Last summer we stopped producing our Wine Barrel Gourmet Red Wine soup mixes. Since then I have been fielding numerous calls and responding to emails and letters from disappointed customers. The requests have been so prolific that I promised to post the recipes so everyone can re-create our soups at home. (Note – this isn’t the exact soup mix recipe, since the packaged mixes included several dried ingredients that aren’t easily available to home cooks – but it’s close. If you are interested in purchasing Wine Barrel Gourmet’s recipes etc. and starting your own soup mix business contact me here.)

This recipe makes 6, one-cup servings.

Saute 1 garlic clove (minced), 1 medium onion or shallot (minced) and 2 large carrots (diced) in 2 Tbsp of olive oil until soft but not browned. Add the following:

• 1 cup green split peas
• 1/3 cup yellow split peas
• 1 – 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 6 cups water
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp grated orange peel
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp ajwain seed
• 2 tsp muscovado sugar

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until peas are tender, but not mushy – about 50 – 60 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Stir in 1/4 cup red wine. Heat through before serving.

This recipe leaves lots of room to experiment. You can add potatoes or winter squash for an even more filling soup. It can be served over rice or cous cous. If you are a purist looking for a healthy version of split pea soup add 1 cup of chopped, cooked lean ham for traditional flavor without the traditional fat and salt. If you like a smoky flavoring but want to keep the soup vegetarian, add up to 1 tsp of Spanish paprika.

So, how do you feel about Split Pea Soup? Are you a lover or a hater?

Fine the recipe for our Red Wine Lentil Soup here.

I like the fact that the food I can tastes not only tastes better than the same item purchased at the grocery store but is healthier than its commercially canned cousin too.

And sometimes food nostalgia drives my canning/preserving. Spiced, candied apple rings fall into this last category. These apple rings are a throwback from my childhood and still taste just as good as I remember. They add the perfect touch along side a winter-friendly comfort food meal. The other night I served them with stewed beans and a pasta casserole to rave reviews from the grandchildren. They are also a good accompaniment to chicken cutlets or pork chops. Since fresh apples are still available, winter is the perfect time for this canning project.

See this older post that includes the directions. Do you have a favorite winter canning project? Or suffer from food nostalgia too? Please share your favorites with us!

Start with two cups of our revived starter (see how to keep a sourdough starter bubbling here).

In a large bowl or the bowl to your stand mixer combine the ripe starter with 1 1/2 cups water. Stir to mix well.

Add 1 1/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup rye flour, 1 2/3 cup corn flour and 1 tsp salt. Stir to combine.

Note: Corn flour is not the same thing as corn meal. You can find corn flour at a health or natural foods store. Corn flour adds a nice sweetness to the bread, but it’s gluten free so it doesn’t add much in the way of volume. In other words, this bread doesn’t rise as much as your average white loaf will.

Knead until fairly smooth and slightly tacky. I like the dough to be just dry enough to hold together. This is easier if you are using a stand mixer. If you are making this dough by hand you may have to add a little more flour in order to handle the dough.

Gather the dough and make it into a ball. Grease a large bowl with butter or oil, place the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel, and let ferment/rise in a warm (70-80 degrees) area for 2 hours.

Gently fold dough to deflate. (Never punch dough like we were taught to in the old days – it deflates the loaf too much). At this point you can either divide the dough into 2 average sized loaves, or leave it as one large loaf.

I usually make one large loaf which is what I have done here. Place the dough in a buttered or oiled loaf pan. Cover and let rise 2 additional hours or place in the refrigerator overnight. Keeping the dough in the refrigerator gives you a more sour sourdough. If you really love the tang of a San Francisco sourdough for example, placing the dough in the refrigerator (called retarding the dough) will give you more of that authentic San Francisco flavor.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Before baking quickly slice the top of the loaf with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200 degrees.

Let the bread cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. This loaf makes a very nice bread for sandwiches or sliced and served with the Red Wine Lentil soup from yesterday’s post.

Don’t forget to feed your starter and tuck it away for next Saturday’s sourdough recipe.

