Making pickles without vinegar

Jo’s Deli pickles
2-4 pounds of Kirby cucumbers – these are the small bumpy ones about 20
1 cup of kosher salt
6-10 heads of dill with stems, I trim the stems to 10 inches.
If your dill has no mature seeds, add a tablespoon of dill seed
1-2 heads of garlic – cloves peeled Use less if you don’t care for garlic
1 small onion cut into 4-6 pieces.
A heaping tablespoon of mustard seed
1 tablespoon each: caraway seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds
If I feel like it, I add three whole cloves – but they sometimes overpower the pickles.
3 cups of boiling water (to dissolve salt in)
1 gallon jar – glass or plastic. But well cleaned and rinsed.
1 quart zipper-close plastic baggy half full of water, air forced out (to hold pickles under the brine.
Heel of rye bread – if you have to buy rye bread that isn’t all rye, try to at least get the cocktail rye that’s got a lot of rye flour.
Wash the pickles vigorously, make sure there’s no soil , but try not to break off all the bumps. Remove any stem pieces still attached to them. Rinse under clean water.

Dissolve salt in boiling water. Put dill, garlic, bread, onion and spices in gallon container. Pour hot salty water over the whole thing. Add washed cucumbers and then fill with cool water. Carefully jam the plastic baggy over the opening so that the cukes are held under the brine, and let sit at room temperature (60-80 degree F) for a week. I take the baggy out and replace the lid, give the jar a couple of big shakes, and return the baggy to its place each day.

After a week, I taste the smallest pickle. Sometimes it takes me more than 10 days to get the best flavor. When I’m happy, I put the whole thing in the fridge to slow down fermentation. If the pickles are too strong, you can make a milder brine with salt and water (1 cup or less to 1 gallon water) and move the pickles to that. But keep them in the fridge.

I munch one or two a week until they’re gone. Then I always wish I’d made more! You can put the pickles in the fridge early – I think those are called half sours. I don’t like them as well as there is sometimes a bitterness to the skin.

Kokomo Farmers Market Kicks Off!

Hey ya folks!

Saturday is officially our opening day at the Kokomo Farmers Market! I'll be baking plenty for you so you'll have some to last you until my next bake (July 4th). Tweety Bread, Tweety Crackers, Croissants (plain, chocolate and ham and cheese), Olive Rosemary Focaccia (I've been convinced that I should develop a sage version for the stuffing lovers amongst us), Pale Moon using some spent grain from Half Moon Brewery, and Challah - the egg bread, lemon madeleines and TWO - that's right - TWO kinds of pizza dough - whole wheat and regular. Did anyone else see the article in the paper about whole wheat pizza dough being more healthy?

The reason I won't be baking on June 20 is that I've become the Interim Director of the Farmers Market. Yeah! Applause should be held until the end. Ha Ha. We've been listed as members of LocalHarvest.com, We have received a substantial sponsorship from The Kokomo Downtown Association an the Kokomo Art Commission. I understand that even the Indiana State Department of Agriculture will be issuing a matching grant for the advertising that you may be hearing on the radio and seeing in the paper.

June 27 is Haynes Apperson Festival so the Farmers Market will not be held. BUT on the bright side, we are having our first ever July 4th Farmers Market. Imagine the praise you'll get from your family and friends when you tell them your yummy barbeque ingredients were available at the market! I can hear the oohs an aahs already. Of course they will love you forever if you feed them healthy vittles that taste better than the grocery store pablum.

Wait, there's more! We're having the "WIN a Wii" program again. Since you're coming to the farmers market each week anyway, you can let the vendors write down how much you've spent. When you've spent a total of at least $15 each week for at least 12 weeks (that leaves 5 weeks extra), you will be entered for a drawing for a Nintendo Wii. If you win, you can spend the whole stuffy winter playing and being active with your family in the coziness of your own living room. Won't your friends be jealous? Not if you invite them over to play, too.

In May, I managed to buy a strawberry pie from Mrs. Otto and immediately devoured it. Don't believe her when she says that huge pie serves 6 to 8 -- It's great and you might have dessert for four after you get done licking the spatula. Ha HA again.

Remember Michelle Gilbert from last year? She's back this week with plants ready to go into the garden. I'm planning on getting some since I forgot to water mine.

Garry will be there with FRESH produce. The season is just beginning and some of the other farmers aren't ready to debut just yet. Garry's bringing strawberries, rhubarb, zucchini, summer squash, green tomatoes, watermelon and cucumbers. According to my nutrition program a whole medium cuke has only 45 calories (2g protein, 2 grams fiber) and "This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin A, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Potassium".

