Back to Business

Since we’re friends, we’ll just go along like it hasn't been, oh, FOREVER since my last entry, ok?  And while I have not miraculously discovered a way to eke out a couple of extra hours in a day, I have at least determined that putting in some extra effort to keep things updated here is worth a little extra in the motivation department.

So, just to catch us up, here’s what’s been happening…

This little man:

…has turned into THIS little man:

He’s celebrated two birthdays since then…

And Eureka!  I have (for now, anyway), ended my search for the perfect cinnamon roll recipe.

I would have included a ‘glamour’ shot here, but as you can see, SOMEONE got to them first…

Quick Yeast Cinnamon Rolls

 2 packets Active Dry yeast (the ‘Quick Rise’ is fine, too)

¼ cup sugar

1 cup + 2 Tbs warm water (about 110°)

1/3 cup melted butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp salt

2 cups bread flour

1 ¾ cups A/P flour

1/3 cup softened butter

½ cup (or so) brown sugar

¼ cup vanilla sugar (regular is fine, too)

1 tsp cinnamon

In the bowl of a mix stand, combine the first 4 ingredients.  Allow to stand for 5 minutes to give the yeast time to ‘bloom’.  Beat the egg slightly and add it to the yeast mixture, along with  the vanilla, salt and flours.  Mix on medium-low speed using a dough hook attachment until the flour is completely combined.  Mixture should be soft and slightly tacky, but not sticky.  If it is, add a little more flour.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead just enough for it to all come together.  Roll into a rectangle approximately 18” wide, 12” deep and about ¼” thick.  Spread softened butter evenly to within about ½” from the edges.  Cover evenly with the sugars and cinnamon.  Beginning with the long side closest to you, roll up jell-roll fashion, pinching the roll closed and evening out the thickness.  Divide evenly into 12 slices and place in a 10 x 13 baking pan (I usually line mine with foil to make for easier clean-up).  Cover with plastic wrap and place on top of the oven (the residual heat will help the rolls to rise).  Set oven temperature to 400° and allow the cinnamon rolls to sit for 15 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and place the cinnamon rolls in the oven.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove and allow to cool slightly before frosting and serving (and by 'slightly', in our house, at any rate, that generally equates to 'in the time it takes to cover them in frosting').

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz softened cream cheese

2 Tbs softened butter

¼ - ½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs milk

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  If too thick, continue to add milk until you reach the desired consistency.

Since The Little Man has entered our lives, it hasn't exactly left scads of time for theatrical pursuits.  But I was able to perform in a short-run production of ‘The Daly News’, a musical about a family in WWII-era Milwaukee, scattered across the globe in various service roles.  I've always hated the term ‘short-run’, which makes it sound like there wasn't as much work involved somehow.  3 months of rehearsing begged to differ.

Anyway, I played the quippish matriarch of the family, and at one point lamented rationing, and the difficulties it caused in making a ‘Krantz’ for one of the kids’ birthdays.  I had never heard of such a beast before, so naturally I did a little homework and came up with my own approximation of the recipe. 

In all fairness, the original recipe was a bit different, more involved, etc.  But I figure, if you got a good thing going, why mess with it, right?  So, I ever so slightly tweaked my cinnamon roll recipe and used it here.

Chocolate Almond Krantz
 

Dough:

2 packages active dry yeast

¼ c sugar

1/3 c butter, melted

1 c + 2 Tbs warm water (about 110°F)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

2 c bread flour

1 ½ c all-purpose flour

Filling:

1/3 c butter, melted

1/3 c dark chocolate chips

½ c good-quality cocoa

½ c confectioner’s sugar (plus more if needed)

¾ c slivered almonds, toasted

2 Tbs sugar

Sugar syrup:

2/3 c water

1 ¼ c sugar

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, sugar, butter and water.  Stir to combine.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes so the yeast can ‘bloom’ (prepare the filling below while you wait).

