Chili Lime Hot Sauce

Name: Chili Lime Hot Sauce
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Yield: 12 ounces
Ingredients: 1 wide mouthed pint jar; 1 glass fermenting weight or 4 ounce canning jar; 1 airlock lid for mason jar; 1 blender; 1 small sauce pan; 1 kitchen scale measuring ounces; 1 quart spring water ((not tap water, it will interfere with fermentation)); 1.8 ounces sea salt; 1 cup hot red chili peppers ((I used Targu Mures, but you can use Fresno, Red Jalapenos, etc.)); 4 ounces tomato paste ((I used my homemade tomato paste)); 1 clove garlic; 3 limes, juiced and divided; 1 Tablespoon brown sugar; 1 teaspoon brown sugar; 1/4 teaspoon salt

So, it’s still the Elements theme month. (Yes, I know, what were we thinking?!) We decided that I would do Fire for obvious reasons. I am to spicy food as MaryKate is to potatoes. I have a dried chili collection. Before the corn allergy hit, I had a commercial hot sauce collection, with about 20 or so bottles in the fridge. Now my collection is all homemade! Fire was always going to be my baby when we came up with this wacky theme month.

One of the hot sauces in my late, dearly lamented commercial hot sauce collection was Cholula Chili Lime hot sauce. It was lovely. It was great on anything, fried foods, grilled meats, tacos, in salsa, etc. So since MaryKate very generously shipped me three different kinds of chili peppers from a farmers market in Seattle at the end of September and I had set some of them up to ferment, I decided that this would be one of hot sauces I’d try to replicate. I used the Targu Mures peppers, which is a rare small hot Paprika type pepper from Transylvania, and is about the size of an Serrano pepper, close to a Cayenne pepper in heat, and bright red. But you could use any red chili that strikes your fancy or heat tolerance.

I had to learn to ferment when I lost corn because I wasn’t sure how I could manage without hot sauce. You can make hot sauce without fermenting, but if you want a Tabasco or Sriracha style sauce, fermenting is necessary. Fermenting is easier than it looks. You don’t really need airlock lids for your mason jars but it makes your life a lot easier because you don’t have to babysit the ferments. The airlock allows the carbon dioxide that builds up from the fermenting processing to be expelled, without allowing fresh air that could have yeast or mold spores to get in. Releasing the carbon dioxide is important because if you have the lid of a mason jar tightly sealed, the glass can crack under pressure and let pepper juice leak all over your counter. Ask me how I know. You can get the lids online, if you do a search a bunch of options will pop up, or you can commit to “burping” your ferments every day. Some people use a non-latex nitrile medical glove over the top of the jar and put a pin prick in a finger, but I’m not so sure about doing that in the context of a corn allergy, therefore I use the airlock lids as showing in the pictures below. You do need to make sure that the peppers stay under the brine, so I use either glass fermentation weights or smaller 4 ounce jars that I can fill with brine and weigh down the peppers in my wide mouth pint or quart jars. If the peppers rise above the brine, you are risking mold and spoilage.

Hot peppers at the beginning of the fermenting process

Hot peppers at the end of the fermenting process, about 4 weeks

The other nice thing about making hot sauce is that you get two products for one. When you strain out the skins and seeds during the process, you can dry them in the oven or the dehydrator and get a nice crushed pepper mix to use in other spice mixes, rubs, or other recipes. No waste!

Wet chili skin and seeds going into a toaster oven

Chili flakes (skins and seeds after drying)

Chili Lime Hot Sauce

A hot sauce reminiscent of one of Denise’s commercial favorites in the time before corn.

CourseCondiments

Servings	Prep Time
12 ounces	15 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
10 minutes	2-4 weeks

Servings	Prep Time
12 ounces	15 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
10 minutes	2-4 weeks

Chili Lime Hot Sauce

A hot sauce reminiscent of one of Denise’s commercial favorites in the time before corn.

