Eggs in Jelly (canned consoume)

 "Boil eggs in very salted water, for 5 minutes after water is rapidly boiling. Put in cold water right away. Take individual cups and put jelly in the bottom. Add egg ..."

I presume peeled?

"... fill cup with more jelly. Put tarragon and strip of carrot on top. Put on ice to jell. "

Individual Jam Cakes

This is another Martha Stewart recipe I have loved for years. She calls is Individual Strawberry Jam cakes. This recipe was one of those pull out recipe cards from Martha Stewart’s Living in November of 2003. This HM (high Maintenance) muffin recipe is a superb use of time, particularly when looking for a breakfast option when your house is full of men heading out to go hunting or fishing in the early morning hours, which is what I did, that fall of 2003. I was also very pregnant with Daughter, so I remember a lot about that houseful! You can make this any time of the year, for breakfast, snack, or dessert, and use any kind of ham or jelly you can think of!  

 

Ingredients (Yields 6 cakes)

 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp 

3/4 cup sugar 

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest 

2 large eggs, separated

 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/4 cup milk 

6 Tablespoons (or more) jam or preserves 

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar 

1/4 cup orange juice  

Process 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Butter standard muffin tins and set aside. 

3. In a mixer, beat butter with sugar and zest until light and fluffy. 

4. Beat in egg yolks one at a time until creamy. Set aside in new bowl and clean mixer bowl. 

5. Into another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. 

6. Add flour mixture and milk, in alternating batches to butter mixture and set aside. 

7. In a clean mixer bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks and fold into batter. 

8. Divide half the batter among the muffin cups. 

9. Make and indentation in the middle of each and fill with 1 Tablespoon jam. Top each with remaining batter. 

10. Bake in preheated oven about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

11. Turn the cakes out of the muffin tins and transfer to a wire rack, over parchment paper, to cool.

12. In a small bowl whisk together confectioners sugar and orange juice. Drizzle cooling cakes with glaze. 

Cucumber Jelly Salad

 I was just looking forward to making the last cucumber salad I posted when I saw this one and my stomach turned. 

Ingredients

1 pint cucumber, peeled, pulped and grated. 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon corn oil

mayonnaise

1/8 teaspoon paprika

2 Tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon gelatin

lettuce or watercress for serving.

Process

1. Remove peel and pulp from cucumber before grating, using a coarse grater. 

2. Add salt, paprika, vinegar, oil and gelatin. 

3. Let sit over hot water  (double boiler) until dissolved. 

4. Mold into individual ramekins and serve on salad greens with mayonnaise

Recipe Links

Installment #2 of Recipe Links!

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies from Mom on Time Out

Shakshuka by Smitten Kitchen

Chile Con Queso by Bon Appetite

Cold Sesame Noodles by New York Times Food

1 Hour Cinnabons by Lauren's Latest

Dandelion Jelly by Simply Canning

Samoa Bundt Cake by Delish

Lilac Jelly from Common Sense Home.

Pomegranate Jelly

As part of the Food In Jars Mastery Challenge, I was enticed to make Pomegranate Jelly.  April's challenge is quick pickles and March's was Jelly and since I didn't get around to making Pomegranate jelly I thought better late than never!? Boy was I right because Pomegranate Jelly is my new favorite jelly. It is just SO good!

Ingredients
5 Cups Pomegranate Juice - I used Poms

5 Cups Sugar

2 3.5 oz. Boxes regular, powdered pectin (I used the pectin below - be careful to read the directions - it uses Teaspoons NOT Tablespoons)

Process

1. Prepare you hot water bath canner with your jars. Expect  roughly 6+ cups of jelly. Place lids and rims in a saucepan with hot water and heat.


















2. In large pot bring the juice to a boil.

3. Once boiling, sprinkle in the pectin whisk quickly. Add pectin slowly or it  will clump.























4. Bring to a boil once again. When the juice mixture boils again, slowly whisk in the sugar to avoid clumping and temperature dropping

5. Once all of the sugar is added and whisked in, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil  let it boil for 1 minute. This is where the large pot is necessary as the level will rise as the juice foams.

