Recipe Overload

The past week has been a little rough for me. One of my wish kids (a kid who's wish I helped grant) lost her 5 year battle with cancer at the young age of 11. She was such a sweet, strong, and courageous girl who was always smiling, even when she wasn't feeling the best. My heart has been heavy for her family, who laid her to rest this afternoon. I can't even imagine what they must be going through. Well, when I find myself in these moments where I feel low and sad, I know that if I just bake something, I'll feel a little better. I can't explain why, but it just seems to help. I guess baking is my own personal therapy. Oh well!

So, yesterday, I decided to take on the challenge of making homemade bagels and blueberry muffins. This may be recipe overload for you, but bear with me because it's not as difficult as it seems. Let's start with the bagels. I did make a few modifications to the recipe (adding a few ingredients) to make them flavored bagels. This recipe is for plain bagels. If you want flavor, you'll have to add it yourself.

For the recipe, you will need:

4 cups bread flour

1 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 T vegetable oil

2 tsp instant yeast

1-1/4 - 1-1/2 cups of warm water

Start by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl. The dough should feel stiff, but add extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter (flour the counter in advance), and knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter.

When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant rolling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil and lightly grease a large baking tray. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling!

Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute.

Take them out and let them dry for a minute and then place on your oiled baking tray. (and add any toppings to them at this point) Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another 10 minutes and they're done! Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

You can add any toppings you like to this recipe. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway, etc. bagels, just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for bagels.

**For this recipe, I made cinnamon & raisin bagels (adding cinnamon and raisins into the bagel mix. I also made asiago cheese bagels by adding shredded asiago cheese in the bagel mix. (in hopes of duplicating Panera's bagel) After boiling the bagels, I added a mixture of cinnamon and sugar to the cinnamon & raisin bagels and for the asiago bagels, I added some shredded asiago cheese.

I will say that they turned out better than I'd expected for my first time making bagels. Not all recipes will always turn out perfectly and this one could use some tweeking. I'll have to keep working on it to perfect it, but for now, it's not too shabby!

Now for the blueberry muffins.....

You will need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

5 T unsalted butter, melted

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups fresh blueberries or 2 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened, blueberries, unthawed.

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

3 T all-purpose flour

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

2 T unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Put paper muffin cups in muffin pan.

To make the topping, in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and lemon zest. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the pecans and stir to combine. Set aside.

To make the muffins, in a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt.

Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with the blueberries and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Don't over-mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffing cups, filling each to a bit above the rim of the cup. Top each muffin with the topping, dividing it evenly (the sugar will melt and produce a glazed effect).

Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature, with butter. Makes 12 muffins.

Introduction to French Cooking

Before I begin this Introduction to French Cooking, I must apologize for my lack of attentiveness in regards to updating my blog. In the future, I hope to post more regularly, should my schedule allow.

Now, to the juicy stuff. Today is an Introduction to French Cooking, compliments of Julia Childs. A few weeks ago, I made "Boeuf Bourguignonne" from her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" book. Needless to say, it was quite awesome, so I wanted to share it with you. I'm going to include a more simplified way of making this, in case you don't have 4+ hours to spend, laboring over it in the kitchen. (though, I was making 3 recipes at the same time...)

Alright, let's begin. Here are the ingredients you will need:

6 oz chunk of bacon (I just bought a package of thick cut bacon that had a bit of fat on it)

9 to 10 inch fireproof casserole 3 inches deep (meaning, a deep pot)

1 T olive oil or cooking oil

A slotted spoon

3 lbs. lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 sliced carrot

1 sliced onion

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 T flour

3 cups of full-bodied, young red wine such as a Chianti (which I used and it gave a delicious flavor)

2-3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon

1 T tomato puree

2 cloves mashed garlic

1/2 tsp. thyme

a crumbled bay leaf

blanched bacon rind (I just cut the fat off the bacon slices and blanched it)

18-24 small white onions, brown-braised in stock

1 lb. quartered fresh mushrooms sauteed in butter

parsley sprigs

The recipe states to remove the bacon rind and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry. My modification for this (since I have no clue where to get a bacon rind) was to cut the fat off the bacon, and simmer that in water for 10 minutes. Then cook the rest of the bacon in a skillet and remove it with a slotted spoon and place it on a papertowel to drain. Set it aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you saute the beef.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Saute it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. (the meat doesn't have to be entirely cooked through as it will finish cooking in the oven for several hours) Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sauteing fat.

Put the beef and bacon in the deep casserole dish and toss with salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set the pot or dish in the oven, uncovered, for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to the oven for 4 more minutes. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove the dish and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meet is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. (or pieces of bacon fat) Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the dish or pot and set in the lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

(At this point, you could just stick with what you have and throw in the towel and go sit down, prop your feet up and watch a good movie or read a book for the next 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The stew will taste great with the ingredients you already have. If you would like to continue and prepare the stew the way Julia's recipe requires, then please continue reading.)

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

Brown-braised Onions:

You will need:

18-24 peeled white onions about 1 inch in diameter

1 1/2 T butter

1 1/2 T oil

skillet

1/2 cup brown stock, canned beef bouillon, dry white wine, red wine, or water

salt & pepper to taste

a medium herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, and 1/4 tsp. thyme tied in cheesecloth

When the butter and oil are bubbling in the skillet, add the onions and saute over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling the onions about so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect to brown them uniformly.

Then either braise them as follows: Pour in the liquid, season to taste, and add the herb bouquet. (and you can find cheesecloth at your local grocery store (Kroger, in my case), but you may have to get some help finding it) Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet.

Or bake them as follows:

Transfer the onions and their sauteing fat to a shallow baking dish or casserole just large enough to hold them in one layer. Set uncovered in upper third of a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes, turning them over once or twice. They should be very tender, retain their shape, and be a nice golden brown. Remove herb bouquet.

(The onions may be cooked hours in advance and reheated before serving.)

Sauteed Mushrooms:

You will need:

a skillet

2 T butter

1 T oil

1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, washed, well dried, left whole if small, sliced or quartered if large

Optional: 1 to 2 T minced shallots or green onions

salt & pepper

Place the skillet over high heat with the butter and oil. As soon as you see that the butter foam has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add the mushrooms. Toss and shake the pan for 4-5 minutes. During their saute the mushrooms will at first absorb the fat. In 2-3 minutes the fat will reappear on their surface, and the mushrooms will begin to brown. As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat.

Toss the shallots or green onions with the mushrooms. Saute over moderate heat for 2 minutes. (I didn't bother with the shallots in my recipe.)

(Sauteed mushrooms may be cooked in advance, set aside, then reheated when needed. Season to taste just before serving.)

Ok, back to the stew....

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the dish or pot into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the dish and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.

For immediate serving: Cover the dish and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in the pot or arrange on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

(The final product! It was one of the best meals I have ever put in my mouth! It was definitely worth the time, effort, and price.)

Of course, no delicious meal is complete without a delicious dessert to go with it! I also made Chocolate Souffle from Julia's cookbook. It was delicious (especially with a little vanilla ice cream)! That recipe will have to wait until another blog, but until then, I'll leave you with a picture to keep your taste buds coming back for more!