The Charmed Kitchen

When it comes to all American fruit there are only 3 fruits native to North America- cranberries, blueberries and concord grapes. So what could be more American than Concord grape jelly? This is the time of year when they are abundant in our backyards and at  farm markets. A friend asked me recently what he might do with harvest of Concord grapes in his front yard. I suggested making grape jelly. Home made grape jelly is so much more than anything you can find at the super market.

To make the jelly, any jelly really, you need juice.

To make grape juice: Wash, stem and crush the grapes. For every gallon of crushed grapes add 1 cup of water. Cook over medium to medium low heat until fruit is very soft. Don’t bring this mixture to a boil. It will cause crystals to form in the juice. Place juice in a dampened jelly bag to drain or in a strainer lined with several layers of food-grade cheesecloth. Don’t press down on the fruit or you will force solids through the bag and you’ll cloud the juice. Once juice is finished draining you can chill it to make jelly within a day or two. Juice should be chilled at least 12 hours. Strain again before using in case tartrate crystals have formed.

To make grape jelly:

4 cups Concord grape juice- from about 3-4 pounds of grapes

3 cups sugar

Combine juice and sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until jelly reaches the gel point  or until jelly sheets off the spoon.* Remove from heat and skim off foam, if needed.** Ladle hot jelly into clean jelly jars leaving 1/4 -inch head space. wipe rims and cover with 2 piece lids. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Makes 4 half-pint jars.

*OK- I know some of you are thinking, “What?”  Well, you dip a cool metal spoon in the jelly and lift it out then tip the spoon and watch the jelly as it pours off the spoon. At first the jelly will just pour off but as it gets closer to the gel state it will start to pour off the spoon in more of a sheet- like a little ( OK very little) jelly waterfall. You can also tip the spoon and watch for 2 drops of jelly to come together and drip off the spoon as one big drop.  You can also put a small amount of the jelly onto a chilled plate. Place plate in freezer until jelly cools down to room temp. Run your finger through it. It should separate then slowly come back together. If this is making you crazy just buy a box of pectin and follow the directions for grape jelly. It will gel just fine with pectin.

** To reduce the amount of foam you can add 1 teaspoon of butter to the juice right at the beginning of the cooking process . It will reduce or completely eliminate the need to skim off foam.

Hope this helps, Jared.

Peppers in the dehydrator

With many of us swimming in produce and short on time food dehydrating might be a smart choice. Recently I was faced with more sweet and hot peppers than I was prepared to deal with. Freezing is fine, but my freezer is pretty full. I opted to dry them instead. For peppers it is as easy and chopping up, placing on the trays and drying. Once dried I store the peppers in air-tight containers in a cool place. You can even place them in the freezer or fridge to keep them fresh longer. The real advantage here is space.  Dried foods lose most of their volume so they take up a lot less room. Like other vegetables the peppers are dried until quite crisp- 5% moisture or less. Later they can be added to soups, stews, salsas etc, where they will absorb liquid and become tender. Or you can powder them up and use to flavor dishes. Use dried sweet peppers where you might use paprika and dried hot peppers where you might ass cayenne. They are great additions to chili, too.

I am going to be doing a Food Preservation class at Whole Foods. Here are the details for registration. Seating is limited so reserve your place quickly.

Monday, Sept. 10  6:30-8:00 p.m.

Learn how to preserve the fruits and vegetables of summer at a preserving/canning class with Judi Strauss. Beginners welcome! Bring your canning questions and find out how easy it is to get started!

RSVP for this class at Whole Foods Cedar Center Customer Service or by calling 216-932-3918. 20 spots available. Cost $10. Payable to instructor the night of the class. Includes a light salad dinner courtesy of Whole Foods Market.

Sue’s Tiramisu

Today is the birthday of a close friend of mine. Sue loves Tiramisu and so for her birthday I like to make it for her. She likes it so much we call it “Tira for Sue”. I made this one for her yesterday so she could wake up and have some for breakfast. It is both rich and light and I must admit it is a favorite dessert of mine, too.

 Tiramisu

5 egg yolks

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. Marsala wine (not cooking wine)

1 c. whipping cream

2 T. sugar

1 lb. mascarpone cheese

2 c. strong coffee, room temp.

2 T. sugar

1/2 c. brandy

1 T. vanilla

48 ladyfingers

3 T. cocoa

Make zabaglione (egg custard). In double boiler, over simmering water, beat together egg yolks and sugar until lemon colored. Stir in Marsala and continue cooking, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and will mound on a spoon. This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool down. You can place in bowl in fridge 30 minutes or so. Beat together whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Beat in mascarpone and chilled zabaglione. Chill 1 hour. Stir together coffee with remaining sugar, brandy and vanilla and set aside. Assemble tiramisu by placing 16 of the ladyfingers in the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan. Drizzle about 1/3 of the coffee mixture over the ladyfingers, about 1 tablespoon each. Top with 1/3 of the cream mixture and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the cocoa. Repeat this process 2 more times until all ingredients are used. Chill until ready to serve. Serves 12.

Here is a quick and easy seasonal recipe for using up some of the zucchini we all seem to have right now. Also a nice way to enjoy local sweet corn.

Quick Corn and Zucchini Sauté

2 sweet peppers, seeded and cut into strips

2 medium zucchini, sliced

Oil

2 c. corn kernels cut from cobs, about 4 ears

1 t. minced garlic

½ t. Italian seasoning

salt to taste

In oil cook peppers and zucchini until crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook 4 more minutes, or until heated through. Serves 6-8.

