Crystallized Ginger & Syrup

Here’s another idea for a homemade gift. You can knock out two gifts with one recipe—crystallized ginger and ginger syrup.

Peel one to two medium sized fresh ginger roots.

Slice into pieces about 1/8 inch thick. You should have about a cup of ginger.

Bring three cups of water and two cups of sugar to boil. Stir until sugar has dissolved.

Add the ginger and turn the heat down. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes, until the ginger is tender and translucent. Be sure to watch it. If the heat is too high, the syrup can burn quickly.

Drain all but about a tablespoon of the syrup (be sure to keep it!). Return ginger to pan and heat while constantly stirring until all the water evaporates.

Remove from heat and toss with a cup of sugar.

Place ginger on wax paper and let cool. Be sure to separate the pieces or you’ll have a giant ginger blob.

Store in an airtight container and keep at room temperature.

Crystallized ginger is tasty in most baked goods. Epicurious has a slew of recipes.

Keep the syrup refrigerated. Add a splash of it to tea or any beverage you want to spice up.

Ginger martinis anyone?

The New Spinach?

The New York Times called beets the new spinach. According to the article beets are “nutritional powerhouses, high in folate, manganese and potassium.”

My friend Jan has always liked beets. I did not like them until she made them for me once years ago. I thought beets tasted like dirt, but Jan roasted them in orange juice and transformed them into a delicately sweet and only slightly earthy dish. It was a perfect compliment for the pork roast and the cold snowy night.

Recently, Jan further expanded my beet world by telling me that you don’t have to cook beets at all. Grated beets with salt, pepper and lemon juice make an easy, yummy and let’s not forget, uber-healthy salad.

Here’s a version with cabbage (another nutritional powerhouse):

1 large beet or several small ones
1 cup of chopped cabbage
1/4 cup of apple cider or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of grated horseradish (fresh or prepared)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix sugar, vinegar and horseradish.
Grate beets or chop them in food processor.
Toss all ingredients.

Eat up!

Spicy-Sweet Apple Chips

I think that I was a squirrel in a previous life. Each fall I scurry about loading up at the farmers market, shoving as much winter squash as my little re-usable grocery bag can hold, fearful that I’m not getting enough to last until spring. I get a little panicky.

I was in full squirrel mode when my husband and I went apple picking a couple of weekends ago in the Hudson Valley. Boy, did we do some picking…a hefty bushel. That’s a lot of apples.

We picked some at Stone Ridge Farms. They were crisp, delicious, but not all that pretty. Apparently if you don’t spray apples, they can develop russet, which is a little unsightly but actually sought after by some apple connoisseurs for its spicy characteristics. You won’t find any russet apples at the supermarket.


Next, we went to Mr. Apples. Mr. Apples is another low-spray orchard. The orchard didn’t have the expansive views that Stone Ridge had, but the hand-made signs, colorful proprietor and delicious apples made it worth the stop.

I was very satisfied with our apple haul.

The other day I experimented making apple chips. I tried various versions. Here’s the recipe I liked best:


Spicy-Sweet Apple Chips

Slice a couple of apples very thin. Making them consistent is the trickiest part. If they aren’t consistent, some will taste like chips, while some will be chewy like dried apples, which isn’t the end of the world.

Mix a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt and tablespoon of sugar. Dip the apple slices in the mixture. I just dip one edge. You can also leave them plain, and they will still be delicious.

Line a cooling rack with parchment paper. You can cook them on a lined cookie sheet, but it will take longer.

Bake at 250º for 30 minutes, Turn and bake for another 30 minutes. If the slices are thick, you’ll need to bake them longer. If you have sliced them super-thin, be sure to keep an eye on them. Yes, you CAN burn apples slices even at the low temp of 250º. Until the other day, I would have said that was crazy.

Once they are light brown, remove from the oven and let cool. Be sure to store the apple chips in an airtight container so they’ll stay crisp.

Pistachio Pesto

Purists make pesto by hand using a mortar and pestle. Pesto is derived from the Latin word “pesta, which means “to pound, to crush.” They say that hand-pounding pesto keeps the flavors distinct and it releases more of the oil from the basil, so the pesto is more flavorful.

My husband and I have raced to see who could make pesto faster- me, with a mortar and pestle; he with a food processor. The rule was it had to include cleaning and putting away the food processor. I'm pretty sure I won, but he may remember it differently.

Either way, you can whip up a batch in less time than it takes to walk the dog around the block.

I like to make my pesto with pistachios. It gives it a great color. My husband likes to make his with toasted pecans and jalapenos. Yu-uum. You can follow the basic recipe and experiment with different ingredients.

Here’s what you need:
2-3 cups loosely packed fresh basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/4- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pistachio nuts
2-3 garlic cloves
a dash or two of cayenne pepper
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

When hand pounding, start off pounding the garlic and coarse salt, then add about 1/3 of the nuts and 1/3 of the basil. I keep one hand sort of cupped around the top of the mortar to keep the nuts from flying out. Keep adding the nuts and basil. Once those are pounded to a very course paste, stir in the oil and cheese last.

With a food processor, just put everything in and give it a whirl.

Chopped basil will oxidize and turn brown. To prevent this, cover the top with a thin layer of olive oil before you store it in the fridge (it will keep, covered with plastic wrap, for about a week).

Pesto is great, of course, tossed in pasta, but is equally as good on chicken, pork, fish or pizza.

I like to make a big batch and freeze it. You can freeze pesto in ice cube trays. Then store the frozen cubes in a bag so you can grab a few when you need them. I usually make small pesto balls (like drop cookies), freeze them on a cookie sheet, then throw them in a freezer bag.

Once winter comes around, you'll be happy you froze a little bit of summer.

Kimchi

Kimchi is a powerhouse of nutrition, packing tons of vitamins and beneficial bacteria. The kimchi I make isn’t what I think of as traditional kimchi. I recently learned that Kimchi varies greatly from different regions and different seasons. The one I’m going to show you is a version called baek kimchi or literally "white kimchi.” It doesn’t call for fish sauce, fermented shrimp or the red powder that usually gives kimchi its characteristic color. It is a crisp, fresh version.

I have continued to experiment with different vegetables. I’ve used Napa cabbage and regular cabbage. I sometimes use daikon radishes and sometimes use regular radishes. Regular radishes add a nice color. Today, I am lucky to have a hot pepper from Bonnie and Earl’s garden in Virginia. This will add a nice spice. The two important things to include are grated ginger and garlic. Add grated ginger and garlic and whatever vegetables you want and you’ll have a nice fresh kimchi.

You will need whey for this recipe. If you made the cream cheese from yogurt from the previous post, you should have the whey. If you didn’t make the cream cheese, go do that now (click here for the recipe). I’ve seen recipes that substitute more salt for whey, but I think it makes the kimchi too salty, and I love salt so that’s saying something.

Whey is a magical ingredient. It has enzymes that ferment food. There has been a lot written about the health benefits of fermented food. I just like the zing.

Click here for the recipe.

After you have the kimchi in a jar with a tight lid, you leave it out on the counter for three days. Be careful when you open it! It spews like a shaken soda on a hot day. Once fermented, the kimchi will last in your fridge forever or there abouts. I’ve actually never tested that… We go through ours rather quickly. Use it like hamburger helper– add it to some ground-beef and rice and you have an instant Korean meal.

Boo, my kitchen helper