Balsamic Chicken Dinner Salad

Balsamic Chicken Dinner Salad from Foodie with Family

You know those go-to dishes? The ones that you can’t mess up and no matter how often you make them, you never tire of them? The dishes that you can make with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back? You are looking at one of mine.

That, my friends, is a dish I’ve been making for almost two decades. It started as a recipe clipped from a Wegman’s sales circular. Somewhere -about fifteen years ago- I made a couple of changes to the recipe based on what we had on hand and we liked it so much it stayed that way.

Balsamic Chicken Salad. I have an almost Pavlovian response to the name of the dish I love it so much. Tender strips of chicken are tossed with a balsamic vinegar, sun dried tomato and caper pan sauce over a bed of fresh greens.We are talking the ultimate dinner salad, here. If you serve this with a lovely hunk of baguette or some corn muffins and some sweet cream butter, you really don’t need anything else.

Now, if you’re not a salad person *GASP*, or can’t lay your hands on good mixed greens this time of year, don’t let this stop you. The chicken is so good by itself, you must -ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO- make it. I can’t keep my fingers out of the pan sneaking bites here and there. It is wonderful on sandwiches or tossed into bow-tie pasta with a shower of grated Parmesan cheese.

Mercifully, this eminently craveable dish is shockingly fast to make and budget friendly all while being impressive enough for company. You can’t beat that with a stick!

I’ll tell you, it does make quite a bit of chicken. This IS a dinner salad, after all. Don’t fret, though, if you’re cooking for less than a regiment, because the leftovers are great chilled on salad or folded into other dishes (hint hint… There’s a recipe that is especially good with it coming up in the next couple of weeks…)

Balsamic Chicken Dinner Salad

Balsamic Chicken Dinner Salad

Tender strips of chicken are tossed with a balsamic vinegar, sun dried tomato and caper pan sauce over a bed of fresh greens.We are talking the ultimate dinner salad, here.

Ingredients

  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into thin strips.
  • 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not the oil packed variety)
  • 1/2 cup semi-dry or dry white wine
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced or pressed
  • 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tsp brined non pareil capers, drained
  • 5 basil leaves, ripped into strips
  • Mixed salad greens
  • salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Heat the white wine in a saucepan or microwave until steam is rising from the top. Pour over the sun-dried tomatoes in a heat-proof bowl and cover with a saucer or plastic wrap. Set aside to rehydrate.

Sprinkle the sliced chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. When the oil is shimmery, add as much of the chicken as you can without overcrowding the pan.

Sautee the chicken until just cooked through and lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken. Repeat with the remaining chicken, adding 1 tablespoon of olive oil each time. You will probably have 3 batches, depending on the size of the chicken breasts.

When the final batch of chicken has been removed from the pan, add any remaining olive oil and the garlic and stir for about 15 seconds, or until the garlic is fragrant. Add the vinegar stir the remove any tasty bits stuck to the pan. When the vinegar boils up and starts to thicken, add the sun-dried tomatoes in the white wine, the capers, the basil, and return the chicken to the pan. Toss to coat and heat through. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add two cups of mixed salad greens to a plate for each of the desired number of servings and use tongs to arrange about a cup of chicken over each salad. Spoon pan sauces over the chicken, if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/01/16/balsamic-chicken-dinner-salad/

Green Olive Tapenade | Make Ahead Mondays {GIVEAWAY CLOSED}

Green Olive Tapenade with Wasa Rye Crisps from Foodie with Family

I love rich and indulgent food. I love butter, heavy cream, all manner of bread, bacon and the like. I also love healthy food. It all depends on what is going on, what’s freshest and what’s available to me. After the holiday food madness, my food pendulum tends to swing a little further toward the healthier food cravings. I’m more likely to have a desperate desire for broiled fish than a buttery chocolate custard. It has nothing to do with resolutions, because I’ve never been a New Year’s resolution girl; that’s just how I am this time of year.

Don’t misunderstand me; my taste buds have not taken a leave of absence. I still want delicious food. This is where I rely on bold flavours that deliver big like this Green Olive Tapenade. Indulge me for a moment if you’re a tapenade-aholic while I dig into what it is for the benefit of those who haven’t yet tried this ambrosia.

Tapenade -in it’s most traditional form- is a spread or dip made of black olives with capers and anchovies. It is served with bread or crackers or added as a fast-and-easy WHIZZBANG flavour component to sandwiches, flat-breads and many other dishes. For instance, I love a light layer of tapenade atop the aforementioned broiled fish. It’s the difference between plain old broiled fish and “Oooooh! Broiled Fish!”

While I am an Equal Opportunity Tapenade Lover, there is a special place in my heart and in my stomach for Green Olive Tapenade. I chalk this up to the fact that I didn’t discover a love of green olives until I was pregnant with my first child. It’s a matter of mathematics. I must make up for time lost NOT eating things with green olives by eating many things with green olives. I believe my physicist baby sister would agree with this theory. Let’s ask her. Airlia? Are you reading this?

My Green Olive Tapenade is extra fabulous for more than one reason, though. While the traditional tapenade is almost entirely made of salty preserved things (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Believe me, I’ve consumed and will continue to consume more than my share of the stuff…) I like to make mine more exciting with the addition of fresh herbs, garlic, lemon, and flavourful sun-dried tomatoes. It practically sings from the bowl, “I waaaaaaant you to want me. I neeeeeeeeeeed you to need me!”

Please tell me food sings songs from the 80′s to you, too.

In addition to all it’s deliciousness, tapenade has some health benefits. It’s true! Olives are full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. These are the good fats that help control cholesterol and blood sugar. Don’t you love it when great food is great for you?

