A food blog that I love (I should link it sometime!) had a recipe for making what seemed like sun-dried tomatoes without the sun, and I ended up with magic by simply not following the recipe correctly. So, get some garlic like a big head of garlic, roma tomatoes, sea salt, pepper, olive oil.
Ready:
Oven at 300 degrees
quarter tomatoes lengthwise
peel cloves of garlic
garlic and tomatoes in a pan (glass rectangle dish)
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil
roast for 2- 2 1/2 hours
(Take out the garlic when it reaches your liking, I like mine half burned and half smushy)
EAT hot!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Vanilla!!!!!!!!!
I rarely measure our vanilla, and I frequently add it to recipes that don't originally call for it. The thing is, vanilla extract is pretty flippin expensive, and artificial vanilla or vanillin?! is made from the bark of some tree and tastes just awful. So! I researched and researched (as I am prone to do with everything that crosses my mind) and I figured out how to make my own vanilla extract. In fact, I made a jug for our house, and about 20 small bottles for Christmas gifts. Making vanilla is less of a science thing and more of a patience thing. So here is what you do:
Buy some vanilla beans (I got mine super cheap in bulk, like 500 or 1000 beans for 20 bucks or something ridiculous) and store them in a ziplock with the air sucked out in a dark place. Also, keep an eye on these beans because they will mold and ruin 100 beans in the blink of an eye. One more thing, don't freeze the beans, it's bad stuff. So, you have vanilla beans, it's up to you what kind of bean, though I use Madagascar Bourbon beans (which have no bourbon). Mexican vanilla is great, Tahitian vanilla is okay, but it has a different taste, semi-off-putting smell, and it's contents are more volatile and likely to spoil or turn into a dissapointing situation. So, find your self a glass jug with a cap (we use a big 3 Thieves wine jug with a handle) or you can use a smaller bottle with a cork, whatever you choose, preferably glass. Now, go to the liquor store, go on, and ask them for the cheapest vodka they have. You can use other liquors like bourbon or rum, but vodka is easily overcome by the vanilla and even with the cheapest vodka you will get a quality vanilla extract with no off-putting flavor. Split several beans on one side (like in Star Wars when that Taun-Taun gets sliced open) and toss them in the jug. How many beans? Well, how patient are you? How many beans do you have? How big is your jug? I think our jug is 1 1/2 litres and we added maybe ten beans, but our smaller 1/4 liter bottles got two beans. You can add more, possibly less (but be willing to wait). Fill the bottle with vodka, cap it and give it a shake. Tomorrow, give it another shake. Keep going (you can forget a few days, it's okay). In 1-3 months you will have a useable vanilla extract, and in 6 months you will have a hearty extract. You can top the bottle off with vodka every few months, maybe add a bean every year. Extract forever! Some people replace all of the beans every two years, but I only have a 6 month old extract right now so we'll see how it goes. The thing is, you always have a bit of the original vanilla you made, like a sourdough starter, only not terrifying. Some people have 100 year old vanilla blood lines, it's pretty cool. Have fun!
Buy some vanilla beans (I got mine super cheap in bulk, like 500 or 1000 beans for 20 bucks or something ridiculous) and store them in a ziplock with the air sucked out in a dark place. Also, keep an eye on these beans because they will mold and ruin 100 beans in the blink of an eye. One more thing, don't freeze the beans, it's bad stuff. So, you have vanilla beans, it's up to you what kind of bean, though I use Madagascar Bourbon beans (which have no bourbon). Mexican vanilla is great, Tahitian vanilla is okay, but it has a different taste, semi-off-putting smell, and it's contents are more volatile and likely to spoil or turn into a dissapointing situation. So, find your self a glass jug with a cap (we use a big 3 Thieves wine jug with a handle) or you can use a smaller bottle with a cork, whatever you choose, preferably glass. Now, go to the liquor store, go on, and ask them for the cheapest vodka they have. You can use other liquors like bourbon or rum, but vodka is easily overcome by the vanilla and even with the cheapest vodka you will get a quality vanilla extract with no off-putting flavor. Split several beans on one side (like in Star Wars when that Taun-Taun gets sliced open) and toss them in the jug. How many beans? Well, how patient are you? How many beans do you have? How big is your jug? I think our jug is 1 1/2 litres and we added maybe ten beans, but our smaller 1/4 liter bottles got two beans. You can add more, possibly less (but be willing to wait). Fill the bottle with vodka, cap it and give it a shake. Tomorrow, give it another shake. Keep going (you can forget a few days, it's okay). In 1-3 months you will have a useable vanilla extract, and in 6 months you will have a hearty extract. You can top the bottle off with vodka every few months, maybe add a bean every year. Extract forever! Some people replace all of the beans every two years, but I only have a 6 month old extract right now so we'll see how it goes. The thing is, you always have a bit of the original vanilla you made, like a sourdough starter, only not terrifying. Some people have 100 year old vanilla blood lines, it's pretty cool. Have fun!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Banana Bread
This whole situation started with banana bread. My husband loves nut-free banana bread, and we had a load of aging bananas that needed a home. I found and tweaked a recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
I do add nuts when I have them, but this recipe makes two stout loaves (part of the tweaking) so we have a nutty loaf and a nut free loaf. Originally this recipe was supposed to go into one loaf pan, but ho-boy it made a delicious and burned banana mess in my oven. Two loaf pans later, and holy-mackerel I made banana bread!
To cook:
-Preheat oven to 350
-Butter Pans
-In 1 bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt
-In another bowl cream room temp butter (I microwave cold butter until it just gets soft, only a few seconds)with brown sugar
-Add mashed bananas and beaten eggs to the butter sugar mixture and stir that together
-Mix in the dry ingredients until everything looks pretty uniform in texture and wetness (not too long or something terrifying might happen)
-Divide mixture between the two loaf pans and bake for 45-75 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (check both loaves)
-Turn onto a cooling rack
-Consume!
The cooking time surprised me, because it took soooo long, but it turned out well. Two tablespoons may seem like a lot of vanilla, and I am heavy handed with vanilla but I will address my solution to that obstacle in my next post. In the mean time, go eat some dense, and delicious banana bread, people are crazy for it. Like, take an entire loaf with you on the way to work and eat in the car, crazy.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
I do add nuts when I have them, but this recipe makes two stout loaves (part of the tweaking) so we have a nutty loaf and a nut free loaf. Originally this recipe was supposed to go into one loaf pan, but ho-boy it made a delicious and burned banana mess in my oven. Two loaf pans later, and holy-mackerel I made banana bread!
To cook:
-Preheat oven to 350
-Butter Pans
-In 1 bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt
-In another bowl cream room temp butter (I microwave cold butter until it just gets soft, only a few seconds)with brown sugar
-Add mashed bananas and beaten eggs to the butter sugar mixture and stir that together
-Mix in the dry ingredients until everything looks pretty uniform in texture and wetness (not too long or something terrifying might happen)
-Divide mixture between the two loaf pans and bake for 45-75 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (check both loaves)
-Turn onto a cooling rack
-Consume!
The cooking time surprised me, because it took soooo long, but it turned out well. Two tablespoons may seem like a lot of vanilla, and I am heavy handed with vanilla but I will address my solution to that obstacle in my next post. In the mean time, go eat some dense, and delicious banana bread, people are crazy for it. Like, take an entire loaf with you on the way to work and eat in the car, crazy.
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