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Flammkuchen photo courtesy of lejoe on Flickr

Flamekuche (Onion, Bacon, and Creme Fraiche Tart)

1 recipe of your favorite pizza dough
2 medium white onions, cut in half vertically then sliced very thin
1 c. creme fraiche
about 1/2 c. diced bacon
freshly ground black pepper
freshly ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

On a sheet of parchment paper, roll the pizza dough out very thin so it is about the size of your baking sheet.  Place crust (still on parchment paper) onto baking sheet and stretch the edges if they shrank back while transferring the dough.

Mix onions and creme fraiche in a bowl, then spread mixture evenly over crust.  Sprinkle diced bacon over top, then add a few grinds of black pepper and a few pinches of nutmeg.  Bake 15-20 minutes, until crust is lightly browned and crispy.  Enjoy!

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Wilkommen nach Deutschland!

Ok, full-disclosure time:  I haven’t yet made this myself, but I watched very carefully as it was made in front of me at the home of one of my co-workers here in Germany earlier this evening.  The whole time I was thinking, I’m really going to like this — simple, boldly flavored ingredients, a traditional french/german preparation… So, I made sure to take very detailed mental notes so that I could try to reproduce it at home.

Flammkuchen is far more than the sum of its parts.  You might think that with just five ingredients (other than the crust) that you’d get something bland or with a flavor skewed too far in one direction.  Not so!  The onions, bacon, and creme fraiche are a magical trio — the bite of the onion lightens the creme fraiche which cuts the saltiness of the bacon which compliments the pungent onion — these are no doubt bold flavors but in the end the dish isn’t at all overwhelming.  It’s in fact incredibly delicious — so delicious that after the dinner party I came straight back to my hotel and wrote up the recipe so I wouldn’t forget it.  Not that there’s much to forget, there being a grand total of five ingredients…

To accompany the flamekuche we had glasses of both white and red Federweisser, also known as Suser, Junger Wein (young wine), or Sturm (translates to storm — called this due to its cloudy appearance).  Federweisser is on the sweet side, and has a nice bubbly zing to it.  It is the product of fermented freshly pressed grape juice, and as far as I know isn’t much available in the US (if you know of anywhere it is available, do leave a comment!)  I have vague recollections of trying Sturm when I stayed in Linz and not being wild about it, but drinking it alongside its traditional partner flammkuchen was certainly a great way to start out my trip.

It may be sacrilegious, but when I make this at home I might consider adding a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley, or perhaps half with parsley, half without to do a side-by-side comparison, traditional french/german v. california adaptation…  anyhow, Guten Appetit!

 
Photo courtesy of Russel Hafter Holidays

I’m off to Germany for a two week work trip — if I have time I’ll be searching out some tasty and traditional german food!  Do you have any suggestions of foods I shouldn’t miss??

1 lb raw homemade sausage

Homemade Sausage: Greek Orange / Loukanika
Adapted from ‘The Sausage Making Cookbook’ by Jerry Predika
makes 5 lbs

5 lbs boneless pork shoulder, chilled (or 5 lbs finely ground pork butt/shoulder)
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 T. dried thyme
1 T. dried marjoram
1.5 T grated orange zest
1 T. ground allspice
1 T. black pepper
1 T. salt
1 c. dry white wine

Step 1: Make seasoning mixture
Combine garlic, thyme, marjoram, orange zest, allspice, pepper, salt, and white wine in a bowl or measuring cup and allow to stand for an hour to allow the flavors to blend.

Step 2: Grind pork (skip this step if using pre-ground pork)
Cut the chilled pork shoulder into 1 inch chunks, then grind using the fine or medium plate of your meat grinder.  Place ground meat in refrigerator until ready to use.

Step 3: Make sausage
Combine chilled ground pork and seasoning mixture in a large bowl, and blend using your (clean) hands, taking care that the seasoning mixture is evenly distributed.  Form into patties, divide into bulk portions, stuff into casings, or make ’skinless’ links using the stuffing tube of your meat grinder.

Enjoy!

