I needed some Old Bay seasoning in a hurry, so I just grabbed the first recipe I could find off the Internet. I had to improvise slightly due to limited supplies on hand, but I'm actually fairly happy with how it came out. I think it was a bit more vibrant than the commercial Old Bay I bought a few years back.

Update: Now that I'm not in so much of a hurry, I've had a chance to look at some other Old Bay recipes and I found one from Daring Gourmet that looks quite interesting. It includes most of the same spices as the Kitchn recipe, but in different proportions. Although it does swap out the ground cayenne for red pepper flakes and uses sweet paprika instead of hot paprika. It also includes several spices that the Kitchn recipe omits. These include: ground ginger, mace, allspice, and cardamom. I think these sound like interesting additions and may experiment with adding some or all of them to my current mix.

I've left the first recipe I used here to reflect what I actually did. But I am going to post an alternate recipe below it that leans a little more on the Daring Gourmet approach.

Ersatz Old Bay

Slightly adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients

• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns²
• 1 Tbsp. hot paprika¹
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp. mustard powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions

1. If desired, lightly toast the bay leaves in a dry pan until they become brittle and fragrant. This will enhance the flavour slightly and, more importantly, should help them grind more readily.
2. Combine the salt, celery seeds, peppercorns, and bay leaves in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
3. Add the paprikas, mustard, cayenne (if using), cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and stir to combine.
4. Store in a cool, dry place, preferably in an airtight container.

Variations

Alternate Old Bay (milder, sweeter, more bay-forward)

Ingredients

• 5 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns
• 1/8 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 1 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. mustard powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground mace
• 1/8 tsp. ground allspice

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¹ The original recipe calls for a bunch of hot paprika and a little ground cayenne. I didn't have any hot paprika, but I did have ground Kashmiri chilies. So I just replaced the hot paprika with Kashmiri chilies and omitted the cayenne. It still seemed to come out a good deal spicier than commercial Old Bay, but I quite liked it. That said, I would use a light hand when applying it to recipes. I think that, given the increased spice level, you may end up finding you don't need quite as much as you would the commercial stuff. ^Back
2 The bag of peppercorns I had were a mix of black, white, and pink and I didn't have any separate white peppercorns, so I just used a full tsp. of the blend. Since the mix was mostly black peppercorns, this meant that the balance was slightly off, but I figured it'd be close enough. ^Back

Okay, so, I am apparently not entirely with it today and forgot the egg on my loco moco! Very sad. I mean, it was still tasty, but the egg is a key component and, when the dish is this simple, it makes me extra sad to have left it out. Whoops! My apologies for the goof. Definitely fry up an egg and add it if you're making this dish for yourself.

We had some leftover burger patties sitting in the fridge, so I didn't make the patties from scratch for this one. Go ahead and make patties according to your preferred recipe if you're doing this from scratch. But, otherwise, whatever you've got is fine. You'll miss out on some of the pan juices by cooking the burgers separately/ahead of time, but other than that, it's really not a problem.

Loco Moco

Slightly adapted from Ono Hawaii Recipes

Ingredients

• 2-3 burger patties
• 2 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• handfull or two of sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1 c. beef or chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. tomato sauce/ketchup
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2-3 eggs
• 1-1 1/2 c. cooked rice
• 1-2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1. If the burger patties are uncooked, fry them up in the pan first.
2. Once the patties are cooked through, remove from pan and set aside.
3. Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in the pan.
4. Add the onion and cook until softened.
5. Add the mushrooms (if using), cover, and cook until they release their liquid.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, for another 3-5 minutes.
7. Combine the stock, soy sauce, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and cornstarch and mix well.
8. Add it to the pan with the onion and cook until thickened.
9. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
10. Melt a little butter in a separate pan and fry the eggs until desired doneness.
11. Put ~1/2 c. of hot cooked rice in each bowl.
12. Top the rice with a burger patty and a generous quantity of the gravy and a fried egg.
13. Garnish with green onion and serve.

The plan had been to make some rum-glazed pineapple for dessert tonight. But the pineapple had gone off, so I found myself casting about for some other last-minute dessert. There were a few different options, but the bananas foster caught my eye and something tasty, that we had all the ingredients for, and would take very little time to prepare. (And is also delicious!)

Bananas Foster

Slightly adapte from Dessert of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. dark rum
• ~1 c. vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Peel the bananas and halve them lengthwise and crosswise.
2. Melt the butter over medium-high heat.
3. When the butter foams, place the bananas in the pan, cut-side-down.
4. Cook for ~5 minutes, then flip and add sugar and rum.
5. Cook for another 5 minutes.
6. To serve, place three banana segments in each bowl, spoon a little sauce over them, and top with 3-4 Tbsp. of ice cream.

This is an interesting cake. It is basically a very rich, moist chocolate cake that is "iced" with chocolate pudding rather than a buttercream or ganache or some more traditional cake coating. It is baked as two 20cm (8") round layers, each of which are then split. Three of the resulting thin layers are used to assemble the cake and the fourth is crumbled and used to coat the outside.

I didn't get my batter divided quite evenly and one of my layers baked up a little thinner than the other. I was a bit nervous about trying to split the thinner one, so I just left it whole and split the thicker one only. I then stacked two of the resulting layers and crumbled the third. This, of course, resulted in a reduced overall surface area, so the filling and "icing" are somewhat more generous than they're really meant to be. (Same overall proportions, of course, just thicker layers since there are fewer of them.)

This worked fine, but did mean that the cake was a little more... wobbly than it would have been had I made it with the "correct" number of layers.

Honestly, if I had two 18cm (7") round pans, then I'd be tempted to bake my cake in those next time. The 8" layers baked up fine. But I would've felt more confident about splitting them had they been slightly thicker. I think 6" layers would probably be too thick/tall. But 7" might be just about right. Sadly, I only have one 7" pan at the moment. Which still might be worth trying next time. It just makes it slightly more difficult to get the batter divided evenly and, obviously, ends up requiring double the cooking time since you have to bake the layers one after the other rather than in tandem. So, possibly something to consider, but definitely not ideal.

