Homemade Biscuits

November 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

For Thanksgiving, a request was made (um… even though she went to the same class and also got the  recipe 😛 ) for biscuits. Sure! I’ve always wanted to try to make biscuits. After all, having them relatively a short period time after taking them out from the oven, when they are still quite warm but moist and light, is key.

Unfortunately, dining out and the realities of a restaurant kitchen means many times the biscuits were made and waiting before I even order  so are not the temperature I am hoping for, and may even have hardened or dried some and have to be saved by other items in the dish, likely gravy. But, I also knew that the consistency from working the dough is key to making good biscuits, and worried that I would get all excited making them and then be disappointed at the end product.

So I was glad I had the experience of learning this recipe with professionals making it during a class rather than just following a recipe I picked out. Thanks to having it during the class I also knew what these biscuits would taste like instead of guessing from photos or videos. This is the recipe I used, but there are many out there that use shortening, or add rosemary or chili or cheese. There are so many variations of biscuits out there but yet each has their own distinct taste and personality. This one is very very light and fluffy, they felt like air.

Ingredients (serves 8):

  • 1/2 cup butter, frozen
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup wheat pastry flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Directions:

  1. First, you put the butter in the freezer. This will then allow you to very coarsely grate the butter. I have gotten so much use from this grater from Ikea
  2. Combine the cream and vinegar, which is essentially making homemade buttermilk, and keep in the refrigerator so it stays chilled, and the acid can do its work. It will look like its curdling a little after 5 minutes, which is normal. You can substitut e other acids as well in the same ratio, most commonly lemon juice or another kind of vinegar like apple cider vinegar.
  3. Meanwhile, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl- I just sifted it all together by hand. Also, have a well floured working area established . If you can, put your dry mix in the fridge so it can also be cold while grating the butter.
  4. Now grate (use the largest holes for your grater)the cold butter, and put into the dry mix and again using your hand, just mix it together briefly. It will still be pretty gritty, including still having pea size pieces of butter/dry mix. Don’t overmix- that is the enemy of soft fluffy biscuits, and your want the butter to stay cold so it will melt during the baking process and create air pockets while the biscuits rise in the oven.
  5. Next, gently add the cream, parts at a time, into the butter flour mix. Each time you add the cream, use your hand (flour it first!) to fold the bottom mix on top of the cream, and fold several more times, and then add the next parts of cream. Do this until a soft dough forms, no need to knead… again being careful not to overmix so that the combination of liquid and flour doesn’t form too much gluten and get tough (this is also why the recipe uses pastry flour not just all purpose) and also that the dough stays cool so heat doesn’t activate the dough until oven time.
  6. Press the dough onto your floured work area and press, using as few rolls of the rolling pin and a pastry scraper (I use the OXO Pastry Cutter which also handily dandily has a ruler with its blade) into a rectangle that is 1/2 inch thick.
  7. Fold the sides of the dough in (1/3 from the right, 1/3 from the left), and sprinkle some flour on the top of presumably your new square. Rotate your square dough thingy 90 degrees and roll to 1/2 inch thick. Repeat until you have gone all the way around, aka a total of 4 folds into squares.
  8. On the last press, leave it in the 1/2 inch rectangle and cut into squares. I like biscuits to be very doughy rather than flakey, and cut them into these giant triangles instead that are essentially croissant size! I only was meaning to feed four people anyway, so 8 pieces so it was 2 per person seemed good to me (somehow the same amount but less greedy than if it was 4 regular pieces per person). If you are feeding more, do the squares- you’ll get 16 pieces that way. I don’t do round biscuit cutters because then you have scraps that when you try to put together, will probably be tougher. You also don’t want the biscuits any larger than these as they might still be undercooked inside then.
  9. At this point, you can now let them rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Or, you can let them rest, and then place the biscuits on parchment paper and freeze until they are all frozen solid (important so they don’t stick together), and then put in freezer bags to pull out individual biscuits to bake just what you need.
  10. When it’s time to bake the biscuit, place on a well greased sheet pan, each about 1 inch apart, you don’t want them too far or the biscuit will spread instead of rising high. Reduce the heat from your now hot oven to 450 degrees F.  Bake until golden brown- about 12-15 minutes, slightly longer if you are baking them from frozen.

The recipe said “cool and serve”, but of course these are best all fresh and warm! And, it will make your place smell so awesome. If you’d like, brush the tops with melted butter.

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Cornbread Stuffing – Veggie Version

November 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

It’s time for the Thanksgiving 2012 recipe roundup! The best cornbread stuffing I’ve made so far was from a whim 2 years ago. I modified a recipe I had seen by Michael Symon on Food Network. For some reason I had watched him make this in an episode- unusual because I don’t watch him at all but his show happened to be on and my TV still on Food Network. But, what I saw was so intriguing for a stuffing I looked it up online to print his recipe, and used that as my cornbread stuffing inspiration.

