Rice Pudding.

Lately I've been taking left over rice and making rice pudding. Very taste. Very easy.

Take one cup of cooked rice.

Add three cups of milk and half a cup of sugar.

Heat on medium until a simmer is reached, then turn down to low.

Stir regularly to avoid burning.

When the milk is mostly absorbed, beat one egg with one third a cup of sugar.

Temper the egg & suger with one cup of the rice & milk-- that is, take a cup of rice & milk and slowly pour it into the egg & sugar, beating constantly. This will heat up the egg and prevent it from curdling.

Mix the egg & sugar back into the rice & milk.

Add half a teaspooon of vanilla extract.

Heat unti thickened.

Cool down.

For bonus points, make rice pudding brulee. Spoon the rice pudding into a bowl. Place a teaspoon of sugar ontop of the rice pudding. Take a blow torch to the sugar until it melts.

Crackers

You can make your own crackers. They taste good!

One cup flour-- or various flours. I've tried this with half amaranth flour plus half bread flower and half whole wheat, plus half bread.

half a teaspoon salt.

two tablespoons oil.

three tablespoons water.

one teaspoon seasonings. Any kind. Rosemary is good.

Mix everything together until it forms a ball. You may need to add more water.

Roll the ball out on parchment paper. Roll as thin as possible.

Bake at 400F for 15 minutes-- peek at 10 minutes to make sure nothing is burning.

Splenda.

Mmmmm Splenda. Sugar and chlorine together at last!

Seared Ahi with Finger Potatoes and Asparagus

Mark enjoyed this meal so much that he asked me to write it down so I could reproduce it again and again. The meal was seared ahi with finger potatoes and asparagus.

I marinated the ahi in

• 2tbsp sesame oil
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp ginger.
• pinch of salt
• pepper

I seared the ahi at medium high heat for about 40 seconds a side.

I plated the ahi on a bed of lettuce and carrot strips with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

For the potatoes, I sliced each finger potate in half length wise, springled with oil and paramsan chease. I then roasted the potatoes for 40 minutes at 400F.

I roasted the asparagus for about 10 minutes at 400F. I served with a pat of butter.

More No Kneed Bread...

The bread recipie continues to evolve. I am now use dough from the old batch as a starter for the new. This way I don't need any yeast-- the last expensive ingredient.

In a large bowl mix until combined....

• 2 cups of bread dough starter
• 3 cups hot water (1ooF)
• 1 tbsp kosher salt.
• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 5 cups bread flower

The dough doesn't need to be smooth. Just make sure there are no big flour clumps.

Pull off about 2 cups of the dough. This will be used as a starter for next time. Put the starter into a sealable container than can hold at least 4 cups.

Split the remaining dough into two lumps. Put each lump into a greased & floured bread pan. I cover the pans with plastic wrap.

Rest the dough and the starter in a warm spot, I use a heating pad. Let them raise till doubled.

After everything has risen, put everyting into the fridge for up to two weeks.

When you want bread, take a pan out and let it rest at room temp for about 30 minutes.

Put a broiler pan on the low rock in the oven and preheat to 450F.

Put a cup of hot water into the broiler pan. Put the loaf on the rack above it.

Bake for 30 minutes.

The Joy of Cooking calls this a mixed starter method. It says that over time the dough will take longer and longer to rise. Slow rises improve the taste. If the rise ever takes too long, you can boost things the next time by adding a teaspoon of yeast to the mix.

More bread.

The bred recipie is still evolving. I've reduced it, added some whole wheat flower and pour it into loaf pans for rising. This way, when I want fresh bread, I grab a pan and pop it in the oven.

Mix...

• 1 tbsp kosher salt.
• 1 tbsp yeast.

into

• 2 cups hot water (100F)

Add...

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour.

Mix until combined. I put all the ingredients into a large sealable container, shake and then stir a little to get rid of any flour clumps.

Split the dough between two loaf pans. Let it raise in a warm spot until more than doubled (Min of 2 hours). I use a heating pad since my home is on the cold side.

Put the loaves in the fridge for up to two weeks. Bake as before.

