Kitchen Capers Monday 1 January 2024

I thought I would share with you some of the things I get up to in my kitchen when I have things available to make use of.  This may not happen every day depending on what else I have on for any particular day, but I am going to try and be a little more proactive in getting things squirrelled away and away into the Pantry for future use.

I managed to do a few small things which cumulatively will eventually build up to a good stock of smaller items which are good for flavouring food.  This is especially so if you keep doing a little at a time.  I had bought in some fresh thyme to use with cooking Christmas dinner.  We were going to have Rib of Beef for the main Christmas meal, but in the end we went and bought a Turkey as well and had that instead.  I love fresh herbs, but I do not see the point in wasting any of it.  I therefore chose to dry the thyme on its stalk.  On checking on it yesterday, I found that all the stems were dry.  Rather than strip it off I am leaving the stems intact and intend to use them this way on, especially when cooking chicken.  That has now been jarred up and ready for use.

I also bought in fresh Sage as well.  The best part of this has now been prepared for drying.  I have kept a few stems out to use with some of the leftover Beef in the next few days.  For now the balance has been sorted out and left to dry.  I shall check on it on a regular basis until it is nice and dry and can be "rubbed" into a jar.  I am going to need a lot of this for my homemade stuffing mixes.  I need to get several Sage plants sorted for this year's growing season as well.  In the past I have grown quite a lot of Sage and preserved it in this way.  The home dried Sage has a lot more flavour.

Whatever I cook I always aim to get the maximum amount of flavour from that food and sometimes that needs a touch of herb or other seasoning or indeed a good robust stock to use in gravies, soups, casseroles, stews etc.  You pay a fortune for commercial product and yet (that can be over salty).  Why waste resources that you have to hand and readily available to make the basis of stock available to you.  I am talking about converting boners and carcasses into good and tasty stock.  Earlier on Monday I had set about making some Beef stock with some of the bones leftover from the Rib of Beef.  There were enough bones for two batches which I was quite pleased about.  I do not use salt when I make stock. I took my chosen pile of bones and added them to my Ninja 9 in one cookpot and added in a sprinkling of white pepper (you could use a couple of whole black pepper instead, a small piece of celery including the leaf from the inner it is sweeter, a large carrot chopped, a medium sized onion, the end of a leek and a sprinkling of mixed herbs (or a bouquet-garni).  I then added in water to just under the maximum amount of liquid the pot can take which is around the 4 litre mark.  This was then processed under the pressure cooker setting for 90 minutes.  The stock has come out nice and dark and smells incredibly aromatic.  It will now cool overnight and I shall sieve and strain it tomorrow.  It will then be fridged and I shall hot water bathe it for storage on the Pantry shelf.  I will start off the second batch tomorrow.  Homemade stock is so much more better for you overall.  Hopefully I should get about 4 (if not a few more) jars of this per batch.  I also make stock from chickens and Gammon (after it has been soaked).  I also intend to make vegetable stock as well.

All useful ways of getting flavour to add to your food, which you have already paid for.  There is no need for waste of any type at all.  You can also save your veg peelings to make vegetable stock and keep them in the fridge until you have a few peelings together.  I am in the lucky position of having a 9 in one Ninja Multipot cooker (which also has an Air fryer programme on it as well as the pressure cooker function).  You can do this in a pan on top of the cooker on a slow simmer with a lid on to help conserve energy, but it will take three to four hours or more to make the stock.  That is why I prefer to use the pressure cooking facility to save time and energy.

Just some of the things I go to the trouble of doing in an effort to make the most of what I have available, and all of it lends itself to good eating at the end of the day.

Let us see if tomorrow allows for any further pre-planning adventures.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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