Scratch-Made Meals ... With Help

It's been a slow week for me, creatively. My allergies (tree pollen, thanks) have been absolutely crazy, and I've been dealing with a bit of a sinus infection on top of that.

But, we had steak, chicken, and a small ham to make before they went bad.

So, on Monday, we had "Island Soyaki" marinated grilled strip steak with wok-steamed vegetables and rice noodles. (The "help" was the linked sauce ... and the pre-cut stir-fry vegetables.)

Yesterday, for Cinco de Mayo, we had tequila-lime cilantro marinated chicken fajitas. 

I made the marinade myself on Monday with about a cup of fresh cilantro, the juice of 3 limes, a smashed garlic clove, salt, pepper, and some olive oil. (Toss everything except the oil in the blender & blend; while blending, drizzle about 1/4-cup of olive oil into the mixture, 'til everything is smooth. Place chicken in a zip-top baggie & empty blender into the bag. Massage to coat & marinate 12-24 hours.)

Today, we had baked glazed ham with box mac & cheese and steamed broccoli. 

Tomorrow, we'll probably have leftover ham & cheese pocket pies. (I'll likely use refrigerated biscuit dough for the pie crusts.)

Soda Bread - Not Just for St. Patrick's Day!

Because I'm on a bread-making kick, I decided to try making soda bread this past weekend.

I found a lovely recipe, courtesy of a back-issue of Bon Appetit magazine online.

It was fairly easy to assemble, I had almost all of the ingredients in the house already, and the only change I made was to add a generous handful of golden raisins (because I hate caraway seeds) ... which was unnecessary.

Now, if you like your soda bread sweet and more like a scone than like sandwich bread, this recipe isn't for you.

However, if you simply want an excuse to eat lots of Irish butter on toasted brown bread, this is a good option.

I simply want an excuse to eat lots of Irish butter on toasted brown bread, so this recipe was perfect. Just don't add raisins; they don't enhance it.

However, I'm still in the market for a sweeter, more scone-like recipe, where raisins would be more welcome. 

Yeast, Dough, and Homemade Bread

I could probably make this a series, because there's a lot to be said about that staple of civilization, bread.

Among my early, very happy, childhood memories are ones spent with my mother in our dim, 1940s-relic kitchen, baking or sewing. One of my favorite times to spend with my mother was bread day, even if I couldn't stand the bread she made (it included orange zest, to which I don't object in certain applications, buuuut ... not in bread) I'd wash my hands, grab one of Mom's aprons, and we'd both knead the dough on the breadboard.

The smells of yeast blooming, dough proofing, and bread baking are so comforting!

These days, it would appear that the "in" thing to do among certain types of food people (and some kinds of diet-overhaul people) is to bake one's own bread. So there are an abundance of no-knead bread recipes in cookbooks and online.

I tried one of these the other day, because I wanted bakery rolls to go with reheated meatballs and sauce, though I departed from my normal "follow the recipe exactly the first time" procedure to try and incorporate white whole wheat flour into the mix for a bit of extra fiber and nutrition.

While the dough turned out fairly well, the resultant rolls and boule loaf were a bit more dense than either my husband or I wanted, and the kid wouldn't touch it.

I'll re-make it at some point, but I'll happily follow the recipe exactly for a lighter texture.

If I'm going to work with the whole wheat flour again, I'll simply have to look into a kneaded dough recipe.

Spring Has (Finally!) Sprung

This past Sunday was designated by the folks who decide such things as "National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day."

So, of course, it made perfect sense to serve grilled cheese.

But what kind of sides should we pair with it?

It was a lovely, warm day and I thought that something with acidity would be a great foil for the richness of the buttery, cheesy goodness that is a grilled cheese sandwich.

Naturally, my thoughts turned to tabbouleh. (Don't yours?)

Now, making this decision at 3pm and having the intention to serve dinner by 6pm doesn't allow for the use of bulgur, which needs to be soaked prior to use, so I opted for quick-cook couscous.

I also omitted the tomatoes that usually add color to an otherwise Very Green dish in favor of cucumbers, because they pair well with mint.

Parsley (1 generous bunch, finely chopped), mint (1 sprig, leaves only, finely chopped), couscous, the juice of 1 good-sized lemon, two diced Persian cucumbers (they look like seedless pickling cucumbers) and 1/4 cup of olive oil later and I had a nice couscous salad resembling tabbouleh.

And, yes, it paired very nicely with grilled cheese.

Ratatouille

When I was a kid, my mother made a version of ratatouille with chicken.

I hated it. 
My dad used to refer to it as "chicken rat's tail." 
That didn't help.

The flavors were muddy, the chicken was rubbery, and, inevitably, there would be an alcoholic residue in the stew (I'm going to assume her recipe called for white wine ... and Mom doesn't really drink) and I just plain could NOT get past the way everything stewed together.

