Homemade boba!!

  Looking back at my blogs for the last few years, I have now (actually, as of my last blog post) blogged more this year than I did in 2015, 2017, 2018, or 2019.  Plus, I've blogged more this month than I have in any other month since December of 2016.  I'm glad that the shelter-in-place orders have at least given me the opportunity to cook/bake more and to blog more. 
  Speaking of shelter-in-place, I have been having a major craving for boba for the past week or so.  I knew that I had purchased boba pearls in the past (having recently rediscovered them in my excavations through my pantry), and knew that you could make it in an Instant Pot, so I decided to give it a try.  After scanning the internet (and my e-mails), I came across a recipe for both boba and iced tea (after all, I needed something to put the boba in) and made it today.  Here are my results!

Homemade boba in milk tea

Instant Pot Iced Tea (from https://twosleevers.com/instant-pot-iced-tea/)

Ingredients:

4 regular teabags (I used one large peach iced tea bag which I purchased at Trader Joe's)

6 cups Water

1/2 cup sugar

Procedure: 

1) Pour everything into your Instant Pot and cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes.  Allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 15 minutes.

2) Allow it to cool slightly and then serve over ice.

  A few years ago, I went through a phase where I made this recipe quite often.  It makes a nice (and easy to make!) iced tea.  I've never made it with this particular type of tea before.  I'm not sure my peach tea flavor came through, and I used cane sugar from Trader Joe's so it gave it a little bit of a different flavor.  It was still good, though.

The boba right after it finished cooking

Instant Pot Boba Tea (based upon https://twosleevers.com/instant-pot-boba-tea/)

Ingredients: 

1 cup (152 g) large Boba or Tapioca Pearls

2 cups (375 g) Water

1/4 cup (50 g) Sugar Or Other Sweetener Equivalent

Instant Pot iced tea recipe (see above)

Milk (I used oat milk)

Ice

Procedure: 

1) Place the boba pearls, water and sugar in the inner liner of your Instant Pot. It is important to use sugar in this recipe, as the boba need to rest in a sugar syrup in order to stay chewy and pliable. 

2) Cook at high pressure for 2 minutes. Allow the pot to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes, and then release all remaining pressure.

3) When you open the lid, you will see some mighty big boba floating around. These will settle down to a much more manageable size as they cool. Do not refrigerate the boba. Allow them to cool in the liner, or pour them out into a mason jar and let them cool, about 15-20 minutes.

The boba can be kept in the refrigerator in this sugar syrup for a few hours, but the really don't store very well. 

4) Put boba in empty glasses.  Top with iced tea, milk, and ice.  Don't forget your reusable boba/smoothie straw!  Enjoy!

  The results of these two recipes were pretty darn good.  As I said earlier, I think the cane sugar is giving it a slightly...different... taste (or maybe my cane sugar is just old?).  In the future, I think I will use regular sugar. I have some nice baking sugar that probably would have been perfect but I'm saving it for (duh) baking.  The boba came out just the consistency I like.  Chewy, but not too chewy and not soft (I hate soft boba!).  Generally, I like my boba a little sweeter than the way these came out, but they were still quite good. 
  Either way, these two recipes very definitely satisfied my boba cravings.  And, since I had to use the boba up right away, I simply had to have two glasses of boba.  Isn't life terrible sometimes?  Too bad my package of boba is already halfway gone...  I can hardly wait to play around with different kinds of iced tea flavors and play around with the boba sugar levels.  This was wayyy cheaper (and easier with the shelter-in-place orders) than ordering it from a boba place.  Plus, no single use plastic! Although, since I'm still trying to lose weight, maybe it is a bad thing that it's so easy!  But boba is life!

