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The Pollan Family Table – a great cookbook gift

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Pollan Family TableThe Pollan Family Table will be discussed in at least one of my In The Kitchen columns in the new year, but I wanted to draw your attention to it now, as I think it’s a great holiday gift item. It’s one of those “well-rounded” cookbooks, full of delicious food to feed your family throughout the year. Or a gift recipient’s family, maybe that new couple just starting out.

This is the kind of book you can really cook from, and it’s brought to you by the apparently very talented women of the Pollan Family. They are food writer and activist Michael Pollan’s mother, Corky, and his sisters Lori, Dana, and Tracy. Actress Tracy is, as it turns out, married to another actor, Michael J. Fox, a connection that was news to me. (Yes, I know, living under a rock!)

This is a family that places a lot of importance in sitting down together and sharing a common meal. The elder Pollans did it when the kids were young, and now those grown-up kids are doing it for their own families. The food here is rich in fresh vegetables and other nutritious whole foods (now we know where Michael got his food philosophy), but it’s really what I call “stealthy healthy,” in its approach. Good for you food never tasted so, well, good.

A great feature of the book is that each recipe has two lists on a side bar, From the Market and From the Pantry, so you can be sure to have all the ingredients you need to prepare that dish. Take a look at some of the sample recipes on the publisher’s website here – don’t miss the Citrus-Roasted Chicken with Grand Marnier! – and you’ll see how handy those lists can be, a quick scan and you’ll be good to go.



Get Dippy for New Year’s Eve

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Appetizers

Appetizers – dips on back tray

Just a quick post of two recipes, both from foodnetwork.com, that I had good luck with as part of my Christmas Eve cheese tray. I was trying to throw some lower-fat options into the mix, although I still had plenty of decadent cheeses, including a surprise hit, Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar. Like cheddar with a Parmesan hit, we all loved it.

But, meanwhile, both the white bean dip and edamame hummus below were delicious and quick to throw together in my mini-processor. I served them with crudités and whole wheat pita triangles (see edamame recipe), substituting za’atar (and lots of it) for oregano.  The photo of the two trays doesn’t show the dips well, so I’m also posting a shot of the leftovers which have made a nice lunch the last couple of days.

At bottom, check out the gorgeous lobster tails and stuffed potatoes my brother Mark and his wife Elaine served – wowsa! We had string beans with sweet red pepper, too. I also brought along the last of the Cognac chocolate sugar plums I’d made this season, originally for my Good Taste column in the December Packet Magazine.  I took some along on Christmas Day too where I saw my niece and nephew’s family. The ones pictured here are from my friend’s choucroute dinner I was lucky to attend in mid December.

On Christmas Day my brother-in-law baked a huge bone-in ham and served it with the most decadent scalloped potatoes (with duck fat!) I’ve ever had. I triumphantly carried home the ham bone trophy that he insisted they would only end up throwing away. So I’ll make split pea soup and deliver some to them, because, boy, they sure deserve it!

Leftovers

Leftovers

Happy New Year everyone!

White Bean Dip

  • 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons
  • 1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 pitas
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or za‘atar, and more of it!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, and parsley in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the bean puree to a small bowl.

Cut each pita in half and then into 8 wedges. Arrange the pita wedges on a large baking sheet. Pour the remaining oil over the pitas. Toss and spread out the wedges evenly. Sprinkle with the oregano, salt, and pepper. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until toasted and golden in color.

Serve the pita toasts warm or at room temperature alongside the bean puree.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Edamame Hummus

  • 1/2 pound frozen shelled edamame (green soy beans), about 1 1/2 cups
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
  • 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons), juiced
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Suggested serving: Sliced cucumbers, celery, and olives – I used purchased crudité, carrot, grape tomatoes, jicama, and snap peas.

Boil the beans in salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, or microwave, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes.

In a food processor, puree the edamame, tahini, water, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix until absorbed.

