Matzo Ball Soup

Now the post I know you have all been waiting for... Okay, Diane has been waiting for this since I think Freshman year of college. Again no pictures. I've been too lazy since I don't want to have to move a bunch of stuff from this super old computer to whatever new computer/hard drive I get soon. In the meantime here is the recipe. Hopefully while I am home I can learn to make the spectacular matzo balls that my mom has figured out how to make. And Diane you will want to add probably 10 times the amount of pepper I have here...basically spill it in the soup like I did that one time.

Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken
6-8 cups of water, depends on how big of a pot you use. Will explain later.
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
4-6 medium carrots chopped
4-6 medium sticks of celery chopped
quarter size amount of spaghetti or angel hair pasta (torn into about one inch bits)

1 cup of matzo meal
+ the directions on the CAN of Manischewitz matzo meal (Do not buy the pre-made individual packets, not the right taste/consistency.)
Use VEGETABLE oil and NOT Olive oil. The matzo balls just don't taste right then.

Time: 3 hours+ for flavorful soup

Place your rotisserie chicken skin and any drippings and all into your largest pot. If it the chicken has rope or plastic keeping its legs together take it off. Then fill up the pot with water to about one to two inches from the top. You will be taking the chicken bones out in the end so that will make the height of the water/soup go down, and your pot wont over flow once you get everything else in. The place your pot on the stove and bring it to a boil. This means you can place the stove on high, medium, or even low heat. The point is that once it begins to boil you should turn the stove down to low so your food does not boil over/over cook. Once you have your chicken boiling in water, turn the stove to low, and then continue to cook for an hour. Taste the broth and add the salt, pepper, and oregano. Then continue to cook for another 45 minutes. Add more salt or pepper to your own taste as this "water" will be your soup stock.

Chop your veggies while the stock is cooking. Then you can just add them later when needed.

Once the stock has cooked for a while, to get all of the juices out of the chicken and into the water, take the chicken and all pieces/bones it has split into out of the pot and into a big bowl. Then follow the instructions on the can of Manischewitz matzo meal and place your matzo in the fridge to cool/set. I usually add less salt than the can calls for and then taste it after I add my soup stock to it to decide how much salt I want to add. And yes I know there is raw egg in this. I am not advocating that you try food with raw egg in it if you do not feel comfortable. If this isn't an issue for you it isn't a bad thing to try it since you don't want you matzo balls to be plain.

After you put the matzo dough in the fridge add your veggies to the soup stock and bring it back to a simmer. As you are letting the pot simmer, tear all of the chicken meat off and toss it back into the soup. Once your soup is at a boil again, your matzo balls should be ready to make in the fridge. They are supposed to sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, and I know some Jewish women leave them there for a whole night. Take out your matzo meal though from the fridge and wet your hands with lots of water. This helps to keep the matzo dough from sticking to your hands as you make your balls. Next take about a tablespoon size scoop of matzo dough and make it into a ball in your hand and then plop it in the soup. I try to get ball shaped sizes of matzo dough when I get it from the dough because if compress it too much to make a perfect ball shape then your matzo balls end up really dense, whereas I prefer them to be as light and fluffy as possible. Once you have made all of your matzo balls and placed them in the soup, cover your boiling soup and place it on low. You will need to let the matzo balls cook in the broth for at least 40 minutes, so use that count down as your timer so to speak for when to put in the noodles. If using angel hair pasta like I have listed then you will place your broken up pieces in to the soup with about 4 minutes left on your matzo ball timer. Once the noodles are done your soup is good to go! Merely scoop into bowls and let your guests season it with salt and pepper as they wish since everyone prefers a different amount -cough- Diane -cough-.

I hope you all enjoy the soup. Once I find the pictures on my external drive I will add them to this.

Forbidden Fried Rice

I know Tammy already posted a Fried Rice recipe on our blog but this one was recommended to me by my mom, and doesn't the title just sound like fun! You even use Forbidden rice, and it has lots of delicious things in it like roasted garlic and bacon making it even more of a delicacy. I can't wait to make it again. The recipe is from Food and Wine magazine so they completely deserve all the credit. I am just going to add my own tweaks to it and my mom's insights as well.