Other than my lack of confidence in splitting the layers though, this recipe worked out great! The cake was delicious and moist with deep chocolate flavour. (Which the coffee and brown sugar help to accentuate.) And the pudding was also pleasingly rich and thick. A winner all 'round!

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Pudding

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 2 c. milk
• 1 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 170g unsweetened chocolate
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cake

• 110g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 3/4 c. Dutched (alkalized) cocoa powder
• 1 c. brewed coffee
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine cream, milk, sugar, cornstarch, and sea salt over medium heat.
2. Break chocolate into pieces and add to milk mixture.
3. Cook, whisking frequently, until chocolate has completely melted and mixture is smooth and homogenous.
4. Continue cooking until bubbles begin to form and pudding thickens.
5. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and set aside to cool.
6. Chill for at least 3-4 hours.
7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F) and grease and flour¹ two 20cm (8") round baking tins.
8. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
9. Mix in the salt.
10. Melt the butter over medium heat.
11. Mix in the cocoa and cook for 1 minute.
12. Remove from heat and stir in the coffee and buttermilk.
13. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar.
14. Mix in the eggs, one at a time.
15. Mix in the vanilla.
16. Divide the batter as evenly as possible between the prepared tins.
17. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 30-35 minutes.
18. Transfer cake layers (still in their tins) to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
19. Invert tins onto cooling racks and carefully remove the cakes from their tins. Allow to cool completely (1-2 hours).
20. Once cake layers are completely cool, divide each one horizontally.²
21. Place one layer on a serving platter.
22. Spoon ~1 c. of pudding on top and spread all the way to the edges of the layer.
23. Top with a second layer and repeat the process: spreading 1 c. of putting on top.
24. Place a third layer on top and spoon the rest of the pudding over it, completely covering the entire cake -- top and sides.
25. Crumble the fourth layer and sprinkle the chocolate crumbs on top of your assembled cake, covering the top and sides. You will have to press slightly to get the crumbs to adhere to the pudding. Especially on the sides of the cake.
26. Serve immediate or refridgerate for up to 2 days.

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¹ You may wish to line the bottoms with parchment paper and grease the paper before flouring. This adds an extra step, but will help ensure that the cake relases from the pans cleanly. ^Back
2 The folks at America's test kitchen recommend doing this with a serrated knife. The outline a procedure of scoring the perimeter of the cake layers and then cutting through along the scored lines to get a level split. Personally, I have always preferred my mother's method of using a piece of thread. You simply take a long piece of thread and wrap it around the cake (doing your best to make sure it's roughly level/even all the way around), then grab both ends and pull tightly. The thread should slice neatly through the cake! I've found it a ver quick and reliable method and prefer it to faffing about with knives or cake levelling contraptions. ^Back

The Kidlet was having a friend over for dinner the other day and I wasn't sure what they liked, so I tried to play it safe with this chicken pot pie. I hoped it would be a fairly... unintimidating dish without any overly strong flavours or unusual ingredients. The Kidlet certainly liked it! I may need to work on dailing things in with the friend a bit, but it was a decent start.

In theory this is meant to make one 9" pie. In practice, I ended up with more filling than would fit in a 9" pie plate, so I ended up making an additional 4 small pies by pouring the excess filling into ramekins and topping them with a bit of the extra pastry.

Chicken Pot Pie

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Pastry

• 210g all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp. shortening or lard
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 c. cold water

Filling

• 1 c. sliced carrots
• 1 c. fresh or frozen peas
• 1 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 500g skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
• 1/2 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 small egg
• 2 tsp. water

Directions

1. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour.
2. Mix in the water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until the dough comes together.
3. Shape into a ball, wrap tightly, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the carrots in salted water until tender-crisp (~3 minutes).
5. If using fresh peas and corn, boil them for ~1 minute. If using frozen, just add them to the boiling water and then immediately remove from heat. Drainth eveggies and set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
7. Melt the butter over medium heat.
8. Add the chicken, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook until browned on all sides (8-10 minutes).
9. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened (2-4 minutes).
10. Add the flour and cook for another minute or two.
11. Pour in the broth, wine, cream, and parsley and bring to a simmer.
12. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
13. Add the veggies and adjust seasoning to taste.
14. Pour the filling into a 23cm (9") deep dish pie plate. (You may have some extra.)
15. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.
16. Beat the egg with the water and brush a little egg wash around the edges of the pastry, then place the pastry, egg-side-down, over the pie.
17. Press pastry to adhere and crimp edges.
18. Brush the top of the pie wiht more egg wash and cut one or more small holes or slits in the crust.
19. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C (400°F) for ~30 minutes.

Peach and mustard is a good combo with pork. This recipe reminds me a bit of our Christmas ham recipe. This just uses an uncured pork shoulder rather than ham and makes the sauce with lots of tomato and vinegar to create something more like a barbecue sauce.

I think this would've been beautiful done on the barbecue, but it's cold and I was tired, so I just did it in the oven. I think it really would have benefitted from a long, slow, cooking over indirect heat on the grill. As it was, I found I needed to tweak the oven cooking a bit.

I initially just cooked it at 300°F for 5 hours as directed in the recipe, but I failed to check the internal temperature before removing it from the oven and, after resting it for a while, TF found that it was a bit undercooked when she went to shred the meat. So, back into the oven it went! We ended up nudging the temperature up to 350°F and cooking it for another hour. That did the job and got it up to the desired internal temperature, but I think it would've been nice with an even longer cook time. We were just hungry and tired and wanted to get it done, so we rolled with it as it was.

