Popovers

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Popovers...I love them; smothered in gravy, split open and cover in melted butter or simply devouring them warm and just out of the oven all on their own.

HOWEVER....

    I can't make them.  I have tried many times to make popovers, but mine just don't pop.  Sure they are tasty, yes they still have lovely flavor.  But when it comes right down to it, my popovers just don't pop.

The last time I tried making them with no success, I put the failure behind me, I vowed never again.

That was six months ago...

     And oh how those popovers haunted me over that time frame.  In my head, on the internet, and even making numerous appearance on the various food shows I watch.  One particular episode of Triple D (Diners, Drive-in & Dives) almost caused me to weep looking at the most amazing and mouth watering popovers I had even seen, that were made at a restaurant in Austin, TX called Foreign & Domestic.   They looked so good, as did everything else that they showed on the episode that I am still trying to figure out when I can get to Denver just so I can go to this place.

But still I resisted the urge to try and make them again, afraid that they would get the better of me one more.  Until the day I brought a bottle of wine over to my parents house, and shared a few glasses of red with my mom and grandma as we sat around the island in her kitchen preparing the menu for our Easter dinner that weekend and my grandmother got the bright idea to suggest we make popovers.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!

     I wanted to scream it, I wanted to shout it, but I just tried suggested other things that we could make.  Not only was I outvoted 2 to 1, it's my grandma and my mom...who was I to argue that.

Because of my on going war with popovers though, we did all decide to meet that Good Friday and attempt making popovers before the big day to see if it could in fact be done.

We didn't use a fancy popover pan, or go too crazy the first go around but we did it.  Did you get that part....WE DID IT!

Those popovers popped and they popped beautifully.  I don't know if all my failed attempts in the past were the fault of my oven, my crumby muffin tins, my equally crummy attitude as my number of failed attempts grew or if by some design the popover goddesses just knew they needed to wait for this day.

A day where it was just me and my mom, my grandma and my little sister laughing and having a good time in the kitchen together, and then the popovers popped.

Enjoy.

Popovers

Makes: 20 (in a muffin tin)

Ingredients:

4 ounces butter, melted

6 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cup milk

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, plus more for sprinkling

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp ground thyme

1 tbsp. ground oregano

Black pepper

Butter or cooking spray

Flour, for dusting in muffin tins.

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2.  Take your muffin tin and using the butter or cooking spray light coat the inside of your muffin tins.  Sprinkle with flour and move tray around to coat the butter/cooking spray with flour (like you would butter and flour a cake pan).  Dump out any excess flour and set aside.

3.  In a large mixing bowl add in your eggs, and beat 1 minutes.  Add in the milk, flour, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, salt and melted butter and combine. Stir in the cheese.

4.  Using a ladle, fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full with batter.  We filled about 18-20.  Sprinkle each with black pepper and shredded cheese to taste.  Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until the tops are nice and browned.

Mushroom-Swiss Grilled Cheese

Went on a mushroom kick last weekend.  There's something fun and exciting to me about spending the day in the kitchen with the windows open letting in the much awaited warmer weather.  So that's how I spent my Saturday, while trying out recipes to get through the pounds of mushrooms that I had at home.

I made loads of different things, but this might just be one of my favorites...and I didn't even make it when I was doing all the mushroom cooking.  It was the next day.  I was looking for something quick and easy to do for lunch the day after and still had just a few baby Portobello mushrooms leftover so I figured I would go with that.  Throw in some leftover cheeses, Venison breakfast sausage I had already browned the morning, slices of whole-wheat baguette and you've got yourself the makings of a nice little grilled cheese sandwich.

 

Did I say butter?  To me the butter on the grilled cheese has always been the forgotten part.  But why?   Can't we find a way to make the butter more than just a means to toast bread and melt cheese, can we make the butter another flavor compontent?  Well of course we can, little bit of minced rosemary and roasted garlic cloves and we have ourselves and Rosemary-Garlic Compound Butter.
Now with that idea, it was time to grill them up.

 

 

The Venison breakfast sausage is optional, I did half with and half without when I made these for lunch.  If your going to use it I would suggest using a different bread than a baguette so you have more surface area.  With the baguette slices,  everything gets piled so high, that I had a hard time keeping the sausage on it before I grilled it. 
Of course I missed posting this on National Grilled Cheese Day, which was yesterday (April 12).  However at least I was still ahead of the game on making it a week in advance.  Here's to next time actually being on time and meeting my own deadlines.
Enjoy.

Mushroom-Swiss Grilled Cheese
Makes: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients:
Whole-wheat baguette, cut on the bias into 1/2 inch thick slices
4 slices Swiss cheese, cut in half
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 package baby Portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
8 oz. Venison breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled (optional)
1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. butter, softened
6 cloves roasted garlic
1 sprig rosemary, leaves removed and minced
****Most of the amounts given are a guesstimation, make them with the amounts you prefer.  If your more of a cheese fan and just want a hint of mushroom lower the amount of mushroom you use and vise versa if your more of a mushroom fan.  

