Monday, December 31, 2012

Last of the Dragon's Breath!


The new year rolls around and a new batch of wings is born.As we are about to leave the Dragon's year I thought some dragon's breath wings might be appropriate. Snacking on some kettle fried jalapeno tater ', chips a little while back I thought 'Hmmmm,could be a nice coating for some hot wings"! So, idea born and on new year's eve brought to fruition.
  The main idea here is to make wings to the heat of your liking so look in the pantry/fridge for condiments with the heat you desire. In this case we chose a commercial buffalo wing sauce, some habanero hot sauce, cholula hot sauce, alegro marinating sauce, sweet,spicy mango marinade and some pace medium picante sauce.

The frozen wing sections came in  a 4 pound zip closure bag so we used that for the marinating process...
  The night before you want wings, pour the above ingredients into the bag of chicken along with a cup of vinegar and whatever dry ingredients you think you can handle...chili powder, cajun seasoning, HABANERO powder etc...Let wings marinate overnite in cooler or fridge. Drain marinade into saucepan.
    Crush jalepeno tater chips, add a couple tsp corn starch and some hot chili powder (habanero for extra heat). Dredge wings in chips, place on lightly greased baking pan and place in 425 degree oven. After 10 minutes lower oven temp to 350, turn wings and resume cooking for another 15 minutes.  While chicken is cooking reduce marinade in sauce pan to make dipping sauce. Grab a bunch of napkins, a cold drink and eat 'em up! Happy New Year!


Thursday, December 27, 2012

Shlappy Happy Holiday


A new favorite recipe I found from a NY Times article, and have tested and tweaked over the last couple of days.  In addition to the sharp ginger zip, this puppy packs  a "punch" and is as sweet or not as you like...

Monday, December 24, 2012

Desperation Chili

You are desperate for chili - a thick, rich, steamin' bowl but NOT Wolfbrand.  Alas, no time to prep Keefer Ranch beef and other additives to let simmer all day long.  Here is a 1 to 2 hour option.
 
1 lb coarse ground beef (chili grind)
1 lb ground buffalo (available at Walmart if you can believe it) or use 2 lbs of that chili grind
1 lb Jimmy Dean Regular pork sausage
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (Hunts)
1 package of Williams Chili Seasoning
3 or 4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
1 c chopped onion
1/2 t habaƱero pepper powder (optional - more if you dare)
4 cups water with beef, chicken or tomato bouillon (add more or less to desired soupy-ness)
 
Get out that big chili pot
Saute onion in a little olive oil
Brown beef, buffalo, and sausage
Add chipotle, bouillon, habaƱero and chili seasoning mix
Simmer 1 to 2 hours, adjust liquid, skim fat, and serve with the following:
 
Grated cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Chopped avocados
Chopped onion
Fritos
 
Yummo

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Rum Balls - For Medicinal Purposes

Step one
- buy RUM

- Bacardi 151

The original recipe is the Bourbon Ball recipe in the Joy of Cooking. If you use the cookbook version, the dough is always to dry.
So my rule of thumb is -
add more rum.
·2 T cocoa
· 1 c powdered sugar - sift cocoa and sugar together in a large bowl
· 1/4 to 1/2 c rum ( sometimes I add a little Triple Sec)
· 4 T light Karo - mix in 1 c measure (you may need more of the rum/Karo mixture if the dough is to dry)
· 2 1/2 c vanilla wafer crumbs - that's about 1 box vanilla wafers ground up in the food processor (the original recipe allows for ginger snaps as an option - might be good)
· 1 c chopped pecans
Add crumbs and nuts together with the cocoa and sugar in the large bowl. 
 Add liquid and mix.
If crumbly, make more rum/Karo mix and add a little at at time.
The dough should be a bit sticky since the cookie crumbs soak up liquid as they sit.
Form into bite sized balls and roll in granulated sugar
Store in air tight container until time to serve.
These are very strong - use regular rum if you want milder Rum Balls (a bit dull...)
Do not eat and drive.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Rock Hard Polish Babka - Still Tasty




