two ripe mangoes

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© jens mango chutney 2

My latest tasty concoction, just made, still warm ~~ mango chutney in a mini avocado! In these pandemic days I am broadening my kitchen skills impressively and chutney has been on my list of things to learn to make for over a decade. Now its done and I wish I never waited.

jenjoycedesign© jens mango chutney

My very simple small batch ripe mango chutney:

two ripe mangoes, one small onion, spices (I used cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, garam masala, chile flakes) fresh garlic, fresh ginger, dried dates, and coconut oil.

Peel mangoes and cut the fruit off of the pit into large chunks (do enjoy chewing the lovely impossible-to-cut-off fruit from the pits before proceeding!) In mortar & pestle crush the spices. Add a small chunk of fresh ginger sliced, 1 garlic clove, and a few dried medjool dates, cut up into pieces, mash all together, and set aside.

Cut onion into small chunks. Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil in medium saucepan or skillet, and saute onion. When nearly translucent, add mashed ingredients from mortar, and saute a little bit in the onions and oil. Add mango and stir until mango begins to break down. Add a little sugar, salt, and pepper to taste if you like. As this is a very small batch, and made very quickly, canning is not necessary ~~ just enjoy!

Now you must see this seriously artful little film . . . it is what inspired me to go into my kitchen and make use of the two ripe mangoes!

quiet bliss

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© kitchen bliss

Sun streaming in, warming and brightening a corner where pizza dough rises every Friday late afternoon, as always. Trying to keeping the counters clean, if in the very least to boost morale in these pandemic days, and feeling a little more relaxed today while sheltering in and waiting for the next rain storm. Laundry flapping in the wind, inanimate and yet seeming alive…

Yesterday, apple butter . . .

jenjoycedesign© making apple jam 3

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My Apple Butter: 1 bag of dried apples, with just enough water to cover dried apples, and adding sugar & spices to taste. I use piloncillo I get at one of the local Mexican markets, or raw turbinado sugar, a little cinnamon & allspice, and cooked over a few hours adding water as it absorbs a lot, until the dried apples break down into little tasty clumps.

Make small batch and preserve in sterilized half-cup jars.

Tiny House Shortbread

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© Tiny House Shortbread

This is a great little method of shortbread I have refined out of necessity, because of the challenges of Tiny House tiny oven that burns everything from the back way before done, and having hardly any counter space to work on anyway. No complaints really, but only that I have had to abandon my usual ritual of making my own signature shortbread . . . beginning with fresh grinding oats with a grain grinding attachment on my heavy duty Kitchenaid mixer that swishes together three batches at once like stirring cream into your coffee, then a process of rolling out over a great sprawling counter space, between layers of waxed paper with my maple wood rolling pin and lastly cutting then perforating each piece with three particular wooden chopsticks. Right, so my tried and true shortbread ritual with all of its specific paraphernalia has been abandoned while living in our Tiny House, but by abandoning it for a far easier & faster method, I have actually made a discovery of shortbread with delightful and very unique texture!

And I have to make this small batch very often, because not only does Jeff really appreciate home-made shortbread in his working man’s lunch, but the carpenters building our house do as well, and I have been bringing this very shortbread up to the builders often, with pint jars of tea, coffee, or cocoa. They light up when they see me bring in the basket, thanking me again and again, and for me it is essential that our house is being built by happy & pampered carpenters! So, I am the designated shortbread pro. I was once employed at what is now a locally famous bakery cafe, and these are in fact, the same ingredients that bakery used, but put together in a very different way. This is how I make one batch of my no-burned-edges Tiny House Shortbread.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Ingredients : 1 cup fresh unbleached flour, 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (1 cube) organic salted cold butter, cut into slices. (I also put in the mix just a pinch of grey sea salt ground in mortar & pestle.)

My specific Tiny House instructions:

1. In small Cuisinart (should I say tiny food processor?) blend flour & sugar, then add butter and pulse until all the butter has been finely chopped into the flour/sugar, and has become a lovely buttery shortbread ” powder “. Do not over process into clumpy dough, stop mixing when it is still a powdery crumb, but integrated fully.

2. Dump mix into 8x8x2 inch square Pyrex glass baking dish, and very lightly distribute evenly with your hands or a spatula and lightly pat into a somewhat level even layer, but no pressing, it really will all melt, then crisp together in a beautiful way that these three magical ingredients do all by themselves.

