The Great FJ Recipe Thread

[BelieveinScience]

Does anyone have a recipe for a good stroganoff or swedish meatball sauce?

[sparkles]

For AreteJo:

GNOCCHI VERDE

2 lbs. Idaho potatoes

2 lbs. spinach, washed and cleaned

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1-1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour

Rinse potatoes to remove any dirt. Place on baking sheet. Using knife, prick the potatoes a few times. Bake in a 400-degree oven until potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife. Remove fro oven and cool until they can be handled. Remove skins and put the potatoes through a ricer or the medium blade of a food mill. Reserve.

Meanwhile, wilt the spinach in a pot large enough to accommodate it. Remove the spinach to a colander, squeezing it to remove the excess moisture. Place the spinach on a cutting board and mince finely.

Combine the minced spinach and potatoes in a large bowl. Add the beaten eggs and grated parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Do not overmix.

Flour the worktable. Cut the dough into a few manageable pieces. Begin to roll each piece into a long cylinder about 1/2 inch thick. Using a bench scraper or small knife, cut the cylinder into 3/4 inch long pieces. Place the gnocchi on a lightly floured pan.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water, in batches if necessary Cook until the gnocchi float to the surface of the water. Remove the gnocchi with a wire strainer and place in a buttered dish.

Sauce as desired.

[Arete]

Thank you sparkles! :D

[2xx1xy1JD]

Mulligatawney (sp?) from Madhoor Jaffrey's book. Too lazy to get the book now. It's the cat's fault, she's snoozing right next to me.

Italian wedding soup from Ina Garten's Back to Basics. I make my own veggie soup (shred in the food processor carrots, celery, onion, zucchini, cabbage and whatever else is in the fridge), and make turkey meatballs while the soup is cooking. (1 lb ground turkey, 3 tbsp breadcrumbs soaked in buttermilk, lots of parmesan, garlic and oragano, formed into balls, baked at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes). Serve the soup in deep bowls, dunk the meatballs in.

French onion soup. Brown lots and lots of onions with 3 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt. Be prepared to spend about 30 minutes stirring and stirring. When onions are browned, add 1 tbsp flour and mix very well. Add beef stock, 1 cup red wine, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, slice a baguette diagonally, sprinkle liberally with grated cheese (I like Havarti) and toast at 400 degrees, 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Serve 2-3 little baguettes in each bowl of soup. Vive la France!

Do you have a vegetarian recipe for the mulligatawney soup?

[wtylcf]

I just baked an apple pie on Monday and didn't peel the apples. I thinly sliced the apples and arranged the slices in a circular pattern. I loved the fact that it preserved the gorgeous color of the apples, and the slices were thin enough that the peel wasn't tough or distasteful.

ETA: the image came in upside down, so I had to fix it!

[wtylcf]

Pumpkin Cake

I will start out by saying that by and large, I'm not that great a fan of pumpkin. I much prefer sweet potatoes instead. Be that as it may, this is a very good cake, moist and spicy, and perfectly set off by the cream cheese frosting. It is the perfect taste of fall. Oh, and if you are like me and don't care for the taste of pumpkin, feel free to substitute 2 cups of cooked and mashed sweet potato in place of the pumpkin. And as always, ENJOY!

Teddybear, I, unlike you, am a pumpkinaholic. I have blazed through the 3 sugar pumpkins I roasted at the beginning of October, using them for pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin gnocchi and a pumpkin pie. But I have one can of pumpkin puree in my pantry I was planning to turn into a pumpkin loaf - your pumpkin cake recipe sounds far superior! I'm drooling over all your recipes in general.

[Witsec7]

I just baked an apple pie on Monday and didn't peel the apples. I thinly sliced the apples and arranged the slices in a circular pattern. I loved the fact that it preserved the gorgeous color of the apples, and the slices were thin enough that the peel wasn't tough or distasteful.

ETA: the image came in upside down, so I had to fix it!

Mine came out fine as well. It's nice to see that someone else bakes apple pies (tart tatan) without a pie plate. I learned it from St. Julia the Child.

[wtylcf]

Mine came out fine as well. It's nice to see that someone else bakes apple pies (tart tatan) without a pie plate. I learned it from St. Julia the Child.

