Spring Greens as Pot Herbs

This has been a long cool spring, interspersed with once-a-week warm sunny days. It seems to be a perfect greens-growing season, at least as reflected in my CSA bundle. There are not many fleshy vegetables yet, but the local produce farm where I enrolled in community-supported agriculture has been producing lots of greens, including some bitter greens. I think some of these are being produced in hoophouses, and others are growing in rows.

We have been having big bowls of salad with these riches, but eventually the hunger for something warmer brought me to resurrect my family recipe for glop.

Yup, that is the name of this dish. It is a Chinese-inspired recipe that I devised long ago, when I still had a vegetable garden. It turns out to be a perfect vehicle for spring greens, especially bitter ones. One could use spinach or beet greens (both included in my share), but the little extra bite in tatsoi and arugula is an asset to this dish. I also had some baby bok choi to add. It makes a lot of nice juice that is happily soaked up by the rice.

 Glop 

About 1/2 pound beef steak,  top round or sirloin (do not use bottom round or chuck)

 

Several generous bunches of tender greens. (I would not choose kale) Roll-cut broccoli may be used.

 

One package of fresh tofu (firm)

 

Scallions (roll-cut)

Garlic, Ginger (fresh),Chinese salted black beans - finely minced. Proportions of garlic and ginger should be approximately equal

Soy sauce

Dry sherry or Chinese cooking wine 

1 teaspoon white sugar

Peanut oil or other neutral oil

 

Sambal oelek or other hot pepper mixture 

Sesame oil

 

Cut the beef into very thin strips, using a sharp knife. Sprinkle with the sugar and add a couple of generous splashes of soy sauce and sherry. Stir and allow to marinate for at least a half hour.

Greens may be torn or cut into strips, depending on their structure.

Cut the tofu into cubes. Weight them with a plate or saucer for a while, then after some water has been discarded, mix with some soy sauce in a bowl and let rest until used.

In a large pot or wok, sauté the tofu, then the greens, separately with some of the ginger/garlic/black bean mixture, removing from the pan after brief cooking. Place the beef into pan with remaining ginger/garlic/bean mixture (you'll need additional oil) and stir-fry until cooked, then add sherry and soy sauce (approximately one-two tablespoons each). Add back in the greens and tofu. The pan should now contain juices released from the beef and greens. Add the scallions. Stir briefly until the mixture is bubbling slightly. Add about 1/2 teaspoon or more, according to taste, of the sambal oelek. Just before serving, add a couple of dashes of sesame oil and stir.

Serve with steamed rice.

 

 

Roasted Red Peppers

Red bell peppers were seldom seen on tables when I was growing up.  The big green bells were most often seen baked in a tomato sauce and stuffed with a ground meat mixture.  Sometime they were also chopped into a relatively exotic dish.  But for red peppers, we usually resorted to imported canned (in jars) pimientos.  These were rarely seen either, except to make pimiento cheese.

There is a reason for this. Red peppers are a luxury.  They require a long growing period. If you grow them yourself, this is a long wait.  I typically planted the young plants around May 31 and peppers became red starting around the first of October.  Of course, if you buy them from someone else, they have had to invest water and care during that long growing period, so they are not likely to be cheap. Happily, these are now freely available in farmers' markets as well as grocery stores.  (Hint: don't buy the first ones to turn red.  The later peppers are sweeter.)  One of their best uses is as roasted red peppers.   

How to Roast Red Peppers

Cut the top off the fruit, remove inner membranes and seeds, and then cut carefully along the angles of squarish peppers, down to the tip.  Sometimes the bottom round must be cut off too.  Flatten the pieces onto a cookie sheet.  Put this on the top rack of the oven and turn to Broil.  After a time, the skin will blacken.  Remove from the oven and move all the pieces onto a plate to cool.  Using a paring knife, pull the blackened skin free of the flesh.  Sometimes an unevenly cooked portion will need to be peeled off with the blade of the knife.  Brush any particles left on the surface aside.  These can be pickled or canned, but I have found that they keep very well in ziplock bags in the freezer.  I weigh them out (usually 1/4 lb) and pop them in. (Note: the odd little scraps from trimming can either be used otherwise, or broiled and cleaned also, though this is fussy to do.)

Fresh or frozen, these add a magical touch to so many dishes and sauces. (And are wonderful on homemade pizza.)  They are essential in our house for making meatloaf.

Meatloaf with Roasted Red Peppers

 Grease a loaf pan (bacon grease, butter, or lard).  Oven is 375°.

Do not use a food processor.  Mix this with a wooden spoon and your hands. 

