Sweetie Pie

Farm Fresh

We took a little trip to Live Oak Farm in Woodruff, SC yesterday.  We wanted to look at the Suffolk Punch draft horses, enjoy the beautiful weather and pick up some groceries.  We were not disappointed. 

 

The horses were sweet and friendly, and all the animals were clearly happy and well cared for on this farm.  We took in the sunshine and enjoyed looking at the sheep, cows, horses, barns, wagons and solar panels. 

We bought a cooler full of good stuff to stock our refrigerator and freezer.  It's a great feeling to know the meat we're eating came from animals that were clean, happy and healthy. We also enjoy supporting small farmers instead of big chain stores.  The store at Live Oak Farm is very nice and carries jams, relishes, pickles, milk, beef, lamb, duck, chicken, milk, eggs, dry and canned goods, and more.  We are now supplied with chicken, grass fed beef, pastured pork bacon, fresh eggs, butter and some cheese.  I forgot to get buttermilk. We also picked up some literature and they gave us a nice canvas shopping bag and Farmers Almanac.   It was a good day and a worthwhile trip.   I'm looking forward to all the good eats.

I'd like to thank the buttermilk.

I decided that if I'm going to get serious about baking, I need to keep buttermilk on hand.  In keeping with this decision, I went to my source for really good dairy products - Earth Fare.  I chose a beautiful glass bottle from Homestead Creamery.  

I was planning to use it to make biscuits, but I always seem to have overripe bananas laying around.  Maybe I could use these ugly things to make something yummy.  I found a recipe for peanut butter banana muffins.  This had potential, but it called for rolled oats which sounded a little too healthy.  I decided to try the recipe, but substitute the buttermilk for the sweet milk. 

I measured the oats into a bowl and poured the buttermilk over them.  Well, it didn't really pour, it glopped.  This was some seriously thick and creamy stuff.   I let this sit so the oats could soften while I got the other ingredients ready and the little boy out of bed.  When I got back to the kitchen, the oats and buttermilk had little bubbles like it was actively fizzing.  What is this stuff? 

I carried on making the recipe under the watchful eye of a 3 year old.
I mashed the banana with a fork and added peanut butter, the softened oats and egg.

 

 

 

Then the flour and baking powder were measured.  It's important to level that cup of flour by sweeping your finger over the top to get rid of the excess.  Then add the baking powder on top and give it a little stir with the measuring spoon before you dump it into the bowl.  
When all was ready, I put them in the oven and went to look up buttermilk on the internet.  What is this stuff that is so thick and active? 
I thought buttermilk was the milk left over after butter is churned.  From what I gathered, if you have your own milk cow ( as our great great grandparents might have) and churn your own butter, then the remaining milk after the butter clumps up is indeed buttermilk.  It would be fairly thin, with little flecks of butter that didn't clump floating around in it.  This product is not sold in stores, and I guess I've never seen or tasted it.  I called my grandmother to ask about this mystery because I know she and her late father have always loved buttermilk.  She didn't seem to know what I was talking about or why this was so interesting to me.  So I went back to the internet. 
The buttermilk we buy at the grocery store is a cultured product.  This means that a culture, or bacteria is added to the milk and it ferments before it's refrigerated.  Just like yogurt, sour cream or creme fresh, each company has their own formula of special bacteria to give their buttermilk it's particular flavor.  Also like yogurt and other cultured dairy products, buttermilk is easier on your stomach and keeps longer in the refrigerator without going bad.

I stopped to take the muffins out of the oven and do a taste test.  I gotta tell you, these muffins were...

 hands down the best I have ever made.  They are possibly some of the best muffins I've ever eaten.  My little family must have agreed, because they gobbled them up extra fast.  And then they ate some more. 
It was so easy!  I know I have to thank the buttermilk.  I couldn't detect any oatyness, just tender, fluffy, moist and delectableness.  The peanut butter and banana flavors are subtle and they're not too sweet, but the texture is perfect.

This drove me back for more research.  I knew the only difference in this and other recipes I've made was the substitution of buttermilk for sweet milk.  Two things contributed to the perfection I had found.  The first is that since I used a cultured product, the oats and gluten in the flour were tenderized.  The second factor is the fat.  You can buy fat free, 1percent, or whole milk buttermilk.  The Homestead Creamery doesn't make low fat buttermilk, so apparently I had bought and used a very high fat product.  I guess that's why it's so thick.  Duh.  And we all know that butterfat makes things delicious.   But wait, there's more!!

