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Grape Pie Filling and Grape Pie | Make Ahead Mondays

September 17, 2012 by 14 Comments

 

I’ve been blessed to have the chance to move around a little bit in this great country of ours and see a bit of the world. Although I’ve lived in rural Western New York longer than I have anywhere else, I was born a Michigan girl and I believe I’ll always identify myself as a Michigander. There are, however, a few moments where I’m close to claiming that New Yorker moniker.

It probably comes as no surprise that most of those moments are surrounding food; beef on weck, white hots, wings, salt potatoes and grape pie. Grape pie was -perhaps- the biggest revelation of all of those quintessential New York foods. Made of Concord grapes, it retains that highly perfumed, heady scent that fires up instant salivation. It’s the smell that every grape soda and candy in the history of soda and candy has tried and failed to capture. There’s something about those fresh Concord grapes that makes my brain absolutely swim with joy. It is pure autumn.

New York is carpeted with vineyards and u-pick grape farms. If you drive through the right area of the state with your windows down in September you will smell that distinctive aroma. The perfume drifting across the countryside combined with the Crayola-tinged leaves and the brisk air is a clear indicator that the season has turned.

Grape pie is a food I used to wait for every single year. That is until I learned to make and can my own grape pie filling. Why this hasn’t caught on commercially is beyond me. Grape pie is tart and sweet, juicy and velvety, with the soft, simmered grape skins providing body and texture. It’s a little high on the labour side, when you’re used to just tossing berries into a pot with sugar and Clear Jel, but part of the initial joy of the grape pie is the experience of sitting in a circle around two big pots on the front porch slipping the skins from the grapes two at a time. Holding a grape in each hand, we laugh as we gently squeeze the juicy insides into one pot and deposit the grape skins in the other. Maybe it takes us a half an hour? Maybe an hour? Time has a mind of its own with a mug of whatever gets you out of bed in the morning -coffee or tea- wedged between your feet and enjoying that weather and each others’ company so thoroughly.

Into the kitchen with the pots… the grape guts simmer until the seeds come free and then are poured through a colander to filter out the pesky seeds. The remaining pulp and juice go into the pot with the skins and just enough sugar, a little lemon juice or citric acid and some Clear Jeland bubble away ’til boiling and thick. Fill the jars, wipe the rims, add the lids and tenderly lower those jars into the canner. When they’ve processed, wipe them clean, label them and put them on the shelves for mid-winter attacks of grape pie cravings coupled with reminiscences of autumn splendor.

And geez. Don’t feel obliged to make pies only. Grape pie filling transforms into a lovely cake filling or ice cream topping. You wouldn’t be too far amiss spreading it on a sandwich and I certainly wouldn’t judge if you made turnovers or ‘jam’ filled cookies with it.

When it’s time for the fabled pie you ease your favourite crust into a pie plate, open a jar of the royal purple filling and empty it in. Crimp the edges, cut a few vents in whatever style dings your chimes…

The trickiest part of the whole process comes right now. It’s the waiting; waiting for the pie to bake, then waiting for the pie to cool, then waiting that seemingly interminable wait for that wedge of fragrant, sweet, caramelized-sugar dusted crust to be delivered to your hands.

In the end, it is all worth it; it delivers on all of the tantalizing promises of scent and vision. Every second of what sweet torturous anticipation was worth it when your fork drops into a flaky pie crust surrounding thickened, silky grape juice surrounding tender grape skins. Lips and teeth and tongues are stained purple like your finger tips were months earlier when you put up the pie filling. These are the moments that hook you on canning.

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Grape Pie Filling and Grape Pie | Make Ahead Mondays

Grape Pie Filling and Grape Pie | Make Ahead Mondays

This classic autumnal Western New York pie captures the pure perfumed, robust sweet and tart essence of Concord grapes.

Do yourself a favour and serve the pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. The cool, sweet, vanilla is the perfect foil to the tart, sweet grape pie. It's a match made in heaven.

Ingredients

    For the Pie Filling:
  • 22 cups Concord grapes, washed
  • 4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice (or 1 teaspoon citric acid)
  • 1 cup ClearJel starch (or another brand of the same type of starch)
    • For the Grape Pie:
  • 1 quart of grape pie filling
  • Pie pastry for a double crust
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • raw sugar or granulated sugar for sprinkling over the crust, optional

Instructions

To Prepare and Can Grape Pie Filling:

Working over two pots, take a grape in each hand and gently squeeze it over the first pot. Deposit the grape skins in the second pot. Continue until you have separated all of the grape pulps from the grape skins.

Place the pot with the grape pulps (do not add water!) over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, allowing it to boil for 5 to 6 minutes. Put the hot pulp through a food mill or pour it through a colander, pressing to get as much pulp through as possible. Pour the hot, sieved pulp over the reserved grape skins.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and ClearJel (and citric acid, if using.) Sprinkle over the grape pulp mixture and use a big whisk or sturdy spoon to mix in thoroughly. Put the pot over medium heat, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thick. It should thicken quickly, but it does still need to be bubbling before you can put it in jars.

Place a canning funnel -for neatness' sake- over the opening of a clean, sterilized quart jar and ladle in the hot pie filling leaving 1-inch of headspace. For help on learning how to sterilize your jars, click this link Moisten a paper towel and wipe the rims of the jars so they are spotless. Center a new lid on the jar and screw the ring in place until fingertip-tight.

Place the jars in a canning pot, ensure they are completely covered with water, bring to a boil and process for 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes are up, turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and let the jars rest for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack or a towel on the counter. Let cool, undisturbed, overnight before removing rings, wiping clean and labeling. Store the jars in a cool, dark place for up to two years.

To Make the Grape Pie:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Roll out half of the pie pastry and lay it gently in the pie plate so that it covers the whole plate and drapes a little outside of the top, too. Pour the jar of grape pie filling into the crust and spread it with a spatula. Roll out the second crust to just slightly larger than the circumference of the top of the pie plate. Lay it on top of the pie filling and gather the excess pastry, folding it under to form a neat edge. Crimp with a fork or whatever style you prefer, cut a few vent holes in whatever shapes you like.

Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and then sprinkle generously with the sugar, if using. This creates a deeper coloured crust and a little bit of sparkle.

Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F and continue baking for another 30-40 minutes, or until the crust is deep brown and the filling is bubbly. If you find the crust is browning too quickly, you can gently crimp foil around the outside edge to protect the edges.

