The elder of the two Ladies of Stumptown Savoury skips egg production once about every ten days, then makes up for it a day or two later with a really large egg that has two yolks. I have no idea how she manages to walk after laying such a large egg, but somehow she does. My friend, Jennifer, made this omelet using just the large double-yolked egg, then took pictures to show off. Rightly so!

Categories: eggs
Tagged: eggs

That glistening, dark river of sauce on the ice cream is made with balsamic vinegar. Not just any balsamic, of course, but a Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar from Benessere, an oil and vinegar store in downtown Portland. Coffee and chocolate are an excellent pairing, so I also used some Espresso Sugar from The Spice and Tea Exchange, also in downtown Portland. Full disclosure: I teach at both stores, and they donated the products I used.

This sauce is simple to make. Pour one cup of Dark Chocolate Balsamic into a small saucepan and add 1½ ounces of Espresso Sugar. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then simmer, stirring occasionally until reduced by about one quarter. If you want it a bit thinner–it’s rather thick–reduce less. I store it in the refrigerator, but it needs to be at room temperature or slightly warmer to serve.

If you are unable to find Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar where you live, you can use any good, aged balsamic vinegar. You could also substitute other flavored sugar, or even plain sugar if you want. Adjust the amount of sugar to the acidity and bitterness, if any, of the balsamic you’re using and you’ll end up with an excellent dessert sauce.

Categories: chocolate, condiments, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, pantry, sauce
Tagged: chocolate, condiments, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, pantry, sauce

Time for an update, I think. The weather in Portland has been wet. Not wet like most years, but rainy almost every day until the last week or so. Wet as in we already had more rain by June 4 than we usually have in the entire month. Wet as in basil can’t survive but slugs are in heaven. Here it is July, and once again it’s raining. Sigh.

For some reason–I swear there was no tequila involved–my friend and I decided that letting the chickens into the garden would result in an immediate reduction in the slug population. Right. Maybe it worked, because after the chickens had eaten all the slugs’ favorite plants, the slug population appeared to have dropped off a bit. For awhile. Nice little dishes of cheap beer seem to be working better.

We got a few days of sun and most everything decided it would be the only shot at reproducing, so there was a lot of bolting going on. On the positive side, I’ve been eating more salad lately. Giving lettuce a buzz cut seems to be a viable harvesting method, since all the plants put out more leaves.

If you decide to do some veggie gardening, grow lots of different sorts of lettuces and other salad greens. While getting the bolting more or less under control, salads included things like strawberry and garlic leaves. And since the lawn doesn’t get sprayed with any chemicals, the dandelions that showed up have made a nice, bitter addition to the salad bowl. I just wish we had more reds.

The ground garden is struggling a bit with the heavy rains and lack of sun, although there are signs that the tomato plants are trying to produce and I’ve seen the shoulders of a carrot. The container garden, however, is doing quite well. Better light and drainage, rich potting soil, and elevation above most pests makes for good success.

The first round of radishes were quite good, so I’ve got more going. The lettuces are producing nicely. Judging from their tops, the container carrots are very happy.

I’m going to have ginger. I moved it to a nice pot where it’s growing nicely, surrounded by a little crop of radishes. With luck I’ll never buy ginger again.

The San Marzano tomato plant has flowered, so the probability of actually being able to make tomato sauce this Fall is good. I also have a container with basil growing next to it. Had to replace all the basil that drowned, so my friend and I decided it should be containered.

That’s about it. The Ladies of Stumptown Savoury continue to produce two eggs almost every day–the older lady misses a day now and then. There are bags of greens and salad in the refrigerator ready to eat. Oh, I almost forgot, there’s celery.

The celery is really something else entirely from the insipid stuff available in the produce section of your grocery store. It’s not much good for eating right out of the garden because those little strings are more like ropes, so it needs to be peeled before eating raw. And the flavor is almost pungent. I can hardly wait for the first batch of mirepoix entirely from the garden.