The cornbread is one that I made from a mix the day before thanks to Trader Joe’s. When it came to the smoked ham in his recipe I substituted a smoked veggie version, and of course vegetable stock for chicken stock. Meanwhile for the vegetables I replaced his call for red peppers with Thai red chilis (though in less quantity because I did want to keep my stomach lining). I used Thai red chilis because I had them in my herb garden, but you can easily substitute any other diced pepper you would like, or even spicy seasoning instead.

I also changed out the corn because I thought there was enough corn in the cornbread which had kernels already in it. I also used diced carrots, making use of a classic mirepoix as the base then of this stuffing. I’m not a fan of parsley and cilantro, so I went with dill, sage, and rosemary as my seasoning herbs.

The stuffing turned out visually quite pretty, and was even better the next day as a leftover. The “ham” even in the veggie version gave it a hint of smokiness, and the Thai red chilis a bit of extra zing of heat now and then.

Ingredients (serves 6):

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups chopped yellow onions
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup choped carrots
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 package of diced smoked vegetarian ham- I used Tofurky Hickory Smoked flavor deli meat, but Yves or Lightlife could work as well
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons chopped sage
  • 2 tablespoons dill
  • 2 tablespoons of diced Thai chili pepper, but you can use any other pepper but adjust based on the heat you want
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 cups cubed and toasted cornbread – I used Trader Joe’s cornbread mix and prepared per directions on the box. I think TJ’s mix is the best mix out there in terms of taste and texture

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Melt butter and sweat the celery, onions, and garlic until tender. Add ham and cook
    over low heat for 2 more minutes. Set aside to slightly cool.
  3. Whisk together eggs, stock, cream and herbs and chilis, and season with salt and pepper
    to taste. Combine all items, including cornbread, in a 4 quart pan.
  4. Cook covered for 30 minutes. Then uncover and cook for additional 20
    minutes or until crusty on top.
  5. Optionally, since when I picked the peppers I had some extra left I also sprinkled a bit more on top before serving the dish to make it look nice- you can do the same with extra herbs also.
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Making CoCo Ichibanya’s Curry

November 17, 2012 by 1 Comment

When I was in Japan for work back in March of this year, CoCo Ichibanya was highly recommended and raved about by my youngest sister J. So on my last night, I wandered lost along the neighborhood of Shibuya Crossing, trying to find CoCo Ichibanya’s Curry House, as mentioned in a previous post. When I finally found it (apparently having passed it at least twice- there are so many bright signs that I missed it), I finally got to enjoy a comforting Japanese curry  dinner of level 4 heat curry with chicken katsu and mushroom. While paying for my meal, I also bought two curry mix packages to take back to to the US, one pork and one vegetable, to take home.

My sister informed me there is now a branch of CoCo Ichibanya’s Curry House in LA (the first on the US Mainland), so it looks like when my family gets together this Christmas holiday, we will be able to visit. There’s no reason for me to horde my CoCo curry mix anymore. So, thanks to the internet, I decided to give it a try, including even trying to katsu up some tofu.

Ingredients (enough for 2 people):

  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • Diced onions
  • Mixed diced vegetables of your choice
  • Coco Ichiban’s Curry Mix (I happened to use Vegetable)
  • Tofu (you can also use meat of course such as pork or chicken cutlet)
  • Flour
  • 1-2 egg (start with one and add another if you run low)
  • Seasoned breadcrumbs and/or panko
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • Steamed Rice (I used my standby jasmine rice)

Directions:

  1. Heat a sauce pan, pour in the olive oil, and saute the onions until caramelized. Add in the mixed vegetables and lightly saute for a few minutes.
  2. Drop the heat to medium-low. Squeeze in the curry mix. Let thicken, stirring occasionally while preparing your katsu tofu/meat. The one from Coco is liquid and already included some veggies, but I’m glad I added more as mine were fresher and crunchier versus the mush in the bag… though maybe I went a little overboard in quantity of veggies.

