Last Weeks Recap

I've gone though my posts for last week and the general consensus seems to be I'm preoccupied with the future. Plan this and plan that...don't take a day off to do nothing because it isn't in the plan. If I'm not careful the things I do now won't add up to the resounding plan I have for the finale that has built itself in my mind if I don't stay on track. That is even if I know it won't turn out as imagined no matter what I do (or plan). I also reused words like overlay and hum-drum. It's been quite a week!

I do think it's a good idea to change things up a little. The routine is a little worn and could use some revitalizing. I'm making efforts to not be so boring. I baked cinnamon rolls from scratch yesterday afternoon and that was something I hadn't done in many years and it wasn't planned. They came out pretty well and it seems I can still bake.

Maybe baking cinnamon rolls is still boring but at least it was different. It made the house smell wonderful and it's a start in a new direction of wherever it's supposed to go or not go. If it can lead me on to something that will spark another idea of different and various things to do in my present instead of waiting around for an unknown future then it's a good thing.

And I'll try to avoid using the words overlay and hum-drum.
TT

Chocolate,Cinnamon, Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies

These handy little morsels were the hit of the holiday season. It's a new recipe I tried and somehow it worked so well I repeated the recipe to make up for all the supply and demand. There was much demand after that first batch and I made more to keep everyone satisfied.

It's a cocoa powder based chocolate cookie with butter and cinnamon...lots of butter and cinnamon. That combination seemed to be the addicting ingredient. It has a few steps but after I increased the cinnamon and reorganized the procedures in the recipe it turned into a great little rich and decadent cookie!
Here it is...

1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 large egg
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup hazelnuts

1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

4 oz (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 Tbsp hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheets.
Beat sugar and butter till pale and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients and then hazelnuts until combined.

Mix 1/3 c sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon in small bowl. Roll heaping Tablespoon size round of dough into balls and roll in sugar. Bake 2" apart for 12 minutes turning baking sheets half way through baking time.


Make indentation with melon- baller in each cookie and remove from cookie sheets onto wire rack.



Heat chocolate chips with butter until melted and combined. Pour spoonful into indentation at center of each cookie and sprinkle with hazelnuts. Let cool for 20 minutes until set.



There is something about finding a new recipe that warms and comforts. It's especially nice around the holiday season when they can be enjoyed by all. Happy Holidays!
TT

Humming in the Kitchen

I think I am winding down my day. It started with a 6 miler. A good easy run with a nice little rain from about mile 2.5 until almost the 4 mile mark. But it was a nice easy rain and the drops felt like heavenly kisses on my shoulders. It was utterly the best way to start out the day.

After I got back from my run, it was a short trip to the grocery store. I wanted to get the essential items on my list and to also get back home to do some cooking. The deli roast beef was running over $12.00 a pound so I picked up a beef roast for $7.90. It was when I got home that things started to hum in the kitchen.

The roast was seasoned up and put into the oven. I started up my bread machine and let it loose. Then I pulled out my old fashioned, stainless steel, clamp to the table and crank by hand pasta machine. I whipped up some pasta dough and ran it through the machine. What a relief it is from rolling the dough out with a rolling pin. I went ahead and cooked up some ground beef and pork together. I threw in some spices, parsley, and stirred in some ricotta cheese and garlic for a filling.  Yeah...that dough is now beef ravioli.

The roast beef turned out perfectly and I sliced it up thin. It will be tasting mighty good on that rustic wheat bread which I already had all the ingredients to make. I weighed the beef after I sliced it and it was 2.3 lbs. meaning if I bought that amount at the deli it would have cost $27.60. So I figured I saved $19.70. The ravioli didn't cost much either if you figure I only used 1 1/4 of semolina flour and two eggs for the dough. The filling amount I made was approximately $3.77. I made about 32 ravioli's.

I even made jello and a from scratch white cake I baked in a loaf pan. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, too but those were already given away.

Good day to be in the kitchen. Some really good smells can perk up any rainy day. We need the rain, we love the food. What better way to spend the day.

TT

The Power of Red Sauce

I had a real bad hankering for something yesterday. I wasn't sure what I wanted or what was going on with me. I felt a little off all day but there wasn't any reason for me to be feeling that way. I knew it would blow over. I was just having one of those days.