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A while back, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to make my own sausage.  Why?  first and foremost, I love good sausage; secondly, I’m *very* picky about my sausage — it needs to be super high quality and made with fresh, ethically sourced ingredients (which severely limits my choices of where to buy sausage); thirdly, there’s a huge amount of room for culinary creativity; fourthly, did I mention I love good sausage?  So I poked around the internet and found my grinder — the Porkert #10 — a solid cast iron grinder with a double tin coating, straight from the Czech Republic.

Porkert #10 grinder

My birthday was coming up, and so I said to Steven — ‘I found what I’d like for my birthday’, and showed him the grinder.

‘What?!?  I’m not getting you a meat grinder for your birthday!  Do you want some jewelry, something nice, I don’t know… something that’s NOT a meat grinder?’ he replied.

Well, as you can see he finally came around to the idea, mostly through me saying things like, ‘don’t you want to get me something you know that I really want and will use?’ and ‘wouldn’t you rather know that what is going into your sausage is all fresh, high-quality, ethical, etc?’.  And I must say, you know you’ve got a good man if he’ll get you a meat grinder for your birthday… :)

So my birthday came and went — it was a fantastic day — we slept in, had a good breakfast of eggs, biscuits, and padrones peppers, took a long beautiful drive out to the ocean, stopped at a goat farm for super fresh goat cheese, climbed the rocks and listened to the surf at the beach … and of course, I received my wonderful BIRTHDAY MEAT GRINDER from Steven.

I didn’t waste any time getting started on my sausage making endeavor:  I placed an order with my butcher for 5 lbs of pastured pork shoulder (also called boston butt or picnic shoulder), which I would make into homemade sausage treats for my birthday BBQ this past weekend (yeah, I stretch my birthday celebration out for at least 2-3 weeks).

So, you might be thinking — what in the world would one do with 5 LBS of sausage??  well, around here, we actually eat a fair bit of sausage — I typically buy fresh sausages from the butcher or the farmer’s market then remove the casings and use the sausage in pasta dishes, casseroles, with scrambled eggs, on pizza, stuffed into zucchini or eggplants.  A little goes a long way, and I find it’s a good way to eat less meat without sacrificing taste, culinary creativity, etc.

2.5lbs boneless pork shoulder

Slicing pork shoulder into cubes

But here’s what I did with these specific 5 lbs — 2 lbs got cooked into dishes for the BBQ, 2 lbs were frozen (2 x 1lb bags), and 1 lb was made into skinless breakfast links and patties (which I also froze).  This will last us at *least* a month, if not more.  This particular recipe with its herby, peppery, and orange undertones works well either at breakfast time, or cooked into a savory lunch or dinner dish.

starting to cook sausage

sausage is almost done!

Anyhow, I have many sausage making plans on the horizon:
- spicy creole
- Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast sausage
- Cantonese style sausage (with honey, orange juice, soy sauce, and vinegar)
- German caraway (Schwabischewurst)
- Bologna

… to name a few.  I’ve been browsing ‘The Sausage Making Cookbook’, which has no fewer than 230 sausages recipes from all over the world — delicious!

Buttermilk Biscuits with Chives
adapted from Pinch My Salt

1 1/4 c. cake flour
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. well-chilled butter, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes
2 T. chopped chives
3/4 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Sift flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.  Add butter cubes and cut into mixture using a pastry blender until it looks like coarse meal (alternatively you can use two knifes, or simply your fingertips).  Note: Do not over mix — the little chunks of butter help the biscuits stay flaky.  Mix in chives and stir to coat.

Add buttermilk and stir lightly with a wooden spoon until dough comes together in a ball.  Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and pat into a 3/4 - 1 inch thick slab.  Using a biscuit cutter, cut biscuits without twisting the cutter.  Flip cut biscuits upside down onto an un-greased baking sheet (flipping the biscuits makes sure that any crimped edges don’t impede your biscuits from rising) .  Form dough scraps into a mound and cut with biscuit cutter.  Repeat until dough is gone.

Bake for 9-10 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown.  Serve warm.  Enjoy!

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I can’t quite remember when buttermilk became a regular fixture in my refrigerator.  But somehow it did, and now I use it all the time — salad dressings, as a marinade for chicken, in biscuits, in cornbread, in pancakes — I even drink it straight!

