Pickled grapes (p. 228), Panfried leftover pasta (p. 323), and Ohio farmhouse sausage chili (p. 514)

First things first, I just posted an old blog from November--if you have a blog reader, it probably showed up, but if you don't, go check it out! I love when people officially "follow" my blog because it's good for my ego but I know that I have readers who just have TJOTJOC in their blogreaders and that's terrific too.

I've mentioned before that I always panfry leftover pasta because I think it's soft and gross heated up any other way (a trick I was taught by my mom). While going through TJOC, I noticed that Panfried leftover pasta (p. 323) was actually a recipe--but I had never taken pictures while making it. I rectified that today!

TJOC and I make this the exact same way.

First, heat up olive oil and dump the pasta into the pan.




Cook it, stirring fairly often (otherwise it burns).



I REALLY recommend heating pasta up this way--delicious! (And if you are wondering about the pasta, it's rotini with a garlicy tomato sauce that I got out of Mark Bittman's cookbook that my brother got me for Christmas--I know, I was cheating on TJOC!).

I decided to make Ohio farmhouse sausage chili (p. 514) for dinner because it was incredibly easy. This is a sausage chili rather than a hamburger chili. At first, you brown pork sausage and onion. I think normally the sausage would have a higher fat content than the Boulder Company sausage I used--I actually had to add a little olive oil because there was NO fat at all.

When the sausage was browned, celery is added until it's softened. I've never had celery in chili!





I added diced tomatoes, maple syrup, cumin, sage, and black pepper. TJOC calls for two cups of either tomato juice or chicken stock. I was making chicken stock but needed something immediately, so I used (the hated) canned chicken stock. The can was.5 cups too short but I didn't want to open a second can so I searched the house for tomato juice. And all I found was Spicy Hot V8. I figured it was good enough and added a half cup.

I love Spicy Hot V8 (in a Bloody Mary or by itself) but I had no idea how it was going to work in chili.




The finished product (after the beans are added and it's simmered for a while):



How was it? AMAZINGLY GOOD. I just wanted to drink the broth it was so good! Apparently, I love the combination of cumin, sage, and black pepper, and the Spicy Hot V8 was an awesome addition. This is absolutely a recipe that I think I will have to fool around with more (oh, and I love red kidney beans in chili). I'm not sure that I will make this exact recipe again but I will definitely make some version of it in the future.

And on to the piece de resistance of my Monday cooking...Pickled grapes (p. 228). I'm not sure exactly what attracted me to this recipe. I love pickles although I've never had pickled fruits. But I have been doing so spectacularly terribly on the fruit chapter I really needed to produce something from it and the pickled grapes were calling my name (figuratively, of course, it would be quite scary if they were literally calling my name).

So how did I pickle grapes?

The first step is to fill the jars (or one big jar or a bowl) with a couple cups of grapes and some garlic. Grapes and garlic? The recipe is interesting already!



Another view:




Then I made the pickling mixture--cider vinegar, sugar, fresh ginger, salt, coriander, whole colves, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I simmered it until the sugar dissolved (at this point it was a sort of spicey vinegar syrup). The kitchen smelled like I had just been cleaning!





The pickle was then poured into the jars...



Top view:




And they were let stand for an hour before I tasted the first one (they don't require an actual canning step).

How was it?

Tasty! Shockingly tasty. It's a weird experience. The first thing you think is "Wow, these are gross". As you chew, you think "Hmmm...these are actually pretty good". When you finish the first one you think "That was terrific!" and before you know it you've polished off half a jar. Josh had the exact same experience! I have to say, I will make these again. In fact, I will probably make these again within a week because I have a sad suspicion that they will all have disappeared...

In other news, I'm producing an index of the all of the indexes. I'm also stealing an idea from Teena of the Gourmet Project. She uses a random number generator to generate page numbers and she has to cook something off of them every so often. It's a good way to make sure that you aren't avoiding recipes--otherwise I could end up with a year of really nasty-looking foods that I didn't want to make.

I'm going to post my list (that way I can't cheat!) so make sure to look for it. I think I'll post it on the side bar...

Beef and vegetable stir fry (p. 476)

I went to my dad's on Sunday. Dad lives about a half-hour west of my mom, conveniently on the interstate that I take home to CO (I drive about 8.5 hours down the same interstate--so boring). Dad had made his own ricotta cheese (it was delicious!) and was planning on making a souffle for dessert. He wanted me to make something out of TJOC for dinner.

We decided to make Beef and vegetable stir fry (p. 476). This title is not entirely accurate for what I made though, since instead of using raw beef steak, I used leftover pork roast.

It is really important to have everything prepped when you make a stir-fry because once you get cooking, it moves FAST.

The first part of the recipe was to mix soy sauce, water, sugar, cornstarch, sesame oil, and either Chinese rice wine or dry sherry. Cornstarch...I'm always careful with it, otherwise you end up with lumps. (Otherwise known as cornstarch, the bane of Top Chef contestants).



