Category — recipes

One of the very first things I learned to make for myself was fried rice. Growing up, there was almost always a container of leftover white rice in the fridge, just screaming with potential.

To that dried out rice, add some garlic and onion, eggs, random leftovers and a dash of soy sauce, and you had yourself a delicious (and sometimes nutritious) afterschool snack.

The amazing thing about fried rice is that you can put almost anything in it and it will be delicious. There are just a few rules:

• Use old, cold rice – Rice that’s been sitting in the refrigerator for a day or more will be drier, and will separate into grains when cooked instead of clumping together. This is the texture you want in your fried rice, not mush. Save wet rice for delicious porridge!

• Don’t let it get too wet – Same idea as above, but this time pertaining to your ingredients… if you add in too many wet ingredients (like old curry or extra sauce) you’ll get soggy rice

• Use a big pan or wok and make sure it’s HOT — You want to be able to stir without getting rice everywhere. You’ll be adding ingredients as you go, so don’t start out with a small pan and then try to cram in that last cup of rice on the very top (yes, i’ve done it). Help yourself out. Also, make sure your pan’s smoking hot, this will help keep your ingredients from getting mushy too.

I had some leftover white rice staring me down in my fridge today along with some old frittata, carrots, and bunches of greens. So I decided to go for a twist on an old standby. The cheesy frittata with rosemary and thyme wasn’t a traditional ingredient, but the flavors went together perfectly and I scarfed the whole plate in under 10 flat.

Now it’s your turn. Here’s a basic template to paint with your personal palette of leftovers (I’m so so sorry for the terrible metaphor)

Very Basic Fried Rice with Variations
serves 1-2

3 cups white rice, cooked and cold, even better if it’s at least a day old
2 eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, minced (or more, to taste)
2 tbsp light soy sauce (or more, to taste)
2 tbsp oil
black pepper, to taste

for my frittata rice, I also added:
1 cup shredded carrot
2 cups spinach
3 pieces of leftover frittata
1 tbsp rice vinegar
chives, as garnish

and for more exciting and delicious combinations, try:

1. Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Style): omit garlic, substitute dark soy sauce for light, add 1 cup diced chicken, 1/4 cup diced pineapple, 1/2 cup raisins, 2 tbsp tomato paste, and one tsp curry powder
2. Hawaiian Style: add 1/2 can spam cubed, 1/2 cup carrots cubed, 1/2 cup green peas
3. Nuoc Cham rice: substitute 3 shallots for onions, reduce soy sauce by 1/2 tbsp, add extra clove garlic, 1 cup deveined shrimp, 1 cup long beans chopped, 2 tbsp Vietnamese sweet chili sauce (Nuoc Cham), and 1/4 cup mint leaves
   
4. Yangchow (Traditional style): substitute white part of spring onions for onions, add 1 cup Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheung) or BBQ Pork (Char Siew), 1 cup Chinese broccoli (Gai Lan) stems chopped or peas, 1 tbsp minced ginger, sprinke of white pepper, green part of spring onions chopped for garnish
5. Thai Basil rice: substitute fish sauce for soy sauce, add fried tofu, 1 Thai bird chili minced, 1 red capsicum minced, 2 tbsp crushed peanuts and 1/4 cup thai basil
6. Cheeky Leeks: reduce frying oil, add 1 cup bacon diced and 1/2 lb washed and chopped leeks
7. Spicy rice: add 1 cup beef strips, 1/4 lb, 1 green capsicum minced, 1 1/2 tbsp sriracha chili or chili paste (Sambal Oelek)
8. Tex-mex: omit soy sauce and scrambled eggs, add 1 cup corn, 1 cup black beans, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp crushed cumin seeds, 1 tsp chicken bouillon OR 2 tbsp chicken stock, serve topped with two eggs over-easy
   
9. Moroccan: omit soy sauce and eggs, add 1 tbsp butter, 1 cup cubed carrots, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne or paprika, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/4 cup sliced almonds, sprinkle white pepper and salt to taste
   
10. Kimchi rice: add 1/2 cup kimchi, 1/2 cup minced pork, serve topped with two fried eggs over-easy
    

So it’s not quite 100, but you see how you could make up your own. Go forth, eat rice!

