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Crash Hot Potatoes with Gorgonzola

July 11, 2011 by 10 Comments

See those potatoes? Those are worth heating up the oven in ninety-plus-degree weather with seventy-seven percent humidity. I know this because that is exactly what I did yesterday and I’m doing it again tonight. It is no exaggeration to say that I think I’m allergic to heat and humidity, so let that tell you just how great these actually are. Those are Crash-Hot Potatoes (of Pioneer Woman and Jill Dupleix fame) topped with Gorgonzola cheese and they come with a story.

Back in July 2008, I was a blogging baby. Not only was I new to the world of writing a blog, I was just getting started reading other blogs. Not just food blogs, mind you, but blogs period. What can I say? I’m a slow study on trends. I blame my children. They’re just too easy to look at and I get easily distracted…

But we were talking about the potatoes, weren’t we?

So. I stumbled upon a blog; Evil Chef Mom. It was hilarious, it was witty, the photography was stunning, the woman had four kids. I felt like I found someone who I would love to read regularly. She talked about Crash-Hot Potatoes and said it was from The Pioneer Woman. I clicked on the link. And here’s where the story turns into one where I look really, exceptionally thick-headed. I thought it was still part of Evil Chef Mom. I thought maybe The Pioneer Woman was a separate section of Evil Chef Mom devoted to talking about Crash Hot Potatoes and honeymoons in Australia… Because the next thing I clicked on in PW’s site was a post talking about her four children; two boys, two girls. Could there be two women with the same configuration of four children? It didn’t even occur to me. It took re-reading Evil Chef Mom’s post later in the day to realize that we were talking about two different people here. Two different women with two different sets of four children with two different websites. My head met my desk. Then I got the heck over it because these potatoes were so very good.

So. Very. Good.

It’s funny how things often go. The real human behind Evil Chef Mom, Krysta, has become one of my best friends. And recently, Krysta helped me prepare to spend a weekend with the real human behind The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, who also turned out to be a lovely person. Sometimes the way life brings things together makes my feeble mind giggle.

*So far I’ve admitted confusing two very distinct writers/photographers and giggling over coincidences. I’m looking super bright right now, eh?

Not long after I got back from the Ranch, (Meanwhile, back on the ranch…) Krysta told me she had taken the concept of Crash Hot Potatoes to another level. After boiling, she had smashed them, olive oiled them, salted and peppered them, then topped them with blue cheese and broiled them.  Hubba hubba was the phrase that came to mind.

She gave me her blessing  to post them -nay, she nearly insisted- before she did. (Now, people, if you’re new to blogging like I was in July 2008, let me inform you… that is a HUGE sacrifice. I told you she was a great friend.) I combined Krysta’s idea with my salt potatoes and the original roasting method on the potatoes for a side dish that is, as I said, good enough to make you sweat voluntarily by firing up the oven on the doggiest of dog days.

Terminally crisp (as Jill Dupleix so eloquently calls it) exterior, creamy potatoey interior, topped with melted, fragrant Gorgonzola cheese with just the teensiest bit of toasty colour on top. When my Mr. Meat-and-Potatoes nine-year-old boy wandered into the kitchen to suss out the dinner landscape he asked,”What are those?” I responded, “Those are Crash-Hot Potatoes topped with Gorgonzola cheese.” He pumped his fist, gave a firm, “BOOYAH!” and fetched a plate. He even skipped the accompanying grilled chicken to save more room in the tummy for these potatoes. I know I’ve said it already, but they really are just that good.

So thank you Krysta, Ree, and Jill for what is destined to be a dish that sits on our table for years and years to come.

Pssssst. If you throw out those little melted, crisped bits of Gorgonzola cheese I will come kick your knees. Those are not to be wasted. If you can’t handle the pure gorgy that way, toss them onto salad like croutons. I mean it. If you value your knees, eat those.

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Crash Hot Potatoes with Gorgonzola
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Recipe type: Appetizer, Side, Snack
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 6
 

Terminally crisp (as Jill Dupleix so eloquently calls it) exterior, creamy potatoey interior, topped with melted, fragrant Gorgonzola cheese with just the teensiest bit of toasty colour on top.
Ingredients
  • 1 batch leftover salt potatoes, warmed slightly (*See notes if you don’t have leftover salt potatoes)
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1½ teaspoons dried rosemary, slightly crumbled between fingers.)
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, to taste

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
  2. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil evenly over a rimmed baking sheet.
  3. Scatter potatoes on the olive oil and use a potato masher or heavy mug to gently smash the potato until it is about two times as large in diameter as it was when you began.
  4. Drizzle the remaining 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil evenly over the potatoes.
  5. Toss the rosemary evenly over the potatoes and grind black pepper over the potatoes to taste.
  6. Pop the pan into the oven and roast until the potatoes are sizzling, brown on the bottom, and golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.
  7. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the broiler to High.
  8. Place the Gorgonzola crumbles on top of the potatoes according to how much bleu cheese you like.
  9. Return the pan to the oven and broil until the cheese melts and gets just a couple little golden brown toasty bits.
  10. Remove the pan from the oven and let the potatoes rest for 3 minutes before serving.

Notes
If you don’t have leftover salt potatoes (either because you ate the whole batch -good for you!- or you haven’t made them yet -what are you waiting for?) you can still make these. Use the following method: Toss 16 new, small, unpeeled potatoes into a pot of heavily salted boiling water. Return to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until they are easily pierced with a skewer or butterknife. Drain and proceed!

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Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Bourbon and Vanilla Infused Sugar

March 29, 2011 by 8 Comments

My friend Pamela is a good person to know.

She knits the most amazing things. She sews like an angel and can sing your pants off*.

*Make that sings like an angel and can sew your pants on. Really. She could probably sing while sewing on your pants and knitting you a sweater. She’s good like that.

Her kids and my kids and her mister and my mister and she and I get along famously.  A few weeks back, as our crew was getting ready to leave their casa, my kids started complaining loudly about how starved they were. STARVED, they said. Clearly this was hooey since they had done nothing but eat all day without cease.  Pamela, though, kind soul that she is, saw in an instant just how much longer that one hour drive home would feel with five griping children. She rifled through her cabinets and handed the kids a goody bag full of chips, crackers and granola bars. Then she handed me a jar full of a concoction from her own private stash; Bourbon and Vanilla Infused Raw Sugar.

Home again, I tucked the kids into bed, cracked open the jar, sniffed and swooned.  Bourbon and vanilla swirled around me.  I dipped my finger into the jar and sampled and swooned again. Holy moly. Oh yummy yum yum. The caramel crunchy raw sugar had soaked up all the bourbon and vanilla flavours. Every little grain was a perfect blend of caramel, bourbon and vanilla.

