I learned two things yesterday in my kitchen: (1) I love to
experiment and (2) I am an overachiever. Now some might say “Duh!!!”, but I
have always looked at my productivity as maximizing the use of my time and
being able to multitask on a very high level. I think I was just using
euphemisms, as the word “overachiever” has a harsh tone to it, a bad
connotation, if you will (and if you do think of it in a good context then it
sounds like you are “tooting your own horn,” as my Nana used to say).
I started out the day innocently enough, planning on making
use if the year’s first batch of Meyer lemons. My Meyer lemons are finally
starting to get ripe, which means the ritual of making and canning lemon curd
is on the agenda this month and next.
Once I haul out the canning kettle, jars, lifting tongs,
funnels, pots, pans, bowls, and all the ingredients, it seems logical that I
should make the best use of them by canning more than just the curd. Makes
sense, right? Well, it started out with a citrus marmalade, fell into a bacon
jam, and ended with a chai spread. What began at 10am ended at 4pm, with a very
tired Mrs. B and 20 glorious jars of goodness.
The lemon curd is a recipe I have been making for more than
20 years; one that didn’t have directions to can it, so I called into the Chef
Narsai David’s radio show one day—at the insistence of my father—to ask how to
preserve my precious curd. It’s been an annual ritual ever since. The recipe can
be found here
on my blog, or in my little cookbook, Eat
Drink Merry.
The citrus marmalade was born out of a need to use the
oranges that had arrived in my CSA box, some limes that I had on hand and, of
course, the Meyer lemons. I turned to several of my canning cookbooks for
inspiration, and chose to freeform a recipe, not measuring anything. I used the
fruit, along with orange juice, orange blossom water, sugar, and some honey. The
marmalade turned out pretty good, still having that bite (or bitterness) along
with the sweet. The orange blossom water was very subtle, and I might try to
add more next time around.
The bacon jam has been in my recipe To Do file since
December of 2010. I am not sure what took me so long to make it, but it is
friggin’ delicious and next time I will make a triple batch. As I set about to
make it, Brilliant Daughter complained about the name. She didn’t want to call
something savory “jam.” (She also believes dessert shouldn’t have any kind of
cheese in it.) We searched our vocabulary for a suitable word and settled on
confit, although in the strictest sense, it is not really a confit. But it
sounds fancy and more appropriate for this savory thick mixture.
I used a pound of my home-cured and smoked bacon, which
upped the quality of the jam considerably, in my humble opinion. The original
recipe was on Not
Quite Nigella, but I altered the recipe a bit, using a red onion, more garlic,
Sriracha, smoked paprika and a last splash of red wine vinegar. I also deleted the
fresh ground black pepper, as the jam had enough kick without it. How do I
know? Because I constantly tasted it. I mean constantly. It was all I could do to not eat it all. I fixed Mr. B
and myself a sandwich with it: whole wheat bread, toasted, a light swath of
mayo, and a thick slab of cheddar cheese. Butcher Son asked if we were supposed
to eat it on a peanut butter sandwich. Hmmm…. Maybe I will just try that too!
After the bacon jam was finished, I got the inspiration to
try and fashion some sort of chai spread. For Christmas, a friend brought me a
jar of this luscious café au lait spread she found at the Ferry Building. It’s
wonderful on morning toast or crumpets. Because my family loves, LOVES, chai, I
thought I would try and make a similar spread.
I started by steeping cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon
stick (all lightly smashed with a pestle), along with an inch of fresh sliced
ginger, in some water with loose black tea leaves. After boiling for 15
minutes, I had a strong reduced base, to which I added a cup of sugar and a cup
of heavy cream. I simmered for 10 minutes and then tempered 6 beaten eggs and
poured them into the mixture. I stirred on a very low heat for a very long
time. I got some small globs when I turned up the heat, but my immersion
blender took care of those nicely. Once it had thickened, I poured into jars
and processed for 15 minutes.
Mr. B and I couldn’t wait for morning to try the chai spread
on French toast, so we sliced a baguette and gave them a generous schmear. Yummy. Not exactly the same consistency as the café au lait spread, and
the color may not be terribly appetizing (your basic beige), but it is a tasty
chai addition to my recipe files (see chaidoodles,
chai
bread pudding, chai-spiced
cinnamon rolls).
Pretty productive and tasty day for me, along with the blueberry muffins I
made for breakfast, all the living room baseboards and trim that I sanded, and
the grocery shopping I did. Guess I’m going to have to own the moniker of “overachiever”
and wear it proudly!
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