Pumpkin Soda (5 gallons)

1. First carbonate 4 gallons of water in a clean and sanitized keg. Carbonate for 2-3 days.
2. Cut one 4-5 lb sugar pumpkin in half. Preheat the oven to 350F and start a teakettle full of water boiling. Clean out the pumpkin of seeds and loose flesh and place face down on a baking sheet in the oven. Save the seeds to roast. Add 1/2 inch of boiling water to the baking sheet, around the cut pumpkin, and let bake for 1 – 1.5 hours.
3. Let the cooked pumpkin cool in the oven overnight. All future steps should be performed with sterilized equipment only.
4. The next day, scoop out the pumpkin into a food processor. Process thoroughly, scraping with a spatula to make sure there are no lumps. Add 4-5 ground cinnamon sticks and ~20 cloves (use a spice grinder). You can add fresh nutmeg at this time as well.
5. Add 12 ounces of frozen apple juice concentrate. Continue to mix.
6. Strain mixture through a metal strainer into a pitcher, using the spatula to push the mixture through. If desired, strain a second time through a cheesecloth lined metal strainer (there may be grit from the spices or a little pulp from the pumpkin without the second step).
7. Add 900-950 grams of brown sugar to the pitcher and mix with the spatula.
8. Add the thick mixture to the 4 gallons of carbonated water in the keg. Add an additional 18 ounces of apple juice concentrate and mix by inverting the full keg.
9. Let carbonate one full day and serve.
10. (Optional: spike with rum or cinnamon schnapps.)

One treasure was finding that the carrots we had left in the ground all winter were truly kept as if in a root cellar. I stumbled upon this trick last year, when I forgot to pull up all of the carrots, and found some in the early spring that were tasty and perfectly preserved. Now that we have 7 lbs, 3 ounces of carrots in the kitchen, it’s time to make braised carrots. We’ve been in luck with the following recipe, inspired by the book “Fast, Fresh and Green” (an excellent vegetable cookbook):

Braised Carrots

1. Combine 1 tablespoon of cranberry or tangerine juice, 2 teaspoons of maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon of sherry vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. Cut 1/2 tablespoon of butter into four pieces and place in the fridge.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a 10 inch straight sided saute pan at medium high until melted. Add 1 lb of carrots sliced into either medallions or thin sticks and 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and toss well. Place the carrots in as much of a single layer as you are able and cook, covered (no stirring) until the bottoms are slightly brown (about 5 minutes). Toss the carrots using tongs, until both sides are turned at least a little brown and the carrots are a little limp (another 5 minutes, the pan should be darker now).

3. Carefully pour 1/4 cup of vegetable broth in and quickly cover. Let the carrots cook until only 1-2 tablespoons of the liquid remains, about 1-2 minutes. Uncover and reduce the heat to medium low. Add the juice/syrup/vinegar mixture, as well as the cold 1/2 tablespoon of butter. Turn the carrots in the mixture gently with a silicone spatula. Scrap the brown bits off the pan and make sure the carrots are well coated with the mixture and the butter is all melted (3o sec to 1 minute). Remove the pan from the heat and add 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh tarragon. Serve warm.

Years ago, raisins were the primary way to flavor sodas – and even wine in places in Mongolia. They add not only sweetness, but a fruity tone and if you are naturally carbonating your soda, can be a source for your yeast fermentation, since it is a great food source for yeast. In this recipe, I added honey since it is one of my preferred sweeteners, but I’d modify it next time to shift more of the sweetness to come from white sugar (both honey and brown sugar add flavors along with the sucrose).

Honey Cream Soda

1. Clean and sterilize your 5 gallon keg. Add 3 – 3.5 gallons clean water and carbonate for 2-3 days.
2. In a large pot, boil 1 gallon water. Add 0.56 cups chopped raisins, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1.75 cups white sugar, 1.75 cups honey and 6.5 cups brown sugar*.
3. Let cool. Use ice packs on the side of the pot if you want to (slightly) speed up this process. Once the mixture is close to room temperature, add 1.25 teaspoons cream of tartar and 0.75 cups vanilla. Stir and strain very well to remove all raisin and cinnamon pieces.
4. Add to the keg and mix with inversion. Add more clean water if needed. Carbonate for one more day.