Life is very good with a jar of this around the house. Happily, Pamela shared her method. And luckily for all of us, it’s as easy to make as a cup of boiled water.

Bourbon and Vanilla Infused Sugar

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe.

Yield: About 2 quarts of infused sugar. Keeps indefinitely.

Ingredients:

  • 4-6 whole vanilla beans, split in half lengthwise
  • 8 cups raw (turbinado or demerara) sugar
  • 6 teaspoons bourbon (Use one that is good enough to sip for best results.)

Fill a wide-mouthed half-gallon jar about halfway with raw sugar, shove the split vanilla beans into the sugar and pour 2 teaspoons of the bourbon into the jar.

Pour more sugar into the jar until it is about 2/3 full. Pour in another 2 teaspoons of bourbon. Tighten the lid on the jar and shake the jar HARD and repeatedly to distribute the ingredients well. Open the lid, fill the sugar to the bottom ring of the jar.  Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of bourbon, tighten the lid again and shake it, shake it, shake it. Shake what your Mama gave you.  Stash the jar in a cool, dark place for at least a week before using. You can top the jar off as it gets lower, just lid it and shake it every time you do.

If the sugar hardens up, place a slice of apple in the jar, tighten the lid and let it sit overnight. Remove the apple and stir before re-lidding.

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Bourbon and Vanilla Infused Sugar
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Recipe type: Condiment, Ingredient
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Crunchy textured, caramelly, raw sugar infused with real vanilla beans and bourbon. Sprinkle on cookies, cakes, muffins or stir into coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
Ingredients
  • 4-6 whole vanilla beans, split in half lengthwise
  • 8 cups raw (turbinado or demerara) sugar
  • 6 teaspoons bourbon (Use one that is good enough to sip for best results.)

Instructions
  1. Fill a wide-mouthed half-gallon jar about halfway with raw sugar, shove the split vanilla beans into the sugar and pour 2 teaspoons of the bourbon into the jar. Pour more sugar into the jar until it is about ⅔ full. Pour in another 2 teaspoons of bourbon. Tighten the lid on the jar and shake the jar HARD and repeatedly to distribute the ingredients well. Open the lid, fill the sugar to the bottom ring of the jar. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of bourbon, tighten the lid again and shake it, shake it, shake it. Shake what your Mama gave you. Stash the jar in a cool, dark place for at least a week before using. You can top the jar off as it gets lower, just lid it and shake it every time you do.

Notes
If the sugar hardens up, place a slice of apple in the jar, tighten the lid and let it sit overnight. Remove the apple and stir before re-lidding.

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Filed Under: Component Foods, Condiments, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Bacon Jam (a.k.a. Oooh-Mommy! Jam)

January 17, 2011 by 101 Comments

You know food is going to make you happy when it smiles at you.  (Probably could’ve made a buck selling a smiling egg yolk on eBay, but honey?  There was no way I was walking away from this breakfast.  And even if I did, there were twelve people waiting to take over the job for me this morning.)

My love of bacon has been pretty well documented (proof of my bacon-obsession) but I can honestly tell you that today’s recipe, Bacon Jam,  is the my favorite way I’ve ever eaten it.

I’m just going to say right here -at the beginning- that this is one of the hardest pieces I’ve ever written.  I’ve flogged my brain for hours, but the fact is, there aren’t enough superlatives to describe how core-shakingly good this bacon jam is. It is umami jam.  It is Ooo-Mommy jam.

Since every way I conceived to ‘splain this jam ends up sounded like a big, fat cliche in my brain (lip-smacking, mouth-watering, etc…) I thought a few anecdotes about the power of this Ooooh-Mommy, holy-cow, sweet-crappy-pappy-this-is-good jam might do the job.

  • While this jam was cooking, a neighbor (who we haven’t met in the three years we’ve lived here) came over to introduce himself.  He didn’t say as much, but I assume the smell drew him since he kept looking over at the stove where my pot of bacon jam bubbled away. He left as a friend.  He’ll be back. I’m sure of it.
  • I was chatting with my friend, Krysta, who lives on the opposite coast,  telling her how the scent of the cooking jam made me want to gnaw my own leg off at the ankle.  She realized she had the ingredients and decided to make it right then and there.  Within an hour she was drooling all over the place.  Ask her.  She’ll tell you.
  • When my beloved, The Evil Genius, tasted Bacon Jam for the first time, his eyes rolled back into his head and he said, “Ooooh- Mommy.”  While my husband is a food guy, those are reactions that he just doesn’t have. That equals spectacular food.
  • We had a grown-up slumber party last night (Okay, not just grown-ups.  Four adults and nine children. The kids were tucked in and it was party time, Foodie With Family style.  We were hard-core.  We broke out the Gilbert and Sullivan and sang along.  You haven’t played a drinking game until you have to take a sip every time someone in ‘Pirates of Penzance’ says ‘duty’!) This morning, breakfast was toasted slabs of fresh homemade bread smeared with bacon jam that we heated in a cast-iron frying pan next to sunny side up eggs.  Our friends and their kids have now moved into our house.

Speaking of these friends…  While we collectively munched our breakfasts, our dear Daytons, Pamela and Jon, helped us hash out just why a Bacon Jam topped piece of toast with a fried egg was superior to the traditional fare of bacon, eggs, and toast.  Jon observed that with Bacon Jam and fried egg on toast, you get the taste of bacon, egg, and toast in every bite. Because of his keen insight, he got double rations and the ability to choose the keyword the next time we all indulge in our Gilbert and Sullivan proclivities.

This post is special for one other reason.  The aforementioned Krysta  happens to have a pretty stylin’ food blog. You have read Evil Chef Mom, right? I really did tease her about the salty, sweet, meaty, maple-y, coffee-tinged dutch-oven-of-joy that I had just created, and she really did inventory her pantry and chill-chest and make her own batch.  We waxed rhapsodic over our new discovery.  And more than that, we decided that we both needed to post this at the very same time, because Bacon Jam turned us into giddy little teenage girls who buy and wear matching Johnny Depp* t-shirts. Hop on over to Evil Chef Mom and read Krysta’s reflections on the recipe.  She tried the recipe using Martha Stewart’s original instructions (using a slow-cooker.)

*Or somebody.  But probably Johnny Depp.  Because he could be the Bacon Jam of actors.  Or not.  But probably he is.

You can join the Bacon Jam Club, Krysta and I aren’t exclusive.  We want the whole world to know this joy.  Just be warned, once you try it, it’s like the mob. There’s no going back.

