Meyer Lemon Marmalade

Remember that dreamy picture I posted of my lemon tree in bloom last March?

Well, baby got back and she's loaded with big, juicy Meyer Lemons! This past week I've made Vanilla Bean Marmalade, Lemon Ginger Marmalade, and last night, I mixed up a few quarts of preserved lemons, which should be ready before New Years!

I'm following my basic orange marmalade recipe, which can be mixed up fruit-wise to whatever crawls up your skirt and turns you on!

Orange Marmalade
(makes 7-8 half pints)

*4 med oranges
*2 large lemons
8 cups water
8 cups sugar

*Note: For Meyer Lemon Marmalade, I used about 5 large lemons total. Follow the same directions for processing as listed below.

Cut each orange and lemon in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut the oranges and lemons into very thin slices. You could probably use a mandoline, but I’ve never had much success with mine using citrus. Place the citrus slices and any reserved juices into a large stockpot.

Add the water and bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and add the sugar; stir until the sugar is dissolved. Place a lid on your pot and let the orange mixture sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, bring orange mixture back to a boil, then lower temperature to a steady simmer. Simmer orange mixture for 2 hours, stirring often. After 2 hours, bring heat back up to medium-high and boil for 30 minutes to gel stage (220 degrees). The orange mixture should have a dark golden orange color. Ladle hot orange mixture into prepared canning jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

For the Love of Schmaltz

Here’s a condensed report from this past week. Thanksgiving took a different turn this year, but it’s all good. I hope you had a wonderful holiday!

- Hubs and I went to visit my father who is in a nursing home 3 hours from where we live. He wanted a cheeseburger for Thanksgiving and I was more
than happy to bring him one.

- We actually had our Thanksgiving yesterday and it was wonderful.

- I made, I think, four…yes FOUR batches of stuffing in the past 6 days. One for a potluck at my work, one for hubs’ potluck at work, uhhhh…and I think two more batches since then; it all is just a blur.

- I almost had a huge FAIL for the stuffing I made for a Stuffed Turkey Breast Roulade recipe by accidentally adding cumin seed instead of rosemary. It turned out pretty good, but different.

- Sarah Palin came to my town last week and signed autographs for her new book… this video makes me want to move to Canada.

LOOKIT’ DEM LAZY MEXICANS, GRANDMAAA IMA OUTTA MY HOTPOCKETS!

- SJ is making Bacon Fat Infused Bourbon. I’ve always wanted to try this, so I am living vicariously through her bravery.

Sigh.

Oh, and I made the most amazing, perfect, silky-smooth, wonderfully rich turkey gravy and I owe it all to chicken schmaltz! About a month or so ago, I finally rendered some chicken fat I had slowly squirreled away in the freezer over the past year. When I thought there was enough, I melted it down, refrigerated it, and patiently waited. So, on the day-of-all-days (for us), I made a roux with about 3 tablespoon’s worth of the schmaltz and flour, added homemade chicken stock, roasted turkey drippings, and TA-DAAA, magic! I AM the Gravy Queen!

It was a beauty to behold indeed. Hubs and I are savoring every delicious drop of that gravy all week! Tomorrow, it’s back to the slow, painful death that is my day-to-day job BUT our lemon tree is finally ready for harvesting and I am making marmalade till I drop!

Have a good week!

Green Onions

Well, I was going to start this week’s post with a voyeuristic peek into my life-long obsession with salsa, but then I made Elise’s (Simply Recipes) Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Turnovers, and was sure I had found Nirvana.

But what’s better than Nirvana you might ask? Could there be anything better than hot, applely pockets filled with melted gorgonzola, thyme, honey, and toasted walnuts?

Why, yes. Yes there is.

Last night, hubs and I went to a “Jazz in the Gardens” festival that is held every fall at a local botanical gardens. We’ve been going to this concert for about 5 years now, and it’s more of an adult, evening picnic sort-of-thing than a festival. Concert goers bring their own food and drinks (alcohol is allowed) and get to spread out on the beautiful grass with blankets and candles. It’s very romantic and lots of fun.

So, every year we look forward to choosing the right food and wine for that particular evening. Well, this year I happened to make sort of an antipasta spread with cheeses and olives and fruit. I tried a new recipe and the warning that came with said recipe claimed the following:

“WARNING: These are very addictive and you will find yourself unable to eat just one!”

