Author Archives: uaskigyrl

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About uaskigyrl

Urban gardener, amateur cook, lover of life, suffering from a severe case of wanderlust.

Bar Top: Marmalade Whiskey Sour

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Here’s a whiskey sour with a more feminine flare.  It uses marmalade as the sugar base instead of simple syrup and an egg white to make it frothy.  I love to serve it in my retro coop glasses to up the sophistication level.  Your significant other might look at you crazy when you hand them this whiskey sour but they will forgive you once they taste it because, although it looks feminine, the taste is pure whiskey.

I like to use bourbon for this recipe because bourbon has a deeper flavor and can hold up to the punch of the marmalade.  My favorite bourbon is Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon Whiskey.  This bourbon is aged in New American Oak and has the distinct woody flavor of bourbon without the harsh after taste.  This bourbon is moderately priced for a bourbon and I find I like the flavor a lot more than bourbons that are much more expensive. 

A few tips for your home bar:  when a drink calls for an egg white it’s to make that drink frothy.  The frothiness is not necessary for the drink but it is highly recommended.  I have made this drink with and without the egg white.  The egg white, when shaken, adds a lightness to the drink that is irreplaceable.  However, as much as I eat eggs and bake, I never wanted to waste an egg white on a drink…so, I got smart.  I keep a can of Deb El Just Whites as an ingredient in my home bar.  The instructions on the can will tell you how much egg white powder to add to how much water, you mix it up, and go!

Marmalade Whiskey Sour

Adapted from Saveur

2.5 oz Bourbon
0.5 oz lemon juice (I prefer fresh squeezed)
1 egg white
2 tsp Three Citrus Marmalade
3 drops Agnostura Bitters

1.  In bar shaker add marmalade, lemon juice, bourbon, and egg white; mix it up with a spoon.  Add ice and shake until the shaker is frosty cold.  Strain into a coop glass.  Shake 3 drops of Agnostura Bitters over the top and swirl the bitters around with a tooth pick into whites.  Enjoy!

Calgon…Take me away!

Orange Pepper Pork and Kale

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There are many food blogs out there that center on the romance of cooking and that’s great but the typical, average family (even single person) doesn’t have time for meals that take a lot of energy and time to cook.  Let’s face it, between all the things we are “supposed” to do, exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, read to your kids, help them with homework, walk the dog twice a day, wash your face before you go to bed, get 8 hours of sleep, drink 2 liters of water, etc, etc, etc, now here I am telling you that we can’t trust our corporate food sources and we should make most everything from scratch?!  IS YOU CRAZY, WOMAN?!  WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT?! 

It can be done.  During the week I rarely spend more than 25 minutes putting dinner together and most of them are one pot meals.

Who doesn’t love one pot meals?  There’s nothing like being able to throw together a quick, nutritious meal with minimal dishes.  I think if more people knew how to cook one pot meals, more people would be eating from scratch.

dried orange zest strips, a shake of pepper corn, and a pinch of sea salt

Remember the dried orange zest strips we made?  We are going to use them to make an Orange Pepper rub for thin cut pork chops.  That orange vinegar we made, we are going to use that to steam the kale.  Now go grab you your biggest pan with a lid. 

In your coffee/spice grinder (make sure it’s clean!) add 2-3 strips of dried orange zest, a shake of pepper corn, and a pinch of sea salt.  Grind that up until you have a nice spice blend.  Rub the blend on both sides of thin cut pork chops. Put these aside while you complete the rest of the preparation.

Chop 1-2 garlic cloves, half and slice an onion, and pick about a half head of kale off it’s stem. 

