Cheese Toast a la Jared

A recipe for cheese toast? Really??  Who needs a recipe for cheese toast???

Well, it's not about the recipe, kids. It's about the ingredients.

And, no. Jared isn't an ingredient.

But, his delightful farm (http://jaredsrealfood.com/ ) produces delightful ingredients.

So, back to the ingredients....

You'll need a couple of slices of reasonably decent gluten-free bread.  Ramona Family Naturals and Windmill Farms sell a locally-made sourdough that toasts up nicely.  And, of course, Canyon Bakehouse rocks.  But, today, I had T-Jo's multigrain, so T-Jo multigrain it is.

Next, you'll need a couple of Jared's small golden tomatoes. These cute little guys are low acid, vine ripe, organic, heirloom, flavorful... And did I mention they're just so cuuuute!  Slice them up and place them on the bread.

Next, grab one of Jared's Marconi peppers.  Lovely sweet red pods of joy, they look like they should be hot, but they're not. Slice a few paper-thin slices and sprinkle over the golden tomatoes. 

Top all that with a few transparent slices of one of Jared's onions.  These bad boys are pungent, aromatic, and utterly onionicious!

Bake in the toaster oven at about 375 until the kitchen smells amazing.  In other words, until the onions have started to brown at the edges and the tomatoes are hot. Maybe 5 minutes or so?

Now add some raw pepper jack cheese.  Good luck finding it.  I got mine in Ramona.  If you can't find it, then just use your favorite goat cheese.  Pop it back in the toaster oven and continue baking just until the cheese warms enough to melt.  Probably another 3-5 minutes.

And, there you have it: Cheese toast a la Jared.

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I don't know what it is bread

Lately I've been obsessed with making variations of the Cherokee Bean Bread recipe on the War Eagle Mill web site.  (http://www.wareaglemill.com/recipes/cherokeebeanbread/)

The latest variations have involved using blue cornmeal, black beans, and green chili peppers.  But, today, I had some magnificently aromatic sage from Grebar Farm. So, what if I made the blue cornbread with sage instead of chilis? 

Well, that means I should probably use white beans.

And, if you're going to use sage, then you should definitely add fresh parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Or dried thyme, since I didn't have fresh.  And, some ground black pepper.

And, if you're going to do all that, then you should sauté a little carrot, onion, and celery for extra flavor.

And, if you're going to add all those extra vegies, then you probably need an extra egg and a pinch of xanthan gum to help bind it.  And maybe an extra pinch of baking powder, just because.

But, OH NO!!!  I only have about 70 grams of blue cornmeal, and the bag of blue cornmeal in the freezer turned out to be brown rice flour.  And the bread (or whatever it may be) is now half made!!!

Deep breath.  Millet flour.  I've been needing to use that up anyway, and it has something of a corn-ish taste.  Yellow cornmeal.  Spouse shouldn't have it, but it's nowhere near the top of his no-no list.  And, since it's organic...

And, with all that extra stuff, it's probably a good idea to use just a splash more oil than the recipe calls for.

So... Is it a bread? A pudding?  A stuffing substitute?  I have no idea what to call it.  I just hope that Spouse calls it, "It's good. I like it."

Hot Fried Corn: The Taste of Summer

Summer in Modesto in the late '70's.  Cornstalks tall and tasseled in platinum silk, tomatoes rich and tangy: Hot fried corn season.  Breakfast of champions -- or at least those of us lucky enough to have Kentucky mothers.

Cathy brought us a couple of ears of her neighbor's fresh corn. A bounty of Jared's tomatoes at hand. Creole garlic from the RSD Farmer's Market.  The only thing missing was a fresh jalapeno.  But this is a hot fried corn emergency.  Freeze dried in a jar will have to do.

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp butter
2 small cloves creole garlic - or one large clove of regular
1 small jalapeno, chopped -- or about a tsp of freeze dried
2 ears of fresh corn
3/4 to 1 cup largely chopped fresh organic tomato
Salt & pepper
Dash of cayenne (optional)

Directions:

1. Shuck the corn and rinse off the silk
2. Use a sharp, flat butcher knife to cut the corn off the cob. Reserve the cobs.
3. Heat the butter in a skillet
4. Add the crushed garlic and the jalapeno & give it a stir.
5. Add the corn and tomatoes & give it all another stir.
6. Use the knife to scrape the rest of the goodness off the corn cobs into the skillet.
7. Stir in a little freshly ground salt & pepper.
8. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup water.
9. Stir and cover, then cook for another minute or two until the corn is barely done.
10. Taste and add a dash of cayenne if needed.

Options:
Hot fried corn is amazing all by itself.  For a killer breakfast, crack an egg or two into the corn as it's cooking and cook until the egg is poached to perfection.  Alternatively, sprinkle some shredded raw jack or crumble some goat cheese on top of the hot fried corn and let it melt a bit before you eat it.

Transforming My Mom's Glutenacious Apricot Grape-nut Bread - Part 1

Some recent posts on facebook brought back summer memories of my home town: Swimming in canals, barbeques, and amazing tree fruit. 

