Fondue... the new macaroni and cheese (and sourdough)

     Those of you who have been reading my blog (or at least who read the first blog) know that this blog is called "in search of the perfect macaroni and cheese" as I can never find a great macaroni and cheese recipe no matter how many different kinds I try!  I found out through the process of blogging and baking that sourdough bread is like that for me as well.  I just can't seem to produce a good loaf.  Well, today I have one more recipe to add to the family; fondue!
     I have loved fondue ever since I first heard about it.  I mean, who doesn't love the idea of melted cheese that you dip things into?  Yum!  I will admit that when I first tried it in Switzerland I wasn't as impressed as I had hoped I would be, but I still liked it.  I'm sure I have had it a few times since then but none have stuck out so much as going to The Melting Pot with my friend Jasmine and her boyfriend.  The Melting Pot is a chain restaurant specializing in fondue.  It comes with a four course meal; cheese fondue, salad, meat fondue (basically hot oil that you put raw meat into to cook) and a dessert fondue of chocolate.  Delicious!  The cheese fondue was superb and it inspired me to create fondue at home. 
     I didn't have a fondue pot for the longest time, so this was a recipe aspiration that got put on the shelf.  Then, I watched Alton Brown's Good eats and saw his recipe on fondue.  He introduced the idea to me that one didn't have to have a fondue pot to make fondue.  It also occurred to me around the same time that I could use a slow cooker as a kind of fondue pot.  Well, it turns out all of this was unnecessary as Robbin and Steve gave me their fondue pot that they hadn't used.  There were some complications with this, as it didn't come with fuel and then I found out the pot had been recalled anyways because of the fuel, but I eventually figured it out.  So, now I had the fondue pot and a recipe I wanted to try ("fondue vudu" from the Good eats show) so I was ready to go.
     Original recipe to be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/fondue-vudu-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle hard apple cider
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• Pinch kosher salt
• 5 ounces (2 cups) Gruyere, grated
• 5 ounces (2 cups) Smoked Gouda, rind removed, grated
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• Several grinds fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Rub inside of fondue pot or heavy small saucepan with garlic. Pour cider into pot. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, the brandy and salt and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, grate the cheese and toss well with the cornstarch in a large bowl. When the cider just begins to simmer, gradually add the cheese a handful at a time, allowing each addition to melt completely before adding the next. Continue adding cheese and stirring until all cheese is incorporated, about 3 minutes. If mixture starts to bubble, reduce heat to low. The mixture is ready when creamy and easily coats the back of a spoon. Stir in curry powder and pepper. If cheese seems stringy, add some or all of the remaining lemon juice. Move fondue pot to alcohol warmer, and keep stirring during service. A variety of breads, from pumpernickel to rye to bagel chunks can be skewered and dipped as can cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms and potatoes. (Soften all vegetables by blanching briefly in boiling water then chilling.) Crisp fruits such as apples make great fondue fodder, as do cooked meats and sausages. Even soft pretzels make for good dipping. If any fondue is left over, cover with ice water and refrigerate, pour off water and reheat over low heat.

     Well, long story short, I made it but I could never get the darn cheese to melt!  I seriously sat over that pot for an hour, but the cheese never melted!  I'm not even going to include a picture as it is nothing really pretty to look at.  So, I eventually decided to eat it and although the taste was good, the consistency left something to be desired.  I read reviews of the recipes and found out that others had had this problem (they blamed the smoked gouda), so I didn't feel too bad.  I could always try again.

     Yesterday was my attempt to try again.  Scott and I went to the fungus fair in Santa Cruz and attended a mushroom cooking and wine demonstration.  The chef made an absolutely delicious truffle fondue.  I didn't have truffles at home, but I still had the Emmenthal and Gruyere cheese I bought for the recipe, so I decided to try again (and yes, I realize the above recipe doesn't have Emmenthal but I bought it just in case).  I used my Not your mother's fondue cookbook that my friend Lyz got me for my bridal shower (along with a lovely chocolate fondue set that I haven't used yet).  I made the traditional fondue recipe.  I had everything except cherry liqueur, but I didn't think that would made that much difference.  

