The Way of the Cook

We shopped at Whole Foods this last week and picked up some great food. We saved the receipt and took it to HEB on our latest shopping trip to do some comparisons. We'll probably continue to do most of our shopping at HEB because the prices are sometimes half what you pay at Whole Foods and if your careful you can still get good produce.

We got a chicken and I tried something a little different. Inspired by the recipe for Chinese barbecue pork in the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated I made some red spicy chicken. I started by cutting up and skinning the chicken so that I could put my crust inducing sauce right onto the meat. For the sauce I used some local honey and my favorite hot sauce mixed in about a 2:1 ratio (honey:hot) with a bit of olive oil as a bonus. I brushed this all over the chicken then popped it in a 475F oven, flipping after about 15 minutes. After 10 more minutes I turned on the broiler and moved up the rack. While the broiler was heating I brushed on some more sauce and then stuck the meat back in the oven till it looked delicious! It never really formed a crust but the flavor penetrated into the flesh a bit and gave the chicken a beautiful orange color.

I served it with up with some braised beets that I prepared using my hacked version of Mr. Brown's recipe for glazed carrots and it paired quite nicely. Instead of ginger ale for braising I used some white wine and added a little vinegar to brighten it all up. They turned out maroon and tasty!

My mom may have abandoned it but I keep the tradition of orange bunny rolls alive! I don't have her recipe so I had to find one, but that wasn't too hard. I found a nice one in my well used 1963 copy of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Here is my own interpretation on that recipe.

I assembled the ingredients and put them together in a sponge variation. That means I used half the flour, all the liquids and none of the salt to let the yeast hang out and propogate vigorously. I also reserved the orange juice for later because I thought the acidity might throw the yeast off. Here is team sponge:
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbl grated orange zest
2 cups flour

We had a surprising cold snap on Friday so I just let it sit on my counter overnight till Saturday. The sponge wasn't catching a rise for some reason so I added the rest of the flour and the orange juice and let it sit all day Saturday and catch a good rise. Second string:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup orange juice

Over the course of the day it caught a good rise so I added 6 tbl room temperature butter in installments while kneading, then turned it over to my Kitchenaid for a good 10 minutes of kneading. I then divided the dough into 12 portions, rolled them into 12" long snakes and formed them into bunnies! The rolls sat in the fridge overnight to be pulled out the next morning for the final rise and 10 minutes of baking in a 400d oven.

Finally I whipped up some orange glaze with 1 1/2 tbl orange juice and 3/4 cup powdered sugar, applying while the rolls were very hot. It was a big hit and Margaret was so impressed with the bunny shapes that she's requested I do this every Easter into eternity.

For dinner we had some ham and pea salad, but those were nowhere near as fun as bunny rolls. Margaret later asked me what I liked most about the bunny rolls. After a moments thought I replied "Remembering all the times before when we had them for breakfast." So practice your bunny forms with some clay and be ready to start your own tradition next Easter!

Using Alton Brown's meatloaf recipe as a starting point I've been experimenting with different meat mixes. This time I wanted to make a meatloaf that would be a bit more friendly towards my cholesterol level so I used 1 pound of turkey. In order to keep it from being too bland I mixed in 3/4 of a pound of lamb leg (on sale!). To up a the flavor I dropped in 3 ounces of parmesan. These items made two trips through my Kitchenaid meat grinder attachment with the coarse grind disc in place. Beats the hell out of my old hand grinder. For team veg I dropped 2 carrots, 1/2 onion and 1 red bell pepper and 3 ounces of shitake mushrooms into the food processor for a few seconds. Margaret says I should have pulsed it one more time to break up the carrots a little more, but I like it. After emptying the veg I processed 6 ounces of saltines and threw everying in a bowl to mash it up with my hands (fun!). I added an egg and a few last minute herbs and prepared to bake. I use a cookie sheet a simple ketchup glaze to maximize browning potential and cook to an internal temp of 155.

The results were quite delicious. The addition of mushrooms and parmesan made a very savory flavor which I thought needed a little brightening. A nice tomato sauce would do just the trick. This meatloaf mix would do great as meatballs or in ravioli, so that's exactly what I did next. I reseverved a bit of meatloaf to try some ravioli and the results were passable. I made an egg noodle sheet, thinning it out to number 3 on my machine. This turned out to be too thick when the doubled up on the edge of the ravioli so next time I'll try it a bit thinner. This will also help my yeild a bit. The noodles were also a bit tough, I'll try it without egg and see what difference that makes. If you're interested, heres some instruction on making your own ravioli.

After an embarrassing failed attempt at a low-fat turkey-a-la-king (don't use storebought gravy packets as a binder in casseroles!) it was nice to have a big success at breakfast this morning. I love pancakes. I love to make them, I love to eat them and I love them as leftovers, I love pancakes. Pancakes are not the best thing in the world for your body so I don't get them very often, but that might change. In an attempt to make them good tasting and good for me I constructed a whole grain version. Inspired once again by Cooks Illustrated, I read their article and then did something completely different. Here's the recipe:

Team dry:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Run half a cup of the oatmeal in your food processor for a few minutes to turn it into a flour, add the walnuts and pulse it a few more times. You can add the rest of the dry except the waiting oatmeal and give it a couple more pulses to mix and aerate. Add the last 1/2 cup oats by hand so you get some nice whole oats in there.

Team wet:
2 eggs
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Melt the butter and whisk it into the eggs to create an emulsion, then add the rest of the team.

Fold the wet and dry teams together, trying to stir as little as possible. Agitation creates gluten and gluten is the enemy of fluffy, delicate pancakes! Let the batter sit around for 5-10 minutes while you heat the skillet. Don't skip this step, the rest is important. Cook the pancakes and eat! The seemed to take a little longer to cook, so be patient. I like some nice dark grade B maple syrup, surprisingly not too expensive from Whole Foods to top them.

It made a deeply flavorful and delicate pancake that fills you up and keeps you satisfied for some time. I can't wait till tomorrow morning when I pop a couple into the toaster oven for breakfast. This is my new favorite pancake, I actually prefer the flavor and texture to my traditionally made pancakes. Try it out yourself!