Matzo ball soup (p. 126) and Potato pancakes (p. 298)

Even though I'm not Jewish, I thought Hanukkah would be the perfect time to try my hand at Matzo ball soup (p. 126). Happy Hanukkah everybody!

Disclaimer: I have never eaten matzo or matzo balls and I had no idea how the recipe would turn out or how accurate it would be.

I beat eggs and salt for a minute:

I added dill, chives, and soda water (I used seltzer water--I'm not sure if that's right or wrong). I folded in matzo meal, black pepper, a bit of curry, and a pinch of ginger:

I covered the bowl and refrigerated it for a few hours, then formed balls of the mixture and dropped them into boiling water, cooking them for a half hour:

Eventually the matzo balls floated:

And I drained them.

I heated up some poultry stock, added a little salt and pepper, and popped the matzo balls in:

How was it? It's a hard one to judge. Matzo balls are one of the strangest things that I've ever eaten. They are like meatballs that don't contain any meat and are sort of spongy. The first bite, I thought "Man, this is really strange, I don't like it". The next bite, I liked it better. By the third bite, I thought they were pretty good. I ended up eating two bowls of the salt--I particularly liked all the dill and pepper. I can't judge it well, though, because I have never had matzo ball soup before. I'm really glad I used homemade stock, since it was such a major player in the dish.

I looked for a latkes recipe in TJOC and the closest I got was Potato pancakes (p. 298) which I think are essentially the same thing.

I learned my lesson with the hash browns that turned black due to air exposure, so I decided to get my mise en place all set up before I started grating the potatoes. I combined eggs, flour, a bit of grated onion, and some salt:

I then quickly grated two cups of potatoes and combined them with the egg mixture (I figured that would stop the potatoes from getting overly oxidized):

I fried them in vegetable oil (a quarter inch of butter seemed delicious but like a LOT of butter). I waited until one side was browned and then flipped. They were really wet, so I hoped they would still work:

Eventually they were done (and were plenty greasy):

I ate them with some sour cream and they were DELICIOUS. Honestly, this is going in to the best of TJOC pile too. They were crispy and moist and perfect. In fact, simply writing this blog post makes me hungry.

So, more knowledgeable TJOTJOC readers, do my results seem about right?

Spicy peanut sesame noodles (p. 332)

Sometimes I decide to make a certain recipe for a particular reason. Other times, it's truly a whim. Spicy peanut sesame noodles (p. 332) was definitely a whim. The recipe has looked tasty to me for a while but was extremely long and had quite a few ingredients, including several odd items I didn't have on hand.

The odd ingredients:

1. Unsalted peanut butter. Unsalted PB is not particularly easy to find--likely because it doesn't taste very good.

2. Dark soy sauce. This ingredient was another mystery. I thought that maybe it was full-flavored soy sauce as compared to lite soy sauce but I wasn't sure about that. While at the local Asian grocery store looking for Chinese egg noodles, I ran across a bottle--it really is different than normal soy sauce. It's thicker and almost syrupy.

3. Freshly brewed black tea. I love tea, I drink a LOT of tea, I even really like black tea, but I don't drink a lot of plain, unflavored black tea. Luckily, Josh had a stash of it that he uses for iced tea.

I also had trouble finding "Chinese egg noodles". I found Chinese noodles but they weren't egg noodles. TJOC mentions that spaghetti could be used instead, so I figured they were close enough.

This recipe has quite a few ingredients that an average pantry probably doesn't have on hand unless you do at least an occasional amount of Asian cooking, such as chili oil, sesame oil, and rice vinegar (thankfully I had all of those).

I mixed the peanut butter, rice vinegar, light and dark soy sauces, garlic, one chile pepper (it gave me an option of 1-3 and I figured I would start low), honey (I think this recipe would be vegan if you used a different sweetener), salt, sesame oil, chili oil, and tea in my blender and blended until smooth:

I cooked the noodles in unsalted water and then rinsed until cool. I tossed the noodles with sesame oil (I assume so they don't stick):

I mixed the sauce into the noodles:

SO GOOD! Honestly, this recipe goes in to the pile of "Best of TJOC". The dish was very spicy, so I can't imagine how hot it would be with three peppers instead of one. It kept BEAUTIFULLY. In fact, I think it was better after it sat in the fridge for a couple days. The spicy, creamy sauce was amazingly delicious and I just wanted to keep eating it. The recipe makes a LOT of noodles though, so make sure you have hungry people on hand!

