Saponification

Guys, science is so cool. Nothing makes me happier then when I encounter things I learned in science class in real life. It's better than hearing your favorite song on the radio on the car ride home from school (Little lion man-Mumford and sons!). It's better than waking up to a sunny morning in perpetually gray-skied Rochester, NY. Like these, it doesn't happen too often!

So I'm deviating from my theme of food recipes to post something slightly different. This weekend, I made soap! And the reason it was so awesome is because I learned every detail of this chemical reaction in advanced organic chemistry last fall. If you combine fatty acids (from animal fats, vegetable shortening or oils) with a strong base like sodium hydroxide, the esters of the fatty acids will be cleaved to produce an alcohol and a carboxylate salt (aka soap) by nucleophilic acyl subsitution!



Ok I'll stop geeking out now.

So more background details: This past weekend our friends "cutlet" and "ham" from the Toscano Farm were "harvested." Among the many cuts of meat my father brought home was a ridiculous amount of fat. I mean, like half of each pig was made of fat I swear to god. So I decided, in the spirit of sustainable farming, I would try to make soap from this fat instead of throwing it away. Note to my vegetarian readers: You can easily do this recipe WITHOUT using animal fat and it will still work! Just substitute vegetable shortening.

Home-made Soap

Ingredients:

-Pig tallow
-Lavender oil
-Fresh Lavender buds from the yard
-Petroleum/vaseline
-Ice cold water
-100% sodium hydroxide aka lye (I bought this in the form of Roebic's crystal drain opener, available at Lowe's or Ace Hardware. Before you get sketched out by using drain cleaner, just know it is 100% NaOH and is the same as specialty lye products that can be bought online. Also, make sure you do use this brand because the MSDS sheet does verify that it's 100% NaOH and some other drain cleaners do not contain the pure form of this chemical)



First I had to render the animal fat. This was a slightly smelly but easy process that just involved putting fats in a pot on the stove, putting some water in the bottom of the pot, then boiling the fat until the "gristle" floated to the top. This website is helpful to guide you through.

After rendering it, wait for fat to congeal again, then measure it's weight as accurately as possible with a kitchen scale (in pounds).

Next, type your fat's weight into this handy-dandy soap calculator to figure out the ratio of lye/water to add to it.

Next, you'll have to dissolve the lye in ice water according to the ratio from the soap calc. This gets a little tricky because it's an exothermic (heat-producing) reaction that can potentially be dangerous! Wear gloves and eye protection if you have it! First, make an ice-water bath in a large bowl. Drop some salt in there too to lower the temperature. In a GLASS bowl/container, measure out the pre-determined mass of ice cold water and put this in the ice bath, then add the predetermined mass of lye and stir. Things might get steamy!

After making the lye solution, pour it into another bowl that contains your animal fat (in congealed form) and start stirring....keep stirring...keep stirring...I stirred for 2 hours. This might have been extreme but I read online you should stir until it the mixture is thick enough for you to be able to "trace" the path of your spoon in the mixture. At this point, I also added lavender oil and lavender blossoms/leaves from a plant in my yard. You can add any fragrance you like, even oats to give it some texture!



Next, pour the mixture into a mold (I used a glass brownie tray) that has been coated in a layer of petroleum/vaseline. Leave mixture there overnight to set before trying to cut it. It may need to set for 3 days or more after cutting.

Here's how mine turned out!!!

Roasted Reds!

In an effort to save my dolla' bills this year, I have been packing lots of foods to take with me to RIT every day so I don't buy snacks, meals, coffee etc. in the many delicious dining establishments on campus. It may sound crazy but the food is actually really good--there's ben and jerry's ON CAMPUS, a mexican restaurant similar to chipotle (drool), fresh sushi bar where you can get rolls made to order....the list continues.

But back to my point, I've been packing lots of sandwiches. Unlike the Marika you used to know, I can no longer eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after eating them 2x a day for 2 months in Africa. It's sad I know. So I've branched out to turkey and cheese sandwiches, and nothing makes them more flavorful and enjoyable than roasted red peppers inside!! It's amazing what these small strips can do for a bland sandwich. So, here's my grandfather's recipe for roasted red peppers...

Roasted Reds

Ingredients:

Fresh Red Peppers (we bought ours from the Rochester Public Market, recently voted the #1 farmer's market in the United States of America)

...that's it!! Wow so easy right?

First we washed and dried the peppers and set them out on a baking tray. Meanwhile, we preheated the oven to "broil."




Pop those guys in the oven for 20-25 minutes. When they start to get cooked on top, take the tray out and flip the peppers over with salad tongs so they are upside down. Drain excess water from the baking tray and put back in the oven another 15-20 minutes. Now flip the peppers on their sides and cook another 5-10 minutes. Repeat until all sides are roasted!




