There are some items that simply do not qualify to be a major post. Most do not even rise to the gourmet level but if they are not somewhat useful they may at least be a little interesting.
These are some that come to mind at the moment.
Golden Raspberries... Try these if you see them. To my recollection last week was the first time I have ever seen these. They are a bit more sweeter perhaps.
Baked Potatoes... Bake the potatoes as to your preference but then cut them in half and with the cut side down, brown them in duck fat till lightly browned and somewhat crispy. If you want... then quickly turn them over and hit the rest of the potato for a couple of minutes in the duck fat. If nothing else this makes a terrific potato skin.
Scrambled Eggs... MCDonalds does this or used to. Throw the eggs in a blender and whirl them to a frothy state before scrambling. I just use a hand immersion blender. Kind of an interesting result. Now I have three ways of making scrambled eggs... my way...Julia Childs way...and McDonalds way.
The weather sucks today...cold and rainy again. For crying out loud...it is June 10th already. I need to get these plants outside to soak up the sun and start growing.
Potato Chips... The price especially of the kettle chips just seems to keep rising. I don't feel that it is worth the price anymore. Also there is a very limited choice as to flavors etc. Now days, I generally just buy a large bag of the cheapest plain chips. I spread them out on a large pan and stick them in the oven for about 3 minutes just long enough for the oil to liquidfy. I pull them out and then flavor them with whatever I want. I use garlic and herbs a lot but it is interesting to try a broad range of seasonings.
Supermaket O'Grand Biscuits... Instead of the package recommendations try 425 for about 13 minutes. This is the timing I use when I make homemade biscuits and I think it works quite well for the store bought version.
Trader Joes has a goat cheese/blueberry holiday log. It is surprisingly quite good and tasty.
This is a pretty good sauce to put over ice cream or frozen vanilla yogurt.
Raspberry Sauce
1 half-pint package fresh raspberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup (12 ounces) seedless raspberry jam
1 tablespoon Framboise liqueur
Place the package of raspberries, the granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 4 minutes. Pour the cooked raspberries, the jam, and Framboise into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Chill.
Wondra Flour... I really like this flour. Whether I am just occasionally lightly dusting a fillet of fish or making a milk gravy for biscuits I really like the way it develops.
The recipe that never was... Do you have a recipe that you have keep on your file for years and years and have never made it for one reason or another. I do... it is a triple orange cake. If you have the energy and find this of interest to you then by all means make it and let me know what I have been missing.
Triple Orange Cake
Note: I have been trying to make this for about 12 years now. I wanted to make it for Christmas last year but no,,, Christmas passed and once again... no cake. It falls a little outside of my range of effort but I am determined to make it this year.
Orange Genoise:
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon pure orange extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/2 cup cake flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Orange Liqueur Syrup:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup orange liqueur
Orange Cream Filling:
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
4 tablespoons orange juice
4 tablespoons orange liqueur
3 sticks soft unsalted butter
Finishing:
Toasted sliced almonds
Confectioners' sugar
For the Genoise, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, extract and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk until the mixture is luke-warm. Place on mixer with whip and beat until cold and increased in volume. Combine remaining ingredients and sift.
Remove egg mixture from mixer and sift the starches in, folding with a rubber spatula, in 3 additions. Pour the batter into a buttered and parchment or waxed paper-lined 10 by 2-inch diameter pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Unmold and cool on a rack.
For the syrup, combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat. Cool and add juice and liqueur.
For the filling, combine all ingredients except butter in mixer bowl and whisk to mix. Place over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until hot and thickened, about 2 minutes. Whip by machine until cooled. Switch to paddle attachment and beat in butter.
To assemble, divide cake into 3 horizontal layers, using a sharp serrated knife. Place one layer on a platter or cardboard and moisten with syrup. Spread with a third of the filling. Repeat with second layer, syrup and filling. Place last layer on and moisten with remaining syrup. Spread outside of cake smoothly with remaining filling. Adhere almonds all over
outside of cake. Dust very lightly with confectioners' sugar.
Trader Joes again... They now have what to me is the best store bought potato latke available. Rogov should try these as they may very well bounce his potato latkes from the top spot in a cook off.
Thanks Carl... when my bosc oven went kaput I bought a Cuisinart toaster oven. I suspect that my oven is a little smaller than Carls but it handles everything or most everything very nicely. I call it my SDFIIB oven. That is a short name for... So Damn Functional It Is Beautiful. A word of advice not asked for... for those Bosc owners of equipment like Jenise... we have bought most of our appliances from a very reputable dealer in Illinois. We had their service people in to repair the oven. They did not fix it but recommended replacement of two parts totaling around 800 dollars. We decided to call in the Bosc repair people. They quickly determined that what was needed was replacement of one part for 75 dollars. Problem Resolved...
Just Curious... Carl, I noticed that you live in NH. That state caught my attention for a number of reasons. I have been trying to gather a better understanding of the various regions and what the local environment of each region is like. You must have I would guess what amounts to a short growing season. And what do you do during the winter when the snow is ten feet deep... throw another log on the fire and make more chili... What would be one or two of the major cons and pros you would say about living in NH.
Stocking Up... As I get older more and more now I look to make my life easier especially during the winter months. I consider my winter period to start on Dec 1 and end on March 31st. So in Sept, Oct and Nov I start a list of almost every item I use and how much of it I will need for this period of time. This list includes everything from soap to black pepper to paper products etc and then I go shopping. By the first of Dec My place looks like a grocery store. We store everything. Wine, liquor and other items we have delivered including various purchases from the internet. Then all we have to buy during the winter months are fresh vegetables, fruits, dairy etc. It makes life a lot easier. With the, I am sure, on slot of food price increases it might be a good ideal to stock up just for that reason alone. Anyway, just a thought.
My To Do List... Every time I fix something on my list something else pops up to take it's place. Sometimes I think life is just one big long construction project... with a few glasses of wine and some good food thrown in every now and then along the way.
Thai Kitchen Stir Fry Rice Noodles... I just recently discovered these... OK so I am a late bloomer especially when it comes to Asian foods. I really like these... just throw in some shrimp, pea pods or whatever is hanging around in the frig and you have a nice quick dinner.
Regrets... Now that I am in the twilight of my life occasionally I will look back to see what I missed out on. To my surprise the things that popped up were things like... I would have liked to have had a rooster... yes, one of those that crow every morning. Of course the first time it woke my wife up it's bags would be packed and a bus ticket to someplace out of town would be stuck in it' beak. Just kidding, she likes the thought of having a rooster also or at least she is tolerant of the thought. Also a goat and not just one goat but two goats to keep each other company. To some degree I would have liked to have some egg laying hens. But, I would not like to have to clean the hen house all the time. I could do it the Martha Stewart way though... hire someone to clean the hen house while I marveled at my perfect eggs laid by my perfect hens.
Ok... I need to close this out for now
Tim
