january food swap: the foodening

part of the reason that the early civilizations were successful was because people had job specialization -- each person had that one special thing that they were good at -- and then people bartered so they could benefit from others' specialties. that's kind of like the food swap.

i'm good at making ice cream, but i don't have the patience or attention span for baking, the knowledge for jams, jellies, pickling, or beer, or the creativity for fancy spreads and dressings. but others do! and so, once a month, i get together with some other folks from around tucson and we swap delicious snacks.

here's the spread from this month:

nogales pesto and lemon hummus

 

hibiscus syrup and whole milk ricotta & sourdough starter

orange marmalade and candied orange peels

sweet rice cakes, vegan peanut butter cookies, homemade biscotti

blackberry plum jam and tomato lemon marmalade

nasturtium salt

concord grape chutney and horseradish & prickly pear jelly

kale walnut pesto and pickled garlic

sushi roll and kimchi

citrus miso dressing, nutella, and spicy harissa

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and here's what we got!

spicy harissa sauce

blackberry plum jam and pickled garlic

nasturtium salt

kimchi and porter

whole milk ricotta and candied orange peels

are there any ice cream flavors you would like to see at the next swap?

(or are there any recipes from the above goodies that you would be interested in learning?)

hot pepperz are my jam

a couple of weeks ago i got a box filled with peppers. 

a huge box. filled with at least fifteen kinds of peppers. 

it was kind of intense. but also crazy awesome.


so now we have tons of peppers, ranging from mild to kill me hot. which is awesome, because we put hot peppers in just about everything we eat.



do you have a favorite seasoning to put on your food?

january food swap: citrus sorbet and orange creamsicle ice cream

when i saw on facebook that the tucson food swap was on for january i had a little trouble figuring out what i was going to make. until i realized:

it's citrus season!

 last week, as i drove to work i saw a truck on the side of the road advertising naranjas, i decided to follow my new motto for 2013 -- wander -- and buy some fruit. five pounds of citrus for $3. done. times a million. then he offered me variety: blood oranges, navel oranges, and grapefruits. one of each please. $9 and fifteen pounds later, the food swap idea was born. 

for the navel oranges, i decided enough was enough; rcg has asked me to make orange creamsicle ice cream more times than i can count, but there's never great citrus to choose from. but now it's citrus season, and great, fresh, local citrus abounds.

orange creamsicle ice cream

(makes 1 quart)

- 1/2 cup simple syrup
- 1.5 cups orange juice
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup half and half
* mix together all ingredients
* put in ice cream maker

(to make simple syrup, mix equal parts water and sugar)

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grapefruit sorbet

(makes 1 quart)

- 3 cups grapefruit juice

- 1/2 cup simple syrup 

(add more or less depending on how sweet or sour you want to make the sorbet)

* mix together and freeze in ice cream maker

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blood orange sorbet

(makes 1 quart)

- 3 cups blood orange juice

- 1/2 cup simple syrup 

(add more or less depending on how sweet or sour you want to make the sorbet)

* mix together and freeze in ice cream maker

do you have a fun citrus recipe to share? please do!

jiffy pop!

as some of you may know, i have a weird obsession with strange, creepy, and nontraditional foods. whenever i see weird fruit, i just have to buy it; i can't help myself.

i've bought some weird stuff over the years: grasshoppers, tamarindo, ugli fruit, lotus root, and kiwano & buddha's hand, to name a few. and then last thanksgiving rcg and i tried baby food.

so by comparison jiffy pop isn't that weird. 

much weirder was the can of elk au jus (for $10) we didn't purchase.

 but it's one of those things you always hear about when people talk about "the good old days". so i had to give it a shot. 

and it was, in fact, a jiffy to pop!

   

the instructions are simple and on the back of the lid -- take off the lid, very carefully. set the stove top should be set to medium (if on an electric stove, preheat the burner for 3-4 minutes). put the jiffy pop on the burner, and once it starts sizzling, move the jiffy pop back and forth until no more kernels pop. remove from the heat and open the bag with a fork; be careful of the steam.

jiffy!

pop!

homemade flour tortillas

don't you just love recipes that begin with

"when my mother was teaching me how to do this..."?

i know.

me too.

let me back up.

rcg loves flour tortillas.

and his madre has made them

from scratch

his whole life.

to him,

her tortillas are the bee's knees.

none can compare.

so i figured the least i could do

was learn how to make them

and try to make them edible.

when i went to dallas

rcg's mom taught me

how she makes them.

please be aware that

all amounts are approximate

as bmctg does everything by touch.

4 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp butter

1/3 to 1/4 cup crisco

hot water (almost to boiling)

mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.




add butter and crisco.
rub it all together with your hands.
(get dirty!)

all of the flour should have crisco mixed in.
if it feels like there isn't enough crisco,
add more.




add a little bit of hot water at a time.
knead the dough until it is hard.

be careful,

the water should be almost boiling.
if this is your first time

use a wooden spoon rather than your hands

to mix it all together,

otherwise you might burn your hands.

 
as you mix the water in with the flour/crisco mixture
make sure you don't add too much --
you don't want the dough to be sticky.
if it gets sticky,
add more flour.


wrap the dough in aluminum foil
and keep warm
for approximately 30 minutes.




after letting the dough rest,
knead it until it's hard.




rip off handfuls of dough
and knead each handful
and shape it into small balls.





if you aren't making the tortillas right away
put the kneaded balls in a plastic bag.
they can be stored for up to a week in the fridge.


when you're ready to make tortillas,
roll out each ball of dough
into a circle.

while you are doing this,
heat a non-stick pan on the stove.
you don't need to grease the pan.


 

the tortillas won't take long to cook,

so be sure to watch them closely,

and flip often.

thank you for teaching me bmctg.

i appreciate it.