Peach Cobbler
Posted on 4 July 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
We went ot a BBQ at our neighbor’s house this afternoon. A fun time with lots of food and drink. I got to bring dessert!
For the 4th, I wanted something slightly traditional, but with a bit of a twist. Enter Tim’s Peach Cbbler!
I marinated the peaches overnight in Cointreau… Into the dish they went with a bit of sugar, cinnamon, corn starch, and allspice.
For the topping I took a scone recipe and twisted the concept a bit. I flattened it out, brushed with melted butter and then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. I rolled it up cinnamon-roll-style, cut, and put on top. Into the oven for about 20 minutes and dessert was served!
It was yummy!
Here’s thre scone recipe I used for the topping:
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2 cups all purpose flour
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1/3 cup sugar
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2 teaspoons baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
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1 cup whipping cream
Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Gradually add 1 cup cream, mixing until dough comes together. Pat to 1/2-inch thick rectangle.
Spread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll, slice, and place on fruit.
Bake at 400° about 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
Simplicity-and sooooooo good!
A Simple Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Posted on 1 July 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
Toasted bread and melted cheese… What could possibly be better?!? Using two types of cheese and adding salsa and olives is a start!
I did these under the broiler because I wanted them quickly… I drizzled a bit of olive oil on one side of the bread and lightly toasted it under the broiler.
Then came a slice of Jalapeno Jack and Salsa on one slice, and Havarti with Dill and Caramalized Olive Spread on the other. Back under the broiler until gooey, and then put together, sliced, and consumed.
It was a great taste sensation! 
We do not do boring sandwiches at our house! (Okay… that is completely untrue - I just don’t write about them!)
Iron Chef Barbecue
Posted on 29 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
Kenny’s leaving - being transferred to Ardmore. This is a tough good-bye. Kenny started our Iron Chef competitions. While it’s a good move for him, it shall leave a void in our Culinary Competitions unless someone else steps up to the plate right away. I am bereft. I have never won one of the competitions, but I’ve always walked away with a full stomach and a lot of ideas.
His last day with us is Thursday, July 3rd, so, in honor of his last day, we’re having Iron Chef Barbecue. The rules of the past competitions don’t apply this time. It’s a wide-open dish-has-to-come-from-the-grill-event. I’m ready.
Today, I made sausage. A bit of an Asian-inspired recipe. Victor’s mom - the consumate Italian Mother - was over as I was boning the pork and starting the marinade. She could not believe I was actually putting soy sauce and other Asian-type ingredients in the marinade. She thinks in terms of Italian Sausage. Mild or Spicy. Certain foods are sacrosanct. (She wouldn’t touch the Amaretto Pizzelle’s I made years ago, only to begrudgingly say they were “okay” when I made them again the following year.) But I digress…
I bought an 8 1/2 pound bone-in pork shoulder and boned and marinated it in:
- Soy Sauce
- Chinese Rice Wine
- Sriracha Sauce
- Fish Sauce
- Black Pepper
I ground it up with:
- Onions
- Peaches
- Cilantro
- Black Sesame Seeds
And then stuffed it into casings.
I’m heading out to the grill right now to cook some up for dinner at Victor’s brother’s house.
Lookin’ good.
And they taste GREAT!!!
Excellent Enchiladas
Posted on 28 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
We’ve been cooking up a storm at work, recreating all of the recipes submitted for the recipe contest. It has not been an easy task. We actually received too many good recipes! (okay - so everyone should have such a problem!)
And the tastes linger well after leaving work and coming home…
One recipe today did just that. It’s a Chicken and Blue Cheese Dip. The flavors mixed well and the tasting panel really thought it would make a great filling for something like crepes, or even whole wheat tortillas (besides its original intent as a dip!) In our personal cooking, we don’t limit ourselves to a few ingredients, and the ideas were flying - crisp steamed vegetables folded in and rolled into a crepe was one of my favorites. I think it’s a sign we’re all pretty serious foodies (or totally nuts - you be the judge!) when the first thing out of our mouths is what else we could do with something…
So I got home tonight and started thinking about dinner, and thought that a chicken and blue cheese enchilada would be the ticket!
