That's what those ramekins are for...

So, I decided to bake cookies this weekend. I am inspired to keep a full cookie jar in my home. I gather all my ingredients, all my utensils, and appliances and get to work. Now it is true that we have tons of "accessories" for cooking, hey everyone needs to make money somewhere, right?

I have measured and mixed my flour, baking soda and salt and it sits on the side while I take to the sugars and butter. I cream that like nobody's business, it looks like perfection. I add an egg, very good. Then I add the other egg, well sort of, I added the whole egg SHELL AND ALL! The egg slipped from my little palm and right into the KITCHEN AID mixer. CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH it went! Sugar, butter and crushed eggshells. Are you kidding me?

Then it occurred to me, that is why they have those little bowls. The ramekins are used for this. That is why Martha has them, Mario has them, even Lydia has them. You know when I started over I put the eggs into RAMEKINS. The second time it worked out just fine and the cookies came out AMAZING!

I know this was not the worst recipe ever but it was a HUGE blunder in the kitchen.

Excuses and Inspiration

Ok, so I admit these two things:

1. It's been a terribly long time since I last posted on this blog
2. This post is going to end up with an incredibly good recipe rather than a disaster.

Now that we got #1 out of the way, we just don't need to talk about that anymore.

As for #2, you must be wondering how the heck I am going to justify on the "WORST" Recipe Ever to post a cooking success. Well, let me start at the beginning....

Last week my mom came out to California for a visit. Not only did we have fun together shopping and what not, but we ate incredible food AND drank tons of incredible wines up in Sonoma County for a couple of days. Inspired by extreme yumminess and suffering from tired feet walking around Santa Cruz all day, we ended up at the movie theatre to watch the movie "Julie & Julia". I might add, it was a GREAT MOVIE and totally got us both wanting to hop in the kitchen and eat some french food. As a matter of fact, we hit the bookstore immediately after and got both Julie Powell's book (that the movie was based on) and Julia's autobiography to read.

Anyway...no french food was to be had on the remainder of Mom's visit. Later in the week, I was pondering what I could do for Rosh Hashana (unknown due to last cancellation of my trip to Australia which would have put me on a plane for Rosh Hashana - don't ask, the cancellation is a bit of a story). Anyway, I figured, in the least I would make a nice meal for myself and whomever I could convince to come by, which ended up being noone (that's what happens when plans are last minute!)

I still had leftover potatoes from the Phoenix Fire Festival this summer that I had intended on using for Potato Kugel. What better time than Rosh Hashana to make Potato Kugel! Now, my family usually has Pot Roast (Brisket) on the holidays. Being low on funds as I am.... I saw that stew meat was cheaper and went for that instead. I also got some mushroom and carrots for the stew and figured some of those extra potatoes can go in a hearty beef stew.

Next step: Hmmmm, what stew recipe should I make? After some deep research (in my cookbooks and on epicurious.com) it occurred to me that I had available all the makings for Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguinon. Hey, why not? I was still feeling inspired by the movie.

Now, according to Julie Powell's story, when she first went to make Boeuf Bourguinon, for a special dinner guest as it happens, she fell asleep when it was in the oven and woke up too late. Hence "Worst.Recipe.Ever" incident. (and my sneaky tie-in to the theme of this blog!) I started earlier in the day so nothing to worry about.

I made the potato Kugel first, which was a piece of cake: blender the ingredients, put them in a pan and bake! That had to bake a couple of hours and I realized I needed to get a bottle of wine for the Bourguinon. So, I did risk leaving the house with the oven on to go get wine. I thought, "this will be a quick trip, just for a bottle of wine and back, no problem! The kugel will be done just in time!" Well......let's just say there was road paving and a huge detour half way across Santa Cruz just to get to TJ's for a Two-Buck-Chuck bottle of wine! I got home and the house was still standing. The kugel came out to perfection!


Next was the Boeuf Bourguinon. I'll give you the recipe (which actually is like a few different recipes) at the end. One of my issues of Cook's Illustrated had a Beef Burgundy as well and there were a few thoughts and ideas in there which I used to augment Julia's recipe. I also used celery (which is not in the original recipe) and more veggies than she originally said. I halved the recipe and it still made a lot, so consider what company you might have when you make this. I know that tackling one of Julia's French Cooking recipes may seem daunting and you think you want to be prepared to wash dishes for a week when you are done. In reality, this dish only needs one pan and one stockpot. Easy Breezy. What I notice about Julia Child, and Julie Powell and really, most cooks, is that we have the ability to work with what we have and still make something delicious. So, there were things in this recipe that I didn't do exactly, like I didn't have pearl onions but I had half a large sweet onion so braised that instead. I only had one tomato around the house and so that was good enough for a half recipe. Basically, use your judgment and do you best to avoid ranking yourself amongst the "Worst.Recipe.Ever" and if it does indeed end up being a disaster.....

