Author Archives: MixedSoup

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About MixedSoup

I am a home cook, serious eater, and adventurer. Please join me on my quest for tasty food while in local and exotic locations.

Getting in Touch with Your ‘Inner Chicken’

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eggs-press yourself

Who wouldn’t like a little fun in their lunchbox?  Or bento box?  These cute egg molds are from Japan made by Kotobuki I purchased through Amazon.  There aren’t any instructions that come with the molds and the packaging is in Japanese so I had to do a little research.  Once you’ve boiled your eggs, you peel them under cold water right away and gently squish them into each shape, snapping it shut.  You can then place them in cold water that has been colored with food dye giving the egg a kind of tie-dye effect.  This might be a little creepy for little ones.

groovy!

I used green because that’s all I had.  It looks a bit like mold, I think.  Next time maybe I’ll go for purple or another color that is more appeeeeeling – get it?  Ok, painful I know.  I’ll get a vote on this very important topic when the grand kids arrive.

Calendula Officinalis Martini-us Deliciousness

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medicinal...

I’ve been experimenting with my edible flowers in our garden.  So far they’ve been regularly a part of our salads and an occasional garnish for cream based pastas, but tonight I thought my martini needed a little summer flare.  My standard martini mixture is as follows:

99% vodka (we use Kettle One)

1% vermouth (Dolin is the best)

equals 100% deliciousness

Pour the above into a shaker full of ice and shake gently so as not to break up too much ice and dilute the beverage.  Stream into your favorite vessel and add a sprinkle of edible flowers such as calendula/marigold, johny jump-ups, pyrethrum, bachelor buttons, lavender, lawn daisy, roses and pansies to name a few.  Many of the flowers are said to have medicinal properties so, in a way, a martini is a health drink.  Cheers to that.

 A terrific resource for herbs and flowers ♣

Graduation Day…

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Cockadoodle Hallelujah!

It’s Graduation Day here on Pole’ Pole’ Farm.  After much desensitization therapy, chicken peer pressure, food lures and finally a swift kick in the butt (kidding), Captain has made his way outside conquering is agoraphobia!  Cockadoodle Doo indeed!!

Not only has Captain strutted his stuff outside, he is now rubbing feathers with Lady in an attempt to make more obnoxious little Captains.  With his new found skills in the pleasure department as well as becoming the king of his domain, you can imagine his feeling of self importance.  Being an urban girl in my previous life, I truly thought roosters crowed at sunrise to greet the day and then crowed at sunset to wish everyone goodnight – how romantic, right.  Sadly not the case in the real world of roosterdom.  Captain crows often throughout the day.  It’s really quite annoying.  And if you remember his doodle is Happy Birrrrrrrthdayyyyy.  I can’t even bare hearing Happy Birthday more than once in a restaurant let alone all day long.  I may have plans for Captain Jack Sparrow that may include spices….

cockadoodle this!

Seriously, we are proud of little Jack and look forward to seeing if he and Lady manage to raise any chicks of their own.  We’ll keep ya posted.  Until then…Happy Birrrrrthdayyyyyyy

Reverse Psychology?

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chicken little...

I feel we have failed miserably as chicken parents.  Our attempts to coax Captain Jack from the coop using peer pressure worked about as well as Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign.  Now when Lady goes outside Captain crows relentlessly trying to convince Lady she’s just made the worst mistake of her life, I mean really, what IS she thinking going out there.  The other chicks in the coop have decided to follow Captain’s lead; he is the man of the house after all.   So that leaves us now with one well adjusted hen and about 16 agoraphobic knuckleheads.  Not only has Captain persuaded the others to go to the dark side, he has developed a seriously aggressive attitude toward me (maybe he read my last post…and some chicken recipes).  Not so long ago this handsome, albeit demented, beast used to eat grain from my open hand and now I’m getting full on rooster attacks.  How embarrassing is it to fight off a tiny 2 pound chicken?  Very.  Fortunately he hasn’t grown spurs yet.  I think I may stay on the cooking side of this development and leave the farming and animal husbandry to Steve.  I don’t have the patience to psychoanalyze something I can eat.

