We be jammin - Peach

We don't know what to call ourselves yet:
Ninja goat wranglers?
the kitchen bee?
Girl power in the kitchen?

Our group got together yesterday to make peach jam.  The peaches from the Palisades are in perfection and we wanted to make jam.

Eloise

LuLu had to stay home but she really tried to convince her to take me with her to Caramel Apple Farm by balancing on the edge of her food bowl

peach jam and canned peaches

We started with 36 pounds of peaches, 18 pounds of sugar, a dozen lemons, 3 boxes of pectin and  lots of pint size jars

mise en place

Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 pounds of peaches

3 cups of sugar

1 lemon

1 packet of liquid fruit pectin

Method:

Peel peaches by dropping them in boiling water 1 minute and then into ice water  to release the skins

Chop up into the size you want in your jam

Place in pot and add sugar.

Mix to mingle

Bring to boil and cook for 15-20 minutes

Add the zest and juice of one lemon

Add one packet of liquid fruit pectin

Cook on close to boil another 5 minutes

Fill jars leaving 1/4" headspace.

Place lids and rims and process in water bath for 15 minutes ( an extra 10 minutes in Colorado)

OR

refrigerate and eat fresh without processing

I got to be queen

me 

First we gathered for lunch - yummy tacos

Autumn and Beka

Then we had yummy brownies to give us energy to can ( or put up with the queen)

Liz and brownies

The girls made tags for the jars

peach art

Ingredients:

peaches

sugar

lemon

fruit pectin

real stuff

Then we got to work

Kate, Kaitlin, Denise, Autumn, my subjects for the day

We blanched, peeled, chopped, stirred, eyeballed, boiled and let cool:

Cory was planning on coming but that old job got in the way.  Next time Cory.  We missed you

Kate

Its always so good to spend a day with my granddaughters.  Only Kate could come this time.  Next time Ella.

What do you think? Ninja goat wranglers?

Zucchini filled with Feta and roasted tomatoes, with roasted corn vinaigrette

stuffed zucchini over salad with roasted corn vinaigrette

mise en place

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini

1 small eggplant, sliced into 1/2" thick rounds

7 Tbs olive oil

1 cup tomatoes

salt and freshly ground pepper

onions, 1 cup minced

garlic, 2 tsp minced

red pepper, 1/2 cup chopped

serrano chile, 1/2 tsp seeded and minced ( or a pinch of red pepper flakes)

parsley, 1/4 cup chopped

mint, 2 Tbs chopped

feta or goat cheese, 1 cup crumbled

pine nuts, 1/4 cup toasted

method:

Preheat oven to 400 deg

Halve the zucchini lengthwise and carefully scoop out the flesh, leaving 1/4 inch thick shell.  Chop and reserve the flesh:

zucchini boats

Lightly brush both sides of the eggplant rounds with 3 Tbs of the olive oil.  In a bowl, lightly toss the tomatoes with 1 Tbs of the olive oil.  Place the tomatoes and eggplant slices in a single layer on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and roast for 10 minutes or  until the eggplant is lightly browned and softened.  Roughly chop both tomatoes and eggplant and set aside:

tomatoes and eggplant ready to roast

In a sauté pan heat the remaining 3 Tbs. of olive oil  Add the onions, garlic, and pepper and sauce until soft but not brown.  Add the reserved zucchini flesh and cook 1 minute, stirring.  Combine the eggplant mixture.  Stir in the serrano chili, parsley, mint, feta and pine nuts.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

all stuffing ingredients ready to board the boats

Divide the filling among the zucchini boats, mounding it slightly.  Place in an oiled ovenproof baking dish.  Broil the filled zucchini until the filling is bubbling and lightly browned, approximately 5 minutes:

stuffed but uncooked

To serve arrange  greens on a plate.  Spoon the roasted corn vinaigrette over the greens and around the plate and place filled zucchini on top. 

I made this dish after work one evening but it made for a late dinner.  Allow a little time for this.  It's worth it.

Grab a glass of wine and enjoy!

This recipe is taken from From the Earth to the Table, by John Ash

Corn Part III Corn Salsa

This is a great summer salsa with a small amount of sweetness.  Inspired by and modified from Marisa McClellan's Food in Jars book...a great book about preserving in small batches and year round.

