Friday Favorite: Real Milk
This week my Friday Favorite had to be around Real Milk. For the past four years we’ve been we’ve getting our milk from a little farm nearby. Yesterday, the we picked up our first fresh real milk of the season. We were so excited we got up early and made our trip to the farm before our morning coffee so we could use it in our coffee!
Our friendly dairy farmers have been a wonderful find for us. One of the reasons we love them is because they do everything as nature intended. The cows are out in the sun eating real green grass whenever they can and they are fed hay through the winter – no grain. They’re so intent on doing things as nature intended that they let their cows go dry during the winter. For us that means from January through March we’re drinking real milk that was frozen or buying lightly pasteurized milk from another small local dairy (Hartzler’s in Wooster, OH).
If you’re not familiar with “real” milk it’s milk that is not pasteurized or homogenized. I have to admit that we were slightly nervous when we first “bought a cow” – the only legal way to acquire raw milk in Ohio. As soon as we had our first drink we were converts. It’s so much better than milk from the grocery and so much fresher. The milk we picked up yesterday we milked on Wednesday evening, you can’t get much fresher than that. We love real milk, not only for the health benefits, but because it’s really good. It’s especially good in the spring/summer when the grass is growing. The milk has a slightly “grassy” flavor and the cream on our milk is golden yellow. It’s so yellow that people ask if I color my homemade butter because it’s so yellow.
Now that raw milk is back in season, we’ll be making a lot of butter, cheese, kefir, homeamde ice cream and other dairy delights. And who can forget all those delicious lattes made with those delicious micro-roasted beans from Al’s Beanery – coffee this good deserves the best milk!
Have you ever had raw/real milk?
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Friday Favorite: Chutneys, Sauces and Toppings
I have a friend that always jokes that my table looks like a French table because I put out so many jars of sauces, chutneys, mustards and other toppings for meals. I must admit, I’m a lover of a good topping. With a variety of toppings you can take a burger from “everyday” to “extraordinary”. Not to mention you can make the same thing taste completely differently depending on which topping you add. I have a collection of mustards in my pantry, I buy them when I spot an interesting one while traveling.
This past fall I got a delicious jar of Ipswich Ale Mustard at Plum Cove Grind a small coffee shop in Gloucester, MA. I also have small pots of mustard from around the world purchased from specialty grocery stores.
The chutneys and sauces we use are made in my kitchen. I try just about every chutney recipe I stumble upon. Making chutney is a really great way to use up small quantities of fruit. My most favorite variety is Roasted Pear Chutney, although I have a peach chutney that comes in a close second.
ROASTED PEAR CHUTNEY
adapted from Epicurious
2 ripe pears, peeled and cut in half
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon organic sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 small red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons currants
3 tablespoons golden raisins
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Toss the pears with the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the cinnamon, and cloves. Coat a sheet pan with half the vegetable oil. Set the pears cut side down on the pan. Brush the pears with the remaining oil. Roast until caramelized and tender, 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the degree of ripeness. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3. While the pears are roasting, bring the remaining ingredients to a boil in a nonreactive saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Using a small spoon or a melon baller, scoop out the cores of the cooked pears. Cut the pears into 1/2-inch slices.
5. Combine the pears and the onion mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 day before serving.
I make a big batch of this and can it. I fill sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, add rings & lids, process in waterbath canner for 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.
The sauce, chutney, topping section of my pantry is starting to look a little sparse. I typically make my chutneys every two years. This year I’ll definitely be restocking my collection as I’d hate to run out. My burgers would be very boring without them!
Do you make any sauces, chutneys or toppings? What’s your favorite way to eat chutney?
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Friday Favorite: You
I can’t list any more Friday Favorites without mentioning YOU, yep you, all my readers and commenters. I appreciate that you take the time to come here each day, read my post and leave a comment. I read through all the comments and they always brighten my day. Anyone who writes a blog knows how exciting it is to get comments and I certainly appreciate all the thoughtful and informative tips you share.
