The Ambient Chef

Jim Hart's Really Texas Chili #2

2011-07-01T20:50:00.002-04:00

Ready for a great July 4th bar-b-que side dish or main entry? We have one that's good now, good fall and winter and spring. All seasons that love spicy. Our guest chef tonight offers us a recipe for a really real Texas Chili the ambience of which is in the chili itself. Many thanks to Mr. Jim Hart, a Texas native, for sharing this with us.

Jim Hart's Really Texas Chili #2

3 lbs. Beef. coarse chili grind..

2t Lard, bacon grease (or Canola oil if your Dr. sees this)

6 whole dried Ancho chilies

3 whole dried Cascabel chilies

We have a guest chef tonight: Mr. Jim Hart from Texas to provide us with real Texas ambience. No pretend, just real down and dirty. The greatest Texas Chili.

3 whole dried Guajillo or pasilla negro chiles

2 whole dried Chile de Arbol or 1 fresh Habanero

1 whole dried Chipotle

2-3 cupsWater

1 medium onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2 t Cumin

1 t Mexican Oregano

1 t Salt

1 cup Beef Broth

6 oz. Beer (This is Texas Chili so use a Texas brewed beer. St. Arnold's Stout* or Shiner Bock are good choices) Reserve rest for cook.

Remove stems and seeds from chilies. Place dried chilies in small sauce pan, add water to cover, bring to boil and then simmer for 15 minutes until chilies are rehydrated.

While chilies are simmering, saute onions in bacon grease or lard until transluscent. When onions are nearly done, add crushed garlic. Remove onion and garlic from pan, add lard or bacon grease and brown meat. When meat is browned, return onion and garlic to pot. Add beef broth and salt.

When chilis are ready, pour contents into blender, add Cumin, Oregano and fresh chilis and blend to a smooth puree. Add to pot, stir well and add beer. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour.

Serve as is or may serve over Pinto beans, white rice, or hominy (my choice), or with corn bread, tortillas, or saltines. May garnish with Jack or sharp cheddar cheese.

This is not a really hot chili but it does have some bite. If you want a milder chili, substitute 1 or 2 mild jalapenos for the de Arbol or Habanero and 1/2 t Liquid Smoke for the Chipotle. If you want a hotter chili, use both the de Arbol and Habanero. If you want a really hot Chili, double the Chile de Arbol and Habanero and/or add 3-6 crushed chili piquins.

All chilies and spices are available from www.penderys.com

*St. Arnold's Stout is brewed in Houston, Texas between Dec. 15 and March 15 and can be hard to find. Shiner Bock is more readily available, but the stout adds a unique mix of flavors. I haven't tried other stouts in chili.

The Minimalist's Larder

2011-05-17T17:57:00.003-04:00

My sister and I were discussing recipes … those we like, those we don't and what the common denominator is. I mentioned a popular cooking show star whose recipes I would never try and she agreed. Because the recipes call for too many ingredients.

I don't know if the problem is she has sponsors who must be catered to or would like to establish a relationship with. But the truth is a good meal can be had in under 30 minutes and made with very few ingredients.

What would be the 'stuff' of a food closet if one were suggesting basic supplies? We both agreed on that as well:

Canned: diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, evaporated milk, black beans, navy beans, garbanzo beans

Spices: paprika, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, bay leaves, cumin, red pepper flakes, sea salt, pepper corns, sugar, honey, parmesan

Bottled: Balsamic, wine both red and white, and cider vinegars, red pepper sauce, worcestershire sauce

Oils: extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil

Baking items: baking soda, baking powder, yeast, unbleached bread, multiple use, and whole wheat flours

Packaged, spaghetti, linguini, arboro rice and long grain white rice, and dried beans of every sort

Boxes: broth or stock … beef, vegetable and chicken

Fresh: potatoes, garlic, onions

Any time you grow your own herbs … the closet has fewer items :)

In the fridge: eggs, milk, butter (salted and unsalted), lettuce, carrots, green beans, celery

I'll stop there. Looking over the list, you can see amazing dinners of fresh fish, chicken, pork, beef, vegetarian dishes …. all possible in under 30 minutes. Gourmet quality. There are ingredients for breads, cakes, custards, risotto, spaghetti …

Roasted Sweet Red Pepper Aioli

2010-11-10T15:16:00.001-05:00

5 Sweet red peppers cored, seeded, pithed (cut each in half)
(a mix of orange and red is fine. Just want the redness in the color)
3 small green jalapeno peppers cored, seeded, pithed (cut into strips)
3 fat garlic cloves
1/2 large red onion, cut into thirds

