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Rosemary and Garlic Slow-Roasted Almonds

May 31, 2012 by 13 Comments

My friend Lisette is a good person to befriend. She’s funny. She’s charming. She has exquisite taste. And wherever she goes, she has snacks.Good snacks. She has bags of granola bars, homemade energy bars and her signature Rosemary Garlic Roasted Almonds.

My children hover around Mrs. Heckathorn on field trips with their best “I’m starving!” faces on in the hopes that she’ll break out her stash of almonds and offer to share. Is it because I don’t bring food? Or they don’t like what I have? No. It’s just that a.) they love Mrs. Heckathorn and b.) they love those nuts. Big time.

 

Why?

Lisette slow roasts raw whole almonds (overnight!) in a very, very low temperature oven with just enough garlic, rosemary and salt to make them utterly habit-forming. The fragrant, piney rosemary flavour amps up the sweetness of the almonds. The garlic roasts down to a mellow, mild garlic presence and the salt. Well, what isn’t better with a little salt?

These nuts aren’t just delicious, they’re simple. Oh my goodness. You have no excuse (other than forgetfulness) not to have these on hand. The most work of the entire process is peeling and mincing or pressing a garlic clove. Slap ‘em on a pan and let them slow-roast to pure savoury perfection while you snooze.

If you’re a little nervous about letting your oven go overnight (even at such a low temperature) you can use a dehydrator if your dehydrator has an adjustable thermostat. Just set it down around one hundred and seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Ta da!

Not only are they crave-able and simple, but they’re oh-so-good for you. In a one-ounce serving of almonds, you get a full twelve percent of your USRDA of protein with zero cholesterol, thirty five (35!) percent of your daily allowance of vitamin E, and about as much calcium as one-quarter cup of milk. (Plus, you don’t have to drink milk. SCORE!*)

*I know, I KNOW. Milk is good for you. I just don’t like to drink it. Never have. Ask my sister who -when we were children- kindly managed a switcheroo with me so she would drink my milk and her own and I wouldn’t have to touch it.

Make yourself nuts today! In a good way!

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Rosemary and Garlic Slow-Roasted Almonds

Rosemary and Garlic Slow-Roasted Almonds

These fragrant and toasty rosemary garlic almonds slow-roast in an ultra low oven overnight (so as not to destroy all those good fats that almonds contain) while you sleep. When you wake, you are in possession of one ultimately sustaining and habit forming snack. Make yourself nuts today! In a good way!

Ingredients

  • 4 cups whole, raw almonds (out of the shell)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced or pressed
  • 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon whole dried rosemary, crumbled between the fingers to break it into smaller pieces

Instructions

Toss all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl until everything is evenly dispersed and the nuts are evenly coated with oil. Pour the nuts onto a rimmed baking sheet and spread them into a single layer. Put in a cold oven and set the temperature to 170°F or thereabouts. Roast overnight (or 8 hours) or until the oil is absorbed and the nuts appear matte. Remove from the oven, cool completely and transfer to a canning jar or another container with an airtight lid. The seasonings may fall off of the nuts. That's okay! Just transfer the seasoning to the jar as well!

These are good for up to a month, kept tightly covered, at room temperature. I seriously doubt you'll be able to keep your hands (and mouth) off of them that long, though!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/31/rosemary-and-garlic-slow-roasted-almonds/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lemon Lime Curd (Easy Blender or Microwave Method) | Make Ahead Mondays

May 28, 2012 by 16 Comments

Many moons ago, when I was the mother of only a couple tiny kids, I had a very scandalous, very obese, very, very big dog named Hambone. Hambone was known for his lightning speed consumption of all food before him, whether it was intended for him or not. There was no food safe around Hambone.

Hambone ate his food. He ate his dog-compatriot’s food. He ate the cat’s food. He ate a pound of butter (still wrapped). He ate crayons, garbage, and -in short- anything that held still long enough for him to figure out how to get it down into his gullet. He was not discerning.

On a cold winter’s day, I laid the kids down for a nap and got to work on the snack I was supposed to bring to Bible study that evening. It was my turn and I decided to bring something indulgent, spectacular, unique… I settled on scones with lemon curd and clotted cream. The clotted cream I bought, the scones I made, and then came the lemon curd… I followed the time-honoured tradition of hand squeezing the citrus.

Lots and lots of citrus.

Then I set to whisking over a double boiler- whisking, whisking, whisking- until the egg yolks and sugar and lemon juice thickened. Then I dropped in the butter bit by bit and whisked even more until each little cube of butter was melted and incorporated. Now, I’ve been me a long time, and I’m consistent, so you may know what is coming next. I was making a quadruple batch. Of course! Why wouldn’t you make a double batch if you’re already going to so much trouble? This means I stood whisking for quite some time. In fact, I whisked my way through all of that precious nap time. My little fellows both woke or set to squawking at the same time… just about when that curd was finished.

Taking advantage of the cold weather, I set the bowl out to cool, covered with a screen, on a table on the porch. I did what moms do with freshly napped munchkins. I read, I snuggled, I tousled hair, I provided snacks. And then I heard a sound. A clatter. A sound that sounded like THE CLATTER OF A METAL BOWL SKITTERING ON A WOODEN PORCH. Empty. I had forgotten that the notorious Hambone was outside. He had eaten every last bit of my lemon curd from the bowl. It looked as clean as it had when I had taken it from the cupboard. I threw the bowl at the dog, locked the door, sat my sweet kidlets down in front of a Beatrix Potter movie and made another batch. A single one.

