Life, Interrupted

The hero of my fantasy series Night Calls is Alfreda Sorensson, a young practitioner on her way to being a full blown wizard. While I am not Allie, I carry in my heart many of the things she loves and creates wherever she lives. I grow herbs when I can, seek out fresh, organic food and seasonings, and dream of growing heritage apple trees. In a sense, the seeds of her grimoire, Denizens of the Night, are stashed in bits and pieces in folders and my computer.

It’s the season for her elderberry cordial, so I thought I’d share her recipe with you.

This recipe is traditionally used to keep pretty much everything in the unfriendly microbe category away. Fans of it back in colder climes start making it in November and take it until March. Refrigerated the mix can last two months or so, and then seems to go off slightly in flavor. If you cut the honey, it doesn’t last as long. I personally make 2-3 batches a winter. If you are taking it only for preventative purposes and stay healthy, you probably need only a teaspoon a day. If ill or immune compromised, or everyone else at work is ill, you may choose to take up to a tablespoon a day. When ill, if you can keep it down, a half teaspoon an hour might help.

Does this really work? Well, I haven’t had flu in the ten years I’ve made this recipe. So either it works for me, or my immune system is now scary strong. YMMV. I am not a doctor or a practitioner.

Yes, this could be the base for an alcoholic version, but the honey benefits will probably die gasping under the alcohol. Check with your herbalist, or research medicinal cordials. I never add alcohol to mine, but alcohol in correct proportions could make it shelf stable. Use good honey, not mixed from all over the world pasteurized stuff. Honey has curative properties, but you don’t want the honey to get too hot. So do NOT add honey before boiling; add after the mix has cooled down quite a bit.

Remember, do not give this to a child under two years of age. Research honey–there are sound reasons why you don’t give it to infants or toddlers.

Elderbery Cordial for Health

1 cup dried elderberries (organic if possible)
4 cups filtered water
1 square inch peeled organic ginger, slivered up or grated (if desired)
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
sprinkle ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Ceylonese cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Saigon Cassia cinnamon

Up to one cup unpasteurized local honey.

Bring water, berries, ginger, and spice mixture to a low, rolling boil. Cook at a gentle roll for fifteen minutes, mostly covered (it can spatter) but not sealed as boil-over will happen. Then set aside to cool down a bit.

Set strainer in 4 quart Pyrex measuring cup; strain mixture. Gently press berries and ginger to get last of juice out. Compost berries, if you compost. Let juice cool some more. You may have up to 3 cups of liquid.

Add one cup of unpasteurized honey. I sample until desired sweetness is reached, but do not add more than one cup. Stir until dissolved, then carefully pour into a clean one quart wide mouth ball jar. (You may add more spring water to recover a full four cups, if desired. But boil that water first.) Refrigerate. Always use a clean spoon each time you dip into the jar. I actually stir and then pour into a shot glass and shoot my morning cordial. You’ve got enough for 1 tsp. a day for three people, with a full recipe. I have halved this in the past to keep it fresh, or if I am heading out for holidays for a few weeks. I try to start taking this two weeks before extensive travel, and then make more on my return.

Thanks to writer Becky Kyle for the ginger suggestion.

I will add that I most definitely am not a medical practitioner. If this has entertained you, I’m glad. And if you feel this traditional berry can improve your life, Allie is delighted that you made its acquaintance!

This is a gluten-free soup, BTW.

It was hard to name this, because "Texas" implies heat, or BBQ, and you will find neither in this--except for some grated Daikon radish. That may be a surprise. When I don't feel quite right, it's time for a touch soup--that's when I simply wander the market, reaching for but not touching vegetables. If my hand relaxes on the veggie, it's desired for the soup. So the recipe comes after the selection. Today, I went heavily white root.

