My First Cooking Class (but not the last!)

peach preserves

Last night, after work, i headed over to Billings Forge Community Works, in the Frog Hollow section of Hartford.  For those of you not familiar with New England's rising star, this is a neighborhood that is not-so-great, in charitable terms.  Billings Forge has decided to invest in probably the roughest area of Hartford, including the very fancy Firebox restaurant, as well as the Kitchen, which grew out of the catering side of the restaurant.  Both are farm-to-table style businesses.  There are also artist workshops, a community garden and a weekly farmer's market.  Oh, and did i fail to mention the mixed-income housing?  Or that it's all in former industrial buildings?  I know this blog is often about domestic things, but yours truly is an civil/environmental engineer who has a love for urban planning, so places like this do fill me with a certain joy, particularly when they succeed as well as Billing Forge appears to.

Among the many programs at Billings Forge, are some cooking classes at The Kitchen.  I was a little intimidated, having never attended a cooking class outside of 7th grade home ec, but a girl has to learn somehow, and books and youtube only go so far.

I'm happy to say this won't be my last time there.  The class was great.  We met in the dining area, and had an introduction to what Billings Forge is about, what the Kitchen does and met our instructors.  There were about 8 students in the class (3 pairs, me and another woman who came by herself) and 2 instructors, so there was lots of attention.  We had a short lecture on safety, and why it's important to follow instructions when it comes to preserving fruits and vegetables (botulism, among other reasons).  We also learned the difference between 'refrigerator' recipes versus recipes which require hot water baths and proper sealing.  We would be making refrigerator types of preserves, which won't last as long, but are much faster to make (and, after tasting my peach preserves, these won't be lasting long anyway, as i want to eat it all NOW!).  

We also learned that we'll be using a lot of sugar.  And this is critical, because that's what acts as the preservative binding with water in the fruit and preventing the growth of microorganisms, much like salt does in some recipes.  Then we headed to the kitchen to begin our hands on work!

Our instructors already had all the prep done for a pepper jelly, which they gave us the recipe for.  I don't have a lot of experience with savory jellies, but after trying a sample of this recipe the instructor had made a few days earlier, i'm excited to try some new things out!  The smells from the pot as it boiled were amazing.  

As we learned about pectin, we began to cut up our peaches for a preserve.  Pectin is extracted from fruits (some fruits have more pectin in them than others) and is used to make things gel.  It's in a number of products, in liquid or powder form.  We were recommended to check out Pomona Pectin, produced in Massachusetts, not only because they apparently make a great product, but it comes with a recipe book and a how to do your own recipe guide.  Liquid and powder pectins will produce different results, so you can't just substitute one for the other.  We would be working without pectin, which means we wouldn't be getting a really hard set product (hard set would be like Smucker's, when you scoop it out of the jar it sort of holds it's shape). 

I cut up 6 peaches unpeeled cut into small chunks and added 2.5 cups of sugar and just a little water to prevent the sugar burning before putting it on the stove. A good stir to get things going and then we let them go!  Some people added herbs to theirs, such as rosemary (i got to try a drop of this, and it was ZOMG good).  Basically we just let them boil, stirring occasionally, hoping to get to approximately 220F.  

Finished products

Because there are only so many burners on a stove, we made 1 large batch of the blueberry preserves (i forget what this was officially called), using the same process.  Lots of fruit, lots of sugar & a little water, setting to a boil and stirring occasionally.  Again with the wonderful colors and smells!  

We were told we could skim off the foam if we wanted from our preserves, it was just an aesthetic thing.  Some folks use a little butter to deal with the foam.  I didn't, and mine looks lovely anyway.  We also discussed how to tell if things were set without a thermometer.  Our instructor had a very fancy instant read thermometer, but you can also get an idea of your set with a frozen plate, and seeing if a skin forms or if it is runny.

We also spent some time discussing techniques for packaging, fancy jars, and trying some pickled items that had been made at the Kitchen, including beans, beets, onions, radishes and garlic snapes.  When things were ready we used a canning funnel to pour into our jars and ta-da!  Really, it was as simple as cut, stir, heat, stir more & pour.  

This class really boosted my confidence about making preserves,  both sweet and savory, and answered a lot of my questions regarding technique.  I just ordered a copy of Well Preserved, which focuses on small batch preserving, which fits with my food quantities better, and am looking forward to more adventures in preserving!.  

Gluten Free Peach & Blueberry Cobbler

yum!

It was a very, very busy weekend.  And despite my best efforts, my food didn't cook itself, nor did the yummy fresh peaches get eaten.  They were on the verge of getting too soft, so i thought hard for a moment.  Then another.  Then another, until cobbler happened.

This cobbler has blueberries and a bit of ginger for flavor.  I added brown sugar, lemon juice, salt and cinnamon as well.

The topping is a mix of white & brown rice flours, almond flour, oatmeal, almonds and even a little ground walnuts, because i am a wild person.  With gluten free crumble tops you can get away with a lot of different mixes of grain and nut combinations.

This all went into a small baking dish at 350 F for about 30 minutes.

I get to taste it today.  I can't wait!

Update: despite the cat STEPPING on it, it still tasted awesome (Lucky may be adorable 90% of the time, but occasionally his name ought to be Lucky-We-Don't-Throw-Him-Out-A-Window).  I need to be more brave when adding spices, as the ginger was not very noticeable.  Also, i think i want to up the ratio of nuts or oatmeal, to give the crust more chew.  Still, for a throw-together, this worked!

