Showing posts with label herbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label herbs. Show all posts
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Mac and Uncheese
This is based on the "ultimate mac and uncheese sauce" from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, plus fresh herbs and minus the powdered onion and garlic. I don't have either, and can't handle much garlic anyway, it makes me queasy. It was definitely more cheese-like than my own improvised uncheeses. It was pretty good, but next time I will not use the garbanzo flour, which has too strong of a taste, and I may need to add more mustard or something to give it a bit more zip.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Solar-baked beer bread take two
The recipe is similar to the previous, except the flour is all-purpose, the beer is Oatmeal Stout, and instead of containing seeds and such, it has chopped, fresh sage and mint. I also put in some nutritional yeast which, now that I think about it, I may have put in the last one as well.
This was cooked in a black aluminum roasting pan rather than the cast-iron dutch oven like the last time I made beer bread. Something I had not posted about yet is that we had attempted to bake a focaccia roll several days ago and it was set on aluminum foil directly on the bottom of the pan. The top was well done and the bottom was not cooked at all. This time, the loaf was cooked in a pyrex dish again, which I set atop "stilts" (a pair of ramekins) to make sure the hot air circulated below.
As you can see, it has a substantial crust on the top, and none to speak of where it was in contact with the pyrex. I suspect the temperature got hotter more quickly, creating the crust and sealing in the moisture below, because the bottom has a VERY moist, almost cake-like consistency to it. When I saw it, I was sure it was going to be a failure, but in fact, it's not.
Taking a tip from someone's blog post (sorry, it was a long time ago and I forgot who), I have been keeping a jar of olive oil in the fridge, which has congealed into a somewhat spreadable glop. A little bit of that on this bread was a lovely combination.
This was cooked in a black aluminum roasting pan rather than the cast-iron dutch oven like the last time I made beer bread. Something I had not posted about yet is that we had attempted to bake a focaccia roll several days ago and it was set on aluminum foil directly on the bottom of the pan. The top was well done and the bottom was not cooked at all. This time, the loaf was cooked in a pyrex dish again, which I set atop "stilts" (a pair of ramekins) to make sure the hot air circulated below.
As you can see, it has a substantial crust on the top, and none to speak of where it was in contact with the pyrex. I suspect the temperature got hotter more quickly, creating the crust and sealing in the moisture below, because the bottom has a VERY moist, almost cake-like consistency to it. When I saw it, I was sure it was going to be a failure, but in fact, it's not.
Taking a tip from someone's blog post (sorry, it was a long time ago and I forgot who), I have been keeping a jar of olive oil in the fridge, which has congealed into a somewhat spreadable glop. A little bit of that on this bread was a lovely combination.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Still here...
A quick post, mostly to notate the schedule of things so far this year so I can remember what happened when. The onion seedlings got hit by fungus gnats and so they all had to be tossed out, I think I did that in the last week of February. The weekend of March 22-23 I started working on the raised beds and got the chard transplanted and the spinach and lettuce seeds into the 3x3 bed. The following week, (Spring Break, more or less) I got my seed potatoes in the mail and set them to sprout in a box, and also placed the two 3x6 beds where I wanted them in the backyard. I loosened the soil under the beds so the drainage would be better (the soil here is very thick clay) and planned out what would go where. I also started tomatoes, bell peppers, and more onions (regular and green) in pots on the porch.
The weekend of April 5-6 I filled one of the 3x6 beds with SummerWinds planting mix and put in leek seeds, zucchini seeds, and delicata squash seeds, along with nasturtiums, zinnias, and cosmos, all started as seeds. I also marked out and started double-digging the 100 sq. ft. Biointensive bed. The digging was tough at first but it was better once I established a rhythm. If I had been thinking ahead I would have done the double-digging last fall and planted buckwheat or vetch to get the soil going, but...oh well. I got about 3/4 of the bed dug that weekend and kept it watered so the soil wouldn't turn into brick. I also planted oregano, basil, marjoram, dill, tarragon, sage, and cilantro in the herb bed, to go along with the parsley, mint, oregano, sage, and thyme that survived from last year. Borage and marigold seeds, too, and there are Shasta daisies and white alyssum left over from last year that are flourishing as well. Somewhere around this time I planted some arugula in the 3x3 bed but I can't remember exactly when that was.
