Apple Cranberry Pie

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup COLD water
6-8 apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup fresh cranberries cut in half

Holiday meals always bring out the favorites. One of mine is apple-cranberry pie. I love the bit of tartness the cranberries lend to the apples, and they seem to bring out the flavor of the apples as well.

Assuming an eight or nine inch pie pan, start the dough for the crust with two cups of all-purpose flour. Add a teaspoon of salt and cut the shortening into the flour until thoroughly mixed and a little crumbly. When the flour and shortening are mixed, add the half cup of cold water a little at a time, cutting the mixture with a fork to distribute the moisture evenly. The dough should readily stick into a clump when pressed by hand.

Divide and form the dough into two balls, wrapping them in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. You can also set the dough in the refrigerator for twenty minutes to let the moisture become even more uniform and allow the shortening to firm up. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. I like to start the process by pressing the dough ball into a disc by hand first. That way, I can make sure the edges are intact and no cracks have formed. Roll the dough from the center to the edge, working your way around the disc to achieve a uniform thickness. If the dough starts to stick to the rolling pin, wipe the pin with a little flour. Make sure both sides of the dough are lightly floured as well. When the disc is large enough to cover the sides and bottom of the pie pan, roll it onto the pin and lift it onto the pan, then unroll it into place. Use a knife to cut away the excess dough.

Apple-cranberry mix
Peel, core and slice the apples into a bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the mixture and give a stir. Mix with sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the halved cranberries, mix and you're ready to go.

Fill the pie shell with the apple/cranberry mix, roll out the other dough ball for the top of the pie. Crimp the edges and cut a few ventilation slits into the top crust, then bake at 350 degrees for about fifty minutes, until the pie is lightly starting to brown.

I like my apple pies less sweet than some people, so you may want to adjust the amount of sugar you use to suit your own taste. Hope you try, this pie, and more importantly, I hope you love it. As always, thanks for visiting my blog.

Savory Sourdough Impossible Spinach Pie

Savory Sourdough Impossible Spinach Pie I talked about making an Impossible Coconut Custard pie in a previous blog. This time I want to do a savory pie, impossibly easy style, with sourdough. It’s super easy to make, can be used for lunch or dinner, and can be done at home or on the road as long as you have some means of baking. Since I made this dish as a meal for one, or a shared appetizer for two, I used a tart pan. To me, it looks like a miniature pie pan, about five inches across, and is just the right size for camping. Rub the interior of the pan with butter. Flour the pan by putting a teaspoon of flour onto the buttered surface, then tilt the pan and tap it while rotating the pan until the flour has adhered to the greased surface. Dump the excess flour out. Heat a frying pan with a half teaspoon of olive oil and add the spinach and diced onions. Season with salt and pepper and a half teaspoon of Herbes de Provence. Turn the spinach as it cooks to keep it from burning until the spinach is cooked and reduced. Set aside and let cool while you get the custard part of the dish ready. Put a quarter cup of sourdough starter in a bowl and add a half cup of milk, one egg, a quarter teaspoon of baking soda and salt and pepper to taste. Beat with a fork until everything is combined into a thin batter. Mix in a quarter cup of Parmesan cheese. Spoon the cooked spinach and onion onto the bottom of the prepared pie pan (tart pan) and pour the custard batter over the top. Bake it at 350⁰ until a knife blade stuck into the pie comes out clean (about fifteen to twenty minutes). Let cool a little, then run a thin knife blade beneath the crust around edge of the pan. Place a dish over the pie and invert it over another dish or clean work space. You may have to gently pry the edge of the pie loose to allow it to loosen. When it drops out, turn it over and lift the pie onto a bed of greens, such as arugula dressed with an herbed vinaigrette dressing. A little olive oil and balsamic vinegar will work just fine as well. You have to admit, this a pretty fancy dish for camping, but it’s impressive, tastes good and is really easy to make. Hope you give it a try. Savory Sourdough Impossible Spinach Pie For the custard: ¼ cup sourdough starter 1 egg ½ cup milk ¼ teaspoon baking soda Salt and pepper to taste 1-2 cups fresh spinach ¼ cup diced onion ½ teaspoon olive oil ½ teaspoon Herbes de Provence Grease and flour 4 inch tart pan with ¼ teaspoon butter 1 teaspoon flour

Jim's Sauteed Garlic Potatoes i

Malware on my computer and a burst water pipe in ten degree weather has not made my day, but my Android and and some experience at being a handyman just might save the day. It seems like ages since my son Jim and I went camping. I remember it was definitely warmer. I also remember the fabulous garlic potatoes he cooked as part of his share of the cooking. They are sauteed in butter and olive oil rather than being boiled or baked. I really like the resulting texture and flavor. You really should give this a try. These were great over a campfire, and they'll be terrific at home. Even good enough for Thanksgiving! Just cut up a couple of cups of small red potatoes into chunks an inch or so in size. While you're at it, cut up a small onion and peel two or three cloves of garlic. Put a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter in the bottom, of a saucepan and heat over medium temperature with the potatoes, onions and garlic. Add a half teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper. Cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat to low. Uncover and stir frequently to keep from sticking. Add more butter and olive oil if necessary. The potatoes will saute nicely, and the moisture from the vegetables will help them to steam to perfection. When done, you can add a little cream and mash them, or serve them as is. These potatoes go great with steak, roast beef, salmon or ... Turkey! Oh, by the way. Sourdough bread is an appropriate side here as well. Thanks for visiting my blog. Hopefully I'll have my computer back up and running soon. I did take care of the leak in the basement.

