Mint Juleps

My mint plant is growing like crazy lately. So...I made some minted simple syrup and threw together a mint julep!

For each Mint Julep...

Ingredients
2-3 fresh mint leaves
1 T minted simple syrup*
1 (or 2) T bourbon
crushed ice
1 fresh mint sprig

* Simple syrup is simply equal parts sugar and water, heated enough to dissolve all the sugar. For minted simple syrup I used 1 cup each of sugar and water, brought it to boiling, then threw in 4 generous mint sprigs (muddling and crushing them to release the mint oils) and let them steep while it cooled. 

Directions
Muddle 2-3 fresh mint leaves in the bottom of a glass with the minted simple syrup. Add bourbon and crushed ice, stirring to mix well. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig and a straw (next to the mint so you smell it while drinking the julep!).

Raised Doughnuts

 National Doughnut Day (the first Friday in June) is coming right up. My students -- our Trojan Cafe cooking club -- have elected to celebrate by making our own. So, of course, I had to test out the recipe in advance. Really, the sacrifices I make for my students... ;)

Ingredients

2 t yeast

2 T warm water (105-115°F)

¾ cup milk

¼ cup sugar

½ t salt

1 egg

2 T + 2 T butter or shortening

2½ cups flour

oil for frying

powdered sugar, sugar & cinnamon, icing(s), sprinkles, etc.

You can get as creative as you want, here! I'm sure at school we'll have a lot more colorful icings; I just used what I had on hand here at home!

Directions

Combine lukewarm water and yeast in bowl of stand mixer. Let it sit until dissolved (about 5 min).

Meanwhile in glass bowl, heat milk until very warm, but not boiling; let cool slightly while yeast is blooming (bubbling, producing a froth).

Add milk, sugar, salt, egg, butter and 1 cup of flour to bowl with yeast. Mix for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add remaining flour, continue mixing dough. Scrape down sides. Dough will be very sticky.

Transfer dough to large bowl coated lightly with oil. Cover loosely with cling wrap; let rise in a warm place until doubled (1-2 hours).

Roll dough out on a floured surface to about ½” thickness. Cut using a donut cutter or large & small round cookie cutters. Let stand for 10-15 minutes.

Fill electric skillet approx. 1” deep with vegetable oil; heat oil to 375°F.

Carefully place doughnuts in hot oil, a few at a time; do not crowd doughnuts. Do not let oil temperature drop below 350°F.  Fry, turning once, until golden brown. Drain on cooling rack positioned over paper towel covered tray.

Glaze doughnuts with your favorite frosting, thinned with milk or water. If desired, top with nuts, sprinkles, etc.

Slow-cooker Mu Shu Chicken Wraps

(This photo isn't mine...it's borrowed off the internet until I take one of my own.) The recipe is inspired by one in Better Homes & Gardens I think. To my taste it was too salty; I reduced the salt and added a little honey to balance the flavors. And BH&G's version called for broccoli instead of cabbage, but I wanted the extra crunch.

Ingredients
2 lbs boneless chicken thighs (or 2-3 lbs with bones)
½ C water
2 T soy sauce
2 t sesame oil
1 t ground ginger or 1 T fresh grated
½ C honey
2 t corn starch
'cole slaw' cabbage mix
8 flour tortillas
hoisin sauce
sliced green onions
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place chicken thighs in slow cooker; season with salt and pepper. Combine water, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and honey in a small bowl; pour over chicken pieces. COver. Cook on low 6-7 hours, or on high about 3 hours.

Remove chicken pieces onto a cutting board. If necessary, remove bones. Using two forks, pull chicken into shreds.

Add just enough cold water to corn starch to make a slurry; whisk into juices in slow cooker to thicken. Return shredded chicken to slow cooker; heat through.

While chicken is reheating. Warm tortillas - ideally, toast them over an open flame. Spread hoison on each tortilla, then layer with cabbage shreds; top with Mu Shu chicken and a few green onions.