Directions:
1.  Start with making your compound butter.   Using a small bowl mix together the softened butter, roasted garlic, minced rosemary and a pinch of salt until fully combined.  (My roasted garlic just blended right in, but you might want to mince it down a little if you want to make it easier to incorporate.)  Set aside until ready to use.
2.  Using a medium sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add in mushrooms and sauté until softened, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
3.  Assemble:  Butter one side of 8 baguette slices, set 4 to the side and using the remaining 4 place buttered side down.  Top these slices with 1/2 slice of Swiss cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.  Top with sautéed mushrooms, minced thyme, and then the sausage (optional).  Top with the remaining Parmesan cheese and the last of the Swiss cheese.  Top with the 4 remaining bread slices, buttered side up.
4.  Using a large nonstick skillet or griddle, heat over medium heat.  When ready, place your sandwich in pan.  Cook until brown, about 1-2 minutes and then flip carefully to brown the other side.   While cooking, using your spatula apply some pressure on the sandwich squashing it just slightly to make sure the top layer and bottom layer of cheese bond together when melting.  Cooking until brown and cheese is melted, 1-2 minutes then remove from heat.

 

French Onion Soup

This past Thursday I had my French class that I taught, and we made a few French dishes that I love to eat.  Among them we made, Steak au Poivre (Pepper Crusted Steak) with a Cognac Sauce, Ratatouille, Crepes with an Apple Caramel Sauce and French Onion Soup. 

Now after going to Culinary School, and taking my Classical Cuisine class (which was a restaurant run class serving "classical French foods") I have ingrained in my head where I can no longer call it French Onion Soup.  Because in that class, it was a French menu, therefore according to one of my instructors it should simply be called Onion Soup because the French should have been a given.

But for the purposes of this blog that is neither here nor there, just a little insight on how my brain functions.  Anyway.....French Onion Soup, something that my mother has been asking me for years to make her.  Not sure why, but when I started my culinary venture, she just said she would really like me to make it for her at some point.

And I am sorry to say for years up until this point I have played the bad daughter roll because I haven't made it for her.  It was one of those things that I was always so-so on because the recipe always seemed so simple.  What could be so special about onions in a beef broth with bread and some gruyere cheese?  But it's those very things that make this a delicious dish for all to indulge in, and of course I made my momma happy when I presented her with a bowl of this.
Enjoy

French Onion Soup
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
3 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 quarts  beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
1/2 pound Gruyere, grated

Directions:
1.  Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 
2.  Add the wine and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes.  Discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
3.  Add the flour in with the onions and stir.  Turn the heat down to medium low, and cool out the raw flour taste, about 5 minutes.  Pour in beef broth and bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.  Season to taste, with salt and pepper.
4.  Preheat your broiler when your close to serving the soup.  Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Load the slices with Gruyere cheese and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.  Broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
5.  Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.


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Homemade Farmers Cheese

 

 

     Well the snow arrived, as did the freezing cold weather.  I mean, FREEZING.  Record low temperatures hit our town and the city was placed under a travel warning-(even though there were still plenty of idiots out there trying to drive).  We are currently on day 3 of schools being closed and even though the driving ban was finally lifted yesterday morning, a lot of people still have cars that are completely stuck or snowed in (like me) and we're all starting to experience a little bit of cabin fever.


First tree casualty

     Okay, maybe not a little bit.  People are bored out of their minds and getting a little stir crazy.  And I don't blame them one bit, I have been in the same boat myself.  Who know if I was actually planning on going any place or do anything special, it's just the fact that the weather has taken the choice out of my hands that has me going a little nuts. So what doesn't any food loving person do when their stuck inside, they cook!  At least I do.  It was a great way to get to do some recipe testing for upcoming classes and just having fun in general in the kitchen.

Second Tree Casualty

        One thing that I did decide to do was make cheese!  It's something I've always wanted to try making, and we had attempted it in one of my classes in culinary school, but literally not one single groups cheese turned out.  Something with the rennet, anyway ever since I've been waiting to try and make it again-and successfully. Finally gave it a go with this snowed in weather.   I didn't go all crazy in the cheese making since I am still a beginner, I just wanted a simple farmers cheese.  It was very easy to make and I'm really excited to play around with different flavors of cheese to make later! 

 

 

You will need: 1 gallon whole milk, 1 cup white vinegar, 4 tsp salt

Add milk and salt to stainless steel pot and heat to 190 degrees F.

When you've reached temp, immediately add in vinegar and stir in completely. 

Let set for 20-30 minutes, so milk can completely curd.

Drain in cheesecloth lined colander or strainer.

I pressed as much of the whey out as I could but I also let it hang for about 20-30 minutes off the side of the pot so that I could get as much of the moisture.

Which is why the cheese has all the funky lines on it from the cheesecloth.  This cheese would be good to crumble over a salad, like you might with feta.  Or as a spread on baguette slices.

 



 

     So, this is just the beginning.  Looking forward to flavoring the cheese up a bit and making a herb cheese, or jalapeno cheese-add chopped nuts.  The possibilities are endless and I'm getting excited just thinking about it.  Next after that is making ricotta cheese.  Then....who knows, mozzarella looks fun to make!  I think with all this cheese though, we're definitely going to need some wine!  What about wine stumping, I love Lucy style.  At the Blizzard party last night I had a friend say we needed to do this, and I must say the idea is pretty tempting......