Bear Cuisine

Navel Orange Marmalade

When winter settles in, I think fondly of the summer's mad scramble to get all that gorgeous produce preserved. I miss that rhythm.Fortunately, winter provides us with beautiful citrus that also needs to be canned. I found an intriguing recipe for orange marmalade in Rachel Saunders' The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook. This is truly outstanding and proves that you can make marmalade with a slight bite without Seville oranges.

NAVEL ORANGE MARMALADE

(makes 10 8-ounce jars)

1. 2 pounds lemons, cut into eights
2. 2 pounds navel oranges, halved crosswise, each half cut length wise into quarters and sliced crosswise medium-thin
3. 3 1/2 pounds white cane sugar
4. 1 to 2 extra lemons, to make 3 ounces strained freshly squeezed juice.

Day 1

 
Place the lemon eighths in a nonreactive saucepan where they will fit snugly in a single layer. Add enough cold water for the fruit to bob freely. Cover tightly and let rest overnight at room temperature.

In a separate nonreactive saucepan, place the sliced oranges with water to reach 1 inch above the tops. Cover tightly and let rest overnight at room temperature.

Day 2

Prepare the cooked lemon juice. Bring the pan with the lemon eighths to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium. Cook the fruit at a lively simmer, covered, for 2 to 3 hours, or until the lemons are very soft and the liquid has become slightly syrupy. As the lemons cook, press down on them gently with a spoon every 30 minutes or so, adding a little more water if necessary. The water level should stay consistently high enough for the fruit to remain submerged as it cooks.

When the lemons are finished cooking, strain their juice by pouring the hot fruit and liquid into a medium strainer or colander suspended over a heat proof storage container or nonreactive saucepan. Cover the entire setup well with plastic wrap and let drip overnight at room temperature.

Prepare the orange slices. Bring the pan with them to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium and cook, covered, at  a lively simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the fruit is very tender. If necessary, add a little more water during the cooking; the fruit should remain submerged throughout the cooking process. When the orange slices have finished cooking, remove the pan from the heat, cover tightly and let rest overnight at room temperature.

Day 3

Place a saucer with five metal teaspoons in a flat place in your freezer. You will be using these to test the marmalade later.

Remove the plastic wrap from the lemon eights and their juice and discard the lemons. Strain the juice through a very fine mesh strainer to remove any lingering solids.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cooked lemon juice, fresh lemon juice and cooked orange slices and their liquid, stirring well. Transfer the mixture to an 11 or 12 quart preserving pan.

Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Cook at a rapid boil until the setting point is reached. This will take at least 30 minutes, but may take longer depending on your stove and pan. {I cooked the mixture for a little over an hour.} Initially, the mixture will bubble gently for several minutes, then as more moisture cooks out of it and its sugar concentration increases, it will begin foaming. Do not stir it at all during the initial bubbling; then, once it starts to foam, stir it gently every few minutes. As it gets close to being done,stir it slowly every minute or so to prevent burning, decreasing the heat a bit if necessary. The marmalade is ready for testing when its color darkens slightly and its bubbles become very small.

To test the marmalade for doneness, remove it from the heat and carefully transfer a half-spoonful of marmalade to one of the frozen spoons. It should look shiny, with tiny bubbles throughout. Replace the spoon in the freezer for 3 to 4 minutes, then remove and carefully feel the underside of the spoon. It should be neither warm nor cold; it still warm, return it to the freezer for a moment. Tilt the spoon vertically to see whether the marmalade runs; if it does not run and if its top layer has thickened to a jelly consistency, it is done. If it runs, cook it for another few minutes, stirring and testing again as needed.

 

When the marmalade has finished cooking turn off the heat but do not stir. Using a stainless steel spoon, skim off any surface foam and discard. Pour the marmalade into sterilized jars and process for  15 minutes (Add an additional 15 minutes to the processing time if cooking above 6,000 feet.)

Preserved Lemons

The flavor of preserved lemon is an essential part of Moroccan cuisine and that food has a flavor profile that I love. But this easy-to-make condiment has uses far beyond the foods of Morocco. They have become part of my cooking tool box and I use them to flavor everything from roast chicken to soup and as part of marinades and sauces they can't be topped. Paula Wolfert offers two versions in her Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco.  This winter I made the one calling for additional spices.

MEYER LEMONS AWAITING THEIR TRANSFORMATION INTO PRESERVED LEMONS

PRESERVED LEMONS A LA PAULA WOLFERT

1. 5 lemons
2. 1/4 cup salt, more if desired
3. 1 cinnamon stick
4. 3 cloves
5. 5 to 6 coriander seeds
6. 3 to 4 black peppercorns
7. 1 bay leaf
8. freshly queezed lemon juice, if necessary

If you wish to soften the peel, soak the lemons in lukewarm water for 3 days, changing the water daily. (This step isn't necessary if you use Meyer lemons.)

