Sweet potato burgers

 These are savory but can be made spicy, sweet depending on what you add. 

They are also mainly vegetables. No dough really. They are pan fried SHALLOW as they do NOT need a deep fry.

You control the ratio of the veg since I wont list a cup of sweet potato since that is hard to guess had you not made it before.

• 1 yam/sweet potato about fist size (if you have neither you could use a few carrots)
• 1/4 med-large onion (yellow, purple, or sweet)
• any variety of hot pepper  1-2 of those 
• 1/2 a large red pepper
• 1 handful of parsley or cilantro

salt, pepper to taste  (for spicy add some paprika, curry, chili or cumin)

Blend all in a food processor.  Put into a bowl.  Crack one egg over the veggie blend. Make little cakes dip them in whole wheat flour.

In a hot pan add a touch of safflower or sunflower oil.  The cakes shouldn't be buoyant in it... it should just be enough that when the cakes go into your pan they move easily with a nudge and don't crowd them or you'll have no room to flip them. When the cake stays intact with a nudge and moves as a unit rather than flexing or looking like it wants to break apart then it is sufficiently cooked on that side and can be flipped.  Once the one side is cooked they become strong and easy to manipulate. Flip and in a few moments they are done and can be moved to a paper towel or onto a plate.

These gentile folk are excellent on bread for a little veggie pattie or eaten straight with rice and red lentils like I love!

Soft pizza dough

For the folks that are more into the handtossed dough there is this classy lady of a pizza.

1 heaping Cup white
1 heaping Cup whole wheat
1/4 Cup whole wheat for flouring surface
1 C warm water
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp vegan sugar
1 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
sprig rosemary chopped
 This is enough to make two decent sized pizzas which will feed 4 people easily.  Or 2 people who can house anything should also be satisfied. 

Once you've combined the yeast to the water in a bowl, combine the dry ingredients into a larger bowl.  Combine the two in the larger bowl once yeast is frothy.  Flour your surface and turn out your dough and any pieces sticking to the bowl.  Press it out and let it gather more flour if it wants. Shape into a ball and drizzle a small amount of oil into 1-2 bowls depending on how many pizzas you plan to make then toss the ugly side down into the oil and let the mass of dough move the oil around until the bowl is fairly covered. Cover with a clean towel and let the dough rise.  Let it rise for 45 minutes.

Preheat Oven to 450

Flour your surface and turn out the dough oil side up if possible.  Flour over the dough lightly and fold in as much of the flour as the dough will want. It should be silky and easy to work with.  Roll out the dough into a circle (or general pan shape).  Sprinkle well the area the dough is to go onto of your pan with corn meal.  Polenta grit or a small grit to keep the dough from sticking.  Polenta sometimes makes a crunchier bottom and if that bugs you, use a smaller grit.  Not so small it is powder otherwise it may scorch a little and runs the risk of sticking in places.

Cover with what sauce, toppings you wish.  Pictured above is tomato sauce, spinach, cheddar, onion a cracked egg, salt, pepper, and micro-greens (arugula, cress, mustard greens, kale, radish and burnett from our garden).  The egg is lovely for a crust dipping sauce if cooked quickly enough then the egg center will remain very soft.

It should be baked thoroughly within 15 minutes.  And it is best to stay near it and check it. 

Strawberry mint muffins with apple.

So I love cooking for folks and rarely get to do it.  We had friends over and they brought a gorgeous plate of strawberries and mint.  From which I used to top the cherimoya pies but there was still bounty so from that I got the notion to toss together some more lovelies for the next day.  These are a wonderful treat.  The tiny mint leaves cooked throughout add the tiniest bit of class to this other wise tasty, but in a more regular way, muffins.  Cracking these open and having them with some warm fennel, rooibos and lemon balm tea is sinfully relaxing.

Preheat oven to 350

• 1 heaping Cup oat flour  (Rolled oats blended in a food processor do wonders in lieu of buying "specialized" flour which is the same thing)
• 1 shallow Cup Whole wheat flour
• A few small tender mint leaves cut chiffonade (Spearmint was used in this)
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1 granny smith apple peeled, cored, diced
• 1 Cup strawberries washed and sliced well

Toss the fruit with the already soft blended dry ingredients.

