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I found another wonderful cooking show on YouTube, Great Depression Cooking With Clara.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

"In each episode 94 year old Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era. Learn how to make simple yet delicious dishes while listening to stories from the Great Depression."

Clara's website
http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/

Clara's DVD includes of all the season 1 episodes plus 3 bonus episodes and behind the scenes footage. The DVD has a run time of over 100 minutes.
The DVD is sold exclusively at http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/dvd

She also has a cookbook, "Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression" available at book stores across the country and online at amazon and B&N.

totem

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

"The Pioneer Women Cooks" blog has a lot of good old fashioned cooking recipes for the whole family.
But two of my favorite things are the step-by-step photos and the hilarious remarks she makes in each entry.

Great recipes with good food and a rapier wit makes up a great food blog.

Here are a few examples:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/chicken-with-tomatoes-and-garlic/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/02/spreads-my-brothers-favorite-cookie/

angel_negra

I sort of collect cookbooks. Rather, I love them and Mom delights in finding more at garage sales and buying them for me. She got me an older book from the early 80s called: Freezing & Drying, an Ortho Book. Over all, I'm finding it to be a very useful book, as it breaks down various freezing and drying methods, and tends to give you a lot of alternatives for various methods, such as the ways to make syrups for freezing fruit. It also provides some handy tables and charts for over all freezing and drying of various food stuffs, as well as when certain foods are in season. It's a good book for both beginners or those more experienced but looking for new ideas.

One section I enjoyed was for a method of freezing some fruits/dairy as ice creams, sherbets or yogurts. Included in there is my new favourite ice cream, Lemon Ice Cream. I love this recipe, it's a flavour you rarely find, it's great for using up extra lemons, it's easy to make and it tastes so, so good.

The Requirements:
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Optionals:
8 to 10 lemon shells or boats
Fresh mint for garnish.

1 - In a large bowl, stir together cream and sugar until sugar dissolves. Blend in lemon peel and lemon juice.
2 - Pour mixture into a shallow pan. Freeze until firm. (about 4 hours.)
3 - Serve in lemon shells or boats or in dessert bowls, garnished with fresh mint leaves if desired. Or spoon into rigid freezer containers and store up to 2 months.

Yields 3 cups.

My notes:
- 2 cups of whipping cream is roughly what you can get in one of those little 500ml containers. (Probably obvious to a lot of people, but it was revelation to me the first time.)
- For the lemon peel, I like making my own fresh, and I've found that about 3 medium/large lemons gives me just enough lemon peel for a tablespoon. And then I juice the lemons for the juice needed and store the rest for other purposes. :D
- For freezing until firm, you don't need to cover the pan.
- I love the bit about 'rigid freezer containers', ah the years before tupperware was cheaper...

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Glittering Clouds - Imogen Heap

totem

Manjula's Kitchen is a great website for vegetarians and Indian cooking:

"Manjula is here to teach you simple and practical recipes that carry out the authenticity of Indian vegetarian cooking.

For new cooks and cooks new to Indian vegetarian cooking, the combination of video tutorials and written recipes will make it easier for you to understand the fundamentals in cooking Indian dishes. And even experienced chefs will pick up new techniques that will make cooking easier and more flavorful."

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Manjulaskitchen

starfish

Among our other adventures yesterday was a stop at a friend's house, to help her clean out her pantry in preparation for her move to Montreal. Among the cans and jars was a quart jar of peach palm fruit.

Does anyone have the faintest idea what this stuff is and/or what they taste like? The two recipes Osirus found online make me back away from the screen in horror. But they look so pretty!

Halp?

Current Mood: dorky

totem

If you like Japanese food this show, "Cooking With Dog - How To Make Japanese Dishes" is a good video tutorial at YouTube.

The show is hosted by Francis, the dog - his human does the actual cooking. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog

Playlist example of recipes: (there are 36 videos, so far)
How to Make Oden (Japanese Assorted Stew)
How to Make Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)
How to Make Skewered Tofu Dango (Japanese Sweet Dumplings)

cathouse_mary

This is a soup made for summer, and making it has always marked the last week of June. Here in Los Angeles, that is typically the week that the June gloom burns off and the electric meters spin blurringly fast as the temperatures reach 100F+.

6 large ripe tomatoes, cored and chopped - I leave the peel on.
1 large red onion, chopped
1 or 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped - I like to roast mine.
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp green onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped - can be roasted if you prefer.
Fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups chicken stock or plain tomato juice
Hot sauce to taste - I use plain Tabasco
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste - I put it on the table so everyone can do their own.

