Now Norma Knits

Pie Party

So there was this thing going around Facebook, and somehow I got invited to participate. This is what it said:

Please make pie. 

This happened spontaneously on Twitter and Facebook -- talking about pie. A clutch of us talked about how much we like pie, making it, and how sad it makes us that people are too afraid of pie crust to make pie. 

So we're making pie. And we want you to join in. 

Make a pie -- any pie you like -- before July 5th. Gluten-free crust, cornmeal crust, lard, butter, or whatever you like. Use a pre-made crust, if that makes it easier. Let it be imperfect. Just make a pie. 

On July 5th, post up a photo of your pie. If you have a blog, and you want to share the recipe, do a blog post. If you have a Facebook account, post the photos to your account and here. If you are on Twitter, post a photo. 

July 5th is pie day.* 
Join us.

I wanted to play. When the invitation came in, I had a nice box of giant, sweet, delicious peaches from Costco sitting in my kitchen, and I had the idea I'd make ginger-peach pie. I searched for a recipe and found this one, which looks pretty awesome. 

But then a day went by and between me putting peaches into my blender drinks and David grazing, we were down to three lonely peaches. The ones in the regular grocery store are just pathetic and hard and tasteless, and no self-respecting pie baker would use them in her pies. 

And then it just so happened that my black raspberries were ready to be picked on Sunday. It simply had to be that I used them in my pie. 

But then I realized that having a big ole pie sitting around here was the last thing I wanted. Pie for a project is one thing, but going that far off my diet was not something I wanted to do, because I know myself. Oh yes, I do. I know that I would down that thing all by myself in 24 hours. I know no shame when it comes to sweets. I am just better off not having them anywhere around. 

But fresh black raspberry pie! And for an online party! How could I not?!

So I compromised. Instead of making a regular pie, I made three little rustic single-serving pielets in ramekins. And oh, is my waistline glad that I did not go for the whole pie, because this thing was so delicious I d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y would have guzzled the whole thing down. 

I used a lard crust, because last year when I was visiting Paula in Nova Scotia, and going all authentic Acadian-like, I made and ate the first lard crust of my life, and it was the best piecrust I had ever had. I never thought I would want anything but my mother's style of shortening piecrust in my life, so that was a big pie revelation. Though I can definitely get into a butter-based tart crust, in my mind that is a different topic. Pies and tarts are two different species, much like black raspberries and blackberries are. (see discussion below)

So I made a half recipe of lard-based piecrust, and I made a little bit of black raspberry filling (I used 2 1/4 cups black raspberries, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 T. instant tapioca, and some lime juice. I combined these things in a bowl and let them sit and blend for a while before putting them into my little crust-lined ramekins and baked them at 375F... Um, I didn't record the time, because that is just the way I roll. I think it was about 45 minutes. I had way too much filling for the three ramekins, which was really unfortunate, because I had to eat it off a spoon. Oh, darn.

It being hot and humid, the piecrust was just NOT going to be pretty, and so I made like Julia Child and called it "rustic." I just shoved pieces of crust in there all willy-nilly, patching it up as I went. I intended to have a little bit of rustic lattice on the top, but I ran out of crust. So it came out to be sort of a, um, rustic equal sign. 

Equality pie! Pie for one and all!

Holy Acadian housewife that was delicious Batman. 

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Now, we've had this discussion before, the one about the difference between black raspberries and blackberries, but I imagine it bears repeating, since a large part of the world has apparently never heard of a black raspberry. 

They are two different species, and have very different flavors. 

This is the Rubus occidentalis, or the black raspberry, that I have in my yard. They are much smaller than blackberries, rounder, and when you pick them, they readily separate from their core thingy, or

From Wikipedia:  The black fruit makes them look like blackberries, though this is only superficial, with the taste being unique and not like either the red raspberry or the blackberry. In much of the Mid-Atlantic United States, black raspberries are simply called blackberries, even though they are not. (Could the writer of this article be implying that those people in the Mid-Atlantic don't quite have all their faculties? Maybe.)

 

This is a BlackBerry. Please note the capital B in the middle of the word, which tells you that you would want to avoid putting this into your pie. Putting it into your washing machine should be avoided, too. #soresubject

These are really blackberries. Without a side-by-side comparison photo, it's hard to see that these are much bigger and more oval than black raspberries. They are juicier, I guess, and though I have hardly ever eaten any blackberries in my life because I usually find them too bitter, I think they have no seeds, but they DO have their core, or botanically speaking, the carpel, inside. Black raspberries leave their carpel on the stem when you pick them. Or put another way, as Wikipedia does, they are "readily separated from their carpel." 

What is a carpel, you ask? Before you click on this link, be aware that it is a highly x-rated drawing. Some people might be alarmed and dismayed to know how sexual their fruit really is. 

