Blueberry-Habenero Jam: The Bounty of Summer with a Mean Kick

Blueberry – Habenero Jam

Yield:  approximately 5 pint or 10 1/2 pint jars

It has been much too long since my last post.  Finishing my dissertation was first on my priority list.  I must admit, despite the protest of distractors, that I thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of writing my thesis.  Yes, there were times when I felt defeated, incapable, and terribly confused, but as a whole, having the time to concentrate on one thing, to think hard on a topic that is so important, was amazing, and the privilege of having this time is not lost on me.

It is height of summer, and I just spent two weeks in Oregon, where beautiful berries grow so plentifully, that they are easy to take for granted.  But, returning to Illinois, I found myself missing them.  Alas, they are not the same having to be shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles to my local store.  Yesterday, I stumbled upon a stash of local berries, so I decided to run with the inspiration I had at the Portland Farmer's Market.  An aside on the PDX market....it makes me cry.  It's true.  Real tears.  The organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables lovingly and artfully placed in carefully arranged baskets; the handmade pastries, preserves, and cheeses made by the clearly-passionate sellers; and the abundant, brilliantly arranged flowers put a taste in my mouth of both melancholy and sheer joy at the same time.  Melancholy because Central Illinois is so woefully incomparable to Oregon, and, joyous because of the sheer beauty of all this labor of love.

Back to jam.  At the market, I tasted a virtual cornucopia of jams.  One theme of the jams I found at the Portland market was that of peppers. I found them in combination with most everything.  Growing up, my mother made the most beautiful red pepper jelly.  I recall the many hours it would take her to hand chop beautiful red peppers. I recall the taste of the peppers and vinegar in contrast to the sweetness of the sugar.  I loved this jelly and make it each year in my mother's honor.  These jams I tasted at the market reminded me of my mother's jelly, so I decided to combine her recipe with the inspiration of the fruited jellies of the market.  What follows is a recipe for a most interesting and firey concoction.  It's sweet, like a jam.  It smells and tastes of beautiful, fresh blueberries, but it has a smoky kick to it from the chiles, that is backgrounded by a hint of sourness from the vinegar.  Though not unbearably hot, this jam is spicy.  I had it this morning on some homemade whole wheat bread with butter.  I loved it.  I can also imagine it being served with a cheese plate, or as my mother would serve her pepper jelly, spooned atop cream cheese to be eaten with water crackers.  I'd love to hear what others do with it!  

Jam may seem intimidating, but this one is easy.  It is a great starter jam.  If you are worried about the heat, you can add fewer chiles, or you can strain them out before adding the cooking liquid to the blueberries.  Whatever you do, make sure you are wearing gloves when working with the chiles, remove the seeds and chop them very finely.  Big chunks would be unpleasant in this recipe.

Ingredients:

5 cups blueberries, picked through and well washed

1 cup white wine vinegar, divided

1 ½ cup water, divided

6 habenero chiles, seeded and finely minced

5 ½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 oz. pectin

Directions:

If you are going to can this jam, you will need to sterilize 5 or 10 1/2 pint jars.  You can do this by boiling a large pot of water and submerging the jars for 10 minutes.  Also sterilize 10 new lids and screwtops in the same manner.  Combine chiles, ¾ cup vinegar and ½  cup water.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, add blueberries, sugar, ¼ cup vinegar, 1 cup water, and salt in a large, heavy bottomed pot.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Skim off any foam that rises.  Add the pepper mixture to the blueberries and carefully taste to make sure the sugar, vinegar, salt ratio is right.  It will be spicy, so be careful, this is not for the faint of heart.  If needed, add sugar, salt or vinegar to your liking.  Let this simmer another 5 minutes or so.  Add the pectin*, stirring with a whisk to make sure it is all blended in well.  Bring to a boil for one minute. Bring your large canning pot filled with enough water to cover the jars (when full—think displacement) by about one inch back up to the boil Spoon the jam into the jars leaving about ¼ inch of space between the jam and the top of the jar (this is called “head space”).  Wipe the jar lid free of any drips with a damp paper towel.  Screw on the lid (but not super tightly).  Repeat until you have no more jam.  Place the jars carefully in the boiling water and continue to boil for 5 -10 minutes (five will be fine if the jam was just off the boil).  Remove the jars. Let them sit until you see that the centers of the lids have been vacuumed to the jar (you’ll see an indent).  At this point, you can remove the screw tops part, wipe them off, label them with a scull and crossbones and the date (month and year) and put them up for a later date.  I hope you enjoy this fun process!

