Food Wonk

Chicken Kiev

2012-02-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

Chicken Kiev

When I was a kid, I love chicken kiev and chicken cordon blue. My mom used to get them frozen and they were a special treat. My husband also had them as a kid and loved them. So, I decided to make them from scratch. I also decided to bake them because it is healthier (and my stove doesn't get spattered with grease; I use a spatter shield and I still get grease everywhere). This dish has more prep time and steps than I want for a weekday meal but it would work great for the weekends. Also you can make a batch of them and freeze them! After you roll them in the breadcrumbs just freeze them. When you are ready to eat them, defrost completely, and bake as directed.

1/2 Cup (113 g) of Butter, Softened (2 Tbsp of Butter per Chicken)
1 Garlic Clove, Minced
2 Tsp Dried Herbs (I used a mixture of dill, lemon zest, and chives)
1/4 Tsp of White Pepper

Place all of the ingredients into a mixer or a bowl and mix until well combined. Place the butter mixture on a piece of plastic wrap, roll into a log, and freeze.

A log of herbed butter

4 Pieces of Boneless Chicken
Butter Mixture, Cut into 5 Pieces (Save one piece for the the bread crumbs)

Place a piece of chicken in between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound.

Pounded chicken

It is a great way to work out the tension from the day. The chicken should be about 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick. Place a piece of the butter mixture in the center of the chicken and fold so that the butter is encased in chicken.

Place the frozen herbed butter in the center of the chicken

Fold over to form a log

Fold over to form a package of chicken around the butter

Place the chicken on a pieces of plastic wrap crease side down wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least two hours. Repeat with remaining chicken.

1/2 Cup (60 g) of Flour for Dredging
1 Large Egg
1/4 Cup (60 ml) Milk
2 Cups (300 g) of Breadcrumbs or Panko
1 Piece of Butter Mixture, Melted

Preheat oven to 350F/176C/ Gas Mark 4. Grease a baking pan. Place the flour on a plate or in a bowl. Crack the egg into a bowl, add the milk, and beat the egg and milk together. If you are using fresh bread for the bread crumbs, toast the bread. Combine the bread crumbs and butter in another bowl. Roll each piece of chicken in the flour, then egg, and then bread crumb mixture.

Rolling in bread crumbs

Place in the baking pan. Bake for 20-40 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165F/74C. How long you cook the chicken really depends on how thinly you pound the chicken. You usually test the temperature by placing the meat thermometer in the middle but don't do that for this. Test the end otherwise all of the butter goodness will escape and you don't want that.

Baked chicken kiev (the lighter bundle is the panko coated chicken)

The bottom line: will I make this again? This exceeded my expectations. It was incredible. So much better than store bought (or truck bought). I tried to sneak back and get the last chicken kiev, was caught, and had to share it. I preferred the chicken with homemade breadcrumbs and not the panko. So I will be making it again with breadcrumbs.

Nutella Pop Tarts

2012-02-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

Nutella pop tarts

It was Nutella day on February 5th. Nutella is so awesome that it gets its own day. If you have never had Nutella-- you are missing one of the great culinary joys. Nutella is a chocolate and hazelnut spread. Full of fat and taste. I love it so.
I decided to make Nutella Pop Tarts in honor of this important day. I dearly love Pop Tarts. I always feel guilty eating them and I eat them at a remarkable pace. These I feel less guilty about so they were gone in seconds. You can use your favorite pie crust for the pop tarts (I have one of mine below) or store bought crust. The dough I used was really easy to make and work with.

Nutella Pop Tarts

Pie Crust
1 Large Egg, Beaten
Nutella

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board.

Ready to roll out the dough

If you have mad rolling skills (I do not), roll the dough into a rectangle. I get close to a rectangle and cut the dough into a rectangle. I love the edge a ravioli cutter gives the dough so I use that to cut the dough. Cut the dough into equal sized rectangles.

I love the edge the ravioli cutter makes

I use a spatula to move the bottom rectangle to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Brush a little of the beaten egg around the side of the rectangle. This helps seal the pop tart and lets you know how far to spread the Nutella. Place a dollop of Nutella in the center of the rectangle and spread evenly to the edge of the beaten egg.

Spreading the Nutella

Carefully place another rectangle of dough on top of the Nutella covered rectangle and seal with a fork- creating a lovely border. Prick the top of the pop tart with a fork (this allows the steam to escape). Repeat until you have used all of the dough.

Ready for the oven

Place the pop tarts in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and preheat your oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown. Cool (ha! like that is going to happen in my house -- but be careful the filling is HOT).

Pie Crust

1 1/8 Cups (140 g) of Unbleached Flour
1/2 Tsp of Salt
1 Tsp of Sugar
1/2 Cup (113 g) of Butter, Cut into Tbsp Pieces (8 Pieces)
3-4 Tbsp of Ice Cold Water

Place the flour, salt, sugar, and butter into a food processor.

Pulse until the mixture looks like cornmeal (this does not take long).

Transfer to a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of water. Using a wooden spoon mix until a soft ball forms- you may need to add more water and you may need to use your hands.

Transfer the ball to a piece of plastic wrap, flatten into a disc, wrap tightly, and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Do you even have to ask? I love these. They are so much better than store bought. The better question is did I share any of them.

Superbowl Sunday Buffalo Chicken Dip

2012-02-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

Buffalo chicken dip with veggies

I love Buffalo chicken wings. So full of deep fried spicy goodness. When my husband and I were dating, we went to wings night every Monday night at a local pub. They had great wings. Unfortunately, they no longer have wings night. This dip is my substitute for wing night. It has all of the yummy goodness of Buffalo chicken wings without the hassle of deep frying the chicken Actually, it is even easier than that. You just add the ingredients to a saucepan (or crockpot), heat, and enjoy. You could also bake it (350F/176C/gas mark 4 for 20-30 minutes). When I bake this dip, I add some extra shredded cheese to the top. You can use canned chicken if you want to but I don't. Depending on the weather, I either grill, bake, boil, or boil the chicken. Yes, grilling takes more work but it adds another layer of flavor. This time I decided to boil the chicken (I made extra for chicken salad). I think this dip would be good without the chicken too. If you don't like blue cheese, then use ranch dressing.

1 lb (.45 kg) of Cooked Chicken, Chopped
2 (8 oz/227 g) Packages of Cream Cheese, Softened
Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 Cup (120 ml) to 3/4 Cup (180 ml) of Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1 Cup (80 g) of Shredded Mozzarella or Jack Cheese

Everything but the chicken is added

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan.

I like big pieces of chicken- if you don't finely shred the chicken

Heat over low heat while stirring frequently until heated through. Serve with chips and/or veggies.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes, the next time I am craving Buffalo chicken wings.

Everything is Better with Beer

2012-01-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

Book Cover

I can't believe it but the appetizer cookbook is done. It is all about cooking with beer. It has 35 appetizers for humans and one for man's best friend. It is available on Kindle (Everything is Better with Beer) and is only $2.99-- a bargain! It will be available in other venues soon.

Here is the list of recipes:

Beer Cheese Balls

Chipped Beef Beer Ball

Beer Ranch Cheese Dip

Hot Crab Dip

Bacon Beer Pimento Cheese

Beer Cheese Spread

Beer Con Queso Dip

Beer and Blue Cheese Dip

Blue Cheese Beer Dip II

Beer Cheese Fondue

Clam Dip in a Bread Bowl

Beer and Artichoke Dip

Onion Dip

Beer Steamed Clams

Mussels Steamed in Beer

Beer Marinated Shrimp

Sake Shrimp

Beer Roasted Garlic Shrimp

Beery Crab Cakes

Crab and Corn Fritters

Corn Fritters

Beer Batter Goodness

Mini Corn Dogs

Pigs in a Beer Blanket

Drunken Hot Dogs

Beer Meatballs

Awesome Baked Beer Chicken Wings

Beer Marinated Roasted Chicken Wings

Peanut Butter Chicken Wings

Beer Stuffed Mushrooms

Beer Marinated Mushrooms

Sake Marinated Mushrooms

Beer Marinated Olives

Spicy Beer Walnuts

Beer Edamame

Spent Grain Dog Biscuits

Mongolian Beef

2012-01-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Mongolian Beef

I love Mongolian beef. Mongolian beef is not really Mongolian at all. It is a popular dish in Chinese restaurants in the United States. I think it is delicious. It is an amazingly easy dish to make at home. I like it so much that I finally measured the ingredients and wrote down the amounts. You can adjust the seasoning and make it hotter. I slice the steak while it is still slightly frozen (it is easier to slice that way). I start the rice before making the stir fry because the rice takes a lot longer to cook than the stir fry.

1/4 Cup of Soy Sauce (I use low sodium)
1 Tbsp of Hoisin Sauce
1 Tsp of Sesame Oil
2 Tsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 Tsp of Sugar
4 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
Red Pepper Flakes or Sriracha Sauce, To Taste
2 lbs (.9 kg) of Sirloin Steak, Thinly Sliced
1 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
4 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced

Combine the first seven ingredients together. Add the sirloin and marinate for one hour to overnight.

Marinating beef

Heat the oil (I add a couple of drops of sesame oil) to a large skillet or wok over high heat.

Stir frying the green onions

Add the green onions and stir fry for about seconds and then add the beef and marinade. Stir fry until the beef is no longer pink about 5 minutes.

Stir frying the beef

Serve over rice.

The bottom line: will I make this again? I love this. Yes. Probably this weekend. So easy and so yummy...

Chinese Dumplings-Porcupine Balls

2012-01-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Porcupine Balls

The Chinese New Year is here. Happy New Year! This year (2012) is going to be the year of the dragon. The dragon is the most favorable and revered sign in the 12-year Chinese zodiac. The dragon is a symbol of royalty, fortune and power. I am hoping it is a good year, no make that a great year. To celebrate the new year, I decided that dumplings were necessary. When I asked my family which dumplings they wanted, the resounding reply was porcupine balls or pearl balls. I was happy to oblige; they are incredibly easy to make. I also think they are so so tasty. I have never made these without a streamer so if someone makes them without one, please leave a comment and let me know how. The rice that should be used in these is glutinous rice. It is also called sweet or sticky rice and is available at Asian markets. If you cannot find glutinous rice then use a short-grain rice instead. Please note, that the rice is soaked and then steamed with the pork. It is never boiled. I like a bit of spice so I add a squirt or two of Sriracha sauce.

1 Cup (210 g) of Uncooked Rice
1 Pound (.45 kg) of Ground Pork
2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
1/2 Tsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp of Ground Ginger
1 Large Egg
1 Scallion Finely Chopped
Sriracha Sauce (Optional), To Taste

Soak the rice in water for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Soaking rice

Lightly grease the bottom of the steamer. Dump remaining ingredients into a bowl and mix to combine.

Ready to mix

Form the pork mixture into small balls. Drain rice and roll the pork ball in the rice mixture.

The assembly line is ready

Place the pork balls into the steamer.

Ready to be steamed

I use a large skillet and I place the steamer in the large skillet. Next I fill the skillet with boiling water so that the water comes up the side of the steamer. Watch the level of the water and add more boiling water if the level gets low.

Steaming

Turn the stove on high and steam for 15-20 minutes until the pork is cooked though and the rice is tender. I use a meat thermometer just to be sure (Since this is ground pork, the recommended temperature is 160F/71C).

Perfection

The bottom line: Will I make these again? Yes. They are incredible. I am sure that I will be branching out into other steamed dumplings......

Praline and Cream Cheese Filled King Cake

2012-01-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

The "king cake" gets its name from the three kings in the bible who traveled to visit baby Jesus. King cakes are traditionally eaten between the Ephinany (the feast day celebrating the visit of the three wise to baby Jesus which symbolizes the presentation of Jesus to the wider world) through Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday- the day before Ask Wednesday and the beginning of lent).
Each king cake usually has a small plastic baby, nut, or bean symbolizing baby Jesus. Depending on where you live, the person who gets the piece of cake with the "baby" has to have the next party, supply the next cake, is declared king or queen for a day, is going to have a baby, or has to prepare tamales for the Candlemass feast. The cake is decorated in traditional Mardi Gras colors: green (faith), gold (power), and purple (justice).

My favorite king cakes are the filled cakes. When I lived in New Orleans, I never thought to make a king cake because it was so easy to buy one. Like everyone else in New Orleans, I had my favorite bakery and I ate lots of king cake. Now I have two options for king cake, I can have one shipped or make my own. I decided to make my own that way I can fill my king cake with cream cheese and pralines. Yum! These cakes are not difficult at all to make. The dough is so easy to work with. I would like to tell you that these take no time at all. That would be a lie. It took me most of a day to make this cake. While a lot of that time was the cake rising, you should plan on four plus hours from start to finish.

King Cake
2 1/4 Tsp (One Packet) of Yeast
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Milk
6 Tbsp of Butter, Softened
2 Tbsp of Sugar
1/4 Tsp of Salt
1 Egg, at Room Temperature
1/2 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp of Ground Nutmeg
2 1/2- 3 Cups (300g to 360g) of Flour

In a small saucepan heat the milk to 100-110F/38-43C. Pour the milk into your mixing bowl and add the yeast. Let the yeast mixture sit for 10 minutes or until foamy. (If the yeast does not react throw out the yeast mixture and start again).

In a small bowl, beat the egg and add to the yeast mixture. Add the butter and turn on the mixer and gradually add the dry ingredients. I add 2 1/2 cups (300 g) of flour and once it is combined, I switch to a dough hook and mix the dough until a soft ball forms. Up to 1/2 cup (60 g) of flour may need to be added (a small amount at a time) for the soft ball to form.

The dough has formed a soft ball and is ready to knead

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until the dough is soft and smooth. This process will not take long. It takes me less than a minute.

Kneaded dough ready to rise

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and roll the dough in the bowl so the dough ball is covered in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, place in a warm area (free of drafts), and allow the dough to rise for about an hour or until the dough had doubled in size. Sometime this can take up to an hour and a half.

While the dough is rising, make the fillings and sugar (see recipes below).

Once the dough is ready, punch the dough. Place on a lightly floured surface. I like to use parchment paper so then I can transfer the dough on the parchment paper to a cooking sheet without messing up the dough. Roll the dough out into a rectangle. Place gobs of the cream cheese and praline mixture on one half of the rectangle (do not use all of the fillings). Keep the filling away from the edges of the cake otherwise you will have filling oozing out while it bakes.

Rolled out dough with gobs of filling

Fold the rectangle in half and crimp the edges.

Folded dough

Place more gobs of the fillings on half of the rectangle and fold and crimp the edges.

Folded dough with gobs of filling

(I prefer gobs to thinly spreading the fillings over the entire surface because I like pockets of filling in the cake not a thin layer throughout).

Folded dough ready to form into an oval

Shape the rectangle into a round or oval shape. Place greased coffee cans in the center of the king cake.