Now, before I give you this ultimate Make Ahead Monday fabulousness (because once made, the Green Olive Tapenade is good for up to a month when tightly covered in the refrigerator. Tapenade things with wild abandon!) I will put on a dazzling display of mind reading. I sense it deep in my core that the second I said ‘anchovies’ some folks started pulling faces. No nose twitching allowed unless you’re certifiably allergic to fish. Anchovies add that certain je ne sais quois to dishes. Since all the ingredients are chopped or ground together, I defy you to find the presence of anchovy in tapenade. While you won’t be able to say, “A-HA! I taste ANCHOVY!” if you include the wee little fishies, you will most certainly know you’re missing a certain depth of flavour if you omit them. Take the plunge, or your tapenade attempt will sleep with Luca Brasi AND the fishes.

Please make yourself a batch of Green Olive Tapenade. You’re going to want to have it on hand for an impossibly easy and delicious Super Bowl treat I’ll be sharing with you in the next couple of weeks. You really won’t want to miss it!

Green Olive Tapenade | Make Ahead Mondays {GIVEAWAY}

Rating: 51

Green Olive Tapenade | Make Ahead Mondays {GIVEAWAY}

Your taste buds will sing for joy when you eat this fast, delicious Green Olive Tapenade full of briny olives and capers, fresh herbs, garlic, lemon, and flavourful sun-dried tomatoes.

Serve as an accompaniment to bread, crackers, crisps, vegetables or use as a topping for fish, chicken, pork. A spoonful or two tossed with hot pasta is one of the world's fastest comfort food dishes!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups drained Manzanilla olives with pimientos
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons brined capers + a little of their brine
  • 7 anchovy fillets (from a can of packed-in-olive-oil anchovies)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon chopped, oil-packed sun dried tomatoes
  • the juice and zest of one whole lemon
  • 3 fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 to 1 small clove of garlic, peeled and minced or pressed

Instructions

Add all ingredients to the workbowl of a food processor* (See Note) fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until everything is evenly chopped. You can leave it more coarse for spooning on top of things or grind it up a little more to use as a dip or sauce. It is a matter of personal preference.

Notes

If you do not have a food processor, don't fret! Finely chop your herbs and sun-dried tomatoes then add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl and use a sturdy spoon to smash them together. It will be a more rustic but no less delicious tapenade!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/01/14/green-olive-tapenade-make-ahead-mondays-giveaway/

Update:The giveaway is now closed. Pick a Giveaway Winner chose Katee L as our random winner. Check your email and congratulations, Katee!

More giveaway fun! Wasa Crispbreads (pictured above with the Green Olive Tapenade) have offered to help kickstart one Foodie with Family reader’s holiday foods reset.  The crispbread’s pure, natural grain flavours shine through ready to be topped with anything you wish, whether salty or sweet. Because the crispbreads themselves are not salted, they are a superior choice for serving with salty Green Olive Tapenade and other savoury spreads. My kids also love them topped with cream cheese and candied jalapeños or blueberry jam.

Wasa is giving away the following prize package to one Foodie with Family reader in the United States.

  •  1 $25 gift card (That would buy enough ingredients for a VAT of Green Olive Tapenade!)
  • 2 packages of Wasa Crispbreads so you can discover your own favourite way to eat them.

How do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post telling me what you do to reset after the holidays. Do you do resolutions? Do you crave healthy foods? Are you still doing holiday activities?

Optional Entries: (Be sure to leave a separate comment for each optional entry method used so we can be sure to count it!)

  1. Like Foodie with Family on Facebook.
  2. Follow Foodie with Family on Twitter.
  3. Follow Foodie with Family’s boards on Pinterest.
  4. Like Wasa on Facebook.
  5. Follow Wasa on Twitter.

The winner will be chosen at random and announced here on this post on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Good luck everyone!

Disclosure: Wasa provided crispbreads for me to review and compensation for my additional ingredients, but all opinions are -as always- my own.

Earl Grey Raisin Scones with Sticky Lemon Glaze | Downton Grub Files

Earl Grey Raisin Scones with Sticky Lemon Glaze from Foodie with Family

 

The body of this post and the printable recipe do NOT contain SPOILERS, however, I cannot make any promises about the comments section. If you are not caught up on Downton Abbey (Episode 1 of Season 3 as of this writing on January 12th, 2013), you may not want to read comments. I also ask -No, I BEG and PLEAD- that our friends overseas (or those who somehow saw all of Season 3 already) refrain from giving away what happens in any episodes past where I am!

Whoopsie! Forgot to include how MUCH cream in the ingredients list. It is fixed now!

I am an unapologetic anglophile from television programs to music to art to literature to food.

It is an idea that started with a simple question on the Foodie with Family facebook page…

“Are there any Downton Abbey fans here?”

In sixteen hours, more than seventy people ‘liked’ the post and there were twenty four comments. I knew I wasn’t the only mega Downton Abbey fan out there. Obviously. I hear internet chatter. I read newspapers. I see the news. I know it’s a big deal. What I didn’t know was how many Foodie with Family readers would be interested in me blathering on about how on Sunday the children are duct taped into bed after I rush home from taking my eldest to youth group at lightning speed just so I can see the Dowager Countess, Lady Grantham, Lady Mary, Sybil, Edith, week-ends, Mr. Bates and Anna, the abhorrent Thomas, Mr. Carson, Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Pattimore, Daisy, Mrs. O’Brien, upstairs and downstairs, and lush costuming.

OH, THOSE COSTUMES. The dresses! The DRESSES, I tell you!!!!!!

Yes, I record it on the DVR, but if you have to ask that, you’re not getting my point. I want to watch it the very second it’s airing on PBS. I don’t want to wait one fraction of a second to get my weekly Downton fix.

More than I want to dress like Lady Mary, do something jolly with my hair like Edith, or just plain LOOK like Sybil from time to time, I want to be as witty, incorrigible and stalwart as the Dowager Countess Violet. Every time she speaks, I hush the imaginary people in the room with me. Imaginary, because I DO NOT allow anyone in the room with me lest they should talk over, wiggle, or otherwise interrupt my show.

