Hatch Happy

I was in the store this week, and came across a thing of beauty: large batches of fresh green Hatch chiles in from New Mexico!


Elated, I scavenged up as much as I could, and went to work preserving some of them. I roasted them, and put them in jars with salt and hot water, then pressure canned them. The few that I didn't, I decided needed to be put to immediate use:

Ingredients
5 tomatillos

3 green Hatch chiles, roasted, skin & seeds removed.
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
cilantro
1 habanero pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Roast the tomatillos in a baking dish, and put into the oven. I set mine at 450 for for about 20m total, turning them every once in a while to ensure they cook evenly. I also put the habenero into the oven for a few minutes, but removed it well before the tomatillos were.
2. Once done, put aside. Cut up onion & garlic, and throw into the hot baking dish. Cover all of your goodies with some foil.
3. Let cool briefly, then combine tomatillos, onions, garlic, habanero, Hatch chiles, salt, cilantro into a blender and let fly.

I've made some home made sour cream, so I am thinking that a good chilaquille recipe will be in order. 

The ABCs: Apfelwein, Beans, and Carboys

Today I had plans...many, many plans; the most important was to avoid the news and television. I started the day early by pickling and canning some spicy Asian-style green beans, putting the new pressure canner to work. Talk about a frustrating and scary piece of equipment.

Asian Styled Pickled Green Beans

1lb Green Beans, blanched and tops trimmed

1 1/2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 cup water

6 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

1 Tbsp. Peanut Oil

3 Dried Chilis or 1 tsp. szechuan peppercorns. I used a mix of both.

3 Garlic cloves, peeled & sliced

1 Quart Jar

1. Trim the tops off of the green beans, then blanche for approximately 1 minute. Scoop out, and put into a bowl of ice water to keep them from cooking.
2. Put the chilled beans lengthwise into the quart mason jar.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients (water, oils, vinegar, chili, cloves) in a pot and bring to a boil, for approximately 3 minutes.
4. Pour the hot liquid into the jar, over the beans.
5. Put into the refrigerator if you plan on using soon; let them sit for at least a day to soak up the yummy mixture.
6. If you want to store these on the shelf, you will need to pressure can this. Follow the instructions for your pressure canner. In my case, I let sit at 10lbs of pressure for 35 minutes. Please note that this is my first attempt at trying the pressure canner, so this particular step will vary with mileage. If things don't come out right, well, I'll be updating:)

With the morning being done, I had further plans for a bevy of home brewing this afternoon. First on the list was Apfelwein. I was going to break in the 5 gallon carboys, so happily went shopping and picked up 5 gallons of all-natural Apple Juice (no preservatives, please! It will hinder the fermentation process). I had also picked up Dextrose. My plans were to follow the EdWort recipe, and reap the benefits a few months from  now.

Disaster struck, however, when I realized that I only had 1lb of Dextrose, and the local supermarkets don't carry it. Short of a 65 mile trip into the 'big city' to get to the nearest homebrew shop, I mulled over my choices.

Since I did have two one-gallon carboys, and more than enough dextrose for two gallons, I'd go ahead and whip up smaller batches. I always hate downsizing brewing recipes, but...I have no doubts this will work out well. I've modified the directions here, to allow for the 1 gallon version. The directions for EdWort's Apfelwein are as follows (with my modifications):

Ingredients
2 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives) I use Tree Top Apple Juice, 1/2 gallon sizes (as this was all the store had)
6 ounces dextrose
1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

Equipment
1 Gallon Carboy
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel

1. First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
2. Open  bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
3. Take half of your dextrose and carefully add it to the now half full bottle of apple juice. Shake well.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3, then go to step 5.
5. Pour in the mixture of Apple Juice and Dextrose from both bottles into the carboy.
6. Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
7. Use the remaining quart of juice to wash down any yeast that sticks. You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
8. Put your stopper or carboy cap on with an airlock and fill the airlock with cheap vodka. No bacteria will live in vodka and if you get suckback, you just boosted the abv.

There’s no need to worry about filling up a carboy so full when you use Montrachet wine yeast. There is no Kreuzen, just a thin layer of bubbles (see here). I'm able to fit all but 4 oz. of my five gallons in the bottle. Ferment at room temperature.

It will become cloudy in a couple of days and remain so for a few weeks. In the 4th week, the yeast will begin to drop out and it will become clear. After at least 4 weeks, you can keg or bottle, but it is ok to leave it in the carboy for another month or so. Racking to a secondary is not necessary. It ferments out very dry (less than 0.999, see here)

If you want to bottle and carbonate, ¾ cup of corn sugar will work fine. Use as you would carbonate a batch of beer.

