I’ve been craving Gruyere lately, especially Gruyere with Dijon mustard, so I picked up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts last night and whipped this up in no time this evening. Less than an hour from start to finish… actually quite a bit less, which is a good thing since I forgot Cat had to leave early for work tonight and I wound up with 30 minutes less prep time than I thought! This is one of those things for which I really have a hard time writing down a recipe, since I pretty much winged my way through it, but I’ll give it a shot.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper for sprinkling chicken
• 2 cups converted rice (I like Uncle Ben’s)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 cups whole milk (you could be decadent and use half & half… of course *I* would never do such a thing!)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. spicy brown mustard (you can use all Dijon; I just ran out before there was enough mustard in there to suit me)
• 10 oz. grated Gruyere (or other good strong Swiss cheese)
• salt & pepper to taste for the sauce

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place the rice, 4 1/2 cups water, 2 tbsp. olive oil, and 2 tsp. kosher salt into an oven-proof casserole or Dutch oven that will hold all the rice and the chicken. Stir together to combine well, and place over high heat until the water begins to boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer, cover, and let simmer while you brown the chicken. (You won’t cook it all the way done on the stovetop.)

Meanwhile, place 3 tbsp. olive oil in a nice big skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is good and hot (but not, of course, smoking.) Place the chicken breasts, pretty side down, in the hot oil and cook until nicely browned. Don’t poke or touch them until they’re ready to turn!! When browned on the first side, flip over and brown the second side. This took about 10 minutes all together.

Turn off the heat under the rice, uncover, and arrange the browned chicken breasts over the rice. About half the water should be cooked away by this point, but it will still be kind of soupy. Replace the cover and slide the Dutch oven into your preheated oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until the rice is all done and the chicken cooked all the way through.

Here’s what it looked like when I pulled it out of the oven. Mmm.

While this is going on, you can make the sauce. I used the same pan that I browned the chicken in. Add the butter and stir it around over medium-high heat until melted and just slightly browned. Careful not to burn it! Whisk in the flour until perfectly smooth, then pour in the milk and wine. Continue to whisk until everything’s smooth and glossy and comes up to a simmer. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes, then whisk in the mustard(s). When well combined, turn off the heat and stir in the grated Gruyere until it’s melted. Season to taste with kosher salt.

Serve chicken over rice with sauce spooned over the top. Yum!

Sometimes simple things are really nice. Our schedules around here are often bizarre, given that Cat works nights, on weekends, and we’re homeschoolers. That means that meals here don’t always easily fit into the categories of “breakfast,” or “supper,” or whatever… so having breakfast foods for an early evening meal isn’t something we consider odd, or even rare. Sometimes, though, I’ll give “breakfast” little touches that hopefully make them special. In this case… herbs.

Here we have your basic fried eggs… over easy, as my husband & brother prefer them… with a light dusting of minced fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary sprinkled on just as they came out of the pan. The toast is made from our daily bread, and this light meal is rounded off by herbed hash brown potatoes. Since most folks can figure out how to make toast and fry eggs (although scrambling them seems to be a skill that may warrant attention at some point in the future,) I thought I’d talk a little about making the potatoes… which can be tricky to get right.

You can, of course, buy the pre-shredded potatoes in your local grocery store’s dairy case, and there are advantages to them. I suppose the convenience of not having to grate them yourself is a big one, but the really big one is that these pre-packaged grated taters are already nicely dried out. If you try to fry home-grated potatoes without making sure to get them to this stage, you’re going to wind up with a disgusting, gooey mess… and I have a hunch this is why so many people say they can’t make hash browns at home. The good news is, this step is not hard… it just takes a few minutes and some paper toweling.

Grate the potato, then sprinkle with salt. (If you salt them later, they’re just going to leak more water and you’ll wind up with goo again.) Let the potato sit for about 2-3 minutes, then proceed to squeeze and press, roll and sop with a couple of paper towels, till you wind up with nice, dry potato shreds. It may take several paper towels to accomplish this, but it’s definitely well worth the effort. Make sure that you check underneath the pile of potato, as moisture accumulates there. Once toweled sufficiently, set them aside for a few more minutes, preferably on a small plate as above so that you can easily transfer them to your skillet when it’s time to fry.

If you like your hash browns with onions, this is a good time to toss them in with the potato shreds. I like mine in very thin, 3/4″ long slices, but you can use diced onions if you prefer, of course. You can also toss in herbs here, if you so desire… again, I used thyme, rosemary, and sage. Garlic powder is another possibility, but I wouldn’t recommend using fresh garlic; the taters are going to need to fry too long, and garlic really does tend to get bitter when subjected to such treatment.

This is one application for which I am immensely grateful for a high-quality non-stick skillet! Here you see one medium potato, grated, which fits nicely into my 12″ pan. Heat about 2 tbsp. of oil until it’s hot, but not smoking, over medium-high heat. I preheated for about 2 minutes on my flat-top stove; I imagine a real stove (read: gas!) would get the job done more quickly. Transfer your dried, seasoned grated potato into the hot oil, move it around with a spatula until it’s got a nice round shape (if you care about such things,) then flatten it out so that the thickness is even all around… about 1/2 inch.

Now, as Alton Brown would say… just walk away! Resist the urge to pat, poke, prod, or peek at your taters until they begin to brown obviously around the edges. This requires patience and restraint, but it will be well rewarded. You’ll also have a prayer of getting the hash brown to lift and flip in one piece if a nice crust forms on the bottom. Flip once, then sprinkle with pepper, if you like. Continue to cook until the bottom is nicely browned as well. The whole thing takes maybe 6-7 minutes for a medium sized potato.

This was so fun! If you like “Heath” bars, this is a great candy for you… and it’s not hard to make, either, even for a candymaking novice like myself. These are being given as gifts to Mom’s neighbor and mail carrier, who have come to expect treats from me at this time of the year.

• 1 lb. butter
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 12 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate
  
• 12 oz. chopped almonds

Special equipment:

• 12″ x 17″ jelly roll pan
• parchment paper
• non-stick spray or spray-able vegetable oil
• candy thermometer
• silicone spatula

Prepare pan first: Spray bottom and sides of jelly roll pan with cooking spray or spray-able oil. If you don’t have either of these, you can rub it down well with vegetable oil. Cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit, allowing the paper to come up the sides of the pan. Spray or rub with a little more oil on top of the parchment. (This is sticky stuff!) Get out some pot holders and have them at the ready, as the pan is going to get really hot, really fast once the toffee mixture is poured in.

Combine butter, water, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until the butter is melted. Turn heat up to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula and being sure to scrape the entire bottom of the pot. (You can use a wooden spoon for this, but the silicone spatula works far better, in my opinion.) Continue to stir constantly, watching the boil until mixture takes on a deep golden color — took mine about 25 minutes. A nice glass of wine at hand makes this otherwise boring practice much more enjoyable.

Once the desired color is reached, remove pot from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour mixture into the prepared jelly roll pan. Use the silicone spatula to smooth it all out evenly.

Sprinkle the chopped chocolate evenly over the top of the toffee mixture. Wait a few minutes for it to melt, then spread evenly across the toffee. (Note: next time I do this, I’m going to temper the chocolate rather than just melting it, but this works fine if you’re not picky.) Sprinkle the still-warm chocolate with the chopped almonds.

Set the pan aside to cool for about half an hour, then score with a knife into the shapes & sizes you like. (You can skip this step if you don’t mind irregular pieces.) Set aside until completely cooled and hardened before breaking the pieces apart. I put mine in the fridge because I wanted the chocolate set — which is why I’m going to temper it next time! The toffee was edible after about 3 hours, but it was much better the next morning after being in the fridge overnight. Store in waxed paper in an airtight container.

Ok, so it’s been almost a year since I have updated my blog… hopefully *some* of you are still out there! It’s been a crazy year for us… full of good, bad, and in between, but always busy!