Personally, I like having my berry separated from my carpel as often as possible black raspberries much more than blackberries. I find them so much more flavorful. They do have a metric tonne of seeds in them per quart, though, which can be annoying as hell in something like a pie. 

But the flavor is worth every crunchy, OH MY GOD AM I GOING TO HAVE TO GO TO THE DENTIST FOR A CROWN NOW? bite. 

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*Well, July 5th is a Tuesday, and Mr. Jefferies objects to talking about pie on his day, unless it's RABBIT PIE, so July 4th it is... Happy Pie Independence Day!

 

It's That Time of Year Again -- Time For The Rose Petal Jam

I was alerted by Sue H.M. in Facebook last night that she was bereft: "For the past few years, I've been googling 'rose petal jam Norma' to follow the link to the recipe you use (Because it's the best one. It yields superior results. I am superstitious.) but this year, recipegal has disappeared." And she was wondering whether I had the recipe written down. 

Well, dang. For at least a couple years, I too would follow my own link to recipegal, but at some point I must have worried that recipegal would disappear. Of course, I absolutely did not remember doing this, but it JUST.SO.HAPPENED that yesterday I was looking for something in my clothes closet (a pair of cargo shorts that I usually wear gardening), and I ran across a little laminated copy of the Rose Petal Jam recipe. I still did not find the shorts, but there in my clothes closet (a most logical place, I'm sure you would agree) was the recipe that later in the day Sue would ask for. 

This must be a sign from God, much like these signs from God. But I digress. 

Back to the rose petal jam -- which also, I firmly believe, is a sign from God. Or the devil. One of these super-powerful guys. 

(Photo taken in the dark, after I got the panic call from Sue.)

This is a BANNER YEAR for my rosa rugosa, and shame on me, I have not yet made jam. I am trying to stay away from sugary things, but really, this is so special and seasonal a delicacy, I should just get over it and make some. 

Here's the recipe. It is truly the best. Don't fall for anything that is called "rose petal jelly." It's not the same at all. That steeps rose petals in water to get the "essence" and then makes jelly that basically (in my opinion) has no flavor whatsoever.

This one uses the whole petals and fresh lemon juice and sugar, and makes a fridge or freezer jam. In other words, you have to keep it in the refrigerator or freezer for optimum deliciousness and keeping abilities. The only part of the jam that is cooked is the pectin, so it's raw-ish and oh, so deLISH.

Several people have asked me to describe the flavor. It is really hard to describe. It's floral, it's tangy, it's sweet. It is its own special, amazing flavor sensation. When you take a jar out of the freezer and eat some of it in the middle of winter, it is like summer on a spoon. 

NOTES:  This makes a small batch. I am working strictly on memory here, but I think I only get about five 4-ounce jars from one batch. It'll be interesting to see if I can make this successfully in the Vitamix, which is miles more powerful than the old Osterizer I had. Perhaps I should pull that old putt-putt out of the Goodwill box after all. Hm.. Another sign from God? I didn't bring it to the Goodwill yet. 

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The Best Damn

ROSE PETAL JAM

In All The Land

Magical, I tell you!

1 cup fresh rose petals (Can be any kind of roses*, but must not have been sprayed with any chemicals)

3/4 cup water X 2 

Juice of one lemon

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 package of powdered pectin (e.g., Sure Jell)

 

Put rose petals, 3/4 c. water, and lemon juice in a blender jar. Puree until smooth. (Marvel at the color. It will knock your socks off.)

Slowly add sugar. Blend until all sugar has dissolved. 

Pour this rose syrup mixture into a large bowl. 

In a small saucepan, stir 1 package pectin into 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, and boil HARD for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Pour pectin mixture into syrup and stir it in gently but quickly. It sets up fast. Work fast to pour it into jars before it gets too thick and gloppy. 

I'm not kidding about that. Work fast!  

Put covers on the jars. Let set for 6 hours (says the original recipe -- I find it sets faster than that), till firm. Refrigerate for use up to one month; freeze for longer-term storage. 

 

--This recipe was originally taken from a site called recipegal.com, which seems to no longer be in existence.

*Except white. If you use white (I have tried), you end up with a jar full of something that looks like it might be found at a urologist's or fertility specialist's office. It still tastes great, but the looks of it will kill you. Probably yellow roses should be added to that "do not use" list too. In fact, I will state right here: Stick with red or very deep pink. You'll be glad you did.

 

 

 

 

Now We're Talking

So I'm back on the Clean program. Yadda yadda. I hope this time I can really stick out the 21 days. Last time I think I lasted 5, and it was GOOD, very GOOD. I'm not sure if I ever wrote anything about it here, because I wasn't sure how committed to it I was at the time. Maybe I did write about it -- I just don't remember, and I don't care to go searching through my archives to find out -- because it's a new day, a new year, ya know?

