Category: Savory - DragonWarden

Hummus

4/23/2017

Hummus, I'm beginning to think in my vast inexperience, seems to be rather like stone soup - you pretty much put whatever you want into a chickpea paste base "to taste" (there's probably hordes waiting in the wings to burn me for that comment). But after visiting half a dozen pages on the merits of texture vs silkiness, Greek tahini vs Arabic tahini, whether olive oil belongs in the hummus before or after, etc I'm pretty much just tossing whatever is nearby in until I'm willing to lick the spoon (or my finger) clean.

1 can chickpeas
1/3 cup tahini
2-4 cloves garlic (to taste)
juice of 1-2 lemons or 2-4 tbsp of lemon juice (to taste)
1 tbsp of cumin or paprika
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp of salt (to taste)
olive oil (to drizzle or to taste)

Drain the chickpeas and reserve the liquid in a bowl. Put the chickpeas and garlic into a food processor and blend until coarsely ground. Scrape down the sides/redistribute as needed.
While the food processor is running, pour in the lemon juice and 2 tbsp of the chickpea liquid. Scrape down the sides/redistribute as needed.
While the food processor is running, add the tahini. Scrape down the sides/redistribute as needed.
While the food processor is running, add the spices and salt. Continue to add the chickpea liquid one tablespoon at a time until you achieve the consistency you want.

Note: There were some arguments over whether olive oil should be added during the making of the hummus or just drizzled atop it afterward. I made it without the olive oil, and it turned out fine, but some may find it irresistible to at least throw in a tablespoon or two during the making of it.

Pseudo-Bento-Anything-Goes-All-In-One Ramekin Pot Pie

12/2/2015

Much like the Post-Thanksgiving Scraps Turkey Shepherd's Pie, pretty much this is just to give some general guidelines and you can just go nuts with what you actually throw in. I know, I know, baking and bakers are all about precision, but this once, let your inner child loose and put as much of your favorite stuff in as you want. This is just to give you an idea of the possibilities.

mushrooms
marinated artichoke hearts
deli meats
tomato sauce
shredded mozarella cheese
Pillsbury croissant roll dough

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut up the mushroom and artichoke hearts and line the bottom of the ramekin. If you like your mushrooms cooked, pop the ramekin into the oven for about 5-7 minutes. The olive oil from the marinated artichokes should help to keep the mushrooms moist.
Once you have the ramekin back, use the shears to cut up the deli meats and stuff them in. Layer over them some tomato sauce, and then the cheese.
Unroll the Pillsbury croissant roll dough, and press together the pre-cut seams so that there is a single sheet of dough. Place over the ramekin top and trim the edges with the shears, making sure there's enough overhang to cover the edges of the ramekin. Press all the edges down, and then poke some holes in the top for venting.
Stick in the oven for about 12-15 minutes, according to the Pillsbury dough's intsructions. (If you wish to have a crusty top, set the oven to broil for the last two minutes.)

Post-Thanksgiving Scraps Turkey Shepherd's Pie

11/27/2015

This is the Frankenstein of all frankenstein mash-ups, and was born literally out of the seemingly incompatible states of being both restless and lazy at the same time. This took up the last of the Thanksgiving scraps, and though it initially was supposed to include marinara sauce and some crescent roll sheets on top, when I discovered the marinara sauce had gone bad, it was an abrupt appeal to some garlic herb butter and an egg to make it a sort of reverse shepherd's pie instead of the original pizza pot pie I had imagined. And it turned out AMAZING.

Yes, I did not include a whole lot of concrete portions, but that's the beauty of using leftovers. Everything's already been cooked and don't really need extra fussing with, and you're totally free to put more or less of anything according to taste (or what you want to get rid of).

