weedy wednesday – pinwheels

stinging nettles are just poking up in little spiky rosettes around our property, so I figured it was time to get some fresh weeds into our diet again. inspired by the bucket dough method, but following the sourdough version & using the dough for pinwheels, I food processed fresh Stellaria with blanched & shocked nettles & dandelion greens, a duck egg, homemade ricotta, homemade butter, and hoped for the best.

worked out well. even K demolished hers. combined with cream of celery soup for a delicious & satisfying dinner on this chilly proto-spring eve.

zucchini wtf

LF scallopini zucchini jars

some ideas of what to do with all of that “bounty”

zucchini on yumvee

sourdough vegan cupcakes on yumvee

sourdough loaf

zucchini and olive breakfast cake on thekitchn

gratin on thekitchn

via Victoria’s Times Colonist – Helen Chestnut (scroll down to the two recipes)

what are your ideas?

100% Rye

100% Rye – Shannon Stronger – Nourishing Days

I recently purchased Nourishing Days’ Shannon Stronger’s 100% Rye sourdough recipe e-book, and have been super thrilled with the results.  I’m using my wild-wrangled-yeast whole rye sourdough starter for the sourdough called for in the recipes, and it seems to work just fine (it’s roughly a 1:1 by volume ratio of flour:water).  I just made the brownies and they are divine – rich, brownie texture, not too sweet (i.e. it’s not the only flavour), but really great chocolate fix.  Our favourites:

Chewy Molasses Snack Bread
No-Knead Multipurpose Dough (more on that in a moment)
No-Knead Sourdough Pizza Crust

I’ve made the above recipes so many times, I’ve almost got them memorized.  I’ve adjusted the multipurpose dough to a “bucket” dough, and find that leaving it in the refrigerator overnight (at least) really improves the resulting bread.  Using Shannon’s No-Knead Sourdough Loaf recipe (but the bucket-ed sourdough) I add 3 tsp cinnamon, and I use a smidge of olive oil before measuring the molasses (I think it’s 5 tbsp molasses that I add), and 3 tsp sea salt (I’m pulling this from the back of my brain, might not be right! check her original recipe, similar to her boule recipe).

I take out about 3 cups of the “bucket” dough and reserve it to start my next bucket – adding no further starter, just following Shannon’s directions for the rest of the multipurpose dough recipe.  I’ve made three loaves from the leftover “bucket” dough: two regular sourdough loaves, plus a raisin loaf, to which I add raisins and more cinnamon and a bit of raw sugar (maybe 2 tbsp) after I’ve removed enough prepared dough for the two regular loaves first.

Recently, I used my Pullman loaf pan (inherited via my aunt’s family who used to run a deli business and baked their bread in that loaf pan every morning) to make up all of the dough in one big loaf (minus the 3 cups removed for starting the next “bucket”), and it was magnificent.  It took longer to bake, but I let it rise first, and baked it at the same temp as Shannon’s regular loaf recipe calls for.

I believe this has been a very successful $6 (roughly!) spent.

Happy Canada Day!

macerating fruit

we’ll be celebrating with an almost all home-grown (our blueberries aren’t ready yet, these are store bought) & foraged berry sourdough pandowdy.  salmon berries, sweet & sour cherries, black raspberries, & strawberries from our little plot ‘o land. this time I macerated the fruit with a little sugar & cointreau.  yumm.

sourdough pandowdy

berry pandowdy

the original recipe was called a “slump” although technically it was a cobbler; we turned it into a pandowdy.  mostly because we liked the name, and because we rolled the dough.  we’re going to call this recipe pandowdy from now on, even if it’s a cobbler with dropped dough, just because it’s so much fun to say.

pandowdy.

the recipe works beautifully with 12 hours souring: just replace the 3/4 cup buttermilk with 1/2 cup sourdough starter and, depending on how moist you need to make it (i.e. rolling vs dropping the dough) either omit further moisture (rolling) or add up to 1/2 cup milk or mylk or water (dropping).  we used lard (we raise pigs) but coconut oil works great for vegan option; butter for non-piggy option. [edit: to sour, cut fat into dry flour & oats, gently incorporate the sourdough. next day, add the leavening agents right before cooking / baking]

sourdough for rolling

K can’t do rhubarb, so we used strawberries from our garden, plus blueberries.

fresh strawberries

 

frozen blueberries

we also omitted the applesauce (didn’t have any) and it worked out just fine. we baked ours so the topping would get crispy. it was very nummy.

natural whole food cupcakes

sadly, I neglected to take a photo of the finished product.  they were very pretty.  something like this:

sourdough cupcakes

but more golden than orange this time, and piped in a swirl (not very well). sigh… it was K’s birthday, and I was somewhat focused on getting out the door than documenting my brilliance.

this one just about nails them all on the head:

✔ vegan (well, the cupcakes are, if not the frosting; that could likely be made vegan)

✔ wheat free (can be gluten free with appropriate sourdough starter)

✔ sourdough (nourishing traditions)

✔ vegetables

✔ no artificial colours

✔ natural sweeteners (other than whatever’s in the cream cheese! –  will try home-made next time!)

