By The Open Window

It is quiet today.  Except for the birds.  And the rushing spring across the way.  One wouldn’t think a spring could be so loud, tumbling over rocks, through grass, down, down, down until it falls into the creek below, a diminutive waterfall past it’s prime of melted snow and spring showers.  Sometimes, those times, it roars.  Especially after a heavy snowfall when winter has waved it’s good-bye, but hasn’t entirely closed the door.

On those days, the white muffles the valley, the lone sound of the stream echoing off the hills. The splashes and tinkles bounce up and up, until I hear them through a window cracked open to breathe in the chilly refreshing air and to hear the sounds of my world wrapped in white.  All clean, cold, wet.

But not on this day. Today it is a trickle, the soft sound barely audible over the birds so busy on their courtships and honeymoons and nest building.  It is spring.  The wild cherry is in full bloom.  Beneath it my horse stands, asleep in the sun, his long tail lazily swishing away the flies intent on making his life miserable now that his pasture mate is no longer with him. They can’t stand head to tail in nature’s equation to provide relief from those pesky flies.  For now, he is just happy to no longer have his feet buried in snow or mud.

In the distance a rooster crows.  Mine answers.  Both of them.  I don’t know why I don’t find their noise annoying as others do.  I relish the cacophony of the coop, the hens squawking aloud their latest lay, the roosters’ scuffles for the nearest hen’s attention.  Even at five o’clock in the morning, or four, or three, it is music to my ears.  Much preferred than the artificial buzz from the dim half-light of a face full of numbers, little soldiers marching in time, always marching, always on time, around and around and around.  Never taking the time to stop.  To feel.  To listen.

Life is sweet.  On this day.  In this place.

Okra, Hold the Slime

I love fried okra. It’s about the only way I like it. I’m not fond of it in gumbo or other cooked dishes that allow its slime to develop. But the older I get, the more I dislike the taste of the tried-and-true southern way of cooking okra that I grew up with. The heavy flour-and cornmeal breading soaked up too much oil and hid the flavor of the okra, which my waistline and taste buds have come to resent.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed several food bloggers offering up different versions of “okra fries”. The cooks raved over the taste and the simplicity. The recipes were pretty simple and similar, a light dusting of flour or cornmeal seasoned with various spices, and then lightly cooked in oil. Some were fried in a skillet on the stove while others were baked in the oven. Intrigued, I decided to do a taste test with my family to see how the different recipes stacked up.  It was a tough assignment, but in the interest of science, and my waistline I put my shoulder to the plow, and came off the other end of the row with a new way to enjoy okra that will forever replace my old tried-and-true technique of over-breading, over-frying.

The okra was prepared 2 ways. Either quartered,as pictured above, or left whole. I tossed the slices with a little flour mixed salt, pepper, and onion powder.

I then fried some of the okra slices and some of the whole okra on the stove top, while the rest of the slices and whole okra were baked in the oven after drizzling with a little olive oil.

Hands down, everyone preferred the sliced, fried-on-the-stovetop okra. The whole okra, fried or baked, ended up limp and tough to bite into. We did agree the oven baked okra, both the strips and whole okra, retained more okra flavor, but they lacked the crispness that drove us to keep picking at the stove-top fried pile on the plate. Until they were all gone, and we complained all night about how stuffed we were. And because the strips cooked so fast on the stovetop, I didn’t begrudge the little bit of oil they may have absorbed.

Here’s the recipe so you can stuff yourself, too!

Fried Okra Reborn

okra, about 1/4 lb per person, quartered into strips
flour, 1/4 cup per 2lbs okra
1 teaspoon onion powder per 1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
oil

Trim, wash and dry okra. Cut into quarters. Toss quartered okra with flour, onion powder, salt and pepper.  Heat oil to about 375°.  Cook okra in the hot oil without crowding, may need to do in batches depending on size of pan and amount of oil used. Watch carefully as the strips cook pretty fast, about 5-7 minutes. I almost burned mine. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

Bet you can’t eat just one!

From Mother’s Recipe Box: Banana Oatmeal Cookies

This is another installment in sharing with you the beloved recipes of my grandmother who died in 1986. Recently discovering her recipes has given new meaning to my cooking and baking as I re-discover the food she made for us.

The recipe I share today wasn’t found in her hand-writing. I’m not sure from where it originated and numerous internet searches simply proclaim the recipe an old one. It didn’t match the numerous recipes she cut out from Carolina Farmer (published today as Carolina Country), and it doesn’t appear to be a recipe cut from a package. I remember eating these in her kitchen, sitting in the little rocking chair I inherited from her, beside the oil stove she used for heat.

