pictures to be added tonight
August’s Daring Cooks Challenge: Pierogis
I chose to make savory piergois: potato, cheese and bacon!
Blog-checking lines:
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
Making the dough and filling:
Russian style pierogi (makes 4 generous servings, around 30 dumplings)
Dough:
2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
About 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water
Instructions:
Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes. (I doubled this recipe so I could freeze extras).
Potato, Cheese & Bacon Filling:
4 table spoons butter (60 g) or olive oil (60 ml)
1 ½ cup instant potatoes (I know I’m lazy, but it’s much easier- you can use leftover real mashed potatoes)
3 slices of fried bacon, crumbled
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon milk
1 egg white (from medium egg)
½ cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
Instructions:
Combine all the ingredients for the filling (it’s best to use one’s hands to do that) put into the bowl, cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it. (FYI- this made at least four times as much as I needed, next time I would make 1/4th of this recipe for the pierogi dough recipe above).
Assembling the pierogis:
On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters).
picture
Cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass.
picture
Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle.
picture
Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Be careful to get as little filling on the edges as possible, they may burst if they are not totally sealed. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.
Picture
(side note: I had trouble putting a whole teaspoon in my dough circle [which were actually 2.5 inches wide], I probably put about ½ teaspoon in each. I wish I could have fit more since mine were a little flat but I had trouble sealing it all in).
Cooking the pierogis:
Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat.
picture
When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more (usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.
Picture
I chose to pan fry my pierogis after I boiled them. To do this, I put them on a rack after I took them out of the boiling water and refrigerated them for about an hour. I then heated up the cast iron skillet to medium, put 2-3 tablespoons of oil in the pan let that heat up, then placed them in a single layer and flipped them every few minutes until they were crispy enough.
We served them with tomato dipping sauce (kind of like fried raviolis).
I had an extra 25 pierogis so I placed them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Once they were frozen, I put them in a quart size bag and put them in the freezer. When I want them again I will just boil them as I did with the fresh batch, ensuring that I put them in frozen (apparently if you thaw them out they will turn into a clumpy mess).
Potato, Cheese & Bacon Pierogi Recipe:
Dough:
2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
About 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water
Instructions:
Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes. (I doubled this recipe so I could freeze extras).
Potato, Cheese & Bacon Filling:
4 table spoons butter (60 g) or olive oil (60 ml)
1 ½ cup instant potatoes (I know I’m lazy, but it’s much easier- you can use leftover real mashed potatoes)
3 slices of fried bacon, crumbled
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon milk
1 egg white (from medium egg)
½ cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
Instructions:
Combine all the ingredients for the filling (it’s best to use one’s hands to do that) put into the bowl, cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it. (FYI- this made at least four times as much as I needed, next time I would make 1/4th of this recipe for the pierogi dough recipe above).
Making the Pierogis:
1. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters).
2. Cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass.
3. Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle.
4. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.
5. Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat.
6. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more (usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.
7. Pan fry if you please (make sure they are cold first).
Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this challenge. I’ve always loved pierogis and was always too scared to try to make them. I enjoyed the process of making them, I thought it would be stressful but it wasn’t at all. They turned out really well and I am glad I learned to make something new!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Daring Cooks July Challenge: Nut Butters
pictures to be added tonight
July’s Daring Cooks Challenge: Nut Butters
Blog-checking lines:
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.
For this month’s Daring Cooks Challenge I chose to make the Chicken with Pecan Cream & Mushrooms recipe.
Ingredients:
Pecan Cream:
3/4 cup (180 ml) coarsely chopped pecans*, toasted
1 cup (240 ml) water
¾ teaspoon (3 ml) salt, more as needed
½ pound (225 g) egg noodles or pasta
4 (6-ounce / 170 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed
Salt & pepper to taste
Sauce:
1 tablespoon (15 ml) deglazing liquid (water, broth, wine; optional)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed
1/4 cup (60 ml) finely chopped shallots
½ pound (225 g) mushrooms, sliced
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) fresh thyme leaves
Chopped pecans, (optional garnish)
Directions:
To begin I made the Pecan Cream. To do this, I ground the pecans in my mini food processor until smooth and added 1 cup of water and ¾ teaspoon of salt.