I had planned on making chicken for dinner. I had taken it out of the freezer early that morning, but when I got home I realized I had time to make some soul food. Yeah. That was what I wanted. I wanted something to soothe my soul and thought of some good old, simmering red sauce. So I put it together.

I had everything I needed so a sweated some onions, a bit of garlic, ground beef and Italian sausage and then tomatoes. Season it up, bring it to boil, then turn it down low.

It was already smelling the way it should and I was already feeling better.


I let it go for a few hours while checking on it every now and then, stirring the pot and scraping the sides, smelling the aroma, and adjusting the spices. It's an entire ritual that brings you to that perfect center. It's a chicken soup for the soul except more personal and heartier. It's my brand of comfort food when something is going on that isn't quite right when nothing is really wrong. It rights those wrongs.

So, I'm feeling so much better and everything is right with me and the world. Homemade red sauce can do that.
TT

Fun overload

I am barely dragging myself out of bed. I think it was too much fun and an overload of the amount of food I ate yesterday.

Sonny had a full plate of everything homemade. You can start with the fresh corn at the top of the plate and come around to the mac and cheese, fresh made ranch-style beans (these are NOT from a can, kiddos), coleslaw and a six hour, slow-roasted brisket with that tangy sauce in the middle of the plate.

I made an utter pig of myself because when it was all said and done there was nothing left on the plate except the corn cob. Really. I practically licked the platter clean! And then, I had a piece of cake!

Fireworks were everywhere, too! Since restrictions are lifted with all the rain, all you needed to do was look up to see the sparkling glitter light up the sky. Sonny lives just out of the city limits so it's legal and his neighbors go wild with it. It's all for free, just sit back and watch.

But now, with all that relaxing from yesterday, I'm moving a little slower than usual this morning. I stayed in bed, am just getting a cup of coffee, and need to get moving. I have a few things to do today and well, times a wasting.
TT

Christmas Dinner 2012

Christmas Menu - 2012

 

Appetizers

 

Boiled Shrimp with Horseradish Cocktail Sauce

Crab Cakes

Fried Artichoke Hearts

Crab Bisque

 

Main Course

 

Herb Crusted Crown Roast of Pork

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Green Beans with Pancetta

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Cinnamon Sautéed Apples

 

Dessert

 

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Whipped Cream

 

Merry Christmas to all!

TT

 



Cake Pops and Birthday dinner

My oldest Sons' birthday was Friday, 12/14 and we celebrated that evening.  I made his favorite chocolate chip cookies with walnuts but I wanted to experiment with something new.  What better way than trying to make these new Cake Pops?

They might not fit too many candles but they were something different and in individual servings.

Here is how simple they are to make.  You bake your regular layer cake and let it cool.  Then you crumble it into fine morsels.  Yes.  You take that perfectly good cake and crumble it up.  Then you add a dollop of the frosting.  Not too much.  You might think more is better but it isn't.  It doesn't take much frosting to bind the cake together and no matter how much you like cake frosting this can become too much very easily.
Mix the cake and frosting together.  You might have to get your hands into it.

Then form them into balls.  Yes.  Like the size of mini-meatballs except they are cake and frosting. 
Take some melted chocolate and dip the tip of your stick into the chocolate and then put it into your cake ball about half way through.  The chocolate on the tip is supposed to help keep the stick in the pop.  Once you have all the sticks in pops, place them all into the freezer for 20 minutes. 
Take them out and dip them all in melted chocolate to coat and then you can decorate with sprinkles.
That's about it.  Individual bites of cake on a stick! 

But I did all that before going over for the Birthday Dinner.  Once we where there we cooked up what Sonny picked for his menu.  We started with Artichoke, cheese and capocollo and a glass of wine.

Dinner was simply Marinated Sirloin, Stuffed Potatoes, and Asparagus.  Simply delicious.

Not a bad evening.  Happy Birthday, Sonny!

