Cultured butter

While i was at Expo West a few weeks ago, i was fortunate to meet the great folks of Straus Creamery. I am a big fan of their dairy products using them for all of the cheese classes-LOVE their glass containers (great for my various booze projects) and the quality is amazing. At the Expo, i was going on-and-on about my love for them and they hooked me up with a few coupons which I recently used to make butter.

 (Straus containers make EXCELLENT containers for bitters!)

I used to make butter by shaking cream in a little jar with a few pinches of salt, but this time I wanted to use my KitchenAid to save my arms and make a little more than a single serving (although jar churning is a great project for kids).  I also wanted to experiment making the "European-style" butter, also known as cultured butter which has a more complex flavor with a hint of tang and just simply, a more intense butter flavor. I for sure recommend taking the extra step to make this kind of butter once you have made quick butter.

(thick, creamy and ready to churn)

What Happens When You Make Butter...

Butter is the fat of milk or cream.  Agitation of the cream or churning, separates the milk fats from the liquid part of the cream (buttermilk). The more you churn, the more the fats try to connect with other fats until you have large particles that can be brought together by hand. Some people call butter, "an overwhipped-whipped cream", and they are pretty much right. There are a number of ways that you can churn butter: a jar, Cuisenart, old-school butter churner (expensive but mucho cute factor), or in my case the Kitchenaid.

 (getting there...)

European-style cultured butter is not as widely available however, and if you do find it, can be a little pricey (at least as far as butter goes). Making it yourself is simple, flavorful and pretty inexpensive, especially since you can use the leftover buttermilk to make other yummy things like bread!

(whipped cream stage: almost there...)

CULTURED BUTTER

• 1c. organic cream (I used 2c. and I ended up with almost 2c. butter!)
• 1t yogurt culture

Let the cream sit for an hour in a bowl and cover with a towel. Add 1t culture (some people add yogurt-try it!) and mix. Let it sit out to develop for 10-14hrs, the cream should start to thicken on top (still covering). If you cannot mix right away, put it in the fridge. Once you are ready to churn, make sure the cream is around 60F. Add to mixer and put a towel on top (you will thank me later) and keep checking on it, in less than 5 minutes you will see the fat develop.

 (we've got butter!)

 (buttermilk mess: keep your eyes on the mixer!)

Once there is enough of the butter formed, strain the butter from the liquid (make sure to keep the liquid) and work the butter over and over, you will see more buttermilk released, allow to drain for 10 minutes.

(first stage draining)

After the first draining, rinse the butter over cold water while mashing/squeezing the butter. The fat will stay, but the liquid will come out. Once you feel you have enough liquid removed from the butter, wrap in plastic and store in the fridge. I like to separate the butter in 1/2 adding salt to one batch and leaving the other plain.  The fat of the butter will make it last much longer than cream if you keep it cold and wrap it well (plus it won't adopt certain fridge flavors!)

(second stage straining)

 Now that I am into cultured butter I am going to try clotted cream, ghee and I have already started looking into some cute butter molds!

Winter at the Hollywood Farmers' Market

Over a week ago, we were able to visit and do the table at the Hollywood Farmers' Market...I still can't believe it has been over 2 months since I have been able to sit at the table, time really is flying! It was wonderful to see all the familiar faces (although everyone has been working overtime with the whole BS situ with the Film School)-but it was a joy to be out in the market.
So yes I did happen to see James Van Der Beek, looking normal with the fam, but WAY MORE important was the baby goat from Soledad-10 days old...she was the star of the market the entire time-crowds non stop!

(yeah, she fell asleep in my arms!!)

This time we brought our neighbors Jack and August, they had a blast and even went to Amoeba and brought back this classic Lee Perry album...all I have to say is better not bring it to our house or you will never see it again!

I sat at the MFP table and hung out with Kevin, Master Gardener (dearly missed!!) for a few hours and tried to catch up on everything that has been happening for over 2 months...I can't believe it has been that long. Eventually we closed up and we were able to go shopping...

(root veggies galore)

McGrath Farms always has incredible produce (in the center ring of the market). They usually have a few items that you cannot find anywhere else. As we walked by, I noticed something EXTRA special: Ghost Peppers. If you are into heat, the ghost is known as the hottest pepper on the planet (think habanero x 10...I still can't imagine that). We had to pick up some for another canning creation.

(some lady got mad at me for taking so many!)

I am also big on the prepared food of the Hollywood FM-while I am usually a breakfast burrito gal, I have recently fallen in love with the Caribbean creations at Flava- I am down for beans, rice and plantains any day/all day, but she also as a mean chicken dish (from what I hear) that is not only cheap but way good!

(PS the hot sauce on the counter is hot but UBER good!)

(fixin's with hot sauce-I had 2 orders)

I am hoping to make a regular stop at the market this year every 1st Sunday of the month pending a class or lecture. Either way, you have to check out he Farmers Kitchen where Ernie has made a number of yummy preserves from the farmers who do this market. He is also heading the LA MFP program after 10 years (yours truly will be teaching the first class on food safety)- to apply for one of the 15 spots, click here- go Ernie!!!!