Picture
I then pounded out the chicken to about ¼ inch. I sprinkled with salt and pepper and sautéed them until cooked through. I did have to cook the chicken in 2 batches so as not to crowd the pan. I then let it rest on the counter in order to let the juices re-distribute.
Picture
While the chicken was cooking, I cooked the egg noodles in boiling salted water. I coated them with oil after I drained them in order to keep them from sticking.
Next, I added about ¼ cup chicken stock to deglaze the hot pan. I let that cook off a bit then added the red onion (I used that instead of shallots) and mushrooms. Once the mushrooms had browned and right before the mushrooms started to release liquid, I added dried thyme and the Pecan Cream. Once it came up to a boil, I reduced the heat and simmered it for about 5 minutes (in order to allow it to reduce down a bit).
Picture
While the Pecan Cream sauce was reducing, I sliced the chicken into thin chunks.
Picture
To serve the dish I placed some egg noodles in a shallow bowl, added some mushroom Pecan Sauce and placed chicken on top. We also shredded some parmesan cheese on top.
In addition to the Chicken with Pecan Cream & Mushrooms, I also made homemade breadsticks (I found a Pizza Hut recipe online!) and a side salad.
Final thoughts: I didn’t care for this recipe or the homemade Pecan Cream. I’m not much of a nuts in my food person (I prefer to snack on them) and I didn’t feel great after eating this (I think it was partially a mental thing). Considering this, I don’t think I would make it again but I would like to try and make homemade almond butter!
July’s Daring Cooks Challenge: Nut Butters
Blog-checking lines:
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.
For this month’s Daring Cooks Challenge I chose to make the Chicken with Pecan Cream & Mushrooms recipe.
Ingredients:
Pecan Cream:
3/4 cup (180 ml) coarsely chopped pecans*, toasted
1 cup (240 ml) water
¾ teaspoon (3 ml) salt, more as needed
½ pound (225 g) egg noodles or pasta
4 (6-ounce / 170 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed
Salt & pepper to taste
Sauce:
1 tablespoon (15 ml) deglazing liquid (water, broth, wine; optional)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed
1/4 cup (60 ml) finely chopped shallots
½ pound (225 g) mushrooms, sliced
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) fresh thyme leaves
Chopped pecans, (optional garnish)
Directions:
To begin I made the Pecan Cream. To do this, I ground the pecans in my mini food processor until smooth and added 1 cup of water and ¾ teaspoon of salt.
Picture
I then pounded out the chicken to about ¼ inch. I sprinkled with salt and pepper and sautéed them until cooked through. I did have to cook the chicken in 2 batches so as not to crowd the pan. I then let it rest on the counter in order to let the juices re-distribute.
Picture
While the chicken was cooking, I cooked the egg noodles in boiling salted water. I coated them with oil after I drained them in order to keep them from sticking.
Next, I added about ¼ cup chicken stock to deglaze the hot pan. I let that cook off a bit then added the red onion (I used that instead of shallots) and mushrooms. Once the mushrooms had browned and right before the mushrooms started to release liquid, I added dried thyme and the Pecan Cream. Once it came up to a boil, I reduced the heat and simmered it for about 5 minutes (in order to allow it to reduce down a bit).
Picture
While the Pecan Cream sauce was reducing, I sliced the chicken into thin chunks.
Picture
To serve the dish I placed some egg noodles in a shallow bowl, added some mushroom Pecan Sauce and placed chicken on top. We also shredded some parmesan cheese on top.
In addition to the Chicken with Pecan Cream & Mushrooms, I also made homemade breadsticks (I found a Pizza Hut recipe online!) and a side salad.
Final thoughts: I didn’t care for this recipe or the homemade Pecan Cream. I’m not much of a nuts in my food person (I prefer to snack on them) and I didn’t feel great after eating this (I think it was partially a mental thing). Considering this, I don’t think I would make it again but I would like to try and make homemade almond butter!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Daring Cooks May Challenge: Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas
May’s Daring Cooks Challenge: Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas
Blog-checking lines: Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.
Ingredients-
1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) 24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. Other green chiles (NOT bell peppers) could probably be substituted but be conscious of heat and size!)
