Stuffed Zucchini

My lovely friend Justina gave me a Zucchini the length and width of my forearm (and I have a rather large forearm). I usually just roast any and all veggies since it's quick and involves just the roasting pan and an oven. After 2 months of this though, no matter how much you love vegetables (like me), it can get boring. It's summer and school is out, so I decided to do something different with this Godzilla of a zucchini. And it's so good to be back blogging and trying out some new things. hurray for summer!!!


Ingredients
Serves 2-4
1 Large Zucchini - Cut lengthwise; scrape out the soft-seeds portion so you have a hollow area in the center
1/2 Yellow onion finely chopped
1 Roma Tomato finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 Cremini Mushrooms (or button would work as well)
.5lb Minced Meat, I used chicken.
Pinch of Paprika, Cayenne, Turmeric, Coriander powder, Cumin Powder
Salt to taste
1 Tbspn of tomato paste
1.5 slices of untoasted bread- make crumbs as best possible.
Olive oil and some butter

Method
1. In a pan heat up some olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and saute for about 3 mins.
2. Next add tomato and spice powders and salt and saute for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, chicken, and tomato paste and saute for about 3 mins.
4. Meanwhile line up the Zucchini (I had to cut mine into half so I had 4 "shells") shells in a baking pan. coat with olive oil. Also melt the butter and pour over the bread crumbs. Use oil if you dont want to use butter or do half and half so you don't lose the buttery flavor.
5. Spoon the filling into the zucchini shells and top it off with bread crumbs.
6. Cook in a preheated oven at 350F for 35-45 mins.


Taste Review:
I totally would make this again. But I would skip the bread topping mostly since I used whole wheat bread...if you have white bread, do try it out because it gives you a nice crunchy top. The wheat bread gave it a "sweet" taste which can be a hit or a miss. I also would top it off with some parmesean cheese next time. But the filling is to die for. I would add some Tabasco sauce next time.

Brandy, Chocolate Chip and Walnut Chocolate Cake/Bread

Happy 100th Recipe and belated birthday (oct 9th) to Spice Monkey!!!
I've tried baking a chocolate cake 3x now and FINALLY it turned out moist and delicious. The secret ingredient? Alcohol. Since we've been falling sick (sore throat) lately, we picked up a bottle of brandy and I decided to pour some into the cake batter and voila, so delicious. I've also used dark rum before and it was a success as well. This can either be a cake or bread depending on how much condensed milk or sugar you like in yours. Mine always coasts the bread line since I don't like things too sweet.

Ingredients (makes about 1 loaf--that's right, I don't have a legit cake pan)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tspn baking soda
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup milk (maybe less that 1/4 cup, but this was to bring the mix to batter consistency)
1 tspn salt
1/4 cup (or less/more) sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
3/4 cup walnuts
1/4-1/2 cup ghiradelli semi-sweet choc chips
2 tbspn vegetable oil
2 tbspn brandy (can substitute dark rum for this)

Method

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together (flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt)
2. Add the vanilla extract, condensed milk, and hot water and mix. Add milk, if necessary, to bring the batter to pancake-batter (little bit more liquidy) like consistency.
3. Taste and add sugar accordingly.
4. Add the dashes of brandy, walnuts, and choc chips. Mix well.
5. Add the oil and mix well.
6. pour into loaf pan (grease the bottom with some oil before putting in the batter) and cook at 300-350F for about 25 or so minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Let cool and then enjoy it warm! Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you want to be really indulgent!

Wisconsin Cheddar and Chives Biscuits

Today's recipe comes from my very good friend, SunFire. LV is currently in India with no access to internet (or a kitchen for that matter) and I am swamped at work so I'm cooking comfort foods all the recipes of which have already made the blog, so patience, my friends, patience. New dishes and recipes will be attempted soon...hopefully!

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup grated aged cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3/4 cup buttermilk

Makes 20

Method
1. preheat the oven to 400F, grease a baking sheet.

2. sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper into a large bowl. rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. add the cheese and chives and stir to mix.

3. make a well in the center of the mixture. add the buttermilk and stir vigorously until the batter comes away from the sides of the bowl.

4. place as 2 tablespoon mounds spaced 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

variation: for cheddar and bacon biscuits, substitute 3 tablespoons crumbled cooked bacon for the chives.
This recipe is from The Cook's Encyclopedia of Cookies by Hilaire Walden.

