Project 18: You cannot touch the MANGO! - Mango/Strawberry Freezer Jam

I've never made jam before.  I like jam.  Two problems with a common solution!

Actually, I don't eat a lot of jam.  If I'm going to eat a peanut butter sandwich, I usually choose creamed honey to go on it.  However, last year a friend of mine who wins lots of awards at county fairs for her jam making skills hooked me up with a variety pack of home-made jams.  I realized then that it was store-bought jam that was really inferior to honey, and that there might be a place in my heart for good jam.

So I've been planning on trying my hand at some jam making.  It just so happened that my wife was planning on doing the same thing as a fun activity for the little blonde one, so, again, two problems with one solution!

Kendra had decided on making mango jam.  This surprised me since we've never bought mangos before in our lives.  But I was game, so we set some time aside and I started cutting them up.

Cutting mangos up sucks.  They have a big teardrop shaped pit in the middle, but it's not like a peach pit, where you can tear it out at some point.  You have to carefully cut all the way around the mango pit instead.  Bleah. It's also HUGE.  After peeling and pitting, I was surprised how little mango there was in our mangos.  Also, they were kind of weird mangos.  They weren't green and round, they were kind of yellow and pear shaped.

Once the mangos were cut up, my daughter went to town pounding them with a potato masher.  It's so great to watch her get interested in cooking and helping out!

This is not fancy cooked jam.  This is freezer jam, and it's made with a box of pectin, and basically from the box instructions.  However, jam is a somewhat tricky thing because of how pectin interacts with fruits, etc.  You need the amounts to be close to what the instructions ask for or else your jam won't set, for example.

After we mushed all the mangos we found that we didn't really have as much as the recipe required, so my wife suggested that we make up the difference with strawberries.  That actually sounded pretty good, so we got some out and started mashing them, too!

Then we added the sugar, lemon juice, and pectin,mixed it up, and let it sit for a while to make sure they incorporated properly.

Since it was freezer jam, that was about it.  We put it in Tupperware and some went in the fridge and the rest into the freezer!

Results:  Good!  It's got a very nice balance of flavors with mango and strawberry.  I can recommend it if you like those flavors at all.  I'd eat more of it, but, as you'll see in the next post, my jam adventures continued quickly!

Project 17: Another smooshed sandwich!

I actually did this project back in May, but didn't get around to posting it.  Shame on me!

The concept was pretty simple; repeat the experiment I had already done, but with a twist.  A couple of weeks after I did my shooter, a friend of mine had entirely independently made a shooter sandwich and posted about it, but he made it with breakfast food.  Since I love breakfast meats and eggs, I decided to riff on his design and see if it might turn out better than the steak one.

I started, as before, with a nice loaf of bread.  I got it at a little bakery in Seattle, and it was delicious!  I hollowed it out and put in a thick layer of thick cut pepper bacon.  I *accidently* made too much bacon, so I had to eat the extra.  Woe is me!

The next layer was scrambled eggs.  I cooked them with some cheddar cheese for extra goodness and they came out very well.  The black bits are from cooking them in some of the bacon fat.

My friend was a little fancier with his eggs and went with what was basically a spinach and gruyere cheese omelet. That sounds tasty, but I honestly don't think that kind of delicate taste is going to stand up very well to pepper bacon and the next ingredient.

Sausage!  This is just plain old crumbled pork sausage.  YUM! (a bit blurry, though.)

Then it was time to cap it, wrap it, and crush it!  The final result was:

Results - Great!  Much better than the steak.  It was basically a real foody version of a standard breakfast sandwich.  All the flavors worked well together, and the tasty bread was a hit!  If only I can get my bread to come out like that...  I liked having both the sausage and the bacon in this.  They have different flavors that obviously go well together.  The cheese in the eggs came through, as well.

I will definitely consider making more of these for special occasions; maybe for camping or a road trip!

Back in the Saddle!

Hello, all!

It's been a busy couple of months for cooking.  I've been just generally really busy and haven't had the time or energy to devote to my lofty goal of a new recipe every week.  This makes me sad, but it is what it is.

However, I will still be cooking and posting what I get up to here!  In fact, I have a bit of a backlog already, so let's get to it!

