Recipe Recaps for Jan 12-18

I screwed up dinners this week. Without looking at the menu list, I wandered into the kitchen on Saturday afternoon (1/12) and pulled out the "whole wheat pockets" recipe. I mixed bread dough and then washed and peeled potatoes. I worked away. Nate played with our daughter. I ruined the bread and had to start a new batch, fed the toddler some leftovers for her dinner, and cursed my negligent cooking style. Towards the end of the chaos, I actually looked at the menu list.

"Are you kidding me? %#&@!* #^$% @!^*!!! I wasn't supposed to be making Pockets, not until Friday!" I was supposed to make Swedish meatballs! So not only had I slaved on the wrong day and screwed up the meal, I'd also messed up my beautiful weekly food balance. I had to shuffle everything around.

Okay, not everything. Just a few days. Still, sometimes... it's like my brain is on ice somewhere and I'm walking around clueless.


Sat 1/12: Whole Wheat Pockets

As I mentioned, I ruined the dough. This is not an uncommon occurrence with me and dough. I love it but I'm impatient and not always careful, so I'll do something silly like drop the yeast in too-hot water, thus killing it, but not knowing until later when the bread fails to rise. (I always use instant yeast, again because I'm impatient. I hate waiting for regular yeast to activate. Plus, it seems to me that most regular yeasts have a slightly bitter twinge to them, especially Red Star, and I don't like it. Saf Instant Yeast, available at WinCo and online, is ever so slightly sweet, which is perfect for most of the yeast-using recipes in my collection.)

My other dough-mistake, the one that got me this time: Oh, I'll just turn the oven on for a second to make it a little bit warmer and help the bread rise. I nearly always get distracted or just plain forget about it, and ten minutes later there's a browned, smoking towel and dead bread in my oven. I suppose if I just heated my house to some reasonable temperature then the bread would rise in decent time, and I wouldn't have to heat the oven. But alas, the house lives in the 62-65 temperature range during the winter; I've become one of those put-on-pants-and-a-sweater-before-you-touch-the-thermostat kinds-of people. Yeah...sorry.

But let's get back to the whole wheat pockets, hmm?

As I said, I killed the bread. Buh-bye first batch of dough, hello starting over. My bad. I also decided not to bake the sweet potatoes since it was going to take so long. I steamed them instead. Saved time (which it turns out I didn't need to save, but hey, next time I might) and it saves from having to heat the whole oven to cook the potatoes. I also found that the lentils needed to cook for a longer than the directions indicated, unless you like slightly hardened, chewy lentils.

The "pockets" themselves were great in some ways, but not perfect. The size was wonderful. An 8-9 inch circle folded over is pretty big. Imagine a pie plate, now fold it in half. Totally enough for an average adult. (Nate needed to eat two, but he has the appetite of a horse.) The kale, lentil, and sweet potato filling in the pockets was tasty and well balanced. It was reasonably filling. But it was a tad on the bland side. Nate tried topping one with cheese but it didn't do a whole lot to improve things.

I think the next time we make these, I am going to experiment with some different fillings. Maybe use the dough recipe and make "calzones." Maybe try a pot-pie-like filling. I dunno. Or maybe just add a few more flavors into the kale/lentil/potato mix, see if I can't make it a tad bit more exciting.


Sun 1/13: Swedish Meatballs

I loved using my stand mixer to do most of the work on this recipe. In retrospect, though, I'm not sure why I didn't just ignore the directions and mix the last ingredient -- the ground beef -- with the mixer. I don't think it would have made much difference.

Be that as it may, things started out pretty well. The meatballs mixed up in a snap. Then things went slightly south. You see, I don't like handling raw meat. Not any kind of it, not ever. It's probably 60% of the reason that I fantasize about becoming a vegetarian. So I didn't want to roll meatballs by hand. Thankfully I have a pair of cookie scoops. One holds 1.5 tablespoons, the other holds 2 teaspoons. (I got them after Christmas from Bed, Bath and Beyond using one of BB&B's fabulous coupons.) Does 1.5 Tb sound big to you? It doesn't seem especially large to me. So I used it to scoop out meatballs and plop them into the hot oil in the skillet. They cooked, I turned them. Turned them more. They weren't perfectly round so it was a bit hard to roll them around...

Given my relatively recent episode of food poisoning, I've also become a bit neurotic about cooking meats to the proper temperature. So I checked the meatballs, checked them again, checked them again. Pretty soon they were blackened balls of meat on the outside yet still a revolting 140'F on the inside. There was no way they were going to get up another 20'F without being completely charred.

I dumped the first batch, got out the 2 teaspoon scoop, and started scooping. Meanwhile I also had to get some veggies going and pull together the ingredients for the sauce.

My biggest complaint about this recipe is that it makes a huge batch of meatballs, which take a long time to cook, and then you still have to make the sauce at the end. In other words, the cooking takes a long time. I recommend getting out two skillets and having two batches of meatballs cooking, and/or using a saucepan to make the sauce at the same time.

