of them and several other things. This demonstrates a couple of very important principles -- eating what you have and taking advantage of what happens around you.

My carrot cake is, shall we say, substantial, thus I make it in a tube pan. We keep soft wheat berries in store and grind maybe three pounds at a time to use for cakes and biscuits and whatever else calls for soft flour. This is of course whole wheat. When I made this cake, I was out of eggs (which is a whole ‘nother story) so I made the egg substitute of a tablespoon of ground flax seeds simmered with 3 tablespoons of water for each egg, then cooled. Make no mistake, this isn’t as good as eggs in the same way that nothing is as good as butter, but sometimes substitution is necessary. We stock flax seed the same way we stock wheat, and flax is in all our breads and a lot of other stuff as a matter of course.

Sift together:
4 C. soft whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder (use the non-aluminum kind -- and don’t forget to check your salt’s anti-caking agent to be sure it isn’t aluminum too)
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. mixed pie spices (because I have a bottle so labeled, made from older leftover spices)
½ tsp. ginger
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
(all spices ground, duh)
-----------------------------
1 ½ C melted butter
1 ¾ C brown sugar
4 eggs, room temp
3 tsp vanilla extract
(citrus zest is great in there too but I rarely have it)

Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl, add eggs one at a time, then remaining ingredients. Beat until light in color and smooth.
----------------------------
2 ½ C (or more) packed shredded carrot, soaked in citrus juice which for me is usually not fresh citrus juice

You can also add raisins or cranberries or currants or nuts if you want, maybe up to a cup total.
------------------------------
Alternatively add flour mix and carrots to butter mix, beginning and ending with flour. Mix gently, don’t beat.

Butter your tube pan (or whatever you choose), pour in batter, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes in a 350 oven.

Top with an icing mixture of cream cheese and/or butter and 10X sugar, flavored with some vanilla extract and cinnamon.

I've been asked to make another of these in a few days for a daughter's birthday. Between now and then there will also be a black forest cake -- my own made up for the occasion recipe which is my usual chocolate-enough-to-kill-normal-people cake and icing, with the icing peaked to a turret so a cherry with rum filling can be held in there. It is a tiny bit over the top. Like the extra spices and cinnamon icing on the carrot cake.

My First Time

So Alecto talked about making this no knead fermented (or something close to it) bread. Came from the NYT -- no wonder I didn't see it. By way of Kitt's, where the actual directions came from.

I changed everything of course. I changed everything because I see no reason to eat anything but whole grains. Why bother? It doesn't taste as good not whole, and it isn't as good for you, and just why bother? I mean, it is one thing to eat junk but quite another to eat it at home -- and another thing entirely to bother cooking it.

I changed it because I've made a LOT of bread in my time, and a lot of fermented bread, and I knew I didn't have enough water in it when I mixed it up. I'm sure that was because I'd changed from white bread flour to freshly ground hard red whole wheat flour with some gluten added.

I changed it because the pot I had to cook it in, as well as the number of people in my family and their enthusiasm for bread, was a lot bigger than the original recipe's proportions.

So here's my version, here at the beginning (this will change over time, no doubt):

*Big old flat bottom cast iron cauldron with lid pot to cook it in.

*6 cups freshly ground hard red wheat flour, 4 tsp gluten flour, 3 tsp salt (not iodized), heaping 1/2 tsp yeast (not fast acting)

*Mix dry ingredients together.

*Add 3 1/2 to 4 cups of cold water

(note: I really should try weighing the ingredients because with flour and water, measurements are sometimes surprisingly variable)

I mix this in a stock pot and with a wooden spoon. Then cover and keep somewhere around 60 to 70 degrees for somewhere between 15 and 24 hours. It won't matter that much. The above loaf was kept at about 70 (in the oven with the light on in our rather cool house but on a relatively warm night) for about 18 hours.

*Deflate, leaving in stock pot, but don't bother to knead. Let rise again for two hours.

*Get your oven hot at some point within this last two hour rise. If you have a wood cook stove like I do, it takes a little longer than turning a knob and waiting a half hour like the recipe says for it to get to 450. After the oven is hot, let the pot and lid heat in the oven for at least a half hour so you better be thinking ahead here.

*I put the "toppings" on the board and just dumped the dough onto it, and from there shaped it by folding it into thirds both ways. I used flour and rolled cereal grains as my topping.

I was somewhat concerned that my cauldron might not be all that well seasoned, and then it was in a hot oven burning off what seasoning it had anyway, so I generously floured the bottom of the pot before I flopped the loaf into it. I shook the pot a bit to settle the dough and put the lid on making the seal (so the vent was covered). I was amazed this didn't rise as a loaf and went online to make sure this went in the oven this way. Yes it did. Ok. I am familiar with oven spring and with the chemistry of crust and understand what that lid is doing but it was still a leap of faith even more than "no knead" was. Ok. So here I was, making a recipe I had never made and changing it all to pieces and I was a tad bit nervous.

