A Beautiful Spring Morning - May 17, 2014

One would think I could have continued writing with the winter we had.  Almost ninety percent of the East Coast had a weather-related delay and one did not have to be working for an educational institution.

We started our winter traveling for snow in New Hampshire over Christmas.  We had a grand time skate skiing almost everyday.  The snow and our cabin's fireplace was comforting.  When drove home on January 1, 2014, that was the start of many snow falls for the winter of 2014.  Fortunately we had equipment to create our little community, cross country skiing center at Overlook Golf Course.  We skied as much as we could; morning, noon and night as the snow delays and closures were blessings.  Then the winter freeze came-temperatures in the single digits that we had not experienced in twenty years and for an extended length of time.  If we did not have cross-country skiing, the winter would have been unbearable and we would have gained 20 pounds, too.

Spring has finally sprung.  April had its moments of spring and surprises of warm summer days but the trees, flowers and shrubs really haven't bloomed and shown colors until May.  Through the sounds of lawn mowers and leaf blowers, we hear the wind, watch the trees dancing in it and name the bird calls.  I am grateful for it all; pollen covering everything, stuffing up my nose at times, the sun warming me on the front porch on a cool morning, the bird songs entering my dreams at 4:30 in the morning, calling me to wake.  We wake with nature - it is such an extraordinary way to start the day.

The recipes

Here are the necessary ingredients for the Colombian hot pockets and Argentina empanadas.

Arepas de Huevo (Egg-Stuffed Corn Cakes)

2 cups precooked white corn flour, preferably Harina P.A.N.
1½ tsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. canola oil, plus more for frying
8 eggs
Hot sauce, for serving (optional)

See the previous posts on how to make both these recipes.

Empanadas de Carne (Beef Empanadas)

FOR THE DOUGH:
1 cup water
¾ cup lard
2¾ cups flour, plus more for dusting
2 tsp. kosher salt

FOR THE FILLING:
⅓ cup olive oil
1 lb. boneless beef shoulder, trimmed and finely chopped
Kosher salt, to taste
1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1½ tsp. ground cumin
1½ tsp. Spanish hot paprika
1 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
½ tsp. ground white pepper, plus more to taste
2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and finely chopped

The Completed Empanadas

Well, the dough was stiff.  Since it was just flour, water, lard (but I substituted solid coconut oil) and salt, I set out to make them.

I made two and baked them to see how they would turn out.  If they sucked, we would have a beef mixture for Argentine tacos.  :-).

Again, they did not look great but girl, they tasted yummy!!  So the other eight empanadas are in the oven baking!! I would recommend making the dough when you are ready to bake the empanadas.  Do not let it sit in the Fridge for days.  And the filling tasted pretty authentic.  No need to add cheddar cheese to add flavor.  We like the coconut oil, too.  Yum.  Time for another.

Empanadas de Carne

I have been hankering for empanadas lately so I decided to make my own.  Again, the latest edition of Saveur had an article called lunch at your leisure and empanadas was one of the food items.  Tuesday I prepped the dough so it would have time to chill.  Then I realized it was cleaning day and I hate greasing up the kitchen just after it has been cleaned.  So I blew off a run date (I did have the excuse of snowy, icy weather...) so I quickly drove to market for red peppers.  Yes, that was all that I was missing from my Fridge.  Ugh.  I usually have red peppers so - whatever.  I drove to market.

It was amazing how fast I chopped everything up and fried it in the iron skillet - getting grease everywhere.  Luckily I did not chop any fingers into the mix.  The dough looked great and the filling tasted okay.  It did not taste as yummy as the Puerto Rican, or Colombian or Spanish empanadas I have eaten so I am not sure what is missing as I did not have a chance to compare the other version's recipes.  I will look into it when I do get to make the Argentine version.  I was going to make them Tuesday night and I already forget what happened but it is now Friday and I must them.  The dough is on the counter - actually it is in a cabinet - warming up because it got hard in the Fridge.  If I left it on the counter, my cats would have devoured it as they did the raisin cinnamon swirl bread the other day.

