Smoked Cheddar and Jalapenos Dip

What to do on yet another COOL Alaskan summer day, with rain, in the 50's?
-bake Christmas cookies or a pumpkin pie
-make a big pot of stew, chili, or legumes
-bake bread or Dingo Dave's wonderful cheddar-bacon mini muffins (*recipe here)

Today I smoked me some cheddar -- that's what I do when I ran out of salmon to smoke!
It's incredibly easy to do: I buy me a big hunk of sharp cheddar at Costco, cut it up into chunks about 1.5 - 2 inches tall, place it on the highest rack of the smoker, and give it 1 panful of chips (alder/ apple/cherry) for about 2 hours of a cool smoke. (I recommend you don't do this on a very hot day -- if you don't care for dripping cheese all over your smoker -- yup, I've done that!)

Here is the RECIPE for a tasty and easy party dip that uses smoked cheddar:
1 c shredded smoked cheddar
1 jalapeno pepper, diced very finely
combination of sour cream, cream cheese, ranch dressing and/or mayo -- approx 1 c total
optional: chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Just mix it all up, and serve with crackers and vegetables as an appetizer.

A Trifle for dessert

Yesterday we had a potluck at work, and our resident Brit made TRIFLE for dessert.
This gentleman is famous for his desserts, and this was no exception -- it was excellent. Soooo, I decided to research the topic and find out what makes a trifle.

From Wikipedia:
A trifle is a dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top... The earliest known use of the name trifle was for a thick cream flavoured with sugar, ginger and rosewater, the recipe for which was published in England, 1596, in a book called "The good huswife's Jewell" by Thomas Dawson.It wasn't until sixty years later when milk was added and the custard was poured over alcohol soaked bread (such as sweet sherry, madeira wine or port).

English Trife
RECIPE from the Brit, more or less, who says this is what's traditionally made on Mondays with the left-overs from the weekend's baking for company.
sponge cake
sweet sherry or port (alternatively, fruitjuice/ gelatin)
vanilla pudding or custard
seasonal fresh fruit: pears, bananas, grapes, cherries, berries, etc (save prettiest for top)
whipped cream, sweetened

Cut sponge cake and layer 1/3 in clear glass bowl. Soak cake with al-ki-hol.
add 1/3 of fruit, arranged nicely. Pour 1/3 of custard over fruit, and 1/3 of whipped cream.
Repeat with cake, fruit, custard layer. Lastly, decorate with fruit.

Note: Obviously you can make this without booze (and substitute juice, gelatin) -- but then the kids might want some too!

Mocha-Chocolate Trifle
now this is right up my alley!

brownie or other chocolate cake
Kahlua or other compatible alcohol
chocolate pudding (optional, dissolve some instant coffee granules in the milk)
fruit: cherries, strawberries, etc
whipped cream (flavored w/ cocoa, coffee or liqueur if desired)
optional: slivered almonds, chopped toffee bars

same idea as before.

German pancakes with strawberries

Sometimes we have breakfast for dinner -- Do you?
Strawberry season is upon us, and they're so good that sometimes we just eat them at every meal!

Start the day with strawberries over homemade granola; have some for lunch in a salad or just plain, and for dinner there's strawberries over pancakes!

One of our special treats is a nutritious German-style pancake, originally made with Quark, but we actually like it best made from cottage cheese. There's enough dairy in this meal to make a decently well-rounded meal.


German Cottage-Cheese Pancakes
4 eggs, separated
1 pint cottage cheese (2 c)
approx 1/4 c milk
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 c+ flour
butter or oil for frying

Separate the eggs. Mix the yolks with cottage cheese, milk, sugar and salt. Add enough flour to make a slightly stiff batter.
Separately, whip the egg whites until stiff. Fold them carefully into the cottage cheese batter.
Fry on griddle until golden brown. Serve immediately with sweetened strawberries or syrup.