Or, if you're looking to make a "traditional" three-piece meal: Put rice on to cook. Cook the first batch of meatballs. Get the second batch started, then put some veggies on to cook. Start a third batch of balls and then start making the sauce. At this point all four burners will all be in use (rice, veggies, meatballs, and sauce). It's one of those tricky balancing acts to do this all at once, but it will get a complete meal on the table in half the time.

I was not very impressed with the sauce in this recipe. Nate thought it was plain. I didn't really even like it. I know that cream of mushroom is on the fatty side, but it would be pretty tasty with this dish. You could make your own cream of mushroom. Or maybe you have another preferred cream sauce? If so, try it, or try the cream of mushroom; I don't vote for the sauce as suggested by the recipe.


Mon 1/14: Spring Rolls, sorta... and Falafels

The theme of this week's cooking, by the way, is "Recipes that kicked my ars." First the whole wheat pockets, then the meatballs on Sunday. I was still in good spirits until Monday evening, by which time I had also been abused by spring rolls, falafels, and chocolate-swirl brioche dough (see the very end of this post for info about the bricohe). When Nate got home from work and saw that both sides of the sink were piled very high with dirty dishes, he remarked that we need a bigger kitchen if I'm going to continue my cooking adventures. He's not wrong. But I promised that Monday's mess -- which was larger but still on par with the messes from Saturday and Sunday -- was an anomaly. He quietly raised an eyebrow as he set out extra towels to dry the mass of dishes.

I didn't actually make spring rolls on Monday, but I don't know what else to call them. They probably fall more into the egg roll category. I'm not even going to link you to the spring roll recipe because it's not remotely what I made. Last week, when I was planning the menu, I thought, "Egg roll wrappers could totally work for spring rolls, if I can't find the right kind of wrappers." I couldn't find the right wrappers, so I got more egg roll wrappers.

But I was wrong. I don't even want to go into all of the details. What I actually did was fried tofu, roll it up with thinly sliced carrots in an egg roll wrapper, and then fried them. They were good. In retrospect, I should have added green peas, too... and maybe some scrambled egg. 

I've been wanting to make falafels for a couple of weeks. For whatever reason, I decided Monday was a good night for them. The recipe is huge; even with my 11-cup food processor, I had to chop the ingredients in two batches. Once again I used my awesome new cookie scoop. Once again, they weren't perfect balls and it was hard to rotate them around and fry them. They were tasty, though not quite as good as you'd get from a restaurant. Probably because I use less salt in my cooking and it was my very first attempt at falafels. Also, I've looked at several different falafel recipes since making these, and I think there are better recipes available.


Tue 1/15: Skillet Saltimbocca Chicken Spaghetti

In my house, this dish is comfort food. We've made this recipe a handful of times. And by we, I think I actually mean Nate; I think this was my first time making this recipe all on my own. I've helped Nate and he's done it all on his own, but I don't think I had attempted it without him. Probably because I usually beg him to make it for me. There's nothing quite like eating a dish of comfort food and not lifting a finger to help!

Unfortunately, this recipe comes from my Pasta Revolution cookbook (I'll save my love-hate rant about America's Test Kitchen for another post). I couldn't find the exact replica online. The recipe includes thinly sliced chicken, proscuitto cooked up crisp (like bacon), a wine-and-broth sauce, spaghetti noodles, and sage. I'd be happy to photocopy the recipe for you, just ask. I'll post my version sometime, after I've had another chance to keep tweaking.

The thing is, the original recipe leaves you with a little bit too much (and runny) sauce. The proportions of ingredients don't quite match what I get from the store. And it calls for fresh sage, which can be spendy out of season; dried sage works just as well. Stay tuned for my perfected version of this dish.


Wed 1/16: Leftovers


Thur 1/17: Hot and Spicy Peanut Chicken (slow cooker) Sesame Noodles with Shredded Chicken

As I mentioned earlier, my house is pretty cold. So if I need to defrost anything (meat) for dinner, I have to get it out early in the morning. Or preferably the night before.

I was in trouble on Friday when I realized it was 10am and I hadn't pulled the chicken out of the freezer yet. There was no way it could be defrosted, into the slow cooker, and cooked in time for dinner that night. I also didn't really feel like having hot and spicy peanut chicken (the planned menu item). I still got out some chicken, but without a new recipe in mind.

A couple of hours passed and I decided to throw just the chicken in the slow cooker. It would be cooked and ready to shred by dinner time. I have a dozen recipes that call for shredded chicken. One such recipe, a relatively quick and easy dish, is sesame noodles with shredded chicken. (Also from my ATC Pasta Revolution cookbook.)

The recipe goes a little something like this: When the chicken is done cooking and ready to shred, put some Chinese noodles (1lb) or just spaghetti noodles (12oz) on to cook. (I use whole wheat spaghetti because it's what we have on hand.)

