Homemade Goat Cheese

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

With powdered goat milk, you can make delicious goat milk cheese virtually anywhere. This ball is slated for a hearty layered beet salad and a spicy lamb (or caribou!) pizza.

After last year’s success with homemade “ricotta,” we included powdered goat milk (widely available) in our annual shopping list. We love the flavor and texture of soft cheeses, and with some recipes there is no adequate hard cheese substitute. At the end of summer, we sent a small quantity of various soft cheeses up to our Arctic home. Since it doesn’t matter if they get crumbly, these cheeses are good candidates for the freezer till they’re needed. But that supply has come to its end, and so it was time to try making our own goat cheese.

Following our own directions for a ricotta-style cheese, the hands-on time for creating this cheese took just five minutes. The remainder of the time needed is for draining the whey – a process that took about eight hours. The resulting cheese was creamy, mildly tangy in just the right way, and ready for salads, pizza or crackers and smoked salmon. Slightly salting the finished cheese improves its flavor and shelf life.

Soft Homemade Goat Cheese

Ingredients

1 cup powdered goat milk
4 cups water
2 tbsp white vinegar
salt to taste

Directions

Mix powdered milk and water well in a medium pot.
Over medium heat, bring the milk to between 165 degrees F to 180 degrees F.
Remove pot from heat.
Stir in vinegar. Milk should curdle. (This is the whey separating).
Cover pot with clean dish towel and let sit for 2 hours.
Lay a piece of cheesecloth over a sufficiently large container. (I used a 4 cup food storage container.) Secure the cheesecloth in place with a rubber band.
Pour contents of pot onto cheesecloth. Whey should drain through, while curds remain in cheesecloth. You can toss the initial drained whey.
Place container in refrigerator overnight to continue draining. It does not matter if the container is covered or not.
In the morning, turn out cheese ball that is in cheesecloth to a larger bowl and mix in salt, to taste.
Store goat cheese covered in refrigerator.

Recipe makes approximately 1 1/2 cups of goat cheese.

Cherry Almond Bagels

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Laced with the essence of cherry and the crunch of toasted almonds, these bagels were chewy perfection waiting for a favorite schmear, cheese or creamy nut spread .

Every week or so I make a batch of yogurt for our breakfasts. Usually there’s nothing to it: I a bit of the previously made yogurt as the starter for the next batch, and in this way yogurt begets yogurt. And even though I use powdered milk (a blend of whole and nonfat) the flavor is excellent.

The ability to easily whip up a batch of yogurt from powdered milk is handy since our little Native store in the Arctic bush doesn’t stock plain yogurt and since milk goes for about four times what it does in places connected by roads. But last week, something strange happened. The yogurt came out, for lack of a better word, weird. It separated into yogurt and way too much whey. The yogurt tasted fine, but the consistency was off-putting. Always loathe to toss out food, I strained the entire batch through cheesecloth overnight, hoping for yogurt cheese. The next morning, we had a taste and agreed it had turned out delicious. So, add another culinary feat to the list: homemade yogurt cheese.

At this point, we needed bagels.

This week’s cherry almond bagels were inspired by our desire to spread yogurt cheese onto a bagel leaning slightly more toward sweet than savory. Dried cherries and almond extract seemed like a perfect combination to mix into the bagel dough. A 20 minute baking time is just right to toast the almond slices which added a very satisfying crunch to each bite – and no, the almond slices did not crumble off; they adhered quite well and were there till the last bite. These bagels are the sweet counterpart to savory favorites such as onion bagels or “everything” bagels.

Cherry Almond Bagels

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp almond extract
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
3 quarts boiling water
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
sliced almonds for topping

Directions

Place first 7 ingredients into bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough setting.
When cycle is complete, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and let rest.
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add 3 tbsp of sugar.
While water is coming to a boil, cut dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Flatten balls into discs about 1/2 inch thick. Poke a hole in each disc and twirl the disk around your finger to enlarge the hole. Place bagels back on the lightly floured surface to rest until the water boils.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
When water is boiling, place bagels in water. Boil for 1 minute, then flip to boil for an additional minute. (I fit 4 bagels at a time in my pot.)
After bagels have boiled, remove them from the water with a slotted spoon or strainer spoon made for frying. Place bagels on a clean, dry towel.
Arrange bagels on baking sheet. Brush tops of bagels with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until well browned.

Try bagels 3 ways if you’d rather have a savory version.