Attach a dough hook to the mixer and add the salt, vanilla, lemon zest and egg.  Mix for a few seconds to break up the egg a bit.  Add the flours all at once (the bread and a/p flour was the combo I used, but I’m sure you could do it with all a/p – it just won’t be quite as tender of a dough) and turn mixer on a medium-low setting, allowing to mix until all of the flour is incorporated into the mixture.  If the dough seems too sticky to work with, add an additional ¼ - ½ cup of flour.

To make the filling:  in a medium mixing bowl, melt the butter and chocolate chips (either in the microwave or over a double-boiler).  Stir in the cocoa and powdered sugar.  The mixture should be the consistency of room temperature butter, so add more powdered sugar if your mixture is too runny.  Separate from the chocolate mixture, process the almonds and sugar in a food processor until the almonds are finely chopped.

Sprinkle a work surface with flour and turn out dough.  Form into a rectangle and roll out to about ½” thickness.  How wide should be determined by how you intend to form the krantz – for two loaves, roll out to about 20” long.  For individual (‘mini’) size, roll out longer.  Spread surface of dough with the chocolate mixture to within about ½” of the edge.  Sprinkle evenly with the almond/sugar mixture.  Roll the dough into a log starting at one of the long ends and then even out the log so that it is a consistent diameter from end to end (about 2” for minis and about 4” or so for the loaves).  With a sharp knife, cut the roll lengthwise down the center.  Moisten one of the ends with a little bit of water and press the other cut end to attach.  Wind the two pieces around each other, forming a ‘rope’, and keeping the cut side facing up.  Attach the other two ends together in the same manner that you did the first end.

For loaves, cut the rope in half and place in two greased loaf pans (cut side up).  For the minis, cut into 2 – 3” pieces and place cut side up into two greased muffin pans.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise an additional 15 – 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F.  When dough has finished rising, place in oven.  Bake approximately 15 – 18 minutes for minis and approximately 30 minutes for loaves (test for doneness by inserting wood skewer into center – should come out clean).  If tops begin to brown too quickly, loosely cover with a piece of aluminum foil.

While krantz is baking, prepare sugar glaze**:  Combine water and sugar in a saucepan on the stove.  Bring to a full rolling boil and then remove from heat.  Allow to cool slightly.

When the krantz is done (and still hot), remove from oven and immediately glaze with sugar syrup.  As glaze is absorbed, add more.  You will use most, if not all, of the glaze.

Serve krantz warm or at room temperature.

**The sugar glaze is a good way to ‘doctor’ the flavor a bit.  Add brandy, rum or bourbon (a Tablespoon, or up to ¼ cup) to the water and sugar before cooking (reduce amount of water to compensate).  Or add a scraped vanilla bean to the sugar syrup after cooking and allow to steep for a few minutes.

A Lazy Man's (or Woman's) Pot Pie

Maybe the key to keeping on track with my posting is to not try to be so long-winded in my introductions.  So, I'll get to the point, which makes sense, since this is really about a quick meal.

Basically, I was looking for a chicken pot pie without the pie crust (which I hate to make).  So I settled on biscuits instead, but went with a skillet version, so it didn't even require rolling and cutting.  This was a 30 minute meal that was soul-satisfying.

Lazy Man's Chicken Pot Pie

Pot Pie Filling:

1 rotisserie chicken
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
3/4 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1 1/2 cups cubed Yukon Gold potatoes (the smaller the cubes, the quicker they'll cook - also, I didn't bother to peel mine)
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper (I like a lot of black pepper in this - adjust accordingly)
2 Tbs flour
1/2 bottle hard cider
2 - 3 cups chicken stock

Biscuits:

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs baking powder
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp black pepper
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes + 1 Tbs for skillet
1 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 425°.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and butter.  Allow the butter to melt and just begin to sizzle, then add the onions, carrots and celery.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent.  Add the potatoes, sage, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over the top and combine into other ingredients.  Allow to cook for a couple of minutes.  Pour cider and 2 cups of chicken stock over the mixture.  Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft, adding more stock if the mixture gets too thick.

Meanwhile, prepare biscuits.  Add 1 Tbs butter to a cast iron skillet and place in the oven to allow the butter to melt (keep and eye on it and pull out of oven once butter has melted).  In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, Parmesan cheese and black pepper.  Stir to combine.  Add butter cubes and cut into mixture using a pastry blender or two knives.  Pour buttermilk over the mixture and stir just until completely combined.  If mixture is still dry (a lot of loose flour on the bottom), add additional buttermilk, 1 Tbs at a time, just until mixture is moistened and sticks together.

