Well, I recently discovered that I can make and eat Eggs Benedict every day, or at least most days. However, like all things, I change and modify how and what I do to make it. For instance I prefer to use a fried egg (over easy) instead of a poached egg.
The toughest part I found is reviving the Hollandaise sauce that I have stored in the fridge. So far it still doesn't come out as nice as fresh made, but I have learned a few things. The first is low heat, heck, I don't even turn the heat on the stove on, I use the residual heat from frying the bacon and eggs, and even then, it's only on that element for around 30 seconds. Just to warm it up a little.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Saturday Brunch
So far, I have hosted three Saturday morning brunches, the first two I served waffles. The only condition applied to the participants was to be there on time and to bring a topping of their choice. The first event was a flop, people showed up whenever, but more importantly didn't bring any toppings. Needless to say, my Blueberry syrup was taxed to the max and I was left with none (bummer).
The second event went off much better. People were more on time and everyone brought a topping. We had Nutella, blueberry pie filling, my blueberry syrup, some Aunt Jemimas syrup (never got opened) and few other things. All in all, much more of a successful event.
Today, however I changed the menu around, instead of waffles and bring your own topping, it was Eggs Benedict and show up and eat it. This went well, everyone enjoyed it, and it was a great get together. However, from my side of the story, it wasn't so great. I was in the kitchen the entire time, toasting English muffins, cooking bacon (Pork and Turkey), poaching eggs and assembling the "Bennies", while simultaneously bring the goods out to people to enjoy. I didn't mind this at the time, but in retrospect, it was a social engagement that I wasn't attending, I was merely at it. So as a brunch idea, it is great, but I need to find away of engaging others into the cooking process (kinda hard as my new kitchen is smaller and more cutoff from the rest of my apartment) or prepare everything (or mostly everything) in advance and keep it warm in the oven. That way I can spend more time with my guests, instead of on the periphery making them food. Waffles work better in this sense, because I can bring the iron out to the living room and the waffles can cook right there, in the middle of the group.
The second event went off much better. People were more on time and everyone brought a topping. We had Nutella, blueberry pie filling, my blueberry syrup, some Aunt Jemimas syrup (never got opened) and few other things. All in all, much more of a successful event.
Today, however I changed the menu around, instead of waffles and bring your own topping, it was Eggs Benedict and show up and eat it. This went well, everyone enjoyed it, and it was a great get together. However, from my side of the story, it wasn't so great. I was in the kitchen the entire time, toasting English muffins, cooking bacon (Pork and Turkey), poaching eggs and assembling the "Bennies", while simultaneously bring the goods out to people to enjoy. I didn't mind this at the time, but in retrospect, it was a social engagement that I wasn't attending, I was merely at it. So as a brunch idea, it is great, but I need to find away of engaging others into the cooking process (kinda hard as my new kitchen is smaller and more cutoff from the rest of my apartment) or prepare everything (or mostly everything) in advance and keep it warm in the oven. That way I can spend more time with my guests, instead of on the periphery making them food. Waffles work better in this sense, because I can bring the iron out to the living room and the waffles can cook right there, in the middle of the group.
Apple Cider
I made the cider last week, but haven't gotten around to posting it until now... oops my bad.
After all was said and done, I had 500 grams of coarse pulp, 500 grams of fine pulp (first straining vs second straining, there was a distinct difference between them) and 2.5 liters of Apple Cider.
I had intended on spicing it by tossing in a cinnamon stick and some clove berries. But unfortunately I forgot about it until about 2 minutes into the canning process. I could have removed the jars and broken the seal. Though I wasn't sure if I would be able to use the lids again (One use only, they may not seal properly the second time and their dirt cheap). I didn't want to waste the lids so I just left them in the water until they were done being processed. Oh well, maybe next year.
The following is pictures of the haul this year.
After all was said and done, I had 500 grams of coarse pulp, 500 grams of fine pulp (first straining vs second straining, there was a distinct difference between them) and 2.5 liters of Apple Cider.
