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Archive for November, 2007

Daring Bakers: Tender Potato Bread

Posted in Breads, Daring Bakers on November 26, 2007| 33 Comments »

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Part of being a Daring Baker is to push through and keep trying. I have never had so many problems with a dough before and desperately wanted to throw the entire sticky mess in the trash and not bother posting this month’s challenge. But after a pep talk from my husband (and a few glasses of Schnapps), we got through it and produced one loaf and four burger buns. I should have been more creative with their shapes but I kept walking away thinking that I was going to quit. Nothing gets me more steamed than a dough that doesn’t go my way.

This month’s challenge is being hosted by Tanna at her site My Kitchen in Half Cups. Go to her site for the full recipe and very helpful tips and advice. Even if you’re not a baker, go visit her amazing blog. I’ve never seen such a neat website before!

The Daring Bakers has exploded to nearly 400 people. Go visit them at the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

The potato bread I’m used to are in hotdog bun form and have a more complex texture than regular bread. This recipe was a pleasant surprise because it comes out just as the title says: tender. It’s like chewing a cloud only with an earthy potato taste.

The reason why I had such problems came from the ginormous amount of mashed potatoes I used. I failed to heed the helpful hints from Tanna which suggests 8 ounces of potatoes for the beginning baker and 16 ounces for the advanced bakers. Um, dumb ass me used the entire bowl and 4 cups of water.
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Soon Dubu Chigae: Attempt Number One

Posted in Korean Food, Soups and Stews on November 24, 2007| 8 Comments »

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Korean stew is a good shift from heavy over the top Thanksgiving meals. This is now coming into week 4 of my new soon dubu chigae obsession. I had my first bowl of it on Halloween night and now it’s all I want night and day. I don’t know how I’ve gone 30 years without this stew. It’s inspired me to scope out all the Korean restaurants in the area. Which partially explains my lack of posting lately. This is also the most we’ve ever eaten out since…..well, ever. I think we eat dinner at sit down restaurants about three times a year on average. For the past few weeks, I’ve dragged Q to four Korean restaurants and one Asian food court, plus we’ve had dinner delivered a record three times this month. He doesn’t seem to be complaining much and eats a different dish each time.

Soon dubu chigae is a spicy stew made with silken tofu and seafood. The best way to eat this is in a dolsot, or a stone bowl because it keeps the broth bubbling hot. Hint to my family: These would make a lovely Christmas gift.
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Sage Dressing with Apples and Sausage

Posted in Breads, Sides on November 22, 2007| 7 Comments »

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First let me say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We’re off to the north soon to Q’s cousins. If we leave by 8:30 we should get there by noontime. Going with us will be the two pans of dressing and a sweet potato pie, all made by yours truly.

I’m glad that I had the day off yesterday or else I would never have been able to do this in one evening. Since the quantity is for two pans and I don’t have a bowl large enough to fit the entire volume of the ingredients, I had to go in two batches. I started with a half a stick of butter and added half of all the ingredients.

It was a process.
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Leg of Lamb Persillade

Posted in Barefoot Contessa, Meat on November 18, 2007| 3 Comments »

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Tonight I just let go and got over some deeply ingrained biases. For years now I’ve held lamb meat in such high esteem that I did not dare use anything more than salt/pepper with the barest hint of garlic. Where I grew up, lamb was something that you had to special order from the butcher at great cost and took time to arrive. Therefore, one did not muck it up by over spicing, over cooking, or good lord tampering with the meat. It just was not done. There has been many an anxious phone conversation between myself, the nearest meat departments in this neighborhood, and my two eldest brothers. In fact, for the latter, this is the only topic that gets them to the phone when I call: advice on how to cook meat properly. But I digress….they all told me the same things: 1)salt 2)pepper 3)a pinch of garlic 4)if you must use an herb, only use fresh rubbed rosemary. I’ve followed their advice for years now but it was time to branch out and try something new.