I haven't heard from Copper Creek Farms yet, but I hope they'll join us too! They're the nice Amish familly with herd sharing for raw milk, eggs, pastured meats, cheeses, and they grow the tastiest greens I've had in many years.

Wowee, that was a long winded email...sorry but there was so much to tell you since the last market. I need to rest now and taste a madeleine to see if it's good.

See you Saturday,

JoEllen DuFresne
The Barefoot Baker

Sneak Peek Saturday May 9, 2009

Sneak Peek Saturday is May 9, 2009!
The Kokomo Farmers’ Market is having our Sneak Peek Saturday at the corner of Union and Sycamore Streets in Downtown Kokomo from 8 am to Noon.

We look forward to a new year of fresh, local, naturally raised produce and, of course, our baked goods and the good things to eat and creative artworks from our local artists!Thank You to the Kokomo Downtown Association and The Art Commission for providing us with much needed sponsorship!~The Kokomo Farmers’ Market.

Our special guest will be The Howard County Master Gardeners Association with their plant sale! I was really impressed with their ability to help me choose plants that really are periennials in Kokomo. Every one of the plants I bought last year came right back up thiss spring. In fact, I already have holes dug for this year (You might want to prep those planting beds yourself!)

Barefoot Baking plans to bring goodies for you and for moms all around Kokomo.

We'll bring
Lemon Madeleines, including some specially packaged to give to mom
2 kinds of biscotti (Blueberry Coconut & Amond Cherry)
2 types of our decadent cookies (Praline Dreams & Chocolate Walnut)
Frozen pizza dough - improved for easier shaping + some already to top and bake!
Blue Cheese Walnut Sourdough
Mamma Mia Semolina (A nice Italian loaf)
Tweety Bread
Tweety Crackers
Focaccia (soft and full of olive oil)
Ciabatta (Crusty and full of huge holes, the better to soak up yummies from your plate, my dear)
Whole Wheat Pita
And - for your morning jump start, freshly roasted coffee from our own roaster!

We look forward to seeing you there!

-Barefoot Baking Company

Barbari Bread from Persia

1720 g flour

950 g water

200 g honey
120 g olive oil
35 g salt

1/2 ounce instant dry yeast

Tools you may need

beginning of mix, stiff dough, keep kneading

How it looks when you're done kneading

look, it windowpanes!

Let it rise a while til doubled

Divide to desired size and roll to 1/4 inch

Let rest and rise till doubled high

using the edge of a ruler, make marks. Push hard, but don't cut through!

make a slit and pull apart slightly. After baking, you can hang on a wood peg.

brush with bloomed saffron, coat well

Bake on preheated pizza stones, quarry tiles, or stone hearth at 450 degrees for up to 10 minutes, your oven may have other requirements.

Rapini, shrimp and pasta

Last night was a little crunch time - I also had to get rid of a bunch of things from my pantry.

Broccoli Rabe looked good at the store, so I got a one pound bunch - I have never been too successful at cooking this without conjuring up evil bitter flavors from this ugly vegetable. Well, the floret part of the rapini was already starting to flower, so I'd better get my culinary butt in gear. I also had some large shrimp, three lasagna noodles (From when? I don't know), and some white wine.

Here's what I used:

6 shrimp, tailless and shelled, butterflied, then seasoned.

1 pound of rapini (broccoli rabe)

1 large shallot

3 cloves garlic

3 sheets of lasagna - broken

1 cup white wine

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

20 leaves parsley

one can of diced tomatoes, drained and liquid reserved

I washed the rapini and trimmed about an inch from the bottom. After cutting the rest into bite-sized lengths, I brought an inch of water to a boil in a 6 quart stockpot and steamed the rapini for 8 minutes. After steaming, I shocked the veggies by rapidly cooling them with ice-cold water. Set the rapini aside. I added more water to the stockpot and brought it back to boil. While the water was heating, I finely diced the shallot, minced the garlic and minced the parsley.

In a very small shallow pan, I melted the butter with the olive oil. Over medium heat, I lightly browned the butter (just evaporating the water). I lightly browned the shallot and garlic in the butter then added the wine and tomato liquid (I just used my hand to drain the juice from the can right over the pan). Reduce the liquid by at least half over low heat.

Meanwhile, when the water in the stockpot returned to a boil, I dropped the lasagna noodles in. Since these noodles were probably old, they took almost 12 minutes to get al dente. Drain noodles from stckpot. Add drained noodles to sauce, then add the tomatoes from the can and cover. Remove from heat. It should get warm, but if it doesn't, you may reheat over medium flame for a few minutes.

