Savory Buttermilk Bread Pudding

I've been singing the praises of buttermilk for a while now (see here), and it looks like buttermilk is finally getting it's due. I see it soon getting pantry status, as it is in my house during the winter months. Buttermilk does take a back seat during the warmer months because I don't do as much baking. And just like soups and stews, I get so excited to see it back in rotation after its long absence. So much so, that at the moment I have an over-abundance and have needed to make something every day with it. Which is not that hard: pancakes on Sunday, Irish soda bread on Monday, and this for dinner on Tuesday. This made a lot, so you get leftovers the next day. It would be a great addition to a holiday meal.

The above was a mix of challah rolls and a cheddar-jalepeno sourdough loaf. I love buying day-old bread! The extra cheese and spicy pepper were a good foil to the sweet challah and kale. I think it goes without saying that creativity is welcomed in this dish. Varying the types of bread or vegetables will be a welcome change in your dinners.

If you are serving this as a main dish, you might want to go luxe and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top, with some extra fresh cracked pepper, as you plate it up. I served it alongside steamed romanesco broccoli. It was an amazing meal!

Savory Buttermilk Bread Pudding
yields one 3-quart casserole (although I used a 2-qt. and a 1 qt.)

1 large onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, smashed
1 head of kale (red winter kale), de-stemmed and chopped finely
1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup milk

4 ounces of feta
pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Day old bread, cut in 1 inch cubes, about 8 cups (cheddar-jalepeno sourdough and challah rolls)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil until golden.
2. Add the kale in large handfuls, mixing to coat with the oil. I like to add a little water to steam the kale down, or if you just washed it, the water clinging to the curls will help this. Add the salt when it has wilted down.
3. In a separate bowl beat the buttermilk, milk and eggs together.
4. With the bread cubes in another separate large bowl, add the hot vegetable mixture and toss gently, adding pepper to taste.
5. Add feta and toss gently.
6. Add egg-milk mixture. Toss gently and let sit for 15 minutes to an hour.
7. Put in a buttered glass or porcelain casserole dish, sprinkle generously with grated cheese and bake in 350 degree oven for about 45-50 minutes, until it has puffed out, has golden edges and feels firm when you gently rest your palm on it.

Bratwurst

This month's Charcutepalooza challenge, to me at least, was stuffing my sausages. The real one was emulsification -- the focus of which is blending, which results in a smooth-textured sausage. But for me, I was still concerned about how to actually stuff. Not the how-to, but the actual doing. Last month, I was lucky enough to cross paths with Peter and Winnie, and we got to use Peter's KitchenAid. This month, I went out and finally purchased a meat grinder after deliberating whether or not to finally break down and buy a KitchenAid. It was cheaper to buy the grinder, and with two cars on their way out, I can't be too expansive. I bought this, a Waring Pro MG100, which was about $100:

The culprit.

I can't say I recommend it. The short answer: it's going back to the store. Ends up, the worm, for whatever reason, likes to fall out of the motor housing (did I say that right?), and it just plain doesn't work. On the Amazon page there are a bunch of comments discussing this particular flaw, which I neglected to read before purchasing the machine. I was able to grind the meat, and fill two sausages before it stopped working entirely. Thankfully, my neighbor heard about my troubles and brought over her KitchenAid and meat grinding attachment. Aren't neighbors grand? I might not ever buy anything, but just borrow her KitchenAid every few months. 

Beautiful brats. Only two, but still beautiful.

It did grind the meat though, and much faster and nicer than the hand grinder, which couldn't really chew up the sinewy pork too well. I ate my breakfast sausage the other day, again for breakfast and also dinner, it was so good. I did notice that although it was very tasty, the texture left something to be desired, and it was due to the hand grinding. And that machine did work lovely for the two large sausages I was able to fill.

I served my dinner of bratwurst with some of the first local-ish corn I saw in the market. It was from New Jersey, and I just couldn't resist. It delivered. The corn was sweet and creamy, the perfect addition to the meal. And the bread was homemade sourdough that I toasted in the pan after cooking the brats. But where was the sauerkraut? 

The beginning of lettuce kraut.

Well, a week before I had harvested a huge amount of kale and lettuce from the garden, and I thought: why not kale kraut? Of course, it's not an original thought. I found this post from The Simple Green Frugal Co-Op, which I used as inspiration. And it's such a simple recipe that it would be silly to re-write here. Go and visit! I made a quart of lettuce and a quart of kale. The finished product is a mite salty, but goes well as a condiment. It doesn't have the tartness of cabbage kraut. The kale kraut was lovely alongside the brats. I also made a romaine lettuce kraut, which makes a great sandwich topping. What's wonderful about these ferments, is that they take only a few days. So you will have your sauerkraut just in time for your bratwurst.

Kielbasa Potato Soup with Caramelized Onions and Kale Chips

An antidote to winter

I don't think I'm alone in saying that soup is one of winter time's greatest joys. I was visiting friends on a cold winter's day, replete with blue skies, scintillating sun and blustery wind that swept the powdery snow every which way. While riding on a tobbaggan behind their four-year old son, which was being pulled by a snowmobile, I fell off on a fast turn. Not wearing snow pants (like a rube, I might add) I was cold to the bone when I finally got home. No matter. This soup warmed me up in no time at all.

This soup was born out of leftovers, as many good soups are. I've broken it down to be a stand alone recipe. However, you might want to have kielbasa sauteed with onions and boiled potatoes the night before and just make sure you have a good amount of leftovers!

Kielbasa and Potato Soup with Caramelized Onions and Kale Chips

Boil six potatoes in their jackets, peel when cool. Can be done the day before and kept in the fridge. Right before they are to be added to the soup, mash each one with a potato masher squarely, so they are not mashed but instead in nice cubes and chunks.

