nosh

Having survived the potential minefield of a post-election Thanksgiving (relatives MOSTLY behaved ), I awoke 3 days later out of a turkey stupor to find an extra can of awful/amazing (depending how you look at it) crescent rolls. Hitting the internet to find out how to use them up is like hitting a barn - there are thousands.

Difficulty: Easy. Uses 1 fry pan and 1 baking sheet (if your fry pan can go in the oven you might even be able to pull it off and use it to bake the ring after you scramble the eggs).

Time: 30 minutes (20 of it is baking)

Ingredients:

1 can of crescent rolls

6 eggs, beaten (reserve a Tbs or so of uncooked egg)

Salt, pepper, and any herbs you like in eggs (I used a few pinches of dried tarragon and dried parsley)

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced
1 or 2 Tbs. butter
8 slices of bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1 cup shredded cheese

The method in almost all of these recipes is to lay out the crescent rolls on a greased sheet (on a piece of parchment paper would be great too, but not required) in the shape of a star. Lay out bacon strips along the crescent roll lengths. In the center of the ring (not extending further than about 1/3 of the length of the unrolled crescent pieces) layer in scrambled eggs with herbs, sauteed onions/peppers, and cheese. Fold in the crescent rolls and bacon strips to the center of the ring. Brush the pastry with the Tbs of raw beated egg. Pop in 375 F oven for 15 min or so, until dough is golden brown.

This one was easy and can be accommodated to almost any egg/meat/cheese filling:
http://www.jocooks.com/breakfast-2/crescent-bacon-breakfast-ring/

Current Mood: relaxed

songfire

(Original recipe via Good Foods):

Difficulty: Easy
Time: ca. 45 mins
Type: main dish / party food

(Serves 4!)
( Here we go! )

Current Mood: thankful

shalom

Here's a link to the recipe for this soup, which I made tonight. http://thestir.cafemom.com/food_party/113618/chicken_tortilla_soup_the_best?fb_ref=post_bottom&fb_source=profile_multiline

It's absolutely delicious, full of flavor, and although baking the chicken and then creating the soup are 2 steps, they are fairly uncomplicated and the highest level of skill required was dicing an onion and a red pepper.

Here's what I varied from the original recipe:

I added more garlic as she recommended
Added a scant teaspoon of ground cumin
Used a can of peite diced tomatoes instead of a tomato puree.
Simmered it 30 minutes with the lid ON, not in an open pot (I was worried it would cook down too much).

I'm going to serve it tomorrow night with sliced avocado, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and low-fat sour cream.

Current Mood: relaxed

herlander_refugee

I just picked the last of the heavily scented hedge roses.

With that still in my nose, I made ghee---and bubbling browning buttery bliss smells melded with the rose.

And on the back burner...sugar and water for hummingbird feed added a syrupy note.

One + one + one? Makes me shut my eyes and think of Mughal princesses....and what would any self-respecting Mughal princess think of smelling roses and syrup and butter/ghee?

GULAB JAMUN!

My favorite, and only home made (not frequently enough) Indian dessert is this confection of spicy, rosy, sweet delight. Little golden spheres made of dried milk and ghee are deep fried (in more ghee) and then soaked soft in a spicy syrup flavored with rose water!

I have diabetic guests coming and I am going to spend the morning experimenting with making this sugar free! I think if I use a sugar free syrup instead of making my own of honey, brown sugar and water, and spice it heavily at low, low heat, it may be sufficiently convincing.
Anyone want to experiment with me??( Read more... )

Current Mood: experimental

mrkinch

This recipe was contributed by one Esther Shapiro to "What's Cooking in Hadassah" published by the Bayonne Chapter of Hadassah, undated except that the book was given to me by my first mother-in-law sometime in the late 60s. It's a wonderful, fruity sponge cake that I have made countless times; it was my signature seder dish, always requested throughout my years in our havurah.

PASSOVER SPONGE CAKE #1

12 eggs, separated
juice and rind of one orange
rind of a whole lemon
juice of half a lemon
1 C sugar
2 T oil
1/2 C sugar
pinch salt
1 C matzo cake meal
1 T potato starch

Beat the egg yolks, rind, juices, oil, and 1 C sugar. Wash beaters and dry thoroughly, then beat egg whites until stiff. Mix in 1/2 C sugar and salt. Fold egg whites into the yolks. Fold in cake meal and starch. Pour into a large tube pan and bake at 325º for one hour. Hang until cool and remove from pan. Serve plain or with ice cream or fresh fruit.