And I must say, if there ever was a warning to put on a recipe, this is the most spot-on that I’ve ever seen. I TRIPLED this recipe and we couldn’t keep our hands off it!

My friends, I give you Nirvana:

Antipasta Marinated Mushrooms
Recipe Source: The Cooking Forum

1 pound of brown or white mushrooms, or a mix of both
4 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil, or more if needed
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of red onions or shallots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh oregano, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds (optional)

Wash mushrooms well and remove stems. Boil mushrooms in salted water for about 10 minutes, drain and let cool. While mushrooms cool, combine all other ingredients in a jar, close the lid and shake until it's all combined. Add mushrooms, close lid and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge at least 10 minutes before planning on serving it.

Note: The olive oil may get hard on the fridge, you can void that by adding some vegetable oil to the marinade , or just shaking the jar every once in a while.

How to Use a Pressure Cooker: Lima Bean Soup

Now that the weather has cooled off.

MUUU-WWAhh-HAA-HAA-haaaaaaa….

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I’m in Florida, remember? It might have slipped down into the 70’s today, but that’s because there is a hurricane out in the Gulf of Mexico. This IS cool for us!

Ahem, as I was saying…now that the weather has cooled off, it’s time for some stick-to-your-ribs soups and stews. One of my most favorite kitchen gadgets to use when making heartier meals is my pressure cooker.

Back in your grandmother’s or even your mother’s time, a pressure cooker was the modern kitchen convenience gadget du jour. It was the original microwave oven. It cooked fast, used little energy, and didn’t require a lot of cooking know-how to turn out a good meal.

Unfortunately, pressure cookers have a bad rap for being unpredictable and dangerous. My husband often remarks about when his mother used to yell at him and his siblings to stay out of the kitchen when her pressure cooker was hissing away on the stovetop. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt in case the thing exploded, incapacitating a helpless bystander with molten beef stew.

Yes, pressure cookers did explode back in the day, but thanks to many years of ingenuity and manufacturing, today’s pressure cookers couldn’t be safer. Most pressure cookers have 2, 3, even up to 4 overpressure valves, o-rings, and seals that prevent even the most careless accidents from happening.

So, with that, let’s makes some soup! I use a 6 + quart Fagor Rapida pressure cooker, which is perfect for today’s dish, Lima Bean Soup. I have mentioned this soup in the past, and it’s one of my favorites.

All right, let’s have some introductions. Most pressure cookers have two pieces, a lid and a pot. My Fagor lid has an operating valve (the black knob), a pressure safety lock (the green switch), and a pressure indicator (the yellow pop-up button). So, let's get our ingredients and get cooking!

Pressure Cooker Lima Bean Soup

2-3 cups chopped, precooked ham
1 chopped onion
2-4 chopped celery stalks
3 cloves of garlic
16 oz bag of dried, large lima beans
4 cups of chicken broth
4 cups of water
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
Seasoning of choice

First, I sauté the ham till it releases a little fat, and then throw in the onions, celery, and garlic. Saute till vegetables are soft, add the beans, water, chicken broth, seasonings and most importantly, the olive oil.

Dried beans have a tendency to foam when they are cooking and the oil helps prevent that. Foaming beans are BAD and could potentially clog one of those overpressure safety valves, which at the most would make a huge amount of noise when the thing blew. No one would get hurt, but it would scare the living daylights out of you.

Once all the ingredients are in the pot, I line up the lid and close it. My Fagor has indicator lines that guide me to seal the cooker. If a seal is not made, I would know by the amount of steam escaping from below the lid. Switch the operating valve to "close".

After sealing, I lock the lid by switching the pressure safety lock from “unlock” to “lock”. Notice how the little yellow indicator button is depressed?

Turn the stovetop burner to med-high and wait for the contents of the pressure cooker to heat up. When the cooker is sufficiently heated and pressurized, the indicator button will pop up like this.

At this point, lower the heat to low and start timing. For my Lima Bean Soup, I looked for guidance in Lorna Sass’ book titled “Pressure Perfect” and set the cooking time for 30 minutes. If you are serious about trying this pressure cooker thing, get this book! It’s basically the pressure cooking bible.

