You are here: Home / 2011 / Archives for July 2011

Pizza Black Bean Burgers

July 27, 2011 by 7 Comments

As promised in the last post, today I’m sharing a fun way to use up pizza sauce other than just pizza, not that there’s anything wrong with that…

In the extreme heat we’ve been having lately, my appetite has flagged a little bit. Believe me when I tell you that’s not a normal condition around here. (Referring to both the heat and the lack of appetite.) I haven’t wanted anything heavy or hearty and I surely haven’t wanted to stand around a hot stove or boiling pot of whatever or even, unbelievably, a screaming hot grill for more than ten minutes. That has limited our meal repertoire somewhat…

I saw some gorgiferous spicy black bean burgers floating around the internet a couple of weeks ago and knew some version of them had to make it to my table and soon. I’m a sucker for fried legume patties.  Veggie burgers are a good bet when it’s steamy hot since they cook up very quickly and the prep work leading up to it is minimal and doesn’t require cooking.  The cooking time is mercifully short  (four minutes per side) and you don’t have to stand over the pan to baby sit them. Where veggie burgers really shine, though -aside from the eating-, is after you’re done with the meal. You feel satisfied through and through but you don’t feel like you just ate a side of beef.*

*Mainly because you haven’t. Heh. Veggie burger humour; It’s meaty.

Since there are so many veggie burger recipes on the internet, I figured I should explain exactly why I prefer my version.

  • I like a burger that holds together well while being fried. I am an impatient human and when things start falling apart on me I’m prone to thinking angry thoughts. Angry thoughts while cooking equal stress and who needs more of that?
  • I like the method (introduced to me by Eat, Live, Run) of turning part of the beans into paste and stirring the remaining whole beans in for texture. I like to see the whole beans peeking out at me.
  • While I like to see bits and pieces of bright vegetable colour laced throughout my burgers, I am feeding a family that includes some entrenched members of the anti-visible-veg-contingent. Finely mincing the vegetables in the food processor allows me to add the flavour without adding the fight to the meal. Feel free to chop rather than mince, but I’ll tell you that the pickiest eaters in my house didn’t even flinch. These disappeared like shadows at noon.
  • I love using egg  as a binding agent in my vegetable burgers.  I think they hold together wonderfully in the frying pan and the added protein is a bonus.
  • I have a liberal hand with the bread crumbs. This is a textural issue for me. I don’t like veggie burgers that are mushy or straight-up wet in the center. And again (although I feel like a broken record saying this) they don’t fall apart when you try to flip them in the frying pan.

A note: I prefer my black beans cooked from dry rather than canned, so I used my own cooked beans. If canned beans are what you have on hand, though, they will work very well.

Print
Pizza Black Bean Burgers

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 14 sliders, 8 standard size, or 6 large burgers

Gorgeous deep brown and crunchy on the outside, tender and full of taste, topped with pizza sauce and gooey melted mozzarella, and served on soft buns brushed with olive oil and Italian seasonings, these meat-free Pizza Black Bean Burgers pleased even the most entrenched picky eater in my house.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups (or 2 cans) black beans, drained and rinsed well, then drained again
  • 1/2 of a green pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 3 tablespoons roughly chopped onions
  • 1-3 cloves of garlic, according to preference, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons pizza sauce
  • 1 cup (or more) plain breadcrumbs (*See notes below the instructions)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • canola or peanut oil for frying
  • additional pizza sauce, for topping
  • grated mozzarella cheese, for topping
  • soft rolls, for serving
  • Optional:
  • extra virgin olive oil and Italian seasonings to brush on the roll

Instructions

Add the pepper, onion and garlic cloves to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

Put the lid in place and pulse, stopping to remove the lid and scrape down the sides of the bowl, until the ingredients are finely chopped.

Add half of the black beans, Italian seasonings, basil, salt and pizza sauce to the food processor and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the mixture resembles the consistency of guacamole (slightly chunky but a cohesive paste.)