Return the stockpot to the stove and spray lightly with cooking spray. Add the rapini back to the stockpot and gently reheat over low flame.

Line a small shallow dish with non-stick aluminum foil and place shrimp in hot oven for 4-6 minutes until just firm.

For serving, since it was just me, I used a mixing bowl and put half of the rapini in the bottom of the bowl. I put the hot shrimp on top, and then ladled a third of the pasta and tomato sauce over the whole thing. I had a glass of that same leftover wine with dinner and I ate too much!

You could use just about any pasta noodles you have on hand - I don't think Japanese buckwheat pasta would be too good. If you don't like shrimp - use something else - or omit the protein all together - I think even hardboiled eggs would be tasty.

Blanching the rapini got rid of that bitterness I think.

We made Mahi Mahi in Parchment a couple of nights ago. This is probably the easiest way to make fish and even bettre if you choose a fish that is dificult to overcook. I picked up some mahimahi from the frozen fish department a few weeks ago, so it had to be used soon.

Fresh Herbs: I use whatever fresh herbs are already in my fridge - this week it was some dill on its last legs, cilantro from last week, and fresh Italian (flatleaf) parsley.

Fish Filets or Steaks - mahi mahi is nice, so is sea bass. They're both mild meaty fish. Don't try to use anything that's been breaded!

Small lemons or limes - I used lemons from my mom's tree. She sent them to me via flat rate post.
salt and pepper

A generous serving or two of veggies, I made that cauliflower recipe (earlier post), but used asparagus instead of cauliflower.

A sheet of aluminum foil three times as long as as your fish portions.

A sheet of parchment paper twice as big as your fish or bigger. Don't use waxed paper or paper towels, but I have heard that unprinted and unbleached paper bags work well.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Lay the aluminum foil on a flat surface, place the parchment over it in the center. Make a nest at least as big as the fish portions in the middle of the parchment. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper (you can always add more later).

Place the fish in the center of the nest just barely touching. Squeeze a lime or small lemon over the fish.

Wrap the parchment up and around the fish and then wrap the foil around the parchment package. The parchment protects the food from the aluminum, especially because we're using an acid like citrus juice. At this point a carefully lay the foil-wrapped package in an oven safe dish and bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

When the fish is done, be careful opening the foil because it will be steaming. I don't eat the herbs since they're all wilted and soggy. But if you like them, go ahead. Dig in!

Wheat Prices - or why you won't see a $3.00 artisan loaf for a while

Here is the official statement from King Arthur Flour on their web page about wheat prices

___________________________________________________________

To our valued flour customers:You've undoubtedly heard the news about rising foods costs; perhaps you've already felt the impact on your pocketbook. Global wheat prices are at an all-time high, well over triple the cost per bushel sincespring of last year.

The combination of poor wheat harvests in partsof the world, low carryover stocks from last year, and high energy and input costs have created a very grim situation for wheat prices, which leads of course to higher flour prices.

Although all King Arthur Flour is milled from wheat grown here in North America, where the harvest was plentiful last year, global demand on our domestic supply has forced the price of wheat sky-high. We're doing all we can to keep the cost of flour down by making our business as efficient as possible, but there's simply no way for us to absorb entirely the impact of current record-breaking wheat prices.

Despite recent increases in prices for our products, you can be assured that King Arthur Flour is not compromising on product quality. We're still providing the best-performing flour you'll find. While the unstable market may convince other suppliers to use lower-quality wheat, King Arthur Flour will continue to maintain the highest and most consistent standards for protein content and product performance.

Our flour will continue to be the best-quality flour in America, as it's been since 1790.We appreciate your understanding of raised flour and mix prices during these difficult market conditions.

Michael T. Bittel
Senior Vice President/General Manager
King Arthur Flour Company

___________________________________________________________

Introduction to healthier cooking

I am trying to increase the amount of veggies and fruits (and fiber) to my diet while reducing the total calories and salt. Sometimes it seems overwhelming, but as my tastebuds adjust, I find it gets easier. I have several tips, but none will work if you aren't motivated enough to give up your bad habits for at least five days a week:
Fridays are my cheat day - or at least I get to give myself a break - alcohol, sugar, fatty treats, etc are allowed.
Eat a piece of fruit in the morning and another in the afternoon - apples and oranges seem to be my favoritem nostly because I can buy many of them and they last a while without getting overripe or mushy.
I also love the little $2.00 steamer that fits in a lidded pot. On mondays I have time in the afternoon to steam tons of veggies until they're mostly done. Then they're ready for oven roasting, soups, dipping, or whatever I want. I like the Ziploc brand steamers, too.
I recently bought the new book "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan. I haven't read it yet. But the book addresses one of my bigest pet peeves regarding the modern diet of processed, fake-tasting, convenience food. And I am an eater!