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup loose light brown sugar

Beat the eggs, sugar, oil and applesauce together. Pour into the dry,  fold and blend everything gently until silky and scoopable.  Scoop into a muffin tin. Bake for 22 minutes.  This makes one dozen deliciously light muffins and the oat flour helps sustain you by being metabolized very slowly.  EXCELLENT for hiking, workout breakfasts, and for when you may miss a meal later. 

Cherimoya

 If you're new to discovering this fruit then you're at least in my company.  To learn about the cherimoya for me is to gain the knowledge that if things turned castaway I would search the island praying it had these growing on it.  The fruit is not just delicious but also full of vital stuff as well: fat (none of it saturated), fiber, carbs, and protein.  It is one of those fruits that's a meal which can sustain you.

On it's flavor; it is a combination of tastes which can only be described as cherimoya.  It tastes like a pina colada if it were one fruit - banana, yogurt, vanilla custard wrapped in pineapple.  It is an experience for sure.  It can be blended with a tea, it can be turned into sorbet, eaten straight.  I would not recommend heating this fruit as it would lose a lot of the qualities it is coveted for.  It is a very impressive fruit which makes entertaining absolutely within everyone's grasp.  It is at it's best raw, cooled and/or straight up.  I do think it is a good raw dessert.  A nice filling for a pie crust.  A nice accompaniment to strawberries, blueberries and I'm sure others.  It's a king among the fruits for sure.  The wiki for Cherimoya.

I'm looking into some cherimoya ice cream!

Oat Flour Oil Pastry crust fresh from the oven

Cherimoya with yogurt cheese, ready to blend

For good pie crusts I recommend three kinds in order of favorite first:

1. An oil pastry.  Which is flaky, delicious and alright for those avoiding cholesterol or animal products.  My favorite being rolled oats blended in a food processor into a flour and using:

• 1 heaping Cup of oat flour
• 1 shallow cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 Cup -1/2 Cup olive oil
• pinch of salt

Blend all in a bowl until well combined the oil makes the flour stick to itself and you can pat out 4 small tart shells or one large one.  Preheat oven to 450 bake 15 minutes checking to make sure not over browning.  Take out let cool and fill shell with blended Cherimoya.  I like to blend a little yogurt cheese into it to amp up the creaminess. Chill in the fridge for 15 -60 minutes and top with strawberries.

2. A blend of oats, whole wheat flour, butter and sugar like a "crisp." Or brown Betty.  Which is lightly toasted until crisp then fill with raw cherimoya or top the cherimoya after baking the crisp parts. 

3. A raw crust of hazelnuts or almonds ground and blended with just enough of either honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar to bind the nuts and pat into a pan and fill with spoon blended cherimoya and top with other fruits.

Cherimoya seeds have a very high germination success rate and seeds remain viable for a few years after cleaning, drying and packaging (jar or envelope).

Bunny tails

A friend of mine requested more dessert entries for their Jer-Bear to eat, so here it is!  Bunny Tails made to order.

For those who make candy this is better because you don't need a friggin' thermometer to make it and nearly anyone can have them.  Allergies? simply change ingredients depending.  Diabetic?  Use a sugarless jam or preserves in place of the ultra sweet gooey ingredient and agave for the binder.

These are dates, peanut butter, honey and coconut.

You can make these out of :

A nut butter: Peanut, sunflower (which is exquisite but since it is thinner it needs to be combine with a little bit of another nut butter to help hold it's shape), almond butter, cashew butter but the best is anything ground FRESH.

A paste like dried fruit the larger the better: Dates, prunes, figs, raisins, currants... the gooy-er the better.

A sweet binder to aid in spreading and chopping:  Honey, Agave, Maple syrup a jam, preserves sugarless if you like or need.

A powder coating of: Coconut, ground nuts, cocoa powder/nibs.

The ratio is:

• 1 heaping cup dates (or what you are using) approximately 10 -12 dates.
• 1/2 Cup heaping peanut or other butter
• drizzle of honey

Spread on a cutting surface.  Chip chop chip.  Hip hop hip. Dice slice dice.  And mix the spread bits into one another.  Sprinkle with coconut or whatever OUTER covering to be contained within the little candy balls.  Then blend again.   With very slightly damp hands roll little balls out and set aside.  In a shallow dish have your coconut or whatever your outside layer will be.  Roll the little balls into it and voila.  Again you've done it, you've made something that costs a million dollhairs in the grocery store and all of 3 -5 bucks out of things you gathered in your home.  They keep in the fridge for a long time.  I haven't timed because nothing this tasty ever has time to go bad.  These are AWESOME for after school snacks, when you can't catch a moment to eat they're in the fridge awaiting you or when you want a sweet fix but don't want to house some nasty crap.

