heli-claire’s kitchen
April 14, 2010
A quick blog-ish note.
If you like food, and beautiful photographs of food, and entertaining write-ups about food, I would definitely recommend giving Heli-Claire’s Kitchen a peep. I am biased, of course, what can I say. But who doesn’t want to drool over cornmeal biscotti and potato pie funnelled with cream, or get tips on how to make a tart’s edges stand up to the heat??
I love to cook, bake, garden, harvest, etc with my sister (except when she makes me grate cheese), and so it is particularly fun to be able to see what she is doing in the world of food on a regular basis!
P.S. Here is her tidy, tiny, kitchen, in which she manages to do just about everything!
tarts come in twos
April 14, 2010
I made a lemon tart yesterday, and the tart shell recipe made enough dough for two pies. I have been carrying the extra tart shell around with me today (it made its way into town and back…), trying to decide what to fill it with.
I settled on a mango cream pie (of sorts). When I dropped the meyer lemon pie off at my friend’s workshop, he gave me two limes from his tree, and so I incorporated them into the pie as well. The limes were yellow, and I had the hardest time wrapping my mind around the fact that they looked like lemons. I really associate the smell and taste of lime with the deep green that they usually are.
My mom suggested to make a pastry creme of sorts using whipped cream and greek style hung yogurt. To the yogurt I added lime zest and juice, mixed with sugar. (An idea from Duncan.) As I whipped the cream, I added some Haitian vanilla. Then I folded the yogurt mixture into the cream, and spread into the tart pan. For the filling, I used 1 tiny box of cream (a cup??) and half of a package of Fage full cream yogurt. I added vanilla and sugar to taste, and the zest and juice of one very delicious lime.
On top of the cream, which was already filling the tart shell nicely, I placed some ripe slices of mango. (I peeled and cut up 4 medium sized yellow mangoes.) I think that this would be good with many fresh fruits. Berries, peaches, plums, etc!
They fit nicely in a little mound on the top of the cream.
To garnish, I ran over to my mom’s house and picked a few sprigs of mint, which have popped up in the garden in the past few weeks.
meyer lemon (what to do when someone gives you a single)
April 13, 2010
I live in Iowa. Meyer lemons don’t really grow here. Or lemons for that matter. (Just stating the obvious here..) So when my friend Duncan picked one off of his tree and handed it to me today I was delighted. He has a beautiful tree situated next a big south-facing window in his cozy workshop. I stopped by to drop off a piece of pie, and left with a lemon. Big, bright, and juicy.
I wanted to make something special. This was one of 6 lemons on the tree, and I wanted to use the whole lemon, or as much of it as I could. My first thought was to call my sister. She is a little baker, and always has good ideas. And she did, of course. A lemon tart. Because I only had one lemon (not the three that the recipe called for), and I wanted to keep the lemon’s integrity, I adjusted her recipe and made a “one lemon tart.”
One lemon’s zest, one lemon’s juice, one egg, and 1/6th of a cup sugar. And one tiny tart pan, filled with a tiny crust. Prick, prick, prick, prick, prick, pricked with a fork. (My sister wrote a lot more pricks into the recipe.)
And weighted with lentils so that the crust didn’t have any chance at all to puff up. None.
Then came the custard. Zested the meyer lemon, juiced the meyer lemon,
found the unexpected but delightful surprise of sprouted pips inside the meyer lemon,
and stir, stir, stirred the custard…
I am not a custard maker. As you can see from the photograph, I don’t have the proper equipment (I used a shallow frying pan set over a pot of simmering water.), and I am just afraid that the eggs will scramble. After a lot of stirring, quite a few grumpy calls to my sister, and my face feeling like a ripe tomato, I took the custard off the stove, and set it aside to cool. I think that it turned out ok, and I was able to pour it into the crust, and put it into the oven. 
I did then call my mom, and had her come over to help me figure out when the custard was ‘set.’ I think that I will leave the custards to Heli, as she likes making them, and will probably do a much better job.
The finished result was a tart tart! Very un-sweet, lemony and delicious.
spring hunting season
April 12, 2010
Today I went out for a hunt with my friend Heather. We were a little late last year, looking for mushrooms, and so wanted to be ahead of the game this year. We were a little too ahead for morels, but we did find a whole bunch of stinging nettles.