Red Wine Lentil Soup

When cold, stormy, winter days hit (like this week here in the Northwest) my inner soup maker revs into high gear. Cold weather means soup, and since almost all packaged soups are full of salt, or over processed, or are based on meat broths, I make soup from scratch. Once you get the basics down it’s really pretty easy. The secret to a great tasting soup that sings with flavor? Herbs – and lots of them

Last summer we stopped producing our Wine Barrel Gourmet Red Wine soup mixes. Since then I have been fielding numerous calls and responding to emails and letters from disappointed customers. The The requests have been so prolific that I promised to post the recipes so everyone can re-create our soups at home. (Note – this isn’t the exact soup mix recipe, since the mixes used several dried ingredients that aren’t easily available to home cooks – but it’s close. If you are interested in purchasing Wine Barrel Gourmet’s intellectual property and starting your own soup mix business contact me here.)

Red Wine Lentil Soup – makes 6-8 servings

In a large pot saute the following in 2 Tbsp olive oil until soft but not browned:

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 large onion or shallot, minced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 large carrots, diced

Add:

• 6 cups water
• 1 cup rinsed green or brown lentils
• 1/3 cup rinsed red lentils
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp ajwain seed
• 2 tsp muscovado or brown sugar

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 – 40 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Stir in:

• 1/4 cup red wine

Heat for 5 more minutes before serving.

Check back next week (or subscribe to this blog) for another Red Wine Soup recipe!

 In a large bowl or the bowl to your stand mixer, combine 2 cups of the ripe starter from day 7  (see last week’s directions here) with 1 2/3 cups water. Stir to mix well.

Add 4 3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour, 1/2  cup rye flour, and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir to combine.

 Knead until fairly smooth and slightly tacky. As you can see from the photo, I like the dough to be just dry enough to hold together. This is easier if you are using a stand mixer. If you are making this dough by hand you may have to add a little more flour in order to handle the dough.

Gather the dough and make it into a ball. Grease a large bowl with butter or oil, place the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel, and let ferment/rise in a warm (70-80 degrees) area for 2 hours.

Gently fold dough to deflate. (Never punch dough like we were taught to in the old days – it deflates the loaf too much). At this point you can either divide the dough into 2 average sized loaves, or leave it as one large loaf.

I usually make one large loaf which is what I have done here. Place the dough in a buttered or oiled loaf pan. Cover and let rise 2 additional hours or place in the refrigerator overnight. Keeping the dough in the refrigerator gives you a more sour sourdough. If you really love the tang of a San Francisco sourdough for example, placing the dough in the refrigerator (called retarding the dough) will give you more of that authentic San Francisco flavor.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Before baking quickly slice the top of the loaf with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200 degrees.

Let the bread cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. I know, it’s hard to wait! But the bread needs this time for the crumb to set – which is just another way of saying that it takes the molecules a little bit of time to settle down after coming out of the oven. Think of it like a group of pre-schoolers jumping and playing (bread baking in the oven) settling down for story time (sitting and cooling) – it takes a few minutes to get the active ones to sit quietly.

See the bubbles in the sliced bread? That is a sign of good gluten development and something you want to work for in every loaf. IMHO sourdough bread has two big advantages over regular yeasted breads: First, the sourdough process may take longer, but it gives the bread soooooo much more flavor. If you grew up eating real bakery bread and can’t find it anywhere now, making your own sourdough is the best way to re-create that bygone flavor. Secondly, a pre-fermented sourdough loaf will last much longer than a traditional yeasted bread before drying out or molding (assuming it isn’t all eaten in one setting!).

You may be wondering what to do with your sourdough starter now. See this post for how to nurture your starter so it’s still there when you want to make another loaf of bread.

Happy cooking! Please share your sourdough experiences and photos for us all! And check back next week for a new sourdough recipe.

Option 1: Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water to the remaining starter every day. Not a very useful method unless you plan to make bread almost every day.

Option 2: Store any remaining starter (after making bread) in the refrigerator and feed it once a week. To feed, discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water to remaining starter one day each week. Allow the starter to ferment at room temperature for at least 2 hours before returning it to the refrigerator.

Three days before you want to bake another loaf of bread, remove the starter from the refrigerator and feed daily, following days 5-7 of Sourdough from Scratch for best results.

Option 3: You can keep the starter in the refrigerator for several weeks at a time without feeding. However, it may take more than 3 days of feeding to get it bubbling again.

