Road Trip!

An update that I will be away for a couple of weeks and not posting. Most sad. In fact, sad that I have made so many things in preparation for this giant road trip/ hiking / camping trip and don't have time to post about them. BUT when I return, I promise to put up recipes for excellent chocolate chip granola bars and almost as amazingly good as rain coast crisp crackers, ooh and granola if I can find the recipe where ever I wrote it down! On the way there, we plan to stop in Jasper National Park, Edmonton, Elk Island National Park, Saskatoon, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, and finally a small farm just outside of Veregin.

For those who are interested, here is the return route home: through Regina and Moosejaw, stopping by Grasslands National Park, up through Medicine Hat to Dinosaur Provincial Park, and then through Calgary to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, stopping in Kelowna to rest in a hotel before heading home.

Strawberries Galore Part II

The strawberry bonanza continued with strawberry ice cream, dried strawberries and strawberry fruit leathers! Thanks to my mom who brought up a dehydrator for me to borrow for a month or so to decide whether I would use it enough to merit buying my own, I was able to use some of the strawberries that didn't get frozen to make dried strawberries. Oh the glorious smell - it was almost as good as being out in the strawberry field again! I also used strawberry puree to make a tray of fruit leathers and overall, it was okay, but I think I might try a half and half mixture of applesauce and strawberry puree next time.

But the ice cream we made was mind and mouth-blowing... the strawberry flavor so intense and unpolluted with any other distractions or preservatives that many taste-testers have rejoicingly declared it the most delicious strawberry ice cream they've ever tasted! I started off using this recipe as a base, but modified it according to a couple of previous ice cream making experiences where too much whipping cream in the base left my tongue feeling unpleasantly coated with fat molecules. 

Strawberry Ice Cream
1 c. whole milk
1 c. coffee cream (10%)
1 c. whipping cream
12 egg yolks
2 pinch salt
1 c. sugar

Strawberry Puree:
8 c. strawberries, pureed
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice

1. Whisk together the milk and creams.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Then whisk the egg mixtures in cream mixture. 3. Heat the egg/cream mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat back of spoon, about 8 minutes.
4. Strain into bowl (if needed) and chill until cold, about 2 hours.  
5. Puree the strawberries with sugar and lemon juice. Once the custard is chilled, stir in the strawberry puree mixture.
6. Place ice cream base in an ice cream mixer and stir until ice cream texture is obtained!

Strawberries Galore!

 
We spent last Sunday morning out in Ladner berry picking at Emma Lea farm. There is no comparable scent to a field full of ripe strawberries perfuming the air with their syrupy sweet odor. The homemade strawberry milkshakes they sell there are worth the drive alone! All in all, we picked about 25 lbs of strawberries which are now piled in the freezer, waiting to be incorporated into various recipes and attack any unsuspecting souls who carelessly open the freezer door. Five days later, I am only just recovering the ability to walk without pain after attempting many equally unsuccessful poses of berry-picking, finally forfeiting and sitting down in between the rows, collecting large quantities of chalky dust all over my backside.Even if you don't want to pick berries, the scenic drive and homemade strawberry milkshakes at the farm is well worth the excursion!

Strawberry black pepper balsamic sorbet

The first two goodies we made with the strawberries were (1) blending strawberry puree with green tea sorbet for a green tea strawberry smoothie like drink: fabulous!  (2) strawberry black pepper sorbet!  It is very spicy, and delightfully different tasting than most strawberry flavored products.

Strawberry Black Pepper Sorbet  (makes about 2 yogurt containers) 
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. water
4 Tbs crushed black peppercorn
6 Tbs balsamic vinegar
4 c. pureed strawberries
2 Tbs. lemon juice

1.  Bring the sugar, water, and peppercorns to a boil. Allow to steep for 15-20 minutes.
2. Mix the balsamic vinegar into the syrup.
3. Mix the syrup into the puree. Taste. Remember that the pepper flavor will not be as strong when the sorbet is frozen (ditto for the balsamic taste). Adjust to suit your taste buds.
4. Freeze.
5. Optional step: if your sorbet doesn't freeze, try adding about 1/2 c. - 1c. water to the sorbet and mix in a blender before freezing again.

Note this is the lazy sorbet recipe. I did not remove the seeds from the strawberries nor strain the black pepper out of the syrup. I did not have any issues with the texture of the sorbet at all.

More Salt Spring Pics!

Wife is the best tent setter-upper there is!

The view from our tent

Hiking around Ruckle Park

Historic Barn

Fairy door on the hike up Mt. Urskine

View from the top of Mt Urskine

View from Mt Maxwell

Poached Eggs and Sorrel

If you love lemon, then sorrel should be your new favorite vegetable. We inherited a couple of sorrel seedlings from a farmer friend of ours and they have come back stronger each year, doing quite well in garden pots. I came across a version of this recipe in the NYTimes and thought it would be a perfect way to make a dent in our sorrel plants. I loved the recipe even if I accidentally overpoached the eggs - watch them closely!

Eggs Poached in Buttery Sorrel Sauce
1 large shallot half, minced (or more if you like)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs unsalted butter
6 cremini mushrooms, washed, stemmed, sliced thinly.
4 oz sorrel, stems trimmed, washed
1/4 tsp salt
ground black pepper
1/3 c. coffee cream (10% fat)  - the recipe called for heavy cream, but I really enjoyed the coffee cream
4 large eggs
chili flakes (optional)
buttered toast (good thick bread)
tomato jam (optional)

1. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat (skillet should be big enough to fit 4 eggs). Saute mushrooms until cooked. Add the garlic and shallot, saute until golden brown.
2. Add sorrel leaves, salt, and pepper. Stir gently until sorrel turns olive-green and starts to break down. Add cream in and simmer for 1 minute.
3. Crack eggs into skillet. Lower heat and cover pan. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and let rest covered until done.
4. Carefully scoop eggs and sorrel sauce into two bowls. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with toast (or on toast as I prefer!)

Salt Spring Island

We had an amazing 4 day weekend on Salt Spring Island: camping in Ruckle Provincial Park, hiking up Mt. Erskine, driving up Mt. Maxwell, visiting the farmer's market, learning a bit about orienteering and geocaching, basking in the sun, and most importantly testing out our new Coleman camp stove! 

Other than the fact that the grill started to melt a bit at high heat (only because the grill is a replacement that someone made for the stove which we got off of craigslist!), it performed satisfactorily and we were able to cook a variety of foods I would never dream of taking on with our Whisperlite hiking stove. My favorite breakfast, other than the cheese grits and scrambled eggs, was the buttermilk cornmeal pancakes with fresh strawberries and maple syrup.

A friend of ours gave us this recipe on our wedding day; since it contains one of my favorite ingredients (CORNMEAL), it has been a frequent weekend breakfast meal.

Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes*
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vinegar (or 1 tsp cream of tartar)
2 eggs
1/4 c. oil

1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. Whisk together eggs, oil, and buttermilk (and vinegar if using instead of cream of tartar)
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
4. Fry up pancakes!

*For two people, I would halve the recipe and it will make about 4 pancakes per person.