That last time was a great time of year to do this program, because I had all the produce for the large volume of green juicing that is required, right out in my back yard in my own garden. I had to stop the program because of the beginning of The Campaign (you know the one), and I've just been waiting for the time when I could fit this into my lifestyle again. And that time is here. Sadly, being in Vermont in the middle of winter means I do not have the freshest produce available, and I have to pay through the nose for it. But regardless, I've really been wanting to get back on this, and it's actually not so expensive because you are hardly eating anything anyway. Heh.

I know that this may be your personal form of hell, and you may not be interested in listening to this crap, and I'm certainly not going to be proselytizing. [After I wrote this last night, I started reading blogs, and wouldn't you know I ended up finding a couple of my dear friends writing somewhat similar posts, though they are addressing slightly different angles. And why do we feel it necessary to apologize for writing about our health -- and yes, I'll say it like Claudia did -- vanity -- goals in our knitting blogs, huh?]

But for those who are interested, I figure I'll share some of what's going on here. I won't go on in nauseating detail, I promise. And the program won't dominate the blog, either. I promise. You do not want to hear about all the peeing and pooping that is a part of this thing. Or do you?

The reason I've been waiting to get back on it is because it's the first time in many years that I have felt like I made a breakthrough. Diet, diet, diet, [supposedly] clean living, lifting, gardening, yoga, walking, hiking, diet, diet, diet, [supposedly] clean living, exercise. No, I'm not in the gym every minute of every day, but I make a good effort, I really do.

And for the last five years or so no matter what I have done I could not budge the scales. Could not BUDGE them. Maybe I could lose 3 or 4 pounds, but then I'd put them back on again. I'm strong and I'm flexible, and my weight has remained quite stable -- at least there is that -- and I'm not obese, but I'm at the top range of what can be considered healthy for a woman of my size -- or at least in MY opinion and from my perspective -- and I just cannot bring it down. And I want to. 

Mind you, I do love my sweets and my pastries. And the funny thing is, I could eat and eat and eat whatever I wanted, and I'd stay the same weight. I'd go on the Zone Diet or South Beach or my own calorie-counting based on the guidelines given to me on eDiets.com (1,300 calories), the Blood Type Diet -- you name it -- and I would stick to them hard -- OR I would go off the deep end and totally pig out -- and I would still stay the same. I was starting to believe that old Set Point Theory from the early '80s was correct -- i.e., my body "wants" to be this weight and nothing I can do will change that.

"Eat or not eat -- your choice. At this stage of your life, you are going to be 143 pounds no matter what." [I tried to come up with a clever take on Yoda's "do or not do -- there is no try," but try as I might, I just couldn't do it.]

Anywayyyyyy. 

Then along came this cleanse, and in 5 days I finally broke the sound barrier -- or the fat barrier -- or the puffiness barrier -- or whatever it is that was hanging on. It was huge. I lost 10 pounds, felt great, and I kept it off until that dreaded campaign, and then the holidays, and then the vacation, put it all back on. And guess where I am after all that overindulging? Yep. The exact same weight that I've fought against for the last half a decade or more. 

It's not just the weight I want to change -- it's the other stuff I'm fighting. "Stuff" = aging. Heh. I want my skin back. It has gone a bit south, and I want it back. I don't know if that's possible, what with menopause knocking at my door, but I hope it is. I definitely want that muffin top over my jeans and my bra straps to be gone. And I have not dared to have my blood lipids tested, but I want them to be where they should be too. And I want to feel squeaky and shiny and bright and clean, inside and out, right down to a cellular level. 

So now I'm back on Clean. Going to see what it does, and whether it stays. (Of course it won't if I go back to eating half a cake a day and if I lose my perennial battle with diet soda again, but I hope I won't, eh?)

So. Day No. 3 is where we are at. 

But here's the thing: I really hate some of the recipes in the book. Really hate. So I'm going to modify them slightly, and I'll tell you how in a minute.

I repeat, I know that for many of you, this entire concept is the very definition of hell, but for me it's not so bad. I'm a big greenhead anyway, so the wide variety of greens to be consumed do not scare me. Dandelions? Bring 'em on! (and they are available in my green grocery stores!) Kale? More! More! Even fennel, which is not exactly my favorite thing, was just PERFECT in my kale-fennel-pea sprout salad with grilled tuna steak for lunch yesterday. The middle-of-the-day meals are pretty awesome, actually.

The green drinks that are required each day, I won't lie: I have to pretty much hold my nose and choke them down. But I do that willingly, and they make me feel great and believe it or not they stay with me for an entire morning, so they're worth it.

Now we will get to the recipes that make me ask the question to Alejandro (you see, we are of course on a first-name basis): WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??? They are all ugh, ugh, ugh. The worst things EVER.  

I am referring to the soups and many of the smoothie recipes. Mostly the soup. And really, it doesn't take much change to suddenly make it better. The problem is, Alejandro, you add wayyyyyyy too much water. I absolutely can't drink them. (They're not really soup -- they are monstrously watered-down vegetable smoothies or something -- but he calls them soup, so work with me here.)