However-many-ramekins-you-have's worth of:

stuffing
turkey
garlic herb butter, stock, or gravy (for moisture)

To cover (can use any one of these):

eggs and shredded cheese
crescent roll sheets
puff pastry

Set the wire rack to the middle of the oven. Set oven temp to pre-heat to 425 F.
I lined a baking sheet in case there were drippings, set the ramekins on top, then started layering the food in. You can put them in any order you want. For the cover, you can either crescent roll sheets, puff pastry, or like in this instance, an egg and some cheese. Tip - make a little well in the middle of the top layer so that the egg yolk has somewhere to sit once you've cracked it in. Otherwise, the egg white makes it slippery enough that the yolk tends to slide off toward the edges.
Pop everything in the oven for about 12 minutes (which keeps the yolk runny - if you want a more solid yolk, add a few more minutes). If you'd like a nice bit of browning on top, switch the oven to broil for one minute - keep an eye on it, though, because it will burn easily at this point!

French Onion Dip

11/22/2015

I first got the serving idea on one of the food sites (I forget which one, maybe Epicurious), but cobbled together the dip recipe from research spread over half a dozen other sites. In fact, I was so casual with throwing in a bit of this, a dash of that, and adjusting things to taste that I honestly don't know if the ingredient amounts below are anywhere close to accurate. But I think that pretty much exemplifies dip recipes - pretty much anything goes, and you can experiment and never make it the same way twice, but it will all be delicious; just in different ways.

2 tbsp butter
4 onions (for variety, you can use multiple types - sweet, yellow, red, etc)
2-3 large shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
chips
(optional) paprika
(optional) chopped green onions

Set the oven to 350 F. Cut the bottoms off the onions so that they can stand up. Set on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. In the meantime, chop up the shallots and mince the garlic.
Slice the tops off the onions and scoop out the interior, leaving about 2-3 layers on the outside to act as a cup. Chop up the onion interiors and set aside.
Melt the butter in saucepan on the stove over medium heat and cook the shallots for about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. If you wish you can add the chopped up onion and continue to caramelize it in the saucepan for a few more minutes.
Set the onion mixture aside to cool (or else it will melt the sour cream). To speed up the process, you can either refrigerate or spread it on the inside of a metal bowl and set it inside another bowl filled with iced water.
Mix in the sour cream and mayonnaise, then add the remaining spices to taste. Stuff inside the onion cups. Add optional garnishes.

Note: You can make this a day ahead, and in theory, it's better if you let the flavors blend overnight anyway. Store the onion cups and the onion dip separately in the fridge, and make sure they are sealed tight against fridge odors creeping in.

Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast with Stuffing

11/21/2015

My family has traditionally not had much turkey during Thanksgiving, because the one or two times that we attempted to make our own bird had ended in hilariously disastrous results through various shenanigans that had nothing to do with the recipe or the ability to follow it. However, I was throwing a pre-Thanksgiving Friendsgiving potluck for which I vaguely didn't want to make solely dessert dishes for, and in the eleventh hour, this landed in my inbox from MyRecipes.com. So I thought I'd give it a try, because in theory, the slow cooker should trap most of the moisture in with far less danger of over-cooking. And lo and behold, it passed even my father's notoriously high bar for turkey!

1 (6-oz.) package buttermilk cornbread mix
1 (2 1/2-lb.) bone-in, skin-on turkey breast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 1/2 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (14-oz.) can low-sodium chicken broth

Make the cornbread according to package directions; let cool completely (about 30 minutes). Coarsely crumble cornbread (about 3 cups).
Rinse turkey and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add turkey to skillet, skin side down, and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until browned. Remove from skillet. Add onion and next 3 ingredients to skillet, and saute 3 to 5 minutes or until tender.
Stir together onion mixture, stuffing mix, eggs, low-sodium chicken broth, and crumbled cornbread in a large bowl.
Place stuffing mixture in a lightly greased 6-qt. slow cooker. Top with turkey, skin side up. Cover and cook on LOW 4 hours or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 170° and stuffing registers 165°. Remove turkey from slow cooker, and let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Note: Not all slow cookers are created equal. Some, you may need to set on HIGH instead of low for it to really have a chance of cooking through the thickest part of the meat. Also, if you make a double-quantity like I did, be prepared to add a few extra hours!