    But, often times the Japanese curry mix you find is actually hard and in blocks, similar to chocolate. So if you have that kind break it into pieces so it will melt. As it melts, for this curry block kind because the flavor is more condensed, start adding water, starting with one
    cup, to taste. You will want to do this in steps as the flavors opens up and develop. When it is all melted, depending on how it tastes to you, you can add more water, or some brown sugar to sweeten it, or add more heat with cayenne, or even sprinkle in some cheese for richness. Let the curry simmer on low, and remember that the Japanese curry should become thick almost like gravy, not like soup.
  3. Meanwhile, with the tofu, since I was not using meat there was no need to pound it into tenderness. If your tofu is not fresh and comes in a liquid, you will want to put it on paper towels and put something heavy (I use pans) to press it to squeeze the moisture out. Otherwise, if you are using meat, pound it out so it is about 1/2 inch in thickness.
  4. In a shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs with salt, pepper and other desired seasonings, and or panko. I only had a little bit of panko left, and so I mixed the panko and some seasoned breadcrumbs together to get enough for two people’s worth. Dredge the tofu or meat in flour, then the whisked egg, then in the mix of seasoned breadcrumbs/panko and until evenly coated. I like doing this dredging using chopsticks, but need the fork to help turn over the tofu in the egg bowl.
  5. Cook your tofu or meat a skillet with 1/4 cup vegetable oil, shallow pan frying them about 5 minutes each side if you are using meat but shorter for tofu since you are just browning it no fully cooking it. To start you probably want to start with a smaller piece just to check the heat of the oil first. Drain your fried goodies on paper towels.
  6. The prettiest presentation for serving the curry is by first plating the white rice on half a plate, putting the curry on the other half, and place your crunchy tofu/meat on top of the curry so it will stay crispy. Or, I went the practical way which is using a bowl and putting in the rice, curry, and then topping with the tofu.

This was ok – definitely not as good as actually going to CoCo house and having the real deal. I wish I had mushrooms in the pantry for this, but had used them up earlier making a mushroom creme sauce on pasta. And, somehow I haven’t been able to recreate the kind of taste of katsu that I experienced in Japan- the texture was right with this panko breadcrumb mix, but not the taste. It must be something with the panko they are using- even katsu in the US  I get doesn’t taste the same way, yet at least 3 places in Tokyo were blowing me away with their versions. Now that I’m out of panko, I am going to specifically get my next batch from an Asian grocery store.

Well, I have something to look forward to next month in LA!

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Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels

November 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

I always find ads for food products that include a recipe a strong marketing tactic. I am not sure how long I’ve had the Spinach Cheese Swirls from Pepperidge Farms in my recipe binder. When I had 2 guests over one evening, I decided to use that as a reason to finally try this out to offer as a snack.

Supposedly this serves 6-10 as appetizers, but the four of us finished this off accompanied by some cheese, bread, and wine. The recipe calls for using Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Sheets, but you can also use Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough which you pinch the perforations into a solid sheet.

Spinach Pinwheels

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of water
  • 1/2 cup shredded Muenster cheese or Mozzarella cheese or whatever tasty cheese you’d like: I went with sharp cheddar that I grated fresh and I doubled the amount because I love cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese- but I had run out, so used a shredded mix of mozzarella, asiago and provolone
  • 2 tablespoons of green onion, chopped
  • 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder- though I admit I used twice as much at least as I did it to taste
  • All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
  • 1 pkg. (about 10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

Directions:

  1. Make sure your chopped spinach is dry. I wrapped my frozen chopped spinach with paper towels and then under a big pan to press some water out of it, and then heated it in the microwave to steam it to ensure there was as little liquid as possible so it would not make the dough soggy.
  2. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Sprinkle the flour on your work surface. Unfold the pastry sheet on the floured surface and brush the pastry sheet with the egg mixture.
  3. Stir the your cheeses, green onion and garlic powder in a medium bowl to taste. The original recipe tasted a bit bland to me, so make sure you season and taste until the filling is appealing to you.
    Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels
  4. Carefully top the pastry sheet with the spinach cheese mixture. Don’t make it thick or it will not roll smoothly, and leave a little bit on the end farthest away from you, about 1/2″ of room at that end, that you will roll to (on the short side) so you can seal it. I happened to have left a little on the sides too, but now I know it isn’t necessary because as you see from my final roll, there was too much extra dough on the sides.
    Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels
  5. Starting on the short side, roll it all up. Next, I recommend wrapping it in saran wrap and put in the fridge overnight, or in the freezer for enough time for it to all harden just a bit to make it hold together better when you cut the roll.
    Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels
  6. Heat the oven to 400°F. As it is heating, cut the roll into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices, cut-side down, onto your baking sheet. Brush the slices with the egg mixture.
    Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels
  7. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool for 10 minutes.
    Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels

I also made a variant version of this, but instead using Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough, chive cream cheese, and also pureed squash to make Squash and Cheese Pinwheels. I saw on TV a few times recently a Pillsbury cresent dough commercial where a man “impressed” his wife by making bacon cheese pinwheels, and because of that he delegates the cable being out for her to fix instead. The look on the woman’s face cracks me up even though I know that’s what my face looks like when F asks me stuff about the house sometimes.

