A condiment for what ales you

 
condiment ˌkɒndɪm(ə)nt
noun
a substance such as salt or ketchup that is used to add flavor to food.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin condimentum, from condire ‘to pickle.’

I really, really, really like condiments. Once, I read a blog post by dee Hobsbawn-Smith and she wrote that her fridge was full of homemade condiments. That was a couple of years ago, and at the time I couldn't really picture what kind of condiments she could possibly have in there. What condiments can you actually reproduce at home?

Beer, vinegar, mustard and seasonings marinating in a 1L jar.

As you may have guessed, I've been enlightened in the last year or so. In fact, my own fridge is home to a fair collection of homemade sauces and toppings: mixed pepper relish, hot pepper jelly, ketchup, pickled peppers, honey-lemon marmalade, blueberry jam, and, most recently, a delicious grainy mustard.

Before blending.

After blending.

This mustard has a bit of heat, a dash of texture and a wallop of flavour. Now, it's your turn to make it.

A Spicy Mustard for what Ales you
Adapted lovingly from pictures and pancakes
yields 3 1/2 cups

1 341 ml oz bottle McNally’s Extra Ale (or Guinness, or any other dark, flavourful beer. Don't use Bud Light Lime)
10 oz (300 gr) brown mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamo
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp turmeric (for colour, skip if desired)

1. Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive mixing bowl (i.e. not aluminum) or a 1-litre jar. Cover with plastic wrap, or a lid, and let sit at room temperature for 1-2 days.
2. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and purée, scraping sides of the bowl as necessary.
3. Process until most of the seeds are coarsley ground and the mixture thickens.
4. Transfer to jars and refrigerate up to six months. 
5. You may find the mustard slightly bitter at first. I liked mine more after it had mellowed out in the fridge for a week or so. Of course, results will vary based on your beer of choice.

February Can Jam: Carrot Relish

I must say, when the February Can Jam feature ingredient turned out to be carrots, I was not excited. I am no carrot enthusiast. I do love a good, fresh springtime carrot from the farmer’s market, but those days are many weeks away. Inexperienced as I am in the ways of preserving, I still thought it was silly to go out of my way to can something out of season that I don’t like. But I did it anyway, in the name of education and condiments!

I considered pickled carrots, but aborted that idea after thinking about woody, wintertime carrots. Eventually, after getting a pickling book from the library, I settled on the idea of a relish.

Now, this was a silly idea too, as I’ve never been into relish. I made a hot pepper relish in the summer which was pretty good, but couldn’t name you another relish that I’d volunteer to sample. But I did it anyway.

I settled on carrot-onion relish, and the preliminary tasting yielded a pretty sweet, carrotty concoction. I’m going to let it sit the recommended 3 weeks and try again, and I will update you then.

Meanwhile, if you like the sound of it and want a jar (and you’re in town) let me know!

Carrot and Onion Relish
Adapted from The Complete Book of Pickling by Jennifer MacKenzie

8 cups shredded carrots
2 cups finely chopped onions
2 small yellow hot peppers, finely chopped (this is my only mod)
2 tbsp pickling salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cider vinegar
1 tbsp minced garlic

1. In a large non-reactive bowl, combine carrots, onions, peppers, and salt. Cover and let stand at a cool room temperature for 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars and lids.
3. In a colander lined with cheesecloth, working in batches, drain vegetables and rinse well. Drain again and squeeze out excess liquid. Set aside in colander to continue draining.
4. In a large pot, combine sugar, celery seeds, thyme, pepper and veingar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium-high and add drained vegetables and garlic; return to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often, for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are translucent and mixture is slightly thickened.
5. Ladle hot relish into jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace as necessary by adding hot relish. Wipe rim and place hot lid disc on jar. Screw band down until fingertip tight.
6. Place jars in canner and return to a boil. Process for 10 minutes (add 10 minutes for Calgary). Turn off heat and remove canner lid. Let jars stand in water for 5 minutes. Transfer jars to a towel-lined surface and let stand for 24 hours.

January Can Jam: Honey Lemon Marmalade

This is a quickie version of a post I hope to update properly tomorrow.

The Can Jam has begun! Short version: Can a monthly ingredient, from now until December. Long version: here at Tigress in a Jam.

I made Buckwheat Honey & Lemon Marmalade adapted from Food In Jars, and combined with the methodology in the Joy of Cooking.

