Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Ina Garten's Plum Crunch Done Apple

OK, I will admit it I really like most of Ina Garten's recipes and I really like the way she present. A number of weeks ago she was doing this amazing Lemon/Garlic Roasted chicken (which is to die for) and the dessert was a Plum Crunch. I don't have access to fresh Italian plums but I have always like Apple Crisp so why not try it with apples. It is a bit over the top for sugar, so those with sugar issue, I would cut it in half and use Splenda.

Oven at 375F 9x13 pan spayed with PAM

Plum Crunch
Filling:
3 # Italian prune plums, pitted and qrtd
1 1/2 C. Lgt Brown sugar
1/4 C. unbleached flour
6 Tbsp. cre'me de Cassis liqueur
Mix well and pour into the prepared baking dish.

Topping:
1 1/2 C. unbleached flour
3/4 C. granulated sugar
3/4 C. light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 C. Old fashion rolled oats
1/2 C. walnuts, chopped
1/2 # (2 sticks) butter, cubed

Put the mixture in either a stand mixer bowl with a paddle attachment or as I did my food processor. Process until the butter is pea sized. Spread over the fruit evenly. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

For the apple version I used:
7-8 good size but not large apples, pared, cored and sliced
the brown sugar and flour is the same
I changed the liqueur to Grand Marnier
Added:
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

I could see where this might be adapted to gluten free if there was a substitute for the flour in the topping. Corn starch could be used in the filling part for the flour.

Very good warm with some Breyer's Ice-Cream

Thank you, Ina!!!!!!!

Chili and Cheese Dip

I used to make this years ago for parties at work. It went over really big with my boss at the time, who would scoop up a bunch on a plate, grab some chips and feast for hours coming back for seconds if there was any left. It is super easy and very tasty. I made it for the girls that I quilt with last weekend and our cousins from Omaha were were. Bill loved it and so did the girls. Den had to eat more on the drive home. Kind of mess but not too bad.

Chili and Cheese Dip

2 cans Hormel NO BEANs Chili
1 # package of Mexican Velveeta
Bag of Scoops or other Tortilla chip, Scoops are great because you really get a good deal of the stuff that you are after with each one.

Empty the chili in a microwave safe dish, I used a 10x10 corning ware thing, pray it with a bit of Pam. Cube up the Velveeta and distribute evenly over the top. Cover and Nuke on HIGH for 3 minutes, remove and stir, cover and Nuke for another 3 minutes, remove and stir. The cheese should be pretty well melted and incorporated into the chili at this point, If not then 3 more and stir.
Serve warm with taco chips or Scoops.

This is really good on baked potatoes as well.

Cowboy Caviar

COWBOY CAVIAR

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can shoepeg corn, drained

1 pint cherry tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch green onions, about 5

1 red bell pepper, chopped
Bag of Scoops or other Tortilla chip you like. Scoops are great because they hold a good deal of what you are after.

Marinade: 3/4 cup cider vinegar, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup corn oil, (I use canola ) Better made a little ahead. You can cut these to 1/2 cup each and still come out great.

What I made was slightly different and would make a difference in the taste. I added some chopped fresh Cilantro. I love that clean taste.

I changed up like one can of white beans or garbanzo/chick peas in place of a can of pinto.

Shoe peg corn is a Green Giant thing, it is more whole kernel than whole kernel.

I seeded and chopped Roma tomatoes.

I also mixed red and green bell peppers.

Ripe olives are good in it as well.

If you like a bit of heat use a few drops of hot sauce or a bit of Penzey's Forward in it.

I made mine a day or two ahead and didn't put the tomatoes in until the last minute. I think that I actually added the tomatoes out at the very last minute. Tomatoes can get kind of icky if they set for a while.

Basic recipe was from my friend Cindy. She likes to play with her recipes as well.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Slow Cooker Coq au Vin

I have got to try this one. The meat is thawing now. I love William Sonoma for all of their recipes and wonderful gadgets and things. I have tried Coq au Vin in an electric skillet and was less than happy. This sounds much better and my crock pot should work just fine. I just cant do the prep stuff in it. Will let you know how it goes. It will have to go some to come up to the Barefoot Contess's Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken though.