Combine all vegetable ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and toss with just enough lemon juice to coat.

Combine the red wine vinegar, the olive oil, the chicken stock./tomato juice in a blender, adding the vegetables a little at a time, pulsing just enough to have the vegetables just a bit chunky.

Leave in the fridge overnight to allow the flavors to blend.

Serve with bread, sliced cold ham, and cheese.

A good red wine or a cold beer is the perfect chaser, but tonight I am going to try this with a rose sangria.

delphi

I had a hankering for rolls and came across this recipe: http://annesfood.blogspot.com/2007/02/breakfast-rolls.html

As promised, they were easy to make and came out absolutely delicious. I halved the recipe to a dozen without any problems; and if you're like me and aren't able to get fresh yeast, here's a useful conversion chart that helped me figure out how much dry active yeast to use.

Copied:

makes about 24

50 g fresh yeast
50 g butter
500 ml milk
2 tsp salt
775 g flour (regular, white)

To glaze:
1 egg
poppy seeds (optional)

Melt the butter and add the milk. Heat this mixture until tepid. (About the same temperature as your finger.) Crumble the yeast into a bowl, and add some of the liquid. Stir until yeast is dissolved, then add the rest of the liquid, the salt and the flour.

Work until you have a smooth dough that doesn't stick to the bowl. Leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into equal sized pieces - I weighed mine, and found 50 g to be about the right size. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. Cut a cross in the top of each one, and place on a lined baking sheet. Cover with a towel and leave to rise for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 250°C. To glaze, beat an egg with a few drops of water, and brush the buns, using care so they don't deflate. Top with poppy seeds and sea salt if you want to. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until just lightly golden.

totem

Here's an link to a web video community for sharing recipes
http://www.imcooked.com/

Watch actor Christopher Walken roast a chicken with pears
http://www.imcooked.com/view_video.php?viewkey=5ff68e3e25b9114205d4

Or watch vincenzof cook parmesan puffs (and learning not to put the paper plate near an open flame and after it catches on fire, what happens when he tries to put it out with an oily utensil.) LOL!
http://www.imcooked.com/view_video.php?viewkey=bea6b5716254057a194e

Also, here's a link for something a little different
"Cookin' With Jolene The Trailer Park Queen Show"
http://www.youtube.com/user/JoleneSugarbaker

cathouse_mary

Hey, Northern Hemisphere types! Summer is coming in, and with it the desire for that perfect scoop of ice cream. Many years ago, my mother gave my a housewarming gift of an ice-cream maker and a copy of 'Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book.' The ice cream maker has worn out and been replaced three times in the twenty-two years since that day, but the recipes are just as delicious. Besides, have you ever read what's going in ice cream lately?

HFCS. Glycerols and glycerides. Sorbates. Gums and resins. Cellulose products. Polysaccharides. Phenols.

FORGET THAT! I want to have ice cream, not ice chemicals and milk.

Sweet Cream Base:

2 large eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (I find that as I get older, a lot of ice creams are just too sweet for me so I typically reduce the sugar)
2 cups heavy whipping cream (I use organic, some add thickeners like carrageenan or xanthan gum)
1 cup whole milk

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk hard for 1-2 minutes until light and foamy, then add the sugar a bit at a time. Whisk until the sugar is completely blended before adding more. Add the milk and cream, and whisk until all the sugar is dissolved.

Today, I added a mash of peaches - about two cups to the base - pureed and chunked, sweetened very slightly with sugar and a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg.

One of my favorite things is to make a cold drip coffee concentrate and add it to the base. Yummy and not too sweet coffee ice cream!

Current Mood: satisfied

unit76

Throw this one into the trashy-eats category. From "Betty Crocker's Cookbook, New and Revised Edition including Microwave recipes". I made some of my own modifications, though.

CHICKEN-ASPARAGUS BAKE
1 package (10 ounces) frozen cut asparagus
1 package (3 ounces) smoked sliced chicken or turkey, cut up
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1 cup shredded process american cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Quick Cheese sauce (recipe below)

Cook asparagus as directed on package; drain. Arrange asparagus in ungreased square baking dish, 8x8x2 inches. Arrange chicken on asparagus; sprinkle with marjoram and sage. Mix cheese, milk, and eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt; spread over chicken. Cook uncovered in 350* oven until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with Quick Cheese Sauce. 6 SERVINGS.