Recipe: 

Remember I said I bought 24 ears of corn (8 ears for $1-crazy)?  Sixteen ears went to the stock and 8 into this recipe.  I did grill the corn along with 2 poblano chili peppers

Ingredients: 

8 ears of fresh corn, shucked with silks removed

5 cups chopped tomatoes - about 3 pounds

1 cup poblano peppers ( usually 2)

1 cup chopped red onion  91 small)

1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar

1/4 cups bottled lime juice (bottled is better for canning- if you make this for quick use or the fridge fresh lime juice is better)

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin ( the fresher the better with cumin)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp coriander seed

Method:

Fresh:

Grill or roast the corn and poblano peppers

When the corn is cool enough cut the kernels from the cobs

Peel, seed and chop the poblano chilis

Combine the corn kernels, tomatoes, peppers, onion, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and coriander in a large pot and bring to a boil.

Reduce and simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced.

Taste and adjust spices.

Canned:

Ladle the hot salsa into the prepared pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace

Wipe the rims, apply sterilized lids and rings*

Process in boiling water for 15 minutes **

This will produce 5-6 pint jars of salsa.  If you are canning and have some salsa but not enough for the jar to be full enough pop this in the fridge if it makes it that far.

You also might want to make a whole batch and only can 2 pints and keep the rest to use fresh.

*sterilize lids and rings by placing them in a small saucepan cover them with water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.  Jars should be used straight from the dishwasher or boiled in a deep pot for 10 minutes

**Processing time is 15 minutes at sea level (well I wish I were at sea level but not just for processing time) add 5 minutes to altitudes from 1000-3000 ft- add 10 minutes to altitudes 3001-6000 ft.

tomatoes from the garden

zinnias

No don't put any zinnias in but they look like they belong

salsa ingredients

Ingredients before the heat is turned on.

Happy Fiesta!!!

Corn part II Corn stock

When corn is in abundance like it is right now I strongly encourage you to make this stock.  You can later add shrimp or lobster and potatoes for a great chowder or use it for the base of a good chilled corn soup. I blistered the poblano chilis and grilled the corn before starting the recipe.  The poblano adds a kick to the base.  The author also suggests adding cumin or coriander seeds.  My cilantro is just now going to seed so I'll try that next batch.  I'll add pics later but here is the recipe modified from "From the Earth to the Table" by John Ash.
Use the largest stock pot that you have.  This will produce about 4 quarts of stock from using a 12 quart stockpot.  I have a brand new stockpot from Williams-Sonoma that I love.

Ingredients:
16 ears of corn, shucked, and roasted on the grill
    I used a basting brush to add some olive oil before placing the corn on the grill
2 Tbs Olive oil
6 cups chopped onions
4 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
2 TBS chopped garlic
2 cups dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
2 poblano chilis, blistered, pealed and seeded, and chopped

Method:
After roasting or grilling the corn remove the kernels from the cobs and reserve both.
Put the olive oil in the stockpot along with the onions, carrots, celery and the garlic and cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are just beginning to brown.
Break the corn cobs into 2 or 3 pieces each and add to the pot along with the wine, bay leaves, peppercorns, and enough water to cover all by at least 3 inches.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Strain the stock, pressing on the vegetables and cobs to extract all liquid.
Return to the stockpot and add the reserved corn kernels and poblano chilis
Simmer for an additional 25-30 minutes.
Strain, puree the corn and chilis in a blender or food processor and strain again to catch the big remnants or rough blend and add the corn and chilis back to the stock.

Can be stored 5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.



Bon Appetit

We'll start with CORN part I roasted corn vinaigrette

roasted corn vinaigrette ready to dress your salad

taken with some variation from John Ash's "From the Earth to the Table".  This is a fabulous cookbook originally published in 1995.  It contains wonderful recipes from the wine country cuisine in Northern California -    I just looked on Amazon and this book is offered at over $500.  I guess I won't be giving my copy to Goodwill.  There is another updated paperback version

 Recipe:

1 cup fresh raw corn kernels ( about 2 large ears),  cobs reserved

2 Tbs olive oil

salt and pepper

3/4 cup rich chicken stock

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 Tbs shallots, minced

2 Tbs sherry vinegar

1 tsp serrano chile seeded and minced, red pepper flakes will do too

Roast the corn:  Toss the corn with 1 Tbs olive oil.  Salt and pepper

Roast on a baking sheet in one layer at 375 deg for 12-15 minutes until the corn gets a little color.

Cool.

Reduce the sauce: Combine the stock and the wine.  Break the cobs and add to the liquid.  Bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and reduce by half.  Strain the liquid and discard the cobs. Let the liquid cool.

Combine:  In a large bowl whisk the reduced stock, shallots, sherry vinegar, chili and the remaining 1 Tbs of olive oil.  Stir in the roasted corn.  Season with salt and pepper

Note: In the end I wanted more liquid so I added olive oil and sherry vinegar in a 2/1 ratio.  So considering halving the corn or doubling the liquids.

