St. Patrick's Day

Time to get your Irish on again

Once again I'm updating an old post about St. Patrick's Day. The Irish side of my family took this holiday very seriously. We even marched in the City of Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade for a couple of years until we had to give up our parade position to some more politicians, most of whom were not even Irish. If you've never done Chicago in the winter they dye the river green as well as the beer. If you come in March you'll want to bring a heavy coat because it gets pretty cold in the windy city. 

St. Patrick's almost always gave mom a break from cooking, so that we could enjoy a Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner away from home. There were a few restaurants where we enjoyed their corned beef and cabbage. Like most holidays, I always enjoyed cooking and eating at home. Cooking at home always meant that we would have left-over's for the next day, which almost always involved a Reuben sandwich, or corned beef on rye with Swiss cheese. In most cases there was still enough left over for corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast.

New England Boiled Dinner

I really first learned that corned beef and cabbage was not a traditional Irish meal brought over from Ireland until I was married. My wife had been cooking since the age of twelve and corned beef and cabbage was something that she made often. In her family it was called a "New England Boiled Dinner." My mother gave my wife one of the best compliments a daughter-in-law could get. Every year we would bring her a homemade corned beef and cabbage New England Boiled Dinner. My mother told her that she made it better than anyone in the family. What a compliment

Mom's Corned Beef and Cabbage to go

Other than corned beef and cabbage dinner. Mom just loved a Reuben sandwich, or a corned beef on rye.    

Corned Beef on Rye

Reuben

Last year my daughter told me that a friend of hers made a corned beef brisket, using a recipe that uses Guinness Beer for the liquid.  My daughter, who normally doesn't care for corned beef loved this version better than ours. The Guinness recipe (found on the internet) was oven baked. I wanted to use a slow cooker so I combined both recipes and had a very delicious St. Pat's dinner. So grab a couple of recipes and get your Irish on.

You might even get lucky

INGREDIENTS
3-5 lb. Corned beef brisket
1 whole Bay leaf
4 whole Cloves
10 whole Black peppercorns
2 Tbsp. White vinegar
2 Tbsp. Sugar
2 cloves Garlic (smashed)
2 tsp. Salt
2 stalks Celery
6 whole Carrots, peeled, quartered
6 small. Onions, outer skin removed
8 small Red potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 small Rutabaga, peeled and quartered (optional)
1 head Cabbage, cut into wedges
 
DIRECTIONS

Depending on the size of the brisket, it should take about 45 minutes per pound to cook. Remove the brisket from the packaging and rinse it off. Place the brisket into a Dutch oven or stock pot that is large enough to accommodate the brisket and all of the vegetables. Cover with water to an inch or so above the brisket. Add the vinegar, sugar, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves, salt, garlic, and celery. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat, place a top on the pot and simmer for 2 hours. Occasionally check the pot to be sure it is not boiling. If there is any foam on top of the water, skim with a slotted spoon.     
At the end of 2 hours, add the onions, potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots to the water and then recover. Add boiled hot water to cover the vegetables (not from the sink). Turn up the stove and bring to boil, then lower to simmer. Add the cabbage on top of all the vegetables and cover. Watch so that the water does not boil. After about 45 minutes, check the vegetables for doneness by inserting a fork into them. When they are tender, transfer from the pot to large bowl, cover with foil and keep in a warm oven. The celery, bay leaf and garlic cloves are in the pot for their flavor and will be discarded. The corned beef is done when it can be pierced easily with a fork and fall off the fork when you pull out. Cut the brisket across the grain into thin slices. Arrange vegetables around the beef. Serve with horseradish, mustard or your favorite sauce. Enjoy!

Erin go Bragh

© TMelle 1998-2012

Valentine's Day

Be my Valentine

It happens every year, and every year I am never really ready for it. This year is no different. I decided to dust of an old post from this blog and update it a little bit. This Valentine’s Day why not treat yourself, a loved one, family member or friend to a delicious breakfast or dinner that goes the extra distance to show how much you care for them. Anyone can make a dinner reservation. How special is a breakfast or dinner that you make yourself?

Heart shaped Jello and molds

To pull this off you're going to need some heart shaped molds. You can buy them at your local gourmet cooking store. Can you guess what I'm making here?

Heart shaped French toast

Get out your favorite French toast recipe ingredients and make up some heart shaped French toast pieces, served with real butter, real vanilla extract and real maple syrup. You can try mine if you like.

