Honey Challah Bread Recipe
Warm Honey Challah bread. I admit I love all bread, but I have a special fondness for Challah bread. With my goal for 2012 to cook more yeast products, I decided to venture into a scary domain. The world of Challah. So I got an old recipe from a card that is worn so yellow I can’t describe it and broke out my grandmother’s Honey Challah recipe.
I admit I was half tempted half way through to throw out the dough because I didn’t think it had risen enough, but it did turn out perfect. So – keep the faith on this one and try it – because if I can tackle bread, anyone can!
Rack of Lamb With Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
I’ve got to hand it to Michael Symon. I used his Roasted leg of lamb recipe (the rack of lamb looked better so I improvised) and it was amazing! This is a Greek-style recipe that is on page 231 of his new cookbook Live to Cook.
What’s In Your Kitchen?
I had dinner Friday night with my 24 year old son and his girlfriend. I gave him a couple of hand me downs from my kitchen, and as usual, he was grateful and responded “I don’t know where I’m going to put this, but thank you.”
I came home, got online and read a negative post on one of the forums criticizing someone else’s cookware. A young woman who had posted a picture of her new pan was crushed when a person felt the need to degrade the maker of her pan and then proceeded to post a picture of their whole set of high end cookware.. I felt so sorry for this young woman that I thought about her all day Saturday.
Making Your Own Flavored Vinegars
After seeing all the flavored vinegars recently at the market, I was motivated to make Raspberry wine vinegar at home. I enjoy the raspberry wine vinegar with oil on a salad. It’s a nice substitution for any fruity vinegar called for in a bland vinaigrette. It is a nice change from the regular old oil and vinegar.
You can also substitute blackberries, strawberries or blueberries to change the flavor of this vinegar. The recipe I use is as follows:
Place 1 pound of raspberries (or other berry) into 5 cups of wine vinegar into a pitcher and allow to sit for approximately 8 hours or until vinegar is starting to turn red (stir every once in a while and do not refrigerate during this process.) I normally start this process after dinner, stir once mid evening, stir again before bed and then stir again in the morning. I then finish the recipe.
Place strainer over saucepan and pour contents into strainer. Reserve 5 – 10 berries. Squeeze juice from berries in strainer and then discard. Put pan on medium low and bring to a simmer. Add 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
of sugar to mixture. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Pour into ball mason jars or a sterilized bottle (that can be corked) – add the reserved berries to the jar or bottle and cork or seal. (I recommend that you store the vinegar in a cool, dark place.)
This vinegar can be used in any recipe that uses white wine vinegar and that you would like to add fruit flavor. It’s easy and you control the quality of the vinegar and the berries.
Focaccia Bread Recipe
In order to keep my 2012 goal to try more breads, I used Anne Burrell’s Focaccia bread recipe. It was really easy and even I could make bread you could eat! It is a confidence builder for someone who is scared of yeast – I recommend this recipe for a first try or even if you are experienced.
All you need are the ingredients, a mixer with a dough hook, a sheet pan and your oven.
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Southern Maryland Ham Recipe
Ingredients:
1 large corned ham
3 large heads cabbage – chopped
enough kale to color-chopped- to taste- too much kale makes your recipe bitter (if you prefer you can use collard greens, which is my preference but doesn’t follow what is normally done)
5 onions – chopped
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons red pepper
3 ounces mustard seed
Cheesecloth
Mix above ingredients with the exception of the ham.
Cut slits through the ham and stuff mixture in center of the ham
Tie ham closed with twine. Once tied, cut small pockets through out the ham. Fill the pockets with stuffing. Get as much in as possible.
Place ham in cheesecloth (make sure it is big enough for entire ham)
The remaining stuffing put on top of the ham. Tie the cheese cloth tightly in order to keep the dressing in place. Cook about 20 minutes to the pound. You can boil or bake, which ever you prefer, just make sure you cook covered.
If you boil, add water to top of ham and cover with lid. Cook 20 minutes per pound or until instant read thermometer reads 165 degrees.
Pull out of pot, remove cheesecloth and serve.