Prep takes me an hour, baking another hour, cooling perhaps two hours.

shalom

It's Passover, so that means a prohibition on eating leavened bread. That also means lots of dishes based on matzoh and/or potatoes.

A traditional, delicious dish is matzoh meal pancakes. These can be served as a main dish at breakfast, or as a side for lunch or dinner. This recipe elevates the basic matzoh meal pancake to new heights, with additions of nuts and a sweet coating of honey. Takes about 30 minutes and well worth the effort.

Ingredients
1 cup matzoh meal
1/2 cup (4 oz) finely chopped nuts (I used almonds, but walnuts would be fine)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp granulated ginger (optional)
1 cup water, sweet wine*, or mead
4 large eggs, beaten
Oil (canola or light olive oil)
1 1/2 cups honey

Directions

Mix eggs and water/wine/mead together.
Add matzoh meal, nuts, cinnamon, sugar, salt, ginger. Stir together and let sit for a few minutes; the mazoh meal will absorb the liquid (batter may at first appear to be too thin, but it isn't).
Consistency should be thicker, but pourable from a spoon. If it's too thick, add a bit more liquid until you like the consistency.
Add oil to a frying pan over medium/medium-low heat.
Fry pancakes, turning when each is light brown, then remove from pan and put aside until all pancakes are made. (I remove each and put on paper towels, to absorb any excess oil).
Drain oil from pan.
Add honey to pan and bring to a boil; it will thin and froth.
Working in batches, add the pancakes back in and coat them with the honey. Plate the completed pancakes and pour any extra honey left in pan over them all. Serve hot.

Notes

I tripled this recipe this morning and it made about 30 3" pancakes.
In tripling my recipe today, 1/3 of the liquid (1 cup) was some of my mother's horrid Manischewitz white cream concord wine left over from our seder the other night, and it was a great addition to the recipe.

Current Mood: happy

herlander_refugee

I had to sort of Norte-Americanize these. I couldn't face the brilliant fake colors usually used to top them. But these were delicious, I made them into the crescents with the filling INside instead of over the top of the seashell-like ones.

Recipe behind the cut curtain!( Read more... )

shalom

So, there we were, snowed in with 20" of snow in a cozy house, lazy afternoon, and a (cheater!) bag of frozen potstickers but NO dipping sauce! Well, that could have been a crisis, if but for this delicious and easy recipe. I think it's as tasty as the dipping sauce that comes with the fried dumplings from our favorite Chinese restaurant (though I suspect they add a pinch of sugar which I'll try and add next time). In addition to dumplings, I think this would be good with all sorts of things that need dipping. As always, I'll show the original and how I ~~bastardized~~ changed it to accomodate what I had in the pantry.

Ingredients
4 Tablespoons soy sauce (I used light soy sauce)
1 teaspoon sesame oil (I used toasted, dark sesame oil)
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons ginger, minced (I used 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger)

Instructions
Whisk all the ingredients together until thoroughly combined.
Refrigerate unused portions.

I think a tablespoon or so of minced scallion or chive would also be good, as well as perhaps a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

Current Mood: satisfied

shalom

Since I seem to be on a roll with "cheater" recipes, here's another one that is absolutely delicious, easy, and of course (in the vein of cheater recipes) uses a premade and/or frozen item as a main ingredient. I feel NO guilt cheating with this one, since it's so good. Taken from an ancient Jewish cookbook that was compiled and sold as a fundraiser for a home for the elderly in my state. This recipe can be easily halved. It is best served hot out of the oven. Some of my family members like to sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar over theirs.

Ingredients

12 frozen blintzes (2 boxes), either cheese or fruit blintzes, or one box of each
16 ounce container of sour cream (light or no-fat is fine)
4 eggs
2 Tablespooons orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 lb butter or margarine (lowfat spread is fine too)

Directions

Preheat over to 350 F
Using a baking dish big enough to allow all 12 blintzes to fit in one layer, melt butter and pour into the bottom of baking dish so that it coats the bottom
Lay blintzes in 1 layer in pan on top of butter
Thoroughly mix all other ingredients together and pour evenly over blintzes
Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown

Current Mood: sleepy

shalom

Here's another favorite from the New Year's Day brunch. It's perfect because it can be made the night before, then popped into the oven in the morning. This recipe is also good for serving in a heated chafing dish.

