Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

In hockey when you have bad streaks where you are not scoring(or as I call it…every time I play hockey) people want to get rid of the bad ju-ju. Hockey players are highly superstitious, as are a lot of athletes. So when your stick has been cursed you will find the player touching(usually the blade) another’s player stick. You never do it in front of that player, you would piss him off for he would fear that he now had the bad ju-ju. So you have to do it when they are not looking. The player usually then feels that his curse is gone and he can go play hockey. Weird I know, but psychologically it seems to work for a lot of players.
Well, I need to go find a baker and touch their rolling pin or something when they are not looking. Seriously, I have some bad baking ju-ju going on. The un-Midas touch as I am calling it. I made a pots de crème that stayed liquid. I made a chocolate pudding that turned to paste…I am talking this stuff could be used for glue people. I made carrot muffins that did not rise, they sank. I made my old stand by, apple cobbler in hopes of getting back in the saddle and for the first time(I have made it a ton of times) it spilled over everywhere in the oven causing quite a mess and the smoke alarm to go off for what seemed forever. Then what I did bake that turned out, turned out ugly and was not wanting to photograph for me. AHHHHHH.
But I must go on. I have a blog to bake for and nothing in the archives to rely on. I had won a free jar of Fig ‘N Ginger Chutney over at Blake Makes. You had to write in your post what you were going to do with it. I said I would make a pork panni with blue cheese and the chutney. Nothing too upscale. They liked the idea enough to send me a jar. I made a walnut and wheat loaf. You may be saying, that loaf looks good. It was. The loaf turned out fine…I did slice my thumb in 3 different spots while making it. Don’t ask. Bad ju-ju.
The chutney is very pungent, like good chutney should be. Lots of good chunks of figs in it too. Gigantic raisins(really where did they find these?) and bits of apple. McQuade’s Celtic Chutney offers a variety of flavors from Melon and Peach to Plum and Black Pepper. All of which I am sure I could make a sandwich with. They also have seasonal chutney’s that sound wonderful. I am really loving the sound of the Strawberry Cardamom Chutney and and am considering sending my mom some Rhubarb and Tangerine Chutney since she is the rhubarb lover of the family.
The actual making of the sandwich went off without a hitch. Perhaps a good sign of things to come. Still just in case, bakers beware(Helen I’m coming for you!), I might just be sneaking into your kitchen and touching your oven.

Gorgonzola, Fig and Ginger Chutney, Shaved Pork Sandwich on Walnut Wheat Bread(say that 5 times fast)

two slices walnut wheat bread(recipe follows)
sliced pork(I used 5 slices…but I like my meat)
a generous spreading of McQuade’s Celtic Fig ‘N Ginger Chutney
Slices(or crumbles as it tends to do) Gorgonzola cheese

Take one slice of bread and spread the chutney on it. Place pork on top of that. Place Gorgonzola on top of that followed by the other slice of bread. Slather the top and bottom pieces of bread with room temperature butter and place in pan, or if you are like me in a panni maker. Grill until cheese is melty and it is browned on the outsied.

Rustic Whole-Wheat Walnut Bread

ingredients
1-3/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1-2/3 cups cool water
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached bread flour
5 oz. (1 cup plus 2 Tbs.) fine whole-wheat flour
4 oz. (3/4 cup) coarse stone-ground whole-wheat flour
2 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
how to make
In the mixing bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water. Let it sit until the yeast dissolves and the water looks milky. Add the flours, salt, and walnuts. With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until a rough dough forms. Change to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl to form a ball. You may need to add a small amount of flour or water to get the right consistency.

Turn the dough out into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm spot (about 75°F) until doubled in bulk, 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

Line a basket or bowl with a kitchen towel or a piece of cotton fabric and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, knead it a few times, and shape it into a round. Put it in the basket, bottom up, and fold the ends of the towel over it. Cover with a large plastic bag (like a kitchen garbage bag). Set in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours.

Set one oven rack in the lowest position; put a large, shallow pan on that rack. Set the second rack just above that and position the baking stone on it. Heat the oven to 425°F for at least 45 minutes. Just before you put the bread in the oven, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil.

Lightly dust a baking peel or a flat baking sheet with flour. Remove the plastic bag and gently invert the dough onto the peel. (The dough may deflate somewhat.) Remove the basket and towel. With a single-edge razor blade or a sharp serrated knife, make a few slashes in the surface of the dough.

With a quick jerk, slide the dough from the peel to the baking stone. Wearing long oven mitts and standing as far away from the oven as you can, immediately pour the boiling water into the pan in the bottom of the oven. Caution: This will cause an instant burst of steam. Close the oven door immediately and don’t open it for at least 10 minutes or the steam will escape.

