Monthly Archives: August 2009

Dilly of a cheese spread

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It’s State Fair time in Minnesota. There couldn’t be a better time for me to share a recipe featuring Gedney (the Minnesota pickle) pickles. Each year at the fair, blue ribbon pickle packer winners turn over their pickle recipes to Gedney, the most famous pickle plant in Minnesota and one of the oldest in the country. Gedney reworks the recipe to produce huge quantities, and the blue ribbon winners get their pictures right on the jar. How fun!

I used Norwegian Dills, a recipe shared with Gedney by Vicky Gjerde of Rush City, Minnesota when they won her a blue ribbon in 1995. They’re just a little bit hot, but not enough to burn your tastebuds. They are just right for mixing with cheese and fresh herbs to create a creamy spread with a dilly taste.

With a base of cream cheese and butter, it’s easy to add any little dibs and dabs of cheeses in your refrigerator drawer. Just grate them up and stir them right into the spread. The herbs in the big barrel in my yard are flourishing. I couldn’t resist snipping a bunch to add to the Two-Tone Spread.

Use whatever herbs you have. Be careful if you add some of the more powerful herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme. A little goes a long way.

This spread gets better with age. Make it a day or two before serving.

Have a picklicious dilly day!

Two-Tone Dilly Cheese Spread








  • ½ cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
  • 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
  • 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
  • 1 chubby clove garlic, peeled
  • 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 1½ teaspoons pickle juice from jar of dill pickles
  • ½ cup chopped dill pickles
  • 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup butter, softened
  • ¼ cup dill pickle juice from jar
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

Line a 1½-quart soufflé dish with plastic wrap, leaving a generous overhang around edges. Set aside.

Position knife blade in food processor bowl. Add parsley leaves, thyme, basil, tarragon and garlic. Process until finely chopped, stopping once to scrape down sides. Add cream cheese, butter and 1½ teaspoons pickle juice. Process until blended, scraping sides of work bowl. Add chopped dills and process just until combined. Spoon cream cheese mixture into prepared dish, spreading evenly. Set in refrigerator while preparing next layer.

Combine cheddar cheese, sour cream, butter and ¼ cup pickle juice from jar in food processor. When mixture is smooth, add chives and process until combined. Spoon mixture over cream cheese layer, spreading evenly.

Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.

Unmold onto serving platter about 20 to 30 minutes before serving to give the spread time to soften. Serve with assorted crackers.

 

Teeny Peachy-chini Muffins

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This time of year, zucchini is everywhere. It’s coming out of our ears. And, it’s this time of year when I make dozens of tiny (and big) zucchini muffins. They are the same muffins I’ve been making for years. When my sons were just little guys, they loved picking up the sweet mini-muffins — just the right size for their little hands. As they got older, the muffins got bigger.

I made another batch this morning. It didn’t take long, because I had the dry ingredients already measured out, ready to be poured out of a zip-top storage bag. I usually have a few bags of the premeasured dry ingredient mix in my pantry this time of year. It doesn’t take me long  to peel and grate zucchini. My food processor makes fast work of the grating. I grate more than I need, measure out 1-1/2-cup-portions and refrigerate or freeze them for the next batch of muffins.

This morning I made more muffins, but with a peachy twist. I peeled a couple of peaches and tucked a thick slice into each of the large muffins just before popping them into the oven. In the mini-muffins, I pushed a peach chunk into the middle of each. I sprinkled a full teaspoon of turbinado sugar over each large muffin before baking. Together with a little peach juice that oozed out while baking, each muffin had a crinkly, crunchy top.

Besides the fact that each bite of Peachy-chini Muffin is moist, sweet and delicious, I love the fact that the batter can be refrigerated for up to a week. Warm, fragrant muffins can be baked at anytime. And, the baked muffins can be wrapped up tight and stored in the freezer. They’re great warmed up and eaten with a big mug of hot cocoa on a cold winter morning.

I’ve saved a little batter this time. I’ll bake them when my assistant is here to help me get ready for my demonstration at the Women’s Expo in Bemidji this Saturday. They’ll be just right for a coffee break.

If you are in the Bemidji area, come see me on Saturday morning at the Expo. I’ll be giving a cooking demonstration at 11:00, sharing some of my favorite recipes for unique healthful and "skinny" fun-to-eat dips, dippers and finger foods that will take you from these last hot days of summer all the way through the "fat" holiday celebration season.

Looking ahead:

I’ll be presenting another cooking program in Dickinson, North Dakota at the Women’s Expo on Saturday, September 12th at 10:00.

Saturday, October 10th you can come see me at the Women’s Expo in Willmar, Minn.

Thursday, November 5th I’ll be teaching a cooking class in Moorhead, Minn. titled, "The Start of Something Big — Holiday Appetizers." Registration begins August 28th through Moorhead Community Ed. Details will also be available at their web site beginning August 28th: https://communityed.moorhead.k12.mn.us/

I’ll be looking forward to seeing many of you during the next few months.

In the meantime, enjoy these Peachy-chini Muffins.

Peachy-chini Muffins

  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2/3 cup  canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups peeled and shredded zucchini
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 to 2 peaches, peeled and cut into thick slices (a thin-skin peeler works great for removing the skin from peaches)
  • Turbinado or sparkling sugar (1 teaspoon per muffin)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat eggs. Stir in oil, vanilla, sugar and zucchini.

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and soda in sifter. Sift into zucchini mixture. Mix just until blended.

Coat muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray. Fill muffun cups 2/3 full. Push a peach slice into each muffin-cup of batter. Sprinkle each muffin with 1 teaspoon of turbinado sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Size of the muffins will determine the number you will get and how long they will take to bake.

Homemade Granola — My New Comfort Food

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There must be something going on this week, something with atmosperhic pressure. What else could explain the sleepness nights I’ve been having. And the knot in my stomach. And the tightness in my chest. The days have been cloudy. I’ve had no energy. No appetite. And one early morning, when it was still dark and I had finally fallen asleep, I woke up screaming, "Call 911!"

The only thing that would bring me any comfort was a bowl of granola with a scoop of plain Greek yogurt or soaking in soy milk. I’d chop up some fresh sweet peaches and break up some walnut halves to add to the bowl of goodness. And, for a little while, I’d feel better.

Maybe there is something wacky going on with the atmospheric pressure, but really, I’m more inclined to believe it’s the triathlon that I’ll be doing on Sunday with my son and daughter-in-law. That’s what’s causing my problems. I’m worried. They’re young. I’m not. They’re athletes. I’m not. They’re used to competitive sports. I’m not. Katie will be our swimmer. I’ll do the 17-mile bike route. Andy will take care of the running. I’ve been riding all summer, but I can’t say I’m a speed deamon. Okay, now my chest is getting tight again. I’m having a hard time breathing. Where’s the granola?

This is not the granola that I’ve been making for months. This is a new recipe that I came up with after visiting Michael Ruhlman’s blog a while back and saw that he sweetened granola with pureed fruit. I’d been using honey and brown sugar which created sweet and very crunchy chunks of granola. So, I tried my own recipe using Ruhlman’s technique. I eliminated the honey and cut back on the brown sugar. I liked the results.

I used very ripe peaches and bananas because that’s what I had on hand. I never bake granola with nuts or dried fruit. Each person in my family has their own preference for add-ins, so I always have a variety of dried fruits, nuts, coconut and fresh fruit available along with plenty of milk and yogurt. I’ve found that anytime I did add dried fruit and nuts before baking the oatmeal mixture, the fruit tended to get hard and the nuts, too dark.

This granola is not chunky, but it is crunchy. Not sweet, but just right.

I’m leaving tomorrow. The triathlon is in Baxter, Minn. on Sunday morning. I’ll have a big bag of this granola with me. I’m sure it will stave off the "911 call." Wish me luck.

If you like granola, you may want to check out the granola recipe I shared shorlty after I started writing this blog, many granola recipes ago. You can click here to go to that formula.

Granola (Full of Comfort)

  • 3/4 cup canola or walnut oil
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup pureed fruit (I used peeled ripe peaches and bananas)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 8 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lay SILPAT on each of two 12- x 17-inch baking sheets with rimmed sides. (It’s the only way I bake granola anymore. SILPAT non-stick baking mats make clean-up so easy.)