QUICK CHEESE SAUCE
1 can (11 ounces) condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/3 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Heat ingredients just to boiling, stirring frequently.

The modifications I made were: I used fresh asparagus instead of frozen. 9 oz of smoked turkey deli meat instead of 3 oz. I omitted the marjoram and used a sprinkle of rosemary and garlic instead. I omitted the dry mustard from the cheese sauce and used a lot of lemon pepper instead, and stirred a little of the grated cheese I had left and an egg into the cheese sauce.

I had this for dinner last night and it was pretty good, though I'm sure quite fattening.

Current Mood: content

totem

Two of my favorite cooking websites are:

foodgawker - "a gallery where food bloggers can showcase their food and photography skills."
http://foodgawker.com/

nibbledish - "...gastronomic hub where every visit will bring inspiration and a rumbling belly."
http://www.nibbledish.com/

Both are communities where bloggers share recipes with mouthwatering photos collected in one place.

starfish

So, this is was my problem. There's a fabulous-looking cookie/biscuit recipe which is written for people cooking in Britain. All the measurements for the dry ingredients are in weight, not volume. I can find any number of ways to convert metric volume to something I can understand, but I am also dead positive that a cup of sugar weighs more than a cup of flour, so without a kitchen scale I seem to be unable to make these cookies (without a lot of trial-and-error which I frankly don't have the resources or patience for).

Or so I thought before one final Google-search.

Solution: A conversion thingy where you choose a substance and get the approximate weight per volume. OMG. I really love science a lot. Pardon me while I go make some ~~cookies~~ biscuits.

(Crossposted far and wide for the edification of all.)

Current Mood: bouncy

cathouse_mary

The freezer's packed, and the vegetable drawer needs some room made, and so I present...

Fridge Cleaner Ham-n-Bean Soup:

1 pound dried beans - soaked, washed, and picked
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 head chopped garlic
1 small white onion, chopped
1 cup carrots with skin on, sliced thin
1 cup of celery, sliced thin
1 large, meaty ham bone
2 quarts of liquid - I used 1 quart of chicken stock and 1 quart of vegetable stock.
2 tablespoons of coarse-ground prepared mustard
Bay leaves (I used three small ones)
1 cup diced potato - optional

In a heavy-bottomed stockpot, heat two tablespoons of olive oil and add the garlic, onion, celery and carrots and cook, stirring constantly until the onion is translucent. Add the ham bone, beans, mustard and bay leaves, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the beans are tender and the meat is falling off the ham bone. If you're adding the potato, do it about 45 minutes after you start the simmer.

If you need to add more liquid, try using a flavorful ale or porter, it's delish!

Remove the bone, chop the meat and add it back to the soup, then serve.

I'm serving this with my favorite bread recipe - from the New York Times and never-ever-fails:

( OMNOMNOMNOM )

Current Mood: hungry

writinginct

Does anyone have a good recipe for Tiramisu? I've never attempted it before but I have a craving after eating it out at a restaurant.

(for what it's worth my baking/cooking skill level is fairly high, and complicated recipes don't intimidate me)

Thanks!

delphi

A recent project motivated me to finally give some of my late grandmother's wonderful recipes a proper write-up, and on a grey day like today, all I can think about is the amazing meat pies she used to make. Anyone who likes duck (and really, who doesn't like duck?) simply must give this one a try.

Ingredients:

1 double pie crust*
1 duck
1 onion, finely chopped
4 tbsp. salt pork, cubed
2 cups chicken or duck stock
50 g. browned flour**
1 pinch cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
1/4 tsp. summer savory

Preparation:

Clean the duck and cut the meat into cubes, retaining the carcass.

Sear the duck meat with the pork fat and onion in a heavy pot. Add the broth and the duck carcass and cook for about 2 hours at medium heat, adding water as required.

Remove and dispose of duck carcass. Remove duck meat and put into pie crust. Remove 1 liter of the liquid, thickening it with browned flour. Season thickened sauce and pour over duck in crust.

Cover bottom crust with the top crust, brushing the edges with milk or water to seal.