Rising king cake

Cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm spot and allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Ready for the oven

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C/Gas Mark 5. Remove the coffee cans and bake for 15-20 minutes or until slightly brown. Place plastic baby or almond in the cake by placing a small split in the bottom of the cake and inserting the plastic baby or almond.

Iced king cake

Make the icing. Ice the cake and while the icing is still wet, pour the sugar on top.

Cream Cheese Filling
8 oz (227 g) of Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup (50 g) Sugar
1 Tsp of Vanilla

Combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until creamy.

Praline Filling

1 Cup (128 g) of Pecans
1/4 Cup (56 g) of Butter, Melted
1/2 Cup (120 g) of Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp of Nutmeg

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Mmmmmm praline filling

Icing

1 Tablespoon of Butter, Melted
2 Cups (230 g) of Powdered Sugar
2-4 Tablespoons of Half and Half or Cream
1/2 Tsp of Flavoring, Optional

Sugar

Sugar
1-2 Drops of Food Coloring

Place the sugar in a plastic bag and add one drop of food coloring and rub the sugar and the food coloring together. Add one drop of food coloring at a time until desired color is reached.

Gold sugar

The bottom line: will I make this again. Yes, I have one more to make this season and then I am done until next year. These are time intensive cakes with lots of steps. Of course, if I was happy with a regular king cake it wouldn't take so much time. Are they worth the time, yes. Having made two, am I glad I only have one more to make? Yes, yes I am.

My Favorite Meatballs

2012-01-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Spaghetti and meatballs

Katie loves spaghetti with sweet tomato sauce and meatballs. I do too. These are my favorite meatballs. It is the bread soaked in milk that makes the difference. These are amazing and so easy to make. Make sure that you use a good quality bread. I like to use potato bread. If we ever had any left over I would freeze them.

Meatballs
2 Pieces of Bread
3/4 Cup (180 ml) of Milk
2 lbs (.9 kg) of Ground Beef
1 Egg
1/2 Tsp of Salt
1/2 Tsp of Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp of Garlic Powder
1 Tsp of Dried Parsley

Preheat oven to 400F/204C/Gas Mark 6. Tear the bread into pieces and place it in a bowl. Pour the milk over the bread. Let the bread soak up the milk for approximately 5 minutes.

Bread and milk

Rub the bread into small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.

All ready to be mixed

Form into small meatballs and place on cookie sheets.

Meatballs ready to be baked

Bake until cook though about 20 minutes.

Lovely meatballs

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes these are the best meatballs ever.

Orangecello

2012-01-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

Zesting a clementine

I love limoncello. When I started making limoncello, one of my friends told me that she had made orangecello. She told me that it was great. I noticed clementines were on sale at the grocery store. They are so delicious. I bought two small crates. I decided to turn one crate into orangecello.

Orangecello

1 Bottle (750 ml) of Vodka
16 Clementines or 8 Oranges

Zest in a jar

Wash the clementines or oranges. Carefully zest the clementines or oranges and place the zest in a large glass container. I use a mason jar. Pour in the vodka. Store in cool dark place for 1 to 2 weeks, shaking the jar every couple of days.

Vodka and zest

Orange Simple Syrup

Straining orange juice

5 Cup Water
4 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Orange Juice, Strained

Orange simple syrup

In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let the mixture cool completely and add the orange juice.

Zest and vodka

Making Orangecello

Pour the vodka and zest through a strainer into a large bowl. Add the orange simple syrup and pour into bottles. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Finished orangecello

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. Yummy. I may like limoncello more but it is a close call.

Candied Bacon

2012-01-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

Candied bacon

As you might have guessed from my blog, I really like food. I like all kinds of food. Are some foods more equal than others? (I couldn't resist the Animal Farm reference; we are talking about bacon). Sure-- but just as the seasons change, my tastes change. In summer, I crave light fresh veggie-filled foods. In the winter, I usually want heartier fare. No matter which season it is, I am always in the mood for bacon. I am crazy about bacon. It is delicious. I guess it's true pigs are more equal.
I usually add bacon in small amounts to a dish. So when I went to a New Years Eve party and my friend Cristi brought candied bacon, I was in heaven. It was so so yummy. When we had a party to go to, I decided to make candied bacon, pepper candied bacon, and cayenne candied bacon. It is amazingly easy to make. I decided to use some of the maple cured bacon that I received as part of the half of hog we bought from a local farmer.
I decided to make it using two different methods: (1) on a broiler rack and (2) between two cookie sheets. I am curious to see which method works better. I made the candied bacon first and decided to add maple syrup to the mixture because the bacon with just brown sugar wasn't "candied" enough.

Candied Bacon

1/3 Pound (135 g) of Bacon
1/3 Cup (70 g) of Brown Sugar

Preheat your oven to 325F/162C/Gas Mark 3. (The convection setting would not make a difference with the cookie sheet method). Place a piece of parchment or foil on a cookie sheet. Toss the bacon with the brown sugar. Place the bacon on top of the foil or parchment paper and top with any remaining brown sugar.

Brown sugared bacon

Top bacon with another piece of foil or parchment paper and cover with the second cookie sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check the bacon if it is golden brown and crispy remove to a plate. If it is not crispy cook for additional 5 minute intervals.

Spicy Candied Bacon

1 Pound (.45 kg) of Bacon
1/3 Cup (70 g) Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup (80 ml) of Maple Syrup
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

Preheat your oven: regular oven 325F/162C/Gas Mark 3 and convection 300F/149C/Gas Mark 2. I used the convection oven setting. Grease a broiler pan. Combine the brown sugar, maple syrup, and cayenne.

Brown sugar, maple syrup, and cayenne.

Slather the bacon in the maple syrup mixture. Place on greased broiler pan. Bake 10 minutes and flip the bacon and turn the broiler pan. Bake for another 10 minutes and flip the bacon. Bake at 5 minute intervals until the bacon is golden brown and crispy. Baking times will vary based on the thickness of your bacon.

Pepper Candied Bacon

1 Pound (.45 kg) of Bacon
1 Tsp Pepper
1/3 Cup (70 g) of Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup (80 ml) of Maple Syrup

Preheat your oven: regular oven 325F/162C/Gas Mark 3 and convection 300F/149C/Gas Mark 2. (I used the convection oven setting). Grease a broiler pan. Combine brown sugar, maple syrup, and pepper.

Maple syrup, brown sugar, and pepper

Slathered bacon ready to bake

The bottom line: will I make this again? Oh my goodness yes. I could have eaten all myself. I also made this with bacon pieces (ends).

Bacon pieces

Also amazing. I liked the broiler pan/convection oven method better than the two cookie sheets. I could not decide if I liked the peppered bacon or the cayenne bacon more. Next time I will add more cayenne.

Orange Peel Beef

2012-01-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

A bowl of orange beef

I have been on an Asian food and orange kick lately. I decided to make orange peel beef (well I used clementines). I love the spicy sweetness of orange peel beef. Since I have a box of clementines and half of cow in my deep freeze all I had to do was defrost the beef. I guess I should clarify- we have half of a side of beef (already processed). We bought it from a local farmer and it is wonderful beef.
For this stir fry, like any stir fry, make sure all your ingredients are chopped and ready to go before starting the dish. I let the beef marinate in the water and corn starch mixture while I prepared the remaining ingredients. One more note, I made this dish for the entire family so I toned down the spice. If I was making it for just Steven and me, I would have added about a teaspoon of crushed red pepper.

Orange Peel Beef
1 lb (.45 kg) of Beef, Thinly Sliced (I Used Sirloin)
2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp of Cornstarch
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
2 Tsp of Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp of Corn Starch
1/2 Tsp of Chili Garlic Sauce
2 1/2 Tbsp of Vegetable or Canola Oil, Divided
1/4 Tsp of Red Pepper Flakes or Several Chiles
1/2 of a Small Onion (60 g), Thinly Sliced
1/4 Cup (15 grams/1/2 of a Clementine) Orange Peel, Thinly Sliced
2 Cups (370 g) of Uncooked Rice, Cooked According to Package Directions

Combine soy sauce and corn starch. Toss with meat to coat and let sit for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl make the sauce by combining the orange juice, soy sauce, sugar, corn starch, and chili garlic sauce. Set aside.

Orange sauce

In a large skillet or wok over medium high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the beef and red pepper flakes.

Ready to stir fry

Stir fry until the beef is just pink, this will take a couple of minutes. Remove the steak to a separate plate.
Add the remaining oil (1/2 tablespoon) to the wok and add the orange peel and onions.

Stir frying orange peel and onions

Stir fry for one minute. Add the sauce and stir fry until the sauce boils and thickens about two minutes. Add the beef and stir fry until heated through. Serve over rice.

Orange peel beef-ready to eat!

Will I make this again? It was delicious. Amazing even. I snuck back to the kitchen to get seconds before the rest of my family. Once all of the prep work was done, it was easy. So, yes. I will make this again.

Oh My Darling Clementine Sorbet

2012-01-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

Clementine sorbet in a clementine

The reason I started this blog was to document the recipes for the dishes that I wanted to make again. My earlier method was a scrap of paper with a list of ingredients - no measurements and no directions. Often, I would throw together a meal, we would love it, and I was unable to recreate it. I also wanted my daughter, Katie, to be able to make these dishes when she has her own home.
I ask a lot of "what ifs" as I cook. The answer is usually why not try it. Cooking and life is more exciting if you take risks. You should do things that scare you (well not like dangerous things) but things that make you grow as a person and as a cook. This blog records the "why nots" that work.
When I made this sorbet, I decided to try making a simple syrup with juice and sugar. I didn't use any water to make my simple syrup. [Gasp!] My hope was I would have a concentrated orange flavor. The result was the best orange, well, clementine sorbet ever. [Editor's note that last sentence should be read in the voice of David Tennant as Dr. Who].

Clementine Sorbet

Juice of 16 Clementines (2 3/4 cups/660 ml), Divided
1/2 Cup (100 g) of Granulated Sugar

Combine 3/4 cup (180 ml) of orange juice in a small saucepan with the sugar. Heat over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Heating the juice and sugar

Chill syrup and orange juice.

Chilled and ready for the ice cream maker

Once chilled, pour into ice cream maker and follow the manufactures' instructions.

Homemade sorbet

For a special twist, carefully hollow out a clementine and use it for your sorbet dish. Trust me, it's awesome.

Perfect sorbet bowls

The bottom line: will I make this again? Oh, yes. Every time I make orangecello, I will be juicing the zested oranges to make sorbet. Intense orange flavor and best orange sorbet ever.

Basil Lemon Drop Martini

2011-12-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

Two lemon drop martinis

I don't like the martinis that taste like Windex. I like "candy in a cup" martinis. Needless to say, I love this drink. It has all of my favorite ingredients except chocolate. It is even served in a martini glass with a sugared rim (rub a piece of lemon and rub it along the rim of the glass and then dip in sugar). If I have a lemon drop, I throw that in the glass too. If you love lemons, this is your drink. There are two versions to this drink, one with basil and one with rosemary. You need fresh herbs for this; please do not substitute dried herbs. Yuck! Also fresh lemon juice is required as well-- not that stuff from a plastic lemon. I use homemade limoncello for my drinks; I dislike all of the zesting but I love the results. If you don't want to make your own, most liquor stores carry limoncello. Making the rosemary and basil syrups take a little more time but I think it's worth it. If you don't have the time or the obsessive desire to make the perfect drink, you can use simple syrup and put either bruised basil leaves or a sprig of rosemary in the martini shaker.
Speaking of obsessive desires to create the perfect drink, this is the latest greatest version of the lemon drop. If I e-mailed you earlier versions, try this one. I like it more than the earlier versions.

Basil Lemon Drop Martini

1 1/2 oz. (3 Tbsp, 45 ml) of Vodka
1 oz. (2 Tbsp, 30 ml) of Limoncello
1 oz. (2 Tbsp, 30 ml) of Lemon Juice
1 oz. (2 Tbsp, 30 ml) of Basil Syrup

Combine the ingredients in a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake, pour into a martini glass with a sugared rim, and garnish with basil.

Basil Syrup

Basil Syrup
1/2 Cup of Basil
1 Cup of Simple Syrup
Lemon Zest or Peel from One Lemon (make sure there is no pith)

Combine hot simple syrup with the basil and zest. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Strain.

Pouring the martini into the sugar rimmed glass

Rosemary Lemon Drop Martini
1 1/2 oz. (3 Tbsp, 45 ml) of Vodka
1 oz. (2 Tbsp, 30 ml) of Limoncello
1 oz. (2 Tbsp, 30 ml) of Lemon Juice
1 oz. (2 Tbsp, 30 ml) of Rosemary Syrup

Combine the ingredients in a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake, pour into a martini glass with a sugared rim.

Everything is ready for making martinis

Rosemary Syrup
1 Cup (240 ml) Simple Syrup
1 Sprig of Rosemary
Zest or Peel from One Lemon (Make sure there is no pith)

Combine hot simple syrup with the rosemary and zest. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Strain.

Rosemary syrup

Simple Syrup
1 Cup (200 g) of Sugar
1 Cup (240 ml) of Water

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Enjoying a sunset and a lemon drop martini

Will I make this again? Yes. Lovely. Amazing.

Italian Wedding Soup (Lightened)

2011-12-28T06:41:00.000-08:00

Yummy yummy soup

One of Katie's favorite soups is Italian wedding soup. I think it is the perfect soup for a cold winter's day. It is not quite winter but it is cold outside. Not just cold but it is a damp cold. The kind of cold that goes right through you. The cure for this kind of weather is a nice hearty soup. Italian wedding soup is just that and it is a meal in a bowl.
The Italian name for this soup is Minestra Maritata. It means "married soup." It is not a soup for wedding but the marriage of greens and meat. And what a marriage it is!
My mom has been making this soup since I was little. I love her recipe and soup, but I was in the mood for something a bit different. So, I decided to shake things up and change the traditional soup. Here is a more traditional recipe. My favorite part is the meatballs. I do not want a bland meatball so I decided to use beef and pork. Yum!

Minestra Maritata "Wedding Soup"

Meatballs

1 lb (.45 kg) of Ground Beef
1 lb (.45 kg) of Ground Pork
2 Slices of White Bread with Crust Soaked in 1/4 Cup ( ml) of Milk
1 Large Egg, Beaten
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Tsp of Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp of Black Pepper
1/4 Cup (30g) Parmesan Cheese, Grated
1/4 Cup (20 g) Flat Leaf Parsley, Chopped

Mix all of the ingredients together and shape into meatballs (use about 1 1/2 teaspoons- it should be about the size of a small pecan).

All of the ingredients in a bowl

Some people bake their meatballs before adding them to the soup so that they brown. I don't but you certainly can. I use about half of the recipe in the soup and the remainder I bake at 400F/204C/Gas Mark 6 for 20 minutes turning once and use in other recipes or freeze.