This Saturday I chose:

1/2 of one large white onion, peeled and diced
2 cups water
2 bunches of maroon carrots--short, fat fellows sometimes called Rainbow. Diagonal sliced.
5 medium to small Japanese white turnips, diced
1 heaping teaspoon grated Daikon radish. A friend warned me about fresh Daikon radish!
One 32 ounce ball jar bone broth (made only with sea salt), with fat (I had lamb on hand)
1 small-medium garnet sweet potato, peeled and rough diced
Two cloves classic white garlic, peeled, cored and minced
1 bunch young, skinny parsnips, trimmed, peeled, diced, and sauteed prior to adding to soup. (I used EVOO to saute.)
Grey Celtic Salt, coarse. About a teaspoon.
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The deep flavor comes from a bone broth as the base. You may want more salt, spices, some herbs--I'm in healing mode again, so I stopped here. And am about to go eat my root veggie lunch. First, I'll bake some tapioca with Parmesan center rolls!

Right now, this will be a link, not the recipe itself, because the person who introduced me to the recipe has it in her archive. That's http://eats.pinjing,net, whose owner often has great recipes. She got the recipe from The Cinnamon Quill.

Mochi Brownie Two-Bites

Why did I think to mention this now? Well, I did just send the recipe link to someone yesterday. But I made some for two friends Friday, and had a bit of dough left over. (My mini pan holds 24, and I doubled the recipe.) I put the overflow into a sealed glass container before fleeing the house. Three days later, I made up the refrigerated brownie dough.

These gluten free brownies are great! A little bit lighter than the original, more like a chewy cake than the dense mochi bites. So, if the original brownies are a bit dense for you, the dough kept well for 72 hours and cooked up without any additions.

And the subject is...the perfect chocolate chip cookie. And it's gluten-free. See my take on it over here, with links to a real pastry artist's books and site.

I'll be packing up a box of these for bevhale today.

Americans were reminded that we were not immune to the troubles of the world.

Here is one woman's memory, and her reminder that we know how to pull together in a crisis -- we know how to forge a community. We do it every day in the blog communities we set up.

So, she offers us her story, and a recipe.

http://www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/2010/09/symons-homemade-spaghetti-with-heirloom.html

I'm part Pennsylvania Dutch -- we bring food to everything. This comforts me.

Here's the article from Dining & Wine in the NYT -- on finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Look fast, it's the New York Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

And here's the recipe --

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html?oref=slogin

When a pear goes bad and tries to take its siblings with it, there’s only one solution...pear sorbet. I looked on-line, I looked in FROZEN DESSERTS by Liddell & Weir, and THE ULTIMATE ICE CREAM BOOK by Weinstein, didn’t find exactly what I wanted, and threw this together from the books and instinct. I recommend both these books. Weinstein’s book has cone recipes, too. The great strength to Liddell & Weir’s book is they teach you a good simple syrup (super-saturated liquid sugar) recipe, and all the recipes in their book use that same ratio of sugar to water. This is a big deal – they tested in LOTS of different brands of freezers. Recipes online need to give you their own recipe for the syrup, or you’ll have no idea how sweet the recipe will be -- or if the ratio of liquid to solid works. I always try to test an on-line recipe before I need it for a party.

Remember – pears can fool you. The one with the rotten spot had chemically changed the entire pear; it was toast. Taste each ripe pear to be sure it hasn’t gone too far!

( By request, the recipe follows )

As promised... (We love our diet....)

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries (our version)

1 ounce 62% cacao Scharffen Berger semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 ounce Lake Champlain dark chocolate, chopped

1/2 Tbsp. whipping cream

Dash favorite extract

8 strawberries, washed, pat dry or air dry (or can mess up results) Retain caps for holding

Place chopped chocolate (I use a serrated bread knife, which works like a champ) and whipping cream into a Pyrex measuring cup or bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power, stir, then another 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir in your favorite extract (I recommend vanilla or almond) and let chocolate cool slightly.

Dip each dry strawberry in the chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. Place on a piece of parchment paper on a small plate. Refrigerate or freeze for a minimum of 15 minutes to set chocolate.

This serves 2. (Yes--you can make this with Nestles semisweet chips. It will not melt as smoothly, requiring more whipping cream, and will not pop off the parchment or naked plate as smoothly. But in a pinch, it's tasty.)

Like I have said--South Beach Diet is very livable. We were doing this with straight S-B, but my taste buds are changing again, and the last batch tasted burnt to me--so the addition of the Lake Champaign for smoothness.

I am more interested in cooking for allergies. Who knows where this will end?