Nov 07

Pumpkin Soft Pretzels

From the huge amount of left over pumpkin I had the other day, I had been looking for some ideas and came across soft pretzels made with pumpkin purée. Since I had turn half the pumpkin into purée, this looked like a good idea. I’m sure canned pumpkin purée would be just as good, if you don’t have fresh pumpkin purée.

Soft pretzels in Germany are called  ‘Laugenbrezel’, literally lye pretzel, because they are quickly cooked in a lye solution before baking. Since lye (NaOH) is pretty dangerous stuff for the home kitchen, we’ll have to resort to the strongest and safest alkaline chemical we can find, which will be baking soda (NaHCO3). The process for making soft pretzels is quite similar to making bagels, which I have made before. The only real difference is that bagels are boiled in salt water before baking instead of an alkaline solution.

Ingredients

For the pretzels

  • 1.25 cups (300ml) of warm water
  • 1 tsp of sugar
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 1 tsp of active dry yeast
  • 1 cup (235ml) of pumpkin purée
  • 3 cups (375g) of all-purpose (plain) flour
  • 1 cup (125g) of whole wheat flour

For Boiling the pretzels

  • 8 cups (1.8 l) of water
  • 2 tbsp of baking soda

For the pretzel toppings

  • Some coarse salt, and sesame or pumpkin seeds

Method

  1. First mix together the water, salt, oil and sugar together, then add the flour, pumpkin purée and the yeast. Mix everything together to form a dough. Kneed the dough for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.

    Mix the pumpkin pretzel ingredients together

    Mix the pumpkin pretzel ingredients together

  2. Cover and leave the dough to rest for an hour or so until it has doubled in size.
  3. Split the dough into about 8 equal sized pieces. Take one of the pieces of dough and roll it into a long ‘sausage’ about as thick as your thumb and about 1.5′ (45cm) long.

    Rolling the pretzel dough into long sausages

    Rolling the pretzel dough into long sausages

  4. Turn the ‘sausage’ into a pretzel shape. Unfortunately my efforts weren’t the best, but I’m sure you will do better.

    Tying the pretzel

    Tying the pretzel

  5. Bring the water and the baking soda to a boil in a large pot and then reduce to a simmer.
  6. Submerge the pretzels, 2 at a time into the water. Allow them to cook for about a minute. They will start to float to the top of the water. Turn them over and allow them to cook for another minute. The pretzels should puff up.

    Boiling the pretzels

    Boiling the pretzels

  7. Remove the pretzels from the water using a slotted spoon and place them on a greased baking sheet or parchment paper.
  8. Sprinkle on the topping of you choice, e.g. some coarse salt, and sesame or pumpkin seeds.

    Pretzel sprinkled with sesame seeds

    Pretzel sprinkled with sesame seeds

  9. Place the pretzels into a 475F (245C) oven and cook them for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

    Baked pumpkin soft pretzel

    Baked pumpkin soft pretzel

  10. Enjoy dipped in a little mustard with a cold beer.

 

Nov 06

Oven Baked Breaded Italian Chicken Cutlets: Step by Step with Pictures

Baked breaded chicken cutlets have to be one of the most versatile foods that can be prepared in the kitchen. You can enjoy them by themselves as a meal or a snack, or use them to make Chicken Parmesan, a simple Chicken Cordon Bleu or even as a topping to a salad. Whatever you choose to use the baked breaded chicken cutlets, I can assure you that no matter how many you make, they will be eaten faster than planned.

Recently I made baked breaded chicken cutlets from 10 pounds of chicken breasts. I realized that in the first post on baked breaded chicken cutlets, I did not include many pictures to show how easy and simple is the process. To make homemade breaded chicken cutlets that are baked is not difficult, but does require some planning in regards to time and ingredients. There is nothing more annoying than to have sliced 10 pounds of chicken breasts into cutlets and not have enough wet or dry ingredients to complete the activity.