But last night I fiddled with one of the recipes. Or I fiddled with the concept and came up with my own recipe for something that resembles soup and still fulfills all the tenets of the program, i.e., full of organic greens and other good things, including raw garlic and lemon juice and avocado, and it's raw, to maintain the enzymes.

It looks like this:

...and it has some substance and is warmish and is palatable. Seriously. 

And Alejandro darling, if you want me to drink 4 cups of water, I will do it AFTER my soup, plain old water. Not titanically watered-down soup. Thank you. 

Here is the recipe, which I split into two portions and saved the other portion for tomorrow.

Avocado/Garlic/Kale Soup a la CLEAN Program (according to Norma)

2 sticks celery, cut up

2 leaves kale, cut up

1 avocado, peeled and cut up

1 large garlic clove, crushed

juice of half a lemon

1/4 teasp. sea salt

1 cup filtered water, heated in the microwave until it's hot but not boiling

 

Put the first six ingredients in a blender. Pour the warm water over them. Blend for a few minutes.

Drink. Or you could even EAT IT WITH A SPOON, which, you know, makes it seem more like SOUP than that other stuff which just seems like sewage. 

Now drink the gallon of water (hyperbole there) that the stupid recipes in the book tell you to put in the damn "soup."  

Maybe I'm wrong, but it would seem to serve the same purpose without the gag reflex kicking in. And I actually enjoyed it and got my raw garlic in for the day, as well. 

There. Now, wasn't that easy?

You're welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

Zesty!

We had the most marvelous evening with friends last night. So much needed that even as we were walking from the car to their front door, I was already giggling -- even BEFORE I had the wine -- and I daresay I have not giggled in a few days. We opened the bottle of the Little Black Dress wine that I mentioned the other day/week/whatever, and I must say it went down quite nicely. We had lots of laughs and lots of strategy talk and lots of gossip. Just.about.perfect!!!!  

My friend Chris claims to not be much of a baker, but she served us some delicious lemon cake. Her only problem with it is that she says it's not rising as much as it should. This is her third try, and she was about to throw away the recipe.  

That's my crappy Blackberry photo of it. It's out of focus, but it tasted REALLY GREAT. Very lemony and almost shortbready for the cake part -- couldn't be better, in my book.  But she'd like it to look more like it looks in the photo in the magazine where she got the recipe -- it is considerably thicker in that photo. She said she tried new baking powder and baking soda, with no change.  

I told her no, don't throw away the recipe!  It was really too delicious. Let me see if some of the master bakers who read my blog can try it and see if it works out, or if indeed there is a mistake in the recipe. (Recipe appears in Victoria magazine, September 2002) 

Here it is:

Meyer Lemon Cake

1 1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter

1 c. sugar

2 large eggs

1 T. Meyer lemon zest

3 T. Meyer lemon juice

1 t. vanilla or lemon extract

1 c. unsifted all-purpose flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/8 t. salt

1/3 c. sour cream

 

For the decorative icing: 

1 c. confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 to 2 T. fresh lemon juice

 

Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a deep 9-inch cake pan or coat it with vegetable cooking spray.

In a bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract.  Into another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the liquid, stirring until well incorporated.  Stir in the sour cream and blend well. 

Transfer the batter to the pan and bake for 30-40 mins. or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. let cool in the pan for 5 mins. and invert it onto a rack to cool completely.

Make the icing:  Into a bowl, sift the confectioners' sugar.  Add 1 1/2 T of the lemon juice and stir the mixture until smooth and glossy, adding more lemon juice if necessary. Drizzle the icing over the cake and let dry before serving.  

 

It's Thursday, It's Hot. That's About All There Is To Say.

Except I managed to pick enough rose petals to make one more batch of rose petal ice cream yesterday. That is the sugar-and-petal paste that is used in the ice cream. Isn't that just one of the most pretty things you've ever seen? And if you think that's something, you should smell it!

Here is a link to the recipe I've been using:

Rose Petal Ice Cream

And it is AWESOME.

And yes, for the umpteen-thousandth time, you can use any rose petals. (Not that I'm cranky or anything.) Doesn't have to be rugosa. As long as they are not sprayed with chemicals and are fragrant! The fragrance is an essential element to that whole nose/tastebud relationship thing going on. 

And here, just because it made me feel better, a photo of ice:

Hello, ice. Will you sleep with me?  

This Could Be The Beginning of Something Big*

Oh, dear. (Seems like I have started a lot of posts with this type of statement lately.)

The other day when I did the rose petal jam tutorial, I received this comment:

       Ya know, I'm thinking that rose petal syrup would make for an amazing sorbet..