I had intended on spicing it by tossing in a cinnamon stick and some clove berries. But unfortunately I forgot about it until about 2 minutes into the canning process. I could have removed the jars and broken the seal. Though I wasn't sure if I would be able to use the lids again (One use only, they may not seal properly the second time and their dirt cheap). I didn't want to waste the lids so I just left them in the water until they were done being processed. Oh well, maybe next year.
The following is pictures of the haul this year.
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| ALL of these apples were from one tree in the city (the only tree to bear fruit for me) |
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| These are all of the apples from my parents tree |
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| 5x500 mL jars were the total cider haul this year |
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| Hard (course) pulp and Soft (fine) pulp, about 500 g each |
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| Better lighting in this picture of the apple cider |
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| Side shot to show the opacity of the juice! |
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Pizza experiment
Today I made a double recipe of pizza dough. This should be good for four pizzas total. I was hungry today, so I made one of them for supper, but as usual I put the rest in the fridge where it will stay until I use it. From casual reading of the Joy of Cooking, I believe this to be a variant of a sponge starter. Either way it takes bland dough to great dough!
As for the experiment I was doing today. The hurdle I am trying to overcome is the dough not rising as much as I would like while it is cooking. It is still fluffed up, but.... not as much as I want. I hit on my potential solution while talking to a friend about frozen pizza and the "rising crust pizza" came to mind. I instantly saw a potential solution, that is, to use chemical leaveners to supplement the yeast. I added 1 tablespoon of baking powder to my double recipe.
However, I unfortunately changed two things in my recipe by accident and botched the execution. I forgot the addition of 4 tablespoons of oil (I used to use olive oil, but now am working with butter) to the dough. As for how I botched the baking powder experiment, I forgot to add it to the dough before kneading it. I had finished when I remembered, so I quickly kneaded in a tablespoon. This means that it is probably poorly distributed and is not a good indication of whether I need to increase or decrease the amount added to the recipe.
All in all, the pizza I made tonight tasted great, and there is enough for leftovers for tommorows lunch.
As for the experiment I was doing today. The hurdle I am trying to overcome is the dough not rising as much as I would like while it is cooking. It is still fluffed up, but.... not as much as I want. I hit on my potential solution while talking to a friend about frozen pizza and the "rising crust pizza" came to mind. I instantly saw a potential solution, that is, to use chemical leaveners to supplement the yeast. I added 1 tablespoon of baking powder to my double recipe.
However, I unfortunately changed two things in my recipe by accident and botched the execution. I forgot the addition of 4 tablespoons of oil (I used to use olive oil, but now am working with butter) to the dough. As for how I botched the baking powder experiment, I forgot to add it to the dough before kneading it. I had finished when I remembered, so I quickly kneaded in a tablespoon. This means that it is probably poorly distributed and is not a good indication of whether I need to increase or decrease the amount added to the recipe.
All in all, the pizza I made tonight tasted great, and there is enough for leftovers for tommorows lunch.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Apple Cider Preparation
It's that time of the year again, though the dry hot year has reduced the number and size of apples I am collecting this year, I am still making Apple Cider. To make up for the lean year, I have acquired access to another apple tree. A friend of mine bought a house with an apple tree, and they have no way of using all of the apples. Enter me, the friendly neighborhood apple acquirer-er. All for the low cost of two Apple pies (which admittedly I had to talk them into, they were just happy to have some one to take their apples!)
As this was a leaner year and the apples are smaller, I am hoping, that the flavours of the apples will be more intense (though that isn't based on empirical evidence, its just a hope. One that I hope pans out)
Work begins this weekend. I am hoping to have finished collecting apples by Friday from my other sources. Saturday morning I hope to strip mine the new tree, and by the afternoon I hope to be smelting the apples into apple pulp (not to be confused with apple sauce, I wring all the juice out!) and apple cider.
This year I hope to make some Spiced Apple Cider, and as usual, can it all to be enjoyed throughout the coming year.
Fun Fact: Apparently, from my searching of the Inter-Webs, Apple Cider is just unrefined, unstrained and/or unpasteurized apple juice. From here, the Cider undergoes one of the following pathways. Sold as Apple Cider (which has a shorter life span if it is true Cider), it can also be spiced with cinnamon, cloves, or other seasonal spices for Spiced Apple Cider, it can be fermented for Mulled Apple Cider, or as the bulk of it goes, refined into Apple Juice. The refining typically pasteurizes it, but most importantly it removes all of the floating bits, leaving the crisp, golden colour that we are used to seeing.
