Easy Hollandaise

Ah, we've gotten past the big food feast of Thanksgiving and I have a little breathing room until Christmas is upon us. Just ask my kids...I won't even discuss Christmas for two more weeks. I torture them with lectures about how Advent is a season of waiting, not celebrating. "Do we celebrate your birthday a month before your birthday?" I ask them. They usually give up just around the time I plan to get the tree out -- in two weeks.

Anyway, I'm back with a recipe I tried on my husband's birthday, two Sundays past. He loves Eggs Benedict and usually asks for it for his birthday. I always groan because it is not an easy recipe to make for a crowd, and even when it's just us, that's a crowd, especially when it comes to poaching eggs, toasting English muffins and keeping the hollandaise from separating. When I made it this year for his birthday, I used a new recipe. It was so easy peasy, I will be making hollandaise much more often -- steamed asparagus here we come. I made four plates of Eggs Benedict -- that's four separate batches of poached eggs -- and the sauce never separated. Amazing. You're going to love it. I simply placed the blender down in a pot of hot water and it was perfect a good 20 minutes after I blended it. The recipe came from Simply Recipes and it is so simple. Simply Recipes offers the option of adding cayenne pepper, but I did not.

 

Easy Hollandaise

makes a bit more than 1 cup of sauce

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3 egg yolks 

1 T. lemon juice

1/2 t. salt

10 T. unsalted butter (if using salted butter, skip the added salt)

Melt the butter slowly in a small pot. Try not to let it boil – you want the moisture in the butter to remain there and not steam away (I used the microwave for this step)

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, and salt into your blender. Blend the egg yolk mixture at a medium to medium high speed until it lightens in color, about 20-30 seconds. The friction generated by the blender blades will heat the yolks a bit. The blending action will also introduce a little air into them, making your hollandaise a bit lighter.

Once the yolks have lightened in color, turn the blender down to its lowest setting (if you only have one speed on your blender it will still work), and drizzle in the melted butter slowly, while the blender is going. Continue to buzz for another couple seconds after the butter is all incorporated.

Turn off the blender and taste the sauce. It should be buttery, lemony and just lightly salty. If it is not salty or lemony enough, you can add a little lemon juice or salt to taste. If you want a thinner consistency, add a little warm water. Pulse briefly to incorporate the ingredients one more time.

Store until needed in a warm spot, like on or next to the stovetop (or in a pot of very warm water). Use within an hour or so.

Source: Simply Recipes

Quick stuffing tip

Cubing then toasting the bread makes a lot less mess than toasting and cubing. Toast on a baking sheet in a 300 degree oven until no longer soft.

Orange Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is the brunt of many a joke -- that stuff that comes out of the can in a solid lump looking nothing like sauce -- but it need not be. Cranberry sauce is easily one of the most simple menu items you will prepare for Thanksgiving -- as easy as mashed potatoes. My son Geoffrey asks for it every year. It's his "it's not Thanksgiving without..." menu item. He makes it only slightly more complicated for me by requesting it be completely smooth and chunk-free. It adds an extra step or two to traditional cranberry sauce, but he's my baby (and I tease him that he likes his cranberry sauce baby food style). If you like a chunky sauce, just stop after you cook the mixture, refrigerate and pull it out an hour or two before dinner is served. I made mine last night.

Orange Cranberry Sauce

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1 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice (not from concentrate, either fresh squeezed or good bottled juice)

1/2 cup water

3 cups rinsed cranberries 

1 pear, peeled, cored and diced (you could also use an apple or just omit entirely)

Combine sugar, water and orange juice in a saucepan. 

Turn onto medium heat. Add cranberries and pear. Bring to a simmer and turn down slightly so it doesn't bowl over. Cook for about 10 minutes. You will hear the cranberries popping -- that's good. Cook until pear is soft and cranberries look pretty well popped.

If you want a chunky sauce, pour mixture into a storage bowl and cover. Refrigerate until Thanksgiving.

For a smooth, seed and pulp-free sauce, cool mixture slightly. Pour into food processor or blender. Process (or blend) until pureed.

A little at a time, pour mixture through a sieve into a bowl, using a spatula to scrape the seeds aside. Cover and refrigerate until Thanksgiving. Spoon sauce into a serving dish.

Thanksgiving Week: planning ahead

I am so very frustrated with Blogger. Every time I start a post, I get a few sentences in and a dialog box pops up to tell me I am now logged out. If I try to log in, I lose the post. If I close the box, I lose the post. I have tried copying the post to save it but it happens about every other sentence I type, so I inevitably lose something while I am writing. I am typing this on my phone and plan to copy and paste. It's a real pain and I am inclined to give up. My German stubbornness is the only thing that keeps me from doing that.

Anyway, I lost this post six times, but here I am. Back at it.


This is it -- the big food week. Is there a bigger food holiday? Not in my house. My children LOVE Thanksgiving. It's one holiday where we have no expectations of anything other than being together and enjoying a good meal. No gifts, no special plans.

It's a tough holiday for cooks, however, unless you plan ahead and work ahead. Aunt Leila had a good post yesterday about starting early in the week. I especially like the part about getting the bills paid and cleaning the "other" parts of the house way before Thursday. It's a long weekend for me with out-of-town company, so I want to make sure to pay the bills due before Monday. And if I get other parts of the house clean, that's fewer tally marks of all the things I need to get done before Thursday. It's nice to go into the bedrooms and not think "oh, more to do."

I will also start cooking well before Thursday. Tomorrow is shopping day for the few items I waited to buy. I won't venture into a grocery store after tomorrow, not for anything. I think Wednesday might be the biggest grocery shopping day of the year. So I'll shop tomorrow, as well as prepare a few dishes -- cranberry relish and cranberry sauce. I will chop onion and celery and store it away in sealed bags. I might toast my bread and cube it, too. There are quite a few things you can do early in the week: wash and iron linens, polish silver, make sure there are enough candles, plan out seating arrangements, borrow chairs if necessary, plan the cooking timetable for the big day.

Tuesday I will blanch and freeze green beans, and clean most of the "public" rooms, as well as get caught up on laundry. Wednesday will be spent readying all the dishes and serving ware, glassware, centerpieces. I will clean the baths and make sure the kitchen is as clean as possible -- clearing anything unnecessary from the counters and fridge.

I don't have tiny tots to stop and feed and hold any more, or even small children I have to watch carefully, but it's still helpful for me to spread the work out over the week. These feet and legs can't handle doing it all in one day. Besides, if I spread it out I can enjoy it longer. Right?

I must remember to get a good supply of chocolate at the store tomorrow. Sustenance.

Homemade Pasta

Years and years ago my mother-in-law bought me a pasta roller (like this) for a gift. I enjoyed having such a "gourmet" piece of kitchen equipment, and I used it some, but it was sort of relegated to the kitchen equipment which we use only for special occasions. Ironically, I still made homemade noodles by hand, but the pasta machine was put away in a basement cabinet.

This past Sunday, I planned spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and then I realized I had no dry pasta. I dislike going to the grocery store so much I went down to the basement and dusted off the pasta machine. When I was finished cutting the spaghetti I realized I had invested very little time, actually, and after we ate I realized how much I love homemade pasta. There is just no comparison. Homemade pasta is so tender and tasty and wonderful. I actually have no good words to describe it. You really must try it. If you don't own a pasta machine, maybe you can put it on your Christmas list (there are an awful lot out there in all price ranges).

I use the food processor to make my pasta dough and it's really super easy -- three ingredients: flour, salt and eggs (cheap, too!). From start to finish it takes less than two minutes to make the dough. It takes less then 20 minutes to roll and cut it. It may not be practical every night, but it's not so tough with just a wee bit of time. Your family will love you for it, so consider it a labor of love.

Homemade Pasta

serves six for dinner

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2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

4 eggs

Place flour and salt in bowl of food processor. Crack eggs into a measuring cup with a spout. Turn machine on and pour the eggs through the feeding tube. Let run for about 30 seconds until dough gathers in a ball. Pull dough out and put machine back together. Turn it on and, tearing off balls of dough (small enough to feed through the tube, but not too small), feed them into the machine one at a time, but fairly quickly. Let the machine run until dough gathers in a ball again.

Remove ball of dough from machine and wrap in plastic wrap. You can use it right away in a pinch, but it will be better if you let it rest for 30 minutes.

Unwrap dough after rest and cut into 10 or so pieces (see photo).

yes, it is that yellow

Flour each piece lightly and set rolling side of pasta machine on the lowest setting. Roll each piece through once. 

