Campfire Cod

                 No Kitchen? Try a Campfire Kitchen

             All you need is some fresh produce, foil, and a fire.  Take a look...

                                  Potatoes, celery, orange pepper, jalepeno, and onion

                 Add bay leaves, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and some beer or white wine

                      And then some spinach, parsley, basil, olive oil, lemon, and white fish

                               Then wrap in foil, add another layer around the middle

                                  Lastly, throw them on the fire for 20 minutes or so

                                            Alas, you can eat and be merry

                                               Best part...not much to clean up!

Make Whey!

                           Make Whey for Cheese Please

Many fermenting recipes call for  whey.  I prefer to strain it out of organic yogurt.  I could use home made yogurt, but store bought just never tastes as good to me, so I buy it for this purpose and save the good stuff for snacking.  The best part of this process is the spreadable yogurt that you have left after you strain the yogurt.  It has the consistency of whipped cream cheese, but is healthier!  

Start with a very clean container.

Put in a very clean cheesecloth or kitchen towel.  I used a kitchen towel because I wanted the pattern on my cheese.  

Carefully spoon in yogurt.

Let it strain for at least 12 hours.

Once it is firm and the dripping has ceased, serve or refrigerate.

You can roll the yogurt cheese in herbs, salt it, pour honey on it, roll it in sesame seeds or berries and serve with warm bread or cucumbers.  Much like cream or goat cheese, this cheese is versatile.

The whey can be kept in the fridge for a month or so.  Use a few teaspoons when you are starting a new ferment.  The whey will kickstart lacto-fermentation.  

Miso Making

Miso: Fermented Bean Paste used for making Miso, Sake, Rice Vinegar and Mirin

Soak, then boil your beans,  I used a Garbanzo/Navy mix

                             

While your bean are cooling, melt your salt 1:1 salt to water

 

Grind up your 1/3 of your beans

 

*The grinder is also a great tool for making hummus

 

Combine the remainder of the beans, your salt mixture, and a sack of Koji 

 Salt your container

 

Smash down and get rid of any air pockets

 

Cover in salt!  It keeps the uninvited guest out!

 

Place rocks or a heavy plate on the cloth covered bean mixture, wait at least 6 months and up to 3 years for miso

***Koji (a Japanese term for cultred grain) is made by inoculating steamed grain with the spores of Aspergillus oryzae, a mold that transforms the grain into sweet, fragrant koji, or cultured grain, during a two-day fermentation process***

Sour Beer 101: Yeast vs. Bacteria

                    Sour Beer Bugs

Move over Winos....There is a new beer in town!  I need to state that I am not a fan of hoppy, bitter beers.  Wine has always been my drink of choice, until recently.  Last fall, I visited The Jolly Pumpkin Brewery in MI, known for their sour beers.  I took my first sip of the sour deliciousness and am forever converted to a beer drinker!  I am such a lover of sour beers, I want the world to all learn about it!  I organized the first of many, sour beer tasting last week.  We sampled a "Brett" and a "Lacto" with a brewer who walked us through the difference.   We had a mixed group of wine enthusiasts, non-drinkers, and beer lovers who sampled.   

Here are the cliff notes...

Yeast vs. Bacteria:the microbes that make the flavor difference

Brettanomyces, "Brett" is the most common yeast to sour a beer.  It is unique because it can ferment any type of sugar.  Wine makers and beer brewers are often afraid of this yeast because it is so invasive it can take over a brew house or winery with unintended results.  When properly contained the beer results with aromas and flavors of: barn-yard, sour, earth, & leather.  Very light and refreshing,good for the beginner sour beer drinker.

Lactobacillus, "Lacto" is a bacteria, and yes, it is the same stuff that is in your yogurt!  Like yeast, bacteria can also convert sugar into alcohol.  The sour flavors come from the lactic acid that are also a product of the fermentation.  Beer brewed with Lacto has tartness, oak-i-ness, and some funk.  It is much more sour than Brett beers. 

Pouring a Brett.  Light in color, refreshing flavor.

Pouring the Lacto, see the color difference?  It doesn't matter actually. The color comes from your  ingredients...hops, barley and malt.

Do your own tasting at home!  GO SOUR!

Then Brew your own, the world needs more of it.  We have a brett and a lacto brewing and I can't wait until it's ready!  