Carefully transfer the pie plate to a cooling rack and let cool completely -if ever you can make yourself wait- before slicing. The filling will still slump out, but may hold together a bit better if you let it cool first.

For the ultimate Western New York experience, serve each slice of pie with a scoop of Perry's Vanilla Ice Cream on top.

Store leftovers tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/09/17/grape-pie-filling-and-grape-pie-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Desserts, Make Ahead Mondays, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Corn Stock plus Roasted Corn and Potato Chowder | Make Ahead Mondays

September 10, 2012 by 9 Comments

Soup and sweater weather…

There simply isn’t any weather I like better than those first days of fall -REAL FALL- where the skies are gunmetal grey and leaves are just starting to turn. It’s a mighty wind, and it’s brisk, and it wants to blow right through you. It makes you understand why those leaves finally give up and flutter around. We, thankfully, have sweaters and comfy socks.

And soup.

First, you may have been around here long enough to know I’m a huge fan of movies. My most favourite movies are usually absurd comedies. Squarely in that category falls the movie  ‘Best In Show’ by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy. It’s a mockumentary where a bizarre group of characters competes to win a national dog show. The entire movie is weird, wonderful and hysterical from start to finish, but there is one exchange that has always stuck with my husband and I.

Jennifer Coolidge’s gold-digging, much younger trophy wife character, Sherri Ann Cabot, is talking about how very in love she is with her MUCH older, senile, immobile, uncommunicative, wealthy husband.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9jxSOxtYHs[/youtube]

“We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.”

In short, since seeing that movie, my husband and I quote that one passage every. single. time. we have soup. Given that we also love soup, that quote gets pretty solid play in our house. And I’ll tell you this, unlike Leslie Ward Cabot, it hasn’t gotten old yet.

Let’s make like Sherri Ann and Leslie and talk about soup for a moment, shall we?

This chowder is not for the low-fat crowd. Not only does it use bacon -and a lot of it!-, not only does it have butter, not only does it have cream cheese, but it has all three in abundance. Glory hallelujah! Don’t spend your days waiting for Guffman, it’s time to bust out the comfort food.

While you can certainly make this chowder with a store-bought chicken or vegetable stock, it really sings up a storm when made with the simplest stock you can ever make; Corn Stock. If you’ve been with me long enough to know I’m a movie nut, you’ll also know that I’m firmly in the waste not/want not camp as well. Corn Stock is what I like to call a three-fer.

  1. You prepare the corn the way you  normally would (I vastly prefer roasting it because it’s easier to do large amounts than boiling.) Cut the corn from the cob and freeze it or use it immediately.
  2. Boil the cobs for stock.
  3. Give the boiled cobs to the chickens who will get whatever is left that is edible and use it as energy to make eggs.

If that isn’t a frugal gal’s dream, I don’t know what is. Most importantly, though, the corn stock gives your chowder something that no other stock can. It gives it an essence of summer sweet corn that simply is not available in any other way mid-autumn or winter. If that doesn’t send a shiver of anticipation up your spine (unlike a spinal tap), then you’ve never lived in the snow belt.

Just imagine a bowl of rich chowder resplendent with roasted corn (that which you cut from the cob and froze, you frugal cook you!), cubes of potato with a hint of red skin still on, and hints of orange carrot in a fragrant broth that smells just like fresh sweet corn and is made thicker and velvety with the addition of cream cheese. Does that warm you up yet?

Don’t just talk about it: slurp that soup like Leslie!

 

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Corn Stock plus Roasted Corn and Potato Chowder | Make Ahead Mondays

Corn Stock plus Roasted Corn and Potato Chowder | Make Ahead Mondays

Make as much of the Corn Stock as you can while corn is still in season. You'll be so glad to have the essence of summery corn available to you in the winter. Use in stews, risottos, and soups.

This luscious, hearty, rich chowder is resplendent with roasted corn (that which you cut from the cob and froze, you frugal cook you!), cubes of potato with a hint of red skin still on, and hints of orange carrot in a fragrant broth that smells just like fresh sweet corn and is made thicker and velvety with the addition of cream cheese.

Ingredients

    For the Corn Stock:
  • 2 dozen ears of corn, roasted and shucked (preferably) or shucked and boiled
  • 2 cooking onions
  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  • 1 handful fresh or frozen parsley stems
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs fresh time or 2 teaspoons of dried thyme leaves
  • 2 gallons fresh cold water
    • For the Roasted Corn and Potato Chowder:
  • 1 pound of bacon (Omit the bacon and add another 4 tablespoons of butter for a vegetarian version.)
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 medium sized cooking onions, peeled and cut into small cubes
  • 1 tablespoon minced or pressed garlic
  • 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 8 cups corn stock (or chicken stock)
  • 6 medium sized red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small cubes
  • 1 carrot, peeled and cut into small cubes
  • 4 cups frozen or fresh roasted corn, cut from the cob
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • sliced green onions and minced fresh parsley, if desired, for serving

Instructions

To Make the Corn Stock:

Stand an ear of corn up on its flat end on a cutting board. Using a gentle sawing motion with a very sharp knife, cut down the ears, removing the kernels from the cobs as you go. Transfer the corn kernels to a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet and stick in the freezer until solid. Transfer those corn kernels to zipper top freezer bags and store for use in soups or salads.

Put the cleaned cobs along with the remaining stock ingredients into a large stockpot or electric countertop roaster oven. Cover the pot and bring up to a boil. Drop the heat and let it cook at a low simmer for 1-4 hours. Use tongs to remove the boiled cobs from the stock. (I give those to my chickens after they've cooled.) Pour the remaining liquid through a fine mesh sieve over a pitcher or other deep pot. You can use the stock immediately,

~or you can pressure can it (leaving 1-inch of headspace) at 15 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes. The jars can be stored on the shelf for up to two years.

~or you can cool the stock and pour it into zipper top freezer bags in single use portions then freeze it for up to 6 months.

~or you can refrigerate it and use it within 2 weeks.

To Make the Roasted Corn and Potato Chowder:

Cut across the slices of bacon to make 1/2-inch strips. In a soup pot over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring frequently, until it is crisp. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crispy bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Set it aside -no snitching!- until the soup is almost done.

Drain all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease. You can eyeball it: you don't need to be precise. Add the butter to the bacon grease and place the pan over medium low heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic in and stir, cooking for an additional minute.