* This is a lot of pectin and makes a very firm jam. If you like your jams to be more runny, what I recommend is that when you add the smaller amount of pectin (start with 2 ounces), put a tablespoon in a small glass that is filled with ice and water.  After the one minute, remove the spoon and drop a few dribbles of jam on it.  It will cool quickly and you can see what the consistency will be.  If needed, you can add more pectin at this point and again, boil it for a minute, then repeat the testing process until you get the consistency you prefer.

"Cheesy" Kale Chips: Not your ordinary snack chip

While on a recent visit to Oregon, I stopped in at Whole Foods (or as I call it, Whole paycheck).  While there, I saw this small bag of vegan kale chips.  Now, I must be honest. I am not interested in vegan anything, really.  I mean, I love cheese.  Well, these "chips" claimed to be "cheesy".  I dared not spend the $7 for the 2 oz. bag, thinking I would be able to figure out how to make them myself.  Since this visit, I have been working on this recipe and think I have it nailed.  These may not sound tasty, so you'll need to trust me.  They are crunchy, and yes, cheesy, though there is no cheese anywhere.  Everyone who has tried them has fallen in love.  I hope you enjoy them.


Ingredients
1 bunch kale, cleaned well
3/4 c. cashews or almonds
1T plus 1t. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic (or one large)
1 lemon (juice and pulp--heck, use the zest too if you want!)
1/3 c. nutritional yeast
1 T. olive oil
1/2 red or yellow pepper, seeded (optional--adds a hint of sweetness)

Directions:
Blot your clean kale dry.  Strip off the woody stems and break the leaves into bite sized pieces. Soak the nuts in water for at least 1 hour.  Process all other ingredients in a food processor until pretty smooth.  Mix the nut mixture and the kale in a bowl using your hands to rub the mixture into the kale.  If you have a dehydrator, you are lucky.  Place the kale on the trays, being sure not to overlap them.  My dehydrator ran for 8 hours at 95 degrees, giving me delicious, crisp chips. But, if you don't have a dehydrator, do not fret.  Put the kale on lined sheet pans, being careful not to overlap them.  Place them in the coolest setting of your oven (maybe 170 or 175 degrees).  Check the chips every 20 minutes and remove them when they are crisp.

Eat, then repeat....

Black Beans: Simple and delicious

My dear friend Erin is leaving Champaign for Salt Lake City.  Our community will be less without her.  Last night, we held a farewell party for her, and several attendees asked me to post the some of the recipes.  I cooked for two lovely, but hot days.  Tacos for 45.  Now that's a lot of tacos!  I made 4 salsas: de arbol, roasted tomatillo, roasted tomato, and a mango xnipek that was hot enough to blow off your head; 3 fillings: chicken with red chile sauce, sautéed vegetables in a tomatillo sauce, and a wonderfully delicious poblano and chard rajas; lime and cilantro rice; corn salad with jicama; queso fresco, and these wonderful black beans.  This recipe is vegetarian and can easily be made into a soup with the addition of vegetable broth.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my guests did.

Ingredients for cooking beans
1 lb. dried black beans, picked over and washed
2 serrano chiles
1 t. garlic powder
2 bay leaves
1 t. dried epasote
1 t. Mexican Oregano

Ingredients for finishing beans
3 T. vegetable oil
1 white onion, chopped into 1/4 inch dice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 chipolte pepper in adobo, finely minced
1 t. adobo from chipolte can
1/2 t. cumin powder
1/2 t. dried epasote
1/2 t. dried mexican oregano
1/2 c. orange juice
1/2 lime, juiced
salt
1/4 c. cilantro, finely chopped

Directions


The night before you make your beans, sort them looking for stones, wash them and soak them in a large pot with at least three times as much cold water as you have beans.  About 4-5 hours before you want to eat them, rinse your beans and throw out the now purple water.  But the beans back in a large pot (preferably a pot with a heavy bottom such as an enameled cast iron pot).  Add enough water to cover the beans by 4 inches of water.  Add serrano chiles, garlic powder, bay leaves, epasote, and oregano.  Bring the water to a boil and simmer until the beans are tender (taste 4-5--they should each be soft).
In a second heavy bottomed dutch oven, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they are browned on the edges and are quite golden.  Add the garlic, chipolte, adobo, epasote, cumin, and oregano.  Saute for 1 minute more.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the beans into the pot a few large spoons at a time (leave behind the bay leaves and chiles).  Mash the first cup of beans with a potato masher.  Add the rest of the beans and enough cooking liquid to make the beans rather soupy.  Add the orange and lime juice and simmer on low for at least an hour.  You can add more bean water to make the beans the consistency you want.  Season with salt to taste.  To finish, add the cilantro and serve.  Enjoy!