My husband likes to sit in the other room with the door closed and laugh at me as I yell at the t.v. (Thomas, Mrs. O’Brien, and the former Mrs. Bates, I’m looking at you…), swoon (Oh hello, Lady Mary and Matthew, Anna and Mr. Bates. Yes. You all make my heart go pitter patter.), and otherwise sigh, moon, and mope when episodes conclude.  After listening to me watch the conclusion of Season 2, he asked, “Is that what I sound like when I watch football?” My response included something intimating that if football had dresses like that I’d watch it, too.

I was late to the Downton party because of a fun little personality quirk where I deliberately avoid trying anything large crowds of people love. Yeah. That’s working out really well… So far, I can add Harry Potter books, Downton Abbey, and So You Think You Can Dance to that list.* The ONLY advantage to having taken so long to discover the series (midway through Season 2) was that I got to park myself on the couch for an indecent amount of time and watch Season 1 in one sitting.

*To be fair to myself, I can also add the Twilight books, which -after reading- led me to conclude that my personality quirk might actually be useful in some ways. To quote Snorg Tees, “Real men don’t sparkle. Real men defeat dark wizards!”

I quickly discovered that I really couldn’t get through an episode of the show without something to eat since so much of it revolves around time spent at the dinner table or in the kitchen.  Since I love a good theme, I decided to stock myself with British Isles treats to nibble while slowly and inexorably becoming part of my furniture. And here’s where my idea came sidling in like Mr. Carson in the dining room.  Why not post a little of the grub I made to sustain myself during my Downton Abbey marathon sessions? Just as quickly as the thought was hatched, I could almost hear the Dowager Countess saying, “What IS grub?” The Dowager Countess is apparently my grammatical conscience.

Today is my first contribution to the Downton Grub Files and it’s a doozy; Earl Grey Raisin Scones with Sticky Lemon Glaze. These moist, flaky scones are packed with Earl Grey soaked raisins and a touch of lemon zest and topped with a sticky, absolutely, unequivocally un-Downton finger-licking, Sticky Lemon Glaze. Every time you bite into one of the juicy soaked raisins, you get a little subtle pop of Earl Grey tea. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Patimore would be a-okay with slurping the glaze from your fingers, so go for it.

Tune in every Saturday while Downton Abbey airs for a great new classic British fare recipe to eat while you watch on Sundays! Who’s your favourite on Downton? What moments made you GASP? Cry? Scream at the television? (Come on, I can’t be the only one who did it!)

Earl Grey Raisin Scones with Sticky Lemon Glaze | Downton Grub Files

Earl Grey Raisin Scones with Sticky Lemon Glaze | Downton Grub Files

Moist, flaky lightly lemony scones studded with Earl Grey soaked golden raisins are perfect to nibble while watching Downton Abbey or just because you can.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup golden raisins soaked in 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) hot, extra-strong Earl Grey tea for at least an hour
  • 4 cups (1 pound 1 ounce, by weight) all-purpose flour (preferably King Arthur all-purpose or Galahad flour.)
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 8 tablespoons (1 a stick of butter or 4 ounces by weight), very cold and cut into 1/4-inch cubes, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • zest of one lemon, divided
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper and set aside.

Pour the raisins and tea into a fine mesh strainer and let drain thoroughly.

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add about 1/2 of the cubed butter and work in with a fork, two knives, a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture resembles lentils. Add the remaining butter and work in, leaving some slightly larger pea sized -or even larger- flakes of butter.

Add half of the lemon zest, and the drained raisins to the flour, then toss through gently until evenly distributed, taking care not to mash it in. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cream, sprinkling it over the top, then tossing to combine. Pick up a small amount of the mixture and try squeezing it gently together. If it crumbles, or if there are dry crumbs in the bottom of the bowl, add more cream -1 tablespoon at a time- until you have a mixture that holds together as a shaggy dough when squeezed gently. Use a bench scraper or spatula to gently fold the dough in on itself until it forms a shaggy mass you can turn out onto a very lightly floured surface.

Divide the dough in half and gently pat out the dough into two 7-8 inch discs that are about 3/4 of an inch thick. Carefully transfer the discs to a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a bench knife or Chef's knife to cut each disc into 8 wedges, cutting straight down and not sawing back and forth to help it rise higher in the oven. Gently separate the wedges so there is a little space between them.

Whisk together the remaining lemon zest, the lemon juice and the sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Lightly brush the tops of the unbaked scones with the glaze.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the scones are puffy and golden brown on top.

Spoon any leftover glaze on the hot scones and spread it over the tops. Let cool 'til comfortable to handle!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/01/12/earl-grey-raisin-scones-with-sticky-lemon-glaze-downton-grub-files/

Homemade Feta Cheese | Make Ahead Mondays

Perfect Homemade Feta Cheese

I have been promising to bring you my homemade feta cheese recipe for a while (Ahem, probably a couple of years. Eek.) Today is finally the day. You may be wondering why I bother making feta cheese from scratch. The answer-as is often the case-  is that homemade tastes great and because I can. I am, after all, the daughter of a man who feels driven to walk laps around the house outside in blizzards when authorities warn that you shouldn’t go out unless you have to do so.

There’s an enormous satisfaction in doing something that seems just undo-able, isn’t there? Not only does homemade feta taste incredible, but it delivers a pioneer, up-by-my-bootstraps joy that a store-bought version just can’t give no matter how wonderful it is.

…But there’s another reason to take the plunge and it’s a doozy. For the cost of three gallons of milk (it can be pasteurized/homogenized or raw, cow or goat milk) and about a dollars worth of other stuff, you get a massive amount of feta cheese. As in a gallon jar of brined feta cheese. If you’re fearful of trying your hand at cheese making, just think of it this way; the risk is about twelve dollars worth of materials (depending on milk cost near you) versus a potential payoff of about forty dollars worth of cheese and an enormous ego boost. If it -bumbum BUM!!!!!- goes wrong, you can feed the errant cheese to dogs, cats, pigs, etc… They’ll be happy.

