What are you baking (cooking) for the holidays this year?
Deviled quail eggs, spicy pumpkin coconut soup, pumpkin butter, I'm
working on creating a recipe for a pumpkin pie with a ginger crust and
cinnamon-ginger meringue, limecello and limoncello (I guess those aren't
baking, but it happens in the kitchen and is important!) and lots of
vegetable-related things for the produce from the gardens.
Favorite holiday treats?
Those chocolate-covered salted caramels with the sea salt on the top that
Trader Joe's carried last year. Anything with pumpkin. Which is good as I
have about 60 pounds of various pumpkins sitting around the house that
need to be cooked up.
Find out how Rachel really feels about egg nog after the jump.
Least favorite holiday foods?
Egg nog. Maybe I've just never had the good stuff, but to me it always
tastes like stamp and envelope adhesive.
Any food items on your holiday wish list this year?
A grain mill and a quince tree.
Any food-related New Year's resolutions?
I'd like to experiment with making tortillas and pastas from grains other
than wheat. Last year my goal was to grow 80% of our produce, all of our
eggs and some of our meat, next year I think I'd like to do more to help
other people achieve similar goals.
Deviled Quail Eggs
20 quail eggs- they are easier to peel if they are more than a week old
vinegar (regular white vinegar is fine)
1 TBS plain unsweetened yogurt
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp dried dill
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt (1/8 tsp or less)
Optional garnishes: dill, paprika, marigold petals (completely edible and
have a mildly spicy taste as long as they haven't been sprayed with
chemicals or dog pee)
Put quail eggs in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cover with a
mixture of 50% water and 50% white vinegar. (The vinegar reacts with the
shells, softening them and making the eggs easier to peel).
Once the water begins to boil start a timer for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes is up, remove the eggs from the pan and allow to cool (about 10 minutes).
Peel the eggs (crack at the fat end by the air sac) and rinse to make sure there are no
bits of shell stuck on them.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise, remove the yolks and put them in a small bowl. Mix the yolks with the yogurt, Dijon, apple cider vinegar, dill, cayenne and salt. This will need to be piped
back into the empty egg whites; the easiest way to do this is to put the yolk mixture into a sandwich bag and cut the very tip of one corner off.
Pipe mixture back into egg whites and garnish with paprika, dill and/or marigold petals.
