End of the Month Souffe'

Well, here it is....getting near the end of the month and our pantry is looking somewhat ravaged.  And why not?  Since stocking up 30 days ago, we've been cooking (and eating) our way through its contents.  But we still have enough left to get us through, providing we use our larder wisely.


Of course it helps to have planned for this eventuality. 


Every time I go to the store, I pick up a few "extra" things.  Call it insurance. I'd rather do that than be panic-stricken, wondering how to make a meal out of crackers and capers! (Although I might try doing something with that some time....stay tuned! :) )


Looking around  the pantry today, I spotted the ingredients for one of my favorite things to cook....believe it or not, souffle. In this case, Tuna Souffle'-because that's what we had on hand.   

Some people are intimidated by it...all the whisking and beating and thissing and thatting; so much to do!  And so many things to worry about!  White sauce, eggs, egg whites....ugh!  The first time I ever attempted one, it looked like....well, let's just say it didn't look like a souffle!  The thing didn't rise and it was raw in the middle. Thankfully, mine was not the only dud. 


Our Home Economics teacher (shout out to Mrs. Schlosser) was there with patience and sympathy.

As she walked around the room examining each dish, the teacher pointed out what might have gone wrong.  In many cases we simply hadn't done the eggs right.  Either the yellows had started to cook when added to the white sauce creating "scrambled egg islands," or the egg whites weren't beaten enough to help make the dish rise to the occasion.  The other problems were oven not hot enough, cooking time, oven doors slamming and not keeping the oven door closed until cooking time was done.  Picky! Picky! Picky!


When she got to my dish, the instructor nodded.  "What do you think went wrong?"  I looked at her squarely and said "I did."  Naturally.  

Home Ec and I weren't exactly getting along to that point. I mean, wasn't I the kid who just about sewed their hand to the skirt they were supposed to be making for a class project?  The one who sewed the skirt pleats inside out once their hand was liberated from the sewing machine's death grip? And wasn't I the one who was transferred over to cooking to save myself from myself?


Now this....this....puffy cakey thing, for lack of a better term, was about to be my undoing!  Ugh!  


The teacher, a true saint, smiled.  "Looks like you didn't do the roux correctly. Probably not enough flour."  If cooking ever needed a CSI, she'd have been perfect for the job!


The next day we tried it again....and voila!  It worked!  The thing puffed up like it should and was done clear through!   All it took was a bit of patience and a lot of attention to details. 

Those two things still hold true.  Patience and attention to details. You can't rush through making a souffle'...but you can use short cuts.  We'll get to those in a few moments.  But first things first.


BASIC 4 EGG CHEESE SOUFFLE'

Pre-heat oven to 350°
4 eggs (white and yolks separated)
    1 cup milk,warmed
    1/4 cup flour
    1/4 cup butter
    1 1/2 cup cheese grated
    1/4 tsp creme of tartar (optional)
    FOR TUNA SOUFFLE', add 2 cans of drained tuna, 2 diced green onions

Butter the bottom and sides of a large, tall walled bowl. It should be deep enough to allow your souffle' to expand and rise to almost double its size.
Sometimes I coat this with a bit of fine seasoned bread crumbs or a mixture of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Set it aside.


Beat the egg yellows until they are smooth. They'll probably even get a little lighter in color and stream evenly when you raise the whisk out of the bowl.  Set these aside.
The egg whites will be handled a little later...for now just make sure there are no bits of egg yellow floating in them.
Egg whites are finicky...they won't whip up if there are any impurities hanging around, even if those impurities are other egg parts. Sheesh!

Anyway....
Prepare your roux by melting about 1/4 cup of butter in a deep pan, as it's melting add 1/4 cup of flour and whisk, whisk whisk or stir, stir, stir while this cooks.  The flour/butter mixture should thicken and turn light brown.  (If you're using whole wheat flour it'll get darker than with regular flour). Turn off the heat but keep pan on the burner.

Add a small amount of the roux to the milk and mix. Set the burner on low,then add this milk/roux mixture back to the remaining roux while stirring. Stir until fully blended.  The roux will thicken the milk, which is a good thing.  If you go no further, you have made a white sauce.  Gee!  But we're not done yet.

