Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Lady Moonbeam Brownies

Chewey, Flaky, Chocolatey Love

I've been having so much fun taking care of my chickens.  They are beautiful and fun to watch.  I went out of town for a week, and while I was gone a miracle occurred.  My silkie chicken, Lady Moonbeam, began to lay eggs.  My family had saved them for me, three perfect eggs about half the size of a jumbo egg and a creamy color.  The first day I was home she laid me another.  I took those four eggs and made some crazy good brownies.  Here's my inspiration, smitten kitchen, I've used this recipe before and they were delicious.  For my recipe, I used all organic ingredients and encourage you to!

4 ounces dark chocolate
1/2 cup/1 stick butter
1 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 silkie eggs, or 2 jumbo eggs
1 cup Flour

I melted the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.  Off of the heat and before the chocolate had melted completely, I whisked in the sugar, salt and vanilla.  I then added the eggs, one at a time.  Finally I added the flour.  I poured this batter into a smallish pan line with parchment paper and baked for 18 minutes at 375.
These eggs are about half the sizeof jumbos, and a beautiful cream color

Fresh from the oven, organic goodness


My first half dozen home raised eggs, dark brown from my
copper maran, Madame Chocolate, a small creamies frommy silkie, Lady Moonbeam.

The sweet and productive Lady Moonbeam

Honey Bees at Esalen


Here is another story through pictures of my recent stay to Esalen.  Words to follow soon, but for now simply enjoy the images.






  














Cheese Making at Esalen with Charlie


Our finished Crotin Goat Cheese decorated with fresh herbs and flowers.
This is my journey into cheese making with Charlie Cascio at Esalen.  The last few years I have been eliminating most of the dairy from my diet.  I love dairy, and I do use a fair amount of organic butter in my cooking.  Although I eat much less cheese now than in the past I still love to indulge in some goat cheese or the fabulous varieties my sister often brings to family gatherings like Humboldt Fog.  So this course exploring cheeses was really the last thing I needed in terms of keeping up the willpower to refrain from dairy...but you gotta live a little!  And if you're going to indulge, how about pure, wholesome and handmade!


This is one of Charlie's eight french goats.  She lives an idealic life for a goat, foraging among the oaks on the ridgetops of Big Sur at Charlie's Farm.  She drinks pure water from a source on her land and her raw milk is transformed into artisanal cheeses and stored in a little cave near her pen.  We also used her milk for the cheeses we made during our course as well as raw cow milk from another local dairy, Straus Family Creamery.

Heating the Milk
I had never made any sort of cheese.  It is both a simple process and a difficult process.  It requires precision, extreme cleanliness and patience.  But, the process for all cheese is basically the same and it is in the subtle manipulation of the steps that brings you all the variety you can find in cheese.  Our learning process was very interactive.  Charlie would take us through a recipe and different volunteers would assist him in the execution.  The first step is to sanitize EVERYTHING and be careful of cross contamination throughout.  You slowly heat milk to a particular temperature and then add in a starter.  You just sprinkle the powders on top and give them a few minutes to rehydrate, then gently mix it in and wait a set amount of time.  Next you add the rennet and sometimes at this point other additives like mold starter.  There is another waiting period during which the milk solids coagulate into the curd and the liquid separates and forms the whey.  When tis separation is complete, you cut the curd with a long knife into small pieces.  For soft cheeses, you then pour the curd into forms.  For hard cheeses you then cook the curd at a ,ow heat for a set period of time while gently stirring.  Hard cheeses are then poured into a mold and a cheese press is used to extract the whey.  There is then some tempering, maybe brine or wine or honey, and the cheese is stored, at least six months to develop its flavor.

The curd has coagulated and from a mass and the whey has separated.

Observation of the curds and whey
Preperations for straining the curd
Crotin mold after 6 hours, the curd has lowered halfway
Traditional Camembert Mold
Scooping curd into the Camembert Molds
After a short time the curd has already begun to settle some
After 24 hours we gently removed the croutons from the molds, salted them on all sides, and replaced them flipped over back in the molds for a day.

Camembert out of the mold, they are now wrapped in a special paper that helps develop the white mold that surrounds this cheese, similar to Brie.
Finished Crotin Goat Cheese

Pouring the curd for a hard cheese
The curd for the Romano cheese has been poured into a mold and put into this press
Acertain amount of pressure is added and then we wait a few hours
Like the smaller cheeses, we flip it and replace it into the mold.  This Romano is seasoned with peppercorns, its called Pico Blanco.
A sampling of the weeks lessons!







Bread


Sourdough
On my recent Esalen retreat  I learned to bake breads from chef and healing artist, Liam McDermott.  He began the week introducing us to sourdough cultures.  All week we tended to our starters, feeding them daily with flour and water.  At the end of the week they baked up into beautiful loaves.  We also learned active yeast breads and breads with lots of yummy additives like herbs, flowers, eggs and cheeses.  The big take away points for me was the health benefits of fermenting dough and developing a recognition of the rise and fall of the sponge over time.
Our teacher, Liam McDermott

Soda Bread Scones with Esalen Flowers
Honey Whole Wheat rising, cheese being made in the background

Rye Sourdough Starter
Rye Seedy Sourdough

Challah
Learning in the Murphy House Kitchen

Forming rolls of White Sourdough
Honey Whole Wheat
Filling for Chive Bread
Filling for Chive Bread