Light and Airy Smoked Salmon, Alaska Shrimp and Leek Frittata

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Breakfast, lunch or dinner, this frittata this is sure to draw rave reviews.

This past summer in Seward, we had a series of some of the best meals we’ve had in Alaska – or anywhere for that matter – at an inconspicuous little restaurant called The Smoke Shack. In our view, this is hands down Seward’s best restaurant. The head chef smokes all his seafood and meat himself, and combines these with a variety of proprietary sauces to provide an authentic Alaskan dining experience, complete with the kind of consistently good service that is hit and miss at Seward’s two mega-large waterfront tourist restaurants.

One of the meals that most impressed us at The Smoke Shack was the smoked salmon frittata. Light, airy, flavorful and standing over an inch tall, we made a mental note to attempt to replicate this breakfast dish in our own kitchen. There are two keys to this dish: Start with top-notch smoked salmon, and separate the egg whites and whip them before folding in the other ingredients. We added shrimp and leeks and our own blend of seasonings. The beauty of frittatas is that with a little imagination, you can come up with your own specialty. Here’s ours.

Splashed with Cholula sauce and ready for the oven. It helps to start the frittata by cooking it for a few minutes on the stove before placing it in the oven. A non-stick pan such as the excellent ones made by Swiss Diamond are a good choice, as they are oven safe.

Piping hot out of the oven and ready to serve, every piece is generously packed with smoked salmon, sweet Alaska shrimp and leeks.

One pan, eggs, whatever additional ingredients are on hand, and seasoned to taste a frittata will feed a lot of hungry sailors, campers or house guests.

Smoked Salmon, Alaska Shrimp and Leek Frittata

Ingredients (For an 11 inch pan)

non-stick, 11″ oven-safe pan
light olive oil or other frying oil
eight eggs, yolks and whites separated
4 oz smoked salmon (canned or vacuum packed).
4 oz Alaska shrimp, peeled
1 large or 2 small potatoes such as Yukon golds, diced
1 1/2 cups shredded Jarlsberg cheese (We chose this variety for its buttery, sweet flavor, but many other types of cheese would work well.)
1 cup leeks, chopped course
fine sea salt, to taste
Cholula sauce
chili spice blend such as Penzeys’ Northwoods Fire, or any blend featuring a combination of black pepper, smoked chipotle, smoked paprika, cayenne or similar peppers and a pinch of oregano

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack at center position.
Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in 11-inch pan over medium heat. Add potatoes and cook till tender, adding salt to taste. Remove from heat, set aside potatoes in bowl, wipe pan clean if necessary.
Add 1 tbsp olive to pan over medium low heat. Add leeks and a pinch of salt and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Set aside leeks in bowl. Wipe pan clean if necessary.
Meanwhile, place egg whites in mixing bowl, add 1/2 tsp sea salt and beat or whisk till soft peaks are formed. Do not create stiff peaks.
Add chili spice blend to egg yolks, mix together, and add mixture to whites beating at slow speed until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Place a scant tablespoon of olive oil in pan over low heat and add cooked potatoes. Pour in egg mixture. Top with smoked salmon, shrimp and leeks. Add cheese. Add a few splashes of Cholula. Allow to cook approximately 5 minutes to firm up bottom.
Place pan in oven and cook for 20 minutes.

This frittata pairs nicely with Champagne.

We use Alaska shrimp because they are uniquely tasty and are sustainably harvested. We harvest our own wild Alaska salmon and encourage readers to look for the “wild” or “wild-caught” label when purchasing salmon, as this is the only sustainable choice for salmon.

Arctic Amaretti

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

A perfect little cookie – crispy on the outside, chewy and sweet on the inside and accented with the wonderful flavor of almond.

I love to read blogs and look at food photos in order to hone my baking and photography skills. Time and again, I find myself on David Lebovitz’s blog admiring his well-staged photographs and interesting recipes. A few days ago, he posted a recipe for Italian almond cookies. I’ve never made these, but have fond memories of snacking on these delicious, crunchy treats straight out of the red tin from Cost Plus. The commercially sold cookies had a bit of a chewiness inside and a nice crunch on the outside and I loved the almond flavor.

