Posts from the ‘Features, Articles and Recipes’ Category

Nov 26

Potato Dinner Rolls

Just out of the oven

Who wouldn’t want a soft, warm flavorful dinner roll with their Thanksgiving meal.I started making this recipe several years ago and it has become a staple on the Thanksgiving table. It’s a really simple recipe and is pretty much foolproof. Adding potatoes to a bread recipe is like magic, it results in a lovely soft texture. I make these the day of, the rise times are pretty long which works well for me since I am doing so many other things, first rise is 90 minutes and the second is about 2 hours. The recipe makes approximately 16 large rolls and they freeze well so bake them, wrap well and freeze. This recipe is from King Arthur Flour under the title Amish Dinner Rolls.

Ingredients:

2 Large eggs lightly beaten and at room temperature

1/3 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons Butter at room temperature

1 cup unseasoned mashed potatoes

2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

3/4 cups potato water (from the potato you boil ) cooled to room temperature

4 1/4 cups all purpose flour

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook combine all of the ingredients. Mix until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl, approximately 6 minutes. The dough should be smooth and shiny, its a very soft dough and you might be tempted to add more flour, don’t do it that is the way it is supposed to be. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn the dough so that its coated with the oil. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap, then cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise until its doubled in bulk in a warm place for 90 minutes.

Ready for first rise

After almost 2 hours doubled in bulk

Once the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and on a lightly floured surface divide the dough into 16 pieces (if you want larger rolls like a sandwich roll you can make larger balls), each piece should be about the size of a handball. Gently roll the dough in your cupped hands until it forms a nice round ball.

Place the dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet leaving about 2 inches between each (You will have to use 2 sheet pans) Cover with well oiled plastic wrap and place a kitchen towel over them and let them rise again for 2 hours, the dough has risen sufficiently when you gently press with your finger and the indent stays. Alternatively you can refrigerate the dough balls overnight and continue the rise in the morning.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

After the rolls have risen for 2 hours place in your pre-heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. They will be golden brown and when you tap them with your finger there will be a hollow sound. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter,

Nov 24

52 Comments

Butter And Herb Roast Turkey, Gravy And Sides

Photo by James Ransom

Turkey is the cornerstone of the Thanksgiving meal, for me it just wouldn’t be the same without it. Growing up we usually had Italian food for Thanksgiving but from time to time my Mom would make a traditional American meal. Mom always made a capon rather than a regular turkey, if I understand correctly a capon is a turkey but it has been neutered, its smaller and more tender, it was really good. She always roasted in her black and white speckled enamel roasting pan. When I left home my Mom presented one to me and although I have tried roasting turkeys in other pans I always come back to the black and white graniteware pan. The turkey is cooked in record time, it’s moist and tender and nicely browned. I posted the recipe on food52. Above is the picture that James Ransom took for food 52 when my turkey was chosen as a community pick. The recipe below is for a large turkey for a smaller one you will have to adjust amounts and cooking time. No matter what method you use to cook your bird I highly recommend trying the compound butter inserted under the skin, it produces a moist and flavorful turkey.

For 18-20 lb turkey

Compound butter:

16 tablespoons salted butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 crushed garlic clove
3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves removed or 1/2 tsp dried
3 chopped fresh sage leaves or 1/2 tsp dried
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Crush garlic with mortar and pestle with a pinch of salt.
Remove the leaves of thyme from the stalk, add thyme and sage and lemon zest and crush it all together.
In small mixing bowl, add the softened butter and garlic and herb mixture mix together.
If you are going to insert the turkey right away, don’t refrigerate — if not, roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before you add to the turkey.

Turkey:

1 18-20 pound turkey
Compound butter
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Put turkey on work surface and make sure it’s clean and dry. Insert fingers under skin to loosen the skin from the breast meat. Work slowly so you don’t tear the skin.
Spread a generous amount of the compound butter under the skin on both sides of the breast. (Reserve a small amount of the compound butter to baste the turkey when you brown the skin.)
Using butchers twine, bind the legs together and place the turkey on a rack in your roasting pan.
Rub the turkey with some olive oil and generously salt and pepper the entire turkey. (I like to do this the night before baking refrigerating overnight, if you do this let sit at room temperature for an hour before placing in the oven). Place lid on pan and put into the oven. No basting required!
After 2- 3 hours, check the internal temperature of your turkey by inserting a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh. When it has reached an internal temperature of 150°F, remove from the oven, and brush the turkey with the remaining compound butter. Crank up the oven to 450°F. Put back in the oven without the lid and let it roast until the skin is a nice golden brown. The internal temperature should be 160°F when you remove from the oven. Total cooking time for an 18-20 pound turkey is 4-4 1/2 hours approximately. Let turkey rest for at least 30 minutes tented with foil and final temperature should be 165°F-170°F.
Note: If you don’t have a roaster with a lid just tent with aluminum foil, making sure its sealed well around the pan. Also, you need to watch the turkey and check on it for doneness if you are using a graniteware pan it cooks very quickly, basically sealing the turkey and steam roasting it. I generally start checking on the turkey after 2 hours.

