Oven Fries From Bintje Potatoes

 Bintje potato plants shortly before harvest

For those of you who visit regularly, you will have seen a few references to Bintje potatoes in previous posts.  I've been waiting for the harvest to write this post.

The story started on March 19th 2014 when I was in the local kitchen store "Providence Fine Living".  This is my favorite store in town and I've gotten to know and enjoy interacting with the proprietor, Ivan.

Well just maybe the story started 19 years ago when I planted regular potatoes in the garden.  I didn't do that again because it was not worth the potato bug fight.  I had to be out there every day killing the bugs by hand unless I wanted to use pesticides...which i did not.  They just gobbled up the plants.

The story picks up again last summer when we left Moses Lake at 5 in the morning and saw the spray planes flying over the potato fields just before harvest; spraying herbicide on the (commercially grown) potato fields to kill the plants.  Ummm...I think that herbicide goes straight into the potato.

Based on these two experiences I decided I needed to reduce potatoes in my diet except for a very rare occasion.  After this experience I occasionally bought organic fingerling potatoes at the grocery store.

The story picks up again, as I said, on March 19, 2014 when I went in to purchase a birthday gift for my daughter.  Ivan asks if I have my garden planted? 

Oh the beets, lettuce, spinach and peas are in.  Most of the garden is still a mess of weeds from last year but I planted what was cleaned up so far.  He said he wasn't done with the clean up yet so had not started planting.  I say if I wait until all the clean up is done I won't ever get the seeds in the ground.

 Baked Bintje potatoes...the largest ones we had this year.

Then he asks if I am planting potatoes and I say no and I won't because I don't like the potato bugs.  "He says, I plant potatoes and don't have potato bugs."  I look at him like he is joking.  He continues on to say something about how our current culture has moved away from quality to quantity (though I only partially agree with this).  When he was growing up in Denmark they planted Bintje potatoes and he continues to do so getting his organic seed potatoes from a certain catalog.  Well since he could not remember which catalog at that moment, I went home and got on the Internet and found  a supplier of organic Bintje potatoes just a couple hours away in Le Grande, Oregon.  It was on Etsy.

We planted those potatoes in early April and then harvested them the end of July.  We have so enjoyed them.  Yes they are better than potatoes from the super market and better than any I've ever tasted.  You will see a post about Lefse recently.  It was the best ever.

Oven fries:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut the smallest Bintje potatoes (1 to 2" ones) into small slices.
3. Coat in 1/4 cup grape seed oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Spread in a single layer in a baking sheet with sides. (Pampered Chef Clay Jelly Roll Pan)
5. Bake 15 minutes, turn the fries over and Bake 15 minutes on the other side.

Bintje potatoes become part of the decor at our house...notice that the wheat berries do too.

Champagne Muffins

Weekend guests left 3/4 cup of Champagne remaining in a bottle this weekend.  I need muffins soon for a family reunion breakfast so I decided to experiment and see what could be done.

Champagne Muffins by Bonda
Makes 16 Muffins using Demarle Crown and Petal trays.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together in one bowl
2 1/2 cups Prairie Gold Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

 In a second bowl combine and stir:
1/3 cup local honey
1/2 cup melted butter
(Easier to mix together before cold ingredients are added)

Add:
3/4 cup champagne
1/4 cup orange juice
2 large farm fresh eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Using a soup spoon, place batter one heaping spoonful at a time into the Demarle Petal Tray.

Bake at 400 degrees for 13 minutes.

These were amazing.  Must repeat...I don't even have to ask anyone else's opinion.  We served them with Apricot Jam made by our daughter from her own apricot trees.

Home Made Gluten

Last week I had a visit with one of my nieces.  She shared parts of a book she is currently reading by Michael Pollan, "Cooked".

Photo from Michael Pollan's website:

This link tells some about the book. I can't wait to read it though I will need to wait for winter when things slow down.

http://michaelpollan.com/books/cooked

In this book it is suggested to make home made gluten.  So we did that when I was with her and in just two days it was ready to use (I thing the warm summer days made this happen quickly).  We started out by using it in homemade waffles and my sister who is adversely affected by what she thought was intolerance to grain found out it might just be the type of glutens we have been using aka. baking powder (also yeast);  because she did not experience knee pain after eating the waffles this time.  So the jury is still out about this but we will be awaiting further experience.

