Chilled grapefruit (p. 226)

I like the super simple recipes in TJOC because I can knock them out relatively easily when I have the ingredients. Chilled grapefruit (p. 226) was one of these recipes.

I halved a grapefruit, loosened the sections, dusted it with powdered sugar, and sprinkled Grand Marnier over the top.



Personally, I think the liqueur was a bit much. I don't really need a tablespoon of alcohol on my morning grapefruit and it was pretty overwhelming. I also like table sugar rather than powdered sugar, which I think was too sweet. So, although this is an insane recipe (doesn't everyone already know how to eat a grapefruit?), I doubt I will make it again.

Random facts:

• The bitter compounds in citrus peel are water soluble while the oils are not. That is why soaking is recommended when you use it. (On Food and Cooking, p. 373)
• The grapefruit was originally the hybrid of the sweet orange and pummelo (OFaC, p. 376)

Grilled or broiled fruit II (p. 214) and Ham loaf (p. 106)

I love pineapple but I'm becoming increasingly allergic to it. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that I can usually eat canned pineapple and cooked pineapple. So cooked, canned pineapple should be absolutely fine, right? Plus, I really like cooked pineapple! So I was looking forward to Grilled or broiled fruit (p. 214).

I took my pineapple rings, arranged them in a shallow baking pan, and sprinkled them with salt. I omitted the cinnamon because I don't like cinnamon. Into the oven they went to be broiled:



I checked them after a few minutes. Nothing. So I turned them all. I checked them a few minutes later. Still not done.

A minute later, they looked like this:



1. This proves how unevenly my oven cooks.
2. A lot can happen in a minute!
3. I'm pretty sure most of the pineapple has been rendered inedible.

Crap. The ones I could eat were kind of dry and rubbery--not as delicious as I expected. I don't think I would bother with this recipe more than the one more time I have to (Grilled or broiled fruit I).

I have a special attraction to the TJOC recipes that are obviously from another time. Ham loaf (p. 106) is definitely one of those recipes. Have you ever eaten a ham loaf? I'm guessing no. Have you ever eaten a meat based loaf other than the simple meatloaf? Unless you spend a lot of time in French areas that serve terrines (which I love) the answer is undoubtedly "no".

I was optimistic though. I love ham. I love loafs.

I pulsed two cups of diced ham in a food processor:



I mixed my ham with dry bread crumbs, eggs, and Dijon mustard. I let it stand to blend the flavors , then smashed it in to a buttered loaf pan:



It seemed too short when I filled up the whole loaf pan, so I scrunched it over so it was taller. I baked it until firm:



I loved this bizarre recipe. Not only would it be perfect for that "Mad Men" party you are throwing, it was delicious! Ham, mustard, loaf, yum! It was salty and perfect. It was good both by itself (as I ate it) or in a sandwich (as Josh ate it). And who doesn't want another way to use up ham? Eventually, you get sick of ham sandwiches and omelets.

Technorati Favorites">

Thanksgiving 2010 II: Fudge pie (p. 686) and Whole berry cranberry sauce (p. 221)

Mom was excited that she got to make half of the recipes again, since I essentially took Thanksgiving over for the last three years and pushed her out of the kitchen. It was really fun and laid back with both of us cooking. In fact, for most of the day we worried, because the cooking was going really smoothly and we had so much downtime--it seemed wrong almost. We are used to being stressed out and frantic!

Mom made her pumpkin pie Thursday morning. Because pumpkin pie is a single-crust pie (and mom bought store-bought crusts), she had a crust left over. She was convinced that I should whip up some sort of second pie.

I searched TJOC for something simple for which we already had the ingredients. I kept worrying that a pie was going to take vital time for other recipes that were already on the menu--I knew it would take at least an hour. I gave in, though, and decided to make Fudge pie (p. 686).

The recipe wasn't very difficult. I creamed sugar and butter in one bowl, egg yolks, melted chocolate, flour, and vanilla in a second, and egg whites and salt in a third.

I beat the egg mixture into the sugar mixture:

I added the nuts and then folded in the egg whites:

Folding in the egg whites took FOREVER. Honestly, I didn't think it was going to happen. I thought I was going to end up with a pie with huge chunks of egg white in the middle. Eventually it happened, so just be patient if you are making this recipe.

At this point I actually read the last sentence of the recipe. Remember, above, when I told you I was making this pie specifically to use the second pie crust? Well, Fudge pie is a crustless pie. It doesn't use a crust, just a greased pie pan. Whoops.