Once the soup has cooked for 30 minutes on low heat, move the pressure cooker to a cool burner and let it depressurize naturally. Don’t try to rush it, don’t switch the operating valve to “open” and do what’s often called a “quick release”. Some recipes do require a “quick release” to allow for steam to escape, which makes the cooker depressurize much faster, but that’s for another recipe and time.

When sufficiently cooled, the indicator valve will pop back down again. Unlock the lid and open it AWAY from you as there will still be a lot of steam inside the cooker. You don’t want an instant Lima Bean Soup facial!

Now, it’s soup! Taste the soup and season accordingly (salt, pepper, etc.). If, for whatever reason, the beans aren’t cooked through, bring the pressure cooker back up to pressure and cook an additional 5 minutes and depressurize naturally.

See, wasn’t that easy? If I were to cook this dish “traditionally” in a pot on the stovetop, it would have taken a good hour or two (or more) in order for the beans to cook to the desired tenderness.

How Merlot Can You Go?

Life has been busy lately and I am guessing it’s the same with you. Halloween is just around the corner and I HAVE HALLOWEEN SPRINKLES THAT HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN USED! What’s worse is that these are last year’s sprinkles! I’d better get busy.

The Squash Chronicles have been adventurous this year. I’ve managed to attack two unusual squashes that I’ve never even considered before and they were delish! Too bad the recipes I used were either meh or FAIL due to operator error. I must talk to you about risotto.

Hubs and I racked off a true wine kit Merlot yesterday that we ordered from Cellar Craft. Now, according to many die-hard wine makers, you are not a wine maker unless you make wine with grapes. I’ve only been playing wine maker with my imaginary friends for the past two years, see. Whatev!

This Merlot was amazing! I have to say, this is one of the few rare wines that I’ve made that was yummy even at a young age. We started it ohhh, in September (?) and I had my doubts about it for sure, but it’s a winnah. It’s so good that I might not even give any away!

The Canning and Preserving class is still in the works, but we are having a hard time finding kitchen space to use for classes. You’d be surprised at how many food businesses don’t own a range-top stove and use hot plates. Le sigh.

Sunrise Slowdown

Is it me or does it seem like the holidays are barreling in on us like an angry bull smacked on the behind? I just don’t know where all the time goes or how to slow things down. I’m not ready for Thanksgiving or Christmas! Stop the music!

A few weeks ago, a friend and I took some amazing photos of a field of swamp daisies at sunrise. Every morning as I went to work, I would pass 5 or 6 eager photographers poised on the side of the expressway trying to take shots like this:

The daisy bloom only happens once a year in this location, and it didn’t even do so for the past 2 years because the field was flooded. It’s right on the edge of Lake Jessup in Sanford, Florida.

Lake Jessup has the 2nd highest population of gators per shoreline mile next to Lake Okeechobee. I also find it funny that a bunch of genius businessmen wanted to start a water-ski instruction school on this lake a few years ago, but got turned down by the city. I wonder why?!! That would be like chumming for gators!

Anyway, for the past couple of years, I promised myself that I would get my butt up and get a few good shots as the flowers are only there for about a week. Then they're gone.

Here’s to slowing things down…at least for a little while.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Friends, lovers, Amway salesmen, I have the most amazing news! I'm going to teach a Canning and Preserving class!

Let me repeat...I'm going to teach a Canning and Preserving class!

You don't know how excited I am to be able to do this! This is even more exciting than the one time where I almost had a CHIPPENDALE'S DANCER as a roomate! Back then I thought, "PLEASE GOD, LET ME JUST ONCE LIVE WITH A CHIPPENDALE'S DANCER!"

But I was fresh out of a divorce and knew the dark, horny path I was about to go down was a bad, bad move. So, I asked for my deposit back from the CHIPPENDALE'S DANCER and weeped into the sunset. The end.

Sigh.

Ahem, where was I? Oh, yes, classes will tentatively start on November 14th (a Saturday) for a 4 week, 4 class course. I plan to go next week to see if the classroom facility is legit and there will be more information to come. Be patient, darlings!

Oh, and Heather McPherson, from the Orlando Sentinel is going to write an article about me and the course! Squeeee!

More to come...