 

Set the machine on a higher setting, two or three notches above the lowest. It really depends on what kind of pasta you are making at this point. I wanted spaghetti, so I set it two notches above, leaving it a little thick.

Keep each piece floured lightly as you work with them and cut them in half as necessary to keep them from being too long and unmanageable. 

After all pieces are the desired thickness, it's time to cut. I used the most narrow setting for spaghetti. If you wanted fettuccine, you would use the wider setting. For angel hair, I would use the narrow setting and a very thin sheet of dough.

After flouring each sheet, feed them through the machine to cut it. Lay each bunch on a floured surface. Let sit for about 30 minutes. 

Bring several quarts of water to a boil, salt. Add pasta, in thirds, to the water and stir to prevent sticking, until all pasta is in water. Cook for two to three minutes until desired texture. Drain.

Thanksgiving Plans

Seven Days and Counting. I tried pretending it wasn't happening this year, but that didn't work. I noticed it just got closer on the calendar. When one hosts an event, it does no good  to pretend it isn't happening. I can't say I am terribly excited to be hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year. I would much rather be invited. But, I'm not. I host and my brothers and their families, and my aunt and uncle, and my mother all come here. I see no way out of it at this point. It seems inevitable for the foreseeable future and that's probably why I'm not excited. It's not really a choice for me, unless I want to ruffle lots of feathers, and that's not me.

So, I must embrace it and pretend like I have a choice. I do have a choice -- in the menu. Maybe I should make meatloaf. Ha!

I mentioned on my other blog that I was not feeling the Thanksgiving love this year and my friend Jennie reminded me that Thanksgiving is easy. And it is. A lot of people get nervous about such a big meal -- getting everything ready at the same time. That part doesn't bother me too much. But it is a big day and a lot of work goes on that day and the days before, so I really would rather be invited this year. Instead I shall just take control of my own menu and keep it as simple as possible.

I purchased a turkey yesterday. He is 22 pounds (he is a "he" because "shes" don't get to 22 pounds). I also purchased a whole breast to roast along side, because we never have enough white meat for everyone, and certainly not for leftovers. I purchased cranberries, celery, oranges and sweet potatoes on Monday, so I'm getting there. Far from there, however.


I decided to simplify my menu a little this year, just because I'm not quite up to my usual spread, but when I wrote it all down I think I only managed to cut out frozen corn and an apple pie. I should have cut out dinner rolls or something, but I can't bring myself to cut out anything else, nor taking shortcuts (buying rolls or cranberry sauce). I asked my family to tell me their "it's not Thanksgiving if _______________ isn't on the table" menu item. Two of the boys said "Sweet Potato Souffle," and Faith said "turkey, especially skin." Doug said "sweet potatoes," but he doesn't mean sweet potato souffle, unfortunately. He means his mother's sweet potatoes which I haven't served for years (since we discovered Sweet Potato Souffle). They are boiled and drained sweet potatoes simmered in brown sugar and butter. They take up a burner on the stove, which is why I switched to souffle. That's what I get for asking. I think I might have to make his up ahead of time and heat them up again at the last minute. I won't make much since everyone else likes the souffle. My oldest hasn't given me his pick, but I imagine it will be Orange Cranberry Sauce.


The menu is below, with simple apps (already purchased), and my mom brings all the pies.

Cheese and crackers

smoked almonds and beer nuts

assorted olives

beer, wine, soda 

(someone else is bringing beverages so I can't be picky)

 Roasted upside-down turkey with Rosemary Butter

Giblet Gravy

Grandma Ruth's Sausage Stuffing

My mom's Stuffing

Make ahead Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato Souffle
Brown Sugar Sweet Potatoes

Green Beans with Shallots and Peppers

Cranberry Relish

Orange Cranberry sauce

Southern Dinner Rolls

Pumpkin and Pecan Pies

Coffe and tea and Bailey's Irish Cream

Creamy Italian Chicken Noodle Soup

I made this soup last Sunday and then enjoyed the leftovers for several days' lunch. My husband fussed about it, didn't really enjoy it -- but then, he's really not a soup guy. Steak, potatoes, salad? Yes. Soup? No. Don't pay any attention to his opinion. This soup was wonderful and the kids enjoyed it too, even though it had "green stuff" in it. My son's girlfriend really raved about it, but then she's a college freshman living in a dorm and has a great new appreciation for anything that doesn't come in a can or freezer box. ;-)