Flatten the pepper halves and place onions and garlic and chili's under the halves
on a thin roasting pan or cookie sheet
drizzle olive oil over the peppers
salt and ground pepper

Oven at 450
roast peppers for up to half an hour
Peppers with brown and, perhaps, develop small black areas Do not blacken more than a bit

Place roasting vegetables in a food processor
along with a large tablespoon of Thai roasted red chili paste
and process until smooth
Drizzle olive oil into the processor while processing
until the aioli is a spreadable / pourable paste
Salt and pepper to taste

Use over roasted vegetables or as a dip for bread

Lentils and Rice

2010-08-17T17:45:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to reduce my reliance on meat and poultry. A heart valve problem isn't related necessarily to 'clogged' arteries. And it's true, I'm trying to be conscious of a better diet - reduced salt, reduced fats. I'm exercising. I'm trying to become as healthy a person as I can be. But that desire doesn't mean I also have to become a vegetarian.

Still, within the context of a healthier diet, and within the context of my increasing discomfort with eating meat - for separate reasons of conscience - I'm including more vegetarian meals and dishes in my cooking. Last night I discovered a way to cook lentils and rice - very simple reading of a recipe. It was good, tasty, healthy and seemed to have room for lots of variations.

Risotto is like that - a good base for imagination. So here it is, Ellen. This one's for you:

1 c whole lentils (I used Ziyad)
1 c long grain white rice (I used basmati)
2 c thin sliced onions
2 1/2 c warm water
4T extra virgin olive oil
1 t salt (optional)
1/2 t ground cumin
Plain no-fat yogurt

1) Rinse lentils then cover with 21/2 c water. Boil until tender 15-25 minutes (took me about 20 minutes and I added boiling water as it evaporated.
2) Wash rice and soak in warm water while lentils cook.
3)Strain rice then add to pot of lentils. Add salt and cumin and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered.
4) Saute onions in olive oil until golden brown.
5) When rice and lentils have absorbed most of the water, scatter onions over the top. Cook for a few minutes more until no water remains.
6) Serve - use yogurt as topping.

I think this recipe could have spinach added as well.

If you're thinking pasta, think pizza. Pizza, pasta.

2010-07-28T20:57:00.003-04:00

Really. It occurred to me the other day - topping on pizza is also delicious on pasta, pasta topping is also delicious on pizza. And it makes sense. The floury substance of pasta is the same floury substance of pizza dough. So tonight I tried it out. I have a shrimp recipe I use to make stone baked pizzas and tonight I made the recipe to work with multigrain penne pasta.

Serves 1 or 2

6 ounces of penne pasta cooked

6 jumbo shrimp peeled

4 tablespoons diced red bell pepper

20 grape tomatoes halved

4 artichoke hearts quartered

4 tablespoons capers

3 cloves garlic minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese

fresh basil

cook pasta set aside

1 tablespoon of olive oil in frying pan

add

minced garlic

red bell pepper

tomatoes

cook over low heat pushing around slowly for about 10 minutes

add artichoke hearts and capers

cook around 5 more minutes

add shrimp

Cover with lid

cook over low heat about 6 minutes or until shrimp is done.

add pasta and basil and toss

add grated cheese

serve (over pasta or pizza :)

Tips: Easy Vinaigrette

2010-06-19T19:08:00.000-04:00

So easy and an interesting way to use up last year's pesto:

1 tbsp Grey Poupon
1 tbsp white Rice wine vinegar
1 half cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea Salt
Ground fresh peppercorns
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 2 inch x 2 inch square of pesto
Whisk until blended

That's it. Serve as dipping sauce for fresh bread (thaw that homemade baguette) or dressing for salad.

Easy way to create that slow sense of homemade (it IS homemade) fresh while enjoying a leisurely summer dinner of brats on the grill. :)

Cooking with Real Ambience

2010-06-18T09:12:00.003-04:00

We've all been there: busy parents and children making do with hurried dinners or fast food restaurants at the end of the day. Last night I was reading a magazine titled: Slow (as opposed to fast anything) and realized that culture not opportunity precludes dining with real food at home.