 

Impossible Coconut Custard Pie

You don’t have to settle for a melted, messy candy bar if you discover you have a craving for something sweet and you’re all settled-in at your campsite. You can indulge that sweet tooth with a piece of coconut custard pie. What could be better?

Actually, the way this pie is made offers a real plus to campers that makes it even better. You don’t have to roll out a pie dough on the picnic table with a beverage container, or what have you. You don’t have to roll out a dough at all. This amazing pie does all that for you. It’s called the impossible pie for good reason. All you do is throw the ingredients into a bowl, beat them into a smooth batter and pour the contents into a greased and floured pan. Stick the pan into whatever you have to simulate a 350⁰ oven and bake it for about a half hour, or until you can stick a knife blade into it and the blade comes out clean. Believe it or not, the pie makes its own crust and custard filling.

The recipe below is intended for camping, and is appropriate for a pan about six inches in diameter, like the pan in a traditional Boy Scout mess kit. To grease and flour the pan, rub the sides and bottom with butter, place a spoonful of flour in the pan, then tip it and tap the edges while rotating the pan. The flour will coat the sides and bottom as you tap and rotate the pan. Dump out whatever is left over when you see the inside is coated. Hopefully, your camp cooking gear includes a short whisk, since you probably don’t have a hand mixer with you. I find a short whisk can be handy from time to time and doesn’t weigh much or take up much room. I suppose you could use a fork if you really did so vigorously, but I haven’t tried that yet. To make the batter come together readily, melt the butter before you add it to the other ingredients, but don’t pour it in while it’s hot.



Impossible Coconut Custard Pie

This can be a fun thing to throw together, and the resulting pie tastes really good. You should give it a try. Maybe you're already familiar with impossible pies. Let me know, and thanks for visiting my blog.

 

 Ingredients:

1 cup milk
½ cup shredded coconut
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons butter
¼ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg.

Talking Camping Gear

Men are all boys at heart, and boys love toys. Or, so we’re told. Personally, I have to admit I do. Lately, one of my sons and I have been talking about camping gear. We both love to camp, and did some together this fall. We also both love cooking, and that includes cooking over a campfire. Of course, there are times when that is impossible or impractical. That’s when a stove becomes essential. Naturally, some of the gear we’ve been talking about involves cooking. My son just bought a new backpacking stove. To be honest, I guess I’m jealous, but I’m not ready to follow suit just yet. I have been having fun talking with him about his acquisition and giving some thought to what I think would have to go into the ideal stove for me.

 

My son’s stove burns twigs. If there is no wood source available, the alternative is an alcohol burner. This outfit reflects a current interest in stoves that do not require fossil fuels—little canisters of butane that are partly full—but no one knows just how full—or canisters of white gas. Our discussion brought back memories for both of us of when my sons were much younger. I had an alcohol stove then. The popular interest at the time was in miniature stoves operating on white gas. I ended up with one of those too. I later acquired one that used propane, and seemed to answer everything—it was quick to put into operation, worked reliably, produced a hot flame, and was light to carry. Of course, I did feel I had to carry an extra canister of fuel because I didn’t know how much burn time I would get off the one I was using.

 

My son’s memories included another approach altogether. He talked about the coffee can stoves I introduced them to as a reasonably safe means of doing some backyard camping and cooking. The design was inspired by something I understood to have been a standard with the Girl Scouts. Basically, it involved a coffee can with an opening at the bottom to put in the twigs and holes at the top to let out smoke. A pan could be set on the top for cooking. Actually, it worked pretty well. That’s the way my son remembers his experience as well.

 

Of course, things evolve. The stove my son just bought is a very high-tech updating of the coffee can stove design. It does not have the hole in the bottom—you put twigs in from the top—and, the burn design is technically improved. Basically, it relies on a double-walled canister design that uses a twig fire, but draws the smoke up for a second burn cycle. It’s highly efficient, and works very well to produce an impressive amount of heat from a handful of dry twigs.

 

Other than being high-tech and new, what’s the attraction? Well, for me, camp cooking has to do with the challenge of seeing what you can accomplish with a minimum of modern kitchen equipment and convenience. Making an apple pie in a small pan over a bed of hot coals is hugely rewarding. Sometimes a stove is necessary (fires may not be allowed) and sometimes it’s simply convenient enough to warrant its use. Some campers want to visit the wild without leaving any more trace of their having been there than can be avoided. A small stove leaves no half-burned sticks, scorched ground or ashes. The stove my son bought seems a reasonable compromise. It uses twigs, not logs, and it’s fast and efficient.

 

In addition to the need for carrying fuel, I have complained that camping stoves, especially small ones, produce a very hot flame over a very small area, and seem primarily suited to cooking soup or making tea. Will my son’s new stove work better for cooking other things? That’s the twenty-four-thousand dollar question. It looks as though it might. I’ll be even more interested in getting one myself if it does. After all, it’s very hard to meet the outdoor cooking challenge if all you can readily do is boil water. Love to hear what others have to say about camp cooking stoves. Thank you for visiting my blog.

Men are all boys at heart, and boys love toys. Or, so we’re told. Personally, I have to admit I do. Lately, one of my sons and I have been talking about camping gear. We both love to camp, and did some together this fall. We also both love cooking, and that includes cooking over a campfire. Of course, there are times when that is impossible or impractical. That’s when a stove becomes essential. Naturally, some of the gear we’ve been talking about involves cooking. My son just bought a new backpacking stove. To be honest, I guess I’m jealous, but I’m not ready to follow suit just yet. I have been having fun talking with him about his acquisition and giving some thought to what I think would have to go into the ideal stove for me.

