Eggs Florentine (p. 197), Creamed spinach II (p. 305).Mornay sauce (Cheese sauce) I (p. 551), and Au gratin I (p. 961)

Rachel and I thought that making a big breakfast before I headed home to mom's house would be a great idea. It was pointed out that making a well-thought out breakfast could knock out a lot of recipes.

Continuing down the synergy pathway, we decided to make Eggs Florentine (p. 197) which neither of us had ever eaten previously. We were entering blind with no expectations.

I wasn't very impressed with my previous stab at creamed spinach. I was hoping that Creamed spinach II (p. 305) would be tastier.

I boiled about a pound of baby spinach:



I cooked onion in butter until golden. I then added a bit of flour:



I stirred in hot cream and a little bit of sugar, finally adding the spinach. I covered the bottom of a baking dish with the creamed spinach:



I got Mornay sauce (Cheese sauce) I (p. 551) ready. It was simple, essentially just white sauce I with a fourth cup of grated cheese added:



Mornay sauce is the stuff dreams are made of. I don't think there is anyone out there who doesn't love a good cheese sauce (unless you hate cheese). This cheese sauce is simple, mild, and creamy. Truly delicious.

I poached my eggs:



One of the yolks broke but I thought 3/4 success was pretty good. It was stressful transferring them and trying not to break the fragile yolks! I think I'm getting better at poaching eggs, although they still aren't pretty.I layered the eggs on the spinach:



The Mornay sauce was poured over the eggs:



The poached eggs were covered with Au gratin I (p. 961) (essentially just breadcrumbs):



The whole thing was briefly baked:



And done! Delicious with toast and bacon:



This recipe is a perfect example of the whole being better than the individual parts. I don't particularly love poached eggs or creamed spinach alone but combined, and with delicious Mornay sauce, the dish was amazing. I thought it looked quite impressive too--I will totally make this again. It was SO good.

Random facts:

• Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, loved spinach so much, she insisted it be served at every meal. The labeling of spinach dishes as "Florentine" is because of de Medici--her hometown was Florence, Italy (Wikipedia)
• Spinach is very high in iron and calcium but most of it is not easily absorbed by the body (Wikipedia)
• Spinach is a member of the beet family (On Food and Cooking, p. 324)
• Usually Mornay sauces use Parmesan or Guyere cheeses (On Food and Cooking, p. 65)
  

Twice-baked sweet potatoes I (p. 302), Au gratin II (p. 961), Steak Diane (p. 475), Sauteed steak (p. 475), and Black pepper vinaigrette (p. 573)

On the second of January, Mom and I had our fancy New Year's meal (just one day late). Mom really wanted some sort of TJOC potato dish but I have made almost all of them. We decided to make Twice-baked sweet potatoes I (p. 302).

I baked three sweet potatoes and scraped out their guts:

I mashed the sweet potatoes with butter, hot cream, and salt.

I spooned the potato mixture back in to the potato shells, covered them with Au gratin II (p. 961) (which is breadcrumbs and dots of butter) and popped it in the oven:

Done!

Honestly, the twice baked sweet potatoes tasted pretty much like just like buttered baked sweet potatoes. Not really worth the extra steps, even though they were good. They heated up really well, which was great, because mom and I ate them for two additional meals. I did like the au gratin topping--TJOC says you can use au grain III, which uses cheese (I think that would be really strange on sweet potatoes).

The main dish was Steak Diane (p. 475). I had originally chosen against steak Diane because we didn't have brandy--I was going to make an orange, leek, and rosemary sauce for the steak. It was only after I was halfway through steak Diane that I realized I was making the wrong recipe--I'm not sure how that happened, the recipes aren't even in the same chapter. We still didn't have any brandy, so mom had to run out and get a small bottle.

The first step is to make Sauteed steak (p. 475). I seasoned a couple boneless ribeye steaks with salt and pepper and cooked them in a pan with a little olive oil:

After five minutes, I flipped the steaks:

Five more minutes and it was done! An extremely easy way to cook steak. I tend to broil all meat but this is a much better way to cook steak in the summer if you don't want to grill but don't want to turn on the oven.

Back to the steak Diane....

I cooked shallots in butter until softened:

I added beef stock, brandy, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to the shallots.

I swirled in a little butter and added some parsley.

The sauce was poured over the steaks and it was done! The steak Diane was really good. I can't say it was anything amazing but if you like shallots, this is a great match for you.

I thought Black pepper vinaigrette (p. 573) would be a good match to the meal. I chopped up a garlic clove, added salt, cracked peppercorns, red wine vinegar, and a little bit of lemon zest. I slowly whisked in olive oil:

Delicious! This was a really great salad dressing. I love black pepper. I LOVE black pepper. So this was a great match for me. Vinaigrette is so simple that I don't know why anyone ever buys it--in fact, almost all salad dressings are so easy that you might as well just make them from scratch.