Transfer to a small bowl, stir in the parsley and drizzle with remaining oil. Serve with the suggested vegetables, or refrigerate, covered, up to 1 day.

From Food Network Kitchens

Entree

Entrée

 

Sugar Plums

Sugar Plums


December Best Bites-from Lebanese to The Taco Truck and more

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In spite of December’s surfeit of traditional holiday foods, I still managed to get in a variety of other dishes, including some ethnic finds.

The month started with a very good oyster po’boy at ONE 53 for lunch one day when my nephew brought down my months old grand-nephew Sammy for a visit. I ordered several kinds of beans from Rancho Gordo, some as gifts, some to keep. Since my NJ Wild Beauty friend made Choucroute Garnie for a few of her friends in mid-December (you can read about it on her blog), I ordered Tarbais beans (from French seed, but grown in the U.S.) to encourage her to make cassoulet sometime. I ordered greenish Flageots for another Francophile friend, and others for others. (The Whole Earth Center carries some Rancho Gordo beans.) I’m planning a “bean bender” as I am currently infatuated with halved small tomatoes slow roasted with garlic and olive oil, then an addition of beans. It’s an excellent base for a modest serving of fish, shrimp, lamb, you name it. One of those two-birds-with-one-stone sides.

At the choucroute dinner, my friend sent me home with a clamshell (clear plastic container) of Amish sand tart cookies (she bought the meats and sauerkraut for the dinner at the PA Dutch Market in Kingston), which was something new to me. They are so thin and crisp, quite irresistible! Looking up recipes online, some include egg whites and a little cream of tartar, to ensure a really crisp product. But how on earth do they roll them so thin and then move them to the baking pans. Maybe it’s mechanized nowadays? I also enjoyed a roasted Amish stuffed pork chop, those are usually as good as I could make myself. So, that Dutch Market really played in important role in my December!

I had a great Middle Eastern lunch at Headquarters, a Lebanese restaurant that used to be on Georges Road in New Brunswick, but is now on Route 130 in North Brunswick. Their lahmajeen  took me back to my grandmother’s, although this one is made of beef and lamb rather than Grandma’s all-lamb. The crust was nice and thin and it came with lemon wedges. Delicious! As was their unusual Kibbeh Kabob, a crisp bulghur wheat shell formed around a filling of ground lamb with pine nuts. Very fancy! And their baba ghanouj, the eggplant dip, was hands-down the best I’ve had, wonderfully smoky from properly charring the eggplant.

The Taco Truck, part of a growing chain that started with a food truck, opened in the Princeton Shoppng Center just after Christmas, and I’ve been a couple time so far. Food is good (ingredients are good quality), but I would like more punch to the flavors, which, this being Amerika, are tamped down for shy palates. If you want to add a salsa (they have four), it’ll cost you $1 for 2 ounces. Expect to spend $11-$15 for a taco/torta + beverage meal. They have burritos, too, but since those have nothing to do with Mexican food in my book, I avoid them. Okay, I’ll say it: burritos are an “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of thing, and I don’t like that myself. But millions of others do, especially, I’ll venture, the guys.

I bought a persimmon at Trader Joe’s, inspired by a woman stocking up who raved about their healthful properties. Then it sat on my counter for a week while I waited to be in the mood to try it. It was fine, but it didn’t rock my world, I maybe waited too long. I have come across recipes for baked goods with persimmon, that may be interesting. Always a new culinary frontier.

I baked Ginger-Lemon bars for an In The Kitchen column, and they were really good. Do invest in good quality lemon curd for them, read the ingredients on the jars; I found two or three choices at McCaffrey’s. Same when I recently bought ginger preserves for an upside-down cake Good Taste column I’m working on for the March Magazine – McCaffrey’s had at least 5 kinds!

