The Good Eggs: Recipes For the Holiday Brunch

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

The Good Eggs: Recipes For the Holiday Brunch

Now is the best time to stock up on fresh shell eggs. Beyond making colored hard-boiled eggs to decorate your spring table, give one of one the following egg-enriched recipes a try.

All three were finalists at the 45^th Annual Pillsbury Bake-off. We also would like to add to our recipe box any fabulous egg recipes that you may have to share.

Breakfast Crostatas

1 can Pillsbury refrigerated crusty French bread
1 1/2 teaspoons fried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 1/2 cup diced ham or Canadian bacon
1 1/2 cups shredded Gouda or Cheddar cheese
4 eggs
Dash of salt and black pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with no-stick cooking spray. Carefully unroll dough onto cookie sheet; cut in half lengthwise ad crosswise to from 4 squares. Sprinkle dough squares with basil and rosemary. Top dough squares evenly with ham and cheese. Make a small well in center of ham and cheese on each square.

To form crostatas, fold edges of dough up 1-inch over filling, making pleats and pressing dough firmly. Carefully crack open each egg and drop into well on each crostatas. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until egg whites and yolks are firm. Makes 4 servings.

See Related Article: Springtime Eggs: Hard-Boiled and Beyond

Smoky Onion-Custard Tarts

2 tablespoons butter
1 /2 cups coarsely chopped sweet onions
2 eggs
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 ounces (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
1 can Pillsbury Place ‘n Bake refrigerated crescent rounds
4 teaspoons dried chopped chives

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray bottoms of 8 regular-size muffin cups with no-stick cooking spray. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir onions in butter 5-6 minutes or until softened. In a medium-sized bowl, beat eggs, liquid smoke and nutmeg with a mixer. Beat in cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add onions and Parmesan. Remove crescent dough from can; separate into 8 rounds on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll each round to a 4 1/2-inch diameter. Press into muffin cup. Spoon about 1/3 cup mixture into each cup; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon chives.

Bakes 25-30 minutes or until center is set and edges are golden brown. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run knife around edge of each muffin cup to loosen tart; remove from pan. Serve warm. Makes 8 servings.

White Chocolate and Apple Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

1 can Pillsbury refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
1 bag (12-ounces) Hershey’s premier white baking chips
3 cups half and half or heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Garnish:

1/2 cup sweetened whipped cream
8 cinnamon sticks
8 fresh mint springs

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 8 (10-ounce) ramekins or custard cups with no-stick cooking spray and dust with flour. Place each roll, cinnamon topping up into a ramekin. Reserve icing. Place ramekins in a large baking pan with sides. Bake 11-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Reserve 1/3 cup white chips for topping. To make custard, in a 1-quart saucepan combine remaining baking chips, half and half, vanilla and salt. Cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently, or until mixture is smooth; then remove from heat and cool 5 minutes. Beat eggs into custard. Pour approximately 1/2 cup of custard mixture over baked roll. Let stand 10 minutes. Evenly top ramekins with remaining custard. Bake for 10 minutes more or until eggs are set.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir together reserved icing, diced apple, ground cinnamon, pecans and reserved white chips. Spoon about 1 1/4 cup of apple mixture over each roll. Bake an additional 18 minutes or until apples are tender. Remove form oven.

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Cheesecake Is a Great Springtime Dessert

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Cheesecake Is a Great Springtime Dessert

Johnna Stein and her family enjoy the green and spacious areas that are a part of Johns Creek. But it is quite different from the town that they lived in, in Holland for 10 years.

Stein’s husband Frank is Dutch and because of his job, early in their marriage they moved to Holland. They found the town where they lived a good, safe place to raise their then-small children. Riding bikes for much of their transportation, stopping by the local market for fresh ingredients and freshly baked bread was how they lived. Stein enjoyed being a part of that culture and cooking many of the local foods.

But as the Stein children moved toward teen age, and again as a result of Franks job, they decided it was time to move back to the United States and now here they are in Johns Creek. Stein comments that, “When I first came back I was overwhelmed by the size of the grocery stores and all of the choices that were available.”

Baking is something Stein has always loved to do. She said that she did most of her family’s baking from the age of 10. During a home economics class at school, Stein learned a cheesecake recipe, but it made three cheesecakes; a little more than one family needs.

She figured out how to pair down the large quantity recipe and tweeked it a little to come up with one of her family’s favorite desserts. Often her mom would serve pot roast for Sunday dinner and the family called that the “Sunday Special.” When Stein’s cheesecake was added to that menu they called it the “Super Sunday Special.” You might want to make a “Super Sunday Special” for your family.

