Eat with Dan Easy Strawberry Jam

Eat with Dan Easy Strawberry Jam

Oh how I want to make my own strawberry jam. I’ve taken classes on canning and I’m still uncomfortable with the whole process. Will my jars be airtight? Did I sanitize the jars long enough? Will I poison everyone around me with contaminated canned food? All questions that I ask myself when I’m tempted to try canning.

Photo by Danny Chin

Last week, I took my foodie brother Danny Chin, of Eat with Dan, to brunch and he surprised me on HIS birthday with homemade strawberry jam. What a guy! He told me the process of making the jam is simple and I shouldn’t be intimidated. The key to success to good strawberry jam according to Danny? “Pick ripe strawberries that have that bright strawberry flavor”. We both pick our berries at the amazing Donaldson Farms in Hackettstown, NJ – the place is gorgeous and its produce is outstanding.

This delicious jam is bursting with strawberry flavors and isn’t too sweet. It requires no candy thermometer or expensive equipment. It’s perfect on a hot English muffin.

Connect with Eat with Dan

Have I mentioned that Danny’s a very talented photographer specializing in fashion and food? For amazing, drool-worthy food photography, do yourself a favor and follow Danny on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram.

Ingredients:

  • 2 quarts ripe strawberries
  • 1 1.75-ounce box SURE-JELL Fruit Pectin
  • ½ tsp. butter
  • 7 cups granulated sugar, measured into separate bowl

Directions:

  1. Bring large pot/canner half full of water to a boil over high heat.
  2. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan on the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.
  3. Destem and crush strawberries thoroughly. Place exactly 5 cups of crushed strawberries into 6- or 8-quart pot. Add the pectin to the berries in pot and stir to combine. Add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim any foam with metal spoon. 

    English Muffin with Jam

  4. Immediately ladle the mixture into prepared jars, filling to within ¼ inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Carefully lower jars into the pot of boiling water or canner. Important: Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches – add boiling water to the pot if needed. Cover the pot and bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely.
  5. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lids with finger – If the lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary (up to a month).

Note: you can expect properly-sealed jars of jam to last about two years when stored in a cool, dry place. Once opened, keep your homemade jam in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Yields about eight (1-cup) jars.

Recipe based on this.

2nd Annual FryFest

2nd Annual FryFest

Fried Mac & Cheese

Fried Mac & Cheese

The second installment of FryFest is behind us. Much like the 2013 FryFest, this year’s all-fried event was held on a beautiful late summer day.

This year, we fried a few of last year’s favorites along with new items. Here’s what my brother-in-food, Danny Chin of Eat with Dan, and me served our 13 guests:

Finger Food

Corn Dogs – Veronique

Arancini (Rice Balls) – Veronique

Spring rolls -Danny

Fried Ravioli – Veronique

Poutine – Veronique & Danny

Fried Onion Rings – Veronique & Danny

Danny Chin Making Spring Rolls

Danny Chin Making Spring Rolls

Entrée

Fried Chicken – Danny

Fried Mac & Cheese – Veronique

Dessert

Fried Oreos – Veronique & Danny

Fried Candy Bars – Veronique & Danny

Zeppolis – Veronique

The corn dogs were super with a light batter of flour and corn meal giving the dogs a slight crunch with a hint of sweetness.

The Arancini might have been my favorite with a creamy risotto interior and golden brown crunchy exterior. Perfect way to use up leftover risotto.

Danny’s spring rolls are always a hit and I loved watching him roll over 60 rolls in less than 30 minutes.

Fried raviolis, or as my St Louis friends call them, toasted ravs, were a nice munchies, especially with homemade tomato sauce.

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

For my poutine, I know this will be sacrilegious to my folks in Quebec, I ordered cheddar cheese curds from Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery in Wisconsin. More on those folks in a future post. My handcut fries were double-fried for a perfect balance of creamy inside and crispy outside – yum.

Fried onion rings were a bust this year, bad revision to last year’s yummy rings.

THE fried chicken – absolutely delicious. My pal Danny smartly chose drumsticks, thighs and some tenderloins. For me, it’s all about dark meat and the overnight buttermilk bath combined with the seasoned flour coating made for a juicy, flavorful and crispy delicacy – well done my friend!

Fried mac & cheese – yes, it’s slightly irresponsible, health-wise, but so darn tasty. I made my extra cheesy macaroni and cheese recipe for this and will do full instructions in a future post. Guest at the dinner who works with local restaurants told me I should help out some restaurants with their version after tasting mine!

