Let's dust off this thing....and make some salted lemons (Chanh Muối)

Well now, aren't these some strange-ass times. I mean, seriously, strange-ass times!

Skip the rant and go straight to the recipe provided by Garden Betty!

So I find myself twirling around, lost in thought, lost in grief, lost in confusion because I just simple don't know how to exist in this reality. I know I need to get up, shower, make breakfast and convince myself that everything will be ok. And will it? I really hope so. I truly, deeply hope that we come out of this with most of our lives, a better healthcare system, and some compassion (we've been missing some of that as of late).

This blog might be a little heavy, you can power through or skip to the recipe. Although, I hope you read the next bit because it involves my mom.

My mom passed away last October, approximately a year and a week after my brother had passed away (and my brother's passing was a week before my separation from my husband of 15 years). Just want to provide a little overview of this last year's shitshow. (Now queue pandemic!)

I've been feeling my mom's loss in many ways, but specifically her food. She was an amazing cook and loved providing food for anyone. And she provided food that was non-traditional to the rural area where she had landed in after moving to the US from Vietnam. They loved it and they loved her.

I remember her talking about the first time she walked into an American grocery store. She was mesmerized by how vast and strange it seemed to be so well stocked with so many non-fresh items. She was also accustomed to shopping everyday in Vietnam and picking up ingredients for the next meal; not meal planning, stocking, and freezing meals that American households had been sold was the new norm.

My mom adapted, she adapted to life in the US but she also adapted her recipes to use ingredients that the local grocery would not have for many years or just never have. One example is a lemongrass beef stew (Bún bò Huế) which requires rice noodles. My mom used spaghetti noodles and holy moly that is tasty and, I think, better.

So during this unbelievable time in our lives, I'm glad my mom has passed. She died happy - not worrying about what will happen to her, not worrying about her children, not worrying where everyone was going to get their next meal. It's now my turn to worry, she did enough in Vietnam. I'll take over for now, I'll cook my mom's meals and I'll do my best to think everything will be ok.

Now let's make salted lemons, cause you know we've been handed a big, cosmic bucket of lemons and need to do something with it.

Vietnamese Preserved Lemons (Chanh Muối)

Great for making lemonade, eat as an accompaniment to spicy foods, or just cook and bake with them!

Recipe provided by Garden Betty
https://www.gardenbetty.com/vietnamese-preserved-lemons-chanh-muoi-and-salty-lemonade/

Ingredients

1/4 cup kosher salt, plus more to sprinkle*
1 1/2 cups water
3 to 5 lemons (more or less, depending on how many will fit in your jar)

Instructions

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, dissolve the salt in water and then remove the brine from heat.

Wash and scrub your lemons thoroughly to remove any wax from store-bought lemons, or any dirt from homegrown lemons.

Slice off the top and bottom of the lemon so that a little flesh is showing.  Slice the lemon lengthwise into quarters, but do not slice all the way through.

Liberally salt the inside of your almost-quartered wedges and set aside while you slice and salt the other lemons.

Pack the lemons into your jar and cover them completely with brine.

If you’re using a widemouth jar, or if your lemons won’t stay submerged, you can wedge a couple of 3-inch toothpicks (the “party toothpicks” used to skewer burgers and such) inside the jar to form a single or crisscrossed grill.

Wipe any salt residue off the rim and seal the jar loosely with a lid, as you want to let the gases escape as your lemons ferment.

Leave the jar out at room temperature (in the sun, if you wish, though I’ve found no difference in quality) for at least three weeks. The lemons may turn darker and the brine may become cloudier during this time — that’s when you know they’re good and ready!

Always use a clean utensil to scoop the lemons out; other than that, the jar will keep at room temperature indefinitely and does not need to be refrigerated.



*I didn't use kosher salt, but I did use a kosher pickle jar. Does that still count? No, technically it doesn't, but I think it'll be ok. I'll let you know if it doesn't go well!