All kinds of meatballs

The Soup

3 Quarts of Broth (Turkey or Chicken)
1 lb (.45 kg) of Meatballs
1/2 lb (.22 kg) of Small Noodles
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Handfuls of Spinach
1 Handful of Arugula
1 Handful of Swiss Chard

Heat up the broth over medium high heat.

Turkey broth

Bring broth to a boil and lower to a simmer. Carefully drop the meatballs into the broth and add the garlic. Do not stir or the meatballs will break up. Cook until the meatballs are done about 20 minutes. Add the noodles and cook until done. Add the spinach, arugula, and Swiss chard. Cook until tender.

Greens and meatballs

The bottom line: will I make this again? I love this and I will make this again. The fresh greens add a lot to this soup.

Easy Baked Ham

2011-12-27T06:18:00.000-08:00

Glazed ham

The days are no longer getting shorter, but the weather is so dreary. Every time I look out the window I think of the song, Long December by the Counting Crows. By the end of the day (it seems like it starts getting dark at 4:00), I want a quick easy dinner. One of the easiest is baked ham steak. I used to fry them but it dried them out too much. The best side for this is mac n cheese. If you have any leftovers you can mix the mac n cheese and ham and serve them the next day. This also good with any kind of potatoes- scalloped, tater tots, baked, or hash browns.

Baked Ham Slice

Topping (See Below)
1 Fully Cooked Ham Steak (About 2 lbs/.9 kg)

Preheat oven to 350F/176 C/Gas Mark 4. Place ham steak in a baking pan and cover with the topping.

Ready to bake

Bake for 20-30 minutes until heated through. Serve.

Baked ham

Really it is that easy.

Toppings

Pineapple Ginger: Mix together: 1/4 cup (75 g) of pineapple marmalade or preserves, 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
Brown Sugar: Mix together: 1/4 cup (55 g) of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, and enough orange or pineapple juice to make it spreadable (a couple of teaspoons).
Mustard: Mix together: 1/4 cup (55 g) of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of yellow mustard, and 1tablespoon of honey.
The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. Many many times this winter. My husband has already requested another ham slice.

Pepper Cheese Coins

2011-12-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

Baked coins

These are my new favorite appetizer. I made them for a party and ate them all before the party started. (Opps!) I make these and freeze them in logs uncooked. They will keep for 3 months in the freezer not that they last that long. When I am ready to eat them, I just preheat the oven, slice the logs into coins, and bake. Yum! The only bad part of this recipe is reducing the white wine - it smells-- a lot. Any hard white cheese will work in this recipe, like Parmesan, asiago, Grana Padano, or Romano. My favorite is asiago cheese. I use a mix of black, white, and red peppercorns for the ground pepper.

1/2 Cup (120 ml) of White Wine
2 1/4 Cups (270 g) of Unbleached Flour
1 3/4 Cups (315 g) of Hard White Cheese Finely Grated, Divided
2 Tsp of Kosher Salt
1 Cup (226 g) of Butter, Softened
2 Tbsp of Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp of Pepper, Coarsely Ground

In a microwave-safe bowl heat the white wine on high until it is reduced to one tablespoon (it takes about 6 minutes). Alternatively, heat the white wine in a saucepan and simmer until reduced to one tablespoon. Cool in the refrigerator.
Combine 1 cup (180 g) of the grated cheese, flour, and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.

The butter and sugar have been creamed and the rest of the ingredients are ready to be added

Mix in the wine until well blended. Gradually mix in the flour and beat until blended.

Mixed dough

On a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper combine the remaining grated cheese and pepper.

Cheese and pepper

Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log. Roll each log in the cheese and pepper mixture.

Rolling the log in cheese

Wrap each log and freeze until dough is firm enough to slice (about 30 minutes).

Cheese and pepper log ready to be frozen

When ready to bake the coins, preheat the oven to 350F/176C/ Gas Mark 4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment parchment paper. Slice the logs into coins (about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm wide) and place on the cookie sheet.

The coins are ready to bake

Bake until the coins are golden brown about 12-18 minutes. Remove from the cookie sheet and cool completely.

the bottom line: will I make these again? Yes. I love them. We had them on Christmas Eve and I will be bringing them to parties in the New Year. Oh! They are round like coins so they count as lucky foods! We will be eating these on New Year's Day.

Limoncello Part Three

2011-12-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

Beautiful bottles of limoncello

My dad is the most difficult person to get a Christmas gift for. Each year we all brainstorm and try to figure out what to get dad. This year I may actually have a great gift. My dad loves lemons. He also loves limoncello. Actually, he likes any Italian liqueur. So this year I am making him homemade limoncello. He liked my last two batches and I think he will really like this one. I am applying the lessons I learned from the last two batches to make this the best batch yet. I used organic lemons and oranges. You don't want to make a pesticide limoncello. I washed and scrubbed them (several times). This is important because you are using the zest. I also opted for vodka instead of Everclear. I think vodka makes a smoother limoncello. Also I just don't want that much alcohol. The downside of using vodka instead of pure grain alcohol is not as much lemony flavor is extracted from the zest. I decided to add lemon juice to the simple syrup to add more lemony flavor.

So it is time to zest the lemons.......

The beginnings of limoncello

Limoncello

12-14 Lemons
1 Orange
1 Bottle (750 ml) of Vodka

Carefully zest the lemons and orange.

Place the zest in a one quart mason jar.

Lots of zest

Pour the vodka into the mason jar (and over the zester to get the last bits of zest). Store in a dark cool place for 2-3 weeks shaking the jar every couple of days.

Vodka plus zest

Lessons learned- a quart mason jar works great. I sterilized it before I used it. Small lemons equals hand cramps (ouch!). It is much more difficult to zest a small lemon than a large one. Next time I will look for larger lemons.

The vodka after two weeks

Lemony Simple Syrup

Did I mention my dad loves lemons? One of the comments to a previous limoncello recommended adding lemon juice to the simple syrup (thanks for the idea)! I thought that was a great idea so here it goes.

5 Cups (1.18 L) of Water
4 Cups (800 g) of Sugar
1 Cup (240 ml) of Lemon Juice, Strained

In a medium saucepan heat the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let the simple syrup cool completely. Add the lemon juice.

Adding the strained lemon juice

Making the Limoncello

Strain the vodka (discard the zest) and add the lemon simple syrup. Pour into sterilized bottles.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. It was fantastic; it had a wonderful lemony flavor. It had more lemon flavor than most limoncellos. It still has a bit of the limoncello bite but not as much as one made with Everclear. It is so drinkable like a cold lemonade on a hot summer day. Did dad like it? Yes he did. Guess what he will be getting for Christmas next year?

Lemony Roasted Brussel Sprouts

2011-12-23T05:55:00.000-08:00

Brussel sprouts

I used to hate brussel sprouts as a child. Actually, hate is probably putting it lightly. I despised them. I even hated the smell of them cooking. Katie hates brussel sprouts with a passion. Steven loves them as much as Katie hates them. I am quite fond of them. However, I only like them roasted; I think roasting makes them sweet. Brussel sprouts are also fun to grow. They grow on a stalk and are truly spectacular. I will have a couple stalks growing in my garden this summer. I can hardly wait.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
1 lb (.45 kg) of Brussel Sprouts, Cut in Half
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
1 Tsp of Kosher Salt
3/4 Tsp of Freshly Ground Pepper
Juice of One Lemon

Preheat the oven to 400F/204C/Gas Mark 6. Mix together all of the ingredients and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Roasted brussel sprouts

Roast for 30 minutes, turn the brussel sprouts halfway through roasting.

Yummy a bowlful of roasted brussel sprouts

The bottom line: will I make these again. Yes. Love them!

Pineapple Salsa

2011-12-22T06:05:00.000-08:00

Fresh pineapple

It may be a bit nontraditional but I decided to have pineapple salsa with our Christmas ham. Ham and pineapple go so well together and I am particularly fond of pineapple salsa. What's not to like? It is a lovely taste of summer during a dreary winter. I will be be using one of my all time favorite lemon peppers but any hot pepper will work. I usually serve this with Thai food but it went well with the ham.

Pineapple Salsa
2/3 Cup (125 g) of Red Onions, Diced
1/4 Cup (10 g) of Cilantro, Finely Chopped
1 Cucumber, Peeled and Diced
1 Pineapple, Diced
1 Hot Pepper, Finely Chopped
1 Clove of Garlic, Minced
Juice of One Lime

The pineapple salsa all mixed together

Mix together and let stand for 30 minutes.

Pineapple salsa ready to serve

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes, it was great with the ham. Once you get all of the chopping done, it is remarkably easy to make.

Ham Baked in Beer

2011-12-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Baked ham

Steven loves ham. I really like ham (not as much as Steven does). I like baked ham during the holidays because it is easy. It is great for holiday dinners. I love the leftovers. We will have ham sandwiches, ham loaf, scalloped potatoes and ham, and ham fried rice for dinners and lunches the week after Christmas. And I still have enough to freeze. Not to mention, the ham bone-- I am already dreaming about navy bean soup.
I like to bake my ham with beer and then I glaze it. The beer adds a bit of spice and oomph to the ham. It also adds moisture. The ham doesn't dry out (I can't stand a dry ham). This year I used Schlafly's Christmas Ale. A brown ale would be great as well. An Oktoberfest would also pair nicely. Just make sure it is something you would drink because the beer taste will infuse into the ham. Yum! Don't like beer? Have you tried a craft beer? Still don't like it? Really? (Try baking it with a small ham steak you may like it. Try it, try it, you will see... I feel like Sam I am. Yes. I do like green eggs and ham. Who doesn't?) If you really don't like beer, you can substitute 1/2 cup (60 ml) of water or pineapple juice for the beer.

Spiral Cut Ham

Preheat oven to 325F/162 C/Gas Mark 3. Place the ham in a baking pan, pour 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) of beer into the bottom of the pan, cover with aluminum foil.

Baked ham

Bake for 10 minutes per pound (.45 kg) or until heated through. Remove the ham from the oven. Increase heat to 425F/218C/Gas Mark 7. Glaze Ham. Return to oven and bake uncovered. Bake for 10-15 minutes until glaze is brown and bubbly.

Glaze
1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Honey
1/2 Cup (100 g) of Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp of Dijon Mustard

The glaze is ready to heat; you can make this while the ham is baking

In a small saucepan combine maple syrup, honey. brown sugar, and mustard and heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm.

Ham glaze

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. Probably several times this winter.

Filet with Blue Cheese Butter

2011-12-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

Ever had an ingredient that is so special that you don't use it? You are saving it for a special occasion. Special occasions come and go and you still don't use it. I have several of these ingredients- Israeli couscous, vanilla beans, hazelnuts, and some gorgeous filet mignon. I decided to declare a "use a special ingredient" day. That day is today. It is like an early Christmas present to myself.

Vacuumed packed steaks

I have some gorgeous filet mignon that I won in a Fine Cooking grilling contest. They are from Allen Brothers Steaks. They came frozen in a beautiful box. I felt like I was opening a present. I am so excited about grilling and eating these lovely steaks.

Allen Brothers Filet Mignon

Ready for the grill

1/4 Cup of (35 g) of Blue Cheese, Room Temperature
2 Tbsp (35 g) of Butter, Room Temperature

2 Filet Mignon (I had two 12 oz/340 g filets)

Kosher Salt

Combine butter and blue cheese and set aside.

Butter and blue cheese

Prepare grill. Lightly salt one side of each of the filets. Place the salted side of filet on the grill.

Grilling

Once you turn the steak, spread the butter cheese mixture on the cooked side. Grill until done (130-140F/55-60C for medium rare).

Beautiful rare steaks

Serve with beer sautéed mushrooms.

Steaks, sautéed mushrooms, and couscous

The bottom line: were these steaks great? Yes, they were amazing. As good as a high-end steakhouse steak and the best steaks that we have ever made at home.

Beer Sautéed Mushrooms

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Finished mushrooms

Want to make an impressive side dish that is incredibly easy? This is the dish. These are the most amazing mushrooms ever. The mushrooms soak up the butter and the beer and the result is delicious mushrooms. They are the best mushrooms I have ever had. I use baby bellas but any fresh mushroom will work. I use a high end craft beer for these. You want to too. The beers I use for these tend to be pricey but they are so worth it. You only use 1/2 cup so you have the rest to enjoy. I use a Dubbel Trappist ale or doppelbock. These are full bodied beers with tons of flavor. A stout would also work. I don't think I have tried a Trappsit ale, doppelbock, stout or porter that I haven;t liked. Here are some examples of beers that would work well with this dish: Trapppist ales (Chimay, La Trappe Dubbel, Westmalle Dubbel, Orval Trappist Ale, Trappistes Rochefort, and Trappist Achel); doppelbock (Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel,
Weihenstephaner Korbinian , Samuel Adams Double Bock, and
Weltenburger Kloster Asam-Bock ); and stouts (Guinness, Murphy's, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, and Sierra Nevada Stout). I would not use a flavored stout like chocolate or coffee.

Beautiful mushrooms

Beer Sautéed Mushrooms
8 oz. (227 g) of Baby Bellas, Sliced
2 Tbsp of Butter
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Beer
A Dash of Salt
A Couple of Turns of the Pepper Grinder
1 Tbsp of Fresh Parsley, Finely Chopped (Optional)
In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add mushrooms.

Poaching the mushrooms

Add the beer to the mushrooms and cook (you are really poaching) over medium low heat. Add the salt and pepper. Poach until the mushrooms are tender and have absorbed the liquid. This takes about 30 minutes. It should not be rushed. Remove from heat. Top with parsley. Serve.
The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes, these are incredible. They were gone almost immediately.

Peppermint Bark

2011-12-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

Star shaped peppermint bark

I used to buy peppermint bark and then I figured out how easy it is to make it. I felt kinda foolish for not making it sooner. Then I began experimenting with all kinds of bark. My favorite is still peppermint. Now I mix dark (or milk) and white chocolate and top with crushed peppermints. Lovely. Yummy. Joy.

The hardest part is melting the chocolates and making sure that you don't get any water mixed in with the chocolate. I decided to try making peppermint bark different ways this year. We bought a plastic candy molds and silicon molds and I am going to use them to make shaped bark.

Peppermint Bark
Milk Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate Bark
Peppermint Candy, Crushed

Melt the chocolate chips and white chocolate. I used the microwave by heating the chocolate at 15 second intervals, stirring during each interval, until melted. The chocolate can also be melted in a double boiler. Be very care with the white chocolate because it scorches easily.

Melted chocolate and crushed peppermint

For regular peppermint bark, spread the milk chocolate and white chocolate on a piece of parchment paper and run a knife through the chocolate to swirl.

Swirling chocolate

Top with crushed peppermint.