Mix together:

1 lb ground pork or unseasoned pork sausage

2 lb lean ground beef

1 medium onion, minced

1/4 lb roasted red pepper, chopped

2 c breadcrumbs (homemade is nice)

Now mix in:

2 eggs

1 c milk

2 T ketchup

2 T pickle relish or chowchow (I use Legacy green tomato relish.)

1 T horseradish

Mix in a cup before adding:

1 1/2 t salt

dash garlic salt

dash celery salt 

2 t hot paprika

2 t good quality chili powder

Mixture should be homogeneous and evenly mixed, but try not to over-work.

Bake 1 1/2 hour at 375°.  Meatloaf will not make a lot of extra fat or juice.

Cut into even slices to serve. It makes six slices of 1/2 lb each.

 

 
 

Pumpkin Time

There is probably no fruit or vegetable as evocative of harvest time as the pumpkin.  (Sorry, apples.)  Of course, the big pumpkins are used in ornamental displays or to carve up as Jack-O'-Lanterns. But pie pumpkins are for eating.  Especially, and always, in pies.

Pumpkin pie is the classic for Thanksgiving.  And like all Thanksgiving classics, it has to be made the way we have always had it, with the recipe my mother used.

People often make pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin.  This is sad, because it is so easy to use the real thing.  Simply cut the pumpkin in two (many people save the seeds and process them by salting and roasting as a snack) and put the two halves on a baking sheet.  Bake at 300° for about half an hour or until your finger can easily dent the fruit wall into the soft inside.  Cool, scrape and mash, and you have really fruity-tasting wholesome pumpkin.  It can be measured and frozen for future use.  (Pumpkin bread is another good use if you should get tired of pie.)

Memory is an important part of taste for traditional meals like Thanksgiving.  My mother began baking from the Ann Pillsbury's Baking Book 50 years ago (the paperback version came out in 1961).  She wore it out; I found a reprint which I have now reduced to single pages.

Many of the recipes are still good classic treatments and I use several of them.  It does show its vintage in certain directions.  For example, this recipe calls for "top milk".  That is a remnant of the days before homogenized milk and it means rich milk that is partly cream.  I simply add some cream to the 2% milk I usually drink.

I often use a full 2 cups of pumpkin.  This makes a very fruity pie.  For a firmer custard, use 1 1/2 cups.  I also use a counter-top mixer (Mixmaster) to make the pie.  If you don't have one, use a handheld.

Pumpkin Pie

modified from Ann Pillsbury's Baking Book

Have ready an unbaked pie shell.  Set the oven at 450°. 

In a mixing bowl, beat 3 eggs slightly.  Add the dry ingredients, mixing as you go.

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 T flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/2 t ground allspice

1 t ground cinnamon

Then mix in 1 1/2- 2 cups cooked pumpkin.
Heat but do not boil 1 1/2 cups milk (part cream); add slowly to mixture, mixing thoroughly.

Pour into pie shell.  Cook for 10 minutes at 450°, then turn down oven to 350°.  Bake for 40-50 minutes. I usually choose the 50 minutes because I use more pumpkin.  The pie will set up more as it cools, but should not still be liquid in the center when you remove it.  Cool on a rack before cutting.

**********
I don't use the pie crust recipe from Ann Pillsbury.  True to its time, it relies on good old Crisco, which made a fine crust but we now know is loaded with trans fats.  After I threw away my Crisco can, I experimented for a while with all-butter crusts but they were failures.  Finally, thanks to a friend's food blog, I learned how to make a crust that has good manners and tastes good, too.  (And it freezes well, future pies on hold.)

A note about fats in pie crust:  There are many options, but you do need a fat that is solid at room temperature, not a liquid oil.  A blend of fats works well because you get the virtues of each kind.  I use a mixture of butter and lard.  The shelf-stable lard in big tubs at the grocery store is hydrogenated (trans fats again).  Try to find some rendered lard at a good butcher, or learn to render it yourself (not really hard if you can find the pig fat).  Keep this in the refrigerator or freezer.

Originally, this recipe called for volumetric measurements (cups).  But measurement by weight is easier and more reliable if you have a kitchen scale.

Another note: use Mark Bittman's advice and refrigerate the dough at various stages, including just after cutting and before rolling out.  Also, don't overcut.  (Don't use a food processor and reduce it into granules!)  The fat pockets from irregular pieces are what make for a flaky crust.

Gramma Bayer's Never-Fail Pie Crust

with thanks to Kim Bayer and her grandmother

Mix 3 cups of flour with a dash of salt.

Cut in (a hand pastry blender gives you the most control)

1/2 lb unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1/4 lb lard

Refrigerate briefly.

Whisk together:

1 egg

1 T vinegar (apple cider is fine)

5 T cold water

Mix this into the flour and fat mixture with minimal handling.  Use a small amount of flour on the working surface if needed.  Refrigerate.

Cut into three equal parts.  (Weigh them, if you will.)  Each one is a single pie crust.

Refrigerate.

Roll out and fill. Freeze unused portions in a plastic container or bag.