Okay, so I didn’t read the direction exactly right, but things still set up beautifully, so I think it’s a-okay!

 Honey-Lemon Marmalade
9 organic lemons
1 cup buckwheat honey
2.5 cups white sugar
1 package no sugar needed fruit pectin
1.5 cup water

1. Put lemons in freezer for 5 to 10 minutes prior to slicing with a sharp knife.
2. For each lemon: cut off just enough of each end to reach the flesh of the fruit. Halve length-wise. Slice into strips about 5-7 mm wide: you will have a bunch of semi-circle shapes. Chop the strips into small square-ish chunks of peel+flesh, place into medium-sized bowl and repeat with the rest of the lemons. Remove seeds as necessary and reserve.
3. Add enough water to lemon bowl to cover them. Pay attention to how much water you add. I added about ¾ cup, so added another ¾ cup during cooking. Cover and place in fridge for 6 hours or overnight to soften the peel.
4. Next day: simmer the fruit in a medium saucepan with the rest of the water until the peel is tender and can be broken with a wooden spoon against the side of the pot.
5. When peel is tender, add the honey and 1.5 cups of the sugar. Wrap reserved lemon seeds in cheesecloth and toss it in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. *Once sugar and honey are both incorporated, taste your marmalade to see if it is sweet enough. Add sugar until it makes you smile..
6. Add pectin and let boil gently for 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and fill sterilized jars. Process for 10 minutes at sea level (I did 20 minutes here in Calgary at 3300 ft).
8. Remove from canner and let sit overnight to allow pectin to fully activate.

This made about 2 pints.

Marmalade and Hoar Frost

I don't even know if I've ever had marmalade before this. Maybe only from a little half-ounce packet at Nellie's (ugh). And even though it turned out firmer than what would be optimal, it is quite delicious, and a good balance between bitter and sweet.

My in-use jar of marmalade.

Daring Cooks January: Tofu Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

Considering how much writing and how much cooking I have done in the past few weeks, it’s really quite surprising that the two haven’t overlapped until now.

I apologize if you’ve been visiting my page, wondering what’s happened. I apologize that I promised to post a delicious vegan biscotti recipe around Christmas time, but still haven’t (it’s coming, I swear!)

But there is tasty stuff to come…

Like this tofu satay that I made for January’s Daring Cooks! (Recipe here: http://thedaringkitchen.com/recipe/satay)

The photos are a bit rough, I was in a hurry, or hungry or something. I actually made this two weeks ago, so it’s a bit fuzzy.

Directions:
First, I pressed the water out of half a block of extra-firm tofu, for about an hour. Then I sliced it into four 1-cm thick strips and marinated them for another hour.

Marinade:
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)

I didn’t have coriander, but then borrowed some from my mum, and I am so glad I did. Coriander is amazing. Eat some!

While the tofu is marinating, make the amazing peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce:
3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Now, mine turned out a little gelatinous, because I had to make some adjustments. I didn’t have coconut milk so I used some coconut juice that has been in my pantry for a year or so, and added a paste of arrowroot powder and water to thicken it up a bit. It was delicious anyway, just not very pretty.

After the tofu has marinated for at least 30 minutes, broil it until it’s golden brown and starting to darken at the edges.

Make a few servings of basmati rice. I added half a bouillon cube to the rice for a little extra flavour.

Good meal overall, and I’d definitely do it again.

Hashing it out, loafing around

Seriously, you should make this. Try it!

 

Veggie Loaf takes over the world! With her sidekick corn & edamame salad!

 

This recipe is made easier with a food processor and a shredding attachment, but it can be done with a regular box grater as well. The ingredients are pretty versatile, so use what you have on hand for seasonings. While I recommend that you pick up some nutritional yeast, I can understand if you're hesitant, or if you just can't find it where you live (Calgarians may not complain, I found nooch at Superstore last week! Although it doesn't have B12 in it, strangely). You can leave it out and substitute a bit of vegetable bouillon powder, or maybe some dry soup mix, or a tablespoon of miso, just be aware of how much sodium you add. Enjoy!

Ready for the oven.