Scrape the bean and vegetable mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in the remaining beans, the egg and breadcrumbs.

Test the consistency of the mixture. You should be able to roll the mixture into a ball and flatten into a patty without it sticking to your hands. If you cannot, add one extra tablespoon of breadcrumbs at a time, stirring and checking the consistency after each addition until it does what it should. The goal is to add enough that the mixture ceases to be sticky but not so much that it becomes crumbly.

Roll balls of the bean mixture according to the size of the burger you'd like: golf ball size for sliders, peach size for standard burgers, navel orange size for mega-burgers.

Place a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and pour in enough oil to cover the bottom by about 1/8-inch.

When the oil is shimmering, flatten each ball into a patty that is about 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick and slide it into the oil. Do this with as many patties as you can comfortably fit into the pan without crowding.

Fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until deep brown and crunchy on the outside.

Transfer the patties to a paper towel lined platter and top immediately with grated mozzarella.

While the mozzarella melts on the hot patties, prepare the buns. They can be served as is, or brushed lightly with olive oil, sprinkled with Italian seasonings and then toasted quickly in the hot pan you used to fry the patties.

To serve:

Put one patty on the bottom half of each bun, dollop warm pizza sauce on the melted cheese and add the top half of the bun.

*I found that in each of the batches I made, I needed significantly different amounts of breadcrumbs to hold the patties together, but I never needed less than 1 cup.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/07/27/pizza-black-bean-burgers/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Happy Healthy and Wise, kid food, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Homemade Slow-Cooker Pizza Sauce

July 25, 2011 by 13 Comments

 

Raise your hand if you think pizza is the perfect food.

I see a lot of hands. This might take a while.

I have my hand up. I’d stick both of them in the air and wave them like I used to do when I had the answer in History or English*, but then this would be a very short post.

*Yep. I was that kid. Nicknames? The Curve Breaker, Encyclopaedia Beccy, …

Do you know anyone who doesn’t like pizza? I would wager you that in actuality they just haven’t had the right pizza yet. There’s a lot of nasty stuff sold out there called pizza.  Gummy crusts, plastic cheese, poorly chosen or cooked  toppings, and insipid sauce- it’s no wonder some folks have the wrong idea.

Great pizzas start with great foundations that don’t have to be difficult. In fact, the less complicated your pizza process is, the better your pizza usually ends up tasting. With a little advanced planning, you can have all of the ingredients you need for your favourite pizza on hand for last minute cravings.

This sauce is the lynch pin for almost any pizza you could want. Crusts may vary -wheat, rye, cornmeal, semolina, what have you- and toppings are a matter of preference -pepperoni, sausage, broccoli, bacon, onions, spinach, pineapple and more- but a really good homemade sauce can be nearly universal (with the exception of white pizza, of course, but that’s another post entirely.)

Here, we use a slow-cooker in all it’s magnificent useful glory to whip up a big ole batch of the pizza sauce I love best. It’s perfect for the job because you want a low, slow simmer to fully develop all those lovely, large flavours that make up the best sauces. Our sauce ends up a thick, gorgeous brick red that you’ll want to use for more than just pizza; Dunking bread sticks, licking from spoons and a couple other fun uses* come to mind.

*As in a fun use I’m going to share with you here on Wednesday.

Why not buy a jar or a can? Pfffft. You can do better than that stuff easily and make it much, much less expensively!

The recipe yields a fairly substantial six cups which is sufficient for four or five pretty large pizzas, but is easily doubled, tripled or even quadrupled if you’d like to freeze up several pizzas-worth in individual portions. This is step number one in satisfying last minute pizza cravings. Step two is having pizza dough or pre-baked pizza shells (recipes here and here)  in the freezer. Let’s get sauced, shall we?

Print
Homemade Slow-Cooker Pizza Sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes

Yield: About 6 cups.