The finished product:

This is not a pie. It is a giant brownie. It's good but it's not a pie. I'm not sure why they call it a pie. It doesn't have a pie texture, it has no filling, it has no crust, it is not a pie. It has the exact consistency and taste of a giant brownie. If you like brownies, make this recipe.

Whole berry cranberry sauce (p. 221) is the third or fourth TJOC cranberry recipe I've made. It is a VERY simple recipe but it still managed to greatly confuse me.

I combined sugar and water and boiled it for five minutes:

I added a pound of cranberries to the pot:

TJOC says to simmer the berries until "translucent". How are cranberries going to become translucent? Doesn't translucent mean see-through? At no point could I see through any of the berries.

As mom read the recipe and looked at my cranberries, she wondered aloud what was supposed to cause the cranberries to gel in a way so that they could be unmolded:

I don't know the answer to that. I will tell you that they never firmed up enough to be unmolded. This cranberry recipe is delicious but intense. It is only for true cranberry lovers because it has nothing in it except water, sugar, and cranberries. It's incredibly sour--I thought it was delicious. Mom thought it was delicious. Josh and his brother found it far less amazing. The cranberries are vegan, so they'd be a good choice if you had a mixed crowd.

Mom's cranberry dish was far more accessible, although I'm not sure why it has a clear cap:

Yum! I loved both cranberries.

A few extra pictures:

Josh and his brother spent much of the day watching Supernatural and smoking cigars:

The beautiful turkey:

One more Thanksgiving post to go! I would love to hear what other people ate for Tday.

Berries cockaigne (p. 219)

Occasionally the randomly selected list throws me a suggestion that I have actually selected against at some point for a multitude of reasons. Berries cockaigne (p. 219) was one of those recipes. I've read through the recipe a number of times and it always seemed so bizarre it seemed like I was misreading it.

I arranged raspberries around a mound of brown sugar and added some whipped cream.



That's it. That is the entire recipe.

It was good, I guess. It seemed particularly strange to be dipping berries in pure sugar and then whipped cream. Since it was such a short recipe, it seemed like I should write my views in haiku.

Berries, brown sugar
No other ingredients?
Very strange indeed

Grad weekend #6:Chicken and apple sausage (p. 516),Pan-broiled sausage (p. 517) Fruit salad or fruit cup (p.210),Honey dressing for fruit salad(p.578)

I originally meant to make a couple types of sausage for brunch but realized that I had only bought enough pork for my stuffing and not enough for my pork sausage. That left me with only one type of sausage--Chicken and apple sausage (p. 516).

I ground a couple pounds of chicken thighs--TJOC says to use the skin as well as the meat but I thought that would be too fattening for the crowd I was feeding, so I only used about a quarter of it. I boiled a cup of apple cider down to a syrup, and mixed my chicken, apple cider, dried apples, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, cinnamon, and ginger together.



I formed the sausage into patties and fried them according to Pan-broiled sausage (p. 517).



Essentially, the sausages were cooked until they were done:



The sausage was delicious but really heavy on the apple flavor. I'm usually not one for chicken sausage (and I still think the sausage would be much better with pork) but it was fun to make my own sausage mixture and I'm sure I will do it again.

I thought that it would be a good idea to have a fruit salad with brunch. I'm having trouble with the fruit section of TJOC because I'm allergic to most fruit (I have to carry an Epi-Pen) and it seems insane to make stuff that I can't eat when it's just the two of us. I became allergic to kiwi when I was about twelve, which was no problem, because I don't like it. Over the years the allergy has spread to papaya, bananas, mango, melon, and pineapple (I love pineapple, so that one I miss). Recently, strawberries have started giving me a reaction, which is really depressing. Piece of trivia--fruit allergies aren't that common, but kiwi is the fruit that is most likely to give a reaction (as well as leading to the worst reactions).

Even as a kid I liked making fruit salad, although I never liked eating it, so I'm known in my family for making a nice fruit salad (although how difficult is a fruit salad?). I decided to make Fruit salad or fruit cup (p. 210), without the honey.

I cut up and mixed together oranges, apples, a pear, a banana, and some blueberries.



I then made Honey dressing for fruit salad (p. 578). I mixed honey and lime juice:



It seemed like a strange combination to me. I assume the lime juice is to stop the fruit from browning. I mixed the fruit with the sauce and it was done!




Obviously, I didn't try the fruit salad but my family said that it was good. It had a strong honey flavor to it, so if you like honey, this would be a good choice. I think the combo of fruits was good but another colorful fruit would have made it much more pretty--if I made it again, I would probably add in some strawberries or peaches.

