Cooking – Lucy L Jones PhD LLC

Sourdough Cranberry Rolls

If you look back over the fourteen years of this blog, you’ll see articles on travel, saints, food, writing, gardening, and so much more. In its recent renovation, I have intended for this blog to follow my path of writing as well as to encourage others to also write. And yet, occasionally I want to include something of the “old” blog features. Don’t be surprised if you find something like “Sourdough Cranberry Rolls” in the middle of my ramblings about writing.

I love anything made with sourdough. When I lived in Alaska, I was given a starter that dated back to the 1800s (at least that’s what I was told, but Alaska is known for yarns as big as the state). At any rate, it had been going a long time, and was deliciously sour. I have made sourdough chocolate cake, sourdough fruitcake, sourdough pancakes and waffles, sourdough breads – any recipe I can get my hands on.

The sourdough starter or madre that I use now also came from Alaska, this time from a friend who used to live there, too. This recipe was adapted from The Tassahara Bread Book and I used dried cranberries instead of raisins. Their original recipe calls for fermenting the raisins, so I wasn’t sure if it would work to ferment the dried cranberries. I imagine you could use dried blueberries, as well.

The Tassahara bakers seem to keep a sourdough raisin roll starter on hand at all times, and this might add to the flavor each time it is used. I probably won’t make this recipe as often as they do, so I didn’t keep anything out for the next time, other than replenishing the regular madre as usual.

Sourdough Cranberry Rolls

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sourdough starter
1 3/4 cups water and fermented cranberries *
2/3 cup dry cranberries
Whole wheat flour as needed for kneading.

Mix the salt and cinnamon with the flour. Put the sourdough starter on top of the flour and stir in the water from the cranberries, a little at a time to form a soft dough.

When the mixture is too thick to stir, work with your hands and knead for several minutes. Add the fermented cranberries, and knead a bit more. Add the dry cranberries, and knead them in, too.

Keep the dough on the moist side as much as possible, but add more flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky to work with. Let the dough sit for 20 minutes or so.

Divide the dough into twelve pieces for large scones. Shape into balls and place on an oiled baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and let them sit overnight, at least 15 hours or more.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until well browned.

* Fermenting the Dried Cranberries: Place 1/2 cup of dried cranberries in 2 cups of water. Cover and let sit for 3-4 days, unrefrigerated. Stir daily. Don’t change the water because it will be used in the recipe.

NOTES:
1) This may seem like a long drawn-out process, but it only takes a few minutes each day, rather than taking up a whole day of preparation. I tried this recipe for Sourdough Cranberry Rolls with great trepidation, but it was so easy! I’d like to try another dried fruit. I mentioned blueberries above, but wonder about chopping up something like dried mango or ginger. Oh my!

2) The damp towel part didn’t work well for me. It seemed to weigh down the rolls too much, so I took it off and it worked better. I think my tea towel was too thick, not thin like the old flour sack towels my grandmother used.

3) I got twenty large rolls/scones instead of twelve. Also, the recipe calls them “rolls,” but I think they are more like scones, so that’s what I call them. Whatever you want to call them, they were delicious!

4) After they were cool, I wrapped each one in waxed paper and froze them. They are warm and ready to eat after about 20-25 seconds in the microwave. Slather with butter and enjoy!

A hui hou!

Lucy

Cherry Crumb Pie

This is the month of George Washington’s birth, the lad who said “I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree with my little hatchet.” At least, that’s the story that many children heard when they were in the early grades. Truth or myth, I will always associate Washington with cherries.

I continue to buy fresh cherries because they are so good for you – not to mention delicious! Wonderful cherries have been filling up our markets, and although they are not “local,” they are hard to resist.

One of my favorite ways to eat cherries, other than right out of the box, is this crumb pie. I seldom have the patience to work on an elaborate lattice top crust for pies, so I tend to use a crumb topping for most fruit pies. But it allows for more cherries per bite!

Pie Crust

This is extremely fast and easy – always delicious and reliable! You’ll never roll out another pie crust the old way again!

Place 1 ½ cup all-purpose unbleached flour + 1 ½ teaspoon sugar + ¼ teaspoon salt directly into ungreased pie pan.

Into ½ cup canola oil, add 2 Tablespoons cold milk. Mix with fork until milky.