The dog was too full even to scratch at the door to be let in, and it’s a darned good thing because I was in no mood to let that beast into our warm abode. I got on the phone with my mom to complain and she said, “Oh no! I wonder if he’s in pain!” I responded, unkindly, that I hoped he was. Big time.

Time passed, Hambone had other memorable transgressions in the kitchen and I learned a few lessons.

  1. Never leave food near a dog under any circumstances. They’re just not built to resist the temptation.
  2. Lemon curd is far easier to make than I ever thought.

That second lesson is the real kicker. I learned that lemon curd does not need to be an exercise in self-flagellation. You need not whisk ’til your arms fall off. It is as easy as a burly blender or a microwave. Of the two methods, I prefer the blender method because you pop everything in, set it to high and walk away until steam billows forth from the top. If you don’t have a sturdily built blender, though, the microwave method is a vast improvement over the French galley-slave approach to lemon curd making.

Once I got the quick-curd methods under my belt, I started playing around a bit with ingredients. My favourite curd (which is really a very unappetizing word for what amounts to creamy citrus custard sauce) these days is a bright, light combination of lemon and lime, using the juice and zest of both citruses. Lemon and lime compliment each other beautifully… Where the lemon is all brightness, the lime has depth. The sugar softens up the sharpness of the citrus while the egg yolk makes the custard creamy. “Mouthwatering” is greatly overused when discussing foods, but there is simply no substitute for it here. Lemon Lime Curd truly makes your mouth water.

Even though you can quickly make curd just about any time using these quick methods, it’s nice to have it on hand ready to go at the smallest inkling of a craving. Lemon Lime curd can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. If you’d like to make it last longer than that, simply freeze for up to a year. Not that it’ll ever last that long.

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Lemon Lime Curd (Easy Blender and Microwave Methods) | Make Ahead Mondays

Lemon Lime Curd (Easy Blender and Microwave Methods) | Make Ahead Mondays

Step away from the double-boiler! Sour lemons and sweet limes come together to be made into the simplest curd ever made. Using your blender or microwave you are just 5 minutes away from a perfect dessert spread that stores for two weeks in the refrigerator or a full year in the freezer! You need never be without this tart, sweet, velvety-smooth dessert maker ever again.

Dollop Lemon Lime Curd on angel food cake or pound cake and top with whipped cream for the ultimate quick dessert. Spoon it over ice cream or on pancakes or waffles. Spread it between cake layers. Or make like me, pucker up and eat it straight from the spoon!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice (I used about 4 lemons and 5 limes.)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 9 egg yolks
  • the zest of 2 lemons and 2 limes (use zest from the lemons and limes you squeezed.)

Instructions

The Blender Method (I use my Vitamix blender . Be sure your blender is well-built enough to run on high speed for 5 or more minutes without burning out the motor!):

Add the citrus juice, sugar, butter and egg yolks to the work carafe of your blender. Fix the lid firmly in place. Start the blender on low and slowly increase the speed until you reach the highest speed. Let the blender run on high until steam is pouring out of the top of the blender. Turn the blender off and -wearing oven mitts- remove the lid carefully. Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of the curd. It should be at or above 170°F. (If you don't have an instant read thermometer you can test the readiness with a spoon. Dip a spoon into the hot curd. Carefully draw your finger through it in a line. When the line stays for about 5 seconds before the curd comes back together it is ready.)

*Remember the curd will thicken as it cools!

Stir in the citrus zest and immediately pour into clean jars or heat-proof containers with tight fitting lids. Let cool slightly before storing in the refrigerator. If desired, once the curd has cooled slightly, you can lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming on it. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 year!

The Microwave Method:

In a microwave safe bowl that is large enough to comfortably hold all of your ingredients, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until they are smooth. Whisk in the lemon and lime juice and butter until smooth. Microwave on high -uncovered- for 5 minutes, whisking well after each 1 minute mark until you reach 4 minutes. In the last minute, whisk well every 15 seconds, until the mixture has reached at least 170°F on an instant read thermometer. (If you don't have an instant read thermometer you can test the readiness with a spoon. Dip a spoon into the hot curd. Carefully draw your finger through it in a line. When the line stays for about 5 seconds before the curd comes back together it is ready.)

*Remember the curd will thicken as it cools!

Pour the hot curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to remove any curdled egg bits. Stir in the zest and pour immediately into clean jars or heat-proof containers with tight fitting lids. Let cool slightly before storing in the refrigerator. If desired, once the curd has cooled slightly, you can lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming on it. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 year!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/28/lemon-lime-curd-easy-blender-or-microwave-method-make-ahead-mondays/

And heads-up. You’ll want to be back here next Tuesday when I show you how to use your Lemon Lime Curd to make THESE:

 

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Sweet Onion Sandwiches

May 25, 2012 by 6 Comments

Today’s post is powered 100% by nostalgia. My baby brother is getting married this summer and it has totally sent me into a “This is Your Life” tizzy.

My mom was the room mother in my fourth grade year (and my first, second, third, and fifth grades, but I’m talking specifically about year four here…) She was responsible for games for our party days (and I’m fairly certain she volunteered for that duty. My mom is the Queen of Party Games.) The game she had planned for my class on one party day was a game where she wrapped food in pieces of foil and put them in paper bags at the end of a race course. There were two teams of kids. One kid from each team would run to the end of the course, grab a piece of foil wrapped food, unwrap it and eat whatever was in there. Everything was edible and tasty (at least to my mom.) Now here’s where it gets a little complicated. All the little boys in my class (all nine of them*) had a near debilitating crush on my mom. How is that a problem? One of the foil wrapped foods was a slice of Vidalia onion (a delicacy in our home, to be sure!). One of the little boys with a debilitating crush on my mom was evidently mildly allergic to onions. Before I say anything, you all know which packet this little boy picked right?

