Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

I've always liked canned beets, pickled or plain, and usually in salads; but I've never cooked or eaten fresh beets before. I decided to try a simple roasted beet for my first experiment.

Beets peel better if they're roasted first, so I didn't peel them at the start. Cut off the stem ends, leaving about an inch for a 'handle' (what to do with the greens will be a later project). Also, cut off any long, skinny root, and then wash the beets well - dirt seems to especially collect up near the stem.

Place the cleaned and dried beats in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt rubbing both all over the beets, and wrap the beets tightly in aluminum foil. Place the beet packet on a rimmed baking sheet that is also lined with foil - easier cleanup in case the beets 'leak'. Bake in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for one hour, or until a sharp knife pierces them easily.

Let the beets cool, and then remove the skins (do this in a bowl in the sink, to keep pink juice from going all over the place.) You can then slice or quarter, and salt and pepper them; and they are ready for a quick heating at serving time. They have a different, rounder flavor than canned beets, buttery and sweet - just greater 'dimension'.

There's no getting around the fact that beets are a mess to deal with; and I'm not sure I'd do them very often. But I'm not making that decision until I try making a real Borscht (does anyone have a favorite recipe?) and until I try this recipe from McCormick:

http://www.mccormick.com/Gourmet/Recipes/Salads-Sides/Roasted-Balsamic-Beets

_________________________________________________________

Another recipe I had time to try this past week was Beer Bread. A recipe by Gerald Norman has been going around the Internet for many years, so that's the one I used.

I was surprised at how this came out. I had imagined that it would have a texture like muffins, or any quick bread; but the dough looks like yeast-raised dough as soon as you stir in the beer, and the baked bread has a texture that's sort of a cross between a quick bread and an English Muffin. Even though mine was cooked a little too long, it came out very flavorful with a lovely texture.

The recipe suggests that if you like a softer bread, you should mix the melted butter into the dough, instead of pouring it on top, and I think I would prefer it that way - the outside of the bread basically 'fries' in the melted butter if the butter is poured on top, and this tends to make the outside hard.

I halved the sugar, because I wanted a more savory bread (it seems to me that you could play around with this recipe a lot, with all kinds of savory additions like herbs and cheese); and mine resulted in one that would be great with jam, just butter, or as an appetizer with almost any kind of spread:

http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440

______________________________________________________

We have become interested in the health benefits of Bone Broth. Last weekend we tried making it for the first time, and now have many containers of rich, gelatinous 'goo' in the freezer, ready for recipes.

I'm going to be experimenting with this and will post about the results, culinary and salutary; but for now, here is a recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup that I'm going to try this weekend. We found it in the almost encyclopedic book on Bone Broth, 'Nourishing Broth', by Sally Fallon and Kaayla Daniel. (I've seen other FReepers mention Fallon's first book, 'Nourishing Traditions', and am anxious to get a copy of that, as well):

http://www.blogher.com/homemade-cream-mushroom-soup-recipe

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks very much, Yaelle. Soup is at the top of my list of favorite and most satisfying things to cook and eat - making soup is almost a ‘contemplative’ act - and I’m always interested in good soup cookbooks. I will get a copy.

They sell chicken feet at our local ethnic store for about $3 per pound (seems like a lot, but we’re in the Metro DC area). They’re so small, you can keep a lot of them in the freezer, and only need one or two per big pot of broth, to get the benefit. If there’s a Mexican/SA/Caribbean store somewhere near you, you can probably find them there.

We see chicken backs in the supermarket now and then, and we grab them up - now that so little butchering is being done in-store, we don’t see them often; but they’re another good addition to bone broth.

I don’t think there’s a better meal than a hearty soup, great bread and butter, and a crispy salad.

It would be nice if there were still real neighborhood butchers around.

-JT

[Liz]

This delicious cake is from London/s legendary River Cafe. ...from one of the chef/owner/s cookbooks. Only 4 ing, bit of water--sounds odd/unfamiliar, but will work out. Part mousse--amazing cake--delicious chocolatey indulgence w/ wonderfully silky texture. Favorite of caterers.

Chocolate Cake

PREP Preheat oven to 120 deg celsius (yes it seems very low.) Butter then parchment 23--25 cm cake tin (w/ springform, foil outside to waterproof).

SYRUP Heat/dissolve 140gms sugar, 100ml water; boil 1-2 min.

METHOD melt 340 gms broken 70% dark couverture chocolate, 225 gm sweet butter in bain over but not touching boiling water; don/t overheat. Set offheat when chocolate is almost all melted. Then stir/melt (good quality chocolate melts easily and quickly).

Now elec/mixer 5 eggs, 70gms sugar to roughly 4 times volume. Pour Syrup into chocolate/butter mixture; cool a bit. Pour chocolate into egg mixture; mix thru.