The Thrifty Vegan's Mouthwatering Hash Brown Loaf

• 1 largish onion (should be about 2 cups once shredded)
• 3-4 medium russet potatoes (should be about 4 cups once shredded)
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup spelt flour (can substitute with regular, whole wheat or rice flour)
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp dried basil
• ¼ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp thyme
• black pepper to your tastes

1. Shred onion in food processor or with box grater (be careful!). Transfer to large bowl. You will cry, be prepared.
2. Shred potatoes, squeeze dry in cheesecloth or do the best you can with a colander. Transfer to same big bowl of onions. (NB: Don't let the potatoes sit too long or they will turn black. That won't affect the taste, but it won't look very nice. If you have to leave them for awhile–more than a couple minutes–cover the potatoes with water).
3. Add rest of ingredients, plus anything else you might like to spice things up with. In fact, after you’ve added the vinegar, you can be pretty creative with the spices.
4. Mix thoroughly with a spoon, or your clean, flu-free hands, until the potato shreds are clearly covered with delicious flavour.
5. Transfer mixture to lightly oiled or non-stick loaf pan. (NB: If you don’t have one, try baking it in a pie dish, or individual lunch-sized ones in muffin tins. Just make sure you adjust the cooking time accordingly–that means don’t cook it as long if it’s in a smaller container).
6. Bake at 375 F for 1 hour.
7. Serve with steamed veggies and nutritional yeast gravy or miso gravy.

Lovely ridges from the bottom of the ungreased pan.

Snacking on the cheap

I really do like potato chips: salty and crispy Lays, crunchy and vinegary Miss Vickies, home-baked and toothsome sweet potato chips. Satisfying and indulgent for my savoury tastebuds – and they tend to bully the sweet-loving ‘buds into submission.

Popcorn as modeled by Bri.

However, as you’re probably aware, chips are just not particularly nutritional, nor particularly cheap. And homemade ones take a lot of effort, even if you have a fancy mandolin to slice ‘em them tantalizingly thin.

Homemade popcorn, on the other hand, is cheap. Compare a $3.50 bag of chips, or a $6 box of microwavable, chemical-laden corn to a simple $2-$3 bag of unadulterated, whole-grain popping corn! Plus, some places (Superstore) sell it in bulk, which is sometimes even cheaper. It shows up on Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating because it’s high in fibre and iron, low in calories and there’s no sodium or sugar at all…until you spice it up!

Here’s my take on stove-top popcorn.

Hot and Tasty Popcorn
Makes 2 perfectly generous servings

• Generous 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
• 3 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil
• 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• ¼ - ½ tsp lemon pepper seasoning
• ¼ - ½ tsp paprika, or cayenne if you like it hot

1. Set a 2-quart (1.89 L) lidded pot on stove. Add oil and turn heat to med-high. Immediately add popcorn and shake to distribute the kernels across the bottom of pan. Cover lid and gently shake back and forth to roll the kernels in the oil. Don’t lift the lid of the pot as you will let the heat out which could result in your popcorn burning before it can pop, or never getting hot enough to pop. Don't let the pan or oil heat up before adding the popcorn, or you will just burn stuff. I've been there. Repeatedly.
   
2. Stop shaking the pot for a couple of minutes, until the popping starts. Then, continue to gently shake the pot, with your hand on the lid if necessary. If you were a bit generous with the popcorn, or if you used a smaller pot, then you may need to dump some of the popcorn into the serving bowl so it doesn’t topple all over the stove.
3. Dump about half of the popped popcorn into your large bowl. Sprinkle half of the nutritional yeast on top, and repeat with the lemon pepper and paprika or cayenne. Shake your bowl or use a spoon to distribute the seasonings further. Pour the rest of the popped popcorn to fill bowl, and repeat the seasoning process.

Enjoy!

Of course, you can skip the nooch if you don’t have any, and just use whatever seasonings you’ve got. Other options from the spice cabinet include: curry powder, mustard powder, dill weed, pepper, sea salt, Tabasco sauce (makes it a bit soggy though).

Recipes for Day 6, eating on $30/week

I was going to use Day 6’s post to share the contents of my pantry with you, in the hopes that you’d get something out of it, or at least find it interesting.

But seeing as I have an exam tomorrow, I feel like I need to put the effort into studying instead.

However I will share two recipes from today to attempt to make up for my poor time-management.

Today was mostly a day of leftovers, supplemented in part by ingenuity. I had my dad over for a Thanksgiving lunch and an hour beforehand I decided that I’d like to make some dressing, seeing as it’s completely delicious.

Weekly Roundup

I guess I am still trying to figure out some sort of a schedule for little bloggy here. Ideally I'd update daily, but I haven't set aside the time yet. Which in turn leads to posts such as this one which will be photo heavy and retrospective.

