Peach Me - I'm Dreaming!

Peach Conserve – (recipe adapted from) Pickles and Preserves, Pg. 223 – Lois J. Himmelman (Mrs. Thomas)

It’s peach season!  This one’s been on our to do list for a while – with visions of peaches dancing in our heads, we decided to give it a go.  Conserve is basically a type if Jam that is processed by steeping fruit in sugar just long enough to extract the flavor from the fruit and for the sugar to penetrate.   Honestly with so many different types of preserves, jams, spreads, jellies, conserves – someone needs to write Jam making for dummies.  We don’t necessarily understand the difference between all the different types of preserves, but one thing we do know is that this shiz is good.

This recipe is made with a mixture of peaches and oranges, and does not use any pectin for thickening.  Although there is a subtle citrusy flavor, the peaches are the true star of this conserve.  This recipe thickens naturally through the cooking process and produces a beautiful golden coloured spread, full of peachy-keen goodness.  One of our Facebook Page followers suggested adding candied ginger – something we’ll definitely try next time.

Gooseberrylicious

Spiced Gooseberries - (recipe adapted from) Pickles and Preserves, Pg. 325 - Evelyn V. Zinck (Mrs. B.E.)

Who knew that Nova Scotia was the home of the succulent, somewhat tart and very interesting gooseberry?  Oh, you did?  Well – this is the first WE’VE heard of it.  Better late than never as they say. Prior to our DO adventure, we had merely sipped the sweet gooseberry nectar tucked away in some delicious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and from time to time lingered over the imported yellow domestic kiwi/grape cross breed at Sweet Basil or Saege as a dessert garnish.  Our blogging journey has led us to 2 wonderful facts - A) Nova Scotia's gooseberries are just as lovely as their New Zealand 3rd cousin on their father's side; and B) The possibilities are endless!

We started with a simple jam, thanks to Mister Bernardin's wise bible of all things canning. Although nice - it didn't blow our socks off and Gaylin Westin likely won't be launching a line President's Choice Gooseberry Jam anytime soon.

But...thank goodness we didn't stop there.  We then made a mini batch of the DO's spiced gooseberries, thanks to Peties’ sensational co-worker (a.k.a. Lobster Lady) who hooked us up with a bounty of gooseberries.  It was love at first taste!  Although described as “tasty with roast beef or cold cuts” in the Dutch Oven Cookbook – spiced gooseberries, which offers a sweet-tart flavor, infused with aromatics spices such as cinnamon and cloves – would be the perfect accompaniment to any meats of fish.

We were so blown away that we searched high and low for a new stash of this not-so-exotic-anymore berry, to make a full batch.  Another little known fact - NS gooseberries are very, very hard to find!  17 phone calls later, a trip to Halifax’s 2 farmers markets, and a response to a kijiji ad - we were back in business.  As an aside – if you have a friend, co-worker, temperamental neighbor, or old high school acquaintance that you haven’t seen in 20 years and with whom you perhaps had a mere stormy friendship at best – put your differences aside and become their new best friend.  Buy them lunch.  Send random Edible Arrangements to them.  Mow their lawn.  If it means they’ll pay you back in their private reserve of gooseberries – DO IT!  That’s all we’ll say on the subject.

Never in our wildest dreams did we think that anything could come close to our coveted rhubarb relish.  Well, Bing Bong!  Move Over Rhubarb.  Hello spiced gooseberries.  It was, well - gooseberryliscious.

Sianara applesauce; 'forget about it' mint jelly; we like ya cranberry, but you should know…we’ve been seeing another condiment.  And his name is Spiced Gooseberry!

Ingredients:

4 quarts gooseberries (washed and stemmed)

7 cups sugar

2 cups vinegar (scant)

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Cloves

1 Tbsp All Spice

Directions:

Place ingredients in large pot.  Mix well and boil over medium heat until thickened – about 1-1.5 hours.  Stir frequently.  Pour into sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes.

Thumbs Up!

Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies! - Dutch Oven Detour (recipes that should have been in the Dutch Oven)

They go by many names – Jam Drops, Thimble Cookies, Bachelor Buttons - but we just call’em Thumbprints!  Peter remembers his Mom making these cookies growing up – the crispy sugar coated exterior, moist and chewy on the inside and a dollop of fresh homemade preserves in the centre.