7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)212 grams - peel, remove stems
4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)
1 clove Garlic, minced
½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)
¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)
Hot sauce, your favorite, optional
2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)
3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)
Kosher salt and pepper
12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm). (you can also use wheat tortillas or other wraps)
6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams (other cheeses (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses) can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling)
Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional
Directions:
To begin, I coated the Anaheim chilies with oil and grilled them to roast them. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about what I was doing (or the fact that the chilies could get too black) and I completely burned 5 of the 8 chilies I had.
It may be a good thing though as the chilies were a little too spicy for me and the sauce turned out great with just the 3 chilies that survived. I followed the instructions listed below exactly.
Roasting Fresh Chiles
(courtesy of Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food)
1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.
2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.
3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.
4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.
5. DO NOT RINSE!
Once the chiles were charred and steaming (so I could remove the skin), I moved onto the rest of the sauce. Instead of boiling the tomatillos, I just grilled them whole until they became soft and a bit charred.
Then, I combined everything as instructed below and let the sauce cook for 30 minutes. I didn’t add the cornstarch/water mixture as I planned to reheat the sauce before using it (I have noticed that when I add a cornstarch/water mixture and reheat the sauce that it usually has a jello consistency which I don’t like) and I didn’t think it needed to be thickened much. Below are the instructions for making the Green Chile Sauce.
Green Chile Sauce
(courtesy of Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food)
1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.
2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.
3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.
6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.
I let the Green Chile Sauce sit overnight to allow the flavors to come together. I simply reheated the sauce on the stove and added salt and pepper and then I was ready to assemble the Staked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas!
I followed the recipe below exactly except that I cooked the stacks in my cast iron skillet (I was afraid to put a ceramic dish into the oven at that high of a temperature). I think I could have improved the texture by allowing the tortillas to become crispier (especially when we ate leftovers, the corn tortillas were pretty soggy by then). The recipe is below…
Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas
(courtesy of Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food)
1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.
3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.
4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.
5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).
6. Drain on paper towels.
7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.
8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.
9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.
10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.
12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.
13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.
14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.
Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this challenge. This is definitely a dish that appeals to me (I really like Mexican food) and I enjoyed making the sauce homemade. I tried to make a tomatillo salsa once before but it didn’t turn out nearly as good. I will definitely make this again!
Blog-checking lines: Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.
Ingredients-
1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) 24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. Other green chiles (NOT bell peppers) could probably be substituted but be conscious of heat and size!)
7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)212 grams - peel, remove stems
4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)
1 clove Garlic, minced
½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)
¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)
Hot sauce, your favorite, optional
2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)
3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)
Kosher salt and pepper
12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm). (you can also use wheat tortillas or other wraps)
6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams (other cheeses (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses) can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling)
Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional
Directions:
To begin, I coated the Anaheim chilies with oil and grilled them to roast them. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about what I was doing (or the fact that the chilies could get too black) and I completely burned 5 of the 8 chilies I had.
It may be a good thing though as the chilies were a little too spicy for me and the sauce turned out great with just the 3 chilies that survived. I followed the instructions listed below exactly.
Roasting Fresh Chiles
(courtesy of Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food)
1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.
2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.
3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.
4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.
5. DO NOT RINSE!
Once the chiles were charred and steaming (so I could remove the skin), I moved onto the rest of the sauce. Instead of boiling the tomatillos, I just grilled them whole until they became soft and a bit charred.
Then, I combined everything as instructed below and let the sauce cook for 30 minutes. I didn’t add the cornstarch/water mixture as I planned to reheat the sauce before using it (I have noticed that when I add a cornstarch/water mixture and reheat the sauce that it usually has a jello consistency which I don’t like) and I didn’t think it needed to be thickened much. Below are the instructions for making the Green Chile Sauce.
Green Chile Sauce
(courtesy of Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food)
1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.
2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.
3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.
6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.
I let the Green Chile Sauce sit overnight to allow the flavors to come together. I simply reheated the sauce on the stove and added salt and pepper and then I was ready to assemble the Staked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas!
I followed the recipe below exactly except that I cooked the stacks in my cast iron skillet (I was afraid to put a ceramic dish into the oven at that high of a temperature). I think I could have improved the texture by allowing the tortillas to become crispier (especially when we ate leftovers, the corn tortillas were pretty soggy by then). The recipe is below…
Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas
(courtesy of Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food)
1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.
3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.
4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.
5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).
