Cocoa Hazelnut Granola

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Marisa

cocoa hazelnut granola

I’ve been making granola like crazy lately, as I finalize the recipes for that section of the cookbook. Just when I was sure I was done and could put the oats away, another recipe possibility started growing. You see, I’ve had Nutella on the brain in the last few days (I blame Lara’s Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies). And when you combine an obsessive devotion to granola with thoughts of Nutella, its an impossible task to try and avoid seeing what their love child would look like.

roasted hazelnuts

In my kitchen, the result of that unlikely union is a chocolate-kissed cereal that has a touch of sweetness and a crunch that is habit-forming. The jar of it is sitting next to me as I type these words and my writing progress is far slower than normal, because I can’t stop my hand from dipping into it every minute or so.

cocoa hazelnut granola

A word of warning. This is not the chocolate cereals of our collective youth. If you eat it with milk, you will not go into glucose shock from drinking the liquid that remains in the bowl. In fact, had someone presented to this to me as a child, I would have taken a bite and then been mightily disappointed by the subtly of the sweetening. However, as an adult, it’s that nuance that I find so appealing (along with the small hints of salt that come through thanks to the 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt).

cocoa hazelnut granola

All that said, if you did want to turn this concoction into something a bit more dessert-like, you could toss the partially cooled cereal with small shards of dark chocolate. That would be good. Oh, another thing. Hazelnuts are one of the more expensive nuts out there. If you can’t swing their price, you could substitute almonds. However, you only need about a 1/3 of a pound for this recipe, so if you have someplace that sells them in bulk, it’s worth spending $3-4 to buy just that amount. They are transcendentally good.

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Open Jars: The Oregonian’s FOODday Turns Sweet Jams into Savory Dishes

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Marisa

looking towards the dining room

If you follow the Food in Jars Facebook page, you may have already spotted this on Tuesday when I posted it over there. However, being that this Thursday post is all about ways to use up those preserves, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to share this article again.

You see, when I was out in Portland in December, Deena and I got together in a beautiful borrowed kitchen (it belongs to friends of my parents) and cooked up a bunch of amazingly delicious food so it could be made pretty and photographed. Each recipe was designed to feature a sweet preserve in a savory application. Deena wrote up everything we made in that afternoon of cooking and the result is this terrific piece that ran in the Oregonian on Tuesday, in their FOODday section.

Included in her article are recipes for a jam-based vinaigrette, marmalade shrimp, apricot chicken wings (so good!), an all-purpose savory jam glaze, and blue cheese savories (but you’ve seen those already). Truly, everything was delicious (although since I’m allergic to shrimp, I’m just taking the emphatic enthusiasm of others in the case of that dish). It was also such a thrill to be included in a piece that ran in my hometown newspaper. My parents got emails and calls all day Tuesday from friends and old neighbors. Very fun!

Also, in an act of delightful synchronicity, author of Put ‘em Up! Sherri Brooks Vinton, recently had a piece run on Foodista about using up her preserves. Everybody’s doing it!

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Canning 101: Keeping Track and Taking Stock

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Marisa

spice racks

Believe it or not, we’re more than half way through January (I don’t know if I’m equipped to have the rest of the year go as fast as the last few weeks have passed). The holiday giving season is behind us and it’s been a few months since the height of the canning season. Things should be a littler quieter than they were in November and December, making it the perfect time to take stock of where things stand in your larder of home canned goods.

I know that for lots of you, this was only the first or second year that you tried your hand at preserving some food for the winter season, so how were you to know how much you’d wind up wanting to have in stock? It’s perfectly okay that this period be about learning, but a large part of that education process is keeping good track.

I’ll admit right here that I’m not always the best about writing down everything I’ve canned (although at least I have this blog to help me keep track, at least in part). But every year around this time, I try to take stock, determine what I still have, what’s starting to run out and plan accordingly.

Your tracking system can be as simple as a notebook, in which you list the things you’ve made and then you mark them off as you eat or gift them. I’ve seen some highly sophisticated spreadsheets in my time as well. The most important thing to do is develop a system that works for you and keep it up to date. This way, you’ll make sure to use up what you have and have some information to guide you as you head into next season (for instance, who else has a glut of jam, but is already starting to run low on tomatoes?).

So, where does everyone stand right now? Let’s hear about what’s running low and what you’re struggling to use up, as well as the tracking systems you use to help you keep track.

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Soba Noodles with Peanut/Sesame Sauce and Julienned Vegetables

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Marisa

peanut soba noodles

The first third of my cookbook is due in two weeks. This means that while I’ve been writing and cooking like mad lately, not much of it has been destined to appear here. As I gave the old brain a little jingle-jangle, to see if anything I’ve cooked recently would be appropriate for this humble little website, a bowl of soba noodles fell out (well, not literally).

