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Tidbits
Mmm… another Reuben. We’ve pretty much settled on an assembly standard: The corned beef, sliced just so, homemade sauerkraut, and cheese all warmed in a skillet – adding the cheese only when the beef and ‘kraut are warmed through. The rye slices are started in the toaster when the cheese goes on. The thousand island dressing goes in a small bowl to be used as a dip – this helps to keep the sandwich intact because it is not soaking through the toast. Pickle spear garnish is optional but encouraged!
We’ve been seeing a lot of rain, 10 inches in the last week, and rivers and creeks are overflowing. Whenever we get high water one of the obligatory stops on the gawking tour is this municipal band shell at the aptly named Riverside Park. The Big Muddy River (actual name!) is a tributary of the Mighty Mississippi, it enters a few miles below Grand Tower, IL.
An access road loops around the park. It would be visible below the shell but for the high water. Right now we are kinda “meh” – we’ve seen it higher. All bets are off should the rain come back. Crews are sandbagging the big levee along the Mississippi just in case and they are keeping a 24 hour watch.
We’re using those naan loaves for pizzas, and here is one replacing a tortilla in a vaguely Tex-Mex hodgepodge with rice, beans, chicken, cheese, eggs, and a salsa verde.
Another selfie with Bitsy that I’ve run through the Prisma app. This is using the Heisenberg filter. My favorite filter is the one they call Gothic.
Time for another pineapple upside down cake! I used dark brown sugar in this one rather than the light brown I usually go with. Pour melted butter mixed with brown sugar in the bottom of a pan, this one was made in a 9-1/2″ x 12″ hotel pan with 3/4 cup of butter and 3/4 cup sugar. I drained the juice from a can of pineapple tidbits and used about half of them in the recipe. Use the pineapple juice to replace some of the water needed for a yellow cake mix and pour the prepared mix over the pineapple bits. These baked at 350 for 20 minutes and were not quite done so I added 10 minutes to the timer and reduced the temp to 325 because the top was browning nicely. If you would rather go from scratch this recipe should work fine for you.
These are a favorite and this surely won’t be the last one you’ll see here. We are just getting warmed up for those summer garden tomatoes.
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Tidbits
I’ll call these bruschetta for lack of a better word. Some leftover awesome sauce spread on slices of that sourdough with Parmesan topping. Toasted in the oven. Hmm… might be pizza bread? Tasted good whatever its name.
This was the big holiday dinner. We did the rib roast sous vide and set the temp to 130, holding it there overnight. It was in the water bath for 12 hours or more. I roasted three kinds of potatoes in olive oil and honey – fingerling (white), sweet potato, and purple potato. In the little dish is a horseradish sauce for the beef. Also plated is a cranberry relish and a scoop of dressing leftover from the turkey day dinner.
I had the oven cranked to 550 for finishing the roast. Pat it dry then pop it into that smoking hot oven for 15 minutes or so. Here it is just out, resting while everything else was made ready. I cut the ribs off and tied them back on with string before sealing the bag , they make a nice rack.
Mrs J claimed the roast was delicious even though the rare finish was just barely within her comfort zone. I may do the next one to 135 or so. I can eat it medium, no problem!
Breakfast for dinner! That sausage was made locally, it was so good I decided to make a batch of sausage myself. More on that, later.
I did a sweet and sour pork dish for dinner today. The sauce was ketchup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, juice from those pineapple chunks, brown sugar, and sesame oil. The pork tenderloin was browned a bit on both sides and then diced and tossed with the sauce and the pineapple bits.
Pretty good stuff! 
Post needz moar kittehs!
Dutch Chocolate Gelato
Pictured above is Hazelnut Gelato – recipe here.
There will be a photo in the recipe exchange tonight of the chocolate gelato and I’ll copy it here…
It’s ice cream time and gelato is so easy in my ice cream maker. The first batch in the new house.
Dutch Chocolate Gelato
Begin with the Gelato base (below)
After you beat the eggs and sugar, sift in 2/3 cup dark chocolate cocoa. Combine well and then continue recipe as directed below.
Gelato di Crema (Gelato Plain Base)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 large egg yolk
- 2/3 cup sugar (for the Hazelnut Gelato, reduce to 1/2 cup)
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn’t form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170°F.
Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper* the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185°F. Do not bring to a boil.
*The best way to temper is to add a tablespoon at a time until you’ve added about 1/4 cup. Then you can add a full ladle at a time, slowly.
Recipe makes 1 to 1-1/2 quarts
Friday Recipe Exchange: Sweet Tart
Since lemons were on sale, I was planning on this recipe last week, but I never found time. This week I made time because I really wanted some lemony-blueberry goodness. It was very, very simple. Though I did manage to unnecessarily dirty quite a few dishes in the process.
The basis for the custard pie is my Key Lime Pie recipe, found here.
Key Lime Coconut Bars and Key Lime Gelato recipes are here and here. I LOVE Key Lime.
JeffreyW made Cabbage Rolls this week, pictured above – recipe, instructions and more photos are here
That’s it for this week. I’ve been busy with many new clients and switching everything over to a new computer. I’m really looking forward to a relaxing weekend. What’s on your plate this weekend. What’s cookin’ in your kitchen?
Tonight’s featured recipe, pictured at top, satisfied a craving for a sweet-tart dessert. Starting with my standard custard pie recipe and adding blueberry filling turned out to be just what I wanted.
Blueberry Lemon Pie
Blueberry filling:
- 1 1/2 cups wild blueberries (I use frozen, thawed)
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1/4 cup sugar
saucepan
Add ingredients to the saucepan. Bring to a low boil and immediately reduce heat to low and let simmer until thickened. Stirring occasionally. Let cool completely.
Lemon pie:
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 9 inch graham cracker pie crust
Preheat oven to 250°
Combine milk & yolks with mixer until well blended. Add lemon juice and zest, mix well. Add enough blueberry filling to thinly coat the bottom of the pie shell. Pour the lemon mixture into pie shell – try to pour it in evenly, because you don’t want to spread it with a spatula and disturb the blueberries. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool completely and top with remaining blueberries. Refrigerate before serving, and any leftovers.
That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend – TaMara
French Toast Alert System Raised To HIGH!
The French Toast Alert System has been raised from Elevated to High, as we are expected to get anywhere from 6 to 15 inches of snow tomorrow. If you were lucky enough to get to the store and buy your milk, eggs and bread before the shelves were cleared out, here’s your french toast recipe. Bonus cute sous chef.
Originally posted January 2014
This is a very simple recipe, but I needed a helper, for sure. All you need for this recipe is a good quality bread – I used 12 slices – 2 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, dash of cinnamon, dash of salt, 8 oz of cream cheese, strawberry jam and powdered sugar. You can spread anything you want on the bread, go for your favorites. I think peanut butter and jam would be really good.
Step One: In a bowl, add eggs, milk, cinnamon and salt and beat well.
Step Two: Roll the bread flat, just not too flat, so it’s easier to roll up.
Step Three: Spread cream cheese and jam in the center of the bread. Don’t get too close to the edges, because you don’t want it to squish out when you roll up.
Step Four: Roll bread up. You’ll want to do all of them before you start dipping and cooking.
Step Five: Melt butter in a skillet (adding more as needed as you cook)
Step Six: Dip bread rolls one at a time quickly into the egg mixture, don’t let them soak. Then add them to the pan.
Step Seven: Cook over medium heat, turning as each side browns, until the whole rolls is golden brown. Remove and immediately dust with powdered sugar. Repeat until all rolls are cooked. We served 4 with twelve rolls and it was more than enough.
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