Daring Cooks' July Challenge: Nut Butters

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

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So. I know. I haven't posted in a month.  Moving, school, work, life, blah blah blah, I know, no excuse.  Please don't be mad at me, friends.  I am going to do my best not to let this happen again. 

Speaking of moving, here's a photo of my new kitchen:

 

I moved in with my friends Cindy and Blake about two weeks ago, and I'm absolutely loving the new place.  Even though I haven't been posting that much, I've been having a lot of fun cooking in our little kitchen.We've been doing a lot of late night, post-work dinner parties. Kind of ridiculous, really.

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Back to the Daring Cooks. We had to make a homemade nut butter and use it in a recipe.  I chose to make almond butter and banana pancakes. 

My chef at work said I should steep the almonds in milk to get them kind of soft, which I did.

When the almonds were a little softer to bite, I strained them.

 After the almonds were strained, I put them in the food processor (Finally! A food processor! Yay for Blake!) and slowly added the reserved milk as needed.

I actually ended up using all the milk, plus a little oil.  Finish to taste with a sprinkling of kosher salt.

 For the pancakes, I used my favorite recipe from Joy of Cooking.  My blueberry pancake post lists the recipe, if you want it. This time around, I chopped up a few bananas and added them to the batter, along with some cinnamon.

 I spread a little of the almond butter on each pancake, and drizzled them with some local honey.

 Served with some sausage and a little fresh banana.  Delicious and easy!

Daring Cooks' May Challenge: Enchiladas!

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

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I'm glad to get back into the swing of things with Daring Cooks.  I was kind of bummed that I missed out on last month's challenge because of all the craziness that has been going on in my life.  Anyways, I really enjoyed this challenge, and appreciated all the room for creativity.  

The mandatory part of this challenge was to make a homemade Mexican-style sauce for enchiladas.  I know my mom has a few great enchilada recipes, so I asked her to send them to me.  I based my enchiladas on one of her recipes, which focused on a tomato and spice based sauce.

Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

For chicken:

2 large chicken breast halves

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

1 clove minced garlic

1 bay leaf

1/2 an onion, finely chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1/2 a serrano pepper, minced

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

2 thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon oregano

salt and pepper to taste

For sauce:

2 tablespoons oil

3 cloves minced garlic

3 tablespoons chili powder

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup tomato sauce

To assemble:

10-12 6-inch corn tortillas

3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

sour cream and cilantro for garnish

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For chicken:

Arrange chicken in heavy medium saucepan.  Add stock, water, garlic, and bay leaf.  Bring to boil.

 

Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through.  Transfer to bowl using slotted spoon and cool.  Discard bay leaf.  Reserve liquid.

In the meantime, heat oil in a small pan and saute onions and peppers until slightly softened and aromatic.

 

 

Peel skin off chicken and remove meat from bones.  Tear meat into bite size strips.  Place in a large bowl.  Mix in green onions, cilantro, pepper and onion mixture, and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

For sauce:

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add 3 minced garlic cloves and saute 30 seconds.  Add chili powder and saute 1 minute.  Add flour, cumin, and cinnamon and stir 1 minute (mixture will be dry). This seemed like a lot of spice to me, but it ended up tasting great.  Don't use less! 

 

Whisk in 1 cup reserved poaching liquid.

 

  

Add remaining poaching liquid and tomato sauce.

Cook until thick and smooth, whisking frequently, about 5 minutes.  Adjust seasonings.  I added a dash of Sriracha chili sauce.  I think a splash of strong coffee would have done the sauce justice, but I didn't have any brewed so I skipped it.  Next time, though.

Cool slightly before assembling. 

To assemble:

Lightly oil a 13x9x2" baking dish.  Heat heavy medium skillet over high heat until hot.  Add 1 tortilla and cook until heated through, turning frequently.  Using tongs, dip into sauce, coating both sides.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of chicken filling into the tortilla and roll.  Repeat.  (Can be prepared one day ahead- cover with foil).

 

Spoon any remaining sauce over.  Sprinkle with cheese.  

 

 

Cover with foil.  Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 425.  Bake enchiladas 10 minutes.  Uncover and bake until hot and bubbling, about 10 more minutes.

 

 

And that's it!  These were delicious and easy, despite the seemingly long amount of steps.  They would be great to make ahead and throw in the oven after a long day at work.  

 

 

I served mine with some spicy red rice, sliced avocado, and sour cream, and cilantro.  These would be great with a margarita, but I thought a couple Modelos with a bit of salt and lime were perfect.

Biscuits & Gravy

So, after a long hiatus, I'm finally back! I promise I'm going to post with a little more regularity, it's just been a whirlwind month for me.  Thanks to my little group of loyal readers who are bearing with me and have patiently waited for this phase of my life to pass.

