Strhubarby Crumbles

So you've skimmed the post, and you're already thinking to yourself, "But, John, isn't this a crisp?"  Go ahead.  Admit it.  Open that can of worms.  To be honest, one could write a fairly extensive expository piece on the variety of fruit desserts and fruit dessert names that exist.  Then, if you needed another writing sample for your portfolio, you could extend this with an argumentative piece on why certain names classify these desserts better.  If you want to be that person, start here.  If you'd rather pick a name and roll with it, then let's carry on.  I've chosen to dub these "crumbles" because, well, I've read that this is the British name for them (and whether it's Wimbledon, fish and chips, or a Pimm's Cup, I'm on board with all things British) and, truly, that stuff we're going to put on top looks all crumbly.

For me, this was my first attempt at using rhubarb.  I can't remember my mother or grandmother ever having it around, and my grandmother, in particular, cooked pies and canned jams of all varieties.  Nevertheless, strawberries are one of my favorite foods, and I've made quite a few fruit-based desserts, so this recipe didn't seem like a huge risk.

Recipe:  Strawberry Rhubarb Crumbles

First, we'll want to macerate our fruit to create a little syrup that will help flesh out our filling.  Okay, so technically it's not macerating, since that term tends to define softening fruit (or other things) in liquid, but the sugar we'll be sprinkling it with will draw out liquid in the fruit which will create a semi-maceration.  Hull and halve a pint of strawberries and chop 3/8# (6 oz.) of rhubarb into 1/2" slices.  Place the fruit in a saucepan and top with a mixture of 3/8 c. sugar, 1.25 tsp. cinnamon, and an optional pinch of nutmeg (I refrained and added a bit of pure vanilla extract instead - so, real maceration).  Reserve a mixture of 1/8 c. sugar and 1 Tbsp. instant Clearjel.  This should be well-combined.  Instant Clearjel is one of those products I learned about at culinary school that I keep in my pantry for fruit-based desserts.  It is a thickener that doesn't require heat, and it also prevents the filling from getting cloudy (as is the case with flour and other thickeners).  While it's not readily available in grocery stores, you can acquire a little bag from King Arthur Flour for a nominal fee, and, as you use so little at a time, it will probably last you a while.  You will add this to your fruit mixture once the sugar has pulled some of the liquid out.  Let the fruit macerate for about thirty minutes, then add the sugar and Clearjel mixture.  At this point, I turned a burner on medium and cooked down the fruit just a little (a few minutes tops) to get more of the juices going before I put them in the oven.
 

Filling ingredients

Chopped rhubarb

Halved strawberries

Macerating fruits

Sugar and Clearjel combined

While my fruit was macerating, I made the crumbly, streusel topping.  It was only after this was made that I bothered to turn the oven on, as I was fairly sure it didn't need the full thirty minutes to preheat.  In any event, you'll want it set to 375°F.  To make the streusel, I sifted and combined 1/2 c. of all-purpose flour, 1/2 c. of brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon in a bowl.  I then cut in 6 Tbsp. of cold butter using a pastry cutter.  You are welcome to use the rubbing method and do this by hand.  You'll want to end up with a mixture that resembles coarse crumbs.  I like to leave my butter bits slightly larger (more along the size of chickpeas than green peas) as one would for a flaky pie dough.  After the butter is cut in, mix in 2/3 c. of rolled oats.  Please note that this recipe makes far more streusel than you will need for these crumbles.  I did this purposefully because streusel freezes very well in plastic storage bags, and I didn't want to have to make more next time I made a pie.  You're welcome to cut down the recipe as needed or double it to make even more to freeze.

Streusel ingredients

The colder your butter, the better

See!  Crumble, people.  There's nothing crisp about this.

  

Streusel for freezing

Alright, so baking and assembly is as straightforward as the rest of this recipe.  I greased mini-Springform pans with a dab of butter, scooped some filling into them, and topped with the streusel.  For the record, I put too much filling in each one, forgetting that fruits like to bubble up with gusto, and fruit ended up dribbling over the sides of my pans.  I called them rustic and ate them anyway.  Bake these in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the streusel is golden and the filling is bubbling.  You'll probably want to put a piece of foil or a baking sheet on the rack beneath these in case they do decide to bubble over like mine did (hooray for my pizza stone catching the dribblings).  Once finished, let them cool briefly, and dig in!

Mini-Springforms ready to be greased

Oven companions

Finished product, after a rather enticing overflow

I'll be honest, I wish these had a slightly more overt rhubarb flavor, and I may adjust my recipe accordingly next time, but it provides a great, tart contrast to the sweetness of the strawberries.