Bacon Jam (a.k.a. Oooh-Mommy Jam)

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Inspired by Martha Stewart and The Perfect Pantry

Yield: About 6 cups.  (You can easily halve this recipe.)

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds bacon
  • 4 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 8 cloves garlic, smashed with the flat side of a knife or a pan and peeled
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups very strong brewed black coffee
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cut the bacon slices into one inch strips.  Add the bacon to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Cook the bacon, stirring frequently, until the bacon is browned.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate.  Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings into a heat-proof jar with a tight-fitting lid.*

*Save the bacon drippings in the refrigerator.  That’s too much flavor to trash!

Place the Dutch oven back over the medium-high heat and add the onions and garlic.

Stir well and reduce heat to medium.  Continue to cook for about 8 minutes, or until the onions are mostly translucent.

Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, and drop heat again, this time to low.

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and boil hard for 2 minutes.  After 2 minutes, stir the browned bacon into the onions and liquid.

Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally to make sure things aren’t sticking, adding 1/4 cup of water if it seems to be drying out. When the onions are meltingly soft and the liquid is thick and syrupy, remove the dutch oven from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the Dutch oven to the work bowl of a food processor that has been fitted with a blade.  Fit the lid in place and pulse several times or until the Bacon Jam is a spreadable consistency.  Scrape into a jar (or jars) or a container with a tight fitting lid.

Store in the refrigerator for up to one month or the freezer for up to six months!

Can be served cold, room temperature or warmed.

I do believe that breakfast just doesn’t get much better than this…

5.0 from 16 reviews

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Bacon Jam
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 32
 

Salty, meaty, chewy, sweet, savoury, smoky, bacony goodness. Bacon is crisped and made into the ultimate breakfast spread with maple syrup, onions, coffee, brown sugar and pepper.
Ingredients
  • 3 pounds bacon
  • 4 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 8 cloves garlic, smashed with the flat side of a knife or a pan and peeled
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1½ cups very strong brewed black coffee
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
  1. Cut the bacon slices into one inch strips. Add the bacon to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon, stirring frequently, until the bacon is browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings into a heat-proof jar with a tight-fitting lid.*
  2. *Save the bacon drippings in the refrigerator. That’s too much flavor to trash!
  3. Place the Dutch oven back over the medium-high heat and add the onions and garlic. Stir well and reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook for about 8 minutes, or until the onions are mostly translucent. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, and drop heat again, this time to low.
  4. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and boil hard for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, stir the browned bacon into the onions and liquid.
  5. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally to make sure things aren’t sticking, adding ¼ cup of water if it seems to be drying out. When the onions are meltingly soft and the liquid is thick and syrupy, remove the dutch oven from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
  6. Transfer the contents of the Dutch oven to the work bowl of a food processor that has been fitted with a blade. Fit the lid in place and pulse several times or until the Bacon Jam is a spreadable consistency. Scrape into a jar (or jars) or a container with a tight fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to one month or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
  7. Can be served cold, room temperature or warmed.

Notes
The bacon jam could take up to 3 hours to reduce to a syrupy consistency. Just stick with it!

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Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast Foods, Camping Food, Charcuterie, Component Foods, Condiments, Eggs, Instructional, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Render Duck Fat and Make Duck Cracklins

January 12, 2011 by 10 Comments

“Duck fat!  Hoo ha ha!…*”

*Like Shark Bait, Hoo Ha ha! from ‘Finding Nemo’.

“crackLINS! crackLINS! crackLINS! crackLINS! Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. NO GOOSE!”  went the chant from my children who  -just two hours before- were making wet gaggy noises while watching me break down a duck into breasts, leg and thigh portions and a hearty pile of duck fat and skin trimmings.

Boy did I change their tune. Just look at those cracklins.  Can you blame them?

It’s now duck town around here, people. I’ve signed on for Charcutepalooza (the brainchild of Mrs. Wheelbarrow and The Yummy Mummy).  At current count, there are about one hundred bloggers participating in this group organized by our illustrious leaders.

Charcutepah-whah you say? It’s a mashup of Charcuterie (The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing Meat and the title of the Michael Ruhlman book of the same name.) and Lollapalooza (an annual music festival involving a great many tattoos and alternative rock acts and questionable behavior.)  There will be one project per month (all projects from recipes gleaned from Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie.  Meat is mandatory. Questionable behavior and tattoos* are optional.

 

*There are tattoo rumors.  Just how devoted are we to meat?  We’ll see!

 

It’s common knowledge that I live in. the. middle. of. nowhere.  This is by choice. I like living way out here.  But I do occasionally miss the easy access to some of the finer things I crave; artisan meats, cheeses, etc…  So what’s a gal to do?

  1. Nothing.
  2. Become independently wealthy and have Armandino Batali open up a satellite store in my barn.
  3. Learn to make it myself.

With the organization of Charcutepalooza, option 3 seemed the most sensible choice.

This month’s project is Duck Prosciutto.  The recipe calls for two duck breast halves (or one whole duck breast, boned and separated.) Our local meat market had whole, all-natural ducks for $3.89/pound ~or~ boneless, skin-on breasts for $12.89/pound.  Holy moly.  Whole duck it was.  After removing and trimming the duck breasts and beginning the process of curing them, I had most of a duck left to turn into food.

The leg and thigh quarters were a no brainer; salt, herbs, garlic and spices and into the fridge to become duck confit (post forthcoming).  This left a biggish carcass, a duck neck, a bunch of fat and skin, and some offal.  The offal became the teensiest and cutest little old pâté you ever did see.  The carcass and neck jumped into a roasting pan to brown up then become stock.  And the duck skin and fat… Well, that’s where the magic happened.

Slowly rendering the fat away from the skin and little bits of meat clinging to it left us the ultimate culinary two-fer; golden duck fat and crispy duck cracklins.

Duck fat gives you French fries that are good enough to make you religious. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, “Duck fat is proof that God loves man and wants him to be happy.” Cracklins are like refined bacon. Are you hungry yet?  You ought to be.

Let’s get cracklin.

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

How to Render Duck Fat and Duck Cracklins

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound of duck fat and skin trimmings (You should be able to get this from one duck after you have removed the breast, leg and thigh meat. Alternately, you can hit up your friendly local butcher for duck fat and skin trimmings.)
  • 1/4 cup fresh water

Cut the skin and fat into pieces that are roughly 1-inch in size.  Put in the bottom of a heavy-bottomed pan with a capacity of at least 3 quarts.  A wider bottomed pan is more efficient for this application.

Pour the water over the trimmings and place the pan, partially covered, over the lowest heat possible.  As the trimmings and water warm up in the pan, fat will begin rendering (being made liquid) and water will start evaporating.  This will sound a bit like a gently sputtering boil.