Laugh at yourself, clean up and go get take out!

I had a brief moment when I took the Bourguinon out of the oven that I thought it was going to be a disaster and taste like crap. The meat didn't taste like much and the broth was bland and flavorless, which was shocking considering an entire bottle of red wine was in there. Luckily, the recipe does not stop with taking it out of the oven. You have to strain it and reduce the broth significantly down then add Buerre Manie which is basically flour and butter mixed into a paste. I poured it back on to the meat and veggies and all I can say is...

OH MY GODDESS....DIVINENESS had been tasted! Yum!

So, here are the recipes for both the Kugel and the Boeuf Bourguinon:

Easy Blender Potato Kugel (from "The Spice and Spirit of Kosher-Jewish Cooking")
5-6 medium potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, diced
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup melted margarine
1/3 cup flour
(I also added some garlic powder to taste and a sprinkling of dry chicken broth powder)

Blend all the ingredients until the potatoes are finely ground, or approximately two minutes
Pour into pre-heated, lightly oiled 9" round or loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees or until golden brown, about 1 1/2-2 hours. When doubling recipe use 9"x13" pan. (I used a 9" square glass pan)

Beouf Bourguinon (serves 6-8 and takes about 2 1/2 hours to cook)

Optional but traditional: 6 ounces blanched bacon lardons* (see note)
2-3 Tablespoons cooking oil
about 4lbs trimmed beef chuck, cut into 2" cubes
Salt and pepper
2 cups, sliced onions (small)
1 cup, sliced carrots (small)
1 bottle red wine (use something fruity and not too oaky or too much tannins)
2 cups of beef stock/broth (or any broth, I used chicken)
1 cup, chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)
1 medium herb bouquet** (see note)
Beurre Manie for the sauce *** (see note)
24 brown-braised small white onions **** (see note)
3 cups sauteed quartered mushrooms *****(see note)

1. If using the bacon, saute them to brown lightly in a little oil in a skillet. Set them aside to add to the beef later.

2. Make sure your cubed chunks of meat are really really REALLY dry, then season with salt and pepper. Brown the chunks of meat in the same pan on all sides in hot oil. Get the pan of oil really hot before adding the meat and do it in batches so that the meat has room in the pan. This is really important for good browning. Remove the meat to your StockPot or Casserole Pot (be sure whatever you use is oven safe)

3. Remove some of the fat from the pan so that it is just coated. Add sliced veggies and brown them. (I also added sliced celery to this step, an equal amount to your carrots). Add the veggies to the pot with the meat.

4. Deglaze your pan with the wine, then pour that into the pot with the meat and veggies. Yes, use all the wine. Yes, the entire bottle!

5. Add the bacon back into the pot, pour in enough stock/broth to cover all the meat and veggies, stir in the tomatoes and add the herb bouquet. (I also added some whole baby carrots and larger chunks of 3-4 more celery stalks)

6. Bring this mixture to a simmer, cover, and then simmer slowly either on the stove or in a preheated 325 degree oven until the meat is tender - eat a little piece to check. (it should fall right apart and not be chewy - could take as long as 2 1/2-3 hours.

7. While that is in the oven, you can do the onions and mushrooms as well as prep the Beurre Manie.

8. Take pot out of the oven and pour the entire thing through a strainer, emptying the liquid into a saucepan and return the meat to the original stock pot. Press the juices out of the residue into the cooking liquid.

9. Boil down the liquid to about 3 cups. (this is where I added a dash of soy sauce and a dash of good quality Balsamic vinegar) Off heat, whisk in the Beurre Manie, then simmer for 2 minutes as the sauce thickens slightly.

10. Correct any seasoning that you need to and pour the sauce back over the meat. Fold in the onions and mushrooms as well.

SERVE!
NOTES:
* Bacon Lardons: Bacon is supposed to be blanched. I used sliced bacon and followed the instructions to remove some of the salty/smoky taste: Drop 6-8 slices of bacon into 2 quarts of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer 6-8 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water adn dry on paper towels. Chop up into smaller pieces to brown

**Herb Bouquet: for a large herb bouquet, tie 8 parsley sprigs, 1 large imported bay leaf, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 4 whole cloves of smashed unpeeled garlic together in washed cheesecloth. (i used fresh parsley, fresh thyme sprigs, and dried bay leaves. I put the garlic straight into the pot untied. I used medical gauze (didn't have cheesecloth!)

