Archive for the ‘Sunday Mornings’ Category
Apple Pastry with Apple Topping
This was my first time working with puff pastry, other than making Chicken Cordon Bleu a la Wellington, so this was more of an experiment that anything else. I had enough dough and filling to make a turnovers, too, but, I wasn’t paying attention, and they got a little over cooked. No problem, the others turned out fine, and the over done ones will still get eaten.
Let’s start cooking:
Posted in Desserts, Fall, Gifts, Holidays, Indulgences, Make Ahead, Sunday Mornings | 
Tags: dried apples, dried cranberries, egg wash, puff pastry, raisins | 
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Stuffed Barbari Bread
Recipes in this Post
Stuffed Barbari Bread
I have a friend who is a cab driver. A long time ago, when taking me to work one morning, he introduced me to Babari bread. I fell in love. Barbari bread is a fluffy, flat Iranian bread with sesame seeds on top. It is wonderful with butter and honey in the morning, or a quick lunch of Barbari bread and cheese. The loaf is flat and long, and often the checker at the store will fold it in half to fit in your grocery bag – it doesn’t hurt it. Barbari bread, because it has no preservatives will dry out rather quickly. If it does, cut it up and use if for croûtons, bread crumbs or stuffing.
This morning, as I was looking for something to make for breakfast and not wanting to heat up my kitchen, I thought it was be very good stuffed. It was, Spane had four pieces!
Posted in Indulgences, Morning, Sunday Mornings |
Tags: Barbari bread, blackberry preserves, cream cheese |
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Recipes in this post
Scramble Burger Quiche Just Out of Bertha
Posted in Appetizers, Evening, Indulgences, Make Ahead, Morning, One Dish Casseroles, Savories, Sides, Spring, Summer, Sunday Mornings, Winter |
Tags: Blind Baking, Cheese, Eggs, Hamburger, Pie Crust, Quiche, Spinach |
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I love you so much. You are my heart. Thank you for spending time with me.
Love, Spane
Being the mother of a small child can make you crazy when you have asked your child to do something three times, and they look at you like you have two heads. But, when your child says “Mommy, I’m sleeping in the living room tonight so I can make breakfast for you for Mother’s Day”, your heart melts. And, when you wake up the next morning, and discover that your child with the help of your room mate, has set a formal table and has breakfast all prepared, well, your heart just explodes with joy.
My son, Spane, got up at 5:00 this morning, and with Maria’s help, he cleaned up the living room, then they set the table together, put fresh flowers on the table, put the card he had made at my place setting, put my presents from our room mate, Maria, on my desk, and then, finally went back to sleep exhausted until I got him up at 7:30am.
He didn’t feel too good when I woke him up, so he asked me to please help myself to coffee, and he would get up in a little while to make breakfast. I was shocked when I saw the lovely table. Last night, I made a pot of coffee and left it on the counter – Maria didn’t know I have a coffee service, so I put the coffee in that, and grabbed my camera to take pictures.
Rolo sitting patiently waiting for breakfast – Her cat door is seen in this picture.
Spane’s place setting – with Rolo sitting in Spane’s chair.
My place setting with the "Transformer" card!
Flowers fresh from the garden
The complete table
A long shot of the complete table
Shortly, Spane felt better and made me sit at my desk while he prepared breakfast. We had cantaloupe, strawberries, toast with your choice of butter or Nutella, and Build Your Own Breakfast Parfait. My “Transformer” card was an umbrella that opened up to be a lovely flower with a wonderful message, “I love you so much. You are my heart. Thank you for spending time with me. Love, Spane”
There cannot be any other Mother’s Day better than this one. I love my son, I love my son!
Spane’s Build Your Own Breakfast Parfait
Ingredients
1 cup Plain Yogurt
1 tablespoon Sour cherry preserves, or fresh peach preserves
1/2 cup Muesli
Instructions
In a nice glass, or pretty bowl, put the yogurt, then the muesli, and finally top it with the preserves.
Recipes in this Post
- Definition of SERENDIPITY:
- the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this
Merriam Webster
My friend, Amber, and I went to a local garage sale, and I only took five dollars with me, mostly because I did not really want anything.
I spied with my little eye, a shiny thing with black handles. I asked “How much for the waffle iron?” The man said, “How much do you want to pay?” Not wanting to sound eager, I said, “Well, how much to you want for it?” and he said, “Oh, just give me $5.00 (Five Dollars) and take it away!” I quickly handed him the $5.00 I had, knowing this was a steal! When his mother came over and started extolling the waffle iron, and showing me that it had reversible plates (something I really wasn’t expecting), he was disappointed that he had already the $5.00 from me. Later I looked on Ebay, and say that my toaster goes anywhere from $35.00 to $70.00. Wow! What a deal!
Update! If you are not as fortunate as I was, Black & Decker makes the G48TD Grill and Waffle Baker that looks almost like mine.
When we got back to Amber’s house, I borrowed her daughter, Noelle, to come with me to a cooking demonstration of Chicken Croquettes at Williams-Sonoma. I felt I owed it to her for being so patient, we went to the Lego store and to “Play Land”. Even though I really love my son, it was really nice “renting” a little girl to take to the mall.
Sunday morning, I decided to make waffles in my new iron, and chicken wings that I had taken out of the freezer the night before.
To become a good cook requires more than the blind following of a recipe… To become a good cook means to gain a knowledge of foods and how they behave, and skill in manipulating them. The recipe by itself, helpful as it is, will not produce a good product; the human being using the recipe must interpret it and must have skill in handling the materials it prescribes.
American Woman’s Cookbook edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Director Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, Illinois. Copyright © 1939.
