Shiny Cooking» condiments

strawberry freezer jam-boree

Amy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:27:27 +0000

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never had to learn how to make strawberry freezer jam. I’ve been even more fortunate in that I never even tasted store-bought jam until I was practically an adult.

As a result, I’m spoiled. Spoiled rotten. I turn up my nose at Smucker’s, and even those fancy top-shelf brand jams can’t satisfy.

I never had to learn how to make strawberry freezer jam because every year I saw my mom make it right in front of me. Sis and I got drafted to help pick strawberries in our grandparents’ strawberry patch. I recall crouching low, pushing through the leaves, and searching for the elusive strawberries Grandma insisted were still there even though we were sure we’d gotten them all.

Nowadays we buy our strawberries already picked from local growers. Rhode’s Strawberries, run by “Captain Bob” Rhode of Chesaning Showboat fame, is always our first choice. Most area growers this year, though, complained of small harvests and we wound up going about 35 miles away to find reasonably-priced berries.

let’s make strawberry freezer jam!

Making strawberry freezer jam is a snap because there’s no special recipe. In fact, deviation from the standard recipe is frowned upon because it will likely result in failure of the jam to set up properly. Just clean one quart of strawberries per batch of freezer jam. Have one package of Sure-Jell or other pectin on hand for each batch. Then chop up those berries. You could briefly, carefully whirl them in a food processor, or use a potato masher, but I find the chopper to be my favorite.

Oops, you can’t really see the chopper in that pic. Here’s a better one! See, it’s like a biscuit cutter, but darksided.

Add the sugar to the chopped strawberries. I’ve got a double batch going in this picture; that’s why there’s so honkin’ much. You can totally double batch it, but don’t even think of triple or more batches at a time. That’s crazy talk.

At this point in the process, if you’re gonna be snapping pictures, you’d better have someone else around, because the stirring and the pouring and the stirring again and the zomg fill the jars before jam sets madness is going on and things are, if not exactly hectic, then not quite “Let’s stop and compose an artsy photo” conducive.

See, for the above, after the ~~lime went in the coconut~~ sugar went in the strawberries, the water went into the pectin, the pectin-water went into the strawberry-sugar, and the pectin-water-strawberry-sugar went into the adorable little jars. And all pretty quickly too, because if you lollygag, the jam will set up before you get it into the jars, which isn’t a tragedy but is a bit messy.

The strawberry freezer jam recipe is in every package of Sure-Jell, and I’m including it below as well, with tips and commentary Kraft simply does not offer. Oo la la.

strawberry freezer jam recipe

Every time I’ve made strawberry freezer jam, and every time anyone I know has made it, I’ve gotten more jam than the recipe predicts (5). I always wind up with 6 cups or 6½ cups. So be prepared with extra clean jars/containers. In fact, that’s always a good idea when canning or preserving. You don’t want to stop in the middle of something time-sensitive to wash jars.

yield: 5–6 cups
special equipment: chopper or food processor; funnel
time: 60 to 90 minutes, plus 24 hours

1 quart strawberries
4 cups granulated sugar
¾ cup water
1 box Sure-Jell fruit pectin

Wash 6 cups’ worth of containers and lids in warm soapy water and dry thoroughly.

Hull and wash strawberries. Chop strawberries until they’re soupy and contain chunks in the size you desire.

Stir in the sugar. It won’t all dissolve right away. Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. While waiting, set out jars/containers where you plan to fill them, and get a ladle and a funnel ready if you have one.

In a small saucepan, mix water and pectin and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir constantly. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly and watching to be sure it does not boil over.

Remove pectin from heat and add to the strawberry-sugar mixture. Stir for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. The sugar may not be entirely dissolved, but 3 minutes is all you need to stir, or less if the sugar dissolves quickly.

Immediately fill containers, ladling the hot jam through the funnel if you have one, leaving ½ inch head space to allow room for expansion in the freezer.

Cover containers with their lids and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Then the strawberry freezer jam is all ready to go into the freezer.

why didn’t i ever think of this before?

Amy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:37:42 +0000

Just a quick line here to share the joy that is Not Pouring Salt From a Goddamn Spout. This might be old news to a lot of you, but it’s brand spanking new to me. I have no idea why I never thought of it before.

It began when I bought a carton of salt with a bum spout. Until then, lo these many years, I measured all my teeny ¼ and ½ teaspoons of salt by pouring it out of that giant spout. Since this method is clumsy, to say the least, I always did it over a sink so I didn’t accidentally dump several tablespoons of salt into, say, cookie dough, while trying to measure it out.

But then I got the bum spout. It tore out completely from the carton. Being somewhat rigid and OCD, I was at a loss. How would I measure my salt? Ohnoes!

how to store salt! (exciting)

As a temporary solution, I dumped the contents into an el cheapo plastic storage container, the kind you put leftovers in. I thought it was a kludge, just a way to hold the salt til I burned through it and bought another canister.

