Another Damn Cooking Blog

browned butter shortbread

2011-12-27T14:18:00.000-05:00

Some of you may remember my shortbread experiments of the past. Recently I saw this recipe and figured I'd give it a whirl. I do need to note that the recipe as I found it told me microwave the butter. At the risk of making fun of my source, I need to point out that microwaving butter doesn't get you browned butter anything. Browning butter is a process. Not a particularly complex one, but a process nonetheless.

With that stated, I give you:

Browned Butter Shortbread
10 tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-inch baking pan. Brown the butter (see link above). Combine dry ingredients, add the rest. Now, I have personally never had a shortbread dough turn in to anything but a giant pile of crumbs, but maybe I'm doing it wrong--if your mixture actually forms dough, more power to you. If not, don't panic. Just press it into the pan and bake about 30 minutes.

brown sugar cookies

2011-12-22T17:16:00.000-05:00

I made these quite some time ago and completely forgot to post them. I've seen a few dozen sugar cookie recipes floating about lately--'tis the season, after all--and I figured I'd come back with this alternative. Recipe via Epicurious.

brown sugar cookies
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar, add egg. Combine dry ingredients separately, then add to butter. Bake 8 to 12 minutes. Let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches.

The only note here is that they aren't kidding when they call for dark brown sugar. I used light brown, because that's all I had on hand and I was making these on a whim, and it wasn't particularly inspiring. However, the potential was there; it was obvious what I was missing. I'd recommend them for a nice fall/winter cookie.

as American as ...

2011-11-18T21:10:00.001-05:00

I always used to make my apple pie using the late-60s edition of The Joy of Cooking that I acquired somewhere in my meandering. (Virginia, I think. Long story.) Unfortunately, like so many other things that I really never would have thought I could live without, that got left behind when I moved to California.

Oops. :P

So I found this recipe at The Joy of Baking when I found myself prepared to make a pie the other day, and I am really pleased with the results.

apple pie
2 1/2 pounds apples (about 6 large)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional, see note)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons corn flour (see note)
1 pie shell of your choice

Preheat to 425. Peel, core, slice apples, you know the drill. Mix with sugars, lemon juice, spices, and salt. Let this sit for at least 30 minutes or as long as 3 hours. Drain the resulting juices into a saucepan, add butter, cook down until it's thick and syrupy. Put the corn starch on the apples; toss. Add the mix from the saucepan; toss again. Put the whole mess in a pie shell. Bake 30 minutes, then cover the edges of the crust with a ring of foil; I could not for the life of me get the foil to stay in place so I just kind of brushed it with water and hoped for the best. It worked out, but it also was a low pie; the edges were folded into the pan and I suspect that helped. Anyway, total cook time 45-55 minutes, and enjoy.

Note #1: I used allspice instead of nutmeg and I did not regret it.

Note #2: This recipe kept calling for "cornstarch (corn flour)." I can't determine if those are actually the same thing; it doesn't seem like they should be. Either way, though, I got corn flour because the store I frequent for that sort of thing didn't have bulk corn starch and I always wind up getting one of those giant boxes that lasts forever and eventually I throw it out, so I figured the experiment was worth a shot, and it worked out just fine. So I'm recommending corn flour, and if you're one of those smart culinary chemistry types who can tell me whether that's just the same damn thing anyway, please do.

one bowl chocolate loafcake

2011-10-05T22:34:00.004-04:00

Hello, world! Long time no update this blog. But then, long time no cooking. I moved across the country this summer, and for a few months I was in a situation where I was sharing a very small apartment with too many people. Plus, and it kills me to even think about this, I had to leave most of my kitchen behind. Actually ... pretty much all of it. I won't lie, I died a little.

We have some more space now, though, and I finally was able to fill some cabinets with baking goods and get some things in the oven. I wanted to do a chocolate cake, but my standard recipe is complex and I forgot I don't actually have cake pans yet. So I turned to my list of "some day" recipes, and I found smitten kitchen's "everyday chocolate cake" right at the top. One bowl, loaf pan? Perfect!

one bowl chocolate loafcake
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup alkalized cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Oven to 325; prepare a 9x5 loaf pan.

Cream butter, add sugars, then egg, then buttermilk & vanilla. Sift in flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt; stir.

Now, I baked mine for 60 minutes and it got a little crunchy around the edges. It isn't burned, per se, but it is overcooked. (Some buttercream frosting made it all better.) Your mileage may vary; I seem to be having some trouble getting used to this new oven. Not that it's a bad oven. on the contrary I think it might be the first good oven I've worked with in ages. We'll see. Basically just keep an eye peeled; if you know from cake you shouldn't have any trouble.

by request: MEAT CUPS

2011-04-11T17:31:00.000-04:00

I was talking to my sister on the phone and I mentioned that I was making meat cups. As is generally the reaction, she immediately demanded the recipe, so I am posting it here for her:

1. Sautée ground meat (I use turkey, most like beef).
2. Take some Pillsbury Grands dough. Tear the dough in half height-wise (so each biscuit would now be two of equal diameter just not as tall). Put said dough in muffin cups.
3. Put meat in muffin cups.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes on 350 (or according to biscuit instructions).

It's that easy. Now the trick is combining flavors. Yesterday I seasoned the meat with teriyaki as I cooked, then stirred in horseradish mustard, mozzarella cheese, and maple syrup. In the past I've had good luck with garlic and cheddar. The source of the recipe (my friend Becky) always makes them with some nice sweet barbecue sauce. Go with your heart.

Just make sure you eat them warm, or nuke them. Once they get cold I really don't enjoy the texture of the rolls.

Also, when talking about them, you must always stress the long "e" sound. "mEEt cups." Emphasize it like you're some sort of villain discussing his evil plan. That's just how it is, capisce?

pizza experimentations

2011-03-18T19:32:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I finally got around to implementing a policy I've been pondering for years: Taking a quarterly inventory of everything in my pantry and using it up. This seems like a straightforward idea but once you put it in to implementation it's actually quite an interesting challenge, because one ends up with the oddest things in one's pantry sometimes.

One of the less odd items was a jar of pizza sauce. So I dug out my old pizza stone, acquired a round pizza pan, and decided to have at. Now, I've posted a dough recipe before, but that one always came out a little fluffier than I'd like. Good when you're making long rectangular pizza that never leaves the cookie sheet, but not ideal for my purposes. So I dug up this one, which seemed ideal for my thin-crust desire (to say nothing of my impatience with dough rising in general).

The first attempt was a wet messy flop. The middle was undercooked and ripped and there was schmutz all over my pizza stone and blah. So I whined on Facebook and got some excellent advice from the always-awesome Hanne, who suggested par-baking and a much hotter oven. So I tried a ten-minute par-bake in a 500° oven, and while I won't claim perfection, the results were a lot better than I've ever gotten before. So, without further ado:

Basic Pizza Dough
1 pkg yeast
1 c warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 c flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

Give yeast & water ten minutes, add to other ingredients. Mix until dough forms, let rise 30 minutes, knead on floured board until you're bored with it.

Now, the recipe wants bread dough. I didn't have any, and I can't seem to find this pure wheat gluten that you can supposedly add to all-purpose dough to make bread dough, so I just went with it. I don't know if this is a factor in this next note, but: This dough was really wet after rising. I used a lot of flour on the board. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but hey.

Anyway, at this point you'll want a lot of cornmeal on your pizza pan, then spread the dough out, poke it with a fork a few dozen times, and bake 10ish minutes at 500. Bring it out, apply olive oil all over, then some minced garlic, then your sauce, mozzarella, and toppings. (Last night I went for chicken, cheddar, and bell pepper. Previously I've used meatball and broccoli. I was pleased with both.)

Bake for a few minutes until the cheese starts to melt, then cover your pizza stone in more cornmeal and slide the pizza from the pan to the stone. Give it another few minutes, and boom. Quality 'zza.

Finally, a note on pizza pans: I know one is not supposed to slice one's pizza on the metal pan because wah wah wah calamity. But my pizza pan cost $3. And the pizza cutter didn't even scratch it. And even if it had, my pizza pan cost three dollars. I consider the convenience worth the risk.

For the future: Experimentation with better dough recipes (several were provided by my friends) and eventually, on to deep dish.

Inception Cookies

2011-03-09T08:28:00.035-05:00

Some time ago, a friend of mine linked to a post about Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Which I thought was interesting. Then she referred to them as "Inception cookies" and I knew I had to make them.

The recipe is below, but I'm going to say right up front that I wasn't hugely impressed. They were awesome as an oddity, and everybody loved the idea, but they wound up being really dry.

On the other hand, they were delightful when they were still warm. So, thought one, use them for microwaving & covering with sundae stuff. Thought two, dip them in fudge shortly after they've cooled to seal in the moisture.

Of course, WE NEED TO GO DEEPER. The aforementioned friend wants to peel one cookie side off two Oreos, slap the creme/cookie remainders around a Thin Mint, then cover that in chocolate chip and dip the result in fudge. I'm having a hard time saying no, of course.

(And yes, I actually did print out that photo of Xzibit and write "Yo dawg I heard you like cookies so I put some cookie in your cookie so you can snack while you snack" on it, to put out with the cookies. Reactions were mixed.)

At any rate:

Inception Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz bag mini chocolate chips
1 pkg. Double-Stuff Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to wet, alternating with chocolate chips, until barely combined.

Add teaspoon of dough to each side of Oreo, seal along sides. Try to keep them as small as possible. These things get HUGE if you let them get out of control. Here's a picture for perspective:

(If you were not aware, my fist is very large.)

Cookie sheet, parchment paper, you know. Bake until golden brown. These took close to 17 minutes in my oven; your results may vary wildly, because that seems excessive. Let 'em cool for a bit before putting on a wire rack.

