Adaptive Reuse: Black Cherry Iced Tea

While this is not strictly a case of adaptive reuse, we basically took something that was terrible, switched one simple factor, and made it delicious. We bought this herbal tea as a caffeine-free nighttime beverage before bed. Hot cherry flavor should be good, right? WRONG. After one hot cup, the box sat in the cabinet for months. Yet one fine day, not a beverage in the house (who wants to drink water?!) we took that dusty cherry abomination down from the shelf, made tea, added sugar, then threw a bunch of ice cubes in----and made the BEST ICED TEA EVER. One bag is enough for a half gallon, maybe even a whole gallon. We added sugar substitute but feel free to sweeten it with your sugary poison of choice. Let it cool down for a few hours on the counter, then fridge it, or add ice cubes and drink it right away! Try it with any gross herbal tea (orange, lemon, berry, etc).

Hostess with the Mostess

A rule of thumb: when more than two visitors are traveling over an hour to your home, ALWAYS have some kind of snack or spread waiting for them. Even if they aren’t hungry, they will appreciate the gesture. Chances are, however, they ARE hungry and will devour the snacks immediately. For our visitors, we chose a cheese and fruit spread. Having spent two years as a cheese monger, I champion myself as an aficionado de fromage. That being said, we live in a rural area with absolutely no access to good cheeses. (Let’s face it, when brie is considered a specialty item, you know diversity is looking pretty pathetic). Therefore, my cheese plate was more low-brow gourmet than an award-winning, blog-worthy food item. Despite this, it looked great and hit the spot: we used Jarlsburg Swiss, Red Wax Gouda, and President Brie. Since it’s the middle of winter, we used dried fruit in lieu of fresh: prunes, apricots, dates, pears, and pineapple. In addition, a few pieces of crystallized ginger were added to the plate. The showstopper, however, was the local honeycomb. Harvested in Hudson Valley, the honey is absolutely delicious, and honeycomb is edible (it works down into a gummy, chewy, waxy substance which can be swallowed or discarded). I tied the plate together with simple Triscuits. The guests were pleased, and the entire plate was gone in an hour. Ultra-corny lesson: limited choices is no excuse for limited courtesy.

Pregame: Halloween

If there is one time of year that we love for everything but the food, it's Halloween. Candy is great, sure, but Halloween is more about the crafting (costumes, decorations, etc) than it is about the eats. Kicking off October then, this is our post for those who love carving Jack o' Lanterns.

So it begins with- pumpkins, obviously. We scored these baberdoos at Walmart for $3.88 each. We recently read online that there is a "pumpkin shortage" in our area this year due to the heavy rainfalls that drowned and damaged many crops. The article told us that pumpkins would be A.) harder to find and B.) more expensive. We found that neither was true up here in Northeast PA, but maybe those of you in other places might be experiencing this.



While Dan is clearly ready to begin arts and crafts, you first need the second important piece of the carving experience: the pumpkin-carving kit. This kit was just as expensive as the pumpkin itself, although you can reuse it year after year until the utensils break. Alternatively, you can use toothpicks, knives, and other household items if you don't want to spring for the kit. However, beware of hurting yourself and/or damaging your good knives. Either would make for a bad day.



You should begin by cutting a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin. If you cut it on the top, it will probably look stupid unless you want to create a cute little "hat" out of the stem. Then you should scrape the guts out. If you feel like really being rustic, you can sift through the guts for the pumpkin seeds, wash them, dry them, and roast them for a tasty treat. After gutting the squash, you must pick your pattern. If you are a novice, pick something simple. A wonky pumpkin could be very disappointing to visitors. If you are using the kit, there are ready-made patterns that you scotch tape to the squash. Otherwise, use pencil to stencil your outline.




Somehow, Dan makes it look easy, and his ghosts turn out perfect. Not all of us are so lucky or skilled. My cat looks a little bit wonky, but not too terrible. Visitors will probably think a small child carved the pattern.




Our friend James carved the last pumpkin, a very sweet and smiley face. Picking a simple pattern was brilliant on his part, it turned out great. When all three were lit, they looked really cool.





