My recent cooking has been mostly old standbys, so hence the delay in the posting. It doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking or learning... we've been making cookies like crazy and mostly been learning that recipes are the way to go with baking. For instance, if you decide to add maple syrup to your chocolate chip cookies, you should also add some flour or else they will just be crispy and flat (delicious none-the-less). Also after some more pizza making we decided that K.Atler's recipe is really best if used to make 2 pizzas instead of just one. This helps the dough be cooked all the way through and not so chewy.
We did try some new recipes... For the Rockies World Series run Matt was supposed to bring dessert to work, so we made a variation of my Aunt Sara's Chocolate Layer Brownie Mix:
2/3 teaspoon salt 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
combine everything and pour into greased pan. bake at 350 for 32-37 (7x11 pan) or 27-32 minutes (9x9 pan)
our variation - we had bought dark chocolate cocoa, used dark chocolate chunks instead of white chocolate chips and peanuts. I think pecans would be better, but the peanuts were for the baseball theme. We should have at least crunched some of them up for better texture. They were scrumptious and it was a good thing that the majority went to Matt's work so I didn't eat them all!
The next recipe I tried out was another one from my Aunt Sara - at school we had a chili cook-off and dessert duel during our Halloween party and I opted for the dessert option this year. I didn't win, but it was pretty much scraped clean (if you put the pecan crunch topping on anything I would eat it). Skillet Pumpkin-Apple Pie: Pecan Crunch Topping:
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chopped pecans
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Pumpkin Filling:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons all purpose flour (the more flour, the more firm it will be)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
1 15-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
2 eggs
8 ounces sour cream
Apple Layer:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
2 small Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced to 1/8 inch thick (I used Pink Lady apples – I am sure you could use whichever your favorite are)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Directions:
Place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack of the oven (to catch drippings later) and preheat to 425 degrees F.
To make the pecan crunch topping – mix everything except the butter together, then add the butter and cut with knives or pastry blender until crumbly. Set aside.
To make the pumpkin filling – mix all of the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, mix pumpkin, eggs and sour cream until smooth. Then stir in the dry ingredients.
To make the apple layer – mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Toss the apples until evenly coated. In a 10 to 10 ½ inch skillet, warm butter over medium heat. Once melted, add granulated sugar and cook for 3-4 minutes or until slightly browned. Remove from heat, add the apples.
Pour pumpkin filling over apples, then sprinkle pecan topping on pumpkin – leaving about ¼ inch from the sides.
Cook for 10 minutes at 425, then lower the temperature to 350 and cook for another 40-45 minutes (or until knife comes out clean). Let cool for at least 30 minutes, scoop out with a spoon and top with ice cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Next Matt choose a recipe from the Silver Spoon for Roast Beef:
3 tablespoons butter extra butter for gravy (optional)
2 tablespoons oil (olive)
2 1/4 lb fillet of beef all-purpose flour for gravy (optional)
salt and pepper preheat the oven to 400F.
Sprinkle the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil over the base of the roasting pan. Tie the beef neatly with kitchen string, brush with remaining oil, place in roasting pan and cook over stove top on high heat. Turn frequently until browned all over. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, transfer into oven and roast for 30 minutes or longer depending on how you like your beef. Remove from the pan and let stand for 5 minutes before carving. While you are waiting place roasting pan over low heat and stir in 2/3 cup hot water scraping up the sediment on the base. If the gravy is too runny, stir in a pat of butter dipped in flour. cook until thickened and serve with the meat.
This was a real learning experience... Matt had bought a 'Top Round' roast and so the meat wasn't as tender as we had hoped (we used the leftovers to make stew and it was great). Also, we don't have a proper roasting pan, so we started the meat in a skillet then moved it into a cake pan with a bunch of vegetables. Then we had to move the juices back into the skillet to make the gravy - we didn't get it very thick, even though it was tasty. I think the meat should have been cooked at a lower temperature for a longer time.
Today, I dearly needed my grandmother's guidance for my chicken noodle soup attempt. I have never made chicken noodle soup, only chicken stew - so I started it like I would start chicken stew. some olive oil at the bottom of the pot, then put the chicken skin side down to brown it (Matt picked up a cut up frying chicken for me last night at the store). Then I added 1 quart of chicken broth, some salt, pepper and garlic salt and let it hang out while I did a little school work.
Later (30 minutes? an hour?) I added:8 carrots, chopped
2 yellow onions, diced~6 celery stalks, chopped
parsley (2 handfuls, chopped)
some celery salt
another quart of chicken broth
Then I let it hang out some more while I got more work done. I had asked Matt to get Egg Noodles while he was shopping - he got fettuccine, but what's the difference? I threw in the 12 ounce bag - waited for them to get soft enough to eat for lunch and chowed down. The chicken meat at this point was coming off the bones, but I did get a random rib in my soup. I had to run out for a few hours so I turned the stove off and when I came back I found SLOP. Almost all of the broth as been absorbed by the noodles. Also, the meat has come off the chicken bones so now there are just bones floating around the muck. It doesn't taste bad, but the texture is all weird. Oh what I would give to have been able to call my G'ma this morning when I started this whole mess! I wonder what Matt will think when he gets home...
