Category Archives: Dairy & Eggs

A strange coincidence this afternoon

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I truly love technology, especially when it lets me find marvelous things. If you’ve been here before, you’ll note the change of format. Well, it’s entailed a LOT of editing, link checking, replacing photographs that somehow disappeared in the switch.  So, I’m likely a little squirrely side. (Frankie would probably flat-out bitchy since the last time he walked across the keyboard.) I was just editing a blog post on Roast Duck with Fresh Fig Sauce, thinking that since it’s summertime, there will be figs. . . .

My email popped up notification of a  “like”  from a blog that I just discovered and started following.   From Alfred’s with Love.  WordPress put this one up on my list of recommended blogs yesterday, and I went to check it out.  I liked, I followed.Thank you, WordPress!

I’m seriously addicted to good writing about food, eating, dining, or even just the occasional graze, or an excellent sandwich (See Bibliography page).  As usual, the WordPress email included some links–Sea Bass and eat it caught my eye, and I was just roaming around. Perhaps because I had just been looking at duck on my blog I pulled down the recipe index and clicked on duck.

What I found first was Duck à l’epoisses. Epoisses is one of my two favorite cheeses (the other being Brin d’Amour or Fleur de Maquis).  I’d never thought of combining it with duck until I saw this recipe, and it’s left me drooling on my keyboard, even if it is so hot right now that I’d not want duck for dinner. This is a keeper of a recipe–come some cooler days and I’ll be looking for Epoisses cheese to try this (unfortunately it’s not one that I can just walk into the cheese shop and get here in Durham).

You’ve got the links here; you really should go check out this blog because there delightful reading, and some great anticipation with the recipes.

Beet salad with feta

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I’m in a work rush with a close deadline on a book that I’m indexing and that means that any heavy duty cooking (anything that requires turning on the stove, or pushing a button on the microwave) is out for the next few days. In need of lunch, I perused the fridge contents.

There was a package of Melissa’s Produce steamed, peeled, baby beets that I  brought home from the  supermarket produce section; toted home and put in the vegetable bin (sometime ago, and not yet used) so I made the easy beet salad from Chef Mimi’s blog this afternoon. This was a great light, quick,  warm-day lunch.

The beets are vacuum sealed in heavy plastic.  The texture is perfect–just like I’d steamed and peeled them myself–and they have a long shelf-life so I can always have them around without feeling that I absolutely HAVE to have beets today, or even tomorrow.

It’s not that cooking beets is difficult, but when there’s a really pressing deadline and I need lots of work time, I go for convenience and speed  but I don’t want to sacrifice taste. That usually rules out canned vegetables (except for beans and tomatoes) though I admit to not have checked out canned beets in ages because I really never liked the taste;  I can see that I need to revisit the canned ones again, too.

These vacuum packed ones just moved beets right up with canned beans as a convenience item in my pantry.

(Let me be clear about my comments on any products mentioned in my posts:  I have no connection (except as a consumer) with Melissa’s Produce, nor with Stahlbush Island Farms (mentioned below.  I get no remuneration for comments or use of these products.)

Now, I tasted the beets straight from the package and then made my salad.  I didn’t spiralize them, so my salad wasn’t as pretty as that pictured on Cher Mimi’s blog, but it was tasty.  I doubt that I could tell those vacuum-sealed, pre-cooked beets from ones that I had steamed and peeled myself (unless I looked at the color of my hands).  You could put those in a bowl and serve as a vegetable without anything except warming them and adding seasoning of your choice.

I have one more “convenience” product that I want to check out:  Stahlbush Island Farms sliced frozen beets that I found in the frozen food section at my local Harris Teeter.  I didn’t go to the frozen foods section expecting beets (probably the farthermost thing from my mind just then–I was looking for chopped kale) but right next to the Stahlbush Island Farms chopped curly kale, were sliced beets. As slicedbeetswebyou’ve probably gathered, I’m incapable of leaving something like that in the store.  So, I have those in the freezer to try next.

One of my other summer favorites is beet soup. I can certainly speed up making that if I use one of these products!  I can replace the beet greens with Swiss chard–maybe even find it frozen as well.

One of the appealing things about the frozen beets is that I can use some and put the remaining ones back in the freezer without having leftover veggies.  Since they are sliced, but uncooked, I have more flexibility. With the vacuum packed ones or a can, you have to do something with  the rest of the beets so that they don’t linger too long in the fridge and grow interesting colors of mold, and eventually find the way to the garbage.

My only “regret” with the Melissa’s beets was that I really like  beets roasted instead of steamed.  The first way I’ll try the frozen ones is roasted as suggested on the website.