I’ve been craving homemade buttermilk biscuits since I took a 24 hour train ride from Tacoma, WA to San Jose, CA two days ago.  For the most part, I brought my own food to eat on the train, but when I woke up at 6 AM after almost 20 hours on the train, the cold spareribs and cheese bread I brought with me just didn’t sound so appetizing.  So, I headed to the dining car and ordered myself a good ol’ american breakfast — coffee, scrambled eggs, grits, and a biscuit.  I knew when ordering this was not going to be gourmet by any standards, but I at least hoped it would be decent.  No such luck — I was greeted with a plateful of reconstituted powdered eggs, tasteless grits, and a styrofoam biscuit — yuck!  (Thank goodness the coffee was ok — I could go a couple days without food, but CERTAINLY not without coffee…)

So,  when I got home, I resolved to make some damn-good buttermilk biscuits to satiate the craving left by the Amtrak dining car.  I was too tired after I got home yesterday to cook anything, so today was my day.   I baked up a batch of biscuits, then made them into little sandwiches with shredded bbq’d spareribs and garlicky swiss chard — YUM!! and so much better than Amtrak…

About to board train from Tacoma to San Jose

Homemade Limoncello
makes about 2.5 liters

Stage 1: Infusing
Zest of 15 medium-sized organic lemons, cut into long strips using a vegetable peeler or knife
1 liter grain alcohol (Everclear, etc.)
1 liter vodka (low end stuff is ok here — save the Grey Goose for your martinis)

Combine lemon peels and alcohol in a large glass jar (choose a jar that has at least twice the capacity as the amount of alcohol plus lemon rinds — a 1.5 - 2 gallon jar should work just fine).  Close with a tight fitting lid or plastic wrap.  Allow to sit for 6 weeks in a cool, dark place.  Shake jar once a week or so.

Stage 2:  Sweetening, Day ~42
4 c. sugar
6 c. water

Combine sugar and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Add to alcohol mixture, and stir to combine.  Close with a tight fitting lid or plastic wrap.  Replace jar in a cool dark place, and allow to sit for another 6 weeks.  Shake jar once a week or so.

Stage 3: Filtering, Day ~84
Filtering is done in three stages.  In the first stage, strain the mixture through a coarse sieve to remove the lemon peels.

For the second stage, place a coffee filter in a fine mesh sieve.  In increments, pour limoncello through the coffee filter.  If filtration slows down, replace coffee filter with a new one (note: if you wet coffee filter before using, there will be less lossage of limoncello).

For the third and final filtration stage, repeat phase two, filtering limoncello through another coffee filter.  This ensures you will have crystal clear limoncello that will last indefinitely.

Ladle into clean jars, seal, and store in the freezer or refrigerator, or alternatively in a cool dark place until ready to use.  Enjoy!

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I was walking back from lunch the other day with my coworker Fritz, and he (very) jokingly proclaimed, ‘If it’s not instant, it’s not gratification!”.  Well, as true as that rings much of the time, this recipe is about the polar opposite of that sentiment :) .  Now with that all out of the way, if you have the patience to wait 12 weeks (which actually passes in a flash), you can make homemade, amazing delicious limoncello!

Limoncello before filtering

Zest close-up

The first time I tasted limoncello I was at Trattoria Il Panino, one of my favorite restaurants in Boston’s North End.   While in college, I used to frequent the place.  Even before I was a ‘foodie’, I knew this place was good — perhaps it was the carpaccio, perhaps it was the homemade lobster ravioli with cream sauce, perhaps it was the always amazing prosciutto and melon appetizer, but most likely it was the …. homemade limoncello… that set this place apart!  They proprietors got to know me there, and whenever I would come in, they’d offer a round of limoncello apertifs after the meal, which was always supremely delicious (hospitality can’t be discounted here either!).  Later when I travelled through Italy, I sampled many local varieties of limoncello (it seems that every grandmother there makes her own), and really, most every one of them was something to write home about — oh those italians and their delicious food!!  It definitely left an impression on me.

So, back in May when another coworker of mine offered me a 15-lb bag of homegrown lemons, I readily accepted.  I first made lemon marmalade, then replenished my supply of salt-cured citrus, and still, I had 20+ lemons leftover.  What to do?  An alcohol infusion reminiscent of the Italian countryside, of course!