Makes about 2 dozen.

caramel popcorn

2011-02-21T10:35:00.000-05:00

I was watching an episode of NCIS the other day that involved caramel popcorn, and I found myself craving it. So, I made it. Source recipe is here; this is halved because the original makes way more popcorn than I needed.

Caramel Popcorn
~1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 250F. Pop the popcorn.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add sugar, syrup, and salt. Stir constantly until it boils. Let it boil four minutes without stirring. Remove from heat, stir in soda and vanilla. Pour over your popcorn, mixing said popcorn to coat evenly.

Pro tip #1: Do not, at this stage, sample the caramel. Your teeth thank you.

Put the popcorn in a baking dish. Put in oven. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Pro tip #2: If, at this stage, you decide to leave the burner you used to make the caramel on medium heat because, like me, you are an idiot, do not rest the baking pan on the burner when you are stirring the popcorn, as you will end up with a sticky burned mess stuck to the bottom of your pan, although the popcorn will probably survive if you manage to figure out what's happening within a reasonable period of time.

After the hour, serve. Enjoy.

bella braised chicken

2011-02-14T18:28:00.000-05:00

I got to cook with my mother recently, which is a rare experience. I also got to learn a new dish, which is not so rare, but what I like about this one is its variability. I think the origin is a Weight Watchers cookbook, but my mother uses a variety of low-fat recipe sources so don't quote me on that. Besides which, I've filed off the serial numbers. I'm giving you the version I used for my recent dinner party; I'll include some notes afterwards about variation.

Bella Braised Chicken
1 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, diced
~4 stalks celery, diced
~4 carrots, diced
~2 gloves garlic, minced
~5 medium potatoes, sliced very thin
3 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp black pepper
~2 lb chicken
~1 tbsp oil
14 1/2oz (i.e. 1 can) diced tomato
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp minced parsley
1 tsp dried thyme

Sauté the vegetables in the butter, then place in a large baking dish. Spread a layer of potato over the top. Combine the flour and the pepper, toss the chicken, then "brown" it in the same pan. Place it over the potato in the baking dish. Sauté the tomato, broth, wine, and spices in the same pan you've been using; scrape up any bits of chicken coating that stuck. Bring to a boil, then pour into baking dish. Cover, bake about 1 hour at 350.

The end result of this is quite tasty, but tends to be a large mass. When I made it with my mother, we user a layer of quartered mushrooms instead of the potatoes; the end result involved copious liquid. The next time I make this I think I'm going to leave out the potato so I get said quantities of sauce, then turn that into something resembling gravy.

We served it over fresh spinach fettuccine the first time, and then I used whole grain linguine the second. In the latter case this just felt really forced, probably because of the potato. I'm at a loss for what (if anything) to serve this version with. That being said, if I do go the gravy route next time I'm going to try it on rice.

Let me know if you try this with some variation I haven't mentioned here.

buttermilk scones

2011-01-17T08:14:00.000-05:00

There isn't a lot of preamble here. These are some nice simple scones. I got the recipe from my father, and I must admit his are usually better than mine, but mine are still reasonably tasty. The only note on this is that you shouldn't let the butter get too soft; since you're cutting it in rather than blending, you're going to want it to stay somewhat chunky.

tea scones
3 cups sifted flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon lemon juice then fill to 1 cup w/ milk)

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Cut butter into mixture until it resembles course meal. Add raisins.

Gradually add buttermilk and mix until dough clings.

Turn onto floured board and pat into 1/2 inch thick round. Cut and place on greased baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Watch closely.

butter crescent cookies

2011-01-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

'Twas the night before Christmas and I decided I was just going to go ahead and make my mother's incredibly unhealthy crescent cookie recipe because life is short and butter is tasty.

There's not a lot to say about this. You really are supposed to mix these by hand. Also, for whatever reason, my mother assures me that you cannot double this recipe, because the dough simply won't mix properly. I can't vouch for the accuracy of that, because I've never tried it.

buttery crescent cookies
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (plus extra for topping)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375°.

In large bowl, combine dry ingredients, then add butter and combine, by hand. (By hand = stick your hands in there and squish the sucker.) Make roughly crescent shaped cookies from approx one slightly rounded teaspoon worth of dough.

Place on cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Place on wire rack to cool.

Once cookies have cooled somewhat but not completely, put them in a container with some more confectioner's sugar and agitate gently. Consume and enjoy. Then buy larger pants, because after these you'll need 'em.

chocolate chip shortbread (finally!)

2010-12-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

I've been screwing around with shortbread recipes for some time now, and I just haven't had any luck getting the results I've been after. Recently I found this blog entry and I knew that this was the recipe for me. Which began my quest to find caster sugar. I went everywhere, which is to say all four grocery stores we have here, and I came up totally blank. Eventually I was pointed to superfine sugar, at which point I Googled it and realized "caster sugar" is just British for "superfine sugar." Blargh;alrkgj.

Anyway, the making of this recipe also involved learning a neat new trick. I had the butter out on the counter for an hour or so and it was still pretty firm because, well, Potsdam, winter, old apartment: It's cold in here. So I figured someone on the Internet must have figured something out beyond microwaving it and getting little pockets of melty bits in between chunks that are still solid. And lo: Someone has. You know, I remember life before Google and I still don't know how we ever got anything done back then.

Also, don't measure your almond extract over the mixing bowl unless you have a very steady hand or enjoy your cookies smelling like they've been soaking in Amaretto. Whoops.

A word on bake times: Use your judgement. The original recipe called for 15-17 minutes, I wound up doing more like 22. The final bake step is essential, in my opinion, as it substantially improved the quality of the end product.

One final note, that has just now occurred to me: I was doubling this recipe and I'm quite sure I forgot to double the quantity of chocolate chips. But these are pretty chip-heavy. I really wouldn't enjoy having twice as many chips. As always, your mileage may vary.

Anyway.
awesome chocolate chip shortbread cookies
2 sticks butter, softened
2/3 cup superfine sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
~1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
2 cups flour
"3/4 cup" mini chocolate chips (see note above!)

Cream butter & sugar extensively. Add extracts. Add flour, beat on low, stop when flour has just become incorporated. Stir in chips.
Transfer dough to gallon storage bag. Roll dough inside bag until it is 1/4 inch thick. You'll want to make sure the height is as uniform as possible; it really will make a difference in cooking time. Oddly, this step is kind of fun. Maybe it's an OCD thing.
Put the entire flattened mass, still in the bag, in the fridge to chill for at least two hours.
Once it's done, preheat the oven to 325°. Cut the bag off, put the dough on a cutting board, and use a pizza cutter to chop it into squares. Put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or the like, bake for ~20 minutes (see note above). Rotate them halfway through (top rack to bottom, front to back) for even cooking. Note that top of cookie will stay very pale throughout baking process, and cookies will likely be slightly flexible even when actually completely cooked. You just really have to guess. Sorry.
Put the cookies on trays, let them cool thoroughly. Put them back on the cookie sheets, "top" side down, then put them back in the oven for another 3-odd minutes. Cool and enjoy.

red lentil soup

2010-12-15T12:00:00.036-05:00

Since the other recipe from my Canadian pen-pal was such a success, I decided to give the other a whirl. I fudged this recipe a bit more than usual, largely because I had to go to three different stores to get everything I needed, but oh my yes, do I like the results. Actually, I have two comments on the results:
1. It becomes exponentially better when served over jasmine rice. This might just be my texture preferences, though--I don't think I'm cut out to be a vegetarian.
2. On a related note, I kept thinking this really needed chicken, and I wasn't sure why until I realized I'm pretty sure I've stumbled upon the recipe Cedars uses for their butter chicken. I could be wrong--it's been ten years--but if I had hair on the back of my neck, it would be standing up. I think this is really it. Further experimentation will occur with great haste, I assure you.

Without further ado:
red lentil soup
3 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 tbsp curry powder (I strongly recommend Auntie Arwen's Whirling Dervish)
1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped fine (or grated! I need to get a ginger grater)
4 cups vegetable broth (I used some organic mushroom broth, it was awesome)
~6 oz coconut milk
~5 oz tomato paste
1 cup red lentils (dry)

In your soup pot, melt butter, sauté onion, garlic, and carrot.
Add the curry powder, let it work its magic.
Inhale deeply. It smells delightful. Seriously. Enjoy it.
Add ginger, broth, coconut milk, tomato paste. Bring to boil.
Add lentils. Cover & simmer for 20 minutes.
As noted above, I recommend serving over rice, but your mileage may vary.

buckeyes and a chemistry lesson

2010-12-10T20:52:00.000-05:00

'Tis the season, by which I mean the end of Fall semester, and consequently time for ritual bribery. Which is to say I make baked goods and take them to various departments on campus, partly in thanks for all the help I've received, and partly in thanks for all the help I'll no doubt need in the future. Plus, for all my (considerable) cynicism, I really do enjoy baking for large quantities of people, and it pleases me to hear from a few dozen people how much they loved whatever I made that year.

At any rate, this year I decided cookies were passé, and I was going to make candy. Mostly because I wanted an excuse to make buckeyes. So I started with this recipe, doubled it, and then kind of made it up as I went along. I agonized over my peanut butter choices for a while, because I had this strange urge to use the all-natural kind. (The hippiness of this town is getting to me, I think.) I came to my senses while staring at the shelves, though: This is candy. It's not supposed to be healthy. So I bought a giant tub of Peter Pan. Your mileage may vary.

Also, you'll note below that I tell you to use Rice Krispies or their ilk. I can't give you a measurement because I just kind of poured them in until I liked how it looked. Also, I had significantly less left in the box than I thought I did. So I supplemented with Cocoa Pebbles. Don't judge me! The result is awesome.

