Apple Squares

A pie that turned into a bunch of squares. I was going to go for a pie but decided to spread the whole thing on to a sheet pan. I followed the dough recipe from the Cuisinart food processor by mixing the dough as directed and before it actually comes together, placing it plastic bags and squeezing it to a disk , then refrigerate for an hour. Butter was the fat utilized.

The apples were then prepped with fresh grated cinnamon, all spice,and nutmeg with both shaved solid brown sugar and granulated brown sugar. (and a touch of grated ginger root). To provide some structure bread crumbs were added also.

The dough rolled out very easy both top and bottom.

The squares ready to go, with a small one on the side.

Trimming into squares

Well, I went this far, so I added sugar and chocolate icing.

COFFEE?

 

Irish Soda Bread

Shamrock time !  looking at some recipes I was going to make a popular posted Chocolate Potato cake but I switched to a more traditional Irish Bread. Glad I did , one of my better bakes as I have made soda bread before this combination had a very full taste.

It’s slightly modified from the recipe from Real Simple in these respects: 3 and 1/2 cups AP flour, 1 tablespoon buckwheat flour. The buttermilk substitute is simply whole milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar, let stand for couple of minutes. The rest of the recipe follows as directed with the exception of fluffing the raisins, let the raisins steep in boiling water for about 10 minutes, drain, toast the caraway seeds.

Oven set up for 350 degree

• 3 and 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1 tablespoon buckwheat flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon each of both baking soda and baking powder.

At this point, using a strainer sift the above several time to fully combine. Some of the kosher salt may remain in the strainer so empty into the flour mixture.

Now cut in as you would like a biscuit mix:

• 8 tablespoons of butter

to a crumbly type mix , then add :

• 1 cup raisins (steeped then drained, (or currents))
• 2 tablespoons caraway seeds (toasted if possible)
• 1 and 1/3 cups buttermilk (or whole milk with a splash of white vinegar)

Mix with a fork or with hands, turn out to floured counter top and knead about 10 times.

Form the shaggy mass to a 7 inch round about 1 and 1/2 inches in height.

Score the top deeply about 3/4 inch with a X pattern.

Bake @ lower middle rack seemed to work out, recipe recommended to shift position about midway through the bake, the oven seems to bake a bit faster so I downshifted to about 330 degrees when the bread went in the oven for about 50 minutes. I did take a temperature reading that indicated 200 degrees but I left in the about an addition 10 minutes as these moist type biscuit dough may have to go a bit further to insure a complete bake.

recommended serving with jam, but the best is sliced, toasted with whipped butter.

if you program in BPL Bakers Programming Language:

dim (array 1.105):

::{3 and 1/2 cups AP flour}{1 tablespoon buckwheat flour}{1 tablespoon sugar}{2 teaspoon kosher salt}{1 teaspoon each of both baking soda and baking powder. ::{}

..<>read array 1 to 5 to <string :;[dryingredients]>

“val004″= [1 tablespoon of butter]

`read “val004″+1”,`

`read` <read> if read :8 then (read :0 )| (break :next)

val (5); [dryingredients] {val004]

and so on…

 

 

 

 

Bangladeshi Style Creamy Chicken Korma with Crisp Shallots

from Food 52 Chicken Korma, Bangladeshi Style

Chicken again ? Here’s a recipe that I was bound to try for a cardamom use, first up, modify the size of the recipe to reflect what I have on hand and the size of the servings, since I didn’t have a whole chicken around, 2 chicken thighs would be used, skin on. I’ve done recipes before that require the yogurt marinade but this recipe looks deceptively simple on the spices, I mean like where’s the curry, coriander, cumin ?

I halved all the ingredients to go with the 2 chicken thighs which weighed in at about 1 lbs.

Some processed ginger root and garlic were added to the yogurt and then mixed up, bagged with the chicken thighs, about 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of each to 1/2 cup plain full milk yogurt. (is it only me that has a hard time finding PLAIN full fat yogurt at the market?).

Gather the rest of the ingredients while the chicken marinades.

• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon ghee (unsalted butter, clarified)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (if you use chicken with the skin, you may want to cut back on the oil, my result was on the oily side, but I prefer the skin on and the result.
• 1 large onion , minced
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ground almond
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon raisins, golden if you have them
•  chiles, here it’s open for interpretation, I had some dried serannos, sliced thin and the amount to the level of heat that they are.
• slivered almonds
• 1 shallot thin sliced and fried

Ok the usual start, fry the diced onions in the ghee and olive oil for about 5 minutes, till golden.

Do you like an aromatic kitchen and home or are you the type to run the exhaust vent full blast when frying onions and cooking spicy dishes?

(frying onions is an appetizing odor to me) Ahem! back to the stove, add the cinnamon stick and bay leaf with the cardamom pods. Stir in and activate the aroma for a few minutes.

Add the chicken with the marinade yogurt and the salt, now raise up the temperature at least medium, and cook , not to brown, the juices will separate, keep stirring, no browning !

Mine gives off a fair amount of oils from the chicken, so I call it a more westernized style!

Keep the mixture moving, about 10 minutes, you see a reduction, add in some liquid, several tablespoons or as needed to partially submerge the chicken. I used hot stock. Now cover and stir occasionally 20-30 minutes, to an active simmer, this may be less time in this case as the recipe volume is less than the full specifications.

Meanwhile during the simmering, thinly slice the shallot, if you haven’t already, and in a fair amount of oil, fry them crisp, set on paper towelling or brown paper and reserve for garnish.

Check on the chicken occasionally and when the liquid reduces and the oil rises add the lemon juice, ground almonds, sugar, raisins, and chilis. Taste for balance, and cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Take off heat. Prepare warm plates.

It’s apparent that my result is a bit more gravy-ish than the pictures on the recipe website.

The crisp shallots and almonds make this an attractive dish.

An unlikely companion, roasted sweet potatoes fries, yes the thighs are on the dish, just covered with gravy, this recipe begs for some steamed basmati rice.

Though the recipe does not comment on fishing out the cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamom, chilis etc. I like to serve it as is. It won’t be a homogenous mix, you may bite into a cardamom pod or get a burst of spicy heat from  the pepper, that’s OK by me! Or it could be served simply as family style, bringing the hot pot to the table.

The simple additions of the spices and aromatics, both in the marinade and recipe combine for a many layered finish than seems possible. I would definitely repeat this dish with the required whole chicken and a side of rice.

Also the habit of using fruit and nuts (raisins and almonds) in a recipe such as this is appealing as the sweetness of the raisins do show through versus a sugar only sweetness for the balance, and the ground almonds give a slight nutty background and thickness to the dish.

 

 

 

 

 

fruit pizza tart strips

by using your favorite recipe for yeast dough, don’t be limited to the traditional pizza topping

press out the dough on parchment and use granulated sugar sprinkled on the paper to give the bottom crust color and crunch when baking.

add your favorite fruit topping, this recipe is very sweet, I’ll post it in a future posting.

It’s a combination of apples, raisins and cranberries

Bake in a moderate hot oven about 380 degrees

Carefully remove from the parchment, let cool and slice. Easy cleanup when using syrupy type ingredients

When cool, the topping congeals, nice snacks for the day or wrap in parchment and give away to friends and family.

Coffee pairing ?

apple egg pudding

Having some apples to use, this recipe coincided from a blogger with  the question of what to do with them.

http://nimmiafzal.com/2014/08/06/super-easy-apple-egg-pudding/

This is similar to another recipe German Apple Pancake, that I have made often. https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/german-apple-pancake-apfelpfannkuchen/

This recipe has a bit more body to it. I used more apples that 1/4 and also added some grated ginger for spiciness. The cardamon  is a pleasant flavor for usually expecting a cinnamon apple pie flavor.

Easy ingredients:

6 eggs

apples , sliced

butter or gee

cardamon

Nuts, and/or raisins (I used a variety of nuts on hand)

sugar

First toast the nuts

Then saute the apples in butter

 

Extract some cardamon with some grated ginger root.