Tempering egg with a little roux

Reduce the heat. Add a bit of this roux stuff to the egg yellows while whisking. This is how you "temper" the eggs-that is, add them to a hot ingredient without partially cooking them first. Once you see that the eggs and roux have incorporated, add it all back to the remaining roux/milk mixture in the pan...continuing to whisk over a low flame.

Once this is all mixed together, you can add the cheese. Stir constantly while the cheese melts.  If you go no further, you'll have mastered a basic cheese sauce.  Yay! But we're still not done.  Turn off the flame and let this rest while you handle the egg whites.

This is a make or break situation.  Done right, your souffle will be light, airy, soft and moist.  Done wrong, you'll have a dry, hard, springy thing that may or may not be edible.  Maybe as a bread? Hmmmm.

Beating egg whites

Eggs softly peaked

Watch carefully as your egg whites develop.  Some people use cream of tartar to help with this process, but its not necessary.  Sometimes it even makes them too stiff, but what ever is your preference so be it.
Personally I don't use cream of tartar in souffle', preferring it in meringue.

Folding egg white into batter

Now comes the next important step....folding the egg whites into the batter.  Notice I said "fold" not "stir" or "mix" or even "incorporate."

Batter and prepared bowl

You want the egg whites to still be and act like egg whites, so the batter is going to look wrong.
Our Home Ec teacher gave us a hint that still rings true today...when it comes to souffle' the wronger it looks the righter it is!

Next, pour the batter into the prepared bowl and put it in the oven to cook for 30-35 minutes.
While that happens, and if you want, you can make a nice simple sauce utilizing some of the steps we worked on at the start of this recipe. Of course, you'd use a lot less flour!  White sauce, cheese sauce, you name it.  Although not necessary, such a thing would add an extra dimension of flavor to the dish

WHITE SAUCE FOR SOUFFLE'
 1 cup milk
3 Tablespoons flour
3 Tablespoons butter or margerine

Put butter in pan, add flour and whisk over heat until butter and flour thicken.
Add milk and continue to whisk while this mixture thickens more.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can add other seasonings too. Some folk even add a bit of nutmeg.


The finished product, Cheese Souffle' with White Sauce will be an unexpected surprise for end of month dining. You don't have to stick to just cheese, either.  Add some tuna, chicken, ham or beef...veggies like diced onion, artichoke hearts, shaved carrots, peas...the sky's the limit!


Thanks to my Home Economics teacher, I learned that cooking is more than a chore and that making a souffle' can be a lot of fun.

Experiment! Enjoy!

Souffle' with white sauce and salad

SHORT CUT!          SHORT CUT!         SHORT CUT!
 
Sometimes there just isn't time to make a conventional white sauces. That's why God made condensed cream of whatever soups! They come in lots of different flavors and sure cut down on the preparations!
Of course you'll still have to make the roux, no way around that. The roux contains the flour that helps to hold the whole thing together. 
I learned that the hard way in Home Ec class.

Pizza Jones and The Eggplant Alternative

Sometimes I get a craving for something a little cheesy with pepperoni, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions....something yummy.  Sounds like a Pizza Jones to me!

But with so many dietary considerations our the house, I'm trying to keep an eye on carbohydrates.  Eggplant is a great way to get most of the fun of good pizza without any of the starchy guilt. You can even cut it with a pizza cutter when the time comes!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, assemble all ingredients and tools.

Scoring eggplant with a fork

Select firm, shiny, unblemished eggplants. These will become your pizza's base.  Once the veggies are washed clean, score the skin with a fork.

If you want to peel it, that's fine too. It's one of those personal preference things. Just be careful not to over cook it, skinless eggplant slices tend to get mushy quicker than their "clothed" counterparts.

NOTE: I don't bread my eggplant usually....it just tends to make everything too gummy and overcooked.  Besides, bread is what we're trying to avoid with this dish.

Next, slice the eggplant into disks and place these on  a wire rack for

Seasoning on the rack

seasoning. This step is important; it's where your pizza's "crust" starts developing flavor.


Think garlic, oregano, basil, dried onion...things you'd expect in a traditional pie. Be generous.   While doing that, heat and prepare your pan with either release spray or an even coating of oil. Then add the eggplant slices, spiced side down.  While they're cooking, season side two, then flip and cook them too. 