Sprinkle the flour over the onion/garlic/butter mixture and whisk it in thoroughly. Raise the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutse, stirring often. It should be bubbly. Add the corn stock, whisking to combine, then the potatoes and carrots. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes and carrots are super tender.

In a heat-proof bowl, lightly smash the softened cream cheese with a fork. Using a ladle, add a little of the hot corn stock to the cream cheese, working it in with a fork or a whisk until smooth. After you've added enough hot stock to it to create a thick but pourable liquid, add it back into the pan of soup, stirring to combine. Add the corn in and stir, cooking only until the corn is heated all the way through. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a handful of sliced green onions and chopped fresh parsley, if desired. Don't forget a big chunk of bread to sop up the irresistible broth!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/09/10/corn-stock-plus-roasted-corn-and-potato-chowder-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Component Foods, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Fire Roasted Red Peppers Preserved in Olive Oil | Make Ahead Mondays

September 3, 2012 by 11 Comments

I hope you’re having a relaxed and happy Labor Day. I’m almost giddy with excitement. I took…

Wait for it…

I took a nap.

I’m serious.

Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal to you, but I have to tell you that between one thing and another, I didn’t nap (excluding illnesses) for almost fourteen years. If you’ve been around here for a while, and you’re the astute type, you may have noticed that is quite nearly the age of my eldest son. This is not a coincidence.

I was a napper before children, and my specialty was the power nap. Fifteen or twenty minutes on a couch with a comfortable blanket was all it took to pick me up when I started wilting.

When my eldest was almost a year old, we became pregnant for our second son. That little pink line on the pregnancy test spelled doom for my naps for many years. One kid you can make to take a nap. Two kids? Well, all I can say is good luck if you’re bent on getting your little ones to nap without medication. And I was.

The point is this… My baby is now six years old and will be turning seven this fall. I’m bringing back the power nap. The now twenty to thirty minute power nap (I’m older and tired-er with five kids) is what’s getting me through canning season and the buckets and bushels and boxes of produce I’m putting up like a little old ant for the winter while my grasshopper kids get in their last day of summer vacation.

The nap gets a little assist from recipes like the one I’m sharing today that require almost no special equipment, no canning whatsoever, and so little effort that it almost makes itself. My farmers’ market compatriot and friend, Halle Reed, of Vandermark Farms in Scio, New York provided me with almost a bushel of various bell peppers that couldn’t make it to another market. Almost as valuably, she also told me how she preserved the peppers (and that she already had more than plenty up for the winter.) She said to cut the good pieces away from the core and toss ‘em on the grill. She went on to instruct me to stuff them into canning jars, heat olive oil and pour the olive oil over the peppers, then lid and refrigerate them.

Wow.

And to think all this time all I did was sautee and freeze them. Thank you, Halle!

The beauty of this recipe is multi-faceted:

  1. It takes very little hands on time to prepare this recipe and you don’ t need a canner to do it. (Yes, I have a canner, but it’s nice to let the thing rest for a few hours this time of year.)
  2. You have roasted peppers in the refrigerator to use on a whim. Say hello to roasted red pepper, smoked bleu cheese and garlic stuffed kalamata pizzas, or roasted red pepper pasta, or grilled chicken and roasted bell pepper sandwiches. Hubba hubba.
  3. Yes you have peppers, but look at the medium in which those peppers are swimming. See all that beautiful olive oil? That is a pantry staple in itself. Brush the flavoured oil on pizza crusts, on bread for some pretty spectacular garlic bread, use it to sautee vegetables or drizzle a little over a salad. The possibilities are almost limitless.

I’m not going to give you exact quantities of peppers and olive oil, because honestly? It all depends. I started with almost a bushel of multi-colour peppers. Some of them had parts that needed to be trimmed away, and my final yield was exactly one half-gallon, jar, one quart jar and one pint jar. It took about four cups of olive oil to submerge the roasted peppers. This will vary, though, so be prepared to have more or less.

There are loads of peppers still out there at markets, folks. Go on! Lay your hands on a big old box of them and get a jar of this in your refrigerator. You’ll be so glad you did!

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Roasted Red Peppers Preserved in Olive Oil | Make Ahead Mondays

Roasted Red Peppers Preserved in Olive Oil | Make Ahead Mondays

Use the bounty of bell peppers available at local farmers' markets -or from your own garden- to prepare a jar or two of delectable fire roasted peppers to add to everything from pizza to pasta to salad to pimiento cheese to sandwiches through the cold months. It's like a jar full of summer.

Store in the refrigerator for up to three months or in the freezer for up to a year.

Ingredients

  • Red or multi-colour bell peppers
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
  • pure olive oil (not extra virgin)

Instructions

Preheat your grill to medium high.

Stand a bell pepper on its bottom on your cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut slabs of pepper away from the seedy stem and core. Discard the cores and set the pepper pieces in a bowl. Repeat until you've prepared all of your peppers this way.

Lay the pepper pieces, skin side down, on the heated grill. Grill until the skin is blistered and black, flip the pieces and cook for just 1 minute. Transfer the cooked pieces to a 9-inch x 13-inch rimmed baking dish. Cover gently with plastic wrap or foil and let them cool until they are easy to handle, about 20 minutes.

Put a wide-mouthed canning funnel into a large jar, drop the slices of garlic into the jar and set it near your work station on the counter. Slough the blistered, blackened skin off of each pepper slice, then slide the slice into the jar via the funnel. Repeat until you've done all of the pepper slices. Don't cram the peppers in, they will compact themselves sufficiently and you want to leave room for the oil to circulate.

Heat some olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until it registers 200°F on an instant read thermometer. Ladle the olive oil into the canning funnel until the peppers are completely submerged. Use a long chopstick or skewer to slide down the sides of the jar to release air bubbles. Add more oil to keep the peppers covered if necessary. Add a new two-piece lid to the jar and let cool for about an hour before sticking into the refrigerator.

These peppers will keep for 3 months as long as they are properly refrigerated. For longer storage, transfer the peppers and their oil to a zipper top bag and freeze for up to a year.

Note: Close to a bushel of red peppers yielded about 3 quarts of fire roasted peppers.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/09/03/roasted-red-peppers-preserved-in-olive-oil-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Canning, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Condiments, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Make Ahead Mondays, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher Clone (Starbucks Knockoff) and a Giveaway! | Make Ahead Mondays

August 27, 2012 by 127 Comments

 

Giveaway details below the recipe!

