Fun in the Sun....

I've not been here at the blog for a while.  We've been busy.

 

There's been beekeeping, berry picking (and eating of course), jamming, some really good summertime menus, a bit of vacationing which included yarn and knitting of course,  there was some reading on the veranda.

It was hard to concentrate on anything but the Pacific view, but we managed to tough it out and sit on the veranda quite a bit, morning, evening, and through one slightly foggy afternoon.

There was some wallpaper stripping going on (and a lot more of it that has to happen, unfortunately).

There was even a summer birthday, which is new for our family.  It's fun to add son-in-laws and some new summertime celebrations.
I hope your summer is going as well as ours.  I'll be back.  I'm off for a bit again.

We took a weekend trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.

The Market in the Historic Reading Terminal was huge and so interesting.  We had some great food there for lunch.

 Look at all of the different varieties of pickled eggs.

                                                                                                          Beautiful preserves.

 The Produce was amazing beautiful.  Too bad I couldn't bring it home in my suitcase.

This meat case was full of all kinds of Beef Jerky.  It was unbelievable.  Schmucker's Amish Meats are a bit of a legend in Reading Market.

Can you guess the weight of this gigantic pumpkin?

Splitting Logs...Saving September.

The best invention ever...Hydraulic Log Splitter.  I'm too old to split logs with an ax.  I leave that up to the Husband.  But this was sort of fun to do together.
We had another old tree fall this summer after a big micro burst windstorm so there is plenty of stacked logs at the back of our pasture.

We won't be able to use our woodpile up in a life time but now we have a large supply of split wood to throw on the fire.

The amazing thing is that pile is two rows deep.  You can only see the outer row of wood.  That's what comes of having trees that are 150 years old on the property. Lots of firewood.

Saving September, splitting logs...it's a "good thing", as Martha would say.

Heirloom Pioneer Wild Plum Jelly

We had a bumper yield of heirloom Pottawattamie Plums this year.  The branches were weighed down with plump, big (for Pottawattamie plums) fruit.  They reminded me of grape clusters hanging on the tree.  These wild plum trees (more shrub-like) originated along the Mississippi and were brought here by the Mormon Pioneers.  Our tree has to be over 100 years old.  We baby it along.  It is an OLD tree.

 We picked about 5 gallons of fruit from our little tree.

Be sure to wash the picked plums very well to remove any bird leavings and sort through the washed fruit and cull out the damaged, mushy fruit. Some of the plums were smashed after the ride back to the city.  I removed these along with some twigs and leaves.

   The skin of this plum is tough and the pits hang to the flesh and are hard to remove so my big steamer makes short work of juicing them and I make jelly instead of jam.  It's much less labor intensive.

Be sure to use a large, heavy bottomed pot and a long handled wooden spoon to make jelly.  The jelly needs to come to a rolling boil that you can't stir down and you don't want the jelly to boil over or to burn yourself.  See that rolling boil?  The heavy bottomed pot ensures that the jelly won't scorch.  I used an 8 quart stockpot for 5 1/2 cups of juice. You need a very deep pot!

Jars of jewels!

Our tree yielded enough juice to make 32 assorted jars of jelly and 2 pints of syrup.  I just followed the instructions on the pectin package.  Easy!!!

Breakfast will taste like a summer morning when we pop the tops of these jelly jars on a cold snowy winter day.

Linked to Garden Tuesday.

Sunday Dinner-Herb crusted Pork Roast

Bruce brought home a Pork Loin Roast.  He loves pork.  Pork loin is "white meat" and it can be a little dry because it is so lean.  I don't like to eat the fat, so for that reason I like to brine my pork roasts. But I didn't have time to brine the roast to retain moisture, so I made sure not to overcook it.  Pork Roast can also be a bit boring so I went into the garden to forage and came up with this...

fresh herbs from the garden, a little garlic, a little olive oil, some compound butter, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and we had a spectacularly flavored pork roast. It had layers of complex flavor.  I sent "doggie bags" to daughters (via the one who came home) who weren't even at the meal.

It was decided that this is one of the best flavored pork roasts to ever grace our dining room table.  There was plenty left over for sandwiches.  Bruce declared his plan to make one for dinner with the pork and my homemade blackberry jalapeno jelly.  I wish I had thought of that!

I added a fresh garden veggie saute, some garlic roasted potatoes, and my homemade applesauce on the side. This roast was so good; it will be in my permanent rotation for Sunday dinners.

Check back for a post on freezing those summer herbs so you can make this recipe all winter.

Garden Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast

4 or 5 pound sirloin pork roast (may be trimmed of all fat)

1 teaspoon of butter (I used a compound butter made with basil, Parmesan cheese, and salt)

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

4 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped

1 Tablespoon of fresh thyme (I used Lemon Thyme), chopped

1 Tablespoon of fresh basil, chopped

1 teaspoon of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary (if using fresh, use 1 teaspoon)

1 Tablespoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Trim excess fat from the roast.  (You may leave a small fat cap so the roast will not dry out in place of rubbing the roast with butter).  Wash and completely dry the roast.  Rub the butter (if using) onto the top of the roast.

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper together.  Pat the entire roast with the herb mixture, put on a rack in a roasting pan and cover with plastic wrap.  Let the roast set in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

With the fat or butter side up, remove the plastic wrap and roast uncovered for 25 minutes at 475º F.  Turn the oven down to 400º F. and roast for about another 25 minutes or until a meat thermometer stuck into the middle of the roast reads 145-150º F.  Remove the roast from the oven and loosely cover with aluminum foil.  Let the roast rest for 20 minutes before slicing.  The roast will continue to cook as it rests.

