Jun
21
Happy Sunday to all,
here are the 2 recipes:
Luscious Lavender-Strawberry Jam
1/4 cup organic lavender buds
1/3 cup boiling water
8 cups crushed hulled strawberries
1 orange, zested
6 cups granulated sugar
Sterilize jars and lids. Pour boiling water over lavender buds and let steep, at room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Strain and save liquid. In a large deep saucepan or dutch oven, stir strawberries with lavender liquid, orange zest and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Reduce to heat so mixture gently boils, and stir often until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and test to see if jam has reached “gel stage”. To test, spoon a little jam onto a frozen saucer and freeze for 1 minute. Remove and push edge of jam with your finger – the surface should wrinkle when pushed.
Ladle hot jam into sterilized jars (leave a little head space). Sprinkle a few more lavender buds in each jar, if you wish. Remove air bubbles (I use a chopstick) then centre lids on jars and fasten with screwbands. Boil jars for 10 minutes. Makes 8 250-mL jars.
Cream Scones
This is a recipe from “The New Best Recipe – From the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated” (2004). I followed the recipe as written with the only exceptions being I omitted the currants and added about 1 tsp (5 mL) grated lemon zest. This is my shorthand version of their recipe……Enjoy!
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest (my addition)
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup currants (I didn’t use)
1 cup 35% heavy cream
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 425F.
2. In a food processor, pulse flour with baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon peel to mix.
3. Add butter (try to evenly distribute) and pulse for twelve 1-second intervals. Mixture should resemble coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps. Turn dough into a large bowl.
4. Using a fork, stir in cream just until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.
5. Turn dough (and dry flour bits) onto counter. Gently knead and gather just until dough comes together to form a ball. This will take about 10 seconds.
6. Using your hands, press and flatten dough to form a 3/4-inch thick circle (flour counter first if dough is sticky). Cut into rounds and place on a baking sheet. Re-roll scraps once. Lightly brush tops with more cream and sprinkle with pinches of granulated sugar.
7. Bake until tops are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving – with jam and butter of course.
May
03
I often play the “desert island game” with different variations. Food is usually the theme and more often than not it usually goes something like this: Pretend you’re stranded on a desert island and you can only eat 3 cheeses ….what would they be (today?Brie de Meaux, Quebec 5-yr. raw milk cheddar and Beemster) …..or you can only have one meal/main entree the rest of your life, it would be “blank” (soup, no, no stew). Chocolate or vanilla? (vanilla) Beef or pork (pig rules) or you can only take 5 kitchen tools with you….. (MAC knife, Dutch oven, rasp, wooden spoon, vegetable peeler) …… etc, etc….
Well, I have a new favourite tool….the can opener. Nothing fancy – not an electric one or even a pretty colourful one – but the twist kind that has the puncture thingy on one end and a bottle opener on the other.
And I love it because I found a new use for it! I’ve always struggled to open the lids on homemade jams, pickles, whatever is tightly sealed in those mason jars. It’s the flat lid that’s suctioned on so tightly which gives me grief – usually the first time I try to open it. In the past, before my great discovery, I’d take a paring knife to it. Not very wise or safe to say the least – have broken the tips of knives on several occasions and probably narrowly escaped death many others. Now I use the bottle-opening end to pop up the lid. Easy peasy as they say. But if all I can eat on the Island is toast and jam…..what would be my top 3 jam picks? Hmmmmm….