As you can tell, it came out wonderfully. Magnificently! Bake for 1/2 hour at 450 with the lid on, then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes or until done. Always measure bread for done-ness by internal temperature -- 190 is perfect, 210 is overdone, anything under 180 is underdone. This single step has made more difference in my bread baking than anything. The above loaf cooked about an hour total.

Turn out of pan and let cool a bit before digging in. It isn't as flavorful as bread you've used a starter that has developed its bacteria for flavor. I may get another sour starter because I really like a sour fermented bread. It does have an absolutely magnificent crust -- hard to cut and chewy and oh so flavorful.

And you know that photo of Alecto all pleased as punch getting her pizzas out of the oven? I kept looking at this loaf of bread sitting on my bar and laughing with delight at it. You can't see it in this photo but this loaf broke on top and curled just like the fancy bread books talk about. A no knead whole wheat loaf, not risen, not slashed, perfect. Tickled the absolute sh*t out of me. I do not see how a person can NOT be passionate about food. And especially about bread.

The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes

Cobbler
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

Although I have been thinking lately of shoes, this post is about the baked sort of cobbler. It being the end of blackberry season, I wanted to share how to make a fine one.

First, get a cow. Milk her, save some and make some butter. Then some soft white wheat. As in berries. Grain. Then get your daughter to grind it for you fresh. And pick some blackberries. Wild ones taste much better than the tame ones -- when they take the thorns out, some of the flavor goes too.

In this photo is a small square cobbler, about 8 inches. Not very big. The big one is made in the long pyrex dish like this. This is the recipe for the small, just double it for the big. If you have any more than four people eating it, or if you want some for tomorrow, make the big one.

Put a blob of butter in the dish and put in the preheating oven for it to melt. With butter, more is nearly always better. I'd estimate I use about, oh, half a stick or so, 4 TBS. When that is melted, put in a generous 2 cups of berries. I do not like runny cobbler so I also add some arrowroot powder -- a couple tablespoons. And some sugar. Maybe half a cup. Stir around a little and distribute evenly.

Then take a cup of the flour (add some rising to this -- a little baking powder [tsp], and a little salt 1/2 tsp]), a little less sugar, and a little less milk -- probably 3/4 cup of the last two. Mix dry ingredients, add milk, stir, pour over prepared berries, put in preheated 350 degree oven. It'll take it most of an hour to bake -- check at 45 minutes.


In the Oven
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

This recipe is the basic one my mother told me over the phone the first time I ever made this. "Oh, it's easy," she said, "a cup of each thing." I am much more fond of it with whole wheat flour and less sugar. My mom was a really good cook and I appreciate the relaxed attitude toward it that I was able to pick up from her.

When we bake in the summer, we try to make the most of it, as you can see from the second photo. I have a number more food photos over on flickr if you are interested. Zero-miles food we're calling it as we take the photos.

Oh, and note that one day I was doing the usual multi-task kitchen thing when I was making the cobbler and I completely forgot to put the rising in it. And it was still good. Different. But good. It isn't how I'd choose to make it, but I'd eat it again.

Ground Hog Junk(et)

Milk traditionally celebrates this holiday. You might not have known that. Even if you missed it this year, it is never too early to practice for next year.

First, get a milk cow. Or goat. Or sheep. Whatever.

Or get some milk.

Get some rennet.

Get some containers, cups or something that hold about ½ to 1 cup of liquid.

Depending on how many containers you have, use that much milk. I make this in two quart batches generally. Half a gallon.

Heat milk gently on stove, not very hot, just warm. Sweeten just a touch and to taste. Really though, it is better without too much sweetening. I like it with a little vanilla added too. Dilute and add rennet according to package directions. Ladle into cups, top with some ground nutmeg, let sit still until set (did I get those i’s and e’s in the right places?) then chill in fridge.

Use to celebrate. It is called junket. It is like egg custard without the egg or the custard. Solid delicious milk.

Two Recipes

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

or
How a Slightly Crunchy Steeply Hillbilly Woman Cares for Her Family

Jury duty took me out of the house and off the farm for two whole and entire days. The kids are big enough now that they can take up most of the slack if one of us is gone so it isn’t like coming home after a hurricane or anything. But when I’ve been gone one of the first things I miss is taking care of my family so as soon as I was out I called home and asked, “Do you have anything in mind for supper? No? Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it.”

They ordered lunch out for us while we were (locked) in the jury room both days. I had the Martha’s Vineyard Salad from Arby’s. I don’t eat out much, and don’t pay $5 for a salad if I do so I’d never had it. It was very nice (and just what this juror needed) -- a very nice bed of leafy greens with some cheese and apples and raisins and some insipid chicken breast thing (that part I didn’t eat much of) and a dressing of raspberry vinaigrette. So that was part of my inspiration.

So I stopped by the grocery to pick up a bag or two of leafy greens (spinach mostly) since right now we don’t have them in the garden. Staring at the greens I glanced over their salad dressings. Now, it has been ages since we bought any salad dressings. It is so expensive and so easy to make, we just make it. Or do with a dollop of sour cream. And just like everything else, home made is flat out better so I never even think about it. But I saw there a jar of some ginger sort of dressing and that was my other inspiration. I added a small piece of ginger to my basket.