*Yes. There were only nine boys in my class. That is due in no small part to the fact that there were only eighteen kids in my class all together. As in, in the entire school. I did tell you I grew up rural, didn’t I?

Obviously he picked the onion.

Any sensible person would raise their hand and say, “Excuse me, but I’m allergic to onions. Could I pick another food?” But there’s no such thing as a sensible fourth grade boy with a crush. The kid ate the onion then ran from the room to toss his cookies. Or rather, toss his onions.

That day was memorable for more than one reason. It was the first time I’d seen someone do something stupid for love. It was also the first moment I realized that not every household ate raw onions like apples.

One of my favourite foods from those years (and one that I’m happy to say my kids love now) was a big, gooey grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with thick, crisp slabs of sweet onion, toasted to that perfect rich brown with little rivulets of cheese escaping the sides of the bread. Oh heavens.

Can you even think of something that sounds better or more comforting than that?

Grilled cheeses ruled my world as a kid. And both of my parents make a mean one. My dad always added a ritual to the grilled cheese making. Half of the fun of a grilled cheese with dad has been and remains the “Thwapping of the Cheese”.  We would each unwrap a piece of cheese, hold it by the bottom edge and then swing it up to smack it against our tongues, making a satisfying THWAP sound in the process. Here, my third born demonstrates the manoeuvre.

  1. Here’s the wind-up folks. Note the open mouth and the angle of the cheese slice.
  2. He’s going for it! Looks like he judged the distance just right!
  3. And he’s home. THWAP!

It’s hard to explain why the “Thwapping of the Cheese” is as amusing as it is. Uproarious laughter is the almost inevitable result. When you couple my dad’s cheese thwapping with my mom’s specialty grilled cheese with sweet onion, you’re sure to end lunch with as big a smile as the one you had when you started.

This is, in my book, the perfect grilled cheese. Choose your favourite bread and your preferred onion, but there simply is no substitute for the melty, gooey, drippy cheesy goodness you get from Kraft Singles. Whether you choose the yellow or the white (my family’s favourite) you’re sure to love this grilled cheese as much as I do.

Disclosure: As part of the DailyBuzz Moms Featured Publisher Community, I received a coupon for free Kraft Singles and a stipend to help pay for additonal ingredients, but all opinions expressed in the post are my own. It is my promise to you that I will not write sponsored posts for any product that I do not or would not use myself.

 

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Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Sweet Onion Sandwiches

Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Sweet Onion Sandwiches

My mom's version of the classic grilled cheese is my all time favourite way to eat it. Deep, toasty brown bread topped with melty, gooey cheese and crisp, just-heated-through slabs of sweet onion. On any given day at any given moment, I'm hard pressed to think of something I like to eat more than this.

Ingredients

    Per Sandwich:
  • 2 slices of sandwich bread (I like potato bread or oatmeal bread best.)
  • 2 slices Kraft Singles, unwrapped
  • 1 (1/8- to 1/4-inch thick) slab sweet onion, peeled and separated into smaller rings or half moons
  • 1 tablespoon softened butter

Instructions

Preheat a griddle to 300°F (or put a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low to medium heat on the stove top.)

Butter one side of each slice of bread, using half of the butter on each slice. Lay one slice of bread, butter side down on the hot griddle, immediately lay down one slice of the unwrapped Kraft Singles, top with as much of the sliced onion as you can get to stay on the bread, the other slice of unwrapped cheese and the last piece of bread, butter side up.

Let it toast slowly until the under-side of the bottom piece of bread is a deep golden to rich brown, taking care not to let it burn. If necessary, you can reduce the heat to prevent scorching. Carefully flip the sandwich, using your hand to hold it together as the onions tend to make it fall apart a little more easily than the average grilled cheese.

Toast the second side until it is a rich brown and the cheese is completely melted inside the sandwich. Transfer to a cutting board and cut it in half on the diagonal. Yes. It MUST be on a diagonal. Sandwiches just taste better that way.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/25/grilled-cheese-and-sweet-onion-sandwiches/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

May 23, 2012 by 10 Comments

In a world full of uncertainty, there are a few things you can count on beyond death and taxes.

  • Every time we think our schedule is now clear, it will fill up. Overnight.
  • Johnny Depp may be weird, but he’s easy on the eyes.
  • Shortly after you take delivery of seventeen chicks and five ducklings and get them situated in your dining room, your husband will be called out of town for a week-long business trip.
  • When your child enters a room -dripping wet- from a room where there is no faucet but there are seventeen chicks and five ducklings, you will want towels. And probably bleach.
  • And ibuprofen.
  • And a Johnny Depp movie.
  • If you serve cheeseburgers to your five sons for dinner, you automatically win.
  • If you serve bacon for dinner, you automatically win.
  • If you serve pasta for dinner -unless it is a frou-frou concoction with artichoke hearts, brined olives and slices of garlic*- you automatically win.
  • If you find a way to combine cheeseburgers, bacon and pasta, you not only automatically win, but you are the Queen of the World, the Best Mom Ever In the History of the World, and the Prettiest Mom Who Smells Like Bacon and will be told so in no uncertain terms.
  • It’s nice to be The Prettiest Mom Who Smells Like Bacon. I can live with that title.