High-five! I know this method as "galette-style" from several food bloggers, but it's been my favorite way to make fruit pies ever since I learned about it. It's so easy and looks so nice and rustic. Julia Child is one of my heroes in life, even if I didn't learn this directly from her. I love that she found her passion in life in her 30s and made a career of it.

[Witsec7]

High-five! I know this method as "galette-style" from several food bloggers, but it's been my favorite way to make fruit pies ever since I learned about it. It's so easy and looks so nice and rustic. Julia Child is one of my heroes in life, even if I didn't learn this directly from her. I love that she found her passion in life in her 30s and made a career of it.

It's also mades it easier for me to bake pies in a vessel other than a pie plate. I have three very lovely oval baking dishes from France. I use them for blueberry pies, no need to mess with pinching a top crust.

[StarrieEyedKat]

Does anyone have a good (precise) recipe for Twice Cooked Pork? It's one of my husband's favorite things and since I eat little more than bread and peanut butter, I have no idea what goes in/how to make it.

[sparkles]

ASIAGO CHEESE BAGELS

Ever since I got my new Verona Assistent mixer, I've been into making bagels big time, at least twice a week (the low-hydration dough was really straining my Hobart-era Kitchen Aid). My favorite recipe so far is from Peter Reinhardt's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." Awesomely awesome, old time-y New York Jewish bagels. Now that I've got the basic recipe down, I've started branching out. Got raves on the cinnamon raisin but the asiago cheese is the hands-down favorite so far. Jalapeno cheddar bagels are next.

The only downside to this recipe is that A. you need time, at least overnight and B. you need room because a full batch takes up two half sheet pans and a lot of space in the fridge. Thankfully, we've got a spare cheap-o fridge in the basement.

A few notes:

I use King Arthur's Sir Lancelot high-gluten flour. Hard to find in stores but KA's mail order is excellent. I've used standard AP flour too but the high gluten is best.

Don't take the bagels out of the fridge until the water is boiling and you're ready to drop them in. The first time I made these I took them out too early and they collapsed like flagels after boiling (a common problem, according to posts on The Fresh Loaf). Still tasted good but they weren't all floofy like they're supposed to be.

Along the same lines, use the widest pot you have so you can fit as many bagels as possible without crowding. Again, speed matters to keep them from flattening out. Since I make bagels so often, I bought a cheap 15" wide pot that's already paid for itself (and has been used for other things so it's not one of those one-use wonders).

Here's a pic (I may bake them just a tiny bit longer next time for more golden brown goodness)

And here's the recipe.

Sponge:

1 teaspoon (0.11 ounce) instant yeast

4 cups (18 ounces) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour

2½ cups (20 ounces) water, at room temperature

Dough:

½ teaspoon (.055 ounce) instant yeast

3¾ cups (17 ounces) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour

2½ teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons (.33 ounce) malt powder OR 1 Tablespoon (.5 ounce) dark or light malt syrup, honey or brown sugar

8 ounces Asiago cheese, shredded

To Finish:

1 Tablespoon baking soda

Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting

1 cup shredded Asiago cheese

1. To make the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a 4-quart mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter (like pancake batter). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the counter.

2. To make the dough, in the same mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt. Stir (or mix on low speed with the dough hook) until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cup flour to stiffen the dough.

3. Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes by machine). Add the Asiago cheese during the last minute or so of kneading, and knead until evenly distributed. The dough should be firm, stiffer than French bread dough, but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour - all the ingredients should be hydrated. The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77 to 81 degrees F. If the dough seems dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems sticky or tacky, add more flour to achiever the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.

4. Immediately divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Form the pieces into rolls.

5. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes.

6. Line 2 sheet pans with baking parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. Proceed with shaping the bagels: Push a hole through the center of the roll with your thumb and stretch out the hole to 2½ inches in diameter, making sure that the resulting ring has a fairly even thickness all the way around.

7. Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pan. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

8. Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the "float test". Fill a small bowl with cool or room temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. If it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight (it can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days). If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes or so until a tester floats. The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the ambient temperature and the stiffness of the dough.