Okay, that’s really all for now.

Categories: gardening, rant, urban farming
Tagged: gardening, rant, urban farming

Let’s be clear about one thing right from the start: store-bought bacon is not going to be satisfactory. You have to make your own. And don’t waste time with any apples called “Delicious” because they aren’t. Use Pink Lady, Fuji, Gravenstein, Braeburn, Jazz, or some other varietal with real flavor and texture, and be sure they’re organic. Better yet, wait until the apples on your tree are ready before you make this.

First you’ll need to candy some bacon. If you want a vegan version of this, leave out the candied bacon and call it Apple Granita. It will be delightful. Now to candy bacon you need bacon, an oven, a sheet pan, and some sweetener, perhaps brown sugar or maple syrup (the real stuff, not anything “flavored”). Cover the sheet pan lightly with sweetener, lay down strips of bacon, cover them lightly with sweetener, and put into a 250°F oven. Leave it there until you just can’t stand it any more (about an hour if the bacon is thick, less time for smaller or thinner bacon). Carefully remove the hot, sticky bacon from the hot, sticky pan and put it (the bacon) on a plate to cool.

Next, make some apple syrup. Simple, really. Two-thirds of a cup of sugar plus one-half cup of apple juice or cider, heat to a simmer, let reduce a bit to thicken, then cool and refrigerate.

Third, juice a lemon into a blender or food processor to keep the apples you’re about to peel and core from going brown. If you have ascorbic acid you can use it. If you have Vitamin C tablets do NOT use them instead.

Fourth, peel and core four really good organic apples just as quickly as you can. Put them into the blender or food processor that holds the lemon juice and purée until you’re satisfied with the texture. At some point you’ll want to add more liquid, so add the apple syrup. If you want some cinnamon in it, add that to the purée as well.

If the purée is reasonably thick, add the candied bacon. If not, start freezing the purée first, then add the bacon later.

You can process this in an ice cream machine and call it sorbet if you wish. Or you can freeze it in a shallow pan and call it granita. If you choose the granita option, you’ll need to pull the pan out of the freezer every 15-30 minutes and break up the ice crystals by scraping it with a fork.

How does it taste? Sort of like frozen applesauce with bacon in it. In a really good way. I also enjoyed it hot as a sweet and savory sauce with pork loin.

Categories: dairy-free, dessert, fruit, gluten-free
Tagged: dairy-free, dessert, fruit, gluten-free

If you have extra rosemary in the garden–if you have rosemary there’s always extra–or you want to make jelly but don’t have pectin, this simple jelly will work well for you. I used young, mild rosemary so if you’re using older, woodier rosemary you’ll want to use less. If you’ve never made a jelly before, read my Riesling-Mint Jelly post for more detailed information on what equipment you’ll need and the canning process.

Orange-Rosemary Jelly

7 oranges
3 lemons
4 rosemary sprigs
2¼ cups water
granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Wash the oranges, especially carefully if they aren’t organic, and reserve one for zest. Thinly slice six oranges and put them into a 4-quart or larger sauce pan. Add the juice of 3 lemons, the rosemary sprigs, and the water. Cover and let sit overnight.

Taste the water before proceeding. If the amount of rosemary flavoring is sufficient for your taste, remove the rosemary at this point.

Put the sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Let simmer 30 minutes until the oranges are softened. Taste frequently if the rosemary is still in the pan so that you can remove it when there is enough rosemary flavor in the mix. Strain the liquid, squeezing the orange pulp to extract as much flavor as possible. If you wish, add some Grand Marnier.

Prepare a water-bath canner, jars for 3-4 cups, and lids. Place a small plate in the freezer to use for testing later.

Measure the liquid: for 2½ cups of liquid you’ll need 2 cups of granulated sugar. Mix the liquid and sugar in a clean 4-quart saucepan, then add the zest from the reserved orange and the cinnamon. Bring to a brisk boil, stirring frequently, and continue to boil until it passes the jelly test.

