I Be Jammin!

Strawberry Lemon Grass Jam

There’s no way around it. Summer is all about fresh fruit, which in my book means making pies, cobblers, and jam. I’ve only recently forayed into the world of canning and I have to admit, I love it. I love the process of it, the results, and how I get to look all modest and happy (while being secretly a little smug) when people exclaim, “I can’t believe you make your own jam!” Plus, I get to enjoy summer fruit for many, many months to come. Berry season at the farmer’s market lasts for a limited time only and when they are gone, its back to berries shipped from California or some other far away place. They aren’t really bad, per se, but they are never as good as a really fresh, juicy, strawberry picked just a short ways away. There is something just more intensely fruity and delectable about berries in the summer and if you could have that all year round, why not make some jam?

It turns out there is really no reason to feel smug about making jam because it really isn’t that hard. It seems to be a much more complicated, drawn out, and intimidating process than it actually is. I’ve thought about canning or preserving in the past, but quickly decided it wasn’t for me. I thought I would have to buy a lot of specialized equipment and spend a ton of money to buy fruit and strange ingredients like powdered pectin (which just seems really un-natural and weird to me). I was also worried that I would inflict third degree burns upon myself when removing hot jars from a rapidly boiling pot of water. I wasn’t sure how long to boil the jars to kill all the germs and when I took to the internet to find out the answer, I couldn’t really find a clear answer. Every website I looked at had a different set of instructions for canning. Some even went into details for the various bacteria that could grow in canned food and the scary things that it could lead to. Just reading one article about botulism stopped me in my tracks. For fear of making anyone who may be reading this blog click away immediately; I will spare you the gory details.

What made me dive right into canning was ultimately my love of fresh, really good produce and a desire to mostly eat food that I made myself. There is something so satisfying about seeing a shelf full of jars of something that you made with your own hands and your own time. They also make really great, thoughtful gifts that, in my experience, people really appreciate. In this world of immediate gratification and take out, what could be more heartfelt than a very tasty, homemade gift?

I also have fond memories from my childhood of my mom canning things. I think the older I get the more I find myself cooking and just doing things the way she would, which I never expected. I remember watching apprehensively and with awe as she stood at the stove with potholders and tongs. I remember the clatter of the jars bouncing around in the pot and being afraid that they would shatter into a million bits. I remember at the time thinking that my mom was some sort of very brave culinary magician. I remember hearing the sounds of the jars popping for the rest of the evening when they sealed at intermittent times while I watched TV. I remember how neat it was, when in the middle of the winter, she would whip out a can of home made tomato sauce or dill pickles. It still tasted like summer. Furthermore, she never gave any of us botulism, so I figured it was worth a shot. It turns out you don’t really need a whole lot of skill to make jam, just some really good fruit, a big pot, jars, tongs, some time, and a little courage.

This recipe comes from Christine Ferber, who is considered the jam expert in France. It is much more gourmet sounding that my mom’s jam but I think if you are going to take the time to make your own jam, it should be kind of different and really spectacular….and this jam really is. It includes slices of lemon that are lightly boiled in sugar to candy them. The lemon cuts the sweetness of the jam and adds the perfect amount of acidity and zippiness. The natural pectin in the fruit also eliminates the need to buy powdered pectin, which I thought was pretty cool. As a result, this jam is a little looser than what you may be used to. I liked that and sometimes find store bought jam to be oddly jiggly but if this is off putting to you, you could just reduce the jam to a thicker consistency. The recipe also includes lemongrass. I had to journey to many Asian markets in the area to find it. You could easily leave it out but I think it adds something to the jam that makes it taste unlike anything you could buy from the store. Oh, and actually as it turns out, I’m really just a big scaredy cat and jam making is actually pretty safe…the sugar and the acidity of the fruit kill the bacteria but just to be safe, I always sterilize the jars, lids, and bands in boiling water. After I fill the jars I then submerge them in pot of hot water and bring to a rolling boil. Let boil for at least 10 minutes and then you will have killed all the germy buggers!