I got my dog fixed on my birthday.

It’s a glamorous life. Try not to be too jealous.

Because Frijole is a rescue dog (although some folks would argue that his inclusion in the dog category is in doubt considering he’s half daschund half chihuahua), we were invited to bring him to a free spay and neuter clinic about two hours from home. “Free” is one of my favourite words, so I grabbed the leash, the understandably unexcited dog, a cup of tea and set out at six in the morning on a Sunday to drop my pup off for ye olde snip-snip.

After depositing the dog (and a surprise attack of tears when leaving my sweet wittle puppykins in the arms of those strangers) I drove into town a little further and found the Holy Grail, Nirvana, Kismet, Shangrila…

I found Barnes and Noble in Elmira, New York.

Since it was my birthday, I gave myself permission to go a little wacky in the bookstore. Aside from living in a library, this is my idea of the ultimate in fun. I felt like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. I walked in, twirled around with my arms in the air, and sang (in my head.)

I walked up aisles. I walked down them. I tucked into ill-lit corners with piles of books by authors of whom I’d never heard. I sniffed new books.* I scoured the clearance and mark-down books. When I tell you I spent hours, I mean it.

When all was said and done, I carried my teetering stack of books to the register. While the clerk was scanning, scanning, scanning, I glanced at the time and realized I still had a couple of hours to go before I could pick up my now frijole-less Frijole. A glance to my right showed the semi-ubiquitous Barnes and Noble Starbucks, so I paid and scooted over there to spend a little air-conditioned time admiring my new acquisitions.

*Please tell me someone else loves the smell of books…

There are a couple of impulse buy food words that get me every time; citrus, lemon, lime, orange, berry and hibiscus. Lo and behold, Starbucks had a little something called a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher. I was all over that like my kids on chips. I ordered one at the counter and they asked, “Can we make that a venti?” I am not a Starbucks veteran, so I had NO IDEA what that meant, but I wanted to be agreeable, so I said yes. Heck. It was my birthday.

I watched while she mixed up my refresher, took it back to the table, took a sip and did what any self-respecting blogger does when she likes something. I posted a picture on instagram. Then? Then I did what any self-respecting member of my family would do. I vowed to learn to make it myself because at that point, I had learned what venti meant. It meant EXPENSIVE.

With the justification, “It’s for research!” singing in my head, I ordered a second venti Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher while tucking an information card in my pocket and asking the poor gal what went into the drink. She said “Green Coffee Extract, this hibiscus mix stuff, dried berries, water and ice”. All that was left was for me to slurp my drink, call my sister to tell her how she needed to try one, pick up my drugged and tender puppy and drive home for my annual birthday fried chicken extravaganza.

Being cheap (and living a couple hours from the nearest Starbucks) is a marvelous recipe development motivator. I ordered green coffee beans from Amazon.com, busted out my stash of dried hibiscus flowers and freeze dried berries and set myself to experimentation.

I opted to make my green coffee extract using cold extraction. This sounds far more difficult than it actually is. In short, grind unroasted coffee beans, cover with water, let it set in the refrigerator overnight then strain it. Ta da! Yes. It truly is that simple. I make a quart at a time, so I can have this whenever cravings strike.

While researching green coffee beans, I found out that green coffee is currently the golden child of the diet scene. Evidently, taking green coffee extract (in any form) jacks up your metabolism so that -all other things remaining the same- you metabolize your food more completely and therefore lose weight. Who knew?

Because cold brewing/extraction is a gentler process, I used my beloved new Krups coffee grinder/spice mill from BigKitchen to break the beans up just a bit. I didn’t need to obliterate them like you would for a regular cuppa joe, just break them open a little. Can we talk about why I love this grinder for just a moment? My husband is the coffee drinker in the house. I’m a tea drinker. For years, our coffee grinder has been ‘his’. I borrowed it once -just once!- to grind some spices and we both ended up unhappy with the results. My cumin tasted like coffee and his coffee tasted like cumin. The rest of my spice and herb grinding took place in the pestle and mortar. Sigh. This new grinder is mine, MINE I TELL YA, and it will never have a roasted coffee bean in it as long as it lives. The green coffee beans don’t count because they don’t have that strong flavour, aroma, etc… that you find in roasted beans. Additionally, green coffee contains about one-fifth of the caffeine of its roasted counterpart. This probably accounts for why I can drink it without having to be scraped from the ceiling.

So why do all this? Hibiscus and berries are bright and fresh and naturally vibrant pink and full of vitamins and minerals. Green coffee is a metabolism booster and makes you feel energetic without feeling strung out. Put them together with ice and water and you have a truly refreshing drink.

If you have a Starbucks lover in your life, a jar each of the hibiscus syrup and green coffee extract in a basket with a couple bags of the freeze-dried berries would make a wonderful gift!

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Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher Clone (Starbucks Knockoff) | Make Ahead Monday

Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher Clone (Starbucks Knockoff) | Make Ahead Monday

Zingy hibiscus and sweet freeze dried berries get shake-shake-shaken into homemade green coffee extract (yes you CAN do that at home!) and ice creating a fabulous knock-off of the Starbucks Very Berry Hibiscus Refreshers at a fraction of the cost.

Ingredients

    For the Green Coffee Extract:
  • 1 quart cold water
  • 1/4 pound green (unroasted) coffee beans
    • For the Hibiscus Simple Syrup:
  • 1 cup, lightly packed, dried hibiscus flowers
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups water
    • To Make a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher Clone:
  • 2 cups of ice cubes
  • 1 tablespoon green coffee extract
  • 1-4 tablespoons hibiscus simple syrup (to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons freeze-dried berries
  • 2 cups water

Instructions

To Make the Green Tea Extract:

Add the beans to a scrupulously clean spice or coffee grinder, pulse the grinder about 10 times just to break up the beans a little. Empty the beans into a half-gallon glass canning jar or another similarly sized container with a tight fitting lid. Pour the cold water over the beans, fix the lid in place and shake a couple of times to make sure it is all good and distributed. Stash in the refrigerator overnight to extract.

After it has soaked for at least 8 hours, line a fine-mesh sieve with a coffee filter or a piece of cheesecloth positioned over a pitcher. Shake the green coffee and water mixture one more time and pour it through the lined sieve. Transfer the strained liquid to a jar (it should fit into a quart jar) and store in the refrigerator for up to a month, using as desired.