Ha! Do you know how flippin’ easy it is to just stick the measuring spoon in to the salt? Or your fingers, if you’re one of those hippie feel-good non-measury types? The little plastic container became my default for salt storage.

why isn’t this on page 1 of “how to cook”?

Apparently I am not alone. According to the food geeks populating the Jamie Oliver forums, who all seem to keep their salt in jars or other non-salt containers, maybe this is just something obvious I’ve missed all these years. This really should be in the front of every beginner cooking book/lesson. “Save your sanity and get your salt out of the pour-spout container.”

I bet one of those half-cup canning jars would be a purty way to store salt, too. I’m going to stick with the cheapo Rubbermaid plastic, though, cause those nice jars are going to hold strawberry jam, a much more valuable commodity.

look, a poll

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foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: rhubarb — it’s not just for pie anymore

Amy — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:50:23 +0000

Rhubarb with caramelized onions? Rhubarb salsa? Rhubarb and lentil potage? I can hear you now, the ornery ones of you that is: What the hell, woman…rhubarb’s for pie. Crisps. Crunches.

For April’s Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 event, I decided to explore the savory side of rhubarb, since there’s a ton of it growing about 50 feet from my front door. As rhubarb is technically a vegetable/herb, why not try some recipes that utilize rhubarb as a vegetable?

Hey, salsa has a tangy bite. I bet rhubarb could work in salsa. So I tracked down a viable candidate in The Joy of Rhubarb: The Versatile Summer Delight. It’s a classic Mexican salsa, with fresh cilantro, green onion (which made me happy; I can’t stand regular onions raw), lime juice, jalapeño for a bit of bite, barely-blanched rhubarb, and lots of sweet peppers and more sugar than salsa normally would have, to counteract the rhubarb’s bite.

Dad’s verdict? “It would be great on hamburgers. By the way, we’re having hamburgers tonight….” Subtle hint there, Dad. Yeah, he went home with some rhubarb salsa. Linda thought it had a bit of a bitter rhubarb taste to it and suggested more sweetener. I loved it. Fresh, crisp, clean salsa taste with the rhubarb adding uniqueness without overpowering it.

Overall verdict for rhubarb salsa: Two snaps up.

Jump to the rhubarb salsa recipe now or continue reading.

balsamic-rhubarb reduction

I swear, this was some fancy-pants shit I made. Asparagus with balsamic-rhubarb reduction (recipe here). It was dead easy, too. You cook down some balsamic vinegar and chopped rhubarb — along with a good little heap of sugar — until most of the liquid has evaporated and you get a thickish sauce. In this preparation, it’s served with roasted asparagus. You could really impress some guests with this stuff.

Dad’s verdict: Tasty, but the roasted asparagus was too soft. He grabbed a stalk of raw asparagus from the 10-pound bag I’d just picked and dipped that in the reduction instead. Linda’s verdict: “Too strong for asparagus. Would be really good with pork or something.” I liked the contrast between the tangy, balsamic-flavored reduction and the mild roasted asparagus, but I see her point. Comme-ci, comme ça.

Overall verdict for rhubarb-balsamic reduction: Two snaps sideways.

lentil and rhubarb potage

The original title of this Mark Bittman recipe is “Lentil and rhubarb stew with Indian spices,” but it’s too thick for a stew. So I did some Google-fu and discovered it was more of a potage, which also sounds fancier.

And man, it may be one ugly mofo of a dish, but damn, lentil and rhubarb potage is tasty. I was shocked. It had no added sugar. I was certain it would be inedible. But I had to try it, because it has cardamom in it, which is my new favorite spice ever.

Linda’s verdict: Really good and interesting. Nice balance of complex flavors. I’m transling from “Mmm” here, by the way.

Overall verdict for rhubarb and lentil potage: Two snaps up.

caramelized onion and rhubarb compote on herbed yogurt cheese

Hey Aunt Geri, I finally broke in the yogurt cheese maker! And all was good. This recipe, heavily adapted from one for caramelized onion, beet, and rhubarb compote, made me nervous. For one, it was another fancy-pants recipe. For another, I was adapting the living hell out of it. I’m not good at that sort of thing. Usually my adaptations tend to turn out more like the rhubarb mistake below. And for yet another thing, I was winging the whole herbed yogurt cheese thing. Entirely.

If you want to adapt the recipe like I did, simply make it without the beet purée, and add more maple syrup when you add the rhubarb, about 2 tablespoons worth. Trust me, you’ll need it. For the herbed cheese the easy way, go with a slightly sweet prepared cheese spread like Aloutte…because that was what I was shooting for. I put them in baked wonton cups, but they’d be better on small squares of puff pastry.

Dad’s verdict: “I really like the cheese and compote filling, but those wontons are like chewing on glass.” Linda’s verdict: “I love that filling!” Me? Shocked. And happy it worked. :p Cue the Smiths.

Overall verdict for caramelized onion and rhubarb compote: Two snaps way up.

rhubarb mistake

Since I had Mexican, Indian, and vaguely Italian (in the form of the caramelized onion and rhubarb compote), I decided to try incorporating rhubarb into a Thai curry. I’m not even going to link to the recipe I worked from, because the experiment was an utter disaster, and I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, so I don’t want to impugn the blogger who posted it.

