Masa noodles

Masa Noodles:  Mix 1 cup masa harina with 1/2 cup water, 1 egg and 1 tbsp chili powder.  Stir.  It should be very dry, clumping when squeezed together.  Form walnut size balls and drop in the extruder.  Run kitchenaid on 8.  Cut into 9 or 10 inch lengths.  Have it drop into masa or flour and form into nexts.

Boil like regular pasta, only takes a minute.  Ours broke into small pieces.  I am not sure why.  We tossed ours with some leftover ancho paste and olive oil.

Overall, it was unusual.  Really tasted like corn noodles.  We will try it again tonight with a saucy mexican dish.

Chorizo potato tacos with escabeche

All of these recipes, and probably for the next few days, come from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen.  I love this book.  

Roasted tomatillo-serrano salsa

Preheat broiler on high.  Put rack as high as it will go.  On a large cookie sheet place 6-8 tomatillos (husks removed and washed), 3-4 large garlic cloves, unpeeled, 3-4 serrano peppers and broil until blackened.  It takes my oven about 8-9 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 6-7 minutes.  Put the tomatillos and their juices that are in the bottom of the pan, along with the garlic (peel it first), and the serranos (with the stems removed.  I leave the seeds in them) into a food processor.   Add a chipotle in adobo.  (I like it for the smokiness)   Process until smooth.  Meanwhile chop about 4 oz of onion into a small dice and rinse under cold water.  Pour the tomato mixture into a large bowl.  Add the onions, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 tsp of salt or to taste, a couple of capfuls of apple cider vinegar and a tsp of sugar.  Stir.  Cool and serve.

This is the basic recipe that I use for all my salsas.  The tomatillos can be replaced with roma or use a combination.  I have even made it with canned tomatoes and only roasting the chilis and the garlic.  Any fresh pepper would work also. 

Pot of Mexican Beans

Usually I pressure cook my beans, but since it's cold and snowy I decided to make these on the stovetop.  I only soaked these for about an hour.  I don't think soaking really makes much of a difference.

In a large pot, I browned about an ounce of chorizo and a cut up slice of bacon in a little olive oil.  Then add 1 cup of chopped onion.  Cook until soft.  Add your drained beans.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for a couple of hours.  Season with salt, then cook another 15-20 minutes.

Green Poblano Rice

Simmer 2 chopped poblanos in 1 2/3 cup chicken broth for 10 minutes.  Put in food processor with a handful of cilantro and salt to taste.  Process, then strain through a mesh strainer.  In a pot, saute 1 cup rice and 1 small diced onion in 1 tbsp olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Add 5 chopped garlic cloves.  Add the poblano broth to rice.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes covered.

Chorizo Potato Tacos with escabeche

These are easy, and I love them. 

Boil 4 potatoes whole until tender.  Remove let cool, then dice into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.  

Brown 6 oz Mexican chorizo until cooked through.  Remove with slotted spoon, leaving as much grease in the pan as you can.  You may need to add a little olive oil.  Add potatoes.  Let brown, turning occasionally.  When finished, add the chorizo back to the potatoes and warm through.  Serve on corn tortillas with escabeche

Escabeche:  Dice and peel one med carrot.  Put in a large skillet.  Drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil.  Cover and cook over med heat about 5 minutes, until crisp tender.  Stir in 2 peeled and diced garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 2 tbsp dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.  Simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Add 1 thinly sliced red onion ( I used white since that was all I had).  Stir and let cool.  Flavors will improve with time.

Spaghetti alla carbonara

This is originally is a Mario Batalli recipe.  Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Cook 1 pound spaghetti until al dente, reserving about a cup of the pasta water..  Cook 5-6 oz of diced pancetta in 1/4 cup olive oil.  Separate 6 eggs.  When pancetta has browned, stir in 1 tbsp freshly grated pepper.  Turn off heat. Add 2/3 cup pasta water and bring to a simmer over med heat.   Whisk rapidly and add the egg whites, whisking for about a minute.  (You want it frothy, not set.  We did not achieve frothy, but it was still delicious)  Add the pasta, stirring well. Add 1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano and 1/4 cup pecorino romano.  Keep stirring.  You can then put it into 6 serving bowls with an egg yolk in each one, instructing your guests to stir rapidly.  This was a bit too precious for Sanford for lunch, so we added all of the egg yolks while it was still in the pan and stirred, then served. 