You’ll want to test the jelly to make sure it will set. Remove the plate from the freezer and put a small spoonful of jelly on it. Let it sit for a minute, then check to see if the jelly is still liquid or if it has begun to thicken. When the jelly sets somewhat on the plate, and the jelly in the pan is threatening to overflow, it’s ready to can.

Fill hot, sterilized jars to within one-quarter inch of the top, seal, and process in boiling water for 10 minutes. This recipe yields about 3 cups of jelly.

This is an excellent jelly to serve with mild cheese. It’s flavor is very much like orange marmalade, but there is somewhat less bitterness. I would also serve it as a condiment with seared duck breast. Of course it will also be delightful with a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast.

Categories: condiments, preserving
Tagged: condiments, preserving

I’ll miss you, buddy. You were a great friend and a joy to be around.

Categories: Uncategorized

One of the Ladies of Stumptown Savoury laid a larger than normal egg (on the left). She’s done this before. The egg is about twice the normal size, weighs about twice as much, and will have a double yolk. A three-egg omelet from two eggs–yet another reason to keep some chickens!

Here’s a nice breakfast idea: make it from scratch. Grow some tomatoes and chives, raise some laying chickens, and cure some bacon. Put them all together on the plate and you have a flavorful, healthful breakfast. Had to buy the tomatoes because it’s too early for tomatoes and we haven’t yet seen much sunlight here in the Pacific Northwest, but the rest is home-grown and made.

Categories: eggs, rant
Tagged: eggs, rant

Some of us don’t have room for a garden, but almost everyone has room for a container or two. I decided I should grow some things in containers to prove to myself that it’s worthwhile. I have three containers planted, and am already enjoying the results.

A salad is a joyful thing, especially when it’s really fresh, so I planted a container of lettuce. The tall one is puntarelle, an heirloom Italian bitter salad green; the flavor is very bright and quite bitter, but pleasantly so. It’s trying to bolt, so I took the picture then harvested most of it. Also in the pot are “Speckled Amish” butterhead lettuce, and some lettuce seedlings. I’ll be able to supplement salads pretty much all summer so long as I keep this pot well watered. Having this just outside the kitchen door makes it easy to harvest, even if it’s raining.

I want to put up some tomato sauce this year, although I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever have any sunny days here in Portland. This container was planted for tomato sauce, with a San Marzano tomato plant, some Italian parsley, red onion, and garlic. I had also planted basil in the pot, but the monsoon rains we’ve been having drowned all the basil–I’ll have to try again if we see the sun.

The onion and garlic in this pot are kitchen volunteers. You know how sometimes garlic and onions sprout before you get around to using them? I had that happen, so I stuck them in a small container with some dirt and covered them with a plastic bag. Within a week I had healthy-looking growth, so I transplanted them to the large container and added the tomato and parsley starters. Both seem to be doing well. I’ll be interested to see whether I have usable garlic or onion later this year.

Speaking of kitchen volunteers, I had a piece of ginger with what looked to be a fresh knob, so I set it on top of some dirt under a plastic bag. It appears to be rooting, so I’ll transplant it soon. Wouldn’t it be nice to have ginger any time you want it without having to pay for it?

Finally, I thought it would be nice to have things I need to make stock, particularly carrots, celery, and onions. The celery is in the garden, but I decided I’d plant a pot with some onions and carrots. Just to make it useful sooner rather than later, I planted some radish seeds with the carrot seeds so that I could have two crops from the same space.

Here you can see the onions in the center surrounded by harvestable radishes. Underneath the radish leaves are carrot seedlings. Just after taking this picture I harvested about half the radishes. They have much brighter color than the ones you can buy in stores, and are quite sweet. I expect to have Nantes carrots this fall out of this container–the seedlings look pretty healthy.

These three pots are just examples of what can be done in containers. You won’t be able to achieve self-sufficiency with a few containers, but you’ll be able to have a few fresh-from-the-garden veggies to supplement your purchases. And you’ll have the satisfaction of having grown them yourself!