The white fatty bits will slowly transform into lightly golden brown, crispy goodies.  As soon as they reach this stage, use a slotted spoon to remove the cracklins to a paper towel lined plate. The process can take anywhere from an hour to three hours, so I don’t recommend leaving the pan unattended for long. When the cracklins are on the lined plate, sprinkle with salt, to taste, and set aside. These can be eaten as a snack, baked into cornbread, sprinkled over salads or hearty soups like croutons, or used just about anywhere else you would use crisped bacon.

Turn your attention to the duck fat.  For the clearest duck fat, line a fine mesh strainer with a piece of cheesecloth.  If you’re in a hurry, a stainless-steel fine mesh strainer alone will suffice. Carefully pour the hot liquid fat through the strainer (lined if you so choose) into a jar or other clean, food-safe receptacle with a tight fitting lid.  Fit the lid in place and store your liquid gold in the refrigerator for up to a year.  It will become semi-solid and opaque in its chilled state, this is to be expected. Use duck fat to roast potatoes, make the ultimate French fries, sear or confit meats, or whatever sinful tasks you devise for it.

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Filed Under: Charcuterie, Component Foods, Food Preservation, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , ,

Finnish Oven Pancakes (Pannukakku)

December 2, 2010 by 32 Comments

There is a certain type of weather that requires you to fire up your oven;  To combine flour, butter, eggs, milk and various other good things and apply heat. There is something in the low temperatures or rain or snow that obliges you to create baked goods and then eat them.  Since I am a slave to duty…

Finnish Oven Pancakes are a perennial forgotten favorite around our house.  Perennial in that we make them semi-often.  Semi-often in that I forget how simple a solution they are for last minute hot breakfasts, lunches or dinners until the children remind me.  I make them often enough that I remember there are 4 ingredients and I think I remember the quantities, but infrequently enough that I have to consult my human encyclopaedia de cuisine: my stepmother.  The conversations run like this.

(Phone rings and stepmother picks up the line.)

Val: Hello.

Me:  Hi, Val.  It’s me.  I am calling because I’m making Finnish Oven Pancakes again.

Val:  (chuckle)

Me:  I forgot again.  And I didn’t write it down again.

Val: (with the patience of Job) Four eggs, 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of milk, sugar, salt.

Me:  Thank you and I love you.

Val:  You’re welcome and I love you, too.

We have repeated this conversation about three times a year for about 16 years.  It’s not that I make this three times a year.  It’s that I make it in streaks, forget about it until the kids beg for it, smack myself in the head for having forgotten this recipe and hoist the phone to my ear once again. Thankfully, I have a very patient stepmother.

Thankfully, I say, because this is a recipe that should be added to your regular rotation and you deserve to know Val’s recipe.  And thankfully, too, because  finally, I am writing it out.  Writing it out so that I can share it all with you, yes.  But even more, writing it out means that I can stop annoying my beloved Val.  Well, at least about this particular recipe.  I’ll still call her for my knitting patterns, the-name-of-that-one-website-we-were-talking-about, the recipe for her oatmeal bread, that book title, which Mr. Bean episode had the hymn that they played while the Titanic was sinking, and the name of Hyacinth Bucket’s son.  Like I said, Val is a very patient woman.

But about these Finnish Oven Pancakes.  These fixtures of Finnish cuisine are prominent in many communities in the U.S. where there is a high population of Finn immigrants. The Upper Peninsula (Go, Yoop, eh?) has a huge Finnish community. They have graced us with all manner of cured fish and baked goods, but these?  These are one of their best. Finnish Oven Pancakes the love child of pancakes and custard.  They puff up like a Yorkshire pudding. They have structure -not wet, by any means- and texture, but they’re still soft.  Ranging from not-at-all-sweet to good-and-sweet and everywhere in between, Finnish Oven Pancakes can accompany everything from a simple sprinkle of sugar and squeeze of lemon to jam to sweetened whipped cream and Nutella to sausage gravy to stewed venison to seared mushrooms. Not all together, of course, but all this is to say it’s a very flexible meal base.

My boys prefer it with a little shake of confectioner’s sugar or brown sugar and a lemon wedge squeezed o’er top.  My husband likes it covered with sausage gravy like -as he is wont to say- “SOS, but much, much classier.”

It takes four ingredients; all of which will probably be in your pantry and/or refrigerator barring natural disasters or winter storms*.  Eggs, flour, milk, and salt.  Sugar is one-hundred percent optional.

*You will note that I don’t classify a winter storm as a natural disaster.  That is because I’m from Michigan.  We’re tough.  No whining about snow here, people.  Bring. it. on.

Finnish Oven Pancakes (Pannkakku)

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 4 Tablespoons (1/2 of one stick) butter, cut into three or four pieces
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk, preferably whole milk
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • up to 4 Tablespoons sugar, optional
  • splash of vanilla extract, optional

Preheat oven to 400°F.  When the oven temperature reaches about 300°F, place an 8- or 9-inch cake pan or 10-inch pie plate in the oven with the butter in it.  The butter should melt, but not brown, while the oven finishes heating.

Place the eggs, f lour, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla (if using) in the carafe of a blender.  Fix the cover in place and blend on high, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary, until the mixture is smooth and even.  When the oven is fully heated, and the butter is fully melted, pull the oven rack out far enough to work safely and pour the batter into the hot pan.  Push the rack carefully back into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the oven pancake has puffed quite high and is a deep golden brown.  You can test the doneness by quickly inserting a butter knife in the center of the oven pancake.  If the knife comes out clean, the pancake is done.

Remove the pan from the oven, cut immediately (it will deflate some, so don’t worry!) and serve topped as desired.

Here are some topping ideas:

If you add the sugar to the batter…

  • Powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice
  • A handful or two of fresh or frozen berries
  • A sprinkle of brown sugar and drizzle of maple syrup
  • A dollop of fruit jam
  • Apples sautéed in butter and caramel sauce (oh help.)
  • A dollop or five of sweetened whipped cream

If you omit the sugar…

  • Sausage gravy and chopped green onions
  • Beef or venison stew
  • Gravy

Did you get a chance to read about my Wii Just Dance Kids giveaway?  The sky has not fallen, I’m actually giving away a brand-spankin’ new copy of this great game.  You have until this Sunday morning (the 5th of December) to enter. See here for details.

