Sunday, December 20, 2009

Green Beans (for canning)

INGREDIENTS
Green Beans
Salt
Boiling Water

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Wash beans and drain.  Trim ends and cut into 2" pieces, or leave whole (if packing vertically).  
2. Tightly pack raw beans into washed, hot jars, add 1/2tsp salt and top with boiling water, leaving 1" headspace. 
3. Wipe rim, center lid on jar, screw band down.
4. Place jars in pressure canner.  Adjust water level, lock lid and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close vent.  Continue heating to achieve 15lbs of pressure and maintain pressure for 20 minutes for pint jars and 325 minutes for quart jars.
5. Turn off heat.  Let pressure return to zero naturally.  Wait 2 minutes longer, then open vent.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 10 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Recipe from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, pages 385 and 386.

Carrots (for canning)

INGREDIENTS
Carrots
Salt
Boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Wash and slice carrots.
2. Tightly pack raw carrots into washed, hot jars, add 1/2 tsp salt and top with boiling water, leaving 1" headspace. 
3. Wipe rim, center lid on jar, screw band down.
4. Place jars in pressure canner.  Adjust water level, lock lid and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close vent.  Continue heating to achieve 15lbs of pressure and maintain pressure for 25 minutes for pint jars and 30 minutes for quart jars.
5. Turn off heat.  Let pressure return to zero naturally.  Wait 2 minutes longer, then open vent.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 10 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Recipe from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, pages 385 and 389.

Beef Stew (for canning)

INGREDIENTS
1 TBSP vegetable oil
4-5lbs stewing beef, cut into 1-1/2" cubes
12 cups cubed, peeled potatoes
8 cups sliced, peeled carrots
3 cups chopped onions
4-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Prepare weighted-gauge pressure canner, jars and lids.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Working in batches, brown beef, adding oil only if absolutely necessary.  Transfer beef to a large stainless steel saucepan and add potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, salt, thyme, pepper, and boiling water to cover.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
3. Ladel hot stew into hot jars, leaving 1" headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace.  Wipe rim with a paper towel moistened with vinegar.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
4. Place jars in pressure canner.  Adjust water level, lock lid and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close vent.  Continue heating to achieve 15lbs of pressure.  Process pint jars for 75 mintes and quart jars for 90 minutes.
5.  Turn off heat.  Let pressure return to zero naturally.  Wait two minutes longer, then open vent.  Remove canner lid.  Wait for 10 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Recipe from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, page 407.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Almost-Blasphemous "Chex" Mix

INGREDIENTS
One box (~9 cups) Crispix cereal (::gasp::)
2-3 C. Bugles crackers (my son's genius inspiration)
8 TBSP (one stick) butter
2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp garlic salt
3 TBSP Worcester sauce

INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large bowl, combine cereal and crackers.  Mix thoroughly.
2. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and microwave to melt butter.  Stir.
3. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture.
4. Microwave on high for 6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
5. Spread on aluminum foil to cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

INGREDIENTS
1lb white chocolate, broken, or chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
~1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

INSTRUCTIONS
Combine chocolate and milk in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave in one-minute intervals until chocolate is semi-melted.  Stir in extracts, and continue heating and stirring until the chocolate is completely melted. 

Pour onto greased sheet of aluminum foil and sprinkle peppermint candies over the top.  Allow to cool and break or cut into pieces. 

Adapted from:  http://ellysaysopa.com/2009/01/08/two-fudges/

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Classic Creme Brulee

INGREDIENTS
4 cups chilled heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
1 vanilla bean, cut in half and split lengthwise
12 large egg yolks
8-12 teaspoons turbinado or Demarara sugar

INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle portion and heat oven to 300 degrees. 
  2. Combine 2 cups cream, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan; with paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan, submerge pod in cream, and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves.  Take pan off heat and let steep 15 minutes to infuse flavors.
  3. Meanwhile, place kitchen towel in bottom of large baking dish or roasting pan and arrange eight 4- to 5-oz ramekins (or shallow fluted dishes) on towel.  Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat. 
  4. After cream has steeped, stir in remaining 2 cups cream to cool down mixture.  Whisk yolks in large bowl until broken up and combined.  Whisk about 1 cup cream mixture into yolks until loosened and combined;  repeat with another 1 cup cream.  Add remaining cream and whisk until evenly colored and thoroughly combined.  Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into 2-quart measuring cup or pitcher (or clean medium bowl);  discard solids in strainer.  Pour or ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing it evenly among them. 
  5. Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack, pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches 2/3 the height of ramekins.  Bake until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy and digital instant-read thermometer inserted into centers registers 170-175 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes (25-30 minutes for shallow fluted dish).  Begin checking temperature about 5 minutes before recommended time. 
  6. Transfer ramekins to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.  Set ramekins on rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.  
  7. Uncover ramekins;  if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture.  Sprinkle each with about 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar; tilt and tap ramekin for even coverage.  Ignite torch and caramelize sugar.  Refrigerate ramekins, uncovered, to re-chill, 30-45  minutes (but no longer); serve.  
Yield:  8 to 9- 4oz servings.

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated, November & December, 2001, Page 23. 

Cinnamon & Vanilla Bean Scented Honey

INGREDIENTS
2 whole vanilla beans
8 cinnamon sticks
2 quarts raw honey

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cut vanilla beans in half and split the halves lengthwise.  Scrape out the seeds and mix them with the honey in a large saucepan.
2. Stirring constantly, bring the honey just to a boil.
3. Wash and sterilize eight - 8oz canning jars.  Place a cinnamon stick and a 1/4 of a vanilla bean in each jar.  Fill with hot honey, wipe rim, seal with lid and ring.
4.  Process for 25 minutes in a boiling water bath.  Remove lid from water bath, turn off heat, and allow the jars to rest for 5 minutes.  Place jars on a clean towel and allow to cool 12-24 hours.  Wipe jars clean and store in a cool, dark place.

Yield:  eight 8oz jars (plus some extra)