How to Make Butter

I knew I'd abandoned the Spork but I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw my last post was back in October. OCTOBER! Have I not cooked nearly every night since then? Have no recipes been new? Do I have no travel adventures to share? The answer is "No" ( at least I think it is...I get confused with all those double negatives.) What I'm trying to say is, sorry, dudes. I've missed you. Can we still be friends?

You'll be happy to know that I've been baking more since we last met... not that I've been successful or anything ( pssst...if you're making bread this holiday season be sure to remember the baking powder. Especially if said bread is intended as a hostess gift...) Oh, and I've gained five pounds...that might actually coincide with the wee bit of knowledge I shall impart to you today.

Ready for it?

Okay. Prepare yourself to be hailed as chef extraordinaire when you bust out this culinary skill.

Yes, friends, I'm talking about making the butter. Just imagine yourself at your next holiday potluck...

Relative: "Mmmm, I just love Grandma's mashed potatoes. Oh, what did you make this year?"

You: "Me??? Why, I made a little something called THE BUTTER!"

Just don't tell anyone how easy it was and you'll totally be in the clear from helping with the dishes. Here's what you do:

Photo Credit: GwenElliott on Flickr ( Can you believe I didn't snap my own pic?) Thanks, GwenElliott-- beautiful shot.

Butter

Yields a 1/2 cupish

1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream ( the fresher and colder, the better)

1/2 to 1 tsp of kosher salt ( it all depends on how salty you like your butter.)

Special equipment: Food Processor and Fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth

1. Add cream and salt to food processor fitted with blade.

2. Constantly pulse the heck out of it. Seriously, first it will look like whipped cream followed by supremely thick whipped cream. It will trick you for a little while and you might give up on it, but don't. Keep it going. All the sudden, the thick cream will slosh and clumps of curds will separate from the liquid. I'm told the liquid is buttermilk but I really don't know. I'm concerned about butter here, people.


3. Discard the liquid and strain the curds through the cheesecloth or mesh strainer, pushing or squeezing out all liquid. Place in a ramekin or small bowl.

At this point, you could fold in seasonings or herbs or whatever strikes your fancy. I like it plain in all it's creamy goodness. Served immediately if a whipped texture is desired or form and chill.

Pretty easy, huh? You won't even break a sweat and you'll reap all the benefits of hours spent churning away. It kinda makes you feel like you should exercise to make up the difference. But, then again, why do that when you can consume mass quantities of homemade butter? The world makes sense again.

How to Grate Fresh Coconut

It's been a month since my last post and really even longer since I've been inspired to get creative in the kitchen. I tried so very hard to push myself to make something new but I just kept falling back to the comforts ( we had a lot of chicken potato burritos...)

So, it took our latest themed dinner party to break me out of my shell.

Ahhh, Indian Food night. I'd been looking forward to this theme for forever. I selected an amazing recipe for Southern Spiced Lahori Chicken Curry from Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness and I'd already sent Aubrey to the city to get all the unique ingredients. I was all ready to go except I forgot to get unsweeted grated coconut. No prob, they always have that junk at the Wal-Mart, so off I went.

I was wrong. There was no grated coconut to be found other than the severely sweetened version of which I despise. Oh, but wait... could they? Do they? YES, they do have real, actual, whole coconuts. Leave it to my Wal-Mart to finally come through with an off the wall item. I had no other choice.

I bought the little dude.

Now, I realize this isn't exactly a seasonal post. People are usually thinking about coconuts when it's a little bit warmer outside. As for me, it's the middle of fall and I need me some coconut. I put on some N'Sync to psych myself up and set out trying to figure out how to conquer the coconut. Fortunately, Indian Home Cooking has some suggestions as to how to crack into these babies.

Step one: They say to get a screwdriver or a sharpening steel to poke into the "eyes" in order to drain the coconut juice. HA! I say...

Step two: Pour out the juice or save to make a "lovely, sweet and very refreshing drink."

Psssh. I only had six hours until showtime.

Step three: "Bake the coconut in a 350 degree F oven to make the white flesh pull away from the brown husk." Sure, how long? Wait...it doesn't say!!! I went with 25 minutes.

Step four: Wrap the coconut in a towl and bang on it with a hammer to split it open...can do.

Look at that! It smelled deliciously toasty and I felt like such a success. Except, now's probably a good time to tell you that there was actually a second coconut partaking in this process. Just incase I screwed up on the time I left the second one in for about 35 minutes. This is what happened:

Oh, and that delicious toasty smell? Replace that with roasted windex and you've got an idea of how foul this was. I'm not quite sure if it was rotten to begin with or if the ten extra minutes did it in. Either way, 25 minutes worked great so I'd rather not try 35 again. Into the trash this went. Now, onward!

Step five: Use a flathead screw driver to separate the white flesh from the hard shell. (Not as easy as it sounds but doable... have no fear if it breaks away in small pieces. Oh, and it takes some force.)

Step six: Use a vegetable peeler to peel off the thin layer of brown skin.

Step seven: Grate on a grater or in a food processor--- ( use the processor- you've earned a break by now.)

And, that's pretty much it. It was actually much easier than I expected...not that I want to do this everyday or anything. One coconut yeilds a sandwich baggy full of freshly grated coconut. I only needed 1/2 cup so I froze the rest. In the end, the N'Sync tunage seemed much more appropriate for the task at hand...it just tried to seem tough.

How to Dry Coriander Seed ...

How DO you dry coriander seed? Wait a minute.... What the heck IS coriander?

Well, until about three months ago, I'd never heard of or cooked with coriander, much less did I know about it's origins and roots. I am now so very glad I gave this spice a try. It is extremely common in dishes around the world, especially Indian dishes, as it's a key spice in Garam Masala.


Word of warning... if you don't like cilantro, you may not like coriander. Why? Because they're from the same flippin' plant. Cilantro is the leaf and coriander is the seed. [UPDATE: Because they are the SAME plant. The name "Cilantro" commonly refers to the leaf while "Coriander" commonly refers to the seed.] I happen to be on the side of the fence that ADORES cilantro so, I think coriander and I are gonna have a promising relationship...that is, if I learn how to dry it.

Coriander can be used green but is commonly used dried whole or ground. The best time for harvesting is when the cilantro leaves are starting to brown, usually late summer or, if you live in Oklahoma...right about now. It made sense to me to pick off the seeds and let them dry away.


Guess what? It is so not the officially recommended method. I should have googled first but here is the answer to our question: Cut stems, hang to dry for a week or so inside a bag or over a bag until seeds have FALLEN OFF... that is, of their own accord. As in, no work necessary. As in, a half an hour saved. Then, that's that. Store in a dry, sealed container. So, if you are growing Cilantro and just chucking the seeds, give this a shot. It'll be worth it.