Graniteware

I have several different types of roasting pans and have to say I love the graniteware, it’s very inexpensive ($33 for am extra large pan), lasts forever and always gets the job done well. I don’t use a thermometer when I use my graniteware, I slow roast my turkey at 325 degrees no basting except at the very end when I remove the lid to get the turkey a really deep brown at high heat (450).I can fully cook a 22 lb turkey in my graniteware pan in less than 4 hours.

GRAVY

After the turkey has rested you will want to make gravy, I pour the pan drippings,(when you use a grantiteware pan there is a ton of juice) into one of those separators, you know it separates the fat from the juice. I place about 1/4 cup of the fat into a fry pan and heat it, add some flour to make a roux, stir constantly until the flour is cooked and nicely browned. Add the juice whisking constantly until it’s the desired thickness, season with salt and pepper if necessary. I always use gravy master, it’s a habit, I like it and only use about a tsp of the stuff.

Separator,gravy master, food mill and graniteware pan

Sides

The first course will be a Butternut Squash + Bourbon Soup from Mary Frances and her lovely blog, Love the Secret Ingredient, she has an e-book with recipes and tips for planning your holiday and it’s really great. My sides are really pretty boring I’m afraid. I am a creature of habit and almost always serve the same thing every Thanksgiving. Mashed potatoes, always yukon gold, boiled and put through the food mill so there are no lumps. I add sour cream, butter salt and pepper. I like corn and brussels sprouts usually roasted in the oven.

Nov 22

54 Comments

Whole Berry Cranberry Orange Sauce- Thanksgiving Prep

You would think I am cooking for an army with all that I do for Thanksgiving but really it’s a pretty small group usually no more than 8 people. Thanksgiving is like a cooking marathon and I try to do as much in advance as possible to ease the load on the big day. Over the next week I will be posting some of my recipes that I make every year for Thanksgiving. Today, exactly one week before Thanksgiving I made the cranberry compote or sauce. It’s so simple it really isn’t a recipe, I don’t really do anything fancy and it’s delicious. There are a million recipes for cranberry compote, jelly or sauce here is mine.

mise en place

Serves 8-10

1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries (cleaned and sorted)

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

zest of 1/2 orange

3/4-1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet the orange is)

pinch of salt

Bring juice, zest, sugar and salt to a boil, add cranberries when it comes to a brisk boil reduce heat.

Brisk boil

Partially cover and let boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour into container and bring to room temperature then refrigerate until ready to use, I make this a week in advance.

Ready for the fridge

Nov 21

34 Comments

Awards- Merci Beaucoup!!

Award

I am so honored to receive this award and want to thank the extremely sweet and very talented Fae from Fae’s Twist And Tango and the uber talented elamb from food day dreaming for nominating my little blog for this award. I am nominating the following blogs for both the blogger of the year and sunshine award. How about that 2 for the price of one. I just want to say you are NOT obligated to do anything with this except revel in the glory of your awards. We are all busy, including me. I have been working on this for 4 days now,

Cottage Grove House (tiny white cottage)

Christina’s Cucina

Butter,Basil and Breadcrumbs

Runninsrilankan

The Seasoned Traveller

Sparkle Bubble

Laura’s Mess

Green Door Hospitality

Food thoughts to share

The Garden Deli

The instructions for this award are simple:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2013’ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there are no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ the blog(s) with their award.
3 Let the blog(s) that you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the instructions with them – (please don’t alter the instructions or the badges!)
4 Come over and say hello to the originator of the ‘Blog of the Year 2013’ Award via this link –http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/blog-awards-2/blog-of-the-year-2013-award/
5 You can now also join the ‘Blog of the Year’ Award Facebook page – click the link herehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/BlogoftheYear/ and share your blog posts with an even wider audience.
6 And as a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog … and start collecting stars…

Sunshine Award

I was also thrilled to receive the Sunshine Award from Mochi of the lovely blog matchamochimoo Please visit her blog, there are fantastic recipes and beautiful photo’s. Thank you so very much for the award.

I am acknowledging the wonderful bloggers who gave me these awards, thank you Fae, elamb and Mochi. I truly appreciate it, I don’t have time to do all of the things asked of me and I feel badly about that but I do want you to know how very much I appreciate this and I wanted to acknowledge other blogs (bloggers) that I love and find inspiration from.

Thank you everyone!!

