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The Simplest Mayonnaise Technique

Last summer, I came upon a curious way to make mayonnaise. Described on the Seeds of Nutrition blog, it sounded incredible – it promised smooth, creamy mayonnaise that didn’t involve any tedious drizzling of oil, and it utilized a stick blender put it all together. It also claimed to do it in a flash.  Whoa.

I watched the video of the process and was truly amazed. I promised myself I’d try it out. Finally, eight months later, I gave it a shot… and was fully impressed.  I will never make mayonnaise another way, if I can help it.

One of the reasons I was so impressed by this method is that it is painfully simple in both concept and execution. I’ve made mayo a couple other ways, and both had their pitfalls. The first time, I did it by hand; it turned out just fine, but it sure was tiring.  I remember taking a number of breaks during the process because at times my upper arm felt like it was on fire!

The second time I made mayonnaise was with a blender. I thought the opening in the top of the lid would allow me to easily drip in the oil while the blades were spinning, no fuss no muss. My distinct memory is of how much splatter there was – all over the cabinets, counter, and even on the floor.  In my hair. Not a pretty sight.

So, when I was putting together things for the fermentation workshop I recently taught, fermented mayo came to mind.  I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone by making it – trying out this new technique and expanding my fermentation repertoire.  Why ferment this mayonnaise?  To preserve it, if course!  Fermenting it with whey will extend its life into months rather than weeks. It turned out perfectly.

I chose to use the mayonnaise recipe in Nourishing Traditions. I used a 50/50 ratio of extra virgin olive oil and expeller-pressed sunflower oil.  I also used dijon mustard, fresh organic lemon juice, sea salt, 1 egg and 1 egg yolk.  Everything was at room temperature, too (this is crucial).

Essentially, you put the mustard, lemon juice, salt, and eggs in the bottom of the stick blender vessel.  Let that settle for a couple of minutes. Then pour in the oil. Plunge the stick blender into the vessel, make sure it’s flush with the bottom, then start the blender, a few pulses at first, then let it go and watch the mayonnaise form into a creamy consistency (as if by magic!). Be sure to incorporate all the oil into the mayo by slowly pulling up the blender through the mass.  This should take about 30 seconds to blend.

Here are the amounts for each element in the NT mayo recipe:

1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs whey
3/4-1 cup oil (a mix of extra virgin olive oil and expeller-pressed sunflower oil)
a generous pinch of sea salt

To ferment it, just cover it and leave it out for several hours (I left it out overnight, as I made it around 9 at night). Then refrigerate it.

I believe that you could use any mayonnaise recipe with this blending method – I’ve seen other mayonnaise recipes that utilize the stick blender, and use slightly different ingredients (addition of vinegar, different oils, etc.).

I’m so glad to have such an easy recipe.  It’s so quick to make, and I plan to use it in my favorite chicken salad recipe (instead of Hellman’s or Kraft, which contain oils I don’t want to consume).

I’d love to know how this method suits you when making mayonnaise, so please feel free to share in the comments or send me an email. Good luck!

This post is participating in Fight Back Friday hosted by Food Renegade.

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Lacto Fermented Ginger Carrots

Lacto fermented ginger carrots is one of my favorite ferments.  It’s got the sweetness of the carrots, the piquant nature of the ginger, and the tanginess that comes with fermented foods.  Plus all that extra vitamin C and probiotics from the fermentation process.

The jar of ginger carrots in the photo was made during a fermentation workshop I taught a couple of weeks ago.  I decided on ginger carrots because they are easy to make and get one’s head around – a few simple ingredients, easy to mix, and easy to get a brine out of it. It was fun to prepare them as a group, too, with everyone contributing to the grating and mincing. And I learned how to peel ginger with a spoon!  It’s freakishly effective.

I enjoy ginger carrots on lots of things, from eggs, to roast salmon, and it’s a nice snack all by itself. It also goes great in a bean salad, the recipe for which I’ll share soon

The process is very simple – mix everything together and let it sit and ferment.  The ferment shown in the picture above – which was made during the fermentation workshop I taught a few weeks ago – took about 6 days to get to my liking. It continues to get better and better as it ages, too.

Lacto Fermented Ginger Carrots
4 c. grated carrots
1 T ginger root
1T sea salt
4T whey

Grate carrots on the large holes in a box grater (or use a food processor).  Peel the ginger and mince it. Mix the carrots and ginger in a non-reactive bowl (glass or ceramic) until well-combined.

