Our CSA bag is getting heavier each week. The fare is changing from Spring to Summer vegetables. This week's share includes: one head of red leaf lettuce, a bunch of kale, a quart of new potatoes, snap peas, broccoli, two heads of green garlic, beets, a head of cabbage, carrots, green onions and one zucchini. I roasted the new potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. They are yummy just like that but you could add sour cream for dipping to make it even more fabulous. I'm planning on making cole slaw with the cabbage and the carrots that seem to be multiplying in the fridge. I like to make a similar dressing to the creamy one I mentioned in a previous post. I want it to be a little creamier than the dressing, so I may add a little sour cream to the mayo and yogurt. I love cole slaw the best when it is fresh and crunchy.
We bought duck eggs last week and I am going to try them in pancakes tomorrow morning. Apparently, duck eggs are good for baking, making cakes extra fluffy and moist, pancakes included. I may try making some cupcakes later this week so I can share them with Isaac this weekend. Also, they will probably make it into my now becoming, weekly frittata. Here is more information about duck eggs for you to consider until my next post.
Tonight I was feeling a tiny bit ambitious. I have had two pints of heavy cream kicking around in the refrigerator for quite a while now-past their "expiration" dates even. We have a friend who makes his own butter so I count him as inspiration. For additional information, I use the book Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century by Dick and James Strawbridge. It is a very interesting book with many different instructions to help you become more self-sufficeint-from making butter to farming to collecting and filtering rain water to making your own composting toilet. (yay!) The section on making butter was very easy to follow with lots of photos explaining the details of making butter from cream. One thing I didn't realize is that I did myself a favor by letting the cream sour a little as you want that characteristic for making butter. In the book, they don't really explain why so I found out more information. I must admit that the cream I used was not grass fed or organic, it was ultra pasteurized heavy cream that I bought while it was on sale in the late winter. I plan on using more local and grass fed cream in the future, but you don't have to, the cream I used worked just fine.
I used a stand mixer, but you can use hand beaters, or even just shake it in the container in which it comes. I added the cream to the mixing bowl and turned it on medium high. I let it beat until the cream broke down into little butter clumps and the buttermilk began to separate from the butter. I drained the buttermilk, added a little cool water and beat until the butter began to come together. I strained more butter milk and turned the butter out onto a wooden cutting board. I then added more water and began to mix and knead it with the spatula. This is called "washing" the butter. You are removing the remaining buttermilk. When the water runs clear (about three series of kneading the butter and draining the buttermilk) add salt to the butter (the book recommends 2% of its weight, but I just threw some in there).
Kneading the butter
I then added chopped fresh herbs to the butter and incorporated it all together.
A combo of parsley, thyme and sage
I then rolled it up in waxed paper and put it in the freezer to firm it up a bit. I made another batch with lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon zest. I plan on using the buttermilk in the pancakes and the lemony herb butter on top when they are ready to eat. I don't have a fancy butter mold, but maybe I'll come across one someday!