*Next time, I’ll shift the balance of sugar more to white sugar to allow the other flavors to shine through: perhaps 4 cups sugar, 1.5 cups honey, 4.5 cups brown sugar.

The color is a light brown, just slightly darker than a commercial cream soda. Vegan friends have differed on whether this is a truly vegan recipe – depending on whether they choose to consume honey or not. Be sure to explain your ingredients to people so that they can make their own choices. The flavor is deliciously honeyed and barely spicy, and the raisins add a difficult to identify fruitiness.

However, Alton Brown made a strong argument for some purity in preparation, so I first tried his recipe. Verdict? NOT the correct pound cake. It turned out with essentially no golden brown crust of baked sugar, and dried out very quickly, with a crumb that didn’t hold up to a fork. Next, I tried my mother’s recipe (below). Screw purity. This cake was very close to the real thing – moist crumb, golden-ish crust, delicious flavor that needed nothing at all, apparently, since most if it is now gone.

As a scientist, however, it bugs me that I still haven’t achieved the truly golden brown crust I remember from childhood. I highly suspect that either my oven conditions or the pan I use are causing the issue. This pan in particular is a heavy pan, with a non-stick coating that makes it quite simple to de-pan cakes, but since the last chocolate cake made in this pan also had no good “crust”, I think it’s preventing heat accumulation at the surface that would create the higher density at the edge. Next experiment is to use my mother’s pan, which while heavy, does not have a non-stick coating. Any other suggestions are welcome for Trial #3 of Perfect Pound Cake, too…

COLD OVEN POUND CAKE

1/2 cup or 1 stick butter

1/2 cup shortening*

3 cups sugar (reduce 3 tablespoons.)

3 1/2 cups flour

5 large eggs (or 6 medium or 7 small)

1/2-teaspoon baking powder

1/4-teaspoon salt

1-cup milk

1-teaspoon vanilla and lemon extract

Cream butter and shortening.

Add sugar gradually.

Add eggs one at a time.

Mix dry ingredients together separately.

Add dry ingredients alternately with milk.

Add vanilla and lemon extract.

Bake in a heavily greased (with shortening), floured Bundt pan at 325° until golden brown, approximately 1 hour.  Let cake cool in pan 15 minutes.  Then turn upside down on plate.

*It is now possible to find shortening that is: trans fat free, vegetarian, and butter flavored. Not such a bad deal to get the correct cake.

Fresh Tomato Tiny Pasta Soup

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 cup alliums (onions are fine, we used the last of the garden leeks this time)
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 pounds (yes, pounds – or use 4 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes) fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh or frozen basil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh or frozen marjoram
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh or frozen oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 cup uncooked tiny bowtie pasta, rosamarina, tiny stars, or other tiny pasta
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add alliums and garlic (technically also an allium); cook and stir until alliums are tender. Add tomatoes, broth, basil, marjoram, oregano and black pepper.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 25 minutes. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Puree tomato mixture in a food processor or blender in batches. Return to saucepan; bring to a boil. Add pasta; cook 7 to 9 minutes or until tender. Transfer to serving bowls. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. (8 servings-ish).

Yum. The last of the garden now consists of some brave lettuce and a handful of carrots, resting comfortably in the ground (easier than constructing a root cellar in a basement apartment). But we do have many jars of pickled green tomatoes, so even if a blizzard caused us to lose power, I suppose we’d be eating garden goods still. I have a feeling the soup is more satisfying than the pickled green tomatoes, though.

I love root beer, but the ingredients are expensive, and I’m still on the fence about adding caramel color to make it more appealing to the masses. So what other sodas can be kegged? Numerous ones – though I’m not a straight-up cola fan, and am generally not into fruit sodas either. However, our other brewer on the premises suggested a hibiscus soda – not unlike a common Mexican summer drink, oaxaca or sweet waters – made with jamaica (hibiscus), lime, cucumber, strawberries, or other summery ingredients. After checking out several recipes, I opted for the simplest: dried hibiscus blossoms, sugar and water. The test batch, completed Tuesday night came out with great color and flavor – even working with a recipe that listed “sugar: amount to taste”. I already liked hibiscus in herbal tea – this just brings it to an evening drink with the carbonation. It also competes with the trendy pomegranate drinks, since hibiscus is also high in Vitamin C.