It's a super easy recipe, though I can't say it's a particularly healthy with all that half & half. I guess if you're just having a light supper of soup and salad, however, it's not that bad. The recipe came from Taste of Home Cooking (not to be confused with Taste of Home) and I modified quite a bit. First, I did not use gnocchi -- that sounded way too heavy -- hence the new name. Second, I was cooking a whole chicken so I made my own broth, but you could certainly use canned broth and a rotisserie chicken for a short cut. Third, I doubled the butter, flour, chicken broth and parsley for the extra quantity. It stretched nicely. And tasted great leftover.

Creamy Italian Chicken Noodle Soup

 serves 8

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1 1/2 cups ditalini or other smallish pasta

1/2 cup butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 ribs celery, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup flour
2 cups half and half
2 cups milk
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I shredded mine is small bits and I like that texture instead of chunks)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
2 T. fresh parsley, minced

salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook and drain pasta. Set aside.

Heat butter over medium heat in a Dutch oven. Saute the onion, celery, carrot and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and cook for about a minute. Add the half and half and milk. Bring to a simmer, then add the chicken.

Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked  pasta, spinach, and seasonings, then simmer until soup is heated through.

Serve with crusty bread for dipping.

Source: modified from Taste of Home Cooking

Pumpkin Doughnuts

I have had this recipe in my head since I saw it several weeks ago, late in September, at Annie's Eats. I love a homemade doughnut, but really pretty much limit myself to Soul Cakes and Fastnachts -- doughnuts twice a year. Not that we only eat them twice a year, ha! We love our doughnuts, so why not make them instead of buy them? I saved my oil from the Soul Cakes and planned to make them right away. I don't have storage space for used oil, so I just covered the pot with paper towels and placed the lid on top, leaving it on top of the stove. I knew if I stored it away Pumpkin Doughnuts wouldn't happen.

Anyway, back to the recipe. What's not to love? Pumpkin doughnuts. Delicious pumpkin cake with rich pumpkin spices, and buttermilk to make them tender. I finished half off with sugar cinnamon and half with glaze -- definitely my favorite. The kids couldn't decide which they liked best. I made a simpler glaze than Annie -- just powdered sugar, milk and vanilla (no spice).

 I followed the doughnut recipe exactly, except I chilled the dough all night. It was still a little soft, but I worked with half the dough at a time and just floured the surface and dough so it didn't stick to my hands. Just don't over flour. And flour the cutter as well. Mine is a biscuit/doughnut cutter -- you can take the middle out and just use it to cut biscuits -- or you can take the middle out and just cut holes, which I did when there was little dough left.

Pumpkin Doughnuts

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Yield: about 16 doughnuts and doughnut holes

3½ cups all-purpose flour
4 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
½ t. ground nutmeg
¼ t. ground cloves
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 t. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

Canola oil or peanut oil, for frying (I used a vegetable blend)

Cinnamon sugar mix:

½ cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
several tablespoons of half & half or milk

1/2 t. vanilla

To make the dough, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl.  Whisk to blend, and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar and butter and beat until well blended.  Stir in the egg, then the egg yolks, and then the vanilla until incorporated.  Combine the buttermilk and pumpkin in a liquid measuring cup and whisk together.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Once the dough is mixed, cover and chill for at least 3 hours or until firm.  (I chilled it overnight.) 

On a well-floured work surface, roll or pat out the dough to a ½-inch thick round (I pat it to prevent them from getting too thin).  Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour.  Using a 2½ to 3-inch round doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts.  Reroll and cut the dough scraps as necessary.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven (a depth of about 2-3 inches).  Attach a thermometer to the side of the pan and heat the oil to 365-370˚ F.  Add the rings and balls of dough to the hot oil so that they are in a single layer and not touching.  Fry, turning once, until both sides are golden brown and doughnuts are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes total. 

 Use a skimmer/strainer to remove from the oil and transfer to a paper towel-lined rack.
 

To make the cinnamon-sugar, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish and stir to blend.  When the doughnuts are just cool enough to handle, dip half of them in the cinnamon-sugar to coat completely, shaking off the excess.

To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and half & half in a small bowl, until a thick glaze is formed.  If necessary, add a bit more half & half to thin the glaze out.  Dip the remaining half of the doughnuts in the glaze (I only dipped the tops).  