*Don’t get me wrong. I would like that. In fact, I’d eat the heck out of that. I’d probably even hide the last little bit in an ugly bowl in the back corner of the refrigerator so no one else would get it, but it would not be a universally pleasing dish. That’s all I’m saying.

We are talking about comfort food writ large as a one-pot wonder. Yes. Let’s take a deep breath together and think about that beautiful thought for just a moment. It only dirties one pot.

Does anyone else get weepy when they only have one pan to wash after dinner? Anyone? Please?

This pasta, though… It is all that is good about cheeseburgers, bacon, pasta and comfort food all rolled into one. The crispy bacon and browned ground beef filled cheesy tomato sauce seeps into the spaces of whichever pasta you choose, so I recommend one that can hold a little bit of everything; we prefer to use small shells for maximum sauce hold-age. Elbow noodles will do just dandy, but the shells are like little tiny pasta cups full of goodness. (I will not be winning a James Beard food writing award for the preceding sentence, but it’s been a busy week. Where’s Johnny Depp? I’m fairly certain he’s in the South of France and he’s probably not mopping up duck poo. Oh dear. I’d best stop whilst I’m ahead. At least I hope I’m still ahead.)

Even if your menu is planned for a month solid, I encourage you all to lay the ingredients for this dish in your pantry as insurance against traveling spouses, busy weeks, standardized testing (yes, we’re doing THAT this week, too), field trips, and juvenile poultry. I guarantee that one of these nights you’re going to be so glad you have it available. And when you do make it, it’s going to knock everyone’s socks off. Who loves you? I do!

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Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

This pure, unadulterated comfort food is pasta simmered in a bacon and burger filled cheesy tomato sauce. It doesn't get better (or easier) than this!

Adapted, with thanks, from Melissa who adapted it from [Ezra Pound Cake . Thank you ladies!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound sliced bacon
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and pressed or finely minced
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder (preferably granulated onion)
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder (preferably granulated garlic)
  • 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste depending on heat tolerance and preference.)
  • 1 pound dry small shell or elbow pasta
  • 2 cups Cheddar cheese, grated
  • Optional, but tasty:
  • thinly sliced green onions for garnish

Instructions

Stack the bacon strips and cut down through the stack at 1/4-inch intervals. When done, you should have a pile of thin bacon strips. Put these into a large stockpot over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the bacon is crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crispy bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Pour the remaining bacon grease out of the pan (and hopefully into a jar to use in tasty things later.)

Return the pan to the heat, break up the ground beef over the bottom of the pan and add the onions to the pot. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to continually break up the beef and work the onions into the meat until the meat is no longer pink but brown. If there is a great deal of fat in the pan, carefully pour most of it off. If there's just a small amount of fat in the bottom of the pan, keep it. It's full of flavour! Return the pan to the heat again.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, tomato paste, ketchup, beef broth, water, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and onion and garlic powders. Pour this over the browned beef. Stir well, raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. When it is boiling, gently stir in the dry pasta, add a lid to the pan and drop the heat to low. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking. When the pasta is tender, turn off the heat, add all of the grated cheese and the the crispy bacon and stir gently until the cheese is melted in completely and the bacon is evenly distributed.

Serve hot or very warm.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/23/bacon-cheeseburger-hamburger-pasta/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lazy Sushi Bowls (a.k.a. Scattered Sushi) | Make Ahead Mondays

May 21, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m really excited about today’s post. Why? It’s another one of those things I’ve been making for years and I’m just getting around to sharing it with you. I always feel a mixture of thrill and guilt when I share these perennial favourites. Thrill because I’m giving you something we love so much and guilt because it took me so darned long to finally give you the recipe.

And then there’s the fact that this is hardly a recipe at all so much as it is an idea. A formula. A how-to, if you will. It seems like these are always the last things I think to put here because, well, they’re so simple it’s almost embarrassing. Every now and then I pull up short and have to remind myself that it is just those kinds of things that I should be sharing! Good grief! Get with the program, self!

Without further ado, I present to you Lazy Sushi Bowls (also known as Scattered Sushi). This is a riff on the honest-to-goodness, real-deal Chirashizushi (scattered sushi) that is served in various regions of Japan. Chirashizushi is loose sushi rice (cooked rice tossed with seasoned rice vinegar) in a bowl topped with seafood and garnishes. It’s a riff because most of the time, the real thing is served with sashimi (raw fish or seafood) and frankly, I’m way-hay-hay too far from any ocean to feel good about serving any kind of seafood I can buy around here raw. Beyond that, though, is the wacky toppings I prefer on my Lazy Sushi. My method is a very culinarily mixed metaphor. On top of the seasoned sushi rice, I pile Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad (or cubed English cucumbers), Asian Style Pickled Carrots, flaked (canned) Albacore tuna, cubed or sliced ripe avocado, cooked shrimp, sliced green onions, tiny cubes of cream cheese (thanks a million times over to Rebecca’s sister, Jennifer, of Ezra Pound Cake for the brilliant homage to a Philadelphia roll for this idea!), torn seasoned nori (or Furikake), pickled ginger (when we have it), soy sauce, wasabi paste, and toasted sesame seeds. Does this mean you need all of that on hand to make this dish? The answer to that is a most emphatic no! We make these with as many or as few of the ingredients as we have or want.

I mix up a big batch of the Sushi Dressing (and really, it only takes seconds), store it in the refrigerator and then have it on hand for whenever we get the craving for Lazy Sushi (which is a pretty common occurrence.) So maybe I’m stretching the Make Ahead Monday theme a bit,  but I’ve waited so long to share this, I couldn’t wait any longer!

Why do I call it Lazy Sushi when there are so many components? Let me break it down. The rice is cooked, tossed with the dressing and set aside to cool to room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients. If you have some leftover Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad, your cucumber portion is ready and waiting. If not? Roughly chop or cube an English cucumber (seedless cucumber). Their skin is tender, so no need to peel ‘em. How simple is that? Thaw some fully cooked shrimp and remove the tails. If you have Asian Style Pickled Carrots on the shelf, you need only pop open a jar. If not? Shred a carrot on a box grater or use a vegetable peeler to get thin strips. Open and drain a can of Albacore tuna. Halve, pit and slice an avocado. Tear a sheet of nori or pop open your furikake. Wash and slice a couple green onions. Fish your bottle of soy sauce and your tube of wasabi from the back of the refrigerator. Cut some little cubes from a brick of cream cheese. Give everyone a bowl and you are off the hook. Proverbially and colloquially. Stand back and let everyone assemble their own dinner.

Are you ready for the bonuses? Because there’s more. This is good for you! (Especially if you use brown rice.) This makes a killer brown-bag or picnic lunch. Finally, the biggest bonus is that The Evil Genius and I can have bowls piled teeteringly high with every single ingredient our gluttonous little hearts desire while the no veg contingent is content with a bowl of rice topped with a couple shrimp and soy sauce. It’s almost endlessly customizable and as all you parents (or spouses) out there know, the ability to make a dish that everyone can love is worth more than its weight in gold. This is another Unicorn Dish in our household.

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Lazy Sushi Bowls (a.k.a. Scattered Sushi)

Lazy Sushi Bowls (a.k.a. Scattered Sushi)

Lazy Sushi -seasoned sushi rice topped with your favourite sushi toppings- is great for fun family dinners, entertaining (because EVERYONE loves it), movie nights and those hot, steamy summer nights when the mere thought of cooking makes you break into a sweat.

These are also great for picnics and brown-bag lunches. Just store the rice outside of the refrigerator (or cooler) and keep the remaining ingredients chilled. Assemble and eat!

Ingredients

    For the Sushi Dressing:
  • 1 cup plain rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons raw sugar or white granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
    • For each serving of Lazy Sushi:
  • 1/4-1/2 cup uncooked short grain rice (preferably sweet brown rice, but short grain white rice is good, too.)
  • 1 tablespoon Sushi Dressing (see above)
  • Optional:
  • 1/4 of a ripe avocado, (peeled, pitted and cubed), tossed with a little rice vinegar to prevent browning
  • 1/4 cup Sweet and Spicy Asian Style Pickled Carrots or 1/2 of a carrot, grated or peeled into thin strips with a vegetable peeler
  • 1/4 cup Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad or about 2 tablespoons of finely cubed English or seedless cucumbers
  • 1/2 of the contents of a drained can of Albacore tuna, flaked
  • 2-4 pieces of fully cooked shrimp (cleaned with the tails removed)
  • 3-4 small cubes (about 1/4-inch or so) cold cream cheese
  • thinly sliced green onions, to taste
  • wasabi, to taste
  • soy sauce, to taste
  • torn or cut nori (or furikake , to taste
  • toasted sesame seeds, to taste

Instructions

To Make the Sushi Dressing:

Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a microwave safe bowl (or in a small saucepan), heat until very warm and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Pour into a canning jar or other heat proof container with a tight fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to one month, using as needed.

To Prepare the Lazy Sushi Bowls:

Cook the rice according to package instructions (I prefer to use my rice cooker.) When the rice is done, turn it into a large-ish mixing bowl, fluff it gently and pour the appropriate amount of Sushi Dressing over the top. Fold the dressing in gently, taking care not to smash the rice. Lay damp paper towels over the surface of the rice to prevent it from drying out and let the rice cool to room temperature.

When the rice is cool, divide among serving bowls and let the diners assemble their own Lazy Sushi.

To Pack for Lunch or a Meal Away from Home:

Pack the rice in a container with a tight fitting lid and a great deal of room between the rice and the top of the container. (This is to accommodate the toppings once added.) Pack the toppings in separate containers, combining those items which need refrigeration (such as the fish, cubed avocados with rice vinegar, cream cheese, etc...) Store the rice outside of the refrigerator (preferably in a cool-but-not-cold, dark place) and the remaining ingredients in the refrigerator (or cooler). Assemble just before eating.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/21/lazy-sushi-bowls-a-k-a-scattered-sushi-make-ahead-mondays/

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Fish, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, kid food, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian

Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza

May 11, 2012 by 8 Comments

Today I have the second of the three pizzas I planned to share with you for Pizza Week. You can see the dough recipe here and the Spinach and Garlic Alfredo Pizza here. Hooray for pizza! Now, I can’t speak for your own mother, but I -for one- would be thrilled with a homemade pizza for Mother’s Day.

By now you all know how I feel about pizza, but there’s one very big reason to love it that I haven’t mentioned yet. It’s frugal. Oh, baby, it is the frugal hausfrau’s best friend. You can put nearly anything on a pizza, so it’s great for using up odds and ends in from the refrigerator and the pantry. Granted, not every combination will be a winner. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind when figuring out what to load onto your crust is “Would this taste great together on a sandwich?” If you answer yourself with a yes, chances are good that it will make a wonderful pizza.