Easy Cheesecake (Allow time for this cheesecake to cool before adding topping and baking a second time.)
Preheat oven to 325 F
ingredients:
cheesecake

2 8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese at room temperature (do not soften in microwave)
2 eggs
¾ cup finely granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
large (9 oz) ready-made graham cracker crust

topping

1 8 oz container of sour cream
2 Tbs sugar
½ tsp vanilla

prep:
Mix all ingredients for 5 minutes with mixer on medium speed.

Pour into ready made graham cracker crust.

Bake 40 min.

Allow to cool at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Mix all ingredients for 2 minutes at medium speed, then 2 minutes at high.

Spread on top of cheesecake.

Bake 8 minutes.

Cool one hour, then refrigerate.

Add any fruit toppings desired, but it’s yummy plain!

suppers and buffets with Bill & Sheila

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Making Fresh Ricotta Cheese

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Making Fresh Ricotta Cheese

March is a desert for whole foods lovers. The gardens are brown, the supermarkets are full of produce from Chile and Mexico, and even the Winter Farmers Markets around here have ended. Some of us compensate for the lack of freshness with stored vegetables from last season, like potatoes, carrots or parsnips.

On the other hand, with so few fresh ingredients to inspire our cooking, and all the distractions of spring yet to intrude, March may be the perfect month to experiment. As Cole Porter wrote,

Maybe you’ve been thinking about tweaking that spaghetti sauce recipe, or trying to find the time to try that cake recipe with Grand Marnier instead of vanilla, or that chicken-under-a-brick technique you saw in a glossy magazine. “Experiment and you’ll see.”

So I tried a recipe I’ve been meaning to try for years — fresh ricotta cheese. I don’t know why I waited so long because it’s delicious and very easy to make. “Ricotta” means reheated since traditionally the cheese is made from reheating the whey which is the by-product of making mozzarella.

Fresh cheese is the term used to distinguish it from an aged cheese, although aging even a fresh cheese will bring out a deeper flavor. A fresh ricotta is created by simply boiling a combination of milk and an acid like lemon juice or buttermilk; separate the curds from the whey and you’ve got ricotta. You can use whole milk, or part skim depending on the fat content you like. The longer you strain the curds the denser and drier the cheese will be.

Fresh ricotta is delicious on bread, in cannoli, lasagna, on veggies, or as part of an antipasto platter — wherever a creamy, cheesy addition would be good. You can flavor it with chocolate pieces, lemon/orange rind, sugar, even herbs. I’m going to try it again using raw milk (if I can source it) which has more depth of flavor than pasteurized. Try making it with sheep’s milk as they do in Sicily.

Or with buffalo milk as they do in Campania.

What you’ll need is:
alarge, heavy-bottomed pot
candy thermometer that clips onto the side of the pot
colander
skimmer
cheese cloth

INGREDIENTS:
8 cups whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized, pasteurized is okay, but preferably organic) or
7 cups whole milk plus 1 cup heavy cream (as Nancy Silverton does at Mozza)
2 cups low-fat (2 percent) commercial buttermilk (preferably organic)
salt

PROCEDURE:

Stack four large squares of cheese cloth in a colander leaving it hanging over the sides.

Combine milk and buttermilk in pot and attach thermometer.

Over high heat, stir almost constantly as small curds begin to form.

When mixture reaches 175-180 degrees and curds have separated from the liquid (whey) and are floating on top of liquid, turn off heat.

With slotted spoon or skimmer transfer the curds to the prepared colander.

Gather up the cheesecloth and release some liquid from under the cheesecloth, squeezing a little — don’t press or the ricotta will be dry.

Deposit ball of cheese into colander and let rest 20 minutes.

Then transfer it to a medium size bowl, sprinkle lightly with salt, mix gently, cover and chill until cold, about 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Cheese with Bill & Sheila

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Rocky Road

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Rocky Road

If I was going to be stranded on a desert island, and could take only one candy, Rocky Road would be my choice. I know that Rocky Road can mean different things to different people, depending on where you live, but for me it is white chunks of soft and spongy marshmallow together with crunchy peanuts, all enrobed in a silky smooth dark chocolate.

Rocky Road in its simplest form is folding store bought miniature marshmallows, along with chopped nuts (peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, or almonds), into melted chocolate. While this Rocky Road looks and tastes pretty good, to make it even better, David Lebovitz in his excellent book The Great Book of Chocolate has two suggestions. One is to temper the chocolate and the other is to use homemade marshmallows. So what is tempered chocolate and why do we need it for our Rocky Road? I will try to explain, not so much the science of it, but the process of making it.