5.0 from 3 reviews

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Finnish Oven Pancakes (Pannukakku)
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast, Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 4
 

This high-rising traditional Finnish dish is a crispy exteriored cross between a pancake and a custard. Perfect for topping with both sweet and savoury goodies
Ingredients
  • 4 Tablespoons (1/2 of one stick) butter, cut into three or four pieces
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk, preferably whole milk
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • up to 4 Tablespoons sugar, optional
  • splash of vanilla extract, optional

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. When the oven temperature reaches about 300°F, place an 8- or 9-inch cake pan or 10-inch pie plate in the oven with the butter in it. The butter should melt, but not brown, while the oven finishes heating.
  2. Place the eggs, f lour, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla (if using) in the carafe of a blender. Fix the cover in place and blend on high, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary, until the mixture is smooth and even. When the oven is fully heated, and the butter is fully melted, pull the oven rack out far enough to work safely and pour the batter into the hot pan. Push the rack carefully back into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the oven pancake has puffed quite high and is a deep golden brown. You can test the doneness by quickly inserting a butter knife in the center of the oven pancake. If the knife comes out clean, the pancake is done.
  3. Remove the pan from the oven, cut immediately (it will deflate some, so don’t worry!) and serve topped as desired.

Notes
Here are some topping ideas: If you add the sugar to the batter… * Powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice * A handful of fresh or frozen berries * A sprinkle of brown sugar and drizzle of maple syrup * A dollop of fruit jam * Apples sautéed in butter and caramel sauce (oh help.) * A dollop or five of sweetened whipped cream If you omit the sugar… * Sausage gravy and chopped green onions * Beef or venison stew * Gravy

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Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Breakfast Foods, Component Foods, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, kid food, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Home “Sun”dried Tomatoes with Basil and Garlic

September 14, 2010 by 18 Comments

I signed up for Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog contest this weekend.  It’s a huge competition with multiple challenges, great publicity and a big old cash prize at stake. After each challenge, hundreds of participants will be cut.  I have to clue you in on something. I am a secretly competitive person.  And a perfectionist.  What this boils down to is that I usually don’t compete unless I know I can win.  Clever and super mature tactic, right?  That is what makes this such a huge departure for me.  There is a massive amount of food blogging talent involved in the competition and I have no idea where I stand in this crowd.  This is scarier than playing Boggle with my Grandma. But for once, it doesn’t matter.  Don’t get me wrong.  The competitiveness?  It’s there.  It’s on like Donkey Kong.  I care big time.  More importantly though, I’m on a mission to become a better blogger for all of my readers because you folks make blogging so much fun.  That’s why I’m diving in head first.

This post is my first entry in the competition.  The Challenge, “Ready, Set, Blog!” is for me to distill the essence of who I am as a food blogger in one post. I have discovered I have a marked tendency to get sappy when I have to talk about what motivates me. But it’s food AND family!  How could I not?

On September 20th, Foodbuzz will open the competition up to popular votes from the public-at-large. I’ll let you all know when the vote opens up just in case you want to throw your support behind little ol’ me.  Whew. Thanks for coming along on the ride.



“Love is the only cure for irritability, for irritability is only another manifestation of self-centeredness.  And love that takes a man outside himself and centers the focus of his attention on the well-being of others is its only cure.”

-Granville Walker

A major proverbial switch flipped in my brain the first time I read that.  The mega-life changing kind of switch that makes you look at just about everything differently. We’re talking epiphany, people.

I realized food and family are both utterly dependent on love to thrive. And I’m not talking about all hearts and flowers and goo-goo eyes all the time. I mean the real love; the love described by Granville Walker. The love with arms that hugs the scared four-year-old climbing into bed in the wee hours of the morning.  The love with legs that keeps you walking alongside and balancing a child’s bicycle even though your back (and arms and neck) are all aching.  The love with spine that reminds you that when you’re saying “absolutely not” to them banging that yellow jacket nest with wooden swords that you really do want the best for them. The love with hands that crafts the food that goes beyond mere sustenance to keep them all going….

I told you it was an epiphany.

Since you’re here, I’ll assume that you don’t view food as a simple necessity.  You -like me- think of food preparation far beyond the basic calories in vs. calories out.  If it was as basic as that, with no emotion or art attached, we’d all be walking around like Charlton Heston in ‘Soylent Green’ before his epiphany. Food is a creative outlet, sensuous pleasure, science experiment, math formula, historic treatise and cultural study all rolled into one.  And like it or not, the food we make speaks volumes about who we are and how we view life and love.

In food, much as in life, the best things come with a good head-start and a healthy dose of patience and selflessness. Sundried tomatoes have long been a staple on most food-lovers’ shelves.  They command a premium price at even the lowest quality and are sometimes pumped and plumped with odd additives and preservatives that are both unnecessary and undesirable.  We can easily make them at home using the simplest and healthiest ingredients possible without sacrificing any of the flavor and convenience of the store-bought counterpart. And it doesn’t hurt anything at all that you can make a far superior product for a much lower price tag.

The key, as with all food preservation, is to start with the best produce you can buy or grow.  There’s not much to be done to the tomatoes before drying, but -oh!- the possibilities when they’re done.  The favorite mode of consumption around these parts is to shake a handful from the jar, insert directly into the mouth and chew.  If that’s a little too country-cousin for you, we have more options; serve a bowl full -as is- along with thin slices of good cheese as finger food at a party, soak in warm water for 30 minutes before draining (save that liquid for adding to soups or stews!) and tucking into pizzas or sandwiches or pasta, or stir into polenta or risotto for bursts of intense tomato flavor.  In short, use these anywhere you would use a store-bought sundried tomato.

Living where I do, using the sun to dry tomatoes is a sketchy proposition at best.  We just don’t have enough hot daylight hours to accomplish the task before mold sets in to ruin our efforts.  That’s where  creativity comes in to save the day.  While a dehydrator is certainly more convenient, don’t let the lack of one stop you.  Your household oven can do the job admirably.

This is so worth your time, effort and love.  Oh, it is so worth it.

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Home “Sun”dried Tomatoes with Basil and Garlic

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups cherry tomatoes of any variety.  Using a blend of types will give you beautiful variations in color and shape.
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, preferably Genovese, washed and very thinly sliced (otherwise known as chiffonaded basil.)
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt or sea salt

Wash your cherry tomatoes, examining them for bad fruit or soft spots.  Trim away any soft spots and remove any stems.  Halve all of your cherry tomatoes.  If you have any particularly large cherry tomatoes, quarter them so they will be the same size as the others.  The more uniform your pieces, the more evenly they will dry.  Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, on a cutting board and sprinkle with the Kosher salt, chiffonaded basil and minced garlic.  Press the garlic and basil gently into the tomato halves.

…And here you need to make a decision.  If you have a dehydrator, use the first set of instructions.  If you do not, use the second set of instructions to dry your tomatoes.