6. Drain on paper towels.
7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.
8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.
9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.
10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.
12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.
13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.
14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.
Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this challenge. This is definitely a dish that appeals to me (I really like Mexican food) and I enjoyed making the sauce homemade. I tried to make a tomatillo salsa once before but it didn’t turn out nearly as good. I will definitely make this again!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Daring Cooks April Challenge: Brunswick Stew
April's Daring Cooks Challenge: Brunswick Stew
Blog Checking Lines- The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.
Blog Checking Lines- The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.
Ingredients-
Recipe One, the Long Way-
From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee
Serves about 12
1/4 lb / 113.88 grams / 4 oz slab bacon, rough diced
2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened
1lb / 455.52 grams / 16oz rabbit, quartered, skinned
1 4-5lb / 1822.08- 2277.6 grams / 64-80oz chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / ½ oz sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste
2-3 quarts / 8-12 cups / 64.607-96.9oz Sunday Chicken Broth (recipe below)
2 Bay leaves
2 large celery stalks
2lbs / 911.04 grams / 32oz Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced
1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped
3 ½ / 804.72 grams / 28.266oz cups onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped
2 cups / 459.84 grams / 16.152oz fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears)
3 cups / 689.76 grams / 24.228oz butterbeans, preferably fresh (1 ¼ lbs) or defrosted frozen
1 35oz can / 996.45 grams / 4 cups whole, peeled tomatoes, drained
¼ cup / 57.48 grams / 2.019 oz red wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Tabasco sauce to taste
Recipe 1-
1-In the largest stockpot you have, which is hopefully larger than the 5 qt ones I have, preferably a 10-12 qt or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.
2- Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside.
3- Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the4 pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.
4- With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard.5 After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.
5- Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up, be careful not to pull a me, and squirt juice straight up into the air, requiring cleaning of the entire stove. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.
6 You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.
Recipe One, the Long Way-
From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee
Serves about 12
1/4 lb / 113.88 grams / 4 oz slab bacon, rough diced
2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened
1lb / 455.52 grams / 16oz rabbit, quartered, skinned
1 4-5lb / 1822.08- 2277.6 grams / 64-80oz chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / ½ oz sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste
2-3 quarts / 8-12 cups / 64.607-96.9oz Sunday Chicken Broth (recipe below)
2 Bay leaves
2 large celery stalks
2lbs / 911.04 grams / 32oz Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced
1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped
3 ½ / 804.72 grams / 28.266oz cups onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped
2 cups / 459.84 grams / 16.152oz fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears)
3 cups / 689.76 grams / 24.228oz butterbeans, preferably fresh (1 ¼ lbs) or defrosted frozen
1 35oz can / 996.45 grams / 4 cups whole, peeled tomatoes, drained
¼ cup / 57.48 grams / 2.019 oz red wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Tabasco sauce to taste
Recipe 1-
1-In the largest stockpot you have, which is hopefully larger than the 5 qt ones I have, preferably a 10-12 qt or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.
2- Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside.
3- Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the4 pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.
4- With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard.5 After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.
5- Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up, be careful not to pull a me, and squirt juice straight up into the air, requiring cleaning of the entire stove. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.
6 You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.
I made the first version, which pretty much took all day (my thought was that if I was investing this much time and ingredients [and I didn’t think I would make this again] then I wanted to make the long version and have it come out as good as possible). I also cut this recipe in half as the original recipe feeds 12.
Substitutions/Variations: I used boneless pork shoulder in place of rabbit. I didn’t use potatoes at all (because I don’t care for them). I used canned butterbeans. I used pizza sauce in place of canned tomatoes.
To begin, I cut a 2.5 lb. pork shoulder and 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes. I also chopped up all of the vegetables and then the bacon. 
I began by frying the bacon (which is the best way to begin a recipe). Once the bacon was crispy, I removed it and drained out the fat. I used 3 dried Thai chilies, which I toasted for about a minute (I wondered if this would do anything really as these chilies never seem that hot to me, but they definitely turned black and added some heat).
Next, I salted and peppered the meat and began by searing the pork pieces on all sides to get some nice browning on them.
Next, I browned the chicken pieces.
Next, I browned the chicken pieces.