First, when you buy good dark chocolate have you noticed that it is nice and shiny, dry to the touch, with a hard and brittle surface which “snaps” when you break it? This is what we call “tempered” chocolate and, unfortunately, once chocolate is melted it loses these characteristics. While it is still great tasting, and you can use this melted chocolate for making Rocky Road, as the chocolate dries it will no longer have that lovely shine and brittle dry texture. Instead it will look dull and, with time, gray streaks will appear (called bloom), and its texture will be a slightly soft with an almost greasy feeling.

So, if we want our Rocky Road to be shiny, dry to the touch, with a nice crunch when you bite into it, then we need to bring it back to its tempered state before adding the marshmallows and peanuts. Tempering involves a three step process, melting the chocolate, cooling the chocolate, and reheating the chocolate.

Before we start, you will need a good chocolate thermometer as a regular candy thermometer does not have a low enough temperature reading. Step One in tempering is to melt one pound (454 grams) of good quality, chopped semi sweet chocolate in a clean and dry heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, remove from heat. Step Two is to cool the chocolate down to a temperature of between 83 – 85 degrees F (28-29 degrees C). This is done by gradually stirring into the melted chocolate the remaining 1/4 pound (115 grams) of chopped chocolate, using a rubber spatula (do not use a wooden spoon or medal spoon). Be patient as this will take a little time. Stir the chocolate often and as it cools it will start to thicken and lighten in color. Step Three is that, once the chocolate reaches this 83 – 85 degrees F range, it must be reheated to between 88 – 91 degrees F (31 – 33 degrees C). Do this by placing the bowl of melted chocolate back over a saucepan of simmering water for only about 3-5 seconds. Then, remove from heat, stir well, and check the temperature. If it has not reached the correct temperature return to the heat for another 3-5 seconds. Keep doing this process until the chocolate reaches between 88 and 91 degrees F (no higher). It is important to only reheat the chocolate to this temperature, for if it goes any higher, you will need to start the whole “tempering” process again. The final step is to quickly fold the marshmallows and peanuts into the tempered chocolate and spread it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave at room temperature until hard (can also place in the refrigerator) and then cut into pieces. Rocky Road will keep at room temperature for about 10-14 days. Or, if you are like me and like your Rocky Road chilled, store in the refrigerator where it will keep for about a month.

Besides tempering the chocolate, the best Rocky Road uses homemade marshmallows. Now if you are pressed for time you can use store bought miniature marshmallows. However, homemade marshmallows (recipe here) are wonderfully sweet with the scent of vanilla and have a spongy airiness that seems to just dissolve in your mouth. They can be made up to two weeks in advance of making the Rocky Road. If you are like me, you will probably want to eat these marshmallows just as they are because they are that good. Luckily, we only need about half the pan of marshmallow to make Rocky Road, so the rest you can just enjoy.

Rocky Road: Have ready a parchment lined baking sheet.

In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt one pound (454 grams) of the chopped chocolate.
Once melted, remove chocolate from heat and add the remaining 4 ounces (115 grams) of chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Let the chocolate sit at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until a chocolate thermometer inserted at least 1/2 inch (1 cm) into the chocolate registers between 83 – 85 degrees F (28-29 degrees C). (At this point you will notice the melted chocolate has thickened and is lighter in color.)

Then, in three second intervals, place the bowl of melted chocolate back over the saucepan of simmering water. After three seconds remove the bowl from the saucepan, stir, and check the temperature of the chocolate. The thermometer needs to register between 88 to 91°F (31 – 33 degrees C) (no higher). Repeat the above step if needed until the proper temperature is reached. The chocolate is now tempered.

Add the marshmallows and peanuts to the tempered chocolate and stir just until they are completely coated with chocolate. Do this quickly and stir as little as possible as the chocolate sets very fast. Immediately spread the rocky road on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let the Rocky Road sit at room temperature until firm and then cut into pieces. Or, you can place the baking sheet in the refrigerator until the Rocky Road is firm.

Rocky Road can be stored at room temperature for about 10 – 14 days or it can be stored for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 1/4 pounds of Rocky Road. Preparation time 1 hour.

Note: You can make this recipe for Rocky Road without tempering the chocolate. Simply melt the full 1 1/4 pounds (570 grams) of semi sweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted, remove from heat and fold in the marshmallows and peanuts. Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the refrigerator until set. Cut into pieces and store the Rocky Road in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Chocolate with Bill & Sheila

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Potato salad comes in many styles

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Potato salad comes in many styles

All my friends know I take great pride in my potato salad. I go to great pains to pick the right size red potatoes, not too big and not too small. Once the potatoes are cooked in salted boiling water, they are cooled slightly, then peeled and cut into big chunks.