TT

Poor food

I wouldn't be telling the truth if I were to say food hasn't been on my mind lately.  Let's face it...it's about that time when we roll out all the stops, go overboard, and prepare more food than any one could ever be expected to eat in one sitting.  And so much food that it certainly doesn't fit on one plate.  But that is a few days off and I'm already gearing up for the occasion.
I've taken some pretty simple meal ideas and started making them for my warm-up.  They are basic 'poor food' ideas.  At least, that is what we call them around here.  What qualifies as poor food?
Well, they are meals that are filling, in-expensive, and food that is actually good for you and...yeah, wait...they taste the best because they are home-prepared and made from scratch.  Let's start with a simple Mexican version first...

Hot Sauce:  Fresh!  jalapenos, tomatillos, diced onions simmered in water.

Hot Sauce!  Simmered down and crushed together.

Pinto Beans:  Slow cooked from dry which is the only way to eat beans.  Cooked up with onion and bacon.

Spanish Rice:  You have to fry the rice first till it takes on a brown.  Add onion, bell pepper, tomato and spices - salt, pepper, garlic, comino.

Then add some tomato sauce (a bit) and broth or...poor right?...water and then simmer.

Spanish Rice!  Fluff it up...with those fresh beans and hot sauce.  Hungry yet?

Pork steak:  Take those dried chili's and reconstitute them and blend them up.  It will make that red paste that you see beside the blue spoon.  Brown that cheap, cheap, cut of pork and the flavor is beyond.  I cut the meat off the bones first but cooked them all together to get the best flavor then removed the bones...beyond!

   So...Then I had made up another poor food menu but this one is more Italian style.  I can't believe anyone would use canned beans (not me, no, can't bare canned) so I didn't for this recipe and cooked up my own white beans - fresh from dry.

White beans:  Simmered with onion, celery, bacon until soft and creamy to be used in the main dish.



Zucchini:  Sliced, lightly dragged in seasoned flour and fried.  We ended up eating these as appetizers.  Fun way to eat your greens. 

Sausage and beans:  Main event.  I used browned turkey sausage, sweated fresh diced tomatos with fresh garlic in olive oil and added the fresh white beans.  How can something so simple taste so good?!

Sugar cookies.  Poor doesn't mean you don't get the entire package including dessert.  Plain and simple, flaky and not too sweet.  The perfect ending for perfect meals. 

Now that I'm all warmed up, I'm ready for the main event coming up this Thursday. 
TT

Home made Pasta

On my birthday I decided I wanted to have some fresh pasta.  It makes sense, right?  I'm a runner, I love my carbs and what could be better than getting that fix from something you can't get everyday like made at home pasta?  I mean, it was my birthday wasn't it?  And besides, I was the one going to make it because that is something else I love besides carbs which is actually cooking things from scratch.
I thought I would go for a purely simple pasta alla carbonara.  Since it wasn't only me on that New Years Eve birthday I added a New York Strip Steak to the side.  That is fairly simple too if you think about it but fancy enough for a holiday meal.
Pasta Ingredients:
For 4-6 servings of pasta
2 cups flour
3 eggs
salt
Place the two cups flour in a mound on your cleaned work area and make a hole in the center.  This is like you would do to your mashed potatoes to hold the gravy.  Add your eggs and slight amount of salt.   Use a fork to beat the eggs right there in the middle of the flour.  Start incorporating the walls of the flour into the eggs until you are able to manage it into a dough.

You want a smooth consistency to the dough and it might not take all the flour.  It's a scientific thing, I can't explain...size of the eggs, quantity of flour, humidity, altitude, whatever. 
It should form a ball of dough and then you get to roll it out. Use lots of flour so it doesn't stick.

Roll it out thin and then fold it up (make sure you keep flouring it) to make it easy to cut the strips.  You can cut as you like.  They can be as wide or skinny as you like. 

When you unravel them they will form long strips.  Then they go into a pot of boiling salted water until cooked.  Fresh pasta will start to float up to the top when done but be sure to taste.  Don't leave it in too long...you'll have to check between 5-8 minutes. 
That's it!  Fresh home made pasta! 
Then I made a simple carbonara with it which is Italian poor food.  Come on...it's bacon and eggs on pasta.  Talk about stretching the food but oh, my, how delicious!
Heat some olive oil in a pan and add pancetta (yeah-that's the bacon).  Let it cook about 3 minutes and add minced garlic (of course, it's Italian).  Add the fresh cooked pasta directly into the saucepan from the boiling water pot.  That extra liquid helps this recipe.  On the side beat an egg and add it to the pasta (bacon and eggs) in the saucepan and some flat leaf parsley.  Mix it all up!

