Garlic Scapes and Daddy

Ive been away awhile, I know. First I was sick with shingles and could barely walk for two months, then my dad passed away and I was home helping mom awhile. But Im back now and hope to start posting much more.

My dad was the other chef in the family. No he didn't cook professionally as I did. But we often would talk about foods we tried and shared recipes. I would take one of his and add more to it and he would take one of mine and adapt it to cooking a different way. We were always experimenting and trying new things. Dad was limited as to what he could try since mom didn't like much. So in honor of my Dad, I decided to dedicate this blog to him.  It was an experiment and I found out I love garlic scapes. I bet Dad would too.

 I went to the Farmers Market Sunday and found garlic scapes. Ive been hearing so much about them. I never had them before and even when I picked one up and smelled it, it didn't have much smell. So I thought, whats the big deal with these? But I bought 3 bunches anyway. I read about garlic scape pesto so I thought Id try that. I figured if I didn't like it I would just add basil, which I also bought.

But I was in for a surprise! As you cut them they do smell heavenly ......of garlic and almost grassy. My whole house smelled of it while working on my recipes. I tasted it and OMG !!!  and so now its my new favorite thing. I'm hoping to go back this week and get more cuz the season is very short for these things. For more info on scapes: http://gardening.about.com/od/herbsatoz/a/What-Are-Garlic-Scapes.htm

I did some research on them before I did anything with them and I'm glad I did. These funny looking things have a flower bud and apparently you cut those off and discard. When I wandered online for info, I never saw anyone say that in their recipes. So remember to cut off the flower head and trim the bottom of the stem. Some stems are quite tough. I found I would cut and it would be hard and pull a string on it like when your cutting celery. So keep cutting till its ez to cut. I found most stems only needed one or two cuts but there were a couple that needed more. You want the tender parts.  

Then I cut them into about 1in. lengths. I did this because I was going to but them in the food processor to make pesto. I have a small processor. I chopped all of them in the processor and dumped it in a bowl, trying to figure out what to do with so many. I thought OMG I bought too much...........wrong! After I started using them, I thought OMG I need more! lol They are that good.

And so I made Garlic Scape bread to have with dinner. And then I got carried away with my chicken and tossed some chopped scapes on that too while roasting. Finally I made the pesto. ...two batches. I have just enough to make more Garlic scape butter and Ill freeze that.  

 Garlic Scape Butter for bread

1/2 - 3/4 c. chopped garlic scapes
1 stick of butter
1/4c. Parmesan cheese
Process all in food processor till blended. Taste (omg, yummy!) and add S & P if you like.

Spread this on some nice crusty bread. I had a nice Ciabatta bread from the market too. I bake mine at 400 degrees till it starts to get brown on the edges and crusty on top. This will make the greenest bread you ever saw and will confuse people......until they taste it! I like this better than regular garlic bread. Its much more mellow and yet has quite a garlic taste. 

 Garlic Scape Pesto Makes about 2c.
    1/4 cup pine nuts
    3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes*
    Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    A few generous grinds of black pepper
    1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
    1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
    *Or use half scapes and half herbs such as basil, dill and chervil

Toast pine nuts in a small fry pan if you want. Put all ingredients except oil and Parmesan in a food processor bowl. Pulse till mixed. Slowly add the oil while processor is running till mixed in. Remove from processor and put into a bowl, mix in Parmesan.

 At this point taste it and see if it needs S & P. I froze mine in small jars  to preserve till I need it. 

(sorry about that, I started to cut the chicken apart and remembered I didn't take a pic of it yet!)
My 3 Garlic Chicken Serves 4

1 lg. roaster chicken
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 carrots peeled and cut into 1in. chunks
Garlic powder
Fresh garlic
Garlic scapes, chopped
Fresh thyme and parsley
1 stick of butter
2c. chicken stock
S & P

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add potatoes and carrots to pan. Sprinkle with thyme, parsley, garlic powder and S & P. Pour chicken stock over all.