Chocolate topped with crushed peppermint

Refrigerate for 45 minutes and then break into pieces.

It is easy to break the bark into pieces

The silicon mold was easy to use and created pretty star shaped chocolates. I place crushed peppermint in first and then topped with white chocolate.

Putting the crushed peppermint in first

I refrigerated it for 45 minutes and then topped with milk chocolate.
I made a couple of chocolate stars with a layer of white chocolate (refrigerate for 45 minutes), a layer of peppermint, and then milk chocolate.

Topping with crushed peppermint

Finally I had a layer of white chocolate (refrigerate for 45 minutes), a layer of milk chocolate, and a layer of peppermint. Finally I had a layer of peppermint, a layer of milk chocolate, and then I swirled a layer of white chocolate (no refrigeration needed between layers). To swirl place a bit of white chocolate on top of the milk chocolate and take a tooth pick and swirl.

Swirling chocolate

To remove the chocolate just turn over and press down on the back of the mold and then pull the mold away from the chocolate while pressing on the back.

The plastic mold was also easy to use. I layered white chocolate into the mold.

A layer of white chocolate

After 45 minutes in the refrigerator, I added a layer of milk chocolate and then topped with crushed peppermint. To remove turn over and press lightly. The chocolate pops out.

Chocolate Christmas trees

The bottom line: I enjoyed using the molds but my favorite is still the free-form bark.

Langostinos

2011-12-17T10:52:00.000-08:00

Langostinos pasta

I rarely post recipes with hard to find ingredients. Why? Because I have trouble getting them too. On my trek into the "big city" I went to Trader Joes. In the frozen foods I found langostinos. I haven't had langostinos in over a decade (ok it has probably been two decades). Giddy with food excitement I quickly put the bag of frozen goodness in my cart. Steven asked "what's a langostino?" I channeled my inner food geek and answered: "a langostino is a member of the lobster family; they are caught off of the coast of Chile. Langostinos are about the size of a shrimp and look and taste like a cross between a shrimp and a lobster. I think they taste more like a lobster than a shrimp. They can be substituted for crawfish or shrimp in recipes." Yep, I am a walking encyclopedia of food knowledge.
I have a bag of langostinos that are fully cooked and then frozen. The question is what to do with them. I decided to recreate the dish I had oh so many years ago- langostinos with lots of garlic and olive oil served over pasta. My mouth is already watering.

Langostinos in a Garlic Butter Sauce
3 Tbsp of Butter
3 Tbsp of Olive Oil
5 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Shallot, Thinly Sliced
Pinch of Salt
Couple of Turns of the Pepper Mill
12 oz. (340 g) of Langostinos, Thawed, Rinsed, and Drained
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Dry White Wine
1/4 Cup (5 g) of Fresh Parsley
Parmesan Cheese

Important Note: Depending on the cooking time of your pasta: either have the water boiling and wait to add the pasta or once the water for the pasta is boiling and you are making the pasta start this recipe. Otherwise your sauce could be finished long before your pasta is cooked.

Add the butter and olive oil to a medium size saucepan. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.

Butter melting in oil; this is not going to be a healthy dish

Add the garlic, shallot, and salt and pepper. Sauté until the shallot is translucent.

Time to add the garlic and shallot

Add the langostinos and the wine and cook until heated through about 3 minutes. Do not overcook the langostinos they will turn rubbery.

Adding the langostinos

Add the parsley.

Adding the parsley

Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Serve over pasta (sprinkle with Parmesan cheese).

The finished dish. Beautiful!

The bottom line: will I make this again? Oh my goodness yes! It was incredible, amazing, delicious ...

Gingerbread Cookies

2011-12-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread cookies

My husband and daughter love gingerbread cookies. I think they are ok. I like to decorate them, but I would rather eat sugar cookies or shortbread. I don't have a favorite gingerbread cookie so I did some research and decided to combine several different recipes for this one. It has a light, not overpowering, ginger and molasses taste. The dough is a little difficult to work with but once you roll it out it gets easier. If you want a chewier cookie roll it a bit thicker.

Gingerbread Cookies

3/4 Cup (170 g) Butter, Softened
3/4 Cup (160 g) Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
3 Tbsp of Molasses
3 1/2 Cups (420 g) of All-Purpose Flour
1 Tsp of Baking Soda
2 Tsp of Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp of Ground Ginger
1/4 Tsp of Ground Allspice
1/2 Tsp of Salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and mix well. Mix in molasses. In a separate bowl mix together remaining ingredients.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until well combined.

Divide dough into four pieces, wrap and chill for an hour.

Chilled dough

Preheat oven to 375F/190C/Gas Mark 5. If you (like me) chill the dough overnight allow the dough to sit out at room temperature until it can be worked with. Roll between pieces of wax paper and cut into desired shapes. (I tried it without the waxed paper and it was a mess - the dough kept sticking to the rolling pin. Also if you use wax paper no flour is needed).

Cutting out cookies

Place cookies one inch apart on a cookie sheet. I used parchment paper on one cookie sheet and just the cookie sheet for another batch. There was not a noticeable difference between the two. Bake for 6 to 12 minutes (depending on the size, thickness and shape of the cookie and type of cookie sheet) or until they feel firm.

Cooling cookies

Getting ready to decorate

To prevent spreading, use another cookie sheet for the next batch of cookies and allow the first cookie sheet to cool. The cookie should cool completely before decorating. I used decorating icing for the icing.

Katie's cookies

The bottom line: will I make these again? Yes, I liked these. I loved decorating them. Katie loved decorating them as well. We decorated them during our lunch break (one of the many benefits of home schooling). Steven though there should be more ginger. I thought it was just right. If you want more ginger just increase the ginger to 1 teaspoon. If you want in your face ginger, increase the ginger to 2 teaspoons.

Icing for Decorating Cookies

2011-12-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

This icing is dry and it is still glossy

This is the best icing for decorating that I have ever used. It is easy to spread and dries glossy. The icing looks like the icing you would get on a cookie at a bakery. It does take a while to dry, but once it dries the cookies can be stacked without messing up the icing. This recipe can be doubled or tripled. Using color gels will give you more vibrant colors than food coloring.

Decorating Icing

1 Cup (120 g) of Powdered Sugar
3 Tsp of Milk
2 Tsp of Corn Syrup
1/2 Tsp of Extract, Optional
Food Coloring or Color Gel

Mix powdered sugar and milk together. Mix in corn syrup.

Mixing the icing

Stir in extract. Add more milk by the 1/2 teaspoon, if needed, until desired consistency is reached. If you add too much milk then add more powdered sugar.

Plastic bags of icing

Separate into bowls and add food coloring or color gel.

Clear icing

The bottom line: will I make this again. Yes. This is my favorite icing for decorating cookies.

Spicy Japanese Style Crab Salad

2011-12-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Crab salad

It is December. It's cold outside and I am already wishing it was spring. Winter is beautiful in its own way, but I love spring. I love watching the world turn green again. Maybe because I am thinking about planting our garden, I decided we were having a salad for lunch. This salad would be prefect for a spring day. Strangely, it was also perfect for a cold December day. The crab salad surrounded by veggies was a bit of spring. My only regret was I could not find sesame seeds. I searched everywhere for them; I am sure I will find them after we have eaten the salad. So I used panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead.

Dressing
1/2 Cup (120 g) of Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp of Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 Tsp of Sugar
1/2 Tsp Sriracha
1/4 Tsp of Grated Fresh Ginger

In a medium sized bowl whisk ingredients together until well combined. Taste and add more Sriracha if needed. (I would prefer this with a teaspoon of hot sauce but that would be too spicy for Katie).

Dressing

Crab Salad

8 oz (227 g) Crab or Fake Crab
1 Tsp of Sesame Seeds or Panko
One Cucumber, Thinly Sliced
A Couple of Handfuls of Baby Carrots
Several Ribs of Celery, Chopped in Pieces

To assemble the salad, mix the crab with the dressing and surround with the veggies.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. It is wonderful. I will change out the veggies for what is in season.

Craisin Almond White Chocolate Biscotti

2011-12-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

Biscotti and coffee

While I am not normally a huge fan of white chocolate (it is not even really chocolate), there are three different cookies I love with white chocolate. (Drum roll please). They are white chocolate macadamia nut, biscotti, and dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. Now that I am craving biscotti, I really hope I have white chocolate chips in the house......I don't so I am substituting chopped up almond bark. Because I am adding so much stuff to the biscotti I am making the Americanized version which is a bit softer and easier to work with. The more traditional version is harder and denser (it does not have eggs in the recipe).

Craisin Almond White Chocolate Biscotti
1/2 Cup (115g) of Butter, Softened
3/4 Cup (150g) of Sugar
1/4 Tsp of Salt
2 Large Eggs
2 Cups (250g) of Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Tsp of Baking Powder
2/3 Cups ( g) of Sliced Almonds
2/3 Cup (120g) of Craisins or Dried Cranberries
2/3 Cup (80g) of White Chocolate Chips or Chopped Almond Bark

Preheat the oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Cream the butter, sugar, and salt together. Add the eggs one at a time.

Adding the eggs

Add the flour and baking powder and beat until just blended. Stir in the almonds, craisins, and white chocolate.

Mountain of dough

On the prepared cookie sheet form the dough into a 13 inch (33 cm) by 3 inch (8 cm) log.

Forming the dough into a dough log

Bake for 15-25 minutes (it should be a light golden brown) and cool for 20 minutes.

Cooling cookie

Reduce the oven temperature to 325F/162C/Gas Mark 3. Place log on a cutting board and lightly mist with water (this will make it easier to cut). Cut into 3/4 inch slices. Be sure to cut straight up and down and not on a slant. Set each biscotto upright on the baking sheet and bake 20 to 25 minutes. The biscotti should be crisp.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. I love biscotti with coffee. My husband is already asking for more biscotti. The next time I may substitute pine nuts for the almonds and dark chocolate for the white chocolate.

Vanilla and Chocolate Pinwheels

2011-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Vanilla and chocolate pinwheels

I think these are the prettiest cookies. I took dozens of pictures. It is so nice to have food that photographs so well. Before I started doing this blog, I never thought about how different foods photograph. Some foods just are not photogenic and others are. These cookies are; I used chocolate and vanilla doughs but you can use different doughs to create your unique pinwheel (e.g., vanilla and a fruit flavor).
My husband's favorite pinwheel cookies are lemon and ginger. I didn't make those; I still may make them. It depends on how much I can get done before Christmas.
These doughs are easy to make and easy to work with. The only tricky part of these cookies are rolling them up into a log. I don't have mad dough rolling skills so I know that I am going to have two ugly cookies on each side. I am ok with that because I get to eat the ugly cookies. I also believe that broken cookies don't have any calories; I eat those too. These are two of the many reasons that I only make Christmas cookies once a year.

Vanilla Dough

3/4 Cup (170 g) of Butter
1/2 Cup (60g) of Powdered Sugar
2 Tsp of Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups (180g) of Flour
1/2 Tsp of Salt
Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla together. Slowly add the flour and salt until well mixed.

Vanilla dough

Take half of the dough and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Chocolate Kahlua Dough

3/4 Cup (170g) of Butter
1/2 Cup (60g) of Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp of Kahlua
1 1/4 Cups (150g) of Flour
1/4 Cup (40 g) of Cocoa
1/2 Tsp of Salt
Cream the butter, sugar, and Kahlua together. Slowly add the flour, cocoa and salt until well mixed.

Chocolate dough

Take half of the dough and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Assembly

Place dough on a piece of wax paper and roll flat with a rolling pin. (In a perfect world you should have two rectangles one slightly smaller than the other). The dough should be firm for the next step (if it isn't chill the dough).

My not so perfect rectangles

Carefully place alternating colored dough on top and cover with a piece of wax paper.

Ready to be rolled

Carefully with a rolling pin, roll the dough together. Remove the top pieces of wax paper and roll the dough into a log. Wrap in wax paper and chill. Repeat with the last two pieces of dough.

Dough log

Baking

Preheat oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4. With a sharp knife cut the log into 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) slices.

Dough log

Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies feel firm. Allow the cookies to cool.

Chocolate dough on the outside

The bottom line: will these be added to the Christmas line up of cookies? Yes, I will probably end up making these and the lemon ginger pinwheels each year.

Vanilla dough on the outside

Sweet and Sour Mix- Just in Time for Your Holiday Parties!

2011-12-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Whiskey sour

I have tried bottled sweet and sour mixes, and I intensely dislike them. I just don't think they are any good, and I think they ruin a drink. (I know-- how to really feel about this?) Once you try a drink made with homemade sweet and sour mix you won't use the bottled stuff again. It doesn't take long to make and it makes all the difference in the world. Have I convinced you yet?
I use two different recipes one with all lemons and one with limes and lemons. I think the one with lemons and limes is best. I make the all lemon version whenever I make limoncello and have all of those zested lemons. You can actually cut out a step by using superfine sugar and water (that way you don't have to heat the water to dissolve the sugar).

Sweet and Sour Mix

3 Cups Sugar
3 Cups Water
3 Cups Lemon Juice (About 12-14 Lemons) or 2 Cups Lemon Juice and 2 Cups Lime Juice

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool the syrup and add the juice. Cool completely before using. The sweet and sour mix will last up to a week in the refrigerator.

Amaretto Sour

One Shot of Amaretto
Sweet and Sour Mix

Fill a glass with ice. Add a shot of amaretto and fill the remainder of the glass with sweet and sour mix.

Whiskey Sour

One Shot of Whiskey
Sweet and Sour Mix

Fill a glass with ice. Add a shot of whiskey and fill the remainder of the glass with sweet and sour mix.

Kiddie Cocktail

Kiddie Cocktail

Sweet and Sour Mix
Splash of Grenadine

Fill a glass with ice. Fill the glass with sweet and sour mix and add a splash of grenadine.

The bottom line: is it worth the time to make the sweet and sour mix from scratch? Yes it is worth the time to juice all of those lemons.

Lemony Clay Pot Chicken

2011-12-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

Lemon Clay Pot Chicken

I love my clay pot. It is remarkably easy to use. Soak, fill, cover, and bake that is all there is to it. The only downsides are being careful to place the hot clay pot (and lid) on kitchen towels so it doesn't break and sometimes getting the clay pot clean is tricky.
Every time I bake in a clay pot, I am impressed with the results. It does an amazing job with chicken, seafood, and fish. I am on my second clay pot; my first one broke (even though I followed all of the safety precautions). My current clay pot is a bit small. I have a large clay pot on my Christmas wish list.

