Easy Hard Cider

This is a low-alcohol (theoretically around 3%) hard cider that’s quick and easy to make. Yummy, and sweet. 

Ingredients: 

1 gallon apple juice or cider (without preservatives)

1 to 1½ tsp yeast *

* Don’t use bread yeast. Use beer or ale yeast. Champaign yeast will make a dryer cider. I intend to try Belgian yeast one time. You can use wild apple yeast (from organic apple peels) in a manner similar to sourdough bread starter, but that’s more complex.

 

Special Equipment: 

Fermentation lock (or substitute)

Rubber stopper for bottle, with hole for Fermentation lock

Gallon jar (glass or plastic)

Instructions: 

Leave apple juice at room temperature. Remove a cup or so of the juice to a bowl, and heat to body temperature. Add the yeast to the warm juice to activate. When it starts bubbling, return it to the gallon jug and mix thoroughly.

Install the fermentation lock into the stopper, and seal the bottle. (It needs water in it to work right.)

Set the jar in a warm place to ferment for a week: a little longer for drier cider, a little shorter for sweeter cider. During this week, bubbles are good!

The next weekend, bottle your cider. Use containers that can handle pressure:

• Re-use (pint size?) soda-pop labels.
• Swing-type self-locking (“Lightning type closure”) bottles
• Crown caps (traditional bottle tops: requires a bottle opener to open, and requires a capping tool to seal).

Let the bottles set in a warm place for a day or a little more to carbonate. The pop bottles have an advantage: it’s easy to tell when they’ve carbonated enough: when the bottles are hard (as they would be when they’re full of fresh soda pop at the store), it’s enough.

Store the sealed bottles in the refrigerator.

Consume some time between “as soon as it’s cold” and three weeks or so.

Comment: If you let it ferment too long, you’ll need to age it (a year or more)

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Update: I've made 3 batches by now.

I added a step to the process: our home isn't incredibly warm, so I filled a pot with warm water, and put the fermenting gallon into it to keep it warm.

In the second batch, I heated it too much, late in the process, and killed the yeast, so the cider tasted good enough, but there was no carbonation to it.

In the third batch, I heated it often, but much more gently. Carbonation is fine, but it's over-fermented, and as a result, it's drier than is best.

I'm learning the process.

Green Curry Veggie Bread

Into the mixer, in this order:

 

1½ tsp active dry yeast

2 cups white flour

1 cups wheat flour

¾ cups dried mixed vegetables

1 TBSP white sugar

1 TBSP dry buttermilk powder

2 TBSP gluten

2 TBSP butter

⅓ cup green curry paste

1 fresh egg

1⅓ cups milk, preferably lukewarm.

This raises slower than usual. Let it rise in a bowl until doubled in size. Then form into loaves and bake in the oven. 

Comment: I cooked these in the toaster oven. The large loaf raised enough to come into contact with the top element, and burned the top of the bread, but it was still excellent! 

It’s quite spicy. Very good toasted with butter, or with cheese, and a fried egg on top. 

Candied Bacon Ice Cream

Ingredients:

For the candied bacon: 

½ pound bacon, in slices.
2 or three Tablespoons brown sugar (light or dark, though light tastes slightly better).

For the ice cream custard:

3 tablespoons salted butter
¾ cup (packed) brown sugar, light or dark (you can use either)
2¾ cup half-and-half
5 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons dark rum or whiskey
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
optional: & ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:

To candy the bacon

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil, shiny side down.

Sprinkle 1½-2 teaspoons of brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon, depending on length.

Bake for 12-16 minutes. Midway during baking, flip the bacon strips over and drag them through the dark, syrupy liquid that's collected on the baking sheet. Continue to bake until as dark as mahogany. Remove from oven and cool the strips on a wire rack.

Once crisp (As in "done." Doesn't need to be crunchy)  and cool, chop into little pieces, about the size of grains of rice. Resist the urge to eat it all.

(Bacon bits can be stored in an airtight container and chilled for a day or so, or stored in the freezer a few weeks ahead.)

To make the ice cream custard

Melt the butter in a heavy, medium-size saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and half of the half-and-half. Pour the remaining half-and-half into a bowl set in an ice bath and set a mesh strainer over the top.

In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm brown sugar mixture to them, whisking the yolks constantly as you pour. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over low to moderate heat, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

 

Strain the custard into the half-and-half, stirring over the ice bath, until cool. Add liquor, vanilla and cinnamon, if using.

Refrigerate the mixture.