Once the browning process was complete, I added a can of chicken stock to deglaze the pan. The recipe mentioned that the broth would be a deep, rich color and that was definitely the case. My broth turned black (pretty much) and had the faintest burnt smell (which I was concerned about because there was so much brown/black stuff on the bottom on the pot) but I followed the recipe. My instincts told me to drain out some of the stock and dilute it, which I would probably do next time.
Once the stock reduced by half I added 2 more cans of stock (6 cups, I later added 2 more cups for a total of 8), 2 bay leaves, 2 stalks of celery (chopped), the chicken pieces, the pork pieces, bacon and the chilies (I skipped the potatoes and I can’t stand potatoes, especially how these would come out). I let this simmer for an hour a half before transferring it to a crockpot to cook while I went out (for a total of another hour and a half).
Once I returned home, I transferred this back onto the stove and added the carrots. I skipped the steps of taking the meat out and shredding it since I used boneless meat (later on I shredded it in the pot while it was still cooking with two forks) and I’m glad I did as the meat would have been shredded mush (it basically was by the end of all that stirring).
Next (almost done!), I added the onion, canned butterbeans, corn and some pizza sauce (I didn’t have any canned tomatoes). I let that simmer for at least 30 more minutes. Then I added in the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, pepper and a little bit of salt. I also made cornbread and some rice to go with this.
I was impressed (and a little surprised) with how good it tasted and the meat was incredibly tender but I still think I should have diluted the chicken stock I used to deglaze the pan initially. I could still taste it a bit and it bothered me.
I am glad I didn’t let it sit overnight before eating it as I thought it didn’t taste nearly as good the next day.
Things I would do differently next time:
· Next time I would not add the bacon back in with everything else because by the end, it was mushy. I would have much rather saved it and added it on top for a salty crunch.· I would not salt the meat before searing it. I found this to be very salty (could be because I used canned chicken stock, but I used reduced salt) and it only got better after I added water, vinegar and lemon.
· I would dilute the stock if it turned a black color because that flavor never totally went away.
· I would not shred the meat until the very end. I waited to shred it until it was very tender but by the time I was done stirring it, the meat has shredded too finely and there weren’t any chunks of it to eat (which was disappointing because it was so flavorful).
· I would not add the celery so early, I would add it with the carrots. By the time the carrots went into this stew, it had cooked for 3+ hours so the celery was basically falling apart.
Daring Cooks March Challenge: Risotto
Whoops- I thought I posted this last month (this was March’s challenge).
March's Daring Cooks Challenge: Risotto
March's Daring Cooks Challenge: Risotto
Blog-checking lines: The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.
I have made risotto several times so I was actually disappointed to see this as the challenge. I look forward to the Daring Cooks challenges because they typically require me to make something I have never made before.
Here is the recipe:
Here is the recipe:
Risotto Base
Ingredients:
olive oil 2 fluid oz 60 ml
1 small onion, quatered
rice 14 oz 400g
Any type of risotto rice will do. I use Arborio but the recipe itself says Vialone Nano. Another to look for is Carnaroli.
white wine 2 fl oz 60 ml
chicken or vegetable stock , simmering 2 pints 1 L
Directions:
- Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard. (We diced ours and left it in as we like onion).
- Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
- Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
- Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don't actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
- Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step. .
- Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.
- Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.
I decided to add sliced mushrooms and roasted asparagus.
-To cook the mushrooms you heat a pan (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat and once the pan is hot, add a combination of butter and oil (the butter is important, it adds a really good flavor). When the butter/oil stops foaming, add the mushrooms. Don’t overcrowd the pan and also don’t move them around in the beginning. Wait until they have a nice brown color on them, then move them around/flip them over. Most importantly- take them out before they begin to release liquid. If you wait until they release liquid you won’t be able to taste the browning and sometimes they get mushy.
-To cook the asparagus, I just cleaned it and cut it up into 1 inch pieces. I then tossed the pieces in olive oil and placed them on a cookie sheet (and sprinkled them with salt and pepper). I roasted them at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
-To cook the asparagus, I just cleaned it and cut it up into 1 inch pieces. I then tossed the pieces in olive oil and placed them on a cookie sheet (and sprinkled them with salt and pepper). I roasted them at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
Substitutions: I used homemade stock from the freezer that I made last time I made a chicken in the crockpot. I also used rice from the sushi challenge (the bag says it can be used to make risotto- it’s quite the same but it was a decent substitution). I also didn’t use wine since I didn’t have any, I just used extra chicken stock.
