Fermentation of Veggies at Esalen

A few months ago I was at church, and by church I mean I was driving home from my noon corporate yoga gig in my 2011 black Prius, listening to Terry Gross interview someone on Fresh Air.  That interview is my connection to source, my lecture on humanity, my rebirth in faith of my fellow wo/man.  On this particular day I was listening to Terry interview Sandor Ellix Katz on his new book The Art of Fermentation. It was actually an interview she extended over two days covering topics such as beer, kraut, pickles and yogurt.  It was a beautiful seed that would sit in my mind for the winter.  

Fermentation was really the thread that brought the different aspects of my Esalen course together.  Bees add an enzyme to nectar and transform it to honey.  Yeasts break down the coatings on grains and emit carbon dioxide causing the bread to rise.  In cheese we carefully manage the curdling and spoiling of milk to perfect parameters that make it healthy, lasting and tasty.  

For vegetable preservation we add salt, extracting the water from the vegetable and promoting the growth of inhibiting breakdown by submerging in its juices creating an anaerobic environment.  In all of these situations we are carefully managing the "spoiling" process to promote the growth of one organism and inhibit the growth of others.  Anyway, after I left Esalen and went on a pilgrimage to restaurants in the Carmel/Monterrey/Big Sur area looking for products from Charlie's Farm.  I discovered a shop/school/cafe called Happy Girl Kitchen.  They were making this particular dream real with kombucha kits in the fridge, a fermented beet drink for sale on the counters, a whole group of ladies taking a course in the community kitchen.  There I found Katz's bible of a book on fermentation and spent the $40 to add it to my growing library of homestead information.

Charlie brought us produce from his hilltop farm,  kale and cabbage.  I was fascinated by his bags, hadn't seen these before.

Interesting equipment I had not seen before, pickle presses!

Organic cabbage from Charlie's Farm

Liam mentioned a few cutting techniques I used immediately at a shift in the kitchen

Loading the cabbage up into the press with lots of squeezing and sprinkling of salt.

Here's some cucumbers submerged in their juices after about a day and a half.

Here's the cabbage and carrots after a day and a half, no water added, juiced there own extruded juices.

We sampled our cabbage and cucumebers after 3 days, but really they need 6-12 weeks to cure.

This product isn't fermented, but we used a dehydrator to make some kale chips and also some fruit leathers I forgot to photograph.

When I left for Esalen I had a big jar full of apple skins and cores that I had submerged in water in the attempts to make apple cider vinegar.  Well, as many other things were melting down at this time, the sweet mash had become infiltrated with small flies and I could see little magot larvae swimming in the juice...into the composter!  I have recently begun this project again, having asked my teacher Liam for advice.  I am using a jug with a small opening so I can push the plles down and force them under the liquid.  We'll see!  Takes two months to complete the process.  I also recently began a batch of sauerkraut in the way taught to me by Liam, it also takes about two months to finish.

Vegetable Fried Rice and Golden Potatoes

This is my go to dinner when I have a bunch of leftover rice in the fridge.  It's so simple, and you can use whatever sort of veggies you have on hand.  This time I used purple onion, green onion, cabbage, swiss chard and cilantro.  But first I started my potatoes as they would take longer.  I cubed 3 or 4 golden potatoes and cooked them in several tablespoons of hot olive oil.  After a few minutes I added 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  I cooked this on medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally so they wouldn't get stuck to the pan.  Once they started getting golden, I transferred the potatoes to a smaller pan and continued to cook over low heat.  Next I sautéed to onion in some oil, and after a few minutes added the rest of my chopped veggies.  I sprinkled some soy sauce in the pot and mixed it in with the veggies.  Once the veggies were getting soft I added one beaten egg to the pot and mixed it up once it was cooked, breaking the egg up a bit.  Lastly I added the leftover rice and stirred it all together until hot.  I have left all quantities out on purpose, this is a go with how it feels recipe!