To Make the Hibiscus Simple Syrup:

Add hibiscus flowers, sugar, and water to a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium high heat. Stir frequently to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil. As soon as the mixture boils, turn off the heat and add a lid to the pan. Let it steep for at least 20 minutes, but not more than 40 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter into a canning jar or pitcher. Store in the refrigerator in a tightly lidded jar or other stain-proof container. Hibiscus syrup WILL stain!

To Make a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher Clone:

Add 2 cups of ice to a quart canning jar. Pour the green coffee extract and hibiscus syrup over the ice, add the freeze-dried berries and pour the water over everything else. Fix the lid tightly in place and shake vigorously for about 25 seconds. Pour into a pretty glass and sip. Heck, gulp if you want to gulp! This is good stuff and it's good for you!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/27/very-berry-hibiscus-refresher-clone-starbucks-knockoff-and-a-giveaway-make-ahead-monday/

Now let’s talk goodies, shall we? The folks at BigKitchen -the same ones who provided my best beloved grinder- are offering to give away another one just like mine to one of you folks.

 

Big cheer for BigKitchen! This is a work horse of a grinder. These are the details about this gorgeous piece of kit according to BigKitchen:

  • Minces fresh herbs and dried spices and grinds coffee beans from
    coarse to fine in seconds
  • Sharp stainless steel blades quickly chop for easy preparation of your
    favorite dishes
  • Pulse action button lets you determine the degree of fineness
  • Brushed stainless steel finish
  • Safety lock lid
  • 140W
  • Retails at: $29.99

I concur with all of that, but I’d add that it’s just plain gorgeous. It is super sleek and I do love stainless steel appliances. They are out of stock (sad trombone!) currently, but they do have one in stock for the winner of this giveaway and they’ll be back for the rest of the world very soon, indeed (happy cry from the crowd!) So how do you win?

For 1 Entry:

You need to scoot on over to BigKitchen and look around. For one entry, tell me here in the comments what you would be most likely to buy from BigKitchen.

For Additional Entries (Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry so we can have a truly random drawing!):

Like Foodie With Family on facebook, then come back here and say so.

Like BigKitchen on facebook then come back here and say so.

Follow Foodie With Family on Twitter and, well, you know, come back here and say so.

Follow BigKitchen on Twitter and… you know!

My word! That’s 5 different ways to win my favourite grinder. Make yourself a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher and start entering today! The giveaway will close on Thursday, August 30th with a winner to be announced on Friday.

BigKitchen was kind enough to send me a Krups grinder and offer one to give away, but all opinions are my own. I am not affiliated with Starbucks in any way.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Beverages, Component Foods, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Make Ahead Mondays, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter and Mexican Grilled Corn | Make Ahead Mondays

August 20, 2012 by 19 Comments

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Oregon to join a fabulous group of fellow bloggers in a tour of the Medford, Oregon area sponsored by Harry and David. It was an incredible trip filled with great food and great wine, respect and wonder for what Harry and David does as a company and how they do it (more on this and the trip in a subsequent post), and fantastic friends.

Just look at these gorgeous ladies and Matt who is not a lady but a talented and enthusiastic horticulturalist. Hi, Matt!

Photo by Sandy Coughlin: The Reluctant Entertainer

I’m telling you, I tried valiantly to figure out how to take all of them home with me. Lori, Jessica, Jenna, Rachel, Maria, Amy, Matt, Sandy- who helped pull this stupendous weekend together (see her posts about it here and here), Bridget, Kristen, me, and Heidi had a wonderful time reconnecting (in some cases) and finally meeting in real life (in other cases.) I’m taking away an obsession with Harry and David peaches and pears, Rogue creamery cheese, the entire state of Oregon (again, this is another cup of coffee. It’s coming on another post.) and the company of all those fabulous bloggers with whom I was privileged to spend time. Talk about an inspiring and motivational group of people!

As I drove home from the airport on Saturday, I was so glad to see sweet corn signs had popped up all over the local roadsides. I pulled into my favourite stand (Hi, Mrs. Morton!), grabbed three dozen ears (WHAT?!? You don’t go a little nuts over the first sweet corn of the year?), and drove hell for leather to get home and squash the tar out of my menfolk (who apparently didn’t miss me all that much since my darlink little sister was way more fun that mommy. Folks, she helped the boys catch CRAYFISH to COOK and put in their macaroni and SMOKED cheese. ) and fire up the grill.

Yes. I said fire up the grill.

I know cooler corn is all the rage now, and if anyone could justify pouring buckets of boiling water into a cooler and cooking massive amounts of corn it’d be me. Truth is, though, I tried it (the cooler corn, that is) and wasn’t in love with the process. It took too long, the idea of pouring boiling water into plastic didn’t really ding my chimes, and I just plain love the flavour of roasted corn. Stick with what you love, right? Especially when we’re talking corn. Oh corn.

I do love you.

Madly.

Grilling it somehow magnifies the, how to say, corniness of corn. You know, the sweetness, the freshness, the pure summer of the experience; it’s all made bigger by the application of fire rather than water. It is so good.

While eating it with obscene amounts of plain butter and salt is my usual method, I do so love dressing it up Mexican style with one of my favourite things: Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter. This is the bees-knees, friends; smokey and spicy butter with the freshness of lime, studded with little emerald bits of cilantro to wake everything up. Here’s the beautiful thing- you whip up a batch of the butter, shape it into a log, roll it up in plastic wrap and store it in the freezer where you can store it for three months, lobbing off little pats of this butter to put on grilled chicken, fish, pork, corn or whatever floats your culinary boat.

Imagine this dripping down a freshly grilled ear of corn and onto your fingers. You know you’d better lick that off. It’s a sin to waste.

And gild the lily while you’re at it with a fistful of crumbled Queso blanco and a shower of freshly chopped cilantro. Mmmm.

I hate the heat, but I love summer for the corn. Now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m off to the farm stand for another three dozen. Summer only lasts so long here. I must take advantage of it!

 

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Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter and Mexican Grilled Corn | Make Ahead Mondays

Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter and Mexican Grilled Corn | Make Ahead Mondays

Spicy, smoky, lime laced chipotle butter is studded with bright green flecks of cilantro to wake everything up. Store in the freezer for up to three months. Serve on grilled fish, chicken, pork or on grilled or roasted sweet corn.