I baked (okay, underbaked) an apple cake from a Dorie Greenspan cookbook. I liked that it had vanilla instead of cinnamon in it, and plenty of apples.  But mine could not hold a candle to the amazing apple cake sold at Peasant Grill in Hopewell, one of three desserts I carted home one day, to enjoy over the next couple of days. (I know, bad girl.) That was the uber apple cake (cinnamon and all), with the best caramelized crust ever. Oh my! Their pecan square was also excellent, however a lemon bar needed more lemon to suit my tart tongue. I had a flank steak salad for lunch, and Barry shot me a serving of his jasmine rice/chickpea salad too, both very good. I love this place!

Christmas Eve at my brother’s (see previous post) featured lobster tails, and Christmas Day at my in-laws was a gorgeous baked bone-in ham with these terribly decadent scalloped potatoes, made with duck fat and butter and bacon – they’re trying to kill me for sure! They sent me home with leftovers, including the ham bone, which they insisted they would not use. So I had a sandwich, and a dinner of leftovers, then made a big pot of split pea soup with the rest of the ham and the bone, and delivered some to them. Fair is fair. (And pretend you don’t see the asparagus with hollandaise sauce on that dinner plate!)

I kicked into gear for dinner on New Year’s Eve, which I usually prefer to spend home alone. (I had a frenzied day of chores and other industrious activities.) I had spied individual fresh duck legs in the meat aisle at McCaffrey’s and bought two. Online, I found a dead simple Nigella Lawson recipe for Roasted Duck Legs and Potatoes. No skin pricking, just brown the skin (I used my cast iron skillet), turn over and add fat slices of potato, then slide in a hot oven for 2 hours, with an occasional turn of the potatoes. So easy.

I also found a simple (no blanching, and no cream) Ina Garten recipe for a Parmesan Fennel Gratin with a panko/Parmesan crust. I didn’t really get that in the oven on time, though, so I ended up eating the duck and potatoes, which was so awesome I polished off both duck legs, while the gratin finished. But I enjoyed the very good gratin a day later with other leftovers and next time I do think I could put duck and gratin in oven about 30 minutes apart, and then keep the gratin on the back of the stovetop if it comes out of the oven ahead of the duck. I will shave a few degrees off the suggested duck temperature and add a few to the suggested gratin temperature, so both can bake at 390°, I think. It was a great meal, along with a nice smooth Simi Cabernet Sauvignon I’d been meaning to open.

Happy New Year to all, may your 2015 be full of delicious tastes.

(Click on any photo below to start slideshow.)

 

ONE 53 Po'boy Amish stuffed pork chop Rancho Gordo Beans Choucroute Garnie Amish Sand Tarts Ginger-Lemon bars Greenspan Apple Cake Headquarters Lahmajeen Headquarters Kibbeh Kabob Roasted tomatoes & beans Peasant Grill Apple Cake Persimmon The Taco Truck al pastor Cheese Tray Christmas Dinner Split Pea Ham Soup Duck legs & potatoes New Years Eve duck

 

 

 


It’s slow-roasting season

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20150117_185554I love winter food! And one of my favorite things about it is the idea of slow-roasting a “joint” (albeit usually boneless) of lamb or pork all afternoon. The aroma drives me mad. I mean really, really mad. I can’t resist nipping off little pieces from the edges once it’s been in the oven for a few hours, leaking juice be-damned! There’s still plenty of juice, believe me.

So I made this over the weekend, and wanted to urge you to try it.

Here’s the recipe, same as the one in my In The Kitchen column of last April, a couple weeks before Passover and Easter. But this time I had carrots to use up, so threw those in the roasting pan, too. I didn’t bother to parboil the potatoes. I just thickly sliced them before adding about half way through roasting time. But I could tell they were not going to be done in time, so I put the them on a metal tray in the toaster oven to brown, and that did the trick. (Clearly, I should either add them at the beginning or parboil them to add halfway through.)

Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder
Adapted from several sources

One recipe I consulted, on bonappetit.com, used 4 ounces diced pancetta instead of anchovy, but I switched to anchovy because it’s kosher. And don’t hesitate to vary the other seasonings, according to your family preferences, or to serve couscous or pilaf instead of the potatoes.

