Oh, we had another quiet week, with lots of progress on projects, but not a lot to show in the way of pictures and things… We do finally have a stack of waxed food covers again, and we had a *great* potluck! Thanks to all who came …and wow…. Brandon and his family drove over 5 hours to get here! Luckily they had planned to stay the night, locally, rather than braving the weather. They’re hoping to be back for the February Winter Feast.
Meetings are at the normal times this week, except for Thursday’s Sewing Night, which is cancelled because of the holiday. Also, on Tuesday, Stella and Anja are hoping to trek to
Adiantum for A&S Night!
- Sewing Night – At Ancient Light, Thursdays, 6-8pm (not this week, Thanksgiving)
- Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 11am-1pm
- Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm
- Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, Noon to 6pm
- Cheese & Wine – Watch the schedule or the Facebook group! This is going to be irregularly scheduled for when tasks need to occur.
- Next Potluck – 12/17
Here is the direct Portfolio link which has all the past Project Day reports and various projects, original here: https://housecapuchin.wordpress.com/portfolio/ and new one here: https://housecapuchin2.wordpress.com/portfolio/ and number three is here: https://housecapuchin3.wordpress.com/portfolio/
Early Week – The tvarog got finished, salted and put by Monday afternoon. The whey was saved to use in bread. This batch isn’t nearly as sour as the first one, and while it went over 120, at least once, it never boiled. It has a nice, creamy texture.
Cookery – Mushroom pickle was the next one. (recipe below) which cooked on Monday in the
late afternoon into the evening and then Loren finally got it put away.
We were planning a McGregor’s Revenge pie for the potluck, so early in the week, the rabbit got started thawing in the fridge.
Anja tried the tvarog on rye bread Monday evening. Yum!
Tuesday evening – Once Loren found the cooking utensils that Anja needed, she started cooking. This is what she wrote, later.
By 9pm I was hacky-chopping and had a lot of ingredients laid out on the table, ready to go. By 10:30 the rabbit was going, all but the carrots, and I was about to start the salsa verde, which is a totally non-period food. Now, I can’t eat the stuff, but we had the tomatillos and Tempus and Jeanne like the stuff, so I figured I’d make it and they could do the tasting.
By 11, everything was in that but the peppers and cilantro and that I had to wait on until Loren got back from Newport, and I had most of the prep going for the potted cheese and the butters. I had a bunch of garlics to peel, too. By 1am I was about 1/2 through cooking the bacon for the potted cheese. I finally got that done at about 2:30 and the bacon for the bacon/blue butter was going. I realized at that point that I wasn’t going to be able to get the butters done, since I was missing containers to put ’em in! That’s ok, there was a *lot* done, anyway.
Loren ran in and out at about 1/4 to 3. He got the chilis and cilantro for the salsa, but forgot the carrots for the pie filling! I got things the rest of the way prepped and the crockpots going and then everything just had to cook until 7am. The tomatillos in the salsa were interesting. If you press them with a spoon, they pop… 🙂 So those were put by for finishing on Sunday.
Sewing Time – Thursday – Moar secret project
Sewing Time – Saturday – Found the muslin for the waxed bowl covers
Herb Bunch – …was really fun. We made a red cabbage pickle, then talked herbs and spices that get used in pickling while adding things and setting up new jars.
Later on Saturday the carrots got cooked, added to the pie filling, and gravy made, then the pies were assembled and baked. From the 5 pound bunny we had two pies and 3 boxes of pie filling, but probably only enough broth to make gravy for 1 more pie. We’ll have to use something else.
Project Day
On Saturday the pies got made and baked and Loren used some of the whey for the feast bread along with doing pickles in Herbs Workshop.
The waxed food cover stuff decided to wander away without us, somehow. Anja wanted to get some small ones made, so started cutting fabrics and then hunting a way to do the wax. …and then she flipped a whole cup of water right into a box of papers! So Loren had to get that dealt with.
The wax got melted and the ironing board, iron and and parchment paper got found. And then Anja started in. About 1/2 an hour later she had sticky fingers and a stack of waxed cloth and things were cooling.
Loren and Anja started filling bowls of munchies and finding the rest of the feast gear and then the folks from up north arrived. Once Amy and Stella were there we pulled out the bread, potted cheese and flavored butter, then set out a pickle tray for folks to try.
Pottage was next, then the Mr. McGregor’s Revenge, then Amy and Stella had to head out before the weather got worse. Later we ate a beef/vegetable stew that Brandon made.
Eventually we got into the babovka, and it was the tvarog one, all the better! …and the very last was Mary’s lovely home-grown, home-cooked grape juice to sip in appreciation.
We were all stuffed to the gills. Eating over the course of 5 hours made it possible, but only just. Lots of leftovers!
We had a great time talking about just about everything under the sun and Anja got some great feedback on the foods. We compared recipes and critiqued, compared tatts, ditto, even talked a little history and generally just had a great time!