Hawaiian themed foods

     I'm almost caught up with all the recipes that I have been making!  Today I want to talk about two Hawaiian themed food ones; spam musubi and kalua pig.  We had/made both for the first time at my Hawaiian-themed 30th birthday party.  The spam musubi we had for lunch on monday and the Kalua pork we made for Pete for his birthday dinner in December.  Let's start with the spam musubi.
     This recipe comes to me thanks to my friend Lani Mitchel.  She brought over spam musubi for my party.  It had been years since I had had spam, so I was a little leery.  However, we absolutely loved the stuff and couldn't stop eating it!  She gave us the recipe and I have been meaning to try it ever since (especially since we had all the ingredients at home [or so I thought]).  Here is the link she sent me http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Spam.htm

 Recipe Type: Appetizer, Sandwich, Snack Food, Spam
Cuisine: HawaiianYields: 32 Musubi Rolls
Prep time: 45 min

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked Japanese medium-grain sushi rice *
4 cups water
5 sheets of roasted-seaweed (Nori)**
1 (12-ounce) can Spam Luncheon Meat
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup rice wine (mirin)
Water

* Only use Japanese medium-grain sushi rice in sushi making. It is a medium-grained rice and gets sticky when it is cooked. Long-grained American rice will not work because it is drier and doesn't stick together.

** Roasted-Seaweed (Nori) - Sheets of thin seaweed which is pressed and dried. As a general rule of thumb – good Nori is very dark green, almost black in color.


Preparation:
Wash rice, stirring with your hand, until water runs clear. Place rice in a saucepan with water; soak 30 minutes. Drain rice in colander and transfer to a heavy pot or rice cooker; add 4 cups water. If you don't have a rice cooker, place rice and water into a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; bring just to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and leave pan, covered, for 15 additional minutes.

Cut nori in half widthwise. Place cut nori in a resealable plastic bag to keep from exposing the nori to air (exposing the nori to air will make it tough and hard to eat).
Cut Spam into 8 rectangular slices approximately 1/4-inch thick. In a large ungreased frying pan over medium heat (Spam has plenty of grease to keep it from sticking), fry slices until brown and slightly crispy. remove from heat, drain on paper towels, and set aside.
In a small saucepan over high heat, add soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine; bring just to a boil, then remove from heat. Add fried Spam slices to soy sauce mixture, turning them to coat with the sauce; let spam slices sit in marinade until ready to use.
In a small bowl, add some water to use as a sealer for the ends of the nori wrapper; set aside.
Using a Spam Musubi Press, place a piece of nori on a plate. Position press on top of the nori so the length of the press is in the middle of the nori (widthwise). The press and the width of the nori should fit exactly the length of a slice of Spam. (Note: If you don't have a musubi maker, you can use the empty Spam can by opening both sides, creating a musubi mold.)

1. Spread approximately 1/4 cup cooked rice across the bottom of the musubi maker, on top of the nori.
   
2. Press rice down with flat part of the press to compact the rice until it is 1/4-inch thick (add more rice if necessary).
   
3. Place a slice of Spam on top of the rice (it should cover most of the length of the musubi maker).
   
4. Cover with an additional 1/4 cup cooked rice; press until 1/4-inch thick.
   
5. Remove the musubi from the press by pushing the whole stack down (with the flat part of the press) while lifting off the press.
   
6. Fold one end of nori over the musubi and press lightly onto the rice. Wet the remaining end slightly with water, then wrap over musubi and other piece of nori; press down on the other end. cut log into 4 pieces.

Repeat with the other 7 Spam slices, making sure to rinse off musubi maker after each use to prevent if from getting too sticky.

Do not refrigerate musubi, as they will get dry and rubbery.


Makes 32 musubi rolls.

     Please note that the pictures are not mine and came with the website.  I wonder what that yellow stuff is on it.  Anyways, I discovered a couple of difficulties when I made it which I overcame.  1) I don't have rice wine!  I thought I had had it because I have rice wine vinegar, but didn't realize the recipe called for rice wine until I was already in the middle of making it!  Oops... Well, I googled a replacement for rice wine and gin was one of the answers.  Dry sherry also came up, but I had gin not sherry so there you go!  It seemed to work just fine as the sauce came out delicious and how I remembered it.  2) I don't have a spam musubi press.  They mention using the can, but they don't really say how to do it.  I thought that it wouldn't be a problem because I would roll it up like sushi.  It wasn't really, I just had to cut the spam in half lengthwise.  It still came out delicious.  Oh, I also didn't like how plain the rice tasted so I added in some sugar and rice wine vinegar cooked together like the sushi rice package says to do so.  We ended up eating the entire batch in one day!