Dinner Party!

We have a house guest and I'm feeling quite grown up, having painted my grown-up step-daughters bedroom and turned it into a proper guest room.  So it's a dinner party tonight on a cold winter evening.  It won't be vegan, but organic and healthy, to be sure!

The Menu will include:
Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Hummus Dip and other Veggies
Arugula Salad
Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart
Mushrooms
Spicy Lamb Lollipops
and for dessert an assortment of Coconut Bliss Ice Cream

Let's start with the crust for the Tart, I'll use an american standard, Martha Stewart.  Going to substitute some whole wheat flour.
1 1/2 cup White Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup unsalted Butter cut into small pieces
teaspoon Salt
Cold Water
The technique for pastry dough is just like the scones I made a few days ago.  Whisk together the dry ingredients then add the chopped up butter and gradually work it between your fingers, breaking apart the butter into the flour until you get a sandy, crumbly mixture.  You add a little cold water at a time into the crumbly dough until it starts to stick together.  If you add too much water and it gets sticky, you can add in some more flour to fix it,  Once you've finished, form it into a ball and squish it to make a thick disk.  Wrap this in some plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  When it has chilled, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.
1 Onion sliced and then caramelized, cooked slowly in 2 tablespoons of butter until golden colored
Asparagus
Brussel Sprouts
Goat Cheese

Next I'll start the Cauliflower, I made this recently for another Party.  It was great!  Mix together all the following ingredients and cover a cauliflower and let it sit an hour then bake for an hour at 350.
1/2 cup Coconut Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Coriander
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Lamb Shank cut between the bone to form small "lollipop" slices
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1/8 teaspoon Turmeric
1/8 teaspoon Cumin
2 teaspoons of a blend called Zesto Pesto, rosemary, basil, marjoram, onion, parsley, and more
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
Mix together all the seasonings and the oil and work it all over the lamb, let it sit for an hour.  I cooked the lamb in a hot and oiled cast iron pot a few minutes on each side.  It was a big hit, no leftovers!

Blueberry Scones

I've been having a lot of fun lately getting up early in the morning and baking something wonderful for breakfast.  I went pretty decadent last time with Cinnamon Rolls, and wanted to be a bit more hearty this time around and settled on scones.  I looked up scone recipes on Smitten Kitchen, and of course, she had several.  One looked like a particularly good base for me, with whole wheat flour and oats, Oat-and-maple-syrup-scones.  I cut the recipe in half and made a few other changes, like making my own coconut cream instead of using milk.

the dry ingredients

3/4 cup white flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup oats

1 heaping tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 cup butter cut into little pieces

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut cream (fresh coconut meat blended with water)

2 tablespoons coconut yogurt

1 cup blueberries, I used frozen wild berries

It's very simple, heat your oven to 350 and prepare a cookie sheet with some parchment paper.  Mix together the dry ingredients in a big bowl, flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt then work the butter into it with your fingers until you get a crumbly consistency like bread crumbs.  In another bowl combine your wet ingredients, syrup, coconut cream and yogurt and then gently blend that into the dry ingredients with a spatula.  Finally, gently fold in the blueberries.  I made about 5 good sized mini-baseballs with the dough and pushed a walnut down onto the top of a couple of them.  I baked it for about 18 minutes.  Delicious!

scraping the meat out of a coconut

the batter when finished mixing

scones ready for the oven

the finished product, success!

Candlelight Breakfast, why not?!?

Infused Alcohol

This is the final product, frosty from the freezer,  Hibiscus Vodka.

A very simple treat, all you need is vodka, or booze of your choice, and tea type things.  I used dried Hibiscus Blossoms, Chamomile Blossoms, and Lavender Blossoms.  Soon I will try Cacao Nibs, Coffee Beans and Vanilla Pods (maybe all together).  Quantities were about 8 ounces of alcohol to 1 tablespoon of dried flowers.  I let the mixture sit for about 3 days and then drained the mixture.  I rebottled the vodka and put it in the freezer for safe keeping.