At home my daughters set to helping me do things like dice the apples, set out the raisins and grate the cheese while I set to work on the dressing.

Blackberry Ginger Cayenne Salad Dressing

First I grated about an inch, maybe a bit more, of the ginger root. I didn’t peel it first. That is, by the way, a lot of ginger. Then I scraped what was stuck in the grater out too.

I looked in the freezer to see what sort of fruit was handy. Gooseberries? I don’t think so. Then I found a little container with about a half cup of blackberries that had been leftover from the last jelly making. Perfect. I thawed those and put them in the blender.

In the freezer I’d also come across a bag of cayenne peppers, frozen whole. One of those with the stem cut off went in the blender with a glurg of vinegar -- probably a tablespoon or so. Blend thoroughly.

In my dressing container (a pint mason jar), I put the grated ginger, about a quarter cup of honey, and the blended mishmash. And some salt. I think that was all. I forgot all about adding any oil at all so I even made “fat free” dressing. I ended up with about a cup of dressing so maybe I had a few more berries than that.

Let me tell you, this is not dressing for wimps. It is strong and it has a bite. You drizzle this, don’t drown your salad. But with the sweet apples and raisins and carrots too, that sharp bite was perfect. And ginger always feels so good on the stomach.

Since I’d used the last of the cheese, yesterday day I made a batch of cheese and the almost daily loaf of bread and made a bean soup with a broth we had in the fridge and grilled corn cakes with it. But still feeling that need to care for my family, so I also made a carrot cake.

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake

If you know me at all, you know I think AP flour is a complete waste, doesn’t matter if it is bleached or unbleached, it is crap. But to get soft whole wheat flour, you pretty much have to grind it yourself, and if you don’t have soft wheat flour (which is lower in protein), you really can’t make things like cakes and biscuits. So first thing here is to have freshly ground soft white wheat whole grain flour. Really, it is worth it. Really, it isn’t as hard as you think. Really, if you feed your body real whole food, it will thank you by being good back to you.

Ok, I’ll do this one more like a straight up recipe. It was adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook and may or may not resemble it anymore, I don’t really know.

1½ C melted butter
1¾ C brown sugar (or 1½ C honey)
4 eggs (room temp)
3 tsp vanilla extract (did I mention I make this too?)
Grated rind of 1 lemon (which I usually do not have and so don’t use)

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar/honey together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add remaining ingredients and beat until light in color.

Meanwhile, sift together twice:
4 C soft whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder (make sure it is the non-aluminum kind!)
1 tsp allspice
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
Any other pie spices that strike your fancy, like ginger or cloves or whatever -- I like a lot of these spices

And also have:
2 ½ C (or more) packed grated carrot (you might like them more shredded), soaked in juice of 1 lemon (or drizzled with juice from fake plastic lemon that I actually have in my fridge)

To the butter mixture, add flour mix and carrots, alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Mix gently, do NOT beat.

Put in buttered pans. Takes two round pans (least good option), 2 loaf pans, or (my preferred) one tube pan. Bake 40-50 minutes in 350 oven, until done.

Icing

I am amazed that people buy icky icing. Or even worse, make it with Crisco. Blealch. I usually top this cake with a mixture of cream cheese, 10X sugar, butter and vanilla . . . but yesterday I didn’t have any cream cheese handy so I used about, oh, a half cup of soft butter, mixed with about 4 cups (1 pound) of 10X sugar, a few teaspoons of my home made vanilla extract (that would be vanilla beans in 100 proof vodka), and enough sour cream to beat into stiff icing. Now that is good stuff.

And also filling. If you aren’t going to a church supper and don’t have a big family, only make half this recipe.

Nouveau Appalachian Cuisine

Top Shelf
Originally uploaded by Contrary Goddess.

Food. What an experience. What an opportunity for creativity, and health, and hedonistic pleasure.

I always save broths and often they inspire one-of-a-kind soups. In this fridge I had a pint of a salt pork broth. Last time I had a salt pork broth I was inspired to make an ear mushroom soup that also featured tofu -- very thin and very simple.

But this time I not only didn't have any ear mushrooms, I did have these wonderful mashed parsnips and mashed potatoes. So I took the highly concentrated broth, put it in a pot on the stove, and diluted it with a pint of water. After bringing it to an open boil, I moved it to a much cooler part of the stove and added the mashed parnips and mashed potatoes. And a little extra garlic because garlic is in everything I cook. These veggies were hand mashed (with the new SS "s" type potato masher!) and so had a few lumps. I could have pureed the soup but I was thinking lumps would be fine.

Oh, and they were. Anyway, I let that heat slowly which also let the broth incorporate the veggies. About a half hour before we were ready to eat, when we started to fry the corn bread cakes, I added a quart of cream. After a taste, which was even then good, I decided to also add curry, because I love curry.

Heat through, with a side of a plain vinegar style of slaw (just cabbage, vinegar, a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper, a good dose of pepper -- thanks to my friend Linda), and a corn cake (aka fried corn bread) -- mmmmmm.

And a fridge ready to start leftovers again tomorrow!