In Which I Get In Touch With My Inner Farmwife

I've just been lazy.  That's my only excuse.  Sorry about that.  I've been busy in the kitchen but lazy with the blogging so to atone for that, I will be featuring not one, not two, but THREE delicious things to try.  And even better?  They relate to each other and would make for a fabulous autumn picnic snack.  So strap on your cooking pants, my friends, here we go!

Strawberry-Blackberry Jam
Yankee Mama was shocked I was willing to eat my own jammy goodness, since historically I'm not a jam eater.  But this stuff is so good!  It just begs to be nommed up on everything.  Making jam is not a difficult process, but I warn you: it is a filthy one.  Seriously.  Filthy.  If you don't like making a mess or cleaning said mess, I strongly encourage you to just go buy some jam and skip down to the cheese part of this post.  If you've girded your loins for splashes and splatters and immense amounts of scrubbing, then read on.

Hokay, so.  Get yourself a quart of strawberries and a pint of blackberries.  Dump these in a large pot and smoosh them with a potato masher.  Embrace the chunky bits.  Slowly stir in 3 tablespoons of powdered pectin.  Bring the mixture to a thick roiling boil, stirring constantly.  Remember my warning about jam making?  Enter the mess.  Embrace that, too.  Dump in 3 1/3 cups sugar and stir to dissolve.  Return to a hard boil for one minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Skim foam if necessary.  Can appropriately.  Makes about 5 half pints.

Behold the mess.  I call it: "Jam Scene Investigation."  Oh, and see the splatters on TOP of the hood?  That really happened.

 

 



Farm Cheese
Mess potential here much lower than jam, so neatnicks, relax.  It's also a very simple recipe and easy enough to increase or decrease depending on how much you want to make.  I ended up halving the recipe I had written down (unintentionally, this was the result of faulty milk math in the market), and it made a neat small quantity of a crumbly soft cheese (similar to cream cheese) that I think I can eat before it goes gross.  If you want to make more cheese, just double what I'm giving you here.

Pour one quart whole milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream into a saucepan.  Add a pinch of salt and heat everything till just before boiling, stirring frequently to avoid scalding.  The best way to do this is to not set the burner to HI, but a couple notches below.  When you start to see little bubbles on the surface, you can call it a day.  Remove the pan from heat and add 1/2 cup white vinegar.  Allow the mixture to curdle (doesn't take long).  Now the slightly tricky, potentially messy part: straining the cheese to separate the curds and whey (and no, it doesn't involve a tuffet or a spider).  Use a cheesecloth or gauze or some other loose weave fabric.  Use a large piece, it will make things easier.  Spread your cheesecloth over the mouth of a large bowl (like a mixing bowl).  I used a rubber band to hold the fabric to the bowl--but make sure you don't pull the fabric tightly, or everything will just spill off.  Slowly pour the contents of your saucepan through the cloth into the bowl.  The curds will collect in the fabric and the whey will strain through.  Carefully collect the edges of the fabric together with the curds and use the rubber band to secure them in a bundle.  Hang the bundle from a cabinet handle over the bowl to allow the rest of the liquid to drain.

Kinda like this.

Leave it to drain for a few hours till it stops dripping.  Unwrap your cheese and store it in a little Tupperware fellow and store in the fridge.  Voila!  You have made cheese!

 

 

Dutch Oven Crusty Bread

This recipe came via the blog Simply So Good and I have to thank Yankee Mama for finding it for me, because OMG it's amazing.  Here's just the basic recipe, but you can add delicious things to the dough to make sweet or savory breads like ones you'd otherwise spend lots of money on at bakeries.  And once again, when I talk about a Dutch oven, I'm not talking a toot in the sheets.

 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, 1 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon yeast.  Add 1 1/2 cups water and mix into a sticky, shaggy dough.  Cover the bowl with cling film and leave on the counter at room temp for 12-18 hours.  The dough will puff up as it proofs.  Once your dough is a giant poofball, preheat your oven to 450 degrees, then put your Dutch oven in for 30 minutes to heat up.  Remember the Dutch oven will be HOT, so don't touch it without potholders!  (And if you do, refer to this post :) )  While your ovens are heating, dump your dough onto a heavily floured surface and roll it into a ball.  Cover it with your cling film while you wait for your ovens.  Once the Dutch oven is hot, flour your hands and add your dough ball (the dough is super duper sticky, you really will want to flour your hands for this).  Pop the lid on and bake for 30 minutes.  Then remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  And then you have an amazing and delicious bread!

 

The pictures on Simply So Good do it better justice.  And in real life, even better!

 

This bread is delicious on its own or shmeared with any variety of delicious shmear...like the farm cheese and jam you just made!  The cheese is pretty crumbly but once you get the jam in there they mix together and spread nicely.  Om nom nom!