That's right, I now have my very own website at Someplace That's Green! Please follow me there for great recipes like my vegetarian Crock Pot Split Pea Soup (Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup), updated versions of the recipes seen here, and many more to come! Thanks for your support and here's to cooking local!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Cooking Class: Hard Cider
I had the recent pleasure of attending a class at Urban Farm & Feed / Wasatch Front Farmers Market on how to make hard cider at home. The basics are a fermenting kit, a juicer, and a bunch of apples. It's pretty darn neat! Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more upcoming classes. The fermenting kit can be used for all sorts of other things too, like beer and fruit wine. This makes me look longingly at the still-dormant tiny grape vines and fruit trees and dream of summer.
Finding local cooking classes can be super fun - it's a good way to try something new, meet interesting people, and ask questions you've always wondered about (such as exactly how to get bottle caps on bottles). Think about what kind of class you like and learn best at and start looking for them. There are hands-on classes, like this one, or classes where the students watch the chef and take notes. Some are for specific recipes, some are for techniques. Many offer samples of the recipes that were cooked or even include a take-home of the product being made. The lucky students here went home with a bucket of future hard cider to enjoy and the equipment to make plenty more.
Here are some shots of the cider making!
First, the stars of our show, apples.
To ferment things, you need a fermenting kit. Sterilize everything!
Then, slice a bunch of apples. Maybe some extra for eating. They are pretty tasty.
Run them through a juicer. I might be the only person in the country who's never used one (at least as far as I can tell from Pinterest) and they totally fascinate me. They separate the juice from the pulp and seeds. Apparently chickens love pulp and seeds.
Then it's off to the fermentation bucket with special yeast monsters and a thingamawhatsit to allow gas to escape. When the monsters are done, the right yeast is added.
This bottle held cider for the next photo, and can now be washed, sterilized, and re-used for more cider!
Results! Okay it wasn't *quite* that fast, as the cider does need many weeks to ferment. Our awesome teacher Paige had made some beforehand that was ready to pop open for the class. Thanks Paige, see you for the next class!
Finding local cooking classes can be super fun - it's a good way to try something new, meet interesting people, and ask questions you've always wondered about (such as exactly how to get bottle caps on bottles). Think about what kind of class you like and learn best at and start looking for them. There are hands-on classes, like this one, or classes where the students watch the chef and take notes. Some are for specific recipes, some are for techniques. Many offer samples of the recipes that were cooked or even include a take-home of the product being made. The lucky students here went home with a bucket of future hard cider to enjoy and the equipment to make plenty more.
Here are some shots of the cider making!
First, the stars of our show, apples. To ferment things, you need a fermenting kit. Sterilize everything!
Then, slice a bunch of apples. Maybe some extra for eating. They are pretty tasty. Run them through a juicer. I might be the only person in the country who's never used one (at least as far as I can tell from Pinterest) and they totally fascinate me. They separate the juice from the pulp and seeds. Apparently chickens love pulp and seeds. Then it's off to the fermentation bucket with special yeast monsters and a thingamawhatsit to allow gas to escape. When the monsters are done, the right yeast is added.
This bottle held cider for the next photo, and can now be washed, sterilized, and re-used for more cider!
Results! Okay it wasn't *quite* that fast, as the cider does need many weeks to ferment. Our awesome teacher Paige had made some beforehand that was ready to pop open for the class. Thanks Paige, see you for the next class!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Fresh Pesto (Moved to SomeplaceThatsGreen.com)
 |
| Fresh Basil Pesto with Tomatoes |
Local ingredient highlights:
Garlic from Urban Farm & Feed
Beautiful dish made by Ben Looney Pottery
Olive oil from Millcreek Olive Oil
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca
The dreary days of winter make me crave comfort food. To me, that means pasta. I happily realized that one of my cookbooks is the perfect solution: 365 Ways To Cook Pasta (that's an Amazon link, although this version appears to be out of print). Well, let's start with recipe number one, shall we?
Spaghetti a la Puttanesca is tonight's Italian specialty. The name has something to do with Italian whores and there are a lot of urban legends about how this name came about. My favorite is that it's such a quick and easy dish to make that women in this profession could enjoy a meal between clients. This goes right along with my New Year's resolution to drink more wine.
Pinot Grigio is a perfect accompaniment. My other resolutions are to
listen to more music, burn more candles, and do more crossword puzzles. So far, success!
I have to break recipe tradition right off the bat because I don't eat anchovies or capers. This is my version of the recipe, but if you enjoy those things then by all means add some. The black olives tripped me up a little - the regular grocery store didn't have what's in the recipe so I used pitted Kalamata olives and chopped them. Delicious!
Local highlights: Just the garlic today, from the Urban Farm and Feed store. Not many fresh ingredients in this one, but that makes it easy to put together any time of the year.
Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
3 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1 can (1 lb 12 oz) Italian-style peeled tomatoes (do not drain) or 3 diced whole tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped, pitted, salt-cured black olives
1 tsp crushed dried red pepper, or to taste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of coarsely ground black pepper
2 Tbsp chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
Salt to taste
1 lb spaghetti
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in large skillet, stove on Medium-ish. Add garlic and cook for about a minute (don't let it brown).
2. Stir in can of tomatoes, olives, red pepper, oregano, and black pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. While sauce is simmering, boil water and cook spaghetti noodles until al dente.
4. Stir parsley into sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Add salt to taste.
5. Toss pasta with sauce and serve with crusty bread and white wine.
 |
| Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca |
I have to break recipe tradition right off the bat because I don't eat anchovies or capers. This is my version of the recipe, but if you enjoy those things then by all means add some. The black olives tripped me up a little - the regular grocery store didn't have what's in the recipe so I used pitted Kalamata olives and chopped them. Delicious!
Local highlights: Just the garlic today, from the Urban Farm and Feed store. Not many fresh ingredients in this one, but that makes it easy to put together any time of the year.
Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
3 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1 can (1 lb 12 oz) Italian-style peeled tomatoes (do not drain) or 3 diced whole tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped, pitted, salt-cured black olives
1 tsp crushed dried red pepper, or to taste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of coarsely ground black pepper
2 Tbsp chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
Salt to taste
1 lb spaghetti
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in large skillet, stove on Medium-ish. Add garlic and cook for about a minute (don't let it brown).
2. Stir in can of tomatoes, olives, red pepper, oregano, and black pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. While sauce is simmering, boil water and cook spaghetti noodles until al dente.
4. Stir parsley into sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Add salt to taste.
5. Toss pasta with sauce and serve with crusty bread and white wine.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Holiday Porter Cake, Hobbit-Style
 | |
| Holiday Porter Cake |
Tolkien wrote a passage describing the delicacies that abound in Bilbo's many pantries, and it was from this that I pulled inspiration. I made scones and jam, an apple tart, drank herbal tea and dark beer (um, not at the same time), and generally reveled in spending the entire day watching movies from the kitchen. My favorite discovery was this Victorian-Style recipe for Porter Cake, originally from a website called Historical Foods that has since been taken down - I am happy to discover that the full collection is once again available at Recipe Wise: Food In The Hobbit. Victorian Era recipes are not the easiest sets of instructions to cook from, so I updated it to US measurements and swapped out some ingredients to be more Utah-local. Did you know that golden currants are a native Utah plant? You can pick them up fresh at the farmers markets in the summer. Or plant some!
Winter is the perfect time to use dried and preserved fruits, to make up for the lack of fresh ones available. Technically, this is a fruit cake. Before you run screaming, this dark and hearty cake bears zero resemblance to the travesties that are filled with candied neon things. Once you try this, you will never refer to those things as fruitcakes again.
If, while you are baking one of many Porter Cakes, the last of the baking powder goes into waffle batter, do not go ahead and make the cake without it. Baking powder is very important. But eat the delicious waffles first.
Local highlights:
King's Peak Porter - Uinta Brewery - Did you know that this brewery is solar- and wind- powered?
Black Cherry Mediterranean Market - Where I found the wonderful golden raisins, currants, and dates. This is a lovely local market full of international specialty goods. Check them out!
 |
| Brown Sugar Topping on Porter Cake |
Makes 1 cake
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup dried currants
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup chopped dates
1/3 cup applesauce (or zest and juice of one medium orange)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cups Porter beer (a bottle minus a couple of sips)
3 eggs, beaten
2 2/3 cup white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground mace
Topping (both optional)
About 1/8 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 320 degrees F.
2. Prepare a cake pan (a 9" round spring-form pan or a 9" square baking dish works well, whatever you cook brownies in is probably good) - line with parchment paper, including the sides. This helps the cake retain moisture. Note: parchment paper is *not* the same as wax paper.
3. Put the butter, dried fruit, zest, apricot juice, sugar and porter in a large saucepan. Bring it slowly to a boil, stirring until the butter has dissolved, then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. (It's okay to put the mixture in the fridge overnight at this point if needed)
4. Stir the beaten eggs into the hot fruit mixture.
5. Add in the flour, baking powder, and spices, and mix well.
6. Pour the thick batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top to distribute evenly. Sprinkle brown sugar and/or almonds over the top and press the almonds slightly into the batter.
7. Bake at 320 for 75 to 90 minutes. Use the toothpick test to determine done-ness (toothpick will come out clean when it's done). If the top browns too fast, cover it with foil for the rest of the baking time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)