Mar 20
It’s surprising to me that I’ve never made Spaghetti with meatballs before, but meatballs have always sort of intimidated me. This was all made easier when my Dad came by earlier this week with a pound of ground beef, fresh herbs from his greenhouse and bread to make meatballs. Sometimes a little push helps. Read more
In the last post, I shared a recipe for Italian Beef Drip and my love for how easy it was to make and share with a group of people. This week, I had a 4 pound chuck roast that would need to stretch over two dinners; the first dinner would be braised beef on french bread with melted cheese (very similar to the Italian Beef Drip) and the second dinner would be tacos. Given the two dinners, the seasoning for Italian Beef Drip didn’t seem right, so I threw one (darker) beer and two cups of beef broth in a dutch oven with the chuck roast, then put it in a 325 degree oven for four hours. Pretty simple, but with excellent, rich flavor.
For the tacos, we threw soft tacos in the oven (I would recommend 175 degrees, for about seven minutes), loaded up with the braised beef, diced yellow onion, green and red pepper, cheese and avocado. Delicious! So glad I have leftovers for lunch.
Feb 10
For the Superbowl, and to please a group of 6, I made Italian Drip Beef from The Pioneer Woman, whose recipes I find I can rely on with a diverse group of people (non of whom are vegetarians, granted). I made this on Saturday, and served it Sunday night…the juices seemed to have disappeared after a day in the fridge, so I added 2 cups of beef broth and a cup of water before setting the stove on simmer, which perked it right up. Disclaimer/Excuse: These pictures are terrible and do no justice to how juicy and melty these were.
Italian Drip Beef, via The Pioneer Woman
Ingredients
* 1 whole Beef Chuck Roast, 2.5 To 4 Pounds
* 1 can Beef Consomme Or Beef Broth
* 3 Tablespoons (heaping) Italian Seasoning
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* ¼ cups Water
* ½ jars (16 Oz) Pepperoncini Peppers, With Juice
* Buttered, Toasted Deli Rolls
Preparation Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a heavy pot or dutch oven. Stir lightly to combine seasoning with the liquid.
Cover and bake in a 275 degree oven* for 5 to 6 hours, or until meat is fork-tender and falling apart. **If meat is not yet tender, return to oven for 30 minute intervals till it’s tender!**
Remove from oven. With two forks, completely shred all meat, leaving no large chunks behind. Serve immediately, or keep warm over a simmer on the stove. May make the day before, then store in the refrigerator. Remove the hardened fat from the top before reheating.
Serve on buttered, toasted rolls. Top with cheese and melt under the broiler if desired. Serve with juices from the pot.
I have always put chicken tenders in the category of kid food, or something on a fast food menu board…never really a great option for an at-home meal. Well, Frank persuaded me to try it, and try it with Buffalo Sauce (I have a weakness for buffalo sauce).
Plain Chicken Tenders
Prep
1 large chicken breast halved or 6 chicken tenders to start (You want these to be thin, so they cook fast in the oil). In a shallow but large bowl, combine 1 cup of flour with salt, flour, paprika and cayenne pepper (about 1 teaspoon of each, unless you want it spicy, add more cayenne). In a separate bowl, whisk an egg. Meanwhile, in cast iron pot or pan (a dutch oven works for this too), fill with canola or peanut oil, about 3/4 inch. Bring to a hot temperature (not smoking, but hot when you hold your palm over the oil).
Make
For each piece of chicken, dredge through flour mixture, then into egg mixture, then back through the flour mixture.
Add the pieces of chicken to the hot oil and let cook for two minutes – that side should start to turn a nice golden brown. Then flip and cook another 2 minutes. Pull out of oil and set on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the oil.
Chicken Tenders with Buffalo Sauce
In a shallow but large bowl, pour in 1 cup of buffalo sauce. After you’ve let the (plain) chicken tenders cool just a bit on the paper towel, submerge each chicken tender through the buffalo sauce. If you’re going to make a sandwich out of it, place between two buns!
Blue Cheese
I will definitely be making blue cheese to go with the buffalo chicken tenders next time, and will look to this recipe from Bon Appetit:
Ingredients
8 ounces blue cheese (such as Maytag), finely crumbled (about 2 cups)
1 16-ounce container sour cream
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Preparation
Whisk blue cheese crumbles, sour cream, and parsley in medium bowl until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. DO AHEAD Dipping sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
Herbed Chicken Tenders with Marinara
For a pre-dinner snack at the next large gathering, this seems like a quick and tasty way to do it.