Next, I'm going to try eliminating the yeast and using some of the dough as a starter. This is covered in the "Joy of Cooking" under "Mixed Starters" so it should work. I'll have inexpensive and easy to make fresh bread whenever I want. Yum!

Chocolate Ganache

I am having great luck with ganache. Basically, you take a 50/50 mixture of dark chocolate and heavy cream, add sugar, mix, whip and serv.

Ch0p up 8oz dark chocolate.

In a sauce pan mix the chopped chocolate with 2 cups heavy cream and half a cup brown sugar.

Heat on medium until everything melts and mixes. About 170F.

Chill.

Whip.

This is very rich, so while it's great on it's own, it's better to team it up. Try banana's brule or berries.

I have had excellent results with the No Knead Bread recipie.

I am going to modify the recipie the following ways..

1. Instead of cutting off a piece of the dough, I'm going to raise and rest the dough in tin baking pans. This way, come baking time, I don't have to form the dough. I'll let it rest for 40 minutes and then bake.

2. I'm going to include whole wheat flour in the mix. First 1 cup whole weat and 5 cups bread flower. If that turns out well, I'll try 2 and 4 cups respectivly.

No Knead Bread.

I got this from the Splendid Table. It turned out great.

It's an easy to make dough that you keep in your fridge for up to two week. The originators claim that the taste of the bread improves if you age the dough in the fridge for a few days before baking. I had great results almost right away.

Combine... 1.5 tbsp of kosher salt. 1.5 tbsp yeast. 3 cups. 100F water. 6.5 cups bread flour. I put it all in large container, sealed the lid and then shook until everything was combined. I removed the lid and covered with a wet cloth. Then I wrapped the container with a heating pad on low and let the dough sit for about two hours. By that point it had tripled in volume. Then I put the container in the fridge and let chill for 5 hours.

To bake, put a pizza stone and a broiler tray in the oven and preheat to 450F

Hack off a piece of the dough, about the size of a grape fruit. Gently form it into a ball, trying not to squeeze out too many bubbles. Let the dough rest for 45 minutes.

Pour a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake for 30 minutes.

Bananas Brulee

I love Bananas Brulee with ice cream. I can make it in about five minutes. It looks like and tastes like an expensive fancy dessert.

Split a banana into two. Set them flat side up. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar on each banana. Whip out the blow torch and brulee just like a creme brule.

Add a scoop of ice cream.

Drizzle with a sauce, chocolate or caramel work well.

Stainelss Steel Pots and Pans

About a year ago, I switched away from non-stick pots to stainless steel. For the most part I like it. Stainless steel doesn't have to be handled carefully. You can poke with forks and flip and scrape with spoons without fear of scatching the non-stick coating.

Yes, sometimes the cleanup is more difficult. I was tought a trick by a friend. When food is stuck to the bottom of a pot, put a couple of teaspoons of dishwasher detergent into the pot, add some hot water and let it soak over night. By the next morning the food will be liberated.

We don't know why it works. It just does.

Creme Brule With a Blow Torch

For the first time I have made creme brule with a blow torche. I'm supprised how easy it is. Sugar easily turns to a nice caramel wafer when you add fire.

A word on blow torches-- while cheap is nice, make sure the blow torch you buy can handle being tilted. I bought a $10.00 torch. It makes the brule just fine, but it rapidly flames out if I tilt it more than fourty five degrees. This means I have to tilt the food instead which is difficult when the food is covered with sugar.

I am going to brule much more-- bananas and maybe even pizza by first baking the dough, then adding the toppings and applying fire.

Saar's Mart

I'm am very impressed with the Saar's grocery on Sunset. I'll admit that Saar's is a low-income now-frills chain and that from the outside, the Saar's store looks old and unkept. But, inside, it's all very clean, well stocked with good prices.

This particular Saar's makes it's own tortillas on premis. Yum!

The wine selection was excellet. The vegitables look great.

Now, a word on the meat. It was all very inexpensive. But, the beef appears to be unaged, sub choice cuts. Don't shop here if you are looking for a great steak. You will find a good roasts for slow cooking or hamburger. But, the pickings are slim if you want to eat rare.