Slow-Cooker Coq au Vin

Here, this traditional dish from Burgundy is prepared in a Cuisinart multicooker, which allows you to brown the chicken and then cook it slowly in the same vessel until the meat is exceptionally tender.

Ingredients:

1 bottle (750ml) Pinot Noir
5 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, plus 2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1/2 leek (cut lengthwise)
6 oz. thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 1/4 lb. whole chicken legs
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 lb. small button mushrooms
3/4 lb. shallots, halved
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
3/4 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

Directions:

In a large saucepan over high heat, boil the wine until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Place the parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs and bay leaf against the cut side of the halved leek and tie with kitchen twine. Set aside.

Preheat a Cuisinart multicooker on the brown/sauté setting to 350°F. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Discard all but 2 Tbs. of the fat from the insert. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Increase the heat to 450°F. Working in batches, brown the chicken, turning once, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Discard all but 2 Tbs. of the fat from the insert. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Melt the butter in the insert. Add the garlic, tomato paste and flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in the reduced wine and the broth and bring to a simmer. Add the bacon, chicken, mushroom mixture, carrots and bouquet garni. Set the multicooker on the slow cook-high setting, cover and cook until the chicken is fork-tender, about 2 hours.

Transfer the chicken to a plate. Skim the fat off the sauce. Set the multicooker on the brown/sauté setting to 400°F. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Discard the bouquet garni and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Return the chicken to the insert. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from Canal House Cooking, Vol. 2, by Christopher Hirsheimer & Melissa Hamilton.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Basil-Garlic Grilled Pork Chops and Eggplant Patties

I saw this recipe in a Midwest Living Mag and then went looking for it online just recently. I thought it sounded really good. Maybe that has to do with my recent colonoscopy and thinking that all food sounds good at this point: I did think that the marinate/rub seemed like I would like it to do a bit more time than the 30 minutes called for so I over-nighted it.

Basil-Garlic Grilled Pork Chops

4 3/4 inch thick bone in Iowa Chops, well trimmed

Rub or in my case marinate:

In the blender blend until smooth:
2 tsp. minced Garlic
1 C. Fresh Basil
2 T. fresh lemon juice
2 T. EVOO
1 tsp. Kosher Salt

Rub on the chops and marinate for 30 minutes per the recipe on line but in my case I am trying as an over night marinate.
Med-Hot Grill over direct heat:
5-6 minutes per side to an internal temp of 145F
Remove from the grill and allow to stand covered for 3 minutes before serving.

Then Den and I are doing a weekend trip to Manitawoc, WI to see his brother and take in the Kohler Art Fair in Sheboygan. In route we take in the capital in Madison, a truly lovely capital building by the way. Love the stone work. We had to hit the Penzey's Spices store there. I can tell you that I left a bit of coin there for sure. I love walking into one of their stores, the fragrance that greets you when you open the door is amazing. If you like to cook, it really get's your juices going, for sure. The latest mag. from them as a recipe that I had to try called

Sandy's Eggplant Patties

1 Med eggplant (about 1.5#), ends removed, peeled and cubed
Cover with water and boil for about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and pour into a bowl. Mash until smooth.
Add:
1 C. Bread or cracker crumbs
1 1/4 C. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 T. fresh parsley chopped (or 2 tsp. of Penzey's parsley flakes)
2 T. sliced green onion (I just used one and included some of the green as well)
1 garlic clove (or 1/4 tsp. of Penzey's minced garlic)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Mix this all up.
In a shallow rimmed plate or pie pan
1/4 C bread or cracker crumbs

Make you patties and coat them on both sided with the bread crumbs.

In a large non-stick skillet heat 1/2 C. or Canola or EVOO. The patties should sizzle when you put them in. Carefully turn each patties after 2-3 minutes. You will have to work in batches. Yields 8-12 patties.