Muffin Experiments

Peach muffins

First off, although i didn't run yesterday because of the weather, i did make a rather crazy fitness choice - I signed up for the Warrior Dash.  This is a race that is around 3.5 miles, with a series of obstacles including climbing over walls, balancing on narrow boards, crawling through mud and jumping over fire.  Aimee, who is my running inspiration, as well as my brother will be joining me.  I've got until September to try and gain some upper body strength, as well as continue working on my running.

I did use the evening for productivity.  First off, i made a batch of peach muffins, using Alton Brown's muffin recipe from I'm Just Here for More Food, with a slight modification.  I used half whole wheat, half white flour (by weight).  I sifted the dry ingredients twice, to make sure things were incorporated.  I also used greek yogurt, because that's what i had.  I didn't measure, just went with what i had left in the container, which looked to be about a cup.  Because that's what i had.

I had wanted to use some raspberries in these, but sadly mine had gotten moldy, and the ones that were salvageable were too soft, and i didn't want pink muffins.

Blueberry muffin

I love the flavor the whole wheat added, but i think next time they will need a lower temperature, as the outside came close to being burned had i not turned off the oven and let them finish as the heat reduced.  These muffins were also a little more dense in comparison with the blueberry muffins i made several days ago using the same recipe except using only white flour.  I have done a little reading and learned there is such a thing as pastry whole wheat flour and may investigate such a product.  I don't believe white flour is the devil but any change to get a little better nutrition is nice.

Both batches were not sweet, nor cakey, but felt like something old-fashioned and comforting.  I'm interesting in trying a savory batch sometime soon, perhaps some sort of herb and cheese thing.

Because i made the blueberry muffins before leaving for a trip to Massachusetts for a family gathering, i froze them and found they were still great post-freezer.  They also defrosted quickly, which is handy.  I decided to freeze all but 3 of the peach muffins (two i ate for dinner, plus one for today's lunch, don't judge!).  We'll see if the flour choice has any impact there.

In related news, i recently read two posts from Food 52, one on Food Styling and the other on Food Photography.  Please bear with me as i try and learn (and also use my iPhone 4S as my camera).

Farm Share Week 1

So here's what i did with my delicious produce from the first week of my CSA through Fair Weather Acres, a beautiful and delicious haul!

Spinach (1 lb)

• Omelettes with spinach and swiss cheese and Farmer's Cow eggs (see picture).  Pretty proud of actually making an omelette that didn't turn into scrambled eggs, but could of been more patient and cooked it a tad longer.
• Cut up a ciabatta roll and layered herbed goat cheese, fresh spinach and roasted red pepper as a fancy late afternoon snack.
• Threw some in a salad for Saturday & Sunday dinners
• Cut some up and ate it with slices of turkey for a lunch on Monday & Tuesday.

Strawberries (1 qt)

• Ate some straight out of the container they were SO GOOD i snacked on them consistently.
• Strawberry shortcake for Father's Day using home made Cream Biscuits from the Fannie Farmer cookbook and whipped cream from scratch.  I wish i took a picture of these, they looked so pretty in my mom's blue bowls!

Parsley (1 bunch)

• Looking to use it soon, if not will dry it.

Rainbow chard (1 bunch) 

• Pickled the stems with a modified version of this recipe.  They are not kidding in calling this rainbow chard!  They are gorgeous!
• Going to sautee the greens with the beet leaves maybe?

Turnips (2)

• Cut 1/2 of the larger turnips into french fry shapes and roasted with some herbs in the oven.  Came out tasty, but could of cooked longer.  Amazingly low cal!

Beets (1 bunch)

• Tried to make beet chips with the actual beet part, but they all came out burnt.  Looks like i'll have a chance at redemption this week as we'll be getting more.  The ones i didn't burn came out tasty!
• Pickled the stalks using this recipe.  
• Saute the greens with the chard?  Or just combine this week's haul with the next for a larger serving?

Romaine lettuce (1 head)

• Saturday & Sunday dinner salad with tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, peas and chick peas.

Bok choy (1 head)

• Slow Cooker Chicken with Pineapple and Bok Choy

Tomatoes (2)

• Saturday & Sunday dinner salad, basic but tasty!

Mini Pledge 1 from 100 Days of Real Food

So link hopping today took me to the 100 Days of Real Food blog, which is well worth a read if you're interested in food, what we eat and how to limit your intake of artificial ingredients.  I'm not sure i buy everything she says, but i've decided to participate, behind the schedule, in her 14 Mini Pledges.  Although they are not necessarily sustainable for me at this point, i will try to keep with the spirit of things.  I may modify as necessary, or fail, or whatever.

Week 1 is to eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.  I feel that this may be a challenge for breakfasts, as i usually only eat 1, but maybe i will alter my oatmeal a little.  Or alternatively, ensure one snack is a fruit or veggie.  Lunch and dinner should be relatively easy.

Although she suggests the fruit and vegetable be organic, i'm not going to hold myself to that.  In part just because i would rather use what i have available.  Also because today, after work, i sign us up for a half share in the Fair Weather Acres CSA!  This is a veggie & fruit CSA (the fruit will be coming from Belltown Hill Orchards and Dzen Farm).  I prefer local over organic, because it keeps money in my community, supports my neighbors, and Connecticut grows some delicious produce!  It also reduces the environmental impacts from shipping.  I'm not strict on either, but this is about new experiences, right?

Anyone want to join up with me starting Monday?