Shiitake Happens

(ready to shroom!)

with the move and catch-up with work i have had to delay my time with the my new little toy that i recently acquired in Oakland-a Shiitake mushroom brick!

i have been wanting to get something going in the ole root cellar and over the past month i had been doing random research on how to start, maintain and grown my own little edible fungi garden.  well the foodie gods were listening to my pleas because when i was in Oakland talking kimchi, i happened to find Far West Fungi, a retailer of delectable shrooms and more importantly-kits!


with a little over a week after bringing it home, i finally brought it out and started my garden-which happens to be about a 1 ft block of fungi goodness...although not too appetizing at first.

the plastic bag acted as a great miniature damp environment-perfect for the babies to start growing. i kept my "shroom bag" on top of the fridge where i could check on it everyday (too much moisture creates the blue-green-grey fungus, otherwise known as "no es bueno") and it was a great topic of conversation to people visiting.
nothing really happened the first few weeks, and honestly i was starting to think that i had a dud, when all of a sudden-little shiitake bumps started to form!

(week 2)

(week 3)

literally within the week, those "bumps" grew into a dozen shiitake shrooms that i harvested and put into a paper bag so they wouldnt get moldy.

i tried to start another batch right after but i guess the shiitake gods where finished with me and the "no es bueno" gods infested my kit and i had to say goodbye....you don't want to mess with them!

(see that blue-green stuff? time to go bye-bye)

with the dozen or so mushrooms, i ended up making this incredible soup, which was kind of like a super-sized miso soup with all the fixin's (very similar to my Sick Soup recipe) and it was INCREDIBLE!

i did eat the mushrooms first before anyone else-heck it was my first mushroom experience and i didnt want to poison anyone!  but i am now totally into growing my own and will be doing this a lot more!

pie class with Evan Kleiman-an update to working with a rockin' chica

(gone in 60 seconds: Evan's tomato n' gruyere cheese pie)

so this past weekend i had a canning class with Evan Kleiman-queen-of-pies, Good Food host and so much more on pie filling and pie crusts at her restaurant Angeli Caffe.
have to admit-the nerves where a runnin' though me realizing that i was going to be teaching canning this and that with a woman who is, in so many words-a "mera-mera" of culinary So Cal and then some....there were lots of, "please don't f-up this...put your A-game on" type thoughts going through my head for sure!

(starting the workshop with a quick talk on basic canning)

but as soon as i walked into Angeli on Saturday morning i felt at total ease-something that is automatic with Evan. she is a woman with charm and a great energy that you feel like you are coming into her home. Only an hour after arriving, we were met with our 8 students-pretty amazing seeing that we only started promoting the class a little over a week before.

(Evan teaching pie crusts)

I started out the workshop talking about canning while Evan blanched peaches for filling.  After the filling was made and we loaded the jars Evan taught the students how to make 2 different kinds of pie crust and everyone made little pies made in jelly jars that they could put in the oven later (see above).

(the finished product was a quart of organic peach pie filling for each student)

Even though we were both a little tired, the day ended up being really wonderful and has inspired us to do another workshop on tomatoes (will be posting about this next week)!  Most of all, it has been really great to work with someone so inspiring...

a full sunday

usually, i keep father's day pretty quiet-both my father and "D+" (my father-figure/bestie while growing up) have both passed, so for almost 10 years i just use the day to to rest, remember and work on various house projects-i lay pretty low.
this sunday was a different turn.
starting EARLY, like sam style early, we loaded the VW with various preservation items for a trip to the NBC studios to visit with Ted Chen for an appearance on Raw LA to talk about food preservation...um yeah, i was on TV-talk about the exact opposite of what i usually do!

("call me Master for short Ted!")

right after, we headed out to the Hollywood Farmers' Market for my monthly table-which i havent been able to do for the past 2 months because of a crazy work schedule and being sick (which made me miss the anniversary event, which i am still pissed about a month later!) it was really wonderful to see all of the familiar faces of the market-for Father's Day it was so busy! lots of folks came by and Jake Gyllenhaal was there...but alas, no Booger! we ate at the Farmers' Kitchen and had an amazing breakfast of local eggs, mushrooms and greens of all sorts (super good-you must try)! we ended up leaving with a big case of heirloom tomatoes from Tutti Fruitti Farms for super cheap, strawberries and made some good connections for stone fruit when we come back in 2 weeks-i can't wait.

(big-time garlic from Tutti Frutti-people asked more about the garlic than preserving!)

(adorable wooden eggs we bought from an old European woman-gorg!)

(yeah, Father's Day made no dent in the crowds in h-wood)

we had to cut-out a little early because right after that, we went to Evan Kleiman's beloved Angeli Caffe to help sponsor Nina Garcia, a popular food favorite obtain a mobile vendor operation. even though we were starting to feel the exhaustion of being in the sun and early morning, the fried quesadillas and other goodness was way too much to pass up-

i have to honestly say that i am in awe of Evan and her amazing heart. she opened her business to pave the way for another woman to make more for her business-what an inspiration and woman!