Careening thru "how to prepare the perfect loaf" like a drunk Carny at the county fair on a Friday night, I parked my bumper car up against a page titled German Kugelhopf, but eventually staggered to the adjacent image of a frosted Polish Babka.  The above Seinfeld reference being the sum total of my cultural exposure to the Babka; sooo, with a quick tug from the vodka bottle, I grabbed my bread robot by the scruff of his neck and jumped back into action... (click below to see the recipe)



Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Tis The Season

What a fantastic bunch of recipes, and the pictures have my mouth watering like a salivating pavlovian pooch.  I can't wait to try several of these out!  This time of year I get a bit manic about cooking, so your blog is just the place for me to dwell while I have the time. Something about the baking process, and resulting smells help air out old memories of glorious holidays and great times of yore.  



My first shot across the Christmas bow started Friday night.  Gwen had brought back a library book, "Bread Machine" by Jennie Shapter.  I was more than a tad curious about how this book's secrets and my available time could combine into a bake fest extravaganza.  While flipping thru the gloriously oversized pictures of sweet and savory carbs,  I dusted off the mechanical bread robot, and while flipping thru, watched it from the corner of my eye as it stood at attention, appearing to await my any command. I finally landed on a recipe for Mixed Peel Braid, and I made do with what I had instead of what it called for.
(I've placed a jump break in, so click the blog title to view the recipe)

Sunday, November 25, 2012

A Tale of Two Cookies



 

First, set some butter out to soften and pour a glass of tea.










Swedish Cardamom Cookies
2 sticks butter, softened
1 c brown sugar
1 T Karo syrup
1 egg yolk
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t ground cardammom
1 t baking powder
2 c flour


Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer or use a hand mixer; add egg yolk and Karo, mix well.
Mix dry ingredients; add to wet ingredients and mix well.
Form into 2 rolls; wrap in platic wrap and chill 1 hour (I make my roll 'squared' so my cut cookies don't look like flattened round cookies)
Slice 1/4 in slices; press into red sugar crystals and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Cook on wire rack; when cool, store in airtight container
 


Cherry Christmas Cookies
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c sour cream
3 1/2 c flour
1 t ground nutmeg (fresh is best)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Candied cherries; cut in half reserved to top each cookie

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer; add eggs and sour cream; mix well.
Mix dry ingredients and add to wet mixture; mix completely.
Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet (I use a cookie dough scoop) or you can roll into smooth teaspoon sized balls (this makes more uniform and smooth cookies); top with half cherry.
Bake 12 minutes; remove from oven and cool on wire rack.  These cookies will look very pale - that's good; these cookies should not be browned or golden
Store in airtight container and share. 




Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Cranberries Times Two

I got this recipe for Roasted Cranberries from a friend a few years ago and have only made one substitution (Harvey's Bristol Cream for brandy) and one addition (red pepper flakes).  This recipe is very good and a little spicy.

Roasted Cranberries
2 12-oz packages of fresh cranberries; washed and squishies removed
2 c sugar
1/2 cup Harvey's Bristol Cream
red pepper flakes to taste

Spread berries in a single layer on a slightly greased 15 x 10 x 1 jelly roll pan
Pour sugar over berries evenly and cover tightly with foil
Bake at 350 for 1 hour
Remove pan from oven and turn oven off
Remove foil and pour sherry over berries and stir gently 
Replace pan in hot oven for 5 min
Remove from oven and spoon berry mixture into jelly jars
Serve chilled or at room temperature with turkey if you feel traditional
Or, slather over cream cheese and spread on crackers
Or, try it on a bagel.



