Notes on Making Fudge

Fudge is a candy so you need to watch for certain changes as it cooks. I just made fudge today; white chocolate, chocolate & butterscotch using 14oz sweetened condensed milk and 3 cups of chips per batch.

The first 2 minutes is just to melt the chips. The chips want to hold their shape, so mix to get rid of their shape. The mixture will be very thick, not very shiny and taste gritty - not smooth & creamy.

Our house is real cold due to winter so it took more microwaving than in summer. I did 1', 1', 30", 30", 1" & 30", Mixing in between each microwave and observing the fudge.

The fudge as it cooks will hang on the spoon differently (Use a metal spoon. A plastic one might melt). When you're close to being done, the mixture will all of sudden bubble, puff up, decrease in viscosity and become shinier. The bowl will get hot.

Also you when you drop a drip into a glass of cold water, the fudge will form a soft ball, start to feel like fudge and hold together. It will also taste very smooth and creamy. Roll the soft ball from the cup of water with your tongue or between your fingers, when it's the right consistency for fudge, then you're done.

I line a 9x9" dish with foil and oil the foil. Then once the pan is filled, I put it in the freezer till it's cool then take it out and flip it over onto a foil lined sheet before cutting into squares.

Started a new blog for gluten free recipes

I decided to consolidate my blogs so have started a new blog for gluten free recipes, http://glutenfreekat.blogspot.com .

Need to get ready for County Fair in July?

My sister has entered a bread maker contest and wants to enter a gluten free bread, so pretty soon we got to start experimenting.

If you're interested feel free to subscribe to a newsletter by clicking
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=407702

Gluten Free India Potato Salad (Raita)

I really like this potato salad. It's based on a recipe for Potato Raita from The Complete Indian Cookbook by Mridula Baljekar. A long time ago I worked my way through cookbooks from the first page onward. So my husband started cooking dinner in self defense and to this day, he is still not too crazy about Indian food. I guess he got sick of the seasonings, but I still like it.

Heat over medium heat

• 2 Tbsps oil

Fry till brown

• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds (taste like licorice) or celery seeds (optional - I usually skip this)

Add & cook till slightly brown

• 1 - 6 cloves of garlic (pressed)

Add, stir well. Cover pan and cook until tender & brown, stirring frequently.

• 2 - 6 large potatoes, diced (Thin skinned red potatoes won't need to be peeled.)

Stir in, mix thoroughly and remove from heat. Cool completely.

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt

Beat till smooth

• about 2/3 cup plain yogurt (or 1 small container & they keep getting smaller.)
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Add spiced potatoes along with any oil/spice mixture that remains in the pan. Stir and mix well.

Put in serving dish and sprinkle on

• 1/4 tsp chili powder or paprika

Gluten Free Green Soup with pork

This is a variation of the traditional caldo verde made gluten free by avoiding the sausage. Although I believe that there is now gluten free sausage available. I was cooking this & my husband raved how good it was so I figured, I better put it down in writing.

Cook in crockpot all day or overnight

• 3-4 country style pork ribs just covered with water

Once the ribs are cooked and nicely browned with a nice brown broth, you're ready to start the soup. I generally cook soups in a cast iron dutch pan, but I imagine any soup pot will do.

Saute till soft & starting to brown

• 4 large onions sliced

Add & saute

• about 5-6 small mild peppers, 1 small hot pepper or 1/2 a regular bell pepper (optional)
• 1 stalk of rhubarb sliced* (optional)
• sliced radishes** (optional)
• 4-6 garlic cloves

Then add and cook about 10-20 minutes till potatoes are soft

• cooked meat & broth
• 4 diced potatoes (traditionally they're grated)
• 1 can white navy beans (about 15.5 oz can
• about 1 teaspoon salt
• about 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• some chopped parsley (optional)

While all this is cooking, prepare

• about 1 pound of greens. Traditionally kale is used but I really like swiss chard. Mustard greens and spinach work too. I usually just buy the best looking greens.

When preparing greens it important to wash them well. Easiest way is to fill the sink with water to let the dirt settle off them. Then cut out the rib, roll them up and cut into very skinny strips. Put them in a bowl of water to make sure all the grit is off. There is nothing worse than gritty greens. Then drain.

Once the potatoes are soft, turn off the heat and add the greens. They will wilt. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Can add a little brown sugar if you like.

Notes:
*I have a lot of rhubarb right now & it tastes pretty good cooked in soup.
**Cooked radishes are good too.

Gluten Free Rhubarb Lemonade

This is very good and easy to make.

Put in about 1 gallon stock pot

• 4-5 big stalks of Rhubarb sliced
• about 1 cup sugar
• about 1 gallon of water

Bring to a boil, the rhubarb will break up. Cool down. Can drink warm or cold.

Easy Microwave Gluten Free White Fudge - 2 variations.

This is a very quick and easy dessert to make. It's based on regular chocolate fudge.

Mix together in large mixing bowl:

• one 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 cups of white chocolate chips
• 1 cup walnuts or 7 oz sweetened coconut*

Microwave for 2 minutes, then mix.

Microwave for about 1-2 minutes more, mix and pour into oiled, wax paper lined 8x8 pan. Then let sit in fridge till hard.

*If you buy coconut that says it's "moist" and contains propylene glycol, the fudge will be softer & stickier, rather than harder.

Gluten Free Leche Quemada Sin Trabajo (Easy Milk Candy)

This is a custard like dessert. Depending on how long you cook it, it's consistency ranges from that of pudding to that of flan. The longer you cook it, the darker in color and less sweet it gets.

