All That Lemony Goodness

If you break into my house and raid the fridge - you're apt to be painfully disappointed, let alone painfully injured when I smack you with the heal of my boot. I pretty much just have shelves full of condiments. If its a sauce, a pickle, something you can schmear on a hunk of bread - I've got it...   and if I don't have it, I can make it.

Case in point - Preserved Lemons.

Now, there are some things in life that I am carelessly loose with my money on. But, a jar of salted lemons isn't a thing that I am interested in paying a honking $25.00 for - not when I can make them.... and make a lot of them...  and give the extras away as "GIFTS"...  and it cost me a fraction of what one measly jar costs. It's a WIN/WIN/WIN kind of day all around for me there.

Preserved Lemons are used in a variety of preparations from Moroccan to Greek to Turkish, and can be used just about anywhere you would want to use capers. And, depending on your own spice blend, can be used as just a table condiment for  most strong fishes.
 

Preserved Lemons

What you will need:
1 Large Bag of Medium sized Lemons
1 Box of Kosher Salt
1 Jar whole Bay Leaves
1 Small Jar Whole Cloves
1 Jar Cinnamon Sticks
1 1-Gallon pressure sealed glass container (it's like one of those pressure sealed Mason Jars - only bigger)
Water
A Reamer - the glass citrus juicer, like your mom used to have

The Procedure:

• Cut 5 lemons in half and ream - strain out the seeds and reserve the juice for later
• On the remainder of the lemons, Cut the lemons from the stem end towards the nipple end 3/4 of the way - twice to give you a lemon cut in quarters, but still attached at the nipple.
• Sterilize the large glass storage container with boiling water
• Start layering by putting a 1/2" layer of kosher salt on the bottom of the jar
• Next, open a lemon in your hand and fill the cut opening with kosher salt. Its best to do this over a large non metal bowl to catch the excess salt.
• Once the lemon is filled, crush it down into the salt layer in the container. Continue doing this until you have a complete layer on the bottom of the jar.
• Next, add 1 Bay Leaf, 3 Cloves, and 1 Cinnamon Stick to the top of the layer.
• Repeat the salt layer, lemon layer and spice layer until the jar is filled to the top with lemons.
• Make sure you crush each lemon down into the jar as you pack them, you want to make sure you squeeze as much of the juice out as you can - and flatten them down so they will accept the salt and spices as they cure.
• When the jar is full, add the retained juice from earlier to fill the jar to the seal. If, by any chance, you do not have enough juice to fill, add a little water to complete it.
• Once you have everything in - seal the jar and turn it upside down, and store it in a cool dark place, but not the fridge.
• For the next 20 days, open the container every 5 days - squish down the lemons...carefully..... and invert the jar.
• At the end of the 20 days, your lemons are ready to use and pack.

Packing your Preserved Lemons:
If you use those flip top glass jars ... the ones with the rubber seal - your lemons will pack, store and ship for anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months.
If you know how to heat process them (I'm talking about canning) they will last anywhere from 3 months to 6 months well, and up to 12 months fairly well... although they do tend to get mushier and lose color a bit, but I find it is just as good for any cooking preparation.

To Pack

• Open the big container
• Carefully dump all the lemons and juice into a large non metal bowl
• You will notice that the texture of the fruit has changed dramatically, they will be more tender than a fresh lemon, so be very careful when handling then, otherwise you'll just end up with a bunch of bits to stuff in jars.
• pack the lemons into the smaller jars... pressing them down lightly as you go.
• as with before, pack them in layers.
• Take 1 bay leaf a couple of cloves and a cinnamon stick and wedge them down in the jar between the fruit and the side of the jar, so that they show from the outside.
• Fill each jar, pressing lightly as you go until they are filled to about 1" from the top
• scoop up some of the reserved liquid from the bowl, (its going to be very thick and a little slimy feeling) and fill the jars the rest of the way up.
• Jiggle the jars a bit to settle the juice down in between the fruits
• Seal the jars up and you're set!
• If you are hot processing them, refer to standard processing practices, but process them for no more than 10 minutes. Seal and store.

We'll get to what you can do with them later!

A couple of variations on the spices:

Instead of the Cloves and Cinnamon, try:
Juniper Berries
Rosemary
Thyme and Oregano (fresh)

Read More

Poor Joe Pudding and other Wet Breads

If you know me, you know I absolutely adore comfort foods. Starch and me are like "this!" (I'm doing that little fused double finger thing, if you didn't know). If it's gravy-ed, crusted, slathered in butter, sweetened and browned in the oven, I could bathe in it. My great grandmother was a comfort food master and I have decided to chronicle some of her more famous offerings here.

Typically and historically, bread puddings have always been a way of utilizing stale and left over breads. Although, as much as I love ( I mean REALLY LOVE) bread, its a rarity that there is anything left over out of any loaf that I bake or buy. In the past, I have been known to buy bread especially to make puddings with.... but, Poor Joe Pudding isn't made with just any bread..and just any bread wont do. It has to be made with left over biscuits - which I never have. So, for me to make PJP, I have to make a full batch of fresh biscuits and hide them for a couple of days - which is never an easy thing to do.