I wanted to make nettle pies, so I collected a good sized plastic bag full. Nettles are tricky little plants. If you touch them with your bare skin, it will sting for a few minutes.
In order to pick them, I placed my hand in a plastic bag, pinched off the tender tips of the plants, and placed them in another plastic bag.
To wash the nettles, I filled my sink with water, and stirred the leaves around with a pair of chopsticks.
The spines are still prickly after the nettles have been washed. To remove the prickles, I steamed the nettles in a bit of water, with a little salt. I poured off the nettle broth and drank it. It tasted like the woods, warm, sweet, and full of earth!
To make nettle pies, I chopped an onion and sautéed it in olive oil.
As it was cooking, I added a little of the nettle broth, and then some chopped chard and beet greens.
When these had finished cooking, I added the cooked and chopped nettles.
I set the vegetable mixture aside and made the crust. I made a basic pie crust, using 1/2 whole wheat flour, to give it a little more substance.
To fill out the filling, I mixed one package tofu, one package organic valley feta cheese, and half a package prairie breeze cheese. I crumbled the tofu and feta with my hands, and grated the prairie breeze. To bind the whole mixture together, I added a sprinkle of whole wheat flour. I mixed the cheeses with the vegetables, and blended them a little with my stick blender. When the pie crusts were chilled, I spooned the batter into them, and baked the pies in a 400 degree oven for ten minutes, and then in a 350 degree oven for an additional 45 (approximately), until they were firm.
And now I have two nettle chard pies, and lunch food until I get sick of them…
more pizza (a study..)
April 12, 2010
I really want to get pizza right. The crust, the toppings, etc. Yesterday I made an arugula pizza, and the toppings were good, but the crust came out a little bit soggy.
I made a full batch of dough, and left two parts of dough into the fridge to use later, and today I made pizza number two.
My mission tonight was to try to get rid of the soggy crust. I rolled out the dough, set it aside to rise, and preheated the oven, with my cast iron pizza pan in it.
When the oven was heated, I basted the pizza generously with olive oil, dusted the pan with cornmeal, and set the pizza in the oven to bake.
I let it cook for about 10 minutes (I think…) and then took it out, popped the bubbles, added the sauce, cooked nettles, and cheese, and popped it back in the oven to finish cooking.
I kind of forgot about the pizza and it got a little bit crispy, which I like anyways…and no soggy crust! I also loved the nettles, cooked with onions and other veggies, sprinkled across the top.
I set the pizza on the porch railing to cool, perched out there myself, and had dinner with the gentle breeze, chirping birds, and leftover sunshine…
first pick
April 10, 2010
My mom and I spent the morning having quality time in the garden. We turned under the compost on the surface of our garden boxes, raked, and planted one of the boxes. We found a volunteer lettuce patch, the parsley, thyme, and onions. I love that we already have some hearty plants going strong!
We planted a whole bunch of things. First in line are the beets. We planted chioggia beets that are pink and white striped. They are planted in two widely spread rows. My mom wrote the name and date planted on little markers for each row. We left the seed packages because they looked cute!
Next were the carrots and radishes, planted together. Someone (I can’t remember who…) gave me this tip a few weeks ago. The radishes will grow more quickly, and as they are harvested, the carrots will have more room to grow! I can’t wait to see how it works. Next in line is the arugula, and then another variety of carrots, some chard, and kale. We were ambitious!
As we were planting, my mom spotted the first asparagus of the season! A few little stalks poking up around the leaves and compost.
We immediately stopped what we were doing and ran inside to cook the little batch.
My mom always peels the tougher bottom part of the asparagus. It is delicious, and without the tough part, each stalk is extended an inch or two with this simple trick.
