Monthly Archives: January 2012
Crockpot Pork Roast
I was happy to see TaMara’s crockpot post yesterday. They sure make cooking easy. Mrs J hauled a pork butt out of the freezer and once it thawed we added a bunch of garlic, pushed whole cloves into slits in the meat, salted and peppered it, and added a few cups of chicken stock. Six hours on high and it was ready.
We tossed the veggies with a bit of olive oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Tossed a few sprigs of thyme on top and gave them 40 minutes or so at 350.
Slather some butter on that whole clove garlic bread and have at it! Yum!
Movie quotes for $50, Alex…
”As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again!”
When I embarrassed myself by not having any bread in the house for the breakfast strata I wanted to make, that quote went through my mind. I’ve been baking bread today.
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Éclairs Video
JeffreyW linked to this video in his post on the wonderful Éclairs he and Mrs. J made yesterday. I figured I would go ahead and post it because it is great and I liked the woman doing the cooking, too.
I wouldn’t ever expect to make how-to videos for you. Mostly because I am the messiest cook around. When I’m done it looks like I’ve been playing in the kitchen, not cooking. It’s how I like it – in my mind cooking should be messy. In order to get you guys photos, I always have to make sure I’ve left a spot that’s clean in order to have a decent place to photograph.
Chocolate Eclairs
We had fun making eclairs yesterday afternoon. This recipe looked like it had been tested by plenty of folks and had good reviews. I did a search for a Youtube recipe and found this one. Love the woman in the video. We ended up combining recipes and methods. Jack the dog had the pleasure of licking the filling bowl, he is a real pudding hound, that boy.
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Gadget Post: Crock-Pot
So I decided I needed to update my crock-pot, which was really my mom’s crock-pot, so that puts it in the 30+ year old range. It was the kind that the crock was not removable, so it was a pain to clean. But it has served me well, so I always questioned the need for a new one.
It has now been handed down once again and will probably continue to slow-cook on for another 30 years.
Now I just had to decide what I needed in a slow-cooker. Size was one consideration, I have no need for a 6-QT or larger. I rarely cook that much at one time to justify the space it would take up. 4-5 QT seemed the perfect size. Consumer Reports did a report on slow-cookers a while back and two things were clear, you didn’t need more than 3 heat settings – high, low and warm – and dials worked better and lasted longer than a digital display.
I found a little 4-QT Crock-Pot, it had only two heat settings, but to get the warm setting I’d have to go up to 6-QT and that was a no-go. It looks to be perfect for my needs and it will get its first real test with a couple of pot roasts in the next two weeks (one will be a test recipe, the other will be one for guests – that is if the test recipe turns out ok).
I’ll keep you posted. Until then….
EDIT: I meant to add a couple of links. This is one of my favorite slow-cooker recipes and here are the search results for slow-cooker recipes on the blog.
The handy man can..
I mentioned back in this post that I was waiting for a new sink to come in. It arrived and was a perfect fit for the old countertop we tore out of the kitchen. I’ve been the last several days puttering about in the basement, installing new light fixtures with electronic ballasts and starters to replace a bunch that have been down there for many years and were failing. I can do some plumbing but I’m nothing more than a very rough carpenter and that shows:
Mrs J wanted a good place to wash the skunk off the dogs without having to lift them too high, the counter height here is a bit lower than standard, it’s about 30″. I was pleased to find a single compartment stainless steel sink at Amazon for about a third the price the local hardware giant had on theirs. Mrs J picked out the faucet. Now I’m half way down in the back and my knees are killing me. Too old for this stuff. I did have fun. Didn’t get a whole lot of cooking done. Mrs J did turn out a nice fish dinner while I was slaving away in the basement.
That’s a pretty slaw, eh? Tasty, too! I did have the usual assortment of sandwiches to sustain me in my labors:
And a taco or two, or three:
Breakfast Strata
I bought some brown mushrooms the other day and they weren’t getting any fresher so they needed to be cooked into something. What the heck is a breakfast strata? I didn’t have any idea there was such a thing until a Google search for “mushrooms + breakfast” landed me at this site. The recipe was a guide for me this morning.
No bread in the house! Ack! Wait… I do have some nan in the freezer.
With just a little trim it fit right into my little round casserole dish. I had a half stick of Andouille sausage left from my last gumbo so I diced that and cooked it with the mushrooms and a diced onion.
