SLOW-DRINKS.COM

Gearing up and getting it right

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:31:00 GMT

What's the most important element in cooking? Timing. (Well, at least that's one of the important elements.) Same holds true for growing and foraging for ingredients to go into mixed drinks and our dining table. There's always a certain level of impatience that occurs when the weather threatens to switch into spring mode. It did a few times the past two weeks. But then we'd wake up to a thick coating of morning frost.

Still. There are things we have managed to put in place and new economies to set into motion that we didn't have time to research last year when we started our project.

The most important new addition to our garden are the raised beds. Jard managed to find a company that delivers packs of garden boards with a steel reinforcement band on one end. Each 8-foot by 5-foot bed cost £36 including delivery. Usually beds of this size cost around £70 without delivery and don't include corner reinforcement.

Why are we obsessing on raised beds this year? Last spring, we discovered that the soil in that particular portion of our garden was not only clay-ridden, but loaded with ash. The previous people had done more than one burn on the spot and not a clean burn at that. Plastic bits, glass bits, and the like gave us the impression the soil was not going to be great for edibles.

So raised beds set in place, a "cover" of flat shipping cardboard (we had tons left over from a shipment of art canvas that we stored in the garage for an occasion like this), and a load of fresh organic topsoil delivered in a metre-square bulk bag plus the same amount of spent mushroom compost from a local supplier got us set up in a single afternoon. The supplier even has a calculator on its site so we didn't have to pray that we ordered enough compost and soil. And the overall cost was yonks cheaper than buying bag after bag of commercially packaged compost with chemical additives. It's was about half the price even with the delivery charge. (We still have to add a couple more nails to each corner and apply the copper snail tape to the edges. Maybe even a coat of non-toxic stain to seal the exteriors.)

We were so busy during the winter that we didn't have time to do essential tool cleaning after the late autumn harvest and winter tidy. Hey! A lot of the energy that would have gone into cleaning equipment went into shoveling 20 inches of snow out of the drive that leads to the main road. The little red sledges we bought for playing on the hills out back worked better than snow shovels.

Tool cleaning and conditioning only took an afternoon. Scrub off the old dirt and muck off the metal AND the wooden handles with a sturdy scrub brush and plenty of warm water. Rinse thoroughly. Scrub off any rust with steel wool. Rinse thoroughly. Let dry. Then apply a coat of boiled linseed oil to the handles with a soft cloth. Let dry. Apply one more coat to fill in any hairline cracks that could become splits in the handle. Let dry.

Wasn't that easy? It also gave us a great excuse to take breaks to admire all of the flower bulbs that we had planted during early winter now that they've woken up from hibernation and note the progress of others that will bloom in April and May.

There's one other thing we accomplished while we were snow bound. We got online and renewed our subscription to growveg.com. This site is amazing! We drafted our first and second plans for the garden, including how many plants to propagate and where to place them. The site also has growing guides and the option to add more plant types. The blogs from both US and UK growers are helpful, too. You can print out your plan, run out to the garden, and visualise everything before you start digging.

Next time, we'll talk about propagating and seed varietals. But I have to get out in the garden to see what's up with Kitten.

Let us know what you are doing to rev up for a year of gardening!

Cheers
Anistatia

SUCH A BUNCH OF SHISO

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:36:00 GMT

How did Jared ever convince me to grow red shiso (aka: perilla) last spring? I wasn't planning to hand make any pickled ume plums. Jared is the Japanese cuisine master in this house, not me. And anything that takes 30 days to germinate from seed and looks like stinging nettle is not high on my list of growing priorities. But love does lead one to do things that make little sense, at first.

We germinated both green and purple shiso in late May, transplanting them when we thought it would be too late for them to grow happy and healthy. OK. I was wrong. By early July green and purple were having a race to grow taller.

By late August I was looking up recipes for what turned out to be a bumper crop of the stuff. Over a kilo of purple shiso! (Still leaving the green shiso out there until this weekend. It's almost a metre tall.)

