Boxty Day

I found some Irish recipes and of course I had to try the one for which I had everything we needed (Claire always likes to help cook). The honors fell on Boxty, a kind of hash brown pancake.
You'll need two potatoes, a cup of mashed taters, one onion chopped up nice and fine (unless you like chunks of onions), and half a cup of flour. Peel the potatoes and grate them. Put all the above mentioned stuff in a mixing bowl.
Next, you'll need a half cup of milk, two eggs, a teaspoon of salt (or more; it's up to you), half a teaspoon of pepper, and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg. Mix all that up in a bowl of their own.
Pour the liquid stuff over the potatoes and onions and what not. Mix them all together.
Now, you're ready for the skillet. I use bacon grease to lubricate the pan. Cook 'em like pancakes.
Slainte

Boxty Day

I found some Irish recipes and of course I had to try the one for which I had everything we needed (Claire always likes to help cook). The honors fell on Boxty, a kind of hash brown pancake.

Rat Patootie

We got a huge eggplant, some red onions, and yellow bell peppers in the veggie box at school yesterday. So, I decided ratatouille was going on the menu, for Kristi and myself at least, at our house. Well, there's no better way to get the minions into food they're not used to than letting them help when they ask.
I cut up the onions, Claire added the tomato paste and sautéed them. Pearce cut up the tomatoes and I got on the zucchini and peppers. I also did for the Aubergine (look at me being polley view francey).
Claire also cut some lavender and rosemary off the pots on the porch. I got the oregano because it's the newest and smallest of the herbs.
Well, it's all in the crockpot now and we'll see what we see in a few hours. The kids and I are going to finish watching Ratatouille.

Premier of the Collards

I have never done collards from scratch. The kids get a school lunch box on Mondays and Thursdays with a farm fresh veggie box on Thursdays. Last week they had collards in the box so in the spirit of not letting things go to waste I'm trying some crockpot collards. They also put kale in there but that'll be another post (think Italian soup)

Orange Pork

Had some pork chops in the fridge and I've wanted to try an orange marmalade and soy sauce idea I caught from a cooking show. I couldn't find a mixture of just soy and om that I felt confidant trying. So, I tried a mixture of a cup of BBQ sauce (sweet, know your audience), a cup of marmalade, and three tablespoons of soy sauce. We'll see how it turns out tonight.

Andrew Elkins

Football Caviar

I've been asked for my recipe for boiled peanuts. I have two variations, indoor and outdoor. 

 
For the indoor recipe you will need at least one crockpot, two pounds (+-) of green peanuts, a fair amount of water, and enough salt. If you have one four quart crockpot you can fit roughly a pound and a half of peanuts in it. If you have a four quart and a two quart, put a pound and a half in the 4qt and a half pound in the 2qt. Cover with water. Turn on high for about an hour then add salt. I use somewhere around 1/2 cup per pound. Stir the salt in and top off water. Turn crocks to low and let them go for about 20-24 hours. Check and continue if they aren't soft enough for you. 

 
For outside, get up before the sun. Break out the turkey frier set up, hook it up and see if it still works (prep night before, you're not going to be awake enough). Dump 2 pounds of peanuts in the pot, fill with water, pour in a half to a whole cup of salt and fire off the burner. Boil until the peanuts sink. That'll be a good many hours. I actually prefer this method when the weather turns cold because I'm weird.

Andrew Elkins

This Just In

I got this from Allrecipes.com.
If you do not have an ice cream maker, you may freeze it in a tall canister. Freeze for 1 1/2 hours. Remove and stir with a whisk. Return to the freezer and stir about once every hour for about 4 hours. The more times you stir, the more air will be incorporated, resulting in a lighter finished product.

Andrew Elkins

The Quintessential Southern Sorbet

I had the most awesome revelation looking through sorbet recipes. Iced Tea Sorbet!!! (there is iced tea and unsweet iced tea) Here is the ingredient list:
3 cups tea*
1/4-3/4 cups lemon juice (this is an option I guess)

Here is the to do list:
-Mix tea and lemon juice
-Pour admixture into ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.
-Put in freezer safe container
-Freeze for an hour (till firm)
-EAT!!!