Jan 14
Whether you call them french fries or freedom fries, these are damn tasty. And they’ll stink up your whole house for about three days.
French Fries
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated Best New Recipes
For two people, we used 4 medium sized Russet (baking) potatoes. Peel them, slice them into long medium thick pieces, rinse in cold water (you want to get rid of the starch lingering on the potatoes) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, over medium high heat, have about an inch of peanut or canola oil in a dutch oven, and bring to 325 degrees.
In two batches, place cold fries into hot oil until just golden, and take out and place on paper towels (on a large plate or bowl); heat oil to 350 degrees.
Ten minutes after the first batch of fries were taken out, put the entire batch back in oil until golden brown, about 2 minutes.
We served ours up with a porterhouse steak, and as Frank said, “We are Americans.”
Jan 6
Happy 2011!
Cream Biscuits
Cooks Illustrated Best New Recipe Cookbook
(A note, if you don’t have the ingredients to make Buttermilk biscuits, which are superior tasting, this recipe will do)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, add 2 cups flour with 2 teaspoons sugar and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Pour 1 1/4 cup heavy cream into dry ingredients, stir/blend with a wooden spoon, and once it starts to form a thick doughy texture, remove from bowl and place on counter. Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream to the crumbs still in the bottom of the bowl to blend and what makes a thick doughy texture, remove from bowl and add to the other dough (what’s left can be disregarded). Roll out, cut into squares or circles (I use the open end of a drinking glass). Bake for 8-10 minutes.
While baking, fry up some bacon, then eggs (we poke the yolk after the egg has been in the pan for a minute). Add to the biscuit, and top with cheese!
If you’re from around these parts, you know Cafe Latte in St. Paul on Grand and you know their delicious chocolate layer cake. Well, this recipe for chocolate cake has to be quite similar to theirs – same chocolate intensity with a dense yet spongy texture. I opted to cook the full batch in a 9″ cake pan, cut it in half and do a layer of icing in the middle, then on the top and around the sides. It made a great cake for Frank’s mother’s birthday, serving a party of 16-20.
Chocolate Dump-It Cake
New York Times Cookbook, Amanda Hesser
For the Cake
2 cups of sugar
1/4 pound unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar (I didn’t have cider vinegar, so used champagne vinegar)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Icing
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups sour cream, at room temperature
1. To make the cake, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Place a baking sheet on the lowest rack to catch any drips when the cake bakes on the middle rack. Mix together the sugar, unsweetened chocolate, butter and water in a 2 to 3 quart saucepan, place over medium heat and stir occasionally until all of the ingredients are melted and blended. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir together the milk and vinegar in a small bowl (it will curdle, but that’s okay). Grease ad flour a 9 inch tube pan (I used a spring-form pan).
3. When the chocolate has cooled a bit, whisk in the milk mixture and eggs. In several additions, and without overmixing, whisk in the dry ingredients. When the mixture is smooth, add the vanilla and whisk once or twice to blend.
4. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and set on a rack (this cake has a tendency to break in half – if you have an extra set of hands, enlist him/her). Let cool completely.
5. To make the icing, melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler, then let cool to room temperature. Stir in the sour cream 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture is smooth.
6. You can ice the cake as is, or cut it in half so that you have 2 layers, and fill and ice it. There will be extra icing whether you have 1 or 2 layers.
I would call this a $10 mistake, $10 being the price of the lamb. In a moment of feeling like I needed to try a new piece of meat to cook, I picked up leg of lamb at the store, found a recipe in The New York Times cookbook, and gave it a whirl to end up with a very overdone, not browned, chewy leg of lamb. The recipe itself is good, but I opted to make a 1 pound leg of lamb versus the typical 6 or 7 pound lamb most recipes (with advice on cooking it) call for. Most likely, there is good reason to cook the leg of lamb at a higher weight versus the little piece I picked up. However, in my novice attempt to make the lamb, the potatoes turned out great, and I highly recommend following this recipe, in which you place the lamb on the potatoes for the cooking – the juices from the lamb give the potatoes a great flavor. If the occasion arises to make a smaller piece of lamb, I will cook it at a slightly higher temperature, and for only 20 minutes, then pull out and let rest for 15 while the potatoes keep cooking in the oven.