This raw cranberry relish is the cranberry sauce I grew up with.  Yes, it is best with all the sugar (my mom reduced it and we rebelled).
Raw Cranberry Relish
2 12-oz packages of fresh cranberries; washed and squishies removed
2 c sugar
2 naval oranges; ends and seeds removed, skin on

In a food processor, chop cranberries and oranges in slices until pieces are small and uniform.
Mix chopped fruit with sugar and chill overnight.
Serve with turkey.
Or, if you are Ivy, just eat it by the spoon full.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

MMMM Gumbo





A rainy Cold Sunday after a week in the 70's seemed like a good day for Gumbo.  My normal Gumbo Recipe is called "Geneva's Quick Gumbo" found in my copy of "The Black Family Reunion Cookbook."  I have made a few changes so here is my version:










1 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced Anaheim green peppers (or pepper of your choice)
1 T olive oil
3 or 4 cups chicken broth (I use 4 so the Gumbo is soupier)
1 can (14oz) Hunts diced Fire Roasted tomatoes
1 bayleaf
1 T dried thyme
1 T chopped parseley
3 T file' powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound Eckridge smoked sausage (you could use polish or hot links or?)
1 pound shrimp; peeled and deveined
1 pound chicken; pre-cook and pull into bite sized peices (we cook a couple of breasts in the microwave)
1 can (14 oz) green beans, drained (you could use sliced frozen okra, but not me)
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce (optional)

Saute onion and pepper in 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Add undrained diced tomatoes, broth, bayleaf, thyme, parseley, file' powder, garlic powder, and sausage
Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes
During the last few minutes of cooking, add the shrimp, chicken, and green beans
Continue to simmer until shrimp is just cooked
Salt and pepper to taste
Serve over cooked rice with cornbread on the side.



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Dad's Cucumber Salad

If you haven't heard, it's spa week throughout America, so that means my co workers and I have been too busy to go out for lunch, and we have had pot luck all week so this is what I signed up to bring tomorrow.

I know we all have our own versions of this salad, but I'm partial to this one, obviously. :)

Tools you will need are a good sharp chopping knife (both of my good chopping knives were dirty and I was too lazy to wash them, so I just used a pairing (sp?) knife) and a veggie peeler, a cutting board, a couple large bowls and one or two collanders

Start with a bunch of cucumbers, I usually use between 4 and 6 cucumbers depending on size and if they are fresh enough to not have to throw away half.  These are store bought cucumbers so I bought 6 or 7 thinking I would throw away a good amount (which was surprisingly not the case). Wash and peel them, then slice the ends off until you see seeds.

 
 
 
Next, slice them babies up real nice, like so,


Plop them in a collander and lightly salt (one or two pinches) each new layer of cucumbers
 


When you're done slicin', put your collander in another bowl to catch the water, set it aside and let the cucumbers rest for a bit while you make your juice/dressing. We like to call it juice, maybe because it's so good you could drink it.

I like to use a fancy dressing jar to make my juice because it makes it easier to eyeball the ingredients. Start with the vinegar and then add the oil and the rest of the ingredients.  If it's too vinegar-y, add some more oil.  If it's too sweet add a little more salt. Play with the flavors and make it your own.

Next, take your collander full of cuc's and a clean empty bowl over to the sink, I like to put another bowl or collander into the sink to catch all the seeds you'll squeeze out so you dont have to fish them out later.  Get a couple handfuls at a time and squeeze the dickens out of 'em (over the sink).
 
Nevermind my two week old manicure and plop 'em in the new bowl...



Tiger always insists on supervising during this part... she's very picky.


Now set those aside and get your tomatoes, I prefer grape tomatoes because I'm lazy and they require less chopping but whatever tomato you love will do. Mr. Orban usually skins the tomatoes (not kidding) but because it's nearly 11pm and these are for my coworkers I will skip that tedious step (although it is worth it, texture wise).  Since I'm already in slice-mode I'm going to continue the trend and just slice these right up from end to end.  You can dice them however you please.


Cucumbers, meet tomatoes.


 I'm making two different batches, by the way, since I had so many extra cucumbers. The juice will probably only be enough for one of these bowls so I will just make another one when I'm ready to eat it. Now, grab your red onion.  I learned this onion chopping technique from Rachel Ray, first cut onion in half, width wise, and then again at the root.