Now our children are grown and gone ("the GG Boys"), my husband and I enjoy slow evenings. A drink or a glass of wine while leisurely preparing dinner enhances after work relaxation as well as the taste buds. We chat about our day, the weather, events. Meanwhile I'm cooking a slow risotto with shrimp and asparagus, tossing a salad with a little homemade vinaigrette, and taking cloud rolls from the freezer (homemade, mind you).

Dinner takes 20 - 40 minutes to prepare during which time we have slowed down, visited and, while eating and drinking, communed. The word commune means everything.

Yet, the 1 to 1.5 hours it takes to do all of this at home is the same amount of time it takes to drag the family to McDonald's or another fast food place - eat hurriedly and move on to the next event.

There's no reason we as a culture cannot return to home cooked slow meals. Certainly there's the slow cooker to enhance. And, there's the freezer to store fresh home baked bread, and there's the love of food and preparation for light and emotionally satisfying fresh cooked dinners.

Slow cooking is cooking with real ambience.

What to do with ripe bananas bread

2010-03-06T09:19:00.005-05:00

This is an old-fashioned recipe. One my mom made and my grandmother and my neighbors. Easy and straight forward but delicious and moist. Thanks to Cheri Wiles for the photo.

1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp lemon juice
3 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup of softened butter
1 cup of sugar
2 med eggs
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts (I like walnuts)

Cream butter and sugar
Beat eggs and add
Mash bananas and add lemon juice
Sift dry ingredients and add to banana mixture
Add nuts.

Pour into greased bread pan and bake at 350 to 1 - 1 1/4 hours.

Cool ten minutes in pan on rack. Then tilt bread out of pan and place on rack to cool.

This bread freezes beautifully. I always have a loaf on hand to send home with sister when she visits.

Polish Stuffed Cabbages (Golabki) Slow Cooker Recipe

2010-03-04T15:21:00.004-05:00

1 lg. head cabbage

2 reg cans diced tomatoes

1 lg. can tomato sauce

4 carrots

2 reg onions

1.25 cups of plain bread crumbs

2 eggs

salt

pepper

3 lb. ground chuck

(or ⅓ mix of pork, veal & beef)

½ lb bacon

dice and brown bacon save bacon grease

core cabbage and place in lg pot

cover with water & bring water to boil. Turn fire off.

clean and slice carrots into coin size pieces

mix ground meat with eggs, bread crumbs and onions

add salt & pepper to the mixture to taste

Place cabbage in colander and rinse cool (save cabbage water in pot)

Peel leaf & take a handful of ground meat mixture and place in middle at core end. Roll down once fold both sides over roll down again in tight package

place each stuffed cabbage in slow cooker layering. 1 st layer 8 rolls

cover with ⅓ carrot coins

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 bacon bits

1 tablespoon bacon grease

1 lladel tomatoe sauce

1 ladle cabbage water

second layer of rolls

repeat carrots, diced tomatoes, bacon, tablespoon bacon grease and this time rest of can of tomato sauce

makes 16 rolls

slow cook low for 8 hours
(can also be made in roasting pan with lid slowly cooked in oven.

best if made 1 day in advance

When we were kids we used to call golabki 'gwimpies" which my father dubbed 'wimpies'. He loved them served with smashed potatoes which are potatoes mashed with a masher (not whipped) to which he added diced onion and bacon (both browned in frying pan before added to potatoes with a little of the bacon grease) Top with some salt and ground pepper. Serve with wimpies to the side. Add a little wimpie juice to potatoes.

Delicious served with thick rye bread (or pumpernickel).

(Just found this also read - for different style made with rice. Rice and barley or bread are options to be mixed with the ground beef.

Cabbage Rolls (Galumpkis))

Tips: Preparing the oven for Hearth Baking

2010-03-04T09:17:00.009-05:00

Preparing the oven for hearth baking

Breads, Pots, Ovens, Oh My!

2010-03-01T12:08:00.003-05:00

My bread book mainstays have been Daniel Leader's Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers , Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible , and Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

I have a baking stone and I do toss ice cubes into the oven or spray the oven with water at the start of a bread's baking period for that first 15 minute 'pop'. These books have given me a local name for bread baking and the procedures are well worth the effort. All these books have taught me quite a bit about the processes involved in the development of great bread.

But.

I have worked my way through two Kitchen Aid mixers and do, on occasion, make heavily hydrated bread that couldn't stand on its own without some sort of mechanical kneading.

So.

