Said to Jackie this evening on the phone, "These cookies are really good. Unfortunately, that means I need to remember what I did so I can blog it." With that in mind, I offer recipes for the two kinds of oatmeal and STUFF cookies I am making at the moment.
Regular People Cookies
1/2 pound (or two sticks) of butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt (unless you use salted butter)
1/2 cup wheat or oat bran
2 1/2 cups oat meal
1 cup dried cherries, cranberries, or raisins
1 skimpy cup chocolate chips
1 cup walnut halves chopped
Preheat oven 350.
Combine ingrediants in order, mixing well after each addition. An electric mixer is best, unless you have biceps to rival my brothers.
Drop by teaspoon fulls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for ten minutes, or until golden around the edges.
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies of the Revolution
1/2 pound (or two sticks) of butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons of brandy
2 teaspoons espresso powder (no, 2 teaspoons of really strong coffee will not work, it will just make you long for the coffee taste that you feel ought to be there)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (unless you use salted butter)
3 cups oat meal
1 cup dried cherries, cranberries, or raisins
1 skimpy cup chocolate chips
1 heaping cup walnut halves chopped
Proceed as above. These recipes are after all closely related.
Other than that I can say that zucchini, onions, garlic, walnuts and spinach sauteed in bacon fat is my family's new favorite vegetable experience. Especially with cod baked after being sloshed with olive oil, lemon juice, and sprinkled with dill, pepper, and gorgonzola.
The bacon fat was leftover from the bacon wrapped dates I wrote about last week. I really ought to write up a recipe, or rather get JVW to tell me what she does, since she is the official bacon wrapped date maker. Bacon wrapped dates are splendid, and make a fantastic portable breakfast.
Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
It's that time of the year again
I was going to attempt to write something trenchant about That Anniversary but I got too angry and burst into tears instead, which is a problem when one is wearing glasses as this one does these days. Also that post was a hair more serious and self revelatory than I am willing to be in this medium. And the audience in my head -- sundry relatives and close friends has probably heard me say all I really have to say on the topic, and yelling online won't help anything, especially when others manage to say what I want to say and keep some shreds of civility. So instead I will talk about the week which was totally a red letter week as these things go -- except for intermittent episodes of yelling at Leon Panetta and Congress which is pretty much par for the course. (To the best of my knowledge Leon Panetta does not read this blog and does not know that every so often he says something that causes me to yell at him in the privacy of my car*)
In the course of this magnificent week, I got to spend time with three of the four people who know way too much about me**: Skadi, the Tall Guy, and JVW (who I really need to come up with a better nickname for). Spending time with any of them is exciting, but getting to see three of the four in a week is almost too much to hope for (especially as it's the three of the four that I am usually at least a thousand miles away from at all times, and even when I'm home in Anchorage, one of them is persistently in the Midwest***). I made up a new recipe. And I went for a hike. And I finished a quilt. I am exercising great restraint. If I were to truly demonstrate my happiness any one of these things would be occasion for all caps, bold, and hot pink, flashing type. As it is, I merely point out my excitement, so that people who know me well can say, "indeed, Sarah is very happy about all this." Also any one of these things is enough and more than enough for a blog post, and may yet prove to spark one. I kept writing the one about how I don't sew in my head while I was, in fact, sewing.
And because it wouldn't be my life without heaping helpings of absurdity, I also explained my beauty regimen to a Japanese student, who didn't believe that I was as old as I said I was. (Dear readers who have never met me, I look more or less my age, which is almost thirty-one.) Upon producing my driver's license, he (yes, dear readers who have not already heard the story, the student in question was and is male) asked what I did to have such wonderful skin. I stared at him as if he had gone completely mad, and explained that I took a multivitamin, and walked a lot. I believe that the main thing in my beauty regimen is beyond his reach. Namely, at this point in his life, he is unlikely to be able to be related to both my grandmothers (and possibly my grandfathers as well). Certainly my complexion is one of those things for which I can take no credit.
But I mentioned a recipe, and I have one, albeit with almost no measurements, because if I'm not baking I rarely measure. JVW has opined that my recipes are funny. I have no idea why she thinks this way.
Smoked Salmon Pizza
First off you need a recipe of pizza dough. Use your favorite, or use this one. If you use my recipe, I strongly suggest leaving the herbs out of the crust.
