Bits Of Dust

Archive for 2007

In case you didn’t know, Chef Tom has another blog called The Secret Recipe Blog.

Last week he featured a copycat recipe of Red Lobster’s Schrimp Scampi.

Ingredients:

1 cup White Wine
1/2 cup unsalted Butter
3 tablespoon minced Garlic
1 pound Shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt & pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Combine the butter, wine, garlic and shrimp in a pan.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 7 minutes or until the shrimp turn pink.
Be careful not to overcook the Shrimp.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Serve.

This recipe serves 2-4 people (if you’re a shrimp lover like me, this will serve 1). I worked at Red Lobster for a short time, and I can personally vouch that this recipe tastes just like the real thing, except you don’t get the rude waiter, ignorant management, or the high price.

If you’re wondering, no, I didn’t work at Red Lobster very long, the food servers I worked with were rude, the management didn’t have a clue how to run a restaurant (lucky for them they were small fish in a bigger sea), and the price you pay for the food you get? Ridiculous.

Try this copycat recipe, it’s easy, and it’s delicious, or head on over to the Secret Recipe Blog and check out some of the other yummy creations.

Delicious!

Over on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff, I have done a few posts about diacetyl and it’s effect on people.

But even with all that information at hand, Kraft is still adding diacetyl to new products.

Recently, after numerous complaints of serious illness from popcorn workers and one complaint of illness from a consumer, ConAgra and Pop Weaver removed diacetyl from its microwave popcorn and now proudly announce to their customers that their product is diacetyl free. Kraft, on the other hand, decided that now would be a good time to introduce a brand new diacetyl-based butter flavor into the market.

Now, let’s be clear about something… We’re not entirely sure that diacetyl is harmful to the everyday consumer, but with the cases that have emerged, wouldn’t it be more prudent to stop using it until we found out for sure?

[Source: The Consumerist]

I found it ironic yesterday, that Chef John would post a recipe using apple cider, when the wife and I just got done putting together the ingredients for 45 pints of apple butter, which included apple cider.

So, in keeping with the apple cider theme going on here at our house, tomorrow night we are planning to make Chef John’s Cider Braised Beef Brisket.

Normally I post his videos here, but you can go to his site for this one, since he lists the ingredients over there, and well, it is his video (but don’t hold it against me if I post some here for the lazy readers one day).

Fresh homemade apple butter on fresh homebaked bread.

Here’s the recipe for the apple butter,

Ingredients:

8 lbs of apples
2 cups cider
2 cups vinegar
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves

Preparation:

• Wash, remove stems, quarter and core fruit (or use a super cool apple peeler and corer like we do).
• Cook slowly un cider and vinegar until soft.
• Press fruit through a colander, food mill (that’s what we use), or strainer.
• Cook fruit pulp with sugar and spices, stirring frequently.
• To test for doneness, remove a spoonful and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes.
• It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon.
• Another way to determine when the butter is cooked adequately is to spoon a small quantity onto a plate. When a rim of liquid does not separate from the edge of the butter, it is ready for canning.
• Fill hot mixture into sterile half-pint or pint jars (we use pint and quart jars, yes we love this stuff) leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
• Adjust lids and process for the correct time in your area.

I will post the recipe for the bread sometime later this week.

Photo by Slobokan.
Recipe from “Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving (Second Revised Edition)”

The wife spent the weekend making applesauce (which you can see on the top of the shelf on the left in the picture below).

So far, in our home canning pantry we have,

Applesauce (6 quarts)
Cinnamon Applesauce (6 quarts)
Chicken Broth (12 pints)
Marinara Sauce (5 pints)
Stewed Tomatoes (14 quarts)
Kidney Beans (10 quarts)
Tomato Ketchup (11 pints)
Pear Halves (12 pints)
Blackberry Jam (15 half pints)
Grape Jelly (3 quarts)
Peach Halves (11 quarts)
Vegetable Soup (12 quarts)
Smoky Tomato Ketchup (7 pints)
Pinto Beans (7 pints)
Baked Beans (15 pints)
Pickles (6 pints)
Tomato Sauce (4 pints)
Spaghetti Sauce (11 quarts)

Tonight, we had spaghetti with the homemade sauce. It was the best spaghetti we have had in a long, long, time. The wife was making bread to go with it, but it didn’t rise in time to eat it with dinner…

Now she’s out in the kitchen making some apple butter. Yum!

