Monica and Eric talk about Monica’s renovation of her 2nd floor, and the surprises you find when you take the walls down in your house. Plus Raising goats in your backyard, Ice Dams, Rain Gutters, Dog Toys, insulating your home, and how to remove a bathtub from your home.
Here is the backyard goat article in the NY Times
The Goat Justice League is here
photo by Duboix
This is one of those fall out of your chair kind of things.
After being a guest a few times on Martha Stewart Living Radio, I’ve been asked to guest host the afternoon of March 7th and March 8th.
How cool is that?
I’ve been working with the producers this week about guests I’d like to have on the show, and confirmed the following cool people:
Nichelle Stephens, Cupcakestakesthecake blogger & social media expert
Ulla Kjarval, grass fed beef farmer – advocate – blogger
Gennaro Brooks Church, green contractor, EcoBrooklyn.com
Jaden Hair, SteamyKitchen.com cookbook author , TV personality
Robert Newton, Chef & Owner, Seersucker Brooklyn NY
Megan Paska, urban homesteader, beekeeper, BK Swappers
Joshua Stokes, chef with the answers to your questions, GrillAChef.com
I’ll be on from 1-4 pm Monday and Tuesday. You can listen to Sirius ch 112 – XM ch 157 on your computer and smartphone. They offer a 30 day trial, you can learn more here.
Some Brits fondly refer to blancmange (blə-mɒnʒ) as “shape,” probably because this rich, almond flavored dessert is usually set in small molds. It’s hardly diet food — made with milk, cream, egg, and sugar; and thickened with Irish moss (carrageen). This custard from the UK is similar to other puddings such as Bavarian cream, vanilla pudding, and panna cotta. This recipe requires whole milk — non-lactose milk, soy, or skim milk will not set properly.
Carrageen, better known as Irish moss is used a thickening agent, just as agar (red algae) is used in Asian foods. For this recipe I used dried carrageen, not “carrageenan” the commercially prepared extract. 1 oz. of dried carrageen will roughly set up as one cup of liquid. Irish moss can be purchased in dried bundles from online stores or from health food stores. Although not authentic to recipe, you can also substitute with gelatin or agar. Follow instructions to make 1/3 cup.
Blancmange is a very rich dessert and is best plated as small servings with a flavored syrup or treacle drizzled over the top. This recipe makes 4 small servings, double the recipe to serve more.
You’ll Need:
In a sauce pan, bring whole milk and cream to a boil, add washed Irish moss, lemon rind, cardamom seeds (crush the pods first), star anisette, 1 tbsp caster sugar, and a few drops each of vanilla and almond extract. Lower heat and cover, allow to simmer for 25 to 30 minutes stirring occasionally. The Irish moss will have dissolved into the milk mixture to make a thick sauce. Remove from heat.
Strain milk mixture through a medium mesh sieve, and with the spatula gently rub any remaining Irish moss. Be careful not to grate the dense fiber into the mixture. Strain once more through a fine sieve. The liquid should be smooth and thick.
While the milk mixture is cooling down, separate egg white and egg yolk. Beat egg white until it forms stiff peeks. Add 1 tbsp caster sugar to egg yolk and mix well. Stir egg yolk into the milk mixture with a rubber spatula, then fold egg whites in until everything is evenly incorporated.
Spray each mold with water then pour mixture evenly into small decorative molds. You can also use ramekins, or small round bowls. Tap the bottoms of each mold to free any air bubbles. Set molds on an even surface in the fridge for at least four hours, or overnight. The blancmange will set into a firm custard as it chills.
When you’re ready to serve, set the molds in warm water for a few minutes. Use a sharp knife to free the edges if needed, then flip the mold over onto individual serving dishes. Heat up a little honey with strawberry or raspberry jam and drizzle it over the blancmange before serving. ©2011 all rights reserved
Red Cabbage is one the super foods we should eat more of, so here is a simple recipe for red cabbage. This recipe is a braise, which basically means the food is cooked, but not covered in a liquid with the cover on. Red cabbage is a beautiful vegetable to grow, and when you slice it open it looks really cool, like an art photo. Red Cabbage has large amounts of vitamin C and K, and is part of the brassica family of plants, along with broccoli and kale.