To begin, I sautéed the diced onion (and I left it in the risotto). I then added the rice and toasted it for a few minutes.
Next, I added about ½ cup chicken stock to begin the process. Once that mostly evaporated, I added two scoopfuls (about 3/4- 1.25 cups) chicken stock as necessary until it was mostly done (meaning mostly starchy and the rice was almost cooked).
While the risotto was coming together I sautéed/roasted some vegetables in a separate pan to add to the risotto towards at the end (see above for how to prepare the vegetables).
Once the risotto was mostly done, I added in the sautéed vegetables to let the flavors come together and to cook the vegetables a little more.
Once the risotto was done cooking, I finished it off by adding in a tablespoon of butter and a ¼ cup of shredded parmesan cheese. I also added pepper.
To serve, I scooped some risotto on a plate and parmesan on top!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Daring Cooks February Challenge: Mezze
February's Daring Cooks Challenge: Mezze
Blog checking lines: The 2010 February Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.
This month's Daring Cooks challenge is Mezze, which is basically a Middle Eastern take on Spanish tapas. The two required steps were to make homemade pita bread and homemade hummus.
Hummus – Recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden (courtesy of Michele from Veggie Num Nums)
Prep Time: Hummus can be made in about 15 minutes once the beans are cooked. If you’re using dried beans you need to soak them overnight and then cook them the next day which takes about 90 minutes.
1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight (or substitute well drained canned chickpeas and omit the cooking) (10 ounces/301 grams)
2-2.5 lemons, juiced (3 ounces/89ml)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
a big pinch of salt
4 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste) OR use peanut butter or any other nut butter—feel free to experiment) (1.5 ounces/45 grams)
additional flavorings (optional) I would use about 1/3 cup or a few ounces to start, and add more to taste
Directions:
1. Drain and boil the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for about 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Puree the beans in a food processor (or you can use a potato masher) adding the cooking water as needed until you have a smooth paste.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
Next, I moved onto making the Pita Bread.
The recipe began by making a sponge (then letting it rest), then adding the rest of the ingredients, kneading, and then a final rest. Also, I used a combination of whole wheat flour and white flour (I believe I used half and half). The recipe follows:
Pita Bread – Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
(courtesy of Michele from Veggie Num Nums)
Prep time: 20 minutes to make, 90 minutes to rise and about 45 minutes to cook
2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces/12.1 grams)
2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces/591 grams)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (may use a combination of 50% whole wheat and 50% all-purpose, or a combination of alternative flours for gluten free pita) (17.5 -21 ounces/497-596 grams)
1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces/15 grams)
2 tablespoons olive oil (.95 ounces/29 ml)
Directions:
1. In a large bread bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time, and then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to activate the gluten. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes, or as long as 2 hours.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Rinse out the bowl, dry, and lightly oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours.
3. Place a pizza stone, or two small baking sheets, on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1-inch gap all around between the stone or sheets and the oven walls to allow heat to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450F (230C).
4. Gently punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half, and then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide the other half into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick. Keep the rolled-out breads covered until ready to bake, but do not stack.
5. Place 2 breads, or more if your oven is large enough, on the stone or baking sheets, and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, or until each bread has gone into a full balloon. If for some reason your bread doesn't puff up, don't worry it should still taste delicious. Wrap the baked breads together in a large kitchen towel to keep them warm and soft while you bake the remaining rolled-out breads. Then repeat with the rest of the dough.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
(recipe courtesy of halfassedkitchen from Tasty Kitchen)
½ cups Onion, Chopped
¾ jars Heinz Chili Sauce
⅓ cups Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch, Whisked Into 1/2 Cup Water
Ground Black Pepper
2-½ Tablespoons Rice Vinegar Or Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
If these are too zingy and not sweet enough for you, try adding a little pineapple juice or ketchup to the sauce.
Changes I made: I didn't have Heinz Chili Sauce so I used that Spicy Orange Asian Sauce and some ketchup. I heated all of the ingredients up in a seperate sauce pan and added it to the meat once it was cooked.