For adults these pair AMAZINGLY with a spicy, fruity soft tannin wine.  I'm writing this entry drunk in fact.

For kids this pairs well with milks. Like PB&Js.

Cheese Sticks

These are mostly bread and seeds if done right on.  They use egg for a binder for the seeds but you can do olive oil instead although I believe the egg is nicer and it isn't dominant.  It is just one egg, OR you can use just whites (2-3) and save the yolks for something else, for all of them.

These fall under the "A little bad for you" category only because cheese when it becomes crispy is pretty broken protein.  Melted it is okay with just the casomorphins being the only exciters in it as long as it is WHOLE milk cheese and not radically aged. Aged cheeses (harder cheeses like asiago, pecorino, parmesan) have a lot more casomorphins - the stuff that makes you overeat cheese.  It is very hard to find really good cheese (cheese that doesn't rely on it high content of casomorphins or rely on artificial/"natural" flavorings- not already present in the cheese) Low fat cheeses and skim milk cheeses being absolutely terrible.  Better to have the small amounts of whole milk cheese aged forever than to have fresh skim milk cheese.  The process by which cheese is made is a process of breaking the protein.  But like most things the closer you are to the source and the closer the control you have the better off you are.

So for this I used sharp raw milk cheddar from Greenbank farms (Preston, WA -find local cheeses near you!) at present it just relies on the cheese tasting good as is and they don't screw with it and a small amount of it goes A LONG way. Also for vegetarians, Greenbank uses vegetable rennet.  No matter what size chunk of cheese I buy it is best to chop it up immediately into shared dinner portions (for the entire meal not to be monopolized by any one person).  I'll have one chunk for an entire large pizza a little chunk for burritos and so on... often getting several meals spaced over the course of weeks for a cheesed meal here and there.

You can get nuts and use something IN place of the cheese on these as well.  The basic bread is vegan.  You can roll it that way with your own spin using a spicy pepper center or a cinnamon filling.

Ingredients:

• 2 slightly heaping Cups unbleached white flour (you can do a whole wheat version by doing 50/50 or 75/25 whole wheat -white but adding a touch more yeast to help the heavier whole wheat rise well)
• 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
•  1 package of yeast or 1 heaping tsp  (adding a touch more yeast if doing more whole wheat than white wheat so it will help the heavier wheat rise well)
• 1 Cup warm water (you may need a standby 1/4 - 1/2 Cup warm water for later when mixing)
• 1 tsp vegan sugar or granulated
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 tsp or more of each favorite herb if dried,  Unless your herbs are especially potent then cut in half -1 TBSP of each if fresh
• (basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme nearly anything)
• 1/2 tsp salt

• flaxseed
• poppyseed
• cheddar cheese

approx. 12 large cheese sticks

Method:

Add yeast to warm water until frothy (5-10 minutes)

Add all dry ingredients to each other and finger sift/stir.  Add water/yeast and stir into a silky ball adding water as needed.  Olive oil a bowl and drop dough into it.



Let the dough rise for 15 minutes, max - too much longer and the dough which is still trying to rise while you work it will become unruly, you want the dough to be "young" and not too puffy or with too much elasticity as you'll need to work with the dough through a few steps to form the twists and with that time throughout the manipulation it will continue to mature and puff. So effecient quick moves and not too much nit picking.

Take the still young dough place onto a floured surface, flouring top slightly working in a little flour and then roll out trying to work it into a rectangle of about 3/4 of an inch in height.  Cut down the middle with the back of a knife or a bread cutter.  Take to a non-porous surface and coat top sides in  well beaten egg (or your replacement), beat just enough to break the white from keeping the egg bound.  Cover tops well leaving plenty for the other sides.

 Cover one egged side with flaxseed, and the other egged side with poppyseed.