In a blender or food processor, mix the following ingredients:
1/4 cup peanut butter (or 3Tb peanuts and 1Tb olive oil)
3Tb seasame seeds
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tb rice vinegar
2 Tb brown sugar
1 tsp hot sauce of choice (I used 1/2 tsp Asian chile sauce)

You can add more peanuts or peanut butter if you want it to be more peanut-y. Blend the ingredients until smooth. Then add some water, 1 Tb at a time, to thin the sauce. Keep adding and mixing until the sauce is the consistency of heavy cream. (You need approximately 4 Tb of water, but this can vary.)

I got tired of measuring things after I put in the ginger, so I just kinda eyeballed the rest of the ingredients into the food processor. You can mix up the amounts depending on your preference; Nate loves soy sauce so he wouldn't mind if I had used even more soy sauce rather than water to thin the sauce. I don't like soy sauce, so I didn't do that.

Arrange noodles on a plate. Shred chicken and throw some on top. Pour on the sauce. The original recipe also calls for grated carrots, chopped scallions, and sesame seeds on top of the sauce. I added some chopped carrots this week. I've used scallions and sesame seeds previously -- they are good but not essential.


Fri 1/18: Stromboli

I don't know anything at all about Stromboli. When I said I was going to make this dish, my mom made some comment about ice-scraping machines. I shrugged. All I know is that I saw a picture of Stromboli on Pinterest and thought, "THAT LOOKS DELICIOUS."

It is.

The weeks when I actually make bread for the family, I always make whole wheat challah (here's my favorite challah recipe). The Stromboli recipe tells you to buy frozen bread dough. It's not hard to make bread dough, but it does take a little bit more time. Do what you have to do -- I'm not judging.

My standby challah recipe calls for 8 cups of flour and yields three modest-size loaves. I felt like it would be a bit too much dough if I used all of it for the Stromboli, so I decided to use two-thirds for the Stromboli and make one little loaf with the rest. After I actually rolled out the dough, I was less sure of myself. And when I baked the Stromboli and the bread cracked open on the outside, I was sure I should have used the whole batch of dough. BUT when I actually ate it, oh no, the ratio was fine. In fact, I would argue that there needed to be more of the stuffing in the roll of dough; my bread-to-other-food ratio was overly balanced in favor of bread.

Ha. I just looked at the recipe again. It calls for two pounds of dough, one pound for each Stromboli. I just happened to have weighed the dough when I was dividing it into thirds, and each loaf was 4-5 ounces over a pound. So there you go.

Here are my suggested adaptations; I will try these next time I make Stromboli: Generously spread the egg-spices mix on the inside of each loaf. Use at little more ground beef (maybe 1.5 lbs?) and make sure to break it down into small pieces. Possibly cook the beef in some of the seasonings. Use more cheese, maybe even as much as double the cheese. Use a big onion. Maybe even use two onions. Nate hates onions so we tend to skimp, but there was not a trace of onion flavor in this recipe. I could only find pepperoni in 4.5 to 6 oz size packs; there was plenty of pepperoni. Turkey pepperoni works fine.


BONUS: Chocolate Swirl Bricohe

Amazing. If you want to put some joy in your mouth, make this and then eat it fast. My experience was a bit painful but totally worth the frustration.

The problem here is that my yeast was bad. Or maybe not totally bad, but getting old and losing its oomph. I dutifully mixed the two sticks of butter, nine eggs, five cups of flour and other ingredients with my stand mixer. I put the dough safely in a corner of the kitchen. Two hours later, it hadn't risen. Not an inch. I wasn't about to waste all the butter and especially the eggs, so I rolled it out, kneaded in two more teaspoons of yeast, and set it aside again. At this point I thought the lack of rise was because I dropped the yeast in too-hot water and killed it.

But another hour later and it still hadn't budged. I contacted Kimmy's Bakeshop for help. Helpful as ever, they did some research and recommended I add more yeast. I kinda hadn't told them about the first attempt to add more yeast.

It was then that I decided the old yeast was, well, too old. I threw it out -- there was less than 1/2 cup left in the freezer, and it was I-don't-know how old. I got a fresh bag of yeast. It opened with a satisfying suck of air that let me know it was ready for use. Two more teaspoons kneaded into the dough, then left alone, and viola -- risen!

It has to sit in the fridge overnight after the first rise. I had to go to work the next day. So it ended up in the fridge for almost a full day before I got it out and finished making the bread. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough chocolate on hand! I could have sworn there was a whole unopened box in the back of the baking cupboard. I was also low on dark chocolate chips. I used everything available, but I probably only had 6-7 ounces. It was done baking right at bedtime, so I had to leave it to cool and try it the next morning...

And it was heaven! We've been eating it all week. My only complaints are these: The outside of my loaves browned really fast, so I took them out of the oven too early. The very middle wasn't totally cooked. For me and my oven, it needs to have foil over the top for a good portion of the cooking time. (Or maybe I need to get some non-glass bread pans???) And it definitely needed the full contingent of chocolate. The bread is best if eaten within a couple of days, so plan to give some away or have some people over or just eat a lot of it. I might try making a half-size batch next time; bread this rich and delicious can be sliced thin and slowly nommed.