Pesto Sauce

I have a pot of basil growing in my garden and last night, I had a craving for pesto sauce to go with some pasta. First I wondered how healthy it might be and then whether or not it was cost effective to make your own. The ingredients are as follows:

basil leaves
pine nuts (or walnuts) (so not good for people with a nut allergy)
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
garlic

I suppose it depends on whether or not you use these items in other recipes. This is more of a summer dish and so you could grow basil in a pot in the garden or in a window box. That would make it cost effective. I think that you would need the entire window box because it takes quite a lot of basil to make the sauce (1 cup of leaves for two to 3 servings).

Many people use olive oil already and if you use it sparingly it should last a long time. I have found that it is cheaper in cans (larger quantity, therefore cheaper per unit).

Pine nuts are not that expensive but I wonder what else you could use them in. Some accidentally got into my granola and they were fine but I think they may be quite oily. Perhaps they would be good in salads as well.

Garlic can easily be grown in the window box with the garlic. I say this but I have never tried to grow garlic. I shall look it up and report back! I don't think it is that expensive and many people already use it in other recipes.

Parmesan cheese can be expensive. It is cheaper if you buy it in blocks and not already grated!

So, here is my recipe. I halved the quantities in the Silver Palate Cookbook (p. 80, 1979) but still found that there was too much olive oil. I would suggest trying it with 1/4 cup of oil instead.

1C basil leaves, washed and patted dry
2 gook sized cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2C chopped walnuts or pine nuts
1/2C olive oil (I suggest 1/4 or a 1/3 C)
1/2C grated Parmesan cheese
(1T Romano cheese - I didn't use this cheese and it was fine)
salt and pepper to taste

I find this enough with a bowl of pasta to feed me in the evening but if you want to flesh out the meal, you could have a salad to start with.

My courgettes (zucchinis) are growing in leaps and bounds so I will be looking for recipes. Any suggestions?

Food from the highways and byways

Along my road we are anticipating a bumper crop of blackberries. They won't be ready for another 3 or 4 weeks but I am already planning jams, pies and ice cream. I have also discovered a number of apple trees at a near by round-about which could supplement my lone tree if it doesn't crop well this year. What a surprise to find some recipes in the Guardian today which should help me put some of these fruits away for the winter months.

Blackberry and apple leather

Makes 2 sheets of 24 x30cm

500g blackberries
500g peeled, cored and chopped
cooking apples (2-3 large apples)
juice of 1 lemon
150g honey

1. Preheat the oven to 60C. Line two baking sheets, measuring about 24 x 30cm, with baking parchment.

2. Put the blackberries, apples and lemon juice into a pan. Cook gently until soft and pulpy, about 20 minutes. Rub the mixture through a sieve or mouli into a bowl; you should have about 700g smooth fruit puree. Add honey and mix well.

3. Divide the puree between the two baking sheets. Spread it out lightly with the back of a spoon until the puree covers the sheets in a thin, even layer. Put the baking sheets in the oven and leave for 12-18 hours, until the fruit puree is completely dry and peels off the parchment easily.

4. Roll up the leather in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin. Use within 5 months.

Guardian, Perfectly Preserved, July 21, 2008

More on Bread: Easiest loaf in the world

Back in November the Guardian newspaper put out a booklet on bread and bread making. I found this:

The Half sponge Method

"The method uses what old bakers used to call the half sponge method, which is the easiest way to inject flavour into a simple loaf. All the water and half the flour are mixed together with the yeast and left until the mixture bubbles up and drops back down. It is the way bread used to be made in Britain before additives, and motor cars, were heard of. Home cooks long before me have enthused about the great flavour you get from dough left to mature for hours rather than minutes, and this recipe is in that vein.

White Farm House Tin Loaf

For the sponge

225 ml warm water (about 30 to 35 C)
1 t easy blend yeast
175 g strong white bread flour

For the Dough

175 g strong white bread flour
1 t fine salt
25g unsalted butter or lard

1. Scald a big mixing bowl with boiling water, they add the warm water and stir in the yeast.

2. Add the flour, stir it up well with a wooden spoon, cover the bowl and leave for 2-4 hours or even overnight. So, you can mix it in the morning before work, or late on a Friday night when the house is quiet.

