Strawberry-Cucumber-Lime Jam

We had more cukes than we knew what to do with, and they weren't good for pickling. So combine that with a recipe I found for cucumber lime jam and the pureed strawberries I had saved for jam, and I had an idea.

I'd finally braved the world of canning a couple of weeks ago (a half bushel of tomatoes will do that to a girl), and so I thought I could manage jam. I've made freezer jam before, to great acclaim, but never cooked/canned jam. And of course, I couldn't just follow a regular recipe, could I.

Strawberry-Cucumber-Lime Jam

4 cups pureed cucumber (seeded, peeled, about 3 large cucumbers)
3 limes
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 cups strawberries, pureed or crushed
7 cups sugar
1 package liquid pectin

I cubed and then pureed two of the limes (the whole lime), and then pureed the cucumbers in with them. (I actually had to do this in two batches). Then I grated the fresh ginger in and added the juice from the third lime. Then I tossed all the fruit/veg mix into a pot with the sugar. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the liquid pectin, bring back to a boil, and boil for one more minute. Skim the foam off the top and let it sit while you finish all of your canning prep.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation has great instructions on how to can, so I won't even try to get into that here, so I'm such an amateur I'd probably mess up the instructions and someone would try to hold me liable. Go to another resource, like the one above, for the canning part of things. I'll simply say that I did the 5 minute boiling water bath.

So far (I just barely finished up and the jam is still setting and cooling), the only thing I think I would change is to puree only 1 lime, and juice two. The lime is a bit strong (which I like, but not everyone is a fan), so a bit less lime zest/pith would probably be better. I'd be hesitant to go with less lime juice overall, though, just because I'm not so good at guessing how much acid I need to balance the cucumbers.

The boys are currently eating the jam foam with some fresh gluten-free/allergen free "graham" crackers the hubster just made.

-Thyme

Crepes

I just finished eating the last crepe, sorry. I was going to take a picture - I even plated it all pretty with chocolate sauce drizzled and strawberries around the side. But it was too scrumptious - I ate it before I found the camera.

The recipe I used was pretty basic:

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tbs melted butter

All whisked together thoroughly. Pour 1-2 tbs worth of batter in a slightly oiled pan (depending on how big it is), tilting the pan around to spread the batter thinly around the pan. Flip to brown both sides.

Fill with whatever the heck you want - we had strawberries, cream, and poor man's nutella (melted chocolate and peanut butter)

Now I haven't made crepes since French class in college, so I tried to remember how to do it properly, read a couple of recipes online, and here are the tricks I learned this morning.

*Keep the pan on medium heat - make sure it's not too hot.
*Either use liberal amounts of pan spray, or have a good nonstick surface (our little pan was a little rough in the middle, so several crepes were a bit messed up)
*Use a spoon to ease up the edges and loosen the crepe so you can flip it (spatulas were too big)
*Wait until the batter looks like it's pretty much cooked all the way through before flipping to the other side.
*If you're going to do the nifty one-handed flip - make sure you work the crepe to the edge of the pan before flipping - otherwise it'll just fold in on itself and your husband will laugh.

-Thyme

Strawberry Sorbet and Watermelon Ice

My first post is kind of a cheat. I've copied and pasted it from my other blog. But I figure if anyone's looking for my recipes down the road, they'll be looking here and not there. So here it is. Enjoy!

I took a ton of pictures so that I could blog about our experiments with the ice cream maker. But I was dumb and forgot to take pictures of the finished products. So here are just a few pictures to illustrate a couple of recipes. But before I get to that, here are a few important definitions. I am quoting directly from On Cooking, a textbook written by chefs, for chefs. As a side note, I LOVE that book. Everything I have made from that book has been divine.

Ice Cream: custard that is churned during freezing. Gelato is an Italian-style ice cream. It is denser than American-style products because less air is incorporated during churning. The USDA requires that products labeled "ice cream" contain not less than 10 percent milk fat and 20 percent milk solids, and have no more than 50 percent overrun[the amount of air churned into an ice cream].

Ice Milk: refers to products that do not meet the standards for ice cream.

Frozen Yogurt: uses yogurt as its base. Although touted as a nutritious substitute for ice cream, frozen yogurt may have whole milk or cream added for richness and smoothness.

Sherbet: frozen mixture of fruit juice or fruit puree. Sherbet contains milk and/or eggs for creaminess...

Sorbet: frozen mixture of fruit juice or fruit puree...sorbet contains neither[milk and/or eggs].

Strawberry Sorbet
from On Cooking

4 oz (about 1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 tsp pectin
8 fl oz. (1 cup) medium syrup*
1 lb strawberries, hulled and pureed (about 4 cups when cut into chunks)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

*To make medium syrup, boil 1 1/2 parts sugar and 1 part water (by weight) for 2 minutes. Cool. When I make it from 3 cups sugar and 2 cups water, it's enough for at least 3 batches of sorbet.

1 Mix the sugar and pectin together, add the syrup and bring to a boil. Remoe from the heat and cool completely.

2 Add the pureed berries and lemon juice; strain. Adjust the flavor with additional sugar or lemon juice as needed. (We've used very ripe strawberries that taste wonderful on their own, so we haven't needed to adjust. If you use some that don't taste as good, you'll probably need more sugar.) (Hint: If you microwave lemons and limes for a few seconds, you'll get a lot more juice out with a lot less effort. Also, squeezing them upside-down can prevent seeds from getting into your dish.)

3 Pour the mixture into an ice cream/sorbet machine and process according to the manufacturer's directions. (Hint, chill mixture to at least 40° F and put ice cream maker core and paddle in the freezer to get ice cream faster and with a much better texture.)

4 You will die because this tastes so good. Or perhaps you will simply never want to buy anything labeled strawberry sorbet again because this is SO MUCH BETTER!


Watermelon Yogurt Ice
from Eating Well Magazine

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups diced seedless watermelon (about 3 pounds with the rind)
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 tbsp lime juice

1 Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring, over high heat until the sugar is dissolved. (FYI: This is a simple or light syrup as opposed to the medium one we used in the last recipe.) Transfer to a glass measuring cup and let cool slightly.

2 Puree watermelon in a food processor or blender, pulsing until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in the cooled sugar syrup, yogurt and lime juice. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into another large bowl, whisking to release all juice. Discard pulp. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

3 Enjoy on a hot summer day or evening. It's not rich like the sorbet but it is very nice and refreshing. Best when slushy.

Rosemary

ADDITION TO THE ORIGINAL POST:
Two nights ago we made sorbet again. I only had about half the strawberries I needed, so I made up the other 8 oz. with frozen mango chunks. It was amazing! You lost a touch of the strawberriness (naturally), but it was still very strawberryish. The mango made it incredibly smooth and creamy. I didn't even strain it and it was wonderful. So take that under advisement next time you're making sorbet.