Tangerine & Lime Marmalade

As part of the Tigress' Can Jam, I made Tangerine & Lime Marmalade. I've never made marmalade before, but I thought making lemon curd would be a total cop out since I make it regularly - it's best to try new things and see what you think. There were several other options, but the tangerines were so pretty (and on sale) that I thought I would go with them and then find a recipe to work. Citrus is perfect this time of year - even my little potted Meyer Lemon tree produced two beautiful lemons this year - which will be made into lemon curd this week. I had thought too of getting clementines as well, but we'll see - their season is short so if I'm going to, I had better make up my mind. 

The recipe was from A Passion for Preserves by Frederica Langeland and is the first recipe from the book that I have made. It's really simple which is a plus for a new recipe. Now, of course, I did mess w/it a bit, but that's normal for me. And I did it in the step method, which I'm realizing is easy as long as you think ahead a bit. 


Tangerine & Lime Marmalade
9 Tangerines
3 Limes
5 cups H2O
6 cups Sugar*

Wash all fruit, juice them and slice rind as thin as you can (I thought about using a mandoline, but went with a super sharp knife instead). Put the juice/rind/water in saucepan.

NOTE: There are a ridiculous amount of seeds in tangerines so pay close attention to not have those end up in your marmalade.
Bring mixture to a boil and reduce to simmer until the rinds are soft  - this took me about 1 hour 15 minutes. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved and continue to boil until set - this took, for me any way, longer than the 20-30 minutes in the recipe, but it wasn't a big deal. 

Ladle into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, put lids in place and tighten down. Invert the jars for a few minutes, then place upright and let cool completely. Check seals, label, and store in cool dry place.  For me - this recipe made 6 half pints of marmalade - tasted the little bit of left overs - so. very. good. 
Step Method: Complete to the point just before you add sugar. Cool and refrigerate. In the next day or two (at the most!) put mixture back into a sauce pot and heat and add sugar and continue recipe. 


*I only used five cups of sugar. Have you ever looked at six cups of sugar? Good lord that's a lot of sugar  - that is perhaps while it took a little longer for my marmalade to set, but again it's not that big of a deal. 

Make Do .... and books

Use it Up
Wear it Out
Make Do, Or
Do Without


This was posted on Not Dabbling in Normal today and made me think about the fact that I do this for some things, but not for others. I do wear clothes out - I'm not a clothes horse to begin with, but I'll wear something until it's done - largely because I hate shopping for clothes.
I do a good bit of making do ... I try not to buy unitaskers, esp for the kitchen, but I start a lot of things and don't finish them - which is a rather annoying habit... kind of depressing too when you think about it. Part of it is space - I like being downstairs w/the guys not off in my office - but my office is right now a huge mess ... so it's a vicious little cycle.


The hardest part about doing w/out is that I am fascinated with books - esp. of late Georgette Heyer and always - cookbooks.
I've gone though all the local library cookbooks - and all the downtown library preserving books and most of the cookbooks and garden books - so what's  a girl to do but order from Amazon too often.


Just received from Amazon yesterday: In a Cheesemaker's Kitchen: Celebrating  25 Years of Artisanal Cheesemaking from Vermont Butter & Cheese Company (obligatory cookbook). I so want to learn how to make cheese, but just love the idea of a small cheese farm/store (just like Sweet Home Farm - sigh). 


Georgette Heyer books - These Old Shades and An Infamous Army: A Novel of Wellington, Waterloo, Love and War. 


These Old Shades and An Infamous Army because I had already purchased Devil's Cub and didn't realize it was part of the Alastair trilogy. So now I have the whole trilogy and can read it in order ... hate reading books out of order - it's irksome.

How to decide what's for dinner

Gave stickies, purple no less, to MotH to mark recipes for things he would like me to make for dinner and there were fifty (50! no kidding, exactly fifty) in More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen). So I've done two and have on the list one more this weekend and so far (along w/the key lime bar recipe I made at Christmas - v.v.g.) they have been fairly straight forward, as always, easy to follow, and good. Too bad MotH marked so many recipes for pizza, but eventually I'll get him redirected.

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken pg. 240
What worked: cruchy, cheesy, rather tasty

What didn't: it needed something - you know that something that makes you think - this was really worth the effort. The chives (or in my case finely minced scallions) didn't stick so there was none of that flavor. Perhaps they should be put in with the shredded parm? not sure.