Pour over flour mix in 9” pie pan, and mix it all together. Press the mix onto the pan until it resembles a regular pie crust. Be sure to leave enough up on the sides to squeeze into a fluted rim. It’s light and flaky. No one ever leaves the edge of this crust on the plate!

Filling

Combine 1 cup sugar (I use ½ cup Splenda and ½ cup sugar) NOTE: If the cherries are sweet, you can get away with less sweetening, 1/3 cup flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt

Add this combination to 4 heaping cups of pitted cherries that have had 3 drops of almond extract added to them.

Toss the sugar-flour mixture with the cherries until they are thoroughly coated. Place into unbaked pastry-lined pie pan. Cover pie with crumb topping

Crumb Topping

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
½ cup (1 stick) chilled butter

Mix together until crumbly, and spread to cover top of pie.

Bake in hot oven (425 degrees F.) about 40 minutes. If the edges look like they are browning too quickly, cover loosely with a strip of aluminum foil.

I usually dig into this long before it’s actually cool enough to eat! This can be eaten with some kind of whipped topping, ice cream, rich coffee cream, or creamer, or just alone! I promise you will not be disappointed!

A hui hou!

Orange Bread

When I was in high school, I worked as a Saturday receptionist for one of the local optometrists who was also a member of my father’s church, which was probably the reason he gave me the job. His wife was known to be a great cook, so this is the recipe from Bea Henderson of Litchfield, Illinois – one I’ve made for many years.

This recipe became a staple when I lived on my boat. It was not only a delicious and fast bread to whip up in my tiny galley, but it used up the orange peels instead of tossing them overboard. Jokingly, I called it my “garbage bread,” but it is anything but garbage!

Decades later, I’m still making this bread and it continues to be one of my favorites. The picture above shows it fresh out of the oven.

Orange Bread

¾ cup orange rind, cut into fine strips
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup water

Boil the above until tender.

Add 2 tablespoons butter and ½ teaspoon salt. Cool.

Beat 1 egg and add cooled orange mixture.

Mix together:
3 cups flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder

Stir – put in loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.

Good for “teas,” sliced thin and buttered (my mother’s words)

My Note: Many “heirloom” recipes don’t give specific instructions on what to do if the batter is too thick, what size pan to use, and the like. I think the thickness depends on how long you let the orange peels simmer. If it’s too thick, I add either water or a little orange juice when I’m mixing. But do expect this to be a thick dough. I sprayed my loaf pans with a canola oil spray to help it come out easier.

I’m afraid my loaves never last until a “tea.” It’s just too good not to eat warm and fresh out of the oven! It’s all I can do to limit myself to one (or two) slices right out of the oven. Also, I usually double the recipe and freeze one loaf for later. It makes great toast or just sliced up and eaten cold. This is absolutely a wonderful, simple bread to make, and tastes like autumn.

A hui hou!

My Cookbook Addiction

I confess! I’m addicted to books! But I have read all the books I own and continue to use them all as reference and/or for teaching.

My addiction carries over into cookbooks, and I doubt if there is even one of these books that hasn’t been used for at least one recipe. Like many cooks, I use recipes mostly for guidance to come up with my own variation. My cooking has never been an exact science.

The shelves of cookbooks shown above were in my kitchen/dining area when I lived in Ocean View, and I had another shelf of cookbooks in another bookcase, because there wasn’t room for them all here. I’ve even been known to borrow cookbooks from the library to read!

When I moved onto my boat from a large house in the late 70s, I gave a book box of cookbooks to each of my four children. This is what I have left!

I know I could probably find the same recipes online, but there is something deeply soul-satisfying about sitting down and reading through an old book of recipes that my mother, or grandmother used. Tucked into each book are other recipes given to me by friends, or that I have cut out of a magazine.

Yes, I think you can say I’m addicted!

Now, you may think that with all these recipes at my disposal, I’d be cooking delicious dishes every day. The fact is, I usually have only myself to cook for and if I ate the way I’d like to cook, I’d be as wide as the channel between here and Maui!

So this week, instead of sharing a recipe with you, I thought I’d tell you about my favorite books on these shelves, and even tell you about some of the recipes in them that I love.

Probably the oldest book I have is a little booklet from the Metropolitan Insurance Company; I think I inherited it from my great-grandmother. Several of my books date back to the 30s, and many of what I have date to the 50s, when I was a young woman. My first Christmas as a married woman in 1955, I received the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, a three-ring binder that is barely holding together.