Cut the other ingredients in between spicing, flipping and so on.  You know the ones...tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions, pepperoni....what you usually like on your "regular" pizza pies.  In truth, I haven't tried pineapple with it yet, although Hawaiian is one of my favorite pizza types!

Don't let the eggplant slices get overcooked!  A little browning is all that's needed. Pay extra attention if you skinned the vegetable ahead of time...don't want it to turn to mush!

Prepare one or two cookie sheets by coating with an even film of olive oil or cooking spray.  Sometimes I sprinkle a little cornmeal on top of this, sometimes I don't  For this recipe I didn't but if you want to, so be it.
You'll find an extra texture and flavor to the underside of your "crust" when it's done.

Parm/Romano cheeses and green onions

Arrange eggplant slices to form a base for your other ingredients.  Then it's all a matter of layering.  Start with cheese, the "glue" for your pizza.  I sprinkle some grated Parmesan and Romano, then go in for the kill with a generous dose of Mozzarella.

After that comes the diced green onions.  I prefer these to the full grown onions because they have a more delicate flavor-they give a hint of their lineage without going overboard, and are tiny, delicate slivers rather than big, strong tasting strands. 

Next comes diced fresh tomatoes. 

Tomatoes diced

I don't bother with  canned tomatoes here, but if you must don't forget to strain them first. After that I usually do a little more spicing - garlic, oregano, a little crushed dried anise or fennel - and then back to layering.
Then I add an additional sprinkle of Parm/Romano...then more layering.

IMPORTANT: Try to distribute everything evenly, that way you'll be sure your flavors will be balanced.

Pepperoni and mushrooms

Next comes pepperoni, mushrooms and what ever else you might like....olives are nice, anchovies, green and or red bell peppers, sausage, spinach, diced garlic....kitchen sink.  Go ahead!  Have some fun!  Just remember to drain anything that comes with extra liquid, and in the case of the kitchen sink, make sure you have a professional installation-don't want any leaking going on!

At long last comes the final few additions....a nice sprinkling of Parm./Romano,a dash more garlic and oregano if you think it's needed, then a final bit of Mozzarella....just because.  

With a final flourish, put the assembled "pizzas" in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until everything is cooked and the cheese is melted.  There might be a slight browning to the top of any exposed eggplant edges. That's okay.

After it's done, take the pies out of the oven and let them rest for about five minutes while you call everyone to the table.  This pie will slice easily with your favorite pizza cutter.  Serve with soda, beer or other favorite beverage and any side-dishes you want.  But even if you just serve it solo, you can feel assured that you've eaten your veggies.

No guilt, no gluten Eggplant Pizza...Enjoy!

Eggplant Pizza....Enjoy!

 

As always, let me know what you think...if you have any variations or suggestions....any recipes you'd like to see on the site-along with your name as contributing cook.

Hurricanes and Hurricane Soup

The weather has been beating the east coast like a rug!
Water, water and wind, tornadoes....evacuations!  Even my poor mother had to leave her little home in New Jersey.  Thank God for dear cousins Joy and Tom....I'm sure she was kept safe and snug 'til the danger passed.
But even now, as the storm slowly leaves them, I wonder what will be left behind.

There's talk of massive flooding from Irene...a name usually synonymous with old songs and petticoats.  No dainty little feather, this one!  Hurricane Irene was big, even though not a powerful storm in its own right...she moved in and lumbered slowly up the coast, reeking havoc from beach town to city street.  Whooo!

And just a few days previous, the same area was hit with an earthquake.

Is somebody trying to tell us something?!?

Those of us not in the storm's path sat glued to the t.v., internet or other info service for news of storm intensity and peoples' safety.  Many have relatives who live in or the storm's path...wishing to be able to do more than watch, wait and pray.

Prayer is a powerful thing.  Many more lives could have been lost than have been reported so far....and while I'll not rule out planning, coordination and follow-through, I believe the bottom line is simple-even Mother Nature answers to a Higher Authority.

So for those folks who've been through Hurricane Irene, how about a nice big steamy bowl of something I'll call Hurricane Soup...a little bit of this and that, to warm the body, mind and soul. Our love, thoughts and prayers go to you all!