In a 2- to 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine oil, brown sugar, fruit puree and salt. Stir and heat until sugar dissolves. It will take just 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flax seeds, wheat germ, sesame seeds and cinnamon. Pour the warm oil mixture over the oat mixture and stir until combined.

Spread the mixture on evenly on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the granola is golden brown. Cool completely on pans. If you want to add dried fruit to the granola, add it once the granola is cool. Store granola in an airtight container.

 

 

 

Creamy Czech Soup Lives On

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I thought of my mom when I was at the farmers market this week. She would have been so excited to find fragrant fresh dill and potatoes with thin red skin. I know she would have grabbed a big bunch of dill and sorted through the potatoes, filling a bag with the main ingredents for the creamy soup she loved to make this time of year.

My mom learned how to make Dill Cream Soup from her Czechoslovakian mother-in-law, Clara. Although the rich soup may not have been a favorite of my mom’s, she knew how much my dad enjoyed it.

She would cook cubed potatoes, then add lots of sour cream with a bit of flour for thickening. After she stirred feathery fresh dill into the soup, she’d gently slide some eggs into the hot pot, poaching them in the simmering soup. When she ladled the dill soup into serving bowls, she always made sure one egg went into each bowl. She’d place a tiny corked carafe of vinegar on the table. It is the secret ingredient in this soup. Just a drop or two adds slight tartness and lots of character. Although a teaspoon of vinegar is stirred into the pot of soup before serving, I always add another drop or two to my bowl at the table.

 

I’ve nixed the step that involved poaching eggs in the soup. I prefer to top each serving of soup with finely chopped hard-cooked eggs. Sometimes the soup seems a little thicker than I prefer. I just stir in a little milk or cream to get the consistency just right.

The soup can be stored in the refrigerator and heated over very low heat at serving time.

It’s been several years since I’ve made this soup. I guess I never hit the farmers market on a day when fresh-dug potatoes and just-cut dill made an appearance together.

I can thank my lucky Czech stars that my mom conintued Clara’s summer Dill Cream Soup tradition. The soup lives on. And the little glass carafe with a cork is still used to hold the secret ingredient.

Dill Cream Soup

  • 3 large red potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  • Pinch of ground white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar plus more for serving
  • 2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled, chopped

Place potato cubes into a large Dutch oven. Add 3 cups water. Add more water, if needed, to just cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil. Add salt. While potatoes are cooking, mix sour cream and flour together. When potatoes are tender, remove pot from heat and stir in sour cream mixture. Return pot to heat. Stir the soup until it just begins to bubble. Add dill. Stir in vinegar. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Top each serving with chopped hard-cooked eggs. Offer more vinegar at the table. Serves 4 to 6.

Two vinaigrettes “berry” delightful

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I know some may be wondering about the dressing I like to drizzle on the salad pictured in my previous post. It’s been several years since I’ve purchased a bottle of dressing from the grocery store. Once I discovered how flavorful homemade vinaigrette is and how easy it is to create, I began making it routinely. I always use one of two vinaigrettes for a salad of fresh greens with berries and glazed pecans. Both involve the flavor of raspberries, calling for raspberry vinegar, which is available in most grocery stores these days (I like Thomson Berry Farms Raspberry Vinegar), or raspberry jam. I’m lucky to have friends who make raspberry jam and share it with me.

You just can’t go wrong with either of these mixtures to dress a green salad that includes any kind of fresh berries:

Vinaigrette #1

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a jar, cover tightly and shake vigorously.

Vinaigrette #2

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon raspberry jam
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to blend.

Whisk It Wednesday: Amazing Glazed

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My Whisk-It Wednesday is whisking away from me. I can’t let two Wednesdays slip by without posting to my blog. Last week I was spending some time in Minneapolis with a friend from college. We stayed downtown and had great fun. One of the highlights of our stay downtown was discovering the farmers market on the Nicollet Mall on Thursday morning. Such a variety of beautiful fresh produce, bright flowers, handmade soaps, baked goods, berries — it was wonderful. I nibbled on some heavenly bakery from Cocoa & Fig Catering. Their nutella-filled brioche is to die for and I could definitely become addicted to the cherry almond scones. I came home with a couple of one-pound bags of golden butternut squash fettuccini made by Sunrise Creative Gourmet in Hibbing, Minn. Can’t wait to try it.

