Cooking – Page 4 – Singing about Cooking

Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

Posted on November 26, 2016December 29, 2016 by singingaboutcooking

My little family of four, we’ve never quite gotten over the old days when our families of 16 or so gathered and needed more than one turkey. So each year, even as we’ve grown smaller, we still cook two turkeys, which leaves us with a LOT of leftover turkey. We don’t seem to have a problem making smaller amounts of our sides.

This year – yesterday, to be precise – I volunteered to turn the remaining roasted turkey breast (the only whole one left) into Turkey Pot Pie. After all, we had nearly everything we’d need on hand; I only had to buy more carrots and another leek.

Notes: the two things most people do that mess up a good pot pie are

prepare too much filling
forget to or ignore instructions to cover the edge of the crust with foil for cooking to prevent it from burning

So let’s get to it:

Step 1: Make the pie dough

Today, I’m taking a shortcut and using store-bought pie crust, just Publix brand. But when I make pie dough for savory pies, I use the Savory Pie Crust recipe from Food to Live By. Typically I have some in the freezer made with rice flour to be gluten and corn free, but I’ve been slack.

Step 2: Prep the filling

1 whole turkey breast from a 15lb turkey, diced
1 large potato, diced medium
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and diced medium
1 leek, white only, halved and chopped
1 cup of peas, fresh preferably but canned or frozen will do
1-3 cloves of garlic
2T grapeseed oil (or olive or coconut oil, whatever oil you typically use for cooking)
salt and pepper
savory herbs you like (traditional are thyme and rosemary)

Put the diced potato on to boil; simmer for 5 minutes. You don’t need it cooked soft since it will finish cooking in the pie. Drain and put in large mixing bowl with diced turkey.

Heat your oil on medium in a large skillet. Drop in the carrots first; season with salt and pepper and stir gently for 5-6 minutes.

Add the onions and leeks and garlic; season with salt and pepper and any savory herbs and stir gently for 4-5 minutes. Since I brined and cooked my turkey in sage, rosemary, thyme, and sage, I added only some thyme; it’s my favorite!

Add mixture to large mixing bowl with the diced turkey and cooked potatoes. Mix gently.

Step 3: Whip up your sauce

2T butter
2T flour (wheat or rice)
1/2 cup milk or cream (unsweetened, unflavored almond milk or soy milk works, but rice milk does not)
1.5 cups turkey or chicken stock (homemade or Pacific)
salt and pepper

Pot pie sauce or gravy is nothing more than a basic white sauce, the same as chicken gravy you’d make after frying chicken. I actually have some giblet gravy left over from Thanksgiving that I will use for my sauce this time, but here’s how to make it when you don’t have leftovers.

In the same pan you cooked the vegetables (don’t clean it!), add the butter, still on medium heat. If the skillet is large, keep the butter in one spot rather than moving it around the skillet. When the butter is completely melted, add the flour and whisk quickly for about 1 minute. This is a roux.

Add the milk and half of the turkey/chicken stock, whisking calmly to blend the roux into the liquid smoothly.

Now is a good time to salt and pepper your sauce, stir, and taste for balance, while you’re waiting for the sauce to come to a boil. That’s when you’ll also feel the sauce get thick quickly as you stir and blend; add the remaining stock and continue stirring. This makes about 2 cups of sauce.

Pour into the large mixing bowl on top of the turkey, potatoes, and veggies. Mix gently.

A semi-homemade alternative is to use 1 can of cream of chicken soup and add 1 cup of milk or stock to thin it out.

Step 4: Assemble your pie

Roll out your store-bought or homemade dough and place in the pie dish. There’s no need to grease or butter the dish; the dough has enough butter/fat in it already to prevent sticking.

Dump your turkey-vegetable-sauce filling in the dish and smooth/squish it all in. Don’t worry if it makes a bit of a mountain in the middle; that’s ALL GOOD!

Roll out the top crust and place it on top. Pinch the edges together, folding them over towards the middle if any dough overlaps the edge of the dish. Cut some 1/2-inch slits in the top crust, maybe 8-10 slits; there’s no magic to the number or design of these, just spread them out reasonably.

Some folks like to egg-wash their crust for a glossy top; it doesn’t affect the flavor, so I don’t bother. If you like this look, scramble 1 egg and use a pastry brush to “paint” the top crust with the egg wash.