GREENS!  MY LOVE!  I’ve been waiting for you all winter!
Set your biggest pan with a lid over medium high heat.  We want to sear the pork chops and to get a beautiful sear we need a hot pan and warm oil.  Once the pan is hot enough to where water sizzles, add a tablespoon of olive oil and let that warm up.  Place the pork chops in the pot and sear for about a minute each side.  Remove them from the pan and place them on a plate to set aside.
Lower the heat and add the onion and garlic, let those caramelize and then add 1/4 cup of vegetable or pork broth (or wine or beer or water) and scrape up any brown bits in the bottom of the pan. Add a few generous splashes of orange vinegar.  Pack in the kale, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and more generous splashes of orange vinegar (I like vinegar on my greens, so I add a lot of vinegar here), top with seared pork chop, and cover.
You will steam the pork until it is cooked through and the greens are bright and wilted.  Serve with bread or any other carb that you fancy.
Orange Pepper Pork and Kale
Yield:  2 Pork Chops and 2 Servings Kale
Orange Pepper:
2-3 strips orange zest
pinch of sea salt
shake of black pepper
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
half head of kale
1/4 cup vegetable broth (or any liquid)
shakes orange vinegar
  1. In spice grinder grind up orange zest, sea salt, and black pepper.  Rub over both sides of pork chops.
  2. Chop garlic, half and slice onion, and pick kale.
  3. In a pot over medium high heat, sear pork chops over 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Remove pork.
  4. Add onion and garlic and sautee until caramelized.  Deglaze with vegetable broth and a few generous shakes of orange vinegar and cook down by half.  Add in greens, top with salt, pepper, and a few generous shakes of orange vinegar.
  5. Add pork chop on top of kale, cover, and steam until the pork is cooked through – about 10-15 minutes.



Soda Scones

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What is Soda Bread?  When I first heard of it, I thought it was bread made with actual Soda Pop!  It is not!  Soda bread is a quick, heavy bread made with baking soda as the levening agent. The earliest references of using “baking soda” as a levener are through the American Indians who began using potash in their breads centuries ago.
 
So, how did soda bread became so completely Irish?
 
Soft wheat is the only wheat that is really able to grow in Ireland’s harsh climates and soft wheat does not do well with yeast.  Yeast needs gluten to rise and soft wheat just does  not provide the gluten.  Bicarbonate of soda was introduced to Ireland around the 1840s.  The Irish had discovered that using baking soda instead of yeast and adding an acid, like sour milk, would give them a quick bread. By 1845, the Great Potato Famish was in full swing and it is believed that it spurred soda breads popularity, giving rise to many different types of soda bread.  Soda bread is an easy, quick, and cheap bread to make; all you need is flour, salt, baking soda, and sour milk (modern recipes call for buttermilk), so one can see how it would become popular during the Potato Famine.

I had exactly 1.5 cups of buttermilk in the fridge that was going to go bad and I thought that soda scones would be the perfect way to use it up and since I wanted to spread my marmalade over it, I made the soda scones as plain as plain could be.  This is a very basic recipe so you can add what you want to it.  Sweet.  Salty.  Savory.  Go for it!  Have fun!

 
The first tip I want to give you is that this dough is very wet so you want to use plenty of flour to make it easier to work with so it doesn’t stick to everything.
 

 As you can see, I’ve liberally sprinkled flour over the counter and over the dough

 
Place your scones on a parchment (or silpat) lined baking sheet.  You can brush the tops with buttermilk, cream, or – if your lazy (like me!) – you can spray it with oil from your Misto!  Bake in 425 oven for about 20 minutes.  You can test the bread by dipping a toothpick in the middle and it come out clean or by tapping on the bottom of the bread, it should sound hollow.

mmmmm, can’t wait to dig in!
 

Soda Scones

Yield:  8  scones

3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 cups buttermilk (or sour milk if you have some milk that is past the expiration date!)

  1. Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  2. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk.  Mix with a wooden spoon until you have moist dough.
  3. Flour your work surface well, dump out the dough onto your floured work surface, sprinkle the dough with flour and shape into an 8″ disk.  Cut into 8 pieces.  Scoop the scones onto your baking sheet.
  4. Brush with oil, cream, or buttermilk.
  5. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and/or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean

mmmm, soda scone with marmalade
 
References:
1.  History of Irish Soda Bread by Abigails Bakery, LLC, http://www.abigailsbakery.com/bread-recipes/history-of-irish-soda-bread.htm
2.  Irish Soda Bread History by Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, http://www.sodabread.info/Sodabreadhistory/sodabreadhistory.htm
3.  The History of Irish Soda Bread by Food History, http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/IrishSodaBreads/index.htm



Riesling Kumquat Syrup

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One of the first things that popped into my mind after I received the kumquats  was syrup.  I wanted to make a fruity, citrusy syrup to add to my bar.  Not only that, I wanted to be able to pour it over pancakes, ice cream, yogurt, basically anything that would benefit from a pop of citrus.  Having tasted the kumquats, aside from their great burst of citrus flavor, I thought of Riesling.  Hence, Riesling Kumquat Syrup was born.
 
