one thing i love about kablpomo being in november is that i can get away with a lot of photo posts toward the end of the month.
while i am not hosting t-day this year (sad face), i am in charge of the turkey. tonight he’s in the sink thawing, and i made a brine for it to go into tomorrow morning. i did this brine two years ago and it turned out EXCELLENT. it’s the pioneer woman’s brine, and while you would think it would turn the turkey sweet from the ingredients (apple juice, brown sugar, oranges?), it did not, in fact, do that. then i roast it according to this food network recipe, and it turns out spectacularly.
yum yum! looking forward to yummy thanksgiving food.
time for a picture interlude – fall pics with hannah
august was an epic fail whale on blogging every other day! september shall be a fresh slate. we’ll see what happens.
after much deliberation (well, not that much), i decided i had to go back to the state fair because the first time was so hot and gross and i didn’t find my deep-fried milky way. i called up jane and said, hey! let’s go to the fair again! so we did, this time in the evening so we wouldn’t be so hot.
first i got a footlong hot dog because i hadn’t had supper. then we went to the ag/hort building again and found the internet seed art thats making the rounds on reddit. also found an awesome krampus piece.
afterward, i finally finally got my deep-fried milky way. it was glorious. heaven on a stick. wonderful, gooey nougaty, caramelly, chocolatey donutty fried goodness. *drool* (i should’ve gotten two).
took a little stroll and ended at the food barn where i bought my coworker some taffy and some cheese curds to split.
we walked to the horse barn after i had a mouthgasm and checked out the horses since nate can’t peruse the horse barns (allergic) and jane missed them previously. then off to the midway!
then, and i’m still not sure how i managed this, i convinced jane to go on the skyride across the fair to the other side (it was closer to the place where we had to catch the bus, maybe?). totally worth the $4/person cost! we went across the fairgrounds at night and saw all the lights. here’s jane scared outta her wits.
we ended on a high note of some lemonade and tom thumb donuts, then had to leave because i still had to drive back to rochester that night (work the next day). definitely worth the second trip.
the great minnesota get together was certainly hot when nate and i went. ugh…
we got there around 9:30 and stayed until almost 1:00, by which time i’m pretty sure nate had some level of heat exhaustion or dehydration. lovely.
the food scene was pretty minimal since it was so hot a person didn’t really want to eat anything. i had a chocolate sundae upon entry at the dairy building, and then i got a huge bucket of french fries (a mistake – should have gotten a smaller bucket). nate got a chunk of cheese deep fried on a stick and a scotch egg while i sucked down a summer shandy.
we stopped at the craft beer booth and each got something we didn’t necessarily like – he got a surly furious and i got a something something pumpkin pie spice beer. i drank it with my mini donuts (tom thumb, of course). we walked down to where our landlord’s food stands were and got some crab fritters for free (the star of the day, actually! they were really good!).
i missed cheese curds and especially my deep fried milky way. wouldn’t have minded something a little more substantial, like a hot dog or something.
overall the food experience was pretty bad and we didn’t see that much of the fair because we were hot and felt gross, although the crowds were minimal. it was sad because i was so ready to forgo my devil’s syrup rule and eat all things that i would normally avoid. 🙁
we went to the poultry, rabbit, and sheep barns, but steered clear of the horse barns (we didn’t need a trip to the ER for nate in anaphylactic shock). (look at the sheep’s hardware! omg! nate said as i was taking a pic: “are you getting a close-up of his balls?”)
so you want to make some macaron. first, let’s say it right. not macarOOn. it’s not even technically macarahn or macarohn (although those are both better than macaroon). it’s frenchie. macaroh – and end on a nasally frenchie sound from the front of your throat.
the first two batches of macaron i made were bad. yes, they tasted good, but the macaron is as much about the aesthetic as the taste. you’ve got to get that foot on there. without the foot, you’ve got a bad macaron. on my third try, i found a good recipe, and i had watched a tutorial on youtube on how to prepare the batter. my feet arrived.
the first and foremost thing you need to make macaron? a kitchen scale. this makes all the difference in the world, because you can get your ingredients exact. and macaron are picky, so you need exactness.
the ingredients are pretty minimal.