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic with the cloves peeled

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 cups black rice

2 cups of water

1/4 lean bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 cup soy sause

salt and pepper

4 scallions, chopped

First you make your garlic. You need to preheat the oven to 350 and place your garlic cloves in foil so you can wrap them up with the vegetable oil. Bake the garlic for about an hour, it depends on the oven. You want the garlic to be soft to the touch and nice and caramelized. Now food and wine says it needs to sit over night, but my mom has decided that that part does not really make a difference.

Next cover the rice with the water and bring it all to a boil. You are going to cook it over LOW heat for about 20 minutes. Remember to keep and eye on it because the rice is done once all the water is absorbed and the rice is just tender, so like al dente pasta. You will take the pot off the stove and let the rice stand for 10 more minutes. The following step is optional since my mom has discovered it doesn't make much of a difference. Food and Wine says you should spread the rice on a baking sheet and then let it cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate over night.

Then cook your bacon. Bacon is one of the simplest meat products to cook because you really just put it in a skillet and let it do its thing. Once it starts to look like it is slightly underdone from the way you like it, that is when you take it off. I know that sounds really weird but it is almost as if the bacon cooks a little bit longer between taking it out and cooling off so that it gets to be just the way you like it. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to take it off and then place the bacon on a paper towel to get off some of the grease.

Pour off the bacon grease. NOT DOWN THE DRAIN! That is bad for the sink. Get a little glass jar you dont need any more to keep the grease in so you can properly dispose of it once it is full. Then add the 2 tablespoons of oil. Add your diced onion and cook over medium heat. Stir the onions every now and then until they are nice and soft, like they are starting to caramelize. Food and Wine says about 6 minutes. In reality it depends on the stove. Then add the bacon, garlic, rice, and stir fry until everything is heated through, which takes a couple minutes. Add in the soy sauce and season with salt and pepper. Toss the scallions on top before serving and it is all done.

Yummy delicious fattening goodness. :D

Roasted Veggies

So I am annoyed as crap with work at the moment, thus making me blog....funny how that works you know. Anyways, I am sorry I haven't posted any of my food in ages. Work has had me running in circles and at the moment I am getting sick of justifying the longer hours and random work schedule to myself, so I wanted to blog about some of the fun things I have been making after my long days at work to make myself feel better.

To start we have Roasted Veggies. This is one of the simplest and most delicious ways I think you can cook vegetables and the best part is that you can use this recipe with virtually any type of veggie you want.

Ingredients:

1 lb Broccoli (or cauliflower or whatever you choose)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon pepper or spices (something for excitement!)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Chop your broccoli how you would like to eat it, that is if you want long spears cut it up like that or if you want bite size pieces cut it up like that. I always cut my broccoli kind of randomly because I think it makes roasted broccoli look better and makes it more fun to eat. Put your broccoli in an appropriately fitting baking pan. I usually use my 8X8 glass Pyrex dish merely because it almost always fits in there. Then toss the remaining ingredients over the broccoli, and toss the veggies to get the olive oil and seasoning to coat the veggies.

Put the pan in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until it is your desired tenderness. You should start to see the broccoli flowers start to brown and that is a good sign it is done. I usually mix up the veggies half way through cooking just to keep an eye on them and get them evenly seasoned and browned.

Here is what you get in the end!

Ketchup Macaroni

I made this pasta dish that my grandma would make for us a lot when we spend our summers at her house. My mom said she would use ketchup to imitate spaghetti sauce. While it tastes nothing like spaghetti, this stuff still tastes really good. She would always use elbow macaroni, but use whatever you have.

Ketchup macaroni: makes 6 servings
1 pound dry pasta
1-2 onions
1 - 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, pork, or turkey
1/4 - 1/3 cup ketchup

1. Fill up a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add some salt and cook your pasta to how you like it, about 8-10 minutes for me.