Braised Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage Recipe
1 medium head of red cabbage quartered, cored, and sliced
1 medium sweet onion
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup apple cider
Cut up the onion into a rough dice, nothing fancy. Add to a thick bottomed pot with oil and cook until starting to just brown.
Add the chopped red cabbage, and cook down the cabbage a bit, ideally you are getting all the cabbage to saute a bit to sweeten it.
Add in the cider vinegar, apple cider and raisins.
Bring the cabbage mix to a simmer, give it a stir, lower the heat and cover.
Stir the cabbage every 10 minutes or so, after 30 minutes it should be cooked, but if you cook it low and slow, you can keep it cooking longer, and it will sweeten and break down more.
Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage tastes great after its cooked, but it tastes even better the next day. Put it in the fridge overnight and pull it out for lunch or dinner. You can warm it up, or eat it cold. © eric rochow, all rights reserved.
How do you cook cabbage? Tell us how below:
A slow cooker brings to mind meals like all-day-long beef stew, chicken noodle casserole, and Super Bowl chili. But if you’re stuck at home all day, make a slow cooker meatloaf. It’s ready in just… five hours. So why would anyone use slow cooker to make meatloaf? It’s a great no-fuss meal that you can make while doing your chores. The first two meatloaves I made in my slow cooker were a bit dry in the center, even though it made a lot of liquid. After a little experimenting I found two things that help this stay moist and full of flavor: using moist, fresh, finely minced vegetables (onion, celery, bell peppers, zucchini, etc.); searing the entire meatloaf before slow cooking.
So get your mashed potatoes in order, make a small salad, and give this recipe a shot. This recipe feeds three people, it may sound like a lot of food, but it actually shrinks down in the slow cooker.
Slow Cooker Meat Loaf Recipe
You’ll Need:
Ingredients:
Glaze:
Put ground meat into a mixing bowl with all dry ingredients and spices, mix well. Then add all finely minced vegetables (pssst, use the food processor) and egg and mix again until all ingredients are evenly distributed. On a cutting board, form a rectangular loaf that is shaped more like rounded brick than a loaf of bread. You’ll round off the top in the slow cooker later. Let it rest in the fridge for about half an hour.
Add olive oil into a hot non-stick pan. Carefully lower the loaf into the pan and sear the bottom until its firm enough to flip over. Sear all sides evenly, to a light golden brown.
Set the slow cooker to high, add a little olive oil, and set the meatloaf in carefully. With the back of a spoon round the top of meatloaf and adjust the sides to a good fit. Make sure there is about a 1/2″ of space from the inner edge of the slow cooker. Now add the chicken stock (or other cooking liquid). Cover and let it cook on high for two hours, then flip it over. Baste every hour or so. The meatloaf should release more liquid. If the liquid is deeper than 1/2″, remove some of it with a turkey baster.
After four hours, turn the slow cooker down to medium heat and flip the meatloaf over once more. Mix up the ketchup glaze and spoon it generously over the top of your meatloaf. Replace cover and let it cook on medium for another hour. Set the slow cooker to warm until you’re ready to eat, then let it sit for 10 more minutes on a cutting board before serving.
Be sure to drizzle some of that thick cooking liquid over the meatloaf before it hits the table, and serve it up with a generous helping of Parmesan & chive mashed potatoes and steamed carrots. ©gardenfork.tv all rights reserved
Water leaks in winter mean one thing, ice dams. Here’s how to fix ice dams. With the hard winter we’ve had, and then a few warm days, the ice dam on our roof caused water to run into our house. In this how to video, I show you how to deal with ice dams, how to try to remove and prevent them from leaking from your roof in to your home.
BE VERY CAREFUL when using a ladder, especially in winter. And as always, use of this information is at your own risk. Get a friend or two to help you.
Ice dams happen when warm air in the attic helps to melt ice and snow, and then the water re-freezes. This ice can work its way up underneath shingles and then this water leaks into your house. A bad thing.