Categories: gardening, rant
Tagged: gardening, rant

It’s June already. Time to start putting up the harvest, beginning with herbal jellies.

You’ll need some basic equipment to make jellies that you’ll be able to use for other preservation projects. If you don’t already have a large stockpot that is more than 12″ in diameter, you’ll need a water-bath canner; if you do, you’ll need a canning rack. You’ll need a jar lifter to lift the hot jars, and a canning funnel to fill them. If you don’t have any of the things needed, you might just want to get a canning kit. You’ll need jars and lids as well, which you should be able to purchase locally at most any large grocery store. Water-bath canning, also known as boiling-water canning, is used for jams, jellies, preserves, chutneys, pickles, etc.

Jelly Mother Recipe

2½ cups (20 ounces/600mL) liquid
½-1 cup fresh herbs
4 cups granulated sugar
¼ cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice or vinegar
1 pouch (3 ounces) liquid pectin

Make an infusion with the liquid and herbs. Bring your liquid (unsweetened fruit juice, wine, whatever) to a boil, then pour over the herbs and let steep for an hour. Drain and press as much liquid as possible out of the herbs before throwing them in the compost heap.

Sterilize the jars, bands, and lids. The jars can be sterilized in a dishwasher and kept warm there. The bands and lids need to be put into a pan of simmering but not boiling water and kept there for at least 10 minutes. If you need to use a water bath to sterilize your jars, use the canner and canning rack and leave them in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Lift the rack to its supports to get the jars out of the water but keep them hot, and use the jar lifter to pour the water out of them. Be careful, the steam is really hot. If you sterilize the jars in the dishwasher, get your canner half-full of water on the heat with a lid on it right away. It takes a long time to come to a boil.

Set up your canning area. You’ll want a plate to keep from getting jelly on the counter and a damp cloth for wiping the jars. You’ll need the warm lids handy.

Next you’ll need a large pan, by which I mean at least 3 quarts, but 4 quarts is better. If the pan is smaller than 3 quarts you’ll have a burnt sugar emergency in the middle of jelly making. I speak from experience.

Mix 2 cups of the herbal infusion with 4 cups of sugar and ¼ cup of lemon juice or vinegar in the large pan and bring to a boil, stirring to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Then add the liquid pectin and bring back to a rolling boil that will not stir down for one full minute.

Set a warm jar on the plate, and fill, using the canning funnel, to within ¼” of the top. Wipe the edge of the jar to ensure a good seal, put the lid on, and screw the band finger tight. Place in the canning rack. Repeat until all the jars are filled, then lower the rack into the water bath. Cover and bring to a rolling boil, then keep at a boil for 10 minutes. When you remove the lid, expect a lot of hot steam.

Carefully lift out the jars with a jar lifter and place on a towel to cool. Don’t check them to see if the jelly has set until the jars are room temperature, which will be a few hours. If you see bubbles rising in the cooling jars, don’t worry, everything is fine. When the jars are cooled, remove the bands and press the center of the lid to ensure that it’s depressed. Carefully lift each jar by the edge of the lid to make sure the seal is good. If a lid pops off, refrigerate the jar and enjoy it within a month.

The recipe will yield 4 half-pint jars plus most of a fifth one for immediate consumption.

To make Riesling-Mint Jelly I juiced two Fuji apples. Then I added enough Montinore Estate Sweet Reserve Riesling to total 20 ounces. I picked about a cup of fresh spearmint from the garden, rinsed it, and infused the apple and wine. The result is an excellent jelly that isn’t too sweet or too minty, and doesn’t have that nasty bright green color mint jellies so often do. It is quite good with cheese.

Categories: condiments, mother recipe, preserving
Tagged: condiments, mother recipe, preserving

As always on Memorial Day, I remember fallen friends and comrades, especially my best buddy, Brian John Bennett, who died saving his squad.

Categories: rant
Tagged: rant