Food & Cooking – Page 15

April 4, 2019December 16, 2019

Salad in minutes

As the main salad maker in our family, my goal is to ensure we eat fresh veggies every day. A quick, mixed green salad fits the bill nicely. So why do I hesitate when it’s time to make a salad?

For me it’s the prep…washing the greens, peeling the veggies, and measuring assorted oils, vinegar and herbs. Apparently I am a lazy salad maker. Still, determined to do better, I decide to streamline my process.

All cleaning is done at one time. Vegetables are washed (check out Fruit & Vegetable Wash), then stored immediately after our weekly grocery run.

1. Set up cutting board. Trim produce, toss veggie debris in compost bowl.

2. Fill bowl with water and veggie wash. Wash veggies.

3. Dry produce in produce spinner. Pat extra moisture with paper towel.

4. Place veggies in Debbie Meyer’s GreenBags and store in fridge.

Now that everything is prepped, we are ready to assemble a salad at any time.

Print Recipe

Salad in minutes

Prep Time4

Ingredients

2 Tbl olive oil ratio of 3 to 1, olive oil to vinegar
2 tsp vinegar
pinch of salt
grind of pepper
pinch of thyme
handful of spring greens per person
1/4 cup freeze dried blueberries per person
1/8 cup sliced roasted almonds per person

Instructions

Place oil, vinegar, salt, thyme in large bowl and stirvigorously until emulsified.
Put greens, blueberries and almonds and lightly toss until coated in dressing. Serve.

I only make enough dressing for the meal at hand. The ratio of oil to vinegar is three to one: three parts oil to one part vinegar. Not every vinegar is the same strength, so “to taste” is important here.

Choose a bowl three times bigger than the salad you are making…why? Because it’s a tossed salad and this helps contain all the parts.

The dressing is mixed first. Let sit a few minutes to blend the flavors, then the greens and extra fixings are put in the bowl and it’s all tossed.

Sometimes the extras are held back and dressed on top of the salad. Depending on how heavy they are, the really heavy stuff will end up on the bottom of the mixing bowl and make distribution more troublesome.

March 21, 2019December 16, 2019

Found a great Public House

Oregon has lots of places to find craft brews. So many, there is often little difference between one or the other. Faced with way too many Indian Pale Ale and seasonal brews …sorry but pumpkin spice is really only palatable in scone form… we are always looking for something different coming out of the tap. This can be a brew style or even how the beer is being delivered to the glass.

The pints poured in your local establishment are likely moved by carbon dioxide, a practice that adds to the effervescence of the pint and sometimes, can be a bit too much. If you’re lucky your local watering spot offers nitro or nitrogen gas-powered lines. Nitro is less bitter and adds smaller bubbles to the drink.

A better way to have your pint without all the bubbles is to use a British style hand pump or beer engine. A traditional British public house tap uses a lever’s energy to move beer from the keg to the glass. This style of beer delivery usually means the final fermentation was in the cask.

Hand pump pours are, in my mind, superior pints leaving just the cast conditioned character of the beer in the glass and a creamy froth on top.

We were really pleased to find Porter Brewing in Redmond, where they only serve cast conditioned beer hand pulled.

The Porter is pleasantly smoky, the stout chocolatey, and my favorite the Extra Special Bitter which was better than the nitro ESB at Red Hook.

In addition to the tap offerings, there is a BBQ food truck adjacent that offers great pub food. We’ll be passing Bend more often to hit this great little english pub on the north end of Redmond.

March 14, 2019December 16, 2019

Sourdough Waffles

Mention sourdough and people think San Francisco. While that’s not wrong, the leavening of bread with “yesterday’s” dough is as old as grain cultivation, and with it the inevitable rise of bread making (see what I did there?).

While my bread making has been inconsistent the last few months, there is an active sourdough culture in our fridge. That means this starter is fed every two to three weeks. It is pulled from the fridge, a portion is removed, and equal amounts of flour and water are added. Then it is allowed to start working before it’s return to the fridge.

