The Charmed Kitchen

fresh lavender

I love lavender. I love the color, the fragrance and the flavor. I just came in from harvesting lavender in my yard and it made me think of the ways I cook with it.  I’ve posted my recipe for lavender shortbread before and I admit to adding lavender to sweet dishes more often than savory ones. But I do love the taste with meat dishes, too. Lavender is one of the ingredients in Herbs De Provence. I thought I would make some and share my recipe with you. Try rubbing it on lamb before roasting or grilling. You can also make a marinade with Herbes de Provence and a little sherry and oil and add chicken breasts or pork chops and leave in the fridge for several hours or overnight before cooking. Really a wonderful way to make even an ordinary dish a little special.

Herbes de Provence

1 T. thyme

1 T. rosemary

1 T. savory

2 t. basil

1 t. lavender

2 bay leaves

Blend fresh or dried herbs until bay leaves are powdered. Rub this mixture on lamb, pork, beef, poultry, or fish. If using fresh herbs, make small amounts and freeze what is unused.

Roasted Chicken with Judi’s Herb/Spice Rub

With more outdoor cooking I thought I’d share a recipe for a rub I made the other day. I used it on a chicken I was roasting but the flavors would go well on pork, lamb, duck and even on veggies. I actually want to use it next on grilled eggplant and mushrooms. I hope you will try it.

Judi’s Herb/Spice Rub

Rub roasted chicken with sweet potato fries and salad

Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles

Bread and butter pickles are one of my favorites. I make several batches every year.  For a nice twist try spicing them up a little. In this recipe red pepper flakes add a nice kick to the sweet pickles. Of course, you can omit the pepper flakes for a traditional bread and butter pickle, if you prefer. 

Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles

6 quarts thinly sliced pickling cucumbers

6 medium onions, peeled and sliced thin

½ c. pickling salt

1½ quarts vinegar

4½ c. sugar

½ c. whole mustard seed

1/2 c. red pepper flakes

1 T. Pickling spice

1 T. celery seeds

Wash cucumbers and trim off ends before slicing. Place in non-reactive bowl (stainless steel, enamel, plastic) add the onions and then salt and stir. Allow cucumbers and onions to sit in the salt for 3 hours. After 3 hours drain well, but do not rinse. Meanwhile combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add cucumbers and onions and return to the boil. As soon as the mixture is boiling ladle into clean, hot pints jars, leaving a good ½ -inch of headspace.  Wipe rims and screw on lids firmly. Place in simmering water bath and process at 185-degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove to counter and allow to cool naturally. Makes 12 pints.

Note: these need a couple of weeks for the flavors to develop. They can also be made with firm, small zucchini. 

Easy Dill Pickles

I got a load of pickling cucumbers today and have been making pickles. The first few batches have been Dill Pickles with Bread and Butter Pickles next. To make the dill pickles a little more fun I added 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes to about half of the jars for a spicy version. 

Easy Dill Pickles

30-40 pickling cucumbers, 5 inches long, scrubbed and ends trimmed off

¾ c. sugar

¾ c. canning or pickling salt (non-iodized)

1 quart vinegar

1 quart water

7 fresh dill heads

3 T. pickling spice

7 garlic cloves, peeled, optional

Mix together the sugar, salt, vinegar, water and pickling spices and bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes. Place a dill head in the bottom of seven clean, hot pint jars. Add the garlic, if using. Meanwhile cut trimmed and washed cucumbers into halves or quarters lengthwise and pack upright into the jars. Trim the length, if needed to fit no higher than to the shoulder of the jar. Pour over the hot brine leaving ½ -inch of headspace. Wipe rims and screw on lids. Place in a simmering water bath and process at 185 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove and cool. Makes 7 pints.

Whole Wheat Swiss Bread

I decided to post this recipe after I read a friend’s post earlier today. She was wondering how to make bread when you don’t have a large block of time to be home waiting for rising and more rising and then baking. Here is a recipe that might help her out. The dough is prepared, rested for a bit, shaped and then popped in the fridge to rise. It can be baked several hours later or even the next day. You can prep it in the evening- let it rise in the fridge overnight- and bake it in the morning. It is also a wonderful whole wheat bread with Swiss cheese melted in the dough.

Whole Wheat Swiss Bread

3 c. flour

2 ½ -3 c. whole wheat flour

2 packages active dry yeast

2 T. sugar

2 t. salt

1 c. each milk and water

4 oz. diced Swiss cheese

3 T. butter or margarine

Oil

Combine 2 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Heat together water and milk with cheese and butter until warm, cheese does not have to melt. Add to flour mixture and beat 3 minutes. Stir in remaining white flour and beat 2 minutes. Stir in enough whole wheat flour to make a soft dough.  Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic. Cover with bowl and let rest 20 minutes. Divide dough in half and shape into loaves by rolling out and then rolling into a loaf and sealing seams. Place in greased 8×4 inch loaf pans and brush with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge. Chill 2 –24 hours. Remove from fridge and remove plastic wrap allowing to stand while oven preheats. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Remove from pans and brush with butter. Cool. Makes 2 loaves.