Once you have tried this recipe you can alter to your taste
A Family Trip -The Philadelphia Market
After all the holiday fanfare, I thought it would be great to get everyone involved in a day trip for a culinary expedition. Philadelphia, here we come! First stop, Chinatown, for dim sum. This does require an adventurous spirit towards eating. However, if you have children, I believe it is an invaluable experience. I credit the reason my kids will eat almost anything is they have been exposed since toddlers to “unusual” foods.
After lunch, we traveled across the street to the Chinese markets where we purchased rice, soy sauce, mirin, rice noodles, and everything else we just “had” to have.
After that, the Philadelphia Reading Market, on 12th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia! I wholeheartedly recommend if you are within driving distance of this market, that you plan on visiting (don’t forget to pack your cooler). There is every type of meat, poultry, cheese, pasta, bread, salad, spice and food imaginable.
Additionally, there is a wine vendor, cookbook store, fine linens, and various other vendors. There are many places to eat as well. Basically if you can think of it, they have it there. I live in rural America, so some items that are easily available in the city are impossible to get without the internet or a road trip.
When I only need an item or two, obviously the internet is easier, but when I want to stock up or just see the quality of what I’m purchasing, there is nothing like a road trip to Philly, DC or Baltimore to see the items at hand. I prefer the Philadelphia Market to any other in the tri-state area. The quality is phenomenal and the vendors are especially helpful when you are outside the domain of your experience (I am a novice at wines and they continue to help me “choose” the right wine for my recipes.)
I consider the road trip an excuse to get the whole family involved. I have the kids look up and down the aisles for this or that and my youngest loves looking at all the lobsters and Dungeness crabs in the tanks, My husband fed at appropriate intervals (which I admit might only have a ten minute span with all the vendors) is happy as a clam.
On the drive home, silence… Bellies full, walked out, they sleep…… My husband and I enjoy a quiet talk and our music for a change. I can’t imagine a more perfect day and one I recommend you consider for your family next time you can’t think of anything different to do on Saturday or Sunday. It does require planning both in time and money, but if you can pull it off, it really is a great way to include your family in the whole culinary experience.
Forget The New Year’s Resolutions -Set New Goals For the Kitchen
Instead of making a resolution (to do without something) that won’t last a month, this year I’m pledging something positive. I’m setting goals for myself in the kitchen that I normally wouldn’t tackle.
I love to cook. Baking, however, is another thing entirely. Correction, I love to bake cookies, pies, cakes, muffins, anything not involving yeast.
This year I am raising the bar on the things I’m going to make in the kitchen to include the things that I don’t like to make. I don’t like to make bread because I’m not good at it, Truth is, I’m not good at it because a) I rarely make bread and I haven’t had enough practice; b) I haven’t researched really good recipes for bread like I have the recipes for cooking that I’m interested in; and c) I haven’t made it a priority.
This year, I vow to make bread and rolls that require yeast. I will still make my signature banana nut bread, but I will make Challah, my grandmother’s fluffy rolls, Italian and French bread before the end of 2012. If I feel adventurous, I will undertake pretzels. I will subject my family as guinea pigs and will probably need to live through several failed attempts before I get it right.
But wait, isn’t that how all of us learned to cook? What’s been stopping me? You guessed it – Me. Numerous things I felt were daunting at the beginning have been overcome in the kitchen. I remember when I felt like I would never succeed at soufflés, perfect fried chicken (without burning it or serving it half raw), homemade gravy or deboning a chicken. I wanted to master those things and I did.
So this year, I plan on mastering the art of yeast and kneading. I plan on serving hot rolls with my roasts and warm challah bread for my French toast. Well, that’s my plan at least. I trust that you will help keep me on track when you don’t see any bread on here and it’s June
Giving up a resolution might actually be something all foodies should do. Unite! Raise the bar on yourself this year, Try that recipe you’ve been afraid to attempt. Make pasta from scratch. Make homemade pickles – whatever you’ve wanted to try and didn’t because of lack of confidence, give it a go in 2012. What have you got to loose? It can’t be any worse than giving up on a resolution, right?