Then I had to find a recipe for waffles. When I want a good recipe, a tried and true recipe that is the ancestor of contemporary recipes, I look no further than my American Woman’s Cookbook Wartime Edition edited by Ruth Berolzheimer. This is my most treasured cookbook, mine is 71 years old as of 2011. If you are so unlucky to not be able to find a copy at Amazon, then contact me, and I’ll be happy to point you to a PDF or Kindle version of the book.
Of course, right there on page 127 was just the recipe I was looking for, with clear directions. I added vanilla and sugar to the batter that were not called for in the recipe.
The chicken part was easy, just fry them up. I fry the wing tips, too, because even though there is hardly any meat, there is some nice skin and cartilage to suck on.
A word about chicken wings. I almost never buy the “Party” wings, aka “Drumettes”, because the flat or wingette is more tender, and has better flavor. The pre-cut wings also don’t have wing tips. Don’t throw away your wing tips, don’t even save them for soup! They are just fine to suck the lovely juices they have been cooked in, or dipped in whatever sauce you may have prepared. But, I digress …
I had not had waffles from a waffle iron since my father made them in Germany when I was six (yup, that’s a long, long time ago). Amber came by with Noelle for moral support. Once the machine was hot enough, I put some oil on the plates with a silicone brush, put the batter on, closed the lid, and waited with baited breath for the light to go out again indicating the waffle was finished. It came out easily, and it was delicious! I will be making more waffles, and using savory toppings.
Later, I made Buffalo sauce for the chicken wings. This is the recipe that Spane’s father, Douglas, have me. He told me that when he was living Back East, he used to go to a certain bar in Buffalo where he got the recipe from the owner. He says this is the original recipe, and I believe him. With the hot wings, I made my mother’s recipe for Blue Cheese dressing – seriously the best.
And now for the recipes:
: Waffles
Summary: This recipe comes from my wonderful American Woman’s Cookbook Wartime Edition edited by Ruth Berolzheimer published in 1942
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Get two mixing bowls, and three small bowls. Crack the egg, and holding over the one small bowl, let the white pour into it. Put the yolk in the other bowl. Take the third bowl, and do this again, adding the white to the white in bowl 1. Do not break the second egg over the bowl one, because if even a tiny bit of yolk gets into the white, the whites will never beat correctly.
- Sift the dry ingredients together in the large bowl. Add the vanilla, egg yolk and milk. Stir completely, then add the melted butter and stir that in completely as well.
- Beat the whites to stiff peaks. Take about a tablespoon of the batter and mix it into the whites, then fold the whites back into the batter. There should be bits of white visible.
- Make sure to oil the iron before heating it. When the light goes out, pour some of the batter on to the plates, and close the iron. Cook until the ready. New waffle irons have a light that goes out then the waffles are done, you can also tell by trying to lift up the top. If the top comes off easily, the waffles are probably done. They should be golden brown.
Quick notes
An old fashioned egg beater really does the job of whipping egg whites. In fact, it’s faster than a hand mixer, and doesn’t require lugging out the stand mixer. Plus, you get a little exercise!
Variations
Serve with melted butter and syrup, or with powdered sugar and fresh fruits in season.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 10 minute(s)
Diet type: Vegetarian
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)
My rating
Copyright © The Good Plate.
Recipe by Adrienne Boswell.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
: Dad’s Buffalo Wings with Grandmother’s Blue Cheese Dressing
Ingredients
– Wings –
- 10 or so chicken wings, cut into their three parts
- corn, peanut or grape seed oil for frying
– Dressing –
- 2 ounces good blue cheese, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons Sour Cream (Alta Dena is best, Knudsen or Daisy are fine)
- 1 tablespoon Plain yogurt (Mountain Dairy is best)
- 1 drop Angostura Bitters
- Freshly cracked Black Pepper
– Buffalo Sauce –
- 1 jar Tabasco sauce
- 1 egg
- 1 stick unsalted butter (very important go use unsalted)
– Presentation –
- Carrot sticks
- Celery sticks
Instructions
Wings
- Bring the oil up to an acceptable temperature and fry the wings in batches, draining on paper towels. Set aside.
- Mix the cheese with the other ingredients with a sturdy fork. Do not over mix, there should still be pea sized pieces of cheese visible. Put this into a nice serving dish.
- Whisk the egg and hot sauce together. Pour the melted butter in a slow stream, whisking the whole time to make almost a mayonnaise. You need to do this slowly and whisk the entire time, otherwise, you will have scrambled eggs, and not sauce.
- Put the wings in a large bowl, preferably with a cover, then pour in the sauce. Cover the bowl, and shake well so that all the pieces are covered thoroughly.
- Put the dressing in the middle of a large platter, then arrange the wings, celery and carrots around it.
Dressing
Sauce
Presentation
Quick notes
Serve with milk which will cut the burning – beer, soda and water just spread it around.
Preparation time: 20 minute(s)
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: USA (Nouveau)
My rating
Copyright © The Good Plate.
Recipe by Adrienne Boswell.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Posted in Appetizers, Evening, Morning, Sunday Mornings, Wings |
Tags: Blue Cheese, breakfast, Buffalo, chicken, Toastmaster, vintage, waffles, wings |
3 Comments »
Recipes in this Post
What a pleasure to make breakfast on Bertha. She keeps perfect temperature, unlike my previous stove that always had a strange hot spot and was tilted to one side,
Bertha made Silver Dollar Pancakes and sausages for breakfast. Well, I helped her.
This is my canonical pancake recipe. I will never go back to a box again. It is so simple, and you could bag up the dry ingredients and give them as gifts with a note to explain the preparation.
