Viking Soup

Recently, I googled "What did Vikings eat." Since it was just days before Winter Nights, I was hoping for some feast planning inspiration.  Secretly, I was also hoping for some evidence to present Superman with so that he would quit insisting that he should be a hardcore carnivore as part of his Heathen journey.  That man is so full of shit sometimes!  

Not surprisingly, our Norse ancestors ate very simple food.  Mostly meat/fish and cool weather vegetables with some dairy and grains depending on the location. Apparently, one of the most common forms of substance was skause, a perpetual soup pot chock full of meat, vegetables, and local herbs.  As the meat and vegetables are consumed, new ones are added for days on end.  

Since soup of any kind is a favorite at our house, I had to give this new concoction a go.  Superman dubbed it "Viking Soup," so that's what moniker we went with.  It's a little more fun than skause.  We added to and ate our Viking Soup for three days and then I drained off the broth and used it as a base for grits the following morning.  For three nights and one morning, I had a hearty and highly nutritious meal for my family with very little fuss.

Here are the experiment details.

Day 1: An ok soup.  

• A rack of boneless baby back ribs
• Carrots (cut in large chunks)
• Potatoes (halved) 
• Garlic (minced)
• Onion (quartered)
• Salt
• Water

I buy my meat when it is on sale or discounted and then toss it in the freezer, so the ribs were just something I had on hand.  Unfortunately, I didn't stop to think what the long cook time would do to the potatoes and by early afternoon they were disintegrating.  At that point, I pulled them out and let them sit in a casserole dish until just before supper when I heated them in the oven.  In the future, I won't include potatoes, which is fine because they pretty much have no nutritional value anyway.  

Day 2:  This is starting to get really good.  I could have doubled both the meat and vegetables, though.

• Chicken drumsticks
• Onion (quartered)
• Rutabagas 
• Carrots
• Celery
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Sage
• Salt
• Water

Just before lunch, I pulled the pot out of the fridge and started reheating it.  I added all my new ingredients to the existing broth and let it simmer all afternoon.  Super simple and I can use all the short cuts I can get in the evening.

Day 3: This is off the chain!

• Pork shoulder blade steak
• Beef tip steak
• Carrots
• Cabbage
• Hulled Barley
• Water

The first thing I did this day was to skim the chicken fat off top of my broth, quite a bit had formed in the fridge over night.  Then I tossed in some more of that meat stash from my freezer, added some veg and barley, then went about my business.  Superman and I could have kept going with the soup, but the girls were starting to get a bit tired of it, so we strained the broth and used it for grits the following morning.  I think skause is going to be a staple at our house.  

As for my research, these were my three best finds.

• The Viking Answer Lady  
• Hungry History
• Hurstwic

Sourdough Hot Cakes: Making New Memories and Honoring the Old

Lately, I've been noticing that cooking blogs make sourdough complicated.  They want to measure humidity, add unnecessary ingredients, make huge batches of leaven to use only a small sample, and do tests to rate the activity of their starter.

Just reading what the modern cook has to say about sourdough intimidates me and I've known sourdough all my life.  Sourdough was a staple for prospectors, cowpokes, and busy pioneer women.  It is intended to be simple.

As far as anybody can figure, my Papa kept a sourdough starter for 70 years.  He was of the cowpoke variety.  Every morning he made sourdough hot cakes or "doughs."  His kids were raised on them and so were us grandkids.  I made it a point to make them an important part of life for my older children and now I have started with the younger ones as well.

 This afternoon, I made hot cakes with Little Moon.  It's a simple process, but far easier with out the help of a hungry two year old.

Instead of a proper recipe, doughs are more of a ratio.  Use one cup of starter for every two people and go from there.  For each cup of starter use 1 tsp white sugar and 1/2 tsp baking soda.  Yep.  That's it.

Pour starter in a large bowl and gently mix in sugar.

Place baking soda in a mug or small bowl and dissolve in a tablespoon of warm water.  Fold into starter.

This is the fun part! As the baking soda mixes with the starter, the batter foams and grows.

Spritz a preheated skillet with non-stick spray and spread batter thinly.  The pan should be over medium heat. When the surface starts to dry, flip the dough and cook for a minute or so longer.