Spinach, Black Beans and Sriracha

Saute a big bunch of spinach in a pan (4-5 cups). Season with black pepper. When almost done, add a cup or two of leftover black beans, boiled the night before. Squirt liberally with Sriracha Rooster Chili. Make a hole in the middle, fry an egg, over-easy so the yolk runs out all over your beans… Scarf.

I tried okonomiyaki for the first time at a random Japanese restaurant in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. A friend told me about these “amazing cabbage thingys” I just had to try. In general, I think “amazing” and “cabbage” generally fit together like Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. in She’s All That – unlikely, but oh so good when it happens. And happen, it did.

So recently, when I was thinking about what to do with some of the communal cabbage that’s been sitting in a plastic bag in our fridge, I naturally thought of this. However, most recipes for authentic okonomiyaki are pretty complicated and include lots of hard-to-get-on-an-island things like shredded Yamaimo (a mountain yam), bonito flakes, tenkasu (tempura flakes) and dashi. Finally, I stumbled on this recipe on 101 cookbooks and was inspired to try something nice and simple.

I think it’s especially cool that these pancakes are made from almost all farm ingredients.

Japanese Cabbage Pancakes with Sweet & Tangy Sauce (Okonomiyaki)
Makes 3 pancakes

pancakes:
1.5 cups cabbage
1 cup leeks
1/4 cup carrots, grated
1/2 cup white rice flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp water salt and pepper to taste
oil to fry

sauce:
1/2 Cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 Cup Ketchup
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1/4 Cup Brown sugar
1 Tbsp Mustard powder
Pepper to taste

To make the sauce, combine worchestershire sauce, ketchup, and soy sauce in a small saucepan until simmering. Add brown sugar and mustard powder and stir until dissolved. Cook for 5-10 minutes until reduced by 1/3 or until you get the yummy thick consistency of teriyaki or barbeque sauce. Resist the urge to take a spoonful and let your sauce cool while you start your pancakes.

Finely shred cabbage. If using carrots, peel, then grate on a large-size cheese grater. Cut green tops and bottom roots of leeks and cut remaining white section down the center. Wash well to get rid of any grit that might be stuck way down in there. Slice the washed leeks into half-moons. Mix cabbage, leeks, and carrots together in a bowl.

Add rice flour, salt and pepper and mix well. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and water together. Pour the egg over the veggies and stir well to coat. The mixture will not seem batter like — it will be more like veggies coated in flour. This is okay — I promise it will come together in the pan.

Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. When hot, scoop 1/3 of the mixture into the center of the pan. Use your spoon or fork to flatten out batter. I find it helpful to have another utensil in hand to shape the outside of the pancake as I press down, as the veggies tend to want to fall apart. Fry for 2-3 minutes on one side, then flip with a large spatula. Fry another 2-3 minutes and remove from pan.

Serve while piping hot, drizzled with sauce.

I’m making a lot of my own food these days: things I would never have thought to make from scratch before; things I always bought at the market without a second thought. But since I’m living on a farm and my entire life is about nothing but food, since it’s really freakin’ fun to make this stuff, and since I have the appetite and the intense daily exercise to justify the caloric ramifications of my experiments, I’ve decided not to pull any punches.

Then there’s the fact that on my farm apprentice salary, it makes economic sense to make some things myself — good bread’s an example (a loaf at the local bakery could be $4, I can make a loaf of sourdough with my starter for less than $0.25 — flour, water, salt); yogurt’s another, and you know what’s a great accompaniment to yogurt? You guessed it… the icon of the liberal, hippie, sustainability-loving organic farmer, oh-so-crunchy, oh-so-loveable, granola.

Ginger Snap Granola is my personal favorite store-bought brand. Made by Golden Temple, it usually hides out in bulk food bins of natural food stores or cool supermarkets. At our market in Friday Harbor, it runs around $4.60 a pound. Not cheap when you’re a granola hound like me. And just what are you getting for $4.60?