Tear a couple of 2-inch strips of aluminum foil for wrapping the pie edges during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking; this will prevent the edges from burning before the rest of the crust is cooked through and crispy.

Bake at 475°F for 20 minutes for a standard 9-inch pie dish. If you’d like the pie edges a little less dark, add foil round the pie edges at the 15-minute mark. Since all of the inside ingredients are already cooked, you just need for the crust to cook all the way through.

Cooking

Campstyle Eggs

Posted on November 11, 2016December 29, 2016 by singingaboutcooking

My dad's favorite dinner for Veterans Day 2016. — My dad’s favorite dinner for Veterans Day 2016.

My dad grew up country and military, so he learned how to make something delicious out of nothing early in the life and from both his momma and his daddy – my Grannie and Papa Joe.

Between camping and hunting, Boy Scouts, and military life all using campfire cooking, a favorite campfire skillet breakfast is born: Campstyle Eggs.

Here’s the proportions for a 4-serving batch, which I made this evening for my Vietnam Veteran dad – Ed Mikell.

1/2 lb breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean Hot, one of my dad’s favorites)
2 medium potatoes diced pretty small, or equivalent baby potatoes (we prefer yukon gold or red potatoes)
1 small onion diced (sweet for us)
1 small green bell pepper diced
1 clove garlic, minced (optional and not a traditional ingredient)
3 jumbo or 4 large eggs (subs: 1 cup Egg Beaters, tofu scramble)
1 T milk per egg

Prep your potatoes, onions, and peppers before you start; this dish goes fast!

Brown up the sausage on medium high heat, using your wooden cooking spoon to break it up into a fine crumble. Use a slotted spoon to remove the sausage to a paper towel, leaving all of the pork fat grease in the pan.

Drop in the potatoes, stir to coat in the pork fat grease well, and smooth into a single layer. Now leave them alone for a good 2 minutes (if diced really small) or 3 minutes (if diced a little larger) to get a light crispy golden crust on that one side. Stir gently to unstick the potatoes and roll them onto their other sides to continue cooking. I like the really small dice for this dish because you can crisp up the potatoes pretty quickly and get the whole dish done in under 20 minutes.

All the veg in the pan; all the meats waiting for their turn.

Once the potatoes have softened but may still have some crunch or bite to them still, drop in the onion and pepper to begin cooking. If you wait until the potatoes are completely and perfectly done, you’ll end up with half hard crunchy over cooked potatoes and half smushed potatoes, neither of which are desireable in the final dish.

Everything is in the pan, waiting for the eggs!

While the potatoes, onions, and peppers are finishing, scramble 3 eggs with about 2 T milk; be sure to salt and pepper your egg scramble or the eggs will be bland.

I only had 3 large eggs, but this dish is very forgiving of amounts!

When the potatoes, onions, and peppers have reached your favorite level of doneness (takes about 5 minutes for my family), add back in the sausage and stir well. Gently pour the egg/milk scramble over the whole dish and stir gently to coat everything with the egg as it is cooking. It’ll take about 1 minute for the eggs to cook and the dish to be ready to serve.

All done. It's not the prettiest thing, but it's delicious! — All done. It’s not the prettiest thing, but it’s delicious!

As soon as the egg is done to your liking (some like wet eggs, some like rubbery eggs, to each his/her own), take the pan off of the heat. This is important: do not leave the pan on the burner to “keep it warm” or you’ll overcook the egg and begin to burn the rest of the ingredients.

When we have this as a breakfast, this is it. As our dinner tonight, we enjoyed it with some local tomatoes sliced and fresh biscuits with butter and preserves.

Vegetarian/Vegan Alternative

Sub veggie crumbles or seitan crumbles for the sausage (will need to use an oil for the potatoes, onion, and peppers)
Sub tofu scramble or The Vegg Scramble for the egg

Cooking

Chicken and Dumplings

Posted on November 10, 2016December 29, 2016 by singingaboutcooking

Boiled stuff…all together…including boiled dough. Only the countriest of country kitchens in the American South have been able to render boiled dough a culinary delight.