I thought it would be appropriate to start back up here with a holiday treat I made tonight. Several weeks back, a friend from eGullet gave me a recipe for Cranberry Swirl Coffee Cake, which has been a hit the (several) times I have made it since. Today, after reading a request from another eGulletteer for a spiced apple “bread” made with those weird, bright green or red spiced apple rings you buy in a jar at the grocery store, I remembered a cake that someone in Memphis used to make with those apple things. So… I decided to adapt Merstar’s recipe to make what I have renamed Spiced Apple Swirl Cake! To be fair, I couldn’t find those bizarre apple rings at my local Kroger, so I bought a can of apple pie filling (shhh, don’t tell!) and doused it with green food coloring to make it look “authentic.”

I might add that in order to revert to Mer’s cranberry coffee cake, you need only substitute vanilla extract for the rum extract and 1 cup fresh cranberry sauce for the apples, then omit the spices. I was pressed for time, so I just bought apple pie filling; you could easily make your own, or try using the red or green apple rings (smooshed up.) I would highly recommend that you choose EITHER red OR green, however… mixing them together will net you something that will look like your cake is sporting a center of brain matter.

Either variation (except, perhaps, for the brain variation) is suitable for dessert, snack table for a meet-n-greet meeting, or even breakfast. Enjoy… and happy holidays!

Here’s the recipe…

• 1 stick salted butter (8 tbsp.), softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. rum extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups apple pie filling (bizarre coloring optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. (I reduced it to 325°F since my bundt pan is dark in color, as specified in the original recipe.)

Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the rum extract, continuing to mix until well combined.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices together. Add to butter mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing until just combined. Spread evenly in greased (or nonstick) bundt pan. (I’ve also made this in an angel food pan, in a pinch.)

Spread apple pie filling around the top of the batter, then swirl with a fork to mix throughout the center of the batter. Alternately, you can spread 1/2 the batter, top with the apple pie filling, the finish with the remaining batter… this was also in the original recipe, but I found that there was too little to make it work right, so I just swirl it in with a fork. As you can see in the picture, it still winds up in the center of the cake!

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter. Cool a bit before slicing.

We needed something special for this dreary, snowy afternoon… the first day together that Cat and I have had in over two weeks! So, I decided to make some savory brunch waffles, filled with carmelized onion and smoked turkey, Monterey Jack and Parmesan cheese, then to top them off with some cheesy scrambled eggs.

The smoked turkey breast was just supermarket deli meat: nothing fancy, just very thinly sliced. I chopped it up even more finely, and fried in a little olive oil until carmelized and relatively dried out; I didn’t want too much excess oil in the waffle batter.

For the batter, I eschewed my normal yeast-risen recipe, and went with a light and fluffy base with beaten egg white and corn starch, to help maintain the waffles’ texture around the added weight of the turkey & onions and the added shredded cheese. I used white whole wheat flour, as I think it makes for a lovely texture. I cooked the waffles on the “done-est” setting on my waffle iron, then transferred them to a 200°F oven for about ten minutes to crisp up some more.

To serve, I drizzled a little maple syrup between two waffles and topped with scrambled eggs with plenty of Parmesan cheese. Yum!

Waffle batter:

• 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. liquid smoke
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 3/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup deli smoked turkey, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat; add diced onion and smoked turkey and saute, stirring frequently, until slightly carmelized and relatively dry. Set aside to cool. When cool, toss with shredded Monterey Jack and Parmesan cheeses.

Whisk the egg whites with the sugar and the liquid smoke until soft peaks form. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the cooled turkey & cheese mixture; toss to combine evenly.

Combine the buttermilk, whole milk, vegetable oil, and the egg yolks, and mix well. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently with a spatula just until combined. Very gently fold the egg white mixture into the batter in several batches, about a half-cup at a time.

Preheat waffle iron. Figure about 3/4 cup of batter for a seven-inch iron. Cook until medium-dark, and transfer to a 200°F oven for at least 10 minutes before serving.

I wanted to try doing something interesting with some of the venison my neighbors so graciously shared with us, so I played fast and loose with my Mom’s Arabian schwarma recipe. My *only* regret is that I forgot to wrap one up for myself, to take to my Mom’s house this week.