Ultimately, Halloween is really fun and we hope to post more crafting endeavors (and food endeavors) in the near future. Until then, start brainstorming costume ideas, pumpkin patterns, and apple-picking outings, because FALL has arrived!

Love,

The Two Gavones

Adieu to Summer

With the beginning of fall in the air (and on the calendar), a friend-couple of ours decided to host a delicious seafood barbecue/clam bake to officially end the summer. We documented their progress as they prepared the good eats we were so fortunate to gorge on.

When we walked in at 2pm, our gracious hosts Ken and Ashley were just getting the water in the pot for the clams.


It was going to be a wait, so they began to prepare the other main courses: pulled pork and a seafood boil soup. But we were taking our time, enjoying a night filled with good beer (home brew, of course) and good food. So before we get to our clam/meat/soup viewing, we make our first stop: appetizers.

When it comes to appetizers and before-dinner drinks, you have to be careful. You can easily fill up on them (or get too drunk), and then the main course isn't so anticipated when you are doubled over in cheese/carb/beer overload. So we kept it as classy as possible given the scrumptiousity of the treats that awaited us.




Ham and cheese bread, made from scratch, and a caprese salad with garden heirloom tomatoes and garden-grown basil. A very classic first course, we think. But then a killer thing happened: the hot crab dip was busted out.



Hot crab dip might be the fat kid's kryptonite! Maybe not, but it was still really good and brought in by our friend's landlady who told us it was the same recipe used at Joe's Crab Shack. Is that true? We don't know and never questioned it- our faces were too stuffed with the dip.

Onto the salad, made by us.






This recipe is a PARTY CLASSIC. Adopted from Mama Latini, this is how you become loved and respected for your culinary prowess:

1. boil two packages of frozen cheese tortellini; drain
2. coarsely chop 2-4 cups of baby spinach
3. in a small bowl, vigorously whisk together 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup honey
4. slice 1/2 cup grape tomatoes in half
5. combine all ingredients in a large bowl and pour dressing all over
6. add salt and pepper to taste
7. fridge for at least a few minutes to let the flavors meld

You can add more or less of any ingredient in the recipe to taste as you see fit. Do it and we promise elevation to god/goddess-like status.

As we were filling up like two fleshy aircraft carriers, our hosts were preparing the other delights for the evening. First came the preparation of the meat, which was to go on the smoker with the stuffed jalapenos.





The jalapenos were stuffed with a gourmet farmhouse white cheddar, wrapped in prosciutto, and then oiled and put into the smoker. While we don't have a picture of the result, the jalapenos were accidentally burnt to a crisp! No matter, we ate them anyway, peeling off the inedible parts, and they were really spicy and utterly divine.



As you can see, the pork did not suffer the same fate as the jalapenos. After it came out of the smoker, it was the responsibility of the party-goers to help "pull" the meat apart and then slather it with barbecue sauce. It was a job in which we quickly volunteered. The taste was just heavenly.



Yet the labors were not over! There was still soup to be made and had. First, our hosts cut potatoes, and then prepared a crab boil packet in a GIANT pot of water.



Then corn cobs were cut in half and added, followed by sausage.




In the last minutes, jumbo Gulf shrimp was added, put in at the end to avoid overcooking. SOUPS ON! The end result was a light broth packed full of flavor and a dynamic soup that proved a meal in itself.



But soup was certainly not the only entree on the menu. Remember our clams? The finale included dozens and dozens of plump, butter-dipped morsels.






Overall, we had a fantastic evening. While we gorged ourselves stupid, it was worth every single cramp and pain. Food, drink, good tunes, good friends-- that is the spirit of summer, and it can last all year long if you keep that in mind.

Love,

The Two Gavones

Week In Review

It's been a hectic couple of weeks with the hurricane, the power outtage, Labor Day Weekend, and the beginning of school. So instead of posting a million separate posts, we figured we would give you a visual taste and a short blurb of what's been up as of late.

