Monday, October 15, 2007

A successful Bread!

So the last two times I have attempted to make some form of homemade bread I have failed. I failed to rise to the occasion. The recipes were actually for rolls & bread bowls, so maybe I should stay away from the small-type breads, because this one turned out PERFECTLY!

I saw this on megpug.blogspot.com, it was adapted from Williams Sonoma. She found it from a recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bread, but made Apple Cinnamon Bread. So I combined the two & you have:
Cinnamon Apple Raisin Swirl Bread


Ingredients:
1 Tbs. active dry yeast
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (105° to 115°F)
1 cup warm milk (105° to 115°F)
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbs. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 to 6 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
3/4 cup golden raisins i used 3 cups of peeled, cored, diced apples instead of raisins
3/4 cup dark raisins
For the filling:
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with 4 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Directions:
In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the granulated sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining granulated sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.
Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. TIP: using flour for my first loaf didn't really work - this is a very sticky dough. For my 2nd loaf, I sprayed the wax paper with non-stick butter spray and my hands a little on my hands and it worked like a charm. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely. Makes two 9-by-5-inch loaves

I put it in the toaster this morning & had wonderfully fresh cinnamon apple raisin toast for breakfast.

Tuscan Bean Soup

Ok so yes I have had this package for Tuscan Bean soup for at least 6 months, maybe more. I know, it has been sitting in the pantry screaming for me to make it & I have been slacking.

In the attempt to clean out the pantry, this was one of the first things on my list of recipes. This soup mix came in one of our Viansa deliveries.


Yes it is a soup mix, but i had to add quite a few things to it.
Italian Sausage, carrots, celery, onions, garlic. Canned tomatoes & tomato paste, chicken broth & red wine.





It took a good 3 hours to make this soup mix.
But it was well worth it in the end.
Its a very hearty soup, definetly a meal in & of itself.
Plus its great for these gloomy days. I topped it off with a little pecorino cheese.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread



So its the fall & pumpkin seems to be the ingrediant of choice on the blogging network. I have seen a lot of the pumpkin rolls, pumpkin muffins, etc..

I saw this in my "Food & Family" from Kraft & decided to give it a whirl.

Layered Pumpkin Loaf
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 egg whites, divided
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
2-1/2 tsp. CALUMET Baking Powder
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese, softened

PREHEAT oven to 350ºF. Grease a nonstick 9x5-inch loaf pan; set aside. Mix pumpkin, 1 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 3 of the egg whites, milk and oil in large bowl. Add flour, baking powder, pie spice and salt; stir just until moistened. Set aside. Beat Neufchatel cheese, remaining 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar and the remaining egg white with wire whisk until well blended.
SPOON half of the pumpkin batter into prepared pan; spoon Neufchatel cheese mixture evenly over the batter. Cover with remaining pumpkin batter.
BAKE 1 hour to 1 hour 5 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife or thin spatula around edges of pan to loosen bread; cool in pan on wire rack 10 min. Remove bread from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

The hubs LOVES this. Its really moist & delicious!

Caprese Salad

At the grocery store, I noticed they had fresh mozzarella on sale. YUM!!! So I picked up some tomatoes, I knew had I enough basil at home & wallah! A nice yummy salad to serve with the crab ravioli.

This is so simple & yet tastes so great. I use a mixture of EVOO & Red Wine Vinegar. I also add a seasoning called Aromat. Its hard to find, so my MIL brought us 5 containers of it the last time we ran out!
Just slice the tomatoes & mozzarella, tear the basil & layer on a plate. Cover with the Aromat & the oil & vinegar mix. Place in fridge for about 20 mins to let the flavors absorb.

Crab Ravioli & Creamy Tomato Sauce

Ever since my wonton experience with Pot Stickers, I have been wonting (ha-ha) to use them again.
I found this recipe on FoodNetwork & though, this should be good. However, it wasn't really good. It wasn't bad, it was just bland & really, wonton wrappers are not good for ravioli. I think maybe we would have liked this better if I had made my own ravioli.

Crab Ravioli
1 (6-ounce) can lump crabmeat (recommended: Bumble Bee)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 (12-ounce) package wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten
Mix crabmeat, ricotta cheese & Italian Seasoning together.
Lay out wonton wrappers.
Brush each wrapper with egg wash & fill with crab mixture.
Fold over to make a triangle & seal well.
In a large pot bring water to a boil. Add ravioli, make sure they do not touch.
They are done when the float to the top.

Creamy Tomato Sauce
I found this on FoodNetwork as well. Its a Giada recipe. I already have a few containers of homemade marinara so I used that in place of store bought marinara.


1 cup purchased marinara sauce
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper



Bring the marinara sauce to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking often. Whisk in the ricotta and enough reserved cooking water to thin the sauce to desired consistency. For a thicker sauce, use less pasta water; for a thinner sauce, add more water. Return the sauce to a simmer. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

I can't entirely place what was "wrong" with this dish. I was expecting more flavor from the ravioli, so I don't know if my sauce overpowered it or what. I do think I can build on this recipe though, use the same filling, more spices, homemade ravioli & probably use a Vodka Sauce as opposed to a creamy tomato sauce.

Bad Blogger

I have been cooking, just nothing really exciting. I am attempting to clean out the pantry & have some "boxed" meals that needed to be used up. Like Zataran's Smothered Chicken & things of that nature.
However, I did have time this weekend to do some cooking & baking so I should have quite a few updates now!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Why Eat Out?

When you have a great wife like me to cook you delicious dinner?? Hubs & I have had a busy few weeks. I haven’t been able to cook in awhile & decided to go all out on Friday night. We really just wanted to catch up on a few things at home and watch Season 3 of House.



On the menu:
Fresh French Bread with Sun-dried Tomato & Parmesan dipping oil
Ceasar Salad
Chicken Marsala with parmesan pecorino mashed potatoes
Double Chocolate Turtle Cake

I have not mastered the fresh bread making yet. So I made some dinner rolls that failed to rise & had to run to the grocery store & pick up some Pillsbury Crusty Bread. We had a bottle of Sun-Dried Tomato & Parmesan Dipping oil from Viansa so we thought we would try that out as well.


Next on the list Ceasar Salad. Also not something very difficult to make when you buy a kit made by Dole. (I am so very much Semi-Homemade right now). I have been wanting to make my own chicken marsala so I got a recipe from a friend & tried it out.
Chicken Marsala- Audrey, Mothchick
1/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded 1/4 inch thick
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup cooking sherry
In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown.
Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover skillet; simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.



Parmesan Pecorino Mashed Potatoes: I used my basic mashed potato recipe, milk, butter, potatoes(boiled & drained) I mashed these up, added some garlic Powder & pecorino cheese, then put them in an oven safe bowl & baked them for about 10 mins on 350. I snagged this idea from Elly.


And for dessert I made Double Chocolate Turtle Cake. Yep still trying to use up the caramels from our wedding.

Double Chocolate Turtle Cake
Cooking Light
I'll have to post the recipe later, myrecipes.com doesn't seem to want to find it.

Great dinner at home & wonderful spending time with the Hubs. Plus he was happy because he could drink his port with his chocolate cake.