Blueberry Cake

One of the local potato farmers keeps a couple of fields in low bush blueberries. These are the true Nordic blueberries, about the size of a large pea, that are either handpicked or hand-raked with something like a cranberry scoop. There is no easy mechanized way to pick low bush blueberries, so they are a labour intensive crop. Equally, though, they are a low maintenance crop, and the bushes last for years, preferring our acidic soil. I didn't hand pick this year, which would mean each pound would have cost $1.35; I bought picked berries at five pounds for $16. That is still a bargain considering what berries cost in the supermarket.

I had made a blueberry grunt previously, but I found the biscuit dough could have been sweeter, and I should have used more berries. It was good, but not the best showcase for the beautiful berries. My mother used to make what she called a "buckle" with any fresh berry we happened to pick. A buckle is, essentially, a white cake with berries folded into the batter. Sometimes it has a crumb topping, but I prefer just a sprinkle of sugar instead.

Equipment: Cake pan, either 9" round or 9" square, mixing bowl, electric hand mixer or pastry blender and wooden spoon.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter; 3/4 cup white sugar; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 cups white flour; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon baking soda;1 cup milk; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; one cup or more of blueberries, fresh or frozen.

Directions: Let the butter soften at room temperature, then cream it with the sugar, using either the mixer or the pastry blender. Beat in the eggs. (You will switch to the spoon if you are doing this by hand.) Sift or stir the cream of tartar and the baking soda into the flour, add about half of the flour mixture, stir; then the milk, and finish with the rest of the flour. Add the vanilla last. Beat it until it is almost smooth, but don't over beat. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula or spoon, gently mixing into the batter.

Butter and flour the cake pan, pour the batter in, and smooth it a bit on the top. Have the oven preheated to 350F, bake for about 45 minutes, but I'd test it after 30 minutes just to see how done it is getting. About ten minutes before removing from the oven, sift some ordinary white sugar on the top.

This is good warm, with whipped cream or ice cream, but we eat it plain. It will keep a couple of days. It is relatively low in sugar for a cake dessert, since there is no frosting. Don't try to substitute cooking oil for the butter, or it will be flat. It makes at least eight servings, so I'm not going to say it is low in fat!

Radish Relish, Radish Relish, Radish Relish

I had an excellent crop of radishes. Very few split, none bolted. Lots of radishes! I don't particularly like radishes, except sliced into a salad. My husband will eat a few with a meal. They don't store well, and they can't be frozen. I gave some away, but still had too many.

I found a recipe for radish pickles, but there was a caveat that the radishes tended to get wizened and unattractive. Thanks for the warning. I'm not going to bother with an unattractive pickle, thank you.

Radish relish sounded better, although the recipe seemed to be more celery than radish, and I don't like celery much. So I modified that considerably, using just the proportions given to calculate how much vegetable to syrup I needed.

I used an old fashioned food grinder/grain mill to chop the radishes and onions. If you have or can borrow a food processor that would work well, too. A blender wouldn't work, I think, and the strainer type food mill wouldn't handle the tough radishes. A hand grater would be impossible.

So, equipment needed: Food grinder or processor; medium sized pot; pint or half-pint jars for a total of 2 pints; canning lids for those jars; hot water bath canner and jar lifter.

Ingredients: 3 cups or so radishes, any variety; 2 medium onions; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 cup white sugar; 1 tablespoon brown mustard seed; 2 teaspoons dill seed; 1/2 teaspoon celery seed (increase to 1 teaspoon if you like); 1 teaspoon coriander seed; 1 cup cider vinegar.

Grind the radishes, having topped, tailed and scrubbed them, but don't peel them, as the skin lends the colour; peel and quarter the onions, then grind into the radish mixture. Mix with the rest of the ingredients, cover and let stand overnight. Make sure you are using a non-reactive bowl or pot, not aluminum or non-stick. When ready to can, bring the mixture to a boil and cook about ten minutes. Process in the hot water canner for 20 minutes.

