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gifts

Beginning, Delicious Middles and Never Ending Friendships

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Making preserved lemons

I am reveling in the bounty of my summer travels. I have been {literally} around the world, to old homes, to new homes, to sweet hugs of long time friends, and I’ve felt the delicious excitement of discovering new friendships.

Since my “retirement” in January I have been indulging in so many wonderful things that I am starting to feel just a bit guilty about it. You know that “list” you have? The one titled- Someday when I have the time…  ? well, I’ve been given the gift of that time, and I am here to say that ticking off bits of that list has been sheer delight.

My last post was a long 11 days ago, the longest hiatus I have taken thus far. I purposely did not try to post while away this past week so that I could fully enjoy my time. This last trip took me to Portland, OR for the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC), which turned out to be one of the best experiences of my blogging life. {After Portland I went on to visit with my dearest friend, Marie in Walla Walla, but more on that another time}

IFBC had approximately 300 people in attendance, which gave me ample opportunity to interact and get to know some amazing people. The weekend started out with a lovely party at the Barhyte residence, who produce the Saucy Mama collection of mustards, marinades, and sauces. There I met Cathy Pollack from Noble Pig Winery, who became an instant best friend, along with Tiffany Haugen, Kelly Mooney from This Just In, Kristy from The Wicked Noodle, JJ from 84th & 3rd, Marisa from Margaritas in the rain, and some other crazy friend of the Barhyte’s named Steve (what can I say? people can be really interesting when drinking delicious Oregonian wine), but seriously- I was amongst some incredible women who inspired me beyond measure.

That evening set the stage for a weekend of flow and intensity of meeting some wonderful people hand over fist. Some of the other incredible bloggers I met were:  Rodney Blackwell, (the burger junkie), Tara Mayberry, Sunita Budhrani from Serendipitously Sunita, Kathleen Flinn and Eliza Larson from Eliza Domestica.

I was astounded to be amongst by so many people equally passionate about food, AND so incredibly talented. I was simultaneously humbled and gleeful, like a kid in an adult version of Willy Wonka. There was delicious foods coming from all direction, long tables groaning with gifts for us to pick from, and Pinot Noir at every turn. Can you imagine it?

Now this laden and weary traveller is finally home. So weary that I have just woken from my second 2 hour nap of the day. The traveling has ground me to a halt finally, but it has also left me with so much more to tell and share. It will come, over the next few weeks I promise you, it will come. My travels has filled me with ideas from all the love and new friendships that I’ve shared- and now that will get passed on to you.

The recipe today is for making Preserved Lemons, which I put together earlier this summer. I am sharing this post now because it is a lovely symbol of these past weeks. The process of making the lemons requires an incubation time. The ingredients are combined, and then left to relax to meld and transform. After a few weeks you have something delicious that adds a brightness to your meals, and adds a different dimension. Preserved Lemons are an ingredient which is better than the sum of it’s parts developed over time.

That’s me. I am better for all my travels, conversations and shifts in perspective. As the calendar clicks past Labor Day weekend, heralding the end of “summer”, I am filled with new thoughts and recipes to share with you. Ideas, thoughts and inspiration has been filling me up, and I promise it will come spilling out onto these pages.

Preserved Lemons
approximated 4 cups
 
12 small fresh lemons
1 c coarse salt
Sterile quart size jar with lid
 
Wash the lemons thoroughly and cut into quarters. 
 
Sterilize jar and lid by either boiling in hot water for a few minutes, then draining face down, placing in a hot oven for 10 minutes, or running through a dishwasher with a sterilizing setting. Allow to cool.
 
Rub the lemons all over with the salt and pack into the jar as tightly as possible. Add plenty of salt to cover and allow some to sink to bottom of the jar.
 
Not all the lemons will fit. Juice the rest of the lemons and fill the jar to the top with the juice to cover.
 
Sprinkle any remaining salt over the top, then secure lid.
 
Store on the counter atop a plate for approximately a week. Each day flipping over the jar. After a week move to the fridge and allow to continue to marinate for another few weeks. 
 
After approximately a month your lemons will be ready. Rinse before using.
 
Enjoy!
 
 

Rosemary Orange Polenta Cake: Day 2 Irene’s Beans

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So glad everyone liked the donuts! Thank you for all your comments and tweets! The second installment is a delicious coffee cake, that takes no special ingredients and only minutes to get into the oven. Then once in the oven it fills the kitchen with a beautiful aroma of orange and rosemary.
For a little added texture I used a coarse cornmeal. This renders a hearty crunch to the crumb of the cake, and the sugar/rosemary topping adds a sweet crunch to the top. It might seem a bit rustic for some, but I like to sink my teeth into a good coffee cake, and the balanced flavors gives it some grace.
I used fresh rosemary from my window box, but dried would work fine here too. Rather than add rosemary into the batter, I left it for the topping, which infused the cake with the aromatic without overpowering it- allowing the zesty orange to shine through.
The coffee pairing for this (sounds like a wine pairing, doesn’t it?) is Irene’s Barundi Yandaro. It’s a medium bodied roast that Irene describes as having chocolate notes with spice, I sensed it as an earthier robust with spice and some sweet high notes. These beans come from East Africa where the coffee industry is emerging and taking itself very seriously. You can count on quality beans and a rich robust flavor.
The rosemary is a nice compliment to this coffee and the orange zest in the cake gives the sprightly lift it needs to highlight the top notes.
And for the record- if all this nuancing of flavors has you holding your head- forget about it! Enjoy the coffee, enjoy the cake- and have another slice on me.
Rosemary Orange Polenta Coffee Cake
10-12 slices
 
