Marinara sauce canned and processed.

blackwhitecanningIf you have received the great fortune of having an abundance of fresh fruits or vegetables, you may be wise to “put some up” or canning them for colder months.  Our grandparents made this an annual ritual that took place at harvest time.  If you have never done this before, don’t shy away from it.  There is much satisfaction in accomplishing it, and truly very little difficulty in mastering it.  ballwidemouth

Look over your jars, making sure they are sound and have no nicks, cracks or chips.  These may prevent an air-tight seal.  Jars and lids should be wash with hot soapy water, and rinsed well.  In a large stockpot, place jars in enough hot water to completely cover them.  Bring pot to boiling.  Cover, turning off the heat, and allow jars to remain until you are ready to fill them. Do the same thing with your lids, in a smaller pot.

When you are ready to fill the jars, remove jars from water, invert them on a wire rack, allowing excess water to drain away.  Do this also with your lids, being careful not to touch the inside of the lids or jars.  Bring water in stockpot to a simmer.  The stockpot should be half-filled with water to process the jars.  Add more water if necessary.

Once you have filled the jars and sealed them, you can add them to the stockpot for processing according to your recipe. Start counting processing time when the water bath just begins to boil.  Keep water at a temperature that permits it to continue to simmer as jars are processed.

When jars have completed their processing time , remove them from waterbath and place them on a wire rack.  Allow them to cool at room temperature.  After 12 hours, test the lids for proper seal.  If the lid center can be press down, the seal is not adequate.  In this case, refrigerate the preserves, and eat them within a few days, or reprocess then jars.  Jars should be labelled and dated, and if possible, stored in a dark, cook place.

Creme fraiche is a simple accompaniment and can be used in many dishes, from soups, main courses and oh yes, desserts!  It resembles sour cream, but has a bit of a natural sweetness.  It is very simple to make, requiring more than anything time.

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 Tbsp. buttermilk.
  • 3 drops of vanilla extract

Combine all three ingredients in a bowl with a lid.  Allow to sit in a warm (room temperature) place for 8 – 24 hours.  Give a little stir and check it’s consistency every 8 hours or so.  Once thickened, place in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

It seems odd to leave dairy products out of refrigeration for that length of time, and not expect it be spoiled.  The cultures in the buttermilk actually prevent any bacterial growth.

A thick, “creamy” sauce made from whisking egg yolks with another liquid, such as wine, over boiling water in a double boiler, so as not to scramble the egg.   Zabaglione, a.k.a. Sabayon, can be made either sweet or savory.  This is a great “creamy” sauce alternative for lactose-intolerent diets.

For a Sweet Zabaglione:

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/4 sugar
  • 1/4 cup dry Marsala wine

Bring a pot of water to a simmer.  In a steel bowl, whisk eggs yolks and sugar together until foamy, and place over simmering water.  Bottom of bowl should not touch the boiling water.  Continue to whisk constantly.  Gradually pour in Marsala.  Whisk approximately 5 minutes, or until volume of this custard has doubled and it appears very thick and very yellow in color.

Quality chocolate made with at least 32% cocoa butter.   To be properly labeled as “couverture”, it must contain 32-39% of cocoa butter, and the total of the percentage of the combined cocoa butter plus cocoa solids must be at least 54%.  Sugar makes up the balance, and up to 1% may be made up of vanilla, and sometimes soy lecithin.

Professional chocolatiers used couverture  for dipping, coating and molding.

is a cooking term that describes a process of food preparing in which the food item is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief  time  interval  plunged into ice water bath (shocked) to halt the cooking process.

Blanching serves several purposes in food preparation:

  • Blanching enhances the color of some  vegetables by releasing gases trapped in the food that obscure the greenness of the chlorophyll. Because blanching is a rapid process, the heat does not have time to break down chlorophyll in the vegetable.
  • Blanching works well to loosens the skin on some fruits or nuts, such as onions, tomatoes, plums, peaches, and almonds.
  • Blanching enhances the flavor of some vegetablesby releasing bitter acids stored in them.