The old fashioned mill I used is like the one my mother had. Once clamped to a suitable tabletop or counter - and it took three attempts to find one the appropriate thickness and stability - be sure to place a pot under it, as the juices run through. I had a puddle of pink juice at first, cleaned that up, got a pot and hastily improvised rags under it, and still had splashes. Canning is not a job that calls for a white apron. The juice did not stain, though. I use a small roasting pan to catch the ground vegetables, as a bowl is too high. Use a heavy wooden spoon as a pusher, especially if you are the kind of person who tends to poke at jammed items in a chute while simultaneously trying to clear the clog by wiggling the handle. Ouch. That nail will have to be removed in the ER. (No, I didn't do that this time, because I had a wooden spoon.)

Toad in the Hole

This is a British invention, with a cute Cockney name. It is Yorkshire pudding poured over sausages and baked until puffy and brown. I found out recently that it is also a Mennonite dish called sausage pudding. Possibly, the Waterloo County Mennonites in Ontario learned it from their English neighbours.

Yorkshire Pudding is not a sweet dessert. The "pudding" part refers, I believe, to the batter. Usually Yorkshire Pudding is made in the roasting pan after the beef comes out to rest before carving. The egg batter is poured onto the still hot fat after the juices are decanted for gravy. Poor Cockneys: (the inhabitants of the working class East End of London), they got the sizzle of Yorkshire pudding but no steak. A bit of bacon dripping, a few sausages, and the egg batter made a supper dish that served a family for a few pence.

Equipment:Skillet, mixing bowl, wire whisk, baking pan about 9" square, or pie plate.

Ingredients: One pound or more of sausages such as breakfast style or links - I buy locally made sausages, as we have two good butchers nearby; 2 whole eggs; 3/4 cup flour; a pinch of salt; 1 cup milk.

Directions: Brown the sausages in a skillet, adding additional fat such as bacon drippings or cooking oil to make 2-3 tablespoons. Meanwhile, make the batter by beating eggs into milk and adding flour and salt, beating well until almost smooth. Pour hot fat from skillet into baking dish, add sausages, distributing evenly. Immediately pour the batter on top, and place in 375F oven for 30-45 minutes, until batter has risen, top is browned, but the center is custardy. A knife inserted at the middle of the pan will come out clean, without eggy strands.

Serve it immediately with seasonal vegetables. It doesn't need much accompaniment, but some like it with a beef gravy. I like it plain. I sometimes add crumbled bacon to the batter. Fry leftover pudding for breakfast.

My husband's mother made this, as well as other Cockney delicacies like bubble and squeak, steak and kidney pie, and trotters.

Irish Soda Bread

I've had good Irish soda bread and some that was hair-raising. One recipe I tried always fell flat for me, although the original recipe, made by someone else, was delicious. I suspect that an important ingredient got left out in the transmission. Another much-vaunted original Irish family recipe was bitter with soda. Another was just a big greasy scone. I had been using a whole wheat recipe from Britain, but it didn't rise much although the flavour was good. I never thought to look in a Mennonite cookbook for a recipe for Irish soda bread.

Edna Staebler had her original recipe from her great-grandmother, and published it back in 1968. So that's how old it is! I've had to modify it quite a bit to work with today's grocery store ingredients. People don't have buttermilk or soured milk sitting around anymore.

Equipment: Mixing bowl, wooden spoon, pastry blender or fork, two buttered cake pans or pie plates, floured board or countertop.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar (or less)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups currants, raisins, dried fruit, or a mix
1/4 cup butter or shortening (I use lard)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 3/4 cups sour milk - or buttermilk, or milk with 2 teaspoons of vinegar added, or 3/4 cup of milk and a cup of yogurt

Directions:
Combine all dry ingredients, adding the fruit at the same time. Get the fruit stirred in well to the flour. Cut shortening into dry mixture. (Edna used her electric mixer but I use a pastry blender.) Stir the egg lightly into the milk, add to the dry mixture, and stir until blended through. Knead on a flour board for just a couple of minutes, until smooth. Divide in half, pat each half down into a buttered cake tin, slash top with an X and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes. Good while hot, with lots of butter, or cold with a smidge of butter or peanut butter.