The process of feeding a sourdough starter means there is some amount of perfectly good leavening agent that gets washed down the drain, if it’s not used for baking. When there’s no bread to bake, we make waffles. The recipe will work for pancakes if you are so inclined. “A waffle is just a more considerate pancake. It’s like, here, let me hold that syrup for you in these convenient boxes.”

If you are interested in sourdough, there are ways to start from scratch, but it is way easier to either find a baker and ask … they are usually looking for someone to take the cast off. But be ready to feed the beast regularly. That might be motivation to make a loaf of bread, or at least the more considerate breakfast food.

Print Recipe

Sourdough Waffles

Great way to make use of excess starter.

Servings: 4 round waffles

Ingredients

Overnight sponge

120 grams unfed sourdough starter
120 grams unbleached flour can do 50% Whole Wheat
14 grams sugar
225 grams buttermilk

waffle batter

1 large egg beaten
25 grams butter melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

The night before:

To make the overnight sponge, stir down your refrigerated starter, and remove 1 cup. Note: This is a good opportunity to feed the remainder, if necessary.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the 1 cup unfed starter, flour, sugar, and buttermilk. Cover and let rest at cool room temperature (about 65°F to 70°F) for about 12 hours, or overnight.

The next morning:

In a small bowl or mixing cup, beat together the eggs, and oil or butter. Add to the overnight sponge. Add the salt and baking soda, stirring to combine. The batter will bubble.
Coat a 6 inch round waffle iron with cooking spray and heat. Pour ⅔ cup measures of batter onto a heated iron and bake until steam stops escaping from sides. Should make about 4 waffles

February 21, 2019December 16, 2019

Obstkuchen

This cake has so much going for it. It’s quick, easy, versatile and not overly sweet.

Obstkuchen or German Fruit Cake is a light sponge cake used as a base to hold fresh or canned fruit. It’s a terrific food canvas. Mix and match fruit, then place in patterns or a generous mound.

You can put fruit directly on the cake, but be sure to pat them dry before placing on the cake base. To help keep the base from getting too moist, spread a filling, before adding the fruit. Experiment with flavored pudding, whipped cream, or even Nutella.

We topped our cake with a whipped cream mixture, then added a mound of blueberries. Obstkuchen is delicious as a dessert, snack…and even breakfast!

Print Recipe

Obst Torte

Ingredients

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Topping

1 cup whip cream
4 tbsp vanilla pudding mix or flavor of your choice
3 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk, as needed

Fruit Glaze

3 tbsp seedless jam
1 1/2 tbsp hot water

Fresh Fruit

2 cups fresh fruit

Instructions

Obstkuchen

Beat 3 eggs on high until foamy.
Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat high for 8 minutes.
Whisk 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder.
Sift dry mixture, then add in thirds to eggs. Fold after addition.
Once mixed, add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Line a springform cake pan or flan tart pan. Don't grease sides.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350. Let cool.

Whipped Cream

Chill bowl for 15 minutes. Add whip cream and beat 1-2 minutes.
Gradually add pudding mix and powder sugar until stiff. Set half aside for pastry bag, the other for smoothing on top of cake (only to edges).

Fruit Glaze

Stir 3 tablespoons seedless jam with 1 1/2 tablespoons hot water.

Assembly

Spread whip cream mix on top of cake (only to edges)
Leave 1 inch border open to pipe whip cream. Add fruit in pattern or in a generous mound.
Brush fruit with fruit glaze until shiny.
Fill pastry bag with the rest of the whip cream. Using a star tip or tip of your choice, pipe frosting around edge of cake.
Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

February 7, 2019December 16, 2019

Clean that produce

Fresh produce, fruits and vegetables, make up a major part of our diet. No shopping trip is over until the produce is rinsed, because along with dirt and general produce department grime, even the stuff marked organic might still hold trace chemical residue. We’ve discovered a simple method to ensure a clean rinse on all the raw fruit and vegetables going into our next meal.

Citrus essential oil, vinegar and water make up the initial bath, you then rinse with water and give veggies a quick spin. Finally, we pack everything in “Debbie Meyer’s” green bags to get a longer fridge life.