INGREDIENTS: Rolled Oats, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Crisp Rice (Milled Rice, Evaporated Cane Juice, Salt, Barley Malt Syrup), Honey, Cornstarch, Organic Ginger Root, Sea Salt, Organic Cinnamon Bark, Epazote Leaf, Organic Cardamom Seed, Organic Fennel Seed, Organic Fenugreek Seed, and Organic Nutmeg.

Mm… well, mostly oats and rice and some cool spices thrown in for good measure.

Inspired by Alton and Mark, I decided to make my own delicious gingery granola and calculate the rough price per pound. I started my adventure out in the bulk foods section, skipping the granola and heading straight for nuts and seeds. I ignored pricier items (dried cherries at $16/lb, walnuts at $13/lb) and went for value (pumpkin seeds at $4.28/lb, raw almonds at $4.88/lb.) You could easily (and economically) engineer your way into granola ecstasy by mixing and matching your own favorites.

Not only is homemade granola healthier, cheaper and more fun, but look, it’s prettier too!

In the end, I made a mix with lots more excitement and nutritional value than my old go-to (flax seed=omega-3, raisins & cranberries add fruity goodness, seeds add protein, etc…) and all for only $2.97 per pound, or more than 30% less than the cost of the store stuff.

The finished product, ready for scarfing tomorrow

Jess’s Extra Gingery Granola
makes about 28 oz or 1.75 lb of delicious golden granola

3 cups oats (12 oz) — $0.75
1 cup pumpkin seeds, or your favorite seeds (4 oz) — $0.98
1 cup raw almonds, or your favorite nuts (4 oz) — $1.27
1/4 cup flax seeds, optional — you can substitute wheat germ, sesame seeds, or just leave this out (2 oz) — $0.26 1/4 cup crystallized ginger (2 oz) — $0.45
1 tsp ground ginger — $0.05
1/4 cup brown sugar, optional if you like your granola a little sweet — $0.02
dash of salt

1/2 cup honey or maple syrup, or a combination of the two, yum! — $0.20
2 tbsp veggie oil — $0.02

1/2 cup raisins, or your favorite dried fruit (3 oz) — $0.45
1/2 cup cranberries, or your other favorite dried fruit (3 oz) — $1.00

= $5.20 for 1.75 lb
= $2.97 per lb

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Chop up your nuts and crystallized ginger to desired size. I prefer to buy whole raw nuts & raw seeds because it seems like they’re cheaper and you can cut them down however you like to eat them.

In a big bowl, mix up your oats, nuts, seeds, ginger, salt, and brown sugar so that everything is evenly distributed. Pour honey or syrup over the top and the oil and stir well to combine. Make sure everything’s nice and coated and sticky. Distribute the granola in a big baking tray (or two little ones). It’s better to use trays with sides to make it easier to stir every once in a while.

Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. The browner you can get your granola without burning it, the crunchier and yummier it will be.

Remove the granola from the oven and pour from pan onto parchment paper to cool. When cool, mix in a large bowl with dried fruit. Eat your yummy granola over yogurt, ice cream, with milk, bake it into a granola bar, or just eat it by the handful from the bag.

There are two changes I might try in this recipe: add some additional spices for kick — take a page from the Ginger Snap book and add some nutmeg, fenugreek, cinnamon, cardamom, and maybe try a batch with cornstarch to see if it makes the granola more “clustered” like the Ginger Snap instead of distributed like the batch I made.

I’m a little lazy when it comes to cooking.

I could put it into a shinier light… I could say I’m a virtuoso; I like to cook with what’s on hand; I don’t like to waste; I like simple, efficient flavors; but really, I just don’t like spending too much money on esoteric ingredients, and it just makes sense to me to fudge a little here and there instead of not making something at all.

When I tried to explain my mentality to my mom she sighed and said, “oh no… you get that from your Ah-mah*. As kids we’d eat all kinds of crazy stuff because she didn’t have the right ingredients on hand. Sometimes it worked, but a lot of times, certain things go together for a reason.”