Drop spoonfuls (about twice the size of a golf ball) into the prepared pan, allowing the biscuits to just touch.  Place in oven and bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until tops are golden.

Meanwhile, pull meat off the chicken and cut into large cubes (you will not need to use the entire chicken, unless it is small).  Add to the vegetables in the skillet and stir to combine.  Again, if mixture is getting too thick, add more chicken stock.  Heat through and keep at a low simmer.

Pour mixture over biscuits to serve.

Distractions

Poof.

That’s the only way I can think of to describe what happened to the time and my motivation to keep current on my little blog.

With O2 working full-time now, I could say that my impetus to cook on a regular basis has diminished somewhat, but that’s not really true.  In her stead is this rambunctious little scamp who eats practically everything.  Truly, I think the only thing I’ve seen him turn down is lettuce.  He LOVES food.




 

{side story having little to do with the subject of the current post}

 

I was at the Saturday Market down in Eugene a couple of weekends ago and bought a pint of fresh strawberries.  I had the Munchkin in tow, and when he saw the strawberries, he indicated in no uncertain terms that he wanted them…  like, NOW.  So I handed him one and continued along.  He made short work of it and was given another and another.

 

He was obviously enjoying himself, becoming quickly covered in strawberry juice (in a white polo shirt, no less) and eliciting comments from the occasional passer-by.  About this time, I started to realize that I didn’t see a collection of leaves and stems.  And so I watched him devour yet another strawberry from the top down to the tip, greenery and all.

 

Anyway…

 

That story somewhat ties into this post because it was during that trip that I happened upon a shop selling infused olive oils, balsamic vinegars and other related items (pastas, seasonings, etc).  After a little tasting session, I came away with a nice, fruity, Italian olive oil and a peach-infused balsamic vinegar.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them.

 

This makes for a good summer-centric meal since the chicken can obviously be grilled outdoors, and the only indoor cooking would involve making the quinoa on the stovetop (couscous would be another good option here).  But here in Oregon, it’s June, and we’re still enjoying mildly warm days, so I just used my grill pan on the stove.  This was a big hit with the Munchkin (who got it as is, minus the almonds, since I wasn’t confident he’d actually chew them first), even with the heat from the chipotle powder.  He discovered that he loves fresh peaches almost as much as strawberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilled Chicken with Almond-Peach Quinoa

 

1/4 cup peach-flavored balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (good quality)

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

 

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

Zest from one lemon

Salt and pepper

2 Tbs lemon juice

About 1 lb boneless chicken thighs

 

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 Tbs olive oil

1 1/2 cups water or stock (chicken or vegetable)

1 tsp salt

1 peach, peeled and diced into small cubes

1/3 - 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

 

Prepare the vinaigrette by combining the balsamic vinegar, basil and salt and pepper.  Whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.  Pour out about 1/4 cup of the mixture into a shallow dish.

 

Set a grill pan over medium-high heat and season with a little olive oil (or prepare outdoor grill).

 

Rinse and pat the chicken thighs dry.  Season with mixture of garlic powder, chili powder, lemon zest, salt and pepper.  Add to dish with the vinaigrette mixture, along with lemon juice.  Turn to coat chicken with mixture.

 

When grill pan is hot, add chicken and cook, turning when it is brown on one side, approximately 10 minutes total.

 

Meanwhile, set a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat and add 1 Tbs olive oil.  Add quinoa and allow to toast for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently.  Add water or stock and 1 tsp salt.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium, cover and cook for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow to sit for another 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.  Pour in remaining vinaigrette mixture, add peaches and almonds, and stir to combine.  Serve with grilled chicken.

 

 



 

Preparing for Fall

We’re in the midst of one of those ‘tweener’ type seasons.  Can’t really decide if it’s summer or fall at the moment.  Our days are warm (too warm for September, in my book), but the evenings are too cool to go running around without a jacket.  Personally, I’d like to pick a season and stick with it.  Maybe I’m just looking forward to some crisp, fall weather.

