Apple Onion Jam Made with All Natural Sweetener Xyla

 

Xylitol….Sounds like a chemical doesn’t it? That’s what I thought and at first and ignored the request to review Xyla from Emerald Forest. Come to find out Xylitol is all natural, derived from fruits and vegetables, and is actually good for teeth. Imagine less cavities with this sweetener than from sugar! After two gum surgeries this year I am all over that fact! Xylitiol is popular in Europe and has been used extensively in chewing gum and toothpaste production for a while. But best of all  it has a low glycemic index and can be used just as you would sugar, part for part. Thereby, making it safe for diabetics.Baking with Xylitol is a bit trickier but can be done. Products may be dryer and wont caramelize or brown. So a baker may need to add more butter, liquid, xantham gum or lecithin.Also Xylitol doesn’t react with yeast, causing it to rise, when bread baking. It can , however be even be grounded up and used as powdered sugar.

So naturally canning season is coming around, and I would rather can than bake in this heat. I was curious how Xylitol would perform in a jam or jelly. I haven’t been having the best of luck with jams or jellies, and maybe this would be a complete waste. But its all about learning from your mistakes. Yet, this wasn’t a mistake and never have I had a thicker jam/jelly without using pectin . I guess the two apple cores I added helped along with the lemon juice. But I loved how the Xylitol liquefied and then boiled down to a thick consistency.  I had some onions and apples  and wanted a savory jam to use for sandwiches or appetizers. The result is a bold savory sweet flavor that would be awesome with duck, chicken,turkey, or pork based sandwiches or quesadillas  . What I love the most is that its fewer calories than sugar, yet still sweet. One pound of Xylitol  produced a small batch of 2 pints, you can multiply this recipe easily.

* Note :

After refrigeration with an open bottle, I’m noticing some crystallization and hardening. I still used it as a spread in my  hot sandwich and it was fine. So keep at room temp on shelf if unopened. If opened , expect for it to crystallize. But upon heat , etc, it should be fine.

Apple Onion Jam Made with All Natural Sweetener Xyla
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A sweet and savory jam made with the low glycemic , but all natural Xylitol.
Author:
Recipe type: Jam, Condiment
Ingredients
  • 1 onion chopped fine
  • 2 apples chopped ( save cores to add)
  • 2-4 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 lb Xylitol
  • 2 tablespoon mustard seeds
  • 4 cloves whole Allspice
  • Juice of half lemon
  • 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
  1. In a heavy bottomed pot, add chopped apples, cores, onion, and garlic.
  2. Add 1 lb Xylitol.
  3. Add water and lemon juice.
  4. Add mustard seeds and Allspice.
  5. Mix up .
  6. Heat on medium high until Xylitol starts to melt within the liquid and starts to boil.
  7. Reduce heat and simmer on low for approximately 45 min or until onions and apples are candied, translucent and liquid has been reduced.
  8. Remove apple cores.
  9. Remove from heat and process for 5 minutes in a water bath in sterilized jars and lids.
  10. If you don't process refrigerate and use within the next few weeks.
Notes
Small batch, makes two pints. Can be multiplied easily.

 

 

 

Baked Radicchio with Parmesan

Spring is gradually rolling in . With that comes more vibrant and hued fruits and vegetables  for our table to take us out the winter doldrums. Last week in my organic delivery box, I received several heads of Radicchio. I really didn’t envision myself eating a bunch of salad with radicchio. Nor was I feeling making a starchy risotto which was also a very popular option with this  member of the Chicory family. Let me start off by saying Radicchio is bitter, very better and pairs either with more salt or sweet ingredients.  Many roast theirs with Balsamic for that sweeter edge and some with saltier cheeses, like I chose to.

Now my variety of Radicchio, the round Chiogga, is the type more used for salads. The Treviso , more elongated like Belgian endive, is actually milder and more suitable for cooking. Nevertheless it will still be bitter and its going to up to your personal preference if you enjoy this or not. I found after baking, some extra squeeze of lemon rounded out the flavor with the olive oil, cheese, and wine. I would pair this dish with pork or chicken  with a fruit or sweet based sauce to compliment the bitter spice of the radicchio.