Yeah. I guess this is why I’m a bad baker. In a discipline that requires, well, discipline, I end up with a lot of dense hard bread (still good in the toaster!) and sticky muffins. It’s really ridiculous how much difference a seemingly simple substitution can make.

But thankfully, as my good friend (and former caterer) DJ Achaya says, it’s really really hard to F*$% up eggs. So so true. So, feeling lazy yesterday, Lucy and I figured frittata was a safe bet.

Frittata is a form of still or baked custard, or so I learned, categorized as such because it’s baked and it contains eggs. (duh?) What I love about it is that it’s fast, easy, you can make it with nearly anything inside, and it’s really really hard to mess up.

When we took it out from under the broiler, it was sizzling and beautifully browned and smelled oh-so-good. We didn’t have an oven mitt, so we had to use the kitchen towel, which of course we didn’t get folded over quite right in my haste to get it out… so when Lucy said “ooh, hot!” I immediately responded with the obvious…

Fri-HOT-a and rye toast in the grass

Lucy and Jess’s flexible baked Fri-HOT-a
(our flexible choices in italics)

1/2 lb leafy greens of your choice (1/2 chard 1/2 spinach)
8 eggs
3/4 cup milk or cream (organic 1%)
3/4 cup cheese (organic raw sharp cheddar)
1/2 medium white onion, diced finely (stuttgarter)
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
yummy herbs (2 sprigs fresh rosemary, 4 sprigs fresh thyme)
salt & pepper to taste
optional… goat cheese, feta, parmesean or something else yummy to sprinkle on top

Preheat your oven to 350.

Chop or tear your chard & spinach into bit sized pieces. The actual size is kind of up to you and your mouth.

Beat your eggs and milk in a bowl that’s big enough for them. No need to go crazy. Just make sure they’re mixed. Add in your yummy herbs (don’t forget to get rid of stems or anything else you wouldn’t want to bite into) and your cheese.

Add some olive oil to a frying pan that’s big enough for your veggies. When it’s hot, saute your onions and garlic until fragrant and the onions are translucent (4 or 5 minutes). If you’re using two kinds of greens like chard and spinach, add in the “hardier” ones first (e.g. the chard) so they have a little more time to cook. Cook the greens till they’re all evenly wilted (they should reduce in volume by 3x or more).

Pour those yummy greens in a buttered 9×11 pyrex dish or baking pan. Pour your eggy mix on top and stir so the greens are evenly distributed. Dollop on your goat cheese or other delicious cheesy topping.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 on a middle rack, or until you can see the sides of your frittata are browning. Then move to a top rack and turn on the broiler (or, if you have one of those bottom broilers, I guess you need to turn that on). Keep it in another 2-3 minutes, checking often because it’s easy to burn it quick!

Remove from the oven, and cut into generous squares.

*Ah-mah = grandma in Singaporean speak

Harvesting in greenhouse 33/34.
The bed behind me yielded about 10 lbs, and the one just to the left, another 13.
Next week, we’ll probably harvest the same amount from these beds, plus more from the other beds coming online.

I already had a half-pound bag, plus some, in my refrigerator from the week prior, so with that plus a 1/2 pound waiting on the “house shelf” and 3 more beds coming online for harvest next week, I figured it was time to find a use for my spinach.

Last week, I rescued my garlic from a nasty green mold that overtook everyone else’s stashes on the farm — peeling and storing the good cloves and washing wholly untainted bulbs in hot water and refrigerating. I figured though, that this only bought me some time and I should use the garlic quick before it got funky.

The improvised recipe is below. Master taste-tester Lucy gave some feedback that the garlic overpowered the spinach flavor… I agree and it was a bummer after spending all that work harvesting the spinach, it would be nice to actually taste it…so these are the changes we’ll try next time:

– reduce garlic by half
– increase spinach by 50%
– add a splash of apple cider vinegar
– puree 1/2 the potatoes

RIP*: Spinach & roasted garlic soup with chunks of potato

1/2 lb spinach
2 bulbs garlic
1 lb potatoes
3 cups stock (veggie, chicken, whatever)
1 pat butter
olive oil
pinch ground nutmeg
salt & fresh pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 375. Prep garlic by cutting off both ends of the bulbs. Put on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Throw in the oven.