Leg of Lamb with Potato Gratin
New York Times Cookbook, Amanda Hesser
For the Gratin
4 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups whole milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Handful of minced parsley (I do not like parsley, and omitted)
6 large garlic cloves, finely minced
1 leg of lamb (about 6 or 7 pounds), at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper
For the Herb Crust
2 tablespoons finely minced thyme
2 tablespoons finely minced rosemary
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup very fine fresh bread crumbs
1. To make the gratin, bring the potatoes, salt, and milk to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally so the potatoes do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring from time to time, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Season with pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle half the garlic (and here the parsley if you keep to the recipe) into a large oval gratin dish, measuring about 16 by 10 inches. Spoon the potato and milk mixture into the dish and sprinkle with the remaining (parsley and) garlic.
3. Carefully trim the fat from the lamb. Season with salt and pepper and place the lamb on top of the potatoes. Roast, uncovered, for about 1 hour (about 8 to 10 minutes per pound). Do not turn the lamb.
4. Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the herb crust. After the lamb has roasted for about 45 minutes, sprinkle with the herb mixture. When the internal temperature, tested with an instant-read thermometer, reaches 130 degrees, remove from the oven. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.
I picked up Dorie Greenspan’s “Around My French Table” cookbook on a whim, partially to get a better hold of what french cooking is through the eyes of an accomplished cook and baker, and because I loved the way she wrote her recipes. Her introduction to a recipe often begins with where and when she first tasted the dish and always has good side notes on how to add or subtract ingredients to change up the recipe, suggestions on what to serve with it, and how to store (which I so appreciate because I am still in the dark about how to keep most perishables). Her recipe writing is the style I love, that anticipates a little fear half-way through (“Is this right?!”) and with detail that includes what the texture should be like along the way, and what to look for to keep on course.
This recipe for Gougeres is the first of the book, under “Nibbles and Hors d’oeuvres” and if you’re going to need a simple side carb for tomorrow’s holiday meal, I would recommend this one. It’s a flaky biscuit meets popover with the bite of cheese. I made the whole batch and froze what I didn’t need in a plastic bag and found that when I’m on my own for a meal, popping in a few of these for 12 minutes while soup heats (or cottage cheese is poured in a bowl), makes an easy and tasty addition.
Gougeres
Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheese, such as Gruyere or cheddar
Directions:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 425. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy bottomed medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low and immediately start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon or heavy whisk. The dough will come together and a light crust with form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring – with vigor – for another minute or two to dry the dough. The dough should now be very smooth.
Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a bowl that you can use for mixing with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon and elbow grease. Let the dough sit for a minute, then add the eggs one by one and beat, beat, beat until the dough is thick and shiny. Make sure that each egg is completely incorporated before you add the next, and don’t be concerned f the dough separates – by the time the last egg goes in, the dough will come together again. Beat in the grated cheese. Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately.
Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each gougere, drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds.
Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougeres are golden, firm and yes, puffed, another 12 to 15 minutes or so. Serve warm or transfer the pans to racks to cool.
She recommends kir, champagne or white wine as a typical beverage served alongside when in Burgundy, where this is always served at restaurants. To freeze and store, form the mounds on a baking sheets and when they are solid, lift them from the [parchment or silpat], place in airtight plastic bags, and freeze.
It was an exciting, cold, back breaking weekend in Minneapolis. In total we got hit with 17.5″ of snow in 24 hours, ranking the fourth largest snow storm in the Twin Cities’ history. In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed two of these largest snow storms – the last one was in 1991 dubbed the “Halloween Blizzard” dumping 36″ over a four day span. The snow started falling the night of Halloween and I remember it well because that was the year (I was 9), I dressed as a bunch of grapes, meaning my mom blew up two dozen purple balloons and attached them via string to a purple sweatsuit. By the time I got home, I was a bunch of raisins. The snowfall left everyone unable to leave their home unless they had cross country skis, which over this weekend, we saw again. Last Friday when the predictions came in to get 12″-20″ of snow, I ran to Target, Pet Smart and the grocery store to get ready for two full days of being house bound. While some meals were uneventful (on Saturday, Frank and I took turns every couple of hours to maintain the shoveling), I did make Russian Tea Cakes, a childhood holiday cookie favorite. But first, here are some pictures of the backyard and neighborhood to get a sense of being snowed in.