Pulled Pork with Peach-Mustard Sauce

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in pork shoulder (~3kg)
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
• 2 c. cider vinegar, divided
• 1 c. water
• 7 onions, 4 sliced, 3 chopped
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter¹
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 400mL crushed tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 c. peach jam
• 1/2 c. Roman mustard² or Dijon mustard
• 1/2 c. bourbon³
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. hotsauce
• buns, to serve
• coleslaw, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (300°F) and grease or oil a roasting pan.
2. Combine the salt, pepper, mustard seeds and grind.
3. Slather the ground spices over the entire surface of the pork shoulder and place it in the prepared roasting pan.
4. Pour the water and 1 c. of the vinegar into the roasting pan.
5. Add the sliced onions over and around the pork.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 160°C (300°F) for 4 hours.
7. Remove foil and return to oven for another hour or two (until internal temperature reads at least 80°C/175°F).
8. If pork is still not done (or if you'd like to brown the outside a bit more), increase the temperature to 180°C (350°F) and cook for another 30-60 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat and add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook until onions have softened and started to brown (~10 minutes).
10. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, jam, mustard, bourbon, honey, sugar, and hotsauce.
11. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours.
12. Once pork is done, set aside to cool for ~1 hour.
13. Remove pork and onions from roasting pan. Shred the meat and discard the fat.
14. Add ~1/2 the sauce to the shredded pork and mix well.
15. Serve the pork on buns with extra sauce and coleslaw.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1/2 c. of butter! I cut this back to 2 Tbsp. and I'm perfectly happy with the results. Next time I might even be tempted to skip the butter altogether and just skim some fat off the pork drippings to use in my sauce. Either way, I don't think you need 8 Tbsp. of butter to make a good sauce for your pork! That just seems excessive. ^1
2 I only ended up putting 1/4 c. of mustard into our sauce. I wanted to taste it first and see if it seemed like it needed the whole 1/2 c. I think it was fine with only half the amount, but more would've been better. I just got a bit frazzled toward the end of the evening and forgot about adding the rest of the mustard. At least now I'll know for next time! ^Back
3 I didn't have any bourbon handy, so I just tossed in some rum. Not the same, I know, but I didn't want to go out to the LCBO just for that, so I made do with what I had. ^Back

This is just going to be a quick post because I am very tired. But I decided to try making some salmon tacos today. It was one of those "30 minute meal" recipe cards from Cook's Country. Except the recipe called for "blackening seasoning", which I didn't realize was a thing. I always assumed that "blackened <whatever>" just meant that you cooked it in a way that tended to result in an all-over char. I didn't realize that there were specific spices or flavours associated with it.

It turns out that "blackening seasoning" is pretty similar to cajun seasoning. There are many different recipes, of course. But it seems to run heavy on the paprika and onion. It's usually a bit spicy too with a fair dose of cayenne. Garlic and pepper (usually black, but sometimes white) also play a role. And then a few herbs to round out the mix. The recipe I was following used basil, oregano, and thyme, but noted that other combinations were possible.

Blackening Seasoning

Slightly adapted from Chili Pepper Madness

Ingredients

• 6 parts dried onion
• 2 parts black peppercorns
• 2 parts coarse sea salt
• 1 part dried basil
• 1 part dried oregano
• 1 part dried thyme
• 12 parts paprika (smoked or sweet)
• 4-6 parts ground cayenne
• 2 parts garlic powder

Directions

1. Place the dried onion, peppercorns, salt, basil, oregano, and thyme in a spice grinder and grind very fine.
2. Stir in paprika, cayenne, and garlic powder.
3. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

I've been eyeing the photo for this recipe for ages now. I just looks really, really appealing. I never used to be much for beans in my youth, but I've warmed up to them over the years and, especially in the last year or two, I've found cannellini beans particularly appealing. So, a rich, savoury thick soup built on a base of cannellini beans sounded like a pretty fantastic dinner to me!

The original recipe calls for a mix of chopped onions, carrots, and celery as the vegetable component. I was running low on veggies when I made this though, so I ended up swapping in some frozen "spaghetti" mix (onion, red bell pepper, carrot, green bell pepper, and celery). I used ~3 c. total. I also swapped in a few olives and an anchovy in place of the pancetta that I forgot to get. I think it would've been fine with just the olives, but I figured I'd toss the anchovy in since we had an open jar in the fridge.

Pasta e Fagioli

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2018

Ingredients

• 2 (450mL) cans cannellini beans
• 1 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• ~60g pancetta, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flake (optional)
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 115g ditalini or tubettini
• ~1 c. grated Parmesan
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh basil

Directions

1. Drain and rinse the beans from one can and add to blender.
2. Pour in water and purée. Set aside.
3. Heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper (if using), pancetta, salt, and pepper and cook for ~10 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook for ~2 minutes.
6. Add broth and puréed bean mixture.
7. Drain and rinse second can of beans and add them as well.
8. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
9. Increase heat to medium and bring to a boil.
10. add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente (10-12 minutes).
11. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan and basil.
12. Serve drizzled with extra olive oil and/or Parmesan cheese.

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Variants

Vegetarian Version

Ingredients

• 2 (450mL) cans cannellini beans
• 1 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• ~60g green or kalamata olives, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flake (optional)
• 4 c. vegetable stock
• 115g ditalini or tubettini
• ~1 c. grated Parmesan
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh basil

I've made fry bread before, but I'd never tried using it for tacos. Cook's Country had a recipe for fry bread tacos though, so I figured I'd give it a try. Their fry bread is a bit different than the type I've made before but, as I noted in that write-up, there's a lot of variability in fry bread recipes. The folks at Cook's Country opted for a yeasted dough. This does mean it takes a little longer than the chemically leavened fry breads, but I just made the dough first and then worked on the taco filling and side dish while I was waiting for the breads to be ready to cook. It actually worked out quite well.

The dough seemed really sticky when I was first mixing it. Even after kneading for a while (which I did in the bowl), it still seemed pretty wet. But it tamed down a bit after its first rise and I actually found it surprisingly easy to work with when rolling out my rounds. I figured it'd stick and tear all over the place, but I just slapped it down on the bench and went at it with the rolling pin and it behaved quite well! (My bench top is bamboo and my rolling pin is marble. I have a maple rolling pin as well, but I figured the marble one might stick less.)