Optional additions into the batter:
1.) Bacon bits
2.) grated apples & nuts
3.) blueberries and/or cranberries

QUARK: a staple of German dessert-making

If you've never heard of QUARK, you're not alone. It does not have a translation in English. It's a fresh (or white) soft cheese similar to queso blanco or Indian Paneer. The closest I can come to describing this dairy product is to call it a cross between sour cream and ricotta cheese, or cream cheese and cottage cheese-- sort of like the Italian mascarpone. I occasionally treat myself to a tub of "real" Quark, available in Anchorage at New Sagaya Market. I've got one in my frig right now, and am trying to decide what special German dessert to make with it.

Wikipedia defines Quark (pronunciation "qvark") as a fresh curd cheese of East European origin (from the slavic "tvorag"). It is soft, white and un-aged, similar to the french fromage frais. It usually has much lower fat content (about the same as yoghurt) than cream cheeses and has no salt added.
I grew up eating Quark both savory and sweet: we spread it on bread, and ate it as a simple dessert with fruit. And it is the best for making German cheesecake! As a substitute, you can create your own from buttermilk (link here) or by using a yoghurt cheese (strain unflavored yoghurt through a cheese cloth). Even simpler is to substitute mascarpone, or blend 9 parts ricotta w/ 1 part sour cream, or use a blender to make you own mix of cottage cheese, cream cheese and/or yoghurt, depending on how much creaminess you're after...
Suesser Quark mit Frucht
Blend quark, sugar or honey and berries -- it's so easy a five-year old can be in charge of this! Probably the first dessert I ever made.

Poached Pears with cheese & berries
I learned this recipe from Eldest daughter (Kitchensister). You can use quark, mascarpone or ricotta cheese. several fresh pears (not super-ripe)
ginger, sliced real thin
ground cinnamon (1/2 -1 tsp?)
honey (1/2 cup?)
water, as needed (may substitute partially with wine)
berries (can be frozen) - 1 or 2 cups
quark or ricotta or mascarpone cheese - 1 tub

In a sauce pan, heat the honey/water/wine mixture with cinnamon and sliced ginger. Add pear slices and simmer with just enough liquid to cover the pears. When pears are soft, remove them and set aside. Discard the ginger.
Boil the liquid down until there's barely any left (watch that you don't burn this!).
Stir in the cheese.
Separately, make a berry compote ("soup") from berries -- simmer in a saucepan, adding sweetener if you feel it's needed.

Serve this dessert by placing a few slices of pear on each plate, spooning sweetened cheese over it, and drizzling with berries.

Streuselkuchen mit Quarkfüllung
Dough:
2 c. flour
1/2 package dry yeast (1 heaping teaspoon) or 1/2 cube of fresh yeast
1/2 c. lukewarm milk (110°F)
2 T. butter
2 T. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Filling:
5 T. butter
1 tsp. lemon zest
6 T. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. Quark or yogurt cheese
2 T. cornstarch
optional: berries or other fruit

Streusel Topping:
1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preparation:

Make the yeast dough: Place the flour in a bowl and create a hollow in it with the back of a spoon. Crumble fresh yeast or sprinkle dry yeast in the hollow, fill with the lukewarm milk, add a pinch of sugar and mix a little to incorporate some of the flour. Let the sponge sit in a warm place for 15 minutes.

After the yeast is activated and showing strong growth, add the butter, salt and sugar to the milk and mix the dough, incorporating the flour as you go. You may also use a stand mixer for this step. Continue mixing until the dough is smooth and forms a ball. Add a little more flour if necessary. Form dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, turning once, and cover. Let rise 15 to 30 minutes.

Roll out on a lightly floured board to a 9 x 13 inch rectangle and transfer to a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Press towards the edges gently, creating a lip (like a pizza crust). Let this dough rest while you mix the filling and topping.

Make the filling: Cream together butter, sugar and lemon zest for 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as you go. Add the Quark or yogurt cheese, mixing until smooth. Sprinkle the cornstarch on top and mix to incorporate. Spread over the yeast dough.