  

Legacy Pickles: Green Tomato Relish

Surely almost every culture on Earth has a pickle (or, sometimes a fermented food) that serves as a gentle bass line to the melody of the meal - a taste that is part of the food though never its focus. Often this is something that has been passed down through the family, or friends, or perhaps a familiar food conveyor.  Once you have become accustomed to that little assist, the food never tastes quite right without it. The jar is there in your pantry, and you reach for it without much of a second thought. 

Green Tomato Relish, ready for the shelf

In our family, that is Green Tomato Relish.  It is required that we make a batch of this every few years.  Homemade hamburgers are not real without it.  It is the secret ingredient in meatloaf, deviled eggs, sauces and salad dressings.  This relish is closely related to a couple of other Southern pickles, "chow chow" and "piccalilli".  Indeed, when I was introduced to this, it was called piccalilli, but as far as I can tell, most recipes for piccalilli include some fruit such as apples. Chow chow usually includes cabbage.  But what all three pickles share is that they are a mixture of fall vegetables with plenty of sugar and vinegar and some assertive spices.

I learned to eat "piccalilli" that was made by the parents of family friends.  We were gifted with a jar each fall as the senior Whitworths cleaned out their fall garden and the green tomatoes, peppers and onions went into the mix. I came to love this mixture as a child, especially on hamburgers.  Later, I combed through recipes until I found one in Joy of Cooking that seemed to match my memory. (The elderly gardeners were long since dead and gone.  The lesson is, always ask for the recipe.)

Use enough red bell peppers to add a color note.

The first challenge is to find the green tomatoes.  If you have your own garden, this is easy.  Traditionally, it was made from the garden leftovers just before the first frost.  But I have been known to grow tomatoes and harvest the first flush of fruit to make this pickle.  It is surprisingly hard to get commercial growers to supply you with them.  Hope for good friends with good vines.  You can use green tomatoes of almost any size, though I don't recommend the tiny ones.  As a rule of thumb, I might choose medium-sized green tomatoes not yet at full growth potential.  At least, make sure that the tomatoes have not begun to ripen.  It will make them too mushy.

Sliced, salted, drained vegetables

Plan for two days to make the pickles.  The vegetables are sliced (I use a food processor) and layered in a crock with pickling salt. (It is very important not to use iodized salt.  If you can't find pickling salt, use kosher salt.)  This will create a brine.  The crock is covered and left overnight (12 hours).  Then the vegetables are drained and rinsed, to avoid a highly salty pickle.

The next step is to place them in the pickling mixture to cook until they are transparent.  Then they are ready for canning.  Some people might keep them in slices, but I put them through a food processor briefly to make a relish.  (Be careful not to purée them.)

Measurement note:  tomatoes are often sold in farmers' markets by volume rather than by pound.  A peck (8 quarts) is about 16 pounds.  I find that a half peck makes enough relish for several years.

Green Tomato Relish

Slice:

One-half peck green tomatoes (about 8 lb)

12 bell peppers, about 1/3 red or as available

5 large onions (less if Spanish onions, which are larger)

1 large garlic bulb or about 8 cloves of garlic

In a crock:

Layer these sliced vegetables with about 1/2 cup pickling salt; add scant teaspoon to finish as needed.

Push  a clean plate down over the vegetables until brine covers them.  Cover the crock and set in cool corner overnight.   Drain and rinse after 12 hours (approximately).

Pickling mixture:   (Heat in resistant pan, enamel or stainless steel)

1 1/2 quarts cider vinegar

2 lb light brown sugar

1 T plus 1 t powdered ginger

1 T plus 1 t dry mustard

In infuser bag or wrapped in cheesecloth

2T whole cloves

2 sticks cinnamon

1 T celery seed 

Add vegetables and simmer until translucent.  Try to avoid a heavy boil.

Can these in pint jars for 15 minutes (hot water bath canning).

Pickles can first be chopped in a food processor, taking care not to purée the relish.

Allow pickles to mellow for 1 month before using.

 

 

Ricotta Made at Home

Here are my basic precepts for sustainable food:

1. Make as much of it as you can yourself, from scratch.

2. Use either food you grow yourself, or is grown near you, as much as possible.

3. Use recognizable real food, not mixes or partially prepared mixes. (This is what "from scratch" means.)

So, although it is possible to buy ricotta cheese from the dairy case, I'd rather make it myself.  This has to be the simplest cheese in the world to make.  It can be used in many ways, including cheesecake, macaroni and cheese, and especially in homemade lasagna.

There are two ways ricotta is made.  If you are already a cheesemaker and like to make mozzarella at home, the leftover whey can be made into ricotta.  (This is a different recipe.)  But I like to make it from whole milk.  We don't have it that often, so why not have the best?  It can be made from skim or fat-reduced milk, but we now know that butterfat is actually good for you, containing omega-3 acids.  And whole milk ricotta is so delicious.

