Category: cooking

A number of people on social media asked for this recipe after I posted pictures of it when I recently made it for supper.   If memory serves me right (yep, that was an original Iron Chef reference),  I got the recipe from an episode of Milk Street TV

INGREDIENTS 

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, not peeled, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
2 tablespoons plus ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 pound ground lamb or 80 percent lean ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, halved and grated on the large holes of a box grater
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
14 ½ ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 pound plum tomatoes, cored and sliced into ¼-inch rounds
1 small green bell pepper or Anaheim chili, stemmed, seeded and sliced into thin rings

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the middle position. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of oil and ¼ teaspoon salt. Distribute in a single layer and roast without stirring just until a skewer inserted into the potatoes meets no resistance, 10 to 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Leave the oven on.

While the potatoes cook, line a second baking sheet with kitchen parchment. In a medium bowl, combine the lamb, onion, parsley, allspice, cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Using your hands, mix gently until just combined; do not overmix. Divide the mixture into about 20 golf ball-size portions (1½ to 1¾ inches in diameter) and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten each ball into a patty about 2½ inches wide and ¼ inch thick (it’s fine the patties are not perfectly round); set aside until ready to assemble.

In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, combine the crushed tomatoes, garlic, the ¼ cup oil, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Stir well, then distribute in an even layer. Shingle the potatoes, tomato slices, green pepper rings and meat patties in 3 or 4 rows down the length of the baking dish, alternating the ingredients. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with pepper.

Bake, uncovered, until the kafta and potatoes are browned and the juices are bubbling, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Late spring means strawberries in North Alabama. Strawberries require pound cake. They just do.

Good thing is that pound cake is one of simplest things you can bake. I’ve seen a number of recipes similar to this one spread throughout the Internet. More importantly to me is that this is very similar to recipe that my Mom uses for her pound cake.

Basic Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 1/3 c. butter, softened

2 1/2 c. sugar

6 eggs

3 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325dF. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar in portions, beating at medium until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, making certain that each egg is blended adding the next egg.

Add flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, beating at low speed until just blended. Stir in vanilla.

Pour into greased and floured tube pan. Bake for between 65 to 70 minutes. Test for doneness if toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, remove from pan, and allow to cool for at least another 20 minutes before serving.

Selah.

Today’s Easter Sunday. Got me thinking back to my time working in Israel and remembered a chicken dish that I really liked at one of the restaurants in Tel Aviv. After some digging in my Israeli and Greek cookbooks, I’ve pulled together something I think might be close:

Braised Chicken with Lemon, Orange, Garlic, and Olives

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Salt and black pepper, to taste
3 Tbs. olive oil
6 garlic closes
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 lemon, juiced, zested, peeled, and thinly sliced
Juice from 2 tangerines
1 tbs. dried basil
1 tsb. oregano
1 cup mixed, pitted olives

Preheat oven to 375dF. Dry chicken and season with salt and pepper. In Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sear chicken until golden brown. Add garlic and zest of lemon. Cook until fragrant. Remove chicken and garlic from the pan and reserve.

Add onions to pan and cook until wilted. Add lemon slices and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add lemon and tangerine juice, basil, and oregano and deglaze pan. Add lemon slices and olives and stir to combine. Nestle thighs skin skin side up onto onion mixture. Cover and bake for 40 to 60 minutes.

Selah.

One of the student organizations at work put on a bake sale around campus this week. Someone had baked a Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie… some of you may know of it as being a pie named after an event of the sport of kings held in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky. However, I have to be rather evasive and not use the actual name as the original developers of the recipe are painfully protective of their trademark.

No matter what, the pie itself was quite tasty; tasty enough that I went back through my files and dug out the recipe I had picked up from some Kentucky friends of mine. Their recipe is very similar to one I saw recently in Southern Living. Both recipes are very similar to the classic pecan pie recipe with the only real difference being the inclusion of chocolate when you put the pecans into the pie.

Chocolate Bourbon Pie

1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 
1/4 cup bourbon or water
4 large eggs 
1/4 cup butter 
2 teaspoons cornmeal
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt 

• Fit piecrust into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate according to package directions; fold edges under, and crimp.
• Sprinkle pecans and chocolate evenly onto bottom of piecrust; set aside.
• Combine corn syrup and next 3 ingredients in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients. Gradually whisk about one-fourth hot mixture into egg mixture; add to remaining hot mixture, whisking constantly. Pour filling into prepared piecrust.

• Bake at 325° for 55 minutes or until set; cool on wire rack.

A few friends of mine have been talking about ways to cook tofu. Being the “over-educated hillbilly” that I am, that compressed soy curd called tofu isn’t something that you would expect to see in my pantry. However, having worked for a number of years with folks from Japan and China + a few years of graduate school with people who regularly eat this stuff, I’ve tried fixing it a few different ways.

One recipe that I really like is a variation of one found in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything cookbook called “Braised Tofu with Eggplant and Shitakes”:

Braised Tofu with Eggplant and Shiitake Mushrooms

From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

1 lb tofu
1/4 cup peanut oil or corn oil
1 c. shiitake mushrooms (soaked and drained)
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 TB garlic, minced
1 TB ginger, minced
1.5 lbs eggplant
1 TB siracha chille sauce
0.5 c. water
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB sesame oil
1 TB toasted sesame seeds
2 TB chopped green onions

• Drain tofu and cut in half lengthwise. Place in-between four sheets of paper towels and then weight down the tofu (no more than 2 lbs weight). Let set for a minimum of 30 minutes but as long as possible.
• Trim eggplant, cut into cubes and place in colander or strainers. Sprinkle liberally with salt and let eggplant drain for 30 minutes. Rinse and then pat dry.
• Saute shiitakes w/ half of oil in deep skillet or wok w/ salt and peper until mushrooms are crisp (about 5 to 10 minutes). Remove to plate.
• Add remaining oil and then sauté garlic and ginger for about a minute. Then add eggplant and sauté for until it browns. Add chile sauce and water and cook until eggplant is tender; add more water if needed.
• Add tofu and soy sauce. Cook until tofu is heated. Add reserved mushrooms and turn off heat. Add sesame oil. Garish w/ sesame seeds and chopped green onions

What’s nice about this recipe is that you can adjust it quite easily if you have meat eaters in the house by replacing the mushrooms with chicken or shrimp (or in addition to the shiitakes). Another variation is to replace both the eggplant and mushrooms with ground pork. Good, quick, and easy way to do something far better than any Chinese takeout you get buy.

Been a while since I’ve posted here on my blog. Lots of stuff gone under the bridge since my last post back in January of this year: job hunting, mad rush to finish the dissertation, finding a job, graduating, moving, and then starting the new job. Things are finally settled enough to where I can again pay attention to blogging.

Well, it’s time to start getting back into the flow. We’ll start things off with a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I used the other day for a picnic supper (thanks Kelley and Derrick for the invite!). This is based on a recipe I found about 5 years ago in Cook’s Illustrated. They do a few things different than the standard Toll House recipe for chocolate chip cookies. First, they do a mix of white and dark brown sugar. Then, they switch to 1 egg and 1 egg yolk rather than 2 eggs. Finally, instead of the standard creaming of the butter, they brown about 3/4 of the butter in a skillet and then add the remaining butter in before adding to the mix. Combining these things together gets you a more chewy cookie while keeping the crisp edges people seem like in their cookies.

It’s good…

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces) (see note)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
3/4cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)
5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Selah.