Add the sea salt and whey, and pound it all together to release the juices, which will turn into a brine.  Stuff  the mixture in a jar – a pint jar should fit it all. As you’re stuffing the carrot-ginger mixture in the jar, be sure to firmly press down to further help release the brine. When you’ve stuffed it all in the jar, be sure there is a brine covering the vegetables.

Cover with a lid and let it sit for a few days in a warm dark space.  Check it to see what it tastes like – if you like it the way it is, put it in the refrigerator.  If you want a stronger fermented flavor, leave it out and check it each day for progress.

Regarding the salt you use for your fermentation: you can also use kosher salt or other salt as long as it has no iodine and no anti-caking ingredients. One caution about Celtic or grey salt – moist salt is sometimes known for carrying bacteria and mold that can ruin your ferments.

Makes one pint.

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Homemade Bacon

They say bacon is a gateway meat for vegetarians, and I can totally see how that is. As a vegetarian I used to eat “Fakin Bacon”, that soy-based alternative meat product, something I wouldn’t touch now.  I enjoyed it then because the smoky, salty taste was highly appealing.  But it’s no comparison to the real thing.

Since I left vegetarianism 13 years ago, I’ve eaten a lot of legit bacon.  I’d recently heard that you could cure your own bacon, which was really intriguing, but a little daunting.  So when I caught wind of bacon curing as part of the Charcutepalooza challenge, I thought that this was the perfect time to dive in.

I looked at my main two sources for pork belly, but neither had them in stock, so I headed to The Meat Hook in Brooklyn.  They sell very high quality local, pastured meat that is extremely tasty.   When I got there, they were butchering what I think was a pig, with some hardcore knives, on a large table behind the counter.  The person that helped me brought out a whole pork belly and deboned it, and also cut off the skin.  I ended up with 2.71 pounds of belly.  It was gorgeous.

I cured it (using this bacon recipe from Michael Ruhlman) with salt and spices, plus I added some smoked paprika to the spice mix – this gave the meat a smoky flavor without having to actually smoke the meat (which I have no idea how to do anyway).  I also opted to not use pink salt.

The end result is some of the most delicious bacon I’ve ever tasted, if not the best I’ve ever had.  And the smoked paprika really worked!  The bacon is both savory and smoky at the same time.  I am just so impressed with how easy it was to cure and how well it came out.  I plan to cure bacon more often.

So, what did I do with the bacon?  Well, I cooked it on its own, in the oven, and had it with brunch. I find that cooking bacon in the oven yields a more pleasant slice of bacon, plus I don’t get spattered with hot fat like I do when I cook it on the stovetop. I also used the bacon in a braised red bean dish that I was really happy with.  I’ve also reserved the fat when cooking bacon on its own, and have used it to cook with.  I’ve been really happy with it, too – it lubricates my cast iron pan like nothing else!

I used the bacon in a dish I put together called a BST (bacon, spinach, tomato) sandwich in open-face form – it’s also a wet version because I used tomato sauce.  It was absolutely delicious – a very simple, homey, and comforting dish with lots of flavor.  Plus it’s really easy to put together.

BST (Bacon, Spinach, Tomato) Sandwich

1 slice sourdough bread (2 slices if they are small slices)
tomato sauce of your choice, hot
baby spinach (organic if possible)
bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces
parmesan cheese (optional)

Toast the sourdough bread and place on a plate. Spoon the tomato sauce over the bread. Top with a handful of spinach and the bacon. Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese over it if you like.  Eat with a fork.

More images from my bacon curing project can be found in my Charcutepalooza photoset on Flickr.

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Braised Red Beans

One morning this month I put some red beans in a bowl to soak while I was at work.  I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with them, but I thought I’d check the internet that day for some inspiration.  Let me tell you – when you do a search on “red beans recipes” about all you’ll find are recipes – endless numbers of them – for red beans and rice.  Now, I like red beans and rice, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t in the mood for that dish.

So, I decided to put together flavors that I know work well together – onions and carrots as a base, some thyme and red wine for flavor, extra virgin olive oil for additional richness.  I wanted to use some of my home-cured bacon, too, as beans and bacon are a perfect match.  The following recipe is what I came up with.

I loved these beans so much – they were a fitting winter meal.  Rich and creamy – you could serve them with some kind of whole grain, but they were delicious all by themselves.  They were also extremely tasty as leftovers.

One more detail – I made these on a weeknight after work, so they are doable as a weekday dinner.

