Lactofermented Garlic Paste

I hate procrastination.  Especially when I'm the guilty party.

I've been wanting to post this recipe for just shy of a year, but it hasn't happened.  (I realize that I haven't been blogging for a year, but there were months of planning that went into this before I began.)  It really isn't my fault, entirely.  I have more ideas than I have time to put into practice, and I don't want to become overwhelmed trying to be everything for everybody.

Enough chasing of rabbits.  This is a recipe that's near and dear to my heart, because I associate it with special occasions, like my anniversary.  It's a part of my Indian feast.  But because I make it only for special occasions, as part of a larger feast, I don't have many opportunities to take pictures.

Now that someone is asking for my naan recipe, however, I've decided to post at least a portion of my Indian feast now and come back in a few weeks (after my anniversary, of course) to add photos.
 
Garlic Sauce
1-2 cold egg whites
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt, not optional
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup grapeseed or olive oil
1 Tablespoon living whey

Before we really get started on the recipe, let's pause for a minute and consider the ingredients.  Use a salt that is colored.  Salt is white when it comes from the lab.  In nature it has many colors, from reds and pinks to grays and blacks.  By choosing a salt that is colored, you can be sure that you are buying an unprocessed salt.  Don't be fooled (as I was) by a label like, "sea salt."  Almost all salt is from the sea, but that doesn't mean that the minerals weren't stripped.

Your whey needs to be alive.  Do not use powdered whey.  It is highly processed and will not be useful in this recipe.  Do not use whey which has been heated.  After a certain temperature the beneficial bacteria dies.  Instead use whey from making yogurt, unheated cheese, or (my personal favorite) dairy kefir.

If you do not have whey, you could just substitute another living starter culture, such as unpasteurized kombucha, water kefir, Body ecology starter culture, yogurt, or unpasteurized buttermilk.  However, all of these options will influence your final taste.  The whey or other starter culture is important, because it gives plenty of beneficial bacteria to overwhelm any nasties that might come along with the raw egg.

Theoretically, you could also add an extra tablespoon of salt and see what wild bacteria you can grow.  However, since most chicken (even backyard flocks) contains salmonella or campylobacter, I wouldn't do that without pasteurizing the eggs first.  I know that plenty of people don't bother pasteurizing pastured eggs since they are less likely to contain harmful bacteria, but it still is a little like playing Russian roulette--even though your odds of winning are better.

Also, don't forget the salt.

Note: my recipe is for those who own a Vitamix.  It can be adapted to any blender or can be made with a simple wire whisk, but I do not have experience doing it that way.

All ingredients must be at room temperature, except that the egg whites must be cold.  Place the egg white, garlic, salt, and lemon juice in Vitamix.  Select variable 1.  Turn the machine on, quickly move it to variable 10, and then to High.  While the machine is running, remove the liquid plug and pour the oil in a thin, steady stream until the mixture thickens and all oil is consumed (about 60 seconds).  Stop the machine.  Feel the outside of the machine.  If it is too hot to touch, then it needs to cool down to a more comfortable temperature.  (Don't be impatient or you'll kill off the beneficial bacteria that you're trying to culture).  When it is cool enough, stir in the whey and any remaining oil.  Leave it out in an air-tight container at room temperature for 7 hours, and then refrigerate.

Acknowledgements:
I rarely just use a recipe without tinkering with it.  That's not how God wired me.  These are the recipes that inspired me, the ones I cobbled together into what you see above. http://www.dedemed.com/mediterranean/garlic-sauce-recipe
http://www.vitamix.com/recipes/
http://gnowfglins.com/ecourse/real-food-menus

An Up Side to Fermenting

March 17, 2012--Post delayed due to security concerns

We were in our normal home for only a short time this week and were preparing to leave again first thing in the morning for an extended absence when all of a sudden it occurred to me that I had misplaced something important.  My toddler is on a food strike, so my husband had given her a bottle in the hopes of settling her blood sugar and restoring peace to the house.

As the day neared an end, we realized that the bottle had disappeared without a trace.  Thoughts of rancid milk clouded our thinking as we searched, to no avail.  At first, it appeared that we would be able to locate it by its smell when we returned at the end of the month.  Then my husband remembered that he had put just a spoonful of kefir in with the milk.

'It won't stink too badly,' we decided, and we headed for bed.