After well covered in seeds flip over letting seed sides lay on surface and coat the "bottom" not top sides in your remaining egg (or your replacement).  Take your cheese that you've portioned out and grate it.  Cover one of the top egged only sides in the cheese to get coverage you like, too much cheese and it just spills out and wastes during cooking.  So some "holes" in the coverage are fine it works out in the end.

Preheat oven to 400.

Once cheese is on, flip other dough egged only side touching the cheese so the two sandwich the cheese in the middle.

From the top view of the dough find the center with the dough vertically oriented and cut horizontally in half.  Then cut each half into six pieces.  I goofed on the first set and had one giant one when it could have been two.  This recipe will make 12 large cheese sticks.

Place each piece after two twists (or more if you're a master and don't spill cheese) on a lightly olive oiled baking sheet (really not much oil is needed at all, and once oiled it is good for both batches and doesn't need another coat).

Bake each set at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden.

Serve straight from the oven when possible.  Watch as your family thinks you are a genius.  Oh, and you are.

Rhubarb Cake

I bet I can make you cry.

This is one of those things that uses subtle color to send the senses thumping.  Rhubarb is one of hundreds of thousands of food/plant items that was used first for medicinal purposes and then later in food.  It aids in digestion.  I don't know which business end of the digestion it aids... whether in stomach issues or rear end issues.  But hell I can't be bothered with the specifics, it's tasty and that is the business end I'm about.

I was that kid who when I saw an upside down anything cake...I truly believed adults were magic.  All that was wrong in the world would be fixed and Lions would lay with lambs.  More like Castle Grayskull and Barbie might get along, at least until I was finished with a slice.   Plums, pineapple, it didn't matter.  A blond cake and a fruit top with soaked cake bits  in between in a well lit summer kitchen was heaven.  Only difference now is I get to control my heaven!

Rhubarb is everywhere right now and so it makes so much sense that heaven this time would be rhubarb related. Rhubarb, do you peel it or not?  Well the answer is Yes if it is woody, NO if it is young, fresh, or the skin isn't tough.  After baking in most cases you wont really taste the difference. It depends on how supple you need the rhubarb to be. 

Before jumping in, get your butter out meant for cake so it comes to room temp. Preheat your oven to 350 and butter whatever type of pan you're using.  If doing upside down then a single layer of a layer cake pan is in order with enough room for ingredients.  2 inches tall at least and around 9 inches in diameter.


Now for the cake to make you cry:

The upside down part (if you flip this puppy):

• 1-1 and 1/2 pound(s) rhubarb washed and diced. Approx. 3 heaping Cups or 5-8 stalks depending on size. You can get fancy and diagonal cut them or strips or tiny bits everywhere. You just don't want the bulby end (rhizome) or the leafy end toxic oxalic acid.
• I believe you can't over due the rhubarb.  I used about 2 cups for my cake and it really was NOT enough.  It does cook down quite a lot and for as good as the cake and crumb portion is, the fruit layer is the most important so don't skimp.
• 1/2 - 3/4 Cup vegan sugar as long as each piece is thoroughly coated, you're good.
• Toss the rhubarb bits to coat itself in the sugar and let it hang out.

The cakey part:

• 1 and 3/4 Cup unbleached white flour (you know I'm really getting serious when I don't recommend whole wheat)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• pinch sea salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 stick butter (room temperature so it beats nicely)
• 1 Cup whole milk yogurt like a greek style ( I use Fage, but the most important part is whole milk - if you use a yogurt with low fat or soy you're upping the msg for the family as it is broken proteins and shouldn't be cooked furthering the breakdown) You can also make a thicker version of the thinner whole milk yogurts but we'll get into that later on.

Blend dry ingredients into one another reserving sugar and vanilla for the wet ingredients.  Beat butter and combine sugar and vanilla with the butter to cream,  adding eggs scraping bowl sides add a little flour then yogurt beating and repeating until all is combined.  Scoop this thick batter over your rhubarb and smooth the top as needed to bake evenly.

The crumb layer (last to go on and will act as a crust once flipped): 

• 3/4 - 1 stick Cold salted butter blended with
• 1/2 - 3/4 Cup flour (I'll adjust as needed and save my extra crumb topping in the freezer for  other treats like cupcakes, muffins and crisps) No one complains if you use all of it on one cake!
• 1/2 - 3/4 Cup vegan sugar the sugar ratio should match your flour ratio.
• 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt or more this is the zinger and should not be skipped.