Ingredients

One 32 ounce bag of frozen hash brown potatoes (shredded or diced type - I like the consistency of the diced type, but either is fine). Leave frozen and do not cook.
One 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup (cream of celery or cream of mushroom is also great if you want to make this meat-free)
16 ounce container of sour cream (light or no-fat is fine)
3 cups of shredded cheese (I use cheddar but any type of cheese that melts nicely will do)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Directions

Mix everything together and place evenly in a greased, deep (3"+) 3-quart baking or casserole dish (or disposable aluminum chafing dishes which fit in 1/2 of a chafer).
If you're not baking immediately, cover and put in refrigerator overnight
Bake 350 F uncovered for at least 60 minutes, or until hot and bubbling

shalom

Every year I throw a big brunch on New Year's Day. This is a favorite and it gets devoured. It's easy to make and the only skills required are ripping (or cutting) bread into pieces and beating eggs. It's best made 4-24 hours prior to baking and can handle being served in a heated chafing dish for quite a while.

Ingredients

One 16 ounce loaf of cinnamon toast bread
One dozen eggs
3 cups milk (I used 1%, but any type will do)
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Tear or cut the cinnamon toast into bite-sized (1") pieces and place evenly in a greased, deep (3"+) 3-quart baking or casserole dish (or disposable aluminum chafing dishes which fit in 1/2 of a chafer).
Beat together the rest of the ingredients and pour over the bread, making sure all the bread gets thoroughly wet.
Cover the pan and refrigerate 4-14 hours
Bake 60 minutes uncovered in a 350 F oven or until center has set. Center should not appear runny.

Serve with REAL maple syrup, or even a berry syrup.

Current Mood: relaxed

mrkinch

This is my version based on Betty Crocker 1961 and this recipe linked by

isis.

Apple Bread Pudding

3 1/2 C torn up bread
2 C milk
pinch salt
2 eggs
1/3 to 1/2 C sugar (1/2 is fine, but I think 1/3 suits me better)
1/2 t cinnamon
1 baking apple, chopped
2 T butter

Place bread and milk in bowl and stir or knead with hand until milk is largely absorbed. I use whatever is at hand; lately it's been pita leftover from Israeli-style lunches at work, frozen until needed. Beat the eggs, add the sugar, salt and cinnamon. Stir into bread. Stir in chopped apple.

Melt butter in 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Pour in bread mixture. Bake an hour or so at 350° F until the top is lightly browned and the pudding is pulling away a bit from the sides of the dish. Let cool enough to eat! I don't make a sauce, but vanilla ice cream would do very well.

songfire

Typical german christmas candy ;)

Difficulty: easy

Time: ~25 minutes

Ingredients:
400g Almonds (whole)
300g Sugar (brown) + 1 packet vanillin essence
1 tablespoon of ground Cinnamon
2 tablespoons of Water

1-Put the sugar,vanillin essence, cinnamon and water in a big pan until the mixture boils and the sugar dissolves in the water (don’t stir!)
2-Put the almonds in and slowly stir. Heat until the water has evaporated and the sugar has caramelized and all the almonds have a shiny glaze on them (keep stirring!).
3-Place some baking paper on a big tray.
4-Remove almonds from the pan and place on the baking paper.
5 Carefully divide almonds from each other (use forks; and be careful - they're HOT!) so they don't stick together.

Current Mood: accomplished

shalom

Latkes, traditionally made on Chanukah and fried in oil (fried food is symbolic of the holiday, which is why you'll also find people making fried jelly doughnuts - sufganiyot - delicious as well), served with applesauce or sour cream. Latkes are a bit time consuming, but these are delicious and so much better than the boxed mixes and/or frozen ones.

Difficulty: Medium, due to all the prep work. Difficulty increases if you do not have a food processor. You can definitely use a hand grater, but this will take longer and the consistency of the latkes will be a bit different.

Time: 60 minutes

As I like to do, here's the recipe, with info in parentheses to describe how I changed any of it from the original.

