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Friday, July 30, 2010

Guacamole

Do you or some of your family like guacamole? Then try out this tried and tasty recipe!

3 Avocados
1 Tbl. Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 Jalapeño minced
1 clove of Garlic minced
1/2 Onion minced
2 Roma tomatoes seeded and chopped
1 Tbl. Cilantro chopped
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Cayenne
1/2 tsp. Cumin 
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mash avocado with potato masher till smooth but with some chunks. Soak in lime juice.
Drain but save lime juice for later use. 
Add rest of ingredients then add salt, cayenne, and cumin. 
Cover and let sit on counter for 1 hour then add salt and pepper and more lime to taste. 
Cover and place in fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Mango Avocado Salsa

This Salsa recipe was a big hit at a bridal shower this last month so I thought everyone would enjoy adding this one to they're recipe book.

1 Mango diced (make sure it's ripe)
1 Avocado diced
4 med. Tomatoes diced
1 Jalapeño minced
1/2 c.  Cilantro chopped
3 Garlic cloves minced
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. Lime juice
1/4 c. Red Onion chopped
3 Tbl. Olive oil

Stir together first 6 ingredients then add the rest. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour  before serving.

Red Salsa Fresco

This is an all-time favorite in our house and many others have wanted the recipe, so I thought I'd post it for all to share! It's not hot but if you like to have a bit more kick just add an extra half to whole Jalapeño and more pepper.  
It's gluten free, dairy free, egg free, preservative free, but not taste free! Enjoy!

2 lg. Tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 lg. Onion minced
1/2 tsp. Garlic minced (you can add more I've found 3 medium cloves does well)
1 Jalapeño, seeded and minced
1/4 cup Cilantro chopped
1-1/2 Tbl. Fresh Lime juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

Stir together. Cover and place in fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Shortbread cookies 1-2-3

Another article I read that was good. No I have not read the book yet but I want to, tell me if you do or have....

Food writer Michael Ruhlman's book, Ratio, might just free you from cookbooks forever. Instead of relying on recipes, Ruhlman breaks down cooking into easy-to-understand ratios of ingredients, a method he says allows for more creativity in the kitchen. "When you know a ratio, you don't know a single recipe, you know a thousand," he says. Once you've mastered the basics, you're free to start experimenting by adding or subtracting flavors.
1-2-3 SHORTBREAD COOKIE RATIO: 1 part fat: 2 parts sugar: 3 parts flour


If you're ready to dive into the world of baking ratios, Ruhlman's 1-2-3 cookie dough is the logical place to start. "The dough is easy to remember, easy to make, and allows you to make one cookie or three dozen " he says. In fact, he calls this product of this dough "the essence-of-a-cookie" cookie: "One you know this dough, you really see how cookies work."

On its own, the combination of one part fat, two parts sugar, and three parts flour bakes up into a crisp, buttery shortbread with just a hint of sweetness. It's the kind of cookie that's perfect with tea, or as an after-dinner treat for an adult crowd who appreciates its sophistication. But the real genius of this dough is its simplicity: Because the flavors are so basic, the cookie can be endlessly modified. Doing one of three things-changing the flavor, swapping an ingredient or altering the proportion of flour-will net a different result, giving you literally hundreds of different cookies options.

Where to begin? Add almond or vanilla extract. Try brown sugar in place of white. Swirl in a dollop of peanut butter. Throw in nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. Sprinkle in some cinnamon or nutmeg. Experiment with eggs and baking powder-they'll give the cookie a lighter crumb. Don't be afraid to try new combinations, Ruhlman says.

But if you're going to stick close to the original ratio, he advises would-be bakers to pay attention to the quality of your ingredients, especially the butter. "If you want to splurge on Plugra, it's going to be a better cookie, " he says, "but I think the most important part is to use fresh butter. Butter has a tendency to pick up odors from the refrigerator, so you want a clean, fresh-tasting butter."

After that, whipping up these cookies is as simple as one, two, three.

Samantha

Cooking Without Measuring

An article I read that I thought was really good.....