Mr Potatosalad.jpg Illustration by Kenneth Harrison/The Times-Picayune

My mayonnaise is homemade from my mother’s recipe that has a good squeeze of lemon juice in the mix. The hard-boiled eggs are coarsely grated, not chopped, and I rarely add what my husband calls “goggies” (onions, celery, sweet pickle relish). I also do not chill my potato salad before it’s served.

One of my neighbors claims that my potato salad is the only one to serve with her seafood gumbo, and I’m quite complimented. I serve it with chicken and andouille gumbo as well as wild duck and oyster gumbo — on the side, not in the gumbo. But, hey, to each his own.

With that said, I am open to other styles of potato salads, but I will say I do not like mashed potato salad. I like the potato salad made by the late Eula Mae Dore, who cooked for the McIlhenny’s at Avery Island for years. She showed me how to make a delicious vinegary mayonnaise that complemented her perfectly diced potatoes, chopped crispy bell peppers and sweet pickles.

I also am fond of a potato salad made by a friend who told me her secret was sprinkling in some of that powdered mix used to make ranch dressing. With assorted grilled sausages, I go for a German potato salad in which the onions have a little crunch, inspired by a James Beard recipe. Another warm potato salad I enjoy from time to time is saucisson chaud à la Lyonnaise, a popular dish in Lyon, France.

My husband, Rock, sometimes gets creative. He surprised me recently with a very flavorful version that had sliced shallots and radishes tossed with sour cream and fresh tarragon, which he served with thick, grilled pork chops that had been brined for several hours. Delish!

Warm weather has arrived, an ideal time to rustle up a potato salad for casual dinner parties.

My Potato Salad

Makes 10 to 12 servings

3 to 4 pounds medium-size red potatoes, scrubbed

8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and coarsely grated (on a box grater)

Salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender. Remove from the heat, drain and cool. Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks.

Alternately layer the potatoes and eggs in a large bowl, seasoning with salt, black pepper and salt on each layer. Add the mayonnaise (follows) and toss gently (so as not to break up the potatoes) to mix.

Quick Mayonnaise

Makes about 1-1/4 cups

1 large egg

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup vegetable oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of sugar

Hot sauce to taste

Blend the egg and the lemon juice in a food processor or blender for 15 seconds. With the processor or blender running, slowly pour oil through the feed tube. The mixture will thicken. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce and pulse to blend. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before using.

Note: Since the mayonnaise is made with a raw egg, it’s best to use within 24 hours.

Eula Mae’s Potato salad

Makes about 16 servings

5 pounds medium-size red potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters

1 tablespoon salt

1 dozen eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 cups Eula Mae’s mayonnaise (recipe follows)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon Tabasco hot pepper sauce

1/4 cup minced sweet pickles

1 rib celery, chopped

1/2 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped

Fill a large, deep pot two-thirds full with cold water and bring to a boil. Add the salt and potatoes. Cover over medium heat for 7 minutes, then add the eggs. Continue cooking until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove the eggs and drain the potatoes. Peel the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Mash the yolks in a large bowl and stir in the oil and vinegar. Add the mayonnaise, cayenne and Tabasco.

Dice the potatoes and add to the mayonnaise mixture along with the pickles, celery and bell pepper. Chop the egg whites and add to the salad. Stir to mix. Refrigerate 15 minutes before serving.

Eula Mae’s Homemade Mayonnaise

Makes about 2 cups

2 egg yolks, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco hot pepper sauce

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1-3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil

To make mayonnaise by hand, combine egg yolks, dry mustard, salt, Tabasco and vinegar in a bowl. Whisk to blend well. Add the oil, about 2 tablespoons at a time, whisking in between each addition, until thick and smooth.

To make it in a blender or food processor, process the egg yolks for about 30 seconds. Add the dry mustard, salt, Tabasco, and vinegar. Pulse several times to blend. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the oil until the mixture thickens.

German Potato Salad à la James Beard

Makes 6 to 8 servings

6 to 8 medium waxy potatoes

Salt

12 thick slices bacon

1 cup thinly sliced yellow or white onions

6 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water by 2 inches and add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium, and gently boil until potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels and set the skillet with the fat aside. Crumble the bacon into large pieces.

Drain the potatoes and peel while still warm. Cut into 1-inch cubes. Put the potatoes into a large warm serving bowl and add the bacon and onions. Return the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Pour the hot dressing over the potato mixture and toss well. Garnish with the parsley and serve warm.

