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Okay, I took a MBA class this weekend that talked about digital tools including blogs. It was mentioned that there needs to be at least weekly entries if you want people to read your blog. Oops. After looking at my past history, I have some work to do. So I may lower my standards and just start throwing some food stuff up here. It may not always be a recipe and heck, it may not even be food related but I will try and keep it updated. Oh and today's pictures are courtesy of my Droid as Patti was off with the good camera. Today's post is soft like butter!
If I didn't know it before, I sure know it now. I am a Foodie! My new Sunset magazine had come in and I was winding down after so much fun with homework. I read this article on how easy it was to make your own butter. I glazed over it, not believing it for a second. Perhaps I was a bit tired but I read it a second and third time. It was just too easy.
After a long weekend class I decided to make some homemade stew for dinner and serve it with some Le Petite Outre Campagne bread. What is better with fresh bread than fresh butter. It was so easy and it tasted sooooooo good! So here is the recipe I took from Sunset with one minor difference.
2 cups heavy cream, preferably organic and not ultra pasteurized
Kosher salt (Sunset called for fine sea salt but I didn't have any)
Put the 2 cups of cream in a food processor with a S blade. Turn it on and wait. It first turns to whip cream and after 2 minutes I thought it was done. However the recipe said it would look like scrambled eggs and it hadn't yet. So I left it on and then heard some sloshing. I turned it off and opened it up and sure enough there was scrambled eggs or at least that's what it looked like. The instructions said to leave it on for an additional 3 minutes. I wasn't that patient and after 2 minutes I opened it up. It looked like large clumps of butter!
I put a strainer over a bowl and emptied the food processor bowl into the strainer. I used a cheesecloth this time but I don't think I will in the future. I let it drain for about 5 minutes. I then placed the butter in a bowl and sprinkled it with salt. It didn't say how much so I just did a few large pinches. I don't like things real salty! This is the beauty of this butter, you can put in as much or as little as you'd like. I stirred the salt in and it released a little more liquid that I drained. Voila, I had butter!
The left over liquid is supposedly buttermilk so I saved it to perhaps make some scones later.
So if you like a fresh tasting butter with little effort, this recipe is for you!
Surprise, surprise I have managed to do two posts in a week. Miracles will they never cease!!!
This week I made a BBQ Pork and Noodle soup for dinner with homemade rolls and an Sesame Cucumber Salad. I love tasting the salty and the sweet at the same time. At the Mustard Seed, they make a version of Won Ton soup that uses BBQ Pork to give the soup a sweet flavor to go along with the saltiness of the soup. I try and reproduce that here without the won tons. I also make a cucumber salad similar to one I have enjoyed at Sushi Hana here in Missoula.
The soup turned out to be quite easy and I even prepped most of the ingredients earlier in the day and then just thew it all together when I got home. It took a total of 20 minutes, if that. Here are the ingredients:
1 lb. of prepared BBQ Pork. Costco currently has a great selection in their deli section. I cut these
into small cubes aiming for bite size pieces
3 or 4 green onions, thinly sliced. I saved some of the green tops for a garnish at the end.
2 stalks of organic celery cut into bite sized pieces
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 quart of good chicken stock
Sesame oil
Low sodium soy sauce
Dried Ginger (as in I didn't use the fresh root but the spice from the cupboard)
Couple of Handfuls of Dried noodles.
A note on the noodles: I have tried this recipe a few times and have always been disappointed with the noodles. I have tried soba buckwheat noodles and a ramen type noodle and find them a little too soft. Of course I could have cooked them too quickly. Tonight, I tried a canton dried noodle that I found at Seafood City in Tukwila, WA. I was very please with the consistency and firmness of the noodles. I think I need to add more next time
After prepping all the ingredients, I heated the pan over medium heat and put in some sesame oil and a little canola oil too. I added the pork, onion and celery. After it had cooked for a few minutes, I added the garlic and ginger. Oh and I did add a splash or two of soy sauce. Once the vegetables were tender I added the stock. I wish I could say it was my own, sadly I have none made. I have found a great chicken stock made by Costco...not a broth...a stock! I also added a few cups of water but I could see maybe not doing this next time.
I turned up the heat and brought it too a boil. Next add the noodles and cook for a few minutes until the noodles are done to the desired consistency. Taste the soup and see if it is the flavor you are shooting for. You may need to add more soy sauce, ginger or pepper.
Serve with bread and a nice salad or in my case a cucumber salad.
Let me know if you have any questions and enjoy!
It's been awhile since I've posted and I apologize to the dozens (if I'm lucky) followers of this blog. A few people have been gently pushing me to get back into this and so with that assistance here we go again and hopefully more frequently.
Tonight for dinner I sort of just threw this dish together loosely based on an Au Gratin recipe I've used from the Good Housekeeping cookbook. My twist was to had some leftover ham we have had in the fridge since new year. The smoky flavor from the ham adds another level of taste to the buttery potatoes and salty cheese.
The ingredient list is relatively simple:
4 Tablespoons of organic butter
5 or 6 Yukon Gold organic potatoes scrubbed and thinly sliced
1 to 2 cups of cooked ham julienne cut or cubed
4 to 8 ounces of cheddar cheese shredded
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
Kosher salt to taste
That's it, that's the list.
Place the butter into a 9 x 12 casserole dish and put into a preheated 425 degree oven until the butter is melted. Next place half of the potatoes slices on the bottom of the pan on top of the butter and then sprinkle with some salt. Sprinkle the ham on top of the potatoes. Now place the other half of the potatoes over the ham. Add the cheese to the top of the mixture and then sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the cheese.
Cover the casserole with foil and then bake for 20 minutes in the oven. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. The top should come out crisp and golden and bubbly. This batch turned out a little drier than I had hoped so next time I will probably add a little melted butter to the top layer of potatoes. I served this dish with steamed vegetables of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.
As always, let me know if you have any questions and comments and thanks for reading. I think the next recipe I will try will be a BBQ Pork and Noodle Asian Soup, stay tuned.