I cooked this up for lunch last Tuesday, in between batches of granola. I borrowed the proportions for the sauce (with a few tweaks) from the recipe for Takeout Style Sesame Noodles in The Essential New York Times Cookbook and poured it over two quickly boiled clusters of soba noodles, as well as some julienned carrots and cucumber (made with one of these). Finally, I tossed in some leftover chopped jerk tofu, a final remnant from a New Year’s Eve potluck (what? It was only a week+ old when I made this. Besides, tofu keeps).

This humble little dish was one of the best things I ate all week. The vegetables kept it tasting fresh and the sauce was the ideal cold noodle topper. Should you be looking for a cold sesame noodle dish, this one is a winner. Slurp and enjoy!

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Dark Days: Veggie-stuffed Meatloaf and Roasted Sprouts

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Marisa

dinner january 15, 2011

I know, I know. It’s not the nicest looking plate in the world. Thanks to the lack of any true binding agents, my all-local meatloaf fell to pieces and greatly resembled nothing so much as a mound of Purina. Happily, it was one of those looks terrible, tastes great scenarios. Scott is half way through his month of hard-core Paleo dieting and so I’m cooking creatively in order to make things he can eat while not going crazy with boredom.

In addition to two pounds of grass-fed, local beef from Rineer Family Farm, this meatloaf contains a pureed mixture of carrots, onion, parsnip, garlic and parsley. Again, really good flavors but not much in the cohesion department. On the side, a stalk of brussels sprouts, roasted in a bit of rescued bacon fat. Local eating at its best.

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Open Jars: Fancy Grilled Cheese from Diandra of Oh Sweetie

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Marisa

This week’s installment in the Open Jars series is a guest post from Diandra of Oh Sweetie. She waxes poetic about her favorite grilled cheese sandwich, which contains two (that’s right, two) different preserves. Let’s see what she has to say, shall we?

Ever since I was born I’ve been a slave to the grilled cheese sandwich. I remember when I was a kid going down to the industrial district with my grandparents to a tiny little cafe with clovers on the sign to have a processed grilled cheese with deep fryer fries. Of course, since I’ve lived in cities and been following food blogs (and discovered “real” cheese..aka become a food snob) I’ve kind of become obsessed with what you can put inside a grilled cheese. And this one takes the prize!

It’s inspired by a grilled cheese sandwich from REbar, a modern vegetarian restaurant in Victoria BC. While I’ve never ordered the sandwich in the restaurant, I’ve made a variation of it for a while. And then this summer I canned some Gingered Zucchini Marmalade and paired it with an adaptation of the original sandwich’s chutney and voila! Best Grilled Cheese I’ve Ever Had.

Ingredients (makes two sandwiches):
1 recipe Spicy Onion Chutney (after the jump)
Gingered Zucchini Marmalade to taste
Enough slices of your favourite white cheese to create one layer in each sandwich (Edam, Monteray Jack, Mozza, Old Cheddar)
Good quality brown bread (I like Silverhills or the whole wheat from an local in-home bakery)
Earth Balance, Butter, Margarine, Hemp Butter…whatever floats your boat

How To:

Put a skillet or frying pan on a burner set to medium-low. Assemble the sandwiches by slathering buttery-substance on one side of each piece of bread. Put buttered side down on cutting board/counter. On one slice slather Marmalade and on the other side pile up about 1/4 cup of the chutney. Put down a layer of cheese on either side and close the sandwich, buttered side out.

Cook in the skillet until you reach desired grilled cheese crust, then flip. Place a lid over top of the sandwiches, reduce the heat, and let the sandwiches simmer (this’ll heat up the chutney/marmalade). Once melty, eat it. Share the other sandwich if you can!

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Canning 101: Should You Use Steam Canners?

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Marisa

More Jars

I’ve gotten a few questions about steam canners recently, and so I thought I’d take a little time to share what I know about this style of canner.

For those of you who don’t know, a steam canner is a devise that looks similar to an old fashioned cake carrier. It consists of a shallow pan, a fitted rack and a high domed cover. It is typically advertised as an alternative to the boiling water bath canner (it is not the same as a pressure canner).

Currently, steam canners are not recommended for home use by either the USDA or the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Their reasoning is that steam isn’t as effective at transmitting heat through to the center of the jars as boiling water is. It’s this heat penetration that ensures both the safety of your product (it kills off any possible contaminants) and the efficacy of your seal.

What’s more, the vast majority of canning recipes just haven’t been written for steam canning. While it may actually be an effective method for canning, the bulk of canning research has been done with a boiling water bath canner. This means that we just don’t know how long it takes to process jars in a steam canner for safe storage.

As I did the research necessary to write this, I came across a post on the Utah State Extension Service website on the topic of steam canners. While it doesn’t go so far to endorse them, it does offer a great deal of useful information on best practices if you have determined to use one.