Saucisson Chaud à la Lyonnaise

Makes 6 servings

1 pound fresh pork sausage

3 pounds boiling potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Boiling salted water

1/4 cup chicken stock or broth

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons minced green onions (green and white parts)

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Prick the sausage randomly with the tip of a sharp knife in 5 or 6 places to prevent the skin from bursting and to release the fat as it cooks. Lay the sausage in a large skillet and add enough tap water to cover it completely. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Transfer the sausage to paper towels to drain and cool. Split open the skin and peel it off.

While the sausage is cooking, cook the potato slices in boiling salted water in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until just tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain in a colander and then transfer the potatoes to a large salad bowl.

Heat the chicken stock and pour it over the warm potatoes, tossing gently once or twice. Let stand for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, salt and dry mustard together. Pour over the potatoes and toss gently again to coat evenly. Let stand for 5 minutes more, then pour in the olive oil, add the green onions and parsley and toss gently again.

Serve with the sausage.

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Adapting to allergies: Schools work with food-sensitive kids

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Adapting to allergies: Schools work with food-sensitive kids

Vance Elementary School and Asheville City Preschool are peanut-free, Palien said. At Asheville Middle School, peanut products may be allowed on field trips or during summer school, she said.

It’s easier to serve students who are lactose intolerant because those children can simply avoid drinking milk and can bring their lunch on days when pizza or macaroni and cheese are offered. “Usually lactose-intolerant kids can tolerate a little bit of milk products,” Palien added.

Parents of food allergies children can check the Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools websites each week to find out if they should pack their child’s lunch to avoid a meal that offers something that isn’t good for the student.

The Buncombe County allergies system has seen an increase in celiac disease, which requires a gluten-free diet, Hamrick said. On days in which hamburgers are served, cafeteria managers may have to send someone to go to the grocery store for gluten-free buns (which are much more common than they were just a couple of years ago). The school system bears the cost of the additional expense, she said.

“School food, there is a lot of wheat and gluten in a lot of our food,” she said. “After we meet with a student and/or their parents, we get a menu together and we look at when we’re having the offending foods, so that we can go to the supermarket to supplement those meals. We want them to have the same kinds of food as other kids.”

Those meetings are especially important if the child needs texture modification to the food she or he eats, Hamrick said. Cafeteria managers need to know the extent the modification needs to be done.

“Soy, milk and wheat — you really have to sit down and plan out what you’re going to substitute because a lot of our foods contain a lot of those things, just like the foods we have at home,” Hamrick said.

Isaac Dickson has classrooms that are nut-free, said Silverman, who works in the after-school program there and whose 5-year-old daughter attends the school. Parents with nut-sensitive children can request their children be placed in those rooms, she said. The after-school program is nut-free.

“We have children with other food allergies, and we watch what snacks we serve,” she said. The program serves healthy snacks — and fruit often — and makes sure gluten- and dairy-sensitive kids have a good substitute, such as a puffed rice snack bar.

“You just have to be a label reader,” Silverman said. “And serve more whole foods like kale chips or edamame. I served kale chips last week, and I was sure they would hate them. Well, we ran out. They love edmame — they eat the soy beans right out of the pod.”

Food Allergies with Bill & Sheila
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A wine fermenter Humpty Dumpty would love

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

By MICHELLE LOCKE

A wine fermenter Humpty Dumpty would love

Do you like eggs with wine? How about wine IN eggs?

Sounds a bit dicey, but it’s been happening more lately as winemakers embrace concrete egg-shaped fermenters as a way to add unique flavors to their wines.

The eggs, which can be 6 feet tall or higher, have a cuteness factor not usually to be found in farming machinery. In fact, the Domaine Carneros winery in the Napa Valley was inspired to get in the seasonal spirit and had their 2,000-pound egg decorated for Easter complete with a frieze of white bunnies.

Despite appearances, there’s a serious side to this fresh approach. And it all starts with permeability.

Stainless steel tanks, which allow no oxygen in, create bright, sharp flavors. Wooden barrels, which are quite porous, create a rounder taste with flavors from the oak. The concrete egg fermenters, which fall somewhere between stainless steel and wooden barrels in permeability, offer a third option, says Domaine Carneros winemaker TJ Evans.

“What we get is a kind of an enhanced minerality and a richer texture, but without the oak,” he says. “It’s a nice little tool that fills in the niche.”

Concrete fermenting tanks aren’t new. Huge, square ones are to be found in wineries around the world. But they fell out of favor in California with the push to modernize during the `70s and the move to stainless steel tanks.

But concrete has quietly been making a comeback.

The Domaine Carneros fermenter, which has walls about 3 inches thick and holds about three barrels worth of wine, or 180 gallons, comes from a French manufacturer, Nomblot, which has been making egg-shaped fermenters for more than a decade.