This recipe is highly adaptable, and you can tweak it to your taste.  Don’t like sweet drinks?  cut out a little sugar (note:  I already cut out about 30% of the sugar from all the other recipes I’ve seen);  Want to pucker your lips because of the lemon-y-ness?  double the lemons!  Want to add an herb or spice?  vanilla? chocolate? mint?  Do it!  Why not?!  In the end, this is just an alcohol infusion, and you can tweak it however you want.

But more than anything, I hope this simple recipe demonstrates that it is completely possible to make many (most) of the things that you’d typically buy processed from a large company!  Why spend $30 on a bottle of limoncello with preservatives and un-pronounceable ingredients when you can follow the lead of Italian grandmothers who have been doing this for hundred of years?  I certainly choose the latter.

~2.5 liters of limoncello

Wild Blueberry Muffins
interpreted from ‘Stalking the Wild Asparagus’

2 c. flour (I mixed 1 1/2 c. AP + 1/2 c. whole wheat)
2 T. raw sugar (or sub regular or brown sugar)
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
scant 1 t. baking soda
1 can wild blueberries, rinsed and well drained (or ~ 1.5 - 2 c. fresh wild blueberries)*

2 T. butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease muffin tin.

Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together into a large mixing bowl.  Add blueberries, then gently mix to evenly coat the berries with the flour mixture, making sure to separate any clumps of berries.

Add melted butter, egg, and buttermilk, and gently mix until all ingredients are just wet.  Do not overmix!

Scoop mixture into muffin tin, filling half way.  Bake for 16-18 minutes, until tops are nicely browned.

Note:  wild blueberries are smaller and less juicy than domestic blueberries.  If you don’t have access to fresh wild blueberries, I’d recommend searching out high quality canned wild blueberries (check your local natural foods store)

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One of the things I remember most vividly from the summer I spent living in a tent in rural Alaska was how one could drive along a road for miles and not see a single other car.  Not all roads were like this, of course, but the older single-lane state highways often were.  The route between Wasilla and Knik is one of these desolate roads, and it also happened to be the where my camp was located.

The only ‘civilization’ I remember there being between where I was camped and the town 7 miles away was a tiny, unexpected drive-up coffee stand.  This stand in particular was pretty much in the middle of nowhere — there were no houses, no shops — just mile after mile of undeveloped land… and this drive-up coffee stand.  How the location was chosen, I’m not sure, but I can say I was glad to have it within a mile or two of my camp.

Since the days were long, and there weren’t many people around, sometimes I’d walk the mile and half or so from my camp to this drive-up coffee stand and visit with the woman who owned and ran it.  Besides being a kind soul and a joy to talk to, she made the most delicious blueberry muffins I have ever tasted!  What was her secret, I asked her once — ‘wild alaskan blueberries!’, she said.

For a week or two during the summer, she would get her son to run the coffee stand, and she would spend her days foraging wild blueberries (which are actually quite prevalent around that part of Alaska).  She would harvest hundreds of pounds (yes, hundreds of pounds), then either freeze or can them to use in her blueberry muffins for the rest of the year.   If only I had thought to ask for her recipe….

Anyhow, wild blueberries don’t grow around where I live (as far as I know), but in this case, canned wild blueberries will work just fine.  In fact, canned wild blueberries will work better than fresh domesticated blueberries;  usually I’m not one to use canned ingredients, but canned beans and canned wild blueberries are my exceptions.  If you are lucky enough to live in an area where you can forage wild blueberries, then you certainly should!  In fact, you might even want to follow the coffee-stand owner’s lead and forage enough to last you all year!