Deep, rich red and packed with herbs, garlic, olive oil and Italian cheese, this old-school pizza sauce will knock your socks off. The recipe yields plenty of sauce to freeze for future use.

This recipe is gently adapted from 'Not Your Mother's Slow-Cooker Cookbook' by Beth Hensperger.

Ingredients

  • 2 cans (12 ounces each) tomato paste
  • 2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
  • 1/2 cup (or more) water
  • 1-4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 1-4 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 anchovy fillet
  • 1-2 tablespoons raw sugar or granulated sugar
  • 3-4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese (or a blend)
  • salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

Whisk together the tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, garlic, oregano, basil, parsley flakes, olive oil, the anchovy fillet and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the crock of your slow-cooker until smooth.

Place the lid on the slow-cooker, turn it to 'LOW' and let simmer for four hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so to prevent scorching, or until brick red and very thick. You may add extra water by the tablespoon full if it begins thickening too quickly.

Stir in the grated cheese and taste.

Adjust seasoning (and sugar content) if necessary.

Cool completely and portion into single use portions and freeze until ready to make pizza.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/07/25/homemade-slow-cooker-pizza-sauce/

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Component Foods, Condiments, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Homemade Claussen Knock-Off Pickles

July 22, 2011 by 106 Comments

It’s common knowledge that I have a salty tooth rather than a sweet tooth. When the weather does what it has been doing lately (making us all do our best Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego impersonations) I can’t think of a single thing I find more refreshing than an icy-cold, salty, crunchy pickle. Oh yes. You can keep your popsicles* and those icy squeezy pop things whose name currently escapes me. I’m on deck with the pickles.

*I will, however, fight you for fudgesicles. That’s just the way it is.

It’s not just me, it’s my whole family: mother, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, grandparents, kids, husband…  I married a man who loves pickles so much he eats the pickles and then drinks the juice from the jar. In fact, in an attempt to show my husband just how much she loved him, my mom made a special pickle juice drink for him at our wedding. And he drank it*. Happily.

*He drinks pickle juice regularly in hot weather. He claims it is “Gatorade for people who don’t like sweets.” I love him.

I grew up eating my Grandma’s homemade dill pickles like the supply was endless and moved on to canning my own pickles as soon as I had a kitchen of my own. My little sister, Jessamine, and I compare our homemade pickles from year to year the way some people compare wine vintages. But there is one pickle that stands head-and-shoulders (were pickles to *have* heads and shoulders) above all others. I’m talking about the pickles you see here.

These are homemade refrigerated deli pickles, also known as Lithuanian half-sours, also known (in the commercial equivalent) as Claussen dill kosher pickles, also known as the best pickles ever known to mankind.

Here’s the thing. While I do love my other homemade pickles dearly (otherwise why would I continue canning ninety-something quarts year after year after year), these are by far my all-time favourites. CRUNCH. That’s what you hear when you bite these. There is no flop, no squish, no slime. These things almost bite back.

Claussens were long the benchmark for which I aimed in pickle making. No matter what, a canned pickle is not going to end up like that lovely Claussen: crunchy to the point of making noise when you bite it, cold, and seriously garlicky. Canned, shelf-stable pickles can be chilled, maintain some crunch and be as garlicky as you want them to be, but they are never, ever going to be the same thing because of science. When you heat process a jar of pickles you are, in actuality, cooking it and a cooked pickle just plain can’t be as crunchy as an un-cooked one.

Here’s where we get into bonus happy territory. You don’t have to cook anything to make these pickles; not one single thing. The brine is stirred together, the cucumbers are rinsed, trimmed and stuffed into a jar with garlic cloves and spices. Please, please, please give these a go even if you have never made a pickle before.  There is nothing scary or intimidating here. (Do you hear me Saint Tigerlily? No spectre of THE BOTCH!) Wash, slice, stuff, stir, pour, sit, wait. Okay wait. Yes. That last bit is hard. The waiting is hard. On the plus side, the wait is only two to four days which is significantly less than the six week wait of the canned pickles. Besides, as I said, there is the crunch factor.