Turn the quarter on it's side and make long slices into the onion but not so they are falling off,


THEN turn it 90 degrees and slice the strips you just created,

Voila! Nice, uniform, non-fussy diced onion.  Add it to the bowl.


Grab a spatula or spoon and mix ingredients together.

I am waiting to add the juice til tomorrow so it's not soggy, but if it was for me I would add it immediately and also eat it immediately.  My father would cover it, stick it in the fridge and let it sit and marinate in the juices for at least an hour but his children don't often allow such nonsense. Enjoy!!

Recipe:

Salad:
4-6  Cucumbers
Half of a Medium Red Onion
Dry Pint of Grape Tomatoes

Juice:
1/2 C Distilled Vinegar
1/4 C Oil (I used EVOO)
1 T Paprika
2 tsp Minced Garlic
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

OK.  The truth is out.  I have been listening to books on CD when commuting to work for years and lately have discovered Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen mysteries.  These are entertaining "who-done-its" with recipes (mostly cookies) interspersed.  Hannah has an understandable relationship with her mother (Dolores) and is entertaining proposals from two men she is dating (Mike and Norman).  I think she should marry Norman.  Now.
Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies were part of the Plum Pudding Murder and I found several recipes then I searched on-line.  So I choose the cookies that included oatmeal.
I started with the Kelsey Nixon (cookingchanneltv.com) recipe and made a few alterations.  These cookies were delicious while warm from the oven with milk on the side (Ivy was dunking).  They are light and slightly cakey with crispy, caramelized edges.  Yum.

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 overripe banana, mashed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (about half a 12-ounce bag)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.   

Add the eggs and mix well. 
Mash the banana, add to the bowl along with the vanilla and mix well.
Mix in the vanilla. 
In a separate large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. 
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. 
Stir in chocolate chips.  This dough will be wet. 
Drop by 1 to 2 tablespoonful onto parchment lined cookie sheet. 
Bake 12 to 15 min until edges are golden.
Cool on a wire rack.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Lemon-Rosemary Short-bread



2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 T grated lemon zest
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
1 large egg (Wild O Ranch fresh of course)
1 t vanilla
1 t salt (I used 1/2 t)
3 cups flour
Sugar sprinkles - color of the season



Mix butter and sugar in a stand mixer (or use hand mixer) at med. speed for 3min.
Add zest, rosemary, egg, vanilla, and salt; mix for 1 min.
Scrape down bowl; at low speed, add flour until just mixed.
Divide into two portions and shape into rolls wrapped in wax paper or plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Slice into 1/4 inch sections and place on parchment lined cookie sheet; top with sprinkles.
Bake approximately 12 minutes until edges are golden.
Cool on wire rack.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

This recipe (with slight modifications), came from One Girl Cookies cookbook as printed in People Magazine (4/9/2012; page112).


I read 3 (yes THREE) people magazines back to back last night when I couldn't sleep.  The use of rosemary and lemon in a slightly sweet cookie sounded yummy so I decided to try these on my YaYa Sisters (horse friends) at our social tonight.  I will let you know the reviews.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

No-Knead Light Whole Wheat Bread

Thanks to Cathy for setting up this blog! I love cooking and look forward to learning the secrets of our great family cooks. In our house, we tend to do simple recipes over and over again. We eat a LOT of bread, and although I enjoy crispy, European-style artisan bread, I don't enjoy paying artisan prices.
 
A few years ago, the New York Times ran a very popular recipe for no-knead bread that simplified the bread baking process. Soon afterward, a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day was published. This recipe I am going to share is based off the basic light whole wheat recipe in that wonderful book. If you love crisp-crusted, European style bread with a bit of nutritious whole wheat blended in, and would like to make this during the week, then here's the recipe for you. This recipe will make at least two loaves of bread (maybe 3 or 4, depending on how big you make your loaves). It's very easy, and very cheap (about 75 cents a loaf, by my estimation), but it does require some planning ahead, so maybe start it on a day you'll be at home anyway.