1. Vegan Moussaka

This dish is a LOT of work and very time consuming. But it's hearty, rib-sticking vegan food (yes, it IS possible for such a thing to exist.) If you like making healthy food, we suggest the cookbook Veganomicon, which is where this recipe is from. The dish contains zucchini, potatoes, and eggplant as the 'meat', Greek tomato sauce as the binding agent, and tofu as the topping.






It looks beautiful for company and tastes delicious every time. If you have omni/herbavore mixed company, this is one everybody will love.



2. Indian Meatloaf

FAIL. Our power was at risk of going out during the hurricane, and we had 1 pound of extra lean turkey breast. We figured meatloaf would be a good bet, but without a lot of stuff in the fridge, we decided to wing it with Indian spices, peas, and hot peppers. It would have been good if it didn't taste like sandpaper. To make it worse, we made it with rice and a hard-boiled egg covered in turmeric (which was really good). If we only made some kind of sauce to go with it, this might not have been so disappointing.








3. Holubtsi

Any self-respecting Slavic person knows how to make some form of holubtsi (or stuffed cabbage). Many times it's filled with meat, but I like mine vegetarian. You start with blanching cabbage leaves, making a filling, stuffing the rolls, and covering it with some kind of sauce. My version this time included a mushroom, Kashi, rice, onion, and hot pepper filling mix (with salt and pepper seasoning). My topping was 2 cans of Campbell's tomato soup (not watered down).




First thing is to carefully blanch the cabbage so that the leaves come off whole.



Then you chop the mushrooms down to a small mince.



My preferred brands of rice and kashi. It might take you some time to get the ratio right, use alot less kashi than rice.




Garden pepper!



So, I used too much kashi, not enough rice. Not a big deal.



CRAZY GOOD DELICIOUS.

Love,

The Two Gavones

Millions of Peaches....?

We hate to say goodbye to so many things about summer: fair weather, vacations, and picnics, for example. In recent years however, there has been one important "summertime" element that has been either incredibly disappointing, or missing entirely. Fresh fruit. I mean, real fresh fruit. Anything you see at the supermarket that calls itself "fruit" is a weeks-old, tasteless monstrosity (even if it's labeled "local"). Those roadside stands, well, sometimes you get good stuff there, and sometimes, it's a sham.

Three weeks ago I performed an experiment. I visited every roadside stand on Route 206 in northern New Jersey (I hit about 5 of them). Those stands label themselves "Fresh Jersey Produce" "local produce" or something similar. In each of these stands, I examined every single piece of fruit and vegetable to see where it came from and the condition it was in. The only two locally-grown items each farm stand carried: tomatoes and corn. All the other produce was labeled "California" or "Florida" sometimes even "Mexico." To make matters worse, the non-local produce was labeled at twice, or even three times the price per weight as a supermarket. It is obvious that these stands prey on people who do not read label stickers but rightfully assume they are getting high quality produce because they stop at one of these quaint stands. I did take some Jersey corn home, and it was terrible, no flavor at all.

Dan has been complaining for years that those juicy summertime watermelons we remember as kids have gone extinct. Because nearly all regular watermelons have been replaced with the "seedless" kind (which are basically regular watermelons picked unripe), the experience of eating watermelon has been ruined. If those big black seeds mean tasty watermelons, bring them back, we'll take it!!

Poor quality fruit is a big deal, and not only for taste. The vitamins and nutrition that are taken from fresh produce are important from a dietary standpoint. So our mission in this post was to find fresh, delicious, local peaches... and buy as many as possible.

We went with our close friends to Soons Orchard in New Hampton, NY, about 8 miles north from the famous "Black Dirt" region. Dan had been watching the website for weeks, waiting for the very short window of peach picking season. Finally, the moment arrived, two days only, pick your own peaches, August 20-21. The reason the pick-your-own season is so short is because the farm has no problem selling all of their peaches at their farm store and elsewhere, for better prices than they could charge the regular peach-pickers.