My Grannie's chicken and dumplings, one of my dad's favorites — My Grannie’s chicken and dumplings, one of my dad’s favorites

Many younger and even some middle-aged (like me) Americans believe a dumpling is the original creation of the Asian cuisines: a little pocket of dough filled with something. They seem to focus on the filled part and ignore the boiled part.

You see, country people got stuff to do. They don’t have time to roll and cut the dough and fill it with the chicken and vegetables from the stock before boiling it. But at the very root of things, country American chicken and dumplings are arguably a deconstructed Wonton soup. Hmmm, so it really is all in the presentation.

For me, I’ll stick with ugly yummy classic American chicken and dumplings:

Step 1: boil chicken and make stock – these things happen simultaneously

It’s important any time you are making a chicken stock or chicken soup that you use skin-on and bone-in chicken and that you use both white and dark meat. Why? That’s where the flavor lives: in the fat and in the bone. I promise that leaving the skin on will not make your stock oily, only that using the most flavor-filled parts of the chicken will make it rich and dark stock. That’s what you want: not golden or yellow but a light to medium brown color!

1 whole split chicken (ask your grocery store butcher to do this for you or buy 2 split breasts and 4 split thighs with skin and bones)
4 large carrots, cut however you want (I like 1-inch barrels) or half a bag of baby carrots
1-2 onion family choices: white or sweet onion sliced, leek or green onion chopped to 1 inch pieces
3-10 cloves of garlic – depends on how many vampires you’ve got hanging around
salt and pepper
hot water to cover the chicken completely

Turn on the sink faucet to the hottest setting to let it get hot. In the largest stock pot you’ve got (at least 8 quarts), place your carrots and onions and garlic on the bottom. Place the chicken pieces on top of this; smush it all down well. Liberally salt and pepper the pot, roughly 2 tablespoons of each; yes, it really needs that much salt. Cover with hot water from the kitchen sink, probably to about 1 inch from the top of the pot.

Place the full stock pot on your large burner on high. It’ll take 20-30 minutes to come to a full boil; be patient. Let it roil for 3-5 minutes, and then turn it down to medium low to simmer for 2-3 hours. You want to see a tiny bit of movement on the water; it should not be completely still. Turn the burner off and get ready for step 2.

Once you remove the chicken for picking (step 1), you may find that your stock fills only half of your pot. If you’ve followed my flavor instructions and your stock is a rich medium or dark brown, add up to 4 cups of hot water to dilute the stock for direct eating. I often have 2-cup servings of frozen stock in the freezer and may add one of these as well; my freezer stock is actually broth with much more vegetables and already diluted for immediate eating.

Step 2: Cool and pick the chicken

Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the chicken from the pot. I usually place mine in a colander so that it gets good airflow for quicker cooling. Once cooled, pick the chicken.

What, you don’t know what that means? Truly I know a lot of people who don’t know how chicken gets from pieces to shredded. Before you get started, make sure you have a chicken plate and a discard plate; I use paper plates for this step. So here’s how it goes:

pick up a piece of chicken in your right hand (reverse the hands if you’re left handed)
use your left hand fingers to grasp the chicken skin and fat flabs and pull them off; place them in the discard plate or bowl. Generally breast pieces will have less skin and fat than thigh/leg pieces
switch the piece of chicken to your left hand
use your right hand fingers to pull the large chunks of chicken off of the bone and place them on the chicken plate; discard the empty bone to the trash plate
take up the large chunks in your left hand
using a pinching motion, use your right hand fingers to pinch and tear the large chunks into many smaller ones
continue until you have picked all of the chicken off of all of the pieces

Now some of you reading have already rolled your eyes and dubbed me patronizing to be so specific, but I’ve had the pleasure of teaching my same-aged friends and their children cooking basics, and you can’t even imaging how difficult it is to employ these basic motor skills for the first time as an adult.

NOTE: some folks also remove the vegetable flavorings, but I like them so I keep them. Other traditional vegetable additions include celery and peas (see side note at the bottom).

When you’re about 30 minutes from serving time, you’ll take step 3.