Anyway, while doing the chocolate dip, I encountered a weird issue. I don't have a double boiler, so I was using a medium saucepan floating in a giant pot. This works fine in the short term, but as it turns out, it isn't good for extended dipping. Let me explain: As I got in to the second cookie sheet of buckeyes, I noticed that the chocolate was getting oddly gritty. Not unpleasant, but it was solidifying in little chunks in the pan. So I idly wondered how to thin it out. I didn't want to add more shortening because that just seemed excessive, and I flashed back to my family's cake. "Well," I thought, "if I mix chocolate in with water there ... let's try it!" So I splashed just a tiny little bit of water into the chocolate.

Whoops. Chemistry fail. So the chocolate immediately seized, and I went a-Googlin', only to find that I'd done something pretty stupid. No big deal, but lesson learned, certainly.

Once I made a new batch to dip the rest, I had a fair amount left over, so I mixed in a half-bag of butterscotch chips that I keep around for pancakes, and then poured in a bunch of Rice Chex. The result is messy but tasty.

Oh! And seriously! Parchment paper is the most awesome thing for cooking ever! I cannot believe I've been living without this for years! Why wasn't I told?!

Anyway, on to the recipe:
Candy center
1 stick softened butter
~20 oz creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
~1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1-2 cups? of Rice Krispies or the like

Cream butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.
Add sugar until you like the consistency.
Add some sort of crisp rice cereal until you like the looks of that, too.
Roll into 1/2 inch balls, place on cookie tray lined with parchment paper. I say 1/2 inch because I always wind up making things bigger than I mean to and these work way better when they're roughly bite-sized.
Chill. My fridge is weird but they were in overnight and that seemed to work fine.

Candy coating
2 cups (1 pkg) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening

Mix in double boiler. Insert toothpick into peanut butter ball. Dip, cover about 3/4 of candy. Put back on tray. Put back in fridge. Enjoy.

two day pound cake

2010-11-15T12:16:00.021-05:00

I found this recipe on 17 and Baking some time ago, and I set it aside because I knew a cake would never survive untouched for two whole days in my house. We had a party last weekend, though, and I was called upon to make a non-chocolate cake option, and since my better half was out of town, I figured I'd go for it and hide it in my closet.

I've been asked to post the recipe, so I am doing so. Everyone who tried this cake raved about it ... except for me. It really didn't do anything for me. It's not like I don't enjoy a good plain pound cake, either, so I have no idea what my problem is. So I post this without my own endorsement, but with the recommendation of a half-dozen people who worship at the altar that is this cake. Your mileage may vary.

Buttermilk pound cake
1 1/2 cups room temperature butter
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cultured buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon lemon juice then fill to 1 cup w/ milk)
1 lemon worth of juice (if you're lazy like me it's 2-3 tablespoons of the bottled stuff)

Preheat oven to 300°. Grease & flour bundt pan.

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda. Cream butter, adding sugar slowly. Add one egg at a time, mix thoroughly after each. Add vanilla. Add flour & milk in alternating parts, mixing thoroughly after each. Stir in lemon juice.

Bake 75-90 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan, then on rack. Put in cake carrier or equivalent, then hide cake away for about 48 hours. Serve.

my family's cake

2010-11-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this recipe for ages now. The story of its origin gets a little blurry, but my understanding is that my great-grandmother came up with this during the Depression as a way of not wasting spoiled milk. It seems a little strange to make an entire cake to avoid throwing out a little milk, but it's also the kind of crazy "logic" my family has been known to practice.

At any rate, this makes an excellent cake. It's a very mild flavor, with a dense texture. The only problem is I can't get the damn thing to come out solid enough--assuming I can get the cake out of the pan without it tearing in half, it often crumbles while I'm frosting it, and I make the frosting nice & fluffy just to avoid that. So I don't know. Any advice would be welcome.

I've also included my favorite frosting recipe, which is incredibly simple, but I love the outcome. You may remember it from the chai frosting experiments of yore. It came from here originally.

Depression-era sour milk cake
1 cup boiling water
2 squares bitter chocolate
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (separated, but you do use both parts)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour milk (if not available, use 1 tablespoon vinegar & fill to 1 cup w/ milk)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Stir chocolate into boiling water until dissolved, set aside.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder - set aside.
Cream shortening, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients and sour milk in alternating parts.
Add baking soda to chocolate (must wait until cooled), stir.
Blend chocolate in to batter.
Beat egg whites, fold in to batter.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, two round cake pans.

Buttercream frosting
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk

Combine. Add more milk until you're happy with the outcome.

ginger maple chicken

2010-11-02T08:54:00.001-04:00

A while back I got an email chain letter that proposed a recipe exchange. I thought this was pretty awesome, and it became pretty much the first email chain letter that I passed along. Very few others thought it was awesome, sadly, but I did get this excellent recipe from a Canadian pen-pal (are they still pen-pals if there's no pens involved?). I finally got around to make it last weekend and I was absolutely delighted by the results.

- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of soya sauce
- 1/2 cup of maple syrup
- 1/3 of flour
- 1 1/4 lb of chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons of oil (I use olive oil, but whichever I guess)

1. Put the oven on - 325 F
2. Cut the chicken in pieces and cover them in flour.
3. In a pan, add the oil and cook the chicken pieces for 5 minutes (or until they're golden on all sides).
4. In a bowl, mix the maple syrup, cider vinegar, soya sauce, ginger, garlic, and pepper.
5. Pour the sauce on the chicken and cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Edited 11/13/2010: I can now recommend using almond. I crushed some up and put it in the skillet with the raw chicken and it added a nice texture to the end result. Also, this combination of cider vinegar/soy sauce/maple syrup went very well in a chicken soup that I made a few days later.

the good lord's own cookies

2010-09-01T20:47:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time, I went to a Methodist Sunday school in a very small town in Maryland. One of my teachers had a cookie recipe that she would bust out when we were leaning about a specific part of the Bible. The cookies are light, fluffy, whitish in color, kind of springy-textured, and sweet. These cookies, she told us, were manna cookies. That's right. The food God threw down for people to eat. God's own dessert food. For real.

So if these cookies have another name, I do not know it. I will say that they are very tasty. A friend of mine tested the first batch and said, "They're nice and sweet and then there's this aftertaste that makes me want to hug my grandmother. Your cookies make me want to hug my grandmother." To be honest, I'm not quite sure what that means. But I'm taking it as a compliment.

The only down side to these cookies, which I always forget until it's too late, is that they're going to stick to each other. If you're packing them, put something between them (wax paper would probably work just fine). Otherwise, they're easy to make and don't disappoint.

Maryland Methodist Manna Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400. Cream butter, adding sugar gradually. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Add honey, salt, and vanilla.

In a different bowl, combine baking powder and flour; add to butter mixture. Drop by half teaspoonfuls onto buttered cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes. Watch very closely. They don't really brown, per se; you just have to wing it. Cool on wire rack. Makes 6 dozen.

seco de pollo (adventures with cilantro)

2010-08-05T10:51:00.001-04:00

In response to my recent announcement that I did not like cilantro and was sick of getting mountains of it every week from my CSA, a friend suggested I try to find some Peruvian stew recipes dealing with it and see how I felt afterwards. So I found this one and decided to give it a try. My version:

1 large bunch of cilantro
5 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb chicken breast, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
7 drops chili sauce (see note)
3 large carrots, diced
4 medium yellow potatoes, diced
1 bag frozen peas (obviously if you can get fresh you should use fresh but you know)

Wash the cilantro, then remove the large stem bits. Put in blender with about 1/2 cup chicken stock, blend well. Cube chicken, In large saucepan saute chicken until all sides are cooked. Set chicken aside, add garlic & chili sauce (see note). Saute garlic, then add cilantro mix, remaining chicken stock, carrots, and potatoes. Simmer until the veggies start to become tender; add chicken and peas. Keep checking the chicken, and as soon as you feel it's done remove from heat. Serve over rice.

Now. First, the chili sauce: I'd rather have used a pepper, but I forgot to get one. The sauce will do in a pinch. The pepper would have been much tastier. The original recipe also calls for onion, but I wasn't feeling it.

Second, the cilantro blend will be a very amusing green in the blender. Once you introduce it to the rest of the food, everything becomes green, and a slightly less amusing shade, at that. A fairly unfortunate one, I would go so far as to say, because it just looks ... weird. It was described as "a witch's brew" which is not at all inaccurate. It was kind of off-putting. I doubt there's any way around it, though.

The end result was ... actually pretty good. Reaction in my household varied from "... I don't hate it" to "... you know, this isn't actually all that bad." (Mind you, there's only two of us, but hey.) It was oddly bland. I don't know how I could use all that cilantro--and boy, could you smell the cilantro--without winding up with a massive cilantro flavor, but there it is. Salt and pepper were essential but once they were added the end result was quite pleasing; I'll likely freeze the rest for occasional lunches since I'm the only one here who cared for it.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

2010-08-04T07:57:00.001-04:00

Hey, remember last year when I promised you a second pie recipe? Neither do I.

This recipe is from my friend Meg, who in turn got it from her mother. It's a once-a-summer sort of thing for me, and it is absolutely delightful; the version here has a few minor tweaks built in but of course I encourage you to experiment if that's your thing. Regardless, this pie is supremely tasty.

Glaze:
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
dash of salt
2x 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Blend strawberries until smooth. If you go a little over a cup it's not a bad thing. Put strawberry goo in medium saucepan, add 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and 1/4 cup water. (Personally I put it and a dash more in the blender, swished it around, and got every drop of strawberry I could in to the pan, but I'm a bit obsessive.) Put the cornstarch in a small dish, prepare 1/4 cup water, set both aside. Also prepare two tablespoons lemon juice; set this aside as well.

Stirring constantly, bring contents of saucepan to a boil over medium heat. Cook (still stirring) three minutes. Remove from heat. Combine water and cornstarch, mix well, add to saucepan. Put back on heat, cook two minutes (still stirring). It will thicken as you cook and it will be pretty obvious when it's done. Stir in lemon juice, set aside to cool.