• Commenter name: Kristen

I have not been able to get that idea out of my head. And further, I got the idea to look for recipes for rose petal ice cream as well. And I didn't stop there. I looked for recipes for very special, very unique ice creams and sorbets that can make use of the flowers and herbs that I grow.  And I found them; oh yes, I did. 

Longish story short, I spent a good part of my afternoon the other day searching my cupboards, closets, and basement (you have no idea) for the ice cream maker that I know I once had, but have almost never used -- I certainly have not used it since we moved into this house in 1987. In fact, a good number of those years I was dairy-free, and though I could have made sorbet or something with rice milk or coconut milk or something, it just never tempted me much. 

I'm really not that much of an ice cream girl. Really, I'm not. Buuuuuuuuuuutttttttt, you know how I love to use things from my garden. And you know how crazy I am for the rose flavor. And the herbs. And since I've reincorporated some dairy into my diet over the past two or three years, I've kind of been on a little bit of an ice cream kick -- well, for me, that is, which means that I have a pint or two, rather in binge fashion, (no, I'm not proud of this) every few months.  

Anyway, all I found in my search was the freezer bowl, but not the motor or paddles or whatever else might have come with it.  And somehow or another I placed an order for one of these.  

And then you know exactly what happened, don't you? Of course after the KitchenAid attachment was already shipped and it was too late to cancel my order, I found my old ice cream maker. And thanks to the Internet, I found the manual. 

Oops.

So the new KitchenAid attachment arrived in ONE DAY. I may return the KitchenAid attachment, but I'm pretty sure I'll just keep both. The new one is already in the freezer, getting ready for making a batch of sorbet today. That way I can have two batches running at one time, and of course I will NEED that, because OMG, I have found quite a few little unusual and unique-sounding recipes, all of which I'm excited to try, and all of which will use my home-grown flowers and herbs and will be a TON of fun to make (not to mention eat). Here, I'll share a decadent little list with you, starting of course with the stars of the show:

Rose Petal Sorbet  Please note this recipe contains both champagne and blackberry jam. *swoon*

Rose Petal Ice Cream I made this the other night. If I could, I would marry it. I want it to melt all over... oh, never mind. I made a second batch yesterday, and if it's at all possible, the second batch is even better than the first, because I let it process in the ice cream maker longer. I will add that I think having the upright freezer has made all the difference in how much I enjoy making the ice cream. When I was attempting to do this before, I had only the small freezer at the top of my refrigerator. In addition to having to fight for space and the ice cream maker bowl being a space hog, the bowl probably never got frozen enough. Now the job is easy. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

Lavender-Honey Ice Cream

Lavender-Lemon Ice Cream I could go on with the lavender varieties, because the recipes for lavender frozen treats seem to be quite abundant, but you get the idea.

Rosemary-Honey Ice Cream

Dark Chocolate-Rosemary Ice Cream

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

Basil Ice Cream

Strawberry-Basil Ice Cream

Sage Ice Cream I love that blog post for describing and explaining my thoughts about making these unusual ice cream flavors, to a tee.

I think I'll stop writing now and go for a workout. I'm gonna need it.

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*I mean my waist. Or as my friend Stephanie said the other night, "I have a front yard full of roses and an ice cream maker. This could get ugly for my hips."

I've decided to (on occasion -- come on, we can't go overboard here!) follow the Pollan rule of "Go ahead and eat junk food or rich food, as long as you make it yourself."  Making my own ice cream takes a long day, or two days. Buying a pint takes all of five minutes. I figure if I make it myself, I'll eat less.  But after having tasted my homemade ice cream, (and seeing how easy it is with the "good" freezer) I can see how this rule may quickly spiral out of control. 

Beet It!

This is your chance to tell us your love of, your hatred of, your gaggy, your wonderful, beet stories. Have a picture of a baby smeared with beets? Leave us a link here in the comments. Leave us recipes, or links to them.

I Hate Beets stories are welcome here, too, but mostly, tell us why you love beets! We wanna hear about red flannel hash and beet chocolate cake and pickled beets and borscht and Harvard beets and beet juice and beet salads and beet-greens-with-bacon, and family memories and family recipes.  

One of my favorite stories about beets is one I read in a memoir about the Holocaust. I cannot remember whose memoir it was anymore, but I remember the beet story -- how 'bout that? The author told a story that there was only one person she knew who came back from the Holocaust in better shape than he went in -- he was a person who had suffered all his adult life from ulcers and was sickly and underweight when he went to the concentration camp. When he returned, he was the picture of health. He said the only thing they had to eat was raw beets, and they served to heal his ulcers, so he ended up getting healthy and strong and was able to survive the camp and come home, to everyone's surprise.

Here's a link to my aunt's "famous" pickled beets. I make the family pickled beets now, and if I don't bring them to every holiday dinner, I'm in TROUBLE. If you think you don't like beets, pickled beets might be your entrée into the world of loving beets. They are sweet-sour, with a lovely pickling spice mix -- cinnamon, cardamom, [I think] cloves, mustard seed, bay.... I don't know all that's in it, but it's mmmmmmm.