Caribbean Jerk Wraps with Lime Mayo (Dressing)

Ingredients
1½ lb boneless pork, chicken or beef
      bone-in cuts work too, just account for the weight of
      the bones; you want 1½ lbs of meat
1½ T jerk seasoning
1 C water
juice of 1 lime (at least 2 T)
s & p
8  10" tortillas
2 C torn or shredded lettuce
1 red bell pepper, small diced
1 C diced mango, or pineapple
½ C mayonnaise or salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
¼ C minced shallot
½ t lime zest
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions
In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise (or salad dressing), minced shallot, lime zest, 1 T lime juice and minced garlic. Cover and refrigerate until ready to prepare wraps.

Sprinkle mean with jerk seasoning, massaging it with your fingertips. Place meat pieces in a 3 - 4 quart crock pot (slow-cooker); add water. Cover and cook on low-heat 8-10 hours, or high heat 4-5 hours until meat is tender enough to pull apart with forks (and falls off the bone easily, if bone-in cut is used).

Remove meat from crock pot; pull into shreds using forks. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with remaining lime juice (at least 1 T). Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed.

Toast tortillas briefly on stovetop, if desired.

Prep each wrap: line with lettuce, add approximately ¼ lb shredded meat, diced pepper and mango (or pineapple), top with lime mayo. Roll up securely.

Delicious warm or cold.

Cured Egg Yolks

Not something I'll do very often, but for an extra punch of umami flavor and a bright spot of color as well, shave or grate cured egg yolks over veggies, pasta, casseroles, or dissolve in sauces for extra richness...

Ingredients
2 C kosher salt
1½ C sugar
6 egg yolks

Directions

Combine salt and sugar. Evenly distribute half the salt-sugar mix over the bottom of a 8-inch square pan. Using a spoon (tablespoom measure works great) make 6 slight depressions in the mixture -- allowing space between each.

Carefully place an egg yolk in each depression. Gently cover yolks with remaining salt-sugar mixture. Cover tightly; chill 4-6 days.

Preheat oven to 175°F.

Working GENTLY...  remove yolks, brush excess salt-sugar off each yolk; rinse briefly under cold water to remove last grains of salt-sugar, and pat dry with paper towel.

Generously coat wire rack with non-stick cooking spray; place yolks on rack. Dry in oven until opaque and texture is like a firm cheese.

Store in airtight container up to a month.

Cauliflower with Lemon-Caper Vinaigrette

Cauliflower is so bland, it definitely needs something to give it a flavor boost. This is a zingy option...

Ingredients
3 C cauliflower
2 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1½ T minced shallot
2-3 tsp capers, rinsed and drained
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Wash and trim cauliflower; cut to bite sized floret chunks. Boil or steam until crisp tender.

While cauliflower cooks, prepare vinaigrette: Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice. Stir in parsley, shallot and capers.

Toss cooked cauliflower with vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tangy Grapefruit Tart

Saw this recipe in Better Homes & Gardens. I substituted a shortbread crust (I didn't have graham crackers on hand, and with the recent snowfall and icy roads it wasn't worth a trip to the grocery store). The chopped pistachios and toasted coconut suggested as garnishes in the orginal recipe certainly look nice (check out their photo with the link above). But since I don't personally like coconut and have a mild allergy to nuts, I stuck with some fresh whipped cream, grapefruit slices and a little zest...somewhat monochromatic and  with less textural appeal, but it's what I had! :)

INGREDIENTS

• 1purchased graham cracker crumb pie shell
• 1egg white, lightly beaten
• 3/4cup sugar
• 3tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2cups grapefruit juice
• 3egg yolks
• 6tablespoons butter, cut up
• 1drop red food coloring
• 1/4cup toasted coconut
• 2tablespoons chopped dry roasted pistachio nuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly brush crust with egg white. Bake for 5 minutes or until lightly browned; set aside to cool. In a medium saucepan stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Add the juice; cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Gradually whisk half of the mixture into the egg yolks. Return mixture to saucepan. Cook and stir constantly until mixture boils gently. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Stir in food coloring. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Cover loosely and chill for 4 to 6 hours or until set. Top with coconut and pistachios.

Sweet Potato & Bacon Frittata

I was inspired by this recipe from Cooking Light; but after last night's snowfall (on top of the previous week's accumulation) it wasn't worth going on a grocery run, especially when I had reasonable substitutes and things that needed to be used up right here in my frig! Here's my version, finished in jumbo muffin cups for easy single servings that I can keep and re-heat individually...though a larger skilled -- or casserole -- would be fine too.

Ingredients
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 2 C)
5 slices bacon, chopped
1-2 T vegetable oil or butter
1 large shallot, thinly sliced (about 3/4 C)
6 eggs
1 oz Gruyere, grated
½ C sour cream
½ C milk
½ C heavy cream
1 T fresh sage, chopped*
     (okay, I didn't have fresh sage...substitute 1 tsp dried sage)
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ C crumbled chevre
2 T chpoped fresh chives (I didn't have any, but I'll include it here as it would be welcome!)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cook bacon in skillet to desired doneness (I like mine fairly well done); remove bacon to paper-towel-lined plate, reserving drippings in skillet.

Add sweet potatoes and sliced shallots; cover and sauté over medium heat, tossing periodically, until potatoes are almost fork tender and shallots have caramelized (6-10 minutes, depending on size of dice).

Meanwhile, lightly coat 6 jumbo muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray (or ramekins, or 1 9-inch pie plate or similar size casserole dish...). Whisk together eggs, Gruyere, sour cream, milk, heavy cream, sage, salt and cayenne.

When potatoes and shallots are ready, divide equally between muffin cups; top each with bacon. Pour egg mixture over each muffin cup, dividing equally...2/3 - 3/4 full as they will puff as they cook. Top with crumbled chevre.

Bake 20-24 minutes, until centers are set and tops are golden brown. (A larger casserole will need 40-45 minutes.) Garnish with chopped chives.

Glazed Pearl Onions

Most of this appealed to me. I'm not a huge fan of cumin; it was okay here, but making this again, I might sub it out for something else. It needs something to balance the sweet & sour though. You don't need much of this -- kind of like cranberry sauce on the side of your Thanksgiving plate...just a few bites to wake up the plate with zingy flavor!

Ingredients

2 lbs fresh red or white pearl onions

2 ½ T butter

¼ C brown sugar

½ tsp ground cumin

pinch kosher salt

1½ tsp lime zest

¼ C lime juice

½ tsp flaky sea salt

Directions 

Blanche onions: Bring large pot of water to a boil; add onions. Boil 30 seconds; drain and shock (immediately immerse in ice water). Trim root ends, leaving core intact. Squeeze gently from tops to remove outer skins; discard.

Heat butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. When butter sizzles, add onions in single layer; cover. Cook, stirring often, until onions are lightly caramelized (8-10 min).

While onions cook, whisk together brown sugar, cumin, kosher salt, 1 teaspoon lime zest, and lime juice in a small bowl. Pour over onions; toss to coat. Cover; cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until mixture is syrupy and onions tender (5-6 min).

Transfer onions and sauce to serving dish; sprinkle with flaky sea salt and remaining zest. Serve immediately.

not your traditional Ham & Bean Soup

I had a ham bone saved to make soup. Last time, I made split pea, which I love, but I wanted something else. Ham and White Bean soup. But I didn’t have everything for a traditional Ham & White Bean soup, and I wasn’t going out on a shopping run: It’s snowing like crazy outside. School was cancelled today (again!), and I'm cozy inside and soup sounds perfect. So I made soup with what I had.  Sweeter and with more tangy acidity than any traditional Ham & White Bean soup – but that works for me! As near as I can remember…

Ingredients

1 lb ham bone, with extra meat and fat attached

1 lb diced ham*

2 15-oz cans white or cannellini beans

            1 can I drained, the other I dumped in the pot with the juice

1 15-oz can light red kidney beans

            only because I didn’t have more white beans

½ onion, small diced & sautéed until caramelized

1-2 t minced garlic

            I threw this in at the end when sautéing the onion

¼ C tomato paste

2 bay leaves

2-3 T honey

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 t sriracha

water or broth

salt to taste

I had Himalayan pink salt, but that wouldn’t be necessary, little was needed at all…ham is pretty salty already

Directions

Sauté the diced onion to caramelize it, adding the garlic in at the end. (My onion also had thyme, but not much; I would have also thrown in some small diced carrot to sauté and caramelize with the onion, but I didn’t have any. Next time…)

Throw the onion and garlic in a stock pot with everything else and let it all simmer at least an hour. Add water (or broth) to adjust the consistency to your liking.

Remove the bone, pulling off any remaining chunks of meat (if large chunks of fat fall off into the soup, remove those as well). Fish out the bay leaves. Season to taste.

Enjoy!

* The ham originally had a honey and Dijon mustard glaze; also cloves. There was maybe ½ cup of the sauce and drippings with the leftover ham; those flavors came through in the finished soup as well, though I added a little extra honey. Without the sauce, I’d add 1 T each mustard and honey, a pinch of clove; taste it and adjust as desired.

Mini-Cheesecakes

My culinary club students wanted to make mini-cheesecakes. So I went in search of a recipe...

Ingredients

CRUST:

2/3 C graham cracker crumbs

2 T sugar

3 T butter, melted

¼ tsp cinnamon

FILLING:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

¾ C sour cream

1/3 C sugar

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

GLAZE:

½ C sour cream

2 T sugar

¼ tsp vanilla

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Using a plastic bag and rolling pin, crush graham crackers into fine crumbs. In a bowl, mix 2/3 C graham cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir. Divide evenly between muffin cups, pressing firmly to bottom using a spoon or the bottom of a glass.

  

Using a stand mixer (or mixing bowl and whisk), beat softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add sour cream, egg, sugar and vanilla; mix just until well blended. (DO NOT OVERMIX!!)

Divide the filling mixture over the graham cracker crust, filling each cup only 2/3 full.

Bake at 325°F for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops are set. With cheesecakes in the oven, increase oven temp to 400°F.  Meanwhile…

Make glaze: Mix together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla; set aside until oven reaches 400°F. When oven reaches 400°F, remove cheesecakes. Top each cheesecake with 1 teaspoon of glaze, spreading slightly with back of spoon; return cheesecakes to oven for 6-8 minutes. Cool for 1 hour at room temperature in muffin tins.

Serve as is, or…

            …top with your favorite fruit pie filling

            …drizzle with your favorite fruit syrup, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, etc.

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

I'm not a fan of raw tomatoes. Cooked, in soups and sauces especially...great! Just not impressed with them raw. Some of it is definitely a textural thing for me, but flavor too. So I'm not a good judge of a really 'good' tomato. Recently heard some friends (who ARE tomato lovers) complaining over the flavor as tomatos are not in season now, and read about how slow-roasting is the key to improving and concentrating flavor while slowly caramelizing their natural sugars. (I can definitely taste THAT!) I slow roasted cherry tomatoes -- it's what I had on hand, and trying out the process and getting to the point of sampling the results was much quicker with their smaller size. Fixed pasta and a salad for dinner last night and threw some of the tomatoes on both. They're awesome. They're still not raw. But I'm definitely a fan.

Ingredients
tomatoes
   That's it. Nothing else. No seasoning. No oil. Just naked tomatoes.

Directions
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Cut tomatoes in half; place them cut-side up on parchment lined tray.
With larger tomatoes, I may try quartering them, but halves sit on the tray very nicely without leaking their juices out, so that might still be the best way to go.

Roast tomatoes at 200° F for 3-5 hours. The timing will really depend on the size of the tomatoes. They should be about the consistency of soft fruit leather...a subtle squish of moisture in the center, with a darker (but not too dark!), richer color, and curled edges.