Personal Favorite: Challah German Toast

 

I've just returned home from a week at the beach, where we have a tradition of enjoying second breakfast.  Inspired by a hobbit aesthetic, second breakfast is served by yours truly a couple times a week.  Some of us are early risers: beach-goers, bike riders, runners, yoga-on-the-beach-ers, etc., and if we've had an early nosh, it's usually something light.  By 10:00, it's time for second breakfast. Sunday morning second breakfast, for something like five or six years now, is challah German (French) toast. (I'll post a sidebar note at a later time about the origins--documented and legendary--of the name French toast.  But for now, suffice it to say that I live with a man who makes his living teaching young people to speak German, so it's German toast. Here's a link or two to get you started on your own if you're curious.)

The toast part is easy--and delicious.  You really can make it with any kind of bread, and if the bread is a little (or a lot) dried out, that's fantastic.  All you really need are eggs and milk.  I've read a bunch of different recipes that also include salt, sugar, and a range of other spices.  I use the following recipe, given to my by a dear friend, for the basic proportions and multiply as needed:

For four slices of bread, whisk together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 3 good shakes ground cinnamon, 1 good shake ground nutmeg.

And that's it.  Seriously.  All that's left is the toasting.  I love to use a cast iron skillet, sprayed with a little oil or cooking spray, on a medium heat setting, hot enough to sizzle nicely but not brown too quickly.  Soak the bread piece by piece in the egg and milk mixture, and place it cut side down on the hot skillet until it's golden brown, 2-3 mins or less, depending.  Flip and brown the other side.  Serve with a little confectioner's sugar dusted over the slices and a good maple syrup.

So you can do German toast with any old bread you've got.  But.  If you (1) really love the people you're serving, and if you (2) would like for one of those people to take a bite of your German toast and say "This is the first thing I'm going to eat when I get to heaven," and if you (3) want to have a ton of fun making the most delicious, beautiful bread ever, you should learn to make challah.  Julia Child has a great recipe in her book Baking with Julia, written with Dori Greenspan (1996).

Don't forget to check your local library--a great resource for sampling cookbooks before you invest.

It takes me 5 hours, approximately, from start to finish to make challah, but a good portion of that time is the dough working, rising and baking.  I'd say it's about 45 minutes to an hour of actual human work time.  The loaves last a long time and freeze well, especially if you slice them before freezing.  

Here's a photo step-by-step:

Milk, melted butter, sugar,  honey, salt.  If you don't have an instant-read thermometer, get one.

Yeast in a little luke-warm water with a pinch of sugar

It's the eggs!

Oh, how I love my Kitchen Aid mixer.  And yes, I use the dough hook, even though, . . . . well, that's for another post. However, it is entirely possible to make this dough without a mixer other than the ones god gave you (hands).

In fact, I do the last little bit of kneading by hand to incorporate the last 3/4 cup (or so) of flour and just because the dough feels soo soft and warm.  Also I love to use my bread board, a gift from my sister. A good flat, cool surface you can flour well will work just fine.  Use a sheet of waxed paper or two spread on a counter, lightly floured.

Gorgeous, and ready to rise twice: once for about 90 mins or until doubled, then it gets punched down and rises again for about 45 mins.

Buttered bowl. Buttered plastic wrap.

It's alive!

A mezzaluna and a scale are helpful but not essential. I have divided the dough successfully enough without them.

Divide each half into thirds for braiding.

Roll the thirds into long strands.

If you can braid hair, you can braid dough.  Julia recommends starting in the middle and working to one end then turning the bread around to complete the braid. I concur.  This method works. 

What would we do without parchment paper?

Before they go in the oven, they rise again a little, then get an egg wash, a sprinkling of coarse salt and poppy seeds.

Do it!  You will feel so proud of yourself!

Ingredient Spotlight: Vermont Maple Mustard

Sometimes a single ingredient can give an otherwise mediocre dish real depth of flavor.  In an effort to share some of these transforming ingredients with you, I'm kicking off a segment of our blog that I'm dubbing Ingredient Spotlight.  This ingredient might be an unexpected spice, herb, or seasoning; a traditional ingredient used in a surprising way; or, as is the case today, a premade product.

One of my more recent surprising discoveries came at Kroger via their Private Selection brand--Vermont Maple Mustard.

It looks so unassuming.  (And lonely?)