We’ve been busy the season preparing lots of homemade preserves.  How can you possibly add more carbs to an already sugar laden jam you ask? – well put it on sugar laden cookie of course.   No worries, with the humidity we’ve been having here lately, you don’t even have to move to sweat off the calories.

Although this isn’t a Dutch oven recipe, it’s a great treat to showcase some of our delectable Dutch Oven preserves.

Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

2 Cups flour

½ Cup brown sugar

1 Cup butter

3 egg yolks

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

¼ Cup white sugar (for rolling cookies)

Jam for filling centres

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   

In mixer, cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks, vanilla and salt.  Mix well.  Gradually add flour until blended.  

Using a Tbsp size cookie scoop – scoop dough into evenly sized portions and place onto cookie sheet.   

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll balls in sugar and using the back of tsp size measuring spoon, make an indentation in the centre of each ball.  Partially bake cookies for 8 minutes.  Remove cookies from oven.   

Using a small spoon, fill the centre of each cookie with your favorite preserves.  Return to the oven for 6-8 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cookies cool on a wire rack. 

Eat’em up yum!

Jam Session

Strawberry Jam – Pickles & Preserves, Pg. 324 – Frances Frittenburg (Mrs. M. W.)


Okay, so maybe not the best idea the first time making Jam to choose a recipe from The Dutch Oven. Alas we were so eager to use our freshly picked strawberries and thought what better way to preserve this perfected locally grown fruit than to use the recipes our grandmothers would have used. Well it seemed like a good idea…unfortunately The Dutch Oven Cookbook doesn’t come with a grandmother to walk you through the recipe.

The strawberry season is short in Nova Scotia, but oh so sweet! Don’t be fooled by those strawberries in the plastic clamshell in the Supermarket – while they look tasty enough, they don’t compare to the juicy, succulent flavor of a locally grown berry.

We began our strawberry jam making process in the garden, literally – we picked our own berries for this recipe. We ventured down Nova Scotia’s South Shore to Indian Garden Farms near Hebville. A U-pick farm and market with all kinds of locally grown goodies. At a buck fifty a pint, it makes it well worth the gas and extra effort – plus there’s just something so satisfying from taking produce you pick with your own hands and transforming it into something so delicious!





As we mentioned – The Dutch Oven’s recipe for strawberry jam is an old one, much like the kind of jam our grandmothers would have made before pectin was commercially available in supermarkets. The idea is that the fruit and sugars are cooked longer to ensure the jam reaches a gel stage by use of its own natural pectin. Although we followed the instructions implicitly and even referred to our Bernardin cookbook, we didn’t seem to achieve the correct gel stage. We’ve since received many tips on the subject – from adding an apple during the cooking process to performing an ancient granny jam dance around the pot. We welcome any suggestions and wish you better luck should you attempt this one.

Ingredients:

2 quarts crushed berries (8 cups)
½ cup water
6 cups sugar

Directions:

Combine berries and water. Add 2 cups of sugar. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 3 minutes. Add 2 more cups of sugar. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Add 2 more cups of sugar. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars and process.





Dutch Oven Tips and Tricks:

As mentioned above we did receive a few suggestions after the fact which may give you a leg up should you try this one. Try throwing an apple in during the cooking process. Apples have lots of natural pectin which may help with the thickening. Our berries may have also been slightly over ripe, after spending the day trolling the South Shore for berries and hangin’ out people watchin’ at the Tastee Freeze in Hebville – we were much too tired to make Jam and ended up doing it the next day. Bernardin suggests using a mix of ripe and less ripe berries as the less ripe ones would have more pectin. That’s about all we’ve got!

We loved the flavor of this jam. Through the longer cooking process you end up with a jam that is slightly darker in colour with a rich caramelized flavor. Although slightly runny it’s still mighty tasty on a biscuit. No doubt it will also make a great sauce on ice cream. Oh!, we almost forgot – although our Jam may not have turned out the best – it does look fabulous in these new canning jars we recently discovered. Weck (pronounced Veck) jars are produced in Germany and come in a wide variety of funky shapes and sizes – a welcomed change from the traditional canning jars. Check’em out here – and for our local readers – check out Weck Canada, a supplier right here in Nova Scotia!

Midnight Mustard Pickle

Mustard Pickle – Pickles & Preserves, Pg. 215 – Mildred Y. Potter (Mrs. W.P.)