Ingredients & Equipment:

  • 10 Pounds of boneless and skinless chicken breasts
  • 8 Eggs
  • 15 Ounce Container of Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
  • ½ Cup of Italian Grated Cheese
  • ¼ Cup of Ground Black Pepper (Optional, but I do believe provides the extra kick that truly makes the difference)
  • Olive Oil
  • Parchment Paper, Baking Pans and Two Forks
  • Preheated Oven at 350 Degrees Fahrenheit

Creating the Chicken Cutlet:

If you are fortunate to have a grocery store that sells chicken breasts that have been sliced into cutlets, then you are lucky. However, this can be an expensive product and to make chicken cutlets from chicken breasts is not that difficult. Depending on the thickness of the chicken breast, you will be able to slice two to three cutlets from the breast.

Prior to slicing the chicken breasts into cutlets, some trimming of the excess fat and loose pieces of breast meat may be required. Save these trimmings in the freezer to be added to your chicken stock or giblet gravy.

  1. Place the chicken breast onto the cutting board and starting with the thick end of the breast, place your knife parallel to the board.

    Place the chicken breast on the cutting board with the knife parallel to the cutting board

  2. Slice through the breast while maintaining pressure on the chicken breast with the other hand.

    With the knife parallel to the cutting board, slice through the chicken breast with you other hand providing pressure

  3. Maintain a parallel position with the knife and continue slicing through the breast until you have created the cutlet.

    Dependent upon the thickness of the chicken breast, two to three chicken cutlets can be created

If the breast was thick, then perform these actions again until you have cutlets of relatively the same thickness. You are seeking to achieve cutlets of the same thickness, but will not of the same size. Prepare all of the chicken breasts in this fashion until you have a large pile of chicken cutlets.

Ten pounds of chicken breasts sliced into chicken cutlets ready to be breaded

Preparing the Wet and Dry Ingredients:

  1. In a shallow dish crack eight eggs.

    Eight eggs cracked in a shallow dish

  2. Scramble the eight eggs to make the egg wash for the chicken cutlets.

    Eight eggs scrambled for the egg wash

  3. In a larger shallow dish combine the entire container of Italian bread crumbs, Italian grated cheese and the ground black pepper.

    Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs, Italian Grated Cheese and Ground Black Pepper

  4. Mix these three dry ingredients completely together.

Breading the Chicken Cutlets:

Depending on the size of the dish with the egg wash (scrambled eggs), you will be able to soak two to three cutlets at a time

  1. Allow the chicken cutlets to soak in the egg wash, flipped once to provide the right coating of egg wash to the chicken cutlet for breading.

    Chicken cutlets soaking in an egg wash

  2. Once the chicken cutlet has soaked in the egg wash, remove the cutlet and allow for any excess egg wash to drain back into the dish.
  3. Place the cutlet in the breading mixture and with the egg wash fork press the cutlet into the breading.

    Chicken cutlet with an egg wash pressed into the breading mixture

  4. Once pressed, then with the breading fork, cover the top of the cutlet with breading and then press / pat down the breading onto the cutlet.

    Chicken cutlet covered with the breading mixture

  5. Flip the cutlet with the breading fork and repeat the process of covering the chicken cutlet with the breading mixture.

    Chicken cutlet breaded on both sides

  6. Remove the breaded chicken cutlet and place onto the baking pan that has been covered with parchment paper.
  7. Repeat this process until you have filled a baking pan with evenly spaced breaded chicken cutlets.

    Breaded chicken cutlets on parchment paper

Baking the Breaded Chicken Cutlets:

  1. Drizzle olive oil onto the top of the chicken cutlets and place in the oven for about nine minutes. While this batch of chicken cutlets is baking, you can prepare the next batch to be baked.