Step 3: Make the dumplings

There are lots of styles of dumplings, but the dough is about the same. If your people have memories of fluffy round dumplings, you’ll want to keep the following dough pretty wet and sticky; these are biscuit dumplings. If your people have memories of long flat dumplings, you’ll want to add a little more flour to form a solid ball of dough to work with; these are pie crust dumplings. The basic recipe is the same:

2 cups all purpose flour (make this gluten-free by replacing standard flour with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour)
1 t baking powder
1 cup chicken stock
1 egg

Drop them all in a bowl together and use a fork to blend them; do not use a whisk or you’ll end up with a blob of unblended dough inside the tines of the whisk and it’ll be a pain to get it all out.

If you want the puffy biscuit dough dumplings, stop mixing as soon as everything is combined. Drop the dough into the boiling stock. Since dumplings cook through in about a minute, this is a fast process.

If you want the flat pie crust dumplings, keep dusting the mixture with flour (probably 2 T at a time) and mixing until the dough comes together into a ball that does not sag or flatten and the sides stay smooth when you tough them, not sticky or tacky. Sprinkle a handful of flour on your clean kitchen counter and coat both of your hands with flour. Pinch off a generous handful of the dough and, on the floured counter, use your fingers to press it into a long flat lasagna noodle shaped dough. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 inch strips on the short edges (1-inch x 2-inch). Peel the dough strips off of the counter one by one and drop them into the boiling stock. Repeat until all of the dumplings have been dropped.

Add the picked and shredded chicken back into the stock and dumplings to warm for about 20 minutes. Serve piping hot!

Side Note: One of the most beautiful things about this recipe/technique is that it’s almost a chicken pot pie. Yep, use the same stock making, the same dumpling making, and use the stock to make the pot pie sauce. Really couldn’t be simpler.

Cooking, Healthy in Mind and Body

Basic Granola (technique and recipe)

Posted on November 10, 2016December 29, 2016 by singingaboutcooking

My mom is diabetic. And even though her dad was diabetic her whole life, and she was raised essentially on a diabetic diet (as it existed in the 60s and 70s), she’s got very diabetic-unfriendly eating habits.

But one good choice she craves and sticks to is granola. The oats are a great carb choice for diabetics, a slow digesting carbohydrate whether eaten cooked or raw. She loves oatmeal during the winter months, but really needs to have the sweet bite to it. She loves yogurt, but really needs to have a sweet bite to it. She really (psychologically) needs the sweet or she feels like she’s deprived.

But she won’t buy granola from the store because it’s saturated in various sugars: brown sugar, honey, corn syrup, maple syrup, and more.

Thus is born our experiment, beginning with what I consider Basic Granola.

And like so many “recipes,” this is a system, not a by-the-numbers or it’s wrong kind of food.

So here’s my system – which tracks pretty closely with the vast majority of granola “recipes”:

1.5 cups oats
1 cup nuts – mix as many as you like into the blend, but only 1 cup total
1 cup dried fruit – mix as many as you like into the blend, but only 1 cup total

Yep, it’s that simple.

Now, for the recipe people, here’s exactly what’s in my Basic Granola pictured here:

1.5 cups rolled oats (Publix brand, no need to go fancy)
1T dried ground cinnamon (Publix brand)
1t dried ground nutmeg (Publix brand)
1t salt (Morton’s)
1 cup water

Mix these five items together in a bowl, cover and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Prep your nuts; I used what I already had in the cupboard:

1/3 cup sunflower seeds (Publix organic unsalted from the produce section)
1/3 cup hemp seeds (Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts)
1.3 cup slivered almonds (Mariana from the Publix produce section)

Prep your binding; because my granola places emphasis on being diabetic friendly, I have limited sugar to a functional role and eliminated all granular sweeteners – natural or artificial:

1/3 cup honey (from a local farm near me)
1/4 cup oil or melted butter (Pompeiian Grapeseed Oil)

When you’re ready to bake, mix the nuts and the binding into the softened oat mixture. Spray or grease a medium or large cookie sheet with at least a little lip, spread the mixture in a thin layer in the sheet. Bake at 250° for 1 hour and 15 minutes; increase heat to 300° for 20-40 minutes more. The longer time is especially useful in high-humidity climates or times of year.

As your mixture sits to cool, it will harden into the crunchy texture most people are looking for, so don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t harden while still in the oven. It won’t, and you’ll risk overcooking or burning your granola.

