urban homesteading, food foresting, & seasonal local organic vegetarian recipes from scratch with love and mindfulness
This recipe is based on The Great British Bake Off, my favorite show. I love working with the precise metric measurements. I make these for holidays of the Wheel of the Year, served with whatever my latest jam is.
Preheat the convection oven to 392°F (425°F in a conventional oven). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a scale, tare a medium mixing bowl and add salt, baking powder, and whole wheat pastry four. Add spelt flour to reach 250 grams total. Add sugar and mix until well combined. Add the pieces of butter to the bowl and toss them in the flour just to separate and coat them. Rub the butter into the flour using the tips of your fingers, lifting your hands up above the rim of the bowl so the crumbs and flakes of the mixture fall through your fingers back into the bowl. Rub until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.
In a measuring cup, beat the egg with the buttermilk. Pour into the crumb mixture and lightly work with hands (adding ginger towards the end) just until it forms a soft, shaggy dough (don’t overwork).
Press the dough into a disc, picking up any extra floury bits, about 3cm thick. Cut the disc into 8 wedges. Gently move scones on the baking sheet so there is space between them.
Brush them with milk, sprinkle with sugar-in-the-raw, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until a rich golden brown, then transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Eat warm from the oven with jam and butter, or better yet, clotted cream.The local Foodshed had an amazing sale on strawberries. The recent heat wave caused the strawberry fields to smell like jam, which is heavenly but means it's the last of the strawberries. So it's time to jam.
I wanted to add an additional flavor; looking at what was available in my yard, I thought roses would go beautifully with strawberries. I picked a bunch of 'purple splash' rose petals and a Meyer lemon from the garden. I use Pomona universal pectin, mostly because that's what's available at the co-op, but also because it allows me to use less sugar than some recipes.
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| flower rainbow for pride month; that's a 'purple splash' rose on the upper left corner. |
Place a small plate in the freezer. If canning, prep all your tools and equipment, and start boiling water for processing. Make the calcium water.
In a small bowl, add sugar. Sprinkle with pectin and stir well. Send aside.
Put a large cast iron enameled pot on high heat. Add the sliced strawberries. lemon juice, and calcium water. Bring to a boil, stirring. Sprinkle in the sugar mix and stir vigorously to dissolve sugar while bringing it back to a boil. Stir in the rose petals and boil for 5 minutes. Test to see if the jam is set by putting a teaspoonful of liquid jam onto the frozen plate. Allow plate to cool for 2 minutes in the fridge. If the jam gels, it's ready. If not, test every 2 minutes. When it's done, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
If canning, fill jars leaving a half-inch head space and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.The artichokes are growing high and beautiful in my yard this spring. They are all volunteers and there is a plethora of them at this point. I actually started weeding them down this year because they are so prolific. So now that I have so many artichoke plants, I try to pick them on the young side and pare them down to the heart when I cook. I don't have to be stingy with them.
I didn't grow favas this year as a cover crop. They can be such a pain to harvest. But a pint basket is a small amount to deal with.
In a large skillet on medium-low heat, add olive oil, onion, and a sprinkling of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and begins to caramelize. Add garlic and thyme and cook for 2 minutes. Add rice and broth, and a few grinds of pepper, bring to a boil, then simmer, covered until almost cooked through, about an hour.
While the rice is cooking, remove beans from their pods, then remove the skin from the beans and set beans aside. Pare the artichokes down to almost just the heart, leaving a bit of the tender leaves and stem, removing all green color. Cut in half and remove the choke. Quarter and place in water with lemon juice.
When the rice is close to done, remove artichoke pieces from the acidulated water and add to pan. Add peeled beans, cover, and cook an additional 10 minutes. Stir in about a 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest and remove thyme sprigs before serving.
3-4 servings
This is the first year I've grown eggplant. It's generally not a plant I get excited to eat, although the fruit and flowers are so beautiful and I have a strong affinity for purple vegetables. So when I saw the Baker Creek description for Chinese string eggplant as the best-tasting they're grown, it sounded like the perfect opportunity to give eggplant a shot in my garden. I only got one plant to take up roots but one was enough: it's been quite prolific and produces plenty for the two of us to eat eggplant once a week. It grows right next to the Thai basil.
In a large sauce pan, heat 1/8 inch of oil on high. Cook tofu on 2 sides until golden brown. Remove from oil and let drain.
Pour out most of the oil but leave some in the pan. On high heat, stir fry onion until they start to soften. Add eggplant and stir fry until mostly soft. Add garlic and basil, stirring until basil is wilted. Add the rest of ingredients and allow to steam and reduce until sauce thickens, softening the eggplant. Stir in the fried tofu and serve over brown rice.
Serves 2-3
I've got plethora of purple tomatillos in my garden this year, which I generally turn into roasted salsa verde, which I them turn into enchiladas mostly. But between the tomatillos and the abundance of poblanos, I got inspired:
In a large pan, saute the onion with a bit of oil and salt until soft. Then add zucchini and when it begins to soften, add the garlic and saute a couple more minutes. Stir in the poblanos and sauce, bring it to a simmer and allow to thicken a bit. Stir in the cilantro. Create a well for each egg, top with cheese and cook to desired doneness (I like my yolks soft but chewy, not runny) with the lid on.
Serve with sour cream or avocado with roasted potatoes, or corn or flour tortillas.
My spouse is the baker so this is his recipe. This is his favorite breakfast during mulberry season.
For the topping, into food processor:
Pulse until a course meal texture and set aside.
For the cake, in a separate bowl, mix:
And set aside
In a separate measuring cup, mix:
And set aside.
In a bowl to a stand-up mixer, cream:
Add 2 eggs to mixer, (incorporate 1 at a time).
Alternately mix in a third of the flour mix, then a third of liquid, repeating until all incorporated.
Spread mixture into a buttered 9x13 pan. Sprinkle on top 4 cups of fresh mulberries. Then sprinkle on the crumbly topping. Bake at 350 degrees 40-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean of cake (but you'll still see berries on the toothpick).