Easter dinner 2020

     I just had fun looking back at my previous Easter dinner post from 9 years ago (https://insearchoftheperfectmacaroniandcheese.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-dinner.html).  Amazing how many things have changed and how many have stayed the same.  Speaking of things staying the same, I find it funny that we had pretty much the same dinner 9 years ago even though I hadn't planned it that way at all.  Guess I haven't really changed much?
  In the true spirit of sheltering in place, tonight's dinner was made all from things I had at home, most of which were on the older side.  Staying in one place has given me a really good opportunity to clear out my pantry!  I had some old lamb steaks that were in my freezer which were purchased last year, maybe even for Easter last year.  Initially, I was thinking I would do some kind of pot pie with them, but I then realized they were whole steaks and not stew meat and decided I would research some kind of Instant Pot lamb recipe (I'm still a little leery to cook lamb directly on the stove top, since I don't cook whole pieces of meat that often).  I came across an Instant Pot Braised Lamb recipe with white beans and spinach and thought I could modify it based upon what I had around the house.

Instant Pot Braised Lamb

Instant Pot Braised Lamb (modified from https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/instant-pot-braised-lamb-with-white-beans-and-spinach?fbclid=IwAR1kmQAzgQdF0dW9ZlYJlyphk5E2cfvZnOZK19v2QsNdr9_tAaiXKLAO42E)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 boneless lamb leg steaks

freshly ground black pepper

kosher salt, divided

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed

1/4 cup red wine

fresh oregano (or, in my case, frozen oregano)

bag of frozen peas

Procedure:

1) Pour 2 Tbsp. oil into Instant Pot and heat on Sauté setting on high until shimmering. Season lamb  on all sides with pepper and salt. Working in two batches, cook lamb in Instant Pot until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

2) Add onion and garlic to hot oil in pot and cook, still on high Sauté setting and stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 1–2 minutes. 

3) Pour in wine and cook, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, until wine is slightly reduced and steam no longer smells boozy, 2–3 minutes. Pour in 2 cups hot water. 

4) Nestle lamb and oregano into pot, arranging in an even layer. Turn off Sauté setting. 

5) Lock on lid and cook at high pressure 20 minutes, then release pressure naturally. Remove lamb from Instant Pot and put on two plates. 

6) Add frozen peas until cooked through.

7) Serve lamb with frozen peas on the side and the cooking juice on top.

  It was pretty easy, and turned out deliciously!  I served it with a Trader Joe's orzo rice pilaf that I had sitting around in my pantry (which I can definitely recommend).  The lamb came out cooked through all the way (Scott and I both like our meat well cooked) but was still tender (enoughish) and flavorful!  We served it with a cheesy jalapeño/green chile bread (recipe below) and later searched for Easter eggs in our room filled with older candy from the pantry.  It's nice to find ways to use up the food we have!

Cheesy jalapeño/green chile bread

     Not surprisingly, I watch a lot of food videos, mostly on YouTube and Facebook.  I came across this recipe on the Tasty Facebook (or YouTube?) page and thought it looked delicious and very similar to a jalapeño cheese bread which we purchase from Beckmann's bakery at the farmer's market.  I knew that I had to try it!  Believe it or not, this is the first time I've actually made a Tasty recipe (surprising since I watch them pretty much every day).  Since we're trying to use up what's in our pantry/use up old food, I used green chilies as a substitute for jalapeños except on the outside of the bread, where I used sliced jalapeño for the visual appeal.  It takes a bit to find the recipe written down (usually Tasty recipes are just a video), but here you go!

Cheesy jalapeño/green chile bread (based upon this Tasty recipe: https://tasty.co/recipe/dutch-oven-jalapeno-cheddar-bread?fbclid=IwAR1kKM91ecqDQcBUgtn7s29TasqmnAmyT0ySEIko-JTbXpeIYkCLOMxOBgA)

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups bread flour, plus more for dusting (since I had only AP flour at home, I used 3 ½ cups AP flour with 5 ¼ teaspoons of flour taken out and substitute with 5 ¼ teaspoons of vital wheat gluten)

2 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

3 green chilies, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 jalapeño, sliced into rings, divided

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 cups warm water

2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil

Procedure:

1) In a standing mixer bowl, combine the flour, 2 cups (200 g) of cheddar cheese, the chopped green chilies, and salt. Stir well using the paddle attachment.

2) In a separate large bowl, combine the warm water and yeast. Add to the flour mixture and stir until the dough comes together.

3) Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place for 60 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.