6. After you let it have a good rolling boil,  turn off the heat, let it settle. Test to see if it has gelled enough using a cold spoon.

7. Skim off any foam.

8. Fill hot jars with jelly, leaving 1/4″ head space. Using a damp paper towel, wipe any residue off the rims. Place hot lids and tighten rings onto jars.

9. Process in a boiling hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and check out that color!

This beautiful jelly is a welcome addition to this homestead kitchen!

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS TO BOOT!

Mint Jelly with all natural Pectin for the Food in Jars March Challenge

For the Food in Jars March Challenge, I once again threw my hat into uncharted water and tried this recipe for Mint Jelly. I was nervous about this recipe because it called for using apples to draw out the natural pectin. I intuitively knew this was the natural process but doubted that little ole me could pull it off. Would it work or fail miserably? Would it set? What if I didn't draw off enough liquid? I cursed myself apparently because I only drew off just over half the liquid and almost scrapped the whole project. I felt defeated and ready to throw in the towel, but SP boosted my spirits with some encouragement and then some laughter at my own expense - I looked like a hot mess and he still loved me. Nevertheless, I persisted.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs of tart apples (e.g. Granny Smith), un-peeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores (including the cores is important as this is where most of the natural pectin is)
•  
• 3 cups of fresh spearmint leaves, chopped, packed

 

This was where I needed to send SP back to town. Not quite enough mint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups sugar (7/8 cups for each cup of juice)

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/mint_jelly/#ixzz4bKKVxMIp

 

Process

1.  Combine apple pieces with water and mint in a large pan. Bring water to a boil then reduce heat and cook 20 minutes, until apples are soft.

2.  Add vinegar, return to boil. Simmer covered, for about 5 more minutes.

3.  Use a potato masher to mash up the apple pieces. Continue to the consistency of thin apple sauce. The mash should be quite runny, so feel free add another 1 cup of water to the pot. This is where I probably went wrong because I should have had it runnier because - see step 5.

4.  Spoon the apple mash into a cheesecloth lined fine mesh sieve and suspend it over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours. Do not squeeze.

5. After a few hours about 4 cups of juice should have strained out of the mash. This is where I found I only yielded just over two cups of liquid - 20 ounces to be exact.  Measure the juice, then pour into a large pot. Add 7/8 a cup of sugar  for each cup of juice. Heat on high, stirring until the sugar gets dissolved. Be careful that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan or burn.

6. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium or medium high, keeping it at a strong simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, using a metal spoon to skim off the surface scum. The surface scum is white and rather sticky so have a damp paper towel ready to wipe it off onto a plate. 

7. Continue to boil until a candy thermometer shows that the temperature has reached at least 220-222°F.  Additional cooking time may be needed depending on levels of elevation, water, sugar, or the  apple pectin in the mix.

8.  Pour into sterilized* canning jars to within 1/4" from the top and seal. Yields approximately 4 8-ounce jars. I managed to eek out less than that because of having less liquid.

 

Here is where the leap of faith happened as I waited and waited to see if they set. As the night drew to a close and I headed to bed my jars had still not set. I woke in the morning completely thrown off my plan to check them by the fact that off all things I didn't prepare for work, I had neglected to set my alarm ahead an hour for daylight savings. Ugh. I had to wait until after work to check. 

Low and behold - it worked! My jars set!

We are looking forward to enjoying this with lamb for Easter dinner and have some little jars to give away for Christmas. Natural mint jelly is such a beautiful golden color!

Making Grape Jelly

Caviar Jelly

This recipe is from my great grandmother Baba. It is enough to make 2 rings.

Ingredients

1.5 quarts highly seasoned rich soup stock
1.5 Tablespoons gelatin dissolved in water

Sherry

Pimentos

2 molded pans
2 jars caviar.

Process

1. To each quart of stock, add I level Tablespoon gelatin.


2. Add sherry to taste and heat


3. Have wet molds ready with pimentos, cut into stars, on the bottom.


4. When stock begins to thicken fold in two jars caviar.


5. Fill molds and chill.