jstv – Page 25

November 13, 2022November 18, 2022

River Levels

We spend a lot of time on rivers and frequently keep an eye on water levels. An extremely dry summer strained all Central Oregon waterways and in September the BLM drew down the Crooked River . . . dramatically.

Rivers are measured at regularly intervals along their run. It’s all part of water management. The numbers you see are stream stage (gage height in feet), which are water level, but also a measure of flow volume stated as Cubic Feet per Second (CFS). These numbers project potential water available to downstream irrigators, but also allow users to see seasonal changes to a stream.

Late summer flows on the Crooked can drop to 50 CFS from an average of about 130 CFS. September’s BLM draw down was to 10 CFS. This put more water in the irrigation ditches, but caused concern for the fish population.

In fact, they closed the river to fishing for a couple of months. As a result, we began our John Day River excursions and subsequently discovered Small Mouth Bass fishing.

We haven’t been on the Crooked River since the closure, not just because you couldn’t fish, but we dreaded how dramatic the impact might be. This week we braced ourselves and drove to the Crooked to have a look.

Low water exposes the weed beds and sub-surface rocks.

The day we were there, the river was up a bit, at 23 CFS. As expected a lot of river bed was exposed. The Crooked River has never been easy to wade, but now I’ve got a better understanding of why. With so much bottom laid bare, white alkali deposits on rocks mark high water points, and from the remaining water flow to the bank was an exposed jumble of loose shoebox sized stones.

What water was still there snaked between boulders offering only a few deep pools in which fish could hold. A climate disaster observed up close.

This week the levels are coming back up (2.03 ft/48 CFS at this writing), so now we find out how much impact the reduced flow has had.

In a week or two we’ll be back on stream to wet a line and hope the winter snows are deep.

November 6, 2022November 5, 2022

Simple as Apple Pie

Gradually the days grow colder and our interest in the weather is focused on the next snowstorm.

We’ve finished up this year’s canning projects, and our plan to replenish a dwindling supply of Apple Butter and Crabapple Jelly is now complete.

If you spend time in a kitchen it’s likely you’ve put-up jam. If you tend a garden, you know the difference between hot-water bath and pressure canning.

While not essential, most pantries benefit from simple canning efforts. It is a great way to elevate your PB&J.

We’d put up a few pints of jam at the height of berry season, but the cool days of fall make it a much more pleasant task.

Farmer’s markets present good places to pick fresh for a dinner or two, but not for canning. Between the last sunny days of August and that first snow in October we swing through the Fruit Loop and pick out a mix of eating and cooking apples, as well as a handful of pears.

This week we finished up the last of the apples with a baking project. Apple pie scaled to Hand Pie . . . not turnovers but with laminated dough. Joanne Chang has a recipe for a flaky, buttery crust which we fill with apple, cinnamon and sugar. Perfect pie for a picnic box and very easy to make.

We’ll attach the recipes to the bottom of the post and encourage you to try the crust recipe on any pie.

Print Recipe

Master Single-Crust Pate Brisee

Author: Joanne Chang/Pastry Love

Ingredients

1 cup AP flour [140 g]
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 sticks unsalted butter [130 g]
1 large Egg yok (at room temperature)

Instructions

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, paddle together the flour, sugar, and salt for 10 to 15 seconds. Cut the butter into about 12 pieces and add it to the flour mixture. Paddle slowly until the flour is no longer bright white and the mixture holds together when you clump it, and there are still lumps of butter the size of pecans throughout…30-45 seconds.
Whisk together the egg yolk and milk in a small bowl and add them all at once to the flour-butter mixture. Paddle very briefly, just until it barely comes together, about 30 seconds it will look really shaggy and more like a mess than a dough.
Dump the dough out into a clean work surface and gather it together into a tight mound. Using the heel of your hand, smear the dough starting at the top of the mound and sliding your hand down the sides of the mound along the work surface, until most of the butter chunks are smeared into the dough and the whole thing comes together. (The technique is called fraisage, and makes for a very flaky pie dough.)
Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and press down to make a disk about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 4 weeks. Wrap in another layer of plastic if storing for more than 1 day

Print Recipe

Fruit Hand Pies

Author: Joanne Chang / Pastry Love

Ingredients

1 recipe Master Single - Crust Pate Brisee
250 grams fresh or frozen fruit
1 large egg for egg wash
1 Tbsp sanding sugar

Blueberry filling [250 grams ]

3 Tbsp superfine sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
¼ tsp grated lemon zest

Apple Filling [250 grams]

1/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp flour
pinch Salt, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg

Instructions

for Blueberry filling

In a saucepan, combine about ¾ of the blueberries, the superfine sugar, cornstarch, and salt, and stir together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Turn the heat on medium high and stir occasionally, until the blueberries start to soften and let out juice. Bring the mixture just to a boil, then remove from heat. Add the remaining blueberries and the lemon zest and stir to combine. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

For Apple Filling

Peel, core and slice apples into small bite size pieces. Add brown sugar, flour and seasonings and stir. Allow to macerate (soften) for ½ hour.