(Evan made me this savory beer drink-basically the topper for my sleepiness)

(SUPER good-gracias Nina!)

the beer and heavy food was trying to do us in-we sang songs to keep us awake so we wouldnt miss the new epi of True Blood (um yeah wasnt it great!).  however, in the back of my mind, i my mind was racing with a number of things...
i miss father's day with D+

the cycle of life: chicken dinner *graphic*

Kelly and Patrick, the bee family with the awesome home recently had us over for chicken...quite literally.
their 5 chickens have been well past egg-laying and they have brought 4 chicks in to replace them...so the time came to honor and remove the old chickens and welcome the new life that will be supplying this wonderful family with eggs for the next few years.
i have to admit, this was kind of hard for me. i havent had the taste of chicken in over 15 years and really do not miss it-still cant get over the massive-scale commercial meat/poultry industry that we have.
the main reason i decided to not eat meat comes directly out of the environmental and human impacts of our current meat industry: it is damaging our planet and the treatment of both the animals and people who process them (and i use the term process b/c there is a lack of respect for animals in this industry) is something that i cannot support.
but i have to respect this little urban farm in Santa Ana has cherished the these chickens have become a part of their family and lives and they are making a whole event for it-honoring their lives in a celebration. if i had the space to do something like this-i certainly would, fresh eggs cannot be beat and these birds have had a great life eating organic greens from their large yard, allowed to run and lay on the grass in the afternoon sun, heck their coop is bigger than my kitchen!

(hanging the birds)

(the next generation of little chicks-they were still shy)

one thing about the day was how long it took-talk about SLOW FOOD! the event started at 2, but we didnt get to sit and eat until after 9PM-kind of puts the whole farm-to-table thing in perspective...having poultry isn't just going to the store and opening a styrofoam container. everybody at the house had a job preparing the meal.

(dipping the chickens to remove feather is a labor-intensive job)

(preparing to gut the chickens)

Kelly and Patrick are lucky in that they have an outdoor cooking area. i would highly recommend this as the de-feathering and gutting is pretty messy (our little Marge was all over the outdoor kitchen hoping for a little morsel to fall)!
pretty much the entire bird was used for some purpose: the undeveloped eggs (next image below-my fave) were cooked and many said that they were really good (my mom told me later that in Mexico her grandmother would put these in a soup and they were really yummy), the innards were cooked down into another dish, the water from cooking, bones and other parts were used to make stock and was frozen, and some of the other parts (skin, fat, extra trimmings) were given to me to make organic food for Marge.

(as much as this is graphic, i really like this shot)

(the gizzard-still with seeds)

(Marge: finally getting comfortable in the garden)

there were several differences that i also noticed. the birds were about 5-6 years old, pretty old from what people were saying-therefore they were going to have to be cooked for long periods of time (i guess this is where Coq au Vin came from-old rooster in wine). one person mentioned that the average age of a commercial bird was 4 months-which baffled me, imagine what had to be put into the animal in order to make it big enough (which is why i stopped eating it)!
another thing i noticed was the how the skin and flesh of the birds were a little more complex and richer that what i would see at the local store, i was used to poultry being so pale. also, there was a large amount of fat and thicker skin on these birds.
i also noticed flavor. this was very similar to tasting a REAL, local tomato for the first time after eating the store crap-it tastes more tomatoey right? same with chicken, you had a richer more pungent flavor-something that i must admit i dont miss.

(boiled chicken for enchiladas)

(beautiful -ready to be Coq au Vin)

(Kelly also having a sample of her chicken after over 15 years without)

(the festive spread-a night of thanks!)

all in all, the day at Kelly and Patrick's was memorable and truly made me appreciate our food even more. despite the fact that i do not have a taste for chicken, i appreciate them even more than before. i most definitely recommend the same.

adventure in loquats and other backyard fruit-and a special request to readers of this blog!

(THIS is why we have a VW bus-easy to load with fruit!)

i have been awaiting the loquat season excitedly...

ever since our loquat-a-paloza last year, i have been waiting like a little girl on Christmas night for the one month when loquats are in season, so delicious-yet a total pain in the a$$. not only is the season a split second, but once you pick them, they last about 2 days before they start going brown...but that's not all-

(Caitlin seeding and cleaning)

anyone who has had this Chinese fruit that looks and tastes more like an apricot than a kumquat knows that they are small and have 2-3 seeds in them...can't eat the seeds, they are known to be toxic.

(toasted loquat seeds-more to come on what i do with them...)

so last week, gustavo and i went to Tustin to pick fruit. we were lucky in that the tree we picked from had the larger variety of the fruit-SO much easier to deal with and it seems like they were ready a little earlier than the smaller version which was on a tree a few yards away. that day we were able to pick almost 2 baskets of loquats, tangelos, mandarin, lemons and a few find ugli fruit (more to come on that!)..what a score!

(from one small tree-we were able to have almost 2 baskets!)

(leaving Tustin, and noticing a lot of fruit trees...)

so what did we make?? 4 cases of loquat butter and a special brew-loquat n' honey vodka!...won't be ready for a few weeks at leaast, but will give an update!


if you have any fruit trees that you want me to pick or you can pick and hand over-i will give you a few jars of whatever i make....viva Spring!