CourseCondiments

Servings	Prep Time
12 ounces	15 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
10 minutes	2-4 weeks

Servings	Prep Time
12 ounces	15 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
10 minutes	2-4 weeks

Ingredients

Equipment

1 wide mouthed pint jar
1 glass fermenting weight or 4 ounce canning jar
1 airlock lid for mason jar
1 blender
1 small sauce pan
1 kitchen scale measuring ounces

Brine for fermenting

1 quart spring water (not tap water, it will interfere with fermentation)
1.8 ounces sea salt

Hot Sauce Ingredients

1 cup hot red chili peppers (I used Targu Mures, but you can use Fresno, Red Jalapenos, etc.)
4 ounces tomato paste (I used my homemade tomato paste)
1 clove garlic
3 limes, juiced and divided
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Servings: ounces

Instructions

Fermenting the Peppers

Make brine by mixing spring water and salt in a container until salt is dissolved.
Wash peppers and cut the stems off so that the seed cavity is visible. Placed washed peppers in pint jar and add glass weight or 4 ounce jar. Add brine until the weight is covered with brine by at least half an inch, or cover with brine and add 4 ounce jar full of brine to weight down peppers making sure that all peppers are submerged in brine. Place airlock on jar and add brine to airlock to seal.
Let ferment for 2 to 4 weeks at room temperature, checking daily to make sure the brine levels are okay. You may need to add brine as time goes on as the peppers must stay submerged at all times. If the peppers do not stay submerged, they could develop mold and you’ll need to throw it out and start all over.

Making the Hot Sauce

Once your peppers are fermented, remove the airlock and and glass weight or glass jar. Drain brine. Place the peppers in a blender with the garlic clove and the juice of 1 lime.
Blend until the peppers are pureed, but not until the seeds have disappeared if you have a high performance blender. You want to leave the seeds whole enough to strain out.
Once you have pureed your peppers, place the puree in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and use a spatula or the back of a spoon to press the liquid in your puree into the bowl, leaving the seeds and skins of the peppers behind. (Hint: dehydrate the seeds and skins remaining in the oven at the lowest temperature you can or in a dehydrator to make crushed red pepper to use in other recipes).
Place the strained puree in a sauce pan, with the juice of the remaining two limes, the tomato paste, the brown sugar, and the salt. Mix well and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, and continue to gently boil stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 minutes. You can add additional sugar or salt to taste, if necessary.
Remove the sauce from heat and let cool before placing it a container to store in the refrigerator. Use it on everything.

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November 13, 2017

Ox Tail Noodle Soup

It’s Elements Month! Yeah, you read right. Elements. Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. Four Mondays in November, four elements to be inspired by. Why not?

This year, we made a plan via Skype — monthly themes to inspire us. We used to get together more often to plan our editorial calendar, but now we do it via Skype, bi-coastally. It is distinctly possible that we were a little loopy by the time we got to November, so here you have ELEMENTS MONTH.

I’m kicking it off with water. After all, Cancer is a water sign, right? Plus it’s November and it snowed all weekend and we are ready for soup. I was inspired by a broth my friend Ann told me about which basically used time to extract maximum flavor from ox tails, an excellent flavoring bone that has some good tender meat on it as a bonus, and a few simple vegetables. This broth is easy, but it takes time. You should definitely make it ahead of when you want to use it. Ox tails should be available from most butchers and many grocery stores can get them or have them in the back. Ask.

The only other “special” ingredient would be the thinly sliced beef, something I’ve gotten used to being able to get — raw meat sliced as thinly as cold cuts wasn’t something I’d seen on the east coast, but it means that the broth’s heat will cook it as part of your soup and it adds a whole other dimension to the soup. If you can’t get it, skip it, but it is worth trying to find or cut on your own.

Oh! The noodles! I’ve found gluten-free ramen noodles at a few places in Seattle, including Whole Foods, the Capitol Co-op, and a few natural food stores. The ones in this dish are forbidden rice noodles. If you can’t find gluten-free ramen, I’d suggest using rice noodles of some sort, but not gluten-free spaghetti. Most grocery stores carry pad thai rice noodles in their “Asian foods” section, and those will work okay.