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

10/24/2015

I've always loved stuffed squash blossoms - I order them every chance I get, which is usually far and few between - but never seriously considered making them myself until I was wandering through a farmer's market and lo and behold, apparently it is blossom season because every other stand seemed to have bunches of them for sale. With such an opportunity literally at my fingertips, I immediately looked up some baked-versions of the recipe to see if it was something I could do on short notice.

As with most cooking, the filling is really up to a person's taste, and so I threw together a mish-mash of my favorite flavors. It's somewhat of a novelty to be able to taste-test before baking - I kept forgetting that I didn't have to guesstimate what to put in, I could immediately test whether the flavor's just right.

1 dozen large blossoms or 2 dozen small ones

Filling:

1 cup ricotta cheese
2 large heads of garlic
1 lemon (juice and zest the peel)
salt, pepper, and spice to taste (garlic powder, thyme, parsley, etc)

Crust:

2 eggs
panko or breadcrumbs

Dip (optional):

pesto
vinegar glaze

Roast the garlic: If you're not using pre-roasted garlic, set an oven or toaster to 400 F. Peel off all the papery outer layers of the garlic head. Cut off the tops of the individual cloves, leaving them exposed. Set them on a sheet of aluminum foil, then drizzle olive oil over them, making sure that all the exposed areas of the cloves have been covered. Fold the foil over the garlic heads, then set them in the toaster for 40-50 minutes, until the cloves are very soft and easily mashable.
While the garlic is toasting, prepare the blossoms. Use a knife to make a slit down one side of each blossom to the base. Reach inside and pinch off and discard the anther. Rinse the blossoms and lay on a paper towel to dry.
Once the garlic is done, pinch out each clove, roughly mash, and mix with the ricotta. If you really like to emphasize the garlic flavor, add a dash of garlic powder. Zest the lemon and mix both the zest and the lemon's juice into the ricotta. Salt, pepper, and spice to taste.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set the oven to 400 F.
Lightly beat the eggs in one dish, and pour the panko or breadcrumbs in another dish for dipping. Stuff each blossom with a portion of the filling, carefully close the blossom and twist the petal ends together, then roll it into the egg, then the crumbs to coat. Spread the finished stuffed blossoms out on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until the crumbs are golden brown. Keep an eye on them - do not let them burn.
I like to serve these with some pesto and a few drops of vinegar glaze.

Note: The lemon juice really helped to brighten up the taste of the garlic and ricotta. I was surprised by the difference - I would definitely add a lemon to every filling variation of this I make.

The Puff (Quiche - from The Cypress B&B)

10/3/2015

This recipe is from the now-sadly closed Cypress B&B in Florida. A beautiful little cottage in a beautiful area, the hosts were gracious enough to give me their recipes for some of their most popular breakfast items, including the delicious glazed mango pecan muffins.

While this is called "The Puff", I liken it most to a crust-less quiche, and due to all the varieties of cheeses, stays fabulously moist in the center instead of becoming all baked-out egg. And due to the large quantity, is a great way to just get a bunch of breakfasts out of the way if you're looking forward to a busy week!

12 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 lb shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 lb shredded monterey jack cheese
1 pint cottage cheese
2 cups of your favorite fillings (breakfast meats, rotisserie chicken, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, sauteed onions, etc.)

Servings: 12

If you need to pre-cook any vegetables or meats, do so now and then set aside. (See note below.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat eggs until they are light and fluffy.
Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together. Gently mix this and butter into eggs.
Add remaining ingredients and stir gently until well blended.
Pour into a 9"x13" baking dish.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Note: This earns the easy-peasy rating if you go with some pre-cubed or cut up sandwich meats and throw in a bag of frozen veggies.