9. The following day (or when you are ready to bake the bagels), preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the better), and add the baking soda. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.

10. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit (they should float within 10 seconds). After 1 minute flip them over and boil another minute. While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour. Sprinkle the bagels with the shredded Asiago as soon as they come out of the water.

11. When all the bagels have been boiled and topped, place the pans on the two middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180-degree rotation. (If you are only baking one pan at a time, keep it on the center shelf but still rotate 180 degrees.) After the rotation, lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and continue baking for about 8 minutes, or until the bagels turn golden brown.

12. Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.

[wtylcf]

Sparkles, those look amazing! I've made German pretzels before by dipping them in a baking soda and water bath before baking, but this looks quite a bit more complicated. It would probably make a good weekend baking project.

[Spider Burps]

Sparkles, if you're into Asiago bagels, may I recommend an Asiago baguette? Epic.

I make bagels every week, and I must say that I skip a good portion of those steps! So anyone that's daunted can maybe give the method I use a try?

I make the dough, let it rise 2x, then shape the bagels (no rise other than how long it takes for the water to boil). Once the bagels are shaped, I boil them in 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tbsp baking soda (the dough should sink to the bottom, then rise to the top, but I don't bother with a tester because no thanks). I don't sprinkle anything on my Silpats or parchment (I hate the texture) and I brush the bagels with an egg white wash (strained to remove the gross bits) and bake with steam (but don't rotate the pans). I cool them completely and cut them in half before serving or freezing, and then heat them up in the oven/toaster when we're ready to eat.

http://www.alacartetv.com/baking/recipes/bagels.htm

[sparkles]

Hmmm...Asiago baguettes may be on the horizon.

I think the Reinhardt bagels actually look a lot more complicated than they actually are. They're really very easy and not terribly hands-on labor intensive. I usually start them when I get home from work at around 7, finish up about 3 hours later and bake them over the next couple of mornings (I normally get up around 4:30-5 :shock: ) I've tried a lot of other bagel recipes--and I'm always willing to try more--but so far Reinhardt's are my fave. Almost all of his breads have some kind of pre-ferment and I think it really does make a difference. The sourdough I make based on his (mine has a slightly higher hydration) has TWO preferments, kind of a pain but it's hands-down my favorite.

I've made bagels similar to yours, from my FCI course, no preferment, no bench rest, just a short period in the fridge. They were only 48% hydration and while good, they're not my go-to. But I'll definitely give your bagels a try!

[Witsec7]

Squash lasagna

1 box lasagna pasta

1pt low fat ricotta

3 cloves garlic

sage

nutmeg

2.5 quarts of white sauce made with 4 oz low fat mozzarella cheese melted in and a couple of scrapes of nutmeg, salt to taste. (I made my white sauce with 1/2 and 1/2 because that's what I had on hand. You can reduce fat by using skim or powdered milk.)

4 large acorn squash roasted and cooled.

Scoop the squash and mix with minced garlic, sage and ricotta. I used a food processor and had a handful of leftover sweet potato fries I thew into the mix. (I think garnet yams could be substituted for the acorn squash.)

Pour some white sauce on the bottom of the pan. Spread the squash and ricotta mixture on uncooked lasagna. When a layer is complete cover with some white sauce.

Finish with a layer of cream sauce and a dusting of grated cheese.

Preheat oven to 400 and reduce to 350 when you put the lasagna in.

I had some truffles so I microplaned truffle on each layer.

This was a fantastic white lasagna with lovely color between the layers. It held up well and did not have a sloppy profile. I always use regular lasagna and never cook the pasta ensuring a firmer profile. I hate a sloppy lasagna.

I'll probably make this for Thanksgiving and add some crushed hazelnuts on the top.

[Spider Burps]

Sparkles, the Asiago baguette is incredibly delicious as the bread for jambon beurre. I'm sure it's sacrilege for the real French folks out there, but my husband and I loooove it.