This morning we rushed through some last-minute details and loaded the car.  The last thing that we did was to go on light patrol, shutting down and unplugging everything non-essential.  Next to the last light receptacle my husband found the errant bottle.  It had been lost in the clutter of a dirty toy room.  It was filled with curds and whey and was no worse for the wear. 

I've found missing bottles before at the church nursery.  Whether filled with milk or with formula, it never ends well.  So I wholeheartedly say, thank God for fermenting.

Many thanks to my hostesses at Simple Lives Thursday, Freaky Friday, and Monday Mania for allowing me to share.

Lactofermented Cabbage Casserole

I've had the perfect idea in my head for supper for a long, long time but it seemed impossible to get all of the pieces to fall into place at the same time during this busy season.  Just as I was giving up, my knight in blue denim armor finally swooped in to the rescue.  While the girls and I were off Christmas caroling tonight, my dear hubby put the final steps together to make one of his favorite dishes.

I wish it had some kind of swanky name, but we simply call it
Cabbage Casserole

• 2 lbs of cabbage
• 1/2 T sea salt (not optional)
• 1/4 c whey drained from raw dairy
• 2 c brown rice, uncooked
• 2 additional t sea salt
• 2 c tomato juice
• 1 T or more fat
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 T fennel
• 1/2 T black pepper
• 1/8 c raw apple cidar vinegar
• scant 3/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 T dijon mustard
• 1 c buttermilk

1-7 days before dinner:
Remove the outer leaves and quarter a cabbage.  Remove the core.  Shred the cabbage into bite-sized pieces.  Sprinkle it with sea salt  (Just a note: if your salt isn't white it's unrefined, leaving you with lots of minerals to balance the sodium in your system.) and whey.

Allow the cabbage to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.  The cabbage will start looking wet as the salt pulls the cabbage's juices to the surface.  Stir it up and allow it to sit for 30 more minutes before transfering it to a storage container.  (I like Mason jars, as is obvious to all who know me well.)  If the cabbage's juices do not cover the cabbage, pound it until it is covered.  (Heck, you can pound it even if the cabbage's juices do cover, just because there's nothing like a giving a cabbage a good pounding to release your own creative juices.  But, I digress.)  Allow to sit at room temperature for 24 hours for a mild flavor or 3-7 days for a sour flavor. 

(If you want to know why we're letting this sit, it's because we're culturing beneficial bacteria, in much the same way that yogurt is filled with beneficial bacteria.)

7-24 hours before dinner:
In a medium saucepan, combine rice, salt, and tomato juice.  Cover and leave at room temperature for 7-24 hours.

(For those who want to know why we're letting this sit)

40 minutes before dinner:
Bring the rice mixture to a boil.  Simmer for 25-35 minutes.  Allow to stand for 5 minutes to absorb most of the tomato.

Meanwhile saute the onions and garlic in the fat of your choice.  Add the beef and cook it until brown.  Stir in fennel and pepper.

Place the remaining ingredients in a 2-pint Mason jar.  Secure the lid and shake it well.  (Or, I suppose you could just stir them together in a little bowl, although that seems much more boring.)

In a casserole dish, layer the cabbage, rice, dressing, and meat mixture.  Place the casserole dish in a cool oven.  Turn on the oven to lowest setting--mine is 170 degrees.  Heat it until the casserole's temperature reaches just under 118 degrees--mine takes about 3 minutes.  That heats it up without destroying all of the enzymes.

I was so grateful to my dear hubby for following my directions and putting this dish together.  I failed to mention to him, however, that I had enough prepared enough cabbage for two meals so the pictures show a cabbage-heavy dish.  The family inhaled it, so the chances of me scrapping together enough leftovers for a second meal at this point are kind of slim.  Such is life.

With many thanks to the following who influenced this meal:
Lessons 2 & 14 of the Gnowfglin's Fundamentals e-course
Easy Layered Cabbage Casserole
Sausage a la Alton Brown
There's a 4th influence that I wish I could credit, but I lost the web address years ago.  It was for a delicious tomato soup.  I've pulled the recipe apart and put the ingredients back in a different order so you might not even recognize the original recipe anymore anyhow.

Shared with Living Well, Fight Back Friday, Freaky Friday, Monday Mania and Fat Tuesday.

Note (January 5, 2012):  It has come to my attention  that cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable and therefore should not be eaten raw.  Exceptions can be made for eating small amounts of sauerkraut as a condiment.  Since this recipe calls for a lot more than a few bites of raw cabbage, please, feel free to heat this at 350 degrees until it is heated through.  Thanks for the understanding.