Nov 13

47 Comments

Thank You Everyone!

Photo by James Ransom for Food52

I just wanted to do a quick post to thank everyone that voted for me, I WON!!! It’s very exciting. Thank you all so very much, I really do appreciate your support.

Oct 31

80 Comments

Concord Grape Refrigerator Jam

Grape Jam

I have posted this recipe before but have been working on it and I think I improved on it. I found concord grapes last weekend at the farmers market and was immediately so excited, I love concord grape jam and had used my last jar from the batch I made last year. Honestly, a PB&J with this jam is amazing. I use less sugar than called for in the original recipe and use an apple with all of its’ pectin to help set this jam. It has a robust concord grape flavor, it’s not too sweet (just right in my opinion) and spreads like a dream.

Made: 48 oz jam ( I put in four 8 oz jars and 2 six oz jars)

Ingredients:

2 quarts (about 8 cups) concord grapes, cleaned and removed from stems

4 -4.5 cups sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1 small apple (I used green apple) peel on seeds and stem removed and quartered

Add grapes, sugar and lemon juice to a medium saucepan mash the grapes to release some of the juices. Bring to a boil on high heat, when it comes to a rolling boil reduce heat to medium and let simmer uncovered for about an 1-1 1/2 hours. You will notice it is thickening and it will coat your spoon. Drop some of the jam onto a saucer and if it thickens it’s ready.

: simmering grapes

While the grapes are simmering sterilize your jars and lids, let them boil for 15 minutes, remove to a clean tea towel to dry. When the grapes have finished cooking take a large non reactive bowl, I used an 8 cup heatproof glass measuring cup place a sieve on top and carefully pour the grapes into it. Stir it so that the liquid drips into the bowl, stir constantly and scrape the bottom of the sieve from time to time.

: Strain it well

All you want left is the skin and seeds, push the pulp through, there will be very little left in the sieve.

: See not much left only seeds and skin

Place the liquid back in the saucepan add the apple and simmer on medium for about 20 minutes or until apple is soft, remove apple. Pour into sterilized jars, screw lids on tightly and let sit until it reaches room temperature. It will become very thick, you know, like jam. Or if you have the equipment and know what you are doing you can process or preserve the jam. I added to sterilized jars pouring hot jam in them and they sealed but it’s not a good strong seal so I store in the refrigerator and it kept for several months unopened.

Grape Jam on buttered english muffin

Oct 31

25 Comments

Happy Halloween!! Awesome Salsa Giveaway- The Winner is…….

Salsa

True Random Number Service

Do you own a smartphone or tablet? Check out our app for iOS and Android.

List Randomizer

There were 17 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

stefano

Congratulations Stefano, I will be sending you an email I need your address to give to Tamara so that your delicious jar of Salsa can be sent to you.

I’ll leave you with a few Halloween Images. Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Bela Lugosi Dracula

Mia Farrow-Rosemary’s Baby

Happy Halloween

Oct 25

62 Comments

Awesome Salsa, Empanadas And A Giveaway!

One of the things I love most about blogging is meeting and get to know other bloggers, I love visiting their sites, it’s a source of inspiration for me. One of the blogs I love and follow is Pretty Bitches Can Cook Too, the very pretty Tamara contacted me asking if I would like to do a guest post, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. Not only does Tamara have wonderful recipes on her site, she also is quite an entrepreneur and has a clothing line and makes and bottles her own salsa and hot sauce and is a philanthorpist. She sent me a jar of her Medium Serrano Salsa to try and I told her I would love to create a recipe using her salsa, she also generously offered to provide a lucky reader with a jar, if you love salsa you will LOVE this stuff!!

Salsa

Now, I am not an expert on food from South America or Mexico or even the Southwest US but Tamara’s salsa inspired me to make empanadas. Well, they are sort of empanadas they are not half moon shape but round like little hand pies, it’s my interpretation I guess you could say, I have never made them before and decided they are after all a turnover of a sort, so I used the recipe for galette dough. The tender flaky pastry goes so nicely with the spicy filling. The filling is so simple, ground beef, onion, garlic, black beans and salsa, this is topped off with some Manchego cheese. It’s a great combination and would make a great appetizer or snack, first thought was how great would these be while watching a football game!

Empanadas

The salsa is so good I can think of so many uses for it besides dipping chips or nacho’s. It would make a great base for chili or any dish with a south of the border or southwestern flavor profile. The medium serrano salsa has the just right amount of heat for a wimp like me, you know it’s there but it’s not uncomfortably hot. It’s fresh, and zingy and contains only good stuff, no preservatives or additives. It’s the real deal!

The empanada’s were wonderful served with some avocado (or guacamole), sour cream and some more salsa for dipping.

Spicy and flaky

See above for link to galette dough.