8x8 pan, lined with oiled wax paper

Combine in very large straight sided glass mixing bowl

• Two 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
• about 1/2 teaspooon cinnamon (optional)

Cook on high in microwave*

• 2 minutes, then scrape down sides & stir
• 2 minutes, then scrape down sides & stir
• 1-2 minutes - till starts to crawl up sides. Will noticeably thicken.

Pour into prepared 8x8 pan. Fridge until firm. Then peel off wax paper & cut into squares.

* Every microwave is different. Watch & turn off microwave if it looks like milk is going to overflow bowl. Do not walk away from micro while candy is cooking unless you like cleaning your microwave.

Modified from page 262 of Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz's The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, Ballantine books, December 1985, isbn: 0-345-32559-1

Original recipe had a variation where you cook unopened cans of sweetened condensed milk covered by boiling water 1-1.5 hours. I actually tried this by cooking 2 cans covered by water in my crockpot overnight, about 12 hours. The cans did not explode, but 12 hours was a bit long. My dessert was dark brown. Actually tasted fine. Could do an experiment with 4 cans pulling them out every 2 hours till you get the consistency you like. Then scoop out of the cans and season with a little cinnamon or wine.

I think cooking the cans covered with water in a crockpot is even easier than using the microwave.

Chicken tamales, Cuban flavored, naturally gluten free

These are very nicely seasoned tamales. I thought about putting green olives in but then decided against it. The reason why I decided to make these is that my husband brought home these most awful tamales in a jar, so to wipe their taste of my mind I quick threw together these tamales. This is a 2 part recipe containing the masa (dough) and the meat portion. In the past I've used uncooked ground pork which is very good, but I changed it to cooked ragged chicken because I had some in our freezer and my sister doesn't like to eat too much pork.

Meat portion

1. Cook in crockpot about 4-8 hours until the meat shreds easily:

• about 1 lb. (3) chicken breasts
• in some water about 1/2 - 1 inch to keep meat moist

2. Saute the seasoning until not raw, chop and add ingredients one by one. Then set aside:

• 2-4 Tbs achiote (annato seed) colored oil
• small onion
• 1/2 green or red pepper
• 3-6 garlic cloves
• 4 oz can minced mild canned green chilies, drained
• 1 Tbs dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 Tbs cider vinegar to deglaze pan
• Shredded (Ragged) Chicken
• water that chicken was cooked in, (about 1/4-1/2 cup)

Masa (Dough)

1. Whisk together dry ingredients (flour mixture)

• 3 cups masa harina, finely ground corn flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp salt

2. Beat till creamy with electric mixer in large bowl

• 1 cup gluten free margarine

3. Alternate adding 3 Tbs at a time, dry ingredients and water while beating until light and fluffy after each addition until dough is very smooth and of spreading consistency.

• 1.75 cups + 3 Tbs lukewarm water

4. Start a big pot of water boiling

5. Make the tameles. Can use banana leaves or cornhusks but I used foil this time about 4-6" wide. (In the past I've saved corn husks from cooking corn but right now it's the wrong time of year to buy good corn.)

• oil foil well
• spread out about 1 heaping Tbs. masa (dough) leaving enough room to fold foild at least 3 times
• lay out about heaping tsp of meat mixture in a line down the middle
• fold over and make long skinny packets
• cook about 45 minutes, drain, then eat.

Makes about 30 tamales

Pasteles, Naturally gluten free Puerto Rican Meat Pie

This is my husband's favorite. Pasteles are a 2 part recipe: The masa (dough) and the seasoned meat filling. I make them small so I usually end up with about 40-50 pasteles

Meat filling
1. Process the following vegetables in a food processor till finely chopped:

• onion (large)
• green pepper
• garlic cloves 4-6
• cilantro 1/4- 1/2 bunch

2. Saute the vegetables in some achiote (annato seed) flavored oil until the vegetables aren't raw anymore. (Note: Easiest way to make this oil is to take 1/2 cup of achiote in glass measuring cup then fill up with oil to 1 cup. Then heat in microwave until oil is red. Be sure to watch it! Then filter out seeds. Careful. This oil is very staining.)

3. While the vegetables are cooking cut up about 2 pounds boneless pork roast into about 1/2 inch cubes. Then add to vegetables and cook till not raw. I usually chop and add small portions to my cast iron Dutch oven pot, then put on a cover and cook while I make the masa.

Masa (Dough)
1. Cut into pieces and process in food processor until medium to coarsely chopped. Yautia is very sticky and needs to be processed with the bananas and plantains or it will stop the processor. I also add achiote oil or broth from meat to aid processing. The dough should be thick, just slightly less so than cookie dough but definitely more than a ice cream shake. Start the big soup pot of water boiling while you make the masa.

• 4 pounds yautia
• 4 plantains
• 4 green bananas
• very small potato or piece of hard squash
• about 4 tablespoons or so broth from meat
• about 4 tablespoons or so achiote oil

Make the packets

1. Tear foil to about 8" x 10" (can use banana leaves but then you have to tie them)
2. Oil foil with achiote oil
3. Spread about 1 Tbsp of masa on foil
4. Place about 1 tsp seasoned meat to one side of center
5. Add 1/2 of green olive to meat filling.
6. Fold over foil so masa encloses meat filling.
7. Make secure water proof packet by creasing over edges.
8. Add packets to boiling water. Cook about 1 hour, then drain.