Slice and serve.

Preserved Lemons

Have you seen Middle Eastern food recipes that call for preserved lemons?  They are difficult to find in  regular markets and can be expensive to buy if you do find them.  You can substitute lemon juice and zest in the recipe.  I did it when I made this Morrocan chicken, but you don't need to.  Making your own preserved lemons is easy, inexpensive and just takes a little patience.  This recipe from Cook's Illustrated is a good one.

Preserved lemons keep for six months in the refrigerator and there is nothing like them for flavor.

Make up a jar for your larder and then come back in a bit and see what we make with them.

Preserved Lemons

Makes 4 Lemons

We prefer Meyer lemons; however, if you can't find them, you can substitute regular (Eureka) lemons. Look for lemons with thin skins. Do not substitute table salt for the kosher salt. Depending on the size of your lemons, you may need more or less lemon juice to cover the lemons. You will need a 1-quart glass Mason jar for this recipe. The preserved lemons can be refrigerated for up to six months.

        Instructions

     1. Cut each lemon lengthwise into quarters, stopping 1 inch from bottom, so lemons stay intact at base.

     2. Hold 1 lemon over bowl and pour 3 tablespoons of salt into cavity of lemon. Gently squeeze lemon, rubbing cut surfaces together. Place lemon in 1-quart glass Mason jar. Repeat with remaining lemons and salt. Add accumulated salt from bowl to jar.

     3. Pour lemon juice into jar so lemons are submerged. Cover jar tightly with lid, shake, and refrigerate,   shaking jar once per day to redistribute salt and juice for first 4 days. Let lemons cure in refrigerator until  glossy and softened, 4 to 6 weeks.

     4. When ready to use, cut off desired amount of preserved lemon. Using knife, remove pulp and white pith from rind. Slice, chop, or mince rind as desired. (For uncooked applications, rinse lemons to remove excess salt before using.)

 

I love to make infused vinegars. They make great hostess gifts this time of year.  Or give them to your  neighbors and teachers for the holidays.  One of my favorite flavors of vinegar is Tarragon.  I make the most yummy chicken salad with it.  It's also an ingredient in Bearnaise sauce.  It has so many uses.

Tarragon is a perennial herb, with woody stems  (think rosemary or lavender) and long, soft leaves that taste a bit like licorice.  You consume the leaves only.  At the end of the season, I cut my plant back and dry the leaves and stems. Just lay them out in a single layer on a paper towel-lined tray and cover with another layer of paper towels. You could use a dehydrator but I find that air drying works well in this case.  When the tarragon is dry, I discard the stems after stripping the leaves. Store them in a jar in a dark cabinet.  And the price?  So much less expensive than the market.

Some of the stems go into big glass jars and get covered with white wine vinegar.
After pouring vinegar into the jar on the left, I had to leave to attend to some laundry. Ten minutes later, I came back to pour the vinegar over the jar on the right and the tarragon in the left jar had already lost it's bright green color.  It tastes lovely in vinaigrettes even with the softer color.

After a few weeks, I decant it into smaller bottles, and add a few soft pickled stems .  I cork them and seal the corks to the bottle with paraffin wax.  When I get time, I'll make little labels to tie around the neck and gift these to friends for the holidays.  It is nice to include a recipe or two so that they know how to use the vinegar. 

The very best part of this whole process?  THE PRICE!  The little herb plant cost me $2.00 three years ago, and it produces every year, so I consider my herbs FREE !  The vinegar is white wine vinegar from Costco and cost about $2.50 per gallon.  One gallon of vinegar at $2.50 cents compared with $7.00 for 16 oz. of tarragon vinegar at the market; well worth the small amount of time invested in making it.

Tarragon Vinegar

2 cups of packed tarragon stems, with leaves

1 gallon of white wine vinegar

A sterile, non-reactive container large enough to hold the vinegar and tarragon

     (I use glass refrigerator bottles)

Pack the tarragon stems into the container.

Heat the vinegar and pour it over the stems. Cool.

Seal the container and let the tarragon steep for 1-2 weeks.

Decant the vinegar into smaller containers. Include a few stems of the herb in the bottle if you like.

Cork and dip the cork and part of the bottle neck in hot paraffin wax for longer storage life.

Tie a label to the bottle and include a recipe that incorporates the vinegar.

Grapes to Jelly

 One of our grapevines died last winter and I'm not sure which variety the remaining grape is, but I can tell you that it is sweet and made some great juice.  Our altitude is 5800 ft above sea level and we need a hearty variety to survive up here.  So even though these don't make great "table grape eating" (their skins are a bit tough) the juice is wonderful.  I decided the best use of them was jelly.

I didn't have many grapes after the birds got them this year, what with the loss of the one grapevine but there was enough to make a small batch.  Who knew that green grapes made pink jelly?

 I just followed the directions for Grape jelly on a box of Sure-Jell Pectin.  And not wanting to drag my large water bath canner up from storage, I rigged up a small batch canner using the jar rings set right in a pan.  You won't want to set your glass jars directly on the bottom of the pan; they just might break.

It worked great and the jelly is good.  And the two jars in the pantry are enough grape jelly.  I usually make far more jelly than we can eat in a season anyway.  I just can't help myself.  There is something so satisfying about preserving things that we've grown and tended for the season.