Soft Pretzels

Due to the lack of sunlight and things to do, I watch tv...a lot of tv. Which translates in to a lot of food network. And one of my favorite shows to watch is Good Eats with Alton Brown. Once again, I was watching Alton (yea, we're on a first name basis) and he was making soft pretzels. He makes everything look so easy. And truth be told, it was. Aaron would have liked them to be skinner, but I thought they were pretty good. It was a fun way to ring in the new year.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I served it with 3 types of mustard--cheap yellow, stone ground, sweet hot mustard.

Chinese BBQ Pork Buns

I have never in my life been in a dim sum restaurant. I have always wanted to go to one, but I haven't found one here in the bush and I never seem to get around to going to one when I am in a large city. So I was watching something about dim sum restaurants and they served bbq pork buns and I got pretty excited. I figured I could make those. I used this recipe and tweeked it a bit to fit my personal taste. The outcome was AMAZING!

Gather together:

Dough:

• 2 cups warm water
• 4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups pastry flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1 lb. BBQ pork (small pork roast cooked in the crock pot over night)
• 1/2 lb. Chinese Sausage (or just regular pork sausage)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons (diced) red onion
• 1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine (rice vinegar)
  
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3/4 cup hoisin sauce (or ketchup--I know it;'s not the same, but I have to make things work)

To make the dough add the warm water and the oil into a large bowl. Add in the sugar and the instant yeast. Add in the pastry flour; mix till smooth, add in a cup of all-purpose flour, mix till smooth. Add in salt and mix well. Add in another cup of flour, then mix, Pour about a 1/2 cup of flour on a flat surface. Pour out the dough onto the floured surface. Slowly add a light more flour. Knead the dough for 8 - 10 minutes, afterwards pour a little oil into a large bowl. Place the dough into the oiled bowl. Turn dough in the oil to lightly coat all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.


While the dough is rising you can make the filling. Pour the sesame oil into a large skillet. Add in the red onions and sauté for a minute or two. Add in the diced BBQ pork, mix and cook for a minute. Be sure to stir so the pork won't burn. Add in the Chinese sausage and cook for another minute, add in the Chinese white wine. Add in the soy sauce and the hoisin sauce, mix till well combined. Pour mixture onto a large plate to allow to cool.


After dough has risen, pour out onto a flat surface (try not to deflate the dough to much). Roll dough into a long rope. Cut dough with a sharp knife or dough cutter into about 20 - 24 pieces. Take each piece of dough and place onto the palm of your hand. Flatten out, trying to keep the dough the same thickness throughout the dough.
Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on top of the dough. Now, pinch closed. Turn dough seem side down and lightly squeeze dough to shape it into a ball. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Mix the egg yolks and milk together. After the dough has risen, brush the glaze on top of each pork bun, allow to sit for 5 minutes then repeat. This will give the BBQ pork buns a beautiful shine. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops of the BBQ buns are lightly browned.

Coq au Vin for $78.88

Coq au Vin is a french term for braising chicken (or rooster) in wine and other tidbits like onions, mushrooms and pork fat. (Mmm..pork fat)

I recently watched the episode of Alton Brown making Coq au Vin. This was also shortly after watching Julie & Julia. I was inspired. Plus, I figured if anyone could make Coq au Vin the easy way it was Alton. Now, living in the bush has some ups, but when it comes to cooking there are a lot of downs. We just don't get every ingredient that we need and the ones we do need are fairly expensive. Needless to say, I had to make do with a $16 bottle of red wine, which was the cheapest available in town. I was also happy to learn there are no pearl onions in town since I really don't care for them. I substituted a large spanish onion. I thought I might try to put things in to perspective by adding the cost of the items. This is not a cheap dish anywhere since it has 2 bottles of wine in it, but I just thought I'd see what the total cost is.


Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 24 to 30 pearl onions (1 large onion $2.34)
  
• 4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces ($11.50)
  
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (on hand)
  
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour(on hand)
  
• 2 tablespoons water (on hand)
  
• 6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed (I used bacon 7.99)
  
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered (5.99)
  
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (on hand)
  
• 2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir ($32)
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (1.99)
  
• 1 medium onion, quartered ($2.34)
  
• 2 stalks celery, quartered (on hand)
  
• 2 medium carrots, quartered (4.99 a bag)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed (1 bulb 2.99)
  
• 6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme (used dried-on hand)
  
• 1 bay leaf(on hand)
  
• 2 cups chicken stock or broth (6.75)

For a grand total of $78.88

Directions

Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside. (Again, I didn't use pearl onions, but I thought I'd leave the directions incase someone would want to.)

Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.

Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.

Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.

Ta-da! This is REALLY good. Aaron doesn't like thing that are cooked in wine so he was meh about the dish, but I REALLY enjoyed the sauce. The chicken was ok, but the sauce was amazing! There were leftovers, but I ate them at 2nd dinner at 11 at night. It was even better reheated hours later.

"Refried" Beans

There is nothing fried about these beans, actually, but they have that good refried bean taste to them. I didn't take a picture of this because we all know that refried beans are not pretty. This recipe was super easy and also tasty.

"Refried" Beans (from allrecipes.com with some adjustments)
1/2 an onion, chopped
3 c pinto beans, rinsed
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
5 tsps salt
1/4 tsp cumin
9 cups water

1. Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker, add water, stir to combine.
2. Cook on high for 6.5ish hours. Add more water if necessary. I had to add about a cup more water. If you lose more than a cup of water you need to turn down the heat. I did this for about an hour then turned it back up again.
3. Once the beans are cooked, strain them and reserve the liquid. Mash up the beans and add the liquid until you get the desired consistency. I didn't need to add any liquid.

Peanutbutter Roll Candy

I remember that you can find peanut butter rolls everywhere around Kentucky, especially during Christmas time. You would find them at church bazaars, craft fairs, bake sales and even gas stations. This is the first time I have ever made these. It was pretty easy with simple ingredients.

• 1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
• 1 stick very soft butter
• 16 oz. jar peanut butter
• 1 tsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  

Mix soft butter and 1 lb sugar, vanilla and milk together with a fork; make soft ball. Pour a coating of sugar on a sheet of wax paper; sprinkle sugar on ball to keep from sticking. Put another piece of wax paper over ball. Roll out the ball thin. Remove top wax paper and spread on peanut butter. Roll up and cool in refrigerator about 1 1/2 hours. Cut into pin-wheel pieces and serve.

Jerk Chicken Pasta

While I don't have pictures of this dish, this is really good. Invest in some good, but mild jerk seasoning. I suggest mild so you can use more of it for a richer flavor.

Gather together:

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (cut in to bite sized pieces)
  
• 1 teaspoons jerk paste (more if you like it really spicy)
  
• 1 package of your favorite paste
  
• 1 tablespoon canola
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small onion (rough chop)
• 1 red bell pepper (sliced)
• 1 small box of frozen spinach (thawed and drained of juice)
  
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• juice from 2 limes or about 2 tablespoons of lime juice
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, cook the noodles until al dente, and drain. Lightly oil the pan. Cook chicken with the juice of 1 lime until fully cokked. Remove from pan. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the garlic, onion red pepper and spinach until the onion is just translucent. Mix in the chicken stock, 1 tablespoon jerk paste, juice of 1 lime, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and stir in the heavy cream. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Do not allow it to boil. Add the chicken back to the pan. Serve sauce over noodles.

This stuff was good. I used jerk seasoning powder on the chicken while it was cooking--I like things spicy, but like I said, if you can find a mild jerk seasoning, you can add more or less if you don't like things as spicy.

Pumpkin Fudge

I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit. It's like pumpkin pie on crack.

Pumpkin Fudge
2 tbsp butter
2.5 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white chocolate chips
7 oz marshmallow creme
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil.
2. Heat milk and sugar over medium heat until boiling, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
3. Mix in pumpkin puree and cinnamon and bring it back to a boil again. Stir in marshmallow creme and butter. Bring to a roiling boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 18 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add vanilla and white chocolate chips. Stir until all melted and then pour into pan. Cool, then cut into squares.

Sorry there are no pictures! It was quite popular.