Use the real ingredients... It's Valentines Day

3     large      Eggs (beaten)
1/4  cup        Milk
1     tsp.        Vanilla, add to eggs
8     slices     White Bread (slightly stale)
as needed     Butter
as needed     Pure Maple Syrup**
as needed     Powdered Sugar

as needed     Cinnamon, add to eggs
as needed     Butter, shortening, oil, or Pam (for frying)

Kiddie Cocktails for the children

Break the eggs into bowl. Add the milk, vanilla and whisk these together. If you like cinnamon, sprinkle some on the top of the egg batter. For extra cinnamon flavor use cinnamon raisin bread.
Preheat your griddle to about 325-350ºF. Spray your griddle with Pam, or use a little butter, or shortening (more or less depending on the size of your griddle) to prepare the griddle, or pan that you are using. Dunk both sides of bread into egg mixture. Remove the slices of bread from the egg mixture and place onto the hot griddle. With the tip of your spatula, lift the edge of a slice so that you can see the bottom. When the bottom is golden, flip it over and cook the other side. When they are golden on the second side, remove from the pan and place on a platter. Stack each piece on the platter overlapping each other. Dot each piece with butter and dust with powdered sugar. Serve 3 heart slices per serving. Serve warm syrup on the side.

Breakfast is served!

For the children why not whip up some Kiddie Cocktails? Fill a champagne flute with 7UP and then add a couple of drops of Maraschino Cherry juice. Serve cold and garnish with a whole Maraschino Cherry.

For the adults a Mimosa is always a good choice. Fill a champagne flute or tulip glass half way with champagne or prosecco and then the remainder of the way with Orange juice. Garnish with a fresh strawberry, or a blood orange slice on the glass rim. What a great way to say Happy Valentine’s Day.  

7UP is a registered trademark of Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. ©2012 Dr Pepper/Seven Up 

© TMelle 1998-2012

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

Christmas and the holidays is without a doubt a very stressful time of the year. Christmas cards, church, shopping, parties, decorating, dusting, cleaning, cooking, presents, and more presents. I'm not going to talk about the religious aspect of the holidays, since it's different for everyone. What I will talk about is sharing the holidays with your loved ones, family, friends, and others.

I recently received an email from a friend who informed me that we would not be receiving a Christmas card this year. It wasn't personal, she said, it was just something that was not going to happen this year. Bummer, we always used Christmas cards that were sent to us to decorate for the holidays. I haven't purchased a card in years and prefer using photographs that I took personally to make my own cards.

Chicago Christkindlemarket 2009

To help you get through the stress of the holidays, why not dust off your holiday drink recipes as a starter? This recipe will fill your home with the wonderful aromas of the holidays, guaranteed to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling all over. Warm and fuzzy without any alcohol! The Holiday Wassail was something I learned in my younger years while bartending at a suburban restaurant. It is a drink that the senior clientele just loved. The recipe is simple and you won't believe the aroma. 
Holiday Wassail (non-alcoholic version) 

Ingredients

3          cans     frozen apple juice

1          can       frozen cranberry juice

4          cans     water

1/2       tsp.      cinnamon

1/8       tsp.       ground cloves

1          tsp.       allspice

Directions

In a piece of cheesecloth wrap the cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Drop the cheesecloth packet into a large pot. Empty the frozen juices into the pot and add the water. Mix well and heat the Wassail until hot. Remove the cheesecloth spice packet. When it smells and tastes just right ladle the hot Wassail into mugs. Put on some holiday music and serve.
Now I'm sure that one or two of you just might want something with a little more kick to it. Just add a little rum (plain or spiced) to your drink and enjoy!

© TMelle 1998-2011

Peppermint Bark

Ambrosia Milk Chocolate

Ambrosia Alabaster White Confectionery Coating

In 2007 my wife had some left over candy canes. She put them into the freezer and forgot about them. While shopping at a food co-op in Wisconsin we found that they were selling broken 1-1/4 lb. blocks of Ambrosia® Milk Chocolate and Alabaster White Confectionery coating. We made each separately although you can layer the two flavors and then top with crushed candy canes. The remaining candy canes were used for hot chocolate.

Broken Candy Canes

INGREDIENTS
1.25 lbs. Milk Chocolate (broken into pieces)
1.25 lbs. White Chocolate (broken into pieces)
10 whole Candy canes (broken into small pieces)

DIRECTIONS

Break the chocolate into smaller pieces and set to the side. Divide the candy canes into two plastic bags, five in each. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin crush the candy canes in each bag. Line a cookie sheet with sheet with parchment, or waxed paper. Break the dark and white chocolate into smaller pieces so that they melt quickly. Place the chocolate pieces into a double boiler that has been brought to a boil and then reduced to a simmer. As the chocolate melts, continue stirring until the chocolate is smooth.

Add crushed peppermint

Using a fine mesh strainer held over the melted chocolate, pour the crushed candy into the strainer, shaking to get incorporate the candy can dust into the milk chocolate. Stir until well blended. Set the larger crushed candy cane pieces to the side.