First, I made some of these chewy flour tortillas. Kind of like a cross between pita and tortillas, really easy to make, and yummy. I threw in some sage, black pepper, and onion powder for flavor. I used the same recipe I posted earlier for the Mexi Wraps.

Onions, of course. Lots of black pepper. Cooked them until just barely tender. I found real Vidalia sweets for this… yay!

The way I cooked the venison was a two-step process. First, I had to debone it all and cut into small chunks. I then tossed lightly with a smidgen of olive oil, followed by another toss with seasoned flour. (Again, salt, black pepper, lots of fresh sage, and onion powder.) Working in small batches, I cooked these in a dry skillet over medium heat until no longer red. The venison released a bit of juice, and I added a splash of red wine, and wound up with a saucy pan full of meat cubes. Many of these got eaten out of hand.

Now I wanted a wee bit of carmelization, without drying everything out too much, so I transfered the meat into a roasting pan and placed in a 375°F oven for about twenty minutes, tossing several times to make sure everything browned evenly. Perfect!

While the meat was roasting, I fried up potatoes and sweet potatoes. I like to cut them and soak the sticks for at least an hour (or more; I don’t notice any problem with their being in there for lengthy periods of time,) par-fry them until they go limp, drain, then crank up the oil and fry a second time. They got a very light dusting of salt and black pepper.

I also whipped up a sauce of sour cream, buttermilk, lime juice, cilantro, and pepper, then assembled the sandwiches with the fried potatoes right in there. Not very traditional, I grant you… but good!

My picture-taking skills seem to have deteriorated lately, but this dish turned out so well that I decided to post it here anyway. You can’t really go too far wrong with pork, in my book, but this was a lot of fun, as well. Tishie loves the Orange Chicken we get at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond, so I was going for something at least similar. What I wound up with was not a ringer, by any stretch, but it was good enough for the rest of the crew to ask about a dozen times, as they do when they love something I’ve made, “You DID write this down, right?”

First I cut up half a pork loin into a chunky dice. I had to do it in batches, so you’re seeing half of it here.

Meanwhile, I made the sauce. And yes, I actually *measured* the ingredients!

• 2 1/2 tbsp. molasses
• 2 1/s tbsp. honey
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. Roasted Garlic & Onion Jam (store bought, a specialty brand)
• 2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. spicy bean paste (from the Asian market)
• 1/2 tsp. orange extract (I was out of OJ)
• 1 tbsp. ginger preserves
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp. sushi (seasoned) vinegar
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar

I reduced it all a bit, then thickened a little more with a teaspoon of cornstarch, added some previously (lightly) stir-fried onions, carrot slices, and broccoli florets.

Again, bad photography, sorry… I beat an egg with a little water and poured it into a ziplock bag, then tossed the cubes until lightly coated. I then rolled them in a pie pan full of cornstarch til evenly coated with that. I deep fried them until golden, then drained and tossed with the sauce & veggies.

The sauce was not as sweet as you might think, considering all the sweet ingredients, but had a nice, pleasant bite of heat, thanks to the bean paste and the roasted garlic and onion jam, which I bought at the Farm Fresh market (reallly yummy!) I think next time I’ll go with a strong-acid apple cider vinegar instead of the sushi vinegar, though. All in all, it was a success that will be made again… and again. And soon!

So it’s not the most original after-holiday leftover makeover, but at least I had fun with it. Mom suggested that I try her pie crust trick with the puff pastry… so what you see is (ahem) my (errr) interpretation of a turkey.

As for a recipe, it’s so basic it’s really not worth writing out… about 6 cups of diced cooked turkey, a 28-oz. can of large-cut mixed vegetables (carrots, potatoes, peas, celery, and pearl onions), drained, some sage and black pepper (can’t ever have enough of that!) tossed with about a cup or so of heavy cream (yeah, yeah, I know, I know, but it’s GOOD and it can’t be any worse for you than cream-of-whatever soup in a can with all those chemicals!) I made a regular pie crust for the bottom, and used one box of frozen puff pastry to make the top… and as you can see, did a pretty pitiful job of sealing the gap between sheets. Ahh, well. It was good, anyway!