Did you know that you can make your own buttermilk?  All you need is some fresh buttermilk from the store and some regular milk.  You use a ratio of 1 part buttermilk to 3 parts sweet milk.  Simply mix the milk in a clean glass jar and leave it in a warm spot overnight.  This really freaked me out because I feel that dairy products should be kept super cold at all times.  You will notice that the milk will thicken and smell like buttermilk.  Then just put a date on it and stick it in the fridge.  After extensive online research into this phenomenon, I decided to try it.  It worked, but I was still skeptical so I only used it to bake.  I'm way to squeamish to eat something I cultured myself without cooking it first. 

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup mashed banana - about 1 or 2 bananas

1 egg

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a muffin pan for 12.

Measure the oats into a bowl and pour the buttermilk over them.  Let this sit while you get everything else ready and/or get your children out of bed.   

Mash the banana and mix in the peanut butter, egg, oil and vanilla, then add the oat/milk mixture.  Add the dry ingredients and mix it until just combined.  Fill the muffin cups ( don't forget to spray them or use paper liners, this is a good job for the little ones) and bake for about 18 minutes until they're golden. 
These are really good left over, so if you can't get it together early in the morning you can bake them the night before and they'll be awesome for breakfast.

 

Boy meets Broccoli

It was a normal trip to our local Earth Fare on a typical weekday morning.  We had stopped to pick up milk and something for lunch on the way home.  The three year old usually requests macaroni and cheese, pizza with cheese, or just plain cheese, but we always stroll through the produce section and look at the veggies anyway.  It's not difficult to convince him we should get some fruit, but what happened on this day surprises me still.

My beautiful 3 year old boy looked at the broccoli and asked if we could buy some and have it for lunch!  I told him I thought that was a great idea and we picked a nice bunch of broccolini together.  We went right home and got to work.  He climbed up on a bar stool and supervised the cleaning and chopping.  He tasted it raw, and I kept thinking there's no way he's actually going to eat this.  If he says he wants broccoli, I'm not going to argue with him though.  Also, I'd been wanting to try this recipe from Rachel Allen's cooking show for Broccoli Soup so I persevered.

By the time we finished cooking and blending, we were pretty hungry.  This soup is green.  I served it with cheddar fish crackers but cheese toast would be even better.

My boy looked at that green soup and he used his spoon and he ATE it.  I was so proud.  It just goes to show what shopping and cooking with your kids can do.  He may have had a heap of crackers in it and he might not have asked for second servings, but who's counting?

Broccoli Soup

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 1/2 cups stock

1 head broccoli or 1 bunch broccolini

salt and pepper

Cook the butter, onion and potatoes in a  covered saucepan on low heat for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, clean and chop the broccoli and keep the stem and florets separate.  Next, season the pot with salt and pepper to taste and add the broccoli stems and stock.  I used chicken stock from a box, but vegetable stock would be good also.  I do not recommend using water because you really need the depth of flavor from the stock.  Let this come to a boil for 5 minutes, then add the broccoli florets and cook for one more minute with the lid off.  Remove from heat and add cream or milk to taste.  You can leave this out if you have dairy issues.  Blend to desired smoothness with an immersion blender or in a blender. 

 

 This soup is easy, delicious and nutritious.  I hope you'll try it.

VIP Cake

Walnut Cake for a Very Important Person in your life.

 I like to get old episodes of The French Chef with Julia Child from Netflix and watch them over and over.  I find Julia McWilliams Child endlessly fascinating and inspirational and she's so silly and fun to watch.  Sometimes the recipes are umm, never going to happen in my kitchen.  Sometimes I am grossed out as she hand rinses intestines to stuff them with homemade sausage or makes braised lettuce.  Sometimes she makes me laugh out loud as she talks to the poultry and makes goofy mistakes.  I always learn something.  And sometimes, I pause it and run to get some paper and take notes.  This is what I did as she made VIP cake.  She suggested making this for someone you love.

This cake took all day to make, that must be why Julia Child called it VIP cake.   It wasn't difficult but it has multiple steps.

I started before lunch by measuring and whipping the cream.  I set it in the fridge for later and went to pick up the boy from preschool.

 

Then I measured and chopped the walnuts in my shiny new food processor and set them aside too.

 

After the little one was fed and down for his nap I got back to work.  I beat the eggs and sugar until light yellow and very creamy, then added vanilla.

 

Then I alternately sifted in the flour mixture

 

and folded in the chopped walnuts.

