Bill allowing sale of some homemade foods in California

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-governor-1616-homemade-food-20120921,0,6155634.story

Sometimes I wish I lived in California.

Baked Farm Chicken

I got this chicken from a small scale, honest goodness, hobby farm.  Farmer Tom is an easy going, laid back hobby farmer, who loves to show you around his farm and tell you about how everything works.  His farm is where I get my eggs at $2.50/dozen.  He doesn't advertise, and I wish I lived closer to his farm.

This chicken was delicious.  I think the last time I had good chicken, other than two weeks ago at The Prune in Stratford (which uses local ingredients), was when I was a kid back in Poland, and we grew our own chickens among other edibles.  BTW, I never order chicken in restaurants, the reason I had it at The Prune was because it was part of the fixed menu.

I made it simply.  Cut up a carrot, used one leek (from the farm), a few bay leafs, and sprinkled a mixture of French inspired herbs: savory, thyme, basil, fennel, lavender (very small amount), some s&p.

I started cutting before remembering to take a photo, as it happens often.

This is the chicken neck.  It's hard to look proper when eating bony parts, but who cares, the neck is one of the best parts.  Any meat closest to bones is tastiest.  I mention that all the time.

This chicken (about $15) was enough for six proper meals, and I got about 50 ml of chicken fat.  I wouldn't advise rendering chicken fat from store bought poultry.  Fat contains a lot of toxins, and chances are store bought poultry has no shortage of toxins.

I can't wait to use this.  I wish I had more.  I'll have to decide what I will use it for, maybe a crust for a savoury tart, or to fry up chicken livers.  Mmmm, I'm salivating.

Dill

Dill is an amazing little savoury herb.  During the summer, it looked like I would have a whole patch of dill, but then as it kept growing, it also got some sticky disease, so I cut it all down and threw it out.  I did catch two beautiful green caterpillars in my dill, so it may have been their stickiness.  My mom gave me a container of frozen dill from her yard.

Dill is an awesome plant, if you like it, because it seeds itself, and not always where you'd like it to grow.  It's easy to pull out before it seeds again, so it's not anything like mint, which takes over, and "seeds" itself via its root system, which is much harder to eradicate, especially over time.

My dill from last year, and possibly this year, before I cut it down, seeded itself in my lawn, near the veg patch, so I ended up with loads of my own dill after all.

I collect the leaves, chop them up, then store in a yogurt container in the freezer.  Frozen dill isn't as amazing as fresh dill, but pretty darn close, and so much better than dried dill, which doesn't taste like much.  I didn't wash my dill, because it's from my backyard.  If you have to wash yours, let it air dry, or shake off as much of the water as you can.  If you use a paper towel, gently pat the water off, don't squish the dill.  I find it's best not to wash it, so that it retains its (dainty) firmness.

Dill is a gerat herb for various foods.  My fave is on new potatoes with butter.  It's also a must for pickling cucumbers, it works in sauerkraut and various pickles, on salads, meats, vegetables, grains, any savoury dish really.  If using with cooked food, sprinkle it at the end, when serving.  If cooked, dill doesn't retain much flavour, like cilantro and fresh basil (to an extent).

I now have six containers of dill in my freezer :)

Quick Ice Cream

Back in May I wrote about how to make instant ice cream, instant being about 10 minutes.  A few weeks ago, I discovered another quick way to make very creamy ice cream.  This one is a bit more sugary, but has more flavour options, is ultra creamy, and takes about 3-4 hours compared to 12+ with an ice cream maker.  Even good quality store bought or ice cream parlour bought ice cream has a fair amount of sugar in it.  The instant ice cream (from the May post) can have no sugar or whatever amount you choose; it does taste better with sugar though, without it's bland and tastes like something (much bigger than sugar) is missing.

Anyway, this ice cream can be made and eaten in the same day and doesn't require an ice cream maker.
All you need is cream and condensed milk, plus whatever flavour you'd like to add and a freezer safe container.

