I Know You Have Better Food In There...

...come on, let me in!

Look what a mess our little friend has made kicking breadcrumbs from the platform feeder. I'm not worried, he'll have it cleaned up in no time at all. We are now having a nightly visit from this fellow, right as we sit down to our evening meal there he is, peering through the glass doors. He isn't the slightest bit shy. I've taken to calling him, Blondin after the pet squirrel in Doreen Tovey's books *. http://www.amazon.com/Cats-cahoots-Doreen-Tovey/dp/B0007E6HVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409011863&sr=1-1&keywords=doreen+tovey+cats+in+cahoots
Now I need a pair of Siamese cats to keep him in line.

I want to thank everyone for your kind words of encouragement of late. I do try to keep my moaning on the blog to a minimum, and I do appreciate the kindness you've all shown me. I can deal with just about anything (tornado, moving house, unemployment, major illness, dental work, bank hackers) but toss a sick kid into the mix and I just get overwhelmed. I mean, obviously I don't just shut down, and I do deal with it, but this cycle of asthma/virus/asthma/virus has been going on since April. I know a good part of it is his asthma medications which suppress his immune system making him a magnet for viruses three states away. On the positive side, he's been tearing through reading which is great (believe me, when I was nine I wouldn't read Moby Dick if I had been sealed up like the boy in the bubble) but it has been a very, very, long spring and summer. I'll get him to the fair on Monday come hell or high water, but it will probably be a very quick visit, and then straight home. We'll see.

As for my friend the squirrel...

I can hardly blame him wanting in the house, what with all the wonderful aromas wafting out the window. Faced with more rosemary that I can dry and give away, I had to get creative.

 

I spread a layer of red grapes on a baking sheet with a (very) generous amount of rosemary. I tossed it with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkled it with salt. An hour in a 300 degree F. oven did the trick. When cool, I worked them into a bread dough with about a cup of semolina flour and extra olive oil for a light texture. Here's what I got

I did steam in the oven to get a crackly crust, though the breads themselves are quite light. I'm planning to serve these with cheese-maybe something like Havarti. So that took care of a few sprigs of rosemary-now to figure out something to do with the rest of the madly growing plant. We won't discuss the madness that is the out-of-control oregano.

I don't think I ever showed you the bottles I bought within a week of each other (ever notice how thrifting goes that way?). Both were from Goodwill (one in Iowa, one in Nebraska) and I think the folded bottle is particularly nice. It is almost feline looking.

 

School is starting again, which will be nice to have a routine if only to keep me from obsessively baking and scrubbing floors (my kitchen floor is brown-if I never scrubbed it again, I doubt anyone would notice). We're starting with WWI, so I'm sure I'll work some baking into the lessons by way of a Trench Cake or some Anzac Biscuits. I'm less sure how to work floor scrubbing into a lesson, but where there's a will there's a way.

*If you aren't familiar with Doreen Tovey's writing, you're in for a great delight. Yes, they're children's books but you would have to be a terribly grumpy adult to find fault with them. I'm as grumpy as they come, and I find them charming so if that isn't a ringing endorsement I don't know what is.

Sourdough Foccacia With Roasted Grapes and Rosemary

I have no idea what I did to get that beautiful open crumb, and I probably couldn't reproduce it if my life depended on it. I didn't measure, I didn't time anything, I just slapped it together. I'm posting this because I know that nothing I bake will ever look this good again, even if I remember to write down what I did.

Sour Grapes...and Pudding!

I wasn't going to toss out the bag of too-sour Green grapes I'd paid too much for anyway. Instead, I made a compote, and then (because that was kinda plain for dessert) I made a vanilla cornstarch pudding to pour it over. That was good call.

To Rescue Sour Grapes:

Make a syrup of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Add whatever spices you like-a vanilla bean would be great if you have an old used one lying about, or star anise, or cinnamon stick, etc. I used cinnamon, fresh ginger, and cloves. Make a syrup by boiling the hell out of it until it reduces by 1/3. Add the grapes, lower the temperature to a simmer and cook, just until some of the grapes pop.Remove grapes to a dish, remove spices, and cover with syrup. Cool, then chill. You won't know they were the same inedible sour grapes you started with. After poaching the grapes, look around the kitchen for other things to poach in the syrup. I did pink grapefruit segments which turned out delicious. If you have any syrup left, store it tightly covered in a jar in the fridge and use for flavouring sodas, tea, or just over yoghurt. Or you can make pudding-the recipe that follows is pretty good.

Cornstarch Pudding:

2 cups milk
2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter

In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and slowly whisk in the milk. Over medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent scorching, cook until the mixture comes to a boil. Cook one minute longer. Remove from heat, beat in butter and vanilla. Pour into a bowl and cover with a round of waxed paper. Cool in fridge. Whip well before serving.

Concord Grape Sorbet

Last Fall, as I grumbled about the crates of Concord grapes that needed to be made into jelly and puree for the freezer, I knew eventually I'd be glad I went to the effort. Today, my last two half pints of frozen puree went into sorbet, and wowie is it good stuff!