    Breaded chicken cutlets drizzled with olive oil

  2. After nine minutes, remove the baking pan from the oven.

    Half baked chicken cutlets after nine minutes in the oven

  3. Flip the chicken cutlets and drizzle olive oil on top of the breaded chicken cutlets and bake for another nine minutes.

    Half baked chicken cutlets with more drizzled olive oil

  4. When the breaded chicken cutlets have finished baking for the second nine minutes, remove from the oven, pull the parchment paper from the baking pan and allow the chicken cutlets to cool. Repeat this process until all of the breaded chicken cutlets have been baked.

    Fully cooked baked breaded chicken cutlets fresh from the oven

Baked breaded Italian chicken cutlets at home is not difficult and provides a wide array of meals in which they are to be enjoyed.

 

 

Nov 05

Will the real chili con queso please stand up

I am not a food snob, but when something is supposed to have cheese in it, then I expect real cheese. However many times I have had chili con queso it has been made with Velveeta, which is processed cheese product, but it isn’t cheese. I know it is because of convenience that people just grab a packet of Velveeta from the shelves (it doesn’t even need to be refrigerated), a tin of tomatoes and chiles and mix it together, but real chili con queso doesn’t take that much longer to make, and it tastes so much better.

Real chili con queso

Real chili con queso

Rant over. Chili con queso is more of a Tex-Mex dish than a Mexican one, though the name is Spanish, i.e. chile with cheese. It was probably inspired by Queso Flameado from Northern Mexico, which is melted cheese with chorizo and served flambéed.

Once you’ve tried chili con queso made from real cheese, you won’t ever want to eat that other stuff again. Experiment with different types of real cheeses for different flavours, as well as hotter chilies if you prefer. Even try adding some cooked Mexican chorizo for a more authentic taste.

Chili con queso ingredients

Chili con queso ingredients

Ingredients

  • 2 jalapeños, roasted, skinned, de-seeded and finely diced
  • half a red onion, finely diced
  • 2 large firm tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and finely diced
  • 5 cups (560g) of Monterey Jack cheese, grated
  • quarter of a pint (150ml) of heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp of Crema Mexicana or Crème fraîche
  • 1 tbsp of tequila (I used Reposado tequila)
  • 1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Method

Add the oil to a medium hot pan and sauté the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and the Crème fraîche to the pan. Add a little of the cheese at a time, while stirring the sauce. Once all the cheese has been added and has melted, then add the tomatoes,  jalapeños and the tequila. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

Nov 04

MacGyver’s Fat Separator, Simple Way to Make Homemade Gravy

Whether it is for turkey on Thanksgiving or Christmas, a roasted chicken or a crock pot beef roast for Sunday dinner there is nothing better than homemade gravy made from the giblets, drippings or the au jus. The problem is that many of us do not own a fat separator and if we do, because it is used so infrequently, when it is needed, the fat separator can never be found in the kitchen cupboards.

I personally do not own a fat separator. There is no particular reason why and because of it I have struggled with separating the fat (drippings) from the au jus (broth). My work around is to either carefully spoon off the fat or to make my roux for the gravy from butter. Neither option is optimal, yet I do not intend to purchase a fat separator. I was explaining my stubbornness / frugality to Stuart a few weeks ago and he explained to me a conversation that he had with a friend on an alternative means for separating the fat from the broth.

The concept is amazingly simple and follows the same principles that are used in a fat separator. All you need is a Ziploc bag, a pair of scissors and two measuring cups or bowls.

  1. Strain the drippings / broth from any remaining solids in the pan or pot into the large measuring cup with a spout.

    Fat for the Roux on top of the Broth to make Homemade Gravy

  2. Pour the entire contents into a Ziploc bag and allow the fat to separate (rise to the surface).

    Fat separated from the Broth in a Ziploc Bag for Homemade Gravy

  3. Seal the Ziploc bag and over the same large measuring cup hold the bag so that one of the corners is facing down.

    Preparing to separate the Broth from the Fat for Homemade Gravy

  4. With a pair of scissors, make a small cut at the corner. The broth will flow through the cut made into the bag and into the large measuring cup. I really wish I had been able to take a picture of this process happening, but it did happen fast.
  5. Once the majority of the broth has poured from the bag, pinch the opening in the Ziploc bag and then place the bag over the second measuring cup.
  6. Remove your fingers from the opening in the bag and allow the remaining fat to pour into the second measuring cup.