What else: I made a pan sauce of white wine, lemon juice, veg broth and 3 T of butter. I may have done this because I'm used to my Chicken Francese with Lemon and Pecorino recipe inspired by David Rosengarten.

What now: I'll probably make again, if just to figure out where to put the chives in. But will certainly make a pan sauce with it.

Words that shall be banished

Several blogs have lately been noting "food" words that should be removed from our lexicon. There are several that come to mind when I think of it - which is more often when I'm watching something on the food network.* Sammie - needs to go - what kind of stupid baby word is that and yes, I'm thinking whomever at Quizno's thought that was a good idea, was, in fact, an idiot. Mouthfeel - that's another one that annoys me - in a pervy gross kind of way. I know what they mean, but there must be a better way to say it. Foodie - what are we supposed to do with that - it's deragatory to be sure, at least it is unless you refer to yourself as one (if you do, you're a loser). Foodie - what does it mean anyway, some concieted person who takes an interest in food fads, not trends, mind you, just fads. A bigger insult I can scarsely imagine. Sous vide - yes, I realize it's a cooking method and a bit of silly one at that, but I don't like to hear it. It's just brings to mind sea urchin or pasty, pale-looking pork - I don't know - probably an undiagnosed mental illness that I have, but honestly, ugh. Offal, is ... well ... awful.


I have an idea that this will be a continuing commentary.




* Food Network has become increasingly disappointing lately - not that it's stellar stuff in the first place but I've deleted more off TiVo lately than I thought possible.

Cookalong Live - ugh

MotH and I watched Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live last night on TiVo. I've never seen any of his television shows before - yelling isn't my thing, unless I'm the one yelling. So it's apparent from comments that he yells and curses a good bit and had to refrain from doing so -- and this is where it gets bad -- by laughing like a crazed psycho. What was wrong with him?
Whoopie Goldberg and her annoying daughter aside, the most objectional part of the show was the food - it looked terrible. There was no crust on the steak - no browning, barely cooked - who would eat that? ugh. I'm hoping this isn't a show that gets repeated - it was banal and certain no way to encourage people to want to make good food at home  - with or without flambe.

Happy Birthday

Jane Austen. By far the best, funniest, sharpest writer to ever type out a plot pick up a pen or quill or whatever. Damn to be half that sharp would be a wonder indeed.

Treviso

Every wonder how something becomes over used - over hyped - just plain done to death. That's currently going on with Treviso -- heard about it on a food show and next thing I know it's everywhere -- now, perhaps some of that is time of year - Treviso is a type of radicchio - not one of my favorite things to eat, but that aside - it's the right time of year for greens -- I get that, but every.fricking.where.I.turn ---- it's treviso.  Does it even grow in Treviso? What's the big deal and when will this trend die? not soon enough. 


Same feelings - bacon, love bacon, hate bacon hype
Snooty, multi-coloured French macarons - they are friging everywhere too - what's up w/that?


(Photo: Italianfood.about.com)
Hate about.com, but it was a neat picture

Dressing

Dressing (not stuffing, damn it!) is, for me anyway, just elusive. I can't get it right. My mom has a recipe in her head, but no matter what I do, I can't replicate what I remember from childhood. This year I decided to try and just not do that -- but I was disappointed. I made a dressing that was good - it was different for me with apples and bacon in it, but I was disappointed. I was fine - really, I mean it, but it wasn't the dressing I'm used to. Even my bad attempts at cornbread dressing are decent, but I can't get back to what's in my food memory. So, this year, we'll be having dressing every so often to try and get back to those details. I'll talk to my mom some more and see what I'm missing and hope for a better showing from the dressing next year.

Kitchen

As I type the refrigerator is going back into the kitchen - after wandering through the desert for 7 weeks... we're almost there. I get to start cooking in there tonight - still some work to be done, but ... finally.*


* Almost - a few small thing to be done post Thanksgiving, but... I can at least cook in my own kitchen again - yeah!

Timing is Everything ...

Monday - Cranberry/Horseradish relish, Pecan Tassie Dough
Tuesday - Boil Sweet Potatoes, Spiced (maple-glazed?) nuts, fresh cheese, cheese straws
Wednesday - Bacon caramels (if weather permits), assemble bacon-wrapped apricots, leave bread out to dry for dressing, cook bacon for salads/dressing
Thursday - Turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, salad, key lime bars


What am I missing - I'm sure there is something ... ugh.