6 eggs

 

Arrange the apples and some of the toasted nuts in a buttered baking pan… I sprinkled the sugar on top of the apples here.

 

After beating together the eggs with spices and some nuts, add atop the apples.

Ready for a 400 degree oven..

 

Bake,  turn out, slice and enjoy with coffee or tea.

 

 

 

 

sweet & hot rice

with the addition of raisins, and cardamon seeds, and dried hot pepper flakes, this rice give the sweetness and fire at the same time.

amounts are to your preference….
cover the bottom of the cooking vessel  with chopped leeks
add the rice (one cup)
add the liquid (two cups)
consisting of
vegetable broth
ginger garlic paste *
cardamon  seeds, about 5 pods, broken open
a dash of curry powder
a dash of cinnamon
a dash of smoked dried hot peppers.
dual stage microwave cook 10 minutes full, 10 minutes 1/2 power
when complete fluff, and stir in chopped raisins and nuts.

*in a small food processor, fill the bowl with good sized pieces of ginger and garlic, I buy extra to store for future recipes. (of course peel both). I eyeballed about equal amounts of both, add a small amount of vegetable oil. Process and slowly add more oil till the grinding produces a paste. Store in a small mason jar container and refrigerate. I chose the vegetable oil for neutrality versus olive oil. Much more efficient than buying either ginger and/or garlic paste from the market.

 

 

Just your basic scone

Recipe to follow…….

Cooking/baking  doesn’t always follow a schedule, stores maybe closed when one starts a recipe so substitutions are inevitable. Take for instance currants, raisins are an acceptable substitute.

With a new cookbook in the house , looking for a new scone recipe, America’s Test Kitchen had 3 , as usual I read the three and picked the closest one to the ingredients I had in the pantry.

Cream Scones

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar, I used unrefined cane sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder  (Yes more than a usual amount for a lighter crumb)

1/2 teaspoon salt

about 3 tablespoons butter AND 2 tablespoons lard ( for flakiness and flavor, the ATK version uses all butter)

Chopped raisins, vs. the currents

1 cup heavy cream

—————————————————————————————

Oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit

mix the dry ingredients,  if without a food processor, by hand in a bowl, cut chilled butter and lard into small pieces and work in with fingers, like a pie crust recipe.  Add the raisins to the mixture and then add the cream, mix by hand or with a spatula till the mix comes together. Form up on a surface and then cut into wedges, or desired shapes, working the dough as little as possible.

Place on an un-greased baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes till the tops are browned to your liking.

Possibly not as savory as expected with the butter and lard blend but subjectively more to my liking as the lard gives it a pie crust flavor and scones are usually served with a jam or marmalade.

The measured amount of baking soda gives the scones a fluffy crumb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raisin and cinnamon bread

Using a batch of bread dough , makes two loaves. Usually when making this recipe I add more sugar to the dough so it is more like a sweet dough.
Assuming you make bread just use you fav recipe for dough,divide the dough into equal portions.
Roll one out to a rectangular size the short end about as wide as the bread pan about triple or better in length.

give the dough the ol’ butter massage.

add sugar, cinnamon and raisins, press into dough

roll up and place into bread pan. (Repeat for other loaf (or make a plain loaf ))

let rise. This is the second rise by the way, the first rise was before rolling out the dough.

the tops have been slit during rising and placed in oven for baking.

baked and cooling.

sliced, it’s easier to make a loaf like this than to make cinnamon buns, just slice the bread, excellent for toast.

another granola (cereal) recipe

mix together

2  cups rolled oats

1 cup flaked Barley

1 cup flaked Rye

1/4 cup unmalted wheat

1/4 cup golden naked oats

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup almounds

1 and 1/2 cups raisins

2 oz chopped bittersweet baking choolate

1/4 cup toasted cocoa nibs

1 tablespoon washed raw cane sugar

2 teaspoons sea salt

eat as a cereal, make into granola bars or incorporate into a cookie recipe. (to follow).