Yearly Archives: 2013

Caramel in a Pinch

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Caramel in a glass jar

If you find you’re in need of caramel and don’t want to go through the full spiel, read on.

Caramel elevates most everything it’s added to, and to have a decent caramel sauce available with little notice and a reduced chance of being maimed by sugar cooked above 230 deg F. — which is what you do to make it the “real” way — is heaven.

This quick recipe is more milky than traditionally-made caramel, which, in a nutshell, involves cooking sugar to a high temperature and then cutting it with butter and/or heavy cream.

To make it the quick way you cook a little butter and sugar and then add a can of sweetened condensed milk and continue to cook it.  The whole thing takes about 30 minutes, give or take.

Let’s start with something even easier, though.

can of sweetened condensed milk with lid open

Dulce de Leche

If you use only sweetened condensed milk, you’ll be making dulce de leche, a caramelized milk and sugar confection.

Some people boil a can of sweetened condensed milk for several hours, but it’s dangerous. If you don’t keep it completely submerged the whole time it can explode, and you don’t want any part of that.

I generally just cook the sweetened condensed milk down slowly in a saucepan.

I sometimes put it in little canning jars, place them in my slow cooker, completely submerge them under water, and cook on low for 7 hours or so — making sure the jars remain completely submerged.  If you try this, be sure to take them out carefully when done, like with jar lifters, and allow them to cool down some before you open anything. Whatever you do, don’t put hot jars on a cold surface or they’ll crack!  I got the slow cooker/canning jar idea here.

Quick Caramel with Butter

If you want a buttery-milky faux caramel, use the recipe I’ve included at the end of this posting.

You’ll need only a little white sugar (it’ll work better than organic sugar), a little butter and sweetened condensed milk.

leftover caramel in a blue bowl

Because I assume you need a topping for that quart of ice cream burning a hole in your freezer and not because you’re producing artisanal candies, I think you’ll be happy with the result.

If it’s thick, you can thin it with milk or cream.

If it’s grainy, you can sieve it.

Just don’t burn the caramel.  If you burn it, it is not salvageable, and you will be unhappy.

Quick Caramel Sauce
 
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If you have a little butter and a little sugar and a can of sweetened condensed milk on hand, you can make a respectable caramel sauce.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar (organic or brown sugar can sometimes cause graininess)
  • 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
  • Milk or cream to thin, if needed
Method
  1. Cook sugar and butter in small saucepan over moderate heat until sugar has melted
  2. Add sweetened condensed milk and combine well with sugar/butter mixture
  3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with heat-proof spatula
  4. Cook until you get the color and consistency you want. DO NOT BURN!
  5. If too thick, CAREFULLY thin with heavy cream or milk while still in the saucepan and combine well. The mass will be VERY HOT and it may bubble up when you add the milk or cream!
  6. If grainy, just press through a sieve
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The CSA Experience: Part 6

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Leeks in two parts. One end for broth, the other to use in a dish

Remember when I made the leek and feta scramble in installment 2 of this series?  I was then left with tough leek ends.

I used those ends today to make a soup with potatoes and ham.

Not so sexy, I know.

I promised I’d keep you informed about how I incorporate my biweekly CSA box from Albert & Eve into my life.  I think it’s helpful to have the whole story, not just cherry-picked recipes and photos of the beautiful stuff.  For every lovely dish of rainbow carrots or braised artichokes you put out out you’re going to have to figure out what to do with a whole mess of green onions.  Or trimmings.

While not every dish can be mind-blowing, they can all be tasty, even when they’re frugal,
and frugality is a must with a CSA box or you’ll wind up with some of it in the recycle bin.

The possibly of that makes me nuts.

Take the artichokes, for example.

I’m constantly thinking about them — even though I have a master plan.  They’ve been sitting in the fridge for over a week now, wrapped in damp paper towels to keep them lively.

Pending some kind of major problem, I’ll be getting another three artichokes in my next box.  I want to make all of them at the same time rather than just the three I received in my first box.  You see, I have four people.  There will be a general outcry if I come out with less than one per head.

Back to the leek ends and leek broth.

Leek broth is great for soups that benefit from mild oniony flavor.  Potato soup works especially well.

If you have a bunch of leek ends, a few big potatoes and some leftover ham or pork you’re in business. You won’t end up with a pretty, fancy-pants soup, but it’ll be plenty comforting.