TWD on hold for awhile

Well it happened again. What you ask? Well, life. BUT this time in a good way, a great way, an awesomely awesome way. I am working in a cake shop and all my dreams are coming true! I know, it's awesome!

I had been working out of my home doing some sciency stuff and cake stuff for about 8 months, but that wasn't really working for me. The dogs told me I was driving them nuts and that this wasn't really where I belonged all day long. I was cutting into their nap time, toilet paper stealing time, etc... Thought they would've enjoyed having me around all the time? Oh well, I get it.

But as I've mentioned before I get overwhelmed very easily. So as I'm transitioning into the professional world again I am going to step out of the TWD and blogging arena for awhile. I will for sure keep an eye on everyone's creations and maybe once in awhile I can join back in. I have really, really enjoyed it and learned a great deal.

Thanks for letting me play.

Later buds.

TWD - French Apple Tart

A year ago yesterday our dog, Crash, passed away. We declared yesterday Crash day and honored him by eating his favorite food, chicken. Crash loved chicken more than life itself. He loved chicken so much that one time when he was eating his dog food my husband said chicken (in regards to our upcoming supper) and Crash spit out his dog food and whipped his head around looking for the chicken. I've never laughed so hard in my life. This dog loved chicken.

So yesterday instead of making the tart, I looked at pictures of Crash, ate a little chicken and cried a little. But it's ok. I'm ok and Crash is ok because I'm pretty sure he's getting all the chicken he's ever wanted.

miss you

Well don't let Crash fool you, he had a sweet tooth too and would've loved this tart. And I have always wanted to make a French tart. I love the thin apples carefully laid out in a circle. It really appeals to my OCD side. I have to channel that for good and not evil.

thank gravy for my mandolin!

After baking this little beaute, I didn't feel I had properly achieved the caramelized edges that were pictured in the book. So out comes the blow torch! Don't worry it's just a little guy. Just the perfect size to sizzle each apple edge. Yes more OCD. But look at this picture, wasn't it worth it?

torched to perfection

Ok, now for the 64 dollar question...what did I change? Well everything...almost. I did use granny smith's called for in the recipe. But I used this pie dough recipe. And for the apple mixture, I omitted the cinnamon and added 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste. Yes, tamarind. It's so tangy and sweet. I highly recommend everyone running out right now and getting some at your local latin store. Back? Good, eat some.

Here's our hostest with the mostest for this week, Laws of the Kitchen. She's a lawyer, so you better follow her recipe to the T! Don't do what I did and throw caution to the wind...well maybe throw a little.

later gaters

TWD - Pizza with Onion Confit

So I missed a TWD post. It was the Finnish Pulla. Why did I miss the Pulla? Well I pulla' my back. haha, sorry. I couldn't help it. I pulled a muscle in my back that prohibited me from doing anything except watch tv and be provided food. That's what the doctor told me to do (well I'm sure he would've if I had gone).

But in all seriouslyness, I couldn't stand upright for more than a few minutes for several days. We're just lucky I can take quick showers. I do plan on making it up and will be back on track with no missed recipes though!

Now check this out, for a whole year I've been baking and cooking out of this book and bothering readers with my overuse of commas. I think in all reality we're looking at about 2 more years or so with this. That's pretty nifty.

Now on to this week's gem....pizza with onion confit. I'm in the midst of making it all. It seems to be how I work. Bake, write, finish, taste, write, blog.

Very, very tasty

The dough is rising and the onions are cooking off their delicious drunkenness as we speak. Check out this week's host to get a sneak peak of what's to come. But you have to come back to my blog and finish reading what I have wrote. It will be extremely vital.

So I know you are asking what changes did I make. (I always make changes, right?) Well, I really didn't make any this time. I didn't change the pizza dough recipe and I didn't change the onion confit recipe. The only thing I did do was add some espresso balsamic figs that I had made up a while ago and tossed into the freezer. Think about it...balsamic figs, onions cooked in wine and topped with goat cheese. ooo lala

Pizza's in the oven and wowza does it smell good.

ta da!