The weekend of April 26-27 I filled up the last 3x6 bed with planting mix and put in sweet and Thai basil (from the nursery) and the tomato plants that I started from seeds: Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, two Romas, and a Green Zebra (I bought that at the Farmer's Market in Mountain View, my Green Zebra seedling inexplicably died one day). I also put in seeds: Genovese basil, marigolds, and cosmos, and transplanted some of the basil and the dill from the herb bed since they weren't looking too good. Biointensive bed: I sifted in some compost over about 1/2 of the bed and loosened the top 2 inches or so of the soil to get the compost mixed in.
Yesterday I finished double-digging the Biointensive bed and planted the potatoes as I was digging. There are 5 rows of Yukon Gold potatoes. I also finished sifting compost over the rest of the bed. Today I planted seeds in that bed: corn, summer squash, canteloupe, carrots, cucumber, and beans. I put in 3 tomato plants from my seedlings - 2 Rutgers and a Brandywine - and put in some Roma seeds since the 4th tomato plant didn't survive the transplanting process. There are also some basil, marigold, and Sweet William (dianthus) seeds in there and I plan to put in more flowers. I transplanted the bell pepper seedlings into the bed with the leeks, winter squash, and zucchini and also moved a couple of other things around since I got several seedling that had come up right next to each other. The onions are still in their pots: I'll transplant them soon.
Our garage has so much stuff left by previous tenants in it that we can nearly always find something we're looking for out there. We've found nails, plywood, and plastic netting for fencing so far...today I read that the carrots should have burlap or shade netting over them (on the ground) until the seedlings come up so I went looking around and there was some burlap! I love this house.
The weekend of April 5-6 I filled one of the 3x6 beds with SummerWinds planting mix and put in leek seeds, zucchini seeds, and delicata squash seeds, along with nasturtiums, zinnias, and cosmos, all started as seeds. I also marked out and started double-digging the 100 sq. ft. Biointensive bed. The digging was tough at first but it was better once I established a rhythm. If I had been thinking ahead I would have done the double-digging last fall and planted buckwheat or vetch to get the soil going, but...oh well. I got about 3/4 of the bed dug that weekend and kept it watered so the soil wouldn't turn into brick. I also planted oregano, basil, marjoram, dill, tarragon, sage, and cilantro in the herb bed, to go along with the parsley, mint, oregano, sage, and thyme that survived from last year. Borage and marigold seeds, too, and there are Shasta daisies and white alyssum left over from last year that are flourishing as well. Somewhere around this time I planted some arugula in the 3x3 bed but I can't remember exactly when that was.
The weekend of April 26-27 I filled up the last 3x6 bed with planting mix and put in sweet and Thai basil (from the nursery) and the tomato plants that I started from seeds: Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, two Romas, and a Green Zebra (I bought that at the Farmer's Market in Mountain View, my Green Zebra seedling inexplicably died one day). I also put in seeds: Genovese basil, marigolds, and cosmos, and transplanted some of the basil and the dill from the herb bed since they weren't looking too good. Biointensive bed: I sifted in some compost over about 1/2 of the bed and loosened the top 2 inches or so of the soil to get the compost mixed in.
Yesterday I finished double-digging the Biointensive bed and planted the potatoes as I was digging. There are 5 rows of Yukon Gold potatoes. I also finished sifting compost over the rest of the bed. Today I planted seeds in that bed: corn, summer squash, canteloupe, carrots, cucumber, and beans. I put in 3 tomato plants from my seedlings - 2 Rutgers and a Brandywine - and put in some Roma seeds since the 4th tomato plant didn't survive the transplanting process. There are also some basil, marigold, and Sweet William (dianthus) seeds in there and I plan to put in more flowers. I transplanted the bell pepper seedlings into the bed with the leeks, winter squash, and zucchini and also moved a couple of other things around since I got several seedling that had come up right next to each other. The onions are still in their pots: I'll transplant them soon.
Our garage has so much stuff left by previous tenants in it that we can nearly always find something we're looking for out there. We've found nails, plywood, and plastic netting for fencing so far...today I read that the carrots should have burlap or shade netting over them (on the ground) until the seedlings come up so I went looking around and there was some burlap! I love this house.
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