This recipe is two parts — first, you make the broth, which should be done at least the day before. Then you use the broth to make soup. The broth is incredibly simple, but takes about 4 hours to make just because you simmer everything forever. The soup is actually kind of complicated, as I spent a lot of last month learning about ramen, and I’ve used that knowledge here. For traditional ramen, the broth, noodles, and soup toppings are all cooked separately. I’ve used that here to make a soup with a great variety of textures — but know that this is a soup that you might want to just take your time and enjoy making as well as eating. Don’t try it on a work night or when you’re rushed.

As I’ve said in the recipe, this soup will be made in two pots and a skillet, all at once, and I’ve tried to give you good instructions to get through that if you’re not used to 3 things going at once. The soup comes together in layers, as shown below, and that gives you a variety of textures.

Soup steps: first, noodles. Second, raw beef and scallions. Third, broth. Fourth, skillet of toppings.

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Ox Tail Noodle Soup

Broth recipe probably makes about 5 servings, but this soup less than half. Use the rest for drinking, cooking grains, or more soup.

CourseMain Dish

Servings

2 bowlsn

Servings

2 bowlsn

Ox Tail Noodle Soup

Broth recipe probably makes about 5 servings, but this soup less than half. Use the rest for drinking, cooking grains, or more soup.

CourseMain Dish

Servings

2 bowlsn

Servings

2 bowlsn

Ingredients

Ox Tail Broth

2 lbs ox tails
cold water to cover the ox tails by about an inch
pinch salt
1 whole roma tomato washed
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 onion quartered
5 sprigs parsley, leaves only

Ox Tail Noodle Soup

2 cups ox tail broth fat skimmed off top
water enough to cook your noodles
2 cakes gluten-free ramen noodles
1 Tablespoon fat (I used the fat from the broth)
4 scallions thinly sliced, whites and greens separated
2 carrots sliced as thinly as possible
5 shitake mushrooms chopped
pinch salt
1/2 cup ox tail meat pulled from bone, excess fat and cartilege removed
3 slices steak thinly sliced for hot pot – optional but awesome.
1 lemon cut into quarters

Servings: bowlsn

Instructions

Ox Tail Broth

Put the ox tails in a large stock pot and cover with cold water by about 1 inch. Add a generous pinch of salt. Put over low heat, about 2 on my electric stove. NOTE — it will take more than half an hour for the water to simmer. Low and slow is how the flavor comes out.
Meanwhile, prep the vegetables. Wash the tomato, carrot, and celery. Chop the carrot and celery really roughly — about 2 inch segments. Leave the tomato whole. Pull all the parsley leaves off the stalks and discard the stems. Peel and quarter the onion.
When the water has reached a steady simmer, add all the veg. Simmer for three hours. If it gets foamy, skim it.
Cool and remove the ox tails to store separately. Remove the vegetables and discard. Store the broth in the fridge overnight.

Ox Tail Noodle Soup

You will need three cooking pots for this. One for boiling enough water to cook the noodles. One for heating your broth. One skillet for cooking your soup toppings. Figure out which burners will work best for this setup before you start, as you’ll be using all of them at once.
Get the broth started. You want to reheat this on low until it’s about boiling, so it will take a while.
First, do all your veggie prep. Chop the scallions and separate the green and white parts (light green goes with the white). Chop the mushrooms, slice the carrots as thinly as possible. Remove the meat from the ox tails — you will likely need to cut the fat off the outside, and watch out for the cartilage on the inside — remove that.
Add about half of the green parts of the scallions to the broth. Measuring here is really not important. Eyeball it.
You can either skim the fat off the soup and use that to fry up the veg, or use a fat of your choice. Put this in your skillet over medium heat.
Next, start the noodle water. Use however much water your package directions show.
When you skillet and fat are hot, add the onions and stir for several minutes until translucent.
Next add the carrots and mushrooms and stir well. Add a generous pinch of salt. Wait until the mushrooms have wilted and given off their liquid before you start the noodles.
Cook your noodles according to the package directions.
Right before the noodles are done, add the ox tail meat to the skillet and stir well.
Drain your noodles and set up your bowls.
Here’s how your bowls go: Add noodles at the bottom. Add a thin layer of your raw beef. This will be cooked by the broth. Add your broth. Add the toppings from the skillet. Add a squeeze of lemon over everything. Enjoy.