The keg is carbonating for several days with 4 gallons of water – on Monday, I’ll make up what is essentially the hibiscus soda syrup in one gallon of water to be added to the keg and carbonated for an additional 3-4 days. That makes it ready to go for 4th of July weekend – and the following weekend’s art show. Here’s the basic recipe in case you feel like trying it – the non-keg, quick’n'dirty way to carbonate is to make it with half the water and top up with club soda:

Hibiscus Soda

2 quarts water

1 cup dried hibiscus blossoms (at groceries stores in the West, or in Mexican markets)

1/2 cup sugar

Boil the hibiscus blossoms in the water for ~4 minutes. Let steep another 10-15 minutes and strain. Add the sugar and mix thoroughly. Carbonate and pour over ice. Makes 2 quarts (duh).

I should point out, that the cilantro planted at Sam’s request (I completely dislike cilantro) has gone to seed without being used. (Strike that for next year’s plot!) It’s a weird sort of power to be the primary gardener and meal determiner, without having to be the cook. However, I’ll harvest a little coriander (the seeds of the cilantro plant), as they wouldn’t hurt for the occasional recipe that uses the spice.

The tomatoes are starting to turn red, though all the fruits are much smaller than at other plots in the garden. While I am tempted to blame this solely on the lack of sun, neighbors with walls-of-water have tomato plants and fruits of tremendous size. That may need to be a change for next year – Colorado’s shorter growing season requires more gardener intervention of garden conditions.

The shade, however, dominates the plot – meaning that we are getting the most of (and most out of) the greens I planted in huge amounts. We still have plenty of collard greens, but most of the rainbow chard and all of the spinach was recently used in our Spanakopita:

Spanakopita

2 lbs. fresh spinach leaves

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup chopped fresh dill

2 cups finely chopped green onions

1 ½ tsp. fine grey sea salt

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups chopped onion

¼ tsp. coarse ground black pepper

½ lb. feta cheese, crumbled (traditionally made from sheeps milk, goat is also good)

14 filo leaves (usually sold frozen, thaw thoroughly!)

¾ cup clarified butter (ghee), melted

1. Wash and clean the spinach. Discard the stems. Drain and cut the leaves into shreds.
2. Combine the spinach, parsley, dill, green onions, and grey sea salt in a bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes, then press out all of the liquid.
3. Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a skillet and sauté the 3 cups of chopped onions until soft and transparent. Add the spinach mixture from step 2 and sauté for a few more minutes. Add the feta cheese and black pepper.
4. Place each of 7 filo leaves in a buttered 10” x 17” x 2” baking pan, brushing each leaf with melted clarified butter. Add the spinach mixture from step 3, spread into a thick layer then add remaining filo leaves, again brushing each leaf with melted clarified butter. Cut into 3” x 3” pieces with a sharp knife.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. From greysalt.com

I should note a couple variations on this recipe…for one, we use regular kosher salt – and the washing, tearing, and salting of the greens takes a significant period of time. It’s OK to change the amount of dill, green onion, and use regular butter instead of ghee. However, finding a cooperative filo dough is a challenge. We have yet to find one that works well, although we crudely work with it before it is thoroughly thawed. (It probably would work better if you moved the filo dough to the top shelf of the fridge in the morning, and to the counter at the start of cooking). Be patient with it, and liberal with the butter – it doesn’t want to fold nicely into the dish like you might expect of other doughs.

Shaggy Parasol & Asparagus Risotto
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups Arborio rice
5 ounces Shaggy Parasols, sautéed and coarsely chopped, approximately 3/4 cup
7 ounces asparagus, cooked and cut into 1-inch pieces, approximately 1 1/2 cups
4 ounces cheese (we use a combination of parmesan, sheep’s gouda, and gruyere), approximately 1/2 cup
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (if you have it)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

This is a four pan dish, so clear the stove.

PAN #1:
In a medium saucepan with a lid, heat the vegetable broth just to simmering. Keep at a near boil.

PAN #2 (main pan):
In a large 3 to 4-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and sweat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the grains are translucent around the edges. Be careful not to allow the grains or the onions to brown.