Now comes the little secret: Prepare a paper bag inside another paper bag. Does this make sense? Just put one large paper bag inside another to make a double layer, then put the whole thing in a large bowl. Now, carefully transfer peppers from the baking sheet into the double bag. Let them sit in there at least 30 minutes. I actually left mine in there for a few hours until they cooled down enough to handle.

Once the peppers are cooled and out of the bag, it will be easy to peel off their skins. Then you can cut them into strips! Yum Yum. Don't forget, a little olive oil and salt will work wonders.




I put a few in a tupperware in the fridge for daily use. The rest I wrapped (in small parcels) in waxed paper and put in a larger tupperware, which I then put in the freezer. If I need to replenish my stash of roasted reds, all I have to do is take one of these parcels out of the freezer and let it thaw out in the fridge!

Viola, exciting sandwiches all winter long!

Here's Nonno eating sandwiches we made with the roasted red peppers. We used olive oil/rosemary ciabatta rolls from Wegmans, one slice of provola cheese, a few slices of mortadella (Italian lunch meat) and our roasted reds to make a delicious sammy.

First in line

The one, the only Julia Dauer is the first to try out a recipe! From the picture below, I would say it was a great success.



Coming to the internet near you: a roasted red pepper recipe. Check back soon!

Something Sweet

What's better than sitting outside at the farmer's market on a sunny, crisp fall morning and drinking a pumpkin spice coffee from Java's? Well, the only thing that could make it better is if you had one of Nonna's "S" cookies to dip in your coffee and munch on. These take an hour or two to prep, but the results are worth it!



Nonna's "s" cookies

Ingredients:
-4 eggs
-1 cup of white sugar
-1/4 cup of shortening
-1/4 cup of vegetable oil
-1 or 2 tsp. vanilla extract
-4-4.5 cups of flour
-1/2 cup milk
-2 tablespoons baking powder
-sprinkles, sliced almonds, marmalade


THE DOUGH
Mix 3 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk in a medium bowl and *save the egg white* in another bowl (I forgot to do this the first time I made these). Add 1 cup of white sugar and using a whisk, fluff the ingredients together for 5-7 minutes. The trick here is to tilt the bowl to the side, and using a circular motion try to fold the bottom layer onto the top layer.

Melt the shortening in the microwave and add this, with the vegetable oil and vanilla extract, to the bowl. Continue to whisk. Add the milk, and whisk some more. Then switch over to using a wooden spoon.

Add the flour (through a sifter) and baking powder to the wet mixture slowly, mixing with the wooden spoon. We used between 4 and 4 1/2 cups of flour but you have to judge based on the consistency of the dough. It should be pretty soft but not too gooey.

Next, sprinkle some flour over your counter top/work surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, adding more flour here if you think it's necessary.



MAKING THE COOKIES

To prepare for this step, preheat the oven to 350 and set out 2 baking sheets covered with wax paper/parchment paper. You should also create an assembly line by having one dish with the egg white, one dish with white sugar, one dish with sprinkles and one dish with sliced almonds all set out on your counter top.

First, cut a piece of dough and roll it into a log shape (approximately the diameter of a sharpie marker).

Cut off pieces and make some shapes.



First, dip each cookie in the egg white, then in the sugar, then add to the baking sheet. For other variations, dip in sprinkles/sliced almonds. These cookies definitely grow large in the oven so leave room in between! Cook at 350 for 15-20 minutes. You want the bottoms of the cookies to be golden brown and have a slight golden color on top! Let them cool and they will get crunchy like biscotti. Dip in coffee and enjoy!

To make the marmalade-filled version:

Roll out a portion of the dough until 1/4 inch thick (don't roll too thin or the cookies will fall apart!). Spread jam over top, but not too much or it will leak out when the cookies are in the oven! Roll up the dough into a log shape, making sure that the final flap of the roll is on top of the log, not underneath. Brush with egg whites and bake according to the directions above. After the logs cool, cut into strips and you should have a pinwheeled jam cookie! Yum!



Here's Anna going to town one of these sweets!

The Debut!

Starting now, Amarikan Life will be featuring a series of my grandma's recipes (from the homeland) for some of my favorite dishes. If you don't know her, Maria Fulciniti (aka Nonna) is without a doubt the worlds best cook. She is also 89 years old. Since I'm living in Rochester for the year, and only 7-8 minutes from her house, I have plans to visit her once a week and learn as many of her recipes as I can before she gets too old to remember them or cook them herself! So, read up, try these out and if you like them send me some comments or pictures! I will show her and she will be pleased.


