Secret Ingredient* Pasta Salad

Secret Ingredient* Pasta Salad

1 cup cooked pasta cooled
1 Tablespoon minced white onion
1 Tablespoon capers
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped roasted red bell peppers
12 black olives quartered

Gently toss all ingredients together.

In a separate bowl (I use a small Mason jar.) mixed together

1 Tablespoon mayo
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 splash white wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
ground pepper to taste
*plus 1 1/2 teaspoons V8

Shake like crazy and pour on pasta. Cool and serve.

Gingerbread in a Jar

I bought a flat of these half pint jars with wide mouths, and probably should get some more too. I filled two with gelatin made with fresh juice, two with strawberry sauce, and eight with gingerbread. 

The house smelled good that day. Gingerbread in August made me lust for Christmas.

I adapted a recipe called "Canadian Gingerbread" from the book, The Complete Book of Gingerbread: Traditional Gingerbread Recipes and Designs From Around The World. 

I added ground cloves and ground nutmeg. And substituted Agave Syrup for the Light Corn Syrup. 

Believe it of not, I actually had Light Corn Syrup in the pantry. It was at least five years old, although never been opened, and slightly yellowish. The ingredients were High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar. I tossed it in the trash.

They came out pretty good, but I would test for doneness (toothpick comes out clean) about five minutes earlier.

I froze a bunch to see how they taste after sitting awhile and then being defrosted. The recipe calls for the bread to sit a day to develop more flavor.

How anyone who smells gingerbread cooking resist eating it for 24 hours is beyond me.

Last weekend I made homemade mac n cheese and had some extra sauce. I'm thinking I might add it to  puree potato soup. I grew potatoes again this year, um, kind of by accident. But that's another story.

Coffee Soda

A recipe for Coffee Soda

One fresh cup of strong coffee

Ice to fill tumbler

One tablespoon of vanilla sugar - stir into hot coffee

Some milk to lighten up coffee (optional)

Pour coffee and additions into tumbler until half full.

Add seltzer water and stir. 

Enjoy!

Pizza Dough made with Beer

I was in need of a quick dough for two medium sized pizzas, one a garden vegetable, and the other pepperoni. I found a couple of contenders in a search on the web. I have 200 cookbooks but my first thought is Google. Always.

I found a recipe that called for a bottle of beer and that totally reminded me of my mom's beer bread recipe. She photocopied her recipe card and paper clipped it to the bread chapter page in the Betty Crocker's cookbook she gave to me at my very first dinner party.

The pizza dough recipe asked for 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of quick yeast, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, as well as the beer.

Kneaded for 7 minutes by the mixer and let rise for a half to 2 hours.

Good dough however the house smelled like a brewery for the day.

The Commonsense Kitchen: A review

For my second food book in the first quarter of the Foodie Book Challenge, I read and skimmed The Commonsense Kitchen: 500 recipes + lessons for a hand-crafted life. This is a very comprehensive cookbook with many extras.
Table of Contents goes like this.

1. Kitchen Basics
2. Breakfast: Oats, Grits, Bacon, and Eggs
3. Pancakes, Biscuits, and Cornbread
4. Bread, butter, Crackers, and Cheese
5. Great Lunches
6. Beans
7. Hot Vegetable and Vegetable Soups
8. Salads and Dressings
9. Beef, Pork, and Lamb
10. Chicken and Turkey
11. Fish and Shellfish
12. Pasta, Dumplings, Rice, and Stuffing
13. Sauces and Relishes
14. Pies and Fruit Desserts
15. Cakes
16. Gooey Desserts
17. Cookies and Candy
18. Menus
19. Dishes, Stains, and Soap

The introduction explains that this is a textbook for Deep Springs College and Ranch, where 26 males learn to run a working ranch including all things that go on in a kitchen. 

As one might imagine the American fare is the hearty kind like Chicken-Fried Steak, Red Chile Enchiladas, and nine variations of Beef Stew, but there is also a delicate touch with recipes such as Cream Scones, Goat Cheese Spinach and Green Chile Souffle, and five variations of Herbed Braised Chicken.