Easy Cauliflower Bake
4-6 cups cauliflower, about a head
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt-free seasoning, any flavor
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Steam cauliflower florets until just al dente - they should still be firm. This can be done up to 5 days in advance and stored in the fridge. No time to steam? You can also use frozen cauliflower too, just let it thaw first in a colander. Toss with breadcrumbs and seasoning to coat evenly.



Arrange the cauliflower in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. I used a small broiler pan. Sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese over the whole thing and bake for 10-15 minutes.







The cauliflower should just be getting golden brown on the edges. If you didn't drain the vegetables enough, it'll take too long to brown, or might not brown at all. That's okay, next time consider toasting the breadcrumbs separately (in a small pan on the stove).


I hope you enjoy this as I do - I guess it could make four servings if you're using it as a side dish for a sit down dinner. You can eat in on the couch while blogging if you want to be like me. Confession? I added too much spicy seasoning to mine tonight

Margaritas

After much urging from fans of the blog, I finally broke away from usual beer-hunter status and agreed to a margarita taste test.
Not your premium margaritas - which is preferable since you can alter the flavors to your personal taste. These are the well drinks that unsuspecting patrons get when they say, "I'll have a margarita, please."
All of the margaritas tasted were on the rocks and had salt. I'm going to retain water for a few weeks, thank you. All of them were also made with a prepared mix of some sort. Some were sweet and sour, others were bar-specific concoctions. All drinks tasted are available in Kokomo, Indiana and all of the bartenders said they haven't made any adjustments to their standard recipe.
In fact, nearly all the locations said they have better margaritas if I wanted to pay more. All the servers wanted to know how they ranked especially after they saw my camera. Some servers were much better than others and all servers knew when I placed my order that I was going to be blogging this, so you think they'd be putting their best foot forward.

I enjoyed each margarita on its own. If I were going to a restaurant, any of these drinks would be fine with food and friends. It was a disservice to me that I had to be taking notes and comparing one experience to any other. None were awful, but I wouldn't order most of these on their own merit.

Things you need to know up front:
Margaritas aren't something I crave in the middle of winter,
I rarely buy margaritas , I usually make them at home from scratch, and
I did all of these tastings in one afternoon which resulted in an uncomfortable waste of alcohol.

At 2 pm on Friday, I began my margarita hunt at Hacienda on Plate Street. That's the first photo. My first thought was, "When was this lime cut? Last Friday?" If the garnish was to make it appetizing, then they did just the opposite. But the taste was excellent, it was cold, the tequila flavor was apparent as was the lime. I was informed that they squeeze lime over the drink before serving. Very nice. It was the freshest non-premium margarita of the night.
For $5.75, I got the mug, 12-18 ounce maybe. I could not find a printed price in any menu, so I waited until my bill arrived to find out.
The server was a little put off by my comments, saying the limes are cut daily and that she could get me better lime. But, she got me two $4.00 grilled shrimp as a little protein buffer in my belly before I ended up under the table. She also admonished me that I should have got the smaller portion (a glass) since I wasn't going to be finishing what I ordered.
The balance of tart and sweet was great and there wasn't any of the staleness that sometimes happens with mixes. Hacienda offers premium margaritas (Arriba!) with your choice of 25 call tequilas and 3 citrus liquors. My server informed me that they don't use mixes for those.

Next stop was Chili's on US31. The bartender was taking my order before I had a seat. This is an advantage to mid afternoon tippling. My first thought was,"Is this the color of antifreeze?" The flat and fake taste of the margarita mix was off-putting and even though the tequila was added before my very eyes, it wasn't a flavor I could detect. It was nice that the drink passed briefly under mixing impeller before being poured over a mug of ice and that the mug looked to be 20-22 ounce. For $4.99, it seemed watery. This is a little less than I expected from a chain that specializes in Texas Chili.
Service was attentive and the bartender informed me that the best tasting and biggest selling margarita was their "Presidente Margarita" that comes in a shaker that you can purchase afterwards. The lime was generous, a little oxidized and wax-coated, but squeezing it into the margarita helped doctor the flavor. Surprising, the drink wasn't sticky when spilled.
I also enjoyed the southwest eggrolls (not your traditional eggroll) and found that the spiciness of the appetizer enhanced the flavor of the Margarita as well.