Our homemade spam musubi

      Next on the list is Kalua pork (labeled Kalua pig on the website).  We first made this for my party (I didn't include the recipe as Scott made it, not me).  Then, when we were describing it for our friend Pete, he sounded enthused so we made it for him for his birthday/thank you for letting us stay at your house dinner.  It is pretty easy and comes out delicious!  Here is the original link:

http://www.paradisefoundonline.com/luau-recipes.html

Kalua Pig

4-5 lb pork butt
2 cups apple cider
1 tbsp liquid smoke
2-3 tablespoons hawaiian salt (regular sea salt will work)

The night before the feast, rub pork with salt and liquid smoke and place in crockpot. Add apple cider. Turn crockpot on low and leave it to cook for 10-12 hours, flipping pork over halfway through. Take meat out of the crockpot and shred. Makes 6-8 servings

     Ignore the part about flipping the pork over halfway through.  There is absolutely no need to do that and it sets your cooking time back any time you open up the lid of a slow cooker.  The recipe itself is delicious and just falls apart!  mmmm....  The challenge?  Finding liquid smoke at your local grocery store!

Kalua pork with a fresh salad, homemade french bread rolls
and macaroni salad

Pete's birthday cake.  Look familiar?  It's the Hawaiian wedding cake
I made for my own birthday.  Still amazingly delicious!

Darker, Richer beef stock

     So, in my convoluted cooking mind, I have decided to make french onion soup.  Why convoluted, you may ask?  Well, let me tell the entire back story... 
     To start off with, I really love French Onion soup.  The first time I can remember having it (I mean, the real deal) is in Paris, France.  My friends Gayana, Javier and myself went on a bus trip to Europe in our late teens/early twenties.  Europe was going through the mad cow thing at the time, so when it came time to order food in Paris, we went for French onion soup and Duck a'lorange.  This was the first time for the soup and the second for ever having duck and I loved them both!  The previous time I had had duck was in a Chinese restaurant and it tasted like smelly feet.  Anyways, the french onion soup was delicious, and the gobs of cheese and the fresh bread were just amazing!
     The second time I ever had French onion soup was at my ex's mother's house.  She served French onion soup and it was as amazing as the one I had in Paris.  When I asked about it, I found out that the recipe had used something ridiculous like 6 or 8 cups of onions (8, it turns out) and it came from Julia Child's The Way to Cook.  So, years later, I borrowed The way to cook from the library and hand copied out the french onion soup recipe.  The only thing that was holding me back was the fact that I didn't have those soup crocks that you could stick in the oven.  After another few years, I actually ended up acquiring The Way to Cook from a used book store for about $8!  After seeing Julia Child's show on my (then future) mother-in-law's television in Dec. 2010, I rented Julia Child DVDs from netflix.  And watched her cook french onion soup.  I found out a few things: 1) You don't have to have individual soup crocks.  You can just cook it in a casserole dish.  2) Make the beef stock from scratch or you might as well buy the canned stuff (according to Julia) 3) Her recipe on Mastering the art of French cooking (on which the show was based) was different than in The Way to Cook.  Finally, this Christmas (2011), I found out something which sealed the deal.  My brother and sister in law were sending us french onion soup crocks and a baguette pan that I had put on my wedding registry for Christmas!  Now, I had to make it!  And I had to make the stock and the baguettes from scratch, of course!  So, not being sure when I would make the soup (indeed, I still haven't made it), I decided to make the stock ahead of time so I would have it when I was ready.  I used Mark Bittman's How to cook everything as this seemed the easiest and used the "Darker, Richer beef stock" variation.  I also decided to use my slow cooker for the first time to make the stock.  Here you go:

Basic Beef Stock (Darker, Richer variation)

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 pounds meaty beef or veal bones, like shank, shin, tail, or short ribs
• 1 cup roughly chopped onion (don't bother to peel)
• 1 cup roughly chopped carrot
• 1 cup roughly chopped celery
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• At least 10 sprigs fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more if necessary
• 3 or 4 cloves
• 10 peppercorns
• About 4 quarts water (16 cups)

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 F.  Roast the bones and vegetables in a large roasting pan and put the pan in the oven.  Roast, shaking the pan occasionally and turning the ingredients once or twice, until everything is nicely browned.  This will take at least 30 minutes, don't rush it.
2. Use a slotted spoon to scoop all the ingredients into a stock pot; add the remaining ingredients and 3 quarts of water.  Turn the heat to high.
3. Pour off most of the fat from the roasting pan.  Place the roasting pan over a burner set to high and add 2 to 4 cups of water, depending on the depth of the pan.  Bring it to a boil and cook, scraping off the bits of food that have stuck to the bottom.  Pour this mixture into the stockpot (along with 2 more cups of water if you only used 2 cups for the reduction).
4. Bring just about to a boil, then partially cover and adjust the heat so the mixture sends up a few bubbles at a time. Cook, skimming off any foam that accumulates at the top, until the meat falls from the bones and the bones separate from one another, 2 to 3 hours.
5. Cool slightly, then strain, pressing on the vegetables and meat to extract as much juice as possible. Taste and add salt if necessary. Use immediately or refrigerate (skim off any hardened fat from the surface) and use within 4 or 5 days (longer if you boil it every third day, which will keep it from spoiling) or freeze for up to 3 months.