ÒΔÓ

Until I found these products in the frozen food section, I’d never heard of Stahlbush Island Farms, but after looking at the website and the products, I’ll certainly follow up to check out some of the grains and legumes that are frozen, as well as fruits. (Again, no connection, except as a consumer, and picky at that.)

I noticed black raspberries on the product list. I’m a fanatic about black raspberries–there’s a big difference in flavor from the red ones that we see in the stores, not that those aren’t good, but black raspberries are what I grew up with, and thus my idea of what raspberries should be.

Baked Eggs and Black Pudding Hash

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I really didn’t “do” St. Patrick’s Day–but I’d love to have had this. Love black pudding!

Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide's avatarRufus' Food and Spirits Guide

I see Irish eyes a smiling I see Irish eyes a smiling

There are many high quality pre-packaged black puddings on the market. Finding them in the states is a difficult task and always expensive.

For a long time I had planned on making it from scratch but finding a butcher who sells fresh blood is impossible. All those vampire shows and movies where every corner has a butcher selling fresh blood are more of a myth than the vampires themselves.

By chance we found an authentic English restaurant in Little Rock that doubles as a grocery store stocked with true biscuits, bangers, sauces and other English specialties including black pudding.

Baked Eggs and Black Pudding Hash

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 lb red potatoes diced small
  • 8 ounces black pudding quartered and diced
  • 1 cup diced red onion
  • 1 jalapeno diced fine
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp mace
  • 6-8 basil leaves sliced into ribbons
  • 10-12 grape tomatoes…

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Baked Feta Cheese with whatever you are growing in your veggie patch

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I love feta cheese–I’d never thought to do something so simple and easy for a summer lunch or supper.

Promenade Claire's avatarPromenade Plantings

The allotment sorely needs my attention right now, it will be planting time soon and a) I haven’t done any preparation and b) and even more pressing is that until today I haven’t sown any seeds.

I have a To Do List in my head – clearing the winter debris, tidying jobs abound, a new path to be cleared between the greenhouse and shed and talking of the greenhouse it’s on my to do list too!  But I’m not going to dwell on the To Do List as there’s a tendency for it to all start feeling a bit overwhelming. I remind myself this is a hobby, a pleasure and an escape from TO DO lists. Instead I accept that a busy life means it’s a case of do what and when I can and while I’m there pick a few leaves of winter greens like Chard and Kale, dig…

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Grilled cheese sandwiches

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A grilled cheese sandwich is often a quick meal, and perhaps the ultimate in comfort food–with or without the tomato soup.  I love grilled cheese sandwiches and want to pass on this link for any of you who also love grilled cheese sandwiches.

It’s very easy to make a “plain” grilled cheese sandwich, but you can do so much more with them.  I found some wonderful suggestions at Spoon, Fork, Bacon. If you love grilled cheese here is a great place to find some exciting ideas.

Salad dressings…

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I’m in the midst of an indexing project that’s taking a lot of time–it’s reduced my cooking to pretty rudimentary–like making salads and sandwiches.  Thankfully summertime is good for salads and there is always the tomato sandwich.

One of the things I do with salads, even when rushed, is make my salad dressings.  Here is a link from The Kitchn for some easy salad dressings.

Bleu cheese is one of my favorites, so I’m always looking for a better bleu cheese dressing.  Have a wedge of Roth’s Kase Buttermilk Blue in the fridge just waiting to have a bit of it go into a bleu cheese dressing.  Maybe tomorrow…depending on how the indexing progresses.

Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Hash

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A very rainy day (Andrea is passing through here–or close at least)–the kind that promotes leisurely activity and thoughts of good food–warm but not too heavy. I’m being leisurely and browsing food blogs–and have found some very appealing recipes that I thought would be good to share.

Greens, with dill and feta cheese

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So many greens do well in cold weather–and can be simple to fix.

emmycooks's avatarEmmy Cooks

Welcome to Emmy Cooks!  You can see more of my favorite recent recipes by clicking the “My Favorite Recipes” category on the sidebar (here are July, August, and September).  If you like what you see here, you can sign up on the sidebar to receive a daily recipe by email, add the RSS feed to your blog reader, or follow Emmy Cooks on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Some days, maybe most days, simpler is better.

I had a plan to make this week’s greens into a tart of some sort, or maybe spanakopita, or at least green tartines.  But those things take time, and some days I don’t have time.  I piled all my greens into a pan to wilt, then chopped and dressed them with olive oil, lemon juice, dill, and a sprinkle of feta cheese.  It was better than good enough.

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Choicest summer fruit–figs!