About four years ago, a U.S. producer, Sonoma Cast Stone Corp., based in Petaluma, also cracked the market.

The company has been making modular concrete fermenting tanks for some time and company president Steve Rosenblatt, who grows grapes himself, decided to try the different shape after his own winemaker asked him about it. In addition to the oxygen factor, the tapered egg shape condenses the gases given off during fermentation, keeping the wine rolling, which is believed to be beneficial, he says.

Rosenblatt, who can’t help but think of the fermenters in a dairy context, says he sold a dozen his first year and three dozen last year.

Getting the egg shape right is a technical challenge, but there’s no denying it amps up the decorative factor. Sonoma Cast Stone, which makes some large eggs in black or dark brown, which give off a fun, sci-fi aura, was recently commissioned to make two concrete eggs, one red, one yellow, for wineries that want to show off their unique tanks.

Another Napa Valley winery using the egg-shaped fermenters is CADE. When the winery bought the eggs, also from Nomblot, they weren’t sure what to expect, says winemaker Tony Biaggi. But “all fears were put to rest when we tasted the first wines fermented in them.”

The egg-fermenters are used to add nuance to CADE sauvignon blanc. Though the egg-fermented wine amounts to only 6 percent of the final blend, it adds interesting layers, says Biaggi. “The wines fermented in concrete eggs seem to be alive and full of energy.”

Domaine Carneros is best known as a producer of well-regarded sparkling wine, but the egg fermenter is being used to make a fairly unique still wine, pinot clair, which is a white wine made from the red-skinned grape pinot noir. Color comes from skin contact with the juice, so this wine is kept clear by gently pressing the juice out of the grapes and putting the juice straight into the egg.

Giving an Easter spin to the egg was something that Eileen Crane, founding winemaker and president of Domaine Carneros, thought would be a lighthearted touch.

“It’s the season,” she says. “It just seemed like a fun thing to do.”

——

Online:

Domaine Carneros: http://www.domainecarneros.com

Nomblot: http://www.cuves-a-vin.com/us/index.html

Sonoma Cast Stone: http://www.concretewinetanks.com

CADE: http://www.cadewinery.com

Bill & Sheila’s Wine

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Grow your own mushrooms

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Grow your own mushrooms

A desire to eat more natural, locally grown food coupled with the economic downturn has fueled the boom in gardening with edible plants.

Sales of vegetable starter plants, fruit trees, berries and herbs now total about $3 billion a year, a 20 percent increase over what consumers spent in 2008.

While there is much satisfaction in raising visually pleasing plants, many gardeners find it even more rewarding to see their own homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers and other veggies on their plates.

Like other moderately successful vegetable gardeners, I’m back at it this year in a plot double the size of last year’s.

My former 4-by-4-foot test plot is now 4 by 8 feet, which is tiny by all reasonable standards, but I like to think of it as compact and manageable.

There’s nothing more discouraging to new vegetable gardeners than seeing a big plot overtaken by weeds in August when it is too hot and humid to do much about it.

So a small plot covered with thick layers of newspaper and mulch as weed barriers works best for me.

But now I’m planning a new gardening adventure, along with others who attended a program on growing mushrooms last week at the Memphis Botanic Garden.

Horticulturist Chris Cosby showed a noontime audience how easy it can be to grow the friendly fungi in shrub beds, forested areas or other shady spots.

If you’ve seen wild mushrooms pop up in your beds and lawn, you know conditions are favorable. We are rightly hesitant about eating uninvited mushrooms because some are poisonous and many are edible but not particularly tasty.

Cosby recommends growing wine cap mushrooms, which are also known as garden giants or, botanically, as stropharia.

“It’s the easiest, most delicious mushroom I’ve grown,” he said.

You can sauté, grill or braise wine caps, which have a meaty texture similar to portobellos. They’re best when they are relatively small with tight gills, (the plate-like structures under the caps).

You don’t need a log or a special kit to grow them.

All you need is some wood chips and commercially produced spawn, the mycelium of the mushrooms inoculated onto sawdust or another substrate.

The mycelium is a web of white filamentous growths, similar to fine root hairs, found in the soil wherever mushrooms appear.

Cosby buys his spawn through Field and Forest Products (fieldforest.net) or (800) 792-6220.

Five pounds of spawn, which costs about $23 plus shipping, is enough to cover 50 square feet. It may take three to six weeks to receive your order because the spawn will be grown especially for you.

It’s important, Cosby said, to remove leaves, debris and any turf or weeds from the site so the spawn has direct contact with the soil. You don’t have to till or rake the soil to loosen it.

Sprinkle about ¼ cup of spawn over each square foot of soil surface.