HURRICANE SOUP
So-called to send a warm, homey, comforting bit of love to those in need of some right now.

Soup bones if you have them

Hurricane Soup

If not, clean and cut veggies and add the refuse along with bits of meat skin, bones, stuff you don't want in the final soup.  These will make your basic stock.

Heat a large soup pot, add some olive oil.  When it comes to fragrance, lower the heat to medium and add the refuse to the pot.  Stir it around periodically so it browns.  Things like onion tips, carrot ends, celery bottoms, broccoli stems and so on would do real nice.   Add some extra celery, onion and garlic too...and a bit of butter once everything gets going.

If you want meat, any ends, bones and bits that would be too tough for eating can still be used for flavor.

There's talk against using skin for stock these days....I think it's a personal option, and will say that it does add a great deal of flavor, especially browned like this.  But remember to remove the grease from the resultant stock!  Otherwise the entire top portion of your broth will be nothing but grease.

There are commercial stock separators around, kind of like a measuring cup with a spout that comes up from near the cup's base. These work fine. But if you don't have one, simply pour the stock in a clear or opaque bowl and refrigerate it for a while, maybe 20 minutes.  The grease will separate and float on top of the other liquid and you'll be able to skim it off, carefully, with a spoon.

If you do have soup bones-lucky you-they can be prepared by pan browning or oven browning. Both methods require attention so they don't burn.  There are good points to both methods...I like the oven browning, followed by an immersion into the veggie/meat stock that's been developing on the stove (yes, even with bones I like to have a stock pot base).  It just adds that extra something...a richness not possible via boiling alone.

If you do add the soup bones after oven-roasting, don't forget to add the pan drippings too! Maybe even find a bit of wine, apple cider or even just a bit of your broth and put it in the roasting pan.  Swirl it around with a spoon and get all those brown bits, all that gelatinous smooshiness in the corners and mix it into the liquid, then pour it into the stock pot too!  That's the defining difference between a flavorful soup and a watery soup.

While the stock is developing, cut up your remaining ingredients being mindful to keep meat and vegetables separate-from cutting board and knife to where you put them afterward! I use a red handled knife for meat and a black handled one for veggies-and of course two separate cutting boards and two separate bowls.
Remember: Cross contamination is dangerous!


Season and brown the meat you intend to add....brown it lightly and quickly in a skillet.  Remove the meat from the skillet and set aside.  Pour some wine, water, cider or some stock (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup) into this pan and stir while it reduces.  When reduced by about 1/2, add this to the developing stock.

After the stock has been prepared and degreased, bones and refuse all removed, it's time to add the other ingredients.   Start with your "hard" veggies; those that are going to take some time cooking and won't get all watery in the process.   Carrots are a good candidate....rutabagas, turnips, potatoes....that sort of thing.
But remember, even these fellers can get over cooked, so pay attention.

As these hard veggies start giving up the ghost, you can add your mid-range veggies.  Things like onion, garlic, celery, string beans, broccoli bits, corn...including baby corns are good here.  They'll cook up as the hard veggies finish their process.

After that come the "old softies,"  you know the ones...zucchini, mushrooms, peeled crushed tomatoes (if you want)....whatever you want.  However the kitchen sink should have been thrown in with the "hard" veggies-porcelain, you know...takes a while to cook.

The final thing to add is the meat.  It should go in only long enough to cook for about five or ten minutes, no more.  Remember it's been cooked already!  AND you've been capturing it's flavor since the very beginning, so don't worry about the soup being watery or bland.

The last thing to do?  Taste and adjust the seasonings to your personal taste.
A little bread and butter, a little glass of wine....mmmmm!
Bound to take the chill away!

Fundamentals of Chicken Stew

When trying to decide what to do about needing a week's worth of food with a slim budget, I look for elasticity....that is, things that stretch.


A roast is great for first night meal and produces some great left overs, not the least of which is stew.  Of course, these days such a purchase may require taking out a loan. So what to do, what to do?

The mark-down section of our grocery store is my usual haunt. It's there I've been able to find items to sustain us...providing the booty is used up right away.

The other day I found some marked-down odd chunks of chicken.  It had been a while, so I made some stew with it.  Yummy!