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November 6, 2017

Gluten-free No-Toaster Pastries with Frosting

It’s still comfort food month. Trying to find foods that are comforting that are safe is kind of hard. In the long, long ago before food allergies, I ate a lot of PopTarts. I ate them when I was too tired, too sick or too aggravated to cook. I ate them for breakfast frequently so that I didn’t have to get up early enough to plan or deal with breakfast. Half the time I didn’t even toast them, but just nuked them in the microwave on a paper towel. And I pretty much only ate the strawberry with frosting PopTarts, which are pretty much the devil for me now, given the wheat and the number of corn ingredients in them. Since I made a lot of jams and preserves during the apple apocalypse harvest here, I decided to use some to make a No-Toaster Pastry, as I has already worked out frosting and pie crust in earlier posts. I picked out some jams and fruit butters, made pie crust, rolled everything out and got them stuffed and ready, and then my oven died. So we ended up at Shawn’s parents to use their oven and I got help from my father-in-law with decorating.

You need to make them in the oven, hence the name, as the generic version of PopTart is toaster pastry, and that doesn’t work because you can’t warm them up in the toaster because of the frosting. So yeah, a bit of a misnomer, so I fixed it. You can use whatever jam or fruit butter you prefer. We used apple butter, apple plum butter, and Nankin cherry jam that I had made.

Using a canning ring to cut the bottom crust

The bottom crust in the canning ring as a tart pan

Some completed pastries and adding the filling (Nankin cherry jam)

Gluten-free No-Toaster Pastries ready to bake

Gluten-free No-Toaster Pastries with Frosting (frosted by Denise)

Our new chief decorator, Brian, Denise's father-in-law — Our new chief decorator, Brian, Denise’s father-in-law

Gluten-free No-Toaster Pastries with Frosting

A homemade version of the ubiquitous toaster pastry, except not using the toaster.

CourseBaked Goods, Breakfast

Servings	Prep Time
12 pastries	25 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
30-40 minutes	30 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
12 pastries	25 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
30-40 minutes	30 minutes

Gluten-free No-Toaster Pastries with Frosting

A homemade version of the ubiquitous toaster pastry, except not using the toaster.

CourseBaked Goods, Breakfast

Servings	Prep Time
12 pastries	25 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
30-40 minutes	30 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
12 pastries	25 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
30-40 minutes	30 minutes

Ingredients

Crust

2/3 cup sorghum floor
2/3 cup Otto’s Naturals cassava flour
2/3 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 cup millet flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold lard or cold vegetable shortening
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup aquafaba See http://aquafaba.com/
1 Tablespoon aquafaba
1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder

Filling

8 ounce jar jam, preserve, or fruit butter of your choice (jellies don’t work as they leak out)

Pink Royal Frosting

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (if you are allergic to corn, you can make your own with 2 cups of sugar, a tablespoon of tapioca starch, and a blender)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I make my own with vanilla beans and vodka made from potatoes, as most commercial extract contains corn)
1 Tablespoon aquafaba
1 teaspoon beet puree (To make puree, either use canned or fresh cooked beets and puree them in a blender with a bit of cooking liquid)

Equipment

12 wide mouth canning rings

Servings: pastries

Instructions

Making Crust Dough

In a large bowl, whisk together the sorghum flour, the cassava flour, arrowroot starch, millet flour, and salt, until they are thoroughly mixed.
Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the lard or vegetable shortening until the mixture looks like crumbs.
In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix the aquafaba (1/2 cup and 1 Tablespoon), apple cider vinegar, and psyllium powder together until it is well blended. Add the liquid mixture to your flour mixture and stir until it comes together to form a dough.
Shape the dough into a smooth ball, and put the dough ball into the freezer to chill for 30 minutes before rolling it out.
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Using some of your other flours (I used sorghum) dust the surface of your rolling space. Roll out the crust to about a quarter of an inch thick on a rolling mat. Make sure you use plenty of dusting flour so that it doesn’t stick to the rolling surface or parchment paper.