Done and done.



Serve with maple syrup and butter no photos of this as the girls were more than over me photographing their food.  My Papa always ate his with two over-easy eggs sandwiched in the middle and an entire flood of syrup, washed down with black coffee of course.

The girls loved this new addition to their diet and before we sat down to eat we set the prettiest hot cake in front of my grandparents photo as an offering.  All rolled up, the way Papa liked to eat them for an afternoon snack.

Vegetable Soup: A Bit of Kitchen Witchery

Life with two toddlers is hard.  I go to bed exhausted at the end of the day and climb out of bed still tired.  It just doesn't seem fair that these little people get so much more energy than we do!  Often, I feel like a lackluster witch.  By the end of the day, I just have no energy left for magic.  Then I remember that the magic doesn't make me, I make the magic.  Anything I do can be magic.  And one thing I do a lot of this time of year make soup. 

Soup is not just the perfect cold weather food, it is the perfect busy mommy food.  It requires the use of just four utensils: a cutting board, a knife, a pot, and a spoon.  It is prepared ahead of time i.e. while the kids nap so there is no end of day rush.  It can be a great way to use up odds and ends in the produce bin before grocery day.  And for me atleast it comes with an amazing sense of accomplishment. 

Best of all soup is really delicious, nutritious magic!  Any time there is a  big cauldron bubbling on the stove there is magic in the air.  Superman comes home on soup days swearing he could smell his witch's kitchen for an entire block! So I love soup!  I think that fact is well established, lets get to the making of this magic.

A my house, there is no recipe for soup. Just like a spell, soup is full of love and intent.  It is really more art than science.  That said, I do have three rules for soup.

1. Start with onions and garlic, plenty of both.   
2. Clarify the pan with alcohol, drink a little too if you're not pregnant.
3. Salt is your friend, use it liberally. 

How I make my soup:

I start by heating up my largest pan over medium heat with a splash of oil in the bottom.  When the oil is hot, I add a whole diced onion and at least two cloves of garlic.  This is like prepping the canvas. 

While the onion softens, I start dicing a whole mountain of vegetables.   Starting with the root vegetables that take longer to cook. The goal is to fill my pot halfway line.  Everything gets tossed in the pot with a good stir as it comes off the cutting board.  Just about anything that grows in the garden is subject to my soup pot.  Zucchini, celery, kale, and dried tomatoes are some of my favorites.  While I dice, I focus on the love and care I feel for my family and the strength they will gain from eating my concoction.  Since my hands are all over the vegetables at this stage, it is the perfect time to charge them!  If you're feeling creative now is the time to add some herbs. Go with flavors you know work elsewhere and be generous. 

Once everything is in the pot, I look at it with a painters eye and ask myself if anything is missing.  If it is looking at bit too beige, I add some more tomatoes or carrots.  If it seems to heavy, I add corn or peas for a hint of brightness.  Ha!  Imagine reading these instructions in a cookbook!  When the veggies feel balanced, add salt and cover them with the lid to cook slowly for 30-45 minutes, stirring frequently.  This is a great time to clean the kitchen. 

Now it's time to break open the bottle! White or red wine are probably the acceptable choices, but I have been known to use Wild Turkey very successfully.   Clarifying the pan with the alcohol of your choice helps create a very light and lively broth.  To me, this step is the blessing of the vegetables.  So, pour at least a serving of spirits in the pan and listen to it sizzle happily while the aroma rolls around the kitchen.  Let the alcohol stew directly into the vegetable for a few minutes before adding fresh water to fill the pan.  I consider full to be about two inches below the lip.  At this point I will add 1/2 cup of raw grain and possibly some precooked, mashed squash.  Replace lid and turn heat to simmer. 

Now, go enjoy your afternoon.  Take the kids out to play, sit down with glass of wine, call a friend... Super is well on the way to being ready and you have the evening handled like a boss.  In about an hour, peek at your soup and give it a taste.  There is a good chance you'll need to add more salt.  After three hours or so, your soup is ready and your house smells amazing.  I always think of the aroma as my magic diffusing to all corners of our home.  If it's not quite supper time, turn the heat to low.  Super will be hot and ready when the time comes. 