Poor Joe Pudding is what is known as a depression dessert. Of course popularized during the great depression as a way of stretching a little food to feed a lot. Here in the south, biscuits were the quick bread of choice and there were always plenty of them lying around. My Dad used to talk about grabbing a left over biscuit with a slice of onion before heading out to the farm to work.

Okay, now for the pudding.

Poor Joe Pudding

1 Batch left over Biscuits (about 1 recipe of biscuits..around 20)

1 Cup Water

1 Cup Milk

1 Stick Butter (you can use margarine if you just can't bring yourself to use butter.. but make sure its Stick Margarine and not any of those fluffed, whipped water added butter substitutes)

3 Large Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Cocoa

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

a pinch of Salt

•  Preheat the oven to 350
• Grease a 2 quart baking dish with a little of the butter
• Crumble the biscuits in a large mixing bowl, as fine as you can - deconstruct them back down to really fine crumbs with your fingers. You will have to use your hands for this. Biscuits in a blender just wont work, and you'll end up with a really gummy glob in the bottom of the blender.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the Milk, Water and Butter just until the butter is completely melted.
• Pour the heated mixture over the biscuits and stir feverishly.
• Beat together the eggs, sugar, cocoa, salt and vanilla in a separate bowl at a medium speed for about a minute.
• Add the cocoa mixture to the biscuit mixture and mix well
• Pour the mixture into the baking dish. I always dot a little extra butter over the mixture....but that's just me.
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. You may need to loosely cover the pudding with foil the last 15 minutes of baking time. Just check to make sure it isn't over browning. Crust is great - char isn't.

When it's done, Poor Joe will be a very dense pudding. You can serve it hot or cold, it really doesn't make much difference.

Traditional Bread Pudding

Now, while PJP is made of biscuits, most traditional bread puddings are constructed with left over or stale sandwich bread, french bread, or crusty Italian breads. Working in the restaurant and hotel industry most of my life, I always made sure that bread pudding was always offered in any restaurant that I ran. It was a way of using the bulk of stale bread created in most restaurants...as well as creating and selling something that was basically free (relatively). 

All Bread Puddings have 3 basic components - The Base , The Custard, and The Filling - and by altering these you can create a multitude of easy desserts and even an occasional elegant one..

Basic Bread Pudding

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

Base:

10 Cups Stale Bread - Cubed (You can leave the crust on or not. Personally, I like the browned bits in the pudding) Any bread will do, just make sure it doesn't have any seeds in it.

 Custard:

4 Large Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

4 Tablespoons Melted Butter

4 Cups Half & Half

Filling:

1 large Can Fruit Cocktail - Drained

• Preheat oven to 300
• Grease a 9" x 12" x 2" Pyrex(c) baking dish Make sure you have a larger roasting type pan that the baking dish will fit down into.
• With a hand mixer, beat together theeggs and sugar on high until its thick, lemony colored and forms a nice ribbon.
• Add the vanilla and ground cinnamon
• Continue to beat on medium and add the melted butter and half & half  - beat for another minute
• Place the bread cubes in the baking dish along with the fruit cocktail and toss lightly
• Ladle the custard mixture over the base and filling mixture
• Prepare a water bath... the larger roasting pan I talked about earlier. 1. Set the baking dish into the roasting pan. 2. Set the roasting pan into the oven. 3. pour HOT water into the roasting pan to about 1/2 way the depth of the baking dish.
• Bake at 300 for about 1 hour. You can check to see if its done by inserting a toothpick into the center of the pudding. If it comes out clean, its done. If its still wet, cook an additional 10 minutes and check again.
• Remove the bread pudding from the oven and cool slightly before serving.

The great thing about bread puddings is that they really don't need anything else in order to be an exceptional dessert. However, you can dust the top with confectioners sugar, spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top, or pair it with a scoop of plain vanilla ice cream

Now... if you wanted to get Fancy with it....

Pear / Ginger Pudding with champagne Glaze

3 Cups Stale French Baguette - cut into cubes about 1" square
2 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Milk
3/4 Cup Pear Juice
1/3 Cup Sugar - plus 1 additional teaspoon sugar
1 Large Pear - cored and diced
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon fresh grated Ginger -or- 1/4 teaspoon dry ground ginger
1/4 Cup Currants 

1/4 Cup Cheap Champagne

Champagne Glaze
1/4 Cup Cheap Champagne, plus the champagne you soaked the currants in
1 Tablespoon Butter
1/4 Teaspoon Grated Ginger
2 Tablespoons Sugar

• Preheat the oven to 350°
• Grease a 9" x 12" x 2" baking dish
• Prep the Currants - In a small bowl combine the currants and 1/4 cup Champagne and set aside.
• Combine the Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and teaspoon of sugar in a bowl with the diced pear.
• Toss until well coated and set aside. Add the chunks of bread to the baking dish.
• Beat together the eggs, milk, pear juice and sugar  in a large bowl at medium speed for about 2 minutes
• Pour the mixture over the bread
• Drain the Champagne from the Currents and add to the remaining champagne
• Add the currants and the pears to the bread and custard mixture and mix gently until everything is evenly combined.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool for a few minutes.

While the pudding is baking:

• Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the grated ginger and stir until combined
• Add the reserved and the other 1/4 cup of champagne and whisk together well.
• Continue to whisk while the glaze comes to a low boil
• Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 minutes
• Remove from heat.
• Serve drizzled over the bread pudding

Read More