Pickled beets are wonderful on their own, and they are wonderful thrown in salads, eaten with cottage cheese, thrown into a potato salad (it makes pink potato salad -- perfect for a bridal shower IMHO), eaten straight from the jar!!!  

I only planted a small plot of beets this year (half of a 3X3-foot grow bed), and so if I don't get on the stick and plant more, I will be IN TROUBLE because I won't have any to pickle. One year I cheated and bought beets at my green grocer, but last year I tried that and they had a terrible beet-growing year and there weren't enough there, either. So two days ago I planted another plot of them for a late-summer harvest, and I'm going to plant even more in the next week or so. We love them!

The beets that were in the picture on Tuesday became this for dinner that night --

-- which, due to the limitations of home food photo styling, may not look nearly as good as it tasted, and I apologize for that. 

It was a locavore meal of a Boyden beef burger, a piece of Mad River Grain bread from the Red Hen Bakery* (though as I mentioned the other day after my visit to the research farm, it is unlikely that the flours in this bread are Vermont-grown), and our own beets and beet greens and onions. I boiled the small beets and slipped the skins off to serve them with the greens which had been braised with our young onions in a small bit of grapeseed oil and sprinkled with just a few drops of balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. 

Beet greens might be a bit of a hard sell to people who don't like greens, but I love them. When I grew up, my mother would boil them in the baby stage with the baby beets still attached, and with a small piece of salt pork added. I still love them that way. I often love to cook a couple pieces of bacon, then braise the greens in some olive oil with garlic and onions, and then fold in the bacon pieces and then sprinkle with lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. These are tricks to deal with greens that can sometimes be a bit bitter. They're the same tricks I use with dandelion greens. Beet greens are not as bitter as dandelion greens, but they are more bitter than spinach. Baby beet greens are not bitter, and are wonderful fresh in salads, and are a fabulous addition to mesclun seed mixes.  

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*I eat almost no grains, but a loaf of this scrumptious bread is an almost-weekly treat nowadays. It is soooo good, and I keep the size of the slices to a minimum, and we make a loaf last at least three days, hard as it is to hold back from eating the whole thing in one go. 

We Interrupt This Program About Beets

...to stop and smell the roses. Remember when I trimmed the Rosa rugosa this spring? They looked rather pathetic and denuded then:

But baby, look at them now!

The bushes are the most beautiful I've ever seen them, and the petals are larger than ever before. Apparently it's been a great weather year for the roses. I knew the pruning would do them good. And how! 

So you know what that means in this blog: It's time to make the rose petal jam. This is one of the blog's most popular topics, so perhaps it's time, after all these years, to give a little rose petal jam tutorial. 

It's a delicate jam due to the fact that it is fresh and not cooked. Only the pectin is cooked, and then is added to the fresh petals, lemon juice & sugar mixture. If it were cooked, the flavor and color would suffer terribly, and in my mind would make it not worth the effort and the cost of the ingredients. There are some cooked rose jellies on the market that are made from liquid infused from rose petals in boiling water. Not the same thing -- not by a long shot -- and in my opinion not worth my time. I did try once to put a batch in a hot-water bath to seal them to make them more shelf stable, and sadly it was a failure. 

All of that means that the shelf life for this jam is reduced, and it needs to be refrigerated or frozen for storage. This makes it a more expensive and precious commodity, compared to regular jam or jelly. 

Lots of people have said that I should sell my rose petal jam, but for all these reasons, it would not be suitable (and certainly not profitable) to make and sell on any sort of a large scale. It's relatively expensive to make (each batch makes not quite 4 8-ounce jars of jam). It's made in very small batches in the blender, and it's very much a seasonal delicacy -- limited to when the roses are in bloom and freshly picked. It also takes quite a few blossoms to make a batch, though not as many as I used to think. Being the farm girl I used to be, and having been accustomed to berry-picking for jam-making, I would go out with a big basket and pick 'til I was blue (or rather, red) in the face, and come in with a gorgeous overflowing heavily-scented basket of rose petals, many of which were not used, because I could not keep up with the lemons, sugar, pectin, jars, lids and time it took to process it all. 

So when it's a good year for the roses and when I have the time, I make as much as I can stand to make and savor it myself all year long and give it as gifts. Last year I used it as an incentive gift to people who donated $20 or more to the Red Scarf Fund for Foster Youth. I'm not saying that I will send you jam this year, but in case you feel the urge to press this button anyway, I'll make it easy for you:

And so, on with the tutorial.

First, you wash your jars. You don't need a picture of my washed jars, do you? No, I didn't think so.

Then you pick the roses. As I mentioned, I've smartened up now and I only pick what I need as I need them, one tightly packed cup at a time. Picking them in the morning after the dew has dried, but before the full heat of the day, is the best time. They need to have the plumpness of their natural moisture and can't sit around for long before being made into jam, or the product will suffer.