It's magnific! I cannot wait to make another....maybe just a bit more cheese. You can never have too much cheese.

later kids

TWD - Gingerbread Baby Cakes

Holy black pepper! These cakes are like crack! Have you ever had crack? Well I haven't, but I understand it's really addicting, so I believe these cakes should be called crack cakes. That is how good they are.

I love crack...cakes!

Crack cakes have a cute little wrapper.

I've seen too many recipes, had too many desserts that fall short of the punch. When you say you are a lemon tart, please, please taste like lemon and have a little kick. If you are going to claim to have some ginger in you, then I better feel like I'm on Gilligan's Island!

These little lovelies, they do the trick. There's powdered ginger, fresh ginger and (wait for it) black pepper!

I am going to be putting black pepper in a few more sweet dishes from now on.

You all would be proud of me too, I only changed up the recipe a smidge and that was on the recommendation of the many other TWD'ers. There was much chatter about the molasses being overwhelming and this recipe called for 2 cups. That is a lot. So I subbed half the molasses with corn syrup and I believe that was the right call, it allowed the other flavors to come through nicely.

Oh and the texture of these genius bombs are somewhat like a brownie...isn't that crazy?

A ginger brownie.

It's a little christmas miracle.

Crack cakes also come in snowflake shapes.

Karen's Kichen Stories is this week's host. She has some nice pictures. Staging and all, I have my cooling rack that appears in 99.9% of my pictures. It's a nice rack though.

TWD - Best Ever Brownies

That's the actual title of the brownies. Now, I haven't eaten one yet, so I reserve judgement until the end of this post when I've finally consumed one. But what I can tell you right now is that these are the most hippest brownies, ever.

How are they so hip you ask? Well just check these babies out! They are chevron patterned and anyone in the hippest squares know that chevron is every where (you really notice this if you have to visit a Target and that means it must be hip.)

Too hip

Now how did I make this hippness? I took a tour around my pantry and found a few items that screamed "put me in your brownies now!" Said items were coconut cream and Speculoos. Double take, what's Speculoos? Trader Joe's, my friend, introduced me to this peanut butter looking stuff that is made out of ground cookies. It's crazy! And crazy good. Instead of peanut butter, it's cookie butter. I love butter.

I subbed out 1/4 of the butter in the recipe for coconut cream and then mixed 4ish tablespoons of the Speculoos in with about 4 tablespoons of some more coconut cream, melted it, spooned it on top and then swizzled with a knife. Tada, chevron!

It really smells good. Really, super, really.

Here's the recipe in all it's original best-everness hosted by A Beautiful Mess.

Just had a piece, I think I need to test the rest of the pan before I can make my judgement. I don't take these things lightly (neither does my scale).

TWD - Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

Radio silence. I know, that's what I've been broadcasting these last few weeks. I just didn't have anything to say. Without a TWD to write about, I just couldn't write.

A friend of mine yesterday told me that men's minds are like waffles and women's are like spaghetti. (I think it's a book.) Now, I don't usually prescribe to these types of metaphors, but spaghetti did seem to fit. I think it's something about how everything I think or feel gets involved in everything I do. So I've been kind of empty thus I had nothing to write about.

It is was it is.

Ok, no more.

So I have to say these muffins give me hope. I plan on them being my supper followed by a chaser of tomato juice. I need to have a balanced meal, right?

Muffins for dinner, emptiness, this is sounding a little Lifetime. Ah geez and I did watch a sappy movie with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant on Lifetime yesterday. This really isn't good.

Well I just pulled them out of the oven, hope gone. They have little sink holes in them. Is that another metaphor?

Maybe those holes are supposed to be filled with cream cheese?

Now I can't see the sink holes.

I think I'll order some delivery instead, how about spaghetti?



Easier Than Pie used the exact same pan as I did and no sink holes. Geez, it is a metaphor. Well the recipe is listed on their site, maybe make the muffins yourself and see what it says about your life.