Here is my base clay pot chicken recipe

4-5 lbs of Chicken Pieces or Whole Chicken
Up to 1 1/2 Cups of Liquid
Choice of Veggies (Cut up Potatoes, Tomatoes, Onions, Carrots, Mushrooms)
Spices
1 Tbsp of Cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbsp of Water (Optional)

Soak the clay pot for at least 15 minutes. Place all of the ingredients in the clay pot and place in s cold oven. Set the oven to 475F/246C/Gas Mark 9 and bake covered for 60 minutes. Remove cover (place on several layers of dish towels so it doesn't crack. For crispy chicken, remove juices to a small saucepan and thicken with cornstarch (if desired). Cook the chicken uncovered for 15 minutes.

Here is what I did tonight:

Lemony Clay Pot Chicken

Whole Chicken
4 Tbsp of Olive Oil, Divided
1 Lemon (Zested and Juiced)
1 Onion
1 Tbsp of Fresh Oregano
Several Potatoes
1 Tsp of Salt, Divided
1/2 Tsp of Pepper, Divided

Getting all of the prep work done

Prepare clay pot by soaking in cold water. Rinse and pat chicken dry. Zest and juice the lemon. Stuff lemon halves into cavity of the chicken. Peel the onion. Slice half of the onion and stuff into the cavity of the chicken. Dice the other half of the onion. Place the chicken in the clay pot. Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Toss the potatoes with the onion, one tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoons of olive oil, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Potatoes and onions tossed with oil and herbs

Add 2 tablespoons of oil olive to the remaining lemon juice and pour over the chicken. Salt and pepper the chicken and sprinkle zest over the chicken.

Ready for the oven

Place in a cold oven and set the oven to 475F/246C/Gas Mark 9. Bake for 60 minutes. (While it is baking you don't need to do a thing-- I recommend having a glass of wine). Remove the top and let it cook uncovered for 15 minutes.

Plated and ready to eat

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes it was lemony delicious. The oregano paired with the lemon makes this dish. It reminds me of a roasted chicken I had at a Greek restaurant. The potatoes were perfectly cooked.

Chai Spiced Granola

2011-12-05T06:20:00.000-08:00

Chai Spiced Granola

My favorite tea is chai. I love the warmness of the spices. We used to make our own chai tea by mixing spices with black tea. It was wonderful. I decided to create a granola with those same spices. I like making my own granola because I control the amount of sugar and I add little bits of left over nuts, dried fruit, and coconut. Feel free to substitute different nuts and dried fruits. I use whatever I have in the pantry.

Chai Spiced Granola

1/2 Cup (115 g) of Butter
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Honey
1/2 Cup (110 g) of Brown Sugar, Packed
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Water
1 Tsp of Vanilla
1/4 Tsp of Cardamom
1/2 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp of Ground Ginger
5 Cups (450 g) of Rolled Oats
1 Cup (170 g) of Sliced Almonds
1 Cup (128 g) of Pecans
1 Cup (120 g) of Craisins
2 Cups (152 g) of Grated Coconut
Preheat oven to 300F/149C/Gas Mark 2. In a small saucepan combine first eight ingredients and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Saucepan with butter, brown sugar, and chai spices

In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Pour the butter mixture over the rolled oats and toss to combine. Spread onto two cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Stir and bake for 10 more minutes.

Granola

Granola should be lightly toasted. If it is not bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. I loved this and my family loved it. The chai spices were amazing.

Dark Chocolate Kiss Macaroons

2011-12-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Coconut, coconut, and more coconut that is the theme of this cookie. I really like these cookies but not as much as the rest of my family. It's a good thing they are easy to make because they don't last long. I use dark chocolate kisses but milk chocolate works well too. I really like an "in your face" almond taste so I use two teaspoons of Penzeys' almond extract. (Penzeys Spices has amazing spices and extracts.) This is another Christmas cookie that we only have once a year; however, I always seem to end up making two batches of them.

Coconut Chocolate Kiss Macaroons

1/3 Cup (75 g) of Unsalted Butter, Softened
3 Oz. (85 g) of Cream Cheese, Softened
3/4 Cup (150 g) of Granulated Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
2 Tsp of Orange Juice
2 Tsp of Almond Extract
1 1/4 Cups (155 g) of Flour
2 Tsp of Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp of Salt
5 Cups (380 g) of Sweetened Flaked Coconut, Divided
48 Chocolate Kisses, Unwrapped

Beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until well blended. Add the egg yolk, orange juice, and extract and beat until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and slowly add to the butter mixture.

Slowly adding the flour mixture

Beat until well blended. Stir in 3 cups of coconut and cover and chill for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4.

Before rolling in coconut.

Roll dough into one inch (2.5 cm) balls and roll in remaining coconut.

After they have been rolled in coconut

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and gently press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Carefully remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.
The bottom line: will I make these again? Yes, I will probably make them again this year; I am already running low on them.

Sweet Sweet Tomato Pasta Sauce

2011-12-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Pasta sauce over thick spaghetti

Every once in a while I have a craving for a sweet pasta sauce. Katie always has a craving for sweet pasta sauce. For our anniversary this year Steven took Katie and me to a little Italian restaurant (yes Katie went with us and it was really nice). We had some amazing rongini (rice balls); one of my favorite all time Italian dishes. I have never made them because once I did I would make and eat way too many. We also spaghetti with a sweet tomato sauce. It was lovely. Yep, I have a craving for sweet tomato sauce over pasta. I would usually make meatballs to go with it. But I have some turkey kielbasa that needs to be used so kielbasa it is. I have a range for the brown sugar because how much sugar is added depends on how acidic the tomatoes are (I think it varies from can to can but that may just be me) and how sweet you want the sauce. Usually one tablespoon of brown sugar works great but I taste the sauce and adjust as needed.

Sweet Tomato Pasta Sauce

2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 28 oz (794 g) Can of Crushed Tomatoes in Heavy Puree
1/2 Tsp of Dried Basil
1/2 Tsp of Dried Oregano
1/2 Tsp of Dried Parsley
1/4 Tsp of Dried Thyme
1/4 Tsp of Crushed Red Peppers (Optional)
1/4 Tsp of Salt
A Couple Turns of the Pepper Mill
1-2 Tbsp of Brown Sugar

Pour oil into large sauce pan and add garlic. Heat over low heat for a couple of minutes until starting to brown (you do not want the garlic to brown).

Heating garlic over low heat

Add the remaining ingredients and heat uncovered over low heat while you cook the pasta (it only needs to cook for 20 minutes or so). The sauce should not come to a boil.

Heating the tomato sauce and enjoying the smell

Serve over pasta (with lots of grated Parmesan cheese) or use as a pizza sauce.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes and often. It is a great tomato sauce for the winter- it is tasty even though it is made with canned tomatoes and dried spices. So so good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

2011-11-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

I love chocolate chip cookies

I love chocolate chip cookie dough. I buy pasteurized eggs so I can eat lots of raw cookie dough without worrying about salmonella. I feel kind of silly worrying about eating raw dough because I ate tons of it as a kid and never got sick. But then again food poisoning is awful. So pasteurized eggs it is. Next to raw dough, I like still warm from the oven melt in your mouth cookies. I don't really care for them as much once they have cooled.
I have a simple solution. I make cookie dough and refrigerate and/or freeze the dough. That way I can have freshly baked cookies whenever I want them. To refrigerate the dough, form into the shape of a log and wrap in plastic wrap.

A log of cookie dough

When the urge for warm cookies strikes, preheat the oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4, slice the log into cookies, place on a cookie sheet, and bake for 11-13 minutes.

Ready to bake

To freeze shape into a log and freeze. Make sure that the dough log is well wrapped because the dough will soak up any odors from the freezer. To bake the dough, thaw in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4, slice the log into cookies, place on a cookie sheet, and bake for 11-13 minutes.
This also works for shortbread, peanut butter, refrigerator, and sugar cookies. Cookies that do not freeze well are meringue type, cake like cookies, and cookies with a liquidy batter (madeleines and tuiles).
To freeze drop cookies place the dough in heaping tablespoonfuls or teaspoonfuls (depending on the recipe) on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once frozen place in a plastic bag or airtight container and freeze. Take cookies as needed out of the freezer and defrost in the refrigerator and bake according to the recipe.
To freeze rolled cookies, roll out dough (to the thickness required in the recipe), place the dough between layers of parchment paper and freeze. Once frozen place in a container or wrap well. Defrost in the refrigerator, cut out cookies, and bake according to the recipe.

Making My Own Sausage

2011-11-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

Making sausage

Several years ago, my parents gave me a meat grinder attachment for Christmas. I love it. It is so easy to use. I use it to make the meat stuffing for pelmini and now my own sausage.
I decided to make sausage for the trifecta of pork. I wanted to make porchetta style sausage with lots of fennel in the sausage (I love the taste of fennel). Katie does not like whole seeds in sausage, so I decided to grind them. I also ground the herbs and the garlic.

Italian Sausage
2 1/2 lbs (1.1 kg) of Pork Shoulder, Cut into Thin Strips
3 Tsp of Fennel Seeds
2 Tsp of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp of Crushed Red Pepper
2 Tsp of Kosher Salt
4 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
1/2 Tbsp of Fresh Sage
1/2 Tbsp of Oregano
1 Tbsp of Rosemary
1 1/2 Tbsp of Parsley

Place sliced pork shoulder in a large bowl. Finely grind fennel seeds, pepper, red pepper, and salt either in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

Spices ready to be ground

Pour ground spices into the bowl with the pork.

Fresh herbs

Grind the garlic and fresh herbs until a pesto-like consistency is achieved. Dump herb mixture into the bowl.

A bowlful of pork and spices

Run the pork through a meat grinder. With your hands mix the pork and run through the meat grinder again.

Cook one tablespoon of sausage in a small saucepan. Taste and adjust spices if necessary. Cook the sausage within three days or freeze.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes, I had no idea that making your own sausage was so easy. This way I control the amount of fat in my sausage and I control the seasonings. I ended up with a lean sausage with Italian seasonings. Homemade andouille sausage for gumbo is next on the list.

The Trifecta of Pork Porchetta Style

2011-11-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Sausage stuffed pork wrapped in bacon

I admit it. This dish started out as a joke. I like to make nontraditional dishes for Thanksgiving. I wanted to do my own take on a Turducken; so, I decided on a three-pork roast. Porchetta style pork is perfect for this. A butterflied pork shoulder filled with pork sausage and wrapped in bacon. My own little pork version of a turducken. I am calling it a pork pork porkin. Catchy isn't it?
I have never made my own sausage. So this year, I decided to make my own sausage. It was easy to make and will be the subject of a later post. For safety reasons (Alton Brown would be so proud), I decided to cook it before stuffing into the center of the pork. I was worried that the temperature would not get high enough to fully cook the sausage without drying out the pork (ground pork needs to cook to a high temperature than a pork roast. (For more information see my post Recommended Temperatures for Pork)). Also cooking and draining the grease off of the sausage would keep the trifecta of pork from getting too greasy. I had a pork shoulder (Boston Butt) butterflied and I had three pieces of pork. I turned one into pork sausage and the other two I stuffed and wrapped in bacon.

Butterflied pork shoulder

Stuffed Porchetta Style Pork

Stuffed pork

1 Butterflied Pork Shoulder
Approximately 1 Cup of Cooked Pork Sausage

4 Slices of Bacon

Sausage covered pork

The Rub

1 Tbsp of Fresh Herbs, Finely Chopped (Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary)
1 Tsp of Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp of Freshly Ground Pepper
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil

Combine ingredients together and rub on porchetta style pork.

The rub

Stuffed Pork with Sausage and Apples

1 Butterflied Pork Shoulder
One Apple, Peeled and Diced
1 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp of Allspice
Approximately 1/2 Cup of Sausage, Cooked
4 Slices of Bacon

Apple and sausage covered pork

Assembly

A Whole Bunch of Toothpicks or Twine

Lay the butterflied pork shoulder flat and place stuffing on top of the pork. Starting at the outer edge, roll up like a jelly roll. If you are more coordinated than I am, secure with twine. I secured the pork with toothpicks. Wrap bacon around the roast. Rub the rub on the porchetta sausage stuffed pork. Refrigerate until ready to roast.

Assembled roasts

Roasting

1 Cup of White Wine
1 Onion Sliced

Preheat oven to 425F/218C/Gas Mark 7. Place the onions on the bottom of a baking pan, and place roasts on top of the onions. Pour wine into the bottom of the pan. Bake for approximately 1 hour and fifteen minutes or until temperature reaches 145F/63C. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Roasted sausage stuffed pork wrapped in bacon

The bottom line: Will I make this again. There were a fair number of steps, but I broke them out over two days.The result, was some of the best pork I have ever had. The combination of the tastes was amazing. I could not decide which pork I liked better. It also resulted in a visually stunning dish. I will make this again.

Apple sausage stuffed pork

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

2011-11-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

Slice of slightly heated pecan pie

November is the month for chocolate bourbon pecan pies. Every year for Thanksgiving I make one and about this time of year, I start craving them.
One year, I realized to my horror that there was no bourbon in the house. I was running behind in my cooking and meal planning, and the local grocery store only had Old Crow. So that year we had an Old Crow themed Thanksgiving. It was awesome. I had no idea you could put bourbon in so many dishes.

Pat in the Pan Pie Crust

Use your favorite pie shell or make this one. I am using a pat in the pan crust. Does it work? Yes. Is it good? Yes. Is it as flaky as the roll out crusts? No. But then it is not supposed to be flaky. I added ground nuts to the crust. I love nuts crusts. It does not have the edge of crust. On the plus side it I don't have to worry about my crust burning. Why am I using it? Because it is really fast and easy and I am stretched for time today. Oh and did I mention I like nut crusts?

1 Cup (125 g) of Unbleached Flour
1/4 Cup (32 g) of Pecans, Ground
1 Stick (226 g) of Butter, Softened

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients until a soft dough ball forms. I use my hands to mix the dough.

Mixing the dough

Using lightly floured fingers, carefully press the dough into 9 inch (23 cm) pie pan. The dough should cover the bottom and the sides.

Dough patted into the pie pan

Filling

3 Large Eggs
1 Cup (100 g) of Sugar
1 Cup (240 ml) of Light Corn Syrup
5 Tbsp (140 g) of Unsalted Butter, Melted
2 Tbsp of Bourbon
1/2 Tsp of Salt
1 Cup (128 g) of Pecans, Toasted
1 Cup (170 g) of Milk Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375F/190 C/Gas Mark 5. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, butter, bourbon, and salt until well blended.

Ingredients whisked together

Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Add caption

Warm the pie crust in the oven until it is hot to the touch. This takes about 4 minutes. Pour filling into the prepared pie crust.

Ready for the oven

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the edges are firm and the center seems set but quivery when the pan is nudged. Allow to cool and then refrigerate until the pie is cold and hard. Slice the pie and warm the slices in the microwave or in the oven (275F/135C/ Gas Mark 1) until the chocolate begins to soften.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, this is the best pie ever. This pie heralds the beginning of the holiday season for me. I will switch around the pie crusts I use based on my mood, but I don't mess with the filling.