Meanwhile, dice your pound of potatoes into 1/4” cubes. When they’re chopped, open up the oven (the garlic should start to smell goooooood), toss the potatoes onto your pan and mix around with a tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper. Throw the pan back in the oven

Cut up your spinach if it’s huge. If it’s little, don’t worry about it. Heat your soup pot over medium with a spoonful of olive oil. While it’s heating, take out your garlic. It should be pretty soft by now. Peel off the skins and throw the garlics into the pot. Your pan should be hot now and they should sizzle and smell like heaven. Once you’ve got those in, throw in your spinach and saute until wilted. Then add your stock and bring to a simmer.

Once that’s done, pulse the whole mixture in a blender a few times to break up the leaves — I like a few chunks of spinach to remain. Pour the mix back in the pot, turn your heat to low. Stir it up, add your splash of nutmeg (I grated 1/4 of a fresh clove), salt, and pepper.

Now back to those potatoes… they were little, so they’re probably cooked by now. Take them out of the oven and add to your soup pot.

Add a pat of butter and stir.

Serve hot hot hot.

After the washing station is wiped down with bleach, we fill up two large sinks with cold water.
All the greens go through two washes where we get dirt off and pick out less-than-perfect leaves that snuck in to the harvest. We touch nearly every leaf.

Greens are usually dried in the spinner, but our huge spinach leaves are extra fragile and are dried by gently tossing on an open mesh screen.

Clean greens are laid out on the table for weighing and bagging.

Soon we’ll be switching from plastic bags to something biodegradable. Cool!

* RIP = Recipe in Progress. I love to improvise. There’s nothing more satisfying than pulling together a delicious meal from randomness, but then you come up against the tragedy of never being able to recreate the felicitous arrangement of ingredients & preparation. This is an attempt to keep track of how I cook, improvements and substitutions.

The other night, I made Goi Cuon (or fresh summer roll) — bean sprouts, fried tofu, cucumber, carrot, mint, rolled up in a lettuce leaf in a thin rice wrapper. I didn’t have any cellophane noodles, so I skipped that part and skipped the basil add-in because I could really only afford either the organic basil or the mint at nearly $5 for a box (ours isn’t up yet in the garden).

With it, I threw together a quick improv peanut sauce, much simpler than your usual ingredient-intensive Malay or Indonesian sauce. I didn’t have hoisin, so I couldn’t do a Vietnamese peanut-hoisin sauce either, but it still turned out yummy — recipe down below.

But anyway, the Goi Cuon meant that today at lunch I opened the fridge to take stock and the first thing I saw was the leftover julienned carrots, cucumbers, and nicely washed & separated mint leaves. The little container of veggies sat right next to the fresh batch of yogurt, set just last night. Add the farm-fresh salad mix on the bottom shelf ($6/half-pound!), some raisins from my 5 lb bag, a bit of tuna, and a few slices from the rye batard I baked in the morning… Salad and toast. Voila!

The yogurt made a yummy dressing with just a bit of fixing up — some kind of North African/Mediterranean inspired dressing to go with the mint and the raisins. The tuna was a little funny in the salad, but I was craving protein. Some shredded lamb, a boiled egg or some nuts probably would have gone over better.

Not the best picture, but you’ll have to excuse it… the camera was out in the barn.

Ginger-Cumin Yogurt Dressing
1/2 cup fresh yogurt (mine was pretty thin)
1 tsp white vinegar (or lemon juice)
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp grated ginger
water (optional)

Mix everything together well by shaking in a jar or whisking. Add some water if your yogurt is especially thick — add only a very small amount at a time and taste — you don’t want to dilulte it too much. Serve over greens. Especially good with mint! Yum.

Simple Peanut Ginger Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup natural peanut butter*, well mixed (I used MaraNatha Organic, no salt added)
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 slices ginger root (peeled, 1/4” thick)
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup water
salt to taste

Add your peanut butter to a pan over medium heat. Stir as the peanut butter heats up and thins out. When the peanut butter loses its body and spreads over the bottom of the pan, add your coconut milk and stir well. once combined, add in your soy sauce and ginger. Be sure to stir well so your peanut butter doesn’t stick to the bottom. Add water, stir, and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat. Add salt to taste — if you’re using salted peanut butter, you may not need to add any. Remove ginger pieces and discard.

