Pickled Cipollini Onions

Onions, to be peeled

Peeled

Canned and sealed

Having made mustard and lime jelly during the past two weeks, it was time for more pickles, as I was running low. In addition to carrots, we decided to pickle cipollini onions again. I have friends who like the onions in cocktails or with a ploughman's lunch, but I seem to use most of mine on burgers. However you choose to use them, they improve greatly after a few weeks of storage time.

Pickled Cipollini Onions
Based on a recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation 

We ended up making two batches, some packed in standard wide-mouth pint jars and others layered, as above, in taller, thinner jars.

8 cups peeled cipollini onions (approximately 3 pounds purchased onions)
5½ cups white distilled vinegar
1 cup water
2 teaspoons canning salt
2 cups sugar
4 scant teaspoons mustard seed
2 scant teaspoons celery seed
Thyme (optional)

Yield: 3 pint and one 1/2 pint jars

Peel onions. I find that cipollini onions hold their shape well when peeled (see the photo above.)
Combine the vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a stockpot. Bring to a boil and continue to boil gently for 3 minutes. Add the peeled onions and bring the pot back to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the onions are half-cooked (about 5 minutes).  
Meanwhile, place 1 scant teaspoon mustard seed and 1/2 scant teaspoon celery seed in the bottom of each clean, hot pint jar. I always add an optional thyme sprig, both because it looks nice and because I like the taste. If you are not a thyme fan you can omit it and/or experiment with a different flavor.
Ladle the hot onions into your jars, leaving 1-inch head space. Cover the onions with the hot pickling liquid, (a funnel helps with this) leaving ½-inch head space. Finger seal your jars and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. 

If you have any brine leftover, as we did, I recommend using it for other pickles. We used our leftover brine for pickled carrots. For our usual pickled carrot recipe, see here. You could also use it for a refrigerator pickle of your choice, keeping in mind that the brine will have an onion flavor.

Carrots were part two of our project.

Albino Redwoods: A Few Pictures from a Guided Walk in Muir Woods

Our ranger guide, Tim.

You won't see the albino trees up above

But you should still look up.

And up!

Can you spot one?

Here maybe?

Closer and clearer.

They even feel different than the green.

It really does look painted.

Barely visible: a spawning salmon

Rye & Brown Sugar Mustard

An easy to make mustard, perfect for holiday gifts. It is fairly strongly flavored, but I am imagining it as the perfect addition to a ham sandwich. We started with a recipe posted on the always wonderful Food in Jars, which turned out be a guest post from Kaela Porter of Local Kitchen.The recipe there, for Bourbon Brown Sugar Mustard, was adapted from Oktoberfest Beer Mustard in The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. As I have said before, if you don't have the Ball Book, buy it.

Rye & Brown Sugar Mustard

• 2 cups rye
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups brown mustard seeds
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 12 tbsp dry mustard powder
 • 1 1/2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp salt

Combine rye, water and mustard seed in a bowl. Mix well and steep until nearly all of the liquid is absorbed, about 4 hours, or overnight.
Using an immersion blender, blend to desired consistency.  Add vinegar, mustard powder, sugar, and salt and continue to blend well until combined. Transfer to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to boil mustard until it reduces to your desired thickness, remembering that it will thicken further upon cooling.
Fill jars leaving a generous1/4-inch headspace. Pass the handle of a wooden spoon along the edges and middle of the jar to eliminate bubbles. Wipe rims, finger tighten your lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Yields about 6 cups. 

Pays d’Oc IGP: Candidates for Wines of the Tour 2013?

Located along the shores of the Mediterranean, the Pays d’Oc stretches across four departments of the Languedoc-Roussillon: the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault and Gard, as well as 6 communities in the Lozère
With 740,300 acres of vineyards — the region is three times the size of Bordeaux and the world’s largest vineyard area.
There are 56 authorised grape varieties. Approximately 60 % of the production is red with the additional 40% split between white and rosé.
IGP is a Protected Geo­graphic Indication that consists in producing grapes on a delimited appellation area, according to precise specifications and with total traceability and control over the geography and quality of the product. 

In 2013, the Tour will have three stages in the area:
Thursday, July 4th - Stage 6: 176km from Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier
Friday, July 5th - Stage 7: 205km from Montpellier to Albi 
Saturday, July 6th - Stage 8: 194km from Castres to Ax 3 Domaines

What will I be drinking for those stages? I admit that I do not yet know. But I recently had the chance to try a few samples, provided by Inter Oc, the Pays d’Oc IGP wine trade association making a push in the US market. I invited two friends over to taste with me, as it is fun to see how we both agree and disagree on the wines. In general we thought the wines provided good value with "good for the price" appearing more than once in tasting notes.

The first empty bottle of the night and the wine that everyone chose as their favorite was the Domaine Gayda, Figure Libre Cabernet Franc, 2010 (SRP $25). The press release tells me that South African Anthony Record and Englishman Tim Ford joined forces with French winemaker Vincent Chansault to form Domaine Gayda in 2003. After building a brand new state-of-the-art winery, Gayda produced its first vintage in 2004. Inky dark in color, it is lively and fresh. 

We also tasted:
Domaine de l'Engarran La Lionne, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Grenache, 2010 (SRP $18-24) The press info stated that this family vineyard owned by the Grill / Bertrand family since 1923, has been run by three women for three generations. Green bell pepper and slightly jammy.

