The Hearth

Apple Butter BBQ Sauce

Apple Butter

  • 4 lbs of good cooking apples (I used Pink Crisp's this time due to availability, I think crabs or other baking apples would likely have even better results)
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cups water
  • Sugar (about 2 cups white and 1 cup brown, see cooking instructions)
  • Pinch-o-Salt 
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon fancy molasses
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 tea spoon nutmeg
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice

1. Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them (much of the pectin is in the cores and flavor in the peels), cut out damaged parts.

1st round of cooking - the apples

2. Put them into large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

             Measure out the purée and add the sugar and spices

3. Ladle apple mixture into a chinois sieve and using a pestle force pulp from the chinois into a large bowl below. Measure resulting puree. Add 1/2 cup of sugar for each cup of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add a dash of salt, and the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

2nd round of cooking - reducing the apple butter

4. Cook uncovered in a large, wide, thick-bottomed pot on medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to make sure a crust is not forming at the bottom. Cook until thick and smooth (about 1 to 2 hours). A small bit spooned onto a chilled (in the freezer) plate will be thick, not runny. You can also cook the purée on low heat, stirring only occasionally, but this will take much longer as stirring encourages evaporation.

Makes ~ 3 cups (depending on how far you reduce it. Keep tasting as you stir to make sure you don't over reduce)

Apple Butter BBQ Sauce

Ingredients
3 cups Apple Butter (make your own!)
4 tbsps  butter 
1/2  onions (grated) 
1/2 cup  yellow mustard (use French's.......be good to your food) 
1/2 cup  brown sugar 
1/2 cup  cider vinegar 
1 tbsp  dry mustard  
1/4 tsp  cayenne, jalapeno or whatever hotness you prefer.
1  bay leaf 
Pinch-o-Salt (to taste) 

1. Heat the butter over medium heat until it's frothy, then add the onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Do not let the onions brown.
2. Add everything else, stir well and simmer slowly for 30 minutes or more.

Enjoy


Curried Cauliflower

Here is a simple but tasty way to cook cauliflower.

Make your favorite curry, but add a little extra peanut or grape seed oil. Here's a simple all powdered spices version I like for this particular method of cooking cauliflower.

Preheat oven to 365 F (350 F if convection)

Wash a whole head of cauliflower, remove leaves and cut out base just enough to ensure the head sits flat, but does not fall apart.

1 Tsp Each:

Paprika
Tumeric
Cumin

1/2 Tsp Each:
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt

1/4 Tsp Ginger (optional)

1/3 cup oil

Mix all ingredients with mini whisk or fork in a glass  microwavable container

Nuke 15-30 seconds to heat oil (hot but not crazy hot). This helps the powders infuse into the oil. Whisk again and let sit a few minutes.

Place on baking sheet brushing a small amount of oil the bottom of the cauliflower. Brush the rest of the head with curried oil to coat entire surface. This will use most of the mixture and it will soak into the cauliflower. Save some for a final brushing towards the end of cooking time.

Cook 35-45 minutes checking consistency after 30 minutes and remove when desired firmness has been reached.



Homesteaders Thanks Giving

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving. I bought a turkey fryer and did a goose and a chicken. The chicken turned out amazing in about 10 minutes, but unfortunately I think I slightly over cooked the goose, as it was very dry. It tasted amazing though thanks to Laura's awesome marinating skills. She also did  awesome veg, a Quinoa Stuffing, and and absolutely amazing Cheese Terrine. I did the Olive Bread though, so at least I chipped in a bit for the meal.