Which got me to thinking about an apricot and Grape-nut bread my mom used to make. I still have the recipe. Handwritten 3 x 5 card, 35 years old.

I didn't have apricots, but I did have some Grebar Farms peaches.  Peaches are wetter than apricots. So, may have to adjust that with the flours....

Grape-nuts are gluteney. But, I did have some gluten-free granola. But the granola smelled stale. But, I did have some sliced almonds. (Ah, even better. My home town was pretty close to the almond capital of the world.)  But, almonds won't soak up liquid the way Grape-nuts do. So... may have to add more flours...

Sub goat milk for moo.

Mom's recipe used too much sugar, so I cut it by 25%.

And, of course, sub my gluten-free flour blend and some xanthan for the all-purpose flour. Except... I'm running low on my blend. So, a random assortment of brown rice flour, sweet rice, tapioca, and almond (yup, definitely got the hometown vibe going).

By the end of it all, what I made bore little resemblance to Mom's bread. But, it did earn Spouse 1.0's standard praise of "It's good. I like it."  Next time I want to tweak it to make it peachier.

Mom's
1 3/4 C flour
3/4 C Grap-Nuts cereal
1 C sugar
1 tsp salt
2/3 C chopped apricots
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 C milk
2 Tbsp oil
1 egg

1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Stir in cereal and apricots.
3. Blend wet ingredients
4. Add flour mixture, stir until just moist.
5. Pour into greased loaf pan.
6. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done.

Mine
1 C brown rice flour (122 g
1/4 C tapioca starch (26 g)
1/4 C sweet rice flour (34 g)
3/8 C blanched almond meal (30 g)
3/8 tsp xanthan gum
scant 3/4 C sliced almonds (76 g)
3/4 C organic evaporated cane sugar (150 g)
1 tsp sea salt
2/3 C chopped peaches
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 C goat milk
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 large organic egg

1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Stir in almonds.
3. Blend wet ingredients
4. Add flour mixture, stir well.
5. Stir in peaches.
6. Pour into parchment lined 9" square pan.
7. Sprinkle a few extra almond slices on top, if desired.
8. Bake at 350 for 15 min., then turn heat down to 325. Bake about 15 minutes more, until toothpick comes out clean.

The batter was a lot more wet than most gluten free quick breads I've made, but surprisingly it didn't come out gummy or strange. And it was nicely moist.  My only complaint is, it wasn't peachy enough.

Sorry, no pictures.  I wasn't expecting it to turn out blog-worthy.

The Great Speckled Herb Biscuits

Mother's Day weekend I went on a baking frenzy. Friday's zucchini muffins brought back memories of Mom. Saturday's nut butter cookies and Sunday's cornmeal lemon cookies were in memory of two of my other mothers who have passed on.

And, it's only reasonable that the Mother's Day baking frenzy should segue to thoughts of my grandmothers for this weekend's baking project.

I remember (step) Grandma Harris as a devout Pentecostal lady. Like many fundamentalist women of her generation, she never, ever wore pants. She'd borne 11 children, lost one, and had been a widow many years. She was terribly proud of the fact that she could still span her waist with three hands. She loved the Roy Acuff song "The Great Speckled Bird", and she'd sing it as she went about her chores.  I don't remember her being much of a cook. 

My baby sister remembers Grandma Harris as a hottie who wore mini skirts and go-go boots. (My sister and I remember a lot of things differently.)

My maternal grandmother was also of a fundamentalist persuasion. She, too, did not wear pants. And there any resemblance to Grandma Harris ends. Granny was heavy and buxom, her waist unfindable beneath the sagging weight of glands that had fed her 7 babies. Granny never sang. But, she could make biscuits.  Granny's biscuits were a thing of joy and beauty. Tender small morsels, comprised of perfectly proportioned but unmeasured ingredients, baked in a hot iron skillet to golden perfection.

Those were some biscuits.

Great Speckled Herb Biscuits: Gluten Free

Today I made biscuits. Yet another variation off of Roben Ryberg's. This time heavily laced with herbs from my happy place, Grebar Farms. Sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and chives. Little patties of Thanksgiving in May.  I think both of my grandmothers would have liked them, in spite that new-fangled Gluten Free thing.

Great Speckled Herb Biscuits

Ingredients:

3.5 ounces grapeseed oil

Thyme, chives, rosemary, and sage

150 grams brown rice flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
5/8 tsp sea salt
1/4  tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp onion powder
Freshly ground pepper
1.5  Tbsp minced fresh sage
1.5 tsp fresh thyme
1.5 tsp fresh minced rosemary
1 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
6.1 ounces whole goat milk
1 1/2 Tbsp organic sugar

I have no idea how much pepper I use.
About 8 to 12 grinds, maybe.

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 (f) and liberally grease a big iron skillet or a cookie sheet.
2. Mix dry ingredients together with a wire whisk.
3. Whisk in the herbs.
4. Mix wet ingredients together.
5. Mix liquid stuff into the dry stuff until well combined.
   When it's just about right, I usually hear little crackly sounds.
6. Drop the biscuits onto prepared skillet or cookie sheet, then gently shape a little with well-oiled fingers. 
7. Bake at 375 (f) for about 12-18 minutes. A toothpick will come out clean, and tops will spring back a little when pressed. 