For a good part of my childhood, we grew up without a television, something that even as a child I didn’t mind. There was too much to do outside to be cooped up watching tv, but occasionally in the summer I’d make up an excuse to walk through the woods to Mother’s house. Of course this always coincided with the afternoon showing of the Beverly Hillbillies, and then surprisingly enough when it went off, I’d make an excuse for needing to get on home. I think Mother had her suspicions as to my real reason to visit as occasionally she’d have these waiting for me.

These cookies are good, almost like banana bread in a cookie. More cake-like than cookie, the basic recipe invites experimentation depending on the season. I can imagine making these around the holidays, substituting pumpkin pie spice for the nutmeg and cinnamon, pumpkin puree for the shortening or butter, and then tossing in some dried cranberries or raisins.  However they’re made, these will now become a staple in my kitchen! Thanks, Mother!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour (I just whisk mine)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup shortening (or butter)
1 egg, well beaten
1 cup mashed bananas (2-3)
1 3/4 cups dry oatmeal, old fashioned, not quick-cook
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening or butter. Add remaining ingredients and stir until blended. Drop by teaspoonful about 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment on mine).

Bake 400° for about 15 minutes until edges are slightly browned (watch the oven. Mine started burning on the bottom before the tops were done, even in a convection oven). Remove to rack to cool.

Next post, I’ll have another cookie recipe in her own writing with a couple of surprising ingredients!

No More Corn On The Cob Please!

I love LOVE LOVE corn-on-the-cob.  With lots of butter, fresh cracked black pepper, and a little salt (well, a lot of salt), I can make a meal. Juice running down my elbows, slurping the cobs, it’s a little summertime heaven on earth. But. I get tired of corn on the cob. Sometimes I get the itch to jazz things up,and when I do, these are my go-to recipes. One is a make-ahead recipe, needing to sit overnight in the fridge, and the other is more flexible. It can be made ahead or just before serving.

The first recipe, Corn and Black Bean Salad, makes use of a wide variety of garden veggies, and the dressing has just enough updated flavor to define the freshness of the salad. Easy substitutions can be made if a veggie is missing from your market. It is best made to sit overnight to allow the flavors to meld and develop.

The second recipe, Corn, Radish and Parsley Salad uses an oft-unsung hero of the veggie world. When nothing else will grow, the ever faithful radish pokes it’s bright red bottom up out of the soil eschewing heat, drought or light frost. Just consider it the post man of the home garden!  This salad can be made overnight, or just before serving.

Quick tips for those unfamiliar with working with fresh corn:

If you’re like me and hate to deal with corn silks, try nuking the unhusked ears.  This builds up steam below the husk to loosen the silks and enabling them to slip right off the kernels. Depending on the size of the cob, and the strength of your microwave, 6 ears at 3 minutes is just about right.

The next issue is getting the kernels off the cob. I use an old trick that’s been around forever. Set the ear in the hole in a Bundt pan, and run a knife down the cob, slicing off the kernels. Once the kernels are off, run the back of the knife down the cob to “milk” the ear. The kernels and corn milk conveniently fall into the pan below.

The last tip is measuring corn. A medium, well-filled out cob yields about 3/4 of a cup of kernels.

Now to the recipes!

Corn and Black Bean Salad
Serves 4-6, refrigerate overnight

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tomato, medium chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (leave in seeds for more heat to the dressing)

Dressing:
3/4 cup Italian salad dressing (or use your favorite homemade recipe!)
3/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:
Combine all the vegetables into a large refrigerator container with a lid.

In a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine all the dressing ingredients. Shake until well mixed.

Pour the dressing over the corn mixture. Close lid and toss all together. Refrigerate overnight to meld flavors. This can be served cold, but I prefer it slightly warmer than chilled and a little cooler than room temperature. Not easy to please am I? ; ))

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Corn, Radish, and Parsley Salad
Serves 8

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh corn kernels (about 6 ears)
1 cup radishes, sliced
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Toss everything together. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Kindle in the Kitchen

I don’t own a Kindle, but I read Kindle books using the free Kindle software for PCs on my laptop. Though I prefer real books, and visit the library most every week, I sometimes get a hankering for something to read when the library is closed, or when I want to read something I can’t get through inter-library loan. Enter Kindle, and its vast selection of free books available from Amazon and other websites. The software is supported on numerous platforms, and now via cloud reading in your favorite web browser. Of course reading on a real Kindle would be great, but now anyone with a computer can read Kindle, sans Kindle. Even better, later this year, Kindle will launch Kindle Library Lending from more than 11,000 libraries in the United States through the new Kindle Library Lending feature.  I can’t wait for that.

One of the largest categories of free books available for Kindle are cookbooks. I now have 24 in my collection out of at least 100 available, and that’s only from the selections available through Amazon. Gutenberg Project and other publishers of digital book libraries host many more than that.