Beat the cream and condensed milk in a bowl with an electric mixer.  The cream won't have stiff peaks, because you're beating it with the condensed milk, but the mixture will thicken like this:

If you're adding a flavour, add it at the end.  The above picture is cinnamon ice cream, so once I added the cinnamon, I used the beater to blend it in.  If you're using nuts or fruit, fold them in with a spoon or spatula.

When ready, pour the mixture into a freezer safe container.  I've made this a couple of times so far.  The first time I used a loaf pan and covered it with aluminum foil, the following time I used plastic tupperware containers with lids.

I smoothed it out a bit before placing in the freezer, because I wasn't sure if it was more likely to end up with frosty bits if it had texture.  I learned it doesn't matter.

The ice cream ends up free of icy bits/ freezer burn.  Here we have chocolate and cinnamon:

This one was for James with a Ferrero Rocher on top:

This one was for me:

This weekend I made four other flavours.  Clockwise starting at noon: wild strawberry liquor (Fragoli, it's Italian and it comes with the wild strawberries in the bottle), lavender flavoured honey with dried lavender flowers, cinnamon-chilli-chocolate, and almond with almond extract and almond slivers.

As much as I like my ice cream plain, all these flavours turned out delicious.

My very first experiment in this line was the cinnamon flavour.  Then I made the cinnamon and the chocolate for my parents, and they loved it, my dad even said that I should start selling it.  I'm sticking to my sauerkraut for now, and other fermented foods.

Enjoy!

Pan Fried Porkchops

I love pork.  Try a real farm grown pig and tell me it's not the best meat on the planet.  These porkchops are from the Pork Shoppe in Shakespeare.  Very easy and quick to make.

First, blot the chops with paper towel, to remove any liquid.

Choose some spices and create a rub.  I used cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar and mashed it all into a powder with a mortar and pestle.  If you don't have one, you can use a glass bottle and a cutting board or your counter top; place the spices between parchment paper or wax paper, and roll the bottle, or use the base and mash the spices.

Use your fingers to rub the spice mixture into the porkchops.  Heat a frying pan with some butter, I use a cast iron pan, because it retains the heat well and I like the crust it creates on the meat.  Sear the meat on one side for about 2 minutes, then flip and do the same on the other side.

After the 2 minutes on the other side, cover the pan with a lid, and give it 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat.

I made new potatoes with skins, dill, and butter, as well as button mushrooms lightly fried in butter to go with the pork chops.

I love new potatoes with butter and fresh dill.  I have quite a bit of dill growing in my backyard and since potatoes are in season, there is no better time for this tasty and easy side.  Make sure to scrub the taters before boiling.  As much as I love summer for the heat and sun and fruit, I love autumn for the vegetables and pretty colours.

I halved the potatoes so they would cook quicker.  I always add a bit of salt to the water and potatoes as they're boiling.  Depending on the amount you're cooking, the type and age, potatoes usually take about 10-15 minutes.  Use a fork to check so that they don't over cook.  You want the fork to go in easily.  All these details about boiling potatoes may seem a bit crazy, but I've had some awful potatoes.  If you're mashing potatoes, don't use stock or any liquid to fluff them.  Best thing to mash with potatoes is butter or sour cream, neither dilutes the potatoes and both add creaminess.  Don't over do it, it's better to keep adding small amounts to achieve the perfect consistency, than to put in too much and be left with a sticky, heavy mush.

Fall is in the air!  lala lala lala la

Vegetable Soup with Pork Stock

I was a vegetarian for six years back in the 90s.  It's one of my regrets.  This soup is full of vegetables, but it is made with a pork stock as base.  You can make a vegetable stock instead, but it will not taste this good.

The vegetables used here are carrots, peas, green beans, cauliflower, and potatoes.