 

brave little Lady Luck

 

 

WANTED: Chicken Therapist

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It's a Big World Out There...

 This is Captain Jack Sparrow…one of 2 chicks that miraculously survived our original 42 bird delivery some months back- a long and rather sad story.  Isn’t he a beauty!?  He’s starting to act like a grown-up rooster, strutting and ruffling his hackles BUT that’s were the tough-guy stuff ends.

We have 15 acres for Captain Jack to strut his stuff on; he could have been kiiiiiinnng of aaaaalllllll  Pole’ Pole’ faaaaaaarrrrrrrrmmmmmm (echo, echo).  I say could have been cuz he aint.  When we tried luring Captain out of the coop with feed, he mysteriously spooked himself into hysteria and is now, get this, agoraphobic!!  Even Captain’s girlfriend Lady enjoys the cool breezes and freshly cut grasses that are here in abundance, saying to Jack, “come check out the delightful dirt pile over here!”  No amount of persuasion has worked.  It’s been weeks and no sign of improvement, in fact just the opposite has happened…..not only is Jack agoraphobic he may suffer from a mild case of Tourette syndrome.  His repetitive cockadoodle directly translates to Happy BIRTHdayyyyyyyy!!!  Over and over and over and over again…very loudly.  Tempting to demote Jack from Captain to common seaman and toss him in the pot.  This would be a lot cheaper than bringing in a chicken therapist!  

Our recent tact has been good ol’ fashion peer pressure.  We have introduced several new chicks into the coop and come tomorrow we will open the coop doors.  With any luck, the new group of 15 chicks will show Jack that the world doesn’t have to be a big scary place and worms are a wonderfully delicious food group (kinda like foie gras).  Until then, cross fingers.  We’ll report back!

Lemon and Rose Scented Geranium Pudding

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Heavenly...

Lemon Posset (aka pudding) is refreshingly clean, yet slightly rich dessert perfect for warmer days.  The scented geranium is optional but it does add that lovely mysterious flavor that no one can put their finger on.  Most larger nurseries carry scented culinary geraniums.  (And many of you will know by now, if I’m posting using a geranium in the dish, it was a recipe from Ballymaloe Cooking School).

serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

400ml (1 3/4 cups) heavy whipping cream

100g (scant 1/2 cup) caster or granulated sugar

5 leaves of rose scented geranium (optional)

50ml (2fl oz) lemon juice

Place the cream, sugar and geranium leaves in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.  Turn down the heat to low and cook for five minutes, stirring often.  Remove from heat and discard geranium leaves.  Add lemon juice, stirring to fully incorporate.  Pour into 4 small dessert bowls and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

We served these during our friends Teri and Jay’s visit from Orcas Island.  Orcas Island is a stone’s throw from Lopez yet unless you have your own boat getting back and forth on the Ferry takes some time.  Fortunately the ferries that service our islands are a relaxing and social way to commute!

Do I Dare Say It …

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quick & delicious!

Spring has finally sprung!!  What does that mean on Pole’ Pole’ Farm?  It means lots of mowing, planting, growing, weed whacking, more mowing, building and baking!
This quick scone recipe is just as tasty as the one we learn to make at Ballymaloe Cooking School during the 3 month course, but it is less involved and for those who use imperial, a bit easier to throw together.
makes approx. 5 scones
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold whole milk
1 large egg
Preheat oven (I use my toaster oven for this) to 425F.    Put the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl and whisk until well incorporated.  Cut the butter into pea size pieces.  Rub the butter into the flour making a very coarse mixture.  Pour in the cold milk and mix with your hand until a soft dough forms.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  With clean and floured hands, gently pat the dough down to about a 1 inch thick circle.   Using a floured, 3 inch biscuit cutter cut out as many biscuits as possible, reshaping the dough gently if necessary.   Spray a baking tray with non-stick coating (one that can take high heat such as grape seed etc).  Place a 1/4 of additional sugar on a small plate.  Whisk the egg and pour into another small plate.  Dip each scone top into the egg wash and then into the sugar and place on the baking sheet allowing space between each scone.  Bake until golden brown on top, about 15-18 minutes.  Serve with butter, jam and freshly whipped cream.