Cooking Without Measuring

Several years ago I was following a James Beard recipe for cornbread that called for two tablespoons of salt, which, even to me, a salt fiend, seemed like too much. But this was James Beard on cornbread, practically the master and his muse, and so I did what the recipe told me to, despite my qualms.


Guess what? It was too salty, way too salty, even for me. I assume it was a typo. The inedible cornbread, however, turned out to be a blessing in disguise: It gave me the confidence to question and modify recipes. In time, this led to eyeballing measurements and relying more on common sense, instinct, and tasting than on slavish direction following. Last Thanksgiving I went so far as to cook the entire meal, appetizer to dessert, without measuring or closely following any recipes. It was the most relaxing holiday meal I have ever made.


Cooking without measuring (or even using a recipe) is as old as cooking itself. Grandmothers did it for centuries, but somehow we of recent generations have lacked the kitchen confidence or culinary know-how to pull it off. Of course, this kind of learning happened more naturally when kids grew up watching their mothers and grandmothers in the kitchen improvising. The last decade or two of celebrity chefs as gods and cookbooks as their bibles have, in some ways, made home cooks more dependent on recipes and measuring rather than less.


"A lot of people measure and expect it to be perfect at the end. They're afraid to taste and trust what they're tasting. But it's all up to your taste buds, so you have to taste as you go and trust your own taste," says Diane Forley, the former chef-owner of the two-star Manhattan restaurant Verbena, and now the chef/baker/co-owner (along with her chef husband Michael Otsuka) of Flourish Baking Company. "If you like it, then it's good."


Forley says she almost never measures when she cooks for her family (but then she is a trained chef). What she does, however, any of us can do, which is to eyeball her ingredients and the cooking vessel they're going into and visualize amounts and ratios of one ingredient to another according to flavor. "So if I'm making a vegetable soup in a big pot I'll lay out my ingredients and know that I need two or three carrots, onions, zucchini, maybe rutabagas, Jerusalem artichokes, but only one or two parsnips because they're a much stronger flavor."


With seasoning, of course, a tablespoon versus a teaspoon makes a big difference (as I learned), so adding less and tasting to see if it needs more is the way to go. "For something like a chili or stew, you have to trust that the dish will evolve and flavors will develop, so tasting at the end to add whatever seasoning it needs is important." How do you know what it needs? By believing in your taste buds and cultivating your taste memory-in other words, remembering flavors you've liked. Forley feels she owes a lot of her taste memory to her mother, a natural and inventive cook.


"All I need are the ingredients," says 80-year-old Ruth Forley. "Sometimes I start off doing one dish and I end up doing another because I am spontaneous and I am able to taste it in my mind." The elder Forley's cooking draws as much on her international, multi-cultural background as it does on sheer time spent in the kitchen. Her mother was born at the turn of the (last) century in India and then lived in Israel and Egypt, where she met Ruth's father. Ruth was born in Guatemala and was raised there in a Sephardic Jewish community, doing the rest of her growing up in Ecuador. "Each place has contributed to what I am. I am not a person of one place, I'm a mixture of everything."


And therefore so is her cooking. Like her chef daughter, Ruth eyeballs her ingredients in bunches and pinches, instead of in cupfuls or teaspoonfuls. "It's more creative this way, no? You're able to make something that is your own concoction."
Samantha

How to make a Flower Pie Crust

Tired of lattice pie crusts? Try this easy-to-make decorative pie crust.
~To make this pretty flower pie:
~Using a paring knife, cut pie dough into strips of various size. A 2 or 3 inch round cookie cutter will make the center of the flower.
~Lay the strips on top of the pie, sporadically overlapping the strips. Top with round center in the middle.
~Adhere strips together by dabbing with water, or brush egg wash over the finished pie.
~Sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake.

Samantha

Monday, March 29, 2010

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Before you all read this and think I am totally crazy I will tell you I did not do a study on this myself, I was looking up Irish Soda Bread recipe for St. Patricks Day and happens on this web site http://www.sodabread.info/index.htm , Irish Soda Bread alone. :) So I thought I would share this bite of Irish food history. There is a recipe here you just have to go done a ways. Enjoy.......



