Recipes, Cooking & Kitchenkeeping

Rev: 2003-04-26, 2005-02-01, 2006-12-05 2007-05-15, 2008-05-26, -08-22, 2010-02-04

Recipes
Green Beans, Smashed Potatoes, and Ground Beef
Cheese Creamed Spinach
Chopped Salad
Cheese Things (Quesadillas)
Popcorn
Popovers
Syrup, mock maple
Mrs. Firth's Chocolate Cake
Mrs. Firth's Chocolate Frosting
Mike's Christmas Braid Sweet Rolls
Cooking	Kitchenkeeping

Green Beans, Smashed Potatoes, and Ground Beef
This mixture has evolved over years. It can be done fast or in one deep pot with a plate.
1	16 oz pkg French Cut Green Beans
1	pound potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
1	pound lean ground beef cooked with chopped onions if desired.
	butter, salt, pepper
	For quick preparation use three containers
	Put package of French Cut Green Beans in microwave container or pot for steaming and cook to lightly done (al dente) per directions (I do not like regularly cut green beans in this recipe.)
	Brown and break up ground beef in skillet or deep heavy pot
	Bring salted water to a boil while peeling potatoes and cutting into rough chunks. Cook potatoes to only slightly firm when a fork is inserted (fork goes in pretty easy, breaks pieces) Not mashed.
	When potatoes are done, pour off water and smash into a rough mix of sizes. Add salt, pepper and butter to taste. Drain green beans if needed and add butter or oleo to lightly coat. Drain ground beef of excess grease. Using the deepest pot, mix the three ingredients, folding gently to keep potatoes intact, not pasty. I prefer to cook the ground beef in a deep skillet and mix there to pick up bits of flavor and grease.
	For single pot cooking
	Deep heavy pot to hold all. Steam green beans while cutting potatoes. Turn green beans onto a dinner plate. Add water, bring to boil, cook potatoes, drain, smash, turn out onto same plate. Rinse pot add oil if needed, cook and breakup ground beef, drain if needed. Add potatoes and green beans and fold together, adding salt, pepper, and butter/oleo to taste. If determined, use plate for dinner. 2007-08-20

Cheese Creamed Spinach
		Boston Market sells a fantastic creamed spinach with cheese that is made about like this:
1	lb	fresh spinach or 2 packages frozen leaf spinach defrosted.
4	T	flour
4	T	butter or margarine
1/2	c	milk
2	oz	soft process cheese or Velveeta or Colby-Jack*	* we have a friend to gives us Figi cheese and sausage assortments for holiday gifts. The small sausage shaped tubes of cheese product work well.
2	oz	Jalapeno or other spiced cheese* or a few drops Tabasco to plain white cheese
		Cook the spinach
		Melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan, add the flour and cook to make a white roux. Add milk and stir to smooth. Add and melt in cheeses. Add spinach and stir, adding milk if needed for consistency.

Chopped Salad
		Chopped Salad	Derived from Outback Steakhouse
1	bowl	Mixed lettuce green, carrots, radishes	"American" type prepared packaged
1	T	Blue Cheese Crumbles	available from supermarket
1	T	Pecan Pieces, sugared or cinnamon sugared if available	available from supermarket or chop
1-2	T	Italian Dressing, Fat Free	or other type
		Place the mixed greens on a cutting board loosely piled and chop coarsely with a big knife. Chop nuts if required move nuts and cheese to pile, add dressing and further chop all so final size is 3/8" - 1/2" pieces. Scoop into bowl. Adjust dressing amount to taste. The original of this was ordered by my wife and me on a whim while dining at Outback steak house and we found it delightfully tangy, a nice mix of textures and tastes and very easy to eat without doing battle with large leaf pieces, some with too much dressing, some with none. I happened to have Italian dressing on hand and decided to try that without realizing ahead of time that it was the correct one.