Makes 1 dozen small pies

Filling:

1 lb ground beef, 90% drained after cooking

1 small onion diced

1 clove garlic minced

1 cup black beans (I used canned)which I drained

1 1/2 cups Medium Serrano Salsa (Pretty Bitches Can Cook Too)

1 cup Manchego cheese grated (or grate as you need it, thats what I do) You can also use Monterey Jack or whatever kind of cheese you like

salt and pepper to taste

egg wash

Coat a fry pan with a little olive oil and saute the onions, when they are soft and translucent add the garlic and continue sauteing until completely cooked. Add the ground beef and brown, now add the salsa and black beans. Cook on medium/high for approximately 30 minutes, it will be nice and thick. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Pre heat oven to 400 degree’s. Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Using 3 or 4 inch biscuit cutter cut out rounds, place a spoonful of the meat mixture in the middle top with a generous sprinkle of grated cheese, wet around the edge of the dough and place another round on top, press down and crimp edges with fork. Pierce the top with a fork, Place on parchment lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash and freeze for 15 minutes before baking.

Place directly from freezer to oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown.

Now for the giveaway:

To be entered in the contest you should:

– Leave comment here

– Follow Tamara on her blog “Pretty Bitches Can Cook Too“

– Like on Facebook

– Follow@prettycooks on Twitter

– Tweet about the giveaway to @prettycooks and @bklynpuggal

Winner will be announced on Oct. 31, 2013 and will be selected by Random.org. Good luck everyone. This salsa is amazing, you will love it!! Be sure to let me know that you were able to complete all the requirements. If you do not have a twitter or facebook account it’s ok, just let me know and you can just leave a comment here. Open to US residents only, sorry my dear friends abroad.

Oct 15

15 Comments

Divine Chocolate Giveaway-And The Winners Are…..

Divine Chocolate

I was supposed to announce this yesterday, sorry, the day got away from me. I listed everyone that made comments on random.org and they picked the winners. 3 lucky people will receive a box from Divine Chocolates with a Bakers Assortment, The winners are:

List Randomizer

There were 19 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

Pamela (Brooklynfarmgirl)
Georgie (georgiecakes)
Azita (Fig And Quince)

Congratulations, Divine Chocolate will be sending all three of you an amazing box of chocolate. I will be contacting each of you by email to get your information.

Oct 9

77 Comments

Heirloom Cherry Tomato And Goat Cheese Tart

Tomato And Goat Cheese Tart

My task today is to make an appetizer that will serve approximately 50 people for a Mealku event this evening. Now, I am not a big appetizer person, I enjoy but usually skip the appetizer unless it’s a salad. I was thumbing through a William Sonoma cookbook of appetizers and saw this lovely tomato and blue cheese tart. I didn’t have blue cheese but did have a lot of goat cheese so I thought this would be delicious. I had just bought some heirloom cherry tomatoes also, had some thyme in my garden so the menu was set. I adapted the recipe slightly, I used my favorite pie crust recipe, used goat cheese and cream cheese mixed, roasted the tomatoes before hand. Well I guess I took the idea from the WS cookbook and really changed it pretty much completely but the idea is still there right? I made two tarts, a large 12″ round and a rectangular. Cut into appetizer size pieces it will easily feed 50 people. I recommend blind baking the crust just about 10 minutes to crisp up the bottom and then finish baking with the cheese.

Pie Crust (Julia Child’s recipe)

makes enough for 1 9 inch double crust pie

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 oz unsalted butter very cold and cut into cubes

4 oz cold vegetable shortening or leaf lard

1/2 cup ice water

In large mixing bowl add the flours and salt and whisk together, add the butter and using a pastry cutter or your hands work the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbs, there will be some pea size pieces of butter that ok it should be like that. NOTE: I added 2 tbs of cornmeal to the recipe.

Add the water and stir with a fork, gather the dough into two discs, wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Tart

1 lb cherry tomatoes cut in half

8 oz goat cheese

4 oz cream cheese

2 tbs heavy cream or half and half

6 sprigs thyme

olive oil

Chives (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees, line sheet pan with parchment and place cherry tomatoes on pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and some thyme and roast in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until tomatoes start to caramelize . Remove from oven and set aside.

Place goat cheese and cream cheese, some thyme and some pepper in bowl add the cream and mash with fork.

Roll out pie dough and place in tart pan (Optional but recommended, blind bake the crust before baking with the cheese) place foil on top of dough, add weights or beans and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes, add the goat cheese mixture and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and the cheese is lightly browned. Remove from oven and place the roasted tomatoes on top, add a little pepper and drizzle with olive oil. I snipped some chives on top but thats optional. If you don’t want to blind bake its fine, just add the goat cheese to the on top of the unbaked pie shell and bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown.