22 posts tagged “cooking”

Yup.  It's winter time again.  Time for pulling out the heavy coats and gloves.  Time for lighting fires in the fireplace.  Time for making big steaming pots of soups and stews.  And time for my favorite accompaniment to such foods -- corn bread.  I've decided to share with you, my Vox friends, my time honored recipe and technique for making basic [1] cornbread [2] from scratch.  No silly box mixes for me.  This stuff is super easy to make! 

Let's begin with the recipe just as my mother gave it to me.

That's right.  She only gives lists of ingredients.  I'm surprised she was able to come up with measurements for any of the stuff.  She hardly ever measures anything.  And that's how she taught me to cook.  Just put it together and adjust the amounts until it looks and/or tastes right.  I will kindly fill in the gaps for you here.

Begin by choosing the pan you are going to cook in.  There are those who swear you cannot get good cornbread without using an iron skillet but, like my mother, I use an 8" Pyrex pie plate.  We prepare it in the same fashion as an iron skillet and get the same results. 

Pour a couple of tablespoons vegetable oil, or olive oil for the health conscious, in the bottom of the pan.  Or do as I've done here.  Use bacon grease!  Place the pan with the oil or grease into the oven and turn it on to 400 degrees.  Let the oven and pan preheat while you mix up the batter.  This is the source of the "magic" touch those iron skillet folks swear by.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in your mixing bowl.  Measure out the milk and then drop the egg into it.  Beat the egg into the milk [3] with a fork.  Pour this mixture into the flour and mix just until moistened.  Don't worry about those lumps.  Over mixing flour and liquid mixtures develops the gluten in the flour and makes your baked goods tough.

Now it's time to add the cornmeal.  Mother doesn't say how much, she just knows what it's supposed to look like.  And the same was true for me until I mixed up this particular batch.  I went to all the trouble of measuring it and I used 1 1/2 cups.  This is about what it should look like after you mix it in.  You can adjust the amount to suit yourself.

Now it's time to pour this into the hot pan.  Be very careful that you don't burn yourself!  As you pour the batter in you will notice some of it climbing up the side of the pan and can even hear it sizzling.  This is what creates that lovely crunchy bottom crust those iron skillet folks love.

Yes, that's bacon grease floating on top of the batter.  Let this bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. [4]  I have a bad habit of taking mine out a couple of minutes earlier than I should because I can't wait to eat it.

Try to let it stand about 5 or 10 minutes before you cut into it.  I rarely last longer than 30 seconds.  This batch was enjoyed with a big pot of venison stew.

[1]  I did say basic.  Once you've mastered the basic technique feel free to jazz it up with chopped jalepeno, chopped onion, grated cheese, corn, or anything else your little heart desires.  I have lots of fun coming up with new options.

[2]  WARNING: This is not light, sweet, fluffy cornbread that looks and tastes like cake.  This is serious cornbread designed to stand up to the soups and stews it's served with and not go soggy.

[3]  Sure you could beat the egg separately, but this saves time.

[4] There are also those who swear you need sugar to make the crust brown.  Clearly, you don't.

For as long as I can remember I've been of the opinion that you can't have too much onion, cheese, or garlic.  I can't hardly cook without onions.  They're my favorite vegetable. 

Over the last few months I've been having more and more trouble with acid indigestion in the evenings.  Nothing seems to help it.  A couple of weeks ago I identified the culprit.  Yup.  Onions.  Apparently I can't eat them anymore.  At least, not in large quantities.  And certainly not in the evening.  Too many onions at lunch give me some trouble, but nothing like they do at supper.  This means I'm going to have to completely rethink the way I cook. 

For tonight's dinner I'm cooking a pot of beans.  What!  No onions in the pot?  Afraid not.  It's just navy beans and venison.  I decided instead to make an onion free pico de gallo to put on top of it.

What's your favorite ingredient to cook with?

Love.  Nothing tastes quite as good without it.

Well, the pies are baked and ready for tomorrow.  I made 5 pies this year.  Two are pumpkin.  They have cinnamon crusts.

It's that time of year when I must begin planning my Thanksgiving pie baking.  Every year I make 2 pumpkin, 1 mince meat, and 2 pecan pies.  Additionally I have one wild card pie.  In the past I've always let a family member choose the wild card, but in recent years no one has an opinion.  So I leave it to you my Vox friends....what should my wild card pie be this year?

OK, Maura.  Here's a complete meal just for you that will accomplish what the NuWave Oven claims to do for you and probably tastes a whole lot better.  You will be baking everything in the oven at the same time reducing the amount of energy required to cook the meal.  This is a dinner that's nice enough to impress guests.  For tonight's dinner we are going to have roasted chicken and vegetables with rosemary and olive oil.

Roasted Chicken

• One whole chicken
  
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• rosemary

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Get out a baking pan large enough to hold your chicken.  I like to line it with foil for easier clean up later.  If you don't have a cooking rack use two pieces of foil to create a make shift rack you can set the bird on.