Braised Red Beans

2 slices thick cut bacon
1/2 large onion, small dice
1 medium carrot, peeled, small dice
3/4 cup red wine
1 1/2 cup cooked red beans
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup water
10 springs fresh thyme
salt and pepper
grated parmesan (optional but recommended)

Soak the red beans in water and 1 tsp baking soda for 8-10 hours. Drain and rinse, and boil in fresh water until cooked through. Lightly salt them in the water. Drain and set aside 1 1/2 cups of beans (feel free to cook extra and freeze them for future use).

Set a large saucepan over medium high heat. Dice the bacon and put it in the hot pan with a touch of olive oil. Cook the bacon until it has rendered its fat and has started to become crispy. Add the diced onion and carrot and cook until they soften a bit in the fat. Add the thyme leaves and several pinches or turns of black pepper. Cook for about 30 seconds more.

Add 1/2 cup red wine and deglaze the pan. Add the red beans, olive oil and 1/4 cup red wine. Add the remaining 5 sprigs of thyme – whole sprigs, do not take off the leaves – to the beans. Add the water. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and let everything cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

Remove the whole thyme sprigs and discard. Season the dish to your liking with salt and pepper.

Serve with grated parmesan.

Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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White Bean, Escarole, and Meatball Soup

As the weather continues to cool down, I am more and more in the mood for soup.  I love eating it and making it – it’s a great platform for creativity, too.

Last week, I had some beautiful escarole from my CSA share, so I wanted to do something with it.  White bean and escarole soup – which I have enjoyed many times over the years – immediately came to mind.  Easy to make, light yet filling, plus I had everything I needed on hand.  However, I wanted to up the nutrition in it since I was going to have to make it with water instead of stock (I had no stock on hand and prefer not to use the boxed/canned stuff).  Adding meatballs came to mind!  I enjoy them in Italian Wedding soup, so why not add them to my white bean and escarole soup?  The flavors seemed compatible.

We get this sweet Italian turkey sausage from the CSA that we just love, and I had some on hand and thought it would make for some tasty meatballs.  I actually hadn’t made meatballs before, but thought they couldn’t be too difficult – meat, eggs, some kind of binder.  However, I decided to check in with The Art of Simple Food, Alice Water’s book on cooking basics, just to see if there was more to meatballs than what I imagined.  Good thing I did, because there were a few other ingredients involved . Fortunately, they were easy to find, and they made my meatballs truly amazing!

The meatballs held up in the soup and added a lot of flavor to things.  And like I said, they kept their shape and didn’t fall apart, a scenario that had crossed my mind. And the flavors indeed did go with the escarole and white beans. Total win.

I chose to sprinkle my soup with grated parmesan, which I got some from the Italian deli near my apartment, for some extra flavor, and that was an excellent decision. It’s delicious – savory and nutty without being overly salty.

This soup takes about a half hour to put together once the beans are cooked and the meatballs are done.

White Bean, Escarole, and Meatball Soup

The meatballs could be your own favorite recipe, or this wonderful meatball recipe from The Art of Simple Food. I made a half recipe and ended up with about two dozen leftover meatballs, and used them for the following few days in pasta and just as a snack.

3/4 cup dry white beans, soaked with a little base (I use baking soda), yielding 1 1/2 cups cooked. Alternatively, you could use one 15 oz. can of white beans, rinsed.
1/4 cup diced onion
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 head escarole, washed, cored, and chopped into 1 inch strips
4 c. water or chicken stock
two dozen small meatballs (about the size of a rounded teaspoon)
salt and pepper
grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Rinse the beans, and cook in water until done. Add salt to taste, then drain.

In a large pan, saute the onion in olive oil and a little salt until transluscent. Add the beans and cook in the onion/oil mixture for 5 minutes. Add the escarole and cook until it wilts.

Add water or stock and cook 5 more minutes.

Add the meatballs, and simmer for 15 more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon into bowls and top with parmesan. Enjoy.

Makes 4 main course servings.

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Farro, Cranberry Bean, and Winter Squash Soup

soup

This recipe started out with the idea of simply combining farro – my current favorite grain – and cranberry beans, as a way to eat up one of my CSA veggies this week.  So I soaked the farro in the morning, with the hope that the dish would simply come to me.  I’m happy to say that it did, and it is a winner!

I often contemplate dinner while I’m commuting home on the train.  I thought about what would go well with farro and cranberry beans, as well as considered what I had on hand at the house.  It occurred to me that these two ingredients would taste good with tomatoes and winter squash, along with thyme, onions, garlic, and white wine.  Something green also would be good, so I opted for watercress, in part because of its health benefits, and because it looked fresh at the produce stand.