Make kale chips. Can be done a week beforehand. Keep in an airtight container.

1 large bunch of kale. Stem removed and chopped. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for ten or fifteen minutes. Maybe longer. Keep an eye on it! It goes from crisp to burnt in a matter of a minute. I like to salt them when they come out of the oven.

In a large Dutch oven pour one or two tablespoonfuls of olive oil and saute two medium yellow onions and one small red onion until brown and sweet. I like to slice them in thin wedges.

Add in one large red pepper in large dice a little before the onions are done, so they become soft.

Add a large kielbasa in at the same time as the peppers. Cut in slices on the diagonal, cut in half. Let them brown a little as the onions caramelize.

Then add the potatoes and six cups of water, slowly, so that it never gets cold. Add about two cups of water and two potatoes at a time, waiting for it to come to a simmer again, then adding the next batch. When you have them all added, and it's back to a simmer, let the soup cook with the lid partially on for about ten minutes. Then add half the kale chips, which will turn into the kale with the soft consistency of spinach. Reserve the rest of the chips to serve on the table for whoever wants more kale or some crunch.

The kielbasa salts the soup, so you don't really need to add any salt at all. Maybe a few grinds of pepper. Now all you need to do is fall off a speeding snowmobile!

Potatoes, kale, kielbasa, onions- that's it!

Turkey and Kale Enchiladas

I had a turkey breast, half of a head of kale, lots of cheese...hmm. What the hell was dinner going to be? Could it be Turkey Enchiladas? I was really out there on a wing and a prayer, as they say, but ended up landing safely in cheesy goodness. For truly, how wrong can you go if you just smother something in cheese? Not so wrong, as evidenced by an empty baking dish shortly afterwards. Now, you ask, is this really an enchilada? I'm not sure. But what I do know is that aside from being easy, as per how I roll, it's so good for you, what with the kale and avocado. You know, really, everything else is good for you, too. So, what did I do?

First, I poach the turkey breast in chicken stock. Chop some kale and surrounded the meat with it so it wilts while the meat poaches. Once the turkey is done, about twelve minutes depending on its weight, remove it to a plate to cool and rest. Keep the kale in the pan cooking with the stock, add a bunch of chopped scallions and maybe a tablespoon of diced red onion, and a handful of parsley. After about ten minutes pour it all in the processor and whiz it up good with some salt and pepper. It was a little on the bland side, so I added two tablespoonfuls of sun-dried tomato bruschetta from Trader Joe's. It's little things like that that help out recipes sometimes. You can improvise, adding something tart and tangy, like capers or a dash of vinegar.

Shred the turkey and mix it with 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 tsp. of cumin, and 1/2 tsp. of tumeric. Divvy it all up between six ten-inch flour tortillas, add a little shredded empire jack and roll them up and place, seam side down, in a glass baking dish. I put a spoonful of sauce down first, so it wasn't a dry dish. Then, top with shredded sharp cheddar and the rest of the sauce and bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes, or until bubbling. Top with slices of avocado.

Whew. The dinner that almost wasn't.

Beet and Blue Cheese Pizza

When I am feeling bummy, like this morning, I know that there are a few things that will pick me up at least a little, if not turn my mood totally around. One of those things is to go out into the garden and put myself to work. I get totally distracted when I'm working in the garden, or out for a walk for that matter, and that is always a good thing. So, I went out and looked at my incredible kale. It's totally healthy but sadly over run by cabbage moth worms, but even though I can't eat the leaves, gosh, aren't they beautiful? And then I sowed some buckwheat seed for a green cover crop. Did I do it too late? I don't care; at least I did it, finally, after talking about doing winter cover crops for so long. It was nice to water the dirt and lay crisp leaves over it all, wondering what would come of it all. I began to feel a little more human.

Then I did another thing that helps on these kind of days. I went out and bought some dark chocolate and marzipan. Just one of those little square Ritter chocolate bars. I ate half of one in the car and I started to revive a little more.

Then I had some white wine outside while the sun went down. Or faded away into the gray, as it was that kind of day. Gray notwithstanding, I was still feeling better. The bumpy day was fizzing into a smooth finish.

Then, to really end the sadness, I made pizzas with a whole wheat crust. One with beets, red onions, parsley and blue cheese. The other with a sun-dried tomato bruschetta (jarred) and cheese. Now that's pretty much the way to coax out a contented sigh, yes? In the meantime, let's hope for tomorrow.

Potato Kale and Feta Mini-Knishes

I failed to get a shot of these, but they were delicious. The filling can be made for a side dish, as well. As a matter of fact, I might not go through the trouble of making these again unless I have guests. They were perfect for my theme of no utensils, only napkins.

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 4 tbsp Water

To make dough combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Make well and add 1 Tbsp of oil, eggs and 2 Tablespoons water. Gradually mix wet ingredients to flour. Knead dough until ball is formed. Knead dough, place in oiled bowl. Let stand covered for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Filling: 2 tbsp olive oil 2 cups plain mashed potatoes with skin on 2 cups finely chopped onions Chopped kale 8 oz of feta cheese Salt and pepper to taste Put oil in skillet and cook onions until tender, add kale, salt and pepper, and cook down for about fifteen minutes. Add potatoes and feta and mix well. Divide dough into thirds on a floured surface. Roll dough out in a rectangle and fill with mixture. Seal seams with a pinch of water. Slice to form wheels and try to gather the dough around the bottom, place on baking tray. They will look like little cups. Mix up an egg yolk with a little water and rub the dough sides with the egg wash. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Of course, you can make any shapes you want, and really, any filling, too!