 

This process is broken down into two days.

 
Day 1:  After washing the kumquts, thinly slice them and put in a medium sized pot.  Add a pint and a half of Riesling and set over high heat.  Once it starts boiling, turn down the heat and gently boil for 15 minutes.  Cover and put in the fridge over night. 

This syrup will be safe to feed to children because all the alcohol will cook out.

Day 2:   Take out of the fridge and put on stove top, set to high and boil for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and let sit for 1 hour.  In the meantime, set up your BWB.  After an hour, strain the juice over a large bowl.  Make sure to get as much of the flavor out of the pulp as possible.  Keep stirring and pressing until the skins and pulp look “dry”.  Toss the skins and pulp.

 
You should end up with around 2 cups of juice.  I ended up with 1.5 cups.  Add water to the juice to equal 2 cups – you can also add any extra riesling but I drank all the left over riesling the night before! HA!

 
Add juice and 1 cup of sugar to a medium sized pan and set the pan to high heat.  You want to boil the syrup until it reaches about 118 (115-118 is ok) on a candy thermometer.  Ladle into prepared jars and process for 5 minutes.
 
I do like the flavor of this syrup however using the Riesling might be a little too sweet for my palate.  We’ll see how it mellows out over time.  Next time I’m going to try it with Chardonnay since Chardonnay has a more oakey and earthy flavor.  Overall, I’m happy with how this turned out and can’t wait to crack into these jars!  I’m thinking Riesling Kumquat Macaroons are in the future!
 
Riesling Kumquat Syrup
 
Yield:  4-6 quarter pint jars
 
1 Quart Kumquats
1.5 pints Riesling
1 cup sugar
 
Day 1
  1. Slice kumquats and place in a medium sized pot.  Add Riesling and gently boil for 15 minutes
  2. After 15 minutes, cover, and refridgerate overnight
Day 2
  1. Boil kumquats for about 5 minutes and let stand for an hour
  2. Prepare BWB
  3. After an hour has passed, strain kumquats, ensuring that you get all the juices out from the pulp and skins.
  4. Measure the juice and if you don’t have 2 cups, add water (or Riesling) to equal 2 cups.  Pour into medium sized pot and add 1 cup of sugar.  Boil and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Keep boiling until candy thermometer reaches about 118 degrees.
  5. Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4″ head space and process for 5 minutes


Marmalade Basted Chicken

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I love to make a good baste with marmalade and 3 Citrus Marmalade is just the right one!  The sugars in the marmalade creates a lovely crust over cooked meat because it caramelizes under the heat.  The best way to cook this is to cook in the broiler (in the winter) or over the grill (in the summer).

 

To get the most flavor injected into your meat, poke holes with a fork through out the meat, then brush on the marmalade baste.  I like to brush on the baste to marinade the meat (in this case chicken) for about an hour before I fire it up.  When I throw the meat in the grill or under the broiler, I flip the meat every 3-5 minutes and brush on a new layer of baste every time I flip the meat.  I find that 15-20 minutes is the perfect amount of time for chicken.  When the chicken is done, you will have a lovely caramelized crust and when you cut into the chicken, you will find the chicken very moist.  

Oops, I almost forgot to take a “finished” picture! Excuse the messy plate.  I had to take the picture before the last pieces were taken!
 
Marmalade Marinade & Baste

Yield: Enough for 1 pork loin or 4 servings chicken

1/8 cup 3 Citrus Marmalade
1/8 cup olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, & onion powder to taste
1/8 cup of orange vinegar, or to taste

  1. Combine marmalade and olive oil in a small bowl, whisk with fork until emulsified. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste. Add orange vinegar to loosen up the baste.
  2. Whisk
  3. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add more olive oil or vinegar to make it to the consistency you prefer.