From Minneapolis to Fargo for a couple of nights and finally, back home, just in time to nestle into my home office and begin work on another column.

I did make time to stop at my local North Country Farmers Market yesterday. You know I’m such a huge fan of farmers markets. I filled my market bag to the brim with all kinds of fresh vegetables. I was just in time to snag a drop-dead gorgeous bag of fresh greens, washed and spun dry and sprinkled with cute little edible flowers.

And that bag gave me an excuse to make one of my favorite salad add-ins: glazed pecans. Nibbling on these sweet and spicy pecans is like eating candy, with a bit of a kick.

I use a cast iron skillet to heat butter with sugar, juice, seasoning and pecans. Any oven-safe skillet will work. Once the sugar has dissolved, the skillet and everything in it goes into the oven to bake at a very low temperature. Just stir the pecans every 15 minutes for the hour that they are in the oven. And then, I challenge you to let them cool before eating. Bet you can’t do it!

The shiny caramelized glaze is crunchy and sweet and spicy and so, so good. I love them on salads. If I store them within my sight, I can’t leave them alone. Each time I make them, I think about how they would make a lovely hostess gift, packed into a pretty jar. I just haven’t been able to share them yet. I want them. All of them. They’re amazing.

And so, on this Whisk-It Wednesday I am whisking my Amazing Glazed Pecan recipe off to you as a gift so you can make your own.

Oh, by the way, those raspberries joining the fresh greens and Amazing Glazed Pecans were picked by my own hands under the hot sun. They are wild raspberries that grow in the ditch along the road I live on.

Fresh greens, edible flowers, wild raspberries and my favorite pecans. I’m so happy.

Amazing Glazed Pecans

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cranberry juice or orange juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 cup pecan halves

Combine all ingredients except pecan halves in an oven-proof skillet. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Add pecans and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved. Transfer skillet to preheated 225-degree oven. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove skillet from oven and immediately transfer glazed pecans to a sheet of waxed paper and allow to cool. Store in an airtight glass jar or tin.

Sweet or Savory, Blueberry Topping Goes Both Ways

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 Blueberries just might be my favorite summer berry. When I was growing up, I enjoyed the blueberry pies my grandma made. I’ve never been able to recreate that delicious pie. And, for that reason, I come up with all sorts of ways, other than in pie, to enjoy the plump blueberries of summer.

I think it was four summers ago, at about this time, that I went on my first camping/canoe trip at Lake of the Woods. A friend, who was also on the trip, sent me a recipe for a blueberry relish sometime before we were scheduled to take off. I made the relish for her and brought it to Laketrails Base Camp on Oak Island in Lake of the Woods in the Northwest Angle of Minnesota, our starting point. Our fellow paddlers enjoyed the savory blueberry topping with goat cheese on toasted slices of baguette as a start to our meal the night before the big adventure trip under a full moon. There were times on our week-long adventure that we wished we would have had more of that snack.

Today I made the Blueberry Topping again for the first time since that canoe trip under the full moon. Blueberries and red grapes are a great combination, both sweet and juicy with exquisite depth of flavor. I wouldn’t tamper with that combo at all. I did make a few changes to the recipe, adding a shallot and some lime zest. It was so good topping a very creamy goat brie on crunchy slices of toasted baguette. We also tried it with some mascarpone and decided it was like eating dessert. The remaining Sweet Savory Blueberry Topping  will get a new look ladled over premium vanilla ice cream. The sauce keeps well for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. I would love to try some over a traditional creamy cheesecake.

I’ll be making another batch of this topping, using minced jalapeno pepper and cilantro to replace the ginger and rosemary. I can just imagine how tasty it would be spooned over a brick of cream cheese and served with crackers.

It’s easy to pack up everything you need to serve this delightful appetizer or snack at a picnic. Just scoop Sweet Savory Blueberry Topping into a large jar with a tight-fitting lid and put it in the cooler with some goat cheese, cream cheese or mascarpone cheese. Slice up a baguette and toast the slices under the broiler. Transport them in a zip-top plastic bag or a cookie tin.

Blueberries sweet and blueberries savory — always a treat.