2. Slice your onions up. Heat some oil in a large pan and cook your onions. You can keep it on high for about a minute, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook your onions until nice and brown. I think it took around 10 minutes for me to cook them. Your pasta should be done around now.


3. Remove the onions from the pan. Cook the meat until browned. I separated mine into two batches, because if the meat gets crowded in the pan, all of the water comes out of the meat.


4. Put the onions, meat, and pasta into the pan and stir it around on low-medium heat. Add your ketchup and mix until everything is coated.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I felt like baking something for my coworkers because I haven't baked anything in a while. I was going to make oatmeal cookies, because I bought this bag of special oatmeal. It's a patented preparation to make the texture better...oooohh, fancy! But, I ended up making cake, because one of my coworkers was talking about how she likes soft cakes. I had this recipe saved for a while; it's about time that I made it. Incidentally, it was a green cake just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Pandan is a leaf, the juice of which is used in a lot of Vietnamese desserts.

Sorry, it's in metric...and I'm too lazy to convert it. I got it from http://roseskitchen.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/pandan-chiffon-cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake
225 grams cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
8 eggs, separated
300 grams sugar, separated in two
170 mL coconut cream
125 mL vegetable oil
2 tablespoons pandan juice
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. So the real first step is to blend 12 pandan leaves with some water and strain out the juice...I used artificial flavoring so I skipped this.

2. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder in a smallish container.



3. In a medium bowl, mix the egg yolks and 150 grams of sugar with an electric hand blender.


4. When it's mixed, add the coconut cream, oil, pandan juice and a little bit of green food coloring.


This is what I used instead of pandan juice, for reference. I tried using just one tablespoon of this stuff (it's thick and goopy) and 1 tablespoon of water.


5. Add in the sifted flour and mix well until smooth.


6. Preheat your oven to 350 right now. In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until it's foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat for another minute.


Add in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites are shiny and stiff.




7. Scoop one third of the egg whites and mix it into the batter, the way you would normally mix. Then, add the rest of the egg whites and fold it in.


Pour the batter into a greased pan. I used a bundt pan. Look how pretty and green it is!


I baked it for 40-50 minutes or until a fork inserted comes out clean. If you the pat the cake it will be light and springy.

Cinnamon Rolls

I tried making cinnamon rolls. My mom doesn't like frosting and icing, so I made them naked.


Cinnamon Rolls: makes 8 small rolls
from King Arthur Flour

Dough:
1 3/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 cup dry milk
1/4 cup instant potato flakes (weird huh? it's supposed to keep the dough moist)

Filling:
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons flour
2 teaspoons of milk for brushing

Frosting:
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons milk

1. Mix yeast with 1 tablespoon warm water and a pinch of sugar in a small cup. Let it sit for 15 minutes. If it doesn't foam up, the yeast is dead.

2. Mix all of the ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl. Mix in a stand mixer for 8 minutes on speed 2. You could also hand mix it...but I get tired of that.



3. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until it's almost doubled, about 1-2 hours. It probably wasn't a good idea to make yeast dough that day; it was cold.


4. Grease your hands and your workspace to prevent the dough from sticking. Roll or pat the dough out into a 8"x12" rectangle.

5. Brush the dough with milk and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

6. Roll the dough up and slice into eight pieces. Grease your baking pan and place the rolls inside. Cover and let it rise until puffy, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

7. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.


8. If you want to make glaze, you can either put it on while the rolls are warm, or completely cooled. If you put the glaze on with it's completely cooled, the glaze will be pretty and white. It gets translucent when poured on warm rolls.

Blog post fail...

So, I was going to post about this new bread that I tried to make. It's gluten-free, not that anyone I know has Celiac's disease, but I like to try new things. It's buttery, cheesy, and garlic-y, so I was excited to try and make it. Instead of regular flour, tapoica starch is used instead. The bread is supposed to puff up as it rises.

Here's where the recipe is from: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/02/20/gluten-free-and-lovin-it-%E2%80%93-cheese-buns-extraordinaire/

Here is how it turned out:



It was hard like a rock. XD Oh well, maybe I'll try it again later.