The way it's usually done is just to lightly brown off the meat then dump everything else into the pot and let it simmer.  That's perfectly fine, only don't let the chicken get dried out.

I like to layer the flavors.....even going so far a seasoning the stew pot.  Put a low flame under the pan and clean an onion.  after adding a small bit of olive oil or butter, add the onion's "caps" (top and bottom) flat side down to the pan and let them brown.   Then turn your attention to the rest of the veggie prep.

Cut onion, celery and garlic into bite-sized pieces.While you're at it, slice the other veggies so that they're ready for adding to the foray. Add the veggie ends and cast offs to the pot and let them brown too. Don't forget to stir everything once in a while....browning is okay, scorching isn't!

When all the odds and ends are brown enough, remove them from the pan.  They can be tossed at this point...all their flavor and nutrition has been rendered.
Do not....repeat...DO NOT rinse the pan!  All that brown stuff and those little bits of flotsam are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!  They are the difference between bland and bravo....the backbone of your dish....the Flavor.

Brown off the chicken (use other meat if you prefer....or just use veggies) in that same pan -do not over cook it...the REAL cooking will come a bit later.  For now you just want to sear in the juices.  Then remove it and add stock or water.  Stock is better.

Stir the liquid 'round...scraping the sides and bottom of your pan to incorporate the little specks and smooshes.  See how the liquid picks up the color?  It's also picking up flavor....that's something you wouldn't get with just adding water to meat and setting it to simmer!

Next add the veggies that will take the most time to cook....potatoes, carrots...that sort of thing.  Some people steam these items part way before adding to the stew pot, and that's fine-only remember to use the liquid from the steaming as part of the stock/liquid added for cooking the stew!

Once these ingredients have cooked most of the way, add the ones that don't take too long....corn, peas.....the last things to add would be items like zucchini and mushrooms, then finally the meat. Let all that simmer for about 20 minutes or so, until everything is done.  You may have to thicken the gravy...if so, it's approximately two tablespoons of cornstarch to about equal measure of cold water, stirred 'til cornstarch is incorporated, then add to the stew.  Let it all simmer some more...you'll notice it thickening.   When it's done, remove stew from the heat and let it rest after a final stir.

Some folks use flour and water as a thickener and others don't bother thickening it at all....personal preference wins out here.

Serve with biscuits, bread and butter or rice.  Egg noodles make an interesting alternative, especially when tossed with a bit of garlic, herbs and butter before service.

Learning to make stew taught me a great deal about cooking....how to layer flavors.....how to create a gravy out of vegetable odds and ends and how not to over-cook the chicken. But mostly, it taught me that there are always possibilities....even when odds and ends are all ya got.

Components - not just for stereo anymore

Hooking up modern electronics isn't pretty.  Nope.  Right up there with sausage making, high school science class dissections and cleaning behind the dryer.  Nope.  Not pretty at all.  But it has to be done.

In our house I am fortunate....both of us are equally willing to go through the torture of re-routing wires, programming the t.v. and figuring out the remote control. But I know of some households where there is only one Techie for the entire domicile. You can tell which one from a mile away.  They are the ones who look frazzled a lot of the time from  doing battle with the alleged plug-and-play equipment.

You might wonder where I'm going with all this.  Well, that's easy.
We're going to talk about something I call a "component" salad.  That is, a salad with many parts and features.
I know....I can hear it now.  "Okay, so you wanna make a salad.  Don't all of them have 'many parts'?"

Component salad components

Well....yes....and no.

To me, a "component salad" contains three main elements.  The cool, crunchy leaves on the bottom, a warm, veggie and protein bit in the middle and a topper of tomatoes, other cool veggies, croutons and dressing.

 It's a great way to use up leftovers like chicken and mushrooms, which is what I did this time out.  I heated them, with a little extra garlic and some carrot shavings for good measure, while cutting up the other ingredients-Romain lettuce, green onion, tomatoes and so on.

Component salad assembled

Go crazy.  It's a salad fer cryin' out loud!   Chill these things in the fridge for a few minutes.  We want the contrast to stand out.

Assembly is easy too.  Start with the chilled lettuce, then the warm things then finally the toppers.  You can make what ever dressing you want, served in a cruet on the side or drizzled over the toppers.