So, when my 5-year-old saw "Remy's Ratatouille With Poached Eggs" on Disney Junior and insisted we were going to cook it "for Daddy," I have to admit I had a kind of Proustian moment thinking about that childhood experience and comparing it to the dish we saw on screen. 

Seeing as how it's Friday, and I'm on a no-meat-on-Friday kick, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try the recipe.

Please note, this isn't a version of the one from the animated film, Ratatouille, which uses mandoline-sliced vegetables in kind of a gratin method, but rather a variation on the actual peasant-stew.

In other words, it's closer to my mom's than Pixar's.

And ... 


... I like this one fine.

Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day

Yep. It's that time of year again. The time of year an old buddy of mine used to call "amateur night." When young folks make excuses to drink themselves silly, bagel shops dye perfectly good bagels green, and bars dye (really cheap) beer the same shade. 

For Americans, this also means corned beef and cabbage.

For my husband, this means ... corned beef and some kind of potato, because he's not fond of cabbage.

A few years ago, we started cooking ours in the slow cooker. Water doesn't add any flavor, so we used ... beer.

Irish beer.

And pickle juice. (Really.)

This year's is simmered in Smithwick's with a dose of Claussen kosher dill pickle juice.

And I'm having mine with sauerkraut. And a nice, foamy, Guinness.

What could be more American?

Happy Pi(e) Day!

To those of us who (a) are mathematically inclined and (b) write our dates in MM/DD/YY format, today, March 14th, is "Pi Day."

For double the geek-cred, it's also Princeton's celebration of Albert Einstein's birthday. 

At any rate, in case you didn't know, pi (or π, if you prefer) is an irrational number that represents the ratio between the diameter of a circle and its circumference. Expressed as a fraction, it's ²²⁄₇  which is 3.1415926 ... in decimal. Short-handed, it's 3.14.

So, this unofficial celebration of geekery leads to a lot of people making (and eating) pies and a lot more making (bad) puns.

I'm less inclined to do the math and more inclined to make bad puns.

And make pie.

Since we celebrated the munchkin's birthday today with her cousins from my side of the family, it seemed a great way to dish up some quiche ... er, refrigerator pie.

By request, I've also got some blueberry pie in the works.

Shopping List

• frozen pie crusts (4)
• refrigerated pie crusts (2)
• asparagus
• leeks
• bacon
• ham
• spinach
• Gruyere-Cheddar Melange cheese
• half-and-half
• lemons (yes, I realize the recipe called for orange, but I wanted lemon)
• frozen blueberries
• tapioca flour

Recipe Review - Good Eats Refrigerator Pie 

Ease of Preparation

Couldn't be easier, though I did make things a wee bit more complicated for myself by making all the fillings on the same day as I assembled each quiche.

AB calls this recipe (and a few like it) "refrigerator Velcro," meaning it can be a great way to use up random leftovers in the fridge.

I opted to make 3 - bacon-leek-Gruyere; spinach-ham-cheddar; and asparagus-smoked salmon. 

Assembly couldn't be simpler - follow the package instructions for your frozen pie crust to put them into the pan, evenly distribute your fillings of choice, being careful not to overfill, mix up the royale (custard), pour, and bake.

My 5-year-old helped me make the royale. She could probably help fill each pie shell if I'd let her!

My sister could totally do this. 

Specialty Equipment Required?

Nope.

I bought disposable pie tins to make cleanup and leftover distribution easier, but there's really no need to do that. Most people will be fine with their own pans.

Did my husband and daughter enjoy it? 

My husband tried the bacon-leek-Gruyere and didn't hate it, but I was also providing other food to make things work out - 7 adults with varying palates plus 5 children with varying degrees of pickiness means I also provided fruit and mini pastries.

My daughter wouldn't try it, but it's only because it's eggs, cheese, and whatever in an unfamiliar presentation.

Regular rotation-worthy?

Yes.

I'll keep this in my back pocket to make again for brunch.

RECIPE WIN.

Recipe Review - Good Eats Frozen Blueberry Pie

Ease of Preparation

It's rated "intermediate" at Food Network for a couple of reasons, mostly because it involves a lot of patience (you assemble the filling & then freeze it) and more than a little work (weaving a lattice from a pie crust, a step which I skipped in order to carve a π into the top crust. 

But, I think my sister would be fine with the steps.

Specialty Equipment Required?

Yes - you'll need something to mash half your blueberries with (I used a potato masher) and you'll need a 9" pie tin that can be put in the freezer. 

Did my husband and daughter enjoy it? 

I'll answer that question after dinner! The pie is currently cooling in the kitchen. 

Regular rotation-worthy?

Yes, but seasonal - while the thawed berries seemed to work out OK, I think it would be better with fresh.

And I'm waiting for June/July to pick some Jersey Fresh blueberries!!

WIN