Whenever I'm making soup, I start with a meat stock.  I often like to use pork ribs, because they taste good even when boiled.  First, I boil the meat in water for a few minutes, until I see froth and bits floating.  I fish out the meat, and dump out the water, rinse the pot.  Add fresh water, the pork, spices and vegetables.  So easy and delicious, and perfect for autumn.

Enjoy!

Fruit Infusion

The past few weeks have been busy and hard.  I've been feeling off, and today I think I'm finally starting to get sick, and I will do various things to try and prevent the cold or flu from taking over.  I finally got home, after a day of farmer's markets and visiting friends, and made myself a hot tasty beverage of dehydrated fruit:

The blend includes: black currants, dog rose, apple pieces, and hibiscus.  Very soothing and yummy, sweet and tart.  I like eating the fruit once I'm done drinking the infusion.  This infusion smells amazing.

Coleslaw my way

I love cabbage, because it's so versatile, but also so tasty in its many ways.  The crazy thing is that I have never made coleslaw until last week.  I've had coleslaw loads of times, some good some great, and I've finally decided to make some myself.  I was inspired by a coleslaw I had at a Pork Party a few weekends ago at a Slow Food Market.

I used a cone shaped cabbage I picked up at the Slow Food Market:

And peppers I picked up at a hobby farm.  Believe it or not, I paid $2.50 for all those vegetables.  I love this hobby farm, it's not advertised in any way, but I found out about it in early Spring.  The onions were a dollar, and the 4 corns were free.  The rest of the vegetables were 10 cents a piece.

Since I had all the coleslaw to myself, I was having it twice a day for three days in a row.  It was so good that I didn't even get tired of it, and surprisingly it remained crunchy.

It was good enough to eat alone.

I also had it with a pork roast stuffed with prunes and cabbage pierogi.

Pork sausage, of course, and my fave mustard, Polish with horseradish.  I sliced it up for easy dipping.

Here I had it without mustard.

Ingredients:

- cabbage

- carrots

- peppers

- apple cider vinegar

- grape seed oil, or any oil really, I used grape, because it barely has a flavour

- mustard seed powder

- celery seed

- S&P

- a bit of sugar

Chop the cabbage, mix all other ingredients and pour over chopped cabbage.  Mix it all up.  You can eat it right away, but it tastes even better after it stands for a while and the flavours get to mingle.

I didn't measure anything, just taste as you're adding and mixing and adjust to your liking.

I like this so much that I made it again this weekend.

Four Hour Cinnamon Ice Cream

A while back I posted a recipe for an ultra quick fix ice cream treat.  It involved frozen strawberries and cream.  Recently I made ice cream again, still not the conventional way.  I do have an ice cream maker, but it takes at least 12 hours in the freezer.  The super fast strawberry ice cream is the speediest, but it does need to be eaten right away.  I never tried freezing it, but my guess is that with all the water content, it would end up with icy bits, like freezer burn.

Here is a way to make ice cream in a fraction of the time without using a maker.  I think this way allows for many flavour options, and it can be frozen.

BTW, I had a carton of cream which was expiring soon, and my last can of condensed milk, and that is how this treat came to life.  I say last can, because last year when it was on sale, I bought some, and my bf bought some, because he knows how much I love CM, and together we had about 18 cans.  I ate some of them, used most for key lime pies and various experiments.

All you need is love, na na na na na....  One of my fave songs, but seriously.

- 1 can of condensed milk
- 1 carton of whipping cream (500ml)
- cinnamon, or a flavour of your choice, nuts, cookie bits, coffee, etc

Pour milk and cream together, beat until it thickens.  You won't get fluffy peaks with this, but it will be thick, in a pourable way.  Add cinnamon, or whatever, and either beat it in or fold it in, depending on what you're adding.

Pour in a freezer safe container, wait at least three hours, check, it may need four.  

I smoothed mine out after pouring it in to the container, before it went in the freezer, but it would not have made a difference.

Et voila!  Creamy, scoopable ice cream ready in a few hours  :)