I hope you & yours had a lovely holiday season! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!

What better holiday breakfast or brunch item is there?

Here’s what you’ll need to make about two dozen nice sized rolls:

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus a pinch more
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 5 tsp. yeast (about 2 pkts.)
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 3 eggs
• 6 cups (more or less) bread flour (you can use all purpose, if you don’t have bread flour)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• pinch of orange zest (optional; I use it if I have an orange lying around)

First, you need to make the dough. Place the milk, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and butter in a microwave-safe measuring cup or other container, and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and set aside to cool slightly (the butter doesn’t have to melt entirely or anything.)

Place water and yeast in a mixer bowl, and add the pinch of sugar. Whisk until combined, then allow to set until foamy.

Add cooled milk mixture to foamy yeast mixture. Attach paddle and mix for a few seconds. Add eggs and mix for a few seconds more. Add 3 cups of flour and mix on low speed until barely combined; increase speed and beat for 2 minutes on medium. Remove paddle attachment, add 2 more cups of flour, and attach dough hook. Knead in mixer until the dough clings to the dough hook and cleans the side of the bowl, adding more flour as necessary to get a nice, elastic, springy dough. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, and set aside to rise for about an hour, until doubled. (Mine took about an hour and a half, as it was fairly cool in the house.)

While that’s going on, make your filling by creaming the brown sugar and white sugar with the butter. Add the flour, cinnamon, and cloves and mix until well combined. Set aside. (Note: you can add nuts here, if you like. Or raisins. Or dried figs. Or whatever.)

When dough is risen, punch down, knead a few times by hand to make sure it’s all smooth and pretty, then roll it out into a large rectangle. Mine was about 15″ x 15″, I’d say. Cover the dough evenly with your brown sugar mixture, leaving just a little space around the edges.
The picture is hideously light (sorry about that,) but here’s what the dough looks like, rolled out and covered with the brown sugar mixture.

Now, starting at whatever end looks *less* straight, roll carefully as you would a jelly roll. Mine was pretty much a square, but if you’re is more of a rectangle, be sure to roll starting from the longer side. Here’s mine, all rolled up and ready to cut!

Now you’re going to cut into 3/4″ slices, removing each carefully after cutting, to place on your greased baking surface. I never seem to get the filling all the way to the ends, so the first and last pieces are something of a bust, but the rest should wind up as pretty spirals… here are mine waiting to be covered once more and set aside again until doubled in size.

If you want to do these a day ahead, you can cover these babies tightly before this last rise, then refrigerate until you’re ready to go. Let the rolls stand at room temperature until they shake off the chill and rise until doubled in size.

Otherwise… just cover and let them rise right away. It took these puppies about 45 minutes to get to where I wanted them. Baked at 350°F for about 20 minutes, they come out looking like these! Drizzle with a little milk-and-powdered-sugar icing (or something more ambitious, if you prefer) and enjoy.

I’ll admit it… this is about as close as I can come to making a 30-minute meal; in that regard, I’m no Rachel Ray. However, when the mood strikes me and the ingredients are at hand, I have been known to put together some pretty nice dinner salads. This one was tasty (although Cat, as I’m beginning to find out, is not overly thrilled with roast beef of any type.) The greens: a mix of spinach and romaine. I had some really pretty button mushrooms, some shredded white cheddar cheese, and some leftover flank steak to buff things up, and for something interesting, I made “pickled” great northern beans. (Basically, I rinsed them, tossed with apple cider vinegar, sugar, and very thinly sliced white onion, cut into 1″ lengths, then set them aside to marinate for about an hour before assembling the salad.) I topped the whole thing off with some cracked black pepper, and drizzled a bit of the “marinade” over mine in lieu of dressing. Cat opted for homemade buttermilk herb on his. Light & easy… and rounded out with some toasted egg bread. Weird to eat in the dead of winter, I guess, but I love salads any time of year.