     Well, I did things a slight bit differently.  For one thing, I used my cast iron skillet.  It worked beautifully  for roasting everything.  The house smelled amazing.  I got really nice bones from the farmer's market on saturdayforever to cool down!  Scott finally had to use his food service knowledge and put it in baking pans in the fridge (lots of surface area) for it to cool down.  I just boiled it today to keep it fresh as I still don't know when I'll make the French Onion soup(probably this weekend).  The only weird thing is that, when I refrigerated it, it refrigerated to the consistency of jello.  I tried to strain off the fat only to realize the whole thing was fat!  Then, when I boiled it today, back to liquid!  Oh well....

Roasting the bones and vegetables ahead of time

A close up of the wonderful smelling roast bones and veggies

Getting the brown bits off...

The stock before cooking

After cooking

A delicious dark brown (this is pre-skimming)

"The best scrambled eggs"

     This past sunday, I found myself with extra time in the morning and so decided to indulge in what Mark Bittman calls "A Sunday morning indulgence": Best scrambled eggs.  "These take time, cream, butter, tarragon, and-the really hard part- a great deal of patience." quotes Mark Bittman.  Since I had used the cast iron skillet for the frito pie the previous day (see previous blog), I decided it was time to use it for real.  I had made these before in a regular skillet.  How would they hold up in a cast iron one?
  
Ingredients:

• 4 or 5 eggs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp tarragon
• 1 tsp chervil
• 1 tbsp. parsley
• 1tbsp. chives

Procedure:

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them just until the yolks and whites are combined. Season with salt, herbs and pepper and beat in the cream.
2. Put a medium skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add the butter or oil and swirl it around the pan. After the butter melts, but before it foams, turn the heat to low.
3. Add the eggs to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. At first nothing will happen; after 10 minutes or so, the eggs will begin to form curds. Do not lose patience: Keep stirring, breaking up the curds as they form, until the mixture is a mass of soft curds. This will take 30 minutes or more. Serve immediately.

     I decided to try the "scrambled eggs aux fines herbes" variety, one I had had several times before when I was dating my ex and that I remember being quite good.  So, how they come out?  Not quite as I had expected...  For one thing, I'm not sure if it was the fresh parsley or the cast iron leaking a little or what, but they came out a very unappetizing green color.  For another thing, they took forever to cook.  I mean, he says to use patience, but I gave it like a good hour and hardly anything was happening!  I finally kicked up the heat just the tiniest bit at the end.  From the previous time I had made it, I remembered it being smooth and delicious and well worth the trouble.  Now, it was just... bleh.  I ate it, but it was... bleh!  And then, to add insult to injury, the eggs stuck to the skillet and I had the darnedest time washing them off without messing up the seasoning (this was a pre-seasoned skillet).
     What I finally realized in retrospect was that (I think) my cast iron skillet, despite being labeled as "pre-seasoned" wasn't quite seasoned enough.  I am still *very* new to this whole cast iron thing.  I got the skillet as a wedding present from Lynnelle and Derek.  I put it on my wedding registry as I had heard of the wonderfulness of cast iron.  Unfortunately, the only one that Bed, Bath and Beyond had that looked like what I wanted was made my Emeril Lagasse (who I really can't stand) and (I found out later) was made in China.  But, whatever, I had my first cast iron skillet even if it did sit on the living room floor for months.  Well, after doing a lot of internet research and reading a lot of conflicting advice, it seems the consensus is that even pre-seasoned cast iron skillets still need seasoning.  A lot of people recommend stripping off the preseasoning and seasoning it from scratch.  At the very least, they recommended cooking a lot of fatty foods in it for a while.  So, I think that's why my eggs stuck.  I've been trying since then to cook fatty foods in it and do the proper thing of drying it right away (including letting it heat on the stove for a while) and then coating it with oil.  I even bought lard to use in some recipes that I would have otherwise used oil or butter in just so I could have lard around to season my cast iron if necessary.  However, I made a frittata today and it came out almost completely without sticking to the pan!  So I must be doing something right!  Anybody out there with cast iron experience have any advice?