Starting your own sourdough from scratch is not a difficult process. You don’t need a degree in chemistry or microbiology, you don’t need to be home every day at the same time to tend to the starter, and you don’t need to order a freeze dried starter and wait for it to arrive with the mail. You do need flour, water, a spoon, a plastic or glass container, and a little bit of patience, because we can’t make our first loaf of bread until the starter has been fermenting for a week.

There are many many different ways to start and feed a sourdough starter. The following method is one I use, and have taught successfully with everyone from high school freshmen to experienced bread bakers.

Day 1: Combine 1/2 cup of non-chlorinated water (use distilled water or water that has been boiled and cooled) and 3/4 cup rye flour in a 2 quart or larger container. You may add 1/8 tsp. of honey to get the starter off to a good start, but it’s not necessary. I usually add honey if I am starting this process in the winter when my house is cold, and leave it out if I am starting this process during warmer weather.

Loosely cover the container and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 2: Stir the mixture and discard half of it. This can be an approximate thing, you don’t have to actually measure it. Add 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of rye flour to the container and stir to mix. Cover and let sit for another 24 hours.

Days 3 – 6: Each day discard half of the starer and add 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of unbleached, all-purpose flour. Stir to combine. You should see bubbles by day 3 or 4, but don’t panic if you don’t. If you don’t see bubbles and your house is cold, move the container to the top of the refrigerator (it’s usually pretty warm there) or near the pilot light on a gas stove to get the fermentation process going.

Day 3

Day 7: We’ll be baking soon! Stir the starter well. Discard half of the starter and this time add 1 cup of water and 2 cups of unbleached, all-purpose flour. (This will make one very large loaf or two regular sized loaves of bread.) Let sit in a warm place for about 6 hours or until quite bubbly. The starter is now ready to use. Check back next week for the actual bread making experience. In the meantime, I am happy to answer any questions or take suggestions!

Day 7

Simmering orange peel

Wash and peel two large navel oranges. If the orange peel has a large amount of pith (the white part), cut some of it away with a sharp paring knife.

Cut the peel into strips about 1/4 inch wide. Put in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Pour off the water. Repeat 2 more times. Yes, this process is a bit tedious but it reduces the bitterness. (Have you ever eaten orange peel? It’s pretty bitter!) Drain the peel.

Orange peel + sugar

Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in the saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8 minutes or until soft thread stage (232 degrees). Add the drained peel and continue simmering gently. Cook for about 45 minutes or until the peels have a translucent quality. Don’t stir while cooking as this could cause the formation of large sugar crystals.

Drain the peels, roll in additional granulated sugar and let dry overnight on a rack.

Candied orange peel

Store the candied peel in an airtight container.

I used most of this batch in fruitcake, but it can also be dipped in chocolate, added to cookies, stuffed in a dried date or eaten as is. WARNING! These things are addictive! The first bite is a little bitter. The second bite is pretty good. The third bite is yummy. By the forth bite some sort of compulsion takes over and you can’t stop eating them. In which case, it’s probably time for me to make a new batch. Maybe I’ll try lemon this time…..

Rose hips

Wild rose hips, also known as beach rose hips, are an excellent source of vitamin C. They also have a lovely, fresh floral aroma and a tangy taste that jumps off the tongue. And they are prolific in my front yard! I don’t mind sharing them with the birds, but this year I am also turning them into jam.

When picking rose hips there are a couple of things to keep in mind: 1) Use only the hips from wild roses (rosa rugosa). 2) Only use hips that have not been sprayed with insecticides. 3) Hips are easier to peel after they have been through a frost. In essence, Mother Nature preserves the hips right on the bush until you are ready to use them. 4) Be prepared to get stuck by thorns when picking the rose hips.

I started this recipe by picking 12 cups of big, beautiful rose hips.

Rose hips

Wash the hips, trim the ends, and peel them. There are a couple of different methods to peel the hips. You can hold the hip in one hand and use the other to pull off the skin and as much pulp as possible without breaking through into the seeds. Or you can cut the hips open and scrape out the seeds. Either way, this is a messy job – one that requires you to rinse your hands often.

Peeling rose hips

Another, less tedious way to get the rose hip pulp is to push the trimmed hips through a sieve. However, I did not have a sieve that was small enough to prevent the seeds from going through. Cheesecloth did allow enough of the pulp and skin to go through as I wanted – so I did it by hand.

