Bits Of Dust

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Last week I saw the most delicious chicken recipe on the Cook’s Illustrated podcast, so I decided to make it tonight. I made a couple small changes to the recipe, but it came out very delicious. The recipe below can be found, unchanged, on the Cook’s Illustrated website. The photos are mine.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced

Procedure:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk 1 1/2 cups orange juice, corn syrup, honey, mustard, vinegar, pepper flakes, salt and pepper together in medium bowl. Place flour in pie plate, then season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Working with one chicken breast at a time, coat chicken with flour, patting off excess.

2. Heat oil in ovenproof 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add chicken breasts skin-side down; cook until well browned (8 to 14 minutes). Turn chicken and lightly brown other side, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to plate.

3. Pour off all but 1 teaspoon fat from pan. Add onion and cook until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Increase heat to high and add orange juice mixture. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until syrupy and reduced to 1 cup, 6 to 10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and tilt to one side so glaze pools in corner of pan. Using tongs, roll each chicken breast in pooled glaze to coat evenly and place skin-side down in skillet.

4. Transfer skillet to oven and bake chicken until thickest part of breasts registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes, turning chicken skin-side up halfway through cooking. Transfer chicken to platter and let rest 5 minutes. Return skillet to high heat (be careful-handle will be very hot) and cook glaze, stirring constantly, until thick and syrupy (heatproof spatula should leave wide trail when dragged through glaze), about 1 minute. Spoon 1 teaspoon glaze over each breast and serve, passing remaining glaze at table.

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Finally, I get to share a recipe with you. The wife has had me on pretty tight leash when it comes to sharing all our new recipes. She is working on this new 5 week meal plan, and she intends to put it all together and then, and only then, do I get to share the recipes here. Sheesh. I will however keep posting photos, because it just might inspire you to make something similar (wink).

Anyway, here is a recipe she did today in the bread machine that came out absolutely awesome.

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 4 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup honey

1 1/3 cups bread flour
1 cup minus 2 Tbsp. wheat flour
2 Tbsp. soy flour
3/4 cup 5-grain cereal
4 tsp. wheat germ
3 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt

2 1/14 tsp. regular active dry yeast or
2 tsp. bread machine yeast or quick acting active dry yeast

Procedure:

Add all of the wet items to the bread machine, then add all the dry items. Add yeast on top of the dry items. If you have made bread in a bread machine before you know this.

Set the bread machine on the basic dough setting so the machine would knead the bread and allow it to rise the first time.

Punch down the dough and shape it into a loaf, placing it into a loaf pan.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

Okay, so I go away for a little over a week, and all hell breaks lose.

Oh sure, for you it might not be such a big deal, but while I was gone, Chef John revealed the secret to getting the seeds out of my favorite fruit, pomegranates. I first fell in love with pomegranates when I was a small child. My grandmother had a huge pomegranate tree in her backyard, and I would gorge myself every chance I got…

Chef John isn’t the only one with big things happening while I was gone either.

It seems Chef Tom has gone and totally re-designed his site. WOW. I hardly recognized the place. Not only that, but he has a cookbook coming out. Oh yeah, and at his other site, The Secret Recipe Blog, he has a copycat recipe for Cracker Jacks. Yum!

You’d think I had been gone a month or more with all the stuff going on…

Read the rest of this entry »

So last night I got the idea I wanted some beer battered shrimp. Everytime I have tried this in the past, it sucked. This time was different. I made the most awesome beer battered shrimp ever, and then I added the one touch I love so much. Buffalo sauce! Woot! I cheated this time and just used a pre-packaged buffalo sauce, but damn it was good.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz bottle of beer
3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
Vegetable oil
2 lb shrimp
Buffalo sauce
flour for dredging

Preparation:

In medium bowl combine 1 cup flour, paprika, and salt.
Whisk in beer, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco sauce.
Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Heat oil to 375 degrees.
Dredge shrimp in flour then dip in batter.
Fry shrimp until golden Drain on paper towels.

Toss shrimp in buffalo sauce, and serve.

Ingredients:

1 pound okra
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups self-rising cornmeal
vegetable oil

Preparation:

Wash okra and drain well. Remove tip and stem end; cut okra into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle okra with salt; add buttermilk, stirring until well coated. Let stand at least 15 minutes; then drain okra well. Dredge in corn meal. Deep fry okra in hot oil at 375F until golden brown; drain on paper towels.

This recipe serves 4 to 6.

Photo by Slobokan.

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)”

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!

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!

Following along with the recipe idea from Chef Tom, I experimented with more chip ideas over the weekend.

First I tried simple “chili chips” using chili powder and such. They sucked.

Second, I tried “seasoned” chips with a variety of different flavors. They sucked.

Third, I tried “garlic tortilla chips”. They were tolerable, get very potent.

The last ones I tried were “greek” chips. Blech.

Needless to say, I think I will keep my chips plain and spice them up with a nice salsa or something special like that.

Yes, that means I will be posting some favorite salsa recipes later in the week.