With the cool temps in the evening, I got a sudden craving for warm pudding.  And since I had just bought a box of those ginger thins I so love, gingerbread pudding sounded really good.  But I had a hard time trying to find a recipe online.  Most of the recipes that came up upon Googling ‘gingerbread pudding’ were either baked, or they were more of a cake than a pudding.  I just wanted something simple to whip up on the stove.  So I decided to experiment, and you know what?  I think I got it right on the first attempt.  This is a super rich and decadent pudding, but with the hominess of spices.  It will find a place with future, more elaborate desserts, I’m sure.  But at the moment, I was content to scarf it down with some of those lovely thin cookies.

It was perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gingerbread Pudding

¾ cups whipping cream

2 ¼ cups milk (I used 2%)
1 vanilla bean pod, halved lengthwise and seeds scraped out
2” piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into slices
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
6 cloves
1 star anise

3 egg yolks

½ cup sugar
3 Tbs corn starch
1 tbs molasses

3 Tbs butter

1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt

In a medium saucepan, combine the whipping cream, milk, vanilla bean pod AND seeds*, ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves and star anise.  Heat over medium heat, just until milk starts to simmer around the edges.  Remove from heat and allow to sit for 20 minutes.

Combine the egg yolks, sugar, corn starch and molasses in a small bowl.  Whisk until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Slowly pour about half of the milk mixture through a sieve into the egg mixture.  Whisk thoroughly and then pour this mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture.  Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and just begins to reach a boiling point.  Remove from heat and add butter, the vanilla extract and salt.  Stir until butter is melted.  Place a piece of wax paper directly on the pudding to keep a skin from forming and allow to cool until ready to use.  Refrigerate any leftovers.

* If your sieve has too fine of a mesh, you might want to keep the vanilla bean seeds set aside until after you've strained the milk mixture and then stir it in.

Now That's More Like It

Enough of this healthy stuff.  Time to get back to the baked goods.

Ok, so this isn’t exactly terrible in the Things that Are/Aren’t Good For You department.  Full of good summer berries, and there’s not a ton of sugar.  But there is a stick of butter in there, so it won’t win any low-fat awards.  I made this for breakfast, by the way.

This was partly an experiment to see how well it would hold up over 24 hours, since I was looking for something to add to my catering repertoire.  I decided to sprinkle the crust with a bit of vanilla sugar before topping it with berries, and this seemed to do a great job as a barrier between the juiciness of the berries and the crust.  And of course you can go crazy with your fillings here.  I opted for blackberries and strawberries because I have a sea of blackberry brambles pushing on my back fence, and it’s a constant battle to keep them from overtaking the yard.  So this was my reward for having to wade through thorns and hack down runners on a too-warm day.  If I had been more ambitious, I would have topped it with some lemon curd, but instead I finished up a container of vanilla bean ice cream.

Ok, so you need to forget the ice cream if you’re going for a more healthy alternative.

And maybe dispense with the additional sprinkling of sugar.

And then there’s that stick of butter…

Mixed Berry Crostata

For the crust:

1 ¼ cups flour

½ tsp salt
2 Tbs + 1 tsp sugar (I used vanilla sugar, but plain will do)
1 stick butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
¼ cup ice water

Berry mixture:

3 cups of mixed berries, rinsed, dried and cut into smaller pieces, if necessary

1 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbs vanilla sugar (again, regular sugar is just fine)
1 Tbs flour

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and 1 tsp sugar.  Add the butter cubes and cut in with a pastry blender until the largest butter pieces are about pea sized.  Stir in ice water just until dough begins to come together.  Dump mixture onto floured surface (will still be crumbly) and knead lightly just until it comes together.  Roll into a circle about a foot in diameter.  Transfer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with the 2 Tbs of sugar.

In same mixing bowl, combine the berries, zest, sugar and 1 Tbs flour.  Mound this mixture in the center of the dough, leaving 3 – 4” all around.  Brush the exposed edges of the pie dough with a little water.  Bring the dough up, partially covering the berry mixture and ‘pleating’ it where it comes together.  Press slightly to get a good seal.