Ingredients

    For the Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter:
  • 2 sticks (1/2 of a pound) salted butter, softened to room temperature
  • the juice and zest of one lime
  • 1 tablespoon dried ground chipotle chiles
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3-4 grinds of fresh black pepper
  • 1/4-1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro (depending on how strong you like the flavour)
    • For the Mexican Grilled Corn:
  • Unshucked sweet corn (as many ears as you'd like)
  • 1 tablespoon crumbled Queso Blanco or Chihuahua Cheese per ear
  • minced fresh cilantro, to taste

Instructions

To Make the Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter:

Add the unwrapped, softened butter, juice and zest of lime, ground chipotle, salt and black pepper to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer). Whip on high for 1-2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. When it is thoroughly and evenly mixed, add in the minced cilantro and mix again for about 30 seconds or until the cilantro is evenly distributed.

Lay a 12-inch long piece of plastic wrap on the counter.

Use a silicone spatula to scrape the whisk attachment clean. Scrape the butter onto the plastic wrap in a rough log shape. Fold one long edge over the butter and use it to help you shape into a cohesive, even log. Roll the butter log along the countertop, wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and evening up the shape as you go. Pat the ends even and twist the plastic wrap on the ends. Put the tightly wrapped butter log on a plate in the freezer until firm through, then transfer the wrapped butter log into a zipper top plastic bag. Cut off pats as needed and return what remains to the zipper top bag in the freezer, storing the remainder in the freezer for up to 3 months.

For the Mexican Grilled Corn:

Preheat a gas grill on low heat. (Or start a small bed of coals in a charcoal grill. When the coals are completely covered in ash, pile over to one side, leaving most of the grill under indirect heat.

Carefully peel the husks back from the corn (keeping intact). Remove the silk and fold the husks back up over the ears. Lay the ears of corn evenly over the grill (if using charcoal, be sure to leave the area immediately above the coals free of ears of corn.) Grill with the lid closed for about 30 minutes- 45 minutes, turning and changing the ears' positions about every 5-7 minutes

When the corn is finished, transfer to a rimmed baking sheet.

To Serve:

Shuck each ear of corn and top with pats of Chipotle Cilantro Lime Butter, about 1 tablespoon of crumbled Queso Blanco or Chihuahua cheese and a shower of minced cilantro. Let the butter melt and dribble down the corn and serve immediately. Make sure you wash your hands before eating so you can lick your fingers to get every last bit of that wonderful butter.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/20/chipotle-cilantro-lime-butter-and-grilled-sweet-corn-make-ahead-mondays/

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Condiments, Freezer Pleaser, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Refrigerator Pickled Salad (Bread and Butter Style) | Make Ahead Mondays

August 13, 2012 by 13 Comments

 

I have this friend, Meseidy, who has a fabulous blog; The Noshery. Meseidy can do it all. She is a chef, a decorator, a great conversationalist and an extremely talented folder of sheets.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP66IMO_fJ0[/youtube]

I am not kidding you when I tell you that I never successfully folded a fitted sheet before Meseidy taught me to do it. It’s not my mom’s or dad’s fault… They can fold like a pro. I seem to have some double recessive incompetent-at-housekeeping-tasks gene. Ah well, better late than never, eh?

I did mention she’s a chef, right? She’s not just a chef. Girl can COOK, people. I’ve had the privilege of having her cook for me a few times and every single time I’m wowed by the food. She made these almond crisps with boozy cherries and vanilla ice cream when we were all out at The Pioneer Woman’s. Oh heavens, I could eat my weight in that.

But that is NOT what I’m talking about today. I may be dreaming about it, but I’m not talking about it. Today, I want to tell you about her Refrigerated Pickled Salad. The second she posted it, I knew it would be made. And soon.

It is best described as a bread and butter pickle salad. Crazy sounding? Maybe, but think about it. You have oodles of thinly sliced cucumbers, multi-coloured bell peppers, red onion, and garlic marinating in a sweet and sour brine of vinegar, sugar, water, and -in my case- crushed red pepper flakes. How inviting does this look?

Let me tell you, this is not to be missed.

I messed with the recipe just a wee bit (on accident, but more on that in a moment and liked the results so much that I did it again. On purpose. The first time I prepared the pickles, I doubled it. What can I say, I was confident that she wouldn’t steer me wrong. When I doubled the recipe, I doubled everything BUT the ice. Whoopsie. I stuck my finger in the brine to see if it was too punchy with the extra vinegar and loved it so much, I left it that way.

Per instructions, we let the pickles happily soak in that delicious brine for THREE. WHOLE. DAYS. When I say we, I mean my sister, her husband, my dad and stepmom, my uncle and aunt, The Evil Genius, the kids and me. After three days, all bets were off. We had the pickles on carnitas tacos, grilled white hots, cottage cheese, and with cream cheese in tortilla wraps. We stuck our fingers in the jars and snacked on them all by themselves. This was the jar when we started.

Within five days, that gallon jar was empty. Oy. We are clearly a pickle dependent family. They were so good, though! Sweet and sour like a classic bread and butter pickle, but with lovely thin strips of pickled vegetables and a little kick of spice, they were simply wonderful. Being the waste-not-want-not sort of gal that I am, I re-used the flavourful brine from the first batch for my second batch. I sliced my veggies and tossed them in the mixing bowl like before, but then poured the leftover brine in and stirred to distribute the mustard seeds. I then used tongs to transfer the veggies to the jar and poured the brine back in over everything. Hubba hubba.

Batch two is well on its way to disappearing as quickly as the first did. Thank you mille fois, Meseidy… or should I say gracias?

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Refrigerator Pickled Salad (Bread and Butter Style)

Refrigerator Pickled Salad (Bread and Butter Style)

Sweet and sour like a classic bread and butter pickle, but with lovely thin strips of pickled vegetables and a little kick of spice, these are simply wonderful. Bonus: no canning required and they're ready to eat in 3 days!

Serve this simple pickled salad with grilled meats, on sandwiches, on tacos, with cream cheese in tortilla wraps, over cottage cheese for an afternoon pick-me-up, or just on their own.

Recipe very gently adapted from and used with the permission of the wonderful Meseidy of The Noshery.