So, how to fix an ice dam? Carefully. You are up on a ladder and its cold out. You have tools in your hands, you are wearing boots, heavy clothes. Be Careful. K?
Steve from the Born To Farm podcast and the Farm Cast Network joins us to talk about blogging with WordPress and making your own podcast, and Daniel Delaney of What’s This Food joins us to talk about how to cook Aebleskiver. Call our listener call in line: 860-740-6938 with comments or questions
Photo by Tangle Eye
Eric and I stopped into Naruto Ramen ( Park Slope, Brooklyn ) the other day for lunch. We were in awe of the oil-drum size stock pot they use for making their soup base (the scallion cutting machine is equally impressive). It was simmering with whole onions, Napa cabbage, peeled ginger root, kelp, pork and chicken bones — all that good stuff. The ramen lunch with gyoza was excellent.
Stock and broth differ in that a stock uses both bones and meat. I prefer to make my own. I know what’s in it, especially the amount of salt. It’s a healthy, good use of bone, meat and vegetable scraps (mushroom stems, tops of peppers and carrots, peelings, leek roots… etc.). Onions skins give it a warmer golden color than turmeric. As I cook I store everything into a large bag that I keep in the freezer. I use just about any vegetable except for squash, potatoes and yams. They tend to make the broth cloudy and starchy. A good soup stock isn’t hard to make, but it takes a watchful eye.
You’ll Need:
Step 1: Bring a large stock pot of water to a fast boil and add salt and sugar. Add bones, meat and vegetables, then lower heat to simmer. Make sure that your contents are 2″ below the rim — remove water if needed. Add all herbs and spices. Cover and simmer for about 4 hours (or longer) on a low-medium flame. Stir occasionally. You’ll know it’s done when the broth has clarified and a silky layer of fat has risen to the top of the pot.
Step 2: You’ll need another stock pot of equal volume. Remove stock pot from heat and let it cool for about 30 minutes. Set up another large pot with a large colander and pour the hot stock through. Clean any residue from the first stock pot and set up a large medium grade mesh strainer. Pour the stock through. Clean residue from the other stock pot , set up and a fine grade mesh strainer and pour stock through once more. Discard all stock solids as you sieve.
Step 3: Your stock should be translucent and golden. Finally, simmer the stock once more for another hour, or until it reduces to 90% of volume. Salt to taste. Let it cool and store away in containers. Stock freezes well in air-tight containers — you can keep it frozen for up to four months.
Vegetable Stock
To make a vegetable stock, follow the same instructions but use twice the amount of vegetables. Before you simmer brown everything first. Coat vegetables evenly with one cup of olive oil and roast them in the oven on a baking sheet.
Seafood Stock
If you’re making a seafood stock wrap everything in gauze — fish heads, tails, fins, skin, bones, shrimp and lobster shells. Fine bones and shells break down easily and tend to get gritty when they simmer. For this kind of a stock I would sieve everything through a gauze lined colander to catch any sediment.
What’s the best way to see New York, need tourist tips? On GardenFork Radio Monica and Eric talk about her recent visit to New York City, and more importantly, her forays into the center of the universe, Brooklyn, NY! Comments or questions? Call Us 860-740-6938
The restaurant we had dinner with Monica is called Savoy, its on Crosby and Spring in Manhattan.
photo by mconnors
There’s a ton of snow outside, and while in town, I decided it was a night for steak. At the butcher they had strip steak on sale, so i picked up two of them.
I really like Steak Au Poivre, and you can watch our how to cook steak au poivre recipe here. So I cooked up the steaks with some carrots simmered in water, butter, and cumin, plus some mashed potaotes.
Great meal and super simple to do, except the the Labradors hovering throughout the cooking process.
How to you cook steak, do you have a standard steak recipe? let us know below:
“Fried rice” is a misnomer, it’s actually pan-seared and you don’t use much of oil. I love fried rice for late breakfast, but there’s nothing worse than when it’s made either dry or too soppy. Here are a few tips for making the perfect fried rice. It all starts with a hot pan and left-overs.
