4
Jan
C is for Cookie
I am eating the weirdest cookies that I bought at Death Bi Chocolate - I think they have white chocolate chips, raisins, dried cherries, and powdered candy canes…. They are addictively good, and I have no idea how.
Archive for the ‘baked things’ Category
I have started baking!
Now I’ve tried baking before, and I have ruined cookies. I have ruined more than one box mix of bread made in a bread machine. I just don’t get dough.
And now, all of a sudden, I’m baking. Bread. Without a bread machine.
Okay, so the without a bread machine part was entirely accidental, but I’d already added water to flour when I found out the motor on my bread machine had given up, and it would have been more difficult to clean up at that stage than to keep going and give it a try completely by hand.
I’m trying to keep myself to eating no more than a loaf of bread a week, so there hasn’t been an explosion of bread products. But it’s the second week of fearless breadmaking, and the second loaf of tasty bread… so I’m ready to confess to it.
Premise: Michael Ruhlman wrote a book, Ratio. And after talking it up with my friends, it was a yule gift to me (thanks!). I thought it was a book about baking, but it’s really more a book about all kinds of cooking - at a very high level. It pretty much says, “All of those techniques you know that come with complicated recipes? Well the recipes are secretly rather simple, and here are the magic formulae behind them all - in graph form, no less.”
Okay, well, I have a scale and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with bread being able to be reduced to a framework with some flexibility.
But I’m also not an expert, so I can tell right away that the scant ten pages on bread will not be sufficient, so I also pull out the book of bread machine recipes and my Joy of Cooking.
Experiment 1:
I look at the lean dough recipe (Ratio, p.10):
20 ounces bread flour (about 2 cups)
12 ounces water
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon active or instant yeast
And I compare it with the recipes for 2 lb loaves in the bread machine cookbooks. Those tend to call for about 3 cups of flour, so I scale down the recipe to:
15 ounces flour
9 ounces water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
yeast
Yeah, so I didn’t measure the yeast. The store only had packets, so I just went with a whole packet and figured that should be a loaf of bread worth.
So I pulled out my measuring cup (because it’s microwave safe) and poured in 9 ounces of water. And then I chucked in the random egg yolk I had in my freezer (thawed first) and 2 teaspoons of butter (because every recipe in the bread machine cookbook had about that quantity of lipids). And then I carefully microwaved it up to about 90F and poured some over the active dry yeast to soften it.
Into another container (a quart yogurt container was the perfect size), I started measuring out my flours. And of course I didn’t go the easy route, but I went for whole wheat flour right away. I added about 5 ounces of whole wheat, maybe another 3 ounces of rye flour, and then I was just careful adding the white bread flour to get it to exactly 15 ounces.
Then I added the liquid to the bread machine, added the flour, and topped it with the wet yeast. Plugged it in and nothing happened. Nothing! Whah!
After much despairing, I pulled out the bowl part and twirled the paddle for a bit by hand - and it came together pretty quickly and painlessly into a ball. So I dumped the ball into a large, heavy bowl to mix a little more. And here was the real moment of brilliance that will keep my coming back to bread making - I realized that I didn’t have to get a whole table messy/floury to make bread - I could knead it right there in the bowl!!! Not only was my table not getting dirty, but I was also amazed to discover that my hand didn’t end up all that messy, either. I love bread dough!
I kneaded it in the bowl for a bit, but it fairly quickly became apparent that there wasn’t enough liquid in the dough and it just felt grainy. So I slowly added water in batches as I was kneading. And then I was reading more in Joy of Cooking as I was kneading, and I saw that it said you must have sugars in the dough, too, in order to feed the yeast. So the next time the dough felt dry, I grabbed the honey bottle and squeezed in some honey. I think I ended up adding slightly less than al 1/4 cup of water and maybe an eighth of a cup of honey.
And then I had to let it rise… except my kitchen isn’t hot enough. I live in a tiny studio apartment, and I’ve come up with a solution where I heat my bedroom just a little and the kitchen not at all and this winter (thanks to the help of friends) I have the place insulated enough that it’s enough for me to be comfortable… but the kitchen’s around 40F on most days. So I (oiled the bowl, rounded the dough, turned it in the oil) dampened a kitchen towel and microwaved it until it was warm and steamy. Then I put the bowl on a cutting board and wrapped the top in the warm towel and tucked it all up close to the baseboard heater in my bedroom.
