Cooking with Kefir and a Chocolate Mousse Tart

My latest fermentation project, following in the footsteps of sauerkraut and bread starter, has been to culture kefir. To maintain this culture, you simply transfer a tablespoon of kefir to a fresh cup of milk and let it sit on your kitchen counter for about 24 hours. The result is a tart, thickened milk that I've started deploying in all sorts of guises. 

Using regular pint Mason jars for the culturing lends itself to preparing smoothies with my favorite trick of screwing the blender blade directly onto the jar. If you like, you can make yourself a daily smoothie after passaging a tablespoon of kefir for the next batch.

I've been preparing smoothies with about a cup of kefir, a half banana, and a teaspoon each of honey and chia seeds, which make a perfect midmorning snack.

I also found that adding a spoonful of kefir resulted in an extremely exuberant bread starter crumpet batter (reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn's waffle batter from Woman of the Year) and deliciously spongey crumpets.

For ~1 cup of old bread starter (~250 grams), add 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon kefir. Mix well and then add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and pour into well-oiled crumpet rings on a hot, well-oiled skillet to cook.

A final, recent use for my kefir was to add a bit of tartness to a chocolate mousse tart. Truth be told, this tart, for my son's birthday, was entirely motivated by my desire to use up a rye flour pie crust I had prepared for Thanksgiving and then accidentally left behind in the freezer when we dashed to the coast. Rye and chocolate is a classic combination, and filling a pie crust with chocolate mousse seemed like an easy way to please a newly minted eight year old.

I started with this recipe, and then, inspired by the success of using creme fraiche in chocolate fondue, I whipped in some kefir with the heavy cream (I've also used my kefir to culture heavy cream into creme fraiche, which works very well, but in this instance, I didn't have time). The resulting tart was a big success with the beaming birthday boy. 

Chocolate Mousse Tart with a Rye Crust

pie crust (based on Heidi Swanson's recipe)

1/3 cup (38 g) rye flour (I used rye flour from Lonesome Whistle Farm)

3/4 cup (88 g) unbleached all purpose white flour

1/8 tsp salt

4 Tbsp butter (1 stick), cut into 1/2 inch cubes

~1/6 cup ice water

Combine the flour and salt in a food processor and mix. Pulse in the butter cubes until they are lima bean sized. Then add enough water for the dough to just come together when you press it between your fingers. Mold into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out into a 12 inch disc, drape into a buttered tart pan, flute the edges and patch where you need to, and now chill again for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cover the crust with aluminum foil and use rice or beans as pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes, then allow to cook completely before you fill the crust.

chocolate mousse

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 kefir (or creme fraiche)

1/4 cup sugar

1. Pulse the chocolate, vanilla and salt in a food processor until the chocolate is in small pieces. Bring 1 cup cream to a boil in a heavy small saucepan. With the processor running, gradually pour the hot cream through the feed tube and process until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

2. Beat remaining 1 3/4 cups of of cream, 1/4 cup kefir, and 1/4 cup sugar in large bowl to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Pour the mousse into prepared crust. Chill until set, about 6 hours. 

Teff Grain Banana Muffins

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm, Fair Valley Farm, and Tiger Lily Art Company:

Watermellon, honeydew melons, cantaloupes, and other heirloom melons

Bartlett pears (delicious on pizza or in pancakes)
Akane apples and Asian pears from SLO Farm (add to a barley salad)
heirloom tomatoes, romas, and tomato deals: 10 lbs/$18, $20 lbs/$30 (make baked polenta)
corn, green beans and yellow wax beans (make a savory corn pudding)
delicata squash (no need to peel this delicate winter squash, just roast as "squash candy")
pepperoncini, poblanos, red hot cherries, anaheim chiles, and assorted pepper bargain bags

eggplants, fresh spring garlic, and onions (make ratatouille)

cucumbers and zucchini (try shredded zucchini)

carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, and celery (make Pad Thai)

French sorrel and cutting celery (great as a pesto for soup)

new potatoes and beets (make a hash)

fresh herbs including dill, parsley, basil, and cilantro 

bietola, kale, chard, and a variety of lettuces (make lettuce wraps)

dried beans and grains from Camus Country Mill (make these teff grain muffins)

jams, salsa, and pickles from Sweet Creek Foods

pastured chickens from Fair Valley Farm (cook up a pot of Pueblan chicken tinga)

floral arrangements from Tiger Lily Art Company

The Fairmount Farmers Market is a great place to learn about our local food production and to discover interesting local grains and beans. It was through the market that I discovered teff, a protein-packed, fine-kerneled grain that is delicious in porridges and pancakes. With two school age kids to rouse in the darkening mornings and send trudging off to crowded classrooms shouldering heavy backpacks, I wanted to make them some homemade snacks to sustain them through the school day. I experimented with adapting a smitten kitchen banana bread recipe, using Camas Country Mill's teff grain in place of millet, which produced tasty, tender, crackly muffins. Visiting Camas Country Mill was one of my daughter's all time favorite school trips, so I was interested to learn about Camas Country Mill's efforts to restore an old, one-room country school house and turn it into an educational center for their mill. Supporting this project, like baking tasty school snacks from local grains, is another way to teach our children about sustainable food production.

Teff Grain Banana Muffins

adapted from smitten kitchen's crackly banana bread, makes one dozen muffins

3 large ripe-to-over-ripe bananas

1 large egg

1/3 cup (80 ml) virgin coconut oil, warmed until it liquefies, or olive oil

1/3 cup (65 grams) light brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cups (180 grams) whole-wheat flour (I used Red Fife from Lonesome Whistle Farm)

1/4 cup (50 grams) uncooked teff (from Camas County Mill, or substitute millet, as in the original recipe)

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.  Dollop a 1/4 tsp coconut oil into each of 12 muffin tins. Warm briefly in the heating oven to melt, and spread around the muffin tins with a brush to coat.

2. In the bottom of a large bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon until virtually smooth but a few tiny lumps remain. Whisk in egg, then oil, brown sugar, syrup and vanilla extract. 

3. Mix together baking soda, salt, ground ginger, flour, and teff. Stir into the banana mixture until combined. 

4. Use an ice cream scoop to fill each muffin tin (makes 12 small or 10 medium muffins).  Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.