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes peeled and cut into eighths (I used plain russets)\
1 large onion (I used a sweet Vidalia), peeled and cut into eighths
2 eggs
3 Tbs flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder
Vegetable oil (I used canola)

Directions
In small batches using a food processer with the chopping blade, process potatoes and onions to a rough consistency (NOT to the point of pureed). Put chopped food into a colandar and let drain (you can help speed this up by squeezing it with the back of a large spoon in the colander). Transfer the chopped and drained potatoes and onions to a large bowl, then add the rest of the ingredients except the oil, stirring well. If the mixture appears too runny, you can add more flour.

Heat the oil (depth of 1/2") in a skillet/frypan. Working in small batches, fry the potatoes without touching each other, turning once when darker golden brown. Make sure not to make the latkes too thick or they won't cook in the middle. Remove from pan and drain on paper bags/paper towel. You can keep previous batches warm in the oven while you finish frying.

Makes about 15 latkes.

Mmmmmm.....worth the effort.

Current Mood: sleepy

shalom

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 30 minutes, 325 degrees F

This makes quite a bit....it filled a 2-quart stoneware baker, and I'm sure you could half the recipe for a smaller crowd. You could easily substitute in 8 large sweet potatoes baked then peeled.

Ingredients
2 40-oz. cans of sweet potatoes/yams, drained (mine were in light syrup)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I swapped sugar types and halved this from 1 cup of white in the original recipe)
1 stick of butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon ground cinnaomon
1/2 cup heavy cream, half and half, or milk

Topping
(I did not try, because I am going to substitute it for the traditional browned marshmallows tomorrow when I heat and serve this).
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
Mix together with fork and sprinkle over top of casserole

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together except cream. Beat by hand or with an electric mixer (easier!) until smooth. Add cream and mix well. Pour into greased casserole dish. Add topping. Bake for 30 minutes.

Current Mood: pleased

shalom

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 1.5 hours (1 hour roasting, the rest making the soup)

This is the 2nd year I've made this for Thanksgiving and it's delicious - even better if you make it a day or so ahead. The little bit of cayenne adds a tiny kick at the end, but not burning.

Ingredients
1 large butternut squash, roasted then cut into pieces (mine was 4 lb.)
1 large onion, diced (I used a big sweet Vidalia onion)
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced (I used a Granny Smith)
1/4 lb. butter (1 stick, or 8 Tbs)
32 oz. chicken broth (or if you want this vegetarian, use 8 cups water and equivalent amount of vegetarian boullion to make 32 oz.)
2 cups half & half (I used fat free, or light cream)
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Take a 4 lb. butternut squash, quarter it lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, rub with olive oil, then roast for 60+ min. at 350 degrees F or until tender. Cool and peel.

In a pot, saute the onion and apple with the butter until they are soft. Add the squash and the broth. Using an immersion mixer (or in batches using blender), blend until smooth. Add tarragon and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add half & half and heat through (do not boil). Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

(If you cool and serve later, you may need to add more broth or half & half, as the soup will thicken upon cooling.)

Current Mood: relaxed

shalom

In anticipation of Halloween, Alton Brown did a show all about garlic and vampires, in which he taught "The Count" not to be afraid of garlic. Yes, it was hokey as hell - classic Alton Brown - but the recipe is ridiculously easy and very tasty.

Instead of a whole cut-up chicken, my grocery store had chicken thighs on sale for $0.73/lb, so this was also a steal to make. Although I trimmed the skin on the thighs, I'm going to try it next time skinless, since there's no need for the additional fat, given the amount of olive oil in the recipe. I used dried thyme as well, and a large (14" diameter) deep skillet, but if your frypan/skillet couldn't go into the oven, I think this would be fine to first brown it on the stovetop, then pop everything into a baking dish in the oven. Given the ease of this recipe, it might make a good addition to a buffet dinner. Either way, your kitchen will be filled with the delicious aroma of roasted garlic.

I served the many cloves of garlic over the chicken and on the side. They were delicious spread on slices of fresh French bread.

Most time-consuming part of this recipe was simply skinning cloves from two large heads of garlic. Once you separate the cloves, give each a light smash with a mallet or side of a broad knife to loosen the skins.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

Original recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/40-cloves-and-a-chicken-recipe/index.html

Current Mood: relaxed

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Post-Holiday Leftover Unbaked Crescent Rolls

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