I buy the lamb at Whole Foods’ butcher counter, already boned, rolled, and tied, which comes to 4 pounds (they’ll cut smaller if asked).

Marinade:

4 cloves garlic, peeled
6 juniper berries
Leaves from one sprig of rosemary
2 anchovy fillets
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

For the roasting pan:

2 large onions, peeled and quartered
Optional – parboiled potatoes

The night before roasting, whirl the marinade ingredients in a mini processor. Put the tied roast in a large zipper bag, and scrape the marinade over it, massaging it (through the plastic if you like) into the nooks and crannies of the roast. Seal bag and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, about 5 hours before dinner, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the cut up onions in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Put the roast, fatty side up, on top of the onions. Put roast in oven and lower temperature to 250 degrees.

Roast, uncovered, for approximately 4 1/2 hours, covering lightly with foil after 3 hours if it seems like the top is browning too much or juices are evaporating. If, instead, it seems that it’s cooking too slowly, raise the temperature to 275 for the last hour. Baste occasionally.

If desired, add quartered par-boiled potatoes about 3 hours in, so they can finish cooking in the fat and juices from the roast. You could alternatively roast those in a separate dish with some of the fat from the roasting pan.

I didn’t even get out my meat thermometer to check doneness (160 degrees for medium), as the deeply burnished crust and plentiful dark juices told me all I needed to know.

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Storm Food for Snowmageddon

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Twitter is aflutter with amusing tweets about stocking up with groceries for the coming storm. Are you ready for Snowmageddon? What are your favorite things to eat or drink during a blizzard? (Don’t even think about losing power, in which case all bets are off!)

Wegmans Coconut Cake

Wegmans Coconut Cake

One woman said she’d sent her husband to the supermarket and was afraid she’d never see him again. Another reveled in having ordered from FreshDirect, so she didn’t have to go to the market. I told everyone to stock up on Wegmans coconut cake. We all had an amusing exchange on Planet Princeton, which, by the way, is the best storm center for up to date Princeton-area developments.

My girlfriend Miriam and I love this cake and she’s lucky enough to live not too far from Wegmans. That was too far for me to go today (and I just can’t deal with that parking lot on the weekend even under normal circumstances), but fortunately I’d baked malted milk chocolate brownies yesterday, for a column I’m planning to write closer to spring. So I’m set for sweets.

Malted Milk Chocolate Brownie

Malted Milk Chocolate Brownie

I also have wonderful leftovers from a dinner of baked bbq chicken thighs and Anson Mills grits last night.

Chicken & Grits

Chicken & Grits

Anyway, as my friends will tell you (with an eye roll), my cupboards and refrigerator (and freezer) are always overflowing with food, and I could survive for weeks on what I have on hand. But since a Bahadurian never met a market she or he didn’t like, I did stop into Lucy’s today for a big loaf of rustic bread to go with some new harvest olive oil I’d recently ordered from Olio2Go. And a container of their incomparable clam sauce. Just in case.


Grits and Greens

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20150128_182446Even though I’ve resolved to avoid approaching food as medicine, I know I need to get more fruit and vegetables into my diet. I was off to a good start with the vegetables last fall, but then, as the cold and dark closed in, I got lazy, and started hitting the carbs more instead. Bad girl!

So now I’m turning a new, er, leaf (sorry!), so a few days ago I stocked up on southern greens, spinach, and broccoli & cauliflower florets at Trader Joe’s. I immediately cooked the greens, with some sweet white onion and garlic, so I could enjoy them with my leftover Anson Mills grits and roasted chicken thighs smothered in FunniBonz barbecue sauce (“Spicy,” thank you.)