(Pans #3 & #4 are for sautéing the mushrooms and steaming the asparagus, respectively)

Reduce the heat to low. Add the wine and enough vegetable stock just to cover the top of the rice. Stir or move the pan often, until the liquid is completely absorbed into rice. Once absorbed, add another amount of liquid just to cover the rice and continue stirring or moving as before. There should be just enough liquid left to repeat 1 more time. It should take approximately 35 to 40 minutes for all of the liquid to be absorbed. After the last addition of liquid has been mostly absorbed, add the mushrooms and asparagus and stir until risotto is creamy and asparagus is heated through. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Taste and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 5-ish.

Tools

* Large, flat-bottomed pan or pot with lid or electric griddle
* V-slicer or mandolin (not necessary, but handy)
* Knife
* Cutting board
* Wisk
* Oven-safe soup crocks

Ingredients

* 10 medium sized onions, vidalias work nicely
* 4 T. butter
* Kosher salt (table salt OK)
* 2 c. dry champagne
* 32 oz. vegetable stock, low salt version if available
* 10 oz. apple cider, unfiltered
* 1/4 t. Marmite or Vegemite
* Thyme
* Bay
* Parsley
* 1 loaf Country-style bread
* Black pepper
* Cognac or VSOP Brandy
* 8 oz. Gruyere, Emmenthaler or other swiss-style cheese

Procedure

To begin, we prepare the onions, the heart and soul of the soup. Slice each onion in half, and cut off the root end and the stem end. Slice in a longitude fashion (north/south, if the onion were the earth), which produces little ‘crescent moons’. This slicing style is called Lyonnaise, for some reason, probably relating to the French city of Lyons.

If you have a V-slicer or mandolin (no, not the instrument, the cooking tool), you can just blast the onions into tiny slices like a machine, and be done in a few minutes. This is my preferred method.

Once you have sliced all the onions, wipe the tears from your eyes, and begin heating your pot. The pot or pan should be large enough to hold all the onions, have a large bottom, and be equipped with some sort of lid. A large electric griddle would actually work nicely. Set the stove to medium/low, or your griddle to 300 degrees.

Toss the butter into the pan, and allow it to melt and bubble for a minute. When it smells like nuts, it’s ready. Add the onions to the pan in layers. Each time you add a half inch layer, sprinkle a pinch of salt over the onions, and lay down another layer. When all the onions are added, cover the pan, and wait.

It is key to note that we are not sauteing these onions, we are sweating them. The salt will pull moisture from them, and they will begin to stew in their own juices. If you here active ‘sizzling’ you should lower the heat. You just want a gentle bubbling sound.

Wait at least 20-30 minutes, and then give the onions a bit of a stir. Don’t touch them before then! If you notice they are beginning to burn, then rejoice, because that is what you want! Let them burn, let them turn a rich mahogany color. You are caramelizing the sugars in a series of chemical reactions known as Malliard reactions that convert a few simple sugars into literally hundreds of flavorful compounds.

Stir every 5 to 10 minutes until your onions are a good mahogany color. They should smell fantastic. Once the onions are sitting in a pool of their own liquid, feel free to remove the lid, and bring the heat up a bit. This will allow some of the water to boil off, and get that delicious burning action going.

When your onions are a good dark color, after perhaps an hour, it is time to deglaze the pan. You’ll notice that a bunch of gunk is stuck to the bottom of the pan. This gunk is precious. Crank the heat up to maximum, and add 2 cups of the driest white wine or champagne you’ve got. Let it cook down until it takes on a syrupy consistency. Pour yourself a glass of said wine. One thing a chef never does is let wine go to waste.

At this point, add the 32 oz. of vegetable stock, the 10 oz. of unfiltered apple juice, and the 1/4 teaspoon of Marmite or Vegemite (we’ll get into the why later).

Return to a simmer, and lower heat to medium/low. Tie the thyme, bay and parsley together with a piece of string (a bouquet garni), and toss it in. These herbs are delicious, but tough to eat, so we?ll remove them later.

Simmer the mixture for 15 to 20 minutes. In the meantime, cut your crusty bread into rounds that will fit into your oven safe soup bowls. I like to use the bowls as big cookie cutters to help shape the bread. Fire up the broiler in your oven to maximum broil, and toast the pieces of bread on both sides, until golden brown and delicious (GB & D). This is also a good time to grate up some of your swiss cheese, enough to cover the surface of each piece of bread with a full layer.

