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Southern Style Biscuits

Published by Hal on February 24, 2008 in Just Baking and recipes. 1 Comment
Biscuits
Click the image for a larger picture!

There’s nothing that starts your day better than a good Southern Style biscuit. And, nothing better to end your day really. Biscuits are a versatile bread for nearly any meal, and most everyone likes them.

They don’t really take very long to make, but people insist on buying ready made biscuits from a can. Sure, these biscuits are convenient, but have you looked at the ingredient list? Real biscuits have only six basic ingredients: flour, butter (or shortening), baking powder, salt, sugar, and milk. Who knows what the rest are?

Another problem I have with biscuits from a can is the cost. These five ingredients cost me as much to buy as 1 can of biscuits, but I can make 3 or 4 times as many from those ingredients, they’re bigger, and they taste better, too!

Of course, though I love biscuits like no other, I don’t really make them all that often–between the flour and the butter, these are not the most figure friendly of pastries. However, for an occasional treat, they are just fine.

So, this morning, I decided to make this treat (and, have a real home cooked breakfast to go along with it–bacon and scrambled eggs!). It’s very simple, and takes only an extra 10 minutes, plus cooking time. I promise, the extra effort is well worth the end result.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 3/4 cup (1 and a half sticks) of unsalted butter, cut into a small pieces; if you use salted butter, omit the salt above.
  • 1 cup of milk

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Stir together the dry ingredients until they are combined. Using a pastry blender, or a couple forks, blend in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse meal. You can also perform this step in a food processor, using the pulse option.

Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture and pour in the milk. Stir with a fork, just until the mixture is combined. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the mixture 5-6 times, until everything has come together.

Split Biscuit with Jam
Click the image for a larger picture!

Flatten by hand, until the dough is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick (about the width of your index finger). Do not roll the dough, because you’ll risk creating gluten strands, which are not good for the flaky texture we’re going for. Using a lightly floured 2 1/2 inch round, cut biscuits out from the dough and place on a baking sheet. If you place the biscuits together, they will rise higher; if you place them apart, they will develop more crispiness on the outside. The choice is yours.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown on top and done inside.

If you have leftover dough after cutting your biscuits, you can reshape and cut again–try to work the dough as little as possible, to avoid creating gluten and making a tough biscuit. This recipe yielded me nine, slightly larger than 2 1/2 inch biscuits. Serve with butter, jam, or even sausage gravy!

Apple and Pear Galette

Published by Hal on February 24, 2008 in recipes. 0 Comments

galetteI used to love watching “Martha Stewart Cooking,” when it was on Food Network. As much as some people really don’t like her, I think that she knows her stuff–and she’s kind of matronly, in some strange way. One of things I remember very well from her show was a special on a fall-fruit galette. I don’t remember the exact recipe, but it doesn’t matter as the concept is pretty simple:

A galette is a simple, rustic pastry. The concept is really basic–make a pie, but don’t put in a pie pan. The result is a tasty treat, similar to a pie, but perhaps less hassle. Presentation-wise, it’s spectacular since you can let the fruit really stand out. Here’s how I made this one:

Ingredients

  • One 9-inch pre-made pie crust (the kind that is sold in a roll, not in a pie-pan)
  • 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
  • 2 Bosc pears, peeled and cored
  • 3 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon allspice

Procedure

Cut the apples and pears into quarters, then into slices. In a large bowl, mix together the apples, pears, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. Set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degree. Roll out the pie crust onto a large cookie sheet. Pile the apples and pears into the center and fold up the sides of the tart. If it looks a little rough, that’s okay–this is a rustic pastry.

Bake the tart for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and flaky. Serve alone or with ice cream or creme fraiche.

Make sure that you use a Granny Smith apple, or some other tart baking apple. These apples have a higher pectin content, meaning that they won’t brown as quickly when cut and the juice that cooks out will gel up better than with other types of apples.

The Common Culinarian on… VMWare?

Published by Hal on February 23, 2008 in cooking in the media. 1 Comment

Have you ever wondered how internet marketing works? Let me break it down for you like this: there are companies that use computer programs to trawl the internets to see if people are mentioning certain things. On this blog, I’ve seen bots that have come here when I mentioned certain things. I never thought much of it, and realized that this is just a web marketers way of seeing what kind of buzz a product is generating. Fair enough.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I got an email this morning from the kindly folks at VMWare for mentioning their product in my post last night. After reading how I decided to use it, they emailed me to see how I liked it and how exactly I planed on using Fusion. It seems they liked how an “average joe” could find use in software that, at one time, used to be the realm of program testers and computer geeks in general.