When my brother was about 15 he started asking my mother to make grits for breakfast occasionally on the weekend. (He’s now a great cook himself.) Where on earth did that come from?, we wondered. He’s told me since, but I can’t remember. And I can’t remember if I even tried them then, but now I love my grits, and, of course, polenta. And just today, in a very favorable review of SweetGrass restaurant in Hopewell, the New York Times reviewer said, “Sometimes a server will have to talk a customer into trying the grits. Please, New Jersey, try the grits.” I agree!

 

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Slow Food Market on Saturday 10am-2pm

Bostock Rocked My World

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(This article appeared in the February 27 print edition of the Packet, but never went online, so I am publishing it below.)

Bostock Rocked My World

20150202_135044I’m not exactly sure where I first came across bostock, but I believe it was at either salon.com or the kitchn.com. This take on baked French toast does seem to  be of French origin, but I can’t determine how it got its English sounding name, and I’ve never seen it on a local menu. But even online, it was love at first sight.

Bostock, or “brioche aux amandes,” is a delicious way to use up brioche on the verge of staleness, should you actually have that kind of problem in your kitchen. But believe me, it’s worth buying a loaf or rolls of the rich, buttery bread just to make this dish.

Fat slices are brushed with syrup, slathered with almond cream, and then topped with sliced almonds. Slide it into the oven until the almond cream puffs up and browns, and you’ve got a terrific pastry that will win accolades from family and friends. For entertaining, it’s easy to make trays of it ahead of time to serve at room temperature.

Although I have hundreds of cookbooks, none of them seem to have a recipe for this dish, but there are many online, including a walnut/fig version from last September’s Bon Appétit magazine. It’s one of those dishes that you can read up on, and then “make your own,” as I did.

The recipe below is a mashup from several sources. I’ve annotated it to show some of the variations you might want to consider. Feel free to adapt the flavorings as you like. Most versions, including one credited to Pierre Hermé in Paris, include orange flavoring in the syrup. (I notice that their website currently offers a lemon-hazelnut version.) Other recipes omit that or go whole hog by adding a teaspoon of orange flower water and a little orange juice along with the zest. I also found recipes that use brown sugar instead of white in the syrup, and one that adds a touch of honey, too.

Some renditions make the almond cream (or “frangipane”) with ground almonds, but others use almond paste, which can be purchased in cans or tubes. Just don’t use marzipan, as it is too sweet here. I do like the addition of almond extract for more pronounced flavor, but feel free to use half almond and half vanilla extract if you think you might like that better.

Another way to vary this dish is by spreading a thin layer of jam (bitter marmalade, blackberry, maybe ginger preserves?) after brushing on the syrup but before spreading the almond cream.

Don’t be put off by the number of components in bostock. It’s easy to make the syrup and almond cream ahead of time, and they’ll keep in the fridge for weeks. Then, whenever you want, you can assemble a batch in minutes. I call that downright dangerous.

Bostock Recipe

While you could substitute egg-based challah (although it lacks the butter that’s in brioche), I have seen brioche loaves and rolls at Whole Foods recently (near the cheese/coffee counter), plus Wegmans makes decadent craquelin brioche, which is what I used here. Better bakeries make brioche dough in house for their pastries, as does The Gingered Peach in Lawrenceville, but may not normally have it on hand in loaf form. But they’re happy to take a special order, as are gourmet markets like Lucy’s Kitchen and Market in Princeton. F.B.

Almond Cream:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup almond meal (you could also use almond paste, but not marzipan)

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 large egg

1 teaspoon almond or orange liqueur (I used Amaretto; one source even suggested rum)

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

Syrup:

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup water

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons almond or orange liqueur

1 teaspoon pure almond or vanilla extract

1 loaf brioche (or rolls, cut in half)

Sliced almonds

Garnish: Powdered sugar, to dust on top (I used coarse pearl sugar instead, from King Arthur Flour, for extra crunch.)

Almond cream: Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in almond meal. Sift in flour and cornstarch; mix to combine. Add egg and mix until even and smooth. Add liqueur and extract. Chill for a while, covered, to firm up slightly; until ready to use.