Walnut Crescent Cookies

2011-11-21T06:01:00.000-08:00

Rolling a crescent cookie in powdered sugar

These are my favorite cookies frozen. Over the years, I have probably eaten my weight in frozen walnut crescents. I dearly love these. Of course, they are my mother's recipe. She makes dozens and dozens of these every Christmas. You would think I would get tired of them but I don't. Maybe it is because we only have them at Christmas.

Walnut Crescents

1 Cup (227 g) of Butter, Softened
1/4 Cup (28 g) of Powdered Sugar (plus more to roll the cookies in)
1 1/2 Tsp of Water
2 Cups (250 g) of Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup (114 g) of Ground Walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 F/190C/Gas Mark 5.

Ground walnuts

Cream butter and 1/4 Cup (28 g) of powdered sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Cookie dough- no raw eggs so you can eat the dough

Shape into logs 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) in diameter and cut into two inch (5 cm) pieces.

You can refrigerate the dough until ready to make the cookie. Just bring the dough to room temperature.

Shape each piece into a crescent, place on ungreased cookie sheet, and push ends down on sheet.

Ready for the oven

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and roll in powdered sugar. Once the cookies are cool, roll again in powdered sugar.

Rolling cookies in powdered sugar

The bottom line: will I make these again? Yes. I will probably make several batches of these cookies for Christmas. I can't wait until they are frozen and I can sneak into the basement and eat them out of the freezer. The only problem is the powdered sugar. I have to remember to dust it off my shirt or everyone will know I was eating cookies out of the freezer.

Candy Cane Kiss Chocolate Thumbprints

2011-11-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Awesome cookies

I am crazy about the candy cane kisses. I love the look of them and the taste. I decided to create a cookie around them. I wanted them to be like my mom's peanut blossom cookie that she makes every Christmas. A peanut butter cookie would not go well with the mint so I switched to a chocolate thumbprint.

To keep the cookies from spreading the butter should be softened but not quite room temperature. The cookie dough should be refrigerated before baking. In addition, the cookie sheets should be cooled between each batch of cookies. I tried baking cookies on both cooled and hot baking sheets. The cookies on the warm cookie sheets spread more than the cooled cookie sheets.

I tried dark chocolate kisses, mint chocolate kisses, and candy cane kisses with these cookies. I preferred the candy can kisses.

Candy Cane Kisses Chocolate Thumbprints

1 Cup (2 Sticks, 225 g) of Butter, Softened

¾ Cup (175 g) of Sugar

¾ Cup (180 g) of Brown Sugar

2 Tsp of Vanilla

2 Eggs

2 Cups (240 g) of Flour

½ Cup (40 g) of Cocoa

½ Tsp of Salt

48 Candy Cane Kisses

Sugar (to roll the cookies in)

Cream butter, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Remove foil from kisses.

Preheat oven to 350F/176C/Gas Mark 4. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch (2.5 cm) balls, roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet.

Rolling the dough ball in sugar

These will spread so leave enough room between the cookies. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and lightly press a kiss into the center of the cookie. Remove from the cookie sheet and cool.

A lovely plate of cookies

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes, I love these. They will be added to the list of cookies I make each Christmas.

Peanut Blossoms

2011-11-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

Peanut blossoms

This is my mom's recipe. I love these cookies. We had and have them every year for Christmas. My mom usually starts making cookies after Halloween. The house smells like baking cookies for two months. It is a labor of love. I usually start making cookies right before Thanksgiving and make them for about a month.
These are usually one of the first cookies I make each year. They are easy to make and freeze well. How do I know? I made a career out of sneaking into the deep freezer and eating frozen Christmas cookies. I was not alone my father and brother were right there with me. Sometimes my mom had to remake cookies (sorry mom), but frozen cookies are really good. Sometimes I like frozen cookies more than defrosted cookies. Now that I have my own family, I make these every year for Christmas and my daughter and husband sneak into the deep freezer and eat frozen cookies. (Don't tell them but I do too).

Peanut Blossoms

1 3/4 (220 g) Cups of Flour

1/2 Cup (100 g) of Sugar
1/2 Cup (120 g) of Brown Sugar

1 Tsp of Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp of Salt

1/2 Cup (80 g) of Shortening

1/2 Cup (125 g) of Peanut Butter

1 Egg

2 Tbsp of Milk

1 Tsp of Vanilla

48 Chocolate Kisses

Sugar to Roll Cookies In

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the kisses. Beat until combined on low speed.

So easy to make-just add all of the ingredients to the bowl

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Remove foil from kisses. Preheat oven. Shape dough into one-inch (2.5 cm) balls and roll in sugar.

Place on ungreased cookie tray. Leave enough room because they will spread. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and place a kiss in the center of each cookie. Remove from tray and cool.

The bottom line: will I make these again? Yes, every year for Christmas. I may add new cookies to the list each year that I make, but these will always be on the list.

Porchetta Style Pork Roast

2011-11-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

The roasted pork

I decided that we are having pork tonight. Not just any pork but a porchetta style pork roast. Oh my goodness is this good. Actually, it is great. Porchetta is is traditional Italian dish. It originated in central Italy, but it is a popular celebratory dish throughout Italy. Traditionally, an entire pig is used. I am hungry, but not that hungry.
Instead I am using the traditional flavors for a roast. The traditional spices are fennel, garlic, sage, and rosemary. It should marinate over night, but I can't wait that long.
Leftovers are amazing as pulled pork sandwiches. I try to make enough so there are leftovers. I prefer the roast made in a convection oven; I think it makes a moister roast in the inside and a nice crispy exterior. I have included directions for both types of ovens.

Porchetta Style Pork Roast

6 Fresh Sage Leaves
2 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary
2 Tsp of Fennel Seeds, Ground
4 Cloves of Garlic, Peeled
1 1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of White Wine

Preheat oven to 275F/135C/Gas Mark 1 (250F/120C/Gas Mark 1/2 convection). In a food processor or by hand grind the sage, rosemary, fennel, and garlic to make a paste. It will make you life easier if you pre-grind the fennel seeds. I want to kick myself when I forget. In a spice grinder (I use an old coffee grinder) pulse the fennel seeds a couple of times. Add the salt and pepper.

The rub

Cut about 10 1/4 inch (.6 cm) cuts all over the roast and insert about a third of the spice mixture into the cuts. Add the oil to the remaining and rub on the roast.

Ready for the oven

Roast in the oven for 2 hours (convection 1 hour and 30 minutes). Pour white wine over the pork and baste with juices. Continue roasting basting every 30 minutes for about 2 and half more hours (2 hours convection). Internal temperature should be 170F/77C and the outside of the roast should be brown and crispy. Let rest at least 15 minutes before slicing.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Oh yes.

Lemon Pepper, Udon, and Bacon Meal Madness!

2011-11-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

An excellent meal

I spun the Food Wonk Meal Madness iPhone App, and I decided to create a dish with the omnivore spin: lemon pepper, udon noodles, and bacon.
My daughter's favorite noodle is udon. Not surprisingly, I was out of udon noodles, and I was seriously thinking of making my own. After much thought, I decided to make a trip to the Asian market. As long as I was going to the Asian market, a side trip to the farmer's market made sense. A couple of hours and many purchases later, I had an enormous amount of fresh produce and seafood. It was time to create.

The difficult ingredient for me was the lemon pepper. I had trouble imaging how it was going to work with the udon and the bacon. I decided to take a risk and try something completely different (at least for me). It was Saturday and I had plenty of time. If the dish was awful I could come up with something else on Sunday.

I decided on sauteed shrimp sprinkled with lemon pepper in a coconut milk based broth over udon. I topped the dish with crumbled bacon. I ran my idea past several people and received several "that's interesting" responses. Katie made sure I had enough udon noodles for a different dish for her "just in case."

Was it good? I loved it. I was in foodie heaven. The different tastes worked together perfectly. The bacon, which I really worried about clashing with the rest of the dish, added that extra bit of yum. The lemon pepper worked great with the shrimp, and the coconut milk sauce was out of this world good. The only thing I would change is to add a bit of crushed red pepper to the sauce. I added it to the final version of the recipe. I also made roasted vegetables sprinkled with lemon pepper as a side. It was a bit chaotic, and I used a lot of pots. But I had fun making this dish.

Roasted veggies; I love these

Bacon

4 Pieces of Bacon

Fry bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside.

Coconut Milk Broth

2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
3 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
1 Hot Pepper, Finely Chopped (I used a hot lemon pepper)
13.5 oz. (400 ml) of Coconut Milk
1/3 Cup (7 g) of Cilantro, Finely Chopped
1 1/2 Tsp of Sugar
2 Tbsp of Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Tsp of Lemon Pepper
1/4 Tsp of Crushed Red Pepper (Optional)

In a large saucepan heat oil and sauté garlic, onions, and hot pepper until tender.

I love the smell of sautéing garlic, onions, and peppers

Add the remaining ingredients and warm on low heat.

Warming over low heat

Udon Noodles

19.89 oz. (564 g) of Udon Noodles

Cook the udon noodles according to package directions.

Cooking udon

Lemon Pepper Shrimp

2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp of Lemon Pepper
1 1/2 lbs (.7 kg) of Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined

A fresh shrimp

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle shrimp with lemon pepper. Sauté shrimp until pink about three minutes.


Beautiful sautéed shrimp

The Assembly

Place udon noodles on a plate and top with shrimp. Pour coconut milk broth over the shrimp and noodles. Finally top with bacon. I also placed the roasted vegetables around the udon noodles. I thought they went great with the dish.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, I loved this. I made the roasted vegetables again the next day. I had some leftover coconut milk broth and poured it over salmon for dinner the following night.

Meal Madness Challenge

2011-11-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

It is time for another Meal Madness Challenge. I must admit I feel a little goofy being video taped. Actually, more than a little goofy. Hopefully, the video will encourage you to participate in the Meal Madness Challenge. (I'm already trying to come up with a dish...)
Here are the rules-- there are two spins one for omnivores and one for vegans. You can pick which spins you want to use. The challenge is to make a dish with all 3 ingredients. You can use any other ingredients you want. You can also place ingredients on a bed of spinach, rice, mashed potatoes, ect... and that counts as part of the same dish. Please let me know what you create by leaving comments here or on the Food Wonk Facebook page. Or you can e-mail me photos at afoodwonk@gmail.com. I would like to have all your dishes by Sunday night but I will keep accepting and posting dishes for a week or so.

Ok here we go........ Here is the video of the spins (obviously not scripted):

Are here are the screen shots.

The omnivore spin. Not what I usually think of together but workable

The vegan spin. I am really liking this spin.

Good luck and please let me know what you create!

Turkey Broth

2011-11-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

The making of turkey stock

I admit it. I don't eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Sigh, I don't really like turkey. When I tell people this, they always look at me like I have two heads. I want to like turkey, but I don't. I have been known to eat a couple bites of a turkey leg at a Renaissance festival but that is required. I do, however, like turkey broth. It makes the best gumbo. So I always want the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving. I boil it with a bunch of herbs, spices, and veggies and I get a ton of broth. I freeze the broth until it is gumbo time!

Magical Turkey Broth

One Turkey Carcass
A Couple Sprigs of Fresh Thyme or 1 Tsp of Dried Thyme
A Couple of Sprigs of Parsley
2 Carrots, Chopped in Pieces
1 Onion, Quartered
1-2 Ribs of Celery, Cut into Pieces
1/4 Tsp of Pepper
1 Tsp of Salt, Optional (I don't add salt)

Dump everything is a large stockpot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for one hour. Strain and then chill. Once chilled, skim the fat off of the top and use or freeze.

When I freeze broth or any other liquid. I place the filled bags piled on a cookie sheet until they are frozen. That way they are neat and tidy in my freezer.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, whenever I can talk someone out of the turkey carcass. I probably should not have posted this because now all of my friends will make their own broth.

Another Meal Madness Challenge

2011-11-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun with the last meal challenge. I thought I decided to do it again and I want you to have the opportunity to join in the fun. This Friday, November 11 (11/11/11). I will post a video of two spins on the Food Wonk Meal Madness iPhone App. One spin will be for omnivores and the second spin for vegans. The challenge is to make a dish with all 3 ingredients. You can let me know what you made by leaving comments here or on my Facebook page (Food Wonk). Or you can e-mail me photos at afoodwonk@gmail.com. I know you are wondering what the categories will be---- (a drum roll please).... for the omnivores: meat, spice, and starch. I did a couple of sample spins and spun: chicken legs, cardamom and polenta; prime rib, onion powder, and soba noodles; chicken breast, cumin, and crackers; and chuck roast, celery salt, and quinoa. For the vegans: starch, spice, and veggie. I did a couple of sample spins and here is what I spun: aromatic rice, poppy seed, and eggplant; couscous, celery seed, and rapa; udon noodles, anise, and cauliflower; corn flakes, 5 spice powder, and cabbage; and rye, Spanish paprika, and acorn squash. The last challenge is posted here: I Take My Own Meal Madness Challenge

Food Wonk Now Has a Facebook Page

2011-11-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

I just created a Facebook Page. It is available here: Food Wonk Facebook I will post pictures and let you know what I am cooking. I would love to hear from you. It also gives you a chance to post what you created with the Food Wonk Meal Madness Spinner App. I hope you like the page!

Blue Cheese Filled and Bacon Wrapped Hamburgers

2011-11-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Bacon blue cheese hamburger and salads

I love grilled hamburgers. What could be better? Adding blue cheese and bacon. I usually fill my hamburgers with a mixture of monetary jack cheese and mozzarella cheese. But we were out so I decided to use blue cheese and bacon.

Bacon Wrapped Blue Cheese Filled Hamburgers

1 Lb (.45 kg) of Hamburger
Season Salt, To Taste
Black Pepper, To Taste
3 Tbsp of Blue Cheese
3 Strips of Bacon

Preheat gas grill or prepare a charcoal grill. Make 6 hamburgers patties. Season hamburger patties with season salt and pepper. Place about a tablespoon sized piece of blue cheese in the center of every other hamburger patty.

Patties ready to be pressed together

Top each blue cheese hamburger patty with another patty. Press together. Wrap a strip of bacon around each hamburger and secure with tooth picks.

Wrapped in bacon

Grill hamburgers until desired doneness. I like my hamburgers medium rare.

Grilled hamburger

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, I will for Steven and I. Katie did not like these. She likes the mozzarella filled hamburgers.

Green Tomato Chutney

2011-11-03T04:02:00.000-07:00

A spoonful of green tomato chutney

This is the last of the green tomato posts. Sadly, I am now out of green tomatoes. I am morning their loss. The green tomato salsa was exceptional and I am looking forward to the green tomato pickles. The big decision I have is what to put in the green tomato chutney. Chutney comes from the East Indian word "chatni" which means "strongly spiced." Chutneys have a chunky spreadable almost preserve-like consistency.
Now the question is the flavors for the chutney. I have some lovely cilantro that I know will go perfectly with the green tomatoes. Of course, I will be using a spicy lemon pepper and some garlic. I want a bit of sweetness with the heat so I am adding brown sugar.