This is part of my Kindle cookbook collection

Kindle allows you to establish collections for books which is essentially a category making it easier to locate a particular book. I have all of my cookbooks in my Cooking Collection. Kindle also allows you to bookmark a recipe and it shows in the notes column on the right. Whenever you open the book, your bookmarked recipes will appear on the right making it uber easy to keep up with favorite recipes. In the image below I bookmarked a simple recipe for Chicken Corn Soup. When I click the note, the book immediately goes to that page.

One of the best things I found about these old cookbooks is that they call for simple ingredients, usually when the ingredients are coming out of the garden at the same time, and few store bought ingredients. They come closer to matching the way I prepare meals, eat and live. Many recipes, such as the one pictured above for dandelion salad are for dishes rarely served now, but that sound delicious!

You won’t find free cookbooks from the bestseller lists for Kindle, unless they are part of a promotional giveaway, which is how I got the 4 Gooseberry Patch cookbooks pictured in the image above for free (no longer available for free, sorry). So it’s worth your while to occasionally check the promotional listing on Amazon as it’s updated regularly with the newest giveaways. 

Most of the free cookbooks (& other free books) are in the public domain which mean they are old, some going back to the mid 1800s. They make for interesting reading with some cooking processes no longer recommended for safe sanitary eating, but still with lots of helpful tips.

One of the more highly rated cookbooks is The Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking. It has almost 200 recipes for many Pennsylvania Dutch classics such as Shoofly Pie and many simple basics that had my mouth watering. It even gave a hint for making double-pastry pies. While the top crust is being rolled out, put the bottom crust into the oven to bake about 5 minutes before being filled and topped with the other crust. This helps prevent a soggy bottom crust. I’d never thought of that!

Now I’m off to make that Chicken Corn Soup, and I might even try the Carrot Marmalade!

Purslane

If you were at the market Saturday, you may have picked up our flyer about purslane. Purslane is a common plant, and while it is a favorite in Mexican and European cuisines, it’s not commonly eaten in America. Which is sad considering it’s health benefits make it a super food! It has more vitamin A of any other vegetable, vitamin C, B vitamins, and it’s also a potent antioxidant.

Here are a few more recipes for purslane:

Tomato, Cucumber, Purslane Salad Recipe
recipe from Simple Recipes.com

Ingredients:

1 large cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise, seeds removed and discarded, then chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 bunch purslane, thick stems removed, leaves chopped, resulting in about 1/2 cup chopped purslane
1 minced seeded jalapeno chile pepper
2-3 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a serving bowl. Salt to taste.

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Chick Pea Salad with Purslane and Arugula
 recipe from NY Times

1 cup drained cooked or canned chick peas
1 teaspoon capers
2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 scallion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or as needed
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or as needed
Salt
1 1/2 cups arugula leaves, torn into pieces
1 1/2 to 2 cups purslane with tender stems, cut into 1-inch lengths, or 3/4 cup purslane leaves

1. In a bowl, combine chick peas, capers, garlic and scallion. Add olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to taste.
2. Add arugula and purslane, and mix well. Season with additional olive oil, lemon juice, or salt if desired.

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Purslane and Potato Salad

1/2 lb purslane (untrimmed weight)
1 lb potatoes, cut into 1/4″ pieces
3 spring knob onions (bulbs and greens), thinly sliced

Dressing: 

1/2 cup olive oil
2 T. lemon juice (or more, to taste) and zest from half a lemon
2 T. red wine vinegar (or more,to taste)
garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. dry tarragon
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt, or to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes with their skins on until just tender. Drain and plunge into cold water. Let cool. Peel and cut into slices, chunks, or dice, as you prefer.

Chop purslane coarsely. Add purslane and scallions to potatoes.

Mix dressing ingredients until emulsified (I like to shake them in a jar). Pour over salad until it looks and tastes right. Chill. If the salad sits around in the fridge for a while before serving, you may need to add a little more dressing just at serving time so it’s moist enough.

This Week’s Harvest August 12, 2011

We’ll have:

• Tomatoes (German Johnson, Cherokee Purples, Yellow Oxhearts, etc)
• Bell Peppers
• Collards
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Roma Beans
• Purslane (We’ll have a leaflet, which you can download here, at the market introducing this new-old vegetable with a recipe. Also check out this post for additional Purslane recipes!)

Preserving Your Rosemary Harvest

Living in North Carolina, I never had to worry about preserving rosemary. It easily overwintered, and in many yards became excessively large to the annoyance of non-cooks. But here in the mountains rosemary can not survive the cold without intervention. One year it even died in my in-laws’ greenhouses. So I began researching ways to save it for the few months I could not have it. Eventually I was able to overwinter some in our front window with the long winter-sun exposure, but I still preserved some because it is just too handy to quickly grab the baggie out of the freezer and throw a couple of tablespoons into my bread or chicken and dumplings.