Let's see: the flavour is reminiscent of creamy beet, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon. What confounded me was why did I have to wash the leaves, drain them, sprinkle them with salt, rub them lightly, wash them and drain them again? That's what all the Japanese experts told me had to be done with them. We did it.

Shiso syrup seemed the best way to go. You can freeze it for future use. After the syrup recipe, I'll explain why.

RED SHISO SYRUP

1 kilo red shiso leaves, washed, drained, salted, washed and drained again
750 gr caster sugar
250 ml runny honey
1 tb fresh lemon juice
1800 ml water

Heat water to a boil in a large saucepan.Add the leaves and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove the leaves and add sugar, honey, and juice. Strain through a jelly bag to remove any sediment. Bottle in sterile stopper bottles. The syrup will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge and up to a year in the freezer.

A few days later, Jared was conducting a Sipsmith Gin and caviar tasting dinner at Hix @ Selfridge's. He brought a bottle of my new creation with us along with a few carefully snipped green shiso leaves. A 3 parts gin to 1 part red shiso syrup cocktail garnished with a green shiso leaf was the result. This lovely, spicy concoction was served against a duck egg and caviar treat.

Now which window sill should I use to propagate another crop of red shiso for next year?

© 2010 Mixellany Limited

THE RUNNING OF THE BULLACES

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:28:47 GMT

A neighbour of ours knocked at the door the other day bearing a pleasant surprise—5 sacks of frozen bullaces that she had foraged! What a lovely sight it was. But because bullaces are very small and have pits that cling to the meat like a moray on a white shark, we soon realised that we couldn't split the thawed bullaces and remove the pits as easy as if they had been fresh. So much for making bullace chutney with the remaining pulp.

But that didn't deter us.

More was the challenge of not following recipes like the one Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall demonstrated on one of his River Cottage programmes. We weren't about to wait 6 months let alone 2 years for plum and vodka to marry in a jar. (We usually scan his books and episodes for tips and tricks. They make a great starting point for developing cordials, elderflower champagne, and other delights. You should get a copy and keep it by your bedside as inspirational reading. We do.)

With the success of our creme de mures and creme de cassis projects last week, we thought: "Why not try a similar approach to making bullace liqueur?"

Here goes:

BULLACE LIQUEUR

750 gr fresh bullaces, split and pitted (or frozen and kept whole)
1 tsp ground allspice
200 gr caster sugar
750 ml British dry white wine (try a Sharpham Barrel or Three Choirs dry white wine)
500 ml Sipsmith Gin

Bring to a boil the plums, allspice, sugar, and wine in a large saucepan. Remove from the hear and add the gin. Strain through a jelly bag, gently pressing any whole fruit against the cloth.

Pour into airtight containers and rest for 24 hours to allow the sediment to settle. Test the mixture for its pectin level and sweetness. (Bullaces have a very high pectin content and acidity.) Reheat the mixture and adjust with additional sugar and gin if necessary.

Bottle in sterile stopper bottles and age for at least a month.

So what the heck is a bullace, you may ask. It's a type of wild plum that grows along hedgerows throughout Britain: a cross between a Blackthorn and a cherry plum. Their skin colour ranges from yellow to wine red to deep purple and the flesh is pale green. Unlike other plums, these wild plums are very acidic and require plenty of additional sugar to consume.

There are hedgerows of them found from the Cotswolds to northern Wales. If you can't find them on your foraging walks, you can buy its cultivated, sweeter cousin--damson plums.

If you're luckily enough to get fresh bullaces, then by all means, take the time to split them open and pit them so you can make luscious chutney or preserves with the remaining flesh.

BULLACE CHUTNEY

700 gr bullace plums, pitted
200 gr brown sugar
200 gr caster sugar
200 ml cider vinegar
150 gr sultanas
2 tsp salt
50 gr chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp mustard seeds
3 tbs chopped ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine the sugars and vinegar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring util the sugars dissolve. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for about 45 minutes. Stir frequently as the mixture thickens. Pour into sterilized jars, seal, and process in a hot water bath for about 10 minutes.

