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.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
bigass cookies
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.
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.
Friday, February 19, 2010
fakery
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.
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.
Monday, December 28, 2009
holy crap, quiche doesn't suck
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.
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.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
sweet potato pie
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
feeling saucy
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
chicken quick & quicker, plus misc
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.
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.
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