Flank Steak with Dressing (p. 482)

This is a double post this week so make sure to read both of them! Especially since the marshmallow's are some of my favorite TJOC successes!

First things first--I found out how awesome homemade marshmallows were in cocoa but how would they be in s'mores? I LOVE s'mores. I LOVE them. I, someone who doesn't really like sweets (and am far more likely to give them all to friends then eat them--something Jennifer, Emily, or Rachel could tell you) but s'mores are one of those things that I would wrestle people over. Obviously, they are best when made over an open flame but I tend to make them in the microwave. I don't tend to make them because I don't like the tough outside of the marshmallows.

So how did the homemade marshmallows stack up?



They were AWESOME. Fluffy and wonderful. Wow were they delicious. I bet I ate fifty of them in a few days. I honestly ate half of the marshmallows this way. You know, maybe you are better off not making these...just go ahead and send them to me....

I picked up some round steak on closeout at the grocery store and then searched TJOC for a recipe to make. Flank Steak with Dressing (p. 482) seemed perfect. By "dressing" TJOC apparently means "stuffing" rather than the dressing that goes on salads. The first step is to sprinkle salt, paprika, mustard, ginger, and Worcestershire sauce on the steak and then pound the heck out of it. The confusing part--by mustard does the recipe mean yellow mustard? Dijon mustard? Mustard powder? I pondered it and decided that I don't like yellow mustard so it was going to be Dijon.

Recipes that required lots of pounding with the meat mallet were some of my mom's favorites when I was growing up (hell, they are probably still her favorites!). She's always said that they are great for getting rid of stress. So I took out all my stress on the round steak.

Before:





After:



I must say, it was rewarding, even though meat juices were spraying everywhere.

The next step was to make the dressing. It was a simple stuffing--onion, breadcrumbs, salt, more paprika, parsley, celery, and some egg--all fried up in butter.






The stuffing was then spread all over the round steak. It seemed like an awful lot of stuffing for the amount of meat...





The round steak is then rolled up. This is not as easy as it sounds...especially with a round steak that's been cut up the middle to remove the bone. Obviously, that slit was leaking stuffing. So I would roll part of it up, tie some butcher's twine tight, roll up another part, tie it tight, and so on. Josh and I couldn't find any twine at the grocery store but the King Sooper's meat counter workers were nice enough to give us some (we heart King Sooper's--they double coupons!).

The rolled steak is then briefly browned. Starting at this:




And ending at this:




The next step was to make the sauce (or dressing? I suppose this could be steak, filled with dressing, covered in dressing). The dressing was chicken stock, tomato juice, and salt. It said to boil until thickened. The sucker refused to thicken! I cooked it and cooked it and cooked it--and it barely thickened. I eventually gave up.





The steak and sauce were supposed to be combined in a roasting pan, dutch oven, or casserole. My roasting pan was enormous and the sauce would have barely coated the bottom. I don't have a overproof dutch oven. And my casserole...could this possibly fit in it?




Yep! Apparently it can. Barely, but it fits.

And into the oven it went. An hour and a half later:



Looks pretty tasty! I cut into the inside...




Pretty!

So what did it taste like?

It was really good. The sauce was rather boring but the steak was flavorful and the stuffing was really good--perfectly seasoned. I would make this again but make a different sauce--or maybe use wine instead of tomato juice. And it was really attractive--I think it would be a great dish for company. I am more confident with future roulades!

Marshmallows (p. 869) and Quick Hot Cocoa (p. 36)

As I was looking through the book I noticed that I hadn't made a SINGLE recipe out of the candies and confections chapter. Uh oh...so I decided to make a recipe from it and chose...hmm...which one to do...MARSHMALLOWS (p. 869)!


This is the only cooking plus of living in Colorado--there is near zero humidity and that is terrific for candy.


The first step was to sprinkle some gelatin over water. Unflavored gelatin smells absolutely awful and is extremely similar to the smell at a packing plant. I must say, that didn't make me feel very confident about the recipe. At this point you aren't supposed to mix it--just leave it for five minutes to "soften the gelatin".