Dehydrator Instructions

Transfer the tomatoes, cut side down, onto your dehydrator trays.  Do not overcrowd or they may not dry well.  Some garlic and basil will fall from the tomatoes; this is expected.  When all of your tomatoes have been arranged, scrape the basil and garlic that remains on the cutting board evenly over the dehydrator trays.  Dehydrate for 6-12 hours (at 135°F if your dehydrator has an adjustable thermostat) or until they are very shriveled.  They should be rather leathery and remain slightly pliable when warm but they should not be at all moist when you use a fingernail to dig into the centers.  When they reach this stage, allow to cool before transferring to an airtight container for storage.  stored in a cool, dry place in an airtight container, these should be good for up to one year.  Stored wrapped in foil and then in a resealable plastic bag, they will remain delicious for up to 18 months.

Oven Dehydrating Instructions

Preheat your oven to 130-140°F.  On some ovens, this will be the “keep warm” setting.  If your oven does not go this low, you will need to use your very lowest setting, prop the oven door open by about 4 inches,  set a small fan near the opening to keep air circulating, and reduce the cooking time (watching them carefully for scorching) for the most even results.

Line a baking sheet (or two, depending on the size) with foil.  Arrange the prepared tomatoes cut side down on the foil-lined sheets. Scrape the basil and garlic that remains on the cutting board evenly over the tomatoes.  Dehydrate for 6-12 hours or until they are very shriveled.  They should be rather leathery and remain slightly pliable when warm but they should not be at all moist when you use a fingernail to dig into the centers.  When they reach this stage, allow to cool before transferring to an airtight container for storage.  stored in a cool, dry place in an airtight container, these should be good for up to one year.  Stored wrapped in foil and then in a resealable plastic bag, they will remain delicious for up to 18 months.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Sandwiches

September 10, 2010 by 7 Comments

Wake. Breakfast. School. Work.  Snack. School. Work. Lunch. School. Work. Snack. Work. Chores. Play. Dinner. Play. Bed. Repeat 4 times.  Weekend.

Routines can be good things, but getting them to become routine is the tricky bit. And fitting everything extra (cooking, planning, friends, activities) into this fresh Fall routine?  Hoo boy. It makes me feel a little panicky.

Feeling panicky fires up my organizational thinking.  Give me boxes.  Give me label guns.  Give me a freezer full of quick meals.  Watch me go people!

Stocking your freezer with items that can form the base of a fast homemade meal is a sanity saver.  And please.  Pretty please, don’t suggest once-a-month cooking to me.  I’ve tried it.  I failed. Miserably.  I am a fickle girl and while I approach it with enthusiasm, I fall down on it for the same reason that I can’t shop for a month at a time.  My solution is to make rubber chicken meal starters; big batches of food that form the base of many quick meals.

I’ve got a kids-of-all-ages pleasing, time-saving, budget-friendly, brain-soothing rubber chicken meal that all starts with a lip-smacking Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Meal Starter. Once you have this meal starter under your belt you can stir it into macaroni and cheese, top a pita-bread or pizza dough with it and pile on some grated cheese before baking it then tossing on chopped tomatoes and onions for a quick cheeseburger pizza, scoop it up with tortilla chips for some barbecue bacon cheeseburger nachos for game day*.) But today?  Today is all about the Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Sandwiches.

Oh yes, my dears.  I am about to make you very popular.  Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Sandwiches do everything but your windows.  They make a fantastic brown-bag lunch (if you have access to a way to heat it at lunch time), great dinner-on-the-go, incomparable hand-held tailgating (or sports watching) snack food, and they’re freezer friendly to boot.  By removing the sandwiches from the oven a few minutes early and wrapping with foil before freezing, you have the foundation for a meal that is done in thirty minutes or less on hand.  I tell you that if you serve these with a big pile of Candied Jalapenos you will be a certifiable super star.  Gimme a high-five!*

*I have a decidedly geeky habit of high-fiving.  My kids and high-school senior sister have tried to cool-ify my high-fives by adding a fist-bump and some slide-y action afterward and telling me not to yell, ‘HIGH FIVE!’ with it but I fear they’ve only succeeded in pointing out that no matter what I do, I will never, ever be cool again. My food, however, is crazy cool. Because all my cool is poured into my food there is none left for me.  It’s a price I’m willing to pay.

So let’s recap.  Cook this big batch of meal starter (you already won because it has BACON in it!).  Divide it up into smaller portions and freeze or refrigerate those portions.  Use one portion to make Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Sandwiches (a meal-starter in and of themselves because they freeze like a dream.  A dream I tell you!).  Are you excited yet?  I am.  Let’s get cooking…

HIGH FIVE!

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe click here!

(The printer-friendly version of the recipe contains instructions on preparing the bread dough by hand or by stand-mixer.)

To Make Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Sandwiches

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Meal Starter (see recipe below)
  • 1 batch of Buttermilk Sandwich Bread dough or 2 pounds thawed frozen or other bread dough of your choice. (See recipe for bread dough below.)
  • 1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water (for egg wash.)

Optional:

  • Sesame seeds, poppy seeds or minced onion for topping

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.  Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the bread dough into 12 even pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball.  Working with one piece of dough at a time, flatten bread dough into a circle that is about 1/4″ thick.  Place about 1/4 cup of the meat filling into the center of the dough circle.  Gather up the edges of the dough around the filling and cinch to seal.  Place seam side down on the parchment lined pan.  Repeat until all the dough is used.

Gently cover the dough with a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap or a damp tea towel.  Let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes or until slightly puffy.  Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with any desired toppings.

Slide the pan into the preheated oven on the center rack.  Bake for 18-24 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees halfway through the cooking time, or until the rolls are deep brown and shiny and the bread is cooked all the way through. Remove the pan from the oven and let the rolls rest on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Let the rolls rest at least 15 minutes before eating.

If you wish to freeze the rolls remove them from the oven about 5 minutes early and let cool completely on the pan before putting the pan directly into the freezer.  When the rolls are frozen through (about 6 hours), wrap each one in foil and transfer to a resealable freezer bag.  Kept like this in the freezer they will be good for about 3 months.  To reheat, place foil wrapped rolls on a pan and heat in a preheated 400°F oven for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, open the foil so the rolls are exposed and continue heating until hot all the way through.

Big Batch Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Meal Starter

Yield: 5 meals worth of starter

Ingredients:

  • 5 pounds 90% lean ground beef
  • 1 pound sliced smoked bacon, cut into 1/2″ strips
  • 2 cups ketchup
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
  • 3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 4 cups shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional:

  • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

In a very large skillet (or a stove-top safe roasting pan over two burners) cook the bacon strips over medium heat, stirring frequently, until deeply colored and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crisp bacon to a paper towel lined plate.  Cover the plate with foil and set aside.  Drain most of the fat from the pan, leaving about 1 Tablespoon, and return the pan to medium heat.