Bake in a 400F oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce to 350F and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

* Use your tried and true pastry recipe, or, as I do, take a Tenderflake out of the freezer.
** Make by putting unbleached flour in a cast iron skillet and stirring and scraping with a wooden spoon over high heat while the flour colours to a golden beige or light brown. Cool before storing.

cathouse_mary

Start out with your turkey or chicken, or even a game hen. Remove the giblets, then rinse inside and out in cold water, patting fry with paper towels afterward. Salt and pepper the cavity, and truss for roasting. Take softened butter and loosening the skin of the breast from the meat with your fingers, spoon the butter under the skin and then smooth the skin back into place. I use a tablespoon divided for a game hen, two for a chicken of four or five pounds, use your best judgment on a turkey. Seasoning the butter is optional, but I like to flavor my butter with garlic, lemon, and rosemary.

Rub the whole bird with olive oil, then season the skin as desired. Preheat the oven to 350F, and rack the bird - then insert some stainless steel item with some heft into the cavity. I use a pair of butter knives. Stainless steel conducts heat and helps the bird to cook more thoroughly. Cover the roasting pan and cook for 25 minutes per pound.

During the last hour of roasting, turn the heat up to 400F uncover the pan and brown the breast skin for 30 minutes. Then remove the pan from the oven, and carefully flip the bird breast-side down and return to the oven for another 30 minutes at 400F. Remove from oven, allow to sit for fifteen minutes, then remove the stainless steel before carving and serving.

Current Mood: full

lina

This is a rehash of a recipe I posted on WikiCookbooks a while back. It's good as a side dish, served over rice, or as a base for gumbo. We usually make this in large batches and freeze most of it into 2-4 qt portions, which can be used as a base for one's next gumbo (seafood or greens).

Ingredients

1 Lb okra, washed and sliced into 1/4 - 1/2 inch wide pieces

4-5 medium tomatoes, diced

1/2 medium-large yellow onion, diced

2-3 stalks celery, sliced or diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, sliced or diced

butter (1 stick/113 g)

Salt, pepper, etc. to taste

Saute onion, celery, and bell pepper in butter until soft over medium heat, adding garlic to saute shortly before the onion is soft.

Add okra and tomatoes. Stir a few times to incorporate. If the mixture seems a bit dry, add a small amount of water.

Simmer over medium heat until the okra is no longer sticky and stringy. (The okra will change to a darker green color.)

Serve over rice or use in your next gumbo.

delphi

Adapted from a recipe in the March 2000 issue of Bon Appetit magazine, these cookies are wonderfully rich and satisfying, with crackled tops and a chewy centre. They've been devoured in record time at every get-together I've brought them to.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
450 g. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 200 g. bag of Skor bits
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preparation:

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Set up a double boiler and melt chocolate and butter over a gentle simmer until smooth. Remove from overtop water and let cool to lukewarm.

Beat sugar and eggs in a bowl with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until thickened. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, Skor bits, and nuts.

Let the batter chill in the fridge for two hours.

Bake cookies in a 350F oven on baking sheets lined with parchment paper for about 15 minutes, until the tops are cracked but the cookies are soft and seemingly insubstantial. Let cool on sheets.

These cookies are very good at what they do, so making a full two dozen small to medium-sized cookies is advised over fewer larger ones.

cathouse_mary

Smoked salmon chowder

This makes a very rich and creamy chowder.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter or bacon and drippings
1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/4 of a large onion)
4 ounces smoked salmon, flaked (not Nova Scotia style)
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup carrots, sliced thin
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin
1 cup red potatoes, diced, skin on
2 cups half-and-half
Fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter or drippings and sauté onion, garlic, and half of the salmon until onion is tender. Add flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth and chopped vegetables and cook 4 minutes, stirring. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in half-and-half and remaining flaked salmon, add pepper to taste.

The Recipe Box

Everyone's favorite eats.

Great Depression Cooking

Another great food blog

Recipe: Lemon Ice Cream

Indian vegetarian cooking website

Peach Palm Fruit?

Cooking With Dog

RECIPE: Gazpacho

RECIPE: Breakfast Rolls

"Im Cooked" & "Cookin' with Jolene" links

Recipe: Ice Cream Base

RECIPE: Chicken-Asparagus Bake

Cooking websites

Science!!

Recipe: Ham-n-Bean Soup

Tiramisu

RECIPE: Duck Tourtière

TIP: Flipping the bird, or how to get a perfect roast every time.

RECIPE: Smothered okra

RECIPE: Chocolate Brownie Cookies

RECIPE: Smoked salmon chowder.

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March 2011

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