Here is the vodka, just after adding the vodka to the flowers, it is instantly changing color!

This is how the hibiscus flowers looked after I drained the vodka.  I think it looks like bacon!

Doughnut Holes

Here is some silly food, deep fried globules of cake batter rolled in sugar... I used another idea from my Pinterest Board, .  This recipe was from a blog I hadn't looked at before, Brown Sugar Mama.  I substituted coconut milk for the milk and rolled my finished doughnuts in coarse sugar, I did not make the glaze.  Please open the link for detailed instructions

Party Food

Going to a family member's 21st birthday tonight, and flipping through my pinterest boards, Taste Buds  and Sweets for inspiration.  About a dozen things look interesting to me, corn bread stuffed jalapenos, whole baked cauliflower, mushrooms in garlic wine sauce, tiny hand pies...Don't have a lot of time as I have some work appointments today, and I'll need to make time to go to the grocery store too!

I decided on Red Wine and Garlic Mushrooms, Whole Roasted Cauliflower, Cornbread Jalapeno Poppers, and Margarita Cupcakes.

Roasted Jalapeños

Cupcake Batter Craziness!

Baking Cupcakes

I started by roasting the jalapenos in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350' and soaking 11/2 cups of raw cashews in water.  I removed the peppers from the oven and after cooling a bit I put them in a plastic bag to sweat for awhile.  Meanwhile I mixed up the cake batter and popped the cupcakes in the oven for 16 minutes, letting them cool on a rack when done.  While the cupcakes were baking I mixed up the spice marinade for the cauliflower, 2 ounces of coconut yogurt, an ounce of olive oil, and some spices I through together without measuring, maybe 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds, coriander powder and cardamom powder and one garlic clove crushed.  I whisked this together and then brushed it all over a head of cauliflower with the stem cored out.  Next i took the peppers and sliced thrm in half and removed all the seeds. Then my husband came home and I left everything to go surfing in the rain!

After a fun but chilly surf session, I found myself back in the kitchen, mixing up the frosting for the cupcakes.  I followed the cupcake recipe exactly, but the frosting recipe I used 1/2 cup of butter, 2 1/2 cups of powdered and shifted sugar, 1 tablespoon on lime juice and 3 tablespoons of hibiscus infused tequila.  When nice a creamy, put the frosting in a frosting bag and put that in the fridge to stiffen up a bit as the tequila makes the frosting a bit runny and prone to separate.  With that finished I put the cauliflower in the oven to bake at 350'.  With the unexpected surf adventure, I've decided to skip the mushrooms for today, maybe make them tomorrow.  I baked the cauliflower about an hour and 15 minutes.  While it was cooking I made the cornbread and spooned it into the jalapeños.  I used this recipe for Cornbread.  I baked them at 350' for about 20 minutes.  I had enough corn batter for about 5 muffins and baked these up to, something for breakfast. Whew...almost done!  Now into my mini food processor the soaked cashews, 2 tabelspoons of oily tahini, 3 tabelspoons nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon olive oil, teaspoon salt and as I blended it I slowly added about 1/2 cup water for a soupy consistency.

I served the cauliflower with a sharp knife and a small dipping bowl of cashew cream. I surrounded the cauliflower with jalapeño corn bread. I frosted the cupcakes at the party....my food was easily surpassed by the music and the gentry, it was a blessing to be invited.

This band had a bag playing percussionist, a fiddle,  accordion and guitar!

The way to a man's heart, Cinnamon Rolls

The finished gems!

I went to my old standby for the base of this recipe, Smitten Kitchen.  I made a few adjustments, replacing milk with canned coconut milk and replacing white flour with whole wheat flour.  I also skipped the glaze and sprinkled mine with powdered sugar instead.  They took a long time, and I definitely didn't start them early enough for breakfast, but they were a great mid-morning snack with a single espresso!  Please look at the link for detailed instructions, I didn't take any pictures along the way of the steps, it was too early!