(If using the optional onions, add them to the pan now.)

Break up the ground beef into the pan.  Cook the beef, stirring and breaking up large clumps of the beef, until the beef is browned and no longer pink in the center.  If necessary (if there is a lot of liquid or fat remaining after browning the beef), drain the beef in a colander, wipe the additional fat from the pan, and return the drained beef to the pan.

Lower the heat on the pan to medium low and add the ketchup, sugar, cider vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and red pepper flakes to the beef mixture.  Stir to evenly coat and cook until the sauce coats all the beef and is hot.  Add the reserved bacon and shredded cheese and stir until the cheese is completely melted and the bacon is evenly distributed.  Taste and add black pepper to your liking.

Divide the beef mixture into heat-safe containers with tight fitting lids.  I usually divide the starter into 3 cup portions. Cool quickly (by resting in a bowl with ice water halfway up the sides of the containers.)  The beef mixture will be good in the refrigerator for four days or in the freezer for up to four months.

Buttermilk Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1-1/2 cups Cultured Buttermilk (You’re making your own, right?)
  • 2 Tablespoons softened butter
  • 4 cups bread flour (1 pound and 1 ounce by weight.)
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten (If you can’t find this it can be omitted, but it helps the structure and texture of the finished bread.)
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2-1/2 teaspoons instant yeast or SAF yeast

Optional:

  • 1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon tepid water to glaze the bread

Bread Machine Instructions:

Load all ingredients into the pan according to your bread machine manufacturer’s instructions.  Program for a simple white cycle and press START.

Immediately remove bread from the pan to a cooling rack when the cycle is finished.  Cool completely before slicing.

(For instructions on preparing bread dough by hand or with a stand-mixer see the printer friendly version!)

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast Foods, Component Foods, Instructional, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce

August 24, 2010 by 14 Comments

…Does writing two posts in a row with a sweet and spicy theme say something about me?

In actuality, I do believe I can blame this one on you all, you sweet and spicy wildcats.  I did, after all, put it up for a vote on the Foodie With Family Facebook fan phage. (Yes, I know it should be page, but I got carried away with alliterative abandon.) The voting results were narrowly skewed in favor of this addictive Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce.  Never fear, my salsa fanatics! We’ll be back on the salsa train tomorrow.  In the meantime, if you’re looking for my first salsa recipe in my week long salsa recipe series, you’ll want to click on over to my Record-Eagle column. While you’re at it, have a gander at my Peaches and Cream Time Saver Muffin recipe.  You’ll be so glad you did!

I have a confession to make.  My husband and I have allowed all of our children to learn and adopt our own long-standing addiction.  We didn’t just let it happen, we encouraged it.  In fact, we bought the strong stuff for them.  I mean heavy-duty.  The dangerous stuff that reduces strong men to weeping babies.  The truth is that growing up in our family it was all but inevitable.

All five of our sons are hot sauce addicts.

I do mean they are fully addicted to hot sauce.  For Christmas last year, my ten-year-old and eight-year-old chucked aside their main gifts in order to crack open the miniature bottles of Frank’s Extra-Hot Sauce that we had tucked into their stockings.  Did they shake it on their eggs?  Drizzle it over their breakfast sausage?  Eat it straight on chips?  No.  Any of those would’ve been reasonable, but no.  My children shook the bottles straight into their mouths.  On purpose.  And then repeated it until each of them had consumed about two tablespoons of it straight from the bottle.  Then -and then, only- they ate a couple pieces of candy.  And then went back to the hot sauce.

My baby.  My little, sweet, cuddly four-year-old baby likes copious amounts of Sriracha on his turkey sandwiches, in his congee and on his tacos.  My twelve- and six-year olds profess not to like hot sauce as much as their brothers, but that’s only because they’re choosy.  They don’t like Frank’s, Tabasco or Sriracha, but they both like -nay, adore!- Melinda’s Original Habanero XXXXtra Reserve Sauce.  Dare I confess that we buy it by the gallon?

Considering that I do often share ‘spicy’ recipes here on Foodie With Family, and that I often get questions regarding just how hot a recipe I just offered actually is, I thought it was about time for me to create a heat-rating system; one that gives you a good idea of just how hot something actually is.  A system that was more specific and universally understandable than my usual, “Well, my four-year-old eats it…” because the truth is, my four-year-old stuffs his face full of wasabi peas, cries, knocks his head against my thigh waiting for the wasabi burn to die down then begs me for more.  And so, I present to you…

The Foodie With Family “Spicy Foods” Equivalency Rating System

  1. Eh, at least it has flavor.
  2. Not bad.  This would be good for small children and it’s pretty tasty stuff.
  3. I like it. It’s a good all-purpose kind of heat without being at all overwhelming.
  4. Tingly, definitely packs a little punch.
  5. Hot, but full of great flavor.
  6. Oooh, the roof of my mouth is sweating.  More please.
  7. My tongue is on fire and I like it.
  8. I’m sorry.  Did you ask me something?  I can’t hear you over the freight train running through my ears and I’m pretty sure my face has melted off of my head.
  9. Where did everyone go?  I think I’ve gone blind.

If I were to put this in terms of widely available and well-known foods, it might look a little like this…

  1. A little freshly ground black pepper.
  2. Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
  3. Tabasco Sauce
  4. A generous shake of crushed red pepper flakes on a piece of pizza.
  5. Melinda’s Original Habanero XXXXtra Reserve Sauce
  6. Sriracha
  7. A bite of a fresh, ripe habanero pepper.  If you eat enough you will most definitely experience the ‘hot sauce hangover’.*
  8. …Crazy off-brand hot sauces that hardly anyone recognizes because they hurt and they’re expensive.  Most people don’t pay for that honest to goodness pain.
  9. Dave’s Insanity Sauce.  There’s a reason some states require you to sign a health-waiver when you purchase this stuff. And for the record, this stuff is off-the-charts for us.  With two notable (and historical) exceptions, we do not eat this.**

*The Hot Sauce Hangover is a phrase coined by The Evil Genius to describe the phenomenon whereby the hot sauce makes its presence known  on you causing your posterior to hang over the toilet for roughly the same amount of time it took you to eat it in the first place.

**These exceptions are stories for another day and another cuppa tea.  I’ll just say the first occasion was a pride-fueled attempt to impress someone by putting  Dave’s Insanity Sauce on my burger like ketchup. The second event was my husband trying to eat it because he didn’t believe I could’ve possibly experienced that much pain from hot sauce when I recounted the story to him. I won that time.

Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s talk Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce.  I’m going to say that it falls somewhere between a four and a five in terms of heat and it gets full-marks on flavor.  If your heat-preferences run lower than ours, you can certainly reduce the crushed red pepper flakes called for in the recipe.  In terms of commercial comparisons, it is similar in flavor to Mae Ploy sauce but as with most homemade sauces, it’s just so much better.  There isn’t much that tastes better with lumpia, summer rolls or fried spring rolls, egg rolls or chicken balls.  Use to glaze or brush on grilled meats or whisk a little together with grated fresh ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil for the best dressing ever to adorn an Asian chicken salad. Just look at how gorgeous it is.  Don’t you want to drink a tall glass of it?

No?  I’m alone on this?  No one else wants a glass?  Alright, but seriously, make this.  It is one of the easiest canning projects you can try because it doesn’t require any exotic ingredients or specialty equipment aside from the canning jars themselves.  And believe me, it is worth the effort. For the sauce to reach its full flavor potential, it has to sit on the shelves at room temperature for at least three weeks.  This isn’t a moment where you can mix up the sauce and shove it in the back of the refrigerator.  It just won’t develop the same roundness and body. Veteran canners can skim through and get the information they need, but I’m going to talk this through step-by-step for the newbie canners out there.  You can do this! Yes, you CAN.  Oh man, I crack me up.

In order to complete the project, you need to be able to lay your hands on the following items:

  • Between nine and twelve half-pint (8 ounce) canning jars with new two-piece lids.  If you’re unfamiliar with two-piece lids, just buy a box of new canning jars from your local hardware store or Walmart.  They come -quite conveniently- with new two-piece lids!
  • A large stockpot or pasta pot with a tight fitting lid.
  • A rack that fits on the bottom of the pan to prevent jars from sitting directly on the pan’s surface. If you don’t have that, rings from ‘regular mouth’ canning jars can be placed facing downward sides touching to create a space between the bottom of the jars and the pan.
  • A waterproof oven mitt or canning tongs.
  • A ladle.
  • Paper towels or clean tea towels.
  • A timer or a clock.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce

Adapted from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Yield: About 9 half- pints as written

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup finely minced fresh garlic (Peel and mince your own garlic, please. Pre-minced garlic in jars just isn’t good enough for this recipe.)
  • 1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
  • 6 cups cider vinegar
  • 6 cups granulated white sugar
  • 3/4 cup (less if your heat tolerance is lower) crushed red pepper flakes

Prepare the jars and rings by washing on the hot cycle of your dishwasher.  Wash the lids in hot soapy water and rinse well.  Place in a bowl covered by two or three inches of very hot tap water.  Set aside.

Prepare your canner (or stockpot) by putting a rack in the bottom to hold the jars away from the base of the pan.  If you do not have a rack, use a fully opened vegetable steamer basket or extra rings from ‘regular-mouth’ or ‘narrow-mouth’ canning jars placed facing down with the sides touching.  Set aside.

Sprinkle salt over the minced garlic in a metal or glass bowl (don’t use plastic here unless you want a perma-garlic bowl!)  Stir together, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it mellow at room temperature for an hour.  The salt will help pull some of the moisture from the garlic, so don’t skip this step!

In a saucepan, bring the vinegar to a rolling boil.  Add the sugar all at once and stir well until the sugar is dissolved.  Return to a full boil.  Lower heat just slightly so that it boils steadily but not really hard.  Boil steadily, uncovered,  for 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from the hot burner, stir in the garlic mixture and the crushed red pepper flakes.  Take care not to hold your face directly over the pan when adding in the pepper flakes as that can trigger some serious coughing and eye-watering, depending on the strength of the pepper flakes.

Ladle the hot sauce into the hot jars.  You want to leave 1/2″ of space between the top lip of the jar and the top level of the dipping sauce.  Use a ruler outside the jar to check whether you have the right amount of open space.  If you need to, use a spoon to remove some sauce or add sauce to maintain that 1/2″ of headspace.  Use a paper towel (or clean tea towel) dipped in pure cider vinegar to wipe the rims of the jars even if it doesn’t look like anything is on it.

Use your clean hands to grab a lid from the hot tap water.  Position it, rubber seal side down, directly over the center of the jar.  Place the metal ring over the jar and gently screw it into place until you meet resistance. When you meet resistance, tighten the jar until it is finger-tip tight.  (In other words, tighten until it is the tightness that you can achieve with your finger-tips, not with vice-grips.) The jars are going to be hot because you poured nearly boiling liquid into them.  I find it helpful to wear an oven mitt on the hand that is holding the jar steady.

When all of your jars are ready, set the prepared canner on your burner.  Position the jars (using an oven mitt to keep from burning your fingers or palms) over the rack (or steamer basket or upside-down canning lids) so that the jars are steady and in an upright position.  Cover the jars completely by at least one inch with hot tap water. Place a lid on your canner (or stockpot) and turn the heat on your burner to high.  When the water reaches a full, rolling boil (one that could not be stirred down), set your timer for 15 minutes.  When the 15 minutes have elapsed, remove the lid to your canner and shut off the heat.  Leave the jars in the hot water for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, transfer the jars (using a waterproof oven mitt or canning tongs) to a towel lined counter or a cooling rack with a towel under it. You should start to hear the “POP” of the lids as they form vacuums and seal.  This is a very good thing!  Leave your jars to rest, undisturbed, overnight.  In the morning, test the jars by pressing gently on the center of each lid.  If it does not give under gentle pressure or pop back up, your seal is good.  Remove the rings for storage*, wipe gently with a damp cloth or paper towel, label and store in a cool, dark place for 3 weeks prior to using.  Unopened, sealed jars of this sauce can be stored for a year.

*Storing your jars without the rings is a little bit of insurance.  When food spoils in a closed environment, the gasses produced by bacterial growth create upward pressure in the air pocket left by the headspace you so carefully measured in the jar.  If you remove the ring, any gasses produced by spoilage will push upward on the lid loosening the seal.  When you open a jar, if the seal is weak or there is no “schllllllooop” from a vacuum seal being broken, discard the contents immediately.  On the flip side, if you hear that lovely “schllllllllooop” and the lid is difficult to pry from the jar, you’ve done the job right!  You can eat your home-canned goodies, content in your foodstuffs’ safety.

Before opening a jar of Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce, be sure to give it a good shake.  There will be a natural settling of the product in storage and shaking is a simple way to distribute all that gorgeous garlic and pepper flake-age.

Filed Under: Canning, Component Foods, Condiments, Food Preservation, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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