Making the Pastries

Once you have rolled out your crust, use a wide mouth canning ring to cut a round of crust out, and flip it over to so that it the pastry forms the bottom of the ring, and place it on your cookie sheet. Using a bit of water and your finger, wet the outside edge of the bottom of the crust to promote sealing.
Place a tablespoon of the jam, preserve, or fruit butter of your choice in the center of the ring.
Using another wide mouth canning ring cut another round of crust out, and place it over the top of the bottom crust in the first wide mouth canning ring, pressing down around the edges to seal. Repeat these steps until all pastries have been made.
Bake at 400°F for 30-40 minutes. Wait until cool and then frost, after making the frosting below.

Making Frosting

Place powdered sugar, vanilla extract, aquafaba, and beet puree in a bowl and using a stand or electric mixer, beat ingredients until completely combined. If frosting is not firm enough, add additional powdered sugar by the teaspoon until it is.

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October 30, 2017

Guest Post: Pasta Bake

Can I admit I punted on this one? My big plan for Comfort Food month was set back in August. I was going to do MY best comfort food, potatoes, and then one from my neighborhood — I was going to learn to make ramen. There is a line of gluten-free ramen noodles that I quite like, made from different types of rice. I got a book on the history of ramen, and a cookbook. I can highly recommend both. But what I learned is that those lines outside restaurants making authentic ramen are well-deserved. Ramen is a complicated (if worthwhile) process, with a soup base that must be made before preparing a broth that then becomes soup to which you add noodles and toppings. Definitely try it — with all the variations, it’s likely you’ll find some that suit your allergies. But it was not my next recipe.

So ANYWAY, that’s why Jack made this recipe. And from here on out, it’s all him. As a note, this is why we use #allergyfriendly instead of “allergy-free” on the blog — this recipe uses boxed gluten-free penne pasta and commercial vegan cheese (and we tend to use a jarred sauce), so it is likely not suitable for some allergies (corn). But if it works for you, it’s a great Sunday meal that also makes Monday’s lunch. We probably eat this recipe at least once a month, and while pasta is Jack’s comfort food, I definitely see the appeal. –MaryKate

Pasta Bake -- gluten-free and allergy-friendly — Pasta Bake — gluten-free and allergy-friendly

Hi there! I’m Jack, and I live with MaryKate, so I feed her from time to time. This pasta bake has emerged as one of her favorite comfort foods – which is lucky for me, because it’s one of the few dishes I can make without checking every step of a recipe twelve times. (According to her, I declared on our first date that “I don’t cook”, which I don’t really remember but would have been reasonably accurate at the time as a statement of bare fact, if not general philosophy or intent.) (He said that. I was there. — MK)

The pasta bake began as a gluten- and lactose-filled attempt at baked ziti. It has made the transition to allergy-friendly status quite well, thanks mostly to the pasta and cheese alternatives on the market, and also thanks to MaryKate’s suggestions of what else to add. Feel free to omit veggies and/or meat, and use the sauce, pasta, and cheese brands of your choice. We’ve even mixed in some almond ricotta from Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner for a creamier, lasagna-like texture.

For me, pasta is comfort food. We had it at least once a week when I was a kid, and it’s quick and easy to make while also being warm and filling. I’ve even come to like the vegan cheese. The easiest version of this is pasta, sauce, and cheese, but adding zucchini and mushrooms gives it great texture, and the sausage adds more flavor and protein.

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Pasta Bake

CourseMain Dish

Servings	Prep Time
6 large servings	20 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
35 minutes	35 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
6 large servings	20 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
35 minutes	35 minutes

Pasta Bake

CourseMain Dish

Servings	Prep Time
6 large servings	20 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
35 minutes	35 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
6 large servings	20 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
35 minutes	35 minutes

Ingredients

12 oz gluten-free penne
1 medium zucchini quartered lengthwise and sliced every 1/4 inch
8 oz mushrooms sliced, we like baby Bellas
8 oz ground sausage or beef optional — leave out or use vegan sub for a vegan casserole
36 oz garlic pasta sauce
12 oz vegan mozzarella cheese substitute we love Miyoko’s Kitchen vegan moz
oregano to taste

Servings: large servings

Instructions

Brown and drain meat.
Boil penne until it’s just barely soft, about 4 minutes.
Drain and rinse pasta.
Put half the penne in a 9″ x 12″ baking pan. Layer on 1/2 of the zucchini and mushrooms, then 1/2 of the sausage or beef, sauce, and mozzarella. Sprinkle generously with oregano.
Repeat previous step for a second layer.
Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes.