We wonder what else is ready out in the hedgerow? Have to wait until tomorrow. the clouds are showing signs of rain. Rats!

© 2010 Mixellany Limited

LET'S HEAR IT FOR WILD BLACKBERRIES AND COCKTAIL CHERRIES

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:05:33 GMT

Sorry we haven't been saying much for the past couple of months. Travel is not the greatest thing to do in July when you're seriously growing your winter feasts. Yet nothing can be done when work comes a callin'. Then family arrived from the US for a 3.5 week visit. Back to almost normal.

Now that September is upon us and the first signs of cooler nights and dewier mornings is signaling the onset of autumn, we've been a bit busy gathering and storing our leeks, beetroot, tomatoes, shiso and other tempting delights that will make this winter so much more fun.

Down to business. One of the major harvests has actually come from our hedgerow--BLACKBERRIES---kilos upon kilos of wild blackberries. Every other morning we've been heading up the hill to gather a few more precious sacks of blackberries. Since it would be tough to process so much fruit all at one go and still write for a living, we've had to freeze sacks of them so we can work on them over the free evenings and weekends.

TIP FOR FREEZING BERRIES: Lay them out on a freezer tray or baking pan lined with cling film. Spread the berries out so each one has space to freeze. Once they are freeze, it's easy to load them into airtight containers and store them until you are ready to play. We've done this successfully with our bumper crop of June strawberries, July blackcurrants, and now August/September blackberries.

RIPE FOR THE PICKING & PRESERVING: BLACKBERRIES

Now we know you've all read recipes for creme de mures [blackberry liqueur] that simply tell you to toss the blackberries into spirit and
let them macerate for months. Well, you'll never achieve the rich taste that you really desire until you've tried the recipe we've now used for both blackberries and blackcurrants [creme de cassis]

Here goes:

Combine 750 gr blackcurrants or blackberries and 750 ml good Bordeaux wine in a glass bowl. (We used a St Emilion this time.) Steep for 2 days. Puree the mixture in a blender and strain through a jelly bag into a large pot. Add 200 gr caster sugar for every 250 ml of liquid. Have patience. It takes time for the thick mixture to ooze through the muslin. Heat gently in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and then lower heat further until the liquid reduces slightly. Stir occasionally. Cool and then add 1 part Jerez-style brandy to 3 parts liquid. Bottle in sterile stopper bottles and age for at least 1 month.

A tip we picked up from River Cottage's High Fearnley-Whittingstall. Turn your sealed stopper bottles upside down while they are still hot. It helps to seal the contents even better.

LUSCIOUS CHERRIES

The same goes for making cocktail cherries. Don't bother with the recipes that add chemicals to make your cocktail cherries more like marbles than succulent garnishes. We just put up a dozen jars of cocktail cherries that will age just in time for winter Manhattans. We got ours from the local farmers market because our cherry tree doesn't have a mate. (Yes, every boy cherry tree needs a neighbouring girl cherry tree if you want to have a tree full of cherries.)

Ready?

Wash and pit 1 kilo Morello or Griot cherries. In a pot, combine 200 gr caster sugar, 250 ml water, 4 tsp lemon juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 tsp vanilla extract, and a healthy pinch of grated nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium. Add cherries and simmer for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add 500 ml Luxardo maraschino liqueur. Cool. Place cherries in Kilner jars and pour liquid near to the top. Pour a thin layer of gin or vodka on top, seal. We put our sealed jars in a hot water bath for about 10 minutes to ensure a secure seal.

OXO makes a great olive pitter with a protective shield that is perfect for pitting cherries.

Back to processing the harvest. Our neighbours foraged up a few kilos of bullace plums. And they want a batch of creme de bullace. The question is: What wine or spirit should we use to macerate these little wild plums before we put them through their cooking paces? Stay tuned.

