When the Cupboard is Bare… Slow Cooking Thursdays
April 10, 2008|Comments (none)
Taking a tip from other bloggers who post Slow-Cooker Thursday recipes, I’m posting my favorite bean soup and bean soup memory. When I was a little girl, I got to stay with my Aunt Nancy for a week one summer and she taught me to can grape jelly and we filled quart jars with Calico Bean Soup mix to give as gifts. On the top of each jar, she taught me to place a circle of colorful fabric (carefully cut out with pinking shears) and tie a ribbon around to hold it in place. They were lovely. Each jar had a paper card with instructions — typed on a typewriter! Aunt Nancy made me feel wonderful about everything from my fabric selection to the way that I attached the instruction cards. I am certain that a large part of my passion for cooking is owed to her.
Now that I am grown and can make up my own recipes, I often use a tried-and-true recipe (like Calico Soup) to create a base or simply swap out ingredients. Aunt Nancy is a big believer that a good cook can follow a recipe or create a meal from a fully-stocked kitchen but a TRUE cook can create a meal without a cookbook and with scarcely anything to work with.
Here’s my favorite “there’s nothing in the cupboards” soup:
- 1 cup great northern beans or garbanzo beans (can use a combination of both)
- 1 head of kale or bunch of collard greens (could also use spinach)
- 2 leeks
- 1 red onion
- 2 large red potatoes, sliced with a vegetable peeler and then diced
- 2 zucchinis or small yellow squash, diced
- 2 tomatoes, boiled & peeled, then chopped
- 4 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled & crushed
- 1 Lb. Italian sausage (I use turkey sausage), chopped & browned
- 3 artichokes
- 1/2 dried hot chili pepper
- the juice of one lemon
- chicken or vegetable stock
- water
- olive oil
- seasoning (basic Italian seasoning)
Rinse and then soak the beans in plenty of water for at least eight hours. Drain and rinse again.
In a large kettle (I prefer cast iron), heat the olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, onion, and chili pepper. Let the onion turn a nice golden color and then add tomatoes, greens, and beans. You may need to add a bit more olive oil. Cover with chicken or vegetable stock and let simmer (covered with a lid) for about an hour and a half. You could dump everything in a slow-cooker pot instead of the stove-top method. You may need to add a bit more stock.
Trim the artichokes by breaking off the tough leaves and the top 2/3 of the remaining leaves. Dice the trimmed hearts into pieces. Place the artichoke hearts in a bowl with 1 cup of water and the juice of one lemon (this is called acidulated water) to prevent darkening. Let this sit while you crush you prepare the garlic, leeks, zucchini, sausage, and potatoes.
Pull out your trusty saute pan and heat olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, leeks, zucchini, drained artichokes,sausage, and potatoes. Toss in the oil and heat until the leeks are a soft golden color. Add to the kettle and bring to a boil. Let cook 20 minutes or until the artichokes are soft.
Add salt, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and black pepper to taste. Serve with thin slices of red onion on top and/or some grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Bread is quite nice with this soup, too!
Who inspired you to cook, garden, and/or sew?
In honor of wonderful chefs (like my Aunt Nancy), who inspire us all to be creative in the kitchen, here is Julia Child:
Yogurt, Cream Cheese, & Quarks 101
April 10, 2008|Comments (none)
Yogurt, Quark, and More
Yoghurt, yogurt, yoghourt, or yogourt… is great stuff. There are quite few stories about the origins of yogurt (as I was taught to spell it). One story is that the Bulgars (people who migrated to the Balkans in 7th century AD) created the first yogurt cultures with bacteria in their goat skin bags. Of course, no one really knows where the idea of yogurt came from but there are quite a few theories. Yogurt is amazing! Who wouldn’t want to claim it? First of all, yogurt is easier to digest than milk. Often people who cannot properly digest milk, either because of lactose intolerance or protein allergies, can tolerate yogurt. There are quite a few great articles and studies that talk about why yogurt is easy to digest but to simplify: yogurt contains helpful enzymes that improve lactose absorption. A great source of calcium, yogurt is also proven to keep your colon happy by promoting the growth of helpful bacteria and ridding your system of harmful nitrates. Here are some other great facts about yogurt: reduces the instances of yeast infections in women, lowers cholesterol, a single serving contains 20% of the daily recommended amount of protein, and it helps children to grow. BUT most yogurts on the market are not that great. In fact, only Stonyfield Farm’s yogurt and a few others (like Dannon All Natural) are even good for you. Most yogurts are watered down with sugars, corn syrup, coloring agents, and artificial flavors.