With my own rule in mind, I raided my chill chest and put together today’s pizza. Using a little leftover pulled pork (I used this from one of my most popular posts ever here on Foodie With Family but this one would be great, too!)  barbecue sauce, enchilada sauce, pepper jack cheese and onions from hamburgers, I put together this beautiful Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza.  It was a handful of this and a fistful of that and a pinch of another thing. We’re talking about little ingredients that so easily could’ve been lost in some forgotten corner of the refrigerator, but they became dinner. In fact, they became a glorious barbecue pulled pork crossed with pizza. How could that be anything less than wonderful?

Another great advantage of making pizza at home is the infinite ability to adjust it to your own preferences. You’re not an onion lover? Leave them off! You dislike barbecue sauce? Replace it with pizza sauce or hot sauce. The world is your oyster, or rather, your pizza!

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Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza

Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza

This pizza is a delicious multi-tasker. Yes, it tastes amazing- pizza meets pulled barbecue pork on a crackly crisp crust- but it's also a great user-upper of leftovers from the refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • 1 piece, about 5 ounces or the size of a large plum, of No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups leftover pulled pork (like this or this.) | http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2009/03/24/cuban-pork-part-i-slow-cookin-good-lookin/]
  • 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I use this but you can use whichever is your favourite.)
  • 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • 2 tablespoons hot sauce or enchilada sauce
  • Optional, but tasty:
  • 2-3 quarter-inch thick, half moon slices of onions
  • mixed salad greens
  • additional hot sauce

Instructions

With a pizza stone situated in the bottom third, preheat the oven as high as you can get it. We use a 500°F setting on our oven.

Lightly flour your work surface. Form your pizza dough into a ball by gently stretching the top of the dough underneath itself. Place the dough on the floured work surface and pat it out gently with your hands into a disc shape until you cannot make it any wider. Flour a rolling pin and gently roll the pizza dough out. This works best if you look at the pizza dough as a clock. Start rolling from the center of the circle toward 12 o'clock, rotate your pin and roll from the center to 3 o'clock, then from the center to 6 o'clock, and so forth, ending back at 12 o'clock. Do this until you have a circle that is about 10-inches in diameter.

Sprinkle a pizza peel generously with semolina flour or cornmeal. Carefully transfer the dough to the peel. Shake gently to be sure no part of the dough sticks. This is crucial. You will be shaking the peel gently after each addition of toppings to make sure the dough can still move freely. If at any point the dough sticks, gently lift the offending area and throw a bunch of semolina or cornmeal under it.

Dot the barbecue sauce over the dough to within a 1/2-inch of the edges. Shake the dough to make sure it's not stuck.

Pull the pork apart with your hands and arrange it over the barbecue sauce to within a 1/2-inch of the edges. Again, shake to be sure it isn't stuck

Sprinkle the pepper jack and mozzarella cheese over the pork and then drizzle with the 2 tablespoons of hot sauce or enchilada sauce. If you're using the onion, separate the slices into individual pieces and arrange over the top. Shake! Shake! Shake! To be sure it isn't sticking.

Open your oven, position your peel over the back edge of the pizza stone. Flick your wrist to get the dough moving, pulling the peel back as you transfer the dough to the stone. Shut the oven and let the pizza bake on the stone for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is the desired colour and the cheese is melted and bubbly with golden brown or charred areas. Slip the peel back under the pizza and give a little jerk to move it safely onto the peel. Transfer the cooked pizza onto a cutting board. Let it rest 3-5 minutes before slicing.

If you'd like to, and I almost always do, serve the slices with a handful of fresh salad greens and another drizzle of hot sauce over the top.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/11/barbecue-pulled-pork-pizza/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Meat, Party Food, Pizza, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Spinach and Garlic Alfredo Pizza (With or Without Onions and Anchovies)

May 9, 2012 by 7 Comments

Monday, I declared this week to be Pizza Week. Today is the first pizza in the series. All of these pizzas will use the No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough recipe I posted Monday.

As much as I love a good, plain old pepperoni and cheese pizza, there is something about pizza that makes me wildly experimental.  The pizza shell is my canvas and I go all Jackson Pollack on it. Today, I will go all Jackson Pollack on this post. Disjointed. Scattershot. Yeah. Um, stick with me. The pizza is totally worth it.

I’ve played around with white pizzas over the years but until recently was never blown away by the results. The solution was two-fold.

  1. I found the perfect crust. (See yesterday’s post!)
  2. I started using garlic Alfredo sauce instead of olive oil and garlic.

I have to tell you that Alfredo sauce is my six-year old’s specialty in the kitchen. Granted, I measure the ingredients into a bowl for him, but he does all the grunt work. He whisks the ingredients together while I work on pizza crusts. We’re a well-oiled team. Actually, we’re a well-buttered team. The Alfredo sauce is pretty buttery. And creamy. And cheesy. This is mainly due to the fact that Alfredo sauce is made almost entirely of butter, cheese, and eggs with heavy cream thrown in for good measure.  Because really, butter, eggs, and cheese aren’t rich enough on their own. Oy.

To that rich, velvety, hubba hubba base, we add a touch of garlic, parsley and black pepper. Voila! You have a sauce that makes pizzas sing and pasta weep with joy. It also makes a pretty darned irresistible perfume if you’re married to someone like the guy I married!