3. When you are ready to make your dough, put the second batch of flour into a bowl and add the salt and rub the butter through until it vanishes, so there are no little lumps floating around.

4. Add the flour to the yeast, and mix the whole lot into a big, sticky lump of dough. Then scrape off the bits on your fingers, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave for 10 minutes.

5. Give the dough 3 light needs over 30 minutes, then cover and leave over a further 30 minutes.

6. Lightly flour the work surface, roll the dough into a rectangle 2cm thick that measures (from left to right) slightly less than the length of a 2 pound loaf tin.

7. Roll it up tightly and place seam-side down in the buttered and floured tin.

8. Cover the tin with a tea towel in a warm place until the dough has doubled in height. (about 1 1/2 hours)

9. Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan assisted), though better if you can get to 240C (220C fan-assisted).

10. Dust flour over the dough with a tea strainer, slash the loaf diagonally a few times with a sharp serrated knife and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200C (180C fan assisted) and bake for a further 20-25 minutes until dark, golden brown, remove from oven and tin and cool on a wire rack.

Guardian Guide to Baking, November 2007

Another Banana Recipe

Banana Smoothy

Into blender toss 2 small or 1 1/2 large bananas. Frozen bananas would work even better.

Spoon in a very large tablespoon or two of unsweetened frozen orange juice concentrate.

Pour in about 3 cups of cold low or non fat soy or cow milk.

Add 3 or 4 ice cubes.

Whiz on high till smooth and creamy. Enjoy...

Mary Jane

Cornell Recipe

The Cornell Bread recipe was developed by Cornell University in the 1930's to increase the nutritional value of bread. I used it years ago and have just remembered it again and thought that if one was using the least expensive flour to make bread, perhaps this recipe would allow for a more nutritional loaf. To each cup add one teaspoon each of soy flour, dried skimmed milk powder, and wheat germ.

Cornell Formula White Bread

3 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
2 T honey or sugar
3 t salt
2 T vegetable oil
6 C unbleached flour
1/2 C full-fat soy flour
3/4 C nonfat dry milk
3 T wheat germ

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in honey, salt, and oil.

2. Combine three cups of the unbleached flour with soy flour, dry mild, and wheat germ to yeast mixture. Add more flour, i/2 C at a time, to make dough stiff enough to knead.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board. Knead about ten minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding four as needed to keep the dough from sticking.

4. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to oil the top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until double; about one hour.

5. Punch dough down and turn only lightly oiled board. Divide into three equal portions and share each into a loaf. Place in greased 8 x 4 inch pans. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until double; about one hour.

6. Preheat over to 400F (200Celcius). Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan and cool on wire rach.

Makes 3 loaves

Things to do with over ripe bananas!

This recipe comes from the website Love Food Hate Waste. Though it really isn't 'ice cream' because there isn't any cream in it, it is a good frozen dessert.

1. Peel 8 ripe bananas, wrap in cling film and freeze overnight.
2. Allow to soften for 20 minutes then put into a food processor and whiz until thick and creamy. Serve immediately or refreeze.

You could also make banana muffins:

3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I use 4)

1/2 cup white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I don’t like them too sweet) (I used 3/4 of a cup and it was still a bit sweet)

1 slightly beaten egg

1/3 cup melted margarine or butter (I used sunflower oil)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine/butter/oil together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together, being careful not to over-stir! Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 F degrees *180 C) oven for approximately 20 minutes. Enjoy!

*These are much more flavourful the next day, and they freeze very nicely too!

*Also, if you like walnuts, you can throw a handful of those in there as well for some added flavour and texture, or try adding chocolate chips, or better yet, both.

If you need a metric recipe, here it is:

Banana Muffins - metric version

3 or 4 large bananas, mashed (the more bananas and the riper they are the moister, so I use 4)

125 g white sugar

1 slightly beaten egg

75 ml melted butter/margarine or sunflower oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

225g plain flour

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine/butter/oil together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together, being careful not to over-stir! Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 180 C oven for approximately 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Waste not want not!