By morning it had doubled in size. Punched it down, kneaded it a little, had some errands to run, so I re-wet and microwaved the towel and put it up for a second rise. Came home and heated up the oven and baked it. (400F for 10 minutes, 350F for 25-30 more minutes - from Joy of Cooking)
Results of experiment #1: So I fully expected this loaf to fail. From no recipe to the equipment failure, from starting off trying a whole wheat loaf to the random inexplicable tinkering - this recipe was doomed to fail. Only it didn’t! It was delicious! It was bread! Okay, so it was a bit solid and tough and more suited to toasting that gobbling up straight, but it was still hard not to gobble it all up right away. I even took some to my mother that night, and she agreed it was tasty bread! Success!
Experiment #2:But I can do better.
This time I only went up to 3.5 ounces of 15 to be whole wheat flour. And I mixed some whole milk with the water (still a total weight of 9 ounces).
And I kneaded it for longer in hopes of making it chewier. Oh, and I figured that since I can keep kneading the flour in a bowl and my hand isn’t getting too dirty that the whole project is portable! So I tucked back into the warm bedroom and kneaded the flour for a whole episode of Earth 2.
The dough still needed more liquid (about the same amount more) and I still added honey (2 Tablespoons-ish). And I accidentally - because I didn’t check back with the book - only included 3/4 teaspoon salt.
And even with the long kneading time, it never reached the stage Ruhlman describes where, “To know if you’ve kneaded the bread dough enough, cut a small piece and stretch it gently. If it reaches the point of translucency before it breaks, the dough is ready.” (Ratio, p.8) But I figure that’s a feature of using the whole wheat flour. And I was starting to worry after 50 minutes of desultory kneading whether I might not be doing too much. I kept adding liquid until the dough was just slightly tacky/sticky after a thorough kneading.
Since the initial mixing had been done in this bowl, too, there was a fine crust of floury bits around the rim, so I did have to wash and dry the bowl before oiling it and putting the dough back in it to rise. But I used the same set up as last week. Only one rise, though.
Results of experiment #2: OMG BREAD! No, really - bread! Just the right amount of gumminess. It could use a bit deeper flavor, but it was exactly what bread should be! Without a recipe and done by feel! I can not express how happy this makes me! It wasn’t just beginners’ luck, either! Wooo! I can not wait until next week when I’ll let myself have another go, but I have no idea how this loaf will last through the night without getting completely devoured.
Plan for experiment #3 So I’m going to need to buy more yeast for next week, so I was perusing the King Arthur Flour website, and I stopped by to look at their recipes - some of which convert back and forth between volume and weight. I’ve noticed that they tend to go with a 16oz flour : 10 oz liquid ratio. That would be a little more wet, and I think I’ll try that next.
29
Dec
Death Bi Chocolate?
I do not have a baking talent… or really much of any talent for desserts.
So, dear friendslist, is it a plausible goal to produce something chocolatey and tasty (but not necessarily gourmet) for the Death Bi Chocolate people by Monday noon?
Especially considering that I recently re-injured my knee with the grotty cartilage?
Ingredients should cost no more than $15 and be light enough to be hopped across the street. Preparation should be able to mostly take place sitting down.
Are there any recipes that fit these requirements? (even if I don’t make something for the event, it’ll still be great to know if such recipes exist)
I know this isn’t the best year to try my hand at participating, but it has come to my attention that this year it will be held somewhere more local than it used to be, so I’d love to see the event do well.
Plus - chocolate!
Wisdom from the comments: Epicurious Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Orgasms, Whacky Cake, French Chocolate Candy, and these fancy shaped brownies:
Fancy shaped brownies are very easy. You will need:brownie ingredients
a sheet of parchment paper
a half sheet pan
a spatula
cookie cuttersLine the half sheet pan with the parchment paper.
Spread the brownie batter over the parchment-lined pan. Bake till set. Let cool.Cut in shapes with the cookie cutters. Place on a serving plate. Eat the scraps.