I’m going to get right into it because even if I’m being succinct, this post is going to be long on account of the how-to photos… There’s no getting around it. Some important notes:

  • Stay calm! Cheesemaking is not supposed to be stressful. It may seem complicated, but it isn’t. Just go one step at a time and you’ll get there.
  • Don’t get freaked out by the length of time it takes to make this. Much of the time is hands-off time. Another warning for those who haven’t made cheese or fermented something before; it gets a little, um, pungent smelling at times. Keep a-going. Don’t worry! Remember that cheese making is essentially controlling how fast and in what way milk ‘goes bad’. If it goes bad the right way it’s delicious!
  • The only special equipment you really need to pull this off is a large stainless steel or other non-reactive pot, a heat source, a long knife or off-set spatula, a colander, something from whence to hang the cheese and butter muslin (extra, super, mega fine cheesecloth.)  Do not confuse this with the “fine” cheesecloth you get in the grocery store or hardware store. It’s confusing terminology, but that stuff is so not fine. Just look for something called butter muslin and you’ll be fine. Finer than cheesecloth. Sorry. You can get it here. (Note: This is an affiliate link.)

 

  • You can opt to use raw OR pasteurized/homogenized milk. It can be cow milk or goat milk. Any of those choices will be delicious.
  • Goat milk is naturally more tangy, so if you use cow milk, you may want to consider adding a bit of lipase powder. Lipase is an enzyme that naturally occurs in higher amounts in goat milk. If you want cow milk feta to have that bite that is found in feta, lipase powder is your answer. You can get it via my beloved Amazon.com should you wish to. (Note: This is an affiliate link.)

  • As far as specialty ingredients go, the lipase is optional, but rennet and mesophilic culture are not optional. Again? You can turn to Amazon.com (Affiliate Links.)

 

Whatever you do, don’t think Junket Rennet will do the job. It simply won’t. That’s for custard making. My preferred cheesemaking rennet is made from animal sources:

But there is a perfectly acceptable and delicious vegetarian option…

  • Finally, I suggest you start the process around lunch time. This gives you the time needed to do the Day One portion of the recipe before too late in the day.

homemade feta 7

 

Just think what you’d do with a gallon jar full of fabulous feta cheese. You can go nuts with feta! On pizzas, spanakopita, this tempting salad from my friend, a baked potato, in soup, in omelets, with olives and bread, IN bread, and in just about any recipe that calls for cheese. Where would you use your wealth of feta?

Homemade Feta Cheese | Make Ahead Mondays

Homemade Feta Cheese | Make Ahead Mondays

What do you get when you combine three gallons of milk, a little know-how and some time? A big batch of homemade feta cheese that tastes incredible and gives you major bragging rights. Don't fear the cheesemaking!

Method gently adapted from and with thanks to Fias Co Farm Please visit her site for great feta cheese trouble shooting and other pointers.

Ingredients

    For the Cheese:
  • 3 gallons fresh raw or pasteurized and homogenized goat or cow milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon Mesophilic culture (see link in post for source)
  • 1/4 teaspoon lipase powder if using cow milk (Omit for vegetarian cheese. Lipase is animal derived.)
  • 1 teaspoon single-strength liquid rennet (or 1/2 teaspoon double strength liquid OR 3/4 of a vegetarian rennet tablet crushed) dissolved in 1/2 cup of cool, UNCHLORINATED water.
  • kosher salt (no substitute)
  • For the Brine:
  • 1/2 cup kosher salt (no substitute)
  • 1 gallon cool, UNCHLORINATED water

Instructions

To Make the Cheese:

Sterilize all of your equipment with boiling water before beginning (including the cheesecloth.)

In a very large, non-reactive pot, bring all of the milk up to 86°F.-88°F. Add the mesophilic culture and the lipase powder, if you are using it. Stir well with an up and down motion, cover the pot and let rest for one hour. Try to maintain the 86°F temperature. If you have trouble with that, you can set your large pot inside a larger pot with an inch of hot water in the bottom of it. This should help regulate the temperature more gently than firing up a burner directly beneath the milk. The goal is to avoid rapid temperature changes.*See notes.

After 1 hour, add the dissolved rennet to the milk and stir vigorously for 15-20 seconds. Remove the spoon from the pot, cover it, and let it stand undisturbed for 30-40 minutes or until the curd 'breaks' cleanly when you insert the tip of a knife and lift as shown below.

Cut a 1/2-inch grid pattern into the curd. Don't get perfectionist here, you'll get frustrated. The curd likes to move while you try to cut it, so just do your best.

After you have the grid pattern, hold the knife at a 45° angle and retrace the cuts you've already made. This is going to make MOST of the curd in the pot into roughly 1/2-inch pieces.

The ones that didn't get cut that small will break up later in the process. DO NOT STIR THE CURD YET.

Let the curd rest undisturbed for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, stir gently, breaking up any larger pieces you missed with the knife. Again, don't sweat this too much... Just try to have most pieces in the neighborhood of 1/2 an inch.

Keep the curd at 86°F to 88°F for 45 minutes, stirring from time to time to keep the curd from sticking to itself. You'll notice the curd getting slightly firmer and smaller. This is because as you stir it and hold it at this temperature it releases more whey.

Dampen your butter muslin/cheesecloth and use it to line a large colander. I usually position the colander over another large stockpot because I like to save the whey for baking.

Carefully and gently ladle the curds and whey into the lined colander.

When all the curds are in the colander, draw all 4 corners of the cheesecloth together to form a bag and tie in a sturdy knot. Hang the bag over the sink or a bowl or pot so it can drain freely.

Let the cheese drain at room temperature for 3-4 hours, carefully lower the bag into the colander and untie the bag. At this point, the cheese will be smooth on the bottom and spiky on top.

Flip the curd over so the spikes are at the bottom, retie and rehang the bag. Let it drain for 24 hours.

Here is where you're going to notice a certain stank coming from the vicinity of your cheese. That's okay. It means you're on the right track. Don't back down!

After 24 hours, lower the cheese, untie the bag and put the curd onto a sterilized cutting board. Cut it into blocks. I usually aim for pieces that are about the size of a deck of cards but about 2 inches thick.

Generously sprinkle all of the surfaces of the cut cheese with kosher salt then load the cheese into a sterilized, large, food-safe container with a tightly fitting lid.

Let the cheese rest at room temperature (DO NOT REFRIGERATE even though it is counterintuitive.) for 2 to 3 days so that it can continue releasing whey and hardening up. This will help it store longer.

To Prepare the Brine and Store the Cheese:

Pour the whey the cheese has released into a sterilized large, food-safe container with a tightly fitting lid. Arrange the cheese blocks in it.

Add the gallon of water and 1/2 cup of kosher salt to a non-reactive pot. Stir well over medium heat until the salt is completely dissolved. Let the brine come to room temperature before pouring it over the cheese. Put the lid in place tightly on the container and store the cheese in the refrigerator.

Let the cheese age at least two weeks before eating. It is good for up to a year as long as it is kept submerged in the brine and refrigerated. It will continue to get stronger in taste as it ages.

Notes

*If your room temperature is too cool and you are having trouble maintaining the temperature of the milk, you can either set the pot inside a larger pot with an inch or two of hot water in the bottom. When the temperature of the milk starts dropping, you can turn the burner on under the larger pot and the hot water will help gently raise the temperature of the milk in the inside pot. The goal is to avoid rapid temperature changes with can affect the culture at work in the milk as well as risk scorching. Scorched cheese is blechy.

Another option -and my preferred one- is to set the pot on top of a warm but not hot heating pad. This is my go-to procedure during cooler months when I have to wear a sweat-a to make feta.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/01/07/homemade-feta-cheese-make-ahead-mondays/

 

 

Ranch Bake-In-Slices Bread

Ranch Pull Apart Bread

This is going to be a little crazy all over the place, so please bear with me, but I have a lot of ground to cover.

First -and most importantly- my entire family thanks you for all the condolences and expressions of support you’ve shared with us after the loss of Val. It means more to me personally than I can possibly say to know that you all are thinking of and praying for us. As weird as it feels to get back to doing normal, every day things, it really does have to happen, so here I am!

Next, I hope you’ve noticed the pretty new dress Foodie with Family is wearing. It was a while in the making, but I love the new look. There are a couple of little upgrades and tweaks I wanted to point out to you that will -hopefully- make hanging out here and menu planning a little easier and more pleasant.

  • If you hover your cursor over the “Recipes” tab directly below the header, you will see three options. Clicking on Recipes will -as always- take you to my recipe archive page where every single recipe (hopefully!) that has ever been on Foodie with Family can be found in one handy-dandy page. Clicking on Shopping List will allow you to put ingredients from our recipes onto a -what else- shopping list! courtesy of Ziplist. (Those are the same nice folks who created the plug-in that I use to provide printable recipes here.) Directly below that is the Grocery Deals option. This nifty function -again, courtesy of Ziplist- allows you to specify which grocery chains are near you and see what the advertised sales are in your area. I encourage you to to play around a little bit with those options. Hooray for streamlining the menu planning process!

recipe tab capture

  • We have pretty new (and much, much more user friendly) options for subscribing to Foodie with Family via RSS or reader, send me an email or follow me on Twitter, and Facebook. Please join me in any or all of those. I do so love your company.

Social Media Icons

  • In the sidebar, there is a more fwf section featuring some older posts that you just might find a.) interesting, b.) hilarious (it’s a process, right? Tell me I’ve grown.) and c.) delicious.

Now, I know there are bound to be hiccups here and there as there always are with changes,  so I hope you all will let me know if you find a broken link or wonky image anywhere. I do love my new look, though. What do you all think?

Finally, there’s this bread. Oh, this Ranch Bake-In-Slices Bread is the bees-knees. It’s bread that’s baked in such a way that no slicing is necessary afterward. Why bother? Well… Lemme tell you. Most folks know you’re not supposed to slice hot bread because it ruins the texture of the rest of the loaf, right? This loaf is superior BECAUSE YOU CAN EAT HOT SLICES OF BREAD WITHOUT WAITING FOR IT TO COOL. That’s where you hear angels singing, right? Of course, there’s more. There’s the fact that it’s brushed lavishly with butter and sprinkled with Ranch dressing mix before being stacked deck-of-cards-like into the also lavishly buttered bread pan. And there’s also the fact that you can make this with homemade or purchased bread dough… There’s the perfection of a sunny-side up egg on top of a slice. Or the fact that grilled cheese sandwiches made on slices of this bread are pretty much the best tasting things ever, if a little funny looking. I’ve sopped soup, sauce and egg yolks with slices of this. Take your pick. Any one of those is reason enough for me.

My favourite, though, is simply turning the freshly baked loaf of pre-sliced bread out onto a cooling rack and peeling back then inhaling the heel pieces. Yes. That is comfort food writ large, folks. Happy sigh.

Ranch Bake-In-Slices Bread

Ranch Bake-In-Slices Bread

Ranch Bake-In-Slices Bread is a wonderfully versatile snacking bread that bakes itself into slices. Eat hot straight from the oven, sop up soup, stew or sauce, or use to make the most spectacular grilled cheese sandwich this side of heaven.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound sandwich bread dough (homemade like this or purchased)
  • 1 stick (4 ounces by weight, 8 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for buttering the loaf pan.
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoon of dry Ranch salad dressing mix
  • 1 teaspoon dried dill weed

Instructions

On a clean, lightly floured surface, roll the bread dough out into a rectangle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Pour the melted butter over the rectangle and use a pastry brush to more or less evenly distribute it. Sprinkle the dry Ranch dressing mix and dried dill weed over the dough. Cut the dough into pieces that are roughly the size of a playing card.