Grad weekend #4: Crown roast of pork (p. 498), Spinach, mushroom, and ground meat stuffing (p. 538), and Spicy apricot sauce (p. 217)

On to the main course! I decided to make a big expensive cut of meat stuffed with a delicious stuffing as my showstopper. When I read the recipe for Spinach, mushroom, and ground meat stuffing (p. 538), it reminded me of my grandmother's ravioli recipe and sounded amazing (My Nonni makes the best ravioli in the world).

I cooked spinach, onions, and a lot of onions in butter--a perfect start to any recipe:



I mixed ground pork, fine bread crumbs, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and two large eggs in a bowl with the mushroom mixture. Note: Mix the eggs in before adding the spinach mixture (which is hot), otherwise you have to work really fast because the egg starts to cook.



I could barely stir the mixture--it was extremely stiff. Mom got to work:



The hole in the crown roast was really small, so we baked most of the stuffing in a bowl.



The stuffing was amazing! It was so delicious. It wasn't a bread-heavy typical stuffing but it had an amazing flavor and was really flavorful. I liked the combination of the pork, mushrooms, and spinach--this won't replace the cornbread stuffing at Thanksgiving, but I really enjoyed it.

The main part of the whole meal was the beautiful crown roast that we bought at a local butcher shop. (As an aside, their staff could use some more training--the man who sold it to us told us that he knew it was going to be good because it was pale. That is totally wrong information. Thankfully, he was incorrect and it was acceptable quality).

I've been very intimidated by recipes such as Crown roast of pork (p. 498) for two reasons. First, it's an expensive piece of meat. Second, it makes a HUGE amount of food and we are only a two-person household. So a special family weekend is the perfect time to roll a recipe like this one out.

I rubbed the pork with a mixture of olive oil, thyme, allspice, salt, and pepper, which looked distinctly like sludge.



I roasted it for fifteen minutes at a high heat, then reduced the heat to very low for about an hour. When it was an hour along, we stuffed it.



TJOC says to cook the pork roast until it's 155 degrees but my father, an expert in the field, recommended I remove it at 145 degrees, which is what I did. As it rested, it cooked until about 160 degrees, which is perfectly done for pork. Please, please, please don't ruin a piece of meat like this by cooking it until it's shoe leather.

Dad in action, with his granddog hopefully looking on:



The pork was amazing! It was tender and flavorful and the rub was perfection. The rub is more like a combination for a baked good but it was really good and not too strong. The roast easily fed nine, with leftovers. Most importantly, it was striking and perfect for a holiday.

For some reason, I thought that it would be perfect to have a nice sauce to pour over the pork. I'm not entirely sure why I wanted to add one more dish to the litany. I thought Spicy apricot sauce (p. 217) would taste delicious with pork. I had a vision of a beautiful bright orange sauce covering the pork and stuffing.

Canned apricots were surprisingly difficult to find at our grocery store! There was only one brand and I'm not totally confident that it was the full amount that TJOC required.

I combined a sweet onion, jalapeno peppers, and garlic in vegetable oil and cooked it until tender:



I then added the apricots, water, brown sugar, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and soy sauce and cooked it until the sauce had thickened:



I pureed it, added salt and red pepper, and it was finished!



Where is that beautiful orange color I was hoping for? The picture is actually a more attractive picture than the sauce actually was--it was a very strange yellow/orange. It didn't have a very strong apricot flavor but it was fruity and spicy. It was a popular dish and did spice up the meal (Ha! Spice up!). I never make a sauce to go along with meat but I think it's a great idea in general.

Vanilla pudding (p. 807) and Baked fresh fruit compote (p. 213)

I actually have no idea what motivated me to make Vanilla pudding (p. 807) when I don't like pudding whatsoever. I think it was stress over the fact that I haven't made almost any desserts, and while I'm doing well in most of the savory chapters, I'm not doing well on the sweet chapters.

Again, I don't like pudding. In fact, I don't believe anyone truly likes pudding. And I haven't made a pudding since my cooking class my freshman year of high school

I mixed sugar, cornstarch, and salt, and then slowly mixed in a little milk to make a paste. I whisked in some more milk:



And stir, stir, stir, stir until it simmers. I mixed a little of the milk mixture into a beaten egg and then added that back to the milk mixture. Make sure to mix it enough or you will have scrambled eggs in your pudding (a fast way to make pudding even more disgusting).