The recipe comes from the Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris. The main difference is the cut of meat used, she makes her with a rack of lamb and I butterfly a small leg that weighs 3lbs.
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Another Sage Bread

Posted in Breads on November 15, 2007| 9 Comments »

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I love sage dressing more than anything else on Thanksgiving. Honestly, I could do without the turkey and the rest of the trimmings, just give me an entire pan of buttery baked crumbs and I’d be happy. During the non-holiday season, I eat this as a one pan meal.

In the past I’ve made this with a crusty French bread recipe but have found this one more satisfying. It’s the same recipe as the bread a few posts back where the raisins popped out of the loaf, except with fresh herbs instead of the tablespoon of cinnamon.

Me and yeast breads are like this.
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My doughs are never shy and rise just fine.
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Chocolate Chip Waffles

Posted in Cooking with Q, Sweets on November 12, 2007| 13 Comments »

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It’s 9am on a Monday morning and my stress levels are nil. Let’s hear it for long weekends! To celebrate this rarity, Q made us waffles. The chocolate chips gave them a wee bit of extra love.
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Chicken and Apples Casserole

Posted in Poultry on November 11, 2007| 3 Comments »

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Of all the cookbooks and magazines I got to peruse while house sitting there was one that I ended up reading cover to cover. It’s called Carolyn’s Kitchen Revisited and was written by a local cook who writes for the town newspaper. You’ll be seeing a lot of her recipes here since I copied nearly half the book down. The cottage cheese dill bread and the cinnamon loaf with the jumping raisins both come from there.

I changed the recipe quite a bit since it originally lists a cup of heavy cream blended with some cider. I threw the cream part out entirely but kept a bit of the cider. Everything gives off enough liquid that the chicken gets a nice bath and is in no danger of drying out, so adding a lot of beverage isn’t necessary.

For sides, this would go great with scalloped potatotes or any other kind of starch. We ended up having leftover spinach soup.

Chicken and Apples Casserole
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 lbs. chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1 large onion, diced
2 tbsp. fresh thyme
1/2 c. apple cider

1) Cut the chicken breast in big pieces (3 inch chunks) and saute in the olive oil. 3-5 minutes per side.
2) Remove to a large casserole dish.
3) Add the onions and apples to the pan and a pinch of salt/pepper. Add more oil if it’s dry. Saute for 5-7 minutes.
4) Pour the onions and apples on top of the chicken.
5) Add the cider.
5) Sprinkle the thyme leaves (or just strip them over the dish).
6) Cover tightly with foil and bake at 375F for 50-60 minutes.

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Dutch Apple Pie

Posted in Sweets on November 10, 2007| 6 Comments »

Organic, shmorganic. I think that “green” farm lied and secretly pump half their orchards with chemicals.
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Every Saturday for a couple years I made a Dutch apple pie. The crumble topping is a nod to good old Diddy, my role model. If you have the same thing over and over again it gets old very quickly but this one took two years for the shine to wear out. We only have it now for the holidays or whenever the mood strikes.

This pie crust is a new recipe to me. I usually use the standard flour:butter:shortening in a two:three quarters:one quarter ratio. But change is good and any recipe from the Shakers makes sense to me. They knew their food and were great cooks. The rest of the pie is more along the lines of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Some of the best food I’ve ever had came from the simple farms that were from the Amish communities where I grew up. I’ve sampled some serious pro-made desserts in my day and I still prefer “plain” food. Plain meaning made entirely by scratch, by hand, and presented with no artifice.

Making a pie crust by hand isn’t hard, it just takes practice. I usually make mine in a food processor but this pie was made while house sitting and there wasn’t one available. I also couldn’t find a hand held pastry blender so this was done purely with the 2 knife method. I must say it is very comforting to get back to one’s roots. Ole Diddy would do this with a big fork and her fingernails with a lit cigarette dangling from the side of her mouth. God I love that woman.
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