4) Using the dough hook, mix for a bit longer. Cover with the towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

5) While the dough is rising a second time, add a Dutch oven and lid to the oven, and preheat to 450˚F (230˚C) for 30 minutes.

6) Lightly flour a clean work surface and your hands. Carefully peel the dough out of the bowl and onto the floured surface. Flip over and carefully brush away excess flour. Fold the edges of the dough towards the center 8 times, then flip over the dough and transfer to a piece of parchment paper.

7) Brush the top of the dough with the olive oil, so the cheese will stick. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup (50 g) of cheese on top. Use a sharp knife to score the bread with an “X”, which will allow steam to escape. Arrange the jalapeño rings on top of the cheese.

8) Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven and use the parchment to lift the bread into the pot. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for 20 more minutes, until the bread is golden brown.

9) Carefully slide the bread out of the pot and onto a wire rack. Remove the parchment paper and let the bread cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

10) Slice the bread and serve as desired.

  Although this bread didn't rise as much as expected (maybe I over-mixed the dough since I used a stand mixer instead of mixing it by hand with a spatula as the original recipe stated), it still came out amazing!!!  Seriously, I think this might be the best bread I've ever eaten (and even better than the farmer's market bread, which is saying a lot).  Although it was very very difficult not to eat it when it was fresh from the oven, I let it cool for probably a couple of hours to make sure the bread was the very best it could be.  It's deliciously cheesy and crunchy on the outside, with a chewy cheesy delicious center.  I am definitely definitely going to make this again!!

Baked eggs in acorn squash

     I joined Weight Watchers earlier this year and have had good success with it so far.  It's been difficult being at home and having access to my kitchen 24/7 and not baking/eating all of the fattening foods that's at my fingertips.  In light of this, I have been looking for healthier recipes and so made a modified version of Weight Watchers' Baked eggs in acorn squash with roasted peppers & dill based upon what I had in my house.

Baked eggs in acorn squash (modified from https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/recipe/baked-eggs-in-acorn-squash-with-roasted-peppers-and-dill/5bbe3f7c87c9820047f4c0d4)

Ingredients:

Two small acorn squash, halved lengthwise, seeds removed
Cooking spray
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Everything but the bagel seasoning
4 eggs
Shredded mozzarella cheese, enough to cover the top of each acorn squash half

Procedure:

1) Preheat oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) Cut a thin slice off bottom of each squash half so it sits flat. Place squash halves, cut side up, on prepared pan and coat with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt, pepper, and everything but the bagel seasoning. Roast until squash are just tender and a paring knife can pierce flesh without much resistance, about 25 minutes.
3) Crack an egg into each baked acorn squash half. 
4) Return squash to oven; bake until eggs are set to your liking, about 15 minutes for a still-runny yolk and up to 20 for a set yolk. Sprinkle each with mozzarella and serve immediately.


  This was an easy, quick, nutritious lunch.  I liked the salty addition of the Everything but the Bagel seasoning.  A quick note (and one that may not be obvious if you're not used to eating squashes): the outside skin is not really edible but is quite easy to peel off.  I am finding that I like squashes more than I realized; I will definitely have to continue to play around with squash recipes!

Banana nut bread

Banana nut bread

  Spending all of this time at home during the pandemic has really made me itch to bake.  It took a few days to find all of the ingredients (flour and eggs are in high demand right now), but I thought it would be lovely to make some banana bread using some bananas that my housemate was going to toss out.

Banana Nut Bread (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, plus some for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups (about 7 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork until smooth
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup grated dried unsweetened coconut

Procedure:

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2) Mix together the dry ingredients.  Cream the butter and beat in the eggs and bananas.  Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients; do not mix more than necessary.  Gently stir in the vanilla, nuts, and coconut.
3) Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until nicely browned.  A toothpick inserted in to the center of the bread will come out fairly clean when it is done, but because of the bananas this bread will remain moister than most.  Do not overcook.  Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.  To store, wrap in waxed paper.

My banana nut bread.  You can see the coconut and the
pecans inside every loaf. Mmmm...

