Further Preservation

a sampling

macerated strawberries 

boiling the preserves

Calimyrna, Black Mission, and Kadota Figs

Fig season is here! They've sort of been trickling into farmers markets for the last month and now they are all over the place.  I went to the Pasadena farmers market on Saturday and purchased a smattering of different varieties.  I must have eaten a basket of figs, sampling them from stall to stall.  I'm very particular.  And figs are testy.  

Along with other fruits I bought there I made more preserves, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite summer activities.

also, thank you to Saeyoung and Eli for being my preserve taste testers. Saeyoung's favorite--strawberry balsamic.  Eli's favorite--fig, apple, almond

This round:

strawberry with balsamic vinegar

strawberry with mint and black pepper

fig (mixed variety), fuji apple, and almonds

note*

I am auctioning off a basket of my preserves at the Les Figues Benefit Auction this year along with an alchemical baking commission.

In the basket so far are:

fig.vanilla.honey

yellow nectarine.chamomile

gaviota strawberry.grand marnier

cherry.peach.rosebud

blueberry.white nectarine.vanilla

strawberry.balsamic

strawberry.mint.black pepper

fig.apple.almond

and next week I plan on making peach and white wine preserves, which I'm sure will make it into the basket.  To purchase tickets to the event or for more info, go here.  

Possibly The Best Oatmeal I Have Ever Had

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (use steel cut if you have the time)

3 gaviota strawberries

fig, white nectarine, honey, and vanilla preserves

candied walnuts

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup water

1 teaspoon craisins

honey or brown sugar optional

1. simmer 1/2 cup oats in 1 cup of water until the liquid is gone

2. top with all of the above ingredients

Gaviota Strawberry Grand Marnier Preserves

grand marnier

I almost felt maternal about these strawberries

On Sunday I went to the Hollywood Farmers Market with Lan and Nancy.  Possibly the most exciting buy was Gaviota strawberries.  Gaviota strawberries are smaller, juicier, and sweeter than most other strawberries.  Their small size makes them perfect for making whole fruit preserves.

Usually I like to combine different fruits in my preserves but these were so wonderful that I felt they should be on their own, with the addition of grand marnier.  I really love the combination of alcohol and fruit, it just makes a lot of sense.  I think the first jam I ever made was strawberry and pomegranate wine.   

This preserve takes almost two days to make because to preserve the fruit without breaking it or losing the shape of the berry there's a lot of slow maceration and multiple slow boils that have to be done.  But it's actually not a great deal of work, just a lot of waiting.  

I think this may be my favorite preserve to date.  I'm pretty thrilled about it actually.  Just the raw strawberries (pre-maceration) in grand marnier was barely resistible ( i may have eaten a few). 

After canning the preserves there's usually some fruit syrup leftover and I usually just discard it but this particular syrup so excellent, I canned it as well.  Maybe I can use it for ice cream?  

Strawberries are a very cute fruit.

Fig, White Nectarine, Vanilla, and Honey Preserves

Yay for figs!  I could eat figs all day.  

I put maybe a bit too much vanilla in this batch of preserves.  I can't help myself sometimes.  I smell the vanilla and I get overly excited.  Too much of a good thing can be too much.

Nevertheless, still a very excellent preserve and it's so pleasing to see thick segments of figs in syrup--all those seeds.  I don't know.  I like it. 

Golden Beets, a trilogy

You should know, this is the mileage I got from two beets.  Sam found golden beets at the farmers market last week and was generous enough to share some with me. Thank you Sam!

I've been wanting golden beets ever since Spring rolled around, mostly because I've been wanting to to layer the colors of red and golden beets--I mean, can you think of a more fantastically colored vegetable?  