 

My son’s stove burns twigs. If there is no wood source available, the alternative is an alcohol burner. This outfit reflects a current interest in stoves that do not require fossil fuels—little canisters of butane that are partly full—but no one knows just how full—or canisters of white gas. Our discussion brought back memories for both of us of when my sons were much younger. I had an alcohol stove then. The popular interest at the time was in miniature stoves operating on white gas. I ended up with one of those too. I later acquired one that used propane, and seemed to answer everything—it was quick to put into operation, worked reliably, produced a hot flame, and was light to carry. Of course, I did feel I had to carry an extra canister of fuel because I didn’t know how much burn time I would get off the one I was using.

 

My son’s memories included another approach altogether. He talked about the coffee can stoves I introduced them to as a reasonably safe means of doing some backyard camping and cooking. The design was inspired by something I understood to have been a standard with the Girl Scouts. Basically, it involved a coffee can with an opening at the bottom to put in the twigs and holes at the top to let out smoke. A pan could be set on the top for cooking. Actually, it worked pretty well. That’s the way my son remembers his experience as well.

 

Of course, things evolve. The stove my son just bought is a very high-tech updating of the coffee can stove design. It does not have the hole in the bottom—you put twigs in from the top—and, the burn design is technically improved. Basically, it relies on a double-walled canister design that uses a twig fire, but draws the smoke up for a second burn cycle. It’s highly efficient, and works very well to produce an impressive amount of heat from a handful of dry twigs.

 

Other than being high-tech and new, what’s the attraction? Well, for me, camp cooking has to do with the challenge of seeing what you can accomplish with a minimum of modern kitchen equipment and convenience. Making an apple pie in a small pan over a bed of hot coals is hugely rewarding. Sometimes a stove is necessary (fires may not be allowed) and sometimes it’s simply convenient enough to warrant its use. Some campers want to visit the wild without leaving any more trace of their having been there than can be avoided. A small stove leaves no half-burned sticks, scorched ground or ashes. The stove my son bought seems a reasonable compromise. It uses twigs, not logs, and it’s fast and efficient.

 

In addition to the need for carrying fuel, I have complained that camping stoves, especially small ones, produce a very hot flame over a very small area, and seem primarily suited to cooking soup or making tea. Will my son’s new stove work better for cooking other things? That’s the twenty-four-thousand dollar question. It looks as though it might. I’ll be even more interested in getting one myself if it does. After all, it’s very hard to meet the outdoor cooking challenge if all you can readily do is boil water. Love to hear what others have to say about camp cooking stoves. Thank you for visiting my blog.



Sourdough Apple-cinnamon Upside-down Cake

I love the smells of fall. Dried leaves. Fall fields. Wood smoke is certainly a signature fall fragrance, and there are many foods that stand out as signs of the season. What could be more fall-like than apples, cinnamon and ginger? Put them together with molasses, honey and brown sugar and you have the beginning of a delicious fall cake. Of course, it has to be done with sourdough.

This cake is a bit of a challenge at a campsite in that you probably won’t have unlimited bowls, electric mixers, or even a hand beater, but with a little effort it can be done. Start with the topping. For this, mix together a rounded teaspoon of flour with a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Use this mix to coat the sliced apples. Arrange pecans on the bottom of a greased pan, and cover with the topping. Sprinkle any leftover mix over the top.

For the cake batter, cream three tablespoons butter with two tablespoons of brown sugar until all is light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Add ¼ cup half-and-half (or evaporated milk) and mix again, then add ½ teaspoon vanilla and ¼ cup sourdough start1er. Mix until blended.

Mix ½ cup flour with ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon baking soda. Add to wet mixture a third at a time, mixing just until blended. Alternate flour mixture with molasses, honey, and hot water mixture. When batter is blended, incorporate the raisins. Pour batter over the topping and bake in a 350⁰ oven about ½ hour. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and invert on a dish. Let stand ten to fifteen minutes to allow the cake drop from the pan onto the plate.

Topping

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1 Rounded tsp. flour
1 Tbs. butter
6 pecan halves (or ¼ cup chopped pecans) and ½ cup dried apple slices

 Cake Batter

Wet ingredients

3 Tbs. butter (creamed)
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 egg
¼ cup half-and-half (or evaporated milk)
½ tsp. vanilla
¼ cup sourdough starter

 Dry ingredients

½ cup all purpose, unbleached flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. cinnamon

 Molasses-Honey mixture: ¼ cup equal parts honey, molasses, hot water

 

Sourdough Grill Bread (or sourdough fry bread)

Whether you make this bread on a grill or in a frying pan, this sourdough treat will be great with soups, stews, pasta, salads, or many other dishes. On top of that, it’s quick and easy to prepare. You can make it either as a sourdough raised bread, or a quick bread. The difference is that the quick bread uses a pinch of baking soda and can be cooked immediately. The raised version is better if you let it rise for a half hour. You don’t have to let it double in bulk, as it will rise somewhat as you cook it, so it is still something that is great for a last minute bread addition to a meal.

I like to start with a thick sourdough sponge. Actually, when I feed my sourdough starter I let it set out at room temperature until it doubles in bulk and then put the starter in the fridge. At that point, it serves as a sponge until I get down to the amount I need to save to feed and regenerate as my starter. Take a big glop of the thick starter, about ½ cup for each bread disc, and put it on a heavily floured surface using the whole wheat flour, keeping enough in reserve to form the dough. Sprinkle some flour on top of the starter and add baking soda and salt. Work into a dough. Flatten the ball of dough into a circle about ¼ inch thick, using your fingers to flatten and spread the dough, turning it a couple of times as needed to keep the top and bottom surfaces floured so the dough will not stick. Repeat the process for as many bread discs as wanted.