Cut in the sugar and salt to the butter until crumbly and loosely toss until the batter is covered with little butter rocks of it.

And yes OF COURSE you can make this cake with other fruits.  I don't recommend citrus because of its ability to break proteins like a kung fu master.  If a citrus cake you need?  Then Nigella Lawson has the best Clementine cake I've ever had and the almonds in it make it somewhat troublesome in the broken protein factor.  But if you're going to be bad this is the way to do it - not through a hot pocket or the dollar menu.

Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes for a bundt pan, 30 for a layer pan (approximately) until a toothpick comes out clean or the cake bounces back when pressed. The larger the diameter and thus the thinner the cake batter then the less the time.
 

Gorgeous, but... obviously needs more rhubarb.

I used a bundt cake pan, I recommend if you'd like to make it an upside down cake that you use a 2 inch tall (at least) X 9 inch round pan.  As bundt anything does NOT like to be flipped over.  The crumbs make an excellent show so I can't complain about my pan choices. 
This cake is high on the share-o-meter as it is rich in the creamy department and you may feel guilty for not sharing.  At my house... we just skip real meals and pile on the cake.  This can EASILY feed 10-12.

Herb bread

For this recipe you can make small double loaves or dinner rolls (and about a million variations beyond that, but for now we're keeping it simple).

This recipe can be halved if you find it makes too much.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast or 1 heaping tsp  (adding a touch more yeast if doing more whole wheat than white wheat so it will help the heavier wheat rise well)
• 1 Cup warm water (you may need a standby 1/4 - 1/2 Cup warm water for later when mixing)
• 1 tsp vegan sugar or granulated
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 tsp or more of each favorite herb if dried,  Unless your herbs are especially potent then cut in half -1 TBSP of each if fresh
• (basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme nearly anything)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 slightly heaping Cups unbleached white flour (you can do a whole wheat version by doing 50/50 or 75/25 whole wheat -white but adding a touch more yeast to help the heavier whole wheat rise well)
• 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
• Small amount of cornmeal --  I use polenta cornmeal grits, to keep bread from sticking to the pan while cooking.  You don't need more than a sprinkle and the extra will just burn around the bread smelling like burnt popcorn.

This bread can have cured olives, red pepper, hot pepper flakes with seeds and/or feta worked into the dough and voila! Mediterranean table bread for kings! Get freaky and make it "wow wee" (said like Christopher Walken).

You can leave out the herbs and add a dominant other ingredient to gear it towards whatever your meal may be.  This dough makes an excellent Soft Pizza Dough and a wonderful Stromboli (both coming soon).

Preheat oven to 200 degrees to create a warm environment for the dough to rise on and to help the yeast be happy.

In the 1 (or more as needed) Cup of warm water, add your yeast and within 5-10 minutes the yeast will become frothy and foamy.  You can add the sugar to the water and yeast or you can add sugar to the flour.  It doesn't matter so much in this case.

In a bowl, mix flours, salt, herbs, olive oil and then the water and yeast. Stir with spoon until a silky ball starts to try to form.

If a lot of the flour is on the sides of the bowl, add a touch more water and press into the dough.  On a floured surface, turn out your dough.  Knead the dough by bringing in the outer edges to the center and then with the heal of your hand work gently in towards the table and away from you.  Repeat this motion until a ball forms collecting light amounts of flour from the surface and a silky dusty dough ball is within your hands.  The underside will not be so pretty, but that is fine!  In a clean bowl large enough for the dough to double in size, pour a TBSP of olive oil.  Put the ugly side of dough down into this and gently slide and swirl the dough around the the bowl to coat the sides in the oil and now as the dough rises it will not cling to the bowl and will come right out for your next step.

Cover with a clean towel and place in a warm spot to rise for 45 minutes.  I usually use the stove top since the oven is already heated to 200 degrees.

Nearing the last moments of the rise, preheat your oven to 400.

Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven.

