Blizzards in the Midwest and perfectly beautiful weather here. The mornings are cold though! It was 39 degrees at 7 this morning. Not sure how food crops will like that. They could probably use Mother Nature to share some water but so far there is no rain on the horizon. So I will continue guiltily enjoying climate change. ;-)
I hosted a
food swap yesterday and I made a couple of cool recipes I’m going to share with
you. Food swaps
are fun and delicious and oh-so-foodie! In my next post I’ll tell you everything I
learned about having a better overall swap than I did.
Garlic
Let me
tell you what I did with garlic this weekend. I put peeled cloves in the oven
on low, about 250, and let them cook slow, slow, slow until they were totally
dry. After they cooled, I put them in my spice grinder and made a powder. If
you stop there you have wonderful, organic garlic powder. I went a bit further
and ground some dry thyme and rosemary from my garden and added all 3
ingredients to kosher salt. I used about 10 cloves of garlic and 1T each of the
herbs to about 1.5 cups of salt. It’s
great!
You can
use any complimentary herbs and even just do it without the salt. There is no
need to let wonderful garlic go to waste!
Citrus
The other
recipe I made was Citrus Curd and since we’re getting more great California
citrus this week, why not try it? It’s yummy on toast, over ice cream or just
eaten with a spoon while standing in front of the refrigerator. That is how you
can find me quite often today. ;-)
I made my
curd (I hate that word) with blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges and Meyer lemons.
You can easily make it with a single citrus or a combination. The first recipe
I tried was a bit too sweet. I like this one better but I may even cut the
sugar again when I make it next. And I will make it again. Soon.
The only
advice I would give while making this recipe is have a book or a talkative
child on hand. There is a lot of
constant stirring involved.
Makes about 1 pint
Ingredients
12 egg yolks
3/4 cup freshly-squeezed blood orange juice (from around 3 blood oranges)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (8 Tbsp), cut into Tbsp pieces
Preparation
Place the egg yolks, sugar, blood orange juice, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and turn the heat on to low. Whisk or stir constantly (or the yolks will curdle), for about 15-20 minutes. When it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, run the ingredients through a sieve into a medium bowl. Immediately stir in the butter a little at a time until it all melts and becomes incorporated. Let cool and refrigerate. Enjoy!
Broccoli
Consume
fresh broccoli as soon as you can as it will not keep long. To store, mist the
heads, wrap loosely in damp paper towels, and refrigerate. Use
within 2 to 3 days. Do not store broccoli in a sealed plastic bag. Raw broccoli
requires air circulation. A perforated plastic bag is fine. Cooked broccoli
should be covered and refrigerated. Use within 3 days.
I
have mentioned that The Bitten Word is one of my favorite food blogs.
They
have an interesting write up and recipe for broccoli stalks this week. The
stalks are like the red- headed stepchild of the broccoli so it’s nice to see
it step into the spotlight. See their entry here:
I
suggest you sign up for their blog. They are both entertaining and informative.
Love them.
Eat well!
Robin