Filling:
3 cups strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 8oz package of cream cheese
2 tablespoons cream/milk
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
9 inch baked pie shell (Graham cracker crumb-style)
glaze (see above)

Put the pie shell in the fridge. Wash the berries, cut off the stem (I recommend a nice flat surface), set them on a towel to dry. Combine cream cheese, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, cream/milk, and almond extract. Beat until light and fluffy. Spread evenly into cooled pie shell. Arrange the strawberries, cut side down, over cream cheese mixture. Try to cram as many on there as possible. Pour the cooled glaze over the berries; you're shooting for an even coating here. Refrigerate until chilled, 3+ hours, and enjoy.

Notes:
At first I was iffy on the orange zest. The recipe calls for grated orange peel, which is what I thought zest was, but I don't have a grater and I keep forgetting to buy one, so I checked online and found this guide that told me to just chop it super fine. I did, and then thought it was a terrible idea, but I put it in anyway and I was very pleased with the result. Also, I squeeze the juice out of the same orange, which is probably your best bet for good juice. If you have a juicer, use it, because I made a mess, but no matter. You can, according to this recipe, just leave the orange out entirely, but I like what it adds to the pie. Plus, you have most of a nice tasty orange to eat after you make the pie! Win-win.

A note also on the strawberries: Using mostly-whole berries on the pie makes it a little awkward to eat. It tends to fall apart. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, if you want a more unified pie, you can slice them and pile them up; I did that the first time I made it. This lets you fit a lot more strawberries on the pie if you so desire, but it leads to a somewhat damper experience. Basically it comes to the quality of the berries. Last May they were so-so, so I liked each forkful to have berry and cheese and crust. The ones I used today are glorious, so they're excellent once they've fallen off the pie and they have just a hint of the glaze on them.

Lastly, as to crust: I used a shortbread crust that was sitting on the store shelf right next to the graham cracker crusts, and I found it to be the far superior choice for this pie.

zucchini bread

2010-08-02T08:54:00.004-04:00

Thanks to a running gag that a friend of mine has been working for a while, I've been really craving some zucchini bread. (I'd explain, but you really had to be there. The point is it came up in conversation a lot.) I've started getting some zucchini from my CSA, so I decided that now was the time.

Sadly, once I actually set out to make the stuff, it became a comedy of under-preparation. The good news is that the final product is quite tasty, so I'm calling it a win.

I used a recipe that, according to my notes, was downloaded from AllRecipes.com, although I can't seem to find it now. It's pretty straightforward:

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done.

Now, here's the problem. One, I realized I didn't have vegetable oil. I probably should have gone out and gotten some but I was lazy, so I used olive oil. Again, the end result was tasty, but that was an awful lot of olive oil, and I can't endorse that particular substitution.

Second, I forgot until I was home that I don't have a grater. (I had one, I don't any more, it's a long story.) Again with the lazy: instead of going out and getting one, I used my blender on the zucchini. I tossed in a little extra flour to compensate. Not much, but I don't have a measurement, because of course I eyeballed it. This had an interesting impact on the final product: It's very smooth. I think that might be my new thing, because I believe I prefer this texture. I'll need to compare to some regular-style to be sure, but if you think you might dig it, I say go.

So, end result: quite tasty.

my friend's mom's breadsticks

2010-07-31T08:03:00.003-04:00

When I was very young indeed, my best friend's mother had this recipe for breadsticks that were like none I'd tasted before. Instead of being puffy and soft, these were flat and crunchy, tasting heavily of butter. My mother acquired the recipe, and eventually I acquired it from her, and now I am sharing it with you.

These breadsticks are kind of an acquired taste. If Olive Garden breadsticks are perfect in your mind, you probably won't enjoy these. But, you know. Crunchy. Buttery. If that suits, I recommend them. Plus they're super easy.

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (soy works fine)
~1/3 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. Grease two cookie sheets.
Sift dry ingredients together. Add milk to mixture. If necessary add more in small amounts to soak up excess flour.
Turn out on well-floured surface (dough will be sticky). Knead 10-20 times. Roll out as flat as possible, slice into thin strips. Arrange on cookie tray; brush with melted butter.
Bake @ 400 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. If yours are too tall, they may only crisp on one side; after cooking I sometimes turn off the oven, flip the sticks over, and put them back in for a few minutes.

So, blam. The whole thing takes twenty minutes if you do it right. Serve with marinara, ranch, or whatever else you like your breadsticks in, and enjoy.

baked ice cream cake

2010-06-29T21:49:00.003-04:00

So, I found my way to this entry on Omnomicon recently, discussing a method of making cake with a box of mix, three eggs, a cup of water, and two cups of ice cream. I found this very intriguing, and I decided to try it. It's goofily easy, as you would imagine--combine ingredients, 350 for 45 in a bundt pan, enjoy.

And oh. My. Yes.

The final product reminds me of a cakey pudding, or perhaps a puddingy sort of cake. It also kind of reminds me of jellied cranberry sauce, only chocolate and bready instead of ... cranberry and ... the metaphor breaks down, but seeing the partitioned ring of cake quiver when I slice in to it really sells it.

We did a chocolate fudge mix with "Forbidden Chocolate" flavor ice cream, and the result is a damn fine bit of chocolate. We also bought some nice light strawberry frosting, but frankly it doesn't need to be frosted. Next time I'm going to try a chocolate cake with a mint chocolate chip ice cream; Silver wants to try Butterfinger.

So. Healthy? No. Classy? Not really. Delicious? Oh yes. Oh my, yes.

Click through to the original for some excellently illustrative pictures as well as a very well-written food blog. You know. If you're in to that sort of thing.

checkerboard cookies

2010-06-22T12:43:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I encountered a post on 17 and Baking about checkerboard cookies, and they looked like a fun and complex project, ideal for breaking in my new kitchen. On a side note, if you're not reading 17 and Baking, you should be--the author is a young writer who (as you might guess) loves to bake. Her posts are introspective and well-written, and the recipes are always quality.

You'll note from my picture that my own product isn't quite as well put together as the examples on the original post, but I'm not going to pretend to be particularly ashamed of that--these are some excellent cookies I have created, and while there is a lack of right angles, the presentation is still pretty cute (and not too shabby for a first attempt if I do say so myself).

Also, I learned something interesting in the course of making this recipe. Specifically, I learned about room temperature eggs. Seriously, I have been baking for [mumble] years, and I even took cooking classes in my youth, yet no one ever bothered to tell me about the room temperature egg thing. What's that about?

At any rate, the dough recipe is fairly basic, and will have healthy eaters cringing right away. It goes like this:

5 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 lb (2 cups or 4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Recipe calls for sifting; people tell me you don't have to do that anymore but I do it anyway because it's fun. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar thoroughly, add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Add the flour all at once and mix lightly with the beater then continue by hand--you don't want to overmix this, but fortunately it will be really obvious when you're done if you're paying attention.

From here, it gets complicated. First, you want to split the dough in half. As per the recommendation, I weighed my dough. If I had been smart, I would have checked the weight of the bowl it was in so I could just remove the appropriate amount of the final product, but instead I had to do a complicated back and forth sort of thing. Once you're done, knead the cocoa into one half. Split each half into halves again, then shape them in a roughly rectangular fashion, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for two hours.

At this point, you take one of each flavor out and let them warm up. It took a while for mine to be workable; I don't know if that's a feature of my fridge or if the original 15 minute estimate was just really optimistic. At any rate, you want to roll it out into a rectangle that's about 12 by 5 inches, then cut nine half-inch strips.

Now, I do want to take one moment here, because something about that math tripped me up. It should be pretty obvious: 9 x 1/2 = 4 1/2, not 5. This worked out for me because my dough was a little uneven, so the trimming from one side fleshed out the other side. But if you're neurotic and have a ruler (ok, I had a ruler, it was just a sloppy result), you'll wind up with a full extra half inch strip. This is even funnier if you look at my source's source, who went to the trouble of making a diagram showing nine half inch strips turning into a five inch sheet. So ... yeah.

Anyway. Once you have your strips, you make two checkerboard patterns, which you can probably figure out by looking at the cookies above. Carefully squish it together, do your best to define the corners, then wrap those up and put them back in the fridge for another two hours. Then you take the other, not-yet-molested chunks of dough, warm them, roll them out nice and thin, and wrap them around the checkerboard patterns, using the opposite color to the four corners of the one you're wrapping. This is where it starts to get really sloppy. If you're going for a professional presentation, you might consider some sort of weight setup to flatten the sides. Personally I didn't care this time out.

Refrigerate overnight, then slice with a sharp knife and cook at 350° for 12 minutes. I have a nice stove, which temps quite accurately, and 12 minutes is exactly what I needed for each batch, but of course your mileage will vary. Make sure you refrigerate the dough in between batches, because (1) it will get harder to cut when it's warm and (2) screw up your cooking time.

The end result is delightfully tasty, and fairly impressive to look at. Obviously the presentation is the whole point here, so I would recommend just slopping it together, but unless you're actively trying to impress a tough crowd, even lopsided ones look pretty nice for a randomly-thrown-together sort of cookie project.

steak & asparagus

2010-05-23T20:34:00.002-04:00

I tried two new things tonight. First, I used a steak-preparation idea that I read about on Jaden's Steamy Kitchen some time ago that is purported to turn cheap steak into great steak. You should check her post for the scientific explanation, but basically you use salt to lock in flavor and moisture and such. I would love to tell you that I bought cheap steak as a purely scientific endeavor, but I'm a college student, so we both know that's a lie. The point is, I had cheap steak. I did indeed coat it in garlic, rosemary, and salt, and let it sit, then wash it and pat it dry, as recommended. The texture wasn't great--about like you'd expect from cheap steak--but the flavor was really good. I am looking forward to doing this again with a better cut in the near future.