© 2010 Mixellany Limited

NEVER THOUGHT BEECH LEAVES COULD TASTE SO GOOD

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:02:00 GMT

A walk through the woods is a peaceful past time even when you're foraging. Foraging for what you ask? Beech leaves. We have a stand of beautiful beeches by our house. And armed with a book that Jared bought for my birthday we were on the hunt for delight, young, waxy beech leaves.

See back in the late 1960s and early 1970s when money wasn't so plentiful and our consciences were raised to all things natural, self-sufficient, and meant that you were "getting back to the land", you owned books like Diet for a Small Planet, Back to Eden, and Richard Mabey's 1972 tome Food for Free. Never mind the fact we also got into knitting, weaving, beadwork, camping, fishing, foraging, mending clothes instead of buying new ones, making gifts, cooking and eating healthy foods inside of instant and over-processed ones, and generally living a down-sized, simple life. Ah those were the days of recessions gone by. (But wait. Are those the latest trends today? You have to love it when certain lifestyles return every other generation or so.)

One thing that Jared and I both learnt back in those days was that we don't like dandelions. Don't like dandelion wine. Cooked dandelions are the best way to waste perfectly good garlic and lardons. And dandelion roots were the bane of readying our garden for veg and fruit planting. Well, burdock root took the number one slot. Dandelions came second.

The other thing we learnt was that some foods should only be consumed when the need to survive is greater than the desire to appreciate certain tastes and flavours. Caution flags went up when we scanned Mabey's book and found a recipe for Beech Leaf Noyau.

Noyau. Yes, as in crème de noyau. Hard to find outside of France. Actually, hard to find in France. Créme de noyau appears in a slew of recipes in Louis Fouquet's 1896 cocktail book Bariana: Recueil Pratique De Toutes Boissons Americaines Et Anglaises. But Beech Leaf Noyau. This could be just as bad as dandelion wine. But we thought: "Maybe we should do a test batch just to see what it tastes like."

Armed with a few fistfuls of young, waxy beech leaves, we headed into the kitchen.

We packed the leaves into a jam jar and topped it up with Sipsmith Gin. We placed the jar in a cool, dark place for a fortnight and patiently awaited the result.

Gob smacked! After we strained the liquid into a stopped bottle we poured a splash into a tasting glass and sipped. Gob smacked! Complex, herby, and nutty on both the nose and the palate. We didn't bother to add sugar and brandy as Mabey suggested. We've decided to leave the Beech Leaf Noyau as is. Why? Because it may not be a replacement for crème de noyau and all of its apricot kernel nuttiness, but it is a fine alternative to yellow Charteuse. Want the sweetness in your drink? Add gomme syrup to taste.

We tried it in a variation on Harry Johnon's Bijou Cocktail:

BEECH BIJOU COCKTAIL.
1 part Martini & Rossi Italian vermouth
1 part Plymouth gin
3-4 dashes beech leaf noyau
1 dash of Regan's Orange Bitters
Stir ingredients over ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a Luxardo cherry and a lemon peel.

If you want to try Mabey's version, add 350 gr of caster sugar dissolved in 250 ml of boiling water to every 500 ml of beech-infused gin. Then add a dash of brandy.

Glad there is a full stand of beeches behind the house. Come next spring, we'll be at the ready to forage for a full basketful of beech leaves.

© 2010 Mixellany Limited

THERE'S MORE TO BORAGE THAN ITS BLOSSOMS

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Mon, 31 May 2010 15:04:55 GMT

We do have a rather unhealthy hankering for borage (borago officinalis). Not just the blossoms. For the whole plant! Besides freezing individual, brilliant blue blossoms into ice cubes for your summer Pimm's Cup, you can craft up a Borage Punch. There's one recipe floating about the internet that is called a Charles Dickens Punch that seems to have a bit of a kick to it:

Charles Dickens Punch

120 ml caster sugar
2 tbs lemon zest
a handful of borage flowers
1 litre medium dry cider
500 ml sherry
250 ml brandy

Steep sugar, lemon zest, and borage flowers in 500 ml boiling water for about 15 minutes. Strain into a jug and add cider, sherry, and
brandy. Serve.