When I saw David’s post, I put it at the top of my “must bake” list, in spite of the fact I had neither the almond flour nor apricot jam his recipe called for. Nonetheless, the credit for the basic recipe goes to David. His idea of using jam to enhance the cookie’s chewiness and moisture is terrific. But I did adapt the recipe to my pantry, which included swapping regular old apricot jam for fantastic Arctic cloudberry (aqpik) jam. Too good to keep for ourselves, we gave most of the batch to our hard-working office staff who had them finished before lunch.

Arctic Amaretti

Ingredients

2 cups sliced almonds, ground as fine as you can in a food processor (reserve a few slices to decorate cookies)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites
2 tbsp cloudberry jam (any smooth jam would work)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together ground almonds and sugar. A whisk makes this job easy.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk egg whites and salt until they form soft peaks.
Fold beaten eggs into almond mixture.
Fold jam and almond extract into mixture. It’s OK if mixture loses volume.
Mix dough until it forms a smooth ball. You may need to knead it a little with your hands.
With a cookie scoop, scoop out dough balls and set them on parchment-lined baking sheets.
Top cookies with reserved almond slices.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cookies will be a light golden brown when done.
Let cool in pans and transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.
Store at room temperature.

Pecan Persimmon Upside Down Cakes

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Crunchy on the outside, moist in the middle, and topped with a mixture of caramel and persimmon, this small batch of individual-sized cakes will warm up a chilly fall afternoon.

Hachiya persimmons can be tannic and astringent, according to Full Circle Farms. After eating two raw with breakfast, Jack and I were not excited about the lingering mouthfeel, a term we’ve adopted from our culinary professors. They were beautiful and tasty on the first encounter, but left an acidic dryness. I thought the process of baking the fruit would retain the delicious flavor and eye appeal, and that by releasing sugars, the acidity might be reduced. Since we only had one persimmon remaining, I opted for mini-cakes baked in a muffin tin. The result was six perfectly-sized individual cakes with a crunchy texture on the outside, a moist and flavorful inside, and caramel-glazedl baked persimmons on the top.

Pecan Persimmon Upside Down Cakes

Ingredients

6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 whole half pecans
1 persimmon, sliced and then quartered
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
generous 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Grease a six muffin tin (regular sized).
Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan over medium heat.
Add brown sugar. Stir until sugar is melted and begins to bubble.
Divide sugar mixture into bottom of muffin tin.
Place a half of a pecan into center of sugar mixture, upside down.
Place sliced persimmon quarters in a circular fashion on top of the sugar and pecan. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat 4 tbsp butter and granulated sugar until fluffy.
Add in vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
Mix in egg.
Mix in milk. Continue mixing until fully blended.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Pour sifted mixture into wet ingredients.
Mix until just blended, do not overmix.
Fold in chopped pecans by hand.
Scoop 1/6 of batter on top of each persimmon layer.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cakes are done when they pull away from sides and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool for 5 minutes in baking pan.
Invert cakes to present. Enjoy with mugs of steaming hot tea.

Yam, Goat Cheese and Shallot Tart

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

The sweetness of yams and sautéed shallots, the creamy tartness of goat cheese, the zip of parmesan, and a sprinkle of thyme make this savory, aromatic tart perfect served as an appetizer, as a light meal, or as a side dish.

Our CSA (Full Circle Farm) sends a regular delivery of fruits and vegetables to our remote home in Arctic Alaska. In addition to the fresh, organic produce, they insert a recipe flyer into each box. Every recipe we’ve tried has been fantastic. And just in time for Thanksgiving, their test kitchen absolutely nailed a savory vegetable tart. Although we used yams, a number of substitutes came to mine as we were enjoying this tart with falling-off-the-bone tender pork ribs that Jack had slow cooked in the oven. Carrots, turnips, and especially parsnips would all work well. We love parsnips!

Yam, Goat Cheese and Shallot Tart

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
1 1/4 lb yams, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp thyme
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a medium pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until soft (about 2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.
Grease a springform pan.
Place yam slices in overlapping layers, starting at outer edge and spiraling inwards to make one layer.
Sprinkle some of the thyme, shallots, cheeses, salt and pepper.
Repeat process 3 times to create 3 layers.
Cover top of tart with cheese.
Bake until top is golden brown and tart is easily pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
Remove from pan and cut into wedges to serve.

Pesto Pine Nut Bread

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Pesto gives this bread a subtle tint with basil speckles, the aroma of parmesan and a pleasant pine nut crunch.