The other is nowhere near as obscure, although I suppose it is equally science-y: I blanched my asparagus. It turns out that word doesn't mean what I thought it meant--I was under the impression that blanching was like when you toss some broccoli in boiling water for a minute and then pull it out because you want it crispy. Which isn't inaccurate, just incomplete. Apparently one also then has to plunge the vegetable into cold water, halting the cooking. So I boiled the asparagus for about 5 minutes, then put it in a pan full of cold water (into which I ran more, since it heated up very quickly) until the asparagus was just above room temperature. The result was fantastic--soft and fully cooked, but still with some resistance when you bite in. I am going to do this every time I make asparagus, seriously. I cannot recommend this enough.

YMMV, of course, but I was very pleased.

bigass cookies

2010-05-18T22:06:00.002-04:00

I stumbled across a new (to me) recipe for chocolate chip cookies last night, and since there was talk of making cookies anyway, I decided to go for it. According to Cooking on the Side, this recipe originally came from a Land O Lakes butter box, so the butter content below should not surprise anyone.

I made this as it is here, and it was pretty good. The dough got really crumbly by the end; I had to squish it pretty hard to get it in to proper blobs for cooking, but the cookies came out well. Very bready, which is a good thing once you get used to it. I am probably going to cut it down to 4 cups of flour next time and see how it works, but for posterity, here is the original:

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups salted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 (12-ounce) package (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375°F.

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping the bowl often, until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour mixture, until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets (tip: line the sheets with parchment, if you have some). Bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. (Do not overbake.) Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.

fakery

2010-02-19T21:08:00.003-05:00

As some of you may recall, I've been trying out a variety of non-alcoholic beer since I quit drinking. I never really cared for O'doul's, although it's drinkable in a pinch, and most of the others are just pretty awful. I'm quite fond of Kaliber, but for some reason I can't get it in this part of the state, and so I've been mostly drinking St. Pauli NA, which is ... not my favorite. However, I discovered last night that Labatt - which previously offered only Nordic, which I did not like - now has a non-alcoholic Blue. I am pleased to note that this tastes exactly like I remember Blue tasting, although at this point God only knows how accurate that memory is. If any of you drinkers out there want to do a taste-test and let me know, I'd appreciate it, but until then, I've got something that'll get me through my time here in the frozen north, until I can move back to the civilized world (for values of the civilized world equal to "places where I can get Guinness products").

In other news, this article about making cheap steak taste really good is both extremely funny and something I need to try in the near future.

holy crap, quiche doesn't suck

2009-12-28T18:06:00.003-05:00

I've never liked quiche. But then, I only just started liking eggs. About a week ago, I started craving quiche for no apparent reason. So I found this recipe. Of course I had to screw with it, so here's what I settled on.

4 eggs
2 cups half-and-half cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cumin
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 lb ground turkey
broccoli ("some")
onion ("a bit")
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

Preheat to 425. Brown the meat. Saute the onion & broccoli. In a bowl, mix eggs, cream, spices, and cheeses. Add meat + veggies. Pour in to pie shell. Cook 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350, cook another 25 minutes. Filling should set.

This turned out to be really, really good. I plan to make it again soon.

sweet potato pie

2009-11-28T07:12:00.003-05:00

I found this recipe on some AOL site a few years back. That site appears to be gone, but a search for "Gwen's sweet potato pie" recipe shows that it has been spread around a few recipe sites. I've made a few tweaks. Please note this makes two pies.

3 lbs sweet potato
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
~1 1/2 tsp various spices (see note)

Boil the sweet potato, skin on, until they're soft all the way through when poked with fork. Put them in a colander, and while running cold water over them, take the skin off. This is easier than it sounds; it just kind of slides right off.

Blend or otherwise mush the sweet potato. Add butter, blend thoroughly. One at a time, add sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla, blending thoroughly after each.

Now you add spices, and you can really wing it here. Original recipe called for all nutmeg. The other day I used 1 tsp clove, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and whatever ginger I had left (not quite 1/2 tsp), and I was really pleased with the results. You might consider some allspice if you've got it handy.

The original recipe notes that your filling should be smooth when you're done, not unlike a cake batter. You should be able to pour it easily, but it shouldn't be thin or runny. I've never had any trouble at this stage, so I can't really recommend action to take if it needs fixing.

Pour into two prepared 9 or 10 inch pie shells. I strongly recommend deep dish style; the results are significantly more satisfying. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the pie, bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool for at least one hour before eating. Serve warm or cold or with ice cream; it's going to be delicious no matter what.

Edit 11/23/11: Fixed the comma splice in the first paragraph of the instructions. I'm a nerd.

feeling saucy

2009-10-20T22:40:00.002-04:00

On a whim, I decided to make pasta sauce recently, so I promptly called my mother and asked for instructions. We refer to this as homemade, but I'm not entirely certain it deserves that label, because it doesn't involve any actual fresh tomato. Your mileage may vary; I just know this is kind of tasty.

One starts with a 28oz can of crushed tomato, a 15oz can of tomato paste, and about 45oz of canned tomato sauce (in this case a 29oz and a 15oz, but whatever's in stock, obviously). Dump these all into a large pot, cover, and simmer. This is where I made my first mistake. In general, it has been my experience that the ideal way to simmer something in a pot is to bring its temperature up to a reasonable level, then turn the heat down, cover, and continue cooking. As a result of this reasoning, I got to clean tomato sauce off every surface in my kitchen - including the ceiling - mere moments after cracking the first can. So believe me when I say you should start it on the lowest heat your range can swing, and do so with the cover on.

Once the body of the sauce is underway, one is invited to add whatever one thinks would be appropriate. Personally I went with well-diced onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, some ground paprika, and a truly absurd quantity of garlic powder. There is certainly an argument to be made for the use of fresh garlic instead - and some day I very much want to try the razor blade trick from Goodfellas - but I went with what I had on hand. I am not a big fan of mushrooms, generally, but the sauce would have been all wrong without them, no doubt due to the fact that my mother always included them. Whatever works.

In the future, if I'm feeling feisty, I might try such things as artichoke hearts, or perhaps even corn. I'm sure there are a variety of other options - feel free to suggest some.

At any rate, I also made meatballs. My typical meatball strategy is a pound of turkey, an egg, a third cup or so of french fried onions, and whatever spices strike my fancy at the time. (Bake for 20 minutes at 350°, flip halfway through.) The biggest problem with making these meatballs is that I tend to eat way too many while they're still warm, and this time was no exception. I doubled the recipe this time around, and tossed them in the sauce as soon as they cooled enough to move, but there still weren't any left after the initial dinner, so I'll probably make some more when I serve the leftovers.

I should note that these proportions produced a reasonably large pot of sauce - I fed five hungry people, several of whom went back for seconds, and had enough left over for a half-dozen or so more servings. It freezes well, as one would expect, and I know from past experience that having meat in the sauce doesn't change that. Once this is gone I might make a pot just to freeze; it certainly is convenient to have on hand.

chicken quick & quicker, plus misc

2009-10-07T19:49:00.006-04:00

For reasons I don't want to get in to, I spent the summer sitting on someone else's couch eating food from the frozen section, and when I finally got home I was lazy and didn't cook for a while. I got back in to it, and in the process of trying to find a recipe I used to like, I realized I had never documented it here, so let's start with a [very] simple stroganoff.

This works best, in my opinion, with sauteed chicken breast, but leftover chicken works reasonably well, and I tried it last night with ground turkey and that came out okay as well, although slightly less interesting. Basically you just start by sauteing the meat (or reheating or browning as appropriate), then add such items as onions, mushrooms, and tomato. Then you add a mountain of paprika. Once that's settled in, you add tomato sauce, about 8 oz since that's the size those small cans come in, and a cup of sour cream. Plus more paprika, ideally. Then you mix it all up, cover it, and let it simmer for a good thirty minutes. Stir it occasionally, but mostly just leave it alone. Meanwhile make some egg noodles (or such), and poof. I recommend serving with something such as sweet peas, because if you're like me you can just mix them in, but whatever.

The reason I made this, actually, is because the night before I tried something interesting - chicken glazed with tomato, honey, and Worcestershire sauce. Just mix 3, 2, and 2 tablespoons respectively, roll some chopped chicken breast around in it, skewer the suckers, and broil them for 10 minutes or so. I served it on a bed of rice and a pile of broccoli. This was very exciting, because I had not used my broiler, and it worked very well. It was also exciting because I don't have a broiler pan, and I'll be damned if I can find one at the one store we have in this parts that might carry them, but because I was kabobbing, I was able to just lay them across a baking dish and it worked fine. The only problem was that I was dumb, and bought tomato sauce when I wanted tomato paste, so it was less glaze and more sauce - the up shot is I think that would have been fantastic if I'd let it marinade overnight. I want to try it both ways in the future.

Speaking of marinade, why did nobody ever tell me I could marinade salmon? I mean, it just never occurred to me. 'Why change the flavor of salmon,' I thought when I was introduced to the notion, 'when it's so perfect to begin with?' But by request, I let two salmon steaks sit overnight in Italian marinade, and good heavens was the final result lovely.

I am mindful of the fact that clear back in May, I promised you all a second pie recipe, and I do apologize. I have finally located said recipe! I know exactly where it is ... specifically, in the middle of a giant stack of paper that I will be sorting through Any Minute Now No Really I Mean It. So stay tuned.

pie number one

2009-05-28T18:57:00.004-04:00

I went on a bit of a junk food creation binge recently. I'd just calling it baking, but the pies in question were no-bake, so it's not really appropriate. The first is crazy simple, and it's one of those terrible ideas you get off the back panel of branded packaging, but it's a nostalgia item for me, and it's really tasty. So I give you the Oreo Cream Pie:

1 package instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cup half & half
1 1/2 cup crushed Oreo cookies (recommend DoubleStuf, might as well go for broke)
1 8oz package Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust (recommend chocolate, ideally the crushed Oreo kind)

Combine half & half, let stand five minutes. Mix in Cool Whip & crushed cookies. Pour in to crust. Freeze at least two hours.