To preserve rosemary, it can be frozen or dried. I much prefer the frozen over dried. Frozen rosemary is closest to fresh, retaining the softness of the leaves instead of the tough, stick-in-your-teeth twigs created by dehydrating.

There are several ways to freeze rosemary and doing so will determine how you’ll harvest. Whole branches of rosemary can be frozen and upon thawing the leaves will slip off the branches. Stubborn leaves will need to be removed by hand and then everything chopped. Taking a few more steps however will give you a more convenient product that won’t interrupt your cooking flow, even when you decide at the last minute your dish is just begging for rosemary.

I prefer to finely chop fresh rosemary in the food processor which means only the soft stems of the plant can be harvested. Harvesting this way leaves the plant nicely pruned which encourages more branching, hence more harvest and a more vigorous plant. To harvest, cut above the brown branch where it starts to turn white (see the photos below). The white stems are softer than the brown sections, and will chop smaller and soften even further in cooking. The hard brown branch won’t, though these too can be cut clear to the main trunk, stripped of all leaves and used as skewers for kabobs on the grill. Yum!

You can see below how my harvesting over the summer has encouraged the plant to branch out more. Note the cut center branch which is where the harvested stem had started turning white. Leaving the brown part encouraged the plant to branch out more below the cut.

When processing, if the rosemary sticks to the blade or bowl throw in a 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch to powder up the leaves and absorb some of the oils:

If you don’t have a food processor, just chop by hand. The frozen rosemary keeps best zipped into double freezer bags, or stored into tightly closed jars.

Enjoy!

Almost Time for Chive Blossom Vinegar!

I can’t wait! I was given a HUGE grocery bag of chive blossoms last year by a shoeing client that made enough chive blossom vinegar to last all year. So I’m excited to see my garlic chives putting off a lot of blossoms this year. It won’t make a year’s worth, but a little is better than none! I’m partial to my own homemade dressing for salads made with chive blossom vinegar. When the blossoms are ready, I’ll post the recipe!

This Week’s Harvest August 6, 2011

We’ll have:

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Collards
• Broccoli
• Kale

Be sure to check out the Stuffed Tomato recipe I posted last week!

Keep Your Cool

I posted this status update to Facebook last week: “Don’t offer to hold yardsales for family. Or, at least wait until Fall. Or, offer burn ointment to shoppers. Or, discount your prices on all melty stuffs. Or, up your prices and proclaim them Modern Garage Art!”

Why? Because of this:

Saying it was hot is an understatement! And yes, I was holding this yardsale as a favor for my sister who can’t do it herself, not because I couldn’t get enough of this summer’s record-breaking heat waves, nor that I had a death wish. I really didn’t mind helping my sister.

Why? Because of this:

It’s my secret to surviving temperatures more fitting a tropical rain forest, sans monkeys and parrots. (Forgive the blur, hard to hold steady when you’re photo’ing yerself!)

When my husband and I were full-time farriers, the only time weather interfered with our work was when temperatures dipped below 15°. And in the Blue Ridge Mountains, that occurred for most of December and January. Sometimes November and February, too.

Imagine! Working only 8 months out of the year!  

I’ll trade you wallets.

At those temperatures you might as well be driving icicles instead of nails. Add to that the antsy 1200 pound animal already jerking you around trying to increase its body temperature, and the last thing one wants to do is drive an icicle into its foot. Times four. So, we wouldn’t shoe in the coldest depths of winter.

But summer? That was another issue.  It’s rare for summer high temperatures to totally block riding in the mountains. Devoted riders will find a way, early in the morning or even at midnight, but they WILL ride and they WILL need shoes.  Besides, when you’re a farrier, you’re already used to working around a 2400° forge, what’s a few more degrees?

Starting in June I’d get in the habit of tossing a few wet washcloths into the freezer at night. The next morning, they’d get tossed into ziplock bags and then into the cooler. Anytime we needed a refresher, we’d take out a washcloth, fold it into a triangle, and then fold again and mold the cloth around our necks. It would still be a little frozen, thus allowing the cloth to stay in place no matter how hard we were jerked or tossed. When the cloth warmed a bit, it was refreshing to use it wipe our whole face, then back in the cooler it went.

On the weekends tending our market garden, we’d use the cloths again to refresh us during plowing, harvesting, and prepping produce for market.

Frozen cloths (even when frozen they are surprisingly flexible!):

Folding the cloths:

I revived this technique for the yard sale, and I survived! So if you’ve got work to do outside, and it can’t wait, try this simple cooling technique. You might like it!