Butter a standard loaf pan and prop one end up on a box of toothpicks or something similar so that the pan tilts up at on end. Stack five pieces of the dough at a time and place in the pan, starting at the lower end so gravity holds it in place. Repeat until you've added all of the dough to the pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes at room temperature.

While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 350°F. Uncover the dough and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top of the bread is deep golden brown. Let the bread rest in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a plate or cooling rack. Eat immediately or store wrapped with a clean towel at room temperature.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/01/04/ranch-bake-in-slices-bread/

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

 

Soup equals my bonus mom, Val. She is the Soup Queen. Almost without fail, anytime someone is invited over for dinner -whether family or friend- soup and muffins were on the menu. Val said that was because soup and muffins were almost always inexpensive, easy to make, and delicious. Val is the soup queen.

Her soups are a marvel of resourcefulness, deliciousness and beauty.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to learn at her elbow for more than twenty years and here are some of the most important soup tips I’ve gleaned from her over the years.

  • A little bit of this and a little bit of that equals a lot of soup. It doesn’t take much of any one thing to make a massive pot of excellent soup.
  • Don’t overthink it. Soup shouldn’t be difficult.
  • Keep tasting and  keep adjusting. Don’t be afraid to toss something else in there if it doesn’t taste the way you want it.  If you can’t fix it, ask Val. She’ll know how.
  • Chances are good that if your soup needs adjusting what it really needs is nutmeg. Freshly grated nutmeg. Ask Val.
  • Soup hides many sins. Overcook your roast? Char your roasted veggies? Got something that is just about to be past its prime? Toss it into soup and say amen.
  • Soup plus bread or muffins equals a happily fed crowd. Really.

Speaking of soup, Panera contacted me a few weeks ago and offered me the chance to visit one of their restaurants.  I was pretty excited. After all, I am a soup nut. I’d heard people rave about the place for years and just had never gotten the chance to visit one.

Oh, the wares. Soup and bread and pastries. This is my kind of restaurant. There simply is nothing better than a homey bowl of soup served up with a hunk of tasty baguette bread. My Mom got black bean soup because it’s vegetarian and so is she. I opted for the Broccoli Cheddar Soup because, well, it had broccoli and Cheddar; two of my favourite things in the entire world. I told mom I needed to taste her soup for research purposes. She allowed me to do so. When I went to dip back in for more research, though, I’m pretty sure I saw a steely glint in her eye. I backed off and attacked my own soup with vigor. Just look at that. How could you NOT want to dive in head first?

Panera is my new go-to place for a quick bite on the town. Mom and I agreed that we’ll check their website every single time we venture to the big city to see just what the soup is of the day. I was inspired by my visit to Panera’s “Good Goes In” philosophy to finally introduce my favourite winter soup here.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup has been on my rotation for many, many years in some form or another and is just about the perfect thing for this time of year. Oh sure, it’s indulgent, creamy, rich, comforting and whatnot, but it also has broccoli. That makes it health food. I think. I’m pretty sure it does, anyway. I’ll ask Val.

Long may soup and the Soup Queen reign!

 

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

There is really nothing more comforting than a bowl of soup on a cold winter day and this Broccoli Cheddar Soup is exceptionally good at the job. Creamy, rich, and distinctly cheesy, it doesn't skimp on tender broccoli and has gorgeous little flecks of sweet carrot hiding in it.

Ingredients

  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons, 4 ounces by weight) unsalted butter
  • 2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced or pressed
  • 1/2 cup (2 1/8 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 4 cups chicken broth or stock
  • 2 broccoli crowns, cut into small bite-sized pieces, no larger than can comfortably fit on a spoon
  • 6 cups milk
  • 1 cup coarsely shredded carrot
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons ground mustard powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 3-4 cups grated Cheddar cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot or soup pot, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in the chopped onions and garlic and a pinch of salt and let it cook 'til the onions and garlic are tender and translucent around the edges, about 4 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir it in until evenly coating the onions and garlic then cook for 1 minute. Pour the chicken stock into the pan, raise the heat to high, and stir well until evenly combined. Add the broccoli in, stir well, and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Boil for 3 minutes.

Lower the heat to medium and stir in the milk, carrot, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder and grated nutmeg. Cook the mixture gently, lowering the heat if necessary to prevent boiling, until the broccoli is tender, but still has body. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cheese until it is fully melted into the soup. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper to your preference.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/12/19/broccoli-cheddar-soup/

Disclosure: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Disclosure, I was given a gift card to try Panera bread as well as a stipend to pay for ingredients used in my recipe development. All opinions and thoughts, as well as the recipe, are my own.

Freeze and Bake Bacon Cheddar Scallion Scones | Make Ahead Mondays {GIVEAWAY CLOSED}

Update: The Pick Giveaway Winner plugin chose Jana as the winner of our Folgers Holiday Exclusive Gift Pack. Congratulations, Jana! Check your email!

A couple months ago, I hauled out of bed on a Saturday morning, pulled back my hair and put on my face, put some clothes on that I hoped were cute (who can tell anymore? I’m so out of touch!) and hopped in the car for an hour and a half drive. It was snowing, it was cold, it was a good day to stay home. So why did I go anywhere?

Because in a warm building at the Genesee Country Village and Museum an hour and a half away, there was a King Arthur Flour baking demonstration that was open to the community. I was going to this on a dreary day because I am utterly and completely devoted to King Arthur Flour. I buy it by the fifty pound bag from my Amish friends. As in, multiple fifty pound bags: one of all-purpose, one of high-gluten, and one of white wheat. Yes. I use that much flour. I’m King Arthur Flour’s biggest fan in a non-creepy, not-Kathy-Bates-in-Misery kind of way.