On the way to pick the roses, try not to get distracted by the fact that all of a sudden, out of nowhere, some of the black raspberries appear to have ripened.


Otherwise, you might find yourself picking and eating black raspberries instead of staying focused on the task at hand. Ahem.  

And here is what you do after that:

Rinse the rose petals in a colander, very briefly, and shake off as much of the water as you can.



Put them in the jar of your blender. One hopes you have a blender; otherwise you cannot make this jam. Well, at least I don't think so. Maybe a regular food processor will work, but I can't testify to that fact.


You really should have a blender. Otherwise, how will you make your frozen strawberry margaritas or whatever? They're cheap enough. Well, mine was. I've had it since about 1982. I'm guessing this was a wedding or a shower present or something. Imagine: I've got a vintage kitchen now, and I can't even remember where half of the stuff in it came from. That's a true sign that you're old. But it still works, and I make a fair number of smoothies and other good things with it, so it was a good purchase... or gift... or however I acquired it. 

Sorry. I get distracted easily nowadays. This explanation is really taking longer than the making of the batch of jam. I'll get back on task now, I promise.

But just let me tell you one thing: I do remember who gave me my [now vintage] electric wok. My aunt. For ....hm. Was that for the wedding or for the bridal shower? Don't remember. Are you frustrated with me yet? OK, back to task:

As you might have noticed in the photo above, one cup of tightly packed rose petals fluffs out to be quite a large volume when in the blender jar.

Now you should juice one lemon, and add its juice to the blender jar as well. Remove the pesky seeds first.

I could talk about my husband's Depression-era citrus reamer collection, but you'd probably click out of the blog if I got started on that dumb topic. So....let's just say that I never have to look far to find a reamer.  

Add 3/4 cup water to the petals and the lemon juice in the blender jar. Turn on the blender and puree until the mixture is beautifully bright pink and smooth. 


While that is whirring loudly away (maybe newer blenders don't make as much noise as mine does, but OMG is that LOUD!) measure out 2 1/2 cups of sugar (I know! It's a LOT! But it's necessary. Jam-making is chemistry and you can't change the proportions without mucking up the works. Oh, I'm sure someone is going to come in here and tell us we can use a different kind of pectin  -- tried that once -- DIS-ASS-TER, uck, tasted like CRAP!  or maybe you can use fake sugar or something, but I don't want to hear it. Sugar. Jam. You only eat a little bit of jam, and unless you're diabetic or something, you should just suck it up and eat it. You owe it to yourself to have the real thing, or not have it at all. Or not. Whatevs.)

I put my sugar into a bowl with a spout to make it easier for the next step, which is to slowly pour it into the blender jar while it's still processing.


This doesn't look like I'm pouring it SLOWLY, does it? But it's hard to do all this crap and plus take pictures with the camera at the same time, especially when it's a time-sensitive operation like making jam. I don't have a whole camera crew in my kitchen, ya know.
 
Next up, pour 3/4 cup water into a small saucepan, and stir in one packet of powdered pectin:



Stir it until all the lumps dissolve. Turn on the heat and bring it to a boil. When it reaches a full boil, time it for exactly one minute, stirring for much of the time.

Meanwhile, in the few seconds that you're not stirring the pectin, pour the rose-sugar syrup into a bowl -- with a pour spout is preferable if you have one, because you are then going to be pouring the jam into jars and you don't have a whole lot of time to do so. The original recipe says to leave it in the blender jar, but I have ruined too many batches that way, and so I'm telling you to put it in a bowl like I do.

When the pectin has boiled its one minute at a full boil, pour it into the rose syrup and stir it in. Do this quite fast, as it starts to set pretty quickly. (And in the blender jar it becomes a thick bunch of gloop; that's why I prefer the bowl.)
 

Before it turns into a big glob of gloop (you can't dilly-dally here), pour it into jars. A batch makes just short of 4 8-ounce jars, or some combination of 4-ounce and 8-ounce (or whatever) that is the equivalent. 


This year I have become a big fan of these plastic lids for my Ball canning jars -- well, that is, for things that don't need to be heat-processed or truly "sealed."  They are truly reusable, and that makes me a fan. Previously I have used metal rings and lids. The rings are reusable for a long time (till they rust), but the lids aren't. Well, they can be, but I always lose track of which ones are clean and which ones are not, and which ones have been hot-water-bath processed (can't be reused after that) and which ones have been cold-stored. 

This jam is not heat-processed, and is refrigerated or frozen, so I like these lids for it.

Next, if you are me, you take your jars, the result of your two batches made in a day, outside to try to artfully photograph them in the dimming light, while attempting to keep the family Yorkie out of the picture.




And if you are me, you have questionable success. 

