Home made Pesto with Coconut Oil, The Best Yet

 Harvesting basil, pattypan squash, tomatos and leeks.

The basil in our garden is at the use it or lose it stage.  Even though it is a very busy day I decided to enlist the help of one of the children to pick the leaves off the stems.  Great help indeed.

Many of you who know me personally are aware of my recent understanding of the amazing benefits of coconut oil because of the book I read by Bruce Fife called, "Coconut Oil Miracle."  If you are trying to take good care of your health and wellness naturally, I recommend this book.

So I didn't use a recipe this time just went from memory of times I've made it before.  Taste tested and added more of this and that until I came up with a flavor I liked.  Also, I'm usually trying to cut down on garlic because otherwise the family won't eat it...just me and then they can't stand to be near me.

8 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
4 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Combine ingredients in a food processor until creamy textured.  Freeze in Demarle Small Savarin tray, then bag in a zipper bag.

 Reflecting the blue sky from the window.  The Demarle savarin tray is black.

Makes 20 Small Savarin squares.

I can't remember when I've tasted a better batch of pesto but then I've never made it with coconut oil before so I suppose that is the secret ingredient that isn't so secret anymore.

Here it is after it is frozen:

Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

Oh just you wait.  Most of the day today was taken up with making this recipe and it was the best dessert EVER.  Of course that included three trips to the store to get the best chocolate available in town at the Huckleberries Health Food Market. It is shocking to spend $25.00 on chocolate and that did not include the other ingredients such as a pound of butter, a pint of cream plus other ingredients.  You see as I went along I kept thinking of ways to make this better and better.  It was amazing. 

 Later I went back to the store for three more packages to make the ganache.

Meanwhile, here's the recipe before the changes:

Found online and at the end are a few notes I made as the day went along:

From the menu of . . . McCormick and Schmick
190 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta
404-521-1236

600 Ashwood Parkway, Altanta
770-399-9900

Q: I have recently eaten at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant. It has the most wonderful dessert. If at all possible, I would like to get the recipe for that dessert. It's called Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cake With Raspberry Sauce.
- Jerrie Wright, Atlanta

A: Rex Horrell, executive chef at the restaurant at the CNN Center location, was happy to share the recipe for this dense, flourless chocolate cake. He recommends using very high-quality chocolate for best results.

Hands on time: 25 minutes (Ha!  All day is more like it) Total time: 1 hour and 25 minutes  Serves: 12 (Actually 24)

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 sticks) butter
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 eggs
6 egg yolks  Yes folks that IS 11 eggs in all.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees on a convection setting. In a saucepan, heat butter, milk and sugar to scalding, stirring frequently. Make sure butter is melted. Remove from heat and add chocolate, stirring until chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a bowl, whisk eggs and yolks together. Gradually whisk eggs into chocolate mixture, beating until completely combined.  (I skipped this next paragraph and used the Demarle Bouquet Tray 3 times).
Line an 8-by-2 1/2-inch springform pan with buttered parchment paper, making sure the paper circle comes up 1/2 inch on the side of the pan to seal. Pour batter into the pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes. The sides will be puffy and slightly cracked. The center will be soupy but will set as it chills. Refrigerate overnight. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and release springform.

Chef Horrell bakes the cake in a convection oven. If using a conventional oven, bake at 350 degrees and add 20 to 30 minutes to the cooking time. The cake is served with a sweetened raspberry sauce

 Using great ingredients

 Including fresh eggs from our neighbor's chickens:

Today's notes:

Recipe and notes were found online and here are a few notes I made as the day went along:

Made 9-8-14 for Derrick and Kate and Ermyl.  Used Theo Chocolate because Kate cannot have Soy Lecithin.  Ermyl needs to do gluten free.  Dave needs raw dairy rather than homogenized so how do you make a high end chocolate dessert to suit all three of their diet restrictions?  Well thank goodness they can all eat eggs.  Whew!

Fill the shapes to the top…these don’t puff up. 

 Convection oven at 325 degrees for 18 minutes in Demarle bouquet tray.  Then cool for an hour before removing from tray.  Top with Ganache and whipping cream.  Then fresh Ogalala strawberries from the garden.

Ganache recipe:

3 - 3.5 ounce bars Theo's Dark Chocolate 70%

1/2 cup  plus 2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream (no substitutes please)

Combine in a double boiler over hot water and heat until chocolate is melted.  Place a dollop in the center of each bouquet muffin.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut

My husband pulled a package of frozen halibut from the freezer today for lunch. My parents go to Alaska and fish then share with us.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  This halibut was from this year's trip.

 This recipe was in a cookbook I've had for several years.  Though I had never tried this halibut recipe I had some confidence it would be great because I had made the beurre blanc sauce a few times and that recipe alone was worth the purchase of the cookbook. 

Beurre Blanc Sauce before the shallots were strained out.

Furthermore, for the first time in my life I had a good supply of macadamia nuts.  It was SOOOO good and a must try recipe especially for those of you who have Alaska halibut in your freezers...you know who you are.

MACADAMIA CRUSTED HALIBUT
McCormick and Schmick's Recipe

Serves 2

Fish and Crust
2 (5-6 oz.) fresh halibut fillets  (I had enough coating for all seven fillets in the package)
1 cup macadamia nuts (chopped small in a mini food processor)
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs (Kikkoman brand made from whole wheat bread.  This brand had the least additives)
1 tablespoon ground pepper (I got tired of grinding so used pre-ground for about half of this)
1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used fresh ground Montana Wheat Prairie Gold)
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used Avocado Oil this time)
1/2 cup Beurre Blanc Lemon sauce (see recipe below)  (I did not use lemon this time)
1/4 cup Major Grey's chutney



Roast the macadamia nuts in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. (My macadamia nuts were pre-roasted so I skipped this step). Combine the nuts and Panko breadcrumbs in a food processor (the mixture should be a little coarse), and place on a large plate or in a pie pan.

Season the flour with the salt and pepper, and place on a second plate.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a tablespoon of water or milk. I used a little 55% cream instead of milk.

Dredge the halibut fillets in the flour, then the eggs and then the nuts. Pat the fillets to ensure the nut mixture sticks to the fish.

Pan fry the fillets 3 to 4 minutes per side in oil over medium high heat. Remove the fillets and allow them to drain briefly on paper towels. Combine the butter sauce and the chutney and pour over the halibut.

Beurre Blanc Sauce and Chutney combined:

Beurre Blanc Sauce 
6 ounces white wine (I used Vermouth this time)
3 ounces white wine vinegar (I used Champagne Wine Vinegar this time)
3 whole black peppercorns
1 shallot, quartered
1 cup heavy cream (I had 55% cream from a local dairy)
9 ounces cold butter, cut into pieces

Combine wine, vinegar, peppercorns and shallot in a non corrosive saucepan. Reduce until the mixture is just 1 to 2 tablespoons and has a consistency of syrup. Add the cream and reduce again until the mixture is 3 to 4 tablespoons and very syrupy. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in butter, about 2 ounces at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each piece to melt in before adding more. If the mixture cools too much, the butter will not melt completely and you will need to reheat it slightly.

To make lemon butter sauce, replace the vinegar with 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

I made this again June 16th, 2017 because my friend brought some macadamia nuts from Hawaii.  It was so good again.  This was the last of the halibut brought to us from my parents who fished in Ketchikan, Alaska.

 

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: