Drying Herbs and Vegetables.

 Today I got my veggie/fruit basket, Italian pack and Hostess pack from Bountiful Baskets and they were chock full of three herbs; Basil, Dill and Rosemary.  While I intend to use some of them immediately, what can I do with the rest, so they won't shrivel and turn bad?  Dry them!  You've seen them in every supermarket or health food store grocery section; whether in bottles or bags there is a big advantage to using dried herbs.  First off, when stored in an air tight container, they can last up to six months; so check the expiration date when buying.  Secondly, when used in cooking, the aroma and flavor is much stronger than fresh; especially helpful when using a slow cooker for a recipe.

A Food Dehydrator is one method of drying herbs by using a system of heat ( average temperatures of 130F to 160F) and vented air to draw moisture out of thinly sliced foods, or herbs. For example, in my Italian pack was a carton of baby portabella mushrooms which I don't have any particular plans for now.  Slicing them 1/8 inch thin, the dehydrator will extract all the moisture, so I can put them in a zippered food bag to be used at my leisure.  The mushroom slices can be easily reconstituted by soaking them in plain water before usage.  I also have some red bell peppers and Roma tomatoes; just slice them up, dehydrate them and store them in an air tight jar with olive oil, or simply in an air tight bag.  Why buy expensive brands of "sun-dried" tomatoes or peppers when you can make your own?  Want to make your own potato or veggie chips?  Season the slices before you place them in the dehydrator; no frying, no oils.

You don't have to go to the expense of a dehydrator to dry herbs. Herbs that are on long stems can be tied together, making sure to leave a loop at the top. A simple "s" ring, or even a paperclip opened up to give it two "hooked" ends will work well as hanging tools. Remember to label your tied bunches of herbs for many will look extremely different dried than they did as fresh; smell might help tell them apart, but why take the chance? Hang the herbal bunches in an area of the home that doesn't have a lot of foot traffic; don't know how many times I've had someone knock them down with a swinging coat sleeve.

Don't want them hanging around the home; another method is to remove the leaves as much from the stem as possible. Lay paper towels on a tray (aluminum or plastic); place the leaves on the paper towels and leave a little room between the leaves. Cover the leaves with another set of paper towels to keep dust and dirt from landing upon them; store the trays in a dry area and the herbs should be dried out from two to three days, depending on their sizes.   This also works for celery leaves; you buy that large bunch of celery full of leaves, well don't throw them away.  Dry the leaves and you'll have them available to be added to stuffing, rice or pasta recipes.

Herbs with small and abundant leaves, such as Rosemary, can be left to dry on their stems. When completely dried out, you can either shake the leaves off which can be rather messy; or grab the cut end of the stem, hold it firmly with one hand while using fingers from the other hand to gently slide the dried leaves off.
 
Whatever method you use for drying your herbs, remember to label and date your air tight containers or bags, so you'll know which is which, and when your six month expiration is up.

One more method for storing herbs, but this concerns a non-drying method; freezing. You can take a single herb, or a grouping for a particular need, chop them up fresh and place a good pinch in the bottom of each section of an ice cube tray. Cover the herbs with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of water and place the trays in the freezer. Once frozen, pop the ice cubes into a freezer safe bag; don't forget to label them, and when you need those herbs for a recipe, they're ready and waiting. Remember to take into account the measurement of water that will be added when you pop those ice cubes in with your other ingredients.

Whichever method you use, or perhaps make use of all of them, you'll be in control of your dried herbal or vegetable stockpile; you'll know where they came from, and what has, or has not, been added.

Mary Cokenour

Vietnamese Dish with Antlers.

Now before you get too excited over the title of this blog post, I didn't really use antlers in the recipe, but the meat I used did have them at one time. That creature is the Elk and after getting a new supply from hunting buddy Charlie, I knew it was time to play once again in the kitchen. Originally I was going to try Philly Cheesesteak, but then I thought about a dish I hadn't tried since moving from Pennsylvania. In the Lancaster area, we had a few Vietnamese restaurants and one of our favorite meals was "Beef with Crispy Potatoes". I learned to make a version of this dish to have when we couldn't afford to go out and have a restaurant make it for us.

Now to prep the Elk, I placed the steaks in a plastic container and drizzled a little red wine vinegar over them, sealed the container and placed it in the refrigerator for 6 hours. This was to tenderize the meat and take some of the gamey flavor out of it. After that, I rinsed off the meat with cold water and cut it into strips, as the recipe required, and just followed the directions thereafter.

The conclusion? There weren't any leftovers; it was simply amazing! There was one very difficult part of the meal preparation though and that was the homemade potato chips. The problem? To not eat them all before the entire recipe was completed, they were so good and I may never buy bagged chips again. As they were draining on the paper towels, I sprinkled a little fine sea salt on them and tried one, then two, then another and another....STOP!...or there would have been none left.

So here is the recipe for "Beef with Crispy Potatoes" made with beef, but substituting another meal, like Elk, can be just as awesome.

Beef with Crispy Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 lb sirloin or round steak, cut into 2” slices, 1/8” thick
½ cup each of diced red bell pepper and onion
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp chili sauce
¼ cup teriyaki sauce
2 large red skinned potatoes; cut into 1/8” slices
Peanut oil
¼ tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup diced green onion

Preparation:

Place steak, red bell pepper, onion, ginger, garlic, chili and teriyaki sauces in a large zippered plastic bag; seal, mix together well and refrigerate for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, fill a deep skillet halfway with peanut oil; bring oil to 350F. Put ¼ of potatoes into skillet, fry for 7 minutes, turn slices over and fries another 5 minutes. Remove to paper towels to drain; repeat process with remaining potatoes.

After all potatoes are fried, remove all but 4 Tbsp of oil from skillet. Place marinated ingredients from plastic bag into skillet; cook steak till browned. Add fried potatoes and black pepper to skillet; mix with steak and cook another 5 minutes. Garnish with green onion.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour
September 11, 1998