 

This batter was spread into buttered and floured cake pans and (finally) ready for the oven.

 

The house smelled wonderful, like roasting walnuts and butter.  I took the cakes out and let them cool in the pans and on racks.  By this time the boy had awakened, and I was growing weary of my VIP project.  I took a break while they cooled.

  I decided to use raspberry jam for between the cake layers because I thought anything creamy would be too rich and I LOVE raspberry.  I used more jam for the outer edges and then applied more chopped walnuts to make it look pretty. 

The top was finished with a simple orange glaze of fresh orange juice and powdered sugar.

 

It wasn't as beautiful as I'd hoped, but that was one delicious cake!  When the boy had eaten his slice after dinner that night, he blew kisses to the cake.  I guess sometimes there are no words to express the way he feels about dessert.

 VIP (Walnut) Cake

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla and a pinch of salt

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup ground walnuts

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, lightly whipped over ice water

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare two 9inch cake pans with butter, flour, and parchment paper in the bottoms. 

First, whip the cream over ice and set it aside.  You can do this WAY in advance.  Next, chop the walnuts in a food processor or similar apparatus. 

Next, beat the eggs and sugar together until they are thick, creamy and light yellow - about 5 minutes.  Then add the vanilla and salt.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the eggs in parts, alternating with the walnuts and cream.  Fold in a third of the flour, then a third of the walnuts, then a third of the cream, then another third of the flour and so on until it's all folded together.  This is a beautiful creamy looking batter.

Divide the batter between two cake pans and spread it around.  Julia Child recommended a foil collar to prevent spillage.  I did one pan with and one without the collar and saw no benefit from the extra trouble. 

Bake on the middle rack for 22 -25 minutes.  The cake will shrink from edges when it's done.  It will also smell divine. 

Cool in pans 10 minutes and then run a knife around the edges and flip out to cool completely. 

Use an icing or filling of your choice between the layers.  Julia Child used a brandy butter filling.  You can use a jelly or jam glaze over the sides to hold chopped walnuts on ( this is much easier than it looks).  A white frosting looks pretty on top.  I made the glaze I used with the juice from piece of orange and about a half cup of powdered sugar. 

I made this cake for my Very Important Husband :)

I'll start with pie.

 

It seems only right to make my first food post about pie.  I've made pies for as long as I can remember.  My mom made pies with the fruits in season and I was right there learning and baking beside her.  We made fresh strawberry pies in the spring, fresh peach pies in the summer, and a lot of blueberry pies in the late summer when they ripen.   These pies were good.   The crust came from the freezer, and the fruit was usually fresh.  So now as I start a blog about food I want to know, 'What makes a pie great?'  I have a hunch that crust from the frozen section isn't it.  I've tried a few recipes for pie crust with okay results.  I don't want an okay crust though, I want it to be great.  Then I found One pie dough to rule them all on Chez Pim and I knew my search was over.   The instructions are very easy to follow, the ingredients are simple, and the resulting pie crust is good enough to eat alone, no filling necessary.  You can click on the recipe here and follow her instructions for extra good great pie dough.

 

The only fruity pie I could possibly make on a snowy day in South Carolina (!) was cranberry.  I just love this berry.  It's tart, it's pretty, it's easy to work with and it freezes well.   I made my favorite Christmas pie that I didn't make at Christmas this year.  Cranberry Pecan Pie is tart and refreshing when you've eaten too many sweets around the holidays.   The crust was flaky and perfect and the taste of cranberries made my mouth zingy.  I judged the crust as great and the filling as pretty good.  When I find a great filling, I'll let you know.  Meanwhile, the pie lovin' man who married me declared this a success.

 
 
Cranberry Pecan Pie from Flavors of the Gardens Cookbook from Callaway Gardens

12 ounces cranberries fresh or frozen and defrosted under warm water

16 ounces canned pineapple in juice

2  tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons flour

2 pie crusts

Place the cranberries, pineapple, orange juice and sugar in a saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the berries pop.  Turn off the heat and stir in pecans.  Allow this to cool, then stir in the flour.

Preheat oven to 400-450 degrees.  Fit one crust into a 9 inch pie plate.  Pour in the filling and cover with the second crust.  Trim the excess crust away, crimp and seal it and brush the top with 1 egg beaten to make it golden brown.  Bake the pie for about 45 minutes or until crusty and bubbly. 

 

New Years Day

A food blog begins.  I resolve to launch this blog in January of 2011.  I will share what's cookin in this South Carolina kitchen, recipes and thoughts.