Pesto biscuits

I'm getting a bit back-logged here, I have oodles of new things that we cooked!  This is from last week, or is it the week before?  whenever it was that the temperatures were finally down in the 50s at night and only in the 70s during the day, so I actually was willing to turn on the oven.  We were severely short on anything bready or starchy, so to satisfy some imminent hunger cravings I made Alton Brown's pesto biscuits, from the I'm just here for more food cookbook.  They were pretty delicious, and quick to throw together.  And since I happen to have pesto in the freezer, it seemed like a good use for it!

I like to make drop biscuits, because then you don't have to knead them and cut them out and whatever, just makes it faster.  But, they aren't the prettiest things to look at.  I made some very minor tweaks to the recipe, using all butter instead of butter + lard (didn't have any lard), using half whole wheat flour, and like half the amount of buttermilk than called for, since I ran out halfway through measuring it.  Still worked out, and they were delicious!

Pesto dinner biscuits
Made 9

1/2C white flour
1/2C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
2 tbs butter, frozen
1/2C buttermilk (if you run out, just add water until you have the right amount)
1/4C pesto

Preheat oven to 450F.  Grease a baking sheet.

Mix all the dry stuff together.  Use cheese grater to grate frozen butter into dry stuff.  Pinch with your fingertips for 30 seconds or so.  mix all the wet stuff together.  Add wet to dry, mix just to combine.  Plop spoonfuls of batter onto the baking sheet, in whatever size you feel like eating.

Bake for 15-20min, until golden brown and delicious.  Enjoy!

Moules frites

We had mussels the other day, and they were delicious.  We ate them with a modified version of french fries - I cut the potatoes into sticks, and pan fried them in bacon grease until they were crispy and brown on all sides.  This has got to be one of the most delicious ways to eat potatoes.  Ed tried making an aioli for dipping the fries, but I wasn't a huge fan of it.  Even the one made with beer (he tried three different kinds) wasn't all that great - I just don't like mayo.  The mussels, however, were awesome.  We cooked them with a whole bunch of delicious stuff, and the broth was awesome.



The mussels started with a piece or two of bacon, chopped up, and with the fat rendered out.  We used that to cook the potatoes.  Then we sweated an onion, toasted some garlic, and added a diced fresh tomato and a whole bunch of kale.  Into that went two pale ales, and some salt.  Once that was boiling, we added the mussels, put on the lid, and cooked for 5 minutes.  Pull from the heat and enjoy!  The broth was quite good when soaked up with toasty bread.



The "fries" were pretty easy, just cut up the potatoes and fry on all sides until they're crispy golden brown.  Salt as they come out of the pan.  For the three kinds of aioli, Ed did this in the food processor. I think it was just an egg yolk, and then he drizzled in olive oil while the processor was running, but I could be wrong.  He ended up putting it into three separate bowls to make a tarragon one, a spicy one (red pepper flakes and grains of paradise), and a beer-flavored one, which obviously got a lot runnier.

I gotta remember that mussels are a cheap and delicious way to feed myself protein!  yum.

Maple buttermilk pie

After the blackberry bars, I had extra egg yolks.  I don't like wasting food, so I needed to find something to do with them.  I also had some extra buttermilk, because Ali had left it here after making buttermilk strawberry cake (if she sends me a recipe for that, I'll put it up, because it was delicious), a few weekends ago.  So the buttermilk also had to get used up.  A google search for "what can I do with egg yolks and buttermilk" turned up this, and the decision was basically made for me.

Of course, with only two egg yolks, and one other egg, I had to cut the recipe in half.  I figured I could use my third egg yolk and just turn that white into a meringue, which was a successful endeavor.  But that meant that I wouldn't have enough filling for a full pie's worth of maple and buttermilk.  So, I made the pie into bars, with a shortbread crust.  This was a good decision.

I have no Ed-rating on these, since I know better than to try and feed him custardy things.  Maybe I should try it anyway, if only because these squares have been living in my fridge and I'm the only one I can blame for their disappearance.  The Alex-rating puts these squarely into the "make again" category, though I did think they were a little too sweet.  Tough not to have a maple pie be too sweet, I think, though maybe I'll forego the brown sugar next time.   I didn't have any lemon zest, but the original recipe called for some of that - I think that would have helped with the sweetness.


Doesn't this look like melted coffee ice cream?  That alone made me want to like these bars.

Maple buttermilk squares

Made 1 5x8" pan's worth

Crust:
1 stick of butter, more or less room temperature
1/4C sugar
1C flour
1/4tsp salt
1/2tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
1C buttermilk, shaken
1/3C maple syrup (C or B would be best, as that's most mapley-flavored)
1 tbs brown sugar
3 egg yolks
2 tbs flour
1/2tsp vanilla
1/4tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 5x8" pan.

Make the crust first.  Cream butter with sugar, add vanilla, then add in salt and flour.  Press into pan.  Dock with a fork generously.  Bake for 15-20min, until barely golden brown.

Turn oven down to 325F.

For the filling, whisk the yolks with the brown sugar.  Add everything else, whisk to combine; no lumps.  Pour into pan on top of hot crust, and bake for 30-50min.  Check after 30min, if it's still jiggly, give it another 10, check again, bake another 10min, etc.  Cool completely before slicing, or you'll get less-clean-looking slices, sort of like mine.  Store in the fridge, and enjoy!

