Rosettes

Traditional holiday recipe made  by Diane during the past Holiday.

  

Photos from the past holidays

Pot luck dinner at work

Pumpkin roll for New Years

New Year’s Day party

New Years day party

Anonymous

marinated tangy chicken thighs with pearl onions and roasted potatoes

defrosted 3 chicken thighs ,  since there was some  plain yogurt in the fridge, placed some in a small bowl and added curry powder, hot pepper flakes, salt and pepper  along with so peeled pearl onions and chopped garlic. Now placed in  a quart baggie and left to marinate several hours.

Nothing fancy for the potatoes, sliced, and a bit of melted butter with herbs , in this case fennel with a bit of salt and pepper are mixed to coat potatoes , placed in a shallow pan and placed under a medium broiler or spaced far enough from the flames to prevent burning before completed cooking.

After the marination of the thighs, place the contents in a shallow  enough pan to space out the chicken and the onions and broil, again sufficiently spaced from the broiler to cook without burning, about 7-10 minutes per side.

no photos of the process, just the finish.

love those onions !

Bagels

Of all the bread dough recipes that I have seen there are many for bread, rolls, buns, sweet rolls , pastry etc. BUT ! Have I ever seen recipes for Bagels ? NOT that often if at all…
Why,? is the making of bagels at home considered taboo, or only for bake shops, those of Jewish decent or under Kosher standards ? Not that I know of.
Some bagels are are a bit different considering where you buy them. Those from the markets may be fresh baked or packaged frozen. Usually the bagels I like have a dense smooth crumb without being heavy and that rubbery texture and mouth feel and, if you ever want a different bun for a juicy hamburger or a sandwich, then a bagel is the answer. I have made bagels many years ago and now revisited the recipe.
If you have been making bread, then a few more steps and forming techniques are all that’s required. It’s like baking bread a different method.
3 easy steps
BROIL
BOIL
BAKE
Make you favorite dough recipe and let rise once.

divide into 12 peices (for a 1 loaf recipe, more or less depending on the size of the bagels you want.)

now form the bagels, punch a small hole with your finger in the center of the ball and form into a ring.


arrange onto a sheet pan.

let the bagels rise

about 5 inches from a broiler, slightly broil them, NOT till they are brown but just a dry surface.

next, in a pot of boiling water, boil the bagels, several minutes on each side, flipping them.


now place the boiled bagels back on the sheet pan and bake 375 degrees 25 to 35 minutes.

Note : this recipe was adapted  from Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step by Step Cookbook, the boil time in the recipe, were a bit long compared to other recipes. These photos were taken from two separate recipes I made. I plan to make bagels more often varying the ingredients.

Related articles

• Bake Your Own Bagels (spoonful.com)

breakfast,sourdough crumpets with raspberry and apple jam

Hmmm…. What’s for breakfast ??? Time to use some of the starter in the fridge and the the cold weather warrants , and the fact there’s no more jam or jelly, to use some of the raspberry frozen harvest .
Put the frozen raspberries in a sauce pan over low heat.

add a small amount of lemon juice. A diced apple was added, a #4152 Macintosh , with the skin.

now, add some sugar to your liking, this allows you to tailor the sweetness , I like mine slightly tart not over sweet, also you can use sweeteners of your choice, like some honey.

cook the jam till it starts to thicken, watch out for a boil over, oops ! Take a small amount of the jam over time and put it on a plate. Put the plate in the freezer to rapid cool to gauge the density of the jam. Thick enough ?

mix up a quick batch of batter for crumpets, I have previously posted a recipe for crumpets so I won’t be repetitive, this one used sourdough starter as a base with flour sugar salt and an egg, with some butter mixed together. Also just a pinch of yeast after I warmed up the starter from the fridge. It didn’t take long for it to bubble up a bit. The rest is in the photos….

time to peruse some of the many gardening catalogs I recently received, must have signed up for many as from just before Christmas till now still receiving many catalogs, I’ll list them on a future blog. BTW it’s close to 1 pm, a sleep in vacation day! Where’s the coffee!!!!

party pizza

often making pizza, why get stuck on the traditional round pizza ?press you favorite pizza dough recipe into a sheet pan.

a bit of oil, push the dough up the sides of the pan for a thick edge.

Spread with you favorite sauce, it should be a thick pasty consistency. (one of the few times I use canned sauce).

 I keep the toppings at a minimum, just grated cheese and maybe thin sliced pepperoni sometimes. This is a snacking pizza for strips.

just before it’s done, remove it from the tray and place it directly on the oven rack, continue baking till the bottom of the crust is crisp.

Slice it into strips, good hot, cold or reheated, as a plus, you get your choice of corners. !!!

There’s the Pizza, Where’s the party ?

pre game

  

for a short narrative see https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/turkey-day/

Chicken Leg Vegetable bouillabaisse

 

At least two servings depending how it’s served.

Items on hand:

2 chicken legs (drum sticks only, no thighs)

stock

green pepper

onion

garlic

celery

diced tomatoes

mushrooms

frozen assorted fish (paella) mix *

herbs, as desired

proportions : you want to highlight the vegetables (garden fresh if possible) and mushrooms in this dish.

*this is a warehouse club item, frozen assorted pieces of fish, shrimp, crab etc.

 

With a sharp knife cut the thick lower portion of the chicken leg parallel to the bone and flatten somewhat (leave attached to the bone for flavor).

In a medium stock pot with oil, butter,etc, brown the chicken legs, season with salt and pepper if desired.

Now remove the legs from pan and sweat onions, celery, for several minutes. Season and add oil if needed.

Add tomatoes and cook for several minutes, then add green pepper, garlic and hot stock with about an inch to cover.

Simmer, covered, about ten minutes, taste and adjust per your taste.

Add fish and simmer a couple of minutes and add a good amount of sliced mushrooms to bulk out the mix.

Add additional stock if needed to immerse all the ingredients. Again, season to taste and simmer till all is completely heated through and melded.

Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.

Now how you eat it is up to you, alone it’s similar to a bouillabaisse, you can slice the chicken and remove the bones or leave them as is and serve in a bowl and eat the meat from the bones a la caveman.

Other suggestions:

Additions:

• cooked pasta,rice,diced potatoes,dumplings

Garnishes:

• small diced green onion tops
• cheese,grated
• smoked,dried hot pepper flakes
• dill seed, sesame seeds, etc.
• fresh herbs

sides:

• bread, biscuits, fries, clam cakes, flat bread

beverage pairing : your suggestion?

Adapted from an Avec Eric recipe