Also, I really, really hate soggy over-cooked veggies in my quiches. I've discovered that for certain veggies such as asparagus and cauliflower, what works great is the ice-bath after a blanching, which stops the cooking process in its tracks. I try to boil them to JUST the point before they're just-right, and then when they're in the oven, they take that last step so that there's still a little crunch left to the asparagus and the cauliflower isn't just mush when the quiche is done. Mushrooms I sometimes don't bother cooking at all - the oven takes care of them well enough.

Two Ingredient Pizza Dough

9/5/2015

Found via a Tasting Table article, I couldn't stop thinking about this for a whole two months. I had never felt even the slightest urge to make my own pizzas, but how could I resist trying something so insanely simple, like the ice cream bread?

This amazingly worked (just like the ice cream bread). While it didn't exactly taste the same as the usual pizza dough, it did crisp like one and even had the same blooms of crisping patterns on its bottom. So, A+ for consistency, even if the taste needs a little work - but then, for just two ingredients, who am I to complain?

This also taught me that pizza is kind of like the Italian equivalent of fried rice - I was so enamored with the idea of making my own pizza dough that I totally forgot to get everything else that goes on top, and basically just scrounged up whatever leftovers I could find in the fridge to throw on top.

For a 16" pizza:

2 cups self-rising flour (or 2 cups flour + 3 tsp baking powder + 2 tsp salt)
2 cups Greek yogurt (Kroger works well)
olive oil
(optional) cornmeal

Set the oven to 475 F. (optional) Spread a light dusting of cornmeal over the surface of a sheet or pizza pan.
Mix the ingredients in a bowl roughly until the dough becomes shaggy, then knead it into a ball. If it is still very sticky, rub the outside with olive oil.
Roll or press the dough out, top it with whatever you desire, and bake for about 12-14 minutes.

ARCHIVE: Corn Muffins (from Bouchon)

1/1/2015

201 grams (1_1/4 cups + 3 tbsp) all purpose flour
51 grams (1/3 cup) mix of fine and medium ground cornmeal
12 grams (2_1/2 tsp) baking powder
135 grams (1/2 cup + 3 tbsp) granulated sugar
36 grams (1_1/2 tsp) salt
168 grams (2/3 cup) whole milk
90 grams (1/4 cup + 2 tbsp) eggs (or, 1_1/2 eggs)
90 grams (1/4 cup + 2_1/2 tbsp) canola oil
72 grams (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) frozen corn kernels

Sift flour, cornmeal, and baking powder together. Combine sugar and salt with it.
Add the milk and eggs and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds, until just combined. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the oil, then increase the speed to medium-low and mix for about 30 seconds to combine.
Fold in the corn. Transfer batter to a covered container and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 36 hours.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line the muffin pan with muffin papers and spray the papers with nonstick spray.
Pipe or spoon the batter into the muffin papers, stopping 1/2" from the top (135 grams each).
Place the pan in the oven, lower oven temperature to 325 F, and bake for 28-30 mins or until muffins are golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely.
Muffins are best the day they are baked, but they can be wrapped individually in a few layers of plastic wrap or stored in a single layer in a covered container at room tempreature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 week.

ARCHIVE: Bavarian Oven Pancake (from The Cypress B&B)

1/1/2015

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Beat flour, milk, salt, and eggs until well blended.
Heat butter in a bowl until hot and pour into 13" x 9" x 2" rectangular pan. Pour the batter mix into the center of the pan so that it spreads out evenly with the melted butter against the edges.
Bake until sides of pancake are puffed and deep golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Shut off the oven, take out the pancake, and sprinkle with cheese. If the cheese needs help melting, return it to the still-warm oven for a few minutes.
Squeeze juice from lemon over apples, arrange in center of pancake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup (4 oz) shredded swiss, white cheddar, or monterey jack cheese
1/2 lemon
2 medium apples or pears, thinly sliced
powdered sugar

Servings: 6