Get on the homemade pickle train, my friends, there’s plenty of room for all of us and if you don’t know what to do with the leftover brine, just pass it to my husband. He’ll “dispose” of it for you. Crrrrrrrrrrunch!

Print
Homemade Claussen Knock-Off Pickles

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 2 gallons of pickles

Always crunchy and garlicky, this perfect homemade pickle requires no special equipment, no canning experience and tastes just like Claussen's refrigerated kosher dill pickles.

Ingredients

  • 35 to 40 small to medium pickling cucumbers
  • 1 gallon cold water
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
  • 2/3 c. canning or kosher salt (Do NOT use iodized salt!)
  • 4 cloves garlic or more, to taste
  • 4 fresh dill heads ~or~ 4 tablespoons dried dill seed (not weed!)

Instructions

Wash cucumbers but do not scrub them.

Trim 1/8-inch from the blossom end of each cucumber and slice in half lengthwise or into quarters, depending on how large your cucumbers are and how big you want them to be when they're done.

In a gallon jar (or large, wide-mouth, food-safe container) layer the dill heads or seed, garlic cloves and sliced cucumbers.

In a separate pitcher or bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients until the salt is dissolved.

Pour the brine over the cucumbers, taking care to make sure all of them are fully submerged. If needed, place a plate or mug or other non-reactive heavy item on the cucumbers to weigh them down and keep them under the brine!

Cover lightly with a lid just perched on top or secure a piece of cheesecloth over the jar with a rubber band to keep fruit flies away.

Leave out of direct sunlight on the counter for two to four days*, or until the cucumbers taste like pickles throughout.

Fix your lid onto your jar or container and chill. These can be stored in the refrigerator for up to six months provided you keep them covered with brine.

*If at any point in the proceedings "fuzz" or "foam" develops on top of the brine, use a spoon to remove it. If there is "fuzz" attached to any of the cucumbers, remove the ones affected and be sure the others are still fully submerged.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/07/22/homemade-claussen-knock-off-pickles/

 

 

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Canning, Component Foods, Condiments, Food Preservation, Healthy Foods, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

No-Cook Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip

July 20, 2011 by 5 Comments

 

I was gamely cooking along through the hot weather with a pioneer attitude. “No matter what, nothing’s going to stop me!” I was baking bread, boiling scads of pasta, simmering beans for hours on the stove-top,  and baking cookies. That was, in a word, estoopid. Now I have one more word:

Uncle.

It’s hot. It’s beyond hot. It’s sticky. Consider my sweaty towel thrown in.

Until this wave breaks, I’m going to rely on my slow-cooker or things that require zero heat to prepare. Just call me Baby Spinach, because I’m wilting like a fistful of it over a pot of steaming water.

Today’s recipe requires no firing up of the oven, no stove-top burners bubbling away, and nothing more complicated than hoisting your food processor onto your counter and the will to eat very good things.

Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip (or spread, depending on its intended use) is just about the perfect thing for this time of year. It’s cold, for starters, but beyond that, it’s a blast of light Mediterranean flavours that satisfy without weighing you down and making you feel sluggish. The artichoke heart base is cool and substantial, the lemon is refreshing and bright, the feta cheese provides a little salty kick and the sun dried tomatoes contribute body as well as a concentrated taste of summer. Garlic and basil? Yes, thank you. They tie everything together and make it sing.

The Whole Living recipe that I adapted suggested that it was equally good served immediately or after an overnight spell in the refrigerator, I would agree, but with one caveat; the texture of the sun dried tomatoes changed incredibly overnight. They became plump and easier to eat with wild abandon. Is that a good thing? In my book it sure is. I highly recommend a rest in the refrigerator of at least two hours. Oh, and the dip. You might want to stick that next to you in the refrigerator, too…

Print
No-Cook Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

The artichoke heart base is cool and substantial, the lemon is refreshing and bright, the feta cheese provides a little salty kick and the sun dried tomatoes contribute body as well as a concentrated taste of summer. Garlic and basil tie everything together and make it sing. Use as a dip for pita triangles or hearty whole wheat bread.

