Kitchen Ranch

When he does...

I am married to a person that does not...in the kitchen...but when he does...(gasp at the perfect chocolate chip pancakes! Gasp!)

Currant Scones, Pickled Turnips & Beets, and Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Here are a few tried recipes as of late. Recipes I certainly approve of! I will start with these scones above which are super. Really SUPER. Recipe found on Martha Stewart.

I love them. I ate them every night for 3 nights in a row. Pickled turnips and beets via David Lebovitz.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble thanks to Smitten Kitchen. It is all about the freshest strawberries and rhubarb!

Fabulous Puff Pastry

Puff Pastry is fabulous. There are so many uses for puff pastry that I always keep some in the freezer.

One use for a snack or dessert in a jiffy is this one- it is a sort of palmier meets cinnamon roll. Be sure your puff pastry is thawed (I usually transfer mine from the freezer to the fridge at noon time-that insures it will be in right condition for use at dinner hour).

Melt 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter and brush onto your rolled out sheet of puff pastry. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the butter and roll your sheet of pastry like so:

Cut 1 inch thick pieces of your rolled pastry and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 F or 176 C for 10 -15 minutes depending on your oven. The delicious bites should be lightly browned as shown in the top photo.

Carrot Coffee Cake

Cake for breakfast.

The original recipe was pretty fancy with a few different flours and also called for a couple tools I did not have.

I made adjustments and it turned out great. This following recipe is my easy and modified version:

Streusal Topping

2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of white cane sugar
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons of butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup  of flour

Cake

1 3/4 cup of white flour
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of white cane sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 1/2 cups of coarsely grated carrots
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1 cup of buttermilk
1 large egg

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or 176 C and butter a 9 inch round pan.
2. Make the streusel topping by combining the streusel ingredients and using your fingers to rub them together until they resemble coarse crumbs.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, sugars and salt over a large bowl. Add the grated carrots and stir.
4. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly. Combine the buttermilk, egg and melted butter in another bowl and whisk lightly. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the bowl with the dried ingredients and mix the batter until it just comes together.
5. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, spreading it with a spatula. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake and bake it for approximately 35-45 minutes  

Strawberry Cream Biscuits

Deb really, you kick *ss. As soon as I return to the states I plan to purchase a copy of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for myself and all my girlfriends. 

Strawberry Cream Biscuits.....an easy recipe that will fast become a favorite I promise.

Coffee Cake

I love a crumbly breakfast coffee cake. I recently made the coffee cake shown above and it was...good- but I find myself shrugging my shoulders when I say, "Good" as if it must not have been that good. The recipe was from The Art and Soul of Baking... a tome of a cookbook that checked out from the library.

So I am still in search of the perfect recipe...you know, the one in my back pocket that I have memorized and it never fails. The one the kids will clasp their hands together on a Friday night and say, "Please make Saturday morning coffee cake Mom"....

To-do and In search:

Pioneer Woman claims to have the Best Coffee Cake

Smitten Kitchen rarely fails me so I must add this recipe to my to-do: Big Crumb Coffee Cake

and a Raspberry Crumb Coffee Cake with Vermont Maple Frosting looks like it deserves a chance.

That should keep me busy for a few Saturdays.... To Be Continued.... 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Brunch Menu

As I sit menu planning here I am nursing a hole in my mouth where a tooth once was.

While backpacking in India about 18 years ago a tooth of mine cracked. I ignored it... and ignored it and being the stubborn gal that I am... I have let it crack and chip away since. Well, finally I decided to take care of business (after a few days of bad bad toothaches). Goodbye troublesome tooth. I received an odd look when I asked the oral surgeon if I could photograph the broken and bloody bits of tooth (don't worry, I won't post it). 

While having a tooth removed is not half as scary or uncomfortable as I thought it might be....Pass me the vicodin.

Brunch Menu

Apple Orchard Punch -Coffee- Tea 

Roasted Tomatoes with Olives

Chopped Green Salad with Vinaigrette (Alice Waters- 1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, salt and pepper)

French Fries (Potatoes sliced and fried in grape seed oil never disappoint)

Leek Pie

Spinach Quiche (Thanks once again Smitten Kitchen)

Brownies  (Thanks once again Smitten Kitchen)

Strawberry Jam

• 2 Lbs Fresh Strawberries
• 4 Cups White Sugar
• 1/4 Lemon Juice

Crush the berries into a mess!

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often.

We did not add thickener (pectin) so this really is more of a strawberry drizzle and begged to be eaten within a day or so.

So, we made Crepes..... with bananas and strawberry drizzle.... YUM!

Popovers (or, what you should make for breakfast tomorrow!)

From The Tassajara Bread Book

• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Use a popover pan or  regular muffin tins.  Mix ingredients thoroughly.  Butter the muffin tins and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.  When hot, fill each cup one-third full with popover batter.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 and bake another 10-20 minutes.  

Mushroom and Swiss Cheese Quiche

Quick, get a photo before it disappears! That good.... thanks Mollie Katzen of Moosewood!

Crust

1/4 cup (half a stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup flour, can be part whole wheat
Dash salt
3 tbsp. buttermilk

Use the processor to prepare the crust: dump flour, salt, and butter chunks in the processor. Give the gadget a whirl. Dribble in cold, cold liquid starting with lesser amount and adding until the dough sticks together. Whirr between additions.

Take dough out of processor. On a nicely floured tea towel roll out the dough until it is slightly larger than the pan. It should be about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. Transfer to pan and turn edges under, pressing against wavy sides of pan and cutting dough where necessary so that the edges are not too thick.

After preparing the crust, there are three more steps before baking the quiche at 375°F.

Quiche

• 1 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced or minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (If you don't have this in your pantry a squirt of regular mustard will work fine)
• a pinch of thyme
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375° 
2. Melt the butter in a small pan.  Add onions, and saute over medium heat for a few minutes.  Once the onions are soft, add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and mustard.  Saute for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.
3. Whisk together the eggs, milk and flour.  Beat well.
4. Press your pie crust into a pie pan or a springform tart pan.  Spread the grated cheese over the bottom of the unbaked crust.  A little tip from me...get sliced Swiss from the deli and then just cut it with a knife into "shreds" to save time shredding.  Pour the mushroom onion mixture on top of the cheese.  Pour your egg mixture on top of all that.  Top with paprika if you wish.  I decided to add some thin tomato slices to the top for color.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes (until the eggs get solid in the center of the quiche.  Serve at any temperature for any meal of the day.