Third on my quest was a 4 pm trip across to Don Pancho Villa's on Dixon Road south of Markland. After noticing that they offered $1.99 margaritas (12 oz) Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 pm, I beelined it to the cozy bar in the back. I was finally making it my mission to taste like a trooper. Happy hour or not, I was the lone person in the bar. Only three other tables in the dining side were occupied and no one was having a margarita. Uh Oh, what was I going to get?
The results were just fine. The margarita was served warm, but over ice, so a little stirring was necessary. Even though it was a generous pour of Cuervo Gold, I didn't think it packed a tequila flavor punch as strong as Hacienda's did. The garnish was fresh. I even commented in my notes that it was too bad I couldn't drink the whole thing and stay the evening. I wonder if that was the cumulative effect of tasting for two hours. I was feeling a little flushed and ordered some choriqueso dip to help me maintain my wits. If I could have had them package the drink in a doggie-cup, I would have. Even so, I noted that it had that fake-lime flavor of sno-cones and Popsicles. This is definitely the place to go for inexpensive food and drink even though the restaurant gets loud when crowded.

Disappointed because I hadn't found any outstanding specimens, I did a little reconnaissance by consulting with a few experts. Uniformly I heard that the only great margaritas in Kokomo were made in private homes. And I noticed I wasn't invited.
I stopped by Soupleys to get bottled margaritas, thinking that some of these would be better than restaurant quality. Just add ice and shake. After urging the sales clerks, I was informed that Applebees and Outback had great margaritas, too. Well, 5 times out of 5 visits, Applebees has failed to actually bring the correct order to my table so I have never returned. Great margarita or not, I will not abide appalling service. So off I ventured to Outback before the place filled up.

When I arrived the bar was empty and the bartender took my order after I explained my mission of city-wide margarita tasting. Although I was encouraged to try a premium margarita, I continued on my mission for the house drink on the rocks with salt. This is called the Gold Coast Rita $5.75 and the biggest seller followed closely by the Top Shelf Patron margarita for $8.50.
The first thought was best garnish award. A generous 1/8 of a lime that was by far the freshest and cleanest. A little sweet for my taste, but the flavor was improved by shaker-induced aeration. I wish the bartender hadn't floated mix on the top of the glass, but with these beautiful oversize hand blown glasses, who can estimate their capacity?
The tequila was very subtle when tasted, but was more apparent on the exhale. I squeezed the lime and that brought up the lime flavor to an appropriate level. Another Cuervo Gold margarita gets abandoned on the bar just as the place starts filling up. On a stranger's advice, I was directed to include one final destination.

My last margarita was in an unusual and unexpected location. Olive Garden offers a couple of margaritas including their Italian Margarita (their regular margarita with a dainty shot of Amaretto DiSaronno on the side for an extra 40 cents). Woo Hoo, I can fulfill my obligation of one more tasting and also have a premium option just for me?
My first thought was, "Ooooh, yummy!" And I wasn't disappointed. This is not a traditional margarita and it is unfair for me to compare the others to this, but since it was so tasty and refreshing, I feel I must include it. It was well balanced, a tiny bit more sweet than I prefer, but the best margarita of the evening. The subtle scent and flavor of oranges is traditionally Italian, even though many Americans are unaware of that.
I am not an amaretto fan, but I was surprised at the sensation that occurs when alternating sips of margarita and amaretto.
Bummer that I had to abandon this drink, too, when I added the amaretto into the glass. It made the drink cloyingly sweet and detracted from its refreshing quality. It's a large drink for $5.95 (plus 40 cents) and I would be curious to find out what food it pairs well with.

Okay, I got home with a few minutes to spare and zero desire for those prepared margaritas from the liquor store. Maybe later.

Louie's Coney Island Fries

Note: There will be formal fries tasting event forth- coming. This was the latest, and best, extra crispy fries tasting.

On a friday morning, February 8, 2008 in the breakfast hours, I wandered into Louie's Coney Island. A kokomo non-chain restaurant. They make the entire menu in the menu. Since they were relatively slow, I asked for my fries extra crispy. Much discussion occurred when the fries were examined by the cooks. They pondered whether they were crispy enough.What great staff! After watching them set up the restaurant, I recognized young ladies who take pride in their jobs. I'd hire any of them in a heartbeat. The fries, finally! Hot crispy until almost the very end. After all, I had to snap a picture or two.

Where does the extra crispy thing come from?