I have two issues dancing through the back of my brain. Number one is: without purchasing a steam injection oven, can I create a moist environment for the baking of bread that doesn't require tossing ice or spraying the sides of my oven with water? Number two: is it possible to make bread without the kind of kneading that, for my lack of strength, doesn't depend on machine strength kneading?

Serendipity. I ran across the New York Times Readers' Opinion piece: "The Minimalist: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work (November 8, 2006)" and "Recipe: No-Knead Bread"

In order to test the concept of using a dutch oven for bread baking, I followed the no-knead recipe adapted from James Lahey's book My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method (Hardcover) . I was afraid of two things: that the dough would stick to and ruin my dutch oven AND that I would get burned putting the dough in the pan. So I allowed the dough to rise on parchment covered with saran wrap and lifted the uncovered dough parchment and all cradled into the Dutch oven. It worked. The dough didn't stick though of course I still don't know if it would have. Also, I did not get burned.

Secondly, the bread was delicious. I was nervous because the dough was a bit of a mess … but it came out beautiful. I do like, perhaps, more control over the uniformity of the crumb. But still, a wonderful bread for ragout and soups. Crunchy and chewy.

Right now, I'm thinking about using one of my standard breads from the three mentioned books, perhaps Berandbaum's hearth bread or one of Leaders stiff dough starter breads and baking it in the dutch oven. Some of these recipes make very large, showy loaves so whichever I choose will have to be a smallish boule.

New York Times Recipe for No-Knead Bread

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Would love to hear your thoughts, advice, your experiences?

Tips: Boil & peel

2010-02-20T08:45:00.000-05:00

A quick 'bring to boil' helps tremendously peeling tomatoes and onions (especially boiling or perl onions).

Tips: Save for soups

2010-02-20T08:42:00.001-05:00

Freeze the bones from rib roasts, chicken, & ham for later use in soups.

Cornmeal & Molasses

2010-01-11T08:01:00.000-05:00

In the meantime, inspired forward by the Flour Girl Blog, Wild Yeast blog and Chili & Chocolate, I made Anadama bread today. In the end, the bread is fine. Quite moist, a tad sweet, and delicious. If anything is wrong with the bread, it's me. Working hurried, trying to get out of the house by 12:00 p.m. - I hurried the rise and I hurried the ferment. One thing bread making teaches us is patience. The beauty of a successful loaf is it beams with patience. Like a mother's love, or a grandmother's love. Patient. Warm. Yummy.

This is not a sourdough but a yeast bread. Made with bread flour and cornmeal, molasses instead of sugar or malt. It is fast compared to sourdough recipes. Under 5 hours if you don't count soaking the cornmeal the night before.

The only changes I made to the recipe: I used my oven stone and I used ice in the skillet on the bottom of the oven. These were tricks I leaned in Daniel Leaders' book and served me well.

The bread is golden, the crust dusted with cornmeal is both tasty and pretty. In this loaf there's some density which would not be there if I had given the bread a half hour more of a rise. Nevertheless, great sandwiches, pretty loaf, & loved by recipients. That's another nice thing about baking bread. It's never 'the wrong gift.' :)

Recipe from Flour Girl's website

Anadama Bread
From "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart
Makes two 1 1/2-pound loaves or three 1-pound loaves
Soaker
1 cup (6 ounces) cornmeal (preferably coarse grind, also packaged as polenta)
1 cup (8 ounces) water, at room temperature
Dough
4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons (.22 ounce) instant yeast
1 cup (8 ounces) water, lukewarm
1 1/2 teaspoons (.38 ounce) salt
6 tablespoons (4 ounces) molasses
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) shortening or unsalted butter, at room temperature
Cornmeal for dusting (optional)
The day before making the bread, make the soaker by mixing the cornmeal and water in a small bowl. Cover with plastic and let sit overnight at room temperature.
The next day, to make the dough, stir together 2 cups of the flour, the yeast,soaker and water in a mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic and ferment for 1 hour, or until the sponge begins to bubble.
Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour, the salt, molasses and shortening and stir (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients form a ball. Add water if necessary to make a soft, slightly sticky mass.
Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer dough to the counter and knead (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook), sprinkling in more flour as needed to make a tacky, but not sticky, dough. The dough should be firm but supple and pliable and definitely not sticky. It will take about 10 minutes of kneading to accomplish this (or 6 to 8 minutes in the mixer).
Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment the dough at room temperature for about 90 minutes, or until doubled.
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 2 equal pieces of 24 ounces, or 3 pieces of 16 ounces. Shape the dough into loaves and put in lightly oiled bread pans. (Larger loaves could go in 9- by 5-inch pans and smaller loaves should go in 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch pans.) Mist the tops with spray oil and cover with wrap.
Proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the loaves crest fully above the tops of the pans. (If you want to hold back any of the loaves, place them in the refrigerator without proofing, where they will hold for up to 2 days. Remove them from the refrigerator about 4 hours before baking and proof at room temperature, or until ready.)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, with the oven rack in the middle shelf. Place the pans on a sheet pan and remove the plastic wrap. Mist the tops with a spray of water and dust with cornmeal.
Place the sheet plan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the sheet pan for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown, including along the sides and bottom, and register at least 185 degrees to 190 degrees in the center. They should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.
When the loaves are done, remove them immediately from the pans and cool on a wire rack at least one hour before slicing.

