Preparing for Another Cooking Demo

I was contacted last week by Vicky Frederickson, who wanted to have me do a cooking demonstration this coming Thursday for the First United Methodist Church in Aberdeen. I am not affiliated with this church, but apparently my cooking demos around town are gaining a good reputation. It appears the church ladies hold about 4 of these cooking demonstrations, divided between late Fall and early Spring. It is on a volunteer basis, again, but instead of me having to do all the cooking for about 60 people, I only demonstrate how to make the dishes, while the lady's group at the church will do the actual cooking for the attendees, using my recipes. When she told me what this demonstration's food selections would be, I was relieved; soup and sandwich. 

I mean. What could be easier, right?

Okay, so while I was not overly thrilled at another cooking demo in and of itself, this will not be so bad. A lot of carting things to and fro seems unavoidable. I will need to take a large pot, all the food, knives, cutting board, food processor, blender, measuring cups, bowls, spatulas, ladle and the list of little things is long. I do hope they have a cart to transport all this stuff inside. I am meeting with Vicki to see the venue tomorrow. 

Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad on No Knead Bread

Right off the bat, I decided on making my Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad for the sandwich part of the equation. As for soup, I am going to make the Butternut Squash and Apple Soup I posted here just a few days ago. I had made this soup previously, but not for a very long while, so it was great to do this again and get some nice photos. Plus, just brushing up on the recipe and technique, so it is fresh in my mind for the demo. 

And then again, I sometimes just cannot help myself. Vicky asked about what kind of bread to use for the sandwiches. My first thought was "oh please, NOT plain white sandwich bread!". This is probably one of my worst nightmares, shudder! She mentioned the possibility that since someone was making a trek to Sam's Club in Sioux Falls this week, maybe little croissants? Which was a perfectly fine idea. The chicken salad on a croissant is a most excellent idea, in fact. And then I opened my mouth. Again. I suggested that since I make bread all the time, I could certainly make some bread for the sandwiches. I was considering that I have eaten my Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad on Rye Bread and it was fantastic, so I suggested a rye bread of some kind, along with some white bread, so there is a choice. 

Marbled Rye, from The Bread Baker's Apprentice

And so, this is where I found myself this weekend; making breads. I made the rye bread first. It is another recipe from Peter Reinhart's, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, called Marbled Rye. I have wanted to try this for some time and hadn't gotten to it yet, but now was the time. It is one of the easier breads in this book, as it required no starter dough of any kind. Just make the dough, let it rise, shape, bake. I decided to leave out any caraway seeds, as I believe this is the flavor many object to when they think "rye bread." This, as well as the reverse; those who love "rye" bread are often talking about the flavor of caraway seeds, knowing nothing of what "rye" tastes like. This bread, while it uses only about half the amount of rye flour as white, it makes a very nicely flavored bread, with a really great texture, firm, while still moist and tender. The only thing distinguishing the dark part of the bread is the use of burnt caramel color from King Arthur Flour, which I just happened to have in the cabinet! I bought it a while back, for precisely this kind of use, but hadn't gotten to it, as I said. Unfortunately, this product seems to no longer be available, though espresso powder or unsweetened cocoa powder also work for this purpose.

Pyrex "Bake a Round" glass tubes

What I did choose to do is bake this bread in two glass tubes, making a nice round loaf and keeping the slices in all the same size. I sliced off the ends to take these photos (above and below). It had grown out the ends of the tubes a bit, so slicing off the ends made it easier to see what the slices will look like. Among the various things my sister-in-law brought me earlier in the year were these Pyrex glass tubes to bake breads in. They are probably about 4 1/2 to 5 inches in diameter, making what will be a nice size for sandwiches, without being too large. I had two of these tubes. While washing them after the bread was done, one slipped and just barely touched the counter top, shattering into tiny shards! Great Scott! When I told my husband, he promptly went to eBay and found a couple more of these for me!
 

My two kinds of bread for the cooking demo

Next I though maybe a nice sourdough bread would be good for the white bread part of the sandwiches. I used the same recipe as I had before, for 100% Sourdough Bread, which I wrote about in my June 1st blog post, but I believe last time I made this, I did add in a little bit of yeast to make the process move along more rapidly. This time I did not add yeast but used only the starter, which was plenty active, but the temperatures were extremely chilly that day and the house was far cooler than it had been. It rose in the time suggested in Peter Reinhart's recipe, but it just didn't quite grow as much as last time. No pretty rounded loaves this time. The bread tasted great, but it was wrong for what I wanted. Back to the drawing board.