The cracker recipes make my heart sing, and the Bean and the Salad chapters are excellent primers on their subjects. They even cover handmade noodles and four variations of Risotto. 

I like this book a lot. I think I would love it if it wasn't a textbook. But it is. It reads like one and looks like one, and there are no photos. When they try to justify why they won't allow women into their program (male bonding and heavy lifting), I just don't buy it. 

Still lots of good recipes.

Two Different Pizza Dough Recipes & My First Book Review for the Food Book Challenge

Has it been a year since I promised to find that pizza dough recipe that I adapted? Almost.

Here it is.

From the smitten kitchen, a very nice food blog.

I didn't really expect to be cooking pizza on a cloudy and cool February Friday a week ago, but The Mister didn't want to explore a new pizzeria in town and heck, I was jonesing for pepperoni pie.

I bought the ingredients a while back, basically stuff that keeps for a couple months or longer: A jar of really good pizza sauce, dry moisture motz, and pepperoni. The only thing I had to make was the crust. By the way, I've tried many pre-made pizza crusts and they have all been pretty awful, but if you know of something that works for you, please share. I'm always on the look-out for an easy dinner.

In today's rendition I doubled the pizza dough recipe except for the salt. I also used white wine not sake like I have in the past, and I used more wine than usual. I used my KitchenAid with a dough hook to kneed the dough, and I cook the pizza at a lower temperature for a longer time.

There is no product picture this time around and the crust was at once too hard and too bread-y. My mistake may have been rushing the rising process or the fact that the house was too cold for a good rise.

This Sunday I thought I'd try again only this time use Ree's Basic Pizza Dough recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

The cookbook is my first book in the food book challenge. As a good read and selection of recipes, I rate this book very high, maybe just a half a star short of perfect. The reason for the down grade is that although the pizza came out looking gorgeous, it didn't taste all that wonderful. Maybe had I kept the dough for a day or two, the flavors would have developed more. Sigh.

Here's a picture of one of the pies.

Foodies Reading Challenge

I joined the Foodies Reading Challenge this year. I'll be reading at the Gourmet level. That's 10 to 12 books that are food related. This should be lots of fun and how I love to read about food! whether it be fact or fiction.


In fact I just started The Pioneer Woman's cookbook. It's filled with pictures and her very conversational-style writing. It's like catching up with an old friend, as I no longer follow her blog, or rather blogs. Her recipes have hit the mark though. I love good hearty ranch food.

Peachy Drink

Inspired by popsicles makers and luscious donut peaches, I decided to freeze diced peaches in a glass very much like this one. I mushed them all down to remove air pockets. Stuck the glass in the freezer overnight, and when I came in from the garden today looking for a cool drink, I slightly defrosted the smashed peaches and disked the log. Put them into a small glass and added club soda.

Ta Da! A peach cooler!

Thanks Alicia for the bag of donut peaches. We been feasting on them!

Pastys

Gotta love a meat pie. Especially after a hike up a mountain.

Years ago I used to live in Santa Cruz, and there was this fabulous little eatery on River Road called the  River Inn. The River Inn specialized in meat pastys. (Not to be be confused with pasties.)

They are made with simply lovely concoctions of minced meat wrapped in pastry. We would get a few and travelled up Highway 9 to do a bit of hiking in the redwoods.

I've always like to try to recreate most meals I've enjoyed, and meat pies have been on the list since the River Inn. They are easy and a crowd pleaser. Quite successful to miniaturized too. So perfect for bento!

Recipe alert!

Miniature Chicken Pastys

one shallot, minced
three garlic cloves, minced
two medium-sized little Bella mushrooms, minced
a knob of butter

Saute the above ingredients and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Add one half of cup of minced cooked chicken breast and a couple of spoonfuls of pre-made gravy to the mixture. Stir well and place in glass bowl. Cover and put in freezer.

(When working with pastry, everything must be cold.)

Next I used pre-made pastry. I know a lot of this recipe is looking like processed food, and you can certainly make fresh pastry and gravy, but it was getting late so I cheated. And really these were meant to be fun little treats not a gourmet meal for the Queen.

Unrolled pastry and using a small round biscuit cutter (1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter) make as many discs as you can. Ball up dough, roll out, and repeat. Save a few discs at the end of process for decoration.

Lay these pastry discs on parchment on cookie sheet and retrieve meat mixture from freezer and put a small spoonful in the center of each disc.

I thank the fungi gods I got over my fungus aversion. Mushrooms cooked in butter with shallots and garlic are heavenly!

Pinching them up is a study in meditation. At first I did the classic side fold, then some that look like pot stickers, then open ones like canapes. A few were topped with pine nuts, and some got little cut out stars and flowers.

Cooked at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. I have a cool oven. Let them get a touch golden but not brown. We want a crunchy bite not a bullet.

Sorry no "after photos." You will have to view my bentos this week to see them.

These are delicious cold by the way. Pastys as summer food. Outrageous!

Mini sourdough loaves

Last week on the heels of two spectacular bread-making failures, I decided to wing it and make some mini loaves. I am emotional about this size of bread and I explain why in some detail in my notebook.

In the past, I have had great success using Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day style of bread making. I like to use the "dirty" bowl to start a fresh round. This gives the bread a slightly sour flavor. You just add water and yeast, and then some flour. I like to add a little sugar too. It excites the yeast giving one an airier loaf.

So using the bowl that I used to make (the failed) peasant bread (it had rye and whole wheat flour), I threw in some warm water and yeast and watched it foam. Added a teaspoon of vanilla sugar and a couple scoops of white bread flour. Stirred it up and set in a warm spot for a couple hours.

Deflated the whole she-bang and pulled out a grapefruit-size chunk and divided that in half and let it rest.

Resting is very important in bread making. One must realize you are manipulating a live beast - that is the yeast collective.

I kneaded each round a bit and shaped it for the pan. Set aside to rise again while the oven heated.

I have a cold oven, so everything takes longer to cook. This is why I am hesitant to give temperature and times. You know when the bread is done when you take it out of the pan and thump the bottom of the loaf. If the thump is a hollow sound, the bread is done.

Another way to tell if the loaf is done is with an instant read thermometer. It should read 190 to 200 degrees.

Kimchee

When I mentioned to The Mister that I was going to make kimchee, he said, "Oh good! more food for me!"

That is because kimchee can be spicy, and I have to be careful with spicy food - lest my stomach might up and leave town.

So I looked at various recipes hoping to find one where I didn't need anything too exotic and found one where many of the items were optional. All I really needed was red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

Here is what I did.

Washed and cut into chunks one head of cabbage, the Napa variety, fresh-picked. Brined overnight in 3/4 cup of salt and one gallon of water. I used a plate to press down to floating cabbage and placed my garlic smasher rock on top of the plate.

This morning I rinsed the soaking cabbage with cold water and drained.

I boiled one tablespoon of rice flour with 3/4 cup of water. Set aside to cool.

Smashed a diced knob of ginger (peel removed) and five cloves of garlic in mortar and pestle.

In large bowl added rice mixture with garlic/ginger paste, one tablespoon of red pepper powder, one tablespoon red pepper flakes, diced carrots, diced radishes, and gave it a good mix, then I added the cabbage. Stir to combine.

Packed in glass jars and top with salt water (one tablespoon per one cup of water).

Now the trick here is to wait. Store in the fridge for one to two (or two to four) weeks depending on the recipe. One recipe said it's ready for immediate consumption.

The Mister tasted it, as did I. He thought it was hot (spicy), but it didn't seem to register that high with me.

We shall see...

German Potato Salad

Inspired by Lil'chan, I decided to make a hot potato salad for lunch. The moment after I took this photo to your left I realized that I wouldn't be using bacon  and perhaps not onion either, but both are good additions.

What I did use was:

3 white potatoes
2 small shiitakes
1 red bell pepper
8 black olives
1 carrot
1 medium fennel
2 Boar's Head all natural beef franks

I cut the ingredients in mouth-sized pieces (except for the mushrooms and fennel which I diced). The potatoes were boiled in salted water for 20 minutes or so. The red peppers and carrots were par boiled separately until done. The disced franks were pan fried with the shiitakes. The fennel wasn't cooked.