Hopefully I can quickly make some Argentine empanadas like a Rachel Ray show then roll out on the pub cruisers for a First Friday Redux.  The real First Friday in December was a bust because it poured cats and dogs and it sounds like no one when out because Lancaster City is "re-doing" First Friday celebrations and shopping tonight.

Maybe I need to buy a fryer...

Another year has gone by and I did not renew my vows of blogging.  Here I am making a mess in the kitchen wanting to share it with the world.  I have to admit Facebook has crimped my blogging as it is easy to post a picture and make a brief snarky comment about it.  It has allowed me to not be my reflective and philosophical self.   There is always time to start again, right?  Isn't that what New Year's resolutions are for? I just happen to start in December.

Winter forces me to slow down and rejuvenate and it was the off season for me as an athlete.  Although I have not been racing since 2010, I still think of the end of the year as the off season.  Others would say every month has been the off season for the last three years.  My excuses for not consistently blogging... I think I wrote about going back to school (graduate work) in the end of 2009 so that consumed most of my time until the summer of 2013 when I finally earned my masters in education in sport management.  Also, I continued to work out when I could but I directed my attention to school and beer tasting!  I enjoyed a beer or glass of wine in the off season when I raced bicycles but I did not make it a habit, hobby or obsession as it has become in the last few years.  I can blame my obsession with beer on many things.  Mostly good things.

One, I stopped racing which for some doesn't have to happen to enjoy a beer or two.  Two, over the last six years, Lancaster, Pennsylvania exploded with many great places to eat and drink and to partake in the arts. The city organized many events that has revitalized the area and Millersville University's presence downtown has added more cultural activities, too.  Three, I must admit work, school and life got a little hectic and I looked forward to that glass of wine (or beer) after work.  But it wasn't just about taking the edge off.  I enjoy analyzing a beer or glass of wine.  The smell, colors and taste; where it was produced and the story behind the it.  When we travel, we love to eat and drink locally.  What does all this have to do with buying a fryer?  What does this have to do with blogging?  The kitchen makes me reflect on what is important in life. It reminds me to let go, to be flexible and everything does not have to be perfect.  Sometimes priorities have to shift. When one has seen my creations in the kitchen, perfection and beauty is not my strong suit yet the majority of the time they taste awesome!!

So the fryer...I do not own one because I am afraid we would eat too much fried food.  I read an article in my favorite magazine, Saveur, called Hot Pockets.  Arepas de Huevo, fried cakes of corn masa stuffed with soft-cooked eggs.  Brad and I salivated on the way home from Crisfield, MD, one Sunday afternoon as I read the article twice, then I read about Abanian baked lamb and rice and yogurt and also about pecans and Miss American pie (salted caramel apple is on the baking list).  I finally found the corn flour.  Actually, it wasn't hard to find.  It was at our local Grocer (Giant), I just kept forgetting to look for it.  I had all the ingredients packed as we were heading to Crisfield for the weekend and there is not much to do there except drink and eat (cook) and relax.  Crisfield is a fishing town and there is not much happening, especially in the winter.  But the weather and sickness canceled the trip. Arepas de Huevo!

The first mistake was not having enough canola oil.  If I had enough canola oil, maybe I would not want a fryer.  I knead the corn flour, salt, oil and water.  The oil heats up in the iron skillet and I test the heat with a wooden spoon. The corn cakes looked good and fried up okay but where I messed up is with the oil.  I did not have enough canola oil so I had to add olive oil and olive oil eventually burns and smokes up the house. And I did not want to use too much oil because I had to use olive oil and I thought I could get away with less than two inches of oil in the skillet.  So the corn cakes did not get cooked all the way through.  Then I could not slice the corn cake to crack an egg in it and fry it again.  Since that happened, I improvised and cooked the eggs separately and plopped them on top of the corn cakes with salsa verde and hot sauce.  Bummed I could not recreate the Arepas de Huevo but my creation still tasted awesome.  I will attempt to make these again with enough canola oil.