I found the taco filling a little underwhelming, but that could be due to the fact that I ran out of chili powder and had to make some substitutions. And it could also be due to the fact that, since I didn't want to have to use one-and-a-half packages of ground beef, I used tofu as a stand-in for the last 225g of beef. Don't get me wrong, it was still tasty, just not as punchy as I'd hoped. I'd be inclined to toss in some chipotles in adobo or pickled jalapeños next time.

Fry Bread Tacos

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2018

Ingredients

Fry Bread

• 280g all-purpose flour
• 20g skim milk powder
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
• 3/4 c. warm water
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Filling

• 1 Tbsp. oil or bacon grease
• 1 onoin, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 680g ground beef
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. salsa
• sour cream, to serve
• grated cheese, to serve
• shredded lettuce, to serve
• extra salsa, to serve

Directions

Fry Bread

1. Combine flour, milk powder, salt, and yeast and mix well.
2. Drizzle in water and butter while mixing until dough forms.
3. Knead in bowl for 5-10 minutes.
4. Cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes. (You can use this time to do a little mise en place for the filling ingredients.)
5. Knock the dough back and knead it a few strokes, then divide into eight equal portions.
6. Round each one and cover. Let rest for a couple minutes.
7. Grease two baking sheets.
8. Working with one ball at a time, roll it out into a thin round 2-3mm thick. Do not use any flour when shaping or rolling out the fry breads.
9. Place the round on one of the greased baking sheets, cover, and repeat with remaining dough balls.
10. Let rest, covered, for 20 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, pour ~3cm of oil into a wok or Dutch oven and heat it to ~190°C (375°F).
12. Once the fry breads are puffy, cut a small slit in the centre of each one.
13. Working with one fry bread at a time (or maybe two if you're frying in a large Dutch oven), carefully add the dough round to the oil and fry for 1-2 minutes per side.
14. Remove from oil and set on wire rack to drain.
15. Do not stack fry breads as you finish cooking them, keep them in a single layer.

Filling

1. Heat fat over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add chili powder, garlic, cumin, and oregano and cook for ~1 minute.
4. Add beef and cook until no longer pink.
5. Add salsa, salt, and pepper, and cook for 2-3 minutes longer.

Assembly

1. Top each fry bread with some filling, cheese, sour cream, extra salsa, and shredded lettuce.

Rice Pilaf (with Variations)

I needed some rice to go with tonight's dinner. Normally I'd either do plain rice or grab something out of 660 Curries. But I decided to try out something from Cook's Country instead. Rice cooked with "curry powder", apples, and raisins was... if not a staple of my childhood, at least common enough to be familiar. The Cook's Country version leaves out the raisins, but the other elements are similar: onion, garlic, curry powder, apples, toast the rice first...

I think, if I were doing it again, I'd include the raisins. The apple alone doesn't feel like quite enough. I'd also rearrange the ordering of the ingredeints. I added the curry powder with the onions like it said, but that really limits how much you can toast the rice without risking burning the spices. Nex time I'd add the garlic with the rice (not after like the recipe says) and only add the curry powder after the rice is toasted. I figure the raisins can go in at that point too.

NB: I've adapted this recipe for the brown rice and cooking in the InstantPot. If you're using different rice or cooking on the stovetop, your cooking time and the amount of liquid required will be completely different. Adjust as necessary to match what and how you're cooking.

Curried Rice Pilaf

Slighlty adapted from Cook's Country June/July 2016

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1/4 c. golden raisins
• 1 Tbsp. Madras curry powder
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 apple¹, chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium-high heat. (Sauté "high" for InstantPot.)
2. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add garlic and rice and cook for ~2 minutes longer.
4. Add raisins and curry powder and cook for another 30 seconds or so.
5. Add stock.
6. Cover InstantPot and set to pressure cook on "high" for 20 minutes.
7. Allow for a 10-minute natural release, then release any remaining pressure and fluff the rice.
8. Mix in apple and cilantro and serve.

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Variations

Basic Rice Pilaf with Thyme

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme)
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock

Cilantro-Jalapeño Rice Pilaf

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tsp. lime zest
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Herbed Rice Pilaf with Almonds

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/4 c. almonds, toasted and chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon

Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 60g cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Vegan Version

• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1/4 c. golden raisins
• 1 Tbsp. Madras curry powder
• 1 1/2 c. vegetable stock
• 1 apple¹, chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

I've called for coconut oil here because I thought it would go nicely with the fruit and "curry" vibe. I think canola, corn, or some other neutral oil would probably be a good choice for the rest. Or even margerine or vegan butter. Pick your favourite fat!

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¹ I'd use a Granny Smith (or other tart variety) for preference, but pretty much any apple will do. ^Back

I wanted to make a nice breakfast for everybody this morning. We had all the ingredients for this hash (more-or-less) and it looked tasty, so that's what I made.

I meant to add a few shishito peppers and/or a bell pepper to the mix when making this, but I completely forgot! Might be something worth considering for next time if we have any kicking around.

Corned Beef Hash

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2021

Ingredients

• 450g russet potatoes, cubed
• 340g cooked corned beef¹, cubed
• 3 c. shredded green cabbage
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2-4 carrots, peeled and cubed
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme (or 3/4 tsp. dried)
• 2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, beef, cabbage, onion, carrot, oil, garlic, thyme, pepper, mustard, salt, and allspice in a large bowl and toss to coat.
2. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add hash mixture to pan.
3. Cover and cook on medium or medium-low for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and mash with potato masher.
5. Spread mashed mixture evenly in bottom of pan.
6. Add butter pieces around the edge of the pan and return to medium or medium-low heat.
7. Cook, uncovered, without stirring, for 5-7 minutes.
8. Flip over. (Not all at once. Flip one spatula-sized section at a time.)
9. Cook 2 more minutes.
10. Flip once more and cook another 2 minutes.
11. Serve with fried eggs, buttered toast, and/or hot sauce.