Put chicken on top of veggies. Into the cavity stuff 1 stick of butter, cut into chunks, several sprigs of fresh thyme and 5 or 6 garlic cloves. These do not have to be peeled. Sprinkle chicken with S & P and some chopped garlic scapes, (a few tbsp.)  and put in the oven.

You can baste the chicken with the stock in the pan now and then while baking. The butter will meld with the flavors in the bird and make a nice baste for it. Bake till veggies are tender and chicken is done about 1 1/2hrs. I cover it with foil for the first hr. Then I remove the foil and test the veggies. Return to oven to brown and crisp up chicken and veggies. I found at this point I usually need to raise the oven temp to 400 degrees.

This is a one pot meal I served with the garlic bread and it was soooooooooo good. 

White Peach Butter

Ive been wanting to make peach butter. I saw peaches for $1 lb. in the grocery store so I decided to buy a bunch. When I got there there was a note that it wasn't the yellow peaches that were on sale but white ones. I was a bit bummed cuz I love regular peaches. But I decided to go ahead and buy these anyway.

I came home to do some research on recipes using these. I found out white peaches are less acidic and more delicate in flavor. I also found out there's next to no recipes for using these. And so I decided to make the butter anyway using the info I did find to create my own recipe.  The flavor is very mild without the bite like yellow peaches have. So to create a bit more interest I used just a touch of cinnamon and vanilla. You don't want much or you will overwhelm the peach flavor.

White Peach Butter Makes 12 half pts.

10lbs. white peaches
2 1/2c. organic sugar
Fruit Fresh
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Juice of one lemon

First peel the peaches. I do this by letting them sit in boiling water for a few min. then plunging into ice water. I have found tho if they are not ripe enough, they will be harder to peel. So those I put back in the water a bit longer. Yes it does cook them a bit but since your going to be doing that anyway, it doesn't matter.

Once peeled, I pit them and cut them into small chunks. I added 2 tsp. of Fruit Fresh to keep the color from turning brown. You could use ascorbic acid too. Add the sugar, stir and let macerate overnight. Next day, put in a large pot and heat to boiling. I cooked these down in my crockpot. I didn't want to have to stand there watching them or burn them. So once the peaches have boiled, pour all that into the crockpot and turn it on to HIGH.

Add cinnamon and vanilla to peaches in crockpot. Leave the lid partially off so the steam can escape. I put a small wooden spoon on the rim and rested the lid on it. Cook for at least 5hrs. Near the end you will still have chunks of peaches. I used a hand held blender to puree what didn't break down. It should be very thick. If your not sure, then take a bit out and chill. Add the lemon juice and cook a bit more till as thick as you want. It will get even thicker once cool.

Wash jars with soap and water and put on a tray in a 200 degree oven to keep hot. Get your water bath canner going too. Once all equipment is ready and peaches are thick, pour into jars with canning funnel. Wipe all edges clean and seal. Place in water bath canner. Check to see if water is boiling once they are in the canner. Time 20min. from that point on.

When done remove to a towel on the counter and let cool. Check seals. 

I had a bit left over since I had a bit more than 10lbs. so I just put it in a container to use right away. This morning its nice and thick and the flavor is so yummy. I stirred it into my yogurt for breakfast. Awesome!

Making Butter - The Hard Way

Ive been cooking since I was about 10yrs old. Ive fed thousands of people thru my life. But even with all that experience, even I have flops, and mistakes. One of these turned into butter.

Now I believe pretty much everything can be saved unless its burnt beyond recognition. And I always try to save what Ive screwed up to use another way. Like a pudding cake I made long ago that didn't work right. It became a parfait with whipped cream and strawberries. Lets face it even when you feel you have done the right thing, things still go wrong.