Preserved Kumquats

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In “Canning for a New Generation”, Liana Krissoff has a recipe for a drink called the Kumquat Knickerbocker.  I have been pining for this drink since I bought the book and I finally bit the bullet.  Being a fan of kumquats, I decided to go all in and order 5 pounds from Beck Grove.  This recipe is a sweet preserve, preserving the kumquats in sugar.  the method is fairly easy as you keep the kumquats whole, only cutting two small slits in each.  This is my first year preserving kumquats, so it shall be interesting to see how the preserved kumquats come out. and how I decide to incorporate them into my recipes.  My mind is already churning on how to use these little guys and not just for my liquor cabinet!  I’m thinking pork, duck, lamb, chicken, and even venison! 

Preserved Kumquats

From Canning for a New Generation

Yield:  4 half pint jars

1.5 pounds Kumquats
2 cups sugar
3 cups water

  1. Prep work area per “Kitchen Tactics:  Boiling Water Bath Canning”
  2. With a paring knife, cut off the blossom end and slice two slits in each kumquat.  Place them in a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil over high heat, boil for 5 minutes, then drain.  Repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 times.
  3. In a large pot combine 3 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar, bring to a boil, and stir to dissolve the sugar. 
  4. Add the kumquats and return to a boil.  Skim off any foam, lower heat, and simmer until kumquats are translucent and glossy and the syrup is thick and reduced until it just covers the kumquats, about 30 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat, stir to distribute the fruit, and ladle the hot kumquats and syrup into the hot jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace.
  6. Process for 10 minutes. 
Mmmmm, can’t wait to try that drink!

Kitchen Tactics: Eating a Fresh Kumquat

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I know what you’re thinking, “Does this woman think we are idiots?  How hard is it to eat a kumquat?!”  Trust me on this, there is a technique.  If you just pop a kumquat into your mouth like a grape, chances are you are going to make a face like this:

GIFSoup


You see, kumquats are kind of like a miniature inside out orange and these little buggars pack a punch.  The skin is lovely and sweet, the pulp is sour and tart.  If you don’t eat a fresh kumquat correctly, you will miss out on the delicate sweetness of the skin and how it plays with the tartness of the pulp.

You want to roll the kumquat around in your fingers until it become pliable and soft and the essential oils are leeching out of the skin and covers your fingers.  Bite off the blossom end of the fruit (you can eat it but I spit it out).

Suck out the juice and pulp (spit out the seeds), using your teeth to flatten out the kumquat as you go, then nibble on the rind until it is all gone.  There you have it!  The proper way of eating a fresh kumquat that gives you a lovely all around citrus flavor.

GIFSoup

Bar Top: Frozen Pomelo Minty Margarita

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Now this is a margarita you can eat with a spoon!

This is quite a yummy take on margaritas and my own special concoction!  Since pomelos are pretty fibrous and not very juicy, this margarita is best serve frozen.  Remember the left over  mint syrup we had from canning the grapefruit in minty syrup?  We are going to use it here (see, I told you not to throw it out!).

First, you will segment your pomelo.  Now that you have your pomelo ready to go, you will need the following:  Tequila, cointreau, fresh lime, minty syruip, pomelo segments, ice, bar shaker, shot measure, and a blender.

Ignore everything in the background…I have a small kitchen, ok!

In your bar shaker, throw in a small handful of pomelo segments, add about a 1/2 oz cointreau (or triple sec), 1/4 oz minty syrup (or to taste),  juice from half a lime, and 2oz of tequila (oh, who are we kidding?  Make that 3!).  Place the top on your bar shaker and give it a good shake.  Next, throw a few ice cubes in there, pour into your blender and whir it up into an adult slushy.  Rim your gass with kosher salt, pour in your margarita, and enjoy!
haha, you can see some lemon zest drying in the background – oh, and my very sad basil plant…
Frozen Pomelo Mint Margarita
Generous pinch pomelo segments
1/2 oz cointreau or triple sec
1/4 oz of minty syrup or to taste
Juice from half a lemon
2 oz tequila
Kosher salt
  1. In your bar shaker add pomelo segments, cointreau, minty syrup, juice from half a lime, and tequila.  Give it a good shake.  Add a few ice cubes, pour into blender, and blend well.
  2. Rim a glass with kosher salt, pour in glass, and enjoy!