To cook the bread, lightly coat the top of each disc with olive oil and put into a warm pan, oiled side down. Immediately coat the exposed side with more olive oil and sprinkle on salt and herbs. If you are using a grill, I like to start the bread on a piece of aluminum foil, cooking it just until the baking dough stiffens enough that it will not sag on top of the grill when you move it off the foil. Check the bottom of the bread and turn it when it starts to brown. When the flip side is browned, take the bread discs off the grill and keep them warm in aluminum foil until you serve them. The bread should be eaten while nice and hot. It is not something you make far in advance of the meal, or for the next day. Part of the charm of this bread is that it’s a last minute thing that tastes as good as though you spent a great deal of time preparing it.

Sourdough Grill Bread (or sourdough fry bread)

½ cup thick sourdough starter for each bread disc desired
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
¼ teaspoon Herbes de Provence (or other herb mixture if desired)
½ cup whole wheat

 

Sourdough Waffles Recipe

Sourdough Blueberry Waffles 

 

My last blog post talked about an antique waffle iron that has already become a treasured kitchen implement. It's easy to use, the waffles don't stick, and they come out golden brown every time. How could I not love it? Naturally, I've been making sourdough waffles with it, and I thought I should share the recipe.

Waffles made with sourdough are light and delicate. I think they're much better than those made with conventional recipes. Hope you give them a try.

In keeping with other recipes I've been sharing, this one produces two waffles, just right for one or two people. Of course, I haven't figured out how to make waffles camping across country on my motorcycle while doing a book promotion tour for my mystery novel yet. These will have to be made at home, unless anyone has a suggestion that's suitable for camping.

 

Sourdough Waffles Recipe

(Makes two waffles)

For wet ingredients :

One Egg separated and beaten
Set whites aside and to the beaten yolk add...
1/2 cup thin sourdough
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk (with cream)
2 tablespoons melted butter

For dry ingredients mix...

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Stir into wet ingredients a little at a time
Fold in stiff egg whites
Add 1/2 cup blueberries, strawberries, or other fruit

Bake, serve and enjoy.

An Antique Waffle Iron

I know I’ve been writing about cooking on the road, camping with a motorcycle, but there are exceptions to everything, and this blog post is one. A while back, Lesley and I were at a yard sale and I spotted an antique electric waffle iron. I couldn’t resist it. My guess was that it had been made circa the 1940’s. Maybe earlier. For a couple of bucks, why not?

I love old things, but I want to be able to use them. When I was growing up, my sister and I ground breakfast coffee with an antique coffee grinder on a daily basis. I think some of the old things were made better. But, I had to wonder if this waffle iron would actually work,I mean, waffles have been known to stick, and this machine didn’t have a light that would turn off to tell me the waffle was done. Oh well…

The waffle iron came with a small booklet telling how to care for the machine, how to use it, and included a bunch of recipes for waffles. I knew waffles had been around for some time before electric waffle irons came out, my parents had an older one we used on top of a wood stove . You had to pick up the iron and flip the part that held the waffle in order to cook both sides. The little booklet suggested bringing the waffle iron to the table for elegant breakfasts, lunches, and even dinners. The iron was nickel plated, ornately designed, and I could see how it might fit into table settings of prized china and silver for thoroughly "modern" homemakers.

Well, last Sunday I had wire brushed, cleaned and re-cured the iron and declared it to be ready for the acid test. I whipped up a batter, using my sourdough approach, and poured the first waffle. To my delight, it looked beautiful when I lifted the handle. I gently lifted the waffle out—and threw it away. The little booklet said to do that with the first one. That way, you eliminate the risk of getting a tiny fragment of wire brush in one of your waffles. The second one was a keeper. And, it tasted great.

When we go south this winter, we have a waffle iron with Teflon coated grids, timing lights, and a knob to turn to adjust for the desired doneness. The antique waffle iron will stay here along with other old things I love because they were well-built, beautiful to look at, and still work well. But, it was exciting to use it and discover it still worked well. What a treat. Like sourdough, a time-honored thing that gives pleasure in the preparation of food as well as in the consumption. Thanks for visiting my blog.

WHOLE WHEAT SOURDOUGH BISCOTTI

I love tea, and I drink it every afternoon. When I was working nights on a summer job when I was in college, a friend of mine and I shared tea at four o’clock in the morning, (the night worker’s equivalent of four in the afternoon). When I'm on my cross country motorcycle trips, I also have to have my tea in the afternoon. Sometimes it gets combined with a fuel stop at some truck stop. One reason I got in the habit of stopping at truck stops, was so I could have a good, strong cup of tea. Not a problem at a truck stop, since I can make it myself inside the convenience store. Sometimes I make tea at a rest stop, and sometimes I simply pull off the highway where it's wide enough and brew a good cuppa with my camping stove.

Of course, it’s good to eat a little something with tea to combat the effects of the tea’s tannin. That’s where tea biscuits come in. A favorite accompaniment to tea for me, is biscotti. I prefer my biscotti when it’s not too sweet, and I love almond flavoring. Naturally, I had to find out if biscotti could be made from sourdough. It took a couple of attempts and exploration, but I did come up with something really worth the effort. Hope you’ll give it a try and discover how good sourdough biscotti can be for yourself.

Whole wheat sourdough biscotti

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup thin sourdough starter

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ stick butter

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 large egg

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped nuts (pistachio, pine, almond, walnuts or pecans)

 

For a small batch of biscotti, cream a half stick of butter with 1/4 cup of sugar. Add ¼ teaspoon of almond extract to the creamed butter and sugar, and then stir in one large egg, lemon zest and ¼ cup sourdough. Mix thoroughly. The sourdough used here is quite thin. Mix your starter with a little water, if necessary, whipping the mixture with a beater or fork until the sourdough loses its pasty consistency and is evenly incorporated into the liquid.