I love weighing my ingredients.
So much less mess to clean up!

How mixed is mixed enough?
The dough will hold together and look like this.
Listen for little crackly sounds.
 



Granny always baked her biscuits in a big iron skillet.
It probably hearkened back to a time when people didn't have a variety of baking pans.
It's hard to get smooth iron nowadays. But if you can find it, it really is the best.

Tip of the Day: Dealing with Bulk Sausage

Spouse loves bagel sandwiches -- like the kind he used to get at our local bagel shop. Even with pre-made GF bagels, making them is a chore.

And, when I say, chore, I don't mean "my favorite chore" or even "a chore that I don't mind doing too much because it's not horrible."

I mean, "Chore." Capital "C" and all.

One reason it's a chore is because bagel sandwiches require sausage patties. And, getting a pre-made GF sausage patty that doesn't contain maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast, "natural flavors", mysterious "spices, and other forms of evil... Well, good luck with that. Let me know when you find someone who makes them.  I'll buy stock in the company.

Meanwhile, the only way I can get sausage patties is to buy the really nice bulk sausage at Sprouts.  Several forms of it contain only food.

But, it's bulk. That means ickifying your hands, patting the stuff out, getting bits of it everywhere, washing your hands 4 zillion times, having to sterilize your kitchen afterwards. And, no matter how good you are of a patter, the sausages never come out an even thickness.  Bleh. It's just not my favorite task.

But, disgust is the mother of necessity, and thus the grandmother of invention. Maybe you've figured this out long ago, but, for me, the method below is something I've recently figured out.  It's not necessarily the most green way of making sausage.  But, it is a real sanity saver.

Equipment:

• Wax paper
• A glass with straight sides
• Food service gloves
• Table knife
• Skillet
• Spatula
• Cleaning supplies, including Vodka

Ingredients:

• Sausage
• Maybe a little oil for the skillet

Steps:

1. Put on your food service gloves.
   
   The nice thing about food service gloves: You can wash them much like you would your hands, without removing all your skin in the process.
    
2. Place bulk sausage between 2 sheets of waxed paper.
    
3. Roll sausage to about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thickness using the glass.
    
   I don't use a rolling pin because the glass is a lot easier
   to wash, and you don't need the weight and precision you get
   with a rolling pin.
    
4. Peel back the top layer of waxed paper,
   and cut the sausage into squares.
   
   Make them a larger than you think you need.
   
   Sausage is notorious for shrinking.
    
5. Put a little oil in the skillet and start pre-heating it.
    
6. Carefully peel the sausage off the bottom layer of
   waxed paper and place sausage in the skillet.
    
7. Cook sausage until it's done, then use it to make
   a batch of breakfast sandwiches.

Breakfast Lasagna (Gluten Free)

I'm pretty sure that if you googled up "gluten free breakfast lasagna recipe" you'd get a hundred hits.  And, if you've cooked gluten free for more than 20 minutes, you know that all you have to do to turn normal breakfast lasagna into gluten free is use GF lasagna noodles -- thus giving you about 42,382 recipes to choose from.  (I made that number up, but I bet it's not far off.)

And, nevertheless, I'm inordinately proud of myself for inventing a gluten free, cow free breakfast lasagna.  It's still in the toaster oven, baking away, so I have no idea whether my pride is warranted.  But, here I am, posting about it anyway, as if it were already a huge success.  If it turns out OK, I may have found a decent GF alternative for strata.

It started with last night's Mexzagna, and about 2.5 leftover De Bolles lasagna noodles.  Grab a Pyrex loaf pan... and... start tossing stuff in.

Breakfast Lasagna

2 to 3 dry GF lasagna noodles 
2 to 4 ounces sheep cheese
2 to 4 ounces goat cheese
1 pre-cooked MSG-free, nitrite-free chicken sausage, sliced (about 3 oz.) (e.g., Trader Joe's basil pesto chicken sausage)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach (more or less)
1/2 cup frozen bell peppers (more or less)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups goat milk (or milk sub of choice)
Salt, pepper, and seasonings of choice
Olive oil

1. Oil a loaf-sized glass baking dish, and cover the bottom with 1 lasagna noodle -- plus a few bits of another if the one noodle doesn't cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Place half the cheeses, half the sausage, and half the vegies over the first noodle.
3. Repeat the layers. 
4. If you have a few extra bits of lasagna noodle, break them up and tuck them around the edges. (Waste not, want not.)
5. Mix the eggs, goat milk, and seasonings together in a bowl, then pour over the stuff in the loaf pan.  If the wet stuff doesn't cover the noodles, mix up 1 more egg with 1/2 cup more goat milk and a bit more seasonings.
6. Sprinkle paprika or smoked paprika on top if you'd like a splash of color.
7. Bake 350 (f) for about an hour.

Notes:

• For seasonings, I used some onion powder, turmeric, garlic powder, and mushroom seasoning.
• This is something that fits nicely into a toaster oven, so you can have a baked breakfast without overheating your kitchen.