 

Baked Radicchio with Parmesan
 
Baked Radicchio
Author:
Recipe type: Side Dish
Ingredients
  • 5 heads of Radicchio cut into quarter wedges (you can use less and pare down your recipe to proportion)
  • Olive Oil to drizzle baking dish and radicchio
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
  2. Coat the bottom of your baking dish with olive oil. Add quartered , washed radicchio.
  3. Pour wine over the vegetable and season with salty and pepper. Top with grated Parmesan.
  4. Cover with foil, to create steam and moisture, and bake for 25 minutes.
  5. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minuted until radicchio is wilted, color is more brown and cheese has melted.

Duck Rillettes on Goat Cheese Croquettes with Black Pepper Balsamic Cranberry Relish…Marx Foods Iron Foodie

I was stunned when it was announced by Foodie Blogroll and Marx Foods, that I was chosen as one of the twenty five challengers for Iron Foodie. I didn’t even see the email. As I said before, I have stopped with contests for a lot reasons. But this was real challenge that I believe is more about skill , than say…popularity.

Iron Foodie 2010 | Here's Why that will be me:
MarxFoods.com -- Fine Bulk Foods The Foodie BlogRoll

A mystery box was sent to all of us, with instructions to make a dish with at least three of the eight ingredients  in the box. The box contained Aji Panca Chilies, Dried  Wild Porcini’s, Smoked Sea Salt,Maple Sugar, Fennel Pollen, Bourbon Vanilla Beans, Dulse( dried sea weed), and Tellicherry Peppercorns.

I chose to use four ingredients in my Amuse Bouche. Smoked Sea Salt, Fennel Pollen, Maple Sugar, andTellicherry Peppercorns. There are three components to this recipe that will go a long way.

Rillettes are slow cooked meat such as duck, pork, rabbit that are cured with salt and spices , then simmered in fat for hours, and then beat into a paste to eaten as a spread. Wonderful for the holidays and long lasting if preserved and sealed in fat.

Black Pepper Balsamic Cranberry Relish is a new take on a holiday staple. Rather than cooked stove top, I roasted the cranberries with less sugars and balsamic vinegar. The true flavors shine and are not masked by heavy sugars like traditional cranberry sauces. The tartness offsets the rich fattiness of the Rillettes.

Goat Cheese Croquettes are inspired by of one my favorite salads of crusted fried goat cheese with apples. I decided to make small patties to top off with the other two components. I rolled them in fennel pollen ,orange zest and panko before frying.

Be sure to have the rillettes at room temperature when assembling. Many of the components can be made ahead, leaving the goat cheese for last.

I was expecting this to be really rich. It is rich but not unbearably so. It’s like the entire holiday meal in one luscious mouthful.

Check out my other challengers.

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Duck Rillettes on Goat Cheese Croquettes with Black Pepper Balsamic Cranberry Relish

Duck Rillettes

24-48 hours prep. Several hours cooking time.

  • 1 whole ducking quartered
  • 1 tsp  Marx Foods smoked sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • Bay leaves
  • 4 allspice cloves
  • 4-5 cloves garlic
  • Marx Foods Ground Tellicherry black pepper
  • 2 tsp Marx Foods Fennel Pollen
  • 1-2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/3 cup Cognac

*you may want to purchase additional duck fat for sealing.

  1. In a dish season raw duck with salt, bay leaves, allspice, garlic, pepper, etc.
  2. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 24 hrs, but up to 48 hours.
  3. Place seasoned duck in Dutch oven.
  4. Add vegetable stock and fennel pollen.
  5. Place and cover in oven at 250.
  6. Cook for 4-5 hours until liquid is mostly gone, meat is tender, and fat is rendered.
  7. Remove carcass bones and skin, allspice, bay leaves.
  8. Add the soft garlic cloves to meat pile.
  9. Strain liquid and fat and add to shredded meat with cognac, and continue to cook for a two more hours in oven.
  10. Reserve some fat.
  11. Beat meat with fat but not to make a paste.
  12. Place in jars or one dish.
  13. Cover with reserved fat to seal.
  14. Stores for several months in the refrigerator as long as sealed well in fat.

Black Pepper  Balsamic Cranberry Relish

Can be made days ahead

  • 1 bag /1lb cranberries
  • 3 tablespoons Marx Foods Maple Sugar
  • ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 2-3tabslespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • Ground Marx Foods Tellicherry Pepper
  1. Wash cranberries.
  2. Place in metal baking pan.
  3. Add maple sugar, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of water.
  4. Toss all ingredients.
  5. Roast at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  6. Stir halfway through roasting.
  7. Remove from heat and cool.