Squash Pinwheels

Ingredients:

  • 1 8 ounce package Pillsbury Crescent Dough. If you see it, get the no-seam dough version called Recipe Creations
  • 1 pkg. (about 10 ounces) frozen pureed squash, or you can use roasted squash that you have let cool down to room temperature and pureed. You can use any type of squash you’d like. I like pureed squash because then you don’t have to worry about cutting squash into pieces- just throw it into the oven at 400 degrees F until fork tender, and then pull out and scoop the squash and into your blender to puree and use. Or, use frozen squash that you microwave.
  • 6 ounces of chive cream cheese, or you can use other flavors or plain
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

  1. Take the cream cheese out so it can soften.
  2. Add walnuts in a single layer to a baking sheet and then toast in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes and then stair, and wait another 5 minutes (so total toasting ~10 minutes) until they smell fragrant and are golden in color, then remove from heat. Otherwise, give them another minute or two to finish toasting, checking frequently and watching so they don’t burn! You can also do this on the stovetop, which will toast it faster, but I already had to use a baking sheet for the swirls and didn’t want to wash a pan too. Let the walnuts cool.
  3. Sprinkle the flour on your work surface. Unfold the crescent dough and pinch the perforations to join all the triangles together – if you use the Recipe Creations package there will be no seams so it will save you a step. Spread the cream cheese onto the dough within 1/2 inch of the edge.
    Spinach or Squash Cheese Pinwheels
  4. Now top with the squash. Follow that with any seasoning if you’d like (for instance I used nutmeg and a bit of paprika and rosemary, but it’s up to you. Also sprinkle on top the 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts – I admit I put mine on top because I forgot to add them when I was rolling it, but it would be better probably inside the roll rather then on top! Put the roll in the freezer for a bit so it will harden a bit, making it easier to cut and it will stay together more.
    Topping of cream cheese and squash for a Squash Pinwheel, further sprinkled by various spices and seasonings to taste Topping of cream cheese and squash for a Squash Pinwheel, further sprinkled by various spices and seasonings to taste
  5. When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Cut the roll into 1/2-inch slices. Place the slices, cut-side down, onto a sprayed baking sheet.
    Squash Cheese Pinwheels
  6. Bake for about 15 or so minutes until the crescent dough is golden brown.
    Squash Cheese Pinwheels Squash Cheese Pinwheels Squash Cheese Pinwheels

These crescent roll pinwheels are going to be softer than the ones using pastry sheet, so using the walnuts or other kind of nut gives it more texture than mush. If you’d like you can also sprinkle brown sugar on the squash, or use other seasonings if you are not using chive cream cheese like I did. I neglected to use the chopped walnuts when I actually made these, but added them here because after testing this out, this is what the recipe needs and I wish I had.

I also wish I had a nicer camera because these photos do not do it justice. Unfortunately both days were dark so the lighting was terrible, leaving me only my kitchen lights and Picasa fill light brightening software tricks. It’s days like this that make me wish I had a better camera than my point and shoot. I use my trusty Panasonic Lumix that fits in my purse so is always available where my Android cameraphone will fail (any eating situation that isn’t in great daylight). The pictures just do not do justice to how wonderful both of these smelled baking, and how warm and comforting they were to eat and that you just kept picking up the next one to eat!

Both would make great holiday appetizers that you can prep before hand, roll and have in the fridge, and can be done baking in 15 minutes and are a savory option instead of cookies.

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Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix

November 1, 2012 by 1 Comment

When I made the beer cheese, the recipe had called for Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix. The package I purchased had 3 packets, so I started looking for other way to use the mix and found this.

Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix

Ingredients:

  • 1 (9 ounce) package of regular oyster crackers
  •  1/4 cup buttery oil
  •  3/4 teaspoon of dill weed
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
  • 1 packet of dry Hidden Valley Ranch  dip mix

Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
    2. In a mixing bowl, combine all the oyster crackers with the seasonings of Ranch, dill, and onion powder.
      Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix
    3. Next, mix in the buttery oil until they coat all the crackers. Buttery oil can be found near the popcorn, or in my case, I used buttery flavored oil from a Oil and Vinegar store, Benessere Oils and Vinegars. The store is awesome because you sample any of their oils and vinegars before purchasing, so you know exactly what you are getting, and they have a range of sizes so you can even get a mix of different flavored oils. Because the buttery oil I had was high quality, I did not want to use a whole 3/4 cup per the original recipe, and the flavors were so strong after tasting adding half that amount I was fine.
      Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker MixButtery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix
    4. Bake in oven for 15-20 min, stirring halfway through baking time.
      Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix
    5. Cool, and then store in an airtight container or cracker tin or serve at a party!

Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix Buttery Ranch Oyster Cracker Mix

What makes this mix delicious is the goodness of the buttery oil to softly counter the saltiness from the ranch seasoning, with a bit of grassiniess from the dill. It doesn’t hurt to also top this with a bit of parmesan. Or, you can punch it up by adding cajun or spicy seasoning to your version.

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