Community Kitchen - Tamales

I am leading a new community kitchen in Ballard, WA.  If you are interested you should come out.

Starting May 18, 2010, Sustainable Ballard Food Guild will be hosting a community kitchen at the Ballard Community Center. As a group, we’ll make several dishes and everyone will take home the meals to freeze or eat during the week. Each month will have a different theme. Local and seasonal vegetarian dishes will be the focus.

When: Third Tuesday, 6-9pm
Where: Ballard Community Center, 28th Ave NW at NW 60th
Cost: $25 per session, scholarships available
Register in advance:
call 684-4093 or
in person at any Community Center or
online www.seattle.gov/parks by clicking SPARC/lifelong learning/cooking

Menu: Mexican theme for May
Tamales with cheese, chilis/cheese, black beans & squash
Salsa
Salad or greens, depending upon what is available at the market
Mexican garlic vegetable soup
Bring 1-2 large jars for soup and some containers for tamales and salsa to take it home with you.

Pear thyme butter

I decided to use my slow cooker to make this recipe. This had two benefits.  First, I placed the pears in the slow cooker in the morning before I left for work.  When I came home the pears were completely cooked down.  The second benefit was that I didn't need to add any additional liquids to help prevent scorching. I can definitely see using the slow cooker for making other butters and small batches of apple sauce.

I didn't bother to peel or seed the pears beforehand.  I ran the cooked pear through a sieve. This worked well and would work even better if I had a food mill. 

Pear Thyme Butter

3 lbs of pears, rough chopped

1 cup of honey

2 T of lemon thyme

2T of lemon juice

Place pears and honey in slow cooker.  Cook on low overnight or at least 8 hours. When the pears are completely soft run through a sieve or food mill.  Stir in thyme and lemon juice.  Place in half pint jars and process for 15 mins.

Rosemary Red Wine Jelly with Shallots

I wanted to come up with a tapas style jelly. I had two partial bottles of red wine. So that became my base. My next thoughts were toward what sauces I enjoy making from red wine. So the addition of rosemary and shallots.  A little bit of this on baguette combined with a poached egg or roasted mushrooms is a great starter. Opening a jar of this is wonderful. A beautiful ruby color with a smell that is a nice blend of rosemary and shallot. 

8 cups of red wine

1/2 cup diced shallot

1 Tablespoon of Rosemary, minced

1/2 cup of red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1 packet of no sugar pectin

Place the wine in a non-reactive pot and reduce by half over medium heat.  When reduced add all ingredients. and simmer for 5 mins. Add pectin and return to a boil. Boil for an additional 5 mins.  Process in water bath for 15 mins.

Vinegars

Last fall I decided to make some more flavored vinegars.  I had made a number of different flavors through out the spring and summer. Clive blossom, nasturtium, black pepper and hot pepper.  This fall I went with cranberry and leeks and carrot, leek and hot pepper. Making infused vinegars is one of the simplest projects you can do.  It also has the added benefit of being very tasty and versatile. I use vinegar in almost every dish that I make.  After adding the initial salt I will add some vinegar to crisp up the flavor.  Most of the time I can get away with less than half of the salt called for in recipes and still have all of the flavor.

Cranberry Leek Vinegar

4 cups white vinegar

1 cup cranberries, washed and picked over

1/2 cup leeks, white part only, sliced

Place cranberries and leeks in a glass container. Cover with vinegar.  Allow to soak for at least 1 month.

  You can use stoppered bottles as shown above or glass jars.   Both have benefits.  You can use the glass jars and then decant into bottles.  This way you can have many different vinegars steeping and only a few bottles are needed. 

Spicy Carrot Leek Vinegar

4 cups white vinegar

1 carrot, minced

1/2 cup leeks, white part only, sliced

 1-2 chiles

Place carrot, leeks and chiles in glass jar and steep for 1 month.

Garlic Stuffed Pickled Eggplant

This is going to be short but yummy.

I made these with Thai-style eggplants (green strippy ones) but them can be made with any type.  I would recommend a white or cider vinegar for green eggplants and a red wine vinegar for regular purple ones.

12 small eggplants
12 cloves of garlic
4 cups of vinegar
2 cups of water
2 T of salt

Optional: basil, thyme, black pepper

Take the eggplants and remove the stem.  Blanch them until softened about 5 mins.  Cut a cross in the stem end of the eggplant, this cut will need to be fairly deep to allow for the garlic clove.  Push the clove of garlic into the eggplant.  Mix vinegar, water and salt until salt is dissolved.  Place stuffed eggplants in your jars and cover with your vinegar mixture. If using additional flavorings (basil, pepper, etc) place in the bottom of the jar.  Process for 15 mins.

Enjoy. I know that I will be doing another batch of these this summer.  I am going to try a set with basil wrapping the garlic.

Pickled Carrot and Leek Shreds

I have made many variants on this recipe.  In the summer I make it with zucchini and carrots.  This time I made it using carrots and leeks with a bit of spice.  Ok maybe more than a bit.  Either way it is a great recipe.  I have served it on bread, with pasta and to add depth to a salad.  It adds color to a winter table, a little bit of summer in the cold.

To make the carrots easier to julienne I have a favorite tool that I use. It is used like a vegetable peeler only it shreds the vegetable into multiple thin strips.  This little tool achieves the same result as a mandolin but without the worry of cutting yourself and the space needed to store and use it.

Spicy Carrot and Leek Shreds

2 lbs Carrots

1/2 lb  Leeks

1 T Kosher Salt

3 c cider vinegar

3/4 c water

1/2 c honey
1  Pickling salt

3 chipotle peppers, chopped
4 cloves of garlic

 

Julienne the carrots and leeks. Toss with salt.  Let stand until softened.  Drain and rinse.

Mix vinegar, water, honey, and salt.  Stir until honey and salt are dissolved.

Place one clove of garlic in each jar. Evenly distribute the peppers between the jars  Distribute the carrot-leeks mixture between the jars.  Pour the vinegar over the vegetables making sure to leave 1/2 inch of headroom.  Process for 15 min for 1/2 pints and 20 for full pints.

Red Onion Marmalade

I decided to play around with making marmalade.  I wanted something more savory.  Needless to say I don't think this will be showing up on toast anytime soon.  Now with some nice roasted mushrooms or bit of lamb.


2 Red onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic
4 T oil
1/2 c sugar
3 oranges zested (as think as you can manage)  and juiced
1/2 c vinegar (apple cider or sherry)

Place the sliced onion and oil in a saute pan.  Cook until mostly caramelized. Stir in garlic and continue cooking until the garlic is lightly browned.

Add some of the orange juice and deglaze the pan.  Place the onion and juice mixture in a small pot.  Add the rest of the juice, vinegar, zest and sugar.  Cook down until thickened.  When you draw your spoon through the mixture a path should clear but then fill with syrup.


Place in sterilized jar and process for 20 mins. Yield ~3-4 pints