It all started at Grindstone Charley's several years ago, before they made the blackballed by JoEllen list. The whole office ate takeout lunches every Thursday. For years, they were the Thursday lunch. We really liked "toaster head", the bartender and even after she found another job, we've always liked the bartenders.

Then one fateful evening, May 2005, ... long story short ... a uniformed manager insulted me while attending an offsite event. From that day forward, I have never stepped foot into any Grindstone Charley's and I have survived - perhaps even prospered. AND they no longer get their $50 bucks a week.

Well, someday I will list my current banned list for dining out. At the risk of offending anyone, please take a look at the disclaimer in the right hand column about getting your own blog and rebutting my opinion.

Garlic Potato Chips

I adapted this for my own tastes from a cookbook on party food. The reason for posting the recipe now is that one of our Christmas gifts turned out to be absolutely perfect for Garlic Potato Chips. We got a bag of UNSALTED potato chips for Christmas, specifically, Zapp's.

It doesn't take too many of my blog posts to figure out that we're fond of Zapp's.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

First, cut up a stick or less of butter and melt it in a small pan.

Add fresh - it really does make a difference - garlic. I once listened to an instructor go on about how garlic crushers make the garlic bitter. I disagree. That green sprout that is hard to avoid this time of the year (Or year around if you live in Kokomo with the indifferent produce tenders in the grocery store). I remove the green sprout and voila - no bitterness. I use 4-6 cloves, depending on size.

On very low heat, let the water in the garlic and butter evaporate. This step allows the garlic flavor to infuse the butter too. It should take about 5 minutes, but don't walk away from the pan! While the butter reduces, line a rimmed cookie pan with parchment. If you don't have parchment, don't worry. I only use it to make cleanup easier. Nothing will stick.

At the first hint of browning, before the garlic has taken any color, remove the butter from heat. Drizzle the butter into an open bag of potato chips. fold over the top and make sure it is secure. Lightly toss the bag, inverting it often to thoroughly coat the chips with garlicky butter.

Spread the chips in a single layer on the prepared pan. If there is any garlic left in the saucepan, distribute it evenly across the chips. Put the pan into the oven for 5-15 minutes. Again, don't walk away because the pan goes from golden to burned in a heartbeat. Sometimes, I don't bake them long enough and they remain soggy in places. I don't mind that but you might.

Let 'em cool if you can, then try to eat just one.

Caldo Verde

Mmm, I really like a hearty soup with bread. I've never considered this a winter soup, since it can be lightened up for the summer. Tada! Caldo Verde. literally: green soup. This may very well be Portugal's culinary ambassador to the world.

Despite a plethora of recipes, we keep it simple.

Kale, potatoes, chicken stock, onions, salt, pepper, and spicy firm sausage.

Usually, I get more color on the onions and sausage, but I crowded the stockpot. I should've used a bigger pot and given myself more time. This is what it looks like before it's soup.

Kale can sometimes take an hour to cook - other times it only takes ten minutes. That warrants further examination. Maybe it's the difference between curly and flat leaf?

I use different amounts of each item as I feel like. Basically brown sliced andouille or firm chaurico (sometimes, marketers may call it chorizo), then follow with an onion, washed kale in bite-size pieces, and diced potatoes. Add a quart or more of chicken stock and season to taste.

I hope that's all I need to do, because that's about al I do. If this insults any Portuguese cooks, please send me comments!

Finally, A Madeleine Connoiseur

I am about as timely as an elephant doing the jitterbug. As a fan of madeleines, I agree with everything Pim says here:

http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2003/03/madeleines_madn.html

However, as a sometimes professional baker, some of the tasty techniques are better suited for home bakers. BUT - yeah for not using baking powder. In my humble opinion,

baking powder is

wrong wrong wrong

for madeleines.

I hope you can enjoy these as much as I did. Pim is world famous for enjoying the creation of -and the consuming of - good food.

Our madeleine formula is quite simple, but the technique can't quite be described as it is a tactile process:

8 large eggs

1.6 pounds sugar

1.5 pounds butter

scant one pound sifted cake flour

microplaned zest of at least three recently washed lemons - no wax for me!

That's it.

I just realized that I may have made a big mistake this afternoon - I hope the batch turns out well anyway. We use a portioner - like a small ice cream scoop - to make the madeleines even and we also have become accustomed to using silicone madeleine molds as we can't afford to lose production.