Cheese Things (**Quesadillas**)*
Cheese Things		http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quesadilla
2	ea	flour tortillas - we use Mission Home Style which fit in the pan and are bigger and thicker than regular but smaller than the thin burrito style.
Handful, Medium	1/2 cup approx.	shredded Colby Jack, Cheddar Jack or Mexican Blend - Fancy shred preferred for thinness to thicker standard shred. I find 4 Cheese Blend too gooey for my taste as it adds two softer Mexican cheeses to the Cheddar/Colby yellow and Monterey Jack white cheeses.
Small amounts	2-3T	Added ingredients - meats should be cooked and cut up, onions and green peppers grilled or not to taste
12" or bigger		fry pan, skillet or griddle.
		Preheat pan over medium heat, adjust with experience but hot to hand held over.
		The cooking order is what I find important, start by having the ingredients ready. Take two tortillas and lay them in the hot pan. When the bottom one's edges curl slightly, turn over as a pair. Look at surface and reduce or increase temp if too dark or too light. Leave until more separation at edges. Shuffle the tortillas (swap positions without turning over) so soft inside of the one previously on top is on pan surface and soft surface of the other is on top. Again look at edges. When increased separation, flip both together and immediately slide top one to side - I put it on the handle of the pan at rim. If adding more than cheese, sprinkle a thin layer of cheese on the tortilla in the pan, add the other ingredients, and sprinkle a 1/2" layer of cheese on top. If using only cheese, add a 1/2" layer. Flip the tortilla on the handle onto the stuff in the pan so the hot side is down. Press the top tortilla down with a fork or spatula to reduce loss of cheese when flipping. Cook until smells hot or spilled cheese on griddle bubbles cooked (hard to avoid spilling some and link shows picture with cheese flowed out. Turn one last time to crisp second side and cook cheese inside. Slide off to cutting board and cut in 1/4ths or 1/6ths and place on plate, serve immediately.
		* I first encountered quesadillas in Seattle WA as far as I recall while staying with a family while attending a glass conference even though I live in Texas. When I returned, I could not recall the name, so we called them Cheese Things when I made them at home. Later I tried quesadillas at local shops and chains and connected the name. Just recently, we got an ad in the mail for a new delivery operation called Quesa-D-Yas! [http://www.quesa-d-yas.com/menu.php] with a bunch of fancy complicated items. 2009-02-07

Popcorn

Adapted from pop-in-pan-package popcorn & experience
Goal is few or no un-popped kernels.

Sauce pan with high sides, snug lid, single handle to one side

1-2

oil enough to cover half of pan bottom

popcorn

On gas stove raise flame to just touch bottom of pan; on electric start at medium high heat.
Add oil to cold pan to cover half the bottom, it will spread thinner as pan is heated.
Add 5 kernels of popcorn, prop lid at angle, shake pan once and wait with it on heat until several of the kernels pop. Pour in the popcorn past the edge of the tilted lid (which keeps the oil from spattering on hands) and put the lid in place. Shake the pan once and wait.
Soon the popcorn will pop vigorously, turn the heat down to medium on electric and so the flame misses touching the pan on gas. This is done to prevent burning the popped corn. Shake occasionally but not too often which keeps the kernels from getting quickly hot for a big pop.
When kernels slow to nearly stop, pour the popped corn into a bowl. If making more, repeat.
I put a cube of butter in the hot pan and slosh it around to melt quickly and pour it over the popped corn while shaking the bowl, then add salt from a shaker while still shaking bowl.
These directions were worked out from those on thin aluminum packaged popcorn pans with domed aluminum foil covers.

Syrup, mock maple
		Syrup, mock maple Fannie Farmer & MSF	Stock syrup MF
		3:1 proportions	1:2:3 Proportions
1	c	dark brown sugar	1 dark brown sugar
0.33	c	water	2 water
		boil till it forms large bubbles then settles down	3 white sugar
grains		salt	mix, heat, boil to large bubbles forming, then settles down.
1	t	vanilla

Mrs. Firth's Chocolate Cake
Quant	unit	Mrs. Firth's Chocolate Cake
2		Layers, 9" round (64 in2) [3/93 Thin Layers 1.5 for higher]
1.75	c	flour
1	t	baking soda
0.5	t	cream of tartar
0.5	t	salt
0.5	c	cocoa
		Sift together
1	ea	egg
0.5	c	fat
1	c	sugar
		Cream above to fluffy
1	c	cold coffee
		Add dry ingredients alternately with coffee
		Pour in 2 9" or one long pan.
		Bake at 350F, 30-35 min. cool and frost
		11x way over estimated need, by 1.5
		8 filled 11x15 pan to 2.5" (above rim) when baked.
		8 xTook an hour to cook, little dry on ends, although to 325 and then 300.