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October 23, 2017

Fried Apple Rings with Powdered Sugar

So, it’s warmer here in New Hampshire than it normally is. There’s been no hard freeze. So I still have apples on trees that are usable. Therefore, the apple apocalypse continues. Since I am drowning in apples, guess what? I decided to incorporate apples into comfort food month. Fried food is also in the pantheon of my comfort food personal universe. So what else could I do, but try to fry some apples?

I added some pie spices to the batter to make the batter less like an onion ring, and dusted them with powdered sugar, because it’s reminiscent of another comfort food, fried dough (still haven’t managed a safe recipe that’s edible). I use a cast iron wok to fry them because it uses less oil. If you make a big batch and have leftovers, they warmed up well in the oven at 350°F for about 20 minutes after being in the fridge overnight, so I imagine they would freeze well also.

Fried Apple Rings with Powdered Sugar

Great for a special breakfast or dessert!

CourseBreakfast, Dessert

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

3-4 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

3-4 minutes

Fried Apple Rings with Powdered Sugar

Great for a special breakfast or dessert!

CourseBreakfast, Dessert

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

3-4 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

3-4 minutes

Ingredients

Apples

3-4 apples use apples best for baking pies for the best flavor
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (if you are allergic to corn, you can make your own with 2 cups of sugar, a tablespoon of tapioca starch, and a blender)

Batter

1/4 cup cassava flour
1 cup garbanzo or besan flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup water

Frying Materials

safe for you oil for frying
stainless steel pot, cast iron dutch oven, or cast iron wok
thermometer
tongs or a spider

Servings: people

Instructions

Peel, core, and slice apples to about quarter of an inch thick.
Place all dry batter ingredients in a bowl and mix together until well combined. Add water and stir until well combined.
Add safe oil to stainless pot or cast iron dutch oven. Heat oil to 400°F over medium heat.
Dip apple rings in batter and deep fry in oil turning until golden brown. Place on rack over paper towels or a plate with paper towels to cool a bit before serving.
Once the fried apples have cooled a bit, dust with powdered sugar and serve.

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October 16, 2017

MaryKate’s Favorite Baked Potatoes

Back in January when Denise and I outlined our year, I knew that “comfort food month” would include potatoes. My absolute go-to whenever I want comfort food is some form of potato. For me, the fries at 5 Guys are safe, so on a road trip, I’m likely to hit them up. I have made meals out of mashed potatoes, potato patties, tater tots, and any other form of potato you can think of. We have a lot of potato recipes! And they aren’t even all mine.

But what I eventually landed on were baked potatoes. So this isn’t really a recipe. You’ve probably baked a potato — you have, right? Maybe you loved it, maybe it was just okay. But if you bake a perfect baked potato and top it with enough stuff, you have a great dinner — warm and hearty and satisfying. And then you can eat the skin, like a reverse appetizer.

So I went looking for the “best” baked potato recipe and found that cookbooks and internet writers had SO MANY different ideas on what makes a perfect baked potato. Now almost none of them describe the intended results, so it’s hard to know what they see as perfect. For me, the perfect baked potato is soft and fluffy on the inside, with a tender and crispy skin.

People suggest a lot of different temperatures, but 350ºF and 425ºF come up more often than 375ºF and 400ºF, so I stuck with those two. Most recipes tell you to scrub the potatoes and poke holes in the skin with a fork, though the old Joy of Cooking has you poke holes only halfway through baking. While this makes some sense, the joy of baking potatoes is that, though it takes a long time, you don’t have to DO anything during that time. Try it if you want, but I’ll never remember to do that again. Coating the outside of the potato is also popular — wrapping it in foil, oiling the skin, oil and salting the skin, buttering the outside. My mom never did any of that, so I never did, but I’ve now tried them all.