Sourdough and More Sourdough

A few years ago, I had a little homemaking blog that never took off.  It was a bit random and I didn't know how to do the networking involved in being a successful blogger.  That said, there were a few good posts.  The two I want to share with you today are my favorites.  I just recently got my sourdough starter up and going again, so this topic has been on my mind lately.  The witch is in the kitchen this week! 

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Just Like Grandpa's...

My kitchen is starting to smell like sourdough!

 

Sourdough flap jacks were the comfort food of my childhood.  My grandpa made them every morning for over 50 years and even when he traveled his crock of starter rode along with him in a red Coleman cooler.  I have kept a starter myself off and on most of my adult life and now that I am once again settled in to a domestic existence, I just had to get one going again. 

Growing a starter is a process that to initiate takes 5-7 days.  It also requires adhering to a few simple rules.

1. Use clean, preferably seamless, metal utensils.  The spoon in the photo is NOT ideal because of the rivets and seam that can collect bacteria you wont want added to your starter. 
2. Keep loosely covered.  I use a square of clean, light weight cotton secured with a  rubber band.
3. Don't neglect it.  Feed your starter every evening and stir it down every morning.  If you are not going to be using it at least every other day, store in the refrigerator and remove 12 hours prior to planned use. 
4. Keep the sides of your sourdough crock clean. 

With those few things in mind, the only materials required to get started are a glass jar or crock with a loose covering, a clean metal spoon, flour, and water.  Any kind of flour can be used in a starter, but for the initial week I prefer rye since it is less likely to mold than other varieties.  After the bacteria has taken hold and my starter is going well, I switch over to all purpose white flour. 

Day 1:  Mix 1 cup of rye flour with 1 cup water in your very clean container.  Cover loosely and set aside for 24 hours.

Day 2-6:  Stir down and feed your starter 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup water every evening.  Over the course of this week you will start to notice first a sour smell coming from your starter and then see some bubbling activity.  The consistency of the starter should be like thick pancake batter and the ratio of flour/water can be adjusted to obtain this. 

Day 7: Use 1-2 cups of your starter today!  Stir it down early in the day and remove what you want to use. Good first uses for sourdough include biscuits and bread.  I usually give two weeks before attempting flap jacks. 
Tonight feed your starter as usual, but switch to white flour if you have been using rye. 

 

 

A well cared for starter can live indefinitely and with all the fun recipes to try there is little chance you will grow tired of it's use. 

 

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

More on Sourdough

After posting what I thought was a fairly thorough article on sourdough starter, I started thinking about all the little details I take as a simple matter of course when working my "doughs."  Since I want the best out come possible for anybody who attempts a starter, I decided to expand this topic a bit and add a few more tips. 

-When feeding the starter, use room temperature to lukewarm water.  Hot water can kill the culture and cold will slow down its activity. 

-To keep the sides of the sourdough crock clean, use a sharp knife to scrape the sides when you stir it down in the morning.  The dried scraping will fall into the crock and be incorporated back into the starter. These dried bits end up on the side of the crock because after feeding the bacteria works on the added ingredients and will raise the content level slightly before settling back down. 

-Always stir the starter gently.  It is a living thing and does not like to be radically disturbed.  One thing I always remember about my Grandpa was how slowly and methodically he maintained his starter.  Everything was done carefully, properly, and with love. 

-A forgotten feeding or stirring down is not the end of the world.  It's not a good habit to get into, but on occasion it will do little to harm the starter.  Just resume regular care as soon as possible.

-Any sign of mold or black scum on the starter is a red light.   Throw it away, sterilize the crock, and start over.  Between workings the starter will separate with the ticker starter below and a light brown liquid on top, this is normal.  Any nasty growth is fairly unmistakable and is usually accompanied by an unpleasant odor. 

-After spooning out the starter required for cooking, use a just laundered dish rag moistened in hot water to clean any starter that may have dripped on the rim of the crock.  Do not let the rag come in contact with the remaining starter. 

Grandpa and I, the last time I saw him. 

