ketchup

I am that crazy person who after the sixth time forgetting to purchase ketchup at the grocery store, I make it.  I usually have the ingredients in the house in some for so I thought why not.  I did not have all the powders and salts but I did have the real vegetables.  Why not?

When it was done, I got asked if it would be okay to put it on pizza.  It is ketchup silly wolves!

I did this in a crockpot very slowly so there was not a lot of watching or worrying about burning. 

ketchup

2 28 ounce cans of peeled roma tomatoes

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 chopped onion

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 clove

In a crockpot, combine all the ingredients.  The water can be used to clean out the tomato cans if needed.  Cover and put on high.  After about 12 hours blend.  There should be no lumps at all in the blended vegetables.  It will be a puree.  Cook the puree down until it is half its volume or the consistency of the ketchup you like.

It took me two days.

I got about two pint jars of ketchup.  I have not checked to see if it gets put on mjustat when I am not around so there may be less now.  This has much more depth then store bought ketchup and when Nancy Reagan said ketchup could be considered a vegetable, this is more of a fruit puree.  Because tomatoes are fruit.

If you want more spice, add some cayenne.  Basically, when I looked at ketchup recipes, it was all about what you wanted the ketchup to taste like.  Tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and salt were the constants. 

mjukbrod or mjukstut or trunnbrod = Swedish flatbread

I will admit that I watch too many cooking shows, too much science fiction, and too many romantic comedies that include bullets and explosions.  Too many cooking shows that I try new things.  I personally like the ones that come from PBS the best but that does not mean I do not enjoy the rest.

Watching Mind of the Chef on Neftlix, Magnus Nilsson was featured.  I own his most recent tome.  I am very particular about the cookbooks I won because usually they are just a waste of space and I hope to down size to less the 556 square feet someday soon.  I do plan to have a separate art/textile studio.  He, his Mom, and Aunt made a traditional Swedish flatbread during one episode. 

Now, I am quite fond of potato lefse which is part of my heritage.  We have even been using it in the place of tortillas.  This Swedish one I had to try.  It is yeasted.  It has spices in it I like.  It is a flatbread. 

Yummy!  I have actually been asked to have this in the house every week now.  It has taken the place of all tortillas in the household.  The day I make it is the day we have salmon fish tacos.  I have started making chipolte aioli as well and the combination is soul satisfying.  One of those meals where you take a bite and sigh over the goodness.  The flavors just all go well together. 

I changed the recipe to use sourdough and I cut it in a quarter.  The biggest thing I did was figure out what was meant in the recipe.  It is not the most clearly written recipe I have come across.  It does have a couple speciality ingredients and it is done by weight.  Weight is easy but I find it is easy when you have a good scale.  A good digital scale is huge.  I was gifted with a MyWeigh scale and it has made a huge difference.  Also, the original recipe specifies two different styles of rolling pins.  These can be made without them but it is a heritage thing for me.

mjukstut

sourdough starter

3/4 cup milk

188 grams of a mix of whole wheat and rye flour

3/4 cup milk

63 grams of butter, room temperature

70 grams of golden/light agave (or golden syrup)

3/4 teaspoon ground aniseed

3/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1/2 teaspoon baker's ammonia

3/4 teaspoon salt

438 grams wheat flour

The night before, in a large bowl mix the sourdough, 3/4 cup milk, and 188 grams of rye/wheat flour.  Cover and let sit until bubbly.  Take a bit of the bubbly mixture out for you next baking.

Into the bubbly mixture, mix the 3/4 cup milk, room temperature butter, agave, aniseed, fennel seed, coriander seed, baker's ammonia, salt, and 400 grams of the wheat flour.  Mix this very well.  Once it comes together, start kneading in the rest of the flour (38 grams).  The dough should be smooth but very soft, easily sticky as the kneading continues.  Cover and let rise until double.

Once double, tip the dough out and portion out into balls.  The first time, I made 8 portions. The second time 13.  It all depends on what size you wish the final flatbread to be.  Cover and let rest for 25 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500 degress Fahrenheit with a pizza stone in it or a cast iron pizza pan.  Or just a pizza pan.  Some type of heavy baking sheet.

Flour the work surface generously.  This can be a sticky dough.  Roll out into a round.  For a soft flatbread, roll out to 1/8 of an inch thick.  For a hard flatbread, like a cracker, roll out as thin as you can.  Traditionally, the bread is rolled out first with the ridged rolling pin.  Then the rolling is finished with the knobbed pin.  Heritage thing, it is fun to have.  The pins are not needed though.  Brush off any excess flour.

Place the flatbread in the oven on the baking sheet.  Bake until bubbling and golden.  There may be some char around the edges.  I find about two minutes in my oven is correct.

Once they are cool, bag in plastic to keep them soft.  If left in the air, no matter what thickness, they do become brittle (hard). 

Right out of the oven, they are pretty fantastic with a smear of very good butter.  Because of the spices used, there is a sweetness to them that is quite lovely.  Goes well with the fish and chipolte aioli in fish tacos!  They have a tendency to contain the most interesting items in this house but then that is why I have been requested to make them every week!

salmon fish and chips

One of the things I miss from the Pacific Northwest is salmon fish and chips.  It is not something that can be found in Houston, Texas.  I found a recipe from Bobby Flay and decided to give it a try.

This was good.  I will probably try other recipes but this is a good one.  It works very well with the salmon flavors.  Which means it is a keeper.  I will also try it with other beers because I was given a nut brown ale.  Free beer is always a good place to start.  Especially since I do not drink the stuff.