I also love that some of you send me gifts. Recently I received a box of beautiful lemons from someone’s back yard tree, a bag of Living Nutz (which were delicious), a glittery scarf from a reader in Yugoslavia, seeds from the Netherlands, and an offer for guest passes to Longwood Gardens this summer and dinner when I’m passing by when we head out west this summer.
There are evenings when I don’t feel like writing a post, but then I remember that there are thousands of you out there waiting (not to mention if I don’t post I get frantic e-mails asking if everything is all right). You certainly make it worthwhile to sit down and spend some time writing about something each and every evening.
So THANK YOU, from all of us here at Chiot’s Run.
I finally remembered to pick a winner for the collection of Cooking Light Cookbooks that I no longer needed. Our winner is Brittany P, congrats. If you dont’ get my e-mail send me your address via the contact button in the sidebar so I can get them mailed off to you.
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Friday Favorite: Cookbooks Old and New
I love to cook, always have. When I was a little girl I dreamed of opening a bakery. I started cooking a lot of our family meals when I was in high school and never left the kitchen. The older I got, the more I started cooking from scratch, trying new ingredients and honing my cooking skills. I have to admit that I rarely use a cookbook, I’m fairly skilled at inventing recipes and in knowing what combinations taste great. This doesn’t stop me from buying and reading cookbooks. I do use recipes occasionally, but they never are followed to a T. Cookbooks inspire me to try to new things and give me ideas for dishes and combinations.
I do follow recipes when it comes to canning. Changing these recipes dramatically can affect the acidity which will affect the canning length and whether or not the item can be water bath canned or will need to be pressure canned. I have a lot of old canning cookbooks as I usually follow their canning length recommendations instead of the newer ones, since I think they’re overkill and cook things to death.
One of my favorite old canning cookbooks is the Preserving the Taste by Edon Waycott. It’s no longer in print and can be difficult to find. The recipes are fabulous, many of them mixing herbs with fruits and vegetables with wonderful results. Mr Chiot’s favorite preserve, Caramelized Apple Marmalade with Thyme is from it. One of my favorites, Yellow Tomato Preserves, is also from this little book. I also love the 1973 edition of Stocking Up: How to Preserve the Foods You Grow Naturally, this specific version uses honey as a sweetener in most of the recipes instead of sugar which I love. I also have the 1972 Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook that was given to me by Mr Chiot’s step mom (it was her mother’s). It’s my go-to book for pickling as all the recipes I’ve tried are really great!
I check a lot of cookbooks out of the library before buying them. If I find that the recipes sound interesting or I try a few that are really great I will purchase the book. Some books I buy for inspiration and ideas for food as well as photography. I keep a list of books that I’d like to buy. These books are currently on my to-buy list:
As my tastes change I try to get rid of older cookbooks I’m no longer using, especially if I get new ones (you know the rule if you buy something you have to get rid of something). I recently added The River Cottage Preserves Handbook and Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More to my collection.
This stack of books is getting the boot from my collection. I no longer use them and I figured they’d be better off in someone else’s kitchen where they’ll be used and enjoyed. If you’re interested in this stack of Cooking Light Annual Recipes cookbooks let me know, I’ll choose one person who comments that they want them below to adopt these cookbooks from my collection. Our winner is Brittany P, congrats.
What’s your favorite cookbook? Have you found any great new ones recently? Do you have any great vintage cookbooks?
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Friday Favorite: A Little Unusual
I’m a very eclectic person, I have hobbies and interests that span a wide area. Most people know that I love to garden, cook, sew and all kinds of things like that. But I also have a few things that you might find unusal that I enjoy. For one I love Jay-Z music, I know not what you’d expect from me. Another one of the things I love is playing a computer game called Diablo 2 with Mr Chiots.
We used to play the original Diablo when it came out years ago. We were super excited when Diablo II came out and we’ve been playing it over and over again while patiently waiting for 11 YEARS now for Diablo III to come out. We’re not sure if it ever will. You may find it funny that in the game I’m always a Barbarian.
I was badly in need of a new mouse pad, so Mr Chiots got me this awesome Diablo III Barbarian mousepad. What kind of character was on my previous mousepad? Hello Kitty of course, another one of my loves.
What’s a hobby or interest do you have that people might be surprised about?
