Flan

We finished last weekend with a flan, and I also made one for a Father's Day dessert. If I were a good little blogger I would look up and share the origins and influences of flan, but instead I will simply tell you what very little I know about making flans. The most important thing about flans is that my husband really likes them. Flans are quite tasty and not really that difficult to make, though there are a few tricks: It's essential to use a water bath while baking one to insure a smooth texture, and it's done baking when it no longer jiggles; they need to chill so must be baked well ahead of when you want to serve them; I've always used this ring mold (I think I bought it years ago at a yard sale) so I have absolutely no idea if you can make one using anything else; the caramelized sugar may look scrumptious after you've coated the ring mold, but if you take the tiniest little taste from the pot (you know, that indulgent finger-taste you just can't help yourself from taking whenever you're bake something) YOU WILL BE SORRY as it is REALLY hot; a flan uses 8 eggs, which can be great if your chickens are producing almost a dozen a day (like ours are), or a complication if the are not yet producing (like the little chickens of Lucy 'In the sky' (click here). This is my recipe for making flan.

Basic Flan
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 1/2 c. sugar + 3 T. water WITHOUT STIRRING. Swirl once in awhile until the sugar turns honey-colored. Wearing an oven mitt (trust me, you should wear an oven mitt), pour into a 2-quart ovenproof mold and swirl the caramel around to coat the bottom and some of the sides, taking care not to burn yourself. Set aside.

Whip:
1 egg
7 egg yolks
2/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. nutmeg or almond extract -NOT both
pinch salt

Add: 2 1/2 c. milk or almond milk
Pour over caramel in mold. Place in a larger pan and pour warm water for water bath to reach 2/3 height of mold. Bake 1 hour, or until no longer jiggles. Cool, then refrigerate for several hours or overnight. To serve: run a knife around edges to loosen custard. Set mold in hot water (in sink or water bath pan again) to reach 1/2 height of mold for 1 minute or so to melt caramel to unmold flan. Give a quick spin-wiggle to make sure the custard is loosened. Cover with a plate and quickly invert -it should plop right out.

DONE

I make TO-DO lists all the time. I diligently apply myself to accomplishing what's on these lists, and I do accomplish quite a bit really, but the truth is that I add tasks at a much more rapid pace than I accomplish tasks. Writing everything down on paper helps to control the feeling of being overwhelmed by it all and to organize and prioritize tasks, but it does not guarantee anything getting actually DONE. It is disheartening to find lists from a year ago, and see that some of the tasks on it are still not yet DONE. This can be quite depressing and discouraging and I try and not beat myself up to badly about this. Instead, I'm trying to focus on giving myself credit for what actually IS accomplished. Our weekends are usually a whirlwind of activities and working on PROJECTS, and though we usually don't accomplish all that we hope to, we do quite a bit. Instead of a TO-DO list of 300 tasks with only 10 crossed off, this is my DONE list for last weekend.

DONE
-daily chores of feeding and watering: 20 some layer hens + rooster, 9 chicks, 4 sheep + 6 lambs + 1 non-productive dairy goat, 1 weaner pig, 4 breeding ducks + 10 young ducks, 11 rabbits +2 baby bunnies, 2 quail, 3 barn cats and 1 geriatric farm dog
-washed many loads of laundry and dishes, swept and vacuumed, and cleaned bathroom
-finally decided where, and husband planted Mothers Day honeysuckle and put up trellis
-weeded garden and hilled potatoes
-weeded strawberry bed
-weeded and net blueberries (I forgot last year and we had no blueberries to freeze)
-husband weed wacked and fixed electric fence; we rotated sheep into new pasture
-slept on freshly laundered line-dried sheets (one of the small joys in life)
-made several trips to transit center -last one Sunday at midnight
-finished reading Old School by Tobias Wolff; husband went to watch Aquasox baseball game
-spent an entire evening simply talking with my family
-knit and spun a bit
-made waffles for Sunday morning breakfast
-pulled first turnips from the garden and cooked them in browned butter
-made a menu and shopped for groceries; we filled three cars with gas
-removed dead newborn bunny from next box; two healthy bunnies left
-cleaned rabbit trays
-cleaned duck houses
-planted tomatillo plants in garden
-made Dinners: Duck and Green Bean Curry with quail eggs (click here); Basque-style Shepherdess Lamb, macaroni salad with green relish, green garden salad and turnips in browned butter; fire-grilled pork chops with leftover salads and Greek Dressing and Yogurt Curry Dressing
-had fire in fire pit for relaxed outdoor dinner for just my husband and me (both exhausted after a day of gardening)
-made new cocktail: Strawberry Moon Mojito (click here)
-thought about this post of Jewel's at Applegarth Farm (click here). for several days. 'Home Cook' would be my best answer, followed by 'Farmer's Daughter' as my next best. And after reading this post (click here) I'm reminded of what a good story it is and am searching for our copy of Watership Down to reread.
-finished the weekend with an 8 egg flan!

If I have to choose a favorite...