Simple, no? I like it for its honesty - there is nothing redeeming about this recipe. It is pure, unadulterated junk food. I have to be in something of a mood to make this pie, but it does tend to compliment said mood quite well.

Please note also that it can be kept frozen for quite some time, so it's good if you want to make it ahead, or if you just want a little bit at a time. Personally I like to actually consume it fresh out of the freezer, but it's equally good given some time to thaw.

chicken 'n dumplin's

2009-04-11T12:44:00.005-04:00

Growing up, my father always used to make chicken and dumplings, which for some reason he always called pot pie. Just one of those weird things, I guess. At any rate, I was casting about for something to do with leftover roast chicken recently, and I found a recipe for chicken & dumplings using leftover rotisserie. The recipe is here, but read on before clicking. (Also, be advised it auto-plays music.)

The recipe called for the meat from a rotisserie chicken and "two cartons" of broth, so I knew I was off to a questionable start, but I decided to forge ahead - the two cups or so of leftover chicken that I had more or less resembled the amount pictured, and since the brand of broth they used comes in 16 or 32 oz cartons, I figured out quickly that just one quart wasn't going to get it done.

A side note: I used one of those 'instant broth' goops that are replacing bullion these days. I haven't had a lot of success making it in quantities measured in cups, but by the quart it didn't suck. YMMV.

Anyway the gist is simple - boil two quarts of broth, add 1/4 cup milk, make dumplings, cook dumplings 20 minutes, add chicken & cook another 10 minutes, enjoy. I added a package of frozen vegetable medley (beans, corn, peas, carrots) just before the chicken and it came out really well. The problem was the dumplings - this recipe was just two cups of flour, two tsp baking soda, one of salt, and 3/4 cup of milk. The final product was kind of chewey, and kind of tasteless, which I guess one should expect from the recipe, but still. I finally broke down and emailed my father to find out how he made his. The answer, apparently, is that his are just 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup shortening, and ice water until it makes dough. No wonder they taste better.

I'll try this again the next time we roast a chicken, hopefully with more success.

americana, thy name is meatloaf

2009-04-05T11:34:00.003-04:00

A while back, I went off red meat for a year or two. During this time, I used ground turkey an awful lot, because I wasn't really that in to cooking yet, and ground meat is easy to deal with. I've long since started eating beef again, but turkey still tends to be my default ground meat - it's lighter, doesn't overpower seasonings, and generally cheaper.

At any rate, I've been experimenting lately with turkey meatloaf, and I'm quite pleased with the results. My first attempt (adapted from this recipe) was extremely basic - two pounds of turkey, two eggs, a cup of bread crumbs, some onion, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, some poultry season sprinkled on top, 350° for 60 minutes. It came out well, if somewhat boring. Also the onion was overpowering, and I hadn't chopped it anywhere near thoroughly enough. The texture was okay - I think I used a potato masher to mix it all up, but I didn't feel like that had done a very effective job.

Then I tried something a little bit more like the basic recipe here. Two pounds turkey, two eggs, two tablespoons W. sauce, 1/2 cup of oats soaked in 1/3 cup of milk, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, and some onion. The result was a lot more ... damp. It didn't hold together terribly well, although the taste wasn't bad. The texture was also too smooth, largely because I used an electric mixer, which was a terrible idea, but I was tired that day, and it seemed sensible at the time.

So last night I did the turkey, eggs, sauce, a cup of crumbs, a much smaller amount of very finely diced onion, and about a cup of shredded cheese. Also, I added garlic & paprika, mixed it all by hand (literally, I just gloved up and squished it around for a while), and sprinkled curry powder over the top. This time it had to cook a little longer - about 75 minutes was the final total - but I was really impressed with how well it turned out. The texture was rough, but it didn't crumble the second you cut it. The flavor came out very well, and I love how the top crisped.

So, anyway. The classic suburban dinner, updated a little. Enjoy.

cooking with beer

2009-03-01T15:50:00.002-05:00

I was inspired yesterday to attempt some beer cookery. I've been meaning to do this but my girlfriend has been resistant to the idea, not being a fan of beer, and I've generally been loathe to buy a six pack since I would then have several bottles mouldering in my fridge. Fortunately I found a beer store with a wide selection of singles, and Erin was out of town for the weekend, so I decided to see what I could come up with for a planned evening of video games with a friend.

I've wanted to try beer in a crock pot for a while, and I opted to go the ubersimple route - two chicken breasts cubed, in the pot with the beer, on high for two hours, after which I added teriyaki sauce and let it sit until the chicken fell apart. I used a Yuengling lager for this, and was quite pleased with the result. (Though next time I'm going to use a little less teriyaki.) I considered adding some flour to the end result to turn the liquid into more of a sauce, perhaps to put in something taco-esque, but I wound up just serving it over rice and broccoli, which worked out quite well.

To keep up the theme, I pulled out the old beer bread recipe, using a bottle of Lagunitas' Brown Shugga'. I was hoping that the overall effect would be both sweet and dark, but I was kind of disappointed. The overall effect was just a little odd, and a little too sweet - I had forgotten that the recipe called for sugar. I think I would have been better served switching the bottles, because I know from experience the Yuengling makes a good bread. Next time, I guess.

As a side note, I'm a taster. I check the flavor of my food every single step of the way. It is incredibly odd to not do so until the food is towards the final stages (i.e. cooked until non-alcoholic). It was disconcerting enough that I think I'm fairly unlikely to make a habit of this, although I do intend to keep it in mind for special occasions.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-11-14T12:56:00.005-05:00

When I make chocolate chip cookies, I usually aim for the crispier side of things, but these are nice and fluffy and still extremely enjoyable. The pumpkin is present more in the texture than in the flavor - I was able to guess the "secret ingredient" after eating one cookie, but they certainly aren't 'pumpkin-flavored' in any way.

This is the recipe as I received it from my co-worker, and I can vouch for the results, but I intent to fiddle with it some in the coming months - I'm not a huge fan of shortening, and I've recently learned that you can use coffee in the place of vanilla extract if you do it properly, so I may post some notes on variations later.

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin (I used canned, but whatever floats your boat)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat to 350, cream shortening and sugar. Beat in egg, beat in pumpkin, beat in vanilla. Gradually mix in flour, then spices and powders, adding chips & nuts last. Bake 10-15 minutes - I went for 15 but it probably varies with your stove. It's really obvious when they're done, as they start to brown up around the edges.

Edited 11/13/2010: Somehow I forgot to put in the "add pumpkin" step the first time I posted this and it screws me up every time. So I fixed it.

old fashioned pancakes

2008-10-19T11:11:00.003-04:00

We had a houseguest today, and I realized we had no breakfast meats available, so instead of the eggs & bacon I had planned, we wound up making pancakes. Rather than screwing around with experimental ingredients, I went digging for a plain "old fashioned" recipe, which I present here mostly for my own reference.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Sift together dry ingredients, mix in wet. Put on hot, oiled skillet 1/4 cup at a time.

Edited 11/13/2010: You know, when I first posted this I left out the mixing instructions because I figured they were so obvious they were unnecessary. Yet every time I refer back to this entry to make these pancakes, I wind up clicking through to the source recipe to make sure I'm doing it right. Apparently I'm just hardwire to recipe format. So I put the instructions in for my own reference, silly through they might be.

rice pizza

2008-09-27T21:00:00.002-04:00

I saw this post about 'doughless pizza' a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to try it ever since. It was actually scheduled for this past Wednesday night, but for various reasons I just got around to doing it now. The essential process is to take some rice (I cooked 1 cup of jasmine, used about 3/4s of the pot), mix it with an egg, press it down, add toppings (sliced tomato and diced onion), and then spread some mozzarella cheese over the top and bake the results. For some reason I was thinking I'd be better off baking it at a low temperature to cook the tomato properly, but obviously that was dumb, and I wound up turning the oven way up at the end to crisp things properly, which kind of didn't work. Also I didn't really know what to add for seasoning, so I kind of wimped out. So on the whole it wasn't great - but it did taste like potential.

Next time - and quite possibly next week, because this was really easy to make - I'm going to do it again. This time I'm going to mix oregano and pressed garlic in with the rice and egg. I'm going to chop the tomato very fine so it will cook quickly, and on top of the mozzarella I'll add something with a little flavor, maybe a nice sharp cheddar or some Monterey Jack or maybe both, if I still have both in the fridge. Then I'm going to cook the whole lot at 400 for about 15 minutes and see if that doesn't come out a lot better.

In the mean time, what I do have is going in the wok tomorrow with some teriyaki and I bet the whole mess will come out pretty well.

Chicken "French"

2008-09-21T21:53:00.005-04:00

Erin wanted to make Chicken French this weekend, but things happen, as they tend to do, and we wound up not cooking Friday or Saturday, and Sunday she had schoolwork to catch up on, so I decided to give it a try. When we went hunting for the ingredients last weekend, I found a half dozen somewhat complex recipes and one really simple one, which I used for an ingredient list, and then forgot to bookmark. Of course I was not able to find it again today. So I just did what I was probably going to wind up doing anyway - I read over the half dozen complex versions, figured out the basics, and just went with what made sense.