Oldest published Irish Soda Bread recipe found to date (July,
1837 Journal of the Franklin Institute.... p.71) referencing Irish newspaper in
County Down.
A correspondent of the Newry Telegraph gives the following
receipt for making " soda bread," stating that "there is no bread to be had
equal to it for invigorating the body, promoting digestion, strengthening the
stomach, and improving the state of the bowels." He says, "put a pound and a
half of good wheaten meal into a large bowl, mix with it two teaspoonfuls of
finely-powdered salt, then take a large teaspoonful of super-carbonate of soda,%
dissolve it in half a teacupful of cold water, and add it to the meal; rub up
all intimately together, then pour into the bowl as much very sour buttermilk as
will make the whole into soft dough (it should be as soft as could possibly be
handled, and the softer the better,) form it into a cake of about an inch
thickness, and put it into a flat Dutch oven or frying-pan, with some metallic
cover, such as an oven-lid or griddle, apply a moderate heat underneath for
twenty minutes, then lay some clear live coals upon the lid, and keep it so for
half an hour longer (the under heat being allowed to fall off gradually for the
last fifteen minutes,) taking off the cover occasionally to see that it does not
burn.


In researching historic publications for this site
(see History section) the above recipe is highlited as something "new" to the
area.

The Un-Bread

If your "soda bread" has raisins,
it's not "soda bread! It's called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake"!
If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it's called
"cake", not "bread." All are tasty, but not traditional Irish Soda
Bread!

Read on to find out about soda bread history and background info on
Traditional Irish Soda bread. Click on any of the links on the left to
explore and learn more!

Traditional Irish Soda
Bread


If one searches the internet using the term "Traditional Irish Soda
Bread" about 63,500 sites are listed. 98% of them aren't even close to being
traditional. Google "Irish Soda Bread" and you will find 126,000
sites.

Would "French Bread" (15th century) still be "French Bread" if whiskey,
raisins, or other random ingredients were added to the mix? Would
Jewish Matzo (unleavened bread) used to remember the passage of the Israelites
out of Egypt still be Matzo if we add raisins, butter, sugar, eggs, and even
orange zest? So why is traditional "Irish Soda Bread" (19th century)
turned into a dessert and labeled "Traditional Irish Soda Bread?" OK,
maybe you don't like the analogy, but you get the point!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Look up a few definitions in the Dictionary and you find:

"Tradition"

1: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of
mouth or by example from one generation to another.
2: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions

There are two kinds of traditions: 1) The cultural one that can
be traced back through an ethnic group's history and 2) family traditions that
can be traced back to an individual family member.

Irish Soda Bread is an example of the first. Grandma (insert name
here)'s Irish bread is the other. The cultural one came first and was
adapted and modified by the second into a family tradition. Both
traditions are sacred.


"Bread"

a usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture of
whose basic constituent is flour or meal.

"Cake"

a sweet baked food made from a dough or thick batter usually containing
flour and sugar and often shortening, eggs, and a raising agent (as baking
powder)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It shocks some people to learn that St. Patrick wasn't holding a slice
of Irish Soda Bread in one hand while he drove the snakes out of Ireland with
the other. Soda bread came long after St. Patrick in the mid 1840's when
bicarbonate of soda (Bread Soda) as a leavening agent was used in Ireland to
work with the "soft" wheat grown there.

The other shock to Irish-Americans is that their Irish ancestors who
left Ireland during the Famine years did not bring a recipe for Irish Soda Bread
with them. Irish soda bread became popular in Ireland after the Famine
years. If your Irish ancestors had the good sense to leave Ireland for
America during the Famine years, they never learned about making soda bread in
Ireland. Check out Google's public domain book collection and the
phrase "Irish Soda Bread" doesn't show up in their collection until the
1930s.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The basic soda bread is made with flour, baking soda, salt, and
soured milk (or buttermilk). That's it!