My feelings about steam canners are fairly simple. I don’t use one and I have no intention to seek one out in the future. I like the fact that boiling water bath canning can be done without any special equipment (my favorite canning pot is my all-purpose stock pot with a cake cooling rack in the bottom). Additionally, I believe there are enough risks in life without introducing extra variables into my preserving practice. I know boiling water bath canning is effective and dependable. Why deviate?

How about the rest of you? Ever used a steam canner?

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Dark Days: Pullet Eggs Poached in Quick Tomato and Spinach Sauce

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Marisa

239 | 365

My March column in Grid Philly (it’s a local magazine dedicated sustainability) is all about eggs. I’ve come up with three seriously delicious egg recipes that are a little different from your standard scrambled or sunnyside up. Because the magazine devoted to keeping things local, I try to only develop recipes with ingredients that are currently available (or will be when the issue is available) from Philly’s 100 mile food radius. So frequently, my dark days eating overlaps with the recipes I’ve tested for my piece.

This dish is a quick tomato sauce, made from minced onions simmered in some cultured butter, a big can of crushed tomatoes and several generous handfuls of tunnel grown baby spinach. Once the sauce was thickened, I carved out four little hollows at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock and dropped in pullet eggs (smaller eggs from young chickens). I added a splash of water so that there’d be enough liquid to cook the tops of the eggs and put a lid on for a few minutes.

When it was time to serve, I ladled two eggs and their sauce over a piece of toasted rustic bread that I’d rubbed with some raw garlic. It was absolutely wonderful eating and all ingredients (save the bread – it was from Metropolitan Bakery) were purchased from the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market. This meal would be in heavy rotation around here, if only Scott liked poached eggs. As it stands, this one is a regular dining alone meal because it only take about 20 minutes from start to finish and it a complete meal (the green vegetable is right there in the sauce).

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Homemade Maple Almond Butter

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Marisa

finished almond butter

My friend Shay adores almond butter. She has the ability to eat it day after day, smeared on toast or straight out of the jar with a spoon. And honestly? I never quite understood why she liked it so much. I always found it a bit stodgy and without the smoothness of some other nut butters I’ve tried.

1 1/2 cups almonds

But lately, the urge to make a homemade nut butters took hold and I couldn’t shake it loose. I was a little concerned that my 30+ year old food processor wasn’t up to the job, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. The motor did smell slightly overheated, but kept on chugging throughout the processing. I chose to make a roasted maple almond butter because I had all the ingredients needed. Plus, I figured that if I didn’t like it, I’d always have an appreciative audience in Shay.

roasted nuts

I took my primary inspiration from this post on the Edible Perspective and tossed 1 1/2 cups of raw almonds with 3 tablespoons of maple syrup on a baking mat. I sprinkled a bit of sea salt on prior to roasting, because I like my nut butters to have a salty side.

after 2-3 minutes of processing

After 20 minutes of roasting, the almonds took a little cool-down prior to their trip through the processor. Truly, I could have eaten the entire baking sheet just as they were (I must remember to do more with maple roasted nuts. Maybe I should make these again).

after 5 minutes

Once they were cool enough to handle, it was just a matter of running the processor, scraping down the sides and adding a bit of walnut oil to help things get moving. After six or seven minutes of processing, those roasted almonds had transformed into the most luscious nut butter I’d ever seen or tasted. Suddenly, I understood Shay’s love of almond butter. It’s creamy, nutty and just a touch sweet thanks to the maple syrup.

So far, I’ve eaten it with apple slices, spread on toasted millet bread (a friend gave me half a loaf, the recipe is from Moosewood) and straight out of the jar with a spoon. When this jar is gone (and it will be soon, I only got a little more than half a pint), I’ll be making more.

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Open Jars: Blue Cheese Savories from Mostly Foodstuffs

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Marisa

As anyone with a canning habit the size of mine knows, finding ways to incorporate jam into nearly every meal of the day is really the only way to control the tide of preserves. Happily, a new twist on jam use has come into my life and it’s divine. It came to my attention through Deena at Mostly Foodstuffs, who found it over at Food52 (the original recipe comes from The Runaway Spoon). I’ll just let Deena tell you about it.

I test drove this recipe earlier in the week, after lusting over it since Food52′s post a month ago. And it did not disappoint — these are amazing. Truly. The cookie itself is salty and savory, piquant with blue cheese, and counterbalanced with a dollop of tart jam. And, as an added bonus, it has a delightfully short and flaky crumb (and is easy to make, with just a handful of ingredients). It’s like the most elegant Cheez-It ever, the best of a cheese plate (cracker, cheese and preserves) all in one tiny little mouthful. This is a recipe that practically screams “I am your New Year’s Eve party appetizer!”

We’ve missed the boat for New Year’s Eve, but these little suckers truly should be kept in mind next time you need a delicious, slightly fancypants tidbit. Deena’s tried them with a variety of jams, all to great success. I had them with fig jam and felt compelled to dance a little jig of joy while they were in my mouth.

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