Slovenian Oil-Packed Roasted Peppers

Slovenian Oil-Packed Roasted Peppers
thread started by Denise (9/16/05)

We have a bumper crop of peppers this year.

My Slovenian grandmother used to roast them, slice them lengthwise and pour olive oil over them to preserve them. Does anyone have details of this process? My food-service trained mother is horrified by the thought of eating something that did not get pressure canned, but I'm sure that processing these would turn them into mush.

We've dried quite a few, but it's just not the same. Frozen ones are okay in stews, but I love those roasted/oiled ones best.

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Maggie's wrote:
Been there done that, Roast with olive oil. While they're roasting boil jars and lids. Keep in boiling water. Remove one jar at a time, put peppers and oil in and seal.

Oil has to be hot. Be sure to wipe the rim of the jar before you put lid on. Keep lids boiling too.

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jp's list of links on the 'net for oil-packed roasted pepper recipes (plus a few pickled pepper recipes):

PepperFool Recipes: Canned
There are other canning and pickling recipes on this website.
http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/canned/oil_packed.html

Vegan Chef
http://www.veganchef.com/recipes.htm

Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central
http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/pickle.html

Pickling recipes, some at low temperature to minimize mushiness:
University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8004.pdf
(Reply to: My food-service trained mother is horrified by the thought of eating something that did not get pressure canned, but I'm sure that processing these would turn them into mush.)

Check the recipe. Some are safe, some aren't. If you aren't sure, you can probably refrigerate them instead. That should slow down any dangerous spoilage. Although tons of people do eat unrefrigerated oil-packed garlic, peppers, etc., there is still a small risk of botulism.

Another thing to do with roasted peppers is freeze them. They work great for cooking.

--jp, soon to restock the freezer with roasted chilis since it's that time of year again

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Brandied Cherries

Brandied Cherries

Take several pounds of cherries and wash them with stems on. Put them in a big glass container with a tight fitting lid, go to Big Lots and get some canisters if you don't have any. Drown them in brandy. Close the lid. Leave them alone as much as possible. Eat them in the winter.

They are very romantic, if you have that option available, if not you can just get tanked and still sleep as well as if you had the romantic evening - and either way you'd have a hard time remembering it anyway. You can drink the brandy that will be very dark cherry liquid or you can put more cherries in it and do it again.

from our very own Zen Waitress
(7/13/05)

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Deskunking Tips and Hints

My poor little black and tan dachsie got a full-on (skunk) spray to the eye this spring. I also wholeheartedly recommend the non-tomato-juice solution.

Depending on how big your dog is, this is the best method I found to deploy it: squirt the Dawn (and my vet was specific on the brand... hey, if you can use it on fleeces, why not?) into a glass or bowl, add a bunch of baking soda, then add the hydrogen peroxide til it's a paste.

Paint it on the poor pup and let it sit for 20 minutes. (All of this, in our house, was done in the bathtub, not that it mattered, as my darling boy had already let her run in the house and SOAK the carpet, the Nature's Miracle stuff came in handy for that spot!). Rinse, repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

On a funny note, Miss Anezka (the dog) now has reddish highlights on her (long-haired) ears from the peroxide. Fashion model!

Shannon
(6/2/05)

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Yogurt: A few notes about making your own yogurt...

Yogurt: A few notes about making your own yogurt...

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Joy wrote:
When I make my own, I have used one of the tall, 2-quart vacuum lid french canning jars, scalded the milk, added a little whole or skimmed milk powder if I wanted it thick, cooled it to lukewarm (the same temperature range bread yeast likes) add about 1/2 cup of plain live yogurt, wrapped the whole thing in a big, thick towel and stuck it in the oven (off but with pilot light) all night.

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Jola Gayle wrote:
And I just use a mayonnaise jar (unsterilized), scald the milk, cool it, haven't much added milk powder, put a half-cup buttermilk in the jar, pour in a little milk, stir it, add the rest, screw the lid on, put it in a pan deep enough to cover the jar with warm water at least half (preferably 3/4) and set it on top of the refrigerator until the next morning.

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Erika wrote:
I have a New Zealand-made gadget called an Easiyo, which is basically a very large insulated jar in which you place a 1-liter container of milk and culture and pour hot water around it to keep it warm. Leave it for 6-8 hours, and it's done. The nice thing about it is you don't have to worry about turning it off; the water cools gradually, so it's practically impossible to spoil the yoghurt by forgetting about it. I much prefer it to the electric gadget I used to have.

I imagine you could do something similar with a small picnic cooler; or just put the yoghurt in a thermos.

And here's the thing I learned from Laurel's Kitchen years ago: powdered milk (especially the Milkman brand, which has just a little bit of fat) makes excellent yoghurt. No messing around with boiling and cooling the milk--just use hot (110°F-115°F) tap water to dissolve the milk powder, then add the culture. Of course, with powdered milk you don't know much about the source, relative happiness of the cows, etc., so you may still prefer to use regular milk.

(5/2/05)

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Kenyan Tea

Kenyan Tea
For those who like sweet milky tea, try making it the way they do in Kenya:

Bring water to a boil in a pan, add a goodly amount (1/3 to 1/2 of the amount of water of *whole* milk, black tea leaves and sugar to taste.

When it starts to rise to a boil again, (watch it closely- it doesn't take long and will start to boil over quickly), take it off the heat and strain into cups.

Something about boiling it all together makes it taste different from when you add the milk afterwards. I'm not a big tea drinker, but I like it this way.