Add a pinch of salt and a rounded ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to 1 cup whole wheat flour and stir together. Mix the flour into the wet ingredients, sprinkling the flour over the wet ingredients a little at a time until it is all incorporated. Add ¼ cup dried cranberries and ¼ cup pistachio nuts (or chopped walnuts, pine nuts, chopped almonds, or chopped pecans if you prefer) as you incorporate the final bit of flour. Knead the mixture on a floured pastry cloth and form it into a sheet about seven inches by three inches, about ¾ to 1 inch thick.

Bake the dough on parchment paper, or a lightly greased pan, in a 350⁰ oven for thirty to forty minutes until done. Let the loaf cool fifteen minutes to a half hour, then cut it into slices ¾ inch thick. Lay the slices face down on the pan and bake again for another fifteen minutes until the slices are just starting to brown. Let cool, prepare a pot of tea and enjoy.

Sourdough Hardtack? Writing, or rewriting.

Everyone has a favorite or two when it comes to food to take along on a camping trip. On my cross-country trips, I used to like to take crackers I made in advance. Big crackers. A whole coffee can full of them. They kept extremely well, were nourishing, and tasted great. I got the idea for them from a shop I discovered somewhere in Wyoming, I think. The shop sold something it called hardtack, made with several grains, and tasted wonderful. I never quite figured out their recipe, but I certainly enjoyed the version I came up with. I made the dough from flour, salt, water, and a little oil. To shape the crackers, I rolled the dough out and cut the crackers with the coffee can I used to store them. Of course, I docked them with a fork to prevent them from puffing up too much in the middle, and to make it easier to break them along the perforated lines.

It’s been years since I’ve made crackers, but I thought it would be fun to talk about them on my blog. Of course, I think it’s important to give the recipes I use a re-run, so I decided to make a batch. After all, they are good with cheese and other toppings, so they wouldn’t go to waste. Out of curiosity, and because I’ve been having fun with my new computer, I decided to look up hardtack on the internet. I was amazed to find several recipes and a number of very enthusiastic people talking about making hardtack, or ships biscuit, as it is also called. Basically, the recipes called for flour, salt and water. Most did not even use oil. One directed the cook to knead the dough and let it rest for quite a while. Naturally I thought, hey why not try making hardtack with sourdough? I know, hardtack isn’t made with leavening, but the flavor ought to be good. It seemed worth a try.

I had some very stiff sourdough starter on hand, so I took roughly equal parts starter and whole wheat flour, mixed it into a ball and put it on a floured pastry cloth to knead, adding more flour liberally to create a heavy, grainy texture. I divided the dough into biscuit size lumps and rolled out each lump into a round sheet about 3/8 inch thick. I did the usual docking thing with a fork, dusted the bottoms of the dough circles with a little cornmeal and set up to cook them outside on a camping stove. The outside cooking had two purposes. Doing so would keep the house cooler—it’s been a dreadful heat wave. Also, I wanted to use camping gear to make sure the recipe and technique would be good for camping.

So far, so good. I turned the stove on, got out a frying pan with a loose lid, and started cooking the first piece of hardtack. Oh, oh. It burned a bit on the bottom. Oh, well. Who has never had that happen over a campfire? Just take a picture of the tops? No problem, right? Scrape off the burned portion, and eat it anyway? Right. Make a note to cook these critters on a very low heat so they become very well done, but not burned.

Try again. Oh, oh. That one burned too. Not as bad, but suddenly this cooking event was not looking picture ready and blog friendly. Down to the last two I had anticipated making. At least they didn’t burn. Now for the crucial question. How do they taste? Actually, not bad. Definitely something of a mix between cracker and biscuit, and not like the hardtack I bought on that long-ago trip. That hardtack was definitely all cracker. Nevertheless, There’s enough of an intriguing sourdough flavor to keep me working at this until I’m satisfied. After all, any mystery writer knows good writing is rewriting, sometimes lots of it.

Making Beef Jerky

Ingredients for Jerky

When I think about camp cooking, one of my basics is beef jerky. I like to make my own. It's easy, and the results are delicious. I start with a big, lean steak, such as sirloin or top round. Slice the meat into 1/4 inch slices, salt and pepper, and then dry the meat on a rack until it is dark and leathery, about half the bulk you started with. For the drying, I use a food dehydrator I picked up at a yard sale. It has an electric heating element and fan to circulate the hot air over the drying racks. You can get the same results using an oven, set to warm, placing the meat directly on the oven racks. The trouble with this method is that clean-up can be a bigger chore than using the dehydrator racks.

For a great variation, dip the slices of meat into soy sauce first, then salt and pepper them and go through the same drying process. You can also use Teriyaki sauce. The meat can be used in soups or other dishes, or eaten as is, the same as with the basic jerky using salt and pepper alone. I have had problems keeping the flavored forms of jerky from molding, however, so I'd advise taking extra care to be sure the meat is well dried. For on the road cooking, I kind of prefer the basic jerky, and I use the flavored jerky for tasty snacks on a day ride or hike.

One time I was visiting an uncle of mine, and broke out some jerky I had brought along on the bike. He loved it so much, we ate my whole supply.  (Goes great with beer or a glass of whiskey, or black coffee.) He said it reminded him of jerky my father had made when they were both young. I never knew my father made jerky. He never did when I was growing up.

I hope you give this a try, if you don't already make your own jerky. It's one of those things, like using sourdough, that lets you get in touch with basics that have been around about as long as people have been here. Love to have you share your jerky experiences as well. Thanks for visiting, and enjoy.