Optionally, add fruit at this stage (something not too watery, such as berries).

Make the streusel topping: Mix 1 1/2 cups of flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt and cinnamon. Using your hands or a pastry mixer, cut 7 tablespoons butter into the flour mix until you have course crumbs. Sprinkle these crumbs on top of the Quark filling.

Bake the cake at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until cake is lightly browned and filling is almost set. Filling will set up more as it cools.

Making Yoghurt

I've recently acquired a yoghurt-maker, and love making my own.
Turns out you don't even need a fancy machine -- you can just make it using a thermos or cooler, or in your oven if you can keep the temperature around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, such as a gas stove with a pilot light.
But given how cold it can get in the house during winter (and the fact that my electric oven does not have a low setting), I do think my new yoghurt-maker will be a nice convenience for consistent batches of the white stuff.

I'm, shall we say, an imprecise cook, and after the initial measuring and checking temperatures, I now make my yoghurt as follows:

Homemade Yoghurt
1-2 qtMilk (I like whole milk rather than reduced fat-- it's often on sale at the Grocery Store)
1-2 T plain yoghurt (Greek is my favorite)

Heat up milk on stove or microwave until it's warm enough for a baby bottle (test on back of hand -- if it's nice & warm but doesn't hurt, then that's good!) Officially, it's supposed to be 110 F, and most recipes call for scalding milk first (180F) and then cooling it back down, but with already pasteurized milk that is not necessary.
Add a little of the milk to your starter, mix it well until there are no clumps, then return to big container of milk.
Then put it all into the yoghurt-maker, or if you're using a cooler -- just bed your container (closed) down in such a way that it stays nice and warm (insulate by wrapping in towels, etc).
Keep it warm overnight (minimum 4 hrs), and all the little bacteria will go to work and multiply happily!
Do not disturb while culture is forming.

To get the nice thick creamy stuff, I send the final product through a cheese cloth or coffee filter for a couple of hours to get rid of the whey (liquid)--- the remaining yummy thick yoghurt doesn't have any of the carregeenan or other gelatenous thickening agents used in commercial yoghurt, and it's delicious!

Some uses for homemade yoghurt
sustitute for sour cream, mayo
Simple dessert (yohurt -sweeten slighty if desired, strawberries, sprinkle w/ granola)
Smoothies (yohurt, banana, OJ, etc)
Tsaziki (cucumbers, yoghurt, dill, salt & pepper)
Frankfurter Gruene Sosse (*recipe on one of my potatoes posts)
Chicken Tikki Masala (and the related Murgh Tikki Masala), go here for recipe.

photo credit: bonappetit.com

Simple Homemade Ice Cream Recipes

We're having a heatwave (just shy of 70 degrees Fahrenheit today), and that means it's time to make iecream! My husband still gets a kick out of my German ways : I was taught that you don't even think about icecream as an option until it's seriously shorts weather -- here in Alaska that means that some years you'll hardly ever get to let the sweet elixir cross your lips!

But today was a day that even my mother would not have disapproved of a batch of homemade icecream. I decided to search the bottom of the freezer for the last bag of last fall's wild Alaskan blueberries (harvested high in the alpine area with freezing fingers by my darling daughter only last September). Icecream made from wild blueberries always comes out a deep rich purple color (the picture I found on the web comes close to what I get -- BTW, Once Upon a Plate is a blog with great recipes!).
I never buy icecream anymore: making your own is as easy as falling off a horse!!! In my freezer I usually keep an assortment of flavors: there's always some Vanilla (and/or chocolate) icecream handy for when the desire for a cup of "Eiskaffee" strikes! But now that it's getting warmer, I'm turning more to refreshing flavors of summertime. Basic proportions are 3/4 c of sweetener to 3 cups of liquid (can use Half-half, or mix milk and cream) -- and you can control the quality of the ingredients and the amount and type of sweetener used.