So, do you know what they did? They posted about it!

Yes, folks, that’s right. CommonCulinarian.com has now been mentioned on Just Baking, The Cook’s Kitchen, Well Fed, and now… VMWare :)

So, if you’re coming here from VMWare, welcome! I promise, I really am just a real person, using real software. If you want to see, you can click on the thumbnail for a larger picture :) This is what it looks like–Quicken 2008, in Unity mode–you can see, it looks almost like a Mac program, except for that pesky Windows styling. Pretty neat, huh? (Okay, I promise, after this I’ll get back to really writing about food :) ).

screenshot

 You can click here to see a larger image.

Learning my way around

Published by Hal on February 21, 2008 in off-topic. 2 Comments

I’m slowly, but surely, learning my way around this crazy mac.

I gave up on Quicken for Mac–I have four years of financial data in my file, and the conversion did not work so pretty for me. I don’t have time to fix all that mess, so I reverted back to my old Quicken 2006 on VMWare Fusion…

…Only to discover that Intuit has decided that Quicken 2006 can no longer update from banks’ servers.

So, after spending $80 so I wouldn’t have to shell out money for an updated version of Quicken, I had to shell out another $45 so I could have access to the features I love about Quicken–namely, online bank connections.

Pissed, I am.

But, at the same time, happy, because now my financial data is in a familiar place, and I don’t have to work so hard to make it pretty or keep it up to date (in the two versions since my old one, Intuit has added support for some of my banks that didn’t have support before–yay!).

I don’t think I like iPhoto. Personally, I liked Picasa a lot, and I learned how to use it pretty well. I’m not sure I want to learn how to use another program, especially since I think Google has Picasa for Mac, now. So, another good Mac program (iPhoto) out the window (even if I have Windows installed on my machine ;) ).

So, I’m still learning how to use this machine… Which also means that I may not post my fish tomorrow–but perhaps the next day. Stay tuned!

Edit: I’ve since learned that Picasa only has an album uploader for Mac–so I may yet revert to Picasa on the Windows VM. iPhoto is great, but Picasa just feels more natural. I’m just glad I’ll still have the choice even though I’ve switched platforms.

Just because you have a bad week…

Published by Hal on February 20, 2008 in Wholesome Wednesday. 2 Comments

I did finally get my new computer, but I’m learning my way around (I just switched from a PC to a Mac), so no pictures yet :)

However, I did want to point something out to you guys who, hopefully, are still pursuing your New Year’s resolution to lose weight… Anecdotally, just because you have a bad week food or exercise wise, if you’ve started the ball rolling, you probably didn’t do permanent damage to your efforts, as long as you pick it back up again.

What’s the anecdote? The last time I went to the gym was…  Nearly two weeks ago, after I basically did a mini-tri (I took a swimming class, I ran, and I used the elliptical–which seems to be to be like cycling standing up) for nearly 2 1/2 hours. Last week, I didn’t go at all because I was working, and I wasn’t super diligent about what I ate. However, I tried to be careful and not over indulge on foods that were unhealthful.

So, what was the verdict when I stepped on the scale tonight? In the last two weeks, I lost an additional 4 pounds. Sure, it might have been more if I had kept with it regularly…  But the point is–I didn’t keep up the exercise end of the bargain (and it’s really up for interpretation if I kept up the food end). And it didn’t derail my efforts.

So, when you fall off the wagon, all you need to do is get back on. Just don’t fall off so much that you may as well have never gotten on.

Favorite Things

Published by Hal on February 18, 2008 in cooking in the media. 1 Comment

The Common Culinarian is taking a brief hiatus this week to undergo some much needed computer upgrading. Hopefully I’ll get the computer back tomorrow. Maybe not. Who knows. In the meantime, some of my favorite links from the last two weeks:

I LOVE Nutella, so I was pumped that someone posted a recipe for a homemade version. Yum, yum, yum!

This fits in with my quest to provide you with easy and inexpensive ways to prepare seafood this Lenten season. This preparation is interesting, too, and chock full of flavor.

Anytime you combine sweet potatoes with… anything! I’m in.

Homemade, easy version of a popular sandwich that you can make with your kids!