Homemade spaghetti.  I was lucky enough to receive a pasta extruder for christmas from my in-laws.  I have been struggling with the right recipe.  This spaghetti took me two tries.  First I mixed 2 cups semolina with about 1 cup of water which is from a recipe I found for extruded pasta.  ( I tried the kitchenaid egg noodle recipe.  It was too wet.  The pasta was fine, but not quite right.  Also, the instructions say to let dough dry on the extruder then "brush it off" the next day.  This is a joke with this recipe.  It dried like cement.  It took about 1/2 hour the next day of digging out the dough with a toothpick and skewer!  The recipe I used last night was much better for the cleanup.  I was able to "brush the dough " of the extruder with only a little bit of toothpick use)  Anyway, I added some all purpose flour and mixed in the kitchenaid for about a minute.  I put it in the extruder.  It came out correctly, but immediately stuck together.  So I gathered all of the extruder pasta, put it back in the kitchenaid mixer with more flour.  This time I made a dough that did not stick together unless you squeezed it into a ball.    I formed into walnut sized balls and dropped them in.  This time they came out perfectly and didn't stick together.  I don't have an exact recipe for this at this time, but next time I will measure!

Christmas Cookies

I wanted to make Christmas cookies this year, but was unsure if I wanted to put in the effort without my kitchenaid.  I started looking up recipes online.  Yes, I know I can cream the butter and sugar by hand, but I really didn't want to.  Also, it would take so much more time to make them by hand.  So I turned to Mark Bittman's book How To Cook Everything.  Ok, I admit that I think this is a genius book.  I often point out recipes that my kids can make without a lot of effort.  In fact, I believe that every person should have this book when they move out on their own.  So I turned to the cookie section.  There was this lovely little section on how to make cookies 3 ways:  by hand, with a mixer and with a food processor.  Even though my food processor is still together with duct tape and super glue, it still works.  The technique is remarkably simple.  Almost any recipe can work with this technique.  (the exception being those that require whipping egg whites separately or other specific techniques)

  

Here is the food processor technique according to Mark Bittman.

Put dry ingredients in processor and pulse a couple of times.  Cut chilled butter into small pieces and add to machine.  Process 10 seconds or until well blended.  Add liquid ingredients, including eggs, and process just enough to blend.  If you need to add more liquid, add by hand.

That's it! Easy. All recipes below are from his cookbook except for where noted.   These cookies were the best I have made in a lot of years.

Lemon Poppyseed Butter Cookies

Put 3/4 cup sugar, 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, into food processor.  Pulse twice.  Add 8 tbsp chopped, chilled butter.  Process 10 seconds or until well blended.  Add 1 tbsp lemon zest, 2 tbsp poppy seeds, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk.  Pulse until combined.  Drop tablespoon size balls onto cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.  Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes.  Let cool on pan for 2 minutes, then move to rack to cool completely.

Sugar Cookies

Put 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, pinch of salt, 1 tsp baking powder into food processor.  Pulse twice.  Add 2 sticks of chopped, chilled butter.  Process 10 seconds or until blended.  Add 1 egg, 1 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla.  Pulse until combined.  Shape into a ball and refrigerate for a couple of hours.  Then remove and work using 1/4 of the dough at a time.  Roll out and cut out with cookie cutters.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Cook at 400 degrees for 6-10 minutes.  Cool on pan 2 minutes, then remove to wire rack.  Let cool completely and decorate.  I used two different toppings.  I liked them both, because they dried hard.

Icing:  from Allrecipes.com

Combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk until well combined.  I had to use more milk in order to get a smooth consistency.  Mix in 2 tsp light corn syrup and 1/4 tsp almond extract.  Stir until glossy.  Dip cookies into icing, then add sprinkles if you like and let dry.

Chocolate glaze

In a pan, heat 3/4 cup cream and 6 tbsp butter until melted. Turn off heat and add 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla and a tiny pinch of salt.  Stir until smooth.  Dip cookies in and let dry.

Chocolate chip cookies

In a food processor add 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda.  Pulse twice.  Add 2 sticks of chopped, chilled butter.  Process 10 seconds or until blended.  Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla.  Process until blended.  Stir in 2 cups of chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Cool on pan for 2 minutes, then move to wire rack to continue cooling.

Simit

SIMIT

I really love this bread.  The recipe is from Leanne Kitchen's book Turkey.  The texture is great, but not everyone in  my house was a fan of the outside flavoring.  I remade it, leaving it plain and also dipping into into an egg wash and sesame seeds.  (Egg wash and sesame seeds was definitely the winner).  The possibilities are endless.  I have substituted some of the white for whole wheat to give it a little extra nutritional boost.  It can be coated in any seed (or seeds can be added to the dough).  It seems like you vary the recipe just like you would a bagel recipe.