Finished Jerky Ready tor the Pot

FOCACCIA FOR A SUMMER MEAL

Last time I posted about New England clam chowder, Michele commented that the temperature was in the triple digits where she was. I could see how that would not make a hot bowl of chowder sound appealing, but it got me to thinking about a favorite meal I enjoyed growing up in California. It was a big shrimp salad with San Francisco sourdough bread. As I remember, the salad was made with iceberg lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and an oil and vinegar dressing. Now, I have become spoiled with things like arugula, spinach, avocados, and anything handy that sounds good. Of course, shrimp still sounds great, and I still love a good oil and vinegar dressing. I would probably use a tarragon vinegar . And, while I still love San Francisco sourdough, I love the sourdough I make fresh too. How would I change that up? By making focaccia.

To make sourdough focaccia, first make a sourdough sponge. You do this by taking roughly equal parts sourdough starter and hot water, mix well and add enough unbleached, all purpose flour to make a stiff batter. You have the right consistency when you start to clear the sides of the container as  you stir it. Let this sponge set in a warm place until it doubles in bulk, then it's ready to use. (You can make it and store it in the refrigerator overnight if you prefer.)

To make the focaccia dough, flour a board or pastry cloth and turn out the sponge on top of it. Sprinkle more flour on top of the sponge, along with a generous pinch of salt. Knead the dough, adding more flour until the dough is reasonably stiff and springs back when you poke it with a finger. Next, roll out the dough to a flat shape matching the pan you will be using to bake it (square, rectangle or round) about 1/4 inch thick. Coat the backing pan with a little olive oil and lay the dough inside, then work the edges of the dough up the sides of the container about 1/2 inch higher than the dough in the bottom of the pan. Drizzle olive oil on top, spreading it all over the surface of the dough, sprinkle on a little herbes de Provence, cover and let rise until it  doubles in bulk, about an hour. Before you put it in the oven, sprinkle on sea salt, add slices of onion and tomatoes, pressing them into the dough a bit, and grate some pecorino or Parmesan cheese on top. Bake about thirty minutes in a four hundred degree oven, or slide the pan onto a grill and close the cover to have a great outdoor dish with no heat added to the inside of your comfortable home. Now, what could be better?

I know Bobby Navarro, the protagonist of my mystery series loves steak and spicy southwestern food, and I've been trying to decide if he would ever have discovered the joy of focaccia. He does cook with sourdough, and I've known bikers who are gourmet cooks over a campfire. What do you think?

On the Road New England Clam Chowder

On the Road White Clam Chowder

Last blog I posted was on clam chowder Manhattan (red) style. Well. . .it’s another rainy day, and that makes it another great day for soups, stews and. . .chowders. This time I’m making my take on New England style (white) chowder. It’s super easy and definitely worth eating. This is one of the dishes I’ve often fantasized about for the last few hours of a day’s run through weather that’s cold, rainy or at least iffy.

Again, it’s a mix of fresh and canned ingredients. The potatoes I used today were those miniature red potatoes, cut up with the skins left on. They add color to the dish, and they are healthier that way. They pack well for a few days, and add a great touch of freshness to camping fare. A stalk of celery, even though it gets limp is another “fresh” ingredient, along with onion and jalapeno pepper. The clams were canned, and the milk was a little carton bought in a supermarket in the section where they sell the canned variety. I think it tastes much better. It keeps well and is meant for drinking. It even has a sippy straw attached, so I assume it was designed for children who take their lunch to school.

The only catch to making this type of chowder is that you have to cook it at a simmer, or else you will burn the milk. Low heat, and frequent stirring keeps it from sticking to the pot and prevents burning. So—now here’s the recipe.

      On the Road White Clam Chowder

1 small onion, diced pretty small.

1 tablespoon of diced jalapeno pepper.

1 stalk of celery diced.

3-5 small red potatoes cut into chunks about ½ inch in size.

1 carton of 2% milk (1/2 pint)

1 can of chopped clams

1 teaspoon flour

Dried Herbs, salt and pepper

Sauté  the onion, pepper and celery in a little olive oil (a teaspoon or two) along with a pat of butter (or squirt of clarified butter). Sprinkle a half teaspoon of dried herb mixture such as Herbs de Provence and salt and pepper to taste. When the diced vegetables have softened a bit, add another pat of butter and sprinkle the flour into the mixture. Stir and cook for half a minute or so, then add the milk and clams, including the clam juice. Heat until just getting bubbly and continue to simmer until potatoes are done, stirring frequently. Serve hot with a thick slice of sourdough bread and enjoy.

                                                                                                                    

Hope you try this one. If you enjoy seafood chowders, I think you’ll like it.

Manhattan (Red) Clam Chowder

Manhattan (Red) Clam Chowder

 When it’s cold and rainy, like it is today, there is almost nothing more pleasing than a bowl of soup. Today, it’s clam chowder. I love all three versions: New England; Manhattan; and, Rhode Island. I’m doing the Manhattan version because it’s pretty simple to prepare, and because it tastes really good. It’s the kind of vision I can spend hours enjoying while riding my motorcycle and anticipating making camp at the end of the day. (See my previous blog to make more sense of this.)

I like to use fresh ingredients whenever I can, even though that’s a challenge on a lengthy motorcycle trip. I have managed to carry onions, potatoes, and even celery with reasonable success. The celery wilts a little, but hey, this is camping. If it won’t make you sick, it’s usable, right? For my chowder, these are the fresh ingredients, along with a fresh jalapeno pepper.