Then cover with about an inch of sawdust, if you have it, and then 2 to 4 inches of wood chips. Fresh, not aged, hardwood chips are best. Try to find some with particles of diverse size.

If the chips and soil are dry, moisten well before spreading, and then make sure the chips get about an inch of moisture per week for the first few weeks.

An added bonus: The mushrooms decompose the wood chips and twigs, enriching the soil.

“Mushrooms turn the wood chips into the humus everyone wants for their garden,” Cosby said.

Most years, he gets three to five fruitings of mushrooms. The first usually occurs in June. When the caps emerge, they look like newly dug red potatoes.

Cosby harvests the largest caps first. When wine caps get too big, they tend to dry out and be less tasty.

Cap sizes range from 2 to 10 inches across and from wine red to brown. The stalks are white.

If you cover the bed with more wood chips every fall and spring, you can keep the caps coming for years without adding extra spawn.

“Think of the forest floor,” Cosby said, in giving the mushrooms what they need to thrive. The wood chips are food for them. Once they are used up and completely decomposed, the mushrooms need a new supply.

After attending Cosby’s program, Master Gardener Debbie LaChapelle, is planning to grow some wine caps.

“I think it would be really cool to grow mushrooms you know you can eat,” she said. “I have a shady spot where nothing is growing, so I’m going to try it there.”

Ann Frogge, another master gardener at the meeting, has already ordered the spawn for wine caps.

A few weeks ago she also had shiitake mushroom spawn inoculated into eight logs gleaned from the removal of a sweet gum tree earlier this spring. Because the spawn need to be kept moist, she has them in a shady place that gets irrigation.

It may take two years for the inoculated logs to produce mushrooms, but she is willing to wait.

“I just love mushrooms, and when I was a child (in Middle Tennessee), we used to hunt for morels,” she said. “I just think it will be neat to have some homegrown mushrooms.”

Diane Meucci, co-owner of Gardens Oy Vey, has been growing shiitakes on logs for the past 20 years. Some logs produce mushrooms for 10 years.

She believes in integrating edible plants into the landscape and thinks mushrooms, like wine caps and others, add to the beauty of hydrangeas and other shrubs.

Local farmers are also offering locally grown mushrooms, mostly shiitakes. They include Whitton Farms in Tyronza, Ark., and Dickey Farms Heirlooms Mushrooms in Potts Camp, Miss.

More about wood chips

At his mushroom program, Chris Cosby dispelled the common gardening adage that using fresh wood chips as mulch ties up nitrogen in the soil, causing yellowing and stress to plants.

As the chips begin to decompose, nitrogen availability may be compromised on the surface of the soil when fresh wood chips are present.

But it does not adversely affect the ability of established plants with extensive deep roots to use nitrogen below the surface, Cosby said.

Fresh wood chips are not recommended as a mulch on beds planted with young annuals and vegetables that have shallow roots with only a short time to get established.

But they are fine under trees and well-established shrubs.

For details on research concerning the use of fresh wood chips go to wsu.edu, the website of Washington State University.

In the “People” search box on the right, type in “Chalker,” for extension horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott.

Look for the .pdf listing titled “Wood Chips.” You will see a detailed but readable article summarizing the latest research concerning the use of fresh wood chips in gardens.

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To Cut Costs, Greeks Line Up for Potatoes

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

To Cut Costs, Greeks Line Up for Potatoes

Over the course of five days in mid-March, more than 2,500 people visited a government building in Dafni to order cheap potatoes. Young couples, pensioners, and families showed officials identification proving they lived in the Athens suburb and handed over cash in return for a receipt entitling them to up to two 20-kilo sacks of spuds. On March 17 farmers arrived with three truckloads of red mesh bags filled with potatoes and dispersed 75 tons to the buyers, some of whom arrived with carts. “Greeks find themselves in a situation where we don’t have enough to survive,” Vasiliki Kladia said after placing her order. Kladia has three children and has been unemployed for four years. “There are no jobs anywhere. Wages and pensions are very low, and everyone is in debt,” she said.

The potato movement, as it has come to be called, is a bit of a spontaneous experiment. The idea is to link consumers with farmers, who sell the potatoes for an average of about 33 euro cents (44¢) a kilo. That’s half the price charged at supermarkets and grocers, which are cut out of the picture. There have been potato sales in dozens of communities, as local governments and in some cases students and other volunteers hear about them and contact the Agricultural Association of Nevrokopi, a farmers group in northern Greece where the movement started, clamoring to participate. “People can’t hold out for very long, especially when new austerity measures now are implemented,” says Michalis Stavrianoudakis, mayor of Dafni, which has a population of 35,000. “The success of the program has led to people asking if we can do the same for olive oil and even for lamb, which is traditionally eaten at Easter.”

potatoes

The potato is a relatively recent arrival to Greece. It was introduced in the 1830s by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the country’s first head of state, to bolster the nutrition of the poor, says Sakis Gekas, assistant professor of modern Greek history at York University in Toronto. Legend has it that Kapodistrias ordered the first delivery on Greek soil to be kept under guard to pique the interest of the locals and persuade them to add it to their diet as the country recovered from the war of independence from the Turks.