I'm done with my first semester of culinary school! With all A's to show for it!  It did get a little hairy there towards the end, but I still feel really good about my decision to start [and stick to] this program.

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For my first post in a while, I decided to make biscuits and gravy.  I've been eating a lot of comfort food lately, which is definitely the opposite of what I should be doing at the start of bikini season here in beautiful Charleston, SC.  Regardless, I'm doing it anyways, so I figure I might as well post about it.

This could even be a nice breakfast to make your mom or your wife or whomever you deem appropriate on Mother's Day.  If you're not working brunch, that is. Which I am doing, along with everyone else I know, considering nearly everyone else I know is a Food & Bev kid.

I guess some [not southern] people have a hard time understanding the concept of biscuits and gravy.   I'm always appalled when people have never heard of, or tasted, biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  It's in that same category as grits.  It's surprising how many people are like "What are grits?" when I'm waiting tables. It's a pretty difficult concept for me to grasp.  I mean, my sister and I were spoonfed this stuff as kids.  But I digress.

I made buttermilk biscuits by scratch, but they didn't turn out remarkably well.  I actually threw out the first batch of dough because it just wasn't right, and the second batch still didn't turn out as fluffy and nice as I wanted it to.  So, I'm leaving the biscuit recipe out of the equation.  Here is my favorite recipe for country gravy, which is based on a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

Country Sausage Gravy

 

1 pound pork sausage (I used less than a pound, and threw in a hot bratwurst I had leftover from a pool day this week)
3/4 onion, finely chopped
3/4 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
S&P to taste
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 cups milk, divided
chicken stock, to taste
white wine, to taste
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

In a skillet on medium heat cook pork, onion, peppers, red pepper, chili powder, and garlic.

Cool until pork is crumbly.  Drain off excess fat, leaving a small amount.

Combine butter, salt, and pepper with the meat mixture and stir until the butter melts.  Slowly sift flour over the top.  Mix gently and allow mixture to cook for 5 minutes.  Be careful not to let it burn.  Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the pan.  Add the thyme.

Slowly stir in milk, about a half cup at a time, and incorporate it well. when the mixture thickens, add more milk.  Do not let it boil vigorously, or it will burn.

Add a splash of chicken stock and white wine to taste.  I thought this added flavor and a hint of acid, which this heavy gravy needed.  If it thickens too much, add more milk.  Adjust the taste with more salt and pepper as needed.

Just before serving, add the parsley, and about 1/4 cup more milk; the gravy will thicken quickly as it cools.

Apparently, the leftover gravy develops more flavor if you let it refrigerate overnight. Obviously, I had leftovers, so I'm curious to see what happens.  All I know is that this recipe is easy and delicious.

Happy early Mother's Day!

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes

And a special thanks to Jen Yu from the beautiful blog Use Real Butter for the lovely scarf I recently received! A little while back, I won one of her featured giveaways, and the prize was a scarf made personally by her from Manos del Uruguay wool.  I even got to choose my own color (agate multi)!  Thanks again, Jen :)

I'm wearing it right now :)

Okay, on to pancakes.  I'm getting down to the nitty gritty, grocery-wise (pay day is tomorrow), but I did have this container of  nice blueberries sitting in my fridge, begging to be used up.  So, I decided to make pancakes from scratch.  I know it doesn't seem like much, but I've pretty much always been a Bisquick girl when it comes to pancakes (or biscuits, for that matter), so this was kind of a big decison for me.  So, of course, I consulted good ol' Joy of Cooking, and was surprised at how easy they were!

Blueberry Pancakes

from Joy of Cooking

*I halved this recipe*

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/2 cups milk

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

(blueberries)

Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Whisk wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.

dry & wet

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.  Some lumps are okay- you don't want to overmix.

Add wet to dry.

Add blueberries!

Blueberries

Make sure your griddle or skillet is very hot before you start to pour the batter.  To test it, sprinkle a bit of water on the hot surface.  If it hisses and sputters, it's ready.  Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the griddle.

They're ready to flip when you see bubbles forming.

Cross-section

Serve with butter and syrup!

Crock Pot Pot Roast

 

Comfort-tastic

Right now, everyone seems to be getting snow but us poor Charleston kids.  I've been waiting for a good comfort food type-day to post this recipe, and I think the time has finally come. Plus, my sister is whining for me to post again.  Which I understand, because I get sad when my favorite bloggers (see left sidebar) wait more than a few days between posts.

So, pot roast it is.  This is a great, easy, ridiculously cheap recipe that takes very little effort.  One of my mother's.  To make this, I woke up before working a morning shift, seared the beef, threw it in the crockpot.  9 hours later, voila!