So here’s my verdict:

First off, I think Alton Brown’s recipe worked the best for me. I think that 350ºF produces the fluffiest potatoes, but it takes 20 minutes longer than 450ºF. I think that lightly coating the skin with olive oil does actually produce a fluffier potato, but with a slightly less crispy skin than no coating. Vegan margarine will produce an even tenderer skin. I do not want to foil wrap my potatoes as it seems wasteful, so I didn’t try that. I think poking holes in the potatoes with a meat fork (long tines) makes a fluffier center than using a dinner fork. Two stabs with the fork seem to be enough; 4 stabs (2 per side) didn’t make a noticeable difference to me.

If you don’t have 85 minutes to wait for dinner (assuming 5 minutes of prep), a good compromise is to microwave the washed and stabbed potatoes for 10 minutes and then bake them at 425ºF for 20-30 minutes. I know this doesn’t save a bunch of time, but it is half. I do not coat the potatoes with anything when I do this, and I use the toaster oven because my big oven won’t heat up in 10 minutes. This is not AS good, but it is good.

As for topping the potato, here are just a few of my thoughts:

butter, vegan margarine, or a margarine that’s safe for you
cashew sour cream, tofu sour cream, or dairy sour cream
chives, salt, pepper
bacon
broccoli
any form of cheese or cheese substitute that is safe for you
cashew ranch dressing
leftover chili, pulled pork, pot roast, or other meat
barbecue sauce
ketchup
any form of chickpea masala
curried vegetables
any combination of the above that sounds good to you
anything else in the fridge that seems like it would taste good

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MaryKate’s Favorite Baked Potatoes

CourseMain Dish

MaryKate’s Favorite Baked Potatoes

CourseMain Dish

Ingredients

1 potato per person
1 teaspoon olive oil or margarine or other oil
salt if desired
potato toppings of choice

Servings:

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 F
Wash and scrub potatoes, being sure to remove any patches of dirt.
Dry the potatoes. Poke 1-2 times per side with a long-tined fork (as in one for serving meat) or a small paring knife — holes should go at least 1/3 of the way through the potato if possible.
Rub potatoes with the oil of your choice — olive oil will yield a slightly crunchy skin, vegan margarine gives a more tender skin. Alton Brown claims that the oil will help hold in more steam, making the potatoes fluffier, and my skepticism at that is now cured. It seems to work. Add a sprinkle of salt if you want it.
Place potatoes in oven, directly on the rack. Bake for 80 minutes. If you’re impatient, you can check them at 60. Using a pot holder, squeeze the potatoes to see if they give easily. If so, they’re done.
The way my mother taught me to open a potato gives you a good container for stuffing it full of fillings. Cut a slit lengthwise in the top of the potato, but leave 1/2 inch or so from either end. Push in at either end sort of “pop” the potato open. Pop the sides and the ends again if you need to — you should get a solid base and a wide open potato.
Stuff it with everything you love. When you’re finished with that part, add some margarine and salt and pepper to the skin and eat that, too.
Feel the potato joy.

Recipe Notes

I tend to buy potatoes that fit solidly in my hand. I like a nice regular oval shape, same thickness throughout. Buy the appropriate size for the part of the meal — I like them big because they ARE the meal. Potatoes should be firm, with no soft spots, irregular ends, eyes growing out of them, and no green hue to the skin. Use those for something else where you can cut away the questionable bits.

The potatoes in the photos above just have some vegan Earth Balance margarine and chives on them.

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October 9, 2017

Hot Chocolate Mix, Vegan and Gluten-Free

Guess what? This month we’re doing comfort foods as our theme. And I had all these big plans about what I was going to make. But harvest season in New Hampshire has been driving me insane, since just had our first frost and now I am trying to get things (apples, kale, etc.) processed before the first hard freeze. Frankly, I’m having trouble keeping up with things.