Serving Ideas: the standard serving is 1/4 cup

cooked oatmeal topper (tip: prepare half of an oatmeal serving and add 1/2 cup granola to finish out the meal)
yogurt mix-in
ice cream topper
fruit pie topping (instead of crust)
blend into smoothie for an oatmeal smoothie
sweet potato casserole topping
roasted root veggies topping

My mom is really happy with this batch and can’t wait for my Christmas blend using pistachios and dried cherries.

Cooking, Healthy in Mind and Body

Butternut Squash Bliss

Posted on August 26, 2012September 17, 2026 by singingaboutcooking

This weekend, my friend Sarah offered me her entire crop of butternut squash…because she didn’t know what to do with them. Sarah, you don’t know what you’re missing! This delicious squash has a simple, light, nutty butter flavor of its own but also provides a wonderful base for sweet or savory additions.

As we are on the cusp of Fall and the morning and evening temperatures are cooling, I’m ready to start on soups, and butternut squash soup is hands-down my favorite! Luckily it’s also the one I can’t seem to screw up despite the fact that I don’t measure…ever!

Here’s what you’ll need for my savory version of the soup:

Butternut squash: peeled, seeded, and diced
Sweet onion: peeled and quartered
Carrots: cleaned and chopped
Garlic: one whole pod peeled (not one clove, but the whole pod of 10-12 cloves)
Stock or Cream: up to 8 cups, depending on your preference
Spices: Salt, Black Pepper, Ginger, Cumin, Coriander Seeds

Get all the veggies cleaned and cut. I usually do this while watching a movie, a method I “developed” from my days living in a tiny Brooklyn flat with no kitchen counters. If you’re using fresh ginger, peel, dice, and add that to the roasting mix.

Spread them all out on cookie sheets, making sure everything is in just one layer. Dust with salt, pepper, and spices; use as much or as little as you like. Roast at 400°F for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and let them sit for another 15 minutes.

Dump all the veggies carefully into a large stock pot. Here’s where I’ve got to talk you through some options.

Option 1: Stock or Cream

The difference between a soup or a bisque is the use of stock or cream as your thinning or thickening agent. There are a few other options besides cream for a bisque, but that’s the traditional one. Vegans can choose vegetable stock or soy or rice milk. For the least flavor interference, use homemade vegetable or chicken stock. For a richer, velvety flavor, use beef stock. For the sweeter version of this soup, use ham or veal stock. And you can always use just plain water, especially if you are looking for a thicker consistency and not worried about having to use too much.

Option 2: Blending Method

If you’ve watched chefs on cooking shows make soup, you’ve seen the two methods: blender or immersion wand. Both can achieve the same level of smoothness, but the traditional blender will get you there faster; just make sure the veggies have cooled to room temperature before using the traditional blender. Me, I like the convenience of the immersion wand because I can pretty much put all of the veggies in at one time and both see and feel the consistency as I’m blending; it offers a level of control that you don’t get with the traditional blender.

I like my soups with a strong “mouth feel,” which usually translates into thick or stew-like. I know it makes the blended soups look like baby food and/or baby poo, which, by the way, reminds me to tell you that this is exactly how to make your own baby food; studies show that children who eat the same food and same seasonings in their baby food as their parents have on their plates aren’t as picky during their formative years, making meal time much easier to deal with.

When my Mom insists on the sweeter version of this soup, it goes something like this:

Butternut squash
Carrots
Onion
Cream
Ginger, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar (during blending)

This version comes out similar to sweet potato soufflé (aka sweet potato casserole) with Thanksgiving spices and sweetness. I just don’t happen to like that very much.

Note for Sarah: other ways I use butternut squash:

Oven or deep fried fries…similar to sweet potato fries
Winter Veggie Salad with b. squash, zucchini, carrots, onions (or mix with orzo or rice or risotto)
Mashed butternut squash
Ravioli or Lasagna filling

Cooking

Mexican Cornbread

Posted on December 4, 2011 by singingaboutcooking

The day after Thanksgiving this year, I spent a wonderful day with a new friend…who couldn’t stop talking about this spicy Mexican cornbread that a work colleague is always bringing to him. The colleague finally shared the recipe, but my friend had never baked anything from scratch before; he had most of the ingredients, and some interesting interpretations of the measurements and proportions, but here’s how it all turned out:

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients: Jiffy Mix + All Purpose Flour

2 regular (8.5 oz) boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup of milk (1/3 for each box of muffin mix and 1/3 for the cup of flour)
2 cans of whole kernel corn, drained
1/4 – 1/2 cup diced jalapeños–we used sliced pickled jalapeño
2 cups shredded cheese, divided into 1-cup piles–we used Mexican blend
hot pepper sauce to taste
1 t salt
2 t pepper

Instructions

Dry + Chunky Ingredients

Place two 8×8 baking dishes (glass or porcelain, not metal) into a 350 degree oven to warm up.
In a large mixing bowl, dump all of the ingredients, reserving 1 cup of the shredded cheese for topping. Mix well with a spoon (we learned the hard way that a whisk makes this task harder than it needs to be).
Remove hot baking dishes carefully and butter or spray fully–all the way up the sides!
Divide the cornbread mixture evenly in the two dishes, smooth out the mixture, and put in the 350-degree oven for 50 minutes.
Top with remaining shredded cheese and splash hot pepper sauce on top–as much or little as desired.
Bake for 10 more minutes.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Dry + Chunky + Wet Ingredients

What you’ll taste is a smooth, sweet, low-level spicy cornbread. The flour helps to smooth out the sometimes grittiness of cornbread and helps it to be more springy like a cake than dense like a brick. The corn is what adds the sweetness to balance the spicy from the hot pepper sauce and the jalapenos.

But even as good as this cornbread is–by itself or as a partner to chili, sausage and cabbage soup, or any ham dinner–the best part of making this Mexican cornbread was helping my friend bake his first dish (we even had to buy baking dishes because he didn’t have any).

Cooking, Healthy in Mind and Body

Greek Penicillin–Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Posted on June 12, 2011September 17, 2026 by singingaboutcooking

There’s this new local soup and sandwich shop Ladles in Sweetgrass (the new Harris Teeter off Hwy 17 N) that serves up a fantastic Greek Lemon Chicken Soup…not tart, but fresh lemon flavor, hint of garlic, and just oh so comforting…even in the hot Lowcountry summer, which has gotten an early start.

But it’s not always convenient to go get it. And I needed something to make for my lunches this week that would make a little extra for one of our dinners. And…I’m a soup fanatic. Love it….hot or cold weather…but not really many cold soups.

So…what makes Greek Lemon Chicken Soup special? Well, to tell you the truth, it’s basically homemade chicken noodle soup with a special touch right at the end. Here’s how it goes.

Ingredients:

6 large chicken breasts, skinless and boneless (about 4 lbs)
64 oz (8 cups total) chicken broth (homemade is best; for corn free, use Pacific Organic Free Range Chicken Broth or Harris Teeter Organic Chicken Broth)
4-6 large carrots, cleaned and roughly chopped
1-2 large sweet onions, roughly chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2-3 bay leaves
salt and pepper as desired
2 cups Israeli couscous (little tiny pasta balls)–or 2 cups white rice which is more traditional and naturally gluten free
3 eggs
juice and zest of 2 large lemons (alternate: 1 cup lemon juice)

Place the chicken, carrots, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and salt and pepper in a stock pot; cover with 32 oz of chicken broth (about 4 cups). Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. This is to cook and flavor the chicken.

Remove the chicken and add the couscous and another 32 oz of chicken broth (about 4 cups). Cover and simmer while you shred (or chop) the chicken.

Add the chicken back in and stir well.

At this point, you have a fantastic and well-flavored Chicken Noodle Soup…and might very well choose to stop here.

Or…you can make and add the “Greek” part.

Whisk together three eggs and the juice and zest of two large lemons (about 1T zest and about 1/2 cup juice) in a large bowl. Be sure to use a large bowl, much larger than you think you need, because next you are going to add 2 cups of soup broth while whisking.

Get 2 cups of hot broth out of the soup pot; it’s okay if there’s some onion or couscous in it. I dip the broth out with a soup ladle and into a large measuring cup with a pour spout. This will come in really handy as I pour it into the egg mixture.

Now, take the measuring cup of broth in your left hand and your whisk in your right hand (or vice versa if you are left-handed).

Start whisking away gently.

Dribble the hot soup broth into the egg mixture very slowly, whisking the whole time.