I’d never been to one of their demonstrations, not for lack of desire, but because I lived too far from their baking center. When I learned that there was a local-ish one I could attend, I hopped on it! I really didn’t know what to expect other than the topic was going to be pie crusts, scones and biscuits.

**insert drooling and panting here**

I can’t help myself when it comes to pie crusts, scones and biscuits. They are the holy trinity of me losing what’s left of my pea-sized mind while inhaling food in a frenzy of crumbs, eye-rolling and happy noises. It’s not pretty to watch. Pies, scones and biscuits. I am powerless over you.

Pie crusts, scones and biscuits have more commonality than the equally abysmal self control I exhibit around all three; they’re pretty much made the same way. I hate to admit that with all my baking experience, I had never really thought of that. God bless Irene -King Arthur Flour Baking Expert Extraordinaire!- who made the connection crystal clear. To super simplify the whole process, it is essentially dry things whisked together, cold fat cut into it, and wet stuff tossed in until it is clumpy. Irene shared a tip with me that I’d never heard before and it totally re-invigorated my pie crust/scone/biscuit making. She said to work the fat into the dry ingredients in two separate additions. *FACEPALM* Seriously. Why? Because this ensures both that you have fat worked through which gives it tenderness and larger bits of butter/shortening/lard that gives you flakiness. If you work it in all at once, you won’t be able to achieve that highly sought after flaky/tender combo.  I love Irene.*

*Besides, any woman who can stand in front of a room filled with two hundred strangers and ask in response to an audience question -with a straight face and angelic tone of voice- whether someone’s pie bird ‘pukes up pie filling’ when it bakes has my loyalty forever.

She turned out the most gorgiferous apple pie and then moved onto scones where she casually said something that pretty much rocked my universe, even more than the ‘these three things are pretty much the same’ revelation. She suggested making and forming scone dough ahead of time and flash freezing them (laying the scones on a parchment lined pan to freeze solid before wrapping and transferring them to a freezer bag) and baking them off on Christmas morning. Good golly. I’d done this for years with biscuits, why oh WHY had I not translated this to scones?

I had visions of popping frozen scones on a pan and into a pre-heated oven*, sitting in my easy chair in my flannel jammies on Christmas morning while the kids opened presents, and standing up only when I hear the timer just in time to pull a tray of steaming hot, tender, bacon and scallion flecked scones from the oven. The fantasy goes on to being able to start our Christmas feast in a spotlessly clean kitchen later in the day because all I had to do was crumble the parchment and rinse the pan on which the scones baked.

*Yes, even in my fantasies, I pre-heat my oven.

Irene, we will be singing your praises with mouths full of tender flaky scones Christmas morning. Thank you!

Freeze and Bake Bacon Cheddar Scallion Scones | {GIVEAWAY} and Make Ahead Mondays

Freeze and Bake Bacon Cheddar Scallion Scones | {GIVEAWAY} and Make Ahead Mondays

Having a bag of these frozen pre-formed scones in the oven is your secret holiday breakfast or brunch weapon. Simply remove desired number of scones from the freezer, place on a parchment lined pan and bake. Forty five minutes later you have piping hot, tender, flaky scones studded with crispy bacon, minced scallion and tiny pockets of melted Cheddar cheese.

Very gently adapted from and with thanks to King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

  • 4 cups (1 pound 1 ounce, by weight) all-purpose flour (preferably King Arthur all-purpose or Galahad flour.)
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 8 tablespoons (1 a stick of butter or 4 ounces by weight), very cold and cut into 1/4-inch cubes, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups finely diced Cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup finely minced scallion tops (green onions)
  • 1 pound of bacon, cooked 'til crispy, then cooled and crumbled or chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream or half and half plus 1/4 cup (plus more, if needed, to make a cohesive dough.)
  • For Baking:
  • Additional cream for brushing prior to baking

Instructions

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add about 1/2 of the cubed butter and work in with a fork, two knives, a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture resembles lentils. Add the remaining butter and work in, leaving some slightly larger pea sized -or even larger- flakes of butter.

Add the cheese, bacon and scallion tops and toss through gently until evenly distributed, taking care not to mash it in. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cream, sprinkling it over the top, then tossing to combine. Pick up a small amount of the mixture and try squeezing it gently together. If it crumbles, or if there are dry crumbs in the bottom of the bowl, add more cream -1 tablespoon at a time- until you have a mixture that holds together as a shaggy dough when squeezed gently. Use a bench scraper or spatula to gently fold the dough in on itself until it forms a shaggy mass you can turn out onto a very lightly floured surface.

Divide the dough in half and gently pat out the dough into two 7-8 inch discs that are about 3/4 of an inch thick. Carefully transfer the discs to a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a bench knife or Chef's knife to cut each disc into 8 wedges, cutting straight down and not sawing back and forth to help it rise higher in the oven. Gently separate the wedges so there is a little space between them.

Place the pan directly into the freezer. When the scones are frozen solid, individually wrap each of them tightly with plastic wrap then add to a resealable freezer bag. Keep frozen for up to three months.

Ready to Bake?

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Remove desired number of scones from the freezer, unwrap and arrange with some space between them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush lightly with heavy cream and bake for 45 minutes or until browned and puffy.

Notes

Don't be afraid to add more heavy cream (or LESS for that matter) than specified in the recipe. Irene from King Arthur Flour suggests that you should use visual cues to determine how much or little to add. Start at the lower end of the recommended amount and watch how the dough behaves. If there are large amounts clumping together and little pockets of dry-ish crumbly bits, move the large clumps to the side and sprinkle just a little cream over the crumbly bits until they behave like the clumps. It takes patience, but the end result is so worth it!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/12/18/freeze-and-bake-bacon-cheddar-scallion-scones-giveaway-and-make-ahead-mondays/

Now, another GIVEAWAY! The folks at Folgers have offered a Folgers Holiday Exclusives Coffee Kit (ARV: $150) to one very lucky Foodie with Family reader! This promotion is to introduce their brand new Folgers Wakin’ Up Club. If you join the Folger’s Wakin’ Up Club, you get coupons, news on promotions and chances to win weekly prizes at Folgers.com. You can also download the new Folgers Wakin’ Up App to help spread some extra holiday cheer with friends and family this season. Sounds fun to me!