Wild Elderberry Preserves with Honey and Almond
using Pomona’s Pectin (citrus-based)
makes ~ 4 1/2 - 5 cups

4 c. mashed elderberries (from about 4 1/2 c. berries)
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 t. calcium water (from Pomona’s Pectin package)
1 c. honey at room temperature
2 t. Pomona’s powdered pectin
1 t. pure almond extract

Sterilize 5 cups worth of canning jars and their corresponding lids and rings according to your favorite method.  (I heat the jars in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes (or longer), and boil the lids and rings for 5 minutes;  leave rings/lids in water until ready to use; leave jars in oven until ready to use)

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine elderberries, lemon juice, and calcium water.  In another bowl, combine honey and pectin powder and mix well.  Bring fruit mixture to a boil, then add honey mixture.  Stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes, return mixture to a boil, then remove from heat.  Add almond extract and mix well.  (Note:  with no-pectin preserves, I would do a ‘jell test’ at this point — with Pomona’s pectin, the preserves jell as they cool, and a jell test at this stage won’t tell you anything)

Ladle preserves into jars, filling within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe rims clean, and close with lid and ring.  Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (add 1 minute for every 1000′ feet above sea level).  Preserves will set as they cool (allow at least 5-6 hours).  Stored in a cool, dark place, preserves will last for many months.

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Perhaps you would have chuckled if you saw me leaping into the air, grabbing at bunches of elderberries that grow alongside Moody Road yesterday morning… without a ladder, one must leap!  That’s right — it’s the time of year when elderberries are ripe, and just waiting for wild food enthusiasts to come harvest them.

I’ve been interested in wild foods for a while now (nettles, lamb’s quarter (aka pigweed), dandelion), but usually, I procure these things at the farmer’s market.  This was one of my first foraging experiences — and it was fruitful!

My elderberry haul

A couple weeks ago I picked up ‘Stalking the Wild Asparagus’ (circa 1962) by Euell Gibbons.  This is a fantastic and fun-to-read book with lots of information about wild foods that reads like a personal narrative.  After reading the chapter ‘A Salute to the Elderberry (with a nod to Sumac)’, I figured out that I have a (small) elderberry tree growing outside my front door!  Who knew!?!  It’s funny how things happen right under our noses and we don’t realize it!  Once I figured this out, I started seeing elderberry trees everywhere!  Really, I’ve seen no less than 40 trees while meandering around my neighborhood.

Elderberry tree with ripe fruit

So, yesterday morning I went foraging.  In an hour or so of berry picking, I came away with about 16 cups (4 qts) of elderberries!  Elderberries are tiny, about a half inch in diameter, and require a fair bit of work (de-stemming and rinsing) before they’re ready to use.  The leaves and green stems MUST be removed before using the berries, as I hear there are trace amounts of poisonous substances present (namely cyanide, though I’m no botanist).  The berries are completely edible and safe.

De-Stemming Elderberries

Rinsing Elderberries; skim off anything that floats to the top (dried flower petals, old berries, etc.)

I wouldn’t recommend using the berries raw, as they have a bit of a musty taste;  however, when cooked or dried, any disagreeable taste disappears.  With 16 cups of elderberries, I had quite a bit to work with — I made elderberry jam (recipe above), dried elderberries (to be made into chutney), and elderberry juice (for… cocktails?  and perhaps another jelly recipe — this time with using crabapples for the pectin).

And I must say, the preserves turned out great!  This is a fairly ‘loose’ jam, and is not overly sweet (a problem with many preserves).  The hint of almond adds a wonderful complexity to the jam.  And oddly, for all the preserves I’ve made, this was my first time using purchased pectin.  Previously, I had shied away from commercial pectins for fear of strange additives and chemicals, but I found this at my local natural food store, and thought I’d give it a try.  Pomona’s Pectin is a citrus based pectin, and does NOT require large amounts of sugar to jell properly (not the case with regular pectins like Sure-Jell, etc.).  If you notice, this preserve has only about 25% the typical amount of sweetener in jams — usually it’s 1:1 fruit to sugar.  Having had success with this low-sugar preserve, I envision many possibilities for preserves using low-pectin fruits (cherries, kiwi, peppers, tomatoes, etc.).  I’ve also considered making my own pectin from slightly under-ripe crabapples, but this is a large endeavor  on its own…

Well, foraging is an adventure in itself, and culinary delights often follow!  I encourage you to get outdoors, find some edible wild foods, and try something new!  You certainly won’t regret it!  And a tip if you’re anywhere near Los Altos Hills, CA — there are a plethora of elderberry trees on Moody road near Foothill college and Hidden Villa Farm; Page Mill Road also has 20+ trees.

And for the next foraging adventure — prickly pear!

Cleaned, ready-to-use elderberries