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Kitchen and Pantry Staples: The Spice Drawer

Mar 2nd 2011

By: Allison

1 comment
Some folks have a spice rack, or a spice cupboard. For us, it’s a spice drawer, and at the moment I’m in the process of re-working ours. I’m organizing and consolidating what’s already there, and figuring out what key spices we might be missing. In my opinion, a good selection of herbs and spices is just as important as a well-stocked pantry. Sure, you can get by using a fairly limited number of them, and cooking a fairly limited selection of dishes (or many of a similar type, that benefit from similar seasoning), and that’s a fine option of that suits your style. But for me, having a wide variety of herbs and spices at my fingertips allows me to be creative in my cooking without a whole lot of extra effort. (Read: it means I don’t have to run to the store to get some special spice in order to make a new dish I’m excited about). And for me, the means to cook creatively, even when my time is limited (as it usually is), is key to keeping me motivated and inspired in the kitchen.

In that light, here’s the first of what I hope will be a series of posts on kitchen and pantry staples. Following is a list of what is currently in our spice drawer. (This list only includes dry herbs and spices–nothing that needs to be refrigerated). Most of what is on this list I use on at least a somewhat regular basis, so in that sense I think of it as a pretty accurate list of what I consider spice drawer staples. That said, there certainly are items that I don’t use much (mace and annato, for example), so there are some items on this list that I don’t consider essential. Likewise, there are several additional herbs and spices that I’d like to have on hand, but I don’t have yet. Of course, what you need in your spice drawer may be a bit different than mine, depending on what you like to cook. But in any case, I hope you’ll find this list to be a good starting point to work from in honing and expanding your own spice rack.

Our spice drawer currently contains:

allspice (whole and ground)
annato
asafoetida
basil
bay leaf
caraway seeds
cardamom (whole pods and ground seed)
cayenne powder
chile peppers (Thai, whole dried)
chili powder
cinnamon stick (whole and ground)
cloves (whole and ground)
coriander seed (whole and ground)
cumin seed (whole and ground)
curry powder
dill (seed and weed)
fennel seed
garlic powder
ginger (ground and crystalized)
lavender
lemongrass
mace
marjoram
mustard powder, hot
mustard seeds (yellow and black)
nutmeg (whole and ground)
oregano
paprika
rosemary (whole and ground)
saffron
sage
star anise
tarragon
thyme
turmeric
vanilla bean

Tell me….are there any spices that are important to you that are not on this list? I’d love to know–thanks!
Kitchen & Pantry Staples

herbs, Kitchen and pantry staples, Spices
Tapping the Lone Maple

Feb 22nd 2011

By: Allison

1 comment
Finally, we’ve had a slight (and what I’m sure will be temporary) break from the cold temperatures and the mountains of snow that January and February have brought us. With just this little hint of sunnier and milder winter days, both Ben and I have maple syrup on the brain. So, this past weekend, Ben took the boys to our our local hardware / farm supply store–Paris Farmers Union–to get maple sugaring supplies. It’s funny–our neighborhood is full of big, beautiful trees. The majority are old oaks, though there are maples as well. Many of them tower over our small back yard, but most are not actually on our property. Of the trees that are in our yard, there are two, smaller, not-exactly-healthy-looking oaks in the back, and one maple out front. This is the first year we’ve actually tapped this tree, I suppose because she’s always seemed like such an unlikely candidate. She’s a bit oddly-shaped, and has had many limbs removed over the years. She sits almost on the road, and her roots have grown out under the sidewalk in such a way that the granite curb and the asphalt are totally buckled and broken. She’s always seemed a bit lonely to me, and a bit awkward and out of place, wedged into that tiny strip of soil between sidewalk and street. But, if nothing else, she’s a maple. And so this year we decided to give her a try. Who knows what she’ll yield in terms sap–we’ll have to see. She may never feel like a pretty tree, but perhaps this year, she might at least feel of use.
Foraging & Wild-Harvesting, Gardening & Outdoors w/ Kids

Foraging & Wild-Harvesting, Gardening & Outdoors with Kids, Maple Syrup, tapping maple trees
Cinnamon-Raisin Scones

Feb 9th 2011

By: Allison

2 comments
Today I’m making food for some friends of ours who just had a second baby. I’m planning on doing a vegetable curry dish of some sort–enough for two meals–one to eat now and one to freeze. But for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about scones–cinnamon-raisin, in particular. While they don’t exactly go with vegetable curry, I’m guessing that our friends probably won’t turn them down. Thankfully scones can be quick to make! Years ago I worked at a small breakfast and lunch restaurant. I opened the place every morning, and I had exactly 30 minutes from time I arrived until the time the doors had to open to the public, during which time it was my job to make the muffins and scones for the morning. So, once you get the hang of it, I can tell you that it is indeed possible to whip up a batch from start to finish in half-an-hour. And they sure are good.