You could probably get away with unsweet tea but then you'd have to call it ... well I'm sure I don't know what you'd call it.

*For those who may not have a clue how to make tea, this is how I make tea. I take 8 iced tea bags and 3 green tea bags and place them in a 4 cup measure (you can tell which one I use for tea because it has a permanent brown tint) filled with water. Sit this in the microwave for 7 minutes. Let the tea steep for 12 to 15 minutes. After the tea has steeped pour into a gallon pitcher that you have a cup to a cup and a half of sugar into. Stir the brew and sugar to dissolve the sugar. I use a wooden spoon called the "Teaspoon" that has only ever been used to hold tea bags back and stir tea and sugar together. Fill the rest of the gallon pitcher with water. Refrigerate or fill a glass with ice and drink.

Side note, I have been known to steep tea for a few hours before, won't hurt a thing. If you do this, however, you will need to make a simple syrup of the sugar and and 2-4 cups of water heated 3-4 minutes in the microwave.

Wow, the instructions for the tea are more involved than the sorbet itself.

Andrew Elkins

Time To Make The Butter

I started making some butter from the cream I skimmed off the milk I got this week. When the punkins got dressed they had to "help." Pearce even showed Mr. Artichoker, his pet turtle.

My next project with this milk is to make some mozzarella. Stay tuned for that. Oh and there may be video later.

"Mr. Elkins of the City, an eminent cheesemonger."

Not often I get to quote my favorite author in such a personal way. Well, any how, I just realized I've been making a Lebanese cheese for years and didn't know it.

I like making yogurt and have done so for several years. At least in three different houses. I also like draining all the whey out and have been pleased to call it yogurt cheese, not knowing any better.

Well, I started to read up on making cheese after Kristi got the urge to make butter. I was looking at butter videos on YouTube and found one about cheese making for beginners and wound up at a site devoted to craft cheese making. The long and the short of it is that the second step to learning to make cheese, after making yogurt, is making Labneh. Labneh is the real name of my yogurt cheese.

So, I've already covered the first two bases and next time I get some milk from Kathy I'm going to try Neufchâtel.
Yep, the cream cheese of choice for the famous Elkins cheesecake.

Oh, does anyone know where the quote I titled this post comes from? You have to get the book right.

Woohoo Yogurt Woohoo

I ramble. I will recap at the end.

So here is me making yogurt. I took ideas from several online crockpot yogurt recipes and something I read in Adele Davis and developed my own recipe.

The first half gallon I made was kind of runny, a lot thinner than I like. I followed this one recipe I found except I put the crock in the oven after acculturation of the heated milk. That is an excepted method of maintaining heat. The yogurt tasted fine but was just too thin for me.

At this point I decided to tweak and combine recipes.  The first recipe called for 2 hours and 45 minutes on low setting. I'm impatient so I decided to try it on high and monitoring the heat.

Wait, I got the horse behind the cart. Ingredients needed are (for this time) a half gallon of whole milk. I have a friend with a cow so I don't have to worry about the amount of pasteurization the milk has suffered. Also, you will need a packet of yogurt culture (available at Purple Mountain for the Romans reading this) or a small thing of plain yogurt from the grocery store. You will also need dry milk. I used a half cup out of the jar I keep around for various recipes. That's it for ingredients. Whisk dry milk into the milk. Side note, you can use any milk from skim to whole. 

Next there is the equipment. For this one you will need a crockpot, a whisk, a small bowl, and a towel. Yes, I said towel. Now we can got back to the time discussion. 

As I said earlier one recipe said 2:45 on low. I wanted to speed things up so I set the crockpot, with milk in it of course, on high and checked temp every 30 minutes. I took the milk out at 180* after 2:15. Using high instead of low saved 30 minutes. Big deal, I was expecting to drop an hour. So, I guess the setting is up to you. The milk will be at 180 after 2:15 on high and 2:45 on low.