I used a 3-ish pound bottom round roast, but really, you could use any cheap, large, tough cut of beef.  I tend to buy different cuts when they are on sale at the grocery store and freeze them for later.  This roast was like $6 or $7, a serious bargain.  Obviously, you can adjust the recipe to make it the kitchen sink type- that's definitely what I did. So, here is what I ended up using:

Crock Pot Pot Roast

3 to 4 pound cut of beef, such as bottom round roast or chuck roast

flour, for dredging

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1/2 cup red wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste
several cloves chopped garlic
3 bay leaves

herbs to taste (I used a good amount of crushed red pepper, dried oregano, and a few sprigs fresh rosemary)

Dredge pot roast with flour and sear in hot oil in heavy frying pan.

Place in crock pot with remaining ingredients. 

Yes, there is actually beef under there!

Cook on low at least 8 hours.  I cooked mine 9, but I don't think it would have hurt to have left it on a couple more hours.  

smells so good!

In the last 15 minutes, remove meat.  Mix 1/2 cup of pot juices with 2 tablespoons cornstarch.  Add to pot.  Cook on high, and stir until thickened.

 

I served this with some delicious rosemary mashed potatoes and some green beans sauteed with bacon.  Don't think I've mentioned this yet, but rosemary is my favorite herb for wintertime.  

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This made SO many servings! I ate this for like 3 days straight.  Even after all the meat was gone, there was still a ton of hearty, meaty tomato gravy.  So, I decided to serve it on top of some pasta.  Finish with a fresh grating of Parmesan cheese, and you have another meal! 

Leftovers.

Cheap, cheap, cheap. College kids, I'm talking to you! Impress your friends and cook dinner one night.  Everyone will go home happy and stuffed.

Ya'll say hi to the snow for me.

Culinary School Update: Dinner Rolls, Whole Wheat Bread, & an Easy Weeknight Dinner

This week I was determined to be overly prepared for my baking class.  I did not indulge in one single drink before bed, and checked my alarm at least 3 times so as not to repeat last week's oversleeping incident.  FYI, 7:30 a.m. is very early for us Food & Bev kids. Plus, this campus is a solid 20 minutes away, so this is not like CofC where I could roll out of bed and stumble to class in my jammies.  Not that I ever did that...

The last thing I did before I went to bed last night was check my camera battery to make sure it was charged (which it was).  

At 5:30 this morning, I woke up anxiously and well before my alarm clock, deathly afraid of oversleeping.  Three cups of coffee and several hours later I found myself taking my first batch of yeast rolls out of the extra-industrial-sized classroom oven.  I rummaged around in my pocketbook for a fairly ridiculous amount of time before I finally accepted, with disbelief, that I left my camera at home.  Thankfully, again, this week's baking lesson produced results that were small enough to take home in a paper bag.  I need to get this routine figured out before we start getting into the larger, less portable goods.  Geez Dani, get it together and bring the camera, charged and ready, to class!  On time!

All griping aside, don't you especially like my double-knot technique on the white rolls? I was proud of myself. I've always been pretty intimidated by bread.  Can't really say I've ever made any kind of  yeast bread at all.

Side note - no cooking class this week because of MLK Jr. Day.  Remember, cooking class on Mondays, baking class on Wednesdays.  Once I actually start getting involved in cooking class I will start keeping you posted on it as well. 

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I thought I would also include a random photo of a dinner Brandon and I enjoyed this week.  I was craving fish, so we stopped by Crosby's Seafood and picked up some really pretty local red snapper.  Diced and blanched some carrots and broccoli I had laying around.  Threw them in a saute pan with a chopped onion, thawed frozen peas, butter, mint, and parsley.  Cooked some wild rice with chicken stock.  And finally, seared the snapper, skin-on, and made a very easy parsley lemon butter sauce in the same pan.  

Easy, easy dinner, and all we paid for was the fish and a cheap white burgundy to go with it!

Shrimp Scampi

I start culinary school tomorrow!  I'm really excited.  I'm taking Principles of Food Production and Bakeshop Production, and online I'm taking Nutrition, Safety and Sanitation, and Intro to Baking Science.  So, a pretty basic first semester. I'll keep you posted on how classes go.

I chose to make this shrimp scampi the other night because its easy and delicious. A good school-night recipe, perhaps :)  This is adapted from one of my mom's recipes:

Shrimp Scampi

 

2 pounds fresh jumbo shrimp

1 medium onion, finely chopped

7 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup butter

zest and juice from one lemon
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

1/2 teaspoon steak sauce

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco

1 pound hot cooked fettuccine

chopped fresh parsley, about 1/4 cup

Peel and devein shrimp.  Melt butter in large skillet.  Add onion and garlic, and saute over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes.
 

Add lemon juice, zest and next 5 ingredients.  Adjust flavors to your liking.  Bring to a boil; add shrimp.

Cook shrimp, stirring constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink.  

Season with salt and pepper and adjust lemon juice if desired.  Add parsley.  Toss with cooked fettuccine.