I also love my specialty books, like Mme. Bégué’s Recipes of Old New Orleans Creole Cookery, from 1953. You wouldn’t believe how many pages are spattered with oil and tomato paste! One recipe from that book is “Shrimp Creole” and someday I’ll post that because I make it often.

I have quite a few Mexican cookbooks, but my favorite is Elena’s Secrets of Mexican Cooking by Elena Zelayeta, blind, but she kept on cooking. Her “Caserola De Pollo Y Elote” (Chicken and Corn Casserole) is full of green chiles and wonderful!

Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook is another tattered book on my shelves, also full of messy pages! And Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook probably has most of the comfort foods I make.

The Rodale Cookbook published by the Rodale Press is where I go for breads and other wholesome foods. I have several other of the Rodale books and they are all great.

As I peruse the books, it’s fun to see how many phases and stages of eating I’ve gone through. You will find vegetarian/vegan books, low-fat books, low-carb books, and all sorts of specialized diet books, all of which I still read and sometimes use. Then there are the regional books that show where I’ve lived – Guam, Alaska, Arizona, California, Down East, Deep South, the Orient.

Even though I still buy new cookbooks, I still go back to my old “tried-and-true” standards when I want to make something special for friends. Maybe someday I’ll stop reading my cookbooks like novels (which is what I do!) and actually use them for more cooking.

Now I’m anxious to go find a new recipe to try for you!

A hui hou!

Lilikoi Butter

First, you need to know that “lilikoi” is our Hawai`ian word for passionfruit, the fruit of the Passion Flower vine. Read the Wikipedia religious explanation of the word “passion.” But I’m passionate about the passionfruit (groan), which I know mostly as lilikoi.

In January, I wrote about trying to grown my own, but I haven’t had much luck so far. In that post, I also included a recipe for lilikoi butter, but I’ve refined it a bit. Also, this is for the benefit of those readers who are new to “Lava to Lilikoi.”

A friend in Na`alehu gave me a huge box of lilikoi fresh from the vine. I love to simply scoop out the insides with a spoon and eat, seeds and all. But this time, there were way too many to simply sit and eat myself sick. So I asked around for some recipes. My masseuse (Velvet) gave me this recipe.

The process I use for juicing is to cut them in half, scoop out the insides, and let that drain in a colander for about 24 hours to get rid of the seeds. My house smelled like lilikoi for days after I finished juicing them.

Lilikoi Butter

4 eggs
4 cups sugar (I used a little less and mixed it with Splenda)
1 pound unsalted butter
1 ¾ cup lilikoi juice

Mix juice, sugar, butter in a large pan. Heat until butter is melted. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl and temper by drizzling a little of the hot liquid into the beaten eggs so they don’t scramble on you. Keep stirring and when the egg mixture is about the same temperature as the hot liquid, pour it into the pan with the juice, butter and sugar.

Bring to a rolling boil, then down to a slow rolling simmer for about half an hour. This will thicken as it cooks.

I don’t know how to improve on this simple recipe other than to use it whenever you can, over whatever you can find. I like it over ice cream, on toasted English muffins or scones, over plain cheesecake, or just right out of the jar with a spoon!

I made a double batch with all the lilikoi I had, and ended up with twelve jars. They look like jewels on my shelf!

I first published this in September 2009 and have had many requests for it since. If you are interested in seeing later posts I did on Lilikoi Butter, look for them under “Categories” on the left-hand side of this post.

A hui hou!

Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I have loved cooking with sourdough ever since I lived in Alaska in the early 60s. The problem is that the starter keeps growing, just like Topsy! I give it away, I use it as often as possible, but I still end up with more than I can use. I’m open for any sourdough recipes you may have, so please send them to me!

This recipe starts out with 1/2 cup of starter, and since I had extra without having to prepare it the night before, this was a good recipe to use today.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together:
1/2 cup starter
1/4 cup milk (I used skim)
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar

NOTE: I used real sugar in this first mixture because I believe it is necessary to help the starter to “work.” Cover and let this mixture stand for 2 hours in a warm spot. I put mine in a sunny kitchen window.