What we did find more to the point was a series of "cold cup" recipes that the great author scribbled down for his host's daughter during
his second tour of the US in 1867-1868.

Champagne Cup
"Put into a large jug, 4 good lumps of sugar, and the thin rind of a lemon. Cover up [leave it two stand for ten minutes] and stir... Add a
bottle of champagne, and a good tumbler and a half of sherry. Stir well. Then fill up with ice. [If there be any borage, put in a good
handful, as you would put a nosegay into water.] Stir up well, before serving."

Claret Cup
"4 or 6 lumps of sugar,as before; give the preference to 6. The thin rind of a lemon, as above Cover up and stir, as above. Add a wine
glass of brandy, then a bottle of claret, then a half bottle of soda water. Then stir well and grate in nutmeg. Then add the ice If borage
be used for this cup, half the [champagne cup] quantity will be found quite sufficient. Stir well, before serving."

Thing is, just about anywhere that calls for cucumber can be better made with borage. And if it's a Victorian or pre-Victorian mixed drink
recipe that you're messing with, the cucumber was originally a call for borage.

HOW TO GROW IT

We got seeds from both The Green Chronicle and Seeds of Italy. We propagated ours in February from seeds that we planted in our handy-dandy heat propagator.

When the seedlings are about 5-7 cm tall, they can be sown outdoors in a sunny spot in March or April. During the summer harvest time, save the seed from flowers allowed to remain on the plant and turn brown to be grown next year.

Now you do have to be careful how much borage you grow because they do tend to reproduce like weeds if not kept under control. But if you have space, please let them grow. They are a great source of food for honeybees and makes a good green manure. (Before the borage flowers, you can dug them back into the ground to release nutrients back into the topsoil.)

WHAT ELSE TO DO WITH IT

The leaves may look like candidates for the compost heap. But don't you dare! Make Ricotta and Borage Stuffed Cannelloni...

Ricotta and Borage Stuffed Cannelloni

12 precooked cannelloni pasta, or 12 sheets flat lasagna pasta
800 ml bechamel sauce, diluted with 240 ml whole milk
400 gr fresh ricotta
100 gr fresh borage leaves
3 tb grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 egg yolk
1 tb butter, cued
grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preheat the over to 200° C

Prepare the bechamel sauce and add the extra milk.

In a pot of boiling water, blanch the borage, drain and squeeze; mince. Sieve the ricotta into a bowl. Add the borage, half of the
Parmigiano Teggiano, the egg yolk, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Fill the cannelloni with the filling, or if you are using the pasta sheets, place some filling on each sheet and roll up to form the
cannelloni. Butter a rectangular baking pan. Pour in a third of the bechamel sauce. Delicately add the stuffed cannelloni and finish with
the remaining besciamella. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmigiano and the butter. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

[Photos: © 2010, Jared Brown]

© 2010 Mixellany Limited

STRAWBERRIES AND SAGE

jaredbrown1@mac.com (SlowDrinks) — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:52:02 GMT

FIRST THE STRAWBERRIES

It's our first year in the new garden so we've planted Cambridge Favourites. Born and bred in the UK, this varietal are great for making purées, garnishes, shrubs, ratafias, and punch jellies (read: 19th century jelly shots).

GROWING THEM

Don't bother starting strawberries from seed unless you are a masochist! There are plenty of places to buy healthy young plants from including the Burford Garden Company . We also bought young crowns with no blossoms from Unwins .

Cambridge Faves are a summer fruiting strawberry, so we carefully planted our new arrivals in early April, using plenty of rich compost in the holes. because our area of the Cotswolds has a late frost end date, we nurtured our plants under Victorian bell cloches until mid-May.

Whether you transplant them into a patio container or outdoors in a garden or an allotment, choose a sunny spot that's sheltered from the wind. The trick to planting strawberries (yes, there is one) is to leave the growing crown above the soil level. Don't let any roots show, just the crown portion. If you purchased your plants in pots, plant them to the same depth as they were in the pot.

You plants will need lots of water to establish their roots. That should take about a month. Then they should be OK on their own until fruiting time. When those lovely white blossoms turn into little green swelling fruits, make sure you start watering them again.

This is also a good time to protect your berries from touching the ground. Cover the soil around each plant with straw or a mulching mat to prevent this. If you don't you'll have rotten fruit instead of a bumper crop.

Now you've got one more thing to worry about: birds! BIRDS LOVE BERRIES. So if you want to feed the local population, by all means go right ahead. But if you want to eat those berries yourself, protect them with light plastic netting.

HARVESTING THEM

Strawberries are not as easy to harvest as you may think. Pick them when there’s still a bit of white on the fruit and you’ll never experience their full flavour. Pick them a little later and you might end up with mushy fruit when you freeze them. Harvest your berries daily or at least every other day in the early morning whilst the berries are cool. Never pull or pick the berries from their stems, simply pinch the stem between your thumb and forefinger so that you only take a short piece of the stem along with your fruit. Place the berries in shallow containers and don't keep them in direct sunlight for more than 10 to 15 minutes.

NEXT THE SAGE

Common sage is our favourite herb to use in Pineapple & Sage Margaritas, a few shrubs, and we won't discuss how valuable this herb is for cooking. (Our favourite sage dish involves thin calve's liver and plenty of frizzled sage.)

Again, unless you like to watch paint dry, don't bother starting your sage from seed. Buy a healthy young plant and transplant it out when the danger from frost is over. (We stuck ours in our mini greenhouse until late May just to be on the safe side.)

What's really nice about sage is that the plant will keep providing you with fragrant leaves for about 3 years before it looses its potency. So be kind to your sage. Don't over water it. It's a Mediterranean plant. Read: prefers dry conditions.

That's why now, there’s another plant that’s ready to harvest—sage. Those silvery-green, woolly leaves are best harvested before the plant’s purple flowers bloom. You can cut the stalks off of half of the plant without harming it and save the rest for picking a few leaves here and there during the rest of the season. After you’ve picked strawberries, prune your sage during mid-morning, after the dew dries off but before the afternoon sun wilts the leaves.

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR HARVEST

Head straight into the kitchen and make a summer shrub that’s ideal for swizzles and fizzes. Don’t forget to save a few berries and sage leaves for garnish!

STRAWBERRY AND SAGE SHRUB
8 parts fresh, ripe strawberries
4 parts white wine vinegar
2 parts caster sugar
2 parts water
1 part fresh sage leaves, crushed
In a medium pot, combine sugar and water. Stir to dissolve and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Add berries and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add sage, and let it rest for about an hour. Strain mixture through a fine sieve. Bottle and refrigerate for future use.

Shrub has been part of the British drinking vocabulary since the days of Queen Anne (1615-1714). It was a fine way to preserve the fruity goodness of hard-to-find citrus in the centuries before rapid transit. Rum or brandy was mixed with sugar and citrus peel plus juice and allowed to age in bottles for a few months. Before long the recipe repertoire spanned further than citrus to include local fruits, especially soft fruits such as blackcurrant and bramble. Even into Dickens’ day, shrubs were a delightful and affordable treat. Modern mixologists such as Nick Strangeway, Toby Cecchini, and Jamie Boudreau have been resurrecting shrub recipes such as the colonial-era one we’ve detailed here, mixing it with rum, tequila, bourbon, and other spirits in both long and short drink concoctions.

Don’t stop there. Ratafia is another treat that you can cook up with any and all of your soft fruits.

STRAWBERRY RATAFIA
1 kilogram of fresh strawberries
0.5 litre water
2 kilograms caster sugar
3 litres water
1 litre brandy
Combine berries and half litre of water in a large kettle. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain into another pot and add sugar, dissolved with 3 litres of water. Stir until clear and then add brandy. Bottle.

© 2010 Mixellany Limited