.5 c neutral olive oil
2 large eggs, room temp
1c sugar
zest of one orange and it’s juice
1.5c all purpose flour
.25 c coarse cornmeal
2t baking powder
1t salt
 
2T rosemary
4T sugar
mini pinch of salt
 
Preheat oven to 350˚ and prepare either an 8″ cake pan or 4″ wide loaf pan. Grease pan with oil and line with parchment paper (I used a paper bag) and grease that too.
 
In a large bowl, combine the flour, zest, cornmeal, bp and salt. Stir thoroughly.
 
In separate bowl whisk together olive oil, eggs, sugar and orange juice.
 
Pour the egg mixture into the dry and gently but thoroughly mix batter.
 
Spoon into the prepared pan and distribute evenly.
 
On cutting board combine the sugar and rosemary. Mince the rosemary with the sugar. This is why the fresh is so lovely, it will impart some of it’s oils and aromas directly into the sugar. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the cake.
 
Bake in the center of your oven for approx 40 mins until the center of the cake springs back to the touch or a tester comes out dry.
 
Cool for 5 mins then gently, so as not to mess the sugar topping, remove the cake and cool on rack until ready to serve.
 
When I stored my leftover cake I simply wrapped foil around the sides, leaving the top exposed. The cake may stale a little overnight, which is fine for a coffee cake, but more importantly, it preserves the crunch of the topping, which is definitely the best part.
 
 

{Day 12} Homemade Nutella- The BEST For The Last Day

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Homemade Nutella

Nutella is one of my family’s favorite things. It is a Christmas tradition in my home that a jar of nutella is wrapped and placed at the toe of everyone’s stocking. Once the gifts are unwrapped, the jars are brought to the breakfast table and enjoyed as part of the Xmas morning feast.
When I was a young girl, my parents took my brother and I to Spain to visit our family in Valencia. Traveling back in the early 70’s was a big deal in those days, and waking up in another country after cramped little sleep was mind boggling for a 10 year old. It was a gray chilly March morning and the apartment we were staying in was tiled with stucco walls. It was a rustic sort of a place in my memory and the house was kept much cooler than we did at home. Jet lagged, dazed, cold and hungry was how my first moments of that trip were starting out. Not happiness for a small girl.
Shortly after we woke my Mother went straight out that morning and brought home a sack of foods for breakfast. In her sack was a loaf of bread still warm from the corner baker and a jar of Chocolate Hazelnut spread. The warm crusty bread turned the Nutella into gooey heaven, which was a far far cry from my typical American breakfast of a hearty bowl of Frost Flakes Cereal. Suddenly I was being transported into kid heaven and having the time of my life. I fell in love with Spain and that very moment and never fell out.
Making Chocolate Hazelnut Spread in my own kitchen is a dream and a fantasy that I would have never imagined. Even better is the ability to tweak a bit here and there to make it my very own.
My version contains more chocolate that the original. I also used cocoa nibs that added a slightly smokey bitterness and an interesting little crunch. I can see adding some other accents such as cinnamon or espresso (grind some beans in there??) but I’ll leave that to you.
Gifting jars of this heaven would make you a hero in my house. Make a healthy batch and keep some on the ready. It’s great on toasted bread, fantastic in crepes, awesome with some ice cream. Nutella makes a quick icing on a cupcake or a filling for a layer cake- or just dip in a spoon and have at it.

Homemade Nutella
makes ~ 3c
10 oz blanched and roasted hazelnuts
2 oz cocoa nibs
.5c Valrohna cocoa powder
1c powdered sugar
2T hazelnut oil
pinch of salt

If purchasing your nuts preroasted, toss onto a baking sheet and place into a 350˚ oven for 10 mins to release the oils and fragrance

Place cocoa nibs in a dry frying pan and on medium heat warm until the nibs are glossy

Combine nuts in a food processor and grind into a smooth paste. The nuts will go from grainy and thick to a smooth oily cream as the nuts are broken down.

Add the cocoa nibs and cocoa and grind for 2 mins.

Add sugar, oil and salt and continue to blitz until smooth with a slight grit to it if you like the crunch.

*note* this is some heavy work on the processor. I did mine in stages giving the machine a chance to cool a little between steps.

Taste your spread as you go and adjust to your liking.

Place directly into clean jars. Can be stored in the cupboard or fridge.