 

 

 

***Please note: since my last post on sourdough starter, my sweet hubby bought me a proper sourdough spoon. 

Peanut Butter Cookies: A Bit of Kitchen Witchery

My mother would have a heart attack if she even suspected that I added magick to her peanut butter cookie recipe, but I did! I hate to admit it, but I do find a bit of satisfaction in knowing that. For all the mama traits the woman doesn't have, she gets an A+ in cookie making.  These are the ultimate in rich, creamy, melt in your mouth goodness and they are only composed of three yes, you read right only three ingredients. 

One of my favorite witches likes to say, "Live Your Magick!"  Since I am a full time mama, my magick is in mothering.  Yesterday just seemed like a good day to add a bit of extra memory making to equation, so Miss Busy and I mixed up a batch of these cookies.  Every time we make them, I tell her the three ingredients so that she will have this special recipe memorized by the time she is ready to try the magick on her own.  Since these cookies are one of my fond childhood memories, I include a bit on my own mothers magic as well: flattening them with a potato masher to get the little knobs on the top. 

Absolutely Wonderful, Amazing, Yummy, Melt in Your Mouth Peanut Butter Cookies

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg

Heat the oven to 350.

Cream together your three ingredients.

Shape into balls and roll in a bit of extra sugar to coat. This is the step where you add your magick.  While I am shaping the ball I concentrate on the good, warm memories I want my children to have of their childhoods.  I then channel that energy and a good dose of love through my hands and right into the cookie.  To enhance the intent of the magick, we sit together and chat while we enjoy them. 

Set on cookie sheet and flatten with a potato masher. This creates round cookies.  Here we talk about the cookies being the same shape as the moon.  Miss Busy isn't old enough to have very in depth conversations with, but she is already learning about the tides and moon phases. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. 

The hardest part about this recipe is waiting for them to cool.  Since they are really more like confections than traditional cookies, they cool very slowly and will scald your mouth if you are impatient enough to bite into one early.  Yeah, ask me how I know.  These are absolutely amazing with a glass of milk and I've been know to justify them as breakfast food.

Pumpkin Custard

 

Ever since squash and pumpkin started showing up in the grocery store about a month ago and being handed out like adult trick-or-treat candy by local gardeners, I have been having fun playing with the preparation of these fall classics.   Usually I prefer to use savory methods to highlight the warm nuttiness of such vegetables, but occasionally I can go Americana as long as I add a bit of a twist.  Having already made a "proper" pumpkin custard once this year, I mixed it up a bit yesterday and came up with a truly decadent creation.  It's amazing what one altered ingredient can do! 

 

 

Pumpkin Custard

 

3 cups fresh pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

6 slightly beaten eggs

2 1/2 cups egg nog

1 1/3 cup milk

 

Stir dry ingredients into pumpkin puree until smooth.

 

Add wet ingredients and mix well. 

 

Pour into two deep dish pie pans and bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. 

 

Serve with whipped cream and maybe a drizzle of caramel sauce. 

 

 



Miss Busy approved this recipe! 

Not Just for Pickling

Dill drying in my kitchen.


 

Last week at the farmers market, a lady was selling huge bunches of dill for pickling.   Now, I love good homemade pickles as much as the next girl, but there just isn't going to be any of those coming from my kitchen this fall.  To start with, I opted out of the garden this year on grounds that I would be extremely pregnant come harvest time yep, guessed that right and even if I were to have a plethora of cucumbers on hand the flat topped stove in this apartment would not handle my canner.  Still, the dill smelled delicious I tracked the vendor down with my nose and I could just imagine how tasty the wispy little greens would be mixed in with a salad or flavoring my favorite yogurt sauce.  Since I couldn't convince her to sell me just a bunch of greens, I decided to buy an entire bundle and dry the seeds for later use.  My kitchen has smelled amazing ever since. 

Not being extremely familiar with dill other than it's many culinary uses, I had to do a bit of research on this herb.  To start with, it's medicinal properties are pretty blasé.  As a tea it is used to calm stomach upset and its name references that use having been adapted from the old Norse word dilla meaning to lull, but that's the extent of it.  Nutritionally and magically, dill becomes much more exciting. 

