A Thing-A-Week Part XX: Peach Cobbler

...okay so Genius Photographer I am not. This is yet another recipe inspired by the murder mystery series I am reading. In the book it was called "Minnesota Peach Cobbler" and was an answer to the main characters business competition who supposedly made a famous Georgia Peach Cobbler. It was described as having a cookie like layer for the crust and so I was curious.

You start with frozen peaches (it is the Midwest afterall and it is hard to find fresh peaches out of season). They are covered in a spiced flour sugar mixture and baked in the oven for about 40 minutes to thicken the syrup and "thaw" the peaches. I ended up stirring it up a bit when I took it out of the oven so that the sugar that settled wouldn't burn. Then you dab this paste-like cookie dough on top(I actually changed this a bit by adding some vanilla and a little lemon juice as it didn't seem like it would have much flavor to me). There doesn't seem like there is enough dough to cover the cobbler and it doesn't look very pretty because it is really hard to work with but I put it back in the oven and hoped for the best.

I couldn't believe it when I took it out of the oven. The crust had puffed up and spread to cover the entire cobbler. And it was really good. I think this would also work well with frozen berries.

A Thing-A-Week Part XIX: Snickerdoodles

So my craving for cinnamon lately lead to my decision to try to make snickerdoodles. I never used to like them until recently, but somewhere in the last year I developed a fondness for the crisp, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that explodes with cinnamon sugar goodness.

I went to the old standby Joy of Cooking for my recipe. It came together really well--incredibly simple if somewhat sticky. They exploded in the oven to sort of gigantic proportions. But, they were all nice and puffy in the oven. They fell into flat little pan cakes once they left the oven. I thought perhaps my pan rotation thing was causing them to fall (my mom always rotated her cookie pans--cookies baked for half the time on the bottom rack and were then moved to the top rack and another tray was added to the bottom. I don't know why she did it and no cookbook has ever described it that way. I just do it because she does it and a lot of what I know about cooking is copied from watching my mom and other folks in the kitchen). So, I decided to leave the pan in the oven the entire time to see if that helped. Nope. The baking was more even but they still turned into flat little pancakes.

They taste fantastic. Exactly what I wanted but I am not sure why on earth they are doing this cycle of explosion/implosion.

A Thing-A-Week Part XVIII: A Pie of Parsnips

As part of this month's Cook-A-Long I also tried to make the Pie of Parsnips.

To make a pie of fresh Parsnips. Take the parsnips well washed, & put them to boil until they are cooked, then take two or three chopped onions & fry in butter, a salted lemon in pieces, nutmeg, & pepper, a little chopped mint, & put all together in the pie, & butter enough.

Note it is necessary to cut the parsnips into pieces, when the pie is half cooked put therein a little Spanish wine.

I was somewhat skeptical about this recipe only because it didn't seem like something that would appeal to my own particular taste preferences but part of this experience is trying new things.

I started by peeling and dicing the parsnips and putting them into water to boil. I decided to season them as they were boiling so that the flavor would be more incorporated so I added some salt, pepper, and about a 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. While that boiled, I zested a lemon and brined the peel in salt water and lemon juice. I had forgotten to salt my own lemons ahead of time and hadn't located any commercially. This may have overall impacted the final product. Once the parsnips were cooked I removed them from the heat and drained them before mixing in onions fried in butter, the brined lemon zest, and the mint. I baked this in a crust made of butter, flour, salt, and water for about 45-60 minutes at 375 degrees F. I didn't have any wine on hand either so there again I missed a step which may have impacted the overall product.

Having tasted the pie I am still not particularly crazy about it. There are definitely a lot of flavors going on...the onions and nutmeg added some sweetness, the parsnips seemed sweet and woodsy at the same time but had an interesting bite to them. The lemon and mint kept hitting me at different points throughout. Part of my opinion may have been changed by the ingredients I didn't have access to while I was making this. I also wonder if this would work better as pasties rather than a whole pie so that all the flavors sort of come together at once in a more concentrated way rather than in a larger pie. I am also thinking that pairing this with a creamier dish or a spicy meat might complement it. Overall it was an interesting experience and I am glad I gave it a try.

A Thing-A-Week Part XVII: Chicken Cordon Bleu

Eliane lent me a copy of "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn. It is essentially the story of the author's experiences while studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I am actually really enjoying the story and it is definitely the type of book I love reading. I think the only thing I don't like about it is that I am not in the mood to read it so I am probably rushing through it faster than I normally would. I really love food memoirs though (well food books in general I think).

There are also recipes scattered throughout the book at the end of each chapter. While Chicken Cordon Bleu has nothing to do with the school itself, the author choose to include a recipe for it and I was inspired to give it a try. And not only give it a try, but really take my time and think through each step. I tend to be impatient and rush things and that is when disasters happen.

One of the problems with this recipe though was one of the ingredients...bread crumbs. I wasn't really in the mood to make my own bread crumbs but all the bread crumbs they sell in the store have high fructose corn syrup or MSG. Both of which my boy won't eat. I checked the organic/specialty diet foods aisle (I really hate that word "organic" but that is another rant) and all I found were gluten free bread crumbs. I have never worked with gluten free products and I wasn't sure of the differences so I went another route. Crisped Rice cereal. I have used this before as "breading" for chicken and have had some really good experiences with it. I grabbed a box of the organic variety though as the original name brand stuff has HFCS too and hoped this wouldn't alter things too much.