Ingredients

  • 1 box (9 ounces) frozen artichokes, thawed and chopped
  • 1/2 cup feta, crumbled, or more to taste
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 lemon, juice and zest
  • 2 teaspoons water
  • 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces, plus more for garnish
  • 1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Pita chips or whole wheat bread, for serving

Instructions

Fit a food processor with a metal blade and pulse together 1/2 of the artichoke hearts, 1/4 cup of the feta cheese, garlic, lemon juice and zest, and water until smooth.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the pureed mixture with the remaining artichokes, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and freshly ground black pepper.

Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

This may be eaten immediately, but it improves dramatically if allowed to rest, tightly covered, in the refrigerator overnight.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/07/20/no-cook-sun-dried-tomato-and-artichoke-dip/

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bacon Cheddar Bubble Bread

July 19, 2011 by 14 Comments

I’ll be honest with you. You’re probably certifiably loony if you make the recipe I’m about to give you during this heatwave. Wacky. Nutso. Your cheese has slid off your cracker.

…Like me.

There are some days when -no matter what the temperature is- you just need something cheesy, bacony, bready, gooey, salty, savoury. You need bacon and you need cheese and you need bread and baby, you need it badly.

When bacon and cheese talk, you’d better be ready to listen. Thankfully, it’s easy to listen when this is what you’re craving. Made of leftover bacon, shredded cheese, refrigerated bread dough, butter, and a handful of herbs and spices, this throws together in five minutes and bakes in thirty.

The result? We’re talking about soft, buttery pull-apart bread with each piece clinging to crispy bits of bacon and gooey melted cheese and capped by a layer of cheese that has melted and crisped.

In a nod to the oppressive heat, forget turning the bread out of the pan. Simply let it cool until the pan is comfortable to the touch. Slide that pan into the middle of the table with a big tossed salad and a pitcher of lemonade and watch the smiles flit around from face to face like fireflies.

Print
Bacon Cheddar Bubble Bread

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 6 Servings

Crispy cheese capping soft, buttery bread that is studded with bacon and more melted cheese.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound refrigerated (or thawed, previously frozen) bread dough
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups finely shredded Cheddar cheese (or a blend of Cheddar and Monterey Jack), divided
  • 1 cup crumbled leftover cooked bacon
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, parsley, or a combination of the two
  • 1 tablespoon minced onions, optional
  • nonstick cooking spray or additional butter or oil for the pan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Generously grease (or spray with nonstick cooking spray) an oven-safe 12-inch skillet or a bundt pan.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the butter, 1 cup of the cheese cheese, bacon, chives or parsley, and minced onions. Set aside.

Divide the bread dough into 32 pieces and place the pieces in a large mixing bowl.

Pour the butter mixture over the bread and toss gently to distribute everything evenly and coat all the dough well.

Use your hands to arrange the dough evenly over the bottom of the greased pan.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese on top is fully melted and crisped and the bread is golden brown.

Either turn out onto a serving plate or wait until the pan is comfortable to the touch before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/07/19/bacon-cheddar-bubble-bread/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dolores’s Egg and Olive Sandwiches

July 13, 2011 by 9 Comments

Fourteen years ago, almost to the day, I discovered I liked two things; egg salad and green olives.* Furthermore, I learned that I liked them combined. This epiphany -after twenty something years of thinking that I despised both things- came at the table of my mother-in-law, Dolores.

* I found egg salad gloppy and rich and green olives too strong and briny. They were both on my relatively short no-go list along with baked macaroni and cheese, and goulash. I know. I’m weird.

