Quick Mixing Crepe Batter Recipe from Julia Child (using Wondra)

By using Wondra, this batter only needs to rest for 20 minuts or so after mixing - this allows crepes to be made sooner after mixing than when using a traditional batter (which requires hours of resting before use).

3 large eggs
2/3 C milk
2/3 C water (plus a little additional if needed to thin batter later)
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp oil (peanut or grapeseed - high smoke point preferred, or may substitute part melted butter)
1 C Wondra instant mixing flour
A little oil to prepare pan

Beat eggs lightly in a medium (4 C capacity) bowl, then add the milk, water, and oil.  Stir in the Wondra flour, whisking it in until smooth.  Let batter rest before use for 20 - 30 mins, or longer in the refrigerator.  If batter has become a little too thick, thin with a little more water, adding a few drops at a time until reaching the desired batter thickness for the crepes of your choice.

Red Clam Sauce and Fettucine

I got the original version of this recipe from Ceil Dyer's book: More Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Jars. It was written as Red Clam Sauce and Linguine, using a recipe from the Hunts Tomato Paste can.

(Note: Since HB doesn't like spaghetti or linguine much, I substituted fettucine, and it worked fine, but the original recipe used linguine.)

1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2  6 1/2 oz cans minced clams (if using chopped clams, mince them up a bit before adding to the saute pan)
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 C water (want to try part or all wine sometime)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I didn't use this the first time, because I didn't have it)
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp rosemary (bruised and slightly ground in Japanese mortar and pestle)
1/4 tsp ground thyme
8 oz dry fettucine pasta

Saute the onion in oil until very soft, add garlic, and saute anther minute or so.

Add clams and their juice, tomato paste, water (or part wine?), lemon juice, parsley, sugar, rosemary, and thyme.

Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or so -- the mixture will thicken up as it reduces -- may take a bit longer or shorter depending on how fast it's simmering.

While sauce is simmering, cook up the 1/2 pound of fettucine pasta until al dente - mix pasta into the simmering sauce and serve.  Sprinkle with parmesan if desired.

When I made this, we liked it enough that it would have made sense to double the recipe.  Also, I may add some whole baby clams along with the chopped ones to add a little twist.

some pics from last summer

Knee Notes - October 22, 2014

My left knee continues to be a challenge, but worked out really hard this week at Physical Therapy (yesterday) with some walking without a crutch. Although painful, I am seeing definite progress.

I am scheduled for a radio-wave saphenous nerve block on next Wednesday (10/29), so hopefully that will be a big help. If nothing else, it will allow us to know what pain is attributable to the saphenous damage and which is not.

ripe tomatoes this week

Picked some tomatoes and am delighted to have ripe Sweet Orange II cherries, a few Amethyst Cream Cherries,  some Quedlinburger Frue Liebe, and an almost ripe Cherokee Lime Stripe.

I plan to save seeds from these, and will save others when at HB's house this weekend.

There are a couple of tomato plants in the Vassar Ave garden that were planted by James and Karen, and they've become full of blossoms, so I need to figure out what varieties they are.  There are also eggplants and my artichoke plant.

Hopefully we'll be able to harvest fruit and veggies before the first killing frost.

Tomatoes 2014 -- Thursday, October 2, 2014

It's been a late season - I don't have any protected seed starting location, so my seeds were very slow to germinate (but they DID eventually sprout), and my hospitalization (and then nursing home stay) from June through August really put a cramp in the grow-outs this year. On the few visits home during my nursing home stay, we did up-potting and in-ground planting.  I got three plants at the Master Gardener Sale in April, and those went into the front yard (Carmello F-1, Ananas Noire, and Cherokee Purple).  I got some seeds from Carolyn Male in New York, and some from Marsha in Florida in addition to ones I've grown previously and wanted to get fresh seed for.

No blossom bagging has been done to date this season.  I plan to bag some of the plants that are just beginning to push forth with blossoms now in hopes of getting pure seed.  For the others, I will just note that they weren't bagged, and I'll expect 90+% purity, knowing that I may see some crossing.

Processed 3 Sugar Lump cherry tomatoes (original strain from Debra Krauss) and have set them to ferment.  Finished processing seeds (2 seeds!) from first Sweet Orange II Cherry tomato, and am leaving them to dry on a coffee filter.

Other tomatoes in the back yard are coming along.  I've eaten amethyst cream cherries (anthocyanin producing with purple pigment); if allowed to ripen until soft they get kind of insipid.  Picking them a little earlier has more flavor.  Will save some seeds at next picking.

I picked one Cosmonaut Volkov today - red but more oval/bomb-shaped than the usual round red fruit.  This plant is growing in a too-small pot, but we ran out of the largest pots.  In previous years, Cosmonaut Volkov has been very unassuming in appearance but, at times, a top tasting variety. My seed is getting old on this one, so I am hoping to amass a new supply from this season's fruit.  The fruit is a few days from optimal ripeness, but I didn't want the birds to get to it before I could save seed (assuming the flavor is right - then again, it might make sense to save seeds anyway).

I have a couple of nearly-ripe Polfast (determinate, F-1) fruit.  Even thought they're hybrid, I may still opt to save seed.  May need to get more cups for seed saving.

I have a couple of Delano Green Ripe and Cherokee Lime Stripes that are sizing up.  Hopefully we'll see some of them ripen in the next couple / few weeks. I have small unripe fruit on more than one of the Quedlinburger Frue Liebe plants also. 

I'm disappointed that I didn't get any Japanese Oxheart, Dester, Eastham Pink,Diana's Garnet Gem or Purple Dog Creek to baby tomato stage.  There are blossoms on the Japanese Oxheart, and it looks like I may have a ruffled fruit coming on Purple Dog Creek plant in a big pot on the patio.  Pray for a long season with no killing frost before Thanksgiving, and maybe we'll get something from most of them.

- Ricotta Puffs - 

Maria made these for Christmas Day -- they're doughnut-like fried puffs with more protein
Recipe from Sunset Favorite Recipes II

1/2 pint (1 C) ricotta cheese 
3 eggs
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 C all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
cooking oil
powdered sugar

In large mixing bowl, beat ricotta with eggs and sugar until well-blended and smooth. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture and beat until the batter is smooth.

Pour vegetable oil into a deep pan to a depth of about 1 1/2", and heat to 360 degrees F on a deep fat frying thermometer. For each puff, drop a rounded teaspoon into the hot oil, cooking several at a time.  Cook, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove and drain well, frying several more at a time until all batter is used.

If the puffs are to be served immediate, dust with sifted or strained powdered sugar while still hot and serve.

 If storing until later, do not dust with powdered sugar -- instead, let cool, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Reheat in a single layer on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F oven for about 10 minutes, then dust with the powdered sugar and serve hot.