Blackberry lime bars

I saw a recipe here the other day, and I knew I had to make it.  I successfully made these blackberry lime bars, but when the original recipe said that it cut out some sugar because she likes tart lemon bars, I should not have done the same thing.  The bars ended up a tad bit too tart.  Definitely still in the range of edible food, but I think they would have been a bit better with more sugar!  No Ed-rating for these, since he knows he doesn't like lemon bars, so wouldn't even try them.  But they were my potluck contribution for the NEOC meeting, and people there seemed to like them.  Though of course that's not a fair test, because nobody will tell you that the food you brought is crap.  Except Ed.  But, I thought they were delicious.  Also, PURPLE!!

Blackberry Lime bars:

Made enough to fit a 9" diameter round pan

2 egg whites

1 egg

juice from 12oz frozen blackberries (~2C)

zest of 1 lime

2/3C lime juice

3/4C sugar (this is the original amount, not the too-tart amount)

2/3C flour

1/4 tsp salt

Shortbread crust:

1 stick butter

1/4C sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1C flour

1/4tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Ideally, butter a pan and put down some parchment paper.  If you have no parchment paper, butter the pan extremely liberally, and then dust with flour.  Liberally.  

To make the crust, cream the butter with the sugar, then add everything else.  Once it's cookie-dough consistency, press into the pan with your finger tips.  Poke a bunch of holes with a fork.  Bake for ~20min, until it's just beginning to brown on the edges.

Turn down the oven to 325F.

Mix all the filling ingredients in a big bowl with a whisk.  Pour into crust.  Transfer to oven and bake for ~30min.  Take it out once it no longer looks liquid when you jiggle the pan.  

Cool completely, then refrigerate for 3-4hrs.  Don't try to cut these guys until they are COMPLETELY cool.  I warned you... 

You can sprinkle powdered sugar on top if you want.  

lebanese meatballs

Over the winter, Ed and I picked up some of Andrea Ogden's grass-fed beef.  We got some delicious steaks, and also some ground beef.  I decided at some point to attempt to make some Lebanese meatballs, also known as kibbeh, with the beef.  Traditionally, I think these things are made with lamb, but I had beef, so beef was used.  In the end, most of what I tasted was cardamom, which is ok by me!

I used this Recipe, from the Taste of Beirut blog, and I think I actually managed to follow the recipe pretty well.  The yogurt sauce was kind of a flop - I didn't think it tasted very good, and didn't like the texture, and Ed really didn't like it.  We also didn't both to make kibbeh with a hole in the middle.  So I guess I only sort of followed the recipe.  Anyway, the meatballs were delicious.  

Actually, the recipe doesn't list spices - I'll take a wild guess at the spices I used.  I remember toasting them and then grinding them.

-Cardamom

-Coriander

-Cumin

-Ginger

-Pepper

-Salt

We had many leftover meatballs, so I just froze them, and that was genius - it is super easy to just take a couple out from the freezer and cook them up for a quick lunch or whatever.  You should do this.

Here's an example of one of those quick lunches - I pan fried the meatballs until they were cooked, then put them down on some greek yogurt, covered with a cilantro-lime-tomatillo sauce.  Basically, dump two tomatillos, the juice of a lime, and a handful of cilantro into a food processor, add some salt, and blend it up.  The pomegranate seeds were a nice visual touch =).  With the bulgur in the meatballs, they're actually somewhat satiating, too, unlike if you were just eating a ball of meat.

This is making me think it's about time to mix up some more meatballs.  So convenient! So delicious!  

Jacob's eggs

One of my skiers, Jacob, raises chickens, and sells their eggs.  I bought some of his eggs the other day, and have been making delicious fresh-egg-required things.  The first dish I made was a pretty scrumptious spaghetti carbonara.  Next was chocolate mousse.  I haven't decided what'll be next, but it'll either be blackberry lime squares, or a soufflé, I think.  It's great to have a reliable source of farm-fresh eggs!


Look at how high those yolks stand up!  yum.



Spaghetti carbonara is pretty easy.  I think I've even written about it before.  You cook some bacon and some garlic, boil spaghetti, mix up two eggs with a bunch of parmesan cheese and salt and pepper, and dump the hot pasta (and garlic and bacon) into the egg mixture, stirring vigorously for about a minute.  Then you top the whole mess with chopped parsley (or basil) and more cheese.  It's delicious and creamy.

The mousse was pretty good, too.  I didn't get any photos of it, unfortunately, but it was very dark and chocolate-y looking, and quite rich tasting.

Julia Childs' Mousse: a variation
This made a lot, probably enough for 8 people

4.5oz chocolate
1/2 stick butter
3 tbs coffee
3 fresh eggs, separated
3 tbs sugar
2 tsp water
small pinch of salt
1/2tsp vanilla

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, butter, and coffee.  Remove from heat.

Whisk the egg yolks at 2tbs of sugar, over simmering water in the same double boiler, until they're thick and pale.

add the chocolate to the yolks.

Beat the egg whites with the salt.  As soon as they're frothy, add 1tbs sugar.  As soon as they are glistening, add the vanilla.  Beat to soft peaks.

Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture.

Pour into pretty glasses, and chill for 4hrs.