It was a pretty tasty meal (the salad was in it's own bowl):

It was a delicious meal and a good start to the year!

Pesto sauce (p. 569), Curry powder III (p. 975), and Flavored nut butters III. Curried macadamia butter (p. 179)

First off, don't forget the contest!

Mom gave me bag of basil when I left Iowa--and I figured that basil would be perfect for Pesto sauce (p. 569). I love pesto but I've never made it...partially because fresh basil at the grocery store is so expensive.

Easy recipe--basil, Parmesan, pine nuts, and garlic cloves went into the tiny food processor. I think I halved the the recipe because I only had a cup of basil (it was still early in the season!).



It smelled absolutely divine at this point. Amazing.



Olive oil was then slowly poured in as the food processor was running (not an easy task, there wasn't a very big hole in the top of food processor).



The original goal? I was going to make TJOC pesto macaroni salad. What actually happened? I binged on the pesto smeared on crackers. And it was amazing. I want more! I can't wait until I go home and mom gives me more basil. Amazing!

I ran out of homemade curry and decided to make another batch--this time Curry powder III (p. 975). Josh and I eat a LOT of curry but I was a little afraid of this recipe. It was complex and looked like it was going to make a huge amount--what if we didn't like it? So I decided to quarter the recipe.

The long list of ingredients? Turmeric, coriander, cumin, ginger, pepper, red pepper flakes, fennel, mustard, poppy seeds, cloves, and mace.



I can't wait until I have a spice grinder. It's one of the items on my wedding registry that I really hope I get. Because I don't have one yet I used pepper instead of peppercorns and the fennel seeds didn't get near ground up enough.



Even so, it looked beautiful.



And it was very good. This curry yielded a much more complex flavor than the Curry powder I. Unfortunately, a quarter of the recipe wasn't very much and I had a strange suspicion that I would be mixing curry again very soon.

I had a big jar of macadamia nuts that I've been meaning to use. And now I had a jar of curry powder...the perfect combination for Flavored nut butters III. Curried macadamia butter (p. 179)! Sounds strange, right?

And it was strange. Six ounces of salted macadamia nuts, a still of cold butter, some honey, and a little curry.



The butter took forever to become "smooth".



How was it? Definitely weird. I was expect more of a peanut butter type feel and taste. This was more like nut-flavored butter not flavored nut-butter. Even so, it's tasty on a bagel. And it's fancy. I think this would be perfect for a breakfast where you are trying to impress people (the in-laws?)--it would be terrific on pancakes or waffles.

How do I get so far behind on posting? No idea. I literally have about twenty more recipes to post, so be sure to check back. And always feel free to comment or send me an email at thejoyofthejoyofcooking (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Blueberry muffins (p. 635) and Cinnamon sugar (p. 1019)

Muffins! Sometimes, I'm just in the mood for muffins. I'll admit that I tend to use mixes (they sure are cheap) when I make muffins but I decided to try TJOC's recipe.

A component of this recipe is Cinnamon sugar (p. 1019). Cinnamon sugar is one of those recipes that you read and think "Really? Does anyone REALLY need a recipe for this??" You combine sugar and cinnamon and that's it. The entire recipe.

I think I'm the only person in American that doesn't particularly like cinnamon. I never liked that cinnamon/sugar toast that everyone goes so crazy for. I only made a half-recipe of this and still have a big pile of it in a plastic bag, left-over. Any ideas for what to do with it?



On to the muffins--Blueberry muffins (p. 635).

The first step is to mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Easy enough start!




Then mix the wet ingredients. TJOC recommends that the muffins are made with the full amount of butter and milk if you aren't going to eat them all in one sitting (I sure hoped they were going to last more than one meal). Apparently the extra fat helps keep them from staling.





Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix--but not too much. Apparently, overmixing can run muffins and make them tough.




I thought the batter (could this even be called batter?) looked very dry and strange but what do I know? I ladled it out into the muffin pans. At this point I looked around the kitchen...

And saw a cup of milk sitting on the counter. I totally forgot the milk. No wonder the batter looked so bizarre.

At this point I had no idea what to do. Are they ruined? Should I throw them out? I didn't have any more blueberries or milk (I had used half milk and half cream--so I guess I used half and half!) so I couldn't start over. I figured that it would be interesting to see if they still turned out, so I dumped all of the muffins out of their liners back into the bowl and added the milk. I figured that the overmixing/toughness problem is due to gluten formation because of th milk and flour, so without the milk, it shouldn't have been a problem (that may or may not be accurate but that was my thought process).