__________________________________________________________________________________
We also served walnuts and olives in addition to the pita bread, hummus and sweet and sour turkey
Blog checking lines: The 2010 February Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.
This month's Daring Cooks challenge is Mezze, which is basically a Middle Eastern take on Spanish tapas. The two required steps were to make homemade pita bread and homemade hummus.
The finished Mezze meal: Homemade Hummus, Homemade Pita Bread, Sweet and Sour Turkey, and Walnuts [missing: Olives].
First, I made the homemade Hummus. I honestly didn't care for it very much, I'm not sure what was off about it but I have definitely had better. It was a combination of texture and taste that turned me off.
The recipe follows:
Prep Time: Hummus can be made in about 15 minutes once the beans are cooked. If you’re using dried beans you need to soak them overnight and then cook them the next day which takes about 90 minutes.
1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight (or substitute well drained canned chickpeas and omit the cooking) (10 ounces/301 grams)
2-2.5 lemons, juiced (3 ounces/89ml)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
a big pinch of salt
4 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste) OR use peanut butter or any other nut butter—feel free to experiment) (1.5 ounces/45 grams)
additional flavorings (optional) I would use about 1/3 cup or a few ounces to start, and add more to taste
Directions:
1. Drain and boil the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for about 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Puree the beans in a food processor (or you can use a potato masher) adding the cooking water as needed until you have a smooth paste.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
_________________________________________________________________________________
(The homemade pita bread)
The pita bread turned out great! It wasn't really that difficult of a bread recipe (as in it didn't require 12 hours of resting). The pita bread was really good, much better than store bought pita bread. I would definitely make this recipe again.
(courtesy of Michele from Veggie Num Nums)
Prep time: 20 minutes to make, 90 minutes to rise and about 45 minutes to cook
2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces/12.1 grams)
2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces/591 grams)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (may use a combination of 50% whole wheat and 50% all-purpose, or a combination of alternative flours for gluten free pita) (17.5 -21 ounces/497-596 grams)
1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces/15 grams)
2 tablespoons olive oil (.95 ounces/29 ml)
Directions:
1. In a large bread bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time, and then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to activate the gluten. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes, or as long as 2 hours.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Rinse out the bowl, dry, and lightly oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours.
3. Place a pizza stone, or two small baking sheets, on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1-inch gap all around between the stone or sheets and the oven walls to allow heat to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450F (230C).
4. Gently punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half, and then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide the other half into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick. Keep the rolled-out breads covered until ready to bake, but do not stack.
5. Place 2 breads, or more if your oven is large enough, on the stone or baking sheets, and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, or until each bread has gone into a full balloon. If for some reason your bread doesn't puff up, don't worry it should still taste delicious. Wrap the baked breads together in a large kitchen towel to keep them warm and soft while you bake the remaining rolled-out breads. Then repeat with the rest of the dough.
__________________________________________________________________________________
In addition to the hummus and pita bread, I also made a sweet and sour (kind-of) taco meat to add protein to the meal. To do this I just browned 1 lb. of ground turkey and then added in a sweet and sour recipe (which is supposed to be used with meatballs).
The recipe follows:
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
(recipe courtesy of halfassedkitchen from Tasty Kitchen)
Ingredients
1 pound Frozen, Pre-made Meatballs½ cups Onion, Chopped
¾ jars Heinz Chili Sauce
⅓ cups Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch, Whisked Into 1/2 Cup Water
Ground Black Pepper
2-½ Tablespoons Rice Vinegar Or Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
Preparation Instructions
Mix all ingredients and let simmer over medium-low heat until onions are soft and meatballs are cooked through.If these are too zingy and not sweet enough for you, try adding a little pineapple juice or ketchup to the sauce.
Changes I made: I didn't have Heinz Chili Sauce so I used that Spicy Orange Asian Sauce and some ketchup. I heated all of the ingredients up in a seperate sauce pan and added it to the meat once it was cooked.
__________________________________________________________________________________
We also served walnuts and olives in addition to the pita bread, hummus and sweet and sour turkey
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Daring Cooks January Challenge: Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce
January's Daring Cooks Challenge: Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce
This month's Daring Cooks challenge was Satay, with any meat, vegetable or sauce variations. The one required step was to marinate the meat and/or vegetables, which I did using the mentioned marinade.