Farm Fresh Eggs from the Farmers' Market

I finally just went with my usual adaptation of my Mom's and Grandma's bread, which I call My Kitchen Aid Mixer Bread. Looking for fairly rounded loaves, I made two long loaves in my French bread pans. I braided the bread and it grew beautifully. I now have more than enough bread for the chicken salad cooking demo. While baking this weekend, I also had some farm fresh eggs I bought at the Farmers' Market this past week. I just love the different sizes and colors. 

I made a repeat of the Apple Fritter Loaf that came out so excellently. We ate it at the luncheon held at the ReMax  Gerharter Building, where my husband is currently working. They hold a luncheon every few weeks, potluck style. I usually bring dessert! This particular dessert was gone very quickly. That first loaf was made using a bag of 2 cups of frozen apples from last season and was excellent. We were given a bag of fresh apples that day at the luncheon, so I made this second loaf with these fresh apples to see what differences there would be. I can say it made little, if any, difference to how the loaf came out. Both were excellent. 

Tomorrow, I am going to make some Amish Friendship Breads. I got the starter a week ago Saturday while at the Granary volunteering at the Living History Fall Festival, held by the Dacotah Prairie Museum. Someone brought various bags of starter to be given out for free. It's been a while since I made this Amish Friendship Bread. Last time was after visiting with my sister Barb in Tucson, some years back. It is surely baking weather here, so that works well.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Sloppy Joe Conundrum

Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad

Hi again! It seems like that old saying about that road paved with good intentions. I keep wanting to get to this blog, and I am still so bogged down with unpacking. Admittedly, I have too much stuff. No question. And now, with a large enough house to really unpack it all, one month later and I am still working on it. On top of that, I have a wedding cake to make. I have finally gotten a little preliminary work done, but there's a lot to do, and the wedding is less than a month away.



Sweet Smoky Pork Tenderloin

I have also been busy trying out new recipes and getting photos of some that have been around quite some time in  my kitchen, like my Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad. A couple days back I made Goan Style Chicken. Before that, I had made Sweet Smoky Pork Tenderloin, accompanied by Apple Onion Chutney with Sultanas. 

But on to the title of this blog: Sloppy Joe Conundrum. Last evening I thought I would make something quick and easy; Sloppy Joes. We have a lot of hamburger meat left from the side of beef we bought 2 years back, so I look for new ways to use it, but often just fall back onto old standbys. My husband is picky about certain sauces like spaghetti or Sloppy Joes. If they are too thin, he just doesn't like them. Store bought ones do have thickeners, such as flour or Guar Gum or Xanthan Gum, among others. He likes the Manwich original so that is what I buy. My preference would be to make a recipe of my own, but have not bothered.

Goan Style Chicken

Okay, so I had thawed a package of what I thought was hamburger, only to find it was pork sausage instead! Great. I usually don't thaw too much ahead, so it wasn't like I couldn't just substitute some ground beef. I heat a pot, add some oil, set the frozen meat in there, allow to brown a bit, flip, scrape off the cooked part flip again and scrape, repeating until I have cooked the whole package of frozen meat. It works.

My original thought was to just make the one pound of ground beef, since I only had one can of the Manwich. I would just save the sausage meat for something else. Then I started reading the ingredients on the can. I got thinking I'd like to try out some semblance of the canned flavor by creating a sauce of my own. Granted, once I did this, it was combined with the actual Manwich, so I couldn't be completely impartial about the flavors. I added in the ground pork sausage to brown with the beef. I will have to give this a go all on its own to see how it tastes. However, that said, my husband and sister did not know the difference. I guess that says something.

Having gone on to remake this on its own, using just ground beef, this is the recipe:

Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes

1 pound hamburger meat
1 (14.5 or 15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon white corn syrup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
¼ cup double concentrated tomato paste (from a tube)
2 teaspoons Barbecue Spice Mix
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a 6 quart pot, brown the hamburger meat well. Add in the onion and continue to stir and cook for about 10 minutes more. Add in all the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for at least a half hour for flavors to meld. Serve on hamburger buns.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Organizing a New Kitchen

Finally back after our move. I've been digging myself out from boxes everywhere for the last 2 weeks, after frantically packing for the weeks prior. Moving is stressful at best. My husband keeps asking where an item is. All I can say with any certainty is, "I just don't know!" Of course, that is not the answer he hoped for so it continues to be stressful. Such is life and moving.