Ingredients

  • 2 seedless English cucumbers (also known as English Cucumbers)
  • 1 large red onion
  • 2 pounds baby multi-colour sweet bell peppers (or the equivalent poundage of red, yellow and orange bell peppers.)
  • 8 large (or 10 medium) cloves of garlic
  • 3 cups cider vinegar
  • 1 1/3 cups raw or granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup ice cubes
  • 2 ounces (1/3 cup by volume) whole yellow mustard seeds

Instructions

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir until the sugar and salt are fully dissolved, remove the pan from the burner and set aside to cool while you prepare your vegetables.

Cut the English cucumbers into three pieces each, then cut each piece in half. Thinly slice each of those halves. Transfer the sliced cucumbers to a large mixing bowl.

Cut the blossom and stem end off of the red onion, peel it and cut in half. Slice each of those halves paper thin. Add the onions to the cucumbers in the mixing bowl.

Remove the stem and seeds from the bell peppers and thinly slice them lengthwise and transfer to the mixing bowl.

Peel and slice the garlic cloves as thinly as possible. Add those into the mixing bowl along with the mustard seeds and toss to distribute everything evenly. Pack into a glass gallon jar (or into 3-4 glass quart jars.)

Add the ice cubes to the partially cooled brine, stir until the ice is melted, then pour the brine over the vegetables in the jar(s). Tightly lid the jars and store in the refrigerator for at least 3 days before eating. Lasts for at least a month when refrigerated.

*Notes:

You can reuse the brine for a second batch of pickled salad by pouring the leftover brine over a freshly sliced batch of veggies in the mixing bowl, toss to distribute the mustard seeds, then use tongs to transfer the veggies to clean jars and pour the remaining brine over them. Again, refrigerate for 3 days before eating.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/13/refrigerator-pickled-salad-bread-and-butter-style/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Condiments, Gluten Free, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Make Ahead Mondays, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Slow-Cooker Red Beans and Rice and Creole Seasoning | Make Ahead Mondays

July 16, 2012 by 25 Comments

I’m going to go ahead and say right now that I have absolutely zero idea how authentically “Cajun” today’s recipe is, having never actually been to the great state of Louisana. All I know is that it is very possibly one of the tastiest things to come out of my kitchen in recent weeks.

There are few things more satisfying than a big bowl of cooked rice topped with saucy, spicy, tender red beans and smoky sausage rounds then crowned with green onions and sour cream. Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot, as the saying goes, you can weather it better with a bowl of this under your belt. It is one of the few comfort foods that does hot or cold weather conditions equally well.

On a wild hare, I decided to throw my usual red beans and rice ingredients into my slow-cooker and see what happened. I figured that the worst case scenario would be a flavourful mush and the best case scenario would be the world’s easiest and wickedly economical dinner. I turned my best beloved slow-cooker to high, let ‘er rip, and walked away for six hours.

The next six hours were spent trying fervently not to eat everything in the pantry because it smelled so ever loving good in this house that I thought I might die. I repeatedly broke the cardinal rule of slow-cooking and crockpot-ery by lifting the lid and testing and re-testing beans to see if they were (oh please oh please oh please) done yet. After those agonizing six hours were up, I was rewarded with the easiest -and easily the best- red beans and rice I had ever made.

The facts that it didn’t heat up my kitchen and that the hardest part of the whole procedure was keeping myself from eating it before it was done were just gravy. My word, friends, it was so good.

So good, in fact, that I made a double batch again later that week and plan on making it for company when we receive a houseful of family for my brother’s wedding next month. It’ll be just thing; set it up and let it cook while running around for rehearsals, making the wedding cake, and trying to get five boys who’d rather not see the inside of a shower ready for their uncle’s wedding. Pray for me folks. It’s the getting the boys ready that’s giving me palpitations.

There is one grave danger attendant to making this recipe. It smells so good while cooking that there is a very real possibility that you will gnaw off your own leg of that of someone nearby.

I have just a couple of other thoughts to share about this recipe.The Creole Seasoning is wonderful to have on hand for recipes that call for it, to be sure, but we like to use it on other things, too. For instance, we love it on popcorn or homemade tortilla chips.

I like to make it really spicy and then mellow it out in my own bowl with a big dollop of sour cream. I think a fistful of grated Cheddar would do something similar if you’re so inclined. To do this, I tend to use the higher amount of cayenne pepper I specify in the recipe.

On the other hand, you could just keep the spice to a minimum in the first place. If you’d like to keep it on the milder side, cut back on or omit the additional cayenne pepper (above and beyond the small amount that is already in the Creole Seasoning) from the recipe.

I know andouille is the sausage darling of Cajun/Creole cooking, but it can be hard to find in these parts, so I most often make mine with smoked sausage. I absolutely love it this way, so do not feel like your ability to make this spicy, smoky classic hinges on the availability of andouille.

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Slow-Cooker Red Beans and Rice and Creole Seasoning | Make Ahead Mondays

Slow-Cooker Red Beans and Rice and Creole Seasoning | Make Ahead Mondays

Whip up a batch of this handy Creole seasoning to add a little oomph to your every day dishes or reserve it for the most wonderfully tantalizing and simple red beans and rice you've ever had. The slow-cooker does the work so you can stay out of the kitchen on hot days. Be forewarned: this smells so good while it's cooking that you may feel ravenous by the time dinner rolls around.

Creole Seasoning adapted from Emeril Lagasse's recipe.

Ingredients

    For the Creole Seasoning:
  • 3 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons dried thyme
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
    • For the Slow-Cooker Red Beans and Rice:
  • 10 cups water
  • 3 cups small red chili beans (about 1 1/2 pounds), rinsed and picked over
  • 1 pound smoked sausage or andouille, sliced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch rounds
  • 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 medium cooking onion (yellow or white), peeled, trimmed of root and blossom ends, and diced
  • 1 rib celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon Creole Seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/8-1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (according to heat preference)
  • For Serving: Hot cooked rice and green onions
    • Optional: Sour Cream

Instructions

To Make the Creole Seasoning:

Add all of the ingredients to a small mixing bowl bowl and toss together with a fork or a whisk. Store, tightly covered, in a jar or other airtight container in a cool, dry place. This is good for about a year after mixing.