To begin, I made the marinade and then cut the pork chops into 1 inch strips and placed it in the marinade (recipe follows).
Satay Marinade (courtesy of Cuppy at http://recipes.cuppylicious.net/)
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional)
2 T lemon juice
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts)
Directions:
1. Chop onions, garlic and ginger really fine (I chose to grate them) then add other ingredients and mix together in a medium to large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3. Cover pork with marinade. Marinate for 4-24 hours.
______________________________________________________________________________
After taking care of the pork and marinade, I moved onto the sauces. I planned to make both the Peanut Sauce and the Pepper Dip. Even though I am not a huge fan of Peanut Sauces (or coconuts), I still wanted to give it a try. I mixed all the ingredients for the Peanut Sauce but when I opened the can of coconut milk, I couldn't proceed. The texture/look of the coconut milk was not to my liking (to say the least) so I nixed the Peanut Sauce and just made the Pepper Dip, which was nice and spicy.
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp brown sugar
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)
Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.
Here is the Peanut Sauce recipe (if you are so inclined):
4 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat combine coconut milk, peanut butter and soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. You are just looking to melt the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.
__________________________________________________________________________________
After marinating the pork for 5 hours or so, I put the skewers in water to soak and started preparing the grill. I allowed 30 minutes for the skewers to soak and as you can see, it clearly was not enough (...at least I will know for next time).
I brushed some more of the marinade on the pork before I flipped them, which was recommended for grilling. Besides some of the skewers burning off, the grilling part was uneventful.
This is what they looked like right off the grill:
I would definitely recommend this variation of Pork Satay, the recipe was easy and very flavorful. This was a tasty and quick for a weeknight meal!
This month's Daring Cooks challenge was Satay, with any meat, vegetable or sauce variations. The one required step was to marinate the meat and/or vegetables, which I did using the mentioned marinade.
(The finished product: Pork Satay with Pepper Dip)
I chose to use pork chops because that is what we had in the freezer.To begin, I made the marinade and then cut the pork chops into 1 inch strips and placed it in the marinade (recipe follows).
Satay Marinade (courtesy of Cuppy at http://recipes.cuppylicious.net/)
1/2 small onion, chopped2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional)
2 T lemon juice
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts)
Directions:
1. Chop onions, garlic and ginger really fine (I chose to grate them) then add other ingredients and mix together in a medium to large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3. Cover pork with marinade. Marinate for 4-24 hours.
______________________________________________________________________________
After taking care of the pork and marinade, I moved onto the sauces. I planned to make both the Peanut Sauce and the Pepper Dip. Even though I am not a huge fan of Peanut Sauces (or coconuts), I still wanted to give it a try. I mixed all the ingredients for the Peanut Sauce but when I opened the can of coconut milk, I couldn't proceed. The texture/look of the coconut milk was not to my liking (to say the least) so I nixed the Peanut Sauce and just made the Pepper Dip, which was nice and spicy.
Pepper Dip (courtesy of Cuppy at http://recipes.cuppylicious.net/)
4 Tbsp soy sauce1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp brown sugar
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)
Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.
Here is the Peanut Sauce recipe (if you are so inclined):
Peanut Sauce (courtesy of Cuppy at http://recipes.cuppylicious.net/)
3/4 cup coconut milk4 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat combine coconut milk, peanut butter and soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. You are just looking to melt the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.
__________________________________________________________________________________
After marinating the pork for 5 hours or so, I put the skewers in water to soak and started preparing the grill. I allowed 30 minutes for the skewers to soak and as you can see, it clearly was not enough (...at least I will know for next time).
(Notice the singed/burned skewers)
I brushed some more of the marinade on the pork before I flipped them, which was recommended for grilling. Besides some of the skewers burning off, the grilling part was uneventful.
This is what they looked like right off the grill:
To complete the meal, we served the Pork Satay and the Pepper Dip with Basmati Rice, shredded Carrot and Beet salad with Ginger Sesame Dressing and Garlic Bread (which was perhaps a little much as I couldn't finish mine).
(Not pictured: Pepper Dip)
I would definitely recommend this variation of Pork Satay, the recipe was easy and very flavorful. This was a tasty and quick for a weeknight meal!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