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¹ This recipe calls for corned beef left over from a boiled dinner (or chopped up thick slices from the deli counter). I didn't have that, but I did have a 340g tin of corned beef, so I just used that. ^Back

I'm not sure why I was suddenly overcome with the desire to bake a batch of Parker House rolls, but... it happened.

This was my first time making them from scratch, although I do have some vague memories of making them with readymade Pillsbury dough as a kid.

They were easy enough to make. It's an enriched dough with a truly alarming amount of butter. The dough was very soft, but not at all sticky and it rose well producing light, buttery rolls. Sadly most of my rolls came unfolded, so I didn't end up with the characteristic Parker House shape. But they still tasted lovely regardless.

Parker House Rolls

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2020

Ingredients

• 550g all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 1/4 c. whole (3.25%) milk, tepid
• 12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, divided
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Directions

1. Combine flour, yeast, and salt and mix well.
2. In a large measuring cup, combine milk, 8 Tbsp. of the melted butter, egg, and sugar and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
4. Gradually incorporate the flour, working from the centre outward.
5. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Knead until smooth and elastic.
7. Return to bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes.
8. Knock back and divide into 24 equal portions: first divide into two equal portions, then shape each portion into a log, and divide each log into 12 equal portions.
9. Cover dough pieces.
10. Working with one at a time, carefully round each one: stretch and pinch dough to the bottom to form a smooth, taut gluen sheet on top; then roll on the work surface, creating a bit of pressure and friction to get it nice and round and smooth everything out.
11. Set rounded dough lump aside, cover, and move on to next dough lump.
12. Let rounded dough lumps rest for 10-15 minutes.
13. Working with one ball at a time, press into a flat disc 6-7mm thick. Press the handle of a wooden spoon along the centre of the disc to form a trough/crease. Brush with melted butter. Then fold along the crease and press firmly. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover.
14. Once all the rolls have been shaped, make sure they're covered and allow to proof for 45-60 minutes.
15. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
16. Uncover rolls and brush tops with remaining melted butter.
17. If you have a spray bottle, spritz them with a little water just before putting them in the oven.
18. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
19. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

My robot brain required dessert and there was this cake recipe...

Chocolate Snack Cake

Slightly adapted from the Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2/3 c. mayonnaise
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. cocoa powder (preferably Dutched)
• 50g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 c. coffee, hot

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350&def;F) and grease and flour a 20cm (8") square baking pan.
2. Combine flours and sugar and sift in baking soda.
3. In a separate bowl, combine mayo, egg, and vanilla.
4. In a third bowl, combine cocoa and chocolate.
5. Pour hot coffee over chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
6. Gradually whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture until fully combined.
7. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir to combine.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 35-40 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let cake cool in pan for ~1 hour.
10. If desired, dust with icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar before serving.

TF's family is from New England and a lot of her family still lives in Pennsylvania. Thanks to this, I discovered scrapple. Scrapple is a mix of ground pork and often some organ meats cooked with cornmeal and spices. It's then formed into a loaf, sliced, and fried for breakfast. It's apparently a "Pennsylvania Dutch" thing and you can't get it outside of Pennsylvania and a few of the surrounding states.

When I stumbled across a recipe for goetta, I was getting similar vibes. It's a mix of ground meats (usually pork and beef) cooked with oats and spices, formed into loaves, sliced, and fried for breakfast. Sounds similar, right?! And it is also a German-American dish. It just stems from a different region. As far as I can tell, this particular grain sausage loaf originates in Ohio rather than Pennsylvania, but the idea is very similar.

There are many different goetta recipes. Most seem to lean toward a 50-50 mix of ground pork and ground beef, but some use more of one or the other. I even ran across a few recipes that use sausage (already seasoned) and then add additional salt and seasonings to the mix. I felt like this might make it too salty and fatty, so I stuck to using unseasoned ground meat.

The seasonings also varied widely. Bay leaves, marjoram, black pepper, and white pepper seemed to be common to most of the recipes, but things diverged widely from there. Some included things like cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or mace. Others had coriander, allspice, sage, or thyme. And most recipes seemed to have at least a few people saying the seasonings were spot on while others said that the sausage was delicious but not at all authentic-tasting. I'm assuming this is just a case of regional variations and different people being used to different flavour profiles.

I read through a few different recipes, took note of the different seasonings and instructions, and then came up with my own based on what I thought sounded good. This seems like a fairly flexible recipe though. I'm sure you could play around with the exact ratios and seasonings to suit you own tastes or what you have on hand.

Goetta

Adapted from Daring Gourmet (and a few other sources)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c. steel-cut oats
• 4-6 c. beef stock¹
• 2-4 c. water
• up to 2 tsp. coarse sea salt²
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried marjoram
• 450g lean ground beef
• 500-700g ground pork³
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. coriander, ground
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage
• 1/2 tsp. allspice berries, ground

Directions

1. Combine the oats, stock, water, bay leaves, and marjoram and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add beef, pork, onion, garlic, black pepper, white pepper, coriander, sage, and allspice, bring to a boil, cover, and cook for another 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
5. Line two 9"x5" loaf pans with foil.
6. Divide the goetta mixture between the two prepared pans and chill for at least 4 hours and as long as overnight.
7. The next day, unmold the goetta and cut it into 1-1.5cm thick slices.
8. At this point it can either be fried (preferably in bacon grease) or frozen for future enjoyment.
9. Don't overcrowd the pan or move the goetta around too much while frying it or it may fall apart.
10. Serve with eggs, toast, and whatever other breakfast foods you desire.