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figs on tree

ripe and unripe figs on tree

One of the high points of summer for me is when figs are ripe–eat them fresh, ripe from the tree early in the morning while they are still cool from nighttime, or in the heat of the afternoon when they are fragrant and warm from the afternoon sunshine.  Absolutely luscious!  They never even make it into the house.  Should the crop be so plentiful that they do make it into the house, then get out the prosciutto–fresh figs are even better than melon with that lovely ham! Or, some good cheese–goat cheese, or Gorgonzola, or other  blue, or a sheep’s milk cheese like Etorki or aged Manchego They are never better than when you can pick them truly tree-ripened.

Too many times, figs are sold unripe, mostly because they are very perishable and delicate when at peak ripeness.  Another reason figs are frequently picked before peak ripeness is the competition: birds, squirrels, bees, wasps, and ants–all those critters have an eye for the perfectly ripe fig!  If you want to eat them ripe from the tree you have to be willing to share because unfortunately, figs do not ripen after they are picked–pick a green fig and you’ll always have a tasteless fruit that will leave you wondering why anyone would want to eat them, much less get excited about them.

It’s really hard to describe the taste of a fresh, ripe fig–it’s certainly much different  from dried ones, and a world away from Fig Newtons.  I think that a ripe, fresh fig has some peach and berry flavors–it will vary somewhat with the variety of fig, but still—it’s not likely to be what you’d expect from eating dried ones.

So how do you tell if a fig is ripe? They should be soft–but please be gentle when you press on them. Really, you can tell if they are going to be soft by looking at the color (you do need to know the color of the variety when ripe). The Brown Turkey figs first turn yellowish-green–they will likely be just starting to soften then, but still do not have much flavor yet.  As they ripen more they begin to turn a lovely rosy brown–but wait!  They’re not ready to eat yet.

Figs hang in a drooping way from the tree (you can see how the stem ends are curved in the photograph above).  When ripe they should separate easily from the tree when you lift them up against that curve. If they don’t they are not ripe!

For best flavor, they should begin to show some tiny surface fissures in the skin (not deep cracks) almost like crazing on pottery glaze, and the small round area at the blossom end should have started to  open or to show a split. On some figs you may actually see a drop of clear liquid there.

To find ripe figs if you don’t have your own tree, you need to head to the farmers’ market. The common fig here is the Brown Turkey which is in season approximately from July to September. I’ve just harvested several pounds of figs–but the tree still has lots of small green figs that should ripen in a second flush in a few weeks.

Should you have an excess of fresh figs, you should use some with duck–the recipe is complicated, but the result is unforgettable–worth the effort.  What else can you do with fresh figs?  Fig ice cream, poach some and serve with pound cake or vanilla ice cream, fresh fruit tart….but best of all, just eat them unadorned.

If you find you have some that are not quite what you’d like to eat out-of-hand, then you can make a lovely dessert by poaching them in Campari.  This is a recipe that I found in Jacques Pepin’s The Shortcut Cook (page 248) for which I’ll give you the basics here:

Poached Fresh Figs with Campari

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fruity white wine
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • about 20 small, ripe figs
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons Campari

Preparation

  • Combine wine, sugar and lime juice and bring to a boil.
  • Add figs, cover, and simmer for about 4 to 5 minutes. Figs should be tender when tested with the tip of a knife, but should not burst open.
  • Transfer to a bowl with slotted spoon.
  • Reduce the liquid in the saucepan to 1 cup if there is more than this.
  • Add cornstarch slurry and bring to a boil to thicken.
  • Cool sauce to room temperature then stir in the Campari and pour over figs.

These are delightful served over pound cake with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche, or spooned over good vanilla ice cream.  (I like to add just a hint of cardamom to this poaching liquid.)

brown turkey figs picked ripe

ripe Brown Turkey figs

Fried Eggs, Spanish-style (Huevos Fritos a la Española)

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For a leisurely (but easy) meal–especially weekend breakfast, try some Spanish-style fried eggs.  The combination of the olive oil and good free-range eggs is absolutely wonderful–right up there with eggs Benedict as far as I’m concerned–and do love those, too!  A good friend who has lived in Spain introduced me to these.

Huevos Fritos à la Española

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs of size of your choice
  • olive oil
  • salt and fresh-ground black pepper

Preparation

These are best made in a skillet that is just large enough to hold your eggs; otherwise it takes a lot of olive oil.  I have a small (4-inch) cast iron skillet that I got very inexpensively at the hardware store.  It’s the same skillet that I use for toasting small quantities of spices, et cetera.

  • preheat your skillet
  • pour enough olive oil into your skillet to be about 1-inch (2.5 cm) deep and heat the oil.
  • break each egg into a saucer and slide it into the hot oil.
  • gently fold the whites over the yolks.
  • cook only until the white is set–one to three minutes over moderately heat–or to your preferred doneness.
  • meanwhile, make toast
  • lift the eggs out of the skillet and place on toast.
  • season with the salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve immediately.