Speaking of things that my husband can’t resist, I must broach the subject of anchovies. Full disclosure: I am an unapologetic anchovy cheerleader. I love them. I adore them. I pink puffy hearts love everything about them. I do know, however, that not everybody is in my camp. If the thought of the hairy, spooky little fish fillets on your pizza skeeves you out, might I suggest that you chop at least one and add it to your Alfredo sauce? You will be shocked -SHOCKED, I say- at the subtle boost the presence of the little fishy adds. If you just can’t leap that hurdle, mentally, it’s alright. I’m still here for you. I am still going to dangle anchovies proverbially in front of you from time to time until you feel brave enough to try them. That’s right. I am big sister to the world.

In short, if you don’t like anchovies and onions, don’t put them on the pizza.

…And since we’re on the subject of dangling things in front of people until they try them, let’s talk spinach. My kids -thanks to a friend who fed them spinach in my absence- are pretty keen on spinach. Even two of the founding members of my anti-veg contingent like spinach. Proving the aforementioned friend’s theory right again, combining spinach and Alfredo sauce on this pizza is -at least in my imagination- probably what it was like when someone first stuck a chocolate bar in a jar of peanut butter.  Heavenly angels singing comes to mind…

We can’t forget to talk about the crust! I made many promises about this crust in the post with the dough recipe. I cut the pizza and The Evil Genius swooped in (sans cape) to snatch the first piece after I photographed it.

He declared, “You must show them a picture of the bottom of the crust. That’s the key! That’s how they’ll know this is one crust to rule them all.” And to further drive his point home, this man -the one who I am convinced wears a hat in order to have something to pull over his face when I aim the camera at him- offered to hold the pizza up (after taking a bite, of course) and let his hand be in the picture.  It’s a banner day people. I present to you “Perfect Crust in a Manly Hand”.

Now let’s make a pizza -an AWESOME pizza- together, shall we?

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Spinach and Garlic Alfredo Pizza (With or Without Onions and Anchovies)

Spinach and Garlic Alfredo Pizza (With or Without Onions and Anchovies)

The perfect pizza dough is topped with a creamy, rich Garlic Alfredo, spinach, and mozzarella (and anchovies and onions in our house!) and baked to crackly crisp perfection with little charred bits on the crust and golden brown cheese. This is one white pizza to rule them all!

Ingredients

    For the Garlic Alfredo Sauce:
  • 1 cup (8 ounces by weight) butter
  • 2 to 2-1/2 cups grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (or a blend)
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes (or 1 tablespoon fresh, minced parsley)
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste
    • For the Pizza:
  • 1 piece, about 5 ounces or the size of a large plum, of No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough
  • 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of Garlic Alfredo Sauce
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • 2 cups of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove most of the moisture
  • cornmeal or semolina for the peel
  • Optional but ever so tasty:
  • 2 (1/8 to 1/4-inch thick) slices of a peeled onion, cut into half moons.
  • 6 whole anchovy fillets (the packed in olive oil variety), blotted gently

Instructions

To Make the Garlic Alfredo Sauce:

Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk in all additional ingredients and refrigerate -tightly covered- until ready to use. Leftovers should be used within 3 days.

To Make the Pizza:

With a pizza stone situated in the bottom third, preheat the oven as high as you can get it. We use a 500°F setting on our oven.

Lightly flour your work surface. Form your pizza dough into a ball by gently stretching the top of the dough underneath itself. Place the dough on the floured work surface and pat it out gently with your hands into a disc shape until you cannot make it any wider. Flour a rolling pin and gently roll the pizza dough out. This works best if you look at the pizza dough as a clock. Start rolling from the center of the circle toward 12 o'clock, rotate your pin and roll from the center to 3 o'clock, then from the center to 6 o'clock, and so forth, ending back at 12 o'clock. Do this until you have a circle that is about 10-inches in diameter.

Sprinkle a pizza peel generously with semolina flour or cornmeal. Carefully transfer the dough to the peel. Shake gently to be sure no part of the dough sticks. This is crucial. You will be shaking the peel gently after each addition of toppings to make sure the dough can still move freely. If at any point the dough sticks, gently lift the offending area and throw a bunch of semolina or cornmeal under it.

Spread the Garlic Alfredo sauce over the dough to within a 1/2-inch of the edges. Shake the dough to make sure it's not stuck.

Sprinkle most of the grated cheese, reserving about 1/4 cup, over the Garlic Alfredo sauce. Pull off peanut-in-the-shell sized hunks of spinach and dot them over the cheese. If using the onions and anchovies, pull the onions into individual pieces and distribute them and the anchovies evenly over the top. Toss the reserved 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top. Gently shake the pizza to make sure it's not stuck.

Open your oven, position your peel over the back edge of the pizza stone. Flick your wrist to get the dough moving, pulling the peel back as you transfer the dough to the stone. Shut the oven and let the pizza bake on the stone for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is the desired colour and the cheese is melted and bubbly with golden brown or charred areas. Slip the peel back under the pizza and give a little jerk to move it safely onto the peel. Transfer the cooked pizza onto a cutting board and let it rest 3-5 minutes before slicing.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/09/spinach-alfredo-pizza-with-or-without-onions-and-anchovies/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Instructional, kid food, Main Dish, Party Food, Pizza, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

April 30, 2012 by 6 Comments

 

My husband turned eleventy one on Saturday.

Okay, not really… He turned forty six, but to hear the guy talk, he sounds like he thinks he’s butter scraped over too much bread.  Don’t feel too badly for him, though. He is the only person I’ve ever known in my life who -when asked how old he is- rounds up by a year or two. Somehow or another, he combines this funny aging complex with a playful personality. When we were dating, he once insisted, “I may be eight years older than you, but I’ll always, ALWAYS be WAY more immature than you are!” He meant it.