The loaf pictured at the top is whole wheat, no fruit, and I served it with homemade chicken noodle soup. You can modify the recipe in many ways. I love the bread with dried cranberries, golden raisins and the nutmeg. Currants and nutmeg is an excellent combination, too.

Delicious Fresh Side Dishes

I once heard a friend's husband grumble, "I'm a meat and potatoes man!" when he was served a salad with his meal. I know, potatoes are vegetables, and the beef is grass-fed. Still, the vegetables aren't just to convey vitamins. They can be the balance to the meat and potatoes, in taste and texture as well as colour.

I'm not a fan of kitchen-sink salads, where everything is tossed in -- raw, cooked or pickled. It was a fad in American restaurants for a while, I think. One was presented with a huge wooden bowl overfilled with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion, sliced radishes, pickled beets, boiled egg, three kinds of diced meat and two kinds of grated cheese. This was accompanied by a half cup or more of sweetish cream dressing. There might be olives or peperoncini or nuts in it, too. It was enough food for four people. It was the salad bar brought to you. I see salad bars are in decline. There is a lot of waste in a buffet of any kind, and spoilage. One dish of salmonella salad dressing, and the owner might as well close the doors.

I don't make big salads because my husband is not one to eat raw greens much. A salad big enough for the two of us fits in a small serving bowl. We are almost at the end of our lettuce season in the garden, and I pull what I need for that meal, drop it into a colander in a bowl of cold water, let is sit for a few minutes, take it out, give it a quick additional rinse, then dry it in a clean cotton tea towel. (I do this by laying out the leaves and rolling up the towel.) In addition, I add some of the softer herbs like basil and parsley fresh from the herb garden.

We don't have any tomatoes ripe yet, so for added flavour and texture contrast, I have been using radishes. We have lots of radishes. Radishes do not keep well, getting soft and unappealing in about 48 hours, so I take just what I want for the day. We sometimes eat the small ones whole.

A good light dressing is nothing more than olive oil with a little flavoured vinegar added, shaken together. I make rosemary vinegar by adding about two tablespoons of dried rosemary to a quart of cider vinegar, and letting it marinate for a couple of weeks. Strain, and keep in a jar in the cupboard for, oh, maybe a long time. It doesn't go bad.

I don't recommend making flavoured oils, even garlic. The herbs or ingredients sometimes cause the oil to go rancid faster. The oils, once an ingredient is introduced, need to be refrigerated.

Our peas were late this year and we haven't had many, but they have been really good. If I don't find enough for a meal, I pick some of the small green beans, or snap larger beans into smaller pieces and cook them with the peas. Rather than boiling them hard, I get a few big parsley leaves, wash those (lettuce will work, too), put the leaves in the bottom of the pot, add between 2 tablespoons and 1/4 cup of water, depending on how much vegetable I am cooking, start the beans simmering, and after a minute or two, add the shelled peas. As the peas are small and fresh, I bring this just up to a boil, take off the heat, and drain. It takes the raw edge off the peas but keeps all the bright green flavour.

Carrots, whether the wee new ones from thinning the patch, or larger ones pared and sliced, are delicious with a pat of butter, about a tablespoon or so of fresh grated gingerroot, and a teaspoon of honey. After cooking the carrots, put them back in the pan and add the butter, ginger and honey. They will melt together as you toss the carrots. Some people want to add parsley here, but I think it ruins the balance of honey and ginger.

For seasoning at the stove, if I am using salt at all, I use coarse sea salt on hot vegetables. It isn't as penetrative as iodized fine salt, coating the vegetables rather than inundating them with salt taste. Most of us get plenty of iodized salt every day in prepared foods to meet our requirement for iodine.

Homemade Mennonite Noodles

I can find the "noodles" recipe in my favourite Mennonite cookbook by touch. The page is gritty with flour. Noodle making is a floury undertaking.

I modified this recipe quite a bit as I used it, as ingredients have changed a bit since the 1950s, when it was first written. For one, eggs aren't usually as fresh or as big as farm eggs used to be. Standardization of breeding has changed that. I wonder, too, if flour has changed a bit, with different wheat varieties - there are fewer heirloom types commercially available - and a better drying process.