My kids heartily approved of tonight's effort, and decided mom needs to publish the recipe. It reminds them of their friend Carson who moved away from Alaska, and who always wanted seconds when I made this icecream. Here it is with it's new official name:

Carson's Favorite Blueberry Icecream
1 c Alaskan blueberries, thawed out & squeezed thru a sieve
3/4 c sugar
1.5 c milk
1 c cream

Mix the fruit juice with sugar and rest of ingredients (I used to cook this first, but don't feel a need to do that with previously frozen fruit -- the freezing process has caused enough damage to the plant cell walls that you get plenty of good juice out of them). Process mixture in icecream maker according to manucturer's instructions -- mine takes about 20-30 minutes.


Lemon Icecream
3/4 c sugar
1 t lemon extract
grated rind from 1 lemon
2 c milk
1 c cream

Mix and process in freezer.

Green Tea Icecream
This was met rather skeptically by my troops when I made it several years ago, but I plan to try it again sometime soon. Green Tea is an acquired taste that I would not expect most children (or husbands) to like -- perhaps serve it for your next "Kaffeeklatsch" (German translates roughly to Coffee-drinking gossip get-together, which is very much a ladies' event!)

Steep 1 cup of strong green tea (using 2 bags) plus few drops of green food coloring
Alternatively, use japanese green tea powder (Matcha)
Add 3/4 c sugar
1 c milk
1 c cream

I know that this is far simpler and probably not nearly as good (or rich) than the way this icecream is usually made, namely it's a cooked custard using

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons matcha (powdered Japanese green tea)

Flammkuchen

I grew up in Germany's Saarland, which borders the French regions of Lorraine, and the cuisine of the border region has elements of both cultures. Similarly, neighboring Alsace sits across the Rhine from Germany and the Black Forest), and its cuisines are also very intertwined - you can find regional dishes on both sides of the border. When we were kids, we'd hike over to France for Sunday brunch, and in school, our first foreign language in school was French.

Photocredit for pictures: www.jowettjupiter.co.uk (Tour 2006: Obernai, Alsace and Black Forest village)

In the Saarland, and especially in Alsace-Lorraine (or "Elsass-Lothringen" in German), Flammkuchen or Tarte Flambee is a very popular item on the menu of restaurants. It is basically a thin-crusted pizza with a quiche-style topping, baked in a very hot oven. The history is that baking it was a test for the old wood-burning oven -- if hot enough, then the flames would barely char the edges while the center comes out perfectly...

I had not made this in ages, but today the theme was somewhat FRENCH (I had fish and fennel, so I made bouillabaise) -- which more sophisticated than saying we ate fish soup and pizza! I was also inspired by Kim who writes the blog Easy French Food and Cuisine -- she had recently left a message on my cabbage post (which had Choux in the title) -- and she's an American living in France with a great philosophy on food! Hubby suggested I cook something french: so here we are! But alas, Kim does not have a recipe for Tarte Flambee.

My first mistake in tonight's Flammkuchen was to make a yeast pizza dough, and it should have been yeast-free to keep it very thin and crisp. I also learned I shouldn't have been afraid of getting the oven too hot -- it definitely needed to be hotter to make it crisp. (My track record this week was to burn parts of dinner not only once, but twice -- hubby called last night's attempt at garlic bread "carbon-county toast")...

Flammkuchen
Good recipe and discussion can be found here. The author blogs about German & American food from the perspective of a professional cook. I just stumbled across tonight and really enjoyed -- check it out if you're interested: BurgersandBratwurst.wordpress.com -- and she has a search engine too!

pizza dough -- very very thin
bacon
onions, cut in rings
optional: other veggies if desired - tomato, leeks, etc.
eggs
cream
salt, pepper

Fry up the bacon, remove with slotted spoon & set on paper towel. Using either the bacon grease or olive oil and saute onion rings until nicely caramelized. Let cool.
Mix eggs and cream, add salt & pepper.