I actually suggest making the "sauce" the night before so that the flavors have time to meld. I, of course, did not do this.
1 box cream cheese (full fat, or neufchatel if your definitions of virtue run that way. Although the results will not be quite as over the top.)
A handful of fresh dill or to taste, snipped up with kitchen shears
A handful of fresh parsley, like wise
A clove of garlic or so, minced, mashed or smashed, or a teaspoon or so out of a jar
A couple of green onions minced
A sizeable pinch of sweet paprika
The zest and juice of a quarter lemon
A tablespoon or so of milk
Salt and pepper
Use a hand mixer to mix everything. You might consider nuking the cream cheese to render it easier to work. Chill overnight if you have time to do that.
Toppings for the pizza
Smoked salmon, not lox (lox is a fine thing in its way, but it lacks the force of smoked salmon)
roasted red peppers
grape tomatoes
feta
pine nuts (I forgot that I had meant to put pine nuts on the pizza, until I was eating the leftovers. It didn't suffer from the lack, but I suggest them, if you like that sort of thing.)
After the first baking of the pizza crust (see the linked recipe), spread the pizza thickly with the cream cheese mixture. I have a hard time thinking of it as a sauce, because in the main, sauces pour; however it fulfills the role of sauce.
Sprinkle on the toppings in quantities that seem right to you. The feta should probably be added with a light hand.
Bake the pizza for 5 minutes or so, or until the cheeses are a bit browned. Serve with a large green salad, bacon wrapped dates, red wine, and most importantly good friends. I fed this to JVW, the Tall Guy, and his girl friend (who seems like still another delightful person, whose perversity of location I shall regret). No one complained, and everyone had seconds and in some cases thirds.
*Some people watch football and yell at the tv. My family treats politics the same way.
**I really dislike the term "best friend," with its exclusivity, and in any case my relationships with all of these people are so different. But they do all know more about me than I find entirely comfortable, though sometimes it is comforting.
*** Repetitive to the point of annoyance announcements that the friend in question ought to move to Seattle or Anchorage have so far not been productive, but hopefully my brainwashing attempts will eventually bear fruit. Also, my friends are incredibly tolerant.
In the course of this magnificent week, I got to spend time with three of the four people who know way too much about me**: Skadi, the Tall Guy, and JVW (who I really need to come up with a better nickname for). Spending time with any of them is exciting, but getting to see three of the four in a week is almost too much to hope for (especially as it's the three of the four that I am usually at least a thousand miles away from at all times, and even when I'm home in Anchorage, one of them is persistently in the Midwest***). I made up a new recipe. And I went for a hike. And I finished a quilt. I am exercising great restraint. If I were to truly demonstrate my happiness any one of these things would be occasion for all caps, bold, and hot pink, flashing type. As it is, I merely point out my excitement, so that people who know me well can say, "indeed, Sarah is very happy about all this." Also any one of these things is enough and more than enough for a blog post, and may yet prove to spark one. I kept writing the one about how I don't sew in my head while I was, in fact, sewing.
And because it wouldn't be my life without heaping helpings of absurdity, I also explained my beauty regimen to a Japanese student, who didn't believe that I was as old as I said I was. (Dear readers who have never met me, I look more or less my age, which is almost thirty-one.) Upon producing my driver's license, he (yes, dear readers who have not already heard the story, the student in question was and is male) asked what I did to have such wonderful skin. I stared at him as if he had gone completely mad, and explained that I took a multivitamin, and walked a lot. I believe that the main thing in my beauty regimen is beyond his reach. Namely, at this point in his life, he is unlikely to be able to be related to both my grandmothers (and possibly my grandfathers as well). Certainly my complexion is one of those things for which I can take no credit.
But I mentioned a recipe, and I have one, albeit with almost no measurements, because if I'm not baking I rarely measure. JVW has opined that my recipes are funny. I have no idea why she thinks this way.
Smoked Salmon Pizza
First off you need a recipe of pizza dough. Use your favorite, or use this one. If you use my recipe, I strongly suggest leaving the herbs out of the crust.
I actually suggest making the "sauce" the night before so that the flavors have time to meld. I, of course, did not do this.
1 box cream cheese (full fat, or neufchatel if your definitions of virtue run that way. Although the results will not be quite as over the top.)