Dad didn't have any Chinese rice wine but he did have Japanese rice wine.



My favorite part of sake?



It has a built in little cap for drinkin' on the go! Just in case you feel a little too classy to drink straight from the bottle but are not in the vicinity of any drinking vessels.

That saucy mix is then poured all over the beef (well...in this cause, pork).



I have to admit that at this point my stepmother wandered through the kitchen and commented on how good it smelled...and it did smell really good.

I then chopped onions and mushrooms, both of which were called for in the recipe, and bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, which were not called for but were delicious. Those were put to the side.

In another bowl (this is NOT the meal to make if you don't feel like washing dishes!) I mixed garlic, chili oil (now THAT has a kick), and ginger (dad didn't have any fresh ginger so I used powdered).




From this point on, the recipe takes about five minutes. The garlic mixture, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots were briefly fried and then the pork was added (since it was already cooked, it didn't need much).



The wok was then cleaned out. The onion and mushrooms were then cooked for a couple minutes. Everything was added back to the pan and it was finished!







Dad and I with the finished project! People (other than Josh) should be really worried about cooking with me, because I really like these "finished project" pictures :) Dad and I match!



I have to say, it was a really strange meal. (My shirt says "Iceberg, a head" if you are wondering)



Stir-fry, souffle, and a dinner roll. If that's not one of the strangest combinations you've ever seen, I would love to know what was. The stir-fry was really good and got high marks from everyone. It was nice and spicy and I think the pork made it even better. Plus, other than all of the measuring and mixing, it was extremely easy.


The lemon/ricotta souffle!



It was not only beautiful but extremely tasty. I had never had a souffle before and it was light and fluffy. I think the homemade ricotta made it even better! Between the bread and the souffle I learned how to make two of the foods that I terrified me (and still terrify me, but slightly less).

Oven-roasted peppers (p. 292) and Muffuletta (p. 181)

So roasting a red pepper is not officially a recipe but I took pictures of the process, so I might as well post about it! Oven-roasted peppers (p. 292). I ended up with extra so mom wrapped it up and saved it. She recently told me that it was amazingly delicious and wanted to know the secrets to making TJOC roasted red peppers. Believe me--there is no mystery.

You start with a red bell pepper. Brush it down with olive oil. Since I adore olive oil (and recommend you never look at the calorie count for a tablespoon of it) I smeared it all over.




Broil the pepper until it's blistered and black. I imagine it will eventually catch on fire--make sure to stop before that point.



Cut the top away and slip the skin off. Your extra will look like this:



The rest is your roasted red pepper! Pretty easy. Red peppers are relatively expensive though--I think it would be a great idea to plant a pepper plant in the garden, roast a bunch of them, and save them in a giant vat of oil (would that work?).

What did I need the red pepper for? Muffuletta (p. 181)! When I finished my Master's degree, my best friend Rachel and I went for an awesome trip to New Orleans. In between ghost tours in the morning and staying out all night on Bourbon street we managed to gorge ourselves on the awesome New Orleans specialties (muffuletta, beignets, po'boys, gumbo, etc.). I actually remember eating the muffuletta at a little place in the garden district after traveling down there on the cable cars and we trying to listen to the Anne Rice tour guide (a tour that we were not officially on and only had two people...hard to be inconspicuous!).

I really wanted this to be a delicious sandwich...especially since it was so time-consuming. Because of all the wait periods in the recipe, I hope that nobody ever makes this when they have a serious craving.

The first part of TJOC's muffuletta is to make an olive salad.

Mix together chopped black and green olives, olive oil, parsley, oregano, garlic, a little lemon juice, and the roasted red pepper. Since I don't like bell peppers, I decided to split the mixture in half and only add the red pepper to one container. The mixture then has to be refrigerated for at least eight hours.

I think the olive salad is incredibly pretty!




My olive salad looked like this:




The recipe calls for a round loaf of Italian or French bread. For some reason this was extremely difficult to buy at mom's local grocery store. I ended up buying some expensive organic bread because it was my only choice. It's split in half (essentially, making an enormous sandwich).



I see now, rereading the recipe, that I was supposed to hollow the sandwich out a little. I totally didn't do that and it worked fine (although it was a big sandwich and that step would have probably made it easier to eat). The recipe says to drain the olive mixture and spread the marinade on the bread...but there was no marinade! So I didn't do that step either...

The olive mixture spread on the bread:



The next step is a layer of salami (mmmm....)



And then a layer of ham....



And a layer of provolone cheese...are you hungry yet? I certainly am!




TJOC calls for shredded lettuce but we didn't have any...so it got a very light sprinkling of lettuce.



Finally, the other half of the olive mixture is added. I had to be careful about this and get the sides matched up--otherwise that would have been a total waste of time!