Project 16: You say Potato... Latke!

Welcome back!  Given that I'm behind my "recipe a week" schedule, I'm changing the format to be by "project."  I'm still committed to doing at least 52 new recipes this year, but this month is CRAZY, and the crazy might continue, so I'll fit them in when I can.

That said, let's talk about spuds!  I'm a big fan.  I just can't get enough of any relation to deadly nightshade!  They are especially delicious fried!  In that spirit I decided to try to make potato pancakes.  I've tried before with mashed potatoes with bad results.  I may try that again at some point, but in the spirit of trying new things I started doing research on various types of potato pancakes, and came across latkes.  I found a recipe that seemed simple and delicious, and it was off to the store!  (I also picked up some stuff for a couple other projects... stay tuned!)

Potatos, onions, and some sour cream.  No problem!

Following the recipe, I grated the potatoes and put them in water.  Then drained them and mixed in the onion.  Next was the towel!

I was surprised at how well the towel technique worked.  It didn't just remove the water the potatoes were soaking in, it also make the potatoes dryer in general, so they fried better.

I mixed in the single egg.  I read a few other recipes that required more eggs but they almost all had comments about how "eggy" they ended up being.  As it turned out, one egg was plenty.  The latkes held together well.

The recipe calls for using "two tablespoons" of the mixture, but I guesstimated.  I used a large spoon and heaped it on.  I dumped it into the skillet which contained about 1/4 cup of olive oil.  That was about the perfect amount for two latkes to cook easily.  I could have fit more, but I wanted to make sure they were separated.  Over the course of cooking them all I added about another full 3/8 cup of oil.  After dumping I pressed them down into more of a cake, but not too thin.  You want them to have enough of a "weave"to help it all hold together.

I cooked them over medium heat after first taking the pan up to medium high.  Cooking for about 5 minutes browned one side, after which I flipped them and cooked the other side for about the same amount of time.  That was about perfect for this size.  Then I took them out and set them on paper towels to dry.

This one was the first.  Later ones were a little more cooked and crispy, but this gives a good idea of what they are like.

Results: Delicious!  A+++ Will make again!

Plain, they are pretty much hash browns (which I love) but only the crispiest parts of the hash browns (which I love.)  They have a nice onion flavor which you can sometimes get in good hashbrown places (which I love.)  The olive oil also gives them a slightly different flavor, which I liked.

I also tried them with the traditional topping of sour cream.  It tasted a lot like a good potato chip with some French onion dip.  In other word, delicious!

I did not go so far as to try them with applesauce (another traditional topping,) but that was largely because I was enjoying them the other ways so much, and because I didn't have any.

I was very sorely tempted to try them with ketchup and hot sauce, though.  Maybe next time.

I will be making these again, for sure, soon.

There's been a delay!

Hello!  As you may have noticed (or not,) I didn't post a recipe from last week.  That's because my life got turned up to 11 recently.  I'm crazy busy with work, family, and other things.  I hate that excuse.  Cooking doesn't really take that long, but research, shopping, and cooking sometimes does.

Rest assured that I will do everything I can to catch up!  (Although this is Easter Weekend, so who knows what I'll get to.)

Week 15: Harry's Weekend Treat: Butterbeer Cupcakes

I seem to be on a roll with the desserts lately and this week was no exception.  However, I decided I needed to step up my game a notch or two, so instead of simply mixing some ingredients, I went all out with trying my hand at the delicate art of cupcake making!

Not that difficult you say?  How about a cupcake with homemade buttercream frosting?!  Still not enough?  How about home made ganache as well?  Injected into the cupcake!?  Now how much would you pay?

Not only all of that, but it's even themed!  It's based on the butterbeer that they serve at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida.  I've never been, but I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, so cupcakes based on a fictional drink that they serve at a theme park has to be good!

I saw this recipe on boingboing.net or maybe neatorama.  It sounded tasty and I liked the idea of injecting butterscotch into the heart of the cupcake for a bit of extra kick.  Plus, I want to practice my icing skills.  Win-win!

All of the ingredients were easy to find in the local store, so it was just a matter of making it!