Noodles are easy but time consuming. It helps to have someone else to aid with cutting and hanging the noodles to dry. I don't recommend doubling the recipe unless there is someone else to spell with the rolling.

The equipment: Mixing bowl, measuring cup, heavy wooden spoon or steel mixing spoon, rolling pin (mine is marble), counter top or pastry board, sharp knife or rotary pizza cutter, floured tea towels or a folding clothes drying rack.

The ingredients: 2 cups flour, 2 whole eggs or 4 yolks, a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup or so of cold water.

Sprinkle the salt into the flour in the mixing bowl, lightly toss with your hands. Make a little well in the middle of the flour, add the eggs, muddle a little, then blend into the flour, adding the water as needed to make a dough that holds together and doesn't leave a lot of crumbs in the bottom.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board or counter top, and knead lightly until it is smooth and all the crumbly bits are worked in. Divide into four balls, add roll out one ball as thin as possible without tearing it. (Here is where a heavy marble pin really helps.) You are aiming for a rough rectangle in shape. You will never get it commercial egg noodle thin unless you have a pasta machine to roll it.

Put the dough sheet on a cutting board, and using a very sharp pointed knife, or even easier, a sharp pizza cutter, cut the rough rectangle the long way into strips about 1/4" wide, or whatever size you want. I toss the ragged edges aside to reroll.

Hang the cut strips on a drying rack - I use my wooden laundry rack, or lay them out on a floured tea (linen) towel or even a clean sheet if you can't improvise a drying rack. Some Mennonite women hang them on broomsticks laid across the backs of chairs. You can hang towels or sheets over the noodles to keep them clean, but it does slow down the drying. I always put a large towel under the drying rack because I will drop some of the noodles, without fail.

Roll and cut the rest of the noodle dough the same way. Leave it to dry at least a couple of hours. Traditionally, noodles were made in the morning for the evening meal. If there are more noodles than you wish to cook at once, let the rest dry overnight and store them in a canister or jar.

To cook: Get the rest of the meal prepared and hold it warm. Bring a pot of water to a boil, throw in some noodles, and cook at boiling for about five minutes. Test a piece for doneness. When it is cooked to your satisfaction, drain in a colander, and wither serve immediately or use in another dish. If you want to keep noodles in the refrigerator after boiling, toss them with olive oil or a bit of butter.

Serve the noodles dressed with butter and pepper, or with gravy. They are also really good with some fresh grated mild cheese, a little olive oil, and some fresh herbs. They can be the platform for Italian style tomato sauces, as well.

My mother would make them evenings my father was working, and we would have them in tomato soup garnished with bacon bits. We still eat them that way. It is a delicious light supper. Use any favourite canned or tetra pak tomato soup, or make your own by simmering tomato juice until it is reduced in volume by about 25%, then add a spoonful or so of sugar, a pinch of salt, and celery seed or other herbs. The bacon I use is smoked locally and is as dense as ham. I don't buy much of it because I use it mainly as a garnish or flavouring. I add fresh herbs to my soup, since I have a miniature herb garden just outside the door. Basil, chives and parsley are good.

Food Photos

Food blogs are nothing without photos. A food blog without good photos might as well be the 1954 Austin Ladies Guild Cotillion Cookbook. At least thirty-eight percent of the fun of reading about food is to see what it will look like.

Here's the problem for me: I have an unusually high degree of guilt over dishonesty. If I exaggerate even a tiny amount, or shade the truth a wee bit, I will lie awake at night thinking of ways to apologize and correct myself without, you know, losing face in any major way. (Mind, I know this isn't true humility.)

So my photos on the blog will be what I really had to start with, and what I had at the end. There may be an occasional disaster, if in any way it will be helpful to others. I know people don't want to read a bad cooking blog.

I'm a pretty good photographer, although limited in equipment right now. I hope the photos contribute to the reader learning about the preparation of the food. But the illustrations will be honest - I don't dress up food. The items get plated on what I own right now. If you read regularly, you will get to know my kitchen almost as well as I do.