Once thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the bacon bits during the last moment of churning, or stir them in when you remove the ice cream from the machine.

Dad's Fish Stew

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup of chopped onions
• 4 - 6 large garlic cloves, chopped
• ⅔ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 cup of fresh chopped tomato (about 1 medium sized tomato)
• 2 - 3 teaspoons tomato paste
• 8 oz of clam juice (or shellfish stock)
• ½ cup dry white wine (like Sauvignon blanc)
• 1½ lb fish fillets (use halibut, cod, sole, red snapper, sea bass), cut into 2-inch pieces
• Touch of dry oregano, Tabasco, thyme, pepper
• Salt

Instructions

1 Heat olive oil in heavy large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and garlic and sauté 4 minutes. Add parsley and stir 2 minutes. Add tomato and tomato paste, and gently cook for 10 minutes or so.

2 Add clam juice, dry white wine, and fish and simmer until fish is cooked through, less than 10 minutes. Add seasoning. Salt to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Serve with sourdough bread with butter and a red ale or a good hefeweizen beer. 

Serves 2 well, or serves 3 with other dishes. 

This is very good.

French Cake

I haven’t tried this with layer cake (with frosting). I wonder if that would be a mess.

I made some white cake in a small bread pan the other day, to go with some epic chocolate ice cream. It turned out that the ice cream didn’t need something alongside it (except a spoon), so the cake has just sat there for a day or two.

I cut  the cake into half inch wide slices, dredged them in a mixture of eggs (I have too many of these!), yogurt, and a little milk. I seasoned the eggs with salt and a bit of cinnamon, though next time, I may add some powdered sugar.

Then I tossed the slices into a hot, greased frypan, and cooked it for a couple of minutes each side.

Pull ‘em out, add peanut butter (and maybe this is the better place to add the powdered sugar, or cinnamon sugar) and enjoy with a good cup of hot coffee.

And bacon. Serve with bacon.

Roasted Pumpkin Slices

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin or 1/4 large pumpkin

1 tablespoon olive oil

sea salt

choice of spices*

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 400F. Using a large metal spoon, scoop out the seeds and insides of the pumpkin. (Save the seeds for roasting.) Use a sharp chef's knife to cut slices of pumpkin, about 1-inch thick.

Place pumpkin slices on baking sheet covered in aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and rub on both sides of pumpkin. Season with salt, spices and brown sugar. Roast for 20-25 minutes, depending on thickness of pumpkin slices.

 

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* Spice options. Comment: don't be shy: Be a little adventurous.

a) Pumpkin pie spice, or the ingredient spices (Yumm!):
   ground clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe allspice.

b) Garam masala is good! It's an Indian spice blend.

c) Cumin & curry powder is a good mix.

d) Chipotle chile powder with extra brown sugar, makes a good smokey-spicey-sweet blend.

e) Tandoori spice blend, with curry powder. (Yumm!)

Hint: Mix the seasonings together with a little of the brown sugar, and sprinkle them on together. I use a tiny mesh sieve to sprinkle the spice.

Comment: After your meal of roast pumpkin, go back to the aluminum foil that it was roasted on. Where the brown sugar, butter and spices melted on the foil, if they mixed, they made a very nice candy. Tandoori candy is surprisingly good!

Eggnog Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

3 cups flour (white or wheat)

2 tsp dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm eggnog [Pumpkin eggnog is even better]

¼ ground, dried pumpkin

2 tsp pumpkin spices

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp melted butter (optional)

Topping:

Mix ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice with ¼ cup powdered sugar, and 1½ TBSP raw sugar; sprinkle on top of bread before baking.

 

Instructions

In the mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough (about 4 1/2 cups, or a little less). Knead on low for 6 to 8 minutes, or until smooth. [Can be divided at this point, goodies added to one, while the other is prepared for raising.]

Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise an hour or so, until the dough has doubled in volume.

Punch down dough. Pinch or cut off small handfuls of dough about the size of a large golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. [Refrigeration up to 24 hours is OK here. If possible, warm to room temperature before proceeding.]

When doubled in size, divide the dough as appropriate for the pans you're using.

For smallish loaves, divide in two and shape each ball into a log. Place each log into a greased 7 inch bread pan, cover with plastic foil and leave until doubled in volume.

In the meantime heat the oven at 375F.

Bake the loaves of bread for 25-30 minutes.

As soon as you remove them form the oven brush the top with the melted butter.