Mustard pickle is a common condiment around many east coast dinner tables. Popular with Sunday ham or roast dinners, this medley of pickled vegetables is the perfect balance of sweet and sour, sure to tingle your taste buds. Pickling began as a way of preserving food for out of season use, and although we now have access to out of season food year-round, many Nova Scotians continue these traditions today to take advantage of the Fall’s fresh and abundant harvests.

To Jan – mustard pickle is to turkey what ying is to yang, what pepperoni is to pizza, what Sonny is to Cher. One just isn’t the same without the other. Fickle as a child (likely a result of only child syndrome), she wouldn’t go near this strange yellow chunky concoction that her mamma purchased by the box-load and pilfered onto their family dinners like taking communion. It wasn’t until her twenties that the clouds parted ways and the mustard pickle gods danced upon her tongue. Once bitten by the mustard pickle bug, there was no turning back. She’d eat it in the rain, she’d eat it on a plane, she’d eat it in a house, she’d eat it with a mouse, she’d eat it here or there, she eat it ANYWHERE! In fact, when invited to dinner - she’s been known to carry an emergency jar of mustard pickle in her handbag (Sophia Petrillo style). After desperately scanning the dinner table and noticing the absence of her favorite condiment crack, the mustard pickle is presented as a self serving host or hostess gift of sorts. Secrets out I guess – “My name is Jan Young, and I’m addicted to mustard pickle”.

The Dutch Oven's mustard pickle recipe is excellent. In fact unlike many pickle recipes – this recipe does not require that you soak your cucumbers in brine overnight. This was a good thing, as time is sometimes of the essence when it comes to cooking with Jan. “Jan-Land” as some of her friends affectionately refer to it, is the land where every minute has an hour and every hour a day. Otherwise known as the fictional land inside Jan’s head. Thus this blog entries title “Midnight Mustard Pickle” – we finished our first go through of this recipe near midnight. Jan-Land is also rumored to be home to a village of little creatures known as Janpa lampas (similar to Umpa lumpas). But enough about Jan-Land – Let’s get back to the mustard pickle.

Ingredients:

1 Quart (4 cups) of cucumbers or cauliflower (we used half of each)
1 Quart of chopped celery (we used less celery, more cucumber and cauliflower)
1 Quart chopped sweet onions
2 sweet green peppers (chopped)
2 sweet red peppers (chopped)

Scald (simmer) for 10 minutes in 1 quart of vinegar, then reduce heat.

Paste:

3 Cups white sugar
1 Tsp turmeric
3 Tsp mustard
¾ Cup flour
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tsp mustard seed

Blend with a little cold vinegar, stirring until a thick paste is formed. Add paste to vegetables, stir and bring to a boil. Bottle and process immediately.






Dutch Oven Tips & Tricks:

This is a relatively small recipe – we doubled it (was there any doubt given Jan’s little addiction). We chopped the veggies using a food processor – a huge time-saver. We were going for more of a relish consistency so we chopped them quite finely. Obviously the best time of year to make this recipe is late August into September – when the veggies are grown locally and available at seasonal prices$. The best deals are usually found at your local farmers’ market. This recipe is not explicit in its directions that you are to make a paste – we figured this out on our second run through of this recipe (it wasn’t midnight, which may be the reason we missed it the first time). It STINKS!! Crack a window or you'll smell like a jar of pickles for about a week.






Canning/Processing – this was our first real foray into canning/processing food – we’re not gonna lie, it’s a bit of a pain. Not that it’s difficult, just a multi-step process. For canning and processing tips and tricks visit Bernardin.ca. The fruits of your labour make it well worth it however, and the process of canning becomes a bit of a hazy memory once all your pretty jars of mustard pickle are lined up on the counter. A supply for all your family dinners throughout the year…and they make the perfect host/hostess “gift”.

Y8RZAHWDG7CS

Mama's Little Rhubarb

Rhubarb Relish – Pickles and Preserves – pg. 318, Josephine Eisenhauer (Mrs. D. A.)

Wow – our first official Dutch Oven Cookbook recipe blog! What better way than to start with the recipe that started it all – Rhubarb Relish!

We’ve been hitting Magnolias Grill for years . Magnolia's Grill is a small café located in old town Lunenburg. The tiny café is littered with kitschy salt and pepper shakers and the walls are decorated with pictures of celeb friends that have dined at the café over the years – Candice Bergen, Kathy Bates (café owner Nancy Lohnes played her body double in Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne - in which Peter also played a doorman!), and of course the restaurant’s most regular celeb visitor – Tom Selleck!

