I admit that I’m not much of a white chocolate fan.  It’s not to say I hate white chocolate – I don’t.  I just wouldn’t ever choose to order it.  I know I will get emails telling me how wrong I am, but that’s just my personal preference.  My family, on the other hand, that’s a different story – they LOVE white chocolate.  So over the years I have made white chocolate recipes to satisfy them and normally I don’t eat them.  This White Chocolate Berry Parfait recipe is an exception.  I eat this white chocolate berry parfait and consider it a fine desert, which for a white chocolate “snob” like me is really saying something.

White Chocolate Berry Parfait Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

4 egg yolks

8 ounces of white baking chocolate

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 cups whipped cream (cream already whipped)

6 cups fresh berries (your choice)

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream to just a boil, stirring constantly.

In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks until combined.

Gradually temper the egg mixture (pour about 1/3 of the hot cream into the eggs, stirring constantly) and then add to hot cream.  Cook and stir for 2 – 3 minutes or until it is 160 degrees and thickened.

Stir in white chocolate until it melts and add vanilla.

Cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes).

Fold in whipped cream (trying to keep it light as you go (make figure 8s through the mixture with a spatula.)

Fill 4 parfait glasses 1/4 full with cream, add berries, top with 1/4 more, repeat 2 more times.

Cover and refrigerate until chilled (minimally 1 1/2 hours).  Garnish with additional berries and serve.

Makes 4 large parfaits or 8 smaller parfaits.

I  know that many are on the Paula Deen bash wagon right now, but this recipe should be repeated for those who don’t have diabetes.  It’s really easy to make the night before breakfast.  It’s perfect when you need a get out of the house early breakfast, but you aren’t going to have a lot of time in the morning.  Secondly, and more importantly, it is delicious.  So here is Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast with Maple Syrup recipe.

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread

8 large eggs

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

dash salt

Praline topping, recipe follows

Maple syrup

Directions:

Slice French bread into slices.  Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 x 13 inch baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Beat with a whisk until blended but not too bubbly.

Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture.  Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices.

Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread praline topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden.  Serve with maple syrup.

Praline Topping:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.  Makes enough for the casserole.

Sweet Pork Chops with corn stuffing

Ingredients:

6 pork chops (actually the rest of this recipe will work for 4 –

5 tablespoons brown sugar

4 teaspoons honey Dijon mustard

3 cups cornbread stuffing (Pepperidge Farm preferred)

1 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 onion, chopped

1/2 stick butter

2 cans cream of corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small saucepan, cook onion in butter.

In a bowl, mix stuffing, paprika, cream of corn, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and melted butter with onion.

Layer mixed stuffing in a 13 x 9 pan, arrange pork chops on top of stuffing.  Combine 4 tablespoons brown sugar and 4 teaspoons dijon mustard until they create a paste.  Spread paste on top of pork chops.

Bake uncovered for 35 – 40 minutes depending on the thickness of your chops.  Let chops rest for 5 – 10 minutes covered in foil, before serving.

Banana bread, warm from the oven…….. fragrant, tactile crumb, delicious.  This recipe is for those who don’t like or can’t eat nuts.  Almost every recipe I have for Banana bread is for Banana Nut Bread and I have to omit the nuts.  This recipe is designed without nuts, but of course you can add them if you so desire.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter softened

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

3 bananas mashed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9 x 5 bread or loaf pan.

At this point, I give my son three bananas peeled in a bowl and have him mash them (he loves this job).

In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and sugar until creamy.  Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder into the mixing bowl.  Add the eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas to the bowl and mix until combined.  Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes.  Let cool for at least 10 – 15 minutes in the pan (this is the hard part).  Serve warm if possible.  Good with breakfast or for desert.  Banana Bread.  It’s so easy and quick and everyone will think you slaved for them – if you don’t let them see you making it!

I like this recipe for several reasons.  it’s a great weeknight meal, it’s easily adaptable for your palate – from sweet to spicy and it can be adapted to serve from a small to large group.