Dough

1 cup of coconut milk

3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

4 cups of whole wheat flour, divided

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 envelope of yeast

1 teaspoon salt

tablespoon of olive oil

Cinnamon Filling

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

pinch of salt

powdered sugar, sifted

I gently warmed the milk and butter in a small pot, then cooled it a bit to 120'  Then I added to this one cup of flour, sugar, egg, yeast and salt and I beat this with a hand mixer for about 3 minutes.  Then I added in another 2/12 cups of flour and mixed a bit, but it quickly became too sticky and I wiped off the mixer and began working with my hands, mixing the dough together.  I then turned the dough onto my kneading board and began to gently knead the dough, folding and turning the dough while gradually sprinkling in about 1 more cup of flour.  I continued this way for about 10 minutes until the dough was soft and malleable.  I then oiled a big bowl and dropped the dough in and gave it a flip so it was oiled on all sides.  I covered with plastic wrap and then with a towel and placed the bowl in my oven for 2 hours.  The oven was not on, it was a very cold morning and I needed a warm place for the dough to rise.

After the dough had doubled in size, I punched it down and rolled it out to a big rectangle on my kneading board. I mixed together the sugar, cinnamon and salt.  The butter was spread evenly over the dough and then the sugar topping was spread evenly over the dough.  I left the outer 1/4 inch on all sides free from sugar and butter.  Then I rolled the dough and sliced it into 1 1/2" slices and placed the rolls close together on parchment paper in small bread loaf pans.  I covered with plastic and a towel and again let it rise for another hour.  When that hour was almost through, I preheated the oven to 350'.  I baked the rolls for 20 minutes and then sifted powdered sugar on top.

Notes on Simplicity: DIY Kombucha

The finished project!  My first brew of Kombucha!

Well, I explained a few days ago my love of Kombucha and a bit about what it is....though I'm still not completely sure...here's my post on the DIY project of brewing my own Kombucha.

It all started with the purchase of my new little friend, SCOBY, which is an acronym for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.   I purchased the scoby and a cup of starter tea from this shop on Etsy.

The arrival of my Kombucha SCOBY from Etsy

My skoby is a living organism that I feed a diet of sugar and tea and I harvest the by-product of little skoby's metabolic function, if metabolic is even the right word.  The scoby lives off sugar and tea made with pure water.  For my first brew, I started small, one liter of water boiled, and to that I added 1/3 cup of sugar and 2 spoonfuls of gunpowder green tea.

Once this concoction cooled, I strained away the tea with a non-metal strainer (no meatless in this process, it kills the SCOBY) and added this tea to the 1/2 cup of starter tea and SCOBY I purchased on Etsy. I covered the glass jar with a paper towel to keep out file and let it sit for 4 days though the recommendation was 5-10...I was too excited to wait any longer!

brewing sweet tea

strained and chilled sweet tea and scoby in kombucha tea

Everything together

Cover to keep out flies but still allow ventilation and a date to remember  start date

After four days the tea looked stringy and there was a gelatinous bubble of new growth on the top of the tea.  I tasted a little and it tasted just like the Original flavor of G.T. Kombucha!

I poured out about 2/3 of the liquid into small mason jars with a tight seal, yielding 5 servings of 4 ounces each.  Then I started a second larger batch boiling 2 quarts of water and adding to it 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 spoonfulls of gunpowder green tea.

 I thought the last batch was a little bitter so I drained the tea after about 8 minutes instead of letting it sit until the tea cooled.  Several hours later when this tea had cooled I added it back to my reserved kombucha tea and SCOBY.  I covered the jar, now full to the top.  The SCOBY sank to the bottom, which made me nervous, but I checked on-line and it seems like no problem.  When I harvested this second