Green tomatoes ready to be sautéed

Green Tomato Chutney

2 1/2 Cups (300 g) of Green Tomatoes
1/4 Cup (5 g) of Cilantro, Finely Chopped
2 Tbsp of Vegetable or Canola Oil
1/2 Tsp of Cumin
1/2 Tsp of Salt
1/2 Garam Masala
1 Clove of Garlic, Minced
1 Lemon Pepper, Finely Chopped
2 Tsp of Brown Sugar

Sauté the tomatoes in a dry skillet over medium heat until fairly dry. Add the cilantro, oil, cumin, garlic, and pepper.

Green tomatoes with the added spices

Sauté until the tomatoes are browned and soft. (At this point your entire house should smell so absolutely delicious that you just can't stand it).

Finished chutney

Remove the mixture from the pan, and process it in a blender or food processor. While the chutney is still hot, add the brown sugar and stir well.
The bottom line: Will I make this again? I would make it for the smell alone. Absolutely incredible. I will be making some naan to go with this chutney. If I can find some more green tomatoes, I will make this again.

Halloween Rum Cake

2011-10-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

Our finished haunted castle

This Halloween we made a Halloween Haunted Castle Rum Cake. I have several festive Bundt pans, and I am always looking for a reason to use them. I also am always looking for a reason to get more. I love them.
I revised my standard rum cake this time. I wanted a lighter cake so I used a white cake mix and it did the trick. I also substituted melted butter for the oil and milk for the water. Finally, I wanted a stone-looking foundation to my castle, so I added the walnuts last instead of first.

Lighter Rum Cake

1 16.25 oz. (461g) Box of White Cake Mix
1 1 3/4 oz. (50 g) Box of Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Milk
1/2 Cup (115 g) of Butter, Melted and Cooled
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Rum
4 Large Eggs
1 Cup (114 g) of Walnuts, Toasted and Finely Chopped

Preheat the oven to 325F/162C/Gas Mark 3. Prepare Bundt pan by greasing and flouring the pan.

The hardest part is preparing the pan

In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients except the eggs. Mix well. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

A nice smooth batter

Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Top with the walnuts.

Ready for the oven

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. The cake is done when a tooth pick insert into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.
Run a butter knife around the edges and invert onto a cake plate. With a skewer poke holes in the cake so the glaze can seep throughout the cake.

Rum Glaze

1/4 Cup (55 g) of Butter
1/8 Cup (30 ml) of Water
1/2 Cup (100 g) of Sugar
1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Rum

I halved the normal amount of the glaze for the Halloween cake. Normally, I would double this recipe. Heat butter and water over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and carefully add the rum. Be careful, the mixture will produce a lot of stream.

The glaze

Pour the rummy goodness over the cake.

The castle before we added the decorations

Allow cake to cool completely and decorate. The decorating is the best part. We filled the center of the castle with mini marshmallows and dyed the marshmallows red. Then we had gummy worms coming out of the marshmallows. We turned large marshmallows into ghosts and used toothpicks to attach the ghosts to the castle. We stuck root beer barrels and mini Oreo cookies to the cookie sheet around the castle. Finally, we used orange and black icing on the turrets, doors, and windows.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, but not until spring. The rum cake made with a yellow cake mix or the chocolate rum cake is more for cold winter days.

Green Tomato Pickles

2011-10-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

Green tomatoes ready to be pickled

I have never made green tomato pickles before. I am quite excited about it. I did a lot of research before making them. I decided base my pickles recipe on the Two Sisters' Green Tomato Pickles from One Big Table. Molly O'Neill traveled the country collecting recipes. The result was a cookbook full of 600 recipes with a portrait of its creator. It is a wonderful cookbook. Great recipes and fascinating stories.

I had some okra and decided to add those as well. I used my favorite lemon peppers.The alum is added to allow the pickles to stay crisp. Pickling salt does not have any iodine or anti-caking agent. The iodine may turn the pickles dark and the anti-caking agents may turn the pickling liquid cloudy. In a pinch Kosher salt can be substituted. Kosher salt is not as dense as pickling salt so a little more Kosher salt will have to added than the recipes calls for.

Green Tomato Pickles

For the Pickles
18 Cloves of Garlic, Peeled
A Handful of Lemon Peppers, Stemmed and Cut in Half
4 Tsp of Olive Oil
4 Tsp of Pickling Spice
4 Tsp of Alum
2 Pounds (.9 kg) of Green Tomatoes, Quartered
6 Small Okra Pods

For the Brine
1.5 Quarts (1.4 L) of Water
1 Quart (.9 L) of White Vinegar
3/8 Cup (80 g) of Pickling Salt

I used one quart (.9 L) jar and two pint (.47 L) jars. I sterilized the jars and split the pickle ingredients between the jars (I put twice as much in the larger jar).
To make the brine, heat up the brine ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat so the mixture simmers for 15 minutes.

Full jars

Fill the jars with hot brine up to 1/2 inch below the rim. Run a knife down and around the edge of each jar to release the bubbles. Seal the jars and cool to room temperature. Place the jars in the refrigerator and for two weeks before eating the pickles.

Finished jars

Green Tomato Salsa

2011-10-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

Green tomatoes

I love salsas. I especially love salsas my husband makes. He did not make this one, I did. But it was easy to make. The green tomatoes are firm and easy to chop. We have a lot of green tomatoes; the summer was just too hot and the tomatoes did not start producing until late in the season. It is a good thing that I love green tomatoes. I used my beloved yellow peppers in this dish. I have a pitcher full and more on the way.

Green Tomato Salsa

1 Cup (155 g) of Diced Green Tomatoes
2 Large Cloves (10 g) of Garlic, Minced
1/4 Cup (5 g) of Cilantro, Thinly Sliced
1 Hot Pepper, Finely Diced
3 Tbsp of Lime Juice
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp of Sugar

Green tomato salsa

Combine all ingredients in a nonreactive bowl. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

I have a pitcher of spicy lemon peppers so I used them in this salsa

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes. I love this.

Bloody Fingers

2011-10-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

Finished fingers

These are the easiest Halloween treats to make. I use packaged lady fingers and decorate them with store-bought frosting. The result is amazing. To be completely honest, Katie came up with this idea. She did the bloody frosting with the red gel icing. It was pure mother daughter bonding time.
I tried to make my own blood colored frosting and failed miserably. I ended up buying red gel frosting. I will work on the perfect red colored icing for next year.

Bloody Fingers

Lady Fingers
Black Frosting
Red Frosting

Nail in process

Frost a nail on the tip of the lady finger. Next frost blood down the finger.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? yes, these are great and so easy. I love having them with my coffee in the morning.

Halloween Cupcakes

2011-10-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

Frosting cupcakes

I love Halloween. My husband loves Halloween. My daughter loves Halloween. Our dogs do not love Halloween. They hate Halloween.They do love cupcakes, and I have to keep these out of their reach.

We usually go all out for Halloween. Unfortunately, we are not going all out with decorations this year but we are with food. This is the first of several Halloween posts. I usually I have ton of stuff going on this time of year. Sooooooo if I can cut some corners without sacrificing taste, I am going to.

Use your favorite cupcake recipe for the base. The cupcake recipe below makes a great cupcake. I am a huge fan of sour cream cupcakes because it makes the cupcakes so moist! Yummy! You could also add chocolate chips. I think mini chocolate chips would be perfect for these. It makes a ton of cupcake (24 cupcakes!). Enough for a class of kids, the teacher, and the baker! Not that you will want to share.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes

1 Box (18.25 oz/517 g) of Chocolate Cake Mix

16 oz. (455 g) of Sour Cream

1/4 Cup (55 g) of Butter, Melted

2 Large Eggs

1 Tsp of Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F/176C/ Gas Mark 4.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix on low until all ingredients are moistened. Increase speed to medium and beat for 3-4 minutes, scraping the bowl as necessary.

The batter should be smooth

Pour into muffin tins or muffin tins lined with paper or foil liners. Fill each cup 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 25 minutes until wooden pick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. (They are also really good warm-- but don't ice them when they are warm).

Yum! Chocolate cupcakes

My family hopes that we will have ugly ones that they get to eat. I expect to walk in and see my husband smashing one with his fist. (It would then be deemed an ugly cupcake and would get eaten).

Butter Cream Icing

I am opposed to bland tasting icing. This icing is amazing. The secret is to use half and half or cream not milk. Also butter is necessary for this recipe, not margarine. It is lovely. It makes just enough to ice the cupcakes.

Butter Cream Frosting

1/4 Cup (55 g) of Butter, Softened
1 1/2 Cups (170 g) of Powdered Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp of Cream or Half and Half
Beat the butter until creamy. Alternate adding the powdered sugar and the cream and extract. Scrape bowl and beat until creamy. Add more cream or sugar until you get the desired consistency.

To frost the cupcakes

Spread the butter cream icing on each cupcake. Allow to dry. Place black icing into a pastry bag with the tip that makes straight lines. Make concentric circles with the black icing.

It is like making a target out of icing

Before the icing hardens, take a butter knife or tooth pick and drag the icing from the middle to the outer circle. Repeat.

Steps in making a spiderweb

To make a spider, make a large dot of icing in the center and add four legs on each side.

Add caption

The bottom line: Will we make these again? Yes and hopefully each year I will get better at decorating them.

Basil Oil

2011-10-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

Caprese salad drizzled with basil oil.

We have a lot of basil. I always plant too much. I am always in a rush at the end of the summer to use it all. This year I decided to infuse olive oil with basil. I was amazed at how easy it was.

Basil Oil

1 1/2 Cups (30 g) of Lightly Packed Fresh Basil Leaves
1 Cup (240 ml) of Olive Oil

Rinse and dry basil leaves. Combine oil and basil in a food processor or blender and pulse so that the leaves are finely chopped but not puréed.

Pour basil oil into a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, Stir occasionally until temperature reaches 165F/74C.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour into nonreactive container, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or several layers of cheesecloth.

Discard basil and store oil in the refrigerator.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, this time next year, I will be making more.

Halloween Marshmallows (Amaretto Flavored)

2011-10-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

A bat shaped marshmallow

These are so easy to make and so much better than store bought. We used our standard marshmallow recipe available here: Homemade Marshmallows.
We have a family debate every time I make marshmallows over which flavoring to use and whether or not to add food coloring. We decided not to add food coloring. If you are going to use food coloring add it right after you add the oh so hot mixture to the gelatin.
After much discussion, we decided on amaretto flavored marshmallows. We substituted 3 teaspoons of amaretto and 1 teaspoon of almond extract for the vanilla extract.

Once the marshmallows were made, I "poured" them into a large baking pan that had been greased and coated with a mixture of powdered sugar and corn starch. I let the marshmallow sit out uncovered overnight. In the morning I figured out which cookie cutters I was going to use. I sprayed part of the cookie cutters with cooking spray and part were dipped in the corn starch powdered sugar mixture. I wanted to see which cookie cutters worked better. Surprisingly, there really wasn't a noticeable difference.

It took some work to get the cookie cutters to cut through all of the marshmallows

Instead of trying to pull the marshmallows out with the cookie cutters, I decided to remove the marshmallows around the cookie cutters. It worked like a charm.

Removing the marshmallows around the cookie cutters worked well

The result is Halloween shaped marshmallows. After pushing the marshmallows out of the cookie cutters, I dipped the edges in the corn starch and powdered sugar mixture. The leftover pieces will be used for hot cocoa.

Halloween shaped marshmallows

The bottom line: Will I make these again. Yes, my daughter begs me to make these. I think the Christmas marshmallows will be peppermint flavored. For Katie's birthday she will probably have her name in purple marshmallows on top of her cake. The possibilities are endless.

Caprese Pasta Salad

2011-10-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

Pasta salad

Time to use the basil, a light freeze is on it way. What better way than a wonderful caprese pasta salad? The beautiful summer tomatoes are pretty much gone. I have a couple of green tomatoes on my plants but nothing ripe. So I decided to use a mixture of grape and cherry tomatoes. Not as good as a homegrown tomato but still good.

Caprese Pasta Salad

16 oz (455 g) of Pasta
1 Cup (150 g) of Tomatoes, Cut in Half
8 oz. (225 g) of Mozzarella, Cut into Bite-Size Pieces
One Handful of Basil, Thinly Sliced
Salt, To Taste
Pepper, To Taste
Vinaigrette (1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Balsamic Vinegar with 1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Olive Oil Slowly whisked in)

Cook the pasta according to package directions and rinse with cold water.

One cup of tomatoes

In a large pasta bowl combine tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

Tomatoes, mozzarella and basil

Salt and pepper liberally. Add the pasta and stir to combine.

Vinaigrette- vinegar and oil whisked together

Finally toss with the dressing.

Will I make this again? Yes, this is one of the few fresh tomato pastas I will eat in the winter. The balsamic vinegar adds a sweetness and makes up for a lack of sun ripened tomatoes. As long as I have fresh basil (which you can find in the winter) and cherry tomatoes, this pasta salad is a winner.

Arugula Mascarpone Pesto

2011-10-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

Arugula pesto

We have some gorgeous arugula growing in our yard. I love the strong peppery taste of arugula. It is starting to get cold and it is time to use the arugula.
I decided to make pesto. I was a little worried that the arugula would be too strong, so I decided to balance the peppery taste with mascarpone. Yes, mascarpone. Yum.... I love mascarpone cheese.
I make my pesto differently than most people. I add the arugula (or basil or parsley or spinach) last. I don't want to over process the arugula.You may also use walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts instead of pine nuts.If you are serving this with pasta, reserve about a cup of pasta water and add about a tablespoon of the pasta water to each bowl of pasta when you mix the pasta with the pesto.

Pesto

1/2 Cup (68 g) Pine Nuts, Lightly Toasted
1/2 Cup (100 g) of Parmesan Cheese
4 Cloves of Garlic
1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Olive Oil
2 Handfuls (56 g) of Arugula
1/2 Cup (113 g) of Mascarpone Cheese

Combine pine nuts, cheese, and garlic in a food processor and process until smooth.

Processed pine nuts, garlic, and cheese

Slowly add olive oil until well combined. Add arugula and process until arugula is chopped and well mixed.

Arugula waiting to be mixed in

Place pesto into a bowl and fold in the mascarpone.

Fold in mascarpone cheese

Final pesto

The bottom line: will we make this again? Yes, I like the peppery taste of the arugula and the creaminess that the macarpone adds.