On a lightly floured surface, cut the dough ball in half.  Form it into the final result (a silky dough ball, a tad tighter feeling than the first time) slicing an X on top of the bread.  You want to make a shallow cut so the bread doesn't spill out of itself as it bakes.  The X gives it room to grow, helps it bake thoroughly and makes it look pretty swell.  Place onto the cornmeal grit coated baking sheet with good space between the loaves. I wet my clean hands with water and just touch the tops of the loaves with my wet hand.  It helps the crust to not burn and also helps it get crispy.  Bake at 400 for an uninterrupted 15 minutes. Check and cool, or check and add 5 minutes.  When the bread crust does not yield to your touch and it sounds hollow when knocked on it's bottom then it is done.

This is a very moist bread and keeps for a couple days easily (unless its eaten).  I just slice pieces off as needed then keep the cut side flat against the counter or cutting board. This keeps the crust crusty and the inside moist where bagging it can ruin the crustyness.  ENJOY!

Turmeric Cauliflower

This is a FAVORITE.  I'm from the Midwest and the South (14 years in one and 5+ in the other) so I'm used to being loaded up with fat plates of fried crap.  And it is good crap because what isn't good fried?  NOTHING.  My favorite of the fried crap was fried cauliflower.  Every good Southern home has its secret recipe which is a battle of who has more secret MSG making power than the next.  And yes, it's so tasty, but then after the meal you want to die, you blame it on eating too much... you blame it on the food being "too good" or "too rich" and it was.  It was so good you want to die.  Well the issues with fried are that it violently breaks down protein into a hodge-podge of things, including MSG-like compounds or as we call it - the SPICE.  We always say it with contempt after a bad meal, and even our friends have taken to calling MSG containing meals SPICED.  Just don't confuse this with real spices that have nothing to do with MSG.  The second isssue is that most things fried are also battered. Wheat has protein and frying it results in, yep, the SPICE.  Egg is incredibly protein rich and using that in conjunction with flour yields, yep, - super the SPICE.  Then the grandmas and aunts and moms with their secret ingredients are usually upping that spice quotient without even realizing it by using any number of protein breakers like lemon into the batter, Taco Bell fire sauce (in my opinion, Taco Bell is one of the WORST offenders of using flavor enhancers to cover their heavily modified and very low grade food to make everyone feel as though you NEED it) and other additions.

To escape the South and keep the flavor, fresh turmeric does a fine job.

This is a VERY simple recipe.

Beforehand it looks like a non-event.

But just wait until you see it and smell it coming out of the oven...
Preheat oven to 400-425

• 1 head of cauliflower (trim off the 'stump' and leaves, cut large florets into slices)
• 1 inch chunk of fresh turmeric more or less depending on how much cauliflower (I just grate it no peeling or chopping)   Turmeric will give you "cheetos" fingers and can stain things so grate over a plate or work surface made to take this kind of thing.
• 4 cloves garlic grated
• 2 TBSP olive oil or more as needed
• pinch of salt
• ground pepper or some hot pepper seeds

Toss to combine, and bake.  At 20 minutes it will start to become tender.  Take it out, toss to coat everything once more and put back in to get the tenderness you desire.  At most 30 minutes.

Fresh Turmeric Root

The upsides of this dish is that Turmeric is well known for its health benefits and is a very subtle, savory flavor that pairs well with dark flavored things like beans, lentils, grains.  It is what gives Curry is color.  It also is used to ease joint pain and inflammation.  Curcumin, the thing that gives Turmeric is color, has antioxidant; anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, stomach-soothing, and liver-and heart-protecting effects. This will take that would-be fried cauliflower and kick it in the teeth.  I'm swearing off the fried stuff and going for this.

Potato pancake

These little guys are quite lovely and can be made tiny for fancy dinner or larger for house-ing among casual company.  You need a very warm skillet before you pour these in and they'll flip like a charm. If your pan is too cool then the cake heats up with the pan and then it melds itself to the cooking surface.  If you like you can oil your pan lightly.  I recommend safflower oil or grapeseed oil -- something suitable for high heat.  Olive oil when heating to the point of popping, smoking or stinking becomes riddled with nasty things that you don't want to feed the family with.

Batter:

• 3 eggs
• 1 small russet or yukon gold (you can halve a larger one and stuff the rest in the fridge)
• 2-4 TBSP olive oil
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1 medium leek washed and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 red pepper diced or minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pepper to taste

Chop potato and boil until tender.  Reserve a little water from boiling the potato, enough to mash the potato into it, and add your oil.  Blend until smooth.  In another bowl put flour, baking soda, veg, salt, pepper and egg and lightly whisk until combined.  Add the potato mixture once it is cooled to tepid and beat senseless until silky.  Heat pan and pour to size you wish.  Bubbles may appear like you see in breakfast pancakes, edges will dry a touch and you should without much effort get your flipper in there and flip.  I heat the oven to 150 just to keep the cakes warm until all are finished.