------------
A sad P.S. :  The original recipe is NO LONGER ONLINE, or at least I can't find it, and the original domain where I found it, "recipegal.com," is for sale. Boy, am I glad I printed that thing out (in 2007, no less) and kept it in my cookbook, because all the other recipes and tutorials for rose petal jam (which are now quite abundant) online all look terrible to me -- they are all the COOKED kind or the JUICE or INFUSION kind. Blech. 

So I will print the entire recipe here, so you have it in a succinct form without all my crazy tutorial commentary. 

ROSE PETAL JAM

1 tightly packed cup of fresh rose petals which have not been sprayed with any pesticides
1 1/2 cups water (divided into two 3/4 cups)
1 packet powdered pectin
Juice of one lemon
2 1/2 cups sugar

Put fresh rose petals, lemon juice, and 3/4 cup water into a blender jar. Puree until petals are finely pulverized. Slowly add sugar, and leave blender on until all sugar is completely dissolved.  Meanwhile, pour 3/4 c. water into a small saucepan, and stir in pectin until completely dissolved. Heat to boiling. When it reaches a full boil, time it for exactly one minute, stirring much of the time. 

Pour the rose-sugar syrup into a large bowl with a pour spout. Pour the hot pectin into the rose syrup and stir thoroughly but quickly (it sets fast). Pour into clean jars. Let stand at room temperature for 6 hours. Refrigerate or freeze.

Makes just short of 32 ounces of jam. (4 8-ounce jars or about 7 4-ounce jars)





 

Another Day, Another Salad

Salad With Hot Canadian* Bacon Dressing

Pile mixed greens high on your plate. Add a nice serving of goat's cheese, some sliced red bell pepper and some chopped red cabbage -- or whatever veggies you have on hand. Arugula or baby spinach would be especially awesome in this salad.

Julienne three slices of Canadian bacon (I buy nitrate/nitrite-free Canadian bacon at Costco, and it's wonderful.) and fry it up in a little frying pan. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, pour in one part apple cider vinegar to two parts salad oil of your choice (I used grapeseed oil this time) in an amount that would make sense for dressing your large salad. Add a little dribble of maple syrup or a little bit of sugar (the sweet-salty-sour-umami in this salad is really goin' ON!) and some fresh-ground black pepper.  Pour this into the hot pan over the Canadian bacon.  Heat it up briefly and pour it all over your salad.  

Devour. 

Come back and thank me later. 

* Hot Canadians make amazing bacon! 

P.S. This also works great with back bacon, or our regular garden-variety American bacon. In this case, chop up the bacon before cooking it crisply, then add the oil & vinegar to it.

I Don't Have Much To Say...

except "oops, I did it again."

Started another garden. Here we have a rather sizable extension of the "tunnel o' summer squash and zucchini" that I started last week, with a sort of a bulb-shaped mound on the end that is now home to six pepper plants, one tomato, yet another zucchini, and several marigolds, nasturtiums, and chamomile. Yes, I was fairly busy this past weekend -- why do you ask?

...and....TRY THIS DRESSING!

Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

modified from Epicurean.com

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used smooth, without any sugar or hydrogenated anything or whatever other crap is found in p.b. Just peanuts and salt, thank you.) 1/2 cup cider vinegar  1 cup canola oil (I used half sunflower oil and half grapeseed oil instead) 12 packets Equal or 1/2 cup sugar (That seems like a lot of sugar, and I used a scant 1/2 cup. It really did add a nice dimension to the dressing, and I think it was necessary. I just console myself that I really don't use very much dressing on my salad, anyway.) 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh chili pepper or crushed red peppers (I used a combination of fresh ground three-peppercorn pepper and crushed red peppers, the kind you put on pizza or whatever) 2 T. chopped green onion

The salad I used this on was composed of Romaine from my garden (!) (I'm not even BRAGGING! Oh hell yes, I am.) and sliced red cabbage and sliced red bell pepper (from the supermarket, sorry), with steamed asparagus spears (FROM MY GARDEN!) and chopped leftover steak and chopped leftover chicken that I had cooked a few nights ago. The chicken had been marinated in the following (sorry, no quantities, because I just threw it together):

red wine vinegar, olive oil, fresh chopped garlic, fresh chopped ginger, Dijon mustard, Tamari sauce, and Chinese 5-spice powder

...and when the bites of chicken mashed in my mouth with the above Thai salad dressing, well, OMG, heavenly tastebud bliss!  So this leads me to believe that the salad dressing would be EVEN THAT MUCH BETTER if it had a pinch of Chinese 5-spice powder in it.  

IN OTHER WORDS, the Romaine is ready.  

[APPLAUSE!!!!!]

[Deep bow.]

[Or curtsy, if you desire.]

And so is/was the Buttercrunch lettuce, but I only had one head of that, and it's now history. I think I'll plant some more, it was so incredibly delicious. I just happen to have a packet of seeds.