Homemade Butter! No Kidding!

You wonder who would bother to make their own butter. Well, it tastes better if you ask me. Also it is annoying to buy the whole block if all you need is just a little to go with your homemade white muffin or homemade whole-grain muffin. Or maybe you want to see if I am kidding you.

By the way, if you make your own Crème fraiche, you will have that heavy cream sitting around. Here is another way to use it besides whipping it up with sugar.

Ingredients:

• Very cold heavy cream (about 36-40% butterfat)
• A small, clean and sterilized jar

Directions:

1. Pour the cold heavy cream into the sterilized jar to about half way full.
2. Shake it like a mad man for 20 minutes. This can be done very quickly in a food processor as well.
3. The milk fat will solidify into a lump and separate from the whey.
4. Drain out the whey and keep the butter frozen or refrigerated. 

Notes:

• It is much easier and faster to do this in a food processor but, hey, this special recipe is for our uncluttered, simple life members.
• By the way, you can do this trick to impress someone, I hope.
• You can add herbs and spices into the heavy cream and shake out a flavored butter. 
• You can keep the leftover whey for baking recipes that call for buttermilk.

Homemade Crème Fraiche!

Ingredients: 

• 1 cups heavy whipping cream (at least 36-40% milk fat.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk (real buttermilk with a live culture in it.)

Directions:

1. Clean a jar thoroughly and sterilize it in boiling water for 10 min. Let it dry completely before using. 
2. Pour the heavy cream into the clean jar and add the buttermilk.
3. Mix together and cover with cheesecloth (I use twine to tie it up), a coffee filter or something breathable.
4. Leave it at a warm spot (about 70°F - 75°F) for 24 hours until thickened.
5. Keep refrigerated for 24 hours before using. It lasts about a week or two.

Notes:

• You can slightly warm the cream up first before mixing in the buttermilk to speed up the process. Basically the warmer it is, the faster the reaction is. 
• Unlike sour cream, the cream won't curdle and break when cooked.
• It's tart and tangy with a deeper flavor and a nutty note, better than sour cream.

Ratatouille.

This is a simple vegetable stew dish and the flavor starts from saute-ing some onions to caramelize them and also to take off the edge of its harsh, sulfurous quality in the taste.

Ingredients (yield 2 servings):

• 2 tablespoons light olive oil
• 1/4 cup of onion, diced into quarter-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup of eggplant, diced
• 1 teaspoon of tomato paste
• 1/4 cup of tomato concasse
• 1 tablespoon of garlic, chopped coarsely
• 1/4 cup for each of red, yellow, and green peppers
• 1/4 cup of zucchini, diced
• 1 tablespoon for each of freshly chopped thyme, parsley, oregano
• 1 to 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil for finishing touch
• toasted baguette or brown rice (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat up the pan on medium high and saute some onions with olive oil until it's softened and browned on the edges. 

2. Add the diced eggplants and saute for a while. eggplants need to be fully cooked in order to taste good. They are also very "thirsty" like a sponge and tend to absorb a lot of oil. Add more oil as you go if you observe the pan dries up too quickly.
3. Add garlic and tomato paste to the bottom of the pan and saute it until it changes from a very bright red color to brick-like red. This will add the color and flavor to the dish. Make sure it doesn't burn. When it dries up and start to stick to the pan, that's when you need to dump in the tomato concasse or diced tomatoes. Turn the heat to medium and add diced bell peppers, zucchini. Stir up for 2 minutes.
4. Add the stock just to cover all the ingredients and let it stew on medium low heat. Add chopped herbs. Put the lid on and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook till the vegetables are very tender.  
5. Serve with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and a toasted baguette. There you go a nice light lunch.

Note:

• Add cooked beans, grains for a more sustainable vegetarian meal.
• Add green beans, peas, corns, carrots, or even tofu, whatever you have.
• Add diced chicken breasts (my homemade ready-to-go chicken breasts recipe) or leftover sandwich ham, turkey, if you are not a vegetarian.