And your recipe didn't sound difficult to me, per se, I'm just the sort to skip steps because I'm a lazy bum (so lazy that even a preferment is enough to make me look for "an easier" way--how redonkulous is that?). Since you know hydration percentages and the like, I'm assuming that you're a much more serious bread baker than I am. ;) I don't really measure as well as I should (if at all) and have a tendency to just keep adding more flour or water until the dough feels "right" to me. Needless to say, I'm not the most consistent! I'm sure patisseries all over the country let out a collective sigh of relief when I decided that culinary school was not for me.

[OkToBeTakei]

Chicken and dumplings seems a common recipe here. Can someone post a recipe and what you traditionally serve it with? PLEASE :D

[sparkles]

It's is one of our all-time faves.

Slow Cooker Southwestern Pork Stew

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 pounds pork boneless shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 can (15–16 ounces) chili beans in sauce, undrained

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes and mild chilies, undrained

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups frozen whole kernel corn, thawed

Place onion and garlic in 3-1/2 to 4-quart slow cooker. Top with pork. Mix cornmeal, cumin, oregano and salt; sprinkle over pork and mix well. Add beans, tomatoes and broth; mix well. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours. Stir in corn. Cover and cook on low heat setting about 30 minutes or until corn is tender.

[Witsec7]

Fresh anchovies. I found fresh anchovies at my yuppie market today, local. Tomorrow I'm going to toss them in a spiced cornmeal flour mixture and shallow fry them. I'm going to consume them with a variety of dipping sauces. They are headless and gutted and died this morning. They are sitting in a bowl upon bowl set up in the bottom of the refrig with plenty of ice.

[BlackHawk]

Salted Caramel Cake

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/salte ... -recipe/2/

That is where I got the recipe, and I really don't do too much to change except I don't always make it just a dump cake. Tonight I'm not, so I will melt the caramels in a double boiler and bake the cake before adding the caramel. I don't do chocolate, so I make a white cake with Vanilla pudding... I also don't do store bought, so I make my own cake and pudding. I promise it's not that much more work if you have a standard cake and pudding recipe. If you do homemade pudding, mix that with the cake BEFORE you add any milk and only add milk to create a thick cake batter. That way it won't be too thin. But this recipe is delicious and simple as is!

Good luck to all that will make it!

[Deleted03]

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Brew a strong coffee (I use a Keurig and brew half a cup)

PUt 1/2 cup almond, soy or coconut Milk ina container that goes in the microwave (or heat it up!)

Once thoroughly heated, add a pinch of pumpkin pie spice (got mine at Trader Joe) add a big teaspoon of pumpkin butter (got mine at TJ) and mix with the milk. Pour in the coffee cup.

And enjoy! About 4$ less expensive than at Starbucks, and delicious all the same!

[Witsec7]

I need some help with eggplant. I bought two Asian eggplants at the Dehli Deli because they were perfect. I had intentions of making baba ganoush but I'm out of tahini. I may just halve them length wise and bake them with a sweet soy and miso glaze but I was hoping I could get some different ideas from the hive.

[Arete]

You can cut them, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake at about 350 till slightly golden. Scoop out pulp and mash with diced red onion, minced parsley or mint, and lemon juice. A meze called melitsanosalata. Serve on crackers, pita, etc. Drink with white wine or ouzo, this is a very important step.

[Witsec7]

You can cut them, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake at about 350 till slightly golden. Scoop out pulp and mash with diced red onion, minced parsley or mint, and lemon juice. A meze called melitsanosalata. Serve on crackers, pita, etc. Drink with white wine or ouzo, this is a very important step.

Gah, I did my usual glaze, but the Dehli Deli has magnificent eggplant so I'm back there on Tues. when the produce guy delivers.

I do like the skins on roasted eggplant. Is it just me?

[rock_girl]

I like the skin. Full of fibre! But then I eat pumpkin skin too, so, you know. Waste not want not.

I like to grill eggplant and zucchini slices and then marinate overnight with a little red wine vinegar, olive oil, chopped birds eye chilli, and garlic. Then before serving I chop up mint finely and scatter it over the veg. They're lovely on an antipasto plate or sandwich.

What about doing stirfried eggplant? http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/47/Sh ... soy-sauce/ This is the recipe I use (although I cut down on the sugar as I'm not a fan of sweetness in my savoury dishes) and it's really tasty.