I have no new photos to attach here for this blog. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe next week, but I wanted to at least write a little bit here. I am making an effort to do a little light cooking, in an attempt at "getting to know my new kitchen." It is hard to get things in an order so they are handy and useful, and every kitchen is set up differently. I have plenty of room, but things are laid out differently in each house. Yesterday I made brownies. I had been warned that the stove here runs hot, so I set the temperature 25 degrees lower. The brownies were not done in the usual time called for, so I upped the temp and they were finally done with about 7 extra minutes. They came out delightfully chewy, so that was great, but I am not sure the oven temp really runs much hotter than normal, after that experiment. Here is my recipe:

My Best Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts

In a medium saucepan, melt together the chocolate and butter (11 tablespoons). Once melted, remove from heat. Add in the sugar and mix to combine. Add the eggs and beat to combine. Add in the flour, baking powder, salt and nuts and stir until just mixed. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Do not overbake.

I made my Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham a few days ago, in the midst of complete chaos. They also turned out perfectly and it was so wonderful to have a home cooked meal again, instead of store bought rotisserie chicken, potato salad and coleslaw, or spiral sliced ham with potato salad and coleslaw. Not that I am complaining. My wonderful sister-in-law provided the foods during the move, so I didn't have to panic trying to find things to make in such a chaotic situation. I am completely and utterly grateful for all she provided. It is still nice to get back to some semblance of normalcy. This coming weekend I am hoping to make Mom Rawstern's Famous Baked Beans with the ham bone from that spiral sliced ham we have been eating for the last week.

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Serves 6 to 8
Makes one 9 x 13-inch casserole

2 cups ham, cut in small chunks
3 - 3½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled, sliced ¼" thick
½ medium onion, sliced thinly, then roughly chopped
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, reserving ¾ cup aside
6 tablespoons flour
1½ teaspoon salt
¼ - ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups milk, evaporated milk or cream
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (375, if convection). Spray a 9 x 13-inch casserole with cooking spray. Divide the potatoes into three piles, making one pile of the best and most even shaped slices, and one with the smallest bits and pieces. Place the latter pile into the bottom of the casserole. Layer half the ham over the potatoes, then half the onion, and half the cheese. Sprinkle on 3 tablespoons of the flour, then half the salt and pepper. Place pats of one tablespoon of the butter over the surface. Repeat with another layer of potatoes, then the ham, onion, cheese, flour, salt, pepper and the butter. Top with the best looking potato slices.

Heat the milk to just warm, and whisk in the Dijon mustard. Pour this over the casserole, cover the casserole with foil and bake for45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 45 minutes. Ten minutes before the potatoes are done, sprinkle the reserved cheddar cheese over top of the casserole and allow to finish baking. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving. 


Today my husband requested my Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad. He loves it for lunch sandwiches, though it is equally good for noshing, served on crackers, tortillas or buns. It is also wonderful for appetizers. Eventually I will get some photos to put in my blog and website, but for today, at least the recipe is available. It is completely gluten free, if served on something other than wheat breads or crackers. It is delightful on a bed of lettuce or tomatoes, too.

Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad

Uniquely Fine Chicken Salad

Makes 6 to 7 cups

½ cup raisins or craisins
½ cup pecans, walnuts or almonds
3 to 4 stalks celery, in 1-inch chunks
1 carrot, scrubbed, in half-inch slices
1 green pepper, seeded, in 1-inch chunks
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed
¾ cup sweet pickle relish
¾ - 1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup yellow mustard

In a food processor, place the raisins and nuts and process for about 20 to 30 seconds, until in smaller bits. Remove to a large bowl. Next, process the celery in about 4 to 5 short pulses and remove to the bowl. Repeat with the carrot and then the green pepper. Do not process too fine. Repeat with the chicken in two batches and add to the bowl, along with the pickle relish, mayonnaise and mustard. With a spatula, combine all the ingredients well. 


It is good to be back!


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.