If desired, microwave butterscotch chips or white chocolate till they melt and drizzle over the cutouts. Lick the drips off your fingers.
13
Aug
What I did with my summer weekend - failed whole wheat banana peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
Read books
Element of Fire by Martha Wells
I really liked this book, but I spent the entire time I was reading it wishing it were Science Fiction instead of Fantasy. See, one of the things I like most about some of this author’s other writing is that she writes science fiction that is believably otherworldly where I am neither pointing the the earth culture some author blatantly ripped off nor am I wincing at the implausible technobabble. Her stuff is the closest to good hard sci fi that I have read in a while. So I went into this book looking for that itch to be scratched, and I got fantasy.
Still, there’s wonderful political intrigue, and an amazingly understated and limiting system of magic that feels wonderfully plausible. Every single character has dimensions and motivations and regrets. I ended up wanting to spend a good deal more time in this world.
The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells
Luckily, I already had another book set in the same world as Element of Fire. Only this one - is set in the future of the other book - possibly a steampunk future. So there’s that rich texture of fantasy, but the magic has faded a bit in the way of technology and there are whizzing gadgets and whamframits and legacies of wizards and the ways different cultures have been shaped by developing in a world with magic. It’s almost an anthropological study, but it’s also swashbuckling and quirkiness. There are so many elements in this world, but they are all clearly defined and interesting and I need to go buy the next two books in the trilogy right away.
Watched movies
Stardust
There were times when I was grinning uncontrollably, thinking, “Awwww… Neil Gaiman, your message is showing.” Geek boy makes good! People love you, even if you’re different! Overconfidence will do you in every time. N’awww!
But aside from that, totally aside from Neil Gaiman’s input, this was an awesome movie. The visuals were stunning! The acting was wonderful - there was just the right balance of scenery chewing and subtlety. And I have never seen costuming and special effects work together so well before - with the way they did the witch’s magic, her incredibly awkward dress totally worked because it matched the smokey magic effect and made it looks like she was trailing off into vapours at the edges - and both were enhanced by the other. I loved that the pretty pretty princess looked like a real person, and beautiful. I loved that one of the essential parts of becoming a hero was acquiring Keanu Reeve’s hair - I had never understood before. Robert De Niro was great, but I really wanted to squish his first mate’s cheeks - who was he? OH! - well, this movie really suited him.
This movie has been available for me to watch ever since it was released and we had a copy on Beta. Finally got around to it.
First off. I hate William Hurt. Far too many times, I have gone into a movie really excited that it will have John Hurt in it, only to be tricked into having to watch William Hurt, instead. Not a fair substitution, I tell you! I think he managed to single-handedly ruin the last third of History of Violence, which would have been one of my favorite movies, if only they had cast someone other than William Hurt. I don’t like his voice, his mannerisms, the way he manages to be smugly modest, and he has stupid hair. Or I might just be projecting that all because I am bitter that he isn’t John Hurt.
And the movie starts off with William Hurt’s voice talking painfully slowly he’s really savouring his own nasal tone, and I almost turned it off right there. But my mother has been trying to get me to watch this movie for years, so I kept going.
I sure was glad that my closest neighbors have moved because I was a bit embarrassed at times to have, “Faggot,” shouted out through my windows so frequently - not a polite movie.
But it was a good movie. I liked how the characters developed and didn’t compromise. I liked how the story was built up in layers that seemed superficial but weren’t.
I have an urge to rewrite bits of it. On the other hand, I like that I have to fight the text at that point.
Baked… badly
Saga of the whole wheat banana peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
It all started with overripe bananas. And I was going to make banana bread, but I always make banana bread. So I looked through my cookbooks for something new to bake with bananas.
I have checked out from the library a cookbook for Clueless Bakers, and it had a recipe for whole wheat banana peanut butter cookies. What could go wrong?
So I started off following the recipe exactly, and the recipe said that throwing in chocolate chips would cause nothing but good things, so I did that.
The result? Lumpy, grainy, yucky cookies of blech!
