Huckleberries, Wild Flowers, and Rain Clouds

Link Love! Canning and Putting Things in Jars

Despite our slow turning Seattle spring- asparagus is in full force at the farmers markets, and thanks to my mama and Lizzie I have a giant bag of wild fiddleheads in my fridge, straight outta Southeast Alaska! Take that, TSA. I've been putting my own stash of fiddleheads into pasta, and pretty much anything that goes well with butter. I'm excited now to finally have enough to pickle and can.

And although we still have a little while to go before berries start showing up- it's really never too early to start planning for jam. Never ever. And even then? There are still a million other things that do so well in jars.

Canning Across America and Food in Jars are without a doubt my two favorite canning resources. I'm totally totally smitten with Baked Eggs in Half Pint Jars. I've been dreaming about them since Tuesday.

- Strawberry, Balsamic, and Black Pepper Jam from Melissa Made is really for real. I've never been a huge fan of strawberry jam (too many chunks!) but I'm all sorts of excited about this one.

- Sticking with the pepper theme- Salt and Pepper Cashew Butter from Edible Perspective sounds kind of perfect. I made my own almond butter a few months ago and really loved it. Cashews are kind of dreamy.

 

 - Langdon Cook blogs about Christina's recipe for Pickled Fiddleheads, which is likely the recipe that I'll use for my own. Christina has lots of dishes with fiddleheads happening at Nettletown right now, so if you're curious and in Seattle- get your butt in there!

- I've been wanting to experiment with preserving lemons for a while now. Food in Jars has a short and sweet write up. Lemons and salt, loves. That's all.

I've been meeting so many people lately who are getting into canning. It's so inspiring and I love hearing about it. What are you excited about canning this spring and summer?

Book Review & Giveaway: Pacific Feast- A Cook's Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine

"An intimate guide to the food at our feet, Pacific Feast shares expert advice on how to identify the good eats, harvest responsibly, and create delicious meals." - Pacific Feast

Far more than just a field guide or collection of recipes- this book includes a section of full-color photographs, recipes from chefs including Christina Choi (!) and Tom Douglas, harvesting calendars and beautiful introductions to each species covering area history and the Authors personal experiences.

Recipes range from Sea Urchin Gazpacho to Maple Blossom Fritters to a Spotted Owl (Nettle Martini), and Jennifer perfectly explains how and where to harvest your goods. Her experiences have taken her from California to Alaska and British Columbia and she doesn't seem to overlook a single worthwhile edible.

Among the stack of books that makes up my current reading list- this is the only one that bounces around my living room and kitchen constantly. I find myself reading through recipes at random on an almost nightly basis. My copy was a gift from a dear friend- and I'm thrilled to be able to offer a copy to one of my dear readers! Read on for details!

There are four (!) ways for you to enter to win your very own copy:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite wild food is. If you don't have one- just tell me what's on your mind.

2. "Like" Skipstone Books on Facebook and leave a separate comment here telling me that you have.

3. Sign up for the Skipstone Books Newsletter and leave a separate comment here telling me that you have.

4. Follow Skipstone Books on Twitter and again- leave a separate comment here telling me that you have.

The contest will run for one week- ending April 13th at 9 PM Washington time. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted soon after. Please be sure to include a way to contact you in each of your entries. Good luck and happy foraging!

Reading List:

Top to bottom:

1. Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts, Mark Kurlansky. I just started reading this. It gets mixed reviews, but I'm enjoying it so far. Many of the characters and themes are carried throughout the book and the short story format works really well for bus reading.

2. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver. My absolute, all-time favorite book. I re-read it about three times yearly. It's a quick and easy read, but I just love it more every time I finish it.

3. Pacific Feast: A Cook's Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine, Jennifer Hahn. This beautiful book was a gift from my love Becca. The guides and recipes cover everything from weedy greens to shellfish to edible trees. I'm quite smitten with it.

4. Take a Walk: 100 Walks Through Natural Places in the Puget Sound Region, Sue Muller Hacking. While this book covers a lot of smaller, more urban parks and trails- it also offers up some really great options for easy day hikes and beaches. I'm excited to use it for new weekend running routes.

5. The Last Fish Tale, Mark Kurlansky.  "...provides a delightful, intimate history and contemporary portrait of the quintessential northeastern coastal fishing town: Gloucester, Mass., on Cape Anne. Illustrated with his own beautifully executed drawings, Kurlansky's book vividly depicts the contemporary tension between the traditional fishing trade and modern commerce..."

6. All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms, David Arora.  This guide is eccentric, if not extremely informative. David Arora has a reputation for being a little bit nutty- and while the cover of this book is on the odd side, the full color photographs and serious details within make it well worth checking out.