And the top of the loaf is put on:




It looked like a huge, drippy (but tasty) sandwich.


The sandwich was then wrapped in plastic...since we didn't have any Saran we put it in a loose bag (actually the bag the bread came in--nothing else was big enough) and wrapped it tight with foil.



The sandwich then was placed on a plate, covered with another plate, and weighted down in the refrigerator...TJOC says to weight it with cans but I used mom's exercise weights. It stays there for at least thirty minutes but could stay for up to six hours (and would probably be much flatter if you did the longer time).




I was starving at this point so it only got to crush for about an hour.

The final product?




Close up:



It was AMAZINGLY good. The olive salad would be terrific by itself...or with some hummus for a vegetarian sandwich (mmm...I may have to try that). The sandwich was extremely tasty. I can't say it was easy, or cheap, but it sure was good. Since my last muffuletta was over three years ago, I can't vouch for it's authenticity, but at least it didn't include mayo (my Lousiana friends tell me that's the worst thing you can do to a muffuletta!).

Green peppers and onions (p. 292) and White Bread (p. 596)

Don't forget the contest!

Also, for those of you who are following my vegetarian and vegan tags--well, I'm not tagging everything that is vegetarian or vegan because I forget and I don't think I have any veggies reading the blog. Let me know if I'm wrong!

My goal when I see my mom is to make the foods that Josh and I don't like--but she does (anything heavy in peppers and/or onions, for example). So I made a dish that mom really likes but I think is incredibly disgusting (even the smell)--Green peppers and onions (p. 292).


The first step is to heat up the olive oil (or butter or bacon fat) in a pan. Then add 6 sliced onions. Now I don't know if you've ever sliced six onions...but it's a LOT of onions. I even chose small onions and it was a huge amount. The onions are cooked until softened.




Three sliced green bell peppers (sliced, cored, and cut) are then added.



This mixture is then cooked down....






It seemed like a really strange proportion of peppers to onions--a LOT of onions and not very many peppers. It horrified me the entire time (from cutting [and crying over] the onions and peppers) to cooking--I really really dislike both bell peppers and onions. Onions are really cheap though, so if you like them, this is totally the recipe for you. Mom thought it was really really good and happily ate the entire pot over a few days (although she later added sausage).


I also made a recipe that I really wanted my mom around for--White Bread (p. 596). My mom makes excellent bread but I have never made it from scratch. TJOC says that this recipe has been in every edition of the cookbook since the first version in 1931.


The first step is to mix milk, sugar, Crisco, butter, and salt.



This step was annoying...it makes a big deal about the temperature of this mix. By the time the Crisco and butter melted it was at way too high of a temperature and I had to wait for it to cool down.



The yeast and water are then mixed. I find yeast stressful. Creepy little living things that determine the success of my bread...it did smell yeasty though. And little bubbles started to form...apparently, that is a good thing.





The milk mixture is then added to the yeast and the first three cups of flour are added...




The bread is then beaten for a minute. Mom had no idea what this meant so we just stirred it (actually, I cheated here...this is mom beating it). Obviously, it worked because it started coming away from the sides of the bowl.



And you get a little ball...



At this point more flour is added until it no longer sticks. This was a bit of a problem because the bread wasn't sticking in the first place--it really didn't want to accept all of that flour.






The bread was then put in an oiled bowl:



And covered:



Mom and I were worried about the bread because winter in Iowa is very very cold and bread likes it hot...

So it went in the warmest place in the house...

The bathroom, with the door shut. Perfect place!

And the bread grew! It probably didn't quite double but it did grow a lot.




It got punched down:



And was allowed to rise again.


The bread dough was then separated and put into two loaf pans and allowed to rise for a third time. I chose not to braid them, although braiding bread was one of my favorite activities as a child.




And into the oven...





They came out great! Although they were tiny. In fact, they were so tiny that they looked as if they had been baked in an EasyBake oven (okay, that's an exaggeration, but not by much). Nice and brown.







The final product:



I think they are beautiful! The texture of the bread was really great although it is a little "cakey"--which is undoubtedly due to all the milk and butter. The crust was crisp and tasty. I brought one of the loaves home to Josh and it didn't last a day :)

I have to say, I'm still terrified to try to make it at high altitude. I know you have to use different yeast and the bread rises much faster--but I still find it scary. Does anyone have any experience with bread baking at high altitude?


EDITED! The recipe in TJOC is incorrect and is updated in the edits. The printed recipe leaves out an extra cup of water, which would have made all of the difference. Make sure to update your copy of TJOC.

The best North American foods meme

The best North American foods meme!

If you do this, post it in a comment (or post the link to yours!)--at least tell me your thoughts!

