Recipes

Shredded Potato Casserole Recipe

 

 Cozonac - made with Brioche Recipe "5 Min a Day" Book

Chicken Pot Pie - with potatoes, chicken, peas, carrots, home made condensed soup, and homemade crust.

Little Muffin Legs.

Braided Bread crust with feta and spinach inside.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken (homemade sauce)

Cozonac Moldovenesc cu Nuca

1 kg flour
10 egg yolks
salt
250 g melted butter
2 tsp rum
2 tsp vanilla
zest of 2 large oranges
4 teaspoon yeast
1/2 liter milk

Filling:
400 g sugar
400 g nuts (crushed)
6 egg whites
3-4 tbsp coco powder
sugar to taste
rum
vanilla

Heat milk to 102 F. Divide in two half's - in one add 4 table spoons of flour and the yeast and in the other the sugar, vanilla, rum and orange peel.

In the kitchenaid, start of (low speed) with the eggs, add milk with flavorings, butter then the flour (cup by cup). After the first 3 cups add the milk and yeast mixture and continue adding the remaining flour (with a dough hook attached).

Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in it and let rise at warm temp for an hour or until doubled in size. Divide dough in 3 equal parts and then divide those in half.

Filling: Beat the egg whites and sugar until peaks form. Add coco powder and nuts.

Spread each portion out and spread the filling inside it. Roll back up and braid with it's other half (which needs to be filled and rolled the same prior).

Bake at 350 until golden brown ca. 45 min.

Pasta Salad

...with left over rotisserie chicken, tomatoes and German yogurt dressing.
...with garlic & butter croissants.

Spinace & Ricotta Stuffed Calzone

This dough I made with my typical bread recipe - here.

Ingredients:

10 oz frozen frozen spinach, thawed & squeezed of excess water.
2 cloves of minced garlic (or more if desired)
2 c whole milk ricotta cheese
3/4 cups fresh mozzarella
1/4 cups graded Parmesan
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for brushing

Directions:

1. In a pan over medium heat, saute garlic and add spinach. Heat through.

2. Mix the spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, and egg & season this with salt & pepper, to taste. Place 1/2 the filling on 1/2lb of the dough leaving a 3/4-inch border along the edge. Fold the remaining dough over the filling until the edges line up & pinch the edges together to seal. Gently roll the pinched edges under to form a decorative rim.

3. Place the calzone on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal & brush the top this with olive oil. Bake until golden brown & the center is hot & melted, 25 mins.

Papa John's Pizza Dough

I made it again, and this time I followed instructions! Wow, what a difference and how easy this dough is to make. Everyone loved it and even though it didn't taste like Papa John's exactly, it was darn close. I think it tasted much better because the ingredients were as always organic and truly fresh!

Quick Tomato Focaccia

Quick Focaccia

5 C all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur unbleached)
4 tsp SAF instant yeast
1 tsp sugar (omitted)
2 tsp salt
4 T fresh rosemary, chopped (optional)
1/2 C olive oil + more for baking
1-3/4 C warm water (about 105 - 110º)
coarse salt (omitted)
1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tsp water (omitted)

1. Place the flour, yeast, sugar, 2 teaspoons salt and half the rosemary (if using) in the food processor bowl. Process in a few bursts to mix. With the processor running, slowly add 1 cup of the water, then the 1/2 cup olive oil and finally the remaining 3/4 cup water. Process until the dough coalesces into a ball and starts riding around on the blade. Turn out on a floured board and knead a few strokes. Dough should be relatively stiff but still pliable. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place 'til doubled, about 1-1/2 hour.
2. Place the baking stone in the oven and preheat to 450º. Punch the dough down, divide into 2 balls and flatten each ball to a disk about 8 - 10 " in diameter. Place on a corn-meal covered board or peel, cover with a clean towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1/2 hour.
3. When the dough has finished the second rising, use your forefinger to poke deep dimples all over the loaf, about 1-1/2" apart. Drizzle olive oil over the loaves, scatter on the remaining rosemary (if using) and slide them onto the stone. Bake 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 375º and bake 20 - 25 minutes more, until the bread is a nice dark golden brown. Two minutes before the bread is done, brush with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with the coarse salt.
Allow to cool on a rack for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

I added 2 large cloves of garlic, minced, to the dough and topped it with a crushed tomato,garlic and basil sauce. The focaccia turned out amazing, great for sandwiches!