This is the dad who does back flips off of the swings when he goes to the playground with the kids (giving me a heart attack in the process.) This is the husband who panics over the thought of picking out a gift for me, yet still pulls off the coolest gifts ever*. This is the guy who lost track of time while photo-documenting the entire process of a snake eating a frog in the side yard, thus missing a family picnic. This is the man who loves cartoons (Looney Tunes is top of the heap), anime, Laurel and Hardy, playing guitar and drums and piano and bass and, and, and… This is my guy.

*Knowing how much I love dance, he scored two tickets to a limited showing of a touring traditional Chinese dance troupe.  It required a trip to the city (he would probably rather have dental work done), going out to dinner (he’d prefer hitting his thumb with a hammer), and dressing up (he would rather let the eight year old drive the family van than dress up.) He got some serious husband points for that present.

…And whether he’s turning eleventy one or forty six, I am going to try to make him a birthday feast that will make him borderline weepy with joy. This year was my year to earn points. I made a dinner comprised of his favourite dishes of all time and capped it off with the dessert that makes him clap his hands and laugh with anticipation. I’ll be spending this week sharing my Evil Genius’s birthday feast. We’re going to start not at the beginning, but rather at the end of the meal, because it is the most perfectly perfect fit ever for Make Ahead Mondays. We’re going Cream Puffy! Actually, we’re going down Profiterole Lane, but let’s start with the cream puffs.

Cream Puffs are another of those marvelous children of pâte à choux or choux paste. I’ve already told you a little of my love for choux paste, but I have much, much more to share with you, and THIS is one of my favourites. In this case, you nix the cheese and Dijon mustard and let the choux paste stand on its own. Oh man, let me tell you, you’re going to make like my husband here and clap and laugh when you see this coming.

Profiteroles are the happy result of splitting a largely hollow cream puff in half and filling it with sweet, creamy filling. HOLLER! In this case, we’re filling our profiteroles with ice cream and then drizzling warm hot fudge sauce over the whole thing. Then we drizzle the hot fudge sauce directly into our mouths. I mean, really. This is Grandma Val’s hot fudge sauce that I’m using. I’m no fool.

That all sounds awesome already, right? Would you like me to make it even more awesome? ‘Cause I can. And I will. It is more awesome because you can whip up that choux paste, pipe it out into the shapes you want and freeze them. Then you can have cream puffs and profiteroles any old time you want. You don’t have to thaw the dough or anything prior to baking. You just pop them on a lined pan and bake. The only concession you have to make for baking them from frozen is that you add five minutes to the cooking time. That’s do-able, right?

That’s TOTALLY do-able. Make yourself some cream puffs. Make someone happy. Then make some  profiteroles and make someone ecstatic.

 

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Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

Did you know you can freeze cream puff dough (choux paste) and bake cream puffs from the frozen dough any time you want? It's true. Bake them up and fill those crispy, brown, mostly-hollow poufs with your favourite ice cream then drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce as the ultimate reward for having a well-stocked freezer. Happiness is a warm cream puff with cold ice cream!

Ingredients

    For the Cream Puffs:
  • 1 stick (4 ounces by weight) butter
  • 1 cup (8 ounces by weight) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces by weight) all purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs (preferably at room temperature)
    • For the Profiteroles:
  • Ice cream
  • Hot Fudge Sauce

Instructions

To Make the Cream Puffs:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet (or two) with silpats or parchment paper.

Bring the water, butter and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed, 2 quart capacity saucepan over high heat. Remove the pan from the burner and add all the flour at once. Stir strongly until the flour is completely wet. Return the pan to medium high heat and continue stirring strongly until a light film forms over the bottom of the pan and the dough is smooth and soft and forms a ball when stirred. Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (or to a large, heat-proof mixing bowl if a stand mixer is unavailable.) Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. After the final egg is added, beat on high for at least 2 minutes, but not more than 4. (If beating by hand, you can count this as a large part of your daily workout. Beat it into submission!)

You must pipe or scoop out your cream puff dough immediately, but there are two options for after you portion them out. Either way, begin by using a pastry bag with a large plain tip or spoons to portion the dough into 16 equally sized rounds on the prepared pan(s). I use a pastry bag to pipe circles, piping in smaller toward the top. Traditionally, you tap down the little peaks that form, but my kids like to bite those off, so I leave them. Alternatively, you could use two large tablespoons portion it out, using one spoon to scrape the dough from the other over the pan.

At this point you can put the pan directly into the freezer, transferring the cream puffs to a resealable zipper top bag or freezer safe container with a tight fitting lid for up to 3 months.

~or~

To Bake the Cream Puffs:

(If preparing from frozen, simply add 5 minutes to the baking time at the end.) Place pan in the oven, bake for 15 minutes. Do not open that door! After 15 minutes, lower the heat to 375°F and cook for an additional 15 minutes. When the time is up, turn off the oven and stick the handle of a wooden spoon in between the body of the stove and the door to hold it open just a little and let the cream puffs cool in the oven like that for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. You can serve them immediately or cool to room temperature.

To Make Profiteroles:

Break open a cream puff at the midline (much like a muffin). Place the bottom on a plate, put a good sized scoop of ice cream on the base, add the top part of the cream puff and drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/30/cream-puffs-and-profiteroles-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Component Foods, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, Holiday Food, Ice Cream, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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