Bake the bread until it is well browned and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely on a rack before serving

From Fine Cooking 30, pp. 61

When we would go back to visit my maternal grandparents it meant a few things. One, my diabetic grandmother would slip us money to go buy her doughnuts and we could “keep the change”(my cousin Chad and I were always to young and foolish not to know that you don’t go and buy a diabetic doughnuts). It meant picking raspberries while trying not to be stung by bees(Summer only). It meant breathing in the fumes of Vlassic pickles the couple nights I would stay at my cousins(the factory has since moved and sadly I miss that smell). It meant getting to swim in the mayor’s swimming pool(Summer only). And it meant the torture that was Sunday drives with my grandfather.
Oh how that man loved to get in a car and drive absolutely nowhere…for hours. Hours and hours. My uncle has this same trait but he is smart enough to sucker you in to a 5 hour trip to Duluth, Minnesota  by saying we were going for the “best pie you ever tasted” and I am stupid enough to be lured by it. But my grandfather you had no choice. He said get in the car. We got in the car. For hours. Did I mention the hours part? Nothing can be more fun for a 10 year old then sitting in the back seat of a Oldsmobile listening to big band music and not being allowed to bring anything to do. It “took away from the scenery”. Ugh. Those car rides would draw out my morbid imagination. For with nothing to do and not really being involved in the adult conversation about second cousins and what not that I knew nothing about, my mind would wander. It would wander into all the different ways we could crash the car. Now keep in mind it was not totally morbid, as I never did kill anyone in my day dreaming. If the car was engulfed in a fiery inferno, I made sure in my mind to get everyone out of the car. Sometimes it was just a simple crash into a tree. Other times we would go over an embankment by swerving to miss a cow in the road and would launch off a big ravine in the Duke’s of Hazard style.
Though I hated those car rides so, they were really only the memories I had of my grandfather. He was a very quiet man. One who showed little emotion. He was the kind of man who would hug you but they whole time he was doing the side hug you knew he was thinking, “she’s touching me”. My grandfather ran the pharmacy in the town where my mother grew up(my aunt still works in that pharmacy). The town didn’t even have a stop sign(when they eventually got the one yellow blinking light in the middle of town, that was big news). My mother’s high school graduating class had 8 people(mine had 532). He usually spoke about 2 words to me when they would come out to visit or we would go there. Those two words were “uh-huh”. I would ramble on and on about something, and no matter what, I got the uh-huh. Despite all of that, I always knew he loved me.
When I was still in high school, my grandfather, a man who smoked most of his life and then switched to chew, developed pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic is not a kind cancer. Now before you say what cancer is?..none. However, some are more kind in the fact that they give you time to fight it.  Pancreatic cancer tends to be quite aggressive and your prognosis is usually poor. This was the case of my grandfather. For just months after hearing his diagnosis, my grandfather was laid to rest.
What a horrible story you say. Yes and no. For of course, death is never a good thing, it did make me realize how very little I knew about him. Only years after he passed through stories told by my mom and uncle do I really know anything about him. Spend time with people now. Get to know people now. If you have a recipe that you always wanted to learn from your mother or grandmother go and have her teach it to you now. Appreciate the time you have with others even if it is just sitting in a car for hours at a time starring at miles and miles of farmland.

When I saw that Chris of Mele Cotte’s grandmother passed away from the same form of cancer my grandfather did, I knew I wanted to contribute something to the Cooking to Combat Cancer event. This Black Forest Chocolate Bundt Cake comes from Canadian Living and was chosen because my grandfather did love chocolate and I always used to see him eat cherries(I just remember the bowls of pits). I encourage you to participate in both this event as well as Barb’s A Taste of Yellow…there is still time to do both!

Black Forest Chocolate Bundt Cake

Serves 16
1 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup  cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp  baking powder
3/4 tsp  baking soda
1/2 tsp  salt
1-1/4 cups  sour cream
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries
1 tbsp powdered sugar

Preparation:
Grease and flour 10-cup Bundt pan; set aside. I used 6 mini Bundts.
In large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Into separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and sift again. Stir into butter mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of sour cream. Stir in chocolate chips and cherries. Scrape into prepared pan.
Bake in center of 325°F  oven until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour(about 30 minutes if you are making mini). Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. With knife, loosen rim of cake. Place rack on pan. Wearing oven mitts, grasp pan and rack; turn over. Lift off pan. Let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Wrap in plastic wrap and store for up to 2 days or freeze in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.) Dust with powdered sugar.

Canadian Living Magazine: December 2004

The glaze is just some melted cherry jam that my mom made with a little sifted powdered sugar. I didn’t actually pay attention to the amount…sorry.