As a food, dill is just plain good for you.  It is high in calcium, fiber, iron, and magnesium, as well as in vitamins A and C.  That makes me feel really good about using it in my salads and sandwiches this week.  Superman wasn't crazy about it in the yogurt sauce to go with his falafels, but I thought it was amazing. 

Magically, dill seed is known for protection and love it gives an overall sense of wellbeing and is traditionally hung in children's cradles.  It is also included in protective sachets and used to bless homes and particularly kitchens.  Since I am now the steward of a goodly amount of these seeds, I am sure I will find many ways to incorporate dill into my practice.  A few of my initial plans include a sachet to tuck into the babies bed and including it in a protective incense. 

Southern Style Biscuits: A Bit of Kitchen Witchery

 

 

 

Although I do not consider myself a Kitchen Witch, I do practice a bit of Kitchen Witchery from time to time.  To tell the truth, I believe that any one who has ever whipped up special comfort food for a loved one has knowingly or unknowingly practiced this form of the craft.  Yesterday morning, getting ready for work, Superman was dragging his feet like a school boy with a history test he hadn't studied for.  The previous day had been particularly stressful and he was dreading a repeat.  There wasn't much I could do to ease his frustration, so I did what I could. I gave him something to look forward to-the promise of a batch of fresh, homemade biscuits when he came home for lunch.  Now Superman is all Southern and nothing says love to a Southern man like biscuits and sweet tea.  Since we are never without sweet tea, I was already halfway there. 

 

About an hour before he was due to arrive home, I smudged the house and started mixing up his favorite biscuits.  I started my milk to clabbering and mixed all my dry ingredients.  This is where the magic comes in.  Then instead of cutting the butter in, I used my clean hands to sift and squeeze, incorporating the two together.  While I mixed those ingredients, I silently focused my energy and love through my hands while envisioning a comfortable, content husband.   I saw him sitting at the counter, happily eating his buttered biscuits while all the stress of his morning flowed away.  After adding the clabbered milk my go-to substitution of buttermilk I lightly kneaded the dough, once again focusing on my husband and the relaxed state I wanted to evoke.  Finally, I shaped the biscuits and put them in the fridge to wait and be slid into the hot oven as my Superman walked through the door.   

 

The magic was a complete success.  Not only did my husband feel loved and happy eating his biscuits, that feeling of relaxation carried him into the afternoon.  He didn't have a wonderful day at work, but he managed to get through it with minimal frustration.  He was even able to shake off an incident that would usually have caused a confrontation. 

 

Even though I do say so myself, I have never found a biscuit recipe better than mine.  It is many batches worth of experimentation using various recipes as sources until I found just the right combination and technique.  The ingredients are pretty basic, but there are a few guidelines that come with this recipe. 

 

For the absolute best biscuits, use real butter and use it cold.  Also, make sure the shaped biscuits are cold when you put them in the oven.  I like to pan my biscuits ahead of time and put the pan into the fridge.  Then, just before we are ready to eat, I put my cold biscuits into a hot oven.  This technique is the big secret to tender, fluffy biscuits. 

 

Southern Style Biscuits

 

3/4 cup milk

1 TBL lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

 

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup cold butter, cubed

 

Combine milk and lemon juice/vinegar in a cup or bowl and set aside to clabber.  If you've never done this, don't be surprised at the outcome.  The milk will sour and curd up.  That is exactly the result we are looking for. 

 

Mix dry ingredients and cut in cold butter cubes.  Stir in clabbered milk and knead lightly.  At this point, I sometimes add yummy extras to create fancy "steak house biscuits."  Fresh rosemary and parmesan or fresh cracked pepper and cheddar are two of my favorites.  Shape biscuits either in the traditional way by rolling and cutting or by hand like I do.  By hand keeps the working of the dough to a minimum and results in more tender biscuits.  In my home, biscuits are big and always eaten fresh from the oven: this recipe creates six, but doubles or even triples easily. 

 

Pan biscuits and allow to chill while oven heats to 475.  Bake for 12 minutes and serve hot with butter gravy, jelly, honey, plain, how ever you want.