The only actual ingredient I had at home from the original recipe was the chicken breasts. But did that stop me?!? Of course not!
I poached the chicken breasts in water. I added garlic powder, turmeric, cumin, and chipotle powder and let the chicken stew.
Into a bowl I crumbled a bit of roquefort cheese and sour cream. I added a bit of cheddar for body and balance. I have some Calypso Hot Sauce (really, really hot!) and added a few drops for heat.
I made an enchilada sauce from a half-jar of Salsa Autentica, a can of tomato sauce, and a bit of the simmering chicken water.
I rolled the filling in corn tortillas, topped with sauce, and baked at 350° for about 20 minutes. I also made rice and served it all with sour cream and a quickly-prepared uacamole.
Dinner start-to-finish was about 45 minutes.
And I am pleasantly stuffed.
Salad For Dinner
Posted on 27 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
‘Tis the season to eat salads! I love ‘em!
Tonight was a clean-out-the-refrigerator-salad. My favorite kind.
I started off with the greens and then added two types of plums, peaches, and strawberries. Then there were the blue cheese and/or garlic-stuffed olives… avocados… tomatoes… grilled chicken breasts… and a creamy dressing…
It was a definite stomach-smiler!
Baked Pasta
Posted on 27 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
It is so nice to have another cook in the house! Really, really nice!
My main computer decided not to play nice the other day and I’ve been spending a lot of time getting things moved to the backup disk. I auto-backup every couple of days, but… I wanted to transfer some stuff onto the laptop. And I wanted to reformat the main computer - just in case - before bringing it in for service. Believe it or not, I can get rather narrowly focused when working on the ol’ computer. It was fantastic knowing that someone was taking care of the culinary needs.
And Victor - fantastic cook that he is - took care of them with style!
He made a baked tortellini that was to die for! OMG YUM!
He made a great meat sauce, with fesh herbs from the garden, mixed in tortellini, and quattro formaggio… added more sauce and baked.
And a basket of garlic bread made from the Puglia rolls I made the other day and dinner was served!
It was a perfect meal and it gave me the strength to make that phone call to {{{shudder}}} Circuit City.
Pugliese Rolls
Posted on 23 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
Well… that biga from a few weeks back has been taking up space in the ‘fridge, so I decided I had to do something with it,. today. This is such a totally easy bread to make, I have no excuses.
I follwed the direction exactly as stated with the original recipe but made it into rolls instead of loaves. I baked at 450° for about 20 minutes.
And then - because I now had these fabulous rolls, I had to make sandwiches for dinner!
I marinated chicken breasts in Dale’s Marinade, pounded them, then grilled. On the rolls went Duke’s Mayonnaise (which is as good as I was told! It’s my new favorite!!!) and then avocado, tomato, and roasted peppers. The sandwiches were total messes! It took me 4 napkins to get through - and it was worth every one of them!
I’m stuffed. I’ve been doing some serious eating all day.
And there’s still Peach Upside Down Cake in the kitchen…..
Hot Taco Dip
Posted on 23 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
I don’t often make the items we serve for Demos at home. By the time we’ve tried it, tested it, and served it for several days, I’m usually looking for something else. There are, of course, exceptions. I would like to introduce you to one!
Jessica and I were working on Saturday and we were trying to come up with something to serve the week of July 4th. We have our July 4th weekend covered (recipe contest winner) but we needed something right before that. We were thinking July 4th weekend party food, and I said “Hot Taco Dip.” We have the ability to cook from raw, now, so ground beef was an automatic ingredient. We al;so have wanted to feature our new Corn Chip Dippers - totally yummy Frito-like corn chips that are not only organic, but downright yummy! We spoke back and forth for a few minutes and Jessica disappeared. She reappeared not long after with one of the best damn dishes I have tasted in a long time! It is just woinderful.