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¹ I used homemade chicken stock instead of beef stock. The original recipe called for 4 c. broth + 4 c. water, but I ended up with about 6 c. of stock, so I used all of it and then added water to bring it up to a total of 8 c. of liquid. I was quite happy with how this worked out. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. of salt. I thought this sounded like way too much. I put in 2 tsp. because I was using homemade stock that had very little salt in it. If using commercial stock/broth, I would likely omit the salt entirely. Once the mixture is cooked, you can taste it before putting it in the molds and add more salt if needed. ^Back
3 All the recipes I found called for 900g of meat for 2 1/2 c. of oats. However, I had a 450g package of beef and a 700g package of pork. I didn't want to try to save and find a use for 250g of pork, so I just put all of it in. I doubt the little bit of extra pork made much of a difference and it saved me dealing with leftover raw meat. ^Back

These are light and flaky and wonderful. There's a tiny hint of sweetness from the small amount of sugar in, but not enough that they really register as "sweet". They're mostly buttery and tender with slight undercurrents of buttermilk tartness, sourdough tang, and that little bit of sweetness from the sugar.

I was tempted to go for a whole wheat biscuit, but I decided to make them recipe as written the first time 'round. I do like the white flour version. For something this fatty and unhealthy, white flour just feels like the right choice. That said, I think you could probably sub in some whole wheat flour and still have a nice biscuit. I'd be inclined to use a hard whole wheat flour in place of the all-purose and toss in an extra 2-3 Tbsp. of buttermilk. I think that would probably work decently well.

Sourdough Biscuits

Slightly adapted from Baking Sense

Ingredients

• 280g all-purpose flour
• 240g soft (cake/plain/standard) flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 c. unsalted butter
• 250g unfed sourdough starter (sourdough discard)
• 1 c. buttermilk + extra for brushing tops

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt and mix well.
3. Cut in butter until mixture is sandy with a few larger chunks.
4. Combine starter and buttermilk and mix well.
5. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir until not quite combined.
6. Turn out dough and mix by hand/kneading until dry ingredients are incorporated. It shouldn't take more than half a dozen strokes.
7. Pat into a rectangle about 1-1.5cm thick.
8. Fold in half and pat down a little. Then fold in half again.
9. Pat into a 2cm thick disc.
10. Cut out circles about 7-8cm in diameter and place on baking sheet, rerolling dough as necessary.
11. Brush tops with a little milk or buttermilk.
12. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 12-14 minutes.

"Are we planning anything that needs eggs?" TF asks me. "No," says I as I pack up all 12 of our remaining eggs to be given to TM.

I mean, to be fair, at the moment the question was asked, I wasn't planning anything that required eggs. But an hour or so later I suddenly desperately wanted to bake something. Not bread, we've already got lots and I'm way to tired today anyway. Something quick and easy. A cake or maybe some muffins! Oh right, those are things that generally require eggs. Drat! Cue an hour of aimlessly flipping through recipes muttering about eggs.

I wasn't in the mood for a pie or a crumble or shortbread, so that eliminated a lot of the non-bread egg-less options. I considered making scones or making muffins or quick bread with flax eggs in place of the chicken egg, but none of those quite tickled my fancy tonight. I had initially written off this cranberry pudding recipe since we didn't have any frozen cranberries left... or so I thought! After some contemplation I decided that maybe it was worth double-checking the cranberry situation. Turns out we still had most of a bag in the freezer! Score!

This recipe apparently hails from Maine and is pudding in the British sense of being a sweet dessert-type dish rather than pudding in the North American sense of being a custard-y milk-based concoction. Looking at the recipe, it looks an awful lot like sticky toffee pudding but with cranberries taking the place of the dates. I still think I prefer traditional sticky toffee pudding, but this is an interesting variation on the theme.

Cranberry Pudding

From Taste of Home

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4-1/2 c. sugar¹
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1 1/2 c. frozen cranberries, halved

Sauce

• 1/2-1 c. brown sugar¹
• 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/16 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2/3 c. water
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Cake

1. Grease and flour a 20cm (8") square cake tin and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Cream sugar with butter.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Mix flour mixture into creamed mixture alternately with milk.
5. Stir in cranberries.
6. Spread mixture evenly into prepared tin.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40 minutes.

Sauce

1. Combine sugar, flour, and salt.
2. Stir in water until smooth.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
6. Pour sauce over warm cake.

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The original recipe is written for the larger amount of sugar, which is what I used this time. However, I found the results overly sweet. If I'm going to have cranberry pudding, I'd like for the cranberries to be able to really shine. I'll probably try scaling back the sugar in either the cake, the sauce, or both next time. ^Back

American-Style Spaghetti Sauce (Minus the Hypertension)

Normally, if I'm craving pasta, Hazan is my guy. His Classic Pasta Cookbook has served us in good stead for many years. It has a huge variety of amazing recipes. All the classics plus a bunch of less well-known ones as well. It is full of wondrous and delicious things. This is not a Hazan recipe. Not even close! I can see some similar elements to his marvelous ragu/Bolognaise recipe, but the ingredients are completely different. This sauce looks like what would happen if a Bolognaise and a pomodoro sauce had a baby and then moved to the States and discovered the canned goods aisle in the supermarket. It is very tomato-y, has no dairy and less beef than I'd expect for a standard ragu and uses A LOT of canned ingredients. But, if what you're craving is a big ol' plate of American-style spaghetti and meat sauce, this looks like a very nice rendition of it. And that's exactly what I wanted today.

I tried to stick pretty much to the recipe as I was building this sauce. I did add a carrot since it seemed like it would go well with the celery and onion, but no other additions were made. Carrot just feels like such a natural companion of onions and celery in the pot. It's mirepoix! A classic sauce/soup foundation.

It felt like way too many tomatoes going in -- a whole large tin of diced tomatoes and a large tin of tomato sauce? Really?! -- but I stuck to what it said. My tin of tomato sauce was slightly smaller than the one called for in the recipe, but I couldn't find any that were exactly right and I didn't want to open a second tin just to use <1/3 of it. Besides, there's already so much tomato in this recipe! I think it'll be fine.

The original original recipe (from the blog author's mother) calls for "1 can of beef broth (condensed!)". Her write-up simply asks for "1 15-ounce can of beef broth". No mention of how concentrated it should be. Around here beef broth usually comes in a can or a carton. The cartons are not condensed. The cans are. But the cans are also only 284mL (10 fluid ounces). I'm not sure whether they just get larger cans there or whether she was using some variety of non-condensed beef broth or what. I decided to just go with one 284mL can of condensed broth. Hopefully that's alright.