It seemed to mix all right.





I ladled the batter into the muffin liners (for the second time). The batter seemed much more like I expect it to look.



The cinnamon sugar was sprinkled on the top.



(I know there is nothing attractive about my pre-cooked muffins--I will never have a gorgeous Flikr stream that some bloggers seem to have)

They only took about 17 minutes to cook and they were beautiful! They were big and puffy and looked like bakery muffins!





I was so happy with the muffins! They are sweet but not too sweet (and I made them with all white sugar rather than brown) and the blueberry' were juicy and tasty. They even heated up well (and stayed moist!). I loved them. These are definitely going to be made again. I can't recommend them enough and my mistake didn't matter! I don't think they were much harder than the mix so maybe I'll make them from scratch for now on....

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (p. 326), White Sauce I (p. 550), Buttered Breadcrumbs (p. 960), and Corn Bread, Muffins, or Sticks (p.632)

When dinner rolled around, I figured I would knock out another TJOC recipe. I know I'm doing horribly on several sections (fruits, for example) so I decided I would make Baked Macaroni and Cheese (p. 326), which is in the highly underused (by me) "pasta, noodles, and dumplings" chapter.


The first stage of the recipe is to make a double recipe of White Sauce I (p. 550). And the first part of THIS recipe (it's like a Choose your own Adventure novel!) is to melt some butter in a saucepan and then add a couple tablespoons of flour. Don't let it burn! The picture is blurry because it's difficult to to take a picture while whisking.




A cup of milk is then whisked in.



The milk is whisked (constantly to prevent lumps) until it starts to thicken. I am proud to say that my white sauce was entirely lump-free!


I figured this was the point when the M&C recipe started. And at this point, onion, a bay leaf, and some paprika are mixed in and the sauce is simmered until it super-thickens.

It goes from this (thicker than the last picture but not very thick):




To this (although the cheese IS mixed in for this pic):





At this point, you need to have the sauce ready, have cooked up some pasta (I used elbow macaroni), and have grated cheese prepared (unless you buy it pre-grated--but I tend not to). Two thirds of 2.25 cups of the cheese are supposed to be mixed into the sauce. I'm no math major and that's a bizarre amount. Whisk whisk whisk, and the sauce is combined with the drained pasta:




Half is then poured into a buttered dish and sprinkled with half of the remaining third of the 2.25 cups of cheese (got that?).





At this point, I had to make Buttered Breadcrumbs (p. 960). Easy enough--melt some butter, add some breadcrumbs, a little bit of salt, and brown the breadcrumbs.




I don't know if I browned them enough but this M&C recipe was getting complicated and I thought it was good enough:



The remaining cheese is sprinkled on the mixture and then the breadcrumbs are added to the top and the whole concoction is stuck in the oven for about a half hour.



When it was was finished, it looked pretty tasty....






So what did it taste like?



(You can see Duchie, lusting for some mac and cheese!) It was great! I had low expectations but it was creamy and delicious. It also heated up wonderfully. I really liked the breadcrumbs on top because they gave it a terrific "crunch". Would I make it again? I don't know. There were a LOT of steps and although it was difficult, it was complex, and required a lot of kitchen-time. Plus, *hangs my head* I kind of like the taste of powdered cheese!


While the mac and cheese was baking, I figured that I would whip up some cornbread. I LOVE cornbread but I don't have a lot of luck in making it. TJOC has a number of cornbread recipes, but I settled on Corn Bread, Muffins, or Sticks (p.632) and decided that muffins would be delicious!

The cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt are mixed together. Anywhere from 1 T to 4 T of sugar can be added and I like my cornbread rather sweet--so I added 3 T. I lessoned the baking powder to 2 teaspoons from 2.5 t because of the altitude (it's always guesswork).





The recipe specifically says that all the ingredients should be at room temperature. I used a little trick I picked up somewhere (likely somewhere in TJOC) and placed the (straight out of the refrigerator) eggs in water for five minutes.




The beaten eggs, melted butter, and a cup of milk were added to the dry ingredients.




The recipe makes it very clear that the batter should be combined in only a few strokes. But it did look mixed enough! So I have a bad feeling I overbeat it. Do any of you have experience in cornbread?




The buttered pan is supposed to be put in the oven until it's sizzling.



I don't think that is a great idea because it seemed to burn the butter...I added some more, non burned butter to the hot cupcake pan. I then ladled the batter in the pan...




I only left them in for 15 minutes but I may have overcooked them:




So how were they? Eh, the flavor was good but they were too dense. I will say, they were attractive, so they managed to rise correctly (that must mean that I used the correct amount of baking powder) but they were tough. Maybe they were overcooked? Frustrating but I have many many more cornmeal recipes to try.