roasted strawberry jam

On our first morning on the mountain, we were slugs.  We took leftovers and strawberries and put them on sticks to poke them in the fire.  The strawberries took on this intense flavor that out of season strawberries never have.  Even little scorched bits.  Actually, I think I like strawberries on a stick better then marshmallows on a stick.  I am strange so I am not surprised.  The comment was made by Miss A that it would make a wonderful jam.  I decided I would try.

I took two quarts of strawberries, a bit of olive oil, and roasted the heck of them.  They really did not get the scorched bits to the extent they would have on a stick but there were a few.  And the flavor was intensified and much sweeter!  The only flavor I really did not get was the smoke from the fire.  I added less sugar then I normally would for jam and called it a day.  I cannot wait until I have fresh bread in a couple days to try it on.  I have old bread right now and a cold house.  It is what happens.

roasted strawberry jam

2 quarts strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup sugar

Turn oven on to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pour the oil on a cookie sheet.  I used my cast iron pizza pan.  Cut the strawberries on the pan.  Coat with oil.  Roast for a half hour, stirring every ten minutes.

Take the strawberries out.  Scrape them into a small pot.  Put them over low heat.  Stir in the sugar.

I used the pan and heat with a bit of elbow grease to make sure the sugar dissolved.  You want to stir until the sugar is dissolved.

I will have toast in the morning and fresh bread tomorrow night or the morning after.  I cannot wait to try this jam on either.  It was so good on a spoon!

feeling lazy

The infused tequilas I made were enjoyed greatly.  The habanero never needs to happen again.  The coffee so far either.  We have not found the right combinations to go with it.  Everything else, definitely.  But it takes one to three weeks to infuse tequila and when the work day ends in the response "Say it's not so!," waiting is hard. 

I started making simple syrups in some of our favorite combinations of infused tequila.  Ginger and blackberry is awfully good.  Blackberry and mint is wonderful too.  Ginger and grapefruit, hmmmm. . .

The simple syrups all start with 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water.  The blackberry and ginger uses 12 -16 ounces of blackberry and a piece of ginger the size of a large fist.  The blackberry and mint use the same amount of blackberry and two large handfuls of mint from the garden.  I have not gotten too the ginger and grapefruit syrup yet because grapefruit are not in season here yet.  In season grapefruit convinced me I like grapefruit.

Then, a portion of tequila, an equal portion of infused simple syrup.  Both of those poured over ice and enough soda water or fizzy wine to fill the last of the glass if you wish.  Need to wait less then an hour instead of three weeks.  Life is good.

You could also make sodas with each of those.  Flavored simple syrup, ice, and enough soda water to fill the glass.  Use enough flavored simple syrup so the soda is to your taste.  I find everyone is very different.

It has been an interesting week!

vanilla rolls

My head is still very loopy.  It is rather quiet at work right now so it is probably all good.  I am waiting for 700 G of data to come back from archive so I may play with it.  But as I wait, I had some time to wonder the web.  I saw a recipe for Swedish vanilla rolls that looked quite interesting.  It is the basic Swedish cinnamon roll but without the cardamom and cinnamon.  Vanilla instead.  And we do like vanilla around here.

I had started bread this morning and looked at the ingredient list.  With a few modifications, I was there.  They turned out well.  Maybe not as vanilla as I thought but I was experimenting.  I could always figure out how to add more vanilla somehow!

vanilla rolls

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

10 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

5 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla

The night before, mix starter, flour, and water in a large bowl.  Cover and let sit overnight in a warm spot until bubbly.  In the morning, remove a couple tablespoons of starter for the next time.

To the starter, add the butter, milk, sugar, and two cups of flour.  Mix well but do not worry about butter lumps.  Cover and let get bubbly.  It will look like pancake batter.

When bubbly, uncover and mix in the salt.  Mix in two more cups of flour.  You may have a soft dough that is not too sticky.  If too wet, add a bit more flour.  Dump out of the bowl on a clean counter that has been dusted with flour.  Knead until smooth.  Put back in the bowl and cover.  Let rise until double.

Mix the 2 tablespoons butter with 1/2 cup sugar.

When the bread dough is double, turn out onto  a counter and roll out into a large rectangle.  Smear with butter.  I actually used closer to a 1/4 cup then 1/2.  Spread the vanilla mixture on it.

Roll up on the long edge.  Cut into about two inch logs.  Each log, cut three slits in but do not cut all the way through.  Move the log to a baking sheet covered with a silpat and splay out each section.  Do this to each smalll cylinder.  Cover and let rise until puffy.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Uncover and bake for 20 minutes.

Yumminess!  These were actually part of dinner.  The other part of dinner was a shared pumpkin pie.  Life is pretty good today.

pumpkin chocolate babka

It is that season where there are many recipes that use pumpkin.  I like pumpkin but it is even extreme for me.  Irvin over at Eat the Love had a really cool idea of a pumpkin chocolate monkey bread.  His is more a traditional monkey bread compared to mine. 