    Fat separated from the Broth to make Homemade Gravy using a Ziploc Bag

You have now successfully separated the fat from the broth without looking for that elusive fat separator and you are now ready to make your homemade gravy.

The rule of thumb that I use is that for every cup of broth / au jus that I have, I use one tablespoon of flour to make the roux. In a large sauce pan I heat the separated fat and then add the flour mixing them well.

Making Roux from Drippings

Once the mixture begins to boil I slowly add the broth to the roux, whisking the two together. Once all of the broth has been added and the gravy has come to a full boil for a minute, lower the heat to low. In a few minutes you will have the perfect gravy with no lumps or clumps ready to be served with your meal.

Homemade Gravy

Nov 03

Pesto Presto – Pesto Genovese

Way before modern Italy, the Romans were making a type of sauce called ‘moretum’ that was made using a mortar from which the name is derived. Moretum was usually made with herbs, oil, salt, vinegar, occasionally and eaten spread on bread. Compare this to modern day pesto which is usually made from basil, pine nuts, Parmesan Cheese and Olive Oil crushed using a pestle from which the name is derived. Maybe they are not that different.

Fresh homemade Pesto Genovese

Fresh homemade Pesto Genovese

The pesto (Pesto Genovese) that we know today originates from Genoa in Liguria, Italy where basil introduced from India grows in abundance. Like most things in the Mediterranean, there are versions of ‘pesto’ like sauces throughout the region, for example ‘pistou’ from Provence in France, that is made from nearly he same ingredients, just without the pine nuts, but instead of pasta it is usually served as a topping for soup such as Soupe au Pistou.

Pesto Genovese Ingredients

Pesto Genovese Ingredients

Since the word pesto is derived from ‘pestle’, it is traditional to grind the ingredients using a mortar and pestle if you have one, but you could achieve similar results using a small food processor. There are many variations on pesto as well Pesto Genovese that we all know including the Sicilian Pesto Rosso made from less basil, almonds instead of pine nuts and tomato. Other variations include such things as arugula (rocket), mint, spinach, cilantro (fresh coriander), various nuts, olives, etc.

How to make Pesto Genovese

Ingredients

  • Half a clove of garlic
  • 0.5 tsp of coarse salt
  • 3 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves, chopped
  • 1 tbsp of pine nuts
  • 2 tbsp of Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, grated
  • 0.25 cup (60ml) of extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. You can use plain pine nuts if you wish a more creamy taste, or you can toast them lightly in a dry, hot skillet for a minute or so until the start to turn golden brown for a slightly nuttier flavour.

    Toasting Pine Nuts

    Toasting Pine Nuts

  2. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic and the salt together to make a smooth paste.

    Crushing the garlic and the salt

    Crushing the garlic and the salt

  3. Add the basil leaves and again grind them to a smooth paste.

    Crushing the basil leaves

    Crushing the basil leaves

  4. Next add the pine nuts and grind them roughly.

    Crushing the pine nuts

    Crushing the pine nuts

  5. Add the cheese and mix together.

    Mixing in the Parmesan

    Mixing in the Parmesan

  6. Pour the oil into the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine. Season with some freshly ground black pepper. Optionally you could a 1 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice at this stage to help lift the pesto, but you don’t need to.

    Incorporating the olive oil

    Incorporating the olive oil

  7. Use as normal pesto with pasta. It should keep for about a week in the refrigerator.

    Linguine with fresh homemade pesto

    Linguine with fresh homemade pesto