[Sca-cooks] Playing with my food again...

[Phlip]

OK, a couple days ago, I tried Adamantius' Pork Shoulder recipe. Ant of you
who like pork, try it- it's absolutely excellent ;-) Only one
warning/modification- throughout it, he refers to lifting up the "fat" to
get the rub in- I emailed him about it, because our shoulder came with fat
and skin- yes, partially remove the fat _AND SKIN_.

The meat was flavorful and tender, the skin was delightfully crisp, and very
much a tasty addition to the rest of the shoulder. Rob and Margali
apparently didn't like the skin, so poor suffering me had to eat it all up-
Woe is me, woe to my cholesterol, but DAMN, it was good ;-)

And, those of you who don't think you'll like the skin- don'r remove it,
other than the loosening you do to get the rub into the meat. Replace it,
and salt it, even if you think you won't eat it, because the skin is what
keeps all the juices in, and makes the meat so utterly delectible.

Anyway, off to my personal adventures.

I'm a member of Freecycle- in fact, I'm a member of 4 Lists, one of which I
moderate, and another of which I'm back-up moderator. If you want to find
out what I'm talking about, go to www.freecycle.org . Anyway, a couple of
days ago, an OFFER came across one of the Lists- "Free Spinach- you pick".
Spinach being one of my favorite vegetables, I posted him immediately, and
told him I was definitely interested in as much as he was willing to give
us.

Yesterday AM, Rob and I went over- it seems they had planted too much, and
they wanted to get rid of it all, so that they could plant something else in
those two rows- AND he wanted to thin his beets, so in addition to three big
bags of spinach (another endless spinach day- took me 6 hours yesterday to
clean it all) I got a big bag of beet greens AND he met us at the door with
a pound of blueberries he had just picked from his bushes that morning. Oh,
woe is me!!!!

Well, I spent yesterday cleaning the spinach (it was just starting to bolt,
and there were some pretty hefty stems and seed to remove), cleaned the
beets this morning, and blanched and froze them, sorted out a bunch of
things relating to Pennsic Land Grab, finished drying and folding the fabric
I've been dyeing the last couple days ( a 5 yard bolt, a 10 yard bolt, and
400 sq. ft of curtain walls for my smithing shelter- and a tunic) and
finally had time for the blueberries ;-)

The following recipe, cobbled together from a few I Googled came out
wonderfully, AND it's celiac friendly (think it could be diabetic friendly,
too, if you subbed in Splenda for the sugar, but I haven't tried that yet.

Aine's Blueberry Bake

(named for a friend who is celiac, and whom, therefor, has inspired me to
experiment more with masa harina, in lieu of flour).

3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons corn starch
1 cup water
Healthy dash of lemon juice
3 cups fresh blueberries, picked over

butter for the baking pan

Dash of cinnamon

Mix sugar, water, corn starch, and lemo juice, and bring to a boil. Add
cleaned blueberries to the boiling mixture, take off heat, and gently stir
until all the berries are coated and the liquid starts to turn purple/blue.
Turn into a buttered pan (I used an 8 X 11 pyrex) and sprinkle with
cinnamon- just dust it- you don't want a strong cinnamon flavor.

Topping-

1 cup masa harina
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4  cup boiling water
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix salt and masa in a biggish bowl. Stirring constantly, add boiling water
gradually- try to keep smooth, but don't worry too much about lumps- then
mix in melted butter. In another bowl, beat eggs until they thicken a bit,
and add milk and combine with eggs, then mix into masa mixture, and now you
want it to be smooth. When it is, pour gently over the blueberry mixture in
an even layer, hiding the berries completely.

Bake in a 350 oven (preheated) until the blueberries just start to bubble up
over the spoon bread -about 45 minutes.

Spoon gently into a bowl, and enjoy ;-)

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....