When the soup has simmered for 15-20 minutes, give it a taste. It will probably need a little salt, and a few good cranks of black pepper. Then, with a flourish, toss in a good splash of Cognac or VSOP Brandy. Don’t measure it out, just splash some out of the bottle, like the saucy chef you are. Stir it in, and let it cook for another moment, to burn off a little of the alcohol. However, realize that the claim that the alcohol ‘cooks out’ is a lie. Some of the alcohol will indeed cook out, but it is actually impossible to remove it all. If that bothers you, skip the Cognac, it’ll still be good. You could also use a little sparkling grape juice for the wine in the beginning, though it’ll be a bit on the sweet side.

Ladle the soup into your bowls, avoiding the bouquet of herbs, and place a crouton (that’s the now French word for those toasts you made) onto each bowl, floating gently on the soup. Cover with a modest layer of cheese, and then back into the hot broiler with them! It will only take a moment for the cheese to become bubbly and melted. Pull them out (carefully, they are freakishly hot), add spoons, and then enjoy! The goal, when eating them, is to get a little piece of cheese and crouton in with every bite. If you get to the end and have too much soup, or too much crouton, prepare yourself another bowl, and get it right this time!

I recommend more of that dry wine or champagne you used for cooking. Open another bottle if you must.

Notes

Here are some notes on ingredients that I find helpful. First, the onions. 10 onions is a lot, and variation in size can make a big difference. I urge you to not worry about it that much. Unless your onions seem oddly tiny, 10 is a good number. When in doubt, add another onion! I’ve used some real monsters before that only took 6. Vidalia onions are best, because they come from a region of Georgia that has a very specific soil chemistry with very little sulfur, meaning the onions have as much as twice the sugar content of other onions, and less ‘heat’ because of the decreased sulfur content. Sometimes I mix things up a bit and use a few red onions in the mix.

Butter can be exchanged for olive oil if you are vegan, but if you eat dairy, I urge you to use the butter, it really does help a lot, and even though it looks like a lot, spread over an entire batch, it’s not much at all.

The wine you use should be dry. Too sweet and your dish will taste like maple syrup. Good, but a bit oppressive for an entire meal.

The quality of your vegetable stock will play a huge role on the quality of your soup. Get the best you can! Many canned stocks are very salty, so either get the low-salt variety, or the kind in the cartons, which is often less salty. I like Trader Joe’s brand. If you make your own stock, or know someone who does, get that, it’ll rock.

The Vegemite/Marmite is an odd ingredient, but its one of the linchpins of this whole recipe! French Onion soup traditionally uses beef consomme, which is a beef stock that is so thick and rich that it actually will solidify at room temperature. It takes a long time to make, and is very concentrated. Unfortunately, its flavor is nearly impossible to replicate.

However, if we understand the recipe, we can understand how to replace it. The onions have sweetness, the wine tartness, the herbs and cognac add bitterness, and the salt adds saltiness. However, those are not the only four tastes! The fifth, and least understood taste, is known as Umami, or Savory. It is technically the flavor of free amino acids, but you know it as that distinctive ‘goodness’ associated with mushrooms, meats, aged sauces like soy sauce, and aged cheeses like parmesan. It is also the flavor that MSG aims to add to food. Beef consomme is a rich and powerful source of Umami, and simply leaving it out will damage your recipe’s balance. To replace it, we must find another source.

Vegemite and Marmite are two brands of a hydrolyzed yeast product derived from the sludge of dead yeast left at the bottom of beer brewing containers. Through some odd sorcery and technologies, this sludge is concentrated into a dark, vile smelling paste. This paste is spread incredibly thinly on pieces of toast, and enjoyed by the British and Australians. They love it because hydrolyzed yeast product is nearly pure amino acid, the very Umami we seek!

The addition of this Umami to our soup will complete the delicate balance that is the dish, and allow us a vegetarian recipe that doesn?t emulate beef consomme, per say, but holds its own against it as a unique, but balanced creation.

Oh, and just to dispel a common misconception, yeast is not an animal, it is a fungus (like mushrooms), hence it is acceptable for all vegan and vegetarian diets.

As a final note, your cheese matters a lot as well. Store Brand swiss will not serve you well. I recommend a good Gruyere, or Emmenthaler cheese, both available in your finer grocer-mart’s cheese case. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s both have good cheese counters. Again, if you are vegan, leave out the cheese. You could sample some of the better soy based cheeses, but I’m not very familiar with them, so it would be an experiment on your part.

Enjoy!