I have been trying to include more fermented foods in our diet recently.  I have read about and personally experienced the benefits of consuming probiotics and so was motivated to learn how to include more fermented foods in our family’s diet.  However, I have felt a little lost in setting out to grow bacteria in my kitchen.  It goes against so much of my cooking experience and I certainly do not want to do anything in ignorance that could make my family sick.  With further learning, I felt more confident that I could make yogurt safely.  I read Tonya’s article about how to make yogurt and it sounded so simple.  How could I go wrong?

I learned that yogurt making is a very simple process, and yet I found many ways to ruin it.  I am hoping that you all can learn from my mistakes. 

My first mistake was using a starter straight from the refrigerator to the yogurt.  I learned the hard way–cold starter makes lumpy yogurt.  I would love to know the science behind why that is. But in the meantime, for smoother yogurt, don’t forget to place your starter on the counter before you start cooking.  I have been told that using a package of yogurt starter gives more consistent results than using plain yogurt.  I am far too new at yogurt making to speak to consistency myself.  In the hope of increasing my chances for success, I purchased a package of yogurt culture locally at the Breadroot Co-op.

I also learned that homemade yogurt is much thinner than store yogurt.  I have found two solutions for this.  You can either strain off some of the liquid with a fine mesh strainer once the yogurt is set.  Or you can add in a little powdered milk while you are heating the milk for the yogurt.  Both have worked well for me. 

The worst problem I encountered was a bad taste in my yogurt. Even though I watched the milk closely as I heated it, my yogurt tasted scalded.  I eventually created a homemade double boiler and finally made good tasting yogurt.  I found a dish that fit inside my pan with handles that set on the pan rim to hold it up.  It took longer to heat the milk, but I didn’t have to watch it as closely and it solved my final yogurt-making challenge. 

Give yogurt making a try.  It actually is easy—once you know how.

If you enjoy baked potatoes but don’t want to run your oven for an hour plus, the potato bag is for you. Using this bag you can have microwaved potatoes that are moist and flavorful in just ten minutes. You scrub a few potatoes, wrap them in a paper towel, stick them in your potato bag, and the microwave does the rest. And they will retain the nutrients that are lost when potatoes are boiled and the cooking water discarded.

These bags are hand made and can be purchased from Black Hills Milk at the Heritage Farmers Market, 3500 West Chicago, in Rapid City.

Trudy’s sun-dried tomatoes may be purchased at the Heritage Farmers Market, 3500 West Chicago Street, in Rapid City. Of this recipe Trudy says, “Hopefully this will inspire creativity in the cooks out there!  Bon Appetit!”

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable broth

12 sun-dried tomatoes

1 8-ounce package uncooked penne pasta

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Remove from heat. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in the broth 15 minutes, or until softened. Drain, reserving broth, and coarsely chop. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place penne pasta in the pot, cook 9 to 12 minutes, until al dente, and drain. Place the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir until lightly toasted. Heat the olive oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the garlic 1 minute, until tender. Mix in the spinach, and cook until almost wilted. Pour in the reserved broth, and stir in the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Continue cooking 2 minutes, or until heated through. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the spinach and tomato mixture and pine nuts. Serve with Parmesan cheese [available from Black Hills Milk].

Heritage Farmers Market

A few days ago I stopped in at the Heritage Nursery year round farmers market in Rapid City where Dee Holmberg and Black Hills Milk sell their products and noticed that Trudy Draskovik is now selling dried tomatoes, eggplant, and chili peppers there. I invited her to tell us more about them, and here is what she wrote:

Just some info about this ancient practice of preserving foods from before the days of refrigeration, canning, and freezing. The practice of drying foods was used by many indigenous peoples and our ancestors to insure food would be available in the leaner times when the ground was covered with snow and the availability of fresh produce was non-existent.

Dried tomatoes or eggplant can be reconstituted by boiling water and soaking for about 10 minutes. Then chop them up or add them whole to pasta dishes, homemade artisan breads, grain dishes, stews, cheese dips, lasagna, minestrone, cream cheese (for that bagel in the morning!) or almost any food that your imagination can think of!

To use the chili peppers–I crumble them between my fingers and flavor my olive oils with them before adding my foods to the oil, or crumble them into soups, meats, potatoes, or anything that needs a little heat. (Warning) They are hot so don’t rub your eyes after crushing!

My plans are to offer many more dried foods this summer at the Farmers Market, if the state rules will allow that.

Check back tomorrow for Trudy’s recipe for penne pasta with sun dried tomato spinach pine nut sauce. Mmmm.

A New York Times article published back in November contains multiple ideas for cooking in a time saving and sustainable, such as baking a big bird alongside vegetables and pies, thus creating a fridge full of easy-to-nuke leftovers and a carcass to be recycled into body-warming soup. We know how to do this on the holidays but seem to forget the rest of the year.

The article by Tamara Adler shows how to expand holiday-style cooking throughout the year and save money without sacrificing taste. French and Italian cooking evolved in the countryside where every leftover food item found its way into something easy and economical and seasoned with herbs, not chemicals. It’s all a matter of perspective, Adler says, thinking long term instead of hurriedly putting together every meal.

Adler wrote the book on this subject: “An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace.”