Guinness Bread

And, no, this isn't a sacrilegious waste of Guinness -- I got the recipe in Ireland, so it is totally approved. And to make things easier, I converted it from metric to U.S.

1-1/8 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C rolled oats (old-fashioned oats), plus a bit extra for decoration
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 C milk
3/4 C buttermilk
1/4 C molasses (Irish recipe says black treacle)
1-1/8 Tablespoon melted butter
1/3 C Guinness.

Preheat oven to 375 F.
 Mix dry ingredients and set aside. 
Bring all wet ingredients to room temperature, mix, and mix with dry ingredients. The batter will be very wet.
Bake at 375F for about 45 minutes if using a standard metal loaf pan. (The Irish recipe said 190 C for 1 hour and 10 minutes, which seemed too long; maybe they use a different type of baking

pan, perhaps ceramic?) Meanwhile, drink the rest of the bottle of Guinness. Or the rest of the six-pack, your call. As with all quick breads, let it cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing so it won't crumble. It will still be warm enough to melt butter.

Whole wheat sandwich bread

I can't claim credit for this recipe, so I will just share the link. This loaf slices really well for sandwiches or toast, as long as you have a good serrated bread knife. And you can slice it fairly thinly without it crumbling, which is not always the case with homemade bread.

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-basic-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-167267

The one thing I do differently is that I don't haul out the stand mixer. I just mix it by hand and knead it by hand, because for me, that's one of the two best things about making homemade bread. Also, because it is the way I was taught, I do scald the milk, even if it's just by zapping it in the microwave. Just be sure to let it cool to "body temp" before adding to the yeast mixture.

The recipe is almost exactly the same as my late father's recipe for whole wheat bread, except his makes six loaves, and that's too much for me. Two loaves, I can deal with.

Unlike most homemade breads, which, because they don't have preservatives, usually dry out overnight, this lasts several days, especially if you put it in a plastic bag after it has completely cooled. And it freezes well, again, in a heavy duty plastic bag with as much air sucked out as you can manage. I'm pretty sure that the honey is what helps keep it so long, so it might not work as well if you were substituting brown sugar or something because you were out of honey (you'd need to add a little more liquid as well in that case).

Crispy Peach Crisp

After making a recipe for peach cobbler that turned out just awful -- soggy topping, overcooked, jammy filling -- and learning that my nephew had experienced the same problem, I set out on a quest to make a crispy peach crisp, and to make it with frozen peach slices, since those are available year round. What I've come up with is the recipe below. There seem to be a few key elements to making it crisp.
1) Macerate the peaches first by putting some sugar on them and letting that draw out some of the juice. You add some, but not all, of the juice back in later.
2) Bake the topping separately. In fact, you can bake a batch of topping and store it for a couple of days, probably longer. Which leads to
3) Put the topping on after you cook the peaches, and only on the portions you are using, so it doesn't sit around getting soggy.
I also wanted to make this less sweet than is often the case. If you like really sweet desserts, add more sugar to the filling. But try it this way first -- it tastes more like real peaches and less like peach preserves!
Cooking time is based on using 4-inch ramekins. It might actually be less if you spread the peaches in a thinner layer in a bigger pan, so if you do that, keep an eye on them.

For two 4-inch ramekins, which is two generous servings, I used a 1-pound package of frozen peaches.
The night before (if not using frozen peaches, you could macerate them an hour or so before):
Put the frozen peaches in a bowl with 1 or 2 Tablespoons of sugar, cover and store overnight in the fridge, to thaw and macerate.

Topping (this can also be made ahead):
If you have a silicone baking sheet liner or parchment paper, use that with a sheet pan or cookie sheet; if you don't have one, butter the baking pan.
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup, packed, dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 Tablespoons butter, cut in pieces
Mix the dry ingredients together and then use your clean fingers to squish in the butter. You actually want there to be some bigger lumps, like the size of a blueberry, and smaller grains.
Spread in one layer on the prepared pan. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, stirring about halfway through. Let cool. Break up any large pieces. If not using immediately, store in airtight container.

Peach filling:
Pour the peach juice that has accumulated into another container.
To 1/4 cup of that juice, add 2 T sugar, 3 tsp. lemon juice (fresh), 1/4 tsp ginger (fresh), 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1 T cornstarch and mix well. (If you like your desserts sweeter, add more sugar.)
Gently stir this concoction into the peaches. Divide between two ramekins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. If not using the ramekins, watch for the filling to be hot and bubbly and getting thick. 
Remove from oven and and topping.
Serve.
(You could be really decadent and add ice cream or whipped cream.)