3. Place in oven, right against the door and bake, turning a quarter turn every 5 minutes, so that shortbread is forced to bake more even.

4. When the edges begin to brown, around 15 minutes, lift out of oven and cut around perimeter of baking dish about 1/2 inch into the shortbread and lift out these bits on to the cooling rack (to eat in the mean time), before the edges scorch and are wasted, and the flavor of burn permeates the batch.

jenjoycedesign© trimmings

Honestly, omit the trimming edge step if you are using a conventional oven which heats evenly and doesn’t burn the edges of things, but if you want to do it for fun, and to have those little bits & cut-edge squares, well then do it anyway!

5. Cut into 16 to 20 squares, and then carefully separate the squares a little in the dish, without lifting — but really, this is fiddly and not even necessary.

6. Back into the oven, turning dish every 5 minutes to get even baking. When the shortbread looks golden and beautiful, remove from oven, and with spatula carefully lift squares onto cooling rack. Voila!

Tiny House Shortbread stacked on a tiny plate!

Heavenly chocolate version: Make the exact same way but add into flour mix 1/4 cup best dutch-processed cocoa powder, and when adding the butter, also add 1/2 tsp of best quality vanilla extract.

A celebratory crumble..

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© apple crumble Hearing the excavator scraping away against a very rocky volcanic earth for a new foundation at 7 o’clock this morning was absolute music to my ears, and watching the gradual additional equipment arrive up one by one on our dusty road is just making me blast off into an orbit of happiness. I welcome the noise of production finally, over the deafening silence of waiting . Starting rebuild construction, twelve days short of a year since the wildfire, and no more waiting! I have in fact, made a celebratory apple crumble to bring up to the workers this afternoon, when things settle in a bit. Here’s my totally improvised recipe …

Jen’s Apple Crumble (from the Tiny Oven)

Sugar Mixture: blend 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt. Set aside.

Apples: Peel, core & quarter 3 large tart apples. Blend 1/2 of sugar mixture with 3 tablespoons flour then into the apples, place in bowl and set aside.

Crumble: In small processor, grind 1 cup of rolled oats (or just use quick oats), empty into large bowl. In processor blend 1/2 cup cold butter and 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour, finely as for pie crust, and add to oats. Add the rest of sugar mixture in with flour & oats and toss with just enough ice cold water to make it bind a little when pressed together, but much of it still very crumbly & loose.

Assemble: Press a little more than half the flour/oat/sugar mixture into bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish. Layer apples evenly, but not touching dish, then sprinkle the rest of the flour/sugar mixture on top. Sprinkle additional sugar on top to taste.

Bake at 350F until crumble is golden and apple layer begins to bubble. ( In our Tiny House tiny oven, most things burn, so I waited until the fruity syrup began to bubble before taking out of the oven, at the risk of a little burn)

Bergamot

Posted on September 10, 2017 by Jen

Earl Grey tea

I noticed this particular blend of Earl Grey tea has blue flowers. Blue flowers? Not knowing what flower this could be, I did a tiny bit of research on Earl Grey tea, and of bergamot too, wondering if those petals could be bergamot flower? My findings enlighten me to the fact that there are actually two kinds of bergamot in the botanical world! First, the European grown Bergamot Orange , botanical name is Citrus Bergamia.

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Second, the North American herbal plant Wild Bergamot, also known as Bee Balm, botanical name is Monarda … e20b82df1129d9ef5b8e8e91d7e1a0cb
This was confusing to me, because the herbaceous bergamot has a purplish flower, which some of the Earl Grey tea blends have. Now, reading up on ingredients in Earl Grey blends, I found that the dried petals in my tea could very possibly be cornflower petals ! HHDL_Garden_Cornflower
The type of blue flower petals in my tea blend is still a mystery, however, there is no debate that the signature flavor of Earl Grey tea is the citrus kind of Bergamot, the essential oil which is extracted from the aromatic skin of the sour fruit.