Double Chocolate Espresso Custard Ice Cream

Ingredients

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

1½ cups sugar

⅔ cup espresso coffee beans
1 TBSP coffee emulsion

6 egg yolks

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Combine the cream, milk, and sugar together in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the mixture becomes hot and the sugar dissolves. Heat to about 175⁰.

Grind the beans very roughly; goal is just to crack the beans: a pulse or three. When the milk mixture is hot, add the cracked beans, and steep in the hot milk for 30 minutes or so. 

Strain the mixture into another bowl, clean the strainer, and strain the mixture a second time, back into the saucepan.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a spacious, heat-tolerant bowl. Temper the yolks by slowly adding one cup of the hot cream mixture while whisking vigorously. Re-heat the mixture to 175⁰. Stir constantly until the custard thickens slightly. Stir carefully and do not let the custard boil, or the yolks will curdle.

Add the melted chocolate, finely ground powder and cocoa to the custard and stir until smooth. Add 1 TBSP coffee emulsion. Stir well. 

[The first trial involved adding some extra dark chocolate, maybe an additional ounce (with the appropriate sugar and a bit of cream), and an additional ½ TBSP of coffee emulsion, making it "Double Chocolate Espresso Overload Custard Ice Cream ." The Mrs. thought it was "perfect." Tough to argue with "perfect." ]

Allow the custard to cool to room temperature (maybe an hour). Stir in the vanilla, then refrigerate for 4–6 hours, or overnight. We put it in the freezer for an hour one time, put it warm into the ice cream canister the second time, but transferred it to a second canister before it was done.

Pour the cold custard into the canister of your ice cream maker and fire it up.

Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover, and freeze for at least 4 hours to firm up. For best flavor, always remove ice cream from the freezer 20 minutes before serving, or place it in the microwave for 15–20 seconds.

Comment: If you use caffeinated coffee, this will have a pretty substantial caffeine kick. Probably need to have this for breakfast. 

Summary: this is one of the finest ice cream recipes I've ever encountered. It's not easy, but it comes out pretty darned good. It tasted like it was still a "75%" dark chocolate bar, with espresso. 

Roast Beef & Barley Stew

Ingredients with instructions:

¾ pound (give or take) beef. Pick your favorite kind. I used boneless beef ribs.

Sear the beef on the available sides. I season it a bit during this: pepper, dried onion.

I like searing it while it’s frozen; the meat doesn’t cook much while searing. Place the seared beef in the bottom of a small-size crock pot and pour over it:

1 bottle dark beer (I used Stockyard Oatmeal Stout)

1 cup vegetable juice. This one was tomato based, with celery.

Turn the crockpot on high while you go to work. When you return, use forks to shred the beef.

And add ½ cup pearl barley. Add some spices: Basil, allspice, cayenne. More basil than cayenne.

I just liked the Stockyard Stout swirling around with the
vegetable juice. I forgot to photograph the finished meal.

Add some flavoring components: we used 4 cloves of garlic (peeled, whole) and three sticks of celery (chopped up), three carrots, chopped, and half an onion, also chopped.

Cook on high (no lid) for another 90 minutes or so. Or put it into a saucepan and boil it pretty hard. We boiled most of the liquid out, making it a fork meal. Really flavorful.

Fed four, with side dishes.

Chicken & Veggie Miso Soup

Ingredients (for the way I'll make it next time): 

1 chicken breast, frozen or fresh

1 pint miso soup (I used Trader Joes)

4 cloves garlic (frozen is fine)

1 small onion (¼ cup), large chunks
Several slices of a leek

¼ cup rice, wild rice, or barley

1 head baby bok choy

Instructions:

I prefer a frozen chicken breast. I sear both sides (with a little olive oil) while it’s still frozen, and then let it thaw overnight in the fridge.

In the morning, cut the chicken breast into three or four pieces. Turn the crockpot onto high, and add the chicken, the garlic, and the miso soup.

An hour before serving, add the leek, onion and rice. 30 minutes before serving, add the whole bok choy leaves.

The chicken will be incredibly tender. The flavor is relatively mild. Makes enough for two as a standalone meal, or for three if something else is served with it.

Stout Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1 bottle oatmeal stout beer

1 cube frozen homemade pesto, divided

¼ cup apricot preserves, divided

Red onion powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

·         Preheat barbecue. Turn to medium heat.

·         Put frozen chicken breasts in roasting pan. Pour oatmeal stout over them. 

·         Place ⅓ of cube of pesto (1 tsp) on each chicken breast to melt.

·         Place 1 TBSP of apricot preserves on each chicken breast to soften.

·         Sprinkle onion powder over chicken breast. 