Sprinkle on candy canes

Pour the melted chocolate evenly on the prepared cookie sheet and smooth it out using a silicone spatula. Sprinkle the chocolate evenly with remaining crushed candy pieces. Let the peppermint bark stand about 1 hour or until it hardens. Clean up the double boiler and any spoons or spatulas’s that you have used. Repeat the process using the white chocolate and the remaining candy canes.

Ready for bagging or tins

Variation: After you pour out the milk chocolate on the sheet, do not add the candy cane pieces, Allow the milk chocolate to cool completely before melting the white chocolate. Once the milk chocolate is cool, melt the white chocolate. Pour the white chocolate over the milk chocolate and spread evenly. Sprinkle the white chocolate evenly with remaining crushed candy pieces. Let the peppermint bark stand until it hardens. When the bark is hard, break it into pieces and serve, or wrap in plastic bags or metal tins for gift giving. Enjoy

Peppermint Bark - Yield: 2-1/2 lbs.

QUESTION: What smells remind you of Christmas?

 More to follow

© TMelle 1998-2011

THANKSGIVING

No Room For Vegetables

Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner and I can hardly wait. Just look at my plate. Traditionally turkey is served with all of the trimmings. In case you’re wondering, the trimmings consist of:

Oven Roasted Turkey

Stuffing (some call it dressing)

Plenty of Turkey Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberries

Sweet Potatoes

Cauliflower Casserole

Corn Casserole

Stuffed Celery (Kraft brand Roka Blu & Cream Cheese)

Sour Cream Cucumbers

Black Pitted Olives

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Apple Pie

If We're Lucky... Christmas Cookies

This really is the one meal that I look forward to each and every year. Tell me about your Thanksgiving traditions and what you'll be serving this year. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season.
PS. If you're looking for something different as a side dish, why not try making Kartoffelklösse! Turkey gravy is great on those as well.

Open Face Turkey Sandwich with Leftovers

Turkey Pot Pie

© TMelle 1998-2011

Pâte à Choux

Chocolate Eclair's

If you've ever eaten a chocolate eclair, a cream puff, or a profiterole, then you have already enjoyed the unique airy, flaky texture and flavor of Pâte à Choux. 

In the mid 90's, I worked at a gourmet restaurant and banquet facility in Chicago. One of the most often requested appetizers was a savory filling in a Pâte à Choux puff pastry. These pastry appetizers brought a higher price of $2.00 each instead of $1.00 or $1.50. This same dough was also used to make pastry swans. The body of the swan was filled with sour cream before being floated in a bowl of rich Polish mushroom soup. The swan took the dish to a whole new visual, and price point level as well. One day my daughter brought some profiteroles home from her culinary school baking class. We just had to make some for me so I could put together some special savory appetizers like the "lobster puffs" picture on the upper left side of this page. So my daughter taught me to make Pâte à Choux. 

Get out your scale

The difference between cooking and baking is that baking is much less forgiving than cooking. When a recipe is a baking one, a scale is often required to measure ingredients, whereas cooking requires less precise measurements. Often visual clues are required to tell if it is time to proceed to the next step. Pâte à Choux is one such recipe. 

Making Pâte à Choux dough is much like making a roux. 

You just have to sift

Ingredients 

8 oz. water, or milk (1 cup), or half water half milk (4oz ea)

4 oz. unsalted butter (1 stick)

1/2 tsp. salt

6 oz. all-purpose flour 

10 large eggs

Sifted flour

Beat some eggs

Bring water/milk and butter to a boil

Preheat oven to 400°F. Boil water, milk, and butter until melted. Add salt. Remove from heat and add flour. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. The mix will be ready when a light brown film forms on the bottom of the pan; Remember color is flavor! Transfer mixture into the bowl of a standing mixer. 

Add sifted flour to hot milk and butter

There should be a light brown film on bottom of pan

Place dough in mixer. Mix in the eggs

With mixer on medium speed add egg 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. It is important to note that the mixture will separate and then come together again each time you add an egg; this should happen. Also, you may not need all the eggs. The Pate A Choux will be the right texture when you grab a piece between your thumb and index finger (pointer finger) and pull your finger and thumb apart. The dough should be  elastic, without breaking. Once all eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth put dough into piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe immediately into golf ball-size shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment lined sheet pans. Wet your fingertip with water and push down slightly on the tip to keep these from burning. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce with a paring knife immediately to release steam.

 Eggs incorporated into the dough

Dough ready for piping

Fill pastry bag with dough

Pipe out 1-1/2" profiteroles 

Press down points with wet finger. Pâte à Choux  ready to bake

Pâte à Choux baked

Cut slit in side to allow steam to escape

Profiteroles ready to use or freezer

There are many pages, pictures, and video's on the internet about making Pâte à Choux and swans.      

© TMelle 1998-2011