I have also discovered that Earl Grey tea is one of the most varied blends of tea, and that “Earl Grey” as applied to tea is not a registered trademark, thus numerous tea companies produce their own blends of Earl Grey tea, using a wide variety of tea leaves and additives. Aside from black tea, obviously, ingredients vary enough to make me dizzy; there is foremost the essential oil of the citrus bergamot, but may also citrus rind, licorice root, lavender, mallow flower, monarda flower, cornflower, jasmine, rose petals lemon grass, vanilla ~~ just to name a few ingredients I have found so far. What are the ingredients in your favorite Earl Grey blend?

All very well & good! Actually, the reason for my curiosity is that I have been thinking about making Earl Grey ice-cream lately, among other forthcoming tea-inspired ideas, so I finally did, and here’s how I made a small sample batch, including a little photo slideshow…

Heat to scalding, 1 cup of heavy cream with 2-4 tablespoons of your favorite Earl Grey blend in the cream — no need to boil.
Add 1/2 cup sugar, and let it sit a couple of hours at least, to get the Earl Grey flavors exuding into the cream.
When completely cool, stir well, and strain through sieve, then and add 1 cup milk.
Churn freeze & enjoy!

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Served up in a little espresso demitasse,

and let me tell you,

the ice-cream is every bit as fragrant as the tea,

absolutely delicious …

Earl Grey tea ice-cream

… and I think that the Earl himself would approve!

The Earl Charles Grey, 1764-1845

Invincible Summer Lemonade

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Jen

” In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus

In California in winter you might very well witness yellow lemons fattening on the branches of the Meyer Lemon tree, bringing summer into winter. This is so at odds with one’s expectations, that I found the quote by Camus to be perfect!

And now for a little fun research on the extraordinary & delicious Meyer lemon ~~ In the turn of the last century, American “agricultural explorer” Frank Nicholas Meyer collected a sample of a native lemon plant on a trip to China, which was believed by him to be a hybrid of a lemon and a mandarin orange. He introduced it to the United States in 1908.

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The Meyer lemon is commonly grown in garden pots as an ornamental tree, I personally have one, and feel they are delicious and wonderful potted citrus to have. California Cuisine chef Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley rediscovered this fruit in the cuisine revolution of the 90’s, as did Martha Stewart when she began featuring them in her recipes. I remember that era & the popularizing of the Meyer lemon very well. ed4eb8cff64f736b233f46e4813b5fd7

“The Meyer lemon fruit is yellow and rounder than a true lemon. The skin is fragrant and thin, colored a deep yellow with a slight orange tint when ripe. Meyer lemon fruits have a sweeter, less acidic flavor than the more common Lisbon or Eureka varieties. The pulp is a dark yellow…” read more …

Happy Summer Solstice everyone ~~ and on this first day of summer, I give to you my very own extremely delicious sparkling Meyer lemonade recipe ~~ having just renamed it just for this solstice “Invincible Summer Lemonade” ! This recipe will make you a couple of tall glasses of delightful ice-cold lemony refreshment, so dig out your zesters and make sure there’s plenty of ice in the freezer.

Pick 1 ripe fruit from your Meyer lemon tree, or from the produce stall at the market, but really, any kind of fresh lemon will do, just avoid using old stale lemons.
With a zesting tool, zest outer skin of entire lemon, only the yellow part, avoiding the bitter white of the peel if possible. If you don’t have a zester, then use a grater, but more often than not, too much of the peel is lost to the grater.
Into a glass quart jar or liquid measure, combine 2-4 tbsp organic sugar, and lemon peel and let sit for 30 minutes, while stirring once or twice while sugar is leeching out those tasty essential oils from peel, the signature flavor in this drink.
Now juice the peeled lemon and pour juice over sugar-zest mixture. Stir well until all the sugar dissolves in the lemon juice.
Pour into juice 2 to 3 cups sparkling mineral water ( or a combination of sparkling and cold water). Add more sugar if desired.
Pour lemonade through strainer over ice into pitcher or glasses & enjoy the best taste of summer you’ll ever have. Perhaps while contemplating the following text by Albert Camus …

“ In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back. Let the situation be as cold as winter but the heat lies within you. “

moody monday

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Jen

jenjoycedesign-butter-toffee-with-almonds

Emma and I are moody.

When feeling under the weather (on the eve of a birthday)…make candy!