Here's all you need:

3 cups lukewarm water (preferably filtered, but if you think your tap water tastes great, go ahead and use that)
2 packets OR 1.5 Tablespoons active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon salt (or to taste)
4.5 cups unbleached white flour
2 cups whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour

A little coarse-ground cornmeal for the baking pan/stone

You will need a 5 liter/1.5 gallon container with a lid, in which you can store your bread dough. A baking stone is nice for making a crispy crust on bottom, but you can also use a cast iron pan or a plain ol' baking sheet.


First of all, you are going to mix the ingredients straight in the storage container. Place the yeast and salt in the container, and then pour in the lukewarm water. You want it to be a little warm, like a bath you might run for a small child, but not scalding hot, because that might kill the yeast.


Looks delicious, right?
Now, in traditional bread recipes, you would have to let the yeast sit a while, but not in this one! Go ahead and start adding the flour. It's helpful to use a measuring scoop, rather than pouring the flour into a measuring cup, because that ensures you are not loading too much flour, which would result in denser bread. You can also play around with the ratio of white to wheat flour, if you like a more or less dense, earthy, wheaty bread.


Next you are going to really put in some elbow grease and mix, mix, mix until the flour is totally blended with the water. The dough is going to be very tough to stir, and very sticky. If you've made bread another way, you will probably think something is wrong with it. But it's perfectly fine! You want it to be sticky. I use a sturdy wire whisk to do this, but you could even use your hands to make sure it gets really well blended.




When it's all blended together, it will be very sticky, as mentioned, and look like this:


Next, you are going to put the container lid on *loosely* (so the yeast can still breathe, but to protect it from drafts) and leave the container in a warmish place on the counter for a couple of hours, during which time the dough should rise quite a bit. Here's where we are now:




And here's where we are after a couple of hours:




So at this point, you can either stick the container in the fridge and bake bread at another time, or we can get down to business and make a loaf!

If you are ready to make a loaf, first you want to prepare your bread board (or pizza peel, if you're lucky enough to have one of those). Take a generous handful of cornmeal and swirl it around in a circle on your board where you will place your loaf:


To make your loaf, first you want to sprinkle some flour on top of the dough in the container, because you're going to stick your hand right down in there and just grab a hunk of dough, and (have I mentioned this already?) it's gonna be sticky!


Next, grab a more or less grapefruit-sized hunk of dough and pull it into a round shape, pinching all the corners down on the bottom of the loaf. Sprinkle some white flour over the top - this is called a "gluten cloak," which I guess serves as a blanket to keep the dough warm while it rises. Or something.






Go live your life for about 20 minutes, then put your baking stone or cast iron pan (if using) into the oven and turn it on to 450 degrees. Wait another 20 minutes, and then your bread should be ready to go! Place a couple of slashes with a serrated knife in the top of your loaf (you could get really artsy-fartsy with this, but I just do an x) and then carefully slide it into the oven!



Sometimes - no, often - I find the loaf does not want to "slide" right off onto the baking stone, so I carefully pick it up and sort of heave it into the oven. Haven't burned myself yet...

Depending on whether you made your loaf bigger or smaller than softball size, and depending on whether your oven runs hot or not, you'll want to bake it for about 35-40 minutes. I usually bake it for about 40 minutes. Your crust should be nice and crispy and golden, and the inside ought to have a nice, dry, even airy crumb - if it is moist or beery smelling at all, you'll need to bake it longer next time.





Et voila! Looks fancy, doesn't it? And as you can see, it is so easy. We make this bread every other day. (Since it does not have any preservatives, you'll want to eat it within 2 or 3 days... we've never had a problem with this.) You can adapt this basic recipe to suit your needs, add yummy extras like rosemary or basil or seeds, etc, etc... you get the idea. There's nothing like the smell of fresh bread in the house. And is it tasty?



You betcha!!