Late Night Snack

Ham, Honey Mustard and Brie Panini

Brush each slice of bread on one side with olive oil.
On unoiled sides of bread, spread honey mustard. Layer ham and cheese, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place panini on pre-heated grill.

Grill until golden.

Buffalo Turkey Quesadillas

Recipes For The Meal That Keeps On Giving - got the idea from the CBS early show
Buffalo Turkey Quesadillas

3 cups turkey, shredded
6 Tablespoons buffalo hot sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
6 flour tortilla's (see recipe below)
Blue cheese dressing
Celery sticks

1. In a large bowl, combine turkey with sauce and stir until evenly coated. Add cheese and toss to combine.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook quesadillas on one side - about 30 sec (see recipe below), using a spatula to turn. Once turned, start topping half of the quesadilla with the turkey cheese mixture. Flip other half side over the filling and use a weight (another pan) to compress it. Flip over after a few seconds. Repeat weight step. Cut into quarters and serve with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks on the side.


Homemade flour Tortillas:

• 2 cups of white flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup warm water

Directions:

1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and oil.
2. Slowly add warm water.
3. Stir until a loose, sticky ball forms.
4. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
5. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
6. After the dough has rested, break off six sections and roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
7. After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about 8 inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t overwork the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
8. In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.
9. Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.
10. Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame, or in the oven wrapped in foil.
11. While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.

Makes 6 tortillas.

I made Swiss cheese quesadillas for Gabriel.

Pizza

It was pizza night again. The dough, I made from warm water, yeast, salt and flour. Mix warm water and yeast, let sit for a few min. Add flour and salt until it comes together. Roll out into a thin pie and top with tomato sauce (i used canned organic), mozzarella di bufala, mushrooms etc.... if you like garlic on your pizza you can add finely sliced garlic to it before baking. So simple and good. Heat the oven and pizza stone to 500 and bake for 5-10 min until the cheese is melted. If you have time and you want a fancier pizza crust, try this recipe and let me know how it turned out. I've never tried it, but it looks darn good.

Don't bake the pizza with the fresh basil. Add basil AFTER it comes out if the oven. I turn my brain off sometimes.

The mushroom was the start of the evening.

Easy Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Be sure to use ultra ripe bananas for this. Their skins should be mottled black and they should feel soft to the touch. Using what you would normally consider to be ripe bananas will diminish the bread’s rich flavor. Get video instructions here.

Ingredients:
½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter

½ cup (3 ¾ ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar

¾ teaspoon baking soda½ teaspoon salt½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (~ 12 ounces) mashed ripe banana (3-4 medium to large bananas)

¼ cup (3 ounces) honey (I used sugar – works fine)

2 large eggs

2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat (I found that 2 cups was closer to 10 ounces – guess my whole wheat is heavy)

½ cups (2 ounces) chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

2. Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth.

3. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth.

4. Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered for 10 minutes.

5. Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Lay a piece of foil gently across the top and bake until a cake tester (like a toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more.

6. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

.

If you like the taste of whole grains, then this is a recipe for you. The bread is moist and very easy to make. What do you eat banana bread with? This is the first time I've ever had any... .

Turkish Pizza

Dough:

just under 1 tsp yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp oil

.

Topping:

2 small onions, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 pound ground beef

2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

2 tsp tomato paste

2 tsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp sumac (i used a dash of vinegar (apple cider) and the juice of 1/2 a lemon instead)

1/2 tsp cuminsalt and pepper

4-5 oz crumbled feta

Prepare dough:

1. Mix the yeast, sugar and 1 cup warm water in a mixing bowl. Add flour, salt and oil, mix slightly, then knead the dough on a floured board until smooth (2-3 minutes).

2. Shape into a ball, cover and let dough rise for about an hour.

For the Filling:

1. Heat oven to 450°.

2. Heat a skillet over medium heat, add the oil and saute the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.

3. Add a bit of oil to the skillet if needed, then cook the meat until no longer pink. Add to the bowl with the onions and garlic.

4. To the bowl, add the tomatoes, parsley, tomato paste, spices and feta, and mix it all up. Taste and adjust seasonings.