For cooking, I have a stainless steel, mess kit-style lidded pot, but I also have a stainless steel saucepan I picked up at a yard sale (great source of camping gear). My trusty knife has two blades. The thin one, I use for food preparation, and the heavier blade for everything else. I’ve tried all sorts of eating cutlery, but it’s hard to beat a real spoon, a decent fork, and a knife that isn’t going to slice my plate in half, like the one in the picture. Hey, what am I saying? I write murder mysteries; I should use an even bigger, sharper knife.

So, here’s the recipe.

1 small onion, diced.

1 small stalk of celery, including the leafy ends, diced.

1 jalapeno pepper, diced.

2-3 very small potatoes, chopped.

½ teaspoon mixed dried herbs (like Italian, or herbes de Provance)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of chopped clams

Sauté the onion, celery and pepper in olive oil until softened a little, using your saucepan or pot. Add the herbs and salt and pepper to taste while sautéing the vegetables. When they start to soften, add the juice from the can of tomatoes and cook for another five minutes, Throw in a little white wine as well, if you have any. Then add the diced tomatoes and the clams, including the clam juice in the can. Cook at a simmer until the potatoes are tender, about twenty five to thirty minutes.I hope you enjoy it, if you give it a try. Love to have you share your recipes and experiences in the comments section, and thanks for visiting.

 

So, What's For Dinner?

So, What’s for Dinner?

I understand some people prepare a menu for an entire week, shop for the ingredients in one trip, and know what they are going to do for every meal. I’ve often thought that would be great. Really organized. Just not me. Not by a long shot.

At home, making good use of things in the freezer requires at least thinking about the evening meal that morning so you can take the meat, or whatever, out in time for it to thaw. I’ve never had much luck using the microwave for that task if I let it wait until the last minute. Sometimes I do manage to remember to take something out of the freezer early enough for it to thaw. I feel real proud of myself when I do. Usually I can do pretty well with things on hand and don’t need to make an emergency run to the store in order to fix dinner. Not always though.

So, how can a pantzer (seat of the pants writer who does not use extensive outlining) avoid mealtime disaster on a camping trip, such as a six-week cross-country motorcycle run? Well, there’s always accepting mealtime monotony. I’ve done that one. But another approach I’ve used is to get creative with what I carried in my pack and carefully plan out the next meal in the hours leading up to it. (You see, I’m actually somewhere between a pantzer and an outliner when I write my mysteries). When driving, I watch the road, but I think about other things too, and a few hunger pangs inspire a lot of cooking imagination.

You see, when I’m on my motorcycle, cooking is one of the things I like to think about. Writing is another. A cold, wet day can easily send visions of clam chowder coursing through my mind for hours ahead of time. I used to carry a tin of chopped clams. Now you can buy them in foil packages. I carry some fresh goods too, like a few small onions, a couple of jalapeno peppers, some small potatoes. A diced carrot, even if a bit limp, or a wilted celery stalk can still work well in a soup, stew, or chowder. Maybe I’d throw in a couple of sourdough biscuits for good measure.

I like to see what I can accomplish from scratch as much as possible. It’s part of why I like camping. It’s getting down to basics, or in today’s parlance I suppose I should say it’s getting down WITH basics. If I’m lucky I’ll even have one of those little cartons of wine to go with my meal. Basics plus a little class. And the hours I’ve spent in mental preparation only add to the expectation and enjoyment at the end of the day.

How do you handle meal planning when you’re camping? What kind of meals do you rely on, and how do you prepare for them ahead of time? Hope you’ll share some of your stories, and thanks for visiting my blog.

P.S. Next blog post will offer a recipe for clam chowder, road warrior style. Come check it out.

Glenn's Sourdough Funny Biscuits

Sourdough Funny Biscuits

Lesley called them “Glenn’s Funny Biscuits”, and the name sort of stuck. They came about as something of a challenge, and they’re a bit of a challenge to make. If you’re into using sourdough, I hope you’ll give them a try.

When I was on one of my extended motorcycle camping rode trips I needed to come up with a breakfast that was quick, easy to clean up and made good use of sourdough. I like to get in a hundred miles or so of travel before I stop and make breakfast. That means pulling into a rest stop, breaking out the cooking gear, making a hot breakfast, cleaning up and getting back on the road without taking an inordinate amount of time. Funny biscuits were the answer I came up with.

To mix the dough, pour some starter into a depression in the middle of your flour, right in the container. Carefully sprinkle a pinch of baking soda (I use this for any sourdough quickbread) and a pinch of salt over the starter, and stir the mixture with a fork so that it picks up flour and forms into a dough ball. This may take a little practice. Mix in too much flour and the dough won’t stick together. Too little, and you simply have a sticky mess.

When the dough is formed into a rough ball, reach into the container with you hand and knead the ball of dough a few times, turning it over so as to maintain a floured outer surface. When kneaded into the right consistency, pull the blob of dough into smaller balls as needed to make whatever size biscuits you want. I shape them by rotating the dough inside a circle made up of my thumb and middle finger, then pat them down to about a three-quarter inch thickness. Put them in a frying pan with a lid on it and cook them over low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes. Turn them over half way through the baking time so both sides get browned nicely.

It was a real treat to have fresh, hot biscuits for breakfast at a scenic rest area. They’re great with butter and jam, honey, peanut butter, or a slice of cheese if you have some handy. I served them with soft boiled eggs and a couple of cups of hot tea. Delicious.

What’s your favorite quick sourdough treat?