The other issue was the cheese. I really really don't like Swiss. I love mozarella and decided to use that instead. Aaron wanted to try it with the Gruyere which was recommended in the original and I agreed to make some for him using that and even agreed to try it. I also got prosciutto for the ham (another recommendation). I have never had it before though I know a lot of foodie's rave about it so I thought I would give it a try.

So the assembly...I layed out everything to start with. The fillings, the ingredients, the dips, etc so that I wouldn't have to try to hunt for things with gooey meat on my hands. The recipe recommended to cut open the chicken breast so that he breast would lie flat like a book. I am not very handy with a knife so I took a meat tenderizer to mine so that the chicken was relatively uniform in thickness and not cause any weird cooking problems. Then it is sprinkled with salt and pepper, a thin layer of Dijon mustard is spread across it, a layer of prosciutto and cheese is then added and it is rolled into little bundles. I don't have any cooking twine so I secured the bundles with tooth picks. I then rolled it in flour, egg, and the crushed cereal (seasoned with sage, parmesean, and season salt to make up for it not being seasoned bread crumbs) and placed into a foil lined pan. Into the oven it went where it got nice and happy.

I tried the prosciutto straight before baking and thought it was awful. Foodie with a refined since of taste I am not. I couldn't wait to get the taste out of my mouth. In fact I made some instant coffee (I didn't feel like making a whole pot) in an attempt to clear the taste but that was just as bad so I added some Kahlua (both ingredients I keep on hand because they occasionally come up in baking recipes I have). Perhaps I got some bad stuff but I couldn't figure out why anyone would find a perfectly tender piece of melon drapped in the stuff such a delicacy. But to each their own. I think saltines and butter is one of life's simple pleasures. Anyway, I was somewhat worried what this would do to my chicken, but it turns out that the cheese really mellowed the prosciutto and made it taste like a rich very salty ham.

In fact, overall it wasn't too bad. I don't think the cereal negatively impacted the flavor. It was a little salty but it is hard to season raw meat to taste and I haven't gotten the knack for it yet. I agree with the author that a smoky/salty cheese or ham would very quickly overpower this dish and I am glad I didn't choose a smoked cheese. I think that the Dijon mustard was really the key element in the overall finished product. I thought the mozzarella was excellent. I am indifferent to the Gruyere but Aaron really liked it and did a happy dance.

Voila

A Thing-A-Week Part XVI: Knitting Stuff

This week I made yet another lumpy dishrag (see below) started my fifth. Eliane also taught me how to knit in the round while I was at Eithni's yesterday. I ripped it out when I got home and started over hoping to have things look somewhat more uniform now that I sort of understood the theory but I am still having problems with the tension that falls on the gap between needles. Maybe this will be something that corrects itself as I go along but it is somewhat irksome now. Yes I know I am not going to be perfect right away but I get frustrated with knitting because I seem to keep making the same mistakes with it and I really don't understand why. I am not sure I ever want to do socks (too much counting and other weird stitch things) but I want to try to make some little purses. I was inspired by the one Eliane made off the TI cover.

In other crafty goodness there was much geeky hanging out fun at Gulf Wars North. I got to make lamb patties with Arnora and Iohanna. It was....an interesting experience all things considered :)

A Thing-A-Week Part XV: Chocolate Cherry Delight

Chocolate Cherry Delights is another recipe I got from one of the Joanne Fluke "Hannah Swenson" mystery novels. The disembodied hand is Aaron attempting to snatch a cookie as I was taking a picture. Basically they are a chocolate cookie topped with a cherry and an interesting fudgy concoction before being baked. They are a little bit fussy and the cookie base is somewhat dry but otherwise they are really addicting despite being exceedingly sweet. I am not sure how to improve upon the dryness of the base as it needs to serve several functions. It needs to be stable. It can't rise/spread too much or the sauce will hit the pan and burn. And, it has to be able to stand up to the moisture of the cherries. I made these for Gulf Wars North and they were fairly well received. I am thinking though I am not going to make these too frequently again due to the fussy level of the recipe.

And, I guess Joanne Fluke has found the perfect gimic for enticing new readers. The recipes inspire me to get into the kitchen so I keep reading her novels so that I get more recipes. I am taking a break for a little bit and am going to read a book that Eliane lent me called "The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn.

A Thing-A-Week Part XIV: Cinnamon Rolls

My mom's comfort food is cinnamon rolls so she tended to make them a lot. I was never really a big fan. But when I moved out I found myself missing mom's cinnamon rolls. I have tried these a couple of times and they are never as good as my mom's. I just can't seem to get the ooey gooey cinnamon thing to happen. I never seem to get enough goo.

I prefer these frosted but Aaron does not so I didn't frost them.

A Thing-A-Week Part XIII: Lumpy Dishrag the Third

I think this one is my favorite thus far.