This is why I’m always throwing odd little bags of leftover meat in the freezer and why you should, too.  Raw or cooked — doesn’t matter.

potato and leek soup

The soup in the photo has some green flecks in it because I tossed in the leftover bohr kale tapenade from installment 5.  Why not?  The tapenade has a complementary flavor profile, and leek and kale go very well together.

Here, then, are the instructions for this frugal soup.

Potato & Pork Soup with Leek Broth
 
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Use the dark green parts of your leeks to make a broth for a highly-customizable potato-pork soup.
Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
  • Dark green ends of 7 or 8 leeks, rinsed and chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 8 cups water
  • 3 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Leftover cooked roast pork, cubed, shredded or sliced, as desired. You can use ham, if that's what you have, or even chicken. Leftover chicken thigh meat works very well. Keep the pieces small so they heat through fairly quickly.
Method
  1. Place leeks in pot large enough to make soup and cover with the water.
  2. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes.
  3. Strain broth and return to pot, discarding leek pieces.
  4. Add potatoes.
  5. Remove enough broth so that the potatoes are just covered. If you don't have enough broth, add a little water. It all depends upon the size of the potatoes you used.
  6. Add salt & pepper. If the pork you are using for this dish is salty, then keep that in mind when you add salt at this step.
  7. Bring to a boil.
  8. Simmer until potatoes are just about done.
  9. Add pork and bring back to a simmer.
  10. Cook until potatoes are done.
  11. Stamp potatoes with a potato masher, or end of a wire whisk, so that you wind up with a thick, chunky soup.
  12. Adjust seasonings.
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The CSA Experience: Part 5

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The red flecks in this jar of garlicky kale tapenade come from the red stems of the kale itself. This is served warm with chèvre and fresh crusty bread.

Albert & Eve included two beautiful bunches of red bohr kale in my first CSA box.

Normally I would braise the kale with kimchi and extra garlic, but I was out of luck in the kimchi department so I had to think of something else.  Something really different. Especially since I served some of the other stuff in the box pretty conservatively, like the rainbow carrots in installment 4 of this series.

I had a large Acme sourdough round on my hands and a big log of basic chèvre — fresh goat cheese.  Not the $40 a pound precious stuff, but the wonderful Laura Chenel that put US-produced chèvre on the map back in the day.

The wheels turned.

Why not make a warm tapenade to serve on top of thick slices of the bread slathered with the cheese?  Chèvre is tangy, light and dry-creamy and goes well with opposite flavors and textures.  Sturdy, curly-leaved red bohr, AKA “purple,” kale packs a pungent, bitter punch.  It could work, I figured.

red bohr kale bunches

I washed and cut my kale into short strips, stems and all.  No problem including the stems because the kale would be braised and processed.

Kale saute mix

I used butter and oil in my saute mix.  Why not?  The tapenade would be eaten warm, so butter would work well, but you don’t have to use it.  I tell you as much in the recipe at the end of this post.

Kale saute mix blended

I sauteed the kale in the seasoned butter/oil mix, braised, processed and then pressed it into a pretty canning jar.  Serving it in a glass jar was a nice little bonus that the family appreciated.  They get the whole “eating with your eyes” thing around here.

kale tapenade and chevre on crusty bread

We toasted thickly-sliced bread, layed on goat cheese, and then topped with the warm kale spread.

I hope you give this a try as an altenative to your usual kale preparation.  Even folks who don’t like it may in this disguise.  After all, you have to find some way to get this nutrient-packed veggie into the people you feed.

Garlicky Red Bohr Kale Tapenade
 
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Warm tapenade made with red bohr kale. Serve it in a canning jar for extra flair! Spoon onto crusty bread spread with chèvre.
Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer, Brunch
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
  • 2 bunches red bohr kale, washed and cut into 2-inch lengths
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil (you can use all oil and no butter, if you like)
  • 3 tablespoons crushed fresh garlic
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper powder or flakes (to taste)
  • Whatever else you like. A little chopped onion, for example. Chopped scallions. I sometimes use gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes -- the kind used in kimchi) and a drop of fish or anchovy sauce. Make it to your taste with logical seasoning combinations and alter the instructions below appropriately).
  • Kosher salt to taste (amount dependent upon what you use)
  • ¾ cup water
Method
  1. Mix softened butter, oil, garlic and pepper into a paste and add to saute pan
  2. Heat mixture over medium flame until just bubbly and then add kale
  3. Saute kale for about 3 mins
  4. Add a little salt, if needed
  5. Add ¾ cup water
  6. Bring to a boil, cover and turn flame to low
  7. Allow to braise for 5 to 8 mins
  8. Strain kale mixture, reserving liquid for another use, like soup, or to drink later. Be sure to press liquid out of kale mixture very well
  9. Add kale mixture to food processor and pulse until fine -- but not too fine!
  10. Taste and adjust seasonings
  11. Move to attractive bowl or press into small canning jar
  12. Serve warm. Base recipe can be spooned onto fresh crusty bread layered with chèvre. If you make the kale Asian-style, you can serve it with steamed buns and plum sauce, for example
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The CSA Experience: Part 4