  This banana nut bread was extremely addicting and amazingly delicious (especially when served warm and fresh)!  Oh my goodness, I could not stop eating it!!!  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the middle top part to cook all the way through but didn't want to overcook it, so the middle slices were a little under-cooked toward the top.  I didn't care and scarfed it all down anyways.  I'm not usually a fan of bananas (although I knew that I liked banana nut bread), but even I was surprised at how much I savored this dish.  You've been warned!

St. Patrick's day feast

  This has been a blog I've been meaning to do for a while, but have been distracted with all of the repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, as a person of Irish-American descent, I still love to celebrate St. Patrick's day and had been preparing for this day for weeks.  Here are the delicious foods we enjoyed on this day (and the days afterwards).

Homemade corned beef

How to corn your own beef (from Julia Child's The Way to Cook)

Notes: Brisket is the traditional beef cut, but it's not the only one. Boneless chuck, such as the eye roast, which contains the continuation of the rib eye, is another choice.  However, I really prefer either the top or bottom round because it slices up into neat chic pieces.

Timing: 2 weeks minimum for the cure to take place.

Ingredients (for a 12 pound piece of beef):

A fully trimmed boneless 10 to 12 pound top or bottom round of beef (or the eye round, boneless chuck, or brisket)
1 1/3 cups coarse (Kosher) salt
1 Tbs cracked peppercorns (pound whole corns to crack them)
2 tsp allspice
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sage
bay leaf, ground or crumbled

Special equipment suggested: A heavy duty plastic bag roomy enough to hold the meat comfortably; a pan to hold it; a pan and weight to cover the meat.

Procedure: 

1) Mix all of the seasonings together in a bowl
2) Place the meat in the plastic bag and rub the seasonings all over it.  
3) Press as much air as possible out of the bag, then tie it securely closed and set it in a pan or bowl.
4) Place it in the refrigerator, where the temperature should remain between 37 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
5) For the first two days of the cure, keep it covered with the second pan and weight.  Within a few hours, red liquid will exude in the bag- the cure has begun.
6) Once a day, without opening the bag, massage the meat with its juices and spices, and turn the bag over.  (Julia notes that she puts a sign on her refrigerator to remind her).
7) In two weeks, the cure is done, and the special flavor has been achieved.  The beef will now keep several months under refrigeration, but turn it every several days to be sure all is well.  If you've a large piece, you may want to cook only part of it and leave the rest in the cure.
8) De-salting (24 hours or longer).  Before cooking the beef, wash off the salt cure and soak the meat in a large bowl of cold water, changing the water 2 or 3 times.  As the salt leaves the flesh the meat softens and, when thoroughly de-salted, it will feel almost like fresh beef- cut off a snippet and taste it to be sure.  De-salting may take 2 to 3 days if the meat has cured a number of weeks.  Note that as soon as the beef is de-salted, it is just as perishable as fresh meat- keep it refrigerated and cook it soon.

Katie's notes:

12 pounds of beef is A LOT.  We ended up getting about half that size and it fed us for like a solid week afterwards!  We also delayed a little in getting the cure started, and so it only cured it for 13 days rather than the recommended minimum of 2 weeks.  Fortunately, it still turned out delicious!! 

  This is an amazing recipe and I've made it on at least three different St. Patrick's days now.  This makes the best corned beef I've ever had!  Yum yum yum!  We ended up cooking it in our Instant Pot (using this recipe as our base), but since I didn't actually cook the corned beef (Scott did, bless his heart), I can't blog much about it.

Irish brown bread

Served with Irsih Kerrygold butter, of course!

Irish Brown Bread (recipe from our Airbnb host in Cork, Ireland)

Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

350 g whole wheat flour
50 g plain flour
50 g porridge oats (I used rolled oats)
pinch of salt
2 tsp bread soda (baking soda)
2 large eggs
1 tsp sunflower oil (I used vegetable oil)
500 mL buttermilk

Procedure: 

1) Preheat the oven to 325° F.
2) Put the flours, sieved bread soda, salt, and porridge oats into a large mixing bowl and mix them well.
3) In a separate bowl, beat the eggs together with the oil and add to the dry mixture.
4) Net mix in the buttermilk and get the mix to a "sloppy" consistency.
5) Pour into a 2 lb. loaf tin and smooth the top of the bread with a wet spoon.
6) Sprinkle some seeds or porridge oats on top of the bread and bake in the oven for 1 hour.
7) After the hour has elapsed, remove the bread from the bin and return to the oven to bake for another 20 minutes.
8) Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool down.
9) This bread stays fresh for about 4 to 5 days.
10) It can be successfully frozen.