I thought back to the best peanut butter cookies I have ever had, and they had been made from a fairly thin batter with melted chocolate drops on top. So I went to the store to buy Hershey’s Kisses, and I set out to thin the batter.
I looked in my fridge and decided that the small cup of vanilla yogurt would be the perfect choice, after all I was planning to put yogurt (plain) in the banana bread, if I made it, and a bit of vanilla would do wonders for the taste. I also decided that a teaspoon of powdered ginger would also do wonders for the taste, so I added that.
The batter was thin and spread out just the way I wanted, but it didn’t get crispy at all. The outside was cooked, but the inside was still mushy - and they were thin now!
Apparently, yogurt was the wrong choice. When I called my mother to whine about my cookies, she said that I should have used an egg but that a dairy product would trap too much moisture.
The Hershey’s Kisses were also not as charming as the chocolate drops made special for the other recipe because they didn’t melt - the just got a bit droopy around the edges but maintained their shape perfectly even after baking. Creepy. Possibly, I should have been tipped off by the paper tags under the foil that said, “Oops,” and, “I hate Mondays!”
At least the dough was tasty. If it weren’t for cultural indoctrination against salmonella, I’d prefer to eat most cookies as dough.
Nevermind, I packed up the entire lot of them and left them in the staff room for people to try.
I’m good at savoury food, but for some reason I am bizarrely incompetent at baked goods.
ETA: The free cookies at work were not tempting enough at all - at the end of the day, I ended up throwing out half of them.
PIE vs Harry Potter.
Made from scratch key lime pie in which we tested out two different recipes… versus the new Harry Potter book.
Pie made with some absolutely lovely people who are wonderful people… versus the new Harry Potter book
Pie with people who live in the city versus my pre-paid Harry Potter book out in the suburbs at least 40 minutes away.
what do you think happened?
I totally managed to do both!
There was socializing and talking and baking - with an extra trip to round up enough ingredients for the *two* batches instead of the single one originally planned. We found that the Nigella Lawson one was bizarrely fluffy and that we probably liked the simple recipe printed on the bag of key limes best, but we are reserving final judgment until the pies have had a chance to cool and set in the refrigerator.
Because we ate the pies warm!
Pies came out of the oven about 11:20ish.
There was tasty sampling that was reasonably leisurely so as to fully judge the pies’ merits.
And then there was freakishly fast driving. And I did not get a speeding ticket even though I totally deserved one.
Got to the bookstore at 12:10 to a bunch of people leaving - but there were still a bunch of people buying. My pre-paid receipt was not in the special box, so manager-type person was called over and a list was checked - and I walked out with a copy at 12:20.
And now I need to calm down a bit before getting into the serious business of reading.
14
May
Banana Bread
I have an old standard recipe for never-fail banana nut bread that comes from the red-checkered version of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, so when I got my apartment I got a copy of the cookbook to take with me so that I could have this specific recipe.
Only they went and changed it on me! I ended up with some crazy recipe that had streusel nut topping. Not on, cookbook. [ETA: streusel-laden recipe warning - pop-ups and other annoying advertising]
So I sent home to my mother for a copy of the correct recipe to put into the cookbook:
Banana Nut Bread
350F
1/2 c. shortening butter (5 1/3 Tbsps.)
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (I use 3 bananas, if I have them. Otherwise, 2)
1/2 c. chopped nuts (pecans, in my land)
Cream together butter and sugar; add eggs and beat well.
Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with banana, blending well after each addition.
Stir in nuts.
Pour into well greased 9.5″x5″x3″ loaf pan.
Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until done. Remove from pan, and cool on a rack.
Now once I started making this in my apartment, I was living in a land with no dishwasher. So instead of mashing the bananas in one bowl, chopping the nuts into another, creaming the butter and sugar in yet another, and then having the large bowl with the dry ingredients and then everything else - I tried to minimize the dishes I would have to do. So I broke apart the nuts into the measuring cups after they’d been used, and I put the bananas straight into the dough and mashed as I mixed it in. This ended up making the dough too dry. So now there is about another 1/2 cup of sour cream in my standard recipe. Basically, I make it the usual way and then I add sour cream until the dough is wet enough.
This recipe makes amazing bread.