The recipe for home made gluten in the book is in metric and it was a little beyond me to figure that out at the time; so using my cell phone I did a search as quick as possible which really wasn't very fast.  Now I'm going from memory which is probably inaccurate, but I'm going to tell you what I did today based on how much white flour was left in the jar.

3/4 cup strong alkaline water (refer to the blog post dated 4-30-14)
1/4 cup white flour
1/3 cup fresh ground whole wheat flour.

Let sit with a thin cotton towel over it, stirring once a day plus adding the same ingredients each day. As soon as it is bubbly (in one to three days) throw away 2/3 of it and feed it again with this same mixture as noted above.  Stir each day and let sit on the counter under a towel.  Once you have the starter where you want it...as in it smells sweet and is bubbly, you can refridgerate it for up 5 days.  Feed it to keep it living.

If it doesn't work I'll have to order the book or call my niece to get a refresher.

Here are a couple photos of what it looks like on the first day:

 

Watch this blog for further updates and how to  keep the gluten alive and well.  If it smells like vinegar start over.

Antipasto Board

Yesterday we needed to take something to a going away party.    This is what we did.  It was Jake's idea.

Some farmer friends of ours cut the cherry wood slabs.  I love to use them for decorating around home and yesterday I thought of another use...covered with parchment paper it became an antipasto board.

The dip was conveniently made with a Demarle at home spice blend:

 

Our house guests this past weekend left some champagne so we added 2 tablespoons and it was good.

Another view:

Wine Muffins, No Dairy

House guests left a little wine in a bottle this weekend.  I tasted it and...nope...I still don't enjoy it.  I have known for years I like to cook with it though.  There is a scant 2/3 cup wine in the bottle.   Hmmm...what shall I do with it?

This morning was a late start and I need to take breakfast to my husband at work.  What would be fast and good to him, the one who enjoys and needs carbohydrates...complex ones?

Today I'm making up a new recipe starting with another recipe I've never tried.  I added, subtracted   and substituted almost every ingredient.  I'll tell you later how it turns out.

3 cups Prairie Gold fresh ground whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder, Rumford, non-aluminum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, "Real"
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw, local honey
1 teaspoon real vanilla, clear (a recent gift from a friend who traveled to Cabo).
2 farm fresh eggs from my friend Ruth
2/3 cup red wine (scant) a blend (local of course, it is Walla Walla after all)
1/3 cup strong alkaline water
1/2 cup fresh rasberries, (use whatever fruit you have in small pieces)

Using the Demarle Petal Tray (no greasing), put a heaping teaspoon of batter in the bottom.  Tear the berries into small sizes and place on top.  Put another heaping teaspoon of batter on top of that.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.

The next photo shows two turned over with my finger tips (EASY removal) so you can see the pattern.

So what do I think of this recipe?  It is so good even though it does not have any dairy. It would be better with dairy I think.  While I was making this recipe I was on the phone with a sister who suggested making it without any dairy.  I was planning to make it with raw milk and cream but decided to make substitutions.  She suggested coconut oil instead of butter.  I would have to make this again without wine to find out if I like having wine in it.  So I will do that another day.

I don't like muffins that are too sweet so I almost always cut down on sweetener.  Whenever I can I substitute unprocessed sweeteners.  It was just about right for me.  Others, like the children, would probably prefer another two tablespoons raw local honey.

Note a few days later:  Husband likes these and says I can repeat some time.

Garden Jungle

The garden has been such a delight this year. Not the weeding part though that's mostly what I've done.

I've enjoyed growing Bintje Potatoes this year and they look great:

Since we worked hard last week on the weeding I had to take some photos.

The "Ogallala Strawberry" patch.  Everbearing and flavorful!  These whirlygig things have really helped cut down on thieving birds.

 

Soon....nectarines.