We are fortunate here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to have an old-fashioned family dairy nearby. Not only do they sell milk that is minimally processed and in glass bottles, it is possible to obtain their non-homogenized milk, with a cream head. But if you can't get that, even supermarket homogenized whole milk makes a very nice ricotta.

You need some citric acid.  Ricotta is made by acidifying milk and heating it.  This causes the protein to coagulate and make curds.  Some people use lemon juice or vinegar, but to my taste these impart a flavor.  Citric acid is a simple, pure, crystalline organic acid that can be found in shops who cater to brewmasters or picklemakers (or cheesemakers).

Here are the proportions of citric acid to be used.  Dissolve the powder in water before adding it to the milk.

1 gallon milk            1 teaspoon citric acid         1/4 cup water
1/2 gallon milk        1/2 teaspoon citric acid     2 tablespoons water

Place the milk in a nonreactive pan (stainless steel is good) and mix in the citric acid solution.  Heat the milk, with occasional stirring, to 185-195 F°.  An instant-read thermometer is very useful for this. DO NOT let the milk boil or scorch, but watch it constantly. When it reaches temperature, turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Pour the whey and curds into a colander lined with butter muslin (a fine-textured cheesecloth).  If you don't have the cheesecloth, a clean "flour sack" type tea towel will probably work.  After the whey has drained (a few minutes), the ricotta can be released by folding the cloth gently, and placed into a bowl for refrigeration until used.  It should be used within a few days.

A half gallon of milk makes about 3/4 pound of ricotta.

Lemon Ice Cream (with Mango Instructions)

For languid summer feasts, the best thing is a very simple and luxurious dessert.  This classic freezer ice cream takes almost no time to assemble, and is always eaten in respectful silence.  It requires no special equipment.  Because of the high cream content, there is no crystallization and an ice cream machine is not needed.  Just pour the mix into a cake pan and place into a freezer for a couple of hours.

As an additional touch, fresh mango fruit (which is obviously not local to North America, but is frequently fresh and widely available in the late summer) may be sliced and placed on each serving.  I do not advise sugar or any other addition to the fruit.  My husband has published a full description of the method for peeling a mango on his blog, from which this illustration is lifted.

Freezer Lemon Ice Cream

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 T grated lemon zest

Mix and pour into an 8" square cake pan.  Freeze for a couple of hours, till solid.

This is best eaten on the same day but can be kept frozen for a few days.

It is just as good (and some would say better) when lime is substituted for the lemon.

How Green Was My Pepper

Whether you source your summer vegetables from a CSA, the farmers' market, or your own garden, there comes a time when you are faced with a bumper crop of green bell peppers.  Eventually these big babies will ripen into red sweet peppers, or into another color.  Ripened bells are beloved by most.  I've written several posts on the preparation and use of roasted and peeled red peppers and of course sweet ripe red peppers are appreciated in salads and other dishes.

But as has been acknowledged even by the writers of the New York Times food section, green peppers are another matter.  We think so little of them here that I have often offloaded the end of season bounty on friends and neighbors.

Still, they are what is now.  And they do have some use in selected dishes.  This is the time of year that I pull out an old standby, from a cookbook that is also an old standby.  I received my copy of the I Hate To Cook Book at about the same time as my original copy (1964 edition) of the Joy of Cooking.  While I read Joy cover to cover (it was my first cooking course), I probably made a great many more meals from Hate To Cook over the first several years of my marriage.  There was no stigma in cooking from cans at the time.  (That was the form in which most food was sold.)  Also, I was a student with little time or money for fancy cooking.  The book has now been reissued and its author, Peg Bracken, has now been acknowledged as a figure of cooking history in her own right.  I'm still using some of the recipes from the book.  For one thing, they don't all involve creamed canned soup.  For another thing, they are invariably easy and tasty.

This casserole uses up a whole green pepper!  It goes well with some fresh sautéed vegetables like summer squash and a crisp salad from seasonal greens.  I made mine with a locally produced pork sausage, very sustainable.

Note: the recipe calls for "pork sausage".  You'll want bulk sausage for this.  But bulk sausage comes with various seasonings included.  Mine has sage and crushed red pepper.  If you use unseasoned ground pork instead, the results may vary slightly.

Dr. Martin's Mix

Slightly modified from The I Hate To Cook Book, by Peg Bracken

Using a stove-to-oven pan (enameled cast iron is my choice), crumble and brown 1 pound bulk sausage.  If excessive fat is produced, pour some off.

Add:

1 green pepper, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

2-3 celery stalks, chopped

2 cups chicken broth (homemade or commercial)

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

(if using unseasoned sausage), black pepper

Mix, cover, and cook in a 300° oven for one hour.