I have been thinking about my monkey bread and have been pondering how do I keep more of the filling in the bread when I transfer it to the pan.  Then I saw a couple of recipes for babka.  Roll.  Cut.  Twist.  Transfer.  I decided to experiment with Irvin's recipe.  I know I like chocolate and pumpkin together.  Add more pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. 

Bottom line.  Life is good.  This recipe actually got requested by one of the people I took a bit share to.  Even though I have carded wool, worked on a quilt, and started bread, today's recipe is the pumpkin chocolate babka to fulfill that promise.

pumpkin chocolate babka

Note:  To use active dry yeast instead of sourdough, you will need to dissolve two teaspoons of yeast into warm water and use this mixture instead of the replenished sourdough.  Based on Irivin's Pumpkin Chocolate Monkey bread from Eat the Love

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup flour

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree - not pie filling

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

about 7 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt 

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup room temperature butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

3/4 cup butter

enough extra brown sugar to make 1 cup

an extra 1 teaspoon cinnamon if wish

The night before, or if you have a very cold house like mine, a day before, mix the starter with the 3/4 cup water and 1 cup flour.  Mix well.  Cover and let sit until bubbly.  When bubbly, remove a couple tablespoons to use as your yeasty beasties for next time.

In the remaining starter, mix in the pumpkin, milk, sugar, butter, and vanilla.  Mix in two cups of flour.  It should be the consistency of pancake batter.  Cover and let sit until bubbly.  This could take two hours, or in my house twelve.  Very cold house.

When the batter is bubbly, mix in the salt and the rest of the flour to about 6 1/2 to 6 3/4 cups.  The dough is going to be very soft.  Divide the dough in two.

Sprinkle a clean working surface with flour.  Take half the dough and knead until smooth and less sticky.  It is going to be very soft.  Put in a bowl.

Dump the 1/4 cup cocoa on the counter.  Take the second half of dough and knead in the cocoa.  Your are mixing in the cocoa and kneading the bread smooth at the same time.  Happy yeastie beasties!  A little extra flour is okay as you knead.  Put in a bowl and cover. 

Let rise until double.

In a small bowl, mix the two cups brown sugar with the two tablespoons pumpkin pie spice.

Butter two loaf pans.

Roll out one of the doughs until it about 1/4 inch thick and rectangular.  Dust heavily with flour and put aside.  Do the same with the other dough.  The two rectangles should be similar in size.

Lay out one rectangle.  Sprinkle with about half the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.  It was closer to a third of the brown sugar mixture.

Lay the other rectangle of dough on top of the first.  Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.  I had about a half a cup to three quarter cup leftover.

Roll the dough up.  Roll from the side that is about two loaf pans long. 

Cut the roll in half so there are two rolls about the size of a loaf pan.  Cut the roll down the length so the brown sugar mixture can be seen.

Put the cut edge up and twist two halves together.  Place in a loaf pan.

Do the same to the other two halves.  Cover and let rise until double.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a saucepan, melt the 3/4 cup butter.  Add whatever leftover brown sugar mixture there is plus enough more brown sugar to make 1 cup.  Add an extra teaspoon or two of cinnamon if you wish.  Let boil a bit so the brown sugar dissolves in the butter.  Pour half on one loaf, half on the other.

Bake for one hour is using full size loaf pans. 

This is what it looks like without extra carmel drizzled on top of it.

This is what it looks like with extra carmel.

Both are utterly decadent.  It is all gone.  I need to make more.  I might not share this time . . .

crispy quinoa burgers

There was a bit of surf a while back that went to play in.  I decided that I wished to take food to the beach to eat.  At the beach, everyone else had other ideas.  But I can tell you that these quinoa burgers did not last long enough as leftovers for me to even try them!  They are something else I need to make again and put in the freezer for lunch food for the boyos or for when we do not wish to cook.  I was amazed how fast these went.  I made carmelized onions and sweet potato fries to go with them.  Again, disappeared!  I guess that is a really good thing but it is also a little frustrating.

This recipe is actually very easy.  I modified it from Half Baked Harvest, mostly because of what I had in the kitchen cupboards.  I also eat burgers more like Small Mister, deconstructed or plain with ketchup.  He does plain and dry.  I find most buns are not worth the effort to eat.  Which means, I did not offer everything on a bun to eat.  I would really like the chance to try these burgers on a salad.

I wonder if I make them again I will have to hide them to get to try any . . .

crispy quinoa burgers

Note:  I was lazy and baked these in the oven while I made sweet potato fries.  You could cook them in a skillet on the stove too.

2 cups cooked red quinoa

1 cup refried pinto beans

1/2 cup ground up rye crackers

1 large egg

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon ground chipolte pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup grated cheddar, I had medium

3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put a oven proof skillet or baking dish in the oven with the oil.  In a large bowl, mix everything together.  Pull out the pan, shape the mixture into about four or five patties.  Place on the pan.  Put in the oven for about five minutes.  Pull out, turn over, and bake for another five to seven. 

You want crispy on both sides.

Now if I can only keep some away from the boyos.