I made a batch for lunch today and Victor was swooning! This will definitely be going to my next party - and most likely become part of the lunch/dinner rotation. It can be changed by using different cheeses and different salsas. But here is the perfect original:
Hot Taco Dip
- 1 lb ground beef, cooked
- 1 container whipped cream cheese
- 1/2 jar Salsa Autentica
- 1 cup Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend
- Corn Chips
Cook beef. Stir in cream cheese, salsa, and about 3/4 of the shredded cheese. Place all in an ovenproof dish or bowl and top with remaining cheese.
Heat at 350° until heated through.
Serve with Corn Chips and enjoy!
I ate way more than I should have. My stomach is smiling!
Peach Upside Down Cake
Posted on 22 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
We have peaches! And for the first time in a long time, we seem to have good peaches! My stomach is smiling!
But after all the savory peach dishes a few days ago, I thought it time to revisit an old favorite - Peach Upside Down Cake.
Pineapple may be the more traditional fruit, but absolutely anything can be used in an upside down cake. i have used everything from Apricots to Grapes, Peaches, Apples, Bananas… You get the picture. They all work.
I use a 12″ cake pan because I have a 12″ cake pan! Otherwise, I’d use a 12″ skillet like my mother used to do.
Peach Upside Down Cake
The Topping (or bottom…)
Melt between a half to 3/4 stick butter and pour into pan. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of butter. Arrange fruit in pan to look nice when you take it out of the pan. Don’t crowd the fruit - you want the batter to reach the bottom of the pan.
The Cake:
There are Bisquik recipes out there, sponge cakes, boiling water cakes, all sorts of things for upside down cakes. I suppose any of them wopuld work. It’s what you’re used to, I guess.
I make a basic yellow cake and replace the vanilla with whatever flavoring I’m making the cake. If you don’t have a cabinet full of flavorings, just use vanilla. If you’ve never baked a cake from scratch before, this is a really easy one to make. Or… use a mix. BUT… choose a mix that does NOT have partially-hydrogenated fat in it. (Almost all of them do…)
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla (or flavoring of choice…)
- 3/4 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350°. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla or flavoring to milk. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. Don’t overmix, but batter should be smooth.
Carefully pour over fruit and bake 30-35 minutes or until cake is done.
(You can also use this recipe as a layer cake! 2-9″ pans, greased and floured, and bake about 20-25 or so minutes.)
It really is that simple!
Niçoise Salad
Posted on 22 June 2008 under Food Stuff | No Comments
Elizabeth brought a recipe into work the other day for a simple Niçoise salad as a possible demo. We looked at it, studied it, thought about it, and decided, It doesn’t have potatoes in it - it’s not a real Niçoise… We decided against it.
But since then, it’s been on my mind…
So… today was the day to take care of it! It’s a fairly basic salad. And really good. I had a couple of swordfish steaks in the freezer and used them in place of the more traditional tuna. And the olives were a combination of stuffed olives we already had in the fridge, as well.
Niçoise Salad
Dressing:
- large clove of garlic
- 2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
- 1/4 olive oil
- bit of anchovy paste
- salt and pepper, to taste
Mince garlic, add vinegar and then oil and anchovy paste. Season with S&P to taste.
Salad:
- small red potatoes cookes, sliced and cooled
- green beans, blanched
- diced red pepper
- 1/2 small red onion, slivered lengthwise
- Niçoise olives
- capers
- slivered fresh basil leaves
The Fish
- fresh lemon juice
- swordfish steaks
The Toppings:
- chopped hard-cooked eggs
- tomatoes
Marinate fish in a bit of lemon juice and olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill to desired doneness.
Cook potatoes, blanch beans and cool to room temperature. Place in bowl and add remaining ingredients - except chopped eggs. Add swordfish (or tuna) and dressing and mix lightly. Top with chopped eggs and enjoy!
We had enough left over for lunch tomorrow!