SunFire says: This was my first try. All went well, except that I made them a bit too big, so it took about 25 mins to get to golden brown.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

I’m still using the leftovers from my Luau last week, and I’ve been staring at this pineapple trying to figure out what to do with it. We don’t drink that many Mai-Tais, and I already made pineapple fried rice. But then I found a recipe for Pineapple Upside-down cake that used fresh pineapple (instead of canned), and decided to try it out with a couple of my own additions: rum and orgeat syrup. I’ve seen a number of pineapple cake recipes that use almonds and almond extract, but I didn’t have those—I did have the orgeat syrup though. --AnglophileLV

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 cups fresh pineapple - peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Adding up to 3/4 cups liquid, combine 1 Tb dark rum and 1 Tb Orgeat Syrup with milk

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a small bowl stir together the melted butter and the brown sugar; spread the mixture evenly in a well buttered 9 inch round cake pan. Pat the pineapple very dry between several sheets of paper towel, and arrange it evenly on top of the sugar mixture.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternately with the milk mix, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat well after each addition. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Place the cake in the middle of the oven. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge, and invert the cake onto a plate. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

I got a loaf pan finally and decided to try baking some banana nut bread. Someone told me baking is about precision and accuracy (this reminded me of biochemistry lab) but, screw that, I'm a rebel. Since I wasn't following a recipe, I did not measure things accurately but here is an estimation.


Ingredients

whole wheat flour - 1-1.5 cups
evaporated unsweetened milk (normally i would use regular 2% milk, but i didn't have that) - I used enough to get to a pancake batter consistency maybe about 1 cup
sweetened condensed milk - 1 can (but i had some leftover since I don't like it too sweet)
Cardamom (green) powder (optional) - I had these whole (I used 1), so i got the seeds out and TRIED to powder them and failed..so I just threw the seeds in; just use vanilla extract if you have that.
Ripe bananas - 2
chopped walnuts - 3/4-1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tspn
Vegetable Cooking oil - 1 tbspn and some to coat the loaf pan.


Method

1. I found a sieve so I sifted the wheat flour. (yay, I've never done this before, it was exciting. not.)

2. To this add the baking powder and mix.

3. Add the condensed milk and regular milk and mix. Don't add everything at once, since you might add too much. I used my hands and it was gooey until you get it to the pancake batter consistency. I recommend starting out with some regular milk and then working with the condensed milk until you get the desired sweetness. Then you can add more regular milk until desired consistency.

4. Mix, mix, mix. Taste to check sweetness. Add the vegetable oil, roughly chopped up banana bits and walnuts and mix some more!

5. Pour into coated loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 30 or so minutes or until done.

Tastes best when it is warm.

Tangy Gourmet Potatoes

My brother came up with this recipe. We tried it out on beans and broccoli but both of those veggies couldn't hold the marinade too well. We had a bag of potatoes (fingerlings + baby reds + purple potatoes) lying around and well, best thing to do: grill 'em up in the oven.

I didn't measure ANYTHING, here's an estimate

Ingredients

Potatoes
Fresh lime juice - 1 tbspn
extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbspn
italian seasoning (spices like oregano, rosemary, thyme, etc.) - 1 tspn
garlic powder with herbs - 1 tspn
Salt - 1/2 tspn (to taste)
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tspn

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Mix everything but the potatoes.
3. Coat the potatoes with marinade and bake in oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy with other grilled veggies or as is.

Schofield Salmon

This recipe comes from a friend.
**

I think my dad does this recipe the best, but I was able to pull it off once of the two times I've used it. And yes, this recipe calls for a LOT of salmon (that's how we Schofields roll), so if you're just making it for yourself feel free to cut the recipe in half (it'll still take at least half an hour to cook even if you do). You know the salmon's done when you stick a fork in it and it's firm all the way through.

-B. Schofield


1 tbsp butter or margarine

1 tbsp ea. Honey and brown sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp. minced garlic or ginger

1 salmon filet w/ skin 3.5-4.5 lbs.

Optional: lime slices

Directions: In a 6 to 8 in. frying pan, over medium heat, stir butter w/ honey and sugar until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add soy sauce, mustard, oil, and garlic. Cool slightly.