So, after drying nan loaves in a low oven for about a half hour one went into the bottom of the buttered casserole and was topped with half the mushroom sausage mixture and a half cup of shredded cheeses, then another layer the same way.
And then the half and half/egg mixture was poured in. I didn’t bother to open a bottle of white wine but I did beat in some dried parsley flakes.
I covered the dish with plastic wrap and set a small dish atop that weighted with a jar of mayo and set it into the fridge to let the nan soak up all the eggy goodness. Was telling myself how crafty I was when I went to get some cream for my coffee and saw that the custard was all over the shelf in the box. Ack! Ok, Ok, I should’ve held the mayo! [groan] Try the veal..
Anyway. I let it soak for an hour (more would be better) then added more cheese to the top and slid it into a 325 oven for just about an hour. Ta Da!
All in all, this I will rate as a success. Next time I will have some better bread and I’ll take the time to let the dish soak, maybe overnight in the fridge.
Thursday Night Recipe Exchange: Spinach Recipes
Recipe Exchange cross-posted at Balloon-Juice.
I thought last week went really well. Thanks for playing along. This week we delve into spinach recipes. I used to hate spinach. This is probably because I am a child of the 70′s and the only spinach I ever saw was canned or frozen, with the consistency of slime. As an adult I discovered fresh, baby spinach and I never looked back. One of my favorite spinach recipes is Spinach Lasagna.
JeffreyW's stuffed manicotti with spinach
To get us started:
Spinach Lasagna
This is one of my most requested recipes. Every time I make it, someone wants the recipe. Since the prep time is long, I usually only break it out for special occasions. It freezes well, so you can make a double batch and freeze two 8×8 pans of uncooked lasagna for two more meals. Thaw the night before (in the refrigerator) and cook until heated through, about 45 minutes to an hour. This recipe is great vegetarian, or you can add ground beef and sausage if desired.
This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and another hour to cook. It easily serves 6 – 8
Sauce:
- 3-15 oz cans tomato sauce
- 2-6 oz cans tomato paste
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp oregano, crushed
- 3 tsp basil, crushed
- 3 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 medium carrot, peeled & finely grated
- pinch of sugar (reduces acidity of the tomatoes)
- Optional: ½ lb ground beef and ½ spicy Italian sausage, browned
Saucepan
Add all ingredients to saucepan on medium-high, stirring constantly until it begins to boil lightly. Turn to low and let simmer while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Lasagna:
- 1 pkg lasagna noodles (16 oz), cooked and placed in cool water until layering*
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 8 oz fresh baby spinach, washed and dried and chopped
- 1 egg
- 12 oz sliced mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
13×9 baking dish (I prefer glass), lightly oiled
To prepare: Mix ricotta, spinach and egg until well blended. Ladle a layer of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover in a single layer of noodles. Ladle sauce over noodles. Spoon ½ of the ricotta mixture evenly (if you place large dollops evenly like putting cookie dough on a baking sheet, fairly close together, it will spread as it cooks, no need to smooth it). Layer 1/3 of the mozzarella over the ricotta. Repeat: noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, noodles. On top of the last layer of noodles, add remaining sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovered – I like to place the baking dish on a baking sheet to catch any spills as it bubbles. Place knife through the center, if it comes out heated through, remove and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. If it needs more cooking time, you can cover with foil to keep the cheese from burning and cook 10 more minutes. Let stand uncovered before serving.
*if you’d like to make your own noodles, here is the recipe I use:
Lasagna Noodles
When I do make the pasta, I make three, pan-sized noodles, rolled very, very thin. I place them uncooked in the dish, so they absorbed much of the sauce. I usually make a bit extra sauce to serve on the side with the lasagna.
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
In a large bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center and add egg yolks, eggs and salt. Mix well with a fork. Mix in water, 1 tbsp at a time until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a well floured board or pastry sheet. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll one ball out as thin as possible (I use a marble rolling pin, you can also use a pasta machine). Make sure to cover remaining balls with a damp towel until ready to use. Cut to fit pan. Repeat with remaining dough until you have 3 pan sized noodles. DO NOT COOK homemade noodles before putting lasagna together. Follow directions above for putting lasagna together.
Next Week: Favorite Super Bowl Food
Singing Pizza Man
From ABCNews.com
I loved this guy. And the part about cooking and singing for his wife was adorable. I come from a family of Italian romantics, so I can assure you it was half BS and half unabashed romantic.
I can’t embed the video, but click on over for a little Tuesday fun.
TaMara
jeffreyww
LFern7
indylib