A previous version of this bread I made was really tasty, but I wanted more pizzazz. So I upped the amount of pesto and added additional chopped pine nuts for more flavor and a subtle layer of texture. The mixture went into my Zojirushi bread machine and came out with the desired taste and texture but still light and airy. It was so tempting, half the loaf didn’t survive till the photo shoot!

Pesto Pine Nut Bread Machine Loaf

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/3 cup prepared pesto sauce
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
1/3 cup chopped pine nuts

Directions

Place ingredients in bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Start machine.
Remove baked loaf at the end of cycle and cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

Anniversary Crème Brûlée with a Surprise!

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Crème brûlée – you expect delectable vanilla bean custard topped with the crunch of caramelized sugar. The fun and tasty element to this version is the surprise at the bottom.

For our anniversary, Jack and I dined at the best restaurant in Point Hope. To begin the meal, the sous chef prepared a simple salad while the head chef created individual plates of Alaska sashimi appetizers: thinly sliced Kodiak scallops along with perfect crescents of Alaska Gulf sweet shrimp presented beautifully with a small mound of wasabi and a side dish of soy sauce. The next course was a pair of tender USDA prime filet mignons pan-seared to perfection and served with sautéed shiitake mushrooms and sweet onions. The main dish was accompanied by baked Yukon gold potatoes and a dollop of dill sour cream.

The pastry chef thought we should enjoy something creamy at the end of this meal, but she wanted to provide a pleasant surprise. As we cracked the caramelized tops and dipped through the vanilla bean infused custard, our spoons hit a layer of chocolate ganache that made the dessert truly special. Marital bliss and a perfect meal – another day in paradise.

Two-Tone Crème Brûlée for Two

Ingredients

chocolate ganache (see below)
1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
tiny pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
3 large egg yolks
2 tsp granulated sugar for topping

Directions

Fill bottoms of two 4-ounce ramekins with chocolate ganache. Ganache should be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Set ramekins aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place an oven rack in the slightly lower than center position.
Whisk milk, heavy whipping cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla paste in a medium pot over medium heat. Whisk until mixture steams and almost boils. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Stir cream mixture into the eggs one tablespoon at a time until the egg mixture is warmed. Once mixture is warmed, increase addition of cream mixture to 1/4 cup at a time. This will prevent eggs from cooking and scrambling.
Gently pour mixture into two 4-ounce ramekins.
Set ramekins in a baking dish. Pour in enough hot water to reach halfway up the ramekins.
Bake uncovered in preheated oven until desserts are softly set, about 45 minutes. The centers will jiggle.
Remove baking dish with ramekins from oven and let desserts come to room temperature while in water bath on counter.
Chill ramekins in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
Right before serving, sprinkle 1 teaspoon granulated sugar evenly on each dessert.
Use a kitchen torch to slightly brown and caramelize the granulated sugar. Let cool for ten minutes and serve.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

1/2 cup quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

Place chocolate chips into a small glass bowl.
Pour cream into a small heavy bottomed pan.
Heat cream until it comes to a boil.
Pour cream over chocolate chips, ensuring all chips are immersed.
Let bowl sit for about 4 minutes.
Whisk mixture just in the center of bowl in order to emulsify the chocolate and the cream. Once emulsion occurs, begin to mix the rest of the melted chips.
Continue whisking until mixture is silky smooth and shiny.

Pumpkin Pasta with Pumpkin Chanterelle Sauce

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Do not adjust the color! This penne pasta gets its deep orange-yellow color from fresh pumpkin purée and was the perfect base for a tasty alfredo-style pumpkin and chanterelle mushroom sauce.

With a pumpkin arriving in our most recent box of produce from Full Circle Farms, I eagerly anticipated creating a dish of pumpkin and chanterelle lasagne. The idea was to layer slices of pumpkin and mushrooms between wheat lasagne noodles along with cheese and a cream-based sauce. When I pitched this menu to Jack, he wrinkled his nose and said something about taking the fall pumpkin spirit too far. So there I was with a beautifully ripe pumpkin, a couple of cups worth of aromatic chanterelles, and an unsatisfied craving for a pasta experiment.

So I decided to make a twist on my original idea by creating a pumpkin pasta and a sauce to accompany which would bring together the flavor of pumpkin and chanterelles. To avoid being vetoed again, I offered to give Jack a night off from cooking and create the dish as head chef. This way he could relax and I could satisfy my craving. He remained skeptical, but was willing to go along. Win-win, right?

