Arugula Salad

Just a quick post to tell you about a new recipe up on everyday dish. It's a delicious arugula salad with a preserved lemon vinaigrette. Absolutely divine, and is from Chef Derek Hanson at Nutshell restaurant in Portland Oregon.

Preserved lemons are very easy to make (just do a Google search), but it is basically sliced lemons layered in a jar with Kosher salt, and left to sit (refrigerated) for about a month. I regularly have a jar going in my fridge, because they add a fabulous spark of flavor to recipes. You can buy preserved lemons too. You really should give it a try!

Strawberries And More

This is my season! I absolutely love fresh picked berries. With buckets in hand, I wait patiently to hear which farms are ready for U-Pick. Blueberries, strawberries, tay berries, raspberries, blackberries... I love them all!

Last week I got an invitation to get in on some strawberry picking. In the three years that I've been in the Pacific Northwest, I've yet to actually pick my own strawberries. I know. It's just that the strawberries here have a very, very short season. On top of that, they are so petite, juicy and fragile, that they don't export well. In other words, you either pick them quickly or buy them at the farmer's market for the couple of weeks that they're available, otherwise you're out of luck. Needless to say I was definitely up for strawberry picking!

So I dragged the entire family to pick and kick off the summer berry season. We managed to get about 23 pounds, some for jam and the rest to be bagged and frozen (for winter smoothies).

Before I go on though about the jam, I've got to tell you about another new ingredient that I've been playing around with. It's Instant Clear Jel. ICJ is basically an instant cornstarch. It dissolves instantly, so there's no need to cook your sauce. Case in point my new strawberry jam.

Jam making usually involves a lot of stove top cooking as well as tons of sugar. No cooking necessary for this jam. Commercial pectin needs lots of sugar to jell the pureed fruit, so you wind up using a ton of sugar, most often needing more sugar than actual fruit. Now with the instant starch, you can add as much or as little sugar as you like.


Apparently the Instant Clear Jel doesn't work well for traditional canning or processing, but is awesome for freezer jam. I have to say that this was some of the best strawberry jam I've had, although maybe the fresh-picked strawberries had something to do with it. I will share the recipe, but need to type it up first. Sometimes scribbling on a napkin isn't the best way to keep recipe notes.

I would definitely recommend looking into the Instant Clear Jel. You will see me calling for it in lots of upcoming recipes, and there's really no substitute for it. I do have a little to spare and can try and hook you up with some, although I don't have a large enough quantity to list it on our website (you can email me at blog@everydaydish.tv). Otherwise, you can check out King Arthur Flour or some other places on the internet. Apparently it's been available to the baking industry for something like 60 years, and was even voted the best pie thickener by Cook's Illustrated. It's certainly an uber-cool ingredient for vegan desserts.

Strawberry jam, straight from the freezer

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler!

This is a scrumptious dessert! Melisser (aka The Urban Housewife) was up in Portland recently, and shared her delicious recipe for strawberry rhubarb cobbler. So if you have some fresh strawberries and rhubarb in your fridge (or yard), and you're wondering what to make, this is it. Definitely give it a try while strawberries and rhubarb are still in season.

You can check out the video of Melisser making her fantabulous dessert on everydaydish. Thanks so much Melisser for sharing your awesome cobbler recipe!

My Sweet Vegan

If you happen to be in Portland, Oregon this weekend, you should know about a very cool event happening at Herbivore.

What: Meet Hannah Kaminsky, author of My Sweet Vegan, and enjoy a dessert sampling
When: Sunday, June 29th at noon
Where: Herbivore Clothing Store in the Vegan Mini Mall, 1211 SE Stark Street, Portland, OR 97214

Hannah is the 19-year-old author and photographer of the decadent dessert book My Sweet Vegan. Each recipe includes a full-color photo to tease bakers-to-be into the kitchen.

Written and photographed during her senior year of high school, Kaminsky's book debut is an impressive and sophisticated addition to any cook's book collection, regardless of their inclination to veganism or not. Those with dairy allergies, a chocolate addiction or a desire to eat less cholesterol will be thrilled to check it out.

Recipes include: Triple Threat Chocolate Cheese Cake, Orange Dreamsicle Snack Cake, Brilliant Berry Parfaits, Pumpkin Toffee Trifle and Award-Winning Mocha Devastation Cake.

Hannah is currently working on her second vegan dessert cookbook. If you don't know about Hannah's super-cool blog, check it out at http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/

Whipped Topping Update

Well here's the update. I have been working feverishly to develop an incredible whipped topping recipe to share. I had the highest of hopes that I would at least have something by today, but the recipe's just not excellent yet. I have a very high standard for my recipes and I wouldn't want to share one that wasn't absolutely delicious.

I will keep plugging away, so that I can share something delicious soon. Until then, if anyone is chomping at the bit to try testing out some recipes themselves, I will steer you in the right direction. The product that Bryanna and I have been playing with is called Versawhip 600K. It's made out of soy and is supposed to be a vegan product (although there are other Versawhips that are not even vegetarian). It's pretty pricey, but we found that L'Epecerie in New York has the best price on it. I just want to give you a heads-up that the product is very tricky to use and not so cut and dry. Although it will whip liquid into a topping, many of my test batches have been less than desirable, and certainly not what I would want to serve to guests. I can't even tell you how many test batches I have thrown away.

Now, for the rest of us who want a luscious whipped topping and don't mind waiting a bit, I will hopefully have a recipe in the near future to share. We all need a fluffy whipped topping for our summer berries, so I will keep plugging away.

Thanks for all of your marshmallow love!

Julie

Food For Thought

In the process of trying to perfect the whipped creme topping, I seemed to have stumbled upon the elusive marshmallow. It still needs a bit of work, but oh man, it's close!

The picture above is a moon pie with homemade graham crackers and a dark chocolate cloak. The picture below is a mound of marshmallow on top of a homemade graham cracker, lightly toasted with a mini kitchen torch.


I'd better get back to the kitchen. No sleep for the weary, here. And don't worry, these recipes will definitely be part of the e-book.
Julie

Pizza On The Barbie

If you're looking for something to make for dinner that's delicious and doesn't require the oven, check out the new BBQ'd pizza segment on Everyday Dish. This is a no-fail pizza dough, very simple to make (in a mixer or food processor or even by hand). You can also make the dough several days ahead, just make sure to let it rise for 1 hour, before placing in a large covered bucket/bowl or gallon zip-top bag and refrigerating. I wish I had a picture for you, but I didn't think of it until after we had gobbled up the entire pizza. Yeah, grilled pizza is that good!


I know that I can't end this post without mentioning the vegan whipped cream too. So here goes. The recipe still needs some additional work before I can share it. It's really important to me that my recipes are bullet proof and easy to make, which can take some doing. This is a tricky recipe. I also started thinking that since we're spending so much time on it, why not come up with other yummy sweet recipes too. Bryanna and I thought that it would be fun to put together a small e-book of summer desserts. Well actually two books. We're both going to do one so that everyone has LOTS of delicious desserts for summer. My goal is to do this as soon as possible, because the season is just about here, along with lots of glorious summer fruit. I will keep everyone posted. Promise!