Como Bread

2010-01-11T07:55:00.001-05:00

Again, using Daniel Leader's book, Local Breads, I decided since the biga naturelle worked great in the olive cheeks, why not try it in the como bread. Substituted 2 cups of the of the biga with my sourdough.

Glazed one round with egg white and water. The other not glazed at all allowing for the artisan appeal. Leader doesn't glaze his breads. But Rose Levy Beranbaum does in her book, The Bread Bible. I used her glaze on Leader's bread.

******

They're both cool, now. Gave one to neighbor for his dinner . One to freeze. Asked the neighbor if I could take a slice for photograph. (I was wondering what the arcitecture looked like) and this is the result.

Not bad. The result is very light with variable holes and a nice buttery flavor. That's what I love about sourdough starters. They don't have to be sour. People look to San Francisco. But that's an American taste. And cultured to be so. Starter is used for a rise and for a very complex flavor.

Photographs of our holiday breads and crackers

2010-01-04T22:31:00.003-05:00

Boules of bread and wheat flour, Lavash crackers with cumin, sesame, rye, poppy and paprika, and Genzano country bread (heavily hydrated) Here's a link to Reinhart's recipe for the lavash crackers: "Peter Reinhart’s Lavash – Armenian Flatbread" I roll the dough flat and score the dough with a pizza cutter - breaking after cooling. A second presentation is to not score the dough and break into shards after cooling.

My friend Karen and I made the bread over the holiday. Karen was working on shaping and scoring. I think she did a beautiful job.

Tips: Scoring Bread Dough

2010-01-04T22:12:00.005-05:00

Bread always provides its own ambience. The kitchen fills with the smell of the bread and yeast and the loaves are particularly gorgeous if formed free style and scored with an eye to the decorative. Dinner guests applaud.

Tips: Bread Dough Shaping Techniques with Peter Reinhart

2010-01-04T21:51:00.004-05:00

One of the great joys of visiting with my friend Karen was baking together. We both love it and were trying to focus on scoring and shaping with two boules and one giant peasant loaf. I've searched through web files to find a few videos to help as technique reminders.

Wonderful to find some videos of Peter Reinhart. I'm including two of his shaping tips here:

How To Shape a Boule With Peter Reinhart

How To Shape a Boule With Peter Reinhart on Howcast

The Stretch and Fold Technique from Peter Reinhart

Tips: Cooking With Parchment

2009-12-16T04:18:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Cheri Wiles (aka @CheriWiles ) Oh -- and I am absolutely in my conviction that parchment paper is the key to keeping cookies from crumbling. No-stick -- ever -- and just as browned as if the cookies were baked directly on the sheet.

Tips: Velvety Smooth Mashed Potatoes

2009-11-23T13:40:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Cheri Wiles of Feminine Wiles Use a ricer (instead of a masher or hand mixer) for mashed potatoes that are perfect and velvety smooth every time.

Tips: Easy Peel Sweet Potatoes

2009-11-23T07:53:00.001-05:00

Here's a tip from April Jones (aka @aprillwrites) Making sweet potato casserole? Boil potatoes whole first. They'll slip right out of their jackets ready for mashing. Thanks April :)

Tip Collector Please Contribute :)

2009-11-22T14:32:00.001-05:00

This is a place to gather all the wise tips from friends, twitterers, bloggers, folks with cookin' moms and cookin' dads. Post your tips and I'll include them in my Tips category as separate posts with a great big thanks to you. I could really use the help with this. Thanks! (Be sure to leave your name as you'd like it displayed :)

Post Turkey Post: A Week of Thanksgiving

2009-11-21T10:22:00.005-05:00

My mother could make a Turkey do its thing for Thanksgiving and then morph into a week of delicious dishes.