Sauce glazed chicken thighs

I have been making this barbecue sauce for a long time now. It is a favorite of mine and when the tomatoes are plentiful I am sure to make a couple of batches. I know a lot of you have extra tomatoes so maybe with the holiday coming up and many a cook out planned I thought I would share the recipe with you now. It can be canned or frozen. Use plum or paste-type tomatoes if you can to reduce cooking time. They are meatier. Also, don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients. I promise it is worth it.

Favorite Barbecue Sauce

16 lb. tomatoes, peeled and cut up

1/2c. pickling spice

2 sticks cinnamon

2 t. whole allspice

1 t. mustard seed

1 t. whole peppercorns

1/2 t. whole cloves

8 c. cider vinegar

5 c. sugar

2 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 c. lemon or lime juice

2 large onions, minced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 T non-iodized salt

2 T. red pepper flakes

2 T. chili powder

1 T. paprika

Cook tomatoes over medium heat until soft, stirring often. Run tomatoes through a food mill or food strainer to remove seeds and crush tomatoes. Return this tomato sauce to kettle. Place pickling spice, cinnamon, allspice, mustard seed, peppercorns and cloves together in a piece of food-safe cheesecloth and tie securely. Place in kettle with tomato sauce and all remaining ingredients. Cook over high heat, stirring as sauce thickens until sauce reaches desired thickness. Remember you put in 8 cups of vinegar, this is going to take a while. Of course, it’s so thin in the beginning, at least you won’t have to stir it very often. My experience has been that the whole process takes 2-3 hours, but it could take less if you keep stirring and keep the burner on high. The sauce will cook down to about 6-7 pints, give or take a little.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes or freeze.

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I love kale, even when not crunchy. But I must admit there is something about kale chips that is special. Green and crunchy and good for you. One of nature’s perfect foods. I promised a class last week that I would post my recipe for kale chips so here it is.  If you have never had them or have never made your own they are super tasty and super easy to make.

Tuscan Kale Crisps

These make a different and fun appetizer when served upright in a tumbler or vase.

12 large Tuscan kale leaves, rinsed, dried and split lengthwise with the ribs removed

1 T. olive oil

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl toss kale leaves with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange leaves in a single layer on 2 large baking sheets. Bake until crisp- about 30 minutes for flatter leaves and 33 minutes for more crinkly leaves. Makes 24.

Heart and Flowers Pickles

I had a request for the pickled turnip recipe earlier today. I wanted to do something different with the turnips and beets so Jonathan suggested I cut the turnips into shapes. I eventually decided to slice the turnips and beets and cut them out with little cookie cutters to make Hearts and Flowers pickles. Heart-shaped beets and little flower turnips. Added carrot flowers to round it out. Just peeled the carrots and ran a knife tip along them lengthwise. When sliced the carrots looked like flowers, too. Of course, you can just cut up or slices the veggies without the cookie cutters. Will taste just as good.

Pickled Turnips

2 1/2 pounds turnips, peeled and cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick wedges or sticks (about 8 cups) or cut into slices

6  beets, peeled and sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 cups distilled white vinegar or cider vinegar

3 cups water

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons canning  salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 T. pickling spice

Combine turnips with the rest of the ingredients and bring mixture to a boil. Simmer 3 minutes. Place vegetables in pint or half pint jars and cover with the hot brine. Fill to within 1/2 inch from the top. Wipe rims and seal jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Makes about 6 pint jars or 12 half-pints.

I am going to be doing a Food Preservation class at Whole Foods. Here are the details for registration. Seating is limited so reserve your place quickly.

Monday, Sept. 10  6:30-8:00 p.m.

Learn how to preserve the fruits and vegetables of summer at a preserving/canning class with Judi Strauss. Beginners welcome! Bring your canning questions and find out how easy it is to get started!

RSVP for this class at Whole Foods Cedar Center Customer Service or by calling 216-932-3918. 20 spots available. Cost $10. Payable to instructor the night of the class. Includes a light salad dinner courtesy of Whole Foods Market.

Lambsquarters

We had such a wonderful time at Community greenhouse Partners. Thanks to Timothy Smith for hosting it and for all the members of the NEO foodies group for bringing their food and their children. I did a cooking class with the kids and we made pizzas. One of the ingredients was lambsquarters a common “weed” that is actually a super nutritious plant that tastes like spinach when cooked but is  even better for you. I promised a few of my friends to post a picture and recipes for this versatile veggie. Yes, I said veggie. It is a plant many pull up and discard without a second thought but it is one of my favorite crops every year.

Lambsquarters Fritters

2 cups young lambsquarters leaves
1 egg
bread crumbs (Italian seasoned preferred)
2 Tbsp grated cheese
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Boil greens until tender. Press out as much water as possible, then chop them finely. Mix in the
egg, salt and pepper and grated cheese. Divide the mixture into portions and roll them in the
bread crumbs. Pan fry them in olive oil.

Creamed Weeds

 2 lbs. fresh lambsquarters, washed and stemmed

1 T. butter or margarine

1 c. milk

2-3 T. flour

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 t. dill weed

Cook lambsquarters in a small amount of water and drain when heated through or wilted.  Return to pot and add butter or margarine. Place milk and flour in jar with tight fitting lid and shake until well mixed. Add to lambsquarters and cook, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Season to taste and serve. Serves 6.