Chicken Bone Broth in the Crock Pot

Start to an amazing Bone Broth

I've recently been fascinated with learning all I can about food for its health benefits not just for how tasty it is. In my search I've been experimenting with home fermentation. I have mastered a mean sauerkraut (both a Japanese one as well as a traditional one), I've made some pretty great kimchi.  I have delved into making medicinal pickled garlic, today I'll be making some medicinal oils, and one of the families all times favorites is what is now become a weekly ritual of bone broth.  Not only is it really tasty, either by itself, with an egg stirred into it, used as a stock for risotto, soups, or added to any cooking where you would traditionally use chicken/beef broth. But the health benefits are plentiful.

Bone broth is an excellent source of minerals and is known to boost the immune system and it helps improve digestion.  The broth itself is high in calcium, magnesium, amino acids and phosphorus which is great for bone and tooth health.  Bone broth has a high collagen content which supports joints, hair, skin and nails.  In cases of stomach bugs or vomiting, bone broth works to calm the stomach and can help shorten the illness.  

You can make bone broth from bones of chicken, lamb, fish, turkey, beef...etc.  Add in some vegetables, herbs of your choice and you have an amazing immune boosting liquid.  You can add egg shells, which are also rich in minerals and the egg membranes have nutrients that are supportive for joint health.

One thing I love about this is every time I make it it turns out differently depending on what I have in the house to add to it. We have only made chicken bone broth at this point because it's easy to find an organic whole chicken to start the broth. Although I am determined to find myself some organic grass fed beef bones so that I can make a beef bone broth, but as I said the chicken is easy.  We typically each drink a glass or so a day just heated up.  One of our favorite ways to use the broth (other than in cooking) is heat up some soup and whisk in an egg until cooked (similar to an egg-drop soup).

I buy the whole chicken, we roast it for dinner, eat all the meat and all the bones (and giblets) become the base for the broth.

Here's what you need:
2 lbs or more bones, although at this point I've only ever used 1 chicken carcass and it's turned out really good (they need to be high quality, organic/grass fed animal/wild caught fish)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (this is crucial as it helps draw more of the mineral content out of the bone)
Salt/Pepper to taste
*chicken feet, optional (for extra gelatin)

Here's what else you can add:
**The great thing about this is this can now become your "compost" (if you don't typically compost this is a great place to put all your vegetable scraps). Throughout the week as you cut up onions, vegetables, cook with eggs you can put all the scraps and egg shells into a Ziploc and store in the freezer to use when you're ready to make your bone broth.  The options are endless depending on what your family eats.

Here's just a run down of my typical bone broth
1 onion (no need to peel, just cut in quarters put peel, roots and all in broth)
4-5 carrots (rinse and chop roughly)
4-5 stalks of celery including leaves (can use base of celery too)
3 garlic cloves (just crushed, skin and peel left on)
3 roughly chopped green onions including root
2 ends of fennel heads and tops
1 shallot (cut in half, peel and all)
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp sea salt

Here's ideas of other things to add:
Egg shells
Broccoli stalks
Carrot tops & peels (if you happen to peel your carrots)

Here's how to cook it:
Add bones to pot
Cover with water (about an inch above bones)
Add Apple Cider Vinegar and let sit for 20-30 minutes
Now add all your vegetables/herbs/garlic and salt
Cook on low for 24 hours (for poultry)
Cook on low for 48 hours (for beef)
Cook on low for 8  hours (for fish)
When done, strain (with cheesecloth or a very fine strainer) and store in fridge for 5 days or in the freezer.
During the first few hours of simmering you may need to remove the impurities that float on the surface (although I've never had a problem with this), throw this part away. Usually check every 20 minutes for the first 2 hours.

Now don't be concerned if once you put your bone broth in the fridge that it becomes jello like, as that's a good sign. That's a sign of high gelatin content, feel free to scrape that off and use the gelatin for roasting vegetables, or other cooking uses.

Natchitoches (Louisiana Meat Pie)

Natchitoches, pronounced "Nack-uh-dish" is a meat pie that originated in the city of the same name near the Texas border in Louisiana. I was determined to mix up our dinner menu this week after being stuck in a rut for a little bit, and found this recipe and it sounded good. The original recipe did call for the meat pies to be deep fried but we don't typically fry things so we opted to bake them instead.

It's a simple recipe and one of the great things is you can make all the ingredients and freeze them to be served later.

Filling for Natchitoches

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped fine

1 green bell pepper, minced

6 scallions, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup chicken broth

Mix all ingredients and set aside until dough is ready.

Dough

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tablespoons butter (or vegetable shortening)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 large egg lightly beaten

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in stand alone mixer (or food processor if yours is big enough). 

Add butter/shortening and mix until it resembles coarse cornmeal.

Add broth and egg until dough just comes together

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and knead until dough forms smooth ball (about 20 seconds)

At this point you can refrigerate the dough if wanted, or work with it immediately

You can choose to make individual meat pies or a large one. 

Roll dough out and place meat filling in middle. 

Seal meat pies and make sure to cut slits in the top before placing in the oven

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

***You can make them and then wrap in foil and place in freezer before cooking to be eaten later. 

Coconut Drip Cake

Some call this a "drip cake," a "poke cake," "tres leches." I call this cake the most amazing cake I've ever eaten. Seeing that our wedding cake was coconut I've dreamed of a good coconut cake since my wedding 14 years ago and sadly haven't come close. That was until yesterday. I was a little hesitant when I made this cake for a few reasons but the main reason I like a moist, but not soggy cake. I hate eating cake and ice cream together because the ice cream melts and ruins the texture of the cake. So when I read this recipe although all the ingredients together sounded delectable it would really depend on the final product to see if the texture was too mushy.  It wasn't, instead it was the most moist, delicious, coconut cloud on a plate.  This is only the second time I've used cake flour and I will say I can never go back to All Purpose flour for my cakes or cupcakes, the cake flour really does make such a difference. I also will never use vanilla extract again now that I've found vanilla bean paste, it is the experience of actual vanilla beans without having to buy and scrape my own vanilla beans.

Cake
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk

Topping
1/2 can condensed milk
1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Generous handful of unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 9X9 cake pan
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy
Beat in vanilla
Add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the down the bowl after each addition
At low speed beat in buttermilk until just combined
Add flour mixture in three batches mixing until each addition is just incorporated
Spread batter evenly in pan and tap on counter to eliminate air bubbles
Bake 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean
Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes
Use a fork to puncture all over the surface of the cake
Combine condensed milk & coconut milk and pour all over cake
Let cake cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours
Using whisk attachment on a stand mixer, gently whip up cream, sugar and vanilla bean paste
Spread over cake and cover with a sprinkling of shredded coconut.
***The original recipe was double this, so 4 cups + 2 tablespoons cake four, 1 full can condensed milk, 1 full can coconut milk, etc. However seeing that there was only a few of us to serve I didn't want a ton of cake. If I was taking this to a party I would definitely double this recipe.