I only had to buy the thyme, onion, and watercress, as well as the white wine. At the same time I took the opportunity to replenish our “house wine”, which is Cloudline pinot noir.  Love that stuff!  The wine I used for this soup is a Smoking Loon sauvignon blanc.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure what this $10 bottle would provide, but I have to say, it is very tasty.  I would definitely buy it again.

This soup is quite thick, almost more of a stew; I tend to like my soups thick, though.  The roasted squash breaks down and thickens the soup, and the starch from the farro also contributes to that thickening.  I enjoyed this soup topped with a fried egg and a bit of grated parmesan, but it is delicious on its own.  It’s a great soup for this time of year – cranberry beans are in the markets, and winter squash is starting to be seen.  Thick soups like this are excellent on cold autumn nights, too.

Farro, Cranberry Bean, and Winter Squash Soup

1/2 c. farro, soaked with water and a big splash of (raw) vinegar

1 small acorn squash, or small winter squash
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp cumin

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 c. white wine
1 pound fresh cranberry beans (1/2 pound shelled)

2 c. stock, water, or a mixture (I used 1 cup stock and 1 cup water)
1 pint crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped watercress
1/4 c. white wine
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Soak the farro in water and acid (vinegar, in this case) for 8-10 hours.  As you start to prepare this dish, drain and rinse the farro.  Set aside.

Cut the squash in half and remove all seeds and obvious strings. Cut the squash into a total of 6-8 pieces. Brush the flesh with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and cumin. Roast in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes. When it is done cooking, simply let sit and cool on the pan.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in olive oil and salt in a large pan over medium-high heat until translucent. Add the thyme and garlic and cook for another minute. By this time the onion should start to caramelize.

Add the drained farro and cook about 5 minutes. Add the white wine and cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Add the beans and combine with the onion-farro mixture. Add the stock/water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

As the mixture is simmering, peel and chop the squash into 1 inch pieces. Add it to the soup. Add the chopped tomatoes and the watercress.  Let cook for another 5 minutes.

Finish off with a 1/4 c. white wine, 1/8 tsp of smoked paprika, and 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6.

This post is participating in the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop, hosted by Wardeh at GNOWFGLINS.

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Summer Preserving – Fig Orange Honey Jam

jars of fig jam

This summer I was fortunate enough to have access to plenty of fresh figs from the two overhanging fig trees in the backyard.  This time last year I lived elsewhere, a place without fruit trees. It was a lot of fun picking all those figs, especially since no one else in the neighboring apartments seemed interested in them. They were all mine!

figs

I went for a run that morning, then picked the figs; they filled up my largest bowl. My landlord stores ladders in the backyard, so I had one of them at my disposal, and boy was it useful. A lot of the figs were way up high and I would never have gotten them without a ladder.  Most of them were perfectly ripe, and oozing a little nectar at the blossom end.  Some were slightly underripe, but that was ok with me – I didn’t want an overly sweet jam, so the tangier figs helped with that.

oranges

orange juice

zest

I love, love, love the taste of orange and figs together.  I first tasted the combination in this Dalmatian fig-orange jam, and thought it was just amazing.  The sweet figs and tangy orange are a perfect combination.

I also wanted to try making a jam with honey instead of sugar, in part because I wanted to avoid using an overly refined sweetener.  Figs and honey seem to go together, too, so it seemed like a natural, logical combination.

At first the honey flavor was pretty prominent, but after the jam had a chance to sit for a while (like overnight), it had mellowed and balanced with the fig and orange flavors.  It also seemed less sweet, which was fine with me.

stewing figs

figs cooking

fig orange honey puree

This is a wonderful fruit preserve, and I will absolutely make it again.  I think it will be good as a sauce with chicken, perhaps with a little bit of spiciness added to it!

Fig Orange Honey Jam

5 cups figs
1/4 cup water
1 3/4 – 2 cups honey
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
zest of two oranges

Wash and quarter figs, and place them in a large pot (I used an 8 qt. stock pot). Heat the figs with 1/4 cup water just to get them started. Cook the figs on medium-low until they start to break down, stirring and smashing them with the back of a wooden spoon to help break them down further. They will start to thicken.

Add the honey, orange juice, lemon juice, and zest, and stir to combine. Keep stirring so that the mixture won’t burn on the bottom. Since you are working with honey and not sugar, the tendency to stick and/or burn might be a little higher than usual.

Cook the figs to your desired consistency; the longer you cook the mixture, the thicker it will be.  Puree it some with a stick blender if you want the figs to have a more even, smooth consistency (this is what I prefer).

Immediately pour the mixture into hot, sterilized 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 20 minutes in boiling water bath.

This jam tastes better after the flavors have had time to marry.