Sourdough Pancakes

Making Pancakes on the Road

I guess there are a lot of choices about camping gear, including cookware, but to me it has always seemed the gear I came up with was lacking. I’ve tried aluminum and stainless steel, thin gage ironware, and even porcelain cookware that reminded me of the blue enamelware plates my parents used on camping trips we took together when I was a kid.  The thing is, none of them seem suited to not burning food or ruining it because it all stuck to the bottom of the pan. Everything I’ve run across seems designed for lightness, which is necessary, especially for backpacking. The best pans I’ve used are cast iron. I’d hate to try carrying one of those backpacking. I’ve tried over and over to use those little Boy Scout type cook sets with a frying pan, deep dish, lidded pot, and coffee cup. Of course, the aluminum cup burns your mouth when you take a sip of any hot liquid, but the lidded pot works well. The handle on the frying pan needs to be long if you’re cooking over a campfire, but is way too heavy if you are cooking on a tiny backpacking stove, which I always carry on motorcycle trips, and the pan falls off the stove.

So, enough complaining. The reason for the above discussion is because I wanted to set myself up for a little sympathy, or shared misery, when I say I’ve burned more pancakes on camping trips than I’d like to admit. And, that’s the topic for this week’s blog post—sourdough pancakes. I learned to make pancakes early in life, cooking them on a wood stove. I learned to flip them as a kid too, whenever I wasn’t using a griddle big enough to cook half a dozen at a time (I had a big appetite). I took pride in being able to make good pancakes, so I found the burning, sticking, deforming frying pan experiences of camping cookware frustrating to say the least. But I am stubborn, and insisted on using sourdough on backpacking trips as well as motorcycle runs. Even the imperfect results I often produced were well worth the effort once on the tongue. I also figured out that I needed to hold the pan, not set it on the burner and turn to something else while my pancake cooked. That way, I could control the heat better and actually do a decent job of cooking the pancakes, not scorching them. Fortunately, I also dropped my eating quota down from eight or twelve pancakes to two or three.

Making sourdough pancakes still seems to me more technique than recipe. I like to keep my starter quite thick, and that effects the necessary technique. I plop about a half cup into a bowl holding an egg I’ve already beaten, and mix the two together. I then toss a couple of rounded tablespoons of flour and a heaping tablespoon of powdered milk on top of the mixture and sprinkle a pinch of baking soda (1/4 teaspoon) and a pinch of salt over that. I stir the ingredients together, adding as much water as needed to produce a nice pancake batter consistency. I love to add blueberries, if I have them, or banana if I happen to have one of those handy, although that’s not likely on a back packing or road trip. I fry the batter in clarified butter, which keeps pretty well when refrigeration is lacking. I often use honey as a sweetener instead of syrup because it can be used in other cooking as well. In spite of the difficulties and challenges, my mouth is watering at the memories. What are your tales of making pancakes over campfires or camp stoves? If sourdough is your thing, but camping is not, I hope you share your recipes and techniques as well. There are a lot of ways to “get-er-done”, and I hope to learn some new ones from you. P/S Thanks for visiting my blog.

Getting Started with Sourdough

Cooking with Sourdough

Cooking on the road can be murder. At the end of the day, it’s always later than you planned. You’re tired. It’s dark, cold, and threatening to rain. So that puts camping and cooking on the road in the same category as golf—I have no explanation at all for why I enjoy it, but I do.

I usually take homemade beef jerky with me on a road trip, and a couple of packages of something like Cajun red beans and rice, but I also take flour and the most important staple of all—sourdough starter. It’s a good thing I prefer a motorcycle to an airplane; I’d never get through security with my pack smelling like a winery. Sourdough gets pretty fragrant, especially in the heat. Keeping it from getting too hot can be a real challenge. I’ve used those little insulated lunch containers with a cup of ice picked up at a truck stop and thrown into a plastic baggie. You need the baggie, because the ice always melts to water…well, almost all of it melts. If I’m lucky at the end of the day there will be just enough ice left to cool down a cup of bourbon, (no room for highball glasses).

There seem to be two major approaches to maintaining, (feeding), sourdough starter: (1) sugar; and, (2) flour and water. I use the flour and water approach exclusively. I got my first inspiration for sourdough from my third grade teacher, who brought a slab of sourdough bread to class. She said it was a hundred years old. I never thought to ask at the time if she meant the starter or the slab of bread. I just sat in awe and said “Wow” like most of the other kids. Her grandfather had been a gold miner in Alaska, and cooked with sourdough. She explained the process, and the idea of doing something like that stuck with me. I knew even then than it was something I wanted to do—pan for gold and make sourdough. Actually, I have done both, although not in Alaska.

You can make an initial starter utilizing yeast present in the air pretty much everywhere. Or, you can use a packet of commercial yeast for the initial batch and focus your purity on maintaining and using your starter without any further commercial yeast infusions. Since your starter will be joined by the yeasts in the air wherever you happen to be, it’s all going to become uniquely yours anyway.

If you choose to begin the process with commercial yeast, a cup of all purpose flour, a packet of dry yeast, two cups of hot (but not boiling) water, and you’re in business. Let it sit in a lightly covered, glass or plastic container for a week, stirring it down if it threatens to leave the container, and pouring off any liquid that forms at the top. The liquid is alcohol, one of the two by-products of yeast fermentation. The other by-product is carbon dioxide, the gas bubbles that make your breads or muffins, etc. rise. After the culture has become well-established, a week to ten days, you can start using the starter for all sorts of goodies. Use it down to the last cup and then replenish your starter by adding flour and water in the same one-to-two ratio.

I’ve met a lot of other people who keep sourdough “pets”, although none yet who were crazy enough to carry it across country on a motorcycle. If you’re someone who is a sourdough devotee, I’d love to hear your sourdough story. I plan to talk more about using sourdough, and camp cooking, in future blogs. Love to have you join the discussion.