This salad is one of those you either love or hate....there doesn't seem to be a middle ground.  Some people like the idea of contrast, others don't.   But you won't know until you try. So give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say........?

Monday, Monday.....
Life's been busy, crazy and even slightly hair-raising at times....and this is just the beginning of the week. OY!
Jack's been feeling under the weather, so we've been going to doctors and sitting in waiting rooms a lot.  OY again!  So tonight for dinner I wanted to make one of our favorite things....Orange Chicken Stir Fry with Rice.

There are several versions of this dish...some are just chicken cut in pieces, dredged in seasoned flour and/or corn starch, stir fried then re-stirred with peppers and onions in an orange sauce.  That's fine and good.  But I didn't want anything complicated.  It had to be simple, quick and tasty.

So I took some chicken thighs (conveniently defrosted), skinned, rinsed then patted them dry.  I decided to leave them whole for the first portion of their cooking.  Partially because I wanted to retain the moisture and partially because I was being just plain lazy.

Anyway, these chicken pieces went into a bowl containing orange juice and bits of cut up garlic, ginger and onion (finely chopped-and you don't need a lot and could probably substitute dried spices for chopped from fresh).  I set it aside to marinate while preparing everything else.

The rice was easy enough...for review- one cup of rice, 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine, two cups of water. Butter cook the rice in the pan a few moments before adding the water, then bring it all to a boil before covering it for 20 minutes.   NO PEEKING!  After 20 minutes, remove it from the heat but don't remove the lid for an additional 5 minutes.  When you do, the rice will be perfect.

After assembling all the tools, spices and so on, it was time for some serious chopping!  I believe there's a natural order to things....be it cooking or rocket science (by the way, the two are NOT mutually exclusive, leastways not to my way of thinking!).  In cooking, I make sure the things that are going to take longest to cook get started first.

I cut up the broccoli and carrots first, cut sugar peas into small bits, then red bell peppers, onions, garlic, a bit of bok choy and some oranges so that everything would be ready to grab.
 

Veggies in the wok

The wok had been dry heating (no oil in it)  for a little while over a low flame.  Once everything was ready, I turned up said flame to maximum and put about 2 teaspoons of oil into it, swirling the pan carefully to spread it around.  To that I added the broccoli and carrots, stirring and stirring all the while.

Some folks like to pre-steam their "hard" veggies before wokking them.  I used to do that, too. But in I've found cooking them in the wok retains their nutritional value, flavor, texture and color. After cooking the broccoli and carrots for about 3 to 5 minutes, I added the cut sugar peas, peppers, cut up white portions of bok choy(the leaves will come later and are optional),  a bit of the garlic ginger and some onion.

That was all stir fried for another few minutes,then I tested a piece of broccoli and carrot. 
NOTE: They should still have a bit of a crunch to them

Chicken cooking in wok

I poured all this into a metal bowl and set it aside....it was time to address the chicken thighs, which had been soaking a good 30 to 40 minutes by now.  After bringing the wok back up to heat and giving it a light sheen of oil, I added the whole pieces "skin side" down.  I spooned a bit of the marination into the wok too, and let the whole thing cook for five minutes on side one and five minutes on side two.  Then I set them aside to rest.

The marination liquid was still usable.  Two tablespoons of cornstarch, a splash of balsamic vinegar (just a splash) and a teaspoon of light brown sugar turned it into a good sauce.


I got a small skillet and zapped it with some release spray (like Pam, etc.) then added the sliced oranges and stir fried them 'til they began to brown.

Oranges cooking in skillet

After cutting up the chicken, I added the oranges and the chicken to the wok and stir fried all of that, with a little of the sauce mixture.   When it started to thicken, I added the remaining veggies and stirred the whole thing around until it was well blended.  I added more of the sauce mixture, a little at a time, until the consistency was just right.  Then I adjusted the seasonings, put it over rice and served it to Jack, who was very happy.

Orange Chicken Stir Fry

There are lots of different things you can do with this base recipe.  If I were serving it to myself, I'd add some little hot red chili peppers....but that's me.  I eat fire.

So that's how I get out of the Monday blues....a little kitchen creativity.