If you don't have any grape puree on hand, save this recipe for Fall when the grapes are in season and give it a try. It tastes like a cross between frozen wine and grape jelly. I should have made peanut butter cookies. Oh well, next year.

You Will Need:

1 pt. Concord grape puree
1/2 cup sugar
Enough water to total three cups when mixed with the grape puree

Set it all in a pot and heat until sugar dissolves. Chill before processing in an ice cream maker. I thought about adding some spices in cheesecloth to the mix as it heated, but skipped it. I still think cinnamon and cloves would be nice if you were serving this in cooler weather.

Other things made with Concord grapes:

Fluffy grape pie
Concord Grape and Apricot Foccacia
Concord Grape Jelly, and Puree For Freezer
Concord Grape Mini Pies

Spiced Grape Compote

Over vanilla ice cream, this was the perfect dessert after a spicy tofu and red curry dinner.

You Will Need:

About a pound of grapes cut in half-I mixed red and green
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise
6 whole cloves
12 whole peppercorns

Over high heat, whisk the sugar and water together until it is dissolved and comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add spices and simmer until syrup thickens and coats the spoon (about ten minutes.

Remove from heat, strain out spices through a fine sieve. Place grapes in a heatproof dish and pour the syrup over. Cool slightly, then chill several hours or overnight before serving.

Concord Grape And Apricot Focaccia

The most difficult part of making this was seeding all those grapes which while tedious, wasn't all that hard. Like yesterday's rolls, this recipe uses a preferment but one with a much higher moisture content.

You Will Need:

For the preferment:

4 cups bread flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
Enough water to make a very wet, almost soupy dough.

Mix preferment and cover. Let sit at room temperature overnight.

Next day:

Add to the preferment:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
Enough flour (about 3 cups) to make an elastic, but not sticky dough.

Let dough rise until doubled in bulk. While it rises, prepare the topping:

2 large sprigs rosemary, pulled from stems
1/2 cup dried apricots, halved and soaked in hot water until plump-then drained
1 cup Concord Grapes, seeds removed

After first rise, fold dough and let rest ten minutes. Oil a baking sheet and roll out dough, placing on sheet. You may need another sheet atop it with a weight to keep it stretched. After about ten minutes you should be able to remove it without trouble. The dough will shrink back a bit, but that's fine. Top with fruit and let rise again until nearly doubled. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Upon placing bread in oven, reduce heat to 400 degrees F. Set timer for ten minutes. Rotate pan and bake another ten. At this point, you'll need to keep an eye on it-mine went another six minutes, but it can burn quickly if you don't watch it.

Cool on rack.

It's Concord Grape Time!-Updated

I might have gone a bit overboard in purchasing. I'll probably pick up a few more quarts to make freezer puree (I have a few recipes that use frozen Concord grape puree that I'll try to post while they are still in season). Living far away from the Finger Lakes region the grapes were a bit pricey, and you probably won't save much by making your own jelly and juice. Still, nothing in the supermarket can compare to the taste of Concord grapes you canned yourself.

The jelly recipe takes two days because the juice needs to sit 12-24 hours in the fridge. Grape juice has a tendency to develop crystals which need to be strained away the next day before canning.

I'll update the post when the canning is completed and I'll have a few pie recipes that use Concords as well. If you live in Eastern Nebraska, get your butt over to 180th and Q Street to the Hy-Vee before I buy them all (I made good on the promise to buy all the prune plums-I bought the last few pounds this morning). Hurry, hurry, hurry.

As an aside-does anyone know if the international shippers like UPS and Fed Ex use pressurized compartments in their planes? I'm trying to figure out if shipping jelly internationally would be worth it or if the seals would relax and then re-seal under pressure. Anyone have experience with this? I'd appreciate any advice.

More Concord-palooza tomorrow.

Day Two Update:

It is all done. I'll give you the recipe for the grape puree concentrate for the freezer and Concord Grape Jelly with pectin. I'll also provide a couple pie recipes at the end. After all was said and done, I ended up with an extra cup of grape juice which we intend to split three ways at dinner. The jelly is a two-day job because of the juice making, but well worth it. We sampled a bit of the leftover jelly in the pot and let me tell you, that is good stuff. Take that Smuckers!

For The Grape Jelly:

Prepare the juice a day ahead:

About 6 dry quarts of Concord grapes (best to make extra though you can add water if you run up short) washed, stemmed and slightly crushed with a potato masher.

For each liquid quart of fruit, add 1/4-1/2 cup water

Cover the pot and simmer until fruit is soft-about 20 minutes. Strain through a jelly bag. Note-this will go slowly after the initial liquid drops through. It can take an hour. Place strained juice, covered in the bowl in the fridge and let stand 12-24 hours. Strain through jelly bag again to extract any crystals that might have formed. Prepare the jelly as follows:

For 8 half pint jars:

Prepare jars and lids for canning following USDA safety guidelines.