I’m a numbers guy at heart. This seemed terribly interesting, and perhaps this book could change the way that we consume. Perhaps. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

This is all I have to say about this recipe:

Now, to make the texture just right, we need to add a little Half & Half. Hey, I COULD have used heavy cream. But this is a low-fat dish, people. I have to make healthy choices.

Sometimes, it takes less effort than you think.

These just looked SO good. Turbinado sugar is a wonderful thing (when I first discovered this, as “Sugar in the Raw,” I would consume packets of this stuff by itself–it’s just that good).

You gotta admit, Jaden’s got some awesome food-pron going on. This looked super tasty, and was timely with the Chinese New Year (okay, so the Vietnamese are not Chinese–this coming from a guy who asked his Indian officemate if he celebrated the Chinese New Year :( ).

Cod with Leeks and Tomatoes

Published by Hal on February 15, 2008 in Fish Fry-day. 2 Comments

bakedcod03 As you read this, I’m probably on my way to a fish fry in our home town. You see, one of the things I love dearly about being Catholic during Lent is the wonderful thing that are fish fries. During an otherwise solemn time during the church year, this is an opportunity to develop community, eat some good food (staying within the abstention guidelines, of course), and raising money for a good cause. The particular fish fry we go to has an assortment of food, not just fried cod sandwiches–cheese pizza and grilled cheese for the kids, and baked/fried/broiled fish and crab cakes or bisque for the adults.

Which, all this talk, got me thinking about the next Fish Fry-day. I’ve pledged to share with you easy, inexpensive ways to prepare fish during Lent. Of course, you can use them whenever you feel the calling for seafood, but they are particularly timely now, if you practice this discipline. I wrote about Everyday Food earlier this week, and there is a delightful preparation for baked cod, right inside the book. I just had to try it out and share it with you.

Cod with Leeks and Tomatoes

From Everyday Food: Great Food Fast page 61

Ingredients

  • 2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly slicked, rinsed well, and patted dry
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 sprigs thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
  • 2 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes (about 12 ounces)
  • 4 cod fillets, each 6 to 8 ounces and 3/4 to 1 inch thick

Procedure

  1. bakedcod02Preheat the oven to 450 F. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, toss together the leeks, lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover with foil, and bake until the leeks just begin to soften, 8 to 10 minutes.
  2. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Add the tomatoes, and toss to combine. Season both sides of the cod fillets with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; place on top of the vegetables.
  3. Cover the dish and bake until the fish is opaque throughout, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Unfortunately, I live in the middle of south-central Indiana, and it’s the middle of winter. So, I didn’t have any leeks available (and I did try to find them!). Instead, I used a whole red onion, sliced into thin rings. Everything else was the same–delish! You could serve this with a nice salad; there are enough pan juices that you can whisk in some olive oil and have a dressing that matched your main dish. Yum!

bakedcod04

Easy Chocolate Raspberry Torte

Published by Hal on February 14, 2008 in recipes. 0 Comments

Oh, no! Today’s Valentine’s day, and you don’t have anything prepared! You could make Spumoni Cookies, but that takes a while, and you don’t have time. Besides, you only have a cake mix and some chocolate pudding mix on hand–how can you possibly make a delicious dessert?

This recipe comes courtesy of the grad student/young professional minister at our church, and it’s perfect for the last minute dessert, when you have very few ingredients:

chocolatecake01Easy Chocolate Raspberry Torte

Courtesy of Tim, yanked shamelessly, but at least it’s credited ;)

Shopping List:

  • 1 box of chocolate cake mix of your choice (make sure you have cooking oil and eggs to make the mix, ie read the box)
  • 1 package of Jello instant pudding and pie filling mix – chocolate or Devil’s food.
  • 1 package of frozen raspberries. Make sure you let them thaw!

First, bake the cake. I like to use Devil’s Food or Triple Chocolate Fudge, both
from Betty Crocker. I suggest using two 9 inch round pans. Don’t forget to
grease and flour the pans before baking; it helps keep the cake from sticking
to the pan.

Second, make the Jello mix.

Third, add about 1 cup of the raspberries to the Jello mix, if you like, you can
also crush or mash the raspberries before adding to the mix.

Fourth, when the cakes are done baking but before they have completely
cooled, remove one cake from the pan and place it on a serving dish. Cut
small slits all over the top of the cake. Use half the raspberry jello mix to
cover the bottom cake. Then place the second cake on top and cover with
remaining raspberry jello mix. You can even use some of the remaining
raspberries as garnish (decoration).