When everything was ready, it was mixed in a big bowl with the dressing.

The dressing is a basic oil and vinegar dressing with  a tablespoon of mustard. I like Dijon.

The verdict:

Before eating, he said, "I'm not hungry. I just ate breakfast a few hours ago."

During eating, "Hey! This is good! A really nice flavor!"

SCORE !!!

Spicy Pork Meatballs Are God

So last week I'm driving all over town with my significant other, The Mister, picking up items for our meals for the coming week and stuff for a gift basket I made for work and we made like ten stops and that is very wearing on a person especially in 95 degree heat and we finally got to our last stop which was the grocery store to pick up our protein which is what they call on Top Chef I mean we've always called beef, pork, chicken but now we call it protein like we're foodies or something and the checker and the box boy which is what we used to called them but they're now probably called "associates" so they feel better about being paid $6.80 an hour were very talkative not to us mind you but amongst themselves and this has always annoyed the heck out of me because here I am spending my money or rather his money and lots of it so give us some respect but no and the box boy who was a girl announced she was getting off work in an hour to another associate as she tossed over her shoulder bags of our groceries then we hit a snag a daikon snag the checker I mean associate first didn't know what it was and then couldn't find it on the price list and after five minutes literally I could see steam emit from The Mister's ears blah blah blah it went around to the checker the box boy and another checker and then the manager and then the checker wanted to know why I even *wanted* the daikon.

In the parking lot now:

I can't believe how stupid people are, he said.

And slow, I said.

I thought I was going to .... (trailed off).

Now we go home, I said.

Finally, he said.

[Driving in silence]

[for a long time]

[hitting every darn redlight across town]

[last light]

[turns red just as we get there]

God must hate you, I said.

Oh you know it, he said.

God is punishing you, I said.

He's been punishing me ALL DAY, he said looking at me when he said ALL DAY.

{pause}

{I laugh}

{pause}

What?

Just what makes you think God's a He, I said.

Spicy Meatballs

2/3 lb. ground pork

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (or more to taste)

1 egg

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl mix all ingredients using a butter knife to cut and fold. Cut, scoop, and turn the bowl a quarter turn. This will keep the meatballs from becoming buckshot. Take your time. When fully mixed, take a teaspoon amount and roll out little balls, place on parchment in a cooking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

Solstice Cheddar Buns with Tapenade

Left to right top row: Mixed, Risen

Bottom row: Done as fluffy rolls, Toasted with tapenade

Recipe: adapted from one cool book. 

So first you grate some fab cheese with a box grater. I grated about 1 and 1/2 cups. That done and it's the biggest part of work of the whole shebang.

Get a container that can hold a mess of dough. Pour 1 and 1/2 cups of good quality water that is warmed to about 110 degrees. Later on I will show you how to determine this without a thermometer.

1 & 3/4 teaspoon dry yeast.

1 & 3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

 

Stir.

ADD CHEESE. Add flour. 2 cups at first. Unbleached White 1/2 cup at a time. Stir stir stir. One more cup Unbl. White in increments. Stir (Mixed in picture above). Let sit two hours. 

Two hours later (Risen in picture above). Pull dough out of bowl and put on a floured board. Cut in three equal parts, and make each cut three again, to make into nine parts total. Roll nicely into balls and place on floured pan.

Let rest and rise for twenty minutes.

Fire oven.

When dough is risen a bit and the oven is hot, cut buns with cooking shears in a cross as noted in pictures. And cook for an hour. Can be served as is (Done as fluffy rolls in picture above). Or split and toasted (Toasted with tapenade in picture above).

Homemade Tapenade (also adapted from this cookbook)

Black olives

Capers

Olive Oil (2 T)

Oregano 

Garlic

Blenderized. Chilled. The Best on Cheese Buns.

Mashed Potato Chicken Pot Pie

For lunch today I decided to make these little pot pies. I have a set of six little ramekins purchased at the kitchen store awhile back. They are about the size for creme brule. 

  

This is sort of a Shepard's pie interpretation. First I make the mashed potatoes and set aside. I finely dice shallots, celery, and carrots, and saute them in butter. Add cubed cooked chicken that was leftover from our chicken dinner the night before. 