Suffice it to say: disaster. Coconut milk wasn’t enough sweetness to balance rhubarb’s astringency, the rhubarb became gloopy, and it tasted awful. Oh well.

The experience did cement my dedication to you, the reader: You will never be subjected to a recipe I don’t absolutely love. I want everything you try to be something well-tested and well-liked before it ever hits this page.

Overall verdict for rhubarb mistake: Two snaps way down. Let’s forget all about it and move on to the rhubarb salsa recipe.

rhubarb salsa

Adapted from The Joy of Rhubarb: The Versatile Summer Delight by Theresa Millang.

2 cups finely diced fresh rhubarb
½ cup sweet red pepper, chopped
½ cup sweet yellow pepper, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 green onions, tops only, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar, or to taste
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Blanch rhubarb in a saucepan of boiling water for 10 seconds. Seriously. Ten seconds. No more. Remove rhubarb promptly from heat, dump into a strainer, and rinse under cold water until rhubarb is lukewarm or cool. This is to stop the blanching process.

Place rhubarb in a glass bowl. Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. Refrigerate at least an hour before serving to allow flavors to develop.

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Post tags: balsamic vinegar, cilantro, lentils, onions, rhubarb, sweet peppers

garlic butter

Amy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:21:45 +0000

This has been sitting here for a day now, waiting for input beyond the picture above. A sinus infection flareup keeps distracting me, work keeps distracting me, worry keeps distracting me. I’ve begun looking up home remedies, which is always a bad sign, a sign that you might as well suck it up and go to the doctor. So I did; I sucked it up and I’m going to the doctor today. Wish me luck and antibiotics.

The gist of it is, this post won’t get the hyperbole it deserves. No purple prose about the wonderfulness that is this garlic butter, just some facts and then the recipe.

it’s really good on garlic bread

It’s really good on garlic bread.

It keeps for months.

It can be cut into bits and frozen, and used to season vegetables and other dishes.

It’s way better, and way better for you, than store-bought garlic spreads.

Mix it up, shove it in the fridge, and enjoy.

garlic butter

Salted butter contains approximately ¾ teaspoon of salt per ¼ cup (1 stick). It may appear that you’re adding a lot of salt to this recipe, but it begins with unsalted butter. Begin with 1 teaspoon of salt, and increase up to 2 teaspoons, to taste. Lower salt will create a garlic butter more palatable for spreading on bread, plan. Higher salt tastes best mainly when used on garlic bread; otherwise it may be overwhelming.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon minced garlic
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I use Milford’s Buon Appetito Italian Seasoning*)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground paprika
½ to 2 teaspoons salt

In a medium bowl, mix together butter, garlic, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, pepper, and paprika. Stir in ½ to 2 teaspoons salt to taste. Waning: two teaspoons of salt will be very salty, but is just the ticket when spread thinly to make garlic bread. Store in refrigerator.

* Disclaimer: I received free product from this company. Part of my mission is to highlight quality Michigan food businesses, and I consider Milford one of those. I do not receive payment for the mention or if someone orders from them.

how to make horseradish, plus a horseradish giveaway

Amy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:50:58 +0000

That funny looking thing that looked like a cross between a post-nuclear-holocaust carrot and an anime tentacle monster?

Horseradish. It grows in the front of my yard near the ditch, and in Mom and Dad’s in a little “patch” near the field. All I know is it grows on its own and it’s nearly impossible to kill.

Photo credit: Ruslan V. Albitsky via Wiki Commons. Because someone dug up all the horseradish around here.

Every year before Christmas, Dad digs up the horseradish roots and makes the condiment we call horseradish. Not to be confused with the plant itself. Except for the whole sharing-a-name thing.

It starts out like this, a pile of gnarled, muddy roots.

Dad puts them on the low screened table I use to cure onions.

Then, hook up the power washer!

Go to town on the horseradish roots.

Cats and other small animals may choose to avoid the spraying mist of ice cold water.

Eventually the mud washes down the drain (you do have a power washer-equipped shop with a drain in the floor, right?).

And you have clean horseradish roots, ready to make horseradish with.

win a jar of homemade horseradish

Dad’s horseradish, while simple to make (see recipe below), earns raves. He makes it every Christmas and gives it away as gifts. One year Uncle Rich spread horseradish on a sandwich and took a bite. Immediately his eyes began to water and his voice left him, and he croaked out, “That’s good horseradish.”

To win a jar of your own good horseradish, just leave a comment below describing what you like to put horseradish on or in. Deadline is Thursday, February 4 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced Friday. Be sure to leave an e-mail so I can contact you. Good luck!

In the meantime, if you can find some horseradish root, you could always make up some of your own while you wait.

horseradish

2 cups peeled and cubed horseradish root
¾ cup white vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar

Add all ingredients to blender or food processor. Process until the mixture is of spreadable consistency. Spoon into half-pint jars and refrigerate.

Horseradish will keep, refrigerated, for several months.