7. The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild, Lynn Schooler. "Schooler, who has worked for many years as a guide in the unpredictable waters of the Alaska Panhandle, has distilled a life of unusual intensity into his first book. The story centers on the renowned nature photographer Michio Hoshino, a client who became a friend, and the two men's ongoing search for the elusive glacier bear, a blue variant of the North American black bear."

 8. Bradt Travel Guide: Iceland, Andrew Evans. Spring of 2012! This guide is the best I've found so far- and does a really great job of covering a lot of what I hope to experience.

Nettle Foraging & My Favorite Green Smoothie

Prickles!

Last weekend I spent a few good hours tromping around Discovery Park with some folks from The Seattle Wild Foods Meetup Group and my bff Amy. The two of us eventually split off on our own and found a few really good spots for nettle picking. Honestly- this time of year it's nearly impossible not to find good spots all over the place. They're coming up like the wild little weeds that they are.

Blanched or dried- the vicious little things quickly turn into a culinary dream. Their flavor is earthy, fresh, and a little zippy. They make an easy replacement for cooked spinach in recipes, brew into an earthy tea, and blend into a gorgeous pesto or ravioli filling. I blanch mine for 2-3 minutes, run them through the food processor, and then freeze into ice cube tray portions. From there I can thaw and add them to just about anything. Most recently I've been adding them to my smoothies.

Cranberry & Nettle Smoothie

This has been my lifeblood lately. In an effort to cut down on gluten- I started making myself smoothies for breakfast most mornings. It took me a few tries to get a combination down that really did it for me- but I am over the moon about this one. The great part about smoothies is that everything is more or less interchangeable. If you don't have access to nettles- no problem. There are an infinite  number of things that you can use instead. I've included some good alternatives in notes marked with red astrix below.

This smoothie is pleasantly tart, and lends its creaminess to raw cashews soaked in water. Ideally it's best to soak cashews overnight- but an hour will suffice, and in a pinch I've just thrown the cashews and water in without soaking at all. Still great, just not as smooth. If you're freaked out by the idea of adding greens to a smoothie- try it first with a small amount of spinach. You'll be pleasantly surprised- you truly can't taste it at all. Feel free to adjust the amount of honey that you use based on your tolerance for tartness.

Cranberry & Nettle Smoothie:
- 1/3 cup raw cashews + 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 handful nettles*, blanched
- 3/4 cup frozen cranberries**
- 1/2 cup kefir***
- 1-3 tsp honey or agave nectar
- 1 tsp flax meal
- 2 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in blender (they layer best in the order listed), and blend using quick pulses until smooth. That's it! Seriously. Smoothies aren't hard.

* Spinach, kale, chard, arugula, etc. (no need to blanch these greens before using)
** Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc.
*** Yogurt, fruit juice, non-dairy milk, etc.


More great information about nettles can be found here.

Tart & Lovely

 

Cranberry Bogs from cowhntrx

I love the inside of my freezer.  It's full of wild berries picked mid-summer, cubes of stinging nettles, freezer bags full of fair trade chocolate pieces, and bulk packages of udon noodles.  I am constantly shuffling them around amongst the packages of coffee and assortment of fish and game meat that I've horded away.

I also stash bags of cranberries in my freezer as if November only comes once every three years.  Right now cranberries are all that I care about.

While homemade cranberry sauce is an absolute requirement for me come Thanksgiving- I am never one to say no to cranberries in most any other form.  For whatever reason the internets have been exploding with beautiful cranberry dessert recipes this year, and I am not one to resist.  I still haven't decided which I'll be making for our actual Thanksgiving dinner- but with a "practice" dinner tomorrow night, and Wednesday just hanging out doing nothing- I think I'll be able to fit more than one into my week.

- Cranberry Shortbread Cake from The Way the Cookie Crumbles is November's answer to out-of-season strawberries.  It sounds like such a fantastic combination and comes out looking rustic and lovely.

- Persimmon Cranberry Sauce is my sauce of choice this year.  I usually just stick with a basic cranberry/citrus/spices combo- but I'm exited to mix things up a little with star anise and the texture of persimmon.  

- Smitten Kitchen gets me every single time.  No matter what.  Deb is talented beyond words, and even when she isn't overly in love with a recipe it still turns out beautifully.  Upside-Down Cranberry Cake is no exception.

- Nantucket Cranberry Pie from the very well known Pioneer Woman is not a pie.  It's cake on top of cranberries.  And I really, really don't care.  Apparently it's a pie when you're in Nantucket.  I can live with that. 


- Cranberry Liqueur from Vino Luci would make a great gift for your host/ess or your own guests.  Just make sure you spell it right.

- Lastly- because a straight-forward simple cranberry sauce is still so good to have- The Delicious Life has a great recipe for Basic Cranberry Sauce which also includes notes on using the leftovers to make cranberry sorbet.  So damn witty.


How do you feel about cranberries?  What are your favorite ways to eat them?