This post isn't a recipe post. It's an idea post. It teaches as did my mother to think in the long term and plan. 11 mouths to feed? You become the master of the 1 lb of groundbeef which, like the proverbial single loaf of bread, becomes enough to feed a crowd.

A week of Thanksgiving-

Thanksgiving. 20-24 lb bird. Roasted in a buttered paper bag slowly over hours. Golden and tender.
Leftovers. Either heated up and re-served or made into a layered casserole - potatoes on bottom, green beans or peas, turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce.
Turkey club sandwiches. 3 slices of bread with bacon lettuce tomato and mayonnaise. So good! (& don't forget the turkey)
Turkey croquettes with cream sauce and peas
Turkey salad sandwiches with chopped turkey, celery, minced onion, mayonaise
Turkey soup made from the carcass. Add onion and celery, salt and pepper, boiled for hours and served with noodles. Big, fat noodles.
Lay the Turkey to rest :)

Be sure to take the stuffing out of the turkey and to slice all the meat from the turkey after Thanksgiving dinner. Keep cold in the refridgerator. And don't be afraid to share the bits and pieces with the dog.

Related:

"What Are Your Go-To Recipes for Multiple Meals?"

Sandwich Bread: Creating Memories

2009-11-18T12:07:00.000-05:00

Granddaughters 1 & 2 are here this week. That means sandwiches and toast and, well, sandwich bread in sandwich shapes (meaning like Wonder Bread) and bread that fits in the toaster.

So took out my trusty Rose Levy Beranbaum book to look up Rose’s white sandwich bread ‘what Wonder Bread, in its soul, wanted to taste like’

Decided to make white for this week and wheat for next. Especially since I had one too many starters

(Ahem) Aside: I’m on a diet but it’s sat isfying to make bread even though I don’t eat it.)

Very simple recipes which can be made more complex by allowing the ferment to occur over night in the fridge. A slow ferment is a complex flavor and scent. But, the girls are here and I need bread that tastes good, looks good, says, ‘Grandma made it for us’ and has an option for speedy. Bread that, as the girls come in the door, I am taking out of the oven.

I found a link to Rose’s White Sandwich Bread and to her Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. Hope you enjoy, too.

It has been a great week. The girls love the white bread. And we’ll love the serendipity wheat bread next week. Thank you, Rose

Home Made Dried Lima Bean Soup

2009-11-12T10:18:00.003-05:00

One of our favorite home meals thanks to Mom and, as usual for many of my best meals, thanks to Mom: home made dried lima bean soup. Our mother was also a master of food recycling in such a way that 'leftovers' was never a negative word in our house.

My sister is visiting this week - today actually. I always like to include some family favorites for her. We had our son and his daughters (our granddaughters, of course :) over for dinner Sunday to a smoked ham dinner so thought to make bean soup. It's a basic and requires really only cooking time and good bread. The soup image is from Allrecipes.com.

bone from 7 lb semi boneless smoked ham
diced ham from bone
2 lbs of dried limas
1 whole onion,
8-10 carrots diced
half a pack of celery diced

basil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
brown sugar
a few cloves

Why the whole onion instead of diced? Because none of my sisters like onions. But they all like the flavor onions add to food. This way I can just lift the onion out at the end of cooking.

Run dried limas in a colander under the faucet and rinse. Pour into an 8 qt. pot and cover with water. Let sit overnight.

Cut ham from the ham bone, dice and place in the refrigerator. Place bone in pot with beans.
Add carrots, onions and celery
1 tablespoon of basil
1 tablespoon sea salt
a few dashes of fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
a few fresh whole cloves
fill pot 2/3 with water

Cover pot and cook on low for about 8 hours stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.

In the last half hour, remove the bone and taste the soup. Add additional seasonings if you need. I usually add more salt, grind in more pepper and add another tablespoon of basil. Add diced ham. Return to cooking.

The limas should be cooked down so there's a nice hearty thickness about the soup. Be sure to stir and scoop from the bottom.

When ready (this soup is especially delicious after sitting in the refrigerator overnight), serve with rye bread with big cold chunks of real butter.

Serve at the kitchen table. Play the music from 'O Brother Where Art Thou' in the background (many of our father's favorite songs in that cd).

And for wine? A nice Cabernet Sauvignon.

And don't give the dogs the bone. :)