Syrup: In a small saucepan mix together sugar, water and lemon juice, bring to a boil and simmer until syrupy. Turn off heat. Add zest, liqueur, and extract. Set aside to cool.

20150202_132035Assemble: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice bread into 3/4- to 1 1/2-thick slices, or set halved rolls cut side up. Brush with syrup. Spread 2-3 tablespoons almond cream on each slice, spread not quite to edges. Top with almonds, pressing them gently.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until puffy and golden. Cool on a rack 8 minutes (if you can wait that long!). Dust with powdered or pearl sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.20150202_140725



Been busy

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Between one thing and another, I’ve not found time for NJ SPICE writing. But I’ve sure been enjoying some great meals!

Brunch at Cugino’s Cafe 72 in Ewing, where I had shrimp and grits and my friend chicken & waffles.

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I broke the fried egg too soon!

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Dinner at Blue Point Grill with my brother and sister-in-law:

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Grilled sardines

Made some yummy slow-cooker Mexican pork:
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And some rhubarb strawberry crisp:

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And, oh, made a glorious hot mess eating this spaghetti and crab at Papa’s Tomato Pies (review coming soon, in Packet):

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Strawberry Daze

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My friend Betty and I couldn’t resist stopping by a roadside stand for strawberries the other day, since they just came into season.

When I was about 14 or so, my parents planted a large strawberry patch. I promptly developed an allergy to them, so could never have any. How cruel is that? Somehow, though, years later I outgrew that allergy. But meanwhile, I just never cared much for strawberry flavored things, preferring chocolate, citrus, and more “exotic” flavors. (I felt the same about vanilla for years, then had an epiphany.)

I have enjoyed the occasional wild strawberry, and grew some lovely ones (fraises des bois type) myself several years ago. Not much yield, but delicious. The ones you buy in the supermarket…well, I just won’t usually bother with those. But I decided it was time to embrace strawberries and make strawberry jam, as Betty does each year.

Hers works, because she’s practiced, and uses Certo. She’s got it down! She makes a “Strawberry Glacé Pie” too, which I’ve never tried. (hint hint!)

I tend to run at making preserves in an impulsive and disorganized way. I do always have various jars on hand. I used to use paraffin, but if I have any now, it’s buried in a crafts box somewhere. I have bought some Weck jars here and there, and bought a pretty Italian Bormioli jar the other day at HomeGoods, but I really avoid having to boil jars, empty or full. I just shove my jars in the fridge after I fill them and they cool.

I find the instructions in Certo and Sure-Jell intimidating, so many charts and measurements! My eyes glaze over and my brain checks out as soon as I start unfolding those package inserts. So I usually rely on reducing (i.e. cooking down) and the natural pectin in fruits. But, even though I’m usually pretty lucky, this batch didn’t gel up properly.

However, it is so delicious, with the berries, vanilla, and shot of lemon juice, that I wasn’t willing to re-cook it to add a dose of the powdered Sure-Jell I had on hand. I’d sprinkled a little of that on the berries at the end of cooking, thinking it was still way too soupy, even after cooking a good 20 minutes. But obviously I should’ve used more.

The reason for the fail? Maybe I made too much at once (2 quarts of berries, 8 cups halved), or skimped a bit on the sugar (short supply on hand), or maybe it was that the berries were so ripe and juicy. Probably a combination of all those, but I have to say, I will easily use every drop of this jam, even if I have to spoon it on toast! (Which I did, as you’ll see in the gallery below.) It’s great over the brownie bites you see here, and it will be awesome on vanilla ice cream or yogurt…let me count the ways.

I previously wrote about Marisa McClellan, author of Preserving by the Pint, on NJ Spice, after seeing her at the Whole Earth Center, and she’s got a slew of recipes on her website, including the one I used for my strawberries. Her approach is perfect for my type of “non-technical” preserving, although she has reams of more advanced information, too.