I am thinking that this will go well with my pork chops for lunch and maybe another veggie, it is summer and there are lots of fresh veggies out there.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken by the Barefoot Contessa

Lemon Roasted Chicken (The Barefoot Contessa)

5-6 pound chicken (straight from the market, unwrap and salt and pepper it, rewrap and put in the frig over night)

Into the cavity:

1 large bulb of garlic cut in half, don’t remove the skin, just whack it in half

1 lemon, quartered

Tie the legs and tuck the wing.

Season with salt and pepper

In the bottom of a prepared roasting pan (spray it with PAM) put:

1 large onion sliced

4 large carrots, pared and chunked

2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and quartered (skin left on)

Place the chicken on top of the veggies. Pat the breast skin dry with a paper towel.

Melt a stick of butter and brush over the chicken breast , legs and thighs. Drizzle the rest of the melted butter over the veggies.

425F oven for 1 ¼ hours or until the juices run clear when the joint is poked at the leg and thigh.

Remove the chicken to a cutting board and cover with foil. Return the veggies to the oven for 15 min. more

Carve by removing the leg/thigh sections completely and then cut the joint to separate the two. The breast should be removed as 2 halves and sliced across the grain into 4 pieces. Remove the wings and spread the veggies around the platter.

You can make the gravy.

To the roaster add:

1 C. white wine

½ C. Chicken Stock

Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced by half.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes A Day

OK, Update On A New "Try This"

"Artisan Bread In % Minutes A Day" book by Jeff Hertzberg, MD and Zoe Francois (Amazon for about $17.00)

The basic bread is as follows and keeps in the fridg for up to 2 weeks and you make small loves up to 4 one pound loves from this much

3 C. Warm water

1.5 TBSP yeast

1.5 TBSP kosher salt or course salt of some kind. (Table salt is too fine and you will need to reduce the amount if you use table salt)

6.5 C. all purpose flour

Mix it all up in a 6 cup lidded container. If you are using a Rubbermaid thing, you have to remember not to seal it. Let this raise on the counter at room temp for about 4 hours or as long as over night. It will raise and then kind of flatten off. This is when you put it in the fridg. This is a wet dough and you don't kneed it at all. you can mix it with a spoon right in the container.

This is what I tried today. The authors told me that I could make this on the grill in an enameled cast iron 2 quart Dutch oven if I did it right. I asked it I could use a crockery Dutch oven, sure. So, from Wal_Mart I picked up a 2.5 quart oval lidded casserole or Dutch oven. The box said that it was oven proof to 500F. It was like $25.00. I figured that if this works then maybe I would consider going the cost of the enameled cast iron thing. If you go this route straight away remember that the knob on the lid has to be something over safe to the high heat of 450F.

I fired the gas Weber to 450F for 20 minutes with the following in place.

* Try to do this on INDIRECT HEAT. I found to get that hot, I had to leave the two outside burners on high as they would go and the center on as low as it will go until it achieves temp

* While the grill is heating remember that the rest of this has got to be in there heating as well.

1 Large steel pizza pan, I covered mine with foil

2 11 or 12 inch baking stone

3 My pot with the cover on it (empty) for the heat up

The dough rests for 40 minutes before baking. Instead of resting my dough on the peel on corn meal, I rested it for the last 20 minutes on parchment paper folded to act as a bed for the loaf. I kind of made mine wide enough to cover the pot side to side in the oval pot.

When the 40 minute rest is up:

* Open the grill

* Remove the cover on the pot

* Pick up the rested dough on it parchment paper sling and place it in the pot with the paper ends hanging over.

* Place the pot lid back on the pot making it as tight as you can

Bake it like this at 450F (I had to turn that center burner off entirely) for 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the stack and set aside removing the lid. Your bread should be crusty and tend but not as crusty as it would have been had you done it per directions in the oven. The parchment paper will be really toasted on the part that isn't inside the pot and will crumble when you touch it. I used my grill tongs to get a hold of the part that was still sold and lifted one end up and slid my silicon hot pad under it. Careful that pot is really hot. I set it on the cutting board on the table. and used the grill flipper to remove it from the parchment paper.

Next I want to try it in the camp Dutch oven.

Those that have the book, when you do this in the oven you have a pan with a cup of water in it that provide moisture when it bakes. Doing it this way, the dough provides the moisture itself in the enclosed pot.