The bowl is then to be placed over a pot of simmering water for 2-3 minutes or "until the gelatin dissolves". It took FOREVER to get the gelatin dissolved. There were huge chunks that did NOT want to get whisked out. It took at least ten minutes.




I think it's a bad sign when the recipe states that you shouldn't even attempt the recipe if you don't have a heavy-duty mixer. Fortunately (thanks mom!) I do have one.





The next step was to mix sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Easy enough, although it took longer than it was supposed to (likely due to the altitude). At this point, I started to get nervous. I think candy is the most difficult thing to learn from a book. It seems like someone should be standing with me and telling me when things were at the correct point. Alas, that was not possible, so I bravely went on :)





The mixture needed to be heated to 244 degrees without stirring. It is very difficult for me not to stir. It always seems like you should be stirring the mix to make sure that it doesn't burn...



That step took FOREVER. I've noticed that other bloggers have these awesome little remote thermometer that allow them to wander away from the pot--I think that is something that I may have to invest in. I was really nervous because the recipe made it VERY clear that it would be a big mistake to let it overheat.


The corn syrup mix then had to be slowly mixed into the gelatin and beat for ten to fifteen minutes. The recipe than said that the mixture should be beat until it is "thick and fluffy but stillw arm and thin enough to pour". It's directions like this that I HATE. How in the heck will I know when it's the correct texture? Some vanilla is then mixed in--I figure this could be any sort of flavoring (ie mint for Christmas? That would be GREAT in cocoa).

A cool action shot!





I eventually decided it looked fluffy and still seemed warm. I poured the mix into a big pan...and it was NOT easy to pour. It was a lot like pouring marshmallow cream--difficult and sticky.





It's then left for about a day to dry out. I have a feeling that this would be difficult if you were in a more humid climate. I wasn't confident at all in them at this point. Marshmallows are usually puffy! These weren't puffy at all. I was really worried that my marshmallows were going to be tough.

Josh pointed out that the marshmallows in the store say "jet-puffed" and that insinuates that homemade marshmallows are not puffed in the same way...that made me feel better.

When the marshmallows were set, I removed them and cut them into cubes using kitchen shears dusted in cornstarch and then rolled them in a powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture. It's great because you can control the size of the marshmallow--either make big, normal, or tiny marshmallows.





I then packed them up, between layers of parchment paper, in an airtight container.






So how were they? Tasty and tender (not tough at all)! Well, tasty might be an overstatement, they really tasted like sweet nothing, but isn't that what all marshmallows taste like?





So the obvious questions came to mind...how will homemade marshmallows work in cocoa, s'mores, rice crispy treats? Hmmm....

I'll start with the easiest one--Quick Hot Cocoa (p. 36). I'm not usually very interested in cocoa, I'll admit that first. But this recipe is extremely easy--first, you measure out some cocoa syrup (which I made in the last blog). I'll warn you...it doesn't measure easily! Remember to multiply the recipe by however many cups you are making--I made enough for both Josh and me.




Next, you mix in milk and some heavy cream. I LOVE heavy cream so this is obviously a recipe for me! It wasn't as easy to do this as you would expect...the syrup did NOT want to mix with the milk/cream. Eventually, they melded.





Poor it in a cup, top with some mini marshmallows, and it's ready to go!




So how was it? DELICIOUS! Wow--incredibly good. Chocolaty but not overly sweet. The marshmallows were AWESOME in the cocoa. They almost totally melted. One of the things I don't like about store bought marshmallows is that the rubbery edge never seems to totally melt and I don't like that edge. Totally not a problem with these marshmallows--they were soft and delicious.

I cannot recommend making these marshmallows enough. It was also really fun giving them to people--the most common comment was "I didn't know you could make marshmallows from scratch".


My question to you--I'm considering making marshmallows as favors for our wedding. Our colors are chocolate and sand with pink flowers and I'm thinking that I could dye marshmallows pink and make chocolate marshmallows....what do you guys think? Would you like getting these as a favor?

Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup (p. 135), Cocoa Syrup (p. 36), Orange-Tomato Juice (p. 37), and Egg Cream (p. 37)

I just added a frequently asked questions section--click on the "FAQ's" in my "about me" section. If you have a question you would like to ask, just comment on one of the blogs or send me an email! And don't forget the contest!

I was hungry and wanted something fast so I went to my favorite section of TJOC--the Stocks and Soups section. I decided to make Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup (p. 135). I had the last of the jalapeno peppers that dad gave me and this seemed the perfect recipe.

Easy start--take some stock (homemade for me--I love homemade poultry stock!) and coconut milk, a few jalapenos, ginger, salt....and fish sauce or soy sauce. Easy choice for me. I HATE fish sauce. It absolutely horrifies me. I swear, when I get it on my hands, it doesn't come off for days...so gross. So my soup absolutely had soy sauce...





Then some thinly sliced chicken breast was added, along with some fresh lime juice. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my enormous stock pot. The soup smelled tasty....mmm...





The soup was great. But I thought it really needed some rice, so I added some. I also thought that the broth was too thin...and I don't know what I could have done wrong to cause that...the soup was good but I don't think I'll bother making it again. There are MUCH tastier recipes in TJOC. That being said--I am FINALLY comfortable using coconut milk :)






I was searching through TJOC for other fast, fun recipes. I decided to make Cocoa Syrup (p. 36). I didn't know quite what to expect but I was really hoping to end up with something like Hershey's syrup. Chocolate syrup is something that we almost never use in our house, so it sits around in the fridge until it almost rots. I would adore a recipe that I could whip up when we needed it instead of having a five year old bottle of Hershey's in the fridge. And I was hoping this could be it.

But I'm not insulting Hershey's--I happily eat their products :) And my syrup was made with delicious Hershey's cocoa....

I have dutch process cocoa, but this didn't seem to require it!



The cocoa and sugar are whisked together:





And then malted milk powder and cold water are added. The mix is brought to a boil and then simmered.

Malted milk powder?



Not something I use very often. But the recipe really wasn't very difficult. Does anyone else really dislike non-stick coating? I think I'm moving away it. I really dislike worrying about scratching it constantly and not being able to put the pots in the dishwasher. I don't think my plastic coated whisk works as well as the metal whisks (or Josh's expensive and beloved "special" whisk).



So how was the finished product? Absolutely delicious. Really really good. I can imagine it on ice cream...yum! Easy and delicious? This recipe is added to the "must make again" category. And I really like that it can go without refrigeration for a while--sometimes we run out of fridge room!



What could I use the syrup in? I decided to make an Egg Cream (p. 37) for Josh (I'm lactose intolerant, so milk drinks aren't super smart for me to drink). Egg creams doesn't have eggs or cream in them. The pharmacy near my house when I was growing up had a soda counter and used to serve these (oddly, this was not that long ago, although the pharmacy is gone and gym is in it's place now).

This is an easy enough recipe. Milk and cocoa syrup need to be "stirred vigorously". I decided to use the Ziploc container shaker method again. I added both to the container, stirred on the lid, and shook shook shook.






Eventually it gets foamy...




That is then poured into a tall glass, seltzer is mixed in, and voila! There it is, an egg cream.



How was it? Josh insisted it was extremely tasty and that the colder the milk, the better. Even if you used store bought syrup, it's still a great drink to make.





I searched TJOC for other recipes that used tomato juice, since I still had homemade tomato juice. I made Orange-Tomato Juice (p. 37). I wasn't very excited about this recipe--I didn't think it sounded that great. Orange and tomato? Ick.

And that's pretty much the recipe. Tomato juice, orange juice, sugar, lime juice, and salt, all poured over ice. Sounds great, right?




So how was it? Eh, all right. It tasted EXACTLY like V-8 Splash, which my mom is a big fan off. I think it's a cheap way (and less processed version) to get a lot of nutrients, if you like the flavor combo. Again--I'm not a huge fan, but I would make it for mom because I think she would like it. And it is rather attractive.