The animals, couped up with nothing to do but stare out the window.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I got up bright and early on Thursday to feed the animals and begin making side dishes: Mashed potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Cauliflower & Leek Gratin and Green Bean Casserole. The type A personality I am, added with zero awareness at 6am, made a comprehensive hour-by-hour list of what needed to mixed, mashed, stirred, whirred and forked so it would all come together by 11:30am when my family came with turkey, stuffing, and cranberries. While much teasing ensued for this list, I am really glad I thought through the process the day before to make sure I had the ingredients (yes, there was a last minute trip to Lund’s Wednesday evening), and in the morning haze I would know what needed to happen first (which was take out the butter to soften and start the oven, and yes, I needed a list to remember that). Sometimes 6am and 5 pounds of potatoes is daunting. Or really quiet and boring as this picture illustrates:
I’m really happy with both how the side dishes turned out and that I experimented a little: trying something new (Cauliflower Gratin), finally mastered a classic (Green Bean Casserole), embraced a twist to a favorite (Sweet Potatoes) and did not fuss over simplicity (Mashed Potatoes).
Green Bean Casserole, Martha Stewart
We’ve used this recipe since 2000, when Martha Stewart first published it. It makes eating green beans a joy. Side note: was really excited that one of the mushrooms for the Green Bean Casserole was in the shape of a heart, so I could post and send to Ateqah, my college friend and blogger of Hearts, Hearts, Hearts!
Cauliflower, Leek and Bacon Gratin
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, which was adapted from Ina Garten.
1 (3-pound) head cauliflower, cut into large florets
3 large leeks, cut into thin strips
2 strips of thick bacon
Kosher salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups hot milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3/4 cup freshly grated Gruyere, divided
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cook the cauliflower florets in a large pot of boiling salted water for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain. *As I cut the cauliflower, I put them right into a pot of cold water, then brought the whole thing to boil together on the stove; it took about 12 minutes total and didn’t make the cauliflower too tender this way.
Meanwhile, cook bacon until browned on both sides, set aside to cool and then cut into small strips; add to cooked/drained cauliflower. In same pan with bacon fat, add leeks and saute on medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, until firm yet tender (my take on it is that they slightly sigh at about 8 minutes – something breaks down to soften but retains a bit of shape). Set this aside to cool once cooked and then add to cauliflower/bacon pot.
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture and stir until it comes to a boil. Boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute, or until thickened. Off the heat, add 1 teaspoon of salt, the pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 cup of the Gruyere, and the Parmesan.
Pour 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of an 8 by 11 by 2-inch baking dish. Place the drained cauliflower/leek/bacon mixture on top and then spread the rest of the sauce evenly on top. Combine the bread crumbs with the remaining 1/4 cup of Gruyere and sprinkle on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over the gratin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Sweet Potatoes with Pecan & Brown Sugar topping
Followed exactly from Pioneer Woman and glad I did because it tasted like candy! Of note, I really love the way she writes recipes, with the measurement of the ingredient within the recipe – example: “Put 1 cup of flour in the pan” versus “Add flour to the pan” (which you need to go back up to the ingredients list to see how much flour). It was an awesome, though small, improvement to making this recipe go faster. Perhaps it’s how my brain works though…
Ingredients
* 4 whole Medium Sweet Potatoes
* 1 cup Sugar
* 1 cup Milk
* 2 whole Eggs
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 cup Brown Sugar
* 1 cup Pecans
* ½ cups Flour
* ¾ sticks Butter
Wash 4 medium sweet potatoes and bake them in a 375-degree oven until fork tender, about 30-35 minutes. When they are finished cooking slice them open and scrape out the flesh into a large bowl.
Add 1 cup of (regular grandulated) sugar, 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of salt. With a potato masher, mash them up just enough—you don’t want to be perfectly smooth.