To answer my own question: If I have to choose, I think these Baja-style Shrimp Meatball Tacos (click here) may just be my favorite of all the meatballs I've made so far. I made these meatballs and froze them, and then put the tacos together for weekend guests (click here) a few days later. They were so incredibly easy to make and were devoured in minutes. It is no big surprise that shrimp, or shrimp and pork mixed together, like I used in making Meatballs for Banh Mi Sandwiches (click here) and Vietnamese-style Spring Rolls (click here), make incredibly delicious meatballs. Choosing a favorite meatball recipe though is like choosing a favorite book; it depends on my mood as to which I will choose on any given day. On another day, the Beef Cocktail Meatballs with Grape Jelly and Chili Sauce (click here) that I didn't think we would like but were such a big hit, could just as easily be picked as my all-time favorite. And then there were those lamb meatballs...

Meatball Mosaic

My project for the past six months was to make a new meatball recipe every week. I had planned to do it all year -meatballs are so incredibly versatile and always welcome at our table - but the unforeseen result of making all these meatballs is that we are all out of ground meat. For now, I am putting the project on hold, but when we again have ground meat in the freezer -I will continue to explore the world of meatballs. Any favorites so far?

Strawberry Moon Mojito

I have been thinking about this celebratory combination since writing my Strawberry Moon post (click here). I pulled two wheelbarrows full of weeds from the strawberry bed today and discovered that the berries are finally ripe -it's time to celebrate STRAWBERRY SEASON!!!!

Strawberry Moon Mojito
In a wide mouth half-pint jar (or something a bit more refined if you prefer) muddle, or crush with the back of a spoon:
6 (chocolate) mint leaves
3 dead ripe organic strawberries
Add:
1 t. to 1 T. powdered sugar
juice from 1/2 lime
Stir to dissolve sugar. Add:
1 c. ice cubes
1 oz. triple sec
2 oz. rum
3 dead ripe organic strawberries
4-5 oz. club soda
Drink while admiring your freshly weeded strawberry bed.

When Spinach Bolts

Spinach is always included on lists of the top 5/10/100 healthiest foods and we always grow it in our garden. My computer tells me that it is 54 degrees in Snohomish, Washington -at midday mind you- only a few days past the summer equinox, and a week before the Fourth of July. Both of my daughters (loudly) wish they lived some place else, and are working towards achieving that goal, but my son absolutely loves the climate and weather of the Puget Sound area. On days like today, he declares it to be the PERFECT weather. Spinach loves it here, too, and June is peak spinach season in our garden. We have been eating LOTS of spinach in our salads, and I made Spinach with Thai Peanut Sauce (click here) the other night (which I LOVE!!). Sooner or later, even with cool temperatures, the spinach will bolt, signalling the end of its season, and that it's time for me to make creamed spinach and crepes. I made Spinach Crepes (click here) a few days ago and served them with chicken-fried cubed beef steaks and gravy made from the pan drippings. It was great. Spinach Crepes may not sound that inviting, but they really are fantastic. And if I freeze quantities of spinach now, we can also have them this winter. They make a great vegetarian meal when served with rice pilaf and a vegetable such as roasted beets or baked butternut squash, they can be made lactose-free by using soy or almond milk and omitting the cheese, and/or omnivorous when serving steak alongside. Making the crepe batter in the morning or the night before, allows me to walk in the door in the evening and rather effortlessly have dinner on the table within the hour. And I can't help but feel quite smug knowing I cooked a 32 cup bowl full of torn spinach, one of the healthiest foods, and my family ate it all by noon the next day. Sure, gravy made with steak pan drippings is on a completely different list of foods than spinach, but never mind that part -this is just the thing to do when spinach bolts.

Rabbitry

The new boys in town -we haven't named them yet. The Soup Queen brought them last time she visited. They are to replace Fat Charlie (click here) and (click here) as breeding sires for our rabbit meat production. Though he can't ever really be replaced -he's one of those special one-of-a-kind animals that steals your heart and keeps it- he no longer produces offspring and is retired from breeding, but not from being petted.



A new little female that my son named Hester. He says she is just how he imagines Hazel, the main character (a male rabbit) in Watership Down to look.



I keep thinking that if I was this small and tasty, I would look scared all the time too. These four rabbits are all cross breeds, which is fine for our meat production purposes. They are New Zealand and Palomino breed crosses and I'm hoping they will be great producers.

It is important to pay attention when caring for animals, but life sometimes overwhelms me and I don't always do a good job of it. I forgot to put in our Pea Patch rescued rabbit, Elle's nest box when I was suppose to (day BEFORE yesterday). I realized this at 5 AM this morning and have severely chastised myself all morning. Luckily, there were no dead newborn rabbits lying on the wire as I had imagined finding. She immediately set to work nesting and rearranging the bedding when I put her box in. I'm hoping to find newborn bunnies tomorrow morning, which I will sell in a couple months on Craigslist for pet bunnies when they look like these adorable black and white ones (click here).