Butter in your food processor!

An old time art is made super easy in your food processor.  All you need is some heavy cream and your food processor (or a big jar but that will take MUCH longer). This is an excellent project to share with children. Familiar food, but do they know where it comes from?  The transformation is sudden, and the results are delicious, light, and sweet. Take back your food!

Would this be better with heavy cream from your own animals? Yes, I am sure it would be.

Ingredients:
Heavy Cream
Ice Water
salt (optional)

Pour the cream into the processor bowl with the standard blade. Fill bowl about 1/4 to 1/2 way. Do not do as I did and pour the whole thing in. A small mess but it didn't inhibit the process, just added a clean up that wouldn't have been necessary if I hadn't been so gung-ho. Ah well, lessons learned.

Put the lid on an start the motor. I have a fairly powerful machine.

At 30 seconds I had whipped cream, at 45 seconds small butter curds started to form.

It was difficult to see what was happening, I let it go 3 1/2 minutes.

We have butter! And buttermilk. Pour off the butter milk, drink it, use it for biscuits, mix in with some grain and feed your chickens. Don't just pour it down the drain.

Quite a lot of liquid came off.

Taste it. Sweet, light, almost ethereal. I did not add salt to the cream. There is a lot of water in it, and whey that needs to be removed, else the butter will spoil quite rapidly. 

To wash the butter, add about 1/2  cup of ice water to the bowl and process. Drain off the liquids. Keep repeating until the liquid is clear. I didn't get it crystal clear, but it was pretty clear. I'm impatient.

Lastly, transfer the butter to a big bowl, and using a potato masher, go at it some more. Drain the liquid as it separates.

Go ahead, have some toast, fry an egg in it. It is very different than store bought. Much lighter. 

This butter won't keep as long as the blocks of stuff from the store, so freezing some is a good option.

I put some on plastic wrap, added some herbs de provence, and formed two logs like that. It will be delicious packed under the skin of a chicken  before roasting. These are going in the freezer.

I filled a small ramekin for using it up and will make a gift of another little tub to a friend I know will appreciate it.

Unlike many disclaimers on TV; please, do try this at home!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging.



The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce

I've made this before but not for a few years. A perfect meatless dinner!

There are many of recipes for this on the Internet and in cookbooks. Look a few up and make it your own.

You can make your own pasta if you are so inclined, but the general availability of wonton wrappers makes this unnecessary unless you want bragging rights.

For the filling:
2 cups pumpkin puree (we had some in the freezer left over from the wife's pie making at Thanksgiving)
1/2 cup cottage cheese drained in cheese cloth (squeeze the liquid out, you could also use Ricotta)
1/2 cup finely minced onion
1 clove garlic finely minced
2 Tbs grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp ground sage
pinch freshly ground nutmeg
2 Tbs butter

For the ravioli - Wonton wrappers

For the sauce
4 tbs butter
Fresh whole sage leaves.

Grate the Parmesan, nutmeg, and add the ground sage.

Melt 2 Tbs butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.

Add the onion and the garlic. Cook, stirring often until soft and fragrant. You don't want to brown it.

Add the pumpkin. Reduce heat to medium low & cook gently. I'm trying to drive off some of the moisture.

I ended up adding another chunk of pumpkin (this brought it up to about 2 cups as listed above).

When thick, add Parmesan, sage and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Add the cheese.

Continue cooking until the cheese is incorporated.

I'm looking for a mashed potato consistency.

It goes into a bowl to chill. I like this time of year as we can just pop things out on the porch.

Prep the wanton wrappers.  Brush some water around the edges. You can see that on the far wrappers.

Add a scant tablespoon of filling in the middle. This picture really is too much filling. Use less.

Fold in half and crimp the edges with a fork.  It is easiest to pick them up to fold them in half. Keep working. It takes time but is worth it. This is about a third of them. The rest go out on the porch to freeze

Bring a big pot of salted water to the boil.

For the sauce, melt some butter (4 tbs).

Melt over medium heat. Add the sage leaves.

Remove leaves to a paper towel to drain. Continue cooking butter until light brown.

Reduce heat under the water so it is not a rolling boil. The ravioli are fragile.

Add ravioli to the pot. Cook for 4-6 minutes, until pasta is tender.

Add to the browned butter. Toss very gently to coat.

Plate and garnish with sage leaves.

For the amount of butter, it is really pretty light (well, I'll try to convince myself of that).

The pasta and filling are light and savory. The filling was surprisingly sweet since there is no sugar added. Must just be the pumpkin.  If you have the time, give this a try.


Until next time, Eat Well & Keep digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Snacks

A late season harvest of radishes provided  a nice snack before dinner tonight. Left over baguette, a touch of butter, sliced radish. a crunchy chewey treat. 

Last night for Monday Night Football, I decided to have some special treats.

Clockwise from upper left, Grapes, homemade apple butter, baguette,  cured duck sausage ( it was quite ducky!), cheese, stone ground mustard, Bosch pear.

Sometimes I like snacking more than a full meal. Ever go into a restaurant and just order a few appetizers in lieu of an entree?

So for this post, I produced the radishes and the apple butter.

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Steak on the Barbie + Mysterious Shadows

I had not had a steak in a long time. Last night just seemed like the right night. A little nip in the air, a glass of red wine. Let's fire up the grill.

I had this steak waiting for such a day, I'd taken it out of the freezer a day or so ago, and out of the fridge an hour before prepping. It is huge and will serve 2.

A little salt and pepper, and get the cast iron pan on fire. Start the grill as well.

It fills the pan!

Two minutes a side.

Add a pat of butter, and into the grill, pan and all until internal temp of 125.

While the steak was finishing in the covered grill, I was surprised to see the evidence of a thought to be extinct creature, the Backyardasaurus.  It appears mates were moving through the neighborhood. While they look like herbivores, perhaps they were drawn by the smell of the cooking steak?

With the steak off the grill and resting, a quick sauté of spinach and Korean greens, with a little olive oil and garlic.

Time to carve and serve! It looks charred but it is just a nice crust

Delicious!


I am getting found of the pan to grill technique. It works well for me.

Eat Well and Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

First Acorn Squash of the Season makes it to the plate

Acorn squash is a winter squash, no, it doesn't grow in the winter, rather it can keep all winter long if stored properly.  Last weekend we harvested some of the first squash of the year. I checked it and a sugary liquid was coming off of it. Rather than waiting, I decided to prepare it simply.

Sometimes simple is the most satisfying.

Ingredients:
1 small acorn squash
1 tbs butter
pinch of salt

Pretty, isn't it?

Cut it in half, scoop out seeds the carefully cut into sections following the ribs.

Here comes a quick cheat. At this point you could steam it, or even bake it in an oven. I'm hungry NOW.

Into the microwave (gasp!) for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a pan over medium high heat, add butter melt swirling often, add steamed squash.

Cook for  8- 10 minutes until it is browned and crispy on the outside tender and moist on the inside.
A pinch of salt and serve.

Simple is good.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener