Herbed Butter

My windowsill basil has been looking a little leggy, so I went ahead and pruned it this morning.  Cutting the stems right above a node (or little cluster of baby leaves) will force the plant to put more energy into growing leaves, instead of growing stem, and will give me a bushier, leafier basil plant in the long run.  This is good, as I really love fresh basil.

Basil flavored sunlight, omnomnom!

Unfortunately, I did this right after breakfast time, so I was left with a handful of wonderfully pungent herbs, and no handy dish to throw it in.  What to do?

Ding!

Chiffonade* the basil...


















Cut up a stick of butter...














Put it all in a food processor on puree, with a little canola oil for lube...

And poof! You have fancy herbed butter, great for savory dishes!  You may not have a recipe that calls for 8 tablespoons** of herbed butter all at once.  That's ok.  Just portion it out onto a piece of parchment paper on a plate.  Or you can slap it onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll it up into a single log-shaped piece.

Or you can just put it on my ass-cold porch.

Throw it into the freezer until the little globs (or log) are solid.

Then wrap them up and put them in a freezer-approved container, and thaw at will.  You can do this with pretty much any leafy herb, including sage and parsley or even mint, which could be interesting.  Use in place of straight-up butter in the appropriate dishes.











A project so easy, I didn't swear once while making it!




*Chiffonade is a French term for rolling leaves up like a cigar and then cutting them up into little strips
**If you don't get roughly 8 tablespoons out of this recipe, you're doing it wrong.

The Mysteries of the Slow Cooker

While grocery shopping after seeing my therapist yesterday I impulse-purchased a 6 quart Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker with Removable Dishwasher Safe Stoneware & Glass Lid, Keep Warm Setting, and Lid Latch (tm) Strap (for easier portability).

Isn't it pretty?

Shiny!

Oooh, aaah!

We used to have a smaller, 3 quart slow cooker, but when we moved away from Berkeley and into my husband's parent's house, we got rid of most of our belongings.  The corner by our apartment was a veritable 2-week smorgasbord of free stuff, neatly bypassing such clunky institutions as thrift stores or Freecycle.  Even though I didn't use my old slow cooker much, I've kind of missed it.  Think about it:  its this incredibly versatile machine that can cook things for you when you aren't even home.  For the lazy home-cook, that's pretty amazing!  I'm pretty sure its also amazing for people who aren't lazy, like parents or people who are employed.

The problem is, I'm a little intimidated by the damn thing.  I can chiffonade, stir-fry or blanch with the best of them, but for some reason, when it comes to slow cookers, I'm paralyzed with indecision and fear.  What if I don't put enough liquid in?  What if I put too much?  What if I make this 8-hour recipe, and it ends up being really gross?  Why can't I find a recipe that doesn't contain at least one item I object to?  WHAT IF I SUCK AT SLOW-COOKERY??


That's a lot of anxiety, which leads to me viewing my fancy piece of kitchen technology as akin to that freaky monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

=

Perhaps familiarity with the beast will lessen my anxiety?  On close inspection, this contraption seems to be pretty sturdy, though it was pretty cheap.  I mean, I only paid $20 for it, and considering how much time I've spent working at a cookware store that regularly hawked slow cookers for $200 or more, I'm pretty stoked.  The stoneware crock (whiteware to be exact) is heavy and sturdy.  The three settings (keep warm, low, and high) seem luxuriously versatile, and the lid is... well, its glass.  And it has a knob!  Yay!  The thing also comes with this elastic band to cinch the lid down onto the crock during travel.  There's even notches in the handles so it will stay snugly in place.  I am so enamored with this feature that I will have to find some excuses for making portable dishes.  Maybe my league-mates would like to have some pot roast right after practice?  Or my neighbors might like a surprise chicken casserole!  Hopefully I don't lose the band before I have a chance to use it.

The underside of the sturdy crock, showing it's whiteware nature, as well as the elastic lid band thing.

Lid Latch (tm) ENGAGED!

The entire thing is a little dusty from being in the box, but I can't wash it right now because the Lazarus Plant is participating in Occupy Sink.

Yes, those are the trimmed leaves of the plant set as mulch.  Think of it as a cozy blanket of lopped-off, gangrenous limbs.

So, while I'm attempting to suppress my mageirocophobia and coax Lazarus out of the sink, I'll also be researching some slow-cooker recipes.  Please feel free to share any that you've had success with!

Instant Gratification

Brian put up my post tonight, on Cast Iron Therapy!  GO LOOK AT IT RIGHT NOW!

Now do a happy dance with me!

I haven't forgotten you

After a two-month holiday hiatus, I'll be returning with a bang!  My dear friend Brian, who runs Cast Iron Therapy, has graciously allowed me to guest post about a family recipe that is particularly close to my heart.  We are currently editing the draft, so I'm not sure when it will go into the posting queue.  When it goes live, I'll make sure to give you guys the link.  I'm quite excited, and I hope you all will get a kick out of it!

My husband and I spent the last month back home in California, and have really enjoyed seeing friends and family for the holidays.  I think at this point I've been able to see almost everyone I wanted to make a point of seeing, and quite a few more.  We'll be flying back home on Thursday, and after that I expect to be posting regularly.

This year, I'd like to work on reducing our output and consumption of excess - trash, energy, food, and more.  I'm going to work on sourcing more things locally, and will be attempting to produce more of our own "stuff."  There will hopefully be quite a few post along these lines in the coming months.

I'm also going to finish that freaking adorable steam-punky outfit that I had all planned out right before I left.  That wont be until February, though, so don't hold your breath.

The upshot:  good things to come, I promise!