Now, in a separate bowl, add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup pecans, chopped (that means measure a cup of pecans, then chop them), ½ cup flour, and ¾ stick of butter. With a pastry cutter or fork, mash together until thoroughly combined.
Spread the sweet potato mixture into a regular baking dish and sprinkle the crumb mixture all over the top.
Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Once the family showed up, we took a couple of pictures for this ole blog, and captured this one of my mom feeding Cassidy turkey on the side, putting Cass into a turkey coma later on:
And even Luda got some:
Then we plated:
And set up the buffet:
It all came together perfectly, if not a little delayed. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Nov 24
A couple of weeks ago I spotted this recipe for baked doughnuts and over the weekend found myself with extra time – which you will need – to make this recipe. Because they are baked, not fried, these are best straight out of the oven*. However, the abundance of doughnuts was too much for me to eat alone on a Sunday night, and I brought the rest to work. As they cooled and sat overnight, the fluffy doughnut-ness faded and became a combination of doughnut and bagel. While perhaps too bagel-y for my taste, the butter/cinnamon sugar topping kept it tasting delicious. Next time I make these, I’ll be sure to have plenty of eaters around the oven when they come out.
Baked Doughnuts Recipe
Source: 101 Cookbooks
Don’t over bake these, if anything, under bake them a bit – they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. You want an interior that is moist and tender – not dry. Also, be sure to cut big enough holes in the center of your doughnuts – too small and they will bake entirely shut. Remember they rise, and they rise even more when they are baking. These really need to be made-to-order, but you can make and shape the dough the night before if you want to serve them for brunch. Instructions: after shaping, place doughnuts on baking sheet, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Pull them out an hour before baking, and let rise in a warm place before baking.
1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour (alternately, white whole wheat might work – haven’t tried it yet)
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt – just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments – if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.
Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don’t have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes – start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.
Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen medium doughnuts.
*if you have people over this recipe is nice because it is easy prep, is done in stages, and is really fun to shape the doughnuts
Nov 3
I will never, ever, ever need a recipe for chocolate chip cookies other than this one. It takes chocolate chip cookies to the next level and maintains him as a contender of (my) culinary heroes.
I’m not one to shudder at 2 sticks of butter in a recipe, or even think about that much butter as I’m chain-snacking but it did alert me to some differences between the more traditional recipe and this one. For starters, you don’t use vanilla extract; you are to use two different kinds of chocolates (half 55% dark and half 75% dark), dark brown sugar, cold butter (not softened? awesome.); and you mist the dough with water if you want them softer. It’s interesting, right? Well, it works.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about thirty 3-inch cookies
2 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces 55 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
5 ounces 70 to 72 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, preferably molasses sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
Position racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
Sift flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Stir in the salt.
Put chips in a fine-mesh basket strainer and shake to remove any chocolate “dust” (small fragments).
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix in chocolate.
Remove bowl from mixer and fold dough with a spatula to be sure the chocolate is evenly incorporated. The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 5 days or frozen for 2 weeks. Freeze shaped cookies on the baking sheets until firm, then transfer to freezer containers. (Defrost frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)
Using about 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, because the dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, switching the position and rotating pans halfway through baking.
Cool cookies on the pans on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to the racks to cool completely. Repeat with second batch of cookies. (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)
Of note, I did not want to run to the store to get the two different kinds of chocolate, and handily had some milk chocolate Ghirardelli chips on hand – they worked just fine and were delicious, though I will try the recipe next time his way plus one trip to the store and I’m sure they are even more divine that way.
On Tuesday night, gale force winds took out a number of things in the midwest: power, trees, lots of leaves and at my house, a porch screen; it was literally ripped from its hinges. It was a sad turning point in the weather, because what was shaping up to be kind of a beautiful fall suddenly stopped short. It rained, the wind blew and we were cold. Tuesday we refused to let 55 degrees force us to turn on the heat, but yesterday I gave in when it was 50 degrees (in the house, at noon, with full sun) and both animals were looking at me like an evil-doer. The heat went on, and grilled cheese with tomato soup was rather perfect to warm us up. While the grilled cheese is legit, I definitely cheat with tomato soup because I don’t think I could make soup that tastes as delicious as Pacific Creamy Tomato.