Fortunatly Shawn & Ted's Quality Meat is not too far away.

Pizza Dough II

The Pizza dough is getting better. I swapped the table salt for kosher salt. That helped improve the rize.

It's still too dense more my tastes.

Lemon-grass coconut soup

Lemon-grass coconut soup is very tasty and not too hard to make. The ingredients are a bit specialized so I should make one large batch of broth and then use that several times.

For the broth-- simmer, but don't boil...
28oz coconut milk
64oz chicken broth.
3 stalks lemon grass
1 or 2 sliced hot peppers.
3 crushed cloves of garlic
1/4 cup shredded ginger.
1 tablesoon asian chille sauce.
rind of one lime.

There are lots of extra's you can add to the broth like fish sauce and lime leaves. I never have them on hand and the broth always turns out well.

After 30 minutes, strain the broth. You can save it or use it right away.

To use the broth, heat it up to a simmer (not a boil)
Add 3 chicken brests sliced half inch thick. Simer for five minutes until cooked.
add 1/2 cup slice basil.
add one cup sliced mushrooms.
2 tbsp lime juice.
season to taste.

Don't simmer too much longer or the chicken may get tough.

Pizza Dough

I have been struggling to make great pizzas. My pizza dough is still not stellar. But, I am perfecting the toppings.

I don't have a great recipie yet, just some notes. I am trying to achieve a thin crisy pizza, not deep dish.

A cheap pizza stone is much better than a pan.

Watch for water. It will cook out while you are baking the pizza leaving you with a soggy mess. Use sauces sparingly and perfer thick sauces. Don't put whole slices of tomato on the pizza. Tomato should be cored and seeded.


These were the ingrediants for my last pizza...
2 tablespoons sugar. 1 tablespoon salt. 1 tablespoon pure olive oil. 3/4 cup warm water. 2 cups bread flour (for bread machines) 1 teaspoon instant yeast

Kneed pizza doughs longer-- this develops the gluten which allows you to stretch the dough thin. 15 minutes worked well.

My dough still came out too tough and not crisy enough. In the future, I'm going to make the following changes....

1. cut back on the salt by one teaspon.
2. Swap in a quarter cup of whole wheat for for a quarter cup of bread flour.
3. Bake at 550F instead of 500F
4. Stretch the dough even thinner.

Rice Pudding.

It's easy to make and tasty.

Take about a cup of left over rice.
Add two cups of milk and a quarter cup of sugar.
Mix.
Simmer for 30 minutes. I started on medium heat then moved to low as the simmer took off.

Beat an egg with a quarter cup of sugar.
Temper the egg/sugar mixture with a cup of the rice-milk mixture.

Add half a teaspoon of vanilla to the rice.
Add the tempered egg mixture to the rice.
Mix
Keep on low heat for about five minutes.

Chill and then serve. I drizzled a little bit of honey, jam and cinnamon on mine.

Pizza Crusts

I've been experiementing with pizza crusts trying to make the perfect thin crust. So far I've only managed to make it work by using bread flower, resting the dough for 24 hours in a refridgerator and by baking on a pizza stone.

I like to include some whole wheat flour in the dough, but it stops being thin crust when I do so.

Also, a pizza stone is mandatory. Without one the crust is sloppy and wet.

I can make a decent tomato sauce from canned diced tomatoes. The secret is to separate the juice from the fruit. Add a little vinegar and wine to the juice and simmer it down. Roast the fruit with some onions till browned-- say 45 minutes at 450F. Then combine the two and blend with a stick blender. Add your herbs, spices and seasonsings.

101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

From the New York Times. Many of them sound great.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Grilling

I love grilling. I use our propane BBQ year around, but much more often in the summer.

Last night we had grilled shrimp and steak.

The steak was loin tri tip. I enjoy loin tip steaks. They are very tender and easy to grill. Plus they are very affordable. They are smaller and don't look as good as a regular steak so you aren't charged regular loin prices.

The shrimp was also tasty. Next time I'm going to brine them first-- half a cup of salt, half a cup of suger, two cups of water, soke the shrimp for 30 minutes.