* natural peanut butter has a very different consistency and taste than traditional brands. You could try this with something like Skippy or Jiffy, but I would leave out the sugar at first, and maybe add some oil and possible extra water.

Last night Lucy and I were tired after harvest day, so we decided to forgo our gourmet pretensions and go with a farm delicious “mish mash” .

Pinto beans, brown rice, farm-fresh scrambled eggs, chard harvested today, sauteed with garlicky pasta sauce leftover from Saturday’s potluck, all topped off with rye toast, generously buttered.

Two spicy teas, one with milk, were the perfect beverage accompaniment.

Living here on the farm with access to so much fresh produce, it’s easy to throw together a nutritious (and exciting) meal using some basic and relatively inexpensive add-ons in different combinations.

Pick a flavor palette (Mediterranean, Moroccan, Thai, Indian), throw in some spices, flavored oils, garlic, and you’re good to go.

Our inspiration for this meal was the chard which was harvested just yesterday, having been ressurected a month after the bed had been abandoned to a mysterious case of spotty leaves.

We were planning a potluck up by the house and I wanted to make something that reminded me of home, so I went for a traditional Singaporean goody — something I made with Ah-Mah while I was at home the past few months.

Curry Puffs are traditionally deep fried and filled with delicious, thick curry and sometimes half of a hardboiled egg. The Curry Puff could be seen as similar to a samosa, though its flavors are different and Curry Puffs seem to usually have meat while it seems the reverse is true for its South Asian cousin.

The recipe for the dough was adapted from an empanada dough recipe in Gourmet magazine — a double batch turned out to be perfect for the amount of filling I made.

Everything can be made ahead and assembled as the whim strikes.

Curry Puffs, Empanada Style
Makes 30.

Filling:
1 lb potatoes, diced finely into 1/8” cubes
1/2 lb your choice of ground meat… I use turkey and it’s yummy
1/2 lbs onions, minced
2 tbsp curry
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
4 tbsp of oil of your choice (optional, see instructions)
1/4 cup water (optional, see instructions)

Pastry:
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (1 cup) frozen unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large eggs
2/3 cup ice water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 egg, to brush on

The filling’s easier to work with when it’s cooler, so it’s best to do it at least a little while in advance (I usually do it the day before and refrigerate). The dough needs to rest at least an hour, but it can also be frozen and used later if that’s more convenient for you.

For the filling, the oil you use will depend on the meat you’re using. If you’re using a highly fatty meat like some ground pork, you’ll want to fry the pork first for 4-5 minutes, until almost cooked and drain off all but 2 tbsp of grease. Then add the onions and potatoes and fry until done.

If you’re using ground turkey which is much leaner (but still has great flavor) heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet on medium-high until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Throw in your onions and fry for 3 minutes, until they start to become translucent. Add in your ground turkey. If the turkey starts to stick, add a little more oil. Stir well, breaking up the chunks of ground meat.

When the meat is almost cooked (about 5 minutes) add in the potatoes and stir well. Add your spices and stir to mix thoroughly. Again, if you’re using turkey, the mixture may be pretty dry and may start to stick. I add the 1/2 cup of water here to help it cook and to keep it from sticking.

Cook 8-12 minutes,; stirring every so often, until potatoes are soft. Let cool.

For the dough: Add flour and salt into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in butter lumps until the mixture looks like coarse meal (little pea/pebbly sized pieces of flour/butter). When you’re rubbing, the butter will kind of squish flat in your fingers. That’s good. That’s what we mean by rubbing. Those thin squished flour/butter finger pancakes will make for a nice uniform flaky dough. Yum.

Once that’s done, whisk together eggs, water, and vinegar in a bowl. Add this into your flour mixture with a spoon or spatula until it just comes together into a shaggy mass. It’s okay if some of the flour is still in your bowl.