Combine 1 pinch of sugar with 1/4 cup lukewarm water.  Sprinkle 3 tsp dried yeast onto and let sit aside until foamy (about 8 minutes).

Combine 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour (or any substitutions you would like up to half the volume of the flour) and 1 1/2 tsp salt.  Stir.  Add yeast mixture and about a cup of warm water and stir until you have a coarse dough.  Knead for 6-7 minutes.  ( I used my kitchenaid for this with a dough hook).  Shape into a ball and put in an oiled bowl and cover loosely.  Let rise until doubled, about an hour.  

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Punch dough and divide into 10 pieces.    Roll into a 22 inch long rope.  Fold in half, then twist it into a rope.  Join the edges together to seal.  Repeat with other 9 pieces.

Now comes for the dipping.  The recipe calls for mixing 2/3 pekmez with 1/3 cup water.  Dip bread ring into it, then dip in 1 1/2 cups of sesame seeds.  This was just too sweet for us.  We preferred dipping into an egg wash and dipping into the sesame seeds.

Let rise for another 20 minutes.  Then bake for 15-18 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

Pide

Both of these recipes use the same dough.  The top picture is for the actual Turkish flat bread.  The bottom is rolled out, a topping placed on it, crimp the edges and back 20-25 min at 400.  The toppings weren't too exciting.  Beef:  Saute an onion.  Add 1 pound ground beef.  Cook until browned.  Turn off heat.  Add 1/2 cup chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  Spinach:  Saute spinach and add to 1 sauteed onion, 1 egg, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 cup crumbled feta, salt and pepper.    I completely messed up the dough for the top picture.  It was like I had a little seizure when I read the recipe.  I did it all out of order, but eventually got all of the correct ingredients in the mixer.  Funny, but Sanford and the boys say it's my best bread to date.  The bottom picture is using the dough made correctly.  I liked both.  Here's the correct recipe from Turkey by Leanne Kitchen

PIDE

Heat 1 cup whole milk with 1/4 cup butter until lukewarm.  Set aside.

Combine 1 1/2 tbsp superfine sugar with 1/2 cup lukewarm water in a small bowl.  Stir.  Sprinkle with 2 tsp dried yeast.  Set aside until foamy, about 8 min.

Combine yeast and milk mixture.  Add 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour.  Mix.  Using a dough hook, mix for 8 minutes or until dough is smooth.  Sit aside in oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap for about an hour.

Punch dough down.  Divide into 2 halves.  Roll into 8 inch diameter and about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Cover loosely with dish towel.  Let rise another half hour.

Preheat oven to 400.  (I baked mine on a pizza pan with holes, but it says you can use a cookie sheet, lightly greased)  Brush the top with whole milk and using a sharp knife, cut shallow diamonds on top of the dough.  Sprinkle with nigella seeds or sesame seeds.  (I used nigella seeds because I bought them way back when we cooked Ethiopian food for a month and I haven't seen a single recipe that calls for them until this one.)  Bake 30 minutes.

Sunday Night Supper Club: Croatia

Pete and Mary Beth hosted a lovely Sunday night supper club, but Sanford and I failed on many levels.  We were late, pictures were too few,  no fun people pictures, and a computer plagued with viruses postponed by blogging the event.  It was a fun night with lots of tasty food. 

Add caption

 Istrian Potatoes:  Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a 2 quart baking dish.  In a large bowl, toss together 4 large peeled and cubed potatoes, 1/4 pound finely diced prosciutto, 2 diced tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves (minced), 1/4 cup minced parsley, salt and pepper, 2 tbsp olive oil.  Pour into baking dish.  Combine 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream.  Pour over potato mixture.  Cover with foil and bake 30 min.  Remove foil and sprinkle 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese over it and baked, uncovered, 30-45 minutes more or until potatoes are tender.  (From A Taste of Croatia)...I didn't believe that it would really take that long for the potatoes to cook...but it did....which explains why we were late.

 Pete and Mary Beth's delicious "meatballs".  They will need to add the recipe.

 The McGaritys bring dessert, but I don't have a recipe.

 Connie's mushroom soup

 Delicious truffle risotto, a la Pete and Mary Beth

Tasty tart

Jennifer E. made a rich chocolate salami.  The recipe can be found here:

 http://honestcooking.com/chocolate-salami/

As you can see, my memory is failing me.  Please add your recipes supper club people.