The last change I made was to completely omit the salt. I usually halve the salt called for in recipes from American authors. In my experience using the full amount of salt results in a dish that is nearly inedible. The idea of adding any salt at all to this recipe made me nervous though. It already has tomato sauce (which contains sugar and salt) and beef broth (very salty). The sauce is still simmering on the stove right now, but after tasting it, I think that leaving out the extra salt -- a whole teaspoon! -- was the right call. Honestly, I think I probably should've halved the sugar as well. It is very sweet. I thought 2 Tbsp. seemed like a lot of sugar, but I was trying not to deviate too far from the recipe. And it is meant to be an American-style sauce after all.

I think I will want to tweak this a bit more if/when I make it again though. Maybe it's not really American-style if it's not full of sugar and salt, but I think it still could be. I think the tomato-y, beef-y spirit of the recipe could be preserved while scaling back the sugar and salt to more tolerable levels. And, while I'm tweaking anyway, I think it'd be nice to trade out a portion of the black pepper for a touch of crushed chili flakes. Nothing major, just something to give it another layer of flavour and a tiny bit of heat.

American-Style Spaghetti Sauce

Adapted from Foodie Crush

Ingredients

• 450g lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
• 5 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 (156mL) can tomato paste
• 1 (800mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (680mL) can tomato sauce
• 1 (284mL) can condensed beef broth
• 2 (284mL) cans sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 c. red wine
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions

1. Brown the beef over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot and cook until vegetables soften (5-7 minutes).
3. Add cloves and bay leaves and cook for another minute or so.
4. Stir in tomato paste an allow for another 1-2 minutes of cooking.
5. Stir in remaining ingredients.
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 3-4 hours.
7. Serve by mixing cooked spaghetti into the sauce and then dishing up individual portions.

This pie did not go as planned. Just about everything that could go wrong, did. I mixed the gelatin in at the wrong point. The meringue didn't whip up properly. I had to ditch the whole batch and start over again. I ended up making a French meringue rather than the Swiss one called for in the recipe. And then, because the French meringue is uncooked, I had to try to bake it in the oven rather that giving it a quick blast under the broiler to brown it. On top of that, I ended up baking it to at too high a temperature which then required me to take it out before the meringue had fully set. And heating the pie back up caused filling to liquefy, so then I had to toss it back in the fridge to try to get it to set again. By the time I'd reached the end of the whole process and managed to assemble the pie, I felt like it was cursed.

Even with all that, this pie was amazing! Seriously, so delicious. I can't even imagine what it would've been like if I'd managed to do it right. Definitely one to try again.

Banana Pudding Pie

Adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2020

Ingredients

Crust

Original Recipe

• 4 c. Nilla Wafer cookies
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Lazy Way

• 1 ready-made graham cracker pie crust

Filling

• 2 tsp. unflavoured gelatin
• 1 3/4 c. half-and-half (10% cream), divided
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• pinch ground cinnamon
• pinch ground allspice
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced

Meringue

Swiss Meringue¹

• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

French Meringue

• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 c. sugar

Directions

Crust

Original Recipe

1. Pulse cooies, sugar, flour, and salt in food processor for ~10 pulses.
2. Add melted butter and pulse until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
3. Transfer to 9" pie plate and use your hands to press the crumbs firmly up the sides of the plate. The walls should be at least 5mm thick and go all the way up to the top edge of the plate.
4. Press the remaining crumbs into an even layer on the bottom of the plate. Be sure to firmly press into the corners.
5. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 18-20 minutes.
6. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Lazy Way

1. No prep needed. Crust is ready to use.

Filling

1. Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 c. of the half-and-half and set aside.
2. Whisk sugar, egg yolks, flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and remaining 1 1/4 c. half-and-half until fully combined.
3. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping corners, until mixture thickens (5-7 minutes).
4. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, vanilla, and gelatin mixture.
5. Stir bananas into hot filling.
6. Pour filling into crust.
7. Cover and chill for 4-24 hours.

Meringue

Swiss Meringue

1. Whisk all ingredients together in a heatproof bowl.
2. Place bowl over saucepan filled with a couple inches of boiling water.
3. Whisking gently but constantly, cook until mixture reaches 71-73°C (160-165°F). This should take ~8 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and whisk on high speed until meringue forms stiff peaks (2-3 minutes).
5. Uncover pie and spread meringue over filling. Make sure to spread it all the way to the edges.
6. Heat broiler and broil until meringue is well-browned (1-2 minutes).

French Meringue

1. Combine egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until frothy.
2. Add sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time while continuing to beat on high speed.
3. Continue beating until stiff peaks are formed.
4. Uncover pie and spread meringue over filling. Make sure to spread it all the way to the edges.
5. Bake at ?? for ??. I tried baking it at 450°F (230°C), but had to take it out after only 8 minutes as the top had become excessively brown and was in danger of burning. I'll try 400°F (200deg;C) next time and see how that goes.

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¹ The original recipe calls for 2/3 c. sugar total (1/3 c. granulated, 1/3 c. brown). This did NOT work at all for me. I don't know if the problem was too much sugar or something else, but it certainly seemed like A LOT of sugar for the amount egg and the mixture was thick and sticky and syrupy, almost like molasses. I didn't want to try the Swiss meringue again after one failed attempt, so I just whipped up a quick French meringue since they're reliable and I've never had one fail. If I were going to try the Swiss meringue again, I'd start by adding less sugar and see if that helped at all. Hence the reduced sugar quantities above. ^Back

The Kidlet was keen on making cookies today, so we flipped through the most recent issue of Cook's Country to see what goodies they had recipes for. The first two (chocolate brownie cookies and turtle bars) were a no-go due to the chocolate. But these biscochitos got the green light. We even still had some lard left over from our forays into sopaipilla-making, so it worked out quite well overall.