What a great birthday dinner! Let's look at it one more time.

Sprinkle a little romano (I like pecorino) cheese and you are good to go!
TT

New law

I found out a new law was passed recently.  It is a Cottage Food Law and it allows people to actually use their home kitchen for direct sales of certain baked goods, like cookies.  You don't need to go out and find a commercial kitchen.  You don't need the licensing and expenses.  There are certain provisions that need to be followed but how could this timing be any better?  I am still going over the short law and I've enlisted help in going over it to make sure there is a general consensus on the items that will be necessary to stay within it's parameters, but this is incredible!  With the work that Dante and I have done to actually start this small cookie business going, this new legal way of operation is incredible and opens doors I didn't know how to go through before.
I am baking again either Thursday or Friday.  More cookies are needed for more pictures that will go to finish our labels and menus and price lists.  There are some specifics that need to be included now with the new law.  Not a problem!  We were still working out the few details on those items anyway.  I will also have some sample cookies ready to put out with order forms by this weekend.  Now this isn't anything on any grand scale.  This is modest, small and direct.  The law provides there can be a website but orders cannot be taken on the site itself.  No shopping cart.  So I am having Dante and Jay comb through this law to see what and how this can operate.  I'm excited.  I've got things to do and lot's to work on.  Timing is everything and this time it was perfect.  Not always, but this time, yes, about perfect. 
I'm going to take it as a good sign.
TT   

Manhattan Clam Chowder

When a pregnant woman has a craving you try your best to get her what she wants.  At least I thought I would try to help out.  Sonny (my oldest son) and Selma got married early this year and yes - she is five months pregnant.  (Congratulations!  We are all so happy)!  Selma and I had exchanged a few e-mails earlier in the week about her wanting seafood and her and Sonny finding a new seafood restaurant that was good but it didn't have the soup she had been wanting.  She said Sonny was going to try to make it this weekend and we should get together.
It turned out the conversation was never settled and there were a string of confusing conversations between everyone in the family that sounded like some silly 30 minute comedy show on television.  I mentioned it to Jay, he mentioned it to Dante, Dante talked to me, Dante talked to Sonny, Sonny called Jay, Dante called me and we finally got together yesterday here at our house.  Jay told me Selma wanted Manhattan Clam Chowder.  That seemed to be the soup she was craving.  Okay, I thought.  I've done that before.  So I actually found some great Cherry Stone Clams!  I got 2 cups of water to boil and added them in for a 4-5 minute steam bath.  I might have left them a tinge too long but they were fully opened when I fished them out of the pot.

I left the water in the pot to settle while I got my vegetables cut. I crisped some bacon pieces in a pan and set aside.

After adding about a tablespoon of the bacon drippings into the tall saucepan I added the crisp bacon and the onions, then garlic. After 1-2 minutes I added the celery and carrots and let them sweat for about 5 minutes. Then I added the potatoes and poured in all the water from the steamed clams into the tall saucepan. I left a small amount of liquid at the bottom where some grit had settled. I added oregano and bay leaves and let the potatoes cook. I went back and minced my clams (not too small) and added them into the pot once the potatoes were ready.

At this point the soup was pretty much done. I covered the saucepan and let the flavors meld while I cut up a bagette, brushed it with olive oil and grilled it for some crunch. They made the perfect dipping tool for the Manhattan Clam Chower.

Everyone seemed to like it.

Then the questions was asked of Selma, "Is this the soup you were craving?" She admitted it wasn't. There was a different seafood soup she was thinking about that had shrimp and fish and scallops and octopus... I don't have a recipe for that one! So, in any case, it got us all together and as far as the soup cravings, we all decided we would wait to take on another soup when it was much, much less than 100 degrees outside.

The meal and the great company went on from there.  And as far as a pregnant womans cravings I tried to help out!  It's not my fault the rumour mill didn't get me the accurate information!      

TT