Next you take the crock out and put it in room temperature water that comes to just below the handles of the crock. I used the sink. No brainer, don't get water in the heated milk. Now leave the crock in the water for 15 minutes and no longer, don't want the milk to get to cool. Take the crock out and put it back in the base that you left on warm (low if your crockpot doesn't have warm). Scoop out about a cup of heated milk, I just scooped out half a bowl full. Now put the yogurt in and whisk it in well. Return this acculturated milk to the rest of the milk in the pot and whisk in. 

Almost there, wrap the crockpot in the towel. Yes, the whole thing. Then unplug the crockpot and let it sit for 8-9 hours. When you unwrap the crockpot take the crock out and put it in the fridge to stop the culture from working, bout an hour.

All that to say this. Take half a gallon of milk (your choice) and whisk in a half cup of dry milk (not powdered milk). Next put yogurt starter out to get warm, put the milk in the crockpot and turn it on high and wait 2 hours and 15 minutes. Fill your sink with water while waiting. Take the crock out of the base and put it in the water, don't let water over the lip. 12 minutes later remove crock from the water and return to the base (that you left on warm). Now, scoop out about a cup of warm milk and add the starter to this. Whisk till well mixed and return to crockpot and mix well. Wrap with towel and unplug. It should take less than five minutes from returning the crock to the base to wrapping and unplugging. Wait 8-9 hours, or longer if you wish, and then put in fridge for an hour.

You're done,

Eat, Enjoy.

Chicken Recipe I Found

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks pretty good in the pictures. I may add some olives to the mix. We'll just have to see what happens.

Jo's Rustic Italian Chicken

20 red pearl onions (give or take)

½ lb. mushrooms, washed, stemmed, and cut in half

1 whole chicken, cut up (I used a hatchet knife)

coarse salt and pepper

2 T. olive oil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/3 cup dark balsamic vinegar

To skin the pearl onions, place in a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes, drain and transfer to a bowl of cold water.  Let stand for a minute, cut off the top and squeeze the outer skin off.  Discard the skins.

Preheat the oven to 375º.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.  Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and pepper.

Place a roasting pan over two burners on your stovetop and heat on medium high.  Add the olive oil and coat the bottom of the pan until almost smoking.  Place the chicken, skin side down, in the pan and cook for 2 to 2 ½ minutes.  Turn and cook for another minute.  Throw the onions and mushrooms into the pan.  Sprinkle with the oregano.  Pour the balsamic vinegar over the top and place in the oven, uncovered for 30-40 minutes.  (I took mine out at 35.)  Place the pan back on the burners and heat on high for several minutes as you reduce the balsamic at the bottom until it resembles a dark glaze.  Transfer the chicken, onions, and mushrooms to a serving platter and pour the remaining vinegar sauce over.

I started roasting the potatoes in the oven about 15 minutes before the chicken, and took them out at the same time.  (Peel some potatoes, quarter them, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, place them – one layer – on a cooking sheet or glass dish in a 375º oven for 45 minutes to an hour.)

Rolling Cajun

I had the shrimp poboy today it was great. Their remoulade and lemon aioli made the sandwich. I'm just waiting for them to run out of bread so they'll make their pecan pie fried pies again. I didn't get to try them last time. 

If you're in the Rome area or passing through check 'em out on FB or at their sitewww.crawdaddys.info. The FB page always let's you know what's cooking and where it's cooking.

Time Warp

How apropos! My last post 2 years ago was about Dad's Pimento Cheese. Here's a picture of the self-same stuff that I just made.

Summer Sandwiches: the Pimento Papers

I haven’t posted in a while. The kitchen and I have been strangers except to whip together chicken nuggets or lettuce and tomatoes. So, I decided to write about my Dad’s version of Pimento Cheese. This is a simple recipe that lasts as long as you want it to (this rarely means longer than a day or two in our house.) Kristi loves this Pimento Cheese and P-man always comes back for more.