Emma wants some …

( See her nose? )

Honestly, I have not gone on a candy-making jag in years. I used no recipe, just tossed ingredients ( about a cup of org. sugar, a bit more than half cube of salted butter, a glob of corn syrup, and a dash of cream) in a small saucepan over a low flame while cold-water testing until it was right. Poored in a buttered pyrex dish over a bed of chopped toasted almonds, then sprinkled more on top. I ate a ton of it, it shook off the blues, and then I felt better.

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Oh, and knit something really amazing !!! Anyway, the rest of it is just cozy, dark drizzling dank gorgeous wintery day, while drinking coffee, munching butter toffee and knitting. I will be home in my hermitage for the week just working on forthcoming design. 🙂

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Sweet As A Rose

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Jen

This morning a lovely fragrant rose bloomed in the garden, and promptly I cut it off to put it in a vase on the table of the big open room of our house hoping to make the house smell lovely. Now, usually that is fine enough, but being a bit of a striving dessert chef, my tongue could just taste that fresh fragrant blossom. Yes, perhaps in a bath of whole cream, and barely sweetened with some fine crystals of organic sugar. My creative inner cook loves a challenge, and my nose and mouth can be jealous friends.

While this blossom was still opening it’s amazingly fragrant coral pink petals, I got out copper pots & spoons, and began to whistle a tune while a steam bath started to tremor. And this is how I made my rose ice-cream. . .

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I broke off only petals of a very fragrant variety of (organically grown) rose flower into bath of full cream ~~ about a cup, in preferably a glass or stainless steel bowl. Heated over simmering water as a double boiler, and when cream was very warm, added about a half cup of sugar (less is more) , stirred and let cool until room temperature. All that lovely rose essence leeches out into the full cream as the fat and the sugar really help the process. After it cooled to room temperature, I strained the petals out of the cream and added a little whole milk, not quite doubling the volume. Into the churn freezer it went.

I must say, it would be perfect if I learned how to sugar preserve rose petals and garnished with them. As the summertime drones on with mercury rising, its a real treat to be enjoying a little taste of rose ice-cream !

The End Of Summer

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Jen

My nieces came to visit and we migrated into the kitchen without a blink.

What do you do when you have to cram a lot of fun into a short 24-hour visit?

Have a lot of fun… a lot…. and do weird and crazy things.

Like make carrot ice-cream !!!

You know what? It was actually really good !

Here’s what we did:

In centrifugal juicer, we extracted juice from carrots until we had about 3/4 cups carrot juice, then added about 1/4 cup sugar, and 1-1/2 cups cream, then churn in the icecream maker.

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The Autumnal equinox is approaching in a week, and it is my absolute favorite time of year. When October comes along with the marine fog pouring over the ridge I always feel so cheerful. And when the first soft rains wash the dust off of the parchment dry landscape, it comes back to life, and then I feel ecstatic. Like a cougar ready to pounce I am anticipating earnest work ahead on the woodland knitting trail that I have been contemplating well over a year. Autumn is my happiest time, and my most hard-laboring time.

Just that I will spend the next week, the end of summer, first finishing this…

(Not the cup of tea, but the sweater ) 😉 I am making good progress on the Autumn sweaters for my nieces, with the first one finished and the second more than half way done. Soon I’ll be at the yoke joining sleeves to body, then it’s usually done pretty fast from there.

I am pretty well certain that I will be finished with both of the sweaters by the equinox, which is one week from today… and the photo shoot with nieces wearing them is scheduled for the first weekend in October ~~ so my fingers are crossed, and I’m so excited ! For this last week of summer I knit while the sounds of grape harvest surround us on the mountain , rattling gondolas towed behind tractors on the rugged dirt roads and chatter of jovial pickers are heard in the breeze.

Three Days

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Jen

One of my weird kitchen concoctions ~~ hot pepper chocolate.

I have been home alone on the mountain with Emma and The Ravens for four days now. Jeff is returning tonight, from Mexico where he has been visiting with his daughter in Cancun since the nineteenth, visiting ancient Mayan ruins and enjoying a lovely warm beach. Here, I’ve been very busy with holding the fort, and working on this lacey thing . . .

