I have been cooking all morning, and will be doing so more in the afternoon.
Random Recipe Entry:
I'm making a nice big dinner tonight. Of course, half the ingredients are wrong but we'll work through that. There are four elements to the meal- Bruschetta, ravioli, sauce and trifle.
...it's been a while since I did a public entry. HI, INTERNET! LOOKIT ME! I MAKES FOODS!
Garlic-Parmesan-Pepper Bruschetta:
Baguettes:
6 cups flour, white or whole wheat
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon cold water
1 egg white
Optional: 1 tablespoon cornmeal
Bruschetta:
Parmesan cheese to taste
Pepper to taste
Several teaspoons olive oil
Fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Garlic if you have it, or garlic powder
First prepare baguettes: In large bowl, mix 2 cups flour, yeast, and salt. Add the warm water, stirring with a fork. Stir in 3 1/2 cups (or as much as you can manage) flour with wooden spoon (or any spoon, but wooden ones are just better). Save remainder of flour. On lightly floured work surface, knead dough 15 minutes or until smooth and stiff- attempt to knead any flour left over from first part of recipe into dough now.
Dough should be stiff, smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl; turn once (so there's lotsa grease all over it!), cover, and set in warm place to rise. This will take anywhere from 45 to 75 minutes, depending on how warm the place is. Allow dough to rise until it has approximately doubled in size.
While it's rising, move on to Pasta if you're making the entire meal.
When dough has risen, turn out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead out excess gas and divide dough into 4-6 equal portions. Shape these into long, thin baguette shapes, working from one end to the other, tucking the dough up from the bottom creating a seam along the top. Moisten edge of seam with water and pinch together well. Place baguettes on greased cookie sheets or baguette pans (or sheets/pans sprinkled with cornmeal). Place baguettes in warm place and allow to rise 45 minutes.
Whisk egg white and cold water together; brush onto baguettes. Slash baguettes diagonally with sharp knife to create scarring on the top. Or because you hate French bread. Whatever.
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees; bake baguettes for 20 minutes. Brush with egg white again and bake for 15-20 minutes. Baguettes are done when golden-brown and sound hollow when thumped. Allow to cool for one hour.
Bruschetta
Slice baguettes on diagonal bias; toast in oven; spread with olive oil and sprinkle parmesan and pepper, add garlic or garlic powder in any form you wish; toast a couple more minutes; serve hot.
Ravioli de Ainsworth:
Pasta dough:
2 eggs
2 cups flour (white or whole wheat, again)
Cold water
Filling:
2 cups baby spinach
1 cup finely shredded mozerella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pre-cooked ground beef
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons butter
Pasta:
In large bowl or on work surface, mound flour. Whisk eggs in with fork. Knead resulting dough until yellowish, dry to the touch and glossy. You may need to add cold water 1/4 tablespoon at a time to get the dough to accept all the flour. Cover with teatowel and let sit for 30 minutes; it is then ready to roll out.
Cut pasta into three equal parts; wrap two of them and refrigerate. Place the third part on lightly floured work surface and roll out, rolling from center and rotating dough often. When dough is 1/4 inch thick, fold over and continue to roll down. When finished, wrap and refrigerate; repeat process on two remaining pieces.
Filling:
Melt butter in saucepan; saute spinach for about five minutes. Remove from heat, strain, cool to room temperature and chop. Mix in cheeses, beef, milk and cream; stir well. Season with salt and pepper.
Putting them together!: Roll dough into long strips about 2 inches wide. Put a small amount of filling along one side every 1 1/2 inches. Fold the empty side of the dough over to cover the full side; seal CAREFULLY, make sure it's totally sealed; cut into squares. Cook in boiling water (until the pasta's done, no, I can't teach you how to cook pasta, it's not in the scope of this post, I'm assuming you know how already or someone near you does). Serve on heated plates- easy, if you're doing bruschetta. Just toss the plates in the oven a few minutes before you eat.
Sean's Mushroom Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups Crimini mushrooms (They're the plain white ones everyone is used to), cleaned and chopped into pieces about an inch square and a quarter-inch thick.
1 cup stock of your choice (French onion does nicely).
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup dry white wine*
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
In medium pan, saute the mushrooms in butter over medium to high heat, for about five minutes. Reduce head slightly and add a little white wine. Remove from heat and gradually stir in stock and cream; add wine, salt and pepper to taste. Put pan back on heat and let it bubble gently until it reaches desired consistency- if it's too thin, keep cooking; if it's too thick, add a little more stock and a little more wine.