Strawberry-Lemon Grass Jam
Makes five ½-pint jars

2¾ pounds strawberries
4 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Scant ½ cup water
10 paper-thin slices lemon
10 fresh lemongrass leaves, cut in half crosswise

1. Prepare your jars, lids, and bands by submerging in boiling water. Due this shortly before you go to fill the jars with jam. If the jars are not warm they could crack when you go to fill them with hot jam. Keep the water boiling to process the jars when they are full.

2. Pick over the berries, discarding those that are green, white or mushy. Rinse briefly in a colander and shake off the excess water. Hull the berries and slice coarsely into a 6-quart pot. Stir in 3½ cups sugar and set aside.

3. In a 2-quart pot, combine ½ cup sugar with the lemon juice and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add lemon slices and simmer gently until translucent, about 15 minutes. Pour over the strawberries and stir in the lemon grass. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Then bring to a boil. Stir gently and skim the foam from the top. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the temperature reaches 220 degrees on a candy thermometer. When done a spoonful of the jam should gel when placed on a cold plate. You can also check the consistency by observing if the jam thickly coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove the pieces of lemongrass.

4. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe the rim of each jar with a clean, damp cloth. Place a hot lid on each jar and screw down firmly. Submerge in rapidly boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove jars with tongs and set on a towel 12 to 24 hours. Do not disturb the jam while cooling as this could cause a seal not to form. Check later to ensure the jars have sealed. If not make sure these jars go in the refrigerator and are eaten in the next few weeks. The rest of the jars can be stored in the pantry for 6-8 months.

My Mint Overfloweth

Anyone that has ever grown mint knows that it spreads and takes over everything. I planted three different types of mint this year so I have a-plenty. Since mint goes especially well in desserts and dessert is my favorite thing to make, I figured I had no choice but to use up some of my rampant mint in a dessert. In a way, you could say my hands were tied; I was almost forced to make something sweet.

Since I make dessert pretty often around here, I decided to make something that was lighter and not full of cream and butter. Also, it has been just crazy, disgustingly hot lately, so I thought something cold would be nice. I loved the idea of a mint sorbet or a mint chocolate ice cream but seeing as how I lack an ice cream maker, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I decided the next best thing would be some sort of Italian ice like concoction.

The only problem is, I tend to not like most Italian ices. To me they lack finesse. I don’t see what is so great about some slivered ice with overly sweet, corn fructose laden syrup pumped on top. I decided that since mint pairs well with lemon and the tanginess of citrus would cut the sweetness that I would combine the two. So I did what I always do when I have a vague idea of a dish I want to make but no real concept of how to do it…. I googled. And there it was, exactly what I wanted with a spiffy, gourmet-sounding name: lemon mint granita.

The recipe is fairly straightforward. You remove the pulp and juice from the lemons and discard the seeds. Puree it all together with some fresh mint and then run it through a sieve to strain out any clumps. Add the amount of sugar you like. I used between 3-4 tablespoons because I wanted mine to be a little tart and only have a touch of sweetness. Add some water and then freeze it. The only part of the recipe that may seem a little high maintenance is that you have to take the mixture out of the freezer every hour or so to scrape it with a fork. This keeps the mixture from freezing into a solid hunk of mint-flavored ice. You want shiny, flaky shards of ice. I found the repetitive scraping kind of satisfying because I don’t mind monotonous kitchen tasks and I liked to see the progress the granita was making and how it was changing. I seriously called the boyfriend over with a great deal of excitement every time I scraped to look at it, which I’m sure he could of lived without.

You end up with an end product that is refreshing, minty, lemony, and just a touch sweet. The boyfriend described it best when he said “Its like a grown up snow cone”. It is pretty simple as far as desserts go but we found it surprisingly satisfying and addictive. The best part is that you don’t feel guilty going back for seconds because it is mostly just fruit and mint.