One on-line recipe claiming to be "traditional" included
"orange zest" as an ingredient. As if our poverty-stricken ancestors even
knew what orange zest was. Even in the mid-1950's an orange was a special
treat during Christmas, not a common item in the kitchen like it is today.
Another recipe has chocolate in it and another calls for sugar glaze over the
"bread." Tasty, Yes! Traditional Irish Soda Bread, No! Year
after year these exotic bread recipes are advertised as "traditional" irish soda
bread.

You'll find site recipes for "traditional Irish Soda Bread" that call
for yeast to be used. The whole reason bread soda was used in the first
place was to replace yeast as the rising agent.

There are even commercial sites selling "Irish Soda Bread" with YEAST
as an ingredient. And right before St. Patrick's Day your local
supermarket chain will probably have "Irish Soda Bread" for sale with yeast,
sugar, and who knows what on the listed ingredients. But stores mostly
will add raisins and dried fruit to their "soda bread." Most look like a
fruitcake recipe repackaged from the Christmas holidays. The same recipe
usually shows up as "Easter Bread" a few weeks later. For the most part
they taste fair to great but are mislabeled as "Irish Soda Bread."

While we are certainly at liberty to modify recipes to our heart's
content, it is incorrect to claim that these modern sugary recipes are the same
as used by our great-great grandmothers in Ireland, a poor country at the time,
to feed their families in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th
century. It was often the only bread available to most Irish
families. Can you imaging the woman in this photo even knowing what a
"zester" is?

In today's world, soda bread has become a dessert cake and the
three-leaf shamrock has turned into a four-leaf clover.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This site is here to encourage modern bakers to get in touch with their
Irish roots and use the traditional ingredients/recipes when making "traditional
Irish soda bread." Sure, make the fancy desserts for St. Patrick's Day,
but save a spot on the table for Irish soda bread to remember how far the Irish
have come from the days when it was the only thing on the table to today when or
tables are filled with good things to eat and thought of the Famine years are
long forgotten.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit the
Soda Bread Book Section and pick up a copy of Irish
Traditional Cooking for an excellent reference on traditional Irish
cooking.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few absolutes: Traditional Irish Soda Bread does not
contain



~"zest", orange or any other kind



~Irish Whiskey. (talk about stereotyping!!!)



~Honey (substitute for sugar)



~Sugar (see definition of "cake")



~eggs (see definition of "cake")



~Garlic (not common in English/Irish dishes)



~Shortening (hydrogenated vegetable oil - Crisco introduced to the US in
1911. Not in the 19th century)



~Heavy Cream (British term for whipping cream bu a little thicker. Not
much chance irish peasants would be using this.)



~Sour Cream (traditional in Eastern European dishes. Became popular in
the US and European kitchens during the past 50 years, not 150 years ago. see
http://www.ochef.com/516.htm



~Yogurt (prior to 1900 a staple in Central Europe and Asia. Introduced
to the US after WWII by Isaac Carasso who started Dannon in NY City. Not a
19th century Irish baking item.)



~Chocolate



~Chiles/Jalapenos (Right! Ireland is well known for using these in its
traditional food!! por favor!



~Fruit (Only in Christmas/Easter cakes and other special occasions._



and just about anything else one can think of. all of the above
ingredients can be found in "Irish soda bread" recipes somewhere on the
web. Interesting, but definitely not Traditional Irish Soda Bread.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Soda bread was baked daily from simple ingredients. The Irish would not
have added whiskey to their daily bread any more than a Frenchman would have
added it to his baguette or a Jew to Matzo.



In America and other parts of the world we tend to forget that this is a
basic "quick bread" served with meals and not a "dessert dish."



Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipes



All recipes for traditional soda bread contain flour, baking soda, sour milk
(buttermilk) and salt. That's it!!!



This was a daily bread that didn't keep long and had to be baked every few
days. It was not a festive "cake" and did not contain whisky, candied
fruit, caraway seeds, raisins (add raisins and it becomes "spotted dog" not to
be confused with the pudding made with suet of the same name), or any other
ingredient.