It’s all about the rice. In our age of healthy eating, white rice still works best. Brown rice becomes very gummy and tends to stick and burn… and wild rice is not rice at all. Rice works best when it’s made the day before — sugars have settled near the surface of the grain and the moisture is evenly distributed. So if you have one of those take-out containers of rice from last night, keep it tightly sealed at room temperature and use it the next day.
There aren’t too many tricks to how to make fried rice. Here’s a simple recipe. Rice, as it sears, will shrink down so use a large flat pan. Don’t use a lot of oil, a non-stick pan is not a bad idea. All ingredients should be cooked separately then combined later. Vegetables and meat should be cut relatively to the same size for even cooking. Delicate things like scallion, chives, basil, or fresh peas are added last.
You’ll need:
Step 1: Place cooked rice in a bowl and add salt and garlic powder. Add vinegar then wet you hands. Run your hands through the rice to break up clumps. The vinegar keeps the rice from sticking.
Step 2: In a hot pan add a little oil. Scramble one egg. Put egg aside and slice it into small pieces. Add more oil to the pan if needed. Sear the left-over diced pork or chicken with ketchup then set aside. Now pan fry the all the vegetables except of the scallions, and set them aside.
Step 3: Rinse the pan. Make sure the pan is very hot before you add the remaining oil, then put the rice into the pan. With a flat spatula, press it into the pan — it should make a sizzling sound. Don’t stir it up yet, let is sear for two minutes then break it up and flatten it into the pan again. Repeat until the volume of rice has reduced to about 85% of it’s original size. Now, add meat and vegetables and stir it up. Be sure to taste and add more salt if it needed. Before your ready to serve, stir in the scrambled egg and chopped scallion and give it one last press into the pan. If you have cooked fresh peas, this is when you throw them in.
Keep it covered and warm until you’re ready to serve, no ones likes cold soggy fried rice. Top it with a fried egg, ham, or steamed vegetables like collards or kale. I prefer fried chicken myself.
while I am knocking snow and ice off the roofs, Henry hangs out in the yard
Jim found a Hammond Organ M100 on Ebay. Just before Christmas we drove up to Lansing Michigan to pick it up.
Starting on February 1st, I’m determined to learn all the piano basics on Garageband. This is my Winter Project. Like Mike has his pinball machines and Eric has his podcast and website, I need something too to keep my hands busy and mind working. Previously I’ve taught myself to knit, needlepoint, roast the perfect chicken, use a sewing machine, and several various garden projects. None of these skills I can do really well, but I do know the basics. Except roast the perfect chicken.
Winter is when I have time to learn new things. It’s cold outside. There’s not many projects that I have with the garden at this time. I know January equals June in sowing seeds and getting stuff ready for the garden. This year I have the greenhouses and am going to start sowing stuff as soon as we get some more sun light. We’re getting the same amount of sunlight now as we did in October, when everything was starting to go dormant. Every day gets a little bit brighter and the sun gets a little higher. It’ll be warm before we know it.
Learning a musical instrument is not something I would have picked for myself. I’m not particularly musical. My camera man, Jim, plays guitar. I’ve always like listening to Organ Jazz and love machines with bulbs, bells, and tubes. So, Jim decided this project for me. I’m enjoying it so far.
At $4 per half-pint container, I found I could conceivably go broke buying my favorite pickle from my local Korean food market — Kimchi, the spicy banchan (side dish) that is quintessential to every Korean table. There are many varieties of kimchi that are defined by season and region. Most people are familiar with Baechu Kimchi — Napa cabbage that’s been deeply fermented with ground Korean chili, garlic, and freshly grated ginger. Baek Kimchi (white kimchi) on the other hand is made without ground chili, but the chili is sliced into fine “hair.” This type of kimchi has a clean, mild flavor and crunchy texture. It can be made then served the following day.