Horseradish sauce:
For this, the horseradish is a little acidic and acids plus protein makes the breakdown so I recommend making and eating this fresh and do not add citrus like so many recipes call for you'll feel better for it.

• 1 Cup whole milk Yogurt (I use Fage Whole Milk Greek Yogurt, and this will make A LOT for a family for 2 or fewer I recommend halving or quartering)
• 1 inch chunk of horseradish, cleaned and peeled then grated finely (be a little cautious because it makes you cry like watching a Paulie Shore film)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Blend all together and put into the fridge.  If horseradish is not your thing, you can make the dish both lovely and spicy by adding cayenne pepper, chili powder, or for a real kick, chipotle pepper, etc.  The pancakes are also great without any sauce at all.

I served these with sauteed spinach and applesauce on the side.  Maybe I'm crazy, but I LOVE horseradish sauce with applesauce.  It makes it seem more potent yet calms the heat.

I use Solana Gold Organic applesauce because it is JUST APPLES. The way applesauce is supposed to be.  (The link is meant to show you how it looks not to trick you into buying it. )

Lemons and Limes for keeps

I've salted and sugared some limes and tossed them into a jar along with the juice of 4 other limes.  I have also salted some lemons and put those into a jar along with the juice of 3 other lemons. 

The salt will draw out the juice and create a citrus brine for preserving the fruits in.  The only maintenance it needs is to shake the brine a little to coat the lemons and limes respectively every other day (most important during its initial curing of 3 weeks) while visiting your fridge.  Once the brine covers the majority of the citrus, it will keep refrigerated for a year.  This leaves plenty of time to do it all over again the next year.  After about 3 weeks the citrus will be soft and supple and at that point, the rind is soft and edible too.  These are excellent for salads and other Summer refreshment.  When the lemons and limes are this way they qualify as a full-fledged  condiment and can be used just as you would any other.  And, best of all, a little goes a long way and is always an impressive addition.

Instructions on cutting, salting, canning these citrus:

- Meyer are the preferred choice, but really any will do.

- The amount of salt and additional juice depends on the jar size. 1 quart Mason or Kerr jar needs 2 TBSP salt (then add the juice as mentioned below)

- The double quart size needs 4 TBSP of salt

- For the additional juice, you want enough to help give the citrus a boost.  This again depends on the size of jar and how many fruit you choose to do.  1/3 or better of juice/brine is best to start off.   It will continue to make its own brine as the salt does its magic.

- With the limes, I chose a smaller jar as the slices of limes are so much smaller than the lemons that the same amount of wedges fill a much smaller jar.  For limes I also add 2 TBSP vegan sugar along with 2 TBSP sea salt.

• Cut one end off -- enough to reveal some fruit and not just the pith, cut the other end just enough to stand your fruit upright
• Cut downwards from the most cut end toward the stand end along the wedges direction but not severing the citrus entirely through. Repeat in as many wedges as you'd like - I do 6 for each.
• Pour salt into each wedge cut making certain each side of each wedge is well salted.
• Cut and juice the amount of citrus you'd like for the jar you've selected
• Pour 2-4 TBSP salt into the jar (2 for 1 pint-1 quart 4 for a double quart).
• Pour a lesser amount of sugar into the jar if you'd like it to be a touch less tangy in the end (it's rather minimal and I do it for limes
• You can add spices like cloves, cinnamon sticks and allspice to lemons if they are too edgy.  I like it without because they have more uses without the spices added.  Maybe try two little batches?

Now this is really a very general recipe and hasn't many rules.  The basic rules are:

• You want enough salt to keep the citrus and enough to make brine
• You want enough starter brine so the citrus is eventually covered
• You want it to taste like a million dollars and for people to think you're incredible.

You can leave the citrus out overnight to let it stand at room temperature and after that move it to the refrigerator with a shake to coat and tend to it as you think of it.  A good shake should move the salt from the base of the jar and redistribute it.