Red Grape Crumble

When you think of crumbles, cobblers and the like what fruit comes to mind? Apples? Peaches? Grapes actually work great in these dishes. If you haven’t tried them this way maybe this recipe will change your mind.

Red Grape Crumble

5-6 cups stemmed seedless grapes, rinsed and drained

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. flour

2 t. cinnamon

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

1 c. flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

2 t. cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 stick ( 4 oz.) butter

Combine grapes in a mixing bowl with sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour and cinnamon. Toss to coat and place in a 6 cup baking dish.  In another bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar cinnamon and salt and stir to combine. Add butter and use your hands to break up the butter and combine it with the dry ingredients. Mixture should be crumbly. Spoon it over the grape mixture. The baking dish will seem too full- but the mixture cooks down a lot so don’t worry. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until topping is golden brown and grape mixture is bubbly. Serve warm or cold  topped with whipped cream or ice cream, if you like. Serves 5-6.

Toss grapes with sugar, flour and cinnamon

Top grapes with the oatmeal mixture

Cook until grapes are bubbly and topping is golden brown

Serve plain or with whipped cream or ice cream

Mini Marshmallow Roast

Who doesn’t love roasting marshmallows? I certainly do. Many fond childhood memories of wrapping up a family picnic with roasting marshmallows over dwindling coals. Still, sometimes you just don’t have a campfire available or Mother Nature gives you a soggy day. The good news- you can have a marshmallow roast any time you like. Even indoors if you like.  The trick is to use mini marshmallows, toothpicks or bamboo skewers and a candle. You can pretty much have toasted marshmallows any day of the year. Still haven’t figured out the mini S’mores, though.

Please be sure that if kids are doing this that they have adult supervision at all times.

Smoky Lambsquarters with Tomato

If you have a garden its a pretty good bet you have lambsquarters. It is a plant that tends to sprout up wherever soil has been cultivated. Many consider it a weed. Truth is lambsquarters is a flavorful edible green that is close in taste to spinach. A member of the Goosefoot family of plants it is full of iron, vitamins and minerals. If you have lambsquarters and were going to toss them in the compost pile- I hope you’ll reconsider and give them a taste instead. There is a picture of lambsquarters at the bottom of this post so you can identify it.

Smoky Lambsquarters with Tomato

1 T. olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced- or more

1/2 c. cooked, crumbled bacon

4 c. lambsquarters, rinsed and drained

3-4 c. diced  tomatoes- fresh or canned

1 t. Italian or Tuscan seasoning

salt to taste

hot cooked pasta

cheese- I used mozzarella and Parmesan

In skillet cook onion in oil over high heat until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add bacon and lambsquarters and mix together. Add tomatoes and reduce heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Add seasonings. Simmer about 10 minutes or until some of the cooking liquid has evaporated.  Adjust seasonings and spoon mixture of hot pasta. Top with cheese of your choice. Serves 2-3

Lambsquarters

Prep by removing large stems.

Cook until lambsquarters are tender.

Spoon over hot pasta.

Pumpkin Bread

I made several batches of Pumpkin Bread last night so the kids in cooking camp today would have something to snack on. They liked it a lot and pretty much ate all 6 loaves. Several of the kids asked for the recipe so here it is.

Pumpkin Bread

1 ¾ c. flour

1 ½ c. sugar

1 t. baking soda

¾ t. salt

½ t. each cinnamon and nutmeg

½ c. butter, softened

2 eggs, beaten

1 c. pumpkin

1/3 c. water

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat together butter and eggs until fluffy. Beat in pumpkin and water until smooth. Stir in dry ingredients until smooth. Pour into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 60-65 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing from pan and placing on cooling rack.  Wrap in plastic, best served the next day. Freezes well. Makes 1 loaf.

Breakfast- Egg and French Toast Sandwich with Chicken. Made by Mia, Nia and Michael

I was lucky enough today to run a cooking contest with the Beachwood Teen Adventure Camp. This is the third or fourth year and the kids just keep getting better and better. They worked in 4 teams and each team had to make a breakfast, lunch and dinner dish using bread is some way.  I gave them a pantry to work with and they came up with dishes that were creative and pretty tasty. They all worked so hard and while there was one team that won in the end they all had dishes they could be proud of. Here are the winning dishes with the names of the kids who produced them. Did I mention I am really full? Thanks to Pete Conces and special thanks to Michelle and her staff for helping everything to run smoothly.

Lunch: Pasta bowl filled with pasta and a mixed salad with home made dressing. Prepared by: Maia, Angela and Harleigh

Dinner: Chicken Panini with pasta and broccoli tossed with olive oil. Prepared by Arin, Kyra, Cameron and Paul