120 grams egg whites, divided
35 grams white sugar
150 grams almond flour
150 grams powdered sugar
you will also need to make sugar syrup:
150 grams white sugar
50 grams water
making macaron starts the day before. as much as conventional wisdom says not to, you need to let your egg whites sit out on the counter overnight. this thickens them up and helps maintain the meringue. you can cover them – they just need to be room temperature for about 24 hours.
start off by whipping 60 grams of egg whites in your mixer until you get soft peaks. then add the 35 grams of sugar. let this whip away while you make the sugar syrup.
you can use your smallest pan for the syrup. throw in the sugar and water and whisk to combine. let it come to a boil and once it reaches 230F on a thermometer, you’re golden. pour the boiling syrup slowly into the mixer as it’s still whipping your egg whites and sugar. let that whisk for about 10 minutes or so while it cools down and creates a nice, shiny meringue.
in the meantime, you can get your almond flour and powdered sugar measured out. it helps to push the almond flour through a sifter, just because there are occasionally still larger chunks of almond in it.
once everything’s measured, combine the almond flour, powdered sugar and remaining egg whites (60 grams) in a bowl. mix it together.
this is also a good time to prepare your pans. i use cookie sheets with parchment paper. you can also use those silpat things.
by this time, your meringue should be pretty cool. fold in the almond/sugar mixture into the meringue. this is where diligence is key! once everything’s combined, you need to continue to mix the batter. this is called “macaronage” – you push the batter up against the side of the bowl until it runs off your spatula like magma. too little and your foot is nonexistent. too much and your foot will run all over the place (hahaha). not quite there.
once your batter is good to go, stick a little bit into a pastry bag to pipe onto the cookie sheets. i put some food coloring in the bag itself to get the swirly look. had a couple weird ones when some of the food coloring splattered out. if your macaron don’t flatten out to a smooth, shiny surface, you haven’t macaronaged your batter enough.
in the past i’ve made my macaron about 1″ wide – this time i made them wider because i hate filling so many macaron. smaller macaron take up 3 of my cookie sheets, but these wider ones only took up 2 sheets. woo! now it’s time to let them sit. yes, leave the macaron out on your counter for about an hour – the top should turn from shiny to matte.
once they look like this, time to turn the oven to 320F. put them in for 15-25 minutes. the smaller macaron i make take about 13 minutes, while these guys took close to 23 minutes. you can test them by grabbing the top of a macaron and shaking it to see if it kind of slides against the parchment. if the top comes off and leaves the foot on the parchment, not done yet! (i did that today…oops.) check in 2-minute intervals until they’re good. look at the foot!
let them sit on the parchment for a while before unsticking and filling. i made a cream cheese/almond butter/powdered sugar filling this time. try to match up the cookies with like sizes and fill away. this time i used a piping bag to fill – much easier than a knife! put them in the fridge for the first 24 hours at least. and above all, make sure you don’t store them with any other kind of cookies – they will take on the flavor of the cookies around them. and if you don’t have a perfect macaron the first time around, my experience has been there are always many people willing to eat your mistakes 🙂
today was a good food day! i was asleep by 11 last night, so i ended up waking up when nate came home at 7:15. fine, fine, i’ll get up. rolled out of bed and promptly went to the strawberry farm where i picked 11 lbs. of strawberries. it was cool and had just rained, so there weren’t a ton of people there (but still a lot!). later today i’m going to make jam. after i brought the berries home, i went to the food co-op to get almond flour and almond butter for my macaron making tomorrow afternoon. while i was there, i picked up my first CSA box! woo! i got a half share because it’s just me and nate. or rather, just me, since nate sort of eats whatever whenever and will only occasionally eat what i eat. hrm. i think this is the red russian kale.
this i believe is arugula. and this is spinach! also got some garlic scapes and …. an egg share! woo!
ok, now i’m off to take a nap and then time for some jam making.
strawberry season is a couple weeks behind due to the cold spring, but it’s finally arrived! i picked up a quart at the farmers’ market today and made a strawberry-rhubarb crisp. on tuesday, the pick-your-own will open, so i’ll head over there and get some to make some jam. quick recipe for 8″ square pan
slice berries and rhubarb – about a lb of strawberries and a cup of chopped rhubarb. spread in pan and sprinkle with white sugar and flour – about 1 tblsp each
crumble:
1/2 c flour
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c melted butter
mix and sprinkle on top of fruit. bake at 350º for 20-25 mins.
this will be juicy!
ps – i’m tired of paying a premium to buy ice cream made with real sugar.
this week we are FINALLY supposed to see some sun and above-70 temps!! i’m so excited. but the flowers in the yard are blooming as well as the ones on my concrete slab, so here are a couple pics i took tonight. pops to embiggen.
i have recently found the “galette”, which is a really fancy looking dessert that is easy peasy to make. i was looking for a way to use some pre-made pie crusts my grandma gave me like 3 years ago (seriously, those things were probably 5 years old – but frozen so not rotting). martha stewart came through, because i saw the fancy galette in her mag and decided to give it a go. it looked way easier than a pie.
roll out your pie crust dough and place it on a cookie sheet. i used parchment underneath so it would be easier to get off when it was done. pile on some fruit in the middle (you could also make this savory and put some mushrooms or meat in the middle). i also put a tablespoon or so of sugar/honey and a couple pats of butter.
fold it up around the edges and egg or milk wash the outside so when you sprinkle some sugar on it, it will stick. throw that bad boy in the oven at 350 for about 25-30 mins (check it – should be browned on the edges)
tada! fancy!
i