Here’s what happened… I was five months pregnant with my first child and ten months married to her youngest son; I was a newborn daughter-in-law and very eager to please. One day, right before my lunch hour at work, I called Dolores to see if she’d like me to pop by so she could inspect my burgeoning belly. She said, “Sure! Come on over! I’ll make sandwiches!”

I slid the aforementioned belly in under her table, sipped at a cup of water and looked at the sandwich and chips on the plate she had put in front of me. EGADS. It was egg salad: my arch nemesis. And horrors! It was chock-a-block crammed with chopped green (eep) olives. There was no way out of this one. I had to eat it and I had to look like I liked it. This was my mother-in-law, and I was determined that she was going to be glad I had married her son. I wasn’t going to wrinkle my nose at that sandwich. I girded my girthly loins (I’m sorry. That wasn’t appetizing was it?), lifted the sandwich and took a bite.

And I loved it.

What?

Yes.

It was outstanding. The briny, salty olives cut through the richness of the mayonnaise that bound the eggs together. Everything I had ever thought I found unappetizing about either of those things ended up perfectly complimenting the other. I tried to play it cool and act like I had always liked egg salad because what kind of dorko doesn’t like egg salad, right? She probably saw right through me when I wept and hugged her after lunch, though.

If you’re not lucky enough to have an egg and olive sandwich making mother-in-law, may I suggest you whip up a batch of this for yourself? It just might change your world a bit…

5.0 from 3 reviews

Print
Dolores’s Egg and Olive Sandwiches
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer, Lunch, Quick and Easy
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 4
 

The briny, pungent olives cut through the richness of the mayonnaise that bindss the eggs together in this take on the classic egg salad. Serve on soft rolls or bread with a side of salty chips or pretzels!
Ingredients
For the Egg Salad
  • 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
  • 2-4 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2-4 tablespoons chopped green salad olives with pimientos
  • 2 tablespoons minced sweet onions, preferably Vidalia
  • 1 teaspoon brine from the olives
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard or dill pickle juice
  • ¼ teaspoon celery seed
  • salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
To Serve:
  • 4 soft sandwich rolls or 8 slices of bread
  • Optional: Additional chopped olives for the sandwich.

Instructions
To Prepare the Salad:
  1. Put one egg in the bottom of a mixing bowl and chop roughly with the side of a fork.
  2. Put another egg on top and chop roughly again with the fork. Repeat with remaining eggs until all the eggs are chopped together with pieces no larger than the size of a piece of bubble gum (*see notes).
  3. Stir in the mayonnaise, olives, onions, mustard or pickle juice, celery seed, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust if necessary.
  4. Chill until ready to serve.
  5. Serve cold on soft sandwich rolls with additional olives on top, if desired.

Notes
*Many thanks to Katie who asked me to specify which type of bubble gum. Believe it or not, I meant Dubble Bubble. I’m not joking. Carry on!

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Main Dish, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Crash Hot Potatoes with Gorgonzola

July 11, 2011 by 10 Comments

See those potatoes? Those are worth heating up the oven in ninety-plus-degree weather with seventy-seven percent humidity. I know this because that is exactly what I did yesterday and I’m doing it again tonight. It is no exaggeration to say that I think I’m allergic to heat and humidity, so let that tell you just how great these actually are. Those are Crash-Hot Potatoes (of Pioneer Woman and Jill Dupleix fame) topped with Gorgonzola cheese and they come with a story.

Back in July 2008, I was a blogging baby. Not only was I new to the world of writing a blog, I was just getting started reading other blogs. Not just food blogs, mind you, but blogs period. What can I say? I’m a slow study on trends. I blame my children. They’re just too easy to look at and I get easily distracted…

But we were talking about the potatoes, weren’t we?