    

    Don’t Waste That: Citrus Peels

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    I hate waste of any kind.  If I throw something out I feel so ashamed and guilty.  Some people may call me cheap but when something is perfectly fine, I try to find another use for it.  One thing that has a lot of uses are citrus peels.  I save them.  All of them.  If I take an orange to work, I wrap up the orange peel in a paper towel and bring it home – I know, I know.  I can feel your judging eyes.  If I use the juice of a lemon or lime in a recipe, I save the peel. 

    These last few weeks I’ve been eating an orange a day and I’ve been saving those peels for another use:  Orange Vinegar.

    When I make orange vinegar for eating, I always zest the orange because the pith will give the vinegar a bitter taste.  Add the orange zest to a quart jar, fill with vinegar, and steep. 

    After it’s steeped for a good amount of time (a month or more; taste it to make sure it’s at the flavor you want), strain and bottle.  This vinegar is yummy in a lot of things: adding it in marinades, adding to sauteed greens, using it in a salad dressing.  The possibilities are endless.

    Another tip: do not throw the pith out after you zest it.  Throw the pith down your garbage disposal, turn it on, and it will help disinfect and clean it!


    If I can’t get around to using the peel right away, I save them in my citrus peel bag.  My citrus peel bag has peels from an assortment of citrus that I keep in my freezer.

    Limes, Lemons, Oranges, Grapefruit, you name it it’s in here!

    My citrus peel bag is specifically for making citrus cleaning vinegar.  I do not remove the zest from the pith.  I just fill up a quart jar with the reserved frozen peel, fill the quart jar up with white vinegar, give it a good shake, and let it steep on my window sill.

    I let them steep for a long while; usually I forget about them.  When I think the vinegar is ready I strain and bottle it. 

    See how pale the peels are?  that’s what we’re shooting for!

    I fill up a squeezie bottle with citrus cleaning vinegar to use as a rinse in my dishwasher and I also half it with water to use it as a cleaning solution in a spray bottle.  I label it Cleaning Vinegar.

    No, it doesn’t look tasty…& it’s not!  This solution is simply for cleaning!

    Homemade Extracts

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    I do *a lot* of baking hence I use quite a bit of extract.  Extracts can be so expensive to buy in the stores; $3 or more for a tiny bottle of extract.  Because of this, I have started making my own.  My very first extract that I ever made was vanilla extract.  This year, I’m going to make four:  Lemon, Orange, Grapefruit, and Vanilla.  I’m a little little nervous about the grapefruit extract because I don’t generally like the taste of grapefruit peel, I find it too bitter, but the cost to make homemade extracts is negligible so I’m going for it!


    For extracts I like to use quarter pints.  I feel like using anything larger makes too much extract and wastes a perfectly good jar.

    For the citrus extract:  I just took the zest off of 2 lemons, 1 orange, and half a grapefruit and put them in their respective jars.  Fill it up with vodka (90 proof), cover, shake, and keep in a dark place.  Shake every so often.  After a month or so, check the extracts.  If they are at the flavor of your liking, strain and bottle.  If you would like, if it’s too bitter, you can add a teeny, tiny bit of sugar to the extract. 

    For the vanilla extract:  I cut the ends off of three vanilla beans and sliced them down the middle.  I then cut them into fourths.  I placed the bean in the jar and filled the jar with vodka, cover, shake, and keep in a dark place.  Shake every so often.  I don’t strain the vanilla bean when the extract is ready to use.  When I bottle the extract, I keep a vanilla bean or two in the bottle.

    Top Left: Lemon; Top Right: Orange; Bottom Left: Grapefruit; Bottom Right: Vanilla