5. Divide dough into 8 portions and roll out to thin circles. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment, and place 4 dough circles on each one.

6. Spread some of the topping on the first 4, then put the baking sheet in the oven. Have 1/2 cup of cold water ready, and toss it in the bottom of the oven quickly, then shut the door.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Repeat with last 4 pieces of dough.Remove from pan to a cooling rack. Roll pizzas up to eat.

I found this recipe on this web site. These were really good, especially the dough. I will defiantly reused the dough recipe for other things. I wouldn't say that these are authentic. I lived in Germany, where on every corner there is a Turkish 'fast food' restaurant (Anadolu) and I can't say that these tasted like their Turkish pizza. Their pizza's are topped with a meat paste like mixture and they're sooo spicy. Again, these were very good though!

Pan d'Epi

I am having so much fun with this bread baking, that I just can't stop. My dough is always ready and waiting for me in the fridge and when I am out, I just quickly mix everything together for a new batch in less than 5 minutes!



I attempted making a wheat stalk bread (pan d'epi in french). You can find the complete tutorial here. I made this form the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day recipe. For the recipe click here.






* The book recommends to use a pizza peel to slide the bread in the oven easier. Mine broke during the move so I just use parchment paper. When using the parchment paper, the bottom of the bread doesn't get much color. I feel like it almost stays moist during the baking process. They recommend to remove the parchment paper during the last few minutes of baking, if you're having this problem.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Wow! I can't say enough great things about this new book I bought. What are the chances to mess up such an easy recipe? Well, I did, not once but twice...So much for following instructions.

I just finished my last loaf after 7 days in the fridge. The taste was heavenly. It tasted like genuine European bakery bread. This method is so easy, a six year old could do it. The book has so many great bread and desert recipes in it that are all based on the same concept, no kneading but refrigerating. I will NEVER bake bread any other way or buy bread from the grocery store again!

3 cups warm water - 100 degrees warm

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough
Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.
Yield: 4 loaves.

Herb Focaccia

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups unbleached flour, + more for kneading
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary

Topping:
Gruyere Cheese
1/2 tbsp rosemary dipped in olive oil for drizzling


Directions:

In your measuring cup mix the yeast with 1/4 cup of lukewarm water. Let it stand for 10 min until creamy. Stir in the remaining lukewarm water and the olive oil. Transfer the mixture to your food processor. Add 1 cup of the flour and the salt and zap until smooth. Add the thyme and rosemary and mix well, then add remaining 1 cup of flour gradually until dough comes together in rough mass.


On a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough until smooth and velvety, 8-10 min. It will be soft. Lightly oil a bowl, please the dough in it and turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. The dough will double in size (or triple)


Divide the dough in two and knead briefly. Lightly oil an 8 inch round cake pan and place dough in it. Stretch gently to achieve an even thickness. Cover with a kitchen towel, move to a warm place and let rise, until soft and puffy, for about 40 min.

Preheat oven to 475 F.




Using fingertips, dimple the dough in several places, leaving indentations about 1/2inch deep. Cover with towel and let dough rise in a warm place for another 20 min.

Top the risen dough evenly with Gruyere cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle the top with the olive oil mixture (be sure not to use too much oil, just enough to moisten the dough). Cook for 15 or until golden.

Brötchen (German Rolls)

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2-3 cups unbleached flour
2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oil
1 cup warm water
1 egg white

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 deg.F. Pour 2 1/2 cups flour into a large bowl and form a well in the center.

2. In a separate container, mix yeast, sugar, and two tablespoons water (water comes from the 1 cup above). Pour yeast mixture into the well but do not mix with the flour at this time. Cover bowl with a cloth and set it in a warm place for 15 minute to rise.

3. Add remaining water and oil and beat until mixed. Turn dough out onto counter and knead until smooth. Adding remaining 1/2 cup flour as needed. Put dough in bowl, cover and let rise until double in size. (about 30-40 min).

4. Punch down and divide dough into 12 parts. Cover and let rise until double in size.
5. Beat egg white and 1 tsp water with a fork until frothy and brush onto rolls. (I didn't)
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

I always try to imitate the German Sandwiches (not with much luck). I topped mine with salami, egg, cucumber, the remoulade and lettuce.