Roll dough out very thinly and cover with bacon bits and onion rings. Roll up the sides of the dough to help make a wall for the egg topping. Pour egg mixture evenly (not too thick).
Bake in HOT oven 400 - 450F, for 15 minutes or so, keeping an eye on it!

Serve with salad and wine! Voila.

Smoked salmon souffle

We're so lucky to be able to eat wild-caught salmon on a regular basis in Alaska. It's healthy, delicious, and can be prepared in a variety of ways. Still, Alaskans (or at least their kids "Salmon again!?!?") can get tired of eating salmon, so it's good to have a variety of recipes at hand.

Alaskans simply go crazy every the summer! A family is allowed to catch up to 30 or so fish by net, and therefore most everybody we know has got a freezer full. Somewhere along the line they get tired of eating salmon over the winter, but come June, fishing fever is back and they're dashing out to fill that freezer when dip-netting season opens.

So the non-fishermen among us (like us) sometimes receive free salmon when their friends are cleaning out their freezers before summer. Plus, I admit (don't tell the neighbors), I do go and buy sockeye salmon when it goes on sale in the grocery store -- I buy a whole fish or 2 at a time, and then brine and smoke a fair bit of it. (You can smoke previously frozen fillets too!)

My brine is simple: it consists of equal amounts of sugar and salt (1/2 c each plus 1 quart of water) -- you can add spices, but I like to keep it simple, and add variety later when I cook. Depending on the thickness of the fillets, I will brine it for 4-6 hours or overnight. I rinse the fish, pat it dry with papertowels, and let it sit for a little while to develop a "skin" -- then it goes into my electric smoker "Little Chief" with alder woodchips. A couple of hours of smoking, changing pans 2 or 3 times, and voila, we got our own smoked salmon. I do vacuum-pack it and stick it in the freezer -- but it's fine to take on a camping trip, or in a suitcase to Germany!

We use smoked salmon on bagels, in omelettes, in dips, corn chowder, with pasta -- the possibilities are endless. But here is my family's favorite, which I think is easy to make -- but do allow enough time to bake, and then everybody needs to be ready to eat while souffle is still hot and nicely puffed up!

Smoked Salmon Souffle
butter (3-4T?)
flour (3T+?)
milk (1/2 c-1c)
grated cheese (parmesan or other hard cheese) (1/2-1c)
smoked salmon, crumbled (can also use leftover salmon, or canned -- will need to add salt)
eggs, separated (3-4)
breadcrumbs (optional)

For a recipe with measurements in metric, see Tastes-of-France here.

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Make a white Bechamel sauce, whisking flour into melted butter, then adding milk while continuing to whisk sauce. Add grated cheese and the egg yolks. Let sauce cool a bit, then let it cool down. Meanwhile, whip to eggwhites.
Prepare souffle dish by greasing and sprinkling w/ breadcrumbs or parmesan cheese.
Crumble the salmon into the sauce, gently fold eggwhites into sauce.
Pour into prepared dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, cheese or paprika as desired.
Bake for about an hour (no unnecessary peeking) -- test center with knife.

LOTS of other ways to cook salmon
BBQ it --try a soy-ginger marinade
Bake it -- place in aluminum foil envelope with dill, salt, pepper and lemon
Soups -- try adding it to a corn chowder
Use leftovers to make Salmon patties (or salmon burgers)

let your imagination run wild -- you can eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner! Then after a while you too will be wanting to give it away too -- and I'll be ready to take it off your hands!

In praise of my breakfast-cooking husband

It's Saturday, and I don't have to be at work until noon. We've already had our cup of coffee with biscotti, and now the Prof (my husband) is in the kitchen with the pixie in tow to cook us breakfast: Smoked salmon omelettes -- one of my favorites, and nobody makes them as yummy as he does!

Pixie (11 years old) is learning how to chop the onions and peppers just right, teenage son is catching up on his beauty sleep, and I'm lying in bed (yes, propped up with pillows and laptop in my lap), and I get to launch my new blog! Good smells are wafting in from downstairs -- ahhh, this is heaven on earth!