***Beurre Manie: 3 Tablespoons of flour blended to a paste with 2 Tablespoons of butter (you may need to warm up or melt the butter so its soft enough)

****Braised Onions: Saute peeled onions in one layer in butter and oil until colored brown. Then arrange in 1 layer in a saucepan with chicken stock or water to come halfway up. Add 1 Tablespoon of butter, season lightly with salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until tender. (Honestly, I had a half a sliced onion that I sauteed in butter and whatever oil was still in my pan from the beef until browned)

*****Sauteed Mushrooms: Heat 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil in a frying pan. When butter foam is subsiding, turn in the mushrooms. Saute for several minutes, tossing frequently as the butter is absorbed and then reappears on the ssurface when the mushrooms begin to brown. Toss in 1/2 Tablespoon of chopped shallots, season with salt and pepper and saute another 30 seconds. (HOnestly, I did this in the pan that I had from the meat, when the mushrooms had absorbed the butter and oil, i added the sliced onions from above and finished them all together)

As I said....do what works and ENJOY!

Oh yeah...... Don't forget the dishes! (hmm, maybe that's why its helpful to invite some guests......)

Tuna, or is it Casserole?

I just though of this funny little story to share. For any of you that might ever be in the vicinity of Corey and I when we talk about cooking, we may start to crack up at a reference to "Tuna Casserole".

I am hoping that he can, maybe fill in more details, but what I remember is that he had made a lovely birthday dinner for a friend of ours (way back in the high school/early college days). This is actually a great story of how the whole 'telephone game' can work or, in this case, not work.

If I recall correctly, another one of our friends was telling me about this magnificent dinner he had made and some how translated in her mind a Tuna dinner - as in a piece of tuna acoompanied by other wonderful foods, into good, ole' fashioned, down-home tuna casserole.

Now, the way my grandma makes tuna casserole, which I love, by the way, is with canned tuna. Knowing Corey, the gourmet cook he is, that is about as far as one could get from the beautiful meal I am sure he prepared for our friend!

To this day, when we are talking cooking and mention of tuna comes up, we both crack up and think "Tuna Casserole!"

Brownies anyone?

Ok, so this isn't quite a "worst" recipe, but I just had to share.

This weekend I made some brownies, yes from a box (but a REALLY GOOD box!) from Trader Joe's if anyone needs to know. Something came over me, possibly that the thought of using an entire stick of butter, AND my last stick of butter at that, was too hard to swallow. So, I replaced half the butter with coconut oil and also greased my pan with coconut oil.

YUMMY!

As one friend pointed out, they tasted almost like a Mounds or Almond Joy candy bar!

HOWEVER, for future reference, should you try this little technique, I highly recommend using less total oil than the recipe calls for because they are a bit on the greasy side.



I brought the leftover brownies to the office to share and one of our bookkeepers, who keeps a gluten free diet, directed me to this amazing brownie recipe made with -- of all things -- BLACK BEANS!! I will have to try this sometime, she says that they come out fantastic! Here is a link to the recipe: Amazing Black Bean Brownies. I am hoping our 'test kitchen' (Ahem, Karen) will try these out.



As a result of this discovery, you can now enjoy other fine recipes from 101Cookbooks.com by clicking on the link on the right of this page. In addition, Hannah will be one of our new authors for this blog.

Which, reminds me....Hey you Worst.Recipe.Ever bloggers, haven't seen any of you post recently!!!

Worst Recipe Ever - Saved!

About a year ago, at this time, I truly did make a Worst.Recipe.Ever. It was another one of those recipes cut out from a magazine that looked and sounded great, that is, until I did one little ingredient replacement and then the whole thing went south. Very south. The Deep south.

I guess in retrospect, the recipe was not the worst, it was the ingredient that was the worst for that recipe. I had made a French Pumpkin Soup, recipe found HERE on my facebook recipe binder. This recipe specifically calls for a Rouge vif D'Etamps pumpkin (otherwise known as a "Cinderella Pumpkin" - different fron "Fairytale" pumpkins). I was not interested in hunting down a special pumpkin and figured I could cook this soup in any old pumpkin - WRONG!!! It was simply put, disgusting!

This year...... I felt inspired. Having driven around parts of Santa Cruz county and on 92 near Half Moon Bay (where there are lots of pumpkin farms) I felt like it could not be too terribly difficult to find this fancy pumpkin. I ended up on the internet, which by the way, has very little out there about this special pumpkin, and I found Crystal Bay Farm in Watsonville. I wrote to Jeff and Lori and Jeff responded that indeed he had a few Rouge pumpkins left and some suggestions for other varieties that might work.