A handful of fresh dill or to taste, snipped up with kitchen shears
A handful of fresh parsley, like wise
A clove of garlic or so, minced, mashed or smashed, or a teaspoon or so out of a jar
A couple of green onions minced
A sizeable pinch of sweet paprika
The zest and juice of a quarter lemon
A tablespoon or so of milk
Salt and pepper
Use a hand mixer to mix everything. You might consider nuking the cream cheese to render it easier to work. Chill overnight if you have time to do that.
Toppings for the pizza
Smoked salmon, not lox (lox is a fine thing in its way, but it lacks the force of smoked salmon)
roasted red peppers
grape tomatoes
feta
pine nuts (I forgot that I had meant to put pine nuts on the pizza, until I was eating the leftovers. It didn't suffer from the lack, but I suggest them, if you like that sort of thing.)
After the first baking of the pizza crust (see the linked recipe), spread the pizza thickly with the cream cheese mixture. I have a hard time thinking of it as a sauce, because in the main, sauces pour; however it fulfills the role of sauce.
Sprinkle on the toppings in quantities that seem right to you. The feta should probably be added with a light hand.
Bake the pizza for 5 minutes or so, or until the cheeses are a bit browned. Serve with a large green salad, bacon wrapped dates, red wine, and most importantly good friends. I fed this to JVW, the Tall Guy, and his girl friend (who seems like still another delightful person, whose perversity of location I shall regret). No one complained, and everyone had seconds and in some cases thirds.
*Some people watch football and yell at the tv. My family treats politics the same way.
**I really dislike the term "best friend," with its exclusivity, and in any case my relationships with all of these people are so different. But they do all know more about me than I find entirely comfortable, though sometimes it is comforting.
*** Repetitive to the point of annoyance announcements that the friend in question ought to move to Seattle or Anchorage have so far not been productive, but hopefully my brainwashing attempts will eventually bear fruit. Also, my friends are incredibly tolerant.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Miscellany Again
1. The End is Nigh...
No really. The quarter is almost over, so I will go back to writing again. I have a short film to edit, a printing bid to write, and a presentation to pull together. That's doable, right?
2. Pearled barley makes a tasty substitute for rice in rice pudding. Or at least I think so, possibly the reason I ended up with the leftovers is that my dinner companion did not agree.
3. From the same meal: toasted sunflower seeds, garlic, and olive oil make a wonderful topping for baked cod and/or catfish. Especially if garnished with fresh cilantro. (Some of my esteemed relatives will disagree, but I'm not one of those unfortunates who can't do cilantro.)
4.
Probable sound track for the short film referred to above.
5. Strangest search term of the week? Shrubbery shirt cake
No really. The quarter is almost over, so I will go back to writing again. I have a short film to edit, a printing bid to write, and a presentation to pull together. That's doable, right?
2. Pearled barley makes a tasty substitute for rice in rice pudding. Or at least I think so, possibly the reason I ended up with the leftovers is that my dinner companion did not agree.
3. From the same meal: toasted sunflower seeds, garlic, and olive oil make a wonderful topping for baked cod and/or catfish. Especially if garnished with fresh cilantro. (Some of my esteemed relatives will disagree, but I'm not one of those unfortunates who can't do cilantro.)
4.
Probable sound track for the short film referred to above.
5. Strangest search term of the week? Shrubbery shirt cake
Thursday, December 23, 2010
You Know You're in Alaska When...
Women in jeans and opera-worthy fur coats at the grocery store are one of those quintessentially Alaskan sights. Then there is the backlog of seafood given to us by friends in my parent's freezer. I've been having fun with salmon this week. I'm afraid that the recipes I'm about to relay are not cheap as written, unless you have friends with salmon fishing "problems". (One can explore canned salmon for example.) On the other hand, both of them do use leftovers.
I served the salmon cakes, along some bean soup and salad, to friends who came over for a Scrabble game.
Salmon Cakes with Feta
vegetable oil
1 cup finely chopped onion (or one medium onion)
1 1/2-ish pounds salmon "burger meat" -- that is the skinned trimmings from filets and steaks. One could use a filet, but that seems like overkill. If you don't happen to have a pound or two of salmon odds and ends, I would definitely explore the canned option. Or one could use cheaper fish (and a different cheese).
