I am working on a project with the KIPP School of Kansas City to put on a mini international fest for the 7th grade. I mixed up a batch of these this morning. Using the instructions from The Way to Cook by Julia Child. I have also used Julia and Jaques: Cooking at Home. This is a particularly interesting take because Julia and Jaques have different tecniques for resting and cooking the batter. I checked both of these out at the KC Public Library, where you can put a book on hold and have it ready for you at any location, no matter where it is catalogued.
See Julie Child's Recipe. Fill it with Nutella. Amazing!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Cheap and Easy Pork Chops
Costco has great prices for meat. Yesterday, I bought 9 thick cut pork chops for about $14.50. I was cooking a birthday dinner for our cousin Brandon, but we needed to be frugal. I was able to serve a meal that would have totaled over $150.00 at the Mango Room here in Kansas City where I used to work. At $1.50 per chop, $0.50 per serving of pork chop sauce, $2.50 per salad, $.75 per serving of garlic/parm mashed potatoes, $0.50 per serving of brussell sprouts, and $.75 per chocolate/peanut butter or chocolate/blueberry crepes. I was able to feed 4 people this fine meal for a total of $26.00
Pork Chop Recipe:
Tiny Pinch of Salt
4 Thick Cut Chops
1 medium onion
1 orange wedged and chunked
Cut onion in half, dice one half in large chunks, dice the other 1/2 in small pieces.
Rub Chops with a tiny bit of coarse ground salt (kosher, sea salt)
Layer Crocpot with large onions, place chops in croc, turn on high until chops are seared a bit, flip chops and top with small diced onions and orange chunks, cover and let cook until other side is seared.
Once both sides of the chop are seared, poor in sauce mix.
Sauce Mix:
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp Chili Paste (Not Sri-Racha but Sambal Oelek)
2 Tbsp Honey
1 orange, juiced
2 cloves pressed garlic
Poor sauce over chops and let cook on high at least 2 hours.
When chops are cooked, turn them down to low, dip out 1/2 the liquid and reduce it by 75%. As the chops are cooling, they will get more tender.
Serve chops with a spoon of the sauce over top.
Pork Chop Recipe:
Tiny Pinch of Salt
4 Thick Cut Chops
1 medium onion
1 orange wedged and chunked
Cut onion in half, dice one half in large chunks, dice the other 1/2 in small pieces.
Rub Chops with a tiny bit of coarse ground salt (kosher, sea salt)
Layer Crocpot with large onions, place chops in croc, turn on high until chops are seared a bit, flip chops and top with small diced onions and orange chunks, cover and let cook until other side is seared.
Once both sides of the chop are seared, poor in sauce mix.
Sauce Mix:
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp Chili Paste (Not Sri-Racha but Sambal Oelek)
2 Tbsp Honey
1 orange, juiced
2 cloves pressed garlic
Poor sauce over chops and let cook on high at least 2 hours.
When chops are cooked, turn them down to low, dip out 1/2 the liquid and reduce it by 75%. As the chops are cooling, they will get more tender.
Serve chops with a spoon of the sauce over top.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Oh! Caserole
My Freezer: I have learned to use my freezer, just in the last couple of years, before that, I pretty much frowned on anything frozen except ice, ice-cream, and cheap frozen pizza (Totino's cheap). So anyway, I have learned to utilize my electricity sucker very well.
Whenever I have bread or biscuit leftovers, I freeze them. One of my favorite casserole toppings is to mix about 4 parts cheese to 2 parts bread/biscuit 1 part mayo... yes this might sound strange. But... think on this...
Mayo is just oil, egg, and flavors, so it has tremendous binding power.
So, try it! Top a caserole with some cheesy, bread and mayo brown bubble goodness.
I made fresh condensed mushroom soup pretty often. So I had this pre-prepped mix of my soup, but you can use canned of course. I made a pretty traditional chicken, broccoli, rice, and mushroom soup caserole. I topped it with cheesy, bread and mayo goodness, and baked it at about 375 F till it had brown bubbles on top.
Whenever I have bread or biscuit leftovers, I freeze them. One of my favorite casserole toppings is to mix about 4 parts cheese to 2 parts bread/biscuit 1 part mayo... yes this might sound strange. But... think on this...
Mayo is just oil, egg, and flavors, so it has tremendous binding power.
So, try it! Top a caserole with some cheesy, bread and mayo brown bubble goodness.
I made fresh condensed mushroom soup pretty often. So I had this pre-prepped mix of my soup, but you can use canned of course. I made a pretty traditional chicken, broccoli, rice, and mushroom soup caserole. I topped it with cheesy, bread and mayo goodness, and baked it at about 375 F till it had brown bubbles on top.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Stocking up the Bread
About once each month, I spend my weekend baking bread. This time, I made tortillas, pizza crusts, and multi-grain bread.
Improvisation:
I was running out of flour. So... I used my handy dandy food processor to grind up some oats, millet, and hazlenuts.
I will buy random grains and nuts in bulk from the Whole Foods or the Arab Market, so this is what I had stocked up. The problem with this mixture is that it is high in grain goodness, but low in gluten protein.
Gluten (protein) gives bread elasticity (like a balloon can expand to hold air, so can the loaf if it has enough elasticity) When working with large grains or grains with low gluten content, you need to make up for the shortage somehow. Eggs is one way, I also keep high gluten flour on hand, so that is what I used.
I mixed...
5 cups (approx) of some multigrain mix from my previous loaves (I have no idea what all was in it, I think some spelt, wheat, and white flour)
2 -3 cups oat flour with lots of gluten mixed in (probably 1/4 cup doesn't matter though, all gluten flour comes with its own instructions for mixing b/c it is made with different proportions of protein)
1 cup of millet
1/2 cup ground hazlenut meal
1 cup white flour during kneeding
I used my standard ratio of yeast, water, salt, sugar, and oil. (from the "Video Bread" Guy)
The bread is good, however, it is VERY dense. I could have used twice as much gluten and still probably would have had a pretty dense loaf, just comes with the territory with those whole grains and nuts.
Improvisation:
I was running out of flour. So... I used my handy dandy food processor to grind up some oats, millet, and hazlenuts.
I will buy random grains and nuts in bulk from the Whole Foods or the Arab Market, so this is what I had stocked up. The problem with this mixture is that it is high in grain goodness, but low in gluten protein.
Gluten (protein) gives bread elasticity (like a balloon can expand to hold air, so can the loaf if it has enough elasticity) When working with large grains or grains with low gluten content, you need to make up for the shortage somehow. Eggs is one way, I also keep high gluten flour on hand, so that is what I used.
I mixed...
5 cups (approx) of some multigrain mix from my previous loaves (I have no idea what all was in it, I think some spelt, wheat, and white flour)
2 -3 cups oat flour with lots of gluten mixed in (probably 1/4 cup doesn't matter though, all gluten flour comes with its own instructions for mixing b/c it is made with different proportions of protein)
1 cup of millet
1/2 cup ground hazlenut meal
1 cup white flour during kneeding
I used my standard ratio of yeast, water, salt, sugar, and oil. (from the "Video Bread" Guy)
The bread is good, however, it is VERY dense. I could have used twice as much gluten and still probably would have had a pretty dense loaf, just comes with the territory with those whole grains and nuts.
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