Ingredients:

3 pounds pork butt or shoulder

3/4 cup coca cola

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

3/4 cup ketchup

1 cup brown sugar

2 limes, juiced

1 cup tomatillo sauce (see recipe below)

1/2 onion, sliced (optional)

Tomatillo sauce ingredients:

1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and deveined (if you like it spicy, leave seeds and veins in and increase to 2 peppers)

2 cloves garlic

1 tomatillo

small bunch of cilantro

1 lime, juiced

1 cup milk

1 cup mayonnaise

1 package Hidden Valley ranch salad dressing mix

Directions:

Place the pork roast in slow cooker (crockpot) and top with garlic and coca cola.  Cover and cook on low for 7 – 8 hours or high for 4 – 5 hours or until it can be shredded with a fork. 

Blend all ingredients except mayonnaise in blender and then whisk in mayonnaise.  Reserve 1 cup for pork roast.  Chill the rest and serve with roast.

When pork is tender, remove and shred, return meat to crockpot and mix in the ketchup, brown sugar, lime juice and tomatillo sauce.  Stir and cover and simmer on low until heated through

I serve on tortillas with cheese, .onions, avocados as sides (like you do with tacos).  Put the pork roast  in the crockpot before work with garlic and coke, set timer, return from work, 30 – 45 minutes and dinner is served.

When I was young we would drive to my grandmother’s house several states away and we arrived to the smell of rolls in the oven.  My grandmother would pull them from the oven and brush them with melted butter and we would argue over who got the center roll.  She made us wait for them to cool enough to handle…..  They were always 4” high at least and they were so tender they melted in your mouth.  So it was with fear in my heart that I attempted a recipe that I didn’t think anyone could do as well as her.

Ingredients:

1 cup boiling water

1/4 cup butter

1 dry yeast package

1/4 cup water (105 – 110 degrees)

4 1/2 – 5 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Stir 1 cup boiling water and butter together until melted and let cool until it is 105 – 110 degrees.

In mixer loaded with bread hook, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water with 1/2 teaspoon sugar.  After it activates, add butter and water, 2 cups flour, sugar, eggs and salt.  Beat at medium speed and scrape sides until it is all combined and smooth.

Add remaining flour until the dough is the right consistency (smooth and soft); Turn the speed up to 5 or 6 and beat for 10 minutes.

Remove dough from bowl and knead a couple of times by hand and put in oiled bowl, covered, for at least an hour or until doubled in size. (Dough is ready when pushed in it doesn’t spring back).

Punch down and divide in half.  Flour your hands and board and shape dough into 12 rounds.  Place in a greased 13 x 9 pan or a 12” cake round.  Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about another hour).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Brush rolls with melted butter upon removal.  Attempt to wait for them to cool enough to eat.

Results:  I admit they were delicious, but my Grandmother’s recipe does call for kneading this by hand for 10 – 15 minutes and I think that’s part of why my rolls didn’t rise to the height of hers.  While the mixer did do a great job and they did rise nicely in the bowl, I don’t think I was patient enough for the second rise and rushed to bake them.  I also remember them being a hair sweeter so maybe Grandma was using a heaping 1/4 cupful of sugar.

The best part of the night was the smell and the feeling like my Grandmother was here in the house……… I didn’t get it quite as good as my Grandmother, but frankly, I don’t think anyone can.  That’s the part of the rolls that I loved best.  They were Grandmas and no matter if I master this recipe to the exact way she made them, they will never be quite the same without her.

Salt.  It seasons food and preserves food.  Salt is boiled down and crystallized to different levels of fineness.  The debate over taste or which salt is superior is all a matter of personal preference.  I don’t profess to be an expert.  This is just what I’ve learned over the years about salt.  I’m sure there is a lot more information available, but over the years family members keep asking the question of which salt to use for what recipe so it spurred me to write this little clip.

Salt from the earth can be broke into a couple of groups:  Rock salt, course salt and table salt.    Coarse salt can be used both in cooking and in a salt mill at the table.  It can also be used to cure food and for flavoring meats with a salt base (such as fish or rib roast).  Table salt is finer ground course salt.  It sometimes contains chemical products to help it stay easy flowing.  I personally never use table salt.  I use a salt grinder with sea salt for the table.  Rock salt usually refers to the salt used to produce ice cream and is inedible.

(Rock Salt for ice cream)

(Coarse salt or often referred to as Kosher salt)

Salt from the sea is considered among many chefs as the “premium” salts.  They are lower in sodium chloride and heavier in trace elements.  They are produced by evaporation using either sun or wind.  English sea salt is very salty and is shaped like a flake.  France has a gray color and has a more delicate flavor than the English sea salt.  Fleur de Sel which means “flower of salt”  is one of the rarest salts and has to be harvested manually so therefore the cost of this salt tends to be higher than the rest.