So in trying to think about what would be comforting and since the weather has been a bit nippy, I thought about hot chocolate. And the fact that hot chocolate isn’t really that simple for me any more. I used to get Mayan Drinking Chocolate at the Dancing Lion in Manchester, New Hampshire, but I don’t seem to be tolerating it as well anymore. (If you can tolerate it, seriously, order some now, but we have no affiliation, etc.) I think my sensitivity to my allergens has increased. After thinking about it, I decided having a quick hot chocolate mix would be comforting. This mix is reminiscent of the Mayan Drinking Chocolate in flavor profile, but since it doesn’t have any cocoa butter in it, I made it with my homemade cashew milk so it would have some body. You could try it with water as well and I likely will, I just haven’t had the chance. If you aren’t sure you want the little kick the cayenne gives the mix, you can leave it out. Enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Mix mixed with nondairy milk

Hot Chocolate Mix, Vegan and Gluten-Free

Hot chocolate mix to use with non-dairy mix in the cold weather with a bit of a kick.

CourseDrinks, Ingredient/Staple

Servings	Prep Time
2 cups	5 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
2 cups	5 minutes

Hot Chocolate Mix, Vegan and Gluten-Free

Hot chocolate mix to use with non-dairy mix in the cold weather with a bit of a kick.

CourseDrinks, Ingredient/Staple

Servings	Prep Time
2 cups	5 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
2 cups	5 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I do best with Wilderness Family Naturals)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

Servings: cups

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until well combined.
Whisk in 1-2 tablespoons per cup of non-dairy milk and heat.

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October 2, 2017

Pear Shrub

For try something new month, I was intrigued by the number of shrubs and bitters and other odd old revival drinks out there. I’m not a big soda fan anymore, but sometimes I do want something more interesting than water. Shrub sounded like a good way to dive in and also finally get into Infusing Flavors, a cookbook I bought this winter and haven’t really used yet.

Now, if I’m honest, I’m cheating her. “Infusing” isn’t really a new technique for any of us. Ever made tea? You’ve infused. Congrats! But adding more flavor to oils, vinegars, sugars, and salts is a great way to expand my kitchen, and learning to make syrups, gastriques, and other sauces is the easiest way to liven up a quick weeknight dish. Here’s my issue with “real” infusing — it takes TIME. Shrub takes maybe 15 active minutes to make, but 5-7 days to infuse. Even tea takes time, but not a week. I’m not that great at planning that far in advance. The shrub is tasty, though, and worth waiting to drink.

A shrub is a “drinking vinegar,” in this case apple cider vinegar infused with pear, cloves, and nutmeg. This recipe makes a syrup that you then mix with water, carbonated or not as you please. I chose the pear shrub because if the subtle spicing and the fact that it’s pear season. This is not an original STFAA recipe, but maybe you’ll decide to try a shrub — and then try infusing some more flavors into your ingredients?

AGAIN, A NOTE: THIS RECIPE SHOULD SIT IN YOUR FRIDGE FOR A WEEK BEFORE SERVING.

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Pear Shrub from Erin Coopey’s Infusing Flavors

This recipe is very mildly modified from the recipe in Erin Coopey’s Infusing Flavors (2016). I made it more suitable for most vegans by substituting agave syrup for the honey in the original recipe. THIS RECIPE TAKES 1 WEEK TO MAKE

CourseDrinks

Servings

16 servings

Passive Time

7 DAYS

Servings

16 servings

Passive Time

7 DAYS

Pear Shrub from Erin Coopey’s Infusing Flavors

This recipe is very mildly modified from the recipe in Erin Coopey’s Infusing Flavors (2016). I made it more suitable for most vegans by substituting agave syrup for the honey in the original recipe. THIS RECIPE TAKES 1 WEEK TO MAKE

CourseDrinks

Servings

16 servings

Passive Time

7 DAYS

Servings

16 servings

Passive Time

7 DAYS

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup agave syrup or other liquid sweetener
1 cup apple cider vinegar I always prefer Bragg’s
2 cloves whole
4 medium pears
pinch nutmeg

Servings: servings

Instructions

Combine the sugar, syrup, vinegar, and cloves in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Stir occasionally.
Let cool, then pour over diced pears in a non-reactive bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Strain and store in a sterile jar. Refrigerate for 5 to 7 days before serving.
Recommended dilution: 2-4 Tablespoons shrub syrup to 8 oz water. This is a good starting place, but I like it a little stronger, about 2T to 4 oz., so about double.

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September 25, 2017

Tag: Fish/shellfish-free

Chili Lime Hot Sauce