Thursday, March 10, 2011

Cherry Tomato Corn Salad



Recipe from Taste of Home Test Kitchen via AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup chopped seeded peeled cucumber

Directions:
In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the basil, oil, lime juice, sugar, salt and pepper; shake well. In a large bowl, combine the corn, tomatoes and cucumber. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving

Parmesan Crisps


Giada De LaurentiisRecipe Courtesy Giada De Laurentiis 
Food Network: Everyday Italian
Episode: Weekend Lunch

Ingredients
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Pour a heaping tablespoon of Parmesan onto a silicone or parchment lined baking sheet and lightly pat down. A silicone baking sheet is highly recommended. Repeat with the remaining cheese, spacing the spoonfuls about a 1/2 inch apart.
Bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden and crisp. Cool.

Whole Wheat Pita Pockets


 Per 1(whole) Pita: 200 cal/1g fat/6g fiber 
1(whole) pita=
                    3 WW points
1/2 pita= 1 WW point   
Ingredients:
1 pkg. dry yeast (2¼ tsp.)
1 c. warm water
pinch sugar
3c. whole wheat flour
½ tsp. salt


Directions:
1. Take a package of dry yeast and dissolve it in one cup of warm water until creamy, 5 - 10 minutes. You can add a little sugar or sucanat (a teaspoon or less) if you like, but as pita is often served with more savory accompaniments, don't use too much. Mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour and a half teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour in the yeast/water mixture. Stir till combined, and add flour if too moist or warm water if too shaggy. You are looking to form a stiff dough. 
2. Knead the dough in your mixer or on a floured surface till the dough is elastic and smooth, about ten minutes. Place some oil in the bottom of a bowl, and put the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a moist towel. Let it rise in a warm area until doubled in size.
3. Deflate the dough and divide into six balls on a floured surface. Cover each ball with plastic wrap or a moist towel and allow the dough balls to rest for 15 minutes. While the dough is resting, crank your oven up to 475 degrees, and heat up one or two cookie sheets (a large rectangular cookie sheet should hold three pitas, so use two if your oven can fit them). Place the cookie sheets upside down on the bottom rack of the oven, atop a baking stone if you have one. The cookie sheets need to be very hot when you put the dough on them.
4. Using your hand or a roller, gently roll the dough into six inch circles on a floured surface. Be easy with the dough-- any tears or creases or stretched areas will upset the pita form. Put the circles on your piping hot cookie sheet and pop them in the oven for five or six minutes till they look like they're about to explode. 
5. Remove the pitas from the oven and lay them on a terry cloth towel, one stacked upon the next, covering with another towel to keep them soft as they cool. Once they're cool, you can keep them at room temperature for about a week or more depending on conditions, or freeze them for up to six months. Pita stores very well, but they don't last long when we make them! They can be warmed again before serving if desired.


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

March 2011 Daring Baker's Challenge: Mets la main à la pâte

The March 2011 Daring Baker's Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria's Collection and Jamie of Life's A Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.
Jamie found this recipe of a piece of yellowed paper in her dad's collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970's, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and it was brilliant!

I chose Jamie's version. Here are my results. The coffee cake turned out beautifully and the only thing I would recommend is warming back up before serving. The chocolate chips tend to set back up and you loose that ooey gooeyness :) After making this, I will definitely keep the recipe and experiment with different fillings. I am excited to see what next month's challenge will bring. It will supposedly be a collaboration between the Daring Bakers and the Daring cooks... interesting!

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE

Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:
4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:
1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions
Prepare the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Ria’s version: add the 10 saffron threads to the warmed liquid and allow to steep off of the heat for 10 minutes. This will give the mixture a distinct aroma and flavor and a yellowish-orange hue.
With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.
      Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.
      Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
        In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:
Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.
      Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).
      Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.
Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.
     Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.
     Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.
     Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
     Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.
     Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.
     Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sourdough Waffles



Ingredients
1/2 c. sourdough starter
2 c. milk
2 c. flour
2 eggs
Dash of sugar
1/3 c. oil
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions
Mix sourdough starter, milk, and flour in the evening and store overnight in a warm place. In the a.m., take out 1/2 cup starter for next time. (Starter stores indefinitely in refrigerator.) Mix all other ingredients and cook on hot greased griddle.

Sourdough Starter

Started my Sourdough Starter.. smells 'pleasantly sour' just as it should. The possibilites with sourdough starter are endless!
Ingredients

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour

Things I've used my starter for:

Pork Chops with Stuffing

 Mom's Recipe

Pork Chops with Stuffing

Ingredients:
6 (1/2-inch thick) pork chops
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3 cups cubed day-old bread (mom used the SanFrancisco Sourdough I had made a few days earlier, and also wild rice that had been cooked in beef broth)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup chopped celery  (omitted)
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
1.In a large skillet, brown pork chops in oil. Place in an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in.* baking pan. Combine bread cubes, soup, celery, onion, garlic, egg, poultry seasoning and pepper; spread over pork chops. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven for 5 minutes or until melted.

*My Dad has this great Mineral Pan (purchased at Williams Sonoma) that goes straight from the stovetop to the oven.



Saturday, March 5, 2011

I want to learn about: Cuts of Meat


Whenever I go to the meat counter, I find myself overwhelmed with choices. I hate to ask the butcher to walk me through what I am looking at. I'd like to just walk up and know exactly what it is that I'm looking for. Just last night, I went downstairs to the deep freezer to get some steaks to fill with a mushroom stuffing. I had to open 4 and re-wrap/tape them because it wasn't what I wanted! I find cooking meat challenging right now. Really, it's simple once you get a few techniques and knowledge down, but I definitely need practice. Which is which? What part of the beef does this cut come from? What is the best way to cook it? The first thing I want to learn is the cut of beef and what it actually looks like. Then I will move on to ways to cook it. I have found the following website useful in determining the actual cuts.

Guides to Meat Cuts