Basic Hand Pie

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. Remove the pate brisee from the fridge about 15 minutes before using it to soften slightly.
Generously flick flour over the work surface. Portion out 6 individual pieces of the dough and roll each one out in a circle 1/8 inch thick. Dock the dough all over with a fork. Lay the circles on parchment paper. Whisk the egg for the egg wash in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to brush the egg wash over the perimeter of one circle. Place 2 heaping tablespoons of the fruit filling in the middle of the circle. Carefully fold the circle over the filling to make a half-moon keeping the filling inside and press firmly around the edge of the circle to seal. Repeat to fill the remaining circles.
Freezing Hand Pies: At this point you can freeze the hand pies on a baking sheet until solid. Transfer them to an airtight container, and store in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. When you are ready to bake the pies, remove them from the freezer and bake as instructed, adding up to 5 minutes to the baking time.
Brush the tops of the hand pies with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle them evenly with the sanding sugar. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway through the baking time, until the pies are evenly golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Hand pies should be enjoyed the same day they are baked, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature overnight. If you are serving them the next day, refresh them in a 300 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

October 30, 2022October 29, 2022

Haunted Byways

Living in Central Oregon there are plenty of remote spaces to offer solitude and we prefer these roads less traveled.

The numerous state routes that take you across the high desert are broken up with small towns, often just a grain elevator and an abandoned storefront. These are ghost towns of sorts, places with more history than residents.

Oregon has the distinction of containing the most ghost towns of any state in the union, more than 200 at last tally. Maybe not so surprising is that many of them are only semi-abandoned … with greatly depleted populations.

This week as we continue to explore the John Day River, we pulled over into some wide spots in the road.

Shaniko, Oregon

Shaniko is a historic city located in north-central Oregon on a high plateau. In 1900 it was known as the “Wool Capital of the World” and features the largest wool warehouse in the state.

What is left?

Shaniko has a historic district featuring a hotel, jailhouse, schoolhouse and collection of over 40 properties. It boasts a population of 30 (2020).

Antelope, Oregon

Antelope was first settled in 1872 as a connection between Columbia River gold mines and Canyon City. Its namesake was a herd of pronghorn antelope that lived in the area.

In the 1980s members of the Rajneesh cult moved to the area planning to turn the town into their own settlement. Cult members took over the city by outnumbering the original residents. Due to criminal behavior, the cult leader fled the country and the commune collapsed.

What is left?

Antelope has a population of 37 (2020) and has a historic preservation society that details these events.

Kent, Oregon

Kent is a small community located amid rolling grainfields. This town was primarily a railroad town. Residents literally picked names out of a hat to come up with the name Kent. The name was suggested because it was short and simple to write.

What is left?

Today there are numerous buildings from Kent’s past, including a cafe, gas station and cemetery. The town has kept its post office, but has lost most of its population, which in 2018 sat at 67.

October 23, 2022October 22, 2022

Desert Oasis

Between the Cascade range and the Wallowas, basically the northwest corner of the great basin, we wound through swaths of grainfields criss-crossed with two lane roads and dotted with wind turbines.

This flat expanse of Oregon is sliced by a canyon cut by the John Day River.

This portion of Central Oregon was once ranchland, a “… continuous expanse of native shrub-steppe habitat.” While the wind and wheat farms have transformed the land, the river continues, free flowing.

A Wild and Scenic Waterway status helped conservation groups give protection to stretches of the river and aided their attempt to re-invigorate a wild Steelhead run.

You can see the lush canyons of the John Day from many vantage points along it’s two hundred mile plus length, but access to the river is difficult without a boat.

Forty miles upriver from the Columbia OR 206 crosses the John Day where the Murtha Ranch used to sit.

In 2013, sixteen miles of that ranch along the north bank became Cottonwood Canyon State Park. A handful of this 16 thousand acre parcel holds camping, cabins and day use sites.

It’s nearly a three hour drive from Bend, almost to the Columbia River.

But the park offers excellent river access and small mouth bass fishing. In the fall there are few visitors, so we took advantage of an empty picnic site.

Then spent the afternoon catching bass and enjoying this beautiful and quiet stretch of the John Day River.

October 16, 2022October 14, 2022

Apple Season

Apples destined for sorbet, chutney, turnovers, fritters, tarts, and pies

To most, this time of year is Fall … to us it is Apple Season.

For a few weeks, on the northern foothills of Mt. Hood, between the end of September and early November, you can find roadside stands offering tree-ripened fruit.

Kiyokawa Family Orchards is in Parkdale, which is twenty minutes from Hood River, or two hours from Bend, depending where you start your journey. For us, the reason to travel to the highest reaches of the Hood River fruit orchards … is Kiyokawa.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better variety of tree fruit in one spot. There is literally a maze of apples and pears. JQ does her research and builds a list. In years past these excursions ended with bags of un-identified fruit, so now, armed with a list, we are more focused.