It will take about five minutes, so be patient and DO NOT rush this step. This is called “tempering” the eggs, warming them up without cooking them so that when you add the mixture to the soup, it will become naturally creamy from all of the proteins!

When you’ve incorporated all of your broth, take the soup off of the heat and add the mixture to the soup. Taste and see what you think.

If you want more lemony taste, add some more lemon juice.

NOTE: this recipe is based off of one posted by Whole Foods for Greek Lemon and Chicken Soup.

Cooking

Charleston Macaroni Pie

Posted on May 21, 2011May 14, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

I just love to see people’s faces…people not from the south, that is…when I talk about macaroni pie. I kind of do it on purpose, knowing they are trying to reconcile the sinful sweetness of fresh ripe peach pie in a homemade sweet pastry crust with pasta and tangy cheese. Not really what I want to eat either.

Then as I explain, they always say, “but I like my macaroni and cheese creamy.” Ha! If you’re eating Charleston Macaroni Pie like I grew up eating, then it is creamy. If you’re not, the cook should be shot!

The key is in the….custard. Yep, macaroni pie uses a custard…a milk, egg, and flour mixture that “sets”. It doesn’t scramble or cook hard like eggs alone, but neither is it juicy from the milk.

Here’s what you’ll need from your pantry and fridge…because every home should have these ingredients at all times!

1 box of elbow macaroni
1 lb of sharp cheddar cheese, grated in 1/4 lb piles
1/2 stick of butter
4 whole eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp ground mustard (never use prepared, ick)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp pepper

Some notes on the ingredients:

Naturally any bite-sized pasta will do, but theres just something about the way truly good and creamy cheesiness slides off of the elbow curls all the while evading your fork!

A variety of cheeses, even a combination, can certainly be used, but sharp cheddar is traditional and basic.

Arguments may now ensue regarding the fat content of the milk…anything from heavy cream to canned condensed milk to half and half to skim. Personally, I find that it doesn’t matter which one you use as long as you are conscious of the consistency of your custard.

Okay, now to get cooking:

Boil your pasta just like the box tells you to. I like to start with scalding hot water in the pot; it will boil almost 2 minutes faster.

While the pasta is going, cut your block of cheese into 4 equal pieces and grate in individual piles. This will make it much easier to mix into the hot pasta in batches.

And before the pasta is done, whisk together your eggs, milk, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Now once you’re more experienced in making this, you’ll be able to adjust the balance of this custard to meet your desires…creamier set demands perhaps one less egg and a little more milk while a firmer set calls for the same mix but perhaps 2-3 egg whites added. Regardless, you always need approximately 3 cups of custard mixture per recipe.

As the pasta finishes boiling, get ready to mix fast; you want to take advantage of that steaming hot pasta to create the creaminess that is the base of macaroni and cheese. Quickly dump your pasta in a colander, draining just slightly, maybe 5 seconds at the most. Pour the pasta right back into the hot pot, add the butter (cut into slices), sprinkle over 1/4 of the cheese (one pile if you followed my instructions), and about 1/2 cup of the custard mixture.

And stir…a lot…gently…watching for all of the cheese to “disappear” as it melts. Then add another pile of cheese and keep stirring. When that one’s all melted in, add a third pile of cheese.

At this point, you should be able to eat a spoonful of the macaroni and cheese and think to yourself, “Wowsers, I can’t believe I ever ate the stuff out of the box! But why on earth should I bake this rather than eating it right now?” Simple, it gets better, trust me!

Pour your macaroni and cheese into a greased baking dish (9×13) and spread it out nice and even with your spoon.

Pour in your remaining custard mixture, letting it sink in and settle out evenly.

Finally, sprinkle the remaining pile of cheese over the top; this will make a scrumptious crust on top of the pie.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on humidity. When it’s done, lightly touch the center to test for springiness; you want the pie to bounce and jiggle, but not squirt out juice.

Macaroni Pie is a classic southern dish that is traditionally served as a side dish with anything at all: chicken, bbq, ham, steak…probably not fish or seafood, though. It can also be easily transformed into a complete meal casserole with the substitution of half of the cooked pasta for meat and vegetables; I’m fond of chicken and broccoli, myself.