And stir, stir, stir until it thickens:



I mixed in some vanilla and poured it into a bowl:



And refrigerated the whole mess. It looked beautiful, exactly like pudding is supposed to look. I was quite proud of it. But, again, I don't like pudding, so I didn't really want to eat it. Unfortunately, it seemed a real waste to make it and throw it away. So I thought maybe a nice topping would help.

So for the topping I went to another chapter I haven't been doing well on--Fruits. I decided to make Baked fresh fruit compote (p. 213) with pears.

I chopped the pears into large slices--but didn't core them. It doesn't say to core pears or apples, which seems really strange to me. I poured a red wine/sugar/cinnamon/cloves/salt/lemon mixture over the top:



And I popped it in the oven. At that point, I noticed that the recipe doesn't say how long the fruit should be in the oven--just "until tender". I know this is likely because different fruits take different amounts of time. Even so, it took well over an hour to become tender which seemed really excessive. In fact, I'm not even sure I cooked it enough--it was fork tender but not tender tender (if that makes any sense).



Note: This recipe WILL make your entire house smell like cinnamon for a couple days. I don't like cinnamon, so it was making me nauseous, but people buy air fresheners to make their houses smell like the compote.

The pudding with the compote was good! The pudding is extremely creamy and vanilla and actually was pretty good! And the pears had a nice, fully flavored taste that really added. Vanilla and pears always go well together. I can't say the recipe sold me on puddings but at least it made it worth the effort.

NYE #2--Tamarind dipping sauce (p. 237), Samosas with ground beef (p. 89), and Samosas with potatoes and peas (p. 89)

Rachel pointed out that we should make samosas for the New Year's Eve party. We both like samosas, she made made them before (granted, with puff pastry rather than phyllo), and I had used phyllo before (making mushroom triangles), so it seemed perfect. We decided we would make both types of samosas in TJOC and a tamarind dipping sauce (conveniently on the randomly generated list!). Rachel mentioned that maybe we should just make half batches of both types and I said the words that would come back to haunt me--"Oh no. You like samosas, TJOC recipes don't always half well, we'll just make both".

Tamarind dipping sauce (p. 237). I'm not an expert on tamarind dipping sauce although it is pretty ubiquitous at Indian restaurants. I had never seen tamarind before but, bizarrely, Rachel had some in the cupboard.

This is tamarind paste:



It looks absolutely disgusting but smells deliciously fruity. You don't even use the tamarind--you soak it in water and then use the water and through out the tamarind. That seems bizarre to me. So the tamarind water, raisins, dates, brown sugar, cilantro, chili-garlic sauce (which Rachel tasted, made a face, which motivated me to taste it and make a face--it's very salty!), salt, cumin, and ginger were added to the blender:



If you are wondering what that yellow is--I was making three recipes at once, got mixed up, and that's yellow mustard that I got the vast majority removed (I wasn't about to through it out and start over!).

It was blended and then strained:



OMG! It was sooooo good. Sweet and tangy and the perfect condiment for the samosas. Everyone who tried it said that it tasted just as good as at restaurants and it was my favorite thing that we made all night. Rachel gave me some tamarind paste so I can make it again (unfortunately, I don't have any dates but I'm sure I can fix that).

These samosas were made at the end of the night after almost twelve hours of cooking and my pictures started to suffer (in other words, I took very few pictures of the samosa-making process). We made Samosas with ground beef (p. 89). It was an easy start--onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, and salt were sauteed in vegetable oil. Ground beef was added and then water until it evaporated. At the very end cilantro and jalapeno peppers were added.

This picture is at the beginning of the process:



We also made Samosas with potatoes and peas (p. 89). We cooked potatoes and mashed them. We then cooked mustard seeds and garlic in vegetable oil and added it to the potatoes, along with peas, an onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lemon juice, and salt:



The samosas were wrapped in exactly the same way that the mushroom triangles (referenced above) were wrapped:



When they came out of the oven they were beautiful:





No exaggeration, the samosas took me at least 2.5 hours to wrap. I never seemed to make an progress! And that was with me wrapping and Rachel popping them into the oven and getting them out--without her doing that job, it would have easily taken twice as long. When Rachel bit into the first one, I told her I sure hoped they were good, otherwise I was going to cry.

The samosas were absolutely amazing! I'm thinking that we didn't make 120 of them (the amount the recipe claims it makes) but it easily made 100. Different people had different opinion on which ones were the best. The beef was heavily seasoned and strong and the potatoes were crisp and savory. I absolutely adored the ground beef ones--they were so delicious!

I would make these again but only for a special occasion. They were well worth the time but it was a LOT of time...

The pea and potato samosa recipe is online.