3 slices of bread, crusts cut off
1/2 a cup of milk
OR a cup and a half of leftover mashed potatoes (Which is what I used -- making these cakes friendly for people with wheat issues)
2 tsp dried dill or 2 Tbsp fresh
a dash of garlic powder
A squeeze of lemon juice, salt, ground black pepper, cayenne to taste
Chunks of feta
Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté untill golden, stir them every few minutes to prevent burning. This will take somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen minutes.
If one does not have leftover mashed potatoes, tear up the bread into small chunks and place it in a small bowl with the milk, and let it soak for five minutes while you're doing other things.
While the bread is soaking and the onions turning golden, you will be breaking up the fish witha fork. When it's the consistency of tuna salad, wring out the bread, and add it along with the onions, the egg, the lemon juice, and other seasonings. (If you aren't using bread and milk, obviously you just skip the whole rigamorale and dump in the mashed potatoes.)
Form the salmon mixture into patties roughly four inches across. Layer on a large plate using waxed paper to separate the layers, and refrigerate for an hour to give them time to set up. (I think I ended up with eleven cakes last time.) In an emergency one can skip the chilling, but the cakes are more annoying than necessary to work with.
Preheat the oven to 350. (Or not, these are nice fried.)
If one is going to bake the cakes one ought to bake them for twenty five minutes, turning them at the mid-point and sprinkling them with a layer of feta.
Or one can fry them in oil at four minutes a side. Or one can bake them half way and finish them by frying.
Either way, they are tasty either by themselves, or as part of a sandwich.
Two apiece for adults seems to be the right number, if one is not serving them as sandwiches. If I were serving them as sandwiches, I would serve them in pita bread with tomatoes, lettuce, and tzatziki, or tahini and humus, or mayo if I didn't feel like making the former, and didn't have tahini and humus in the house.
After the night of Scrabble and salmon cakes, I had a cake left over. This evening I was rummaging through the kitchen in search of dinner for my parents and I. I found the salmon cake and some whole wheat pasta and the feta again. The result was uncommonly tasty.
Baked Penne with Salmon and Tomatoes
1 cup-ish whole wheat penne pasta or other suitable pasta, which is to say that members of the fettucini and spaghetti families are out.
2/3 cup milk or cream (I used 1%, but it would have been better with whole milk, and decadent with cream)
1 or 2 eggs (I used 1, but in retrospect I wished I'd used 2, especially with 1% milk)
1 1/2 - 2 tsp dried dill -- it so happens that I really like dill, if you don't-- a mixture of tarragon, oregano, and parsley, or any of them singly would be delish too. Mint also has its possibilities if one is feeling adventurous.
a couple of drops of hot sauce -- optional
a dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp tomato paste (tomato paste in tubes is one of the better inventions of the twentieth century)
1/2 c minced onion
3/4 c finely diced tomatoes
1 leftover salmon cake (or other deck of cards sized piece of flavorful fish -- one could use rather less smoked salmon if one had that on hand)
1 c grated extra sharp cheddar -- may I recommend the Tillamook?
1 c feta
Preheat the oven to 350
Prepare the pasta according to the directions, especially if it's whole wheat pasta. I like normal pasta al dente. Whole wheat pasta al dente is like unto sawdust. This dish is not liquid enough to cover any pasta deficiencies, so go ahead and cook the whole wheat pasta for 13 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, butter a medium size gratin dish.
Mix together everything on the ingredients list from the milk to the tomato paste. It will take some concerted beating to get the tomato paste to incorporate. Oh well.
Chop up the tomato and onion. You might mix them together, or even mix them together with the crumbled fish. Yes, you want to crumble the fish. There is not a lot of fish in the dish and you want the flavor to get around.
When the pasta is drained, spread half of it in a thin layer across the bottom of the baking dish.
Cover that layer with the tomatoes, onions, salmon, and half of the cheeses. Cover this layer with the other half of the pasta. Spread on the rest of the cheese. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the mound of goodness.
Bake for forty minutes, or until everything is bubbly and not too liquid.
I served the salmon cakes, along some bean soup and salad, to friends who came over for a Scrabble game.