Pour out your mixture onto a floured surface and squeeze it together in a rectangular block (dimension’s not too important, but do make sure the dough comes together. Some cracks are fine). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap — you can use the wrap to help you compress the dough into a nice shape. Chill for at least an hour.

To assemble: I really should have taken pictures of this process. Next time, I promise! For now, I’ll describe as best I can.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Break your dough into 4 parts. Keep the parts you’re not using in the refrigerator until you’re ready for them. Flour your area well. Flour your rolling pin (or wine bottle!). Set out a little pan or cup of water for yourself to use for sealing your pastries.

Roll out your dough in a rectangle to 1/8 to 1/4” thick — about half the thickness of a National Geographic? This is really a personal preference thing, but if you’re a beginner, err on the side of too thick because then the pastry will be easier to work with.

If the dough breaks apart while you’re rolling, don’t fret. Just massage it into a ball and try again. As the dough becomes warmer and the butter melts, it will be easier to roll and work with. Just watch out for too much squeezing and handling, there’s the danger of the dough becoming tough and elasticky which leads to funny-shaped curry puffs.

Once you’ve rolled out your dough, find a cup or a round tupperware or something with a relatively sharp edge and a diameter of at least 4 inches. Cut out as many circles as you can from your dough.

Take one circle in the palm or your weaker hand (my left). Use the other hand to spoon 1 heaping tbsp of filling into the center of the circle. Dip the tip of a finger into the water and use it to wet one half of the outer edge of the circle. Fold the circle in half with the filling in the middle. Squeeze the outside edge shut — about 1/4” edge should be left around the semicircle. Make sure it’s tightly sealed. These look a lot prettier when they aren’t oozing out filling. To make the edge a little fancier, you can use a fork to crimp the edges or use your fingers to make a twisted crimp. To do that, once you’ve sealed the thing shut, pinch one corner with your thumb and forefinger and pull it towards you. Take the next section above it and do the same thing and so on until you’ve worked your way around the pastry.

Lay them out as you go on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (or well-greased). Repeat until you’re done. Brush the tops with a beaten egg (your fingers work fine if you have no pastry brush).

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until golden yellow on top.

My God, I love Mr. Harold McGee.

I saw him once in one of my favorite Google cafeterias, sampling yogurt. I didn’t have my copy of On Food and Cooking on hand, so I couldn’t ask for a little piece of his genius, but I did watch him as he went over and took a little cup of creamy deliciousness for himself. Rumor has it (direct from the head chef of that particular cafe) that McGee himself provided the starter, originally from a friend of his from India, for the delicious, perfectly textured & flavored goodness that we were served each morning.

Yum.

Colin and I tried our own yogurt experiment last weekend. We started with one quart of Heritage Farm’s oh-so-good raw (whole) milk; or rather, a little less than a quart after we each sneaked a little sip, which we heated to 200 F, stirring constantly so a skin didn’t form. I think this was probably a little hot — 175 or 180 is really more like it.

Then we waited for it to cool to 135 F and stirred in 2 tbsp of Brown Cow Cream Top yogurt.

Then it was time to wait. We swaddled our yogurt baby in a warm cloth and rubber banded some paper towels over the top and left it under a grow light in the bunkhouse, next to the tomato starts. 16 hours later, we divvied up the results into our respective refrigerators.

Apparently, our yogurt had tons of these little suckers called exopolysaccarides, better known as EPS which according to Mr. McGee’s article:

“bind to the water and one another and make the whey less runny, thicker and more clingy. EPS producers are the bacteria that dominate in Finnish viili, which is so clingy that you can stretch it a foot or more between bowl and lifted spoon. You eat viili by cutting it into pieces.”

You couldn’t cut our yogurt to pieces, but it did have a certain stringiness and chewiness that I’ve never experienced in yogurt (in anything?). I think we inadvertently stumbled on Nordic fermented milk (viili).

No mistake, the flavor was awesome, and I totally respect the Finns, but I would consider using regular pasteurized milk next time and maybe take McGee’s advice on using typical sweetened, non-organic, no-frills yogurt for starter.