This morning, while I was waiting for the bread to cook, I decided to see whether my new cookbook, The Best Recipe by the Cook’s Illustrated people, had any opinions on the perfect technique for making banana bread. And they do:
- Sour Cream added richness, but it also made for a heavy texture and an unattractive, pebbly crust.
- they mix the nuts with the dry ingredients and the bananas with the wet, and they add yogurt in with the wet, too.
It’s the end of the season, and I have an abundance of food.
food I have
Not frozen meat
8 or so assorted pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken
leftover filet mignon (with sauteed peppers and mushrooms on the side)
bacon (this usually is just assumed, but I thought I’d throw it on the list today)
Frozen Meat *means should be used soonish
ground beef
hamburger patties
meatballs
taco seasoned ground beef
london broil marinated for stir fry*
chicken breast
diced roast pork* (only 1 meal’s worth)
chicken backs for stock
sorely tempting meat on sale this week
ground beef $1.69/lb
skinless boneless chicken breast $1.99/lb
bread
tortillas
I have a bread machine!!!
1/2 pound of bread leftover from a loaf
Produce
10 peaches of dubious virtue (these are the least ripe ones from the $5 of peach seconds I got at the farmers’ market and put up and sugared and put in the back of the fridge to ferment. Now my container is full, and I need to think up something different for these last few)
10 pounds of potatoes
5 bell peppers
2 zucchinis
3 long skinny eggplants
carrots
jalepeno peppers
2 apples
garlic (whole and peeled)
Dairy
sour cream
cheddar cheese
2% milk
heavy cream
and end of a blue cheese that should be finished soonish
cream cheese
OMG food!
I looked through all my cookbooks for stuff for peaches and potatoes (separately)
One of my favorite cookbooks, Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen, had a recipe for a frittata that not only included potatoes, but also bell peppers and day old bread! Score. I had that last night, but I put all the stuff on the list, anyway, just so I could brag about finding the perfect recipe. I wonder how well the potato frittata will reheat? I’ll find out eventually, I guess.
Cooking With the Seasons had an exceptionally tasty-looking peach dessert, but I’ll need people over to try that. Hint. Hint.
ETA: I lied. The recipe is in Winterthur’s Cullinary Collection, which also has an interesting recipe for a pie with dates and sesame seeds that I might like to have help trying to create some moot.
Otherwise, it looks like I’ll make a coriander and peach chutney/salsa thing and find a good meat to put it with… my choice would be lamb, but it’s looking like chicken is the available option.
I have separated the chicken into meat, crunchy bits, and refuse. I can’t quite bring myself to toss the crunchy bits. They are so tasty - there must be a way to use them without the hideous gluttony of a meal of chicken skin. Crumb topping for casserole?
I’d been planning to put the filet mignon with peppers and mushrooms either in tortillas or over rice all mexican-y with maybe the zucchini and perhaps a can of beans. I think the starch shall, instead, be diced potatoes. Lots of diced potatoes. And I could probably grill down at least one additional bell pepper. I might be able to put away five or six lunches from that dinner.
Ummmm… eggplant. That could go with potatoes in a curry. With jarred tomatoes (from [redacted]’s mother!). And… ummm… lots of jalepenos. Yeah.
So what else is urgent? I should have a bell pepper left, unless it self destructs before I get to it. More potatoes. Some pork for a small dish. Beef for a stir fry. Wherewithal to make hella tasty mashed potatoes to feed a large army. Bother - peaches still, I can’t imagine the chicken using up more than half what I have. Oh, and cooked chicken. Right.
So I need salad greens. I think a chicken, peach, grilled onion salad with stilton would be kinda tasty. Maybe some toasted almonds in that. But way too early to buy the greens yet.
roasted pork with potatoes and carrots and gravy. *yawn* Boring, but it’ll still be tasty.
And then I thaw the meat for stir fry again and make it right quick. Probably by this time I will need to buy more bell peppers. There can be potatoes in stir fry. Totally.
Ooh, and the Better Homes and Gardens has a recipe for bread machine potato bread that starts from a real potato.
Yeah. That should feed me into next month. And I think I’lll still need brilliant ideas to eat everything.
