Mess of Greens

full bellies | warm welcomes

How To

Homecook How-tos: The Ice Ring

by Leave a Comment

 
What you need:
3-5 lemons, sliced in rings
green herbs (mint and thyme are my faves)
6-10 cups of boiled water
1-2 cups of ice
A bundt pan
Now, there’s something to know about ice rings… whatever you want to show up on the TOP of the ice ring should be on the bottom of your bundt pan. This means that unless you have a clear glass bundt pan you won’t really know what the ring will look like until you unfreeze it. As you’re positioning your lemons and herbs, just be sure to put enough greenery underneath the lemons so it shows up. Then, you’ll want to add some water (just enough to freeze all your stuff together NOT enough to float the lemons and herbs). You’ll also want to add about 1-2cups of ice to weigh all the lemon slices down and make sure they didn’t float. Then, you’ll put the whole shebang into the freezer for about an hour.

At this point pull out any ice that didn’t freeze, and add another layer of water, then freeze it. Do this two more times.

When it’s time to remove your ice ring, flip the bundt pan over into your punch bowl, wrap a warm, wet towel around it, until the outside of the ring melts and it falls out.
You may find that your lemons/herbs/whatever else you used to decorate your ring may be covered in a bit of water. You can use a hair drier to melt a bit of that water so that your ring looks snazzy. This isn’t totally necessary as the whole thing will slowly melt into your punch anyway. 😉
 
it’s so easy, right? and so lovely…. I wish punch in bowls was more of a thing! I think I’m going to try to bring it back since punch in jars is so popular at swanky bars.

 

Homecook How-to: Homemade Chicken Broth

by Leave a Comment

 
If there’s one thing that every down-home cook needs to know how to do, it’s how to make homemade stock.  Thankfully, it’s SUPER easy, economical, and adds incredible flavor to any dish that calls for chicken stock. Here’s how to do it.
 
Homemade Chicken Stock
Makes about 12 Cups
What you need:
-4 whole large carrots or 1/2 to 1 cup of baby carrots (OR you can also use 1/2 to 1 cup of carrot ends and tops that you’ve saved & frozen from other cooking)
-4 large celery stalks (OR 1 cup of celery tops and ends, saved & frozen from other cooking)
-A large stock pot
-1 whole hen (I had a roasting hen, which works fine, but is MUCH bigger than a regular old hen. ALSO I am VERY partial to Sanderson Farms chicken, as the chicken is super juicy, the company is based in my hometown, plus all of the staff and the Sanderson family are just great people.) OR, if you aren’t using the chicken meat for another recipe (see Chicken and Dumplings),  You can use a chicken carcass/saved bones from other cooking that you’ve done.
-Enough water to cover your hen and veggies
-1 large bunch of parsley and thyme
-1 whole red/yellow onion cut into 4ths or 6ths. (Also, if you have onion skins saved, those can be thrown in as well to give the broth a richer, deeper color)

What you do:

Salt the pot, then Put it ALL in a pot, pouring water over until the hen is entirely covered (or nearly covered) and boil for 30 minutes, then simmer for at least 3 hours. If you’re using a whole hen, this will make the meat just fall off the bone and be ready to shred for other recipes.
 
Once it’s ready, remove from the heat and strain the broth, retaining the chicken and letting it cool so that you can easily (and safely without burning your fingers off) remove the meat.
Throw the vegetables away, and place the broth in a container in the refrigerator overnight or until the fat rises to the top and becomes firm.
 
Once the fat has floated to the top and hardened, you can VERY easily skim it off the top, making it a bit healthier.
 

See? It’s SO easy once everything has cooled. However, don’t throw this down your sink. Make sure to put the fat in a plastic bag or jar so that it doesn’t clog up all of your pipes.

You’ll be left with a gorgeous colored gelatin that can be frozen OR used immediately in your soups, stews, or other recipes. it’s SO cheap to make, especially if you’ve been saving your vegetable odds-and-ends in a plastic bag in the freezer. Also, don’t be alarmed about the gelatinous texture… once you heat it up it’ll turn back into a liquid.