One of the things we love in our house are fresh, hot, popovers.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs (room temperature)
3 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Place oven rack on top position and preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Oil the popover pan and heat it in the oven.

Blend all ingredients in a blender until frothy. Make sure to stir down the sides a few times.
Pour mix in popover pan filling 2/3 full in each cup.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.

* IMPORTANT *

Oven and pan MUST be hot before baking these delicious popovers or they won’t poof!

Chef Tom is doing videos now!!! Check out his video for preparing stuffed tomatoes.

How flipping cool is that. I’ve been doing my podcasts over on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff, maybe I should start doing recipe videos from time to time. What do you think?

Ingredients:

4 quarts chopped, peeled, cored tomatoes (about 24)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chooped sweet red pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 stick cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 cups vinegar

Instructions:

Combine tomatoes, onion and pepper in large pot. Cook until tomatoes are tender. Puree using a food processor or food mill. Cook puree rapidly until thick and reduced by one-half. Tie whole spices in a spice bag. Add spice bag, sugar, salt and paprika to tomato mixture. Simmer 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Add vinegar; simmer until thick. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove spice bag. Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

The wife has been hanging out at The Hillbilly Housewife site, and found a recipe for corn dogs. Our kids love corn dogs so she thought she would give them a try.

Needless to say, the kids loved them more than the store-bought ones, and we now have a nice batch of them in the freezer for an occasional lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 medium eggs
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/3 cups corn meal
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 to 1-1/2 pounds hot dogs
• flour for dusting (about 1/2 cup)
• Hot Fat for Deep Frying
• Popscicle sticks

Instructions:

• In a large bowl combine the milk, eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Mix it very well. Sprinkle in the baking powder, corn meal and flour. Stir it all up to make a slightly thick batter.

  Take your hot dogs and dry them off on paper towels. Dust the hot dogs with flour, coating them completely. The cornmeal batter won’t stick to the hot dogs unless they are coated in flour. The batter just slides right off of the wieners naturally slick outsides. Shove popscicle sticks into the flour coated hot dogs. Set the hot dogs aside.

  While all of this is going on, it’s a good idea to get your hot fat to heating up. You want the temperature to be about 375°. Allow the fat to preheat so it is almost smoking by the time you are ready to add the corn dogs.

  Now, to coat the floured hot dogs with batter you have two choices. You can swirl the hot dogs in the bowl of batter until they are coated, and then drop them into the hot fat. If this is a little difficult I know of an easier way. Scoop some of your corn meal batter into a narrow jar or cup which is as tall as your hot dogs are long. Fill the jar or cup about 3/4 of the way full. Dip your hot dog into the batter while you hold onto the stick. Swirl the hot dog to coat it evenly. Be careful or the batter will overflow. Raise the wiener above the cup and let any excess batter drip off. Quickly place the battered dog into the hot fat. The fat will bubble up and cook the outside of the batter, making the corndogs the exact same shape as the ones you buy at the store.

  Only fry a few corn dogs at a time. If the corn dogs crowd each other they don’t fry very well. I only fry 2 or 3 at a time. Turn the corn dogs when the bottom side is well browned. Use tongs to remove the cooked corn dogs from the fat. Allow them to drain on paper towels. Repeat the process, coating and frying a few at a time, until all of the corn dogs are cooked. Refill the narrow jar or cup with batter from your bowl as necessary. Continue until all the hot dogs are coated or until you no longer have enough batter to coat the hot dogs efficiently.

  If you don’t want to waste any unused batter, it can be dropped by small spoonfuls into the hot fat, and fried until brown. Serve these along side the corn dogs.

  If desired, you can make small corn dogs by cutting hot dogs into thirds, or quarters. Poke a toothpick up into the end of the hot dogs. Coat and fry them as described above. These are nice for fancy days, and for kids parties. Provide plenty of ketchup and mustard for dipping.

  This recipe makes about 12 to 14 corn dogs.

Enjoy!