And I have a hankering to make lots of bread… only no room to eat it.
ARGH! I forgot about the three pounds of dates I bought to stuff for an SCA event and never got around to doing anything with… and the container of feta cheese and the bag of walnuts. Is anyone throwing a party any time soon who wants to join me in making a tasty little finger desserts?
Meanwhile, I am feeling both antisocial and lonely… and not quite sure what to do with that.
Okay - so the plan for the July 4th moot, is to have [Host] write fic. Lots of fic.
Therefore, we have planned a coup.
I will be organizing. Anyone interested in producing food, let me know.
(Also, it will be [Hosts]‘ anniversary)
Meanwhile, here are some of my ideas:
Friday: Thai Food
theme beverage: thai iced tea
Yeah, I totally have to look up the recipes before I have any idea what we’ll make. Let me know what are your favorite dishes (and be guaranteed that it’ll be an amateur version) - and let me know if there is anything you can not tolerate.
Saturday: Southern Food
theme beverage: Mint Julep
Breakfast
- Biscuits and gravy (made by [redacted])
- Bacon (made by [redacted])
- Eggs to order (made by Livia)
Appetizers/Lunch
- caramellized bell peppers (made by [redacted]) on cornbread (made ahead by [host])
- crab dip (made by [redacted])
- pimento cheese (made by Livia) on something (made by [host])
- shrimp remoulade (made by Livia or bought from Trader Joes)
- hush puppies (made by Molly) very last appetizer, so we can eat them with the dinner, too
First Course
Pecan-crusted pan-fried fish (made by [redacted])
Rosemary potatoes (made by [redacted])
Chicken Creole over rice (made by Livia)
Collard greens w/ bacon (made by [redacted])
Green beans (made by [redacted])
Salad Course
Salad
either balsamic or blue cheese dressing
Long-term noshing
Mac’n'cheese (made by [redacted])
Green bean salad (made by [redacted])
Red beans & rice (made by Livia)
Jambalya shrimp (made by Livia)
Dessert
Rum pears & rum apples (made by [redacted])
Chess Pie (made by Livia or someone with more baking affinity) with crust (made by Molly)
Sunday: Pig & Dairy day
theme beverage: beer
breakfast
Bacon (made by [redacted])
Eggs to order (made by Livia)
Eggs benedict (made by [redacted] plus others?)
English muffins (made by any ole person)
Appetizers/lunch
angels on horseback
Dinner
Pork medallions & cream sauce (made by [redacted])
Dessert
Custard? Zabaglione?
Monday: Mexican
theme beverage: tequila / Coors
Breakfast
yeah, whatever - feel free to volunteer to wrangle this
Appetizer/Lunch
Guacamole
Dinner
Saucy meats, condiments, and tortillas
Rice
Dessert
gluten-free churros?
fried ice cream (made by [redacted])
So who else wants to add to this?
A shopping list and further planning will come later.
Recipes for possible reference - (note: these recipes were here to use this weekend, but I don’t think I have every gotten around to trying any of them. Sources were not recorded)
Coconut Shortbread Cookies
1 c butter, softened
1.4 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 c all-purpose (gluten-free) flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 c flaked coconut
about 1 c powdered sugar
In a large bowl or electric mixer, beat butter until creamy; add granulated sugar and beat until smooth. Mix in vanilla. In another bowl, stir together flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, blending thoroughly. Add coconut and mix well until combined. Shape dough into a roll about 1 1/2 inches in diameter; wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm (2 hours MIN! to 3 days).
Unwrap dough. Using a sharp knife, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place slices slightly apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch and lightly browned on bottoms. Transfer to racks and let cool for 5 minutes. Sift hald the powdered sugar onto wax paper and transfer cookies to it in a single layer; sift additional powdered sugar on to to cover cookies lightly. Let cookies cool completely. Store airtight.
Cheese Straws (makes 5 1/2 dozen)
1/2 pound grated sharp cheddar cheese, grated at room temp
8 T (1 stick) butter, softened
1 3/4 c sifted flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t tabasco sauce
In a bowl, beat together the cheese and butter until well blended.