In a separate bowl, cream together:
1 cup butter (I used Smart Balance 65% buttery)
1 cup sugar (I used Splenda)

When well mixed, add 1 tablespoon molasses (I used blackstrap). Then add one egg and continue to mix thoroughly.

Add:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup raisins (or dried cranberries or dried blueberries)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Into this, mix the starter mixture.

The batter will not be as stiff as most of us are accustomed to when we make plain oatmeal cookies. Using a teaspoon, drop the batter onto greased baking sheet about two inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Depending on your oven, it may take a couple minutes longer, but mine came out at 12 minutes. I got 4 dozen in this batch.

A hui hou!

Homemade Individual Pizza (9″)

A funny story about pizza comes from my high school years in Belleville, Illinois, just across from St. Louis and the Mississippi River. There was a new Italian family in the neighborhood who had opened up a new “pizza parlor,” which is what they were called then. I was with my parents and some of their friends one evening when we went in to see what all the excitement was about.

The group asked the waitress to describe a pizza. After she finished, my mother looked around and said, “I think we’ll each take one.”

The waitress tried to convince her they only needed one, but Mother insisted. Finally the waitress said, “Uh, let me bring just one to start with and you can decide if you want more later.”

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on everyone’s face when it was brought out. Without a doubt, that huge pizza was enough to serve everyone around the table.

I suppose there are people who don’t like pizza, but I have no idea what planet they come from. It’s basically like an Italian open-faced sandwich, and you can put anything you want on it, or leave anything out you don’t want.

I’ve made bread a lot in the past, but never pizza. I couldn’t imagine myself trying to learn how to toss a huge circle of dough above my head without a major disaster.

Then I found a little hidden-away article in a magazine. I don’t even remember which magazine it was in. All I know is that I clipped it for further evaluation. Was I ever surprised when I read it! And it’s super delicious! I think I could even categorize it as an “artisan pizza,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. I’m eating it right now as I type up this post!

Homemade Individual Pizza

Crust

1/2 package dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar

Add the yeast to the water and let it sit for 10 minutes. It will begin to look slightly foamy.

Meanwhile, mix the flour, salt and sugar together in another bowl. Then add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients.

Stir until it’s well-mixed. The dough should be thick, requiring a little effort to mix it. Cover the bowl with a clean kithen towel and let rise at warm- or room-termperature for about two hours.

After the dough has risen, place it on a floured board to knead until smoother and no longer sticky. I pushed the dough into a greased 9-inch iron skillet with my fingers, making sure the edges came up a little on the side of the skillet to form a rim.

Add the toppings, starting with the tomato paste, and ending with the shredded cheese. Bake at 425 degrees F. for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese bubbles up and the crust just starts to brown.

My toppings

tomato paste right out of the can
sliced mushrooms
thin salami slices, cut in half
thin slices bell pepper
minced garlic
freshly picked oregano leaves
freshly picked marjoram leaves
sliced fresh basil leaves
shredded Romano Pecarino
shredded pepper Jack cheese

Other toppings I like (but didn’t add this time)

loose sausage
chopped onion
sliced black olives
sliced tomatoes
any other sliced veggie
jalapeño peppers
pineapple
sauerkraut
any kind of cheese

You can put whatever you love on pizza, or whatever you have on hand. Have fun with it!

This was super simple and easy – with no fancy tossing! The only wait was for the dough to rise, but I can usually find lots of other things to do around here.

This could be served to two people along with salad and dessert, but I ate the whole thing by myself (blush)!! Even the rim was tasty! But don’t even ask how many calories are in it. Of course, other than the crust, the veggies would all be “legit.”

If this is your recipe, please let me know and I’ll give you full credit, along with my deepest gratitude for having put it where I could find it!

Buon appetito!

Aloha!
Feral Fables, my newly published e-book, will be available for a special promotional price of $2.99 until August 1, 2010. Go here to to buy or sample Feral Fables. Use the promotional code “SL25S” (not case sensitive) at checkout.
Mahalo! (Thank you!)

Lilikoi Butter Revisited

I am fascinated by the fact that my website statistics show “lilikoi butter” as tops in the list of the search words that bring people to my site. It’s been a year since I wrote about making lilikoi butter and I still get requests for more information.

After my first post on that topic, I received an offer from Alexis and Chris of Coastview Aquaponics to come get the last of their wild lilikoi. I wrote about that visit here. I juiced it all up and froze it to save for a later date.