Remove the chicken from the packaging and wash it off under cool running water.  Take out any giblets that are inside.  Pull off any big hunks of fat that you see near the openings.  If you see any feathers still sticking to it, pull them out.  Pat the chicken dry.

 
Add salt, pepper, and rosemary into both cavities of the chicken.  You can also gently pull away the skin on the breast to put seasonings in there.

Rub the skin all over with olive oil or spray with cooking spray.  Truss your bird up nice and tight.  This is not an art project.  It doesn't have to be pretty.  Just make sure it can't get away!

Place your chicken in the baking pan and pop it into the oven.  It will probably need to cook about 30 minutes per pound.  I check to see if it's done by wiggling the drumsticks (they will be very loose) and tipping the pan a bit so that juices run out of the abdomen (the big cavity).  The juices should be clear.  Transfer to a new dish before carving.  Be sure to remove the twine before serving.

Roasted Vegetables

• You need an assortment of fresh (or frozen if you must) vegetables.  I have used potatoes, carrots, and onion because that's what I had on hand.  Use what you like.
• Cooking spray (I used olive oil PAM)
• Oil (I used olive oil)
• salt
• pepper
• rosemary (I used dried, but fresh would be better)
• baking dish with lid

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Spray the baking dish and lid with cooking spray (or you can rub it with oil if you don't have any cooking spray).  Wash the vegetables and peel if needed.  Cut them up into bite size pieces.  I layer them in the dish with dense veggies (like potatoes and carrots) on the bottom and watery veggies (like onions and bell pepper) on the top.  This allows the juices from the watery veggies to run down onto the dense veggies blending the flavors better.  Salt and pepper to taste (you can always add more later if you don't get enough on them).  I used about a tablespoon of dried rosemary.  Drizzle olive oil over the top (maybe 2-3 tablespoons?  I don't measure it.) [Note: I'm showing you enough veggies for about 4 people.  We like leftovers.] Put the lid on the dish and bake for about 1 hour (stir it about half way through) until the veggies are done. 

Here's what it will look like when you are done.

Valuable cooking notes:
Your chicken will most likely take longer to cook than the veggies so prepare it first and pop it in the oven while you're preparing the veggies.  You want everything to come out of the oven at the same time.  If the bird takes a bit longer than you anticipated it won't hurt the veggies to cook a bit longer.

If you wish you can prep the veggies a day ahead and put the baking dish in the refrigerator.  If you choose to do this don't add the spices until you are ready to put it in the oven.

If you have nice variety of colors and textures in you veggies this is all the food you need to serve (I would have preferred something green thrown in that dish.)  If you don't feel you have quite enough you can easily flesh out the meal with a tossed salad and fresh loaf of French bread.  Include a bottle of wine and you have a feast!

Ken and I usually only eat the drumsticks and thighs on the first night.  Tonight I think I'll make chicken quesadillas with the leftovers.  Oh, and the rest of the veggies?  Well, I also had a piece of leftover grilled pork from Saturday night which I cut up and threw into the leftovers of that.  Today I got a fresh zucchini out of the garden which I will cut up, steam, and toss into the dish.  Wednesday night it'll get tossed into the oven to be reheated for dinner.

It's been a while since I've posted anything about my cooking.  This summer Ken has decided to take up vegetable gardening.  He didn't get started until well into June so he hasn't had a lot to show for his efforts.  The tomatoes and jalapenos are blooming, but have yet to produce anything.  The zucchinis, on the other hand, are taking over.  My customers barely have room to get up the sidewalk.

In addition to the 4 pigs and mushrooms Ken brought home this weekend he also brought home the prized possessions of the large pig.  We had them for dinner this evening.  Here they are after they were peeled (those little devils did NOT want to come out of their sacs) and soaked in beer for two hours (can you say "happy balls?").  Each one is about the size of my fist.

I found some Anasazi beans at the grocery store a few weeks ago and thought I'd give them a try.  Today I finally got around to cooking them.

They are certainly a very pretty bean.  Since I had never eaten them before I decided to keep the recipe simple.  I used ground venison, salt, pepper, garlic, and cilantro.  The bag claimed that this is a quick cooking bean and it's true.  After about two hours they were most certainly tender enough to eat.
It is indeed a slightly sweet and mealy bean just as the package promised.  Very tasty indeed!  I'll be serving them with a batch of fresh cornbread and butter.

I'll let you know tomorrow whether or not they also hold up on the promise of creating less gas!

What are your rituals or traditions for starting off a new year?  

Black Eyed Peas.

I don't, however, feel obligated to use the same recipe every year.  For today's batch I made my own version of Hoppin' John:

5 strips bacon
1 onion, chopped
2 cans black eyed peas
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilis
1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup water

Cut bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook over high heat.  When it's as done as you like it add onion and continue cooking until onion is tender.  Add two cans of black eyed peas and the can of Rotel.  Do not drain any of them.  Reduce heat and let simmer for about 2 hours.  Add 1 cup water and 1 cup uncooked rice.  Continue to simmer until rice is tender; about 20 minutes.  Eat.