So. I stumbled upon a blog; Evil Chef Mom. It was hilarious, it was witty, the photography was stunning, the woman had four kids. I felt like I found someone who I would love to read regularly. She talked about Crash-Hot Potatoes and said it was from The Pioneer Woman. I clicked on the link. And here’s where the story turns into one where I look really, exceptionally thick-headed. I thought it was still part of Evil Chef Mom. I thought maybe The Pioneer Woman was a separate section of Evil Chef Mom devoted to talking about Crash Hot Potatoes and honeymoons in Australia… Because the next thing I clicked on in PW’s site was a post talking about her four children; two boys, two girls. Could there be two women with the same configuration of four children? It didn’t even occur to me. It took re-reading Evil Chef Mom’s post later in the day to realize that we were talking about two different people here. Two different women with two different sets of four children with two different websites. My head met my desk. Then I got the heck over it because these potatoes were so very good.

So. Very. Good.

It’s funny how things often go. The real human behind Evil Chef Mom, Krysta, has become one of my best friends. And recently, Krysta helped me prepare to spend a weekend with the real human behind The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, who also turned out to be a lovely person. Sometimes the way life brings things together makes my feeble mind giggle.

*So far I’ve admitted confusing two very distinct writers/photographers and giggling over coincidences. I’m looking super bright right now, eh?

Not long after I got back from the Ranch, (Meanwhile, back on the ranch…) Krysta told me she had taken the concept of Crash Hot Potatoes to another level. After boiling, she had smashed them, olive oiled them, salted and peppered them, then topped them with blue cheese and broiled them.  Hubba hubba was the phrase that came to mind.

She gave me her blessing  to post them -nay, she nearly insisted- before she did. (Now, people, if you’re new to blogging like I was in July 2008, let me inform you… that is a HUGE sacrifice. I told you she was a great friend.) I combined Krysta’s idea with my salt potatoes and the original roasting method on the potatoes for a side dish that is, as I said, good enough to make you sweat voluntarily by firing up the oven on the doggiest of dog days.

Terminally crisp (as Jill Dupleix so eloquently calls it) exterior, creamy potatoey interior, topped with melted, fragrant Gorgonzola cheese with just the teensiest bit of toasty colour on top. When my Mr. Meat-and-Potatoes nine-year-old boy wandered into the kitchen to suss out the dinner landscape he asked,”What are those?” I responded, “Those are Crash-Hot Potatoes topped with Gorgonzola cheese.” He pumped his fist, gave a firm, “BOOYAH!” and fetched a plate. He even skipped the accompanying grilled chicken to save more room in the tummy for these potatoes. I know I’ve said it already, but they really are just that good.

So thank you Krysta, Ree, and Jill for what is destined to be a dish that sits on our table for years and years to come.

Pssssst. If you throw out those little melted, crisped bits of Gorgonzola cheese I will come kick your knees. Those are not to be wasted. If you can’t handle the pure gorgy that way, toss them onto salad like croutons. I mean it. If you value your knees, eat those.

Print
Crash Hot Potatoes with Gorgonzola
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer, Side, Snack
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 6
 

Terminally crisp (as Jill Dupleix so eloquently calls it) exterior, creamy potatoey interior, topped with melted, fragrant Gorgonzola cheese with just the teensiest bit of toasty colour on top.
Ingredients
  • 1 batch leftover salt potatoes, warmed slightly (*See notes if you don’t have leftover salt potatoes)
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1½ teaspoons dried rosemary, slightly crumbled between fingers.)
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, to taste

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
  2. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil evenly over a rimmed baking sheet.
  3. Scatter potatoes on the olive oil and use a potato masher or heavy mug to gently smash the potato until it is about two times as large in diameter as it was when you began.
  4. Drizzle the remaining 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil evenly over the potatoes.
  5. Toss the rosemary evenly over the potatoes and grind black pepper over the potatoes to taste.
  6. Pop the pan into the oven and roast until the potatoes are sizzling, brown on the bottom, and golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.
  7. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the broiler to High.
  8. Place the Gorgonzola crumbles on top of the potatoes according to how much bleu cheese you like.
  9. Return the pan to the oven and broil until the cheese melts and gets just a couple little golden brown toasty bits.
  10. Remove the pan from the oven and let the potatoes rest for 3 minutes before serving.