Bon appetit

mise en place

I like bone broth.  It's richer and has more body than the chicken broth

vinaigrette without corn

corn cobs in pot with wine and chicken stock

roasted corn kernels

These could have used a little more color but were delicious

Abundance, a one week diary of a mad woman

Abundance:  Isn't it what we hope for when we plant our tiny little seeds in the earth in spring or in Colorado really late spring and early summer.  I'm always hopeful and impractical to think that I can plant as early as I do and then I find myself covering my seedlings many nights so they don't freeze.
This year we had at least a dozen of these nights including 6 inches of snow at times. So I am extremely grateful that I have any harvest at all much less an abundance of one.

root vegetables

At the end of one manic week I have 4 pint jars of peach jam

4 pint jars of lavender jelly

 a pint of lavender syrup

a goat cheese ricotta lemon thyme and lavender tart

a 3 pound wheel of cheddar cheese
1 quart of S'mores goat milk ice cream

4 pints of zucchini pickles

2 country loaves of butternut squash bread

4 quarts of corn stock

4 stuffed zucchini with roasted corn vinaigrette

6 pints of corn salsa  

and

lots of zucchini and tomatoes

one week later

My cheesemaking friends decided we'd get together again to make peach jam.  The peaches from the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, called the Palisades grows the state's best peaches.  With that inspiration I decided to make a trial run batch to prepare for our "jamming" day.  I use a great little cookbook called Food in Jars for my basic recipes.  This batch has a peach pie flavor with added cinnamon and nutmeg but next week we will do just pure Colorado Palisades peaches and sugar:

peach jam mise en place

California and Colorado peaches

peaches cut and in the pan

with the sugar, spices and now ready for the jars

Since my canning book was open and I had some zucchini on the counter I flipped through the pages to find my zucchini pickle recipe and continued to process four more pints.

On that same day I was in a hunt for a cookbook that I wanted to use and while in my kitchen library ran into great old favorite: From the Earth to the Table Well my first thought was that with the internet who needs a cookbook anymore but as I thumbed through this book I went a little mad - truly I think I've lost my mind.  But for those who know me I absolutely LOVE to cook.  This little recipe jumped out at me called "Winter squash bread".  Since I had a butternut squash in my cold room (from last year's harvest) I had to make this the next day:

two boules ready for the oven

out of the oven

pretty right?

From the Earth to the Table- my inspiration

goat cheese ricotta with lemon thyme and lavender tart

Well then the recipe: Ricotta tart with lemon thyme caught my eye.  I had some goat cheese ricotta in the fridge since my last batch of cheesemaking and thought adding lavender to the tart would be a fabulous idea.

OK  Now that I had picked one branch of lavender and I had plenty ready to harvest in the garden I decided to make a good lavender tea infusion and try my hand at lavender jelly.  Brad has a vendor in his Seattle Farmer's Market that sells this little taste of heaven.   His girls and I are going to make some when I visit next time but why not do a trial run? Today?  I had a little lavender syrup left so I plopped that in the giant canning pot too:

lavender syrup and jelly

OK  Back to John Ash's book.  Well I have tons of zucchini and have used my favorite recipe several times now so yes there is a fabulous stuffed zucchini recipe in this book too:

I started with the vinaigrette - roasted corn

Roasted corn vinaigrette, mise en place

everything but the roasted corn

roasted corn vinaigrette

stuffed zucchini, mise en place

zucchini boats

eggplant and tomatoes ready to roast

stuffing ingredients

zucchini stuffed and ready for the broiler

stuffed zucchini with green salad and roasted corn vinaigrette

So now I was ready to put the book back on the shelf until I remembered that the Western Slopes Olathe corn was so delicious and also in abundance.  I went back to the book and found a recipe for corn stock - 16 ears of corn added to sautéed onions, celery, carrots and some chili.  So I bought 24 ears of corn, used 16 for the stock and decided to go back to my Food in Jars book and find a good tried and true corn salsa recipe.  Besides I just picked my first tomatoes.  I grilled the last 8 ears of corn along with some poblano chilies in preparation for one more day of food prep and canning

Roasted corn salsa:

corn salsa ingredients

OK now the book IS back on the shelf.  All the stockpots and knives are washed and put away but look there are another 10 pounds of tomatoes and all of these:

miles to go before I rest 

All of this and I managed to get in 40 miles of walking and 20 hours of work

I HAVE lost my mind