Cinnamon-Raisin Scones

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup (one stick) of butter (cold)
1 cup raisins
A small amount of extra sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions:
1.) Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder,and cinnamon in a bowl, and mix well.
2.) In a separate bowl, combine eggs and milk, and mix well.
3.) Using a small knife, cut the cold stick of butter into the flour mixture. Working quickly, further break up the butter with your hands, combining it with the flour and crumbling it all together. (Don’t over-do this step; don’t worry if there are still some chunks of butter left).
4.) Add the milk and egg mixture, and the raisins. Mix well.
5.) Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, then knead it slightly—just enough to get it to hold together.
6.) Pat down the dough and form it into a flat round, approximately 12 inches wide. Then, slice the dough into 16 triangular-shaped pieces.
7.) Place pieces individually onto a cookie sheet, and sprinkle each piece with a extra sugar. Place scones in the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Enjoy!
Baking, In the Kitchen with Kids, Recipes & Methods

Baking, Cinnamon Raisin Scones, In the Kitchen with Kids, Recipes & Methods
Dried Apples

Jan 22nd 2011

By: Allison

2 comments
Remember the four bushels of apples I bought back in November? Ah, yes–the apples. Well, in case you were wondering, I am STILL working on them. I preserved as many of them as I could–in the freezer for pie, and canned as apple sauce–until mid-December, and then I had to put them on hold so that I could work on Christmas presents and getting ready for the holidays. So now in January, I’ve been back at it. The apples have held up reasonably well, stored in our cool basement, though they’re definitely a bit soft. Thankfully, soft apples can be dehydrated with good success–apples that started out way less than perfect come out of the dehydrator in remarkably good form—and quite delicious. That’s one reason I love dehydrating as a preserving option–it’s remarkably forgiving. Of course, as I’ve said before, for the best quality, best tasting product, it’s preferable to preserve fruits and vegetables when they are at their freshest. No question about that. But it seems to me that most of us just don’t operate under optimal conditions most of the time. It would be lovely if we did, but there’s rarely enough time, and things are rarely perfect. So we do the best we can with what we have, right? In my mind, the same goes for preserving. It’s a continual challenge to my perfectionist bent, but amidst the demands of normal life, as long as the food is safe, functional, and tastes at least pretty good, I sometimes have to let that be enough.
Drying, Kitchen Tools & Equipment, Preserving

Apples, Dehydrator, Dried apples, Drying, Kitchen Tools & Equipment, Preserving
Christmas Cookies!

Dec 8th 2010

By: Allison

No comments
Per usual, Ben was in the kitchen last weekend–this time making Christmas cookies with the boys. It’s getting to be the season now, and Connor and Ian had really been looking forward to some weekend Daddy time, so this fit the bill perfectly. They all had fun with the making, we got to pull out the Christmas music for the first time this season (Yes, this was all me–Ben would have been more than happy to wait on this one….), and the results were delicious. And what did I do with my precious little window of time to myself? Yes, you guessed it–peel apples, of course. Only about 60 pounds left to go!
Baking, Holidays & Celebrations, In the Kitchen with Kids

Baking, Christmas, Cookies, Holidays & Celebrations, In the Kitchen with Kids
Weekend Sushi

Nov 29th 2010

By: Allison

1 comment
Ben almost always cooks on the weekends–usually making our family dinners for both Saturday and Sunday nights. Not that we ever planned it this way specifically. Rather, I think this evolved out of Ben trying to give me a break from making meals every night, along with the fact that he’s just always loved to cook. When I was working full time outside the house before having kids, we would both cook in the evenings–him probably more than me. He’s always been an excellent cook, and he tends to be fast and efficient, where as I am definitely on the slow side. Now that my outside work is more sporadic, and I’m home a lot with the boys, I’m usually the one who cooks weeknight meals (except, of course, when I’ve had one of those days, and then Ben comes home and whips up one of his signature “quick dinners”). I think Ben misses cooking during the week to some degree, and so on the weekends he really gets into it, cooking up all sorts of creative, often time-intensive meals. Last weekend, he made vegetarian sushi–and the boys helped out. They had a blast cooking with Dad, I got a little time to myself, and the meal was delicious–what could be better than that?
Cooking, Family Meals, In the Kitchen with Kids

Cooking, Family Meals, In the Kitchen with Kids, Sushi, Vegetarian
Apples, Anyone?