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Rainbow carrots from my CSA box

Rainbow carrots from my CSA box

In an effort to use everything that arrived in my CSA box while in its prime, today I made the rainbow carrots.  There wasn’t much to them, and I didn’t want them to get soft.
They look large in the photo above, but look at them here.

By the way, if you want to know what I did with the favas, check out the previous entry in this series.

Rainbow carrots taste like really good young orange carrots, by the way.  Serving your crew one side of rainbow carrots apiece will give them a good hit of phytonutrients in addition to the big players like Vitamin A, which the body is able to metabolize from carotenes.  Apparently each color offers a specific extra benefit.  Yellow carrots, for example, are said to contain lutein — good for your peepers.

If you want to learn massive amounts about heirloom rainbow carrots, check out this Mother Earth News story.

So what to do with the carrots?

I wanted a simple side that would allow the sweetness of the little carrots to shine, to retain a good amount of texture and nutrients, and to capitalize on their simple beauty.

To be honest with you I was pressed for time.

I trimmed, peeled, quartered or halved them lengthwise and sauteed gently in seasoned butter. I finished with a little hazelnut oil and sea salt.

They were perfect.  We all wanted more.

Rainbow Carrots with Hazelnut Oil & Sea Salt
 
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Rainbow carrots sauteed in seasoned butter and finished with hazelnut oil and sea salt.
Author:
Recipe type: Side
Cuisine: Vegetable
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 bunches (about 14) rainbow carrots, trimmed, peeled and sliced (halved or quartered, depending upon thickness)
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
  • Pinch white pepper
  • Sea salt, as desired, for finishing
  • Toasted hazelnut oil, as desired, for finishing
Method
  1. Heat butter and oil in a saute pan
  2. Add carrots and saute over low-medium heat for a moment
  3. Add onion powder, Kosher salt and pepper
  4. Saute until tender-crisp
  5. Remove to a serving bowl and drizzle with a little hazelnut oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt
  6. Serve warm
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The CSA Experience: Part 3

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What it looks like inside a fresh fava pod

What it looks like inside a fresh fava pod

I never tangled with fresh favas at home.  Always bought dried.

They showed up in my CSA box last Thursday, so I had to deal, and this is the day I penciled this veg in.

I heard that they had to be not only wrestled out of their pods, which would have to be destrung prior, but also that each bean needed to be liberated from its leathery cover after blanching and an ice water bath.

I don’t think so.  No time due to a birthday and Mother’s Day.

One of my blogger friends makes fava pods in the style of edamame — the salty little soybean pods that you pop open as a snack.  She pointed me to a recipe in the San Francisco Chronicle for roasting the pods that render the skins of the beans edible, for sure, and maybe even the pod covering — if the pods are young enough.

My fava pods do not look young to me, but what the hey.  I washed and trimmed them, rubbed them with oil and salt and spread them out on a sheet pan.  Blasted them in a very hot oven, per the recipe provided.

Want to see the finished pods?

Whole roasted fava pods

My son, husband and Mother had them as a snack — with lemon wedges — while watching TV.  They ate pods and all.  A bit messy, but good.

I did not serve them with a nice chianti.

Whole Roasted Fava Pods
 
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Whole roasted fava pods in the style of edamame
Author:
Recipe type: Snack or side
Serves: Depends
Ingredients
  • Whole fava pods, washed and trimmed (and destrung, if you like)
  • Canola oil
  • Kosher or sea salt
  • Pepper
Method
  1. Arrange favas on sheet pan and add some oil
  2. Coat favas with the oil (mix with your hands)
  3. Sprinkle with salt
  4. Roast at 425 deg. F for about 25 mins -- until golden and tender
  5. Add more salt to taste
  6. Add some pepper
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