Goat Cheese Croquettes

  • Log of goat cheese (4oz log makes 7 croquettes)
  • 1 tsp Marx Foods Fennel Pollen
  • Orange zest( 1 orange)
  • Panko bread crumbs
  • Vegetable oil to coat pan
  1. Zest orange peel and add to fennel pollen.
  2. Make round patties with goat cheese by hand.
  3. Dust with fennel pollen mixed with orange zest.
  4. Roll in Panko.
  5. Heat oil. Fry croquettes on each side for a few minutes until panko crust is browned. Be careful and only turn minimally (once on each side)

Assembly

Take a croquette. Top with rillettes. Top with cranberry relish. Garnish with dusting of fennel pollen and orange zest.

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Foraging and Meandering For Chanterelles In the Swedish Countryside

There is something spectacular about the rural countryside of Sweden. Autumn foliage is in a riot of color that makes the long drive on a narrow winding road all the more interesting. Certain Someone and I took it all in as we made our way to the house. At night you can stand outside and see the dazzling stars and galaxies light up the night sky. If you listen, it’s deadly silent, peaceful, still, and calm. Something this city girl is not at all used too. Nature in rural Sweden remains in its untouched state. Virginal, something that’s I had never really seen before. There is country and there is country. This was pretty rural. Certain Someone , another couple and I had decided to go mushroom hunting on my last day in Sweden. With all the talk of Chanterelles I was obsessed. Everyone said we should have some good ones around the house. But there was a fear of picking the wrong ones. If you were to walk around the forests near the house you would see endless varieties. I was spell bound in capturing them in photos. Fungi can be so beautiful, with the deadliest Toadstools leading the pack in nature’s beauty pageant.

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The group and I set out by car to drive more into towns direction. Parked cars by the side of the road indicated there were other foraging for  mushrooms in the forests. Some  dirt road paths lead to dead roundabout ends. So we continued. We finally found  a spot. A typical Swedish family with tow headed blond children, all in their Wellies , were seated and picking through the days harvest. Beautiful large baskets full of Chanterelles  were being  dusted  of by the ladies and sliced in half to check for snails, etc. They also had baskets of ruby red ligonberries. Like the Swedish Martha Stewart she was, she pointed off to the forests and the path and said we should find a lot. She made it seem so effortless. These were pros in mushroom picking game. It was like a scene from  the defunct Gourmet to see this family and their bounty from foraging in the Swedish countryside.Mushroom hunting is a favorite Swedish pastime and thankfully the  Swedish goverment has a Right to Public Access, so natures bounty is open to all.

We, armed with one paper Lidl shopping bag, and our men carrying big sticks, set forth. We saw lots of mushrooms along the way. Mostly inedible. It’s easy to see why some people could mistake some other varieties for the Chanterelle. Thankfully our friends had given us a field guide of mushrooms that had photos and warned which are the safest, the somewhat safe, and just plain deadly. Did you know some toxins don’t begin to take effect until several days later and then complete organ failure? It’s Russian Roulette in those woods!  The men played with their big sticks on the path like they were fencing, while the blush of red caught Britt- Helen’s and mine eyes. We may not have found the elusive Chanterelle, but there were ligonberries! Glorious ligonberries . Some so ripe they burst when you touched them. Since we only had one bag, I tried to pull branches of berries to keep them intact until I could sort at home. I figured I could throw the branches on the grounds and maybe Ligonberries would bloom around our rocks next year. I envied how prepared the Swedish family we saw earlier was with their baskets , Wellies and all. My feet were soaked through traipsing in the damp forests, with hidden streams. Finally at the point of about to give up ,walking back towards the car, we found a spot. Voila! Jackpot. In the dark damp woods the Funnel Chanterelles bloomed up from the ground. An untrained eye could mistake the tops for dead fallen autumn leaves. But their golden stems revealed they where what we came for! Chanterelles in abundance. Swedish Martha Stewart was right. We filled up out bags and went back to the house. On the way we stopped by the neighbor farmer to get some of his fresh eggs and Swedish honey. He told us  has four cocks and 500 hens and sells around 400-500 eggs a week. A chicken harem.