Nov 27th 2010

By: Allison

1 comment
A week or so ago, Connor, Ian and I made what is becoming our annual trip to Ricker Hill Orchards in Turner for bulk apples. It’s just over an hour drive for us, so it’s not exactly close, but we always make a day of it, heading over to visit nearby Nezinscot farm after getting our apples. The reason we go all the way to Ricker Hill to get our apples is that, for one, we like the place and their apples, and secondly, it’s the only place around here that I’ve come across that sells utility grade apples in bulk at very good prices. We get our apples for eating fresh earlier in the season, where as these apples I”ll use entirely for preserving in different ways, so I don’t mind if their aren’t perfect. Last year I bought about bushel and a half, which kept me busy for a while. I got about four bushels this year–right around 175 pounds or so total. Am I totally out of my mind? Yes, perhaps. I just keep telling myself that it’s ok if they sit for longer than I’d like and get soft because I can always make applesauce, right? Apple sauce is, in fact, a lot of what I intend to make, as we go through so much of it. I’ll also be freezing a lot for pies, and dehydrating a bunch as well. This all translates into a LOT of peeling and coring apples, so thankfully Ben, Connor, and Ian helped out with it this weekend. They made great progress……and there is a lot more to go.
In the Kitchen with Kids, Local Food Excursions, Preserving

Apples, In the Kitchen with Kids, Local Food Excursions, Preserving, Ricker Hill Orchards
Putting the garden to bed

Nov 22nd 2010

By: Allison

1 comment
I got a group email the other day from the coordinator of the community garden where Ben and I have a plot, asking everyone to please properly clean up their garden, now that the growing season was over. I’d noticed recently that lots of folks had in fact pulled up all their dead plants, composted them, neatly raked the ground, and some folks even mulched–most by mid-october! Our garden, on the other hand, was, as of late November, still full of yellowing, drying, dying plants, the occasional rotten tomato or slimy, overgrown zucchini that I might have missed while picking, along with most of our kale, still holding strong. Truth be told, after the mad rush of harvesting everything that needs to get out before the frost, I don’t usually do much with our garden. I know we should, and perhaps I will some year, but I generally just don’t. For one, I like to keep the kale in the ground as long as I can. Ben and I have often had success just covering the plants with a thick bed off straw, and then allowing snow to cover the plants as it will. With this kind of insulation, the kale is remarkably hardy–and it sure is a treat to dig deep into the snow for some still-green leaves in mid-January. The other reason that I don’t tend to do much “putting the garden to bed” at this time of year is that, as much as I love gardening, I’m usually ready for a break. And, I’m also still overwhelmed with preserving at time of year. After everything is harvested, the garden usually takes a back seat so that I can just get all the late season produce–apples, cabbages, kale, brussels–put up and stored properly. So, for us, the garden work just gets shifted to the spring. That’s when we add our manure and compost, and any mineral amendments we might need. It definitely makes for a lot of work at that time, but frankly I prefer doing it that way–spring is when I’m really excited about the garden and the upcoming growing season, so to me it hardly seems like work when we do it then.

The community garden coordinator later told me that it was fine to keep the cold-hardy greens there if we wanted to, but in the end Ben and I did end up harvesting them earlier than usual. And, we also pulled out and cleaned up all the other dead plants from our community plot, like we were supposed to. I can definitely understand that in a community garden set up, where so many people are involved and people are sharing a lot of common space, it works best to have some sort of guidelines regarding keeping plots well maintained and tidy–that’s all just part of what it means to garden in a community space. I’m just glad that we can still do our own thing in our back yard gardens.
Gardening, Gardening & Outdoors w/ Kids

Gardening, Gardening & Outdoors w/ Kids
Apple-Maple Butter on Coombs!

Nov 15th 2010

By: Allison

1 comment
In case you missed it when I posted my Apple-Maple butter recipe a couple of days ago, it’s up on the Coombs Family Farm website now, and you can check it out there. Thanks again to my friend Sharon Kitchens for the opportunity to contribute a maple recipe to the Coombs blog!
Classes, News & Upcoming Events

Apple Maple Butter, Classes & Upcoming Events, Coombs Family Farm
Bottling the Cider, Finally

Nov 7th 2010

By: Allison

1 comment
We’ll, were finally bottling the cider. We started it just over a year ago–right around Halloween of 2009. It’s been fermenting in the basement in a five gallon carboy, and based on taste and lack of any obvious fermentation action, it’s been ready to bottle and drink since probably May or June (or earlier, depending on your taste). It’s been one of those things on my mental preserving to-do list, and every time I’d run to the basement for a canning jar, or to put a load of blanched green beans in the chest freezer, I’d be reminded of it. I’d see the cider waiting there, quiet and still, but somehow in midst of summer, with the vegetable gardens going crazy in the heat and way too much to do, bottling the cider ended up sliding down the priority list. All I could hope was that the cider would hold, and not start to sour or get any off flavors. Fortunately, we discovered this evening, the cider has indeed held–very well in fact. When Ben and I tasted it as we started bottling, we were so relieved–it was delicious. Here’s to the patience of cider!
Culturing & Fermenting, Preserving

Apple, bottling, Culturing & Fermenting, Hard Cider, Preserving
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