  (Sea salt, I use in salt grinder at table)

(Fleur de Sel or French sea salt – used for finishing dishes (after they are cooked usually or in caramels, yum)

That leaves us with black salt which is also referred to as Sanchal, it is common in Indian and Hawaiian cooking.  Hawaii also boasts of a pink salt which is used in Luau’s (such as the whole pig roast). There are many other salts from various parts of the world, but these would be less known to those not cooking within their ethnic cuisine.

Salt should be stored in a dry place to keep it from caking. Kept properly it will store indefinitely  I don’t recommend storing salt in silver salt shakers or containers as the salt reacts with the silver causing a green color.  A storage container that keeps out light and moisture is the best way to keep it for longer periods of time.  I prefer wood, but some people just use mason jars kept in the cupboard.

Salt has many uses.  You can draw out bitterness and liquid from vegetables using salt.  Cucumbers and eggplants are often salted prior to cooking with salt to release their juices. The vegetables are sliced thin, salted and placed in a colander.  They are then squeezed out.  This process is called degorging.  Some feel this pulls out the natural flavor of the vegetable and reduces the quality of the vegetable.  This is personal taste.  Some recipes distinctly call for salting vegetables prior to cooking to remove the moisture so that the item can fry better.  I always follow this recommendation if it is required by the author.

Salt also balances yeast and is almost always included in baking, especially bread.  Salt is the background for all other spices.  Since salt raises the boiling point of water, it should be added for pasta and potatoes after the water has come to a boil.  Salt added to egg whites relaxes the protein making it easier to whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks.

Preserving with salt has been done since Roman times.  Salting olives, seafood and cheese is most commonly known.  Salt limits the microorganisms that can grow and inhibits bacterial growth.  For example, preserved lemons are used in Morrocan and other ethnicities for cooking and are easily made with lemons, water and salt.  Dry-salting is the process of applying coarse salt to food prior to storage.  Most people know this process if they have tasted Italian Prosciutto.  Brining is a soaking salt solution which is used for large cuts of meat or fish (I will cover this in another article).

Spice and herb salts are used often and rarely thought about.  We all know celery salt from Bloody Marys, garlic and seasoned salt from numerous recipes that we all use and some of the less used salt blends such as porcini salt, krazy salt, and truffle salt just to name a few.

So bottom line, rock salt (ice cream).  Course or Kosher salt (general cooking when not specified), sea salt (cooking or finishing, I prefer as a finishing salt such as on pretzels, caramels, some breads or dishes that call for it); specialty salts such as black or pink (only when used for specific cuisines.)

Hope this helps for those that asked.  Just remember, it’s your kitchen and your taste.  The most common problem is that people under salt, especially meat.  They also forget to add a second layer of salt to a meal that cooks for an extended period of time.  Experiment and forget what the experts say….use what salt you want…… and as you start to get more adventurous cooking with salt there will be one less expression that you will hear at the table……. pass the salt.

Michael Symon’s Live to Cook, Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your kitchen isnot your ordinary cookbook  Vegetarians need to spend their money elsewhere as this is a culinary expedition through all things pork, beef and lamb related.

Michael takes us on a tour from his cultural heritage, his working class Cleveland beginnings and his rise to the man he is today.  His humor comes through while he still maintains a serious edge as noted in his “five things you should never buy.” 

His starters include a different type of appetizer:Zucchini fritters with feta and dill, beef cheek pierogies and roasted dates with pancetta, almonds and chile.  Soups and Sandwiches such as Chicken and dumpling soup and Soppressata Sandwich with fried egg and Shasha sauce are included.  A varied salad and vinaigrette selection and a perfect Egg Yolk Pasta dough recipe are included.  Gnocchi and risotto recipes that are new and different are also included.  I previously made his Leg of Lamb with Tzatziki Sauce recipe and it was worth the cost of the cookbook alone.

The main reason that I purchased this cookbook (besides the fact that I love Michael Symon’s creativity and adventurousness in the kitchen) is for his Charcuterie section.  This section is not designed for the beginner cook or the faint of heart.  This section describes in full (at home detail) how to make bacon, pancetta, lamb bresaola and sausages at home!  I was enthralled and I plan on making homemade bacon soon! 