Pasta e' cecere (pasta with chickpeas)

This is a simple recipe to start with (we were able to whip it up in less than an hour) but also a delicious one.

Here's what you'll need:
-1 large beefsteak tomato (Nonna recommends"from the yard")
-Extra virgin olive oil
-Garlic
-Fresh basil
-1 small hot pepper
-1 can of chickpeas (we used "Cento" canned chickpeas imported from Italy. You could also use dried chickpeas but this will add a lot more prep time to the recipe)
-1/2 a pound of pasta (more about this later)

First, we chopped up the tomato and sauteed it in a medium saucepan with olive oil, garlic, and basil for 10-15 minutes. Then we threw in the hot pepper (whole).




All you have to do next is add the beans and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes. In the mean time, put on pasta water to boil.



Nonna explained to me that one of the most important aspects of this dish is the type of pasta you use with the beans and sauce. We use Anna brand 100% semolina flour pasta imported from Italy (88 cents a pound at Price Right stores). You should try to use imported pasta if you can find it--we like Barilla, Del Cecco, or Anna. Stay away from Wegmans brand/Price Chopper brand if you can.



Additionally, you need to pick a shape of pasta that works well with the dish. We chose "Gnocchi" shape, but other good options would be Tubetini, Elbows, Shells, or Pipette. You need a short, fat pasta with a hole in it so that the sauce/beans will get caught inside and every bite you take will have the appropriate ratio of pasta, sauce and beans. Under no circumstance should you use linguine, spaghetti or any other long, thin pastas.

Once you have cooked and drained the pasta, add it to the beans and sauce and cook them together for 3-5 minutes so the flavors can combine. Serve it hot! Use grated Parmigiano Reggiano if you like.

Here's Nena enjoying the Pasta e' cecere!

Refocusing

I have been failing terribly at writing anything in Amarikan Life this past month (and a half?) since I've been home. I had all these plans to put up pictures and write stories from Malawi. To make a sort-of online scrapbook. Well, I can blame a number of things for keeping me too busy to update: classes, work, car shopping, prepping for interviews....

The real reason, though, is that every time I sat down to write a new blog post, it was too difficult for me to write about my experiences in this format of a short "post." I would need to explain so much background information on Malawian culture, the history of the orphanage, and the many people I met for my stories to make sense, and for you readers to get a true picture of all the craziness that went down in Malawi. So, Amarikan Life is refocusing.

I am going to be writing on a new theme, beginning this weekend, that is completely, totally different from before. Here's a hint, it revolves around my favorite activities: Cooking and eating. Stay tuned for the dramatic change.

Obama!

Everyone here LOVES Obama. The youngest kids on the street go around saying “Obama America” even though they can’t name the president of Malawi if you ask them (it’s Bingu). At the market in Chigamba there is Obama bubble gum (orange and original flavor). When we stop at the gas station, vendors come over to our car trying to sell us “Obama Rolls” (which are actually really delicious sweet breads that taste kind of like challah). The best are the Obama Shitenges, which are the long pieces of material the women here wear as wrap-around skirts or use to tie their babies to their backs. They are usually hilarious cartoons of his face printed in a circle surrounded by stars. I want to buy one but I haven’t been able to find them at the market yet….

Newest developments in my Malawian life are the following:

1) I have been eating the most delicious papayas ever. We buy HUGE, basketball-sized papayas at the market for 30 kwacha (25 cents?) and then squeeze lemon juice on them for ultimate flavor. I've never tasted anything so good. We have also been whipping up bomb guacamole from fresh avocados from the market. Believe me they taste 100% better than avocados in the USA.

2) We are planning a hiking trip this weekend to Mt.Mulanje (the 2nd tallest mountain in Africa). We will be leaving tomorrow morning at 5:30am to take the public transport bus to Blantyre, then continuing on another bus to Mulanje. We will camp tomorrow night at the bottom of the mountain, then leave early in the morning to hike up to a "forestry hut" about a 5-7 hours hike up the mountain. We will stay there Friday night and hopefully explore around the mountain a little bit...We aren't going anywhere near the summit--that would take us at least 3 or 4 days and we don't have the equipment! I'm excited to go though and we are preparing hard boiled eggs and PB and J sandwiches to bring with us..

3) I'm leaving the orphanage on SUNDAY which is crazy to me...I have mixed feelings about leaving-- I am going to miss my little friends here after I leave but I'm also looking forward to coming home and eating a huge bowl of yogurt and strawberries yummmmm!

See you all soon!
I will post many, many pictures after I'm back in the USA because the connection here is too slow for it to work
xoxo