But as I said, I cheated a bit on the sugar, and got impatient. I’m sure it would have thickened eventually, but the color and flavor were so good, I hated to go too far past that optimal point. Know what I mean? So I did the Hail Mary with the powdered Sure-Jell and yanked it off the heat a minute or two later. Maybe next time I’ll make her strawberry preserves with balsamic vinegar and black pepper!

A quick rinse Note the scraped vanilla bean A furious boil (and I did not skim the foam) In the jars, bean and all Spooning on toast Great over brownie bites!

July’s Best Bites

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Considering how much time I spend at home hiding from the heat, I still managed to enjoy a few casual meals out in July. And, after rushed forays to the market, I cooked up a storm in my kitchen – Central A.C., I love you! (I try not to abuse the A.C., but am just too miserable … Continue reading

And the winners are….

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The results are in from today’s Peach Pie Contest at the West Windsor Community Farmers Market. Best Tasting Pie went to Christina Krowicki; Prettiest Pie to Annette Osterlund; Most Creative Pie to Christina Krowicki. Runners Up: Best Tasting Sandy Duffy, Prettiest Kathryn Daniels, Most Creative Sandy Duffy. (For some great photos, visit the Market’s Facebook … Continue reading

My three-day cookathon & first chocolate babka

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I’m notorious for my aversion to hot weather. I’ve stayed home in my central air conditioning all day this summer about as much as I stayed in during our recent icy winter. Fortunately I am not easily bored, I can always find something to do, and am also making up for all the years I … Continue reading

Recipe of the Month – Farro Salad with Roasted Eggplant, Caramelized Onion, and Pine Nuts

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Did you miss me? I somehow got an early-season flu so have been out of commission for nearly a week! My advice: Get your flu shot early, very early. I usually wait until mid or late October but next year I won’t. I mentioned this salad in my recent post about my three-day cookathon, and wanted to … Continue reading

November Recipe Of the Month – braised escarole with beans

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Okay, I’m cheating a bit here, I actually made this dish in October, but enjoyed leftovers into November. I even added a random can of gigante beans at the end since I had still more escarole to use up. Braised escarole with white beans is a classic preparation and while I always have beans (dry and … Continue reading

March Recipe Of The Month-Sour Cream Cardamom Cherry Cake

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This all started because I had some pricey “European Style” sour cream from the Whole Earth Center to use up. It was just too good to waste. So I googled, and found a recipe on food52.com for Sour Cream Cardamom Pear Cake. As I started making the recipe, I noticed my butter and sugar were … Continue reading

West Windsor Community Farmers Market prepares for fifth indoor market

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Join The West Windsor Community Farmers Market as they wrap up a successful indoor farmers market season! The fifth of five indoor markets will be held on Saturday, April 9 at Windsor Athletic Club at 99 Clarksville Road in West Windsor from 10:00am-1:00pm. Enjoy a wide variety of hearty greens, salad mix, root vegetables mushrooms, … Continue reading

Been busy

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Between one thing and another, I’ve not found time for NJ SPICE writing. But I’ve sure been enjoying some great meals! Brunch at Cugino’s Cafe 72 in Ewing, where I had shrimp and grits and my friend chicken & waffles. Dinner at Blue Point Grill with my brother and sister-in-law: Made some yummy slow-cooker Mexican … Continue reading

Brotherly Love

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My brother Mark’s birthday is next week. It’s not a major one, but I thought this would be a good time to showcase some of the great meals he cooks at home. He goes to work very early in the morning, and will sometimes shoot me an email with a photo of the previous night’s … Continue reading

From “Cooking to Share” to “Cooking With Loula”

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I’m patting myself on the back for recognizing early on that Athens native  Alexandra Stratou’s Kickstarter campaign title, Cooking To Share, was a winner. That original self-published edition (she raised almost $40,000!) is worth almost double now, and I treasure my copy, which has some unusual graphic and binding touches. But now, just as I’d … Continue reading
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