One warning--these are cold noodles. I got very used to cold noodles in Japan but not everybody likes them (although I think you should give them a shot, especially if you've never tried them).

Caramel sauce (p. 849)

I've been trying to pound through some of the randomly selected list and I thought Caramel sauce (p. 849) seemed fairly easy. I like making candy and it seemed like an easy candy-like recipe, so a simple thing to knock off the list.

I boiled sugar and water until the syrup was clear:

I boiled the syrup until it began to darken around the edges and then stirred it until it was a deep amber (one of those obnoxious value judgement):

I stirred in a stick of butter until incorporated and then added heavy cream:

Finally, I stirred in a little vanilla and salt. The recipe actually made quite a bit:

And I poured the sauce over some ice cream:

I should come clean--I'm not a huge ice cream eater and I really don't require sauces the few times I eat it, so I'm not an aficionado.

I don't know about this recipe. I thought the caramel tasted burned but I probably just overcooked it--it's very hard to make something that is essentially a candy without using a candy thermometer. Josh really loved it and happily used it for the next couple of days, so it might just be a matter of taste. It kept well in the refrigerator and was nice for making vanilla ice cream a little more interesting.

Has anyone made this before? Did it taste burned to you?

Thanksgiving 2010 III: Creamed spinach II (p. 305), Sweet-and-sour (Harvard) beets (p. 259), and Apple and cherry bread stuffing (p. 534)

And more side dishes!

I made Creamed spinach II (p. 305), which, in hindsight, was a strange decision because it was almost a guarantee that nobody would like it. Nobody in our family looks at creamed spinach and thinks "Yum! I can't wait!". I had actually never eaten creamed spinach before even though I really love spinach.

I blended milk, onion, butter, flour, salt, paprika, nutmeg, and garlic in the blender until smooth:

Smooth!

I added the spinach and chopped it. I then cooked everything in a skillet for a few minutes:

And poured it in to a nice bowl:

Done! It was good but rather bland, typical of creamed spinach. I think everybody took a little to be polite but I don't think anyone was thrilled with it. Maybe it would be better if I had included the buttered breadcrumbs and bacon. Does anyone out there really love creamed spinach?

Mom mentioned that beets would be a nice addition to Thanksgiving, so we made Sweet-and-sour (Harvard) beets (p. 259). It's basically a warmed up version of Pickled beets. I had a quick little chat with Professor Google (Sir Wikipedia wasn't up to the job) about the etymological origin of the name "Harvard beets". Apparently it's a bastardization of the name "Harwood beets".

I combined sugar, cider vinegar, cornstarch, salt, and cloves in a double broiler (or, more accurately, in a bowl on top of a pot of boiling water).

'

I cooked it until clear and let it stand for thirty minutes. I added the beets:

Added a bit of butter and poured them in to a pretty dish:

The beets were good. If you like beets, you will probably like these beets. If you don't, I don't recommend eating them, they won't change your mind. Harvard beets are beets for beet lovers. They had a smooth pickled flavor. My mom said they were absolutely delicious.

The stuffing is usually one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal. Last year we made the switch to two stuffings. So this year, we decided that mom and I would freehand one batch of stuffing (it would include cornbread and sausage) and I would also make Apple and cherry bread stuffing (p. 534).

I melted butter and olive oil in my skillet and sauteed celery and onion. I decided to add everything except the breadcrumbs first, so it would mix more easily. I added apple, dried cherries, Madeira, raisins, rosemary, black pepper, and salt to the celery and onion:

I think I should have cut my cornbread breadcrumbs (that feels like a Jeopardy answer--CornBreadCrumbs) smaller, but they still worked. I mixed them in:

We didn't have a casserole that was avaliable and big enough so they went in two different dishes. Mom told me that when she was growing up, they always made the stuffing in loaf pans, so we decided to go with tradition. I moistoned them with chicken stock and popped them in to the oven:

By the time the green bean casserole and sweet potatoes were done, the stuffing was finished. It didn't take very long.

The oven was pretty crowded:

I wasn't very impressed with the stuffing. I didn't really like the sweet (dried fruit, cornbread) without a stronger balance of savory (I think it needed some sausage or something). I also didn't like my giant chunks of bread, I really needed to cut them smaller. Mom thought the stuffing was really good and particularly liked the cherries. I honestly think it would be better in a stuffed pork chop, because that would balance the sweetness better. This stuffing recipe would also be really easy to adapt for a vegan or vegetarian (although mine was not vegetarian, since I used chicken stock).

The Thanksgiving meal went amazingly smoothly. At no point during the preparations were we running around like chickens with our heads cut off, which was a wonderful and novel feeling. In fact, mom and I felt like something was wrong for most of the day because it was going so well. Mom and I each made about half of the meal, which was about perfect. Mom didn't feel pushed out of her own kitchen and I got to knock out some TJOC recipes. It was a particularly nice Thanksgiving.

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.

Thanksgiving 2010, Part I: Cream cheese ball (p.75), Shrimp dip (p. 72), and XXBaked honey shrimp (p. 84)

And on to another edition of TJOC Thanksgiving! Did anyone else make any TJOC recipes for the holiday?

There were two major changes this Tday:

1. I'm getting to the point where I've made a very significant portion of certain chapters. The recipes that are left I've made the conscious decision (many, many times since I go through every recipe several times a month) not to make. Either I think it looks gross, it's time-consuming, it has difficult ingredients--whatever. One of the chapters I'm the furthest in is definitely "Appetizers and Hors D'oeuvres", from which I traditionally make a few selections for Thanksgiving lunch.

2. I've made the vast majority of the normal Tday TJOC recipes. So the turkey, one of the stuffings, one of the cranberries, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, and sweet potatoes were all made either from TJOC recipes I've made before--the green bean casserole, for example--or from mom and I just winging it.

Now, this was a long list of entrées. Guess how many people we had to dinner? Four. Josh, Mom, Josh's brother, and myself. Plenty of food for four people! I love Thanksgiving. We cook all day, eat around 5 or 6 pm, sleep for a couple hours, and then go to the mall to shop at midnight. We get home, sleep a couple more hours, and then get up and go to the mall again around 6 am. Fun!

The appetizers this year and why they haven't been previously made:

I hadn't yet made Cream cheese ball (p.75) because it's such a boring recipe. I made the Cheddar cheese ball a couple of Thanksgivings ago and it was a hit, but this was essentially just a more boring version of the same recipe.

I mixed cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, a little salt, and some horseradish:

The best part of cooking with mom is that she enjoys doing some parts of cooking that I can't stand. For some reason I really hate forming the cheese balls--but mom enjoys it. She says it's like working with clay. Look at the perfect ball she formed:

We cooled it in the refrigerator for a couple hours and then rolled it in crushed pecans:

Perfect! This cheeseball was a hit too. I think people don't make cheeseballs nowadays because they seem old-fashioned and way too retro but people seem to like them. I think it's time for a cheeseball renaissance. That being said, it was more boring than the other cheeseball and really needed to be spiced up with something else--probably more cheese.

Shrimp dip (p. 72). I hadn't made this recipe because it seemed odd--it's not a dip FOR shrimp, it's a dip made FROM shrimp. It was a simple recipe, I mixed a little can of tiny shrimp, sour cream, mayonnaise, chili sauce, lemon juice, and a little onion and refrigerated it for an hour:

Believe it or not, it was actually pretty good! I thought the little shrimp were very strange but it had a nice, tangy flavor. I had two issues though--it was a very strange little pink color and it was difficult to figure out what to spread it on. We gave plenty of options--crackers, bread, baguette, breadsticks, but none of them were perfect.

I actually haven't made any shrimp appetizer recipes up until this point. I'm not sure why. I decided to break the drought with Baked honey shrimp (p. 84).

The recipe called for Cajun seasoning, which I actually happened to not only have, but have at mom's house. I hadn't found a use for it before this point--I only had it because Penzey's had a coupon for a free jar. The ingredient list is hilarious--it's essentially every spice.

I mixed lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, honey, the Cajun seasoning, parsley, and red pepper and added my shrimp (it took a LONG time to peel two pounds of shrimp):

After they marinated for an hour, I popped them in the oven:

When they were done I sprinkled a lemon zest and parsley mixture over the top:

These shrimp were amazing. The Cajun seasoning was spicy but not too hot (if it was just me, I'd make it quite a bit more spicy) and was rounded out by the soy sauce and honey. These shrimp were really good both hot and cold--which is a great characteristic for a party appetizer. I would make these again in a second.