On to the show!

This past week saw Summer peek her sweaty, sunburnt brow from behind the clouds for the first time of the year. Temperatures were toeing the torrid line of 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) and the ultralow humidity of this prairie city turned downtown into an enormous and cruel sauna.

That meant minimal cooking for me as our apartment is not well equipped to deal with hot weather. I was tempted to bake biscuits and muffins but each sweaty time I opted instead to boil or panfry something tasty instead.

Exhibit A: Thai Peanut Stirfry. Adapted from this Allrecipes.com "Best Thai Peanut Sauce" link
Here is my version:

• 1/2 cup organic peanut butter (no sugar or other junk added) creamy or chunky
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp water
• 1.5 tbsp lime juice
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp sesame oil
• 1.5 tsp hot sauce (I use Rooster Brand Chili Garlic Sauce)
• .5 tsp ginger powder
• 1.5 cloves garlic

Mix together in a bowl or shake in peanut butter jar, making sure all the peanut butter lumps are softened and mixed in. Let sit 30 minutes-1 hour to allow flavours to develop.

After that, it's completely versatile as far as starch, veg and protein. For this particular time, I made jasmine rice and Bribot stir-fried broccoli, cauliflower, cremini mushrooms and garlic. We pour our sauce onto the almost-cooked veg and let it thicken and cook for a bit before serving over rice. I think I may have gone a bit overboard with the coconut milk this time, because I was using up a can from earlier in the week. But it turned out amazing and very filling. Highly recommend you incorporate it in your repertoire.

The night after, we had gnocchi with jarred tomato-basil sauce. Very delicious and Bri was raving the whole time, and I was of course flattered because the man does eat a lot of pasta. Anyhow, it wasn't particularly filling so after dishes were done we decided to make movie snacks for during James Bond.

Exhibit B: Vegan Cheezy Sauce "Fundue" with roasted potatos, mushrooms and pickles.

Honestly, the pickles were a bit weird but the sauce is just so good that it doesn't even matter. I usually make the Cheezy Sauce recipe (from the Veganomicon) but Bri offered to do it this time, and it was divine.

Here's our version of the nutritional yeast gravy:

• 2 cups prepared veg broth
• 1/4 cup spelt flour (AP flour is fine too)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• pinch of dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (depending on saltiness of veg broth)
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes (essential ingredient but we find it's still good if you only have 1/2 cup too)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp prepared mustard

1. Whisk flour into broth in a measuring cup and the until big lumps are gone.
2. Cook garlic in olice oil in small saucepan over medium-low heat about 2 minutes
3. add thyme, salt and pepper and cook for a few seconds, then add broth turmeric and nutritional yeast and raise heat to medium. Stir constantly with whisk.
   
4. It should thicken in about 3 minutes but just turn the heat up if it needs a bit longer
5. After it had thickened, let cook for another couple minutes, then add lemon juice and mustard. Taste for saltiness, adjust as needed, then remove from heat and cover until you're ready to eat. Irresistable. Keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

If you're unfamiliar with nutritional yeast, this is the time to try it! It's a bit smoky and cheesy in flavour and is a wonderful addition to all sorts of sauces, or even just sprinkled inside a wrap. High in B12 also!

Okay, so this is getting long so I'll be brief with Exhibit C: Back of the Fridge Sushi! Yesterday's dinner earned its name due to the rapidly thrown together fillings I chose. I had my weekly sushi craving but wasn't up to spending $20 on typical boring veggie rolls so after tossing a frisbee with Bri, I set to work on a big batch of sushi.

Fillings included: dill pickles, cream cheese, pickled banana peppers, vine tomato, pepper relish, dijon-Vegenaise, salad greens and barbecue sauce-marinate tofu strips.


Dinner turned out quite tasty in the end but not as good as previous sushi nights at home because I messed up the rice a bit, it was overcooked with too much moisture which made it tough to cute nicely and the rolls weren't as luscious as they could have been. On the bright side I actually rolled 3 whole regular maki (i.e. not inside out) and they all mostly stayed. Also experimented with some fat rolls, which turned out alright.

If you're interested in making sushi at home I suggest you read imakesushi.com and google some sushi rolling videos, that's how I got to this point. The price is so so much lower than a restaurant and it's really not difficult once you've rolled a few.