What’s in the kit?

  • A Variety of Folgers Products: Classic Roast, Black Silk and 100% Colombian (My husband loves the Fresh Breaks for business travel. He says they’re infinitely better than the drip coffee in hotel rooms. Instant coffee has come a long way, baby.)
  • Crate and Barrel Gingerbread Mug
  • L.L. Bean Comfy Flannel Pajama Set (Who doesn’t love warm jammies? These are the comfiest ones in town!)
  • Red Holiday Socks (WARM TOOTSIES!)
  • Pottery Barn Coffee and Warm Socks Framed Print

Here’s how to enter to win that a great bunch of goodies!

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Leave a comment here telling me what your favourite part of the holiday season is. Is it the food? Family? Friends? Smell of pine everywhere? Talk to me!

Optional Entries. Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry so that it’s sure to be counted!:

You don’t have a ton of time, folks because we’re closing the giveaway on this Friday, December 21st. Get your entries in quickly like bunnies! Merry Christmas to you all!
DISCLOSURE: Folgers is providing a gift pack for one reader and sent one to me for review. All opinions, thoughts, and writing are my own.

Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts with Chinese Sausage

I don’t know whether you’re aware of this or not, but I have a serious Brussels sprouts fixation.  I’ve shared my ultimate favourite way of eating them before but there is no such thing as too many good ways to prepare the sweet little cabbages so I have another gorgiferous and splendid Brussels sprouts recipe for you today.

AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING!

I think. I mean, I know I’m not the only one out there who gets an automatic and rather dramatic salivary response when they hear the words ‘Brussels sprouts’, right? My friends and I were talking about this the other day. Lisa (the one who introduced me to this recipe) wondered aloud why there was so much hate for the maligned vegetable. Amy nailed it: “It’s because most people grew up eating them overcooked.”

This recipe is a win-them-over one. Seriously. It’s so ever-lovin’ good. It is very much like cabbage and bacon, except CUTER. Because the cabbages are LITTLE! Okay, so I shred ‘em and you can’t see how little they are, but it’s all mental. You knew they were tiny and adorable at the start of the process. Why not just use cabbage if you’re shredding it? Because Brussels sprouts have a concentrated nuttiness that cabbage lacks. Just try them like this (or like this!) and I’m confident you’ll love them.

While we’re on the subject of things that you may or may not have tried, let’s talk Chinese sausage. First, however, I need to wipe the drool from my mouth because this is another involuntary response much like the one I have to Brussels sprouts. These skinny little cured Chinese sausages (often labeled Lap Cheong or Lap Xuong) are available in Asian foods markets, well-stocked grocery stores and my beloved Amazon.com (if you click on the picture below you can purchase some for yourself at a pretty decent price through my Amazon affiliate link.)

These little sausages are all kinds of wonderful. They’re studded with big pieces of fat that -when cooked properly- renders out leaving the sausages chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The flavourful fat that’s left is perfect – PERFECT I TELL YOU- for stir-frying vegetables generally and Brussels sprouts specifically.

If you’re already a sprouts lover, do yourself a favour and try this today! (Or at least as soon as you can lay your hands on some lap cheong!) If you’re not yet sold on Brussels sprouts, be prepared. This one’s going to do it!

Look at those festive colours, would you? Can”t you just see this on your Christmas table? Oh, and one final thought to share with you… Reheat the leftovers (if you’ve shown more restraint than I usually do) and serve with a perfectly fried egg on top. That’s just about the happiest breakfast I can think of at this moment.

 

Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts with Chinese Sausage

Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts with Chinese Sausage

Nutty, crisp-tender, stir-fried Brussels sprouts pair perfectly with salty-yet-sweet chewy bits of Chinese sausage. This is a super fast side dish that I often crave as a midnight snack.

Adapted gently from and with thanks to Jaden of Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces Chinese sausage
  • 1 1/2 pounds fresh Brussels sprouts, shredded with a large knife or on the thin slice disc with a food processor
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce or fish sauce
  • 2 teaspoons rice or cider vinegar
  • Optional:
  • Raisins for garnish

Instructions

Cut the sausages in half lengthwise, lay the flat sides down on the cutting boards and cut in half again lengthwise. This will leave you with 16 long strips of sausage. Stack them up and cut them cross-wise into small cubes. Put the cubed sausage in a COLD frying pan or wok. I repeat DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE PAN.

Turn the heat to medium under the sausage and let it slowly heat up. When you see it start looking oily and hear it starting to sizzle be sure to stir. This is where the magic happens. The fat renders out (escapes from) the sausages and begins crisping the exterior of the sausage pieces. Stirring frequently, watch the sausage carefully as it goes from zero to burned very quickly!

Use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage niblets to a paper towel lined plate without removing the fat from the pan. Turn the heat to medium high and immediately add the shredded Brussels sprouts. Stir while frying (in other words, stir-fry) the sprouts for about 2 minutes, making sure all pieces are coated with a little sausage fat.

Add the water to the pan all at once and stir gently once or twice. Let the sprouts cook for another 2 minutes. They should be crisp tender (still have a little bite to 'em but not be raw). Add the soy sauce and rice vinegar and sausage bits and toss to evenly distribute everything.

Serve hot or warm. My husband loves his with a handful of raisins stirred in to echo the sweetness of the Chinese sausage!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/12/13/stir-fried-brussels-sprouts-with-chinese-sausage/