✔ delicious

sourdough beetroot cocoa cupcakes with carrot cream cheese frosting

carrot reduction 4 –  5 carrots blendered with juice of one valencia orange, filter through nut mylk bag, reduce until thickened like light syrup

reducing carrot reduction

roasted 3 medium beets (from Makaria Farm’s CSA), combined with some of carrot reduction as it cooked, and carrot pulp, used stick blender to puree; use 1/2 cup for recipe, reserve rest (freeze in 1/2 cup batches for future cupcakes!)

use Minimalist Baker‘s fudgy vegan beet cupcake recipe with 1/2 cup sourdough starter + 1/2 cup sunflower mylk (unfiltered, still has pulp) instead of almond mylk & vinegar

frosting use she cooks…he cleans’ recipe with 1/4 cup carrot reduction instead of maple syrup

carrot reduction

wish I could show you the final results, but they looked good, and tasted great.  yay, me!

sourdough vegan cupcakes

hellyeahitsvegan’s vegan pumpkin cupcakes, via hellyeahitsvegan

my sourdough version:
1/3 c sourdough starter
1/3 c mylk
1 c flour (1/2 sorghum, 1/4 teff, 1/4 arrowroot)
sour overnight

next morning, mix 1 cup cooked sweet potato
1 ripe banana
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each cardamom & cloves
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

combine with soured ingredients
bake @ 350F until done (20 min or more)

result: pretty tasty, quite moist, nice little cupcake

Sourdough Delicata Loaf

sourdough delicata loaf

we grew some delicata squash this year and they are super sweet, extremely starchy, and little.  perfect for baking with.  success as cupcakes, but also very successful using the sourdough muffin/loaf foundation recipe.  maple syrup for the sweetness plus a little bit of cane juice sugar and some pumpkin seeds for crunch sprinkled atop.

these delicatas are also beautiful braised in apple cider – see Andrea Chesman’s Recipes from the Root Cellar (reprinted here, but the original book is well worth the investment – I’ve many favourites that I go to in the winter from it)

Related articles

• Autumn Comfort Food: Maple Roasted Delicata Squash (truefoodlove.wordpress.com)
• quinoa delicata salad + maple balsamic dressing (yesiwantcake.com)
• Miso-Glazed Delicata Squash (kinseycooks.com)
• Delicata Squash Recipes (101cookbooks.com)
• Delicata Squash: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butternut (modernfarmer.com)

Duck Dinner

waiting for browning

almost ready for the slow cook

everyone raves about duck. whole duck. we usually portion our birds, but I thought, “eh, what the heck”.  the beer braised muscovy recipe on this site (scroll down or ctrl + F once you’re there to find it) intrigued me … we have a “smoky” beer that we brewed (a little heavy handed on the carmelization of the malt, heh, heh) which worked out deliciously.  I got a little carried away with the dried fruit, so it was a bit overpoweringly sweet.

verdict: nummy.

but I’d still rather portion our birds.  look at all the goodies we get out of duck day vs. whole ducks that each result in a meal or two for a family.

Related articles

• Roast Duck Recipe (kissmyingredients.com)
• Confit de Canard aux lentilles de Puy (dinnerwiththesmiths.wordpress.com)
• Duck Confit with Spicy Pickled Raisins (thebittenword.com)
• Recipe: Chinese Ginger Duck (ignoringsoundadvice.wordpress.com)
• Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes (thedomesticman.com)
• if it looks like a duck prosciutto… (classicmarineiguana.wordpress.com)

LF Nettle Kraut

nettle kraut WIP via Gaia’s Gifts

shredded cabbage + chopped stinging nettle (gloves!) + salt + LF vessel = delicious

who knew?

and we’ve now got a fresh crop of stinging nettles off the plants I’d harvested in spring (again, who knew?), along with cabbages sitting awaiting harvest in the garden… another batch to make!

Related articles

• How the Herbal Nettles Can Help You Cure Intestinal Weakness, Diarrhea, and Malnutrition (completeherbalguide.com)
• Wild Green Recipes: Stinging Nettle Pizza (sierraclub.typepad.com)
• Nettle Eating (misterdavid.typepad.com)
• Meet the wild veg forager: ‘I’m a hunter, except I track down plants not animals’ | Meet the producer (theguardian.com)