So I started with chicken breasts, sliced them in to strips, pounded the strips out, floured them, dipped them in egg, and fried them. The leftover egg (not much) went in to the pan as well. I grated some extra sharp cheddar on to the top because some of the recipes wanted me to use cheese - specifically parmesan, which I didn't have. This wound up being an empty gesture, I think, because I couldn't really taste it in the finished product, but no matter. Into a small dish I poured about a quarter cup of sherry and maybe a teaspoon of lemon juice - I wish I could be more exact but I was just kind of eyeballing it anyway - which I then spooned lightly over the chicken breasts after I had flipped them. A few minutes later, with half the dish remaining, I decided to flip them again and dump the rest in, and then added more lemon (maybe another teaspoon) more or less on a whim.

At this point I panicked, because I realized that like a total buffoon I had forgotten to prepare anything to go with the chicken! I started a pot to boil for green beans, and began wracking my brain for a starch. Fortunately we had some leftover jasmine rice in the fridge, which I wound up just tossing in the skillet with the chicken, and fiddling with the whole lot while the beans cooked. The end result was, I'm afraid, kind of an ugly mess.

Fortunately we're not much for ceremony around these parts, so we ate it anyway, and it turned out to be really quite tasty. Much of the sherry and lemon had cooked off, so the flavoring was very subtle, which on the whole I think I prefer. The only thing that displeased me was the consistency of the coating, which did not at any point in the cooking process match what I've gotten when I ordered the dish in a restaurant, but since my version was much lighter than what I normally see, that's probably a good thing. We liked it enough that we've declared it to be On The List, and we plan to make it with relative frequency.

Next time I want to try using slightly less sherry, and trying some rice vinegar with it. I might give in to the temptation to involve some minor amount of breadcrumbs in the breading process, but I don't know yet. Also I completely spaced on putting garlic in the pan, which I think would have been a nice touch.

mystery soup

2008-09-10T19:29:00.003-04:00

So, once the chicken was picked clean and the meat all portioned out for its various purposes, I decided to boil the rest in to stock, as suggested by The Paupered Chef. In to the pot went everything that remained of the chicken, along with some raw bits I'd frozen after removing them from a batch of boneless skinless breasts a few week ago, and some miscellaneous veggie bits I'd stashed in the freezer (as per the comments on the post linked above). I wound up simmering it for the better part of four hours, then strained it as instructed, then like a dolt I put it straight in the freezer instead of giving it fridge time to separate properly. It still came out okay, although I suspect a lot fattier than it should have, but I wound up just using it as a basis for soup.

Now, in our freezer we had a bag of red meat, several months old, that we were unable to name. This is not as alarming as it sounds - Erin's family frequently comes by bulk meats, including several deer during hunting season and the occasional cow that they order (I'm not making this up), so we knew that it was edible, and we could see that it was not freezer burned. However, we had no idea what it was. So I decided the only thing to do was simply put it in a crock pot and hope for the best. This theory turned out to be fairly sound, especially when we realized that it had been sliced as stew meat already. So I floured it and browned it and tossed in in the crock pot with the usual assortment of celery, carrots, potato, chickpeas, bell pepper, green onions, sweet onion, and so forth. The stock went in as well, minus what fat had separated to the top, as did some rice vinegar and four cups of water.

So it turns out it was beef stew! Who knew? I like the way the chicken stock worked out, although the finished product does have a tendency to gel back up in the fridge. The flavors work well together. This is also my first successful beef stew.

It has occurred to me during this process that I don't actually know any other uses for chicken stock - does anyone have any suggestions?

chicken ... dumplings?

2008-09-04T21:35:00.003-04:00

The leftover chicken is finally gone, although I haven't gotten around to using the stock yet. (More on that later.) After the pizza, I put together tacos, which were tasty but unexceptional, and tonight I made something that I don't have a good name for. See, I was going to make chicken purses, like I'd read about on yumsugar a while back, but I ran in to some basic problems with their recipe - I don't like ricotta, for one thing, and zesting a lemon always seems like a waste when I don't have anything else I really want to use a lemon for. So I opted to wing it for the filling, and wound up mixing together shredded chicken with a cup or so of CoJack, and then perusing my spice rack I wound up with garlic, onion, and mustard powders, plus black pepper. Then I added honey, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

I want to take a moment to address my frequent use of CoJack. For the record, it is not the only cheese I like. It is, however, my go-to cheese, and I keep forgetting to buy others. In case you were wondering. Which you weren't.

Anyway, I then spooned the filling onto the wonton wrappers, and promptly ran in to trouble - I don't know if I got the wrong size wrapper or what, but there was no way I could wrap them into the classic purse formation with anything resembling a reasonable amount of stuffing. So I wound up kind of folding them over, then flipping them and wrapping them into another, which didn't delight me but one does what one must eh wot, and so I wound up with little dumpling-shaped things. I boiled them til they floated as instructed, then wound up sauteing them for a bit in some butter - not the half a stick suggested in the recipe, because that's just too much butter, but enough to coat the pan. Because they wound up more or less flat along the bottom, and subsequently the top, I was only able to crisp the two large surfaces - a more circular formation would've cooked much more evenly when tossed.

Now, for all that these wound up very different from the original idea, they were very very tasty. I'm looking forward to trying again with different flavor combinations - I still haven't remembered to stock horseradish, which is all but criminal, and I have some ideas for a mixture that starts with rice vinegar as a foundation ... well, we'll see. We should be roasting a chicken again before too long.

chicken & onion pizza

2008-08-31T22:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we had some really wonderfully good roast chicken for dinner. Of course, now we have heaps of leftover chicken that we have to find uses for. Tonight, I decided to try out yumsugar's chicken & onion pizza idea.

Of course, from there I had to find a recipe for pizza dough. I wound up settling on this one from Fabulous Foods, which I will document here for my own purposes: Pour 1 cup warm water in bowl. Add 2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, then mix. Add 1 packet yeast and mix. Wait 5 minutes. Add 1 cup flour & 1/4 cup olive oil, and (you guessed it) mix. Then add another 2 and 1/2 cups flour. At that point it should ball; add water or flour 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Let rise 45 minutes, then punch. Let rise 60 to 90 minutes and use, or punch and let rise another 60 to 120 minutes depending on timing and patience. (I chose 90 minutes and then use this time.)

This dough was very tasty, and in fact we discussed that this is the recipe I should use if I want to make breadsticks or fried dough anytime soon. It comes out nice and fluffy with a good firm exterior. Due to prior bad experiences in this area, I was unwilling to try an untested dough recipe directly on the pizza stone the first time through, so I wound up using a large non-stick cookie sheet. This worked well enough, but it had the unfortunate side effect of not really browning the bottom of the crust in a way I would have liked - I will try that next time, since I know how it's going to behave.

Anyway, once the dough was ready and spread out over the sheet, I topped it with salsa, shredded leftover chicken, Cojack and onion. The recipe called for straight Monterey Jack, but I couldn't find it shredded and I was feeling lazy and besides Cojack is my go-to cheese anyway. It also wants one to sauté the onion before use as topping, probably to distinguish it from whatever onions one might find in the salsa, but I bought a nice big sweet onion and I wanted to taste it, so I didn't bother. It should be noted that I used a mild salsa because while I like spice, and pizza, I don't generally enjoy the two combined.

The end result in this case was very tasty. Between the fluffiness of the crust and the behavior of the salsa it could have been a little dryer, but I wouldn't say it was any soggier than your average extra-sauce pie. We did wind up dipping it in some spaghetti sauce we had in the cabinet, because we wanted a splash of tomato - next time I might just put some sliced tomato on under the cheese. All told an excellent use of leftover chicken, and one I definitely plan to use again.

chai frosting

2008-08-31T19:19:00.002-04:00

Because moving always seems to involve people showering me with things from the back of their pantry that's about to expire, I am in possession of a few boxes of cake mix that are not long for this world. On a whim a few nights ago, I decided to make one, and combine it with a theory that we've had for a while. Essentially the theory is this - standard buttercream frosting can be flavored with cocoa during the creation period, so why not use instant chai?

So we did. The end result is not at all unpleasant, although I'm not sure I'd do it again. The flavor is more like the smell of the chai powder than the taste of actual chai. Although it did occur to me later that this results in a caffeinated cake, which may have a certain appeal. I recommend giving it a whirl if you're in to that sort of thing.

bootleg helper

2008-08-31T18:49:00.004-04:00

So as we settle in to our new home and try to watch our food expenses and obsess about things like college grades, I'm inclined to remember my broke-ass days of yore, when I could barely manage to boil water and ate SpaghettiOs uncooked straight out of the can. Well, okay, I still do that, but the point is I don't think it's a meal.

Anyway, through the rose tinted glasses that let me view those memories without rupturing blood vessels, I fondly remember how Hamburger Helper would seem like a veritable home-cooked feast. I have no desire whatsoever to eat that filth, but when a recipe from the 'cheapcooking' Yahoo Group came across my inbox, I decided to try it. My end product differed greatly from what the recipe was intended to create, but it was still fairly tasty.

First, I sliced five strips of bacon into bite sized bits and sauteed them. When they were almost done I added chopped carrots, celery, onion, and tomato. This I cooked until the carrots were done, at which point I added ground turkey, and cooked until that was done, then added a lot of paprika, stirred thoroughly, then added ziti and filled the skillet with water. When the ziti was edible, I pronounced it done.

On the whole, it wasn't terrible. The original recipe called for "several inches of water", which would have required a dramatically different bit of cookware (oops!), and created something much more soup-like. This is also one of the rare circumstances where I should have used ground beef instead of turkey, because the flavor would have saturated much better. Still, I dubbed it 'Bootleg Helper'. On the whole it was reasonably food-like and highly nostalgic.

fried rice

2008-08-26T22:22:00.004-04:00

We had some leftovers in the fridge, but not enough to make a full meal, and part of our new initiative (due mostly to being broke on account of that whole college thing) is to not waste any food at all. So tonight I decided to give this whole 'fried rice with leftovers' thing a whirl, and see how it came out. I started with some garlic that's getting on in age, and I threw in the chopped carrots right at the outset so they would cook through. Then in went half a can* of French cut green beans and some Vidalia, followed by the leftover teriyaki-marinated venison backstrap we grilled last night, and finally three scrambled eggs and of course the rice itself. The whole shebang got a liberal helping of both soy and teriyaki sauce, along with some powdered mustard seed I found mixed in to our spice rack from God knows when.