His section on pickles is also very appealing and he does cover the obligatory stocks, ketchup and steak sauce and barbeque sauce recipes  I have made his Tzatziki sauce and it is wonderful!

All in all this cookbook hits my criteria for actually keeping a cookbook on my shelf.  It covers information I didn’t have before, recipes that test my skill level and have delicious flavor.  Michael Symon has hit a homerun with this cookbook.  Live to Cook knocks it straight out of the park! 

I first made homemade Honey Challah Bread the night before and then the next day I made these sandwiches using the homemade bread.  I don’t recommend this much work to normally make a sandwich, but I do admit it was wonderful with the homemade bread!  Croque Monsieur sandwiches are basically a fancy, over the top, hot ham and cheese sandwich with cheese sauce poured over top.

According to the Barefoot Contessa, this Croque Monsieur recipes feeds 4 – 8.  I made 5 sandwiches with this recipe by cutting the recipe to 10 slices of bread instead of the 16 that Ina Garten recommends.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups hot milk

1 teaspoon kosher salt

12 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch nutmeg

12 ounces Gruyere, grated (5 cups)

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

16 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed (I altered this to Honey Challah bread, crusts removed – I would use store bought bakery bread if possible)

Dijon mustard (I used a honey mustard for the kids)

8 ounces baked ham, sliced but not paper thin

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once, stirring for 2 minutes.  Slowly pour in hot milk, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened.  Off the heat add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 cup of grated Gruyere and the Parmesan, set aside.

Toast the bread by placing on baking sheets and baking for 5 minutes (I personally felt this was a little long) and flip and toast for another 2 minutes.

Lightly brush half the toasted bread with mustard (use your own preference) and sprinkle with half the remaining gruyere.  Top with ham, Gruyere, and then the other toasted half of bread.  Slather the tops of the sandwiches with the cheese sauce and sprinkle the remaining Gruyere on top.  Bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes.  Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 – 5 minutes or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned.  Serve hot.

I know the food snobs will say that the Gruyere can’t be substituted,  In my area, Gruyere is not inexpensive.  If you need to shave the price of this meal, use any melty cheese within your budget.  Fontina or Monterey Jack perhaps?    I think the traditional recipe is fabulous.  However, if you need to trim the cost of these very heavy sandwiches, I figure you can still give the recipe a try using the cheese of your choice.

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!

Honey Challah Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (about 100 – 110 degrees)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 cups all purpose flour (plus 1/2 cup – 1 cup for kneading)

2 whole large eggs

3 egg yolks

1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Combine water and yeast in bowl.  Add the sugar and let set until activated, about 10 – 15 minutes.

Put 4 cups of flour into mixing bowl of mixer with dough hook installed.  In a separate bowl, mix honey, 1 egg, egg yolks, olive oil and salt.  Stir to mix.  Add to mixing bowl with flour and add yeast mixture.  Turn mixer on low and stir until combined into a ball. 

When dough is soft and doughlike, turn mixer to medium or 5 and add 1/2 cup of flour.  Let dough knead for 10 minutes (yes I said 10 minutes).  Set a timer and grab a drink during this time frame because the mixer noise is going to drive you insane.  When 10 minutes have elapsed.  Lightly flour your surface and knead the dough by hand for about 30 seconds to a minute or until the dough is smooth and feels like a baby’s bottom.

Grab a bowl, add some oil (just a little) into the bowl and grease the sides.  Set  your dough into the bowl and cover with a tea towel and let rise for an hour (it says it will double mine actually wasn’t quite doubled, but did rise).

At hour’s end, remove from bowl, knead for a minute, return to bowl, and let rise another hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment (I used a silpat).  Form bread by dividing the dough into 3 equal sections.  Roll and stretch each piece to the length of your sheet pan (between 12 and 14 inches).  Arrange ropes side by side and start braiding the ropes.  When you come to the ends, tuck ends under and pinch.  Place on your sheet pan.

Cover and let rise for another hour or until doubled (this part actually did double).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat egg with dash of water for egg wash and brush loaf.  Put on middle rack in oven for approximately 35 minutes until brown.

Delicious.  Perfect for a breakfast bread or making french toast.  Also delicious for Croque Monsieur (which will be tomorrow’s recipe).