Tender Lefse

Grandma made lefse on a wood stove as far back as I can remember while growing up in the rural North Idaho Panhandle.  It was a fairly regular Friday night thing with family coming to the farm from town to participate.  She kept a beautiful old wood fired cook stove in her basement just for this purpose.  This was the '60's and 70's I'm talking about here.  Of course in the rare but certain event the power went out she had a way to stay cozy and warm AND cook and bake. The rest of us had fireplaces so warmth wasn't a problem but those would not have been the days for bread and cookie baking for us as it was for my grandmother.  She was as comfortable as could be with a wood fired cook stove.  An electric version was a fairly new idea to her and just did not turn out the quality of baking and cooking she was used to.

The last time I remember grandma making lefse was approximately 1976.  Then someone else had to take up the torch and carry on the family tradition.  My mom was the one and maybe it was because the family tended to gather at her farm house now.  Anyone who lives on that farm needs to cook constantly.  There is a revolving door of guests, usually large groups...some of which stay for years.  Yes, it's true and there are good reasons for it but that's another story for another day....or not.

Anyway back to the lefse...one of the things about lefse making is you need to boil the potatoes, add the butter and cream then chill.  So it takes awhile.  Also you are supposed to put the potatoes thru a ricer and it's rather time consuming to do that step too.   So grandma and mom's method to simplify (they needed to with all the people so often at their tables) was to use instant mashed potatoes.

Here is mom's recipe and I think this is also the one my grandmother used; at least in later years.

Six servings of instant mashed potatoes
1/2 cup shortening
Mix together and chill for a few hours.
In an electric mixer, combine potatoes with 2 cups flour.
Shape into a roll and cut into 10 pieces.
Roll one piece at a time very thin on a well floured counter.
Using a long thin spatula, loosen from counter and roll loosely on rolling pin to transfer to a hot electric griddle.  Cook until it bubbles, turn over and cook a few more minutes.  Not too long or it will be tough.  Serve with butter and jam/jelly or sugar.  Roll up.

Many years ago I made lefse according to this recipe.  I had such a time with it that it hardly seemed worth it.  Fast forward to yesterday....

We have a crop of Bintje potatoes (that is material for another blog) and my husband asked if I would make Lefse with them to see if it would be better than ever.  We think it was.

This process is going to be a chuckle to follow and I don't know if you can, but I'll give it a whirl.

Take about this many Bintje potatoes in a one gallon Schwan's Ice Cream bucket.  This was from two plants and is about 5 lbs.

I saved the smallest potatoes in this photo to plant my next crop so I didn't use them all.

Peel, thick slice and boil them for 10 minutes.  Really!  This is what you do with Bintje potatoes.  Other potatoes will take 20 to 25 minutes. I have waterless cookware so use about and inch and a half of water in the bottom of the 6 quart pan to boil potatoes for 10 minutes.  Use about 3 inches of water for other potatoes.

 

Add one cup of Raw Milk, 1 teaspoon Sea Salt and mix with a hand mixer:

Our family ate about 2 cups of this for supper the first night. 

Day two:  Take the remaining amount (it was about 3.5 lbs left over) and add 5 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons raw cream, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon white sugar, 2 cups white flour.  Put in mixer and combine.

Heat griddle to 400 degrees and a large 12" skillet to medium heat.

Using the Demarle Roul'pat place about a 1/4 cup white flour on the Roul'pat and about 1/3 cup of the potato mixture well coated with flour.  Roll very thin.  It is hard to work with! Oh yes I remember this from last time.  As I went along I got the hang of it.  Keep adding lots of flour with each one you roll out or you won't be able to move it without breaking.

Now move it to the griddle.  I put it over the spatula and also held my hand under it to support it.  They are very fragile.

This is some of the smaller ones I made at first before I got the hang of making larger ones.

This is about that they look like when they are done.

Grandma used to scrape her rolling pin as she went along.  I can see why.

Serve hot...it is when they are best.  Let the butter melt around and spread it.

And some home made plum jam...thank you daughter :)

Fold in half....

And roll up...okay I got a little more jam than I needed, but sopped it up.

I've had some good lefse in my day and I think these were the best yet.  Just the right flavor, just the right amount of crisp and soft.  YUMMY!

My kiddos call it Left-see.  I feel more full than I should right now.