My snot-colored best scrambled eggs on beer bread. 
This was the best picture I had!

Frito pie

     This one goes out to my friend Keri.  She was hosting a birthday party for her husband, Emiliano and made it a "white trash" themed party.  She asked for everyone to bring something to eat so being the gigantic foodie that I am, I researched white trash food.  There were surprisingly a lot of posts with queries about what to bring to a white trash party.  One of the answers was frito pie.  Since I actually quite enjoy frito pie (unlike some of the other things they were suggesting), frito pie it was!     Now you would be not alone if you are thinking to yourself right now "What in the world is Frito pie?"  The long and the short of it is fritos topped with chili and cheese.  I first heard about it from Scott who had them in New Mexico.  The southwestern version has fritos, chili, green chilies, tomatoes, onions and cheese.  Often times served in the frito bag itself (although Scott has never heard of this so maybe not all that often?).  I had it when we went to the balloon festival in Albuquerque and quite enjoyed it!  So, I decided to make it myself (for the second time in my life, actually).  All amounts are approximate:

Frito pie

Ingredients:

2 bags fritos
2 cans turkey chili
1/2 diced onion
1 container of tomatoes, chopped
extra sharp cheddar cheese
4-6 New Mexico Hatch green chilies

Procedure:

1) Heat the onions up with some butter until nice and cooked through and starting to brown.  Traditionally, they are served raw but I like cooked onions better.
2) Heat up the turkey chili.
3) Start assembling the pie.  I used an iron skillet for the genuine "white trash" look.  Put a layer of fritos down in the skillet.
4) Cover that layer with the turkey chili (I left some fritos on the outside for presentation).
5) Cover that with green chilies, then onions, then tomatoes and then cheese.
6) Enjoy!  You can heat it up in an oven to melt the cheese if desired.

     That's it!  Super easy and surprisingly delicious.  Yes, I realize green chilies are not traditionally white trash, but how can I resist adding them in?  Mmmmm....

Frito pie

We went all white trash to the party

We's got ourselves an edumacation!  Yep!

Beef Stew for Steve and Robbin

     It's taking me a moment to go back to beef stew as I have been cooking so often lately that it is all becoming mush in my mind.  Ah!  Got it!  Okay, onto beef stew!
     Robbin and Steve Maloney are two friends of Scott (and now mine) who were nice enough to not only let us stay in their house from 12/26 to 1/5 but cooked for us, took us on a spontaneous trip to Maine and drove us to the airport way too early in the morning!  So, I wanted to thank them by cooking a meal.  Asking Robbin what she would like, I found that she had some foods that she couldn't/didn't want to eat (e.g., onions, spicy stuff, leafy greens [other than salad], cheese, etc.).  Looking over my recipe notebook, I didn't see anything that didn't have either onions or cheese.  Scott and I originally thought of making her American Chop Suey but when I found out she liked New England boiled dinners, I thought beef stew would maybe do the trick.  When I introduced the idea to her, she very definitely endorsed it.  Beef stew it was, then.
     I used to make beef stew back when I was just beginning to learn to cook (around 2004 or so).  It was out of (guess what?) my favorite and then brand new cookbook, How to cook everything by Mark Bittman.  I didn't have the cookbook with me in New England, but I did have the app on my iPod (amazing!), so I cooked out of that.  I also just discovered yesterday that I can actually e-mail the recipe from the app to someone!  So exciting!  No more hunting for the recipe on the internet or laboriously typing it all by hand.  Anyways, it had been years since I made it (and I remembered it being a bit of a pain), but I was enthusiastic to try again.  So, here you go:

Beef Stew
By Mark Bittman
From the How to Cook Everything^® app

Introduction:
Braised beef—which is what beef stew is—can be spiced in many different ways; I offer several versions here, but you can also make a chililike beef stew (add the seasonings from the recipe for Chili non Carne) or a beef curry (add the seasonings from Lamb Curry). The substitutions are easy and work perfectly. You can skip the initial browning if you're pressed for time, or you can use the oven: Heat the oven to 500°F and roast the meat in a large roasting pan with 1 tablespoon of the oil and the garlic clove, shaking the pan to turn the cubes once or twice, until brown all over. Other cuts and meats you can use: cubed beef brisket, pork shoulder or fresh ham (pork leg), leg of lamb or lamb shoulder.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, or extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, lightly crushed, plus 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 to 2½ pounds boneless beef chuck or round, trimmed of surface fat and cut into 1‐ to 1½‐inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large or 3 medium onions, cut into eighths
• 3 tablespoons all‐purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock (to make your own, see Quickest Chicken Stock; Beef, Veal, Lamb, or Pork Stock; or Vegetable Stock), water , wine , or a combination, or more as needed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 medium to large waxy or all‐purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into 1‐inch chunks
• 4 large carrots, cut into 1‐inch chunks
• 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Steps:

1. Heat a large pot with a lid or a Dutch oven over medium‐high heat for 2 or 3 minutes; add the oil and the crushed garlic clove; cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then remove and discard the garlic. Add the meat to the skillet a few pieces at a time, turning to brown well on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Do not crowd or the cubes will not brown properly; cook in batches if necessary. Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper as it cooks.
2. When the meat is brown, remove it with a slotted spoon. Pour or spoon off most of the fat and turn the heat down to medium. Add the onions. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add the stock, bay leaf, thyme, and meat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and cover. Cook, undisturbed, for 30 minutes.
3. Uncover the pot; the mixture should be wet (if not, add a little more liquid). Add the potatoes and carrots, turn the heat up for a minute or so to bring the liquid back to a boil, then lower the heat and cover again. Cook for 30 to 60 minutes, until the meat and vegetables are tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning. (At this point, you may remove the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and refrigerate them and the stock separately. Skim the fat from the stock before combining it with the meat and vegetables, reheating, and proceeding with the recipe from this point.)
4. Add the minced garlic and the peas; if you're pleased with the stew's consistency, continue to cook, covered, over low heat. If it's too soupy, remove the cover and raise the heat to high. In either case, cook for an additional 5 minutes or so, until the peas have heated through and the garlic has flavored the stew. Garnish with parsley and serve.
   

Courtesy of John Wiley & Sons. Copyright © Double B Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

     So, it is a bit of a pain in the butt (mostly cutting the beef stew bits down), but it is well worth it!  The beef came out tender, the broth was amazing, the potatoes were soft and everyone loved it!  I served it with french bread rolls (are you sensing a pattern here?) and enjoyed the sounds of "mmmmmm" and silence for the first five minutes or so as everyone (including me) enjoyed their stew.  The perfect thing to have in New England in the winter time!

Homemade beef stew

With french bread rolls

From left to right: Scott, Robbin and Steve

White colored desserts from December

Note from January:  This was a blog that I started on December 8th of last year but just didn't have the time/energy to finish.  So please pretend that this posted in December.

     So it seems that lately I have been making a lot of white-colored desserts.  All of it stems from Thanksgiving.  When my Dad was here for Thanksgiving, I made frozen yogurt.  Then, when I got a kitchen aid stand mixer (how I love that thing!), I made meringues.  Then, I had a lot of leftover milk (which I don't drink) and made my vow to make something for my co-workers, I made homemade yogurt which then got turned into more frozen yogurt.
     So, let's start off with yogurt (as you need this to make frozen yogurt).

Homemade yogurt

My yogurt maker.  It worked well!

Yogurt from scratch (based on Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz)

Ingredients:

1 quart whole milk
1 tbsp. fresh live-culture plain yogurt

Special equipment:

Quart jar
Insulated cooler

Procedure:

1) Preheat the jar and insulated cooler with hot water so they will not drain heat and it can stay warm to ferment.
2) Heat the milk until bubbles begin to form. If you use a thermometer, heat the milk to 180 F. Use gentle heat, and stir frequently, to avoid burning the milk. It does not need to come to a full boil. The heating is not absolutely necessary, but it does result in a thicker yogurt.
3) Cool the milk to 110 F, or the point where it feels hot, but it is not hard to keep your (clean!) finger in it. You can speed the cooling process by setting the pot with the hot milk in to a bowl or pot of cold water. Don't let the milk get too cool; the yogurt cultures are most active in the above body temperature range.
4) Mix starter yogurt into the milk. Use just one tablespoon for one quart. I used to make more starter, assuming more is better, until I consulted my number one kitchen reference book, The Joy of cooking (1964 edition), known affectionately as Joy in our kitchen. "You may wonder why so little starter is used and think that a little more will produce a better result. It won't. The bacillus, if crowded, gives a sour, watery product. But, if the culture has sufficient Lebensraum (German for room to live), it will be rich, mild and creamy."  Mix the starter thoroughly into the milk and pour the mixture into the preheated jar.
5) Cap the jar and place it in the preheated insulated cooler.  If much space remains in the cooler, fill it with bottles of hot water (not too hot to touch) and/or towels.  Close the cooler.  Place the cooler in a warm spot where it will not be disturbed.  "Yogurt has the added idiosyncrasy that it doesn't care to be jostled while growing" Joy notes.
6) Check the yogurt after 8 to 12 hours.  It should have a tangy flavor and some thickness.  If it isn't thick (hasn't "yoged"), warm it up by filling the insulated cooler with hot water around the jar of yogurt, adding more starter, and leaving it 4 to 8 more hours.  You can leave it to ferment longer if you wish.  It will become more sour, as more of the milk's lactose is converted into lactic acid.  A longer fermentation period can often make yogurt digestible even for lactose-intolerant individuals.
7) Yogurt can store in the refrigerator for weeks, though its flavor will become more sour over time.  Save some of your yogurt to use as starter for the next batch.
     My yogurt turned out amazingly!  It was really wondrous to open up those container which had just contained raw milk and to see solid yogurt inside!  Sandor Katz was right... you really don't need a lot of yogurt starter!  Just a tablespoon and you're set!  I have tried to make yogurt previously and used a quarter cup and had the result turn out all watery.  This was also my first opportunity to use my yogurt maker (received through Renaissance camp for a potential yogurt making experiment I was going to do with the kids), which worked quite well.  But so did putting it in a cooler with a warm water bottle (the kind "old people" use).  The only pain in the butt thing (and the yogurt maker doesn't help with this either) is the whole heating it up to a certain temperature and then cooling it down to another.  I put my bowl of liquid yogurt mixture outside to cool off, and it still took like 20 minutes.  I was definitely thanking having a very cool space agey thermometer that I could just point at things, push a button and it would tell me how cool or hot it was!  It is definitely cheaper than buying yogurt at a store, but the heating and cooling part is a bit inconvenient for me!  As a note on yogurt starter, I just bought my favorite yogurt at the store (Nancy's) and put it in.  Make sure whatever yogurt you buy has live cultures in it!  Otherwise, it won't work!

     This next recipe (frozen yogurt) comes to you thanks to the blog 101 cookbooks.  You can find the original link here http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-frozen-yogurt-recipe-to-rival-pinkberrys-recipe.html

Frozen yogurt with cherries.  Deliciousness!

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Recipe

Heidi notes: First off, remember it is important to use good-quality whole-milk yogurt. The version in David's book is Vanilla Frozen Yogurt. This time around I skipped out on the vanilla, opting for straight, bright white yogurt with the sweetness playing off the tang of the yogurt. I also used slightly less sugar than called for here, more like 2/3 cup - but you can go either way depending on what you like.

3 cups (720g) strained yogurt (see below) or Greek-style yogurt
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla (if using). Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
To make 1 cup (240g) of strained yogurt, line a mesh strainer with a few layers of cheese cloth. then scrape 16 ounces or 2 cups (480g) of plain whole-milk yogurt into the cheesecloth. Gather the ends and fold them over the yogurt, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. So, for the above recipe start with and strain 6 cups of yogurt.
Makes about 1 quart.

     I followed her note and skipped out on both the vanilla extract and the extra sugar.  And it came out delicious!  It is especially nice when you make the yogurt yourself!  Just like what you would get in a store such as pinkberry's.  Mmmm....

     And, finally, my last white colored dessert, meringues:

Beat the eggs to stiff peaks

Until it looks glossy

Plop onto a cookie sheet (this one has parchment paper on it)

Have an expert husband around

And bake at 275 for one hour.

For crisper meringues, leave in the oven for another hour.  Enjoy!

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book1976

Meringue recipe

MERINGUE SHELL
3 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup sugar

Have egg whites at room temperature. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, and dash salt. Beat to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating till very stiff peaks form. (Meringue will be glossy.)

Cover baking sheet with plain ungreased brown paper. Using 9-inch round cake pan as guide, draw circle on paper. Spread meringue over circle. Shape into shell with back of spoon, making bottom ½ inch thick and sides about 1¾ inches high. Bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off heat and let dry in oven (door closed) for at least 2 hours. Fill with ice cream and sauce, or fresh fruit. Makes 8 servings.

INDIVIDUAL MERINGUES
Make meringue as for Meringue Shell above. Cover baking sheet with plain ungreased brown paper. Draw 8 circles, 3½ inches in diameter; spread each with 1/3 cup meringue. Using back of spoon, shape into shells; form a hollow in center.

Bake meringues at 275 degrees for one hour. For crisper meringues, turn off heat and let dry in oven (door closed) about 1 hour.