If you don’t like raspberries you can substitute cherry pie filling (drained)
instead.

Prior to serving or displaying you easy masterpiece, try nuking it for 30
seconds.

You can also serve it a la mode.
Enjoy!

I should note that when you look at the picture above, you’ll see that I didn’t exactly follow directions–I purchase gelatin instead of pudding, because I’ve had a cake similar to this before, where you used gelatin poured into holes poked in a cake. Oops. It doesn’t matter, because it was still yummy! Just substitute a box of raspberry gelatin for the pudding and proceed on your merry way. It’ll be even better once the gelatin sets in the fridge. Yum! Otherwise, you’re looking at the pudding mixture to take the place of frosting in this cake, so it will look very similar to a standard two-tier cake, but with pudding & raspberries instead of buttercream.

Spumoni Cookies

Published by Hal on February 13, 2008 in Just Baking and recipes. 1 Comment

10spumoniI never made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, and, really, I still don’t. My wife is just the same way. To us, it’s just a made up holiday, heavily marketed by Hallmark to make people feel guilty for being single. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to do something special for my wife; in fact, for our first Valentine’s Day, I made her a delicious dish of aromatic pistachio rice with apricot marinated chicken pieces. Usually, we’d rather opt for “just-us” time, over a candle-lit dinner in our own home.

So, this year should be no different, at least in terms of making something special. I’ve just really started getting into baking, and I’m learning more and more each recipe I try. In this formative phase, I usually just stick to a recipe as written. But, with a basic recipe as a foundation, it’s easy to come up with something unique and delicious. Inspired by the Valentine’s Day holiday, I came up with this delicious, pink cookie, reminiscent of Neapolitan’s cousin. Continue reading ‘Spumoni Cookies’

Spaghetti with Three-Tomato Sauce

Published by Hal on February 11, 2008 in recipe reviews and recipes. 0 Comments

After purchasing Everyday Food over the weekend, I was eager to try something from the book. I settled on this simple, rustic-style spaghetti dish and made plans to make it Sunday. Of course, life got in the way, and Stacie and opted for Fazoli’s instead (and, might never opt for it again, but that’s a different story for a different time).

We have been notoriously deficient at being able to keep our pantry and refrigerator stocked, but I had enough staples on hand that this recipe wasn’t a problem. The end result was a delicious and not so saucy take on a simple spaghetti with tomato sauce that will be sure to please. And, after thinking about it, this could be a perfect Valentine’s Day addition to your dinner table–it’s simple, delightful, and–most importantly–it’s red! Coincidence? I think not. 3tomspaghetti04

Spaghetti with Three-Tomato Sauce

From Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

Ingredients:

  • Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
  • 1 pound spaghetti
  • 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, oil reserved
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes
  • 1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved

Procedure

  1. In a large pot of boiled salted water, cook the spaghetti until al dente according to the package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water; return the pasta to the pot.
  2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the canned tomatoes (with juice) and sun dried tomatoes. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally and breaking up the canned tomatoes, until thick, about 15 minutes.
  3. Add the cherry tomatoes; simmer until soft, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add to the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Toss, adding pasta water as desired. Serve immediately.

The book says this makes 4 servings, but between my plates and the reheat-able containers, I got 7. The box of pasta says this should actually be 8. Your mileage may vary.

As you are aware, I have a tendency to look at a recipe once and think I’ve got it down. I never do, because I also want to do something the recipe doesn’t call for or I omit a step. So, what did I do differently here? Well, I thought I needed to roast the cherry tomatoes, so I did. Then I checked the recipe. Then I remembered that I forgot to pick up fresh garlic and I didn’t haven’t any pre-minced stuff*. So, I used about a teaspoon of garlic powder added once I added the tomatoes.

Beyond that, there wasn’t much else for me to screw up :) Even still, I think roasting the tomatoes added a nice smoky flavor to the dish–and there just wasn’t enough garlic flavor (we love garlic–it’s yummy-licious!). We served it up with a store-bought baguette, and it was good. Try it and let me know what you think!

—
*As a matter of practice, I don’t buy the pre-minced garlic anymore. Sure, it’s, convenient, but you’re pay a large mark-up on something you can easily do yourself. Plus, fresh just tastes better. 

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