This past week, I finally got around to thawing it out and making lilikoi butter again. I doubled the recipe shown here and ended up with 15 half-pint jars of lilikoi butter. In reading over the original recipe I posted, I realized that I left out the final process. I’ve added it below.

Lilikoi Butter

4 eggs
4 cups sugar (I used a little less and mixed it with Splenda)
1 pound unsalted butter
1 ¾ cup lilikoi juice

Bring to a rolling boil, then down to a slow rolling simmer for about half an hour. This will thicken as it cooks. (See picture above.)

Using a large-mouthed funnel, pour into sterilized jars, covering with sterilized lids and rings. I turn the jars upside down to let them cool until I hear the top pop, indicating a good seal.

NOTE: I have often complained that something keeps eating my scraggly lilikoi vines, until I read about (and tried) sprinkling crushed egg shells around the edge of the plant. Whatever it is that was eating them doesn’t like to crawl over the egg shells. I suddenly have new growth on my vines that nothing is eating away! Maybe I’ll get a few of my own lilikoi next summer. Hooray!

A hui hou!

Aloha!
Feral Fables, my newly published e-book, will be available for a special promotional price of $2.99 until August 1, 2010. Go here to to buy or sample Feral Fables. Use the promotional code “SL25S” (not case sensitive) at checkout.
Mahalo! (Thank you!)

Pink Grapefruit Marmalade

This is a three-day process, but the flavors are absorbed so much better than a marmalade made too quickly. I tend to like my marmalades to have a slight bitterness, more like a true Scottish marmalade. This recipe ensures I’ll get that.

Choose 3 smallish pink grapefruit (or 4 larger ones) and 2 lemons. Have 2 oranges on hand. These are not added to the marmalade, but you’ll use their juice later on.

On the first day, cut off thin slabs of grapefruit and lemon rind and cut into tiny slivers. Take care not to include pith at this point. Add 2 cups water for each cup of fruit. Let it stand.

On the second day, boil this mixture for 30 minutes. It helps the gelling process if you add large hunks of grapefruit pith to the soaking mixture. Also, cut out the grapefruit segments and add these to the mixture.

On the third day, remove all the pith sections and any stray pips (seeds). Add juice of 2 oranges to supplement the liquid. This helps you to know it won’t burn dry. Also add 1 pat of butter to keep down any froth that forms. Cook using 3 cups of the fruit and liquid mixture to 1 1/2 cup sugar. Simmer about 2 hours (or less). Keep an eye on it and watch for gel to start forming. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal with sterilized rings and lids. Turn upside down until you hear the “pop” of the lid. This lets you know you have a good seal.

Perfect on hot buttered biscuits!

A hui hou!

Spicy Apricot-Orange Marmalade

Have you ever wondered about the precise difference between jelly, jam, preserves and marmalade? I checked with Google.

An answer came up with the following:
• Jelly is made from fruit juice
• Jam is made from pureed fruit
• Preserves are made from whole fruit
• Spreads are made from whole fruit and/or pureed fruit
• Marmalade uses the zest and pulp, and the juice, however not the whole fruit.

I honestly don’t know which one this is, but because I used slivers of orange peel, and because it looks like marmalade, that’s what I call it. Actually, it’s more a combination of preserves and a marmalade, which probably makes it a spread, according to Wiki. It’s definitely not jelly, but whatever you want to call it, it’s delicious!

Spicy Apricot-Orange Marmalade

4 ½ cups apricots, pitted and sliced (leave the peel on)
2 navel oranges
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ cup Splenda
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated is best
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice (I added mine as soon as I took it off the heat)

Cut the oranges to remove the segments (try not to get any of the membrane). Thinly slice the orange peel (like what you normally see in orange marmalade). Combine everything in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Maintain a slow rolling boil for 15 minutes while mashing up the apricots against the side and stirring constantly.

Add your lime juice (lemon would work, too) and stir in. Put into sterilized jars, then cover with sterilized lids and rings. Turn upside down until you hear them pop, which means you have a good seal.

I got a little more than six 6-ounce jars out of this batch. If I’d filled them a bit more, it would have been an even six jars.

I love this sort of thing over ice cream, with homemade biscuits, or on a thick slice of toasted hearty whole wheat bread (homemade if possible)!

A hui hou!