So I was going to make Creme Fraiche for my trifle I was making for our Easter dessert. I had made the Citrus Ricotta pound cake and had all I needed for the trifle. I made the layers and ran sliced strawberries around the edge and all over it. I mixed those with the blackberries in a crystal pedestal bowl I use just for things like this. It was stunning I thought. So I figured topped with some Creme Fraiche would be nice ...not sweet but not real tart. I made it using fresh unsweetened heavy cream and buttermilk.

Ive made Creme Fraiche before many times. I used to make a lg. quantity for something I made in the restaurant even. But of course we all know about Murphy's law. That Murphy really should be taken out back and shot lol. So I made my recipe for Creme Fraiche and put it at the back of the stove to sit overnight like I usually do.

I got up the next day expecting it to be nice and creamy and if not real thick at least thicker. NOT! It was just like I left it the day before only I needed it today. I didn't have anything else in the house either. So I thought Id take out my immersion hand blender and thicken it up just a bit. NOT! It refused to thicken. I stood there a bit doing this and nothing was happening. Sigh.

Now I have a big KitchenAid mixer and that can beat anything. So I dumped it all in and turned it on high and it promptly turned into butter! I had a quart of cream that went to butter. Great. And nothing for dessert now. So I called my daughter and asked her to pick up more cream for me. I couldn't go I was still cooking and my bf had already left to get ice. I couldn't send him out again.

And so I stared at this broken mess I had and had an aha! moment. BUTTER!!! Ill make butter. So I really beat it good to be sure the whey separated out. Then I put it in a fine strainer to strain the whey out. Now I had a creamy mass of butter. But you cant stop there. Did you know you need to wash butter? I knew but never did it before. So while it was rinsing in the strainer, I kept it under running water. You keep squeezing it and folding it to remove the whey.

You need to rinse it until the water runs clear. The reason for this is, any whey left in will spoil it really fast. The strainer started to clog up so I had to pour out the water while rinsing. It was kind of neat tho to have this light fluffy mass in my hands not melting. The cold water keeps it that way. Once your done rinsing you have to squeeze out any residual water. I did that.

So for dinner I scooped up the fresh made butter and put it in crystal pedestal glasses for serving. I didn't salt this butter altho you could. And my family preferred it salted. So I just sat the salt shaker on the table for each to do as they chose. I must say tho it was a hit. I put out two glasses full and one was gone the other partially. I put out a loaf of Italian bread with dinner and some rolls. Almost all the bread was gone. Considering all the other food we had, that fact rather amazed me. I think it was because of the butter.

Today I made breakfast. I still have some butter leftover. I really liked cooking with it and the toast we had with the eggs was delicious. I think I'm getting spoiled here and may have to make my own butter more often.


Heres a link to make actual butter the right way lol http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/doityourself.html

And here is my Creme Fraiche recipe that I used.

Creme Fraiche

Ingredients
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Mix together buttermilk and cream in a jar. Shake the jar gently until the ingredients are well blended, then remove the lid. Let this mixture sit at room temperature until it has thickened significantly- you’re looking for a texture similar to sour cream. This will take at least 6 hours. You can stir the mixture once or twice to check the consistency.

When the mixture has thickened, refrigerate it until served- at least 12 hours.

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with sour cream.

Tip: To speed up the process, use room temperature buttermilk and whipping cream. If it still looks a little runny after 24 hours, leave it another 8 to 12 hours but move it to a warmer spot. And don't worry about the cream going bad. The bacteria in the buttermilk, helps preserve it.

Its very expensive to buy tho so making your own is cheaper for you and honestly tastes much better. Once the creme fraiche has thickened sufficiently, cover and place in the refrigerator. It will continue to thicken and take on a more tangy flavor as it ages. Creme fraiche will keep in the refrigerator for about 7-10 days. It is used in both savory and sweet dishes and makes a wonderful topping for fresh berries, cobblers and puddings. It can also be whipped, along with a little sugar, and used in place of whipped heavy cream.