  

Next I assemble the pot pies. I add some meat and vegetable mixture to each ramekin, filling it up about halfway. To each ramekin I add a tablespoon of jar chicken gravy. 

  

Now I get a Ziploc or such large baggie and scoop in a good amount of mashed potato. Snip off a corner and extrude the potatoes in a way where each dish will have little peaky peaks that will get golden brown. Add finely grated Parmesan to the top.

  

Cook in a dish that will collect any overflow at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. 

A small tasty bite for lunch.

Neanderthal Gazpacho (by The Mister)

The pound pound pounding was enough to wake up the cliche. I hadn't thought too much about blogging this until after the fact, or I could have gotten some cool chop chop chopping pictures and maybe even a small video of the action. Maybe next time. At least I caught this mess in time, and he proudly told me that it was His Very Own Recipe, Neanderthal Gazpacho!!!

Of course I Googled Gazpacho to see what came up (including my spelling of it, unbelievable that it's correct). I landed on this site only to discover the dish originated in Andalusian Spain. 

  

Wow, that's a cowinky dink! We took care of a couple of Andalusian goats for awhile and it's my Photostory Friday post on my other blog. Heck if others won't link me, I'll link myself. (That almost  sounded risque.)

I know you're dying for the recipe, so as told to me by him:

Ripe tomatoes picked from Judy's wonderful garden

Red onion

Cucumber, cut off skin

Bell pepper also fresh from garden (He usually uses a hot pepper, but my Bells are pretty tangy this year.) 

Parsley from garden

Garlic

Kiwi (and strawberries if available)

Everything is chopped up and then pulverized in his granite mortar and pestle. That's the Neanderthal part. He wanted me to be sure to tell you that neanderthals did not use mortar and pestles. I'll do a little research and get back to you on the origins on that which I should probably already know because I have a small collection.

Now combine all ingredients in one bowl and add to taste

Sea salt

Ground fresh black pepper Lots, he insists.

Juice of one lime

He then adds vinegar and extra virgin olive oil in a 3 to 12 ratio, tablespoons that is. It was at this time I entered the kitchen to find the above pre-clean up. I raced for my camera.

"Wait," I screamed. "Don't clean anything up! I'm going to blog your recipe!"

  

I can never tell if he's more amused or annoyed that I tell the world about us or our dirty kitchen, but I tell him, "Don't worry because nobody reads my blog anyway." I know that always makes me feel better.

Refrigerate soup overnight. In the morning, he scoops out a portion for lunch and adds more olive oil. He's an olive oil freak! He likes his soup chunky, but I noticed lots of recipes add bread cubes and blend it smooth. 

It's quite tasty.

Neanderthal Gazpacho

Oven Roasted Potato & Leek Soup

A little twist on this soup is to first oven roast the leeks and potatoes. It gives the finished product a greater depth of flavor. Yet the process is simple, it is a bit more time consuming.

  

First you cut and clean the white part of the leek and place on parchment paper in a shallow baking pan. Cut and quarter potatoes and place on parchment paper in a separate baking pan. Drizzle both with olive oil and liberally salt and pepper them. Roast at 350 degrees. 

  

The leeks (I used three) cook faster. So watch for doneness, a little charred on the edges and pull out when finish. Let the potatoes continue to cook until fork tender. Leeks took about 20 minutes. Potatoes took 45 minutes. This is why they are in separate baking dishes. 

  

When everything is cooked, proceed to make the soup. Saute one half of an onion finely diced and one quarter cup of celery chopped in a knob of butter for a few minutes. Add two minced garlic cloves, a one teaspoon each of dry mustard, ground cumin, and ground coriander. Add roasted vegetables and box chicken stock to cover. Simmer.

  

When the soup is grooving, turn off the heat and let sit. Get out your blender or immersion blender. I used a regular blender. In batches, liquefy. Return to pot and add milk to get a looser consistency. I suppose you could use stock or water if you wanted. I want the calcium, so milk is the ticket.

  

Turn on the stove top to heat (do not boil or heat too fast) and adjust seasoning if necessary. Served here with roasted chicken and sliced bread.