Tomato Juice I (p. 37) and Bloody Mary (p. 57)

I am blogs and blogs and blogs behind! Hopefully I can get caught up asap. First things first--if anyone knows how to make an index page or is willing to make one for me (I have no idea what they cost) please let me know. I would like to link each recipe to my post on it and have little progress bars for each chapter.

Also, don't forget about the contest! It's super easy to enter!


I was trying to decide whether to include the "Beverages", "Wine and Beer", and "Cocktails and Mixed Drinks" chapters in my cook-through. I finally decided that I had no good reason not to include them and there was no time like the present to get started on them. So what did I choose for my first drink recipe? Tomato Juice (p. 37). First things first--this is a TERRIFIC recipe if you have a garden of tomato plants that are overproducing and you are throwing away boatloads of tomatoes. As for me? No tomato plants, so I had to use canned tomatoes, which is not as cost effective.



The recipe required a lot of tomatoes. Reading the recipe again, I can't figure out how I came up with the amount of tomatoes needed...but apparently, I decided that one big can and two little cans was the correct amount.




It's a pretty easy combination of ingredients--celery, onion, parsley, some water, and a bay leaf. Ohhh...looking healthy!








The concoction cooks for about thirty minutes...going from this:






To this:





So how do you get from soup to juice? A strainer! I think more juice could have been squeezed out but I was getting tired.




Mmmm....tomato juice!





Salt, paprika, and sugar were then mixed in and voila! Juice. At this point I poured myself a glass and drank it. It was really great--nice and tangy. I poured Josh a glass and he was absolutely horrified--I forgot it was still warm. Apparently, warm tomato juice is not loved by everyone (I LOVE hot drinks and can drink just about ANYTHING warm). But over ice he agreed that it was quite tasty. Quite a bit of work for tomato juice, but quite tasty.




Looking at all that tomato juice, I started thinking about making a Bloody Mary. I love Bloody Mary's. I think they are one of those drinks that goes perfect with food (ie I could never drink them at a party because they get a bit cloying--but I like them virgin as well), like daiquiris and mimosas (well, a virgin mimosa wouldn't make any sense).

I looked up the Bloody Mary (p. 57) recipe. Seemed easy enough--vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce...Tabasco sauce...celery salt....salt....black pepper...COME ON! HOW MANY INGREDIENTS ARE THERE??? I do want to point out that if you make this recipe with tequila, which sounds absolutely nauseating, it's a Bloody Maria. If you replace the tomato juice with beef consommé, it becomes a bullshot. Why would anyone drink that?? Has anyone HAD a bullshot or a bloody Maria? Please tell me what it tastes like!


I quickly realized that I didn't have a martini shaker. Hmm...what to do...

I decided to use a Ziploc container to shake the drink. I figured that the top screwed on, it should work. And it did! It worked EXTREMELY well and really held up to vigorous shaking! Josh and I use these containers ALL the time--they are excellent for homemade ice cream and I like them for chicken stock.




I stuck a stalk of celery in each of cup and brought one to Josh, keeping one for myself. Don't they look good?




Josh took a sip and this is when I ran into trouble...

Josh--So what type of alcohol is in this?
Me--Vodka.
Josh--Where did you get the vodka?
Me--The refrigerator.
Josh--We don't have any vodka.
Me--Sure we do. In the refrigerator.
Josh--No--we don't have any vodka.
Me--Yes we do! The bottle of Absolut in the refrigerator.

And then he said it...
Josh--Well, we have a bottle of VANILLA Vodka in the refrigerator, but not regular Vodka.

CRAP! I had accidentally used Vanilla vodka in the Bloody Mary's. Let's just say, not as great match. I love B'Mary's made with pepper vodka...but not vanilla. That being said, it wasn't near as disgusting as I would have expected.
That being said, that was a long list of ingredients! (Oh, and we were out of lemon juice so I used lime juice--the lime and vanilla don't go well together either--unlike lime and coconut).