Quarter the lemons from the top to within 1/2-inch of the bottom, sprinkle salt on the exposed flesh, then reshape the fruit.

Place 1 tablespoon salt on the bottom of the mason jar. Pack in the lemons and push them down, adding more salt and the optional spices between layers. Press the lemons down to relase their juices and to make room for the remaining lemons. (If the juice released from the squashed fruit does not cover them, add freshly squeezed lemon juice--not chemically produced lemon juice add not water.) Leave some air space before sealing the jar.

Let the lemons ripen in a warm place, turning the jar upside down each day to distribute the salt and juice. Let ripen for 30 days.

To use, rinse the lemons as needed, under running water, removing and discarding tre pulp, if desired--and there is no need to refrigerate aftrer opening. Preserved lemons will keep up to a year, and the pickling juice can be used two or three times over the course of a year.

Meyer Lemon Marmelade

 Summer and fall are the busy seasons for those of us who like to preserve fruits and vegetables, but winter offers us beauiful citrus for preservation. This is the season for Meyer lemons and this year I experimented with making a marmelade with these tart and sweet fruits. I have to say the result was amazing--not as tart as regular lemons with just a hint of sweetness. One of my friends, who usually doesn't like marmelade, enjoyed this one.

MYER LEMONS

MEYER LEMON MARMELADE

(Makes about 7 half-pint jars)

• 16 Myer lemons, thinly sliced and seeds removed
• 4 1/2 cups liquid, water plus lemon juice released from slicing lemons
• Sugar

Combine the sliced lemons with the water and lemon juice in a large bowl. Set aside in a cool place overnight. The next morning put the ingredients in a kettle and simmer 5 minutes. Return to the bowl and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

After the second marinating, return the ingredients to the jam kettle and cook quickly until the peel is tender. Measure the fruit and liquid.(I had 6 1/2 cups.) Add one cup sugar for each cup of fruit and stir until the sugar dissolves. (If you like a jam which isn't as sweet, reduce the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup of sugar for each cup of fruit.)

Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring so that the mixture doesn't stick or burn. When the mixture has reached the gelling point, remove from the heat. Ladle the hot marmelade into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Adjust the two-piece caps and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.

Everything is just peachy

This has been a fabulous year for peaches and we've had such beautiful and plentiful fruit that I just had to make peach ice cream. I wasn't going to post this until a bit later, but a friend asked for the recipe and this seemed a fine way to answer her request. This is one of David Lebovitz's creations; it's an interesting recipe in that it doesn't use a custard base. David uses sour cream instead which cuts the intense sweetness.

PEACH ICE CREAM

1. 1 1/3 pounds ripe peaches
2. 1/2 cup water
3. 1/4 cup sugar
4. 1/2 cup sour cream
5. 1 cup heavy cream
6. 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
7. A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice

Peel the peaches, slice them in half and remove the pits. Cut the peaches into chunks and cook them with the water in a medium, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring once or twice, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar, then cool to room temperature.

Puree the cooked peaches and any liquid in a blender or food processor with the sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla and lemon juice until almost smooth but slightly chunky.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigferator, then reeze it in your ince cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The perfect dessert on a hot summer evening.

 

Versatile Apple Butter

Apple Butter

 

In Canning for a New Generation Liana Krissoff lists several uses for apple butter that I think are worth passing on and adding to your store of kitchen/cooking tricks.

!. Substitute up to half of the fat in cakes, muffins, and cookies with apple butter.

2. Stir it into oatmeal, cottage cheese, or yogurt.

3. Smear on hot biscuits or serve warm with waffles or pancakes. Make French toast, sandwiching two slices together with apple butter and fresh cheese or cottage cheese.

4. Use it in sandwiches. Winners include but are not limited to: thinly sliced Black forest ham and cheddar on rye; grilled brie and fresh roast turkey on apple-butter and butter-buttered sourdough; apple butter spread on rounds of French bread and topped with thin slices of Gruyere; natural peanut butter and apple butter; cream cheese and apple butter.

5. Put frozen roasted squash puree and 1 cup water in a pan and heat until the squash is thawed. Add apple butter, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Stir in a few tablespoons of creme fraiche. Serve in wide soup bowls with fresh croutons.

6. Mix apple butter and mustard and use as a glaze for pork loan or ribs.

7. Use apple butter instead of frosting between spice cake layers.