Sweet Savory Blueberry Topping

  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh gingerroot
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed
  • 2 cups red seedless grapes, rinsed
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  •  1 (3-inch) strip lime zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 baguette, into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
  • Olive oil for toasting baguette slices
  • Goat cheese, cream cheese or mascarpone cheese

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add minced shallot and saute until tender, but not brown. Stir in minced gingerroot, blueberries, grapes, sugar, red wine vinegar, lime zest and rosemary. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large glass bowl. Allow to cool to room temperature. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate. At this point, topping can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Brush both sides of bread slices with olive oil. Place on large baking sheet. Slide under broiler. When brown on one side, turn slices of bread and brown on the other side.

To serve, set out cheese of choice, toasted baguette slices and Sweet Savory Blueberry Topping.

 

Crunchy Corn Tortillas or Soft Corn Pancakes?

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When I was in Detroit Lakes a couple of weeks ago to give a cooking demonstration at the hospital there, I took time to browse around downtown. I couldn’t pass up the Boys and Girls Club thrift store. I’ve discovered some real treasures at second-hand stores. This time I came out with a cookbook. I could have come out with two books, actually. Buy one book for 50 cents and get another book free. But, I didn’t have a lot of time and one book for 50 cents seemed like a real bargain to me.

"Ritual of the Hearth," by Roberta Sickler was published in 1973. The book contains 20 seasonal menus and 116 vegetarian recipes. In the introduction, Sickler states, "Cooking with fresh, whole, healthy foods is an interaction with nature than can take place anywhere there is fire and appetite. A good cook, like all artists, takes cues from the subtle change of nature. Our foods are seasonal." That sounds exactly like what so many of us are trying to do these days — eat food that is good for us, food that is fresh, seasonal and as local as possible.

I was finally able to purchase fresh corn on the cob that was grown just a few hours from my house. I used some of that corn to make some Fresh Corn Soup. With few ingredients, it’s not difficult to make, doesn’t take a lot of time and has pure sweet corn flavor. The recipe is in my newspaper column this week. You’ll find my recipe for Fresh Corn Soup right here.

I came upon a recipe for Crunchy Corn Tortillas in Sickler’s cookbook. They sounded easy enough to make, so I thought I’d give them a try. They turned out more like soft, thin pancakes rather than crunchy tortillas. But they were very tasty.

When pushed into a bowl, the soft tortillas form an edible cup for an a la king type mixture with Fresh Corn Soup as the base. I stirred a little adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers into the soup. (I seldom use a whole can at one time. I freeze any of the pepper and sauce in a ziptop bag. When I need some, I simply break a piece off of the frozen chunk.) Add chipotle peppers or adobo sauce just a little at a time. Taste and add more until it holds the heat you desire. It doesn’t take much adobo sauce to make your mouth burn.

I stir fried some chicken that I seasoned with Emeril’s Southwest Essence. I think chili powder would work well, too. I seeded some tomatoes and chopped them up. It was easy to tuck warm tortillas (wrapped in a paper towel and heated for just seconds in the microwave) into bowls. I ladled the hot (and spicy) corn soup into each tortilla cup and arranged the chicken and tomatoes over the top. A sprinkling of chopped cilantro adds nice flavor.

These soft Crunchy Tortillas from Sickler’s cookbook would also make delicious breakfast burritos.

I put one of the tortillas directly on a rack in a hot oven to see if it would get crunchy. It did get crunchy, but I actually prefer the flavor of the tortillas when they are warm and soft. I broke the baked, crunchy tortilla into pieces and used the pieces to garnish the Fresh Corn Soup.

I’m trying to decide which of Roberta Sickler’s recipes to try next. I’m leaning toward Blueberry Skillet Souffle. I hear there are blueberries ready to pick on a nearby farm.

Crunchy Tortillas

  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons soy oil (I used grapeseed oil)
  • 1/2 cup corn flour (I used finely ground organic corn meal)
  • 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Use a whisk to mix the egg, milk and oil. Add flours and salt all at once and mix just until blended. Set the batter aside for at least 30 minutes.

Ladle the batter onto a hot, oiled griddle, about 1/4 cup at a time. Turn the tortilla when it is brown on the bottom. The tortilla should be brown on each side. Lay the tortillas on paper towels. Makes about 4 to 5 tortillas.

Recipe from "Ritual of the Hearth," by Roberta Sickler. 1973.