A savory, satisfying meal of pumpkin penne served with a creamy pumpkin chanterelle sauce and slices of chicken apple sausage warmed up a truly blustery Arctic night. No flights in or out of Point Hope the past couple of days, and hurricane force gusts punctuated gale and storm force winds. Freshly grated parmesan cheese and a dash or two of Cholula sauce finish the dish.

Throughout the whole meal, Jack kept mmmm-ing in approval and muttering about how different the combinations of flavors were and how beautifully they worked together. Although I added mildly spicy chicken sausage, this recipe would work equally well sans meat. When thickening a sauce such as this, we have found that rice flour is superior to other thickening agents.

Pumpkin Penne with Pumpkin Chanterelle Sauce

Ingredients

1 lb pumpkin penne pasta (see below)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups chanterelle mushrooms, chunked
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (we use Better than Bouillon)
1 2/3 cups pumpkin purée (fresh or canned)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp Cholula sauce
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
pinch cinnamon
salt and pepper
chicken apple sausage, sliced
1 tsp sage
parmesan cheese
(optional) thickener, such as rice flour or wheat flour, as needed

Directions

Heat water for pasta.
Heat oil and sauté shallots, garlic and chanterelles for about 3 minutes.
Stir in chicken stock, pumpkin purée, whipping cream, Cholula sauce, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste.
Add sliced sausage.
Let sauce simmer and thicken. If it needs to be thickened, add a rice flour 1 tbsp at a time till desired consistency is achieved.
Cook pasta al dente.
Stir sage into drained pasta and toss with some olive oil.
Place pasta on individual plates, add sauce, and finish it with grated parmesan cheese and a splashes of Cholula sauce.

Pumpkin Pasta Dough

Ingredients

2 cups semolina flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup pumpkin purée
2 tbsp olive oil
water as needed

Directions

Whisk together eggs and pumpkin.
Place semolina flour in a large bowl.
Make a well in the middle of the semolina flour.
Pour egg mixture and olive oil in well.
Use a fork and scramble eggs into flour.
Keeps scrambling until dough resembles large curds. Add small amounts of water if needed.
When all the dough looks like large curds, knead dough several times in order to form a dough ball.
Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
Follow pasta machine manufacturer’s directions to form noodle shape of choice.

Rustic Reuben with Righteous Rye and Robust Russian Dressing

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Bursting with flavor, this satisfying from-scratch version of an East Coast classic was delicious to the last caraway seed!

Jack suggested we make reuben sandwiches with the gorgeous purple kraut I’d just created. For this menu request, I would need my freshly baked righteous rye bread, corned beef, Russian dressing (see below), Swiss cheese, and butter. I already had all these items on hand except for the corned beef, and since this year the majority of the protein in our freezers is fish, that was going to be a challenge.

I wrinkled up my nose at Jack’s suggestion that we walk to the Native Store to see if they had any canned corned beef. Lo and behold, they did. “Premium” canned corned beef – it even had a little key on the side with which to open the can. This was new to me. I have had canned tuna and chicken, but neither of those items came with a key. I stared at this can turning it over and over to try and figure out how to open the darn thing. Thanks to YouTube, I now know how to open a can of corned beef!

Fortunately the homemade elements of this reuben added enough to the premium canned corned beef to make it a terrific, bush-style sandwich. Had this sandwich been made with homemade corned beef, or corned caribou, it would have been fit for Food and Wine magazine! Sounds like I have a new goal as soon as I can trade for caribou (or wild mountain goat, Bixlers, if you’re reading this)!

For this phenomenal reuben sandwich you need:

2 thick slices of rye bread
Russian dressing
corned beef
sauerkraut
swiss cheese
butter or olive oil

Instructions

Generously spread butter on one side of each slice of bread.
On the opposite side of bread, generously spread Russian dressing.
Place enough corned beef to cover one piece of bread.
Add a layer of Swiss cheese.
Add a layer of sauerkraut.
Cover sandwich with second piece of bread.
Place sandwich in heavy skillet on stovetop over medium heat.
Press sandwich down while cooking, about 5 minutes on one side.
Flip sandwich.
Press sandwich down on second side, and cook for another 5 minutes. Cheese should be melting out of the sandwich.
Slice sandwich diagonally and serve with a dill pickle.

The Russian dressing is taken directly from Zingerman’s deli recipe which was posted on Food Network’s website. The only adaptations I made were to use my own homemade mayonnaise and to omit parsley.

Russian Dressing

Ingredients