Food, Lately

Clockwise from top left: Popped amaranth salad with summer veggies and fresh goat cheese; upside-down tomato tart; grilled sockeye, arugula, and re-fried black beans with leeks and white wine; frozen Discovery Park blackberries.

I realized the other day that I barely post recipes anymore.  This isn't due to a lack of cooking- I am in my kitchen cooking from scratch almost every single day.  The problem is that I forget that it's exciting and new.  It's just dinner- who cares, right?  Most of my cooking is about using up the things that we have in our fridge and cupboards, and more often than not- I don't have a clue how much of what I put into a dish.  That popped amaranth salad is actually from a few months ago, and I was so excited about sharing it- but then I never did.  It seemed so simple, and so obvious that I felt a little like I might be insulting some of you by posting it here!  I forget that everyone thinks and cooks differently, and often we don't think to change our routines unless prompted.  My cooking style is unique to me, and my recipes are too.  The recipes that I get the most excited about are the ones that use ingredients that I already know and love- but put them together in new (to me) ways. 


I'm working on writing things down, taking more pictures, and remembering to share.

From Field to Jar: Raspberry Jam

After a quick trek, a closed u-pick field, and a bit of navigation- Saturday afternoon was spent going a little bit crazy picking raspberries at Harvold Berry Farm in Carnation, Washington.  We had originally set out to pick at Remlinger Farms but when we got there we found out that their raspberry field was closed that day, and they directed us down the road to Harvold.  We were not one ounce disappointed, as the field was full and the berries were sweet.  Plus at $2/lb there really isn't much to complain about.  Matao and I ended up with fifteen and a half pounds!  Only a small portion of those berries went into the freezer or were eaten fresh.  The rest were made into jam!

 

The recipe that we used is just about the easiest jam you could ever make.  It consists of two ingredients: raspberries, and sugar.  That's it!  I prefer to use organic unrefined sugar, as that's what I normally cook with- but feel free to use whichever type you prefer.

Ingredients:
- 4 cups sugar
- 4 cups fresh raspberries, crushed (I pack them into my glass measure and smush smush smush)

Directions:
1. Sterilize your jars, rings and lids.  (At this stage just do the first and second steps.)
2. Add raspberries to a large stainless steel pot.  Bring berries to a full boil, smashing them with a potato masher or large spoon as they heat.  Allow to boil hard for one full minute, stirring constantly.
3. Add sugar, and return to a boil.**
4. Boil until mixture begins to form a gel.*  This may take from 5-10 minutes.
5. Spoon hot jam into dry, sterile jars.  Process using the second part of the directions from step one.  Here.  When your lids make a cute little "ping!" sound- you know that they're sealed!

* "To determine when the mixture will form a gel, use the spoon test: Dip a cool metal spoon into the hot fruit. Immediately lift it out and away from the steam and turn it horizontally. At the beginning of the cooking process, the liquid will drip off in light, syrupy drops. Try again a minute or two later — the drops will be heavier. The jam is done when the drops are very thick and two run together before falling off the spoon." - Source

**  If your jam seems too foamy once it starts cooking- adding a dab of butter to your pot will take care of it.  Otherwise it's fine to skim the foam off the top once the jam is done cooking.

Also note: It's perfectly normal for your entire kitchen to look like this once finished!  Our arms, faces, shirts, and hair were covered in little molten jam specs as well.

Frozen Treats Link Love!

I have made and eaten so many delicious frozen things lately- it seems only fair that I share a little frozen link love!

- Caramel Crunch Ice Cream Bars from Eat Me, Delicious look so, so good.  I haven't made these yet.  I'm a little afraid to make them, honestly.  I may never want to eat anything else ever again.

- This recipe for chocolate sorbet doesn't look like much.  But it is absolutely ridiculous.  In the best way ever.  It's like eating frozen creamy fudgy cake batter, except that it's vegan and really not that bad for you.  I used classic mint from Theo in mine, as well as a touch of espresso powder, and the combination is surprisingly good.  Each bite tastes different and complex.

- This Blueberry Ice Cream doesn't require an ice cream maker or egg yolks and kind of makes me want to cry just looking at it.  I still have quite a few frozen blueberries from my trip home last fall and I don't think I'd have any issues at all using some of them up this way.

- My lovely friend Becca just posted a recipe for Vegan Raspberry Ice Cream which she says is "like creamy sorbet, but somehow not sherbet-y."  Works for me!

- Chocolate Gelato with Salted Caramel Pecans is probably my soul mate.
 

- And because I quite literally cannot get enough of fruit and berries in/on/with ice cream- this Cherry Lambic Ice Cream Float sounds like sweet perfection in a glass.  I love raspberry lambic with an unashamed and undying passion, and although I rarely drink it due to its syrupy sweetness- I think that this is the perfect way to do it.  Especially in August.  Especially on our patio.

What are your favorite frozen summer treats?