We steamed the asparagus in a little water, and had it on toast with a little parmesan cheese on top and set under the broiler. We then sat on the porch and had our toast, and then went back out to finish our gardening.
straw, plastic, and dead grass
April 7, 2010
We started preparing the pumpkin patch. I have a sneaking suspicion that the entire patch that we staked out won’t be completely covered. It is a huge spot, and we started preparing at the west the corners. In one corner we put some plastic. A sheet of clear plastic, held down by logs, is supposed to “cook” the grass. At the same time, it allows the sunlight in, so the grass continues to grow (unlike with black plastic). The grass and root system then get tired from growing, and fried from overheating. Dead grass. When I write it all out like this, I feel a little bit cruel about the whole thing…After about a week, the plastic can be removed and placed on a new section of field, as the grass should be suitably cooked.
The second method might be a little more humane…killing grass by cardboard. We put a double layer of good quality cardboard over the second corner of the patch, and then covered it with a thick layer of straw. We used cardboard boxes, and took care to remove any plastic tape, so that we wouldn’t have loose strips of plastic floating around in the garden. The straw came along with its own version of life. Mushrooms, sprouts, and a few assorted grasses…hoping that this is ok. The whole thing is weighted down by logs, and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Last night we had a windy storm, and I was hoping for rain to soak the cardboard and straw, to weight the whole mess down. The wind didn’t blow away the straw, and the cardboard section is now soggy and seems well put. We are going to collect another batch of cardboard, and pick up some more plastic and continue on, bit by bit to take over as much of the field as we can before planting time. We still have a while before the time to plant comes along, so the field might end up rather big!
turtle’s adventure to the pond
April 6, 2010
This is for my friend Sankari and her two adorable kiddies.
Turtle’s Adventure to the Pond
It is the time of year when last fall’s garden leftovers start to pop up. Parsley,
some forgotten onions,
a burst of thyme,
and little turtle!
He pops up, and passes the wood pile.
Some of the logs are tricky to maneuver over.
Little turtle ends up on his back!
After lots of frantic flailing around,
turtle works a flip.
And ducks immediately under his shell. Tail and all!
Turtle decides that it is about time to get to the safety of the pond. He grabs a sip of water,
and starts his journey. First thing is to pass the gravel patch.
Safely over the gravel patch, Turtle reaches woods, and encounters the wildflowers!
He takes a nibble of the dogtooth violet,
hides under the lacy shadow of the dutchman’s britches,
and sees a beautiful patch of blue flowers! While turtle is gazing at the pretty patch, he sniffs a particularly delicious mossy, muddy smell. Over his shoulder he sees…
the pond! Turtle picks up his pace and hurries down the hill.
He is pretty excited, 
and jumps right in. Pretty soon, all that is left of turtle is a ripple on the water.
humpty dumpty (pre-fall)
April 3, 2010
I went over to my friend Chloe’s house last night with my full tray of needle felting wool. I was inspired to make something, but not sure exactly what. She was working on a crafty project, and said that she had some duck eggs in the fridge for decorating later…
And then I knew that I needed to make Humpty Dumpty (pre-fall). I hollowed out the egg, drilled holes, and stuck pipe cleaners through for arms and legs. I wrapped white wool around the pipe cleaners to shape the arms and legs, and then added the vest and pants. Then suspenders, buttons, and trim.
Finally, I made the coat and felted it on.
The finished H. D. likes spending time in the daffodil patch,
balancing high up on bricks and other hard, sharp, potentially dangerous objects,
and taking trips around the garden for leisure on Mama Hen.
From the looks of things, you might say that he is quite the little adventurer!
pacing out the pumpkin patch
March 30, 2010
I am obsessed with pumpkins. So, to convert an entire patch of my front field into prime pumpkin growing territory sounds like a good idea to me…
Last night, my friend (and partner in pumpkin crime) Jay and I went out to stake out the dimensions of the patch. We staked out a very very large patch, and aren’t exactly sure if we will use the whole thing or not…it is huge. Somewhere around 100 feet by 35 feet. I have to say that my eyes tend to be bigger than my stomach, so to speak.
We haven’t exactly figured out how we are going to prepare the bed. I guess it depends on how big we actually make it. We are going to research how to plant pumpkins, and prepare beds, and see what we come up with. We have a little bit of straw, and an endless supply of cardboard for mulch, which will probably come in handy. And lots of pumpkin seeds, rotten pumpkins, and ideas for seeds to get. And we are thinking of adding gourds, maybe some butternut squash, and why not some watermelons…? Oh dear.
living in the woods and making stuff 