Remember to reserve judgment till after 3 glasses. It grows on you.

The final one-gallon bottle, ready to go hide in my closet for the next few months.

Since I made two gallons of this, my additional plans to make my 5 gallons of mead were thwarted...I forgot that I only had two stoppers and airlocks.

I was quite sad. It looks as if there is a stop scheduled at my homebrew shop in San Jose slated for tomorrow.

Don't Be Cheesy

Our trip to Pebble Beach on Thursday got the husband and his friend keen on actually going out for a round of golf.

Definitely not my cup of tea.

So, whilst they went out to play, I made myself quite busy. First, more pork! That's right, the pulled pork I made on Sunday for my friend (which he missed) was such a hit that the family demanded I make it again, now that he's in town.

Secondly, cheese.

I came across some preserved peppers & garlic I had canned a month ago, and it looked mouth watering. I decided that for dinner this would be lovely on some brioche with some ricotta, or cream cheese. As I had neither, and I didn't get a chance to go to the store, I remembered a recipe I had come across for some NY-style ricotta. The blog I found this on mentioned Salvatore's in Brooklyn, which I had been to on several occasions. Whilst there was much arguing about the purity of the term 'ricotta', that to me was way too much semantics. All that mattered was that Salvatore's "ricotta" was indeed the tastiest thing I had eaten, and I am not going to get there any time soon.

Smitten Kitten's blog became the salvation for crustinies with preserved roasted garlic peppers. I modified it slightly, because my first few batches with solely lemon juice came out overly watery.

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream 
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Peachtastic Granitas

With the week winding down, the inevitable "blah" feeling of knowing that vacation is just about over starts to creep in.  I picked up a few pounds of peaches yesterday, with hopes of canning them. However, I found myself not in the mood for yet more jam, at least today.

What to do, what to do...

Yup. Drink time!! I've made these several times before, and it seemed like the perfect drink for an extended weekend, spent with friends. The recipe was one I picked up on Bitchin Kitchen's blog, and modified slightly to allow for a bit more fruit fun, and booze:)





Ingredients
2 cups water1  1/2 lbs peaches (fresh, unpeeled)
3 to 4 nectarines (fresh, unpeeled)
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
4 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1 1/2 cups Champagne


The original recipe and instructions can be found here.

Pig: Man's Best Friend

A friend of mine was due in town. It couldn't have come at a better time, really; New York was expecting a hurricane (Irene) to slam through it. Even though he lives in the safety of upstate, the deluge of rain would be a nice thing to avoid. We get him a flight out from Albany airport @6AM; he was slated to land at 2pm Pacific.

I figured I would show an impressive display of my new-found appreciation of cooking. I was going in balls to the wall, and making pulled pork. I had found an amazing recipe that looked relatively pain-free, so...I followed it and voila:

This uncooked, pre-brined, dried, then rubbed piece of pig was probably the most heavenly smelling, and best looking pig I have seen in a while. 5 1/2 lbs of boston butt, brined 24 hours and then cooked @ 225 for 10 hours, when the internal temperature reached 200.

The smell. My gods, the smell...is overwhelmingly divine.

As I wait for it to cool slightly and pull it, I can't help but wonder what my friend would have thought.


That's right, that friend of mine? Missed his flight out of Albany. Apparently you don't show up *at* the airport under an hour before the flight is to get going, WITHOUT a boarding pass, unless you want to get bumped from your flight because you haven't checked in by 15 minutes before the flight was to take off.

This pork's for you, buddy.

How Did I Get Here?

As I start this blog, I can't help but ask this question.

As someone who is inherently more at home with computers and not at all domestic, the last year or so has definitely been a step outside of the norm. While I used to read computer books for fun, I'm now up to my elbows in fruits, dehydrators, cans, jars, yeast, and pectin.

It's odd, me in the kitchen. Yet somehow, I have gotten so much fun out of my culinary endeavors. Some things work out well (my first batch of mead, just opened after 8 months - the hubby loves it); other things don't work out so well (my mixed berry 'syrup', which refused to can, and was nothing like syrup). Still, it's these ups and downs which I am finding incredibly fun.

The other odd thing is that many of the things I create, I don't eat. I don't know why, but there are certain things I won't touch. I know my husband likes them, so...I guess in a sense he gets to be my guinea pig.

The family, I think, believes that this little journey will somehow be just another fad of mine. Perhaps it will be, who knows? But, I think that a 18 months is enough time to get over it. This blog, for the time being, will be a history of my escapades...fad, or no.