Spicy Cashew Chicken

(this is almost a General Tso's chicken with cashews added! so it would still be good if you don't have cashews on hand)
I adapted this from a recipe for "Slow-Cooker Cashew Chicken" that a friend shared on Facebook.  I make mine in a cast-iron Dutch oven, because you have to get a pan dirty anyway to brown the chicken before it goes into the crockpot, and in the Dutch oven it only takes an hour to finish, instead of 3 to 4 in the slow cooker on low. Your choice, but I'd rather eat sooner and only clean one pan.

Parts list:

• 2 lbs. chicken: I prefer bone-in thighs for the flavor, but you can use boneless, skinless thighs or even boneless, skinless breasts to reduce the fat and not have to fish out bones when you are eating. If you buy breasts, you should probably cut them in half.
• Cooking oil.
• 3 T cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. black pepper, depending on your taste buds
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (original recipe called for half a cup, which was WAY too much)
• 3 Tbs. ketchup
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons of sweet chili sauce. Do yourself a favor and buy the real stuff in the international aisle.
• 4 Tbs. vinegar -- rice wine if you have it, but any kind will do
• 2 to 4 Tbs. brown sugar. Start with 2, then add more if needed after you taste the sauce.
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. (or more) grated fresh ginger
• 3 "bams" of cayenne pepper, less if you're timid
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup or so of cashews

Put the cornstarch and pepper in a gallon zip-top bag and shake to mix. Add chicken pieces and shake to coat. Set aside.

Put everything else except the cashews into a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine. Taste it to see if you need more sugar, which may depend on what kind of vinegar you used./

 Put enough oil in the dutch oven to cover the bottom about 1/8 inch deep. Add the coated chicken pices and brown on each side, about 3 minutes each but maybe more or less depending on your pan and your burner.

At this point you can dump everything (except the cashews) into a slow cooker and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. If you don't mind soggy cashews, you could even add them.
Or you can add the onions and the sauce mixture to the Dutch oven, slap a lid on and pop it in the oven for an hour at 300 degrees, which is what I do.

That still gives you plenty of time to make rice, or whatever you want to serve it with. I like couscous or quinoa, or brown rice.

About 10 minutes before the hour is up, add the cup of cashews. If the sauce seems too thin, you can whisk up a tablespoon or two of cornstarch in a quarter cup of cold water and add it to thicken the sauce. Usually enough of the coating will have fallen off the chicken to take care of things.

This makes 4 to 6 servings, mostly depending on what kind of chicken you used and how many pieces there were to start with, plus how hungry everyone is. it is great leftover.

You could easily add more vegetables to this.

 

Asperges avec champignons et sauce veloute

(Asparagus with mushrooms and veloute sauce)

This is my salute to  spring in France. It's not the way they serve it in Alsace but close to how they serve it in Paris. 

Butter
Cremini mushrooms -- about a cup, sliced
Asparagus -- one bundle, touch stems snapped or cut off
Flour
Veal stock (I used the kind in the carton from Kitchen Essentials), room temperature, about 2 cups
Cream, about  a cup although you could use less or even skip, but that's your problem
salt and pepper
shallot, about 1 Tbsp, minced
white wine (optional, but who am I kidding?)
1 saucepan
1 saute pan or frying pan with lid
wire whisk


Saute the shallot and mushrooms in a tablespoon or two of butter over medium heat, adding salt and pepper.  Add a splash of white wine.
Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup flour and whisk vigorously for a minute or so. Add the flour and whisk some more until there are no lumps. Slowly add the veal stock, whisking constantly.  If sauce gets too thick, add more veal stock. Cook on low-medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
Lay the asparagus spears on top of the mushrooms and cover with lid. Cook only until just barely tender (al dente) and still bright green, unless you like your asparagus grey, limp and soggy, in which case I feel sorry for you.
Take the veloute sauce off the heat and whisk in the cream. Taste it and add salt and pepper as needed. Don't skimp on the pepper.
Put some asparagus and mushrooms on a plate and pour the sauce over it. You probably will want to grab some bread to get every last drop of sauce.

Easy As Pie

Mincemeat pie, 2014, with piecrust made by me and my sister.

The first time I set out to make a pie on my own – I think I was in Minnesota at the time and going to bring one to an “orphan’s Thanksgiving” potluck of friends who, like me, were missing out on the big family gathering – I called my Mom for her “never-fail” pie crust recipe and advice. It didn’t occur to either of us that I could just buy a piecrust or even a pie, by the way. But she did tell me a great story about the first time she tried to bake a pie.

Now, you have to realize, that Mom, in my mind, was an expert pie maker. Thanksgiving and Christmas always meant at least two mincemeat pies and two pumpkin. In the summer, we had rhubarb custard pie (rapture), peach pie (ecstasy), cherry pie (enchantment).  Cherry pie was also a yummy tradition for Washington’s birthday; in February, of course, that meant using canned cherry pie filling or, back when we were lucky enough to still have our own cherry tree, home canned or frozen cherries. Apple pie, you bet, because apples were always available. And she really did make it look “as easy as pie.”