There are two (or three or four) kinds of cooking. These days, not a lot of cooking is done by some people as they eat fast food and pull complete meals from the freezer and pass them through the microwave. Been there, done that. Easy to eat sloppy. Then there is the cooking from a cookbook. Do that. I have about 15 cookbooks, my favorite being the Boston Cooking School Cookbook, commonly known as the Fanny Farmer cookbook. My old copy from college days is breaking down and a I have a more recent edition. We give it as gifts. It is great because it is loaded both with the basics of cooking and good solid recipes. It is organized by kinds of recipes so similar ones (meat, cakes, bread, vegetables) are together. Other cookbooks have lots of pictures showing technique and results, perhaps organized as meals. Perhaps too much detail.
Then there is the final way of cooking: knowing the ingredients and knowing some techniques and being able to merge them to make a meal on the spot that has never been made before. Not cute layouts of food, but solid choices that can feed one or many. One of my favorite book passages in fiction is in one of the Spencer murder mysteries where he drags a teenage boy out of the city to a cabin he is working on in Maine or there about and proceeds to teach him how to make sauces with wine or cream or broth and otherwise cook. Big macho man and tough kid cooking - and not steak and hot dogs.
So, I want to do some of that here. [2008-08-22]

This might be about housekeeping, but I find what I have to say is almost entirely with the kitchen so I will stick with the title.

Buying - Pans - I think I learned from my sister's experience decades ago when she bought a huge set of waterless cookware at a fair and paid way too much for way too many pieces. ("And if you are one of the next five buyers, not only will you get the 20 pans and the 30 serving utensils, but we will give you absolutely free ....") I much prefer and strongly recommend buying when you finally decide you really, really need it, then only one at a time that seems the best you can find.

Having said that, I must admit that you have to start with something and if you don't have a collection, what should a person start with? I would suggest the following.

1.5x 7*	Popovers Makes 6 not 7*	Unit	Fannie Farmer & MSF Rev. 2005-02-01 See goal below.
9	6		Preheat oven to 450 (425 with glass cups)
3	2	ea	eggs, beaten till light, let stand to room temp
1.5	1	T	butter, melted (add 0.3 T per T if using 2% milk, 0.6 with skim) (in milk OK, but melted first in microwave, add milk, easier)
1.5	1	c	whole milk, warmed, if butter in milk, melt on hot top layer, then stir in
1.5	1	c	flour, stirred or shaken in container to lighten
0.375	0.25	t	salt
			Beat until smooth & like heavy cream
			Let batter stand while preheating cups
			Oil or Crisco custard cups & heat in oven (8 minutes min. for heavy glass)
			Pour batter into hot cups in oven, 1/3 full
			Batter should sizzle on hitting oil
			and start to set on edges almost immediately
			Cook for 15-20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 (15 min. for glass, to 325)
			Cook 15-20 minutes more (15 for glass)
			Remove from oven and from cups
			Poke hole in top to release steam
			Goal of this recipe is a mostly empty,
			slightly moist inside, crunchy base, and
			crusty upper, into which butter and jam can be placed
			Other popover recipes have a goal a dry holey web-like
			structure inside while others are like crunchy muffins
			10/12/97 - Very good batch, with following notes
			Glass cups oiled well up side and some in bottom, heated to 450F
			1% milk rather than 1/2%, butter melted mostly and beaten into milk, not too hot
			I melt butter in measuring cup, add milk and heat to warm
			Eggs beaten in pouring pitcher/cup, flour added, then milk/butter, beaten,
			Let stand and beat again for smoothness
			Dad used waxed paper and Crisco to lube cups; I used oil and now do as he did
			leaving a modest amount in bottom to fry the lower crust.
			Dad searched for years for large cast iron cup pans that were not too close together. I have used thick glass coffee cups and Pyrex mugs, but recently Corning has made their clear custard cups much thicker than before and they work nicely.
			* 2010-07-02 Today made nearly perfect popovers by dad's standards - very big, thin crust evenly coated with cooked dough on inside, hollow, not dry. Exact steps: Thick glass custard cups. Melt butter in glass measuring cup, add 2% milk, heat mix for 1 minute - warm. Beat eggs thoroughly with whip. Beat battery thoroughly with whip. Let stand. Preheat oven for 15 minutes to 425F. Grease cups with Crisco. Heat cups for 5 minutes at full heat. Use 3 ounce portion control scoop to fill 7 cups with almost all of 1.5x recipe. Cook for 18 minutes at 425F, lower to 325F 18 minutes more. 6 terrific huge ones, 1 smaller and darker one.