Brooklyn Biergarten

 

Ringing in 2013 in Brooklyn again. Thanks Susan, Alex and Matthew.  We arrived to have a few beers (Weyerbacher Quad & Corsendonk Chrstmas Ale) with Alex before we took a walk to Jubilat for fresh sausages and to the Eagle Provisions for me to drool over the beer selections.  We had two hours to walk and browse and Brad and Eli prodded  me every five minutes to keep me on task so I would not end up camping out at the Eagle Provisions.  I whined kicking and whining as we had LOTS of time to browse.

At Jubilat we bought some double smoked sausages.  We haven't cut into the links yet and we are talking about going back tomorrow for ham and more sausages.  Enjoy the last few hours of 2012 and happy new year to you all.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bananas and Rum Sauce

December 2012 Saveur - New Orleans dessert from Matt and Naddie's Restaurant 

I will post the recipe as it was listed in the 'zine and will then proceed to write about all the changes I made for convenience.

For the Bread Pudding:
4 1/2 cups of milk (4 c; 1/2 used for the pan frying portion that I did not do)
20 tbsp unsalted butter (16 tbsp; the other 4 tbsp was for the pan frying)
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
12 oz stale country white bread cut into 1/2 inch cubes - about 8 cups
 6 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
1/2 c toasted slivered almonds
8 eggs (6 eggs when not pan frying)
1 c flour (I did not use as I did not pan fry the sliced bread pudding - too much work for a party held at someone else's house)
2 c panko bread crumbs (ditto - related to pan frying)

For the Rum Sauce and bananas:
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c heavy cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp dark rum
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice (did not use)
1/2 c turbinado sugar (did not use - see above)
4 bananas, halved lengthwise and then halved crosswise (ended up putting them IN the bread pudding as I did not pan fry the bread pudding)

I mostly followed the recipe when making the bread pudding and the rum sauce but I nixed the pan frying portion of the recipe.  I made the dish during my Thanksgiving break and froze both the pudding and sauce.  Since I had a holiday party two weeks later, I knew I would be exhausted from work as it was the busiest time of year with the end of semester and graduation.

To make the bread pudding:  I brought 4 cups of milk, 16 tbsp of butter, the vanilla, nutmeg and salt to a simmer in a 4 quart saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.  Combine the bread cubes, chocolate, almonds and bananas in a large bowl and set aside.  Add 6 eggs to the milk mixture and I then also added some rum - I don't know how much as I poured it from the bottle - maybe a 1/4 cup.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour the custard over the bread mixture and stir until evenly combined.  Let sit to soften bread which is about 20 minutes.  Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pour bread mixture into a 9"x13" metal baking pan, which for me was a foil pan because it was going to be frozen after I baked it.  I made sure the ingredients were evenly distributed and I covered with foil as the recipe instructed and baked it for an hour.  I let it cool of course, before I bagged it into a 2 1/2 gallon zip lock and put it in the freezer.

While the bread pudding cooked, I made the sauce.  In 1/2 cup of water, bring the sugar to a boil over high heat stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Continuing cooking sugar mixture without stirring until the sugar turns into an amber-colored caramel, which is about 15 minutes (I forgot to do this step).  Add the cream, butter, rum and juice and stir until smooth.  I then let it cool, placed it in a container and put it in the freezer.

The biggest worry was freezer burn and it was a non-issue.  The other thing I discovered was that the bread pudding was so moist probably because I had added some rum.  Maybe freezing it added some moisture but not to the detriment of the bread pudding.  My friend had a convention oven so I had to bump up the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and it took at least an hour to bake again.  I baked it with the foil on for at least half of the time and just watched that it did not burn.  It was still moist and custardy that it did not really need the rum sauce.  While the bread pudding baked, I heated up the sauce and poured it on the plates for individual slices of bread pudding.  My friend whose heart is in the same place as mine could not wait for the bread pudding to bake and she helped me keep an eye on it, tasting it along the way, too.

I thought it turned out pretty good and I plan to make it again while I have time over this second holiday break and freeze for another occasion.  I will do without making the rum sauce and improvise again by using the leftover heavy cream I froze in November combining it with soy milk because we don't usually have milk on hand and I don't want to buy it again just for this dish.