Laurent Miquel, Nord sud, Viognier, 2011 (SRP $12.49) Laurent produces his signature aromatic Viognier from selected blocks of mature, naturally low yielding vines at his family estate. All of us felt that this was a very good wine for the price with much more balance than one often finds in less expensive viogniers.

Anne de Joyeuse, Gargantuavis, Pinot Noir, 2010 (SRP $16.5) The press info on this one told us that Anne de Joyeuse is a high quality cooperative winery in Limoux, which was founded in 1929 and which currently boasts 650 members. Anne de Joyeuse is one of only ten wine cooperatives in France to carry the highest level of quality accreditation. We all loved the label in this one and thought that the wine was lighter than expected. 

When Life Gives You Eggnog 2: Pumpkin Eggnog Waffles

Much better than the pumpkin eggnog

Moving along with our eggnog supply, we came to pumpkin. Again, this was not one of K's taste test favorites. I thought that like many pumpkin items, it tasted more like "pumpkin pie spice" than pumpkin. Muffins or cake would have been an easy option, but K has a favorite pumpkin muffin/cake already, to the tune of at least 6 batches since mid-October, so we looked further. 

Remembering a recipe we tested for the The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, K suggested that we modify their Zachte Waffles. So we did, taking out the sugar, substituting pumpkin eggnog for half and half, reducing the number of eggs and changing the spicing. These are make in the morning, no egg-separating needed waffles. As much as I enjoy the make the night before and let rest or egg whites separated and folded in gently versions of waffles, these are quicker and a much more K-friendly project.

Pumpkin Eggnog Waffles (modified from The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee Zachte Waffles)
Makes 8 waffles

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups pumpkin eggnog
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
freshly grated nutmeg to taste (optional, depending upon the spicing of your eggnog)

Preheat your waffle iron. We butter our iron right before adding the batter or have stuck waffles, but your iron may vary.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg and eggnog and whisk to blend. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently stir in the melted butter. Grate in  nutmeg. I like a lot. Pour into a pre-heated waffle iron and cook until slightly browned and crisp. 
Serve immediately. I like mine plain or with butter. K likes maple syrup or powdered sugar.
I recommend freezing leftover waffles and pancakes for easy weekday breakfasts. Simply reheat in the toaster. 

 

When Life Gives You Eggnog: Cinnamon-Eggnog Loaf Cake

We have a lot of eggnog in our house right now. So much in fact, that we did a taste test.

 With tasting notes:

It was really too much eggnog to drink. Especially the flavors that K did not like as much. It was time to start baking. First up was the cinnamon, as it had the earliest expiration date. Also, if you can read K's notes above, it was not her favorite. But what to make? It seemed the place to start was with something simple that we could freeze and enjoy later: a loaf cake. We googled recipes and found a few that sounded great, like this one from Simply Recipes. But in the end, K opted to modify one we found on the Hood Website. 

One must move the gingerbread cats before baking can begin.

Rye seemed a better option than rum flavoring.

Testing

Cinnamon-Eggnog Loaf Cake with Rye
Makes 2 loaves

4 eggs 2 cups sugar 2 cups Cinnamon-Eggnog 1 cup butter, melted 1 Tbl Rye 2 tsp vanilla extract 4 1/2 cups flour 4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt

Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease two 9” x 5” loaf pans. 

In a large bowl (K used our Kitchen-Aid), beat eggs. Add sugar, eggnog, butter, rye and vanilla extract. Blend well. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Pour into your two greased pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Remove from pans and let cool before serving. 

K's verdict: "This eggnog is really good for baking.  I like it much better this way."


 

K's Apple Marzipan Tart

Since K is always with her dad for Thanksgiving, she decided that we should do an early celebration on Wednesday. The keys, she said, were turkey and two pies. Plus, other stuff like mashed potatoes and stuffing, but they apparently are not keys.

Turkey turned out to a smoked breast from 4505 Meats. The pies on the other hand, were a source of great debate. I insisted on pumpkin, although it was really roasted butternut squash with eggnog substituted for the milk. Because, well, we have a lot of eggnog on hand at the moment so please, any baking with eggnog suggestions are really welcome. 

K originally wanted apple pie and despite my attempts to convince her that apple-cranberry would be more festive, refused to be swayed. However, at the last minute she veered left. In her words "Marzipan is awesome. And we have a lot of apples, so I thought this would be good. Also, tarts are easier than pies."

K's Apple Marzipan Tart

Note: I resisted the urge to step in and suggest a glaze as K wanted the tart to "taste like marzipan." I also might have peeled the apples and perhaps tossed with lemon and sugar, but K opted not to. She, of course, chose to smush rather than roll out the marzipan.
1 pie crust (We used the all butter crust from Serious Eats, the second half went to the butternut squash pie)
6 apples, cored and sliced
1/2 pound marzipan

Preheat your oven to 400.
Roll out your pie dough and fit into a tart pan. If you do not have a tart pan, this can also be made free-form on a baking sheet. Roll out or smush the marzipan, so it fits ion top of the crust. Cover with your sliced apples. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the apples are tender and the crust has browned. Serve warm or at room temperature. 
K suggests that this makes an excellent breakfast the next day, even chilled from the refrigerator.