Full disclosure, this is a cheater’s post. You know how to make grilled cheese and heat up store bought soup without me actually typing this. Though I’m compelled to.
Grilled Cheese
-Bread (homemade bread recipe here), sliced
-2 tablespoons melted butter
-Cheese (Frank combined American with Gouda, and I did straight Gouda)
Put the cheese between two slices of bread and coat (I use a basting brush) both sides of the bread with the melted butter. Fry in pan over medium-high heat, both sides getting about 5 minutes each.
Tomato Soup
In sauce pan, pour entire contents of Pacific Creamy Tomato soup, cook on low-med heat until boiling. We find that 12oz. feeds two.
Cream sauces, while enjoyable (to me) regardless of any season, is fitting for most palettes during fall and winter. I’m a lover of a good cheese sauce for, yes, mac and cheese, but also have a taste for alfredo. While I have typically opted to purchase Alfredo by the jar, I have found that there really is no substitute for scratch alfredo when it’s half the cost to make yourself and so much better than anything you can buy at the store. There is one drawback to the alfredo becoming part of your weekly ritual though, and that is the butter. I love butter, but I know better. This lead to me to finding an alternative cream sauce to make that has less butter but still has a good creamy consistency to make with pastas: Bechamel.
I appreciate the versatility of these three kinds of sauces, and that they freeze well, which lends itself to making big batches on the weekend when you have time, and to freezing portions. This is a great option to have in the freezer so when you only have 15 minutes to make dinner, you can throw the frozen sauce into a pan and melt while making noodles (and sauteing vegetables if you’re so inclined), for an easy dinner.
Cheese Sauce
I’m a mac and cheese girl, and when you really start to get into making mac and cheese, it can become quite expensive because you want the good cheese that will melt well, and taste divine. The upside to that is it is perfect for a dinner party since it feeds many and tastes more like dessert than dinner. It’s a memorable meal.
Martha Stewart’s Creamy Mac-and-Cheese
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics
Source: Smitten Kitchen
Serves 12
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyère or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.
2. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.
3. While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyère (or 1 cup Pecorino Romano); set the cheese sauce aside.
5. Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyère (or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano), and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes (though we needed a bit more time to get it brown, but your oven may vary). Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.
Since I had extra bread dough in the fridge, we made homemade bread (cubed when cooled) for the breadcrumbs. Of note, the cheese sauce yielded far more sauce than we needed, so froze the extra two cups into two one-cup Tupperware and froze for another meal.
Alfredo Sauce
The reason this sauce requires so few ingredients and forgives on simplicity (add to noodles and done. Or add some chicken if you are so inclined), is the butter and heavy cream. It tastes so good that you are glad the dish is simple – it’s best to let the butter do the talking.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Source: Gourmet 1974/reprinted 2001 via Epicurious
Serves 4
12 oz dried egg fettuccine
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (4 oz) plus additional for sprinkling
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Cook fettuccine in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander.
Melt 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) butter in a 2- to 3-quart flameproof gratin dish over low heat. Add cooked pasta and toss to coat, lifting strands. Add cheese, reserved cooking water, cream, remaining 3 tablespoons butter (thinly sliced), salt, and pepper and toss to combine well. Sprinkle with additional cheese and serve immediately.
Bechamel
Bechamel is french for white sauce and is not necessarily fancy, nor does it stand on its own as a cheese or alfredo sauce. This sauce is a base sauce, meant mainly for cream texture and to let the flavors in a dish stand out. Like bacon.
And half a yellow onion diced, sauteed in the bacon grease.
With corn and peas added, 1 cup each
While in another pan, you are making the bechamel:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups milk, heated
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don’t let it brown — about 2 minutes. Add the hot milk, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens. Bring it to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste, lower the heat, and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat.
Put your water onto boil, for the tagliatelle. Then cut your bacon strips into smallish bites, and remove your onion/corn/peas from the pan once cooked:
And add your mixture to the cream sauce while the tagliatelle cooks.
Drain the tagliatelle once cooked al dente reserving 1/4 cup of the water, and add to the sauce. Toss to coat and serve.
Another great option for bechamel, since it is a base sauce, is to add 1/4-1/2 cup of grated cheese (any kind you like!) and add to pasta if you don’t want to make the full Mac ‘n Cheese recipe above.
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