Rose hip skin and pulp

Twelve cups of rose hips netted me about 2 cups of skin and pulp.

Apples

I used 6 apples of varying kinds. Wash, core and slice the apples, but no need to peel them. We are making an old-fashioned butter here. Besides, all the good  nutritious stuff is in the peel, we don’t want to lose that!

Apples and rose hips

Combine the sliced apples and rose hips in a large saucepot. Add enough water to prevent sticking (about 1 1/2 cups) and cook until apples are soft.

Cooking apples and rose hips

Apple - rose hip puree

Remove the cooked apple/rose hip mixture from the heat and puree. I got about 6 cups of this ruby red puree. Return the puree to the saucepot, add 4 cups of sugar, 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and 1/8 tsp each of ground cloves and ground mace.

Cook until the mixture thickens (about 20 minutes) and then pour into hot 1/2 pint jars. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Apple-rose hip butter

If you like apple butter you will LOVE apple-rose hip butter. The rose hips not only add an appetizing color, they also add an extra flavor dimension that makes this butter truly special. Although it’s good enough to eat by the spoonful, apple-rose hip butter can be eaten on muffins or scones, added to cookies or cake recipes in place of some of the fat, served with pork chops, used as a ham glaze, added to BBQ sauce or served over ice cream. In fact, it’s so good, the food forager in me is wondering…….there’s still lots of rose hips left, what can I make next?

image from istockphoto.com

As a child I loved spending Thanksgiving with my cousins at Aunt Rosalie’s house. It was always my favorite holiday with lots of salads and breads and side dishes to choose from, not to mention several different kinds of pie. But children in the 70′s didn’t worry about eating healthy or eating too much. Sadly – on so many levels – those days are behind us.

The Thanksgiving season conundrum today is “how to enjoy our favorite Thanksgiving dishes without completely blowing our diets!” Just because I enjoy a nice veggie stir-fry, doesn’t mean I want it on Thanksgiving. And while a fresh orange might work as dessert any other day, it’s not going to work while everyone else is eating pumpkin pie. But over the years I have come up with a few ways to keep the traditional Thanksgiving that we all love, and keep it relatively healthy too.

1. Serve real food. No matter what the dish, if it’s real food it’s healthier than the processed substitute. Real food means mashed potatoes made by boiling potatoes and mashing them, not by pouring them from a box. Real food is whipped cream topping made from, well…. cream! No frozen chemical substitute (if it has hydrogenated fat, partially hydrogenated fat or palm oil you’re better off with the real thing). Fresh rolls come from mixing flour, yeast and water, not from a can that you hit on the side of the counter to open.

2. Roast, don’t fry the turkey. Deep fried turkey was all the rage here a few years ago. But deep fried turkey is no better than deep fried anything. Besides, the flavor isn’t the same. You wouldn’t serve french fries on Thanksgiving would you? Then why serve fried turkey.

3. Baste with olive oil not butter. Roasting your own turkey? Rub the skin with olive oil instead of butter to get the same crispy brown color without as much saturated fat. It’s not going to change the flavor and it’s easier – you don’t have to melt the olive oil first like you do the butter.

4. Forgo the creamy sauces. I am guessing that the Pilgrims didn’t serve green bean casserole with creamy soup and fried onions. You don’t have to either. Instead quickly steam (yea for the microwave!) fresh or frozen green beans. Top with a squeeze of lemon juice, a little freshly grated lemon zest, and sliced, toasted almonds.

5. Add a vegan or vegetarian entree. As a vegetarian I gave up turkey and gravy 20 years ago. But my family still eats turkey, so I cook it once a year – for Thanksgiving. I also add an entree for me. I use this opportunity to experiment with a new dish, sometimes it is a tofu entree, sometimes a savory pie. This year I am making this yummy sounding eggplant casserole from Vegetarian Times. But I won’t be the only one eating this dish, others will try it too. And the more veggies we put on our plates, the better.

6. Enjoy dessert. Some things shouldn’t be messed with and dessert is one of them. So go ahead and enjoy the pie (my favorite is pumpkin). But make it a small piece.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope that you are enjoying an “Aunt Rosalie” type of holiday wherever you are.