*Chef's note: If, by the laws of your state, country, city or household, you are too young to be allowed to purchase booze, I feel sorry for you. Explain carefully to a parent, older sibling or hobo on the street and get them to purchase the wine FOR you. Most liquor or wine shops will carry small bottles for purposes just like this cooking project. After you've finished the sauce, you may do what you wish with the remainder of the wine- My personal choice is "This much into the sauce, this much into the chef". If for some reason you're crazy enough to follow my example, please drink responsibly and leave your keys, bicycle helmet or inline skates at home. Please don't get drunk. I didn't do it. I'll tell your mother/father/sibling/hobo on you!
Sean's Infamous Modified Ragefur Trifle
1 cake mix (or cake recipe if you want to take forever about it)
Approx 4 cups fruit, any kind
1 package Jello or equivalent, same flavor as the fruit
About 3 cups pudding, of a type that will match with your cake/fruit
500 mL whipping cream
White sugar
Optional: Crumbled chocolate, chocolate chips, crumbled toffee chips, Skor bits, caramel, chocolate or fruit sauce
Bake cake into very large container; cake should come no more than 1/4 of the way up the walls of the container when baked. Allow to cool. Mix up gelatin and pour it on top of the cake; perforate cake well with fork to allow gelatin mix to soak in. Refrigerate until gelatin sets. Put fruit on top of the whole mess. Mix pudding and cover fruit with pudding. Whip up whipped cream, adding a little bit of sugar, and smother entire mess with this. Add any optional ingredients as a topping.
This time around, as an example, I'm using a vanilla cake, peach gelatin, peaches, and vanilla pudding. Previous trifles have included strawberry-raspberry with a chocolate cake, chocolate pudding and topped with chocolate-raspberry sauce, and strawberry-peach with chocolate cake and chocolate pudding.
Serve meal with grape or, for preference, raspberry juice.
Make someone else do the dishes.
NOTE: ALL OF THIS IS THEORETICAL AT THIS POINT EXCEPT BRUSCHETTA AND TRIFLE. THE PASTA AND SAUCE AREN'T DONE YET. I'LL LET YOU KNOW IF THEY TURN OUT.
Addendum: The music I'm listening to is FREE, F.R.E.E., and very good. Go to www.directsong.com, register and you can download it. Seriously, the Sorrow's Furnace mini-pak is amazing.
I'm making a nice big dinner tonight. Of course, half the ingredients are wrong but we'll work through that. There are four elements to the meal- Bruschetta, ravioli, sauce and trifle.
...it's been a while since I did a public entry. HI, INTERNET! LOOKIT ME! I MAKES FOODS!
Garlic-Parmesan-Pepper Bruschetta:
Baguettes:
6 cups flour, white or whole wheat
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon cold water
1 egg white
Optional: 1 tablespoon cornmeal
Bruschetta:
Parmesan cheese to taste
Pepper to taste
Several teaspoons olive oil
Fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Garlic if you have it, or garlic powder
First prepare baguettes: In large bowl, mix 2 cups flour, yeast, and salt. Add the warm water, stirring with a fork. Stir in 3 1/2 cups (or as much as you can manage) flour with wooden spoon (or any spoon, but wooden ones are just better). Save remainder of flour. On lightly floured work surface, knead dough 15 minutes or until smooth and stiff- attempt to knead any flour left over from first part of recipe into dough now.
Dough should be stiff, smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl; turn once (so there's lotsa grease all over it!), cover, and set in warm place to rise. This will take anywhere from 45 to 75 minutes, depending on how warm the place is. Allow dough to rise until it has approximately doubled in size.
While it's rising, move on to Pasta if you're making the entire meal.
When dough has risen, turn out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead out excess gas and divide dough into 4-6 equal portions. Shape these into long, thin baguette shapes, working from one end to the other, tucking the dough up from the bottom creating a seam along the top. Moisten edge of seam with water and pinch together well. Place baguettes on greased cookie sheets or baguette pans (or sheets/pans sprinkled with cornmeal). Place baguettes in warm place and allow to rise 45 minutes.
Whisk egg white and cold water together; brush onto baguettes. Slash baguettes diagonally with sharp knife to create scarring on the top. Or because you hate French bread. Whatever.
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees; bake baguettes for 20 minutes. Brush with egg white again and bake for 15-20 minutes. Baguettes are done when golden-brown and sound hollow when thumped. Allow to cool for one hour.
Bruschetta
Slice baguettes on diagonal bias; toast in oven; spread with olive oil and sprinkle parmesan and pepper, add garlic or garlic powder in any form you wish; toast a couple more minutes; serve hot.