As this was a leaner year and the apples are smaller, I am hoping, that the flavours of the apples will be more intense (though that isn't based on empirical evidence, its just a hope. One that I hope pans out)
Work begins this weekend. I am hoping to have finished collecting apples by Friday from my other sources. Saturday morning I hope to strip mine the new tree, and by the afternoon I hope to be smelting the apples into apple pulp (not to be confused with apple sauce, I wring all the juice out!) and apple cider.
This year I hope to make some Spiced Apple Cider, and as usual, can it all to be enjoyed throughout the coming year.
Fun Fact: Apparently, from my searching of the Inter-Webs, Apple Cider is just unrefined, unstrained and/or unpasteurized apple juice. From here, the Cider undergoes one of the following pathways. Sold as Apple Cider (which has a shorter life span if it is true Cider), it can also be spiced with cinnamon, cloves, or other seasonal spices for Spiced Apple Cider, it can be fermented for Mulled Apple Cider, or as the bulk of it goes, refined into Apple Juice. The refining typically pasteurizes it, but most importantly it removes all of the floating bits, leaving the crisp, golden colour that we are used to seeing.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Reheated Lasagna lunch
I recently made a vegetarian lasagna (I like meat as much as the next person, but I've had lots of good meat Lasagnas, but never a great one, while I have hat lots of great meatless ones). Nothing special, I tried a few new things and it turned out really well. Probably one of the best ones I've made recently. But those are trivial details compared to how I have discovered how to reheat it for lunches!
My problem was that, Lasagna, doesn't do very well in the microwave for reheating (or at least mine doesn't). It gets soggy and for some reason the cheese doesn't melt, it runs. It still tasted great, but reheated Lasagna is never the same as fresh cooked. Some foods do well reserved, Pizza can be reserved cold or reheated and lose very little of the original "wham, this is good!" This really bothered me, and I wasn't fully enjoying the meal, or at least as much as I could. So, as I had a few lunches that I could experiment with, I did some experiments.
At work I have access to a toaster oven, which does all of the typical toaster oven functions. Toasts, broils and goes up to 450 ºF. But fortunately, it is not located in the lunch room where I eat (rather it is relatively close to my desk, which is where I don't eat, but rather where I work before eating), and the containers that I transport the food to work are plastic, which unfortunatly means that for that "just melted" cheese taste, I need to get some of that freshly melted plastic taste and smell.
My solution? I lined my container with foil! Now don't think I shoved the plastic container wrapped in foil into the toaster oven, 'cause that would be stupid. I would have melted plastic on my foil enclosing my Lasagna, not a tasty combination. I instead removed the foil liner with the Lasagna in it, and placed that in the toaster oven near my desk for 15-20 minutes. I initially tried 350 ºF, but quickly found out that that was too high of a heat and some of the cheese started charring a little ( I noticed it before the charring led to a bad taste, which, is a fine line between good tasting charred and bad tasting burnt). I then turned the temperature down to 200 ºF and let it sit there until I was ready to go for lunch. I grabbed the foil out of the oven and back into the plastic container and headed up to the lunch room.
When I started to eat the Lasagna, it was like eating it straight out of the oven again, there were crispy parts, a nice browning on the cheese, the layers were well heated and not soggy. I was in reheated lunch heaven.
The problem with this in general is that, I am lucky enough to have a toaster oven conveniently close to me that I can shove food in before I go for lunch. So I can keep a semi-close eye on it while I work before going for lunch. I imagine for most people that this isn't the case. For those of you out in Internet land that only have the toaster oven in the lunch room, or worse yet, only a microwave. The only thing I can say is, I'm sorry for your loss, but if you can solve the reheating problem, then I would be more than happy to hear from you.