First ingredients will be the cream cheese. I put that one first because it needs to sit and warm up a bit before you throw it in to the processor. All you need is one 8 ounce package. Then you’ll need an 8 ounce package of sharp cheddar (I prefer the already shredded bags) and an 8 ounce package of seriously sharp cheddar (aka extra sharp). After that you will need a little garlic powder in the palm of your hand (a teaspoon?) and 7 ounces of pimentos. To finish it off you will need a cup or so of mayonesa [sic]. You will find that either with the mayonnaise or in the aisle with the Hispanic food.

After you get all of the goodies together you will need to get your food processor out and do the hard work. If you were unable to find pre-shredded cheddar you will need to have the grating blade out and shred it up. Don’t worry about the little pills and left over pieces, they will be taken care of when you put everything together. Now, with the shredding done put in the chopping/mixing blade. Get the cream cheese and put it in with the cheddar and pulse it around a little. Plop a scoop of mayonesa in the mixer and pulse again. Add the garlic powder and a half of the pimentos (and all of the juice). Dad reserves half the pimentos so there will be chunks of pimento in the end product. Run the mixer and get the texture you want (add a little more mayonesa if the spread needs to loosen up). Now throw in the rest of the pimentos and give it a good pulse to mix ‘em up good and you are done.

Get a good spoonful to tide you over until you can get the sandwich made. Now use the Pimento Cheese however you wish; on a sandwich, with celery, in a spoon.

Tour of the Basque Country

I made a paella of my own dreaming up in honor of the Tour of the Basque Country (a bicycle race) that was held last week. I started with my beans and rice process... well as I think about it the whole thing is my beans and rice just tweaked a little.

I start with some olive oil in the bottom of the pan. I cut up whatever meat I feel like using; this time it was chicken and anduille. I sautee the meat while I cut up an onion. Again that would be your choice. I used a yellow onion, but have used white or red. I like to use huge onions just so there is lots of it with a minimum of effort. When the onion is chopped up add it and the rice (however much you are using) and sautee that with the meat for 2-3 minutes. Now open up two cans of beans...

Digression: The type of beans is entirely up to you and yours. I have used all kidney, all pinto, all black and will probably use several others in the future. I rarely buy beans for this dish and I almost always use cans (lazy). This time I bought a can of chili beans and a can of black. I did this for spicyness and color.

...I used one can of chili beans and one of black. I drained the black and did not drain the chili (get all the flavor you can). Before you put the beans in add stock or water, whichever you prefer and remember to put twice as much liquid or stock than rice. Liquid to rice ratio should be 2:1. After you add the liquid put the beans in and stir.

Now the easiest part. Bring to a boil for about a minute then turn it down to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Oh, I forgot the best part. When I put the rice in I liberally coat everything with hot sauce, sautee and then add the liquid and beans. The cooking reduces the spicy heat and leaves just the flavor.

Once the rice is where you like it throw it in a bowl and eat it.

What Are Herbs de Provence

I realized I might need to explain what Herbs de Provence are since I had no clue until yesterday or the day before. Well, here they are in list form.

Thyme
Wild Thyme
Marjoram
Oregano
Rosemary
Basil
Chervil
Savory
Lavender
Fennel
Bay Leaf

I did not find proportions for these so I guess you just have to decide for yourself how much of each. Remember "use what you have." If you don't have all of them everytime I'm pretty sure it won't kill the recipe. Just put more wine in the cook.

A Night in the South of France

Tried a new rendition of a crockpot Provencal Chicken that I had tried before. This one was as good or better than the last. I love to take a recipe and work on it to come up with something that is all me. I think my starting point was a thrive crockpot recipe that was just a little boring to me. I even doctored it up the first time now that I think about it with the wine from my wine glass.

Tonight's version started with a Provencal Chicken I chose at random from the internet. It looked pretty good and reminded me of the recipe I used before. Preping the ingredients I found a hard copy of the original recipe I used and was reminded that I like beans in this dish (beans rock they allow for any dish to go that much farther).