Fill with ice cream, pudding mixtures, or fresh fruit. Makes 8 servings.

(Picture hint: To make 3½ inch circles, use a compass or trace around a jar lid. Use a spoon to shape meringue mixture into shells)

     Ah, kitchen aid mixer, how I love thee!  This made whipping up egg whites a treat!  And, thanks to my wonderful husband, Scott (the expert on meringues), they came out wonderfully!  A trifle sweet for my taste (like biting into a sugar cube), but light and delicious all the same.  Next time, a little less sugar and some extracts.  Note: Scott makes this every year at Renaissance camp during food week while explaining denatured proteins.  They use food coloring and lots of extracts (e.g., vanilla, maple, mint, etc.).  The kids love it!

Potato cheese soup and beer bread

     I realized looking over my blog (it's been going for over a year now!) that the most posts I had last year were in January.  Considering I have at least five recipes to blog about, I think this year perhaps the most blog posts will also be in January.  I guess there are a couple of reasons for this.  1) As I was saying last year, we have five weeks off of work.  This gives one a) A lot of time in which to cook and b) The need to cook at home to save money.  2) I have actually been in a crazy cooking mood lately.  I have cooked a lot more over this Christmas vacation than I ever have before.  I thanked the people who let us stay over at their house by making them a home cooked meal.  We also cooked for Scott's mom and for Christmas itself.  I will cover those recipes in future blog posts.     This week's (and perhaps even month) seems to be cheese.  This week, I plan to make another macaroni and cheese recipe (one I have tried twice before and failed at [more to come on that]), fondue, Frito pie and French onion soup.  This recipe is for a delicious cheesy potato soup that comes to us courtesy of our friend/neighbor/co-worker Marie Kraemer Wegrich.  She first served it to us wolfies (my job is at the Web of Life Field school- WOLF) for a after work staff dinner party.  I loved it so much that I asked for the recipe and finally got the opportunity to make it last night.  It is amazing!  I decided to serve it with beer bread since our friend Rachel Young gave us a beer bread mix.  Usually, I don't like mixes, but this one also came out really well.  Okay, onto the cheesy potato soup:

Potato Cheese soup (thanks to Marie)

Ingredients:

3-4 tbsp. butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 large clove garlic
2 large potatoes
1 large carrot
3 cups water or stock
1 tsp. dill
4 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Procedure:

1) Saute garlic and onion.
2) Add other ingredients in order.  Simmer until veggies soft.
3) Cool. Blend with cream cheese and milk in blender.
4) Heat.  Add cheddar cheese.
5) Salt and Pepper to taste.

Katie's notes:
Although the recipe doesn't say so, I cut up the potatoes, carrots and onions.

     The result?  Delicious!  Can you tell I like this soup?  A couple of other notes: One onion yields about 1 cup and a half.  I didn't bother to peel the potatoes.  I cut them into eighths or so, but I think I should have cut them a little bit smaller.  I used russet potatoes.  The final note?  Having an immersion blender is a blessing here!  I wasn't sure it was going to be able to handle the big chunks of potatoes with peel on but it did it all!  I didn't even bother to cool it down, just added in the milk and cream cheese and blended.  I missed a few of the carrots, but it was kind of a nice surprise to all of a sudden find a carrot in your soup.  A food processor also came in handy for chopping the onions and grating the cheese, but this is all a luxury!
     The beer bread was from Rachel Young (as mentioned above) as a Christmas/Welcome to Bridgewater present for Scott and myself.  Bridgewater, MA is where Scott went to college (the first time around) and so we go there every year after Christmas to visit with his college friends.  We stayed with Steve and Robbin Maloney in East Taunton, MA and had a lovely visit.  I'll say more about that when I talk about the beef stew I made for them.  Anyways, the name of the mix is Tastefully simple Bountiful Beer Bread mix.  All you do is add in beer (or soda), mix in the mixture, put it in a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan and top it with 3 tbsp melted butter (optional) and bake at 375 for about 50 minutes.  Super easy.  I used Trader Joe's version of Negro Modelo.  Delicious!  I don't usually like mixes (why pay the extra money when it is so easy to make things from scratch [for a lot of things] plus they are often filled with preservatives and other chemicals), but this one was light, buttery, crispy crusted, sweet yumminess.  It was actually too good to have with the soup so I ate a lot of it on its own.  Yum!!

Marie's potato cheese soup

Beer bread from a box.  Who knew it could be good?

Deliciousness!  Especially the crust!

A really good mix!

Enjoying cheesy deliciousness!