New York Style Bagels: An attempt at perfection

What's better, I often wonder, than a great bagel.  But, they are so hard to come by--those wonderfully chewy, yet soft bundles of fabulousness.  Now, you may wonder why in the world you would take the time to make bagels.  Well, I'll be honest.  I think the bagels we get in stores and even in "bagel" restaurants, quite simply, suck.  Who boils their bagels anymore? I know Gothem Bagels in Madison does, and several places in Skokie and of course, New York do, but I don't live there. I live in Champaign, Illinois. The closest thing we have to real bagels is Einsteins, and I've already shared my opinion of their attempts.

Because of this, I have spent about a year learning about bagel making. I've read, watched videos, and had made several attempts at this process. What I found out is that ingredients, as is often the case, are key. In this case, you need high gluten flour (I use Sir Lancelot from King Arthur Flour, which has 14% protein) and distilled water as well as diastolic malt powder (also available from King Arthur Flour).  Armed with these ingredients and a bit (not too much, honestly) of time, you can create, in your very own kitchen, a more than acceptable bagel.  For the topping, I tend to go with the everything, which for me includes flaked sea salt, black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried garlic and onions, flax seeds, and chia seeds.  You can use any combination you like, but whatever you do, include a bit of flaked salt. It is the kicker here.

I love these bagels.  I make them small, 3 oz., and believe they are a perfect size for breakfast, but the recommended size is 4 oz., so do whatever you wish.  I have just slightly adapted this recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  Kudos to this most amazing cookbook.  If you love to bake bread, get it.  It is genius and has revolutionized my baking techniques.

New York Style Bagels

Adapted From:  Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Yield:   12-18 bagels

Ingredients:

Sponge

1 t. instant yeast

4 c. unbleached high gluten flour

2 ½ c. room temperature, distilled water

Dough

½ t. instant yeast

3 ¾ c. unbleached high gluten flour

2 ¾ t. table salt

2 t. malt powder

To finish

2 T. baking soda

Directions:

For the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in your stand mixer.  Add the water and stir only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly (about 2 hours).

For the dough, add the yeast to the sponge and stir.  Add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt.  On low speed with the dough hook, stir on low until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cups of flour.  The dough will be very stiff.  Knead on medium low for 6 minutes.  At this point, take a bit of the dough and try to stretch it out like you are going to blow a bubble with it.  If it easily rips, knead another 2 minutes.

Divide the dough into 3 ounce pieces for smaller bagels, and 4 oz. for large bagels.  Form the pieces into balls and place them on the counter covered with a clean towel. Let them rest for 30 minutes.  One at a time, stick your thumb into the center, through each ball.  Evenly stretch the hole until you have a hole approximately 2 inches in diameter.  Place each bagel on a cookie sheet with parchment that has been lightly sprayed with oil.  Place each 2 inches apart on the sheets.  Mist the bagels with oil and put in a food grade plastic bag.  Let sit for 30 minutes.

Before refrigerating over night, put one into a bowl with cold water. If it floats, it is ready to retard.  If not, let them rest for another 10-20 minutes.  Retard in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.  When you are ready to bake the bagels, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and put the racks in the middle of the oven.

Remove bagels from the refrigerator.  Bring water to a boil in a large, wide pot.  When boiling, add the baking soda.  Put 4-5 bagels in the boiling water and boil for 1-2 minutes (the longer the boil time, the more chewy the crust of the bagel).  Use a slotted spoon and chopstick to flip the bagels over and boil another 1-2 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle with topping of your choice.  Place on a parchment lined sheet pan that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.

When all bagels have been boiled, place them into the oven and bake until browned to the desired doneness, rotating and switching top and bottom pans after 5 minutes.  Cook a total of 12-15 minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting or eating.

Enjoy.