This recipe came from a food blog I read smittenkitchen.com. The recipe calls for you to hollow out the lemons so you can serve it in a little lemon cup. That seemed a little silly and needlessly fancy for just a normal weeknight, so I opted to serve it in footed ice cream dishes and garnish with a mint sprig…still pretty, but less fussy. However, if you were having a dinner party it would be a nice touch. Another note: this recipe would be delicious with some lemoncello in it (just a touch though, otherwise it would take forever to freeze). If I weren’t too lazy to drive to the liquor store and too cheap to part with the cash, I would have done it that way.

4 lemons
4 cups water
Sugar, to taste (we used 3 tablespoons, like a tart lemonade)
Handful of fresh mint leaves

Clean and wash the lemons. Cut off the top quarter of the lemons and slice a thin bevel off the bottom, so they can stand up straight. (You can skip this step if you don’t want to serve them in frozen lemon cups.) Using a grapefruit knife, carefully remove all of the lemon flesh and juice (working over a bowl ensures you won’t lose any), being careful not to cut through the bottom. Stand the lemons on a plate or cookie sheet and freeze until solid.

Using a food processor (a blender will work as well), toss a handful of washed and dried fresh mint leaves into the work bowl. (I used about 25 to 30 leaves from 6 to 9 sprigs.) Add the scooped out lemon flesh and juice, and pulse until mostly pureed. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes, so the mint releases its flavor, then press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. You’ll end up with approximately one cup of lemon-mint juice.

Stir in the water, then sugar, one tablespoon at a time until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is to your desire level of sweetness. Pour the mixture into a large roasting pan or baking dish, large enough that the liquid isn’t more than one-inch deep. (Otherwise it takes forever to freeze, trust me. A 9×13-inch pan worked great here.)

Freeze for one hour, then remove the mixture and scrape with two forks to break up the ice. (Your freezing time will vary, depending on the temperature and muscle of your freezer.) Return to the freezer and freeze until solid, about 2 to 3 hours, scraping it again with forks every hour or so.

When the granita is frozen, rake until glittery.

Down at the Farm(er's Market)

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There are few things in this world that make me happier than going to the farmer’s market. In fact, a trip to the farmer’s market a few years ago was the thing that inspired me to learn how to cook. I took one look around me at all of the colorful and unusual vegetables (things like fennel, rainbow colored chard, lemon cucumbers, and striped beets) and thought, “I want to buy all of this stuff because it is so beautiful but I have no idea what to do with any of it.” Now, cooking is my favorite and most relaxing hobby. Today’s trip to the farmer’s market was very successful. Look at all that beautiful produce!

Sometimes I do buy veggies from the grocery store but in the summer I try to only cook things that I grew in my garden or bought at the farmer’s market. Food just taste better when it is fresh. A tomato or pepper that has just recently been picked and traveled a short distance to reach your kitchen does not even compare to something that traveled on a truck from across the country and then sat in the grocery store for days until you happened by and tossed it in your cart.

Tonight I will be using this delicious but strange looking vegetable, which is known as fennel. Apparently, not many people buy fennel. I know this because I tried to purchase it a few months ago at Harris Teeter. I couldn’t find the button for it on the U-Scan machine and asked for help. Three cashiers and a manager were consulted before they were able to find the right produce code for it and all of them had to ask me what it was. According to them, they had never seen any one buy it. Well, that is unfortunate because it is delicious and has many uses. It has a very interesting licorice flavor. It is delicious raw in salads but if you roast it slowly in the oven it becomes very sweet. Tonight, it will be baked with chicken, tomatoes, capers, and a pepper from my garden to make a Mediterranean style chicken dish.

These lovely eggplants and squash will be a side dish of some sort. Most likely a stewed eggplant and squash dish with onions, oregano, and a little cinnamon served over brown rice. This recipe has been book marked forever in a Greek cooking book that I bought and promptly put on the bookshelf, never to be seen again. That ends tonight.