FINAL Pour into baking tin. Put folded tea towel on bottom of deep sided baker; place cake tin atop towel (prevents slipping). Pour hot water 3/4 up sides of pan (chef added tap water to bring temp from boiling to hot). Bake set 50 min; cool in pan of water before removing and turning out onto server.

SERVE dusted w/ conf, or for festive presentation top w/ fresh strawberries or
raspberries. A dollop of whipped cream breaks chocolate intensity slightly.

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks, Liz. I will try it next time - my last attempt was sorry ;-)

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

I’ve made this one several times, always comes out well; I have it in my loose-leaf binder of recipes - cut it out of a magazine years ago - but I found it online here:

http://www.myfrienddebbie.com/article_master.php?id=41

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

That’s a cute story :-)

Bone broth is simple, but it does take a lot of time. We’re going to plan on doing it over a weekend, perhaps three times per year, so we have it in the freezer.

Yes, the vinegar (in a pinch, lemon juice) helps to leach the nutrients out of the bones. The point of bone broth seems to be to make the nutrients more assimilable.

-JT

[leaning conservative]

The I have now is very small flaked.

[leaning conservative]

Maybe I missed it, but how long do you cook your broth?

[Jamestown1630]

Here’s a basic recipe for roasted root veggies that we’ve tried; we’ve sometimes used fennel in it as well. I don’t see why you couldn’t tweak it and add some beets; maybe replace some or all of the squash:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-winter-vegetables-recipe.html

-JT

[leaning conservative]

One.....sheesh

[leaning conservative]

Is there any veggie to NOT put in a veg broth or can you use any & all?

[Jamestown1630]

We cooked this batch for about 12 hours, and we did it in an electric slow-cooker. It’s kind of hard to keep the temperature right, though, and next time I think we’ll do it in a pot, on the stove.

Some people say it should never really boil - that the entire process should take place at a simmer. It’s hard to get slow-cookers/crockpots to do that. Every one I’ve had has escalated to boiling, no matter how low I set it.

There are also instructions out there for doing it in the oven, which eliminates the worry of leaving the range top going unattended.

(In my ‘salad days’ I rented the top part of a house from a lovely lady who has been my best friend for decades. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, she would be cooking her leftover carcass overnight on the stovetop, while she slept. It drove me crazy - but she KNEW that she would always be up a couple of times during the night to check on it - and she was :-)

That’s not a chance that I would take, especially with rambunctious young cats in the house; so I want to try the in-oven method, too.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

You might want to go easy on the cruciferous veggies; they tend to ‘take over’. If you want to use them, maybe try something mild, like Bok Choy.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

My husband is always complaining about the cost of chicken wings these days - gone are the days when the wing was the lowliest part of the chicken, and very economical.

I think it’s because somebody at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo made those spicy wings so popular ;-)

-JT

[greeneyes]

Yup. I have been having a few weeks of spicy wing cravings and eats myself.

[Jamestown1630]

The beet and feta burgers look great.

I remember that you directed us to the Ontario Liquor Board magazine before; it’s lovely!

-JT

[NorthstarMom]

Thanks :-). It sounds great. I think I’ve checked out the author’s blog in the past. A day like today in Minnesota just begs for a great soup, can’t wait to get a copy of Ladled.

[Califreak]

Date Nut Cake

1 C sugar
1/2 C shortening/butter
2-3 T cocoa
1 egg

1 C hot water
1 t baking soda
1 C pitted dates

1 C walnuts
1 C flour
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt

Mix hot water and soda and pour over dates to soften

Cream sugar and shortening. Add cocoa, mix thoroughly, add egg, vanilla and salt.

Add softened dates and water, add flour and nuts.

Bake at 325 in 9x9ish square pan for 30-45 minutes or until toothpick tests clean.

Cool and frost with your choice of frosting(chocolate!)

I cannot bake a cake to save my life, but this one never fails!

My husband hates cake, but he’ll eat this one.

[libertarian27]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2653452/posts?page=32#32
My favorite chocolate cake recipe.
From the book “Amish and Mennonite Kitchens”

[Liz]

Tomato Veg Soup / from a California restaurant

METHOD Heat pot hot on med. Add 2 tbl oil, 2 c ea diced carrots/onions, 1/2 cup diced
red bell, 1 1/2 tea chp fresh thyme, 3/4 cup pearl barley. Cook/stir veg golden 18 min
(careful barley burns). Stir in qt veg broth, 1 1/2 c marinara sauce. Simmer barley al dente,
6-8 min. Stir in 2 c ea quartered mushrooms, diced zucchini, s/p.

Cover/simmer just tender, 4-6 min. Offheat, thin if desired, season to taste, serve.

[bgill]

Not making homemade stock is throwing hard earned dollars down the drain. Draining canned veggies into a large freezer container is no effort at all and saves having to buy veg stock at the store for $2.50/32 oz.

Normally, my veg peels go to the compost but your idea of freezing them is a wiser option. Whatever is left over after draining can still go to the compost.

Another option is trying to grow the fresh roots.