As Greece struggles through its fifth year of recession, little encouragement is needed now. “The potato movement has received some momentum, reflecting the needs of people not just to circumvent oligopolies and markups from middlemen and large supermarkets but also to save money in these difficult times,” Gekas says. The country completed the biggest-ever debt swap with bondholders in early March; to get the European bailout, it has implemented more than €33 billion worth of tax increases and spending cuts over the past two years. The government cut pensions and salaries for state workers 12 percent this year and reduced the minimum wage 22 percent, to €683 a month. The gross domestic product shrank 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 from the year before, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority. Unemployment in December rose to a record 21 percent and hit 51 percent for young Greeks. Police reported on March 11 that robberies and thefts rose 10 percent in 2011, with many of the incidents involving small amounts of money or property. The police refer to them as crimes of “emergency or survival.”

“The majority of the people haven’t got the money to buy whatever they need because they keep cutting pensions, wages, everything,” says Leonidis Gialamas, a pensioner in Dafni. He applied for potatoes because prices for so many goods are up, and it made sense to save wherever he could. “Nobody knows what will happen,” he says.

In Peristeri, north of Athens, the scene was chaotic as hundreds queued up for potatoes in the parking lot of an exhibition hall on March 22. “The economy has fallen, and with all of this people are having a difficult time,” says Anastasia Alexandropoulos, a retired bank employee whose pension is €500 a month. “Now they are going to lower wages and pensions again, so we’re looking for some alternatives to get by.” She spent €9 on 30 kilos of potatoes for her family of five.

Dimitris Beretis, who says his pension has been cut “a lot,” also bought 30 kilos of potatoes in Peristeri. “For me, it’s economical, it helps me. Otherwise I would go and get potatoes for 80 cents a kilo,” he says. “This needs to continue to help people who are suffering.”

A poll conducted by Pulse RC, published on March 15 in the Pontiki newspaper, found that 88 percent of Greeks believe their economic situation has worsened in the past two years. Some professors watching the reactions to the cutbacks say many Greeks are resigned. “If they think rationally, they do prefer a lowering of their living standards than the other options, which would be Greece sliding into a Third World country situation,” says Dimitris Sotiropoulos, a political science professor at the University of Athens.

The bottom line: With pensions and state salaries down 12 percent, and the minimum wage 22 percent lower, Greeks are finding novel ways to save money.

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Scalloped Potatoes Great Side Dish For Easter Dinner

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bilrob

Scalloped Potatoes Great Side Dish For Easter Dinner

Time sure does fly! Next weekend our family will be celebrating Easter and a few birthdays, too. Hard to believe that we’re almost in April, but here we are, ready or not.

To help you get ready, I thought it would be fun to try a new scalloped potato dish to go along with ham that so many will be cooking next weekend to celebrate.

For those of you not celebrating, these scalloped potatoes are a great accompaniment to steak, lamb, chicken or fish. It would even be a good alternative to have as a side dish to a barbecue or to bring to a potluck.

I researched a lot of different recipes and come called for lots of cheeses. While they sounded fantastic, by the time you buy three or four different cheeses, the recipe sure does become expensive. Instead, I opted for this one, containing one cheese and a few more ingredients.

Feel free to add some grated or thinly sliced onion for some extra flavor or kick up the garlic flavor a few notches by adding more, depending on your taste. The nutmeg is the perfect compliment to the creamy white sauce and a little goes a long way here. I think the key here is to slice your potatoes uniformly so that they cook evenly.

Finally, 5 minutes under the broiler after adding on some extra cheese at the end will take this dish to the next level!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 sprig fresh thyme

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Butter

2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for broiling

Scalloped Potato Grautin

Source: Tyler Florence Foodnetwork.com

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

In a saucepan, heat up the cream with a sprig of thyme, chopped garlic and nutmeg.

While cream is heating up, butter a casserole dish. Place a layer of potato in an overlapping pattern and season with salt and pepper. Remove cream from heat, then pour a little over the potatoes. Top with some grated Parmesan. Make 2 more layers. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Sprinkle some more Parmesan and broil until cheese browns, about 5 minutes.

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