We were in heaven. The peaches were firm, but not unripe, juicy and sweet, crunchy and melty, all at the same time. While picking, we pigged out on peaches, tasting from different trees, comparing sizes and colors, and basking in what "summer" would taste like if it had a flavor. 20 pounds of peaches later, we boarded our hay wagon with glee and took a visit to Soons farm store.



We made a few purchases at the farm store from their "Last Chance" display. We've all seen those displays at the supermarket, basically rows of group-packaged, rotting fruits and vegetables, right? Well, Soons "Last Chance" display were high quality, healthy vegetables that were still firm and good to use. They looked better than the good vegetables at the regular market. We bought 3 pounds of heirloom tomatoes for $2.00 total (try $ 4.99 a pound at the supermarket!) and a head of tender lettuce for $1.00.

Our friends took half the peaches home, and we ate about a third of our own peaches. That still left us with about 6 pounds of the BEST peaches.



What to do? We could make a delicious peach reduction sauce for meat or vegetables, a pie, cut the fruit up in yogurt, braise them as a dessert, but no, no, no. We want to access that delicious flavor any time of year. We decided to perform the traditional craft of food preservation by canning.

The art of canning dates back to the Napeleonic Wars, when the French government was willing to give anything in order to preserve food for troops on the front. French candy-maker and brewer, Nicolas Appert, demonstrated that food cooked in a glass jar stayed fresh as long as the jar was sealed airtight. Amazingly enough, this was 50 years before Louis Pasteur's discoveries about germs and food (think pasteurization). In any case, one of Dan's super-mutant powers includes being a fantastic canner, so this project was entirely his baby. For this recipe, we needed: peaches, sugar, pectin, mason jars, and butter (optional).



Peaches: the first thing is to get the skins off and the pits out. You could do this by peeling the raw peaches, slicing them open, and removing the pits. We chose instead to boil the peaches, thereby deskinning them once hot (You could make the preserves with the skin on...but, ew). Our way may not have been the most efficient way, but it did the job.



The next step is to dice the peaches up small and consistent, cook them over medium-high heat and add the sugar slowly. (6 cups of peaches to 3 cups sugar).



While the mix will be dry at first, eventually the peaches will begin to break down and you get a beautiful, golden, bubbling cauldron of sweet witchcraft. You can add a tablespoon of butter, if you want (we did). At a rolling boil, you quickly add the pectin, keep stirring for a full minute to dissolve it, then turn off the heat.

Jars: The standard for all canning is to use Ball mason jars. You can find them just about everywhere. It is imperative to clean and sterilize the mason jars, rings, and lids before putting any fruit in them. The best way to do this is to use boiling water to clean them.



When your jars are ready, pour the fruit in and leave about 1/4 inch of space from the top. Then you place the lid on top and screw the ring around the lid. Do not TIGHTEN. Allow the rings to loosely hold the top on. Then you must put the jars with the fruit and lid into the hot water bath again, and allow to boil in 1-2 inches of water for 25-30 minutes. Take out the jars, allow them to cool for 24 hours. You may hear popping noises throughout its cooling process, this is a good thing, it means they are sealing.


After 24 hours, check the seal by pressing down on the center of the lid. It should be concave and not give when pressed or make a "clicky" noise. Once you are sure they are sealed, screw on the lid bands tight and store.

The most important thing we have learned throughout this search for good summer fruit: If the things you want are not available to you, you must:

A. scour the planet (like we did) for a pick-your-own peach program
or
B. simply do without

We love peaches just as we love apples, but we only eat apples three weeks out of the year (when they are at the height of their season). We've been doing that for 5 years now and we eat enough good apples in September that we don't miss the crappy ones all year long. We have decided to do the same thing with peaches and other fruits and vegetables. Eating seasonally is hard, really hard. Some people think it's an elitist way to live, but I think if there is anything to be snobby about, it's wanting and demanding food that tastes good (and sometimes that means junk food, too).

Eating produce seasonally has brought us incredible amounts of joy and various calendar dates to look forward to in the year. Peach season this year was a major event. Apple season is next, and we are already making plans for pies, applesauce, stuffing, and juice. Until next time, happy eating!
Love, The Two Gavones