Source: modified slightly from Annie's Eats

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

You might say, after my last post about my family not eating dinner, that you wouldn't eat my dinner either if it was Cauliflower Soup. To that, I say "Pft." ;-)

I saw this soup at Annie's Eats a couple weeks ago and knew I would love it. I have never met a soup I didn't like. In fact, if it was just me here, I'd probably eat soup five nights a week. Even in the summer. Soup is comfort food for me, no matter the flavor. This soup, however, was enjoyed by both of the kids who ate it, and my husband, and that's saying something (he is not a big-on-soup guy).

It's an easy recipe, and I love that the creaminess comes from a potato pureed  in with the cauliflower and onions, instead of real cream. The flavor was just slightly reminiscent of the Dijon included, but you could cut back to 1 teaspoon and I think still benefit without as much mustard flavor. The croutons have Dijon in them as well, but I bet you could cut it out almost entirely and made add some garlic powder to the butter/oil mix for some zest. And speaking of the croutons, I almost skipped them and subbed store-bought, but they are worth the extra effort, which is hardly anything. I used a whole wheat bread and they were really, really yummy. Enjoy, it's soup season!

I modified the recipe only to use the chicken broth instead of vegetable broth.Annie modified it to use vegetable instead of chicken, but I thought chicken would be better. If you are going meat-free, go with veggie! I also baked my croutons longer until they were brown.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

4-6 servings

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About 6 oz. whole grain bread, cut into ½-inch cubes (I used five slices, including the "heel")
2 T. unsalted butter, melted
2 T. olive oil
1 T. Dijon mustard
Kosher or sea salt

2 T. unsalted butter
2 shallots, minced 

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
Kosher or sea salt
1 medium potato, peeled and diced into ¼-inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
3½ cups chicken broth
½ head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
2 t. Dijon mustard

To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Add the bread cubes to a medium bowl and toss with the melted butter, olive oil, and mustard until evenly coated.  Spread the bread cubes out in an even layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle with the salt.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crunchy.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add the shallots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 4-5 minutes.  Season with salt, then mix in the potato, garlic and chicken broth.  Cover the pot and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to a simmer, keep covered, and let cook for about 8 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Add the cauliflower and cook about 5-6 minutes more, until the cauliflower is tender.  Stir in the cheese and mustard.

Puree with an immersion blender (or a food processor, vented to allow the steam to escape).  Mix in additional water or broth if the soup is too thick.  Season with additional salt to taste.  Serve warm topped with additional shredded cheese and the croutons.

Source: Modified from Annie's Eats

Ho hum

I am in a cooking rut and I lay the blame squarely on my family's shoulders. They are in an eating rut.

It doesn't seem to matter what I cook, they barely eat.

Last night I made pork chops with gravy, mashed potatoes and steamed sugar snaps, and both Doug and Noah dumped half of their plate in the sink.

Noah says, "I'm not really hungry, mom." And half an hour later he's eating cold cereal.

Doug says, "I must have had a bigger lunch than I thought. You know I'm not big on pork chops."

Hmmm. Pft. It's six o'clock and no one (but me) is hungry for my dinner.

Faith ate well after her ballet lesson (one little pork chop and sides), but Josh dumped most of his after he came home from school, and I found the evidence in the sink.

I'm almost to striking point. Why should I bother cooking if they don't bother eating? I'd rather picket than cook.

Part of the issue is the change of seasons. Fall brings soups and stews and casseroles -- at least to me -- and my family would rather be eating grilled ribs, steaks, chicken legs.

 What's a mother to do? What do you do when your family doesn't eat your meal?

Dia des los muerto

I switched up our menu a little bit and moved the tacos to tonight. Though we have not a drop of Mexican blood in our family, we see that the Mexican culture certainly does All Soul's Day in a big way.

We lit the vigil candles this morning, took chrysanthemums to the cemetery at noon, and we will have a big bonfire after dinner, with our Soul Cakes. I love a day in which spend time learning, in a real way, about our faith and its traditions.


Do you have plans to remember your special souls on this holy day?

Get your Soul Cakes

This is the third or fourth year for Soul Cakes at my house -- a yummy way to celebrate these two feast days today and tomorrow. Learn about this tradition and find my recipe here.