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Hot Whiskey Crepes with Raspberries

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This quick elegant dessert hits so many flavor points.  It’s hot, tart, citrusy, creamy, and slightly sweet.  Delicious!

serves 2-4

Ingredients:

½ cup all-purpose flour

pinch of fine salt

1 large egg

⅔ cup milk

2 teaspoons peanut oil (or other high-temp oil)

1 ¼ cups freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons honey (or agave nectar)

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons whiskey

1 ¼ cups fresh raspberries

confectioner’s sugar for dusting

creme fraiche

Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.  Make a well in the center and crack the egg into the well.  Gradually add the milk and whisk into a smooth batter.

Heat a 9″ non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add a little peanut oil to the pan and carefully wipe most of it out with a paper towel (repeat this step before adding each addition of batter if necessary).   Pour approximately 2 ounces of batter (¼ cup) to the pan and swirl to coat as evenly as possible.  Cook for about 1 minute – the batter will begin to show signs of cooking.  Go ahead, loosen the sides and take a peek!  If the underside is browning slightly, it’s time to turn.  So far my method for this is to loosen the edges, grab the crêpe (and the side of the hot pan), cuss, wrangle the crêpe with the spatula and eventually get it to the other side.  Cook for about a minute more, looking for golden brown patches.  Rustic yet elegant, no?  Oui.  Place each cooked crêpe on a plate and set aside.  There should be 4 unless you’ve dropped one or stuck it to the ceiling with a mighty flip attempt.

Pour orange juice, honey and butter to the pan.  Simmer for about 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, letting the flavors amalgamate.  Remove from heat and add the whiskey.  Place the pan back on the heat and reduce the temperature to low.

Fold each crêpe in half and then in half again making a triangle.  Place each wedge in the pan with the point meeting in the center (so they all fit and show off your geometric prowess).  Let them simmer in the sauce about 1 minute and then carefully turn them.

Plate the crêpes using a spatula.  Pour some juices over the top and add raspberries, sugar and creme fraiche.

(modified from Ryland Peters & Small)

Sushi 101

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Steve and I have been having some fun with experimenting with homemade sushi and sashimi;  we’ve been reluctant in the past to do so, having had access to some pretty amazing sushi restaurants in Santa Barbara that would be difficult to replicate.  Well, we found out that ‘sushi masters’ we are not, but our fish was fabulously fresh and tasty and our presentation….we’ll skip that part.  As with all dishes, your end results are only going to be as good as your ingredients.  So a little plug for our fish source, Catalina Offshore Products in San Diego, is worth some serious recognition.  We don’t know anyone there or have stock in the company, but we give them 2 big thumbs up.  They have a nice variety of things from the sea, their products are guaranteed, packed very well and they have great customer service.  Thanks Greg (brother in-law) for giving us the heads up on these guys.  Catalina Offshore also have little sushi 101 starter kits, which for most people may not be necessary as the items are often found in the Asian section of most supermarkets.

What’s equally critical – making properly seasoned sushi rice.  A rice that has worked well for us is Nishiki brand – we just follow the package directions.  After the rice is cooked it’s placed in a large wide bowl and fanned until your hand says ‘enough’!  Once the rice has cooled to room temperature, you add a sushi su seasoning that has been dissolved on the stove.  The seasoning is basically 3T sugar, 1T salt, and 1C rice vinegar. For each batch of rice add about 1-2 ounces of the seasoning  and stir well to combine.  Wet your fingers and have a go at making a sushi roll or tekka maki.  Kanpai!!