Off I went to Crystal Bay Farm, which is beautiful and has a fantastic honor system farm stand and found my pumpkin. It was 14 pounds which was a little larger than the recipe calls for. That weekend I made my soup, yet again, praying and hoping, that it came out better.

AND....OH MY! It did! So, although this recipe started out as a Worst.Recipe.Ever, it has now graduated to full yumminess. The pumpkin simply melted into the soup and even the stringy bits were tasty, almost like a spaghetti squash. In order to make it edible for the vegetarians in my household I swapped out the Chicken Broth for Veggie broth which was delicious.

There really is not much healthy in this recipe, between the shredded cheese and full stick of butter, but it is worth it. In addition, cooked in the pumpkin, it makes a beautiful soup tureen serving piece worthy of any holiday table. Try it out!

Eating Cardboard

Well, it is that time of year again -- Passover!

And now, you know how I come to titling this blog, "Eating Cardboard." Granted, I do like matzah, but after the first few days, it starts to feel like it is sticking to my insides.

This brings me to one of my more favorite cooking disaster stories: Dad Bakes the Passover Kugels.

In my family, we make these muffin/popover type rolls, that are kosher for passover, that we call Kugels. I don't know where the recipe that we use comes from, however we eat these on passover as long as I can remember.


Once upon a time, in a land far far away...... oh, ok, in Hackensack, NJ. Anyway, my dad was living in his Hackensack apt. not long after having moved out on his own. Here he was at Passover time and it was time to make his own Kugels. First of all, he thought, "I love these Kugels, I'm a big guy, I think I'll make them in a Texas-sized muffin tin!" So, dad called his mom, my Nanni, for the recipe and away he went!

By the time my sister and I came to visit that weekend, he had tried 2 or 3 times and each time they came out disgusting. He couldn't figure out why. So, I tasted one...indeed, they were GROSS! So, I went through the recipe and ingredients with him, he had it all correct. I went through the quantities and steps, it all seemed correct. Then I started to look at his ingredients, one by one...maybe the butter had gone bad.....hmmm. I finally got to the salt and out of his bare 'bachelor-pad' cabinets, he pulls out the jar of salt he used - a potassium salt substitute!

Of course, the first time the recipe went bad, he added more salt becuase it tasted bland. As he added more and more each time, he was simply enhancing the bitterness of the salt substitute.

So, lesson learned: when baking, don't substitute sodium chloride with potassium chloride -- ue the real thing!

This does make me wonder about other substitutes that we use - for wheat flour, for sugar, egg beaters for real eggs. When do we get to the point where we are not eating anything that is 'real' anymore? Can we even call it food at that point?

What are your thoughts on food substitutes - either good ones to use or on substituting for the 'real thing' in general?

Here is the correct recipe for The Wiener Family Passover Kugels:

4c Matzo Farfel (basically little broken up matzo crumbs)
2c lukewarm water
2 tbs oil or melted butter (or shmaltz like my grandma would use!)
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Soak the Farfel in the water for about 15 minutes (make sure it is evenly mixed together). Beat the eggs well and add to the soaked farfel with the oil. Salt and Pepper to taste (i reccomend slightly over salting WITH REAL SALT!). I also add a little hint of onion powder. Grease muffin tins and fill about 2/3 high. Bake for about an hour until golden brown and crisp on the outside.

Best eaten straight out of the oven!

Chag Sameach(joyous festival), have a blessed spring and year!

Scary, Yet True

Shockingly, there was a time where I might have made a Hamburger Helper meal for dinner - ugh!

I would usually get some cheese version which would approximate macaroni and cheese with ground meat thrown in. Not too bad considering I grew up with Kraft Mac & Cheese with hotdog slices for dinner on Saturday nights.

Anyway, my ex-husband liked all things Stroganoff, which for some reason always seemed gross to me - a creamy milky sauce with meat mixed in - but I went along anyway and got the Stroganoff version of Hamburger Helper.

I don't know if any of you folks out there have made this food-like substance before, but Hamburger Helper is far from attractive when you first add the mix of pasta & seasoning into the pan with water and the browned ground meat. It looks disgusting, almost barf-like in quality. Stroganoff, for some reason, looked extra gross with that powdered milky seasoning that would eventually transform into a tasty sauce.

Well, for some reason, I had to pick up this large pan of partially cooked, still in the barf-looking-phase, stroganoff hamburger helper to move it and halfway across the open kitchen floor I mistakenly tipped the pan and spilt the contents over the kitchen floor. Talk about looking like I just lost my dinner!

I remember looking up into the dining room and seeing the look on my husband's face. I imagine my look of shock was quite similar.

Honey, let's order a pizza?