| Recipe: Sourdough Bread |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|03:02 pm] |
I'm posting this here today as part of the IJ Asylum Meme.
Slightly modified from the recipe in Alaska Sourdough: the Real Stuff by a Real Alaskan by Ruth Allman.
2 cups Sourdough Starter( Read more... )
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar, or just a little more
3 Tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups whole-wheat flour, approximately
In a non-metallic bowl, at least 3 quarts capacity, combine sourdough starter, water, sugar, oil, salt and HALF the flour (2 1/2 cups). Beat until smooth. Cover and let stand until thoroughly bubbly (Ruth Allman says until doubled in bulk, but I've never had this "soft sponge", as she calls it, do that). This'll take a few hours, probably, depending on the temperature and your starter. Knead in another 2 1/2 cups flour, more or less, until it seems like bread dough -- about 8 minutes kneading, the way I do it. Once it's bread dough, acting like a ball of dough and all instead of a bowl full of glop, put a Tablespoon or two of cooking oil into the bowl (no need to wash it first), put the dough ball on top of the oil, rotate the dough ball until it has oil all over the outside, and then cover the bowl (plastic wrap, possibly sprayed with release agent like Pam, is a good material for this, but a dish towel will work) and let sit until doubled in bulk. Then punch down, spray two 8 1/2 by 4 inch bread pans with Pam or equivalent, divvy dough into two equalish pieces, and put dough into bread pans. Cover the pans with plastic wrap, and let rise until the dough is about at the tops of the pans. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 45 minutes. |
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| Turkey Carcass Soup |
[Dec. 10th, 2007|12:16 pm] |
Yay! ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) potluck_supper! I didn't know there was one over here, but here it is!
This is mostly based on the version in the Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book.
Get your 1-gallon cooking pot with lid. (If you don't have one, you'll just have to buy one I'm afraid. They're massively useful. LOL!) Break up the carcass of your turkey with your hands until it will fit into the pot. (When I say the carcass, I mean the skeleton, basically -- the thing that you've already removed most of the useful meat from. If you still have the neck, you could put that in, too, but it's not really necessary. I didn't use the neck with this batch.) Cover the dead mutilated turkey carcass with water (the recipe says three quarts). Add a quartered onion and two teaspoons of salt. Put the lid on so it will come to a boil faster (watch it like a hawk or it will boil over). Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for an hour and a half. Take all the solids out, by whatever means necessary (I removed the turkey bones with a slotted spoon and salad fork and put them on a big plate to cool. Then I poured everything else through a colander into another big bowl to get all the big chunks of onion and small chunks of bone out. Then I poured it all back through a wire strainer into the 1-gallon cooking pot, to get out the small bits of nameless whatever.) If you want a soup with less fat, put the lid back on and put it all into the refrigerator for a while (probably a few hours), which will make it pretty easy to pick the fat off the top. Meanwhile, pick any remaining useful meat off the bones and save it. Throw the useless bones and boiled onion bits away. Scoop the fat off if you wanted to. About an hour before you want to eat, put the pot of turkey broth back on the stove. Add an undrained can of tomatoes (about 15 ounces?), 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon crushed dried thyme, and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried oregano. Also add the leftover turkey meat, coarsely chopped, and four cups of chopped vegetables (I used an onion, a few carrots, and about half a bundle of celery). Bring to a boil (it'll boil faster with the lid on, but you'll have to keep an eye on it then); reduce heat and simmer covered for half an hour to 45 minutes. Then add some noodles (I used tortellini, actually, and that worked out wonderfully) and continue boiling for about 10-15 minutes, or until the noodles are done. |
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[Jul. 9th, 2007|02:40 am] |
I haven't been participating very well, because I am a bad bunny. So here's what I had tonight.
It's nothing fancy, but it is tasty. Simple salad with leaf lettuce, shredded cheese (colby and monteray jack), avacado, roma tomatoes, chicken and ranch dressing. I use Litehouse Ranch, the stuff you have to get in the produce section, because it just tastes way better than what you get in the bottles on the regular shelf. I cheated and bought the chicken already cooked and ready to go in the bag, basically because it's too hot to really cook and I was pretty tierd from spending four hours getting work done on my car today. I also used just a little bit of garlic powder overtop, just enough where you get the smell and just a tiny bit of that aftertaste.
The presentation could have been better, but I didn't think about taking a picture until I'd already chopped the veggies. If I'd been thinking, I'd have done them in half slices and arranged them a bit nicer. I also use a pie dish instead of a bowl or a plate. A bowl just never seems to give you enough room to mix things up nicely, and on a plate you just seem to lose everything over the side. A pie dish works just perfect, even if it looks kinda weird.
Oh yes, the bread is the grocery store brand of "good" bread... that being the bread that's in the wide, fat loaves. It's the store brand and is the cheapest, but I swear it's better than any of the expensive alternatives. This is potato bread, which has a great flavor and is rich enough to really fill you up. And that's apple juice in the glass.
I'm not terribly smart with spices and garnishes, but I do like to cook. I just don't like to cook when it gets up to 104° outside. o.O |
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| Surprise Dinner Goodness |
[Jun. 28th, 2007|05:53 pm] |
Just had a hot dog (in the bun, yes, EVIL) along with a glass of very good Pinot Noir.
Man.
That was good.
In fact, in a lifetime of very good dinners, that will be placed in the top ten.
So, what is the best surprise dinner you've ever had? |
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| QUESTION: Name Your Favorite Cookbook |
[Jun. 16th, 2007|09:50 am] |
Mod here, welcome to all our members! To try and stir up some conversation, how about a question?
If you could take three cookbooks with you to your well-equipped kitchen on a desert island, which ones would they be? Bonus points for links to their Amazon listing, but not required.
Be sure to tell us a little about why you love them.
GO! |
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| Strawberry Lettuce Salad |
[Jun. 8th, 2007|08:39 am] |
Made a Strawberry Iceburg Lettuce salad last night. Not sure what else I could have added, but I'm a big fan of fruit and Iceburg Lettuce.
Slice 4 large Strawberries
Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar or 1 packet of Splenda
Squeeze over juice of 1/2 lime
Toss with shredded iceburg lettuce.
Add more lime juice and a turn of cracked black pepper if desired.
Serves two. |
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| Turkey Sausages & Dinner Tonight |
[Jun. 7th, 2007|03:39 pm] |
I had a pack of turkey sausages (the fat links) and I wondered what to do with them.
I ended up browning them (in casings) and adding a sliced onion, as well as one sliced green pepper, one sliced red pepper and salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic powder and will serve them over rice.
I considered adding chicken stock or beer, but the sweated veggies made a slight sauce of their own, so I didn't bother. Would you have added either one of these liquids? Or something else? Or nothing?
For future reference, does anyone else have turkey sausage recipes?
Also, I'm considering making some sort of iceburg lettuce and strawberry salad. (For some reason, iceburg lettuce and sweet fruit is OMG GOOD.)
Should I add some lime in there somewhere? Any ideas? |
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| RECIPE: Super Fast Chili |
[Jun. 5th, 2007|09:01 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
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Chili On The Fly
I made this last night instead of meatballs and sauce (it was getting late and I needed something a bit lazy.) Very quick and easy.
( Chili Super Fast ) |
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