I need to make this this weekend actually.  Craving fish and chips again.

salmon fried fish

Note:  I used Bobby Flay's recipe as a go by.

2 pounds salmon, skinned and cut into strips.  Pull any bones you can find

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon pepper

12 ounces nut brown ale

2 large egg whites, beaten until form stiff peaks

Canola oil for frying

Put the canola oil in a large dutch oven (I use a cast iron chicken fryer) and heat until 360 degrees Fahrenheit.  Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put 1 cup of flour in a shallow pan for dredging.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together.  Mix in the nut brown ale.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Mix in the egg whites.

Use the remaining salt and pepper to salt and pepper the fish.  Dredge in the plain flour.  Knock off the extra.  Dredge in the batter. 

Fry both sides until golden.  Keep warm in the oven.

I served it with roasted french fries.  So good. 

This is a good place to start and I will probably tweak but it does mean I do not need to take a trip to Fairhaven for salmon fish and chips!

chocolate walnut soudough loaf

I have obviously been playing with tea cakes lately.  I have been looking through my array of cookbooks and found a recipe for a yeasted chocolate loaf.  This sounded lovely to me, especially since it was not going to be very sweet.  I am liking flavor, flavor that has depth more then sweet lately.

Of course, I switched up a few things.  I used sourdough.  I used onyx cocoa powder.  I added a bit of whole wheat and rye flour.  I added some mini chocolate chips.  The only true sweetness comes from the chocolate chips.  This bread as toast has been going on my walks with me.  

A slice of toast, a cup of tea, a walk after work.  Life is very good. 

chocolate walnut sourdough loaf

Note:  I adapted Tessa Kiros' recipe from her book Apples for Jam.  The recipe is quite good with no changes but I can never leave anything alone when it comes to cooking.

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/4 cup milk

3 cups white flour (I used a heritage French)

1/2 cup rye flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons room temperature butter

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

The night before, in a large bowl, mix the starter, water, whole wheat flour.  Cover and let get bubbly in  warm place.  Take a bit of the starter out for the next tim.

To the starter, mix in the sugar, milk, cocoa, salt, rye flour, and 2 cups of the white flour with a wooden spoon.  This should be coming together into a soft dough.  When it is too hard to stir, take a dough scraper and push it all together.  

I have been using a technique called rolling and tucking, which is very close to my own kneading method.  (I am having fun with my Christmas present to myself.)  Bring the dough to the middle of the bowl, in a roll shape.  Turn the seam to the top and "tuck" or knead to the end.  Turn ninety degrees, roll the seam to the top, and "tuck" again.  Dust with the reserved flour if the dough is too sticky.  I get four to five "tucks".  I have been doing this a long time.  When the dough is smooth, place in a cleaned bowl, cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

While the dough was rising, I toasted my walnuts.  350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes.  Watch them closely because they go from golden to burn very quickly.

At this point, I did a stretch and fold, which is pat the dough into a large rectangle on a clean counter.  Fold one of the smaller ends to the middle.  Put the other over to the center.  Fold the last ends to the middle and shape into a ball.  Put back in the bowl and let sit for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, pat the dough into a rectangle again on a clean counter.  Smear it with the butter.  Use the roll and tuck method to incorporate the butter.  It will take 8 to 12 roll and tucks.  I like this better the smearing the counter with butter and kneading it it.  If you need to, dust the surface with more flour.

Stretch the dough out into a rectangle again.  Cover with the walnuts and mini chocolate chips.  Do two roll and tucks to incorporate the nuts and chocolates.  Put back into a cleaned bowl, cover, and let sit for about 45 minutes.

Butter a loaf pan.  I have also been adding a liner of parchment paper to the long side and buttering it.  It makes for easier removal.  Turn out the dough and shape into a loaf.  Place seam side down into a loaf pan.  Cover and let rise until puffy and doubled.  About an hour.

When proofed, bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour.  Using onyx cocoa powder will make it hard to tell if it is burning, so use your nose.

Not the best picture and you cannot see me on a walk with it, but so good.  Not very sweet.  Very dark.  When made into toast, salted butter smeared on top adds to the flavor.

fresh ricotta

Someday, I will learn how to make hard cheeses but until that day, I will play with things like ricotta.  Cream cheese is on my list too.  Especially after finding out how easy Indian saag is to make, why not?  Yes, it is easier and takes less time to go to the grocery and buy the cheese you need.  Unless of course, the type of cheese you need has been completely pulled from the shelves due to a listeria outbreak.  I have had this happen.  Having the skills to make my own, wahoo!

I tried making fresh ricotta.  Easy and yummy.  You do have to use it quickly becasue it is very fresh and will go bad if left too long.  But I can do this now and it is easy.  Milk and cultured buttermilk.  To get a creamy ricotta, a bit of cream would need to be mixed in but that is the only thing.  More tea cakes, here we come!

fresh ricotta

2 quarts milk (a half gallon)

2 cups buttermilk

Take a clean piece fo muslin or four sheets of cheesecloth and line a colander.

Put the milk and butter milk in a large pan over high heat.  Stir to keep the bottom from burning.

When the milks reach 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, the solids will curdle out and there will be a watery whey underneath.

Spoon the solids into the muslin lined colander.  Let the solid drain.  When most of the whey has drained out, twist the muslin together, and let drain for at least another 15 minutes.

Discard the whey and put the ricotta in air proof containers in the refrigerator.  Use within a week. 

So good.