These peaches told me that the only way I could possibly use them would be to bake a peach cobbler and serve with vanilla ice cream. Even though it would be much healthier to get eat them raw, I imagine they will end up winning in the end. I don’t have the will power to refuse a cobbler with farm fresh peaches :)

oh la la!! French Lemon Yogurt Cake

I decided randomly today that I wanted to bake a cake. I need no provacation or reason to make a cake, other than I just feel like it. I wanted to bake a cake that was simple and that would not cost me lots of money to buy all sorts of crazy ingredients that I did not have. Thus, we have French yogurt cake. I first heard of this cake when I was in paris but at the time was much more impressed with the beautiful, shiny glazed fruit tarts I saw in the window of every bakery (or if you are french, patisserie). I actually saw a version of this cake in a pastry shop I visited and have since seen it featured on several food blogs that I read. I assumed it was simply the French equivalent of a yellow sponge cake and promptly forgot about it, assuming it would be fairly boring and bland. Turns out, it is very similar but much more moist, tasty, and still slightly crumbly. It couldn’t be easier to make and the best thing about it is that you can add whatever you want to it. I made mine tonight with strawberries because they are in season and delicious right now. I also added lemon zest to the batter and made a lemon glaze for the top. It would be wonderful with any combination of fruit or nuts you have on hand (cherries and walnuts, lemon and blueberries, poached pears and brown sugar, raspberry and dark chocolate chunks…I could go on and on.) The recipe I used instructed you to first make a lemon syrup to pour over top (which made the cake amazingly moist and lemony) and then a light lemon frosting to go on top. I tend to not love cakes that are overly sweet and this bordered on being almost too sweet for me (even though I decreased the amount of sugar in the glaze and the syrup). However, my boyfriend, who has a major sweet tooth, declared it perfect and had a second slice. When I make it again, I think I will likely omit the frosting that goes on top but if you like sweet desserts, I say go ahead and use the full amount of sugar the recipe calls for. You only live once!!

I adapted this recipe from a wonderful food blog that I read Orangette.com . It is actually a combination of two different french yogurt cakes that she featured on her site with a few minor changes.

1 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup ground almonds (If you want to omit this you can. Just add an extra ½ cup flour. However, I think it adds to the flavor and gives the cake a slight crunch)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest ( I added much more, maybe 5-6 tsp because I wanted to be able to actually taste the lemon)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (full fat yogurt is best. This cake has no butter so you need the fat from whole milk)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup, plus 3 tbsp lemon juice
5-6 strawberries sliced
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom on the pan with wax paper or parchment paper and grease the paper.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. In a separate large bowl, add yogurt, sugar and eggs, stirring until well combined. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine, then add the oil and mix until you have a pale yellow batter. Pour half of the batter into the pan and top with the strawberries. Pour the remaining batter over top the berries. Bake for 35 minutes.

Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan. Invert the cake onto the rack.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Whisk until smooth and spoon the syrup over the top of the cake, allowing to soak in and dribble down the sides. Cool the cake completely.

Once cooled, combine the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar with the 3 tbsp of lemon juice to make an icing. Spoon icing over the cake.

Hello World!

To anyone that knows me, it is no secret that I love to cook. I especially enjoy baking. I find it relaxing and have been know to bake a cake or make a pie dough from scratch for no reason, in the middle of the night, when something good or bad happens, or whenever the mood strikes. I am a compulsive food blog reader, cooking show watcher, and recipe collector. I find chopping vegetables and stirring pots of soup relaxing. I have often thought of going to culinary school and secretly dream of being able to find a way to actually make a living from cooking. I have always thought it would be fun to have my own blog about food but thought, "Who in the world would want to read it?" I was afraid that having your own blog would seem horribly self-important because, after all, aside from recording almost every food network show that exists and cooking meals at home, what do I really know about food? But, as my wonderful boyfriend pointed out, it is extremely self-defeating to not do something because of what others would think. I’m fully assuming that only a few of my closest friends may ever venture over to this site, but even if that is the case, I still think it is a valuable use of my time. Basically, the concept will be simple, I will cook food, write about it, post pictures, and share the recipe. You can comment…or not and that is about it. The pictures will be taken by my very sweet and helpful boyfriend, who I fully believe is a very talented amateur photographer. We will both be happy because I will be cooking and droning on and on about food to any one that cares to read about it and he will get to take pictures and use his computer smarts to help me design the blog…oh, and not to mention that we will both be eating lots and lots of cakes and other tasty treats!