This seems to be a big topic of interest in the UK at the moment. Even the Prime Minister has come out in the press and said that we have to stop wasting so much food. Of course it has been known for a while that people in the UK waste on average 1/3rd of the food that they buy. However, what the Prime Minister fails to point out is the fact that more that half of food wastage is from supermarkets and restaurants. How much easier for the Prime Minister to put this back onto the public. Let us stop wasting and the government doesn't need to do anything to deal with either the waste or the actual reasons for the increase in the cost of food. I'm not trying to justify waste. I just don't think that the problem of rising food prices can be solved by people not wasting and I wish politicians would stop trying to come up with simplistic solutions! (Sorry about that rant. I will now get down from my soap box!)

Today the Guardian published an article with 20 ways to reduce food wastage. There are some excellent ideas and good Internet links. It's worth a look!

Weights and Measures - Equivalents

My favourite book for finding out anything about cooking that I'm not sure of is Prue Leith's The Cook's Handbook. I don't think that it's in print at the moment but you can still find copies of it on Amazon. It is advertised as 'the cookbook that makes all you other cookbooks work' and it is to this book that I have gone to give you some equivalent measurements. Many of my recipes come from North America where they use volume rather than weight to measure dry ingredients, such as sugar and flour. It is easy for a European cook to use these recipes as long as they have a liquid measuring jug and remember that a North American cup is 8 oz (and not 10).

1 C = 8 fl. oz
1/4 C = 2 fl. oz
1/3 C = 3 fl. oz
1/2 C = 4 fl. oz
3/4 C = 6 fl. oz

With butter:
4 oz. = 1/2 C
8 oz. = 1 C


I also use abbreviations when I write out my recipes. They are as follows:

t = teaspoon
T = tablespoon
C = cup

Fresh Glazed Strawberry Pie

As mentioned in the previous post, we made strawberry pie for Canada Day. Here is the recipe:

1 baked pastry shell
1 quart (or more) fresh strawberries (4-8oz cups)
3 T(ablespoons) cornstarch (cornflour in UK)
1 c(up) sugar (white)
1 T butter
1/2 c water
1 T lemon juice
whipped cream

1. Arrange the best looking berries in the cooked pie shell.

2. Crush the remaining berries.

3. Combine the cornstarch (cornflour) and sugar. Stir in crushed berries and water.

4. Cook gently till thick and clear.

5. Remove from heat, add butter and lemon juice. Cool.

6. Pour onto pie. Top with whipped cream.

Chowder

I've just gotten back from 7 days at Othona at Burton Bradstock in Dorset, England, which is very much a centre of 'living more with less'! While I was there I racked my brain to come up with a meal that would reflect Canada when we celebrated the national day on July 1st. After too much time spent thinking about this, I decided to make a fish chowder and a strawberry pie. The chowder comes from the maritimes and the pie recipe is Mennonite, from Waterloo County in Ontario.

I have been having chowders quite a bit since I was reminded of them earlier in the year. The following is a recipe that we have enjoyed as a family for years but I've never really thought of it as money saving or nutritious. I suppose it is both. I served it with home made bread and the pie for dessert. However, it would be great to have a salad with it as well, or instead of the dessert. You could also use inexpensive fish from the freezer section. In this recipe I have used clams, which are a lot less expensive that I would have supposed.

New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients
1/4 cup of butter (2oz)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup flour (4 oz in a measuring cup)
1 litre of semi skimmed milk
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced and parboiled
1/4 t(easpoon) salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. thyme
2 - 5oz cans of baby clams (approx. 280 g.)

1. Melt butter. Sauté onion till translucent and fragrant. Don't brown. Add flour. cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

2. Whisk in milk. Add parboiled potatoes and seasonings. Bring to boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or till potatoes are tender.

3. Add clams and juice. Reheat at serving time. Garnish with croutons, bacon pieces and/or chopped green onions.

(Serves 6)

MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

Choose your own favorite chowder -- Manhattan, made with tomatoes or New England, made with milk.

1/4 c(up) minced onion (2 oz in a measuring cup
2 cans clams, drained (reserve liquor)
2 c diced pared potatoes (parboil)
1 c water
1/3 c diced celery
1 can (16 oz.) tomatoes
2 t snipped parsley
1 t salt
1/4 t thyme
1/8 t pepper

In large saucepan, cook and stir bacon and onion until bacon is crisp and onion is tender. Stir in reserved clam liquor, the potatoes, water and celery. Cook uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add clams, tomatoes and seasonings. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. 6 servings.