More Extra Crispy French Fries

Okay, I know you've got to be tired of reading posts that are lacking food porn (photos of food in provocative positions). Tonight, I drove through the , uh, drive thru, lane , at Jamie's Soda Fountain and ordered some "extra crispy fries". When I got the paper bag, I immediately checked on the contents - Fries - hotter than than the surface of the sun and - unsalted. After burning my hand, both front and back, on these searing potato sticks, I found the packet of salt, While hunting for the savory seasoning - I was reminded of the Howard County Fair - the Grant County (Kansas) Fair, and every fair from Oklahoma City to Montclair, New Jersey, to the Fresno Fair - by smell only. These fries smelled like every fair I'd attended - onion rings, fried pickles, potatoes, [thank you - no fish]. The radient heat from the fries lasted til the final fry passed my lips though.

I would love comments regarding the frying science - not just the double frying techniques from Belgium or the "never use fresh oil" technique of Dave Thomas or the "add beef tallow for flavor" of Ray Kroc.

Mmmm ... fries

Braising

Did it go wrong, or what? I was at the local grocer looking for fat beef short ribs to braise in a little crock in the oven. All they had were some long skinny bones with a bite on each rib. No fault of the butcher - you get what you get. No short ribs for me.

Well the weather is ideal for low slow cooking in the oven. I figure putting a pot in a 300 degree oven at noon will be a great way to warm up the house and make cozy smells for my hubby when he gets home.

The butcher enticed me with some aged sirloin. Sirloin is not my favorite cut. I think it may be the only cut deserving of being ground up (in order to make it better!) - I associate sirloin with steak sauce - at it's a good pairing. It's lean, it's easily made tough, and it lacks flavor - the umami that fat brings. But - I bought it and seared it in a skillet. My first clue should have been that I had to add fat to the pan twice. I put the seared cubes in a small lidded pot along with a coarsely cut onion and a rutabaga (Errantly called a turnip in the produce section - Turnips are white fleshed - rutabagas are yellowish). After three hours, I added chopped tomatoes and more seasoning. After another hour or so, I served it as is in bowls.

Dinner's not bad tonight, but tomorrow, I'll likely give it a paprikas treatment and serve it over noodles.

Dinners at The Seiberling Mansion

The only catering the Barefoot Baking Company does anymore is a high end private dinner at the Seiberling Mansion for eight people. Imagine entertaining your guests in the same dining room as Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling! This is truly a treat in Kokomo.

Your evening begins with live music in the music room, a self guided tour of the entire museum, and even an optional champagne reception. As you are seated, Howard County Historical Society Director, Kelly Karickoff, will make sure your guests are warmly welcomed. After your meal, there are no dishes or cleanup! It's like having a fine restaurant meal with your own private server and no one else to interrupt your meal. We can even do special menu service for an even more extravagant event.

Our menu for the season, and we reserve the right to substitute items due to seasonal availability:

First Course
Apple, Bacon and Pumpkin Seed Salad

Second Course
2 Pastas with Pink Gorgonzola Sauce

or

Seasonal Soup

Intermezzo
Tomato Caprese

Main Event
Filet Mignon
Vegetable Medley
Braised Endive/Mashed Potatoes

Chocolate Dessert Sampler
or better

The dessert is especially variable, since there are a surprising number of people who prefer something other than a chocolate overload for the finish to a well presented meal. Of course, you are welcome to bring your own wine, but anything with higher alcoholic content is not allowed in the Mansion. We provide coffee, ice water, and tea as an alternative. Expect to spend up to two hours enjoying your evening.

Croissants - or Crescent Rolls?

MMM, while waiting for the sheeter to get installed, I've been playing with handmade croissants. I am surprised that with over 50 baking books, only two have formulas or recipes for croissants. I was willing to part with a bit of our dinner roll dough to make these. for each pound of dinner roll dough ,I folded in a half pound of butter (The batch shown in the photo was 1 pound to 1/4 pound). The taste was to die for - I want a lighter texture in the final product!

Happy Thanksgiving 2007

We may never buy a turducken again! After years of enjoying the novelty of eating internet-procured turducken for Thanksgiving, we finally made our own this year. We bought a turkey breast (with bones and some back meat), a very small chicken, and a frozen duckling on Sunday. Sunday afternoon, I boned all birds, even though the duck was still pretty icy inside. I packaged the meats seperately in the fridge until Thursday morning. It wasn't necessary to debone the duck or the chicken as a whole bird, but I like the practice.

On Sunday evening, I roasted all of the removed bones and tendons on a rimmed sheet pan and tossed them into a pot of cold water and simmered them for several hours. After straining out the solids, I rapidly chilled the stock (you may do this by placing the stock in a shallow pan, adding ice, and/or floating enclosed ice packs and stirring frequently. The goal is to get the stock temperature from 135 degrees F down to 40 degrees as fast as possible - certainly less than 4 hours!

On Monday, I made a concentrated brine using salt, bullion, spices, and herbs. I kept it chilled in the fridge until Thurday morning.

On Thursday am, I skinned the duck and the chicken. I placed the brine concentrate, ice water, and all the poultry in a very large heavy duty food safe bag and left it out on the front porch for 3.5 hours (outdoor temp was 36 to 39 degrees all day).

Around 2 pm, I drained and patted dry all the meat and layed the turkey breast skin-side-down on a piece of clean light-weight muslin. Making sure to keep the layers pretty even, the duck meat and the chicken were piled onto the turkey and then one small link of andouille, sliced in half was place on the top. A two person job: pulling the muslin around to make a cylinder with the turkey, then tying to keep the ballotine shape. Cover in aluminum foil. We baked in a 350 degree oven for several hours (Almost three for a 12 pound roast) until an instant read thermometer measured 165 in three separate places along the centerline of the roast.

Stollen

Who knew? Evidently every baker in the world except for me has baked some holiday version of fruit bread. Whether it be Pandoro, Pannetone, Stollen, or grandma's fruitcake - I think the aroma of holiday breads evoke the most distant memories we ever formed.

I can picture the scene. I am in my highchair, the one my mom loaded into the trunk only hours earlier. I grip the cool plastic tray with both miniature hands and discover the spongy, soft and sticky slice. It's golden and studded with liquor-soaked fruits. A line of winter white almond paste threads its way through the center of the golden folds. The buttery, tangy, sweet slice of heaven is coarsely protected with a fat layer of snowy powdered sugar. This whole memory is completely fabricated - I'd never tasted stollen until I pulled two from the oven last friday.

As I was mixing the dough, I was drawn to the enticing aromas - cinnamony, brandy-laced, heady with yeast and eggs and dairy. I zested half a grapefruit, and orange and a lemon right into the mixing bowl. I rolled out a bit of almond paste and placed it onto the center of the preshaped loaf and gently folded the dough over and coaxed the loaf into a crescent.

Trembling with restraint, I loaded the loaves into the waiting oven. It was impossible that baking this silken dough could possibly improve the sensory delight. Yet, this necessary exercise was prescribed by the rule of following directions the first time any bread is made. Saddened by the realization that I would no longer be tasting bits of the dough, I waited for the timer to alert me that it was almost time.

One half of a loaf had been consumed before the loaves were cool. Another loaf was gone by monday morning. To the best of my knowledge, there are no existing specimens from this baking experiment. Alas - you may enjoy the photos. I started with Peter Reinhardt's, "The Bread Bakers Apprentice" formula for Stollen and adjusted it to fit my available and preferred ingredients.

I think I'll be baking more for the holidays!

Sheeter

Some of you know that BBC got a sheeter from Ebay last month. When I got it, it was in less than prime condition. Still, being the trooper that I am, I am going to clean it up and repair it if I can.

The only clean thing about it was the control box. So I have been scraping, sanding, and vacuuming and scouring the outside parts.

http://www.barefootbaking.com/sheeter.html

The parts department at Rondo is especially nice to me and for that I am entirely too grateful! The man I have been speaking with probably hasn't a clue of my background, but I guess I have been keeping up.

(Joseph, I have to admit that I used to be an unhappy engineer. Now I am a happy baker who gets to make her own projects!)

A friend of mine wanted to open Bed and Breakfast and asked 20 B&B owners for advice - they all said, "Learn to repair toilets and faucets!" So I guess my advice to would-be professional bakery owners is to learn to repair ovens, refrigeration units and mechanical doo jiggies AND sink drains! HA HA and start with a lot of money!

So far, the project is daunting, but I think I can accomplish the installation by Thanksgiving and then the adjusting part will get started. I still need to receive the "rotary phase converter" from Arco in Shelbyville, IN. I'll then need to get wonderful electricians to install the converter and a female outlet. So far, I haven't had much luck in getting the unit down stairs, but my rigger just asked someone else to do it. Bummer.

In the meantime, I have been thinking up new items for the bakery. Along with expanding our croissants to include almond and maybe even baked sandwiches, I plan on all sorts of laminated goodies by May for the Greatest Spectacle in Tasting.

I can't operate it without the safety guards repaired and I am going to find out if they are reversible without taking off the front [spring-loaded] panel.

Caio and have a great weekend.