I wish I had photos of the dinner I made. Scan, a Swedish meat company had invited Anne, who invited me , to a Julboard event earlier  that week,and gave us a bag of meats which I brought to the house. Julboard is the big Christmas Swedish meal of hams traditionally. I will blog all about that later. I served  Roast Beef  and gravy from Scan, with Tagliatelle, cream, leeks, Funnel Chanterelles  and some Black trumpets , the others had brought from their in laws house, on our menu. In addition I made a pork roast with a ligonberry  rum glaze made from the scant half cup of berries I foraged. Not feeling 100 percent confident in a foreign simple kitchen, my guests and Certain Someone said it was fine. In the back of my mind I was praying we didn’t pick anything wrong, because these stories are rampant at this time of year. It’s weird for a glamorous city girl to really comprehend what’s its like to really pick the components for her own supper. It was and experience I will never forget. The next morning I left the house at dawn to drive  to the airport and have a last look at Swedish countryside through the  foggy mist. It was most beautiful sights you will ever see.

Here is a slide-show of what we saw. I really see beauty in mushrooms. Also here is a great online guide to identifying mushrooms in Scandinavia.

A Week of Stylish Swedish Dinners With Family and Friends

There is something about Stockholm. When we landed close to midnight last Sunday evening, I felt I was home. It’s been two years since my last visit to the Land Of The Midnight Sun. However its Autumn now and the days are getting colder and darkness falls earlier and earlier.

The colorful berries are still present but the beautiful assortment of Chanterelles and other mushrooms are in profusion. Dare I say it, I’m eating better here in Stockholm than in Rome. Fresh, clean simple flavors served in cutting edge Swedish design. While Swedes may long for more spice, I found the simplicity wholesome and fresh. 

Dagmar and her husband, of Cat In The Kitchen were gracious to invite Certain Someone and I to dinner in her gorgeous home in walking distance from the sea. Anne of Annes Food showed up with adorable Baby Titus and her husband. Can I say I’m love little Titus, and Dagmars house.  Titus is such a fun baby with a healthy refined appetitite. He stayed up with the big folks and then came to say goodnight in his Cinnamon bun pajamas. Look at Dagmar’s kitchen! Dagmars excellent Swedish Meal was outstanding and she claimed it was her first time serving such.You know we sometimes wonder  in the food blogger world if the person really has kitchen chops. Dagmar does. I hope to be able to come come back more frequenrtly to enjoy the girls company in the future. Here was Dagmars traditional Swedish menu. Did I also mention she effortslty pulled this off on a Monday night before jetting off for work in Coppenhagen? I’m grateful.

  •  SOS for starters (sill,ost,smör i.e. herring, västerbotten cheese, butter. Served with crisp bread and snaps).

  •  Chanterelle risotto

  •  Veal steak

  •  Dessert ofsmåländsk ostkaka(a Swedish cheese cake originally from Småland. Made with home made cheese. Served with different jams, berries and whipped cream).

Some of you may not know I have family in Sweden.My father’s closest brother lived here and had three sons. The brothers communicated throughout their lives sending photos and letters of their respective families and yet hadn’t seen each other for years. When my father died I felt a cosmic pull to seek them out and we meet some years ago. I hadn’t seen them since the last visit five years ago. My cousins are very busy and successful with their own families now and I was so happy everyone now lived in Stockholm proper. My Aunt is a whiz on the computer and has been following Coco Cooks and had kept up with me over the years. I was so surprised. She pulled out my late uncles extensive collection of photos from the brothers early days in Europe in the Sixties. The black and white photos of  Nigerian scions from a prominent family studying and playing in Europe were fantastic to see.All were to go into medicine or some branch in various countries around the world. I had never seen those photos and gained more insight into my illustrious family.Fortunately my Aunt  is a great host of information. I was happy to introduce Certain Someone to my fathers side at last. He and the cousins clicked immediately, spoke Swedish, and I could tell they would be good friends with similar interests. My cousins wife was there with thier beautiful daughter. Even though we are many hues and nationalities, the genetic resemblances were strong. Looking at everyone I felt  happy , centered, and content .  My aunt served another traditional Swedish Dinner for us:
  • A starter of salmon rolls, Chanterelle and Reindeer tarts, salad with shrimp
  • Jansson’s Temptation a  rich potato and anchovy dish
  • Meatballs and sausages
  • And an almond and berry cake with coffee.

*A note on the photos. Maybe I’m overwhelmed or finding it difficult to focus, but I’m not having a good relationship with the camera on this trip. I’m relying on Certain Someone to capture most moments. I hope these photos do the incredible meals some justice.