The result was not bad, although it needs work. It felt a little bland; we wound up adding ground black pepper to the finished product which rounded it out nicely. Next time I want to start with a nice chili oil or such to add some zest - what I really wish I'd had on hand was some sort of horseradish.

The rice itself could've cooked longer (but everything else was quite done) - I had assumed since it was still quite warm it could go in last, but maybe I'll put that in right after the uncooked ingredients next time. Also I didn't make it with the normal liberal splash of olive oil, because I assumed it would get plenty enough in the wok, and I think that might have been the wrong choice - I think the extra lubrication would've worked wonders.

Still, I found it acceptable, and Erin enjoyed it to the point where she claims to be looking forward to eating the remnants for lunch. (Leftover leftovers? The mind boggles.) It was also pretty easy. I could see this turning in to a regular thing in our household for leftover disposal.

* Yes, I know. Canned green beans are gross. And who the hell eats canned green beans in the middle of summer? My girlfriend, that's who. I don't understand it either.

eggs & links

2008-08-13T04:55:00.004-04:00

I've been teaching myself about eggs lately. See, I don't like eggs, but I'm making it a goal to eat a real breakfast every day, with some source of protein instead of just a pile of carbs. And tempting though it may seem, I can't eat bacon nonstop. So I'm teaching myself to like eggs, and at the same time, how to cook them. So far I've mastered over hard, mostly by accident, and I've pulled off over easy, although it could use some work. I can't really seem to work up any enthusiasm for sunny side up yet, although in theory as I grow to like them (or at least get used to them) that will seem appealing - I did rather enjoy the egg yolk soaking in to the toast with the over easy eggs. I've also created some fairly decent scrambled eggs, which was surprisingly easy. I'm looking at omelets next, but any suggestions are welcome.

On an unrelated note, I rather whimsically searched Yahoo Groups for 'cooking' a few days ago, and I'm quite pleased with the results I've turned up. The format kind of lends itself to recipe sharing, and it's pretty neat to have such a random variety of ideas showing up in my inbox. I get my very own non-sucky kitchen in a matter of days, and I've already got a dozen things on the spike to try.

Speaking of other people's recipes, I've also added a blogroll. I suggest checking out the sites I've linked, and I'm always open to suggestions for sites (or email lists, as above) that I haven't seen.

Three Things

2008-08-04T02:24:00.005-04:00

1) While defrosting some chicken this weekend, a bag that I thought I could trust turned out to have a leak, and while I was cheerfully watching Dr. Who, water was seeping in to the bag, resulting in some rather soggy chicken. I've had this happen in the past, and the result this has on the end product's texture is usually pretty gross, but since I was grilling it, I figured I might as well see what happened. I drained the bag, switched to another, finished defrosting, splashed in some teriyaki sauce, left it alone for 20 minutes, and then threw it on the grill. The end result was pretty good - a lot juicier than one would normally expect from chicken so thoroughly grilled, but quite tasty. I don't know if I would care to repeat the experiment, though.

2) Speaking of teriyaki: apples. Seriously. We made marinated kabobs a few weeks ago, which included apples basically on a whim, and the result was fantastic. Then I took what we didn't wind up grilling and threw it in a wok for a while, and that was also fantastic. I wonder if this would work for roasting?

3) I also had occasion to grill a zucchini that was fresh out of the garden (by which I mean we cut it off the plant, washed it, and threw it on the grill). I vented it, poured honey on it, and splashed some garlic on top of that, then wrapped the whole thing in foil. It was good, but I didn't count on just how thick the skin was going to be on this particular plant. Next time I'm going to slice it in half lengthwise, and put the seasoning inside, which will (a) saturate better, I hope, and (b) make it cook faster, which is not something I ever thought would be useful with zucchini, considering.

Blueberry "Pie"

2008-08-02T15:22:00.004-04:00

My girlfriend's mother acquired blueberries in massive quantities recently, and determined that a pie should be made. Generally interested in trying new things, I offered to bake one, and dug out the America's Test Kitchen binder again. The recipe I used was as follows:

6 cups blueberries
~1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons instant tapioca
2.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
pinch of nutmeg
double pie crust
2 tablespoons butter

Now, first of all, it should be noted that cooking in my in-laws' kitchen is always an experiment in substitutions, because (1) things you think you have always turn out to be several years old and (2) the nearest store is kind of a haul, so you only want to make the trip once (and ideally not at all). So I used instant tapioca when I would have rather had potato starch, and the tapioca wasn't really the greatest quality nor particular easy to crush, which was a large factor in the end result. I also realized right as I came to need it that I had no lemon zest, so extra lemon juice was used, which probably didn't help. Lastly we couldn't find the allspice that everyone was quite sure we had, so I wound up faking it with ginger and hoping it worked out.

As it turned out, six cups of blueberries was way too much for a nine-inch pie. I would have been better served with five cups, perhaps even four and a half. Also, the tapioca didn't really dissolve all that well, giving the whole affair a somewhat grainy texture. And we made the mistake of serving the thing that night, instead of giving it time (and, ideally, chilling it). So what we wound up with was really more of a cobbler in a crust.

Now, the good news is the flavor was excellent, and once the half that we didn't get in to was allowed to chill, it more or less became pie-like. Still, I'm looking forward to trying it again with proper ingredients.

Pancake Experiment

2008-08-02T14:28:00.005-04:00

Ah ha! I bet you thought I had forgotten all about this blog. Well, you were only partly right - the sad truth is I haven't really been cooking lately due to problems with my kitchen that I have no interest in getting in to here. But I've been doing some cooking at my in-laws' house, and there were a few items of note.

A few weeks ago, I had a craving for some well made pancakes. (I'm very particular about my pancakes, so most restaurants don't really meet my requirements.) Digging out the America's Test Kitchen binder, I wound up with this recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk

It should be noted that the recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but like everything else, I tend to ignore that and just add a splash (more for luck than anything else). The beauty of this binder is that it always suggests substitutions - in this case, the graham cracker crumbs were listed in place of a cup of flour. The notes suggested I put 9 crackers (i.e. half a box, one of those little wrapped stacks) in a food processor and grind them into fine powder, which I did, and it also wanted 2 tablespoons of cornmeal for texture, which I left out, because I was using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. The end result was very tasty, even though I butchered the first few by putting too much oil in the pan. (My kingdom for non-stick skillets!)

A few notes: if you have pancake rings, this would be a good time to use them. The batter pours out in a lump, like it's not going anywhere, but as soon as it melts it spreads out and can fill up the pan. If you like the flatter, limper pancakes that's fine, but with a recipe like this I think they work better when they're nice and tall. Also, next time I probably won't grind the graham crackers quite so fine - I think bigger chunks of crumb would have made for a nice crunchy result.

quickie curry

2008-04-02T03:21:00.001-04:00

I went to a church sale recently and recovered a stack of cookbooks so tall I could barely carry them to the car. One of them, and perhaps the one that amuses me the most, is The Busy People's Cookbook, published in 1971. The premise is simple - you're busy, so these recipes all take less than 30 minutes. Many of them call for things like frozen vegetables, and call for them in quantities like 'one bag'.

Tacky though this may seem, I am a very busy person, and so I thought it might be useful to see if some of these produce anything resembling edible food. Accordingly, I've marked several recipes for experimentation, and last night I tried one called "Hurry Curry". I made a few changes to it, and here's the recipe I wound up with.

2 cups rice of choice
1 large chicken breast
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup sour cream
1&1/2 teaspoons curry powder

Start the rice on one burner. Cube the chicken and fire it up in a small skillet with your choice of lubricant.

In a large skillet, melt the butter, then saute the onions and garlic. Add the soup and coconut milk (I added a bit more than 1/4 cup of the latter just because), stir thoroughly. Then add the sour cream and the curry. I used red curry for this, although to be fair I would have preferred yellow. (Sadly red was all I could find while shopping this weekend, and I was in a hurry.) Stir this mix until it's smooth.

Your chicken should by this time be fully cooked, and if it's floating in fluids or oil or whatever else is in the skillet, you should drain that off. Put the chicken in the main skillet and let it cook for a bit - don't let it boil, but heat it through, as they say. At this point you're probably done, but I wound up forgetting the rice until the last minute, so I kept it simmering for a good fifteen minutes longer than I felt was necessary, then continued to let it sit in the skillet for a while after. I think this was actually a good choice, because it tasted dramatically better after that than when I was first ready to declare it done - your mileage may vary.

I was a little dubious about this, to be honest - I'm not much for sour cream, and the coconut milk was complete improv on my part - but the results are pretty awesome. I will say that as looks go, it's not the most appetizing dish I've ever prepared, but some minor presentation with a vegetable counteracted that easily, and it was quite tasty both immediately and left over. The process took a while longer than the book promised, but I did my own chicken prep instead of buying pre-cooked giblets (being lazy but not that lazy). Still the whole thing took less than an hour, and I probably could have made it an even 30 if I'd rushed.

Welcome

2008-04-02T03:15:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah, another damn cooking blog. To say nothing of another damn blog for me. There is method to my madness, however. I have a theory that no one really wants to read random cooking entries in a blog that's not devoted to same, and the people who do want to read them will be happy to read a blog devoted to just that. (I read a dozen or so myself, in fact.) So to avoid spamming people who read me other places with endless talk of kitchen mishaps, I figure I'll just put them here, and if nobody reads them, so be it.

And hey, maybe someone will read them. If you are that person, hi!