But then, on the phone, she told me the story about the first pie she tried to make. A newlywed who had worked as a bookkeeper and hadn’t done much cooking, she decided to try baking a pie to surprise Dad. It was a miserable failure, and before he got home from work, she snuck it into the garbage can so he wouldn’t even see it. (Dad was a good cook himself and came from a cooking family; Grandma used to work in restaurants. Truck stop kind of restaurants, where pie was and is kind of a big deal.)

So this woman who was now an expert pie maker confessed that her first try was a flop, and told me not to worry if I didn’t get that crust right the first time, even though it’s called “never-fail.” Just roll it out and try again. Or at worst, start over – it’s just Crisco and flour and a little salt. Yeah, I struggled at first, but now I’m not intimidated.

This was in the late ‘70s, I think, or maybe early ‘80s. In 2014 I taught my younger sister how to make piecrust and told her Mom’s story.

And here’s the recipe for two piecrusts, which is good for one fruit pie or two like pumpkin that don’t want a top crust:

n ¾ C. Crisco, chilled (Mom keeps Crisco in the fridge; I don’t keep it on hand, so of course for a few years I was using the room temperature Crisco I had purchased just to make pie crust, and that’s not a good idea. Chill it at least overnight.)

n 2 cups all-purpose flour

n 1 tsp. salt. Do not forget to add this. You’ll still have pie crust but it will taste very bland. I know people who also add other things to the piecrust dough, like a little cinnamon if they are making pumpkin pie. I haven’t, but I see the point.

Use a pastry blender to mix those together in a large bowl, until you don’t have any globs of fat or little piles of flour. The standard description is to have particles the size of small peas. The concept is to have all the fat coated with flour and vice versa.

Put 3 Tablespoons of those particles into a small bowl, add 5 Tablespoons of very cold water and stir with a fork to make a paste. Add that back into the large bowl and mix only until you can press the dough together into two balls roughly equal in size (actually, for a fruit pie, one can be a little bigger because the bottom crust needs to be a little bigger when it is rolled out).

Use a pastry board that is well-dusted with flour and a rolling pin that is also well-dusted. Don’t press down too hard when you are rolling it out, and be sure to keep flour on the board and the pin.

Most pies need to bake at 450 or 425 for the first 15 minutes; some need to be turned down to 350 after that; depends on the filling, so follow the recipe for the kind of pie you are making.

Pie shown is mincemeat pie, using "store-bought" mincemeat. The church ladies used to make it from scratch as a fundraiser. I do have the recipe they use, but it makes 100 quarts. So I use what I can buy, add an apple and a little booze (Cointreau, Grand Marnier, brandy, Chambord -- it's all good). Bake it at 450 for 15 minutes, then at 350 for another 15.

Kale hash with potatoes, mushrooms, onion  and bacon

This is a really easy side dish that serves four. It is also very flexible, in that you could add or change out ingredients. It takes less than half an hour including all prep.

2 russet potatoes
1/2 onion (or more if you want!)'
2 or more big handfuls of kale, washed and stripped from the stems unless it's baby kale with tender stems
5 or so "baby bella" cremini mushrooms or whatever kind you have
4 to 6 strips of bacon

Fry the bacon and remove from skillet. Unless there's a lot of bacon fat in the skillet, add a little canola oil.
Peel and slice the potatoes and start frying them, medium. Be sure to salt and pepper them and add any other seasoning you like, such as smoked paprika. Clean and slice the mushrooms and dice the onion and throw them in. Stir a little to turn the potatoes over. If there is too much sizzling at any point, just turn the heat down. Wash the kale and tear or cut from the stems and into pieces no bigger than 2 inches or so, and add it on top. You might add just a splash of white wine at this point. I did. Cover the skillet and cook for about 10 minutes. Cut up that bacon and put it on top and cook another minute or so. Test to see that the potatoes are tender. When they're done, stir and serve.


I served with baked shrimp. There are none of those left to photograph. I used 1/2 pound of shrimp for two people. The kale hash photo is of what's left after two people had it! The leftovers will reheat fine and I may add a little cheese!

But for the shrimp: Peel and devein, toss with a little oil and season with Old Bay or a mixture of salt, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder and ginger. Put on a sheet pan and bake at 350 for 4 minutes. Turn 'em over and turn the oven off and take them out after a minute or two.
You could even save a pan by adding the shrimp to the skillet about 5 minutes before everything else is done (after the kale). Or you could cook the shrimp in the bacon fat before the potatoes, take the shrimp out when they are done and add back at the last minute.

This would be good with cut up apples or pears instead of or in addition to potatoes. If you don't eat bacon, you could leave it out. Won't be as good, but that's your call.You could add just about any veg, as long as you put the slower-cooking ones in early and the quicker-cooking ones in toward the end.