  This makes a very good, very hearty bread.  I love that the recipe is written as European recipes are, with all of the ingredients weighed out rather than measured in cups (from what I understand, this is the superior way to do it when you're measuring baking recipes but I'll admit I'd find it hard to make the switch permanently).  It is lovely with some Kerrygold butter, or toasted and served with marmalade.  Yum!

Irish jello shots

Irish jello shots (from https://gizmodo.com/car-bomb-jello-shots-blow-up-your-liver-for-st-patrick-5893474)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups of Guinness Stout
1/2 cup Jameson Irish Whiskey
1 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
8 teaspoons (aprox. 4 packets, generally) unflavored gelatin
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
Water

Procedure: 

1. Pour the 1/2 cup of Jameson into a bowl.
2. Sprinkle 4 tsp. (2 packets, generally) of unflavored gelatin onto the whiskey. Let it sit for one minute, and then stir for a minute to help it dissolve.
3. In a separate bowl, pour in 1 1/4 cups of Guinness, then pop it in the microwave for about 80 seconds. Note: microwaves vary greatly in their power levels, so you'll need to adjust it appropriately. You want to get it to about 150 degrees F. You can also do this in a small saucepan, if you prefer.
4. Remove the Guinness from the microwave and add 4 teaspoons of granulated sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
5. Combine the hot Guinness with the whiskey/gelatin mixture and stir until gelatin appears completely dissolved.
6. Pour the mixture into shot glasses, filling them roughly 80 percent of the way (leave room for the next phase), then refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until firm. If you have leftover liquid, pour it into a larger glass.
(Let's pause here for a second and talk about equipment. If you pour it into a standard shot glass, these things are going to look like tiny pints of Guinness, foamy head and all. It's adorable, and it adds a lot of aesthetic value. That said, you're sacrificing convenience for aesthetics, because you'll need an unusually small spoon to dig the shots out. You may want to opt for buy plastic or paper jello shot cups that you can just squeeze into your mouth. I leave that to you. Okay, back to the directions.)
7. Once the dark layer has firmed up, start making the top layer. In a bowl, stir to combine a 1/4 cup of cold water with a 1/4 cup of Bailey's Irish Cream.
8. Sprinkle in 4 teaspoons (aprox. 2 packets) of unflavored gelatin. Let stand for one minute then stir until it is well-mixed.
9. Pour in a half cup of boiling hot water and stir until the gelatin is almost entirely dissolved.
10. Add 3/4 cup of Bailey's and stir for another few minutes to ensure everything is dissolved.
11. Take the shot glasses out of the fridge, pour the creamy layer on top of of the dark layer, filling each glass up to the brim, and then put them back in the fridge for another hour or until firm.

Notes: There's a fair amount of alcohol in these (12-percent ABV. Generally 19-percent is about as high as you can go for jello shots, or it won't set), but because they're small you'll probably get full before you get drunk.

  These jello shots are based off of the not-appropriate/offensively named Irish car bomb drink.  I decided to modify the name slightly for this blog. I had been wanting to make these for a while, ever since we had very similar shots at a St. Patrick's day party at my friend Lyz's house (she of the scotch egg blog post fame).  Since I didn't have a lot of shot glasses (and didn't want to go out and buy any disposable shot glasses both because of the pandemic and not wanting to buy single-use plastic), I just poured the mixture into my very cool mugs leftover from The Tech Interactive's Geektoberfest.  We just ate them with a spoon.  They are delicious and dangerous.  I liked the Bailey's level better than the Guinness level, but I would definitely eat both layers again!  They were a lot of fun to make and even more fun to eat.