Place in oven and bake 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden, and the berry mixture is bubbly.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Going Against Character

Soon I’m going to have to stop with all of this healthy nonsense and get back to my usual, butter-laden dishes.  But I did this one a while back, and it’s been languishing in my ‘unposted’ pile for too long (with many others), so I thought I’d post.

You may (or may not) notice that the recipe calls for black beans when the photo, clearly, is missing them.   I know I intended to use them (for a catering job), and I can’t for the life of me remember why they were left out.  But then, I don’t like beans, so it’s not like they’re the first thing that pop into my head when raiding the pantry.

Also, in addition to the limes called for to be used in the dressing, I tossed my avocado cubes with a bit more of the juice to help keep them from browning.  I also read somewhere that if you’ll run the flesh of a newly cut avocado under cold water, it will stall the browning process.  I can’t say definitively that this works, although my experience is that it does seem to help, at least.  As a general rule in our house, avocados don’t stay around long enough to go brown, anyway.

If you don’t want to use quinoa here (although I’m getting more and more enamored with the stuff), you could always use cooked rice.  But if you haven’t tried quinoa yet, you really should.  It’s surprisingly tasty for being so darn good for you.

Southwest Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

1 Tbs olive oil
1 ½ cups broth or water
1 tsp salt

3 Tbs olive oil

Juice of 3 limes (about 6 Tbs)
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp chipotle chile powder
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp Mexican oregano powder
½ tsp each salt freshly ground black pepper

1 ear fresh corn, shucked

1 Roma tomato, finely diced
1 avocado, dices
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 green onion, finely sliced
½ cup cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped

Heat a saucepan over medium heat.  Add 1 Tbs olive oil and the quinoa.  Allow to toast for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the broth and salt, bring the heat up to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to stand, covered, for another 5 minutes.  Remove lid and fluff with a fork.  Allow to cool.

Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a jar or plastic container with a lid.  Cover and shake until mixture comes together.

Cook the corn until crisp-tender, either in the microwave or by toasting in a skillet (allow to char slightly).  Allow to cool a bit and then cut the kernels from the cob.

Add the vegetables to a large mixing bowl.  Top with the cooked quinoa, followed by the dressing.  Toss to coat.  Allow to stand about 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.  Serve at room temperature.

Simple. Healthy. Delicious.

I’ll admit to a tendency to want to tweak things.  But I try to recognize when less is more.

While at the Farmer’s Market, I was inspired to make this simple salad.  Simple, of course, doesn’t have to mean boring.  This has all of the markers of a well-rounded dish.  A bit of nuttiness from the cheese and walnuts, the sweetness of the fresh vegetables and pea shoots, and tang from the lemon come together nicely.  The pea shoots, obviously, are not something you’re going to see every day in your standard grocery store, but you could substitute a bit of parsley.

See?  No muss, no fuss doesn’t have to put you into a coma.

Summer Squash Salad

1 medium sized zucchini

1 medium sized yellow squash
2 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ear sweet corn
1/3 cup walnut pieces, toasted
Shaved Asiago cheese
Pea shoots

Slice the squash lengthwise using a mandoline (you could also use a vegetable peeler).  Place slices in a strainer and sprinkle with the kosher salt.  Allow to sit for 30 minutes.  Rinse thoroughly and allow to drain again, about another 5 minutes or so.  Dry on paper towels.

Meanwhile, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, thyme and salt and pepper in a container with a lid.  Shake thoroughly until emulsified.

Husk corn and toast slightly, either on the grill, or in a grill pan.  If cooking on the stove, add a little water to your pan once you have a bit of color on the corn and cook just until tender.  Allow to cool.  Cut kernels from corn cob.  Combine corn and squash in a bowl.

Pour enough of the dressing mixture over the squash and corn and toss to coat lightly.  Arrange in serving dish.  Season with a bit more salt and pepper, if desired.

Top with walnuts, cheese and pea shoots.  Serve immediately.

Note:  the squash and dressing can be prepared in advance.  Store separately and then prepare as directed just before serving.