Oh, yeah, all this preping is going on at 5:30 in the morning with a 21 month old darting around the kitchen. Well, this morning he has just set up camp in the middle of the kitchen with his milk and a bowl of broken up pop-tart.

I thawed the chicken strip pieces (use what you got) overnight in the sink. Amazingly no cat damage. Broke out the cutting board and chunked up an onion (chop sounds so dainty), sliced the two bell peppers (use what you want I used red and yellow), mashed and minced the garlic.

Starting off I put some olive oil in the bottom of the crockpot. Salted and peppered the chicken strip pieces. Then layered it on the bottom of the pot. Next, I put the garlic and onion down with the peppers on top. Then I poured two cans of pinto beans on top (use what you got)of that and rinsed out one can with Walasiyi Blood Mountain Red and poured that in. Tomatoes, got to put tomatoes in. I had a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies so I put that in there and kind of stirred it up a little. Actually, I just put my hands in (washed of course) and turned a little of it over. Last of all the recipe calls for Herbs de Provence; well, I used Herbs de Italia (it was really a bottle of Italian seasoning).

At this point I put the lid on and turned the crockpot on low for 8 hours and left to go to work.

For the interlude signifying the workday here is the ingredient list
8 pieces of chicken (depending on the size)
4 cloves of garlic (give or take) minced up
2 bell peppers sliced (color depends on you)
2 onions chunked up
1 cup pitted green olives (or more if you like)
1 can diced tomatoes (I think Italian style would be best)
2 cans beans (whatever type you want or have on hand)
1 can wine (I rinse out a bean can with the wine) red or white.
olive oil (use what you need)
2 tbsp Herbs de Provence
salt and pepper

Now, back home after a wonderful day of teaching and rescheduling soccer matches due to rain that went away before the matches should have started, I get out the bag of brown rice and forget how long to cook it. Oh, I remembered eventually. At least I forgot on the short side. I did think of one thing after I had cooked the rice and finished the first bowl. Try cooking the rice in the juice from the crock pot instead of just water. I felt that the rice kind of blanded the dish up just a tad bit.

It smelled awesome. It tasted great and everybody had enough. I love this dish to distraction because it gets better every time I try it. Next time I intend to make sure some bay leaf and rosemary at least get into the herb mix. Especially the rosemary since I have a great honking bush in the middle of my backyard (I was just lazy and it was kind of dark that early in the morning). Also, I shall try white wine if there is any in the house.

So, that is what was for dinner. Provencal Chicken served over rice with sweet tea. I do dearly love my peasant food.

A Nice Oriental Evening

I really like cooking and want to share my adventures with others. Cooking is one of the creative outlets I indulge in that I get to share and know others really enjoy.

When I try a new dish I will try and get on here and talk about it. I'll also be posting the recipes so you can try it as well.

We had fried rice for dinner tonight. This is the first time I tried this recipe. I even think this was the first attempt at a Chinese dish. I usually stick to Italian or Southern, but I saw this recipe and decided to give it a try.

3 tbsp oil
2-3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 diced onion
1 cup cooked meat (shrimp, bacon, chicken, etc.)
1/2 cup bell pepper
1/2 cup English peas
3 cups cooked rice (1.5 cups uncooked rice)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili-garlic sauce

- Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat
- Add eggs and gently stir until the eggs are softly scrambled. Remove, chop and set aside.
- Heat remaining oil then add onion and bell pepper. Stir fry 3 minutes.
- Add meat and peas stir fry for 2 more minutes.
- Add rice, soy sauce, and chili-garlic sauce for an additional 5 minutes.
- Stir in eggs

Serves about 4

The above recipe is a tweaked version of the one I tried tonight. The original called for 1/4 cup of soy sauce. Kristi and I thought that was a little too much. You can always add the soy sauce in after it is served. The amount of meat can be varied depending on what you want. I used brown rice making this recipe.

BTW rice and pasta are the best creations on this planet (as well as potatoes)