Many people think that children won’t eat yogurt that doesn’t come in a tube or have crazy colors. Wrong! My stepson happily created and devoured entire fruit and yogurt parfaits at age five. Parfaits are a wonderful and quick breakfast or dessert! They are beautiful, kid-friendly, and very healthy. Simply create multiple layers of granola, fresh fruit, and plain yogurt in a glass, then serve. I like to serve them in fluted champagne glasses or even brandy snifters and use iced tea spoons to eat them with. You can also use frozen and fresh fruits with yogurt to create healthy and delicious smoothies:
When looking for live yogurt cultures… look for labels like this:
Getting sick of buying yogurt? Make your own. Here is a great recipe given to me by a terrific lady from Virginia, Cheryl Heatwole (Thank you, Cheryl!! You are the BEST!):
Combine in a large stainless steel bowl:
3 cups powdered milk + 6 cups warm water
Stir well. Add:
1 can evaporated milk
Combine separately:
1/2 cup plain yogurt + 1 cup milk mixture from bowl
Blend into the large bowl, mixing well. Pour into clean jars (canning jars will do). Incubate at 110-120 degrees until set. Refridgerate. Makes 2 quarts.
Hints: Incubating the mixture can be done by heating your oven to the lowest heat setting. Turn off the heat and turn on the oven light. Set warm jars into warm oven.
Check consistency. Yogurt should not be moved while it is setting. Check in three hours and every hour after that for up six hours. When the yogurt mixture has a junket-like consistency, put it in the refrigerator. Keeps several weeks.
Serve with any fresh, frozen, or canned fruits.
Quarks and Soft Set Cheese
A quark is a subatomic particle. Yes. But it is also a soft, smooth, spreadable German cheese which is not aged and very much like cream cheese. It is made with pasteurized milk and a starting culture. Quark can be used in place of sour cream on potatoes, cream cheese in cheesecake, as a substitute for ricotta in lasagna, in macaroni n’ cheese, and to make delicious appetizers. I much prefer it to cream cheese and like to serve it with hot pepper jelly on whole wheat crackers. Guess what? It can be made in your kitchen with plain yogurt, a colander, and some clean cotton fabric or several coffee filters (Thank you, Lips of an Angel!).
I have made quark using buttermilk and milk, but find that the yogurt is much easier. Here is the recipe:
Wash and rinse two 10″ X 10″ pieces of organic cotton cloth. Place one piece in the bottom of a colander in your sink.
Take a small container of plain live yogurt or however much you desire (for your first batch you may want just a half cup) and scrape it onto the fabric in the colander.
Place the other piece of fabric over the yogurt and weigh down with a saucer & some sort of jar(I usually use a jar of preserves). Let this rest and drain overnight. It will be ready to serve in the morning. Simply scrape it into a dish, cover, and refrigerate until you need it!
Some nice ideas for quarks:
- Chop up onion, chives, sun dried tomato, salt & pepper then blend them into the quark for a savory spread for fresh bread
- Dice some fresh strawberries, raspberries, or peaches and mix them with your quark with a little sugar for dessert
- Serve with jams and jellies for a lovely snack at tea time
- Use quark to make delicious quiches
For individuals with a great deal of time on their hands, the buttermilk recipe I used can be found here: http://rheology.tripod.com/QuarkMakingOfHenning.htm
Truthfully, the yogurt quark tastes exactly like the buttermilk quark. No difference except that you don’t have to wait around for three days!
This post is under construction. Sorry! More pictures of the quark will be posted soon (We keep eating them before I can photograph them!)!
Want to see who tried this recipe?
Leah of Lips of An Angel made a quark and used coffee filters to strain the yogurt!
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