Fried Oreos and bite size candy bars went into a simple, slightly sweet batter. Super tasty and a recipe will come soon – I promise.

Fried Oreos

Fried Oreos

I’d made my super easy Zeppolis last year and made them again as they were a hit. For a fun touch, I used brown paper sandwich bags, added powdered sugar to them and place 2-3 hot Zeppolis inside for each guest to shake and eat without sharing.

It was a fun night which is now followed by tons of dieting and exercise, of course. I couldn’t have done it without Danny and my friend Lisa who was a huge help with the a la minute frying.       

Have you liked Eat with Dan on Facebook? Have you followed him on Twitter? Do it now for drop-dead gorgeous food photos.

Cheers,

Veronique

First Annual FryFest

First Annual FryFest

Egg Roll Making

Egg Roll Making

Last night, I co-hosted the First Annual FryFest with my friend and fellow foodie, Danny of Eat with Dan. While not the picture of healthy eating, it was way fun evening filled with only foods that were fried.

Fried Raviolis

Fried Raviolis

The guests were treated to an egg roll wrapping demo by Dan and his beautiful bride, Melissa. The pair hand-rolled 50 egg rolls then fried them to perfection. They were by far the best egg rolls I’ve ever had and that was the consensus with the rest of the guests. What a treat!

The piece de resistance of the evening was a deep-fried turkey. The 14-pound bird was brined, coated with my Tangy Dry Spice Rub.  My guy built a pulley contraption to help lower and raise the turkey into the pot of hot oil safely. While I was concerned about things going badly with the whole turkey deep-frying, all went well because of good, smart planning.

Fried Turkey

Fried Turkey

Other items that graced our menu were onion rings in maple-flavored batter, fried Mozzarella, fried raviolis, corn dogs and duck fat fries. Dessert was fried ice cream and Zeppole – Italian fried dough.

Turkey Fryer Contraption

Turkey Fryer Contraption

I’ll share the recipes in upcoming posts so you can recreate them at your home.

The weather was fabulous, the guests were fun, the wine was rosé and the food was decadent and tasty. A fine combination for a great summer evening.

Have you liked Eat with Dan on Facebook? Have you followed him on Twitter? Do it now for drop-dead gorgeous food photos.

Cheers,

Veronique

Mitsuwa Marketplace

Mitsuwa Marketplace

Japanese Rice with Roe

Japanese Rice with Roe

Yesterday, I had a day off and as we’d promised each other for weeks now, fellow meat-product aficionado and New Jersey food photographer/blogger Danny of Eat with Dan and I went to lunch at one of his favorites, Mitsuwa Marketplace.

Situated on the west side of the Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey, Mitsuwa Marketplace is a shopping center straight out of Tokyo.

Mitsuwa Marketplace encompasses a vast selection of Japanese groceries, an extensive wine, beer and sake department and a delicious variety of Japanese foods at cafeteria-style Restaurant Row.

Ramen with Pork Belly

Ramen with Pork Belly

Danny and I first walked around the produce and meat/fish departments to my amazement. After we passed the 20-foot long grocery cooler with sashimi-grade fish and seafood, I remember telling Danny “This is Disney for foodies”. What an incredible array of top-quality grocery items.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

Black Sesame Ice Cream

After our tour, Danny introduced me to his favorite food counters where we got lunch. We opted for the popular Santoka for a bowl of ramen noodles with sides of rice topped with salmon roe and a soy hard-boiled egg. The ramen bowl featured pork belly and hen-of-the-wood mushrooms. The ramen noodles were cooked perfectly, just a bit chewy, and the pork-laced broth was out-of-this-world. The side of rice looked innocent enough, but as I got a chopstickful, I realized how delicious the rice was and what a pleasant brininess the roe offered the slightly sticky rice. Stuff foodie dreams are made of.

Japanes Bakery

Japanese Bakery

The noodles inspired me and I went back to the grocery store to buy all I’d need to fix ramen and udon at home. I even bought the biggest king trumpet mushrooms I’d ever seen.

Take Home Groceries

Take Home Groceries

We ended our adventure with a Japanese pastry and a cup of black sesame ice cream, one of the best ice creams I’ve had.

I’m forever grateful to Danny for introducing me to Mitsuwa Marketplace and for sharing a special foodie journey.

595 River Road, Edgewater, NJ 07020

TEL: (201) 941-9113

Open 7 days/week

Grocery Store: 9:30AM – 9:00PM

Restaurants: 11:00AM – 8:00PM