Bringing Our Garden Inside

2011-10-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

My all time favorite type of hot peppers

It is always a sad day when I dig up some of our outside plants and try to overwinter them. I also bring in our house plants that have enjoyed the summer outdoors. I am a little worried this year because I have several Christmas cacti and an orchid about to bloom.
This is the first year that I am going to try to keep basil and lemon peppers alive. I also brought rosemary, lemon grass, and parsley inside. I am fairly certain that they will overwinter well with the grow lights. In past winters I have kept lemon grass alive over the winter in a sunny window.
I also collected seeds for next year. I have tons of lemon pepper, basil, okra and marigold seeds. Soon I will be planning next year's garden.

Part of the plants I brought inside

I also brought our garden markers inside. I made them with our neighbor, Gail, artist extraordinaire. Gail kindly lent me the use of her art studio, materials, and most importantly, her expertise. Also she took care of all of the firing in the kiln. The result was these amazing garden markers. They will be back in the garden in the spring. For the winter, I think I am going to put them in a vase to remind me that spring is just around the corner.

My garden markers ready for next year

The next big project is grow lights. There is not enough light in my office for the jungle of plants that are now inside. I am trying to decide between LED and florescent. If anyone out there has any brilliant ideas for great but inexpensive grow lights, I would love to hear them.

The final plant project will be to set up our hydroponics set. I found one on the clearance rack last year. I hope it works. I think it will be a great science project for Katie. Hopefully I can tie it in with a biology lesson.

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

2011-10-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Broccoli and cauliflower ready to be made into salad

I love raw broccoli and cauliflower. I actually refuse to eat cooked broccoli; I can't stand the smell. This is my all-time favorite way to eat broccoli and cauliflower. Since, cauliflower is in season, I decided to make one of my favorite salads and measure the ingredients and write done the process. Since, I have never measured the ingredients before, it is obviously a flexible salad. You can add a little more or less of several ingredients and it will still be great.
A note on toasting pine nuts, watch them. They quickly go from lightly toasted to burnt bits. I will start working on something else and forget about the pine nuts and then they burn. The birds seem to like burnt nuts but I would rather give them bird seed.

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

1 Head of Broccoli, Cut into Bite Sized Pieces
1 Head of Cauliflower, Cut into Bite Sized Pieces
1/4 Cup (45 g) of Sweet Onion, Diced
1/2 Cup (60 g) of Craisins or Raisins, Optional
1 Cup of Mayonnaise (I Use Low-Fat)
1/4 Cup (50 g) of Granulated Sugar
3 Tbsp of White Vinegar (or Rice Vinegar)
1/2 Cup of Sunflower Seeds (70 g), Pine Nuts (70 g), or Slivered Almonds (85 g), Lightly Toasted
6 Slices of Bacon, Crumbled

Place the broccoli, cauliflower, onions, and craisins in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar.

Ready to whisk

Pour the dressing over the veggies and stir to combine. Add the nuts and the bacon and refrigerate until ready to serve.

The broccoli cauliflower salad is so pretty with the craisins

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, this does not last long in our house.

Hard Cider

2011-10-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

Heating the cider and the sugar

I love hard cider. This year we decided to make our own. Why? Because I love the beer we brew and wanted to see if we would love our homemade cider. I usually drink Woodchuck cider so I did a search for Woodchuck recipes. You guessed it, I came up with a bunch of recipes for groundhogs. Yuck! I never did find a recipe for Woodchuck Cider but I did find all sorts of methods for making hard cider. I found everything from leaving it out on the kitchen counter to naturally ferment to complex thirty step processes. I decided to try a fairly simple process: combining one gallon of cider with sugar and adding it to the rest of the cider, pitching the yeast, fermenting the cider, and then a secondary fermentation it in a carboy. Here is my recipe-- of course I won't know for a while if it worked or not. Feel free to take the leap with me!

Hard Cider

Ingredients
5 Gallons (19 L) of Apple Cider (See huge important note below)
4 Lb (1.8 kg) of Sugar
1 Package of Liquid Yeast

Special Equipment
1 Fermenting Bucket
1 Carboy

Liquid cider yeast in a smack pack

We took one gallon (3.78 L) of apple cider and dumped it in a large stock pot with 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of sugar. We heated the apple cider until the sugar dissolved. (Adding sugar at the beginning increases the alcohol content of the cider not the sweetness). Then we dumped the hot sugar cider mixture and the remaining apple cider into a fermenting bucket. Once the mixture was 75F/21C we pitched the yeast. Now, we wait to see if the wee yeasties multiply.
After about four weeks, we will move the cider into a carboy and allow it to secondary ferment for about eight weeks.
The big question will be whether we want sparking cider or not. If we decide we want sparkling cider we will add 3/4 cup (180 ml) of honey or 3/4 cup (165 g) of brown sugar to 1 cup (240 ml) of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is cooled, we will add it to the cider mixture right before we bottle it.

Everything is ready for the cider to be added

*****Huge Important Note About the Apple Cider**** For the apple cider to ferment you need the yeast to multiple and turn the sugar into alcohol (and carbon dioxide). The necessary chemical reaction will not take place if you have preservatives like sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate in your cider.

Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce

2011-10-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

Smoked chicken with white sauce

While I was going up, my family moved to different regions of the country. This provided me with the opportunity to fall in love with all kinds of food. One of my first experiences with barbecue was Big Bob Gibson BBQ in Decatur, Alabama. It wasn't their ribs that I loved, but their smoked chicken with white sauce. My family loves this sauce and we use it on pork as well as chicken. But the smoked chicken with white sauce is my favorite. Here is my version of their sauce.

White Sauce for Chicken

1 Cup (239 g) of Mayonnaise (Some people swear by Miracle Whip instead of mayo but I use Hellmann's Light Mayo)
1 Cup (240 ml) of Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Tsp to 1 Tsp Prepared Horseradish
1/4 Tsp Cayenne
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Freshly Ground Pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake to combine.

A jar of my version of Big Bob Gibson's BBQ sauce

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Baste the chicken with the white sauce a couple minutes before removing from the grill, use as a dipping sauce for chicken, or mix with shredded chicken.

Smoked chicken ready for sauce!

We use it as a dipping sauce for pulled pork. It is also good as a coleslaw sauce.

Homemade Egg Noodles

2011-10-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

Homemade noodles

When I was little my mom made me chicken noodle soup (homemade) and poached eggs when I was sick. I am not sick very often but when I am I want my mom, chicken noodle soup, and poached eggs. Ok, I can live without the poached eggs and my mom l shouldn't have to drop everything and come make me chicken noodle soup; so I make my own chicken noodle soup. (Grumble....) I also make it for my family when they are sick (Grumble....) But it always makes my feel better and transports me to my childhood watching my mom make me chicken noodle soup. The catch is the noodle have to be homemade. It is not as hard as you think. I can make them while I am deathly ill (a bit of an exaggeration) you can too. I will warn you, once you make them you will always won't homemade egg noodles in your soup. If someone besides me is sick, I will add dried herbs to the noodles or cracked pepper (if I am sick I am working on autopilot). Oh! This is important, try not to overwork the dough. Just do the bare minimum of mixing.

Egg Noodles

1 1/2 Cups (190 g) of Unbleached Flour
1 Tbsp of Butter
1 Tsp of Salt (Omit if you are using salted butter)
1 Tsp of Dried Herbs (Optional, Your Choice)
2 Eggs, Slightly Beaten
0-2 Tbsp of Milk

Combine flour, salt, and butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers until well combined.

Cutting the butter into the flour

At this point add the dried herbs, if you are using them. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs.

Beaten eggs in the well.

With a fork, gently mix in part of the eggs with part of the flour until combined.

Slowly mixing the egg with the flour

Once all of the egg is mixed in with the flour, test the dough. If it is not forming a ball, add a bit of milk until a ball forms. You may not need any milk at all.

Cut the ball into four pieces and roll one piece out on a lightly floured board. (I usually place a piece of wax paper on the board and then flour it and roll out the dough on the wax paper). The dough will be sticky so you may have to add a little more flour. Roll out the dough paper thin. Set aside and work on the next piece of dough.

Roll out the dough so that it is paper thin

Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes, but do not let the dough dry out too much. Cut the dough into thin strips (I use a pizza cutter for this. It works magic). I don't worry about uniformity. I like my noodles to be different sizes. If you want perfect noodles use a rule to measure your cuts.

All different sizes of noodles

Roll some pieces of dough into small balls (for dumplings).

Dumplings are my favorite

Drop the noodles into boiling water, broth, or soup and boil for about 5 minutes. (Test at minute increments just to be sure). You also want to gently stir the noodles so they separate.

Egg noodles topped with buttered and toasted bread crumbs

Looking for an incredible way to serve them? Boil them in water, drain, and serve topped with buttered bread crumbs (I wish I could take credit for this gem but it is my mom's recipe). So so good!
The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes, I even make these when everyone is healthy.

Use a ravioli cutter to create elegant noodles

I Take My Own Meal Madness Challenge

2011-10-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

So a few months back I announced Food Wonk's Meal Madness, an iPhone app that I cooked up (with some serious technical assistance from my husband). Meal Madness is really more of a novelty than a tool: you press a button and it spins up three totally random ingredients. Sometimes it's a perfect combination. Sometimes it's lutefisk, Velveta and Nutella. Trick or treat.

Since the app launched we've had some downloads and a few comments, but not nearly enough. After some badgering from Steven to lead the charge, I decided to do a no-holds-barred Meal Madness throw-down (props to Bobby Flay for the term). One spin, one meal. One chance to gross out the nation.

To keep me honest, I had my husband and daughter oversee the selection process so I didn't "accidentally on purpose" spin again. The rules were simple (1) we had to make a dish containing all three ingredients; (2) we had to eat it; and (3) we had until dinner tonight (it's noon) to come up with our dish.

The big debate was which categories to pick. Katie wanted beverage, fruit, and cheese; Steven wanted meat, spice, beverage; and I wanted starch, veggie, and meat. We decided that each of us got to choose a category. Katie choose cheese (not surprising she loves cheese); Steven choose spice (how boring food would be without spice?); and I choose (oh! the pressure) starch (my comfort food).

Ok, here were go. A drum roll please... And the winners are: colby cheese, garam masala, and polenta. Hmmm... Er? Wow... Ummmm... Really????

Oh what to do? What to make? I love polenta and colby together but with garam masala? I love garam masala. Garam ("hot") masala ("mixture") is a pungent spice used in Northern Indian dishes. There are tons of different ways to make this spice combination. One of these days, I will make it from scratch. In the meantime I have the Spice Hunter's garam masala which is a mixture of cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and cardamon. (Yes, it would be great in an Indian apple pie.)

I am going to go out on a culinary ledge here and state that polenta is the same thing as grits (at least the grits I make). I hope that doesn't burst anyone's foodie bubble, but it's true. I don't believe in instant grits so they don't count. True grits are just polenta.

I have warm feelings for colby cheese, but then I have warm feelings for all cheese. Colby is a cow's milk cheese that is milder than cheddar. So mild in fact that it is seldom used in cooking. I now think this may be an oversight. It is a delicious moist cheese that melts well.

Before I go any farther, I must add that I whined about the ingredients on Facebook and two other foodies, I mean people, decided to take the challenge with me. I am amazed at what they made. Tristan Barnum, who is a food goodness, took a vegan slant and switched out the Colby cheese for tofu and created a beautiful and healthy masterpiece: broiled polenta stacked with spiced creamy spinach with tiny cubes of tofu standing in for the traditional paneer cheese (and colby in the case of the challenge) on an heirloom tomato slice, served with mango chutney, garam masala, and fresh coriander leaves. Her dish and directions for recreating her masterpiece are here.

Polenta stacks

Kevin, a computer mastermind by day and foodie by night, created garam masala rubbed duck breast, pan-roasted mushrooms, creamy ziti with colby and sweet curry polenta 'breadcrumbs'. Fantastic! It looks beautiful.

Garam masala rubbed duck breast with creamy ziti with bread crumbs

So enough about the three chosen ingredients. Now to the dish(es). I decided on polenta baked with colby cheese and garam masala. Kinda like Indian-style cheese grits. That would go great with pork. Garam masala would go great with apples. We have apples! So, cheese garlic grits with garam masala and pork steaks cooked in apple cider with onions, apple sauce and garam masala.

My meal of garam masala grits and pork steak cooked in apple cider

One more thing or confession if you like. I like grits that have strings of cheese that stretch from your mouth to your plate. How to achieve this extra dimension in cheesiness? It is easy. Add pieces of string cheese to your grits. I am completely serious. I discovered this my accident; well, laziness. I was making dinner and I had a small amount of cheddar cheese left but lots of string cheese (Katie was a toddler). I didn't want to drop everything and go to the store; so I just added the string cheese instead. I loved the stringy messy result. If you have issues about the stringiness of your cheese, just omit the string cheese.

Garam Masala Cheese Garlic Grits (I mean polenta)

6 Cups (1440 ml) of Water
2 Cups (360 g) of Grits
1/2 Cup (113 g) of Butter
8-9 Oz. (227 to 255 g) of Colby Cheese, Grated
3 Sticks of Mozzarella String Cheese, Cut into Small Pieces (Optional)
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Tsp of Garam Masala
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Milk
Salt and Pepper, to Taste

Preheat oven to 350F/176 C/ Gas Mark 4. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add grits. Lower heat and cook slowly until thickened about 8 to 10 minutes. Add butter and colby cheese and stir to combine.

Grits and butter

Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

Grits with everything else

Pour into a 2.5 quart (2.4 L) casserole dish. Bake for 35 minutes.

Ready for the oven

Baked

Pork Steaks

2-3 Tbsp of Oil
1.5 Lbs (.7 kg) of Pork Steaks
1/4 to 1/2 Tsp of Garam Masala
Salt and Pepper, To Taste
1 Cup (240 ml) of Apple Cider
1/2 Cup (118 g) of Applesauce
1 Medium Onion, Thinly Sliced

Sprinkle pork steaks with garam masala, salt, and pepper.

Frying pork steaks

Heat oil in a saucepan. Fry pork steaks for 2 to 3 minutes a side. Remove the pork steaks and add onions to the pan. Saute onions until tender. Return pork steaks to the pan and add the apple cider and applesauce.

Pork and apples.

Lower heat and cover. Cook until pork reaches 145 F/62C.

The finished pork steaks

The next day, I took some of the polenta and topped it with an Italian sausage tomato sauce and mozzarella. I then placed it in the toaster oven until heated through. It was glorious. I would have topped it with more colby cheese but we ate it all.

Polenta pancake topped with sausage tomato sauce and cheese

The bottom line: Will I play Food Wonk Meal Madness again? Yes! The whole family had fun with it. We discussed possible dishes and each of the ingredients. I was amazed at how this "game" expanded my thoughts about food and what goes well together. Thanks to this game I have found my new favorite cheese garlic grits recipe. I will be serving this for Thanksgiving when we do our not so traditional Southern style dinner.