My Recommendations for Readers: La Folie Sour Brown Ale and anything from the Jolly Pumpkin.

Next tasting topic: Other Souring Bacteria

Pediococcus used in lambics 

Acetobacter used in Flanders Red and Brown Ales

 

No Knead Bread Recipe

Fresh Loaf!!

Avocado Mash

Organic Tomato

Nitrate free Bacon

Lettuce Mix

   Side of Strawberries

BLT so good; better with fresh bread!

Bake your own Bread.  IT IS THAT EASY!!

Bread Ingredients:

Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt.

Things to play with and adjust according to your taste:

Flour types, yeast forms, and seasonings.

No Knead Recipe:

Combine ingredients, use your hands and mix until all incorporated.

Do not over mix!

Cover loosely with wet cloth or saran wrap.

Let rise for 12-14 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 515, put your cast iron pot in to heat as well.

Put onto floured surface, fold corners in and under.

Flip, sprinkle wheat bran, caraway or herbs, or sea salt, or, or, or....

nothing!

Make a few cuts in the dough before flopping the dough into the scorching hot pot.

Put the lid on and bake about 25-35 minutes depending on the size & flour type.

Bake another 15 minutes uncovered.

Remove and let the bread rest at least 30 minutes before cutting!!

Eat, bake again the following day!

Click Here for some fun Fermentation Facts!

Who's got the HOOCH?

                  Day 4-Hungry Hooch!

This morning I found my poor little sourdough starter starving!  This layer of liquid that you see is called hooch.  It smelled like heaven, so healthy and delicious....however, hooch is not good for bread making.  It needs to be poured off, otherwise you may have a bitter taste in your sourdough.  It is a result of a starter that needs to be fed, or is one that is too old.  

Here is what the Fresh Loaf Says about Hooch:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17460/pour-hooch

Wild Sourdough Starter!

Bubbling Sourdough Starter-Day 3

The dark spots are organic blueberries.  The yeast on the berries and on the flour helps start the fermentation.  The sugars are eaten up by the yeast, and the bubbling begins!  Bread soon to follow!

Yep, its ALIVE!!!

AM Pickle Prep

Purple Ginger Sauerkraut, Lemongrass Golden Beets, and Dill Pickles prepared all before 8:00 am!

All we need now are a few days of bubbling in The Fermentary!  A good way to tell if they are finished, is when the bubbling subsides.

Do this at home!  A good probiotic kraut will run you minimum $10.00 for a small jar at the local market.  All you need is a food processor and it takes just a few minutes a week to make your own.

Just mix up your brine while chopping and shredding, and scrunching, then jar it.

Check my blog for recipe ideas!  Eggplant, Carrots, Cabbage....  

You can ferment almost anything!!!

Start Me Up Soup

Need a boost?  Need a wake up?  Need some fire?

Try this soup!

HAAAAAHabenero!

Thai Peppers, Carrots and Orange Bells!

Lemon Grass, Lime Leaves and Garlic!!

Saute your ingredients using coconut oil, add chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes.  This soup is very warming and perfect on a chilly night.  We ate it with steamed brown rice on the side.  

Za's for dinner!

Arugula, shallot, porcini Pizza 2 ways!

ItZa PizZa Pie!

Tips for restaurant quality home-made pizza:

*make the crust with bread flour 

*substitute brown sugar for white, and reduce the amount by almost 1/2

*bake your pies on a pizza stone

*use fresh mozzarella balls instead of shredded, packaged cheese

*try a hard,  more flavored cheese in addition to the mozzarella

*skip the red sauce on thin crust pizza's, use garlic and olive oil instead

*top with arugula, sorrel, or spinach after it comes out of the oven

*when making deep dish, put the cheese on the bottom, sauce on top

GOOD LUCK!!

I Gotta Lava Love

The most decadent flour-less cake I have ever eaten.

Preheat oven to 450.  

While beating 2 full eggs, and 2 yolks in the mixer, melt a stick of butter and dark chocolate morsels.  Once the chocolate has melted add a few scoops of brown sugar.   Move off heat.

Add a dash of vanilla to your eggs, keep beating at a low speed and SLOWLY pour in chocolate.  

Mix until completely mixed.  Pour the batter into buttered ramekins and bake for 9 minutes. 

 Serve warm.  

I added a dollop of frozen black currants on top.

The love comes oozing out!