Ahhh Gratin Scalloped Yummy Potatoes

Last Spring when these photos were taken I went through a series of perfecting my Au Gratin dish. I looked at recipes and read about the purist forms, read about rustic forms, even engaged in a debate of whether it is called Au Gratin or Scalloped Potatoes. People have issues with these topics! 

  

After making and eating this dish a dozen or so times over a four month period, I think I figured it out. Each time I would experiment using a different potato or a mix of them. Same with the cheese and the milk products. There is no one way to make this dish. However I found one way that received a four star review from the mister. 

First of all, the liquids. Milk, heavy cream, half & half, water and/or chicken stock. About two cups total of some mix of those liquids. I like to use mostly milk and heavy cream with a half a cup of chicken stock.

  

Second goes the cheese. 8 oz of Tillamook Medium cheddar grated, plus an assortment of this and that if you have it on hand. If not just combine your favorites or use more cheddar. You'll need between 3 to 4 cups grated.

Thirdly you will need potatoes. This is where I went round and round. I have always used waxy potatoes to make this dish, reds, roses, whites. I tried a combo. I tried them alone. I tried Yukon golds, which are a little fluffier. The dish comes out fine and it re-heats well for leftovers and it is very filling. 

But then I tried Russets. Pealed, sliced with the mandolin (not too thin), and boiled in salted water until fork tender. It doesn't take long because they are sliced. And yes I know it's a hassle to get a big pot of water to boil for something that is going cook in the oven for an hour, but this step gives the dish an incredible texture. So light like a souffle. Please try it.

Onward. Make the sauce first. In a small frying pan, melt 3 Tablespoons of butter with two cloves of minced garlic. When foamy, add 3 Tablespoons of all purpose flour. Fry a little bit. Don't let it get too brown. You have a roux.

Put the roux in a medium saucepan. Heat the two cups of liquid in the microwave for two minutes. Pour in saucepan that is now on medium heat and stir. Add grated cheese by the handful and continue to stir.

When thicken you will have a lovely cheese sauce. Taste for seasoning. It's probably salty enough because cheese is usually salted.

Cut and boil potatoes. Strain and put into baking dish. Pour cheese sauce into dish and give a little shake to make sure it is in all the layers. Do not stir.

Bake covered for 45 minutes and then uncover for the final 15 minutes. Allow to sit for about 10 to 20 minutes. Plate up. 

Shown here with crispy bacon and steamed asparagus.

Harvest Pantry Soup

This is my new site, well, actually it's an old site revamped, now titled Judy's Garden and Recipes. Since much of my creating in the kitchen is due to the inspiration of my garden, I thought to combine. So this will be a double post with my main blog, Judy's Notebook to get it going and hopefully I will have enough to say to keep it alive. 

My recipe tonight is Harvest Pantry Soup. In my garden I have zucchini, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes available for this soup. In the pantry I have canned beans, Orzo pasta, and chicken stock. 

This is an easy side dish to dinner or a quick main dish for lunch. I saute (all finely chopped) half an onion, two stalks of celery, and carrots in olive oil for a few minutes. Add to that dried oregano and basil, some cumin and ground coliander, and a bit of cayenne. And fresh garlic, minced. 

Cook for a bit. To that add a can of beans and 8 oz of chicken stock. Get to full burble and add a small amount of the pasta called Orzo. 

To this add chopped vegetables like green beans and zucchini, and simmer for awhile. 

When ready to serve, spoon into a bowl and add chopped tomatoes and shredded cheese. Stir. Top with tortilla chips. And enjoy a healthy yummy harvest soup!

Five A Day Salad

I read somewhere that you can live 14 years longer if you do four simple things.

1.Drink in moderation

2.Exercise

3.Stop smoking

4.Eat five helpings of fruits and vegetables a day

1. through 3. check, but 4. - not always. 

So here's my Five A Day Salad

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 kiwis cubed

1 mango cubed

1 tomato cubed and de-seeded (for the most part)

chopped parsley

lemon juice

salt and pepper.

Ta - Da! An easy salad perfect along side a baked chicken breast.