It seemed like the biggest time sink would be waiting for the ganache to cool, so I started with that.  It's dead simple.  Pour a bag of butterscotch chips into a double boiler with a cup of heavy cream and heat it and stir until it's all mixed together.  My only recommendation might be to cut back on the cream or use more chips because my sauce came out very thin.  The blogger said it would, but even thinner than I thought it should.  I had some issues later because of it.

Then, while that was cooling I started making the cupcake batter (after turning on the oven to pre-heat.)  I mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with some help from an adorable little blonde girl.  Making fluffy butter by beating it rapidly is always fun.  Then adding the two sugars, followed by the eggs is old hat by now.

Butter flavoring is a bit of a surprise.  I didn't even know they made such a thing.  I must try it on popcorn later.

The recipe calls for "alternating" the buttermilk, cream soda, and flour mixture.  I'm not at all sure what that means so I faked it.  I cut both of the wet ingredients into two parts and then added them in turn with flour in between each.  It seemed to work fine.

Once it was all together, I spooned it into paper cupcake cups and put it in the 350 degree oven.

It filled about 14 regular cupcake cups and 4 mini-cupcake cups.  I baked it for 15 minutes and checked, but it wasn't quite ready.  It took about 18 minutes total in my oven.

While they were baking I made the frosting.  Yum!  Butter, butterscotch, vanilla, butter flavoring, and almost a pound of powdered sugar.  I say again, Yum!  I didn't end up using a full pound of powdered sugar.  I was probably about a cup short of that when the frosting looked and tasted right to me.  I had my wife try it and she said "It tastes like canned frosting."  I may have said something unkind at that point.  I don't really recall.  In any case, I disagree.  It did kind of remind me of canned frosting right after I made it, but after it had sat a little while it actually got much better.  Maybe it needed to rest like a steak.

I next used a plastic condiment bottle as suggested in the recipe to inject some extra butterscotch into the heart of the cupcakes.  This is one of the places that I think showed that my ganache was too thin.  It worked perfectly fine, but in the end the liquid just got absorbed by the cupcake.  I was expecting more of a little butterscotch syrup ball in the middle and was somewhat disappointed. I may try it next time with more of a syrup.

I used a strange little device that looked like an accordion to frost these.  It worked well, but only held enough frosting for two cakes at a time and was a pain to reload.  Next time I'll use a bag.  They look funny but I got some good icing practice in.

Then I put some more of the ganache on top as a decoration.  Here is where the thinness really hurt.  I made pretty spirals and shapes that dissolved into puddles almost instantly.  Thicker would have been better.

Result:  YUM!  The cake part came out good, but the frosting is amazing!  Possibly because of the combination of cake and frosting, but amazing in any case.  The ganache in the middle doesn't add much in my opinion. I definitely think it's a nice change from chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and will probably make them again for a party or something.  I recommend them highly!

Week 14: Double Stuff Stuffed Cookies

I'm behind on the blogging, but up to date on the cooking.  Although, really, this latest entry is hardly much of that.  When I decided to do it, I thought it might be more challenging or come out a lot different.  But this is going to be a short one!

In any case, the project this week was a double stuff Oreo inside a chocolate chip cookie.  That's the place I first saw them, but if you Google it you will find them everywhere.  It certainly sounded like something that might be interesting to do.  I've made odd things like deep fried McDonald's cheeseburgers (tasty) which come out quite unlike you would expect, and I was hoping that there would be some of that magic cooking effect here.

So I got all the stuff to make chocolate chip cookies and I got some double stuff Oreos.  Everyone knows how to make the cookie dough, I'm sure.

The only bit that is even slightly interesting is wrapping up the Oreo in dough.  The first batch I used too much dough and the cookies spread like crazy.  For the second I used just barely enough to coat the Oreo and they came out much more compact.

Results:  Interesting.  I like them, but I'm not sure I like them more than the individual components.  The tastes do blend together well, but almost too well.  You almost have to think about it to notice it's not just a chocolate chip cookie, but if you do think about it, the flavor is more complex.

OK, enough of this easy stuff.  I'm going to have to get more creative this week.