Magnolias serves the undisputed, handsdown, best fish cakes evah! Some would argue that “real” fishcakes are made with salt cod, but Mags’ (as the locals affectionally call it) are made with haddock, and we don’t mind telling you that these fish cakes own! Fresh flaky haddock is combined with mashed spuds, onions and who knows what else, then pan fried to a golden brown! Brown food is good food as Chef Anne Burrell would say (Food Network’s – Secret’s of a Restaurant Chef host). It doesn’t end their of course, Mags has a secret weapon – Rhubarb Relish! If you’re not from the South Shore, you’re probably thinking – Rhubarb? – Relish? - Wha? Oh yeah, you read it correctly – fishcakes aren’t fishcakes without Rhubarb Relish. Its sweet and tangy flavor is the perfect compliment to any type of white fish based dish. If you plan on hitting the café, try to avoid peak dinner hours – lineups are often out the door. Oh…and the fresh squeezed lemonade is killer!

After years of eating fishcakes and rhubarb relish at Magnolia’s Grill, the time had come to attempt to duplicate this delicious delight. After researching recipes a bit, we felt that the Dutch Oven recipe seemed to be a good bet. Thankfully Peter’s Mama’s (Diane) rhubarb patch was prime for the picking, and given Diane’s experience with preserve making – she graciously offered to mentor us through our first preserve endeavor. Thus the title of this blog “Mama’s little rhubarb” – not sure if “little rhubarb” refers to Peter or the rhubarb patch.

What we had feared would be a fairly daunting task – chopping, boiling, bottling – turned out to be fairly simple. It contains few ingredients – Rhubarb, onions (these should be sliced by the way, the recipe doesn’t specify), cider vinegar, sugar (careful – it looks like 1 cup in the recipe, but it is really a 7 – Peter’s brother found this out the hard way), a few spices – and that’s it. The most daunting part of this recipe would be chopping the two quarts each of rhubarb and onions, however thanks to modern technology - a food processor makes the perfect sous chef.

If you’ve got a big pot, a food processor and some jars – you can do this! You’ll notice in some of the pictures that we used a unique pot in our preparation – this pot is known as a maslin pan – traditionally used in the UK for making preserves. Its designed with a wide mouth that narrows towards the base, fitting perfectly on the stove burner. The maslin pan has a heavy stainless steel bottom as well as a swinging handle (like a bucket) to easily lift and pour the preserves into jars. Jan acquired the pan a few years back with grand pickling and preserving plans :) Although any old pot with a solid bottom will do the trick, if you are hard core into pickling and preserves, you may want to consider adding one of these pots to your collection. You can purchase them at Lee Valley Hardware.

Rhubarb Relish:

Ingredients:

2 quarts (8 cups) chopped rhubarb
2 quarts (8 cups) sliced onions
7 cups white sugar
3 cups cider vinegar (or white)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

Scald sliced onions in boiling water for a few minutes, discard water. Combine all ingredients. Bring to hard boil. Reduce head and low boil for an 1 hr 30 minutes. Fill sterilized jars and process.

Dutch Oven Tips & Tricks:

We did have a few challenges and questions with the recipe - so here they are. The recipe called to scald your onions – we weren’t certain how to go about this but Peter’s Mom suggested boiling some water and pouring it over the sliced onions, we imagine you could also just put the onions in water and bring it to a boil. After scalding the onions for a few minutes, discard the water. The purpose we assume is to remove some of the potent onion flavor. Speaking of onions – this recipe has a lot – two quarts worth. We recommend you definitely use a food processor and a pair of Paula Deen style onion goggles couldn’t hurt. The recipe instructions say to cook all the ingredients thoroughly until thick – WHA?? The lack of instruction here left us in a bit of a pickle (no pun intended). I’m certain Mrs. Eiasenhauer (the recipe’s author) knows exactly how long to cook this – we did try to reach Mrs. Eisenhauer, unfortunately she wasn’t at home. It’s a fine line – rhubarb relish shouldn’t be thick like jam, so we didn’t want to overcook it. Also, once the relish cools it tends to thicken more. We ended up letting the relish simmer for about 1 hour 30 minutes until we were happy with its consistency. The recipe yields about eight 500 ml jars (the recipe doesn’t specify this).

Although this recipe isn’t an exact replica of the rhubarb relish they serve at Magnolia’s Grill, it is an excellent second. We will continue our efforts to duplicate their recipe. Overall the recipe was surprisingly simple and delicious – a definite redo.