Project Day – Potluck Menu
- Pickles – Cabbage, carrot, mushroom, onions, etc. (Anja, Loren and Herb Bunch)
- Hawaiian Rolls – Amy
- Bread and butter – Loren, Anja
- Tvarog – Anja, Loren
- Mixed nuts – Amy
- Potted cheese – Anja and Loren
- Lentil pottage – from before
- Mr. MacGregor’s Revenge pie – Anja, Loren
- Beef stew – Brandon and family
- Tvarohový Babovka (cheese babovka) – Anja
- Mini Pecan Pies – Amy
- Grape Juice – Mary
Recipes
Pickled mushrooms
- 3 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1/8 – ¼ cup salt
- 2 Tbsp mustard seed
- 1 Tbsp caraway seed
- 1 medium onion
- ½ pound of fresh sliced mushrooms
- Start the vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring to make sure the sugar dissolves and doesn’t stick.
- While that’s going grind the mustard and then add the caraway and grind some more.
- Add to the pot
- Slice the onion and add that.
- Add the mushrooms.
- When it comes back to a boil, turn to low, cover and let simmer until the mushrooms and onions look cooked, 20 minutes to ½ an hour.
- Put hot into a canning jar and screw the lid down.
- Loosen the lid every half hour until it’s only warm to the touch, no longer hot, then refrigerate. When cold, tighten the ring down.
Anja’s Rabbit Pie (Mr. MacGregor’s Revenge)
Filling Ingredients
- 5 pound rabbit (adjust ingredients accordingly, for a smaller or larger rabbit)
3 large onions – halved, then sliced crossways
3 leeks - 2 parsnips
- and another handful of whatever you have….turnips, rutabagas, spinach, borage leaves….
- 24 oz coined carrots
- ½ pound of bacon.
- Handful salt
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes or 2 chicken ramen packet.
- 4 cups of water
- 1/2 cup good cider vinegar (or dry red wine)
Filling Directions
- Put all this in a pot (or crock-pot) in order from the bottom up. Bring to a light boil, then drop to a simmer and stir occasionally for an hour or two (crockpot, leave for 4 hours) until the meat begins to come off the bones. This isn’t quite enough liquid to cover the rabbit. That’s ok, don’t add more! That’s part of the reason for the order of the ingredients, and the liquid will cook out of the solids to make more broth. The veggies keep the rabbit from drying out.
- Pull the meat and strain off the broth (I poured through a colander with the meat in a ceramic bowl and the broth going into a large pyrex cup.) Let cool until you can handle it and de-bone (watch the little spine bones!)
- Mix the boned meat and the rest of the solids back together to make the filling. The filling can be frozen at this point…. (If you freeze 2 cups together, that’s one pie.) Freeze the broth separately in 1-cup amounts.
Pie Ingredients
- 4-5 frozen deep-dish pie shells (8 inch) plus two refrigerated rolled-up pie crusts OR
- Make enough pie crust (butter or suet crust) for two pies in 9” pie dishes.
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
- About a cup of flour in a sifter or shaker
Pie Directions
- Lay out two pie shells (Standard frozen deep dish pie shells that are about 8” use three.) and two (3) refrigerated crusts. (Have pint boxes ready for the extra filling. One pint makes one pie. One cup broth, 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 cup flour makes gravy for one. Freeze broth separately.
- Divide the solids between the shells. Sprinkle well with freshly ground nutmeg and set aside.
- Melt butter in a heavy-bottom pan and sift flour into it until it begins to thicken. Cook slowly, stirring constantly until it begins to brown. Turn the heat off and then begin pouring the stock into it, still stirring constantly until you have “enough” gravy (about two cups).
- Pour ½ into each shell, then put on the tops, crimp the sides and pierce the tops liberally.
- Bake at 375F until the tops are golden-brown (which takes 2-3 hours for our pies, because of the density of the fillings, but can vary with the ovens).
Note – My pies had little leftover liquid to ooze out, YMMV! Put a pan under the pies to catch drippings or they will be well-flavored with smoke.
BTW – I’m told that as chicken has a similar texture to rabbit that this can be done with chicken or gamebird by pretty much the same method. I would change the nutmeg flavoring to dill, however. Also, being me, I would use chicken thighs or quarters rather than a whole bird.
Note 2 – Pies can be made up ahead and fridged or frozen!
Miscellaneous pix
Music
Funnies
Anja, Loren, Karen, Herb Bunch, Brandon plus 2, Amy, Stella
Largesse Item Count – (includes gifts, prizes, auction items, etc.)
- ASXLVII = 24
- ASXLVIII = 88
- ASXLIX = 794
- ASL = 2138
- ASLI = 731
- ASLII = 185 plus 4 pouch (2 more just need strings), 25 pouches for block-printing, 35 (plus 26 unfinished) pincushions, 7 emery bags, 10 lucet cord, 1 hat, 1 bone needle & case, 2 sewing boxes (finished except for bone needles), varnished stuff (124)
Total as a Household = 3544 handed off
In ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 11/6/17 & published 11/19/17 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 11/19/17
House Capuchin 3 
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