I will bold the foods I've eaten, strike out the ones I refuse to eat, link to those I've already TJOC'd. I think most of these are in TJOC but I haven't made them yet (which makes sense because TJOC is such an American classic). Don't think about the underlining because I picked that up from the blog I found the meme on...and couldn't figure out how to undo it :)


1. New York pizza--I would say you can only count this if you've actually eaten it in New York!
2. Hoppin' John--surprisingly good!
3. New Mexico green chile
4. Homemade buttermilk biscuits
5. Tasso
6. Whole Maine lobster
7. Calabash-style shrimp and hushpuppies (I've had hushpuppies but not the shrimp)
8. Kansas City barbecue ribs--in KC, of course :)
9. Hot glazed Krispy Kreme--not a huge fan though--I like yeast doughnuts better than cake doughnuts.
10. San Diego fish tacos
11. Cheese curds (in the holy land of cheese curds...Wisconsin!)
12. Key lime pie (Florida!)
13. Philly cheese steak--I've never had one because I don't like Cheez-Whiz or onions.
14. Memphis pork barbecue sandwich--obviously I've had a pork barbecue sandwich but not a "Memphis" one
15. Lowcountry boil
16. Huckleberry pie
17. New England clam chowder
18. Boiled peanuts--although I'm not sure why...I don't think they are particularly good
19. Buffalo (Bison) burger
20. Eggs Benedict
21. Pastrami on rye
22. Corned beef and cabbage
23. Pancakes with maple syrup
24. Everything bagel with cream cheese and tomato
25. Thin Mints
26. Frito pie -- I don't care for Fritos
27. Potato knish with mustard
28. Silver Queen corn on the cob - good chance I've tried it, but I'm not really up on my various corn varieties (this was the previous blogger's comment but I totally agree)
29. Soft pretzel from a street cart
30. Fresh-picked blueberries--Yum!
31. Sourwood honey
32. State fair funnel cake
33. Chesapeake crab cakes
34. Candied yams
35. Oyster dressing--this IS in TJOC though
36. Snow cone or snowball
37. Wild Alaskan salmon
38. Sautéed more
39. Persimmon pudding
40. General Tso's Chicken
41. Frozen custard
42. Italian sausage with peppers and onions on a hoagie bun
43. Chili dogs--I went through a 15-year no hot dog era so I don't think I ever have had a chili dog
44. Buffalo wings with blue cheese
45. Spam musubi --I should have eaten this in Japan! I certainly saw it
46. Saltwater taffy--both 46 and 47 are thanks to Jennifer and her family :)
47. Fluffernutter sandwich on Wonder Bread
48. Black and white cookie
49. Frybread
50. BLT with thick-cut applewood bacon
51. Baked beans
52. Pumpkin pie
53. Collards with vinegar and Tabasco
54. Tex-Mex fajitas with skirt steak and sautéed peppers
55. Fried green tomatoes--in TJOC
56. Succotash --in TJOC
57. Shrimp and grits (in TJOC)
58. Hot water cornbread--what is this?
59. Barbecue chicken pizza with red onions--I think this is in TJOC
60. Chicken fried steak--my favorite hangover dish! And in TJOC!
61. Carnitas burrito
62. Apple butter
63. Geoduck
64. Soft-serve ice cream cone dipped in chocolate shell--A Dairy Queen specialty, although I don't care for the hard shell
65. Pecan pie--my uncle made a particularly delicious version!
66. Catfish supper at a church or fire station
67. Oysters Rockefeller--I learned I don't like Oysters Rockefeller when Rachel and I ordered it at the Court of the Two Sisters in New Orleans :)
68. Homemade cranberry sauce--Of course! What American hasn't?
69. Pimento cheese
70. MoonPie washed down with R.C. Cola--I've had both, but not together
71. Pickled watermelon rind
72. Cracker Jacks at the ball game
73. Smithfield ham
74. Meatloaf and mashed potato blue plate special at diner
75. Chicken and waffles
76. Po'Boy with many napkins --in New Orleans
77. Green bean casserole with French's fried onions
78. Stuffed sopaipillas
79. Turducken
80. Shad roe on toast--not on toast
81. Sweet potato casserole with or without marshmallows
82. Cioppino--nope, although I should have had it when I was in San Francisco
83. New York cheesecake
84. Pan-fried river trout
85. Jambalaya
86. North Carolina pig pickin'
87. California rolls--in both the US and Japan
88. Burgoo--in TJOC
89. Penuche fudge
90. Fried peanut butter and banana sandwich
91. Scrapple or livermush
92. Elk medallions in red wine reduction
93. Muscadine grapes
94. Cheeseburger at backyard barbecue
95. Open-face turkey sandwich
96. Chicago deep dish pizza
97. Cobb salad--the least healthy "salad"
98. Peach pie a la mode
99. Macaroni and cheese
100. Root beer float

TOTAL
Eaten: 54
Won't Try: 0
Left to try: 46