Salmon Cakes with Feta
vegetable oil
1 cup finely chopped onion (or one medium onion)
1 1/2-ish pounds salmon "burger meat" -- that is the skinned trimmings from filets and steaks. One could use a filet, but that seems like overkill. If you don't happen to have a pound or two of salmon odds and ends, I would definitely explore the canned option. Or one could use cheaper fish (and a different cheese).
3 slices of bread, crusts cut off
1/2 a cup of milk
OR a cup and a half of leftover mashed potatoes (Which is what I used -- making these cakes friendly for people with wheat issues)
2 tsp dried dill or 2 Tbsp fresh
a dash of garlic powder
A squeeze of lemon juice, salt, ground black pepper, cayenne to taste
Chunks of feta
Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté untill golden, stir them every few minutes to prevent burning. This will take somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen minutes.
If one does not have leftover mashed potatoes, tear up the bread into small chunks and place it in a small bowl with the milk, and let it soak for five minutes while you're doing other things.
While the bread is soaking and the onions turning golden, you will be breaking up the fish witha fork. When it's the consistency of tuna salad, wring out the bread, and add it along with the onions, the egg, the lemon juice, and other seasonings. (If you aren't using bread and milk, obviously you just skip the whole rigamorale and dump in the mashed potatoes.)
Form the salmon mixture into patties roughly four inches across. Layer on a large plate using waxed paper to separate the layers, and refrigerate for an hour to give them time to set up. (I think I ended up with eleven cakes last time.) In an emergency one can skip the chilling, but the cakes are more annoying than necessary to work with.
Preheat the oven to 350. (Or not, these are nice fried.)
If one is going to bake the cakes one ought to bake them for twenty five minutes, turning them at the mid-point and sprinkling them with a layer of feta.
Or one can fry them in oil at four minutes a side. Or one can bake them half way and finish them by frying.
Either way, they are tasty either by themselves, or as part of a sandwich.
Two apiece for adults seems to be the right number, if one is not serving them as sandwiches. If I were serving them as sandwiches, I would serve them in pita bread with tomatoes, lettuce, and tzatziki, or tahini and humus, or mayo if I didn't feel like making the former, and didn't have tahini and humus in the house.
After the night of Scrabble and salmon cakes, I had a cake left over. This evening I was rummaging through the kitchen in search of dinner for my parents and I. I found the salmon cake and some whole wheat pasta and the feta again. The result was uncommonly tasty.
Baked Penne with Salmon and Tomatoes
1 cup-ish whole wheat penne pasta or other suitable pasta, which is to say that members of the fettucini and spaghetti families are out.
2/3 cup milk or cream (I used 1%, but it would have been better with whole milk, and decadent with cream)
1 or 2 eggs (I used 1, but in retrospect I wished I'd used 2, especially with 1% milk)
1 1/2 - 2 tsp dried dill -- it so happens that I really like dill, if you don't-- a mixture of tarragon, oregano, and parsley, or any of them singly would be delish too. Mint also has its possibilities if one is feeling adventurous.
a couple of drops of hot sauce -- optional
a dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp tomato paste (tomato paste in tubes is one of the better inventions of the twentieth century)
1/2 c minced onion
3/4 c finely diced tomatoes
1 leftover salmon cake (or other deck of cards sized piece of flavorful fish -- one could use rather less smoked salmon if one had that on hand)
1 c grated extra sharp cheddar -- may I recommend the Tillamook?
1 c feta
Preheat the oven to 350
Prepare the pasta according to the directions, especially if it's whole wheat pasta. I like normal pasta al dente. Whole wheat pasta al dente is like unto sawdust. This dish is not liquid enough to cover any pasta deficiencies, so go ahead and cook the whole wheat pasta for 13 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, butter a medium size gratin dish.
Mix together everything on the ingredients list from the milk to the tomato paste. It will take some concerted beating to get the tomato paste to incorporate. Oh well.
Chop up the tomato and onion. You might mix them together, or even mix them together with the crumbled fish. Yes, you want to crumble the fish. There is not a lot of fish in the dish and you want the flavor to get around.
When the pasta is drained, spread half of it in a thin layer across the bottom of the baking dish.
Cover that layer with the tomatoes, onions, salmon, and half of the cheeses. Cover this layer with the other half of the pasta. Spread on the rest of the cheese. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the mound of goodness.
Bake for forty minutes, or until everything is bubbly and not too liquid.
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