		Frosting
4	T	oleo or butter
1.5	lb	powdered sugar (1-1.5#)
0.5	c	cocoa
0.5	c	milk as needed (~ 1/2 c)
		Beat oleo and a little sugar together
		then add some milk
		add cocoa & sugar alternately with
		milk and beat until fluffy.

2			Christmas Braid Sweet Rolls Rev. 2005-12-19
2	1		Small braid (Double for Large)
			Built from Fanny Farmer Cookbook Sweet Rolls and Stollen Recipes with modifications while making it a couple of dozen times.
			Combine
2	1	c	warm milk	5
2	1	ea	pkg yeast
2	1	T	Flour
2	1	t	Sugar
			let stand 5 minutes to setup & proof	6
			mix in
1	0.5	c	brown sugar (may be reduced to half, white may be used)
1/4	1/8	c	Karo syrup (optional, replace 1/4 of sugar, keeps bread moister)
2	1	t	salt
2/3	1/3	c	soft butter or oleo, incr. 12/95	2
4	2	T	OJ concentrate (to 1/4 cup?) added 12/95 adds moisture
4	2	ea	eggs
			Beat throughly	5
			Mix in
3	1.5	c	flour	4
1.5	0.75	c	pecan/walnut pieces, chopped dates, currents, raisins,
			It will be thick liquid
			Let rise 40 minutes	40
			Mix in [divide here if adding color, see below]
2	1	c	flour
			and then enough
3	1.5	c	more flour to make barely firm to handle
			cover and chill 30 minutes or more (overnight OK)	30
			Knead & shape (see below)	15
			Cover & rise to double 60 minutes	60
			Bake at 400 15-20 minutes	15
				-------
			Mike's Christmas Braid	182
			Make recipe above, double to fit pizza pan
			Using chopped dates & walnuts
			If want colored dough balls, remove 1 cup each color before stirring in last flour
			Add 5-6 drops food color to each cup, stiffen separately.
2	1	ea	Package red and/or green colored sugar
0.5	0.25	lb	Butter or oleo, 1 stick
			Melt to soft liquid, not hot
			Place in a shallow pan (edged cookie sheet)
4	2	c	Cinnamon sugar mixture (2T cinn/cup sugar)
			Place 1/2 c in shaker
			Spread rest in a shallow pan
			If using colored dough, can make dual color by rolling part or all of two together
			Cut chilled dough into three equal pieces
			Roll with hands each third to a long thin rod
			For handling on double recipe, may make six pieces
			Roll each piece in butter then cinnamon
			Sprinkle cinnamon sugar from shaker if needed
			Braid three pieces together
			With large it is easier to start in middle and go each
			way to ends.
			Bring ends together to wreath shape
			Use disposable pie pan for 1/2 single, 12" pizza pan for single, 16" pizza pan for double For proper baking, must be open in center - otherwise soggy in center, too brown edges
			Sprinkle with red & green colored sugar
			Rise to double
			Add cinnamon & red sugar if needed
			Bake carefully, watch bottom for burning
			Remove to aluminum foil unless using disposable pans (tends to stick)