There are recipes for those types of cakes but they are not the traditional
soda bread eaten by the Irish daily since the mid 19th century.



Here are a few basic recipe. Note that measurements below are in
American standards. (An Irish teaspoon is not the same as an American teaspoon
measurement.)



Note for New Bakers: a fluid cup contains 8 ounces of liquid. A dry
ingredient cup contains around 4 ounces by weight. Don't use a liquid
measuring cup for dry ingredients. Tsp means Teaspoon.



Of course our great grandmothers just grabbed a handful of this and a pinch
of that to make their bread. We modern bakers need help since we don't do
it every day.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The best flour to use is "soft wheat" which is called "pastry flour" or "cake
flour" today in the US. If you want to try using Irish flour, may I
suggest Odlums.



In 1845, about the time that soda bread baking was taking off in Ireland,
William Odlum opened a four mill in Portlaoise and his descendants expanded the
business over the years until 1988 when it was purchased by a corporation that
continues production today. They produce not only the white and wheat
flours, but for the modern Irish family, a soda bread mix flour and brown bread
mix flour that only needs water added to create a soda bread dough.



The latter mixes are similar to what I create using Saco Cultured buttermilk,
flour, baking soda, and salt to create my own "add water" mix for camping
trips.



If you want to try using Odlums flour, you can purchase it by clicking on this link. Your purchase helps keep this web
site up and running and you will be baking with real Irish flour. for what
we are attempting to create here, avoid the self-Raising flour and not that
"cream flour" means just regular white flour. No baking soda or baking
powder added to it.



Check out the Dutch Oven Link for more cooking hints.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Brown Bread
3 cups (12 oz) of
wheat flour

1 cup

(4 oz) of white flour (do not use self-rising as it already contains baking
powder and salt)

14 ounces of buttermilk (pour in a bit at a time until the dough is
moist)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. (baking soda)

2 ounces of butter if you want to deviate a bit.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly grease and flour
a cake pan. In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients. Rub
in the butter until the flour is crumbly.

Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and
lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)

Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top
of the dough.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the
bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped to show it is
done.

Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to
keep the bread moist.

Let cool and you are ready to have a buttered slice with a nice cup of tea or
coffee.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


White Soda Bread

4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.

1 Teaspoon baking soda

1 Teaspoon salt

14 oz of buttermilk

Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
degrees. Lightly crease and flour a cake pan.

In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and
lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)

Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top
of the dough.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the
bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is
done.

Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to
keep the bread moist.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my favorite Irish cookbooks is by Monica Sheridan, the Julia Child of
Irish Television, called "The Art of Irish Cooking" published in 1965. It
has been long out-of-print but if you get a chance to grab a copy, do
so. She talks about traditional cooking without any of the "spicing up"
that we see in modern interpretations of Irish baking although she does
experiment a bit with recipes. Here is her recipe for "Brown Bread" (note
from Samantha~if any one finds this I would love to get it)

4 cups Stone Ground Whole wheat flour

2 cups White flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking soda

1 1/2 tsp Salt

2 cups Buttermilk

Preparation:
Mix the whole wheat flour thoroughly with the white flour,
salt, and baking
soda.
Make a well in the center and gradually mix in the liquid. Stir with a wooden
spoon. You may need less, or more liquid - it depends on the absorbent quality
of the flour.

The dough should be soft but manageable. Knead the dough into a ball in the
mixing bowl with your floured hands. Put on a lightly floured baking sheet and
with the palm of your hand flatten out in a circle 1 1/2 inches thick.

With a knife dipped in flour, make a cross through the center of the bread so
that it will easily break into quarters when it is baked. Bake at 425 degrees
for 25 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake a further 15 minutes. If
the crust seems too hard, wrap the baked bread in a damp tea cloth. Leave the
loaf standing upright until it is cool. The bread should not be cut until it has
set - about 6 hours after it comes out of the oven. (personally, I can't
wait 6 hours to eat fresh soda bread

http://www.sodabread.info/index.htm


Samantha