My problem was that, Lasagna, doesn't do very well in the microwave for reheating (or at least mine doesn't). It gets soggy and for some reason the cheese doesn't melt, it runs. It still tasted great, but reheated Lasagna is never the same as fresh cooked. Some foods do well reserved, Pizza can be reserved cold or reheated and lose very little of the original "wham, this is good!" This really bothered me, and I wasn't fully enjoying the meal, or at least as much as I could. So, as I had a few lunches that I could experiment with, I did some experiments.
At work I have access to a toaster oven, which does all of the typical toaster oven functions. Toasts, broils and goes up to 450 ºF. But fortunately, it is not located in the lunch room where I eat (rather it is relatively close to my desk, which is where I don't eat, but rather where I work before eating), and the containers that I transport the food to work are plastic, which unfortunatly means that for that "just melted" cheese taste, I need to get some of that freshly melted plastic taste and smell.
My solution? I lined my container with foil! Now don't think I shoved the plastic container wrapped in foil into the toaster oven, 'cause that would be stupid. I would have melted plastic on my foil enclosing my Lasagna, not a tasty combination. I instead removed the foil liner with the Lasagna in it, and placed that in the toaster oven near my desk for 15-20 minutes. I initially tried 350 ºF, but quickly found out that that was too high of a heat and some of the cheese started charring a little ( I noticed it before the charring led to a bad taste, which, is a fine line between good tasting charred and bad tasting burnt). I then turned the temperature down to 200 ºF and let it sit there until I was ready to go for lunch. I grabbed the foil out of the oven and back into the plastic container and headed up to the lunch room.
When I started to eat the Lasagna, it was like eating it straight out of the oven again, there were crispy parts, a nice browning on the cheese, the layers were well heated and not soggy. I was in reheated lunch heaven.
The problem with this in general is that, I am lucky enough to have a toaster oven conveniently close to me that I can shove food in before I go for lunch. So I can keep a semi-close eye on it while I work before going for lunch. I imagine for most people that this isn't the case. For those of you out in Internet land that only have the toaster oven in the lunch room, or worse yet, only a microwave. The only thing I can say is, I'm sorry for your loss, but if you can solve the reheating problem, then I would be more than happy to hear from you.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Funeral Potatoes
There are very few meals that I seem to gorge myself on. The two that come to mind are my mothers Honey Garlic Ribs on Rice (something I have no problem making on my own) and her Funeral Potatoes. My aunts and make them just as well as my mother, but every time I try to make them, even following the same recipe, I fall very short of the mark.
Now I know what your thinking, Funeral Potatoes? What am I doing eating this on a semi-regular basis? Well, a long story short, I've heard this dish called by a number of names, but Funeral Potatoes is what I call it because I liked the name. No I'm not morbid or anything, I just thought it to be a fun name to give to something I enjoy so much. My Aunts and mother all call it a potatoe casserole, but whatever you call it, it is delicious!
All it really is, is hashbrowns in a cheese sauce with buttered cornflakes crushed on top.
You would think that something so simple sounding could be made by anyone! But apparently I am not in that grouping.
Either way, whenever I visit my family and Funeral Potatoes make an appearance on the dinner table, I either finish them all off (which is harder to do now that my Mom has been making more for the meal), or I end up taking a doggy bag home with me. They aren't as good when reheated for a lunch, but they still get ranked really high up on the list of favorite lunches.
Now I know what your thinking, Funeral Potatoes? What am I doing eating this on a semi-regular basis? Well, a long story short, I've heard this dish called by a number of names, but Funeral Potatoes is what I call it because I liked the name. No I'm not morbid or anything, I just thought it to be a fun name to give to something I enjoy so much. My Aunts and mother all call it a potatoe casserole, but whatever you call it, it is delicious!
All it really is, is hashbrowns in a cheese sauce with buttered cornflakes crushed on top.
You would think that something so simple sounding could be made by anyone! But apparently I am not in that grouping.
Either way, whenever I visit my family and Funeral Potatoes make an appearance on the dinner table, I either finish them all off (which is harder to do now that my Mom has been making more for the meal), or I end up taking a doggy bag home with me. They aren't as good when reheated for a lunch, but they still get ranked really high up on the list of favorite lunches.
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