The maple syrup in this mustard gives it a delicious sweetness that is reminiscent of honey mustard, yet it contains practically no fat or sugar.  Truly, I'm not even sure I can go back to normal mustard; everything I've paired it with has been amazing.  Grilled cheese sandwich with a smear of this?  Excellent.  Hot dog with a drizzle of this and some caramelized onions?  Divine.  However, my favorite dish so far has to be the one I'm sharing below.  Please enjoy.

Recipe:  Mustard Glazed Salmon with a Kale and Cabbage Side

Preheat your oven to 400°F.  While it preheats, you're going to start up the side dish.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

The mustard has friends!

First up, you'll want about 8 ounces of Kale leaves.  Place them in a large sauté pan (with a lid, which you'll be needing later) and drizzle them with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.

 

I love how vibrant it looks pre-wilting.

I know it looks like a lot of kale, but it cooks down quite a bit.  Trust me.  Now, sauté the leaves on medium heat until wilted.  This should only take a few minutes at which point they'll look like this:

Whoa.  Shrinkage.

While the kale is wilting, you can proceed to chop up the red cabbage.  I've roughly chopped about half a medium head of red cabbage here.

It really is a colorful dish.

Once the kale is wilted, add the cabbage to the pan.  It is at this point that I season the veg with some salt.  Then, you'll add red wine vinegar and water to the pan.  I added about 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) of vinegar and probably half a cup of water.  You can add more or less vinegar according to your taste, but you'll need enough liquid in the pan for a proper braise.  Remember, you can always cook off some of the excess liquid at the end (or reduce it into a glaze), so it is generally better to use more liquid than necessary rather than not enough (in order to avoid burnt kale/cabbage).  Once you've added the liquid, cover the pan, reduce the heat to just below medium and let it simmer away for about 15 minutes.

Braising veg

Now that the side dish is under way, it's time to start the salmon.  Here are the ingredients needed:

There aren't that many...

In addition to the mustard and the non-stick spray, that's a 7 oz. salmon fillet.  The one I purchased had some pulverized almonds on it which you're welcome to recreate or not as you please.  Meanwhile, the cooking process for the fish couldn't be easier.  I spray a piece of foil with non-stick cooking spray, I place the salmon on the foil, and I wrap it into a neat little package.  Then, I throw the package on my pizza stone in the middle rack of the now-preheated oven and voilá.  I'm generally terrible at estimating fish cooking times, but the label suggested 15 minutes, so that's how long it stayed in the oven.  (You can't fault me for not following directions at least.)

Salmon packet

At this point, you have a few minutes to clean up if you'd like.  However, you'll be using whatever you used for a cutting board again shortly to dice an apple and, really, it's probably better if you go ahead and have a glass of wine while you wait on the timer to beep.

Ahh...

Just before the braising vegetables have reached the 15 minute mark, peel and dice an apple.  I used a Gala, but any sweet apple will suffice.

I macédoine with the most average of them...

Once the kale and cabbage combo has been braising for about 15 minutes, remove the lid, add the diced apple, add a couple tablespoons of the Vermont Maple Mustard, mix accordingly, and let the dish continue to cook a few minutes as needed to remove any excess liquid from the bottom of the pan.  You should probably also taste a bite at this point to determine if it needs additional seasoning.

Eating with my eyes even as I post this hours later

The dish's star ingredient

By this point, the salmon should be ready to come out of the oven.  When it comes out, I glaze it with a tablespoon of the mustard and toss it back in the oven (go ahead and turn off the heat) with the packet uncovered for a minute or so to heat the mustard through.  Then, it's time to plate up.  I sprinkled the salmon with some fresh lemon verbena because I could.

Mustard smear

The finished dish

Well, that's it for our first ingredient spotlight.  Feel free to try out this recipe, but also let us know if you end up using this mustard in other applications.  I'm always looking for new ideas...

-John

Fine Words Butter No Parsnips

As we were searching for a name for our blog about the food we love to cook and eat, we stumbled upon an old expression: “Fine words butter no parsnips.”  Intrigued, we investigated.  An expression from the 17th century, “it expresses the notion that fine words count for nothing and that action means more than flattery or promises.”  While we agree, we also concur that parsnips need buttering.  Furthermore, we appreciate both fine words and flattery.  Can't we have both?  Fine words and buttered parsnips?  In fact, that's ultimately our goal here.  We want to share our experiences cooking, eating, and learning about food--our triumphs, our discoveries, our recommendations, and our revelations.  We'll butter your parsnips!  And, by taking these recipes and suggestions in your own culinary directions, you'll butter ours.  Prepare to be buttered!