Here is what I did with Sam's golden beets:

1. Beet, Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion Tart

Ingredients:

1 medium sized golden beet (or half of one enormous one)

1 medium red beet

8 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 yellow onion

1 1/2 tablespoons of butter

1 sheet of puff pastry

3 tablespoons of goat cheese

4 garlic cloves

olive oil

kosher salt

pepper

1) preheat oven to 425

2) in foil pouches, roast the beets with olive oil, slightly smashed garlic cloves, salt and pepper.  make sure to have separate pouches for the red and golden beets so the colors don't bleed

3) roast the beets for about a hour and 15 minutes or until fork tender

4) meanwhile caramelize onions by slicing them lengthwise and slowly sauteing them in the butter (try to move them minimally so that they caramelize and keep the heat low so they do not burn)

5) defrost a puff pastry sheet and cover with the caramelized onions and thyme

6) slice the roasted beets into rounds of equal thickness and layer on top of onions in a pattern

7) top with the garlic cloves that were roasted with the beets

8) crumble goat cheese on tart

9) in a 400 degree oven, bake the tart for twenty minutes

2. Golden Beet, Roasted Garlic, Mandarin Orange Salad

ingredients:

1 cup roasted and sliced beets

5 cloves of roasted garlic

1/4 cup mandarin oranges

a handful of toasted pine nuts

1/2 lemon

5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

5 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoon whole grain or dijon mustard

1. roast beets as indicated in the tart recipe and slice in wedges

2. roast garlic in a foil pouch with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 45 minutes or golden brown

3. toss the beets, toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic, and mandarin oranges together

4. in a separate bowl, whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and orange juice together

5. dress the beets and top with mint or cilantro

3. Pickled Golden Beets

ingredients:

1 beet

1 teaspoons whole mustard seed

1 cup white distilled vinegar

1/2 cup honey

two bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

2 garlic cloves

2 sprigs of thyme

1. boil the beet for 45 minutes, peel, and slice in rounds of equal thickness

2. in a saucepan bring the vinegar and honey to a boil

3. process a canning jar by putting in the oven for 10 minutes at 225 degrees

4. put the sliced beets, spices, and thyme in the processed jar

5. pour in the vinegar/honey mixture carefully into the jar. do not overfill

6. immediately close the lid tightly

7. leave for about two weeks before eating

Home Canning Is Nice

Lavender Syrup

breakfast with coffee flavored with lavender syrup

isn't lavender a lovely color?  so simple, really, there's no reason to not make this.

things you can do with lavender syrup:

1. add it in coffee in place of sugar

2. soak strawberries or any other fruit in the syrup and serve over yogurt or ice cream 

3. make fancy cocktails

4. add to iced tea

ingredients:

a handful of lavender, depending on how lavender-y you want your syrup

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup granulates sugar

1. sterilize canning jars in the oven at 225 for 5 minutes

2. bring water to boil

3. add the lavender and let steep for 10 minutes until the water turns a light purple

4. add the sugar and bring to a light simmer until the liquid is clear

5. immediately put in the jar and tightly close the lid

6. let the lavender steep in the syrup for 1-2 days and then strain

Cherry, White Nectarine, and Rosebud Preserves

I love rose flavored things.  I love that I can eat flowers.  

Yellow Nectarine and Chamomile Preserves

This is what I learned from Christine Ferber: The point of making preserves is to preserve the flavor of fruit, rather than muddling it with sugar.  Therefore, it only makes sense to use in-season organic fruit (preferably locally grown) and to preserve it in large unsmashed chunks that are simply bathing in sugar rather than mixed in with the sugar.  That way when you put your preserves on morning toast or over yogurt, you can remove it from the sugar bath and actually taste the fruit.  

Fantastic.  

The chamomile was wonderful in this.  

Mes Confitures

Today I received "Mes Confitures" by Christine Ferber in the mail today.  I have been wanting this book forever but for what ever reason couldn't justify buying it over other books that I wanted.  I finally gave in.  And I am practically frothing at the mouth.  The book is entirely about making jams and preserves, something that I love to do.  Christine Ferber's recipes are work intensive, I'm talking macerating (nancy, i used the word "macerate") fruit for eight hours in order to keep the shape of the fruit.  And rather than the mushy fruit compote that we are all used to, her jams preserve whole segments of fruit and are worthy of much more than toast.    

Some of her suggestions are a little intense. Like picking the fruit by hand and preserving it within an hour or making my own apple pectin.  I think I will short cut these parts.  

But the recipes are exciting, pretty much as exciting as they get.  

examples: 

Rose Hip with Vanilla

Rhubarb, Apple, and Passion Fruit

Carrot, Orange, and Cardamom 

Pear with Pinot Noir

People in my life, expect jars and jars of love.