Rinse fish and pat dry. Arrange a double layer foil tent, put salmon in, baste with sauce, and pinch foil around it. Place in roasting pan with high walls. Bake at 400 for 30-40 min. Apply lime slices to make it look pretty.

This stuff is absolutely DELICIOUS if you can do it right. For sides you can do mashed potatoes and grill some asparagus.

Note from Pocketmouse: Picture will be provided when I decide to finally try out salmon/non-white fish.

AnglophileLV’s authentic Beef and Beer Pie

For the past two weeks I’ve been in England enjoying the people, the architecture, the shopping—and the food. Oh yes, the food. Even though the Brits are leaning away from their traditional fare (trading bubble and squeak for a surprising obsession with risotto), I am still quite taken with Bangers and mash, roasted game birds, sausages, and yes, Meat Pies. The meat pie is essentially beef, pork or chicken cooked with onions, carrots and mushrooms to form a thick brown chunky gravy which is then glopped into a puff pastry pie crust and baked to a golden flaky delicious buttery….droool… oh god it’s good. Now that I’m back in the cholesterol-conscious U.S., I’ve been going into withdrawals. Here is my recipe for a traditional London Meat Pie – best enjoyed with copious amounts of beer.

--Anglophile LV

Flakey Crust:
2 cups Flour
1 cup butter
1tsp salt
6 drops lemon juice
Cold water

1. Mix flour and salt.
2. Then mix with butter and lemon, with enough cold water to bind the ingredients together (otherwise it gets very crumbly).
3. Roll out lengthwise and fold over 3 times. Roll out again, and fold 3 times again. Repeat this around 4 times (it’s supposed to help with making it flakey). Now your dough is ready to use.


Filling:
1 lb beef, chopped up to be bite sized (whatever cut is cheapest)
½ onion, chopped
1 russet potato, chopped
2 carrots, chopped small
1 leek chopped
4 cremini mushrooms, chopped
4 sprigs thyme
2 cloves garlic
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
2 beef bouillon cubes
3-4 Tb flour, mixed with
½ cup beer
1 egg yolk mixed with 1tb water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown beef with onion, garlic and thyme in a large pot.
2. Add potatoes, carrots, leek, mushrooms, beef bouillon cubes and Worcestershire sauce.
3. Pour in enough water to barely cover the potatoes.
4. Cover and simmer 45 minutes (or until potatoes are fork-tender).
5. Add flour/beer mixture and stir until mixture boils and thickens to a thick gravy. Add pepper – you may not need salt since the bouillon is quite salty already.
6. Let filling cool until lukewarm.
7. Roll out pastry and put into a deep dish pie plate –OR- do like I did, and make little individual meat pies out of small loaf pans. Roll out the pastry and press the tops of the loaf pans into it, outlining your pie tops. Press the rest of the pastry into the pan(s) to form the lower crust, and top with the other pastry you just cut out.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
9. Remove pie(s) and brush the tops with the egg wash.
10. Continue baking for about 15 minutes, or until crust is golden.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Despite my protestations, my mother still thinks these taste just like gingerbread men and wants to squeeze white icing all over them- but ginger cookies do not have to be limited to the Holidays! These are delicious just as they are.
--AnglophileLV


Big Soft Ginger Cookies


Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons Chopped crystallized ginger
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses2+ tablespoons white sugar (to coat cookies)



Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Baked Miniature Pumpkin

Yes, you can eat mini pumpkins! They’re not just for decoration – so go ahead, remove them from your table tops, pluck them from their nests of Indian corn and fall foliage, and stick’em in the oven. You won’t regret it.
--AnglophileLV

Baked Miniature Pumpkin Pies Sweet
1 each mini pumpkin (one per person)
1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
Scoop of vanilla ice cream (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut off tops of pumpkins and scrape out all seeds and strings. Place butter and brown sugar inside the pumpkin and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Put the pumpkin lid back on and place pumpkins in a baking pan. Bake for about 40 minutes or until tender. Optional: Serve with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream in the pumpkin.



Baked Miniature Pumpkins Savory
1 miniature pumpkin per person
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1-2 Tbsp. cream, milk, or mascarpone cheese
1 fresh or dried sage leaf
Grated Fontina or Gruyere cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice off the top of each pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, and rub salt and pepper into the cavity. Pour in the cream, add the sage leaf and the cheese, replace the lid and bake in a pan until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.