Enchiladas Verdes (p. 104), Roasted Tomatillo Spinach Sauce (p. 568), and Spanish Rice (p. 357)

I knew that I was going to have to dive right back into TJOC after a summer of being away! I decided to make Enchiladas Verdes (p. 104). The first step of EV is to make a half recipe of Roasted Tomatillo Spinach Sauce (p. 568). Not the best idea in August, considering the roasting, but I'm ready for fall...

The first step--to take a pound of tomatillos and rinse, husk, and core them. I've always been very intimidated by tomatillos...I had no idea what to do with them. I know they are more or less tomatoes but I had never used them before. They were really cheap though--only a couple of dollars a pound.

The mighty tomatillo:



You have to peel the husk off. The vegetable (fruit?) is then bizarrely sticky, so it needs to be rinsed off. The book says to "core" the tomatillos so I just kind of cut out part of the middle--pretty sure that isn't what I was supposed to do but close enough.


The recipe also required a poblano or Anaheim pepper. I only had one pepper (another item from dad's garden). It was this pepper:





I don't know my peppers very well and have absolutely no idea what kind of pepper that is. I decided that it was close enough. I also quartered an onion and some garlic and set it to roasting.





It roasted for about forty minutes--a fairly long time on a hot day! At this point, the vegetables were pretty soft and starting to blacken.

The recipe said to transfer everything to a blender or food processor. The world's smallest food processor was certainly not up to the task and I didn't want to haul out the blender, so I decided to use the immersion blender with it's little plastic cup. I transfered everything into the cup, along with fresh spinach, cilantro, some homemade chicken stock, and some salt and pepper.




It was a perfect fit! Which was a good thing because I really didn't want to transfer it to a pot.




It blended down pretty quickly, leaving me with about two and a half cups of sauce exactly like it was supposed to. The immersion blender is godsend--it makes the cleanup so easy.





Once the sauce was made, it was on to the enchiladas. This was easy enough--pretty much just combining cooked chicken (I used a store bought cooked chicken), sour cream, scallions, cilantro, and salt in a big bowl (sorry for the sideways picture). This recipe is a GREAT use for leftover chicken and sour cream--we are NEVER able to use all the sour cream before it goes bad.




The tortillas then are supposed to be laid out and brushed with vegetable oil. My cookie sheet only held ten tortillas, but I figured that was okay.




Then you fill the tortillas with some filling, and roll them up. I always do it when they are still pretty hot and burn my fingers but I hate waiting for the tortillas to cool down! It would have been no problem to add two more enchiladas (which is what the recipe calls for) to the pan.





Add the sauce to the top (this is certainly not the most attractive sauce in the world):




Mmm....the sauce gets even less attractive....



The enchiladas were delicious! WOW were they good. I really really can't recommend this recipe enough. The enchiladas themselves were creamy and the sauce was tangy--they were absolutely great. And the recipe looks complex but it really didn't take very long in actual work time (all the time was in roasting or baking time).



I was categorizing how far I was in TJOC and I noticed that I had not done much of the grains recipes.

I decided that Spanish Rice (p. 357) would be perfect with the enchiladas and we would actually be eating a meal that went together!

This recipe was extraordinarily easy. First, you heat up some oil, bacon, onion, and garlic--great start! Anything with bacon in it is a definite hit in this household! The recipe also included green peppers but I DESPISE bell peppers so those always get cut. The only foods I hate: peppers and tuna. Josh hates chickpeas. Fortunately the list isn't that long or it could be a big problem!



At this point, you mix rice in, and then chicken broth, canned tomatoes, paprika, salt, and pepper. Pour it into a bowl....




And bake it for a while--easy! How was it?

Rice is one of the items that I have the most trouble with at altitude. Usually the rice is too soupy AND manages to not be cooked enough--but cooking it more doesn't seem to solve the problem. Maybe a higher temperature would help?

Even though the rice wasn't quite cooked enough, the flavor of spanish rice was incredible. It was tasted heavily spiced even though there wasn't much in the way of spices and the bacon was a great touch. I can't wait to try this recipe again (preferably at sea-level).