The traditional method of making kimchi is not very practical for the urban kitchen. It can be an onerous and odorous task that your family and neighbors may not fully appreciate. A Korean friend told me that her parents have a second Kimichi refrigerator to avoid influencing other foods — the “Kim-cheese cake” was quite a surprise. With a little experimenting I came up with a solution that works for my tiny Brooklyn kitchen. Salt is an essential ingredient in this Asian pickling process. It conditions the cabbage, allowing it to absorb spices. Be sure to use non-iodized salt, it blackens the cabbage. Instead of the traditional salting process, I found that brining is more practical and less smelly. The spices on the other hand are very pungent. Korean chili is not as spicy as the South American variety. It’s mildly sweet and fragrant much like Hungarian paprika. Nuk mon (fermented fish sauce) is optional, but it serves as a catalyst to fermentation. It’s very potent, so buy a small bottle.
You’ll need:
Gochujang (Korean Chili Paste)
Step 1: Slice the white radish into short wide strips and dust lightly with salt. Place strips in a colander and allow them to release liquid and drain for an hour. Make a brine in a large non-reactive pot. Cut cabbage into 2″ x 2″ squares, and place in brine. Now add the salted radish strips and weigh everything down with a heavy plate. The brine should cover everything completely. It should brine for at least 6 to 8 hours in the fridge, but brining for a day yields the best result.
Step 2: Make your own gochujang. Korean chili paste can be expensive, and you will need a lot of it, so make your own. In a mixing bowl, add all the spices and dry ingredients with water to make a chili paste. If you don’t have a ginger grater, slice ginger root into 1/2″ thick medallions and pulverize them with a mallet. Stir until the texture is consistently smooth and thick, adjust sugar or salt to taste.
Step 3: Drain the cabbage and radish and let it air-dry slightly for roughly an hour. Be sure to reserve the brine. The cabbage should feel a bit leathery. Mix cabbage, white radish, sliced onion, and scallions into the chili paste. Use your hands and be sure to coat everything thoroughly, wear rubber gloves if you need. Warning: If you must use the bathroom, do so before this step.
Step 4: Transfer everything into a deep air-tight container, cover and seal well and let it rest for a day at room temperature — this activates fermentation. Day two, add enough of the reserved brine to cover contents, mix well, tamp the bottom of the container to remove air bubbles. Seal tightly and store in the refrigerator. It should be ready to serve in 1 to 2 weeks, but for a deeper flavor let it ferment for about a month. When your kimchi is ready, you can re-package them in jars as gifts. Give it a shot and share with friends.
When kimchi is served at the table most of the liquid should be drained. A good Korean grocery store sells kimchi in grades of fermentation. The older kimchi is more acrid and pungent and is used as a soup base, or even a meat tenderizer. The younger grade of kimchi is suitable for the table. If you plan to make kimchi on a regular basis, save some of the old brine to use for the next batch. This will shorten the fermentation process.
Try other vegetables. You can make kimchi with leeks, fiddle head ferns, long cucumber strips, or watermelon rinds. Some vegetables such as green beans, whole garlic cloves, and Brussels sprouts must be blanched in boiling water first. You can also flavor your kimchi by adding other fragrant spices such as green pepper corns, smoked Hungarian paprika, perilla seed, or roasted black sesame seed.
Anyone have any experience with Compost Tumblers? I am thinking of buying one for our daughter who lives in an urban area where piles of rotting ’stuff’ are frowned upon. What’s the best brand, size for a family of 4 ?
Is there any sort of automated way to feed chickens when you are going to be gone?
Thise and more in the GardenFork Forum https://gardenfork.tv/community/activity/
photo by matthewbridges
This week we check in with Julie and Tim, our friends in the UK. we talk about snow, town history, raising backyard chickens, Etsy, and food myths.
Julie’s Blog is http://fiddlestickscrew.blogspot.com/
Julie’s Esty store is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MrsFiddlesticks
Julie on Twitter www.twitter.com/MrsFiddlesticks
Tim on Twitter www.twitter.com/tim_kirby
Our food myths came from
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/10/the-food-labs-top-6-food-myths.html
photo by arabella
A snow avalanche caught on camera while shooting a GardenFork.TV episode.
Join our email list to keep up to date on our new videos here