I appreciate how quick and easy these cookies were to throw together. It's a very simple dough to mix up, but the presence of the anise makes them a bit more special than a plain sugar cookie. It was a bit difficult to get the cinnamon sugar to stick to the outside after they came out of the oven, but a some gentle pressure seemed to do the trick in the end. I enjoy the very subtle savoury quality they get from the lard, but if you're wary of cookies that tread that line, feel free to use butter or shortening instead.

Biscochitos

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2020

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
• 2/3 c. lard
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cream the lard with the crushed anise and 1/2 c. of the sugar.
3. Beat on medium-high for ~3 minutes.
4. Beat in egg and vanilla.
5. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in dry ingredients.
6. Divide dough into two equal portions and roll each one into a 15cm (6") log.
7. Wrap tightly and chill until firm (~3 hours in the fridge, less in the freezer).
8. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
9. Slice logs into 5-6mm (~1/4") discs. (You should get ~4 dozen cookies total.)
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 13-15 minutes. (You will most likely need to do this in two batches.)
11. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
12. Combine remaining 1/4 c. sugar with cinnamon.
13. Toss the cookies, one or two at a time, with the cinnamon sugar. You may need to apply a bit of gentle pressure to get the sugar to stick.

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Variations

Vegetarian Biscochitos

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
• 2/3 c. butter
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

These were delicious! Not particularly healthy, but definitely delicious. I thought they'd be bland without the sauce, but they're still amazing even on their own. The sauce just takes them to the next level. We had our sopaipillas with calabacitas. I feel like they probably could've used another vegetable side as well, but this dinner already had enough moving parts as it was. Maybe some sort of simple garden salad next time?

Sopaipillas, as it turns out, can take on many different forms. Sometimes they're made entirely with masa harina; sometimes wheat flour is added. Sometimes they're stuffed; sometimes they're not. They may be flat or puffy. And they can run the gamut from sweet to savoury; part of the main course or a sweet treat for dessert. Based on a quick internet search, the sweet varieties seem to be more widespread than the savoury ones. So the "default" sopaipilla (as much as there can be said to be a default) might be something along the lines of a corn-based doughnut/fry-bread possibly coated in sugar and/or served with honey. These stuffed, savoury sopaipillas seem to be somewhat less common. Which is a shame because they are wonderful!

Bean and Cheese Sopaipillas with Green Chile Sauce

From Cook's Country October/November 2019

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 6 Tbsp. lard
• 14 Tbsp. water

Refried Beans

• 1/4 c. lard
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 c. cooked pinto beans
• 1 c. chicken broth

Green Chile Sauce

• 900g fresh Anaheim chiles
• 1 fresh jalapeño chile
• 2 Tbsp. lard
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. flour (hard or soft is fine)
• 1 c. chicken broth

Assembly

• ~2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
• oil for frying

Directions

Dough

1. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder and mix well.
2. Cut lard into flour.
3. Stir in water.
4. Turn out dough and knead a little (1-2 dozen strokes).
5. Divide into 8 equal portions, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes¹.

Refried Beans

1. Melt lard over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until softened (~4 minutes).
3. Add beans and broth.
4. Mash beans with potato masher and cook until thickened (~8 minutes).
5. Season to taste and set aside to cool.

Green Chile Sauce

1. Adjust oven rack to ~15cm (6") from broiler element and preheat broiler.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
3. Place whole chiles (Anaheims and jalapeño) in single layer on prepared sheet.
4. Broil until blackened all over, turning every 4-5 minutes so that all sides get charred.
5. Remove from oven and quickly wrap chiles and foil to trap steam. Set aside for ~10 minutes.
6. Unwrap chiles and remove skins.
7. Stem and seed Anaheims.
8. Stem (but do not seed) jalapeño.
9. Chop all chiles into half cm (~1/4") pieces.
10. Melt lard over medium heat.
11. Add onion and cook until softened (~4 minutes).
12. Add garlic and cook for another minute or so.
13. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
14. Stir in broth and chiles and bring to a simmer.
15. Simmer until thickened (~6 minutes).
16. Season to taste, cover, and set aside.

Assembly

1. Retrieve dough balls from fridge and keep all but the one you're currently working with covered with a damp tea towel.
2. Working with one dough ball at a time, roll into an 18cm (~7") circle on a floured surface.
3. Squeeze ~1/4 of Cheddar to form a slight oblong shape (vaguely like an American football or rugby ball).
4. Place your cheesy ovoid in the centre of the dough round and top it with ~1/4 c. of refried beans.
5. Fold the dough round in half to create a semi-circle/half moon shape.
6. Press around edges to seal.
7. Moisten the top of the sealed edge with a bit of water and pinch the dough diagonally up and over the sealed edge to seal again and create a decorative rope-like border.
8. Repeat with remaining dough and fillings. (You may have some beans left over.)
9. Use a paring knife to poke a 1cm (~1/2") hole in the top of each sopaipilla².
10. Line a baking sheet with paper towels (preferably a double or triple layer).
11. Heat frying oil to 190°C (375°F). Oil should be ~4cm (1.5") deep.
12. Add 2-4 sopaipillas at a time to the oil (depending on the size of your fryer/Dutche oven) and fry until golden brown (~3-4 minutes per side).
13. Transfer fried sopaipillas to prepared baking sheet.
14. Reheat green chile sauce over medium-high heat.
15. Serve sopaipillas smothered in chile sauce and accompanied by vegetable side(s) of your choice.

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Variations

Vegetarian Bean and Cheese Sopaipillas

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
• 14 Tbsp. water

Refried Beans

• 1/4 c. vegetable shortening
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 c. cooked pinto beans
• 1 c. vegetable broth

Green Chile Sauce

• 900g fresh Anaheim chiles
• 1 fresh jalapeño chile
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. flour (hard or soft is fine)
• 1 c. vegetable broth

Assembly

• ~2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
• oil for frying

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¹ If you want to make ahead, dough will keep in fridge for up to 2 days. ^Back
2 Assembled but uncooked sopaipillas can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. ^Back