·         Leave it alone for half an hour, until the chicken breasts are mostly thawed.

·         Scrape pesto and preserves off chicken breast into the beer. Stir to mix evenly.

·         Slice chicken into ½” pieces. 

·         Return chicken to roasting pan; baste with beer mixture. Continue to baste regularly.

·         As chicken cooks, beer mixture will reduce.

·         When chicken is nearly done, move to direct grill surface. Baste with remainder of beer mixture.

·         Serve with roasted potatoes or squash, and good dark beer. 

Mango Sorbet

Ingredients:
2½ cups Mango Nectar

½ - ¾ cup granulated sugar

1½ cups frozen, sliced, sweetened strawberries

Instructions:

Dissolve sugar in mango nectar. Add frozen strawberries. Put it in the machine and turn it on. Freeze for an hour or two before serving. 

Option: serve with a sprig of fresh mint.

 

This is incredibly good. 

Mini Meat Pies (Clean Refrigerator)

Mini Chicken 'n Broccoli Pies

Filling Mixture

1          tablespoon vegetable oil          

1          lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces    

1          medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)         

1          cup frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained         

½         teaspoon salt   

¼         teaspoon pepper          

1          cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)    

Baking Mixture 

½         cup homemade baking mix       

½         cup milk           

2          eggs    

           

Process:
First, mix your filling ingredients.

While they're sitting there, happily sharing flavors, mix the baking mix with milk and eggs. Mix these ingredients together, and put a little less than a tablespoon in each greased muffin cup. If using mini pie-pans, a bit more.

Next add your filling. Add about ¼ cup of the mixture to each muffin-size cup. If using mini pie-pans, you'll need about ½ cup of filling ingredients.

Finally, top it off with one more tablespoon of the homemade baking mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375º. They should pop out of the pan easily. Plate, garnish & serve.

Also consider:

     Creative variations: Cheeseburger, pepperoni pizza, 
   breakfast sausage & mushroom (pictured), BLT. 
      Be creative with your thinking

   Thai Chicken Mixture: 

  1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

¼ cup sliced green onions (4 medium)

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

½ teaspoon Thai red curry paste

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)

Homemade Baking Mix (Bisquick Replacement)

Homemade Bisquick, small batches

Ingredients

1⅛ cups flour

1¾ tsp baking powder

⅓ tsp salt (OPTION: Use bouillon instead, for savory dishes)

½ TBSP sugar (OPTIONAL)

1⅓TBSP powdered milk (OPTIONAL)

1½ TBSP shortening, oil or butter

(makes 1½ cups total, as listed.)

Procedure

Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks or in the freezer for longer storage.

 

Larger Batches

2¼	cups	flour
4	tsp	baking powder
¾	tsp	salt / bouillon
1	TBSP	sugar (optional)
3	TBSP	powdered milk (optional)
8	TBSP	shortening, oil or butter
3¼	cups	total

Dairy Free Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients: 

3½ cups chocolate almond milk

4 TBSP soy milk powder

4 TBSP Hershey’s cocoa powder

½ cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

• Put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Heat ½ cup of the almond milk to modestly warm. Mix it into the dry ingredients to form an epic chocolate paste. 
• Resist the temptation to pour this over vanilla ice cream and hide away eating it. 
• When it’s mixed smoothly, add the rest of the (refrigerated) almond milk. You might cool this in the fridge for an hour or three. 
• Then load it into the ice cream maker & let ‘er run. It’ll be best if you freeze it for a couple of hours before serving it.

Comments:

1.      This is really quite good.

2.      It could be better. Try soy milk next time. Add a little more sugar.

3.      Be really careful to mix things very well before adding to the ice cream maker.
4.      Don't hesitate to add other chocolatey goodness: chopped dark chocolate peanut butter cups is a favorite. 

Chocolate Overload Ice Cream

Ingredients:
4 TBSP cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar

3 cups half & half

2 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup dark chocolate chips

¾ cup dark chocolate peanut butter cups, chopped (half a package)

Instructions:

• Put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Heat ½ cup of half & half to modestly warm. Mix it into the dry ingredients to form an epic chocolate paste. 
• Resist the temptation to pour this over vanilla ice cream and hide away eating it. 
• When it’s mixed smoothly, add the rest of the (refrigerated) half & half. You might cool this in the fridge for an hour or three. 
• Then load it into the ice cream maker & let ’er run.
• About 10 minutes after starting the process, add the chocolate chunks.
• When it’s done, it’ll be best if you freeze it for a couple of hours before serving it.