MMM
Deanna
(3/5/05)

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Heathen Tea

Heathen Tea
Take one old mug so you don't ruin your good/favorite one. (The microwave destroys good clay-based cups and dishes.)

Fill with water.

Place one Tetley tea bag floating on top. Tetley is the best. The other brands are weak-willed and flavorless.

Stuff in the microwave. Nuke for a couple of minutes. Grab a bag of chocolate, get in your chair and plug in a stupid movie/program. (grin)

Debra
(3/3/05)

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Erin's Method of Making Hot Tea

Erin's Method of Making Hot Tea

Actually it depends on the tea. Black teas should only be brewed once but oolongs, greens and whites can be rebrewed. White teas can often be rebrewed up to 20 times while oolongs typically only 3-5 times depending on the degree of oxidation (how close to black it is).

When rebrewing, you want to keep the water temperature the same as the first time (not boiling for any but black), but you increase the brewing time by approximately 50% each time. Teas that can be rebrewed will change with each cup you make and I often prefer the second or third cup of a tea over the first.

If a tea is bagged, then it is likely to be dust which will reduce the ability to rebrew the leaves. Also the preparation of the whole leaf tea affects how many times it can be brewed. Typically rolled and balled leaves are good until they completely relax. Many good tea sites will tell you how many times you can rebrew a tea.

My favorite is www.Todd-Holland.com but I used to live down the street from them when we were in Chicago. I walked in one day after reading that they carried rooibos (dh is S. African) and tea has never been the same for me.

-erin in SB
(3/3/05)

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Uszka (and other hand-made pasta in the ravioli family)

Uszka (and other hand-made pasta in the ravioli family)
(no filling recipes included)

I have made tagliatelle, but I usually make uszka (small ravioli with a particular shape which is hard to describe) or pierogi (larger pasty- shaped ravioli).

The recipe is easy - 1 cup of flour (00 durum flour is best, but bread flour will work), a small egg, about 1/4 cup of water and a pinch of salt. Mix the ingredients to make a firm dough, then knead it for 10 minutes or so. You can feel the texture change when it is 'right'. I've never made the dough in a processor, but I'm sure that would work too.

On a floured board, roll out perhaps a third of the dough (depends on the size of the board) and roll it out so thin you can read a paper through it :). Seriously, this stuff expands like mad when you cook it, so you want it very, very thin.

Now make into the shapes you want. For uszka, I cut into 2" squares, drop a little filling in the centre, dampen 2 edges, fold over into a triangle and seal well. Then join the two long points to make a 'tiara' shape. Much easier is just to leave it as triangles, or cut into 2-3" rounds, fold those in half over the filling and seal.

Drop into boiling salted water and cook till they are how you like them.

Jenny, CoSS in England
(1/27/05)

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Wild Mushroom Soup

Wild Mushroom Soup

Well uhhhh.... (shuffling my feet and looking embarrassed.) When all those folks started lining up outside the kitchen door with their bowls, I got kinda shy. I tried to figure out how to make enough chanterelle soup for 527 people and figured that, if I go every week and buy and freeze all the mushrooms I can get my hands on and make soup when I have enough, it's still gonna be about 6 years 'til I can feed the lot of you! So I figure I'll share the recipe I came up with instead. It was pretty rich!

1 lb assorted wild mushrooms (though domestic will do in a pinch)
1/2 small onion, finely minced
3 cups homemade chicken stock
6 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sherry
3/4 cup of heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of thyme

Use any broken or crumbled pieces of mushroom and chop 2/3 of the total you have.

Sauté the minced onion in 3 tbsp butter until tender. Add chopped mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are soft. Add chicken stock, a pinch of thyme and simmer for an hour or so.

Set aside and slice the remaining mushrooms nicely then sauté them in the remaining butter. When they are fully cooked, add 1/4 cup sherry and let warm for 5 or 10 minutes while you puree the mushroom and stock mixture in a blender or food processor. It won't be completely smooth, but fairly. Return this to the pot and add the sliced mushrooms and sherry. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat and add cream, salt and pepper to taste, just heating through. Serve and enjoy.

Made about 4 or 5 servings.

It was good. It was very good.

Joy in SF
(1/14/05)

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Sylvia's Sourdough Starter Method

Sylvia's Sourdough Starter Method (capturing the Wild Yeast)

To make the starter, I cleaned my kitchen, emptied the trash and washed the can, scoured everything until it glowed, and washed and put away the pre-compost collecting bin for the duration. Opened the windows and aired the house. That got rid of most of the potentially negative invaders. Oh, and we ate all the ripe fruit in the house (fruit flies are death on starter and they gravitate toward the stuff, naughty little dive bombers).

In a glass bowl, with my bread-only wooden spoon, I stirred a couple of tablespoons of active culture plain yogurt, a cup of unbleached wheat flour, and a cup of filtered water. I set it out on the kitchen counter in a room temperature spot and left it uncovered.

To fill the air with good little yeastie beasties to befriend and influence the yogurt guys, I set a pyrex measuring cup of proofing yeast next to the starter bowl and replaced it daily. I also placed some empty wine bottles nearby, empty but for the sediment that is. An unfiltered 1980's French Bordeaux has a lovely effect on starter.

The starter burbled pretty quickly and I fed it for a few weeks before consigning it to a Tupperware in the frig. I gave my dad some of it a few years ago and within months his had a completely different flavor from mine.

beadlizard
(1/11/05)

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