Sift the flour along with the salt, cayenne pepper directly into the cheese-butter mixture, add the Tabasco sauce, then mix until thoroughly blended. Form the dough into two large patties, cover, and refrigerate one hour.
Preheat the oven to 425F
One at a time, roll out the two portions of dough until they are about 1/4″ thick. Cut the dough into 5″x1/2″ strips and carefully place the strips on [lined] cookie sheets.
Bake cheese straws for 8 minutes. Then remove them from the oven and let them cool. (Also good served fresh and hot)
Andean Tamales
5 c water
1 c regular (not instant) hominy grits
1 t salt
1/4 pound mild pork sausage
1/2 pound lean pork
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 t whole aniseed
1 onion, about 2″ in diameter, finely chopped
one 4″ long fresh chili pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into thin strips
1-2 hard cooked eggs, cut into lengthwise strips
about 30 peanuts, roasted, shelled, and skinned
In a heavy, 2-quart saucepan, bring the water to a boil and slowly stir in the grits. Lower the heat, add the salt, cover and cook slowly for 25-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
Meanwhile, put the sausage, either whole or cut in half, into a colf frying pan, set it over medium heat, and cook until it begins to render a little fat.
Add the pork, either whole or cut into several pieces of equal thickness, and cook, turning occasionally, until the juices no longer run pink
Add the garlic, aniseed, onion, and pepper strips, stirring to brown and flavor the meat.
Turn off the heat; remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and cut both the sausage and the lean pork into 1/4″x3″ strips. Set them aside on a plate together wih the egg strips and peanuts.
With a wooden spoon, mix the pan drippings and fat into the cooked grits
Cut lightweight aluminum foil into ten 10″x12″ strips
Divide the grits into equal portions. Pat half of each portion into the shape of a long, narrow rectangle down the middle of each foil strip. Run a strip of pork and one of sausage down the center of the grits, leaving room at both ends. Top with 3 peanuts and 1 or 2 strips of egg
Pat a half portion of grits over each strip of filling to completely cover it. Then seal the foil package by wrapping it like a present.
When you are ready to cook the tamales, place them in a skillet large enough to hold them in a single layer, cover them with boiling water and cook gently for 2 to 2-1/2 hours
Remove the tamales from the water with a slotted spoon, cool to room temperature, and serve right in foil packets
Delicate Eggplant Balls
1 medium eggplant, whole
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c grates Swiss cheese
4 T bread crumbs
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t lemon juice
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
Cook eggplant in boiling water until tender (20-25 minutes). Peel, and mash pulp with fork. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. If mixture is too thin, add more breadcrumbs. Shape into small balls and refrigerate 1 hour. Roll balls in flour and deep fry until crisp. Serve hot.
Huevos Rancheros (makes 4)
4 tortillas
3 eggs
*2 c canned tomatoes
*1/4 c ketchup
*1/4 c barbecue sauce
*1/4 onion diced
*hot chile peppers to taste
*salt to taste
simmer all the starred ingredients for 10 minutes, breaking tomatoes into fine pieces. Heat sauce to boiling. In a generous amount of hot oil in a frying pan, fry tortillas lightly on each side. Set aside to drain. Fry eggs in the same pan, sunny-side up or over easy. Add salt to taste. Place one egg on each tortilla and pour a quarter of the sauce over all.
12
Feb
Relaxing
It has been a lovely birthday weekend.
We had a party at work on Friday with pizza… and I brought in a lovely chocolate mousse cake with ganache. It was my first time buying something at The Restaurant School’s pastry shop, but it was amazing. Then my parents took me out to dinner at a nice restaurant and then I met GeeksDoItBetterfor a midnight screening of Serenity!
Saturday, my actual birthday, I worked overtime and ate most of the rest of the cake. The weather has been good to me again. We were supposed to get lots of snow starting at 2pm, but the temperature stayed above freezing even until 10pm, when I was walking home… and then right after I got home, it started sticking
So I have spent all of Sunday in bed! I woke up at noon and 4pm. It’s now almost 8pm, and I am considering having breakfast. Also, I love my neighbor - for he has shoveled the walkway, even my steps and up to my door.
10
Feb
Mmmmm
I have cake!