Notes
If you don’t have leftover salt potatoes (either because you ate the whole batch -good for you!- or you haven’t made them yet -what are you waiting for?) you can still make these. Use the following method: Toss 16 new, small, unpeeled potatoes into a pot of heavily salted boiling water. Return to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until they are easily pierced with a skewer or butterknife. Drain and proceed!

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Grandma Val’s Hot Fudge Sauce

July 7, 2011 by 20 Comments

First of all, you know this is going to be good; it’s hot fudge sauce. What you may not know, though, is just how good this particular hot fudge sauce is. It is, in fact, the best hot fudge sauce ever of all time Amen pass the beer nuts. This hot fudge sauce is not just the ne plus ultra of hot fudge sauces, it is a thing of power. Let me tell you a story.

My relationship with my stepmom did not begin smoothly because I was, to put it succinctly, a surly nincompoop. There was no nincompoopitude from Val, who assured me kindly that she did not intend to try to take the place of my mother. It was all me people. I had that arena sewn right up.

And Val?

Val never tried to talk me out of  anything. Each time I visited, she smiled, talked books and movies, and fed me. Val turned out amazing food every time I was anywhere near her and it was not long before I removed my foot from my mouth to make room for dinner, and uncrossed my arms so I could hold a fork.

Then one day, Val served me a bowl of ice cream with a generous amount of this hot fudge sauce on it and I was smitten with both the sauce and Val.

I am fortunate enough to know now that my stepmom is one of my best friends AND I have her glorious hot fudge sauce. There isn’t enough time in the world for me to tell you all the things that make Val so wonderful, but I can spell out what makes this hot fudge sauce so special.

  • This is the best kind of hot fudge sauce. It drizzles onto your sundae and then partially firms up to a stretchy, chewy, caramel-like hot fudgy chocolate crown. Tell me you don’t want to eat that right now.
  • It takes 10 minutes to make and 8 of those minutes you are not to stir anything under penalty of sad sauce.
  • The ingredients are not at all exotic: unsweetened chocolate, butter, sugar, light corn syrup, a pinch of salt and vanilla extract. Hey ho, hot fudge!
  • A spoonful of this, straight from the jar in the refrigerator, is enough to turn a bad day good very, very quickly. I’ll direct your attention to the ingredient list. See? You’re smiling already!
  • This recipe comes from a woman who is arguably one of the most patient, loving, lovely, brilliant, forbearing, forgiving, well-read, witty, insightful people I’ve ever met. You can’t argue with hot fudge that comes from someone like that.

Go make yourself (or someone who you want to make a friend) a batch of this hot fudge sauce. I’ll wait. It’s worth it. In the meantime, I’m going to lick my jar…

4.0 from 1 reviews

Print
Grandma Val’s Hot Fudge Sauce
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert, Condiment
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 8
 

Seriously fudgy hot fudge sauce that firms up ever so slightly when poured over ice cream to form caramel-like ribbons of chocolatey goodness. Oh yes. It does.
Ingredients
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • ¾ cup boiling water
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Instructions
  1. Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally.
  2. Stir in sugar, corn syrup, and boiling water.
  3. Increase heat to medium and stir mixture until it reaches boiling.
  4. Boil without stirring for 8 minutes. Really. Do not stir that stuff.
  5. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt. It will bubble up violently, so be careful.
  6. Let rest for 5 minutes before pouring into a heat-proof container with a tight fitting lid. (A canning jar works perfectly for this situation.) Be certain the container you use is small enough to fit into the microwave for reheating purposes.
  7. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator.
To Reheat:
  1. Remove lid from the jar and microwave for about 30 seconds.
  2. Stir.
  3. Heat in additional 10 second bursts until the hot fudge flows freely when poured.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 

Filed Under: Chocolate, Condiments, Desserts, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,
«Older Posts