Ravioli de Ainsworth:
Pasta dough:
2 eggs
2 cups flour (white or whole wheat, again)
Cold water
Filling:
2 cups baby spinach
1 cup finely shredded mozerella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pre-cooked ground beef
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons butter
Pasta:
In large bowl or on work surface, mound flour. Whisk eggs in with fork. Knead resulting dough until yellowish, dry to the touch and glossy. You may need to add cold water 1/4 tablespoon at a time to get the dough to accept all the flour. Cover with teatowel and let sit for 30 minutes; it is then ready to roll out.
Cut pasta into three equal parts; wrap two of them and refrigerate. Place the third part on lightly floured work surface and roll out, rolling from center and rotating dough often. When dough is 1/4 inch thick, fold over and continue to roll down. When finished, wrap and refrigerate; repeat process on two remaining pieces.
Filling:
Melt butter in saucepan; saute spinach for about five minutes. Remove from heat, strain, cool to room temperature and chop. Mix in cheeses, beef, milk and cream; stir well. Season with salt and pepper.
Putting them together!: Roll dough into long strips about 2 inches wide. Put a small amount of filling along one side every 1 1/2 inches. Fold the empty side of the dough over to cover the full side; seal CAREFULLY, make sure it's totally sealed; cut into squares. Cook in boiling water (until the pasta's done, no, I can't teach you how to cook pasta, it's not in the scope of this post, I'm assuming you know how already or someone near you does). Serve on heated plates- easy, if you're doing bruschetta. Just toss the plates in the oven a few minutes before you eat.
Sean's Mushroom Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups Crimini mushrooms (They're the plain white ones everyone is used to), cleaned and chopped into pieces about an inch square and a quarter-inch thick.
1 cup stock of your choice (French onion does nicely).
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup dry white wine*
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
In medium pan, saute the mushrooms in butter over medium to high heat, for about five minutes. Reduce head slightly and add a little white wine. Remove from heat and gradually stir in stock and cream; add wine, salt and pepper to taste. Put pan back on heat and let it bubble gently until it reaches desired consistency- if it's too thin, keep cooking; if it's too thick, add a little more stock and a little more wine.
*Chef's note: If, by the laws of your state, country, city or household, you are too young to be allowed to purchase booze, I feel sorry for you. Explain carefully to a parent, older sibling or hobo on the street and get them to purchase the wine FOR you. Most liquor or wine shops will carry small bottles for purposes just like this cooking project. After you've finished the sauce, you may do what you wish with the remainder of the wine- My personal choice is "This much into the sauce, this much into the chef". If for some reason you're crazy enough to follow my example, please drink responsibly and leave your keys, bicycle helmet or inline skates at home. Please don't get drunk. I didn't do it. I'll tell your mother/father/sibling/hobo on you!
Sean's Infamous Modified Ragefur Trifle
1 cake mix (or cake recipe if you want to take forever about it)
Approx 4 cups fruit, any kind
1 package Jello or equivalent, same flavor as the fruit
About 3 cups pudding, of a type that will match with your cake/fruit
500 mL whipping cream
White sugar
Optional: Crumbled chocolate, chocolate chips, crumbled toffee chips, Skor bits, caramel, chocolate or fruit sauce
Bake cake into very large container; cake should come no more than 1/4 of the way up the walls of the container when baked. Allow to cool. Mix up gelatin and pour it on top of the cake; perforate cake well with fork to allow gelatin mix to soak in. Refrigerate until gelatin sets. Put fruit on top of the whole mess. Mix pudding and cover fruit with pudding. Whip up whipped cream, adding a little bit of sugar, and smother entire mess with this. Add any optional ingredients as a topping.
This time around, as an example, I'm using a vanilla cake, peach gelatin, peaches, and vanilla pudding. Previous trifles have included strawberry-raspberry with a chocolate cake, chocolate pudding and topped with chocolate-raspberry sauce, and strawberry-peach with chocolate cake and chocolate pudding.
Serve meal with grape or, for preference, raspberry juice.
Make someone else do the dishes.
NOTE: ALL OF THIS IS THEORETICAL AT THIS POINT EXCEPT BRUSCHETTA AND TRIFLE. THE PASTA AND SAUCE AREN'T DONE YET. I'LL LET YOU KNOW IF THEY TURN OUT.
Addendum: The music I'm listening to is FREE, F.R.E.E., and very good. Go to www.directsong.com, register and you can download it. Seriously, the Sorrow's Furnace mini-pak is amazing.