But really what I’ve been working hard on while alone in the house, is my traditional gift of Christmas to Jeff, but I dare not show you a thing until Christmas morning. In the mean time, still serving up my Spiced Chocolate drink if you’d like to stop by ~~I’ll whip one up for you ! If you can’t make it over, I understand, but you’ll have to try this at home ! Here’s how :

Jen’s Spicy Bittersweet Chocolate

(For two servings)

With a mortar & pestle, crunch up a couple of cinnamon sticks, and dried chile flakes or a whole small chile pepper ~~ to taste, what you consider ‘barely hot’ , or ‘really hot’, it is up to you.

(( Optional: a few cardamom pods, and a ‘petal’ from a star anise pod, a dash of grey sea salt ))

Simmer in a pan with about 3 cups of water for about 20 minutes, take off heat and melt into it a few ounces bittersweet chocolate, whisking while it melts.

More chocolate is nice… as much as you feel to balance against the heat of the peppers. I don’t add more sugar, as the idea is to be bittersweet and spicy hot… which is really delicious. However, nobody is stopping you from sweetening it up :).

Whip up a small bowl of cream, again, barely sweetened.

Strain through sieve into cups and pile on the whipped cream , sprinkle with something… like nutmeg or cinnamon… and enjoy !

Wishing You All and Yours lovely days of these fresh first winter days (or summer) and Happy Christmas sentiments.

A Toothsome Treat

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Jen

I made an icecream cake, and here’s how I did it . . .

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I started with one layer , using half of a cake recipe.

Ahead of time, I started heating cream with chocolate in it for the ganache pour. I made a very creamy concoction of about 1 cup cream to 4 or 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, heating in a bowl over water (double boiler) very slowly. I then added a little liqueur into the chocolate.

I made the icecream.

Genache, icecream, and cooled cake, now cut carefully in half, inside edge up, all ready.

I spoon into the layers some yummy flavored liqueur. The liqueur options probably not a good idea for a kid’s cake. Furthermore, probably would be best to freeze the layers at this point, though I didn’t for this one, I wish I had.

I spoon the soft icecream on to the thickest cake layer.

And I pop the other on top, pressing a little tiny bit.

Smoothing out the sides a bit, and pop in freezer to harden up.

I begin a process of pouring a little runny genache on top and spreading it down sides, then putting back in the freezer for about 10 minutes, though it quickly became very messy, this was just the first pour. Do this until you have no more genache, or save the last bit to put into a cake decorator bag and write something on top, such as ” I dare you to eat this all at once ! ” or ” Happy Birthday ” or whatever.

Summer Solstice

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Jen

I can’t think of a better thing to post on the summer solstice than to show off the apricot jam I just made ! I beat the ravens & jays to this year’s crop of uncommonly tiny but plentiful fruits, and surprisingly I was able to make at least a few jars of apricot jam ( I did toss a few dried sour cherries in there too).

* * *

And now for my Fresh Apricot Torte recipe!

This is a perfect desert choice for fresh or frozen fresh fruit. Very rustic, and it’s fruit flavor equals that of any fresh fruit pie ~ without all the hassle of pastry ~ and it is made in minutes ! It’s relatively low in fat too. I’m taking this to a casual dinner party we’re going to this evening. Here’s how :

Beat briefly, two eggs. Add 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup milk, pinch of salt, beat together till blended. Fold in 1.5 cups flour. Gently fold in 1 to 2 pounds in-season fresh or frozen fruit (berries, cherries, apples, pears, apricots, peaches all do really well). Pour into one buttered and floured cake layer pan and bake at 375 or 400 until deep golden on top, anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on whether fruit is fresh or frozen.

Cool on rack, then turn upside down and let torte come out of pan, then place right-side-up on a pretty plate. Serve room temperature, or cold from the fridge. A dessert of under-statement ~ surprisingly simple, and yet very elegant!

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Happy Summer Solstice everybody !

How About A Cafe Frigetto !

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Jen

Its my new drink, I call it a ‘Cafe Frigetto’ ! Its espresso, ice, more ice, and real cream (yes, heavy whipping cream, not half&half)… and it’s ~~~~ frigid cold ~~~

Here’s how: In a pint glass filled to the top with ice, pour 2 or 3 shots of fresh brew’d espresso over, stir vigorously until ice stops melting and then more ice to the top. Lastly, a generous amount of heavy cream poured over it all…sinking & swirling down…never quite making it. Nectar !!!

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