PS–this is what I made to go with ginger ham and blue cheese cole slaw on Rapture Day (aka May 21, 2011).

Cooking, Healthy in Mind and Body

The Bliss of Homemade Popcorn

Posted on May 19, 2011May 22, 2011 by singingaboutcooking

About five years ago, I took a chance and made popcorn in my own soup pot on a gas stove; you see, I was trimming the budget, and a bag of loose kernels is much cheaper than 24 bags of the microwave stuff (that’s an equivalent amount of popped corn).

And it couldn’t be simpler.

In your big soup pot (the lighter weight the better, if you have a choice), pour in cooking oil to cover the bottom of the pot, perhaps 1/8 inch. Dump in about half a cup of popcorn kernels and maybe 2 tablespoons of salt.

Then the secret: snap the lid on tight and don’t you dare open it up again until the popcorn has all popped.

Gently slide the pot back and forth over high heat. Don’t worry, be patient. You will definitely know when the action is heating up. You’ll hear the sizzle of the oil just a second or two before the first kernels pop. And they will pop up and hit the lid. Don’t be scared…and don’t you dare open the lid. Not only will you let out the heat and steam necessary to pop the corn, but you may lose an eye.

Keep sliding the pot back and forth as you hear the popping speed up. But listen carefully for the first signs of the slow down. When you can hear only one kernel at a time pop, it’s time to take the pot of the heat entirely.

Lift the lid carefully. You may get to enjoy the surprise of a few more kernels popping up and out of the top layer, which is a special delight for kids if you’ve got them helping with this!

Transfer the popcorn into a large bowl to let it cool off.

Now, if you’ve used a good quality cooking oil, you will not need any flavoring. But…if you must, melt a whole stick of butter in the microwave and pour it over the popcorn; stir immediately but gently.

Other seasonings, which I recommend you add prior to popping:

1/2 sugar or Splenda for sweet kettle corn
cayenne and chili powder for spicy
cumin for smokey
curry and sesame oil for earthy

Oh, and if you are on Weight Watchers and enjoy your 5 cups of 97% fat free microwave popcorn, just imagine what it’d be like to have delicately butter-flavored popcorn (same 5 cups) for 2 points…and feel so much more decadent!

Cooking, Healthy in Mind and Body

Super-simple Sloppy Joes (and a tiny soapbox moment)

Posted on May 4, 2011December 29, 2016 by singingaboutcooking

I have a love-hate relationship with sloppy joes. I do love the flavor, but there’s a soupiness threshold for me. Sure, it’s easy to buy a can of Manwich or some other pre-made sauce mix, but I think when you know what the sauce basic are, you just might want to try your own.

Brief Soapbox: The key reason I object to canned sloppy joe mix is that they all use corn syrup because they are tomato-based. I’m on a less-traditional bandwagon against corn syrup–and I don’t really care if it’s high- or low-fructose. First, why in God’s name does tomato sauce need sweetening? If the tomato is picked at the peak of ripeness, rather than forced into ripeness chemically, then they wouldn’t be bitter when cooked. Second, like milk allergies 15 years ago and nut allergies 10 years ago, the newest mass produce allergy is to corn; while research is too young to be conclusive, the prevailing medical, biological, and horticultural opinion is that this is because these products/industries are the first and largest to move into GMO production.

Okay, lesson over…for now.

Aside from that, don’t you want to be able to control the flavor of your sloppy joes! All they are is ground meat, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, and seasonings. Sure, you can add other stuff like onions, peppers, tomato chunks, heat, etc., but that’s the basic recipe.

Ingredients (in the order they’ll go in the pan)

1 lb ground meat–whatever you like, but tonight we have turkey
1 clove garlic
2 cups of tomato sauce (about 1 can)
2T of tomato paste (often contains corn syrup so steer towards the international tubes of tomato paste like Amore)
2T Worchestershire sauce (make your own GF/CF/SF with this recipe!)

After that, whatever you add is essentially your personalization of the basic sloppy joe:

green peppers
diced onion
crushed or diced tomato
chilis
bbq sauce
honey
any variety of spices

Serve this delicious concoction on a hamburger bun (traditional) or in a hot dog bun (practical). We are especially fond of eating them with a whole green onion. And tonight, our sloppy joes are paired with tater tots and fresh cooked green beans.