To Make the Slow-Cooker Red Beans and Rice:

Add the water, beans, sausage, red bell pepper, celery, Creole seasoning, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf to the bowl of a slow-cooker. Add the lid and turn the heat to "HIGH'. Let it cook for 6 hours, stirring once or twice. After 6 hours, use a spoon to fish out a bean to test. If it is tender, turn off the heat. If it is still underdone, replace the lid and cook for another hour or until the beans are tender. Remove and discard the bay leaf.

Gently stir the contents of the slow-cooker before ladling over bowls of hot, cooked rice. Garnish with chopped green onions and -if desired- sour cream.

Store leftover beans tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or freeze in individual portions for longer storage: up to 6 months.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/16/slow-cooker-red-beans-and-rice-and-creole-seasoning-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Tocino (Filipino Cured Pork) | Make Ahead Mondays

July 9, 2012 by 46 Comments

UPDATE: The National Pork Board has generously extended the deadline for The Foodbank donation partnership with you all because you’ve been asking such great questions! In other words, every question you leave for pork producers in the comments on this post, the Foodie With Family facebook page, or on Twitter with the hashtag #sustainablepork will translate to 1 pound of pork being donated to The Foodbank of Ohio. No strings attached!

Pork.

It’s what’s for dinner in one form or another in our house most nights of the week. We are a porkcentric household. That has probably been pretty obvious here with all my use of bacon, chops, roasts, Cuban Pork, Cola Pulled Pork, Hot Tex Mess, and more (scroll down for porky goodness.) So when the National Pork Board contacted me to see if I wanted to take a tour of a sustainable pork farm, I replied with a pretty quick ‘yes’.  Then they contacted me again and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

They are going to donate one pound of pork to The Foodbank in Ohio for every question you all leave here for me to ask them when I go on the tour up to 1,000 pounds. Holy cow. Or should I say holy pig?

Just think of how many people we can feed if you all are curious enough!

Let’s talk for a moment about what I’ll be looking at when I head out to Dayton. According to the information sent to me by the National Pork Board, within a 50 year time frame, pig farmers have reduced their carbon footprint by 35%, reduced water usage by 41% and decreased the amount of land needed to grow feed by 78%. Additionally, we are getting more meat from fewer pigs – which helps reduce the use of natural resources to raise pigs.

 The Pork Checkoff has been honoring the sustainability efforts of pig farmers for 18 years with the Pork Industry Environmental Steward Award. The farm I will be visiting on July 24 was recently honored with this award.

So where do you come in on all of this? Just leave me a question in the comment area below (or on Twitter using the hashtag #SustainablePork ) between now and July 13th. All comments and tweets that have questions for me to ask the farmers and the National Pork Board representatives will count and one pound of pork will be donated per question or tweet.

~~

Now I figure you all know me well enough to realize that I couldn’t talk this much about pork without giving you a great recipe for it. That would just be unkind. Without further ado, I present to you one of my favourite freezer pleasers; Tocino. (Pronounced toe-see-no.)

Tocino is a Filipino dish that I have loved longer than I can remember. Starting with a humble and inexpensive pork shoulder (about $1.29/lb where I shop), a little slicing and a quick cure in some sugar and spice in a resealable zipper top bag, you end with a salty but sweet, crisped pork that tastes like super meaty bacon. It doesn’t take much work, and once you’ve tossed the pork with your sugar and spices, you can stash the bag in the freezer for up to six months before frying or grilling. Low investment, mega-payoff.

The sugary salty cure that enrobes the thin slices of pork keeps the mixture from freezing totally solid, so you can scoop out what you’d like to serve for dinner and leave the rest frozen for future meals. The traditional accompaniment for tocino is garlic fried rice and a fried egg for the classic Filipino breakfast called Tosilog. Doesn’t that sound like just about the best possible way to start a day? I speak from experience when I say it makes one heckuva lunch, dinner or snack, too.

Tocino is traditionally cured with red food colouring or other agents (like the pink salt, or saltpeter, used in curing other meats). I’m not super keen on food colouring, so I use beet powder as recommended by Jun-Belen. That man is a genius. The beet powder adds an appetizing red colour without adding any funky insect or chemical colouring. Lest you fear the beet, let me assure you it does not impart any beet-y flavour to the finished product.

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Tocino (Filipino Cured Pork) | Make Ahead Mondays

Tocino (Filipino Cured Pork) | Make Ahead Mondays

Do you love meaty bacon? Give this traditional Filipino, quick-cured, pork a try. An inexpensive pork should gets a boost from the fast-curing sugar, salt and spice combination and yields salty, sweet perfection that is reminiscent of thick cut bacon. It stores beautifully in the freezer for whenever cravings strike.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds pork shoulder, sliced into 1/8-inch thick pieces
  • 3/4 cup raw or granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons beet powder (you can substitute about 15 drops of red food colouring if you prefer.)
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
    • For Cooking:
  • Vegetable, peanut or canola oil for pan frying

Instructions

Combine both sugars, the garlic, salt, beet powder (or food colouring), and soy sauce in a very large resealable zipper top bag (2 gallons) or a stain-proof container with a tight fitting lid. Close the bag or container tightly and shake to combine ingredients evenly. Open the bag or container, drop the pork slices in and reseal. If using a bag, squeeze the bag to thoroughly coat all of the pork with the sugar and salt mixture. If using a container, use your hands to move the pork around to be sure it is thoroughly coated in the mixture then close the container tightly.

Put the bag or container in the refrigerator and let it cure for at least 2 days before using, but up to 4. Alternatively, you can put the container or bag directly into the freezer (letting it sit for at least a week before using) for up to 6 months.

To Cook the Tocino:

Whether using fresh from the refrigerator or directly from the freezer, remove the amount of tocino you want to cook and let it sit in a colander for several minutes to drain any excess liquid.

You may either grill the tocino over high, direct heat, or pan fry in batches. To pan fry, heat about 2 teaspoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pieces until cooked through and browned with little charred bits, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Serve, if desired, with garlic fried rice and a fried egg for a traditional Filipino breakfast.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/09/tocino-filipino-cured-pork-make-ahead-mondays/

Don’t forget to leave your question for the pork farmers and National Pork Board below. Every question you leave will provide a hungry family with a pound of pork!

From July 23-24, I will be attending a tour of an Ohio family’s pig farm with the National Pork Board (NPB) focused on sustainability efforts in the pork industry. NPB will cover the costs of my trip, but all opinions expressed are my own.

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast Foods, Charcuterie, Comfort Food, Filipino Food, Freezer Pleaser, Gluten Free, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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