One of the greatest things I learned about my husband is that camping to him was in a 4 star hotel. Score.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the outdoors, heck, I was Forestry major my freshman year of college. But sleeping on the rocky ground vs. a mattress is really a no brainer. Tying my food up so that a bear does not come into camp vs. brunch with a mimosa..again no brainer. Washing yourself in a river where an elk was peeing earlier vs. a hot shower. No brainer. And speaking of peeing, this is pretty much the main reason I do not camp. Call it the only time when I have penis envy. I was not made to go to the bathroom outside. And no, an outhouse the smells ungodly with a spider in the corner just waiting to pounce on me is not a suitable option.
Now, I know that many people camp and love it. I know many of those people have RV’s. I would rather just spend the money on the nice hotel and drive out to see the pretty scenery during the day.
I do miss one thing about camping though and that is S’mores. The treat that I learned to love in Girl Scouts. Lucky for me, my Girl Scout troops rarely camped. Believed to come from the Girl Scout handbook in 1927 as “Some Mores” the concoction asked for “16 graham crackers, 8 bars plain chocolate (any of the good plain brands broken in two), and 16 marshmallows”. By 1940 it had involved into “4 squares plain chocolate (thin), 2 graham crackers, and one marshmallow. This recipe may be varied by using slices of apple (cut cross-wise) in place of the graham crackers; by using pineapple slices or peanut butter in place of chocolate.”
I am personally a purist. I just want the gooey marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker…and for some reason, the cheaper the better.
So when Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats chose marshmallows as this weeks Tuesday’s with Dorie treat, I figured I would just cut out the middle man and put the S’more into the marshmallow. I have made marshmallows quite a few times. I love to make them at Christmas time to go into hot chocolate.
I have been fortunate enough that the weather has been chilly and so I made hot chocolate to enjoy with my marshmallows. If you  have never had homemade kind they really are worth it….especially in hot chocolate.
My husband and I are going camping this weekend in Portland. Granted we are camping from a four star hotel…but I’m sure will be roughing it!

Marshmallows

Makes about 1 pound marshmallows

About 1 cup potato starch (found in the kosher foods section of supermarkets) or cornstarch

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 1/4-ounce packets unflavored gelatin

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

3/4 cup cold water

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

GETTING READY: Line a rimmed baking sheet — choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high — with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup — without stirring — until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites. In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquefy it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy — don’t overbeat them and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F, remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl. Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won’t fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups).

Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallows set in a cool, dry place. They’ll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you’ll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you’d like — into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they’re cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you’ve got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

SERVING: Put the marshmallows out and let everyone nibble as they wish. Sometimes I fill a tall glass vase with the marshmallows and put it in the center of the table — it never fails to make friends smile. You can also top hot chocolate or cold sundaes with the marshmallows.

STORING: Keep the marshmallows in a cool, dry place; don’t cover them closely. Stored in this way, they will keep for about 1 week — they might develop a little crust on the outside or they might get a little firmer on the inside, but they’ll still be very good.

Smores Marshmallows:

After you add in the vanilla, fold in 1/3 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs. Carefully fold in 3 ounces of melted milk chocolate. Becareful not to incorporate the chocolate into the marshamallow, you are going for more of a ribbon effect.

I’m quite sure by now there is a big red flag next to my name at the post office. For over the months I have received many a package from some pretty far away places. From Singapore to New Zealand and today, Brazil. Not to mention the mail and packages I get regularly from Canada. With all this International packaging coming my way, we can all bet I am on some list…..and not a good list. Food bloggers are amazing people, so very kind. I mean even the dish towel this loaf is sitting on came from a food blogger as a gift! I truly don’t deserve such nice things from such nice people.
While walking through the store the other day I ran across date sugar. $12 date sugar. And the consumer in me just had to have it. Why? Because I didn’t have it. And had never tasted it. No wonder my husband cringes at our grocery bills. I wasn’t really sure what I would do with this. So when pouring over cookbooks one weekend I saw a recipe for a date and walnut loaf. I didn’t have any dates but hey! I had date sugar. A quick substitution of dried cherries for dates and a little date sugar produced a very dense and yummy quick bread. Though, not all that quick when you have to sit around and wait for the ingredients to bath in boiling water. But much quicker than yeast bread.
I’m glad I bought the date sugar. It certainly adds a new dimension of flavor to the bread. Next I am thinking some sort of molasses and date sugar something…just not sure what that something will be.
Again, I want to thank every food blogger and reader out there who has been generous enough to send me a pick me up from your end of the world. Thanks to Patricia for sending me a fabulous house warming gift..I actually got misty-eyed and my husband made fun of me for it.

Date Sugar Dried Cherry and Walnut Loaf

1 cup dried cherries
¾ cup roughly chopped walnuts
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ + 1/8 cup boiling water
3 TBSP unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup date sugar(use brown if you do not have date)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups cake flour
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly grease a loaf pan, approximately 8 ½ x 4 ½  x 2 inches with butter.
Mix the cherries, walnuts baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Then stir in the boiling water and the butter. Let sit for 20 minutes.
Sift the sugar and flour together into a small  bowl. Lightly whisk the vanilla and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the flour and sugar into the egg mixture in 3 additions. Fold in the cherry and nut mixture, making sure the ingredients are well combined. The final mixture will be thick.
Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour. Check with a knife or wooden skewer after about 50 minutes. Don’t worry if a little piece of the cherries and some moisture stick to the tester. It’s better to take it out early then risk overcooking the loaf.
Take out of the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Source: Adapted from The Ace Bakery Cookbook by Linda Haynes, 2003