You Will Need:

4 cups prepared grape juice
7 cups of sugar (not a typo)
1 pouch liquid pectin

Put grape juice in a large pot. Add the sugar stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add pectin and bring back to a full rolling boil. Cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. ladle into 1/2 pint jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps and process in boiling water caner ten minutes. Remove lid and kill the heat. Let cool five more minutes in canner. Remove to towels to cool 12-24 hours before testing for seals.

For The Frozen Grape Puree:

The recipe for the puree comes from my 1960 edition of The Farm Journal Freezing And Canning Cookbook. Many of the recipes do not follow current canning guidelines but can be adjusted to modern methods and it is a wonderful book to own. The freezer puree is easy enough and though I stored it in freezer-safe glass jars, you may wish to use bags or plastic containers better suited to today's freezing methods (I like jars because they keep a neat freezer without bags slipping around.

The puree is a bit of work as you have to put the grapes through a food mill. Three dry quarts of grapes yielded five half pints of puree but you really need to extract every last drop of pulp from the skins. As I removed the skins and seeds from the food mill to grind the next batch I set the discards aside in a bowl and at the end put them through again-to my shock, it yielded quite a bit of extra pulp.

Makes 5 half pint jars of puree:

Wash and stem grapes. In a large kettle, heat the grapes8-10 minutes over low heat (not over 145 degrees F.). Do not boil. When skins begin to loosen, put the grapes through a food mill. Discard skins and seeds. Pour puree into clean jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Seal label and date. The puree can be used in numerous recipes including the fluffy grape pie at the end of the post. A note-I have not made the fluffy grape pie, but expect to later this week, so if you are viewing this without a photo, check back for an update before making it-or prepare at your own risk. The Concord grape mini-pies and fruit topping I have made.

Fluffy Grape Pie:

1 cup grape puree, thawed enough to measure
1/4 cup water
1 3 ounce package lemon gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 baked 9 inch pie shell

Bring grape puree and water to a boil. Stir in gelatin until dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Chill until mixture mounds when dropped from the spoon, stirring occasionally. Beat until fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into pie shell. Chill at least two hours or overnight. Serve topped with additional whipped cream.

Foe Concord Grape mini-pies (that were mind-bogglingly delicious) click HERE. The filling is versatile and also made a killer ice-cream topping. Photos accompany post.

Rosemary Grape Focaccia

I've made this before HERE. I'd add the caution that mine only took twenty minutes to bake this time so the original recipe calling for 1 hour is dead wrong. I've made this often enough now that it never takes more than 40 minutes, max. Keep an eye on it.

I still have no idea what to do for dinner but I'm thinking some corn and peas tossed with sour cream over pasta? Sure, that's a bit carb-heavy but it's what I have in the house and I won't be eating it. Heh.

It is getting more difficult to come up with anything creative to cook/bake while I'm still feeling ill. Maybe that accounts for returning to so many old dishes lately-the familiarity thing.

In other news, I did my Passover shopping. Yes, we just finished Lent and Easter and now my inter-faith family is getting ready for Pesach. Anyway, I bought 5 lbs. of plain matzo, two boxes of egg matzos for Danny (though truthfully, he's probably better able to tolerate the regular stuff than we are) a couple tins of matzo meal, and a frozen gefilte fish-instead of the slimy stuff in a jar. What? You didn't think I was going to make my own did you. Oh no, I don't think so. I do own a fish grinder from my mother-in-law...but no, I have to draw the line somewhere. I was happy to find the frozen fish-I hope it turns out to be good.

And that's pretty much it. I don't buy many mixes and most of the pre-made candies have nuts, so everything gets made from scratch around here. What usually ends up happening is we eat a lot of cheese, potatoes and eggs, which is fine. My sorrel is just coming up in the garden but unless we get a burst of warmth and sunshine I don't think I'll have enough for schav-even with seven plants. Oh well.

The first of our herbs are seeded and sitting in sunny windows (did the rosemary and sage first as they need more time than basil and parsley). In a couple weeks I can sow the early flowers and my goodness, if that doesn't make a person feel better, nothing will.

Two More Views Of The Concord Grapes

I couldn't resist two more photos of the Concord grape filling. How many seconds do you think it took Danny to inhale his? Scroll down to earlier posts to get the directions.

I managed a small taste and let me tell you-wow. Regular table grapes you get year round just don't have this sort of flavour.

Concord Grape Mini Pies

The colour of this filling is so vibrant and lovely I'd be

tempted to try it out as haircolour, were I twenty years younger.

The filling recipe will make one 8 inch pie, or about a dozen mini-pies. I opted for less pies and kept the extra filling for ice cream topping.

It occurred to me that a peanut-butter crust would turn these into mini PBJ pies (maybe next time).

You Will Need:

4 cups Concord grapes

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

Remove skins from grapes (just squeeze them, they slip right out) reserving skins. Place the grapes in a small pot and bring to a boil. As they cook, use a potato masher to break them up. Let cook about two minutes, remove from heat and place through a food mill (or sieve) while still hot. Discard seeds.

Return grapes to pan with the skins, and everything else. Bring back to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Boil 1-2 minutes, or until thickened. Remove to a bowl and chill before using.