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23 Sep 2011 Autumn Equinox a.k.a. Mabon

Here are some of my Mabon plans, I will be making some recipes I found on about.com:

Dark Mother Bread - Mabon Honey Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
2 C. warm water
1 Tbs. active dry yeast
1/3 C. honey
3 C. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 C. vegetable oil
2 Tbs. butter
4 C. all purpose baking flour
Preparation:
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add honey and mix well.
Stir in the whole wheat flour, salt, vegetable oil, and butter and mix until a stiff dough has formed. Gradually work the all-purpose flour into the mix, one cup at a time.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop, and knead for about fifteen minutes. When it reaches the point where it's sort of elastic, shape it into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl. Cover with a warm, damp cloth, and allow to sit and rise until it's doubled in size -- usually about 45 minutes.
Punch the dough down and cut in half, so you can make two loaves of bread. Place each half in a greased loaf pan, and allow to rise. Once the dough has risen an inch or two above the top of the loaf pan, pop them in the oven. Bake at 375 for half an hour, or until golden brown at the top.
When you remove the loaves from the oven, allow to cool for about fifteen minutes before removing from the pan. If you like, brush some melted butter over the top of the hot loaves, to add a pretty golden glaze to them.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
1 large butternut squash, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup diced onion
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups chicken broth
dash ground ginger
dash ground nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt, to taste
butter-toasted pumpkin seeds, optional, see below
Preparation:
Using a vegetable peeler, peel the squash. Cut into chunks, removing seeds and soft fibers with a spoon. Put in a bowl; add apple cider, brown sugar, and cinnamon stick pieces then drizzle all over with the melted butter. Pour the mixture into a 9x13-inch baking pan; cover tightly with foil and cook at 450° for 1 hour, or until very tender. Meanwhile, cook diced onion in a large saucepan in the 2 tablespoons butter. When onion is ver tender, add chicken broth; bring to a boil; remove from heat and set aside. When squash is very tender, remove from oven. Remove cinnamon from the squash. With a slotted spoon, transfer the squash to the chicken broth and onion mixture. Add about 1/4 cup of the roasting pan juices to the saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Working in about 4 batches, puree the squash mixture in a blender; return to the saucepan. Stir in the ginger and nutmeg and the heavy cream, along with salt, to taste. Heat through. Serve with butter-toasted pumpkin seeds (below), if desired, or sprinkle with a little cinnamon, toasted pecans, or chopped peanuts.
Butter-Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
In a small skillet, heat 2 teaspoons butter; add a few tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and cook over medium-low heat until lightly browned. Transfer to a paper towel to drain; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Makes about 8 cups of soup.

and;

Renaissance Faire Turkey Leg
Ingredients:
A turkey leg for each person you're feeding
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
--
**Brine**
4 quarts of water
1/2 C kosher salt or sea salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
--
**Basting Sauce**
Honey
Your favorite barbeque sauce
Red wine vinegar
Preparation:
Combine the water, kosher salt and sugar and mix well. Place the turkey drumsticks in the brine so they're completely covered -- if you're making a lot of turkey legs, you may need to double the amount of brine.
Refrigerate your turkey legs, in the brine solution, over night. Remove from the fridge about an hour before cooking, so they can reach room temperature.
When you're ready to cook, remove the turkey legs from the brine and pat them dry. Brush each turkey leg lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Preheat your grill.
Combine the honey, barbeque sauce and red wine vinegar to taste. Some people like sweeter, so if that's you, use more honey. If you like your sauce tangier, use more vinegar.
Place the turkey legs on the grill over low heat. Brush them with the sauce periodically, and turn them so they can grill evenly all over. Keep the lid closed as much as possible.
Keep grilling the turkey legs for about 30 minutes, turning and basting them occasionally, until done. When finished, remove them from the grill and wrap them in aluminum foil for about fifteen minutes to finish cooking. Enjoy your turkey legs with a big drumstick in one hand, and a tankard of ale in the other!
I will post pictures once I have prepared the plates.


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Of the many hobbies I enjoy, cooking may be the one I love the most. I will refrain from making any real posts here until I am harvesting my own meat and vegetables, but I think it's safe to say I will have some quail recipes up here in a few weeks. I often experiment and come up with my own recipes, and sometimes I get inspiration from the web, I especially like Cooks.com . As well I am a huge fan of the Food Network, with Chef Michael Smith (from PEI) being my favorite host. I get more actual cooking ideas from him than any other chef.

For now here is a picture of a Pheasant I rotisseried a few weeks ago.....



































Again, stay tuned....... I promise there will be more yummy dishes added soon.